FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



199 



paid for is invested in mining stocks, real 

 estate, brewery produce or tobacco. 



A careful investigation of the subject 

 shows that not more than 5 per cent of 

 the inhabitants of our large cities now eat 

 game. It shows also that the people who 

 buy and eat game are wealthy enough to 

 go into the fields and forests to secure it. 

 It may properly be argued that the indolent 

 members of our middle and wealthy 

 classes who buy and eat nearly all of the 

 game sold are those to whom the prohibi- 

 tion of all game selling will prove a hard- 

 ship, but as these people are in a position 

 to gratify their appetites by the exercise 

 of their muscles in the fields and forests no 

 sympathy need be wasted on them. 



It may properly be argued also that a 

 great increase in the number of our game 

 animals, such as would result from the pro- 

 hibition of all game selling, will enable 

 many poor men, who can not now afford 

 either to buy game or shoot it, to hunt and 

 kill a fair quantity of game within a few 

 miles of most of our cities. Thus it fol- 

 lows that the prohibition of game selling 

 would benefit the poor man instead of 

 working hardship on him. 



As long as any selling of game is per- 

 mitted, no matter how well planned and 

 well framed the conditions attached to such 

 selling may be, the market hunters will re- 

 main in business, and by the exercise of a 

 little clever dishonesty will sell all the 

 game they are able to kill. The very re- 

 strictions which are thrown around the 

 sale of game for the purpose of regulating 

 such selling act as obstacles to the prosecu- 

 tion and conviction of market hunters and 

 game dealers who violate the laws. 



The only measure which will positively 

 prevent the constant killing of large quan- 

 tities of game for market is one which will 

 prohibit the selling and buying of game at 

 all times, with severe prison penalties for 

 every violation. The conviction of offend- 

 ers, with all petty conditions and restric- 

 tions removed, would be easy and rapid; 

 and a long prison sentence is relished by 

 few. 



In order to replenish our depleted fields 

 and forests with game advise a more radi- 

 cal step even than the mere prohibition of 

 game selling, namely, a closed season on all 

 game for a period of 5 years. 



G. H. Lehle, Chicago, 111. 



HUNTING ON MUSKEGO LAKE. 

 There is a body of water 12 miles South- 

 west of Milwaukee known as Muskego 

 lake. For the last 7 or 8 years, however, 

 it has not been much of a lake, as the 

 Wisconsin Drainage Company got a bill 

 through the Legislature allowing it to drain 

 off the water. Formerly the lake was a 

 great resort for ducks and snipe; but when 



drained it became a reeking bed of mud 

 and quicksand. Through the efforts of 

 property owners on its shores and of Mil- 

 waukee sportsmen the drainage has been 

 choked off and the lake is slowly refilling. 



On September 4 a friend and I drove to 

 Holt's place, on what was once the lake 

 shore. We hauled the skiffs out to the 

 water on a small 2 wheeled cart and found 

 it exceedingly hard work, as the sand was 

 soft and deep. 



Farmer Holt asked whether we would 

 not like to hunt jacksnipes before trying 

 the ducks. He said they had been thick as 

 flies the preceding few days. As jacksnipes 

 have been scarce in these parts for many 

 years, I took his words with some grains 

 of allowance. Nevertheless, I put 2 No. 8 

 shells in my gun and 4 more in my vest 

 pocket. I had shed my coat owing to the 

 intense heat. Farmer Holtz took a 10 

 gauge and 2 shells, and we walked along 

 the shore a few steps to some reeds 

 which grew on the former bottom of the 

 lake. To the right sounded a "scaip," to 

 the left another, in front half a dozen 

 "scaips," and the air about us seemed alive 

 with jacksnipe. Some went up singly, 

 others in bunches of 8 or 10. None flew 

 far, as the patch of weeds was not large 

 My first shot dropped a bird at about 20 

 yards; the other barrel one at 30. I then 

 let fly at a line of 6 or 8 to my left and 

 dropped one. Farmer Holtz killed 2 more 

 in the meantime, and I ran back to the 

 boat for more shells. I killed another bird, 

 on which I nearly stepped. 



I slipped on a pair of rubber boots and 

 we started into the reeds again. We had 

 no dog with us, so had to do our own flush- 

 ing. I shot 17 snipe with 20 shots during 

 the next hour. Then our small shot shells 

 gave out and we returned to our boats. 



We did not get any ducks that day, as 

 our shooting frightened them away. Jack- 

 snipe were not again plentiful at the lake 

 last fall. Six days later I made a trip to 

 the place on my wheel, but found only 6, of 

 which I bagged 4. But I shot 5 green 

 winged teal on the lake the same day. A 

 week later I shot 2 spoonbills, 3 teal, and a 

 string of plovers of several varieties. 



Emil Koehn, Milwaukee, Wis. 



HOW I GOT MY MOOSE. 



In 1889 my father and uncle proposed a 

 hunting trip to Northern Minnesota, and 

 after a lot of coaxing on my part I was 

 permitted to join the expedition. I was 

 then 18 years of age and many a deer had 

 fallen before my Winchester. 



In a few days we set out for a 100 mile 

 ride over the worst road imaginable. We 

 traveled in the hardest of luck, and break- 

 downs were continuous. In 3 or 4 days 

 we reached McMullan's ranch, at the foot 



