MAKEWOODCRAFT A STUDY 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
M ANY people in planning their trips 
into the woods spend much time and 
energy in picking out fancy, and often 
costly, equipment, and when the whole 
array is packed and ready for the rail- 
road station, the camping-place located 
and guides engaged, they think the 
whole thing is done; that they are fully 
equipped and are amply prepared. 
I believe in good equipment and any- 
thing a man can take into the woods with 
him which will add to his comfort or 
pleasure without actually overburdening 
himself or his guide is equipment well 
chosen. The “blanket-and-bacon” stuff 
is all right if that is the best you can do, 
but it isn’t always the most comfortable. 
The average sportsman goes into the 
woods for pleasure, and it is better for 
him and his guide to carry a little extra 
duffle and thus avoid the many discom- 
forts to which he may be exposed. 
I have slept under the stars, and many 
times in the rain, without blanket or 
extra clothing and after a supper of 
frogs’ legs toasted on a stick over a fire 
with perhaps a few handfuls of berries; 
so I have some idea of what I am talking 
about, and my advice would be to let the 
sportsman and his guide carry enough 
equipment so as to be always comfort- 
able, regardless of the weather. 
But do not get the idea that prepara- 
tion ends right here. It would do lots 
of sportsmen I have been out with con- 
siderable good to look up their supply 
of woodcraft. They would enjoy their 
trip better, would appreciate the beauties 
of Nature better, and would remove a 
large load of responsibility from the 
shoulders of their guides if they would 
do so. 
Perhaps we do not realize how well 
Nature takes care of us and supplies us 
with so many available necessities. Do 
we see the material she holds for us to 
use for shelter or food almost every- 
where when we are wandering through 
the unbroken forest? Not unless we 
know considerable woodcraft, and even 
then she keeps us guessing at times. 
Suppose you get separated from your 
guide and are actually lost in real woods. 
You fire your rifle until your supply of 
ammunition is alarmingly low and get 
no reply from your guide or anyone else, 
and the pleasant thought comes to you 
that it is about a two-days’ tramp in a 
straight line to civilization. You have 
lost all sense of direction and have no 
idea which way to go. 
What are you going to do? Try to 
see how fast you can go and how long 
you can keep it up before you fall from 
exhaustion? Nine cases out of ten you 
will unless you know considerable wood- 
craft. 
I have found several “lost” hunters in 
my time. But of all these only once did 
I find one who was calmly and quietly 
preparing himself a place where he could 
pass the night in comparative comfort. 
All the others had exhausted themselves, 
and in two cases they were nearly dead 
from cold and exhaustion when found. 
So I advise all who contemplate going 
into the wilderness to get a good book 
on woodcraft and to study it. Learn all 
you can by observation and sound com- 
mon sense while in the woods and watch 
your guide. He is a regular dictionary 
on woodcraft in most cases — then teach 
it to your boys and your friends. 
C. L. Burns, Maine. 
RIGHT OF ALIENS TO HUNT 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
T HIS is perhaps not an inopportune 
time to call to your attention a mat- 
ter regarding the conservation of wild 
life, with which I was personally inter- 
ested some months ago. You are, of 
course, familiar with the agitation and 
discussion concerning trespassing upon 
private lands, which preceded the last 
Legislature. Anticipating that it would 
be a proper time to bring up at the last 
Legislature the question of aliens and 
their right to hunt and pursue game, I 
drafted some proposed amendments to 
the Conservation Law, and these amend- 
ments in the form of a bill entitled “An 
Act to amend the Conservation Law in 
relation to aliens” was introduced in the 
Assembly by Hon. Franklin W. Judson. 
My information is that this bill passed 
the Assembly, but died in Committee in 
the Senate. This bill provided as fol- 
lows : 
“It shall be unlawful for any unnatur- 
alized, foreign-born person to hunt for, 
or capture or kill in this State any wild 
bird or animal, either game or otherwise, 
of any description, excepting in defense 
of person or property; and to that end, 
it shall be unlawful for any unnatural- 
ized, foreign-born person, within this 
State, to own or be possessed of a shot- 
gun or rifle of any make.” 
I submit that this bill should have read 
“unnaturalized foreign-born resident,” 
instead of “person,” to avoid incurring 
the enmity of our neighbors in Canada. 
A similar statute I find was enacted in 
Pennsylvania by the Act of May 8, 1909, 
P. L. 466-469. The validity of the Penn- 
sylvania Act was tested in the Federal 
Supreme Court in the case of Joseph 
Patsone, plaintiff in error, against the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 232 
U. S., 138. The Supreme Court, in a 
very able opinion written by Justice 
Holmes, sustained a conviction under the 
statute. 
It seems to me that there is here pre- 
sented a principle which any group of 
people having conservation of wild life 
seriously at heart ought thoroughly to 
consider. When we understand, as is 
conclusively shown by authorities cited 
in the record of the Patsone case, that 
the killing and taking of wild life is a 
privilege merely, conferred or permitted 
by the Legislature, even as to citizens, 
and in no sense a right, the question is 
presented how far we should indulge this 
privilege in a class of people who are 
not citizens, and a large percentage of 
whom are wanton destructionists of all 
forms of wild life. If a similar law 
could be enacted in this State it is sub- 
mitted that much of the unfortunate ex- 
perience of landowners with trespassing 
sportsmen could be avoided, and it is 
certain that a great amount of wild life 
would be conserved. 
I should like very much to have the 
opinion of your readers upon this ques- 
tion. It is probable that I shall arrange 
to have the bill reintroduced at the next 
Legislature. Leon Plumb, New York. 
IS THE BLACK BEAR GAME? 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
I WAS interested in the editorial in 
your October number, entitled “Black 
Bear Is Game,” but I think it all depends 
on the view-point. If you are a sports- 
man living or shooting in a country 
where bruin may be hunted with dogs or 
stalked on foot, he certainly offers very 
acceptable sport, though utterly lacking 
in the will to fight that adds tang to the 
chase of many of his relatives — Amer- 
ican, European and Asiatic. As a fighter 
he is outclassed by bucks of the white- 
tailed deer and the little bobcat. I have 
killed two of his kind with two shots 
from a 12-gauge gun loaded with No. 6 
shot. 
There is in this county an old Stevens’ 
Hunters Pet, skeleton stock, .32 rim-fire, 
that has killed more than 200 black bears 
in traps. There is now living in this 
town a man who some years ago made 
a fair income by trapping bear. He 
always killed them with one shot of an 
old-style .38 S. & W. 
Men have lost their lives when at- 
tacked by wounded bucks, but I know 
of but one authentic instance of an 
armed man being killed by a black bear. 
Bill Knight, or “Nide,” as he was com- 
