84 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Mr. Gleason's speech ended the evening's ceremonies 
in fitting st3'le, and shortly after the club members and 
their guests adjourned not to meet again aroinid the 
banquet board until another annual dinner and its ac- 
companying features were ready to be enjoyed. 
Megantic. 
Maine and Non-Residents. 
hditbr Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of Jan. 15 is the report of the annual 
jiieeting of the Maine Sportsmen's Association, and as 
I was born in good old Oxford county, State of Maine, 
dnd Spent many years of my life there, and for the past 
thirty-one years I have never failed to visit my native 
State, I have kept in touch with its changes, its prosper- 
ities and its adversities, and certainly there is not a 
member of the Maine Sportsmen's Association who is 
inore interested in the action, the arguments and the 
fanal outcome of its recommendations than I am. I have 
no selfish nor pecuniary motives which actuate me, and 
as I am already on the "down-hill of life," I cannot ex- 
pect long to be benefited or injured by whatever legis- 
lation these law-makers see fit to make; but I must 
offer a protest to some of the remarks and to some of 
the propositions put forth by some members of the As- 
sociation.^ They are unbecoming Maine sportsmen. 
First. — ^The secretary, Mr. Farrington, suggests a tax 
on a non-resident hunter. If he only hunts in Blanchard, 
his natiAre town, he pays nothing, but if he goes up toMon- 
son and shoots a partridge he must go and find a game 
warden somewhere (perhaps down to Bangor) and give 
him $1. Then perchance if it is open season and he runs 
on to a deer and by a lucky shot kills it he must go and 
find the warden again and pay another tax of $2. 
Second. — Hon. A. M. Spear has got a scheme by which 
he is going to soak us poor non-resident sportsmen 
and cover us not with "immortal glory," but with li- 
censes, and is not content imtil he insults the carcass of 
the poor dead deer by covering them atso. Neither 
Mr. Farrington nor Mr. Spear say whether it will cost 
$1.25 for every $1 they collect by these licenses, but that 
will come near it. 
When I read Senator Engel's speech I wanted to shake 
him by the hand, for there is a man who has got Maine's 
game interest at heart. 
There must in all contracts be at least two parties in- 
volved. Here is the State of Maine on one side and tlie 
non-resident sportsmen on the other. Whicli party is 
the most interested the State of Maine or the sportsmen? 
Which can get along without the other best? 
The State of Maine has a Klondike within her forests 
and streams, which exacts not $1 of its capital in its 
working. 
The sum of $8,000,000, Senator Engel tells you, there 
was turned into the State broadcast, and every town, 
village, yea household, was benefited by it, and yet Mr. 
Spear thinks "York and Cumberland counties should 
not be taxed for the game appropriation, as they receive 
no benefit." 
I have a neighbor who has spent nearly six months 
of every year for the past eighteen years in his camps 
on the shore of Richardson Lake, and who has spent 
thousands of dollars in the State of Maine while fishing 
and gunning, and whose camps and outfits cost him 
$3,000. He says "when he is obliged to go and ask for 
a license, be the fee ever so small, he will go to his Maine 
camps but once more, and then to sell or burn them." 
I have sent to Maine during the thirtj^-one years 
I have lived here in Massachusetts perhaps fifty men, 
and some have taken their wives with them. They go 
for the scenery and its fish and game, more especially 
perhaps fish and game; but when there is a license to 
be obtained, Avith the bother and necessary red tape at- 
tached, the scenery loses its charm, and they naturally 
say, "Good-by, old Maine; there are other places on this 
earth, perhaps not quite as good as Maine, but we'll risk 
it anyway." 
Mr. Carlton advocates tliat every non-resident should 
"be obliged to hire a licensed guide." Then Mr, Carl- 
ton would oblige me if I wished to take my rifle and go 
up in the woods and sit down on my favorite log and 
watch for a possible shot, to have guide A, who when 
out fishing with me, and I suggested that a certain cove 
and inlet would be a good place in warm weather, vol- 
unteered the information that "that was the place where 
he got his deer for the house in the summer," and I 
must have him, for he was the only licensed guide, 
although there were from twelve to twenty hunters there, 
and he would rather go with me because I always sit 
down. 
I think Mr. Carlton right when he says that the 
"guides hold the game question in the palms of their 
hands." They are all human, Mr. Carlton, and don't 
tempt them. 
