288 



RECREATION. 



he reaches this conclusion: "Were the re- 

 striction suggested imposed I believe it 

 would soon become as easy to shoot 

 grouse in other localities as in Northern 

 Maine." 



The true sportsman does take pride in 

 his skill and any man who can bag 25 per 

 cent, of the swiftly flying ruffed grouse seen 

 may well feel elated, even if he uses a 

 shot gun. No doubt if J. B. can find birds 

 on the ground or in trees, as he says he 

 can, at or within 25 yards, he can bag 24 

 of those shot at. By hiring a man to 

 carry a rest for his rifle he should ex- 

 perience no difficulty in securing the other 

 54- If shooting birds on the ground with 

 any kind of gun is sportsmanlike, what, 

 in the name of Frank Forester, is pot 

 hunting? 



A. S. Minturn, Washington, N. J. 



MINNESOTA WARDENS WORK. 

 The game laws of Minnesota are not 

 half enforced. The State sends out many 

 wardens, so they say, but where they go 

 no one knows, unless it be into the 

 ground to hibernate. Ever}d:>ody knows 

 ducks and prairie chickens are hunted be- 

 fore the open season. The wardens could 

 not help seeing it unless it paid them 

 to be blind. Deer are plentiful at Grand 

 Rapids. There are 3 or 4 wardens there, 

 supposedly to protect them. These men 

 hunt the entire season and kill deer, moose 

 and grouse to sell to hotels and logging 

 camps. Their names are F. Turner, A. 



Kitson, H. Kitson and Griggs. Two 



men at Floodwood, F. Auger and Peter 

 Paul, hunt the year round and supply deer 

 and moose to logging camps*. 



Charles H. Emrick, 

 White Bear Lake, Minn. 



I sent the foregoing letter to Mr. S. F. 

 Fullerton, executive agent of the Minne- 

 sota State Game and Fish Commission, 

 who replied as follows: 



Many thanks for sending me Mr. Em- 

 rick's letter. I do not know Mr. Emrick; 

 never heard of him before. His state- 

 ments about 3 or 4 game wardens being at 

 Grand Rapids are, of course, not cor- 

 rect. We have only one there, but he is a 

 good one. It is true that Grand Rapids 

 has been one of the worst places in the 

 State for poachers, but I am proud to say 

 that since an example was made of some 

 of the poachers there last spring public 

 sentiment is turning our way. I make it 

 a point to investigate every complaint, and 

 I shall certainly investigate this one. On 

 my recent trip I was on the ground of the 

 outrage of killing moose calves. We are 

 quietly tightening the chains around the 

 guilty persons and in time we will have 

 sufficient evidence to convict them. 



ARRAIGNS MICHIGAN DEER HUNTERS. 



I spent 4 months last fall, the time in- 

 cluding the deer shooting season, in trav- 

 eling over Michigan. I never before 

 dreamed of such hoggish and wanton 

 slaughter as I saw there. Not over one- 

 sixth of the deer brought out were bucks; 

 of the remainder many were fawns in the 

 spotted coat. 



One man there is known to have killed 

 and sold 22 deer. A party of 8, at Akron, 

 came out of the woods with 35 deer. A 

 doctor from Elk Rapids shot 10 and 

 boasted of it. All the hunters I met were 

 out for the legal limit of 5 deer, and, judg- 

 ing from their talk- and actions, not one 

 in 1,000 of them deserved the name of 

 sportsman. 



The gun clubs are no better than the 

 individual hogs. A club at Manistee hunts 

 with dogs and threatens to shoot any 

 warden who interferes. The Gilman Club, 

 of Detroit, employs game wardens to find 

 and run deer for the members. 



In Northern Michigan deer are hunted 

 the year round. Prairie chickens are sup- 

 posedly protected for several years to 

 come, yet were being hunted at Coldwater 

 last fall. 



Twelve men were fatally shot in the 

 Michigan woods last season; a lamenta- 

 bly low score, considering the kind of 

 men I saw there. The dozen were prob- 

 ably worth less to the country than one 

 deer. 



It was my first shooting trip in Michi- 

 gan and will be my last. There may be 

 fewer deer in the Adirondacks, but you 

 meet sportsmen there and not fawn 

 butchers. 



E. E. Stokes, New York City. 



L. A. S. WORK IN KANSAS. 



Yesterday a man named Charles McAlister, 

 called on Charles Guyer, proprietor of a restau- 

 rant, for the delivery of 2 dozen plover. An 

 hour later C. E. Sawyer, chief warden for the 

 Kansas Division of the L. A. S., called at the 

 restaurant and informed Mr. Guyer that he would 

 place himself liable to a heavy fine if he should 

 buy the birds. 



Under the law, every police officer is a game 

 warden, and they have been looking for McAlister 

 to return with his game, whereupon he will be 

 arrested. Up to noon to-day he had not been 

 apprehended. Mr. Guyer says. McAlister called 

 at his place 2 weeks ago and tried to dispose of 

 2 dozen plover at 80 cents a dozen, but that he 

 did not buy them. — Wichita (Kans.) Beacon. 



And so the law breakers are running 

 against snags everywhere. The League 

 is heading them off everywhere and in 

 time they will all have to quit. — Editor. 



The Recreation match box you sent 

 me as premium came to hand and it is a 

 valuable pocket companion. I am highly 

 pleased with it. 



J. J. Marshall, Lockport, N. Y. 



