80 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 20, 1912. 
Better Sportsmanship. 
S0MERVILI.E, Mass., Jan. 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The more thought and study I give to 
the fish and game question along the lines of 
conservation and protection, the more complex 
and difficult a problem it seems to be to prop¬ 
erly regulate. With the many different local 
conditions and the great diversity of opinion en¬ 
tertained by the different sportsmen, it seems 
almost impossible to bring it to any definite 
state in which it would be satisfactory even to 
a good majority of sportsmen. 
A great many good suggestions and much 
good advice is offered as a solution. Many bad 
features are pointed out and the blame laid to 
one thing or another, but the more I think of 
it, the more I am inclined to believe that the 
one greatest retardment is that ever-present 
trait of human nature, selfishness. While it is 
no doubt unconsciously practiced in many cases, 
still there are a great many who do not seem 
to care one way or the other, giving no thought 
to the future, but bent entirely upon getting the 
most out of the present. This, I think, is one 
of the greatest obstacles so detrimental to 
bettering of the fish and game situation, which 
must to a great extent be overcome; by the 
use of proper teachings and by right in¬ 
fluences. 
When we stop to think of it, nearly every 
other recreative game or sport can be and is 
plaj^ed according to a fixed set of rules, which 
govern every point of every game, and each 
game can be played under the guidance of a 
chosen referee or umpire. But with the fishing 
and hunting game it is different. While we 
have many statute laws and rules regulating 
these two great forms of recreation, it is im¬ 
possible to always play them under the guid¬ 
ance of properly appointed official referees, 
partly because of the lack of a sufficient number 
of officials, and partly because of the many out- 
of-the-way places in which they are enjoyed. 
Therefore, it becomes the duty of every partici¬ 
pant to be his or her own referee. 
While there are a great many persons who 
could not enjoy any game or form of sport 
unless they play it in a fair and honest way, 
according to every rule, and always do so, even 
without the necessity of a compelling referee, 
yet the previously mentioned human trait will 
assert itself in others, causing them to take 
every advantage, fair or otherwise, and appear 
to enjoy the results just the same. I know of 
no other sport that has the number of moral 
and unwritten laws that are practiced in the pur¬ 
suance of fishing and hunting. 
During my limited intercourse with this fra¬ 
ternity of sportsmen, it seems to me that I have 
more often seen displayed a feeling of good 
will, and it has appeared more easy to appeal 
to their better sentiments through these two 
forms of recreation than in any other way. 
Some who display little or no sentiment in re¬ 
gard to other sports can many times' be ap¬ 
proached and brought out, through the medium 
of these two sports. Isn’t this the very feeling 
to be taught and cultivated? Sportsmen 
brought to this state of feeling will find it more 
easy to live up to all game laws than those who 
obey them because they feel obliged to, or think 
it unsafe to do otherwise. In what other good 
cause do we find men of all classes working 
side by side as we do in the cause of conserva¬ 
tion, in the interest of which all good sports¬ 
men are working. 
I am glad to be able to feel that this class 
of sportsmen is gradually increasing. I am 
encouraged by the apparent advancement which 
has been made in the past year in the interest 
of this great question. I know of nothing more 
encouraging than the many good tidings de¬ 
rived from the perusal of Forest and Stream. 
Many are the good suggestions contained 
therein and much do we rejoice over the many 
good results brought about by its teachings. 
As more and more people are brought to realize 
and understand the idea of conservation and 
protection, then has a great gain been made 
in the interest of the cause. When it is more 
generally understood that conservation does not 
mean merely a protection to fish and game, but 
a protection to all beneficial birds and animals, 
a saving of our forest and all lakes, streams, 
waterways and all natural resources for the 
benefit of all outdoor recreationists. When it 
is more fully understood that all true sports¬ 
men stand for these principles, ' then will a 
greater prestige with the general public have 
been gained by this class of sportsmen. 
