208 



RECREATION. 



ever, during the season killed and sold 

 over 800 ducks. We make a business of 

 hunting during the hunting season. We 

 own one of the best hunting resorts in the 

 State. We killed our ducks at what is 

 known as Jobes lake. We shoot from iron 

 boxes sunk in the lake, and use 40 live de- 

 coy ducks. 



G. K. Laughlin, Mendon, Mo. 



It is a burning shame that any State 

 should have failed thus far to enact and 

 enforce laws to prohibit such brutal slaugh- 

 ter as this. It is such men as you and 

 your brother who have destroyed the great 

 flights of migratory water fowl that years 

 ago swept over the country, from North 

 to South and from South to North. There 

 are whole States where 20 years ago ducks 

 were abundant that are now scarcely vis- 

 ited by them at all, and you and your 

 kind are responsible for the change. If 

 you have any spark of decency left in 

 your natures, you and your brother will 

 stop this butchery at once, and hereafter 

 kill only 10 or 20 birds in any one day, at 

 most, and this number only a few days in 

 each season. No decent man can afford 

 to kill game for market. There are plenty 

 of ways of earning a living without de- 

 stroying your neighbors' property. Every 

 citizen of the United States has as much 

 right to the migratory game in this coun- 

 try as you have. Therefore when you 

 slaughter ducks you destroy your neigh- 

 bors' property as well as your own. — Ed. 



ANCIENT HISTORY. 



In looking for something to read I re- 

 cently found a book entitled "A Descrip- 

 tion of a Great Variety of Animals and 

 Vegetables." This book was printed in 

 1761 and contains a number of amusing 

 pictures and descriptions of different ani- 

 mals and plants. Among others is a long 

 article on the Bears of North America, 

 which is followed by a short sketch on 

 the Elk, as follows: 



"The Elk is harder to be taken and muft 

 be run down in the woods, which takes 

 up two or three days. It is pursued by the 

 track on the snow, being naturally a floth- 

 ful that will fit or lie in a place as long as 

 it has anything to feed on, or till it is 

 disturbed by the hunters; but once roused 

 it will run night and day till it drops down 

 and the Savages never ceafe to purfue till 

 the beast is fpent when they eafily kill it. 

 And it is one of the best sorts of game, 

 for the flefh is extraordinary good, either 

 frefh or dried, and will keep all the year. 

 The Tongue and snout of it are very deli- 

 cate. This creature, though very large 

 and having great horns, makes no de- 

 fence againft the Hunters." 



The printers of this book must have 



run out of "s's," as the letter "f" is usedj 

 also the long "s." 



I have been a reader of Recreation 3 

 years, and I like the way you score the 

 game hogs. 



F. H. Atkinson, Homestead, Pa. 



REFORM NEEDED IN OREGON. 



Grouse season opened August 1st, but 

 shooting had already begun with some of 

 the hogs. It takes a large pen to hold them 

 all. I hope we will get some scalded this 

 side of the Cascades before the year is 

 out. We have too many of the damn-the- 

 law kind here. 



The L. A. S. should wrestle with the 

 ranchers of Oregon. A great many of them 

 shoot out of season. Then the town boys 

 say, "They shoot; why should we wait?" 

 I have talked with many men about this 

 matter. They all say, in effect, "I will 

 obey the law if others will. But while 

 others shoot I will not wait and be cheated 

 out of my share of the game." I told 

 them some one had to make a start to 

 move the rest; that I put my gun away 

 last winter at the close of the duck season 

 and there it would stay until the season 

 opened for grouse. I was brought up in 

 Michigan almost with a gun in my hand, 

 but I can stop shooting when it is time to 

 do so. Now I shoot for recreation, as I 

 use my camera, for I need something to 

 sandwich in with the steady drill for bread. 

 C. B. Cushing, The Dalles, Ore. 



ANOTHER PECULIAR SHOT. 

 Reading the story, "Two Cases of Rifle 

 Shooting," in April Recreation, reminds 

 me of an odd shot made by my friend, Mr. 

 L. C. Nye, of Lima, O. He was shooting 

 quails one day near his home when his 

 faithful dog, Bob, made a point. The 

 birds were on the farm of a man who al- 

 lowed hunting, but just over the fence to 

 the South the farmer objected to hunting. 

 L. C. walked around between the dog and 

 the fence to keep the birds off forbidden 

 ground, if possible. He made a slight 

 noise in the leaves. Two or 3 birds went 

 up, and he knocked one down at a dis- 

 tance. On looking down at his feet he 

 was surprised to see another bird flutter- 

 ing. On examination he found it to be 

 decapitated. He could only account for it 

 by the theory that bird No. 2 had flown at 

 an angle and its head was between his aim 

 and the other bird just as he pulled the 

 trigger. Mr. Nye is a sportsman after 

 my own heart. He knows when to quit. 

 S. I. Darling, Wapakoneta, Ohio. 



PREFERS DOGS. 

 J. L. H., Williamsport, Pa., writes that 

 birds should never be shot over dogs. 



