454 



RECREATION. 



my cover. As L did so, one lone turkey 

 flew up. True to instinct and training, I 

 threw up my gun, fired, and brought her 

 down. I had killed the other 4 with my 

 first shot. 



I was almost beside myself with joy at 

 my achievement. I had left home with 12 

 shells, and in less than an hour returned 

 with 10 shells and 5 wild turkeys. 



W. G. Hawthorne, Taggart, Tenn. 



sportsmen suffer by trying to enforce the 

 laws as they stand. 



Stanley D. Herbert, Corvallis, Ore. 



NOT SATISFIED WITH OREGON'S GAME 

 LAW. 



Appended to my story of a hunt in Ore- 

 gon, in May Recreation, I find this note 

 bv the editor: 



"You should not hunt deer with dogs. 

 Nearly all States prohibit this by law, 

 which shows the sentiment of the best 

 sportsmen on the subject." 



In justice to myself, I must say that only 

 in the last few months has Oregon had a 

 law forbidding the hunting of deer with 

 dogs. Recently a new set of laws have 

 been passed, some good and some other- 

 wise. 



In Oregon there are 2 sides to the game 

 question. First, that taken by the true 

 sportsman, who wishes to see fair play for 

 all. Classed with him are the hogs who 

 never hunt illegally, yet by inborn mean- 

 ness make themselves so odious to farm- 

 ers that they greatly retard, and often pre- 

 vent, the accomplishment of results sought 

 by true sportsmen. Then there is the 

 homesteader's or farmer's side of the ques- 

 tion. In many remote mountain districts 

 men shoot deer more or less the year 

 round. They do not kill in wantonness, 

 as do some city hunters during the open 

 season, leaving the game to rot on the hill- 

 sides. These people kill nothing but 

 bucks, use all the meat and hides, and they 

 resent it when a game warden is sent to 

 correct them. 



It is much the same with the bird law. 

 Mongolian pheasants are the principal 

 game, and 50 of these birds will destroy 

 half as many acres of wheat just after it 

 has been sowed. When the farmer pro- 

 tects himself against them as he does 

 against crows or squirrels, he finds him- 

 self in the hands of the law. Then, in the 

 summer and fall, when he is busiest and 

 can not possibly spare time to hunt, and 

 thus partially replace his loss, the law is 

 open and hunters in scores invade his 

 place, ruining his crqps and carrying away 

 the birds he has fed for a year. Occasion- 

 ally a game case comes up in court, but 

 a jury of 6 farmers find it hard to see where 

 they come in, and usually fail to convict. 

 A case last summer stirred up so much 

 feeling here that nearly 50 farms, which 

 had previously been open ground, were 

 closed against hunters. So, in reality, 



GAME ON THE NEW YORK LAKES. 



Union Springs, N. Y. 

 Editor Recreation: 



One word in regard to shooting ducks at 

 night and about the people who know 

 little if anything about shooting; who 

 chase ducks from their feeding grounds 

 with steam yachts. If this is continued, 

 in a short time the ducks will be driven 

 from the waters of Cayuga lake, or any 

 other body of water where they go to feed. 

 There is a law against the shooting of 

 ducks at night, and chasing and shoot- 

 ing them from steam yachts, and sailboats. 

 I have protested against the practice every 

 season, but as yet the matter has received 

 no attention. 



The Fisheries, Game, and Forest Com- 

 mission should have a first class officer 

 patrolling the waters in the central part of 

 this State during the entire duck season. 

 Several arrests and some heavy fines would 

 break up this illegitimate shooting. Noth- 

 ing will ruin duck shooting so quickly as 

 chasing them from their feeding grounds, 

 or shooting at them at night. The birds 

 get no rest or feed, and soon leave us. 



About 30 years ago battery shooting 

 was lawful on Cayuga lake. Then ducks 

 were plentiful. We used to have all kinds, 

 canvasback, redhead, and bluebill. There 

 were only 2 batteries on Cayuga lake, and 

 their use soon made ducks very scarce. 

 Canvasbacks left us entirely. It was a 

 rare thing for many years that one 

 was seen. Four years ago a few came 

 back on our lake, and the flock has in- 

 creased every year till last fall on Cayuga 

 lake there was a flock of thousands. A 

 large number of them were killed last fall 

 and a year ago. The shooting at night 

 and chasing them from their feeding 

 ground has driven them away again. Only 

 one thing can be done to give us duck 

 shooting every year; that is to close spring 

 shooting, keep out batteries, stop shooting 

 at night, and enforce the. law. It will not 

 enforce itself. In over 50 years on the 

 shore of Cayuga lake, I have seen the time 

 when there was no market for ducks, and 

 was glad to get 25 cents a pair for canvas- 

 backs, or redheads. Give us a shorter sea- 

 son on all kinds of game, and prohibit its 

 sale. 



Henry C. Carr. 



ON THE KOOSKOOSKIE RIVER. 

 I have read recently several articles in 

 Recreation about the Clearwater region 

 in Idaho. I am in camp in that country 

 now. Have been through the greater part 

 of these mountains, and find game and 

 fish plentiful. Elk, moose, mule and 



