THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 



6l 



SENATOR HOAR WORKS WITH US. 



Editor Recreation : 



Washington, D. C. 



has done in our behalf and in behalf of the 

 wild creatures he so dearly loves. — Editor. 



I have your letter transmitting to me 

 copies of 6 resolutions adopted by the 

 League of American Sportsmen at its an- 

 nual meeting, and I have given them my 

 careful attention. I shall do my best to 

 comply with the desire of your League that 

 the destruction of our wild animals, such 

 as elk, moose, buffalo and antelope, be pre- 

 vented. I shall also do my best to prevent 

 their destruction, extermination and slaugh- 

 ter by leagues of sportsmen. I have 

 no respect whatever for the pursuit of 

 birds, and gentle, harmless wild creatures, 

 like deer and antelope, as they strive to 

 escape their oersecutors, with broken wings 

 and legs, hunted with dogs, and tortured 

 with deadly fear, which, I suppose, is the 

 crudest torture of which animal nature is 

 capable. I hope that the animals will not 

 be suppressed and that the sportsmen will. 



Geo. F. Hoar. 



The resolutions which Senator Hoar re- 

 fers to were printed in April Recrea- 

 tion, so that my readers are already famil-. 

 iar with them. Senator Hoar is well 

 known to all reading Americans as a staunch 

 friend of the birds and wild animals. His 

 objections to the methods of sportsmen are 

 well taken, and his opoosition to the kill- 

 ing of birds and animals under the name of 

 sport is shared by many thousands of good 

 people. I, however, recognize the fact that 

 it is impossible to abolish the use of fire- 

 arms as an adjunct of outdoor recreation. 

 It is impossible to entirely stop the killing 

 of birds and animals as an adjunct of 

 sport. We have greatly reduced the kill- 

 ing, and that is what the League of Ameri- 

 can Sportsmen was organized for. We 

 have almost totally wiped out the brutal 

 side hunt which prevailed so generally up 

 to a few years ago. We have nearly 

 stopped the sale of game. We have abol- 

 ished the millinery traffic in the plumage 

 of song and insectivorous birds. We have 

 shortened the season of killing in nearly 

 all the States, and have, in many States, 

 limited the number of birds and animals 

 which any man may kill in a 'day. There- 

 fore the venerable Massachusetts Senator 

 must agree that the League has done a 

 great work, and thus far must approve it. 

 In fact, he has told me in private conversa- 

 tion that he does approve it. We are in- 

 debted to him for supporting nearly every 

 measure which the League has put forward 

 for the protection of birds and wild ani- 

 mals ; and while we can not agree with his 

 radical views as to prohibiting all killing, 

 we value him and honor him for what he 



WHAT A MONTANA MAN SAYS OF THE 

 ANNUAL MEETING. 



J. M. Gaunt has returned from Indianapolis, 

 where he represented Montana at the annual con- 

 vention of the League of American Sportsmen. 

 Mr. Gaunt reports a most enjoyable trip and 

 session of the League, and returns a much more 

 enthusiastic member of the League than ever 

 before. 



"Although I have been a member of the 

 League several years," he said, "I never before 

 realized how great and powerful an organization 

 it is. It has had a remarkable growth in mem- 

 bership in the past year and it is a great power 

 in shaping needed legislation for the protection 

 of game of all kinds, song birds, and insectivor- 

 ous birds. 



"The matters of probably the greatest interest 

 to Montana sportsmen on which the League took 

 action were concerning the deportation of the 

 Cree Indians to their native land, Canada, the 

 project of making all forest reservations game 

 preserves, and the adoption of a resolution, call- 

 ing on the Indian department to direct that no 

 Indian shall be permitted to leave a reservation 

 bearing arms. 



"One of the most interesting features of the 

 meeting was the reports of progress made in the 

 enforcement of the Lacey game law. Dr. Palmer, 

 who is in charge of this enforcement, requests 

 all sportsmen to notify him by telegraph of any 

 violation of the law,, and on receipt of such 

 notice he immediately instructs, the United States 

 marshal who can most easily do so to confiscate 

 the game illegally killed, shipped or stored, and 

 to arrest those violating the law. 



"Action of the League that was particularly 

 gratifying to the Western delegates was the de- 

 cision 'that the next meeting, to be held next 

 February, shall be in St. Paul. Each year the 

 meeting place is moving Westward, and we may 

 in time get it to Montana. — Great Falls, Mont., 

 Tribune. 



I am sending out from my home 40 or 50 

 circular letters to my sportsmen friends in 

 able replies to some of them. I expect to 

 have the application of our representative 

 in the State Legislature, Mr. Hagenbuch, 

 in a day or 2. We intend if possible to 

 enroll 200 names in this county. We have 

 set our mark high, but we want to make 

 this the best protected county in the United 

 States. Mr. Gleason will help us. 



A. C. Thatcher, Urbana, Ohio. 



THE LEAGUE DID IT. 

 There are a lot of pot hunters in John- 

 sonburg, Pa., who for many years have 

 held a side hunt about Thanksgiving time. 

 Some months ago a good sportsman in that 

 town stirred up others of his kind and sent 

 in 41 applications for membership in the 

 League. A local chapter was organized and 

 League posters were put up throughout 

 the county. League literature was liberally 

 circulated among the pot hunters, and the 

 result is that the customary Thanksgiving 

 side hunt was cut out last year. Yet the 

 editor of the A. D. G. H. predicted 4 years 

 ago that this League would not "accomplish 

 any important achievement." 



