S4d 
f'ORESf AND ^ STREAM. 
[Sept; 28, 189^. 
Land and tbe Game Supply. 
Editor Forest and BPi'eam: 
Tour editorial in last issue, entitled "A Better Way," is a 
shot mighty near the truth. There is no good reason "why 
we should allow all the good hunting country on this conti- 
nent to pass into private control." Unfortunately, however, 
most of it has so passed, and your point is well taken when 
you say "the time to undertake the permanent keeping of 
this territory is'now." Why not go further? 
A.II the laws w'sest legislators can formulate, the best 
efforts of the most disinterested associations, even the ac- 
knowledged power of such a publication as yours, cannot, 
under existing conditions, save the wild things of earth and 
air and water. Where are the vast herds of buffalo whose 
footsteps once shook the Western olains? Are the elk, deer 
and antelope to be seen where they once were? Even our 
prairie chicken — isn't he surely doomed? 
Mark the trail of the pioneer, the home-hunter; you will 
find it all over our vast country. When he comes, the wild 
life goes before him. Far from the center of culture and 
civilization; far from school house and church; far from 
markets so necessary to his material wellfare; far from im- 
proving intercourse with his fellows, cheap land has ltd 
him on. Does he prefer this lonely life of toil and depriva- 
tion? Not a bit of it. Stern necessity and nothing else has 
driven him away from the haunts of man, ard scattered him, 
80 to speak, far and vpide. 
Man is essentially a land animal. Without land he can- 
not exist. Close to every busv community there is land in 
abundance held out of use Yet, the vtry existence of such 
communities gives a greatly increased, and increasing, value 
to all neighboring land, fiere arises the sppculative value of 
land, and it is held out of use, or cut of full use, in expecta- 
tion of a rise. 
Thus the man with nothing in the world but his ability to 
labor, coupled with the possession of a more or less rude 
outfit, is forced to seek those remote sections where land is 
cheap or can be had for nothing, and when he comes the 
wild life goes. 
Were we upon a basis of equity and justice with respect 
to land ; did our laws but recognize that the land was the 
free gift of the creator to all his people, then human beings 
would not be driven to live in the haunts and after the man- 
ner of wild things, the lower forms of life would have ample 
room and opportunity to grow, wax fat and multiply, dis- 
turbed only by the occasional visit of some wandering Mm- 
rod on health or pleasure bent. 
As time rolls on, private ownership of land In this coun- 
try will tend to fence in bird, beast and fish, just as it has 
already done in England, and the mere possession of gun 
and dog will draw upon the owner the surveillance of "my 
lord's" gamekeeper, Robekt W. Scott. 
Philadelphia. 
Notes from Bostoa. 
Boston, Sept. 18. — Mr. A. E. Mills tells me of excellent 
shooting on Prince Edward Island. His boyhood home is 
there, and be spent his vacation there, having just returned 
to business in Boston. As soon as he reached home his 
father told him that there were flocks and fi.ocksof upland 
plover in the old hay field, full-grown and not very shy. 
The old shotgun, long since lain by, was got out the night 
beforehand, and at daylight Mr. Mills was tramping over 
the stubble fields of his early recollections. He heard the 
plover and crept carefully along, as much in ambush as 
possible, till a good flight went over him, almost too near. 
The old gun brought down four at the first shot. Reloaded, 
the flight was back again, with more birds. Mr.Mills went 
home to breakfast much pleased. He says that duck shoot- 
ing in the same neighborhood promises to be excellent. A 
number of flocks were by him sighted, and the local gun- 
ners believe they are very plenty. 
The partridge season has opened in this State, and will 
open in Maine on Monday, the 20th, Here the shooters 
have made some very fair bags. Gardy Ames and Ben 
Goodwin were out in Reading on the opening day and g-^t 
seven ruffed grouse. They are crack shots and noted for 
their success in partridge shooting. They foiind the birds 
unusually shy, with the leaves thick, making shooting 
difficult. E. M. Gillam and F. W. Hallowell were out in 
the same town on the morning of the opening day. Mr. 
Gillam'a dogs pointed about twenty birds, but when flushed 
they invariably took for the brush, or back in an un- 
expected direction. The hunters were obliged to leave 
the sport and go to Boston on business without a bird to 
show. They will soon give the shy fellows another try. 
A gentleman, much interested in dogs and bird shoot- 
ing,, just in from an extended trip in New Hampshire and 
Vermont, says that game is scarce in nearly every section 
he visited. The common explanation is that the young 
birds — possibly the eggs — were destroyed by the stress of 
wet and chilly weather in the spring and early summer. 
