^AN. 16, 18&7.;i 
FOREST AND STHEAM. 
By rights, to whom do the deer balon^, anyway? Are they not 
bred and raised on land belonging to settlers, that have bought it 
and who pay tajfea on Itf Is it not on their lands that they get their 
living, Buch'as grasB, shrubbery, turnip patches and hay marshes? 
Where can you find a settler that can go out at the time or year pre- 
scribed by law to hunt? He must needs go when he can. If the State 
is going to do anything lt*t it protect the settlers; they are the ones 
it gets Its revenue from, not from a gang of lazy, loafing, shiftless 
men that make a business of roaming over the country at will, killing 
regardless of laws, time of season or anything else, as long as there is 
a deer left. Let them emigrate to some place where the game 
is more plentiful and more their equal. A settler should be 
permitted to kill a deer at any time through the fall if he 
needs it to feed his family, and no more. Otherwise, if this whole- 
sale killing goes on, in three or four years the deer will be as extinct 
in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota as the buffalo is on the plains of 
Dakota and Montana. If the State is going to do anything in the 
matter, let it debar all transient hunters, for the State derives no 
benefit or revenue from them. At the least calculation over fifty deer 
were shot in this township from Oct. 1 up to date and spirited away to 
foreign places, and what has the State out of them? Not a cent, and 
as far as I know, not a settler has got one. 
If the State intends to enforce this matter it must adopt some- 
thing more stringent than the present resolutions and before another 
season, too. Tbis year there has been practically three months up to 
date, not hers only, but all over the State, and who has heard ot an 
arrest for violation of the law? Now, if anyone thinks I am "oft" on 
this matter. I shall be pleased to hear from them through the columns 
of the Courier or otherwise, and don't be afraid to sign your name. 
Eespeotfully, A. R. Richardson. 
Vasok Chebe, Wis. 
Arctic Owls. 
Oregon papers chronicle a great influx of arctic owls 
this winter in that State. It is said that this bird has 
come down from the North all over Oregon as far as the 
California line. This snowy owl does not migrate from 
the North as a usual thine; unless the winter is unusually 
isevere. The Portland Oregonian says that these owls 
have not been seen in numbers in that State since 1881. I 
recall that Mr. J. D. Allen, the taxidermist at Mandan, 
IN. D., had many dozens of these birds mounted when I 
last was there. As I reported at the time, he said that 
when he first went into that country the snowy owl was 
rather scarce, and he gave a good price for a specimen. 
'This set all the farmer boys to trapping owls, and he soon 
^ad them offered in great numbers. The owls were taken 
by setting a steel trap on top of any little eminence on 
the level prairie country, A couple of sods thrown up 
would make a perch on which the owl was sure to light. 
The trap set on top of such little hillock was sure of a 
catch. A mounted snowy owl, with wings spread in 
screen fashion, is a sort of staple at $5, 
Wants Some Bear Galls. 
I am in receipt of the following interesting letter from 
a gentleman in Orange, Mass.: "I have read in 'our 
paper,' Forest and Stream, about Mr. Bobo's bear hunt- 
ing, etc., and I thought perhaps you can help me out. 
Now, I want to get two or three bear galls, for which I 
will give 50 cents each. 
*'Oan you tell me where I can get them? I thought you 
would probably know of parties who hunt bears. 
"If it will not be of too much trouble please let me hear 
from you." 
This only goes to show how useful a place a newspaper 
office can be at times. It is the pride of this office that a 
man can get anything he wants there, from a fight to a 
sermon, and I trust we shall be able to fill this order. We 
are just out of bear galls, but I am expecting some in, and 
shall take pleasure in advising the inquirer immediately 
upon their receipt. I think that 50 cents is not enough 
for a single bear gall, but maybe the price could be made 
lower on club rates such as those suggested. It seems to 
me that Captain Bobo could make a good thing at raising 
bears for their galls. It is a well-known fact that the re- 
moval of the gall from the bear does not injure the activ- 
ity or the usefulness of the bear to any great extent, and 
upon such removal it at once sets about producing another 
gall, after the fashion of the eider duck, which will pick 
a whole feather bed off itself in order to keep its nest 
going when the latter is robbed by the cruel hand of man. 
Captain Bobo's great acquaintance with bears would prob- 
ably allow him to gather his bear galls about every thirty 
days, and this would leave a profit on each bear of |6 a 
year, as the cost of feeding the bears is merely nominal. 
I see no reason why a large and profitable industry should 
not be built up in this way. If Captain Bobo has any bear 
galls in stock he can dispose of them at this office. I 
trust that we have not yet reached a position where we 
are not adequate to meet any demands upon our re- 
sources. 
