Jan. 25, 1898.^ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
78 
way they came. Being alone, I dared not go to sleep, 
but got into my punt and shoved it out of sight — a tre- 
mendous labor — in the reeds on the opposite side of the 
sreek, where I remained until 2 o'clock in the morning, 
intending to take them in the rear if they returned dur^ 
ing the night to loot my tent, as I believed from their 
actions and the place's name and reputation they would 
do. I was armed with a Winchester shotgun, and even 
in the dark felt confident of killing all three from the 
position I occupied, in case of matters coming to an ex- 
change of shots. They did not come, but the next day I 
went home anyway, thinking that the presence of such 
neighbors was too rich for my blood. Besides, I was tired 
fco death of my own cooking. Being in camp alone, I 
bad to cut my own fire- wood, hunt for my food, and hav- 
ling shot, trapped or caught it, cook it myself. All these 
were labors, but the real hard trial was the eating of it. 
Having no alternative but to eat my own cooking or 
starve, I ate, but I felt all the time like a newly wed man 
whose wife has been at a cooking school. 
I enjoyed my experience greatly despite getting only 
three ducks. I could have killed many, but aB I had no 
dog, without which it was impossible to secure one out of 
ten on account of the marsh, I let them go by in flocks 
unmolested. The creek would delight the eye of an 
artist. If any of your correspondents feel like taking 
advantage of the first-rate facilities for summer and 
autumn outings in that section of the country, the Red- 
wood Lakes and Back Creek, the Rideau Lakes on the 
Canada side of the St. Lawrence, or the twenty miles of 
the St. Lawrence itself in the neighborhood of Clayton 
and Alexandria Bay, I will be glad to give him any in- 
formation in my power about it. Fifteen very happy 
Bummers passed in that section and several autumn hunt- 
ing trips have contributed to give me considerable knowl- 
edge of its secrets. Frank Laurence Donohue. 
DON'T SHOOTI 
Editor Forest and Stream; 
It is decidedly amusing to note the manifold remedies 
suggested by Forest and Stream correspondents to aug- 
ment the rapidly diminishing game supply. In all these 
suggestions laid down I read between the lines as plainly 
as ever Daniel did the handwriting on the wall, "Preserve 
the game, so I can shoot it," 
I put myself in the list when I say that probably the 
most selfish class of people on earth are the sportsmen. 
When one of us finds a good woodcock cover, grouse thicket 
or deer lick r do we at once advertise the fact? When we 
meet a friend with his gun over his shoulder, wearing a 
broad smile and a hunting coat with plethoric pockets, do 
we aBk him, "Where did you get 'em?" with any idea 
that he will answer truthfully? Certainly not; for we 
know our selfish question is only worthy of a selfish 
response. 
One man wants the game laws changed so that the open 
season will come at the time of his vacation; another 
cries, "abolish hounding;" a dozen others, backed by our 
beloved journal, shout, "stop the sale of game." A few 
wealthy ones band together and by virtue of a large out- 
lay of money block out a tract from the virgin forest for 
their very own, police it and protect it for their selfish 
purpose. States enact non-resident laws engineered by a 
few Belfish, jufluential sportsmen, prohibiting the citizens 
of other States from hunting within their borders with- 
out paying an exorbitant fee. Non-export laws prevent 
the shipping of game into other States; ana underlying 
the whole thing crops out that petty selfishness that 
makes a man blush for his kind. 
Listen to the voice of Mr. Lakey, of Kalamazoo: "How 
can we best check and in a great degree stop this hellish 
work is the main object of our National Association." 
A ad he asks "Who is it that makes up the powerful lob- 
bies in our State legislative halls? Is it the lovera of field 
and stream sports, or is it composed of those whose only 
object is self?" I don't know much about State legisla- 
tures, but it really looks as though those "whose only 
object is self" were making a big effort to get a crowd 
down to Chicago Feb. 12 and try to fix the thing to suit 
themselves, in spite of "the powerful lobbies in our State 
legislative halls." 
. The "information blank" of the "National Game, Bird 
and Fish Protective Association" is a rare addition to the 
comic literature of the day. In reading it over I am re- 
minded of the life insurance agent's question to Artemus 
AVard, "Did you ever commit suicide, and if so, how did 
it affect you?" For general irrelevance they take the 
cake. Still there are two of them I will answer according 
to my lights. "Who are the true sportsmen? What is 
their object and chief delight?" They are those who have 
fired a gun at least three times, and their object and chief 
delight consists in getting all the game they can and con- 
cealing the source of supplies from their dearest friends, 
although they have been known to give away some of 
the game they could not use. 
