Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1899, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Teems, ft a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1899. 
f VOL. LIIL— No. 2'. 
\ No. 846 Broadway, New York 
FOR igoo. 
For 1900, the concluding year of the nineteenth century, 
the Forest and Stream^ in the abundance, variety and 
high grade of its subject matter, will maintain the 
standard of its past and present. The weekly instahnents 
of good reading in one of the most attractive fields of 
current literature have long given the journal a secure 
place in the favor of a very wide and valued constituency. 
In this close feeling of interest and regard entertained fbr 
it by its subscribers, the Forest and Stream is unique; 
we question if another paper is published which enjoys 
in fuller measure such intimacy of feeling. For one 
thing the journal is what its contributors make it; for 
while in editorial conduct it aims to be always 5n the 
lead, pointing the way and encouraging constantly to- 
ward the attainment of a higher standard in all that con- 
cerns the sportsman's' interests, it is none the less the 
purpose to reflect the sentiment and feeling and to stand 
for the defense of the principles of the clientele it repre- 
sents. In so far as it does this, the Forest and Stream 
seeks the support and co-operation of its friends. No 
journal, we are assured, can be more acceptable to the 
man of rod and gun nor hold a closer place in his re- 
gard than that one of which he himself helps in the 
making. 
It is not all of fishing to fish, nor all of shooting to 
shoot. There is something more in each.' In 1900, as 
lieretofore, the Forest and Stream will give not only 
the shot>ting and the fishing, but the something more. 
FAWNS. 
Some question exists in the North Woods, we are 
told, respecting the meaning of the term "fawn" as em- 
ployed in the prohibition which reads that "no fawns 
shall be caught or killed at any time." In a number of 
States fawns are protected only while in the spotted coat; 
and some of the Adirondack hunters construe the term 
fawn as meaning -the young only while it shows the 
spots. As the fawn born in the spring loses its spots in 
the autumn, when it assumes its cold-weather coat, when 
only a few months old, it is clear that the term of fawn- 
hood extends far beyond the spotted coat stage. With- 
out regard to spots, a fawn is a fawn until it becomes 
a yearling, just as a domestic calf is a calf tmtil a year 
old. The deer in the fawn stage of , the first year is pro- 
tected simply because of its weakness and innocence of 
the perils which surrotmd it. The legal code and the 
hunters' code undertake to protect it while it does not 
know enough to protect itself; and the period of a full 
year is all too brief for this immunity. 
If there are men in the Adirondacks who want to kill 
deer in the fawn age and who take advantage of the 
present wording of the law, it would be well to make 
Hie statute more explicit by embodying in it the age limit 
nf a year. 
THE HEMPSTEAD DEER CHASERS. 
The Meadow Brook Hunt Club, of Hempstead, Long 
Island, indulged in a deer hunt Thanksgiving Day, a 
report of which is given in another -column. The deer 
was one which had been captured and held in confine- 
ment pending the meet. It was turned loose in a field, 
and not having the sense to run away was lashed with a 
Avhip to give it a start, and eventually jumping the fence 
of the inclosure made away across country; followed by 
a pack of twenty-five hounds and the mounted hunts- 
men. It was chased for five miles and then took refuge 
in a barn. The dogs followed aften it -into^.the barn, but 
the grooms in attendance got there in time to save its 
life. The whole performance -smacked strongly of the 
ca.rted-stag hunt of Great Britain, in which a tame deer 
is carried in a cart to the hunting ground and there put 
out and started off for huntsmen and hounds to chase 
about the country. The form of sport is one which 
may do for Great Britain, but does not belong here; as 
Mrs. Harrison once said at a White House reception : 
"Many things are done in \yashirigton whicli don't go 
nn thp Wqb^?sh " HoT\'ever much tjip chase of a tame 
deer may be enjoyed by those who participate in it, the 
practice is regarded with disgust by most sensible people. 
But quite apart from any consideration of the Flemp- 
stead hunt as a legitirnate or illegitimate form of sport, 
the fact is pertinent that those who took part in this 
Thanksgiving deer chase acted in clear violation of the 
game laws. It was illegal to hunt deer on Long Island in 
any way whatever at that time. This chasing of a buck 
with a pack of hounds was just as much hunting as to 
chase a buck with hounds in the Adirondacks. For the 
offense the Hempstead hunters should promptly be prose- 
cuted; and we trust that Game Protector Pond will not 
permit any delay in the matter. The time to move is 
now, when the _ occurrence is fresh in the public mind ; 
and the Hempstead hunters should be brought up with a 
round turn. 
THE NEW YORK FISH COMMISSION. 
It is familiar historj' that the constitution of the New 
York Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission as a board 
of five members was a political creation, and that its 
president was given his place as a political job. Governor 
Roosevelt is reported to favor the substitution of a single- 
headed Commission in place of the present board of five. 
While it might be possible to find one man who could 
do the work of the five if he gave his entire time to it, 
we believe that a wiser plan would be to separate the 
several divisions which are not of necessity combined and 
to provide for each branch a single head who should have 
the control of that particular work and the responsibility 
for the way in which it was done or left undone. The 
forestry, the game and the fish protection, the fishculture 
and the oyster farming are four distinct interests, which 
should be in charge of four individual directors. There 
is no more reason for combining them in a joint com- 
mission than there would be for uniting the excise, the 
banking and the public works boards. The survey of an 
oyster plot in Long Island Sound has no reasonable con- 
nection with the task of rttnning down the deer bounders 
in Essex county, and the administration of the forests has 
no logical connection with the conduct of the Caledonia 
trout hatcheries. Give each distinct department to a 
commissioner fitted to conduct it, and let him do his 
work unhampered by the diverse interests of the other 
departments. Exercise care that the man chosen for the 
responsible place shall be one who by education, train- 
ing and attainment in tliis special field is fitted to do 
the work intelligently and efficiently. Let us have no 
longer the spectacle of a politician holding a place at the 
head of a commission as a reward for political services 
and enjoying his place as "something equally as good." 
