230 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



found dead in the woods. The decrease was very noticeable during the summer of 

 '93. In the winter of '94 they wintered fairly well; but in the following winter, that 

 of '95, the death record ran very high. The greatest number were old bucks and 

 fawns. The does seem to stand the winters the best. The bucks furnished three- 

 fourths of all the deer that died during the winter. Some of these deer died as late as 

 the 22d day of May. They were bucks with horns four inches long, in the velvet. 

 Grass was up so that cows might live well on it. 



The present law regarding deer is satisfactory. If any change is made, let the 

 season continue later in the fall. If shortened at all, let it be cut off from August and 

 give the fawns a chance to mature. 



Mr. Spencer J. Prime, Upper Jay, Essex County, N. Y. — I think it would be more 

 desirable to have the hounding season later. Floating is where the mischief comes 

 in; because so many are wounded that get away and die from their wounds. 



Mr. Morton S. Parmelcc, Malone, N. Y. {Lumberman and Owner of Forest Lands. ) — 

 I have seen in some of the papers that you were going to take some measures to prevent 

 the extermination of the deer in the Adirondacks. These measures must be taken 

 soon. The enclosed article from an experienced surveyor and woodsman voices, I 

 think, the very general feeling of the people of this section as regards the killing of 

 deer. 



" Yesterday I walked for six solid hours through a dense, untouched forest on the 

 top and slopes of Humbug Mountain. A light snow had fallen the night before. In 

 that six hours' walk I saw not one track of a deer. This, you will understand, was in 

 the very heart of the woods, in a locality where deer were very plenty a few years 

 ago. How anyone who goes into the deep woods in winter can fail to see that the 

 deer are rapidly being exterminated passes my Comprehension. The old runways 

 worn three or four inches into the ' duff ' are deserted." 



A very few years of the methods now in use will tell the story, and one of the~ 

 greatest charms of the Adirondacks, a bit of poetry worth a summer's trip — that is, 

 the sight of an unscared deer in its native haunts — will be a thing of the past. 



I favor, in the interest of all sportsmen, hotelkeepers, guides, and men in business, 

 in the interest of the State's most precious natural legacy, the following restraints be- 

 fore it is too late: First, stop all killing for five years; or, second, stop all jack- 

 hunting and hounding, and allow killing only from October 1st to November 11th 

 or 15th, when the fawns are fully grown; or, third, forbid all killing of does under 

 heavy penalties. At Ragged Lake, in this county, this fall, out of nine deer killed 

 with dogs I am told on good authority eight were does. And this in September, 

 when the fawns are only babies, smaller than the dogs that run in packs. 



