March 26, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STkEAM. 
2B1 
]iro!ongc(I. Once he is among the game lie does not 
I'csitate to slaugliter everything that he can, then he 
rrt'-rns hiome with the choicest parts and feasts, until 
ag-'in compelled to hunt. 
As suimmer draws near, you will hear him sav, "Wait 
rntil the salmon come; 1 am not going to be hungry 
again next winter, I am going to dry enough fish to 
keep myself and family in meat until the next spring." 
Poor fellow: he means it all right, but when the salmon 
come and he has had his fill,' he becomes lazy, for- 
gets hunger, and next winter brings its same story of 
starvation. 
The stories of lack of food are seldom heard from 
the missions, v/here the influence of the missionaries 
is felt, but from the Indians beyond their reach. "The 
mission Indians," as a rule, are industrious. They 
freight goods for the whites, fish for, or work at the 
canneries, and lay by a winter's supply of dried fish or 
meat for themselves. 
So I say that if the Alaskan natives living along the 
Pacific (and Vv'ithin a belt 100 miles from the coast), 
between the town of Wrangel and the head of Cook 
Inlet, will begin to dry fish and berries as soon as the 
season opens, and in the fall dry the meat of the large 
game animals, which the laws allows each man to kill, 
they will have food in plenty all winter; and it will not 
take a man and his wife more than two weeks to do it 
either. Then, if they will put in part of their spare 
time trapping furs, making "eucla" (dried fish for dog 
food, which is purchased and shipped north by the 
commercial companies), or fish for, or work at the 
canneries, the income will easily supply them with 
clothing, groceries and other necessities. 
Formerly, the large game animals were so plentiful 
that they could be killed from cabin doors. Now, how- 
ever, the Indians are obliged to travel from ten to 
fifty miles before they find it in quantities. This, of 
course, entails more labor to get the meat back to 
camp, and the Indians are loth to follow the hunt m 
consequence, preferring to lay about camp and com- 
plain that the game has all been killed out. 
It is the wanton, reckless slaughter that is extermina- 
ting the animals; killing simply for heads, skins, intes- 
tines, and killing for the pleasure of killing, v/hich trait 
seems to be born in the northern Indian. The amount 
of game shot and actually consumed is a minimum in 
comparison to the amount that is slaughtered. 
I am in favor of a game law which will allow the 
Indians to kill all the meat they need, between the 
months of September and January, provided they will 
agree not to kill wantonly. I sincerely believe that 
(with the exception of bears on Kadiak Island) in the 
localities where most of the killing would be done, 
the number of animals taken would not outnumber the 
3'early increase. 
The question naturally arises, how are we to enforce 
game laws; how can we show the Indians their errors? 
A single issue of Forest and Stream it too small to 
ansv/er this question. 
Much good could be done by appointing or sending 
agents to the larger Indian villages to explain the 
game law. Instead of threatening them, they should 
be reasonded with. Tell them the stories of the pas- 
senger pigeon and the buffalo; how at one time the 
birds were so abundant, that limbs of trees broke under 
their weight, and the sky was darkened with their 
flight; tell about , the buffalo migrations and the sight 
that met the eyes of Col. Dodge when he went west. 
Compare the pigeon flights and the herds of buffalo 
with the schools of herring and the salmon runs, and 
then explain to them how quickly they were all ex- 
terminated. At last, wind up with an explanation that 
ti-e Alaskan game law is not intended to cause them 
hardship, but to prevent the extermination of the game 
in the same manner that the pigeons and buffalo have 
gone, and that the Government wants both the white 
man and the Indian to cease killing, for the sake of 
killing and to assist it in keeping the game law, and in 
this way preserve the game for their children and 
grandchildren. 
Pictures of the buffalo and pigeon migrations dis- 
tributed to a few families in each town would help to 
keep the stories in their mind, and herald them to out- 
lying districts by visiting natives. This, it seems to me, 
is one way by which much good could be done in pre- 
serving the big game. , 
It has not been my object to prove that the Indians 
are the only slaughterers of game in Alaska ; the whites 
are equally as bad. I could enumerate many instances 
where the killing of moose at Turn-again Arm, and 
deer about Wrangel Narrows, is positively shocking. 
