Mabch 81, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



The proclamation giving the snake the "right to life, 

 liberty and the pursuit of field mice," may interfere some- 

 what with the vested rights of the field mouse to pursue 

 his usual avocations, but it is doubtless founded upon the 

 correct theory. Conceding as much, do we not find our- 

 selves in a rather anomalous position? We must inter- 

 fere and abrogate the penalty of death inflicted by the 

 strong upon the weak in the lower orders of life so far as 

 we can, or just keep hands off and let nature take her 

 course absolutely and without any limitations, with the 

 chances decidedly in favor of the snakes, hawks, sharks, 

 cougars, skunks and others of the enviable "four 

 hundred," the elect as it were. 



If "Coahoma's" intentions were peaceable, why was 

 that Marlin carbine "conveniently hanging to his saddle" 

 at the time when he observed the eagle rending the fish 

 on the bank of Flower Lake. We are informed that the 

 Marlin was for duck, squirrel or rabbit and not intended 

 as a disturbing element where "Coahoma's" own appetite 

 was not concerned. This raises another question, viz. : 

 If "Coahoma" or his family was not hungry he certainly 

 had no right to compass the lives of any of these 

 creatures, If hunger required the sacrifice of life then he 

 must disclaim any element of sport in connection with 

 the transaction and concede that he was pot-hunting 

 'hunting for the pot), for when one takes the life of a 

 reature to appease the cravings of a hungry stomach he 

 nno more entitled to call it sport than the farmer would 

 jave to speak of the sport of killing a fat hog or cow. 

 Jnderstand, "Coahoma," you are no more guilty than 

 myself or any other sportsman; it is the proposition we 

 nave in hand, not the individual. If sport is "that which 

 diverts and makes merry," then the sportsman's anxiety 

 about the welfare of his family must be modified even if 

 they are out of meat. 



Many perplexing questions follow each other when we 

 pause to consider tnis question. For example: Are the 

 protective laws of our country enacted in the interest of 

 the game itself or only that we may be in at more deaths, 

 on the same principle that the farmer by the sweat of his 

 brow looks after the increase of his herds and flocks? 

 Does the taint of barbarism still stick to us that we should 

 find the greatest of our pleasures in the sorrows and 

 sufferings of other life? However, I will venture the 

 assertion that no thoughtful sportsman ever took the life 

 of fish, flesh or fowl without experiencing a sort of prick- 

 ing sensation at his heart; a remorse born of the con- 

 sciousness of guilt. 



But, Mr. Editor, will you or kind-hearted "Coahoma" 

 please tell us where we, as sportsmen, are at? 



S. H. Greene. 



Portland, Oregon, March 14. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correspondent.'] 

 A Game Pocket. 



A gentleman who wishes to be known as "W. W. W." 

 very kindly writes as follows from Mandan, N. D., and I 

 know his letter will be read with interest by many who 

 do not often meet with such generosity of purpose: 



' 'Being a sportsman and good reader of Forest and 

 Stream, and therefore unselfish, I would like to share 

 my game pocket with yourself or any of your friends who 

 may stray out this way the coming fall. The shooting 

 here is excellent and game of all kinds more plentiful 

 than it was six years ago, with perhaps the exception of 

 antelope. We have white-tail deer, cranes, swan, geese, 

 ducks, sharptail grouse and jack rabbits in plenty. I 

 have never seen grouse as plentiful before as they "have 

 been the past two years, and we should have lots of them 

 this coming fall as the winter so far has been very mild 

 and food easy to secure. 



"The deer are increasing every year, and will continue 

 to do so as long as the Indians are kept on the reservations 

 during the 'breaking up' of the Missouri in the spring. 

 Then is when they do the most damage to the game, as 

 the water drives the deer out of the thick brush to the 

 hills and small brush patches near the river, where they 

 can be killed easily. 



"Last spring I saw an Indian with the skins of over a 

 dozen fawn antelope which were not over three to four 

 days old when killed. All the deer the Indians (Sioux) 

 kill during the open season wouldn't keep them from 

 starvation, as they are most indifferent shots. Most of the 

 deer ground we have here is on the Missouri bottoms, and 

 there they can 'laugh and grow fat,' as it is almost an im- 

 possibility for a man to secure one by still-hunting. About 

 the only way to get a shot is at a water hole, morning or 

 evening, or to find a runway near a clearing and camp. 

