Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1906, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
T ™ NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER i, 1906. 
( VOL. LXVII.—No. 22. 
I No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
THE RETIREMENT OF MR. REYNOLDS. 
After a connection with the Forest and 
Stream which has endured for more than thirty 
years, Mr. Charles E. Reynolds to-day leaves its 
service. His first work on the paper was printed 
in 1874, while he was yet a student in Amherst 
College, and almost immediately after graduation 
he came to New York and entered its office, 
where he has been continuously ever since. On 
the resignation of Mr. Chas. Hallock, in the year 
1880, Mr. Reynolds took Mr. Hallock’s chair, and 
for more than twenty-six years has been the re¬ 
sponsible managing editor of this paper. 
What his work has been is well known. Yet 
not even the sportsmen of America can appre¬ 
ciate how much he has done for their interests; 
for game and fish protection, for forest conserva¬ 
tion, and for higher ideals and better practices in 
the field of sportsmanship. What this work has 
been is best known to those who have been most 
closely associated with him in these movements. 
It is recorded in the files of Forest and Stream, 
running back more than a quarter of a century. 
To his newspaper work Mr. Reynolds brought 
qualifications seldom united in one man; rare 
literary taste and judgment, keen intelligence, 
wise foresight, devotion to the right, and un¬ 
flinching courage. His was the genius to con¬ 
ceive and the daring to voice that Forest and 
Stream Platform Plank, “Forbid the Sale of 
Game,” which at first was fiercely opposed, then 
achieved a wide popularity, and at last was em¬ 
bodied in the laws of most of the States. 
Perhaps no single achievement ever created 
such widespread interest among sportsmen as Mr. 
Reynolds’ investigation of the Ditmar powder 
and exposure of its dangerous character. This 
compound was the first of the smokeless powders 
used here and its action was most uncertain. Mr. 
Reynolds’ studies of the explosive resulted in 
the stopping of its sale, and brought about im¬ 
provements in smokeless powders which at last 
gave us the excellent ones which we have to-day. 
For a generation Mr. Reynolds has devoted his 
best efforts to the interests dear to the outdoor 
men and women of this continent. To him more 
than to any other are due the present wholesome 
condition of game protection matters in the 
United States and Canada, and the existing feel¬ 
ing that the natural things of this country should 
be preserved. By the steady, persistent work of 
all these years, he first created and later directed 
public sentiment in behalf of these things, and 
thus performed public services such as few men 
have the opportunity or the ability to render to 
their country. 
That other interests should now claim the time 
which has so long and so faithfully been given 
to the service of Forest and Stream seems to 
his long time associates on the paper a misfor¬ 
tune greater to themselves than to any one else. 
Those who have been in its service as long as 
he, and others who have entered it much more 
recently, will keenly miss the friendly encourage¬ 
ment and wise direction which so long has been 
a part of their editorial life. 
LIGHT TACKLE FOR SEA FISHING. 
Anglers read with a thrill of pleasure the 
statement in our last issue in relation to the 
light tackle competition on the famous fishing 
grounds off Catalina Island, California. Using 
a rod less than one pound in weight, and a nine- 
thread line, one angler brought to gaff a black 
sea bass weighing more than 180 pounds. Just 
what the rod weighed our informant does not 
state, but the Light Tackle Club, we know, offers 
special inducements to those who employ rods 
weighing less than nine ounces. A nine-strand 
line is no larger than those employed by fresh 
water black bass anglers until the gossamer-like 
casting lines came into popular use, a few years 
ago. 
While the catching of one large fish on light 
tackle proves little, the taking of scores of fish 
weighing from twenty to sixty pounds does show 
that lighter tackle is in many respects adapted 
to sea fishing, and it is a pleasure to note that 
numbers of our salt water anglers are using 
black bass rods, reels and lines w'ith satisfaction 
to themselves. 
THE LUMBER CAMP DEER BUTCHERS. 
In certain districts of the Adirondacks the dep¬ 
redations of the lumber camps on the deer supply 
are continuous, extensive and serious. The crews 
are fed oil venison taken in close season by 
French Canadian employees of the camps. The 
number of deer destroyed is very large. The ex¬ 
tent and nature of the illicit hunting are recog¬ 
nized, but owing to the peculiar conditions sur¬ 
rounding the camps the game protectors have not 
been able to cope with the evil. 
It is proposed by Adirondack residents and 
other interested persons to ask at the coming 
session of the Legislature the enforcement of a 
law to forbid the possession of firearms in the 
close season within the limits of the Adirondack 
park. It is believed that this would go far to 
solve the difficulty,’for the lumber camp butchers 
could hardly use their arms without discovery, 
and if the penalty of fine or imprisonment with 
confiscation of the illicit weapons were attached 
there would be need of only a very few convic¬ 
tions to put a summary stop to the butchery of 
deer for feeding tree choppers. 
It is true that under the law as it now stands 
relative to non-resident hunters something might 
be done to check the ravages of the Canadians 
in the North Woods; for the statute forbids them 
from hunting unless they shall have paid a non¬ 
resident license fee of $25 if they come from 
Ontario or Quebec. None of these hunters have 
any such license; and every one of them is sub¬ 
ject to a penalty for hunting without a license; 
but the protectors have not been able to detect 
the violators; and here as generally throughout 
the State the non-resident provision has been a 
dead-letter. 
HIGHER STANDARDS IN MATCH 
SHOOTING. 
A glance over the results attained by the rifle¬ 
men who took part in the Individual Champion¬ 
ship match at Greenville recently will show the 
steady advance in skill among the men, and the 
figures indicate the improvement in rifles and 
ammunition during the past thirteen years. 
One hundred shots, fired in one day from a 
heavy rifle, held offhand, generally show just 
how skillful the rifleman is, his average being a 
fair sample of his work. In these contests practi¬ 
cally the same marksman have taken part every 
year, they have been shot under uniform condi¬ 
tions, and the weather only has varied. On 
Election day the temperature is about the same 
every year, a fresh wind, is to be expected, and 
the light only is uncertain. 
One hundred shot scores, that would have been 
at or very near to the top a dozen years ago, are 
found half-way down the list this year, and the 
averages of all these expert riflemen have ad¬ 
vanced steadily but surely year by year, show¬ 
ing that they have not only studied the art of 
rifle shooting, but have practiced every method 
known to be advantageous. 
Here we have more than a dozen men who, 
shooting offhand, at 200 yards, place 97 to 99 
per cent, of their shots in a circle no larger than 
one’s hat, and a majority within two inches of 
the center of the bullseye. No more expert 
work can be found anywhere at the present time, 
unless, indeed, some of the Swiss and German 
rifle clubs can show better averages. This may 
well be doubted. While the European riflemen 
may be equally expert, we are not at all satisfied 
that they and the manufacturers they patronize 
have so highly developed match rifles, sights and 
ammunition, as have ours. 
Those who have expressed the hope that Gov¬ 
ernor-elect Hughes will begin right have little 
cause to worry, for he took advantage of the 
first opportunity offered to get into the woods, 
where he has been walking long distances, part 
of the time with a gun under his arm. 
