300 
FOREST AND STREAM 
California Game District Law Declared Unconstitutional 
By Golden Gate. 
The legislative act of 1913 establishing seven 
fish and game districts in California, in place 
of six that were established two years previous, 
has been declared unconstitutional by the 
Appellate Court of the Third District in the 
matter of the application of V. Mascolo for a 
writ of habeas corpus. The Court did not ques¬ 
tion the right to form such districts but merely 
found the act defective as to its wording. 
This ruling has had a decided effect upon the 
open and closed seasons which are now the 
same as they were in 1911. Humboldt and Del 
Norte counties have been transferred from Dis¬ 
trict 2 to 1 and the open season for deer has 
been changed from July 1—September 1 to 
August 15—November 1. San Joaquin County 
has been transferred from District 3 to 4, 
Santa Barbara County from 5 to 6, Alpine and 
Mono counties from 7 to 3, Inyo County from 
7 to 6 and the western parts of Stanislaus, 
Megced, Fresno, Kings and Kern counties from 
5 to 4. In Santa Barbara County the ruling 
cuts down the open season on deer from two 
months to one month and the season is made to 
open earlier in a number of other counties. 
One of the features of the change that is to 
be regretted most is the changing of the season 
on doves. At the last session of the State 
Legislature the open season on doves was short¬ 
ened in almost every county and the opening date 
made later on the showing that the old law 
permitted the killing of this bird during the 
breeding season. In some counties local ordi¬ 
nances have been passed to protect doves but 
the slaughter this year is much heavier than it 
should be. 
The State Legislature meets again in Janu¬ 
ary and efforts will be made to secure a redis¬ 
tricting of the State and new fish and game 
laws. The Fish and Game authorities are be¬ 
coming convinced that fewer districts and 
more general laws are advisable, and it is pos¬ 
sible that the State may be divided into but 
three divisions, in place of six. 
The Supervisors of Stanislaus and Merced 
counties have passed an ordinance prohibiting 
the killing of deer this season. The idea is to 
give game protection this year and to minimize 
the danger of forest and grass fires, the hills 
being covered with dry grass. In connection 
with the latter it is interesting to note that dis¬ 
trict forester, Coert Du Bois, says that in the 
course of seven years’ study of the causes of 
fires in this State the Forest Service has never 
been able to find a single instance in verification 
of the theory sometimes set forth by sportsmen 
that glass bottles serve to focus the sun’s rays 
in such a way as to cause grass fires. This 
theory was advanced when the supervisors of 
these counties decided upon a closed season. 
Rabbit shooting will not be allowed in Santa 
Cruz County until October 15, when the open 
season for quail commences. Formerly the 
season opened on August 1 but it was found 
that hunters killed many quail and the season 
was shortened to save the latter. In this county 
tree squirrels and doves are being protected 
throughout the year, being very scarce. 
Special Notice. 
The People’s Fish and Game Protective Asso¬ 
ciation failed to secure sufficient signatures to 
get its initiative game law on the ballot at the 
November election. This measure was design¬ 
ed to repeal the present laws prohibiting the sale 
of game. A referendum measure will be on 
the ballot, however. 
Deer hunting is now in order in practically 
every county of the State, and from the early 
reports that have been received, and from the 
large number of hunters who are in the field, 
it is anticipated that about twice as many bucks 
will be killed this season than was the case last 
year when the bag amounted to 8,269, accord¬ 
ing to the estimate made by the Fish and Game 
Commission. 
The thirtieth annual camp stew of the Grass 
Valley Sportsmen’s Club was held recently at 
Grass Valley and was participated in by about 
four hundred devotees of the shot gun, a num¬ 
ber being present from San Francisco and other 
bay cities. The festivities were held at the 
Dikeman ranch, commencing with a five o’clock 
breakfast and culminating with a dove stew in 
the afternoon. Trap shooting, bird picking con¬ 
tests and other amusements made the day a 
very pleasant one. 
A careful watch has been made this year on 
violations of the game laws and a number of 
important arrests have been made, nearly all of 
which have resulted in heavy fines. R. E. Me- 
Cum of Cole Springs was found with venison 
in his possession out of season and was fined 
$25. Lawrence Sevenke of Lodi paid $10'for 
having rabbits in his possession during the 
closed season. Walter Walsh of San Raefael 
was arrested by game warden Vernon Thomas 
and charged with killing deer out of season. 
The testimony developed that the deer was a 
doe and Justice of the Peace William Magee 
convinced the hunter that a doe deer at $50 is 
a dear doe. Judge Richards of Half moon Bay, 
in San Mateo County fined P. Walker of South 
San Francisco $75 for killing a fawn while hunt¬ 
ing near San Bruno. 
Game hogs have hit upon a novel plan of 
securing a supply of venison in Butte and 
Plumas counties, through which the Western 
Pacific railroad runs. Salt is placed upon the 
railroad tracks near deep cuts and the animals 
are killed by the locomotive. Officers in the 
mountains, surprised at the number of deer 
killed by the trains, made an investigation and 
found that this method was being employed. 
Dr. B. W. Evermann, director of the museum 
of the California Academy of Sciences, San 
Francisco, recently visited Visalia and made ar¬ 
rangements to place six elk in Mooney Park, a 
magnificent tract of virgin oak timber between 
Tulare and Visalia. The elk will come from 
the Miller & Lux ranch near Bakersfield. When 
white men first came into what is now Tulare 
County in the early fifties elk were very plenti¬ 
ful, Ed Reynolds, now of Tecumseh, Neb., tell¬ 
ing of having seen a herd of four hundred 
near the Mooney grove. „ 
Russell Gaston, of Two Rocks, near Petaiuma, 
recently killed a large eagle on his father’s 
ranch, the bird measuring seven feet from tip 
to tip. The eagle was an old one and had but 
one leg. 
He Just Folded His Wings and Fell Into the Decoys. 