 It requires a vast amount of patience, as I have found out 

 from experience, 



"By the way, as I understand it, 'still-hunting' means 

 following a runway or taking a trail and following that, 

 am I right or wrong? One evening last October I found 

 a haystack just west of a cabbage patch on the river bot- 

 toms near town, and as the stack was between two well 

 defined runways which led to and from this patch, I con- 

 cluded to 'go into camp.' I crawled up on the stack, and 

 fixing myself comfortably, waited for perhaps an hour. 

 Finally, just as it was getting dusk, I caught a glimpse of 

 something coming out of the brush. At first I didn't 

 know whether it was a fox or a deer, but as it approached 

 I saw it was an old doe, head and tail up and stepping as 

 if on eggs. She came within about 30ft. of me, and right 

 in line of the rifle. I did not dare raise the gun, as she 

 was looking right at me, and it was so near dark I couldn't 

 see the sights. She stopped opposite me and I lowered the 

 rifle a trifle and pulled the trigger. She dropped to shot 

 and I found I had struck her in shoulder, and ranging 

 back the bullet had broken her back. This was within 

 two and one-half miles of town. 



"About two or three days after this I went down to 

 the same stack one morning at 4 o'clock and at daylight 

 saw an immense wildcat making a breakfast off the 

 paunch of this deer. I shot him and he jumped around 

 for about a minute, I should judge, with a .40-65 bullet 

 hole clear through him lengthwise. 



"The climate here is "way up' and in the fall we have 

 the finest weather I ever saw anywhere. It is great 

 sport to start out after grouse here in October, as then 

 they are good, strong, swift flyers and do not have to be 

 kicked up. 



"My dog is not a very good one, that is, no prize win- 

 ner. She is just a common meat dog, of the English 

 setter type, pedigree unknown. I never owned a better 

 dog, however, for trailing wounded deer. 



\ | "I had quite a heart-rending experience last fall while 

 on a little hunting trip with a party of friends just below 

 Fort Abraham Liucoln. We all left town about an hour 

 before daylight, and as we had only six miles to go, we 

 got there in plenty time. After taking care of the teams 

 we separated, and each taking one of the many wood 

 roads running through this bottom, we started out with 

 the firm resolve of laying out some old buck the first 

 shot. I went over toward the Missouri River, where the 

 timber is more open, and about 7 o'clock, as I came to a 

 little clearing, I saw two very animated-looking white 

 things bobbing up over the rose bushes. Soon I saw more 

 than the tails, and found out they were an immense buck 

 and doe. The buck kept well in the brush, and the doe, 

 not being so wary, was hopping along out in the open. 

 They turned and came down toward me. I waited until 

 after the doe passed, as I wanted a shot at the buck; but 

 he wouldn't show himself plainly enough. Finally I cut 

 loose at the doe and down she went, only to get up again. 

 I shot her again as she jumped, and this time she stayed 

 down. At the second shot the buck ran out into a thin 

 patch of willows, and I got a shot at him as he was going 

 away from me. I don't think I hit him the first time, but 

 at the second shot he fell all in a heap and lay there kick- 

 ing, within 7oyds of me. I walked down to where the doe 

 was and bled her. Starting for the buck I was surprised 

 to see him get up and skip, and as I was in a thick tangle 

 of grapevines and brush I couldn't use the rifle at all. 

 Calling to one of the other boys who was not far away, 

 we dressed the doe; hung her up, and then started after 

 the cripple. He bled but a few drops and we never 

 found him, but found out later in the day that he ran by 

 one of the other boys, giving him three good open shots 

 at less than 50yds. , but he failed to score a hit. In the 

 course of a couple of hours I went back to where I had 

 hung up the doe, and she 'was not.' Some miserable 

 whelp from Bismark appropriated it, as there were two 

 of them on our side of the river that day. I saw them 

 while looking for the crippled deer just as they were leav- 

 ing our side of the river in a boat, but at that time I did 

 not know the deer had been stolen. Had I known it I 

 rather think they would have come back. I had no more 

 shots that day, but two of the other boys were more for- 

 tunate, each getting a fine yearling buck. That day we 

 saw ten deer in this patch of brush, and it is only about a 

 mile long by a half a mile in width. Not very large but 

 plenty thick. 



"Should either yourself or any of your friends happen 

 out this way I would be glad to put them on to the best 

 shooting. Hoping that the Forest and Stream 'rabbit 

 scheme" is working smoothly and that old Forest and 

 Stream will never grow less, I will close. Do not forget 

 me when you come this way. "W. W. W." 



STOP THE SALE OF GAME. 



A Platform Plank.— The sale of game should be forbidden at all 

 times.— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I most heartily indorse your platform, and in line with 

 this, hope the new organization, the National Game Bird 

 and Fish Association, will nail your colors to their mast- 

 head and work for the same end. 



