4 80 
[Dec. 17, 1K0K 
Slate officials soon shipped to President Beyer 180,000 
muscallonge spawn and 500,000 wall-eyed pike spawn. 
The wall-eyed pike is a cross between the yellow and 
blue pike, and though less gamy than the muscallonge, is 
a splendid fish to catch or eat. The spawn came in cans 
like milk cans, and Mr, Beyer personally, with Pro- 
tector Carter, took the cans out into the river in Mr 
Beyer's yacht and deposited the muscallonge spawn on 
the spawning beds at the foot of Strawberry Island, and 
the pike spawn on the beds at the head of Grand Island, 
It i . believed the two little muscallonge caught in the net 
seized by Carter on Friday night were of the spawn placed 
Jast spring. 
"(t is a downright shame and outrage to have these 
little creatures caught now," said Mr. Beyer. "They are 
not big enough to be of any good to any one, while if 
they were left in the river for a few years longer fisher- 
men would have fine sport catching fish weighing any- 
where from 10 to 3olbs." 
As the result of the discussion the following resolution, 
offered by Mr. Webster, was unanimously adopted: 
Resolved, That this Association gives its moral support 
to the Erie county fish and game protectors in their ef- 
forts to uphold the fish and game laws, and give them all 
the aid in its power to obtain evidence in the proper cases 
and to secure convictions of all violators of such laws; 
and that we condemn the sale of prohibited game by any 
persons, restaurant or hotel, whatsoever, out of season, 
and that we hereby offer to any person trying to secure a 
conviction for such a sale our hearty and earnest sup- 
port. . 
Messrs. Webster, Welch and Lansdowne were appointed 
a special committee to examine the game laws to see if 
any amendments to provisions in the fish and game laws 
applying to this county are advisable, and if so, to take 
steps to secure such amendments. 
New Hampshire Game and Fish. 
Hudson Center, N. H., Dec. 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Our commission has recently completed the 
taking of spawn for the season. At Sunapee Lake we 
had a good catch of aureolus, or Sunapee saibling, from 
which we took 120,000 eggs. We have not had as good 
success with landlocked salmon as usual, only taking at 
all our stations 150,000 eggs. Of lake trout we have in 
the several hatcheries some 2,000,000 of eggs. We have 
also 1,500,000 brook trout eggs; 50,000 Loch Leven 
spawn, and in addition to these we have purchased 1,000,- 
000 brook trout eggs of parties in Massachusetts. 
Our bird season is practically over. The woodcock 
season has been just an average one. Partridge (ruffed 
grouse) have been quite plenty in the central part of the 
State. Manchester parties have had splendid success. 
We hear of one party, two guns, killing fifteen grouse in 
one day. Another party, two guns, got seventeen grouse 
in one day. Mr. Battles, of Concord, has had splendid 
success, and tells me the grouse are plenty in his sec- 
tion. But at the present time New Hampshire is cov- 
ered with from 1 to 2ft. of snow, and as our open season 
does not close until Jan. 1, the pot-hunter will do all 
m his power to annihilate the noblest game bird on earth. 
They take any team that will stand fire, drive around be- 
tween sunset and dark, when the grouse are budding, and 
kill every one possible that comes in their range. There 
will be a strong effort made at the coming session of the 
Legislature to shorten up the open season for a part, if 
not the whole, of December on ruffed grouse. At our 
last session of the Legislature the law was repealed that 
forbid the use of ferrets. This was done to protect our 
Northern hare, for it is an established fact that when- 
ever the small, gray rabbit gets a footing the Northern 
hare disappears. In the town of Sunapee, where only a 
few years ago the cony could not be found, seventeen 
were killed in one day this, winter, by the use of ferrets. 
