656 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 24, 1909. 
Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. 
Syracuse, N. Y., April 17. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: At the present time there is no per¬ 
fected general organization of sportsmen in the 
United States. A number of so-called ‘'national" 
organizations exist, but no one of them is con¬ 
structed on a plan which makes it a power. I 
have the utmost respect for those who have 
assisted in advancing the interests of such or¬ 
ganizations, but I believe that these gentlemen 
will recognize in the plan which I offer some¬ 
thing more likely to yield results, and more 
representative of the entire country than any 
existing organization. 
The sportsmen of the United States are rep¬ 
resented in every community, in every city, vil¬ 
lage and hamlet. Many of them are among the 
most influential citizens in their respective locali¬ 
ties, yet they are working individually or in 
small disconnected groups in the interest of fish 
and game protection. Game and fish are be¬ 
coming scarce, the sources of our water supply 
and the covers for our game are being de¬ 
stroyed, yet these most influential citizens have 
not realized the benefits which will accrue as 
a result of co-operation of effort in the matter 
of protecting our forests and increasing our 
fish and game. They do not seem, either, to re¬ 
alize the tremendous waste of effort which takes 
place under the present system. 
Since there are sportsmen everywhere in the 
United States, and since it is natural for men 
with common ideas to band together, there are 
scattered through the length and breadth of the 
land hundreds, and possibly thousands, of 
sportsmen’s clubs, each doing something to 
carry out the principles of fish and game pro¬ 
tection. In a few cases such clubs have united, 
forming State organizations of sportsmen. 
Where this has taken place, clubs and individual 
sportsmen alike are receiving benefits which 
were impossible while they were working single- 
handed. 
I should like to see every sportsman’s club 
in each State, whether interested in fish or game 
protection, trapshooting, field trials or fly-cast¬ 
ing, all united and all working for improved 
conditions of fish and game protection. It mat¬ 
ters not what special branch of outdoor sport 
the club may be devoted to. If it affiliates with 
other clubs devoted to some branch of outdoor 
sport, its strength will be Increased and it will 
have a more powerful voice in securing legisla¬ 
tion in the interests of the sport in its own 
State and generally throughout the country. 
It has been the common experience that wher¬ 
ever a State organization is formed and proper 
publicity given to it, all the clubs in the State 
are willing and glad to join hands with and 
become a part of the State organization. In 
New York State there are at present over eighty 
sportsmen’s clubs having a membership of from 
40 to 2,800. The largest club of the New York 
State League is the Anglers’ Association of 
Onondaga county, Syracuse, N. Y. Clubs which 
have not been active, and would like some ideas 
on which to strengthen their organization, may 
be interested in the annual report of the Ang¬ 
lers’ Association, which may be had from me. 
There has never been a time when the people 
of this country were so ready for such a move¬ 
ment as at the present day. Last year when 
President Roosevelt appointed his conservation 
commission, the public were brought face to face 
with facts which led them to realize that some¬ 
thing must be done to assure to us the preserva¬ 
tion of our natural resources. No men are 
better fitted to support the conservation idea 
than the sportsmen of the United States. 
I wish to get in correspondence with some 
active sportsman who may read this article and 
who is willing to give a little time to the ad¬ 
vancement of this work in his State. I want 
to get in touch with a man in each State who 
will eventually be the leader of active fish and 
game protection in that State. 
F. S. Honsinger. 
New Manitoba Game Law. 
At the adjournment of the last Manitoba 
Legislature a new game law went in force 
which contains a number of provisions of great 
interest. 
The open season for moose and all other kinds 
of deer will be from Nov. 25 to Dec. 15. All 
persons holding big game licenses are by that 
very fact made game guardians for the protec¬ 
tion of game. 'J'he department believes that 
those interested enough to take out licenses 
should also be interested in seeing that the law 
is observed, and hunters in the field are in an 
excellent position to detect violations of the law. 
This makes every hunter a watcher on every 
other hunter. 
The killing of females of big game is pro¬ 
hibited, but heretofore—because the meat of the 
female is better than that of the bull—it has been 
the practice to kill females for food. The new 
law provides that hunters shall bring out the 
heads of all game killed, and if called upon to 
do so shall produce them. Animals or parts 
of animals to be shipped must be tagged with 
coupons which give information to the common 
carriers that in killing the animals the law has 
been complied with. 
Every trapper must now provide himself with 
a license to trap, but the farmer trapping on 
his own land is exempt from this provision. 
Muskrats are protected between the first day of 
May and the first day of November, except by 
special laws duly passed by the council of any 
municipality. 
The open season for prairie chickens instead 
of being from Oct. 15 to 31 is now from Oct. 
I to 20. A bag limit has been placed on ducks 
for the month of September, when not more 
than twenty may be killed per day, and these 
must not be sold nor taken into cold storage. 
