Jan. 26, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



73 



NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION. 



The report of the proceedings of the winter conven- 

 tion of the New York State Association for tlie Protection 

 of Fish and Game at Syracuse is conchided from last 

 week. The entire report in circular form has been re- 

 printed from these pages by the Forest and Stream for 

 the Association : and individuals, clubs and associations 

 may obtain copies free of expense upon application to the 

 secretary, Mr. John B. Sage, Buffalo. The purpose of 

 supplying this reprint of the proceedings is to give local 

 clubs au opportunity to make known m tlieir respective 

 communitips the objects and character of the Association, 

 and to awaken an interest in game and fish protection. 



Tlie delegates had been requested to bring tO: tlte con- 

 vention reports on the following topics: 



1. What active protective work has your cUib done? 



2. AVhat Une of effort has been found most effective? 



3. What lias been your chief obstacle? 



4. A\"hat is the attitude of your district attorney and other officials 

 toward gaine laAv eufoi'cenieut? 



n. What can the Association do practically to help you iu your 

 efforts? 



The discussion on these lines was full of interest, a,nd 

 demonstrated anew the usefulness of the Association 

 as affording in its meetings opportunity for exchange of 



experience and suggestion. 



The Adirondacks, 



Gen. D. H. Bruce— I think it must have been observed 

 by you aU that the changes which were wrought by the 

 transformation incident to the convention, which was 

 held about a year ago, lias brought about a condition of 

 aifairs Aviiich gives every person in the State encourage- 

 ment ^\'ho desires to see better protection to fish, to 

 forestry and to game. It is evident to all and to the pub- 

 lic that unless some effective Avork shall be done in the 

 direction of preserving these three important features 

 sooner or later they must be destroyed. With all laws re- 

 jiioved game and" fish could exist but briefly. Without 

 laws for the protection of the forest the Adirondack 

 region would be speedily swept away. The people of the 

 State, I believe, at least those people who are interested 

 in the work, are looking to this Association to defend that 

 majestic region. The interest which was exhibited by 

 the attendance at the convention, the interest in the 

 meeting of the executive committee, is seconded by the 

 interest manifested here to-day. The proceedings of this 

 convention are to be watched with great interest through- 

 out tlie State. 



Our special duty, as it seems to me, is to take such 

 action as shall have force and influence upon the Legis- 

 lature during its present session to the end that if we do 

 not secure important amendments ui our favor to the 

 game laws then we shall be able to prevent such amend- 

 ments MS are to the detriment of the laws we desire to 

 have advanced. We have a strong element in this State 

 with which to contend. Already movements are being 

 made at Albany to procure legislation of the most vicious 

 kind. Bearing this in mind, as I said.before, it seems to 

 me it is more important to prevent bad legislation than to 

 exercise ourselves too strongly in an effort to procure 

 ' amenchiieiits to present laws. 



This Association not only musf let its power be felt in 

 Albany, but it needs to extend, its usefulness. It needs to 

 adopt some plan by which a thorough organization can be 

 effected in every county, and particularly is it necessary, 

 it seems to me, to awaken an interest in those people 

 whose financial interests are in the Adnondack region. It 

 is to me. as doubtless it is to all of you, a matter of deep 

 regret that so little interest is felt among the hotel men 

 and the guides of the Adnondack, I have sometimes been 

 so annoyed that I almost wished that protection were re- 

 moved from tlie Adirondack region altogether. Eecently, 

 as a member of tlie Ways and Means Committee, I sent 

 circulars to friends of mine in the Adirondacks — hotel 

 keepers aaid others, asking for contributions to the 

 Association, and yet I received no response whatever 

 from most of them. One or two sent replies that 

 were, to say the least, not satisfactory. They seem 

 to take throughout the region little or no interest 

 in the matter of preserving their game or fish 

 or forest. One of them objected to the "city and 

 country people." In reply I told him that if it were not 

 for the citj and country fjeople the Adirondacks would 

 very soon be bereft of game and fish. I speak of this in 

 the hope that something may be done to reach these 

 people, for the purpose of inducing them to organize and 

 give us the effect of their influence in the effort that is 

 being made to protect that vast region from spoliation. 



I have little more to say, little of your time to take, firr- 

 ther than to hope that in our deliberation to-day we shall 

 keep the one object of our purposes in view, that of tak- 

 ing care of the present law and protecting it from assault 

 from those who care nothing for protection beyond the 

 feeling of then- own pocketbooks. There is an element in 

 the State of New York wdiich would procure legislation 

 which would permit them to buy and sell game at all 

 times. A test law is soon to be introduced of that char- 

 acter. 



The Henderson Harbor Fish Problem. 



