Feb. 88, 1884] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



85 



pencd to meet a "red," al though once in a very badly pre- 

 pared suae 1 met an enormous panther that scared me nearly 

 as much as would aB Indian. 1 was hunting for gray squit- 

 cels and came across his majesty very unexpected \y. He 

 was as badly seared as 1, so by mutual agreement we each 

 went off iu opposite directions. He was a magnificent 

 animal, and I thought then he was uhout the size of a 

 full-gtown Norman horse. He may have been a shade 

 smaller. 



The finest sport to my mind was hunting tlie wild turkey. 

 I don't mean going into the roost at night and killing the 

 poor birds without giving them a chance; that kind of 

 turkey shooting is mere slaughter, entirely unworthy the 

 name of spoil. ' 1 have shot in" ilie roost, bui only when I 

 wanted moat. In the fall of 72, the Genera) commanding 

 the Department was coming to Fort Richardson on a tour of 

 inspection; and Gen. Mackenzie wished to give him a game 

 dinner. To that end he suggested to Col. Buel (now dead) 

 that he had better take a hunt and see if he could get some 

 turkeys and game. It was arranged that Buel and myself 

 should take such a trip. 1 picked out about a doz>m soldiers 

 who were good hunters. We drove about eighteen miles, 

 Avent into camp, and as soon as we had a little lunch and a 

 cup of coffee, all hands except the camp guard started out, 

 and that niaht wo had quite a nice showing of turkeys, all 

 hands making their suppers upon turkey livers. 



Sunrise the next morning found all up and ready for 

 work. T proposed to give my attention to ducks and did not 

 feel that it was incumbent upon me to start quite so early. 

 This may sound paradoxical to duck shooters who turn ouc 

 before the night is half over and sit in a cold bliud two or 

 three weary hours waiting for the ducks to begin flying. 

 The shooting there was different. The stream was small 

 and full of ducks and our method was to slip up to the bank 

 above the stream, flush the ducks and then give them both 

 barrels, pick up the dead, drop back from the. river and re- 

 peat a little lower down or higher up. The lime of day had 

 no influence upon the shooting. However, I did not go for 

 ducks, I went for hear and killed the largest white-tailed 

 deer I ever saw, and this not two hundred and fifty yards 

 from our camp. I took him to camp and then, too much 

 elated to hunt for ducks, I started for turkeys. In the mean- 

 time one ot the soldiers had killed another deer. 



The second night our stock of game was »uch increased. 

 If was determined then that at 11 the next morning we would 

 break camp and go in to the post. Early m the morning 

 every one was out to get just one more shot. At 1 1 all hands 

 were in; camp was broken, and as happy a lot of men as 

 you ever saw took the road for the post. When we left on 

 Monday morning General Mackenzie had said to us that he 

 would want every hit of game we brought in, and that we 

 should send it all to his quarters. Knowing there had been 

 no frost, and that we would be unable to shoot in the roost, 

 he thought we would not succeed in getting more than eight 

 or ten turkeys; and other game he did not count upon at all. 

 Being good soldiers, always obeying orders, we sent the 

 wagons to the General's quarters and unloaded upon his front 

 porch the two deer, a number of ducks and prairie chickens 

 and one hundred and seventy-four wild turkeys. He did 

 not keep all the game. Every man, woman and child in 

 that post had a turkey dinner next day. 



We did not keep any record of the game other than the 

 turkeys, we killed between 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon 

 and 11 o'clock Wednesday morning one hundred and eighty- 

 one wild turkeys, and not one was killed in the roost, they 

 were all killed on the ground, and tl.en only after the 

 hardest work. Saxet. 



SQUIRRELS AND RIFLE SHOOTING. 



