12 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 2, 1S*2. 



ia- ing down the principles entirely so as to suit their own 

 nvtaiienoe; and also, as it appears to me, purposely cpn- 

 fbundingtlie meaning of words which are really widely 

 differing; and, on the other side, with vague general an- 

 swer.'., as, for instancy, thai FoS-hnnting brings beneficially 

 the different classes of society together, and" improves the 

 breed of horses. In a similar spirit', but with the gayer bad- 

 inage of his countrymen, when a philosopher grnvely'asked a 

 French sportsman if he believed it to be lawful for' man to 

 kill a partridge, the latter replied, " Of course in the Snoot- 

 ing season, and with my game certificate in my pocket." 

 "But, seriously," says the philosopher, "granting these con- 

 ditions, is man justified in killing a bird made by the 

 Creator;" " To be sure, "replies the sportsman, "if man also 

 eat it." " You believe, then, that man may fearlessly eat a 

 partridge?" "I do, most undoubtedly, if it be properly 

 cooked, with the sauce in perfection!" 



It .would be quite safe to leave the whole question to the 

 good sense and experience of men in general, and not of 

 transeendentalists only, who are not content with the plain 

 laws of nature, were it not that -the arguments of the laiter 

 may work much harm. It is from this reason that I regret 

 that the answers made by sportsmen — some of these having 

 distinguished themselves in literature, and therefore being 

 well able to discuss gravely — should be merely defensive and 

 half apologetic:. For any more serious reply to fall into such 

 hands as mine — to the pen of one who may be thought to 

 View the whole question from a professional and selfish 

 standpoint — may he deplored. But my profession has only 

 caused me, from the gravest of reasons, to investigate the mat- 

 ter the more deeply and earnestly, and I yield to no senti- 

 mentalist in the abhorrence of cruelty, I can add, that I 

 have mixed with sportsmen from boyhood, and that I have 

 especially noted their peculiar tenderness for, and care of, 

 all domestic animals, and their avoidance of all cruelty 

 in the field. There can be, therefore, nothing in field sports 

 which hardens the heart or petrifies the feelings as time 

 goes on, for this care and tenderness I have observed to 

 increase with age. To denounce, and to seem to prove 

 to be vicious, things innocent and lawful, cannot fail to 

 confound vice and virtue, and those who attack the 

 morality of field sports would do well to consider where 

 their arguments are to stop. To those who will judge 

 dispassionately, 1 think it can be shown that the pursuit of 

 field sports is in strict accordance with the nature and re- 

 quirements of mankind, and infringes no moral law whatso- 

 ever. The basis of the question seems to me to rest upon the 

 necessity of LabOh — on that sweat of the face by which man 

 eats bread, and which is a necessity to his healthy existence 

 in his twofold state, physical and mental. If we accept the 

 general theory that mankind pass through various stages — 

 the hunting, the pastoral, the agricultural, and the commer- 

 cial — it would strengthen the writers who assail field sports 

 if they would define the points where human nature is to 

 change,, or ever did change, so that men could divest them- 

 selves of part of their inherent, qualities. Or, to put it other- 

 wise, they may also be called on to prove if in the early 

 stages of man's history the commercial quftlrtywaa tilOt latent, 

 and in the most recent stages if the hunting has been, or can 

 be extinguished. My assertion is, that man's nature is alike 

 through all ages — may be modified, but can have no one 

 quality obliterated, 



Exactly, then, as the commercial quality always existed 

 more or less, first manifesting itself in the rudest forms of bar- 

 ter, so the hunting quality, now that the chase is no longer 

 the direct means of supporting life in civilized communities, 

 still docs exist, and cannot be obliterated. Man is essentially 

 the same being throughout, and cannot possibly divest him- 

 self of any one of his attributes. If we do not accept the fact 

 of the progressive Stages as given above, the case for my op- 

 ponents is not improved; for we must then take man as we 

 now find him — a compound of the hunter, the shepherd, the 

 tiller of the ground, and the merchant, The qualities of all 

 these exist in every human breast. It has been humorously 

 but truly said, that were a little rat to run across the London 

 Excbauge, the traffic in millions sterling would be suspended 

 for its pursuit, and every reader of history knows that in 

 those dread and supreme moments when vast armies have 

 been traversing the short space which intervened between 

 their meeting in deadly conflict, the chase of a miserable hare 

 has for a time deferred, on more than one occasion, the clash 

 of arms. Such an occurrence happened even so lately as at 

 one of the first battles of the Franco-German war of 1870. The 

 instinct of the hvnter predominated over the jdiscjpline of 

 the warrior, and grim soldiers broke those ranks which death 

 itself could only cause them to close up more solidly as an- 

 other and a not her comrade fell. Is there under the" sun one 

 nation where a similar passion for the chase does, not exist 

 in some form or other, and have we not the authority of Cicero 

 for the assertion, that " in everything the consent pf all nations 

 is to be .accounted the law of Nature, and to resist it is to re- 

 sist the voice of God ?" The wisdom of planting this instinct 

 irrevocably in the human breast seems more and more clearly 

 displayed the deeper we investigate the subject. 



