976 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 19, 1908. 
New York State League. 
The forty-fourth annual convention of the 
Fish, Game and Forest League of the State of 
New York was held in Syracuse Dec. 10 and xi. 
The attendance was large. The delegates pres¬ 
ent represented sixty-five clubs from all parts 
of the State. Harmony prevailed throughout 
the long sessions, which occupied two full days’ 
time. 
The assembly hall in the University block was 
tastefully decorated with evergreens, with 
mounted ruffed grouse, wildfowl and black bass 
placed here and there on the paneled walls. 
Over the speaker’s platform were suspended a 
dozen ruffed grouse that had been mounted in 
the various attitudes of flying. Swinging and 
turning on their invisible supports in the cur¬ 
rents of air, they actually seemed to be flying. 
The first morning was a cold one, with flurries 
of snow, the coldest day of the season, said an 
old protector, whose thermometer registered 
many degrees of frost when he left home at 
daylight. Fur coats and caps and gloves were 
much in evidence, their wearers adding to the 
picturesqueness of the gathering of hale and 
hearty men of the outdoor world. Those from 
the North and West arrived on trains sheathed 
in hoar frost. 
The meeting was called to order by President 
F. S. Honsinger who, after the various addresses 
of welcome and the officers’ reports and the re¬ 
sults of the work of the credentials committee 
had been approved, ■ announced that the member¬ 
ship in the League consisted of sixty-five clubs 
and associations. Nearly forty sportsmen had 
joined as individuals at the meeting, and he 
hoped that the membership could be increased 
until it should exceed that of the California 
State Sportsmen’s Association, which is com¬ 
posed of over one hundred clubs. He felt 
encouraged with the treasurer’s report, which 
showed a working capital of more than $500. 
The first address was made by William 
Dutcher, of New York city, president of the 
National Association of Audubon Societies. He 
referred briefly to the work of his organiza¬ 
tion, and to its policy toward the preservation 
of non-game birds and the protection of game 
and game birds in various parts of the country. 
He then began detailing a large number of 
changes, which he offered as suggestions, but 
which he hoped would be taken up by the 
League and recommended to the New York 
Legislature during its forthcoming session. 
One of his first suggestions was that the pres¬ 
ent special county and other local laws be re¬ 
pealed, and a uniform game law for the whole 
State be substituted—a proposition that was ap¬ 
plauded heartily, and one which Forest and 
Stream has often urged. Mr. Dutcher believes 
that the conditions prevailing in northern, west¬ 
ern and southern New York are not sufficiently 
dissimilar to warrant special laws, which are con¬ 
fusing, misleading, and difficult alike for sports¬ 
men to observe and protectors to enforce. 
He declared that the law which permits cold 
storage houses to hold over through the closed 
season game remaining unsold during the open 
season, through bonding, should be repealed and 
a law enacted prohibiting the possession of all 
game in the closed season. Game so held for 
a year, he said, is unfit for food. If possession 
in close time were forbidden, the cold storage 
men would be careful not to buy game they 
could not dispose of in the legal season, and 
market hunters would not kill game toward the 
close of that season when they were uncertain 
of its purchase by the cold storage men. The 
recent decision of the Supreme Court of the 
United States in the Silz case had put an end 
to doubts concerning the constitutionality of the 
laws relating to State rights in game cases. 
Chief Game Protector John B. Burnham in 
his speech referred to the conditions in regions 
where game is now abundant, but is not properly 
protected. There was need of better enforce¬ 
ment of the laws, else the history of the deer 
in Vermont would be repeated. Vermont’s deer 
were killed off, but after the establishment of a 
long close time her woods had been restocked 
by deer coming from New York and Canada, 
and to-day these are abundant once more. There 
was urgent need for an appropriation of $4,000 
or $5,000 for fast boats for the New York game 
protectors. 1 hese are badly needed on Great 
South Bay, on the St. Lawrence River and the 
large lakes. More money is needed for game 
protection. At present there are eighty pro¬ 
tectors—one for every 1,000 of the State’s popu¬ 
lation. Last year the protectors prosecuted 797 
actions, losing only thirty-eight. The efficiency 
of the force is increasing; in fact, incompetents 
cannot long hold their places, and the men have 
a better understanding of their duties. 
Mr. Burnham said the game protectors appre¬ 
ciated the backing of the State League, and were 
glad to know the members were in sympathy 
with their work. Rumor had it that the pro¬ 
tectors took an active part in the unpleasantness 
that arose in the annual meeting of the League 
last year, but he felt certain the charge was 
unfounded. However, he was glad to see that 
haimony prevailed at the present meeting, and 
urged that the hatchet be buried forever. 
