86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 19, 1891. 



LARAMIE GUN CLUB. 



LARAMIE, Wyo.— Editor Forest and Stream: The 

 Laramie Gun Club held ita annual meeting on the 

 evening of Feb. 3, which was fully attended. The officers 

 elected for the ensuing year were as follows: For Pres., 

 C. S. Greenbaum; Vice-Pres., C. Settele; Sec. and Trea?., 

 EdGreenbaum; Captain, Gu3 Sigwart; Trustees — L. C. 

 Hanks, John Davis, Wm. Breitenstein. 



From a report made by the secretary I extract the fol- 

 lowing remarks showing what we are doing: 



"The members of the club have manifested great inter- 

 est ia the immediate affairs of our organization as well as 

 other matters pertaining to field sports in general, and it 

 gives me pleasure to say that the Laramie Gmi Club is 

 using in every direction toward the proper protection of 

 game and fish, and is meeting with encouragement and 

 success. The club has, during the past year, grown rap- 

 idly in membership, and with the increased influence that 

 follows, we confidently hope for still greater activity 

 against the unlawful slaughter of our game and fish, and 

 I would respectfully urge upon each individual member 

 the importance of promptly reporting any and every in- 

 fraction of the game laws that may come to his notice. 

 Your secretary is at all times in communication with the 

 Eocky Mountain Sportsman's Association, and any matter 

 of this kind beyond om- immediate jurisdiction could be 

 placed in the hands of said Association, when it will meet 

 with proper investigation and action. 



"The natural conditions that obtain in the immediate 

 vicinity of this city have long been well adapted to the 

 propagation of quail and , while the matter has been dis- 

 cussed from time to time for several .years by sportsmen 

 and others, it has remained for this club to take definite 

 steps in the matter. The amount that this club will 

 appropriate for this purpose will rest with your incoming 

 board of trustees, and I would suggest tliat the sum be as 

 large as the state of the treasury will admit. This, how- 

 ever, is not a question that concerns only the members 

 of our club but must be of interest to all ' sportsmen in 

 this vicinity, and every lover of gun and dog is cordially 

 invited to co-operate with us in the effort to permanentJy 

 stock our valleys and fields with that gamiest of all 

 game birds, the American Bob White. Many of the 

 ranchmen along the Big and Little Laramie rivers, and 

 in the Centennial valley, take great interest in this matter 

 and have pledged us their hearty support, both in intro- 

 ducing and protecting the birds. 



"Many of our streams, lakes and ponds are now favor- 

 ite feeding and resting places for duck, geese and other 

 aquatic game birds, and it has been suggested that these 

 feeding groimds might be greatly improved by planting 

 in favorable places wild rice. This matter has been dis- 

 cussed by many of our members and has met with such 

 liberal responses and so much encouragement that I 

 would heartily recommeud its early and favorable con- 

 sideration by your incoming board of trustees."' S. 



MAINE GAME LAW. 



] PORTLAND, Me., Feb. 7— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The following dispatch appeared in a Portland paper 

 of to-day: 



Calais, Feb. 6.— Close upon the outbreak of the Sioux in the 

 West tbere follows an outbreak of the Pa.ssamaquoddy Indians 

 in the East, and Wasbington county is the scime of lIir conflict. 

 Indians at war in both cases but with weapons altogether differ- 

 ent. In the West the stiu'dy braves have donned the war paint 

 and feathers, have "'loaded up" on fire water, have takeu t he ti ail 

 and demand gore. Tliere is a savage, bloody war. The Passa.- 

 maquoddy Indians have adopted other tactics. They have de- 

 clared war, grim-visaged war, but it is a legal war. They have 

 climbed up the ladder "f civDizalion several steps higher than 

 their brethren in the Wesi and propose to marshal their forces 

 in battle array in the arena of the courts of the law. Hostilities 

 have actually begun. The cause of this outbreak is the attempted 

 enforcement of the fish and game law on the Indians at Peter 

 Dana's Point. 30 miles from this city. Game Warden French, of 

 Calais, has arrested two Indians, Peter Newell and Joseph 

 Gabriel for "the unlawful iiilling of deer." They were brougnt 

 before Justice David Dresser, at Princeton, Feb. 3, found guilty 

 and bound over to the Supreme Jtidicial Court to be hoiden in 

 this city in April next. Their defense is truly an ingenious one 

 and they base It on very solid foundations. They eliu'm that they 

 have the right to fish and hunt whenever and wherever 1 hey 

 please, the fish and game law to the contrary notwithstanding. 



