FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



451 



the side of the house. The next morning 

 Pat distributed bear meat about the settle- 

 ment until every family was supplied. Two 

 weeks later one of the neighbors happened 

 to pass Pat's cabin, and seeing the skin 

 nailed up asked Pat whose dog he Had 

 killed. 

 "Begorry," said Pat, "that is the bear." 

 It proved to be Jim Wilson's black dog, 

 one of the worst renegades in the country. 

 Everybody was glad the dog was dead, but 

 did not seem overjoyed at having helped 

 eat him. I think Dr. Bassler's bear was of 

 the same species. 



D. E. Packard, Belmont, la. 



THE JUDGE WAS WRONG. 

 A fine of $700 and costs was the sentence im- 

 posed on Ira Arnold by Trial Justice Spencer in 

 police court recently. Arnold lives on the 

 outskirts of the village and had been snaring 

 grouse. Game Warden Stanley, of Standish, 

 heard of it and came here last week to investi- 

 gate the matter. He placed Arnold under arrest 

 and had him arraigned in police court for snar- 

 ing 140 ruffed grouse in violation of law. The re- 

 spondent pleaded guilty and said he did not un- 

 derstand when he snared the birds that he was 

 committing a serious offence. Justice Spencer 

 imposed a fine of Ss for every bird snared, S140 

 in all. Realizing that the respondent would be 

 unable to pay the fine and that the county would 

 be obliged to support him in jail almost 6 

 years while he would be working it out, the court 

 suspended sentence during good behavior. — Dover 

 IN. H.) Paper. 



The judge was unduly solicitous as to 

 the expense of boarding Arnold in the 

 county jail. It need not cost more than 

 10 cents a day to feed such a shoat all he 

 needs and all he deserves, and he should 

 have been compelled to board out his sen- 

 tence. He has stolen from the public a 

 large quantity of game that has actual food 

 value, and now that he is allowed to run 

 at large he is likely to steal chickens or 

 sheep or any other property he can get his 

 hands on. It w r ould no doubt have been 

 money in the pockets of the tax payers in 

 that county to have had Arnold locked up 

 for 6 years. — Editor. 



GAME NOTES. 



I had a few weeks to spare last fall 

 and thought I would try the ducks on the 

 Mississippi. Found fall shooting there a 

 thing of the past ; there was no water and 

 I could not induce a duck to even look 

 down. Then I concluded to revisit my old 

 hunting ground on the Illinois, where I 

 used to shoot when the United States was a 

 free countrv. Every place where a duck 

 might possibl;- alight had been bought up 

 or leased. When I came away I saw 470 

 mallards put on the train, tagged to Hough 

 & Sherman. Chicago, from Powers Bros. 

 All the birds had been killed in one day 

 by 3 shooters on a "preserve." When they 

 butchered, a few days previous, they got 



only 320 mallards. A dozen sportsmen left 

 on the same train with me, and there were 

 not 10 ducks in their combined bag. You see 

 they had no money to invest in swamp 

 land. I should like to see the marshes 

 open to rich and poor alike. The next 

 best thing would be a law limiting the kill 

 to 25 a day on private as well as on public 

 land. 



O. Timer, Chicago, 111. 



One of the best signs of the times, and 

 something for which I give vou, personal- 

 ly, full credit, is the attitude which one 

 of your contemporaries has taken the past 

 year in regard to the game hogs. Some of 

 his roasts are very like yours, and if yours 

 were copyrighted he would be adjudged an 

 infringer. This attitude of a sporting 

 editor, who formerly never onened his head 

 anent such things, simnly proves that the 

 leaven you have injected into the matter 

 has produced a healthy sentiment on the 

 subject, which will eventually become the 

 only popular one. 



Dr. E. B. Guile, Utica, N. Y. 



Yes, the other editors are gradually get- 

 ting in line. Their readers demand it, 

 and the editors find they must join me in 

 the crusade or lose their circulation. Even 

 the A. D. G. H. will have to come to it 

 yet or shut up shop. Wont it be gall and 

 wormwood for Reynolds? Think of his 

 roasting his old friends ! Gee whiz. — 

 Coquina. 



I fully agree with you that if something 

 is not done quickly to stop the slaughter of 

 big game it will become extinct. I have 

 seen, since I came to Montana in 1895, a 

 rapid decrease in game, especially of the 

 deer family, and recognizing the necessity 

 of immediate action, I was one of those 

 who first agitated the formation of the 

 State Fish and Game Protective Associa- 

 tion. 



Some of us had hoped to close all elk, 

 antelope, and mountain sheep killing for 

 some years, but we only succeeded in the 

 cases of antelope and sheep. A few of 

 us fought vigorously in behalf of the elk, 

 but were doomed to disappointment at 

 this time. The members of our associa- 

 tion have decided that the L. A. S. is the 

 only power that can secure th eenforcement 

 of the game laws in Montana. If we can 

 have a federal law, together with game 

 preservation in forest reserves, much good 

 will be accomplished. 



Geo. B. Sproule, Helena, Mont. 



I have been for some time a subscriber 

 to Recreation, and I frankly confess it has 

 brought me to my senses as far as true 



