FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



365 



there are any, should have organized a 

 counter side hunt to be conducted on the 

 same day. The only game to be killed 

 should have been game hogs, and every 

 one of those participating on either side of 

 the original side hunt should have been 

 made legitimate targets for the rifles of the 

 regular sportsmen. The bristlebacks should 

 have been scheduled to count 100 to 

 500 points each, according to age, size and 

 length of bristles, and the undertaker 

 should have been paid for his services in 

 planting the swine. Lynch law is not popu- 

 lar in the Northern States, more is the pity, 

 but will become so in time unless some 

 other means can be adopted preventing 

 such disgusting swine as these from slaugh- 

 tering game. The Springfield Republican 

 gives portraits of the "captains" of the 

 butchering match. Judging from the looks 

 of the men, if I had to live in that town I 

 should keep my house and barn securely 

 locked, day and night. — Editor. 



HARD, YET NECESSARY. 



I am a reader of Recreation and a be- 

 liever in its doctrines, and yet I am in a 

 queer box. 



You insist I shall not shoot ducks in 

 spring. When, then, shall I shoot them? 

 They are here at no other time. 



It is many years since they quit coming 

 in the fall. The country is too thickly set- 

 tled and too well drained to give them a 

 chance to stop in the fall. 



We have a good many rabbits, and a few 

 quails, but they should be left alone for 

 several years to give them opportunity to 

 increase. 



I should like to go to some place where 

 game is plentiful, for I am fond of hunting 

 and fishing. If I want a duck I must 

 shoot him in ^he spring. 



A. Reach, Peotone, 111. 



Your position is certainly a most serious 

 one. It does not seem fair that a man should 

 give up all wild fowl shooting for the bene- 

 fit of his fellow men ; yet some men are al- 

 ways willing to deprive themselves of cer- 

 tain pleasures, or to perform arduous labors 

 for the benefit of the public or their friends. 

 On these lines you could well afford to 

 forego the pleasure of killing ducks and 

 geese. I regard it as almost a crime to 

 kill birds of any kind in spring, espe- 

 cially a female bird when on its way to 

 its nesting quarters. The satisfaction of 

 killing a goose or a duck is but momentary 

 and the satisfaction in eating such a bird 

 is a matter of an hour at most. In fact, 

 there is little enjoyment in eating water 

 fowl killed in spring when on their way 

 North. Personally, I will never kill an- 

 other water fowl except in the fall, and 

 if one man can afford to adhere to such 



a resolution, certainly another can. You 

 should, of course, be able to make a 

 trip in the fall to the Mississippi or 

 Missouri rivers, or somewhere else in 

 the West or Northwest, where you could 

 get plenty of water fowl shooting. If you 

 can not do this, you are, as I said, in hard 

 luck, but all the same you should not shoot 

 in the spring. — Editor. 



TROUBLE FOR POT HUNTERS. 



J. D. Burford, the new game and fish warden 

 of Missouri, has on his war paint, according to the 

 stories told by late arrivals in the city from 

 Southeast Missouri. In that section of the State 

 alone he has lately obtained over 200 convictions 

 for violations of the game laws, and he announces 

 that as soon as he is through with this class of 

 lawbreakers he will give a matinee, for the benefit 

 of the school fund, with those who have violated 

 the fish law for actors. All fines collected from 

 prosecutions for violations of the game and fish 

 laws go to the school fund. 



Mr. Burford, even this early in his career as a 

 State official, has caused a regular stampede among 

 the pot hunters and the men who kill fish with dy- 

 namite, and his friends promise that he has not yet 

 fairly warmed up to his work. He seems to be 

 able to convict every person against whom he files 

 information, and he possesses remarkable facilities 

 for finding out who the lawbreakers are. 



When the next General Assembly convenes an 

 effort will be made to provide the Game and Fish 

 Warden with a suitable salary and place some 

 funds at his command for the employment of 

 deputies in localities and at seasons of the year 

 when they are needed. Now he receives nothing 

 but fees, and at best his labor is poorly paid. One 

 objection heretofore made to giving the Game and 

 Fish Warden a stated salary was that the law 

 would not be enforced any way, and so there was 

 no use in throwing money away. It appears that 

 Mr. Burford has met this objection by proving 

 that he will enforce the laws, even when poorly 

 paid for so doing. 



The game and fish laws have been more openly 

 and persistently violated in Southeast Missouri 

 than in all other parts of the State combined. 

 Heretofore it has been the practice of pot hunters 

 to kill game in that section of the State, in season 

 and out of season, and ship the same to the market 

 without the least regard for the requirements of 

 law. Mr. Burford has planted his heavy artillery 

 in that section, and with 138 deputies is making 

 life a burden to the pot hunters and to the game 

 dealers who undertake to ship game killed out of 

 season. Now, it is said, this class of offenders are 

 beginning to realize that the Legislature did not 

 enact the game and fish law to be lauehed at, and 

 they are looking for more congenial quarters. — 

 St Louis Globe- Democrat. 



Thank God, here is one officer who is a 

 good hunter. His example is strongly com- 

 mended to a certain officer at Albany, and 

 to many in other States, who seem to exist 

 merely for the purpose of drawing their 

 salaries, and who fear to prosecute law- 

 breakers lest they may lose votes at some 

 future election. — Editor. 



LION, BEAR AND GROUSE. 

 Dr. Oschner of this town recently had 

 a peculiar experience. While hunting deer 

 near here, with R. A. Carroll, he came 

 suddenly on a forest tragedy. A large 

 mountain lion had a buck down on the 

 ground. When he saw the hunters he 



