194 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tMARCH li, 1965. 
in short, covering all lands and water over which the 
Government has jurisdiction and control. 
Such a law will cover a large proportion of the habitat 
of the big game, water fowl, shore birds and fish in the 
United States, migratory and non-migratory, and greatly 
deter the market and lawless hunter and fisherman, who 
would have little definite knowledge as to just what 
regions such a law did, in fact, cover; and between the 
fear of Federal officers on one hand and State officers on 
the other, would be pretty well restricted. 
I believe that within the next two years spring shoot- 
ing will be pretty generally abolished by State action, and 
the bag limit generally applied, and that these, with such 
a Federal law as I suggest, will accomplish the end which 
we so much desire, in so far as it is practicable to accom- 
plish it. D. C. Beaman. 
Denver, Colorado, Feb. 25, 1905. 
Massachusetts Doings. 
Boston, March 4.^ — Editor Forest and Stream: On 
Friday, the Legislative Committee on Probate and 
Chancery gave a hearing upon a bill to prohibit the sale 
of the automatic gun. Representative Evans, of Everett, 
who put in the bill, opened the case, urging that the use 
of an automatic shotgun would prove a weapon too 
destructive to birds, especially the quail. He said, with 
such a weapon the hunter would be able on flushing a 
covey to kill nearly all the birds, while with a double- 
barreled gun used now he is not likely to get more than 
a couple of them at the first flushing, however expert he 
may be. So far as the destruction of game birds and 
animals was concerned, he said there was no objection to 
the automatic pistol, and in Massachusetts not much to be 
feared from the automatic rifle, as large game is not 
hunted in this State at the present time, although deer 
may be in a few years if their increase in numbers con- 
tinues. Mr. J. M. Van Huyck, of Lee, secretary of the 
Berkshire County Fish and Game Protective Association, 
appeared in behalf of his club in support of the bill, and 
Mr. Ernest Russell, in behalf of Worcester sportsmen. 
He expressed the opinion that the general use of this gun 
would prove the beginning of the end of quail in Massa- 
chusetts covers. • Mr. E. Howe Forbush, State ornitholo- 
gist, said there were several species of ducks and_ shore 
birds that are already nearing the vanishing point in this 
State, and the use of such a gun in the hands of reckless 
boys and foreigners would tend greatly to the destruction 
of bird life. Representative Nowell, of Wakefield, sup- 
ported the bill in behalf of the Game Protective Associa- 
tion of Eastern Massachusetts, of which he is president, 
and the secretary of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Protective Association and the Central Committee testified 
that both those bodies were in favor of the bill. 
The House chairman of the committee before which 
the bill was heard is George M. Poland, Esq., of Wake- 
field, who is at present the chairman of the Central Com- 
mittee for Protection of Fish and Game. Unless there is 
some constitutional obs'.acle to be feared, there is no 
doubt the committee will make a favorable report, but the 
question of constitutionality may stand in the way. 
Should this prove to be the case, I believe some way will 
be found to prevent the use of such a weapon in the 
shooting of quail. 
As the result of a hearing on Wednesday before the 
Fish and Game Committee, there is reasonable expecta- 
tion that the length of trout that may be legally caught 
in Berkshire county will be made the same as in the rest 
of the State. Mr. Van Huyck represented his association 
at that hearing. 
The advocates of a hunters' license have not slackened 
their efforts, and a correspondent sends me information 
from Hartford that on March 2, in the Senate, the Com- 
mittee on Fisheries and Game reported favorably a bill to 
license hunters. The bill establishes a fee of $1 for a per- 
son hunting on land of another, but if the hunter is an 
alien the fee is to be $10. Half the money derived^ from 
sale of licenses is to be expended by the commissioners 
in payment of salaries of game wardens, and half for the 
purchase and liberation of quail. Under the bill no man 
is prohibited from hunting on his own land. It is said the 
bill has the approval of the commissioners and the sports- 
men of the State. The bill before the Massachusetts 
Legislature on which there is a hearing appointed for 
Wednesday next, is similar, but excepts not only the 
owner of land, but the occupant under lease and members 
of the family of owner or lessee "acting under his 
authority or consent." To my mind, this exemption of 
the owner or occupant is on a par with what has always 
iDcen regarded as a bad feature in our game laws, the ex- 
emption of the owner from application of the law against 
snaring birds. If wild animals and birds belong to the 
people in their sovereign capacity, what more _ right has 
the owner of land to them than any other citizen? All 
exemptions of whatever sort increase the difficulty of en- 
forcing the laws. Another feature of the _license_ bill 
(House bill No. 336) contained in section 6 is the limit- 
ing of the bag of ruffed grouse to five in one day. No 
one will claim that this is not a reasonable limitation, but 
how can it be enforced without wardens are_ given 
authority to make personal search of the man with the 
gun without a warrant ? That the wardens would be able 
to do much more effective work with the aid of such a 
law is very evident, and so much importance was attached 
to it by the late Captain Collins that he several times 
stated to the writer that he would never cease his efforts 
to secure it so long as he held his position. 
