Aug. 20, 1898.] 
FOHEST AND STREAM. 
14B 
If, then, the Legislature does not believe in the propa- 
gation and protection of fish, an organized effort must 
be made to educate legislators as to the value of such 
work. The political economy of such legislation must 
be demonstrated, and an appeal made to "their pockets. 
This work should begin by educating the entire people of 
the State. The education of the people and the shaping 
of good legislation go hand in hand. The representative 
|f a community is usually chosen because he has been 
successful in the management of private interests. If he 
sees that his constituents are interested in certain legis- 
lation, he will interest himself sufficiently to act intelli- 
gently upon it. I have attempted to show the necessity 
of organization to promote the objects of this society. 
I will now describe an organization which has been do- 
ing successful work for nearly eight years. It has been 
said that fish and game protective societies seldom live 
more than two or three years. Such is too often true, 
but if they are managed upon a strictly business basis 
their period of usefulness will continue as long as the 
objects and aims need fostering. 
At the risk 'of appearing egotistical because I was one 
pf its promoters, I will describe the Vermont Fish and 
Game League, how it was organized and what it has 
accomplished. While its work is confined to a State 
with commercial interests^of comparatively small impor- 
tance, the same kind of an organization can be effected 
suited "to the needs in other States. Some States already 
•lave similar organizations. 
[ Methods of Organization.— The first steps taken were 
fcs follows: A circular letter was sent to every post- 
Itiaster in the State, asking him to name all the "citizens 
In his town who would be interested in a State organiza- 
tion for the protection of fish and game. A reply card 
Ifvas inserted. An alphabetical index of all names re- 
ceived in reply to this circular was booked, and a second 
irircular was sent to all whose names were thus booked. 
Inviting them to pledge themselves to join a proposed 
■eague with the above-named objects, to agree to pay 
II certain fee (in this case $5) when 100 names had thus 
Been pledged, and with the understanding that no articles 
pf incorporation would be procured or organization 
|rffected until the 100 names were pledged. The same 
ircular requested each recipient to send in names of 
ligible members. Frequently the same names were sent 
p by several sportsmen in one community, showing the 
llesirability of keeping an alphabetical index of all 
[ligibles to avoid repetition in sending out circulars and 
b have as complete a record of eligibles throughout the 
State as possible. In response to the second circular 
hi names were pledged, and articles of incorporation 
mmediately procured, and organization was effected. 
^ meeting of charter members was called, a constitu- 
ton and by-laws (previously prepared) were adopted, 
gH officers were elected. Of the 111 charter members, all 
hit one redeemed nis pledge by paying into the treasury 
fg. From the date of organization, in 1890, to the pres- 
et time the membership has constantly increased, until 
he present membership is 563. After the first year the 
aembership fee was reduced from $5 to $3, and the an- 
tral dues from $3 to $2. Town and county protective 
ssociations were admitted as branch clubs, and permit- 
id to send one delegate as a voter in all business meet- 
igs. Regular meetings are held annually, and special 
aeetings from once to twice per year. At the annual 
leeting a dinner is given after the business is transacted, 
allowed by post-prandial exercises. The last three years 
so-called midsummer meeting has been held on an 
iland in Lake Champlain. At these meetings many not- 
tble men are gathered. On the occasion of the last 
aeeting President McKinley was present as a guest, 
'olitics are not allowed to enter into the work of the 
.eague or to be discussed in the meetings, nor to enter 
ito the post-prandial exercises. 
The subjects in which the League is interested are 
ept constantly before the people by means of cloth 
osters giving a synopsis of the laws, pamphlets contain- 
lg the chapter of game laws in full, by frequent circu- 
ir letters to the members scattered throughout the 
jtate, and by the voluntary aid of all the newspapers pub- 
bhed in the State. 
The people must know the reasons for the fish and 
ante laws, and that they are not designed for the especial 
enefit of the fishermen, but for all the people. There 
aould be no protective law, no close season on fish and 
ame, without a good reason for it. When the people 
•e convinced that as a matter of political economy fish 
id game must be protected, they should understand 
lat the laws are framed with especial reference to the 
ibits of each species thus protected. Take by way of 
lustration the statutory limit on fish which can be 
[gaily caught — the bin. law on trout, for example. All 
fee people should know that trout will not reproduce 
I our streams until they have arrived at an age when 
Jey will have attained a growth of 6in. or more. They 
knild then understand that, if allowed to be caught 
pore they are 6in. long, reproduction ceases, and, with 
le excessive fishing now prevalent, all trout will be 
Bled before arriving at the stage of reproduction, and 
■tal extermination follows. Artificial propagation and 
(ocking cannot replenish the waste. The same applies 
I the statutory limit on salmon, lobsters, etc. The 
ptutory limit for each species to be legally caught 
Jould be one which will permit natural reproduction at 
bst once before capture, or there is little argument for 
|e law. 
