108 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 9, 1882. 



dred dollars for instance — the Americans are far ahead ; while 

 in the highest grades, the elegantly finished weapons turned 

 btlt by tlie English crack makers cannot be beaten here as 

 yet. 



In conclusion, I will state that choosing a gun from the 

 reputation its maker lias achieved is always a safe way to 

 buy. Tlie various makes have all some peculiar advantage 

 or patent, such as levers, fore-ends, extension-ribs, locks, etc., 

 not possessed by others, which the purchaser picks out to suit 

 bis- fancy, after having assured himself first of the shooting 

 qualities and workmanship of the guns in question. 



C. W. T. 



PHILADELPHIA. Pa. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF LARGE GAME. 



WHERE DOES THE BLAME LIE? 



IN your issue of Feb. 3 is a letter from "W." on the de- 

 struction of largo garni;, and I ask for a little space to reply 

 lo it. As an army officer, who has been stationed for several 

 years on the frontier and paid much attention to game, I 

 desire to take exception to that portion of the letter in which 

 English sportsmen arc classed with skin-hunters. 



If a residence at various points, from the Mexican border 

 to that of British America, may be considered a sufficient 

 basis for remarks on this subject, I cannot agree with "W," 

 that Englishmen "come in greater numbers and stay longer 

 and kill more than the army men, the ranch men, * * * 

 or an occasional Eastern sportsman." Many Englishmen un- 

 doubtedly hunt in the West each year, the majority of whom 

 are gentlemen and sportsmen of experience, who have hunted 

 in other parts of the world and have enough self-control not 

 to shoot at every living thing they see, and not to kill game 

 wantonly. There are, of course, exceptions, but I think the 

 above is true, as a rule. That it is so "W." practically 

 admits,' when he says "that they hunt in season and kill only 

 males is not to the point," but I maintain that nothing could 

 be more to the point, and would like to ask "W." if he 

 thinks as much can be said of our own parties of hunters, 

 aye, or of five per cent, of them. If so, his observations 

 have been very different to mine, 



I am not speaking of skin-hunters, for it is admitted by all 

 that they are one of the principal causes of the 'approaching 

 extermination of our large game in the West. Next, and 

 very near to them, I would place parties of alleged sports- 

 men from all parts of the United States. Exceptions I again 

 admit, but I do not think that anyone who has had many 

 opportunities for observation, will deny that most of these 

 parties kill without the slightest regard to close, seasons, to 

 their need of meat, or to the age or sex of the game. I 

 further affirm that for every single head of large game killed 

 by these parties, six others, at Ike very lowest estimate, arc 

 i wounded and lost, dying of their wounds after hours and 

 days of suffering. This is partly from incapability and care- 

 lessness in looking for a wounded animal, partly because we 

 rarely use the double express rifle for large game, thereby 

 showing ourselves as far behind the times as : if we still used 

 flint-locks for feathered game. To my mind there is no more 

 contemptible and unsportsmanlike sight than to see a man 

 empty a repeating rifle at a baud of running antelope four or 

 five hundred yards away. He knows perfectly well that 

 while he may wound some, there is but the slightest chance of 

 lolling any* and yet he will blaze away as long as the band 

 is in sight and call this sport. 



Is potting 4x bevy of quail on' the ground any worse than 

 this, or as bad? 



Buffalo, elk and mule deer are the greatest sufferers from 

 visiting sportsmen, as they are easily killed. 



The truth is, that our own people" are the ones to blame for 

 the Immense and, to a great extent, wanton destruction of 

 game that is constantly going on; and I see no use in trying 

 to blind ourselves to this fact. Look over the files of your 

 sporting papers and see if this is not true throughout the 

 country. Game birds snared and shot during the" breeding 

 season; eock-shooting in early July; killing grouse in August 

 after a late spring; shooting "game of all kinds lo make a 

 "big bag," not for sport; slaughter of large game of both 

 sexes and all ages #t every season for their hides, or simply 

 for the sake of killing them ; and many other similar firings. 



