Nov. 7, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
735 
I 
town the other day. It appears Bennett was 
accused of cutting wood on State land near 
Raquette Lake. The complaint was that the 
State had not shown that the timber was cut 
on State land, and the prosecution was censured 
for its alleged mistake. It is only a few years 
ago that one could find papers complaining be¬ 
cause the State prosecuted timber cases, because 
some of the accused were leading citizens, etc. 
It is easy enough to find fault, and in times 
past none has complained more bitterly than I 
have against laxity in enforcing Adirondack 
laws, but now that the laws are being enforced, 
it is worth while mentioning the fact that the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission has been 
prosecuting hundreds of cases to a successful 
conclusion, and that there never was a time 
when the department was as efficient and trust¬ 
worthy as at present. 
One can find matters 
in which the view¬ 
point does not coin¬ 
cide with the com¬ 
mission’s, and it may 
be that here and 
there errors are 
; 
made. Still, the pub¬ 
lic has every reason 
to be grateful to 
Commissioner Whip¬ 
ple for the big way 
in which he has gone 
about his work. 
There may be a 
I good blow-up from 
the fires this year. 
The great burnings 
are bare and un¬ 
sightly. It is plain 
that a hundred years 
of natural growth 
will not replace the 
forests destroyed; 
but if from this de¬ 
struction the public 
is awakened to the 
fact that every acre 
of these great burn¬ 
ings might easily be 
planted to spruce and other valuable timber, then 
perhaps we will soon see real forestry on a 
great scale in the Adirondacks. It seems a 
shame that the State of New York, with 4,000,- 
000 acres of land adapted to tree culture, should 
be obliged to point at such miserable scrub 
growths as now covers most of the wooded 
areas. Land now worth $15,000,000 would, if 
1 covered with forest, be worth $200,000,000, and 
the income would be millions instead of thou- 
i sands. Raymond S. Spears. 
_ 
Ducks in the South. 
Apalachicola, Fla., Oct. 31 .—Editor Forest 
’ and Stream: The ducks are slow in making 
their appearance here this fall, no doubt due to 
the warm weather North. Only a few teal, 
sprigs and widgeon have as yet been seen, also 
a few Canada geese. A correspondent, how¬ 
ever, writing me from Currituck, N. C., says 
all these have already appeared there “by the 
many, many thousands.” The first heavy 
norther will, no doubt, send some of them on 
down this way. R. V. Pierce. 
Hunting on the Pacific Coast. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 24.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The fish and game commissioners 
express themselve s as being much gratified 
at the success that has attended the sale of 
hunting licenses. Reports from three-fourths 
of the counties of the State show that they have 
sold in three months almost as many licenses 
as all last year. In some counties the sales of the 
three months is in excess of the total for last year. 
Also a larger number of alien and nonresident 
licenses are reported. It was believed in some 
quarters that the licenses this year would be fewer 
than last when some were taken out, it was claimed, 
as a matter of sentiment. The commissioners 
attribute the increase not only to the popu¬ 
larity of the law itself, but to the fact that a 
number of arrests have been made for -hunting 
without licenses. Shooters in general are com¬ 
plaining more or less about the style of license 
badges that are being issued. This badge is 
supposed to be carried by the shooter while 
in the field, and hunters feel that it should be 
of such a size and shape as to admit being 
carried on a key ring. The commissioners 
are, however, issuing a flimsy piece of stamped 
tin considerably larger than a dollar. Carried 
around in the pocket for awhile, it becomes bent 
out of shape. 
Deputy Fish Commissioners Earle Downing 
and John McGlinchy, of Livermore, arrested D. 
Pinoti and R. Pietro for shooting valley quail 
out of season. They paid fines of $75 each. 
Deputy Commissioners Reid and Tracy have 
been doing some good work in Tehama county 
and recently secured the arrest of an old of¬ 
fender, J. O. Wallace, who had defied the offi¬ 
cers tor a long time. Wallace was convicted of 
killing a doe, killing more than the limit bag 
of deer, running with dogs and having a hide 
in his possession with the evidences of sex re¬ 
moved. He was convicted and fined $150. The 
deputies followed up this case with the arrest 
of Jack Hart, for running deer with dogs; W. 
H. Weaver, for killing a doe and for having 
killed more than two deer; W. H. Zachery for 
running deer with dogs; Fred Zachery for 
killing a doe, and Willis Markam for the same 
offense. The fines paid in these cases amounted 
to $250. 
The quail season opened on the fifteenth of 
the month, but was not an immediate success, 
as heavy rains had fallen the day before and 
threatening weather kept many of the sports¬ 
men at home. Since then, however, there has 
been some fine sport, and almost every sports¬ 
man has been able to secure a good bag. The 
birds have become badly scattered, though, and 
have now taken shelter in the scrub oaks and 
laurels, and hunting from now on may not be 
so good. Shooting 
at birds that flush 
from trees is about 
the most difficult 
kind of shotgun 
practice, as a quail 
that leaves its perch 
on the approach of 
a hunter has a very 
happy knack of plac¬ 
ing the trees between 
it and the gun. Quail 
are plentiful in the 
vicinity of Novato 
and around Tomales 
Bay, and some good 
bags have been se¬ 
cured here. 
Duck shooting so 
far has not been very 
exciting, and not un¬ 
til the northern birds 
commence to make 
their appearance in 
large numbers will 
the sport be very 
promising. Market 
hunters have been 
very active all along 
the Suisun marshes 
wherever the land is- 
not taken up by preserves, and together with the 
numerous sportsmen, have succeeded in scaring 
the birds away. The members of the Family Club' 
have a great joke on a well known San Fran¬ 
ciscan who was invited to its preserves about a 
week ago to spend a couple of days’ shoot¬ 
ing. Sloan was without knowledge of marsh 
lore or of wildfowl, so when a flock of mud.- 
hens came along he blazed eagerly away. Phil 
Bekeart, seeing that his guest did not know the 
birds from prize ducks, informed him that they 
were the celebrated black teal, a very rare bird 
on the marsh and highly prized. So whenever 
a mudhen appeared on the marsh, Sloan would 
take careful aim and then blaze away. When¬ 
ever he dropped a bird, he would crawl out 
through the mud and the tides to retrieve it, 
and by dint of hard work, managed to get twenty- 
four of the despised birds before nightfall. 
The deluded sportsman had his birds carefully 
drawn and shipped to the city by express, where 
he attempted to unload them upon his friends, 
saying they were the famous “black teal,” the: 
most toothsome of all ducks. 
A. P. B- 
THE CAMERA’S STORY.—III. 
Photograph by J. H. Babcock. 
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