FOREST AND STREAM 
[Jan. 26, 1907 
138 
Gun Licenses. 
Elizabethtown, N. Y., Jan. 17.—- Editor Forest 
and Stream: Every measure enacted with pro¬ 
tective intent, every influence, legal or other¬ 
wise, which tends to preserve our game, and re¬ 
strict shooting to legitimate sportsmen should 
have the support of every law abiding citizen. 
In this connection 1 would, as a resident sports¬ 
man, be satisfied to pay a gun license of $1 pro¬ 
vided nonresidents be made to pay a license of 
$5 and aliens $25. As a man who has lived in 
the Adirondacks all his life and witnessed the 
number of guns used increase from a few hun¬ 
dred to many thousands, I will certainly be par¬ 
doned for writing these few' lines about a sub¬ 
ject on which I do not claim to be an authority. 
My impressions are in favor of a graded license 
as indicated above. George L. Brown. 
Northville, N. Y., Jan. 18.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read, with a great deal of in¬ 
terest, the articles which have recently appeared 
in your paper relating to the law on deer in this 
State. I have lived for a number of years in the 
Adirondack region and have had some experi¬ 
ence in hunting. I am frank to confess that 
there are questions which are hard to cover 
satisfactorily by statute. It seems to me that 
parts of the law, as it now is, must have been 
prepared by corduroy sportsmen, whose only ex¬ 
perience in hunting has been either shooting clay 
pigeons near a palatial club house, or shooting 
at a mark in a shooting gallery. At the present 
time deer cannot be taken between sunset and 
sunrise. On a cloudy day a hunter must have 
an almanac in his pocket and be sure that his 
w'atch records standard time, lest by firing his 
gun one minute too soon or too late he may 
make a criminal of himself. Take for instance 
the number of deer which a hunter may take and 
have in his possession during the open season; 
the law allows two to be taken, but only one 
to be in his possession at a time. If a person 
get two deer, and employs a lad to accompany 
him home, claim the deer while en route, and 
upon arrival give it to> some one designated by 
the hunter, the law is obeyed; in other words, 
if a man is honest he is a criminal, but if he 
resorts to subterfuges he is all right. 
Those who are averse to a man shooting more 
than two deer during a season frequently turn 
out to be the parties who sit in camp and play 
cards and drink whiskey while their guides do 
the killing. If these parties were obliged to do 
their own shooting, fewer deer would be slaugh¬ 
tered. The gentleman from Jamestown who 
quaked at the idea of a law being passed in the 
interest of the innkeepers and guides of the Adi¬ 
rondacks is laboring under an erroneous im¬ 
pression. For deer are their stock in trade, and they 
are inclined to* be more selfish in their preser¬ 
vation than the sportsmen. The member from 
this district has introduced a bill, I am informed, 
which provides that deer shall not be shot in 
the water. The hunter must, therefore, beware 
that the deer he shoots falleth not in a mud 
puddle, or he too, may be a criminal. Why 
would it not' he better for the law to be explicit 
and provide just exactly what it means? If the 
law is intended to protect deer against dogging 
and jacking, let it so be understood and en¬ 
forced. Let the time for killing begin Sept. *16, 
and close Nov. 15; it is not too long. The sea¬ 
son would begin late enough to make poor jack¬ 
ing and would close early enough so that snow 
hunting would be reduced to a minimum, and 
yet would be late enough for the meat to keep. 
Let whoever has venison obtained during the 
open season, and desires to keep the meat, file a 
certificate with the nearest game protector or the 
town clerk of the town in which he lives, as has 
been suggested, describing the venison which he 
has, how and when the same was obtained, and 
such person shall he permitted to keep such veni¬ 
son so described for his family use; provided, 
however, that such certificate be filed in the 
proper office not more than three days after the 
close of the open season. 
T believe it is safe to say that more deer are 
killed by crusting or while they are yarded than 
are killed lawfully, and that they are killed for 
their skins. I would suggest that a very strin¬ 
gent law be placed upon the possession of deer 
skins. Just what would be most effective, of 
course, is a moot question just now. But one 
suggestion would be to enact a law making it a 
misdemeanor to have a deer skin in possession 
after Dec. 1, following the close of the open 
season, which was not in pickle or presenting 
some process of curing or tanning. 
W. H. Bass. 
Denver, Colo., Jan. 4. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: This question is difficult to treat on, owing 
to the vastness of our country. What might be 
right and proper in Maine would not be appli¬ 
cable in say, Louisiana or California. In some 
parts game or fowl are so apparently in excess 
of the ordinary requirements of the sporting fra¬ 
ternity that they become a nuisance to farmers. 
For instance, geese at times in California have 
been so thick as to destroy crops. I have sold 
Henry rifles by the case and cartridges by the 
ten thousands to a Portland, Oregon, gun 
dealer to be used by hired men to simply shoot 
at geese to keep them off wheat fields in upper 
California about i860 to 1861. Quail recently 
were so plentiful in southwest Colorado they were 
said to destroy much of the fruit crop. Deer 
in New Jersey years ago were protected for five 
or six years, and before the expiration of the 
closed season many farmers and fruit growers 
of middle and upper Jersey petitioned for an 
opening of the season, as they destroyed their 
young orchards and so- I instance this as one 
reason for the discrimination in favor of some 
sections as against others where game is not 
so abundant and convenient to reach. 
I am in favor of just and eauable game laws 
for the protection of all quadrupeds in their 
propagating throughout our whole country, at 
same time permitting limited seasons for killing 
a limited amount, and when such seasons are 
closed let them be closed to everybody. But 
how are you going to fix it when we have poli¬ 
ticians making our laws and filling our offices 
which have simply become nests for grafters, to 
draw, funds from the public, and wink at their 
friends’ violations of the laws? I hardly know 
how to suggest a remedy that would have any 
respect shown, granting such laws were enacted. 