When the League was organized eight years ago pub- 
: sentiment was at a low ebb so far as fish and game 
kerests were concerned. With its inception an appro- 
bation for a State hatchery w T as secured, and liberal 
(propriations for its maintenance and extension have 
flowed. Through the interest awakened by the League 
-national hatchery was located in Vermont. The game 
krs, which were in a wretched condition, were codified 
Id revised by a committee from members of the League, 
tesented to the Legislature in the form of a bill which 
• the same time repealed all existing legislation of the 
jme nature, and became a law almost without a dis- 
cing vote. Our legislators are beginning to consider 
[ a matter of political economy that these interests 
Jould be fostered, and the League loses no opportunity 
present to the public and to the sceptic the arguments 
mph will appeal to their pockets. 
I would not have you think that our laws are perfect 
or that what has been accomplished was attained without 
hard work on the part of the administrative force of the 
League. We have asked of our Legislature what we 
thought we could obtain. As public sentiment increases, 
more desirable legislation will be asked for. 
1 he poacher, like the poor, is always with us, He is 
only kept in check by rigid enforcement of the law 
whenever opportunity offers. When necessary, we do 
not hesitate to send to the city for a good detective and 
pay the costs out of the League treasury. In Vermont 
the League is the strong right arm of the Fish and Game 
Commission. 
If any one is led by the arguments in this paper to 
organize a similar society, let him consider well two 
important features. The work connected with its promo- 
tion and future success is tremendous. No salaried 
officers exist, although in a State of such important fish- 
ery interests as for example, Florida or Louisiana, there 
should be enough of support to pay the salary of a steno- 
grapher. 
Work of this nature, once successfully undertaken by 
one or two actively interested persons, cannot be drop- 
ped by them after the organization has been put into 
working condition. One man does the most of-'the 
work. He should be familiar with the fisheries of his 
btate and not. be prejudiced in favor of either sportsmen 
or commercial fishermen. 
We believe in the socid side of the organization as 
contributing largely to its success, but our membership 
is too scattered to meet socially more than twice a year 
My First Chicken Shoot, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was much interested in reading Mr. Hough's notes 
on chicken shooting m your issue of Aug. 13, and thev 
brought vividly to mind my first chicken shoot/which was 
thirty-two years ago this August while I was visiting 
friends m Milwaukee W,s. The opening day for chicken 
shooting was tli e 15th, a few days after my arrival, and 
1 was invited to be one of a party of five. The only 
names of the parties that I can now recall are of the 
late Rev. C. D. Helmer and a Mr. Matson. a promi- 
net jeweler. * 
We took the evening train of Aug. 14 for some small 
place west of Watertown, Jefferson county, Wis I re- 
member that it was about as far beyond as Theresa, my 
old home, is from Watertown, Jefferson county, N Y 
n ™H A i tl f Wisconsin c °««ty ^d town were 
in Jefferson county, _N. Y, man turned this 
name to good advantage during the fifties by starting 
?J V T^ at ban r' Uie bi J,' S ° f which wcre a facsimile of 
the Jefferson County Bank, of Watertown N Y ex 
" P ?; f V h t " Stt t te 2* Y isCOnS ' m '' which ^ as '«° small 
as not to be noticed; these were sent Last and put in 
circulation, and for some time passed readily for the 
SSlX^ n \° nCy ' r U \ il V 16 Crash of '57- But this is not 
chicken shooting. I think we had got as far as the small 
town where we stopped over night, and the next mornino- 
took- conveyances five miles north, where we were mtt 
n L tW ? T "Tl, Wlth pointer dogs only eight months 
old Heie the party divided, three with one dog, four 
with the other, myself with the latter. 
