2B4 FOREST AND STREAM. [apwl i, 1905 
National Park Game. 
G. E. Farrow, superintendent of Yellowstone Park 
hotels, said the other day, while on a trip in the East : 
"The buffalo herd in Yellowstone Park, started by the 
United States Government, and during the past few years 
very carefully watched to prevent the death of the young, 
is increasing rapidly, and will this year number between 
twenty and twenty-five more animals than a year ago at 
this time. The herd is in excellent condition. It has 
wintered well, and the calves are growing fast and appear 
to be sound and strong. It has been the v^ish of the 
Government officers to increase the herd until it resern- 
bles the old-time herds which covered the Western prai- 
ries. The experiment of propagating the animals is 
definitely a success, and the army officers, upon whom 
the work has largely devolved, are correspondingly 
pleased. Major Pitcher, of the United States Army, 
represents the Government in the Park, and is practi- 
cally and officially the custodian of the herd. 
"There is every promise that the natural increase of the 
herd will add twenty more animals this summer. The 
buffalo calves of last year survived remarkably well, and 
there is no reason why the calves this year should not 
meet equal success. The buffalo don't need to struggle 
for a living. Feed is good, the valleys give them splendid 
shelter, and they have the pick of grazing lands over 
which to roam. 
"The other wild animals in the Yellowstone are in- 
creasing in number. Elk and deer came down to the 
Mammoth Hot Springs this winter in large numbers and 
roamed around within plain sight. The deep snows on 
the mountains forced them to lower altitudes. They 
didn't seem to mind the snow or cold and appeared to be 
in the very best of shape. The bears increase yearly, 
and are one of the first attractions to the tourists, since 
they do not hesitate to come into the open where they 
may be seen. They are mild mannered and inoffensive, 
bothered m.ore with designs on the hotel garbage piles 
than with hostile operations against mere men and 
women. The garbage piles attract them every night, and 
they fight and quarrel and talk bear politics over the 
empty canned goods tins to the amusement of thousands 
of people who annually witness the banquets 'down at 
the dump.' ' . 
"Magnificent trout fishing is promised for the conimg 
season, which opens June I. The Government prohibited 
trout fishing during the winter, and not a line has been 
dropped into the dozens of beautiful streams since last 
fall. More to the point, the trout are watched, and where 
they seem to be thinning out, steps are taken to give 
them a chance to multiply again. There will be royal 
sport for the summer visitors this year; better even than 
in previous seasons, and that is saying a good deal. There 
is no better protection of fish and game than that of the 
Federal Government in the Yellowstone Park." 
Connecticut's License Bill. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The bill now before the Connecticut Legislature which 
places a tax of one dollar upon residents of the State atid 
ten dollars upon aliens for the privilege of hunting withm 
the State, is creating considerable discussion among 
sportsmen. In fact, the majority of sportsmen appear to 
regard such a law as an infringement on what they con- 
sider to be their rights. For one, I fail to see the justice 
of such a claim. 
It seems to me that the very purpose for which this 
bill was created should appeal favorably to all sportsmen 
who honestly believe in the propagation of game and the 
impartial enforcement of the game laws. The money col- 
lected through this tax is to be used for replenishing the 
quail supply, and, as I understand, for other stocking pur- 
poses, besides the payment of warden expenses for 
stricter enforcement of the game laws. 
It seems incomprehensible that men who go afield with 
dog and gun are yet unwilling to contribute so small a 
sum as one dollar a year toward perpetuating their 
favorite pastim.e. If our game is to be preserved, it can 
only be through the channels of strenuous work, and 
some sacrifice on the part of those who find recreation 
and pleasure in seeking it afield. And they who find diver- 
sion in this manner from the monotonous hum-drum of 
"getting a living" should be the last to cry oyer the ex- 
penditure of one dollar a year for the continuation of 
hunting. If persons who indulge in such sport are averse 
to footing the expense, who do they expect will come 
forward and volunteer to pay for their pleasure? Among 
some sportsmen (so-called) there exists an inconsistent 
sentiment of what they are pleased to style "principle" 
in this matter. They contend that such a law will inter- 
fere with their rights as free American citizens. Now, 
if shooting and fishing are to be perpetuated, and that 
portion of the community who care nothing for such 
pursuits should be compelled to foot the entire expense for 
the same, then where do their rights as free American 
citizens come in? Personally, I am proud to call myself 
a sportsman, and earnestly hope the day will never come 
when I will expect someone else to bear the burdens 
which may necessarily attach to my pleasure. 
There is another strong point to be considered in this 
bill. Its passage, which seems assured, will tend to 
eliminate a large percentage of the destructive element 
from our fields and woods. The farmer's fowl and cattle 
will be more secure, and his fences and other property. 
The foreigner who cannot speak our language and knows 
nothing of our laws will be held in restraint until he has 
had time at least to learn a little of both. And it can 
be truthfully said that sportsmen who live jn the city 
know nothing of the trouble which this foreign element 
causes the farmer. Just a few miles north of where I 
live, a valuable cow was killed two falls ago by a mob of 
this sort. The owner never received any compensation 
whatever. 
