81 s 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 28, 1912 
Hunting Accidents Again. 
Albany, N. Y., Dec. 18 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Doubtless many sportsmen, in com¬ 
mon with myself, read with real pleasure the 
contribution in the issue of Dec. 14 by Con¬ 
servation Commissioner Moore on “Deer 
Hunting Accidents.’’ It is notable as the first 
time any one of the three commissioners has 
shown an interest in the statistics either of 
the killing of deer or of hunters. Formerly 
such matters formed an interesting feature of 
the annual report, as Forest and Stream 
readers can testify. 
Personally I am interested in the commis¬ 
sioner’s contribution because in it he mentions 
me by name, as he did at the banquet of the 
League of Clubs, when he knew I was not 
present to defend the statements he criticised. 
The statistics attacked by Commissioner Moore 
were collected in the Adirondack region by a 
reputable and reliable newspaper man, were 
printed in a reliable paper, and are supported 
as to accuracy by the consensus of opinion of 
the guides and woodsmen, as well as some of 
the oldest of the game protectors themselves. 
Such men know the great Northern wilderness 
and its wild life at first hand, and as between 
their knowledge and that of Commissioner 
Moore, who is a “consulting engineer” with a 
present tendency to hydraulics, which does not 
include woodcraft, I am willing to let the 
readers of Forest and Stream choose. 
Personally I have no interest in the new 
deer law, except to note how it works out. 
But, to quote Commissioner Moore, although 
he does not say so directly, the law seems to 
have “failed to accomplish its primary purpose 
of conserving human life, and its secondary 
purpose of conserving the deer supply.” No 
law which depends on the hunter accurately 
determining the sex and length of horns before 
he fires, will conserve either human life or 
animal life, unless it opens the hunting season 
after the leaves are off the brush. The only 
criticism I would pass on the “Uniform” law, 
to whose defense Commissioner Moore has 
hastened so suspiciously, is that if it had been 
drawn by practical woodsmen, hunters and fish¬ 
ermen instead of by practical politicians, those 
most concerned in having a reasonably perfect 
law in New York State would have got some¬ 
thing for the $15,000 spent on it. 
John D. Wiiish. 
Hunting in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
The total number of hunting licenses issued 
in California during the fiscal year 1911-1912 
amounted to 141,777, as compared with 138,669 
during the preceding year, bringing in an income 
of $146,181. Sixty-eight non-resident hunters 
took out licenses at $10 each, while 140 aliens 
purchased licenses at $25 each. 
During the months of August, September 
and October there were sixty-three arrests made 
for violations of the fish laws of California, one 
hundred and nine arrests for violations of the 
game laws and ninety-eight arrests for hunting 
and fishing without licenses. During this time 
212 convictions were secured, twenty-two cases 
were dismissed and ten acquittals resulted. The 
fines imposed amounted to $4,560 with jail sen¬ 
tences of 114 days. The seizures amounted to 
581 ducks, 55 quail, 65 doves, 7 snipe, 27 non¬ 
game birds, 82 rabbits, 1 deer, 1 white heron, 
1,783 pounds of salmon, 2,152 pounds of striped 
bass, a few trout, clams and crawfish, together 
with twenty-five nets. During this period boun¬ 
ties were paid on forty-two mountain lion claims 
from twenty counties of the State. 
Big Goose Stew. 
The greatest gathering of sportsmen ever 
held on the Pacific Coast took place on Sunday, 
Nov. 24, when 5,000 devotees of the shotgun were 
entertained at Sacramento by the sportsmen of 
that place. The occasion was a great goose stew, 
and it certainly was some event with 1,500 geese 
in the great cauldrons at one time, to say noth¬ 
ing of one hundred tureys, forty hams and other 
provender. For a week previous to the great 
event, hunters were busy slaying geese in the 
Sacramento valley, and for a time it seemed as 
though there would be a goose to a man, but 
the attendance proved to be beyond the expecta¬ 
tions of the hosts. The idea originated with 
Frank Newbert, President of the Fish and Game 
Commission, and at first was planned along very 
modest lines, it being intended that the sports¬ 
men of Sacramento would go on a goose hunt 
at the same time and hold a feast at the close 
of this. It ended with Sacramento being host 
to the sportsmen of the State, with the feast 
being prepared by twenty cooks and served by 
a hundred waiters. Trapshooting contests were 
held before the dinner, followed by vaudeville 
shows, horse racing and boxing bouts. 
Massachusetts Deer Season. 
All pre-season reports to the contrary not¬ 
withstanding, there were fewer deer in Mass¬ 
achusetts this year than last. The number killed 
during the season which closed Nov. 30, was 
1,170 as against 1,268 in 1911 and 1,281 in 1910. 
Hunters’ reports generally show that the increase 
in breeding has not been commensurate to the 
killings of 1911. Chairman George W. Field, of 
the Forest, Fish and Game Commission, thinks 
it would be better for the protection of the deer 
and of the farmers both if there were a change 
in the laws whereby there might be one day in 
a month, or something like that, when the deer 
could be killed. It is a matter of fact that the 
present open season comes when the flesh of the 
animals is the least desirable, as far as there 
is any choice between the different months of 
the year. 
A further change which is proposed as tend¬ 
ing to keep up the numbers of the deer is to 
permit hunters to kill nothing but bucks. There 
is a further consideration making in favor of 
this point that such a law would tend to prevent 
the accidents which occur at times in spite of 
all the precautions. It is said by Commissioner 
Garfield that if the hunters were all compelled 
to wait before shooting until they could see 
the horns of the deer, then there would be im¬ 
possible the shooting of men which occurs when 
the hunter sees something brown through the 
brush and blazes away at it without waiting to 
see whether it is a deer or the coat of some 
other hunter. 
Wisconsin’s New Game Preserve. 
BY MOLLIE RICE. 
Plans have been made by State Forester 
Edward Griffiths to fence in a game preserve of 
14,000 acres which will house wild animals and 
eventually stock the entire northern part of the 
State with its old-time quota of game animals 
and birds. 
The township of North, Range 7, East, 
located almost in the center of Vilas county, 
and which is almost entirely owned by the State, 
has been chosen for this purpose. A heavy wire 
fence nine feet high will be erected about the 
preserve. Among the animals with which it will 
be stocked are elk, moose, Virginia deer, and 
either Rocky Mountain or blacktail deer, mink, 
otter, beaver, Mongolian pheasants, Scotch black¬ 
cock and partridge. It is expected that the wild 
game—mallard and canvasback especially—will 
make it a refuge, and will breed there in the 
spring. 
This preserve is directly east of Big Turtle 
(Continued on page 824.) 
BLUFFS AT HIGHLAND LIGHT, CAPE COD. 
Photograph by H. B. March. 
