FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 12 , 1908 . 
,M^.v J s 0 U 
936 
is, that the bear is a picturesque and harmless 
denizen of our forests, justifying the wisdom 
of a Pennsylvania Legislature in enacting a 
closed season for bear. The abundance of bear 
in the mountain fastnesses adds a spice to the 
hunting of lesser game, for one can never know 
when bruin may appear upon the scene. 
Quail have been so decimated by the severity 
of the past few winters that they are almost ex¬ 
tinct, and a law should be passed by the Legis¬ 
lature to meet next January putting them out of 
the hunting for the next five years. Pheasants 
have been rather scarce for the past several 
seasons, and many of them no doubt perished 
in the severe forest fires of the past summer. 
But pheasants seem to be able to care for them¬ 
selves and need only a square deal to keep in 
the running. Squirrels were rare, and the rab¬ 
bit and woodcock shooting not so good as in 
some years. One thing to be noted is the in¬ 
creasing number of hunters. There was at 
least one fatal shooting accident of one hunts¬ 
man by another. There is marked tendency to¬ 
ward the purchase of large tracts of stripped 
land by clubs and preserving them for the pleas¬ 
ure of the owners and their friends. 
William Walter Champion. 
North Carolina Quail. 
Raleigh, N. C., Dec. 4.- — Editor Forest and 
Stream: November was an unusually warm 
month in North Carolina and December came 
in almost summer-like fashion, with roses in 
bloom in all the eastern half of the State. The 
result is that duck shooting has not been par¬ 
ticularly good along the coast to this date. The 
Audubon Society has a pretty strong force of 
wardens in Currituck Sound and these wardens 
report fewer violations of the law this year than 
msual. There are certain days when no shoot¬ 
ing is permitted, these being known as lay-days, 
and last week one man was found shooting but 
got away, throwing his gun and ammunition 
overboard in order that this could not be used 
.against him. The warden later discovered the 
■gun lying on the bottom of the sound and fished 
it out. 
Reports received from all parts of the State 
seem to indicate some scarcity of quail, and this 
is almost universally regarded as having been 
caused by the enormous rains in August which 
drowned young birds. From the very best in¬ 
formation now obtained it is thought the bird 
crop is about a third less than usual. Some 
Northern hunters are being kept away from 
North Carolina by a story which has been circu¬ 
lated that there are no quail here, when as a 
matter of fact there are a great many in the 
State, although not so many as last year. There 
are now eighty-seven wardens, Governor Glenn 
having appointed five during the past few days. 
The force of wardens is growing gradually 
larger, as the Audubon Society is able to take 
care of them. It is very certain that the ship¬ 
ment of birds to the Northern market has 
greatly decreased and there is certainly every 
reason to say that the amount of smuggling is 
far less than it was a few years ago. In many 
sections deer are decidedly on the increase; in 
fact, the deer are increasing with great rapidity 
in all the territory where they are given even 
meager protection. Fred A. Olds. 
Hunting Casualties. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Inclosed you will find a brief statement of 
hunting casualties in Wisconsin and Michigan 
for a period of years. What the completed re¬ 
turns from the United States and Canada would 
foot up I do not know, but it must be appalling. 
The Times Milwaukee correspondent says: 
A total of twenty-three were killed /-.nd fifty-three in¬ 
jured in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michi¬ 
gan this year against fifty-one killed and thirty-six 
wounded when the deer hunting season was about to 
close last year. To the forest fires last fall is ascribed 
the reason for the smaller toll of the dead and injured 
in that the underbrush was burned away, and the 
forests made more open. 
A comparative table of such accidents for seven years 
follows: 
Year- Dead. Injured. Total. 
1901 . 17 32 49 
1902 . 10 16 26 
1903 . 14 21 35 
1904 . 16 7 23 
1905 . 17 13 30 
1906 . 7 9 16 
1907 . 51 66 117 
1908 . 23 33 56 
The accidents this year, summarized, are: 
Shot by companions. 18 
Shot by unknown hunters . 9 
Shot by father . 1 
Killed by brother . 4 
Killed by own hand. 3 
Drowned . 2 
Shot by own carelessness. 9 
Shot in examining gun. 2 
Mistaken for rabbit. 1 
Mistaken for bear. 2 
Mistaken for deer... 2 
Shot in climbing tree, or brush. 2 
Shot by set-gun . 1 
Shot in slipping o ff log. 4 
Shot in handing gun to another. 2 
Shot while resting on gun. 2 
Shot in pulling gun through wire fence. 1 
Shot in pulling gun over boat. 5 
Run over by train. 1 
Bled to death . 3 
Lost eyesight . 2 
It is lamentable that every year there should 
be such a large number of shooting accidents. 
