224 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Legislation by Commission 
A RE legislatures to be relied upon for proper 
game legislation? Those who have 
fought the fight for the laws we now 
have and have taken their places in the most 
advanced trenches of the firing line to protect 
laws won in previous skirmishes, are coming to 
the conclusion that the average state legislature 
will never be able to give us game legislation of 
the right kind. An interesting experiment in the 
direction of reform is to be attempted when the 
New York State Constitutional Convention 
meets this month. Hon. Edward G. Whitaker, 
Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, a 
friend of conservation and a man who has 
thoroughly at heart the better principles of out¬ 
door sportsmanship, has drawn an amendment 
to the constitution which he will submit for 
adoption and which calls for the creation of a 
fish and game commission of three members with 
full authority to enact game and fish laws. 
Averaging the situation, it is probably true that 
while the same number of fool proposals and 
good ones would be suggested to the commission 
as to the legislature a lesser number of danger¬ 
ous or useless regulations would slip through, 
and on the other hand, the opportunities of get¬ 
ting good legislation would be increased. 
One prerogative which the average member of 
a legislature can never permit himself to ignore 
is the introduction of game or fish bills. He may 
not know the difference between a wild deer and 
a calf, and the natural history of our fauna may 
be a closed book to him, but this is no deterrent. 
If he does not possess the originality to think 
up some scheme for monkeying with the game 
laws, he can of a surety count on the assistance 
of constituents not better posted, and the result 
is to be read in the hodge-podge of to-day. Mr. 
Whitaker’s plan as published on another page 
possesses the advantage of directness; it is also 
designed to concentrate authority and with a 
proper series of appointments, enhances the prob¬ 
ability of intelligent results. 
A Natural Game Preserve 
I T seems incredible that an area of the earth’s 
surface comprising nearly four thousand 
miles should have disappeared from the 
charts of geographers for nearly three centuries, 
but if the explorations of the Sir William Mack¬ 
enzie expedition to Hudson Bay are correct in de¬ 
tail, that amount of land will have to be placed on 
the charts again. The old cartographers, shortly 
after the discovery of Hudson Bay by Hendrick 
Hudson, mapped a number of large islands in the 
Bay, but as these islands were never seen in later 
years, they were removed from charts. Robert 
J. Flaherty, F. R. G. S., in charge of the Mack¬ 
enzie expedition, now reports that he has redis¬ 
covered these islands and that they are of con¬ 
siderable extent. 
The one on which his party landed was upward 
of one hundred miles in length and the next one 
about sixty miles long. The whole area he esti¬ 
mates at more than four thousand square miles 
in extent, with a complete length north and south 
of nearly four hundred miles. Looking from the 
hill-tops of the main island, over sweeps of valley 
and hills, the impression was of highly cultivated 
areas, due to the luxuriant moss and grass that 
covered the surface. Should it turn out that 
these new islands are as large as reported, what 
a fine natural preserve for the caribou and per¬ 
haps also for the musk-ox they would prove! 
The Mackenzie expedition speak of seeing many 
superficial lakes scattered over the islands, around 
which swans and other wild fowl were breeding. 
The Dominion of Canada could not do better than 
to set aside this newly discovered area for the 
purpose mentioned—if indeed it is of the extent 
now estimated. 
A Wilderness Canoe Test 
A SO called Novelty Cruising Contest form¬ 
ed one of the Regatta events at the Sugar 
Island meet of the A. C. A. last August, 
this contest met with great favor and proved to 
be a feature not only interesting to the specta¬ 
tors but of real value to the canoeist. It has 
since been suggested that this event be made a 
regular part of future A. C. A. Regatta-s. 
A cruising contest is not a test of speed or 
strength-—in fact it is not a race at all, but rather 
a practical demonstration of the cruising canoe¬ 
ist’s ability to care for himself and his outfit in 
the open. Such a contest is won on points which 
are determined by the way contestants do things 
on a real cruise. 
Duffle to be packed in pack basket, pack sack or 
made up into any form of practical and neat 
pack, suitable for woods travel. 