Smelting off the shore, all along from the Cape to Saco 
Bay, is a popular sport just now. Hook and line is the 
favored tackle, since there is a law against any sort of net- 
ting. Shrimp are used for bait, and to take three or four 
dozen for breakfast any morning is the common thing 
with almost any sportsman so situated that can easily 
reach any sort of a favorable tidewater creek or inlet. E. 
A. Dow, of Woburn, has taken a good string for a number 
of mornings lately. He owns a yacht and plenty of boats, 
and fishes off the harbor here. Special. 
Oakland Game and Fish Protective Association. 
Oakland, N. J., Sept. 11.— Editor Forest and Stremn: 
The snaring of ruffed grouse in the Ramapo and Campgaw 
mountains, and the spearmg of fish in the Ramapo River 
and at the head of Pompton Pond during the last few years, 
has increased so much that the shooting and fishing has been 
almost entirely ruined. 
A meeting was called on Sept. 14 at Oakland, and the 
Oakland Game and Fish Protective Association formed, 
with the following officers: President. John Lloyd; Vice- 
President, E D, Page; Treasurer, A. Van Houten; Secre- 
tary, Noel Money. 
At the meeting it was resolved that the Association shall 
give $10 to any one furnishing evidence to convict any pei-- 
son of snaring partridges, trapping or ferreting rabbits, 
spearing fish illegally or shooting quail, ruffed grouse or .rab- 
bits out of season. 
The appointment of Mr. John Lewis as deputy game 
warden has been asked for by the Association, and we ex- 
pect that it will take only a few convictions to put an end to 
the partridge snaring and spearing. 
Noel E. Mokbt, Sec'y. 
Preaching Murder. 
Editorial in the. Providence (E. I) Evening Telegram, Sept. 9. 
So good a man as the editor of Fiher and Fabric, a Boston 
trade paper, seems to think killing game wardens is not 
much of a crime. In his paper last week Mr. Wade, who 
probably never killed an animal of any sort in his life, for 
that would not be sport for him, refers to the killing of a 
game warden and asks why he was killed. "Simply," he 
says, "because no human being, even though he were worth 
millions, has exclusive right to wild game. Game keepers 
have always been roughly handled and always will be, there- 
fore wise men are never game keepers. A man may herd a 
million sheep and no one will ever assassinate him, for the 
reason that sheep are property, and game is not property. 
America has gained thousands of good citizens who left 
their native heath because they had thrashed a game keeper 
and were iden1ifi"d " 
Since that was published there has been another murder 
of the same kind. One or two men are already in IScW 
England prisons for the offense, and a very small part of the 
population of their States look upon them as art at sinners. The 
fact is the enforcement of game laws is bound to bring trouble. 
Once in a while a man who is caught openly violating the 
law, like the Philadelphian at Naragansett Pitr is caught and 
let off with a seutencewhich means nothing to him, not even 
disgrace. But usually the crime of killing game in violation 
of law goes unpunished. Respect for all law is diminished 
as it is by the farce of unenforced prohibition. The game 
warden in the pursuit of his oificial duty runs up against a 
man whcse reverence for the statute book has been gradually 
lessened, and if the man sees State prison staring him in the 
face, for a crime which nobody considers a crime, what 
wonder he saves himself at tne cost, perhaps, of the warden's 
life. It is wicked, but it is one of our recently imported 
fashions which is responsible for it. Better farms and homes 
than great game preserves. 
The Bowley's Quarter Pheasants. 
A STATEMENT having been given out that the Bowley's 
Quarter Ducking Club, of Maryland, would set trap-guns to 
protect its pheasants, President Nathaniel E. .Janney 
writes to the Baltim re Siui in denial: "To relieve the 
Bowley's Quarter Du king Club from the false position in 
which it has been p ced by a statement, in the form of 
an interview, in the Sit, of the 13th instant, as to means 
to be resorted to for th protection of English pheasants 
on the property owned bv ■i.be club in Middle River Neck, 
I beg to say the club has n intention, and has never had 
a thought of resorting to sucu un-American means as trap- 
guns and savage dogs for obtaining protection of its prop- 
erty. The only protection asked is that of the law and the 
good-will of our neighbors. If these fail us, we will aban- 
don the raising of these fine game birds. 
