204 



RECREA TION. 



up to return to our favorite camping place 

 again next November. 



R. L. Slaughter, Dallas, Tex. 



HOG HUNTERS. 



One of the worst cases of hog hunting, 

 that it has been my ill-fortune to encounter, 

 was in the case of 2 hunters shooting elk in 

 the Yellowstone Park on August 14th, last 

 year. One of these hogs was a professional 

 guide furnished by the Lake View ranch 

 on Jackson's lake, and the other one was a 

 sportsman (?) from Iowa. They fired 20 

 shuts into a herd of cows and calves and 

 succeeded in killing 2 cows and one calf, 

 and probably wounded a number of others. 

 They were not hunting for horns as there 

 were no bulls in the herd, and they did not 

 want meat, because they did not even cut 

 off a hind quarter. 



Fortunately the soldiers in the Park had 

 heard of this kind of hunting and these 2 

 jubilant hunters were greatly shocked at 

 ljeing deprived of their guns and escorted 

 to the headquarters of the superintendent 

 of the Park at the Mammoth Hot Springs. 

 I have never learned what disposition was 

 made of the case. While our party was 

 camped on Green river the sheriff of the 

 county stayed over night at a ranch near 

 us, where they had fresh elk heads all over 

 the fences, and I understand were feeding 

 their guests on elk meat every day, al- 

 though it is contrary to the laws of Wyom- 

 ing to kill elk at any time of the year, for a 

 period of 5 years. 



J. P. Hinton, Hannibal, Mo. 



A NARROW ESCAPE. 



I read Mr. W. H. Wright's article in Oc- 

 tober Recreation with interest, as it gave 

 me an idea of the great penetration of the 

 .30-40. Not more than 2 weeks after I 

 had an experience at the wrong end of 

 a shootin' iron. Dr. had been show- 

 ing me his collection of curiosities in the 

 shape of old guns and pistols. Finally he 

 took from a case a fine .32 caliber revolver. 

 A- he held it in his hand examining it. it 

 was pointed directly at me. Like Mr. 

 Ware. I from force of habit slowly stepped 

 to one side and just in time, for bang! went 

 the gun. I plainly felt the flash on one side 

 of my face, and that bullet I think must 

 be going yet, so impressed was I with the 

 speed of projectiles in flight. 



Squ-auk-um, Warsaw, Ind. 



GAME NOTES. 

 A new sportsmen's journal has recently 

 been issued from a small town in Ohio. Vol. 

 I., Xo. 1. is before me and the first page is 

 occupied by an article on the breeding and 

 care of ferrets! It tells all about how valu- 

 able they are for hunting rabbits. It is safe 

 to say that this new journal will live at least 

 6 weeks. Any publication that will start out 

 by teaching its readers how to exterminate 



game must necessarily be short-lived, in this 

 age of the world. All decent sportsmen 

 heartily condemn the use of ferrets at any 

 and all times, and a paper that caters only to 

 game hogs must soon see its finish. 



Laws should be enacted in all the states, 

 making it a misdemeanor, punishable by a 

 heavy fine, to have a ferret in possession at 

 any time. Will not sportsmen everywhere 

 take up this proposition and ask their legis- 

 latures to amend the game laws accord- 

 ingly? I should be glad to hear from my 

 readers on this subject. 



In Recreation, last year, I saw a photo- 

 graph illustrating rail-shooting; but saw 

 no account accompanying the photograph. 

 I suppose some of the readers of Recrea- 

 tion know the pleasures of rail-shooting, 

 while many do not. 



In Pennsylvania and New Jersey the rail 

 season opens with September. The marshes 

 bordering the Delaware river on the 

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey shore-, 

 swarm with birds. The famed grounds of 

 Maurice river, attract more shooters than 

 any other locality, although there are many 

 more places where as good shooting may 

 be had. At the mouth of Alloway's creek, 

 and opposite, on the flats around " Augus- 

 tine Pier," the Cohansey river, above the 

 Maurice, and around Delaware city, are 

 places where rails abound. 



O. A. F., Philadelphia. 



We have some prairie-chickens this win- 

 ter because the pastures were not burned 

 over last spring after the birds nested. An 

 early blizzard has been disastrous to quail. 

 Pot hunters found them bunched under 

 hedges and slaughtered them by hundreds. 

 When I see any one crying " Let up on the 

 game hogs," I know who has been hurt. 

 It is disgusting to hear such grunts as come 

 from George H. Webber. 



I hope the gentlemen of Puget sound 

 will speak out for themselves, and not let 

 us think they are all game hogs. 



I would like to see the L. A. S. organized 

 here. Business men violate the game laws, 

 yet raise a great howl if laws affecting 

 themselves are not enforced. There must 

 be an understanding between farmers and 

 sportsmen or they cannot pull together. 

 Don Calkins, Salina, Kan. 



Athens, O. 

 I think that Ohio's statesmen have made 

 2 crazy game laws and that squirrels and 

 rabbits will now decrease rapidly. The last 

 legislature made it lawful to kill squirrels 

 from July 4th until December 15th, 5^ 

 months in which the pot hunter can shoot 

 everything in sight. July 4th is too early 

 to begin shooting squirrels. The open sea- 

 son formerly was from September 1st to De- 

 cember 15th which was plenty long enough 

 It is now lawful to kill rabbits the year 



