464 With Rod and Gun in New England 



spoken of as ' pothunters,' who care more for the pecuniary return than 

 for the sport. These men are dangerous to the community because they 

 are tempted to shoot before the season opens, when they have a better 

 chance to get the game than honest sportsmen do, and to shoot after it 

 closes, because it is to them a question then of getting better returns. 

 This class of ' hunters ' would shoot very little if it were not that the 

 market is open to them. As long as the markets are open they will shoot 

 without regard to law, and not only shoot but snare. I am glad to say 

 that the 'pot-hunter ' does not do as much harm now as he did fifteen or 

 twenty years ago, because there is no question but what the sentiment of 

 the community has grown in the right direction; and where twenty years 

 ago woodcock and partridge could be easily obtained at the market or hotels 

 in the close season, it is now comparatively difficult to find them there. 

 By long experience we have found that the only way to limit the ravages 

 of this ' pot hunter ' is to limit the sale of his birds. It is practically im- 

 possible to detect or catch him in the act of shooting, as you gentlemen 

 can readily see, from the fact that his violation of the law is committed in 

 the remoter parts of the woods and where, as a rule, he is necessarily 

 alone." 



From what has been presented in this article it will be seen that our 

 officers have learned, in their attempts to preserve fish and game, that the 

 market in every case has proved to be the key to the situation. 



They have found that a market being provided, there are men who are 

 ready to do the rest, and it seems to be evident that so long as trout are 

 seen to glisten in our streams, or the roll of the partridge's drum is heard 

 in our woods, or the whistle of Bob White in our fields, there will be work 

 for associations like ours. 



