18 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 4, 1908. 
Lands and Laws. 
Norwich, N. Y., Dec. 9 - —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Our citizens are more than ever 
aroused to the need of protecting our State 
forests, reforesting our barren State lands, and 
of the purchase of large tracts without delay. 
Some well informed persons now urge the 
purchasing of all forest lands within the bounds 
of the Adirondack Park, at once, and recom¬ 
mend that any and all timber lands within the 
park which cannot be purchased without delay, 
if caused by the owners, be acquired by con¬ 
demnation. Only a few years ago this could 
have been done at probably less than one-third 
of what it will now cost, and each year will 
still further add to what the State will have to 
pay for these lands. It would seem well to 
authorize the use of State bonds, to be issued 
from time to time as needed, for procuring funds 
for this purpose. The great need of forests, for 
all our people, and for all the good which 
comes to us from them, will much more than 
pay for all the money cost. 
Charles Z. Lincoln, Albany, gives a full ac¬ 
count. in his Constitutional History of New 
York, of what has been done by the State from 
1785 to 1905, in the way of protecting the Adi¬ 
rondack forests, together with statements as to 
the number of acres owned by the State and 
the amount paid for same. He also sets forth 
the reports of various committees, commissions, 
etc., and the recommendations which have been 
made by our Governors relative to the Adiron¬ 
dack forests, water supplies and other features 
connected therewith. It is the best, most com¬ 
plete and intelligent account of all these matters 
I have seen. 
A good bill of this kind was introduced in our 
Legislature last session, but failed to pass. We 
have a mild one as against nonresidents (as 
amended by Chap. 475, Laws of 1903), but it is 
not thought to have been very effective or that 
serious attempt has been made to enforce its 
provisions, which would have been difficult to 
do, but with a law requiring each and every^ 
hunter to have his license with him when hunt¬ 
ing it will be easy to identify a nonresident. 
License fees for nonresidents and aliens 
might, perhaps, better be fixed at from ten to 
twenty dollars for nonresidents, with a larger 
fee for aliens, rather than try to charge per¬ 
sons from different States the same fee that is 
charged nonresidents by the States in which 
they reside. The fee for aliens should be large 
enough to practically prevent them from shoot¬ 
ing, as they destroy not only game, but song 
birds and other kinds of birds and animal life. 
Short form statement of license law and 
penalty, together with penalty for accidentally 
shooting a person, should be printed on back 
of licences. Special and extraordinary meas¬ 
ures should be taken to fully inform all per¬ 
sons, by notice similar to fire notices and other¬ 
wise, living in the North Woods, and to hunters 
and fishermen throughout the State. Hotels, 
guides and others should be put on notice and 
asked to help put these laws into active opera¬ 
tion. 
License fees will provide a large fund, esti¬ 
mated as high as $120,000, for protecting what 
fish, birds and game we now have, and for the 
hatching of birds and propagation of fish to re¬ 
plenish the small stock now in cover and stream. 
Under the license law each county in the 
State should have the right to have one game 
protector of its own choosing. Some counties 
have never had a protector at all. 
The license law should provide for giving each 
and every county in the State one game pro¬ 
tector of its own choosing, or selecting; with 
the right to sportsmen to nominate a man, or 
men, in their respective counties for such one 
game protector; from which nominations the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner shall 
make an appointment without unnecessary de¬ 
lay; or, if thought better, let the election of 
such one game protector, one for each county, 
from men so nominated, lie with the boards of 
supervisors in their respective counties; such 
protectors to receive same salary as other game 
protectors, to be paid from the fund into which 
license fees go, and to be under the direction 
of Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner. All 
other necessary game protectors to be ap¬ 
pointed by him as now. 
When fees are collected from hunters all over 
the State, then each county should have the 
right of choosing its own game protector. This 
would be local self government or home rule. 
Heretofore game protectors have been paid 
from a general fund in which all citizens have 
an interest or share. 
Now a proposed special and additional fund, 
of over one hundred dollars, is to be raised 
from the sportsmen of our State. The men who 
pay should have the right to say to whom, in 
their locality, this fund, or a part of it, shall 
be paid, and have the privilige of selecting a 
game protector for their several counties. Then 
let the other necessary game protectors be ap¬ 
pointed as now, bi' a representative of all our 
citizens, from whom a general fund has and 
still will be raised, in a direct or indirect way. 
