March 30, tgoi.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
24B 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
L- : 
Excitement Over Indiana Game Law, 
Chicago, 111., March 23. — According to the proverb it 
IS a long lane which knows no turning, and the adage 
?eems to be verified in the history of game laws in the 
West. Ten or twelve years ago this part of the West 
was practically lawless so far as the protection of game 
was concerned. AVe had laws, but they were not ob- 
served. The great bv.ik of the people were either abso- 
lutely ignoratit or absolutely indififerent in regard to what 
game laws might or ntight not be on the statute books. 
In those days the sporting papers and the sportsmen's 
associations were almost the only sources of- any protest 
or agitation regarding better laws or better enforcement 
of the laws. Puerile enough were the methods of those 
da} s in the organized bodies of sportsmen. We "unani- 
mously resolved," and we let it go at that. Wc passed 
resolutions condemning spring shooting, and then we 
went out and killed as many birds in the spring as we 
knew how. We believed in protecting the game, but we 
believed then, as a good many of us do now, that it was 
fit and seemly for protection to begin with the other 
felloM?. We wanted all the other States to agree to keep 
their fingers out of the game pie before we would agree 
to do so ourselves. • Tn short, we gave to the observant 
world, so far as the observant world cared a copper about 
i't, a very fine example of what human nature can do- when 
it moveth itself aright. 
That was ten years ago, and gaine protection then 
surely seemed a forlorn hope. Yet the sporting press 
kept dinging away at the matter, and naturally had a great 
deal of influence, for 1 presume no sort of journal printed 
has more influence among its readers than a good sport- 
ing paper. No doubt the sporting press did, very much 
to start the ball rolling, and perhaps even tlie sportsmen's 
associations, with their solemn annual enactments of "We 
do solemnly resolve," had a certain influence in their 
way. Meantime there went on all over this VWestern 
country the changes incident to continual^ spreading 
.civilization, encroaching always ttpon the natural resorts 
of the garne, and continually cutting down its numbers. 
The people in general began to' take an interest in matters 
which had before interested but a few. The leaven of 
good principles began to work, the preachments of the 
sporting press began to make converts. We heard more 
and more about game laws, about localities for wild game, 
about the scarcity of game where once it was abundant. 
Then, a few years ago, there came up the idea that it 
would be a good thing to protect this game, and to do 
so at the expense of those who got the most, enjoyment 
or benefit, ottt of it. Herein lay the origin of the idea, 
fallacious, but very huinan, that it would be a good thing 
to establish a shooting license for the purpose of raising 
a fund for game protection. The .idea of charging a free 
born American a sum of money to shoot in a country 
where once every man had been at liberti' to shoot, ex- 
cited first the surprise and then the anger of the Ameri- 
can shooting public. Yet the efifect of this sentiment was 
not to remove the non-resident license from the State 
where it first got its hold, btit to establish other non-- 
resident licenses in adjoining States. Thus a system of 
retaliation grew up among all the Western States, one 
after the other putting on. a non-resident license as a 
matter of self protection. It is yet to be proved that the 
non-residence license has really come to staj', for a sys- 
tem of mere retaliation may break down as rapidly as it 
builds up. Yet it is no doubt true that the non-resident 
license has come to stay at least for the time in practi- 
cally all the Western States wl^ich have any game. 
W'ith it has come a code of game-laws of increasing sever- 
ity ii-^ all the Western States. ' The long lane has had its 
turn^* We have been wanting protection, and now we 
have got it — more of it thai*-, a good manir care to 
have. 
There is more excitement in .Chicago shooting circles 
over this Indiana game law than has ever been seen here 
over any qitestion pertaining to sportsmanship. Hereto- 
fore we have always looked upon game laws as being 
more or less vague and remote things, good for the other 
fellow but really not coming very close home to ourselves. 
Just to raise a fund for game protection, as the theory 
goes, we put on a $10 non-resident license in Illinois at 
the last session of Legislature. Wisconsin also -had a $10 
license, and Michigan threatens one. In. order to show 
that there was ho coldness, and to prove that she was 
not behind the times., Indiana tucked on a $25 non-resi- 
dent license. Hence these tears. 
