Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1907, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
iSix Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1907. 
VOL. LXVIII.—No. 21. 
No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
The object of this journal will be to studiously 
promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre¬ 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
Objects. Announcement in first number of 
Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE FOREIGN GAME BILL. 
| L 
Another measure intended to permit the 
sale of foreign game birds in the close season 
( for domestic game birds has been introduced 
[ at Albany, now that the present session of the 
New York State Legislature is drawing to its 
close. This time it was brought up by Mr. 
| Prentice, of New York city, who introduced it 
in the Assembly on May 15, and it is now in the 
hands of the committee on fisheries and game. 
The bill provides that Section 33 of the 
forest, fish and game law (which protects 
wild birds, other than the English sparrow, 
crow, hawk, crow blackbird, snow owl and 
great horned owl, except under authority of a 
certificate issued under this act) shall be amended 
j) so that “Any person, firm or corporation having 
complied with all the conditions and provisions 
of this section, may sell in any city of the State 
having over one million in population, during 
the months of December, January, February, 
March and April in each year, the following dead 
r European game birds: Egyptian quail, red leg, 
lapwing, Russian grouse and rebhiihner.” A 
firm dealing in such game must file a bond in 
the sum of $5,000 with the forest, fish and game 
commissioner and permit his deputies to have 
free access to its books, etc.; notify the commis¬ 
sioner of all importations of such game, to whom 
sold, etc.; and furnish him with a list of all 
such game on hand between May 1 and 10; pay 
a tax of one per cent, per bird into the State 
treasury, etc.; the burden of proof that game 
, served in restaurants is possessed lawfully to be 
upon the possessor. 
It further provides that the commissioner shall 
; appoint two deputies, at a salary of $1,500 each 
1 per annum and expenses to enforce the provis- 
! ions of this section. Violations of this act to be 
I punishable as misdemeanors in the sum of $500, 
j and an additional $500, and $100 for each bird 
| illegally possessed, while a false statement in 
I any affidavit required may be punishable as per- 
r jury by imprisonment not exceeding two years, 
r December 1 next is the date on which it is pro¬ 
posed the act shall become effective. 
Year after year the cold storage men and the 
dealers in game have tried to rush a measure of 
j this character through the Legislature in the 
I closing hours. Often the member introducing 
it has done so innocently, for the real purpose 
| of the bill is not apparent to one who does not 
' understand the situation, which is briefly this: 
• If a bill of this character is passed, the New 
York city dealers will handle domestic as well 
I as foreign game birds in the closed season, and 
I quail, grouse, etc., will be served in hotels and 
| restaurants under a foreign name. Granting 
that it would be possible for protectors to see 
that the dealers observe the law—and this is 
by no means probable—it would be utterly im¬ 
possible for them to compel the restaurant men 
to observe its provisions. 
It is the duty of the committee on fisheries and 
game to refuse to have anything further to do 
with this bill. 
TRAPSHOOTING MANAGEMENT. 
The perfection of tournament management, es¬ 
pecially as exhibited at the great State and inter¬ 
state contests of the present, is gradually reach¬ 
ing the stage wherein it is accepted as a matter 
of course. And yet it is but a few years since, 
when, to run off a tournament without balk or 
tangle, was considered sufficient cause for admir¬ 
ing notice and earnest comment. However, such 
a happening was rare. 
Prior to the advent of the Interstate Asso¬ 
ciation in trapshooting activities, and indeed, 
during some years thereafter in respect to many 
other trapshooting organizations, the weak factor 
in tournament management lay with the clerical 
department. The efficiency of that office never¬ 
theless was vital to the success of every branch 
of the competition. 
And yet, under the old trapshooting usages, 
the clerical office was, in most instances, filled 
by an enthusiastic, industrious but inexpert ama¬ 
teur or amateurs. This condition was a logical 
consequent to that stage of tournament evolu¬ 
tion obtaining at that time. In reference to the 
past, the clubs as a rule had some one or two 
men who supplied all the ideas and did all the 
drudgery. The energetic man or men, who thus 
efficiently managed the clubs’ weekly shoots in 
all their details, was assumed to be equally cap¬ 
able in managing the clubs’ tournaments. Be¬ 
sides, it was further assumed that to skimp in 
the expense of the clerical office had the grati¬ 
fying appearance of financial economy. Money 
thus saved in theory had the fallacious appear¬ 
ance of money actually saved in practice. Many 
tournaments, in the years gone by, were marred 
by this false economy. 
A man may be thoroughly proficient in manag¬ 
ing a home shoot, having ten or twenty or thirty 
contestants, and still, from lack of discipline in 
organizing on a larger scale, or from tempera¬ 
mental failings, be disastrously inefficient in the 
management of a tournament which requires 
good bookkeeping. In this larger field of tourna¬ 
ment activity competent assistants are indispen¬ 
sable, and the wise selection of them is as vital 
to success as is the knowledge of what they 
should do to perform their office duties efficiently 
and promptly, after they are chosen. 
The hit-or-miss, dilatory methods of a few 
years ago are thus in sharp contrast to the per¬ 
fect office organization of present-day tourna¬ 
ments. Much of this is directly consequent to 
the genera] schooling given by the great In¬ 
terstate Association, which is an indirect way of 
giving just praise and credit to the able secre¬ 
tary-manager of it, Elmer E. Shaner. The many 
perfect object lessons he has given of tourna¬ 
ment management through recent years have 
borne gratifying results. He has demonstrated 
that the man or men who receive and record the 
entries, take the cash, make up the squads, com¬ 
pute percentages or other divisions of the moneys, 
debit for goods furnished, disburse moneys, take 
vouchers, etc., must needs be professionally ex¬ 
pert and quick in their office doings. In the old 
days, a “ball up,” so called at a tournament, 
with its consequent suspension of the competi¬ 
tion, loss of revenue to the club while targets 
were not thrown, loss of temper to all concerned, 
and not infrequently with accounts so tangled 
that they were beyond human skill to remedy, 
was not at all uncommon. At the present day, 
such an involved situation is impossible at any 
standard tournament. Thus, besides the incom¬ 
parable uplifting and beneficent increase in the 
sport of trapshooting, to which the Interstate 
Association has so generously and successfully 
contributed, that organization and its manager 
are justly entitled to unstinted praise for their 
beneficent teachings. 
Despite the long, cold winter and unfavorable 
spring, it seems that the deer in Maine came 
through in good shape. A Franklin county cor¬ 
respondent informs us that he has seen a suffi¬ 
cient number of them to warrant his belief that 
they wintered fairly well. Some old deer, and 
young ones that were in feeble condition, suc¬ 
cumbed to the elements in March, but apparently 
these were few. In the Adirondacks a few deer 
were found dead by the protectors after the 
heavy storms in the same month, but there, too, 
the game seems to be in fair condition, consider¬ 
ing the unfavorable season. 
K 
The interest displayed last week in salmon fly- 
casting shows that anglers are anxious to take 
it up as a part of all casting tournaments, but 
if this is done the rules should be made to fit 
the rods, and not the rods the rules. At present 
the limit is eighteen feet. No one in America 
fishes for salmon with rods of this length, but 
a great many employ rods up to fifteen feet. 
The limit should be so adjusted that the greatest 
number can compete with their service rods. 
a? 
The discussion of the brown trout question is 
bringing out some valuable information. Of 
course it would be unwise for anyone to claim 
that the brown trout can ever take the place held 
by our native trout in the estimation of fly-fish¬ 
ermen, but if, as it seems, the brown trout will 
adapt itself to streams that have been fished out, 
and not only hold its own but thrive, then its 
planting in such waters should be considered 
seriouslv. 
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