Sept. 9, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
417 
the top of the head with a moderately thick 
stick will kill any kangaroo. By the time all 
the animals were killed it was one o’clock, and 
we adjourned to a neighboring creek for a 
wash. There, beneath the trees, the station 
cook had spread out the lunch. It was a gar¬ 
gantuan lunch to look at, but it disappeared 
like snow in summer. Australis. 
Massachusetts Gunners’ Association. 
Boston, Mass., Sept. 1. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: This association has been in active 
existence since June 15, 1910, and was incorpor¬ 
ated under the laws of the Commonwealth on 
Dec. 21, 1910. The association was formed, as 
set forth in the agreement of association, “for 
the purpose of preserving recreative gunning in 
this Commonwealth, protecting and propagating 
game and game birds, promoting equal oppor¬ 
tunities for all gunners and representing their 
interests in legislation.’’ 
The original membership of forty has in¬ 
creased to 429, representing every part of the 
Commonwealth, and the plan of organization 
provides committees which should cause the as¬ 
sociation to serve as a “clearing house” for all 
matters, local or State-wide in their nature, 
which are of interest to sportsmen. 
The past year was marked for the renewed 
activity among the sportsmen, and this associa¬ 
tion can be proud of its part in this movement. 
The tendency seems toward maintaining short 
seasons on most game birds and game, and re¬ 
strictions which will preserve the sport for rec¬ 
reation and gradually eliminate all money con¬ 
siderations such as the handling and selling of 
wild game. Changes in legislation are of the 
most importance, and these can only be outlined: 
The present law on deer was retained; a bag 
limit of fifteen blackducks to each gunner in one 
day was enacted; blackduck shooting is now 
prohibited during the period from two hours 
after sunset to two hours before sunrise; use 
of live decoys prohibited in the county of Nan¬ 
tucket ; use of scented bait on traps set on lands 
of another prohibited; no change in law on 
partridge, woodcock and quail; shooting from 
power boats and other floating devices while at 
anchor was granted; no change in law on gray 
squirrels, and may be shot when found destroy¬ 
ing crops and fruit trees; law on hares and rab¬ 
bits restricted by prohibiting the digging out of 
those holed up; the wilful pulling down of stone 
walls and fences was prohibited; quail may be 
raised by private individuals and sold for propa¬ 
gation purposes; $10,000 was appropriated for 
one or more game farms; hunters’ license law 
was redrafted and strengthened in many places. 
The vacancy in the board of commissioners on 
fisheries and game was filled by the appointment 
of George H. Graham, of Springfield. 
Some greatly desired legislation was not en¬ 
acted, such as the following: An extension of 
the season on coot, shelldrake, whistlers and 
brant; the right to kill cock pheasants subject 
to a bag limit, with no right to sell; the keep¬ 
ing of all dogs out of the bird covers during 
the breeding season; some restriction on the 
carrying and use of firearms by foreigners; pro¬ 
vision for increase of wardens, and salaries of 
present wardens. While the executive commit¬ 
tee has great confidence in the reorganized com¬ 
mission on fisheries and game, it is still of the 
opinion that better administration and results 
would be realized from a commission of one 
head, assisted by two deputy commissioners. 
The appropriation of the hunter’s license fee to 
the use of the board of commissioners on fish¬ 
eries and game, in addition to the annual appro¬ 
priation. The creation of a single head com¬ 
mission with two deputy commissioners. 
The foregoing is a record of real progress, 
coupled with some disappointments, but no lost 
ground. The association can rightfully claim a 
great share of credit in discussing these condi¬ 
tions. The executive committee carefully con¬ 
sidered every bill presented to the Legislature 
this year, and through its legislative agent, Wil¬ 
liam C. Adams, the association was represented 
at every hearing held by the committee on fish¬ 
eries and game. Bills were prepared and pre¬ 
sented by him to establish one or more game 
farms, to redraft the laws on registration of 
hunters, to direct the application of the license 
fee to the use of the commission, and to create 
a single head commission. These bills were 
advocated by him before the above committee, 
and before the House Ways and Means Com¬ 
mittee. While the special appropriation of the 
hunters’ license fee and the single head commis¬ 
sion bill were killed by the House Ways and 
Means Committee (after having been reported 
favorably by the committee on fisheries and 
game), the discussion of these measures was 
of great value to all concerned, and undoubt¬ 
edly a large factor in bringing about a reorgani¬ 
zation of the board of commissioners. 
