536 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[April 8, 1911. 
The Need for More Wardens. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Having read a great many leters from dif¬ 
ferent parties concerning the Adirondacks and 
the game laws of the State of New York, I 
wish to make a few suggestions in regard to 
protection of the fish and game and timber in 
the Adirondacks. Having been a guide for forty 
years, and a hunter and trapper also during that 
time, I am fully acquainted with the woods and 
waters of nearly all of the Adirondacks. As 
I have guided parties through all the waters of 
the Saranac, Racket, Grass, St. Regis and Au- 
sable rivers, I feel that I know as much about 
what is going on in regard to the protection of 
the fish and game as any one does unless he is 
older than I am. 
When they made a law that every resident 
should pay a hunter’s license of $1.10, and non¬ 
residents should pay a license of $20.50, it was 
said that the license money would be used to 
pay for extra game protectors and everyone 
seemed satisfied, but what are the results? We 
have no more game protectors than ever, espe¬ 
cially in this part of the Adirondacks. 
We have a law prohibiting the sale of trout, 
but they sell them all the time down to five 
inches in length. I do not wish to find fault with 
the game protectors, because they are all good 
men and try to do their duty, but how can one 
man look after a territory of, say, twenty-five 
miles square? While he is in one end of his 
beat, the poachers are busy at the other end. 
Nearly every house has a telephone, and they 
can all keep track of the protector all the time. 
Now, if we had more protectors, each would 
have only one-half the work that one has now, 
and I think the forest commission could find 
good men for the work at $500 a year with $400 
expenses. Then they would be so plenty that 
poachers could not get in their work so easily. 
The commission knows all about some of the 
wood cutting that has been done this winter, 
but do they know half of it yet? This is a 
large country for one man to look after. 
I would suggest that the State make fewer 
laws and the forest commission appoint more 
foresters and game protectors—good men at fair 
salaries. This country where I live is one of 
the best hunting and fishing countries in the 
State. I know that to be a fact. 
I sincerely hope that the legislators will leave 
the laws for fishing and hunting as they are 
now, and that the forest commission will appoint 
protectors and foresters enough to look after 
the best interests of the State. Rawson L. Hayes. 
I have recently noticed in various periodicals 
remarks on the efficient service that the commis¬ 
sion has afforded the Adirondacks, especially on 
the increase of deer and the protection of the 
forests from timber thieves. This sounds well 
to the people living in the cities and large towns 
of Northern New York, but to me it sounds 
ridiculous. I live in the heart of the Adiron¬ 
dacks and where the deer are as plenty as any 
place except in private parks. It is a common 
occurrence to see two or three deer from our 
house nearly every day during the summer. 
We see reports that such a man has done so 
much toward protecting them. No doubt he has, 
but even that little is so small it needs no con¬ 
sideration. Why does not the commission have 
enough wardens to cover the territory thor¬ 
oughly, visiting it often instead of once perhaps 
in two or three weeks? The wardens cannot do 
this, as they have too much assigned to them; 
there are not enough wardens to afford proper 
protection. It is a common thing to see men 
going to the woods every day, summer and 
winter, and we know they do not go for noth¬ 
ing. They are mighty good hunters, too, as per¬ 
sonally I know some of them live only by hunt¬ 
ing. Only the other day a man hounded a deer 
to the ice and wounded it. The next day they 
found it nearly dead and finished it, and loaded 
it into a sleigh and drove home. This was in 
broad daylight, too, and several persons were 
witnesses. It was a pitiful sight and should be 
stopped. It may be asked, “Why do not you 
report it?” But we are hot receiving a single 
penny for that if we did it and would not get 
a thank you, while the salaried men would get 
the credit. It is the same with the timber 
thieves. Logs are going to mill every day sent 
by men who never owned a stick of timber, but 
who dare to cut it and take the chance of getting 
caught by a warden, but the chance is so small 
that it is frankly no chance at all. 
I am speaking not from hearsay, but from 
what I know and not to blame the protectors, 
because they do all they can, but to inform you 
of the situation as it is, not only here, but all 
through the Adirondacks. 
What we need is more game wardens. If the 
State cannot afford to protect the forests and 
game, why make a poor attempt at protection? 
