120 
FOREST "AND * STREAM. 
[Feb. 8, 1898. 
absorbed is largely a waste of effort, judging from niy 
own experience." 
Fish and Game Laws. 
The language of the various sections of the game law 
relating to the use of nets in different waters is loosely 
worded. In one section the size of the mesh is described 
by length of bar, in another as "suitable meshes," and in 
others the size of the mesh is not mentioned. We would 
recommend that the size of the mesh be explicitly stated 
where nets are permitted to take commercial fishes, and 
so far as possible the netting laws be made uniform in 
their application. 
The present law provides an open season for catching 
black bass beginning on May 30 and ending Jan. 1. The 
continuance of this open season is a menace to the future 
of this species of the fish in the waters of the State. 
Black bass Bpawn all through the month of June, and 
to open the season during the breeding time is most ill 
advised, and no amount of artificial stocking within the 
means of the Commission will make up for the waste of 
killin Spawning bass. It is difficult for the State to ob- 
tain any large number of black bass at this time, even by 
purchase, and every section that is visited to obtain bass 
for transplanting protests most vigorously. The black 
bass is the one fish of all hook-and-line fishes that guards 
its spawning bed during the development of the ova, and 
watches over the brood of young fish after they are 
hatched, so they really require more consideration as to 
length of close season than any other fish in the State. 
When cold weather approaches, black bass gather on 
deep shoals and lie partly dormant, as a rule, until warm 
weather returns. Within recent years this habit of the 
black basB has led to their destruction in some waters, as 
their winter habitat has been sought out by unthinking 
men and the bass have been pulled from their winter 
quarters in a scandalous manner. We would suggest that 
the op3n season for black bass fishing begin on July 1 and 
close on Oct. 15. 
. The "landlocked salmon" of the game law is no other 
than the sea salmon with a fresh-water habitat. And 
yet the law presents the inconsistency of limiting the 
legal length at which the anadromous fish may be killed 
to I8ln., while the fish with a local home may be legally 
slaughtered when, in its babyhood, it reaches the length 
of 6 in. Landlocked salmon run from the lakes into trib- 
utary streams to spawn, and the young remain in the 
streams for two years before going down to the waters 
of the lakes, and during the two years in the streams 
grow to exceed 6in. in length, and it is almost a criminal 
waste of raw material to permit a 6in. baby salmon 
weighing 2oz. to be killed, when if allowed a chance for 
its life it will grow into a magnificent fish of 25 to 
SOlbs. in weight. We would suggest that the legal limit 
of length at which salmon and landlocked salmon may 
be killed should be made identical, 18in. 
Section 143 of the game law provides that "eel pots of a 
form and character such as may be prescribed by the 
rules of the Commissioners of Fisheries may be used in 
any waters not inhabited by trout, lake trout, salmon 
trout, or landlocked salmon." Eals are notorious spawn 
eaters, and as such seriously interfere with the propaga- 
tion of better food fishes by natural processes, and if the 
Commissioners had power to set eel baskets in waters con- 
taining salmonidce for the purpose of taking eels that 
come on to the spawning beds to eat the spawn of trout, 
it would aid materially in minimizing the devastation 
from this cause. 
Carp. 
The Commissioners feel that they must in the future 
discourage the planting of German carp in any of the 
waters of the S:ate that may contain other fish. It is no 
more desirable as a food fish than the common sucker, 
and instead of being a strict vegetarian, as was heralded 
when introduced from Europe, it has been convicted of 
eating spawn and the fry of better fish. 
Beaver. 
There is a colony of beaver near the Adirondack hatch- 
ery, probably the only one in this State, and if this rare 
animal, supposed to have become extinct in New York, 
is to be preserved, there is urgent necessity for the en- 
actment of a law to protect them at all seasons. During 
the past year a beaver of this colony was killed and then it 
was found that there was no law for their protection. 
