Eagle River Democrat. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1893-1896, 1895-11-25
DUCKS SLAUGHTERED.
Fishermen Around Lake Winnebago
Said to Openly Violate the
Game Law.

Oshkosh, Wis, Nov. 19.5[Special.]-
The fishermen are now engaged in a
somewhat new departure, but which is
still in the same line of business as for
merly-this is the fishing of ducks with
nets. If the information which has been
obtained in regard to this manner of de-
stroying game is to be believed, and 9th
er evidence which in itself is so apparent
that it can be neither controverted nor
denied is true, this manner of killing
ducks is being carried on to such an ex-
tent on Lake Winnebago that 1T Is APP
palling, to say the Feast.
Every day one can walk the streets of
this city and in the open market can see
game caught in this manner displayed
for SALE 1t Is no difficult matter to dis
tinguish ducks killed in this manner, and
even the inexperienced eye can readily
perceive the difference, for the game is
usually pulled up and there is an alb
sence of shot wounds. 1t is only lately
that reports were brought to this city OF
the immense numbers of ducks on the
eastern shore of the lake. The birds are
attracted to that section of the lake by
the excellent feeding grounds. For miles
the bottom of the lake is lined with wild
celery, the favorite food of these ducks,
and for the past few weeks the lake in
that vicinity has been black with the
birds.
But while here apparently safe from
the hunters gun, they encounter another
danger, which makes the destructive
deadly search light, the artfully con-
structed blind or the deceptive decoy,
pale into comparative insignihcance. 1t
is the fsherman's net. One can best
imagine the extent to which game can be
annihilated by this method when it is
stated that fisherman in one haul sue
ceeded in taking in 800 ducks, more per-
haps than are shot in one entire season
on Lake Winnebago. The fishermen
have constantly protested that they did
not set their nets with the intention of
catching ducks, but this year they adj
nit that such is the case. They institute
careful watch and when an oppor-
tunity presents itself in the absence of
the deputy game wardens, they line the
feeding grounds of the ducks with nets.
The birds of course, dive down in search
of food and easily become entangled in
the meshes of the net and then drown.
The next day the fisherman overhauls
his nets. The drowned ducks are taken
from the meshes, dressed and then sold
in the markets of the city. By far the
greater part of them are packed and
shipped by the barrel to Milw aukee, Chi
cago and Green Bay. Ducks caught in
this manner are totally unfit for table
use. How many ducks are caught daily
by this method, of course, cannot be es-
timated, but during the entire season
the number must aggregate many thou
sands.
Besides ducks, fish of course are also
caught, and in spite of the danger with
which the fishermen incur in losing their
property through seizure by the deputies
this pernicious occupation in the face of
the obstacles they encounter and the risk
incurred is something which is not ordi-
narily met with. 1t is said that while
the deputies are in one end of the lake
the fishermen are plying their vocation
in the other, and vice versa. Through
a system of careful espionage and secret
watching they have been enabled TO do
this. Formerly this same method of kill
ing game was carried on to an alarming
extent on Lake Poygan, but it has been
effectually suppressed ON those waters.