I 
46d 
FOrttSf AND STREAM. 
(Disc, io, 
the cases, on various grounds, none of winch I deemed 
important. Following a second request of the kind from 
the district attorney, which met with a prompt refusal 
from me, and a request to have the cases set for trial at 
an early date, I was astounded upon reading in the news- 
paper dispatches the news that Judge Harris, at Colorado 
Springs, had dismissed these several cases that I had 
filed, on the ground that the act under which they were 
brought was unconstitutional. This action was taken 
without notice to me or any person so far as I know 
friendly to the law. It was a remarkable proceeding in- 
deed, and one hardly becoming the dignity of a district 
court. Yours truly, J- S. Swan, 
Commissioner. 
From Adirondack Letters. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Farlier in the fall I received a letter from the woods 
which was equal to a day's hunt with extraordinary luck 
on it. My hunting nowadays has to be done by gas- 
lighted hearsay, and the results, though not always real, 
are no less gratifying, at times, than the actual stumbling 
over logs at inopportune moments and the real shooting 
at game. The letter came from a school teacher, a 
charming person, and another letter, received from my 
boy friend, supplied certain missing details. The two 
letters, properly dovetailed, might make a story worth 
reading. The letters: 
•'We have been in the woods, Mr. and Mrs. Alva Finch, 
Will Finch and I, and such a time. The woods were 
simply beautiful (drag it out, please) and the trees 
pretty. The ride across Canachagala Lake was espe- 
cially delightful. There was a sweet little breeze blowing 
and 'the waves were just lovely. The leaves hadn't begun 
to turn yet. They looked old, but not dusty at all. You 
should have seen us going over the trail, the guides with 
their packs and us. I had on that blue bicycle skirt, 
bicycle bcots, a gray waist and a little round cap— the 
•rig' you liked. They got terribly wet and all wrinkled 
up! and I never will be able to wear them again till the 
tailor gets through with them. You know Big Sol, 
who works for Mrs. Finch? He carried one of the packs 
and I walked beside him. He told me all about himself 
and his ambitions. Do you know, those men are human 
to the .core, if only one gets to know them — good, big 
fellows, and gentle too. 
"We got to the river — such a fine walk. We saw some 
deer marks on the trail, and there was the cutest little 
mink by the boat you ever saw — roguish eyes it had, but 
awful lips. We went fishing one day, and oh! yes, I 
was with Mr. Will when he shot a what you call it?— a 
dough, or doe. or — anyhow we went on a walk m the 
woods with the rifle, and we walked and walked and 
walked, lost our lunch, and for forty-nine hours we 
tramped, kept right on. Every once in a while he would 
stop and say, 'See that?' 'What?' 'A log.' A little 
further: 'Look quick,' and I, 'Now what?' 'A stump.' 
Then 'P-s-s-s-h !' and I would stop. 'What is it?' 'A rock.' 
By and by I ceased to be interested in alarms, and after 
I'd seen bushes and sticks and nothing at all, I wandered 
a few yards from him. Then I heard him gasp. I 
looked. He looked cute. He had the wood part of his 
'What will?' 'Oh, Lord! the deer.' I ambled over. 
'Where is it?' •'There; see?' 'That log?' 'No, the— no; 
can't you see? There, he moves — quick!' 'Looks like a 
Harlem goat,' I told him. He looked startled, made a 
face at me and began to shoot. It jumped and ran and 
it staggered and went out of sight. 
" 'Now we'll go get the other one," he said. 'What 
other one?' I wanted to know. 'Why, there were two, 
and we'll get this one when we have found the other. 
Then we began to look. We went around all the trees. 
We climbed over logs, went through bushes and slipped 
on rocks. He looked worried. T guess— er — we'd 
better get the other,' and it was easier to say it. We 
went back and forth, around and up and down. I sat 
down and let him look. No blood, no nothing. We 
started for camp, and pretty quick there was the deer, 
dead, behind a big rock. 
" 'Hah!" he said, 'here it is.' 
""The poor little thing!' I said. The little dear lay 
there with awful holes in it, and it was so pretty, it 
seemed a pity. He didn't say anything for some time. 
By and by: 
" 'Well, Fll-er-ah-h-er — it'll have to be prepared.' I 
said I'd take a walk. By and by I came back. 'Jove! 
