July 21, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
95 
Spring Shooting. 
From a paper by E. Tinsley, Chief Game Warden of 
Ontario. 
The folly of continuing the unwise and bar¬ 
barous practice of killing game birds or animals 
during the period allotted by nature for propa¬ 
gating their species should be apparent to those 
who have given the question of perpetuating the 
game of our respective countries the slightest con¬ 
sideration. The Province of Ontario has the 
credit of leading the crusade against the foolish, 
and, I may say, cruel and wicked, practice of 
shooting migrating game birds en route to their 
breeding resorts, when unfit for food, and actually 
engaged in assisting nature’s plans for reproduc¬ 
tion. I am glad to know that our efforts and self- 
denial has not been in vain, as many of your 
States and our Provinces are now taking part 
in the good work. 
1 fail to understand how men claiming to be 
intelligent sportsmen, can be—do put it mildly— 
so inconsistent as to shoot birds in the spring, 
en route to their nesting grounds or breeding 
resorts. To do so, appears to me to be directly 
opposed to nature, and stamps them as being de¬ 
ficient in common sense. Men who will kill game 
birds when in the act of propagating their species, 
or when preparing to do so, must be unthinking 
men, or otherwise of a low order, and too far 
down in the intellectual scale to have the re¬ 
motest claim to the name of sportsmen, or to be 
in any way responsible for their actions. Farmers 
killing all their poultry in the spring, and then 
expecting to have eggs during the summer and 
poultry to sell in the fall, would be considered 
proper subjects for Government institutions 
under medical supervision. Those States and 
Provinces in which spring shooting prevails, are 
to a large extent responsible for the difficulties 
other States and Provinces—where better laws 
prevail—have in enforcing them. 
Intense selfishness is also a factor that actuates 
those advocates of spring shooting, who reason 
that if they did not do it others would. The 
jimmy and dark lantern brigade might with equal 
justice make use of the same excuse when mak¬ 
ing off with other peoples’ property, without 
leave, between two days. I affirm, in the most 
positive manner, that those who indulge in spring 
shooting of game, and those who advocate it, have 
not in their composition the smallest attribute of 
genuine sportsmen. Conventions of sportsmen 
may be held, and meeting of game protective 
associations take place, but these will not be effec¬ 
tive unless the members put their shoulders to 
the wheel, one and all become game protectors, 
and all the words imply. Holding frequent meet¬ 
ings on the lines of a mutual admiration society, 
and scolding our respective Governments and 
those whose duty it is to enforce the laws, will do 
no good. It is work, and the united efforts of all 
who derive pleasure from frequent—or even iso¬ 
lated-trips to fortsts, fields and streams. I am 
convinced that there is a sufficient number of 
right-minded sportsmen in every State of the 
Union, and in every Province of Canada, if so 
inclined, to make the protection of game more 
effective. 
Men. who desire to be called sportsmen, put 
your shoulders to the wheel and make an intelli¬ 
gent effort before it is too late, and thereby pre¬ 
vent the next generation having to visit 
museums to learn what the fauna of this great 
continent was. When we consider that migratory 
game is compelled, as it were, to run the gauntlet 
from Florida to Hudson’s Bay, it is surprising 
that any reach the nesting grounds. 
Private Preserves. 
While there is no law to prevent rich men 
from acquiring large tracts of land from private 
parties—nor do I think there should be—I am 
decidedly opposed to wealthy inert being allowed 
to obtain possession of large portions of the pub¬ 
lic domain for game preserves, to the exclusion 
of the general public. The hunting and fishing- 
instinct is as strongly inherent in the men who 
constitute the backbone and sinew of our respec¬ 
tive countries as it is in the millionaires. This 
being an admitted fact, is it right, or is it good 
policy, that the men who are building up our 
respective countries, and the men who our coun¬ 
tries would have to depend upon for protection 
and defence from troubles resulting from inter¬ 
national complications, should be debarred from 
indulging their love of field sports, for the sole 
benefit of the wealthy minority? No doubt game 
preserves have become an urgent necessity, and 
they should be established in the most suitable 
localities in our respective countries, and by our 
respective Governments, in the interests of all, 
and not for the benefit of the few. God forbid 
that old country systems should ever prevail on 
this free and manhood-making continent. If we 
desire to increase anarchy and dissatisfaction, 
allow the rich men to acquire all the best hunting 
and fishing grounds in our countries, fence them 
from the roads, and stick up trespass notices, and 
by so doing we will succeed in building up a 
dangerous menace to our countries that will have 
disastrous and lasting results. The great throb¬ 
bing mass of humanity requires a safety valve, 
and if we fail to protect the one nature has pro¬ 
vided, and keep it in good order, trouble will 
follow, and, like boilers, the explosion will occur 
when least expected. 