Poygan Gun Club. 
At the regular meeting of the Lake Poygan Gun Club 
at the Sherman House yesterday afternoon the following 
officers for 1897 were elected: President, James Pease; 
Vice-Presidpinc, R. R. Clark; Secretary, R M. Simon; 
Trensurer, S. A. Goss. Board of Trustees: James Pease, 
R. R. Clark, E. W. Murphy. Membership Committee: 
Dr. F. D. Porter, Dr. E. N. Elliott, E, L. Mason. The club 
will try to secure cooperation in the passage of common 
game laws by Illinois, WiscoBsm, Indiana and Michigan. 
The club expressed it as its sense that spring shooting 
should be stopped, and determined to further all measures 
looking to that end, The Poygan Club has valuable 
shooting privileges in Wisconsin. 
Bound South. 
Mr. H. O, Wilbur, of Philadelphia, is in Chicago to-day. 
He starts on Monday for a few weeks' shooting on the 
Gulf Coast of Texas, and will probably drop in at the mid- 
winter shoot at San Antonio. Thence he goes to Califor- 
nia, where he will spend the great part of the winter. 
Mr. Wilbur last winter shot with Fred Kemp on Puerto 
Bay, near Rockport. 
The Limited Gun Club, of Indiana, is endeavoring to 
make up a party to go to the San Antonio Midwinter 
shoot. A number of Northern sportsmen make this tour- 
nament the occasion for a Southern trip in which they 
will see something of the delightful field shooting of that 
country. Dick Merrill, of Milwaukee, has already started 
South, and will join friends lower down in the country 
for a Texas trip, which will take in the Midwinter. It is 
a most agreeable experience to get out of this cold North- 
em country for a month of paradise in the South. 
E, Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago. 
-^ Wife— "Be sure to advertise for Fido in the morning 
ttewspapers." 
- Next day the wife read in the morning newspapers: 
*iTen Shillings Reward.— Lost, a mangy lapdog, with one 
eye and no tail. Too fat to walk. Answers to the name 
of Fido. Smells like a monkey house. If returned stuffed, 
30 BhillingB reward." — PearsorCs Weekly, 
Governors' Messafifes. 
From the Message of Qov. JPorcers, of Maine, 
"Our vast forests abound with moose, deer, caribou and 
"other game. Our lakes, rivers and bays, well stocked 
with many varieties of fish, offer to sportsmen unequaled 
attractions, and bring with each recurring year large 
and steadily increasing numbers of people, whose sojourn 
here is pleasant, healthful and beneficial to themselves 
and profitable to many of our own citizens. During the 
past two years the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries and 
Game used every reasonable effort and adopted the best 
known methods of fishculture, to more fully stock our 
lakes, streams and rivers with fish suitable for food. 
They have good reason to hope and believe that success 
will ultimately crown these endeavors. Already there 
has been a marked increase in many rivers and 
lakes of the several varieties which they are propa- 
gating. These Commissioners have also for the past two 
years taken extraordinary care to protect and preserve, 
especially during close time, the game with which our 
forests abound, and they have, to a great extent, pre- 
vented the indiscriminate and illegal killing of moose, 
deer and caribou, which was so common not a very long 
time ago. The slaughter by men lumbering in the woods 
has nearly ceased, and at present most of the guides, 
woodstnen and settlers upon the outskirts of the forests 
recognize the wisdom of our game laws and quite gener- 
ally obey them. But there are some persons that nothing 
but the rigid enforcement of these laws will restrain. 
Hence the evident necessity of having a reasonable num ■ 
her of energetic and efficient game wardens, who I 
think should also act as fire wardens, as it iis necessary to 
protect the forests from fire if we would have game at all. 
This work, so plainly beneficial to our State, is deserving 
reasonable pecuniary aid and support, which you will 
doubtless be pleased to grant." 
From the Message of Gov. Black, of New York. 