This is awful! Ugh!' 'Wish Joe was here!' I fancied 
I would walk a little further, and I gathered some lovely 
little red leaves, and found, oh! such a pretty little flower, 
all pink and white." 
The boy writes of this episode: 
"Finch's party got out of the woods t'other day. Got 
just one deer. Cherry went with them and she saw 
Fin'ch kill the deer. It was a doe, 'bout like a rabbit. It 
was standin' sideways back of his camp aways and he 
and Cherry found it. He began to shoot bang, rip, slam, 
and Cherry squealed every shot, 'Hit him, hit him !'• and 
jumped up and down. Reg'lar circus some folks is in 
the woods. She looks mighty slick, wears her bicycle 
duds." 
The teacher's letter continues: 
"A big party came up from Bisby one day. About 
twenty were in it, all young folks. You could hear them 
a mile. They stopped at the lower Stillwater in the club 
camp. They had lots of fun. I know they did. One 
day a guide came up from there. He said he had two 
girls down the trail who wanted to come visiting. Would 
we just as soon? Certainly; and the two came up. One 
was a girl; the other wasn't. She was real pretty. He 
rested his head on one shoulder and held his nice white 
hands together and smiled. He made me shiver. He 
was awfully bashful and so stupid he didn't say a word. 
She was all right. Big, strong and nice looking. How 
I hate nice, pretty boys! 
"We had lots of fun in camp, eating venison and 
going around. It's lots of fun and everything is so 
neat.'" 
The boy: 
"Say, you just ought to hear the boys tell 'bout the 
way city folks act in the woods-. The guides seen a party 
down to the club camp and they hollered and run and 
chased each other and everything, only one fellow was 
kind of still and didn't say much. Pretty delicate, I 
guess, but all right when he talked to the guides. He 
didn't have much to do with the girls." 
What follows in the boy's letter seems rather too per- 
sonal to exactly suit me. One time I went into the 
woods and did some shooting. I hit a birch tree away 
up and knocked off a 6in. square bit of bark. It is a 
landmark up there now. 
"Are you going to have a vacation this fall? I sup- 
pose if you do get one you will go up to Moose 
River and bang away at the treetops again. You want 
to get the repeater's muzzle bent downward to an angle 
of about 45 or 50 degrees. You will be able to hit some- 
thing besides the twigs above you then, I saw your 
mark up at the apple tree runway this fall. When I 
showed it to the minister he remarked, 'Some one must 
have been shooting squirrels.' I said,- Yes, my friend S. 
did that two years or three years ago, when he tried to 
shoot a fox, thinking it was a deer.' (A rank no such 
thing. I showed the track, after it was over, to the boys. 
They said, 'A big deer, sure.') He said, 'It must have 
been a pretty tall fox.' I told him the foxes, when they 
run, generally get a-going and run up some trunk so as 
to get a good long jump (to a parson, mind you). I 
added that foxes are quite tricky, and that he must 
have been running up the tree when you shot. 
•'We had a great time at the lake (Little Black Creek 
"The Parson wanted to get a live porcupine or kill one 
without hurting his hide. Well, when we were paddling 
along at the head of the lake we heard a great crash in 
the underbrush. Of course, we leveled our guns at a bee 
line for the noise, and waited results. Then up crawled 
a 6olb. porcupine and went straight for a spruce 
tree. I shoved the boat for shore, and he jumped out and 
took it right after him. Before he got to the tree though, 
the hog was 100ft. above, looking down at him, with his 
two front teeth sticking out and her (the porcupine was a 
she) upper lip drawn back, grinning just like a tickled pup. 
We didn't have time to bother with her then, so we put 
a cape on a branch of the tree and went exploring for a 
better lake. We were told that it wasn't half a mile from 
South Branch Lake, but we traveled every square foot for 
a good two miles, and didn't find it. Then we separated 
and watched an old log road till about 5 o'clock, then we 
went back to the tree for the porcupine. She was still 
there with the same grin. We held a pow-wow to decide 
how to get it without hurting the hide. Finally the min- 
ister said he would climb the tree and put a string around 
her neck and hang her. It was easier said than done. So 
off with his coat and tightening his belt two or three-, 
notches, up he went like a monkey. He was soon up level 
with her, but on the other side of the trunk. He reached 
around and tried to put the noose over her head, but she 
turned square around and began to strike with her tail. 