By every means in our power we would encourage the 
formation of fish and game protective associations in every 
county and town in the State. Already many societies 
of this kind have been organizsd, and they are not only 
public educator J of the objects and aims of fish and game 
laws, and supp^rtera of this Commisson in its work, but 
they do much to enforce the laws and stand as a menace 
to law breakers in the communities where they exist. The 
observance of fish and game laws is largely a matter of 
education; the first lessons were most difficult to learn, 
but great strides have been made in this direction during 
the past ten years, and the fish and game associations 
should have full credit for their share in it. 
Adirondack Deer. 
At the close of the deer shooting season in 1895 this 
Commission made a systematic investigation to determine 
the number of deer killed in the counties including the 
Forest Preserve. It was the first attempt to make a care- 
ful and thorough canvass of deer killed in this State. 
For this purpose the Adirondack region was divided into 
161 districts, and 249 separate reports were received. A 
recapitulation shows that a total of 4,900 deer were killed 
— 2,207 being bucks and 2,693 being does. As to the 
manner of killing, 1,233 were killed by night hunting, 
2,694 by hounding and 973 by still-hunting. In view of 
this enormous slaughter — for we are convinced that the 
returns are accurate as far as can be obtained — we would 
recommend that further and more stringent laws be 
enacted to preserve the deer from extinction either by a 
shorter season, by regulating the manner of killing, or 
both. 
Utah Legislation. 
A LARGE meeting of Utah county people, comprising 
fishermen, hunters, sportsmen and fish and game dealers, 
was held in the county court house, to agree upon sug- 
gestions to be furnished to the Legislature. The follow- 
ing recommendations Were agreed upon, and a committee 
was appointed to present them to the Legislature and 
urge their enactment: 
To the Legislature of the State of Utah: 
We, the representatives of the people mostly interested in the fish 
and gams laws of Utah county, present the following recommenda- 
tions for your earnest consideration: 
1. That we be allowed to export fish and game to other States and 
Territories. 
2. That the season for angling for trout remain as it Is now, and 
that the angling for black; bass shall not commence until July 1, 
instead of June 15; that seining be allowed for common fish between 
Sspt. 15 of each year and the first day of May following, providing 
that each person using a seine shall pay a license and also give bonds 
for g500, conditioned on the faithful observance of the law. 
3. That the seiners be released from paying the eomTissioner's fees. 
4. That the commissioner be alio wed very lenient privileges in regard 
to making arrests or searching parties or their effects before obtain- 
ing warrants; and further, that the commissioner's and deputies' sal- 
aries be paid annually, one-half by the State and one-half by the 
county, that he may be able to devote his full time. 
5. fhat no seine be allowed to be drawn in any natural stream or 
within one-half mile from the center of the mouth of any mountain 
stream or body of water connecting two other bodies of water. 
6. That any or all persons be allowed to catch carp any time of the 
year with SDear or line. 
7. That it shall be unlawful for any person to sell, take, kill, destroy 
or have in his possession any trout, mountain herring or imported 
fish which have been taken from the public waters of this State, less 
than 6in. long, excepting carp; that until otherwise provided it shall 
be unlawful for any parson or persons to catch, offer for sale or have 
in their possession any catfish, rock bass or whiteflsh. 
8 That Section 12„of the fish laws of 189* be adopted, with the ad- 
dition of the penalty for this offense being placed at not le3S than $50 
or over $300. 
9 That the present laws for the protection of game and birds re- 
main as they are, with the exception that the season for the killing of 
deer be closed on Nov. 15 instead of Dec. 1. 
Utah Fish and Game Interests. 
[From the report of Commissioner B. Milton Musser.] 
Isr January, 189-1, and in answer to my appeal, 200,000 lake 
trout eggs reached me by express from North ville, Mich., 
but they arrived in a heated condition and were practically 
valueless. I regret this very greatly, because the lake trout 
is a fine fish, and no doubt, would thrive in our waters. 