We hope that a large number of the cruising 
canoeists who attend the A. C. A. meet next Au¬ 
gust will enter this contest. There is nothing 
particularly hard about it, as the details of cruis¬ 
ing, such as making camp and carry are the 
very pleasure of a cruise to the real cruiser. 
Another “Dont” For The Angler 
M ANY anglers with an honest desire not 
only to keep within the limits of the 
law, but within the limits of their 
immediate necessities, make a practice of unhook¬ 
ing and putting back into the water all the sur¬ 
plus fish they are lucky enough to capture. But 
how few anglers realize that even though their 
intentions may be of the best and certainly most 
sportsmanlike, the fish they put back into the 
water are doomed to disease and death unless 
handled with thoroughly wet hands? 
Never touch a fish with your hand, unless 
the latter be wet. The fish maintains its health¬ 
fulness by a protective covering of moist slime 
or mucous and once this is removed and the fish 
returned to water, the exposed portions are 
attacked by parasites, the result being usually 
that within a week or ten days and often sooner, 
a “bloom” disease is started that kills the un¬ 
happy victim. 
As a rule anglers are too careless anyway in 
handling fish that they intend returning to the 
water. It is not necessary to grab the fish by 
the sides or the gills, squeezing him while he 
struggles, as the hook can be removed nine times 
out of ten without lifting the fish from the 
angler’s net and without touching him at all. If 
a fish swallows the hook there is not much use 
putting him back into the water as by the time 
the hook is taken from the throat or stomach, 
too much damage has been done. 
In this connection it is to be said that anglers 
are often too free in the midst of their good 
luck in taking even surplus fish from the water. 
The sport may be fine, the opportunity one 
seldoms meets with frequently, but even so it is 
best to be moderate. If you have enough fish 
for your needs or if you have caught all the law 
says you ought to have, stop and give some¬ 
one else a chance in the future. 
Game Fishing Near Home 
W E of the angling fraternity are learning 
things these days. Think of being able, 
in a thickly settled state like Massa¬ 
chusetts, at the small expense of a nickel for a 
trolley ride, and the largest expense one can af¬ 
ford in the way of tackle, to have the opportunity 
of battling with the lordly salmon—a sport 
heretofore reserved for the brother angler, opu¬ 
lent of means and leisure, who himself has been 
forced to travel on long and expensive journies to 
gain his heart’s desire. Yet State Commissioner 
Graham of Massachusetts tells the angling world 
in this issue of Forest and Stream how it is 
possible for any state or any community to make 
the salmon a common habitat of local waters. 
There is no miracle about it; the only essential 
is the application of a little good common sense, 
science and energy. 
Still another distinguished authority, Dr. James 
Henshall, points out in this same issue how all 
the thrills, anxieties and triumphs of the trout 
angler may be duplicated by the man who will 
go after the common fishes of streams and lakes 
with proper fly tackle. It is admitted that most 
men who go into the woods are actuated by the 
call of the wilderness rather than by any desire 
to take life. The latter is an incidental neces¬ 
sity; the other spirit is higher and better. But 
not every man can answer the call that leads 
him far from home; the majority of us are 
slaves to commerce or professions. Still it 
should be the privilege and within the province 
even of those tied closest to the daily grind to 
enjoy an occasional little fishing excursion and 
return with something in the way of results 
worth while. If the “stay-at-home” or “kept-at- 
home” angler will but exercise his citizenship in 
seeing that good laws are made and enforced, he 
can have real fishing for game fish at his door. 
The wonder is that he has not long ago realized 
this and insisted upon it. 
“ The Ice Is Out ” 
W HAT a thrill the information contained in 
these magic words will bring to many 
men this month and next. The message 
will be flashed over long forest reaches by means 
of telephone and telegraph; it will be carried to 
outposts of civilization through faintly defined 
trails or across regions where no trails exist; it 
will be received by wearied city dwellers who 
will at once forget the cares of office and hasten 
their departure for scenes of fishing delights. 
The message will mean that spring is here, that 
the long grip of winter is broken and that on 
far northern lakes blue waters are sparkling again 
in the sun, waiting for the return of the angler. 
* 
