486 



RECREA TION. 



others in the world who are entitled to a 

 share of its good things. Let us also con- 

 sider the great number of game birds fall- 

 ing, each year, to the guns of even reason- 

 able sportsmen. 



These run into the thousands, as the 

 following figures, based on the circula- 

 tion of Recreation, alone, will show. 

 Supposing 75 per cent, of its 30,000 sub- 

 scribers are active shooters, and I am under 

 the impression this is a conservative esti- 

 mate. 



At the rate of one day's shooting each 

 week, during the open season, October, 

 November and December, and at the rate 

 of 15 squirrels, or 15 birds, ruffed grouse, 

 quails, woodcock or wild fowl, or 15 birds 

 made up from all these varieties, there 

 would be killed over 4,000,000 birds.* 

 Think of it. Even at this reasonable rate 

 how long will it take to destroy all the 

 game birds in the country? 



Answer this for me fellow sportsmen. 

 " Horizontal Axis." 



A BRUTAL SIDE HUNT. 



Here is a report from the Leominster, 

 Mass., Daily Enterprise: 



Interest in the hunt of the Gute Zeit club increases with 

 each day. Members of the teams will be permitted to hunt 

 all day Saturday with or without dogs, but all game to 

 count must be shot Saturday and must be in the club rooms 

 before 8 o'clock, to count. 



The game will be counted as follows : Fox, ioo points : 

 coon, 6o ; owl, 75 ; blue heron, 50 : partridge, duck (wild), 

 hen hawk and black squirrel, 50 each ; woodcock and crow, 

 40 each ; gray squirrel, 30 ; rabbit, 20 ; red squirrel, 20 ; 

 chipmunk, 10 ; skunk, 60 ; woodpecker, 10 ; blue jay, to. 



Captain Weston's team is made up as follows ; H. E. 

 Weston, A. L. Jobes, L. C. Jobes, J. E. McClaren, H. T. 

 Baillie, Dr. Wiley, E. E. Hutchins, Will Tanner, Joseph 

 Dews, Erva Ames, A. S. Paton, Banks Trumbull, J. J. 

 Scanlon, D. W. Garland, G. E. Sanderson, A. C. Hosmer. 



Captain Bicknell's side is composed of H. B. Bicknell, C. 

 T. Foster, Herbert Carter, Allen Way, Charles Jobes, Wal- 

 ter Baker, Ernest Meekham, William Railey, Dick O'Brien, 

 J. H. P. Dyer, Marvin Sherwin, J. L. Miller, Clayton 

 Bates, Archibald Woods, Edward Robinson, Herbert Litch, 

 E. F. Patterson, Samuel Haskell. 



I am astonished to learn that in a state 

 containing so many true sportsmen as are 

 to be found in Massachusetts, there could 

 be mustered 33 men of such brutal instincts 

 as to engage in so wholesale a slaughter as 

 is indicated by the above announcement! 

 These side hunts have long since been con- 

 demned by all respectable sportsmen every- 

 where; yet here in Massachusetts, the cen- 

 tre of refinement, the home of culture, of 

 advanced thought, a body of 33 men start 

 out and wage a competitive warfare — a war 

 of extermination — on such game as ruffed 



* This correspondent says in a private note, that he fig- 

 ures my circulation at 35,000 by post-office receipts pub- 

 lished in September Recreation. In addition to my 

 large mailing list, the American News Company handles 

 12,000 copies a month. Each copy of this magazine is read 

 by at least 4 people ; so that Recreation has 175,000 

 readers instead of 35,000 as Horizontal Axis computes. 

 Therefore the destruction of game birds must be 4 to 5 

 times greater than his figures would indicate. — Editor. 



grouse, squirrels and woodcock! Yea, 

 these butchers even include in their list of 

 subjects for the slaughter, such beautiful 

 and harmless creatures as blue herons, red 

 squirrels, chipmunks, woodpeckers, and 

 blue jays! A heron is to count 50 points; a 

 red squirrel 20; a chipmunk, woodpecker 

 and a blue jay 10 each; so it is safe to say 

 not a single specimen of either will be al- 

 lowed to live if these bloodthirsty butchers 

 can have their way. 



Are not woodpeckers and blue jays pro- 

 tected by the laws of Massachusetts? The 

 game warden of that district is advised to 

 investigate. 



These Leomister slaughterers are a dis- 

 grace to the noble Bay State and should be 

 driven out of it. — Editor. 



DOGGING GAME IN WYOMING. 



Dubois, Wyo. 



I find, in reading the September number 

 of Recreation, that a former guide, from 

 Colorado, has cast his lot in the wilds of 

 the Green river mountains, with the avowed 

 intention of running the game animals of 

 that country, with dogs. This man may 

 be sincere in saying he intends to use these 

 dogs for hunting bear, mountain lions, and 

 wolverines, only; but let me ask him: If- 

 these dogs were turned loose in the timber, 

 even on the trail of a bear, and if a band of 

 elk or deer were jumped, during the run, 

 is it at all probable that the dogs would 

 continue on the bear trail, with nothing 

 in sight? Would they not at once turn 

 their attention to the animals in view? 

 Even if they caught and crippled none, 

 would they not run them out of the coun- 

 try? 



Most assuredly they would. It is just as 

 natural for a dog to run a deer or an elk as 

 it is for him to run a bear or a lion; and 

 the chances are the dogs could not be called 

 off. 



The law forbids this form of hunting, in 

 Wyoming, not mentioning bear or lions; 

 but, as I have said, if they run one they will 

 run the other. 



The law, in this as in all respects, will be 

 enforced, in this county, and Mr. Wells 

 may find himself in trouble if he undertakes 

 to run his dogs in this state. 



I fully agree with him, in regard to the 

 " noble red man," and sincerely hope the 

 day is not far off when these curses of the 

 community can be made to obey the laws, 

 as white men are required to do. 

 Chas. G. Poole, 

 Deputy State Game Warden. 



HIS FIGURES ARE LAME. 



I read with much interest Mr. Leaven- 

 worth's " defence," in your October issue, 

 and am curious as to his arithmetic. He 



