ISO 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(March 24, 1887. 



NEW JERSEY GAME LAWS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was not a great deal surprised in looldng over my 

 morning paper recently to see that our solons at Trenton 

 were again tinkering with our game laws. Without 

 commenting on the several bills introduced I will state 

 that one bill prohibited English snipe shooting between 

 May and October. Another allowed boys under 15 years 

 to trap rabbits; another created three open seasons for 

 woodcock— July, the first 15 days in October, and from 

 November 4 to December 16. These several intelligent (?) 

 bills created no little excitement among our shooting 

 fraternity in this section. I wrote at once to our repre- 

 sentative from this district, Mr. John Pearson, a fellow 

 sportsman and shooting chum. KnoAving that his ideas 

 and mine were very similar on game protection, I had 

 but little trouble in persuading him to introduce a bill at 

 once "To prohibit spring shooting and to have a general 

 open date on all game from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 only. 

 Knowing from previous experience that the south Jersey- 

 men would "'l'aise a great kick," we had but little faith 

 in having such a bill passed. "If the bill raises too 

 many objections I will make the best compromise 1 can," 

 were John's words on leaving me. The bill went to the 

 Committee on Fisheries with recommendations of com- 

 bining the several bills suitable for different sections. 

 Inclosed please find the compromise bill as now before 

 the House. Although I cannot see the sense of dividing 

 this State in sections and having different laws for dif- 

 ferent pares, it no doubt is a great improvement on our 

 p esent law. G. L. W. 



Jbjzset City, March 21. 



The bill is as follows: 

 An Act entitled "An act to divide the counties of this 

 State into two sections, to be known as game sections, 

 and to tlx the time for shooting certain game birds 

 and animals therein." 4 



Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate aud General As- 

 sembly of the State of New Jersfey, That the several 

 counties of this State be and the same are hereby divided 

 into two sections, to be known as the northern and 

 southern game sections," 



Sec. 2. And be it enacted, That the northern game 

 section shall comprise the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hud- 

 son, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, 

 Sussex, Union and Warren; in the counties comprising 

 the northern game section as named m this act, it shall 

 be unlawful for any person or persons to take, kill, or 

 have in his, her or their possession after the same has 

 been killed, any woodcock, quail, gray squirrels or hare, 

 commonly called rabbit, except only between the fifteenth 

 day of October and the first day of December of any yeaa\ 

 under a penalty of ten dollars for each and every game 

 bird or animal so unlawfully killed, taken or had in pos- 

 session. 



Sec U. And be it enacted, That it shall be unlawful for 

 any person or persons in the counties comprising the first 

 game section in this State as named in this act, to kill, take 

 or have in their possession after the same has been killed, 

 any American pheasant or ruffed grouse, except only be- 

 tween the fifteenth day of Octobor and the first day of 

 January of any year, under a penalty of ten dollars for 

 each and every bird to taken, killed, or had in their pos- 

 session after the same has been killed. 



Sec. 4. And be it enacted. That it be unlawful for any 

 person or persons in any of the counties comprising the 

 northern game seotion of thic Slate, to take, kill, or have 

 unlawfully m their possession, any English snipe, except 

 only between the thirty-first day of August and the first 

 day of Decern oer, under a penalty of ten dollars for each 

 and every bird so taken, killed, or unlawfully had in 

 possession after the same has been killed. 



Sec. 5. And be it enacted, That the section to be known 

 as the southern game section shall comprise the counties 

 of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, 

 Gloucester, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean ana Salem; in the 

 counties comprising the southern game section as named 

 in this act, it shall ue unlawful for any person or persons 

 to take, kill, or have in his, her or their possession, any 

 American pneasant or ruffed grouse, woodcock, quail, 

 gray squirrel, or hare, commonly called rabbit, except 

 only between the fifteenth day of November and the first 

 day of January of any year, under a penalty of ten 

 dollars for each and every bird or animal so taken, kfiled, 

 or unlawfully had in possession after the same has been 

 killed. 



Sac. G. And be it enacted, That all acts and parts of 

 acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, be and 

 the same are hereby repealed, and this act shall take 

 effect immediately. 



It is possible that Middlesex and Somerset may be added 

 to the southern section. 



FACTS IN THE HARMON CASE. 



ON Sunday, June 15, 1S84, a deer was seen swimming 

 the Rnngeley Lake near the Mountain View House. 

 George M. Harmon, of New Haven, Conn., got into his 

 boat with George Thrasher (his last guide), and pursued 

 the deer, followed by several other boats. Harmon and 

 Thrasher came up Avith the deer first; Thrasher struck 

 the deer on the head with an oar, stunning him. Harmon 

 then ordered Thrasher to cut his throat, which was done. 

