3 86 



RECREA TION. 



GAME NOTES, 



I have just returned from an outing on 

 the Big Sangamon river, 35 miles South of 

 this point, where we had a high old time. 

 My eldest son, 2 nephews and I loaded our 

 little basswood fishing boat, tent, grub 

 stake, and " hoss " feed into a covered farm 

 wagon, and pulled out for this trip on Sat- 

 urday, and returned on Thursday. We 

 caught crappies, perch — both pike and yel- 

 low — channel cat, and black bass, all we 

 needed for camp use. We amused our- 

 selves, at off times, by plunking bullets, 

 from our little 32 rifle, into the backs of 

 turtles, as they would come up on to partly 

 submerged logs, to sun themselves. 



At night we were serenaded by the great 

 horned owls, and the first night by thou- 

 sands of mosquitoes, but put a stop to these 

 after that night. Along in the afternoons 

 we fired old stumps and rotten logs, each 

 way from the tent, and the smoke cleared 

 the singers clean out of this neck of woods. 



We had fine weather, and made many 

 friends and no enemies, among the resi- 

 dents of this region, having some one of 

 them to join us at our table, at each meal 

 during our stay. 



Sangamon, LeRoy, 111. 



Tacoma, Wash. 



Editor Recreation: I take all the 

 sportsmen's journals published. Some I 

 read and some I glance through and fire 

 into the waste basket. 



If there is anything on earth that makes 

 me tired, it is to pick up some magazine 

 that is supposed to contain reading matter 

 of interest to sportsmen and find that half 

 of it is devoted to some fool love story. 

 What do I want with love stories? I have 

 been married several years. What I want 

 to read is a rattling good bear fight, where 

 the air is full of hair, blood, dogs, etc. I 

 want something that will make your hair 

 stand on end, cause you to jump, grab 

 your gun, call your dog and take to the 



woods. D these lovesick tales that 



most of the sportsmen's magazines are full 

 of. I have Recreation from the first to 

 the latest number. I also have an old 

 smooth bore musket, loaded with slugs 

 and scrap iron; and I am coming down to 

 New York and turn it loose into you, Mr. 

 Editor, the first time one of these " Lovey 

 Dovey " stories appears in Recreation. 



W. F. Sheard. 



; We have an abundance of small game, 

 such as rabbits, squirrels, quails, with some 

 grouse. Our game laws are good and they 

 are well enforced. 



Open season for rabbits, squirrels and 

 grouse is September 1st to December 15th; 

 quails, November 10th to December 15th. 



The law says quails and grouse shall not 

 be sold in the State. 



P. W. Roche's article in August Recre- 

 ation, telling of 300 squirrels in one sea- 

 son, and 105 quails in one day, can mean 

 but one thing — game slaughter. 



He excuses it by saying they were ex- 

 pert hunters and not game hogs. I fail to 

 see why that much game, killed by an ex- 

 pert hunter, would destroy less than if it 

 had been killed by an ordinary butcher. 



Some men will denounce the pot hunter, 

 but when it comes to themselves, they kill 

 all in sight, offering as an excuse that they 

 are experts and do not kill for the market. 



We have no law limiting the amount of 

 game a man may kill, but 8 to 12 rabbits 

 or squirrels, 10 to 15 quails, or 2 to 5 grouse 

 is a good bag. By practising moderation 

 and seeing that the laws are enforced we 

 may have good shooting every fall. 



Recreation is ahead and on the right 

 track; success to it. 



B. H. P., Sayre, Ohio. 



Forest Glen, Md. 

 My Dear Coquina: 



My September Recreation came to 

 hand yesterday, and I sat up with it, till I 

 had finished it, of course. That is, I read 

 all through it once. However, I shall do 

 this over and over. My Recreation is my 

 share in the outside world — a world of 

 which I once formed a happy, active part; 

 but from which disease has closed me in. 

 You may therefore judge with what yearn- 

 ing I look forward, through the slow 

 weeks, for the next visit from you. 



To me Recreation is more than a maga- 

 zine; it is a* friend. It is my friend. It is 

 Coquina- himself, breathing of the majestic 

 Rockies, and smelling of venison, like Esau 

 of old, sweet with the freedom of the 

 mountains, genial with the fraternity of the 

 trigger. May all the blessings of the fields 

 and the woods attend you; and may shek- 

 els pour in till your pockets burst, if that 

 will minister to your happiness. You are 

 doing good, generous, missionary work 

 among sportsmen, and they should all 

 stand by you. 



W. H. Nelson, Forest Glen, Md. 



As an old reader of your magazine, when 

 not half so fat (I mean the magazine), I am 

 glad to see it getting better form by the 

 digesting of interesting reading matter, not 

 inflated with quack medicine, and doctors' 

 ads, which too many so called leading mag- 

 azines find it necessary to use to keep up 

 their forms. 



In this connection I may say my form 

 was greatly divided by traveling over most 

 of the U. S., parts of S. A. and Mexico, not 

 on pneumatic saddles, or tires, but on sweet 

 faced bronchos, inflated with all the cussed- 

 ness necessary to puncture your hide on 



