256 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 14, 1909. 
Minnesota Game. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 7 .—Editor Forest 
ami Stream: While the habitat of the white¬ 
tailed or Virginia deer once included all the 
wooded area of the State, it is now, roughly 
speaking, defined by that portion clothed with 
coniferous forests. This includes an equilateral 
area, the vertices of the three angles being at 
or near Stillwater, St. Vincent, and Grand 
Portage at the eastern extremity of Cook 
county. This is a vast area, including nearly 
a thousand townships, almost half the surface 
of the State, a great portion of which will for 
many years remain a suitable home for deer. 
The red deer responds readily to protective meas¬ 
ures, thrives in the midst of sparse settlements, 
and is easily domesticated. It is very prolific 
and even in the face of an annual slaughter of 
at least five thousand animals by hunters in the 
open season, great destruction in certain 
quarters by wolves, loss from starvation due to 
heavy snows, and illegal killing by settlers and 
poachers, seems to have increased in numbers in 
recent years. To say that thirty thousand deei 
are to-day roaming our northern forests may 
seem an exaggeration, but careful examination 
of certain widely separated typical localities 
leads to the conclusion that it is safely within 
the limit of probability. 
What are thirty thousand deer worth to the 
State? O11 the lowest sordid basis of food 
value, their worth exceeds half a million dollars, 
not to speak of their far greater value as game, 
the legitimate pursuit of which by hunters is 
one of the most invigorating and health-giving 
of sports. 
The largest game animal surviving on the 
American continent is the moose. It is a most 
interesting and important species. Only three 
States of the Union—Washington, Minnesota 
and Maine—now have moose in sufficient num¬ 
bers to safely permit their killing. Washington 
has comparatively few; Maine has many, and 
they are very numerous in Minnesota. Their 
range extends along the Canadian border from 
eastern Cook county to the Red River valley, 
over a territory 300 miles long. It is only in 
the most inaccessible regions that the moose is 
now found in great numbers. 
Carlos Avery, of the State game and fish 
commission, spent fifteen days with George 
Shiras, 3d, of Washington, D. C, trailing the 
moose. In spite of many difficulties, Mr. Shiras 
obtained five photographs by daylight and ten 
flashlight pictures. He believes he was ab'e 
to confirm certain ideas about the habits of the 
moose, which in a wild state is little known. 
Mr. Avery said: 
“We had many exciting experiences. It was 
necessary to get within 100 feet of an animal 
in day time, and within twenty-five feet at night 
for a flashlight. When the flash came, the 
moose was just as likely to come toward us as 
to run the other way. 
“We were in Loon River, which has high 
banks, and sometimes they could not climb out. 
They would see our boat light and make for it. 
We had to turn the light, and even then some¬ 
times had to push them away with the oars. It 
was never necessary to shoot. It is a much 
more exciting sport than hunting. 
“One night we were about to take a flash¬ 
light of a cow moose when she got scent of us 
and tried to get away, but could not climb the 
bank and became terrified, making straight for 
our light. We had to push her away with oars 
and she swam around bellowing, coming at 11s 
three times, and finally got out of the river and 
away without our taking a picture. 
“There were only two or three nights while 
we were there that the air was clear enough 
for picture-making. 
“We found as many deer as moose in that 
region, which was a surprise to me.” 
Drainage ditches in northern Minnesota are 
a menace to big game, according to George W. 
Loinan, deputy game warden at Lomair, who 
writes to Executive Agent Carlos Avery, after 
making an examination of the big State ditch 
near International Falls. He says that deer and 
moose, which are in the habit of wading through 
streams and swamps easily, venture into these 
ditches and are unable to climb out. They be¬ 
come weakened, are tortured by flies and 
mosquitoes and die. Loman found the carcasses 
of four moose in the distance of four miles. 
The State, ditch he inspected is twenty feet 
wide and fifteen to twenty feet deep, with al¬ 
most perpendicular banks. Mr. Loman declares 
further in his letter that such large ditches 
ought to be protected by fences, and Mr. Avery 
agrees with him. He says that at such a rate 
the drainage ditches may prove more fatal to 
game than either hunters or wolves. 
Robert Page Lincoln. 
Louisiana Game Refuge. 