The tree soon had quills for a square foot where the 
porcupine had driven them in. The minister then broke 
off a branch and began pounding her on the head. She 
turned and went down the tree for a ways, and he right 
after her, but he got the best of her and headed her back. 
She crawled out on a branch and he shook it and down 
she came with a thud. I rolled a 20olb. log on her head 
while he came down and put the noose around her neck 
and choked her about dead. It took both of us to carry 
her to the boat. 
"We rowed for camp. When we got pretty near there 
I saw the porcupine was breathing. She being at my 
feet, I took the rope and was going to hang her. She 
wasn't dead a bit. She jumped and rared. I took a 
flying leap over to the other end of the boat. I guess 
the minister was a little scared too, because he took his 
gun and shot her through her quills on her back, and the 
bullet passed on and knocked a splinter off the bottom of 
the boat J^in. wide, and 8 or oin. long. The water began 
to pour in prettv fast, and I took the paddle and knocked 
the porcupine senseless and threw her overboard. I told 
the minister if he wanted her he could come out and get 
her after I had got ashore. He said he didn't care any- 
thing about it. We got pretty near shore, when the boat 
sunk in 3ft. of water. That big leak and the numerous 
others made the boat fill pretty bad when we only had a 
T 41b. baking powder can to bail with. 
"The kids play football now. I have at present a big- 
nose, seven or eight bumps on various parts of my head, a 
sprained ankle and wrist, a stone bruise on my foot, and a 
lame hip, but I guess I can play to-morrow. I study 
Latin and algebra now. They keep a fellow going m 
school as well as out." 
That is the way of the Adirondack woods boy. tie 
lives a great life, with all the joys of outdoor existence 
and all the comforts that don't interfere with it 
Raymond S. Spears. 
Massachusetts Game Interests* 
New York City. 
Michigan's "Hunting Record/' 
. Mt. Clemens, Mich., Dec. 3.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: A report in the Detroit Evening News of Dec. 
2, from Grand Rapids, says that "The Michigan hunting 
record for the season just ended is claimed for young Sam 
Cable, of Sullivan. Since Oct. 1 he has bagged more than 
1,000 quail and partridges. He was out every day, and 
averaged twenty-one birds daily, -He does not come of 
hunting stock either, his father having never fired a 
gun." 
What could he have done with the birds? The law for- 
bids selling them. Don't we need a restriction on the. 
amount of game a person may kill in a season ? 
Sapelo Rod and Gun Club. 
The Sapelo Rod and Gun Club, of Mackintosh county, 
Georgia, have their club house now open for members. 
This new club has a control for hunting of over 20,000 
acres. While there is a water frontage of fifteen miles, at 
the present time there is a great abundance of quail, 
doves, etc., and the sea trout make the waters alive. The 
ducks are arriving, and promise to exceed last season s 
great abundance. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at. the 
latest by Monday and as much earlier as practicable. 
Boston j Dec. i, — Editor Forest and Stream: I send 
you the report of a conference of representatives of 
sportsmen's and farmers' clubs, held at the Copley Square 
Hotel, Nov. 16, in response to a call sent out by the 
Massachusetts Fish and Game Protecvtive Association, 
The call said: "The object of this conference is to con- 
sider what common ground of action may be taken 
as to legislation affecting the preservation and propa- I 
gation of fish and game, and of song and insectivorous 
birds, in this State; what salutary changes, if any, can 
be proposed and supported by all the interests involved." 
President Horace T. Rockwell presided, and in wel- 
coming the delegates said: "The Massachusetts Fish 
and Game Protective Association has no plan as re- 
gards new legislation, no pet scheme to advance. 
The twenty-two years' experience of the Associa- 
tion has shown the need of combined effort on the 
part of all those having an interest in common with 
the objects and purposes of the Association, viz., the 
protection and propagation of food fishes and game. 
It is desirable to learn the opinions of all as to present 
conditions and what, if anything, should be done to 
advance fish and game interests in the State. The 
work which has been done by the Association shows 
conclusively that it has not labored for the advance- 
ment of selfish ends, but to promote the general good." 
