FOREST AND STREAM 
103 
is able to tell anything about the sex or age of 
the animal he is shooting at- 
If the deer season were several months long 
instead of less than three weeks, if every hunter 
could spend the entire fall in the woods and if 
self-control were developed to a super-human 
degree among sportsmen, the buck law might 
work. But the man who spends a considerable 
sum getting into the woods for a few days’ vaca¬ 
tion, is going to let fly on chance when he sees 
deer fur. About all that can be expected of him 
is to refrain from shooting at commotions in the 
brush without waiting to glimpse game. The 
suggested law specifies that bucks should have 
horns five inches in height. A quick eye for 
measuring certainly would be called for. 
The result of a buck law would be that does 
and fawns would be killed in as large numbers 
as they are now and left to the foxes or ravens. 
In open country, a buck law may have its 
value, in Michigan it would be worse than 
useless. It is time that the deer limit was re¬ 
duced from two to one, which would serve the 
purpose of conservation, but if all the old-timers 
could be called on for an opinion I feel sure that 
their conscientious verdict would be against a 
buck law. 
DR. A. B. WITTE. 
DEER AND SMALL GAME SUFFERING. 
Waynesboro, Pa.—Fred Gallion, superintend¬ 
ent of the Rouzerxille Water Company, at Pen- 
Mar, says that he saw a pretty young deer on 
the mountain on Sunday. The Blue Ridge Moun¬ 
tains have been covered with snow and sleet for 
the past three weeks, and deer are coming out 
into the fields and barnyards in search of food. 
Rabbits and birds are suffering from the cold 
and for want of food, and many have died from 
starvation. 
At the annual meeting of the Board of Fish 
and Game Commissioners of New Jersey, the 
following officers were re-elected: President, 
Ernest Napier, of East Orange; treasurer, Wm. 
A. Logue. B. M. Shanley, Jr., of Newark, who 
had been appointed ad interim commissioner, 
caused by the resignation of Percival Chrystie,' 
took the oath of officer as commissioner for a 
term of four years. 
HUNTERS BARRED FROM 1,600-ACRE 
TRACT IN GENESEE VALLEY. 
James W. Wadsworth, says that the game pre¬ 
serve to be established at Genesee will consist 
ot 1,600 acres. It is the old Wadsworth home¬ 
stead, owned by James W. Wadsworth, and 
Austin Wadsworth. 
All that it is proposed to do, is to prohibit 
hunting upon the land. It will not be cultivated, 
but cattle will be allowed to graze upon part of 
it. Experience has shown that wild fowl and 
o.her birds will establish breeding places where 
they are protected. 
Game and song birds, which were abundant in 
the Genesee Valley, have become scarce from 
constant hunting. The security of the preserve 
is expected to cause a return of old conditions. 
There are ponds on the tract, which are even 
now visited by wild ducks and geese in their 
migration. 
While there will be no hunting upon the pre- 
st 1 ve, its existence should be productive of sport 
in other parts of the valley, as the birds will go 
beyond its borders as they increase in number. 
SLAUGHTER OF GAME HAS BEEN OUTRA¬ 
GEOUS. 
Winchester, Va.—With the close of the old 
year, the hunting season in all the Virginia coun¬ 
ties west of the Blue Ridge Mountains also came 
to an end, and it will be unlawful to hunt, kill 
or capture the various game birds and animals 
mentioned in the game laws of the State from 
now until the first day of next November. The 
season just closed is said to have witnessed more 
open violations of the hunting laws than in any 
one season in many years. Principally because 
there are so few game wardens in that portion 
of the State west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 
and the apparent inability of the courts to in¬ 
duce residents of the towns and counties to act 
as deputies. The Virginia Game Protective 
Association is carrying on a campaign of educa¬ 
tion and doing all in its power to acquaint the 
people with the provisions of the laws relating to 
game. President Todd, of the association, says 
the vast majority of Virginia people do not 
appear to know anything about the game laws. 
The General Assembly, which meets this month, 
probably will be asked to make more stringent 
laws, as a great many of the game birds and 
animals are almost gone, having been killed in 
large numbers by hunters and then smuggled off 
to the markets of the Eastern cities, where birds 
in particular command high prices. The slaughter 
of game in the adjoining State of West Virginia 
is also reported to have been the most outrageous 
ever known of, and this, too, in spite of the fact 
that a number of the birds are now supposed to 
be protected by the government. Some arrests 
have been made and fines collected in the Federal 
courts, but they are said to have been small and 
insignificant in comparison to the number of 
flagrant violations of the State and Federal game 
laws. 