Editor Fared and Stream: 



Noticing the communications in your recent issues relative 

 to the breeding of squirrels, etc., I am constrained to send a 

 few "egotistical" notes. My boyhood days were mostly 

 spent in Northern Ohio, on the "Reserve," which down to 

 30 or 35 years ago was a wonderful region for small game, as 

 many of your gray-headed readers can testily. And some 

 of the game was not so very small either. 1 i\ member dur- 

 ing the winter of 1852-3 shooting two very fine deer one day 

 within fifteen miles of Cleveland, and within a mile of the 

 C. C. & C. R. R. (with a plain hunting rifle, 90 to the pound, 

 round bullet), both deer being on a "deed lun" when shot! 

 From the time I was large enough to load a rifle my entire 

 pastime was this fascinating practice. I have killed thirty 

 squirrels (black and gray) in half a day. I supposed all old 

 squirrel hunters were aware that tin se rodents bred twice 

 each year. I have shot numbers of young ones— not fully 

 grown— in September. 



1 occasionally receive letters from young men, even yet in 

 their 'teens (whose parents, grandparents or other old friends 

 I knew while I was yet young), inquiring for rifle shooting 

 points, hunting, etc. It affords me much pleasure to reply 

 to these young men, although sometimes done at the expeme 

 of time, which 1 can ill afford, but I ho»cr them for choos- 

 ing a pastime so inexpensive and healthful, instead of loung- 

 ing arouud villages and drinking or smoking resorts, thou&h 

 I fear some of them have acquired the filthy tobacco habit. 

 In this connection 1 wish to write them a brief, secular 

 homily. 



Whenever the opportunity has presented itself I have al- 



ship. 'Die most proficient competitor 

 I ever met was n Methodist Episcopal clergyman of the Troy 

 (N. Y.) Conference, the late Chaplain Barber of the Berdan 

 Sharpshooters. I well remember one warm winter day 

 while our army was in winter quarters in front of Fred- 

 ericksburg, our* regiment being iu camp near Stoneman's 

 Switch, that the chaplain and myself practiced continuously 

 the entire day, stopping only for dinner. We tried five and 

 ten shot strings, mostly the latter. During the forenoon 1 

 steadily beat him about two inches on a ten-shot string. Just 

 before dinner he desired to try a five-shot string with my 

 rifle. The result shoved that my string measured but five- 

 eighth of an inch less than his. After dinner he expressed a 

 desire to use my rille for the afternoon, which T cheerfully 

 granted. Leaving his own rifle at quarters we tired alternate 

 shots with my own till darkness prevented. Our strings all 

 ran less than an inch apart, and the last one was but three- 

 eighths of an inch, I having beaten him but that much in 

 ten shots. As we were reluming to quarters he remarked; 

 "Captain, I think you have the best rifle in the country, 

 and with such a rifle a man who has never used intoxicaiing 

 drinks or tobacco in any form is not readily beaten iu a day 

 ef steady practice.'' 



In conclusion, I wish to say to young men that with my 

 nervous, sanguine temperament I could never have attained 



the proficiency in steady marksmanship which I did but for 

 my abstemious habits. 



"When 1 commenced this article I intended giving the 

 hoys some points on squirrel shooting with a rifle, but my 

 article is already so long that I will defer those "points" 

 until another time. Milton P. Peirce. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



NEW YORK GAME PROTECTORS. 



Editor Fared and Stream; 



Some one asked iu Forest and Stream that we have a 

 report (for publication) from the game protectors, that the 

 tax payers can see wdiat has been accomplished in the way 

 of enforcing the law and for the protection of game. 1 fre- 

 quently shoot ducks on the Hudson River. Last fall (1883) 

 1 noticed that the law was violated every day (or evening) 

 by pei sons shooting after sunset, and while the ducks were 

 on their feeding grounds for the night. I wrote to a gentle- 

 man in Hudson who is interested in the protection of game, 

 ami he said that he had already called the game protector's 

 attention to this fact. 1 have never heard of any ai rests, 

 and know that the shooting continued, and if T am credibly 

 informed, the report of theguns of violators could be plainly 

 heard at the resideue of the game protector. I noticed in a 

 Hudson paper that he had arrested a poor old man at New- 

 burgh for catching a bass of less than one-half pound weight, 

 and that he was away from home when wanted at Green- 

 wood Lake (and by the wav the Greenwood Lake business is 

 a puz/le to me as well as many others). Now what has our 

 aa me protector accomplished; I say our game protector, as 

 he is the man we look to here. Tax Payer. 



