FOREST AND STREAM, 
Nearlj- sufficient to pay the salaries of the Commis- 
sioner and chief clerk for one year. 
It is plain to be seen that if the license features had 
been left in the law. some $15 000 or $20,000 more would 
have been realized— amply sufficient to have enabled the 
Commissioner to enforce the law as it ought to have been 
enforced. 
And it must be remembered that no Commissioner ever 
has or ever can enforce the law as it should be without 
more funds than have ever ye: been furnished, and my 
criticisms must be considered' with that in view. 
On the other hand, I have attended game conventions 
and belonged to sportsmen's associations wnthout number 
for the last thirty-five years, and the furthest we ever 
got toward game protection was to pass some good reso- 
lutions and adjourn to a trap shoot or some other kind of 
a scrap. 
You are up against it now. 
The Open Deer Season. 
It has been suggested that August and September should 
be cut off the open deer season, but this would be of no 
substantial advantage. The great bulk of the- killing is 
later, and during Uie last two or three weeks of the 
present open season, while the deer are in or on their way 
to the winter range, when the fusillade resembles the 
skirmish line of an army, and it is a hunt for jneat rather 
than sport. 
The increase in the number of people who take part in 
these annual meat hunts renders it absolutely necessary to 
.shut it off entirely. The deer now remaining will not 
stand the drain. The number limit for each person should 
not exceed one. and if restricted to one to the camp or 
family, so much the better. 
Many of the residents of the game regions say they are 
ready for an absolute closing of the deer and elk seaion 
for at least two years. But will they all agree to and 
abide by it? I think not. 
Besides this, a two years' close of the season would 
leave only bird hun ers to pay license fees, and the 
fund would be insufficient to enforce the law, with the 
result that the law-abiding hunters would be shut out, 
while the lawless ones would go on killing just the same 
and no benefit would come of it. 
Residents of Piceance Creek who were in Denver last 
week say that the deer wintering there are less by 50 per 
cent, than last year, and that there were hunters then in 
camp there killing them. 
I am therefore emphatically opposed to any change of 
season or limit, unless it is accompanied by a provision 
for ample funds and a rigorous enforcement against every- 
body alike. 
In conclusion, I want to emphasize what I believe to be 
the only remedy. 
1. The immediate passage of laws requiring the licenses 
mentioned, especially that for hunting, as the only avail- 
able means to raise funds for enforcement. 
2. The cutting off of October and November from the 
open season on deer. 
3. An enforcement of the law as searching and vigorous 
as that by Federal officers after moonshine whiskj', or 
more so. if possible. 
The conditions are alarming, and the remedy must be 
heroic, and every person interested must make some sacri- 
fices, as no half-hearted measures or those which favor 
one class at the expen^-e of others will meet the emergency. 
If we can have changes in seasons, etc.. with ample 
funds and strict enforcement, as indicated, there is hope 
for the future, but without these, no change in seasons 
will stay the fa^t approaching end of the big game of 
Colorado. 
When that day of misfortune comes and it is too late to 
retrieve the error, the citizens of the State will regret the 
faihire to adopt and enforce progressive and enlightend 
laws for its protction. 
The Rhode Island Dtjckmgf Season* 
Pawtuxet, R. I. — Editor Forest and Stream: The new 
law governing duck shooting in Rhode Island is decidely 
unpopular with all who live on or near the shores of 
Narragansett Bay and enjoy an occasional day with the 
ducks; and no wonder, as a more absurd and imjust law^ 
could not well be imagined. This seems all the more 
strange when we consider that both adjoining States, 
and in fact all of the States bordering on the Atlantic 
seaboard, have good sensible laws governing this sport. 
