70 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
I 
[Jan. 24, 1903. 
please some sensitive soul who thinks a non-resident 
license is "discrimination" to be allowed to pay a resi- 
'dent license himself, but practically the same opposition 
will meet this clause which always meets any attempt to 
put in a clause stopping spring shooting. The farmers 
will not stand for it, and the lower half of the State will 
kill it. 
As to using fewer wardens, we want none of that doc- 
trine. We want more wardens and better ones, just as 
many as we can get and just as good. The non-resident 
license raises a considerable amount of money, and would 
raise much more did we stop spring shooting and have 
something for non-residents to shoot when they come 
here. 
To cut off twenty days from the quail season and allow 
that bird to be shot only in November is a good move- 
ment right now, for we are almost sure to be up against 
a short quail crop next fall. The clause will, howeA'^er, 
meet opposition from many Chicago shooters, who don't 
really want the quail protected so much as they want 
themselves protected. There will no doubt be a fight on 
this clause. 
To allow shooting of woodcock only in October and 
November means, in this State, a perpetual prohibition on 
that bird. Even so, let it go, if thereby anything shall be 
gained in regard to another bird, for few woodcock are 
killed now in Illinois. To open a legal season on doves 
for those same two months is to invite destruction for 
that bird in many localities where it is abundant. It is 
to make it a game bird, whereas it has heretofore been 
shot as a sort of side issue by the chicken hunters more 
especially, and the quail hunters in less extent. The 
woodcock and dove would under this bill in all likelihood 
be shot more especially by the quail hunters, or by those 
who would deliberately go out after doves; for we see, a 
little further on, that the chicken season is open only in 
September. 
Thus we see that in its features as to upland birds, 
the proposed law does not in the least stand analysis as 
a sportsmen's measure, well intended as it may be. It is 
3 step backward in practical legislation for game protec- 
tion, as any well-informed . shooter knows. The whole 
tendency now in advanced protective thought is toward 
a uniform shooting date. Suppose we opened the season 
on all game birds October i and closed it on all birds 
November 31. That would be protection. We should 
soon grow used to these dates, and would not worry about 
any months but October and November. If we saw a 
man out with dog and gun any other time we could with 
v/arrant ask why he was out and what he was doing. In 
this proposed official game law we have a season on one 
bird or other which begins September i and ends three 
months later. Our existing game supply will not stand 
three months' hammering, supplemented Avith a spring 
shooting season on wild fowl. Theoretically we do not 
have such a full season, but practically, as any well-posted 
deputy warden knows, a great many shooters will kill 
chickens after the law is out, quail before it is legal, 
snipe, woodcock, doves, or anything else as they find 
them, all being grist to the gun as found, and irrespective 
of dates. The practical thing is to keep gun, gunner and 
conscience at home a longer time, and not to trust too 
much to either of these three at any time of the year. 
This long and broken season in the fall shows a poor 
law. and experience with it would be sure to prove this 
true. It is one of those inferior, infernal, long-tried and 
always wanting loophole laws which are the same as no 
laws" at all. This and the partial permission to sell game, 
in this city will practically amount to no law at all for 
this State. i- ..1 • 
The deer and turkey clauses amount to little, it is 
difficult to see why mudhens should be protected any 
more than ducks, and difficult to see why there should 
not be at least an attempt made to protect snipe and 
plover in the spring. Such- an attempt might defeat 
the whole measure, but there is probability that it will 
hardly go through as it is drawn. • • n/r 
Concluding, the proposed bill, which I take it is Mr. 
Lovejoy's first game bill, does not show that he worked 
with able advisers, or that, if he did so, he failed to take 
their advice. Mr. Lovejoy himself admits little acquaint- 
ance with sport prior to his term of office, but wants to 
do his best at what is right. The only real step in ad- 
vance is the proposed stopping of the sale of Illinois 
ducks I have a notion that, for reasons earlier stated, 
this stopping of duck selling in this State will ]ust about 
go through, as a great deal of agitation has gone on m 
the lower part of this State over the market-shooting 
above mentioned, and it is the lower part of the btate 
which makes the Illinois game laws. , ■ 
The bad features of the law proposed lie largely in the 
broken shooting dates on different birds. October, the 
shooting month of all the fall, is closed except as to 
woodcock, a minus quantity, and doves, which ought to 
be left a minus quantity. . tt j ui^v. 
