FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



375 



ing, that their trip was 'a grand success;' 

 that ' enough ducks were secured to trim 

 the rigging, and that the yacht presented a 

 novel sight.' 



To any true sportsman it would present a 

 disguesting sight. If you agree with me 

 give them a roast." 



One of the pictures shows a party of 6 

 men on the deck of a yacht, with ducks, 

 geese and brant strung on the rigging of the 

 vessel and lying in piles about the deck, 

 while the men stand up and gaze at the cam- 

 era in the typical " We-killed-'em " style. 



Another picture shows 2 of these men 

 standing in front of a long string of birds 

 and gazing away into space. Still another 

 shows other portions of the rigging loaded 

 with game, but the men seem to have finally 

 become ashamed of their butchery and to 

 have gone below. Xot so far below, I fear, 

 as they deserve to be sent. 



In the concluding paragraph of the story 

 the writer says: 



" Our duck shoot was a grand success ; enough birds 

 were secured to trim the rigging, and the yacht presented a 

 novel sight on our return, decorated from deck to crow's 

 nest with wild ducks, geese and brant, while a Hatteras 

 deer formed an attractive centre piece." 



There is no question as to the right of 

 these men to a place in the pig pen. — 

 Editor. 



with the hunters. 



The beginning of the hunting season 

 Saturday was marked by bad weather. As 

 a result most of the sportsmen who were out 

 that day report poor success. The tempera- 

 ture was 95 in the shade, and as there was 

 no breeze it was hard for dogs to do their 

 work properly. The high score was made 

 by Dr. E. H. Belyea, Dr. Jones, Mike 

 Doheny and Fred Crafts, who spent Satur- 

 day and Sunday at Spaulding's Ferry. They 

 got 64 chickens and 34 ducks in the 2 days. 

 T. C. Saunders and his party got 18 chickens 

 Saturday; 23 Sunday and 11 Monday even- 

 ing. R. W. Bennett hunted the country in- 

 dustriously from the city to Dry lake and 

 then South into the Poplar Grove district 

 and got only 2 chickens. A. W. Schmidt 

 and S. A. Nye put in one day getting 12 

 chickens. Jim Watt and Joe Thompson, 

 without a dog, got 12 chickens. Col. Uline 

 and J. O. Baughman got a lot of ducks, but 

 no chickens. C. H. Smith and 3 others got 

 94 ducks in 2 days. George Juergens and 

 D. W. Ensign brought back 2 chickens as 

 the result of a morning and evening hunt. 

 1 Many others were out and most of them re- 

 port poor scores. 



It seerns that in the vicinity of Devil's lake 

 the coveys were shot all to pieces before 

 the season opened, notwithstanding the 

 " gentlemen's agreement " which was so 

 freely signed a few weeks ago. Few full 

 coveys were found, most of the birds being 



in bunches of from 2 to 5. If the wardens 

 made any effort to enforce the law it is evi- 

 dent they were unsuccessful. — Devil's Lake 

 (X. D.) 'inter Ocean. 



Why don't you all join the L. A. S., gen- 

 tlemen? If you will do this we will place a 

 warden among you who will be offered a 

 reward for every conviction secured. Thus 

 the coveys may be saved intact next year, 

 until the opening of the legal shooting sea- 

 son. Send in your applications and your 

 dollars. — Editor. 



FLORIDA GAME LAWS. 



I am strongly in favor of the L. A. S. 

 and have worked hard for it here. We now 

 have a plume bird law, game law and fish 

 law in Florida, and special fish laws for 

 Dade county. It is difficult to enforce the 

 laws, as half the people and all the officers 

 seem willing to have them broken. The 

 plume bird law, so far, has done no good. 

 I know men who went to the resorts of 

 the white heron and egret, stayed there 

 awhile and then came to town with plenty 

 of money. Of course no one saw them kill 

 birds, nor ship plumes, but no one doubts 

 that they did both. Plume birds are scarce. 

 Single ones only are seen where a few 

 years ago there were hundreds. Man is to 

 blame for most of the decrease, but the 

 Florida crow is also responsible for some 

 of it. They eat the eggs and even the 

 young, not only of herons and egrets but 

 also of other birds, if they find the nests. I 

 have caught the crows in the act, time and 

 time again. Our fish laws have been ob- 

 served and fish are more plentiful as the 

 result. Game laws have not been strictly 

 enforced, but enough so to keep the game 

 from being entirely exterminated. There 

 are game hogs here occasionally, but they 

 are mostly imported from the North — so- 

 called sportsmen who in Xew York would 

 have me arrested if I killed one trout un- 

 der 6 inches, but who come here and catch 

 fish by the hundreds of pounds and brag 

 of it. They may be saints at home, but 

 they are sinners here and their example 

 leads many of our citizens to break the 

 law; for they say they have as much right 

 to the game as the tourists. 



Geo. S. Rowley. West Palm Beach. Fla. 



Give me the names and addresses of 

 these Xew York hogs and I will expose 

 them. — Editor. 



DENIES THE CHARGE. 



Seattle. Wash. 

 Editor Recreation: Yours of _'i>t at 

 hand. Yes. a party of 3 of us made a fair 

 kill, and one that was in the bounds of de- 

 cency. I judge from your letter that you 

 are on the trail of reputed game hogs. Our 

 local paper gave us credit tor killing about 

 125 more birds than we did kill. 



