FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 29, 1908. 
334 
Grouse and Other Game. 
Owego, N. Y., Aug. 7.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Conditions regarding the ruffed grouse 
are decidedly improved in this locality this year 
and reports received from all parts of the county 
are most encouraging. 
Young birds hatched well in all covers where 
any old birds were left last year, and, in fact, in 
places where there seemed to be no birds at all 
last season they have returned, and good-sized 
broods are now to be found. 
I have had talks with farmers from several 
different localities, and have written letters to 
parties in different sections of the county, and 
all respond with the same good news of large 
broods and young broods doing finely. 
In one piece of woods where last season hard¬ 
ly a grouse could be found, I am informed from 
trustworthy sources that there are now two 
broods there, one of twelve and one of fourteen 
young birds doing nicely. In another piece of 
woods over which I hunted last season with in¬ 
different success, a farmer living near there, who 
has occasion to go through the woods daily since 
early in the spring, reports three large broods, 
having discovered the nests before the young 
birds were hatched. All these young birds are 
doing well. Many similar instances equally 
encouraging could be cited. 
Local sportsmen are much encouraged over 
the prospects of a good shooting season, and 
with a strict enforcement of the new law, which 
has shortened the season, limited the bag, and 
provided for a hunter’s license, the ruffed grouse 
scarcity of 1907 will soon be only a memory. 
F. J. D. 
Nashua, N. H., Aug. 8.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I believe, from what I hear, that there 
will be an improvement in the supply of ruffed 
grouse this year. The coveys I hear of are large 
-—or were to start with—and there has been no 
cold rain to kill the young chicks. 
So, I believe, that partridges will be com¬ 
paratively plentiful, though not numerous^ as the 
breeding stock was too few. I feel that, unless 
a decided improvement appears this year, shoot¬ 
ing ruffed grouse should be prohibited for one 
season. That would give two breeding seasons 
for recuperation and materially aid in restoring 
the supply of the grandest game bird that flies. 
While they can never be as plentiful as, say, 
twenty years ago, a great deal can yet be done 
to prevent their extermination. W. H. B. 
Oakland, Bergen County, New Jersey, August 
ii ..—Editor Forest and Stream: The outlook for 
ruffed grouse shooting for the coming season ap¬ 
pears very poor. I have heard of a few, but 
very few broods being seen; these, however, 
seemed strong and in good condition. 
I believe it will take many years, even if it is 
ever the case again, before we see anything like 
the stock of ruffed grouse on these hills and over 
the surrounding .country that we usually found 
before 1907. The stock left for breeding pur¬ 
poses at the end of last season, was very small, 
and a large percentage’ of the birds left were 
old, barren hens or old cocks who had learned 
to take care of themselves. 
All this section of the country is being rapidly 
occupied by a new class of people. The farmers 
are all gone or are trying to sell their farms, and 
their places are being taken by business men 
from the cities who come into the country for 
the purpose of recreation, keep dogs and guns, 
and know how to shoot. 
It is true that a great deal of land is posted, 
but I do not find that this makes much difference 
—in fact, when I go out I expect to find more 
game on land which is unposted than on that 
w T hich is posted, because the latter is more per¬ 
sistently shot over than the former. Of course 
last year was a most deadly one for the ruffed 
grouse, but almost the same scarcity exists as re¬ 
gards quail, rabbits and squirrels, which used to 
be abundant in this neighborhood. 
The imported English starling has made its ap¬ 
pearance here this summer for the first time, 
and I have had a pair nesting in one of my 
barns. Allen W. Money. 
Merrill, Wis., Aug. 11 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am told by men who are “cruising,” 
and by our county superintendent of schools, 
who drives all over the county, that there are 
more broods of ruffed grouse in the woods than 
last year. Before the sale of game was stopped 
in this State, the birds were slaughtered by hun¬ 
dreds. I think now they are on the gain. 
Last winter was very mild in this county, with 
little snow. I saw several coveys while deer 
hunting last fall up on the Prairie River. 
L. B. 
Elmira, N. Y., Aug. 15 —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Reports as to the outlook for grouse 
and quail for 1908 in New York and Pennsyl¬ 
vania indicate that shooters may expect a fair lot 
of both for the fall shooting. We cannot look 
for anything like the amount of either that we 
have had in old times, but think if the sports¬ 
men use moderation in their shooting and we 
have a good spring next year we can have fair 
sport this season and still have enough left to 
propagate the species for next year. 
