March 12, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
207 
Massachusetts Game Laws. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I will let the following amendment to Massachusetts 
game laws speak for itself: 
An Act for the Protection of Small Game on Cape Ann.— Be it 
enacted, etc., as follows: Whoever takes or kills a rabbit, gray 
squirrel or chipmunk, or any land bird, except the English spar- 
row, within the limits of that section of this Commonwealth 
bounded by Squam River, Ipswich Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, 
Massachusetts Bay and Gloucester Harbor, at any time within 
five years from the passage of this act, shall be punished by a fine 
of twenty dollars for everv rabbit, squirrel, chipmunk or bird so 
taken or killed. Approved March 8, 1897. 
This act covers Rockport and seven wards of the city 
of Gloucester. Ward Eight of Gloucester, which lies 
on the west side of Squam River, is not included. 
The act practically turned the gunners from twenty- 
five square miles of "shrub land to Ward Eight. Previ- 
ous to the enactinent of the law Ward Eight had its full 
quota of gunners; now the ward is overcrowded during 
the shooting season, and as a result the garne is practi- 
cally exterminated along with several species of song 
birds. 
Unfortunately the shrub lands and forests of Ward 
Eight are within thirtj' minutes' walk of the city, so that 
distance does not lend protection. 
A petition to add Ward Eight to the protected area 
was turned aAvay by the Committee on Game a short 
time since. It strikes me that the committee did not give 
this matter careful consideration. What are the facts? 
The protected area contains a population of about 35,000. 
The gunning element in this great population is turned, 
by the act, across the Cut bridge into Ward Eight. Any 
one Avith brains etiough to think knows the result, name- 
ly: Woods and shrub lands alive with gmmers; reckless 
shooting at every moving thing. Human life endan- 
gered; game and song birds exterminated; Sunday law 
violated, and people who take the day for a pleasure 
stroll in the woods are forced to retreat under fire, men- 
aced by the hurtling shot or the spiteful zip of the small 
rifle bullet. 
The gunners that crowd Ward Eight are not sports- 
men as a body. A few sportsmen follow the hounds, 
and a very few tramp the woods for game; these men 
do not shoot song birds, but the average gunner shoots 
at everything in fur or feathers. 
Bond's Hill is a great resort for robins in migration. 
Food is plentiful, such as black cherries, choke and 
poke berries. La.st fall there was a constant roar-of guns 
on the hill, and later not a robin was left Avhere there 
should have been hundreds. 
It is well known to the readers of Fokest .\no 
Stream that I feed the song birds that come to my 
cabin dooryard. In migration large flocks of white- 
throated sparrows, fox sparrows, tree sparrows and 
black snowbirds favor me with visits. Early last fall 
the flocks were destroyed or frightened away. The tree 
sparrows and black snowbirds winter with me. Not 
a tree sparrow is left, and fifty or more black snowbirds 
are reduced to a remnant of six. My flock of chicka- 
dees was reduced one-half. The tame ones that would 
eat from my hand were killed — all but one. 
The glaughter was fast and furious when the season 
opened. Now one may walk the woods for days and 
not see so much as a squirrel. I appeal to the friends 
of song birds! Hermit. 
Cold Storage and the Game Laws. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There seems to be a radical difference of opinion as 
to whether game is improved or deteriorated by cold 
storage. In the recent Congressional debate on a game 
bill for the District of Columbia Mr, Fleming, of 
Georgia, as reported in Forest and Stream of Feb. 
5, said: 
"It is well known that the restaurant keepers fre- 
quently take venison and keep it in cold storage for 
several months. The longer you keep it the better it is; 
and here is game and meat preserved for the very pur- 
pose of putting it in better condition, and you refuse 
to allow them to serve it in the restaurants." 
In the winter convention of the Illinois Sportsmen's 
Association a few days later Mr. Strell said: 
"It is a well-known fact in chemistry that when you 
freeze meat to such an extent as to make it disinte- 
grate you destroy the blood in that meat, and when you 
destroy the blood of meat you make it unfit for "use 
as food, taking from it its greatest nourishment. There- 
fore, the cold storage is not only a menace to 
the game, but it destroys its value as food, and to bring 
this matter directly before the house I have drawn a 
resolution and have given it to the secretary and move 
its adoption." 