Albany, N. Y. 



From the current report of the Commissioners we take 

 the. following extracts bearing on this subject: 



"By the act, Chapter 317, Laws of 1883, an increase in 

 the number of State game and fish protectors was provided, 

 and the force were, for the purpose of securing official ac- 

 countability, placed under the 'supervision and direction' of 

 the Commissioners of Fisheries. As provided by law, the 

 Commissioners proceeded in J uly last to divide the territory 

 of the State into thirteen protection districts, that beirig the 

 number of protectors the Governor had decided to appoint. 

 The appointments were made July i!0, and as soou as the 

 protectors had become legally qualified, the Commissioners 

 issued to them a general order, stating that thev had been 

 'placed under the supervision and direction of the Commis- 

 sioners, and would be required, at the close of each calen- 

 dar month, to report in detail their proceedings to them.'" 

 Accompanying this order was a code of instructions. 



As the Commissioners reside auch distances apart as to 

 forbid, without great expense and inconvenience, stated or 

 frequent board meetings, and as their business with the pro- 

 tectors is of such a nature as generally to require prompt ac- 

 tion, it was deemed necessary to place the management of 

 the details of this department under one active head. The 

 duty has been accoi dingly intrusted to Commissioner Sher- 

 man, secretary of the board, whose central location was most 

 favorable to the purpose. He receives the reports of the pro- 

 tectors, and has charge, of the general correspondence and 

 records. Esjgb. Commissioner, however, is given the full 

 authority of uie board to issue such special directions to any 

 protector as the exigencies may call for. The system has 

 been found to work smoothly and efficiently. The protectors 

 responded with alacrity to their instructions, and have been 

 without exception active and efficient in the discharge of 

 their duties. They have all, as directed, made reconnois- 

 sances of the territory in their respecive charge, and estab- 

 lished working relations with the district attorneys, sheriffs, 

 and other officers, with whom they are to act iu the execu- 

 tion of the laws, and with the game protective societies and 

 individuals in their districts interested in the observance of 

 the game laws. The monthly reports of the protectors, 

 which have been made in all cases with commend- 

 able promptitude, show an amount of practical 

 work done, which fully meets the expectation 

 of the Commissioners. The practice they have fol- 

 lowed, of making frequent visits to suspected 

 places, has done much to stop illegal acts, and their prompt 

 action in seizing and destroying contraband devices, and 

 bringing to justice habitual offenders, has exerted a whole- 

 some influence in places hitherto noted for defiance of law. 

