£84 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 25, 1905. 
s. 
d 
Adirondack Timber Thieving. 
The following correspondence, which grew out of in- 
vestigations made by the Association for the Protection 
of the Adirondacks, has this week been made public : 
[Copy.] 
35 Wall Street, 
February 21, 1905. 
The Hon. Frank W. Higgins, 
Governor of the State of New York, 
Albany, N. Y. 
Dear Sir: 
At a meeting of the trustees of the Association for the 
Protection of the Adirondacks held to-day, I was asked 
to convey to you the request of the Association that you 
take such .immediate steps as may seem best in your 
judgment for the enforcement of the Constitution and 
laws of the State designed to prevent the removal of tim- 
ber from State lands. 
You are doubtless familiar with Section 7 of Article 
VII. of the Constitution, which says, with respect to the 
lands constituting the Forest Preserve : "Nor shall the . 
timber thereon be sold, removed or destroyed." 
This provision has been construed by two different 
Attorney-Generals, namely, by Attorney-General Han- 
cock, February 16, 1895, and Attorney-General Cunneen, 
June 22, 1903. The latter gave his opinion at the request 
of Governor Odell. Both opinions are unequivocally to 
the effect that no timber, whether standing, felled by 
the ax, or killed by fire, can lawfully be removed from 
State lands. 
Section 222 of the Forest, Fish and Game Law de- 
clares that "a person who cuts, or causes to be cut, or 
carries away, or causes to be carried away, any tree, 
timber, wood or bark from State lands in the Forest Pre- 
serve is guilty of a misdemeanor," etc. 
We have evidence in our possession which shows that 
these provisions of the Constitution and statute have been 
treated by interested parties with as much indifference as 
if they did not exist. The law of the State is brought 
into contempt, and a situation has arisen which we do 
not hesitate to characterize as a scandal. 
Subordinate officials, vested with the management of 
the State's forest interests, have failed to stretch out_ the 
vigorous arm of the law and enforce the prohibitions 
which the law imposes; but rather, by apparent inaction 
during the operations of trespassers, and by the con- 
siderate treatment of the oft'enders after their depreda- 
tions have been completed, have virtually established a 
system of traffic by which timber from State lands is 
acquired by those who desire it as easily as by purchase 
from private parties, if not more easily. 
Soon after the last Legislature adjourned, contracts 
were let by private parties for lumbering on State lands. 
By June, 1904, lumber camps had been erected on State 
lands and the woodsman's ax was at work. Operations 
continued until the various jobs were completed, or 
nearly so, and the timber either stacked up along the 
streams or hauled into the streams, to await the-' spring 
is^w, floods. Most, but not all of these operations, have now 
-^-if>\b. >een finished. Then the jobbers, either personally or 
•<?'x5'T0ugh mutual acquaintances, complained of themselves, 
-^Seared before the most convenient Justice of the Peace 
\ the local game protector and confessed judgment 
violation of the Forest, Fish and Game Law. The 
'■.ies, when compared with the market price of the 
• stolen, were such as to make the transactions 
Ae for the offenders, provided they eventually get 
operating individually, the contractors them- 
'd the penalties. In other cases the penalties 
by the pulp or lumber company which hired 
'ions of which we speak could not have been 
intinued without having become notorious 
we believe, could have been promptly pre- 
vigorous action of the officials legally 
ircement of the law. 
respectfully request you to take such 
lay deem best: 
je any present unlawful operations on 
^>\there be. 
'ffp' removal or secure the recovery of 
jjP <<^\ State land, whether penalties for 
, ^ irf^^ o^^osed or not, thus converting the 
,a virtual sale of timber into a 
' - ,have not already been in- 
*-h.ose who have cut or 
' ' caused to be cut 
• Her or wood 
•> State 
" wy, 
that it is the opinion of this Association that the interests 
of the people will be best served by the reappointment of 
neither the present Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner 
nor the present Chief Game Protector under the Com- 
mission, for the following reasons: 
First- — Because of their acquiescence in criminal viola- 
lions of the law. 
Second-^Because of their neglect or refusal to insist 
upon the imposition of an adequate penalty for these 
criminal violations. 
Third — Because of their neglect to prevent the removal 
of the timber, which is the property of the State, from 
the State lands. 
It was also resolved that this resolution be communi- 
cated to you with the earnest and respectful request that 
3'ou do not reappoint the incumbent Commissioner and 
that you take such steps as may be proper to relieve the 
State of the services of the present Chief Game Protector. 
In behalf of the Board of Trustees, I remain, 
Very truly yours, 
Henry S. Harper, Secretary. 
