"4 90 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Deo. 19, 1896. 
have gone to places mentioned in Forest and Strbaju as 
good shooting countries, but undoubtedly the number is 
large. I am not sure that the State of Texas owes this 
paper any thanks, but the shooters do. 
To reiterate, the game of the North ia shot out, and the 
tide of shooting travel is turning to the South more 
rapidly than the South can dream. If it were merely the 
tide of sportsmen travel none would be more glad than 
this paper, I am sure, or more glad than the Texas men; 
but it is too true that such is not the case. A shooter is 
not necessarily a sportsman, and there are far too many 
shooters who, when they come upon the abundant oppor- 
tunities of the Southern shooting, abuse the privileges 
which good fortune has brought to them. To reiterate, 
the men of Texas cannot take measures too swift and too 
strict to regulate the killing of their game. This remark 
I ask each of them to cut out and paste in his hat, for re- 
view five years from now. The Texas men do not need 
dread the sportsmen, but the shooters. 
To further illustrate the carefulness with which this 
paper is read by those in search of game fields, a friend 
lately spoke to me of an incident which occurred to him 
a year ago at his home in a part of the South, He said 
that an old gentleman from Illinois came into his rfiice 
and introduced himself as a reader of Fokest and Stream, 
and therefore acquainted with himself. He said he had 
read that there was some good trapping country down in 
there and he wanted to get into it. He received the best 
of directions, and 1 presume was made happy. That man 
said that he was not a market shooter and did not kill 
any game except for his personal use while in camp; all 
he wanted was to trap a little. He was on this basis 
treated handsomely by the Southern man whom he had 
looked up. This also was without my knowledge until 
recently. 
Hospitality and Legality. 
Last week I saw in another paper a wail from some 
men who had been caught by the county oflioers in a 
Mississippi county and fined for not having a county 
license. Both they and the paper editorially thought this 
was a very "inhospitable" thing for the officer to do. It 
is not quite clear why it should be thought inhospitable. 
The fact is that there are very many large camping par- 
ties who go into Mississippi and forthwith constitute 
themselves nuisances instead of sportsmen; yet it is the 
rarest thing that the law is enforced at ail as it should be 
always. It does not make a Mississippi man feel real 
good to call him inhospitable, bpcause he knows that 
isn't so in the first place, and in the next place knows 
that he Km never enforced his own laws as rigorously 
against outsiders as agaiost rtsidents. The result of sev- 
eral little things like the above has been that this year 
many pa,rfc8 of Mississippi have a wall built around them 
agiinst all non-resident shooters who do not have creden- 
tials from resident property owners. The men of that 
country think they have a trifling interest in their own 
game as well as others, and they intend to keep up the 
good old Southern ways, which so far have resulted in 
preserving the game, whereas those of the North have 
resulted in its destruction. I only hope they will make 
the wall high and hog-proof. 
It may be said by some of my several friends that I ap- 
pear to want to cut off all non-resident shooting what- 
ever. I do. I would like to cut it all off for five years, 
and I would gladly lay my gun down in vaseline for that 
length of time, for then we would all have shooting with- 
out going a thousand miles from home and imposing on 
men who have a little game left at their homes, which 
latter they would like to go out and shoot occasionally for 
themselves. Bat since we cannot have any such measuie 
passed, and since we all muat hunt as non-residents now- 
adays if we get any shooting, I do think we all ought to 
be very considerate of how we shoot when we get where 
the local game is abundant. A good rule would be to just 
mentally reverse the case, and pat ourselves in the places 
of the men who have the game in their country. How 
would we like it? How would it seem if 30,000, perhaps 
50,00U guns — no one can tell how many the real numbi r 
is— should come from the South into our Northern shoot- 
ing country after our game — if we had any? How would 
the rule of inhospitality work then? Speaking of walls, 
I trow we would see a wall ttien as was a wall! Yet we 
all cheerfully agree that it is quite wrong for a Southern 
country to make it diffioult for an unknown shooter to get 
into its preserves! I am satisfied that all the good people 
will agree with me that non-resident shooting ought to be 
made difficult, that every kind of shooting ought to be 
made more difficult, that no kind of shooting can be 
made too difficult in this country from this time on, 
either in the North or the South. The laws can not be 
made too hard or enforced too rigorously anywhere. 
