212 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1921 
TAMING RUFFED GROUSE 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
1 HAVE just received from the Game 
Warden’s Department at Lansing the 
following correspondence which I know 
will be intensely interesting to sports- 
men: 
Lansing, Mich., Feb. 24, 1921. 
My dear Mershon: 
For several years one William King 
of Cheboygan County has been giving a 
little attention to the feeding of part- 
ridge (ruffed grouse) during winter 
months. A short time ago we heard 
that he was entertaining an unusually 
large bunch this winter and we re- 
quested our Deputy C. A. Peterson to 
drop into King’s when convenient and 
see what he was doing. 
We are just in receipt of a letter 
from Deputy Peterson reporting the 
visit, copy of which we are inclosing. 
It seems to us that this letter is chuck 
full of human interest for the hunter 
and sportsman, particularly as this 
man King for many years was notori- 
ous as a violator of every law that was 
passed in the interest of game or fish 
protection. King has seen the light 
and is an ardent conservator. 
Yours sincerely, 
John Baird, Commissioner. 
Wolverine, Mich., Feb. 19, 1921. 
Hon. John Baird, Commissioner, Lans- 
ing, Mich. 
Dear Sir — Have just returned from 
William King’s place on west side of 
Burt Lake. As you requested, I went 
prepared to take some pictures of the 
partridge Mr. King referred to in his 
letter. As Deputy Weber has had con- 
siderable experience taking pictures I 
had him make the trip with me. 
We arrived at King’s about three 
o’clock in the afternoon, met King and 
his boy, who told us the birds would 
not be in until six o’clock by his time. 
Of course he said they might be five 
minutes early, but would not vary more 
than that either way. At fifteen min- 
utes to six we looked out of the win- 
dows and saw no birds in sight. King 
said: “There is no use looking for them 
until feeding time, as I feed them at 
just the same time each night, and they 
will not come before that time.” 
At five minutes to six he picked up 
the feed pail and opened the door, rat- 
tled the corn in the pail and called as 
we would call our chickens, and Weber 
and Peterson had their eyes opened. 
Partridge were coming from every 
direction, how many, to be exact, we 
could not tell, but we counted up to 
fifty and there were many that stayed 
back on account of our moving around. 
We secured sixteen views and I think 
some of them at least will be good. 
However, if they are not clear I will 
make another trip and stay all night 
and get some views in the morning, as 
he tells us they stay some mornings 
until the sun is well up. 
Mr. King calls and commands these 
birds and they understand him as well 
as a well-trained dog. No doubt there 
will be some that will be loath to be- 
lieve that the most wary of all game 
birds could be handled in this manner. 
One bird in particular that he calls 
Pete, upon hearing his name, comes on 
the run and feeds out of his hand like 
a pet chicken. 
As we were about to leave, King said, 
“I will show you how much confidence 
they have in me,” and he turned and 
went into the house and in three sec- 
onds there was not a single bird to be 
seen. 
Any one who is interested in wild 
life would find his time well spent 
should he make a trip to King’s place. 
Very truly yours, 
C. A. Peterson. 
There are many instances of ruffed 
grouse becoming tame, and in many 
cases a single bird will evince a real 
liking for a person. I have had them 
come out on a woods road and follow 
me along and I would cluck to them 
and they would cluck back like an old 
hen. I am sure that had I had the op- 
portunity and time I could have tamed 
them. 
On the road to my fishing place on 
the North Branch of the Au Sable 
River is the route of a mail carrier. 
Every day he stopped at a certain place 
in a little thicket on the road and sat 
down on a log and ate his lunch while 
his horse, fastened to a nearby sapling, 
munched his oats. He noticed a ruffed 
grouse would come and eat the oats 
and finally came to pieces of bread that 
he tossed to it. He arrived at this 
nooning place at the same time each 
day, and it finally got so the partridge 
was there looking for him or would 
come as soon as he fastened his horse 
and got out his lunch. He regularly 
depended upon this bird and it became 
eventually so tame that it would sit on 
the log beside him while he ate his 
lunch and share his lunch with him. 
A visit to King’s place on the part 
of our best moving picture men like 
McClintock or Finley or some of the 
others would result in some mighty 
good grouse pictures. 
W. B. Mershon, Michigan. 
THE FARMER AND THE GAME 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
T HE editorial on page 547 of Forest 
and Stream for October, 1920, con- 
cerning the farmer’s relation to game, 
is, in the last paragraph, very true; so 
true that it is a wonder that more game 
conservationists have not thought of it. 
There is some doubt as to the truth of 
the things which are implied in the 
other parts of the article. 
It is hard to locate the “average far- 
mer.” The experts do not agree when 
they try to tell who he is. It is sure, 
however, that many farmers and farm 
laborers live under housing and working 
conditions which would not be tolerated 
by laborers in other occupations. 
There is some room for argument as 
to the value of having game on a farm. 
The farmer knows that he can have a 
great many game birds on his land with- 
out any serious loss, so far as the 
actions of the birds themselves are con- 
cerned. He knows also that if he has 
birds on his land in numbers approach- 
ing what may be termed “fully stocked” 
that fact will be well known to the 
large number of doctors, lawyers, bank- 
ers, merchants and other business men 
of most of the villages and cities within 
thirty miles or more, and that many of 
them will have their plans all laid to 
visit as much of his land as is out of 
sight of the buildings very early on the 
first morning of the open season without 
regard to whether the land is posted or 
not. 
The fact that we shall never again 
have the land fully stocked with game 
until the laws are radically changed 
does not alter the fact that under the 
present system it is a serious liability 
to the farmer in direct ratio to the 
numbers present. 
It is truly remarkable to see how 
many men, when they put on a hunting 
coat, put off all courtesy and all con- 
sideration for the rights of others. In 
the vast majority of cases, when a man, 
apparently a gentleman, asks for per- 
mission to hunt on a certain property 
and is rudely told to go elsewhere he is 
simply reaping what another has sowed. 
The native-born loafer destroys much 
game. If his “liberties” are restricted, 
as they may sometimes be in the making 
of a huge game preserve, he may adopt 
very vigorous methods of reprisal in an 
attempt to show his neighbor that all 
men are equal. 
The foreign-born hunter or the native- 
born hunter of foreign parentage de- 