Tie- case with which any human institutions, customs, 

 or pursuits may be assailed and plausibly condemned in 

 their entirety from some peculiar standpoint has seldom 

 had a more complete illustration than in controversies on 

 field sports. Not only are the arguments against these 

 strained to the most unfair tension, but the attack upon their 

 mort 'lily are invariably conducted with a. departure f nun the 

 very first principles of discussion, resulting either from 

 prejudice oi from great ignorance of the subject, In cither 

 ease, those who assail the morality of field sports are incom- 

 petent to discuss lite question fairly. II, on the other hand, 

 they assert Unit they are masters of the subject, that they 

 have studied it: impartially in all its parts, and have really 

 done so, then they may be "accused of wilful disregard of fair 

 representation of' the 'case, of suppression of truth, and of , 

 Confounding under one title pursuits and practices so widely 

 differing in Character as by no just reason whatever to come 

 undeT lite same category. These pursuits and practices can- 

 not hi arraigned under one and the same indictment, 

 if, indeed, one class of them, and that the one really con- 

 !. can be arraigned under any moral indictment" what- 

 It is an ea-y matter for a practiced controversialist to 

 )i a. question and appear to the general reader to cany 

 iint, by a total disregard of common dialects, through 

 |e.ej dice or ignorance: and this is all the more easy in the 

 pres .it case, from this reason, that the question is almost 

 invariably raised by those who— in all probability having no 

 tience of them whatever — condemn field sports as inl- 

 and cruel. There is, therefore, ample opportunity 

 afforded to those taking the initiative to choose their mode of 

 e, and to lay down certain convenient premises. With 

 ninety-nine "readers out of a hundred who are satisfied 

 with the laying down or assertion of certain principles, with- 



out, taking the trouble to test their genuineness, these 

 premisses have all the weight ct prcof These rcnety-nine 

 prefer studying by deputy, and estimate assertions less by 

 their intrinsic value than by the faith (hey have in, or by the 

 general reputation of, the writers so asserting, Words, 

 although only the vehicle of ideas or truths, are with the less 

 thoughtful truths themselves, and in this discussion have 

 been made to do double duty, in COllVCyJng to the mind 

 of the reader a general and Comprehensive conviction of 

 the immorality of field sports founded upon the cruelty 

 involved in some practices which are not field sports at all", 

 differing from the latter not only in essence but in nomen- 

 clature, and I cau scarcely conceive any graver charge to be 

 brought, against public writers than the wilful confounding 

 of separate things under the same verbal designation. The 

 practice of a thing they may not understand, but the title of 

 a thing is the very first clement in the discussion, else no 

 amount of learning, no liking or disliking, no conscientious- 

 ness nor desire to perform a supposed duty, will compensate 

 the evil done to public morality in a much greater degree by 

 confounding words or different things represented Irp the 

 same words. Truth requires no factitious bolgteriin?, and if 

 a disputant, eager to gain a momentary victory, however 

 conscientiously and with laudable purpose, depart Trom the 

 real basis of truth, his superstructure of argumentation must 

 fall all the more heavily in the end. Even the best cause 

 will be injured by such a proceeding. Not only have the 

 assailants of the "morality of field sports, as it seems to 

 me, argued unfairly, but There is a certain assumption of 

 personal moral superiority on their part which, by the very 

 nature of things, unfairly reinforces their position. They 

 at once get.all the "good" people on their side. On the prin- 

 ciple that where there is a doubt in morals, safety lies in en- 

 tire abnegation, so in this question many readers will be 

 content with the conclusion, that in so doubtful a case as is 

 represented, field sports had better be left alone altogether, 