"Who are the pot and market-hunters? What is their 
chief object and delight?" They are exactly the same as 
the sportsmen, only poorer, and their chief object and de- 
light consists in selling their game instead of giving it 
away. 
Game legislation, like tariff legislation, is based on the 
Belfish ends of the party in power. Sportsmen should 
have nothing to do with it. No two of them think alike. 
What A. considers needful for his section B. declares 
would not do at all for his.. The growing scarcity of 
game, the increase in sportsmen and improvement in 
sporting weapons have developed an alarming state of sel- 
fishness in lovers of field sports that is rapidly eliminating 
all semblance of the old-time camaraderie that existed in 
those good old days before a network of laws made shoot- 
ing possible only to the few and made poachers out of 
honest men. 
But there is one way that game can be made to increase, 
and only one. Stopping the sale won't do it, Legislation 
won't do it. National conventions and "Information 
Blanks" won't do it. Tinkering with the game laws 
wont do it. But voluntarily to stop shooting it will. 
Now I don't advance this proposition as a feasible 
one, but it is a fact nevertheless, and just as feasible and 
much more sensible than nine-tenths of the suggestions 
printed in these pages. How many of the readers of 
Forest and Stream will recall with pleasure the series of 
articles published years ago under the heading "Hunting 
Without a Gun." What delightful camera trips are de- 
tailed in these columns, where the only report that breaks 
the forest quiet is the click of the shutter. Oh, it is not 
all of shooting to shoot. There was a time, not so many 
generations ago, when the shooting of game was a neces- 
sity, wild game waB the main article of food in the set- 
tler's cabin, and even to-day in some sections of our land 
the same conditions prevail, but to ninety-nine out of 
every hundred readers of this paper the killing of game is 
only a dearly bought luxury. Then why not give the 
game a chance? Don't give up the woods, the camp, the 
tramp, nothing of the sort. Let so-called sportsmen 
make what laws they choose, they all will learn that it 
will do no good. Take your vacation without the gun, 
you will never miss it, and I am very sure in time you 
will take far greater delight in seeing game increase than 
you ever did in trying to bring it to bag. 
H. W. D. L. 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION NOTIONS. 
Des Moines, la., Jan. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have noticed the National Game, Bird and Fish Pro- 
tective Association information blank printed in your 
last week's issue and beg to submit the following outline, 
which is of course subject to much elaboration : 
1. The National Association should consist of every 
shooter and fisherman in America — I would call it the 
National Sportsmen's Association of America. Each 
member should be subject to fixed yearly dues, and there 
should be a national organ devoted to the interests of the 
Association, published monthly, and be furnished each 
member free of cost, a part of his dues being reserved for 
that purpose. 
2. There should be national officers elected each year or 
once in two years, their duties to be provided for in the 
constitution. There should also be State officers, and 
each election could be the promoter of a grand meeting 
and tournament and general fellowship. The State 
officers should endeavor to have necessary laws passed to 
meet requirements of their State. There should be local 
consuls in every town, appointed by the State officers, 
who should look to the prosecutions. Each member of 
the Association should consider himself a special com- 
mittee to see that the game and fish laws of his State 
were not violated, and should file information with his 
local consul. Local consuls so far as possible should be 
attorneys and should receive compensation from their 
State Association funds for each conviction only. Where 
the local consul is not an attorney the county attorney 
should conduct prosecutions and receive the same com- 
pensation. Fines should go either all to the State for 
maintenance of State wardens and other expenses, or part 
to the State and part to the informant. 
3. I believe the above would be in a sense national pro- 
tection, as members of the Association would endeavor to 
have only such men in Congress as were in sympathy 
with their interests, and their vote could be made effective 
through the official organ. 
4. A true sportsman shoots no game bird or animal 
with a shotgun that is not on the wing or run. He never 
chases rabbits into a sack with ferrets. He never nets or 
snares any game bird, animal or fish, nor spears a fish 
except perhaps those which are known never to take the 
hook. He kills only a reasonable quantity of game or 
fish and can be contented with total failure occasionally. 
