112 
the game and replenish the well nigh exhausted coveys and 
nocks. 
"I have risked my hie often for the birds and will do it again. 
Many a time I have arrested men for illegal acts who have 
shown the button of a sportsmen's association. Give me the 
warden act that I wish and 1 will wipe illegal killing and 
snaring out of existence, and there will be no politics nor 'pull' 
in it." 
Jack Light or Hound. 
\ Editor Forest and Stream: 
The wide difference of opinion respecting the wisdom of en- 
acting laws which shall altogether prohibit houndiug, or jack- 
ing, or both, tempts me to express my convictions. Last'year 
an attempt was made to legislate jacking out of existence, but 
the Committee on Fish and Game decided, very wisely, I think, 
that this change should not be made. This year botli hounding 
aud jacking are to be attacked, and the advocates of stringent 
laws against these forms of deer hunting are numerous and 
determined. 
I desire to put in my plea for the jack; and in so doing I 
believe 1 voice the sentiment of many who answer to the name 
of sportsmen, and claim the right to be called such. No wise 
and just game law ever contemplated carrying the protection 
and preservation of deer to the point of shutting out the hunter 
from a reasonable amount of sport at the proper season. The 
greatest good to the graetest number applies to this subject as 
well as to any other. Now, the majority of those who take an 
annual outing to the woods, select, from preference or necessity, 
the late summer (when they are still privileged to fish), or the 
earJy autumn, returning before the hounding season begins. 
To deprive them of jack shooting would, therefore, deprive 
them of every feature of the sport save stilt-hunting, which, in 
certain territories, and under certain conditions, offers little 
promise of success. Why should this large class of sportsmen 
be robbed of their opportunities for pleasure! 1 I do not doubt 
that previous to the enforcement of the law prohibiting the 
sending out of venison, the permaneut residents, who are 
familiar with all the water and runways, may have killed and 
shipped to market a great many deer; and, su long as this was 
a legitimate source of revenue, the jack was a deadl}' instru- 
ment in their hands. But I do maintain that the uumber of 
deer killed at night by visiting spotrsmen is somewhat overesti- 
mated. There seems to be a popular notion that all a man has 
to do, who desires to secure a few carcases and heads and horns, 
is, to get into a boat, put on his jack, and be paddled along a 
line of deer standing on the shore or river or lake. He is there 
supposed to select such animals as he wants, and blaze away 
until he has filled the boat and exhausted his ammunition. 
The wholesale slaughter of the buffalo in years past is thought 
to have been as nothing, compared with the terrible carnasre in 
which the jack hunter takes part, and the unsophisticated sum- 
mer visitor is prepared to find the streams and ponds reeking 
with the blood of the murdered iunocents. 
As a matter of fpet— at least s» far as my limited observation 
and experience go — the jack hunter w r orks harder for the meat 
he gets, and gets Jess for the work he does, than the still hunter 
or the runway statue. If a man is looking for luxurious com- 
fort and effeminate ease he will, if he is wise, search for it 
elsewhere than in the bow of a boat, on a chilly night, with a 
jack boring into his skulk After a few hours of this sort of 
pleasure, varied by an occasional wading trip through rapids or 
shallow water and floundering back to camp over a wet trail, 
or no trail at all, the avearage sportsman begins to realize that 
jack hunting is no sinecure, and that every deer he gets in this 
way demonstrates the truth of that old German proverb, "in 
war, hunting and love, for one pleasure a hundred pains." 
I do not wish to be understood as depreciating the charms 
attendant upon this snort, for it is largely because of them that 
I approve of it, and defend it. What can be more strangely 
enchanting than to float noiselessly down a river, surrounded 
by dusky shadows on every side, the tall firs and spruces out- 
lined like spires against the sky, Che air saturated with the 
pungent fragrance of pine and balsam, and the entire scene 
More beautiful far to the eye, 
Thau if day in its pride had arrayed it. 
It may be that my fondness for night shooting is in part due 
to the fact that thus I killed my first deer. Certainly I can 
never forget the exciting novelty of that experieuce, and the 
thrill of exultation which came with the successful shot. I now 
vastly prefer still hunting; but I would indeed be sorry to feel 
that I could never again legally indulge in this wierd phase of 
deer hunting. One of the chief arguments quoted against it is, 
that many deer are wouuded and escape, only to wander off to 
die. This may be true, but 1 presume it is also true that very 
frequently the slightly wounded animals ultimately recover if 
left to themselves; whereas, if pursued by dogs they are almost 
invariably ruu down. 
