Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-11-10
MAYOR DANIELS
DUCK SHOOTING.
How He Fills His Game Bag in
Utah.
SAYS IT Is NOT A SECRET.
His Average for sixteen Days wa
72'l2 DAY aud His Rest Day Was
100 Shooting at Duckyille.

Major Daniels came back recently
from Utah with a duck shooting story
that has made the mouths ot local
shooters fairly water with envy and the
Denver Post asked him n he would tell
its readers something about where he
had been and the nature and extent
Of the shooting.
Certainly said the major, the
shoot is open to the public and nothing
could be further from my mind than
any desire to keep the place dark II
is far TOO good a shoot 10 be neglected
by Denver sportsmcn and ] am only
TO glad to tell an ] know go that Others
may get their share of the sport. am
little afraid. however, that / may
get more or less roasting on the ground
that killed too many ducks. OF course
the story which in some way became
current In Denver, 10 the effect that |
Killed over 1000 ducks In one day with
two guns, was mantestly absurd No
man who has ever shot ducks could
possibly take a moments stock IN any
such tale as that. Why. 20 XIII 1000
ducks I'm one day with two or with
twenty guns would require, al the aver
age rate Of shell expenditure among
duck shooters not more expert than
myself the firing OF between 1900 and
5000 shells, Please figure this out, first
on a basis OF how many shells per min
ute would have to be shot and then con-
slider for one second In what condition
the shooter would boz when he got
through. No, | do not mean that his
shoulder would be battered on, because
no man who shoots very much gets his
shoulder seriously kicked about no mat
ter how many shells he fires. What |
do mean is this: That the conclusion
OF the gun. the accumulated shock to his
nervous system Of firing even half as
many shells az the last number mem
toned would absolutely wreck him long
before the end Of the day. Personally
| can fire and have fired. sometimes at
ducks, sometimes at clay pigeons, be-
tween 400 and 500 shells in a day, and |
assure you I have had plenty enough.
Nov. as 60 the location and nature Of
the Utah shoot: While Salt Lake has
no outlets, IL has two or three streams
flowing into II. one Of which, the Bear
river, enters the lake IN a bay shut of
by land more or less from the lake
proper. This Bear river rises some
where In northeastern Utah, wanders
over into Idaho. gets h0meslck and
comes back again 60 Utah. pays It's re-
spects 20 Bear River lake. helps the
farmer to irrigate his land IN the Bear
River valley and then crossing the line
Of the Southern Pacific at Cornne be-
comes from there down the great
spOrtsman's benefactOr Of this Western
country. From little below Cornne
the stream is flowing through the bed
Of what used 70 be the Great Salt Lake
when that lake covered an area hun
dreds Of times larger than IL does today.
The land through which the river
flows Is almost entirely fiat and
slopes only very gradually down
TO the present lake level.
Twenty-siX miles down this river you
60 In a launch TO a very comfortable
camp run by a man named Davis. Da.
Wis IS by trade, at least in the winter
a market shooter. (The law OF Utah. by
the way permits shooting for the mar
ket. though 1t does not permit the ex-
port OF game. He calls his place
Duckyllle, so We In turn call him the
duke Of DuCkVille. and a nicer noble
man OF sport / never met anywhere
DuCkYille was a very comfortable place
last year, and since that time Davis
has made additions and Improvements
that make IL truly palatial. lie even
has a bath room with hot and cold
water 10 lie down IN, and let me tell
You that nothing Is pleasanter after a
days shoot than 10 come back and
soak the aches out OF your bones and
the buzz out Of your head I'm a tub full
of water az l2O Fahrenheit, which. II
you have ever tried Il, Is fairly hot
Between Davis place and Corrinne
the country both sides Of the stream
Is largely a matter Of dry gray mud
Below Davis place you begin 20 strike
the tulie beds and the river begins 20
split up and finally disappears. These
splits Of the river are called'overiioWs
and numbered. Nos / and 2. about a
mile down the river from Davis lead
south through the marsh into large
body OF water stretching east and west,
which is known as South lake. This
South lake empties into or rather leads
20 the West lake. a still larger body OF
water stretching north and south aud
entered through No. 3 Overflow which
is a mile below No 2. No. 4 Overflow,
which absorbes what OF the river as
has not been taken up by the others,
leads north into what we call North
lake. North lake begins east OF q north
and south line from Davis house and
extends west and south until Il rounds
point Of tuies and joins West lake.
From the mouth OF No. 9 Overflow, go
Ing due south through West lake, one
would reach. after travelling Cthey tell
mel ten or twelve miles. the waters OF
the Great Salt Lake proper.
Now you must remember that while
the Bear river Is deep enough 10 float a
launch and the various 0verlows, al
least IN their beginnings have enough
water 10 float a row boat.the three lakes
have described while they figure as
water are In reality mud, varying from
six Inches 10 foot and a half IN depth
covered over. so 20 speak. with a We
neer OF from one TO three inches Of wa
ter. Both boats we use are fiat bot
tom sharp at both ends and from
fifteen 90 twenty-five feet long accord
Ing as they are designed 20 carry one or
two people Theoretically a man might
wade across any OF the lakes, but
practically 90 would kin him on before
he had gone half a mile; so the only
method OF getting about 20 the shoot
ing grounds rs 90 row or push these
boats over the mud and what little
water there may be.
In summer time. so I am told. the
lakes have nearly a foot OF water In
them and are completely covered with
a dense growth OF some water weeds,
the tops Of which die on in September.
II Is on the roots OF this water weed
that ] am convinced the ducks largely
feed. and the whole Of South lake to-
gether with the upper parts Of North
and West lakes. are their natural feed
ing grounds. Here, II they are undis-
turbed, the ducks would spend the
whole Of their time and when they are
driven out from their feeding grounds
they fly southwest 90 the big open
water. where they can bed down free
from molestation. The shooting Is done