There is no State in the entire Umted Sta,tes which 
is riper than Illinois for a thirty days' or sixty days 
shooting season in the fall. We have no chickens left 
to afford a real sport at chicken shooting in Septembei. 
An early date on that bird pleases a few, but benefits a 
very small class. To cut out September would leave the 
coi-n field shooting still open on chickens. It would also 
leave more birds for this corn field shooting. I would 
far rather'see a hundred birds a day m October and kill 
a dozen than to see fifty in a day m early September and 
kill two dozen. The two months of October and No- 
vember 'would cover all our duck shooting closely enough 
all our snipe shooting and all our upland shooting. W th 
a law like that and the sale of all game ftopped in tin. 
citv, we should have plenty of game here in Illinois and 
vhat is still more important, plenty of game in a tiL 
other western States; for Chicago legislates for all the 
West, since all the West ships her game, in season and 
°"But we shall not see such a law for a ti_me, shall 
nrobably. -never see it. That would be protection The 
peopJe ^f -Illinois and the West do not wa"t P™tect.on 
They only want to talk about it, to make bluffs about it. 
Out West. 
Mr W A. Jones, formerly of this city, and well known 
as President of the Garfield Gun Club, member of the 
Poygan Gun Club, of Wisconsin, etc., this fall found his 
health breaking down and removed tQ Flatheaq Qounty, 
Montana; where he has taken to ranching, with what he 
thinks will prove good success. He writes this' week that 
he is well and happy, and wants to see the best paper on 
earth. He has done a little knocking about, killed a few 
deer and taken a few trout, and thinks he is in God's 
country. He is. The West will make him well. It is the 
only country on earth worth living in or loving. 
Getting Ready for Tournament, 
Mr. Wm. Mills, Jr., of the firm of Wm. Mills & Son, 
New York, called at this office to-day. Mr. Mills is in 
town looking after the trade in fine rods, etc., and says 
that the stock of the famous Leonard rods was never 
in better assortment. He is getting ready for the big 
bait-casting competition at the Sportsmen's Show in 
New York, and is inquiring as to the exact size, weight 
and personal appearance of the artificial frog as used in 
the Chicago contests. Mr. Mills is very welcome in the 
West, and I. am sure will find the Chicago boys full of 
ideas about rods and tackle of all sorts. I even told him 
how to build a rod my own self, it being the privilege of 
all mankind to tell makers of rods, guns and newspapers 
just how to carry on their respective businesses. I never 
made a rod myself, but can cheerfully tell anybody how 
it ought to be done. I wish Mr. Mills would send over a 
few rods to England to take (if possible) some of the 
conceit out of our English cousins in regard to fly rods. 
I will back a Leonard against any English rod I ever 
saw of twice its weight, and this under the hardest of 
their fishing conditions in England. This ought to be 
liberal odds for our. English friends. 
Mixing of Dogs. 
I suppose there will always be troubles in the world 
of dogs, troubles over dogs which are not as repre- 
sented, dogs which die on the Avay to or from their 
owners, and dogs which are well meaning, but ineffi- 
cient. A little dog story happened here not long ago, 
however, which shows still better the possible ramifica- 
tions of the dog industry. Mr. W. P. Mussey, very well 
known in Chicago sporting circles, ordered of a man 
in London, Ont., a red cocker spaniel for home con- 
sumption. As soon as the spaniel in Ontario was ready 
for shipment, its owner sent it to Mr. Mussey by ex- 
press, and so advised him. Meantime, however, that 
gentleman had left town, and the crate containing the 
alleged cocker spaniel was received by his employes 
at his billiard emporium. It so happened that Gene, 
the head cashier of the hall, is a very pleasant gentle- 
man, but does not know a dog from a beef critter. He 
thought that the charges of $3.15 were regular, saw that 
there was a dog in the crate all right, and hence cheer- 
fully signed the receipt in the expressman's book and 
called for one of the colored boys to take the top off 
the crate. 
When the crate was opened, it was seen to be liter- 
ally full of dog, so much so that the occupant thereof 
when standing erect projected some inches above the 
top of the crate. Just how so much dog got into so 
small a crate was something which, in Mr. Mussey's 
absence, puzzled Gene very much. Finally a further 
shadow of perplexity came over his brow. He sent for 
an expert dog man, and began to question him: 
"Here," said he, "is this dog a cocker spaniel? We 
sent for one, and this is what we got." 