Dr. Theodore S. Palmer, of the Biological 
Suivey, Washington, questioned whether we 
have a national policy of game protection. We 
have lots of projects, but few policies. He 
pointed out the States which have definite poli¬ 
cies and referred to some of them in detail. 
He was convinced that game and game birds 
must be protected during and for a time follow¬ 
ing the breeding season. It is agreed that grouse 
and quail must be protected during most of the 
year, but we are not agreed as to migratory 
game birds, such as snipe, plover, woodcock and 
waterfowl. He was glad to see that the senti¬ 
ment against spring shooting is progressing. 
Dr. Palmer endorsed the recommendation 
urged earlier in the day by William Dutcher that 
special laws be abolished. He favored a uniform 
game law in all counties of each State. He 
pointed out as an example Maryland, with her 
numerous special laws. In one place where four 
counties adjoined, there were as many different 
seasons for ceitain varieties of game, so that 
the sportsman to be safe needs to be accom¬ 
panied by a surveyor and a lawyer. He re¬ 
viewed the license laws and said this plan had 
proved to be a success as a producer, giving as 
it does a fund that is available for the employ¬ 
ment of a larger force of protectors. 
He mentioned the plans followed in various 
States to account for the number of deer killed 
in the open season, but said this is not satis¬ 
factory for the reason that the number of deer 
shipped by rail is always far short of the 
actual number killed. Some means should be 
devised to accurately take stock of the supply 
of deer. It was noticeable that in States which 
prohibit the killing of does, the number of per¬ 
sons shot by mistake for deer is far smaller 
than in States that permit does to be shot in 
the open season, and it seemed certain that the 
penalty for shooting deer without horns had 
saved some human lives. 
1 he addresses of both Chief Burnham and Dr. 
Palmer were made offhand, and they were en¬ 
thusiastically applauded, for they were earnest 
appeals for better game preservation. 
On Friday Lieutenant-Governor-Elect White 
addressed the convention. He pointed out the 
need for legislation for the greatest good of 
the masses, even though it might seem to bring 
hardship to a few. Common sense is needed, 
and the campaign of education now recognized 
as necessary must be carried to a successful 
conclusion. All classes can be made to see that 
game and fish legislation and its enforcement 
will benefit them in time. Sympathetic argu¬ 
ment is needed in dealing with some, but in time 
the obstinate ones can be brought around to the 
proper course. The farmer’s boy, who believes 
every bird and fish his by right, must be taught 
to consider his coming children and grandchil¬ 
dren and their wishes in the matter, as well as 
his own. Our plans must be so made, he said, 
that the men and women of our cities can find 
game and fish in the woods when they go there 
for the health-giving recreation all need. 
He called attention to the harmful effect of 
unpopular legislation which must essentially be¬ 
come a dead letter, and the fact that laws which 
conflict with public sentiment must of necessity 
fail of enforcement. 
Anthony D. Molloy, of New York city, fol¬ 
lowed, and he, too, laid special stress on the 
value of harmonizing laws and public sentiment 
and the great difficulty in obtaining genuine in¬ 
terpretations of public sentiment in regard to 
game laws. He told at length of the experiences 
of himself and other preserve men on Moriches 
Bay and reviewed the causes of the scarcity of 
wildfowl there. He believed in those places the 
wildfowl were not actually becoming scarcer, 
but were learning to avoid their old feeding 
grounds and were locating elsewhere to feed 
and rest. This is due to netting, constant shoot¬ 
ing in and out of season, and to pursuit by 
power boats. His club, a small one, is spend¬ 
ing about $5,000 a year in order to shoot on the 
bay. Most of this goes to people in the village. 
To maintain the preserve and shoot wildfowl, 
the members average about $3.50 expended for 
each duck taken, whereas in old days the mar¬ 
ket hunters obtained about 35 cents for each 
duck sold, and their living was a precarious one, 
their average being less than $100 per year each 
man. The laws are not being enforced, he said. 
Ducks were shot there all last spring. It is true 
the protectors made arrests and collected fines, 
but the natives felt so secure in the local senti¬ 
ment behind them that they reckoned their 
chances of being caught as one in 100. He 
strongly urged the need there as elsewhere of a 
strong public sentiment in favor of the game 
laws. 
Willis D. Cloyes, of Cortland, reviewed the 
history of fish culture from ancient times to its 
adoption in this State, and told in detail of the 
work that had been and is being done, and the 
