382 



RECREA TION. 



I have yet to see a gray wolf that was 

 easily caught or poisoned. They are wary 

 and cunning, and especially so after seeing 

 a dead wolf, or one in a trap. 



Wm. Dicer, Albion, Mich. 



AS TO PENNSYLVANIA LAWS. 



New Brighton, Pa. 

 Editor Recreation: Enclosed please 

 find clipping from Pittsburg Chronicle 

 Telegraph, which explains itself. Can you 

 not make a protest for Pennsylvania? 



" West Chester, December, 23. 



%i As at present constituted the game law 

 as passed by the last Legislature of Penn- 

 sylvania does not suit many of the sports- 

 men of this section, and an effort will be 

 made by them to have it changed by the 

 next Legislature. They want the squirrel 

 season to open on September 1, and the 

 close season to commence on October 15, 

 and the rabbit law to remove its protection 

 to the game on November 15 and close 

 January 1. This, they contend, will pre- 

 vent much of the illegal killing of rabbits 

 which is done at present, the squirrel law 

 allowing the use of guns in the woods and 

 tempting hunters to shoot rabbits when the 

 season draws near. The change would 

 give the hunters the benefit of the best por- 

 tion of the year for shooting squirrels and 

 allow a month between the two seasons. 



" The gentlemen who are in favor of the 

 move will prepare a petition to the Legis- 

 lature asking for the proposed changes and 

 present it at the next session. It is their 

 intention to get the sportsmen of Pitts- 

 burg, Philadelphia and other sections of 

 the State to co-operate with them in the 

 move and push the matter along to the best 

 of their ability between this time and the 

 meeting of the executive body. The re- 

 sult of the late squirrel season this year was 

 that there was but little good hunting for 

 the animals, and a less number were shot 

 than during any preceding season for sev- 

 eral years. The latter fact may be looked 

 upon by some people as beneficial instead 

 of detrimental, as it means an increase in 

 squirrels." 



Our new game laws are practically un- 

 tried and could not possibly be worse than 

 those in effect heretofore, which specified 

 various dates for opening of season, for the 

 different species of game, respectively. 

 Last fall some alleged sportsmen osten- 

 sibly hunted squirrels, but incidentally shot 

 other things that were, unfortunately, ex- 

 posed to such unprincipled persons. The 

 temptation to shoot is undoubtedly hard 

 to resist, as you stand watching the reced- 

 ing body of a grouse, but one way to 

 remedy the matter would be to keep such 

 temptations out of the way. The present 

 laws do this much more effectively than 

 former ones did. For instance, the close 



season for squirrels, grouse, quails, and 

 rabbits formerly ended August 31st, Sep- 

 tember 30th, and October 31st respectively. 

 Sportsmen keeping within the law and 

 waiting until the formal opening of the 

 season on each species, took chances on 

 being jugged out of their pleasure by less 

 scrupulous men. 



In this section of the country, at least, 

 the only modification of game laws which 

 would remedy the matter further (as the 

 West Chester fraternity propose) would 

 be to make an absolutely uniform opening 

 and ending of the hunting season, for small 

 game. Then few persons would be bold 

 enough to do any hunting with dog and 

 gun, out of season, as they could be spotted 

 instantly. 



The West Chester fraternity wanting a 

 revised law should curb their desires to a 

 local one, at least. 



Will Kennedy, New Brighton, Pa. 



HUNTING ISLANDS, SOUTH CAROLINA- 



Beaufort, S. C. 



Editor Recreation: The St. Philips 

 Club own and lease all of the hunting isl- 

 ands, except a small portion of Jonson's 

 island, on which the lighthouse is situated. 

 This is greatly to our advantage. It leaves 

 a chance for the negroes to hunt; and it 

 being the largest of the islands they cannot 

 destroy a very large proportion of the 

 deer. When they do stir them up too much, 

 a good many large bucks swim over to the 

 other islands, and give us better hunting. 

 The deer, under our preservation, are in- 

 creasing fast. We hunt only about half a 

 dozen times in a winter, and seldom kill 

 more than 4 or 5 in any one hunt. In 

 my younger days I have killed 40 deer in 

 one season to feed the plantation, and even 

 then could not see any decrease in num- 

 bers. But then they had not been hunted 

 for several years and not at all by the ne- 

 groes. We run the deer with dogs; and 

 under our management, it is the best way 

 to hunt them. By this means they are kept 

 so wild that it is now almost impossible to 

 still hunt them, and they give coon hunt- 

 ers a wide berth. The cover is very thick, 

 in some places an impassable jungle. A 

 deer crossing, at full speed, a 50 foot open- 

 ing, tests any man's skill, and a standing 

 shot is rare. 



We have not as yet put pheasants on any 

 of our islands. Clyde tried it on Hilton 

 Head. Some game hogs went down to his 

 place, last year, and killed them without so 

 much as saying " by your leave " to him. 

 We will not attempt to rear them until we 

 have a good club house and regular war- 

 dens. Under our constitution no one can 

 own stock except a member of the club, 

 and at present there are only 2 vacancies. 

 A hotel man would be in clover with a 



