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DUCK WAR ON

^[[Sacramento Bee 9/2/18]]

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Rice Growers Go Over Head of Game Commission

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Appeal to Food Administration for Authorization To Protect Crop From Birds

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WILLOWS (Glenn Co.), September 2.—The rice growers of Superior California who last year lost thousands of dollars due to depredations by ducks are to appeal to the State Food Administration and then to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for immediate relief, thereby going over the head of the State Fish and Game Commission, in order to get action in time to save damage to this year's crop.

This action was decided upon at a meeting of growers from Glenn, Butte, Yolo and Colusa Counties here Saturday afternoon.

Commission's Threats Told.

A declaration that the State Fish and Game Commission has threatened to open up the trespass laws, so hunters can swarm over the rice fields, if the growers put through legislation opening the duck season earlier, were made by several present.

The letting of thousands of ducks rot on the ground after they are killed by farmers, because the Fish and Game Commission will not permit the ducks to be moved, was condemned as "critically wasteful and absolutely pro-German."

Committee Named.

A committee consisting of W. D. Egilbert, San Francisco; Joseph L. Stephens, Sacramento, President of the Pacific Rice Growers' Association; H. O. Jacobson of the Dodge Rice Company, and C. L. Donohoe and William Durbrow of Willows, was named to ask State Food Administrator Merritt to guarantee the rice men the right to protect their crops from the duck menace.

It is expected Merritt will take up the question immediately with the Department of Agriculture, as the Federal laws governing the shooting of ducks and geese are part of a treaty with Canada governing the killing of migratory birds.

Tells of Heavy Damage.

W. D. Egilbert, Chairman of the meeting, stated it is estimated $1,000,000 damage was done to rice by ducks last year, and that geese followed and destroyed a vast amount of valuable pasturage. Ducks damaged rice in shocks also.

"And yet the Fish and Game Commission says it was mudhens," said Egilbert.

Commission Plans Demonstrations.

Egilbert also announced that George Neale of the Commission has notified him the Commission is to hold demonstrations in Superior California of duck-fighting with bombs.

Assemblyman Harry Polsley of Red Bluff also told of extensive damage by the ducks.

Would Minimize Damage.

Ernest Behr, Secretary of the Pacific Rice Growers' Association, who is inclined to minimize the damage done by ducks, but who at the same time is urging the use of bombs to frighten them away, declared the birds had not done one-half of the damage they were supposed to have done. He was practically alone in his stand. He feared freedom in killing ducks would result in shooting of the girds simply for the sport and not to keep them off the rice.

At the same time Behr was strong for asserting the right of the growers to protect their crops. He held also that it would be necessary to open the season early all over the valley. Otherwise the birds would simply be sent from one sport to another.

If the ducks are to be shot, he held, the growers' men should do the shooting, as hunters would tramp down the rice, doing as much damage as the ducks. Last year bombs in one night did more effective work than shotguns in four nights, as the ducks learned to know the sound of the guns.

Says "Poor Man's Ducks Fake."

"Marketing of ducks so as to give the poor man a chance to get them is all a fake," declared Behr. "They would get more by going out with a gun."

Egilbert told how with rockets the birds last year were driven from his place into the Tweed ranch. The Tweeds simply drove them back onto his place. This year rockets, bombs and torches will be tried.

To Spend $2,500.

H. O. Jacobsen of the Dodge Company told how his company is to spend $2,500 this year for searchlights, skyrockets and thousands of rounds of shells. He pointed out the danger of weakening the trespass laws and warned the growers not to open the door to everyone to hunt on their places.

Polsley Tells of Threat.

"The Fish and Game Commission has threatened the growers that if they did not keep the duck season closed as at present it will change the trespass laws to prevent the farmers protecting themselves from hunters," declared Polsley.

"Who made that threat?" demanded Behr, who apparently is taking the view of the commission on the duck problem.

"Neale," was Polsley's answer.

"Neale or Newbert said the hunters would swarm here in such numbers they would affect the integrity of the present trespass laws," was Behr's comment.

Purkitt for Districting.

State Senator Claude F. Purkitt, after telling of damage by ducks on the Tweed ranch, declared the rice-growing counties should be districtized and hunting opened a month earlier. Hunters could be prohibited hunting in marshes to which the ducks are driven from the rice fields until a later period.

"Of course we will miss rice-fed duck dinners at Sacramento if we prohibit gun clubs shooting in the marshes. They were effective," said the Senator.

Purkitt also stated President Frank Newbert of the commission had threatened him with opening up of the trespass laws.

Shame to Allow Ducks to Rot.

Purkitt also declared that if the ducks are shot they should be eaten.

"It is a shame to let paltable food rot in the fields. Lots of ducks were left to rot in the fields last year. One man was arrested for killing ducks to protect his crop."

Purkitt told how ducks spread out their wings in alighting in rice fields and thresh out the rice which they then eat.

Behr didn't care particularly what happened to ducks after they were killed. He feared an early shooting season would be an opening wedge against the game laws.

C. L. Donohoe, attorney, condemned the present game laws as ridiculous. After declaring the damage done by ducks can't be measured he suggested the incorporation of the rice growing sections into a district in which only rice growers could be permitted to shoot ducks.

WASTE OF FOOD PRO-GERMAN.

"We are asked to save food and then we are to let it rot in the fields," declared Donohoe.' "Last year enough ducks rotted in the fields to feed the county. It is criminally wasteful and absolutely pro-German to suggest it."

This remark brought the first real applause of the meeting.

After Polsley urged quick action in asking the Government to change the recent migratory bird laws, Donohoe declared he "didn't care a snap of his fingers for the State Fish and Game Commission and that the growers could take care of that," but pointed out it would be a different matter being tried in a Federal Court in San Francisco before a public which did not know the growers' problems.

Alexander Wetmore, representative of the Biological Survey, sent into Superior California to investigate the duck situation, announced the Chief of the Bureau would be in Sacramento late in September and that his report would be made at that time. He refused to comment on the question at issue.

Colonel A. Hochheimer told of damage done by ducks, and that he would be willing to face any jury on a charge of killing ducks in the protection of crops.

William M. Durbrow, Food Administrator of Glenn County, related how ducks had cleaned up his pasturage.

Stephens Offers Aid.

Joseph H. Stephens of Sacramento, president of the Pacific Rice Growers' Association, offered the services of the association to help solve the situation. He urged a campaign of education and demonstration.

Stephens also announced that arrangements had been made with the Federal Reserve Bank for financing the growers during harvest.

The meeting then took up the question of baling straw and the wage scale for the rice harvest.

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