I have confined my remarks to the Indian question, be- 
cause, as has been said, attempts are being made to 
prove that it is the game law that is causing the suf- 
fering, and that the natives never kill more game than 
they use. J. Alden Losing. 
OwEGo, N Y , Marcli 17. 
P. S.' — Since writing the above, I have read Mr. 
Gouverneur Morris Phelps' letters in last week's issue 
of Forest and Stream. My observation regarding 
the abundance, distribution and destruction of the 
Sitka deer, on the islands and southern coast of Alaska, 
agrees perfectly with his statement. — J. A. L. 
A Good Shot. 
A FRIEND bought a fine hammerless ejector gun last 
summer, and not having any time to use it, loaned it to a 
friend of his to go after ducks. When the gun was re- 
turned the gentleman said : "Say, Mr. I., your new gun 
is no good for wild ducks, but for tame ones it's- a corker! 
I got four shots into a flock of tame decoys and got ten ; 
and at $5 per, they were too rich for me. If they had been 
v.'ild ducks I would have got possibly two or three at the 
most." E. H. K. 
The talk of scarcity of game and fur in this locality 
may seem to be a myth' after reading the statement of 
Edward Minerly, one of our local hunters. He says: 
"I have caught 65 skunks, 300 muskrats, 5 minks 40 
opossums, 5 foxes, 2 greys, i red, 40 raccoons, i bear 
and 3 wildcats, at Plattekill; and about 300 rabbits.-. 
New Palts (N: ¥•) $n4ependent., ' ". .^'r 
Harking Back. 
Out of the dim past comes a letter from an old play- 
mate, who, although out of sight for forty years, yet 
rarely out of mind. Fie was older than I, and from him 
I learned to know the haunts of the woodcock, snipe 
and quail. 
We carried our muzzleloaders, shot pouches, flasks 
and caps afield many an early Saturday morning. He 
owned old Dick, and of course on such trips Dick led 
tlie way and pointed the quarry. Dick was a pointer, 
and yet was he marked and spotted like a carriage dog. 
Good of nose, staunch, invaluable at retrieving and 
obedient, he was responsible for many a full bag and 
pleasant day in the swamp, marsh and stubble. Many 
were the birds we had brought to our hands that we 
doubted if we hit. But while we shot where we thought 
the woodcock was a-going through the thick alders, 
yet Dick knew and fetched. 
And that day up in Connecticut with old Pa Hinman 
when we missed Dick for fully half an hour, only to 
see him bounding over stones and crawling under 
fences toward us with a fine cock partridge that had 
carried away the contents of two barrels, Dick knew 
and found our bird. 
And Rob writes, "Well might you say, 'turn back the 
hands of time forty years and make us boys again!'" 
He goes on and says J. P. and myself are alone left of 
the M. crowd of gunners, and he is almost blind. 
"The rest have all gone to the happy hunting grounds. 
Joe L. died last month. Charlie, you would not now 
know the old stamping grounds we knew so well as 
boys, and over every foot of which we tramped with 
guns on our shoulders. They are cut up and built upon, 
and bricks and mortar loom up where the snipe arose 
and went off with a scape! scape! 
"I have done no gunning for years, and the old gun 
is laid away to rest. Not that I can't shoot even now 
as well as I ever could and can see as well and could 
no doubt make some of the younger fellows take notice, 
and can walk as far as I ever could, but the old haunts 
are gone, and the ones we loved to go with have gone 
with them. 
"I can picture your boy and the prairie chicken just 
as if I were with him. What a day it must have been 
for him! We were there once, you and I, ourselves, and 
we know." 
And you put down the letter and find yourself wan- 
dering through the woods among the old familiar 
scenes; now crouching under cover awaiting the even- 
ing coming of the woodduck at the old Mile Pond; now 
perspiring at every pore as you slashed throught the 
hip-deep black muck and tore your way through the 
branches and alders of Moriches Swamp; now basking 
in the sun behind your scanty blind on old Rockaway 
Beach, as you whistled and lured the snipe to your 
decoys; again at old Huntington, where we hunted 
woodcock in July and quail in October, and not the 
least forgotten at old Riverside, where in the Con- 
necticut swales and along the sunny sidehills we fol- 
lowed the plump woodcock as they dodged betwixt and 
between the white birches, or stopped the lordly par- 
tridge as he broke from 'neath the protecting hemlock 
and went thundering on his course that ended in a 
fluttering thud upon the ground surrounded with a 
glory of fluttering feathers. 
