^2 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 21, 190S. 
deer skins and venison was prohibited during the close 
season, and a penalty of thirty shillings or thirty days m 
jail was imposed for each violation. These acts were 
sealed, signed and sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Eng- 
land, where they were pronounced 'good' by the King and 
returned lo become the law of the land. In the year 
1771, some persons, as the legislative act calls them, con- 
ceived the idea of stocking the Hudson River with sal- 
mon, advancing the theory that were they put there young 
they would come back to the headwaters to spawn, and 
petitioning the authorities for a law to protect them. The 
Governor and Legislature passed an act imposing a fine of 
ten pounds (nearly $50) for each and every salmon 
caught and killed in the Hudson River within five years 
of the date of the act becoming a law. Any person or 
persons could sue and recover in his own name for viola- 
tion of this act, and was not asked to notify anyone at the 
capital city, and run the risk of his notification being in- 
tercepted, nor was he asked to send the amount recovered 
to any officer to be kept a month or two and such part 
returned as it was thought he or they were entitled to. 
He just put the money down in his breeches pocket and 
went out and looked for another victim. Salmon ascend 
the Hudson River to-day, presumably from this plant, and 
were it not for dams at Glens Falls and elsewhere would 
undoubtedly be on the headwaters of that stream in con- 
siderable numbers each year. There is no record of the 
tons of them that have been taken since the passage of 
this act. 
"And so we come down to April 19, 1859, when the 
Legislature of New York passed an act making the closed 
season for deer February i to August i. You could hunt 
deer all through August, September, October, November 
and December and January. The penalty for violating 
this act was $25. In 1862 the deer season was brought 
down to August, September, October and November. You 
could hunt deer with dogs during the month of October. 
You could have venison in possession till the 15th of 
February. In 1864 a license was required if you were 
to hunt in Kings, Queens or Suffolk counties, a fee of 
$10. In 1867 you must hunt deer only in the months of 
October, November and December, and have in posses- 
sion till January 10. Right here began the fight between 
the pot-hunter and the guide, and in 1868 the open season 
was put back to August i, closing December 15. It was 
about this time that the Brown's Tract guides began to 
wake up. The last moose had been killed, deer were be- 
coming scarce, panther and wolves plenty. Sportsmen 
came to the woods more and oftener. The practice of 
taking a man out to see how many trout he could catch in 
a day, or how many deer he could kill in a single night 
began to lose its attractiveness. The extra money re- 
ceived for the big basket of trout caught and thrown 
away, and the dollar a head for each deer that had been 
left to rot in the marshes, somehow lost its glimmer, and 
the halt was called. Winter time they hunted the panther, 
for whose head was paid a bounty of $20, and by 1879 
they were practically exterminated — forty or more of 
them having been killed. At this time the open season 
for deer had been made August i to November 30. You 
could use dogs from August 15 to November i. No 
fawns in the spotted coat should be killed, and the Legis- 
lature — now that ihey were all gone — w-isely said, no more 
moose should be killed. Dogs were prohibited in the 
year 1885, and in 1886 the deer season was made still 
shorter in response to a demand of the Brown's Tract 
guides, -brought about by the appearance of Pennsylvania 
pot-hunters, who, driven from their own State by a five 
years' close season, came to the Adirondacks and killed 
and hauled them out by the sleighload to market. And 
the season for hunting was cut to August 15 to November 
I, and one person to kill but three deer. Could use dogs 
from September i to October 15. 
"In 1888 dogs could be used from September i to Octo- 
ber 20. In 1889 only two deer could be killed by any one 
person, and in 1899 we got rid of the dogs forever. 