 The deer was then boxed up by Harmon's direction and 

 sent to Boston. To settle for the deer Harmon then 

 found Geo. D. Huntoon (who had been a warden, but 

 whose time had expired a short time before), and wanted 

 to settle for killing the deer. Huntocn objected; said he 

 had no authority for so doing. Harmon urged the mat- 

 ter; Huntoon finally said the only way to arrange it 

 would be for Harmon to go with him before a trial 

 justice and plead guilty to the offense, etc. It was 

 finally arranged that Harmon should select the day to 

 suit his convenience when he was on his way out for 

 home. Huntoon was to meet him at Phillips, go before 

 Trial Justice Butterfield, and make the complaint. This 

 was done; Harmon paid Huntoon the .$40, but no costs. 

 Some time after Huntoon paid over one-half the penalty 

 to the Ccmmi&sicntig, and by them it was paid into the 

 State Treasury where it now "is. Out of the other half 

 he paid the costs and retained the balance, under the, 

 law. 



A few weeks after this was all over, the Commissioners 

 were at Ttangeley and for the first time heard of the oc- 

 currence. It was represented to them as an aggravated 

 case; that the deer was hunted maliciously, with the in- 



tent to kill; knocked on the head in the water; its throat 

 cut ; it was then boxed and sent to Boston ; that Harmon was 

 a rich man and that if no further notice were taken of 

 the act the public would infer that rich men were per- 

 mitted to come into our State and poach at pleasure, by 



fiaying the fine when caught; in other words could buy a 

 icense to hunt, kill or destroy fish and game. This idea 

 was communicated to the Commissioners by the clerk of 

 the Mountain View House and several others. The Com- 

 missioners, anxious to do their duty in the premises, and 

 after due consideration of the case as represented to them 

 aoncluded to prosecute further, and Mr. Stillwell, on his 

 return to Bangor, wrote Huntoon (who in the meantime 

 had been appointed and qualified a fish and game warden) 

 so to do. Thereupon Mr. Huntoon consulted counsel at 

 Phillips and was instructed that the hunting and killing 

 on Sunday was an offense against the law, additional to 

 the one for which Harmon had been arraigned and plead 

 guilty; and the warden, acting upon such advice, made a 

 complaint, took a warrant from the same magistrate, 

 notified Mr. Harmon and requested him to set a day 

 when it would he convenient for him to be at Phillips 

 and have the hearing. Mr. Harmon did so, and on 

 the day so fixed came out in style with a large 

 party of ladies and gentlemen, and with counsel, ap- 

 peared before Mr. Trial Justice Butterfield, and there 



Slead a former conviction and was discharged, the 

 ustice deciding that every day in June and every Sun- 

 day in the year were close times. Up to this time, and 

 not until January, 1886, did Mr. Stillwell see Mr. Harmon, 

 and only then as adverse parties in the suit Harmon vs. 

 Stillwell and Huntoon for a malicious prosecution, begun 

 in December, 1884, and tried in January, 1886. But he 

 had seen some of the Correspondence of Harmon with 

 Huntoon of a somewhat blustering and threateiiing 

 character, in one of which is found this expression, "So 

 far as Mr. Stillwell is concerned I will find means to deal 

 with him through the next Legislature," to which Mr. 

 Stillwell in his reply to Huntoon, said: "Harmon's letter 

 is only silly brag. He has broken the law and he must 

 pay for it just the same as you would make the humblest 

 citizen of Rangeley pay. If anyone is to be. favored it 

 would be our own Maine men, who own the game and pay 

 for taking care of it. Any trouble you are threatened 

 with for doing your duty will be taken care of by the 

 Commissioners." It is probable that Mi - . Harmon saw 

 Mr. StillwelTs correspondence with Huntoon, for on Aug. 

 20, 1884, he wrote Mr. Stillwell a letter in which was the 

 following, "By the time I am through with you I will 

 try to show you that my letter to Mr. Huntoon was not 

 'brag, 1 " to which Mr. S. made no reply. 



There the case would have ended had not Mr. Harmon 

 commenced his action in Bangor against Messrs. Stillwell 

 and Huntoon, as above stated, for which, after traveling 

 from New Haven, Conn., to Bangor, and paying counsel 

 fees, etc., he recovered a judgment for damages and 

 costs of $1.25. 



Apparently not pleased with this result he again sued 

 Messrs. Stillwell and Huntoon in Farmiugton to recover 

 back the §40 he had voluntarily thrust upon Huntoon in 

 June, 1884, and a verdict was rendered two weeks since 

 against Mr. Huntoon and in favor of Mr. Stillwell. For 

 some purpose, just before the last trial, Mr. Harmon, 

 probably to make good his threats, filed chai-ges against 

 Messrs. Still well and Stanley before the Governor and 

 Council, which are to be heard the 29th inst. 



