270 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Novbmbjb 8, 1881. 



-I object, ia the second place, because every thing connected 

 with thern, so far as I am informed, if contrary to and detri- 

 mental to the interest of any true sportsman in the lafld, 



I object, to them in the third place because the tendency is 

 both morally and physically evil. 



I like true sport, 'i am wedded to the woods and plains. 

 My best inspirations come when wooed from the primeval 

 forest, with nothing but the stillness of nature above ivk ami 

 the grand old archil rave of heaven above me. I look upon 

 any man who would slaughter any of God's, creatures for the 

 mere pleasure of destruction as an enemy of mine and a blot 

 upon the face of creation. 



Ah I yes, Mr. Editor, I like true sport. That pleasant and 

 necessary relaxation from toil and worry and care that will 

 enable us to think better, do better, live better. Speak again, 

 you have touched the tight chord. Next time speak a little 

 louder so that all may hear. Oooidknt. 



Danbville, N. Y., Oct. 25, 1881. 

 Editor For est and Stream: 



Your editorial ia issue of October 13, relative to pigeon 

 shooting tournaments of State game protective associations, 

 was something for which 1 have been waiting for years. In 

 times past it has been my privilege through your columns to en- 

 deavor to agilate in a feeble way this subject, only to be bit- 

 terly opposed and frowned dowu by your correspondents ; 

 but now the thing has changed, and with Forkst and Stream 

 for us who can be against us? 



It is decidedly laughable to look over the minutes of the 

 association with the paradoxical name and try to extract there- 

 from anything of good' to "the craft." So far the whole 

 might, mind and strength of the gentlemen assembled have 

 been concentrated on the daily shambles and l he possibilities 

 of winning a chamber set or haby carriage. It is to be hoped 

 that your efforts may, by exciting the interest, of sportsmen, 

 bring about that tesult for which we so earnestly long— viz., 

 a Stale association for the protection of fish and game, 

 whose acts shall tally with its name, and whose deliberations 

 shall tend toward perfecting our faulty game»laws, and alter 

 perfecting them, enforcing them! The time has gone by 

 when n holesale pigeon shooting from the trap is looked upon 

 by gentlemen sportsmen as a pastime worthy their attention, 

 aside from the element of cruelty pervading it. There is 

 somelhing debasing, something suggestive of butchery and 

 carnage that makes one feel that he is among an unfeeling 

 band, notwithstanding the fact, that some of the best fello .vs in 

 the world step up to the score. 



The "spoils system " that has crept into ourState Associa- 

 tion has heretofore made it a great source of revenue to the 

 club that was successful in getting ':the meet," all tbe sur- 

 plus above expenses amounting oftentimes to thousands of 

 dollars, not going toward forwarding the the Crt ise of ginie 

 protection in our State, but into the private treasury of the 

 lucky club under whose auspices the meeting was held. 



W ho have been the delegates generally to our State Associa 

 tion? Those who were renowned for their interest in the 

 matter of game protection, or for their skill a- the trap? 

 I'll not engage to tell, but time has proven beyond doubt 

 that game protective interests and pigeon slaughtering do not 

 go hand in hand and that those most interested in ihe former 

 will not attend to it under the present state of affairs, If the 

 knights of the eight-bore must meet and shoot at pigeons 

 let. there be a yearly field day when all who wish can take 

 their fill of their chosen sport. But let the "New York 

 State Association for the Protection of Fish and Game " get 

 together decently aud in order, feeling ihe weight of respon- 

 sibility resting upon them, let them deliberate calmly and 

 dispassionately upon the momentous questions of restoring, 

 restocking and protecting our depleted covers mid strtams, 

 undisturbed by the booming of the breech-load -r and tbe 

 cheerful cry of "Last bird." If need be a day at glass balls 

 may be profitably indulged in after the questions iu conven- 

 tion have been solvi d 



So shall oua good men and true be brought to the front ; 

 the game interests of the Stale be advanced- the pigeon b.; 

 SRVecj from annihilation, aud what is better than all, the honor 

 of the "New York State Association for the Protection of 

 Pish and Game" be fully vindicated. H. W. D. L. 



Whitewater, Wis., Oct, 20, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



My attention has been called to your editorial regarding 

 "Pigeon Shooting Tournaments." It is no question what- 

 ever in my judgment that the time ha- come for a radical 

 change of programme on this subject, Your editorial states 

 the facts so fairly and so plainly that any "wayfaring man" 

 cannot err theiein. Associations, like individuals, must 

 practice what they preach if they in good faith seek to pro- 

 mote the cause. This practice of wholesale slaughtering 

 these helpless live pigeons is positively cruel from first to 

 last, and it disgraces the pretext, "Game Protective Associa- 

 tion." , 



Hoping that through your nfforts these harmless birds may 

 have a proper heating, and that every club will soon come to 

 their rescue, I am yours for protection de facto. 