An interesting question thus arises. Are the ludians amen- 

 able to our game laws? The Indian confidently asserts that he is 

 not, and it cannot be denied that he presents cogent reasons for 

 bis claim. It is none other than a right derived from treaties. In 

 1725, again in 1737 and finally in 1794 the Commonwealth of Massa- 

 chusetts granted to this same tribe of Passamaquoddy Indians by 

 bounden and solemn treaty the right to hunt and fisli forever. 

 These treaties, the Indians say, neither the Legislature nor the 

 courts have a right to vary, treaties which were made with them 

 by Commissioners of Massachusetts before Maine became a State 

 were not only ratified by the new State, but it was a part of the 

 agreement in the act of separation that "the rights of the ludians 

 by treaty and otherwise should be protected." This treaty, the 

 Indians claim, is to be considered like any other treaty as the 

 supreme law of the State, and any act of the Legislature that coq- 

 llicts with it is null and void. 



At any rate they propose to test it and confidently appeal to the 

 courts for redress of what they consider wrongs done them by the 

 game laws. Thoy have appealed to the Legislature again and 

 again, but to no purpose. They now seek the domain of the law 

 for vindication and propose to fight it Out on that line. 



This much is sure, the Passamaquoddy tribe is stirred up to its 

 very foundations. 



This question has excited a lively interest in this city. Many 

 of our prominent citizens have volunteered their aid and counsel 

 to the Indians, and the case will be presented at the next session 

 of the Supreme Judicial Court in April. 



This shows one of the devices which our Conunission- 

 ers have put up against them, When the Legislature is 

 in session it requtres all the care of those interested in the 

 game to prevent tinkering with the present code. I have 

 no doubt the present stir is at the instigation of savages 

 who are not Indians. Last year the governor of these 

 Indians and some sixteen of his tribe with a lot of dogs 

 were scared away from Clift'ord Lake by wardens French 

 and Pennell, but they left only because they believed 

 these two were supported by a large force. It has been a 

 favorite excuse of the Darling crowd at Nicatowis when 

 accused of dogging to accuse the Indians, and the ludians 

 in turn have learned to lay the blame over on their white 

 neighbors. 



The plan proposed by the Commissioners to open Sep- 

 tember or a part of it on deer is doubtless a concession m 

 hopes of avoidingiother trouble, but if this is done the 

 deer will be slaughtered under jacks worse than now, for 

 the line between the middle of August and the middle of 

 September won't be drawn very fine. One day last 

 August I stayed over night in a camp on the Megalloway 

 not far from Lincoln Lake. During the night one of the 

 guides came in with some meat. Knowing him well, I 

 inquired if that animal was killed in Maine or New 

 Hampshire, and his characteristic reply was, "I ain't 



studied geography sence 1 was big enough to lug a gun." 

 Very few of them remember how to count, either. 



As a great class, the guides in Maine observe the close 

 season, having learned it to be for their interest. 



It is a fact that the killing of deer this year has been, 

 even in the oj^en season, remarkable. To my certain 

 knowledge, a taxidermist of this city has receivpd 80 

 heads to mount since November. A mounted buck's head 

 is now in this city one of the most common ofiiceor library 

 ornaments, and a good many of them have come from 

 Nicatowis. Six were brought here in one lot, but strange 

 to say only two of those heads were mounted here, and 

 all but one of the carcasses were bought by a prominent 

 beef dealer who has close connection with the Boston 

 market, none of the meat was ofl'ered for s,ile here. 



There has been a shrewd guess that the meat was 

 brought down to accommodate Brother Darling, It was 

 averred that these deer were all shot by one party within 

 a week, but some of the meat was fly-blown, and that 

 isn't usual in November or late October in Maine. 



