November 8, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



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269 



as we approach the city. The prospect for rabbits is good 

 til over the island. AlmoBt any of the towns along the 

 north shore will furnish good duck shooting, notably Port 

 Jefferson, heard very little of violations of game laws, 

 and pot-hunting is chiefly done by one-day excursionists 

 from New York and Brooklyn, shooting on the west end of 

 the island. Aucau, 



THE DECREASE OP GAME BIRDS. 



PEHBisntraa, Vt., Oct. 23. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



lam parti cularlygrati fled to see pigeon slaughter at the 

 Irups being set in its proper light, and lam glad to have a 

 Brother Vcruionter, "Verde Monte," asking a question about 

 Hie ruffed grouse that has long puzzled me. I asked, long 

 ago, why they were becoming so scarce, but no notice was 

 taken of my query. As "Verde Monte" says, the hawk, owl, 

 fox and skunk theory will not do, for all these were plentier 

 I wenty years ago than now, and so were grouse. Four years 

 ago grouse were plentier here than they had been for years, 

 and so continued up to the breeding season of the next year, 

 but between June and September they disappeared, and have 

 continued sen ice ever since, and this year are scarcer than 

 ever. 



Certainly this scapegoat of a fly or tick could not have 

 made away with them so quickly, and I know that there is no 

 snaring here, unless the snarers have an invisible method of 

 c i nying on that practice. I am a stay-at-home body and 

 know but little of game around about except in my own 

 neighborhood further than what I hear. When I hear, as I 

 often do, of grouse being plenty in the mountain towns, I 

 try to think the scarcity here is due to a partial migration, 

 though I can see uo reason for it, as there is food enough and 

 cover enough here for no end of grouse. Is this tick the 

 same livel} r winged rascal which is found on the great horned 

 owl ? 



I am glad that L. I. F., of New Brunswick, is so honest as 

 not to claim almost every grouse he shoots at on the wing. 

 I'd like to tug around with one of these three-out- of- five men 

 just for a day in our covers and see how they do it. It would 

 be a trick worth seeing, though one might not learu to com- 

 pass it. Awahsoose. 



Oct. 28.— Editor Forest and Stream: While making a tour 

 through some of the Southern States last winter, 1 stopped 

 tit a small place in Georgia where quail were very abundant, 

 a'so many gunners from the North "not worthy of the name 

 of sportsmen." These individuals hunted every day for no 

 other purpose but lo see who could bring to bag the most 

 birds. They destroyed quail by the hundreds, and certain 

 parties among them were so penurious that they would not 

 allow any of the birds to be served at the hotel, but threw 

 away all they could not Ihemselves eat — a most outrageous 

 piece of business. So much incensed were the people in the 

 neighborhood at such wanton destruction and waste of game 

 lhat most of the places were posted with notices prohibiting 

 shunting; and a law was framed allowing only twenty-five 

 birds to be shot with one gun. Also while in Florida I found 

 that ducks had been and were being jacked on the St. Johns 

 River. I also know that geese and ducks are treated likwise 

 on the Great South Bay, L. I., by the oystermen and em- 

 ployees of the Life SaviDg Stations. In my opinion the de- 

 sired notoriety for big bags is one cause for the decrease in 

 uphold game; and jack shooting aids very mater'ally in the 

 decrease of wild fowl. — S. P. G. 



[We have heard before of this practice by the employees 

 ol the Life Saving Stations. Will someoDe having the facts 

 please give them to us ?] 



Sportsmen about Greenwich, Conn., aver that the increase 

 of foxes in that vicinity has had a marked effect on the 

 game. Upon Mr. A. H. Lewis' farm, south of Naugatuek, 

 there were hatched two large broods of partridges early in 

 the season. Not one of the chicks or parent birds have been 

 shot or trapped, yet this fall not one of either remains. 

 There are, however, in the place a large number of foxes, 

 aud the presenc; of these animals is doubtless the cause of 

 the disappearance of the birds. 



ADIRONDACK'S DEER AND TROUT. 



Edi'or Fore.-t and- Stream : 



' Mussit's" article in your issue of October 20th inst. on 

 "Deer Slaughter in the Adirondacks" claims att< nt ! ou. Let 

 us now begin and stir the mUler uo, and once n ore call the 

 attention of our Legislators to what seems to them a her- 

 culean undertaking, preserving the trout and deer in the 

 Adirondacks. Our laws regarding this subject are well 

 enough if only enforced. 



