126 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[MAfeCH S, 1891. 



PENNSYLVANIA GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Westmoreland occupies a prominent place in the iiiis- 

 tory of western Pennsylvania, being the oldest county 

 ■west of the mountains, rich in coal and iron mines, gas, 

 oil and salt wells, well timbered and watered and in the 

 foremost rank as an agricultural and stock raising section. 

 Yet with all this and a population of 115,000 we still have 

 a fair supply of game and fish. Many deer are killed 

 every fall, an occasional bear is seen and the panther and 

 wildcat are familiar to our mountaineers, more partic- 

 ularly the cats. Foxes, coona, possums and smaller ver- 

 min are plentiful. Quail, ruffed grouse and rabbits are 

 quite abundant, while a good day's sport may be had with 

 the turkeys, squin-els or woodcock, though these are not 

 60 numerous. A day's trout or bass fishing may be had 

 between the rising of the sun and the setting of the same 

 with an average catch of perhaps fifty if the angler knows 

 his business. 



Our game laws are fairly well observed, and but little 

 market-hunting is done, but the fish do not escape so 

 easily I am sorry to say. Most of the illegal shooting is 

 done on Sunday by English and French who work in the 

 coal mines and stone quarries. It is to be hoped that 

 the present Legislature will amend the laws so that war- 

 dens may be appointed to j)rotect game as they now apply 

 only for the appointment of water bailiffs. 



The presence of such a variety of game (I have not 

 named all) in so thickly populated a district is undoubt- 

 edly due to the dense covers and mountain fastnesses 

 which only the genuine hunter cares to penetrate. To 

 hunt the deer or "Billy" Raccoon or "kittens" over chest- 

 mit and laurel hill ridges, the sportsman must bargain for 

 many scratches from thorns and briers, badly abraised 

 skins from climbing and crawling through immense laurel 

 thickets, plenty of stone bruises, and occassional sprains 

 or breaks; and he will also stand in need of a pocket 

 edition of Roget's "Thesaurus" to which he can refer for 

 English idioms whereby he may express his opinion of 

 the kind of a country he has been fool enough to get 

 tangled up in. Well! we were raised to all this and we 

 like it just the same as we do our "sourkraut and speck," 

 "pon-hoss" or buckwheat cakes and wild honey in the 

 winter time, not to mention "stomped" pork and beans. 



Some time I hope to give a little sketch of our club 

 whose members gather nightly around the stove in the 

 rear end of "the store" and swa.]) stories. It is a unique 

 crowd "for sure," but withal a sociable one, notwith- 

 standing diiierences as to ages, occupations and politics. 



Deacon. 



CtREENSBURG, Pa;; 



Goose Shootino on the AviKAmAB.— Hdit or Forest 

 and, Stream: In the afternoon of Dec. 30 Prof. H. W. 

 Charles and I boarded a spring wagon with our hunting 

 traps and were off for the Big Arkansas, a distance of 

 ten miles. About one mile from the river we noticed as 

 our boy driver remarked "great herds" of black Canada 

 geese feeding after the cattle in the pasture. We viewed 

 them in their majestic appearance for a little time and 

 moved on to the river. We planted our decoys on an 

 island, secreted ourselves in blinds and began to wait 

 anxiously of course for the coming of the birds we left in 

 the field. But to our disappointment, in their flight to 

 the river they managed to steer well to our left and up 

 the stream out of range. There was, however, one flock 

 of eight which passed' up between us and our decoys 

 while we were looking out to the field. We did not see 

 them as they went by until out of reach. Seeing our 

 decoys they whirled and came moving back. We fired into 

 them, dropping among our decoys two fat ones, my jiart- 

 ner killing from left barrel, second sliot and I from right 

 barrel, first shot. It was now getting too dark to shoot, 

 so we gathered our birds and plunder and made for a 

 farmer's house for all night. We made it a point to 

 engage lodging near by where we saw the geese feeding 

 the evening before, so that we could be on the grounds 

 before they came from the river in the early morning. 

