Forest and Stream. 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1898. \ 



For Prospectus and Advertising Rates see Page iii. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press 

 on Tuesdays. Correspondence intended for 

 publication should reach us by Mondays and 

 as much earlier as may be practicable. 



In our columns this week will be found an earnest re- 

 countal of the misfortunes of two of the brethren who 

 unintentionally violated that clause of the game laws of 

 Illinois which enjoins (we quote from the Game Laws in 

 Brief) that it shall be unlawful to hunt, kill, trap, or 

 ensnare, or otherwise destroy, any wild goose, brant, 

 duck, rail or other water fowl, between sunset of any 

 day and sunrise of the next succeeding day at any period 

 of the year, etc., etc. 



Our correspondent, in conclusion and in objection to 

 the sunrise and sunset clause, remarks: "I think that the 

 game laws are far from being correct in regard to shooting 

 before and after sunrise. If a stipulated time were given, 

 say between the hours of 6 A. M. and 6 P. M., I am sure 

 the game laws would not have been violated by us." 



It surely was mortifying to come within the action of 

 the game laws by beginning to shoot ten minutes too soon, 

 but there would be a difficulty in making a fixed time, 

 since a time which might be daylight in one part of the 

 season might be dark at some other part, and the ill effects 

 of disturbing ducks in the darkness are well known. 



Many of the States specifically legislate against night 

 shooting. The District of Columbia enjoins that no per- 

 son shall kill or shoot at any bird or wildfowl in the night 

 time. 



Missouri provides that it is unlawful to shoot or kill wild 

 ducks or geese between sunset and sunrise by means of 

 explosives of any kind. 



North Carolina is in line in regard to prohibiting night 

 shooting. Its law reads that no person shall put out de- 

 coys before sun-up or let them remain after sun-down, 

 between the 10th of November and the 20bh of March, and 

 on every Wednesday and every Saturday between the 

 10 th of November and the 20 th of March no person shall 

 put out decoys. Batteries must take up decoys at sun- 

 down and go to a landing until sun-up . 



The New Jersey law reads that it shall be unlawful for 

 any person, with intent to capture or kill geese, duck, 

 brant or other web-footed wildfowl, to hunt after or pur- 

 sue them in any manner, excepting between one hour 

 before sunrise and one hour after sunset. 



Oregon has a still more stringent law, as follows: 

 "Every person who shall at any time between one hour 

 after sunset and half an hour before sunrise fire off any 

 gun or build any fire or flash any light or powder or other 

 inflammable substance upon the margin or in the vicinity 

 of or upon any lake, pond, slough or other feeding 

 grounds frequented by wild ducks, geese, swan or oth«r 

 water fowl, with intent to thereby shoot, kill or disturb 

 any of such water fowl, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. " 

 . Minnesota prohibits all kinds of shooting on its waters 

 between dark and daylight. 



Maryland, in specifying the legal shooting days for 

 wildfowl, adds: "And each of the said days shall compre- 

 hend the time intervening between one hour before sun- 

 rise and half an hour after sunset of each day, and no 

 more, and is not to include anv part or period of a 

 night." 



"Washington prohibits the shooting of water fowl at all 

 seasons between the hours of 8 o'clock P. M. and 5 o'clock 

 A. M. 



New York declares that wildfowl shall not be killed or 

 hunted except during the hours in each day commencing 

 one hour before sunrise and terminating one hour after 

 sunset, and on Long Island the restriction of the time of 

 killing is to be between sunrise and sunset. In seeking to 

 get possession of the most desirable stands for black duck 

 shooting on the Long Island shores, a very early start is 

 necessary to secure possession before the ordinary early 

 riser seeks to occupy the stand for his own use. But 

 often the very early riser will find the stands occupied by 

 still earlier risers who are calmly camped in phlegmatic 

 possession waiting for the legal shooting hour, and caring 

 nothing for the chagrin and disappointment of their com- 

 petitor, who arrived too late. 



