298 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 22, 1 <508. 
New England Sportsmen. 
Boston, Feb. 10.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Horace Jordan, of Watertown, Mass., returned 
a short time ago from a trip to the Manitoba 
and Saskatchewan regions of northwestern 
Canada. Better shooting than he ever dreamed 
of is the way he expresses it. The duck shoot¬ 
ing consisted of canvasbacks, mallard and teal, 
and he found grouse and chickens in wonderful 
numbers. 
Year after year the big-game killing record 
of Maine has gone on increasing. Aside from 
a few thoughtful men who have had the good 
judgment to look ahead, the residents of the 
State have accepted the grand total of figures 
compiled at the end of each season as a matter 
of course, apparently believing that no action 
of theirs was needed to aid nature in keeping 
up the supply. The fallacy of this belief is now 
apparent to the most incredulous. While it can¬ 
not be disputed that fewer sportsmen have 
visited the Maine woods this year than usual, it 
is also true that experienced men have noticed 
the absence of deer in localities where they 
have always been found in numbers. This is 
especially true of what might be called the lower 
Aroostook country, and to a less degree is true 
of eastern Maine generally. Bangor has for 
many years been called the threshold of the 
hunting section of the State, and it is there that 
the shipments of big game have been counted. 
During the first part of October these ship¬ 
ments showed a falling off of about 50 per cent, 
from the record of other years. It is true that 
the extension of the Somerset railroad through 
to Moosehead has deflected quite a number of 
hunters to another section; but even that fails 
to account for the difference, because the 
Aroostook region is still the favorite hunting 
grounds for most sportsmen. Again the count 
kept at Bangor has been very complete, inas¬ 
much as the score included all the shipments 
made at junction points for many miles around. 
While in eastern Maine in the shotting sea¬ 
son I talked with several men who know these 
forests as most of us do the city streets, I found 
diverse opinions naturally, but all seemed to 
agree on one point: that the wood pulp industry 
as now conducted in eastern Maine was in a 
large way responsible for the driving away of 
the game in many sections. What Maine has 
suffered by the exodus New Brunswick seems* 
to have gained, many pafties having had ex¬ 
cellent results in that Province. In the central 
part of the State the game seems about normal 
in numbers, and at Waterville they say that 
very few parties have returned from the section 
south and west of Moosehead with a hard-luck 
story. Hackle. 
The North Carolina Season. 
Raleigh, N. C., Feb. 8.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Legislature had an extraordinary 
session in January, called by Governor Glenn to 
settle the question of railroad rates. As might 
have been expected some bills regarding game 
were introduced, the only one of these of any 
importance being presented by a Rowan man, 
apparently an agent for a lot of people near Salis¬ 
bury, who have large holdings of land, and own 
enterprises with numerous stockholders of the 
North, the latter desiring to come down and hunt 
without paying the $10 license tax. The com¬ 
mittee on game laws killed this bill instantly. 
When Secretary Gilbert Pearson, of the Audu¬ 
bon Society, arrived, he thanked the committee, 
and said the enactment of such a law would con¬ 
siderably reduce the receipts from licenses and 
would have also opened the door to a lot of people, 
as there are a number of large tracts of land of 
this character in various parts of the State. 
Secretary Pearson said he had found that his 
means were so limited that he had had to con¬ 
centrate his forces on Currituck Sound, where 
there has been very little fire-lighting; while on 
Core Sound there has been a great deal of it. 
The duck shooting has on some occasions been 
very good and at others very bad; the winter 
has been remarkably open. Then, too, tides have 
A FORT YELLOWSTONE PET. 
for some reason been excessively high and this 
has been a drawback. 
The shooting of quail has gone on very 
steadily, the open winter exactly suiting hunters. 
There has been a marked falling off in the num¬ 
ber of men from other States taking out gun¬ 
ners’ licenses. Secretary Pearson found that 
nothing could be done at this session of the 
Legislature in regard to a, law imposing a $2 
license tax on all resident hunters, this to apply 
to none who own their lands and hunt thereon, 
and being intended to reach the town people who 
formed the bulk of the bird hunters. The time 
has not quite arrived yet for this movement, but 
public sentiment is developing this way and it 
is only a question of a year or two before there 
will be a law to this effect. Some members of 
the Legislature favor such a law. 
Many turkeys have been killed, together with 
bear and deer. The season has been so open 
that the winter fishing has been exceptionally 
good in a number of localities in salt water and 
fresh. F- A. Olds. 
Mass. F. and G. A. Annual Report. 
The annual report of Mr. Henry H. Kimball, 
secretary of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Protective Association for the year 1907, has 
been published. It deals with a variety of mat¬ 
ters of which legislation is one of the most im¬ 
portant; among this legislation is the passage 
of a law requiring license for nonresident hun¬ 
ters. 
The affiliation of protective clubs has been, as 
was supposed would be the case, helpful to the 
cause of game protection. There are now twenty 
such clubs in full affiliation with the association. 
During the past year 54,000 fingerling trout 
have been distributed, and the methods of the 
association are such that clubs and individuals 
can secure fingerlings for about one-half the ordi¬ 
nary price. Continued efforts have been looking 
to the enforcement of the law, and to the instruc¬ 
tion of the public, and to this end about 3,000 
posters and 1,200 books of game laws have been 
sent out. A meeting of the legislative commit¬ 
tee of the association and of the affiliated clubs 
was held Nov. 29, 1907, at which Mr. Wm. 
Dutcher, president of the National Association 
of Audubon Societies; Mr. Brewster, Mr. For- 
bush and a number of other men spoke on pro¬ 
tection, Mr. Dutcher referring especially to the 
stopping of spring shooting. He said: 
“I have always believed strongly in sanctuaries. 
I remember reading thirty or forty years ago 
about the saving of chamois in Switzerland by 
sanctuaries. We have had some splendid object 
lessons as to their value in the closing of ponds 
in fifteen or twenty years. The results are ex¬ 
traordinary. Fresh Pond, which was entirely 
shot out, partly through my own efforts, and 
where at length very few ducks were seen, was 
closed to shooting, with the result that a few 
black ducks, gulls and various waterfowl came 
back again. Gradually the numbers increased. 
We counted 300 or 400 ducks and 2,400 gulls 
at one. time. They have increased over in Spot 
Pond very largely. Probably the same thing can 
be done elsewhere on any good sized pond, and 
if we could establish sanctuaries for partridges, 
quail and other birds in various towns it would 
be one of the most important steps. It would 
be the greatest thing for sportsmen, for the birds 
then would have a chance to collect, rest and in¬ 
crease and they would overflow into the neigh¬ 
boring covers. This is what happened in the 
Yellowstone Park where there are 75,000 elk. 
There would not be One elk in the whole region 
if it had not been for the establishment of that 
park as a natural preserve.” 
“My Friend the Partridge.” 
Springfield, Mass., Jan. 7.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have received so many letters in re¬ 
lation to “My Friend the Partridge” that I find 
it impossible with the limited time at my disposal 
to answer them, and I- take this method to make 
a general reply to all. Profoundly gratified for 
the kind words showered upon me by many old, 
as well as new-found friends, I heartily thank 
them all for their good wishes and sincerely hope 
that the coming days, whether passed at home 
or afield, will bring to them unalloyed happiness. 
Five of the letters suggest that I give a sketch 
of the “king partridge.” As Betsy Prig said to 
Sairy Gamp about Mrs. Harris, “I don’t believe 
there’s no §ich a person.” S. T. Hammond. 