I should not have troubled you with so long and 

 rambling a letter were I not in such hearty sympathy 

 with your eft'orts to create healthy public sentiment with 

 reference to the game laws. We haven't any too much 

 protection now, and with what we have the deer will be 

 driven out, sooner or later, at the present rate. D. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111.. Feb. IB.— The Illinois State Sports- 

 men's Association in pow-wow assembled met at 

 the Sherman House yesterday at 8 P. M. About a dozen, 

 or a dozen and a half, or two dozen members were pres- 

 ent. Dr. N. Rowe, president of the Association, was in 

 the chair. General discussion of the present game law 

 and its weak and strong points took place, in which Dr. 

 Bartlett, of the State Fish Commission, and Ool. E. S. 

 Bond, representative of the South Water street game 

 dealers, took part. Mr. Donald, ex-president of the Asso- 

 ciation, did not like tlie law, which his own experience 

 had taught hiui to be hard to enfoice. Mr. Low compli- 

 mented Mr. Donald on being so earnest and personally 

 unselfish in his efl'orts to have the law enforced. Mr. Ot'- 

 gan poiuted out certain flaws in the bill. The general drift 

 of opinion was that the law was not such a very bad one, 

 except in its executive features. The suggestion came up 

 that the Fish Commissioners could attend also to tiie en- 

 forcement of the game laws, using their deputies for that 

 work. Dr. Bartlett pledged himself to assume this labor 

 if necesBury. We may haz,ard a guess that this was a 

 most unpleasant pledge to Dr. Bartlett, who knows very 

 well that the Fish Commission has more work now than 

 it can attend to properly, and that to add to such labor 

 would be to half do two things, one of which may in time 

 be very well done as it is. In this matter, if one didn't 

 in the least care what he said, the Illinois State Sports- 

 men's Association may be said to have acted with the 

 greatest delicacy and tact. It by its officer says to Dr. 

 Bartlett, "We want you to show your hand. You are 

 either wid us, or agin us; see? Now we want to join you 

 — join with you; see? We want to join the State Associ- 

 ation to the Fish Commission, and ha,ve tlie Fish Com- 

 mission do all the work, which we can't do and never 

 have done, and never will do; sec? And if you don't do 

 this, and don't come out and show your hand, we will go 

 and do something aw/ul! We will take our infloo'nce 

 away, and go off by ourselves and protect things: see?" 



Dr. Bartlett saw the terribleness of allthis. He {pledged 

 himself all right, and pledged himself to a mistaken 

 measure. It is time to talk of such a union as the above 

 when appropriations are large enough for a single work, 

 let alone a double and different work. However, it is 

 probable that nothing will come of it, and meantime it 

 ill becomes the writer to be too critical beyond tlie ex- 

 tent of a personal belief, lest a too oft-reijeated fling 

 might lend ground to the acccusation that he was casting 

 doubt upon the wisdom, energy and executive ability of 

 the Illinois State Sportsmen's Association as practical 

 game protectors; which may heaven forbid! 



There are said to be between forty and fifty measures 

 pending in the present session of the Legislature bearing 

 on changes of the game law, but the meeting thought a 

 few more wouldn't htirt. provided they were not violent. 

 These changes will be discussed at the meeting of the 

 legislative committee next Tuesday. The prairie chicken 

 law wiU doubtless be changed back to Sept. 1, but the 

 selling season will be left as it is, opening Oct. 1. Amend- 

 ments will also be proposed to secure police powers for 

 game wardens, and perhaps to levy a gun tax, fifty cents 

 per gun, to raise a fund to enforce the game laws. Per- 

 haps the latter will be made a law in Illinois, and then 

 again perhaps it may not. 



The old legislative committee consisted of Mr. Wolfred 

 N. Low, Chairman: Messrs. R. B. Organ, H. D. Nicholls, 

 F. C, Donald, W. L. Pierce, Chas. Kern, C. E. Felton and 

 Dr. Rowe, ex-officio. To these names were added those 

 of Dr. S. P. Bartlett, of the Fish Commission, Messrs. M. 