Much has been written on the subject of "What is a 
sportsman?" While there may be a vast difference of 
opinion on this subject in some respects, let us hope that 
all agree on one point — that in whatever branch one may 
seek sportsmanship, he may at least be willing to main- 
tain his favorite pastime at his own expense. A man 
can neither possess good sportsmanship nor good citizen- 
ship if he fails to concede that his rights end where an- 
other man's rights begin. It cannot fairly be expected that 
the man whose hobby may be horse-racing should be 
compelled to bear the expense of supplying game for 
sportsmen who shoot, any more than it would be fair for 
the latter to supply horses for those who^ like to race 
them. 
All new movements for bettering old conditions have a 
greater or lesser amount of opposition. This bill is no 
exception to that rule. Last year the "bone of conten- 
tion" was the new trespass law. There were legions of 
those who considered that law an imposition on personal 
freedom, never for a moment conceding the right of the 
landowner to enjoy his own property and to protect the 
same, and thereby insure his own personal freedom as 
guaranteed by the Constitution of our land. To-day, how- 
ever, many of those who talked the loudest at that time 
are talking just as loud the other way. They have found 
that very few requests to hunt on the farmers' land have 
been refused. That it is more satisfactory to hunt on 
land with the owner's permission to do so than to hunt 
with the expectation of being ordered off every minute. 
Personally I firmly believe that as it has been with the 
trespass law just so will it be with this bill when it has 
become law and had a fair test. They who condemn it 
now will be loudest in its praise in a year or so from 
now. William H. Avis. 
HiGHrt'ooo, Conn., March 8. 
Maine Game Interests. 
Bangor, Me., March i8. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
If non-resident Maine sportsmen have seen the reports 
current in the daily press for the last mOnth or two, 
relative to the proposed changes in the Maine hunt- 
ing and fishing laws, they must be wondering if a non- 
resident is to be welcomed in this State at all another 
season. Your correspondent is very glad to be able 
to say that much of the threatened legislation has 
failed to prove acceptable to the legislative committee 
before whom fish and game hearings are held, and 
while a general fish and game biH has been reported 
by that committee to the Legislature now in session, 
it is greatly modified from the original draft, and is 
in fact shorn of some of its most dangerous features. 
The original draft, as presented by Senator Stetson 
of Penobscot, was sportsmanlike in one thing, although 
to carry out the provision would, it seemed to old 
hunters, be practically impossible and result in the leav- 
ing of great numbers of carcasses to spoil. It pro- 
vided that but one doe deer might be shot by a hunter, 
while still permitting him two, one of which must be 
a buck. 
It was also proposed to so change the moose law 
that the season should more nearly compare with that 
of the neighboring Canadian provinces, permitting the 
killing of moose for the first fifteen days of October 
and maintaining the same length of season by cutting 
off the last hair of November. This change was not 
indorsed by the chah-man of the fish and game com- 
mission, but he yielded to the desires of those resort 
proprietors who had seen the fall business materially 
reduced by the operation of the hunter's license, and 
felt that induce^nents should be held out to bring back 
the sportsmen who had wandered beyond their reach. 
Mr. Carleton is evidently sane enough to realize that 
this would be killing the goose, for he took pains to 
tell the committee that he had inserted the measure 
against his better judgment. * 
Another proposed change was to cut off the fifteen 
days in December, now allowed for deer killing, and 
many hoped and expected, almost, that this would 
mean an opening of the season for the last half of 
September. 
The first provision of the bill in its new draft is to 
continue the protection of caribou another six years, 
so that they cannot be legally killed before October 
IS, 1911. As there are practically no caribou in the 
State to protect, and the protection hitherto accorded 
that migratory animal has scarcely resulted in ariy 
noticeable increase, the status of this branch of big 
game hunting will hardly be benefited, either way. 
Should the conditions which drove these animals from 
Maine be removed or overcome, it may be that there 
will be a great increase in the number of caribou in 
the State before another six years have passed into 
history. 