It is astonishing how tender and humane the advocate of 
hounding suddenly becomes of the thought of the sufferings 
inflicted by the jack hunter on the innocent deni/.ens of the 
forests! Men who can see nothing unsportsmanlike in driving 
a deer in to the water and— having gotten him out of his 
element— shooting him, at short range, from a boat, neverthe- 
less inveigh against those who, at a considerable disadvantage, 
shoot at the gleaming lights of a deer standing on his native 
hearth, ready and able to fly at the least suspicion of danger. A 
man who is too sensitive to shoot at a deer under these condi- 
tions, should never go into the woods with a gun. He might 
possibly hurt sometMng with it. and should confine himself to 
firing at starch boxes and tomato cans in his back yard. The 
chances are, that if the matter were left for the deer to decide, 
they would all vote to have the dogs kept out of the woods, and 
to take their chances with the jack hunters. 
This is not intended to be a tirade against hounding, but 
rather as an argument in favor of jacking, if a comparison or a 
choice between the two is to be made. Don't put out the jack 
just yet! Let this ignis fatuus light up the fringes of the forest 
along the shores of lake and stream, startling the musk rat and 
heron, and drawing from the antlered buck a snort of surprise. 
Call off the dogs, if need be, but suffer the jack to remain a 
feature of the camp outfit. 
Generally speaking, still hunting is the most artistic method 
of hunting the deer. You meet him on his own ground, and 
put your patience and skill against his keen instincts and 
wariness. It is the most wholesome and beneficial form of the 
sport, for you are frequently on the move instead of being 
cramped in a boat or glued to a single spot on the runway. 
Not one but many pages of the book of nature are turned over 
in a day's sport. The forest gives up its secrets to the still 
hunter. The smaller furred ami feathered tribes seem to know 
that you are not out for them this time, and tantalize you with 
theirreckless exposures to j"our rifle. The cock partridge, with 
spread tail and erect rufi, struts up and down a log and dares 
you to tire at him: the sly fox stops long enough to allow you 
to peep through the sighs at him two or threa times; the hen 
hawk preens his feathers before your very fa.ee; and the 
squirrel shakes his bushy tail and snickers derisively at the 
thought of having you for once at a disadvantage. Then you 
are constantly coming upon evidences of the proximity and 
recent presence of big game. Here is where Mrs. John Doe 
and her freckled daughter took their midday nap: there is a 
big, compact, and shapely track made by the father of all 
bucks! You wonder how many tines he carried on his noble 
head, and whether you would be able to "back him out" in 
case you shot him; and here, fresh, in the soft, black ground 
beside the swamp, is the great plantigrade impression of old 
bruin himself, who evidently hasn't cut his finger nails lately. 
As you see the place where he has wallowed slowly filling with 
water, and realize that he may be in the tamaracks youder, 
you congratulate yourself that modern mech?nieal skill has 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
given you a rifle with a dozen chaiges in it instead of one, and 
so you boldy hunt for the owner of those portentous tracks, 
forgetting that he is even more timid than yourself, and is 
probably quater of a mile away by this time. 
And then at last conies the supreme moment wdien the deer 
breaks cover, and the pump begins to work and the bullets 
fly. Down he goes! Venison in camp to-night instead of pork! 
The hard tramp, the exasperating briars, the dagger-like stubs 
on the fallen trees, are all forgotten now, and you stagger alone 
cheerfully under your heavy load, laughing at the tumbles 
which made y r ou angry earlier in the day. And when the noble 
animal is hanging, heels up, on the birch beside the Ore, and 
you stretch your tired body on the balsam boughs inside the 
camp, trading the day's experiences with your comrades, and 
getting occasional divine whiffs from the frying pan, you 
realize in full, the delights of still hunting. 
Yes, this is best of all; nevertheless, I say, save the jack! 
You may want it; and venison pulled out of a boat is almost 
as good as that brought home on your shoulders, and much 
better than that which has been chased all day by dogs. 
ARTHUR F. RICE. 
THE VALUE OF FISH AND GAME. 
ADDRESS OT E. O. FARRINGTON, SECRETARY" OE THE MAINE 
SPORTSMEN'S PISH AND GAME ASSOCIATION, BEFORE 
THE -JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, UPON THE VALUE 
OE THE FTSH AND GAME INTERESTS OE 
THE STATE, AND THE .PROPER 
METHODS OF LEGISLATION 
FOR IMPROVING AND 
PRESERVING 
THE SAME. 
