ARCH U, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



12 7 



HOUNDING AN ADIRONDACK DEER 

 To Make it lC Shy"— so that the Still-Hunters will not get it. 



THE SENTIMENT AGAINST HOUNDING. 



THE strength of public sentiment against deer hounding 

 in the Adirondacks is becoming daily becoming more 

 manifest. Opposed to the selfish individuals, who by mis- 

 representation and forged statistics are trying to mislead the 

 Senate into serving their greedy purposes, the great mass of 

 the sportsmen of the State are showing themselves to be on 

 the side of the present law. The Onondaga Sportsmen's Club 

 Syracuse, and the Monroe County Club of Rochester have of 

 sent to Albany resolutions indorsing the anti-hounding bill, 

 and protesting against the passage of the repealing bill. 



Syracuse, N. Y., March 3.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The Onondaga County Sportsmen's Club held a meeting last 

 night to protest against the repeal of the anti-hounding law. 

 These resolutions were unanimously adopted : 



Whereas, An effort is now being made in the State Legisla- 

 ture to repeal the act of last session prohibiting the running 

 of deer with hounds or dogs in this State; therefore 



Resolved, That it is the sentiment of this meeting that said 

 act and its rigid enforcement are necessary for the protection 

 and preservation of game. 



Resolved, That in our opinion said law has already produced 

 beneficial results. 



Resolved, That we ask the Legislature of the State to defeat 

 any act repealing or in any way detracting from the force of 

 said act of last session; and 



Resolved, That these resolutions be properly engrossed and 

 signed by the officers of this club and delivered to the mem- 

 bers of the Legislature from this county, and copies sent to 

 the city press. 



Action was also taken relative to the fitting up a club 

 house north of Onondaga Valley. — Onoxdaga. 



Rochester, N. Y., March 5, 1885.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: At a meeting of the Monroe County Sportsmen's 

 Club held last night, the following resolutions were adopted 

 unanimously, and it was resolved to send a copy to the 

 Governor : 



Whereas, The Assembly has passed a bill repealing the law 

 of 1885, prohibiting the hounding of deer in the Adirondacks, 

 and 



Whereas, The law which it is proposed to repeal is a just 

 one, called for by the dictates of humanity, common sense and 

 the permanent interest of the State; therefore, 



Resolved, That we invoke the Governor to veto the repealing 

 law. if it should pass the Legislature. 



Resolved, That the game on the public lands of this State 

 should be preserved and perpetuated for the whole people and 

 not be given up to immediate or rapid extermination in the 

 temporary interests of professional hunters, hotel keepers, 

 gourmands or others who will not hunt it fairly. 



Resolved, That as laws prohibiting the hounding of deer in 

 other places have resulted in a great increase of game where 

 it was almost extinct, giving abundance of sport where there 

 was none, we ask that the present law be allowed to remain 

 in force long enough to show the honestly skeptical its advan- 

 tages, when, we are confident, it will stand on its own merits. 



Edmond Redmond. 



New York Fishery Commission.— New York, Feb 27. 

 — Editor Forest and Stream: Venison has been scarce dur- 

 ing tho past season, as compared with previous years. A 

 very small percentage of the supply is Adirondack deer. 

 Fully 80 per cent, of the venison consumed in New York 

 comes from Minnesota. There has been a smaller quantity 

 of Adirondack venison in market during the past season 

 than ever before. This is the result af my own observation, 

 and you can confirm it on application to any of the large 

 poultry and game dealers. — E. G. Blackford. 



Hounding must be prohibited absolutely and at all times. 

 If the practice be permitted at all, the destruction of deer 

 hy dogs will not be confined to the hounding season; it will 

 be continued theyear aiound. This has been abundantly de- 

 monstrated. The Adirondack deer dogs are maintained on 



game killed out of season. Here is another recent case in 

 point: 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Last week a neighbor of mine, while visiting his fox traps, 

 came upon the trail of a bleeding deer which had evidently 

 been followed by two dogs. Taking the trail he soon found 

 where the fiua'l struggle had occurred. The snow was 

 trod hard within a circle of perhaps thirty feet, and covered 

 with blood and the hair of the deer. Near the center of the 

 circle was the half devoured carcass of a large doe. The 

 work had apparently been done the day before and the dogs 

 had disappeared. The doe was with fawn. 



This is one of the evils of keeping and using hounds of 

 which I have before spoken. This deer and her fawns have 

 here been sacrificed. In the next town where dogs are 

 owned, are several more such cases, and so it goes through- 

 out the region where any deer are to be found. 



I would like to show to every member of our Legislature 

 the frozen body of this doe, as it lies with its two little fawns 

 disclosed through the gaping wounds, already half way on 

 their road to life. 1 would willingly rest my case on their 

 mute appeal for protection. 



I well know tbat all writings upon the question are looked 

 upon as coming from a partisan source, and the truth is hard 

 to distinguish. But if a mistake is liable to be made, is it 

 not better to risk it on the side of humanity than otherwise? 

 The truth will eventually be known and the dog will go. 



The Albany men, not one of whom would be seen leading 

 a hound on the streets of the city, are working only for their 

 own protection. The welfare of the deer is entirely lost 

 sight of. While these people are in the woods full license 

 must be allowed, and when their sport is ended, turn on the 

 protection. A week or two in the woods at the end of 

 summer teaches them all it is necessary to know, and they 

 are able to discourse knowingly of woodcraft, and especially 

 of still hunting. 



