Feb. i6, igoi:] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
127 
tor you to tealch hiih to travel beneath the wagon, pretty 
well forward, about 'under the front .seat. Nothing is 
more disagreeable thafl to have a dcSg following a wagon 
iiid ranging far and wide about it, .chasing the farmers' 
I I wis, getting into fights -vvilh all the dogs along the road 
and very likely barking ' at wagons that -you may meet. 
None of these things- -happen if -you can teach him to 
travel under the wagon.' ' •■ ' ' li 
Unless you give him- plehty of ^?<ercise he will not be 
liealthy, but if you give' him thi's ■ he will always be hard 
and in 'good ccnditidn' ag&itist' the' time when you wish 
to use' him. You must- be- careful not to overfeed him, 
because if you give h.im too m-uch to 'eat he will grow 
fat and lazy and it will be a hard matter for you to run 
the fat off him as the sea-son for -using him approaches, 
and besides this, if he is fat at the beginning of the sea- 
son, he will not work with half the energy that he should, 
and may very likely become tired out before the day is over. 
If you have oiil^jr one dog in the house, it is probable that 
the fragments left on tb:^ plates at. the end of a meal will 
be all that he will need to eat; bits of bread and vegetables 
and pieces of meat afford a very excellent diet for a dog 
when he is not worldng.^, He should be fed, as a rule; 
only once a day, having his dinner in the evening. When 
he is working, however, he is entitled to stronger food 
than this, and many men of great experience recommend 
that a worthy dog should be fed during the shooting sea- 
son wholly on meat. At this time when your dog is doing 
an enormous amount of the hardest kind of physical 
work, he mu.st be well nourished if he is to do good ser- 
vice. To whatever he is fed, give him all he will eat, but 
only feed once a day. Few dogs have vigor and staj-'ing 
■power enough to work more than three or four days in the 
week, but if possible you would Jike to have your dog in 
such shape thai he will hunt as l^^g as you wish him to. 
Many years ago I had a native^^elter that would work 
;six days in the week without giving up. Sometimes to- 
ward evening he would be very, ,very tired, but so long as 
daylight lasted he was willing to go .wherever he was sent, 
and to work hard for birds. Yet tnany a time in the 
evening as we were walking home, I have seen him trot 
thirty or forty yards ahead of us along the road, curl 
himself up and lie there in a red ball until we had passed 
thirty or forty yards beyond him, when he would once 
more trot to the front and again Ue down to rest. 
I ^am sure that the longer you have your dog, assum- 
ing 'that he is a good one, the more you and he will be in 
sympathy with one another, and the better work yoif will 
do together. But I am extremely auxioiis to have you 
both start right, to have the dog .fond of you and yet soon 
understanding that you are the master; to' have you kind 
to the dog, firm, but not constantly' teasing him and 
worrying him by unnecessary -corhmarids. - If he develops 
well, you will be proud of him and will get to love him 
better and better, until, finally ■yoti will be convinced that 
he is the best dog in the World, arid however you may 
treat him, he will certainly, believe ^hat you a-re the best 
person in the world.' I hope 'that' you will deserve his 
faith in you. W. G. De Groot. 
The Maine September License. 
^Bo.'ifOK, Feb. u.— From the best reports to be had. I 
learn that there is already a hot fight in the Maine Legis- 
lature over the proposition ■ to repeal the September 
license deer shooting law. Before the Committee on 
Fisheries and Game the law was oh the rack on Thursday, 
and it got a pretty severe airing. The timber land owners 
are evidently thoroughly down on the September law, and 
they have sent in numerous petitions for its repeal. The 
Hon. J. P. Bass, of Bangor, himself an owner of very 
extensive timber lands, appeared before the committee, 
and his denunciations of the law were forceful, to say 
the least. He accused the Commissioners of unfair treat- 
ment of the timber land owners, in urging the retention of 
a law that has been'found to greatly endanger their prop- 
erty. He declared that he had understood the introduc- 
tion of the September: shooting law to have been an 
experiment, but no|v ihM' the ^XTetiment had been found 
to be decidedly detrimenial and dangerous to the owners 
of the forests, the. Commissioners' were trying to cover 
these facts, solely for the pUj:po§.eSof'''Secu-ring the paltry 
-ium of §3,000 received for the iale of licenses. "The timber 
and owners would 'much rather be taxed for many times 
iiat amount — they would rathei^ pay it them=;elves than to 
lave the horde of hunters let' loose upon their property 
.vith all the danger from .fires thus engendered. He re- 
called the terrible Alirannchi fire, .md said that if hunters 
A'erc to be let loose into the, if or^sts during, the , most 
iangerous of all< " month^s-^-Septeniber— most dis'asr 
rous conflagration was- likely to be, repeated in the valu- 
ible timber lands of Maine. Every-,^possibie safeguard 
:hat the Legislature could put around the forests should 
)e provided. 'Tf there wasn't any danger of forest fires 
ast September, why," he asked, "did the Forest Commis- 
sioner, who is aLso one of the Fish and Game Commis- 
sioners, after he had sold licenses, and the weather was 
Iry. send out an appeal to the sportsmen, saving, 'For 
jod's safe don't use them !' " "This," he added, "may 
lot have been the exact language of the Commissioner, 
ut it meant the same." 