 R. Bortree and F. S. Baird, of the Fox River Association, 

 and Col. E. S. Bond and G. W. Barnett, of South Water 

 street. There are good men on that committee, repre- 

 senting difirerent interests which have some strength each 

 of its own, and they ought to be able to do better work 

 than was ever done before by the State Association. That 

 the association shows itself disposed to treat with the 

 South Water street dealers, and that the latter are willing 

 to come half way, is a matter of congratulation. If we 

 may mix our metaphor a little, we may say that viewed 

 in the light of the hard bi-ass tacks of practical results, 

 the State Sportsmen's Association hasn't much to show by 

 way of laws improved or laws enforced, while the game 

 dealers have always got their measures through j ust about 

 the way they wanted them. It is always very well to be 

 friendly with the people who show themselves possessed 

 of the liighly desirable ability to get there. This alliance 

 may last, as the game dealers say they don't ca,re to have 

 the law changed much now. 



It was over the South Water street matters that soi»e 

 of the spiciest of the talk at this meeting happened. Old 

 Col. Bond is as well posted a man on game law matters 

 as anybody and he is wise in his day and generation; 

 Mr. Wolfred N. Low is also level-headed some. These 

 two had a little tilt. Col. Bond said the game laws of 

 Blinois had not been violated. He had received no ille- 

 gal game from Illinois. Mr. Low asked how he could teU 

 the difference between illegal Ilhnois birds and birds 

 legally shipped from other States. Mr. Organ said he 

 couldn't see how the Colonel ioould do this unless they 



were all tagged when sliipped. This brought up the funda- 

 mental weakness of all our game laws, viz., their non- 

 uniformity. Col. Bond, however, insisted that the laws 

 had been respected in Illinois, Nebraska and other States. 

 (It may be that the era of protection is at hand, for that 

 the practical extermination of our game birds is setting 

 the reckless phooters to thinking, so chat the necessity of 

 protection is becoming better known and acknowledged.) 

 Col. Bond also thought the selling season was about right, 

 he wouldn't want it shortened. He would not care to see 

 spring shooting abolished. More ducks were killed in 

 the fall by far. His books showed the ratio to be 6 to 8 

 ducks shipped in the fall to 1 in the spring. Ducks in the 

 spring might be in very good condition. The best ducks 

 of the year he usually got in January. Better prohibit 

 fall shooting. Mr. Low said he would like to st-e the law 

 have a clause allowing only 10 days lapse after the close 

 of the season, after that lo'days no game whatever, Ilh- 

 nois or foreign, to be sold in Illinois. Would Col. I3ond 

 agree to that? Col. Bond wotild not. The markets of 

 Boston, New York and all around us would be selling 

 game and we might as well also, he thought. ''Then you 

 admit that our laAv as it stands is only an incentive and 

 stimulus for the selling and shipping of illegal game, 

 which cannot be detected?" The Colonel took a chew of 

 tobacco. 



"I would like to ask you another oiuestioh, Col. Bond," 

 said Mr. Low, "How many of the quails received by you 

 are trapped quails and not shot?" 



Col. Bond— "I shotild think about one-third of the 

 quails we handle have no shot marks on them." 



Mr. Organ— "I believe it is nearer two-tkirds. I buy 

 a good many quails for family use, and a quail with shot 

 marks on it is the very rare exception if you get it on 

 South Water street. It is easier to trap theni." 



Mr. Low said he wanted the game laws to reach the 

 game dealers on South Water street, vvho did the worst of 

 the work and held out the temptations for illegal shooting. 

 He would rather catch them than the poor devil on the 

 marsh, perhaps with a sick wife on his hands and anxious 

 to make a few dollars. He had heard Col. Bond had sent 

 out a circular inviting shipments of game at any and all 

 seasons, legal or otherwise. Mr. Organ also had under- 

 stood that the circular wanted all the game at all seasons. 