Deer hunters are having good luck. Our open season 
closes Dec. 15. N. Wentworth. 
rFrorn the report nf the Fish and Game Commissioners for the year ending 
Dec. !, 1S9S.J 
The two years last past have been years of prosperity 
so far as relates to the propagation and distribution of 
the various kinds of food fish, and the increase of game in 
the State, especially of deer and other large game. No 
pains have been spared by the commission to detect and 
punish parties violating the fish and game laws of the 
State, and when we consider the very limited amount set 
aside by the State as an annual detective fund (only 
$250), we are well satisfied with the number of success- 
ful prosecutions that have been obtained. We have been 
particularly successful in preventing the crust hunting of 
deer in the north part of the State, and the frequent pres- 
ence of that beautiful game animal in the southerly por- 
tions of the State is the best evidence of our success in 
that direction. We have been exceedingly annoyed and 
troubled by reason of the complaints from all sections of 
the State that dogs are seen chasing deer, and we have 
no doubt that many deer are destroyed yearly by worth- 
less dogs that are allowed by their owners to ran at large 
in all seasons. In fact, we have evidence of many cases 
of that character. If possible, stringent measures should 
be adopted to abate this nuisance. Since the passage of 
the law prohibiting the hunting of deer with dogs, the 
deer dog of the north part of the State has disappeared 
entirely, but some fox hounds are still kept by those who 
indulge in the hunting of foxes with dogs, and unless the 
strictest care is observed on the part of the owners fox 
hounds will soon acquire the habit of chasing deer, un- 
accompanied by their owners, and commit great havoc, 
especially with the does and their young in the spring 
and summer. Any man who is sufficiently heedless to 
allow his dog to roam at will at all times and seasons 
ought not to complain if his dog is shot by any one who 
detects him chasing deer, and we believe that a law per- 
mitting any person to shoot a dog under such conditions 
would be wholesome and add materially to the increase 
of deer in our State. We cannot, however, complain very- 
much with the results of our efforts in the direction of 
the protection of deer, inasmuch as it is the testimony 
of all sportsmen who have given the subject any con- 
siderable attention that there are ten deer in the State 
to-day where there was only five years ago. 
At the last session of the Legislature a law was passed 
prohibiting the killing of moose or caribou in this State 
until Sept. 15, 1901, and but one moose has been killed in 
the State since the passage of that law, so far as we have 
been able to learn ; and the man who killed that one paid 
$100 and costs for his sport. The moose is a very wary, 
shy animal, and we shall never have them in our forests 
in such quantities as formerly until the lumberman is 
through with his operations. There were, so far as we 
have been able to ascertain, thirteen moose wintered in 
the forests of northern Coos last winter. Since the spring 
opened they have been seen quite frequently in various 
localities around the Connecticut lakes, and in the valleys 
of the Diamond streams, accompanied by their young, 
which is good evidence that in time we may have in our 
largest forests sufficient of that noble game to attract the 
sportsman from abroad. A goodly sum of money was 
left in the north part of our State last year by sportsmen 
from our sister States, who came here to hunt deer. And 
there is a promise that the amount so spent this year will 
far exceed last year's outlay. 
Regarding feathered game, there is but little to be said. 
Last year was a very disastrous one to the ruffed grouse. 
The spring was so wet and cold that the chicks were 
nearly all killed, particularly in the central and north part 
of the State. This season has been a favorable one for 
that bird, and they are reported as quite plenty pretty 
much all over the State. No pains have been spared dur- 
ing the last two years to hunt down and punish every 
poacher, pot-hunter, and snarer and trapper of that fine 
game bird, and successful prosecutions of those cases 
have been numerous, especially in the south part of the 
State. There is no method by which the commission can 
increase the supply of our native game birds except by 
the exercise of constant vigilance in the detection and 
punishment of the lawless so-called sportsman ; and no 
effort of the commission is being spared in that direction. 
The commission find it much easier from year to year 
to enforce the fish and game laws of the State, and the 
reasons are (to us at least) obvious. First, the people 
at large, as they see the fish increasing from year to year 
in our lakes, ponds and streams, and the game in our 
forests, are becoming interested in their preservation, and 
render us great aid in our labors to enforce the law. But 
our greatest aids are the numerous fish and game leagues 
which have been organized in every section of the State, 
and whose membership is composed of the most enthu- 
siastic and successful sportsmen, every one of whom is a 
self-constituted and in many instances a most successful 
detective. We most heartily wish them godspeed in the 
worthy cause in which they have embarked. 
Our success in the propagation and distribution of fish 
in the last two years has been very gratifying, and our 
efforts in that line are being fully appreciated by the many 
who love to spend a day now and then with the rod on 
our lakes and ponds, or in our streams. We receive 
every year substantial aid from the various railroads in 
the State, who transport all our fry and the men putting 
out the same free of charge, and cheerfully render us 
all the assistance in their power in the prosecution of 
our work. Their liberality saves the State hundreds of 
dollars each year. 