That is to say if we really mean what we say about gam© 
protection. If we are only bluffing about it of course it 
doesn't make any difference. No matter how hard such 
laws might generally become, they would not prevent 
sportsmen from shooting, though they might prevent 
some shooters from shooring. I should call it a very 
pretty and Utopian state of affairs if no man, in any 
State, could as a non-resident shoot in any State without 
the voucher of a resident friend. This would cut off a 
good deal of market shooting, and would also stop a good 
many excessive bags. It would be a hardship for some 
and a boon to a good many others. And it would save 
the game. But we will never see any such Utopia. We 
will just go on in the good old way, each fellow trying to 
get all the other fellow has, and kicking because he kicks 
at that It is human nature to want a pair of suspanders 
thrown in with each pair of pants. Indeed, I am dis- 
posed, sore against my will — tor I love ray fellow man 
tenderly — to beliuve that it is some human nature to want 
the pants thrown in with the suapdndera. 
Personal. 
It was away last fall, months ago, that mention was 
made of the serious illness of Mr. W. P. Mussey, who was 
taken with typhoid fever. Since then Mr. Muasey has 
been in bed a very sick man, and it is not likely that he 
will be back at his work for a few weeks yet. He has 
had a very bad time of it, and meantime so have his 
many friends. 
Mr. J. L. Winston, of the Austin Powder Go,, has been 
in the city a couple of days visiting w th Mr. E. S. Rice, 
agent of that firm. Mr. Winston is endeavoring to be-, 
come acclimated here, prior to certain entanglements 
with John Watson's hard pigeons next Tuesday, in whick 
he is to be assisted by Mr, George Roll, of this city. 
Mr. W. H. Freiberg, of Chicage, is just back from a 
long trip to a good game country in Colorado, where he 
was floating on downy clouds of glory for about two 
months. He says he never did have such a trip. Game 
of all sorta was very abundant, and Mr. Freiberg got all 
the deer and elk he wanted. 
When Mr. T. H. Keller, of the U. S. Cartridge Co., was 
in Chicago last week he did not give permission to print a 
bit of news which he confirms in a letter just at hand. 
On Jan, 1 Mr. K^-Uer will leave the firm with which he 
has been pleasantly engaged for six years, and go into the 
employ of the Peters Cartridge Co. and the King Powder 
Co., of Cincinnati, This is matter of mutual felicitations 
for employer and employed. Mr. Keller is well known 
all over the country, and will bring friends to his new 
house, which has a great and growing business. The 
Cincinnati house has a strong combination with Mr. 
Lindsley and Mr. Keller both on hand, and everyone 
will wish them many happy days together. I hope Col. 
Bill Peabody and Col. Bob Burton and Col. Wilbur 
Dabois will call On — shall we say Col. Keller? It is very 
near Kentucky at Cincinnati — and duly take him across 
what raging flood is in that city yclept the Rhine, that 
being one of the journeys without which no one can 
claim a thorough acquaintance with the town on the 
Ohio, or a perfect understanding of the idiomatic ex- 
pressions, **'Rau8 mit i'm," "Ach Himmel," "Jetzt 
macht's los," etc., etc. 
Humane Society's Action. 
Gypsy, the man-killing elephant of the Harris circus, 
an animal which has killed several keepers and which 
lately scared another keeper into a hurried resignation of 
his job, has gotten to be too much of an elephant for the 
owners, who have concluded to kill her. Arrangements 
have been made to electrocute Gypsy by qieans of a gi- 
gantic electric device, and announcement has been made 
that the killing of the elephant will be a public spectacle, 
which will be held at Tattersall's, and to which an ad- 
mission price will be charged. Upon hearing of these 
plans for an exhibition. President John G. Saortall, of 
the Humane Society here, has expressed a determination 
to interfere in all ways possible. He cannot prevent the 
killing of the elephant, but he objects to its being made a 
public show. There is an odd involution to this question, 
but under it all is the fact that the American public of 
the better class cannot wish to countenance anything so 
openly Latin, old Roman or plainly heathenish as the 
spectacle of brute suffering at the hands of man. More- 
over, there is no contest of any sort in this, no pitting of 
beast against beast, or beast against man. It is simply 
the experiment of killing a vast animal by an untried de- 
vice. An elephant gun and a steady shot would seem 
better. As for the butchery, do those intending to wit- 
ness the execution forget and overlook the slaughter 
houses at the stock yards, which we have always with us? 
