April 15, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



226 



THE ONTARIO GAME LAW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I inclose a copy of the Ontario game bill passed during the 

 session just closed. You will find that though deficient in 

 some respects it is a great improvement on the last one. It 

 it to be hoped that the States of the Union adjoining Onta- 

 rio will see fit to follow in her footsteps and put a stop to 

 spring duck shooting. The great difficulty we experienced 

 in getting the Legislature to consent to this change was the 

 fact that spring shooting was allowed on the American sides 

 of the St. Lawrence, Niagara, Detroit and St. Claire rivers 

 in sight and hearing of our sportsmen. The true sportsmen 

 of the United States will doubtless thank us for taking the 

 initiative and for clearing away this difficulty in seeking 

 legislation against spring shooting. All true Canadian sports- 

 men hope that their American brother sportsmen will go 

 still further and put a stop to all spring shooting— geese, 

 swan and plover as well as ducks, and stimulate us in turn 

 to further exertions. We had hoped that plover of all kinds 

 would have been included with the snipe, but some mem- 

 bers of the famous Toronto Gun Club spoke so strongly 

 before the committee on the sport obtained from black 

 heart plover in May that the clause embracing snipe and 

 plover was not passed in its entirety. Pot shots of from ten 

 to thirty of these small birds on their way to breed can be 

 made and it must be grand sport indeed. 



In contrast to these small bird destroyers we had opposi- 

 tion from the grand sportsmen who desired to retain spring 

 geese and swan shooting. It was suggested that they could 

 hardly be consistent if they desired the abolition of spring 

 duck shooting, which they said they did, but reason could 

 not prevail. Were it not'for the opposition from these par- 

 tics, a more stringent game law would have passed, we 

 believe, and one that would have done still greater credit to 

 W. C. Caldwell, Esq., M. P. P., who kindly undertook its 

 management before the house. It is well known that this 

 bill embodied resolutions passed by the Wentworth Fish and 

 Game Protective Association from time to time ; in fact that 

 the proposed change in the law came from this association, 

 and that to one local member, J. M. Gibson, Esq., M. P. P., 

 we are chiefly indebted for this stringent bill. No one will 

 regret more than W. C. Caldwell, Esq., M. P. P., and J. M. 

 Gibson, Esq., M. P. P. their failure to secure the prevention 

 of deer slaughtering in the water and the exportation of 

 small game. They have done good and faithful work, and 

 the sportsmen of Canada may well thank them. 



Member Wentwortu Pish and Game 

 Protective Association. 



Hamtlton, Onl, , April 3, 1886. 



Following is the text of the Ontario law: 



Whereas, It is expedient to amend the law respecting the 

 preservation of game and fur-bearing animals in Ontario; 

 therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of 

 the legislative assembly of the province of Ontario, enacts as 

 follows: 



1. The act passed in the forty-third year of Her Majesty's 

 reign, and chaptered 81, is hereby repealed. 



2. None of the animals or birds hereinafter mentioned, 

 shall be hunted, taken or killed within the periods herein- 

 after limited : 



(1) . Deer, elk, moose, reindeer or caribou, between the 

 fifteenth day of December and the fifteenth day of October. 



(2) . Grouse, pheasants, prairie fowl or partridge, between 

 the first day of January and the first day of^September. 



(3) . No quail shall be hunted, taken, or killed, during the 

 years 1886, 1887, and no wild turkeys during the years 1886, 

 1887, 1888, and in each case thereafter not between the 

 fifteenth day of December and the fifteenth day of October 

 following. 



(4) . Woodcock, between the first day of January and the 

 fifteenth day of August. 



(5) . Snipe, rail and golden plover, between the first day of 

 January and the first day of September. 



(6) . Swans or geese, between the first day of May and the 

 first day of September. 



(7) . Ducks of all kinds, and all other water fowl, between 

 the first day of January and the first day of September. 



(8) . Hares, between "the fifteenth day of March and the 

 first day of September. 



3. No person shall have in his possession any of the said 

 animals or birds, no matter where procured, or any part or 

 portion of any such animals or birds, during the periods in 

 which they are so protected; provided that they may be ex- 

 posed for sale for fifteen days, and no longer, after such 

 periods, and may be had in possession for the private use of 

 the owner and his family at any time, but in all cases the 

 proof of the time of killing, taking or purchasing shall be on 

 the person so in possession. 



4. No eggs of any of the birds above mentioned shall be 

 taken, destroyed or had in possession by any person at any 

 time. 



5. None of the said animals or birds, except the animals 

 mentioned in Section 8 of this act, shall be trapped or taken 

 by means of traps, nets, snares, gins, baited line, or other 

 similar contrivances; nor shall such traps, nets, snares, gins, 

 baited lines or contrivances be set for them, or any of 'them' 

 at any time; and such traps, nets, snares, gins, baited lines 

 or contrivances may be destroyed by any person without such 

 person thereby incurring any liability therefor. 



