616 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 22, 1911. 
November. Protection has been withdrawn 
from sage hens and mountain quail, and a limit 
of four a day has been set on the former. 
The open season for doves will extend from 
July 15 to Oct. i, except in districts No. 4 and 
No. 6, where the season will be from Sept. 1 
to Nov. 1, and in districts No. 2 and No. 5, 
where the birds may be shot only between Aug. 
1 and Oct. 15. The open season for deer will 
be from Aug. 15 to Nov. 1, except in districts 
No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5, where it will extend 
from July 1 to Aug. 31, and in No. 6, where it 
will be from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15. 
Golden Gate. 
San Francisco, Cal., April 7 .— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Practically the only hunting that 
is now enjoyed in California is goose shooting, 
which is now at its best. In the vicinity of 
Biggs are to be found countless thousands of 
geese, and they are doing heavy damage to the 
growing crops of grain. The large grain grow¬ 
ers are compelled to employ herders to keep 
the geese from utterly destroying their crops, 
and these farmers welcome the sportsmen who 
visit their ranches. In some cases they offer 
to supply ammunition to those who will come 
and hunt in their grain fields. Food is very 
plentiful at the present time, and the geese now 
being secured are very fat. Many weigh ten 
pounds and some are even heavier. The mar¬ 
ket hunters are now busy in that section, duck 
shooting having been closed to them for the 
season. The Canada geese are now migrating 
to the northern breeding grounds, and in a 
short time there will be none of these to be 
seen. Gray and white geese remain longer, but 
within a few week's most of these will be on 
their way north. A number of professional 
guides have established themselves at Biggs and 
Rio Vista and are equipped to take hunters to 
the fields and can insure a satisfactory bag. 
Some of them use live decoys, having them 
confined in invisible wire net cages where they 
seem content to feed and call their friends who 
are at liberty. The gunners are concealed in 
pits flanked by tall grass and behind low 
shrubbery. A. P. B. 
Dead Goose Struck the Hunter. 
A queer accident befell Thomas Ajax, tailor 
and expert hunter of wild geese. The morning 
was ideal for the sport, with a stiff breeze blow¬ 
ing from the north. Ajax and his hunting com¬ 
panion got to the grounds near Willows early 
in the morning and placed their decoys and hid 
in a hole out of sight of the flocks. 
In a short time the birds began to arrive from 
every direction and shooting was brisk. When 
a particularly large flock came over Ajax arose 
from his crouching position and fired at the 
edge of the flock coming from the north, then 
turned in another direction and fired, wheeling 
quickly to see if the first shot had been effective. 
As he turned a particularly large goose which 
had been killed by the first shot struck him 
squarely in the face, rendering him unconscious. 
His face was badly bruised and both eyes 
blackened by the terrific force of the blow. His 
appearance would indicate that his face had 
come in contact with the hoofs of a mule.— 
Willows Journal. 
Dogs at Large. 
Boston, Mass., April 6 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I beg to submit to you House Bill 
No. 287, relative to dogs hunting at large. The 
hearing on same was held before the committee 
on fisheries and game recently. I submit the bill 
as follows: 
Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any owner, lessee 
or custodian of any dog to permit such dog to run at 
large, with the knowledge and consent of the owner, in 
woods or fields inhabited by game birds or quadrupeds 
at any time, except only between the first day of October 
and the last day of February, both dates inclusive: pro¬ 
vided, however, that at all other times during the year, 
such dog or dogs may be allowed to run when the 
owner, lessee or custodian is with such dog or dogs. 
If a dog has twice been found running at large and 
hunting within the limits prescribed in this section, and 
if the owner or keeper of the dog has so been notified 
on each occasion by the commissioners on fisheries and 
game, it shall be a presumption of law, if the same dog 
is thereafter found running at large, that such running 
was with the knowledge and consent of the said owner 
or keeper, unless the contrary is shown by evidence. 
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to mo¬ 
lest, harass or annoy any game bird or quadruped by 
breaking, training, or practicing any dog upon any game 
bird or quadruped during the respective seasons in which 
the game bird or quadruped are protected by law: pro¬ 
vided, however, that it shall be lawful for any person 
or persons to train or practice dogs upon game birds 
for fifteen days next preceding the opening of the ruffed 
grouse, quail and woodcock season in each year; pro¬ 
vided, further, that it shall be unlawful for any such 
person to have in his possession any firearms, or other 
device for capturing, killing, or injuring birds or quadru¬ 
peds, while so engaged in training and practicing such 
dogs; and provided that at no time shall any dog be 
allowed to run rabbits at night. 