What are these interests, gentlemen, about which there is so 
much discussion, and of what value are they to the State? 
We cannot determine them in the same manner that oue 
may other interests upon which it is easy to put a value in 
dollars and cents, by standards commonly accepted as correct. 
We can, however, determine them by different methods, and 
arrive at a very reasonable conclusion. Taking the valuaole 
report of the Hon. y. W. Mathews, for the year 1893, who act- 
ing under and by authority of the Legislature, made an 
exhaustive examination into the "summer resort," business, 
placed the number of different persons visiting our State from 
out of the State, at 200,000. This he said was a conservative 
estimate, and is based upon actual returns made by hotel and 
boardiug house keepers and transportation companies, an 
estimate that I have never seen questioned. Fifty dollars per 
person, covering all outlay of such visitors from the time they 
entered the State till they left it, cannot be regarded an ex- 
travagant estimate of the amount each person pa}-s out. This 
would make, as the commissioner stated, $10,000,000. 
How much of this amount comes to the State, on account of 
the advantages given for taking fish and game? We believe it 
fair to assume that one-fourth of the number is attracted here 
on that account. It must be remembered that Maine has the 
finest sporting grounds upon the face of the globe, and when 
you take into account the availibility of reaching them, the 
best that can be found in any laud. Unlike other somewhat 
noted places, the sportsmen and their families find complete 
immunity from the myriads of poisonous insects and reptiles 
that infest most sporting grounds in warmer climates. Hun- 
dreds and thousands of men seeking rest and recreation, take 
their families and locate near or convenient to some waters 
where, while their family can have all the benefit of pure air 
aud water, and scenery that always gives health, joy and com- 
fort, they can beguile their hours with the pleasure of fishiug 
and hunting. Hardly, if any, town in the State can be found 
but has its annual summer visitors, and hardly a brook or pond 
but receives their praises aud give to them pleasures that can- 
not be found elsewhere. 
If the estimate mentioned is considered fair, and we conclude 
that $60 per person is not unreasonable, for money left by such 
visitors from the time they enter the State till they depart 
therefrom, w T e have $3,000,u00 which is distributed among our 
people annually, which would not come to us, were it not for 
our sporting interests. Again, take the report of our fish and 
game comtuissioiiers, of 1894: 
"What is the value to the State of its fish and game interests'? 
Various estimates have been made, ranging from §8,000,000 to 84,- 
000.000 per annum. We think the smaller is a conservative state- 
ment as to the amount. We reason from the known to the un- 
known. We know that each year there go to the Rangeley lake 
region 5,000 sportsmen aud hunters. They remain there on an 
average of ten days each. Counting the expense of each person 
from the time he enters the State until he departs from it, includ- 
ing railroad and other traveling expenses, hotel bills at the lakes, 
cost of, guides, canoes, boats, and other incidental expenses, to say 
nothing of luxuries, is 875; aggregating §375,000. 
"We next take the regions east of the Rangeleys, south of the 
Canadian Paciiic Railroad, crossing the northern section of Somer- 
set county; we then take the Moosehead lake region, which is by 
far the most important section of the State, both as to fish and 
game, with larger territory, better equipments, and greater at- 
tractions; then taking lthe lower lakes on the west branch of the 
Penobscot, the east branch of said river and Aroostook county 
north of the European and North American Railroad, including 
Aroostook and Fish rivers, as the fourth section; and then that 
territory which lies south of said just mentioned railroad and east 
of the lower Penobscot river, and we have divided the game sec- 
tion of the State into five parts. Then applying our best knowl- 
edge, which in the main is supported by actual calculation, based 
upon facts furnished from the sources hereinbefore mentioned, 
we And that the result brings us 83,500,000. Outside of the sections 
already mentioned are all of the seacoast counties west of the 
Penobscot river and Kennebec, Androscoggin aud Oxford counties. 
The influx of sportsmen has caused the erection of many small 
hotels and cottages along the shores of our lakes and rivers, and 
there are upon the inland lakes of the State, 138 boats propelled by 
steam, worth on an average $1,800 each, the aggregate being 8348,- 
100. It costs to operate one of ^those boats for the period of 150 
days, including wages of crew, fuel, and supplies, $900, multiply- 
ing this by the number oE boats, we have $133,440 as a cost of operat- 
ing this moans of travel. 