"But now we had, instead of the old corduroy road, 
a pair of gleaming railway tracks, and instead of Charley 
Phelps and Frank Barrett and Frank Coonrod and Dan 
Gookins and "Old Nig," and the buckboard, instead of 
those things a hundred-ton locomotive and a train of 
palace cars, and a man has been known to leave New 
York at 8 :10 in the evening and come to Charley Bar- 
rett's, at the head of Third Lake, kill his two deer, and 
leave for home the next day at noon. And now if there 
was need of the Governor, the Council and the General 
Assembly, when the whole country was practically a wil- 
derness, to protect the game for a few months of the 
year, what is the condition now that the wilderness has 
been narrowed down to a few square miles and the shel- 
tering timber taken from the greater part of that? 
"The winter of 1903 and 1904 was unusually severe, and 
reports came in early in February of the difficulty deer 
were having in getting food. Everything was buried be- 
neath five feet of snow, and through which they could 
not go far. Parties of guides were immediately sent out 
searching for ijlaces where deer were wintering and cut- 
ting down browse wherever they were found. Nearly 
every wintering ground furnished its quota of dead deer. 
Some were found unable to get to their feet. Fatalities 
seemed to occur oftener durinp- the extreme cold. No 
browse were cut except where there were signs of deer, 
and later examinations always showed that they had 
found and fed from the foliage put within their reach. 
The guides who could, cheerfully turned out, and some 
of them made ^ hard, trips ' on snowshoes. Nor was the 
work confined wholly to guides of the association. Others 
there were who did 'good service; ' some of whom - were 
offered pay, but declined to accept. It has been steadily 
claimed by the peojple at Albany up to and including last 
year, that deer were on the increase' -because rnore were 
■ carried by the express companies and the kill was greater. 
No allowance, was made for the increase in facilities for 
shipping, nor for the immense number of hunters com- 
pared with previous years. This last season deer were 
scarce, and there were fewer hunters than the previous 
year, and as a consequence it is estimated the kill of 
last season will be much below that of 1903.", 
At the conclusion of the business meeting, the atinual 
banquet was enjoyed.-- At the post-prandial session which 
followed,, Hon. 'Garry A. Willard acted as toastmaster, 
and delivered an interesting address, as did also Harry 
V. Radford, Hon,.H. D. Grant, Rev. T. F. Jessup, Rev. 
A. W. Cody, Rev. E. R. Pendergast, Fred. A. White and 
George O. Bridgeman. W. E. .Wolcott. 
Utica, N. Y , Jan. It, ' .' 
MicHigan Game Interests. 
Detroit, Mich., Jan. 14.— Editar' Forest and Stream: 
-No doubt you will have an interest in the probable 
changes in the Michigan game laws to be put through 
i.the sitting Legislature, and also will be interested in 
knowing the sentiment of the sportsmen of Michigan on 
the question. 
There has been a considerable effort made in the past 
few years to create sentiment in favor of amending the 
laws relating lo wildfowl shooting, as it is felt that the 
present law does not meet the case fairly. As you know, 
the game laws of this State impose no license fee on 
sportsmen from other States who hunt here, and as our 
neighicrin.g commonwealths, almost without exception, 
impose a license fee of from $10 to $25, this question was 
also agitated. 
As the result of agitation for the amendment of the 
fish and game laws of the State of Michigan, a mass 
meeting of the sportsmen of the State was called to meet 
at the Griswold hotel on Wednesday, January 11. There 
were present some sixty or seventy sportsmen, and ten or 
more "market hunters." For the most part the repre- 
sentation was confined to the region bordering on the 
Detroit and St. Clair rivers. Lakes Erie and Huron, with 
a very few from the interior of the State. The questions 
brought before the meeting were : 
1. Shall spring wildfowl shooting be done away with? 
2. Shall tlie fall season for duck shooting be lengthened? 
3. Should the shooting of quail be prohibited for a 
term of years? 
4. Shall a law be asked for imposing a license fee on 
resident and non-resident hunters? 
5. Should the number of birds to any one bag be 
limited, and should the total number of birds to any one 
bag for the season be limited? 
These were the main questions discussed, and there;! 
seemed to be quite a diversity of opinion as to all of; 
them. This meeting does not, of course, mean that th© 
Legislature will act in accordance with the decisioni 
arrived at by a majority of those present, but may bei 
taken as an index of the sentiment of the great body of 
Michigan sportsmen. 
