1014 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 25, 1910. 
The weather cleared off about this time, and 
we packed up and hurried toward camp. It was 
down hill and we ran a good part of the time, 
so that we reached camp by five o’clock. Cutler 
and Grant had come in after an unsuccessful 
hunt for deer, and they were overjoyed to see 
us bringing in the last sheep head. They had 
heard us shoot, but had supposed that we were 
shooting deer. Grant had had some hope of 
my getting a sheep at this camp, but he had not 
cared to say anything about it, as he did not 
wish to raise any false hopes. 
This ended our sheep shooting for the year, 
as we had both got our limit under the license, 
four fine heads. While none of them was ex¬ 
traordinary, yet all were beautiful specimens. 
We weighed the two largest heads after they 
had been thoroughly cleaned out, and the jaw 
bones and brains removed, so that there was 
very little except the horns. My largest head 
weighed sixteen pounds and Cutler s largest 
fifteen and a quarter. I think this is the fairest 
test of the size of a ram’s head, as the appear¬ 
ance of the head depends entirely upon the gen¬ 
eral size of the horns, as was the case with 
Cutler’s second ram. Base measurement is no 
criterion of the size of Cutler’s largest ram com¬ 
pared with mine. The measurements and weight 
of Cutler’s ram were as follows: Base, 14H’ 
length, 32; spread, 25; weight, 15A pounds. The 
measurements of my largest ram were: Base, 
1454; length, 33 l A ; spread, 20; weight, 16 pounds. 
Cutler’s second ram: Base, i 4 J 4 l length, 30; 
spread, 23; weight not known. My second ram. 
Base, 14; length, 29; spread, 22; weight not 
known. Russell Mott, 
[to be continued.] 
Biltmore Forest School. 
After two weeks spent in the Adirondacks the 
school returned to North Carolina and is now at 
Sunburst, N. C., about sixteen miles to the south¬ 
east of Waynesville, and at a point where the 
West Fork of the Pigeon River receives its 
three main tributaries. The forests here are 
well stocked with all kinds of hardwoods (five 
oaks, two magnolias, two hickories, two birches, 
two maples, yellow poplar, chestnut, beech, buck¬ 
eye, ash, basswood, locust, cherry, dogwood, 
walnut, butternut, service tree, sourwood, silver- 
bell, sycamore, hornbeam, etc.), and hemlock. 
The higher ridges are covered with spruce and 
fir. In the next valley to the west are the 
operations of the Champion Fibre Company. 
Here everything taken out is cordwood (pulp 
and tannic acid wood) which supplies their 
gigantic plant at Canton. These operations are 
being carried on by means of chutes, flumes, 
splashdams and narrow gauge railroads. Be¬ 
tween Sunburst and Waynesville the road leads 
through cut-over lands, abandoned fields or 
small farms. 
The 'school’s work has consisted of cruising 
and timber estimating, using the strip method 
and also estimating the contents of individual 
trees; surveying, including the laying out of 
roads, use of the plane table and all the instru¬ 
ments necessary in this kind of work; stem 
analysis; form heights for spruce and fir; study 
in the field of various insect and fungus dis¬ 
eases ; the growth in cut-over woodlands and on 
abandoned fields. 
Mr. Hendrickson on New York 
Game Protection. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
At the solicitation of friends I have en¬ 
deavored to reduce to writing the remarks made 
by me at the recent meeting of the New York 
State Sportsmen’s Association at Syracuse on 
the motion of»our secretary, Mr. Blandford, to 
change the name of our association to the New 
York State Trapshooters’ Association for the 
reason that of late years we have taken no active 
interest in game or its protection, but have de¬ 
voted our energies exclusively to trapshooting. 
I trust these views may prove of interest to the 
sportsmen of this State. 
John H. Hendrickson. 
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: 
I think that the move suggested by Mr. Bland¬ 
ford would be very ill-advised, and from recent 
developments I think it is high time for this 
association as well as that of all other sports¬ 
men’s clubs in this State, to wake up and take 
an active interest in game, its protection and 
propagation. 