Sea fowl shooting should not be confounded with inland 
duck shooting, as the habits of fresh water ducks and of 
sea fowl are entirely dissimilar. The latter do not breed 
here, and are simply winter visitors, or birds of passage, 
breeding in the far north and reallj' needing no protection, 
except perhaps in the manner of pursuit which is ac- 
corded them in most of the States bordering on tide 
water. This, however, is more for the protection of the 
gunners than for the ducks, and consists of prohibiting 
chasing them with sail boats, launches, etc., and. in some 
States, even row boats, shooting into bedded fowl with 
a rifle and, in short, disturbing them in any way on their 
feeding grounds, as this tends to drive them out of the 
bays, where they may be legitimately shot over decoys, 
the only way of having much success with them. Now 
the injustice of the present law, which is now in operation 
for the first time, is in having the close season begin just 
about the time these fowl put in their appearance in the 
bay, as they are practically kept out all through the fall 
by the fleet of steam launches and sail boats. When 
these are hauled up for the winter the birds come back 
again, and very fair shooting may be had through Febru- 
ary and March over decoys. About the only kinds of 
ducks shot here in any numbers by decoying are the 
scaup or broadbill and the golden-eye or whistler, the 
former being the more plentiful and affording better 
sport. 
As the Legislature is now in session, an effort will be 
made to have this law repealed or changed to conform 
with those of the adjoining States, which enjoy excellent 
laws cn sea fowl shooting. By the way^, what a pity it 
is that the game laws, as well as the duck laws, cannot 
be made uniform in at least the three States of Massachu- 
>e-t,ts, Connecticut mi. P-.hqde Island. 
W Sheldon, 
Ontario I Deer. 
The deer hunting season in the Province of Ontario is 
considerably shorter in duration than any other of the 
localities where deer are found in abundance^ the close 
season being from Nov. 16 until Oct. 31 of the year fol- 
lowing, allowing only fifteen days for the hunter to enjoy 
this grand sport. The Grand Trunk Railway system 
have given this matter considerable attention, and the 
districts reached by their railway' are the finest hunting 
grounds in the Dominion of Canada. Through their 
courtesy we are permitted to give some information which 
wall be of interest to sportsmen. 
The returns are not quite all in, but those to date show 
88 !icen.ses were isssued to non-residents and 4,200 to 
residents of the Province of Ontario; also 105 moose 
licenses, making a total of 4,393; but the probabilities 
are that at least S,ooo licenses were issued. The hunters 
during the 1900 season have not been quite as successful 
as those that went up into these districts in previous years, 
which was accounted for by reason of the bad weather 
that was experienced during the last open season and 
does not mean that there is a diminution of deer, as they 
are increasing in numbers each successive year, owing to 
the very stringent regulations which the Government 
enforces. 
The open season for the shooting of moose was opened 
in 1900 for the first time in five years, and is now closed 
for three years. There were taken out during the open 
season by the express companies alone 1,621 deer, weigh- 
ing in the aggregate 176.312 pounds. Chief Game Warden 
Tinsley states that not less than 5,000 deer were taken 
out of the northern country during the open season, as 
the number carried by the express scompanies (large as 
it may be) cannot be taken as a criterion of the total num- 
ber killed, as those killed by the settlers are not shipped, 
and a large number of hunters from towns and villages 
adjacent to the hunting grounds have the deer killed by 
them taken to their respective homes by teams and other 
conveyances. 
There is one clause in the deer hunting regulations 
which should be eliminated by the Ontario Government, 
and that is allowing the killing of deer in the water. This 
is considered a brutal way of hunting by any true sports- 
man, and by cutting this clause out it will not only be a 
means of still further protecting deer, but will be recog- 
nized as an important addition to the game laws by every 
true lover of the sport. There has been considerable 
talk in connection with extending the open season, but 
it is to be hoped that the Ontario Government will not 
countenance any such suggestion at the present time, as 
the present open season protects the deer from promiscu- 
ous slaughter and obviates the likelihood of their deple- 
tion. — Montreal Gazette, Jan, g, 1901. 
Talks to Boys. — IX* 
Now, boys, we have been talking for a good while about 
shooting. You have had a good deal of practice with your 
new gun, and have gotten ahead in learning how to use it 
much faster than I supposed you would. Certainly, much 
faster than I did when I began to shoot. In a few weeks 
you have learned a great many of the principles of shoot- 
ing ; you have been advised what not to do and what to 
do. and you have tried to put this advice into practice. 