The present laws on the statute book are, I think, due in a 

 very great measure to the late Dr. Ely and to Dr. Romeyn, 

 gentlemen of large experience in the Adirondacks and the 

 oldest visitors there. In regard to the law to preserve trout 

 no change is virtually necessary, but as to deer-hunting it 

 gives too large a liberty, and if not curtailed in that liberty 

 we may as well at once bid farewell to deer in the North 

 Woods. 



During August last one gentleman in one day killed five 

 de r on Hitching's Pond. 



Let me suggest a remedy for this destruction — namely, 

 under a very heavy penalty stop deer-hunting for only two 

 months, say September and October: stop hounding with 

 dogs under a heavier penalty at all times ; stop transporta- 

 tion under a still heavier penalty ; and, if necessary, check 

 crust-hunting by imprisonment and a heavy penalty als). 



We need Game Commissioners through the Adirondacks 

 every fortnight from June to November, and when it is fully 

 understood that violators of the game law will be watched 

 and arrested, theu, and not until then, will the laws be re- 

 spected and game preserved. We want no red tape in this 

 matter, no fear and favor shown, but laws that will be en- 

 forced. Let hotel- keepers understand this in the woods, 

 let sportsmen understand this, let guides understand this, 

 and our tame will be preserved if we cau only have Game 

 Commissioners who will attend to their duty by paying them 

 well for it. The arrest of the guide at Lake Placid Gst 

 winter for taking speckled trout was decidedly beneficial. 

 Let the same enthusiasm be exhibited again in behclf of 

 trout, and of venison also, at all times during the close sea- 

 son, and we can have no farther cause for complaint. 



Why, venison was on the table at nearly every hotel during 

 the last of June and during July. Where were bus Game 



UOB saioners to watch and arrest if thus found? I pause 



for a reply. Guess it may be arswered, " too much red tape 

 and indifference, and no pay for the attempt." S, S, N. 



Adirondacks, Oct. 20, 1SS1, 

 Editor Forest rind Stream: 



The past week has been very favorable for the deer hunt- 

 ers. I have figured up the number killed during the. past 

 week, ending Oct. 20, in this immediate vicinity, along the 

 Beaver River and adjacent ponds, and find it to be forty- 

 three deer. The country spoken ( f does not comprise one- 

 tenth of the Adirondack hunting grounds, which are equally 

 infested with hunters. If they have been as successful as 

 hunters here, which wc have no reason to doubt, this will 

 make four hundred and thirty d< or killed in one week. 



One thing is noticeable, that of all the deer that have been 

 kUled in the Beaver River region, at least two-thirds have 

 been does. 



This is partially accounted for by the fact, that for two or 

 three weeks before the Commencement of the rutting season 

 the bucks move about but very little, and are hid away in the 

 most unaccessablo thickets, and in mountainous regions of 

 the Adirondacks, in thick undergrowth of evergreens near 

 the summit of the mountains, and are mostly avoided by 

 those that put out the bounds. It is safe to predict that the 

 remaining open season for hounding deer will be more dis- 

 astrous from the fact that the later in the season the more 

 readily deer take to the water. When the ground is frozen, 

 deer will run but a few minutes before the hound before tak- 

 ing to water. Mrresrr. 



STATE PIGEON TOURNAMENTS. 



THE TIME COME FOB A OlIANOK. 



Following are letters from representative sportsmen in 

 many different parts of the country. Their tenor shows that 

 in our strictures upon the pigeon shooting tournaments by 

 game protective societies wc have but voiced the sentiments 

 of the community. AVe commend these expressions of 

 opinion to the consideration of all concerned. These letters 

 show that public opinion is very strongly against a continu- 

 ance of these great pigeon shooting gatherings. 



Omaha, Neb., Oct., 1881. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I am glad to see you take the initiative sgainst this inordi- 

 nate turning of the sportsmen's associations of this country 

 into machines for the slaughtering of pigeons at the trap. I 

 hope every sporting paper and "Hit papers Witt with one 

 voice decry this fatal practice. Unless a reform is effected 

 in short order our State associations will lose all power for 

 good, and become barren of fruit in the purposes for which 

 they have been organized. This reform should begin with 

 the New York State Association, the mother of all the other 

 associations in this country. This slaughter or thousands of 

 pigeons that have been netted and cooped up for weeks or 

 perhaps months, and then put into a trap, and thrown out to 

 mentoshoot at, is unsportsmanlike. The question of cruelty 

 does not enter into the matter. It is no more cruel to shoot 

 a chicken or a bullock than to kill them any other way, or to 

 sroot one or one hundred. 