So far as the wildfowl are concerned, I do< not 
believe we have any right to legislate for them 
by State laws, for they belong to no particular 
section from'the north to the south pole, and 
in their course of flight from warm tO' cold sec¬ 
tions in passing;, let the sportsman have all they 
can get by ordinary sportsmanlike shooting. The 
excess of their requirements might be turned 
over to dealers in poultry to help reimburse 
the sportsman for his expenses, which would 
enable hundreds of citizens who never go shoot¬ 
ing and who would like to occasionally have a 
duck or goose in season ff> obtain one. 
As for gun tax or license I am too< much of an 
American to- be in favor of such an English snob 
law. The United States constitution permits all 
citizens to bear arms, hence it would be uncon¬ 
stitutional. Still, I do not believe in letting the 
lowest classes of Europe come here, buy a cheap 
gun and kill anything from a snowbird to a 
turkey if they get a chance. I think such poachers 
or depredators should be restricted in some way, 
and I believe they should not be entitled to have 
the right of practice or privilege of using a gun 
until they have been in the country ten years 
and know how to read their permits and the tres¬ 
pass notices of the surrounding country where 
private residences and farms prohibit hunting. 
I am in favor of a national law for protecting 
the large game animals of the reserves for sea¬ 
sons of intervals of four years beginning with 
the elk, mountain sheep, moose, caribou, antelope 
and deer; allow the deer to be killed during 
October, T907, all others protected; then the ante¬ 
lope, 1908, all others protected; then elk, 1909; 
mountain sheep, 1910. This plan would give a 
season for one kind out of the several. At the 
same time each would have four years to in¬ 
crease without being killed. But all the laws that 
can be enacted will not prevent the friends of 
politicians from killing whenever a chance offers, 
and it is said many wardens violate the laws 
occasionally. J. P.. Lower. 
Western Ducks Flying. 
Seattle, Wash., Jan. 19.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The cold snap that the duck hunters 
have been looking for all winter struck the 
Pacific northwest eight days ago and for a short 
time there was no end of fine sport. Every 
hunter who could get away from his work grabbed 
his gun, loaded his vest or case with shells, and 
started for the preserves. Early in the week 
good strings were brought in from all the princi¬ 
pal grounds, but as the cold snap continued there 
was a marked dropping off in the flight owing 
to the gradual extension of ice fields. 
In all the marshes where the water is shallow 
the ice was thick enough to resist the rays of 
the sun, and the ducks were compelled to take 
to the open water a considerable distance from 
the shore line. Inland waters were soon covered 
with glare ice, and after the birds had been fooled 
a few times they headed for the sound or lakes 
where the surface was unaffected. In many of 
the bays along the shores of Lake Washington 
good sized flocks of ducks were seen, something 
that is unusual since the commercial develop¬ 
ment was extended to choice water front prop¬ 
erty in all directions. 
One hunter had good luck on Squak Slough 
by the simple experiment of breaking the ice 
in an open place until there was a large enough 
place for his decoys. The usually wily sprigs 
and widgeon came sailing along, and noticing 
the little flock of decoys swung around and came 
down with wings nicely bowed. It was great 
sport, because many ducks were in the air and 
they were hunting hard for a place to drop in. 
Reports from Oreuon and California last week 
were to the effect that thousands of new ducks 
had come scurrying in with the cold weather, 
and the presumption is that they were from the 
Puget Sound country, being driven south by the 
bitter cold north wind. Some of the preserves 
in southern California had given up getting any 
more shooting, but the sudden change in climatic 
conditions gave a new lease' of life, and the 
sprigs, widgeon, gadwalls, teal and spoonbills 
fairly filled the air. A large part of the army 
continued on further south, but every now and 
then big flocks would break away and come down 
prospecting for a place to alight and get food. 
Big ducks were in evidence to some extent, and 
for the first time this’ year many bluebills were 
noticed. 
The cold weather cannot continue much longer 
in the Pacific northwest, and when it breaks the 
ducks that have remained will be eager for food. 
Baited preserves where the water is at the right 
depth will afford excellent shooting. Many of 
the preserves along Squak Slough have been 
troubled with too' much water, this being the 
case before the cold weather came along and 
complicated matters. Recent reports, however, 
are to the effect that the water has gone down. 
If it does not rise again too much the ducks will 
be able to get the food, and they know where 
it is. 
Walter Piper and Sam Eustis, two local sports¬ 
men, were at Milltown the last of the week. 
They found it hard work crawling out early in 
the morning, with the mercury trying to drop 
out of sight, and the north wind biting their 
faces. Ice fields spread out before them in all 
directions, but they worked hard and managed 
to bring home about thirty ducks of different 
varieties. _ Portus Baxter. 
New Publications. 
In his “Sa’-Zada Tales” W. A. Fraser hits on 
a somewhat novel method of describing wild 
animal ways. Sa’-Zada, a keeper of wild animals 
in a large zoological narden, realizing that on 
hot nights in summer his charges could not seek 
relief from the heat as could the humans, de¬ 
cided to' gather them together every evening and 
persuade each to tell the story of his life. Thus 
on one occasion all the animals assembled to 
listen to yarns spun by the leopards, the ele¬ 
phants the next night, and so on. In this way 
many animal habits are explained in a way that 
a boy or girl can understand. The book is illus¬ 
trated by Arthur Heming and published by 
Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 