On the first question at issue, the majority favored 
doing away with spring duck shooting. This was particu- 
larly true of those who shoot on or near the Great Lakes., 
On_ the contrary, the residents of inland points say that? 
spring shooting is all they have ; that the ducks do not; 
come in to the inland waters in the fall, and that there- 
fore they must shoot in the spring or go- to the big lakes 
for their sport in the fall. As there was but a light 
representation from interior points, it is impossible to say 
what the majority of sportsmen from the interior would: 
say on the subject, but it is safe to assume they would 
almost unanimously agree. ' ; 
As to the second question at issue, it was the unani-f 
mous sentiment of the gathering that the fall season 
should be lengthened. The majority favored opening the' 
season September 15 and closing December 31. As the 
present season has been exceptionally open, the ducks,' 
have remained in the vvaters of Lake Erie, the Detroit and- 
St. Clair rivers, and in the bays of Lake St. Clair and 
Lake Huron, and it was stated that thousands of canvas- 
backs could be seen as late as New Year's Day, while 
there were . also many hundreds of redheads and some, 
mallards still hngering in the open water. 
As to_ the shooting of quail, there did not seem to bei 
much difference of opinion, but that the birds should be 
given froni two to four years' rest from the guns. Some 
enthusiastic members proposed that contributions be 
asked from all of the sportsmen of the State for the pur- 
chase of breeding stock, claiming that this would be 
preferable to a close season for any term of years. It 
IS well understood that the quail do not suffer so much 
from the guns as they do from the severe winters we| 
have had in the past two years. The intense cold and 
deep snow of 1902-3 and 1903-4 did more to exterminate 
the quail than all the sportsmen in the country could have 
done in the same two seasons. It was claimed by many 
that the weasel, mink, skunk and fox, in a severe winter,: 
destroy more quail and partridge than are killed by; 
hunters during the season. The partridge, being hardier! 
and better able to subsist on scant feed than the quail, 
have not suffered as have the smaller game bird; in fact, 
it is- stated that the partridge were never more plentiful, 
and the promise is for grand sport next season with this 
fine bird. 
The question of a gun license was not unanimously 
agreed to, although the opponents of the measure did not 
take the open and make their opposition felt. A nominal 
fee of $1 for a shotgun for all residents of the State will 
probably be asked for. Regarding license fee for non-: 
resident hunters, one proposition is to make the license 
the same as that imposed by the State from which the 
hunter comes. This will not meet with fnvor in the 
Legislature, however. The probable action will be to im- 
pose a license fee of $15 on sportsmen carrying a shot- 
gun, and leave the deer license at $25, as it now stands. 
With reference to deer, it is proposed that the limit of 
three for the season be left stand, but that it be specified 
that there shall be not less than two bucks to each doe in 
such a bag. In other words, a man shall not shoot two 
does in one season. 
With reference to limiting the bag, there did not seenr 
to be any well-formed opinion as to what was desired. 
As a matter of fact, none but the true sportsmen in the 
gathering were in favor of limiting the bag, and I judge 
that the number of true sportsmen must have been few, 
from the manner in which the question was received. 
The game warden department is endeavoring to get! 
such a measure incorporated in the new law, and, as out- 
lined at the meeting that night, the proposal is to limit 
each .gun to ten birds— ducks, partridges or quail— for the 
day's shoot, and to limit the gun to fifty birds for thei 
season. _ Coupled with the proposal to impose a license oni 
non-resident hunters will also be a provision permitting' 
the shipment of a certain amount of birds out of the 
State, under rigid restrictions as to such shipment. This,- 
I think, would be a decent thing to do. F. K. G. 
MiMDMMEISIfll' 
The Log"' of a Sea Angler. 
