FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



123 



report, before criticising him. In reply to 

 my letter he says, " the report you saw was 

 partially correct. I shot 63 coots in one 

 day. The coot is strictly a salt water bird 

 and is migrating in great numbers at this 

 season of the year. Large bags ^are fre- 

 quently made, all along the coast." 



Yes, Mr. Sinnett, we all know the coot is 

 a migratory bird, and that they were on 

 their way North, to their breeding 

 grounds, when you slaughtered this boat 

 load of them. Would you think a farmer 

 had good sense, who would go into his 

 barnyard, in the spring of the year when 

 his hens are laying, and kill 50 or 60 of 

 them? Would you think a man could find 

 any sport in such slaughter as this? 



In my judgment there would be just as 

 much sport, and just as much sense in kill- 

 ing 63 old hens, in a barnyard, as in killing 

 that number of coots, on the water. 



When these birds are going South, in the 

 fall, a man may be considered a sportsman 

 who goes out and kills 10 or 12 of them in 

 a day; but a man who kills 50 or 60 in a 

 day, even then, ought to rank with the low- 

 est grade of game hogs. If he slaughters 

 them thus in spring, he is as much worse 

 as it is possible to conceive of. 



I consider the dollar invested in my sub- 

 scription to Recreation is returning me 

 500 per cent, pront. Jack rabbits are ex- 

 tremely plentiful here and destroy a large 

 amount of crops. They are killed in great 

 numbers every winter, yet seem to in- 

 crease rather than diminish. Some coun- 

 ties even paid bounties for their scalps the 

 past season. A law was passed a few years 

 ago, prohibiting the killing of quails for 

 a period of 5 years. The result has been a 

 large increase of these birds, in spite of 

 the fact that many pot hunters paid no at- 

 tention to the law. We have many pin- 

 nated grouse and a few coyotes. There 

 is good duck and goose shooting on the 

 salt marshes, or Cheyenne bottoms, North- 

 east of the Great Bend. An attempt 

 is being made to form a lake there of 2,500 

 acres, or more, by turning the surplus 

 water from the Arkansas river into the 

 bottoms. A ditch about 17 miles long is 

 nearly completed but whether it will re- 

 ceive and carry water enough to make the 

 enterprise a success remains to be seen. 

 If it does, there will no doubt be excellent 

 wildfowl shooting here in the future. I 

 send you a clipping from the Kansas City 

 " Star," containing an account of the kill- 

 ing, by Walter Dupee and C. H. Lester, 

 of Chicago, of 800 quails in 2 days' shoot- 

 ing. The scene of this astounding exhi- 

 bition of insatiate hoggishness was in Mex- 

 ico, just over the California line. 



B. E. Mirick, Linndale, Kan. 



[The report of the work of these hogs has 

 already been printed in Recreation.] 



Am much pleased with the position taken 

 by you and your correspondents in regard 

 to game protection, and note, with pleas- 

 ure, the growth of sentiment against the 

 seemingly inherent, vicious tendency of 

 many so-called sportsmen to kill, indis- 

 criminately. When sportsmen learn to be 

 satisfied with a reasonable bag and can 

 leave the field while there is yet something 

 left alive in it, we shall be a long way on 

 the road toward successful game protec- 

 tion. The sentiment expressed in your ed- 

 itorial on page 153 of the January number 

 is the idea exactly. Recreation is doing a 

 noble work in this direction. Never mind 

 libel suits or adverse criticism. Hogs al- 

 ways squeal when they are stuck. There 

 are thousands of lawyer-sportsmen who 

 would be glad of an opportunity to defend, 

 without fee, so able an advocate of mod- 

 eration and justice as the editor of Rec- 

 reation. 



E. N. Goodhue, Winona, Minn. 



The 10 members of the Keystone Camp- 

 ing Club, of Hollidaysburg, went on their 

 annual excursion July 12th. We camped 

 on the Raystown branch of the Blue Juni- 

 ata, 6 miles North of the famous Bedford 

 springs. The boating was fine; also the 

 fishing; bass, catfish, and eels being plenti- 

 ful. Turtle soup was an important item 

 on our bill of fare. 



A few days were spent in woodcock 

 hunting, and we found a fair number of 

 birds. During the second week of the 

 camp, the club held its annual pigeon shoot 

 and rifle match. The best scores were 9 

 birds out of 10 at 25 yards, and 106 points 

 out of a possible 120, at a 50 yard target. 

 The club heartily approves the suggestion 

 of Mr. Lydecker regarding a L. A. S. 



We expect to take our next outing some- 

 where in Canada. Would be glad to have 

 the Editor assist us in selecting a suitable 

 place. Success to Recreation. 



T. W. Morton, 

 P. S. Duncan, Jr., 

 J. H. Humes, 

 Reporting Committee. 



Please send me a book on ferrets, and tell 

 me what to do for them when their feet get 

 sore. 



Willie Keller, Sauk Centre, Minn. 



ANSWER. 



I have no such book and do not know of 

 one. If I did I would condemn the man 

 who would offer it for sale. No one but a 

 game hog, of the most despicable type, 

 would use ferrets; and no one but a game 

 hog.would offer them for sale. The use of 

 these brutes is prohibited by the laws of 

 nearly all states, and I believe by the laws 

 of your state. You certainly do not wish 

 to descend to the level of the wretches who 

 take such an unfair advantage of rabbits, 



