814 
FOREST AND STREAM 
TAMING WILD GEESE. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Instances are frequently given of how birds 
will appreciate the friendship of human beings 
once they know they are safe from harm. Even 
humming birds and geese would respond to this 
protection. One of the most remarkable cases 
of bird conservation in Canada is that of Mr. 
Jack Miner, of Kingsville, Essex County, On¬ 
tario, who several years ago enticed a number of 
Canadian geese by decoys to settle on his pond. 
He did not shoot them, but on the other hand, 
did his best to encourage them to stay. 
The first year he had 6 geese; the second, 30 
and the third, 150. The next year he couldn’t 
just count them, but he said there were “five 
acres of geese.” This year there were from 
1,000 to 1,500 geese, and he had fed to them 
some 300 bushels of wheat. Only the limit in 
the supply of wheat limited the number of geese, 
apparently. 
Next year, Mr. Miner expects to be able to 
induce wild swans to come. Then he counts 
on naturalizing and acclimating them in the 
same way as was done with the wild geese. 
J. A. Macdonald. 
“GAME LAWS AND GUN TOTERS.” 
“You are possibly aware that conditions mak¬ 
ing for safety, freedom and the pursuit of hap¬ 
piness in the open country, are generally as¬ 
sumed to far cxcell similar privileges to be en¬ 
joyed in the city. We are urged to hie our¬ 
selves away to the ‘tall timber,’ become a back- 
to-the-lander 01 anything else with a rural set¬ 
ting, in order to escape the dreadful consequences 
of noise, smoke, contamination of the. multitudes, 
or sudden death from disputing the right of way 
with a high-speed motor. Some of us who live 
in the open country are becoming less sure that 
some of the factors of safety which we are as¬ 
sumed to enjoy are not slipping, away. The rea¬ 
son for my present anxiety will appear in the 
following narration : 
“This happened in an adjoining town within 
the last ten days. So far as is now known, the 
life of a horse and a man was at issue. The 
man was in Jits field gathering potatoes when the 
crate he was using at his side was pierced by a 
high speed rifle ball. Thinking an attempt had 
been made upon his life he made a hasty exit 
from the field. Not far away a horse had been 
grazing in the usual manner in a field near the 
farm buildings. Later it was observed in great 
pain, and an examination showed a bullet wound 
in the hip. It was removed for possible treat¬ 
ment to a veterinary hospital but was found be¬ 
yond help. As near as can be determined these 
two incidents occurred at about the same time. 
Curiously enough,-no one seems to have heard 
a gun discharge. Needless to say, the commun¬ 
ity is somewhat wrought up. 
“Naturally enough, incidents of this sort make 
a man’s blood boil a little, and if he has any 
equipment above his collar button he is likely, to 
question the use of a burdensome system which 
will permit or encourage a man to tote a gun at 
any season. Any man with common sense knows 
there is no game worth hunting in New York 
State. The above incident occurred in a thickly 
populated community. What right has the law 
to turn loose an ignoramus with a Winchester 
that will kill far beyond the reach of its sound 
of discharge? The horse is dead; who will pay 
for it? If the farmer had been killed, would 
the State compensate his family and the com¬ 
munity? Tn licensing these ill-bred marauders, 
the State should assume an obligation. 
“Then tell us, please, what reason there is for 
game protection anyway? We are impertinent 
enough to ask what would be left of this whole 
game business if the politics were squeezed, out 
of it? Will some one who is ‘on the. inside,’ 
give us a statement showing an economic return 
from game in this State? After deducting the 
MULLINS 
STEEL BOATS 
CAN’T SINK 
I F you decide upon a Mullins steel boat this spring, 
you will be glad all season — many seasons. 
Mullins rowboats you know, are leak-proof boats 
of steel with air-tight compartments ’fore and aft 
—boats that absolutely can’t sink. Neat looking, 
too, and light—easy to handle—speedy. Real row¬ 
boats that make the wooden boat fellows envious. 
No seams to open up; can’t water-log, never need 
calking. Mullins steel boats give year upon year of 
efficient service—the best in the world for use with 
“outboard” motors. 
Write today for Mullins big catalog of steel rowboats, 
steel and wooden motorboats and cedar canoes. 
THE W. H. MULLINS COMPANY 
721 FRANKLIN ST., SALEM, OHIO 
World’s Largest Manufacturers of Steel and Wooden Pleasure Boats 
cost of the system from the food value of game 
products (excluding possibly fish) is there a 
profit? That is the only basis to consider it on. 
The business has no sentimental associations to 
be given credit. In light of the above incident, 
they cannot be considered. Why protect game? 
Who ever heard of farmers wantonly killing 
game? A short time ago, a farmer was ‘pinched’ 
for killing a skunk out of season. He should 
have engaged the local game warden to watch 
his henroost and thus have avoided the disgrace 
and fine. The farmers produce and care for 
what game we have, but the other fellow comes 
along with the privilege to kill. 
“A lot more could be said, especially as re¬ 
gards the nuisance of hunters and their destruc¬ 
tion of fences, walls, gates, etc. With a suffi¬ 
cient number of farms posted, could not the hunt¬ 
ing nuisance be abated entirely?” 
The above article was noted in the “Rural New 
Yorker” for December 11, 1915, and similar ar¬ 
ticles, many of them much more violent in their 
language, are seen almost every week in one or 
another of the farm papers The fact that such 
articles are written and published and that there 
seems to be a sound basis for writing them is the 
great reason why the game in this country is 
disappearing. When a majority of the land own¬ 
ers of the state have cause to feel that the mere 
presence of game on their land is a menace to 
the safety of their stock and themselves there is 
not likely to be any great rush to increase this 
game. 
The game of the country has been regulated by 
and in the interests of the “gentleman hunter” 
for many years, and if these same gentry do not 
reform themselves and relax some of their “dog 
in the manger” attitude they are in great danger 
of finding themselves regulated in a most un¬ 
comfortable manner. In many communities at 
present public opinion is ready or nearly ready 
to put a stop to all hunting and to demand (and 
get) trespass laws providing for jail sentences 
without the alternative of fine. Such action 
would be hard on many of the farmers, but 
harder still on the “automobile bandits,” most 
of them members of associations of one kind or 
another, who are furnishing the grounds for com¬ 
plaint. 
The game situation would be greatly relieved 
by the enactment of the game breeding law that 
is in force in Indiana. Under the terms of this 
law farmers could see some return from the 
breeding of game on their land and the indi¬ 
viduals that escaped would greatly increase the 
stock of game in the community. Breeders’ li¬ 
cense and tag laws seem to be framed with the 
intention of withholding the permission they 
Settle the canoe question now—buy an 
Wd &vwn Canoe' ^ 
This 18-foot “Old Town” Guide’s Canoe at $30 will serve you season in and 
season out—fishing, hunting and camping. It has width for a big load, flat 
floor that makes shallow draft and true lines that give speed and stability. 
4000 “ Old Town Canoes” now ready. Easy to buy from the dealer or factory. 
OI H TOWN Read our catalog. It gives the plain facts 
I'-'Wn about canoeing and canoe buying 
CANOE CO. “■™™ rnr,IBB “- - 
592 Fourth Street 
Old Town, Maine, U. S. A. 