The immediate origin of the movement which led to 
the passage of this Indiana law is differently assigned in 
diflferent quarters. •' It' is stated that the members of a 
couple of sporting clubs of Rensselaer, and of Indian- 
apolis, which had grounds near the Kankakee River, were 
the. first to raise the protest which led to the enactment 
of this law by the Indiana Legislature. . Yet others say 
that the first movement for the present law originated at 
Oilman. Still others state that the story about the pre- 
serving of the John Brown tract near Shelby was the 
cause of the uprising across the line in Indiana. There 
may be truth in each of these stories,\ but no one locality 
can make a State law, and it is likely that the Illinois 
statute asking a $10 non-resident license was the deter- 
mining factor when 'the question "came up, before the 
Indiana Lsgislature. ' 
This week much confusion still existed In Illinois re- 
garding the law, and regarding the question whether the 
, authorities in Indiana intended to enforce the law. Some 
Chicago men have been shooting in Jndiana without a 
'license, ^nd yet others have taken ^ out their licenses, 
though the latter are but few .>in number. . All 
around Shelby. W'^ater Valley, Roselawn and other towns 
near the Kankakee a number of Indiana wardens have 
gathered in. They are watching each other, and in- 
cidentally watching for Chicago shooters. Tolleston Qub 
has been one of the early victims. The son-in-law of 
Otto Young, a member,, is reported arrested for not hav- 
ing 0. license. The old Lake George- Club, which had 
quarters at Water Valley, on the Kankakee, ,has practi- 
cally pulled up stakes and quit. Mr. Hempstead Wash- 
burne^ who secured the lease from John Brown on ^the 
big tract near Shelby with the intention of forming . the 
Tonti Shooting Club, this week surrendered his option 
to Mn Brown. The grounds .near Shelby, therefore, re- 
main open as before. 
As before indicated, one immediate result ©f the Indiana 
law has been the tuining of the tide of Chicago shooting 
to Illinois points. All the shooting places along the 
Illinois River and around Fox Lake to the north of here 
are fuller of shooters than they have been in a dozen 
years. The price of every share in an Illinois shooting club 
has been marked up nearly double. Thus E. M. Steck, of 
this city, who thisweekwent down to the Lone Tree Club on 
the Illinois River, at once bought a share in that club. 
He killed 30 birds one day, 15 on the next, and 17 on the 
day following. A great many other Chicago men will take 
up membership iif Illinois clubs and resign their In- 
diana shouling. 
One result, perhaps still some distance in the future, is 
now nearer to being a possibility than ever before. This 
throng of shooters crowded into the Illinois regions will 
surely cut down J:he supply of game, so that eventually 
self-iiiterest may look toward the stopping of spring- 
shooting in 'this State. It would be unwise therefore to 
decry this action of the Indiana Legislature, or to call it 
anything but beneficial to the cause of game protection. 
We have wanted game protection, and now we have got 
it, and the probability is we are going to have still more 
of it. It was stated confidently many years ago that the 
West -would never protect its game until it had nearly 
disappeared and hence attained great value. All this 
question of more stringent game laws in the West simply 
bases itself 'on the disappearance of our game. 
(Great Abundance of Ducks. 
And yet, in apparent contradiction of the latter state- 
ment, .arises the fact that this spring, without any doubt 
or question, we have more ducks in Indiana and Illinois 
than w^e have had stop with us for the past ten years. We 
hear again the old cry that there are "just as many ducks 
as there ever were." The unthinking cannot realize that 
we simply have a large proportion of the flight, stopping 
with us for a little while, and that soon the flight will 
pass on beyond us, compactly and not strung out. On the 
face of the facts, however, every spring shooter of Chicago 
is gnashing his teeth over the thought that the Kankakee 
marshes are alive with ducks and that it costs $2'5 to 
go and shoot them. 
There can be no doubt as to the temporary abundance 
of wildfowl in all our shooting country, for every shooter 
conies back with practically the same story. Mr. T. A. 
Hagerty on Thursday a week ago was down at Shelby, 
and he sard that he saw what seemed to him literally mil- 
lions ef ducks. They were all over the flats in such num- 
bers that they literally blackened the air when they arose. 
From Cumberland Club, Maksawlm Club and from 
all the pushers around Water Valley come the same 
stories of thousands of ducks all along the Kankakee. A 
large proportion of these birds are mallards, with a good 
many pintails, and they are feeding out on the cornfields 
to a great extent. 
Along the Illinois River the shooting has been superb. 
Mr. Hempstead Washburne, who has just returned from 
Swan Lake Club, got about forty birds in two- days, and 
reports fine mallard shooting in the timber. At the Un- 
derclifif, on Lake Senachwine, there are a number of 
shooters • stopping now, and most of these are having 
good sport. The best flight that can be located at this 
writing is now in at Havana. Along the Mississippi 
marshes and the lower Illinois River, near Monmouth, 
New Boston, etc., there are still thousands of birds, but 
it is thouhgt the flight is beginning to get past those 
lower points. 
