The San Francisco call., 1910-01-09
DUCK HUNTERS find
GAME VERY SCARCE
Too Much Water Drives Spoon
bills, TeaES and Canvas
backs From Preserves
By FRANK o'DoNNELL


The duck shooting pastime did not
prove a very profitable one for sports
men last week, the efforts of hunters
10 draw limit bag prizes meeting with
failure al most Of the resorts frequent
cd by local members Of the shotgun
brigade. The majority Of hunters on
the marshes around the bay had to be
content with small strings, while con-
ditons took q decided turn for the
worse In the Los Banos Newman and
Gustine country in the san Joaquin val
ley. where shooters have had every
thing their own way during the greater
part Of the current season
The hocks that had been flying about
the Suisun and Sonoma marshes some
weeks ago continued to hnd natural
food in the overflow areas of the Yolo
basin and the lower Sacramento river,
more 10 their liking than the bait in
the marsh ponds, and while the unat-
1sched scout hunter benefited by this
state OF affairs the gun club members
found themselves practically out Of the
running.
Too much water" was the complaint
or hunters ia some parts OF the san
JOAQUIN valley Pete Ashcroft came up
fr0m Gustine during the week and eX-
plained his desertion of the hunting
grounds by declaring that shooting was
TOO strenuous under existing conditions
10 ind favor with him.
From Newman TO Los BanOs," said
Ashcroft there is entirely too much
water as a result OF the sloughs over
flowing their banks, and while immense
T7oclzs Of ducks are seen ii is almost i'm
POSSIBLE for a shooter TO get within
range of them. and they seem TO have
deserted the preserve ponds altogether.
u might pay a market hunter TO go
after the birds. but from a sportsman's
viewpoint there is no fun in it,
Ashcroft is borne out by statements
Of others, who visited the Gustine
region recently. Walter Woods, Bert
Patrick and two other shooters were
ST Ingomar, four miles from Gustine,
for z days shoot last week and the
quartet made Joint kill OF 65 ducks.
whereas Woods has usually bagged
the limit az this same place heretofore.
There are millions of ducks in the
country around Firebaugh, according
10 report, but conditions seem to be
much the same there as at other points
5n the valley. Doctors Pitres and Bell
lad a fair shoot at the West Side club
during the week and Clarence kolb,
the comedian, left for the same pre-
serve with a party Of friends few
days ago.
There were not many guns on the
east shore Of the lower bay during
the week. Ed KerriSOn was one Of
the few who reached the Alvarado
marsh He shot on the Pastime club
ground and bagged is birds, mostly
spoonbills. Al Shave and II. Lampke
We're also out and they accounted for
is and j ~spoonies' respectively.
Silly Murdock tried at Mount Eden
Thursday and did not get as much as
q shot
Visitors to the Suisun marsh We're
poorly paid for their trouble, results
being slim even on the famous Joyce
island preserves. where the Nolante
and other clubs had fine shooting until
recently. Jim Maynard, Nat Boas, Doc
tors McGettigan and Leonard and Pete
Howard were up 10 the Nolante CLUB
az the first Of the week. They reported
that they had some sport, but IL was
nothing ike what they enjoyed on pre-
vious occasions. J. T. Nichols shot over
the Cook ponds near Cygnus Thursday
and killed IS ducks, teal and II
sp0onbllls.
Lou Cuneo. Ed Bowen, Hen and
Emil .Klevesahl and Fred Hsrrin of
the Lincoln club shot over their pre-
serve near Reclamation on the Sonoina
marsh. They were on the grounds for
two days and got only is birds be-
tween them
The san Pablo bay shore blinds were
found good for fair strings of blue
bills. but there was a scarcity OF can
Nssbaclzs ali week. Jack McGovern,
Jack Carney and Jim Brownlee spent
three days in the vicinity of Sears
point, and the trio were rewarded with
an allotment Of nine bluebills and
few English snipe.
Seven shooters took a weekend out
5nG on the Empire grounds at Elkhorn,
end they found conditions there about
the same as hunters in other places
did.
Quail shooting furnished upland
hunters with fair TO good sport early
in the week, game being plentiful and
weather conditions right for working
with dogs. The Empire club quail
shooters Jared well at Elkhorn in Mon
ferey county, and s. J. and L. c. Prin-
Ele accounted for~fair bags in anbther
part of the county. Gus Gallon and
Fred Glazier tramped over the hills to
p favorite canyon near Hayward in
Alameda county and secured small