A question too long neglected is the preservation of 
our forests. The State, either through indifference or 
false economy, has been stripped of its most valuable tim- 
ber lands, allowed its water supply to be seriously im- 
paired, and the most wonderful sanitarium in the world 
to be defaced and partially destroyed. Every element of 
economy and foresight is outraged by this course. Pri- 
vate individuals have taken advantage of the State's neg- 
lect until of the entire Adirondack region, consisting of 
mnre than 3,500,000 acres, the State owns 841,000, less 
than a quarter; and of the proposed Adirondack Park 
of 2,800,000 acres it owns even a smaller percentage, 
about 661,000 acres. Of this proposed park more than 
880,000 acres are held as private preserves, and more 
than 1,250,000 acres by lumbermen and others; so 
that of the proposed total area of 2,800,000 acres more 
than 2,000 000 are owned by private individuals. More 
than 1,250,000 of the 2,000,000 so owned are now subject 
to fire and axe, and the devastation wrought yearly is ap- 
palling and disgraceful, More than 450,000,000 feet of 
wood and timber are cut and more than 100,000 acres 
stripped every year. This work of devastation is pro- 
gressing fast. The banks of the lakes and rivers and all 
sections accessible from either are ravaged at such a pace 
that but few years more can elapse before that region, in 
many respects the most wonderful and valuable in the 
world, will be practically destroyed. The parts acquired 
or claimed by individuals are the best. A traveler 
through any desirable portion of that country is sure to 
be met with the charge of trespassing, for the cases are 
rare in which the title of the State to a desirable tract is 
acknowledged. 
Some time this deplorable condition must be rectified. 
Every year the loss to the State grows larger, in all cases 
difficult, and in some cases irnpossible, of recovery. The 
land is steadily and rapidly increasing in value. The 
bogus title burrows further out of sight the longer it is 
let alone. Witnesses die, and the only thing sure to in- 
crease is the encroachment of individuals upon the 
domain of the State. The enlargement of the canals 
will require more water, and the demand in every 
direction is increasing, while the supply is steadily fall- 
ing off. A subject of such magnitude should not be post- 
poned nor conducted with baiting method, which is 
too apt to distinguish public enterprises in whiph large 
appropriations afford convenient resting places in which 
office holders may grow old. Not long ago the State ap- 
propriated $1,000,000 to preserve the beauties of Niagara 
Falls. That subject is without significance compared to 
the Adirondack forests. Every consideration of health, 
pleasure, economy and safety urge the speedy considera- 
tion of this subject, and such cousideration should in- 
clude appropriations adequate to ascertain the nature of 
the titles adverse to the State, and to recover where the 
titles are insufficient, and to purchase where they are 
valid. Any other course would be false and unwise 
economy. 
New York Game Protection. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The non-shipping game law is good as far as it goes, 
but it does not protect us aa it was intended. 
We have plenty of ruffed grouse cover, and but for 
three things would have excellent shooting all the fall. 
One thing is too many foxes; another, four or five market 
shooters hunt for about three days each week till they 
get about 100 birds together, and then, one of them takes 
them in a trank to market; another thing is, four or five 
city sportsmen go out and stay two or three days and 
carry back about twenty birds each. Whether they sell 
them or "give them to friends" I cannot say, but it makes 
no difference so far as thinning out the game is concerned. 
My idea for a remedy is to put a law through giving |1 
bounty on each fox killed. This would save many a 
farmer's poultry and game, more than a majority of 
shooters have any idea of. Then make it illegal for any 
one to kill more than five grouse in one day, or have m 
possession at one time. This would stop market shooters 
carrying their game to market, for it would not pay 
them. It would stop cold storage houses storing game. 
It would stop the city sportsman from taking home more 
than five birds toe ch man, and would afford them just 
as much pleasure to say they got all the law allowed 
them as to carry home twenty and give away or sell the 
other fifteen. ,16 bore, 
Albany, Jan. 7.— Col. William Cary Sanger, of Oneida 
county, introduced in the Assembly on its opening day 
two billB proposing changes in the fish and game law. 
One relates to the killing of deer in all parts of the State 
except Long Island ; the other proposes a change in the 
open season for partridges and squirrels. Both bills have 
the approval of the State Fisheries, Forest and Game Com- 
mission, and they were prepared after consultation with 
members of that Commission. 
The bill which relates to the killing of deer prohibits 
hounding and jacking, and in this is in line with the 
change made last year, when the season for killing deer 
by these methods was made shorter than it had previously 
been. The present law allows the jacking of deer from 
Sept. 1 to Sept. 15, and hounds may be used from Oct. 1 
to Oct. 15. 
The Commissioners believe that, notwithstanding these 
short open seasons, the number of deer killed in the Ad- 
irondacks this year wae fully as great as it was the year 
before, when the season was longer. Reports from the 
game wardens indicate this, although there are no de- 
tailed reports this year which show the actual number of 
deer killed in each county. Such reports as have been 
received by the principal gamekeeper are that during 
the fifteen days' open season the haunts of the deer were 
fairly alive with hunters, and the slaughter correspond- 
ingly great. 
