FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



39 



deer comes about your farm, during the 

 month of November, you may lawfully kill 

 him. At any other time of the year you 

 may not, even though he break into your 

 field or your garden and destroy all your 

 crops. 



I have heard of a great many cases of deer 

 jumping fences and damaging crops more 

 or less; but in several of these, which I have 

 investigated, I found the real damage very 

 slight. I have also found that where deer 

 were said to be coming into the fields every 

 afternoon or every night, men have lain in 

 wait for them a week at a time without be- 

 ing able to see any. I do not claim this is 

 always so, but it is an easy matter, in all 

 cases where deer invade fields, to get rid of 

 them without killing them. Nearly every 

 farmer keeps a dog, and if when a deer 

 comes into his field he will turn the dog 

 loose and shoot him at the intruder, he will 

 get rid of the deer very suddenly. It is not 

 likely that this deer will return soon; but 

 if he should come back once more, give him 

 another dose of dog, and I will guarantee 

 he will fight shy of that field for a year 

 after. 



I should be glad to hear from any num- 

 ber of farmers, who have at heart the pres- 

 ervation of this noble animal, as to what 

 their actual experiences have been with 

 deer damaging their crops. — Editor. 



THE WOODPECK OR BOG SUCKER. 



Butte, Mont. 

 Editor Recreation: Some years ago, I 

 moved to Gladstone, a pretty little town on 

 upper Green Bay, in Northern Michigan; 

 and as soon as I was settled, began making 

 inquiries about the shooting. I was as- 

 sured by the inhabitants, that game was 

 plentiful, and among other things, was 

 told there were lots of woodcock. This 

 information set me on nettles, and the sea- 

 son being right for these birds, I soon made 

 my informant promise to take me to where 

 the birds lived. I made great preparations, 

 and that night went to bed with pleasant 

 anticipations of sport to come. The next 

 morning my guide put in his appearance, 

 and we were off; I, for my part, with ex- 

 pectations tuned to the highest pitch. The 

 day was a scorcher, and my guide took me 

 into a large tract of high and dry pine and 

 tamarack woods, in which there was not a 

 breath of air. I told him I never knew a 

 woodcock to stay in such timber, but he 

 promised to show me plenty of them. We 

 had advanced through this almost impene- 

 trable jungle a mile or more, the perspira- 

 tion pouring down our backs in streams, 

 and the mosquitoes fairly devouring us, 

 when my guide, who was a step or 2 in 

 advance of me, gave a warning hiss, and 

 beckoned me to approach. Pointing up- 

 ward into a large pine, he whispered, 

 " There he is, give it to him." 



I looked blank, not knowing what he 

 meant. Directly he broke out, and wanted 

 to know if I had come all that distance to 

 shoot woodcock, and when I had a good 

 chance, did not know enough to shoot. I 

 said I did come for woodcock, but not to 

 shoot woodpeckers. The bird in the tree 

 was the large ivory-bill woodpecker, com- 

 mon enough in the pine woods, and it was 

 to shoot these that I had been led on one of 

 the toughest tramps it has ever been my 

 misfortune to make. The guide was sincere 

 enough in the matter, too, for I learned 

 afterward that woodcock was a common 

 name applied to the ivory-bill. I also 

 found, on looking into the matter, that this 

 bird is in many localities, known as the 

 cock of the wood. This is easily and natur- 

 ally changed to woodcock. My disgust can 

 be imagined and I was not long in making 

 the shortest cut for the open. However, as 

 though to compensate me for my disap- 

 pointment, while on the way home, and in 

 a place about as likely to attract a cock as 

 the woods from which I had just come, 

 I flushed a pair of sure enough woodcocks, 

 and secured one of them. 



On showing it to my guide, and telling 

 him it was what I called a woodcock, he 

 expressed his disgust at my ignorance, and 

 assured me that the bird was nothing but a 

 bog sucker. On arriving home, I was ex- 

 hibiting my capture to a few friends in the 

 post office, several of whom had never seen 

 a woodcock, when we were further enlight- 

 ened by an old Swede who said these birds 

 were plentiful in Sweden, and were called 

 woodpecks. R. H. Mertz. 



SHOT AT PIGEONS AND KILLED A GAME 

 LAW. 



Editor Recreation: Just now Colorado 

 sportsmen are anxiously awaiting the out- 

 come of a somewhat peculiar case which 

 threatens to overturn the existing game 

 law. It all happened in this wise: 



Not long since, some Colorado Springs 

 " sportsmen " indulged in a live pigeon 

 shoot. The Colorado Humane Society in- 

 stituted proceedings against them. 



In the Justice's court the defendants 

 claimed the shooting of pigeons was per- 

 fectly legal, having been made so by the 

 last game law. The justice, however, de- 

 clared the law unconstitutional. Later the 

 El Paso Co. court declared against the de- 

 fendants and upheld the justice in his rul- 

 ing. It now remains for the Supreme Court 

 to pass on the findings of lower courts and 

 determine the constitutionality of the act, 

 provided the defendants appeal to the 

 higher court. The El Paso Co. court al- 

 lowed the defendants a specified time in 

 which to appeal, but so far no appeal has 

 been made. 



The justice declared the law unconstitu- 

 tional on the strength of the clause which 