We pass laws, marly of them excellent, and pay no atten- 

 tion to enforcing them. We see them violated under the 

 very eyes of the authorities whose sworn duty it is to enforce 

 them, 'and make no attempt to punish those "men for gross 

 neglect of duty. 



There is a growing sentiment against many of these things, 

 and our true sportsmen, though few in numbers, are the 

 equals to any in the world; But there is no time to lose if we 

 wish to save any game for our grandchildren. 



My own advice is this : Pass good laws with severe penal- 

 ties for their violation, and enforce them "without partiality, 

 favor or affection." Ark-bak-dea. ' 



Montana, February, 1S82. 



A CONVERTED GROUSE SHOOTER. 



IN reading the article of your correspondent "X." in a 

 recent number of Forest ard Stream:, "On the "Wing 

 or on a Log," I am reminded of a funny occurrence which 

 happened to me last October. One evening I took my dog 

 and gun and went down the Potomac River about a mile to 

 my favorite woodcock ground, thinking I might get a shot 

 or two, and had met with some success, so that I was rather 

 later than usual starting for home; but if a bird had got up 

 high enough I could still have made it pleasant for him. 

 This reflection was running through my mind, when my dog 

 made a beautiful stand in a small clump of willows ahead of 

 me. 1, of course, thought it was a woodcock, and called to 

 him to hie on. He tried to obey me. but after he had made a 

 very faint '.effort, he gave it up and stopped again. Being a 

 little provoked at iiirn, as he never refuses to flush, I made 

 about two steps toward him, when right at my feet there, was 

 a whirr and a buzz, and I was so taken by surprise that I did 

 not recover myself in time to get a shot. 'I need not tell you 

 it was a grouse, or as we call them here, a pheasant ; I marked 

 him down, and sent the dog forward again, but this time he 

 did not lie so close, but got up with a large. 1ree between us; 

 and 1 did not get a shot again. By this time I was ready to 

 shoot him auywhere I could catch him, and concluded, if 

 possible, to get him on the ground. When we got to about 

 where I thought he ought to lie the dog stopped again, and I 

 began looking very cautiously in all directions on the ground, 

 and there he lay alongside of a small drift pile. I took delib- 

 erate aim at his head, as (hat was about, all I could see of him, 

 and such another fluttering and jumping you never saw, I 

 started to pick it up, and you can judge of'my disgust, when 

 I tell you it was a farmer's old hen which had wandered off 

 from the farm and was hovering a brood of six or seven small 

 Huekeie:, I eammi recount for Oh .1, ,;■ sending the chick- 



ens, as he was raised among them, and I never knew him to 

 stand one before, although lie kills one every now and then 

 for amusement, but only does it by playing with them. I 

 then and there concluded I would not kill any more pheas- 

 ant- on the gmund, even if I were shooting by moonlight, 

 anil so far f have kept my promise, although I have bad 

 several opportunities of breaking it, and have since had the, 

 pleasure of killing two after kicking them up from in frout 

 of the dog. But to finish my narrative, I concluded to go to 

 the farmer, make a clean breast of what I had done, and pay 

 him for the old hen and her brood. Alt hough 1 did not know 

 it, he had been an unseen witness of the shot, and when I 

 got to him he asked, "What did you kill? 1 saw you shoot 

 something but did not see you pick anything up." I then 

 related what I have told above and offered to pay him what- 

 ever damage he thought was right ; but he refused to take 

 anything, saying he had another old cluck which would take 

 care of the brood, and he did not want any pay for the old 

 hen. But he has since been paid twofold,"for every time I go 

 near him now with a gun he remarks, "Hold on until I pen 

 up my chickens," but I tell him he need not be alarmed as I 

 don'l'kill pheasants on the ground any more. 

 Ccmberland, Maryland. 



WILD FOWL IN CALIFORNIA. 



