578 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 15, 1911. 
Game in New York State. 
Recently we printed an extract from the re¬ 
port of Deputy Forest hish and Game Commis¬ 
sioner Burnham, covering his last year as chief 
game protector of New \ork State. From the 
other recommendations made by him the fol- 
following paragraphs are taken. He says in 
part: 
The game protectors prosecuted a total ot 
1,496 cases during the past year, and procured 
a recovery for violations of fish and game laws 
of $51,363.67. In addition to this the game pro¬ 
tectors originated thirty-eight actions for tres¬ 
pass on State lands, resulting in a recovery of 
$6,999.10. This is the best showing ever made 
by the Department and indicates increased ef¬ 
ficiency as a result of systematic organization and 
the following out of the principle that a game 
protector must do as good work for the State 
as would be expected of him if employed by an 
aggressive business corporation. 
Owing to the dropping of inefficient men and 
other causes, the number of protectors in actual 
service at any one time is never up to the maxi¬ 
mum permitted by law 7 , and during the past year 
the number of men actively employed was less 
than usual. Under these circumstances the 
record of cases shows an average of about 
thirteen cases per protector, or one case per 
month for every man on the force during the 
year. When it is added that only about 5 per 
cent, of the cases handled were lost, it will be 
seen that the record of the protectors of the 
State of New York for 1910 is very commend¬ 
able. 
As a straight business proposition it would un¬ 
doubtedly pay the State to establish a Bureau of 
Inland Fisheries, as a division of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission, with an executive 
officer to be known as the Superintendent of 
Inland Fisheries. The expense of such a bureau 
should not exceed $5,000 per year, and it is esti¬ 
mated that it would produce a revenue to the 
State of twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars 
annually. The bureau would have charge of all 
the commercial fisheries of the State not already 
cared for by the Bureau of Marine Fisheries. 
The chief business of the latter is the leasing of 
State oyster lands, and it also looks after the 
lobster and other shell fish industries and the 
menhaden and other salt water fisheries of the 
State. 
The fresh water fisheries of the State, which 
are hardly of less importance, are now cared 
for by one clerk under the supervision of the 
chief protector in a department already over¬ 
burdened with work, and it is no reflection on 
this department to say that the revenue received 
by the State from this source is not what it 
should be. Lakes Ontario and Erie and the 
Hudson River have very important fisheries from 
a commercial standpoint, and there are many 
other inland waters that could be made to yield 
good returns. From this entire territory the 
State received in 1910 a revenue from the sale 
of netting licenses of but $9,207.76. This is alto¬ 
gether too small an amount to be paid by exist¬ 
ing fisheries. There is good reason to believe, 
moreover, that under proper supervision and 
suitable laws the revenue could be tripled or 
quadrupled, the increase coming chiefly front 
what are now neglected sources. 
There is one injustice in the present hounding 
law which should be remedied. Some suitable 
amendment shou'd be made which would permit 
the possession and use of dogs for legitimate 
purposes in the Adirondack section. The owner 
of a dog should, as at present, be held respon¬ 
sible if his dog pursues deer, but the farmer 
and the citizen who is not interested in hunt¬ 
ing, also the bird shooter and fox hunter have 
rights which cannot be disregarded. These men 
are not law breakers, but as the statute stands 
at present they are often made to suffer for the 
sins of the illegitimate hunter. 
A proper system of registration of dogs would 
no doubt solve the difficulty. The law could be 
amended to permit the use of dogs for legitimate 
purposes in the forest preserve counties outside 
the Adirondack Park on the sole condition that 
such dogs be registered and have at all times 
tags, giving the registry numbers attached to 
their collars. It should be made a misdemeanor 
and punishable by a fine of $100 to permit a dog 
to run at large in the forest preserve counties 
without the tag attached as indicated. Such a 
law would give the game protector a much 
(Continued on page 597.) 
Trout Fishing at Panther Gap. 
James K. Polk France was a fixture of the 
Farmer House. If he was not enthroned in the 
most comfortable chair that chanced to be un¬ 
occupied by nine in the morning or two in the 
afternoon, all Richmondville knew that Polk was 
hunting or fishing somewhere among the rugged 
hills. Of a little more than average stature, 
broad shouldered, lithe as an animal and of pro¬ 
digious strength, he belonged to an older race 
of men. Time and again when the villagers at¬ 
tempted feats of strength and endurance he had 
demonstrated his rare powers by lifting a full 
sugar barrel from the ground to a wagon by its 
chimes. 
His sharp straight nose, firm chin, blue eyes 
and determined furrowed face were physical 
characteristics that marked him a man of more 
than ordinary intelligence, quick to grasp a situa¬ 
tion and to act with the prompt, deliberate judg¬ 
ment of a born leader. Dressed in the height of 
business fashion and transplanted to New York’s 
great financial center, he would have been se¬ 
cretly admired as a great money king. But 
money was not his god; he worshipped at the 
shrine of three lesser deities—hunting, fishing 
and horse trading, and he obtained more genuine 
pleasure out of each of his particular hobbies 
than the average man could out of unlimited 
means and a steam yacht. 
The Farmer House was the accepted club of 
the sportsmen of the village and vicinity, and 
nearly all of Polk’s fishing and hunting pilgrim¬ 
ages had their conception and ending there. 
Early one summer morning Polk was lounging 
on the porch as usual. He never appeared to 
sit in a chair, but rather to recline, apparently 
lulled to sleep by the steady drone of mowing 
machines and the perfume of new hay drifting 
down over the village. In reality he was watch¬ 
ing through half-closed eyes, an unruly horse and 
its dare devil driver plunging down Summit Hill 
in a fight for mastery. The driver s soiled shirt 
rendered him conspicuous and Polk observed him 
bouncing up and down with every vibration of 
the rickety buckboard with a growing sense of 
admiration for his skill as a horseman. By the 
sheer strength of his muscles he forced the hard- 
mouth animal to vary his course this way or 
that as necessity demanded, and with quick, pre¬ 
cise judgment threw his weight to right or left 
as the wheels slid from the narrow roadway into 
long neglected ditches, yet never for an instant 
allowing the horse to gain control of his head. 
Reaching a level stretch near the foot of the 
hill, the horse suddenly planted all four feet for¬ 
ward, and sinking to his haunches threw his 
weight against the wagon. The rear end shot 
violently upward. Instinctively the driver’s hand 
reached out and he threw his huge body back¬ 
ward in the nick of time to avert a serious fall. 
“My old Charley hoss, by thunderation!” 
gasped Polk in amazement. “He’s the meanest 
critter that ever wore a crupper. There isn t 
another hoss this side of Jericho with a bucking 
trick like that. When it comes to trading points 
he is the best appearing boss I ever swapped, and 
I reckon Abe Stimpson is driving over here pur¬ 
pose to deal for my roan mare. On account of 
that bucking trick old Charley ain t worth a 
dollar twenty-five of a millionaire s money as 
a swapping hoss in these parts, and I reckon 
if I hang around here I’m likely to get him, so 
I guess I’ll go fishing. But it’s a disgrace to 
spoil Abe’s calculations like this right in harvest 
time.” 
Polk hurried home for his tackle, which he 
always kept methodically arranged in the kitchen 
bed room. He pulled on his wading boots, paused 
before the kitchen stove long enough to load his 
pipe and drop a hot coal on the tobacco, and 
slipping out the door he disappeared behind the 
barn, trailing wisps of blue smoke over his 
shoulder. 
He skirted the base of old South Mountain 
with the steady, tireless, grinding speed of an 
