FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



The man who quits when lie gets enough, with plenty of game still in si^lit, is a real 9portsman. 



WHEREIN BLOOD WAS WRONG. 



Unionville, Ohio. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I notice in February, 1902, Recreation 

 the letter received by Mr. Pratt, chief 

 warden of the Michigan Division of the L. 

 A. S., from a Mr. Blood, of Conneaut, 

 Ohio. This letter is unique and interesting. 

 I also read with interest your editorial on 

 the letter, and I take the liberty of writing 

 you in regard to your roast, especially as I 

 am much interested in your publication, 

 not having missed a copv since 1896. I am 

 unacquainted with Mr. Blood, but I know 

 a number of such old gentlemen, who are 

 illiterate and uneducated, for the reason 

 that at the time they should have been ob- 

 taining an education they were helping to 

 make a garden of this wilderness ; and it 

 is due, in a large part, to these same back- 

 woodsmen that we have such a country as 

 the famed Western Reserve, which is noted 

 for the wealth and refinement of its rural 

 and city population. I know that these old 

 sportsmen love to hunt as long as life lasts, 

 for it was born in them, and I also think 

 that as law-abiding sportsmen there can be 

 no fault found with them. It makes no dif- 

 ference what vintage his bed quilts were 

 grown in, or how many patches he uses on 

 his bullets. He is usually a man who can not 

 spend his hundreds or thousands of dol- 

 lars each season on his hunting trips, and 

 does not feel like paying a guide to do 

 something that he can do better himself; 

 but he does love to hunt. Mr. Blood, wish- 

 ing to abide by the game laws of Michigan, 

 writes a gentlemanly, if an illiterate, letter 

 to a man who is in all probability paid a 

 salary to furnish to the public just such in- 

 formation as he asked for. It is, in my 

 opinion, not only unbusinesslike, but un- 

 gentlemanly in Mr. Pratt to send you the 

 letter for publication. You know it is not 

 the man who uses a muzzle loading gun 

 who kills the game. It is the man who 

 goes into a blind with 2 or 3 modern guns 

 and a man to load and clean them for him, 

 who kills his 75 to 100 ducks in a few 

 hours' shooting; or the man who hires one 

 or 2 guides to show him a deer, and "who 

 would not know a red squirrel from a rab- 

 bit unless told the difference by a guide." 

 I am in favor of strict game laws, and do 

 not stand up for the violation of the game 

 laws of any State, no matter if unjust. 

 When the editor of Recreation roasts a 

 man because he wishes to obtain informa- 

 tion in regard to the game laws, even if he 

 is illiterate, is from the country, does not 



use the latest Abercrombie sleeping bag, or 

 the most modern small bore rifle, the editor 

 is in rather poor business. I, therefore, take 

 the liberty of expressing to you, and I 

 hope to all Recreation readers, my dis- 

 pleasure at the appearance of so unjust an 

 article in the official organ of the L. A. S. 



Jay C. Goddard. 



ANSWER. 



I did not criticise Mr. Blood because he 

 asked for information about the game laws, 

 but because he complained that the laws of 

 Michigan did not allow him to sell game. 

 He said he had previously sold all the game 

 he killed, except one ham which he tried to 

 bring home each year, and which was, very 

 properly, seized and confiscated 'by the 

 game warden. Mr. Blood says, in effect, 

 that he must kill the 3 deer allowed him by 

 the law, if he goes to Michigan, and inas- 

 much as he is not allowed to sell it or 

 bring it out, must leave it on the ground to 

 rot. It is this inordinate thirst for blood 

 which I, in common with thousands of 

 decent men, object to. I am trying to con- 

 vince all sportsmen that true sport is not 

 regulated by the size of the bag; that a 

 man may have fun in the woods in other 

 ways than in killing to the full limit of the 

 law or even beyond it. 



You are in error in assuming that Mr. 

 Pratt is paid a salary for furnishing in- 

 formation to the public. On the contrary, 

 he works for nothing, boards himself and 

 pays his own expenses. He is the Chief 

 Warden of the Michigan Division of the 

 League of American Sportsmen, and, like 

 thousands of other members of it, is spend- 

 ing his time gratuitously and investing his 

 money in the work of protecting the game 

 and educating the public to higher lines of 

 sportsmanship. He answered Mr. Blood's 

 letter promptly and fully, then sent it to me, 

 because he thought it might prove interest- 

 ing to the thousands of readers of Recrea- 

 tion ; and so it has. — Editor. 



CONNECTICUT GAME LAWS. 



Norwich, Conn. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Our last Legislature made a bad mess 

 of the game laws, in that the opening and 

 closing days of the season were not well 

 defined. It repealed an old law, overlooked 

 another and substituted still another, so it 

 is impossible to determine which is effect- 

 ive. I talked with several lawyers on the 

 subject and their opinions differed widely. 

 Some said the season was October 15 to 

 December 15 ; others, October 1 to Decem- 



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