378 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:9— Dec, 1919 



give it up and seem to look forward just as eagerly to the next 

 year's shooting, for there is no other sport to be compared with deer 

 stalking in the autumn woods in the estimation of sportsmen. 



Wise laws passed for deer protection have yielded good results 

 more quickly than the most sanguine could have hoped. The laws 

 allow the hunting of deer only at a certain season in the fall and 

 then for only a few weeks. Schuyler Mathews says, "A short time 

 ago there were many complaints coming from farmers, in Vermont 

 and New Hampshire because the deer had made some havoc in the 

 cornfields. I don't know how much of an excuse such complaints 

 were to secure a modification in the strict game laws of both states, 

 but I suspect the average farmer was anxious to get a better chance 

 at a deer. At present the laws are so comprehensive and effectual 

 that the deer has a chance at the farmer, a fact of such slight conse- 

 quence that I think we have no sufficient reason to regret it," 



It is said that in some parts deer are really making decided 

 nuisances of themselves by foraging on the farmers' crops. Of this 

 another writer says, "I trust it is not a far look ahead to the time 

 when it will be true of them where I live. When I see them enjoy- 

 ing all the splendid freedom of wind and sky over the brown pas- 

 tures or bounding away with tails in the air, I feel that of all the 

 creatures driven away by the early settlers — no other could be so 

 welcome a returner as the wild deer — even if he does prove in a 

 way destructive." 



Venison is most palatable and is highly valued for food by the 

 natives of the countries inhabited by deer. Mathews tells of 

 early days (1867) in the Adirondacks when there was little choice 

 of meats at the hotels and camps; there being only pork and veni- 

 son. On this occasion the bill of fare was like a delightful "theme 

 with variations" — thus: Breakfast, Venison-roast, broiled or 

 fried. Dinner, Venison, fried, broiled or roast. Supper, the same. 

 Later in 1887 on another trip thru the Adirondacks, he found no 

 such word as venison on an elaborate menu with the picture of a 

 deer at the top. At the present time it is usually served during the 

 hunting season — in plenty at certain hotels, — that is, it is then 

 served under the name of venison. However I have heard a rumor 

 on difl'erent occasions that at certain places — at almost any time 

 of the year — one by ordering plain "roast beef" one is served with 

 probably the finest "roast beef" he had ever yet tasted. How- 

 ever, in my opinion, the law is not violated half as much as some 

 people think, for there are ever watchful guides in the woods who 