Georoe W. Estkrly, President Black Hawk Club. 



Houston, Texas, Oct. 22, 1881. 

 Editor forest and /Stream : 



In your October number of the 18th inst. you invite ex- 

 pressions of views on state tournaments and their effects. I 

 think if clubs throughout tbe States would pay more atten- 

 tion iu fmthering the objects of their association when they 

 meet, they could do a vast deal of good and then there would 

 not be so much complaint about scarcity of game. But as it 

 is now, the all absorbing theme is when to have our next 

 shoot, and they do not think of the bad influence it brings to 

 bear on the association. By many it is looked upon as 

 gambling projects and, as a general thing, they are no more 

 nor less. They encourage one to put up money and win or 

 try to- Then the}' open up the field to pool sellers who take 

 advantage and sell pools, and there are plenty to buy. Then 

 another bad feature is that money is freely bet on the grounds 

 the day the shoot comes off, and too often among those who 

 have entered in the shoot, These tournaments are, as a 

 general thing, individual money-making projects under the 

 guise of association tournaments, and so long as they con- 

 tinue thus there will be a lack of support from a great many 

 influential gentlemen, some of whom belong to the clubs and 

 others who would belong if they were conducted in a 

 different way. There are men who will drop from the roll 

 because they are opposed to gambling in any way and they 

 do not like to belong to anything that will countenance it, 

 and when they go the club will decrease or stand still instead 

 of increasing, until they barely have enough members to meet 

 their expenses. If the men or clubs who get up these tourna- 

 ments would only use their time and energy with one half 



this vim to have laws passed and enforced to protect the 

 game they then could feel proud of trying at least to further 

 the objects of the association. But that must be the last 

 thing they think of. I and many others would bo glad to see 

 less show and more deeds in that direction, and when clubs 

 go to work in that channel they will see more interest taken, 

 and by some whom they little thought take any interest in 

 such things, and then, and not till then, will their member- 

 roll swell, their treasury fill and themselves be in a pros- 

 perous condition. What is wanted to be seen is more work 

 and less show. Wanderer. 



[Our correspondent is partly in error. Betting and pool- 

 selling are prohibited at the N. Y. Association meetings, and 

 at the meetings of some of the other State associations.] 



Providence, R. I., October 20. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



1 am glad to see that you are making an effort to stop the 

 shooting of wild pigeons at the meetings of the so-called 

 societies for the protection of game and fish. 



These birds, as every one knows, are trapped at their nest- 

 ing grounds, boxed up and shipped over a thousand miles, aj 

 a iarge percentage of loss, leaving their young to starve in 

 the nests. And all for wha' ? That a" party of shooting 

 sharps and mug hunters may be allowed to disgust all decent 

 people with the mime of sportsman and game-protecting 

 association, 



I believe the mee'ing the past summer, near New York, 

 was a financial failure. It was a grand success as far as 

 destruction of the birds they are. agreed to protect. 



1 don't believe your labor will be difficult in this matter. 

 I have no doubt those who were connected with this dis- 

 grace are heirtily ashamed of it, and will sin no more. Let 

 us use lame birds in limited numbers, if we must have trap- 

 shooting, and but few will find fault. N. D. 



New Jersey Game and Fish Protective Sooiktt,) 

 Plainfield, N. J., Oct. 31. j" 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



Your editorial remarks, in issues of Forest and Stee&m of 

 October 13 and 20, regarding pigeon shooting tournaments 

 of Stale Game Protective Societies, agree with my opinion 

 of the m itter. From what I have seen of such tournaments 

 they are to be condemned as a cruel slaughter of sick birds 

 and exhibitions of poor marksmanship. The money ex- 

 pended in providing " trophies" for such exhibitions would 

 be much more profitably ami wisely applied in stocking the 

 State with proper game birds, and in protecting them from 

 the raids of the pot hunter. I hope the time is not far dis- 

 tant wh n all such tournaments will be discontinued.— 

 W. L. Force, Secretary N. J. G. & F. P. S. 



WHAT DOES IT ALL AMOUNT TO ? 



