FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. 2, 1912 
562 
L. L. DYCHE. GAME WARDEN. KANSAS. 
In some localities fairly good shooting can be 
had. However, I have noticed that the birds 
have been gradually decreasing in number for 
the past forty years. 
Unless some action for the protection of 
these birds is brought about, something like Fed¬ 
eral protection or uniform laws in the various 
States, it will not be many years until there will 
be practically no geese and ducks in this part 
of the country. 
The water birds, commonly known as shore 
birds, including the various kinds of snipe and 
sandpipers, curlews and willets, are becoming 
scarce. The fact is that very few have been 
seen during the last few years. 
There are a very considerable number of 
turtle doves, and many sportsmen would like to 
have these birds placed in the list with game 
birds, but the sentiment of the country generally 
is against the killing of turtle doves. 
We still have spring shooting of ducks and 
geese in this State. I would favor a law that 
would allow a larger game bag in the fall and 
one that would cut out spring shooting altogether. 
There are very few game animals in the 
State of Kansas. Once the State was noted for 
its buffalo, antelope, deer and elk. The large 
game animals have all disappeared except a few 
antelope confined to the western tier of counties. 
Rabbits are still common, both cottontail 
and jack rabbit. They can be found in each and 
every county of the State and will in the future 
afford a certain amount of sport when all other 
kinds of game have practically disappeared. 
There are also a good many fox squirrels 
in the wooded portions of the State, and in some 
localities good squirrel hunting can still be had. 
The coyote wolf holds its own against every 
scheme that has been devised for its extermina¬ 
tion. So far as T know there are coyote wolves 
in every county in the State. During the winter 
time they are chased with hounds and packs of 
dogs of all descriptions. They are trapped, shot 
at and poisoned, and yet they seem to hold their 
own and really are quite common in many locali¬ 
ties. Raccoons are also common in the wooded 
portions of the State. Skunks and minks hold 
their own in very good shape. The beaver and 
the otter have practically disappeared, though 
there may be a few stragglers left. 
L. L. Dyche, Warden. 
Minnesota. 
Norwood, Miss., Oct. 23 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: We still have a good number of moose, 
and most any fair big-game hunter with a little 
perseverance ought to be able to take home a 
trophy. The best hunting grounds are in the 
vicinity of the Superior Forest Reserve in the 
counties of Cook, Lake, St. Louis, Itaska and 
Koochiching. 
Hunting on the reserve is prohibited at 
all seasons. Virginia deer are also to be found 
in more or less abundance in all our counties 
north and west of Duluth. 
With our splendid reserve system we are 
satisfied that we can perpetuate a limited 
amount of big-game shooting for all times. 
We had a larger crop of partridge last sea¬ 
son than we have had before in fifteen years. 
I attribute this to the activity of our trappers 
and the betterment of our game warden service. 
Last season I left for my annual hunting 
trip on Oct. 10, and camped in the northern 
part of Itaska county, where I have been each 
season for the past ten years. It was no trick 
to bag the legal limit of partridge; in fact, it 
was too easy. There are a number of localities 
in the northern part of the State where one 
can catch fish, hunt partridge, ducks, deer and 
moose. In order to do this it will be necessary 
to camp. We usually go about Oct. 10, which 
allows us one month to hunt ducks and par¬ 
tridge. 
There are a number of localities in the north¬ 
ern part where partridge, ducks, deer and moose 
are found. 
When your old shooting grounds prove 
unsatisfactory, try Minnesota. Address Hon. 
H. A. Rider, Executive Agent, State Capitol, 
St. Paul, for any information you may desire. 
Geo. J. Bradley. 
President State Game and Fish Commission. 
Michigan. 
Lansing, Mich., Oct. 14. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Game conditions in this State were never 
better than this season. From reports of my 
deputies in various parts of the State I am in¬ 
formed that partridge are most plentiful in every 
section of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as 
well as the counties of the Lower Peninsula 
above the north line of Montcalm and Gratiot 
counties. 
Deer are also numerous in all that part of 
Michigan north of the Straits of Mackinac. If 
I should attempt to tell you in what part of 
Northern Michigan deer and partridge were most 
plentiful, it would be a matter of speculation, as 
they are plentiful in every section, except in the 
immediate vicinity of the larger cities and towns. 
There seems also to be a great number of 
black bear this year north of the Straits as well 
as a great number of fur-bearing animals, such 
as beaver, fox. mink, etc. Wolves and coyotes 
abound in great numbers. The open season on 
bear and other fur-bearing animals, except 
beaver, begins on Nov. 1 and continues until 
March 30 of the year following. The season 
for taking beaver in this State has been closed 
for a number of years. The fact that this ani¬ 
mal has been protected accounts for its great 
numbers at the present time in the northern 
peninsula of this State. These animals can be 
taken after January 1, 1913. under a special act 
which takes effect at that time, after securing a 
permit from the owner of lands and a license 
from the county clerk in one of the counties 
in which one proposes to trap, after the pay¬ 
ment of a ten-dollar license fee. 
Squirrels are very numerous in all sections 
of Lower Michigan, but these animals cannot 
be taken until 1914. In some sections of East¬ 
ern Michigan ducks are very numerous, especi¬ 
ally in the vicinity of St. Clair River and flats 
and the Lake Erie marshes. 
Nonresidents of this State are required to 
procure a license to hunt all protected game 
and birds in this State. The fee for such a 
license is ten dollars, which will permit the 
holder to take as hand baggage from the State 
a number equal to one day’s bag of each kind 
of bird or animal, except deer. 
Owing to the severity of the winter of 1911- 
12 and the great abundance of snow in this State, 
quail are nearly exterminated. The farmers of 
this State are beginning to recognize the great 
economic value of this bird as an insect and seed 
destroyer. Therefore, at the last special session 
of the Legislature of this State, which convened 
in June, these birds were protected until 1915. 
Under the present restrictive laws of this 
State and the rigid enforcement of the same, 
some birds and game of all kinds seem to be 
on the increase in Michigan. 
William R. Oates, 
State Game. Fish and Forestry Warden. 
GEO. J. BRADLEY, PRESIDENT GAME AND FISH COM¬ 
MISSION, MINNESOTA. 