Mr Shortall has also forbidden the annual fox hunt of 
the Germania Club, which was to have come off this 
week, stating that he will cause to be prosecuted the 
officers of the club if a livR fox is run. Last year the 
club ran a stuffed fox, saute, with anise seeds and fine 
herbs, and to this Mr. Snortall has no objection. Wnile 
one can agree with Mr. Shortall on the elephant question, 
it is not possible to coincide with him about that anise 
seed business. An anise seed fox is too effete for this 
country as yet. Either let us run a fox or sit at home 
and imagine we ran a fox; but let us not, having chased 
a fox saute, imagine we have been fox hunting. Because 
we haven't, I think I have this thing straight, but may- 
be it was with the latter performance that Mr, Stiortall 
intended to interfere. It is as well to be cautious. 
Skunks. 
Mr. Mel. Hart, a sportsman of Crown Point, Ind., who 
is very well known among Chicago shooters, has deter- 
mined to go into the business of skunk farming, an in- 
dustry which other men have undertaken before him, 
not always with success in every respect. Recently Mr. 
Hart found under his front porch a litter of foundling 
skunks, about thirteen of them, all left penniless and alone 
in the world, apparently, by a heartless parent. Mr. Hart 
took the infants into his family and gave them a home, 
and now as an idea that he can raise skunks with ease in 
any quantity. As the annual fleece of a skunk is worth 
about $1 to $3, there seems to be a good business in this. 
The trouble with skunks, as I am advised, has usually 
been that they resemble coyotes, and sound as though 
there were a good many more of them than there are. 
No doubt Mr. Hart has been in places where he felt confi- 
dent he could have skinned a thousand skunks if he had 
only had his tools along, just like the man who listened 
at the side of a frog pond and contracted to ship two car 
loads of frogs' legs the next day; but it seems that these 
animals do not always live up to the expectations they 
raise. 
Shooting Glasses. 
Mr. Aimer Coe, of this city, advertises shooting glasses 
for trap and field shooting — a very useful and needful 
thing too, at times, for eyesight is not a permanent bless- 
ing — and he came to do this in a cm-ious way. Dr. West- 
cott, of this city, an oculist, wrote for Forest and Stream 
a little mention of some of his friends that he had fitted 
out with spectacles, with a marked improvement in their 
scores. This mention was read by a gentleman away 
down in British Honduras, who wrote to me to learn Dr. 
Westcott's address and inclosed a pair of glasses which 
he wanted fixed up. Dr, Westcott took the work to Mr. 
One, who is an expert optician, and the latter quickly 
concluded that a pripar which was read that far away 
from home must also be read at home, and would there- 
fore bring him business. In all of which he was quite 
correct. Dr. Westcott says he had several other gentle- 
men come to him for shooting glasses after the appear- 
ance of his little article, all of whom ppoke of having 
seen the mention in Forest and Stream. It is singular 
how widely and how well the sportsmen's papers of the 
country are read, or at least how widely and well this 
one ia. 
End of the Season. 
The Illinois shooting season is now over, the quail law 
closing date being Dec. 1. We can shoot nothing now in 
this State except the cottontail, of which there are thou- 
sands in many localities. Speaking of non-resident hunt- 
ing, I wonder where the Chicago shooters would be if no 
non- resident shooting were possible. But then, all Chi 
cago shooters are the kind of folk who are asked to com 
again and bring their friends; at least let us hope so. So 
long as residents do not object to non-residente, both are 
fortunate in meeting, and so long as non-residents act as 
sportsmen and not merely as shooters, the residents never 
do object. During the next sixty days some thousands of 
Chicago shooters will leave the city for sporting trips in 
other States of less rigorous climate and more abundant 
game. There is yet to be told the first incident of a real 
sportsman receiving a rebuff from a real sportsman in any 
of those other S Dates; therefore the bright days of the 
shooting year are just at hand for a great many of our 
sportsmen. 
The weather in this vicinity, including Illinois and 
Indiana, has been extremely mild so far this winter; in- 
deed, we have hardly had any winter at all as yet. Game 
should do very well. The past season has been an excep- 
tionally good one for game, and another one as good 
would give abundant shooting within easy reach of this 
city. 
Anise Seed Quail. 
In view of the growing scarcity of game birds, I suggest 
that we establish the sport of shooting anise seed quail. 
E. Hough. 
1206 BoTCE Building, Chicago, 
PENNSYLVANIA GAME INTERESTS. 