The $1 tax on the gunner meets with approval 
of most of the sportsmen. In some sections, 
however, it is reported that the farmers do not 
like it and are posting their lands, saying that if 
they are to be taxed none others shall shoot on 
their lands. 
How about the farmer shooting on his own 
land without license? E. H. K. 
[Farmers may kill game on lands which they 
own or lease without procuring a license. We 
do not comprehend the reasoning attributed to 
the farmers in the paragraph referring to the 
tax. The farmers are the ones untaxed as we 
read the law.— Editor.] 
Elizabethtown, N. Y., Aug. 14.- — Editor For¬ 
est and Stream: There is likely to be improve¬ 
ment in the ruffed grouse supply this year. 
While it is yet early to predict with certainty, I 
am of the opinion that there will be a material 
increase over last year, as thus far we have had 
a good season favorable to the young birds and 
with plenty of natural feed. 
Wm. S. Kellogg, a local hunter who goes about 
this section a great deal, says he has seen a large 
number of young birds on and near the Cobble 
Hill Golf Links, and along the roadside as he 
has been driving about. At present all signs 
point to more grouse and better hunting the com¬ 
ing autumn. George L. Brown. 
Deer Farming for Profit. 
As a country fills up with population, the 
large game animals are the first destroyed, 
both because they furnish abundant food and 
also because the man who hunts for sport de¬ 
sires to capture the largest aiiimals accessible. 
So it is that the moose, the deer and the buffalo 
of the country are speedily exterminated. Most j 
of them perhaps are killed, but many move on j 
to some area where the hostile population is 
more scanty. 
For many years now, certain species of 
North American deer have been held in cap¬ 
tivity, and the experience of those owning deer 
parks has been that these animals are easily 
reared. One of those who early established 
a large deer park was the Hon. John D. Caton, 
of Illinois, a man greatly interested in natural 
history, greatly interested also in sport, and 
fortunately possessed of ample means, enabling 
him to gratify his tastes in this direction. 
Judge Caton then had a number of species of 
deer confined in his park, but those then or 
lately native to the region were far more easily 
reared than other species brought from a dis¬ 
tance, such as the mule deer, the Columbian 
black-tailed deer, or the Acapulco deer. On 
the other hand, there is no doubt that in a deer 
park in the Rocky Mountains, the mule deer 
would do well, or the Columbian deer would do 
well in a park in the country to which it is 
native. 
Judge Caton set down many of the results of 
his experience in his volume on the “Antelope 
and Deer of America.” 
Many deer, nevertheless, readily adapt them¬ 
selves to new surroundings, and axis deer, 
Japanese deer, and the fallow deer of Europe 
do excellently well in parks. 
Forest and Stream has frequently recom¬ 
mended the breeding of elk for beef, for there 
seems to be no reason why these animals may 
not be profitably reared for that purpose, ft 
is interesting to observe that the Department 
of Agriculture has recently taken up the sub¬ 
ject and issued a farmer’s bulletin, entitled 
"Deer Farming in the United States,” by Mr. D 
E. Lantz, which recommends the same thing. 
Originally some species of deer was fount 
in every section of the United States. There 
are very many regions where the character oi 
the country is such that it cannot be profitably 
used either for the raising of crops, or o: 
forests. Moreover, the average American 
citizen hardly appreciates as yet the importance 
of forest cultivation. He is too anxious to see 
some return from his land at a reasonably 
early date. 
The flesh of the deer is a popular food, ano 
in the market brings considerably more than 
beef or mutton. The only expense connectec 
with breeding these animals is the necessan 
fencing and a certain amount of feed during th>| 
winter. Forests that are old enough may b» 
used as deer preserves. 
The elk is perhaps the most profitable of ou 
deer to rear, on account of its size. It is sai<f 
that as high as $1.50 per pound has been pai 
for the flesh of elk, but many State laws forbi 
the sale of the flesh, except at certain time j 
Elk breed rapidly. They are useful in clearir 
out underbrush from forests, they are, so f: 
as known, not subject to diseases nor to tf| 
