The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-14

COUNTLESS DUCKS ARE
NOW FOUND IN UTAH
Said TO Be the Finest Hunting
Ground in the World
This Year.
SEE FLOCKS OF 5000
Big Game Very Plentiful-Geese
Wreck Clubhouse in Their
Flight.
: FLOCKS OF 5000


Eastern sportsmen who go to Utah from
Chesapeake bay and the resorts Of wild fowl
I'm the Carolinas declare that Utah is the
great duck and goose hunting ground Of the
world. These same sportsmen add that IL the
only real duck and goose hunting is found
in Utah the only genuine elk and moose
hunting is in the Jackson Hole country.
The season for both the winged and the
hoofed game mas opened Dozens OF Eastern
hunters are on the ground. Twenty thou
sand elk and 10000 clumsy moose are ready
for them in jackson Hole country. while
10 the south hocks of mallard, blue wing
and canvasback ducks. numbering thou
sands, are on the wing to tempt the
hunter.
Just now the great duck grounds are at
the mouth of Bear river. where it runs into
Great Salt Lake. F1ocks of canvasbacks
and mallards. running as high as 5000, are
TO be seen in the lower end of the flats. AS
many as 1000 Canada geese together are
a common sight.
A hunter, a Washington government Of
fetal. who returned from a hunt on Bear
river. tells this story OF his experience:
II was shooting a pump gum" he said,
"and my shells carried No. 8 shot / had
a number OF BIS along for geese.
Il Was BOlUB up Bear river lIOIu OOIlllIlc
in a launch. 1t was about dusk and we
were making a turn in the river. AS the
launch swerved in making the turn We
fiftesn yards s ahead. we saw lock Of PROB
ably l,50O big Canada geese beginning 10
rise.
guns, and as the launch got into the geese
we began firing as rapidly as possible.
NEVER SAW SUCH A SLAUGHTER
81 never saw such q slaughter or so much
excitement The engineer of the launch
lost his head, and We got directly under
the flock. which, alarmed by our firing. was
at a standstil in the air.
The geese were so tangled up that they
would fly into one another. and there was
one great confused mass Of feathers over
head. We were In almost total darkness
until the launch shot from under the flock.
I'VE fired into the flock until our guns
were too hot to hold Then, feeling that 1t
was unsportsmanlike TO continue the
slaughter. we called halt. The river was
dotted with big gonchers. or Canada geese.
I'VE went ashore and found several dozen
on the banks. They were so fat that in
falling they were mashed into pieces by
contact with the frozen ground. This is
probably the largest flock Of geese ever
struck by Western hunters.
Several times / have come on flocks OF
from 400 TO 1000 geese along Bear river and
killed nine to every shot l fired. That has
been a common occurrence.
As Illustrating the force with which flock
Of geese flies the case of the wrecking of a
small clubhouse which stood on pro-
montory just on the mouth OF Bear river,
on Great Salt Lake. Is cited by men who
have hunted In the swamps. This building
was or frame construction two stories
high, and stood on piles. Ii was as strongly
built ordinary wooden house.
Just after the hunting season opened
flock Of geese which made the sky look
4TaL ofDhf tod ING from fl1n
There were four men at the club, and they
rushed TO blinds.
The geese were flying low and the shoot
ing OF the hunters caused them to swerve
around the point of the mountain on which
the clubhouse stood.
WRECKED THE CLUBHOUSE.
The flock was In flight in the shape Of a
= 'V." but as the birds turned the point they
closed in. presenting a solid front. Com
ing with a roar. they struck the club
house like a shot from a catapult.
The structure was knocked from it's foun-
dation as IL a tornado had hit It, The
geese piling on carried 1T for twenty feet
knocking of shingles, windows and doors
The ground near 1t was swept as IL by a
broom.
About fifty wounded ducks were left as
evidence of what the tornado really was
This goose tornado has become a byword
And while duck hunting is great the sup
ply OF pheasant. plover. prairie chickens
and big sage hens Is as extensive. Sage
hens weigh high as five pounds. and I'm
certain districts this fall they are so plen-
tiful that hunters frequently kill from fifty
to leo In a day.
Then. the jack-snipe hunting is the best
in years. Curlew. the regular jack-snipe
and the yeIlow-leg variety as thick as
flies around pint of molasses on a hot
day. River-fiats hunters have killed as
many as 2l5 OF these birds in day, and
still the supply does not seem to diminish
A bird which corresponds to the reed bird
flies in numberiess thousands on the flats
near the marshes. They are seen In iocks
OF from 900 to 1.500.
Last week a Washington man turned
loose his pump-gun on flock of these reed
from the ground The hunter dropped on
his knees and shot through the flock.
The birds circled him and he sent the
contents OF five shells straight through the
flock. The ground was literally covered
with the birds Two guides picked up Oil
OF them. and IL seemed that as many more
eripples were lin ping about In the small
weeds.
ALIVE WITH BIG GAME.
James Parkinson, guide, who knows the
jackson Hole country. has just got In from
that region.
THE Hole is alive with big game" he
said. II never saw so many elk. There
are fully 1000 there. / would estimate
the moose population at 10000.
THE elk have summered well and are fat,
but the recent snow has formed hard
crust and grazing is hard.
Just before 1 left herd of 600 elk
dashed into a ranch, broke down the cor
raj and ate DIP and destroyed fifty tons of
hay. There is the best hunting in years
there now.
The fact that Eastern sportsmen are rec
ognizing the value of Utah and Idaho as a
great hunting ground Is indicated py the
ID
The members have built a $4,000 club
house and In time will have the greatest
hunting grounds In the world
The primary object I'm forming the club
was the protection OF the game and the
keeping off OF pot-hunters and market
shooters. One OF these kept a diary of his
slaughter for a period OF thirty-eight days.
In this time he killed 4.i0S ducks OF all
kinds. or average of 1l6 ducks a day
he got 30 birds on other dates he got "a
rs and 200 birds.
"A Denver shooter got 1.i52 ducks I'm six
teen days. or an average OF a little more
than seventy-two a day.
Since the Utah Legislature, backed I'D by
the sportsmen OF the State passed a bill
which limited the number of ducks to be
killed by each hunter In day 10 forty the
birds have multiplied rapidly, and under
waters OF the State where opportunity Is
afforded them
In hunting ducks at the Bear River flats
no decoys needed. Guides are provided
with long-handled, round-pointed shoyels
These are put deep down In the mud
and. with peculiar motion and an odd
twist. bring up round ball of the sticky
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