The San Francisco call., 1910-12-11
WEATHER IMPROVES
SPORTON MARSHES
Rain Seems TO Make the Duck
Shooting a Trife More
Satisfactory
By FRANK o,DoNNELL


weather toward the close of last week
made conditions at duck shooting re-
sorts q little better than they had
been. but the Improvement was not
general nor was it such as to cause
any great enthusiasm among sports
men, who were afield in large num-
bers in expectation of the going being
good after the storms. According to
sdvices received from all quarters.
shooters on gun club preserves had
fair 10 good sport in regions that were
Favored with an abundance of game.
but instances where independent scout
hunters from the city enjoyed a good
and profitable DAYS sport were rare.
IS usual Unattached hunters who can
smord to leave the city and business
affairs for several days at a time may
perhaps locate good shooting ground
that is open to all comers. The av-
erage hunter, however, who must be
satisfied with one or perhaps two days
OF IN 9 week is not having much fun
with wild fowls unless he is a mem
Der Of gun club. because the birds
are not working well in the shooting
grounds around the bay shores to
which he has free access.
On many of the sloughs tributary to
the Sacramento river ducks are seen in
large iocks. but they do not show any
inclination 10 come within range Of the
guns OF sportsmen. They are falling TO
the guns Of market hunters. however,
is evidenced by the well filled bags
that are coming into the wholesale
commission district from that region
daily At all but a few Of the shoot
ing resorts in the San Joaquin valley
ducks and geese are in abundance and
siong the Sacra mento river clear up to
Red Bluff native and visiting sports
nd fyIe ~,1n an TnRV-
perienced hunters returning from pre-
serves in these regions are frequently
heard 70 complain of poor sport, but
men who have been following the game
for years say that bad craftsmanship,
coupled with ignorance Of the fine
points OF duck shooting, are responsible
for the Indifferent success of amateur
sportsmen who visit the valley ducking
grounds
W D. Macarthur is a frequent Wis
itor 10 2 favored preserve in the vicin-
itv Of Rio Vista and is never heard TO
complain of sport being poor. Limit
strings of ducks filled out with bunch
~ fine gray geese are the rule with
him and the same is true of Frank Car
roll and Murray Isham, who are often
his companions. Laurie Adams, who
has been most successful at Rio Vista
this season has changed his base of
operations to the San Joaquin valley.
Adams shot on the Gustine club pre-
serve last Sunday and gathered all that
the law allows with little trouble Wal
ter Wood and his shooting companions,
Nessrs. Sherwood and McGruder, have
entertained several guests at their In
gomar lodge near Los Banos almost
every Sunday since the season opened
and the sport there has been uniformly
good.
Harvey McNfurchy OF New York and
Fred Willis are guests at Ingomar to-
day. Both OF these hunters had
splendid shoot there last Sunday. The
Newman club shooters are getting limit
sssortments with ease right along. All
vBinds Of ducks except canvasbacks are
in evidence on the Newman club
grounds. according to c. C. Huber, who
shoots there always, generally as the
partner OF Otto Feudner. the acknowl-
edged champion Of the Newman coun-
try. Northern sprig and mallard are
figuring largely IN the bags coming in
from Newman and nearby resorts.
Shooting was good IN spots on the
Suisun marsh during the week, and the
"a CT that results were mot always sat
isfactory on all Of the ponds is attribu-
ted by some hunters TO the almost con-
slant bombsrdment directed at the
ducks on that famous shooting ground
since the season opened. 1t was said
early in the week that the marsh was
about shot out" but the regulars had
some fair sport just the same. Doctor
McGettigan. Jim Maynard and others of
the Joyce island outfit accounted for
good bags. and Ned Hoag shot with z.
Cuthbert on the Cordelia preserve with
satisfactory results. Sprig predomf-
mated in the bags brought in by Cuth-
bert and Hoag. On the Seymour
grounds adjoining the Cordelia preserve
there wes very little doing. and condi-
lions were similar on other parts of the
marsh
The blinds on the San Pablo bay
shores and the marsh area on the west
side OF the bay were as popular as
ever with week enders last Sunday
and the shooting was a little better
than IL had previously been. though 1t
was nothing 10 braR Of George New
bauer went UP 70 Sears point with Billy
Murdock and the two of them made a
Joint kill of 20 birds. They got no
cans" but an assortment Of mallard.
spring and widgeon. few canvas
backs we're killed by the Lincoln club
outfit near Reclams tion, most of them
falling 20 the gun Of Pete Ashcroft.
who has been stopping on the preserve
for some time. There were plenty of
canvasbacks loafng out in the open
water. but they rarely worked inshore.
Frank Bell had a good shoot at the
Santa Rosa drawbridge on Napa creek
last Sunday. Bell said the shooting
IN that vicinity had improved won
derfully within the last few weeks and
that hunters who had abandoned the
creek early in the season were coming
back
Devotees Of the marsh areas on the
cast shore Of the lower bay are still
practicing patience. Now and then a
hunter has a chance TO get in some
good work. but game is none too plenti-
ful on the marshes. or else the ducks
are giving shooters a wide berth.
George Franzen. Ed Harmon and Ed
Kerrison make a trip across the bay TO
Alvarsdo or Mount Eden almost every
Sunday, and George Thomas is an
other hunter who believes in trying
again whether successful the last time
or not j. TAFT, who is conceded 10 be
one OF the best shots on the east shore
marshes. was down Alviso way last
Sunday and, after a whole day Of shoot
ing from a blind, he had just IA ducks.
Canvasbacks and bluebills are COM
mencing TO appear in the lower bay.
however, and they may help TO make
snort better from now on