I spent nearly three weeks of September and October 
of 1897 at my favorite "place of rest," with my wife, and 
it cost me 120 good, hard-earned dollars, and I had a 
licensed guide only when I wanted one. I caught less 
than ten trout, I shot three partridges, and I fired two 
shots at an enormous buck (but didn't start a hair), yet 
I came home perfectly satisfied, and shall go again next , 
year (provided I can do so without paying a license, 
I care not how small or how large it may be), then I 
am done; and I am authorized by my friends who went 
with me — and they cannot be counted on the fingers of 
both hands — to say that they too want no more of 
Maine's great gifts to her sportsmen on such terms. 
Don't kill the fat goose which is laying you golden 
eggs, and insult the poor old bird by exacting of her 
a license fee for the privilege of la3nng those eggs, but 
look at this matter from a business standpoint. 
If you have got to have money to protect your fish and 
game (and you surely have), which is the best way to 
raise it, by imposing a tax which will amount to less 
than 10 mills per capita on your residents, or exact a 
license fee from non-residents and drive your guests 
away ? 
If you have not got game and fish enough, cut down 
the limit, play your game according to your means, but 
don't imagine you can bluflf the sportsmen; they will 
raise you every time and take the pot. Mill. 
Arkansas and the South. 
Little Rock, Ark., Jan. ig. — Owing to this being an 
of? year with us from a duck shooter's standpoint, sev- 
eral parties have recently gone from here to the Texas 
coast. Mr. E. B. Jett, Assistant Secretary of the State, 
was one of a party, with J. C. Jones, of Arkansas; J. N. 
Cummings, of Texas, and another Mr. Cummings and 
Mr. Cox, of Chicago. The party went by the Pittsburg 
& Gulf road to Beaumont, Tex., and from there to 
Winnc, on the Interstate and Gulf, to Anahuac, on Gal- 
veston Bay, a distance of eighteen miles. As they were 
driving over the country they saw thousands of snow 
geese feeding on the prairie^ — in such large numbers as 
to make it appear that snow had fallen there recently. 
They also found some chickens en route, and bagged 
five along the road. On Galveston Bay they found the 
shooting superb. In six days they bagged about 1,500 
ducks, principally bluebills, with a fair sprinkling of red- 
heads and canvasbacks. The shooting here is all over 
decoys from blinds, the easiest and pleasantest mode of 
duck shooting. There were also plenty of snipe on the 
marshes in the vicinity of Beaumont, and on the day that 
this partjf passed through there several local hunters 
bagged five dozen in a few hours almost within the cor- 
porate limits of the city. 
The glowing accounts Mr. Jett brought back of the 
fine shooting he had in this section was instrumental in 
sending another and much larger party, comprising 
Mayor J. A. Woodson, L. W. Cherry, John M. Pember- 
ton, J. W. Irwin, Nal. Williams, George M. Heard, J. 
W. Blackwood, James Keatts, Dr. J. H. Lenow, Dr. G. 
M. D. Cantrell, Col. Ben. W. Johnson, June Ingram 
(the champion tarpon catcher) and Nick Trulock. They 
were joined by Messrs. Ward, Clark and Taylor, of 
Hope. They left here Jan. 9, going over the St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad to Texarkana, and 
from there to Beauinont, and then over to High Island. 
Here it was found, much to the disappointment of Mr. 
Irwin, that the party was too large to be properly taken 
care of, there not being enough guides and horses to 
go around. The shooting is done at the fresh water 
ponds back from the coast, and the only mode of travel 
practical there at this season of the year is on horseback. 
This was particularly hard on the heavy weights, as there 
were several who could not get astride of a horse. Mayor 
AVoodson tried wading in the marsh, but after several 
attempts he had to quit in disgust, as his 25olbs. avoir- 
dupois proved too great a handicap for him. In de- 
scribing the adhesive quality of the mud he said that 
it would bog a saddle blanket anywhere. They found 
plenty of game, but got only ordinary shooting. The 
truth of the matter being that the)'' did not remain long 
enough to get the lay of the country, only hunting four 
days. Mr. Irwin was informed by the guide that there 
had been no mallards in that section since November, 
but that he had noticed from the window of the car many 
bunches of these ducks five or six miles back from the 
coast. So he decided to g"o back and endeaA^or to locate 
their feeding grounds. As he anticipated, he found all 
the ponds back there full of mallards. Here he, Pember- 
ton and Keatts had some very good sport, but he after- 
ward ascertained that he had not gone quite far enough, 
as a mile further back is what is known as a tank in 
.Texas, and here the ducks flocked in countless numbers. 
