Oct. 23, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
828 
Spring-shooter, You are justified in racing wrong rather 
than suffer any loss or deprivation. You don't own any 
share, No one does. When you shoot ducks you own what 
you have reduced to possession, nothing more. There is no 
fixed and determinate ownership in a share, as you falla- 
ciously set it fortli to cover your wrong-doing, but it serves 
as a colorable pretext for you to do wrong and justify it. 
Of course, there is a certain ratio of moral cowardice in doing 
a thing you know to be wrong, and then justifying it by 
showing that some one else does the same thing. Of course, 
you could justify any wrong-doing on the same line of argu- 
ment, if there was no statute law or strong public opinion to 
hold you in check. Nevertheless, the public does not know 
all this, so you can pose both as an evangelist and a sinner, 
the latter being so informal and so well-explained that it 
doesn't count. 
As to the Gun and DogT' 
Borrow your friend's gun ; borrow his dog — when you can, 
I am now communicating direct with you. Your friend 
may refuse you— what matter? He may be pained to let 
either gun or dog go, since they are costly, have rt quired his 
daily care to keep in order, and have dear associations. 
Above all, either one is easily injured. So dear do they be- 
come that they seem to be degraded if they pass into the 
hands of anyone who does not prize them as highly, care for 
them as tenderly, and use them as skillfully as they deserve. 
But the gun and dog being borrowed, feel free to retrain the 
dog as you think he should be trained. Thrash him when 
you feel out of softs, or when you miss a bird. 'Try some 
new loads in the gun, find do not be a bit squeamish about 
overloading it. If it is strained the loss falls upon your 
friend, the lender. Return gun and dog with the informa- 
i tion that they are no good, and that you hope your friend 
■will have better ones to lend next time. 
As to the Fishrod, Flies, etc. 
It is always much less trouble to borrow than to buy. 
Also, it is cheaper. Rods and flies, etc , cost more money 
when one buys them one's self than when the lender buys 
[ them. Borrow fishing tackle on the same general principle 
governing the like matter concerning the dog and gun, and 
I if you break a tip or strain a joint either conceal it as much 
as possible or aver that it was so when you got it. Under 
no circumstances part with any money, nor even admit that 
you have had much of a favor conferred. 
As to Camping. 
When you are invited to share the pleasures of your 
friends' camping trip, set forth with the belief that all the 
Conditions of camp life are to be the same as in your home 
life, with the one exception that there is a change of scene. 
All the drudgery of the camp is to be done by the host, for 
I instance. One of the chief pleasures of camp life is that it 
I tests a man's manhood and brings to him some of the prowess 
: of his savage ancestors, whose stamina was as the hardy en- 
! durance of the oak, whose cpeed was as that of the antelope, 
[ and whose braveiy and fearlessness were as those of the 
lion. Then there is the contrast of the plainness and per- 
sotial hard work to enhance the return to home and the com- 
I forts of it by the contrast. Ah 1 but who wants to work in 
camp? The others, of course. Therefore, shirk the building 
' of fires, carrying of water, the cleaning of fish, the washing 
of dishes, the cooking of dinners. Leave it all to the host 
or his friends. Were you invited indeed to be a guest that 
you might work? You have performed quite fully your 
part by consenting to be present. And if you are out of 
sorts, you are privileged to grumble and complain and ob- 
ject and make the others heartily wish that you were in 
Jericho. If the wfeather is bad, or the fish don't bite, or the 
moLtiuitoes are biting, make your companions knoW that 
you are peevish and sulky, and that you hold each one to 
blame and each one responsible for your ill success and your 
disappointment. You may have noticed that the next year 
after your trip you had no invitation to go camping, but of 
course that had no significance. 
As to Deportment Afield and Afloat. 
When you are fishing and shootiner, there is no better time 
.than then to hold a conversation. When your friend is fisli- 
ing or shooting, he is so entirely unoccupied that it is quite 
a relief to him to listen to twaddle or silly stories, and it is 
well worth his while to take his dog and gun, buy a railroad 
ticket, ride on a long journey, all to give a little attention to 
sport and a lot to listening. 
I used to wonder much at the taciturnity of the old hunters 
as I read of them when I was a boy, but I now better under- 
stand it. I do not think that they were truly disinclined to 
talk on meeting a tenderfoot, but rather that they feared to 
make a beginning lest the beginning should never have an 
ending. 
All shooters know that the human voice frightens wild 
game, causing it to take flight quickly and spoiling the op- 
portunity to canture, as all fishermen similarly know that it 
has the same effect on game fishes. 
Always keep your gun loaded when you cross a fence, 
when you are riding in a wagon and when you are in camp.' 