An Ohio Ducking C ub. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am in receipt of a copy of the Buffalo Sunday Illus- 
trated Express containing an illustrated duck hunting 
drawing by W. P. Davison, a son of the J. L. Davison 
who is a frequent contributor to your columns. It is a 
realistic sketch which awakened recollections of a visit 
made many years ago to the oldest and most prosperous 
sportsman's club in Ohio, on the invitation of one of its 
founders. The members were not allowed to introduce 
visitors during the open shooting season, but an excep- 
tion had been made in my case, inasmuch as I was mak- 
ing investigations with regard to the cultivation by an 
Adirondack club of which my host and myself were both 
members, of wild celery, the favorite food of the canvas- 
back duck, so called on account of the color of its back 
plumage, and most highly esteemed for the delicacy of its 
flesh. In passing, let me say for the benefit of others de- 
siring to transplant this esculent, that it does not thrive 
in the vegetable mold of the Adirondack lakes, probably 
by reason of the absence of lime in the soil. 
I had the unexpected pleasure of riding from the rail- 
road station to- the headquarters of the club with the 
late Felix R. Brunot, noted for his devotion to philan- 
thropic measures, who went to the seat of the Civil War 
at its commencement in charge of a corps of volunteer 
physicians with medicines and comforts for the sick and 
wounded. President Grant appointed him one of the 
commission to investigate Indian grievances, and he was 
chosen president of the board, and ■ spent - five summers 
in visting the different tribes. 
I have never found elsewhere anything comparable to 
the extent and richness of the possessions of this club, 
or to the wealth of the members in duck shooting para- 
phernalia. The association owns ten thousand acres of 
water, islands and marshes, accurately mapped from sur- 
veys upon the ice at an expense of , $1,500. Few, if any, 
feeding grounds of the great duck tribe in the United 
States are. more frequented than their waters. There is 
almost no species known to- sportsttien that does not at 
one season or another halt there Hn migratory flight. 
Canvasbacks, redheads and mallards'are the most numer- 
ous and most sought for. Wild geese are found in 
numbers. v. . ■ ■ 
Each member as he comes in fro'rti his hunting trip re- 
ports to the secretary the number of 'each species killed ; 
and my examination of the record showed the annual 
average number of ducks shot by the ;members during 
the open season toi be over 8,000. Abouf'a quarter of a 
mile across the water from the club house is a long 
island, and when I came down next mOrning after my 
arrival to the piazza, a large flock of ducks was feeding 
on the celery beds near the shore. My host, whose ex- 
perience made his estimate quite probably correct, said 
there were at least 2,000 of them, and that they were 
mostly canvasbacks and redheads. The latter rank next 
to the canyasback in value and table excellence, and are 
so similar in appearance that a novice can scarcely dis- 
tmguish them. But the redhead is an arrogant thief who 
does not dive and pluck the celery roots for himself, but 
relies upon what he can filch after the celery pulled by 
his enforced partner has floated to the surface. I had 
a very pleasant interview with this duck one evening. 
My host took me out with him one day and gave me a 
taste that lingers in my mouth yet of the royal sport en- 
joyed by the club members. On our way in at sunset, 
we opened up a small bay into which the wind might 
favor a flight of redheads at dusk, and my friend rowed 
into it, put out his decoys and prepared his ambush. Be- 
fore darkness interrupted we brought thirty of them to 
grief. My host had the most complete contrivance of 
his own invention I ever hid behind. It was a screen 
made of rushes about five feet long woven together with 
cords, leaving narrow interstices, and attached at each 
nd to a stake sharpened at lower end so as to be forced 
"'-■n into the ground. One of these cute fences is staked 
oh side of the boat's bow and extended along the 
'le for about two-thirds of the way to the stern. 
Wer, thus screen^^d in a boat placed among high 
owths, becomes . ivell-nigh invisible to the most 
tc overhead. TLle writer has seen all sorts of 
this is the most artistic and successful one 
. perdu i^. 
my stay at this club my attention was called to 
,.jiari reclining on|a lounge in the office and said 
Jub member,- alt!;pugh he did not to my knowl- 
46 -any interest ' the quest for ducks. Did the 
preYisions of hi- brown study extend to any of 
^bsequent events of a life already of world-wide 
ilion and not unlikely to culminate on a still higher 
J Was not the club in its unconscious role of "en- 
xining angels unawares" making political history of 
utmost consequence? The listless day-dreamer was 
jhn Hay. H. H. Thompson. 
Passaic, N. J. ^ 
All communications for Forest and Stream must he 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention. We hm^e no other 90ief. 
Days with the Deer. 
{Concluded from page 214.) 
From sometimes four but generally five o'clock until 
late twilight I have sat behind the shelter of several fallen 
balsam saplings and watched a field in the old clearing, 
where, on favorable occasions, a buck in his wanderings 
or in search of an evening meal, might chance to show 
himself before dark. There were two- such fields on the 
south side of the former, and one in the northeast corner, 
all of which were favorite hunting grounds with both the 
"Veteran" and myself. Numerous have been the after- 
noon and evening hunts enjoyed there, and many the 
splendid trophies they have yielded to the rifle. To sit 
quietly and watch a field for two hours or perhaps longer 
is far from a monotonous occupation. Every moment is 
taken up with the pleasant and exciting anticipation of 
seeing a deer walk out into view from the surrounding 
line of. woods ; and moreover the glimpses one obtains of 
wild life are most entertaining and amusing, although 
they occasionally verge on the tragic. 