New Orleans, La., Aug. 7 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: President Frank M. Mi ler, of the 
State Game Commission, has succeeded in secur¬ 
ing the convention of the American Fisheries 
Society for 1911 for New Orleans. An invitation 
was extended to the convention to meet in this 
city next year, but the delegates desired to cele¬ 
brate the fortieth anniversary of the founding 
of the society in New York city in 1910 and 
compromised by pledging the convention to New 
Orleans in 1911. If the United States Govern¬ 
ment shall make an exhibit of its fishery here 
when the convention meets, it will add greatly 
to the interest of the convention. 
All the formalities are arranged for the trans¬ 
fer of 20,000 acres of land in Washington parish 
to the game commission for a game preserve. 
It is proposed to stock this preserve with at least 
fifty deer obtained from North Carolina and 
several dozen pairs of domestic turkey hens in 
addition to quail, the blue topknot variety. It 
is probable that many prairie hens will be turned 
loose. It is the largest preserve in this State 
and is ideally located, consisting of both high 
and low lands and marshes and is supplied 
abundantly with water. A large lumber com¬ 
pany and several big property owners donated 
the use of this land to the commission. An¬ 
other preserve will be soon arranged for on the 
border of Webster and Bossier parishes. It 
consists of about 15,000 acres. 
The game commission will soon increase its 
warden service and prepare for the season 
which is just about to open. The commission 
expects to realize on 100,00 licenses this year 
to hunters and seiners. The commission wants 
a closed season for shrimp for June and July 
and also some legislation to prevent so much 
netting and seining at all seasons in the salt 
waters of this State. F. G. G. 
Crop Damage by Deer. 
Boston, Mass., July 31. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: In my communication of July 17 I 
promised to write later concerning the statute 
of our State which provides for the recovery 
for damages caused by wild deer. Without 
quoting the law in full I will outline the method 
to be pursued by the owner or occupant of land 
who seeks remuneration for loss of trees or 
crops from deer. 
In case the loss occurs in a city he may in¬ 
form “the officer of police” designated by the 
mayor for this special service, and said officer 
shall proceed to the premises, determine whether 
the alleged damage had been caused by deer 
and, if so, “appraise the amount thereof,” pro¬ 
vided in his judgment it does not exceed $20. 
If more than that, he is required to appoint two 
disinterested persons who, with himself, shall 
make an appraisal under oath, and the officer 
must within ten days transmit a certificate of 
the damages found to the treasurer of t 4 ie 
county, who in turn is required to submit the 
same to the county commissioners who, within 
thirty days, shall examine all such bills and "if 
any doubt exists may summon the appraisers 
and all parties interested and make such ex¬ 
amination as they may think proper, and he [the 
treasurer, I suppose] shall transmit such bills, 
property approved, to the auditor, and they shall 
be paid out of the treasury of the Common¬ 
wealth in the same manner as other claims 
against the Commonwealth.” 
If the damage be done in a town the com¬ 
plaint is made to the chairman of the board of 
selectmen and if he estimates the loss to be, 
more than $20 he is required to appoint two 
disinterested persons to act with him and their 
finding goes through the same hands as does 
that of the “officer of police” in a city as ex¬ 
plained above. 
Thus the landowner’s claim for damages must 
make quite a circuit before it reaches the State 
treasury and a lot of red tape must be unwound 
before the money paid for damages reaches the 
farmer's pocket. If the purpose of the law was 
to throw every possible discouragement in the 
face of the farmer seeking fair compensation 
for damages to his crops by deer, it comes near 
being a success. But in my mind the question 
arises, why have not the leaders of the agricul¬ 
tural interests sought and obtained a modifica¬ 
tion of the law? Within the last two decades 
the representatives of those interests have never 
appeared with united front in favor of any im¬ 
portant measure without meeting with success. 
They get what they ask for. 
Another point raised as against deer, from 
the farmers’ standpoint, was that what might 
be considered fair pay for the matured crops 
of vegetables in the farmer’s garden was not a 
just measure of the loss to him. He planted 
with the expectation of having on his table at 
the proper time the delicacies of the season; if 
he lost them from his own garden he might buy 
of others, but that would not be an equivalent 
to him. The huckster whose team passes his 
door has nothing to match what he would have 
had of his own planting only for the ravages 
of the deer. There is force in that argument, 
but what is to be done about it? What but 
make the compensation liberal, taking into the 
account all the elements of loss, and make it| 
