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RECREATION. 



Mr. Widdicomb and I hunted grouse 

 together 17 days. We have hunted to- 

 gether off and on for the last 14 years, 

 know the country, are fairly good shots, 

 and have excellent dogs. We are not and 

 never will be game hogs. Our score during 

 the season was 255 grouse, or an average of 

 15 each trip. Mr. Widdicomb killed 130 

 and I 125. We never "cleaned out" any 

 locality, and can hunt over the same ground 

 next year as we did last with the assurance 

 of equal success. 



I do not know who conveyed to you the 

 interesting information you received, but 

 feel that we should not go on record as 

 killing more game than we ought. 



Stewart E. White, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



ANSWER. 



No, you are not exactly game hogs, but 

 you come mighty near the line. You aver- 

 aged 127 birds each for the season. That is 

 at least twice as many as any decent sports- 

 man should ever kill in a year. Your shoot- 

 ing would not have been excessive 10 or 

 20 years ago, when birds were abundant; 

 but at this day, when the birds are threat- 

 ened with extermination everywhere, any 

 man should be satisfied with 50 in a year, 

 and the best plan for killing this number 

 would be to take 10 days for it, limiting 

 your bag to 5 birds each day. Suppose 

 you get these in 5 hours in the morning, so 

 much the better. You can find 100 things 

 in the woods every day to interest you and 

 occupy your time without killing something 

 every few minutes. Several States now 

 have laws limiting the number of grouse 

 which any man may kill in a day to 10, and 

 Pennsylvania has a bill before her legisla- 

 ture to reduce the legal number from 10 

 to 5. It is nearly sure that this bill will 

 pass. New York has a law limiting the 

 number which any man may kill in a year 

 to 36. That is too many for any Eastern 

 State. In Michigan you have more birds 

 than we, and it might yet be permissible 

 to kill 50 in a season, but but no man should 

 kill more than that, even if the law allowed 

 him to kill 1,000. — Editor. 



COLLEGE PRESIDENT FINED. 

 I enclose a clipping which I think will 

 interest Recreation readers. 



Last week Prof. O. C. Hagermann, president of 

 Lexington University, visited friends at Bethany 

 College. Before returning he concluded to spend a 

 day hunting. Accordingly he set out early Satur- 

 day with a gun and dogs and succeeded in bagging 

 38 quails. Saturday night he came to Wellsburg 

 to take the train for home, and while he waited 

 he told a friend of his success. Unfortunately 

 Game Warden Henry Gasmire heard it. He ar- 

 rested the Professor and caused him to appear be- 

 fore Squire Russell to answer to the charges of 

 shooting quails out of season, of hunting without the 

 license required of hunters from another State, 

 and of shooting more than a dozen quails in one day. 

 The Professor paid $29 and costs for his day's 

 Sport. Morgantnivn News. 



I noticed that you roasted a man who 



wanted to advertise ferrets. I wish all edi- 

 tors would do the same. Ferrets have about 

 exterminated rabbits here. One day last 

 fall a friend and I, with 2 good dogs, 

 hunted over territory where 4 years ago 

 we started 25 or 30 rabbits. All we saw 

 was one rabbit, and that was floatin.g dead 

 in an old well. My companion suggested 

 that the rabbit had seen us coming, had 

 mistaken us for some of the ferret brigade, 

 and had concluded it was easier to drown 

 than to be punched to death in a bag. 



B. S. White, Morgantown, W. Va. 



Why should the editor say "unfortu- 

 nately Game Warden Gasmire heard of it ?" 

 I consider it a great piece of luck for the 

 cause of game protection. Gasmire is a 

 man after my own heart, and I trust he 

 may be fortunate enough to hear of every 

 man who violates the game or fish law in 

 his district for the next 10 years. 



I always like a man who hunts big game 

 successfully. The president- of Lexing- 

 ton University was big game in this in- 

 stance and he should have known better. 

 In fact, he should be teaching his pupils 

 proper respect for the laws of the land, in- 

 stead of setting them an example in the 

 way of breaking those laws. The board 

 of regents or trustees of the college he pre- 

 sides over should promptly relieve him 

 from duty and put a man at the head of 

 that institution who will bring up the pu- 

 pils in the way they should go. — Editor. 



OTHERS APPEAL FOR THE GREY 

 SQUIRREL. 



I am pleased to see your appeal for the 

 preservation of the grey squirrel. I do 

 not see how any lover of nature and the 

 creatures of the woods can fail to second 

 such a motion. No creature which crosses 

 the path of the nature lover appeals more 

 openly to his better nature than this 

 handsome, vigorous, cheery little fellow. 

 He personifies the very charm of woodland 

 life, the freedom of it, the hardihood that 

 comes from honest toil and the ability 

 to outwit all enemies but man. I have 

 seen his numbers in Massachusetts dwindle 

 from comparative plenty to general scarcity 

 and I know that in New Hampshire the 

 beech and oak woods which knew him 

 well are seeing his sure and ultimate ex- 

 tinction. 



I am aware of his migratory nature in 

 times of food scarcity and there may be 

 many other contributing causes in the mat- 

 ter of his decline; but none is so important 

 a factor as his relentless pursuit with dog 

 and gun. It is usually done by the hunter 

 who can not find success or pleasure in 

 shooting on the wing, who places chief 

 reliance on the squirrel's innate curiosity 

 to lead him to his death. Let us spare him 

 from the general destruction which future 