Our code of fish and game laws, as it now stands, is 
very good. Some changes and additions are necessary, 
however. For instance, the limit on brook trout, now 
5in., ought to be raised to 6 in streams, and 7 or 8 in lakes 
and ponds; and the minimum length of black bass ought 
to be 8in. The law should be so amended as to fix a 
penalty for fishing in close season, whether the person 
or persons so fishing are found with fish in their pos- 
session or not. Fifteen days should be cut off from the 
latter part of the open season for shooting ruffed grouse 
or partridges, as they commence budding by the middle 
of December; and shooting them out of the trees while 
budding is simply murder. The catching of white trout 
or aureolus and landlocked salmon should be prohibited 
during the same months as the taking of brook trout, ex- 
cept that landlocked salmon may be taken as soon as 
the ice leaves the waters inhabited by them. There should 
be an additional penalty for fishing waters used by the 
State for purposes of fishculture, and closed and posted 
by the commission, by inflicting the same penalty for 
each fish so taken as is exacted for fish caught from pub- 
lic waters in the close season. Sooner or later the pub- 
lic will demand the closing of all ponds and all waters 
except the large lakes of the State against fishing through 
the ice. and we call the attention of the Legislature to 
that subject . *j 
Early in the present administration of State affairs 
we were informed that the entire expense of this com- 
mission, including compensation of commissioners, would 
not be allowed to exceed $7,000 yearly; and although we 
have felt that this policy retarded the progress of our 
labors and crippled us in our efforts to some extent, yet 
we most cheerfully set to work on the basis of 7,000 and 
no more, and have succeeded in keeping below that sum 
Iff.. Wentworth, 
W. H. Shurtleff. 
F. L. Hughes, 
Fish and Game Commissioners. 
"Song of the Grouse/' 
I do not know of anything that I have ever seen to 
take me back fifty years in a lifetime as the "Song of the 
Grouse," by J. R. B., in your issue of Dec. 3. He is not 
only a sportsman, but is also a poet. How well he de- 
scribes the tricks of the elusive bird, putting a tree be- 
tween, and getting up after you have passed him, making 
your nerves tingle and quick to respond, but almost 
paralyzing you. All who go for the king of the woods will 
appreciate J. R. B.'s lines. E. S. Y. 
Baltimore, Md. 
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 
The address label on the wrapper shows the date of 
the close of the term for which the subscription is 
paid. The receipt of the paper with such dated ad- 
dress label constitutes the subscriber's receipt for 
money sent to us. 
Subscribers are asked to note on the wrapper the 
date of expiration of subscription; and to remit 
promptly for renewal, that delays may be avoided. 
For prospectus and advertising rates see page iil. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Saginaw. 
Something over a year ago a friend of Mr. W. B, Mer- 
shon, Saginaw, Mich., gave him a pair of Mongolian 
pheasants that he had brought from the West, and Mr. 
Mershon having no suitable place for them, gave them to 
a farmer friend, who also had a pair of these birds. One 
of the cocks got caught in the wire netting and was killed, 
and a little later the other cock escaped into the woods, so 
it was thought best to turn out the two hens also. The 
_three birds were often seen in the thickets near Saginaw. 
This week a local paper briefly chronicles the fact that a 
certain shooter had been out just south of the city and 
succeeded in bagging a magnificent cOck pheasant. The 
shooter is quoted as saying that he was going back the 
next day, and would try to shoot the hen, which he had 
seen with the cock. The paper printed this with no com- 
ment, and apparently as the record of a natural and com- 
mendable act on the part of the hunter. Mr. Mershon' s 
indignation over the matter may well be imagined. 
Lower Michigan should prove admirable country for the 
Mongolian pheasant, and it is too bad this experiment 
should come to so untimely an end. 
Warden Carpenter, of Saginaw, made a little visit to 
Bay county last week, and found a lot of illegal nets in 
the bay, within easy sight of the house of one of the two 
local wardens. He seized five trap nets with half-mile 
leads, and deserves thanks from a good many game fish 
who otherwise might have paid an unwilling visit to 
Chicago or New York this winter. 
Minnesota. 