 and a higher standard of morality thus be assuredly main- 

 tained, without reflecting that the whole position may be 

 reversed and the assailants become the assailed. To stand 

 solely on the defensive is nearly tantamount to an admis- 

 sion of being in the wrong; to take higher ground is the pur- 

 pose of this essay. It may be. and admittedly is, generous 

 and good to protect the lower animals. The old adage tells 

 us that "the merciful man is merciful to his beast." But has 

 Man no claims on generosity and goodness? Has he no evils 

 to be protected against? In that mysterious composite 

 nature, in which he is so fearfully and wonderfully made, 

 are there not certain instincts, certain innate qualities or ten- 

 dencies, wisely implanted for the protection of his life and 

 the vigorous maintenance of his race? Can he he intellectual, 

 and all intellectual, or physical and ail physical? Uas he f 

 tendency to become either, to Ihe destruction of the oths. 

 nature, and either being eliminated, what will then be his 

 value and adaptation to the duties of life? Can he drive out 

 any essential part of his nature with impunity, not only to 

 himself, but to his offspring? These are serious questions; 

 not. lightly to be. answered. If~e fivrca imtumm expdlas. 



The preliminary objection to that mode of reasoning to 

 which I desire to reply is verbal. In limine I object to and 



protest against the word "amusement 

 nate field sports. This misapplies 

 very threshold of the discussion, i 

 the more that the chief of these ass 

 ous and distinguished "Purist" (c 

 choice of words) of the present age 

 most erroneous conclusions. Th 



eing applied to desig- 

 >n of a term lies at the 

 uitc unwarrantable, all 

 mts is the most fastidi- 

 exc.essively nice in the 

 It leads the mind up to 

 use," with all its 



lcrivatives, conveys solely those pleasurable sensations which 

 may be enjoyed while we are in a state of repose. It is 

 derived from" "muser," the French to "loiter," or "Irihe." 

 Muser is from the Italian "mtiswre" to stand idle, and in 

 other languages, ancient and modern, with little, variation in 

 form, it bears the same meaning, and conveys "inaction." 

 In no language known to me, does it or any other word used 

 as its equivalent, represent field sports. These, as a rule, are 

 termed "the chase," or its equivalent. It is essentially 

 opposed to action, which is the very essence of field sports. 

 It may be possible to take amusement in the field that may 

 involve the capture or death of lower animals, but it by no 

 means follows that such amusement is any branch of field 

 sports. One has a right to demand clear and definite terms 

 in defending an assailed position. The challenged has even 

 more — a right to the choice of weapons. But no conces- 

 sions are required when I assert lhat, by the use of the 

 word "amusement," the whole question is misrepresented. 

 Some years ago, during a Saturday afternoon ramble, I 

 chanced upon an individual busily engaged in arranging nets 

 for the capture of larks and other small birds. This was on 

 the Continent; and on entering into conversation with the 

 oiselewr, he was so good as to inform me that. he was making 

 arrangements "pour m'amiiuer demain monsieur." Here was 

 the true expression, probably all the more correct lhat, as I 

 afterwards learned, Ihe man was an able schoolmaster, who 

 knew better than to use, in speaking of his paltry purpose, 

 any equivalent to the words " Field Sports;" and tlus is all 

 the more noticeable that the term '* la c/ev.sse " comprehends 

 the pursuit or taking of the smaller animals, not usually fol- 

 lowed by British sportsmen. To work his nets the school- 

 master, as he showed me, would lie in a dry ditch at the back 

 of a hedge, holding in his hand Ihe end "of a stout cord of 

 some forty yards in length, by pulling which the nets en- 

 veloped any unfortunate birds which might be enticed by his 

 "decoy-birds" within the fatal precincts. It might be a Very 

 wrong way to spend the Sunday. Tell it not in Fife, publish 

 it not in the streets of Glasgow! But the poor pedagogue at. 

 least was honest in his phraseology, and his example so far is 

 worthy of imitation. 