Being also anxious to introduce the brook trout, or speckled 
trout of the East, I asked for and received 2,000 fry (about 
3in. long) from Leadville, Colo. Five hundred of these I 
planted in Salt Lake City Creek, aid 1,500 in TJtah Lake. 
During the month of March last, a car with a princely 
consignment of 2,000,000 whitefish eggs reached Salt Lake. 
These were hatched on the ear opposite Pleasant Grove and 
put in the lake at that point, in most excellent condition. 
I have no doubt but what they are doing well. In a letter 
received from Mr. Newel, Fish and Game Commissioner of 
Utah county, this passage occurs: "In regard to the white- 
fish, I firmly believe that Mr. Andrew Madsen (aa experi- 
enced fisherman) saw some eight or ten of them last, as he is 
well acquainted with all the fish we have; he says he never 
saw anything li^e them before. They were under his boat 
and are soma 3in. long." This to me is most glori- 
ous news. The whitefish is one of the best fresh -water fishes. 
They develop rapidly and multiply to the tune of 20,000 to 
70,000 to one spawner. 
In August last I delicately felt my way for another consign- 
ment of whitefish for Bear Lake, assuring the Commis- 
sioner that not only TJtah, but Idaho and Wyoming, would 
he the beneficiaries, as the north half of the lake is in Idaho 
and a long stretch of Bear River runs through Wyoming. 
These are promised on condition that I again procure 
transportation. I am also perfecting arrangements to se- 
cure a few thousand landlocked salmon fry for Bear, Weber 
and Sevier rivers, and Utah Lake. 
As an experiment I have planted in a lakelet south of 
this city a few black bass, crappie, rock bass, whitefish and 
brook trout, all of which, I learn, are doing well. 
In July I planted about 100 gold and silver fish in Utah 
Lake; many of these were spawners. 
In November following I received from Neosho, Mo., 190 
rock bass; 100 of these I sent to Commissioner Crookston, 
Logan, to be planted in Logan River; seventy I put into 
Utah Lake, and the remainder in the lakelet above noted. 
The same car brought brook trout for Messrs. Welby, Wil- 
son, James et al. . which I secured for them. 
Nov. 25, 1894, Mr. J. Frank Ellis wrote me: "In compliance 
with your request of the 20th inst., your application has 
been changed from golden ides to (European) trench. These 
will probably be sent to you next season." 
A great number of applicants for black bass spawners for 
private ponds and lakelets have been honored. I have seen 
a number of bass that weighed 51bs. apiece when dressed. A 
great many people say that they like the bass even better 
than mountain trout, and the local fish vendors assert that 
bass is the best seller on the market. I regret to learn that 
a large if not the largest percentage of the catches have been 
expressed to points in Colorado, where the shipper no doubt 
received a higher price for them than he could realize ia 
Utah. This, to my way of thinking, is all wrong, and 
should be promptly stopped, for I have not intentionally 
labored for these many years to secui'e the best fishes for 
Utah waters and Utah's paople to have them caught and 
carted out of the territory for the benefit of those who snap 
their fingers at our discomfiture. Let Utah's citizens first 
be fed, and when the supply exceeds the demands of their 
tables it will then be soon enough to enter the byways of 
our neighbors for appetites to appease. We should stop the 
exportation of our fish. What a crime to permit our fish 
and game to be exported, and oblige local consumers to eat 
the often tainted imported articles and pay express charges 
and commissions to middlemen. In my opinion the bass 
should be protected one year more from all takers. This 
was intended when I first planted them, and I had a four- 
years'-catch-them-not clause put into the law, but the last 
Assembly, on the solicitation of ill-advised and selfish per- 
sons, canceled two years of the inhibition. 
