194 FOREST AND STREAM 
Is There Necessity for High Power Rifle for Deer? 
A Further Argument Against its Use in Maine 
M Y attention has been called to the recent 
letters in Forest and Stream by Mr. Flint 
and Mr. Chase concerning the use of 
high-power rifles for hunting in our Eastern 
states, and I wish to say that it is high time that 
the views expressed by these gentlemen be given 
most serious attention. 
The time was in the state of Maine when no 
one going into the woods after game thought for 
a moment about the danger of being killed by 
another hunter. The old muzzle-loaders, capped 
and primed, were more dangerous to the owner 
than the present arms, but each man was trained 
to take care of himself. The deaths from being 
mistaken for game probably would not total as 
high as one in five years for the entire state, even 
one in ten years might be nearer the fact. They 
were so rare that the few known were subjects 
for conversation and comment among the hunt¬ 
ers for years afterward, and at the same time 
fully as large a percentage of the native popula¬ 
tion went hunting in those days as goes to-day. 
Gradually the arms used shifted from muzzle- 
loaders to breechloading types, then to repeaters 
of various kinds, some of them carrying more 
shots than the average repeater of to-day. Still 
the death rate in our woods did not increase. The 
men who carried the repeaters were the same 
ones who had been trained with the old guns and 
they used the new with skill and common sense. 
The guns were still of large calibre and low 
power, and while of somewhat greater range and 
so more dangerous than the old arms still the 
death toll was very little greater. 
Gradually the old school of hunters began to 
die out, and men not so well steeped in the tra¬ 
ditions and rules of the woods began to fill their 
places. Now and then a man was shot and nar¬ 
row escapes from fusillades from repeaters were 
reported, but still the woods were not consid¬ 
ered dangerous. Then came the smokeless pow¬ 
der, the smaller bullet and the high-power gun. 
With these also came the ever-increasing reck¬ 
lessness which the very nature of these new 
types of efficiency in arms seems to engender. 
We all know the result. Where one man a year 
was killed even with the old low-power repeater 
in the hands of not the most careful, there are 
to-day from twelve to twenty men killed yearly 
in our woods. Men are killed in the field and 
on the highway. Men fire at deer and kill their 
own companions at long distances beyond the 
game. The accidents are of all kinds, and in¬ 
vestigation follows investigation without results. 
Each death our editors record has with it the 
hope that it may be the last, etc., and very likely 
the next edition tells of another case just as 
pathetic. It used to be that no one spoke or 
thought of speaking of the woods being dan¬ 
gerous. To-day the best hunters we have say 
repeatedly that they are afraid to go into the 
woods and some stay out as much as possible 
during the hunting season; s'o many are the 
deaths and so full their knowledge of the dan¬ 
ger. Time was when no one thought of wear¬ 
ing a red coat or cap as a protection. To-day 
it is the regular thing, so much so that a man 
is considered distinctly unwise, even by those 
ordinarily careless in such matters, who enters 
the hunting woods without such protection. But 
in spite of the red coat we have records of men 
being mistaken for deer even while so dressed, 
and despite all precautions the stray bullets, com¬ 
ing often from beyond the sound of any gun¬ 
shot, pick off their men all too frequently. Our 
laws are more stringent than ever before. No 
man goes into the woods without the fullest 
sense of the danger of careless shooting, yet 
this is where we are to-day. Maine’s record 
for this year past is eighteen killed, and then 
the wounded. A certain percentage of these each 
year, it is true, comes from the hunters’ careless 
or unfortunate handling of their own weapons, 
but this is the record. 
Now what is the cause of this and what should 
be done? 
Much as to the cause is suggested in the above; 
but to come directly to the matter. We have 
a host of hunters, both native and imported, in 
our woods each fall. A few are trained men, a 
great many but half-trained, and a very great 
number are absolutely untrained in the art of 
hunting and in the traditions which experience 
has handed down. That many with the least ex¬ 
perience are good shots is made all too plain by 
the frequency with which guides or fellow-hunt¬ 
ers are killed. In fact one of the prime points 
of the trouble is that we have got an army of 
shooters in place of the old guard of hunters. 
They go into the woods with guns many times 
more powerful than there is the least call for; 
cartridges are cheap, or but a small part of the 
expense of getting into the field; and they shoot 
anywhere and everywhere, and no one knows to 
what ultimate destination. With these points in 
view, does it not seem absolutely necessary that 
these men be compelled to enter the woods with 
weapons which will be of the least danger pos¬ 
sible to humanity and still accomplish their mis¬ 
sion? 