Thefnext provision would seem wrong to those who wish 
to see the moose protected, and violators of the moose 
law punished so severely that they will not wish to 
again transgress, since it reduces the fine, which has 
been "not less than five hundred nor more than one 
thousand" dollars, and substitutes a fine "not exceed- 
ing five hundred" dollars. Thus the fine for killing 
a moose illegally may be any sum_ the court and the 
commissioners may agree upon, or if another clause of 
the same section passes, the whole matter of settle- 
ment is between the commissioner, whose judgment may 
be final, and the offender, with any sum from one cent 
to five hundred dollars as the price to pass from the 
offender to the commissioner. The clause referred to 
is an innocent appearing one, and extends to the com- 
missioners of inland fisheries and game certain 
"powers of the commissioners of the sea and sho 
fisheries." Examination into the provisions of sectif 
61 of chapter 41 of R. S. shows this power to be 
most vital one, and in the hands of an unprincipli 
commissioner might be made the legalizing of almo 
any sort of extortion from those who should prefe 
having violated the law or having been accused of : 
doing, to pay any price and avoid the ignominy i 
inconvenience of a public trial. The law allows tl 
sea and shore fisheries commissioner to make settl 
ments according to his judgment with violators, wit 
out recourse to the law, and it is claimed by those wl 
pretend to know, to be in the interest of the offendir 
hunter who may be caught red-handed far from civiliz 
tion, and who would like to settle on the spot if 1 
could, and avoid a long trip to the settlements, with 
trial there, adding greatly to the costs. This souni 
well, but for several years the wardens have claimf 
to have a system that has practically permitted settl 
ments along this line, when there was no chance 
escape for the accused by a trial. Of course, tl 
present commissioners would never be guilty of a 
lowing graft to enter into their department, but wii 
no public record of a trial, and a returning of £, 
moneys received in penalties direct into the hands ' 
the State treasurer, as now provided for by law, it wou 
not be difficult to receive and apply to the personal e; 
richment of commissioner, warden or even depu 
warden, a considerable sum now and then from son 
non-resident who might be more wealthy than wis 
and who should prefer to "settle" for almost any su 
if thereby he might continue his outing and avo 
public humiliation. Who would be the wiser if tl 
case should never be reported to the commissioner, c 
to the Governor and Council? It would forever r 
main a secret between the accused man and him wI 
should collect the fine. With a State department th; 
does not publish a record in its reports of the cast 
and how settled, no one is in a position to kno 
whether his particular case ever got beyond the wooc 
where he first met the warden, and where he was r. 
lieved of -his spare cash, for his violation of the law 
Lawbreaking should be made so obnoxious that r 
sportsman visiting the Maine woods will indulge : 
it, and if a man is caught he should be taken before 
court, tried, and if convicted, made to pay the penalty- 
barring, of course, those occasional cases Where thei 
are mitigating circumstances. To evade this princip 
of Americanism is to endanger the whole system < 
game protection, and put into the hands of unscrupu 
ous men a weapon that they won't need to learn t 
use, and use effectively, too. This very clause, if n 
other, is likely to be the rock on which the bill no 
before the Legislature will founder. Although tl: 
legislative committee has reported favorably on it i 
the new draft, there has been all through the sessio 
a sentiment against any meddling with the game law 
as they are, and the leading papers of the State hav 
expressed it as wise to let well enough alone, at lea; 
for a couple of years more, to give people a chanc 
to become acquainted with what law there now i 
And the indications are that there will be one of th 
most interesting fights of the present session when th 
bill comes up for passage. ; 
A special section, to appease the farmers, has beei 
put _ into the bill, allowing in so many words tb 
cultivator of crops to kill any deer "doing actua 
substantial damage to any growing cultivated crops' 
provided he does not "pursue the deer beyond th: 
limits of his cultivated land in which the damage i 
being done." He may consume the deer in his ow, 
family, but must send a full account of the killing t 
the commissioners. All persons are forbidden to plac 
any salt as an attraction to deer. ^ 
The next section is of special interest to non 
residents, since it adds to the license law already i^ 
force, one to compel bird hunters from out of th 
State to pay $5.00 for the privilege of hunting birdi 
this five dollars to be deducted from the cost of 
big game license if the hunter remain to hunt larg' 
game. Thus bird hunters must pay five dollars, an: 
hunters of "bull moose or deer, or ducks, partridges 
woodcock or other birds or wild animals" must pa^ 
fifteen dollars therefor. If this law is interpreted liteij 
ally, it looks as if the man who wants to hunt bean* 
foxes, wildcats or hedgehogs will be obliged to tak 
out a license at least to hunt birds, if he would avoi; 
arrest, although there is no license price mentioned 
for the other wild animals than moose and deeij 
Other wild animals do not call for a license, but thi 
commissioners have had so much difficulty in makinjj 
every man who carried a gun in the Maine woodi 
procure a license before he went into the woods, an«l 
were helpless when the man was merely hunting bird- 
or bear, that they are trying to make it easy to ap 
prehend every evader of the principles of the licensi 
law. i 
The moose hunting law is to be amended so tha 
the points or tines on the horns of the bull moos) 
that has passed the calf age, must be at least threj 
inches long on each of their horns. This will preservl 
the freaks with well developed antlers on one side anii 
none on the other, if the hunter sees the undeveloped 
side first. \ 
Another provision will ease a part of the limitation! 
under which the taxidermists are now working, sinci 
it permits those having a license to buy and tan dee 
skins, to buy the heads also,_ if not detached from th| 
skin. And marketmen, having purchased deer, ma;| 
sell the heads of same to taxidermists. > 
Under the head of fish the new bill provides th^ 
one persona may take but 25 pounds of togue, in: 
stead of forty as allowed for the last two years. Thi 
clause allowing trollers for bass to keep white perc 