A sportsman who is unwilling to give up any part of his 

 pleasure when necessity demands it, is unworthy of the 

 name. The time has come when to prevent extermination, 

 we must all make some concessions. We have asked the 

 Legislature with our petitions to continue the law against 

 hounding, knowing that practice to be the greatest evil. 

 Whatever additional laws are made in the interest of protec- 

 tion, we will cheerfully abide by. The best possible law 

 would prohibit all deer hunting tor a number of years. The 

 guides with good reputations would not suffer by it, and the 

 shiftless, worthless vagabonds who are ever to be found where 

 hounding is going on, the people can better afford to support 

 in their jails and county houses, than in the deer yards of 

 the pleasure park of the State. 



We have sent the petitions numerously signed (only one 

 man to whom they were presented refusing) to the Senate 

 and Assembly. The case of the deer is a fact as given. 



A. C. Clifton. 



Hague, N. Y., March 2, 1886. 



The remaining Adirondack deer are not so numerous that 

 the State of New York can afford to maintain hordes of 

 hungry hounds in the North Woods by feeding them on 

 February killed does heavy with young. 



A hearing was given by the Game Law Committee of the 

 New York Senate on Tuesday last on the bill to repeal the 

 present non-hounding law. Senators Vedder, McMillan and 

 Wemple were present. The hearing was opened by those 

 who desire the repeal of the present law. Mr. Foster led off, 

 and was followed by Mr. Richardson, of Lewis; Mr. Barnes, 

 of Essex, and Mr. Palmer, of Franklin. The arguments ad- 

 vanced were those that have been heard before, thafc..&&ttf7d- 

 ing made the deer shy and so protected them from tB'e still- 

 hunter. The speakers were evidently not practical woods- 

 men, and all their remarks showed that they were quite ignor- 

 ant of the habits of deer. They also professed great bitter- 

 ness against the jack-shooters. 



Mr. Van Santvoord opened on the side favoring the pres- 



ent law, and made a capital speech, in which he took th e 

 ground that if the bill now under consideration was brought 

 forward in good faith the supporters of the measure ought 

 to have in some way limited the killing of the deer rather 

 than to urge the opening of an additional method of killing. 

 He stated that the opponents of the new bill were willing to 

 give up jack-shooting or to give up still-hunting, for they 

 want to protect the deer. As showing the destructiveness of 

 hounding in comparison with other methods, he instanced 

 a county in Florida where ten years ago, although still-hunt- 

 ing and fire-hunting were both practiced, the deer were still 

 plenty until hounds were brought in, when they began to 

 diminish in numbers, until now they are no longer found 

 within the limits of the county. 



Mr. Sprague, of New York, followed, showing that hound- 

 ing deer was the method followed by city sportsmen and 

 dudes, by men in other words who had neither the skill nor 

 the endurance to match their powers with those of the 

 wild animal whose senses are keen and which is ever on the 

 alert. 



Mr. Erwin, Senator from St. Lawrence county, made a 

 few remarks in which he stated that he had no intention of 

 going into the merits of the question, but he desired to say 

 that the people of St. Lawrence county felt very strongly on 

 this subject and asked the committee as a favor that what- 

 ever action they might take on the bill as a whole, they 

 would not force hounding upon that county, as his constitu- 

 ents by a very large majority were unalterably opposed to it. 

 Several other gentlemen from St. Lawrence expressed simi- 

 lar views. 



Mr. Rushton, of that county, made a telling statement of 

 fact in support of the existing law in which he exposed the 

 falsity of many of the statements made by the supporters of the 

 bill under discussion. He showed that whereas it had been 

 stated that 260 deer had been shipped from Canton during 

 the past season, as a matter of fact only 123 had been sent 

 from there, and that the number was to be accounted for by 

 the fact that a new stage line had recently been opened from 

 Canton leading twelve miles back i nto the woods. These deer 

 had been bought up by the merchants at a number of outly- 

 ing villages and sent to Canton as a shipping point. He said 

 that the sportsmen and guides of St. Lawrence had had twelve 

 years experience of a non-hounding law and that they knew 

 that under its provisions the deer increased. They were prac- 

 tically unanimous in support of the law as it stands to-day. 



General Curtis made some remarks advising the opponents 

 of the present law of the points which would be made against 

 them at a subsequent hearing. 



The committee then adjourned to meet in one week in the 

 Senate Chamber at Albany for a final hearing in the matter. 



Still-hunting is the most legitimate as it is the most diffi- 

 cult method. * * * Hounds are also employed to drive 

 the deer to runways or to water. It requires no very great 

 degree of skill to shoot a deer as he runs by within thirty or 

 forty yards, and even less to kill one when swimming in the 

 water but a few feet from the boat. The latter method is 

 therefore in high favor with the average summer tourist, 

 who cares nothing as to how his game is secured, provided 

 only he can truthfully boast that he has killed a deer. — 

 George Bird Grinnell in "Sport with Gun and Rod " v 152 

 (New York: The Century Co., 1884.) 



The Old Trick —J., B. and myself were hunting ducks 

 on Thompson's Lake last fall. One morning, seeing some 

 ducks about 200 yards out in the lake, I began firing at them 

 with a .40-caliber rifle. After three shots we discovered that 

 they were decoy ducks. I left at once for the tent. While 

 I was gone the owner of the decoys came up and asked J. 

 and B. if they were shooting rifles. They told him they were 

 not. "Well," said he, "somebody has shot my decoys all to 

 smithereens with a rifle." While this may speak well for 

 my marksmanship, it speaks badly for my judgment of 

 ducks.— En Ami. 