At Fox Lake the ice is not yet out, but the river is 
open and there is a heav}^ body of birds reported there to- 
day. Billy Wells is at Fox Lake for a week, and should 
meet this flight. His friend, Eddie Pope, may join him 
within the next forty-eight hours. There will be some 
heavy bags turn up from that locality this coming week. 
On all the mashes west of here, at M'neral, Sheffield, etc., 
there is a heavy flight at present. Indeed, on every hand 
one hears stories of good shooting. 
Among bags reported this week are John Burmeister 
and two sons, 75 mallards in two days, at Shelby, Ind. ; 
John Hood, 50 in one day. at Havana. At Hennepin on 
last Friday Frank Willard killed 57, and on the day fol- 
lowing 33, and on the second day after that again 33. Mr. 
Meine at the same club on three days of this week killed 
respectively 8, 22 and 62; Mr. Warder on Monday. Tues- 
day and Wednesday killed 26, 15 and 50. Mr. Trail killed 
25 .dticks at Hennepin Club on last Wednesday. There 
were 166 ducks killed at .Hennepin on last Wednesday, and 
the shooting since then has probably been still better. 
There will be a big exodus of shooters to-night for 
different points in. Illinois. Mr. H. M. Van Hoesen has 
left for Round Lake, III., with his friend, Mr. Buck- 
meister. ' Mr. E. A. Bournlque goes to-day up to Fox 
Lake. Mr. William Werner, who is just in from Knox, 
Ind., says that the prairies, and marishes near that place 
are literally alive with ducks; he wants friends to join 
him. 
Now, whether all this big flight is in because of the ad- 
vanced attitude of game protection in Indiana may per- 
haps be an open question, yet we surely have the Indiana 
laAV and we have this unparalleled spring flight. 
New Game Warden, 
It was reported that Mr. A. J. Lovejoy, of Roscoe, is 
slated for the oflScepf Game and Fish Commissioner, vice 
Harry W. Loveday, who was appointed by Governor Tan- 
ner. Governor Yates. has not yet sent any commission to 
an appointee, but there is likelihood of a change in the 
office. 
Champion Pot Shots. 
Mr. H. K. Kuhn. of Nevada, Mo., gives some interest- 
ing stories about championship pot shots. which some of 
his neighbors made in the early times. He says: 
"I owned the first reel ever made by Mr. W. H. Talbot, 
of Nevada. Mr. Talbot is a friend of mine, and very well 
knows my hero, William Warden, a market shooter who 
used to kill duck where the Union Depot of St. Louis now 
stands. Mr. Warden was in the habit of crawling on a 
bunch of ducks and discharging both barrels of ? No., 10 
heavily loaded at. the . same time. At one tirhe he made 
this performance, and by some means he broke^is collar- 
bone, and to show you the nerve of the man, he gathered 
all of his dticks off of the water— twenty-eight in num- 
ber — mounted his horse, whicli he had tied in the timber, 
and arrived home, some four miles distant, but he shot 
no more for six weeks. At another time Mr. Warden, his 
son, Arthur, and Jess Lowe were out. and they made the 
sneak on to a vast flock of mallards. TheyJ fired five bar- 
rels, three at them sitting and two as they rose — one oi 
Arthur's barrels failed. Result: 148 dead mallards thai 
they got, 
"At another time Mr. Warden, his son, John, and Jess 
Lowe were out one calm, beautiful November day,' and 
had killed some ducks going from lake "vto lake, but it 
was comparatively dull, and finally about 3 o'clock they 
came to Back Bone Lake. At the' south end they saw a 
small bunch of ducks in the north end. Mr. Warden 
told John to make a wide circuit and see if he could not 
get a pot shot, while he and Mr. Lowe would remain hid 
and try to get a wing shot as they came by. John made 
the rounds and the first Uhing he did, after getting as 
qlose as he could, was to divest himself of all clothing. 
There had been a heavy frost in" the morning and some 
ice; the water was cold. It was shallow at the banks 
aiid muddy. John crawled to the bank on his stomach 
with his gun held in one hand above the water, keeping 
some bushes between him'self and the ducks, and finally 
got within forty yards of them. He was in about 3H feet 
of water. With his first barrel he killed sixteen. One 
flew, and,_ of course, he got it with the remaining charge. 