The shooting here was also over decoys, each 61 the 
party being provided with collapsable decoys and wa- 
ders, the latter very essential for this kind of shooting, 
as the ponds being shallow good stands can be secured 
by the means of these ^mong the rushes and grass. Mr. 
Irwin also noticed many Canada geese back here, while 
close to the coast only the snow goose or white-fronted 
brant w^as to be seen, these being there in countless 
thou.sands. The ducks found near the coast are princi- 
pally bluebills, teal, widgeons and pintails. 
Snipe were plentiful and were to be found only a short 
distance from the hotel, On the day the party started for 
home there was an extraordinary flight of these birds. 
The party did not slaughter any large quantities of game, 
but all returned delighted with their trip. The weather 
was favorable for shooting throughout their stay, though 
exceedingly mild, making it possible to hunt only in 
the lightest of garments. 
Arkansas. 
No kinds of shooting have been up to the usual high 
standard this season. Deer are not reported plentiful in 
any section, and venison never maintained so high a 
price, and has been scarce in the market at that. Of 
the many parties that went out from here after deer only 
a few met with any kind of success. Turkeys are more 
numerous and in some localities they are reported plen- 
tiftfl. 
The duck shooting was a disappointment to all of us, 
as from the favorable reports sent out from the Dakotas 
and Minnesota we were expecting a large flight of mal- 
lards. But the long and protracted droughts obviated this, 
as there Avere few of our marshes and lakes that contained 
any water. Many places where in former years I haA^e 
had good shootiiig were dry as late as November. Only 
at one time did I find the shooting fair, and that Avas the 
first part of December. My companion on this trip was 
John Sumpter, of Hot Springs. We arrived at the lake 
in the afternoon, and in a few hours bagged fifteen mal- 
lards, but that night it turned very cold, so that the lake 
froze and the ducks departed for the South. Had we 
been twenty-four hourar earlier we would probably have 
got the limit. 
From all other parts of the State the reports have 
been universally the same. Even on the famous sunk 
lands in the northeastern part of the State the shooting 
Avas poor compared Avith that of former seasons. This 
seems in a great measure to apply to the South in gen- 
eral. With the exception of the coast shooting I have 
heard of but one other point Avhere the duck shooting 
was reported good. In the vicinity of Alexandria, La., 
the shooting should have been fine for quite a while. 
Quail that usually aft'ord us so much sport during 
December, January and February are really scarce this 
season. Fair bags have been the exceptions, while good 
ones are unusual; only one or two really good ones have 
come to my knoAvledge. The drought may have had 
something to do with this, as very fcAv small birds Avere 
seen at the opening of the season. It is possible that the 
extreme hot dry spell may have prevented the hatch- 
ing of the last brood, or that the young perished ftoitri 
lack of watei-. 
In Louisiana the qtiail crop should be a large one, 
and this is the only section Avhere I have had really 
good shooting. I have heard of one party who boasted 
of bagging 103 birds in thi-ee hours' shooting in the 
northern pai't of this State. 
John Sumpter, avIio Avent to Oklahoma alter quail, re- 
ports tiie birds numerous there and the shooting very easy, 
as they himted on the prairie, the birds being found ifi 
the draAvs, and Avhen flushed would fly to the open 
prairie, where long straight kills could easily be made. 
In one day he and two others bagged 124 birds Avithoiit 
any special effort. Sixty-eight of these John says fell 
to his gun, his companion not making any effort, as 
they AA'anted him to get all the shooting he desired. He 
stated that in the vicinity of Shawnee it is possible to 
put up forty bevies a dav. Paul R. Litzke. 
\ : 
The League of American Sportsmen* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Forest and Stream has so long and so consistently 
preached the gospel of game protection that its readers 
are, I think, deeply interested in anything bearing upon 
this_good work. I therefore deem it my pleasant task 
to briefly describe the plans of the League of American 
Sportsmen, an organization Avhich took definite form 
at a convention held on the 18th inst., at Hardman Hall, 
Fifth avenue and Nineteenth street, Ncav York, pursuant 
to a call issued by nearly 100 men, many of whom are 
known to the readers of Forest and Stream, and all of 
whom are thoroughly committed to the principle of 
game protection. Perhaps I cannot better express the 
objects of the League than to quote A^erbatim the pros- 
pectus Avhich accompanied the call. 