There is a little calamity which may strike the State of 
Minnesota this winter, though let us hope that it will not. 
The wide-awake executive agent, Sam Fullerton, threat- 
ens to leave the office of State game warden at the end of 
his term, and not to offer his name again for re-election. 
In view of the intelligent and fearless work that Mr. 
Fullerton has done, I should consider this a calamity to 
the State which is easily first in the matter of game laws 
in this - section, and second to none in their enforcement. 
Mr. Fullerton has seen a good deal of history made dur- 
ing his incumbency, and the Minnesota history has al- 
ways been one of progress. As to the number of diffi- 
culties he has overcome, and even personal conflicts in 
which he has taken part, most of that remains unwritten 
history. His fearlessness and activity are too well known 
to need comment. In common with a great many of Mr. 
Fullerton' s friends, I should feel a great satisfaction at 
learning that he would consent to serve for another term. 
There was a little scrape with the Indians of the Leech 
Lake reservation, up near Park Rapids, last week. 
Deputy Stephens, with six men, undertook to arrest four- 
teen Indians, who had been killing and selling deer off 
their reservation. The Indians were too strong for the 
officers, and broke away, returning to their reservation, 
whence they have issued a general defiance. It seems 
that these Indians have been instigated to their illegal acts 
by traders who tried to get them to break the law. It 
is not likely that the offending Indians will be followed 
to their reservation, though there was some talk of it at 
first. 
The Minnesota game law will, in all probability, have 
presented to it this winter a strongly backed amendment 
carrying a non-resident license clause. Sportsmen all 
over the State are awaking to the fact that the Minnesota 
deer are endangered by the flood of non-resident hunt- 
ers. It is stated that the Omaha road alone carried to 
the one point of Duluth over 200 non-resident deer hunt- 
ers. I do not get any figures as to the actual number of 
hunters in Minnesota, or the actual number of 
deer killed there this fall, as these details are much more 
easily obtainable under a license system than under a 
wide open law. It is said that a great many hunters pass 
by Wisconsin, which is a license State, and go to Minne- 
sota, which is wide open. This I believe to be more 
theory than actual fact, for the enforcement of the non- 
resident laws of the Wisconsin law is purely farcical. Yet 
with Wisconsin licensing deer on one side of them 
and with North Dakota on the other side requiring a 
non-resident license on chickens and ducks, it would sure- 
ly seem that the Minnesota sportsmen are at least by 
no means retaliatory in their disposition. Should they 
put a non-resident license clause upon their statutes there 
could be no charge against them of unfairness, for it 
would be hardly more than a rational self-defense. Min- 
nesota is a wonderful State for game and fish, but there 
never was a territory so full of game that it would not be 
shot out unless the "hunting were made subject to intelli- 
gent restrictions. 
Indians are reported to be killing game in considerable 
numbers this week near Partridge, Minn., where the deep 
snow makes deer hunting very deadly. 
Some Bags. 
This week the big Skokie Marsh, between Winnetka 
and Glencoe, just north of Chicago, took fire and burned 
quite across. Although this big swamp is close to the 
city, there has always been a good deal of game hanging 
around it. The fire drove large numbers of rabbits out 
of the grass, and a great many shooters went out and 
killed big bags of these cottontails. 
At Perry, Okla., W. E. Hosea, a member of the dry 
goods firm of Tootle, Hosea & Co., St. Joseph, Mo., with 
his friend, Capt. A. E. Lard, of the same city, were ar- 
rested for shipping, quail out of the Territory. They; , 'Had 
killed forty dozen quail, a part of which they were trying 
to ship to St. Joseph. 
The Texas Game Protective Association is trying to do 
something to stop the slaughter of wild geese and ducks 
along the Texas coast. Writing to the secretary of that 
body, Mr. R, C. Taliaferro recounts the great diminution 
of Texas game. He was in Wichita county, Texas, in 
1892, and says that he met there a man who had an order 
from a Chicago commission house for 20,000 dozen prairie 
chickens. During that year there were 250,000 Texas 
prairie chickens .sold in St. Louis, Chicago and New 
York. I think otie of the best things which could be 
brought to the support of the Forest and Stream Plat- 
form, "Stop the sale of game," would be the publication 
of some of the figures of the market consumption of game 
animals and birds. These figures are practically unknown \ 
