Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1954-11-04

OF the water fowl they love tc
hunt. and eat, according TO Z. A
Vaughn, Director OF the State
Game and Inland Fish CommisS
ion.
10 do this all they will have to
do Is 10 cooperate IN a tIy-sWay
WIDE effort Inat is beng made to
reduce serious GRIPPING losses
during the tall hunting season.
Surveys have SHOWN that nun
dreuS Oh thousands OF ducks are
wasted eacn year by GRIPPING IN
the Atlantic tly-aWay. The re-
ductlon OF TINS loss VIII be maze
by the hunters themselves il a.
all, Mi. Vaughn says.
He urges All hunters to enroll
in a Selt-mpoSed campaign to Kill
clearly and recover each anu
every duck that is doWned.
To emphasize the seriousness
of this GRIPPING loss, the Atlanrlc
Waterfowl Council cites facts ana
figures from recent studies by a
number of State conservation de-
partments. They show annual
Gripping losses range from 8 to
So percent, and average 25 per-
cent on a nationwide basis.
These are the figures only for
the birds knocked down in sight
of the observer and not retrieved.
Obviously, the unobsedved birds
, which carried away shot and died
later added substantially to the
total. 1t may wen be that nearly
half again as many blruS are
wasted as are taken home. 4 pos
sible clue to these additional loss
es is found in X-rays studied in
the West, showing 25 to 35 per
cent of the ducks examined carry
ing body shot.
The problem ties down to gun
ming practices. That's why" says
Vaughn, "only cooperation by the
hunters themselves can solve it,"
He lists the following practices
which cause this gripping with
out which you could have better
hunting:
1. Trigger-happy shooting
that business of letting fly Mt
anything that passes even
though you haven't IA good
chance TO kill a bird.
2. Inability to Judge distance.
You've seen fellows with this
trouble try to knock down
severy high flier that came over,
and watch the duck finch but
never fall. Guys who do this
drive out all the ducks in an
area and spoil not only every
one eIse's hunting but their
own too.
3. Poor craftsmanship - the
kind of cunning demonstrated
by the fellow who doesn't prac-
tice shooting until he goes out
ducking and then tried TO get
his shooting eye back on every
bird i'm sight.
4. Inability to recognize there
are limitations i'm the range of
modern shells. The emphasis
on lOng-range loads land the
shell manufacturers must ac-
cept some responsibility for
this, too, with the kind of adj
vertising they have been us
ing) has encouraged too many
people TO try to kill ducks ut
IOng-range beyond the limits
of their own ability TO properly
swing and shoot.
5. Failure to retrieve birds.
Many dOwned birds are lost in
marsh or other heavy vegetation
by the failure of the gunner to
have a dog to retrieve them,
or by his failure TO drop them
i'm spot where they can be re-
covered.
Director Vaughn says the heaV-
TEST gripping losses are shown
by the Council studies to occur in
the early part of the season in
marshes when the vegetation is
most dense. Decoy shooting tends
to reduce the losses when the
hunter fires only at birds in or
over his decoys providing he sets
them at the proper range, But
there are losses, too, in open wa
ter when birds are not killed
clean.
The following code is suggested
by the Atlantic Waterfowl Coun-
ell TO guide cooperating gunners
in their campaign to reduce this
loss:
1. Shoot only at birds al rea-
sOnably close range. When you
hit there, you kill, and when
you miss. you miss clean. Over
decOys, let the birds come in.
Don't try for long range.
2. Shoot only when you can
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