Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-07-19
SPRING SHOOTING.
The Cause of the Rapid Decrease of
Game Birds.

The Cause of the Rapid Decrease of
Game Birds.
Sportsmen in all sections of the
country will be interested in the bird
census recently taken by members of
the different Audubon societies and the
League Of American Sportsmen, aided
by scientists of DCte. w. T. Hornaday
has complied the returns, and the re-
suit forms one of the most interesting
song bird and game statistical tables
ever issued.
At the outset it may be said that in
only three states-North Carolina.
California and Oregon-has feathered
life held its own. In Illinois the birds
have decreased SO per cent. in the last
fifteen years, a sorry showing for the
manner in which the laws have been
enforced. The compilation separates
the songsters from the game birds,
and SpOrtsmen will be more interested
in the figures which touch on the
present and future of the birds that
they follow afeld. The reports from
all sections of the country show that
there has been in decade and a half a
decrease of so per cent. in the number
of wood ducks, mergansers, redheads
and canvasbacks.
The men who gather the bird
statistics have given 70 the best Of
their ability the reasons for the in
crease or the decrease as the case may
be in the bird ranks. A large number
of them say that spring shooting is
largely responsible for the gradual ex-
tinctiOn of many species. They de-
clare if it is allowed to continue I'M
checked during the spring months of
the next fifteen years the epicure will
have to feast his eyes instead of his
palate on a canvasback duck, and to do
this he will have to look at a stuffed
specimen through the glass case of a
museum. Why the mergansers should
have decreased is past finding out No
true spOrtsmen will shoot a merganser
unless he likes to kill for the sake of
killing. The bird is absolutely useless
for the table.
The advocates of spring shooting
point to the census figures as showing
some other reason than March and
April sport must be found for duck
6iminution. There would seem to be
some ground for their claim because
many species of ducks, among them
some that are followed ruthlessly in
the spring, have held their own in
numbers. Among these are the green
winged teal, the mallard, the WidgeOn
and the pintail. 1t is a pleasure to
note the blue-winged teal and the
delectable little rudy duck have in
creased appreciably, taking the whole
country through.
There is large part of the country
where, if there were no spring duck
shooting, there would be no shooting
at all. The birds avoid these sections
in the fall because of the lack of water
In the spring the mating season is at
hand, and, in fact, in many cases the
birds have mated before the close Of
season comes, and this fact more than
any other gives strength to the argu-
ment against spring shooting.
Grouse of various kinds have de-
creased largely. The quail, where any
kind Of effort is made to protect il, and
where the farmers make some pro-
vision to give it food in hard winters,
is holding its own. In places where
pot hunters and other irresponsible
hunters abound the quail is becoming
extinct. The report from small
sections Of country where the birds
have been shot in season but have
been left absolutely undisturbed for
the rest Of the year show that a
amount of sport may be had,
and the birds will still hold their own
in numbers. 1t is declared positively
as one Of the results Of the statistical
work that there is no reason why
'uffed and pinnated grouse and quail
should decrease in the farming
districts unless they are shot out of
season.
The effect of plume hunting and pot
shooting in the southern states for the
northern market is startIfngly shown
oy the bird census returns from Flor
da and Texas. Since the year 1885
Gathered life in the southern PENN
;ula state has decreased II per cent,
while the diminution in the lone star
;tate is only per cent less. Florida
S now trying TO do something to
rotect it's birds Agricultural inter-
SITS have suffered so severely on ac-
cunt of the slaughter the state
have been aroused.
The woodcock is certainly rapidly
caring the end Of his race. The bird
not shot in the spring, but in many
-ates the hunters are allowed to go
fter him in July. Early floods drown
ut his young; and, unlike the quail,
le woodcock is easily discouraged,
nd stops nesting operations after one
Misfortune. The bird commands a
ign price in the market, and he is
allowed relentlessly by the gunner
no shoots TO supply the table Of the
an who can afford to pay $3.50 head
" his birds