FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



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



GAME WARDEN ROASTS THE SIDE HUN- 

 TERS. 



Recreation has an editorial article in a recent num- 

 ber reflecting severely on certain sportsmen who 

 were prominent in the Charlemont and Conway side 

 hunts. The magazine calls these men hard names, and 

 compares game hunting where the gunners line up 

 on different sides, to prize fights. It says, "It is 

 strange that the decent sportsmen of Massachusetts 

 and one or 2 other New England States in which 

 these barbarous slaughtering matches are still carried 

 on, do not secure the passage of laws to prohibit 

 them." 



This Charlemont man says he is going to have 

 some fun with the editor of Recreation. — Greenfield, 

 Mass., Gazette and Courier. 



No, I did not reflect on any sportsmen, 

 for there were none in the side hunt. Sports- 

 men never engage in these brutal pastimes. 



I did criticise the game butchers who 

 participated in that hunt, but did not 

 give them half the roasting they deserve, 

 because I could not spare space enough; 

 but whenever that Charlemont butcher 

 gets ready to have fun with me, I shall be 

 glad to give him all he wants of it. 



Editor. 



The following letter, which appeared in a 

 recent issue of the Greenfield, Mass. , Gazette 

 and Courier, shows what true sportsmen 

 think of the Charlemont and Conway 

 gang: 



The article entitled "A Herd of Side Hunters," 

 in December Recreation, and your reference to it 

 in the last issue ot the Gazette and Courier, are inter- 

 esting. Recreation calls the Charlemont and Con- 

 way side hunters "game hogs" and you call them 

 "sportsmen." While the title applied to these hun- 

 ters by Recreation may sound harsh, these side 

 hunts can not be too strongly condemned. The hun- 

 ters taking part in them are not sportsmen. The 

 explanation of* the Charlemont hunter who says, 

 "The result of these side hunts is that less game is 

 destroyed than would otherwise be the case, as when 

 all the hunters start out they soon frighten the game 

 into inaccessible places," offers a unique method of 

 protecting game. Choose sides, all take guns and 

 start for the woods, to protect the game. The scores 

 something over 70,000 on one side alone, indicate, 

 slaughter rather than fright or protection. If the ob- 

 ject of these men was to protect the grey squirrels, 

 as the Charlemont hunter says, by killing red squir- 

 rels, which he says prey on the greys, why did they 

 not have reds count more than greys, and thus induce 

 the hunters to shoot reds instead of greys? On the 

 contrary, they had reds and chipmunks count low, 

 while grey squirrels and ruffed grouse counted high. 

 The sesult was a slaughtering match of which the par- 

 ticipants should be ashamed. The real sportsmen of 

 the State have worked long and earnestly to protect 

 the game that is killed on these side hunts. Sports- 

 men stock our streams with trout, put out English 

 and Chinese pheasants, Belgian hares, etc., for the 

 good of the public, and it must be discouraging to 

 them to see the game they try so hard to protect 

 killed by side hunters just because it counts so much 

 a head. E. C. Hall, 



Deputy Game Warden, Buckland, Mass. 



Further condemnation of the Charle- 

 mont and Conway side hunters is expressed 

 in the following letter which is reprinted 



from a recent issue of the Greenfield, Mass., 

 Gazette and Courier: 



In your last issue I noticed an article on the Charle- 

 mont and Conway game hunts, saying that G. O. 

 Shields, editor of Recreation, called the men promi- 

 nent in this affair hard names. In my opinion, and 

 in that of hundreds of real sportsmen, the condemna- 

 tion was just, provided the reports of these side hunts 

 are true. It has been reported on good authority 

 that in these hunts a quantity of game was killed be- 

 fore the counting-up day and allowed to rot. An- 

 other feature of the hunts has been the stealing of 

 game from one party by another. 



In the article referred to in your paper, a Charle- 

 mont man tries to defend these men by saying they 

 frighten the game and drive it to remote and inacces- 

 sible places. The chances are that when 40 or 50 men 

 go out in the woods, one party will scare the game 

 right where another party is waiting for it, and whole- 

 sale slaughter is the result. 



Your correspondent says the men go out for a few 

 days and get all the shooting they want for the sea- 

 son. On the contrary, many go out during these 

 hunts who would never go any other time. All the 

 crack shots are out vieing with one another to see 

 who can bring in the biggest bag. Then the large 

 parties literally hem in the game, making it next to 

 impossible for it to escape. He further defends his 

 friends by saying they kill the red squirrels, which 

 prey on the grey ones, and that the hunters thereby 

 do the grey squirrels a kindness. The lameness of 

 this defense is apparent to any sportsman. While it 

 is not denied that the red squirrels harass the grey 

 ones, it is well known hat if the greys are given a 

 chance they get along all right, even though they do 

 lead a somewhat strenuous life. 



Mr. Shields, through his magazine, Recreation, is 

 making a big fight against those whom he rightly 

 calls "game hogs" and. "fish hogs." He is doing a 

 grand work in arousing true sporstmen to the fact 

 that our game laws are in many cases inadequate and 

 poorly enforced. In several States his efforts have 

 been instrumental in having wise protective game 

 laws passed, and their provisions better enforced. 

 Although he roasts the offenders who come to his no- 

 tice severely, x he is no respecter of persons. It is all 

 the same whether it is a half-breed trapper or a sher- 

 iff, or a superior court judge who is on the rack. In 

 this work he has the support and good wishes of thou- 

 sands of sportsmen who are clean, who want restric- 

 tive game laws and want them enforced. 

 k Game hunts conducted as they are in most cases are 

 wanton and barbarous slaughter. Efforts are being 

 made to make them illegal and punishable by a heavy 

 fine in this and the few other States where they are 

 yet countenanced. 



Your Charlemont man says he intends to have 

 some fun with Mr. Shields. Just what fun he will get 

 out of posing as an injured member of a party of side 

 hunters is difficult to see. Sportsman. 



365 



MOUNTAIN LIONS IN MEXICO. 



El Paso, Texas. 

 Editor Recreation: 



Last season was an excellent one for 

 El Paso sportsmen. As you know, we are 

 within reach of the famous Sierra Madre 

 game fields along the line of the Rio Grande 

 and Sierra Madre Railroad, and General 

 Manager Ramsey, together with his polite 

 and obliging traffic manager, Mr. Halmon, 

 see to it that their line extends to sports- 

 men going into Mexico every courtesy 

 possible. 



The first day of last October, 4 of us 



