Feb. 28, 1903,1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
169 
into them. In the name of all good angling, let us 
have at least a few Western waters left free from this 
absurd and pestiferous imported nuisance. _ 
Other changes which are contemplated in the Wis- 
consin fish laws will prohibit ice fishing from_ shanties 
in the winter, will prohibit the use of set lines, will 
establish a close season on pike from the first of Janu- 
ary to the first of June, and on bass from the first of 
January to the first of July. It is not known what out- 
look these different measures have for carrying. 
During the past year there were confiscated in Lake 
Winnebago and the Fox River 250 nets which had been 
used by market fishers. Fifty of these nets were 300 
feet long and 12 feet deep. Nothing less prolific than 
our friend the carp would serve to furnish continual 
food for these big engines of destruction. 
Best Places for Ducks. 
It seems that the new rice region in eastern Texas 
is attracting a great many ducks along the coast. 
There is a big club which shoots on the marsh about 
a dozen miles from Liberty, Tex. Further west- 
ward, Port Lavaca, is a capital place for a hunt, and I 
hear big reports of the shooting there this week. Per- 
haps the best points are on the big King's Ranch, to- 
ward Brownsville, or the live oak flats below Uvalde, 
where there are literally millions of ducks right now. 
This is getting toward the famous Laguana de los 
Patos, where not long ago one gun killed 325 redheads 
in one day. That ought to be enough. The ^ great 
trouble about a trip down into that country is the 
difficulty of killing few enough ducks to sit well with 
one's conscience. I presume that is the best part of 
the sporting country of the Southwest to-day. 
R Hough. 
Hastfosd Building, Cbic&go, IlL 
Maine's Plan to Tax Hunters, 
From the Springfield ReptiblicaH. 
In response to my request that Chairman L. T. Carle- 
tcn of the Maine Fish and Game Commission furnish a 
concise statement of the principal arguments for the 
proposed taxing of non-resident hunters, he submitted 
the following, writing from Augusta, Me. : 
In reply to yout esteemed favot of the IStli relative to the pro- 
posed license law for hunting big gatne iti Maine, I beg leave to 
say that "we are confronted by a eondition, not a theory." It 
costs us to operate our iish hatcheries and feeding stations $23,000 
a year, in round numbers, leaving us but about $2,000 out of our 
appropriation for warden service. It will cost eis rnuch in the 
future to operate these hatcheries as in the past. It is absolutely 
impossible to get a larger apnropriation from the State of Maine 
for warden service. The condition is. that we can get no better 
protection unless we have this law, and that our game will rapidly 
disappear and soon become a thing of the past unless more 
money is had for warden service, just as surely as dead deer and 
dead moose bring forth no increase. The carcasses of 108 moose, 
mostly cows, which had been illegally killed, were_ found by war- 
dens during the past year and reported to this office. Following 
(he lead of about every other State and country that has big game 
to protect — in order to get better protection and save our game, I 
advocate a license law. The sentiment of the people of Maine is 
strongly in favor of such a law, and I have no doubt it will be 
passed by the incoming Legislature practically unanimously. Very 
sincerely yours, Lkroy T. Carleton, Chairman. 
Mr. Carleton's ideas on this subject are, of course, 
entitled to respect and consideration, but there is 
naturally considerable objection to the proposed legisla- 
tion from many of the non-residents who are accustomed 
to take their outing in the Maine woods. The writer has 
made many such trips, and is convinced from personal 
observation and investigation that the administration of 
the game laws of I\Iaine, if not greatly improved, will be 
even more to blame for the expected decrease of deer 
and moose within her borders than the continued exemp- 
tion from taxation of sportsmen from outside the State 
cculd possibly be. 
Chairman Carleton asserts that the Maine Fish and 
Game Commission cannot secure an increase of the 
$25,000 allowance for fish and game protection which his 
Slate allows. This seems ridiculous, in view of the fact 
that several million dollars are left in the State of Maine 
every j'^ear by visiting sportsmen. There is no reason, 
in my opinion why the State should not furnish an ap- 
propriation of $100,000 at least, and it would thereby be 
a gainer in many ways. I believe that if Mr. Carleton 
and his adherents are truly anxious to save their game 
they should begin such preservation by enacting stringent 
laws and enforcing them upon the residents of Maine. 