Probably the most novel restriction is that mentioned 

 by a correspondent as being in common use among 

 the multitude of market shooters about New Orleans, one 

 adopted by common consent and said to be commonly 

 observed — that is, the earliest morning hour for com- 

 mencing shooting is when the shooter can read the time 

 in the earliest morning, holding his watch about 24in. 

 from his face. Of course this presupposes a great deal to 

 insure proper action; first, the shooter must possess a 

 watch or have an obliging friend; second, his eyesight 

 must be unimpaired; and third, his arm must be strong 

 enough when duck shooting to hold the watch 24in. from 

 his face. 



So long as ducks fly by and shooters are ready to kill, it 

 is not an easy matter to adjust time to a nicety. The 

 shooter is not gazing at his watch or the eastern horizon 

 when there is a flock of ducks in sight or when he hears 

 the swish of wings. Probably it will remain an unsolved 

 problem as to whether the proper moment to shoot should 

 be regulated by the sun or watch, or the presence of a 

 duck within shot. There is always a possibility of a 

 struggle then 'twixt love and duty. 



MICHIGAN SPUING SHOOTING. 



The laws of Michigan in regard to the killing of wild- 

 fowl, as they now stand, read as follows: 



"No person shall kill any wild duck, wild goose, or 

 other wild water fowl or snipe, save only from the 1st day 

 of September in each year to the 1st day of January in the 

 year following; provided, that it shall be lawful to hunt 

 and kill jack-snipe, red-headed, blue-bill, canvas-back, 

 widgeon [and] pin-tail ducks and wild geese, between the 

 1st day of September in each year and the 1st day of May 

 next following." 



Spring shooting is thus forbidden so far as mallard, 

 black duck (black mallard) and teal are concerned, the 

 distinction being drawn between what are known in that 

 State as "marsh ducks," such as mallards and teal, and 

 "river ducks," i. e. canvas-back, red- head, bluebills, etc. 

 "Marsh ducks" breed in the State, whereas "river ducks" 

 move up North to nest. 



The last session of the Legislature, as we understand it, 

 witnessed a big fight that was made on behalf of those 

 who wished to prohibit spring shooting altogether within 

 the confines of the State of Michigan. The claim is made 

 by those who advocate the propriety of shooting ' 'river 

 ducks" in the spring of the year, that this fight was made 

 chiefly by sportsmen in the interior of the State who 

 were not directly interested in the sport. 



On the other hand, those who favor spring shooting 

 urge that river ducks, although present in great numbers 

 in the fall, are not killed to any great extent, the con- 

 ditions not being favorable for the sport. It is only in 

 the spring that big bags of red-heads and blue-bills are 

 made, canvasbacks being successfully pursued in very 

 few localities on account of the scarcity of that food 

 which this duck is so fond of. In the fall, the marshes, 

 overgrown with wild rice from which the seed has al- 

 ready fallen, and choked with water weeds that in many 

 instances cover the surface of the water, are not favorite 

 haunts for river ducks. 



It is in the spring, when the winter's ice has passed out, 

 carrying with it the weeds, and leaving the bottom of the 

 marsh clear of all debris, that the river ducks, on their 

 way North, stop five or six weeks to feed on the wild rice 

 that was securely hidden from them when they passed 

 South in the fall. It is then that the flocks of redheads 

 and bluebills come into the marshes, swing in to the de- 

 coys and finally find a resting place in the stomachs of a 

 Certain portion of the human race. 



Those who own marshes that abut on the shores of 

 Lake Erie, and those who rent them for the privilege of 

 shooting over them, are as a unit in favor of spring shoot- 

 ing under the conditions existing in other States, "But 

 stop spring shooting in all the States and we will fall in 

 line," say they, adding: "But if you do that, why not 

 shorten the season in the South? Why should they be al- 

 lowed to bang away all the winter at ducks that cannot 

 go anywhere else on account of the frozen North? The 

 great slaughter of ducks takes place in Southern waters, 

 not in the marshes of Michigan." 



