The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1909-04-29
WILD GEESE ARE
GETTING SCARCER
NO LONGER FLY IN COUNTLESS
ELOCKS OVER GREAT WHEAT
BELT OF MIDDLE WEST.
ONCE NUMBERED MILLIONS,
Persistent Hunting Has So Trimmed
Their Ranks That Only Occa-
sionally Is One Shot
ONCE NUMBERED MILLIONS,
KANSAS HUNTERS MOURN LOSS.

TOPEKA, Kan, April 2i.-The resi-
dents of Kansas know that spring days
near when the flight of wild geese from
their southern winter home to the north
ern nesting place begins. But the ranks
of this once mighty aerial army have
been thinned by the sportsmen.
Thirty years ago the army of wild
geese contained millions. In addition to
the slaughter of the birds in their tight
from summer 10 winter home they have
been pursued i'll North Dakota and Can
ada, and i'll their winter home along the
shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
The path of the wild geese over Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the
Dakotns, many persons believe, Is Sc
lected because OF the directness of the
route. This is not the reason. The states
named comprise the great wheat belt of
the continent, upon the fields of which
the geese feed on their journeys. When
they so south III the late fall the scat
tered grain from the seasons harvest on
the stubble fields provide them with food
When they return in March the green
fields are inviting all the way from the
Red river to their Canadian home.
Fly at High Altitude.
When flying the wild geese maintain
an altitude of from 800 to 1000 feet.
The popularity of their fight is the
N-shaped line, with the apex forward,
and the uniform distance apart pre-
served by the flyers.
The tocks are invariably led by
stout-hearted gander, who maintains his
post at the extreme point of the V and
whose clarion toned honk conveys his
orders which are responded to by his
eoavcrging lines of followers. The old
residents of Kansas who have watched
he habits of the birds agree on one
point When the is rigidly maintained
and moves directly and placidy across
the sky it is certain that the flock is
made up of the more elderly and expert
3nccd fowls. but when the V scatters
breaks and the birds indulge in unusual
vocferation it is almost sure to be the
younger birds that are making the jour
lcy.
These cannot repress the inquisitive-
ness that the novelty of the situation in
spires, they gaze with wonder on the
panorama underneath, to the neglect of
lecorum in flight and without a doubt
he patience of the leader is sorely taxed
In their flight during a dark, damp
night wild geese lose their bearing often
and may be heard jabbering and quack-
ing a few feet above the housetops. If
dying over a town or city lighted with
electricity they frequently dart against
was the case in Topeka few days ago.
On this occasion sportsmen and boys
with clubs dispatched dozen or more
geese that had been drawn to the lights
and stunned.
In Earlier Days,
Wild goose hunting on the plains Of
the great west in the early days was a
sport which always had great charm for
the gunner. The geese swarmed in
countless numbers, and many were killed
by resident hunters and by sportsmen
for the eastern markets. An hours live
~ sport with the honkerS on the wheat
fields meant but one thing TO the in
experienced hunter, and that was some
thing for his pains, especially if he
happened to be in well concealed stand
directly in line of the flight.
Only occasionally now do Kansas
hunters get q shot at wild geese. The
ranks of the birds have been so thinned
in their migrations that they seem to
have learned that safety depends upon
keeping to n higher altitude. Nor do
they stop long in the wheat fields in
daytime. Their resting spells are short
and consume only sufficient time for
feeding at twilight or early dawn.