696 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 30, 1910. 
t 
Spring Notes from Colorado. 
Denver, Colo., April 14.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: As far as I have been able to learn, 
all small game has done well here this winter. 
Saturday I saw four Chinese pheasants, a 
bunch of prairie chickens and a covey of quail. 
The quail and pheasants are protected for sev¬ 
eral years, yet they are increasing at a good rate, 
and by the time we have an open season on them 
there will be very good shooting. So far this 
winter I have seen fifteen or sixteen bunches of 
quail and they have averaged about forty in a 
bunch, though I ran across several bunches of 
not more than ten or twelve. I have seen a 
number of pheasants, nearly all of the Chinese 
ring-neck variety. They seem to do very well 
here. The farmers are protecting and feeding 
both pheasants and quail, and as the winters 
are not hard they get along first rate.. 
I was along the Platte River Saturday and in 
the stream above South Platte I saw two good 
sized groups of trout in some pools. The stream 
was fairly clear above South Platte, but after 
the South Fork comes in, it is quite muddy. 
Not as many ducks as usual were killed this 
year. They were rather wild as a rule and 
were not as plenty as in years gone by. The 
season closes on the 15th of this month. I think 
it ought to be closed earlier and then we might 
have more ducks. H. P. C. 
The Crucial Point. 
Philadelphl*., Pa., April 16 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I believe we are at last really ac¬ 
complishing a little something in the way of 
game preserving. At our place in Virginia there 
have been for the last two seasons more ducks 
than for a number of years. I believe it is due 
to the stopping of spring shooting by so many 
States. At any rate the coincidence is striking 
and it looks very much like cause and effect. A 
friend of mine who goes duck shooting to Min¬ 
nesota and the Dakotas every September noticed 
the same improvement last autumn and ascribed 
it to the same cause. 
The members of our club in Virginia are 
planning to induce the next Legislature of that 
State to stop spring shooting. If Virginia and 
North Carolina would stop the spring destruc¬ 
tion, I believe you would see an immense in¬ 
crease of water birds all over the country. 
Spring shooting seems to be the point of least 
resistance; the point where we can succeed; the 
best point to attack. Let us all unite on it.' A 
few years ago I was very much interested in 
the plan of placing the migratory birds under 
control of the general government. I wrote 
several articles and letters on the subject. I 
still think it would be the best plan, but there are 
so many practical difficulties in the way (in fact, 
an amendment to the national constitution would 
be needed) that we had better turn our attention 
to the plan that really seems to be succeeding, 
to wit, the stopping of spring shooting. Perhaps 
if we devote ourselves to securing proper legis¬ 
lation and most important of all proper enforce¬ 
ment in each one of the dozen or fifteen States 
that control the wild duck supply, we shall ac¬ 
complish almost as much as by an amendment 
to the constitution. 
Some years ago a great deal was accomplished 
for game preservation by Forest and Stream 
printing in large letters on every issue, “Stop the 
Sale of Game.” The effect of those five words 
constantly repeated can be found in State legis¬ 
lation all over the Union. Every sportsman of 
to-day owes those little words a debt of grati¬ 
tude. Without them he might have nothing to 
shoot but clay pigeons. And now for motto No. 
2: “Stop spring shooting.” 
We must learn the art of game preservation 
in this country gradually, by experience; by 
adapting suggestions and theories to actual con¬ 
ditions and testing them. It comes hard and 
slow, but it comes. We must not expect success 
from ideal plans and theories. We cannot imi¬ 
tate offhand the methods of Europe because our 
conditions are so different. But I believe we 
can have even better success than European 
countries. Civilization, it has been proved, is 
not necessarily an interference with game. The 
wildfowl supply in Europe has increased in re¬ 
cent years, and the greatest and most varied 
quantity of game I ever saw was in Egypt, the 
oldest civilized country in the world. Educate 
the people to certain methods of self-restraint. 
That is the point. Sydney G. Fisher. 
A Michigan Elk. 
There have recently been hung in the Audi¬ 
torium of Saginaw, Mich.—a loan from Peter 
Lepp, the taxidermist—three fine heads, moose, 
caribou and elk. The moose is from Minnesota, 
the caribou from Maine, but an especial interest 
attaches to the elk, which was killed in Michigan, 
though many years ago. 
