March it, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
375 
So then, after prairie-dog hunting in the 
morning and jack rabbit shooting in the after¬ 
noon, it was decided to try some very novel 
night sport with the cottontails, and after dark 
the auto was again taken out, the lights made 
as bright as could be and a very singular search 
began. Between the wire fences which border 
the wide roads the auto ran, throwing its broad 
belt of light now along the roadway and now 
right or left in the fields. Presently a cotton¬ 
tail made a dash alongside of the road and at 
a distance of sixty yards was bowled over. As 
the machine threw the glare of its lights on a 
meadow, one swung into view, going fast, was 
hit, but ran on, and as he reached a clump of 
trees, was killed at long range, No. 6 shot being 
used. Presently a third rabbit made a dash 
squarely across the road and escaped. A fourth 
stopped in the road one hundred yards ahead 
and then made a series of short rushes to the 
left under the mesquites, but out of range. Not 
a jack rabbit was seen, though some nights 
these are numerous and race ahead of the car, 
directly in the shaft of light; recently an Abilene 
man shot six in this way with a revolver. 
At a large pond, which supplies the town with 
water, some fishing was done for bass and 
white perch and specimens of the latter were 
taken weighing 1 pounds, the color of the 
fish being somewhat darker and the body a 
little thicker through the shoulders than our 
Eastern perch. The best bait was minnows, 
though frogs and crawfish were tried. For the 
black bass a wood minnow set thick with hooks 
is the best lure. Fred. A. Olds. 
Arizona Antelope. 
Washington, D. C., Feb. 27 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The action of Congress in passing 
a bill, which was approved by the President, ex¬ 
tending protection to the antelope in Arizona, is 
of much interest. While adequate protection has 
been given these animals for the past five years 
by the game laws of the Territory, the statute 
would have lapsed March 1, 1911. Delegate 
Cameron succeeded in having Congress incor¬ 
porate in the bill for the temporary government 
of the Territory until Statehood is achieved, or 
until the Legislature convenes, a provision de¬ 
claring that “every person who in the Territory 
of Arizona shall hunt, pursue, take, shoot, kill, 
destroy, wound or capture, or have in his pos¬ 
session an antelope at any time hereafter and 
prior to March 1, 1913, shall be guilty of a mis¬ 
demeanor.” 
When the present game laws of the Territory 
were enacted five years ago, there were few 
antelope to be seen; they were thought to be 
almost extinct, but under the wise administra¬ 
tion of the laws these animals are said to have 
greatly increased, and Arizona may now have 
the largest herd in the country. It is entirely 
probable that within the next two years and 
prior to the expiration of the Congressional 
provision for their protection, further ef¬ 
forts will be made in their behalf, to the end 
that the Federal Government may take over com¬ 
plete control of these antelope, placing them in 
the various National forest reservations for 
stocking purposes as well as for their protec¬ 
tion and control along other lines which will 
at least insure their preservation and protec¬ 
tion from danger and extermination. 
Raleigh Raines. 
The Use of Game. 
Twenty-five or thirty years ago an excursion 
to the Rocky Mountains was regarded as—and 
in fact was—an expedition of considerable 
moment, even of some risk. Now many parts 
of the Rocky Mountains are as commonplace as 
Connecticut, Illinois or Nebraska. The rapid in¬ 
crease of population all over the United States 
of course tends to the destruction or driving 
away of the wild creatures, large and small, that 
inhabited the country in primitive times, and 
those people who are interested in the preserva¬ 
tion of these wild creatures must obviously adapt 
themselves and their views to the constantly 
changing conditions. 
To a report recently made to the club by the 
Boone and Crockett Club Game Preservation 
Committee, there were appended a number of 
suggestions which seem well worthy the care¬ 
ful attention of sportsmen everywhere. They 
are as follows: 
SUGGESTIONS. 
The trend of public opinion, as shown by 
legislation for the last few years, is strongly 
favorable to game protection. Every effort 
should be made to give to the public added rea¬ 
sons for favoring it. 
