The danger that all those who essay to shoot ducks may, by the conduct
of these two classes, acquire a general and unmitigated reputation for
persistent slaughter, cannot be contemplated without sadness. It is
therefore not particularly reassuring to recall the fact that our
countrymen seem just now to be especially attracted by the recital of
incidents that involve killing,--whether it be the killing of men or any
other living thing.
It is quite probable that the aggregation of all duck hunters in one
general group cannot be at once remedied; and the expectation can hardly
be entertained that any sub-classification now proposed will gain the
acceptance and notoriety necessary for the immediate exoneration of
those included within this group who are not in the least responsible
for the sordid and sanguinary behavior of either the market shooter or
the dead shot. These innocent ones comprise an undoubted majority of all
duck hunters; and their common tastes and enjoyments, as well as their
identical conceptions of duty and obligation, have drawn them together
in delightful fraternity. By their moderate destruction of duck life
they so modify the killing done by those belonging to the classes
already described, that the aggregate, when distributed among the entire
body of duck hunters, is relieved from the appearance of bloodthirsty
carnage; and they in every way exert a wholesome influence in the
direction of securing a place for duck hunting among recreations which
are rational, exhilarating and only moderately fatal.