104 



RECREATION. 



If you had, you would not openly boast of 

 such vulgar and disgusting slaughter as 

 this. Your number in the game hog book 

 is 1039 and I regret I have not the names 

 of your friends, so that I could brand them 

 as well. — Editor. 



I was one of a party of 10 who were 

 hunting recently in the Bow String coun- 

 try. We killed about 1,700 ducks in 2 

 weeks and could have killed 5 times the 

 number had we so desired. The country 

 was full of ducks, mostly blue bills. 



W. H. Magie, M.D., Duluth, Minn. 



As a matter of fact, the average kill of 

 each man in your party does not seem to 

 have been unreasonable in itself, but in the 

 aggregate, you killed at least 15 times the 

 quantity of game you should have killed. 

 What legitimate use could 10 men make 

 of 1,700 ducks, even in 10 days? Assum- 

 ing that each man might eat 3 ducks in 

 a day, or 30 in the 10 days, this would 

 leave 1,400 ducks for the 10 men to bring 

 home, or 140 to each man. This is sim- 

 ply wasteful slaughter, and you and your 

 party have contributed very largely to the 

 general wiping out of the wild ducks. 

 These are decreasing rapidly every year, 

 and whije market hunters are mainly re- 

 sponsible for this decrease, such reckless 

 killings as you and your friends made in 

 this instance, put you in the same class 

 with the market hunters. — Editor. 



Your grand magazine seems, much to my 

 discomfort, unalterably against the killing 

 of gray squirrels. For 20 years past I have 

 spent a few days each season in the oaks and 

 hickories of this section, looking for grays, 

 and have found true sport in the hunt. I 

 know of no more foxy and interesting game 

 than gray squirrels and of no more dainty 

 dish than squirrel pot pie. With my good 

 old uncle, than whom no truer sportsman 

 ever lived, I have passed many a happy and 

 healthful day in this sport and I wish to 

 continue. I do not claim to know it all and 

 if you can convince me that my ambitions 

 in this line are misplaced I am ready to 

 be convinced. Last fall I visited a good 

 farmer's woods and killed 6 grays before 

 4 p. m., just as the wind was going down 

 and the animals were moving. Then I un- 

 loaded my gun and left the woods, though 

 other squirrels were dropping nut shells 

 in all directions. I had had my fun and 

 was willing to go home. If all hunters 

 would do the same and not hog it I believe 

 that no good sportsmen would object. 



C. A. L., Portsmouth, N. H. 



true has never been written. Yes, we love 

 that sort of thing. The equine veteran of 

 those far Western wilderness trails, whose 

 delightful pen and photographic portraits 

 you have given us, was a horse to know 

 and to love on the trail. How fit he looks 

 as he stands for a cruise in a timber tangle, 

 with rifle slung on the Indian side of the 

 horse, and in the safest possible position 

 for the work in hand. I wondered as I 

 looked on the picture, if he would let you 

 step into the saddle from the white man's 

 side of the horse. 



Dr. A. J. Woodcock, Byron, 111. 



Some time ago a clipping was sent me, 

 stating that one Alec Mermod, of St. Lo.uis, 

 (probably the well known Smart Aleck) 

 went to Louisiana last spring and with a 

 friend killed 200 jack snipe in 3 days. The 

 clipping further states that Mermod uses 

 a pump gun. I wrote him as follows : 



I am informed you and a friend recently 

 bagged 200 snipe in 3 days. Will you kind- 

 ly tell me if this report is true. 



To which he replied : 



None of your damn business. 



Mermod evidently reads Recreation and 

 knew what was coming. This is where he» 

 differs from most of the ignorant game 

 butchers who use pump guns. All the sam-\ 

 Mermod goes down in the game hog book 

 as No. 1040. — Editor. 



Having hunted around Grand Rapids I 

 was mildly interested in Card's attempt to 

 be funny in a recent number of Recre- 

 ation. He has a bad reputation as a game 

 killer. I have heard him tell of killing 

 50 to 60 deer in a season for the lumber 

 camps North of Grand Rapids, and having 

 worked in those camps I believe his story. 

 He also claims to have killed 100 deer in 

 one season in Michigan. Card is only one 

 of many camp hunters, and if they were 

 all in jail it would be a blessing to the 

 country. It is no wonder that game is 

 disappearing while these outlaws are at 

 large. G. S., Monterey, Minn. 



"The Personnel of the Pack Train" is 

 the real thing as many of us know by ex- 

 perience. A sketch mere sympathetically 



Black bear and deer were killed within 2 

 miles of this place last fall. Ruffed grouse 

 and woodcock are scarce. It is no wonder, 

 for one year 2 pot hunters killed 945 grouse 

 These men now claim that foxes extermi- 

 nate the grouse. Last fall they waged 

 war against the foxes and killed nearly 40 

 in 6 weeks. Rabbits and squirrels are plenti- 

 ful. The latter are rarely hunted. Many 

 ducks and geese pass this way but seldom 

 stop save in spring. 



H. J. Kingsley, Salisbury, N. Y- 