What, if any, restrictions should be placed on 
the issuing of hunting licenses? Shall those who 
apply be required to establish their ability to 
properly handle a gun to such an extent as 
will protect themselves and others from harm? 
L. T. Carleton, chairman of Commissioners of 
Inland Fisheries and Game, of Maine, in a 
letter dated Nov. 23, writes as follows: “I 
would say that I think our system of registered 
guides has had much to do with the preventing 
of fatal accidents in hunting in this State. It 
has been several years since a registered guide 
has been connected with a mistaken-for-deer- 
shooting, or any accidental shooting in the 
woods. The registered guides, are under the 
direction or control, to a certain extent, of the 
commissioners. In other words, they cannot 
guide unless registered, and they cannot be 
registered unless competent. The fear of being 
deprived of the privilege of guiding tends to 
make them obey the law and be careful.” 
Shall there be an age limit to those who are 
granted hunting licences? Maine and Canada 
propose not to license any person who is not 
over fifteen years of age. 
For the better protection of the lives of those 
who go into' the woods at all times of the year, 
as well as for the better protection of deer and 
other game, and to prevent hunting by aliens 
and other irresponsible persons, a law should be 
enacted making a close season for guns, along 
the following or better, lines at the coming ses¬ 
sion of our State Legislature. 
It should be made unlawful to have firearms 
of any kind in possession in the Adirondack 
Park, forest preserves and adjoining counties 
during the close season for deer; provided, 
however, that a citizen may have firearms of 
his or her own in his or her own permanent 
house or residence, but not in lumber camps, or 
camps of any kind, nor in temporary lodges, 
tents or buildings of resort for hunters, campers, 
fishermen, lumbermen, or any other person, nor 
in fields or woods or on the waters within the 
Adirondack Park, forest preserves and adjoin¬ 
ing counties. 
(a) A law making it unlawful to have guns in 
the Adirondack Park, forest preserve and ad¬ 
joining counties should specifically cover every 
place, aside from the permanent house in which 
a gun owner resides. It is thought our State 
laws define a permanent house as one built on 
a wall, or underpinning in a permanent manner. 
(b) The open season for deer, foxes, rabbits, ' 
grouse, woodcock, ducks, within the Adiron¬ 
dack Park, forest preserves and adjoining 
counties, should be at one and the same time, 
in that section, in order to have no excuse for 
having a gun outside a permanent house or 
residence within such territory during the close 
season for deer. 
(c) It is highly important that game pro¬ 
tectors be given absolute authority, within said 
territory, to seize any and all firearms found 
outside of the permanent house in which the 
citizen (and this bars out aliens) who owns the 
guns resides; and that full and definite pro¬ 
visions be made for confiscating all firearms so 
seized, besides which the person offending, upon 
conviction, shall be made to pay a fine and the 
costs of prosecution or imprisoned; and the 
having in possession of any firearm outside of 
the owner’s permanent residence during the 
close season for deer, within the Adirondack 
Park, forest preserves and adjoining counties, 
shall be prima facie evidence of an unlawful act. 
(d) All confiscated firearms should be sold 
and the proceeds sent to the game department 1 
to be used for protective purposes, or otherwise 
if deemed best. 
Mr. Carleton says: “Our present law to keep 
firearms out of the woods only applies to resi¬ 
dent aliens. No nonresident can hunt without 
a license, but resident aliens, at any time of the 1 
year, cannot have guns in the woods without a 
license. And we seize their guns if we find 
them in the woods with them and impose a fine 
upon them. We have seized some fifty guns 
this season, the first year of the law, and it has 
had a great beneficial effect. It tends, in a 
great measure, to protect our game. I hope 
at the next Legislature to get a law to prohibit 
the taking of firearms into the woods in close 
season. In no other way can we protect our 
game. Our wardens visit lumber camps as 
often as possible, but their territory is so 
large—20,000 square miles—and there are so 
many hundreds of these camps that our means 
do not permit our wardens to visit them very 
often. With firearms away from them we could 
control the situation. Our game is decreasing 
in Maine, and will, until we obtain the law out¬ 
lined above.” 
Canada has also begun making it unlawful to 
have guns in the woods during close season 
for big game. 
We are gradually shortening the open season 