 The Commissioners feel justified in saying that under the 

 present system more has been accomplished in the last three 

 months in securing the observance of the game laws than 

 has ever been done in the State before, and they have faith 

 to believe that the continuance of the same vigilance will in a 

 year's time secure for the game laws an observance as general 

 as it was formerly an exception. As an example of the 

 work done, it may be stated that the reports of the protectors 

 show that upward of an hundred nets and other unlawful 

 contrivances for the capture of fish, of the value of more 

 than five thousand dollars, have been removed and destroyed 

 within the last three months, and that many waters in which 

 for a generation netting had been hahitual, are now free 

 from all wholesale fish-destroying influence. More than 

 twenty indictments have been found for hunting deer out of 

 season, and a large number of suits have been brought to a 

 successful issue for minor offenses. These examples 

 will have the tendency to keep old offenders in whole- 

 some fear, and to check the spirit of disregard that 

 has grown up, by long tolerance, of the game law. That 

 provision of the law which authorizes the Commissioners 

 to detail our protectors, in special cases, to duty outside their 

 assigned districts, has proved of great usefulness. It has en- 

 abled the Commissioners to fortify weak places bv rendering 

 to local protectors necessary aid and support at points where 

 defiance and resistance were to be apprehended. It has been 

 found useful, too, iu a class of detective work which could 

 not be well performed by a protector whose person was well 

 known in his district. Some inconvenience has occurred 

 from the inadequate allowance made by law, for the travel- 

 ing expenses ot the protectors. This is at the rate of twenty 

 dollars and a fraction per month, and no payment in excess 

 of this sum is made by the Comptroller in any monthly ac- 

 count of disbursements, unless there should be a correspond- 

 ing underdraft the previous mouth. This allowance may 

 he exhausted in a single trip which the protector may be 

 called on to make into a distaut portion of his district, or, 

 as may happen on the order of a Commissioner, into some 

 other district; aud thus the officer would be crippled in his 

 ability to make other important trips of duty. The protectors 

 can ill afford to pay expenses of travel out of their salaries, 

 and in some cases it is a hardship to them to advance the 

 means for such purposes, even wben certain of reimburse- 

 ment. There should be a larger allowance for travel in the 



line of duty; or, what perhaps would be as well, there mieht 

 be a sum appropriated for use, in the discretion of the Com- 

 missioners, in cases where the standing allowance was in- 

 sufficient. 



DEFECTS OF THE LAW. 



The Commissioners deem this a suitable occasion lo call 

 the attention of the Legislature lo the defects iu the present 

 code of game laws. On this subject, they reiterate the sen- 

 timents expressed in a communication to the Governor Dec. 

 15, 1-80. These laws have been so amended, supplemented 

 and, as it were, polished up. that they have become confused, 

 vague, contradictory aud puzzling even to minds acemtomed 

 to legal interpretation. Special and local provisions and ex- 

 ceptions have been so interwoven iu the text, that close aud 

 analytical study is necessary to elucidate thai which should 

 have been expressed in terms plain to all. The last material re- 

 vision of these laws was made iu 1879. To illustrate some of 

 the absurdities that have crept in, the following instance is 

 given: In a clause respecting brook trout, the former lerm 

 "caught or taken" was changed to "killed." This change 

 has rendered nugatory one of the most important provisions. 

 The pretext for the amendment was that in a law dealing 

 with game, terms used by "sportsmen" should be applied. 

 In their parlance, a trout "taken" is a trout "killed, " 

 though he may be at that time flopping in the basket. "Pot- 

 hunters" catch fish; "sportsmen" kill tbein. But when 

 suits have been brought against persons) for taking 

 trout out of season, from public waters to stock private 

 ponds, the defense has been successfully set up that the trout 

 were not "killed," but taken alive. The poacher here gets 

 the benefit of the literal c.onstiuclion of the word, while the 

 law is defeated by the use of technical terms. This shows 

 the absurdity of using artificial terms where natural ones 

 would serve a better purpose. In the making of laws which 

 everybody is expected to obey, such terms only should be 

 used as plainly express the intent. It is unfortunate that the 

 efforts made in the Legislature the last two years to improve 

 the law by recodification and the correction of unwise pro- 

 visions, failed, through the inability of those professedly 

 working to the same end to agree iu some minor points. The 

 bill of the last session, known as the "Townsend bill." is, in 

 the judgment of the Commissioners, the best considered in 

 its provisions of any lately presented. It embodies the 

 views of experienced and conservative sportsmen and fisher- 

 men, and its provisions would mot be difficult to enforce. 

 The "Grady bill," so called, was good in form, but had some 

 objectionable provisions. If the good points of the two bills 

 could be combined in one, following the geueral arrange- 

 ment of the Grady bill, a law might be perfected which 

 would be just in its provisions, easy of interpretation and 

 certain in execution. 



UOIXDING DEER. 