When you then fall over the fence the cartridge may not be 
entirely wasted when the gun is discharged. Still better 
success may await you if you fall into or out of the wagon, 
or if you drop your gun, or if the horses should run away. 
Yom- chances then to kill a dog, a horse or a man are infi- 
nitely better. 
Take every shot that you possibly can, whether it is yours 
or not If any one should object, immediately grow quar- 
relsome. Your companion will hardly care to carry' the 
matter further. 
If fishing in a boat, throw your line over into your friend's 
water. If he has a strike, be prompt to cast where you saw 
it. Do not hesitate to cross your line over that of your 
friend. Flounder around in the boat every two minutes. 
The best time to do this is when your friend is extended in 
making a cast. When the anchor has been thrown over and 
just touched bottom, proclaim that you see a much better 
place and insist on pulling up the anchor again. Do this 
about twelve times an hour. Tliis is a very pretty and de- 
lectable way to fish and it puts a charming variety into the 
sport. Throw the anchor over with a thtfndering splash. 
When you heave the anchor, heave it a long way. When 
you raise it, slam it into the boat. All these help to catch 
fish and make sport. 
When carrying your gun, always carry it on your shoulder 
pointing at anyone following behind; or carry it resting on 
your arm, muzzle pointing forward at any one who may be 
in the lead. 
If your companion is polite and requests you to take the 
shot, take it, Nevor condider whether you look the last one 
or the two last. Some soortsmen will not take any more 
than they are justly entitled to and will let the shot go 
rather than to be a hog by courtesy. But that is not right. 
Let your eyes gleam and take the shot, even if you are 
ashamed of it the next moment. The rules which apply so 
well to people we know, apply most fittingly to us as they 
see us. 
The same rules which require that each one should be gen- 
tle and considerate to others in the ordinary conditions of 
life, and require that each one should shoulder hia share of 
the burdens cheerfully and do bis share well, are equally ap- 
plicable to all alike in sport on field or stream, or in the 
limits of the camp. There are no special rules for deport- 
ment in an outing which differ from the rules governing tlie 
deportment of gentlemen and ladies at all other times. The 
details of an outing may diiier from the details of home life, 
but the difference is one of surroundings— the people remain 
the same. 
There is this to add : that many people, through the favor- 
ing conditions of home life, succeed admirably in concealing 
their real nature, and by fixed and long-continued habit under 
certain fixed conditions they become known as having a cer- 
tain fixed character. Thev arc simply habituated to do cer- 
tain things under certain circumstances. A life in a groove 
is not all of life. A while in camp brings out a man's true 
character, and his evcry-day life, bv such test, is often 
proved to be fictitious, Alcibiades Dbynoodle. 
THE JACKSON HOLE ELK. 
Dbnveb, Col., Oct. S —Editor Forest and Stream: After 
reading your editorial criticism on what you allege to be in 
my letter to Mr. Adams, and after reading the letter itself 
again. I think there is nothing in it I ought to take back or 
even modify. 1 think most ffir-mlnded people will look at 
it in about the same way. You do not criticise what I 
really said, for the most part, as much as what you assume 
that I said. If you wish to set up a man of straw, label 
him with my name, and do battle wit;h him, it is no more 
than is often done by disnutants who have a weak case. I 
do not wish to be har-sh. but T object to being criticised for 
sayine: paloablj'' aVsurd things which I did not say. 
If the facts were that these elk would have starved to 
death if Mr. Adams ha,d not fed them, it seems to me the 
authorities of Wyoming did the sensible and right thing in 
refusing to prosecute the man who saved their lives, and 
afterward kept some of them as a partial return for his out- 
lay in preserving all of them from destruction, even in so 
doing he committed a technical violation of the letter of the 
law. ' You have no right to say that, in taking this position, 
we ally ourselves with those who seek to palliate the murder 
of game wardens, ^r any others whose attitude tends to the dis- 
regard of law. On the contrary, we are favoring such a 
reasonable and fair enforcement of tlie law, in cases where 
its literal and rigorous enforcement would work injustice, 
as tends to create and maintain respect for it and confidence 
in its beneficence, which in turn will surely create law- 
abiding sentiment and conduct just as certainly as a con- 
trary course will produce a contrary result. Human laws 
are all makeshifts, the best we can' do under the circum- 
stancps, sweeping in their terqjs, because in framine them 
few exceptions can be explicitly made. Their object is to 
prevent the wrong and conserve the right, and they are 
made as far as possible to fit the large=st number of cases. 