Mr. Tyler, of Henderson, speaking for the Jefferson 

 County Fishing Association— The subject of fish protec- 

 tion has occupied our attention for ten or twelve years. 

 Daring the long years that we have worked to secure leg- 

 islation, it has been terribly up-hill w-ork. We have an 

 organization in Watertown called tlie Jefferson Cotmty 

 Fishing Association, of which Dr. E. H. Sizer is president. 

 Whi'u tiiat organization was formed we had a power that 

 we could use. We have finally secured, in a measure, 

 protection. By that protection we have had our fishes in- 

 creased beyond calculation. It is simply ivonderfurhow 

 full the waters are to-day of bass where for years and 

 years no rnan would attempt to cast for bass. .Hender- 

 son Harlaor, as Seth Green would say, is the great bass 

 breeding ground in North America. We have had any 

 quantity of litigation. Last March we won the last suit, 

 and we have been successful in the courts above. The old 

 law covered Henderson Harbor, but this new law does 

 not; but it gives the effect of a mile limit. It is a close 

 question where tire mile limit fullv breaks off. The last 

 net pulled in Han lerson was planted in the center. This 

 was a large net. Sot't. square and 37ft. high, reaching to 

 the bottom and 6 or 8ft. from the surface. Major Pond 

 sent his men out and hauled that net after it had been in 

 four or five days, even before leaders, were fully slistped.' 

 It has cost our organization and individuals a great m'any 



hundred dollars for the seizure of that net. They would 

 get engineers to survey this territory and come before the 

 courts and swear one way or another. 



Tiien we had this difficulty to meet with— that they 

 overdo in the matter of legislation. There is legislation 

 in our waters that is imnecessary and unjust. We have 

 farmers back twenty-five mile.s wlio say to their sons: 

 "Well, let's hurry up and get our corn planted and go 

 after suckers." They drive their wagons down to the 

 lake, but they are not allowed to spear and it makes them 

 mad all over the country, and it is almost utterly impos- 

 sible to get a jury that will convict. I think that ought 

 to be changed in justice to tire people. It don't matter to 

 me whether these fish are palatable or not. Get one of 

 these men on the juiy by accident and he is fatal to us 

 every time. Nature provided tiiose fish for those very 

 people, and they ought to be aUowed to get them. We 

 have no use for them; they are a detriment to us. But we 

 cannot tolarate netting, because when they net suckers 

 they net other fish too. 



We cannot get legislation just right— we never will, 

 probably. I have been to Albany year after year — was 

 down last year— and tried to shape legislation in this 

 section. I kept up a correspondence with Gen. Sherman 

 and tried to get the best legislation possible. We are gain- 

 ing all the time. Henderson Bay is not mentioned in the 

 game law. It should be for the reason that it is a close 

 question where the net can be set hi Henderson Bay and 

 be a mile from either shore. It should be described as a 

 body of water surroundpd by the mainland and Six Horse 

 Island. If that legislation had protected Henderson Bay 

 we would have been a good many hundred dollars ahead. 



Thpre is a body of water between Borack P, int, which 

 is a point reaching across from Sackett's Harbor to Cape 

 Vincent. Senator Mullin cut this out of the law because 

 he had a couple of relatives down there who wanted to 

 set their nets. 



The river needs the bass bred on those grounds, and 

 about Henderson Island, Stony Island and Little GaUou. 

 All around these islands there"^are bass breeding grounds. 

 In July you can come on those shores and see the bottom 

 covered with bass. Oiu- bass on Lake Ontario spawn in 

 J uly. In Chamoux Bay is a point on v\diich has been 

 built a hotel by parties, a syndicate from New York and 

 Watertown. They are going before the Legislature to 

 ask to have the gi-ound now open closed. Chamoux pen- 

 pie and all the people living between Cape Vincent and 

 Dexter have been fighting our organization for years. To- 

 day the wealthiest and most influential men are for us in 

 protection. 



Then there is another injustice. I had been in corre- 

 spondence and had had personal talks with Seth Green for 

 twenty years back on this question. I know that this la-w 

 that closed the season the first day of June for bass fish- 

 ing is an injustice and imnecessary. The great, broad 

 Lake Ontario to-day is full of bass in our section, and the 

 farmers along Lake Ontario with their riparian rights 

 reaching out into the water, are not allowed to row out 

 and catch a mass of bass. Another trouble is that people 

 who are used as jurors are denied the getting of a mess of 

 fish until, as they put it, "the city people" want them. 

 Seth Green's doctrine was that Ontario was the natural 

 fishing place for the people of the whole State. 



Forest Lake Club. 



