462 



RECREATION. 



with an older and well broken companion 

 he will soon learn not only to bark, but to 

 stay at the tree until you come. Do not 

 let your young dog get too far away. 

 When he trees and gives you warning, get 

 to him quickly. Take plenty of time, walk 

 around the tree and talk to your dog, en- 

 couraging him to stay and watch. If you 

 follow this method you will have no 

 trouble in training any dog of average in- 

 telligence. 



F. L. Kenyon, Oklahoma City, O. T. 



HUMANE TO SAVE CRIPPLES. 



I note an ad. in your magazine by E. 

 Whitton, "Don't kill cripples. Wing tip- 

 ped birds will live, etc." 



Yes, but how? I think it cruel to let 

 wounded animals live and suffer; not at all 

 sportsmanlike and not in keeping with the 

 general tone of your magazine. 



Frederick S. Rose, New York City. 



ANSWER. 



I am surprised at the sentiments ex- 

 pressed in your letter. I have always sup- 

 posed the man, woman or child who res- 

 cued an injured bird or animal, who min- 

 istered to it and saved its. life was a good 

 Samaritan and was entitled to a free pass 

 up the golden stairs. Your argument 

 would tend to contradict this time honored 

 theory and to prove that the humane so- 

 cieties, as well as the thousands of kind 

 hearted men, women and children who do 

 not belong to them, are doing wrong 

 whenever they try to save the life of a 

 bird or an animal that has been hurt. 



The man who advertises in Recreation 

 for crippled birds buys all he can get of 

 them, binds up their wounds so they read- 

 ily heal, and in a few weeks the birds be- 

 come as sound as ever. Then he places 

 them in a large park where they have run- 

 ning water, plenty of food, and all the 

 creature comforts a bird could have 

 under such conditions. Here they live, 

 thrive and multiply. Will you please tell 

 me where the cruelty comes in? — Editor. 



SHOOTING AT POINT JUDITH. 



The shooting on Point Judith flats was 

 fair last season. It would have been extra 

 good if the breach inlet had been open; 

 but that being closed most of the season 

 made the water high on the flats, and 

 there was but little bare feeding ground. 

 Every man had to take his birds on the 

 wing, or not at all. I was glad of it, for 

 a great many birds escaped, and there 

 ought to be good shooting next season. 

 My best day's score was 12 yellow legs 

 and 6 redbreast snipe. One afternoon I 

 killed 10 yellow legs and 2 large curlews. 



Ducks came in October, and were quite 

 plentiful from that time until December. 



There were ruddy ducks, redheads, widg- 

 eons, black ducks, and bluebills. I went 

 6 times and killed about 50. The largest 

 number I killed in one day was 10. I 

 think I could have killed 50 birds that 

 day, but I quit when I got all I wanted. 

 Those 10 birds were all ruddy ducks, and 

 the way the little Syracuse gun tumbled 

 them was a caution. The ruddy duck 

 takes a deal of killing, but with No. 6 shot 

 and 40 grains of Dupont smokeless I 

 killed them at distances of 40 to 60 yards. 

 There are some hogs and game law 

 breakers in these parts, but they will be 

 watched mighty close this year. 



A. Kingsley, Wakefield, R. I. 



DOUBTERS MAY TRY IT. 



On page 289 of October Recreation ap- 

 pears an article on coon hunting, signed 

 M. E. Hoag, D.D.S. I congratulate Dr. 

 Hoag on having such a good dog, to stay 

 so long ; but the dog must be a slow runner 

 or the coon very fast. I have hunted coons 

 many times at night, and never had any 

 trouble in bagging the game in 2 to 3 hours. 



What do you think of this for a fox 

 chase? One day last winter I cut my 3 

 hounds loose for a run at 7 o'clock in the 

 morning, and at 7 .-30 they had an old fox 

 track working up. I did not intend going 

 that day, as I had been the day before, 

 but at 8 o'clock my friends Stryker and 

 Overton came in and thought it a good 

 day; so I joined them. At 11 o'clock we 

 were successful in getting the other dogs 

 in with the first, and had a fast chase until 

 darkness and tired horses prevented us 

 from following the hounds any longer. 

 We returned home, leaving it all with the 

 dogs as to when they would come. I re- 

 tired that night at 10 o'clock, and the dogs 

 had not showed up at that hour. This is 

 no fish story. Should any lover of this 

 kind of sport, who owns good dogs, doubt 

 it, we would be pleased to have him join 

 us any time. 



Deer shooting was good last season. 

 J. W. Davis, Bayport, N. Y. 



FERRETS NEVER JUSTIFIABLE. 

 I see in Recreation you call a man a 

 game hog who hunts rabbits with a fer- 

 ret. I should like to see you come up this 

 way and try to hunt them without a fer- 

 ret. If you depended for your supper on 

 the rabbits you got, you would go to bed 

 hungry. A man might as well hunt 

 squirrels without a gun as to start out 

 after rabbits and not take along his fer- 

 ret. Of course, I don't uphold a man in 

 getting 15, 20, or 25 rabbits in one day, 

 as I have known some to do. Such a 

 man is a hog; but if 2 or 3 fellows go out 

 together, use a ferret, and get 6 or 7 rab- 



