200 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



These figures do not necessarily indicate the maximum weights of the deer killed 

 in 1895, f° r some large bucks were shot which were not taken out of the woods, the 

 hunter shipping the head only ; or perhaps a small saddle of venison, the rest of the 

 animal being eaten in camp. 



But the average dressed weight of 562 deer shipped by the American Express 

 Company, as determined by the weights given on the duplicate shipping bills, was 

 only 109 1-5 lbs., which would indicate that these 562 deer weighed on an average 

 only 136^ lbs., live weight. This is not a very good showing for our Adirondack 

 deer as to size ; and, owing to certain causes, is not a fair one. The figures include 

 too many small deer and nursing does that, owing to our stupid deer law, are killed in 

 August and September when they were thin and poor and largely under weight. 



No other State, or Canadian Province, permits the killing of deer in these months. 

 It was reserved for New York to frame a law based on personal interests instead of 

 the dictates of humanity and the ethics of sport. 



Under a proper game law the Adirondack deer would attain a size unsurpassed by 

 its species anywhere on the continent. That they do attain a great size, despite this 

 lack of protection, is evident to all who have made observations in the matter. Bucks 

 weighing over 300 pounds are killed each season, and occasionally some extraordinary 

 specimens are shot. 



In 1877, at Meacham Lake, Franklin county, a very large buck was shot by Mr. 

 John T. Denny, of No. 17 West 52d Street, New York. This animal weighed 286 lbs. 

 dressed, or 357 lbs. live weight, as estimated. 



Mr. Albert H. Thomas, of Warrensburg, N. Y., late county treasurer of Warren 

 county, states that he killed a buck several years ago, in Township Sixteen, Essex 

 county, which was the largest one he ever saw ; that after taking it home its dressed 

 weight was 299^ lbs. as it lay on the scales in his store at Warrensburg; and that 

 it lay there on the scales all day, during which there was a steady stream of visitors 

 to see the " big buck," many of whom distinctly remember the incident. 



In the Glens Falls Morning Star, of October 12, 1890, Mr. James M. Patterson, of 

 West Stony Creek, N. Y., writes as follows : 



" I have seen accounts published in your paper this year of large deer; but I think 

 that yesterday Henry Ordway killed the king of all bucks. The following weight and 

 measurements are correct, as I made them myself, and other parties here can vouch 

 for them : 



"Weight before being dressed, 388 lbs.; height over withers, 4 feet 3 inches. 

 There are nine prongs on one antler and ten on the other. Length of antlers, 32 

 inches; distance between antlers, 26^ inches; length from tip of nose to tip of tail, 

 9 feet 7 inches. The Lake House, of which Oscar W. Ordway, father of Henry 