 We were up early in the morning, and after breakfasting 

 hastened to the field. We had not more than staked our 

 decoys and scarcely under cover when the Canadas be- 

 gan to come in. It was a grand sight to see them move 

 so cautiously over our heads and in range. It was not 

 long until we had four lying at our feet, and by 10 o'clock 

 we were off for home with six geese and four ducks, the 

 result of four or five hours' sport.— B. F, W. (Sedgwick, 

 Kansas.) 



A Maine Game Protection Fund,— Salem, Mass., 

 March 1. — I was much pleased to see that you made a 

 note of my offer of $40 to protect the deer about my 

 favorite hunting grounds. Would it not have been well 

 to have exhorted the hundreds of sportsmen who go to 

 Maine for deer hunting to come forward like men and 

 give some substantial proof of their appreciation of the 

 game and the efforts being made by the Fish and Game 

 Commissioners of that State to protect the deer and 

 moose? In addition to the protection I am ottering the 

 deer in those six towns of Oxford county, I will be one 

 of one hundred to raise $2,500 to be offered for the con- 

 viction of those outlaws who are bent on the destniction 

 of moose and deer, the above sum to be drawn upon to 

 pay $35 on each conviction for illegally killing deer and 

 $50 for moose. Each of the one hundred persons to be 

 holden to pay such a part of the above amount as shall 

 be necessary to pay for the persons so convicted. Let us 

 hear from one hundred of the liberal-minded at once, that 

 no time may be lost. Each day means the killing of 

 more or less deer. — N. C. Locke. 



A Maine Huntee. — There appeared recently before the 

 committee on Fisheries and Game at Augusta one of the 

 most remarkable hunters living in Maine — Alexander 

 McLain, of Mattawamkeag. 67 years of age. He gave 

 his testimony for the protection of game and for the 

 enforcement* of honest law. Mr. McLain is remarkable 

 from the fact that in his experience as a hunter and guide 

 for 47 years, killing more game than any other man 

 within our borders, he has always been a still-hunter. It 

 is the boast of his life that he never dogged a deer, even 

 when the law allowed persons to slaughter game in an 

 unsportsmanlike manner. McLain always gave a deer a 

 fair chance for his life. In outwitting them he experienced 

 the real enjoyment of a true hunter. It does not require 

 much skill to put a hound on the track of a deer and then 

 to station yourself on the banks of a lake, and when the 

 dog has driven the exhausted animal into the water to 



shoot, perhaps by resting your gun over a stump. That 

 is the mode of the pot-hunter and poacher, but not of the 

 true hunter and guide that McLain is acknowledged to 

 be. For ten years he was a fish and game Avarden, and 

 has done as much to protect game as any man living in 

 Maine. He never made a dollar as a warden, but brought 

 many a poacher to justice. Mr. McLain gives the follow- 

 ing 8ta,tistics of game killed by himself: Deer 1,000, 

 moose 125, caribou 18, bear 211, wolves 52, red fox 350, 

 otter 165, black cat 125, sable 175, beaver ::i5, mink 215, 

 raccoon 42, lynx 45. And in addition thousands of musk- 

 rats and other small game. This last fall McLain killed 

 one moose, one caribou and two deer. McLain has had 

 many adventures in the woods. Once he caught an 

 Indian in a bear trap. The jaws of the trap fastened 

 about the ajikle of the Indian and held him a prisoner for 

 86 hours. The Indian's cries were heard a long distance 

 before the trap Avas reached. Five years ago he had a 

 fight with a bear which was caught in a trap. Ae he 

 intended to take up the trap he went into the Avoods with- 

 out his gun. When the trap was reached he found an 

 enormous bear fastened by one foot. The bear had just 

 got in and was ugly. McLain attempted to kill the animal 

 with a club. The clog which held the trap gave way and 

 the bear with the trap hanging to his foot made for 

 McLain, and a savage fight ensued. The bear caught 

 McLain by the arm and bit it through. His clothes were 

 torn off and occasionally a portion of the skin with them. 

 At this juncture the clog caught around a small tree, 

 a^ichoring the trap, and McLain was able to make his 

 escape. With the blood pouring out of his arm he walked 

 two miles to the riA^er, where an Indian Avas encamped. 

