332 With Rod and Gun in Neiv England 



posed mostly of wild timber land. Bordering upon Canada and New 

 Hampshire, it was the natural refuge of deer from those regions where open 

 seasons prevailed each autumn. Thus it will be seen that the present 

 stock of deer in Vermont originated from two sources, and from them they 

 have spread quite generally throughout the wild and wooded portions of 

 the State. As the deer increased, there came a clamor at each session of 

 the legislature to have the protective law repealed or modified, to give, at 

 least, a short open season annually. The appeal came from two classes. 

 One class represented a type of hunters in the rural districts, who wanted 

 an opportunity to destroy, even as the original stock had been destroyed. 

 They used the same argument as did a more sincere class, who occupied 

 small farms in the rural districts, and occasionally suffered from the depre- 

 dations of the deer in their gardens. As the clamor for an open season 

 grew stronger at each recurring session, accounts of the increasing number 

 of deer became exaggerated, as well as the damages done by them. 

 Reports of deer being seen were very frequent, but it was not taken into 

 consideration that a partially domesticated deer would be seen many times 

 by different persons in different localities. in one day, thus assisting to give 

 an impression of their great abundance. A rigid enforcement of the law 

 for their protection became proportionately more difficult as the animals 

 increased. Convictions for violation of the law in Essex county were prac- 

 tically impossible in the rural districts, owing to public sentiment against 

 the law. In communities where violations occurred, all persons cognizant 

 of them usually shared the venison, and could not disclose without being 

 themselves liable to prosecution. The complaints of damages to crops 

 became more frequent. At the session of the legislature in 1896, the argu- 

 ments before the Committee on Game and Fisheries were so strongly sup- 

 ported by farmers and sportsmen that a law was passed allowing the month 

 of October for an open season, during which time deer with horns might 

 be hunted without dogs. The first time this open season took effect was 

 October 1, 1897. For many years past, reports in the city papers, notably 

 the Sunday editions, have exaggerated the conditions in Vermont as to the 

 abundance of deer. The advent of an open season was the signal for 

 more frequent articles, with proportionately increased exaggeration, if such 

 were possible. The unsophisticated were led to believe that the ravages 

 of deer resembled the grasshopper plague of the west, and that it would be 

 an easy matter to shoot a deer on the first day of the open season. In 

 fact, these exaggerated reports of wild animals in Vermont were not con- 

 fined to deer. Our newspaper reputation, as a paradise for sportsmen, 

 extended across the seas, and such articles as the following, from the 

 Revue Scientifique, of Paris, are a sample of the humorous side of the sub- 

 ject. The article states : 



"The farmers of Vermont (United States) have for some time been 