Of all the men and boys who use shotguns, not many 
are first-class shots. Many of them have very little time 
to practice, many others who get a good deal of practice 
seem to derive no particular benefit from their practice, 
and this, in most cases, is only another way of saying 
that they are careless, heedless and unobservant, that they 
do not endeavor to correct the errors of to-dav by exer- 
cising greater care to-morrow. It is a splendid thing to 
be a good shot. It gives a man very great satisfaction to 
be able to shoot steadily, to make few misses and now 
and then to make a long, quick or in any way difficult 
shot which neither he nor his companions thought could 
be successful. There is very great pleasure in this — 
pleasure for yourself and for your companion — and I hope 
that you may have a great deal of this pleasure. 
But besides carrying yourself in the field so that you 
can go through the day's work with safety to yourself 
and your companion, and besides shooting so well that 
you have little or nothing to regret in the way of lost op- 
portunities, or lost birds, there is something else about 
which you need advice which will have a very decided 
influence on the pleasure which you and your companions 
are to have from the outings that you make during shoot- 
ing season. 
I have already suggested" to you that a pretty important 
part of the character of any boy or man is made up of his 
consideration for other people. I take it for granted, of 
course, that you have been well brought up and have 
learned by this time that you are not the most important 
person in the world. You have probably been taught, by 
your parents, good manners, which, after all. consist of 
nothing more than thoughtfulness and consideration for 
the feelings and the rights of other people. A boy, when 
he gets into the field, enthusiastic about his gun, eager to 
take advantage of every chance to shoot that comes to 
him. excited bj- the working of the dog, and made more 
or less nervous by the unexpected getting up of birds, may 
at first be excused if he forgets himself to some extent 
and is disposed to shoot everything in sight, but he may 
be sure that excuses, or the reasons given above, will 
not long continue to be made for him. He must remem- 
ber that it is quite certain that his companion is just as 
anxoius to shoot and to take advantage of every oppor- 
tunity as he is, and yet they both know that it is a waste 
of ammunition and a cause of dissatisfaction to each if 
both shoot at the same bird. Each one, therefore, must 
learn to keep himself in hand, to exercise self-control and 
to follow out certain fixed and well-known rules which 
the sportsmen of bygone generations have formulated and 
put into practice, so that now they are universally ac- 
cepted. 
One of the first of these is that birds getting up in 
certain positions with relation to two or more shooters 
in the field belojig to ojie man or the other, according 
to the point at which they leave the ground and the 
direction in which they fly. If you and ^our companion 
are walking through the stubble 40 yard« apart, and a 
feird gets up qlose tp Ijim, is the person to whotjj. 
belongs the first chance to shoot. If it flies toward you 
or in front of you, give him abundant time to shoot before 
you aim at the bird. If it gets up just in front of him 
and flies straight away from him, do not you fire at it 
until he has shot both barrels. If it gets up in front of 
him and flies quartering away from him and so nearly 
straight away from you, but off to his side, do not shoot 
at it under any circumstances. Never shoot across your 
companion's face. This is a rule to which there is no ex- 
ception. If birds get up midway between you and fly 
straight to the front, either of you may shoot at them, 
yet I advise you to hold your fire and give your com 
panion the chance to shoot at least once, before you dis- 
charge your gun; yet, of course, you must not wait too 
long. You may occasionally lose a bird in this way, but 
by acting as I have suggested you will be teaching your- 
self a good lesson in self-control, and in very many cases 
your chance of getting the bird will be better than that 
of your companion, who, if he is less well taught than 
you, and extremely eager to kill, will be very likely to 
shoot too quickly and miss, while your more deliberate 
shot, discharged after his gun is empty, will be likely to 
be successful. To shoot too quickly at a bird that gets 
up between you and flies to the front is to shoot across 
your companion's face, and this, as I have said, you must 
never do. 
If the birds get up near you, you may shoot as quickly 
as you please if they fly to the front or turn away from 
your companion and toward your side, but where there is 
time I advise you always to be deliberate, and if you 
understand your gun as well as by this time I hope you 
do, you will find that there is nothing lost by waiting. 
Of course, waiting may be impossible if you are in 
thick brush, since a little time would enable the bird to 
pass out of sight; but when there is time, I am anxious 
that you should always take it. 