The first field was a wild grass meadow, with a small 
stream running through it. We had not gone far when 
the dog came to a point, and the four shooters closed 
up around him. No bird flushed, and we thought the 
dog had made a false point; but when told to "hie 0,1" 
he did so and caught the chicken. He did the same thing 
twice afterward during the day. They were well-grown 
birds, but had never been hunted and did not propose 
&i!T * !f ir natlve heath - Sometimes three or four 
buds would get up at a time, and all four guns would 
crack and part of the birds- would drop; but it was im- 
possible to tel which gun had secured them. Agdn only 
one bird would get up, and as all would shoot 10 one 
could claim it At noon we went to a farmhouse, where 
some of the birds had been taken for dinner, a, d such 
asl ed " W P en P1 n aS - We Ha , d 1 had " ever ^ ten - Helmc? 
I %> t ' Davison ' h ow ntany chickens did you 
shoot?" I answered, "Not any." "Can't you shoot 
chickens?" he asked. I told him' that where Acre were 
bu d I d?d -not H V6r ° ne d T 0g , a " d a11 shot at th e same 
Ke ?\ ClaU ? any ' 1 do not remember how many 
nrned V ?n e ffii? durU V he da ^ the ^ °f four re- 
turned to Milwaukee that evening, while I took the 
t0 Sun Prairie ' where I stopped over night 
and the next morning tried to combine business with 
pleasure by buying a lot of 2 o,ooolbs. of wool but £b 
owners and I could not get together by a cent and a 
half per pound, and the deal did not come off 
A friend drove me to- Madison before xxoon, where I 
..rV T °°5- Almost the first question he asked 
was Do you want to go shoot chickens?" I told W 
that was just what I wanted. I had dinner with him 
and he hitched up his horse to his grocery wagon and 
we drove about ten miles back toward Sun P?air i. 
Here we put the horse under a stone fence, and had not 
gone more than fifty rods when the dog came to a stand 
L h ft en ^"V^ 11 ° p P el sh °t; another which I 
g 1 S en another for Oppel; another for me, by which ' 
time Oppel had reloaded, when the fifth bird got up only 
to go down before his 20-gauge gun. In an hour we 
had so many birds that his bag g (I had no bag) ^ get- 
ting too heavy to carry, and we left them beside die 
stone fence and then started out again. While goinl 
through a wheat stubble a single bird got up aijflevf 
stiaigHt away from us; I was behind Oppel when he 
shot both barrels and missed. I had stepped to his side 
and rawed my gun, when he shouted, "Don't shoot-too 
-a v came L tQ o late; I shot and the bird dropped 
He said it was the biggest shot he had ever seen on 
wSh I?? 5 i I haVe aHvays been Proud of that shot. 
W ell all good times must have an end. We stopped 
In? tn* i * ^i \° gF0W dark ' and whenwe 
SS hh + 6 t T ha 1 the otHer bir ds we found 
we had twenty-two chickens. Oppel declared that I 
had shot as many as he. It was nearly 9 o'clock when we 
reached Madison, and thus ended my first and also my 
last chicken shoot. j. L . Davison. 
Lockport, N. Y. 
Reminiscences of an Old 
Sportsman.— XV. 
One incident of this day we greatly enjoyed and have 
often laughed over since. We were crossing some open 
ground, when we came to a cornfield through which 
we were passing, when we were met by the owner who 
anxiously inquired if we were hunting snipe— this name 
was quite often given the woodcock in those days. When 
we told him that we were in pursuit of them, his face 
lighted up and as he pointed to quite an area of the field 
that had been devastated by crows, he exclaimed: "Drat 
the snipe they have eaten more than ten bushel of 
corn, and I hope you will just clean "em out." Then 
pointing to the bit of stony ground covered with thorns 
and briers that I have previously described, he told us 
that the birds lived there through the day, and came 
at night and feasted on his corn. He then offered to 
.go and show us where they were, and we started for the 
place, the old man anathematizing the birds at nearly 
every step. When we came to the covor the dog pointed 
just at the edge near a large thorn, and when I went 
around the bush the bird rose and Eaton dropped it No 
sooner did the old man see it fall than ne started for it 
shouting: Give it to him; that's one of the condemned 
varmin; give it to him." The bird was only winged 
and made an effort to escape, but Nemesis was after him 
? big boot swung back, and then launched itself at the 
luckless bird with a swish and vim that would not be 
denied, and the next instant every bone in its body was 
smashed and the battered remains went sailing through 
the air while the old man fairly danced in ecstacy as 
he exclaimed: "Take that, you condemned thief. Steal 
my corn, will you?" 