If we had a warden for every ten or fifteen 
square miles instead of perhaps every twenty- 
five or fifty, there would be more cases in court- 
in a year than there are in five years now. It 
would be better to have twice the wardens at 
$500 or $600 per year than what we have at $900. 
I could write on this subject for hours and 
prove every statement by plenty of good woods¬ 
men who want protection, but unless this im¬ 
presses our commission and commissioners, it 
would be useless. 
Come to the rescue of our deer before it is 
too late. Investigate a little. Do something for 
them. We are all good sportsmen and honor our 
game wardens, as they are the best friends we 
have. A Sympathiser. 
[It is a waste of paper and ink to make com¬ 
plaints of the New York Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission for not having more game protec¬ 
tors. The law of the State provides that the 
commissioner shall appoint ninety protectors, and 
provides also what pay each one shall receive. 
If the citizens of New York wish to have more 
protectors, and to cut down or increase the pay 
protectors get, the remedy lies not in complain¬ 
ing of the Forest Commission, which is obliged 
to obey the laws, but in inducing the Legislature 
of the State to believe that the number of game 
protectors is too small for effective enforcement 
of the laws. 
Sportsmen and forest lovers generally believe 
this thoroughly. They have succeeded on several 
occasions in having the number of game protec¬ 
tors increased. The force has been brought, we 
believe, to a high state of efficiency, but as has 
been so often said, the territory to be covered 
by each protector is far larger than he can satis¬ 
factorily look after. 
It is only within a comparatively short time that 
it has begun to be realized that one of the chief 
duties of the game protector is to educate the 
people with whom he comes in contact, and to 
interest the residents of his district in the proper 
enforcement of the game, fish and forest laws, 
in order that such resident may lend the weight 
of his influence in behalf of the law. The game 
protector is much more than a mere constable, 
whose duty it is merely to arrest violators of 
the statutes, and the sooner this is realized every¬ 
where, the better it will be for game and fish 
protection. 
All sportsmen feel that there should be more 
protectors and better enforcement of the law, 
but they must try to secure these things by in¬ 
telligent effort, and must not waste their time 
in empty grumblings which can by no possibility 
serve any good purpose.-— Editor.] 
Kansas in Early Days. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some time ago I wrote you about antelope 
in the old West. Riding in to the railroad with 
a friend one day long ago in Kansas, we of 
course camped out and cooked our bacon. The 
weather was fine, the great expanse of ever- 
rolling and seemingly unending vista, with its 
great divides and far away valleys, marked by 
ribbons of cottonwood—never-failing sign of 
moisture of the plains—was enchanting. 
As we came out on the plateau between the 
Saline and Smoky Hill rivers there were thou¬ 
sands of skeletons of buffalo. I asked how so 
many of them came to be there. My friend told 
me they had been killed for their hides, that 
the hunters got seventy-five cents apiece for 
them, and it was a great help to the home¬ 
steaders, as they could go out and get all the 
meat they could haul without price, as the hun¬ 
ters made no use of the meat. I said: “This 
looks to me as though there is so much of this 
country that can never be cultivated it would be 
better to fence the cultivated land and save .the 
buffalo. They would always provide meat with¬ 
out labor or care.” 
It was a pleasure to see these huge innocent 
animals racing away in their rolling gait appear¬ 
ing so well to fit the immense surroundings. 
I understand that about 4,000,000 head of buf¬ 
falo were killed in about four years after the 
railroad passed through this country. 
In the winter one could camp among the herd 
and shoot down as many as he could skin dur¬ 
ing the day. 
I was told two exhorters killed and skinned 
700 in one winter. I think they got more hides 
than souls. I have always believed no one had 
a right to kill more than he needed of the 
Creator's creatures. There were now many 
teams hauling buffalo bones to the railroad for 
shipment. Thus they made a clean job of it, 
meat, hide and bones. 
On the way back we came to a place called 
Bacon’s Creek. My friend \yas telling me about the 
Indians having killed some people here the year 
before and showed me blood stains on the rock 
where it was claimed the people were shot. A 
few minutes later as we came near the divide 
we saw a large band of Indians come over the 
ridge. They gave one of their bluff yells. I 
reached down and commenced to raise up our 
shotgun. My friend asked me what I was going 
to do with that. “Nothing,” I said, and lowered 
it, and he laughed. Heman Blackmer. 
