Oct. 29, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
366 
ently circulated by some of the editors in the larger cities 
and then copied by some of the interior papers who< are 
"long on space," that an "infamous," a "villainous" law 
was passed, although our Supreme Court declared it con- 
stitutional and in no sense discriminating. Surely one has 
a right to wonder and inquire : why this sharp distinction 
in terms? Are these laws so unfair? Do they discrim- 
inate against the masses? Are the poor deprived of their 
right, and obstacles placed in their way to prevent their 
ever tasting game? Is it the poor who clamor so loudly? 
Have their wails reached the ears and pierced the hearts 
of these great philanthropists, or is it possible the philan- 
thropic judge and editor have heard that cry at home, 
and, firmly believing that "charity begins at home," are 
preparing to receive it? Would it be a fairer, more equit- 
able distribution, to allow the few market-hunters — most 
of whom are not taxpayers, and often not citizens — to 
take that which costs them nothing to develop, either in 
labor or thought ; to shoot and ship to the cities where it 
can be and is purchased only by the well-to-do or wealthy 
classes? In truth, it is only these two extremes of so- 
ciety, constituting but a small proportion of our popula- 
tion, who are benefited by the sale of game. 
It is true that the non-sale of game deprives those liv- 
ing in the cities who< do not hunt, but who would buy 
game if they had the legal right to procure it in that way; 
but it does not deprive them of the right that any poor 
. man in the country is glad to exercise to acquire his. 
The city man has that same right reserved to him, and 
the fact is that all those who at any time purchase game 
when in the markets have the means and generally the 
time to acquire it in the same way as the man in the 
country. In other words, the people who can afford to 
live in clubs, fine hotels, or swell boarding-houses, are 
deprived of their easiest way to get game — that is,_ to 
buy it. Are these people the masses ? Are they the sick, 
the blind, the poor that our philanthropic editors have in 
mind? Is it in their interest that this pathetic wail is set 
up? Have the poor suddenly acquired such influence that 
they can be heard in these high places; that their cries are 
heeded when they talk of game laws, but go unheard when 
they ask for better wages to buy bread and clothes for 
their families? Selfish interests produce strange 
arguments. 
This does not apply to all who write against the present 
game laws. There are some who honestly believe that 
they work an injustice, because they do not understand 
the subject and follow blindly these clever but fallacious 
arguments, and because, they believe that that which de- 
prives the poor man and favors the rich is wrong. They 
do not realize that the non-sale of game deprives 110 man 
of work or position; that the game-dealer employs just 
as many men whether it be poultry or game he handles ; 
that the same is true of restaurants, hotels, or clubs ; and 
that in the country the industrious, intelligent farmer who 
owns a few acres and follows the legitimate occupation of 
raising geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens, or squabs for the 
market, and who is generally a man of family, always a 
taxpayer and a citizen, receives a better return for his 
products than when game is allowed to be sold. Besides, 
when he or his sons so desire, they can take their guns 
(and they always have them), and go out and find some 
game which has not been shot or scared away by the 
market-hunter, who scours the country for that which 
costs him nothing, in order to send it to the comparatively 
few of the wealthy in the cities who can afford to buy. 
They do not realize that the present game laws are to 
the interest and advantage of such men, and to the disad- 
vantage only of the market-hunter who shoots for. the 
rich. They do not stop to contrast the two types of men, 
the market-hunter and the poultry-raiser, as citizens ; they 
do not, realize that every clerk, every laborer, every busi- 
ness man in the country can have his day afield with some 
profit and some pleasure; that every mechanic or man 
employed in business in the city can take a holiday and go 
into the country when game is abundant and be repaid 
for his time and expense. They do not stop to think that 
where one gun and necessary ammunition are sold to a 
market-hunter, twenty will be sold to men who enjoy 
hunting, and who will go hunting if there is promise of a 
fair return. In short, they do not understand that the 
bone and sinew of our country, represented by the great 
middle classes, will have an abundance of that which they 
do not buy, but which they can take in the way they enjoy 
the most. 
