Page 334 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

312 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
waters of the eastern United States, I offer this report from a trustworthy agent sent to Currituck Sound, North Carolina, in March, 1911.
I beg to submit the following information relative to the number of wild ducks- and geese shipped from this market and killed in the waters of Back Bay and the upper or north end of Currituck Sound, from October 20th to March 1st, inclusive.
Approximately there were killed and shipped in the territory above named, 130,000 to 135,000 wild ducks and between 1400 and 1500 wild geese. From Currituck Sound and its tributaries there were shipped approximately 200,000 wild ducks.
You will see from the above figures that each year the market shooter exacts a tremendous toll from the wild water fowl in these waters, and it is only a question of a short time when the wild duck will be exterminated, unless we can stop the ruthless slaughter. The last few years I have noted a great decrease in the number of wild ducks;someofthespeciesarepracticallyextinct. Ihavesecuredtheaboveinformation from a most reliable source, and the figures given approximately cannot be questioned..
The effect of the passage of the Bayne law, closing the greatest Ameri- can market against the sale of game was an immediate decrease of ftdly fifty per cent in the number of ducks and geese slaughtered on Currituck Sound. The dealers refused to buy the birds, and one-half the killers werecompelledtohanguptheirgunsandgotowork. Theduck-slaugh- terers felt very much enraged by the passage of the law, and at first were inclined to blame the northern members of Currituck ducking clubs for the passage of the measure; but as a matter of fact, not one of the persons blamed took any part whatever in the campaign for the new law.
The Unfairness of Spring Shooting.—The shooting of game birds inlatewinterandspringistobementionedonlytobecondemned. Itis grossly unfair to the birds, outrageous in principle, and most unsports- manlike,nomatterwhetherthelawpermitsitornot. Whyitisthat any state like Iowa, for example, can go on killing game in spring is more thanIcanunderstand. Ihaveendeavoredtofindareasonforit,inIowa, but the only real reason is:—" The boys want the birds!"
I think we have at last reached the point where it may truthfully be saidthatnownogentlemanshootsbirdsinspring. Ifthepleaismade that "if we don't shoot ducks in the spring we can't shoot them at all!" then the answer is—if you can't shoot game like high-minded, red- blooded sportsman, donH shoot it at all! A gentleman can not afford to barter his standing and his own self-respect for a few ducks shot in the springwhenthebirdsaregoingnorthtolaytheireggs. Andthemanwho insists on shooting in spring may just as well go right on and do various other things that are beyond the pale, such as shoot quail on the ground, shoot does and fawns, and fish for trout with gang hooks.
There are no longer two sides to what once was the spring shooting
question. Evenamongsavages,thebreedingperiodofthewildcreatures
is under taboo. Then if ever may the beasts and birds cry "King's !
excuse" Ithasbeenpositivelystatedinprintthathigh-classfoxhounds have been known to refuse to chase a pregnant fox, even when in full ^dew.