Only in Ihws of such supreme importance as those which 
relate to the taking of human life, is an attempt made by 
legislators to provide explicitly for such considerations as 
intent, provocation, mitigation, etc., whereby we have such 
legal distinctions as differentiate the degrees of murder and 
tnanslau^hter. But these same considerations exist in all 
cases Where law has been violated, and since the Legislature 
has not provided for their recognition, it is not only the 
right of otBcers of the law in whose hands its enforcement is 
placed, but it is their duty, to take notice of them to the end 
that justice be done, which is the end of law. There is not 
a sheriff, a district-attorney, a grand jury, a judge, or any 
other officer who does not habitually and necessarily con- 
form to this unwitten rule. If he did not, he would not be 
fit to hold his office, or any other office, because he would 
be lacking in good sense. 
Now, if Mr. Adams' claim is true, this is exactly a case in 
point. If he had not fed them tliey would all have died, 
and could never have themselves furnished a target for the 
sportsman or helped to perpetuate their kind. If he had 
converted them all to his own use the game supply of 
Wyoming would not have suffered at all, and that number 
of animals would have been utilized instead of going to 
wanton destruction. As a matter of fact he kept only a 
part, *>nd the rest went back to their forests to replenish the 
stock of game. From the standpoint of anyone who be- 
lieves that the game laws should be so enfored as to secure 
their greatest benefit, and not, by a foolish and slavish con- 
formity to the letter of the law, to defeat their object in 
whole or in part, ought Mr. Adams to be prosecuted or 
commended? 
This leaves out altogether the question of humanity, the 
absolute right of dumb animals to food on their own ac- 
count, and the duty of mankind to supply it when possible. 
This right is recognized by the law as superior to the right 
of property in them held by human beings. The only 
higher right is that of human necessity. It is idle quibbling 
to_ say that this recognition was not intended to apply to 
wild animals, tor if it was not so intended it ought to have 
been. Moreover, you do not and cannot know whether it 
was so intended or not; if it was not s® intended, it is 
equally true of any law that not all the variations of its 
application can possibly b° in the mind of the legislator; 
and since it is the animal's rights which are in question, 
ownership, wild or domestic condition, or any other inci- 
dental circumstance has nothing to do with the case and is 
excluded by the language of the law. Do you mean to say 
that a deer which comes to my stacks in a starving condition 
has no absolute right to be fed, if I can do it, while a hog, 
for instance, has? 
But to return to this question of humanity Under this 
principle it was necessary for these elk to be in danger of 
actual starvation, as it is claimed they were, to justify Mr. 
Adams in feeding them and afterwards recompensing him- 
self from them. If they were suffering for want of food 
and not in actual peril of death, it was his dutj' to supply 
their necessities if he could ; having done so he had a moral 
right, if not a legal one, to their control until he was paid. 
The law which, for prudence sake, restricts the legal exer- 
cise of this right to officers of the Humane Society, does not 
change the principle at all, or the duty of officers to recog- 
nize it in the administration of other laws on which it has a 
bearing. When persona not spectflcally autkoriaed, but in 
good faith and actuated by the same motives as the law pre- 
supposes in the case of officers of the Humane Society, re- 
lieve the distress of suffering dumb creatures, it is a matter 
which officers not only may, but ought to, consider when 
action is urged or contemplated. 
You may say such doctrine is subversive of law and 
order. Is the doctrine any more subversive than the prac- 
tice which, as I have already said, prevails everywhere? If 
your contention were true, it would seem to me that the Jaw 
and order which common sense and humanity are subversive 
of cannot be subverted too soon. As a matter of fact, it is 
directly in the interest of law and order, as has been already 
said, that such considerations are urged. Improperly ap- 
plied or carried too far, they would, undoubtedly, be mis- 
chievous. So would almost any other principle of human 
conduct. There is no greater bugaboo than your "logical 
conclusion." Nobody ever carries anything to its "logical 
conclusion" except for the sake of argument. 
It remains only to be said that every case must be judged 
by itself; so should this. If the fact appeared to be that 
the claim of starvation was only a pretext or subterfuge, 
then what is here said does not apply to this case. If you 
had taken that position alone I should have no chance to 
argue with you; but, except by implication and incidentally, 
you do not allege that in criticising my letter. 
It is a foolhardy thing to engage in a controvery with an 
editor. It is all right for us of the Forest and Stream 
family to squabble among ourselves, but to beard the Editor, 
that is rashness indeed. However, as fat- as these columns 
are concerned, you began it. I do not think your editorial 
was nearly as fair as it should have been; and the tone of 
contemptuous sarcasm which pervades it might well be 
absent from a discussion in which both sides are' supposed to 
be seeking only the truth. E. K. Whitehead, 
Sec, Colorado Humane Society. 