You can imagine what the men at the other end thought. 
I will state that Mr. Warden is now an earnest advocate 
of game protection, and what laws we have (which are 
too limited) he obeys strictly." 
A New Sporting Country, 
Mr. H. H. Marks, of Saiilt Ste. Marie, Mich., gives 
me a tip on some new sporting country, regarding which 
Forest and Stream is probably the first sporting paper to 
print any notice. There is a new railroad now going 
straight north from Sault Ste. Marie to the icy shores of 
the Hudson Bay, the whole course of which will lie 
through an ancient and untouched wilderness. Forty 
miles of this road is now constructed out of the total 
length of 490 miles. This road is the result of the energy 
of Mr. F. H. Clerg, who promoted the enterprise in Eng- 
land. The company will develop the copper and iron 
mines and put up saw mills and pulp mills. In short, this 
ancient country of the Indian woods tribes, over which 
the early French made their perilous way more than 
200 years ago to attack the feeble English trading posts 
on Hudson Bay, will now be , put under the hammer and 
axe and forced to conform to the ways of civilization. 
Between that time and now there will be some splendid 
hunting and fishing along the new line. If you wish to 
find out about it, watch the columns of the Forest and 
Stream. E. Hough. 
Haktford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Along the Rivers Ossipee and Saco. 
Our sportsmen have been pretty quiet through the win- 
ter, except for a little rabbit hunting and. fishing through 
the ice. The latter sport has been actually good, nu- 
inerous heavy strings of pickerel being taken, and not a 
few handsome trout — our law allowing the taking of these 
by citizens of the State after Feb. i. On a pond buf a 
few miles from this village a man and his boy, in a few 
hours' fishing, captured four speckled beauties that 
weighed_ 8 pounds, and several 3-pounders have been 
taken this season from the same pond. 
Fox hunting, once so popular in this section, has been 
practically ruined by the trappers' deadly work. Once 
3'ou had only to step outside the village any day with 
favoring conditions to hear the cry of the fox hound re- 
sounding among the hills. Now one will rarely come 
upon sly Reynard's footprints if he tramp across country 
for miles. The former followers of the hounds bitterly 
decry the trappers for robbing them of their favorite 
sport, and in spite of all that has been said in these col- 
umns in the latter's defense. I am emphatically of the 
opinion that it is one of the most unsportsmanlike of prac- 
tices (as relating to the fox), and should be promptly 
stopped. Nothing is more absurd than the principal argu- 
ment of the trapper, that the fox should be exterminated 
for the war he wages on other game, for now, when his 
numbers are so .sadly depleted that a specimen is rarely 
to be seen, we find that the ruffed grou.'^e, among wh-'ch he 
is alleged to make such havoc, instead of increasing are 
actually scarcer than ever before, which shows clearly 
that the gun and not Reynard is responsible for the de- 
crease of this game. 
And in relation to the alarming scarcity of grouse, 
squirrels, etc., I may say that most of our sportsmen have 
come to the conclusion that there is not enough of such 
game left to make itrworth one's while to hunt for it, and 
many- are exchanging their shotguns for rifles to take ad- 
vantage of the bit of deer hunting afforded each season in 
Oxford county, adjoining. There are probably a dozen 
good repeaters owned right here in the village, and more- 
over, the owners of these arms are trying to perfect them- 
selves in their use by frequent work at the target. IVIuch 
speculation has arisen as to the best shot in town, and I 
should not be surprised to see a rifle club organized in 
the near future. 
As to the brook trout^we are all looking ahead with 
considerable anxiety to the coming season because of the 
terrible drought that prevailed last summer... Many of 
our best brooks went cotnpletely ,dry for long distances 
from their mouths. and_ in some cases, I- am informed, 
hundreds of dead fingerlings were to be found on the dry 
beds of these vanished streams. ' I saw nothing like 
this, but on the other hand was encouraged to find a 
goodly number of trout in brooks which T visited while 
hunting in the fall, and which I knew to have gone dry 
as above described ; so I am inclined to think that in such 
cases instinct teacTies the fish to work up to the head of 
the stream, where it is largely fed by unfailing springs, 
and thus find enough pure water to tide the great majority 
pf them over the. period. Of course theiqitality of the 
fishing, when the-;time comes, will tell the story, but 
meantime I should appreciate advices from any of '^your 
readers who may have had experieinGe in the matter. 
^ Templar. 
CoRNisHi Me,, March 9. 
