FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



449 



rcl. Why not get a bill before the Legis- 

 lature this session? If every reader of 

 Recreation in New York State would agi- 

 tate this matter, and write to his assembly- 

 man and senator, a law could be enacted 

 this winter that would put our State "to 

 the front in the matter of protecting ani- 

 mals as well as protecting the public by 

 medical laws. Your articles on the game 

 hog are all right, only you do not hit him 

 hard enough to suit me. 



H. V. Shelley, Ridgebury, N. Y. 



PUT HIM BEHIND BARS. 

 I think it my duty to write you about a 

 game hog in Stratford, Conn., a notorious 

 duck hunter named Charles Wicks. Last 

 winter he sculled out on Long Island sound 

 and shot 160 ducks in less than an hour 

 with a 4 gauge gun. They were broadbill 

 and black ducks. This man makes a busi- 

 ness of duck shooting - . 



Clifford H. Piatt, Milford, Conn. 



I wrote Wicks regarding this matter. 

 His answer follows : 



Your letter at hand. In reply will say 

 that I killed 132 ducks in about one hour. 

 I could have killed 3 times as many, but 

 when the man with me counted and said 

 I had over 100 I said I had enough. There 

 are lots of broadbill here at times. 



Capt. Charles D. Wicks, Stratford, Conn. 



It is strange indeed that a man of your 

 apparently swinish disposition should be 

 satisfied with so small a number of ducks as 

 132 in an hour. I am surprised you did not 

 keep on as long as there was a duck in 

 sight and load up your boat even if you 

 had to make one or more trins to the shore 

 to unload, and go back. It would have 

 been like the p-eneral run of your breed to 

 do this. As I have often said, it takes a 

 gentleman to quit when he gets enough, 

 but you evidently do not aim to be in 

 that class. You are of the kind that be- 

 lieves in killing as long as there is any- 

 thing in sight. I hope we shall soon have 

 laws in all the States that will result in 

 putting such men as you behind the bars 

 for a long term for such acts of slaughter 

 as you admit having committed in this 

 case. — Editor. 



THE GAME FIELDS OF IOWA. 

 Although Iowa is not regarded as a game 

 field it contains much small game. For 

 quail shooting, last season was the best 

 for years, being even better than the pre- 

 vious season, which was remarkably good. 

 The winter has been mild and the outlook 

 is favorable for good shooting next year. 

 The quail is not the easiest thing to hit, 

 as all sportsmen know, and if one gets 



5 or 6 birds he is doing well. An old hunt- 

 er recently remarked that when all other 

 game birds shall have been exterminated the 

 quail will still remain. How true this 

 is we will soon be able to tell if the game 

 laws are not heeded better than they are 

 now. 



Prairie chicken shooting was not so good 

 as was expected. The birds were badly 

 scattered when the season opened, ap- 

 parently having been shot at before. 



Duck shooting began September 1, with 

 the teal that breed in Iowa, and lasted until 

 the 1st of December. Mallards were un- 

 usually plentiful, though they are not often 

 abundant in Iowa. 



The State still permits spring shooting, 

 and State Warden Lincoln will try to have 

 a law passed during the coming session of 

 the Legislature prohibiting it. 



The small fur-bearing wild animals are 

 becoming plentiful and trappers make a fair 

 living. Cottontail and jack rabbits give 

 much sport during the winter, and were 

 abundant last year. 



Surely Iowa is a good hunting ground; 

 all it needs is a better enforcement of the 

 game laws. 



Geo. J. Bicknell, LIumboldt, Iowa. 



AN OREGON HIDE HUNTER. 



We have in our State a few low-down, 

 contemptible deer hogs. One of these ani- 

 mals was arrested this summer with 1,500 

 deer skins in his possession. He was too 

 lazy to work, but would slink around in 

 spring and summer and kill does with 

 fawns, simply for the pelts. He had fol- 

 lowed the same vocation for years. When 

 at last the hand of the law was laid on him 

 he paid a fine of $100 and costs, whereas he 

 should have been hanged. 



I hope the law passed by our last Legis- 

 lature will prevent further brutality by such 

 beasts. Under this law one may not sell 

 either the flesh or hide of deer at any time ; 

 neither can he sell grouse, pheasants or 

 quails for 5 years. This will allow an in- 

 crease sufficient to again give us an abund- 

 ance of good sport. 



In July I had some fine sport trout fish- 

 ing. I caught in one hour all our party 

 could use in a day. Never before have I 

 found trout so plentiful ; the water seemed 

 alive with them. I did my fishing in Silver 

 creek and Canyon creek, in Southeastern 

 Oregon. 



The open season for Mongolian pheasants 

 began October 1. One does nc*" see such 

 wanton slaughter as in former years, owing 

 to the fact that the birds can not be sold. 

 The law prohibits the killing of more than 

 15 birds in one day by each hunter. Two 

 friends and I returned from a hunt last 

 week with a nice bag of birds. We killed 



