136 



RECREATION. 



men's periodicals. Although not a hunter 

 myself, and, in fact, unable to stop the 

 easiest mark that walks the woods, I do 

 not believe in game destruction. During 

 October the number of outside hunters in 

 this State was large. A Wisconsin Central 

 railroad man told me he saw over 300 

 sportsmen, from Ohio and Indiana, un- 

 loaded from one train, between Chippewa 

 Falls and Abbotsford. The State law for- 

 bids the shipping of game out of the State, 

 and none of these men ever sell what they 

 kill. So there certainly is, on the one hand 

 a needless destruction of game, or an un- 

 lawful shipment of venison out of the State. 

 It is safe to say that fully 1,500 visiting 

 sportsmen come to Wisconsin each year. 

 L. J., Marshfield, Wis. 



The law protecting quail in Indiana, al- 

 * lowing no open season for 2 years, has re- 

 sulted already in a notable change in the 

 habits of the birds. They are tamer, and 

 are nesting in the meadows and orchards, 

 on all sides. In one of 2 nests, found 

 this week, were 17 eggs; and in the other 

 40 — an extraordinary sitting. Two broods 

 in a season are frequent, in this latitude, 

 and such a nest of eggs shows how rap- 

 idly quail may propagate if left undis- 

 turbed, for a time, now that so many of 

 their natural enemies have become practi- 

 cally extinct. 



The law allows the shooting of young 

 squirrels, with the beginning of June, and 

 thereafter the beech woods of this hilly re- 

 gion — Orange county — will echo with the 

 sound of shotguns and rifles. Just now 

 there appears to be a gray squirrel for ev- 

 ery bush. 



Stanley Waterloo, Paoli, Ind. 



That was an interesting article, in Rec- 

 reation, on " Wing Shooting." The boys 

 should be delighted with it. It contains 

 such a fund of information and pointers, 

 that they should have no difficulty, how, in 

 becoming expert shots. 



Why not give the fish hogs a rest and 

 turn your attention to those miserable 

 suckers who call themselves sportsmen and 

 who, in your part of the world, have been 

 out killing off the snipe and woodcock, as 

 they land from abroad, on your hospitable 

 shores? Do you know the birds have their 

 eggs and young, with us? How much ear- 

 lier must they be with you? Don't you 

 think it a cruel, beastly shame to shoot 

 these birds in spring, when the females are 

 carrying their eggs, and in some cases have 

 their nests and even their young? I can 

 not understand why any fair minded sports- 

 man would countenance such murderous, 

 brutal, unfeeling and damnable action. 



Get out from under such a stigma, as 



quickly as you can. Use your best efforts 

 to protect, instead of to destroy, birds and 

 their young. 



Get your wise senators to pass a law to 

 keep these migrants from landing on your 

 shores, Let the birds come on here, and 

 we will see that they are not destroyed in 

 the breeding season. 



H. Austen, Halifax, N. S. 



Mr. Austen is right. The killing of any 

 game bird, or animal, in spring, is nothing 

 more nor less than slaughter, and all the 

 better class of sportsmen have long since 

 quit it. The other kind should be com- 

 pelled to quit. — Editor. 



Your latest number of Recreation at 

 hand, and it is all right, of course. They 

 all are. I thoroughly agree with you in 

 the stand you take for better game protec- 

 tion. 



There is more money to a community of 

 business men, working-men, or farmers, for 

 every head of large game honestly killed 

 and used by sportsmen, than for an equal 

 number of domestic stock. Every outfit 

 that goes into the hills pays $10 to $100 a 

 head for all the game it gets. This money 

 is left where it is most needed. Therefore 

 I say " Why kill the goose that lays the 

 golden egg? " 



I believe in a small license for non-resi- 

 dent hunters, merely nominal; say $1; 

 just to require them to show their good 

 intentions, and to place each man on rec- 

 ord. A. R. Randies, Seattle, Wash. 



There is practically no game here, al- 

 though a few years ago excellent small 

 game shooting was to be had. Game hogs 

 have done the work. To see a gray squir- 

 rel, ruffed grouse or quail is now a rarity. 

 Formerly there was fine bass fishing in the 

 streams and dams, but the carp have 

 cleaned the good fish out. I think the carp 

 more of a curse than the English sparrow. 

 Several men here have been prosecuted for 

 illegal hunting. I am glad to see it, and 

 am pleased to know that brother sports- 

 men are touching the thing up in other lo- 

 calities. 



I have Recreation on my desk and can 

 say of what it advocates, " them's my sen- 

 timents too." J. H. C, Salem, O. 



The following is a list of the officers 

 elected at the annual meeting of the Bergen 

 County Gun Club, held in Hackensack, 

 N. J., June 10th, 1897. 



President, G. P. Griffiths; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Marshall Herrington; Treasurer, H. 

 D. Warner; Secretary, E. A. Jackson. 

 Trustees Graham Van Keuren, H. N. Hall, 

 H. J. Blauvelt. 



