FROM THE GAME FIELDS 



203 



GIVING AWAY GAME. 



I have read, with some sympathy for the 

 hogs, your caustic strictures on them. It 

 has never been my fortune to be placed in 

 a position where I could indulge swinish 

 inclinations; indeed, my usual luck is an 

 empty basket. I am not, nor do I ever ex- 

 pect to be, in a position to take long and 

 expensive trips to virgin waters, and my 

 opportunities for sport come at infrequent 

 intervals. While I always make it a point 

 to return to the water all undersized fish, 

 I should not hesitate to take all I could 

 carry of proper size. Seldom have I been 

 rewarded by a catch beyond the immediate 

 wants of myself and family, but I shall not 

 soon forget the pleasure with which some 

 friends welcomed my gifts, nor my own 

 delight at being able to gratify desires 

 which, without my aid, would have gone 

 unsatisfied. 



It is well for you to write that those 

 who cannot capture game should not eat 

 it, but have you ever been laid up for 

 months with a smashed thigh bone and a 

 capricious appetite, and had a dainty quail 

 or canvasback sent you by some sym- 

 pathetic friend? 



This confession may make me a hog, 

 but if I do nothing worse than give game 

 to my friends I shall take my chances of 

 sneaking by Saint Peter on my fishing 

 record — and all this with my respects, Mr. 

 Editor. 



W. A. Campbell, Rockport, Me. 



good, but we I .ust draw the line some- 

 where, and th' time when a man may 

 safely fish and hunt for himself and his 

 neighbors is pvtst. — Editor. 



PROBABLY A CASE OF DISTORTED VISION. 



On the Western slope of Marshall pass, 

 on the line of the D. & R. G. railway, 

 there is, according to the reports of sev- 

 eral men whose veracity cannot be ques- 

 tioned, a monster mule deer, which seems 

 to possess a charmed life. He has been 

 hunted and found, seen and shot at; and 

 once a hunter got so close as almost to be 

 able to prod him with his rifle. The ham- 

 mer clicked, and the deer still enjoys life 

 and liberty. Another man says he would 

 bet any money that the deer would dress 

 500 pounds, and this opinion is seconded 

 by several others who have seen the old 

 buck. A man can lay his open hand in the 

 track of this deer without touching any 

 side of it. 



One man who saw him reported that 

 he had seen an elk leading a bunch of 

 deer; but the description of the horns 

 proves him to be, not an elk, but this saifie 

 immense deer. 



Can you or any of Recreation's read- 

 ers offer any explanation of the unusual 

 size of this old fellow? 



Recreation has many admirers in Sa- 

 lida, and we all anxiously look forward to 

 its monthly appearance. 



George P. Brewster, Salida, Col. 



W. A. C. is right and yet he is wrong. 

 Years ago it was all right for a man to 

 catch all the fish or kill all the game he 

 could, for fish and game were so plentiful 

 that there was no urgent need for protec- 

 tion. With the increase in population, the 

 settling up of the wild portions of the 

 country, the growth of taste for outdoor 

 sports, the improvement in guns and fish- 

 ing tackle, the very existence of all game 

 and fish is now seriously menaced, and it 

 is simply a question of curtailing each 

 man's catch or kill to the minimum or 

 the total extinction, within a few years, of 

 all game and game fishes. Hence it is nec- 

 essary to let each man do his own fishing 

 or shooting or do without fish and game. 

 Of course, this would work a hardship on 

 many people, but it is better that some 

 should suffer inconvenience than that all 

 should. 



I have never yet been so unfortunate as 

 to have my leg broken, though I have 

 often had it pulled until I thought it would 

 break. Many of my friends have been un- 

 fortunate in one way or another, and I 

 have taken as much pleasure in supplying 

 them with a quail, a snipe, a woodcock or 

 a squirrel as any man ever did in doing 



I. am inclined to think the hunters who 

 have seen the big buck have been af- 

 flicted with magnified vision, and possibly 

 with buck fever. I do not believe there is 

 a deer anywhere in the mountains that 

 would dress 350 pounds. No doubt this 

 fellow is a giant, and it would seem that 

 the measurements of the track you give 

 should be reliable; yet, the reports are 

 incredible. 



Many stories have gained credence in 

 various parts of the country about big 

 deer, but somehow or other, when these 

 animals have finally fallen victims to some 

 man's rifle, they have shrunk sadly, and 

 none of them has ever measured up or 

 weighed up to the imagination of the men 

 who had hunted them. So it will doubt- 

 less be with this old chap. Still, I am 

 deeply interested in the story, and trust 

 that whoever does land this prize will put 

 him on the scales, either gross or dressed, 

 and that he will make careful measure- 

 ments of the animal, in accordance with 

 the diagram and instructions given by Mr. 

 E. S. Thompson in May, '98, Recreation. 

 If the buck does prove a monster, then 

 these weights and measurements should be 

 attested by affidavits. 



