A TIG. 12. 1893,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



119 



THE GAME OF VENTURA. 



Ventura, Cal. — Editor Forest and Stream: Possibly 

 very few of youi- readers have ever heard of this county, 

 situated in one comer of California, and off from the 

 great lines of travel, still it is one of the most fertile and 

 productive counties in the State, and an important factor 

 in the economy of this great commonwealth. The county 

 has a gi-eat future before it, with a variety of climate and 

 resources unequalled in this or any other State. It far 

 exceeds any other county in the amount of beans pro- 

 duced, raises oranges in some portions that rival the 

 famous fruit of Rivereide; the apricot crop each year 

 amoimts to thousands of tons; four different dryers are 

 required to cure the immense yield, and fortunes are 

 made every year by the fortunate owners of orchards. 

 The honey crop represents thousands of dollars. Not 

 least among its resources are the minerals contained 

 within its hills; its quarries of red sandstone are equal to 

 any in the State, it has mines of gold and silver, and most 

 important of all is its oil, for this is the leading oil-pro- 

 ducing county of the West, more oil being produced 

 here than in any county west of Pittsburgh; the Cali- 

 fornia Oil Co., at Santa Paula, is one of the great institu- 

 tions of the State. With over fifty mUes of sea, coast on 

 the west and the great coast range on the eastern portion, 

 any climate desirable may be obtained in a few hours' 

 travel, from the hot summers and moderately sharp, cool 

 winters of the foothills to the even, unvariable and pleas- 

 ant climate of the coast. 



In times past Ventura county has been the sportsman's 

 paradise, all kinds of game could be found here, grizzly 

 bear (it was in this county that the San Francisco Ex- 

 aminer captured the grizzly now on exhibition at Golden 

 Gate Park), deer, rabbits, quail, squirrels, doves, wild 

 ducks, geese and cranes. The ponds and sloughs along 

 the coast were filled with thou- 

 sands of ducks and geese, and a 

 wagon load as the result of a 

 day's hunt was not considered 

 an extraordinary large return. 

 Along the eastern portion of the 

 county is the Simi country, a 

 stretch of rolling valley land and 

 low foothills, covered with short 

 sage brush not much higher than 

 the knees; here were thousands 

 of quail, in bands of hundreds, 

 where capital fine sport could be 

 had with a good dog. Then came 

 the boom of '87; the great ranches 

 were bought by syndicates, and 

 subdivided into small ti'acts; set- 

 tlers flocked in; stretches of wild 

 land that had been filled with 

 quail and rabbits, were trans- 

 formed into orchards and wheat 

 fi.elds, the country became more 

 settled, and the territory in which 

 game coiild find room and shelter 

 grew more restricted; Los Ange- 

 les in the meantime became a 

 large city, and then the market- 

 hunter appeared uy^on the scene, 

 the hotels and restaurants wanted 

 game; here was his opportunity, 

 he availed himself of it, and after 

 exterminating tlie game of Los 

 Angeles county, he turned his 

 attention to this countj^ with the 

 result that he has almost done 

 for us what he has done for 

 other counties and other States— 

 nearly wiped the game from off 

 the face of the earth. Where 

 once quail and ducks could be 

 foimd in almost unnumbered 

 thousands, now only a few lone 

 stragglers can occasionally be 

 met with, awaiting the day of 



doom. But there are still portions of the county remote 

 from the railroad, and distant from the centers of popu- 

 lation where game is as plentiful as ever, and it is with 

 the purpose of preserving what game we have left and of 

 agaia restocking other portions of the county, that the 

 sportsmen's club of this place have induced the board of 

 supervisors to pass the following ordinance: 



Ordinance No. 71. — Section 3. Any person hunting quail, partridge, 

 •mid duck, or doves, in the county of Veniura, for market, shall be 

 guilty of a misdemeanor: hunting for market as used in this section, 

 IS the taking or kilhng of game at any time, with the intent to sell or 

 ship the same: provided, however, that the sale or shipment of less 

 than two dozen quail, partridge, wild duck, or doves, in any one week, 

 shall not be a violation of this section. 



Section 4. Any person found guilty of a violation of any of the pro- 

 visions of this ordmance shall be fined in a sum not l&ss than twenty 

 dollars nor more than two himdred dollars, or be imprisoned in the 

 county jail for not less than five nor more than thirty days, or be 

 punished by both such fine and imprisonment. 



If we had a iState law of similar import, the wholesale 

 and wanton slaughter of game would cease, and the game 

 would be preserved for those who hunt for sport, recrea- 

 tion and amusement. 



