FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



121 



Sheboygan who could, and would like to, 

 make a few dollars out of his Sunday 

 hunting? If the laws were changed for his 

 benefit, would he be the only one to take 

 advantage of the opportunity? Assuredly 

 not; there would be many others. Game 

 does not belong of right to whoever can 

 take it; it is the property of the State, 

 which, in an endeavor to prevent its ex- 

 termination, prescribes the times and con- 

 ditions under which it may be taken. 

 Those unable to hunt on week days may 

 be unfortunate; but they have no cause to 

 cavil at a law made not to oppress a class 

 nor even to honor Sunday, but simply 

 to give the game one day of safety each 

 week. It may soften the complainant's 

 feeling to know I am not a capitalist, 

 but a poor devil hanging over a desk 

 many long hours a day; yet even at that I 

 get some hunting and don't do it on Sun- 

 day either. I get up occasionally at 3 a. 

 m and sneak off to the woods; and by 8 

 o'clock I am behind my desk. 



Buckskin George. 



THE RIGHT GOSPEL. 



Christ Church Cathedral, Louisville, 

 Ky., issues every week for distribution to 

 the congregation a little newspaper called 

 "Cathedral Notes." The Rev. George 

 G. Smith is the editor, and many bright 

 things of a non-religious or semi-religious 

 nature are said. Mr. Smith was away, and 

 the Dean of the Cathedral, the Rev. 

 Charles E. Craik, took a whirl in the edi- 

 torial chair. Among other items of a non- 

 sectarian nature appeared the following: 



The Dean again lakes advantage of the absence of the 

 editor to make a note on what might be called a purely 

 secular matter. Perhaps some may think it entirely too 

 light and undignified to find a place in our paper ; but 

 the Dean, being a hunter of birds as well as of men, is 

 interested in the enforcement of our game laws, and he 

 fears there are many in his congregation who, ignorantly, 

 are in danger of violating those laws. He would regret if 

 any of the fair women of his congregation should be in- 

 dicted for serving quail out of season. In that case it would 

 not be looked on as a trivial matter at all. It might 

 be undignified, but still serious. 



So he would remind them that it is strictly unlawful to 

 kill, to buy, to sell or to have in possession any quail be- 

 tween the first day of January and the 15th of November. 

 If well-to-do people did not offer to buy birds out of sea- 

 son, our caterers would not be tempted to sell them. 

 Thus we become guilty of a double wrong in tempting 

 others. This would certainly bring the matter under the 

 head of morals, to discuss which is evidently in the strict 

 line of duty of Cathedral Notes. Let us give our moral 

 support to the young men who voluntarily undertake an 

 unpleasant duty. 



Here is a clergyman after my own heart. 

 Why don't all minsters of the Gospel 

 preach such morality? How different the 

 place Mr. Craik will get in the hereafter 

 from that to which "Chaplain" Hadley. 

 of Fort Yates, N. D., will be assigned — he 

 who with a friend recently killed over 75 

 ducks and winged 20 more, at one rake! — 

 Editor. 



A SHOT BETWEEN THE EYES. 



How many of Recreation's readers 

 have shot a bear squarely between the 

 eyes, with a black powder gun, at the first 

 crack, without having the ball glance? I 

 recently succeeded in doing this. I have 

 a -38-55 single shot Winchester, with Ly- 

 man front and rear sight. It is a fine 

 shooter. The weather was stormy, with 

 about 2 inches of* snow on the hill. Two 

 boys had seen a bear track in the snow the 

 day before, so I knew where to strike his 

 trail. I had tracked him about 2 miles 

 when he went into a tamarack swamp. I 

 had no dog, so had to play dog myself. 

 It was no trouble to track the bear in the 

 snow, but it was hard to get sight of him 

 in the bushes. About 2 o'clock I caught 

 sight of him. He had climbed on to some 

 fallen trees, to get a better view of what 

 was following" him. I was only about 20 

 paces away. Could only see his head, so 

 I took a good bead and let drive. Mr. 

 Bear fell about 6 feet, to the ground, like 

 a sack of wheat. The ball struck him 

 squarely between the eyes and came out 

 on top of his neck. This was one bullet 

 that did not glance from a bear's face.* 



The season for deer opened here Oc- 

 tober 15th. Thus far there have been few 

 killed except by the Indians. They are 

 death to the game in this country, at all 

 seasons. Prairie chickens and grouse are 

 plentiful. I have just got a .30-30 Win- 

 chester, which I am anxious to give a 

 trial and compare with my .38-55- The 

 difference in weight is in its favor, but I 

 don't see how it can kill a bear any deader 

 than my .38-55 did. 



J. B. L., Clover, Wash. 



A SOCIABLE BEAR. 



Out on Canyon creek, not far from Daw- 

 son, Yukon Territory, one of the miners, 

 in the fall of 1898, killed a moose, which 

 was sold to the various miners. They 

 hung the meat in their cabins for future 

 use. Not long after, one of the miners, 

 who had a log cabin with a canvas door, 

 was awakened one night by some animal 

 which was trying to get into the cabin. 

 The miner supposed it was a donkey, be- 

 longing to a man lower down on the creek. 

 He arose, went to the front of the cabin, 

 raised the canvas and found his visitor was 

 a brown Alaska bear. Having his right of 

 way disputed, the bear left the cabin, went 

 to the next place below, got on the roof 

 of that cabin and began to dig out the 

 poles, to get at the moose meat inside. 

 The scared miner, hearing the noise above 



*I doubt if any ball, fired from a modern rifle, and pro- 

 pelled by a full charge of powder, ever glanced from a 

 bear's skull. Most, if not all the stories we read, of this 

 kind, are pure inventions, and generally originate in the 

 mind of some newspaper reporter. — Editor. 



