FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



449 



me with information bearing on the sub- 

 ject? T. F. Silleck, Manager. 



ANSWER. 



Mr. T. F. Silleck, Manager, Manhattan 



Beach, N. Y. : 



1 hand you herewith copy of the New 

 York Game Laws as revised for 1901. I 

 do not recall at this time that any change 

 has been made in the opening or closing 

 dates for selling game, though there may 

 have been a change made on one or 2 

 species. You can readily determine this 

 by examining the book. I am required to 

 discuss the laws of all the States nearly 

 every week and can not possibly carry such 

 data in my head. 



I wish all you hotel men could be made 

 to understand that refrigerated birds are 

 not fit to eat at any time of the year and 

 that you might be induced to quit handling 

 them altogether. I have published several 

 articles from distinguished physicians and 

 food experts showing that such birds are 

 more or less injurious to health, and have 

 reported several cases of serious poisoning 

 from eating them. You can always get 

 fresh poultry, and a sensible man would 

 rather have a fresh spring chicken any 

 time, which you probably serve at $1, than 

 a frozen woodcock or grouse, for which 

 you charge $2 or more. 



G. O. Shields. 



CALIFORNIA NEEDS NEW GAME LAWS. 

 You have my best wishes for the suc- 

 cess of your fight against market hunters 

 and game hogs. Had we, in the West, a 

 magazine like Recreation, it would ac- 

 complish more for game protection than all 

 our wardens. They hold their positions 

 through political influence, and can't tell a 

 mudhen from a quail. All sportsmen real- 

 ize that something must be done for the 

 further protection of game. We hope to 

 have our Legislature .make laws prohibit- 

 ing the sale of game for 2 years, and for- 

 bidding, at least for one year, the shooting 

 of ducks and quails. Game is scarce within 

 any reasonable distance of San Francisco, 

 and a poor man can have no sport afield, as 

 he can not afford the time and expense 

 needed for a trip to good shooting grounds. 

 If our papers would roast the people who 

 can not be satisfied with reasonable bags, 

 and try to have good men appointed 

 as wardens, California might hope for the 

 restoration of good shooting; not other- 

 wise. That they are not likely to do, so is 

 proven by the following, which wias print- 

 ed, without comment, by a journal purport- 

 ing to be devoted to amateur sport : 



Coronado correspondence under date of the 

 22d inst is as follows: "The 4 hunters who 

 went to Otay lake Tuesday returned at 11 o'clock 

 this morning with 597 birds Of the 597 ducks, 

 475 were large birds, canvasbacks and redheads. 

 The hunters were Captain Sedan and A. B. 



Daniels, of Denver; John Markel, of New York, 

 and E. S. Babcock, of Coronado. These birds 

 were all killed on Wednesday, with 12 gauge 

 guns. The killing of such a quantity is no 

 waste, as every bird is used by the hotel, some 

 immediately and some after being placed in cold 

 storage. The hotel keeps pot hunters in the held 

 constantly. The total fish catch yesterday was: 

 Halibut, 125; rock cod, 60; silver smelt, 100; 

 lobsters, 50; blue codfish, 1; croakers, 66: to- 

 tal, 402! 



W. H. M., San Francisco, Cal. 



FIELDS SHOULD REFORM. 

 You have already done more toward 

 game protection than all other agencies 

 combined, but every true sportsman wants 

 you to do still more. Fred Fields, of Wil- 

 liamsport,_ boasts of having killed 137 ruffed 

 grouse. Give him a more appropriate name 

 in Recreation. What we need is proper 

 legislation for the protection of game. 

 What right should any person have to kill 

 100 or even 50 pheasants, in one season, 

 when there are not enough to go around at 

 one apiece. What could such a game hog 

 do with his killing if we had a law prohib- 

 iting the sale of game? Possibly he could 

 eat it, hog fashion. Pennsylvania has mis- 

 erable game laws, and even such are not 

 enforced. Our legislature is now about to 

 pass an act prohibiting the killing of hawks 

 and crows, while pheasants and quails may 

 be slaughtered by the hundred, and by a 

 single individual. Our legislators need edu- 

 cation on this line, and we hope you will 

 bring the subject forcibly to the notice of 

 your Pennsylvania readers. With millions 

 of acres of forests which are capable of 

 maintaining millions of deer, we have only 

 a few deer left. If something is not done 

 at once, the last deer will be hunted out 

 with hounds. We need a closed season of 

 5 years to give the deer, the noblest of 

 all game, a start again. 



J. L. H., Williamsport, Pa. 



No man has a right to kill so many 

 ruffed grouse in one season. However, game 

 hogs do not consider the question of right 

 or wrong. They merely crowd in and de- ' 

 vour everything in sight. Fields is one of 

 them. — Editor. 



A DISASTROUS OMISSION. 



In a special from Springfield, 111., to The Chron- 

 icle, of Chicago, it is stated a great many errors 

 have been found in laws passed. Among others, 

 quails and woodcocks have been omitted from 

 the list of protected birds. Continuing about 

 the game this special says: 



Senator Henry Begole, of Bellville, who fath- 

 ered the game law in the assembly, came to Spring- 

 field for the purpose of investigating a report that 

 the amended law failed to offer protection to 

 quails. He was astounded to find that no mention 

 of these birds or of woodcocks was made in the 

 law. When he traced up the bill he discovered 

 that they had been omitted from the measure when 

 it passed. The error, if it was an error, was in- 

 comprehensible to Senator Begole. During the 

 consideration of the game law in committee, quails 



