FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



285 



you used a mechanical substitute for the 

 live birds? 



We might tell you that in the study of the 

 living pigeons and their development you 

 could, if you would, find a subject far more 

 interesting than any amount of pigeon kill- 

 ing. The development of the original wild 

 pigeon under the marvelous influence of 

 domestication and artificial selection consti- 

 tutes a most wonderful chapter in animal 

 life and in scientific investigation; but 

 we fear the man especially adapted to kill- 

 ing live birds is perhaps not well adapted 

 to the study of the bird before it is let 

 out of the trap to be murdered. 



Just why the S. P. C. A. should per- 

 mit a man to murder pigeons for his amuse- 

 ment and forbid him to chase a jack 

 rabbit with a greyhound we do not quite 

 understand ; but probably they do. — Chi- 

 cago American. 



A GOOD RECORD. 



I have secured 76 convictions in the fol- 

 lowing counties : Vanderburg, Posey, 

 Warrick, Marshall, Gibson, Davies, Kos- 

 ciusko, Sullivan, Vigo, Vermillion, Parke, 

 Marion, Shelby, Jackson and Lawrence. 

 Twenty-one of these cases were for viola- 

 tions of the game laws and 55 for violations 

 of fish laws. In addition I now have 2 ap- 

 pealed cases pending in the Supreme Court. 

 The defendants in these cases were arrested 

 for having quails in possession during the 

 closed season, and were convicted in the 2 

 lower courts. They are attacking the con- 

 stitutionality of the law. One of the de- 

 fendants testified that he had cold 20,000 

 dozen quails in the city of Indianapolis in 

 the last 3 years. I have convicted 16 men 

 in various parts of the State for selling 

 and keeping quails at times prohibited by 

 law and have almost put the quail dealers 

 out of business. 



I have accomplished a good deal toward 

 doing away with the pot fishermen in the 

 Southwestern part of the State, and along 

 Wabash and White rivers. I have had 55 

 of them heavily fined and have burned 3,855 

 feet of nets and seines. Violations of the 

 fish law are much rarer than before and 

 hook and line fishing is better than at any 

 •time in 10 years. I am now making a fight 

 on the strawboard people, who are empty- 

 ing their poisonous refuse into the streams. 

 Madison county farmers told me the other 

 day that they saw 2 carloads of dead fish, 

 that had been killed by strawboard refuse 

 at a mill down near Anderson. We will 

 try to have that stopped,. 



Much additional legislation is needed for 

 the proper protection of fish and game. 

 Fishing and hunting clubs should corre- 

 spond with one another, ascertain what will 



meet with general approval, and then set 

 to work to get it. We will keep up a con- 

 tinual , warfare on illegal hunters and 

 fishermen and hope to do more for' the 

 protection of game this year than last. 

 We have been charged with the enforce- 

 ment of the game laws only since the meet- 

 ing of the last Legislature; prior to that 

 time we only had the fish laws to look 

 after. 

 E. E^ Earl, Dep'y Comr. Fish and Game, 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



POWELL'S BEAR STORY. 

 "A Racket in the Rockies," is all right 

 and so is its author, Mr. Vermilya, inas- 

 much as he did not intend to load anybody ; 

 but it must be conceded that A. M. Powell 

 is a record breaker with a pistol, if his 

 Alaskan story is true. Recreation readers 

 are not all boys ; many have hunted bear 

 and deer in the Rockies and some have 

 been in Alaska. Three grizzlies and a 

 caribou at 200 yards with a 6-shooter is, to 

 say the least, unusual. Bear No,. 1 escaped 

 being shot with a camera and fell a victim 

 to Mr. Powell's revolver. Mr. P. says that 

 bear was dressed and hung up just as dark- 

 ness set in, and that happened in July, 

 when one can see to read all night in 

 Alaska. 



Mr. Powell's next victim was a caribou, 

 running, at 200 yards; a remarkable shot, 

 surely, with a pistol. The same afternoon 

 a huge grizzly was shot at 145 yards, with 

 the same weapon, the bear charging and 

 nearly getting the man. This is the first 

 case known of a wounded bear charging 

 at that distance. Some 3 weeks later Mr. 

 P. had another close shave but finally got 

 his bear. It dressed 800 pounds, which 

 would make its live weight about 1,200. 

 There is no authentic record of a bear of 

 that preposterous weight. 



It is much to be regretted that Mr. Pow- 

 ell did not explain just how he managed 

 to preserve all that meat from spoiling, 

 during 3 weeks of hot July weather, and 

 how he packed a ton of meat and his camp 

 duffle on 6 horses. 



I once knew a man named Burt. He 

 said he could break a swinging bottle at 

 200 yards with a rifle every time. It trans- 

 pired that he couldn't hit a barrel with 

 a shot gun. We meet such fellows occas- 

 ionally, but it is seldom anyone puts enough 

 faith in their yarns to publish them. 



G. H. Tremper, Helena, Mont. 



ANSWER. 



I sometimes print a statement in Recrea- 

 tion that I know is not true, just to show 

 how many kinds of a liar a man can be on 

 paper. Moreover it is fun to see the other 

 fellows rip him up the back in subsequent 

 issues, — Editor. 