The League of American Sportsmen is organized (or the purpose 
o( protecting the game and game fishes; the song, insectivorous 
and other innocent birds, not classed as game birds. 
Its prime object is to enforce game laws, where sucli exist, and 
to secure and enforce such laws where not now in existence. 
It aims to promote good fellowship among sport.smen; to foster 
in the minds of the people a love of nature and of nature's 
wor!<s; to encourage the propagation of game and game fishes, 
and the restocking of game fields and public waters. To these 
ends it will act in unison with State, county and municipal authori- 
ties who aim at similar ends. 
The League of American Sportsmen will not compete with any 
other organization that has similar objects in view. On the 
contrary, it desires to enlist the sympathies of, and to co-operate 
with, all such. 
The League of American Sportsmen is opposed to excessive 
slaughter of game and fish, under the name of sport. We are 
opposed to the killing of any innocent bird or animal, which- is 
not game, in the name of sport or in wantonness. 
We are opposed to the sale of game and game fishes at all 
times and under all circumstances. 
We believe in reasonable bags. We believe the killing of game 
and the taking of fish should be limited by law, not only as to 
seasons, but that the bag for any one man, for a day and for a 
season, should be defined by law. 
We believe in a gun-license law, with severe penalties for viola- 
tions thereof. 
We, as individual members of this League, nledge ourselves to 
work for the education of the public, and especially of our boys, 
on the lines indicated above; to co-operate with our officers, and 
with State or municipal officers, in the enforcement of game 
laws, whenever an opportunity offers. 
The couA'ention Avas a most enthusiastic one, and the 
hearty support given to the proposed plan by the 140 
men present argued well for its success. Fifteen States 
were represented, and among those present were the chief 
game wardens of Utah, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Letters 
Avere read from prominent men in various States of the 
Union promising their heartj' cooperation and A^olun- 
teering to establish State divisions. Permanenv officers 
were chosen as follows: President, G. O. Shields, New 
York; First Vice-President, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 
Washington, D. C. ; Second Vice-President, Ernest Se- 
ton Thompson, New York; Third Vice-President, Hon. 
W. A. Richards, Governor of Wyoming; Fourth Vice- 
President, Prof. W. T. Hornaday, New York; Fifth 
Vice-President, A. A. Anderson, New York; Secretary, 
Arthur F. Rice, Passaic, N. J.; Treasurer, F. S. Hyatt,> 
Clinton Bank, New York. 
The League of American Sportsmen, like the League 
of American Wheelmen, is to be a national organization, 
with State divisions, chief Avardens, secretary-treasurers, 
and deputy wardens in every county of every State. The 
membership fee is $1 per annum, excepting for minis- 
ters and teachers, who may become honorary members. 
Membership is open to males over fifteen years of age, 
and women may be made associate members. 
The committee on constitution and by-laAvs made its 
report, and after some discussion of details the same 
were adopted. It is of course impossible to go minutely 
into the substance of the constitvttion and by-laws, Avhich 
are now in the hands of the printer, but in addition to 
Avhat has already been stated it may be said that the 
deputy wardens are to be appointed by the chief Avarden 
of each State division and to hold office during his 
pleasure. They are to seek violators of the game laws 
and aid the regular authorities in prosecuting offenders, 
receiA'ing as a reward $10 for each conviction they are 
instrumental in securing. It is confidently believed the 
State authorities will ultimately delegate legal powers 
to the L. A, S. wardens, and that their efficiency will 
thus be greatl}' augmented, as has been the case Avith 
the officers of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals. TAventy-five members may constitute a 
State organization, Avith chief and assistant wardens 
as officers, and in several States the membership is 
already sufficient for the organization 0/ divisions. 
The League of American Sportsmen has not been or- 
ganized Avithout a due appreciation of the difficulties that 
must be met and overcome. It Aviil arouse the hostility 
of game dealers, cold storage men and market-hunters. 
It will stir up enmity, criticism and ridicule among those 
Avho think their sport is to be interfered Avith or who 
haA'e in times past been interested in similar moA^ements 
that have failed. Time, money and strenuous effort will 
be required to accomplish the ends desired, and possibly 
some of them may never be entirely realized; but as the 
League of American Sportsmen makes war on no one 