Prof. Wm. H. Niles, president of the Appalachian 
Club, said that he was fully in sympathy with the As- 
sociation in all its work, and that he could pledge 
the hearty support of the 1,000 members of the Ap- 
palachian Club. "Proper enforcement of the laws will 
accomplish great good. As an educator," he said, "I 
am interested in cultivating the sentiment of a love of 
nature, and against killing for the mere, sake of killing." 
He would ask members of the Appalachian Club to 
inculcate that sentiment. He closed by saying, "You, 
have my hand and my heart in this work." 
Mr. J. M. Stevenson, of Pittsfield. referred to remarks 
made by him at the annual dinner of the Association 
in January, 1898, urging an attempt to secure, unity of 
views as to needed legislation, as an aid in securing 
better laws for the protection of game, and the pre- 
vention of enactments to further- the interests of the 
market-men. An appropriation for enforcing the laws 
should be made by the State. In his neighborhood a 
deputy paid by the day last year had accomplished a 
great deal; this year, having no money, that work had 
been neglected, and violators of the law are rampant. 
The ordinary deputy sheriff is of no use for that work. 
The district attorney might have a deputy for the pur- 
pose Some time the sale of game must be prohibited. 
Mr. C. C. Peck, of North Attleboro, submitted a 
paper embodying his views, as follows: 
First. — The appointment of a more active and ener- 
getic commission, experts or men capable of becoming 
skilled in the habits of fish and game, who shall make 
a study of the laws of other States and of the United 
States; whose duties shall be mainly supervisory and 
administrative, and who shall be paid a regular salary, 
with a certain allowance for traveling expenses. 
Second. — The employment of a sufficient number of 
paid deputies, distributed over the State, lovers of birds 
and interested in the propagation of fish — as an import- 
ant factor of food supply for the inhabitants of the com- 
momvealth, men who are able not only to enforce the 
protective laws, but also to give the commissioners in- 
formation of value in the performance of their duties. 
Third. — An enlargement of the hatcheries of the State, 
so that they shall have facilities not only for hatching, 
but for the raising of fish until they are one and two 
years old. Probably 40.000,000 fry have been placed m 
the streams of the State during the last thirty years, 
with what results noborlv knows— but the same number 
of older and larger fish able to care for themselves 
would have populated the streams of the State long ago 
and given us again the abundance of fish of earlier days. 
Fourth.— Double and triple the work of stocking the 
great ponds with white perch and other food fish. This, 
law secured only after much effort, carries an appro- 
priation of only $500. It should be, as its advocates de- 
sired, at least $1,000, and its provisions extended under 
suitable restrictions to the smaller ponds of the State. 
Fifth. — Make the appropriation for the support of this 
department $25,000 annually. It will then fall short 
of that of other less wealthy States, but will at least, 
if intelligently expended, give an impetus to our in- 
land fisheries and game which they sadly lack, and 
which will soon commend them to the cordial sup- 
port of the people. . ^ , 
"My idea of a game and fish law is to make the time 
uniform on all fur and feathered game, viz., from Oct. 
1 to Jan. t ; make the law uniform m this respect' 
and don't allow any one in the field with dog and gum 
outside those limits. U thought advisable, the counties 
with seashore boundaries" might have an open season 
on sea fowl to April 15, hut. personally I would not) 
do it as spring shooting, when migrating birds are oni 
their way to their breeding grounds, is against the laws, 
of nature. , 1t 
"As regards fish, the close and open seasons are all 
right but the idea of stocking streams except with 
fish large enough to care for themselves it all wrong, as 
I have proven by rav own personal experience. 1 
don't think the State is any gainer by the sums ot 
money expended in hatcheries, unless they make pro- 
vision to have the fry kept until they become year-: 
lino-s and large enough to shift for themselves. 
Mf George H. Palmer, of New Bedford, representing; 
the Southern Massachusetts Fish and Game League, 
said he had been the veteran agent against all traps, 
nets weirs, pounds, etc.. since 1871. In connection with 
other associations and individuals a great work had 
been accomplished in preventing the wholesale destruc- 
tion of the fish of Buzzard's Bay. He said he had; 
had more "leaves to withdraw" than any other peti - 
tioner for legislation at the State House. He expressec 
an interest in birds also, and said the chiet difficulty 11 
enforcing the law against snaring and other game laws 
was the impossibility of securing evidence— men are 
unwilling £0 testify for fear of retaliation by violators- 
injury tcu '.property, etc. An attack on the sale 
game is the only remedy. 