Edilm- Fitrest and Stream: 



With all due respect for your superior wisdom and especi- 

 ally for your greater knowledge of the subject, I wish to 

 suggest that a great deal of time and money is being wasted 

 iu the agitation of this question of game protection. 1 say 

 wasted advisedly, for what is bi-ing accomplished by all that 

 is spoken and written on this su'oject, and how much better is 

 game protected now than it was leu years ago ? Perhaps you 

 can inform ifme 1 am mistaken ; it seems to me that each year 

 the birds are hecoming f-weriu number, or at all events more 

 difficult to find and secure. Your readers ask for explana- 

 tions of the scarcity of game in different localities, without 

 r ceiviug any response. Where birds were once abundant 

 thi y no longer exist, 



Let me tell you f > aukly how I feel on this matter. I should 

 be very glad if our game could be protected and so increased 

 that one could have the opportunity of killing fifteen or 

 twenty birds in a day nrar his own house. I believe that I 

 would be willing to pledge myself never to shoot in one day 

 more than the number above mentioned. Should I be able 

 to keep my pledge? Of couise, at present I thiuk that 1 

 should, but suppose that i were coming home in the afternoon 

 with my full number of birds, and my dog were to stop on a 

 bevy of quail would I remember to hold my hand and let them 

 go ? I hope so, but I am not sure. I think that I should be 

 more likely to shoot into them "just this once," promising 

 that on another occasion I would stop short of my limit by 

 as many birds as 1 killed now. The sanie would be true 

 of many if not most men that shoot. They would be un- 

 able to slop until the opportunity for killing was past. 



You cannot expect to accomplish any thing in game pro- 

 tection iiutil you have made human nature something dif- 

 ferent from what it is. The eause of the scarcity of game is 

 over-shooting, aud until men learn to practice self-control in 

 this, as in other matters the birds will become more and 

 more sc nee. Of course long before this time shall have come 

 our game will be practically exterminated. The men who 

 will stop when they have a certain number of birds are very 

 few ; the men who, if they have an opportunity, will refuse to 

 to shoot at a deer or decline to take a trout, out of season, 

 are very few; but the men who will write columns about the 

 folly and wastefulness of killing more than one needs are 

 many, and, as for thOBe who would reprobate and hold up to 

 scorn any one who may violate the game laws, their name is 

 legion. Ranting about protection and pothunters will never 

 save our birds, but it is somuch easier to rant than it is to make 

 a little effort to put down lawbriakers and to control one's 

 own desire to make a large bag that the ranters and writers 

 are in an overwhelming majority. I suppose that there may 

 be a few people who are willing to contribute time and 

 money toward the enforcement of our laws, and who do so, 

 but certainly one docs not hear very much from such indi- 

 viduals. Probably after thsy have done what they can to 

 further the cause and to strengthen the hands of the officers 

 of the law, they have neither time nor inclination to spill ink 

 on the subject. 



I can write on this matter without passion, for it is really 

 one which affects me personally very little. I belong to one 

 or two shooting clubs, which own property, efficiently pro- 

 tected, where I shall always be able, so long as 1 retain my 

 membership, to kill all the birds I want. If 1 wish to kill 

 large game, I know where to go and get it. I, therefore, 

 really do not care particularly, except on general principles, 

 whether good or bad game laws are passed, or whether 

 the laws that are enacted are enforced or not. 1 trust 

 that I am a sufficiently good citizen to desire to see the 

 laws obeyed, just as in a general way I would like to see all 

 men honest, general purity in politics, civil service reform 

 honestly carried out, or the accomplishment of any move- 

 ment that it is believed would benefit the race. But as far 

 as my own shooting is concerned the thing does not touch 

 me at all, aud I can therefore view with a reasonable degree 



of equanimity tbe killing of deer and birds out of season, 

 and can admire the audacity of thoBe marketmen who not 

 only violate the law by selling game and fish during close 

 time, but. even have the delightful impudence to advertise for 

 trapped birds. After such an autumn as we have had such 

 Arctic coolness is indeed welcome. 



As I have said, however, the matter does not directly in- 

 terest me, but it does seem a pity that birds should be so 

 scarce along the Atlantic coast that most people caunot find 

 enough to make it worth while to go out shooting. 



Among a body of men which includes so many individuals 

 of education and position as the Ehooiing and fishing class, 

 there must be no small number of brilliant intellects. We 

 may assume that some of these acute minds have given con- 

 siderable thought to the subject which so nearly con- 

 cerns them, but if they have doue so, it has apparently been 

 without any resu't— certainly without appreciably increas- 

 ing the number of our birds or rendering the obtaining of a' 

 day's shooting in any of our more thickly settled districts any 

 easier than it used to be. 



The innate selfishness of the human mind lies at the root 

 of this matter, and until you can make sportsmen feel the 

 respect for the abstract rights of others, which they would 

 have others feel for theirs, your labor is in vain. Not until 

 tbe millennial day will the golden Tule be practiced. 