They must know it to be a fact, as do all of us who 
visit the Maine woods, either frequently or infrequently, 
that the first thing nine men out of ten, residents of the 
State, think of after they have shot deer, is how many 
dollars they can get for them. Generally speaking, the 
people of Maine themselves do not appear to care a pica- 
j-une for the preservation of game, from what is com- 
monly called a sportsmanlike Aaew. Many would prob- 
ably be sorrj' to have the large game seriously depleted, 
because it would be harder for them to get fresh meat 
to eat, in season and out of season, and they would lose 
their present revenue from marketing the results of their 
hunting trips, 
I think more deer are killed illegally and sold by Maine 
residents than are transported beyond the borders of that 
State by outsiders. It seems to me that one deer to each 
person, residents as well as non-residents of Maine, is 
ample, unless it is desired to encourage pot-hunting, and, 
moreover, if Commissioner Carleton and his associates 
desire to take measures which will retard the extinction 
of deer and moose they ought to secure the enactment 
of laws similar to those which the State of Massachu- 
setts has regarding partridge. If the exposure of deer 
or moose for sale by the marketmen of the State and sale 
by all her residents were prohibited, and such measures 
strictly enforced, the large game of the State would be 
given a new and lasting lease of life. As it is now, the 
marketmen in Bangor and other large Maine cities often 
have more deer and moose offered them than they can 
accept. 
If a tax is imposed on sportsmen from outside of the 
State, it seems entirely unreasonable that residents of 
Maine should not pay as well, and that all who enter 
the State should pay it. At least only those who secure 
game should be called on to add to the State's treasury. 
To an outsider it appears that the people of Maine are 
^xious to have sportsmen from outside the State oav 
not only for the game which said sportsmen go after, 
even if they do not secure it, but for all the game which 
the inhabitants of the State slaughter, in season and 
out of season. I say out of season advisedly, for I be- 
lieve that many communities in the State know no game 
laws practically. That is, whenever wild meat is wanting 
it is secured, regardless of close or open season. 
E. M. W. 
Bear Bounties and Others. 
DuNBARTON, N. H., Feb. 16. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I inclose a clipping (editorial) from the Man- 
chester (New Hampshire) Mirror of February 12, on 
the failure of a bear bounty bill in the New Hampshire 
Legislature : 
"We are sorry to see among the measures killed in the 
House of Representatives our old friend Bear Bounty 
Bill, for if there is anything which this agricultural, 
mountainous, forest-bearing State that has just elected a 
granger Governor is in duty bound to do it is to encour- 
age the cultivation of bears by paying a bounty on their 
ears. Theory and experience unite to show the wisdom 
of such a course. The bear is indigenous to New Hamp- 
shire. As we remember, natural history teaches that he 
originated here, near what is known as Bear Camp Sta- 
tion in the town of Ossipee. Be that as it inay, this was 
his habitat long before we robbed the Indians of their 
fishing grounds and let loose among them Hannah Dus- 
tin and other strong-minded women of her day. At the 
least he is a time-honored institution and for that reason 
should be venerated and protected. He is more than that. 
He is useful, handsome and healthy. He feeds himself 
and chews his own food. He clothes himself and his 
coat is warm when he is done with it. He is entertaining 
and there is much chaw to his meat. He is sociable or 
savage as occasion requires, and the sportsman can tell as 
many lie.? about catching him as he can about the capture 
of any other beast on the farm. He never has the mouth 
disease. He never begets feeble-minded children for Billy 
Ahern to build asj'lums over. He never sells his vote. 
PUTTING OUT DECOYS ON AN lOWA SLOUGH. 
Photo by T. P. Bicknell. 
