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Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. | 
Six Months, $1.50. j 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 3, 1909. 
j VOL. LXXIII — No. 1. 
1 No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
MASSACHUSETTS FORBIDS SPRING 
SHOOTING. 
An encouraging forward step in behalf of 
general game protection is the passage by the 
General Court of Massachusetts of a bill pro¬ 
tecting wild swans at all times, and forbidding 
the hunting and sale of wild ducks, geese and 
brant between Jan. i and Sept. 15 of each year. 
Each addition to the growing list of States, 
whose laws require moderafion in shooting, gives 
encouragement to the friends of game protection. 
Of the New England States, only one—Rhode 
Island—now remains without a general law pro¬ 
tecting the wildfowl in spring. Even Rhode 
Island has limited the shooting of woodducks 
and blackducks, and forbids the killing of shore 
birds on their spring migration. No doubt the 
- rest will come. Meantime efforts are being made 
to repeal or amend the present good law in Con- 
. necticut, which has worked well and promises 
to do much more for the duck shooters of that 
I State. No change should be made. 
The arguments against spring shooting have 
been recited in these columns and elsewhere too 
often to make it worth while to repeat them. 
The self-respecting gunner who calmly considers 
the matter can find little excuse for killing in 
winter and spring birds which at that season are 
in their poorest condition. 
Aside from any question of ethics, the stop¬ 
ping of spring shooting tends to increase the 
I number of wildfowl in the country by widen¬ 
ing the area of the birds’ breeding grounds. One 
reason for the decrease in number of wildfowl 
is the contraction of these breeding grounds; for 
vast areas, once the nesting places of wildfowl, 
are now fertile farms where no wildfowl can 
j stop. When spring shooting is stopped ducks 
and geese returning north will be allowed to 
come to us and remain with us unmolested and 
will then nest in many situations where they 
formerly bred. Our stock of fall birds will 
thus be increased by broods of home bred birds, 
which will stay with us through the autumn and 
will call down to them many a flock of passing 
fowl. 
In a few States laws forbidding spring shoot¬ 
ing have been passed and afterward have been 
repealed; but the sentiment in behalf of better 
protection is constantly growing and hereafter 
no such backward steps should be taken. 
THE GRAND AMERICAN HANDICAP. 
Chicago was the Mecca of trapshooters last 
week, when the Grand American Handicap 
Tournament was held in the suburbs of that 
city. Although the temperature was high, sports¬ 
men from nearly all of the States took part in 
the great tournament. In the Grand American 
Handicap, one of the chief events, there were 
435 contestants, while the usual small number 
of entrants failed, through a variety of causes, 
to take part. From this very large entry it will 
be seen that the interest in trapshooting is by 
no means diminishing. 
A full report of the great tournament will be 
found elsewhere in this issue. 
ATLANTIC TUNA. 
For a long time California, Mexico and 
Florida have enjoyed a monopoly of rod and 
line fishing for big sea fish, and because of the 
great distances to be traveled to the fishing re¬ 
sorts, this sport has been denied to men of scant 
leisure. But while it has for several years been 
common belief that the tuna of the North At¬ 
lantic could be taken by anglers, none has so 
far been captured with rod, reel and line. 
That the tuna frequent these waters is well 
known and a few have been taken by commer¬ 
cial fishermen; but J. K. L. Ross has demon¬ 
strated that these big fish can be hooked, tired 
out and .landed by methods common to sea ang¬ 
ling. 
Last year Mr. Ross hooked twenty-one of the 
twenty-eight tuna that took his baits. All of 
them escaped by smashing his tackle save two. 
These towed his boat about all day and after 
nightfall were cut adrift to prevent the boat 
from being carried out to sea. His interesting 
account of some of these battles is printed else¬ 
where in this issue. 
Mr. Ross’ experiments with these great fish 
have merely encouraged him to try again this 
year. He will not be alone, for other anglers 
will also try for the honor of being first to hook 
and land Atlantic tuna with rod and line. May 
the best man win. Indeed, this is not a pastime 
that will appeal to weaklings. A stout heart, 
an abundance of courage and trained. muscles 
are needed to bring to gaff fish that are strong 
enough to tow a dinghy and two men all day, 
but these requirements and the element of dan¬ 
ger connected with big-game fishing will send 
men to the tuna grounds in numbers to follow 
where Mr. Ross has led. 
Mr. Ross’ experience does not prove that all 
the tuna of the Nova Scotia waters fished by 
him are too large to be captured, and success 
with some of the smaller ones may teach the 
anglers how best to conquer them and give pub¬ 
licity to what may become a new sport in East¬ 
ern waters. Certainly Nova Scotia is near 
enough to encourage anglers who have never 
enjoyed big-game fishing to try their hands at 
it, and thus a new attraction may be available 
in the summer vacation season. 
OLD-TIME FISHING METHODS. 
The large collection of ancient and modern 
fishing prints, owned by Russell W. Woodward, 
of Elizabeth, N. J., has been purchased by 
Daniel B. Fearing and is now a part of the 
latter’s large collection at his home in Newport, 
R. I. During the past few years we have been 
permitted to reproduce many of the Woodward 
pictures, and one will be found in this issue. It 
illustrates an ancient method of taking fish by 
stunning them as they lay under stones in a 
stream. With a hammer the stone was struck 
a sharp blow, and before the confused and in¬ 
jured fish recovered from the shock it was 
scooped up with a small net. 
In the days when our own fish received little 
or no protection, a similar method was practiced 
in some waters in the United States. In the 
spring men waded these streams, equipped with 
sledge hammers and baskets. Loose stones were 
lifted or turned over after they had been struck, 
while a stick or the hammer handle was used to 
poke about under ledges after these had been 
dealt sharp blows in several places, to dislodge 
the injured fish. It was a very destructive 
method, and was made illegal many years ago. 
To-morrow will be the glorious Fourth and 
the usual general celebration will occur on Mon¬ 
day. On the shores of Lake Champlain, how¬ 
ever, the nation’s birthday will see a celebration 
arranged to commemorate the discovery of that 
lake by Samuel de Champlain in 1609. The 
representatives of the National and State Gov¬ 
ernments and of foreign nations will join with 
the descendants of the Algonquin, Iroquois, 
Huron and other Indian tribes in making the 
week a memorable one. Indians, trappers, 
voyageurs, French, Canadian, English and 
American soldiers, in fitting costumes and sur¬ 
roundings, will take part in the various pagen- 
tries arranged to illustrate the historic events 
that occurred on the lake prior to and during 
the war of the Revolution. 
K 
It is one thing to come suddenly on a silver 
tip grizzly bear while hunting for him, but quite 
another matter to find oneself, unarmed, in the 
presence of such a beast. Again, the story of 
how two grizzlies were not photographed is far 
more interesting than it might have been had 
their images been secured on the sensitive plates. 
Such a story will be printed in these columns 
ere long. It was written by the Hon. George 
Shiras, 3d, and while true is one of the best 
“bear stories” we have read. The incidents 
related by Mr. Shiras occurred while he was 
attempting to photograph big game in the Rocky 
Mountains. 
