Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright. 1906, by Forest and Stream .Publishing Co. 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1906 . 
\ VOL. LXVII.—No. 15. 
/ No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre¬ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
objects. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
HOUNDED. 
/ 
The English language has been broadly en¬ 
riched and invigorated by varied tropes which 
have had their origin in ideas and activities 
-associated with the chase, a term which em¬ 
bodies the idea of pursuer and pursued, and 
dominates man’s thoughts and acts, directly or 
indirectly, throughout his entire existence. Pur¬ 
suing or being pursued is a constant of life, 
whether we consider it in relation to man’s ex¬ 
istence in a savage state, or in relation to his 
existence under the highest forms of civilization. 
The sports associated with dog, or dog and 
gun, have been a prolific source of popular 
figures of speech, sanctioned in usage by high 
and low, wise and simple, from time immemorial. 
They have a certain force and application which 
aid much to vigor of expression and clearness 
of comprehension. Thus the familiar expression 
“To run with the hare and hold with the hound,” 
accurately expresses the difficult position of the 
man who endeavors to make a good pretense 
of being equally loyal to two or more opposing 
parties. 
The hound has held a dominant place in the 
idea of persistent, pitiless'pursuit. Be the trail 
ever so long, so difficult, so tangled, he presses 
onward or unravels it relentlessly. The pui- 
sued is in a state of distressing apprehension. 
Speed and stratagem failing many times to 
throw the pursuer from the trail, the pursued 
loses heart, is gradually worn down and finally 
succumbs to the inevitable. “Hounded to 
death” has thus come to have a figurative sig¬ 
nificance in human affairs. Like other expres¬ 
sions, it can be properly used to express a fact 
or improperly used to express a falsehood. In 
respect to the latter, a man passed away a few 
days since by the act of his own hand. He 
claimed that he had been “hounded to death.” 
He had run a gambling game, notoriously de¬ 
based and dishonest even among his like con¬ 
freres. It appealed to the very poor, the class 
which exists in poverty and squalor, to whom 
the matter of pennies is a matter of existence. 
Disregarding the overwhelming advantages of 
“the game” even when run honestly according 
to the gambler’s standard of honesty, the draw¬ 
ings of his lottery were readjusted so that the 
smallest possible money would be lost; and this 
man became a multi-millionaire from the inflow 
of pennies from women, children and laborers. 
In due time he became a convict. Later he was 
freed, and made many protestations of a new 
and better life, holding possession of his un¬ 
holy millions meanwhile. With all his wealth, 
he was ostracised socially, the public opinion 
of the country was loudly denunciatory, and he 
found that, notwithstanding his immense wealth, 
he was viewed as a pariah of civilization. When 
he plead that he was “hounded to death,” he 
probably did not know that the hounds were 
used quite as freely on the pests of a country as 
for the matter of mere sport. 
PENALTIES FOR GAME LAW BREAKERS. 
The reports from the game fields which have 
come to us so far this season are in the main 
satisfactory to sportsmen who favor strict ob¬ 
servance, of the game laws. Of course there are 
selfish men who shoot, just as there are selfish 
men who drive motor cars at terrific speed on 
the highways. Violations of game and speed 
laws are punishable as misdeameanors so long 
as human life and limb are not jeopardized, and 
there will always be individuals who, for their 
own selfish ends, will risk even severe fines, and 
consider that they have purchased their fun 
.cheaply. 
Game protection by states and counties is not 
such an old institution in the United States as 
to meet the approval of all classes, and there 
are men who still regard game laws as inter¬ 
fering with their own peculiar ideas of freedom 
in a free country; but where such men were in 
the majority a few years ago, they hold a dif¬ 
ferent position to-day, and if it were not for 
the difficulty in watching the isolated places 
where they hunt, their actions could be so regu¬ 
lated that they would become law-abiding 
citizens. Still, the cause of game protection 
and preservation has made good progress in 
the face of seemingly discouraging obstacles, 
and its friends have good reason to rejoice. 
For the obstinate ones the lawmakers have 
tried prohibiting the sale of game, confiscation 
of the guns and dogs of game law breakers, 
limiting the shooting to a certain number of 
birds per day, and prohibiting the killing ot 
females and fawns, respectively. Other means 
generally conceded to be effective are jail 
sentences, and the revocation of licenses for a 
season or longer. Some of these penalties are 
enforced to-day and seem to be effective. 
Prohibiting the sale of game takes away the 
calling of professional market gunners and is 
gaining favor gradually. Confiscation of guns 
and dogs has, where practiced, been wonder¬ 
fully potent in proving to persistent misdemean¬ 
ants that honest game wardens cannot be trifled 
with. To forfeit a valuable gun or dog touches 
a man’s heart as well as his purse. Bird limits 
are quite satisfactory, but the fault with most 
of the limit laws is that they place the numbers 
allowed too high. 
It cannot be denied that laws forbidding the 
shooting of does and fawns protect both men 
and deer—and there is urgent need of protection 
for the former. One who knows a careless shot 
may take him before a magistrate, will think 
twice before firing at swaying bushes; for, while 
he may excuse himself for killing a man by 
saying it was an accident, a similar plea will not 
save him from a fine for killing a doe or a fawn, 
curious though this may seem. 
When reasonable means fail, however, more 
stringent ones are necessary, and of these one 
at least—the imposition of jail sentences—seems 
to be favored in certain quarters. Dynamiting 
fish is one of the offenses that should be pun¬ 
ishable by a jail sentence and not by a fine, and 
this practice is deemed a felony in certain 
states, as it should be, for the dynamiter destroys 
the state’s property in a wholesale way to ac¬ 
complish his greedy purpose. In some cases 
a party of men happen to be among the wild¬ 
fowl when stress of weather drives them into 
local waters in vast numbers, and they shoot 
and shoot until all the available ammunition is 
exhausted, then count their bag and find that 
three or four figures are required to express the 
number. Of being fined they are certain, but 
count it a cheap method of getting home with 
their ducks, some of which are given away and 
others left to rot. The same thing happens 
when men who long for trophies go out for elk, 
or mountain sheep, or even buffalo, fully pre¬ 
pared to pay the penalty in cash. 
If these wilful law-breakers knew that a jail 
sentence and no fine awaited them, they would 
not be so eager for records and trophies. 
That hunting licenses should be revoked for a 
season or more as a punishment for those found 
breaking tlTe laws is conceded, and in cases ot 
careless shooting the prohibition should be 
perpetual. 
THE RIFLE MATCH AT CREEDMOOR. 
A study of the scores made by the two teams 
competing at Creedmoor last week for Sir 
Howard Vincent’s trophy will show how skillful 
British and American riflemen have become at 
the mid and long ranges. And it will also show 
how perfect are the military rifles, sights anu 
ammunition in the hands of volunteers. Almost 
invariably in a match of this sort a few men 011 
each team make high scores, but the majority 
fall below their average. The contrary holds 
good in this match, for the average of every 
man on both teams is high. It is true that the 
Creedmoor range is not an easy one on which 
to make high scores, but while the weather con¬ 
ditions were favorable, except for the haze, the 
Seventh Regiment men were shooting to win, 
not to defend, the trophy, and the Queen’s 
Westminsters were not at their best after their 
long voyage. Riflemen claim the shooting of 
the two teams was the best ever done at Creed¬ 
moor. Certainly it is something both nations 
should be proud of, while the youth of Great 
Britain and America should consider similar 
honors worth striving for, and' practice rifle 
shooting with increased interest. 
