FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



The man who quits when he gets enough, with plenty of game still in sight, is a real sportsman. 



SPORTSMEN SHOULD HUSTLE. 



Watertown, N. Y. 

 Editor Recreation : 



For years I have been trying to stop the 

 spring shooting of wild fowl in this county. 

 Last year I succeeded. Last spring our 

 waters were alive with wild fowl long into 

 June, and they became as tame as domes- 

 tic fowl. Many of them stayed and rested. 

 Others found choice feeding spots and re- 

 turned earlier in the fall, and in larger 

 numbers than ever known before. We had 

 the best fall duck shooting we have ever 

 enjoyed. We did not have to wait for cold 

 weather to drive the ducks down from the 

 North. We had them by the thousand 

 from the ist of September till our waters 

 froze. It took me 5 years to secure 

 this law, and I did it in the face of strong 

 opposition ; but I do not believe there is 

 a duck shooter in the county who would 

 consent to its repeal. 



The black and grey squirrels, grouse, and 

 woodcock, are nearly exterminated in this 

 county and I am trying to get a close sea- 

 son for 2 years. Will I get it? Oh no! 

 Why not? Everyone says, "It is a good 

 thing. We want it. At the end of 2 years 

 we shall have splendid shooting. Go ahead, 

 Billy, and get it. We'll back you" ; but 

 not one in 50 of these enthusiastic 

 sportsmen will spend the necessary time 

 and 2 cents to write our representatives 

 asking them to support the bill. Last year 

 I turned out 2 pairs of Chinese pheasants. 

 They bred and raised 27 young. These 

 birds lived through the winter, the worst 

 one for snow that we have had in years, 

 without' any aid by food or shelter. If 

 this law goes through we shall stock the 

 county with pheasants. Every sportsman 

 in the county knows this, and is anxiously 

 watching for news from Albany, but it is 

 dollars to doughnuts that not one in 50 

 has spent a cent in the cause. 



There is no county in the State better 

 adapted by nature for fish and game than 

 Jefferson. In Chaumont bay and the waters 

 of Lake Ontario, from Cape Vincent to the 

 Oswego county line, we have the finest 

 small mouth black bass fishing in the 

 State. From Cape Vincent to the St. Law- 

 rence county line we have the beautiful 

 St. Lawrence river, with its thousand isl- 

 ands. Once it was famous for its black 

 bass and muskalonge fishing; but, owing 

 to a foolish law that forbids the taking of 

 any fish except with hook and line, it is 

 rapidly filling with coarse fishes, which the 

 angler does not care to catch, and which, to 

 a large extent have driven the game fishes 



445 



from its waters. Until the Anglers Asso- 

 ciation of the St. Lawrence river consents 

 to the taking out of these coarse fishes by 

 netting during the fall and winter, at a time 

 when the bass are in the deep waters of the 

 lake, their bass fishing will grow poorer 

 each year. 



These waters and the numerous lakes 

 and creeks scattered throughout our 

 county, make it a splendid wild fowl pre- 

 serve. We have hundreds of acres of 

 woods and covers where a few years ago 

 there was an abundance of small game, and 

 where if the few remaining birds were 

 allowed to breed unmolested for a short 

 time they would make glad the heart of 

 the sportsman by their abundance. I pre- 

 sume, however, the average sportsman of 

 the State is like the average sportsman of 

 Jefferson; he will not help get good laws, 

 or help enforce them when obtained. How 

 many of you have written your representa- 

 tives, asking them to stop the sale of game 

 or the spring shooting of wild fowl? Have 

 you? How many of you, when you see or 

 hear of a violation of the game laws, notify 

 the nearest game protector, and help him 

 to prosecute the offender? Not many, 

 Most of you sit around and kick because 

 the State protector, perhaps 50 miles away, 

 does not find it out and prosecute the law 

 breakers ; but let this same fellow steal 

 your gun or dog, do you wait till some 

 officer of the law comes around and finds 

 it out? Oh, no! You get a hustle on and 

 spare no money or effort to bring the thief 

 to justice. Until the sportsmen for whose 

 especial benefit our laws for the preserva- 

 tion of fish and game are made, learn to 

 respect these laws themselves, and give 

 our State protector the same aid and sup- 

 port they give the peace officers, for the en- 

 forcement of the civil law, they have no 

 just reason to complain that our game 

 laws are not properly enforced. I suppose 

 you sportsmen who love to shoot and fish 

 for sport only will at once put me down as 

 a crank, will continue to shut your eyes, 

 and say nothing, keep your 2 cents in your 

 pocket, let a few cranks from each county 

 do the pushing for all of you. and then 

 kick because we can not push hard enough 

 to get what you want. 



The average representative at Albany is 

 satisfied with his job. He wants to go 

 back.- If 2 or 3 cranks write him he does 

 nothing. If 200 or 300 sportsmen write 

 him that is different. He may need those 

 votes next fall. The sportsmen of each 

 county could control their representatives, 

 but they never will as long as there are so 

 many 2 cent sportsmen. W. H. Tallett. 



