Montana labor news., 1944-03-23

long TO the club are given the oppor-
tunity TO hunt. Therefore, we must be
constantly on guard against the growing
menace of privately owned hunting
grounds, private clubs, ETC., which we all
know are the brain-children of the ultra
rich, intended primarily to restrict the
practice of hunting to the favored few.
The unexpected twists and turns which
have been taken by legislation intended
to benefit the sportsmen have often
times, by reason of ill-advised and ill
timed shooting regulations, actually de-
prived those residing within the con-
fines of certain geographical boundaries
of any duck shooting whatsoever. All
of which is of special interest and i'm
mediate concern to duck enthusiasts in
those states designated as the northern
group.
The pursuit Of outdoor recreation dur
ing this time of all-out war is not a
selfish pleasure. It is a clean and health
ful recreation that benefits the individual
mentally and physically, and thus helps
the production of our war materials. 1t
benefits the nation by supplying food
and the by-products that go into the
war industries. It supports those indus
tries and agencies of the federal and
state governments whose responsibility
it is to maintain our woods, streams,
rivers and forests, fields and plains so
+ that all may continue to provide the
necessities of life It is our desire and
+ thought that the opportunity should be
given to the average sportsman to get
some portion of this splendid recreation
in the out-of-doors; therefore, it is the
i purpose of this brief narration to con-
vey to the Wild Life Federation, the
Biological Survey and the Montana Fish
and Game Commission some conception
of what Montana sportsmen have right
to expect and hope to realize through
the cooperation of our game commission
and the Biological Survey.
In the recent past a considerable num-
ber of sportsmen throughout the state
have resisted the efforts of the Biological
Survey to enforce their regulations on
the sportsmen of the state without in
Wtation Or legal authority. While the
aims of the Biological Survey in regards
to conservation of wild life, meets with
the approval Of most sportsmen, their
method of entering the state and the
manner in which they enforce their will
upon its residents has met with general
condemnation.
The trend towards more ducks was
ascribed to an appropriation to the Bio
logical Survey of $2O,0OO,OOO to spend on
a national program Of water fowl re-
storation and to restrictive measures on
hunting Now from places as widely
separated as the Great Slave Lake in
northern Canada and Lake Patzcuaro in
southern Mexico and from every water
fowl concentration point in between
comes the message of the return of the
duck
During the first year or two after com
plete control of open season on migra-
tory waterfowl was taken over by the
Biological Survey. the sportsmen were
tolerant to allow for some experimental
work, but when the same thing hap
pened year after year they have become
thoroughly and justly dissatisfied Usu-
ally the month Of October in Montana
is very mild and with the exception Of
the few waterfowl that are hatched il
the state there is nothing for the sports
men to hunt, as the southern Canadian
provinces have similar weather and there
is no migration to the South After the
first few days shooting, the bird that
were Matched in the state move on
south into closed territory, which opens
at a later date.
Later in November and December
when the early blasts Of winter hit
southern Canada, the migration starts
and the birds move south into Montana
and adjoining states. Even as late as
this, some of the pot holes, lakes and
streams in Montana are still open, there
is plenty of feed and they find they are
safe from the hunter, as the season j;
closed. A carefully supervised check ur
directed by our fish and game commits
sion together with various sportsmen's
clubs reveals the fact that a great many