 Col. Bond replied that this was not true, that he invited 

 shipments only for the legal season. Later on he fur- 

 nished to this paper one of these circulars, which reads as 

 follows: 



Dear Sir— As the game season will soon open we iuciose our 

 annual circular letter to let yuit know that we are yet in business 

 and will be ready to handle your same as usual, and will give 

 your shipments prompt and personal attention. The bite decision 

 of the Supreme Court of the United States in rlie towa whisky 

 case has practically wiped out that section of the game law^ of the 

 followine States, viz.. Nebraska, Dakota, iMinnesoia, Iowm, Wi.s- 

 consi", Mich'gau and Arlsansas prohibiting shipments of game 

 outside the State. The Court holds that States have no riglit to 

 pass laws interfering with commerce between States, and that 

 this povver rests entirely with Congress. We Oiirik > on will have 

 no trouble in shipping game this season, as express ftunprniios and 

 railroads fully understand the effect of t) is decision. Our game 

 season opens on ducks Sept. 15; venison and wild tiirkejs, Sept. 1, 

 am' grouse, partridges and qirail, Oct. 1. Write if you want 'ag.?. 

 Yours truly, Bond & Wnia'COMn. 



Mr. Low said he had been informed that Col. Bond and 

 his fellow dealers probably knew something about the 

 disappearance of a witness against Fred Smith, accused 

 of selling illegal game, and he heard that Col. Bond 

 headed a fund to aid Smith in defending that case. Col. 

 Bond denied both charges promptly, and said he would 

 head a fund for just the opposite purp'ise, and would 

 pledge the game dealers to give $5 toward the protection 

 of game where the Illinois Sportsmen's Association gave 

 $1. In regard to an alleged alliance of the dealers with 

 the Humane Society, Mr. Lowe said he supposed that was 

 because both the dealers anil the society were anxious to 

 preserve the game as food for the dear people. Col. Bond 

 grimly acquiesced. In other words, the game dealers are 

 better wire-workers. They can claim at least one element 

 as an ally, if necessary, when they cooje before the 

 Legislatm-e, and unite with the htimanitarians who are 

 pushing the anti-pigeon shooting law. In this is an addi- 

 tional cause for respect for the South Water street men 

 in game law matters, and additional cauee for congratu- 

 lation if an actual friendship, and not a formal one, lias 

 been arranged between the State Sportsmen's Association 

 and the game dealers. Both sides protested that the 

 former was the case, and white-winged peace brooded 

 with one wing on the Sherman House and one on South 

 Water street by the river. 



Contrary to expectation, very little was said or done 

 relative to the anti-pigeon shooting law, but that will 

 come up in committee work later on. 



This meeting showed an earnestness which is commend- 

 able. The State Association has men in it, Fred Donald 

 and Wolfred Low, for instance, who have given their own 

 time and money pretty freely to a work which is thank- 

 less enough, and whose deficiences it is far easier to laugh 

 at than to correct. The fact remains, however, that the 

 State Association as a body is not really interested in this 

 work. As a body it will not raise a dollar for the work. 

 All its energy lies in afew individuals. Asa body, there- 

 fore, let it not vaunt itself overmuch in game prtDtection, 

 It will be wisest to admit a weakness that really exists, to 

 smile good humoredly at its own faults, and to seek first 

 to better its condition by diplomacy and compromise 

 i-ather than by bluff and swagger. If it can really unite 

 with South Water street, on a basis which wiU not leave 

 the dealers snubbed and slighted, and if it can keep up 

 this alliance and not let it go to pices as the earlier one 

 did, the matter of game protection may yet gain weight 

 in actual results. The time will soon be ripe for that. 

 The game must nearly disappear before the people realize 

 it needs protection. Just at present both sides of the 

 "alliance" agree that no new law is needed, and that only 

 the enforcing features of the present one need improve- 

 ment. Mr. S. F. Baird indited chiefly the present law. It 

 is a good law. It is a very good law. It is an almighty good 

 law. It is, so to speak, a corker, a screamer, hkewise a 

 daisy and a dandy. It is just as good as a gun without a , 

 firing-pin. And not one iota better. ; 



By the way, the folks were talking so hard they over- ' 

 looked one thing they might have done and should have 

 done, as being one thing they actually could do to better 

 game protection in Chicago. That complacent individual 

 Brusewitz, by the grace of Fifer game warden to the 

 county of Cook, was called a real naughty man, but no 

 one knows anything definite about a petition for his re- 

 moval. Let us abide in hope that when the legislative 

 committee go to Springfiield they will humbly request ! 