His object and chief delight are in owning a fine outfit 
and in using it lawfully and skillfully. He loves the 
sport for the recreation and pleasure it gives him, not the 
profit, for every bird, fish or animal that he kills costs 
him many times its market value. The term true sports- 
man is synonymous with true gentleman, and the man 
who takes advantage of a wild creature is not to be 
trusted implicitly. Laws of the National Association 
should prohibit members killing game and fish by any of 
the above methods. 
5. The pot and market-hunter is the opposite of the 
true sportsman. His object is to kill two birds with one 
stone, and the whole flock if he can. His chief delight is 
when he does it. 
6. A uniform license law does not seem practical on the 
ground of being too easily evaded. If a sportsman 
belongs to the National Association his dues will be his 
license. 
7. I do not see that spring shooting is any more harm- 
ful than fall shooting. If a bird is killed in the fall he 
can have no family next spring, which is the same as if 
killed in the spring. There may be exceptions in the case 
of birds which do not re-mate when once separated in the 
spring, if there are any such. To offset this, it should be 
considered that birds in the fall are young and more easily 
killed. In the spring they are veterans. Let us shoot a 
little at both seasons; we would rather kill only one-half 
as many each time than be deprived of going. Let us at 
all times hunt from Irve of the sport, not to see how much 
game we can slaughti r. 
8. It does not seem j ractical to have State preserves in 
all States. Let all Stat laws be as nearly uniform as con- 
sistent with the conditio is existing in each State. I here 
beg to say a word about State license laws. Because we 
have no forests or natura, habitat in Iowa, is it right that 
we should be compelled 1 1 pay a license to hunt deer or 
other game in any State w.iich has these conditions? Are 
the residents of any State vo be credited with preserving 
their forests or their lakes for sporting purposes? 13 it due 
to the efforts of these States that they still have their for- 
ests and their lakes? Where did they get them in the first 
place? Did they plant the forests and build the lakes? If 
so, then people who live where thf re are none have no 
right to use them without license. There is manifestly no 
sense of justice in these laws, and those who are responsi- 
ble for them would do well to have them repealed and not 
identify themselves with pot-hunters and, to use a bicycle 
term, road hogs. I am equally opposed to laws which 
prevent game being taken out of a State. These should 
be modified to allow it when accompanied by the sports- 
man who killed it, ofctimes at a great expense of time and 
money. 
9. 1 think with proper restrictions that fish should be 
allowed in the markets at all seasons. 
The propagation of fi3h is much more easily accom- 
plished than of game, and a body of water, though en- 
tirely depleted, can easily be restocked in a* few years. 
Besides the absence of fi.3h in the markets would be felt 
many times more than of game. 
There is nothing to take the place of fiah as food. 
There are domestic fowls and animals to take the place 
of wild game. I believe the greatest factor in the destruc- 
tion of our game is the market, and am convinced that in 
closed seasons should be entirely prohibited. 
I believe the first offense for violators should be a fine, 
the second a term in the penitentiary. 
There is no use in mincing matters when dealing with 
willful violators. As to whether game should be allowed 
in the markets during open season is, perhaps, a matter 
for each State to regulate according io existing con- 
ditions, both as regards its own supply of game and that 
of adjoining States. 
10 and 11. I think national and State wardens should be 
maintained and should co-operate with national and State 
officers of the National Association. Yours truly, 
Hawkeye. 
Chicago, Jan. 17.— Editor Forest and Stream: In your 
paper of Jan. 11 there appeared a short vindictive editorial 
against the National Game, Bird and Fish Protective As- 
sociation. This is the last of several unpleasant things 
your paper has said about this infant organization. 
When it was only a few days old you began making 
faces at it. Though precocious, it has manifested a very 
amiable disposition and has not in any way resented or 
noticed your intended annoyances. 
As one of the officers of this organization, I deem it 
my privilege and duty to address this communication to 
you. I am well convinced in my own mind that you 
know little of the aims and purposes of our National As- 
sociation. If you did you would know that it is not in 
any way antagonistic to your personal interests nor to 
the cause of game protection; that we are not working for 
revenue or glory. You say that "it is a self -constituted 
organization." Well, it is a body containing more than 
200 members who reside in different parts of the United 
States. We inquire if it is not evidently of aB much im- 
portance as the self -constituted enemy and critic, who is 
one individual who speaks through the only sportsman's 
paper that has shown an unfriendly spirit toward us. We 
inquire respectfully and reverently that you please in- 
form us from whom we should have had permission to 
organize. If from yourself you should have given notice 
long ago. However, I will explain how it came about 
that there was a national association created. 
