FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



459 



ant, judge, jury, and all, where is our 

 remedy? 



This is a case that is of vital interest to 

 every one in our State, and I trust you will 

 give it your attention, and furnish us with 

 any information, or plan whereby we can 

 get justice in the matter. 



W. L. Burk. 



ANSWER. 



Your experience is certainly an unique 

 one, and a tough one. It is said there is but 

 one thing that God does not know; and 

 that is, what the verdict of a petit jury will 

 be. It seems we might now amend this old 

 adage by including the recent grand '(?) 

 jury of your county. 



There can be but one explanation of this 

 strange proceeding, and that is that at least 

 a majority of these are pot hunters and 

 game hogs. If they had been decent, law 

 abiding citizens they would undoubtedly 

 have indicted these game law violators, on 

 the evidence you claim you have furnished, 

 and would have sent them to the proper 

 court for trial. 



I presume you have simply no means of 

 legal redress. This is one of the evils that 

 must be endured. I trust, however, your 

 associates have protected you, and have not 

 allowed you to personally pay the costs in 

 this infamous proceeding. 



I hope you will send me the names and 

 addresses of all the members of this remark- 

 able grand jury, in order that I may send 

 them marked copies of this issue of Rec- 

 reation. 



One means that might possibly reform 

 these men would be to induce as many 

 as possible of your friends and neighbors 

 to join the L. A. S. In this way, we would 

 be able to spread the gospel of game pro- 

 tection throughout your county, and this 

 grand (?) jury might, in time, be taught 

 their duty toward decent people. 



HOW ABOUT THE GAME PRESERVES? 



Portage County, Wis. 



Editor Recreation: I am pleased with 

 the stand you take regarding the game and 

 fish hogs. Give them solid shot at every 

 opportunity. There is another class that I 

 think come very near the hog line, though 

 these same parties term themselves true 

 sportsmen. 



I refer to the clubs who buy or lease large 

 tracts of fishing or hunting grounds, for 

 their own exclusive use; and even though 

 their tracts should include the only place 

 for such sport in the vicinity, they peremp- 

 torily refuse to allow others to shoot on 

 their domain. 



We all know they have a legal right to do 

 as they like, with their own property, but 

 from the standpoint of justice to others, is 

 this right? People in our State, except 

 those owning the preserve, think these men 



are nearly as big hogs as those who bag 

 more game occasionally, in one day, than 

 they can use at that time. What do you 

 think about it Mr. Editor? Nimrod. 



This is another of the knotty problems 

 that many of the sportsmen of to-day are 

 compelled to struggle with. At first sight 

 it looks like a hardship to the many, for the 

 few to buy or lease large tracts of land, and 

 forbid others to shoot or fish thereon; yet 

 these few have just as good a right to do 

 this as any man has to buy a piece of land, 

 fence it up, and forbid others to enter upon 

 it for any other purpose. It would be just 

 as unreasonable for me to complain of not 

 being allowed to go on my neighbor's land 

 and dig his potatoes or harvest his apples 

 and eat them, as it would be for me to com- 

 plain of not being allowed to go on his tract 

 of marsh land and shoot ducks; or to go 

 to his private trout stream, and catch his 

 trout. The right of property is guaranteed 

 to every man, by the constitution of the 

 United States, and by the laws of the sev- 

 eral states; and no man can reasonably 

 complain of his neighbor, or of any num- 

 ber of his neighbors, exercising this right 

 provided they have secured a legal title to 

 the property in question. 



TOO MANY DEER. 



I live in the backwoods of Sawyer 

 county, Wis., on a homestead; and have 

 cleared and fenced about 4 acres, which I 

 have planted with garden truck. The fence 

 is made according to the statutes of this 

 State; but the deer do not care a snap for 

 fence or statutes, when they see the tender 

 sprouts in the field. My hound was killed 

 by game wardens, while driving off and fol- 

 lowing deer in the woods. One morning 

 of last July, w T hen I opened the door of 

 my log cabin, I found 9 full grown deer in 

 my clearing, devouring my crop. W r ith my 

 old muzzle loading shotgun I was only able 

 to scare them, as it will not kill rabbits at 

 20 yards distance. I am a poor man and 

 have to depend for a living on what I can 

 raise on the homestead. This fall there is 

 not enough left for my winter supply. 

 Now what shall I do? Will the State pay 

 me for my loss? I am not much of a 

 hunter, on account of poor eyesight, or I 

 would do my best to make the trespassers 

 pay for what they eat and ruin. There are 

 hundreds of poor settlers in North Wis- 

 consin suffering in the same way. All 

 would welcome some of the despised 

 " game hogs " to protect their fields. We 

 are allowed to kill potato bugs, but have to 

 let the deer depart in peace, after they have 

 destroyed our crops. 



Christian Logge, Sawyer County, Wis. 