Section 2. Whoever violates the provisions of this act 
shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty- 
five dollars. 
The bill, as drawn, could not be fairer to 
all concerned. It imposes no onerous condi¬ 
tions on the high-bred class of dogs, striving 
only to eliminate from our covers the habitual 
hunting dog that makes it a custom to hunt in 
the night, especially during the months of May, 
June and July, when the young rabbits fall an 
easy prey to him. 
A large delegation of Worcester county fox 
hunters appeared before the committee and 
vigorously opposed the passage of .this bill, 
claiming that it would be onerous for them to 
keep their foxhounds restrained, that it would 
be cruelty to the dogs, etc., disregarding the 
fact that the bill would allow them to take their 
dogs themselves or have their keepers take 
them and try them out on the young foxes. Any¬ 
thing, however, that would in the remotest de¬ 
gree curtail the desires of the fox hunting con¬ 
tingent meets with the most vigorous and strenu¬ 
ous opposition in this State. 
One ex-Congressman was very loud in his pro¬ 
testations against the bill; talked about the ex¬ 
treme cruelty of restraining the dogs, etc. He 
evidently overlooked the fact that these self¬ 
hunting dogs, running through our covers, chas¬ 
ing rabbits and foxes during the nesting season, 
disturb hundreds of our quail and partridges 
and other ground-nesting birds, driving them off 
their nests in the middle of the night. In prac¬ 
tically all cases the mother bird does not come 
back to her nest until the early dawn, leaving 
the eggs to be chilled, or if the young birds are 
out and not over a week old, they perish from 
the dampness and cold of the night air. In this 
way thousands of our bird life are destroyed, 
and this might be prevented by a proper re¬ 
straint of the self-hunting, prowling, maraud¬ 
ing dog. 
Not only is such a dog destructive to our bird 
life, but he is very annoying to the farmer at 
this period of the year, when he is working 
hard in the fields and wishes, when night comes, 
to be allowed to rest, but is not permitted to do 
so on account of the noise of these unrestrained 
dogs. I am absolutely positive that these dogs 
running wild at night have been the cause of 
many of our best covers being posted. 
The fox hunter can take his dogs into the 
woods Oct. 1 and hunt continuously until March 
1, giving him six months to indulge in his favor¬ 
ite sport, and for which it is not necessary for 
him to pay the State one cent for license. The 
bird hunter, however, has the privilege of en¬ 
joying his particular sport from the 15th day 
of October to the 15th day of November, and 
for so doing he contributed some $40,000 last 
year to the State Treasury, and yet a bill that 
would preserve our quail and partridge during 
the nesting season is ridiculed. 
Why such fair legislation as this bill repre¬ 
sents should be turned down by people who are 
supposed to be fair-minded is beyond the ken 
of the writer, who has owned hunting dogs for 
years. It is a well known fact that a dog left 
without restraint will soon become unruly and 
wild, and so far as I have been able to read, 
there is nothing in this bill that would be oner¬ 
ous or unreasonable to the sportsman dog owner 
who should be willing to help along a good cause 
and prevent the unwarranted destruction of our 
bird life which is now allowed. Without a bill 
of this kind it will still go on. If it is illegal 
for a man to hunt and pursue game at certain 
times of the year, there should be a law that 
would reach this class of dogs that habitually 
disturb and destroy game, especially in the 
spring of the year. George B. Clark. 
Weight Estimates. 
Pittsburg, Pa., April 15.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have often thought that a rule might 
be figured out so as to obtain the approximate 
weight of all large game which is generally killed 
under circumstances which prevent weighing. 
Extravagant estimates are made as to its size 
for this and other reasons. 
There are formulas for ascertaining the weight 
of trout and these could be obtained for salmon, 
bass, mascalonge and other fish. The following 
is a rule which gives very nearly the weight of 
cattle. 
Pass a tape around the animal close behind 
the shoulders, then measure the' length in feet 
from fore part of shoulder blade 1 to end of 
backbone at tail, vertical with buttock. Multiply 
the square of the girth in feet by five times the 
length, subtract one-third and the remainder will 
be the weight in pounds. 
Suppose the girth to be 5 feet and length 4; 
5 2 = 25 and 4XS = 20, 20X25 = 500 — 1/3 = 434 
pounds, the weight of the animal. If lean, sub¬ 
tract 5 per cent.; if fat, add 5 per cent. Thus 
a formula could be worked out for deer, bear, 
moose and elk which would be approximately 
correct and far more reliable than guessing. 
Lions, tigers, elephants and the like are also 
subject to a like formula. A tape measure is 
all that is required and a little experiment. 
W. F. Wise. 
