FISH AND FISHING. 



TWO EGREGIOUS LIARS. 



Belvidere, 111. 



Editor Recreation: I have been a reader 

 of Recreation for some time and have 

 been amused at the crusade you have entered 

 upon against those whom you term game 

 hogs. Candidly I do not think you will ac- 

 complish much The chances are that when 

 the average man gets an opportunity to go 

 out for game or fish he will not quit simply 

 because game is too plenty or the fish are 

 biting too freely. 



What prompts me to write you is an inci- 

 dent that occurred last fall in the Northern 

 Peninsula of Michigan. I was up there with 

 a party, including a number of professional 

 guides, and in the camp there were several 

 copies of Recreation. One day while one 

 of the guides was looking over the magazine 

 he called our attention to a number of state- 

 ments you made regarding game hogs. He 

 then told us he had guided a party once that 

 you were a member of, and that you were 

 the biggest game hog that ever came into 

 that part of the country. This statement 

 was corroborated by another of the guides. 

 They went on to tell about your whipping 

 a trout stream, and after you had made a 

 catch of more than 40 brook trout you still 

 continued to fish and did not even take the 

 trouble of returning the fish tc the water, 

 but threw them out on the bank to die. 



This is a pretty strong statement against 

 you, but my experience with human nature 

 has been that the man who is sc anxious to 

 criticise and reform his fellow men will 

 generally bear close watching himself. I 

 questioned both of these guides closely to 

 find if you had happened to tread on their 

 corns; but they seemed perfectly free from 

 any feeling in the matter and simply told 

 the story on you as a joke, more than any- 

 thing else. F. P; Eldredge. 



The guide who told you the story about 

 my trout fishing is a liar and the truth is not 

 in him. The other guide who you say cor- 

 roborated his story is also a liar, and the 

 truth is also not in him, either. If you will 

 kindly give me their names and addresses I 

 will send them marked copies of this issue of 

 Recreation. 



1. I never employed a guide on a fishing 

 trip, in my life, 



2. I have never been with a party on any 

 fishing trip where a guide was employed. 



3. I never caught 20 trout in one day, in 

 my life, though I have frequently been where 

 I could have caught 200 in a day, if dis- 

 posed to make a hog of myself, 



4. I am a woodsman, by birth and train- 

 ing, and while I have hunted and fished in 



nearly every state in the Union, including 

 all parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michi- 

 gan, I have never employed a guide but twice 

 that I can now remember. One of these 

 trips was in the Rocky mountains and the 

 other was in Wisconsin. As a rule I do not 

 need a guide in any country. 



5. I will give you $100, if you will prove, 

 by any evidence that would be accepted in 

 any court of record, that any one of these 

 statements is not strictly true. 



You never made a greater mistake in your 

 life than when you assume that my war on 

 the game hogs is not doing good If you 

 could sit at my desk 3 days and read the let- 

 ters which come from all parts of the United 

 •States and Canada, you would be entirely 

 cured of this delusion. There is not a mail 

 that does not bring half a dozen letters from 

 men who have been roasted in Recreation, 

 or who personally know men who have been. 

 The first class write me to this effect: 



" I never knew until you got after me that 

 there was any harm in killing all the game 

 I could. I have always done this, and so 

 have all my friends. We have always con- 

 sidered that the man who could kill the most 

 game, or catch the most fish had won the 

 highest honor. Since you have begun your 

 war on us, we have been thinking this matter 

 over. We find we have been making hogs 

 of ourselves, as you say. When we compare 

 the game supply of to-day, with that of a few 

 years ago, we find it has been rapidly dimin- 

 ishing. Now we have decided to do as you 

 advise — that is to quit when we get enough, 

 and endeavor to save some game for next 

 year." 



The second class of men I refer to write 

 me in this wise: 



" Your crusade against the game butchers 

 has had a wonderful effect in this vicinity. 

 There are certain men who formerly killed 

 all the game they could, and then boasted of 

 it among their friends. Some of them have, 

 in consequence of your work, quit this and 

 now kill only a reasonable quantity each time 

 they go out. Those who are thicker skinned 

 still go on with their slaughter, as before; 

 but we notice they do not boast of it nowa- 

 days. They have learned that their course 

 is unpopular, and now when they come in 

 with a big bag of game or fish, they sneak 

 up a back alley and in at a back door as if 

 they had been stealing chickens. Keep up 

 your crusade on these fellows, and they will 

 in time quit their hoggish work." 



I can see by the hundreds of letters that 

 come to my desk that my work has been the 

 means of saving hundreds and thousands ci 

 birds and fishes, and at least some thou- 

 sands of head of big game within the past 3 

 years. — Editor. 



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