 His arm was partially dressed, and with the Indian and a 

 gun he started back into the woods for the bear. The 

 animal was found, but before the Indian could shoot, the 

 bear pulled his foot out of the trap, leaving his toes in 

 the jaws, and made his escape. Mr. McLain has caught 

 most all kinds of game alive. He caught a live moose 

 and sold him to Charles Welds, of Olamon for $150, to 

 whom he also sold three caribou for $175, and thirteen 

 deer for $7 each. Seventeen young bears have been 

 captured alive. Two wolves were caught in a trap and 

 an attempt made to tame them, but without avail. In 

 capturing them McLain piled brush on top of them and 

 then slipped a muzzle over their heads. He says, not- 

 withstanding his years, he is ready to put his friends on 

 the track of game, in the season, and will warrant that 

 the hunt will not be fruitless. He has guided Belfast 

 sportsmen and they are loud in his praise.— Be//asif Jotir- 

 nal. 



Nova Scotia Protective Society.— At the annual 

 meeting of the Game and Inland Fishery Protection 

 Society of Nova Scotia, held in Halifax, the president, 

 Lieut.-Col. Clerke, presided, and there were present Maj! 

 Bagot, Lieut. Macgowan, Capt. Beileau, A, M, Scott, C. 

 S. Hartington, Geo. Piers, J. G. Slevert, Robt. Clark and 

 others. A resolution was passed referring to the council 

 the question of devising some means of distributing more 

 generally over the province Kcenses to kill game so that 

 strangers coming in at different points can get them more 

 easily than under the present system. It was suggested 

 that the pursers of the steamers Yarmouth and Evange- 

 line be authorized to issue such licenses. The report of 

 the council was read and adopted. The report of Treas- 

 m-er A. M. Scott showed the year's receipts to have been 

 $463 and expenditures $335. The report of C. S. Harring- 

 ton, chief game commissioner, was most encouraging. 

 During the year one conviction for shooting moose m the 

 close season had been obtained. A close watch had been 

 kept for poaching and illegal snaring, and many snares 

 found in the woods had been destroyed by Indians and 

 others in the employ of the society. The moose have been 

 saved from the extermination which threatened him a 

 few years ago, and Nova Scotia now indeed is his princi- 

 j)al retreat on this continent. There is no doubt that 

 moose and other game are increasing in numbers, largely 

 owing to the efforts of the society. Officers and council 

 for the. year Avere elected as follows: President, Lieut.- 

 Col. Clerke; Vice-Presidents, Geoffrey Moitow and Col, 

 Ryan, R, A.; Secretary, George Piers; Treasurer, A. M. 

 Scott; Council, Mr. Macgowan, R. A.; R, G. Leckie, 

 Londonderry; J, G. Seivert, A. M. Scott, Chas. Stubbing, 

 Major Bagot, C. S. Harrington, D. W. Archibald, Sheet 

 Harbor; George Piers, John Bowers, Shelburne; Captain 

 Boileru, H. T. Jones. 



The First Deer in Forty Years.— NeAvfield, Me., 

 Feb. 3B. — Ruffed gi-ouse seem to be wintering fairly well. 

 I saw about twenty in one flock the other day and have 

 seen many smaller coveys. There are twenty-one deer 

 yarded a few miles from here, which is something un- 

 common, but Ave hope to see them plenty before many 

 years. Wilson Abbott and brother shot a buck this fall 

 close to this village, which Aveighed 125lbs. — the only one 

 shot here for some forty years. A doe with fawn was 

 found dead on one of our small lakes a few weeks ago 

 with one hindquarter gone, Ave need a game Avarden 

 badly here. I am informed that it cost two men $40 a 

 piece in the town of Porter, this State, for catching two 

 deer alive that died after , a few days captivity. Pickerel 

 fishing through the ice has been very good this winter, 

 some good catches reported. — Lo. 



Lykens, Pa., Feb, 24. — The Lykens Fish and Game 

 Protective Association has been organized. Hon. A. F. 

 Thompson, Pres. : W. S, Young, Vice-Pres. ; F, J, Dou- 

 den, Treas,; W, V. Barrett, Sec'y. Executive committee 

 to consist of president, treasurer, and three other mem- 

 bers. The object is to protect and propagate the fish and 

 game in the stream and covers. We have applied to the 

 Fish Commission for fry of rainbow and brook trout and 

 also propose stocking our woods Avith Chinese pheasants. 