He continued : "They say that the sportsmen don't 
et fires, but when men go into the woods who are fools 
nough or drunk enough to shoot each other, is it not 
ikely that they will set fires in the same careless way? 
Ve timber land owners don't want men who can't tell a 
eer from a man roaming over our lands. We have great 
ear that they will set fires, spite of all the Commissioners 
ay. The timber lands should not be made a pasture for 
arcless cranks who come down to Maine to 'shoot some- 
hing.' Every one knows that some of the hunters who 
ome here are half fools, who are sent off into the woods 
get them out of the way at home. Will any one say 
at these men are not liable to set fires? It is wrong, it is 
busing the land owners, to let these cranks have an oppor- 
inity to destroy what it has taken hundreds of years to 
reduce, and what timber land owners have served a 
fetime to be able to purchase. The greatest menace to 
jrestry and forest protection to-day is the irresponsible 
unter and his guide." 
Mr. Bass said that he would like to see all fishing and 
anting m unorganized townships stopped. Here Com- 
issioner Carleton interposed with the idea that the gen- 
fem&n wa§ -'liittiiig the ^ail on the he^^" ^ ' 
Mr. Bass was' followed by several other timber land 
owner.?, in the same vein. They objected to the law and 
wanted it repealed, for the reason that it let loose irrespon- 
sible persons to roam at will over their valuable lands 
during a 'most dangerous month for fires. The idea was 
freely expressed that timber lands had' depredated in 
value, under the September license law. The timber land 
owners unanimously ask for the repeal of that law, and 
that is one good reason why it should be done, since it was 
only passed as an experiment. Mr. C. A. Marston, an 
extensive owner of timber lands, thought the matter a 
most important one to the timber land owners. When 
the law was passed he thought it was wrong, and, it should 
be repealed. He believed that there is more danger of 
shooting persons in September than in the other fall 
months, for the foliage is still dense. He believed that 
September was the worst month in all the year for forest 
fires. If the land owners were to be taxed more, they 
should have more to say concerning the laws that propose 
to permit persons to enter upon their lands. 
Commissioner Carleton was the first to reply to the 
timber land owners. With much they had said he was 
heartily in accord. He believed in the absolute importance 
of greater protection to the forests. He said : "I go 
further and say that if the owners of timber lands feel and 
really believe that their interests are jeopardized by the 
September hunting law, even though they are mistaken, as 
I believe they are, the law had better go. It has always 
been the aim of the Fish and Game Commission to do 
nothing which would antagonize the interests of the great 
timber estates of the State. But I believe that they are 
mistaken, and instead of the law being a menace and a 
danger to the forests, it is an absolute protection, andi I 
think that we can demonstrate this position. But that is 
neither here nor there. We dont' want a law that is a 
menace and a danger, and we don't want the timber land 
owners worried. But don't make a scapegoat of the 
September law. Meet the issue candidly and squarely. 
Don't charge to this law all the vast numbers that went 
into the woods last September. Not an additional man 
went into the woods of Maine last September because of 
the license law. Repeal that law and you will not have 
advanced an inch. Before the law was passed any one 
could go where he pleased, with or without a guide. The 
fact that now there is a guide license law and a record is 
a guarantee of safety from fires to the owners of timber 
lands. Do not lay all of your troubles to the September 
law. Stop men carrying rifles into the woods in Septem- 
ber. Make a law that they shall not carry firearms into 
the woods in August and September. We all know that 
every man who goes into the woods to 'fish has his Win- 
chester with him. I will go as far as any man m the 
State to protect your forests, but go at it intelligently. 