The sun no longer sent its warming rays across a small 
field hedged in by woods on every side, and the frosty 
breath of a late September afternoon made ourmackinaws 
feel decidedly comfortable, as we sat behind a screen of 
spruce boughs and silently watched the open space before 
us. As soon as the shadows of evening had fallen and 
the atmosphere grown colder, the mosquitoes and 
"punkies" discontinued their feast and retired, much to my 
relief. The silence was absolute, and so magnified the 
noise made by a capricious red squirrel who- scuttled over 
the leaves a short distance away from our position, that 
I immediately had visions of a buck, and looked hastily 
around to discover it was only one of these lively wood 
denizens. Presently the stillness was again broken by the 
sweet, plaintive whistle of a white-throated sparrow, and 
then in the woods to the left of the blind, and quite close 
by, came the low purring clucks of partridges. We could 
hear them distinctly, and every now and then there would 
be a loud rush of wings as one flew up to a roosting place. 
No doubt chis was the same flock that a few nights pre- 
vious had flown by one at a time directly in front of the 
blind where we-were how concealed, and I heartily wished 
they would repeat the maneuver again, for to see eleven 
of these magnj-fieent -birds cross an open space of ground 
is a beautiful sight, although a trying occurrence when 
one is deer shooting, as the temptation is indeed great. 
^ These peaceful and contented preparations for the night, 
^ however, were destined to be rudely disturbed, and all' at 
once there was a roar of beating pinions, accompanied by 
startled "quits" of' terror from the birds that were evi- 
dently suffering a decided nervous shock. . Reuben,- who 
had maintained .his ..usual reticent, and, silent demearipr 
until now, after scraping his throat and dusting a few re- 
maining "punkies" from his long, patriarchal beard, 
leaned forward and whispered, "Guess a fox must have 
run into 'em." A second later this supposition was made 
apparent, for with a supple, almost snake-like motion, a 
red form glided out from the woods and halted when 
about half-way across the field. So he had not obtained, 
his supper after a.lL, and I was glad to think the scheme 
had failed, as it is a hard fate for such a noble game 
bird to replenish a crafty reynard's appetite. When the 
latter stopped, he. crouched flat, made a sudden bound 
forward, and again assumed a cat-like position; repeating 
these actions, until we realized that he was having a 
rather strenuous hunt for field mice; it afforded a most 
amusing spectacle, as all his frantic rushes and bounds 
seemed to avail but little in carrying out his purpose. No 
doubli, it was some slight movement on my part- which 
caused him to suddenly cease these maneuvers and . turn- 
ing around locik in our direction. Then without ap- 
parently the slightest hesitation he trotted toward the 
blind, and when about eight or ten yards distant, sat 
down in the grass and gazed intently at what he must 
have supposed was an animated brush pile. At least he 
had divined the fact that some hidden mystery lurked be- 
hind it, and he would first cock his head on one side 
and then on the other, exactly like an inquisitive dog. 
Present!)'-, after having made a close survey, his courage 
was aroused tO' further investigation, and once more he 
started toward us, coming up to within a few feet of the 
blind, when he suddenly whirled about and trotted off 
like a red streak. 
Another time I was watching this same field, and 
although we had been there nearly an hour, no sight or 
sound indicative of game in the vicinity had encouraged 
the prospect of obtaining a shot that evening. Plaving 
fallen into meditation, I was suddenly aroused by hearing, 
a loud crash of twigs and undergrowth in the woods on 
the opposite side of the field. The noise continued, as if 
some heavy animal was running back and forth along the 
edge of the open,_ just out of sight, and cocking the rifle 
I nerved myself in the expectation of seeing a big buck 
or perchance a bear at any moment burst into view. To 
make matters more puzzling, a strange sound, something 
like a cat mewing, fell upon our ears amid the racket of 
smashing undergrowth, but after a minute's thought Wal- 
lace rightly divined that it was a fawn blatting. Then all 
at once, as we intently watched the place from which the 
noises seemed to come, a small red doe bounded into 
sight with a fawn running beside her, and followed by 
another big mule-eared doe. The three advanced to the 
middle of the field and commenced to feed, presenting a 
pleasant and interesting picture as they moved about, the 
lithe grace of every motion being a delight to witness. 
I am relating this incident in order to illustrate the gentle 
nature of the deer family, and especially with regard to 
the soft-eyed does, which are supposed by some never to 
display any traits of character except those which are 
beneficent a,nd timid. While wandering aimlessly about 
the fawn happened to draw near the blue doe, and must 
have confidently come within too close proximity, for, 
quick as a flash the other reared on her hindlegs and 
struck viciously at the inoffensive little creature, which 
luckily escaped a blow from the knife-like hoofs, and fled 
hastily back to its mother. Such behavior was too much 
of a good thing, and feeling thoroughly enraged, I pushed 
the rifle through an opening left for this purpose in the 
blind and put the sight on the big doe's shoulder; but she 
proved quicker to suspect the hidden danger than I had 
anticipated, and before I could shoot wheeled, and, accom- 
panied by the others, disappeared with long bounding 
