228 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



There is no doubt whatever but that a great number of deer are killed out of 

 season in the territory surrounding the different lumber camps ; but it seems 

 impossible to obtain accurate information about them. The same applies to fish, 

 as large numbers of trout are caught in the winter through the ice by people 

 connected with the different lumber camps. There were a number of poachers 

 last season on Mud Lake, and although we kept one or two men watching the lake 

 all the time, it was impossible to keep all these poachers off. They fired a good 

 many shots ; but whether they killed any deer or not, I do not know. They certainly 

 did not take any out with them. 



Mr. E. J. Lobdell, Nortlivillc, N. Y. (Forester and Game Protector?) — At the opening 

 of the season every stream or pond which furnishes food and water for the deer 

 (especially for the female with young) is watched by the early hunter with a shot- 

 gun and a jack. More deer are wounded (and escape only to die by their young) 

 than are killed ; and their young invariably die at once, or reach winter so poor that 

 they perish with cold and hunger. This is not overdrawn. Then the dogging 

 begins, and the deer which only a few days before could be seen on any early 

 evening or morning quietly feeding, suddenly hear the deep baying of the hound. 

 Paralyzed with fear they seek the water as a means of escape, only to find themselves 

 surrounded by boats propelled by " sports," so-called, armed with the deadly Win- 

 chester, who finally succeed, if their ammunition holds out, in blowing the animal's 

 brains out or braining him with an oar. And this they call sport. For whom ? 

 Surely not for the poor dumb animal. 



Deer are killed one month too early. They are decreasing every year, and we 

 will wake up some morning to find them — like the buffalo — gone, unless some 

 prohibitory laws are passed. Jacking or floating with a head-light on waters that 

 are frequented by wild deer should be prohibited. 



The general feeling of the people in my locality is that hounding and floating 

 should be stopped for five years at least. Too much precaution cannot be taken 

 in drafting the law to prohibit floating. Deer do not starve to death if they are 

 not driven out of the place they select for yarding ; but the fact is they are so 

 driven and hunted in different ways that they are forced from their feeding grounds. 

 They are forced to yard on some bleak mountain where they are starved and frozen 

 to death in sight of plenty. They could not be thus driven away without the aid of 

 dogs. You will doubtless hear it said that still-hunting destroys more deer than 

 dogging ; but from personal knowledge I know this is not so. You will find that 

 those stories come from floaters and hounders who cannot kill a deer in any 

 other way. 