Of late we have heard much about the grow¬ 
ing scarcity of game, and many have advocated 
a close period of two or more years on all kinds 
of game as a solution of this problem, but right 
here I want to warn the sportsmen of this State 
that such a move would be dangerous in the ex¬ 
treme, for, if such a law is allowed to pass, we 
will have a desperate struggle to ever again 
secure an open season. In many quarters there 
is a strong sentiment against all shooting of 
game. The Audubon Societies seek to protect 
and foster all bird life—hawks, owls and crows, 
as well as the more useful birds. The Cruelty 
to Animals Societies object to all shooting on 
the ground of the cruelty inflicted, while many 
others object to it on the very narrow grounds 
that they cannot see any pleasure in it, and there¬ 
fore it should be declared wrong and laws passed 
prohibiting it. I regret to state that many of 
our fishermen friends object to shooting on one 
ground or another, and I have had several in¬ 
teresting arguments with some of the latter on 
this subject. One friend, a man who at one 
time was very high in State politics, took me to 
task one day for shooting birds on the ground 
of cruelty. I listened to him patiently until he 
had finished and then I asked if he had ever 
done any shooting. He admitted that in his 
younger days he had shot robins and highholes, 
but had never killed any game birds and had 
never shot over a dog, nor seen one used in the 
field. He also informed me that he was very 
fond of fishing and indulged in that “grand 
pastime” at every opportunity. When I said 
that I considered fishing with rod and line much 
more cruel than shooting, he tried to justify 
himself on the ground that fish are cold-blooded 
and do not feel pain. I have heard this argu¬ 
ment advanced by many fishermen, but if such 
is the fact why does a fish make such a fight for 
its liberty when hooked? Why will a trout 
hooked through the lip or bony part of the 
mouth make a much better fight than one which 
has swallowed the hook? I have always believed 
the intense pain suffered by the latter paralyzed 
its efforts, but perhaps I am wrong. 
The sight of a poor fish gasping for breath 
on the bottom of a boat, or feebly flopping about 
in a basket or box is one of the most distressing 
sights I know of, yet many of our fishermen 
friends are the loudest shouters against shoot¬ 
ing, on the ground of cruelty. Tell one of the 
latter of a good day’s shooting at woodcock or 
quail, and he will probably lecture you on the 
cruelty inflicted, but he will take great pleasure 
in telling you of the great fight put up by a 
certain trout or bass, which fought for half an 
hour or more in its struggle for freedom. 
It seems hardly fair for our fishermen friends 
to condemn our favorite sport simply because 
they can see no pleasure in it. We certainly ex¬ 
pect them to look at things in a broader light. 
And now while on this subject of fishermen 
might I ask a couple of pertinent questions? 
For years the fishermen have received conces¬ 
sions from the State in the form of trout, black 
bass, etc., for restocking purposes, but what has 
the fisherman done in return? Has he volun¬ 
teered to pay to the State a rod; tax in return 
for these benefits? Has he ever suggested a 
close period for a term of years when fish were 
scarce? Or that the season be curtailed? Or 
that the catch be limited? No, gentlemen, no¬ 
body has ever heard a fisherman make such a 
request, but if fish happen to be scarce, at once 
there is a great outcry of a different character, 
and from every quarter we hear, why does not 
the State breed and liberate more fish. What 
have we a fish commission for, and so on? 
Ever since I have devoted any thought at all 
to this subject, I have wondered why the fisher¬ 
men could apparently get whatever they wanted 
from the State, while the men who take their 
pleasure with the gun seem unable to secure any 
recognition and are often discriminated against 
in the most outrageous manner. As far as I can 
see, there is only one explanation, and that is 
lack of organization on our part, and I would 
urge the gunners to immediately organize and 
insist upon receiving a fair deal. 
Throughout the State the fishermen seem to 
be very well organized, and everywhere we find 
prosperous fishing clubs controlling choice 
waters. When legislation is required- these men 
are in a position to go to Albany and demand 
it, while we, the gunners, through lack of or¬ 
ganization can obtain nothing and must be con¬ 
tent to take what is handed out to us. 
One of the most glaring illustrations of this 
unfair treatment of the gunners is the gun 
license law exacted a couple of years ago and 
the way it is enforced. When this law was first 
Suggested, every fair-minded gunner in the State 
felt that here was a solution of many of the 
abuses of the older days, and there was little or 
no opposition to its passage, but I regret to 
state that by gross lack of enforcement this law 
has become a dead letter. It has simply added 
another burden to the already heavy load of 
the legitimate sportsman without in the remotest 
degree benefiting him or the conditions sur¬ 
rounding game, while the foreign element 
(which was really the principal reason for the 
passage of this act), the poacher and the game 
violator do as they have always done—shoot 
when, where and what they please. 
By this gun license law the State has been en¬ 
riched by several hundreds of thousands of dol¬ 
lars, and what has the shooter received in re¬ 
turn? Have our laws been better enforced? 
Has the State purchased and liberated any game 
birds or animals? Has suitable food been 
planted ? 