The tendency of pigeon shooting is to deprave the moral 

 sensibilities of the sportsman, and weaken the influences and 

 usefulness af our gaine protective associations. They are 

 beginning to be looked upon as mercenary institutions 

 through this species of gambling— for it comes little short of 

 that in its present prodigious form. 



As originally instituted its purposes were to stimulate a 

 laudable emulation among sportsmen in the use of the shot- 

 guu in wing shooting. But it has outgrown those objects, 

 and has become debased and held in disrespect by a large ma 

 jority of honorable, high-minded sportsmen to say nothing of 

 that public sentiment that is beginning to show signs of dis- 

 approbation of the practice and distrust of the usefulness of 

 our protective associations. 



It is time for a change of programme, and the sooner it is 

 effected the bettct it will be for the objects and purposes for 

 wh'ch game protective associations were instituted, and for 

 which only they should be continued. 



B E. B. Kenned v. 



Rochestbb, N. Y., Oct. 25, 1881. 

 Editor Forest, and Stream : 



Your request for my opinion on the subject of giving up 

 pigeon shooting at meetings of the sportsmen's State conven- 

 tion somewhat tickles the vanity of the present, writer, who 

 would not venture to offer his opinion in the question unso- 

 licited, and is far from supposing that his view one way or 

 the other is of any consequence. 



From the expressions I have heard at recent conventions 

 I am led to think that the country has seen a grealer 

 number of pigeons shot at a tournament than will ever again 

 be shot at a State convention. This probable result may be 

 due to various facts, and not solely to that sentiment against 

 killing pigeons which is the active motive that urges some 

 men to oppose pigeon shooting over traps. The difference in 

 cruelty between shooting a bird thrown from a trap or one 

 flushed in a marsh or woods has never been made so clearly 

 manifest to me as to carry conviction that one was tolerable 

 and the other without, excuse and deserving condemnation. 

 I can see without effort that there is a great difference in the 

 surrounding and pleasure derived by the shooter iu the re- 

 spective acts, and that the field sportsman has very much of 

 an advantage over the trap man, but the killing is the same. 

 and a person who, from humane molives, opposes trap- 

 shooting acts inconsistently in my view if he shoots at any- 

 thing more sensitive than a glass ball. 



The increased price consequent on greater' scarcity cannot 

 fail to diminish the number of pigeons that will hereafter be 

 shot at meetings of sportsmen. 



But I don't think that annual conventions, such as the New 

 York State Association has held for years, can be successfully 

 conducted unless something more exciting than discussion of 

 game laws shall be held forth as inducements for delegdes 

 to attend. A. few o'f the clubs might defray the expenses of 

 delegates to a convention which would talk of game protec- 

 tion only, but I think nine-tenths of those who are met at 

 ordinary State conventions would be absent if there were no 

 trap-shooting. 



As I look at it game preservation is nut a matter of so 

 much conseqtieuce that annual conventions 

 its success. State law bused on the law of nature regarding 

 breeding seasons must be the ultimate law nn the subject, 

 and I scarcely think it necessary tO c ill a State convention 

 to tell a Legislature that game birds should not be shot when 

 hatching or fish when "ripe." The nauiml history student 

 ought to be the besl counselor in such a ca a, Bndif he re- 

 quired the support or backing of the sportsmen the latter 



could give it without calling into play the cumbersome mi» 

 chine of a State convemi m. 



From these views you may guess that your correspondent 

 does not think the cause of game protection receives much 

 much assistance from the annual meetings. I certainly do 

 not regard them as of material benefit toward that object, and 

 I do not think many who attend the annual meetings differ 

 with the view here expressed. I confess that my motive in 

 attending the several conventions 1 have been at was solely 

 for pleasure in which tho hope of winning something of 

 greater or less value had an influence. 1 appreciate the fact 

 that the chances are against any one receiving a tithe of his 

 expense in prizes, but the excitement of the contest is worth 

 something, and if one does not carry off a prize that he can. 

 look nt with tatisf action and transmit to posterity as tangible 

 proof of his "nerve" and skill, at least he can recall incidents of 

 the meeting with pleasure, and recount how many of the good 

 shots of the State he "shot out" before he fell back. The 

 glory of the strife cannot be valued in money, but it is none 

 the less real, and I think has more to do in keeping the State 

 Association together than of its ostensible object, "the pres- 

 ervation of fish and game." 



In this free expression of opinion I may be doing an injust- 

 ice to many of my fellow sportsmen, but if I do I ask their 

 pardon. I do not in this instance ' 'assume a virtue" which I 

 have not, and if any member of the jolly crowd I have met 

 at State shoots were there for the purpose of preserving game 

 I have wronged those honorable men, and shall do repent- 

 ance meet when informed of my error. 