It is now eight years since you began preaching game pro- 

 tection, and I am bound to acknowledge that you have done 

 it in a strong and honest fashion, which, while I do nU agree 

 with you, has compelled my admiration. You have, as I 

 happen to know, converted S'irne men who were accustomed 

 to shoot out of season, and have probably engendered in 

 the rising generation a laudable desire to see laws enforced 

 and birds protected ; but, after all, will you bo kind enough 

 to tell me what adequate results are there— material results I 

 mean — to show for all that you have said and done ? Do not 

 point, I beg, to the numerous game protective associations 

 which have sprung up a'l over the land I do not for a mo- 

 ment admit that they as a class can be spoken of with pride, 

 for most of them have degenerated into mere pigeon shooting 

 clubs and exert no influence in favor of the cause which you 

 desire to forward. Can you show me that any real service 

 to game protection has been done by all Ihat you have said iu 

 the years that have passed. Skeptic. 



[Yes, we can show a great deal. Our skeptical friend will 

 be partially enlightened in our next issue. J 



IS HE A LUNATIC ? 



Saratoga, N. Y., Oct. 32. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



Will you grant a corner in your valuable columns to the 

 "Universal Deer Protect ve Association," of which I am 

 President ? The object of the association is the strict en- 

 forcement of the game law relating to deer. We mean to see 

 that the deer laws in every S'a'e are carried out to Ihe very 

 letter. We confidently expect to revolutionize the public 

 sentiment on this point, and to make our society a terror to 

 the violators of the deer laws. 



With this object in view, which I am sure you and your 

 readers will heartily indorse, we propose to hold an annual 

 buffalo bull shooting tournament Arrangements have been 

 made to secure as many buffalo bulls as possible on the 

 western range, and to ship th-ui Ea^t in cattle cars in the 

 spring. If the rrquired number of bulls (say a thousand) 

 cannot be procured, or if the percentage of loss in transpor- 

 tation seriously diminishes the supply, we shall have on hand 

 a reserve of Texas steers to fill out the programme. The 

 ferocious brutes will be securely penned and driven, one a' a 

 time, into the ring, where each contestant will have sixteen 

 shots at it with a repeating rifle. Should the beasts be too 

 much worn out by their long journey to stand up to be shot 

 at a number of slings, such as are used in blacksmiths' shops 

 for oxen, will be ready to h ist the game into position. 

 Further detailed conditions of the shoot will be sent to you 

 in due season. Tbe date of the convention will depend 

 wholly upon the buffalo range, and we shall esteem it a favor 

 if your Western correspondents will keep U3 informed of the 

 movements of that game. 



Everything promises well for the inaugural buffalo bull 

 tournament of the " Universal Deer Protective Association," 

 and it is confidently believed by the society that we can then 

 be able to slaughter enough buil'alo and Texas steers to con- 

 vince the public that we are in earnest in our determination 

 to enforce the deer laws. A D. Ibondaok. 



DEER IN VERMONT. 



WE are indebted to our Vermont correspondent for the 

 following statement of the present Vermont deer law: 



A party of gentlemen in this county purchased and turned 

 out in the mountains, some three years ago, about twenty 

 deer, with the purpose of trying whether the forests could 

 be restocked. So far as we know they are breeding and 

 thriving. It is not known that they have been in any way 

 molested, and it is known that they have bred and increased 

 in numbers. It would be very unfortunate (for the culprit.) 

 if anyone, misled as to seasons, should kill one of our deer. — 

 Vkrde Monte. 



By an act of 1870 deer were protected until Sept. 1, 1880, 

 at all times. By an act of 1878 this law was amended by 

 extending the close time until "the 1st day of November, 

 1886." The penalty for killing or having in possession a 

 wdd deer or part, thereof is $50 This I find by examination 

 of the State laws in the town clerk's office.— A wausoosk. 



We are also indebted to Fred. E. Smith, Esq., of the Wash- 

 ington County Association. 



. ■« — . 



Cookino Sea Diioks— Halifax, N. S , Oct. 23.— May I ask 

 " Wad," in Forest and Stream for 20th inst., why coots 

 and sea ducks are not eaten " way down East?" I have shot 

 coot and sea ducks, and eaten them, too, and beg to make a 

 few suggestions regarding them preparatory to their being 

 cooked. When I go after ducks I put a sharp little ax and a 

 block of wood in the boat and behead the birds as soon as I 

 get hold of them. This allows the blood to drain off, which 

 naturally greatly improves the meat. If I want them baked, 

 I have them soaked in salt and water the night previous and 

 a small lemon or onion put inside, which dismisses the strong 

 taste wondtrfully. — .Tosephus. 



Stage Powder.— In a battle scene of the play of "Michael 

 Strogoff" in a New York theatre last week, one of the super- 

 numeraries was wounded in the leg by three wads from a 

 musket. In a Bowery theatre an acrobat turns somersaults 

 over two chairs and a table, and while in the air shoots off a 

 gum A great deal of gunpowder is burnt on theatre stages. 