The game law of the State is at present in a very un- 

 satisfactory condition, having been "monkeyed with'' by 

 the lust Ijegislature, apparently in the interests of the 

 game dealers. A biU was presented at the last session, 

 which, while it contained some very excellent provisions, 

 was at the same time weighted down with two very 

 obnoxious clauses, especially to the San Francisco sports- 

 men, who claimed that it was gotten \ip in the interests 

 of the wealthy clubs. The clauses referred to was one 

 compelhng non-resident sportsmen to procure either a 

 written invitation or a countj^ hcense costing $35, and the 

 other was a clause with regard to notices posted on unin- 

 closed land. The sportsmen of San Francisco sent a 

 couple of gentlemen to Sacramento to lobby against the 

 biU, who. while they might have been splendid lawyers 

 or have rmderstood the rec[uirements of the hat ti-ade, 

 and may have been a howling success as lobbyists, were 

 certainly ignorant of the requhements of a law for the 

 protection of game, even in counties adjacent to San 

 Francisco, not to mention the more distant counties. For 

 illustration, they placed the open season for quail on 

 Sept. 1, when any one at all posted with regard to the 

 habits of quail weU knows that in most all the northern 

 and centi-al counties the quail are not more than half- 

 grown by Sept. 1, and besides the month of September is 

 too^hot in this State to work a dog on quail. They ex- 



tended the season for doves to Aug. 1, which is from one 

 month to six weeks too late all over the State, as in a 

 great many counties the doves begin to leave by the 

 middle of July. The deer law they placed at Sept. 1, a 

 time when the deer are running and not fit to eat. The 

 result has been that the boards of supervisors of the dif- 

 ferent counties have been compelled to pass county 

 ordinances to suit the climatic conditions, and the gentle- 

 men who mutilated and butchered the Emeric bill have 

 come in for no small share of censure. 



If we had a State law to suppress market-hunting, pos- 

 sibly we would have game in California in greater or less 

 quantity for all time, as the conditions here are favorable 

 for the preservation and even increase of game, for we 

 have no severe winters, and in southern California it is 

 almost perpetual summer as compared with Eastern 

 winters, and the game has merely its natural enemies to 

 contend with. 



Whether or not, in obedience to the law of the survival 

 of the fittest, the game of the world is doomed, whether 

 man can by artificial propagation and stringent laws re- 

 pair the ravages that he has wrought and maintain the 

 balance of nature, or whether all our other game wiU 

 share the fate of the buffalo, the wild pigeon and the great 

 auk, and eventually disappear, is an open question. But 

 effort ought to be made by carefully framed laws to post- 

 pone the evil day and protect the game that in every State 

 is getting too scarce. A. P. 



AN AMERICAN PROOF HOUSE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I herewith beg leave to submit to the readers of your 

 esteemed paper the following prospectus for the estab- 

 lishment of an American Proof House for systematically 

 testing firearms and ammunition. In several European 



CAMP ON CHIPPEWA POINT. 

 From an amateur photo by Mr, Anthony. 

 See issue of July 29, page 80. 



countries every sporting gun, rifle, etc., prior to its being 

 offered for sale, passes the proof house once or twice for 

 the purpose of being tested as to strength of its barrels 

 and its action. 



The management of these proof houses rests in some 

 cases directly in the hands of the State authorities or in 

 the hands of private corporations, organized and operated 

 under the rules and regulations established by statute. 



Independently.of , and in addition to these proof houses, 

 a number of European States have also established insti- 

 tutions for the purpose of testing the shooting quahties 

 and determining the ballistic merits of sporting arms, 

 gtmpowder and ammunition. 



The work of these institutions is conducted on a 

 thoroughly scientific principle, and with the aid of 

 various instnunents and apparatuses. Their main 

 object consists in serving the gunners at large, as weU as 

 the manufacturers of and dealers in the class of goods in 

 question, and it is now generally admitted that the object 

 sought in establishing these institiitions has been fully 

 realized. 



They are, without exception, purely private enterprises 

 founded and maintained with the aid of the shooting 

 fraternities of the various States. 



In spite of the fact that the shooting sport in America 

 is followed by a much greater number of men than in 

 any other country on the globe, and that as a class the 

 xlmerican gunners watch and are anxious to avail them- 

 selves of every progressive step made in the production of 

 sporting arms and ammunition, our coimtry still is with- 

 out either of the above sources of information and 

 guidance. We are in both respects dependent upon 

 Europe, and this fact is certainly not agreeable to our 

 national pride, nor in accordance with the highly 

 developed state of our home industiy. 



While the question whether we are in need of a law 

 governing the strength and trials of gim barrels, and 

 whether all our home-made gims should be tested and 

 stamped before going into the market, may still be re- 

 garded as one open for discussion, there can on the other 

 hand be no doubt that an institution devoted to a system- 

 atic and impartial testing of sporting arms and ammuni- 

 tion from a gunner's point of view, and for the benefit of 

 both the sportsman and manufacturer, is not only a 

 matter of desire, but of extreme necessity. 



Experiments made by single individuals have, as a rule, 

 only a very limited beneficial effect for the gunners in 



general. No matter how much time and pains may be 

 devoted to them, they can rarely, if ever, be brought to a 

 satisfactory issue for the simple reason that they lack a 

 uniform method of comparing the results and because the 

 latter, in the absence of the requisite scientific instru- 

 ments, are frequently misleading. 



