542 
Forest and Stream 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
ADVISORY BOARD 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, NEW YORK, N. Y. 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
EDMUND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3d, Washington, D. C. 
JOHN T. NICHOLS, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
T. GILBERT PEARSON, National Association of Audubon Societies. 
WILLIAM ERUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P. HOLMAN, Managing Editor 
T. H. MEARNS, Treasurer 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulation 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor 
recreation, and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
GAME CAN BE SAVED 
W HEN you hear a man say, “The game must go,” 
think of Pennsylvania. When you hear the pes- 
simist acclaim that in five years the settling up 
of the country will have wiped the game from the local- 
ity in which he lives, remember what Pennsylvania has 
done. 
Nearly four score years ago Frank Forester predicted 
that in 1900 there would be no game shooting in Amer- 
ica. Surely he was wrong, and we believe that calamity 
howlers of to-day are just as badly mistaken. 
Twenty-five years ago Pennsylvania was shot out. 
To-day the gunners of that state are furnished with a 
brand of sport that cannot be equaled in many states, 
and she has not only furnished the game, but Pennsyl- 
vania has gone farther and furnished her citizens with 
a place to shoot. 
The public shooting- ground — game refuge idea has 
conclusively proved its worth in that state. The Penn- 
sylvania game commission has accomplished wonderful 
results by establishing game refuges throughout the 
state. In every instance public shooting grounds are 
provided in the surrounding country for the benefit of 
the sportsmen. The commission has brought the game 
back to the point where any law-abiding citizen may 
enjoy a day afield with a reasonable assurance of suc- 
cess. Pennsylvania with the upland game has done for 
her citizens what the Public Shooting Ground — Game 
Refuge Bill will do with migratory species for the 
sportsmen of the nation. 
According to a recent report of the Pennsylvania 
Board of Game Commissioners, the gunners of that 
state last year killed nearly 5,000 buck deer, 500 black 
bear, over 4,500 wild turkey, 325,000 ruffled grouse, over 
15,000 ring-necked pheasants , 50,000 bob-whites and 
over 35,000 woodcock, and last but not least, the shoot- 
ers of the Keystone State killed 3,600,000 rabbits. 
Without taking into consideration the migratory wa- 
terfowl and shore birds killed, think what the meat value 
of the game taken in this one state is worth. Take that 
figure only as interest, because it represents the yearly 
crop, capitalize this at 6 per cent., and you will be sur- 
prised at the value of the wild game in Pennsylvania 
to-day. 
Any state is fully justified in protecting and caring for 
the game within its borders from the standpoint of the 
food alone, to say nothing of the benefit accruing to the 
citizen who secures health of mind and body by an occa- 
sional day afield. 
CAREFUL HANDLING OF FIREARMS 
S UPPORT of the movement for careful handling of 
firearms by New Jersey sportsmen has cut gunning 
accidents in that State to a minimum annual record. 
The Fish and Game Commission, a few years ago, began 
its “safety first” campaign for hunters, and the results 
have been far-reaching. A sort of esprit de corps has 
been built up among hunters and the man who handles 
a gun in a way that would menace his own safety or that 
of others, is quickly frozen out of a hunting party by the 
other members. 
“Don’t shoot until you see your game distinctly,” is 
a rule which the commission insists that every gunner 
should remember in the field. The man who points his 
gun and presses the trigger before he is absolutely sure 
what he is firing at should not be tolerated by decent 
sportsmen. He menaces the life of other persons and he 
is a potential law violator, for even if he misses a human 
being, he may be killing protected game. 
Other good points to remember might be enumerated 
as follows : 
Never load your gun until you are ready to hunt. 
Never carry it loaded in trolley cars, trains, automobiles 
or other vehicles and never leave it loaded around the 
house. Remove the shells the moment you stop hunting. 
Never lean your loaded gun against a tree or fence. 
Never point a gun at another person in jest. It’s the 
“didn’t know it was loaded” gun that plays a ghastly 
joke on the pointer and pointee. 
Never jump a ditch or climb a fence with a gun unless 
the shells are removed. Never draw a gun through the 
fence with the muzzle toward you. 
Never rest on the muzzle of your gun — unless you are 
seeking eternal rest. Never poke the muzzle of your gun 
* into the ground unless you are anxious to see a barrel 
explosion a few inches in front of your nose the next 
time you press the trigger. 
Never “hog” all the game. Never kill more than you 
can immediately use. You, yourself, may want to go 
gunning- next year. 
Never fail to kill the tramp cats you find in the woods 
and fields. They prey upon birds valuable to the farmer 
and destroy much young game. 
Never hesitate to report to wardens or the State Fish 
and Game Commission, in confidence, all violations of 
the game laws. These laws must be enforced to con- 
serve game for the benefit of all sportsmen. 
Never grow too old to enjoy a day’s sport with rod 
or gun. 
TRAPPING SKUNKS 
S INCE the day when man first began to adapt the 
skins of wild animals to his own use, few have been 
held in such universal disrepute and derision as the 
skunk. His name has been a symbol of all that is base 
and inglorious. 
But of late years all this has changed. Those who 
once shunned him the most, now dog his footsteps and 
with bait and scent and gun seek to capture him. 
Eormerly an object to be avoided at all hazards, to- 
day his soft black coat has come to represent a definite 
prize, a source of many dollars in the bank, and comforts 
in the home. Over a million dollars annually is paid by 
the large fur houses simply for the roughly dried skins. 