The word "sport," on the other hand, has a most com- 

 prehensive, indeed a most extraordinary range in meaning. 

 It, is cause, it is effect; it, is fun, humor, raising pleasurable 

 emotions; and it is these very emotions so raised, There is 

 hardly any limit to its range" as applied to anything that law- 

 fully 'exercises the body and mind or unlawfully excites the 

 passions and gratifies evil propensities. Hence, without pro- 

 per qualification, I his word "sport " may be, and daily is 

 sadly nfnised. as are its derivatives. The simple moralist 

 who is led by words or terms, not by facts or real know ledge, 

 knows little or no difference between a " sportsman " and a 

 "sporting-man," and yet it would be difficult to find in their 

 pure and actual meaning two words conveying characteristics 

 more opposed to each other, it is " sport,'' during hours of 

 untold toil, to seek the stag in his almost inaccessible moun- 

 tain haunts; it is " sport "to witness ratsv.ee jrj bj a nil I- 

 terrier; and the ruffianly possessor of fl penny garni ding-table 

 at. a village fair incessantly bawls, " NpW'a yom Mine, gentle- 

 men sportsmen; make your game While the liefl's :i-r.jl!in'." 

 This confusion of things signified has a disastrous effect on 

 the proper understanding o] this question, but it i- taking a 



\ery unfair advantage indeed for practiced dialecticians not 

 to make a most guarded distinction between the true and the 

 false as applied to pursuits and practices so widely- different 

 yet condemned under one category. 



To distinguish the true from the false it is customary to 

 prefix the word "field " to " sports," and. bo far as this mere 

 prefix goes, no fault, can be found with those who Write in 

 condemnation of the thing signified. They use the term 

 frankly so far as mere phraseology goes (hut then go cm to 

 argue on other so-called "sports"), and ihe <, 

 to be asked, Why do these writers stop short here? Tf 

 they arc competent, by fair' and impartial inquiry, to 

 assume a moral superiority and condetmi field sports. 

 why will they insist on immorally identifying them, hi 

 argument, at least, with practices of the most cruel 

 and indefensible character, which they must oi necessity 

 know are not carried out in the " field, " meaning by that 

 term the scope and scene of the gemiincand lawful pursuits ? 

 To worry a cat, to bait a hull, "to draw a badger, arc mon- 

 strous cruelties, yet the first, seems, from the frequency with 

 which it is brought into play to lie the trraml piece c/V.'-.V'' ,■;'■- 

 in attacking field sports, by' its painful reiteration as being 

 the equivalent of fox-hunting. If these writers insist, on 

 rising the general term "amusement." wrongly, let tbcm con- 

 tinue- to do so to their own satisfaction— and, i may add, 

 stupefaction — but, they have no manner of right (an ! 

 the more that they assume so great a moral superiority) to 

 use a vague and "general term" to the misleading of the 

 reader, in discussing matters which, to arrive at truth, must 

 be separated so widely as vicious practices dignified with the 

 name of "sport," and lawful pursuits distinguished by- the 

 specific title of "Field Sports." 



As the word "amusement," in its true meaning, and as 

 affecting this controversy, is the embodiment of "inaction," 

 so the word " chase." which may he Said to comprehend all 

 field sports, is the embodiment of "action." Herein lies the 

 great distinction between the true and the false; a true dis- 

 tinction, sound in its principle and application. The broad 

 rule may be laid down, and I challenge all honest attempt to 

 deny its correctness, that, in all genuine field sports the 

 persons engaged are participators in the hunt, chase, call it 

 what you will, and voluntarily subject, themselves to severe 

 toil. "Hawking and Hunting,"' says old Butler in his 

 "Anatomy of Melancholy," "are' very laborious." Deer-stalk- 

 ing, so keenly followed, if once practiced, while opportunity, 

 life, and strength remain, demands indescribable exertions; 

 and I know not a more severe and maintained strain upon 

 the muscular and vital energies than grouse shooting during 

 warm weather, or over rough ground in any weather. There 

 may be, and are, modifications of this' voluntary labor. 