For some years past, as all know, there has been a 
strong sentiment frequently expressed through sports- 
men's journals and elsewhere that there should be a na- 
tional association to look after the game and fish interests 
of the whole country, to see if there could not be a greater 
interest aroused to have better laws passed in many of the 
States and a combined effort to have all the States work in 
harmony in having uniform laws and better methods of 
enforcement for the protection and increase of game. 
The past and present condition is this: Each State makes 
its own game laws regardless of what neighboring States 
do, often antagonistic to each other's interests. For in- 
stance, there is a wide difference in the dates for open and 
close season on game in all the Northern States, as well as 
in the Southern States. Again, many Western States for- 
bid shipments of game out of the State and only allow it 
to be killed and sold at certain seasons. The game laws 
of several Eastern States allow its citizens to invite ship- 
ments from these Western States the year around. The 
effect of this is to encourage the Western pot-hunter and 
illicit game dealer to violate the laws, and is one reason 
why the game of the West is rapidly disappearing 
in the Eastern markets. Last winter was an illustration 
of how the business is carried on from another view of 
the case. Just before the close of the selling season of 
game in Illinois dealers in Chicago had a large quantity 
of game on hand which had accumulated and which 
could not be sold here — game which should have been 
alive to increase in its native domain. It had to be gotten 
out of here. The officers of the National Association had 
given notice that the law would be enforced against pos- 
session of game here after Feb. 6. What must be done? 
Why, send it down to New York city, (The amount of 
game sent, according to Mr. Barnett's statement last year 
before the game committee in the Illinois Legislature, was 
over $40,000 worth.) There where our critic resides it 
may be sold at any time of the year right under his nose 
and the game dealers can listen with unconcerned com, 
placency to the sweet music of his weekly organ (the 
Forest and Stream), "We are opposed to the sale of 
game." It will be only a few days until there will be 
another cleaning up and a scurrying time to get the game 
all out of this State down to where you sit scolding us 
fellows who have our coats off enforcing game laws. 
The success that you have bad in naving good laws in 
your own State makes you appear about as ludicrous as 
the boy who whistled against the wind thinking he would 
change its course. 
Now, the thing which seems to have most aroused* your 
enmity to us are eggs, eggs, Alaska eggs. Ever since last 
summer you have been excited about eggs. We are at a 
loss to understand that since no one has objected to your 
indulging in a continuous adulation of yourself in what 
you did in the egg business,! that you should get so 
awfully fired up at the National Association. We are all 
ever so glad that you found out that nobody was robbing 
the wildfowls' nests away up in the Northwest, although 
your proof did seem to come almost entirely from persons 
who were supposed to be accessories to the crime. Never- 
theless, you positively know that for years there have 
been rumors that the eggs of the wildfowl in the far 
North were being gathered by Indians and natives and 
sold or used. You also know that at our annual meeting 
last winter among many reports was one from W. A. 
Story, Portland, Ore., which stated that the Indians were 
gathering wildfowls' eggs in great quantities, and shipping 
them. This was simply a reiteration of the old story. 
You know that shortly after this the Hon, J. J. Mitchell 
from Oregon presented a resolution in Congress to have 
this matter investigated, and every one felt that this was a 
most proper and highly commendable thing to be done 
under the circumstances. Since the events referred to have 
transpired the officers of the Association have been busy 
with other matters, but we discover that you have been 
determined to keep the subject before your readers, and 
now I entreat you in the name of the Association and for 
the sake of those who are associated with you to quit 
fumbling with these eggs; get them out of your sight and 
mind. You are on the verge of eggphobia. Further con- 
tact with them may make it necessary to purge yourself 
of something worse than "contempt." 
Finally, Mr. Editor, I am sorry that you do not know 
more of the plans and good intentions of our N. G., B. & 
F. P. Association, and that you are not acquainted with 
some of the splendid men who belong to it. Some of us 
take your paper and often say nice things about you. I 