It is because of these reports that the Commission be- 
lieved it wise to give a greater protection, and limit the 
killing to still-hunting. The proposed change is said to 
meet the approval of many of the dwellers in the woods, 
who have prior to last year done a thriving business with 
doge. They find that it does not pay to keep the dogs 
idle for eleven and a half months for the privilege of 
renting them for fifteen days. The gamekeepers believe 
that greater restrictions are needed to prevent the dogs, 
which are kept in the woods the year round, from de- 
stroying the deer. Some complaints have been heard 
that the dogs are frequently at large, and there has been 
no way of preventing hounding even when there have 
been no sportsmen. The proposed change prohibiting the 
use of dogs, the Commission believes, will be of advan- 
tage to the deer by practically clearing the woods of dogs 
the year round. 
The bill which relates to the partridge season is backed 
by the Commission bpcauae it balieves that under the 
present law the extinction of the bird is threatened. 
The open season for partridge is now from Aug. 16 to 
Dec. 31. Mr. Sanger's bill proposes to shorten this at 
both ends, making the time when partridge may legally 
be killed from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15. If the bill becomes a 
law, it will prevent much slaughter of the birds when 
they are "budding," and the date for the end of the sea- 
son was selected for precisely this object. 
The Commissioners believe the birds should be protect- 
ed from the time the first snow falls and they are driven 
to the hardwood trees for their food. This bill plso con- 
tains a section relating to the wholesale shipping of par- 
tridge, a provision which is said to be aimed at those who 
visit the breeding places and have practically a monopoly 
of the birds, buying from the local sportsmen and trans- 
porting them to the cities. Col. Sanger's bill proposes 
that no person shall "accompany" to exceed fifty birds. 
The open season for squirrels is changed by Col. San- 
ger's bill, to give an open season from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15. 
The present law makes it from Oct. 15 to Feb. 15. The 
Commission believes the squirrels are matured by Sept. 1. 
One change is proposed by the Commission in the law 
fixing the fishing seasons, though the bill to bring about 
the change has not yet been introduced. It is proposed 
to make the date of the open season for black bass July 1. 
It is now June 1. The Fisheries Department advocates 
the change on the ground that black bass are spawning 
in Jiine. — Correspondence, New York limes. 
Michigan Sale of Game. 
Lansing, Mich., Jan. 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
am glad to be able to report a move in the direction of 
preserving the game of Michigan: 
A. L. Lakey, of Kalamazoo, secretary of the State 
Game Protective Association, is preparing an amendment 
to the present game law, which he will endeavor to have 
passed at the coming session of the Legislature, One of 
the features which he desires introduced is that no game 
of any kind shall be offered for sale. Mr. Lakey asserts 
that under the present law he has known of a number of 
cases where venison is killed and sold by hunters to pay 
the expenses of their trip. 
A provision for more complete reports of the issuance of 
hunters' license is also a feature of the amendment. It 
is proposed that county clerks shall report and turn over 
the license fees received to the county treasurer, who 
shall report to the State treasurer. Some 20,000 blank 
licenses were sent out to the county clerks last fall, and 
the Sscretary of State has received, it is said, fees for 
only about 100 licenses, but it is pretty evident that the 
number of deer hunters largely exceed this figure. A 
higher fee for the license is also contemplated. 
This is a matter which sportsmen throughout the State 
will be pleased to have brought about. Juuan. 
The Globe-Democrat's Tarns. 
St. Louis, Mo. Jan. 9. — A great journalist has just 
died in this city, Mr. Jospph B McUullagh, of the St. 
Louis Olobe- Democrat; and the journalists of the whole 
country have united in paying tribute to his greatness. 
If but two of his articles, one on Judge Normile and the 
other on Father Phelan, had appeared in the old-time 
London Spectator of Mr. Addison, instead of in a modern 
daily, he would, have been one of the immortals. He 
made the Globe- Democrat so excellent that other merely 
good papers seemed trash in comparison. But for years 
past his paper has contained in the Saturday edition a 
series of articles about sports afield, written for the most 
pan* by space writers, one of whom once confessed to me 
that he had never been hunting in his life. Their patent 
artificiality only disclosed that the great editor had always 
been too busy to go a-hunting. And yet he was too big 
not to know a sham when he saw it, and it may have 
been his quiet way of laughing at the man who is ever 
willing to lapse from the intense life of the spirit to the 
old-time ways of the savage; from the constant labor and 
asceticism of genius to the brief snatches of pleasure 
with which those of us who are "but children of a larger 
growth" beguUe the way. George Kennedy. 
* a few articles were taken from Forest and Stream, which, ot 
course, are not subject to this mUd criticism. 
