The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-03-10
NO SPRING SHOOTING
Ducks Should Never B. Shot After
January

Ducks Should Never Be- Shot After
January |
All authorities on matters OF sports
manship agree that there should De
no spring shooting. Prof. w. w.
Cooke of the L. S. Biological Survey
the government expert on the distrl-
hutton and migration of birds, says
that fall shooting of wild fowl should
cease at the end of the fall mlgra-
tion No true sportsman would think
of shooting a grouse or a guam alteI
the severe weather of winter mas SET
II. 1t is now generally recognized
that these birds have enough TO 90
at that season to withstand the IN
clement weather and their natural
enemies. and that shooting during the
colder winter months is too destruc-
tive TO be allowed. Nevertheless
many people who would not XIII an
INLAND game bird in January or Fen.
ruarv will continue the shooting Oh
wild fowl at that season. 1t Is 'rue
saving that when the day begins 10
lengthen. the cold begins 10 strehs
then" In ordinary seasons IN New
england the ponds and rivers begin 10
freeze in December, and practically
all the wild fowl that remain in New
England have been driven to the sea
nv the first OF January After this
! date all shooting should stop.
wild ducks are in the best condit-
/ ion as food when they are feeding III
I fresh water. When they are driven
! TO the salt water fats and to the
! mouths Of tidal rivers TO feed they
: deteriorate rapidly If the fats are
iced nm they not only grow tishy IN
flavor but very poor in flesh and are
,pt;t for market. When the ponds
r;vers and flats are covered with lct
! most Of the fresh water fowl nave
/ diaiculty in getting water enough 10
drink and they must resort to open
spring holes in the ponds or suher
from thirst. If they are driven 10
the salt water by gunners during DAY
liobt they can come In to drink only
at night. In cold weather 1t is Gus
tomarv for eunners to lie concealed
near open holes where ducks come
in to drink or to feed.
Alexander Wilson. author or the
American ORTHODOXY tells OF great
numbers of ducks that were killed
a. an omen spot in the ice. Even the
diving ducks like the old squaws are
sometimes. greatly reduced by starNa,
tion and cold during unusually cola
seasons. AT such times starving
birds become reckless. George Ii
Nackay states in the AUX that dur
inc the winter of .,oS when the sea
about Nantucket was covered WIN
ice two men covered themselves WIZ
sheets and lay down on the ice pc
side crack near a jetty on the nortl
shore and there killed with hshins
poles about sixty old squaws IN III
lie over an hour They found on eS
omining the ducks that they were
vaneless. except for their feathers
owing to their emaciated condition
wild fowl were obliged to go to TN
hills of Nantucket during that WIN
ter and feed on dry grass
During this and other severe F'h
tars many wild ducks have beei
found dead on the ice. one guhhe
near Boston fired both barrels INTO
gock of 200 black ducks, killing eleN
on and found them 20 be only ski
and homes. Oftentimes wild fowl ar
So nursued during the fall that the.
on INTO the winter in poor CONDITION
and they should have the late
months of the winter and the sprln
in which to rest and recuperate 10
; the time of reproduction. .,
= IffFH (rIlnnRl
editor Of Forest & Stream, a Ne'
England duck,hunter of many year
exnerience. says that ducks Shout
NOT he shot after January first, b'
cause many of them mate in Januar
and February and in the followln
months are preparing for the nestln
-. duties of the early summer II
! saws that he learned his lesson 0
the subject in the hard winter OF lS'
7e flock of 200 or 800 black duck
came to an open spring and there
shot two or three as they came
and prepared to have great sport OF
S he found the birds to be mere mas
of feathers and bones, for IN
muscles had so shrunk away froi
> starvation that 1t seemed hardly pc
: sible for the birds to fly Wild loV
y shot at this season in New Englan
n bring the gunner very little revenui
', even If they are not refused by u
, marketmen. Numbers of birds I'M
,, have been shot along the north Alta
. tic coast at this time have been co
demned as unfit for food.
Edward Howe Forbush,
= Agent National Asso. oil Auuuoo
~ Societies