Eaton very nearly had a fit, and I was not much be- 
hind him, and it was some time before we recovered- in 
fact we never did get over it, for the mirth-provoking 
incident still works its spell, and I can still— through the 
mist and haze of more than four decades— see the ex- 
pressive working of the old fellow's countenance as he 
dances m glee at the death of tfce long-billed thief 'that 
had stolen his corn. This is the only time that I have 
heard so serious a charge preferred against the gentle 
woodcock, although farmers have often come to me with 
a request that I would shoot the doves, grouse or quail 
that were eating their corn. I was ever very sensitive 
to the cry of distress, and am pleased to say that in 
every instance I did my best to rid my farmer friends of 
the destroyers of their peace. Not that the crows did 
not suffer at my hands all the same whenever they came 
near enough, for I have long had a deep-seated antipathy 
to the sleek-looking rascals, and seldom lose an oppor- 
tunity to thin their ranks. When a boy. I was shooting 
them in a neighbor's cornfield, where one old campaign- 
er seemed to take delight in fooling me, until I be- 
came quite interested, and I determined to have her at 
all events; but it was of no use, I could not get near 
her. Finally I followed in the direction she usually went, 
into a grove of pines, hoping to find her nest. After a 
short search I discovered it full of nearly grown young 
ones, so I took a position within easy shot and waited for 
her. When she came I saw that she had something in 
her bill, and as I cut loose and brought her down I 
found that she had a young ruffed grouse. Now these 
birds have always been especial favorites of mine, and as 
I gazed upon the poor little murdered fledgeling I made a 
solemn promise to myself that this foul crime should be 
avenged, and this is why my gun swings into position 
and my finger presses the trigger whenever one of the 
sleek-coated marauders comes within range. But I am 
wandering from the Willington covers. 
The third day we took leave of our friend Dolly and 
his good wife, and drove north nearly to the Stafford 
line, when we turned west and crossed the river into the 
town of Ellington; then, after exploring some good 
looking covers we turned south and drove nearly the 
length of the town of Tolland, finding a number of 
capital woodcock covers as well as grouse resorts. Night 
found us within a few miles of the hotel, and turning in 
the proper direction we were soon there, and found 
that our stopping place was the jail as well as the 
tavern. We thought this rather a queer combination, but 
as the landlord appeared to be the right sort we paid no 
further attention to the matter until about midnight, when 
I was awakened from a sound sleep by the trarrwi of feet 
passing my door, and a buzz of something that was go- 
ing on, so I arose and went to the door to learn what 
was up. It appeared that one of the prisoners — a horse 
thief, if I rightly remember— had escaped, and the 
racket that had disturbed me was caused by the muster 
of all hands to go in pursuit, and I soon heard the 
different parties leaving and the whir of the wheels as 
our landlord — who was also the sheriff — took his depar- 
ture, and soon all was quiet and I again closed my eyes. 
We had been informed in the evening that there was ai? 
abundance of quail in the vicinity, so at daybreak I 
dressed myself and went down for the purpose of going 
outdoors to see — or rather hear — if the report was true, for 
quail can nearly always be heard and located at this hour 
while giving their morning call. When I entered the sit- 
ting- room I found two of the men, who had just returned 
from searching for the runaway, hovering over a blazing 
fire, and learned that the morning was decidedly frssty 
and that there was little chance to recapture the con- 
vict; for the country had been well searched, and not 
the slightest trace of him could be found. As I drew 
the bolt and opened the back door, the runaway prisoner 
stood before me shivering in the frosty air, and as I bade 
him a cordial good morning he ducked his head in 
acknowledgment, then with a sheepish look he said that 
he had come back, almost frozen; and he shambled into 
the house. Just as he was passing me I was seized with 
an inspiration, and in response to the call I grabbed him 
by the collar and yanked him into the sitting room, and 
with the mOst important air that I could assume I 
handed him over to the fragment of the posse comitates 
seated by the fire. You should have seen them when 
with a tightened grip on his collar, I shoved my cap- 
tive toward them. With wide open eyes they both 
jumped as pne man, and grabbing each an arm and a firm 
hold of his collar, they hustled the shivering wretch 
away to the strong room. The next season I again 
