286 



RECREATION. 



discharged. Still, the owner kept 4 or 5 

 cats, ignorant of the harm they did. The 

 cat's owner admitted having seen it eating 

 small birds, and we found the head of a 

 grouse chick it had left that morning. I 

 have met 3 or 4 of these worthless scamps 

 in the Adirondacks, their food consisting 

 of small song and game birds. If a dog 

 were even suspected of this sort of thing 

 it would be killed at once, but a cat is 

 equal in destructiveness to 100 dogs. Gen- 

 erally the greatest harm is done near farm- 

 houses, although I have met cats 6 or 7 

 miles from any house. I will kill on sight 

 every cat I find roaming the woods. Com- 

 parisons I have made in districts where 

 few cats are kept and others where they 

 are kept at every farmhouse have proved 

 my assertions. Some action should be 

 taken by the lawmakers, as there is no 

 closed season on cats. 



G. A. Newton, Utica, N. Y. 



GAME PRESERVES NEEDED. 

 For the first time I am compelled to 

 disagree with you. The people of Wyo- 

 ming do not want any such law as Senate 

 Bill No. 6689. We have State game laws 

 and we' have all the reserves within our 

 State that we desire. Our Representatives 

 will fight the proposed law as long as there 

 is any chance of defeating it. Government 

 reserves at the present time cover ^ x /% of 

 Wyoming. Make a few reserves in the 

 Eastern States and see how your people 

 like it. 



C. W. Morgareidge, Wolf, Wyo. 



ANSWER. 



I do not think there are half a dozen 

 men in any Eastern State who would ob- 

 ject to the creation of game preserves there- 

 in. On the other hand, there is a general 

 demand from all these States for such pre- 

 serves, and we hope to induce Congress to 

 set aside large tracts in Pennsylvania, the 

 Adirondacks, Northern Maine, Minnesota, 

 Northern Vermont, Virginia, West Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina in the near fu- 

 ture. None of these would, however, be so 

 important to the country at large as would 

 the tracts we are trying to reserve in the 

 West, for that is the home of the elk, bear, 

 mountain sheep, goat, mule deer and an- 

 telope. 



I regret to, have to disagree with anybody 

 on any question of game preservation, but 

 we cannot all see these things alike. I 

 trust the time will come, however, when 

 you people in Wyoming may be generous 

 enough to allow a certain tract in your pub- 

 lic lands to be held as a breeding park for 

 game. The fact that such area may be 

 made an asylum for the game would not be 

 depriving you of any valuable asset. The 

 land would still be there ; the timber on it 



would be preserved and your people would 

 get more benefits from the preservation of 

 the game there than would those of any 

 other State or of all other States -combined, 

 for the game would soon overrun the areas 

 set aside and stock the surrounding coun- 

 try just as that in the Yellowstone park 

 has done. — Editor. 



FROM DAYLIGHT TO SUNRISE. 



About 4 o'clock one evening last Novem- 

 ber, my partner and I hitched my spotted 

 pony to a wagon, and taking my gun and 

 lunch, drove to the lake for the early 

 shooting. This lake is a mile long and 

 covered with rushes turned gray by the 

 frosts. Arrived, my partner drove back, 

 while I gathered up all the robes and 

 passed a comfortable night in the wagon. 

 Dawn the next day found me in a boat 

 among the rushes. Ducks were all about 

 me, but for a time I dared not shoot, as it 

 was not light enough to distinguish ducks 

 from mud hens. In time a streak of red 

 lighted the sky over Mt. Blanco, and ris- 

 ing, I saw 7 big greenheads not 4 yards 

 away, with their heads under their wings, 

 while 40 yards beyond them were 50 

 more, all asleep. In my excitement I did 

 not know which shot to take, and while 

 I hesitated I heard a "honk" behind me. 

 Turning my head, I saw 3 geese standing 

 in the rushes 12 yards away. I shot one 

 of them, but as it flopped about and I was 

 intent on killing it, I let the other 2 get 

 away. I killed 3 of the redheads, however, 

 when a shell stuck in my pump gun, and 

 before I corrected this the other ducks 

 were gone. Then a whistle over my head 

 made me turn in time to kill 7 out of a big 

 flock of ducks and cripple 2 that got away, 

 although they were not 10 feet distant when 

 I fired. My shots startled a bunch of 

 ducks on the other side of the lake, and 

 as they passed over me I fired 2 shots, but 

 without result. 



Most of the ducks had by that time gone 

 to the river, so I gathered up a goose, 3 

 greenheads and 7 mallards just as my chum 

 arrived on his pony with a pail of hot 

 lunch. While eating I rowed up the lake, 

 getting a mallard and 2 teal. It was with 

 joyful hearts that 2 15-year-old boys drove 

 home as the sun was rising. 



W. P. F., Denver, Colo. 



You should have given the birds a chance 

 for their lives by putting them up before 

 shooting at them. — Editor. 



NO SALE IS THE ONLY PROTECTION. 



I have hunted and fished in pretty much 

 all of Michigan. Have hunted deer 7 sea- 

 sons, and I want to register a kick about 

 the present deer law. It seems to be made 

 for rich men only. I am a poor mechanic, 