In certain States careful protection has re¬ 
sulted in a considerable increase in the number 
of wild animals, and in some parts of New Eng¬ 
land great complaint has been made by farmers 
of the damage done to their crops and fruit 
trees by deer. In Western States the hungry 
elk have destroyed property, and in the same 
regions the protected beaver have flooded fields 
and destroyed irrigating ditches, so that the 
ranchmen feel that the beaver should be ex¬ 
terminated. It may be quite possible to push 
protection to a point where it will become un¬ 
popular, so that the public favor—now on the 
side of those who advocate game preservation— 
may turn from them and hostile legislation may 
follow. .Thus, unless we act intelligently, we 
may have too much protection for some of these 
wild creatures, and they may so increase as to 
become an economic injury, and at last a pest. 
These wild animals should be protected and 
grown for man’s use and benefit, just as a forest 
is grown and protected; but they should not be 
turned loose to the public, so as to induce a wild 
scramble where each individual is engaged in the 
struggle to secure more of the game or the fur 
than his fellow-man gets. 
We are disposed to suggest legislation author¬ 
izing local governments to cause to be trapped 
each year a reasonable proportion of the beaver, 
and to sell the skins of these animals for the 
benefit of the protective work that is being done. 
Such trapping, if authorized, should be retained 
in Government control, and should not be opened 
to the public. 
In like manner, in certain sections, the elk may 
be used for economic purposes, and it might be 
well for States where these animals occur in 
greatest abundance to pass laws permitting and 
encouraging the domestication and sale of cer¬ 
tain wild ruminants. 
Elk, deer and perhaps wild sheep will adapt 
themselves to domestication, and may do well 
and increase under suitable conditions. 
Antelope for some time would probably meet 
with a ready sale to stock parks and zoological 
gardens. It is possible that further experimen¬ 
tation with them may show that they will do 
well in the East, precisely as the white goat of 
the Rocky Mountains has flourished and repro¬ 
duced its kind in the New York Zoological Park. 
The Yellowstone Park now constitutes a reser¬ 
voir of large game animal life, which should 
be drawn on to supply other National parks and 
any game refuges that may be established. Con¬ 
gress should make an appropriation for the cap¬ 
ture and transfer from the Yellowstone of buf¬ 
falo, elk, antelope, mule deer and mountain 
sheep, at least to the buffalo parks—Montana and 
Oklahoma—and the Glacier National Park. 
Protect the Game in Iowa. 
Palo, Iowa, Feb. 20 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: In 1909 Iowa’s Legislature passed a 
universal license law which produced $108,- 
000 the first year it was in effect, and now we 
ought to have a large game preserve. Iowa’s 
sportsmen have paid $1 each a year to hunt, and 
yet there is no game to hunt. Iowa ought to 
have large hatcheries for both fish and fowl, 
and to have thousands and thousands of birds 
to turn at large every year. 
It is said that Geo. A. Lincoln, our fish and 
game warden, has turned out various kinds of 
birds and fish. We know he has done so with 
fish, but no birds have been seen or heard of. 
What the State needs is a refuge for the 
preservation of fish and game, and a common 
party to care for it. Many of our officials seem 
to be only after money and a good time. Game 
is scarce in Iowa and likely to be still scarcer 
unless something is done. 
What we need is'a common man at the head 
of things, someone who will have plenty of push 
and see that everything goes right. We want 
more game and more sport, and we are willing 
to pav for it, but if we pay we want results. 
I. J. B. 
Biltmore Forest School. 
Darmstadt, Germany, Feb. 15 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Among our excursions I might 
mention those to Ysenburg and to Eberstadt. 
Both of these ranges are pine ranges, stocked 
with endless stands of short-leaved pine of su¬ 
perior quality. Here nowadays a new growth 
of pine is being raised from self-sown seed. 
At Karlsruhe, on the occasion of a visit to some 
very .interesting coppice under standard forests, 
it was amazing to find that within eye shot of 
the spruce woods on the hills the pine woods 
in the valley, and the oak woods in the inunda¬ 
tion districts, Swedish spruce, Russian pine and 
American oak are piled up in the lumber yards. 
The second half of the month of January was 
spent in the heart of the Black Forest, at the 
Hotel Sand. During the forenoons we had the 
usual lecture work, while the afternoons were 
given to excursions into the snowy woods. The 
beauty of the landscape was unsurpassed. The 
snow was so deep that we had to use skis and 
snowshoes to a certain extent in going about. 
In the Black Forest spruce and fir are regener¬ 
ated from self sown seed. 
Herbert L. Sullivan, Class President. 