When I say that the bulk of the present arms 
are absolutely not necessary, that means primar¬ 
ily the high-power rifles, and I am stating the 
exact facts. There is no excuse whatever for 
carrying a high-power rifle into our woods. All 
our game was killed in former days by means 
of good still hunting and with cheap smooth-bore 
guns, carrying a large, round ball. Later large- 
bored rifles came into use. The charge used was 
rarely more than enough to do the work in hand. 
Success depended much on the weight of the 
ball and the care used in placing it “in the life.” 
Very commonly the ball lodged just under the 
skin of the animal on the side farthest from the 
hunter, so weak was the load; yet the game was 
killed fully as clean as to-day. They had but one 
shot and they placed that right or not at all. 
They did not discharge a machine gun at a noise 
behind a bush nor find afterward that they had 
murdered their guide. 
As an instance of the killing power of the old 
guns, the writer may state that his father once 
bought during one fall the skins of thirty-four 
deer, all killed by one stillhunter at thirty-four 
shots with a single-shot, heavy-bored rifle. Every 
hide had just one bullet enter it, and that just 
behind the foreshoulder. 
Now we get to Mr. Chase’s suggestion that we 
rule out the high-power gun and go back to 
either the smooth-bore in the type of the modern 
shotgun with the ball cartridge; or else to the 
low-power, heavy-bored repeaters. (Personally, 
I should be tempted to rule out the repeater also, 
so that men, through the very scantiness of their 
ammunition at immediate command, would be 
obliged to be careful in their shooting. A man 
with but one shot is likely to treasure it till he 
is certain of his mark.) Let me say that I think 
Mr. Chase has come the nearest to the solution 
February 7, 1914. 
of the matter of any man I have heard speak 
yet. Our game does not require high-power guns, 
and most of it is killed at under sixty yards. 
Any man who cannot kill all the game the law 
allows with the guns mentioned by Mr. Chase, 
should stay out of the woods. If he is a rifle- 
crank, let him go to the range and practice. If 
he is a hunter, let him go armed properly for 
hunting. 
The suggestion is made that we allow only 
bucks to be killed. This would help a little but 
not all. It would help a great deal if all the 
bullets fired were aimed at deer; but only a part 
are so fired. The bullet which kills may have 
been discharged at a squirrel or even at a bird 
in the air. 
As to the suggestion that we use buck shot, 
let me say that there are at least two vital ob¬ 
jections to this. First, that it is a random charge 
to be let loose into the brush and that when a 
mistake is made the chances of killing or wound¬ 
ing a man are greater than with a single ball. 
Second, that it is not a proper load for hunting 
deer in Maine. True, a great many deer are so 
killed, but altogether too large a per cent, suf¬ 
fer or die of wounds, and if found at all, are 
usually beyond use. Our deer are large and 
they carry the shot off with them all too often. 
The conditions here are totally different from 
those in the South. As a matter of fact this is 
about the most cruel method possible of shoot¬ 
ing deer in this section. 
In conclusion I will say that I believe that to 
a large extent the high death rate in our woods 
is the result, first, of a fad for small-bored rifles 
throwing tiny projectiles at a speed and to a dis¬ 
tance far beyond any possible requirement; that 
these are used in the place of large-bored, low- 
power guns, which would do their work better 
and far more safely. Second, that our woods, to 
a greater extent than ever before, are filled with 
men but partly trained, or not at all, in the ways 
of woodcraft, who, confident that they have half 
a dozen shots at their immediate disposal, do not 
hesitate to throw a part of them away at the 
slightest sound which excites them to the belief 
that they may have heard game. If these men 
had but one shot to use, like the man with but 
one dollar in his pocket, who hesitates before 
he spends it, they would wait until they actually 
saw something before they fired. Finally, while 
we admire the workmanship and the wonderful 
efficiency of these modern arms, we do not be¬ 
lieve in the use of them in killing men. Neither 
the pleasure of using any particular make of 
rifle, nor that of hunting or of killing game is 
to be compared to a man’s life, and we are 
talking about men. 
It is high time that something was done along 
these lines, and I believe Mr. Chase has come 
very near to showing the way. W. M. H. 
Brewer, Maine. 
RESTOCKING MASS. FISH RESERVATION. 
Between 2,000 and 3,000 trout will have been 
installed in an artificial lake at Mt. Tom, Mass., 
when the present work of the state commission 
is completed. The trout are being furnished by 
the Sandwich hatchery, and weigh from a half 
to one and a half pounds each. 
ONE HUNDRED DEER FOR PENNSYLVANIA 
FORESTS. 
The forests of Fayette, Westmoreland, Cam¬ 
bria and Somerset counties, Pennsylvania, are to 
be stocked by the State Game Commissioner with 
100 deer recently purchased. These counties 
have been closed to deer hunters for three years. 