/"YUR open season for most kinds of small game is draw- 

 v./ ing to a close. In less than three weeks from this time 

 the bourly r reports of the shotgun, now heard from one end of 

 the State "to the other, will cease, and the mallard, the sprig, 

 the teal, the canvas-back, the blackjack, the widgeon and 

 all the other ducks will begin to take up their line of flight 

 for the north. Throughout the Sacramento and San Joa- 

 quin valleys, however, many ducks — such as mallard, blue- 

 winged teal aud redheads — remain and breed among the vast 

 beds of tule or swamps that line the two principal rivers of 

 California. These home-bred ducks furnish our first sport at 

 the opening of the season, the 15th of September. Long be- 

 fore that date — say as early as the 1st of August — the young 

 begin to fly, and the finest ducks we have are those shot, soon 

 after the opening of the season. It is useless to say anything, 

 perhaps, of the too prevalent custom, among a certain class, 

 of shooting the young ducks before the open season arrives, 

 for they will do it until somebody is badly "cinched." I 

 have known men to resort to all sorts of deception aud cun- 

 ning in order to steal out of town and slay the young Hop- 

 pers, but whose zeal for duck-shooting seemed to subside as 

 soon as the law protecting (?) the ducks expired. Anything 

 that can be got illegitimately and in an unsportsmanlike 

 manner seems to have a tenfold attraction in the eyes of some 

 men over that secured in a gentlemanly, legal way. But, 

 despite this army of bushwhacking shooters— among whom 

 are often to be found members of sportsmen's clubs which 

 profess to "protect game and encourage a healthy taste for 

 field sports" — there are usually enough young birds left to 

 furnish pretty good sport until the " immigrants" from the 

 north begin to put in an appearance, which is usually with 

 the first rains in October. The first to come are the wid- 

 geons, teal, mallard and sprig, and later on the lordly canvas- 

 back and his smaller cousins, the blackjack and bluebills. 

 There is probably no part of the United States — at least 

 where the country is thickly settled — that furnishes better 

 sport iu the way of duck-shooting than do the two great 

 valleys of California traversed by the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin rivers. As before mentioned, these rivers are 

 bordered by great tule swamps, which are not unlike the 

 bayous to be found along the lower Mississippi and other 

 Southern rivers. They are, as a general thing, dotted here 

 and there with open ponds, lakes and sloughs, and the 

 further the hunter can penetrate the dense thickets of tule, 

 the better his chances of finding the birds in plentiful 

 numbers, as the continual shooting of market-hunters, 

 sportsmen and small boys, prevents them from staying in the 

 more accessible places. 



puck-shooting for the market has been a regular business 

 in this section for the last thirty years — ever since the country 

 became settled by the whites. To-day I met with one of the 

 veteran hunters bf the Sacramento Valley — the most; noted, 

 probably, of those still engaged in the business. He broke 

 up his camp on one of the islands in the lower Sacramento 

 three weeks ago for the reason that the ducks had commenced 

 to get poor, owing to the freezing over of the more shallow 

 ponds in which they were wont to feed. For the last two 

 months he has shot only canvas-backs, for which he re- 

 ceived in the San Francisco market from §3.50 to $4 per 

 dozen. There is a great deal of wild celery growing on these 

 tide islands, and in mild seasons the ducks* are very fat. The 

 person referred to has hunted almost in one vicinity every 

 year since 1853, and has made a great deal of money, often 

 averaging for the season from $300 to $400 per month. He 

 generally has a partner or an employe with him, and it is a 

 poor day's shoot that does not bring them from 80 to 100 

 ducks to the gun. He informs me that many years ago he 

 furnished one firm in Sacramento .$9,000' worth of 

 ducks in one season, and I can readily believe it, as 

 there were few market-hunters in those days, and half 

 a dozen or so enjoyed a monopoly of the business. To- 

 day the country is full of men shooting for the 

 market. Whenever a fellow finds himself out of work and 

 doesn't know what else to do, he procures an old gun and 

 goes on the warpath against everything that flies. Then, 

 the farmer and his boys occasionally come to town with a 

 load of wild ducks killed on the "ranch," or a bag of quails 

 which little Johnny caught in a, trap in the nearest thicket. 