HARRiSBtma, Pa., Dec. 8 — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Dr. D. B. Warren, State Z ologist, prefaces his report on 
the destruction of Pennsylvania game with the Forest 
AND Streams editorial, "A Platform Plank," and then 
says: 
"Taking the most careful reports which I have been 
able to obtain from the grouse counties of this State, the 
result shows that 90 per cent, of all the game is killed by 
market hunters, and that they are shipped to the larger 
cities, and principally to New York. From one of these 
correspondents I quote: 
" 'i personally know of over 1,500 grouse being shipped 
from two stations on the D., L. & W. and W. B. & E. rail- 
roads to New York. I personally know of a restaurant 
keeper in New York who wrote to a market shooter in 
this vicinity asking him to ship yoimg grouse to him with 
woodcock during the month of July,' 
"Another correspondent writes: 'The consensus of 
opinion is for any law that will stop market hunting 
within a radius of twenty miles in this section. It is 
carefully estimated that the market hunters last season 
killed over 3,000 grouse, while the entire number of 
shooters who pursue the game for the pleasure of pursuit, 
say numbering fifty, did not exceed 200 birds.' 
"Market hunting is not done by farmers or farmers' 
sons, but by the professional market shooter. He traverses 
inclosed grounds, respecting the rights of none, and even 
becoming impudent when there is an attempt to restrain 
him by the lawful owner of the property. I have the 
first instance to record of one contributing toward replen- 
ishing a depleted game supply or paying in any manner 
for his gunning privileges. To do this would destroy the 
profits of his vocation, and he treats with disdain any 
proposition of this nature. Instances are on record where 
birds placed by the true lover of such sports in the late 
fall, at an expense of from $5 to $6 per dozen, have been 
killed by the market hunter and sold for less than half this 
price before the season closed. 
"From four counties in the central part of the State 
there were over $6,000 worth of quail released for propa- 
gation in the spring of 1894. I quote from the language 
of one prominent gentleman who had contributed liber- 
ally toward this fund: '1 contributed to such cause, ex- 
pecting to enjoy some of its benefits, but I found that the 
market-hunter had preceded me, and for my expenditure 
and day's outing I had to be content with no game. 
"A reasnnable trespass act and the restriction of our 
game traffic so that it will include deer, wild turkeys, 
ruffed grouse, woodcock and quail would, I believe, meet 
the views of our land-owners and all those interested in 
preserving and increasing our game. None of the above 
are in any manner destructive to the farmers, and no fear 
need to be entertained that they will ever become that 
numerous. 
"Bears, squirrels and rabbits are not game which can 
be defended, and to continue their sale would not be *a 
menace to the game of our State. To many it might 
seem that the farmers and land-owners of our State would 
not be interested in the protection of game for which 
there was no commercial market. With the market- 
shooter's profits disposed of and he out of the business, 
the privileges may be readily sold to those who are will- 
ing to pay for them, as is illustrated in Schuylkill 
county, where farmers realize a handsome sum for these 
privileges. 
"There is not a State of such importance as Pennsylvania 
in all other commercial or educational affairs that can 
record as many reported violations without arrest or con- 
viction of game and fish laws as our own Common- 
wealth. Any individual in any manner connected with 
game and fish protective interests is besieged with letters 
of complaint from every county in the State. Letters in 
the hands of one gentleman naming violations are so 
bulky that to attempt a reproduction of them in this re- 
port would be out of the question. 
"Pennsylvania's appropriation to the fish interest for 
the past ten years has been two hundred and four thou- 
sand dollars ($304: 000), divided as follows: $155,000 f r 
fish propagation, $5,000 for fish ways, $2,000 tor hatching 
house, and $43,000 specifically for 'water bailiffs.' For the 
past six years the appropriations for this purpose have 
been $5,000 annually, and the act which appropriates this 
amount states specifically for 'water bailiffs.' Now this 
sum equals, if it does not exceed, the amount appropri- 
ated under a more modern system in the State of Michi- 
gan for the protection of both fish and game, and the 
claims of the State Fish and Game Warden of that State 
are that they lead all other States in effective fish and 
game protection, awarding to the system and its direct 
application, and not to the amount appropriated, the 
honor of the results obtained. From Jan. 1, 1895, to July 
1, 1896, he reports 801 cases prosecuted. I have no data 
of our own State from which to make comparison. 
"It is positively asserted by those who have given at- 
tention to the subject that the taking of fish illegally in 
the Saequehanna River from Clark's Ferry dam to the 
Maryland line is largely on the increase; one has but to 
traverse the stream from the points named to note its 
evidences openly exposed. Wing walls of all sizes and 
lengths will be encountered, and they were during the 
