POOR SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1434, 8 May 1912, Page 8

POOR SPORT.

LITTLE SHOOTING IN WELLINGTON DISTRICT. . A PIGEON PIiOTEST. From inquiries made among those interested in game shooting, the present season, which opened on .May 1, promises to be the. poorest in the hisiory of Wellington district. "It's no use disguising the fact," said one gentleman, "there K precious little to shoot this side of Waikauao on (he one coast and j'oiit herston on tlie other. Ducks are Ihe sole exception, and even I hey are beyond the reach, of the cily man. There are a good many on the' Wairarapa Lake, but so far the. lake has lieen .rattier high to get. the lust ro-iillK 11. has been difficult in approach, as Ilie water is (oo high about (lie shore rushes to get close enough for effective shooting. There were same guns out on the lake after midnight on the first, but 1 don't think Ihey got many, 1 heard of one man who got sixteen on Ilie lake one morning." News from tlie Waikanao stales aiat Field's lagoons are biaek with ducks this year, but that place is a sanctuary. 'J lie | worst of it is that the ducks, stupid as (hoy arc at times, soon discover the fact, and, instead of spreading, malic- the lagoons their home. Quail are exceedingly scarce througiioiit the district. This is attributed largely to tho increase of ground, vermin—stoats, ferrets, and wea.-els. There is Intie doubt that the almost total disappearance of ground game in Ilie Wellington district has been brought about by the introduction of these pests, and the sooner a price is put: upon their lioac,s, and thej are. rooted out, the better for sport. Another nuisance which is making us prepuce felt in some districts is the opossum- Onossums are pretty numerous round about Paraparaumn, where they have not oiilv been guilty of committing depredations in the orchards, but are said now to be destroying (lie palms in the l.usli l).v , rali % J'£ succulent hearts of the trees. .1. ca to in the d'strict wish lo know iihon tl.e 'possum-shooting I scn ' on . is , l ° i or ;i"' u: tho.v want very bifliy to shoot tl>< .ot if that were possible. "Pheasants—there does not seem, to be one in the districts," said one sportsman. "Ground vermin again! ihey are so lain now in Wellington district that when a man gets one lie stiiiis it, not foi table, but for show. This is a fact. , A. big stag has been roaming the_ \\ aikanae hinterland, and tho tale oi his-points-has excited the cupidity ot Ue local sportsmen, but none of them ha*,e li»du able to secure (lie head, He was last seen in the neighbourhood of Reikornngi. il'lie.v fn'c calling him '1 owc'lka." . ~ Sportsmen aTe very indignant over the action of the Minister in closing {.own on pigeons. One gentleman interested m this phase of sport said: "The Minister has closed the season for pigeons on the represcntaf ions ivhlcli are said io have been made to him. I have not heard, nor has ho given any particulars, as to ■ what tha:-e representations were, why they were made, and by wirom. I hear that even tho local Acclimatisation Society was_ not consulted in tho matter. The position, is this: Every third season is a close season for ■ pigeons. Last season only lasted a month, this year shooting has been prohibited, and next season is tho automatic close season,' so that in three years we have hud one month to shoot, pigeons. I know pigeons are getting scarce, but they are tict going to increase appreciably by closing the seasons. The pigeon is becoming scarcer because of the advance of civilisation. They follow the feed and as the. bush disappears they are driveji back and back, and become fewer in numbers. If Ilie Minister closed down on pigeons for ten years and settlement went on and the bush came down in tlie district as lias been the case during the past ten years, the birds would not increase. We are being arbitrarily deprived of pigeon pic by the whim of a Minister who does not understand that closer settlement is tlm big >:ipfon declinator."