Among the most formidable enemies of the fish are sev- 
eral kinds of worthless birds, such as the pelican, blue 
crane, and several kinds of fish hawks, loons, '"squaks," fish 
ducks, etc., which I am credibly informed "actually catch 
more fish than the fishermen." I am also told that pelicans 
by the thousauds from Pelican Island, Salt Lake, swarm 
the lakes of Millard county, and that they seine the fish al- 
most as artf ully as the experienced fishermen. In imitation 
of fishermen, they will surround an area of water and grad- 
ually close up the semi-circle, driving their prospective prey 
into shallow water and on to the beach; then, after appeas- 
ing their own appetites, they load their pouches and wing 
their way homeward laden with food for the young. 
Skunks, weasels and crows, too, are very troublesome, in 
that they eat the eggs of the wiid ducks and geese. 
The crows carry large numbers of eggs in their talons to the 
nests of their young. A very small bounty, it is believed, 
would result in decimating the fish and egg-eating birds and 
animils so very destructive to fish and gams; and why, let 
me ask, should we spend money in ^prosecuting human 
poachers and violators of the fish and game laws, 
and permit worthless birds and animals, which 
are infinitely more destructive, to go scot free ? 
This, 1 take it, is not a matter confined to one or two 
localities, but applies to almost every county in the State. 
Many of the counties are without fish and game commis- 
sioners, and in consequence the lawless have it pretty much 
their own way. However, a goodly number of arrests have 
been mide and fines imposed by commissioners and others 
acting under instructions from local officars. 
Uintah, Carbon and Grand counties are especially exposed 
to violations of the fish and game laws. Neither has a fish 
and game commissioner to enforce the statute. I venture 
the assertion that there are more infractions of particularly 
the game' law in the three counties named than in all the 
other counties of Utah combined. Within the last two or 
three months there have been three shipments of venison 
(the last shipment amounting to 11 tons) and several consign 
ments of deer hides aggregating, I am told, several tons, al 
from Vernal, the hides being consigned to Chicago. I be- ; 
lieve the last shipment of 11 tons of venison was in violation 
of law, and the lawless could have been arrested and the 
venison confiscated had the county officers promptly done 
their whole duty in the premises. Being handicapped for i 
funds, I could not personally undertake the arrest and pun- 
ishment of the offenders, and with all my urgent appeals by ; 
wire and mail to effect these ends, those whose plain duty 
it was to execute the laws seemed stolidly indifferent, and 
permitted the offenders with their unlawful booty to escape 
over the Utah line. The officers kuew that the business was 
unlawful (as the railway officials would not handle the 
meat), yet they witnessed its reloading and the freighters- 
wending their way through Carbon and Grand counties 
without protest. When the venison reached Grand Junc- 
tion, Colo., Sheriff Innis promptly arrested the men in 
charge and seized the venison and held the whole outfit 
subject to the order of the local court. The trial was held, 
the chief lawbreaker was jailed for sixty days and fined 
$300, the venison was confiscated and sent to Denver and 
disposed of according to law. Had our officers promptly 
acted, no doubt several offenders could have been convicted 
and the venison saved to Utah, where, without question ta 
my mind, it rightfully belonged, which conclusion is made 
more apparent by the fact that the single conviction secured 
at Grand J unction was effected on the sole testimony of wit- 
nesses from Utih, who, at my urgent invitation, went frjm 
Price to Colorado to testify in the case, Uintah, Carbon 
and Grand counties should each have a wide-awake and 
thorough fish and game commissioner. The general outlet 
for these counties is the Rio Grande Western Railway, which 
runs through Carbon and Grand counties, while Price is the 
nearest shipping point for the people of Uintah county. 
'he Mettml 
FIXTURES 
BENCH SHOWS 
Feb 19 to 22. — Westminster Kennel Club's twentieth annual dog 
show, Madison Square Garden, New Vork. James Mortimer, Supt. 
March 3 to 6.— City of the Straits Kennel Club. R. Humffrey 
Roberts, Sec'y, 6 Merrill Block, Detroit. Entries close Feb. 20. 
March 10 to 13.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Club's bench show 
John L. Lincoln, Sec'y. 
March 17 to 20.— St. Louis Kennel Club's show, St. Louis. W. , 
Hutchinson, Sec'y. 
