FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



371 



tonus, and which advise me to keep at it 

 until all these animals are wiped off the 

 face of the earth. As long as I find that 

 my course is approved by 99 out of every 

 100 men who buy Recreation, then I 

 shall certainly continue on the same lines 

 as I have been working. In fact, as I have 

 frequently said, I should continue my work 

 if it cost me every subscriber I have. As 

 long as I can print 100 copies of Recrea- 

 tion and circulate them, they will be de- 

 voted to the cause of saving the game from 

 extermination. I am working for a prin- 

 ciple, and shall devote my life to it, and 

 whatever means I have or may be able to 

 get in a legitimate way. 



If you will go carefully through your file 

 of Recreation for a year past, you will 

 find that what you term my game hog 

 roasts do net average 2 pages a month. 

 Meantime, I have given you an average 

 of 80 pages a month of valuable reading 

 matter. Are not the other 78 pages a 

 month worth your dollar? If my criticisms 

 on the game butchers do not hit you, why 

 should you object to them? 



Inasmuch as there still remain thou- 

 sands of men whom they do hit, and who 

 deserve everything I say of them, why 

 should you object to my fighting these 

 men ? If you are not one of the class I con- 

 demn, why not skip what I say about the 

 other men and continue to read the valua- 

 ble stories, the reports from the game fields 

 and the fishing waters, the discussion of 

 guns, ammunition, photographic materials, 

 and other things that are of great value? 



Instead of quitting Recreation now, 

 would it not be much more the part of a 

 genuine sportsman to aid in every way 

 possible to extend its circulation among 

 the men who are destroying the game, and 

 who should be restrained in their career? 



I find you are not a member of the 

 League of American Sportsmen. This is 

 another branch of game protective work 

 in which I have invested thousands of dol- 

 lars, not one dollar of which I expect to 

 get back. Do you not deem it your duty, 

 and that of your friends who are good 

 sportsmen, to not only continue your sup- 

 port of Recreation, but to join this 

 League and aid in its work? 



I am not the only man who is devoting 

 days, and nights, and Sundays, and large 

 sums of money to this League work. 

 There are several others. Among them 

 are Ernest Seton Thompson, the artist 

 and naturalist; W. T. Hornaday, Director 

 of the New York Zoological Society; F. 

 S. Hyatt, Vice-President of the National 

 Exchange Bank; Arthur F. Rice, a prom- 

 inent coal dealer of this city, and Julius H. 

 Seymour, a busy lawyer. We are spending 

 our own time and money to stop the illegal 



sale of game in New York City. A great 

 deal of the game that is shipped here, in 

 violation of law, and that heretofore has 

 been sold in close season, comes from your 

 State. Not one of the men I mention has 

 the remotest idea of ever hunting in your 

 state; yet we are devoting our time and 

 our money to saving your game. Now you 

 declare it to be the purpose of you and your 

 friends to abandon us in this work; to re- 

 fuse to join the League or to read its 

 official organ. Do you consider this the 

 part of a gentleman and a true sportsman? 



If you could sit at my desk 3 days and 

 see the reports that come to me from 

 all parts of the Union and of Canada, ap- 

 pealing to us to save the fast disappearing 

 game, and urging me to roast this man, 

 and that man, and the other man, because 

 they are slaughtering game, or because 

 they are buying and shipping it out of the 

 State in violation of law, you would change 

 your mind. Instead of this, you live at 

 home. You, perhaps, still have reasonably 

 good shooting or fishing in your vicinity, 

 and you can go out and enjoy these when 

 you feel like it. Consequently you con- 

 demn my course and that of my associates. 

 In denouncing me you denounce them, for 

 I am in the closest possible touch with 

 them all the time, and they approve every 

 line that goes in Recreation. 



I have lost 10,000 subscribers within the 

 last 2 years by reason of my war on the 

 game hogs. True, I have gained a great 

 many from among the progressive sports- 

 men who approve my course, and who 

 would never have read this magazine had 

 they not learned of its noble work. These 

 men assure me I shall get back 90 per 

 cent, of the men who now curse me for 

 roasting them, because they will have re- 

 formed in the meantime. I hope this may 

 prove true. My course has been an ex- 

 pensive one to me thus far. If I recoup in 

 time, well and good. If I do not, well and 

 good; but you can bet the last dollar you 

 have in the world that the fight will be to a 

 finish. — Editor. 



POTHUNTERS IN TROUBLE. 



The swell outfit that recently came from 

 New York to invade the game preserves 

 of Pennsylvania, and that was rounded 

 up at Mauch Chunk, got more than they 

 bargained for. A man named McCain 

 was the leader of the party. Prior to 

 their invasion of this State he had sent out 

 special invitations to a number of his 

 friends, all belonging to the wealthy and 

 fashionable set he represented, to join him 

 in a shooting excursion. These invitations 

 were fashioned after the English style, 

 and to read one of them one would sup- 

 pose that McCain was nothing less than a 



