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Ma nagjing
the Marsh:
A History of Two
Horicol Marsh
Shooting Clubs
By Rober t G. Personius
  Waterfowl hunting long has been one of America's
favorite past imes. Considerable effort has gone into
the manage ent of waterfowl resources to perpetuate
this traditio al shooting sport, so that today ducks
and geese exist in sufficient numbers to provide
hunting over most of the continent.
  Protecting this valuable renewable natural resource
has required strict control of the harvest and preser-
vation of ha bitat. True, the flocks of today are small
in comparison to the hordes of birds the colonists
saw, but mo t waterfowl have been protected against
extinction-tlhe fate of the heath hen and the passenger
pigeon. The private and public action that stopped
the human onslaught against waterfowl took place
not too long ago.
  During the transitional period between exploitation
and conservation of waterfowl two private duck
hunting clubs operated on Wisconsin's Horicon
Marsh. From   1883 until about 1920, these clubs
leased the hinting rights on and 'managed" fourteen
thousand acr es of what are now the state and federal
portions of t his reflooded marsh. The Diana Shooting
Club leased about five thousand acres of the southern
part of the  arsh (corresponding to the present state
area), and -he Horicon Shooting Club, about nine
thousand ares of the northern portion (the present
federal area ). The clubs each paid one hundred dol-
lars a year for a twenty-five-year lease. The area they
Members of the Horicon Shooting Club prepare to go duck
hunting. In the absence of state or federal hunting regula-
tions, club management served to preserve waterfowl from
extinction.
Robert G. Personius is manager of the Horicon
National Wildlife Refuge.
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