12 
There is no reason why this Schuylerville 
gentleman’s apple trees injured 'by Cervus Vir- 
gianuSj rabbits and other protected “small 
deer” should not be paid for by the State of 
New York, if he is not allowed by its laws to 
attend to these cases himself. And Vermont 
and Massachusetts are, certainly in the United 
States. 
It might be well if a few of the thousands of 
dollars paid by generous New York sportsmen 
for hunting licenses were expended in cases 
where actual damage to growing crops or fruit 
trees has been done by wild deer, which animals 
cannot, of course, be killed in the close season 
under the present law for any reason. 
Mr. Brisbin should have promptly refused, 
under the circumstances as stated by him, to pay 
the penalty demanded by the protector, and, 
with all due respect to that legislative body, the 
Conservation Commission, should have sustain¬ 
ed his appeal from that imposition by the too 
zealous “game constable.” Had the complainant 
read his Forest and Stream or the “Game Laws 
in Brief” more carefully, he would have known 
that the owner of such a splendid apple or¬ 
chard can at any time kill rabbits or rats gir¬ 
dling or doing other damage to cultivated farm 
lands. This is the law to-day and has been so 
for years. In fact, until very lately, Brer Rab¬ 
bit has been outlawed altogether in most New 
York state counties. This is shown by his re¬ 
mark: “We probably killed one thousand rab¬ 
bits, and there are rabbits in the orchard yet, 
but very few.” These were killed by the good 
husbandman and his three doughty squires, in 
the full enjoyment of his rights, and without 
molestation at first, apparently by state authori¬ 
ties. 
I suppose some shooter, fearing the ultimate 
extermination of these little pests, informed the 
protector that the land owner was cleaning up 
things too closely on his own premises. Hence 
the ridiculous penalty collected, eighty dollars, 
for the last trio of tree-chewers killed. 
Mr. Brisbin is probably only one of several 
thousand readers of ex-Warden Henry Chase’s 
“Reflexions,” published on page 405 of your 
journal, March 28, in which the writer refers 
to and criticises an often quoted statement of 
Governor Glynn: “We are not in sympathy with 
the theory that the game protector who makes 
the most arrests is the best agent of fish and 
game conservation * * * The best pro¬ 
tector is the officer who keeps his district freest 
from violation of the law, by 'the sane perfor¬ 
mance of his duty, and by enlisting the sentiment 
and support of the law-abiding citizens of the 
community.” 
Now, I personally do not adopt Mr. Chase’s 
view of the meaning of the Governor’s expres¬ 
sions. The latter had in mind just such cases 
as the rabbit pest mentioned by the apple- 
grower, and where the warden surely did not 
perform his duty, but showed himself to be 
ignorant of the wording as well as the intent of 
the law on the subject. He certainly did not en¬ 
list the sentiment and gain the support of one 
good, law-abiding citizen of Schuylerville when 
he called for those last three slain rodents. 
And, by the way, Mr. Brisbin, tell the readers 
of this paper whether the varmints were cotton¬ 
tail rabbits or the big, snowshoe hare, Lepus 
FOREST AND STREAM 
R. D. Cate, of Bridgeport, Conn. 
Canadensis. If the latter, you will have plenty 
of help, and with good dogs too, every winter 
until they are killed off to your satisfaction. 
The woods are full of protests against such 
blunders committed by so-called game protec¬ 
tors. Here is one that happened lately in Crown 
Point. A city lad about fourteen years of age 
was boarding at a quiet little farm house up in 
the hills. He was seeing our glorious country 
for the first time in his life, hitherto spent in 
a crowded tenement house on the lower East 
side of New York City. 
He had never caught a fish of any kind in 
his life. So, full of enthusiasm, he dug a can 
full of angleworms and started for a remote 
mountain pond where his host, busy with the 
haying, told him he could take all the fish he 
wanted. All anglers can appreciate the delight 
of that youngster, as he pulled in bullheads, 
perch, sunfish and even a fe\V bass of fair size. 