Don't take off the little twig of a September law, but go at 
the roots of the tree of your troubles. Stop the taking of 
firearms into the woods in the dangerous season. I am 
with you -in that direction. Stop the taking of those long 
trips down the Alleguash and the West Branch, on which 
every man carries his rifle. Until you put a stop to the 
carrying of firearms into the woods in September crowds 
will continue to go there." 
Mr. Carleton was replied to by one or two of the timber 
land owners, who had no confidence in the guides nor the , 
guide license law. That law should also be repealed. -^It 
legalized the guides in trespassing on lands that they did 
not own, and allowed them to take others with them. 
Mr. G. F. Bradstreet, of Gardiner, a timber land owner, 
did not take any stock in this registered guide business. 
"Gentlemen like you." addressing Senator Vickery, of 
the Fish and Game Committee, "will put out fires when 
leaving them, but the average guide will not do it." The 
Hon. Don A, H. Powers, of Houlton, brother of ex- 
Gov. Powers, who is also a heavy owner of timber lands, 
was against the September law, and wanted it repealed. 
Commissioner C. E. Oak, who spoke in favor of the 
September law, asked if a majority of the fires had not 
been set by careless woodsmen, rather than sportsmen, 
get together and decide upon other measures for forest 
protection. 
Mr. Vickery, of the committee, asked if the timber land 
owners would get together and draft a bill to prevent the 
carrying of firearms into the woods in the summer months. 
If they would draft what they wanted in that direction, he 
thought that the committee would report such a bill and 
recommend its passage. Mr. Bass replied that he first 
wanted the September law repealed, and then they would 
get together and decide upon other measures for forest pro- 
tection. - ; 
The hearing was adjourned, the committee taking the 
matter under advisement for consideration in executive 
session. Special. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Ill 
Ultra Protection in llliiioisi 
Chicago, 111.. Feb. 7.— The attention of sportsmen of 
the West is called to a game bill which has been intro- 
duced both in the House and Senate of the present ses- 
sion of the Illinois Legislature. This is House bill No. 
57, introduced by Mr. Lyon on Jan. 22, printed and re- 
ferred to the Committee on Fish and Game. The Senate 
number of this bill is 37, and it was introduced by Mr. 
Begole on Jan. 23, read the first time, ordered printed 
and referred to the same committee. 
In brief this bill proposes to protect game with a ven- 
geance, and in what to any well-posted man seems an un- 
necessary and undesirable extent. It proposes to estab- 
lish a close season of five years on all the imported 
pheasants, and also on quail, prairie chicken and fox 
squirrel. It proposes to charge every resident of this 
State a gun license of $1.25 before he can go out hunting 
within the limits of this State, the non-resident license 
footing up $10.50. This latter idea is the result of the 
recent ill-advised agitation which has sought to "raise a 
fund for game protection." 
The bill includes in its sweeping measures the prohibi- 
tion of killing wild fowl between Jan. i and Sept. i. This 
is an excellent feature and it should be passed. Indeed, 
the bill itself includes many wise propositions which show 
that its framer, whoever he may be, has given the matter 
a certain amount of thought. 
It is the idea of a sportsman to stop spring shooting of 
YfiI4 fowl in this State. It would be the id§a oi a sports- 
man, perhaps, also to establish a close season of two or 
three years on prairie chickens. It is not the idea of a 
welLposted sportsman, however, to set up a close season 
of five years on quail, when we are just closing the most 
fruitful season this State ever knew in the matter of a 
quail supply. To tell the sportsmen of this State that 
they cannot go out to shoot quail for the next five years, 
but must leave these quail to be trapped and shot and 
smuggled into market, is to ask of the sportsmen of this 
State far more than their intelligence will indorse. 
It is going yet further beyond the patience of any think- 
ing sportsman to ask him to go down into his pocket for 
the purpose of raising a salary for some political ap- 
pointee, chosen for political reasons pure and simple, and 
that without consultation with the sportsmen as to the 
fitness of the appointee, or his ability in executing a law 
whose executive side is notoriously all too weak. Thus 
far we have had no assurance that the Governor of this 
State was ever more than human in his selection of game 
wardens, and it remains still to be proved whether the 
sportsmen ought to pay the salary of a man whom they 
do not elect and do not appoint. 
