FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



101 



feated at his own game without evil result 

 to himself, gave me pleasure a thousand- 

 fold greater than I could have derived from 

 dogging him to exhaustion, or in seeing 

 him fall dead from a rifle shot. 



Is not the sport really in the contest, 

 just as it is in chess or any other game? 

 There is no doubt some satisfaction in de- 

 feating an opponent, but any game not 

 worth playing for itself, no matter who 

 wins, is not worth playing at all. 



Who has not seen men come in at night 

 blue and ugly because they had not killed 

 anything? They were not sportsmen. I 

 have seen others who, though they brought 

 home no carcass, were the embodiment of 

 satisfaction and cheer as they recited the 

 contests of the day. These were the real 

 sportsmen, and I should like to see our 

 wild game protected for them. 



A BUNCH OF BUTCHERS BRANDED. 



Loami, 111., Dec. 5. — The big rabbit hunt of the 

 season came off today, with the following scores: 



Loami — G. T. Hall, 98; Bud Brown, 72; W. 

 L, Turpin, 57; W. E. Sturgis, 55; Ed. Potter, 40; 

 Melvin Workman, 40; Charles- Lemin, 39; L. B. 

 Jarret. 38; S. E. Hall, 43; C. L. Vincent, 34 — 516. 

 Oak Grove — W. G. Loving, yy; Peter Hunter, 

 47; H. B. Angel, 49; Charles Wread, 32; William 

 Workman, 32 — 322. 



The rabbits will be sold and the proceeds will 

 go toward furnishing an oyster supper to the 

 hunters and their families.— Springfield (111.) 

 State Register. 



I wrote to all the persons named in the 

 above item and received the following re- 

 plies : 



In reply to yours will say that I did kill 

 98 rabbits the day you speak of. 



G. T. Hall, Loami, 111. 

 I killed 74. It is true. 



Bud Brown, Loami, 111. 

 Yes, sir; the report is correct. 



Ed. Potter, Loami, 111. 

 I killed 34 rabbits in a day. 



C. L. Vincent, Loami, 111. 

 I killed 49 as reported. 



H. B. Angel, Oak Grove, 111. 

 Yes; I killed 77 rabbits. 



W. G. Loving, Oak Grove, 111. 

 I received your inquiry about my killing 

 43 rabbits in one day. It is true, and as I 

 have not hunted much in some years I 

 was badly out of practice. 



S. E. Hall, Loami, 111. 

 In regard to my killing 57 rabbits, the 

 story is true. 



W. L. Turpin, Loami, 111. 



It is a fact that I killed 55 rabbits in one 

 day. Could have killed more if I had not 

 run out of shells. If it not too cold Mon- 

 day, I expect to kill 40 or 50 more. 



W. E. Sturgis, Loami, 111. 



Will say that I killed 45 rabbits instead 



of 39. Could have killed more if I had 

 not grown tired of carrying them about. 

 Please send me a copy of Recreation. I 

 have read it a good many times. 



C. J. Lemin, Loami, 111. 



You have all shown your bristles. Some 

 of your letters show that you are illiterate 

 men who could not be expected to know 

 any better. Lemin, who says he has read 

 some copies of Recreation, should have 

 known that such butchery as he reports 

 is abhorrent to all decent men. But the 

 trouble is he has not reallv read Recre- 

 ation.- He has probably glanced over a 

 few copies, trying to find some reports of 

 big slaughter like his own, on which to 

 feast his savage tastes. The names of this 

 bunch go in the game hog register as fol- 

 lows : 



H. B. Angel, 1022. 

 Bud Brown, 1023 

 Ed. Potter, 1024. 

 W. G. Loving, 1025. 

 G. T. Hall, 1026. 

 S. E. Hall, 1027. 

 W. L. Turpin, 1028. 

 W. E. Sturgis, 1029 

 Chas. J. Lemin,, 1030. 

 C. L. Vincent, 103 1. 

 Melvin Workman, 1032. 

 L. B. Jarret, 1033. 

 Peter Hunter, 1034. 

 Charles Wread, 1035. 

 William Workman, 1036. 



— Editor. 



£1 ax 



■ e ' . 



PRIVATE LANDS AND THE HUNTING PUB- 

 LIC. 

 Your answer in November Recreation 

 to Harvey Waite, respecting the right to 

 fish and shoot on other people's property, 

 brings up an interesting subject. The mat- 

 ter is capable of settlement by proper 

 Legislation, and I offer the following as a 

 subject of debate : 



Let the State allow a substantial rebate 

 from taxes of such land owners as will give 

 up their right to exclude the public from 

 their lands. Properly framed and admin- 

 istered laws will then accomplish the most 

 desirable results for the whole community. 



If you will look at this in all its aspects 

 you will see how far reaching and complete 

 such a system might be. In the first place 

 the State would compensate the land owner 

 for giving the use of a part or the whole 

 of his land, during a certain part of the 

 year, for healthful and otherwise beneficial 

 recreation. In the second place, those 

 wishing to keep a considerable quantity of 

 the State's game and fish for their own ex- 

 clusive use would individually pay for the 

 privilege as they ought to do. The law of 

 eminent domain is an unmitigated evil when 