Mr. G. Hills (Hudson) — It gives me great pleasure to 

 be present at this gathering of sportsmen from ail parts of 

 the State, and if we are here for protection let us be for 

 that protection that protects, not only the game and fish, 

 but the forest trees as well. You ask what has been done 

 in the way of protection by tlie club that I represent. I 

 reply to this. I can say, as a. club nothing. Our chili was 

 not organized for this purpose, but its individual members 

 are interested in the work. Through the efforts of some 

 of its members we have had a game law passed by the Board 

 of Supervisors at its last session which makes the closed 

 season on partridges and woodcock from Dec. 1 to Sept. 

 1, on quail from Nov. 30 to Nov. 1, on rabbits andsquu-rels 

 from Dec. 31 to Sept. 1, trout from Aug. 1 to May 1. and 

 bass from Jan. 1 to Jmie 30. 



It has been said here by a gentleman that fishing for 

 suckers should be allowed. With us sucker fishing means 

 taking everything that comes into the net, and the brooks 

 that furnish the most suckers in our county happen to be 

 our best trout streams— at least, it is in the trout streams 

 that the}^ like to fish for suckers. 



We have in Columbia count}'- six men, that I know, 

 and there may be others, who himt for market and hunt 

 all the time. There are three others living in an adjoining- 

 county who hunt in this countj^ also, and who are shooting- 

 all the time and shipping to market. Now, with this new 

 law- just enacted by our supervisors prohibiting the shipping 

 to market of game, I think we can do away witii this. In 

 1891 1 kept an account of partridge and woodcock killed 

 in the county as best I could, and of the 3,500 killed, over 

 three-fourths were sold, and you can well understand how 

 a man can bring to market on the first day of September. 

 25 or 50 partridges, all killed on the first day. 



Our district attoi-ney is a young man, who, I think, will 

 stand by us at all times, and will punish without fear of 

 politics, if we will furnish the evidence. 



As to what this association can do for us, I think they 

 can do a great deal for all. First, by having it go forth 

 that the annual convention of sportsmen mean protection. 

 That a copy in brief or a number of copies of the pro- 

 ceedings of the meeting be sent to each club for distribu- 

 tion to work up the pubhc generally in favor of better 

 prqtection. 



There is not a gentleman in the room at the present time 

 who has forgotten how persistently the Forest aisD 

 Stream fought the summer shooting. At first they had 

 but few sympathizers. The majority said, let us shout in 

 the summer and winter and at ail times. AU for the 

 present but nothing for the future; but, thanks to them, 

 they stuck at it. and aroused such a feeling against it tliat 

 to-day I don't think you can find one man in twenty who 

 would favor July or August shooting imless it is the man 

 who wishes to furnish young partridges in July for hotel 

 tables. 



It has been said by legislators (and I must admit the 

 truth of the .statement) that sportsmen are generallj^ selfish 

 cranks. To a certain extent this may be so. We all ask 

 too much for our own localities. Gentlemen, to make a 

 success of this we must get together. The.re may be things 

 that I wish, but if it is not for the general good of all I 

 will not ask it. We shall have to give up some of our 

 pamcular claims to make this a success. 



I know there is a gentleman present who says. "So long 

 as they shoot ducks and snipe on Long Island in the 

 spring I must do it here." Gentlemen, we are not all liv- 

 ing for the present. There is a hereafter, and nnJess we 

 wake up and cori-ect some of the evils that we liave here, 

 spring shooting among the rest, tlie time will soon come 

 when there will be no ducks to shoot. One female duck 

 shot in the spring means ten Ipss to come back in the fall, 

 and I am told that on the Hudson ducks were shot last, 

 spring that had eggs in them all ready to deposit. Just so 

 witJr snipe. You would not think of shooting a robin or, 

 a thrush in the spring. Wliy a duck or snipe? 



I feel that one of the things that I will be pleased to 

 have .said of this convention by my children's childivn 

 would be, that "my grandfather or great-.grandfather was 

 a member of the State Association tliat planted the foun- 

 dation for the laws that have given to us the sliooting and 

 fishing privileges that we now enjoy, and the grand old 

 trees on Raquette, Blue Mountain and other lakes, where 

 we can have our camps." 



Later on we can talk over changes in the present la"w. 

 Don't ask too much. Make such changes as you can by 

 local laws and let us try the present law another year. 



Columbia county did not like shooting grouse and 

 woodcock Aug. 15, so we changed it to Sept. 1. We 

 thought black bass should not be taken May 30; we changed 

 this to June 30. We did not think it advisable to allow the 

 bunting of rabbits until Sept. 1. We don't propose to haye 

 any one shoot young parti'idge and woodcock when they 

 go for i-abbits in July. 



Monroe County Sportsmen's Club. 