6. None of the contrivances for taking or killing the wild- 

 fowl known as swans, geese or ducks, which are described or 

 known as batteries, swivel guns, sunken punts, shall be used 

 at any time, and no wildfowl known as ducks, or other 

 water fowl, except geese or swans, shall be hunted, taken or 

 killed between the expiration of the hour next after sun- 

 set and the commencement of the hour next before sunrise. 



7. No beaver, mink, muskrat, sable, martin, otter, or 

 fisher, shall be hunted, taken or killed, or had in possession 

 of any person between the first day of May and the first day 

 of November; nor shall any traps, snares, gins, or other con- 

 trivances, be set for them during such period; nor shall any 

 muskrat house be cut, speared, broken or destroyed at any 

 time; and any such traps, snares, gins or other contrivance 

 so set, may be destroyed by any person without such person 

 thereby incurring any liability therefor; provided that this 

 section shall not apply to any person destroying any of the 

 said wild animals in defense or preservation of his property. 



8. Offenses against this act shall be punished upon sum- 

 mary conviction on information or complaint before a jus- 

 tice of the peace, as follows: 



(a) In case of deer, elk, moose, reindeer or caribou, by a 

 fine not exceeding $50, nor less than $10, with costs, for 

 each offense, (b) In case of birds or eggs, by a fine not ex- 

 ceeding $25, nor less than $5, with costs, for each bird or 

 egg. (c) In case of fur-bearing animals, mentioned in sec- 



tion 7 of this act, by a fine not exceeding $25, nor less than 

 $5, with costs, for each offense, (d) In case of other 

 breaches of this act, by a fine not exceeding $25, nor less 

 than $5, with costs. 



9. The whole of such fine shall be paid to the prosecutor 

 unless the convicting justice has reason to believe that the 

 prosecution is in collusion with, and for the purpose of 

 benefiting the accused, in which case the justice may order 

 the disposal of the fine as in ordinary cases. 



10. In all cases confiscation of game shall follow convic- 

 tion, and the game so confiscated shall be given to some 

 charitable institution or purpose, at the discretion of the con- 

 victing justice. 



11. In order to encoarage persons who have heretofore im- 

 ported or hereafter import different kinds of game with the 

 desire to breed and preserve the same on their own lands, it 

 is enacted that it shall not be lawful to hunt, shoot, kill or 

 destroy any such game without the consent of the owner of 

 the property wherever the same may be bred. 



12. It shall not be lawful for any person to kill or take any 

 animal protected by this act by the use of poison or poison- 

 ous substances, nor to expose poison, poisoned bait or other 

 poisoned substances in any place or locality, where dogs 

 or cattle may have access to the same. 



13. (1) No person shall at any time hunt, take or kill any 

 deer, elk, moose, reindeer or caribou, for the purpose of ex- 

 porting the same out of Ontario, and in all cases the onus of 

 proving that any such deer, elk, moose, reindeer or caribou, 

 as aforesaid, so hunted, taken or killed, is not intended to be 

 exported as aforesaid, shall be upon the person hunting, kill- 

 ing or taking the same, or in whose possession or custody 

 the same may be found. 



(2) Offenses against this section shall be punished by a fine 

 not exceeding $25, nor less than $5 for each animal. 



14. No owner of any hound, or other dog known by the 

 owner to be accustomed to pursue deer, shall permit any 

 such hound or other dog to run at large in any locality where 

 deer are usually found, during the period, from the fifteenth 

 day of November to the fifteenth day of October, under 

 a penalty on conviction of not more than $25 nor less than 

 $5 for each offense; any person harboring or claiming to be 

 owner of any such hound or dog shall be deemed the owner 

 thereof. 



15. It shall be lawful for the council of any county, city, 

 town, township, or incorporated village to appoint an officer 

 who shall be known as the game inspector for such county, 

 city, town, township or incorporated village, and who shall 

 perform such duties in enforcing the provisions of this act, 

 and be paid such salary as may be mutually agreed upon. 



16. — (1). It shall be the duty of every such game inspector 

 appointed as aforesaid, forthwith to seize all animals or por- 

 tions of animals in the possession of any person contrary to 

 the provisions of this act, and to bring the person in pos- 

 session of the same before a justice of the peace, to answer 

 for such illegal possession. 



(2). It shall also be the duty of every such game inspector 

 to institute prosecutions against all persons found infringing 

 the provisions of this act, or any of them, and every such 

 inspector may cause to be opened, or may himself open in 

 case of refusal, any bag, parcel, chest, box, trunk, or recep- 

 tacle in which he has reason to believe that game killed or 

 taken during the close season, or peltries out of season, are 

 hidden. 



