The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1948-11-04
The Wet..
and the
Hungry
By DON KNOWLES

The feathers have now cleared
away and the upland game birds
and big Cruiser" Mallards are GO
ing their way In peace. Each year
I watch with longing eyes several
large focks Of Mallards who dive
and frisk about in the pond In
back Of my place. I keep one eye
on the calendar and the other on
those Mallards. Z
This year, spent several hours
grubbing sage brush and construct
ing blind from which to at least
scare the unsuspecting birds. That
day arrived this year, as you
know, with the shooting time at
noon. Not being able to leave my
job to interrupt the daily lunch
of these fine birds, I sent out a
couple of friends (not figuring
that they would have any luck at
that time of day anyway. Those
hunters were Smart and did bag
six nice ducks, but not my NAL
lards, for they were smarter and
stuck down in federal territory.
They never came back until this
morning, November LIST, and there
they were Il counted 'em) q big
Mallards Haunting their backs
on an empty blind.
It narrows down to the fact that
] believe, that like all the world
population, even the ducks are
improving in intelligence (some
foreign nations excluded. I'm in
favor Of approaching Joe to send
over some of those ducks from be-
hind the iron curtain who are
perhaps unfamiliar with seasons,
game laws and blinds.
Two boys, land didn't get their
names,) dropped out to Albright's
ranch the other morning, placed
out a dozen decoys (hand made),
crawled behind a tumble weed
and brought a whole flock of
honkers down into range where,
with sixteen gage guns and num-
Der six shot, they forced two IL
Founders into a fatal spin. They
were on their first goose hunt and
had reached the age of fourteen
and thirteen respectively. So for
the next ten years we may add
two new goose hunters to the
tribe.
From Olympia, we have reports
that the Washington State Game
Department has since 194S estab-
lished an unusually fine record of
construction. Work of the depart
ment has included the building Of
new game farms at Spokane, Lew
IS County, WILDLY Island, Ellens-
burg and Methow Valley and the
Of new hatcheries at
Eel Springs in Mason county, Puy.
allup and on the San Poll River.
These new facilities are Of ex-
IRENE importance in the produc-
hon Of both pheasants and fish, /
and they have enabled the game
department to lead the nation IL.
the production Of Chinese Pleas
ants and to have a place on top Of
the list in the production Of fish
for stocking our lakes and streams.
Now let's take a lesson from the
middle west pheasant country and
q hen in the daily limit
OF pheasants, SO that we may have
fertile eggs for them to set ON.
This summer, on only ten acres
which were uncultivated, found
four nests full Of infertile pheas-
ant eggs. In other words, we need
more ROSTERS and less hens in
order to have good shooting.
Autos have killed number Of
chulkars along the highway be-
tween Ellensburg and Yakima,
Game Supervisor Fred Arsdol has
informed the Game department.
The birds are becoming fairly nu-
merous in several areas Of East ;,
ern Washington, under the watch
full eyes Of the game department,
which hopes that an open season
on them may be established In
some early future year.