The facts, then, are: Mi 1 . Harmon violated the law by 

 hunting and killing a deer in close time, by transporting 

 a deer in close time, and also the Sunday law. He urged 

 a citizen of the State to make a complaint against him 

 for killing a deer; without arrest voluntarily went before 

 a trial justice and plead guilty v paid his fine, $40, without 

 costs, took the carcass out of "the State as a trophy of his 

 skill as a sportsman, and then comes back and cries 

 "baby," anefsues for his $40, on the ground of some ir- 

 regularity in the proceedings, and still claims to be a 

 hi°:h-toned gentleman who "has always lent his aid and 

 influence to the proper enforcement oi' the fish and game 

 laws of the State of Maine and to the propagation of fish 

 and game in the Rangeley Lake region." 



Fish and Game. 



Maixs, March 19. 



A Double Shot.— Brooklyn, N. Y.— Seeing "Antler's" 

 account of a carom on bruin, recalls to my mind the 

 double shot I once made with a rifle. Early one morning 

 F. and I started for a short row on one of the Adirondack 

 lakes, taking a .44 Ballard, which I was very anxious to 

 try at a longer range than our back yard in town 

 afforded. We saw a flock of some 15 or 20 ducks pad- 

 dling around a small pond about 300yds. ahead of us. F. 

 immediately quickened his strokes and pulled around the 

 point so as" to partly intercept the flock, but they no 

 sooner sighted us than they were off, flying along the 

 surface of the water close" into shore, fully lOC^ds. off. 

 Hastily pulling up my rifle I blazed away, with the result 

 of hearing 1 he ball go crashing through the underbrush 

 probably 20ft. over the flock. I hurriedly reloaded and 

 fired a second time. The fleck was now too far distant 

 to try it again, so F. rowed leisurely toward shore in 

 hopes of finding where the second ball had struck. We 

 hauled the canoe up on the sand beach and started to 

 examine the neighboring trees and rocks, when to our 

 surprise upon looking at an old water-soaked log. a few 

 feet from shore, we saw two shelldrakes floating side by 

 side, dead. Upon examining them we found that the 

 ball had passed through both, and the distance from 

 which they were shot was, well, I would not like to say 

 for fear I would not be credited, but it was the luckiest 

 as well as the longest shot that I ever made.— C. N. B. 



Abolish Spring Siiooting.— Allow me as a subscriber 

 and admirer of your paper to thank you for the straight- 

 forward course you are pursuing on the game questions. 

 Spring shooting in this country is supposed no longer to 

 exist. This season will show whether the law is to be 

 upheld, or whether it will be a dead letter. Our fall 

 shooting of duck last year was simply wretched, and I 

 see by your paper reports are the same in many places; 

 but it seems hard to persuade many hunters that the 

 spring shooting makes a particle of difference.— J. G. 



Atjbtjrn, N. Y.— The officers of the Auburn Gun Club 

 for 1887 are as follows: Chas. W. Tuttle, President; Geo. 

 B. Wright, Jr., Secretary; Sam'l F. Eathbun, Treasurer. 



Great South Bay.— New York, March 20.— Have just 

 returned from a trip to the Great South Bay, Long 

 Island. The brant arc there by tens of thousands, and 

 they literally fly in clouds. Geese, redheads and broad- 

 bills are also there in considerable numbers. I have it 

 from my guide, Theodore Birch, that there are more 

 brant in the bay than there have been for several years. 

 The wind being well up to the northward yesterday we 

 shot only about ten birds, mostly brant. One party, in a 

 battery, shot twenty-seven brant there day before yester- 

 day, and about a dozen yesterday, as nearly as we could 

 make out from the number that fell to his gun; he was 

 about a mile from the meadow where we were, The 

 brant, in their flight yesterday, kept well into the middle 

 of the bay, and when they saw our stool, they fell off a 

 little, but could not come in because of the wind, which 

 was too high up to the northward. When the wind 

 shifts to the eastward or westward, there will be fine 

 shooting then from the meadows. — J. W,, Jr. 



My First Quail.— It was the fourth day of November, 

 1886, and my first day out of school in the quail season. 

 The place Where I decided to go is known by the name 

 of Ridgway Swamp. It was three miles distant, and but 

 sand ail the way, but with my new gun on my shoulder, 

 and Ihe picture of a plump little Bob White in my mind, 

 I was on the bridge which crossed the swamp before I 

 knew it. I was walking around the bend in the road, 

 when I saw, not 30yds. distant, thirteen quail looking at 

 Duke, my setter dog. I stepped forward; they were off 

 like a flash, but with two loads of No. 8s after them. I 

 saw something fall, but thought that it was only a wad, 

 but on examining the huckleberry bushes, I found three 

 little Bob Whites, all dead. About noon I killed another 

 quail and two squirrels. I shot at several more bevies in 

 the afternoon, but didn't get a feather. The four quail 

 averaged 6 ; koz., the largest weighed 7oz.— George G. 