DOWN IN MAINE, 
Boston, Oct. 16. — The hunting season is progressing 
finely, with most remarkable weather for October. Parties 
that have been in the Maine woods for two weeks report fine 
weather every day; warm and not a touch of rain. The • 
leaves are falling rapidly, and begin to trouble the big-game 
hunters with their noise and rustling. For a few days still- 
hunting will be difficult. Mr. N. G. Manson is out from 
Camp Leatherstocking, Richardson Lake, with his two deer. , 
He went into camp late in September with a party of four — 
his brother, Mr. Drew and Mr. Hewlett. Mr. Manson is the ; 
only hunter of the party. Ho quietly told the others that 
they would have a deer on the 1st of October, the legal open- 
ing day. They were inclined to chaff a little, but recom- 
mended that he do so. "Oh, yes, get a deer, by all means; 
we shall need it for steak." On the evening of Sept. 30 Mr. 
Manson casually remarked to Oscar, the guide, that 
they would be up early and get that deer. Still the 
others were inclined to doubt him a little; did 
not believe that a deer was to be had without hard 
hunting. Daylight saw the hunters off, while the others 
were snoring. As good luck would have it, the morning 
was still and frosty. They went quietly up the Richardson 
Pond trail. "Sh.," from Oscar, as he pointed ahead. There 
was a handsome yearling doe. Mr. Manson is an excellent 
shot. One crack and beautiful creature was down; shot 
squarely through the shoulders. They dressed the meat as 
quickly as possible and tugged it back to camp. The other 
hunters were just out of bed. They could not believe that 
a deer had been secured so early, but finally allowed that 
they heard the shot, though believing it to be sheer bluff. 
Mr. Manson's second deer, a handsome buck, was obtained 
about as easily. With Oscar he wended his way up an old 
lumber trail for a mile or so. bitting down on a log they 
watched awhile. Something moving was discerned about 
40yds. away. It proved to be a pair of ears and antlers. 
The deer was feeding, with his head in the underbrush. He 
turned slightly and gave an excellent chance for a side shot, 
at which he fell dead in his tracks. Mr. J. Parker Whitney, 
with Mrs. Whitney, is in camp, and enjoying the hunting 
on the same lake as Mr. Manson. He is to remain for some 
time; it being his first trip to camp this season. 
Mr. Ct. C. iTyler is out of the Maine woods, with a buck 
deer to his score. With his son, of nineteen years, and a 
friend or two, he hunted at Long Pond, near jackman, on 
the Canadian Pacific. The point is reached from Long Pond 
station and an easy tramp through the woods. The young 
man was full of enthusiasm to get his first deer. The guides 
did their best for him, giving him one or two snap shots, 
neither of which was effectual. The party saw a great 
many deer, but shooting on the bound is difficult. 
A parly of Watertown, Mass,, hunters came out of the 
Maine woods on Thursday. Messrs. Otis, Evans, Philbrook 
and ex-Senator Niles made up the party. They hunted in 
Holeb township, northern Somerset county. The deer they 
found abundant and they brought back seven as trophies. 
They are satisfied; and well they may be. > 
A great many deer are actually coming toward civiliza- 
tion over the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, notwithstand- 
ing the exaggeration of the facts put out by reports from 
those anxious to boom the railways. From reliable sources 
it seems that up to Oct. 13, 254 deer had been shipped over 
that road alone, with four caribou and three bears. 
The Massachusetts open season on quail began Oct. 15. 
The weather was almost too hot, but the hunters were out in 
full force in many sections. It is almost too early for re- 
turns from them, but it is certain that in some sections quail 
are more abundant than usual. I have it from good author- 
ity that there are more quail in Essex county this season than ■ 
ever before. Georgetown and Bvfield are especially having 
a good many coveys of quail. But the local gunners are 
capable of taking care of about the whole of tbem, and 
they were out in full force Friday and Saturday. [ saw a 
game warden yesterday from Plymouth county, and he says 
that quad are very plenty this year. 
Partridges in Maine are reported to be mo.9t remarkably 
scarce. The deer hunters returned say that they have never 
seen so few. One party hunting deer in the vicinity of 
Richardson Lake saw but two partridges, though in the 
woods every day for two weeks. A year ago two or three a 
day was nothing unusual, hunting over the same ground. 
The extremely cold and rainy spring is believed to tiave de- 
stroyed the eggs and young birds. Special. 
The Forest and Stream Publishing Co. are the largest 
publishers and importers in America of Books on Out= 
door Sports. Their illustrated descriptive catalogue 
will be sent free on request. 