• 'Another industry of our State which grow r s out of this interest 
is the work done by taxidermists. A leading taxidermist, and one. 
who has several branches of his business at different points in the 
State, informs us that 850,000 per annum is paid to members of 
his trade, and this is largely paid by non-residents. There is 
hardly a department of industry or trade that is not touched and 
benefited by this important resource of our people. Sportsmen 
come from abroad and from our large cities in the State and spend 
their money freely. They buy not only the bxbor of 500 profes- 
sional guides aud as many cooks, servants and helpers, but thay 
also enter out marts of trade and purchase arms, ammunition, 
fishing tackle and every convenience for a hunting and fishing 
outfit. They also purchase strong, coarse clothing, underwear, 
boots and shoes, blankets, and every article of convenience and 
sometimes of luxury to make their stay in our State pleasant and 
comfortable and their trip successful.. 
"If these great interests be maintained and put in condition for 
the best results of the State, it will be necessary to make much 
larger appropriations than have ever been allowed to this depart- 
ment. We shall ask for 830,000 for the propagation of fish and the 
enforcement of law for the protection of fish and game. This 
would be but 1 per cent , upon the §3,000,000 which comes to the 
State from these sources." 
The foregoing statement of the fish and game commissioners, 
it seems to me is worthy of your consideration. For one I am 
satisfied that the estimate is too low. From sources which may 
be taken as reliable, the numbers frequenting the Rangeley 
section mentioned, are nearly double that stated by the com- 
missioners. Probably no man is better able to give a fair 
estimate of those numbers than Mr. F. C. Barker, of Rangeley 
fame, who thinks that the number given is not much more than 
fifty p9r cent, of those coming into that section. Five thousand 
might be a fair ..estimate of the non-residents who go there. If 
Feb. 9, 1895. 
w e may rely upon the figures given, as to the amount of money 
left in Maine on account of our sporting interests, what does 
it demonstrate? Three million dollars is the estimate at six 
per cent upon $50,000,000. Therefore this game plant is worth 
to-day 850,000,000 to the State of Maine; more money than you 
could sell the whole 9,000, X)0 acres of wild lands, forests and 
all, and all the water front of all other lands bordering upon 
the inland lakes and ponds in the State. In order to get a 
clearer idea of the value of these interests, a comparison with 
the benefits of other large interests, may throw some light upon 
the subject. The report of the State assessors make the value 
of the wild lands in Maine §17,103,317. The direct benefit re- 
ceived by the State in taxes is 142,758.28. How great an 
amount of taxes comes from sporting property, which w r ould be 
reduced iu value or cease to exist, if Maine had no fish and game 
interests. 
The commissioners toll us that there are 138 steamboats upon 
our inland lakes, worth m the aggregate, §248.400. We know 
that there are scores of cottages and hotels that are exclusively 
kept and maintained by reason of our sporting facilities; that 
many largB hotels costing from five to many thousands of 
dollars are maintained from this source alone; that many other 
hotels, and many other steamboats are partly thus maintained, 
and if these interests failed, such property would be greatly 
reduced in value, or be valueless; that the value of land upon 
the shores of rivers, lakes aud ponds is enhanced from really no 
value at all, to hundreds of thousauds of dollars. Considering 
all this, would an estimate of $3,000, 000 be too large to claim as- 
a fair vaiue upon propertj T that exists through and because of 
these interests? Probably twice that amount would be nearer 
correct. Suppose, however, it is .$3,000,000. and pays taxes 
averaging one and one-half per cent., which is, I think, the 
average amount of tax paid, and you have $45,000 in taxes, 
lightening the burdens in the various municipalities in the 
State. When you consider that the property of railroads, 
hotels in cities^ and large steamboat lines would be materially 
affected, were it not for our sportiug interests, the direct bene- 
fits would be greatly iu excess of the amount stated. 
Quoting from the interesting report of Hon. Charles E. Oak, 
land agent, in speaking of the great value of our forests to the 
State, he says, "that the total cut of tho State from these wild 
lands has equaled at least 500,000,000 feet, upon which, the 
average stumpage has been about two dollars and one-half per 
thousand, making an annual income from stumpage about 
81,250,000 or approximately seven percent, of the total value 
of the wild lands each year." That is to say that all the other 
value of this vast amount of lumber is swallowed up or 
absorbed by labor, which shows its importance as an industry 
to the State. How much in money is absorbed in labor? If we 
assume that three-fourths of its manufactured value goes for 
labor, then the labor interests of the State, gets uot_i r from 
$4,000,000 annually from the lumber interest. This inttrest has 
been considered so great, of such importance to the State, and 
rightly too, that the protection of the same has been made the 
subject of much consequence m our national halls of legisla- 
tion, and will claim your atteution it is presumed this session. 