Yes, Bob, I remember the old days, and if there are 
any hunting grounds across the river that we must all 
cross some day, we'll be boys once more and live our 
happiest days over again. Charles Cristadoro. 
Spring Duck Shooting. 
Syracuse, N. Y., March 16. — Editor Forest andStream: 
In your issue of March 12 there appeared an article by 
Madison Grant, secretary, wanting to know who W. E. 
Hookway, secretary, represents. I have the honor to 
represent 90 per cent, of the duck shooters of central 
New York. I mean shooters, and men who own a shot- 
gun and go hunting. They are not fishermen or per- 
sons who never go hunting, or those who have a theory 
"what a duck law should be for the other fellow." 
We have an organization for the preservation and 
protection of ducks, and our aim is to get a law fair to 
all, rich and poor alike. The present law is too one- 
sided, and it is sure to be appealed or amended, as 
one-sided legislation will never stand. 
Now is the time to get a satisfactory law. 
We admit that more ducks would be preserved if 
none were shot, but fail to see why ducks should be 
preserved for the wealthy. 
If too many ducks are shot, then cut the shooting 
days down to twenty days a year if necessary; but have 
ten days' shooting on southern flight and ten on north- 
ern, and also limit the number of ducks to be killed by 
each shooter. 
With a limit of ducks killed in one day, no man will 
pay $3,000 for a share in shooting preserves, as they do 
at the present time. 
Why should the wealthy shooter be allowed to kill 
from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty ducks a day 
in the fall of the year on their preserves, and a poor 
farmer be prevented from killing ten in all the spring 
shooting he does on his wet back lot? 
The men I represent claim it is no more harm to 
kill a duck in March than in November, as long as the 
duck is not paired or mated. 
We favor cutting down the shooting days, and having 
them Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday of each week 
from Sept. 15 to April 15, which will give in central 
New York sixty-two days a year, against a hundred 
and seven, present law, not counting January and 
February, on accoujit of weather conditions. There 
cannot be as many ducks killed in sixty-two days as 
in a hundred and seven. 
Around Syracuse the best points and ponds have been 
bought or leased, and there is no place for a poor man 
to go in the fall. The best points and ponds at Monte- 
zuma ma.rshes have all been bought up lately. The two 
islands in Cross Lake are now owned by two men, 
and the other gQod places have i|ow been closed to the 
unfortunate, ' ' " ^ ' '" 
On the northern flight any one can get a place, as 
our swamp woods, which are dry in fall, contain from 
three to four feet of water, and the poor farmer who 
owns the land can go down into his woods and get an 
outing without hearing what he does in the fall, "Get 
out of here; this is my pond." 
We ask that a fair and impartial law be passed, one 
that will preserve ducks, and one that will treat every 
one alike. 
Let the wealthy have their preserves, but cut down 
the shooting days and give the poor man a chance. 
In central New York the southern flight of black 
ducks does not amount to much because we have no 
water. We have thousands in the spring on account 
of the high water, and those few who breed here are 
killed off in August by lawless shooters; and if a few 
ducks which do nest here could be sent on north it 
would be better for the duck, as she and her young ones 
would not be killed off in August by a pot shot. 
We would be thankful to Forest and Stream for any 
suggestion as to a law that would be fair to all; but 
we feel grieved to see a man go to his preserve in the 
fall and kill more ducks in one week than all the shoot- 
ers combined in Onondaga county kill in the entire 
spring shooting. 
If the present law is fair, we fail to see it; and we do 
not feel that we who want a few days on northern 
flight are the only game butchers. 
We are organizing, and expect to have shooters in 
every Assembly District, and we now ask the Forest 
AND Stream to consider all the facts and conditions, 
and suggest a law fair to all. And also would like to 
have a suggestion from any interested duck shooter. 