In .short, conduct the fisheries, game and forests business 
in a business way. 
TO MAKE IT A CRIME. 
Ti-iE numerous mortalities and casualties to human 
beings resulting from the shooting of men by hunters who 
mistake their fellov/s for game have prompted a move- 
ment in several States to take cognizance of the careless 
shooting in legal enactments providing punishment for it. 
For example, in New York a proposed addition to the 
penal code reads: 
"Section i. It shall be unlawful for any hunter, or 
other person carrying firearms, to shoot at any object 
without knowing by actual sight and observation that 
such object is not a human being, and any such hunter 
or other person who, by so offending, shall kill any human 
being, shall be adjudged guilty of manslaughter in the 
second degree ; and any such hunter or person who, by so 
offending, shall wound or injure any human being, with- 
out thereby causing death, shall be adjudged guilty of 
an assault in the second degree. 
"Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Forest Commission 
to post notices reciting the provisions of this act, in the 
same form and manner and in like places as notices for 
the prevention of forest fires are now posted by said 
Commission." 
Such killings as are here concerned would, appear to 
come legitimately under the definition of manslaughter 
even as the law now stands; but to incorporate in the 
statute some such specific provision respecting these par- 
ticular acts would doubtless emphasize the criminal aspect 
of the deed, and the effect could not but be salutary. As 
we have often pointed out, the knowledge that it is a 
crime to shqnt fit an object without knowing that the 
thing aimed at is not a human being, and the conscious- 
ness that one violating the rule incurs a penalty for this 
criminal act, must exert a constantly restraining influence. 
The thing to be attained here is restraint; the necessity 
is for caution and precaution which shall prevent the 
act, not for an added penalty after the deed has been 
done and the perpetrator has punished himself with the 
remorse which follows. If we had such a law and the 
warning notices containing it were posted where they 
could not fail to impress themselves upon every hunter 
who goes into the woods, the list of hunting "accidents" 
would certainly be lessened. 
GAME ON THE FARM. 
A Massachusetts correspondent of the Country Gen- 
tleman, to whose farm city gunners resort for shooting 
woodcock and quail, suggests that farmers might very 
reasonably ask the sportsman to share with them the 
fruits of the hunt, and he estimates that a quarter part of 
the game shot would be a fair share to claim. To this 
the editor responds that the farmer should have some- 
thing more than a share of the game, he should be paid 
in money for the privilege of shooting. There is some- 
thing in this, as many land owners have already dis- 
covered. The farm is more generally posted to-day than 
ever before. In many sections, in the South especially, 
the shooting rights are reserved for visiting sports- 
men, who in return pay the taxes on the land. In such 
cases the owner cares little or nothing for the shooting, 
but is very glad to piece out his income in such a way. 
We believe that the system is one to encourage. There 
is little likelihood that the time will soon come when the 
prices asked for shooting privileges will be exorbitant, 
or in excess of what the gunner would be perfectly willing 
to pay provided he actually received in exchange for his 
outlay a chance at game that was worth while. 
From the_present widely prevailing conditions of utter 
disregard of the landowner's rights by the visiting — that 
is to say the invading and trespassing — gunner, to such 
a common recognition of the rights of others as shall 
make payment for shooting privileges obligatory, is a 
far cry; but the new order of things would be for the 
true interest of the sportsman. 
The more fully the privilege of shooting is regarded 
as a privilege, and the more commonly the recognition is 
insisted upon, so much the more game will there be for 
the decent sportsman, and so much the less for the , 
rowdy. When those conditions shall prevail the problem 
of a game supply will in large measure have been solved. 
We would be glad to see the agricultural papers give in- 
creased attention to this subject. The farmers of this 
country have the game situation largely in their own 
hands; and the sooner they recognize the fact and it is 
recognized by shooters, the sooner will come an end to the 
raids of the ruffians who are no more entitled to be re- 
garded as sportsmen abroad than as respectable citizens 
at home. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
We are indebted to Mr. John Price Wetherill, Presi- 
dent of the Pohoqualine Fish Association of Pennsyl- 
vania, for the full text of Judge Craig's opinion in the 
famous landing net case. The opinion contains not only 
good law, but good common sense; and the ruling is 
precisely what was anticipated. We are>not informed 
as to whether or no Judge Craig is an angler, but certainly 
his opinion is worthy of one who finds solace in the 
streams ; and even if he has not fished before, we do not 
see how he can very well help going fishing next spring 
after having read up in the angling authorities from 
Dame Juliana Berners down. 
Pine Tree gets pretty close to it in his explanation of 
why he makes war on the serpent kind. It is impulse 
based on an underlying sympathy with the snake's victims. 
We are inclined to believe that Coahoma and other advo- 
cates of snakes may reason and argue to the end and yet 
fail to overcome this prejudice which is seated so deeply 
in human nature. 
John I. Blair, who died last week, aged ninety-seven, 
and worth $70,000,000, started oqt on the road to wealth 
at the age of ten as a trapper; and he used to say that 
never in his life }ia4 he felt richer than when he got hi^ 
first dollar fop ?Txteen rabbit and muskrat skitjs., 