 Vn-jlin^ for instance, ranges from toilsome salmon-fishing to 

 : '. La and watching a float, from a punt, and maybe 

 termed the link between the active, chase and inactive amuse- 

 ment, with this saving clause in favor of the morality of its 

 lower phase, that the person enjoying it is himself the actual 

 agent,* We may therefore lay it down as absolute, that true 

 field sports may be invariably distinguished from the falsely 

 so called by the latter being carried out vicariously. In 

 these the "sportsmen," Heaven save the mark! are" mere 

 spectators, generally gratifying, more or less, brutal propen- 

 sities, and in all probability staking sums of mi may on cer- 

 tain contingencies. 



WIRE CARTRIDGES. 



IX your issue of Jan. 19, "Border Ruffian " says that wire 

 cartridges " are expensive and are no better' than loose 

 shot in a breech-loader, and very little better in a muzzle- 

 loader." If he will invest in a box of wire wads, and load a 

 dozen shed with his customary load of powder, place over 

 this two pink-edge wads, then put in 1~ or hjoz. of shot, 

 then in accordance with directions inclosed in every box, put 

 on a Wire Wad and crimp in usual manner, he will obtain 

 better results than by loading without the wire wads. One 

 day while duck-shooting in " Minnesota, on the pass that 

 divides Lake Minnetonka from Gray's Lake, a parly came up 

 in a boat, and one of the men took his position near me, On 

 criticising him and his armament I found he carried a Ill- 

 gauge 11-Jlbs, breech-loader. When he tired this gun its con- 

 cussion seemed sufficient to paralyze and bring down any un- 

 fortunate duck dying over. I had a lii-gauge Tjlbs. , loaded 

 with 3|drms. powder, and 1§02. shot, No. 5, in left, and No. 

 7 or 8 in right barrel. All were loaded with these wire wads 

 over shot, and I found myself placed at no disadvantage 

 whatever for regards reaching and killing the game. 



Black Nk,i>. 



Hounding Deek.— Fersburg, N f Y.. Jan. 1883.— Editor 

 Forest and 'Stream: The New York game law, as it now 

 stands, I can only consider very defective so far as it relates 

 to deer, and it is a subterfuge from beginning to end. One 

 can scarcely select a single issue of Pi e :•: r \ \i> BtbbAM that 

 is silent in regard to the slaughter of ruffed grouse' in an un- 

 sportsmanlike manner. These articles will work wonders 

 in the preservation of Uiis game. After thirty years' experi- 

 ence in deer shooting, is it strange that one should favor a 

 more stringent law, also for the protection of deer? If it, is 

 considered unsportsmanlike to kill u bird sitting on the 

 ground or on a log, or to tree one with a dog and shoot it: 

 then, or to trap them, and if the law makes it a 

 should we not have a law passed making it a fine to kill a 

 deer under similar circumstances, i. ... by being hounded 

 down or driven to bay in some lake, headed off by the 

 canoemen and knocked "in the head with clubs or riddled by 

 buck-shot? Only a few couuiies in ihe, northeastern part of 

 our State now afford the deer stalker any show whal ivei 

 The latter half of last November found me in camp up in 

 Herkimer county as usual, not to see how many 1 could tiring 

 to bag, but to procure two or three for my own wine re use. 

 I succeeded in securing a buck and two doe. the latter being 

 very fine specimens. Hardly a day passed by, however, 

 while I was there, that I could not hear the baying of hounds. 

 The still hunter can do but little until the leaves fall and 

 snows come to assist him in following the track. Nor docs 

 he wish to secure much game until the weather is cool 

 enough to freeze it, so as to insure its keeping for use. On 

 the contrary those that follow hounding eournaonea when the 

 season opens, keeping up a constant fusilade till the 1st of 

 November. Not content with the time aUQfetsd to them, 



■ ; el into the woods to some of the hi, 

 frozen and noisy, put the dogs out, in November is 

 an}- other month. The Beaver and Independence River sec- 

 tion of Country are constantly flooded with worth: 

 and a lower set of ragged poacher-. I 

 be done to cut off this constant hounding of deer in feeaxyn 



* In hi' 



applies 



I lie Si,;,,; 



ie Siege of Part? in 1870-71. 



letters of a "Besieged Resident,' Mr, „ : , 



abase " ie angling for gudgeon Li : 