He is a good citizen while he lives and when he dies his 
ccrcass is cheap at nine cents a pound and his hide brings 
big money. .A.11 this in his uncultivated state. And he 
yields to civilized treatment more readily than the best 
of Filipinos. 
"At one time, for a series of years, the State encour- 
aged him by paying a bounty of ten dollars on his ears, 
and with this inducement he multiplied himself rapidly, 
became domesticated and educated, raised six pairs of 
ears each season and went down from the mountains to 
show them to the selectmen of Carroll county, whose 
drafts upon the State treasury in his behalf or in behalf 
of his supposed captors amounted to thousands of dollars 
each year and steadily transfonned the hunters of Albany 
and Bartlett into capitalists. 
"It cannot be said with truth that under the bounty 
stimulus the bear became as multitudinous as the hawks, 
of which Natt Wentworth shot 4,789 in one day on his 
farm in Hudson in one daj', or the woodchucks, which 
came over to the Haverhill intervales from Vermont in 
such hordes that Bill Whitcher's ancestors had to take 
him out of college to keep tabs on the animals and calcu- 
late the amount of the boitnty at ten cents each ; but, as 
we have said, he multiplied and prospered and populated 
many a deserted farm and put money in the purses of 
manjr an honest agriculturist, and was one of the best 
crops harvested. 
"But the bounty was repealed and then he began to 
dwindle and diminish and disappear ; to shed his ears 
down to a single pair, to lose his courage and slink away 
from the haunts of man and to cease to yield either fur 
or fat at a rate which if continued will soon extinguish 
him altogether, 
"The bounty shoidd be restored. It is good for the 
bear, for the htmter, for the farmer, for all .concerned. 
The untimely fate of the bill is to be mourned." 
This recalls a story told me recently by our State 
Treasurer. Some years since a stranger came into the 
office of the treasurer and stood for some time, then said : 
"Say, is this where you get- the bounty on bears ?" The 
official replied: "The selectmen of the town where the 
bears were killed will, on presentation of the ears and 
noses of the bears, pay the bounty." The visitor pon- 
dered for a while, and then said : "Say, I am the chair- 
man of the selectmen in my town and I have four bears 
which I killed there. Can I pay myself?" He was told 
to make out a bill in proper form and hand it to the 
town treasurer. More pondering and then: "Say, I 
don't know how to make it out. Won't you do it for 
me?" This was done, but the visitor still lingered. 
After a time : "Say, Mister, you have used me first rate." 
And then another T)aus«?. and be dived into hia Docket and 
pulled out a bottle. "Say, can't I sell you some bear's 
grease?" 
W e have had bounties on bears, foxes, woodchucks and 
hawks. One by one they have been repealed and none are 
now in force, unless it be a recent attempt to put one on 
hedgehogs. 
There seems a difference of opinion as to the wisdom 
of bounties. For my part, I think it would have been 
well to let the law remain as it was on bears and hawkr?. 
The latter do a great deal of damage to both game and 
poultry. When such a bounty was in force the small boy 
and also some who had ceased to be boys, were much 
interested in the hawks. When a hawk's nest was located 
(and they worked hard to find them) perhaps they did 
wait until the eggs hatched. Then usually the whole of 
that hawk family was wiped out. As to foxes, the aver- 
age farmer (unless he be a fox hunter) would be glad of 
a bounty on them. The fox hunters were generally op- 
posed to such a bounty and by iheir efforts it was re- 
pealed. 
As I understand an effort is now being made for more 
stringent laws as to trapping of foxes. There is a sort of 
a law to this effect now in force, it s.ays: "No one shall 
set traps except on his own latid or latid he has leased." 
Practically no attention is paid to it. It is very easy to 
get permission from the average land owner and for no 
consideration whatever to set fo.x traps. The trapping 
goes on. Some foxes are caught and also dogs and other 
animals. C. M. Stark. 
A System of Game Piotection* 
A Lettif to President ATpx. Startucfc, of the Covier Glut, 
Qncinnati. 