BY CHARLES F. HOLDER, AUTHOR OF "ANGLING," "bIG GAME 
FISHES," ETC. 
ni.— Hunting the Nurse Shark— Hauled Overboafd— 
Diving for Queen Conchs— The Fan Shell- 
Pugnacity of Crabs— Stealing from 
Birds— In a Pipe. 
There was nothing more delightful in this fishing 
ground than to go out with the dinghy at sunrise, stand 
in the bow, grains in hand, one man sculling slowly, the 
others amidships, and watch the marvelous panorama of 
the lagoon, gazing down into the splendid vistas. No 
forest of the land had more beauties than this forest of 
the sea. _ Everything was in miniature, and one might 
compare it to a Japanese garden where everything is 
dwarfed and the trees stunted, as the leaf coral with 
branches four feet across, resembled the cedars of Japan, 
while the bottom was covered with gorgonias of countless 
hues. 
Suddenly, as though cut with a knife, this would end 
and a clear sandy bottom would be seen through the 
water box— the home of the great queen conch and others. 
The water here was about fifteen feet in depth, the sand 
a perfect gray without the slightest object, sea weed or 
coral, to break its perfect tone; yet suddenly the field of 
the gorgonias would begin again, or perhaps a growth of 
algje; but there was a belt of this clear bottom about 
nearly every key. 
In drifting along one morning I saw a peculiar mound, 
apparently a foot across, and recognized the large queen 
conch (Cassis), a rarity even here. None of -the men ap- 
peared to be anxious to go down, John said it was "too 
dogged near the channel for comfort," meaning that he 
was afraid of sharks. Chief doubted if he colild hold his 
wind that long; while; Bob explained that' the "Conchs 
wa'nt good for anything, anyhow." ^ 
That my men were, not divers was evident, so I dele- 
gated John to hold the ' grains and prod any man-eater 
that came along while the others held the boat directly 
over the spot, and I stepped over and went down. The 
water at the surface was warm ; at ten feet cool, and at 
the bottom — perhaps twelve or fifteen feet — decidedly cold 
by contrast — -a delightful series of transitions. So clear 
was it that for many feet about various objects could be 
seen, and grasping the conch I turned it quickly to see if 
it was alive. To my delight I saw the rich red mouth 
and platform and the animal parts squeezing themselves 
in ; then doubling up and placing my bare feet on the 
sandy bottom, I shot upward and rose from the sea bear- 
ing a rich trophy. 
It was a splendid specimen, of perfect shape and color. 
The shell (Cassis) is sometimes seen cut into cameo, and 
comroons I understand, in the South Pacific, but rare iij 
Atlantic waters. This experience opened up the delights,; 
of diving in these clear waters, and I determined to see: 
the great reef from below as well as above. 
In contemplating the marvelous creatures of the sea,' 
one ultimately compares the fishes to the birds, and other 
marine animals with those of the land, and it does not 
take long to become convinced that the ocean is even 
more densely populated than the dry land. The inhabi- 
tants here were living on the slopes of a mountain; some] 
near the surface in the zone of coral ; some, intermediate, 
others in deep water, while others again live in the open; 
water,- soaring continually, like the condor and" eagles, 
always in search of prey. , 
Presently we came intO' smooth water ten feet in depth, 
the bottom covered with a sparse growth of short-leaved, 
coral secreting algae. Here nimibers of small conchs; 
were found, and as the water shoaled the ordinary conch- 
appeared in all stages or ages. I dived and brought upj 
one in each hand, sometimes three on one arm. As Ij 
neared the bottom I could see them lumb cring along \vi th:.1 
r, peculiar hitching motion. The saber likt i 1 m i 
lum would be thrown out, dug into (he sand iis nn 
or kedge, and the heavy shell "liitclied" oi i-rM-.-. 
it. No color is more beautiful tiian the i,^rOr.i,i 
huge strombus. 
In its delicacy of pink it defie* deccn'i'! irr. -in I 
doubtless, become a valuable srtfc'le n( j'-Ti 
some means be devised to preserve the color which slowly^ 
aiicdor- 
- if u.! 
iH Ac 