"To be obliged to do this would be mortifying after years 
passed in overcoming difficulties in the way of successful 
breeding and render useless a plant perfected by time and 
much expense, to say nothing of the loss to the farmers of 
the State and the general public of the benefits of the free 
distribution, annually, through the Maryland Game Pro- 
tective Association, of pheasant eggs for breeding purposes, 
under the existing agreement, toward the gradual stocking 
of the entire State without cost. 
"We have proved by results that we can successfully 
breed these magnificent birds. Our failure has beeri in 
the ability to protect them from destruction by night 
marauders on our land, notwithstanding we have been 
well seconded in this particular by the Maryland Game 
Protective Association. 
"The common prejudice against a preserve could hardly 
apply in our case because of the existing agreement with 
the State Game Association to share with the citizens of 
the State the results of our work." 
Opening Day in Massachusetts. 
FiTCHBUHG, Mass. — Everyone in town who owned a gun 
cleaned it up, and loaded some shells, and everyone who 
owned a dog gave him a good "licking" Tuesday night; and 
on Sept. 15, about 5 A. M., the several sporting outfits moved 
out of town to where the birds had been marked in the vari- 
ous likely covers. It turned out a glorious day, but the 
leaves are too thick yet for comfort, and the birds that were 
bagged were earned. Messrs. Fields. Kimball and Cutter 
killed thirteen partridges and one woodcock; Messrs. Cutn- 
mings and Wallace, nine partridges and three woodcock; 
Prof Curley and E L. Herson, four partridges and one 
woodcock; thePutnams, father and son, two partridges; and 
Messis. Crocker and Colony, five partridges. I was out my- 
self with Mr. I. 0 Converse, and we scored four woodcock 
and two partridges. So you see we have got some birds up 
here; but, after all, what do the birds amount to in numbers? 
It's the sport, the woods, the old clothes and the dogs. If I 
had a picture to go with this letter, of Mr Converse's black 
pointer, Lu, backed by my Gordon seller, Rex, in a cover of 
white birches, you'd all buy a dog to see him do the same 
thing. They stood on a woodcock; it was a picture that a 
sportsman cherishes through the season, and — well, we got 
the woodcock, and of course that is important. Why don't 
someone start a series of "Dogs I Have Shot With?" We 
would all like to read them up this way, and of course, 
there are others. Nox All. 
Maryland Game Wardens. 
Annapolis, Md., Sept. 17. — Upon the recommendation 
of Game Warden Norris, Governor Lowndes has commis- 
sioned the following deputy game wardens in Maryland: 
Baltimore county — B. L. Stansfield, B. H. D. Bull, 
Augustus Bruehl, Joseph Plummer, Charles T. Bevan. 
Washington county — Samuel Pennel. 
Worcester county — Wm. S. Dennis. 
Carroll county— Frank J. Devil biss. 
Anne Arundel— Robert H. Ohaney. 
Harford county — D. P. HoUingsworth, Charles E. Wig- 
gers, Walter P. Eeckord, Brinton F. Warner, Joseph B. 
Hoskins. 
Frederick county — Charles H. Birely. 
For any work on outdoor sports send direct to the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Co., who are the largest 
publishers and importers of such boolcs in America. 
Their illustrated descriptive catalogue will be sent 
free on request. 
Quail in Nebraska. 
BuEB, Otoe County, Neb., Sept. 11 —Have been traveling 
out from Burr over the country for the past few weeks, and 
prior thereto I was engaged through eastern Kansas. I 
never saw so many quail as I have in the past two months. 
I have found one or two coveys in the road in every draw 
or depression (what we used to call a swale in New York 
State), and every day I start a flock or two of prairie chick- 
ens out of the road. 
Here is a note from the Kansas City Star of Sept. 5; 
"Wedged fast in the cowcatcher of the biir engine which 
pulled the Union Pacific train from the West into the 
LToion depot this morning was a full grown quail, which 
had attempted to cross the track of the engine while it was 
rushing across the plains at the rate of forty miles an hour, 
'I have never before seen so many quail in Kansas at this 
season of the year,' said the grimy engineer, as h's attention 
was called to "the engine's catch. 'We pass ihrough great 
coveys of them every morning; and it is no UDUsual thing 
for us to knock out half a dozen or more between Lawrence 
and Kansas City, It is not often, however, that thev remain 
on the pilot,"' . W. F, R. 
New" Haven Association. 
New Haven. Conn , Sept. 2Q.— Editor Foi-est and Stream: 
A number of New Haven sportsmen have decided to join 
hands in a vigorous attempt to enforce the game laws. For 
years there have been only occasional attempts, many of them 
half-hearted, made to enforce the laws, and they have been 
broken by almost every one except those who were gentle- 
men enough to realize that the laws were intended to giva 
every one an equal chance at the game We have formed 
an organization known as the New Haven County Game and 
Fish Protective Association, and every man is in it to stay. 