Your readers will be interested to learn that the 12 
carcasses of venison and 167 partridges shipped a few 
weeks ago to Clara Wilson, Boston, as household goods, 
from Calais, Me., have been declared forfeited by Judge 
Fessenden, on the ground that the game was illegally in 
the State. . , 
Three young men who were instrumental m causmg the 
death of a doe in the outskirts of Lynn recently have 
been convicted and fined $100 each. Evidence that the 
doe would have given birth to offspring had her life been 
spared is to be seen in the contents of a glass jar in the 
Commissioners' office at the State House. 
The Clearwater Club is composed of old anglers and 
amateur fishermen of Boston and vicinity, and is accus- 
tomed to gather for an annual reunion and dinner about 
this season just before overhauling fishing tackle, etc., for 
the spring campaign. This year they took a fancy to go 
to Keene, N. H., where they have had the satisfaction 
of dining in a prohibition State (a la clear water) . Some 
of the members are Hon. Wm. A. Morse, Dr. Bishop, D. 
J. Flanders, of the Boston & Maine . Railroad ; Conrad 
Gerlach, W. G. Rose, of Boston, and E. Sterne Wheeler, 
of Saugatuck, Conn. The menu, as planned, included 
brook trout, caribou, quail and moose. 
Deputy Thomas Stackhouse, of Marshfield Hills, has 
secured the conviction of C. H. Leonard, of the same 
place, for trapping wild ducks. Mr. Leonard was fined 
$20 for one duck, also $20 additional for trapping. Mr. 
Stackhouse had as counsel Representative Davis, of Ply- 
mouth, where the case was tried. Central. 
**As it Happened in the Canyon/' 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
An account is given in the number of February 25, 
under the caption of 'As It Happened in the Cafion," of 
how the writer of it, when only armed with a shotgun, 
met an elk. I once had an adventure very much like this 
one, only it was a black bear that I met. 
A party of about twenty of us under a lieutenant were 
out on a scout west of the Wichita River in what is now 
Oklahoma. We camped one afternoon in a small valley, 
and about an hour after going into camp a man who had 
been up this canon, as they called it, came in and told 
me that the canon up above us was full of quail. These 
were what we called the mountain quail; they were the 
California quail — the kind that roost at night in trees. 
I have told our northern quail hunters here of this habit 
of these quail roosting in trees, and have been laughed at 
for telling it; they had never seen them in trees. They 
might have seen it had they been here, though. The quail 
roost in trees, I suppose, to keep out of reach of the 
coyote. 
I had my shotgun ; it was carried on a pack-mule with 
me. With some officers a gun would not have been 
allowed in the pack, we generally having more stuff to 
put in the packs than we had mules to carry it ; but this 
lieutenant wanted my gun hiinself part of the time. This 
is not a shotgun country, and I should have taken my 
pistols also, but did not. I had two- of them, and on ac- 
count of their weight I carried them in a narrow belt 
drawn in close around my waist, while the Mills field 
belt full of carbine cartridges was buckled on higher up. 
In camp I threw it off, then, if necessary, left the pistols 
on. I seldom left camp without them, but did it to-day, 
and it was the last day I ever did it in this part of the 
country. 