In speaking of the head Mr. Lepp said that 
he had secured it about ten years ago from the 
late Mrs. H. E. Blackmar, a former resident of 
Blackmar, Mich., which is only eight or nine 
miles from Saginaw. She said that her husband, 
H. E. Blackmar, who resided on the Cass River, 
near the county line, had a warm friend in an 
old Indian named Nockachickami of the Chip¬ 
pewa tribe. The two, back in the winter of 
1858, started out hunting and located three big 
elk. They followed the herd for three days, 
and finally after a hot chase this one was killed. 
When dressed he weighed about 600 pounds. 
He was such a beautiful animal that Mr. Black¬ 
mar decided to mount the head, which he did. 
He kept it in his possession, and when he passed 
away his wife brought it to Saginaw. Mr. Lepp, 
whose hobby was collecting such relics, bought 
it and has had it in his possession since. The 
animal has a fine set of horns. 
An Early Spring. 
Raleigh, N. C., April 11 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The number of game wardens in this 
State is now reduced to sixty-two and a lot of 
territory is not covered at all, this because of 
the fact that the Legislature revoked the Audu¬ 
bon law for a number of counties. A prominent 
resident of one of these counties told me his 
people generally desired that the county should 
again be placed under control of the State Audu¬ 
bon Society. 
The season in this section is extremely early 
and April has been like May. Vegetation is 
fully three weeks earlier than usual and a num¬ 
ber of summer birds are already here and at 
home. 
Sportsmen when asked the results of their 
winter hunting do not give very good accounts 
of it. One man who hunts mostly for market 
told me that some years ago he averaged 600 
quail to his gun during the season, but last win¬ 
ter killed only about fifty, his two sons killing 
350 between them. A great many farmers are 
clever shots and the high prices which birds now 
bring (for they have doubled in prices in the 
last five years) make them all the more sought 
after. 
Oh three preserves in this State pheasants have 
been placed and the reports are so far very good, 
although no great number has yet been reared. 
They seem to thrive well and no shooting of 
them will be done in several years. 
There have been a good many forest fires in 
the mountain region during the past sixty days 
and these have destroyed a good deal of .timber. 
Fires have not been so bad in the eastern sec¬ 
tion where there is far more game than in the 
mountain region. In the mountain region there 
are remarkably few birds. More of these are 
in the middle part of the State than elsewhere. 
Fred A. Olds. 
New York Legislature. 
The Assembly has passed these bills: 
Assemblyman Weiland’s, making the open sea¬ 
son for woodcock from Oct. 15 to Dec. 31. 
Assemblyman Reed’s, making the open season 
for lake trout and whitefish in Owasco Lake 
April 16 to Oct. 31. 
By As’semblyman Whitney, amending the town 
law by making it a misdemeanor for a person 
to set fire to waste or forest lan^s in towns 
other than those in the State forest preserve, or 
to suffer a fire to extend from his own lands to 
any other lands. 
The Senate committee on forest, fish and game 
has reported favorably the bill of Senator Hill, 
increasing the penalty for pollutions of streams 
and use of explosives. 
Assemblyman Merritt has introduced a con¬ 
current resolution proposing an amendment to 
the constitution (Section 12, Article 7) by pro¬ 
viding that any county containing part of the 
forest preserve is to receive its equitable ap¬ 
portionment of the State highways. Highways 
within the forest preserve under this amend¬ 
ment are not to be laid out to a greater width 
than one hundred feet or improved for a greater 
width than other highways in the State under 
similar conditions. 
Among the bills passed by the Assembly is 
Assemblyman Lupton’s, making the open season 
on Robbins and Gardiners islands for English 
pheasants Oct. 15 to Jan. 31; woodcock, Nov. 
1 to Dec. 31. 
The Assembly has advanced to third reading 
and recommitted for further consideration in 
committee the House committee bill amending 
generally the forest, fish and game law. 
Senator Hamilton has introduced a bill appropri¬ 
ating $10,000 for acquisition of additional lands 
and construction of buildings and ponds to en¬ 
large the fish hatchery at Bemis Point on Chau¬ 
tauqua Lake, and to establish a proper and suffi¬ 
cient hatchery for propagating black bass. 
Assemblyman Whitney, of Saratoga, has in¬ 
troduced a bill authorizing the construction of 
State and county highways upon State lands in 
the forest preserve. 
The Senate has passed the bill of Senator 
Hill, amending the forest, fish and game law in 
relation to penalties. 