A resolution was then adopted against cold storage 
of game at any time of year. 
This issue is of some importance in determining the 
troublesome question as to whether cold storage of game 
should be permitted at all. If Mr. Strell's position is 
correct, there is but little reason for allowing it during 
the open season and none for allowing it for any con- 
siderable period thereafter. 
As to what the chemical action is in such case I 
do not know, but I must emphatically indorse him so 
far as the fact of deterioration is concerned. In this 
State we have the very best opportunities for compari- 
. son as to the relative effect of preservation in cold 
storage and preservation without. Game, and especially 
large game, which is usually cut up and has considerable 
flesh surface exposed, after being in cold storage for 
even a week either loses its natural flavor or acquires 
an unnatural one from the g-eneral contents of the com- 
partment it is -in — a sort of composite flavor, which 
renders it unpalatable to those used to eating it under 
different conditions. It is this sort of game that is 
usually served in hotels and re.'jitaurants, and the people 
who generally eat it are those who get it no other 
time and know little or nothing of its true flavor when 
eaten in the field. They eat it because it is game and 
fashionable to do so. Those who have had opportunity 
to eat it in the field or when preserved a reasonable 
time out of cold storage and without freezing seldom 
touch it at the hotels. I have often tried to eat it, but 
one or two mouthfuls generally sufiices. 
In the game regions of this State the altitude is great 
and the nights in C)ctober and later are always quite cool, 
, ;S0 much so that a deer or elk killed in October will keep 
in the shade until the next spring. The ranchmen in 
former years, and probably some of them yet, kill six 
or eight deer or an elk or two in October for their win- 
ter's meat, hanging them in an outhouse or under a 
shed, where they remain until consumed. During the 
first thirty days they freeze but little if any. After the 
first week and during the enstting three or four weeks 
the natural flavor and juiciness is at the best, and so 
far as palatability is concerned the difference between 
it and game kept in cold storage the same length of time 
is so great that it cannot be told — it can be tasted 
only. 
Whenever game hanging out doors begins to freeze 
to any considerable extent it begins to lose its flavor and 
juiciness, although it becomes more tender. Eventually 
it becomes tasteless and has little of its original flavor 
left. 
The effect of cold storage seems to be greater, with the 
added objection of the composite flavor acquired from 
its surroundings, of fish, flesh and fowl of- all sorts. 
If there is a scientific question involved it should be 
settled, as I think it has long been settled as a question 
of taste by all those who have had opportunity of com- 
parison. At the same time I am not in favor of the 
total prohibition of cold storage. Many hunters who kill 
game lawfully and live in cities have no other way to 
conveniently preserve it for even a few days. This they 
should be allowed to do, and cold storage should be per- 
mitted for a limited period in all cases where game is 
lawfully in possession. This can be done under proper 
restrictions and yet in no way interfere with the enforce- 
meiit of the game laws. The cause of much of the op- 
position to game laws arises from their crudeness and 
inapiolicability to conditions lawfully existing. One may 
now kill game lawfully, but when" he comes to send i't 
home for use he finds its transportation forbidden and 
perhaps a prohibition on the only possible method by 
which he can preserve it when he gets it there. In some 
States it is unlawful to have the hindquarters of an 
animal in possession without having at the same time 
the forequarters. To comply with this law one is com- 
pelled to consume the hind(;|uarters first or else .swallow 
the animal whole. 
These incongruities should not exist. I have for some 
years past etnployed spare moments in an effort to per- 
fect a model game and fish law which would be con- 
sistent and harmonious throughout, and allow the law- 
ful possessor of game the largest liberty in utilizing 
it consistent with adequate protection of the game. T 
hope to fini.sh it in a short time and would like to have 
It published, so that in case it is not perfect it may be 
criticised and amended until it is, and can be depended 
on as a safe pattern for legislative enactments. 
]\ C- BE^^MAN. 
Denver, Colo. 
Manitoba Game Seasons. 
