The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-09-17
PASSING OF THE GAME BIRD.

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at least partially opened. as II will be
the 10th of September before the
sportsman is legally entitled to bag
water FOWL. And speaking OF game
olrds the outlook for longevity in the
game bird family is not very bright
Invention has largely contributed to-
ward the annihilation of the game
oird' and with all the protective laws
formulated and enforced these birds
are gradually disappearing. and the
time will probably come when they
Will be as the wild pigeon, once SC
enormously plentiful in the Mississ-
ippl valley, extinct. OF course the set
tilng up OF the country has produced
more hunters, driven the birds further
Dack into the hills and the timber, en-
croached upon the water TOWN breed
ing grounds and thus contributed to
reduce the bird census, but it is the
more modern means of killing and
getting speedily to the places where
BIRDS are to be found that has cre-
ated the greatest mortality in bird
ranks. Within the memory of at least
few OF US, the muZzle loading shot
gun was used for the purpose of hunt
ing birds. The carrying and killing
capacity OF the muzzle leaders was
Just as effective as the breach loader,
but where the niuZzle loader could be
used but once breach loader can be
used half dozen times, which cur
tails the chance of bird life at the
same ratio. Then in the old days when
hunter, or squad of them, took the
war path they either walked or drove
and in either case they could only
cover limited amount of ground in
day and could only shoot over a
small territory With the auto as a
means of conveyance a hunter is
hardly limited as to distance. To cover
90 or 100 miles is as nothing to the
hunter travelling by car, and it is a
sharp bird, swift on the wing, that can
keep out of reach of the auto-convey-
ed hunter armed with the modern
breach loader. Under such conditions
with the increased owners of shot
guns, there Is little wonder that the
game bird is annually growing less in
number and wilder in habits. Right
here in this county there is ample evil
dence of the gradual disappearance
of game birds. There are people here
now who can remember when the hills
and valleys were literally alive with
grouse, pheasants and prairie chick
ems. Twenty years ago we have shot
over some of the ground between Oro-
Vile and LOomis when it seemed that
flocks of birds could be flushed every
few hundred yards, and vast flocks
at that. There are residents in Oro-
Vile today who can remember when
they could go to the river and lake
shore, now within the town limits. in
the fall of the year and have d!l of the
duck shooting they wanted. Now in
season, if duck shows itself in flight
along the river ones ears are greeted
with a fusillade that sounds like hot
skirmish, and if that biri breaks
through the barrage with his life he is
playing in the best of luck The desire
for hunting cannot be eliminated, as
the majority of Americans are keen
sportsmen and dearly enjoy being out
with a gun, and hence hunters will al
ways be with us so long as there IS
anything to hunt but every hunter who
possesses the real spirit OF The sports
man should carefully res.ii,, himself
to the bag limit provided Dv Lew and
aid the authorities so far as is in their
power to protect game birds during
the closed season. BY doing this the
day of the extinction of the game bird
may be postponed.