Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ( NEW YORK SATURDAY, JUNE10,190B. I No. 846°Broad4Iy7new York. 
Six Months, $3. ) a i j_i ■» t ^^ ■^^^y ^ j ■ 7 
^The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms : For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates and full 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre^ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
nbiectS Announcement in first number of 
' * ' Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
A BUFFALO HUNT IN 1905. 
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory liave long been 
a home of the fake; particularly as applied to Indians 
and wild animals. In or about those Territories dwells 
an individual — or a regiment of him— whose occupation 
is the invention of hair-raising tales to be sold to the 
guileless Eastern editor, who serves them up with joy 
for the benefit of his wondering constituency. Thus 
over a large part of the East the belief persists that 
somewhere, in a West that is still wild, Indian out- 
breaks, scalpings, burnings at the stake, destruction of 
mothers and children by packs of wolves, killings of 
men by panthers and coyotes, and the carrying off of 
infants by eagles are still common. In other words, that 
there is still a West of danger and daring, a frontier 
where heroic deeds are still performed, where the beau- 
tiful maiden is carried off by the painted savage and is 
later rescued by the hardy plainsman. 
The fact of fifty years ago is the fiction of to-day; and 
the myth-makers of the Indian country still repeat old 
tales in the present tense and earn a modest stipend by 
imposing on the credulity of Eastern editors who know 
about the West just as much as their readers, and no 
more. Occasionally, a better informed news-purveyor 
who has thrown into the waste basket one of these 
highly embroidered stories, sees it a few months later in 
some esteemed contemporary, and feels uncertain 
whether to be amused at the patience and persistence 
of the faker, or impatient with the ignorance of the 
editor who printed it. 
The latest example of this style of story is an illus- 
trated account in a New York paper purporting to tell 
of a buffalo chase in which 2,500 Indians and 250 cow- 
boys are to take part during the current month. The 
story reads like an advertisement of a Coney Island 
show. It states that the largest herd of genuine buffalo 
in the world will be hunted, and in another place it is 
stated that these genuine buffalo number 32— one-tenth, 
according to the veracious account, of all the American 
buffalo left in the world. In order that the public may 
have an opportunity to see this great show, a grand stand 
a mile and a quarter long has been erected, which will 
seat 60,000 persons. 
It is a little sad that natural things like the buffalo 
and the Indians should be so shamelessly used for graft 
and money getting, but of course shame is an unknown 
thing to people who mix in matters of this sort. They 
see nothing but the possible dollars to be had and care 
only for them. 
We do not in the least believe that there is any pur- 
pose to hunt with the intention of killing any number 
of buffalo. It is possible that two or three old bulls may 
be butchered, but of bulls there is no dearth in this coun- 
try. However, the whole disgusting advertisement em- 
phasizes again what we have so often pointed out — the 
importance of action by Congress to preserve the few 
remaining buffalo and to use every effort that this great 
native beast shall not become extinct. A most excellent 
beginning has already been made in the Yellowstone 
National Park, where Major Pitcher's herd last year 
numbering 40 has considerably increased this summer. 
But this is only a beginning. The remaining buffalo 
ought to be purchased and cared for and bred, and this 
should be authorized by the next Congress, for the 
longer the needed work is put off the less hope there is 
of its feeing sucpessful, 
THE ZEST OF CAMP LIFE. 
Most of us have at times shared the perplexities ex- 
pressed by the author of the "Hunter's Temple" at the 
fact that so many of the men we know are content to go 
through life confining themselves day after day, month 
after month, and year after year to the rut of their rou- 
tine,' without ever treating themselves to the sight of 
forest clothed mountainsides and scarped summits, wind- 
ing rivers or swirling brooks, or the white-tented camp- 
ground. What one gets from his outing is often a rich 
reward out of all proportion to the amount of time ex- 
pended — a reward consisting not only of the present 
enjoyment, but of memories which follow and in which 
that enjoyment is repeated and renewed times beyond 
reckoning. It is the common experience of the sports- 
man that the days of his vacations stand out clear and 
vivid and apart from all the other days of his life. One 
may try in vain to recall the incidents of a day at home, 
but of the days of his excursions to the woods the scene? 
are distinctly photographed in memory, and one may live 
such hours over and over again, and does live them over 
again with a particularity of detail which would mystify 
us with its marvel were it not a phenomenon so familiar. 
The very fact that the experiences of our excursions 
with rod or gun fix themselves so indelibly is an evidence 
of the freshness and intensity of the interest they have 
for us as they occur. 
Camp life is life with zest in it. It is a life of sim- 
plicities — but the simplicities are at the same time, and 
just at the time, the most important things on earth — 
food, drink, fire, a bed. They are essentials of living, 
with the provision of which, under home conditions, he 
does not concern himself. In camp it is different. He 
must gather the wood and draw the water and cook the 
meal and make the bed — and in the doing of the novel 
tasks, if he acquits himself more or less successfully he 
finds a huge not to say ludicrous degree of satisfaction 
and pride in his new-found attainments. 
THE HILL-SILZ CASE. 
Justice Maddox, in the Supreme Court, Brooklyn, has 
handed down a decision in the case against John Hill 
and August Silz, dismissing the writ of habeas corpus. 
