The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1910-12-24
AEROPLANE HUNT
OPPOSED BY
SPORTSMEN

SpOrLSmen IN Call1OTnld, mas niiSeSh "
letter to the board of fish and game
commissioners v%oicing the protest OF
sp~ortsment against the hunt to be un-
dertaken with an a~eroplane by Lieut..
Paul Beck, detailed by the government
to supervise military experiments dur
ing the aviation meet next January.
These officials propose to shoot the
game in a daredevil fight to be made
in the Sacramento Valley on a date to
be chosen on New Years day and the
opening of the Tanforan meet. Scot
ford will take his gun on board a
Wright machine driven by Roy Knab-
enshue, and Lieut.. Beck will try to eg
his game from a Curtiss aeroplane driv-
en- by R. R. Young.
Originally started as a "sportins
proposition" by Scotford, who though.
he was awaiting too high for the daring
birdmen to follow, it was promptly
brought to earth by Knabenshue anu
Young, who Immediately agreed to
make the flight eff Scotford has the
nerve"
The terms in which the acceptance
was couched deprived Scotford of the
nerve to refuse, and the flight to take
place in the Sacramento valley will be
announced within the next few days,
as soon as the details of the course,
landing and starting points, ETC., have
been decided upon.
Dolliver claims that to permit such n
hunt will establish a very dangerous
precedent, in view of the rapid I'M
provement of the aeroplane, and that
such a hunt can easily be construed as a
VIOLATED, in letter as well as principle,
of section 626n of the penal code, pro-
hibiting the hunting of game birds
from motor boats.
An aeroplane, he points out, is com
monty described as a boat or ship of the
air. 1t is propelled through a fluid
medium by motor, and with the speed
and ease of control that have been de-
/, veloped in its recent trials, the flying
machine, he asserts, can easily become
the most devastating weapon available
to persons of the ''game hog type.
Nh. Deliver IS letter to the state fish
and game commission reads as follows
Gentlemen: 1t has been publicly
advertised that a goose hunting trip
will be made by men in flying machines.
nh o-4o.e nil - ofhar vuoPdc mr.
sue and shoot the geese from aeroplanes
or biplanes.
"This proceeding is not only un-
sportsmanlike, but is, in my opinion,
clearly a violation of the law.
"Section 626n of the penal code says:
Every person who, in the state Of
California, shoots at any kind of wild
duck from any launch or other boat
propelled by steam, gasoline, naptha,
electricity OF other power while sail
launch or boat is in motion, is guilty of
a misdemeanor.'
cit is, of course, implied that the
boat or launch be aioat in water when
engaged in the prohibitive hunting. Had
flying machines been developed to the
present stage of efficiency when the act
was passed they would no doubt have
been included in the list of now Illegal
methods of killing wild fowl.
"The use of a flying machine for
hunting is clearly on the same lines as
pursuit by power boat, and therefore
within the scope of the statute, and the
acquiescence of sportsmen in the intro
duction of air ships as instruments for
the slaughter of game is apt to create
future trouble for game protectionists.
"Aside from the rapidity of killing
and the means of securing game hog
dividends, both water and air motor
propelled vessels or machines are es-
sentially game scarers. The effect that
power boats had in driving ducks and
other water fowl from certain resorts
was one of the prime reasons for the
passage of the law. This also may be
reasonably urged against the flying ma
chine goose-slaughtering foray.
Gas a sportsman and angler for
many years past, who has conscientious
ly and fairly observed, not only the
state laws for the protection of fish
and game, but has been a staunch up
holder of the ethics of sportsmanship,
l wish to file a protest against the con-
summation of these proposed unfair
maneuvers."
Lieut.. Paul w. Beck and F. w. Scot
ford left yesterday afternoon to siga
up the final contracts with the profess
sional aviators who are TO take part
in the big meet to be held at Tanforan
in January. The financial support
which was assured at the meeting in