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RECREATION. 



A GOOD ARGUMENT AGAINST THE SALE OF 

 GAME. 



Grand Island, Neb. 

 Editor Recreation: 



Replying to your letter, will say it is 

 true I am buying and selling quails and 

 prairie chickens; also true that I ship 

 them out of the State. I knew it to be 

 unlawful before you had the kindness to 

 inform me, but the reason I do so is en- 

 tirely different from what you imagine. 



Before I go into details let me give 

 you, please, some information about myself 

 and my business. I have done business 

 here for the past 8 years, dealing in sport- 

 ing goods, guns, ammunition, fishing 

 tackle, bicycles, cameras, etc. I am an 

 ardent admirer of the rod and gun, and 

 during the closed season on quails and 

 chickens make up a little shooting tourna- 

 ment once or twice a week. I also make 

 up a bicycle race now and then in the in- 

 terest of the sport. I would not tell you 

 this were it not necessary to explain why 

 there are always people around in my 

 store — people who either have nothing to 

 do or care to do nothing but loaf. A 

 sporting goods store is a favorite place 

 for the boys to gather and talk about 

 shooting and racing, about game and 

 game laws, and about Recreation, which 

 to my mind is the best sportsman's maga- 

 zine I am acquainted with. 



Now, my dear Mr. Shields. I come to 

 the point, why I buy and sell quails and 

 chickens, and also why I ship them. 

 There are in Grand Island 3 gun stores 

 besides mine; all of them buy more or 

 less game. If I should refuse to buy 

 game it would mean such a big loss in 

 business to me that I, perhaps, would 

 have to close my doors. As my store 

 and stock is the largest, not only in Grand 

 Island, but also in Central Nebraska, I 

 consequently do a big business, and as I 

 must buy all the game the farmers and 

 sportsmen bring I get more on hand than 

 I can sell in the home market. I would 

 buy no game at all if the others would 

 not; but as it is, I must buy all offered 

 and ship whatever I have over the needs 

 of the home market out of the State, and 

 in doing so do exactly as the others do. 

 I, myself, shoot no game to sell, never 

 have done so and never will. I never have 

 killed any kind of game in such numbers 

 as some of your contributors admit hav- 

 ing done. For instance, in November 

 Recreation I read with astonishment how 

 a game hog, who calls himself a tender- 

 foot, killed 3 deer in one day. I returned 

 not long ago from this year's hunting trip 

 of over 5 weeks' duration and killed dur- 

 ing that time only 5 bucks, 6 sage-hens 

 and 4 grouse for a party of 5, I could 



have killed deer by the hundred, as we 

 were in the White River country in Colo- 

 rado. I often saw herds of 20 to 40, and 

 once I counted 148 coming down a hill 

 to cross the river. 



To return to my store and the boys. 

 One day one of them said it would be 

 great fun to have Kanert reported to 

 Recreation for selling and shipping 

 chickens and quails, and by your letter I 

 can see that one of them has acted on 

 the suggestion. If you will send me the 

 letter you received, I in turn will send you 

 a complete record of how many quails and 

 prairie chickens I have bought from its 

 writer. In conclusion I wish to say that 

 almost every large city in Nebraska has 

 formed a club for the purpose of having 

 the game laws revised. During this year's 

 election, we, the sportsmen, promised the 

 candidate for representative our support 

 on condition he would present a bill call- 

 ing for a revision of the game laws of the 

 State. This was done, and soon we will 

 call another meeting to complete what 

 we have begun. At the last meeting we 

 decided to ask for the prohibition, at all 

 times of the year, of the sale of game of 

 all kinds. But as the best law is worth- 

 less unless it can be enforced, we want the 

 Legislature to appropriate $10,000 to $15,- 

 000 a year to pay game wardens to look 

 after violators, and especially to watch 

 the depots so game cannot be shipped. 

 Furthermore, every one of us is willing 

 to pay an extra tax, say of 50 cents or $1 

 a gun, with which to repay the State the 

 money paid out to game wardens. I 

 would like to see an even more radical law 

 than this. If I had my way there should 

 be no spring shooting and no quail shoot- 

 ing for 48 hours after a snowfall. 



The number , of grouse slaughtered 

 around Alliance, Neb., is awful. If this is 

 not stopped there will not be a bird left 

 for seed, provided the report which I 

 heard from that section is true. At any 

 rate, quails and prairie chickens are being 

 killed now in greater numbers than ever 

 before. 



F. F. Kanert. 



You certainly have good cause for your 

 action in regard to buying and selling 

 game. Still, 2 wrongs do not make a 

 right; neither do 3 or 4 wrongs. I realize 

 that you must take care of your trade and 

 of your customers in a legitimate way, and 

 9 men out of 10 would do as you have 

 done in this case. 



The best solution of this question is to 

 induce your Legislature to pass a law pro- 

 hibiting the sale of game of all kinds at all 

 times. This is the only thing that can 

 save the game from extinction everywhere 



