FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



The man who quits when he gets enough, with plenty of game still in sight, is a real sportsman 



FOR AND AGAINST BIRD DOGS. 

 I think A. A. W., Glade Mills, Pa., 

 expressed a most sensible opinion as to the 

 cause of the decrease of game birds. Kill 

 off the bird dogs, as well as the hounds. 

 Stop using dogs for any kind of hunting. 

 A man who uses a bird dog is just as bad 

 as the one who hounds deer. I have a few 

 hounds, but under no circumstances have I 

 ever allowed them to chase deer. My 

 hounds will never be used for anything but 

 bear, cats, coyotes and such game. 



There is no good sportsman in these 

 parts who uses a dog, and there is only one 

 trained bird dog within 40 miles of here. 

 Yet we get good bags, and rarely make 

 hogs of ourselves. A dog should not be 

 used for any kind of hunting, save, pos- 

 sibly, for bear. Those animals can hardly be 

 secured without a trap or a pack, and are 

 about the only game one can use a dog on 

 and remain a sportsman. No one can give 

 a good reason why the use of dogs should 

 not be forbidden in any kind of shooting. 

 If Jones or Smith can use dogs in hunting 

 quail, then I maintain that I can hound 

 deer without violating any rule of sports- 

 manship. 



Mr. Editor, the only excuse I know of 

 your ever having made for the man with 

 the bird dog is this : The pleasure of 

 seeing a well trained dog work and the se- 

 curing of wounded birds that would other- 

 wise get away and eventually die. Did you 

 ever see as many, or as large a percentage, 

 of birds escape crippled as you have seen 

 crippled deer? I think not. A deer is a 

 much larger mark, but what a number are 

 crippled instead of killed. The party of 4 I 

 hunted with last fall killed 4 deer and 

 crippled 3. Had dogs been used to follow 

 those cripples, 2 of them would probably 

 have been secured. 



Every argument that can be made in 

 favor of using a dog on birds can be made 

 with just as much force for its use, prop- 

 erly trained, for deer.- I wish it distinctly 

 understood, though, that I am entirely op- 

 posed to hounding deer. I am opposed to 

 the use of a dog for any kind of hunting. 

 B. L. Cunningham, Fort Klamath, Ore. 



I notice that A. A. W., of Glade Mills, 

 Pa., thinks the extermination of birds is 

 due to the use of dogs in hunting them. 

 He compares the hounding of deer and 

 their slaughter to the work of setters and 

 pointers on birds. I think he is wrong. 

 Twenty-five years ago, in my native town, 

 Tolland, Mass., birds were plentiful and 

 tame ; to-day they are plentiful but exceed- 



ingly wild. Formerly hunting dogs were 

 unknown ; now they are numerous. I be- 

 long to a club of 40 members, which con- 

 trols the hunting and fishing over 3,000 

 acres in that town. Every member owns a 

 dog and some own 2 or 3. The birds have 

 learned to associate the appearance of a 

 dog in the brush with the crack of a gun, 

 and as a result the hunter who gets 3 or 4 

 grouse in a day is exceedingly fortunate. 



Foxes and other vermin kill 50 birds to 

 one killed by the gun. Put a bounty on 

 foxes, skunks, hawks and owls ; limit the 

 game bag and forbid the sale of game and 

 birds will increase instead of diminishing. It 

 is the market hunter who does most mis- 

 chief. When he can not sell his birds his 

 occupation is gone and he gives up shoot- 

 ing. If a law is passed forbidding the use 

 of dogs to hunt birds I am ready to give 

 up shooting. It is the intelligence mani- 

 fested by my dog that I enjoy far more 

 than the killing of a bird. 



Keep up the good work you are doing 

 and your friends will become numberless 

 as the results of your labors become better 

 known. H. A. Pratt, N. Y. City. 



A. A. W., Glade Mills, Pa., has a level 

 head. It is a fact that if there were fewer 

 bird hogs with their bird dogs there would 

 •be more birds. As long as dogs are used 

 in hunting, game can not increase. There 

 are not less than 20 bird dogs in this little 

 place, and not many more birds, where once 

 grouse and quails were abundant. Away 

 with the dogs, or put a tax of $10 on each 

 one and use the money to restock our 

 woods and fields. 



T. U. M., Tecumseh, Mich. 



KILL THE FARMER'S BEST FRIENDS. 



A writer in a paper published in Southern 

 California says : 



"Kill them !" 



"Kill what?" 



"Oh, the horned toads ! They are 

 the only thing we have that destroys 

 the red ants with their agonizing sting, 

 and prevents them from multiplying into 

 innumerable millions. So, if you can not 

 sell the toads for a nickel apiece, to be 

 mounted and sent East as curios, just set 

 your heel on them when you see them. 



And there are the gopher snakes ; slow, 

 harmless fellows. Watch one work for an 

 hour or 2. See him crawl into every gopher 

 hole there is in your measly little orchard, 

 and, after swallowing all the young goph- 

 ers he can find, watch him turn his atten- 



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