THE MIGRATORY BIRD LAW. 
On the first of October of last year regulations 
for the enforcement of the Federal Migratory 
Bird Law were issued. More than a year has 
now passed, and in that time, say officials of the 
Department of Agriculture, there has been a 
gratifying improvement of wild life. The law is 
soon to be put to the final test. 
Early in its history opposition appeared in the 
hunting regions of Arkansas. It is declared that 
this has been promoted by sportsmen and pro¬ 
fessional hunters from Kansas City and other 
points near the Arkansas forest and meadows. A 
test case is pending before the United States 
Supreme Court, and probably will come up for 
argument next spring. The Government, lost the 
suit in the lower court, which held that Congress 
had no right, under the Constitution, to enact 
such prohibitory legislation. 
The Department of Agriculture and Audubon 
societies everywhere are not fearful of the issue. 
Even if the case is lost they believe that the cause 
of protection will be won. Dr. T. S. Palmer of 
the Geological Survey, who is in charge of Fed¬ 
eral game preservation, is quoted as saying: “The 
law has had a wonderful effect upon public senti¬ 
ment in all parts of the country, and in conse¬ 
quence the States are beginning to adopt the regu¬ 
lations made under it for bird protection.” 
This is true in a way, for the passage of the 
law—and the malevolent attacks made on the pro¬ 
posal—attracted attention to the birds. Yet the 
passage of the Federal law was in itself an effect, 
not a cause. If the birds had not already had a 
host of friends no favorable sentiment could have 
been found in Congress. 
The difficulty in protecting migratory birds is 
m the fact that they are migratory. Essentially 
protection must be a State affair, and it is grati¬ 
fying to observe the favor with which many 
States are regarding proposals for such protec¬ 
tion. Birds go South in great numbers in the 
fall months. Millions literally cloud Louisiana, 
and that State has been the scene of much pot¬ 
hunting. Louisiana has been glad, through its 
Legislature, to pass such laws as will protect the 
birds whether the Federal law stands or falls. 
The establishment of several bird refuge islands 
off the Louisiana coast indicates the number of 
friends the birds have in this Southern State. 
Action in Louisiana shows the trend. 
GAME PROTECTION LAWS ARE NEEDED 
Biwa'bik, Minn.—“Unless steps are at once 
taken to protect partridge from unscrupulous 
hunters, the game birds will soon be extinct in 
Minnesota,” said Game Warden Geo. E. Wood. 
There is a small army of big game hunters up 
this way and every one I have talked to says that 
he has seen very few partridge or other game 
birds. Something ought to be done at this win¬ 
ter s session of the state legislature to stop the 
killing of partridge. 
“I attribute the scarcity to two things. One is 
shooting of partridge from automobiles before 
the season opens as the birds run along the road¬ 
ways, and the other is the alien hunter who has 
no regard for the game laws. 
“Range sportsmen are planning to present a 
bill at St. Paul so drawn as to stop up the loop¬ 
holes and it ought to pass. 
“Even more serious than the extinction of the 
partridge is the rapid decline in the number of 
moose. They are becoming uncommon in this 
section of St. Louis county where they used to 
range the hills by thousands. Every foreigner 
has a higher power gun.” 
LAKE MINNETONKA A PRESERVE. 
Minneapolis, Jan. 9, 1915. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Perhaps you will be interested in knowing that 
we have recently succeeded in getting Lake 
Minnetonka, a large lake with over 100 miles of 
shore, located within 15 miles of Minneapolis 
where Minneapolis people have homes and spend 
the summer months, many of them, set aside as 
a game refuge or preserve, including the lake and 
from a mile to a mile and a half of shore line 
around it. 
The Game Protective League here are very 
much pleased over its success. This means that 
no shooting and no carrying of guns will be 
allowed inside of this district. It means the pro¬ 
tection of ducks and birds of all kinds in the 
future. The residents are all interested and they 
will see that the law is enforced; that game 
wardens are provided. This does not restrict 
fishing, however. In a very few years we will 
have a quantity of wild ducks, partridges, pheas- 