"Cocker! Cocker spaniel!" replied the other. "That's 
just as much cocker spaniel as it is bulldog or dachs- 
hund. It's mixed, that's what it is. I don't believe the 
best dog sharp on earth cpuld tell what breed or breeds 
there are involved in this product here. The best thing 
you could do is to kill the dog and leave the country 
before Billy Mussey comes back." 
I don't know what Gene did in regard to this cocker, 
but there is a rumor to the effect that one of the col- 
ored boys around the hall took it home, and that it is 
now as big as a yearling steer and still growing. This, 
however, is not all there was to the story. Mr. Mussey 
gave $25 for the cocker spaniel which he was to have 
gotten, and the shipper, thinking to save Mr. Mussey 
some duty at the United States line, valued the dog at 
only $5. There was ho question that somebody had 
substituted for Mr. Mussey's thoroughbred red cocker 
this mixed dog, which was not worth more than 5 or 
10 cents at the outset. The question of proof, how- 
ever, as to the actual value of the dog actually shipped, 
the tracing of the package from start to finish, etc., 
occupied a great deal of time, and caused considerable 
annoyance. The probabilities are that at some depot 
along the line an admirer of cockers saw this little 
fellow in the crate, pulled a slat or so loose, extracted 
the cocker, picked up a common or garden dog which 
may have been running near, chucked him in instead, 
and again nailed down the slat. The mattei% after 
much international complication, was finally adjusted, 
and if I am not mistaken, Mr. Mussey was finally able 
to get a cocker in the place of the one which went 
astray. The express company does not know to this 
day just who juggled the dog, but finally, with many 
tears, it settled on the basis of $25. 
E. Hough. 
Haetfosu building, Chicago, 111. 
In Oldtime Matyland. 
Fowls of all sorts and varieties dwell at their several 
times and seasons here in Mary-Land : The Turkey, the 
Woodcock, the Pheasant, the Partrich, the Pigeon, and 
others, especially the Turkey, whom I have seen in whole 
hundreds in flights in the Woods of Mary-Land, being an 
extraordinary fat Fowl, whose flesh is very pleasant and 
sweet. These Fowls that I have named are inta}ded 
from generation to generation to the Woods. The Swans, 
the Geese and Ducks (with other Water-Fowl) derogate 
in this point of setled residence; for they arrive in 
millionous multitudes in Mary-Land about the middle of 
September, and take their winged farewell about the midst 
of March: But while they do remain, and beleagure the 
borders of the shoar with their winged Dragoons, several 
of them are summoned by a Writ oi Fieri facias to an- 
swer their presumptuous contempt upon a Spit— From 
"A Character of the Province of lyiaryland," by George 
AUsop, 1666," ; ' 
Brown*s Tract Guides. 
Some very interesting points in regard to the protec- 
tion and preservation of fish and game, and particularly 
concerning deer, were brought out at the annual meet- 
ing of the Brown's Tract Guides' Association, held at 
the Forge House, at Old Forge, Thursday evening, Jan. 
8. The Association was organized in 1898 and incor- 
porated in 1900. It has 500 members, of whom about 
100 are guides, and the remainder associate members. 
Much good work has been accomplished by the Asso- 
ciation since it was formed, and the beneficial results 
obtained through the united efforts of the guides and 
sportsmen have been very apparent. 'The annual meet- 
ing was largely attended, and the various matters of im- 
portance were considered. The secretary and treasurer 
of the Association, A. M. Church, in his annual report, 
said, among other things: 
"The main object of the Brown's Tract Guides' Asso- 
ciation is to protect the fish and game of the forest 
about the Fulton Chain, more properly known as the 
Brown's Tract region, and the main part of our work 
has always been done in that locality. In the spring of 
1902 the State Forest; Fish and Game Commission ap- 
pointed John E. Ball, a member of the Association, a 
game protector. This in a measure relieved us of much 
work and expense, and our disbursements in that direc- 
tion have been much less than usual. I think we may 
say, without a doubt, that our section has seen fewer 
violations of the game law the past year than ever be- 
fore. The fishing the past season, as you know, was not 
as a whole satisfactory. Early fishing was good. The 
snow disappeared much earlier than usual, and the 
streams and lakes were in good fishing condition much 
sooner than is usual in this locality, but the latter part 
of May rain set in, which continued through the sum- 
mer with such frequency that little or no comfort could 
be taken in fishing, and it was a rare occasion when a 
sportsman secured anything like a nice basket of trout. 