There are both good and bad features in the bill in 
question, but if we were to choose between the present 
game law as it is and the .new law proposed by this bill, 
one would need at least to hesitate before indorsing the 
new measure. It is too sweeping, too radical, too vision- 
ary, and too obviously the product of politics combined 
with cheap generalizations as to game protection. What 
we need is a plain and simple game law, one which will 
not permit spring shooting, one which will break wide 
open the illicit traffic in game on South Water street, 
which remains a continual temptation to law breaking in 
every Western State, and, above all, one which will put 
in office a man who will execute the law. Such a man 
should be provided with proper machinery for that exe- 
cution. 
In all this experimenting and tinkering, all this cater- 
ing to sectional prejudice and all this scheming for indi- 
vidual and political gain, it is impossible to avoid losing 
interest in the matter of intelligent protection. Thfs is 
the latest theory as to protection in Illinois, and it still 
remains one's privilege to say that it is not yet a law and 
that it may not get m,uch further than it is. The last 
portion of the proposition is the pleasantest part to con- 
template. 
Other Bills. 
An amendment to establish a five-years' close season on 
prairie chicken and quail was introduced in the House by 
Mr. Neese on Jan. 23. 
A bill introduced by Mr. Frizzell ini the House on Jan. 
31 is House No. 166, and is evidently intended to repre- 
sent the interest of those who wish spring shooting. It 
indorses the five-years' close season on prairie chicken 
and quail, and makes the close season on wildfowl extend 
from April 15 to Sept. i. 
Local Pressure. 
A strong movement against spring shooting is on foot 
among the sportsmen of the upper portion of Illinois, ad- 
jommg the Mississippi River, more especially in the 
• neighborhood of Mt. Carroll and Savanna. Mr. E. K. 
Stedman has taken up the matter in the local papers in 
the form of a^ strong plea for abolishing the spring shoot- 
ing, and backing this up with a petition signed by a large 
number of sportsmen and other citizens. Representative 
Middlekauff is the direct point of application of this 
petition, and he must be a strong politician if he shall 
not listen to the argument or feel the pressure that is 
being brought upon him. I notice that a local paper 
gravely states, in connection with its comment on this 
petition, that the stealing of duck eggs in the far North 
is responsible for decrease of our wildfowl, and it says 
that This stealing should be made a misdemeanor and 
enforced. [Sic] One would think that we have enough 
to do in tending to our own game laws without going so 
far across the borders to enact laws for the British 
Government. 
The Fate of the Minnesota Park, 
There is no use trying to print any news about the 
state of affairs regarding the Minnesota National Park, 
it is simply a case of seesaw, up and down, over the 
proposed Eddy bill, which has been submitted to Secre- 
tary Hitchcock, and which looks to the cutting of the 
pine on those Indian reservations and the establishing 
of mills withm their confines. The sole hope of the 
friends of the park rests in the fact that there is a split 
in the Minnesota delegation to Congress. Mr Eddy's 
associates do not all agree with him in his sweeping 
propositions. 
If we can keep the Minnesota House divided against it- 
self, there may something turn up later on. A prominent 
member of the Minnesota delegation states that the out- 
look for the National Park is still bright, albeit the House 
Committee on Military Affairs this week pas.sed a resolu- 
tion determining to give no more hearing or favorable re- 
ports on national park projects. The Secretary of the 
Interior is not satisfied with the Eddy bill, but singularly 
enough the Secretary wants mills erected on the reserva- 
tions. Mr. Eddy does not want this latter provision made 
conipulsory. The Secretary evidently wants the Indians 
to do the work, and Mr. Eddy just as evidently wants 
his friends to get the jobs. It is now established without 
a doubt that the Indian ofiicials, and more especially Capt 
Mercer, of the Leech Lake reservation, have come out 
flatfooted against the park. This is bad news as Cant 
Mercer was considered to be a friend of the park There * 
IS a tremendous pressure being brought against the ao 
pointnienc of a joint commission of both Houses, the on v 
logical way of getting at the facts in this case. Once 
get the facts before the public, and the park would be a 
certainty. Our only hope is that the lumber lobby will not 
be strong enough to keep the facts from coming oi" 
Chicago Fly-Casting Clob * 
The annual meeting and dinner 0 
ing Club will be held Monday ever 
nual election of officers , for the cur. 
Movements of Western ; 
Mr. Harvey McMurchy, the poHs. 
Hunter Ams, Company, i§ v» Clskaj 
