FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



457 



MAINE'S GOOD GAME LAWS. 



In answer to H. E. Barton, who in Jan- 

 uary Recreation asks if any section has a 

 law to limit the killing of game birds, I 

 would say in Maine we have just such a 

 law. As the amount of big game is limited, 

 so is the small. No person can have in his 

 possession, at one time, more than 30 birds 

 of one variety. It is also unlawful to hunt 

 game of any kind on Sunday. I notice com- 

 munications from readers who oppose the 

 using of metal-patched bullets, in the 

 woods, on account of their great range and 

 penetration. It is unlawful to use the metal- 

 patched bullet on deer, moose and caribou 

 in this State, under penalty of $50 for each 

 offence. Who can doubt the wisdom of 

 these 3 laws? Keep up the good work of 

 roasting game hogs and pot-hunters. It 

 seems to me Indiana has taken the most 

 effective way of crushing the pot-hunter, by 

 making the sale of game unlawful; for if 

 there is no market for his game, he must 

 give up his vocation. 



G. S. Morton, Augusta, Me. 



THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SPORTSMAN 

 AND A GAME HOG. 



Amesbury, Mass. 



Editor Recreation: In this section we 

 don't fully understand what a game hog is. 

 No one here ever gets an over dose of 

 game, but there are some of us who, had 

 we the opportunity, might develope into 

 hogs. I don't think many of our shooters 

 would let a duck go by, within range, with- 

 out trying to bag it. There must be a fine 

 line between the sportsman and the game 

 hog. 



Suppose 2 men go hunting and each uses 

 25 shells. One man gets 20 birds out of 

 his shooting; the other, say 4 or 5. Now 

 is the former more of a hog than the latter 

 simply because, with the chances equal, his 

 superior skill enables him to score a larger 

 bag? 



Or, is there any point, in numbers of 

 game secured, where the sportsman leaves 

 off and the game hog takes his place. 



I have shot for many years, and at nearly 

 all kinds of game in this section; yet. I 

 have never seen the man who failed to ac- 

 cept any chance offered because he had 

 conscientious scruples about killing too 

 many birds or deer. I know the Maine law 

 regarding deer (only 2 to each hunter) does 

 not deter the sportsman from sending a 

 bullet after the third one; and I do not un- 

 derstand how an unwritten law will stop a 

 man's shooting too many head of any game. 



I voice the desire of several in New Eng- 

 land, especially in Eastern Massachusetts, 

 in asking you to state the exact point 

 where the sportsman leaves off and the 

 game hog comes in evidence. 



H. F. Chase. 



The term " Game Hog," means a man 

 who kills more than a reasonable bag of 

 game in a day, or on a single hunting trip. 



Now comes the question, what is a rea- 

 sonable bag? Of course this varies under 

 different circumstances. There is an un- 

 written law, however, among all high 

 minded sportsmen of the present day, that 

 a reasonable bag of game, for any one sea- 

 son would be: One moose, one deer, one 

 mountain sheep, one white goat, one bear, 

 one antelope. 



For a single day's shooting: Two wild 

 turkeys, 3 wild geese, 10 ducks, 10 grouse 

 of any species, 10 squirrels, 12 quails or 

 other small birds. 



If a man makes a trip to a ducking coun- 

 try, a grouse country or a quail country, it 

 is generally agreed that he may kill the 

 number of birds specified above, on each 

 consecutive day for, say a week, provided 

 the weather and other conditions are such 

 that he can save all the game. 



You suppose a case of 2 men going on to 

 the marshes, each provided with 25 shells. 

 One man gets 20 birds with his 25 shells. 

 If he does this, then he gets twice as many 

 as he should, and hence becomes a game 

 hog. If he be of the highest type of sports- 

 man, of the present day, he will quit on the 

 10th bird, no matter how thick they may be 

 flying, or how many birds he could kill with 

 the unused shells he may still have in his 

 belt. 



I am aware there are but few men in any 

 town or city who absolutely quit when they 

 get enough, if there be an opportunity to 

 get more; yet there are, in the aggregate, 

 thousands of such in the country at large. 

 If all men would do as these latter, then 

 we should have plenty of game for all time 

 to come. If all men had been doing, for 

 the past 20 years, as these men do now, we 

 would not be hearing the doleful lamenta- 

 tions that come from every quarter of this 

 broad land as to the scarcity, or the total 

 extinction of the game in various localities. 

 True we are taking advanced ground; 

 but the time has come when we must oc- 

 cupy it, or submit to the total destruction 

 of every kind of game bird and mammal 

 in the country, within the next 10 years. 



Which would you rather be — a high 

 minded, up to date sportsman, or a game 

 hog? Would you not rather quit on your 

 10th bird, or your first deer, and see the 

 game of the country preserved and per- 

 petuated for ages to come, than go in and 

 kill your 20 or 50 birds at every opportu- 

 nity, and leave the whole country a barren 

 desert — so far as game is concerned — with- 

 in a few years. 



Several states have enacted laws placing 

 limits on the bag for each man, for a season 

 or a day, on about the basis of the schedule 

 above. All the other states should follow 