This is the old familiar plea which is heard in one 

 State after another: "If the rest wouldn't shoot in the 

 spring we wouldn't; if they will, we shall." The problem 

 of stopping spring shooting is an involved one because of 

 that ubiquitous "if." It is simple enough to criticise the 

 plea, and to say that the sportsmen of each individual 

 State should rise to a loftier patriotism and deny them- 

 selves for the sake of others; but the hard fact remains 

 that sportsmen are human beings, and it is against human 

 nature to perch very high up among the patriotic 

 branches when ducks are flying. 



Nor does there appear to be any practicable expedient 

 by which the several localities with their individual 

 interests may be brought, to an agreement respecting 

 uniform duck shooting laws. We have had national 

 associations — national in name, but not in influence — and 

 one after another they have adopted beautifully framed 

 resolutions for the abolition of spring shooting; but in the 

 very nature of things they could not do more than this. For, 

 in the first place, there is hardly a State where the sports- 

 men themselves are agreed on the subject; and the State 

 delegate in a national convention represents only a frac- 

 tion of his own State. Again, no general recognition can 

 ever be accorded to a national sportsmen's association by 

 the legislatures of the States at large. If the problem of 

 the prohibition of spring duck shooting is ever solved, it 

 will not be by the agency of any such self-styled national 

 association. If there is a solution, where shall we find it? 



Two Connecticut gunners were climbing over a fence; 

 one of them was pulling his gun after him, muzzle fore- 

 most; the gun caught in the fence, exploded and shot the 

 man who was pulling it; then the other man endeavored 

 to extricate it, and it went oft' again, killing him. The 

 Evening Post heads its story of the occurrence a "Remark- 

 able Shooting Accident." There was nothing remarkable 

 about it. A gun pulled muzzle foremost through a fence 

 goes off as a matter of course; it would be remarkable if it 

 did not. If there are two barrels and two men to do the 

 pulling, both barrels will go off, and if it were a magazine 

 gun with six charges, all the six could be depended upon 

 to discharge and wound or kill six victims if there were so 

 many unfortunates within range. The truly remarkable 

 feature of these affairs is that so many grown-up men 

 with guns never learn to use common sense in the gun- 

 fence combination. 



Our Yellowstone correspondent sends note of the inter- 

 esting project now under way in the Park of corralling 

 the buffalo within a strongly fenced inclosure, where 

 they may be permanently restrained within an area 

 which may be protected. The practical result of this 

 undertaking will be watched with decided interest. Un- 

 der existing conditions the buffalo are diminishing at a 

 frightful rate. The difficulty of guarding the game against 

 the raids of poachers, spurred on by the rewards offered 

 for heads, is so considerable, that if the remaining herd 

 is not confined within the more restricted area, it must 

 perish at the hands of these pirates. The funds required 

 to carry out the fencing should be forthcoming. The 

 buffalo cannot be permitted to take its place among the 

 extinct mammals of the continent. 



The three Rochester sportsmen who went over into On- 

 tario to shoot game without a license, and were fined for 

 violation of the Canadian non-resident law, deserve no 

 special sympathy. They had no excuse for running into 

 the trouble. It is the business of every man who goes 

 shooting first to inform himself respecting the law. If 

 they had exercised ordinary prudence the Rochester 

 shooters might readily have ascertained that they would 

 be required to pay either license fee or penalty. Never- 

 theless the action, related elsewhere, of the hotel keeper, 

 who informed on them and pocketed his share of the 

 fines, is most fittingly to be characterized by the pungent 

 idiom common in some localities, where it would be said 

 that he had "done them dirt." 



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| [ SEE REDUCED HALF-TONES IN OUR ADVT. COLUMNS. 2 



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