.■Bisk their Lives i* Break tip
the Illegal duck hunting Backet
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By C. S. van Dresser
IN Uncle Sam’s Bureau of Biological
Survey an attempt is being made to
retire field men of the Game Man
agement Division engaged in law
enforcement when they reach the age of
62, because of the hazards of the work
If a Federal game agent has served many
years rounding up illicit market duck
hunters and other game law violators,
the chances are that, if he hasn’t been
killed, he has been shot at and beaten
up enough times to crack his nerve and
so sap his physical strength that he no
longer is able to meet the strenuous re
quirements of his job.
Consider Agents Roahen and Charl
ton. A few winters ago these two Fed
eral men were patroling the Sawgamon
river bottoms in Illinois. They suspected
that several commercial duck shooters
were plying their trade in that desolate
swamp region. As they made their slow
trek through the thickets, they heard
several shots nearby, and proceeded in
the direction of the firing. Soon they
saw a hunting coat hung on a bush As
they searched it in an effort to discover
the identity of the owner, they heard a
slight noise behind them Wheeling
sharply the game agents saw two men
with leveled shotguns.
“Take your hands off that coat and
get to hell out of here if you want to
live!” was the command
The Federal men dropped the garment
and started backing slowly away, their
hands in the air. When they were but
25 yards from the criminals they
jumped behind trees and demanded that
the men submit to arrest. Their answer
was a blast of gun fire which the offi
cers attempted to return.
Evidently the lawbreakers were
“hunting for game wardens,” a not un
known practice of such hard bitten
characters, for they were using buck
shot on the officers, whose ammunition
consisted of the standard number 4
duck shot. The hunters made their geta
way, apparently unhurt, after wound
ing the two officers seriously Roahen
and Charlton were shot through the
face, chest and lower body, the heavy
buckshot having penetrated their hunt
ing togs, while their lighter bird shot
was incapable of inflicting any wound
through the thicfk clothing of the would
be killers
Today, Roahen is still with the Bio
logical Survey, permanently crippled
Charleton had to be retired from active
service The gunmen were never cap
tured.
Although affrays such as this are not
everyday experiences with the field
men, those officers constantly run
dangers from out and out murderers,
batik robbers, kidnapers and other
criminals. For this reason: Today the
Federal Game Management men usually
go about their duties in uniforms which
resemble those of border patrolmen and
state police. To a fugitive from justice,
a uniform is a uniform, and he is just
as likely as not to shoot at sight of an
officer.
INDICATIVE of the hazards /un by
A game law enforcement officers is the
case of a warden in the state of Wash
ington. On his regular tour of duty he
ran across a youth who apparently was
shooting Chinese pheasants out of sea
son.
The officer merely walked across the
field toward the youth, intending to
question him. When he was within a
few yards of the suspect, the young
man raised his double-barreled shotgun
and fired without warning. He practi
cally blew the officer’s head off. killing
him instantly.
Later the murderer was apprehended
and sentenced to prison.
In various parts of the country, the
market duck hunters flourish. The thou
sands of lagoons and stream-mouths of
Chesapeake Bay and the eastern Mary
land shore are ideal for them for it is
difficult for game agents to locate them
In this thinly populated region, ducks
have been killed in great numbers by
guns of tremendous size and by means
of so-called “armadas,” or batteries of
from 5 to 30 guns, going off simultane
ously This practice has been fairly well
wiped out, but a description of the op
erations is interesting
The huge guns, veritable cannons
from 8 to 12 feet in length and capable
of firing an immense quantity of shot,
are mounted on the prows of small boats
At dusk, when the ducks return from
open water to some sheltered lagoon the
boat is cautiously poled toward the flock
and when within range, the giant shot
gun is fired. So unwieldy are these
mammoth firearms, that it is necessary
to aim the boat, not the gun. The recoil
will knock the craft back as much as
10 feet; one shot will net from 50 to
150 ducks
Usually the ducks are sold to meal
markets in Baltimore. Here is an ex
ample of how a ring of illegal wild duck
marketers, wnich operated in eastern
Maryland, was broken up:
An agent of the Biological Survey
was suspicious of a certain butcher
shop in Baltimore. He gained the con
fidence of the proprietor and purchased
a few canvasback ducks He later mad*
arrangements for a number of duck?
and quail to be delivered to Washing
ton, D. C., tipping off Survey head
quarters when a truck, carrying the
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Wildfowl racketeers use over
sized guns, such as this, mounted
on prows of boats. One shot may
kill as many as 150 ducks.
contraband, was to arrive. The vehicle
was intercepted upon entering the na
tion’s capital and the driver arrested It
developed that the chauffeur was igno
rant of the nature of the load he was
Carrying, and therefore was not charged
for violation of the game laws. The
market owner, on the other hand, was
palpably guilty, and sought to cover up
his source of supply by giving as the
man who did the illegal shooting, the
name of a person who had been dead
for two years. The case is not closed
yet, for the Biological Survey hopes to
learn during the current duck season
the true identity of the hunter who sup
olied the Baltimore market.
One step, taken last year, will dc
much to protect the game and song bird?
whose habitat is Texas, New Mexico
Arizona, and southern California, ac
cording to the Biological Survey That
step was the signing of a treaty in June
of 1936 between Mexico and the United
States to stop the shipment of live bird?
Photos troni U b lliological Survey
The illegal duck hunter would like
very much to train his big guns on a
flock of wildfowl such as this, for 40
or 50 of these blue-winged teal would
net a nice hit of money when sold to
a crooked meat dealer.
from Mexico into the United States.
Before the signing of the treaty, it
was possible to trap quail in Mexico
and transport them to the United States.
Unsportsmanlike hunters and commer
cial shooters trapped game birds by the
thousands in the United States If they
were not actually caught in the act. there
was almost no possibility of arrest and
conviction, for if a game warden came
upon a truck load of quail, the owner
simply stated that he trapped them in
Mexico, and what was the officer going
to do about it 0
r PODAY, eveiy consignment of trapped
quail must bear a permit from the
Mexican and American governments—
the one from Mexico to allow the quail
to leave that country, and the one from
Washington to permit them to cross the
International Line. Thus if a person is
caught with a flock of wild quail in
cages and no permits, he goes to iail
and is fined. Trapping of game birds
is, of course, prohibited .in the United
States.
The Biological Survey field men co
operate with state game and fish com
missions in arresting breakers of state
game laws The state officers, in turn,
frequently aid the Survey men in ar
resting and convicting a commercial
migratory waterfowl hunter.
The following is a splendid example
of the correlation of three law enforce
ment agencies:
On one of the main highways in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan a Biologi
cal Survey man was walking to pay a
friendly visit to the nearest state police
station. Suddenly a coupe of popular
make appeared. For some reason the
Survey man was suspicious of that car.
He stopped the car and became still
more suspicious. He did not have the
authority to search the car, so he had
to let the driver and his companion
proceed The Federal man then hur
ried to the police station and told bis
officer friend of his ideas. Immediately
the two jumped into a state patrol car
Within a few miles they overtook the
auto which was going over the speed
limit. Now the state police had the
authority to stop the vehicle. Upon
search, seven deer were found in the
rumble seat. The two prisoners were
thereupon turned over to the Michigan
game authorities, who proceeded to
prosecute.