FEEDING WILD DUCK.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 72, 28 April 1930, Page 9

FEEDING WILD DUCK.

W. S. M. COCKERILL.

-■a (To the Editor.) Sir,-r-^hout ,4 month ago, wild duck is&re veiy plentiful . on r the Tangoio •fa^ron. • A few xvei'-e to he seerx on ,the Esk ■ river axxd it was not -at all nncpmmon to see .the' grey~cTifek numhers on and ahout the- swamp at the northern end of the inner haihour, near Bay View; Since then, however, the ducks appear to have; gone from Tangoio and have steadily increased in numhers a'bout the swamp, near Bay View. On Saturday, while passing a duck hide, immedrately opposite Mr Kernsley's residence on the WestshoreVay 'View road, I noticed quite 300 duck . feeding around this hide. I waded out and, to my amazeinent, found that a large qpantity of grain— - wheat and oats or harley— had been liberally bi-oadeasted within shooting disfance of this hide. I do not know who ei'ected this liide", .'but I do know that his conception of sport is very different from mine. It is only fair to mention tlxat Mr Kernsley has nothing to do with it. The birds have, no doubt, been enticed to this _ sportsman's ( P) stand hy . systematic and liberal feeding. Might I .suggest to the one who occupies the "stand" on May 1 , to wait until the birds assemble for. their morning meal to refrain from taking action until all . their heads.are down and their tails up and then' to liurl a plug of gelignite in tlxeir midst. No, sir, "the whole 'thing, to my njind, is most unsportsmanlike. I might say that I commnnicated with the Acclimatisation Society to ascertain whether such practices were permissihle, but I was mformed that ( there was no law or regulation prohi'biting it, hut I was pleased to learn that the society did not appxuve of such things. The society can declare "open" and "closed" season, it determines the lixnitatian of the season and the "htxg." Does it not seem odd that it cannot make a regulation whereby this "fowl-yard" method of slaughtei'ing wild duck can for the future _ be prevented? Apologising for taking so much of the valued space. — I am, etc.,

Eskdale, April 28, 1930.