ApriL20 to 23 —New England Kennel Club's twelfth annual show, j 
D. E. Loveland. Sec'y. 
May 6 to 9.— Pacific Kennel Club's fifth annual show. H. W. Orear, 
Sec'y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Feb. 10.— West Point, Miss.— The Field Trial Champion Association's 
first trial. W. B. Stafford, Sec'y. 
Sept. 2.— Morris, Man.— Manitoba Field Trials Club. John Wootton, t 
Sec'y. 
Oct. 28.— Greene county, Pa. — The Monongahela Valley Game and j 
Fish Protective Association's second annual trials. S. B. CummiBgs 
Sec'y, Pittsburg. 
THE BULL TERRIER CLUB'S RESOLU- 
TIONS. 
In the last issue of Forest and Stream Messrs. Foot 
and Schellhass made a reply to the extraordinary resolu- 
tions of the Executive Committee of the Bull Terrier Club 
of America. It may be questioned as to whether they'; 
acted wisely in dignifying with a reply such a display of; 
peevish ill nature and bad taste. The more correct 
treatment might have been to ignore it entirely as an act; 
of supar-ofnciousness, ill-temper and^bad judgment, which! 
meant no more than resentment, and had no force outside 
of the minds of its authors. 
But, accepting the resolutions as an expression ©f tem- 
per and opinion of the Bull Terrier Club, what a harmful 
intolerance of legitimate criticism is displayed by it}j 
what an intention is shown to intimidate all opposition; 
what a determination to have its own wishes prevail, re- 
gardless of the wishes or interests of all othersi 
The Ball Terrier Club has not been long in existence, 
nor has it been long in the American Kennel Club, and for 
these reasons alone it might not have been amiss for it to 
have assumed only the same rights and privileges as all 
other club3, instead of adopting a policy of intimidation, 
a policy which is sure in the end to recoil disastrously onj 
it; for on the one hand any number of "be it resolveds" 
have no vitality when they proceed from arrogance and 
assumption, but on the other hand they do lower the 
standing of the body which passes them. 
Every delegate had a perfect right fully and freely to 
discuss the A K. C. affairs, and the right was equally 
gTid whether a delegate was for or against cropping. 
The liberty of speech has been held dear by all Ameri- 
cans, even some years before the Bull Terrier Club in its 
feeble way tried to muzzle it. 
Any direct censure of Dr. Foote and Mr. Schellhass for 
their action as delegates of the A. K. C. is quite as direct 
against all other delegates who voted in favor of the 
amendment against cropping. To single out those two 
men for expressing the sentiments of the anti-cropperg 
cannot separate them invidiously from others who did the 
same thing. It is really a censure of the A. K. C. 
When men have the manhood to maintain what they 
believe to be right, when they are striving to promote the 
general good, when they are in authority to express their 
minds and to act officially as they are instructed to do or 
as they deem best, no upstart opposition should have a 
grain of weight against them. The A. K. C. affordg 
legitimate channels for legislation, and in those channels 
is the proper place for official action. 
The A. K. C. has not only power to abolish cropping if 
its members deem it for the general good to do so, but it 
has the power also to discipline — even to the point of sus- 
pension or expulsion — any club or clubs which are iniria*; 
ical to it or which do not know what constitutes decent 
behavior. Once sanction the doctrine that one club is at 
liberty to censure the delegates of other clubs because 
t\fbse delegates do not agree with it, and harmony and 
progress is at an end in the A. K. C. jurisdiction. If one 
club censures the delegates of another, that club in turn 
can censure the censor; so that what should be a dignified 
federation of club3 might in time degenerate into a modi'' 
fied Donnybrook Fair procedure. If the kennel world ih 
to be one of public interest and progress, the right-thinking 
delegates should see that the new order of intimidation 
impotent though it be, is brought to a quick end. Then 
is a vast difference between legitimate criticism anc 
gratuitous abuse. 