It is true that the non-sale means that less game will 
be killed ; that it can, and will, increase and multiply ; and 
in that respect (incidentally) will the rich sportsman 
be benefited, and along with him will every poor man be 
a gainer. Indeed, it is doubtful if the wealthy sportsman 
will be so much of a gainer, since his well-stocked pre- 
serve is safe from the market-hunter,, who must ply his 
vocation over that very land on which the poor man must 
of necessity depend for his pleasure and. his share of 
game. As a matter of fact, many of the preserve sports- 
men w r ere against the present laws,, because on their lands, 
over which none but themselves hunt, there was not no- 
ticeable the growing scarcity of game, and they objected 
to the wise provisions that placed a limit on the number 
they should shoot in a single day — a condition which 
placed them on the same footing with the man who does 
not belong to a club or own a preserve. 
This brings us to the subject of preserves, and it is one 
..that certain editors, who would like to pose as friends of 
the poor man, work to a finish. It is one of the subjects 
they revel in when recounting all the "evils" resulting 
from a number of wealthy men renting a piece of land, 
putting up buildings, hiring watchmen and caretakers, and 
in fact paying quite a sum. monthly for the privilege of 
going severaltimes a season for a shoot. Now this is not 
intended as a defense of preserves or. baited ponds shot 
over from blinds— a practice that is barbarous! It is 
rather to invite attention to the fact that game laws have 
nothing to do with preserves. Will some -of the learned 
judges and great newspaper protectors of the poor point 
out, the connection? 
Why tear down the game laws and give still greater ad- 
vantages and opportunities to the preserve man? There 
is yet no legal way devised under our system of Govern- 
ment that can prevent a man with sufficient means from 
purchasing or renting more land if he thinks he requires 
it, and, after acquiring, controlling it, and saying how 
much or how little it shall be open to the public. It would 
seem most unwise and even childish, because of real or 
fancied grievances against the preserves, that the only 
safeguards of the poor man may be torn down, simply 
because some one must be sacrificed; meanwhile the pre- 
serve remains untouched. 
To follow out this line of reasoning, we should deny 
to a person having land that is unproductive — and nearly 
all shooting preserves are — the right to rent it and receive 
an income from it. He should open it to all comers; he 
should be so liberal and broadminded that he must not 
object if his premises are invaded, his stock wounded or 
driven away, and his fences destroyed, but sit calmly by — 
and wait for the tax collector. If he dared lease it to a 
man or number of responsible men who would take care 
of it and pay him besides, he would be committing an 
offense. Why not go a step further and advocate that in 
a city supplied with street railways on which everyone 
can ride for five cents, it shall be an offense against the 
public morals, peace of mind, etc., for any person to ride 
in any other way! 
Another of the arguments frequently used is the point- 
ing out of the hardships and suffering imposed upon in- 
valids who "must" have game and are unable to purchase 
it. If that has any value, then there should be no close 
season whatever, no restrictive measures, else all the in- 
valids would die during the eight months of close season; 
otherwise there are but four months in the year when they 
could exist, and now even that lease of life by our present 
"infamous," "villainous" game laws has been swept away. 
Unfortunately, statistics of the mortality are generally 
omitted. Is it not a fact that the sick of the masses or 
middle classes would appreciate a young squab, or the 
young of any other domestic fowl? Can they not be pur- 
chased at all seasons of the year, and as cheap as game 
(when sold) ? Does not that sale benefit the dealer, and 
also some other man following a legitimate occupation in 
the country? 
Are we not growing more ardent year after year for 
active, health-giving outdoor life, for the strenuous life 
in the fields? What greater attraction does the coun- 
try offer, whether camping or at a country tavern, than 
the promise of a well filled basket or bag? What resort 
does not advertise — even when they have it not — its fish- 
ing and hunting? Does not that attraction, besides giving 
new vigor and health to thousands, mean the better cir- 
culation and distribution of the city's wealth? Is it nota 
positive benefit both to the city man and to the brother in 
the country? The present game laws are accomplishing 
ihe purpose for which they were enacted. One has but 
to travel in the country, anywhere, to see and appreciate 
the effects. Never in years have the quail and doves been 
so numerous. Deer are increasing, and there will be 
plenty for all. And . it belongs to all — the people in the 
country as well as the people in the city. Under the ex- 
isting laws the greatest good to the greatest number will 
be accomplished. 
