546 
FOREST AND STREAM 
October, 1920 
FORESTS STREAM 
FORTY-NINTH YEAR 
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. 
WILERED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111, 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3rd, Washington, D. C. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P. HOLMAN, Associate Editor 
TOM WOOD, Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously -promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation, and a refined taste for natural, objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
HUN 1 iNG DAYS 
'T’O all true sportsmen there comes at this season 
1 of the year a keen longing to go afield. Some- 
thing stirs within them — some dim memory of olden 
days when with dog and gun they wandered through 
the autumn fields revives the age-old passion for tne 
hunt. With eager eyes they search for signs of the 
ripening year, for well they know that not until the 
first sharp frost has cleared away the murk of sum- 
mer’s heat will their world be ready. 
The duck hunter has made his plans for the open- 
ing day when on marsh or bay the early light will 
find him on some favorite point while the silken rus- 
tle of wild-fowl wings is borne down to him on the 
wind that presages the dawn, and the upland shooter 
has arranged with mind aglow the very last detail of 
some prospective trip that will make his days on 
stubble field or cover a time of sure delight. 
But the big game hunter is already away in quest 
of high adventure. He is even now on his chosen 
hunting grounds. Each morn finds him braving the 
thinning mist as he climbs with sure foot and steady 
nerve into the realms of the big horn or goat. The 
whistle of the marmot among the wind-swept rocks 
finds an answering note in his heart. In the bottom 
lands among the cottonwoods and quaking aspens 
the moose hunter is breathing again the scent of 
damp places and listening to the gurgle of soft water. 
For these favored ones the lowlands are painted in 
colors of beauty while high on the sheep ranges 
patches of scarlet bunch grass are turning ever a 
deeper crimson as the cool nights and sun-lit days 
sweep over them with the sure touch of a master 
artist. Each day at eventide their camp fires dot 
the great lone land with little spots of cheer. For 
them the sights and sounds of the wilderness are one 
with their every thought and action. 
To the toiler in the city who may not tread these 
well-loved paths this year there comes a melancholy 
sense of deep regret. The keen longing will not be 
danied, but let him take heart in the thought that 
Nature is lavish with her opportunities and rich in 
store of happy days to come. If he cannot jour- 
ney this year to the land of heart’s desire, another 
season will find it waiting for him. The wilderness 
will hold her treasures. Duck hosts which now are 
drifting down our shores will swing backward at the 
end of winter, and, rearing their young in the lone 
marshes of the north, will once again move down- 
ward as the summer wanes with ranks increased. 
Upland birds will scatter far and wide, but next 
year will gather in their favorite covers — wild sheep 
will breedand new rams with wider spread of horns 
will some day greet the hunter on the high slopes 
that lead upward to the land of clearer vision. 
THE DISAPPEARING FUR BEARERS 
r T’ PIE constantly growing fashion of wearing furs 
A winter and summer calls ever for more furs, 
and the demand exceeds the supply. The higher 
prices paid by fur buyers stimulate trappers to 
greater exertion; the fur bearers are followed up 
more and more relentlessly and are disappearing. 
Many men can remember when they used to receive 
50 cents for a red fox skin ; now we are told such a 
skin brings $30. Muskrats once worth 6 cents were 
recently quoted at $5.20 each. As a result of these 
prices, marshes which two or three years ago yielded 
a thousand muskrat skins, for a winter’s trapping, 
are now reported to have fallen to 500 or even 400 
skins. This has been caused by over-trapping — by 
trapping too long and too late, which tends to kill off 
the breeding females and to destroy the young they 
are carrying. It pretty well parallels the old spring 
shooting. 
The lessened number of our fur bearers gives 
much anxiety to wild life protectors and to com- 
mercial people alike, and it is possible that the time 
is near when the fur trade as a whole will be calling 
on the protectors to come over and help them. Some 
states have laws regulating the capture of certain 
species of fur bearing animals — fixing seasons when 
they may or may not be taken — and such laws should 
be passed by all the States and Provinces of North 
America. Yet to enact such laws is not enough; 
they must be enforced and to enforce laws against 
the wandering trapper is not easy. 
One or two Provinces of Canada have framed 
regulations which strike the right note by trying to 
control the market. They provide for the enforce- 
ment of the law by inspecting and marking skins 
that are prime, and by forbidding the sale of un- 
marked skins. 
Thus the Province of Quebec has taken over the 
control of its fur trade. Fur traders must take out 
licenses and report monthly all furs bought. The 
Government imposes a small royalty on all skins be- 
fore they can be stamped, and no unstamped skin 
may be sold or shipped out of the Province on penalty 
of confiscation and fine. No inspector will stamp a 
skin which is obviously taken out of season. Con- 
fiscation and fine are the penalty for shipping skins 
from one point to another, unless the contents of 
the package are plainly marked on the outside. All 
this tends to discourage the poacher, who cannot 
market his illegally taken fur. 
It is evident that a Province will find it difficult 
to enforce this law unless adjacent Provinces and 
States have similar laws. There are frequent at- 
tempts — sometimes successful — to evade the Quebec 
law bv sendiner unstamped furs into the Province of 
New Brunswick or the State of New York, and then 
