sH 



RECREA TION. 



and grouse shooting opens 15 days too early 

 — too many young birds at that time. 



" I got your letter expatiating on the ad- 

 vantages to be derived by being an L. A. S. 

 man; but I couldn't see where it would ben- 

 efit me or the game $1 worth; so didn't 

 join. Would work hard, personally, for uni- 

 versal laws and if you start anything in that 

 line, will join and help." 



Mr. Pratt replies to this letter as follows: 



" I note what you say about Recreation 

 and its editor; and, while I agree with you 

 on most points, I cannot agree with you en- 

 tirely. Mr. Shields is a thorough sportsman, 

 and a gentleman. He is the kind of a man 

 you would like; and, were you to come in 

 contact with him, I haven't the slightest 

 doubt you would soon feel just about as he 

 does. When I was in New York I called on 

 him, and told him the roasting which he 

 was giving some of the hunters and sports- 

 men would probably have a tendency to cut 

 down his circulation; but he convinced me 

 in about 5 minutes that, for every subscriber 

 he lost on account of this he got 10 new ones, 

 by reason of the course he is pursuing. He 

 says that even though his subscription list 

 were reduced to 10,000, he would still con- 

 tinue to roast the ' game hogs/ as he calls 

 them. I do not agree with him entirely on 

 this subject. I do not believe in trying to 

 pass laws to limit the bag of game or the 

 creel of fish, but I do believe in educating 

 and trying to influence people to be sat- 

 isfied with a smaller bag of game or a small- 

 er creel of fish than has heretofore been cus- 

 tomary. 



" Personally I think it is much more 

 sportsmanlike for a man or a party to go 

 into the field and spend the day for the pur- 

 pose of recreation rather than working one's 

 self to death trying to get a bag that will be 

 a record breaker. Why can we not be satis- 

 fied with a few brace of quails or a few brace 

 of grouse — as many as we can use within a 

 reasonable length of time, or at least before 

 they will spoil? If we want a few for our 

 friends, why kill enough to give them a rea- 

 sonable mess. I have seen the time when 

 I would kill every last fish I could catch; 

 but that day is past. I know where to go 

 and believe I can catch more fish on any trip 

 than I can possibly use, or have use for 

 among my friends, but I do not take fish 

 simply for the purpose of advertising my- 

 self as a ' great fisherman.' 



" When it comes to game, I have never yet 

 been able to kill more than a reasonable 

 amotmt of it; but when I can go into the 

 woods and kill from 50 to 75 per cent, of the 

 birds I shoot at, and find them, as I have 

 been finding them the last season or 2, even 

 when I am ' still ' hunting without a dog, I 

 will quit before night. On an average, I do 

 not kill more than one bird in 4, and even 

 at this rate of shooting, I can get as many 

 quails in a day without a dog, and that, too, 



within 25 miles of this town, as I can eat up 

 before they will spoil. I can see no reason 

 why I should spend my time and my money 

 for ammunition to kill birds for those who 

 are too lazy to go after them; but I, like 

 you, take pleasure in killing a few birds for 

 sick friends, or for those who, for one rea- 

 son or another, are unable to go after them. 

 But when it comes to going out and 

 slaughtering every bird I can get a shot at, 

 that is, when it comes to pot shooting, I am 

 not in it any longer. There is no necessity 

 for it, and there isn't half the pleasure in it 

 that there is in moderate shooting for recre- 

 ation's sake. 



" I admit I have been as bad as most of 

 them. I have killed birds out of season, 

 simply because the shooting season had 

 opened on one kind of game and hadn't on 

 another. I was out hunting for one thing 

 and ran across the other. For this very rea- 

 son I have always been in favor of a uniform 

 open season — open on everything from Oc- 

 tober 1st to December 15th, or shorter if 

 necessary to save the game. 



"When the season is closed, let it be closed 

 for the balance of the year, and let all States 

 have the same kind of laws North of an East 

 and West line from coast to coast, cutting 

 the United States in two at about St. Louis, 

 or perhaps a little farther North. Let the 

 open season North of that line begin, say, in 

 October, and close December 1st to 15th. 

 Have the season South of that line begin a. 

 month later, and close a month later. Or, if 

 it be found advisable, 2 months later; but, in 

 any event, have at least 15 days of the season 

 on the line lap one over the other. Then 

 watch the man who carries a gun into the 

 woods or fields out of season. 



" I do not believe in spring shooting of 

 any kind, and you can count on me to work 

 with this end in view. You can gamble on 

 another thing. That is, that just so long as 

 I am at the head of the Michigan Division of 

 the L. A. S., the objects which this Division 

 will have in view will be the matter of open 

 and closed seasons, and the enforcement of 

 the game laws as they stand. 



'' You join the L. A. S. and give me your 

 assistance; not with a view to passing laws 

 limiting the bags of game or the creels of 

 fish; but for the purpose of bringing about 

 uniform game laws which will protect our 

 game. Then see that those who violate the 

 game laws are punished. These special per- 

 mits are dead wrong, and should not be 

 issued. They could not be gotten were it 

 not for political pulls." 



Now I want to say a few words to Mr. 

 Pratt's friend. He says he is not a game 

 hog; yet he proceeds to outline his ethics 

 in such a way as to prove he is one. For 

 instance, he says: 



" When I have a chance to make a killing 

 I am going to do it." 



" I am no game hog, but I will kill birds 



