Show 281 taking for food and sport During the 1890’s ducks are said to have been hunted on a commercial scale and sold for as little as a dollar a dozen Kills of as many as 325 ducks in a day were not considered "satisfactory" by certain of these commercial "sportsmen"’ In the early 1900 ’s an exclusive "million dollar" gun club was organized with headquarters near the mouth of the Bear river to capitalize on the abundance of ducks and geese found there The club built an excellent clubhouse a three and mile dike one-h- alf canals spillways and "hides" to accomodate its members In all the club owned and fenced an 18000 acre tract of which 3000 acres were created into ponds and marshes® local enthusiasm was first aroused in the interests of the waterfowl when the duck sickness botulism killed thousands of ducks during the 1920 's and threatened to exterminate the duck population of the Great Salt Lake region Actual counts showed that during some yearB as many as 250000 ducks died during the months of August and September® Largely because of agitation created by sportsmen and others interested in preserving the waterfowl the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge finally came into being 4 WPA Writers Project Utah 5 Loc 6 Utah Fish and 278 A Guide to the cit Game Bulletin October 1945 2 State |