We have offered a reward of $25, subject to reasonable re- 
strictions, for evidence which will convict, and we are going 
to put every case that comes up through to the bitter end. 
We expect to have the end bitter for the poacher, but if we 
do get it ourselves it will only be a dose of quinine to stimu- 
late us to work harder, Charles G. Morbis, Sec'y- i 
An Adirondack Game Warden Murder. 
Whitehall, N.Y., Sept. 18. — William Jackson, a deputy 
sheriff of Schroon Lake, was kilkd last night near Paradox 
Lake while trying to arrest three brothers named Lajoie, 
charged with violating the game laws. Jackson's body was 
also mutilated with an axe. 
Sept 20 — Frank Lajoie, the murderer of Deputy Sheriff 
William Jackson, was captured by a volun*^eer force of sev- 
eral young men from Schroon Lake, near Whitney's Clearing, 
Paradox Lake, ai 3 o'clock this afternoon. Lajoie went to 
his mother's house about noon for something to eat. He was 
exhausted and said he would give himself up. He offered no 
resistance. Lajoie and his two brothers, who are held as wit- 
nesses, will be taken to the county jail at Elizabethtown. 
Sportsmen's Exposition. 
New York, Sept. 16 —Editor Forest and Si/ream: The 
secretary-treasurer of the National Sportsmen's Assooiaiioa 
has left for the West to close contracts for special features 
for the coming Exposition, to be held Maich 13 to 19, both 
days inclusive, at Martison Square Garden, New YorK-city. 
J,. A. H. Dressel, Sec'j-Treas. 
A Quebec Moose Opportunity. 
There is an opportunity for one person to join a Quebec 
moose hunting expedition. One of the members (guide and 
canoe engaged) has been obliged to abandon the I rip, thus 
making room for another. The start will be Sept. 27. 
Further particulars at this oifice. 
"That reminds me." 
The Green Mountain Gyascutus. 
Sportsmen who are intending to visit Vermont next 
month for the purpose of hunting deer, will do well to pro- 
vide themselves with weapons suitable to cope with more 
formidable game. For to say nothing of the ferocious bears, 
lynxes and porcupines with which our forests abound, there 
is the more terrible gyascutus, which, though the fact is not 
generally known, is sail to be found roaming our mountain 
sides as frequently as the masti don the wilds of Alaska. 
This singular beast is briefly described in the Century Dic- 
tionary as follows: "An animal said to be of tremendous 
size and to have both legs on one side of the body much 
shorter than on the other, so as to be able to ke p its balance 
in feeding on the side of a very steep mountain." 
A writer of the last century, whose name is not given but 
quite probably that veracious chronicler, the Rev. Hugh 
Peters, thus writes of it: "A most monstrous and wonder- 
ful strange Beast hath his habitation on the declivities of 
these mountains, to traverse which he ii singularly well 
adapted, the foreleg and hinder leg of one side being so much 
longer than those of the other side that he standeth or lyeth at 
ease on very steep places, and also moveth very swiftly there- 
on. He can not turn himself about, but goeth ever in one direc- 
tion, except as he goeth backward, which he can do with 
great speed upon occasion. His head, which hath an orna- 
ment of sharp antlers, is carried lofti'y, and the eyes being 
set outward and backward, he aeeth as well behind as before, 
and for means of attack and defense in the rear, he is pro- 
vided with an exceedingly muscular tail, which hath a sharp 
horn at its end, said to be enormous, but as to that I know 
not, for I have not seen this wondrous Beast, but only his 
tracks, as great as thoso of an ox, and in like manner divided, 
hut with claws at the end. His stii.tuce is above that of a 
horse, and he is of a fierce and icnplacable temper, as is de- 
noted by the wounds wantonly inflicted on the trees both 
by his cruel antlers and his waspish Tail." 
The visiting sportsman is as likely to fall in with the gyas- 
cutus in the fortresses of the Green Mountains as to find here 
such herds of deer and gangs of bears as are reported by some 
journals, therefore it may be well for him to bring along a 
rifle of large caliber and a stout hunting knife, or a hatcuet 
of the G. W. pattern, wherewith to defend himself from the 
backward charge of the beast. It is evident ihat the gyas- 
cutus may be more safely approached on either side than at 
either end, but this may not be considered sportsmanlike. 