When I had got up to where the quail had been seen, 
I saw them myself, but they were all leaving, going over 
a low bank to the right. They would no doubt stop to 
feed on getting across this bank, then I could get close to 
them and flush them. I need not pot them on the ground ; 
we were not so badly off for grub as was your corre- 
spondent who went after quail and found an elk; we had 
plenty of both bacon and buffalo in camp; it was before 
we or some one else had killed all the buffalo. The wind, 
what there was of it, blew straight toward me down the 
caiion. I would sooner have had more of it, for the after- 
noon was hot. When I had got on top of the bank, over 
which the quail had disappeared, I saw them again, but 
they had not stopped here, but had kept on across an 
open, running all the way across it, and were now just 
going in through some bushes that grew along the bank 
of a small creek emptying into the one we were camped 
on, as I found out afterward. 
I kept on after them, but went in through the bushes 
fifty yards below where they had entered, and forcing my- 
self through the bushes was just ready to step clear of 
them when I almost stepped on top of the bear. He was 
not exactly as big as an ox; I had killed larger ones, but 
not with a shotgun. The bear was about twenty feet 
from me when we first saw each other, and was over 
close to some bushes that grew next to the creek; and 
above and below this open spot that he and I were now in 
were other bushes. The bear had not known I was in 
the country, it seemed, before I stepped on top of him. 
I had a poor opinion of his sense of smell, but then the 
wind blew straight from him to me; I should have done 
the smelling. I stopped the moment I saw him, and my 
first thought naturally would be to "draw pistol," but I 
must have been worse rattled than the bear was now. I 
forgot for the moment that I had no pistol to draw just 
at present. 
The bear got on his hindlegs. I had him covered, or 
he would not have wanted to ask any questions; and I 
knew enough about bears now not to waste any bird shot 
on this one. They won't fight unless you have them 
cornered, or they think you have; and a bear in the posi- 
tion that this one was now in can be killed with a knife— 
at least the books say he can — but I had no knife, and 
would not have used one had I had it; I would be afraid 
of his claws. 
While crowding my way through the bushes I had 
been carrying my gun under my right arm, in order to 
avoid just what now happened. I drew it forward quickly, 
meaning to pass it into my left hand, then draw that 
pistol that I still forgot that I did not have with me, 
when a twig must have caught the right hammer, draw- 
ing it back to nearly full cock, then releasing it ; for the 
right barrel now let go with the muzzle pointed at the 
bear's head. I had seen bears make some very quick 
movements when in a hurry, but this one made a quicker 
one. He seemed to roll to one side in one time and one 
motion, then getting on his legs made a dive in among the 
bushes at his back, just as I sent my remaining charge of 
No. 8 shot after him, and I next heard him go plunging 
into the small creek. 
I lost no time in getting back to camp, letting the quail 
go for to-day. I wanted to get a carbine and pistols, then 
hunt that bear some more; but just as I had got to camp 
the trumpeter sounded his stable call. I would have to 
groom my horse now, if I could not get the lieutenant's 
permission to let someone else do it for me; and going 
to him I gave him a history of the bear and asked leave 
to go and hunt him. "Oh, let him go to — — ." He men- 
tioned where the bear might go to; it is not necessary to 
mention the locality here. "This is no doubt that bear's 
reservation that we are camped on, and he will be here 
to-morrow, and so will we. I am going to remain here 
a day; you can hunt him then. Attend to your horse 
I started out early next morning, taking the carbine 
and pistols this time, leaving the shotgun for the lieu- 
tenant to hunt quail with. He got the quail. Then going 
to where I had parted with the bear last night, I took tip 
the trail, crossing the creek where he did, and found 
where he had climbed up the bank leaving it. I did not 
stop to look for any blood spots here ; if my charge of 
No. 8 had hit him — and it could not very well miss him — 
it had hit him in the neighborhood of where he wears his- 
tail; there would not be any blood to find. 
Off to the southwest, and at least ten miles away, was 
a range of low hills, and his trail led toward them. After 
I had followed it nearly half way to them, the trail 
turned back again. He was going back to the creek now 
to hunt either me or the doctor, or a place to sleep last 
night more likely. 
I kept on after him, and had got back to the creek, 
but a mile above where he had been before, when I found 
his trail leading into the bushes on the creek; he had had 
to pass through some tall grass to get into the bushes. 
