360 
FOREST AND STREAM 
AUGUST , 1917 
on happenings of note in the outdoor world 
FORTY-FIVE YEARS YOUNG 
ORTY-FIVE years of active and uninterrupted 
service to the sportsmen of America is the mile¬ 
stone which Forest and Stream reaches with this 
issue, August, 1917. It is the oldest outdoor publication 
in the country, in point of years; but in spirit and in 
constant determination to lead its field it is the youngest. 
Jealous always of its reputation as an unquestioned 
authority on fishing, hunting and camping—and regard¬ 
ing all those things in which frequenters of the forests 
and streams are most interested —Forest and Stream 
blazes from year to year the trail that leads on toward 
better knowledge and more popular interest in these 
things. 
If its monthly appearance brings to its staunch family 
of readers a little keener insight into things outdoors, a 
little better appreciation of the value to mankind’s con¬ 
tent and happiness of the denizens of the woods and the 
running brooks, then its persistence is worthwhile and its 
efforts rewarded. 
The average American’s appreciation of the debt he 
owes to the wild places and their habitants has increased 
magnificently during the past half century, and the jour¬ 
nal whose honored place it has been to hold that light 
aloft is ready and girded now to carry it forward, past 
the days of trial that are America’s, and beyond. 
DON’T BLAME IT ON THE GUN 
IMITING the effectiveness of firearms does not in 
the end result in game preservation. As much of 
it can be wiped out with an old-fashioned blunder- 
bus as with the most modern magazine gun, if the per¬ 
sistence and the reward of the shooter is strong enough. 
And so legislative bans on the type of weapon will never 
result in practical limitation of the bag. 
It is the heart of the hunter that must determine how 
he will use his gun, that or the need to supply himself 
with food or a living. And if his demands in either case 
reach to the point of extermination, the bag limit itself 
must step in to modify them. 
Modern firearms, besides their magazine feature, have 
many advantages over those that have been discarded by 
the up-to-date sportsman. To some the lack of recoil in 
the automatic is a positive advantage to which the readi¬ 
ness of another shot is only incidental. Others find in it 
the balance of the old single-barrel without its limitations. 
Few even among extremists go so far as to condemn the 
old-style double-barrel. 
The sportsman will soon be afield with dog and gun. 
Therefore it is well for him to bear in mind, when the 
chickens begin rising out of the stubble fields, that it is a 
state of mind and not the gun that makes a game hog. 
THE MIGRATORY BIRD LAW 
T a meeting of the National Association of State 
Game Commissioners held last winter in New 
Oi leans, a lesolution was passed requesting the Secre¬ 
tary of Agriculture to increase the existing advisory 
boai d by five members chosen from state game commis¬ 
sioners. At a meeting of the executive committee of 
that association held in Washington, Tune 13. this reso¬ 
lution 1 was passed again, as was also one urging the 
passage of an enabling act to carry out the provisions 
of the migratory bird law. 
Although the game commissioners of several states 
were already represented on the advisory board, the 
Secretary of Agriculture has acted on the resolution to 
enlaige the board, and has increased its number to 
twenty-one. The five additional members are all state 
game commissioners. 
Inquiry at the Department of Agriculture in Washing¬ 
ton shows that the Biological Survey has received few 
complaints of the regulations from any source, though 
some individuals and organizations anxious to bring back 
Spring shooting appear to be fighting the migratory bird 
law, either openly or in secret. 
Notwithstanding the criticism from such selfish 
sources, the Department of Agriculture is holding stead¬ 
ily on its way, cooperating in the most cordial spirit with 
sportsmen and state game commissioners everywhere. 
This cooperation is understood and appreciated, and 
there is general testimony that all migratory birds have 
considerably increased in numbers during the past three 
years. The survey’s efforts to increase the supply of 
game birds and to protect the insectivorous birds have 
met with a fair degree of'success. 
The usefulness of the migratory bird law and its regu¬ 
lations are now coming to be generally recognized. This 
is clearly shown by the fact that no less than eighteen 
states have already changed their open seasons on wild 
fowl to agree with the Federal regulations, while six 
other states have fixed open seasons for periods varying 
between September 16 and January 15, thus practically 
agreeing with the migratory bird law. 
These twenty-four states are well distributed over 
the country, four being in New England, three just 
south of Canada, and fourteen west of the Mississippi 
river. Among those which have changed their laws to 
conform to the Federal regulations are Nebraska, 
Arkansas and Oklahoma. Twenty-four states therefore 
—just half the country—have now prohibited wild fowl 
shooting after February 1. 
Supporters of the law may point with satisfaction to 
this sound evidence of the general appreciation among 
the states of the benefits the measure affords. 
* The resolution is quoted in full on page 370. 