From the ist of October to the end of the sea¬ 
son not more than fifty ducks per day can be 
killed by any individual. 
A license fee of $i must be paid by any resi¬ 
dent of the province before he can hunt any 
protected bird. This, however, does not apply 
to the farmers. Cold storage keepers must ob¬ 
tain a license before they can store any game, 
and must notify game guardians of every con¬ 
signment offered to them. The license fee for 
non-resident foreigners has been reduced from 
$100 to $50 for all game, and for non-resident 
British subjects from $25 to $10. Residents who 
accompany non-residents in the field are made 
responsible for any breach of the same act that 
may be committed by the non-resident and shall 
be liable to the same penalties as if they had 
themselves violated the act. 
Texas Bear Hunters. 
Red Bank, N. J., April 9 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In conjunction with the excerpt from 
I he Houston Post sent you some time ago by 
myself, and appearing in your issue of the 3d 
mst., the inclosed clipping from a February issue 
of the same paper may prove interesting reading 
to your patrons interested in the bear hunters: 
With the postponement of the big bear hunt, which 
was to have taken place last week in Matagorda county, 
preliminaries for the organization of the Texas Bear 
Hunters’ Association have been also deferred. It was 
the intention of the hunters while out to discuss the 
subject thoroughly and set a date, about the latter part 
of this month or the first of March, for a meeting for 
organization. Judge J. G. Barbee, of Wharton, and 
Capt. Ben Hooks, of Kountze, are the leading spirits in 
the movement, and it^'as principally for the purpose of 
discussing the proposition of a permanent organization 
of this character that the hunt w-as called. 
The hunters realize that to preserve this most select of 
sports for coming generations systematic measures must 
be taken without delay. It is estimated that there are 
now left in the once famous Texas bear country. Big 
Thicket, that is, sections cornering on Polk, Hardin, 
Tyler and Liberty counties, less than half a hundred 
individuals, and every year witnesses a growing scarcity 
of bears in this section. A few bears are still left in 
the northern portions of Orange county, but the major¬ 
ity are now to be found only in the almost impenetrable 
thickets of wild peach and canebrakes in Wharton, 
Brazoria and Matagorda counties. There is at present no 
closed season on bear in this State; in fact, a good 
part of the hunting is done when the old she bears are 
with cubs. Apparently the only reason given for no 
closed season on bear is the fact that about every four 
years, when for some reason the mast is bad or the 
acorns are blasted, bruin turns hog-killer, and for a few 
weeks his depredations are the source of much annoy¬ 
ance to the isolated stock raiser. But the black bear 
is properly a vegetarian, feeding during a good year princi¬ 
pally on mast in the fall and berries, “roas’n ears,” 
worms and grubs, etc., which he finds under rotten logs 
at other times. 
It is estimated that the number of bear hunters, those 
following the sport regularly, are less than twenty in the 
entire State of Texas, and there are now only about 
three standing packs of bear dogs, those belonging to 
Captain Hooks and Will Martin, most of the stock in 
which pack was purchased several weeks ago by C. L. 
Bering, McFarland, Pilot and several other local bear 
hunters. The fine pack formerly owned by Judge L. B. 
Hightower, of Cleveland, is now no more, Mr. 
Hightower having made no effort since the practical 
extermination of bear in his section to keep up the pack. 
While the organization will in all probability attempt 
to secure proper legislation for the preservation of what 
few bears remain in Texas, they figure that it would be 
little needed if they can effect the organization of all the 
bear hunters in the Slate and get them to agree not 
to go into the woods with their dogs during a certain 
period, the time to be decided on at the meeting for 
organization. The black bear, they claim, is too wary to 
be in danger from extermination by the ordinary hunter, 
and it is claimed that practically all the bear killed in 
this State are brought down by hunters with well 
trained bear dogs. 
Shortly after arriving at the hunting grounds last 
week the party had three bears jumped and on the go 
at one time, but the ground was so hard and dry that 
the protecting skin over the balls of the dogs’ feet was 
worn off in places, so that their paws left blood spots 
on the ground whenever they walked. Not caring to 
punish their dogs under these conditions, the hunters 
postponed the hunt till the ground once more acquired 
a good seasoning. Now, however, that the rain belt of 
Texas has been once more visited with a heavy pre¬ 
cipitation, it is thought probable that the meeting will 
be called during the coming week. In the future the 
meetings will be made regular occasions. 
Houston is perhaps better represented by bear hunters 
than any other one city in the South, Tom Dunn, C. G. 
Pilot, C. L. Bering and quite a crowd of others being 
enthusiastic participants in the game every season. Only 
a short while since they purchased a controlling interest, 
costing several thousand dollars, in Will Martin’s famous 
Brazoria county pack and interest in bear hunting seems 
to be growing among the local sports rather than on the 