 We hope, with the cooperation of similar associations 

 and all sportsmen in Dauphin county, to fill our now de- 

 pleted streams with trout and our covers with game. — 

 W. V, Barrett, Sec'y. 



The Monroe County Quail.— Rochester, N. Y. , Feb. 

 37.— The Monroe Sportsmen's Association has taken ad- 

 vantage of the recent spell of fine Aveather in this section 

 and put out all the birds on hand. The order has been 

 increased 2,000, and birds will be received all through 

 March, being sent out to the parties who are still unsup- 

 plied as soon as they arrive. This will doubtlessly save 

 many birds Avbich would die if subjected to confinement 

 after arrival here,— OsojaoLA. 



Peculiar Death of a Deer.— Metropolitan, Mich.— 

 Last Sunday I went out to look after my wolf bait, and 

 came to a small creek where two cedar poles were laid 

 down to cross on. A deer had attempted to A\-alk over 

 on them. One of his hind legs had slipped in between 

 the poles. He was unable to extricate it, lost his balance, 

 fell into the creek and perished. Its legs Avere not broken, 

 but twisted out of joint at the knee. That makes ten 

 deer that have died tln-ough natural causes in this vicin- 

 ity and coming under my personal observation within the 

 past eight months— the 3 bucks I wrote you about in De- 

 cember last, and 7 last May and June found by rivermen 

 between here and Foster City. They had attempted to cross 

 the river on a jam of logs, fell or jumped in among the 

 logs|and were unable to get out. Deer are quite plenty here 

 the present winter. The weather so far (Jan. 28) has been 

 very favorable; not very cold, and only 8 or lOin. of snow 

 in the woods. The game law is being respected in this 

 locality.— B. B. 



Snap Shots.— While out rabbit hunting with my 

 beagles King Mack and King Lead I stumbled and fell, 

 the noise flushing a ruffed grouse. Jumping to my feet 

 I shot and wounded it, but did not see it fall; the only 

 knowledge I had of hitting it Avas the usual amount of 

 small feathers flying in the air, and if it had not 

 been for King Mack, avIio trailed him up, he would have 

 been left to die a hideous death by starvation, or worse, 

 fall a prey to sly reynard or some stray skunk. A few 

 days after this I made a snap shot on another grouse, 

 and the feathers told the usual tale. He flew for over 

 40 rods, taking quite a curve, and as both of these shots 

 Avere in the woods I could not see the birds long, this 

 time King Lsad got in his work, and I heard the flutter 

 or would never have bagged him.— S. C, G. 



Stockton, Kan, — There is an abundance of quail, 

 cotton-tails, jack rabbits and prairie chickens. The latter 

 are found only in the Avestern part of the State, but as 

 there was an abundant crop of wheat which was so short 

 it could not be harvested, but which formed a good, firm 

 berry, they are wintering splendidly; and, as this whole 

 western country is practically depopulated, we may hope 

 for good sport next season. I am aorry to state that the 

 game law is wholly ignored out here, and many who pro- 

 fess to be sportsmen begin killing chickens as early as the 

 latter part of June. — A. L. T. 



Early Woodcock:.— Merid en, Conn., Feb. 34.— While 

 walking this afternoon with two friends in my back 

 yard we flushed a large AS'oodcock from a heap of old 

 ashes. He flew about four rods and then squatted in 

 under a bush. We flushed him again and he fleAv into a 

 small field by the side of my house. ■ We flushed him 

 four more times in the field and then left him. I guess 

 Ave could have kept on flushing him all night he seemed 

 so tame. Is not this a rather early bird ?— J. P, B, [It is 

 not very unusual to see woodcock here in February.] 



THE TRANSPORTATfON OF GAME. 



Editor Forest and Strmra: 



In one ot Mr. Hough's letters he quoted from a letter of Mr. E. 

 P. Bond of Chicago, 111., regarding shippiug game from a State. 

 Mr. Bond said: '^The point in question fias been passed upon by 

 courts of two or more Slates," and held "as unconstitutional on 

 the ground t hat the Legislature had no right to interfere with 

 commerce between States." 