The stoppage, through legal prohibition, of the old practice 

 of "crusting" as it is called — that is of hunting deer on the 

 snow crust when escape is impossible and a club is as potent 

 a weapon as the best firearm — has resulted iu a large increase 

 of deer in the country known as the "Northern Wilderness." 

 Much has been done by public officers, and by the efforts of 

 societies and individuals the last few years, to prevent the 

 unlawful killing of deer by this and other destructive modes, 

 but there are still infractions which the game protectors and 

 all others interested must use their utmost energy to prevent. 

 But the danger now which threatens the deei is not so much 

 from unlawful as from lawful practices. The pursuit of deer 

 by hounds is now permitted from the 15th of Augu t to the 1st 

 of November, a period of two and a half months. During 

 this time in the present year, the Commissioners estimate 

 from the best data they' have been able to obtain, three 

 thousand deer were slain in the wilderness region. Never 

 before did the woods so resound with the baying of dogs and 

 the report of firearms. Every accessible position had its 

 party of hunters, with their guides and dogs, aud the un- 

 fortunate deer were driven from ridge to water and 

 trom swamp to hill to escape to-day a fate that was sure 

 to come to-morrow. The uumber of hunters has become 

 legion, and if the increase is to go on as it has done since tlie 

 deer again began to appear in plenty, it w 7 ill not be many 

 years before the race is exterminated in this State. 

 The object of the protection of deer in certain 

 seasons and from destructive modes of hunting, is. or should 

 be, that they may be hunted to the extent that they may be 

 profitably used for food by those who go to the \wld« iness 

 for health or relaxation; and that they may be of similar use 

 to those whose occupations confine them to woods life, or 

 whose homes are on the frontier where are no otLer means 

 of obtaining fresh animal food. It never could have been 

 contemplated by any wise law maker that they were to be 

 spared in the winter that their slaughter in mere wanton- 

 ness or to supply distant markets might be the more cer- 

 tainly effectea at other seasons. One case has come to the 

 knowledge of the Commissioners, which is doubtless the 

 type of many, where a person, calling himself a "spoils- 

 man" from New York, camped on a stream much frequented 

 by deer, with four guides aud a pack of hounds, ami in ien 

 days' time the party had killed upward of tweuty deer. The 

 forequaiiers were fed to the dogs or left to rot on the riv< r's 

 bank. Of the saddles, one-half were given to the guides as 

 part compensation for their services, and the remainder were 

 shipped to the distaut city. From every avenue out of the 

 forest, east, west, north and south, came streaming out of 

 the forest in October saddles and carcasses of deer, so that 

 at many points the market was fairly glutted. All this, 

 it is to be remembered, was done within the letter of tlie 

 law. If there is no other way by which this wanton and 

 inexcusable waste can be stopped, then should hunting 

 with bounds be prohibited altogether. Those who still 

 defend the hounding system admit that the abuses are great 

 and alarming. They suggest that a shortening of the sea- 

 son, or the limitation by law of the number that oue hunter 

 or a party may kill, will serve to abate the evil. Others 

 think that a limitation of the season or of the shipments to 

 market will supply the remedy; but those who have looked 

 at tin' subject in all its bearings, and in the light of impar- 

 tial judgment hold that the only cure is to apply the axe at 

 the root aud prohibit hounding altogether. Next to hound- 

 ing, the practice of floating is^most destructive to the deer. 

 The boating season is practically in the summer mouths, 

 when the deei resort to the water to escape the flies and to 

 crop the succulent food which grows there at that season. 

 Floating drives them from thebe resorts, and as the deei are 

 at this time suckling their young, the mischief done by the 

 disturbance is only exceeded by that of the killing, Float- 

 ing is the mode usually preferred by the tyros in hunting,- 

 and it is the only one which gives promise of success to the 

 unskilled. The number of deer fatally wounded by it, and 

 which escape from the hunter only to become food for the 

 wolves, ravens and small beasts of prey is larger than bv 



