FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



203 



I will tell just how it was. Then let 

 us know what you think. There were per- 

 haps 50 men engaged in this hunt. They 

 did not surround any country and only 

 killed one lion and several wildcats. I 

 am sure not more than 2 or 3 deer were 

 killed on the last hunt, and none on the 

 first one. These men are sportsmen and 

 are as much interested in the preservation 

 of game as you are. I think you should 

 find out some of the facts in such cases be- 

 fore you condemn too strongly, for you 

 thereby injure the cause for which you are 

 working so hard. 



O. M. Barnes, DeBeque, Col. 



ANSWER 



You said nothing in your article printed 

 in Recreation as to how long you had 

 owned or used the 25-35, and as that is a 

 new model rifle I naturally assumed, as 

 probably all my readers did, that you had 

 not used it more than 2 or 3 years at most. 

 If you had taken the precaution to say 

 you had used it 6 years that would have 

 been different. 



You will notice that in commenting on 

 the so-called lion hunt I wrote "It is said 

 that nearly 3,000 men participated," etc. 



Reports of this roundup were printed 

 in several Colorado papers and readers of 

 Recreation in that State clipped and sent 

 me dozens of these statements, from which 

 I quoted. I wrote several people who live 

 at or near DeBeque, asking if the reports 

 were substantially correct. 



One man whom I know personally, and 

 whom I believe to be truthful says they 

 were; that large numbers of deer were 

 slaughtered, and that he believes some elk 

 were killed. — Editor. 



GAME AND FISH HOGS IN MONTANA. 



Montana is one of the finest States in 

 the Union, naturally, for game and fish. 

 With its many fine trout streams, large 

 ranges of timber, and mountains in almost 

 every portion, it was meant to be the para- 

 dise for game and fish; but hogs have done 

 much to ruin this beautiful State in this 

 respect. It is not only the so-called Dago 

 element so numerous out here, but gun 

 clubs, with money back of them, and, as 

 one would suppose, education and good 

 sense. These men, as well as others, 

 will fish all day on the banks of some beau- 

 tiful stream, throwing the fish caught out 

 on the bank to die, the only gratification 

 being in the number pulled out. 



Many dynamite fish, killing them by 

 wholesale, little and big, depleting our 

 beautiful lakes all over this region ; others, 

 of higher fiber, kill merely for the sake 

 of killing. They have been known to come 

 to town with game in their bags killed out 

 of season, get partly drunk, show their 

 game and brag about getting ahead of 



Uncle Sam. One reason for this has been 

 the difficulty of getting a game warden ap- 

 pointed who is conscientious. 



A well known gun club, it is claimed, 

 has a resort in the Red Rock country. It 

 has had erected there places of abode for 

 its members while hunting and fishing. 

 The aim is to be able to brag of having 

 killed as large a number as possible, and 

 thus obtain the distinction of being the 

 greatest game and fish hog in the lot. One 

 month not long ago, quite a number of 

 these fellows were out there shooting 

 ducks. They killed several thousand. Lit- 

 tle ducklings not old enough to keep up 

 with their mothers were mowed down in 

 the most reckless and inhuman fashion, 

 simply to be left on the beach to decay, 

 while the game hog was enabled to add 

 them to the number of ducks killed in one 

 day. 



I am glad the L. A. S. has taken up 

 this matter, and that Recreation is bring- 

 ing about a more healthy state of public 

 opinion. I cannot believe there is any real 

 malice in the matter, but thoughtless 

 men do these things without any idea 

 of their enormity. God made game and 

 fish in plenty for the wants of all. To 

 slaughter wantonly is not only sinful, but 

 an outrage on good sense, humanity, and 

 decency. Professor Elrod, of Missoula, 

 Chief Warden of the Montana Division of 

 the L. A. S., is doing good work, and many 

 of the counties are having game wardens 

 appointed who, it is hoped, will do their 

 duty and arrest members of gun clubs 

 when shooting out of season or when 

 making hogs of themselves. 



W. T. Euster, Anaconda, Mont. 



BAD BREAK OF AN IMAGE BREAKER. 



In looking over a copy of "Brann's Icon- 

 oclast," I came on the following produc- 

 tion, which may interest those who believe 

 in game and bird protection : 



There has been a good deal of discussion lately- 

 over the slaughter of birds used to adorn women's 

 hats. Prevention societies and underfed cranks, 

 with tallowy skins and mutton chop whiskers, 

 have been busy with tongue and pen. A lot of 

 other nuisances, banded under the generic title of 

 "Audubon societies," have been even more pro- 

 tuberant and tiresome. The fact is that no song 

 birds are mounted for women's hats. They went 

 out of style 10 years ago. The birds used for 

 that purpose are almost exclusively wild and do- 

 mestic ducks, snipe, pigeons, quails and other so- 

 called game birds, which are killed for market 

 and skinned by taxidermists before they reach 

 the table. The crow, which is a notable enemy 

 of the farmer, is used to some extent. The only 

 harmless birds, outside of game birds, whose 

 feathers find their way to women's hats are sea 

 gulls, which do not sing and are of no use to 

 anybody for anything. 



The writer of the above evidently pos- 

 sesses the heart of a jackal and the brains 

 of a summer squash. His jaundiced vision 

 allows him to see nothing good and beauti- 

 ful, the world appearing to him a big 