Let the many local societies adopt these sentiments, 

 and it will not be long before such laws will be made 

 and enforced as shall stop the destruction of the many 

 thousands of game birds killed for profit. 



Last fall in Minnesota and North Dakota I heard and 

 saw enough to open wide the eyes and set to thinking 

 the most credulous sportsman. In Minnesota tons of 

 chickens and grouse were killed and shipped by market- 

 shooters and self-styled sportsmen, and sold (lawfully) 

 within the State, while there were as many more shipped 

 out of the State (unlawfully) and sold. In North Dakota 

 every man with a gun and brains enough to use it suc- 

 cessfully would kill every marketable bird he could, and 

 ship to St. Paul or Chicago, according to the state of the 

 market, it being just as easy to send to the latter place 

 as the former, although against the law of the State. 



I also found some of these self-styled sportsmen from a 

 city in an adjoining State, with dogs, tents and cook, who 

 had been out from the day the chicken season opened, 

 killing, killing, killing, and shipping out of the State to a 

 certain cold storage house, where the game would be kept 

 until it was a scarcity in the market, and then "give it to 

 their friends. " What a feast those friends must have had, 

 for they had sent up to the time of my meeting them, 

 about 1,000 chickens and grouse, and when I left, those 

 ardent, expert sportsmen were still slaughtering. 



I know of others in the East, who go to the Western 

 prairies for sport, who shoot day after day every game 

 bird they can, but they say none are wasted or lost. Why? 

 Because they stifle their consciences by sending all they 

 cannot eat to the market to be sold and use this ill-gotten 

 money toward paying their expenses. 



I was informed by a native of Dakota that he had no 

 trouble in sending his game to St. Paul or Chicago. A 

 pair of chickens now and then, handed to the express 

 messenger, changed every box or barrel to "dressed 

 poultry." Must these things go on forever? Shall railroad 

 companies and individuals continue openly to violate the 

 laws, because of the "almighty dollar?" Take from these 

 individuals and. corporations this, the only incentive, by 

 forbidding the sale of game at all seasons, and the ques- 

 tion will be promptly and most satisfactorily answered. 



Philadelphia, March 19. H. O. WILBUR. 



From the Annual Report of the Minnesota 

 Game and Fish Commissioners. 



We have the honor to lay before you the report of the 

 Board of Game and Fish Commissioners of Minnesota, for 

 the year ending Dec. 1, 1893. Since our last report was 

 made a new game code formulated by this board was pre- 

 sented to the Legislature, and with a few minor altera- 

 tions it was enacted into law, and it is now accepted as 

 the most practical and efficient game law that this State 

 or the Northwest has ever enjoyed. 



Under the provisions of this law the board appointed 

 one of its members to act for it and to be known as its 

 "Executive Agent, and who should have, all the powers 

 possessed by the board when it, the board, was not in ses- 

 sion." This was for the purpose of concentrating respon- 

 sibility and authority, and for the more efficient adminis- 

 tration of the law in its practical workings. The wisdom 

 of such provision has been evident from the start; the 

 department has had a head, and the work of its employes 

 has been subject to constant supervision and direction. 



The duties devolvent upon the executive agent, as rep- 

 resentative of the board, have been voluminous and have 

 required almost his entire attention. To one not familiar 

 with work of this kind it would seem as though there 

 could not be such a vast amount of work. But when one 

 is conversant with the detail required to intelligently ad- 

 minister the duties of the office, it at once becomes evi*- 

 dent that this has assumed a department of itself, and is 

 one of no little responsibility. 



This board has not looked at the subject of the protec- 

 tion of the game and fish of the State from simply a 

 sportsman's point of view; but we have considered it 

 rather from an economic standpoint. In the bountiful 

 supply that has been provided this State of the food pro- 

 duct, as seen in the quantity of game, birds and animals, 

 and the great variety and number of fish that inhabit our 

 waters, is to be found a matter which is worthy more 

 than ordinary attention. 



The people of the State, as a whole, seem to appreciate 

 but sparingly the bountiful provision that nature has 

 made of this food supply, and the importance of it is only 

 realized by them when the supply has become exhausted. 



Our citizens who live in the section of the State known 

 as the "Park Region," are not aware of this bounty that 

 nature has provided, or if they are aware of it they seem 

 to care so little about its preservation that they give no 

 thought to any caring for it, or realizing its value to them, 

 or that it is sure to be soon exhausted, if they do not take 

 measures to protect it. They seem to be impressed with 

 the idea that it is something that will never fail, and act- 

 ing upon that impression they unwisely and indiscrimi- 

 nately slaughter it at all times and seasons; not taking 

 thought for one moment that there must surely follow 

 the inevitable result of exhaustion and extermination. 