But Satan entered into that poor hard-work¬ 
ed boy’s Paradise, turning his joy to sadness and 
his vacation trip into a period of deep mortifica¬ 
tion and disappointment. An angler came along 
with a string of perch and bass, remarking “I 
see you have some nice fish on your string down 
there in the water. Let’s see ’em.” “I don’t 
know what kind they are,” said the youngster, 
pulling up and showing his little catch with hon¬ 
est pride, “for I never saw a fresh water fish 
in my life until this afternoon.” “Wall,” said 
the stranger, “you’ve got some black bass there 
less than nine inches long. Now, its agin the 
law to catch ’em, and I’m goin’ to ’rest you 
and take you daoun tew Squire Blank’s an’ he’ll 
fine you fer every one of ’em.” The terrified 
boy pleaded his cause earnestly with the obdurate 
official, even offering to put the still living black 
bass back into the pond, but to no purpose. 
Then the official, as the story goes, killed the 
fish, all alive as they were, put them on his 
string with his own, and marched the unfortu¬ 
nate young angler back to the house, where, af¬ 
ter an “argument” with the irate farmer, the 
boy was bundled into a buggy and driven off 
five miles or so, and then haled before a Justice 
who promptly imposed a heavy fine upon the 
youth, who was compelled to give up his vaca¬ 
tion and later on arrived in New York in a pen¬ 
niless condition. 
The injustice of this action in a State where 
equity is supposed to prevail is still rankling 
in the hearts of the good people of Crown Point, 
and does not make even a sane and proper 
enforcement of the game laws very easy. 
In that same town, right after the so-called 
Sullivan law was passed, the local protector and 
the justice formed their own interpretation of 
the meaning of that much disputed statute. For 
example, a poor old fellow, owning a little 
place up in the hills, took a rusty old muzzle- 
loading gun down to the village one day to 
have the trigger-spring repaired. He wanted to 
shoot a “pesky old hen hawk that was killin’ of 
wife’s early chickens,” he said to the brawny 
proprietor of the smithy, who gave me the 
story. When the farmer came to get his gun 
next day he was arrested “fer havin’ a gun 
’thout any license,” and was fined heavily, for 
him, losing, besides, his old piece, which was 
promptly confiscated by the local protector. 
Is it not about time, Mr. Editor, that the 
governor's words should be more deeply con¬ 
sidered by game officials, before subjecting the 
good, law-sustaining citizens of this State to 
such indignities? 
Be of good cheer, Brother Brisbin. The law 
is on your side, even if the present commission¬ 
ers are not. Kill all the rabbits that destroy 
your noble fruit trees. If annoyed further by 
“game protectors,” retain an honest, fearless at¬ 
torney, himself a sportsman with a sportsman’s 
heart, and well acquainted with the game laws. 
Through him, appeal to the Supreme Court of 
your State, whose portals are always open, and 
whose fearless Justices are ever ready to correct 
the wrongs inflicted by well-meaning, but too 
often ignorant game protectors, who bring con¬ 
tempt upon our present “Conservation” system 
in the minds of all upright men. 
“ A SPORTSMAN.” 
Port Henry, N. Y., April 30, 1914. 
Gloversville, N. Y., May 11.-—Hubert J. Clif¬ 
ford, secretary of the Fulton County Fish and 
Game Club, has forwarded to Senators Root 
and O'Gorman the club’s resolutions favoring 
the $100,000 appropriation for the enforcement 
of the Weeks-McLean bill and for the ratifica¬ 
tion of the proposed treaty with Canada. 
KLANCKE ASSUMES OFFICE. 
A. C. Klancke of Norwood, Minn., has taken 
up his duties as secretary of the state game and 
fish commission, following the resignation of C. 
W. Henke. It was given out that Mr. Henke, 
who is editor of the Dassel Anchor, has resigned 
in order to give his entire attention to his own 
business. 
INDIANS MAY FISH AT WILL. 
Buffalo, June 3.—A treaty dated 1797, sanc¬ 
tioned by the Senate and signed by the President, 
was used successfully by three Senaca Indians 
in the Supreme Court as a defense against the 
charge that they were fishing illegally in Eighteen 
Mile Creek. Justice Foley held that the treaty 
superseded the state laws. 
