Page 170 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

148 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
number near it! The birds can not stand it. Moreover, the best states for ducks and geese have no bag limits on those birds! To-day, on Currituck Sound, for example, the market hunters are kilHng all the waterfowl they can sell. On Marsh Island, Louisiana, one man has killed 369 ducks in one day, and another market gunner killed 430 in one day.
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The automatic and the ' pump ' shot-guns are the favorite weapons
ofthegame-hogwhomakesaspecialtyofgeeseandducks. Itisnoun- common thing for a gunner who shoots a machine gun to get, with one gun,ashighaseightbirdsoutofoneflock. Amanwhohashimselfdone this has told me so.
The Champion Game-Slaughter Case.—Here is a story from California that is no fairy tale. It was published, most innocently, in a western magazine, with the illustration that appears herewith, and in which please notice the automatic shot-gun:
"February 5th, I and a friend were at one of the Glenn County Club's camps. * * Neither of us having ever had the pleasure of shooting over live decoys, we were anxious, and could hardly wait for the sport to com- mence. Onarrivingatthescenewenoticedholeswhichhadbeendugin theground,justlargeenoughforamantocrawlinto. Theseholeswere used for hiding places, and were deep enough so the sportsmen would be entirelyoutofsightofthegaine. Thebirdsaresowildthattomovea finger will frighten them. * *
"The decoys are wild geese which had been crippled and tamed for thispurpose. Theyareplacedinsideofsilknetfenceswhicharelocated oneachsideoftheholesdugforhidingplaces. Thesenetsarethecolor of the ground and it is impossible for the wild geese flying overhead to detect the difference.
"After we had investigated everything the expert caller and owner of the outfit exclaimed: ' Into your holes!'
"Wenoticedinthedistanceaflockofgeesecoming. Ourcallerina few seconds had their attention, and they headed towards our decoys. Soontheyweredirectlyoverus,butoutofeasyrangeofourguns. We were anxious to shoot, but in obedience to our boss had to keep still, and soon noticed that the birds were soaring around and in a short time were within fifteen or twenty feet of us. At that moment we heard the com- mand, 'Punch 'em!' and the bombardment that followed was beyond imagining. Wehadfiredfiveshotsapiece,andfoundwehadbaggedten geese from this one fiock.
"At the end of one hour's shooting we had 218 birds to our credit and were out of ammunition.
"On finding that no more shells were in our pits we took our dead geesetothecampandreturnedwithanewsupplyofammunition. We remainedinthepitsduringtheentireday. Whenthesunhadgone behind the mountains we summed up our kill and it amounted to 4^0 geese!
"The picture shown with this article gives a view of the first hour's