This is my impression of the teachings of our 
good paper. Forest and Stream, and while it 
and its big family, including the best class of 
sportsmen to be found, are working for the 
enactment of more good and restrictive laws, 
let the teaching of moral laws and better sports¬ 
manship go on, and may the recruits to this 
good cause be greatly increased in number this 
year just started. Moral laws and the proper 
idea of sportsmanship are more to be depended 
upon at present than the many statute laws 
which it is so difficult to enforce. 
Chas. H. Shaw. 
Game Preserves. 
Bryn Mawr, Pa., Jan. 2. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read with great interest Henry 
Chase’s article in the last Forest and Stream, 
and in the main agree thoroughly with what 
he says. 
The question of Federal control of our game 
at the present time is of course out of the 
question. So, in the meantime, why would it 
not be well to get to work on the game laws, 
both State and county, trying not only to im¬ 
prove them, but have them enforced? 
The habits of the different game birds should 
be generally better known in framing the game 
laws. Every town should have a game warden, 
intelligent enough to instil his ideas into his 
neighbors and their sons, and to understand 
the value of the small and big game of his 
section. In short, people must be educated to 
the point where they take a real and personal 
interest in the wild life surrounding them. 
There is one thing, I think, should be made 
a law in every State in the Union. That there 
shall be no shooting between one hour before 
sunset and one hour after sunrise, for in that 
time the game is least able to help itself. 
As an example, and to show how late shoot¬ 
ing can effect one small section, let me give 
my experience in Southern New Hampshire, 
where I have owned a farm for twenty-five 
years. Twenty years ago there was first-class 
ruffed grouse shooting in the section between 
Jaffrey and Keene, New Hampshire. To-day 
a good bag would be perhaps two or three 
grouse. Yet, owing to the ruffed grouse’s 
habit of roosting on trees near or on old wood 
roads, I have within five years, or since the 
shooting has become poor, often met some 
small boy, or man, with a bag ot eight or ten 
birds all killed while roosting in the apple trees 
or birches along the roads and runs where the 
birds were known to be. 
This sort of thing is a shame, and, in my 
opinion, has had much to do with the rapid 
disappearance of our ruffed grouse. 
Twenty years ago it was a lucky man or boy 
in the country who had a gun that could be de¬ 
pended upon. In these days anyone can get 
one. In consequence hundreds of birds are killed 
in the way I have spoken of. 
The same thing occurs in all Southern States, 
where the turkeys roost along the elms on the 
creeks. In certain parts of Texas, to my per¬ 
sonal knowledge, it is the only way turkeys 
are hunted, and if a big flock is located the 
slaughter is frightful. 
In regard to Mr. Chase’s remarks on private 
preserves, I think that in many cases the pre¬ 
serves are the direct .result of the failure of the 
average man tO' realize that game laws arc not 
made to stop his shooting, but to give him and 
his sons after him shooting for years to come. 
If game gets scarce in his section through his 
carelessness and ignorance of the game laws, he 
cannot see why a man with money should buy 
up land, stock it, and preserve it for his own 
use. 
Incidentally, a private game preserve on 
which quail have been put out, docs help the 
surrounding country by a natural overflow, as 
quail are at times exceedingly migratory, es¬ 
pecially in dry weather. 
I am not advocating private preserves, but 
simply trying to account for a condition which 
has, as Mr. Chase says, arrived. 
As a rule, on most private preserves the 
game laws are obeyed to a nicety, otherwise 
where would be the use of the preserve? This 
should show the man who cares nothing for 
game laws, and shoots for sport, not food, one 
very simple way of keeping up the supply of 
game. Simply obey the game laws. 
The bags in all State and county laws should 
be limited to the supply of game in the section 
to which the game laws apply, and papers 
should be circulated which would give the fair 
thinking taxpayer the reason for the seeming 
stringency in controlling his day’s shooting. 
For, if we are not educated to the point where 
we are willing to trust to an expert’s advice 
in shooting, as we do in other things, our game 
is bound to be exterminated. 
Mark Hopkins, Jr. 