I was tired, and having the bear where I wanted him, I 
sat down to rest before exploring the bushes. I did not 
want to be in too much of a hurry doing it — that bear 
might not be in a good humor to-day; he would not be 
if he had to sit down on top of that charge of shot he 
very likely was carrying. While I sat here out on the 
prairie watching the bushes, I saw them move, and had 
just time to throw myself flat on the ground when the 
bear came crawling out of the long grass not fifty yards 
from me, and getting on my knees now I sent him the 
first shot out of the carbine. He got it, and turning to 
his right now ran up along the creek, keeping in among 
the tail grass. I did not stop to reload. I had a Spring- 
field carbine, but threw the gun down, and drawing a 
pistol ran after him, shooting as fast as I could raise the 
hammer, until I had sent him six shots; then he fell. 
Going to him I found that I need not have used the pistol 
at all ; 1 had only hit him twice with it anyhow ; it was 
the carbine ball that had killed him. 
I got his skin off, leaving his carcass here to be taken 
to camp if anyone wanted it. I lugged the skin into 
camp, getting there just as dinner was over. The lieu- 
tenant claimed the skin, but paid me for it, as he always 
paid for all of my shells he used, five cents for each of 
them, though they only cost me about a cent each. All I 
paid for was the shot and wads. I used the Government 
powder and primers that they_ sent us to load the Spring- 
field shotguns that we were given to do our hunting with. 
I had no business using these for my private gun, but the 
Government is often plundered for more than that. 
They wanted the bear's meat, so I told them to take up 
a pack-mule and get it; they would be welcome to my 
share of it. I would rather '"have bacon for mine. 
Cabia Blanco. 
A Wyoming Game Reserve. 
The new Wyoming law creating a State game reserve 
reads as follows : 
An act creating a game preserve and prescribing the 
boundaries thereof, and the penalty of violations of the 
provisions of this act. 
Be it enacted by the Legislature " of the State of 
Wyoming : 
Section i. For the better protection of birds and game 
animals, and for the establishment of a breeding place 
therefor, the following described area within the State of 
Wyoming is hereby set aside and designated as a game 
preserve : All that portion of the State of Wyoming em- 
braced within the following area: 
Beginning at a point where the southern boundary line 
of the Yellowstone National Park intersects the western 
boundary line of the State of Wyoming, thence south 
along said boundary line to a point where Badger Creek 
intersects said State boundary line, thence easterly along 
said Badger Creek across the summit of the Teton range 
to the head of Moran Creek, thence easterly along said 
Moran Creek to Jackson Lake, thence easterly along the 
southern shore of said Jackson Lake to the outlet thereof, 
thence easterly along said outlet to the mouth of the 
Buffalo Fork of Snake River, thence easterly along said 
Buffalo Fork and the south branch thereof across the 
Continental Divide to the head of the west fork of the 
Yellowstone River, thence northwesterly along said fork 
and Yellowstone River to a point where said Yellowstone 
River intersects the south boundary line of the Yellow- 
stone Park, thence west along said boundary line to the 
point of beginning. 
Sec. 2. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, 
at any time, to hunt, trap, kill, capture or chase any birds 
or game animals of any kind or description whatever 
within the limits of the said boundary, and any person 
violating the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, be fined the 
sum of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than 
five hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail for 
a period of not less than three months nor more than 
one year, or both, such fine and imprisonment in the dis- 
cretion of the court; provided that the provisions of this 
act shall not apply to the killing or destruction of preda- 
tory wild animals, as_ the same are defined in the laws 
of the State of Wyoming, and providing for a payment of 
bounty thereon, under such regulations as may be 
prescribed from time to time by the State Game Warden 
of the State of Wyoming. 
Sec. 3. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with the pro- 
visions of this act are hereby repealed. 
Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from 
and after its passage. 
Approved February 21, 1905. 
New Missoufi Game Law* 
Both Houses of the Legislature have passed the Audu- 
bon bird and game bill, which was one of the most care- 
fully drafted and considered bills ever presented to any 
Legislature. Under the masterful management of Repre- 
sentative H. R. Walmsley, of Kansas City, a member of 
the Audubon Society, the bill was pushed through both 
Houses in spite of the great opposition of the market- 
hunters and game dealers of this State. 
The new law provides for a State game warden at a 
salary of $2,000, and also provides for a deputy game 
warden for each Congressional district, to be paid onlj; 