(8). Every such inspector, if he has reason to suspect, and 

 does suspect that game killed or taken during the close season, 

 or peltries out of season, are contained or kept in any private 

 house, shed, or other buildings, shall make a deposition in the 

 form A annexed to this act, and demand a search warrant to 

 search such store, private house, shed, or other building, 

 and thereupon such justice of the peace may issue a search 

 warrant according to form B. 



17. This act shall come into effect on and after the first 

 day of July next after the passing thereof. 



A GOOSE SHOOTING MATCH. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The turkey shoot described in your last issue by Mr. Mer- 

 rill, reminds me of a goose shoot in which I participated 

 about five years ago. I used a Phoenix single-barrel breech- 

 loading 12-gauge shotgun, made by the Whitney Arms Co. 

 The barrel is steel, 28 inches long, and the entiregun weighs 

 six pounds. A few days previous to the match I targeted 

 the gun at 40, 50 and 60 yards. While shooting at the latter 

 distance, two of my brothers expressed the opinion that they 

 could excel my shooting, they to use their old muzzleloaders. 

 Their challenge was promptly accepted. A new target was 

 put up. One of my brothers fired at it. I was standing 

 near the target, and noting the effect, told him to try the 

 other barrel. The other barrel was fired. My younger 

 brother then toed the mark and fired a heavy charge of No. 

 12 shot from his long single barrel. A new target was put 

 up and I fired one shot at it. The number of pellets in each 

 target were then counted, and it was found that in one shot 

 I had exceeded their three shots by about 40 pellets. This 

 experiment, and numerous others, convinced me that the 

 new gun was good enough to shoot for geese. I even went 

 so far as to bargain with a neighbor that if he would give 

 me twenty cents to pay for two shots, I would bring him 

 home a goose. 



When the day for the match arrived I hitched up Prince 

 to the old milk wagon and drove three miles to the place 

 where the shoot was to take place. On my arrival there 

 was considerable merriment over the unusual proceeding of 

 bringing a wagon to a shooting match. I explained that 

 although I could easily walk tne distance, I might not be 

 able to carry my winnings home. This explanation was 

 received with loud and probably derisive laughter on all 

 sides. The terms of the match were as follows: Distance, 

 40 yards; any shotgun of ordinary size, loading unrestricted; 

 target, 4 inches square with a cross mark in the center. The 

 markBman putting a pellet of shot nearest the cross won the 

 goose. The geese were weighed, labeled and numbered. A 

 value was set upon each goose by the owner, and this 

 amount was made up by the shooters paying ten cents a 

 shot. The geese averaged S{ pounds each, and were valued 

 at about $1.50 each. There were 10 shooters, and about 

 one-half the number took two shots for each bird. When 

 more money was put up than the bird was worth, the sur- 

 plus was put up as a second prize, and went to the shooter 

 making second best shot. 



Goose No. 1 was put up. I took two entries and fired two 

 shots. Won by Jacob Ecker, Jr. I was second best on 

 target. No second prize. Goose No. 2. Took two entries. 

 Fired one shot and won first. Goose No. 3. Took two 

 entries. Fired one shot and won first. No. 4. Two entries. 

 One shot and won first. No. 5. Two entries. One shot ' 



and won first. Goose No. 6. Two entries. Only one man 

 would enter against me. Eight men positively refused to 

 shoot against my six-pound popgun. All the other guns in 

 the match were muzzleloaders, and weighed from one to 

 four pounds heavier than mine. It was proposed that I lay 

 aside my breechloader and select anv one of their guns and 

 continue shooting. This I respectfully declined to do, and 

 withdrew my last entries, and the shooting was resumed. 

 Then it occurred to some of the shooters how a wagon was a 

 useful accompaniment to a popsiuu at a shooting match, 

 when they saw me load up my four fat geese won in four 

 successive shots. When I got home I notified Mr. Zenas M. 

 Savage that his twenty cents had won a fine fat young goose 

 weighing eight and one-half pounds. He paid the money 

 and took the goose. The next day we ate goose No. 2. The 

 third goose I sold to a friend who had attended the match 

 and won nothing, for about one- half its value. 



Theu my brother and John Fox, a shooting companion in 

 nearly all our hunts, commenced a new line of argument. 

 They tried to convince me that bad they been at the shoot 

 the result would have been very different. This had the 

 desired result. I put up goose No. 4 for thirty cents. We 

 each put ten cents in the pool and each fired one shot. 

 Again 1 won the goose and the pool money. My style of 

 loading was 1 dram of powder and 24 ounces of No. 12 shot, 

 with one pink-edge wad over powder and one over shot. 

