FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



MR. LEAVENWORTH'S DEFENCE. 



Mt. Vernon, Indiana. 

 Editor Recreation: I notice in your 

 August number, an article by P. W. Roche, 

 regarding game in Posey county, and some 

 bags made by local sportsmen, myself 

 among others. I also note the comments 

 of the editor regarding a " reasonable bag " 

 and the epithets applied by said editor to 

 him who, in the opinion of said editor, has 

 taken more than said editor considers a 

 " reasonable bag." Before I fall before the 

 fire of the many " high minded sportsmen " 

 called to the charge by the " Hey Rube " of 

 the editor, allow me to present to the read- 

 ers of Recreation a statement of the facts; 

 as I am not desirous of being tried upon 

 the article of my friend Peter Roche, whose 

 imagination is almost as great as his cir- 

 cumference. . 



My friend Peter is all right; whole 

 souled, jovial and with a corporation as big 

 as the State of Texas. But he never fired a 

 shot gun in his life, and could not tell a 

 choke bore from a boomerang. He would 

 not know the whistle of a wood-cock from a 

 calliope, and I know, of my own personal 

 knowledge, he labors under the impression 

 that squirrels go in bevies, and that the 

 proper time to shoot Bob White is " when 

 the wheat is in the shock, and the quail is 

 on the top." For these reasons I forgive 

 Peter. If I thought he had done this deed 

 through malice I would stick my frog spear 

 in him. 



My wife and I did kill 296 squirrels last 

 reason, 12 being the most bagged in one 

 day. The season, in this State, commences 

 June 1st, and ends December 20th. (It 

 ought to be from June 15th to November 

 1st.) So we get 6 months and 20 days of 

 shooting. The squirrels were killed in 3 

 States — Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. It 

 took just 15 hunts to get them. 



My wife and I rise at 3 a. m., go to the 

 woods and return by 9 a m. I have made it 

 a practice for years to quit hunting, in any 

 piece of woods, when the squirrels begin to 

 get scarce. I keep memoranda of all the 

 squirrel woods within 20 miles of this city. 

 In this book I write anything of interest I 

 note, regarding the game there; such as its 

 becoming scarce; the number killed there, 

 etc. I am the only man in this county who 

 has ever taken any initial steps to enforce 

 the game and fish laws, and to protect game 

 and fish generally. I have made many ene- 

 mies and lost some law practice by so doing. 



The statement regarding the killing of 

 quails by Stallings and Knight is, in the 

 main, correct. I think the birds were 

 shipped to Evansville and sold. We now 

 have a law against selling quails, that will 



do much good; and while it will not stop 

 quail selling, it will restrain it. As for my- 

 self I never bagged over 20 quails in one 

 hunt last year. My wife and I, on several 

 occasions, killed 25 mallard ducks, last fall. 

 We would commence shooting at 9 a. m. 

 and quit at 2 p. m., frequently with ducks 

 flying in clouds over us. 



We do not kill game to see it die, or to 

 boast of our prowess. The only regret we 

 have, in hunting, is the pain we must inflict 

 on the beautiful inhabitants of field, wood 

 and water, and the life we take but cannot 

 give again. We love the sweet morning, 

 the sparkling water, the dark wood, and the 

 cries of the wild creatures of the forest. 

 We would not give these, for all the lifeless 

 bodies of game ever killed by man. 



Mr. Roche writes, " the greatest duck, 

 squirrel and quail shooting to be found 

 anywhere is in Posey county, in the South- 

 western part of Indiana." 



This is a great error. The only duck 

 shooting we have here now, is on Hovey's 

 lake. This lake is on a private preserve, 

 and no one is allowed to shoot there except 

 members of the Hovey Gun Club. It was 

 on this lake the bags before mentioned were 

 made. Twenty years ago this country liter- 

 ally swarmed with water fowl; but they are 

 now gone; or, if they do come, are soon 

 driven away by countless hunters, who fire 

 at them out of range. Nothing, in my 

 opinion, scares ducks away like shooting at 

 them at long distances. Few are killed, but 

 as they never get a chance to feed or rest, 

 they soon leave. 



Squirrels were never so scarce in this 

 county as now. Not because of the 300 we 

 got last year, but for some cause, unknown. 

 They were abundant through the winter 

 and in the spring, and in many localities I 

 know they were not killed, out of season, 

 as I watched them myself. They were not 

 even shot at. In February I counted, in 

 one locality, 41 squirrels while going 

 through a piece of woods. I was in a boat 

 and marked them, intending to get them in 

 June, when mulberries were ripe. In June, 

 when I went to hunt them, they were gone. 

 There was no " sign," no nests, no dig- 

 ging in the ground, no gnawing of rotten 

 logs. I find the same state of things every- 

 where. Private woods where no gun has 

 been fired for years, and where the squirrels 

 have been always fed and petted, are de- 

 serted. 



Mr. Templeton, who has kept a 10 acre 

 tract of woods, for years, stocked with 

 squirrels, says they have left his woods also. 

 He has observed their habits closely but 

 can give no explanation of their absence. 

 Nor can I, or anyone else. Perhaps Rec- 

 reation can, or some of its readers. 



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