To conduct such trials, experience and practical knowl- 

 edge must co-operate with the agents of science, namely, 

 the necessary instruments and apparatuses. 



As the result of experiments carried out systematically, 

 it has been proved in Em-ope that often a gun is blamed, 

 when, in fact, the cause for an unsatisfactory pattern or 

 peneti-ation, or both, really rests with the inferior quality 

 of the powder. Again, the powder is often pronounced 

 wanting in ballistic merits, when the real source of the 

 trouble is to be sought in the wadding, the method of 

 crimping or the primer. In a similar manner mistakes 

 will occur in determining the cause for damages 

 apparently done by the powder to the gun. 



These institutions have achieved a gratifying result in 

 another direction: Exhaustive tests have shown that the 

 shooting quality of a gun is governed largely by a proper 

 relation between the powder and shot charges, and to 

 some extent by the diameter of the^wad, and that these re- 

 lations must be established for every kind of powder. 



One of the objects of such an institution is to ascertain 

 for every gun the most advantageous method of loading 

 the shell, for which a standard rule cannot be established 

 as long as the boring of gim barrels is not uniform; as 

 long as they are made of different material and the ex- 

 pansive conditions vary; as long as the cartridge cham- 

 bers in gun barrels are of different length and the taper 

 of the barrel from the cartridge chamber to the bore 

 proper vary in sha,pe and sizes; and as long as the com- 

 bustion and the development of the gases of one powder 

 charge takes place under different conditions from that of 

 another charge from a differen 

 propulsive compound. 



The gunner can further be 

 taught by such an institution to 

 what an extent a particular 

 powder is affected by heat, cold 

 or dampness, and how these 

 detrimental effects can be neu- 

 trahzed. In short, the working 

 sphere of such an institution is 

 manifold and broad and of con- 

 stant and lasting benefit to the 

 mteUigent gunner and manufac- 

 turer. 



A few of the aims of the proof 

 house may be specified as follows: 

 1, To ascertain the merits and 

 ballistic qualities of American- 

 made sporting arms, powder, 

 ammunition, shot, etc., as com- 

 pared with similar products of 

 foreign origin, and to distinguish 

 between foreign rubbish and 

 meritorious goods. 



a. To enlighten the shooting 

 fraternity of this country on the 

 real value and merits of all new 

 improvements pertainin g to sport- 

 in g arms and on the baUistic 

 qualities of all powders offered in 

 the market. 



3. By publishing and publicly 

 discussmg the results of all tests 

 mvolving a general interest to 

 advance among American sports- 

 men a better and broader under- 

 sta.nding and knowledge on all 

 points pertaining to grmnery or 

 of a baUistic nature as far as 

 hand firearms are concerned. No 

 decision has, of course, so far 

 been arrived at as to where the 

 contemplated American proof 

 house should be located. 

 In view of the) large territory of this country, it will 

 most Ukely be found expedient to establish and maintain 

 at least two places where gunners can send their guns 

 and ammunition for trial, one in the East and one in the 

 West, both, of course to be conducted on precisely simUar 

 principles, and serving the same end. 



These proof houses are to be established with the aid 

 and for the benefit of American gunners and manufac- 

 turers and are to serve alike the gunners at lai-ge and the 

 interested trade. For this purpose an American Proof 

 House Association is to be formed, of which every pei-son 

 of reputable character can become a member. The mem- 

 bers of the association are to be divided in two classes 

 ordinary and life members. The annual fee for the 

 ordinary member is intended to be fixed at |5. Life 

 membership can be secured by those contributing $25 and 

 upward at one and the same time to the association fund. 



Membership in the association will entitle the sportsman 

 to have his gun or guns tested at the proof house for the 

 purpose of estabhshing its shooting qualities and for 

 determining the most advantageous loading of the car- 

 tridge to obtain the best results for each particular gun. 

 The only charge for such tests would be the cost of the 

 ammunition consumed. The charge for non-members to 

 be fixed hereafter by the board of directors, will be gov- 

 erned by the nature of the test desired and the amount of 

 time involved. 



Each member shaU be entitled to one vote only in aU 

 meetings of the association, and this vote can be exercised 

 by proxy. 



All gunners favoring the object herein set fortii are 

 herewith invited to have their names enrolled on the 

 membership list of the association. 



The organization of the association wiU be effected as 

 soon as the membership list numbers 100 names, or when 

 $1,000 have been subscribed to the association's fund. 

 Notice will be served on aU persons applying for member- 

 ship as to the place and date of the first general meeting 

 caUed to frame and adopt a constitution and by-laws and 

 to elect a board of directors. 



Unless and until the board of directors decide other- 

 wise, the technical management of the proof house will 

 rest m the hands of Sir. Armin Tenner, an American 

 citizen and late manager of the German Shooting 

 Association at Berlin, Germany, and for several years 

 past superintendent of the above na.med association's 

 department for tegtwg firearms and ammimition. Mr, 