One might be led to belisA'e that the question of unconstitution- 

 ality of a State's statute to prevent the Illegal killing for shipment 

 and the shipment of game witliin its territorial limits is not so 

 one-sided as some would have us believe. Let us examine in the 

 first place the commercial clause of the Constitution. 



The Cf^iistitution of the United States, Section VIII., Article I., 

 reads: "The Congress shall have the power: To regulate com- 

 merce with foreign nations, and among the several States and 

 with the Inflian tribes." 



I hope to show that the non- export clause of the game laws is 

 not in conflict with the Constitution. These laws (non-export) are 

 merely tlie police powers of a State to protect certain property 

 within its borders. We will now examine the evidence to show 

 that this plea has some merit. 



In Railroad Co. vs. Husen (95U. S. 4fi5) the United States Supreme 

 Court said: "While we unhesitatingly admit that a State may 

 pass sanitary laws, and laws for protection of life, liberty er prop- 

 ertywi thin its herders . . . it may not intwTere with trans- 

 portation into or through the State beyond what is absolutely 

 necessary iov its self-protection." It is "self-protection" for a 

 State to prevent the wholesale slaughter of game for export. If 

 not self-protection what is it? 



In Pierce I's. New Hampshire (5. How. 593), the United States 

 Supreme Court said: "That the police power of the States Avas re- 

 served to the States, and that it is beyond the reach of Congress; 

 but that such police power extends to articles only which, do not 

 belong to foreign commerce, or to commeice among the States, at 

 the time the police power is exercised in regard to them; and that 

 the fact of their condition is asubjecl: for judicial ascertainment." 

 "That the power to regulate commerce among tlie States may be 

 exercised by Congi-ess at pleasure, and the States cut off from 

 regulating the same commerce at the same time it stands regu- 

 lated by Congress, but that until such regulation is made by Con- 

 gress, the States may exercise the power within their respective 

 limit"." "That the law of New Hampshire was a regulation of 

 commerce among the States in regard to the article [liquor] for 

 selling of which the defendants were indicted and convicted; but 

 that the statute was constitutionally passed, because of tlie power 

 of the State thus to regulate, there beine no regulation ot Congress, 

 special or general, in existence to which the State law was repug- 



In Machine Co. vs. Gage (100 U. S. 676) the LTnited States Supreme 

 Court held that "A State statute imposing a like tax without dis- 

 criminating as to the place of growth or produce of material or 

 manufacture, was adjudged to he constitutional and valid, as 

 made in and brought from another State." 



It will be seen by the above decision of the highest court in this 

 country that the esclusiveness of the powers of Congress to regu- 

 late commerce amontr the States was somewhat restricted. 



In Woodruff rs, Parham (8 Wall. 133) the United States Supreme 

 Court held "a State statute imposing a imiform tax on all salea 

 by auction within it was constitutional as applied to sales of 

 goods the product of other States, and sold in the original and 

 unbroten packages." 



The statute in question, while not aimed at inter-State com- 

 merce, must have somea'elation to the movement of goods from 

 one State to another. While in the territorial limits of a. State that 

 State has the police power that extends to and controls the regula- 

 tion of property— not barring game. In preventing the shipping of 

 game from a State that State is simply maintaining the exercise 

 of its police power, not in conflict wit h the Constitution. In 

 Oooley rs. Board of Wardens (13 How. 22^) the United States Su- 

 preme Coui't said: "Whatev^er subjects of this power [of Congress 

 to regulate commercel are in their scope national, or admit only 

 of one uniform system or plan of regulation, may justly be said 

 to be of such a nature as to require exclusive legislation by Con- 

 gress until Congress should find it necessary to exercise its power, 

 it should be left to the legislature of the States, because it was a 

 local aud not national and was likely to be best provided for, not 

 by one system or plan or regulation, but by as many as the legis- 

 lative discretion of the scA'eral States should deem applicable to 

 the local peculiaritle;." 



The idea that shipping game f I'om a State is a national issue is 

 certainly preposterous; it is simply a local issue. According to 

 the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States It cer- 

 tainly appears that States which have statutes forbidding the 

 shipping ot game killed AA'ithin their borders are not attempting 

 to regulate commerce, but are exercising a legitimate and appro 

 priate exercise of their police power. These laws do not diaoriift 



