THE WAY OF THE WARDEN 
impaled on the sharpened ends of the low er 
branches of a solitary apple tree near by— 
a tree that boasted a few small green apples 
high in its topmost branches. There were 
deer tracks thereabout. Then the 'Com- 
missioner called in the aid of a trusted 
acquaintance who lived in the vicinity of 
the man who wanted damages. He was 
asked if he knew any of the persons who 
had made affidavit that the deer had taken 
the complainant’s apples, and replied that 
none of them lived in the neighborhood. 
The claim was pigeonholed. Then, after 
a month or so, came a letter from the com- 
plainant, in which he said, “You haven’t 
investigated my claim, but if I can get any 
paris green in Vermont it won’t be neces- 
sary.” The Commissioner’s reply was brief 
and to the point, and so far no deer were 
reported dead from paris green poisoning. 
These trumped-up claims have grown 
out of the fact that, some three years ago, 
Mr. M. E. Wheeler, a sportsman of Rut- 
land, Vt., and a member of the State Fish 
and Game League, gave Commissioner 
Thomas $1,000 as a fund from which to pay 
claims for damages done to crops by the 
deer. All claims have been carefully in- 
vestigated, and where they were found just 
were promptly paid, yet up to June 30 last 
but $244.25 of the fund had been re- 
quired. Mr. Wheeler promised to give 
another thousand when the first should be 
expended. And still there are persons in 
Vermont who are clamoring for a State 
appropriation for the reimbursement of 
persons who have their crops damaged by 
the deer. 
Another amusing claim for damages was 
one by a man who made affdavit that, 
during the months of August and Septem- 
ber, the deer destroyed his entire crop of 
beans, the net loss being $100. The 
warden who was sent to examine the claim 
took the complainant out to his bean patch 
(there had never been more than $10 worth 
of beans on the place) and showed him that 
woodchucks, not deer, were eating the 
beans. 
A claim for damage to corn, on being 
examined, the damage was traced to one 
big early Durham heifer (she made the 
*““buck’s”” tracks) and two late calves 
(the ‘‘does”). Another claim for damage 
349 

CHAUNCEY P. HAZEN 
Warden of Grand Isle County 
to corn was traced to muskrats, they 
having cut the corn ten inches high. 
As a matter of fact, the Vermont deer do 
very little damage to growing cropsor garden 
truck. ‘They will nip the tops off of beets, 
taking a leaf here and there, and they have 
been known to eat Hubbard squash, but as 
for their doing serious damage, it is safe to 
say it occurs very rarely. The trouble is 
there is an element of shortsighted farmers 
in Vermont, as there are in other New 
England States, who would:like to see an 
amendment to the deer law permitting a 
farmer to kill any deer found ‘‘destroying 
his crops’’—when, it goes without saying, 
the damage to crops would immediately 
become enormous. ‘This element would 
kill off all the game, fish out all the game 
fish, and then bewail their lot in having 
none left. A very decided majority of the 
farmers in the State of Vermont are de- 
pendent, either directly or indirectly, upon 
