FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



301 



THE INDIANA QUAIL LAW. 



Anderson, Ind. 



Editor Recreation: I notice in your 

 August number a communication from 

 Stanley Waterloo, Paoli, Indiana, that is 

 misleading. He says, " The law protecting 

 quails in Indiana, allowing no open season 

 for 2 years, has resulted in a noticeable 

 change in the habits of the birds." 



There is no such law on the statute books 

 of the State of Indiana. Section 2209, 

 Burns' Revision of 1894, reads. 



" Whoever shoots or destroys or pursues, 

 for the purpose of shooting or destroy- 

 ing, or has in his possession, any quails or 

 pheasants during the period from the 1st 

 of January to the 10th of November of 

 the same year, or shoots or kills any wild 

 turkey between the 1st day of February 

 and the 1st day of November of any year, 

 shall be fined in the sum of $2 for each 

 quail, etc." 



You will observe the open season is No- 

 vember 10 to January 1, inclusive. House 

 Bill 97 approved March 3, 1897, prohibits 

 the killing of grouse or quails for market. 

 Our last Legislature is entitled to the 

 thanks of all self-respecting sportsmen for 

 the destruction of pot hunters. The law re- 

 ferred to is as follows: 



" Section 1. Be it enacted by the General 

 Assembly of the State of Indiana: That it 

 shall be unlawful for any person to pursue 

 or kill, within this State, any quail, ruffed 

 grouse or pinnated grouse for purposes of 

 sale, barter, traffic or removal from the 

 State, or to sell, barter, keep, expose or of- 

 fer for sale or remove from this State any 

 quail, ruffed grouse or pinnated grouse 

 caught or killed in the State of Indiana." 



This statute has a penalty provided, in 

 section 2, in the sum of $1 for every quail, 

 ruffed grouse or pinnated grouse so un- 

 lawfully pursued, etc., for the purpose of 

 sale. 



No doubt Brother Waterloo feels, as 

 most other sportsmen in this State do, that 

 the pot hunter and market butcher are 

 largely responsible for the almost exter- 

 mination of the quail. I have, within the 

 last 15 years, seen 25 or 30 covies of quails 

 in a day's sport, and have, on many days, 

 bagged 2 dozen birds. Last year, during 

 the open season, I think I did not, at any 

 time, bag 'to exceed 8 or 10 birds in a 

 day's hunt. I understand, from farmers in 

 this vicinity, the prospect for good shoot- 

 ing, this fall, is better than it has been for 

 many years. 



I am delighted with Recreation. Am a 

 regular subscriber and through a local news 

 dealer have sent annual subscriptions to 

 some of my friends. I have sportsmen's 

 journals that cost me 3 times the price of 

 Recreation, that are tame compared with 

 this splendid magazine. 



O. M. Keltner. 



IDAHO NOTKS. 



M. W. MINER. 



Some 3 or 4 miles from the goat lick, in 

 Dead Man's canyon, Boise Co., Idaho, is 

 a high table land dotted with numerous 

 small lakes, one of which is the source of 

 Warm Spring creek. This lake simply 

 swarms with the salmon trout, or Dolly 

 Varden trout, and peering down into its 

 clear waters one can see thousands of them. 

 One peculiarity of them is that when one 

 bites they all bite. At other times not a 

 nibble can be had from any of them, though 

 bait or fly be dragged under their noses. 

 Like the small girl " when they're good 

 they're very, very good, but when they're 

 bad they're horrid." 



On our arrival there not a fish could be 

 induced to rise to a fly, rush at a spoon 

 hook or to taste venison, grass hoppers, 

 white grubs or even a mouse; yet we could 

 see hundreds of trout beneath out raft. 

 Finally I became desperate. I made a lariat 

 from a piece of silk line, and fastening it to 

 the end of the rod snared a beauty that was 

 more than sufficient for our dinner. 



About 3 p. m. the trout commenced jump- 

 ing and would bite at any thing thrown on 

 the water. We frequently had 2 or 3 nsh 

 hooked at one time. 



In the course of an hour they suddenly 

 ceased biting and not another rise could 

 we get. Nor could we tempt them with 

 bait. 



Parties visiting these lakes often catch a 

 horse load of fish in an hour or 2. At other 

 times they are unable to catch a fish for 

 days together. Why? 



It is estimated there are between 2,000 

 and 2,500 mountain sheep now inhabiting 

 the slopes and mountains of the Middle 

 Fork of Salmon river, mostly in the vicinity 

 of the upper end of the great canyon, which 

 is about 60 miles from the main Salmon 

 river. The country is almost unexplored and 

 inaccessible. Two trappers who wintered 

 in that country, last winter, told me of 

 them, and said from their cabin door it was 

 almost a daily occurrence to see bands of 

 60 to 100, feeding on the bare hill sides, near 

 the canyon. Dietrick said there were two 

 rams in the outfit that would almost catch 

 Sheard's prize; but that he was not suffi- 

 ciently up in sheep hunting to capture them. 

 He said he used to watch the sheep, with 

 his field glass, by the hour. 

 * * * 



We camped 10 days near the big licks on 

 Sulphur creek, near the Middle Salmon, 

 and it was indeed a rare treat to be there. A 

 camera fiend would simply have reveled in 

 the chances. Morning and evening, and all 

 day long, deer would come into the licks; 

 sometimes alone and sometimes 2, 3 or 

 even as many as 8 in a band. Oftentimes 