The hunting was more satisfactory, and there seemed to 
have been plenty of deer for all, notwithstanding the 
fact that there was no fall of snow during the hunting 
season. Most hunters secured their deer, and as usual 
there were more killed than there should be. Of grouse 
and woodcock there were practically none. A year ago 
they were very plenty, and large coveys of grouse were 
to be found readily, but for some reason not accounted 
for, they seemed to have almost disappeared. Weather 
conditions are probably in a measure responsible for 
this state of affairs, but there is another very plausible 
reason for their disappearance, the little red squirrel 
who, it is well known, has a particular liking for young 
birds, and is a robber of the first order. He was ab- 
normally plenty, and no distinction does he make, 
robins, bluebirds, grosbeaks and others, all come in for 
their share, eggs or young, half-grown or large, he 
takes them all, and why not a nice partridge egg? 
There were no spruce seeds, and the world owes him a 
living! During the past year the State, through the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission, has liberated up- 
ward of fifteen moose in the Adirondacks, most of them 
in the region covered by our operations. Much to our 
regret, one of them was killed by some hunter on Oct. 
19, between Seventh and Eighth Lakes. Early in June 
the city of Binghamton, through John B. Rogers, a 
park commissioner of the city, presented William Dart 
with a herd of five elk. Mr. Dart in turn presented 
them to the Brown's Tract Guides' Association, and 
about the middle of September they were removed from 
Binghamton to Second Lake, and here they are being 
fed and cared for until spring, when they will be lib- 
erated. To defray the expenses of their removal sub- 
scription books were issued, to which our sportsmen 
friends responded most generously. The total receipts 
from this source were $248. The expenses of removal 
and keeping to date have been $271. It is necessary 
that more money be placed at the disposal of the sec- 
retary for this purpose. In removing the elk from. 
Binghamton to the woods, the Delaware & Lacka- 
wanna Railroad very generously gave us a half-rate on 
actual weight, the freight amounting to but $9, while 
the New York Central Railroad carried them and the 
accompanying messengers free, and afforded us every 
help needed. Notices warning hunters and others 
against shooting or killing elk or moose, and offering a 
reward of $100 for information to convict any party or 
persons of killing moose or elk, have been issued and 
posted by the Association. It is a matter of pride to all 
that none of the members of the Association were ever 
concerned in any of the so-called shooting accidents, 
and this bears out the statement so often heard that 
'the guides of Brown's Tract region are as faithful and 
reliable a body of men as can be found in any walk' of 
life.' " 
The report was duly approved. 
The report of the committee on resolution was re- 
ceived, and was as follows: 
Whereas, The Brown's Tract Guides' Association was organized 
by about fifty of the leading guides of that section for the pur- 
pose of protecting the fish, forest and game of the Adirondacks. 
They were encouraged in this undertaking by all true sportsmen 
and law-abiding citizens who loved the forests, and native in- 
habitants of the woods and waters. They were led to this action 
by practical knowledge of the destruction of fish and game, both 
in and out of season, in this region, and fully realizing that some 
radical measures must be taken to prevent the wanton destruc- 
tion of game, they have banded themselves together to prevent, 
as far as lies within their power, its rapid and unlawful de- 
struction by irresponsible persons, market and pot-hunters; and 
Whereas, During the past season the Association has been in- 
strumental in placing in the Adirondacks five elk, thus showing 
their interest in propagating and preserving the game of the 
forests, it is earnestly urged that the public show its appreciation 
of this action by aiding in every possible- way to preserve them 
from destruction, whether by the acts of lawless pot-hunters or 
others who would depopulate the woods of these and all other 
noble specimens that are the pride of all true sportsmen; there- 
fore be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of this Association and meeting 
that the State should increase the number of game protectors, 
and assign more protectors for the forest preserve. 
Resolved, That this Association condemn buoy or anchor fish- 
ing, and respectfully request the Legislature to pass a law pro- 
hibiting fishing buoys or anchors in waters inhabited by trout 
within the forest preserve. _ , . , 
Resolved, That this Association recommend the close season 
for wild deer from Nov. 1 to Aug. 31, both inclusive. 
Whereas, In years past many men have been mistaken for deer 
and shot; and . ^. , ■ , , 
Wl^ertMi S^Wten 1^ tijiactu^e^, i% their tac« gursmt ^ deer. 