And still gentlemen, the amount that subserves the interests of 
labor, probably does not exceed the benefits arising from our 
fish and game interests. The fish and game in our waters and 
forests are worth more to the State of Maine, if properly cared 
for, than all the lands which is properly termed "wild lands." 
and I have not the slightest doubt but that, if the State would 
purchase every foot of them, and issue its bonds for the same, 
it. would be the best investment that the State could possibly 
make. Do not infer from this comparison that I do not appre- 
ciate the groat importance the "wild land" of the State has to 
the prosperity of our Stale at large, for I consider them of 
great value to the State. The State would then have fair value 
for all that was paid, in the forests and soil, and have such 
control that the game interests could be made worth ten mil- 
lions annually in the future. Not only this, as was so clearly 
stated by Hon. J. Manchester Haynes, who preceded me, that 
upon the preservation of these vast forests, some six millions of 
acres which are, nor never cau be available for settling pur- 
poses, depends not only upon our game, but all the water 
powers of the State, so marvelous in volume and value. Let the 
State own these lands and they will, properly cared for, in 
game and timber, produce revenues that would more than meet 
all the expenditures of our State, 
Take one other great interest of this State, the farming inter- 
ests. The Governor tells us in his message that there "are 
sixty-five thousand farms in Maine, containing 552,571s acres, 
and of an estimated cash value of •?! 02.557,615, producing farm 
products in 1893 of tho value of more than twenty-two million 
dollars." 
That is to say, the total income from tho sixty-five thousand 
farms is about twenty per cent, of the Value of the farms. But 
let us inquire what is a fair estimate of the income. After 
deducting a fan- amount for labor, fertilizers, etc., what would 
be left to put away or lay out in improvements? From the best 
information I can get on the subject, four per cent, would be a 
fair estimate, for net income. That is virtually saying that the 
farming interests of Maine pay out 18,000,000 of dollars to get 
four millions net income. We" gentlemen, ask the State to pay 
out $30,000 only, to get $3, 000,000, very nearly this amount re- 
tut ned to the State. Our waters and forests are giving to the 
people of the State one-seventh as much money as all the farms 
of the State produce. To not provide liberally for a con- 
tinuance aud increase of this great interest would be a grievous 
and lamentable mistake. 
These millions of dollars that come to our people, are of far 
greater consequence thau the same number of dollars, which 
coma from local industries, like the manufacture of lumber or 
from operations of other interests by which there is put in cir- 
culation laige sums of money. The monoy coming from our 
fish and game, is so much added to our circulation, money 
brought from out of the State aud put in circulation here. Our 
local industries keep up the circulation of- what we may have 
in the State. The cry comes up from almost every State, give 
us more money, we waut a larger amount to do business with, 
and this is the great question to-day before our law-makers at 
the national capital,— how to get more money into the business 
and add to the circulation, so that the wheels of industry may 
be put in motion. Those who spend the $3,000,000 that we get, 
come from out of the State and do not take away a siugle 
dollar's worth of properfcj r , as reckoned by the laws of valua- 
tion. It is so much revenue for the privilege of enjoying the 
delights of our good State of Maine. All that the State has to 
do to receive the large amount of money, which comes from 
our game interests, is simply to preserve the plant. The State 
invests a few thousands of dollars and gets $3,000,000 in return. 
No other business in this State pays any such revenue to the 
people. 
TO BE CONTINUED. 
Eastern Markets for .Western Game. 
Chicago, III.. Jan. 26.— Editor Forest and Stream: We are 
endeavoring to curtail the killing, shipping and selling game iu 
all parts of the West. We are, however, meeting with two 
serious difficulties. One is, that our game dealers here insist 
that they are not fairly treated, that when our markets are 
closed here, their shippers forward their game to New York, 
Boston aud other Eastern cities. Also the market huuters in 
the West continue their depredations in spite of State laws long 
after the closing season in their respective states, and forward 
the same to these Eastern markets. Why is it that the States 
of New York, Pennsylvania aud Massachusetts, do not pass 
laws closing their markets against the receipts and selling of 
our Western game, birds and animals, the same as they do for 
the game in their own respective States? 
I trust that you may bring this matter to the notice of the 
legislators, who are now making some amendments to some 
existing game laws. MAURICE R, BORTREE. 