Dear Sir — I am honored by your invitation to submit 
an opinion as to the "best method of protecting game," 
The best method, I take it, would imply the least friction, 
the greatest gains, the widest privileges and the inost 
satisfactory general results. Will say that modifications 
of my plan will apply to fish also. 
In formulating governing rules, the several questions of 
sport, money profit, and food supply have to be con- 
sidered, while landowners' rights have to be respected. 
An}'^ encroachment upon inherited or vested rights, espe- 
ciall}'' those of long standing, will naturally be resented. 
Preferred classes must not be recognized. 
Laws governing trespass are as old as the hills. Under 
tlieir operation a man's house becomes his castle, and his 
broad acres an eminent domain. Should he take life in 
tlieir defense he is absolved. But it so happens that the 
farmers and foresters, who are, perhaps, the most of all 
interested in the whole subject of game and its protection, 
because it is on their premises where game is harbored 
and propagated, have been very little consulted hitherto 
either in framing the game laws or in the matter of tak- 
ing game from their premises. Indeed, they have scarcely 
been regarded as a party to the arrangement. 
My first move would be to place them where they be- 
long, and where their fences and boundary lines show 
they belong, to the manor born and as lord proprietors 
in fee, recognizing their rights to exchide undesirable and 
unknown persons, as I do their rights to dispense or de- 
cline hospitality. As at present situated, when they are 
intruded upon, either by sportsmen or wardens, they are 
much in the same plight as the mine owners, mill oper- 
atives and storekeepers and contractors, who find them- 
selves confronted and dictated to by walking delegates. 
They submit to pressure or to intrusion through unde- 
fined fear of reprisal or of some penalty for infraction of 
laws which they may know nothing about; or, if read in 
the law, they are ready to evade it when they can because 
they recognize its injustice. Such unwilling subjects can 
hardly be classed as earnest game protectors, especially 
as they do not see what there is in it for them. 
Now, laws, for whatever purpose enacted, cannot re- 
main effective unless they are backed by popular senti- 
ment ; they become a dead letter, and our game laws, as 
they stand, are not sensible. They are ambiguous, dis- 
criminating, defective and unsatisfactory. Hence, travers- 
ing the protective efforts of the past half century and pen- 
ciling out their defects and shortcomings, as embodied in 
the formulating codes, I conclude that the best manner to 
guard, preserve and increase the game is : 
1. To make every landowner the custodian of his own 
propert}"-, as far as may consist with the established com- 
mon law, just as the Federal Government has assumed 
charge of vast tracts of wild land of late for the purpose 
of conservation. 
2. To encourage him to enforce the law of trespass 
against persons^ entering his premises with firearms unless 
they have permits to shoot. 
3. To make trespassers atnenable to the nearest magis- 
trate or court of justice. 
4. To devise and grant such permits as will involve a 
contract between the landowner and the shooter for a 
stipulated sum per diem, or for a share of the game 
killed, on the same principle that parties cultivate crops 
on shares. 
5. That there shall be a legal limit as to sex, size, age 
and the number of creatures killed, with heavy penalties 
for infraction. 
6. That States shall waive their ownership of ferce 
iiaiurce. 
7. That game killed or acquired by one's labor or effort " 
is as much the property of the possessor as any other 
portable property or commodity acquired by one's own 
efforts, and may be sold, eaten or given away as he may 
elect. 
8. That game may be shipped from place to place, in 
and out of the State, when suitably tagged with name of 
shooter, shipper and common carrier and a mention is 
made of the place where shot and the owner of the place. 
9. That discrepancies between declarations and contents 
cf packages shall be heavily penalized when evil intent is 
proven. 
10. That shooting shall be suspended on Sundays and 
other designated weekly intervals. 
11. That informers shall have one-half of all fines col- 
lected and paid into the county treasury. 
12. That landowners shall be their own game wardens, 
and that every man shall be a legally constituted spy 
upon his neighbor to carry out the law, and that it shall 
be his duty, under penal^ for neglect, to report (}eli|i- 
«lu«ncteB or infracHonq. 