 The trajectory was very high, but it brought the meat. 

 With this charge I was compelled to aim several inches above 

 the target to get the center of the charge where I wanted it. 

 I used this same gun in many turkey matches since that 

 time and never came home empty-handed, although I have 

 sometimes spent more money in entrance fees than the value 

 of my winnings. 1 always shoot off-hand in these matches, 

 while my opponents almost invariably shoot from a dead 

 rest placed close to the ground. This gives me an advan- 

 tage, as I am shooting down hill while they are shooting on 

 a level. This is a very important matter when extreme 

 proportions of powder and shot are used, such as i dram to 

 3 ounces, as some use. This is not intended as a "flicker- 

 ing." It is a truthful statement of actual occurrences, and 

 devoid of exaggeration in every particular. 



E. A. Leopold. 



Noriustown, Pa., April 9. 



GAME PROTECTORS' REPORTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Fred P. Drew, Special State Fish and Game Protector, 

 has made the following annual report to the State Fish Com' 

 mission : 



To the Commissioners of Fisheries: 



Gentlemen — In submitting for your consideration my 

 second annual report, 1 am reminded that the protection of 

 game and fish, like the stocking of our lakes and streams, 

 dees not in a single season display all the results that might 

 be hoped for or which a later examination may develop. 



My duties, as you are aware, have been largely of special 

 and detective nature, and a great part of my services have 

 been rendered pursuant to the orders of the Commissioners 

 outside of the district to which 1 was assigned. The in- 

 formation I have obtained on special trips has been mostly 

 of a kind that could not be made public without detriment 

 to the objects in view, and therefore will not be recapitu- 

 lated in this report, having already been communicated to 

 you either in verbal or written form. I have, nevertheless, 

 rendered some important service in my district, and especially 

 in the counties of Broome, Cortland and Otsego, localities in 

 which, till very lately, the game laws have been a dead letter. 



Five suits successfully prosecuted in Broome county, for 

 spearing fish in the Susquehanna River, resulted in securing 

 a pretty general observance of the law in that county. 



In the fourth district for violation of the first section of 

 the game laws 1 commenced proceedings in county court, 

 which were promptly settled by the defendant pleading 

 guilty and paying the penalty and costs to the district 

 attorney. 



A suit is pending in Oortlandt county for pollution of 

 public waters, the effect of which, it is hoped will tend to 

 check this most injurious and too-long-tolerated practice. In 

 the county of Otsego I have endeavored to make a very 

 thorough examination into all offenses that have been re- 

 ported to me and have begun eleven suits for violations of 

 the law, in all of which I think the testimony is sufficient to 

 warrant an affirmative verdict. I have also virtually secured 

 sufficient evidence in several other cases of violations of the 

 law in the same county, which will be placed in the hands 

 of the district attorney at an early date. I have seized a 

 number of nets in Schuyler Lake which are now in the hands 

 of the sheriff and have suits pending against some of the 

 owners. Here permit me to say that if the officers in every 

 county in the State would emulate the example of the sheriff 

 and district attorney of this county, violations of the game 

 laws would be less frequent and the duties of a protector less 

 arduous. 



I have also suits pending in the tenth district which, I am 

 informed, will not be contested by defendants. 



Early in the season, with Protector Schwartz, of the fif- 

 teenth district, I took from the St. Lawrence River two large 

 nets, which we burned at Clayton. 



The difficulties principally in the way of enforcing the 

 game laws 1 find to be, in my experience, a lack of interest 

 in many localities, or a laxity of public opinion. There is 

 also need of more active and courageous co-operation of those 

 interested in the maintenance of the game laws, whereby 

 the hands of the officials may be upheld in the discharge of 

 their duties. Too much is often expected of the officers and 

 thej' are often censured for not doing what is not in their 

 power to do with their limited allowance for traveling ex- 

 penses. Wherever the public sentiment is sound the obstacles 

 to enforcement are no longer formidable. Where there are 

 good game protective associations acting in practical and 

 hearty co-operation with the officers, there are but few vio- 

 lations, but when from indifference or fear, or a corrupt self- 

 interest, they will not assist, the best efforts of the protectors 

 are often without avail. 



In reviewing the results of my labors during the past year 

 I find much tG encourage all who are interested in the pro- 

 pagation and protection of fish and game. Public opinion 

 is slowly but surely awakening in favor of protection. A 

 number of protective associations have been organized and 

 evince a strong desire to advance every effort in behalf of a 

 rigid enforcement of the laws. 



The amendments to the game laws which were passed at 

 the last session of the Legislature respecting brook trout 

 meet with general approval. The same may be said regard- 

 ing the anti-hounding law for the protection of deer. There 

 are a large number of sportsmen in this district who have 



