304 ' UPLAND SHOOTING. 



had after having once been captured and then regained its 

 liberty. The law, while protecting game birds in the close 

 season, as against every individual, is as generous in the 

 open season, when it says: "All mankind has, by the 

 original grant of the Creator, the right to pursue and 

 take any fowl or insect of the air, any fish or inhabitant of 

 the water, and any beast or reptile of the field, and this 

 natural right still continues in every individual, unless 

 when it is restrained by the civil laws of the country.' 1 

 Sportsmen, at times, feel bitter at farmers because they 

 will not allow hunting on their premises; but if sports- 

 men would only consider the damage farmers sustain, at 

 times, by reason of the carelessness of hunters and hood- 

 lum boys, they would not blame them for making an 

 iron-clad rule refusing all persons the privilege of shoot- 

 ing in their fields. 



I have seen thoughtless hunters trample down grain, 

 grass, buckwheat, leave open gates and bars, break down 

 fences, and allow their dogs to chase sheep and run after 

 cattle, while the hunters themselves shot indiscriminately 

 where cattle were feeding. It isn' t necessary for a sports- 

 man to show his breeding in the drawing-room alone, for 

 the true sportsman will be as much a gentleman in the 

 field, with the waving fields of grain around him and the 

 blue sky overhead, as witnesses, as if he were in the 

 midst of the most brilliant gathering and under the sur- 

 veillance of the most critical eyes. 



The game of our country is being surely exterminated, 

 and unless we desire the death of the goose which is 

 laying for us the golden egg, the most rigid observance 

 must be made of the enforcement of our game laws. It 

 was but a few years ago that our plains were black with 

 grazing buffaloes; to-day, the bison is a thing of the past 

 butchered in cold blood by thoughtless and heartless 

 men, who- forgot the element of sport that is inherent in 