When a boy, in England, in the forties of last 
century, I have seen gangs of scowling men from 
the towns on the highways, and have heard their 
muttered threats when seeing the landowners 
shooting over the fields that they were not al¬ 
lowed to place a foot on, without endangering 
their liberty. I have seen miles of forest lands 
oil fire during the nesting season of grouse and 
partridge, the result of class legislation. The 
same causes will produce more intensified results 
in America, owing to its cosmopolitan population, 
and it will be well for the future of our respec¬ 
tive countries if those charged with the adminis¬ 
tration of public affairs realize—before it is too 
late—the urgent necessity of setting apart a num¬ 
ber of great reserves, available to the general 
public for all time. It is a safe policy for all 
governments to legislate for the masses. The 
classes will look after themselves. 
Hunting Licenses. 
There has been considerable controversy as to 
the right or wisdom of the system of non-resi¬ 
dent licenses. The license system is the only 
measure that will enable sportsmen of moderate 
means to indulge in field sports in the future. 
The acquisition, by wealthy men, of large tracts 
of the best game-lands of our respective coun¬ 
tries, proves how rapidly and dangerously we are 
approaching the undesirable system of European 
countries, in which fish and game are exclusively 
for the favored few. 
The protection of game and fish should be self- 
sustaining. This can only be accomplished by 
those doing the hunting and fishing paying the 
cost of the sport provided for them. This, as 
a rule, would have the beneficial effect of keep¬ 
ing the public domain for the public, and make 
the task of buying or leasing large portions of 
public lands for private preserves more difficult 
In justice to those hunting on non-resident li¬ 
censes, they should certainly be allowed to take 
home at least a part of the game killed by them. 
I am more than ever convinced that the general 
adoption of licenses for shooting game is the only 
means of insuring even a moderate supply of 
game in the future. 
If the wild lands composing the public domain 
are to remain open to the public in our respective 
countries, and the game protected, an equitable 
system of hunting licenses has become an urgent 
necessity, and will be found to be the only practi¬ 
cable solution of the problem of game protection. 
We who have enjoyed for many years the pleas¬ 
ures and healthful recreations in field, forest and 
stream, should consider it an imperative duty to 
do all possible to enable posterity to have the 
benefit of such health-giving’ and manly recrea¬ 
tion. It is the duty of the State to perpetuate 
all that has a tendency to make manly men of the 
rising generation, men who will uphold the honor 
and dignity of our respective countries. 
Massachusetts Deer. 
Boston, July 14.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
On a recent trip to the Cape, I had the pleasure 
of meeting Senator Nye of that district and was 
surprised to learn from him that in the woods 
covering the ridge of hills above the town of 
Bourne, where the senator resides, there is a 
large rookery of herons. Mr. Nye estimates the 
number at 1,000, and says they hover in the air 
near his residence, and on occasions render night 
hideous, thus becoming a source of much an¬ 
noyance to those residing in the vicinity. 
A resident of Sagamore one day in early sum¬ 
mer had occasion to go out quite a distance on 
the Sandwich marshes, where he saw an astonish¬ 
ing number of shore birds, plover, yellow legs, 
etc., several thousands, he thinks. This gentle¬ 
man (Mr. Knowlton of Sagamore) declares that 
in the many years of his residence on the Cape, 
he never has seen anything like it. Some of our 
expert ornithologists may be able to explain how 
it happened, whether it was due entirely, or only 
in part, to weather conditions. 
About Deer. 
A friend who lives in the outlying portion of 
the city of Haverhill, called this week and had 
this to say about deer: “They are becoming 
quite an annoyance in my quarter. I saw one 
this morning near my house which, as I was 
riding to the station on an electric car, seemed to 
be watching for. a chance to get into my garden. 
Two of my tenants report seeing them near their 
homes frequently. The people living on the 
Whittier homestead have reported the deer de¬ 
stroying all their crops. Crows, woodchucks, 
skunks, potato bugs and other pests may be killed, 
but the deer enjoy the fullest immunity. I am 
not disposed to be fussy; and admit I enjoy the 
sight of deer; but the question is, becoming a 
serious one.” 
After hearing him through, I explained that his 
tenants and others who suffered serious loss 
from the depredations of deer have recourse to 
the State for damages, and, after telling him 
how to proceed to secure the same, he expressed 
the opinion that the fact that such losses could 
be made good, would in some degree mollify the 
feelings of his tenants towards the deer law. 
It never rains but it pours. Several other deer 
stories come “all in a bunch.” For several days 
a herd has been seen about Lake Whitehall in 
Hopkinton and Westboro. Motor-men on the 
Boston and Worcester electric lines often are 
forced to slow down for deer on the tracks. H011. 
T. C. Bates, president of the newly organized 
sportsman’s club of North Brookfield, told me 
vesterday that a wild deer has been seen graz¬ 
ing on the common in the city of Worcester. 
Farmers near West Boylston report deer feed¬ 
ing on their growing crops. A larce buck has 
been racing over large estates at Chestnut Hill 
in the city of Newton. They are reported plenti¬ 
ful about South Framingham and neighboring 
towns. A wild deer was recently seen roaming 
about the railway tracks near Winthrop Centre. 