At the recent annual meeting of the Manitoba Field 
Trials Club, at Winnipeg, Mr. F. G. Simpson said: 
_ "I would like to say a few words on the importance of 
impressing on the Government of Manitoba the neces- 
sity of amending the present game laws. I think that 
ypn will agree with me that the subject of game protec- 
tion has always received greater assistance "by words" 
than hy action. The average game protective associa- 
tion is too much inclined to regard the welfare of the 
game as secured the moment the game law is passed, 
and does not consider the vital effort necessary to enforce 
the law. We have in Manitoba a very fair game law, but 
with no one specially appointed to enforce it. Were' this 
the case in the matter of saloons every one or nearly 
every one of them would be opened all night. 
"The fixing of dates of close seasons for game has 
no terrors to the game law breaker. One well paid war- 
den, who wfll go about his business honestly, is worth 
a train load of such wardens as we have, who are "ap- 
pointed" for the glory that therein is. They will tell you 
this themselves. Some of. them have done splendid work,- 
but at great loss and inconvenience to themselves, to say 
nothing of causing bad feeling between neighbors. You 
cannot do business on a basis of that kind. 
"I have always endeavored to impress ttpon sports- 
men the great and vital necessity of having a simple act 
passed making it a punishable offense by fine or impris- 
°?"^^?r *° ^^^"^^ ^^^^ ^" or her possession 
after fifteen days after the close season. This, with a good 
game warden paid to look after it, will soon fill the 
country with game. Legal possession of game during 
the close season is an incentive to kill game out of sea- 
son and nothing more. Forbid having game in pos- 
session, no matter when or how killed, and you won't 
find hung up in the back sheds of houses in April chick- 
ens that should be out on the prairie breeding. 
"Look at the thousands of chickens killed each fall in 
Manitoba after the snow comes, when there is no pleas- 
ure^ m shooting, and when birds sit on trees and stacks 
and by their stupidity in refusing to fly tempt 'true 
sportsmen' to pot them for the winter's supply Of 
course you must not blame the 'true sportsman' for 
browning a covey of chickens on a stack, killing three 
and sending three more away wounded. The wounded 
ones are to feed the wolves and foxes with (quite a 
laudable act), and what he kills he takes home in order 
that he may with carrion in the guise of frozen chick- 
ens humbug his stomach that may cry for game in the 
spring tmie. These people have a simple lesson to learn 
and it is that game is always more or less scarce and that 
they are entitled to their full share of it in the open sea- 
son, but no more. 
"It has been stated that on account of the scarcity 
of chickens m the country a close season be put in 
force for a year. Chickens are plentiful in the country 
and the scarcity m some localities is due to floods in 
spring tirne, but more particularly to the severe winter 
of i«97, when snow covered the ground so deep that food 
could not be had on the prairie, this necessitating the 
chickens going into the heavily timbered country to the 
north, where food was very plentiful and shelter the 
best. These birds hatched in that country, and to-day 
there can be seen plenty of birds. Wolves and foxes 
have increased very much during the past three years, 
and kill a large number of chickens. I would not con- 
sider it an advantage to stop chicken shooting for 
a year. 
"For the better protection of game I move that it 
is in the -interest of the sportsmen of this country that 
the Provincial Government be asked to enact the follow- 
ing amendments to the existing law, making close sea- 
sons: 
"i. All varieties of grouse, including prairie chick- 
ens, pheasants and partridges, between the 15th day of 
November and the 15th day of Sentember. ■ 
"2. Any kind of wild duck, sea duck, widgeon and 
teal, between the ist day of January and the ist day of 
September. 
"3. Any person having in his possession (never mind 
how or where killed) after fifteen days after the close 
season any of the game birds or animals or parts thereof 
mentioned in the game act, excepting only the skins 
of animals and birds killed during the open season, 
shall be deemed to have killed any such birds or animals 
during the close season, and shall be subject to a fine 
of not more than $50 or less than $5 for each animal or 
bird, or in default of payment of such fine two months' 
imprisonment. 
"4. That the Government be requested to appoint a 
game warden at a salary sufficiently remunerative, and 
that his time be devoted to looking after the protection 
of game." 
Mr, Simpson's motion was seconded by Mr. Borra- 
daile, and was adopted by the meeting. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
"As Others See Us/' 
Chicago 111., March 5. — I sent in last week a letter 
from Mr. L. J. Marks, who wrote from Coronado Beach, 
Cal, in regard to a large bag of quail made by two Chi- 
cago shooters. The bag of quail made by two Chi- 
over the country as a record performance, but perhaps 
not all looked upon the record in just the way the shoot- 
ers themselves did. I am in receipt of a postal card from 
a Chicago gentleman which has pasted to it a clipping 
from a Chicago daily paper, and I append the clipping, 
card and comment, without comment of my own. 