 And this is not all, for many of our city "sportsmen" make a 

 regular practice of slaughtering all the game they can and 

 selling it. It is safe" to say that three-fourths of the 

 ducks sold to dealers in this city are killed by men who 

 would be. very indignant if one was to call them market 

 hunters. 



Now, I rather like some of the prof essionals. 1 am well ac- 

 quainted with a number of men who regard it as perfectly 

 legitimate to shoot for the market — free, generous, honest, 

 open-handed, law-observing men they are too — men who have 

 as much contempt for anyone who kills game out of season 

 as any sportsman cordd have. But I also know of men that 

 shoot for the market who kill their game whenever and 

 wherever they can — at night, on the feedinsr-grounds — any- 

 where, so that they can fill their wagons and have something 

 to boast of the next evening when they gather at their rendez- 

 vous. These creatures always come home under cover of 

 the night, and sneak around unseen to the back doors of the 

 poultry stalls to sell their game. I tell you it is a difficult 

 mailer Lo enforce anything like a proper 'observance of the 

 game law- iu communities wher:v this style of self-termed 

 sportsmen predominate. 



But we will dismiss this pari of rb ( - subject, | alifornU 



has often been spoken of as a, sportsman's paradise, and not 

 inaptly. (It remains to be seen, however, how long it. will be 

 so.) A stranger happening in Sacramento to-day would no 

 doubt have been greatly surprised at the quantity and vartc I y 

 of game to be found at the markets. In front' of one little 

 stand I noticed on the sidewalk a pile of wild ducks, consist- 

 ing of almost every known variety, at least as high and broad 

 as the average cord of stovewood, and beside another of geese 

 of four or five kinds, nearly as large. In addition to these, 

 piles of game were hanging all about, wild swans, sand- 

 hill cranes, hares, rabbits, quails, robins, aud other small 

 game. These Were all killed within a few miles of Sacra- 

 mento. 



On the 15th of March our close season commences on all 

 the above kinds of game, except geeso and hares, but by that 

 time the- spring snipe will be along. They generally stay for 

 a month or so, and of course furnish excellent sport'. But, as 

 1 expect to refresh my memory shortly, in regard to these 

 lively little fellows, I will defer writing of them until my 

 next, 



I cannot close without expressing my admiration for the 

 Forest and StbeAM since it donned its new dress. Fine 

 feathers do make fine birds, as every sportsman knows; and, 

 while in appearance the Forest abd Stream: is all thai the 

 eye could wish, its contents have a still greater attraction for 

 him who is ever athirst for knowledge on all subjects pertain- 

 ing to the sports of the field. Nnrnor>. 



Sacramento, Feb. . 1882. 



THE OHIO GAME LAW. 



Wauseox, O., March 2, 1882, 

 Editor Threat and Stream: 



1 inclose copy of the proposed new game law for Ohio. I 

 have underscored the changes. No one who has had ex- 

 perience, in this matter can believe for a moment that this 

 theory of game protection will, if carried our, protect. It. 

 has been tried in Ohio two or three times before, and found 

 wanting. When the farmer learns that: the gentleman, who 

 shoots for pleasure, health and recreation merely, is not the 

 man who tears down his fences, destroys his crops and in- 

 jures his stock, but is his friend, and with him interested in 

 frowning down ruffianism and lawlessness, then may we hope 

 for a "pooling of issue," and reasonable game laws rigidly 

 enforced. Tlie bill is as follows: 



"A bill to amend section 6961 of the Revised Statutes bf 

 Ohio. 



