112 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July 26, 1913 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
Charles Otis, President. 
W. G. Beecroft, Secretary. W. T. Gallagher, Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
CORRESPONDENCE — Forest and Stream is the 
recognized medium of entertainment, instruction and in¬ 
formation between American sportsmen. The editors 
invite communications on the subjects to which its pages 
are devoted, but, of course, are not responsible for the 
views of correspondents. Anonymous communications 
cannot be regarded. 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE LIBERTY OF THE FIELDS. 
Shooting conditions in this country are 
changing in no respect more rapidly than with 
those which govern the privilege of entering 
upon fields for shooting and fishing. In the old 
days—and they were not so long ago, either— 
the gunner who sought shooting privileges was, 
for the most part, a resident of the vicinity, 
known by sight at least to the proprietor of the 
land, his neighbor in fact; and the same neigh¬ 
borly feelings prevailed here as in other affairs. 
To go at will upon a farm and into wood lots 
for birds or squirrels was a matter of course. 
No one ever expected to ask for any special per¬ 
mission to do this nor to have it asked. There 
were even then posted lands, but these were the 
exception and not the rule. The notion of for¬ 
bidding free entry upon one’s field was not by 
any means commonly held nor commonly sym¬ 
pathized with. The landowner who treated 
shooters as intruders and trespassers was him¬ 
self quite likely to be looked upon as a bit cranky, 
and when someone got the better of him, the 
community took it good naturedly and appreci¬ 
ated the humor of the situation. 
Moreover, the same neighborly feeling which 
opened fields and meadows and woodlands free¬ 
ly to shooters and fishermen governed those to 
whom the privileges were extended. Thought¬ 
less boys who tore down stone walls for wood¬ 
chucks or rabbits might not stop to repair the 
damage done, but the elders were as regardful 
of the property of their neighbors as of their 
own, and the proprietor whose lands were hunted 
over had no reason to interpret the booming of 
guns in his fields as so many signals that his 
property was being destroyed, fences torn down, 
stone walls demolished and horses and cattle 
disturbed. He knew that the sportsmen were 
neighbors, and that they were to be trusted. In 
their excursion upon his lands he found no cause 
of alarm, no more than they themselves would 
have when he returned the compliment and went 
armed and equipped upon their fields. 
In some happy lands the old conditions still 
prevail, but in very many sections a decided 
change of sentiment and of practice has been 
wrought. It was inevitable that this should be 
so. The hosts of shooters have been multiplied 
by tens and hundreds. They constitute in sea¬ 
son, and sometimes out of season, an army of 
invasion. They are no longer one's neighbors 
nor the sons of neighbors. They come from dis¬ 
tant towns and cities and States. The railroads 
unload them upon the community for all the 
world like bodies of troops for war. The boom¬ 
ing of guns, instead of being an incident of 
autumn days, is continuous for weeks and months, 
not omitting Sundays. And when the farmer 
hears the reports, he may no longer say to him¬ 
self, as formerly; “That is Tom Smith’s gun. 
I hope he’ll drop in and see us on the way 
home.” For it is not a neighbor who is shoot¬ 
ing, nor anyone with a neighbor’s claim to the 
privilege of shooting without permission; it may 
be an entire stranger, devoid of the courtesy 
which should prompt to a polite request for per¬ 
mission to shoot, and one who. having invaded 
the fields without so much as “by your leave,” 
assumes to have a natural right to be there, and 
resents any interference or protest from the pro¬ 
prietor as a manifestation of “popocracy.” 
Most questions have two sides. This one 
of shooting privileges and trespass laws will never 
be settled by denouncing the farmer as unreason¬ 
able when he seeks by statute to control his own 
lands and to forbid or permit entrance upon them 
for shooting. If the landowners in any given 
district are actually unreasonable in their de¬ 
mands, investigation probably will show that their 
patience has been exhausted by the impositions 
put upon them by unreasonable gunners; and 
there are as yet, we believe, few game districts 
where the sportsman who treats others as he 
would himself be treated if in their place may 
not find in that considerate regard for others 
an open sesame to hospitality and good shooting. 
The game interests of the country have nothing 
to fear from rigorous trespass laws. 
ARMS AND AMMUNITION. 
“Isn’t it time,” says one of our subscribers, 
“that someone complimented the manufacturers 
on the well-nigh perfect grade of shotgun and 
ammunition being made to-day?” 
Indeed, we feel that too much praise can¬ 
not be bestowed upon the leading concerns in 
these lines. Rarely do we hear of an accident 
due to defective guns, shells or powder, while 
on the other hand a few years ago accidents 
were more or less frequent. 
No more stringent test could be alluded to 
than the recent Grand American Handicap and 
the Eastern Handicap. Here were guns of prac¬ 
tically all manufacturers, shells and powders 
equally various, every gun loaded with the 
heaviest reasonable load, with over 300,000 
charges fired and not a single accident. This 
record of course does not mean that every brand 
of powder, every shell and every gun is safe, but 
it does mean that reliance may be placed on 
such brands as are popular at registered shoots. 
It is a safe plan to beware of cheap guns, other 
than those made by prominent firms, cheap shells 
and unadvertised powders. In fact, a good rule 
to follow is that of buying only advertised arms 
and ammunition. They must stand the limelight 
of publicity before they may be trusted to stand 
service. High opinion may be said to accompany 
high pressure. 
FLORIDA AND NORTH CAROLINA 
COUNTY GAME LAWS. 
Theoretically the dates of a close season 
are determined by a consideration of what will 
best answer the practical purpose of the pro¬ 
tected period, which is immunity and security 
for the game in the breeding and maturing sea¬ 
son ; and as the birds on one side of a county 
line have substantially the same nesting habits 
as those of birds on the other side of the line, 
we might expect that the season most propitious 
for one would be likewise suited to the other. 
On the contrary, we find almost as many diverse 
seasons as there are county divisions; and under 
such a system the enforcement of the laws has 
been found most difficult. The diversity of sea¬ 
sons and regulations renders it comparatively easy 
for offenders to evade conviction, and moreover 
there is a disregard of the statutes because of a 
public perception that such an inconsistent code 
cannot be based on reason. The first and most 
important end to be sought in amending the laws 
is such an uniformity as shall simplify their en¬ 
forcement and command for them the support 
of public respect. While there may very well 
be maintained differences of opinion respecting 
some of the details of the proposed measures, 
the principle of a general law for a State should 
be warmly encouraged. 
THE GAME SEASON. 
From all quarters come very favorable re¬ 
ports of an abundant quail supply. The birds 
appear to have nested well. In many localities, 
on account of the drouth, they have retired from 
their usual haunts to the denser woods, but 
though the birds themselves are not seen, their 
whistling is heard, and that is sufficient promise. 
The ruffed grouse are generally in good supply, 
although on certain grounds, where they have 
been plenty of late years, none are found this 
summer. The periodical disappearance of the 
ruffed grouse is a topic of much animated dis¬ 
cussion. Many theories are advanced to account 
for the fluctuations, but though some of these 
are plausible, none of them appear to us wholly 
satisfactory. We have noted the facts for forty 
years, but an explanation of them is yet to be 
found. In a certain locality where the birds 
have been abundant, the supply will begin to 
decrease, and in. three or four years the game 
will have become almost extinct. Then the num¬ 
ber will gradually increase, and in time the shoot¬ 
ing will be good. 
A Psalm of Death. 
BY SILVER SEDGE. 
Lives of rising trout remind us. 
When they take our feathered fly, 
And repose in creels behind us, 
What they get that “swat the fly.” 