The State, convention at Niagara Falls iu 1832 might try 

 the experiment of ehooling at some lifeless thing in place of 

 pigeons, and thus get rid of the charge of cruelty, but if 

 competition with the gun is given up altogether it will as- 

 touish me if the interest in sportsmen's State conventions 

 does not greatly abate. E. R. 



" — SYO/.MOBE, 111., Oct. 24. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I have long wished that pigeon shooting might be dispensed 

 with at such meetings. The entire interest often centres on 

 the pigeon match, and the'real objects of the association are 

 lost Bight of. How often do we see thousands at the shoot- 

 iug grounds from day to day, while scarcely a corporal's 

 guard is at the business meeting in the evening. I have 

 scarcely known this to fail. As a class the men who are at- 

 tracted to such meetings for pigeon shooting are not the 

 class of men who desire game protection, but are often there 

 for illegitimate gains, and in that respect savor very much of 

 the pot-hunter, whose motto is, "anything for money ;" and 

 while such men are very anxious that their neighbors shall 

 respect game laws do not respect them only while in danger 

 of being caught. 



My ideas are that if game protection ever succeeds it will 

 do so through the earnest endeavors of true sportsmen, who 

 love sporting for its pleasures, and we must not look for 

 much help from those who follow it for its gains in dollars 

 and cents, the same class who patronize sportsmen's asssocia- 

 tions for the pigeon match. J. L. Pbatt. 



Bbookxtn, Oct. 24. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I am most decidedly in favor of a change in programme at 

 the annual convention of our State Association for the Pro- 

 tection of Fish and Game. The principal business of such 

 gatherings should be to devise the best means to protect our 

 game, and to take measures to have simple atid reasonable 

 laws enacted for that purpose. As far as my experience goes 

 it has been only a side issue, and so much to one side that it 

 barely came into the range of vision. 



Personally I never shot at a pigeon from a trap, not from 

 any sentimentality on the ground of cruelty, but because of 

 the expense attending it, being only moderately endowed 

 with this world's goods ; but I must confess to a feeling of 

 disgust, while viewing day after day the wholesale slaughter 

 of the poor half-dead pigeons at the last tournament, aud, for 

 the life of me, could see neither sport nor the exercise of 

 particular skill in it. A great amount of time and treasure 

 have been expended to make the annual gatherings pleasura- 

 ble for the boys ; that is well, but we ought not to lose sight 

 of the objects sought after by the pioneers of the society, aud 

 a speedy return to first principles is most desirable. 



All that can be done by a small body of sportsmen, to 

 which I have, the honor to belong, to aid you in your lauda- 

 ble undertaking I think I can pledge will be done. 



Waxton. 



New York, October, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



Allow a subscriber to your paper from its initial number 

 to say that, in his opinion, it has never published any articles 

 more sensible than the recent ones in denunciation of the 

 annual pigeon butchery, which has grown to be apparently 

 the principal concern of the "New York State Association 

 for the Protection of Fish and Game," if that lie the title of 

 the association. It is no wonder that Air. Holberton considers 

 this designation a palpable misnomer. The glaring perver- 

 sion of late years of the purposes of the organization is 

 simply monstrous, and I fail to see how the Forest and 

 Stream can do otherwise than "cry aloud and spare nn " 

 Your columns of five years ago gave room to my modest 

 protest against a departure, which no one then imagined 

 could culminate, iu a short period, in such a reprehensible 

 spectacle as that afforded by the Sportsmen's Association of 

 the Empire State at Coney Island last June. It seemed to 

 me a heartless slaughter, nowise in the interests of true 

 sportsmanship, and rallied to the support of Henry BergU, iu 

 his efforts to suppress pigeon trap shooting altogether, scores 

 of men who needed that sort of exhibition to open their 

 eyes. H. H. Thompson-. 



Sedalia, Mo., October, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



I do not think that I can do any better than simply indorse 

 your very excellent and timely article upon this subject in 

 your issue of 13th inst. 



I wish only to emphasize, so far as I am concerned, my 

 distaste ami disapproval of any such procedure being classed 

 as sportsmanlike business or pastime. 



Aside from such gatherings ever tending to the object and 

 purpose claimed for them they absolutely militate against 

 the preservation of either game or fish, and render the whole 

 import of constitutions and by-laws nugatory, and our pre- 

 tensions before the public a mere farce. 



I object to i bese tournaments on the ground that Ihey do 

 not do', or even attempt to do, what the object of their crea- 

 tion implies. 