Sportsmen familiar with the ordinary precau¬ 
tions, suggested by prudence and experience, re¬ 
alize that practically all the mischances which 
occur could be avoided. I have attended many 
shooting events, both trapshooting at live birds, 
and rifle practice. Accidents upon such occas¬ 
ions are almost unknown. The reason is ob¬ 
vious. There are a few elementary rules laid 
down which insure safety, and these are strictly 
enforced. Familiarity with the use of firearms 
tends to greater caution; those accustomed to 
handling dangerous weapons are generally the 
most careful. 
In this connection it may be said it is only 
necessary to remember a few “don’ts”: 
Don’t point the muzzle of a firearm, loaded 
or unloaded, in the direction of another person. 
Don’t shoot at an object unless positive be¬ 
yond chance of error. 
Don’t move from a spot where a shot is fired 
without making sure the gun is not cocked. 
Don’t leave loaded weapons around camp. 
Don’t pull a gun toward you by the muzzle. 
Don’t join a jovial crowd to shoot in the 
open; there is danger in numbers. 
Don’t use a hair trigger on game. 
These rules are so plainly necessary that it 
might almost seem superfluous to state them, 
and yet an analysis of the causes, which occas¬ 
ion nearly all the accidents, results from their 
being violated. Rules as far-reaching as these, 
making an accident to another resulting from 
their violation a misdemeanor, should be incor¬ 
porated in the statutes of the several States. 
In New Jersey an accident occasioned by the 
careless handling of a firearm is a misdemeanor. 
In casualties of this character, there is of course 
an absence of criminal intent, except so far as 
reckless indifference to another’s safety in some 
cases may be construed as such. 
I would furthermore suggest that an affidavit 
should be attached to the license permit, briefly 
specifying the precautions necessary to safety, 
requiring the licensee to swear compliance with 
the same. In this way the attention would be 
directed to such matters, and the moral obliga¬ 
tion of complying more clearly defined. 
It is a fact of common knowledge among 
sportsmen of experience that hunting as a pas¬ 
time can be rendered comparatively safe, from 
which we draw the conclusion that the great 
number of accidents can only arise from ex¬ 
treme carelessness. 
Edgar F. Randolph. 
A White Blackduck. 
Detroit, Mich., Dec. i.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: According to the nursery rhyme, 
“There was a little man and he had a little 
gun,” and sometimes little men with little guns 
find strange things in their game bag. I was 
hunting ducks in the middle of November on 
one of the marshes in this State, when late in 
the afternoon I saw coming in from Lake Erie 
three ducks, two of which were black mallards 
and the third a nondescript of which some of 
your readers may be able to give me informa¬ 
tion. 
The birds were flying about forty feet above 
the marsh and possibly fifty yards from my 
decoys when I shot at and killed the duck I 
am about to describe. It is to all appearances, 
and in the judgment of dozens of duck hunters 
to whom I have shown it, a black mallard, ex¬ 
cept for the fact that it is pure white with the 
exception of a faint tinge of yellow on the left 
side of neck, and on the rump three or four 
small mottled feathers identically the same as 
the gray mallard feathers, dark gray and white, 
and one gray feather in the right wing. The 
duck weighs three and one-half pounds, is ex¬ 
actly the same shape as a black mallard, and 
the eyes are black. Aside from the above 
peculiarities it is a black mallard, but I should 
be glad to hear from other duck hunters if such 
a thing ever came to their knowledge, or if the 
foregoing description would answer that of some 
of the duck species of which I have no knowl¬ 
edge. I am having the duck mounted. 
Geo. J. Bradbeer. 
New Jersey Game Laws. 
Belvidere, N. J., Dec. 5.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since writing the letter which you 
published last week, my attention has been called 
to the fact that the United States Supreme Court 
has upheld the law which forbids the removal 
of game out of the State. But the Supreme 
Court is concerned with interpretation rather 
than equity, and my point is that the public do 
not accept the equity of a law that contradicts 
the principle as old as the oldest arrowhead that 
captive game belongs to the captor, and that this, 
together with the espionage necessary to en¬ 
forcement, makes the law impracticable. 
J. de Hart Bruen. 
