COLUMBIA - South Carolina wildlife officials say legislation banning new hunting preserves will help them phase out old ones.
Hunters in the state killed more than 8,000 ducks on the preserves, where farm-raised birds are flushed into the paths of waiting guns.
At the preserves, sportsmen can legally kill as many ducks as they want for six months of the year. Duck hunting season only last for about two months, and hunters are limited to six ducks per day.
Preserve operators argue that they provide a service people want. Preserve owner Jimmy Calter says dozens of people visit his Marion County property each week.
Casey Pheiffer of the Humane Society of the United States says South Carolina's ban on new mallard preserves is one of the first she has heard of in the country.
Hunters in the state killed more than 8,000 ducks on the preserves, where farm-raised birds are flushed into the paths of waiting guns.
At the preserves, sportsmen can legally kill as many ducks as they want for six months of the year. Duck hunting season only last for about two months, and hunters are limited to six ducks per day.
Preserve operators argue that they provide a service people want. Preserve owner Jimmy Calter says dozens of people visit his Marion County property each week.
Casey Pheiffer of the Humane Society of the United States says South Carolina's ban on new mallard preserves is one of the first she has heard of in the country.