Introductory 21 



of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer and 

 ducks and prairie-chicken to rot after he has 

 slain them. Such a man is wholly obnoxious; 

 and indeed, so is any man who shoots for the 

 purpose of establishing a record of the amount 

 of game killed. To my mind this is one very 

 unfortunate feature of what is otherwise the 

 admirably sportsmanlike English spirit in these 

 matters. The custom of shooting great bags of 

 deer, grouse, partridges, and pheasants, the keen 

 rivalry in making such bags, and their publica- 

 tion in sporting journals, are symptoms of a spirit 

 which is most unhealthy from every standpoint. 

 It is to be earnestly hoped that every American 

 hunting or fishing club will strive to inculcate 

 among its own members, and in the minds of the 

 general public, that anything like an excessive 

 bag, any destruction for the sake of making a 

 record, is to be severely reprobated. 



But after all, this kind of perverted sportsman, 

 unworthy though he is, is not the chief factor 

 in the destruction of our game. The professional 

 skin or market hunter, is the real offender. Yet 

 he is of all others the man who would ultimately 

 be most benefited by the preservation of the 

 game. The frontier settler, in a thoroughly wild 

 country, is certain to kill game for his own use. 

 As long as he does no more than this, it is hard 

 to blame him; although if he is awake to his 



