FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



469 



be said of the woodcock, the ruffed grouse, 

 the prairie chicken, and several other spe- 

 cies of birds. — Editor. 



The hunting season closed in Iowa April 

 15. The first ducks appeared March 18. 

 A large number of flocks were seen go- 

 ing North, but they did not alight in this 

 region. There were more ducks here the 

 last week in March and the first few days 

 of April than have been seen for 2 or 3 

 years previous. By the 7th of April most 

 of them had gone North. I did not see 

 any spoonbill and but few blue wing teal, 

 as they do not arrive here until the mid- 

 dle of April, unless we have warm spring 

 rains. Our Legislature, at its last session, 

 passed a law affecting non-resident hunt- 

 ers. The law reads about as follows: 

 "Non-resident hunters shall pay $10 li- 

 cense, and 50 cents to the auditor of the 

 county in which they hunt; and shall not 

 take more than 25 birds out of the State; 

 and these shall be carried openly." 



W. A. Bevan, Angus, Iowa. 



And your Legislature should now pass a 

 law to prohibit spring shooting. — Ed. 



»I have not been hunting for over 3 

 years; but have been in and around the 

 Black .hills nearly 20 years, and have 

 seen my share of game. I was too young 

 to participate in the buffalo hunts, al- 

 though I am not sorry now. I am only 

 sorry we did not have a few Coquinas to 

 save the buffalo from the old swine of the 

 early 8o's. My only successful hunts were 

 accomplished with Sharps rifles, the 45-90 

 being my preference. The black powder 

 Winchesters never carried up to suit me. 

 I have had no chance to try the modern 

 smokeless, but I am promising myself a 

 hunt this fall at Cold Springs, with a 30-40 

 or a .303. This country is sadly in need 

 of game wardens. The army shoats go 

 out from Fort Mead every fall in bunches, 

 and what deer they don't kill with their 

 Krag Jorgensens they cripple or run out 

 of the country. 



E. N. B., Lead City, S. Dak. 



The doctors and the leading business men 

 of this place care nothing for the game law. 

 They shoot quails and deer at anv time. If 

 anything is said about it they want to know 

 what we are going to do about it. There 

 is no game warden for Riverside county. 

 I like to hunt 'as well as anyone, but I never 

 hunt out of season. I can get my share in 

 season. The law allows the killing of quails 

 and ducks 5 months. That is long enough. 

 It is low business for a man 'to catch a lit- 

 tle fawn and use it to decoy its mother. 

 That has been done here, though the law 

 says does and fawns are not to be killed 

 at any time. There are only a few here 



who care for the law. When the sc-ison 

 opens, the law abiding sportsmen are 

 driven to the hills for game, because the 

 pot hunters have been riding around all 

 summer shooting at everything in sight. 

 A. R., Corona, Cal. 



In a recent issue of Recreation I no- 

 tice a letter from F. L. Cowdrey, of Ja- 

 maica, Vt, regarding the deer crop. Does 

 are numerous, and do much damage to the 

 potato crop and gardens. Bucks are sel- 

 dom seen. Only 103 were killed during 

 October, '98, and 101 during the last 10 

 days of October, '99. 



Art. 94. Section 3, reads: "No person, 

 during the open season of any year, shall 

 take, kill, destroy, or have in possession 

 more than one deer." Section 2 : "Deer 

 having horns may be hunted and taken in 

 this State during the last 10 days of Octo- 

 ber." 



I hope the General Assembly will pass 

 an amendment to this law, so that does may 

 be taken as well as bucks. Not many more 

 of them would be killed, probably, but 

 more of them would show up in town. 

 Geo. E. Ryder, Randolph, Vt. 



I leave to-morrow for Florida to take 

 some elk, mule deer, antelope and trum- 

 peter swans to Cumberland island — the 

 home of Mrs. T. M. Carnegie. The island 

 is now stocked with deer, wild turkeys and 

 some quail. The duck shooting is excellent 

 at the proper season. 



Shooting here last fall was good. The 

 law limits a man to 5 animals — deer, sheep 

 or antelope — and many men killed the 

 limit. About 18 deer were killed around 

 the ranch and many pintail grouse. Two 

 large rams were killed lately. Grouse are 

 abundant and furnish good shooting. 

 Since the county bounty was taken off 

 the wolves and coyotes are increasing. We 

 trapped a large lynx last week, ]/ 2 mile 

 from the house ; also got with poison 2 

 golden eagles. 



Howard Eaton, Medora, N. Dak. 



We have a sport, not sportsman, here who 

 told me he saw a pheasant in the woods 

 and tried to kill it. I told him pheasants 

 were protected until 1900, but he said that 

 did not mean our common pheasants. Can 

 you tell me what kind of pheasants we 

 have in Ohio? I call them the ring neck. 

 Should like to hear from vou, as I think 

 Mr. John Dinehart needs a good ripping 

 up the back. 



Dan M. Wogaman, Quincy, O. 



ANSWER. 



You have the native ruffed grouse, er- 

 roneously called pheasant. Your Fish and 



