39" 



RECREATION. 



visions is one prohibiting the trapping of 

 bears or other animals, except in the open 

 season for hunting elk and other big game. 

 It would be well for all the Western States 

 to incorporate this feature in their game 

 laws. The average trapper is a scourge 

 and a curse to any game country. He goes 

 into the mountains whenever he feels like 

 it, stays as long as he likes, and while there 

 kills anything and everything that comes 

 in sight. He can use almost any bird or 

 mammal, from a chipmunk to a moose, 

 for food, for bait, or in his skin traffic. 



Most men who call themselves bear trap- 

 pers, trap all kinds of fur-bearing animals, 

 large and small, that can be induced to go 

 into their traps. For the purpose of bait- 

 ing their smaller traps they kill small mam- 

 mals and birds. For their bear traps they 

 kill elk, deer, and moose, if they can find 

 them, and without regard to numbers "or 

 to seasons. I know 2 notorious old trap- 

 pers in Montana, who have boasted of hav- 

 ing killed 30 elk out of one band, and have 

 said that all the carcasses lay on 5 acres 

 of ground. These bear trappers usually 

 kill their big bait in midwinter when the 

 snow is deep, and when the moose, elk, 

 and deer huddle into the canyons. It is 

 then a simple matter to kill every such 

 animal, without stalking. 



I talked with a trapper in British Colum- 

 bia, in May last, and he told me of hav- 

 ing caught a female beaver a few days be- 

 fore, from which he had taken 4 unborn 

 kittens. He said he used these in baiting 

 his marten traps. He was killing every 

 porcupine, red squirrel, grouse, or other 

 living thing he could find; and that was in 

 the breeding season. 



All States should enact laws prohibiting 

 the carrying of traps or guns into the 

 woods or the mountains in close season, 

 and should attach heavy prison penalties 

 for violations thereof. 



^ 



violators what they deserve, and we may 

 confidently expect that this man will get a 

 good big dose of justice. 



FULLERTON MAKES ANOTHER GREAT 

 RAID. 



While the annual meeting of the L. A. S. 

 was in session in St. Paul, February 11, 

 Hon. Samuel Fnllerton, the Minnesota 

 State Game and Fish Warden, was called 

 to the telephone and informed that C. J. 

 Ertz, a commission man in that city, had 

 900 ruffed grouse and 15 saddles of venison 

 stored in his dwelling house. Of course 

 Fnllerton called 2 or 3 of his associates and 

 promptly raided the house. He found the 

 game there as stated, took possession of it, 

 placed it in cold storage, and locked the 

 dealer in the county jail to cool. The pen- 

 alty to which the commission man is sub- 

 ject in this case is a fine of $90,000, and 

 if he be unable to pay it he is liable to be 

 sent to jail for 90 years. The Minnesota 

 courts are in the habit of giving game law 



Smith Eastman, a farmer of Spartans- 

 burg, Pa., has been killing game and 

 smuggling it out of the State for a 

 year or 2 past. A game warden finally 

 captured a barrel which Eastman had 

 delivered at the freight office for ship- 

 ment to some other State, and which 

 was alleged to contain apples. On opening 

 the barrel it was found to contain 210 ruffed 

 grouse. A warrant was issued for East- 

 man's arrest, but he skipped before the 

 officer found him and is supposed to have 

 gone West. He will probably be at his 

 old tricks somewhere in Wisconsin, Michi- 

 gan or some other Western State in the 

 near future. If any reader of Recreation 

 locates him, I should like to know of it, 

 in order that we may arrange to have him 

 watched. 



Another competitive slaughtering match 

 was conducted in Butler, Pa., in Novem- 

 ber last. The 2 herds of game hogs were 

 led respectively by Sam Morris and Ed. 

 Seaton. One side scored 1,625 points and 

 the other 1,640 points. From this we mny 

 safely assume that large numbers of inno- 

 cent birds and animals were butchered and 

 no doubt many of these were not game. 

 The disreputable brutes who participate in 

 these side hunts usually kill and count such 

 birds as flickers, woodpeckers, blue jays, 

 meadow larks, and such animals as chip- 

 munks and red squirrels. It is strange that 

 the decent people of these Eastern States 

 will allow the forests to be depopulated by 

 such infamous processes as the side hunt. 



Charles and James Lucket, 448 State 

 street, Brooklyn, Antonio and Frank Mus- 

 solino, 48 Mott street and- James Williams 

 and C. Heathner, New York, have been 

 shooting song birds in New Jersey in vio- 

 lation of the State law. Two New Jersey 

 game wardens laid for these butchers at the 

 •depot at Jersey City and captured them. 

 They were taken before Justice Frank 

 O'Keefe, of Jersey City, and were fined $40 

 each. Justice O'Keefe is all right and I 

 hope that if any other bird slaughterers are 

 taken before him he may make it hot for 

 them. 



State Game and Fish Commissioner 

 Thomas, of Vermont, has collected and 

 compiled statistics from the various coun- 

 ties in that State as to the number of deer 

 killed during the open season. He reports 

 the total number as 370. 



Recreation is the only pebble on the beach 

 known as sportsmen's literature. 



John J. Tateum, St. Louis, Mo. 