"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the 

 State, of Ohio, that section 69(51 of the revised statutes be so 

 amended as to read as follows: 



"Sec. 6961. Whoever, iu any place, catches, kills or in- 

 jures, or pursues with such intent, any quail or prairie- 

 chicken, before the fifteenth (toy uf Noee'nthev, one, thtins.ind 

 eight hundred and cighhj-fir.e, or afhr said dat<\ between the 

 first day of January aud the first day of November, inclusive, 

 or any wild turkey' between the fifteenth day of January and 

 the first day of November, inclusive, or any ruffed grouse or 

 pheasant, or blue-winged teal, between the first day of Janu- 

 ary and the first day of September, inclusive, or any mallard 

 or wood-duck, or other wild duck, between the first day of 

 April and the first day of September, inclusive, or any wood- 

 cock between the first day of January and the fourth' day of 

 July, inclusive, or catches by snare, or trap, any quail or 

 Virginia partridge, or upon any waters, marshes, or in any 

 cover to which wild fowl resort, by the aid or use of any 

 swivel or punt-gun, orany other gun than a common shoulder- 

 gun, or by the aid of a "push-boat, or sneak-boat, used for 

 carrying such swivel or punt-gun, kills or wounds, or pur- 

 sues' with such intent, any wild goose, wild duck, or brant, or 

 disturbs or destroys the eggs of any such birds, shall be fined 

 not more than twenty-five nor less than two dollars, or be 

 imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both, 



"Sec. 2. That said section 6961 of the revised statutes be 

 and the same is hereby repealed. 



"Sec. 8. This act to take effect from and after its passage." 

 W. H. H. 



NOTES FROM WORCESTER, MASS. 



DURING the last Ave or six weeks your correspondent has 

 been unable to pick up any notes of interest. Neither 

 is there anything very exciting goiagon just at present, 1 U> 

 annual meeting" of 'the Sportsmen's Club, which oecurred 

 Wednesday evening, March 1, at the Bay State House, and 

 a recapitulation of the fox-hunting season, with one or two 

 minor Items, must furnish the material for this letter. 



The annual meeting of the club was largely attend] 

 was exceedingly pleasant in every respect. 



The reports of secretary and treasurer were entirely satis- 

 factory, and showed a membership mil of sixty-seven" names 

 and a handsome amount of cash in the treasury. And right 

 here let me say, that since the formation of the club, about 

 ten years ago, there has never been an assessment, and never 

 has been a time in which there was not a sufficient sum in the 

 treasury for any enterprise in which the club might w ish to 

 embark, such as getting up tournaments, entertaining other 

 clubs, etc., and of which we have done not a little. After 

 the report came the election of officers, which resulted as 

 follows: President, Gilbert J, Rutrg; First Vice-President, 

 Wm. S. Perry; Second Vice- President., Ma]. L G. White-: 

 Secretary. Ste'dman Clark; Treasurer. O, L. Taft; Execu- 

 tive Committee— E. S. Kuowles, A. B. F. Kinney, W. L. 

 Shcpard and J, B. Goodsell. After the regular business had 

 been disposed of, the meeting adjourned and resolved itself 

 into a social meeting, and remained till a late hour as the 

 guests of some of the newly elected officers, who entertained 

 the party handsomely. We are feeling very happy over 

 our new president. Mr. Rugg is a member of the old and 

 well-known Arm of Witherby, Rugg & Richardson, manu- 

 facturers of wood-working machinery. He is a man of char- 

 acter and ability, a thorough and thrifty business man, and 

 an enthusiastic '. sportsman. He has every qualification and, 

 we 1'uLly believe, will make a model I'lv-iu- nl. The club 

 never was stronger nor in a more flourishing condition than at 

 present. 



The fox-hunting season closed Feb. 28, the local hunters 

 having been, as a "rule, very successful, and more foxes hav- 

 ing been killed than for many years. There seems, however, 

 to be plenty left, as it was very easy to start, a fox on any 

 passably good day up to the close ot the sea -on. Thehunters 

 in tlie neighboring towns also report, unusually good 3UCCesfii 

 The names given below are residents of Worcester, except 

 Mr. White and his hunting partner, Mr. Hall, who, though 

 residents of Millbury. are counted menib .Voreoster 



party. The individual scores are as follows: John 

 cum" 14; N. S. Harrington, 9; John M. White and Hall, 33 . 

 W. S. Perry, 7; Horace Adams, 8; E. T. Balcom, Sj Harv 

 Locke, 3j E, H. Smith. !?■; L. Hand, %• A, R F KM 