When the status of the single head bill was 
determined, the association, through its execu¬ 
tive committee, carefully considered all available 
candidates for the vacancy on the board, and 
recommended to the Governor the appointment of 
Geo. H. Graham, of Springfield (one of our mem¬ 
bers), and most aggresively worked in his behalf. 
With the foregoing account of legislation in 
mind, and the confidence which may be reposed 
in the reorganized commission, sportsmen may 
expect great progress. However, it will come 
gradually, for it will require time to overcome 
the inertia of the past few years. Moreover, 
the above statement shows that much valuable 
legislation is desirable, and sportsmen must be 
vigilant to the end that this be effected and that 
no unfortunate laws be enacted through indif¬ 
ference or failure to properly present correct in¬ 
formation to our legislators. 
Every member is urged to contribute his moral 
as well as financial support to make known our 
purpose and enroll others; also to make seme 
real personal contribution to the work, and not 
leave it all to the commissioners and w.'.rcens. 
There is no escape from the fact that event¬ 
ually this association will represent the sports¬ 
men of the entire Commonwealth, though of 
course fostering all the social features and heme 
enthusiasm of the local clubs (and urging the 
formation of more). Organization and aggres¬ 
sive work have done wonders this year, and we 
have hardly begun. The future holds great pos¬ 
sibilities for the advancement of recreative gun¬ 
ning if the sportsmen of the Commonwealth will 
adjust their differences through the medium of 
this State organization, and then go before the 
Legislature and the public united in what is best 
for the preservation and enlargement of the 
sport and work in harmony to create these con¬ 
ditions. William C. Adams, Sec’y. 
Clark County Fish and Game 
Association. 
The annual outing of this, one of the largest 
sportsmen’s associations in the Middle West, 
will be held on Sept. 14 at Orchard Island, 
Lewiston Reservoir, Logan county, Ohio. Sec¬ 
retary Roy McGregor informs us that the asso¬ 
ciation has a membership of about 670, and is 
confident that 100 or more will join, as prizes 
have been offered the three members securing 
the greatest number of applications before the 
14th, and all hands are trying to make the total 
1,000. A general invitation to sportsmen to at¬ 
tend the outing is extended. There will be 
many events of interest to anglers, shooters and 
others. 
In its appeal to members to assist in the pro¬ 
tection of game and fish the association says, in 
part: 
We live in a beautiful country where the 
woods and streams continually call us out of 
doors. And game—well, not as much as there 
was, nor yet as much as there will be. That is 
just the point. 
Think of it for a moment. In this very county 
of Clark, in the southwestern part of Ohio, great 
herds of buffalo once forded our streams and 
browsed over our verdant soil. The fleet-footed 
Virginia deer once scurried through our forests. 
Our ancestors feasted themselves upon bear 
steak and wild turkey. Foxes and squirrels 
chattered and screamed among the rocks and 
trees. Game birds were plentiful in forest and 
in field, and our rivers swarmed with fish. Wild 
game could be shot with the bow and arrow, 
and fish were killed with wooden spears. But 
this was in the day of the Indian and the 
pioneer; these days have gone. 
The buffalo and the bear disappeared with the 
Indian, and big game vanished when forests 
were leveled for the making of farms. As a 
plague of insects lay bare a fruitful country, so 
the track of civilization has been marked by the 
ruthless destruction of game. The red man and 
the early white killed not so much for sport as 
for food. They were butchers, not sportsmen, 
and the reckless slaughter continues to this very 
day. 
In the wake of the white man came those ter¬ 
ribly destructive agents, the various fish and 
game traps, the set net, the seine, quicklime, 
dynamite, and the general pollution of our 
streams. We were fast approaching the day 
when our gamest bird would be the saucy spar¬ 
row, and our gamest fish would be the sleepy 
carp. 
But in the last few years there has been a 
great awakening. Conservation of the gifts of 
nature has become the keynote of the age. The 
country at large has been taking an inventory 
of its assets and has been calling a determined 
halt upon waste. 
In our own country, within the last two years, 
a few lovers of nature and devotees of the gun 
and rod, seized with the new spirit, have issued 
a ringing call to sportsmen to protect what is 
left of our fish and game. The call has been 
answered with a readiness that gives full promise 
of some good fishing and hunting in the years 
to come. 
The movement that is on is one not only for 
the protection, but also for the propagation of 
our fish and game. 