 Worstall. 



Pseudonyms. — I can sympathize with your correspond- 

 ent "Wells" in his annoyance at the appropriation of his 

 pseudonym by some other fellow. I have written over 

 various signatures for the press. Nowadays I generally 

 sign as below, but when fancy gets the better of fact, or 

 when I am foolish and "drop into poetry," I sometimes 

 put it "K." I have done with that since I have seen the 

 same signature both in your paper and the Angler. When 

 I try to write "as funny as I can," I sign otherwise, lest 

 the reader should meet the fate of Doctor Holmes's 

 servant, and I be jerked up by the police. Singularly 

 enough, I have as yet heard of no one taken with a fit on 

 this account. — Kelpie. [Why is it not a sensible way to 

 sign initials?] 



Maryland. — The law forbinding transportation of 

 game killed in Worcester county has been repealed, so 

 that the present law permits those who kill woodcock or 

 snipe to sell or ship them anywhere they choose. Prior 

 to this repeal any person could kill them, but were not 

 allowed to sell them in the city markets, where they 

 brought 25 to 35 cents each, and could find no such mar- 

 ket at home. ' The lecal delegate to the Legislature ex- 

 plains: " We thought the law operated injuriously to our 

 people and hence repealod it." Worcester county is a 

 great stronghold of pot-hunters, who ship game to Phila- 

 delphia and New York, and it is for their benefit that the 

 change has been made. 



Wkllsville, O., March 16.— A now sporting club bear- 

 ing the title of Wellsville Eecreation Club, has just been 

 organized here, and starts out with flattering prospects. 

 Its membership consists of twelve carefully selected 

 sportsmen, who propose observing all game laws them- 

 selves, and making it unpleasant for those who do not. 

 The Amateur Sporting Club of this place will work in 

 conjunction with them in protecting the game interests 

 in this section. The officers of the new club will be as 

 follows: President, Chas. H. Kelly; Vice-President, H. 

 Starrett; Secretary and Treasurer, James M. Moore.— Jo. 



The Wogden Pistols.— In a note upon the Wogden 

 pistols published a few weeks ago in your columns, I 

 omitted to state that the barrels of these weapons were 

 smooth-bored (which was to be expected) and that their 

 material was "twist," probably, as the owner said, "stub- 

 twist," a fact which was discovered by a gunsmith by 

 whom they were put in thorough repair. This furnishes 

 additional" evidence of the excellence of their construc- 

 tion. — Kelpie. 



Complaints have been made of the open violation of 

 the game act in the vicinity of Casselman on the Canada 

 Atlantic. A number of deer have been caught running 

 on the crust and are held in captivity at Casselman, while 

 a number of hounds owned there are permitted to run at 

 large and have slaughtered several deer. — Toronto Mail, 

 March 8. 



THE NEW YORK LAW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



For a number of years I have been connected with an associa- 

 tion for the protection of same and rtsh, and I am personally fond 

 of a day's outing- with either the rod or the gun. so that my sym- 

 pathies are entirely with the effort to prevent the extermination 

 of out game and lish. 



InmyopiniDn our game laws have been signally defective for 

 their indeiiniteness, unstabilicy and want of consistence. Sports- 

 men are seldom good lawyers, and many of them are entirely un- 

 educated in the oooks made by men," and it is extremely diffi- 

 cult to understand just what is permitted and what is-prohibited 

 by law, and this is particularly true of the laws passed by the last 

 session of our Legislature, and 1 have actually seen different in- 

 terpretations placed upon some of these laws in differen! numbers 

 of the Forest and Stream, and if men of the rare intelligence 

 and special training of your editors differ upon the construction 

 of the law, it must be extremely hard for the ordinary man who 

 wants a day's honest sport occasionally, to tell, for instance, 

 whether or not he would transgress the law by shooting a crow. 



Again, it is very had policy to change the close season for game 

 and fish every time the Legislature meets, for most people who de- 

 sire to respect the law have to rely largely upon their memory, 

 and when the law is changed so often they get confused about it 

 and finally get so they don't care much about knowing what it is. 

 I have heard this opinion expressed so often by guides and others 

 who kill a great deal of game that I know it is a matter of much 

 importance. 



It is Of still greater importance that the laws should be reason- 

 ably respected when they are clearly understood, and if the com- 

 munity generally do not approve the law, or think it absurd or 

 unjust, the laws are worse than useless. 



In this section of the State this seems to be the case with the 

 recent law prohibiting the hounding of deer. The sporting com- 

 munity here favor the running of deer with dogs and one could 