We also suggest a law-- being passed preventing the 
carrying of guns of all kinds during the months of May, 
June, July and August in woods, on lakes, streams, 
etc., as there is no way now to prevent lawless shoot- 
ine. W. E. Hookway. 
Game Cold Storage. 
New York, March 19. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The purport as stated in your issue of March _ 12, of 
the bill introduced by Mr. Prentice, to amend Section 141 
of the Game Law, would seem to be inadequate. The 
object of the Prentice bill is to prevent the storage ot 
game during the close season. 
In March, 190-^ an amendment to Section 141 was in- 
troducecf in the Legislature permitting proprietors of cold 
storage warehouses upon giving a bond for $1,000, to 
keep game in cold storage during the close season. This 
bill was passed through the Legislature at a highly accel- 
erated pace, in fact its speed was so swift that no public 
hearing was given on the bill nor did the public even 
have opportunity to remonstrate. The New York Asso- 
ciation for the Protection of Game heard of the introduc- 
tion of the bill, and passed a resolution directed to be 
sent to the Governor and all the members of the_ Legis- 
lature, protesting against its passage, but before this reso- 
lution could be printed and sent to the Legislature the 
bill was passed and signed by the Governor. It was 
vicious legislation, in the interest of a few owners of 
cold storage warehouses, and diametrically opposed to 
the people of this State, and this I fancy will explain the 
manner of the passage of the amendment of 1902. 
The Prentice bill merely seeks to strike game from the 
provisions of the section as it now stands and so preveiit 
the storage of game during the close season. I believe if 
the public, and sportsmen generally, kne^y of the intro- 
duction of this bill they would clamor for its passage. 
Xper. 
New York, March 1904. — At a regular monthly _ meet- 
ing of the New York Association for the Protection of 
Game, held at the City of New York on the 14th day of 
March, 1904, the following resolution was adopted : 
"Resolved, That the New York Association for the 
Protection of Game favors the passage of Assembly Bill 
No. 1040 amending Section 141 of the Game Law,_ by 
striking out game from the provisions of the Section, 
and that this resolution he printed, and a copy be sent to 
Mr. Prentice and the Chairman of the Committee on Fish 
and Game in the Senate and the Assembly, and the re- 
mainder distributed by the Special Committee on Legis- 
lation." Robert B. Lawrence, Secretary. 
The Adifond ck Bears. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The talk about our Adirondack bears gets on to the 
edge of one's nerves. The story of Mr. Hardy, in the 
issue of March 12 is particularly suggestive, even 
though he is from or in Maine. He has bought, say, 
5,000 bear skins of v/hich he thinks fifty were shot to 
death in a fair way. The others were trapped. No one 
need doubt this statement. The people of the Adiron- 
dacks know that "very few bears are ever shot by fair 
shooting." The man who has "killed his bear" usually 
has to acknoAvledge that he got it by unfair shooting. 
Now, what I want to know is this: What kind of a man 
is it, let alone asking what kind of a sportsman is it, 
that will go out and set a trap for any kind of game? 
The one blot on the reputation of the men who come to 
the Adirondacks that is deeper than any other blot is 
their trapping of the bear. To set a trap is to acknowl- 
edge that the trapper hasii't the brains of a bear; he 
can't get a bear by fair shooting; he is unable to do it 
even with the aid of dogs. 
This is not an appeal in behalf of bears, but in be- 
half of manhood. Tlie woods makes men, if the bipeds 
who come to the woods will but show some inclination 
manward. But the weaklings who come here to get 
the name of killing a bear (to get the name, mind you, 
not the requisite skill to kill one), these poor curs 
haven't backbone to stand upright, let alone leaning 
manward. The fact that but fifty out of Mr. Hardy's 
5,000 bears were killed by fair shooting shows that the 
bear is the game best worth a man's time of any in the 
woods. I do not mean to argue in favor of a close 
season, but I do say that the extermination of the bear 
would be the greatest— at least one of the greatest- 
evils that could befall the Adirondacks. 
The letter of George L, Brown, editor mana|er 