 This was and still is to some extent the condition of affairs 

 in several sections of the State. 



It has been the aim of the board in the past to endeavor 

 to educate the people to an understanding of what the 

 ' 'laws for the preservation and protection of game and 

 fish" mean. Having this idea in view since this commis- 

 sion was organized, and working out on the lines of edu- 

 cating the people, as before stated, we are pleased to an- 

 nounce that we can see that our efforts have been success- 

 ful in a great measure, and that to-day the sentiment of a 

 vast majority of the citizens of the State is in favor of 

 propagation, preservation and protection of the birds, ani- 

 mals and fish of this State. They begin to realize what it 

 means in the way of a cheaper food product for them, and 

 their assistance in aiding our officials in the enforcement 

 of the law, has been, and is, of great value. The old idea 

 of protection, that it meant the preservation of the game 

 and fish of the State as a benefit for sportsmen alone, has, 

 in a large degree, passed a,way, and has given place to the 

 newer idea that it is for the preservation of the food sup- 

 ply and the provision of that supply for its citizens. The 

 farming element of this State are aware of what this food 

 product means to them, and our most valuable assistance 

 comes from the farmers and those living on the frontier, 

 or in sections where the game more largely abounds. 



In carrying out this new game code the State was dis- 

 tricted and a warden for each district was appointed, 

 the idea being that the warden so appointed, and re- 

 siding near the commissioner, might be more im- 

 mediately under the supervision of the board, and 

 he, the warden, might have the opportunity of con- 

 sulting with the commissioner in the pursuit of his 

 duties. We are very much pleased to refer to the work of 

 our wardens and their efforts, as having been very effect- 

 ive in greatly reducing the lawlessness respecting the 

 killing of game and fish in large quantities, as has been 

 the custom heretofore. Many of these officials have en- 

 countered extreme danger, and but for their firmness and 

 the idea that the State was behind them in all its authority, 

 they would have been unable to perform their duties and 

 secure the results that they have. These wardens were 

 required to report to the executive agent each month in 

 full, the work that they had performed during the month 

 last past, and to keep in constant communication with him 

 in reference to cases in hand. We also made use of a de- 

 tective force which we have scattered through the State, 

 and we have received the assistance of numerous citizens 

 who have made reports to this office. For obvious reasons 

 we have preferred not to embody in this report the report 

 of the wardens and the detective force and others above 

 referred to, for by these reports we have secured informa- 

 tion which we can the more readily make use of advan- 

 tageously by refraining from their publication. 



In the beginning of our work, under this new law, we 

 realized the necessity of having at our command a legal 

 adviser, who should be fully conversant with all the legal 

 requirements, and well versed in the law pertaining to 

 this especial subject. We, therefore, had a consultation 

 with the Attorney General, which resulted in our finding 

 that his office was so burdened with duties of the State, 

 that it would be practically impossible for him to give us 

 the required assistance in the prosecution of our work that 

 we deemed necessary. He, therefore, upon consultation 

 with Your Excellency, informed us, that with your con- 

 sent, we might secure the services of William Ely 

 Bramhall, an attorney of St. Paul, who had given the 

 "Game Laws" an exhaustive study, and who was probably 

 better versed and posted in all matters pertaining to this 

 subject, from a legal standpoint, than any one else of his 

 profession in this western country. We have drawn very 

 heavily upon his time and knowledge in all our work, and 

 by his counsel and aid we have been enabled to secure a 

 great deal of valuable information that we trust will 

 ultimately result very beneficially to this State. As his 

 work was largely of necessity in the cities of St. Paul and 

 Minneapolis, we secured his appointment by the County 

 Attorney of Eamsey county, as especial counsel to prose- 

 cute in Ramsey county courts, all cases of infraction of 

 the game and fish laws, that might come before these 

 courts. We are now in a position to Oarry on our work at 

 less expense in this department than we have ever been 

 before. 



The matter of game laws and the knowledge of them, 

 looked at from a legal standpoint, is a subject in itself, 

 and that it is a subject of no small import is well known, 

 when one comes to study it. 



We now have in vogue a system which we believe will 

 be invaluable to us in the future, in the apprehension of 

 those who are engaged in the wholesale slaughter of game 

 and fish and the transportation of the same out of the State. 



The use of nets in our inland waters and streams in the 

 past, has been the means of largely undoing and destroy- 

 ing the work of the fish commission in the stocking of the 