More Game Hogs. 
Chicago Times- Herald y March 3, 
SHOOT l?00 QUAIL IN TWO DAYS. 
Walter Dupee and C. H. ' Lester Break the California Record. 
VValter Dupee, son of John Dupee, has startled Californians 
and Mexicans alike by his skill as a hunter of wild game. Three 
months ago Walter Dupee, accompanied by C. H. Lester, left 
this city for Coronado 15each, Cal., to spend the winter. Since 
that time Mr. Dupee has received several letters from his son tell- 
ing of exploring and hunting expeditions. But an expedition 
taken by the young men la.st week surpassed all records, and 
California papers admitted that Chicago talent had carried off 
the prize. Two days— 800 quail— high water mark in California. 
The young men left Coronado Beach Tuesday, and made their 
way beyond the California line into Mexico. It was good quail 
weather, and there were lots of quail. The first day's shooting 
brought down 375 birds. This wa.s encouraging, and the second 
day was made a long one, with the result that 425 quail were 
added to the batch. With these they started home on the third 
day. 
The next trip planned by Messrs. Dupee and Lester is to be 
a six weeks expedition into the mountains of Shaw Kennedy. 
What did they do with them? 
The Spring Flight. 
Ducks have appeared on the spring flight all over 
this part of the country. Last week they were reported 
m fair numbers on the Platte and Arkansas rivers, of 
Nebraska and Kansas. The weather seems breaking up 
here now, and we are in hopes that the winter is prac- 
tically over. Already a number of Chicago shooters 
have been out along the Kankakee River. One resident 
shooter at Water Valle}^ Ind., a pusher, who sometimes 
takes out Chicago shooters, last week made three bags, 
one of 125, one of 75 and one of about 50. These are 
the heaviest of which I have any record, and are cer- 
tainly quite heavy enough. The ice is out of the main 
rivers of this section, and the birds will soon be pass- 
ing on to • the lakes of Wisconsin, which are later in 
opening. 
Chinese Pheasants For Montana. 
Mr. J. D. Losekamp, of Billings, Mont, received this 
week a lot of Chinese pheasants which he has bought 
and had brought on from Oregon. Mr. Losekamp will 
keep his birds until spring and then turn them down 
along the Yellowstone Valley. While there are better re- 
gions for these birds than the willow thickets and cotton- 
wood groves of the Yellowstone, it is possible they will 
do well and add to the resources of that already delecta- 
ble country. . . ; M/il *f 
Hard Lines for the Warden. 
State Commissioner Swan, of Colorado, is playing in 
pretty hard luck these days. Two or more county courts 
have passed upon cases brought under the State game 
law, and declared that the State law is unconstitutional 
and_ invalid because of a technical error, through which 
subjects were introduced into the statute not germane 
to its title. Mr. Swan is none the less of the opinion 
that his law will come out all right after a while and is 
going right along arresting every violator that he'can o-et 
his hands upon. The National Fish Co., of Denver was 
one of his latest victims. Weaver & Co., of Denver 
were also caught for 14 ducks and 2 prairie chickens' 
These firms were called up by telephone and cheerfully 
delivered the contraband game on the order of un- 
known parties, who turned out to be deputies Now I 
wonder if you coiild catch any Chicago game dealer 'as 
easily as that? If so, no warden ought to be without 
a telephone. 
German Socfcs. 
Mr. Isaac T. Norris, of Baltimore, Md., has the fol- 
lowing query in regard to footwear: "In more than one 
of your articles in the Forest and Stream I have seen 
reference to 'the German felted sock.' I cannot find 
any such article in this market Can you give the name 
of some dealer in Chicago who keeps them for sale? I 
know I am not the only one that wants a warm foot- 
gear, for with a rubber boot in the salt marshes for 
ducks my feet get cold." 
''Nearly all sporting goods' dealers have wool socks 
which go under the general name of "German socks." 
The genuine article is felted on the outside and knit oa 