Mr, IFrank J. Amsden— We have taken this position 

 that a great many violations of the law are through ig- 

 norance, the people not having a knowledge of \\ hat the 

 law is. We have taken great pains to post the people 

 on what the law is. We have codified the law and put it 

 on placards made of cloth and cardboard, and have had 

 them posted all over our section. It has had great effect. 

 Now, we have also notified all dealers in game what they 

 are liable to if they violate the law, and we ha^'e got them 

 on the anxious seat. They are extremely careful tins fall. 

 We have also notified the express companies what thej'" 

 are liable to if they offend. I have had one agent in my 

 office to get a copy of the law and know just exactly what 

 it was. The result has been that the dealers have been so 

 careful that they have bought very little game from 

 market-hunters in om- locality. We think that oirr efforts 

 have resulted in saving our game. The express companies 

 u ill not touch any game at all unless the;- know it coines 

 from outside the State. The dealers are going about in 

 the same way. We arc saving our game there at the 

 expense of distant States. 



I attended a convention of Fish Commissioners and 

 people mterested in fish at Detroit last month, where I 

 met representatiA^es from one-half the Western States. 

 They are taking verj' ad vanced steps. They are really 

 getting ahead of us. We must look out that we don't 

 take a back seat. That convention decided to recommend, 

 to the different legislatures a very stringent law on game, 

 and prohibiting exportation. 



For the encouragement of some sections that have been 

 in a weak state I w^mt to tell you some of our experience 

 in rela tion to Hemlock and Conesus lakes. They are beau- 

 tiful waters and have been great places for fishing, but 

 have been overfished. The pot-fishermen have depleted 

 the waters. Ail were hopeless of ever seeing the fishing 

 restored, but through the encouragement ot }>eople in oirr 

 section we finally prevailed on them to organize in each 

 of those localities. In both of those localities are organ- • 

 izations of cottagers and farmers — ^well organized, and 

 aU determined to stop illegal fishing. They are very 

 much encouraged in that way. 



I was just talking with my friend from Seneca county 

 and the same condition exists around Cayuga Lake, 

 Hamraondsport and Bath. An organization is to he ef" 

 fected there next week. 



My idea is that this organization with branch organiza- 

 tions all over the State, in harmony and unity, will ac- 

 complish great results. The local organization wiU affect 

 the sentiment of the locality. That sentiment comes 

 directly to bear on local legislation and fuially in Albany, 

 and by and by when we want work done in Albany, we 

 can accomplish great results. 



Glen Haven Came and Fish Protective Association 



Mr. E. D. Crosley— We were organized on March ,29, 

 1893. Om- organization consists almost entnely of men 

 who were f oi-merly in the habit of fishing illegally. We 

 made no initiation fee — charged them nothing. We 

 wanted those men. We hav-e now 105 members. We have 

 an annual due of twenty-five cents. Seven memheiB have 

 jiaid. That is our financial standing. 



I have no know led gn tliat any movement for protection 

 was made there until tliat time. We, in organizing, sent 

 committees to every locality and notified them that we 

 were going to enfoni'e the law. We aroused a formidable 

 element against us. In Borodino they organized with fifty 

 members to resist protection. The result is that we have 

 forty-seven actions commenced or actions settied, among 

 the defendants one ]ireacher and on^ deacon of the church. 

 They paid their fines like gentlemen, and to-daj^ are look- 

 ing at the matter dift'erently. We have prosecuted about 

 100 men and successfully. We have been beaten in only 

 one action, and then we happened to have some fish 

 pirates on the jury. We havp bnrn"d over 100 nets. After 

 we had been started about four weeks I went to Borodino 

 idone. I saw men run and hide. I saw w^onien run and 

 shut the door. I think th"y thought there was a demon 

 coming- there. About fom- weelcs ago Protector Pond 

 went through there. The first man he saw .shook hands 

 and said, "We are with vou." The supervisor of Boro- 

 dino voted in favor of raising- 1500 for protection. That 

 shows the change in sentiment in that localitv. 



We have several smaller orgauiz-dions. I I'lave paid my 

 expenses everywhere. It has cost me over .§700. They 

 burned my cottage and five boats on Otisco Lake. I have 

 no fault to find. The sun rises and sets just the same. 

 These smaller orgnnizanizations are of the greatest im- 

 portance — I know from practical experience. Trnxton is 

 a place where they fish illegally with nets. I went over 

 there. 1 did not know anybody, but I had not got to the 

 hotel bi'fnre several men greeted me. "You are after us 

 for fishing illegally." they said. "'We are girilty. Last 

 winter we fished illegally. Say how much we shall pay 

 and we Avill pay." I said, "Fish no more." The r'.sult is 

 that every man in TEiju<;ton is in favor of the lavr. My 



