FROM THE GAME FIELDS- 



377 



tension of the Great Northern Railway runs 

 parallel with the upper Mississippi, and 

 touches Bad Club, Cass, and Bemidji lakes. 

 Three or 4 large parties of hunters come 

 annually to this section from Toledo, Find- 

 lay, Newton, and Marysville, O. 



Eastern sportsmen desiring to visit this 

 fine game country can reach it with ease 

 from St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Duluth, 

 over the Great Northern Railway. 



Outfits can be secured at any of these 

 points, or can be sent ahead as freight, at a 

 reasonable rate. 



GOVERNOR AND ATTORNEY-GENERAL 

 CALLED DOWN. 



Here is some mighty interesting cor- 

 respondence that all civil officers would do 

 well to read : 



Springfield, Mo., July 13, 1898. 

 Mr. Ed. Crow, Atty. Genl., 



Jefferson City, Mo. 



Dear Sir: — Since the organization of our 

 association 2 years ago last January we have 

 spent a great deal of money in propagating 

 and liberating in this part of the State Eng- 

 lish and Mongolian pheasants. We have 

 also financially assisted our game warden 

 in enforcing the game and fish laws. We 

 have met with much opposition in our work 

 from parties by whom we should be as- 

 sisted instead of hindered. Especially has 

 this been shown in adjoining counties. 



Our game warden, Robert Fellis, has re- 

 ported a number of cases to the prosecuting 

 attorneys in which illegal hunting, taking 

 of fish and shipping game out of the county 

 had been indulged in, and those officers 

 would take no action in the matter. Allow 

 me to call your attention to a case at Marsh- 

 field, Mo. November 12, 1897, Wm. Con- 

 ner was convicted of shipping quails out 

 of the county and was fined $100 and costs. 

 The costs were paid and Conner got an 

 extension on fine for 60 days. The fine 

 has never been paid. The prosecuting at- 

 torney refuses to issue an execution or to 

 proceed any farther toward collecting the 

 fine. 



Chas. Freeman, of Chadwick, Christian 

 County, Mo., plead guilty to shipping quails 

 out of the county, and was fined $100 and 

 costs. He paid the costs and got a stay for 

 90 days on fine. The prosecuting attorney 

 and others petitioned the Governor in his 

 behalf, and the Governor remitted the fine. 



As you are well aware we have no paid 

 game wardens. All there is in it for the 

 wardens is part of the fine. When that is 

 remitted it cuts them out entirely, and such 

 work will soon discourage the wardens, be- 

 sides rendering the law inoperative. 



Our club has attempted to do good work 

 in this part of the State in stocking the 

 streams with fish and the forests with game, 

 and in seeing our game and fish laws en- 

 forced and the game protected in accord- 

 ance with the State laws. 



Since the game warden has apprised the 

 Association of the above conditions, we 

 find ourselves asking the questions, " Is 

 there no remedy for all this? How can we 

 expect to carry successfully forward the 

 work we have undertaken and which the 

 name of our Association implies, when the 

 prosecuting attorney and the Governor are 

 so weak kneed and fail to enforce the laws 

 of the land?" 



The Association has this day sent a pro- 

 test to the Governor against his action in 

 this matter, and we ask you if we haven't 

 a right to expect your co-operation in the 

 enforcing of our game and fish laws. Will 

 you not favor us, as well as all law abiding 

 citizens of the State, by giving the prose- 

 cuting attorneys of all the counties of the 

 State special instructions to prosecute all 

 violations of the game and fish laws as 

 vigorously as they do violations of any 

 other law? Missouri has been a great State 

 for game and only of late years has anyone 

 thought it could ever be exterminated. 

 When the farthest seeing sportsmen suc- 

 ceeded in having game protective laws en- 

 acted the laws were unpopular and the ma- 

 jority of our people made sport of them. 

 There was no hand to stay the slaughter, 

 but when our prairie chickens, and wild 

 pigeons were exterminated, and residents 

 of the Northern portion of the State were 

 compelled to go to the mosi: ,^uuthern tier 

 of counties to find any deer i? turkeys, they 

 began to ask, " Where has our game gone?" 



As though these conditions were not 

 enough, we still find the market hunter and 

 the sneaking game dealer trying to exter- 

 minate the remnant of game that is left. 

 I say, " sneaking," because no man will 

 openly ship game out of this part of the 

 State. Dealers smuggle it out as eggs, in 

 egg cases; and in barrels with rabbits in 

 each end and quails in the middle. They 

 also draw the rabbits, place quails inside 

 of them, and smuggle them out in that way ; 

 and then our Governor remits the fine of 

 a lawbreaker like that. I again repeat, " Is 

 there no remedy? " 



H. O. Bunker, Corresponding Secretary 

 Green County, Mo., Game and Fish 

 Protective Club. 



Springfield, Mo., July 13, 1898. 

 To His Excellency, Hon. L. V. Stephens, 

 Governor of the State of Missouri. 



Dear Sir: — In the name of the Greene 

 County Game and Fish Propagating and 

 Protective Association, I address you on a 

 subject of vital importance to the people of 

 our great State, and particularly to our Asso- 

 ciation ; namely, game and fish protection. 

 This Association numbers more than 60 of 

 the most intelligent business and profes- 

 sional men of this county. We are true 

 sportsmen and not game exterminators. 



Seeing the rapidity with which our game 

 and fish are being exterminated, we united 