The decision is encouraging to those who are engaged in 
the fight against the sale of game in close season in this 
city. It will be recalled that proprietor John Hill, of 
the Clarendon Hotel, Brooklyn, was arrested for having 
in possession a number of game birds in the close sea- 
son. The game had been supplied by August Silz, a 
Manhattan game dealer, who asserted that the birds had 
been imported and were therefore not affected by the 
statute ; and Mr. Silz voluntarily made himself a party 
to the suit. A writ of habeas corpus was taken out, on 
the ground that Messrs. Hill and Silz had violated no 
law ; and Justice Maddox reserved decision. It was 
understood at the time that the disposition of the Hill 
and Silz case might be governed by the result of an- 
other action then in the Supreme Court in New York, 
in which Mr. Silz was a defendant to a charge of like 
nature. This latter case is as yet undetermined. As the 
circumstances of the two prosecutions were substantially 
similar, the dismissal of the habeas corpus in the Brook- 
lyn case — which means that in that case the State does 
have cause of action — is in the line of holding the law 
over dealers in foreign as well as domestic game. 
Meanwhile, the restaurants of this city are carrying 
on openly and extensively a traffic in game birds which 
are served to their guests as having been imported.- - 
The good work of setting aside parks and pleasure 
grounds for the enjoyment of the people, forest reserves 
which shall serve as protections to the water supply of 
rivers, and game preserves where settlement shall not be 
allowed, and timber cutting permitted only under special 
restrictions is still going on. The game preserve idea, 
under that name, as yet seems to have taken hold only 
in Canada, though in practice our national parks per- 
form the work of game preserves. It has recently been 
announced that President Roosevelt is about to set aside 
a new forest reserve of 10,000,000 acres, largely in Idaho, 
a country where water is greatly needed, and where, 
when it is put- on the land, great crops are grown; and 
aoother of about 900,000 acres has just been set aside 
in California in the northern Sierra Nevada Range. As 
already reported in our columns, the Dominion Govern- 
ment has established a new game preserve in the pen- 
insula of Gaspe, a region absolutely without settlement 
except on the coasts, and abounding in fish as well as 
in moose and caribou. All through the land lesser pre- 
serves and parks are being set on foot from time to time 
by towns, by counties and by States, and it seems to be 
the fact that at last the public pleasure ground idea has 
taken a firm hold on the American people. 
it 
In various States where the use of dogs is prohibited 
for hunting deer the law has provided that a dog found 
chasing deer may be killed by any person, the owner 
having no recourse for damage. This is an unwise sys- 
tem, for the reason that it gives opportunity for the kill- 
ing of dogs by irresponsible parties on a false pretext 
that the animals were hunting deer. A more reasonable 
provision is, like that which has just been adopted in 
Massachusetts, that dogs convicted of alleged deer hunt- 
ing may be killed by the game officials or other duly con- 
stituted authorities. This serves the purpose quite as 
well, and insures justice. There used to^ be a contention 
that a deer chasing ,dog should be held immune because 
it was not a reasoning being and could not know that 
it was doing wrong and violating the law; but the dog 
laws have increased in number and in stringency; and a 
result is much improved protection for the game. 
•6 
The Field Columbian Museum of Chicago is sending 
an expedition to explore the heart of Africa and secure 
material for completing its collections of African big 
game. The time remaining for the purpose is short. 
Communication with the interior of the Dark Continent 
will shortly be so convenient, and the influx of the white 
man so rapid and so general, that the wild, fauna is cer- 
tain to be destroyed. The museum expedition will be 
fully equipped, and will proceed under the direction of 
Messrs. Carl E. Akely, of the institution's zoological 
department, and Vernon Shaw Kennedy. 
In camp, the fastidious gourmet becomes the omnivor- 
ous man. As a rule, the members of the average camp- 
ing party do their own cooking. That is to say, .it is 
done by the amiable, obliging member who will volun- 
tarily, or by popular cajolery, act as chef, for which he 
has the hearty approval and support of his affectionate 
confreres. The camp cook, thus qualified, is generally 
a shining star as a sloppy housekeeper. 
But the urbanite, who thus in camp eats his peck of 
dirt at one sitting, raises not his voice in protest. Let 
the dishes be smeary, the potatoes soggy, the coffee 
muddy, the bread heavy, the fish and game badly 
dressed and worse served, and our good urbanite, so 
dainty and critical at home, avidiously crunches his food, 
and gulps more ashes, twigs, fish scales and feathers at 
one meal in camp than he possibly could in the course 
of his whole life at home, yet maintaining a discreet 
reticence the while. If one protest were uttered, the 
volunteer camp cook might resign, at the same time 
pertinently suggesting that his fellows could cook for 
themselves. And yet the wretched camp cook, in prac- 
tice, might be the critical connoisseur in his own home, 
in theory. 
A LARGE proportion of the work which has been done 
in this country to awaken interest in game and fish pro- 
tection has been accomplished by sportsmen combined 
for the purpose in clubs and associations. The individual 
is comparatively powerless; the association is strong. 
The club movement is one to be encouraged; and every 
sportsman owes it to himself and to the interests of the 
craft to ally himself with a protective organization 
where it exists. In no State are the various local clubs 
more vigorous and efficient than in Massachusetts. The 
good results of their efforts are seen not only in the laws 
they have secured but in the efficient execution of the 
laws, which is, as the officials have cheerfully testified, 
due in generous measure to the support rendered by the 
clubs. If the sportsmen of a State or of a county or 
township do not get what they want in the way of game 
protection service, they may, in nine cases out of ten, fj}!^ 
the remedy in organizec| effoTt, 