"With malice toward none and charity toward all" the 
foregoing is respectfully submitted, and with hope that 
a little more serious consideration of all the aspects of the 
case will show that our present game laws are not only 
legal but also equitable. 
difficult to walk up on a flock of from five to twenty 
scratching in the dead leaves for acorns, and making so 
much noise that they do not hear one approach, shy and 
wary as they ordinarily are. L. P. Blow. 
Pinb Top Lodge, Sussex Co., Va., Oct. 20. 
From the Game Fields of Virgmia| 
Over the frosted fields and down the dim vistas of the 
tall timber comes the old red warrior, October. Year 
after year the smoke from his camp-fires veils the forest 
and "clothes the mountain in its mystic hue." Then we 
say, "Behold ! Indian summer is here." Before this ancient 
pioneer, lord of the sportsman's world, the red deer falls 
and the leaves of the sumac bushes are incarnadined in 
his trail. The glow from the old brave's camp-fire in the 
chilly evening is reflected from, every tree, gold or crim- 
son; through the blue haze of its smoke the hickory 
shines like a pillar of gold, the maple gleams like a sud- 
den flame. 
The little brown rabbit leaps from her warm burrow 
under the frosty twigs at the approach of his moccasined 
feet; the thunder of swift-winged quail rises around him 
as he crosses the broad fields, and all nature seems awed 
into silence, or, seized with sudden terror, flies at his 
approach. 
At the signal of this friend of huntsmen, every true 
lover of sport takes down his gun, long unused, tries the 
triggers, glances down the shining barrels, and then 
hastens to unloose for a run in the fields his favorite 
hunting dog, wild for the freedom of the open, the scent 
of game in his nostrils, the free play of muscles and limbs 
long unused and cramped. This is the realization of the 
dreams that have quickened his pulses through all the 
sluggish summer days — days of weariness and waiting for 
this! 
Hark! to his quick, glad yelp, answering the click of 
the trigger. See the wild joy with which he sniffs the 
dark blood stains on pouch and pocket of the old hunting 
rcoat, a" friend of happier days. Throb for throb his 
master's heart answers his, as he feels the brown sedge 
once more under foot, while the frosty branches brush his 
cheek. ■ " : , 
"Steady, there !" 
Click, click!. Bang, bang! 
"By Jove ! A double first go ! Bring him in, Rip. Good 
dog ! We've not forgotten how !" 
And so the hunting season of 1904 opens for many a 
true lover of sport, both man and dog, and for us at Pine 
Top Lodge, in the "Old Dominion," where thousands of 
acres of sedge "old fields" spread before the sportsman's 
eye that "happy hunting ground" of which the Indian 
dreamed as heaven. 
Here the descendants of old Diomed and Rose, veteran 
dogs whose histories have been recorded not only on the 
printed page, but on the "fleshly tablets" of many a heart, 
keep the memory of these grand dogs green, recalling 
them, to those who knew and valued them, by their fault- 
less style and sure field work, bringing yearly big bunches 
of birds to "the man behind the_ gun," who, tramping 
home through sedge and broom with swollen pouch and - 
pockets, growing heavier with every weary mile which 
brings his stiff limbs nearer the deep arm-chair, the blaz- 
ing open fire, and the ample cheer of the supper of game 
and hot breads spread in the hospitable glow of the 
hickory logs, finds compensation for all the sweet toil of 
the day. 
Such is the first day's hunt at Pine Top. 
The outlook for game in my section is very good, quail 
being- plentiful, and wild turkey so numerous that it is not 
Made in Germany. 
Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 8. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
After reading the very interesting article in the last 
Forest and Stream on "Antique Arms," I thought that 
the weapon here shown might be of some interest to the 
student of firearms. It is certainly not a very old weapon, 
as it is a center-fire, double-action revolver, but it will 
doubtless be a stranger to many of your readers. Some 
years ago, when I was a student in Freiburg in Baden, 
Germany, it used to hang in a gunsmith's window in that 
city. Doubtless it still hangs on the same wire; for dress- 
ing a show-window is a vanity that the small German 
merchant seldom indulges in. 1 he drawing is made from 
memory, and may be in some of the minor details inac- 
curate, but on the whole it is correct. It consists of a 
revolver of about .32 caliber, with a very long cylinder, 
which is also the barrels. The frame beneath the cylin- 
der is hollow, and contains the main spring. There is no 
guard, and safety is obtained by means of a trigger 
which folds out of the way ; quite a common device on 
German revolvers. Fastened to the bottom of the frame 
is a bayonet about three inches long, which opens by re- 
volving on a pivot, and is held open by a spring. The 
trigger is placed to one side of the median line of the 
frame to admit the point of the bayonet when closed. The 
handle is of metal, about one-half inch thick, and has four 
holes through it for the fingers. This is hinged to the 
frame of the revolver and folds up against the bottom of 
same. In the drawing I have represented it as only 
partly open; when folded against frame, the whole be- 
comes a very heavy set of metallic knuckles. 
Lewis H. Rose. 
Game Notes from the Northwest Territory* 
Col. J. C. McIlree, Chief of the Northwest Mounted 
Police, who is a thirty-year contributor to Forest and 
. Stream, sends the following notes from that Territory 
under date of October 5, in which he incidentally recalls 
the fact of Mr. Charles Hallock's presence at Regina, the 
embryo capital, in August, 1882, when the first train on 
the Canadian Pacific Railroad came. through. Regina at 
that time, as Mr. Hallock described it and sketched it, was 
strictly a canvas town, composed entirely of tents, and 
had not been officially named, the local designation being 
"Pile o' Bones," because of a buffalo slaughter which had 
at one time taken place there. The first wooden building 
that went up was a livery stable, from which the horses 
were turned out on Sundays to make way for religious 
services. A large party of Indians and half-breeds came 
in with sacks of pemmican from the Athabasca district 
north, which was probably the last consignment of its 
kind, as the buffalo were practically cleaned up that win- 
ter all over the ranges. Col. McIlree now writes as 
follows : 
"This country is beginning to fill up, and as a conse- 
quence big game is getting scarce. I rode some 600 miles 
in July and August on an inspection trip, and saw_ quite a. 
few pronghorns. I have had a pleasing occupation this 
fall teaching my youngster of eleven summers to shoot. 
I have been coaching him for some years with a .22 till 
he could shoot well, then introduced him to a shotgun, 
and this season turned him loose, and he has done well. 
Out for seven parts of afternoons, he has 59 grouse to his 
credit, all killed on the wing but two. Birds are fairly 
' plentiful this year. I have only shot close around bar- 
racks. I inclose a photo of a moose head one of our fel- 
lows brought from the Yukon. It is rather a pretty head, 
I think. . J. C. McIlree." 
Long; Island Ducks. 
East Quogue, L. L, Oct. 15.— I send the number of 
ducks shot by guests last week: October 10 — 3 geese, 10 
ducks, 11 snipe; October 11— 14 ducks, 2 snipe; October 
12— Rain stopped shooting; October 13— 6 ducks, 9 snipe; 
October 14—5 ducks, 7 snipe; October 15—12 ducks, 1 
snipe. Broadbills in great number came in the bay Octo- 
ber 15. By the 25th battery shooting should be good, as 
the birds will get a haunt by that time. 
E. A. Jackson. 
Death of a South Bay Guide. 
Isaac Green, of Bayport, a. famous South Bay guide 
and wing shot, died October 22, aged 78 years. Lockjaw 
was the cause of death. Mr. Green was credited with. 
shot more ducks than any man living along the 
'Xx% lie declared during his last illness that his old- 
•a-SrrftMfhi muzzleloading gun which hung on the wall over 
his IvPrT was* superior to any modern fowling piece. 
All communications for Forest and Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention. We hay? no other office. 