If you find your companion so eager to get the shots 
that he makes himself disagreeable to you, it will be well 
for you to speak to him about this — pleasantly and not at 
all in the way of fault finding — and to suggest an tinder- 
standing by which the rules that I am giving you shall 
be carried out by. each, This you can properly enough do 
if you yourself have not offended as he has done, but if 
you have been too eager as he has been, a remonstrance 
will not come with a very good grace from you. If. how= 
ever, you have followed the rules I have suggested, very 
likely a little quiet talk with him and an explanation of 
what is customary among sportsmen in shooting will be 
pleasantly received by him and remembered. If, how- 
ever, he persists in trying to get more than his share of 
the shots, and is not willing to emulate the courtesy that 
you practice, it will be well for you to gradually give up 
shooting with him, and either get some other companion 
or go alone. There is much more pleasure to be had in a 
day's shooting when two good fellows are together than 
when there is no one to talk to, but I should certainly not 
advise you to continue to shoot with a disagreeable com- 
panion. 
If you have a dog. and are working him. I hope that 
you will do it quietly. After you and your dog come to 
understand each other he will work for you just as well 
with ver3' little talking to, and only a few blasts of 
the whistle, as he would if you were to shout at him all 
the time, and a dog that has become accustomed to being 
called to and scolded continually, after a while gets so that 
he pays no attention to the shouting. Therefore, you get 
no better service from your dog than if you were quiet 
with him, and at the same time you make yourself a 
nuisance to your companions in the field. If your dog is 
already broken, as he probably is, it will be well for you 
to take him out before the season opens without a gun 
and to teach him to work fairly close to you, and' to 
turn, in quartering his ground, at a blast of the whistle, 
accompanied by a wave of the hand. He is anxious to do 
what you wish to have him do, but until he understands 
what your words and whistles and gestures mean, he 
cannot do as you want him to. Try then, by patient 
perseverance, to explain to him what is required of him, 
and wdien you use him in the field do it without any 
noise or fuss. You will find, after you have worked with 
him for two or three years, and each has come to thor- 
oughly understand the other, that it will hardly be neces- 
sary for you to speak to him more than a few times all 
through the day, for he will comprehend just what your 
wishes are. and the two of j'ou will work together like a 
well-ordered machine. 
During your shooting, much of which, if you are a resi- 
dent of the Eastern States, will be in a country abound- 
ing in brush and sw-amps, you and your dog will often 
have to push your way through undergrowth so thick 
that it will be almost impossible for you to shoot, and 
Avhere the mud is so deep that walking is slow, hard 
\york. Often you and your companion will come to a 
little swamp, where, in order to secure the best results, it 
will be desirable for one of you to stand on the outside, so 
as to shoot the birds wdiich rise to go away, while one 
must go into the thicket and work with the dog to start 
the birds. Now, of course, going through such a tangle 
is laborious work; the gunner can see but a short distance 
ahead of him, and m.uch of the time he is so tied up in 
brambles, vines and alders that it would be a very difficult 
matter for him to shoot, even if he could see a bird. 
Nevertheless, if you and your companion come to such 
a place, where it is necessary for one to go into the 
brush, I advise you to offer to do it. In fact, if you are 
watching the dog, you must do so. 
But on general principles it is better in a shooting ex- 
cursion, or, indeed, in almost any outdoor pursuit, that 
you should show yourself willing to do more than your 
share of the work, and there is nothing that looks worse, 
or that has a worse effect on the energy and go of a man 
or boy when out shooting, than to hang back and wait 
for some one else to volunteer to do the disagreeable and 
the difficult things. Moreover, although to shoot in such a 
situation is sometimes impossible and usuallv difficult, it 
is nevertheless the fact that it is about the best practice 
that any one can have, and if you should ever happen to 
have an old cock partridge get up in front of vou as you 
are crawling on hands and knees through sonie particu- 
larly dense thicket, and suddenly twisting aroui^i should 
fire at his disappearing form, and then hear hb body 
strike the ground and his wings drum on the soft soil in 
his death struggle, I venture to say that you will feel 
more satisfaction at this, sbioA than you WQtj;I<| qs^j; t^^e^ty 
