The record-union., 1895-12-06
POSSIBLE REMEDY FOR The CARP.
William Kimber Says the Mallards
are Eating Them.
But 1t is Rough on the Ducks-How
to Recover Guns From the
Water.

''Do you remember what I predicted
several years ago?" asked William
Kimber, the well-known house decora-
tor and gentleman sportsman, of a
Record-Union reporter yesterday.
About what?''
why, about those Internal carp eat
ing up all the duck food in the ponds
and sloughs. Don't you remember I
predicted that it would be the result of
putting those fish in our waters?"
"Oh, yes replied the reporter, but
that is ancient history now
Il know that added the knight of
the brush and shotgun, but what I
was going to say is that the ducks are
now having their revenge"
You don't mean to say that carp
exterminator has at last been found?"
Kimber changed his cud, like sailor
who prepares to tell a stunning yarn,
and said:
That's what. There's a water fowl
that is now eating up the carp. and
you may be surprised to hear tits
the ariStocratic, high-toned, faStidiouS
mallard duck that's doing the work.
You may believe it or not added
the veteran hunter, but l tell you it's
fact. l was shooting a few days ago in
the vicinity of the canal, over on the
Yolo side of the river, and L bagged
nice lot of big, fat mallardS, and-I'm
telling you the solid truth-eyeryone of
those ducks had from one to half
dozen young carp slowed away inside
of it.
Just think of 1.-THE old favorite,
the mallard, to be classed with the
uneatable, fish-devouring species of
water fowl"
Kimber said further that the birds
smelled so strong Of the fish that they
We're repulsive. 1t may be that the
natural food Of the duck has been so
scarce in some localities, and the carp
so numerous, that the ducks have been
forced TO sample the fish, but it is not
likely the mallard seriously contem-
plates becoming a fish-eater.
MAGNETS AND SHOTGUNS.
Having disposed of the mallard-carp
subject, the conversation turned on
electric wires, the advisability OF hav-
ing them underground and the novel
methods in vogue of extending cables
through the conduits. Kimber thought
the ropes attached to the cables could
be drawn through, from block to block,
by the use of powerful magnets.
Pete Newman ventured the opinion
that Kimber's hat had a big hole in it's
crown.
"A big magnet will do more than most
people would think" said the latter
Why, when l used to shoot down on
the Suisun marsh l made more money
with a fifteen-pound magnet than 1
did shooting ducks
Just naturally drew the birds into
your boat, suppose" said Newman
with his time-honored and familiar
wink.
No, sir" replied Kimber, "but by
finding lost guns. You may think I'm
lying, but I'm not. You see, hardly a
day passed but that some shooter. and
often several of them, got upset into
the water, and when me and my part
ner would see boat coming in with
wet hunter we we knew what had hap
pened-that fellow had lost his gun.
We'll, we'd just get out our big
magnet, tie it behind our skiff and go
a-trolling for that shotgun"
Newman began to get interested and
asked Kimber to take a cigar.
Find it! Why, of course we'd find
il! Maybe you don't know it, but a
good strong magnet dragged through
the water VIII pick up a shotgun or any
thing else made of steel. Many's the
gun I've resurrected in that way.
You see, many Of the men who went
TO the marsh to shoot owned fine guns,
each. Men my partner would make
it our business to get the names of
these high-toned fellows and the val
ues they put on their guns. If a man
said his gun was worth $500, we'd put
his name down on our book, with $40
opposite to it. Our regular charge for
recovering a gun was 20 per cent. of its
value, and when we fished up a mans
gun from the bottom Of a pond we
knew just what to charge him.
Sometimes a fellow would insist that
his 5000 gun was only 500 one, and
then we'd draw our book on him and
show where and when he said other
wise. When man would lose his gun
he'd tie a bunch of tule near the spot
where his boat upset, so we generally
knew where to drag for the gun.
THAT magnet Of ours picked UP many
a gun, and the way we made those city
fellows pay for them was caution. If
you don't believe what I say, just go
and ask Dick Jones how to get a
lost gun out of slough"
When the veteran hunter had fin
ished his story his only auditor was the
reporter The others had stolen away
unobserVed while he was telling it.
But Kimber was not joking, and men
who go shooting in cranky duck-boats
might do we'll to add a magnet to their
outfit.