March 14, 1908] 
4 1 5 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
The Hunting License. 
Tampa, Fla., Feb. 20.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: It looks as though we soon would have 
to give up the idea that we live in a free coun¬ 
try; and it is surprising what so-called fjee 
Americans will submit to in the way of legisla¬ 
tion by men who are totally unfit to make laws, 
and who if they lived in an enlightened coun¬ 
try such as Australia, would promptly be put 
out of office and be replaced by men who would 
be the servants of the people and not despots. 
Such a proposition as to prohibit a man hunting 
because he happens to live over the line in the 
next State ought to be impossible in this coun¬ 
try. This is just what it means, only it is put in 
a sneaking manner by proposing $20.50 license 
fee, which, of course, the ordinary man could 
not pay for a day or two of hunting. 
A reasonable license fee is acceptable to all 
right-minded men if the proceeds are used for 
the benefit of all, but make it the same to a 
man who lives a mile or so over the line as to 
the man who lives in the State. A man may 
have his original home in New York State. Cir¬ 
cumstances and business may have led him to 
reside over the line in Connecticut. It may be 
within walking distance or it may be further, 
but he lives there; naturally if he gets a vaca¬ 
tion for a few days his thoughts go back to his 
friends at the old place and to his old haunts. 
He spends his holiday there and if he is fond of 
hunting he would like to spend a few days in 
this manner, but the law says he shall not; for, 
of course, it is out of the question for him to 
pay $20.50 for a few tramps in the woods with 
his gun. 
If such an iniquitous proposition were made 
law it would, and naturally ought to, produce 
poachers, and of such a class as would get or 
kill game in any way they could, and would work 
more destruction near the State line than could 
possibly be done in the regular way. 
In regard to aliens, they should not be al¬ 
lowed to carry firearms at all, or in case of 
traveling sportsmen, a special law with special 
license for them, but an American citizen should 
have equal rights in America. 
W. Bacchus. 
Owego, N. Y., Feb. 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Hunting licenses have been in success¬ 
ful operation in this country for about two hun¬ 
dred years. This license has proved to be one 
of the best means of protecting game and has 
steadily grown in favor until now nearly every 
State in the Union requires hunters to take out 
licenses. , New York State has been slow in 
awakening to the fact that her sister States are 
far in advance in the matter of game protection 
and preservation. Now when the rapid decrease 
of game has become so evident the hunters have 
come forward in a body and ask the Legislature 
to pass a hunter’s license bill. To that end a 
bill has been introduced and is now pending in 
the Legislature with the following requirements: 
“No person shall at any time, pursue or kill 
with a gun any of the wild animals, fowl or 
birds that are protected during any part of the 
year without first having procured a license so 
to do, and then only during the respective 
periods of the year when it shall be lawful.” 
This bill requires a license of twenty dollars 
for nonresidents and aliens and one dollar for 
residents. Owners of farm land and their im¬ 
mediate families occupying and cultivating the 
same or the lessee or lessees thereof and their 
immediate family or families who are actually 
occupying and cultivating the same, shall have 
the right to hunt and kill game on the farm land 
of which he or they are the bona fide owners or 
lessees during*the open season for such game 
without procuring such resident license. 
As no one but hunters is affected by this 
license, and as they are in favor of it almost to 
a man, there is no good reason why it should 
not become a law. 
The object of the nonresident license is to 
restrict hunting, showing a preference in favor 
of residents and to raise funds for game pro¬ 
tection by requiring nonresidents to contribute 
to the expense of preserving our game. As 
nearly every State in the Union requires a non¬ 
resident license, is there any good reason why 
New York State should be left open to all who 
may come? 
The resident license, which has been made as 
small as practical, is not intended so much to 
restrict hunting as to regulate it. The chief 
uses they subserve are raising funds for the 
protection of game and providing a system of 
identifying hunters. 
The idea that this license will be a hardship 
to the poor man is absurd. A man who cannot 
afford to pay the license cannot afford to hunt 
any more than a man can afford to own an 
automobile if he cannot buy the gasolene. 
This bill favors the farmer and should re¬ 
ceive his support. The taxpayer can readily 
see that the amount raised by this license will 
go a long way toward the support of our forest, 
fish and game commission, and will be placing 
the tax only on those who derive the benefit. 
As for the hunter he is perfectly willing to con¬ 
tribute toward the protection of his favorite 
sport. Philip S. Farnham, Sec’y, 
The Owego Rod and Gun Club. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Chilled Shot and Quail. 
Doniphan, Mo., Feb. 29. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: There is scarcely a day afield that I do 
got find some dead or crippled quail, especially 
where visiting sportsmen have spent their fall 
outing after quail. It is the more noticeable on 
these occasions, for visits of this kind are so 
rare that one can count the number of strangers 
each year on his fingers. Most of the outers go 
about eighteen or twenty miles further north 
into the deer country of the Upper Current or 
head of Little Black, which seems the favorite 
camping ground for visitors. Invariably after 
shooting has been done on the farms adjacent 
to mine, my dogs find dead quail. 
There are many reasons for this; bad marks¬ 
manship, chilled shot, a city man’s judgment of 
distance and the use of open bore guns. 
I pass over bad marksmanship, and refer to 
chilled shot. I long ago gave it up for my own 
use for quail. I admit it makes a better pattern, 
and has greater velocity and penetration than 
the soft shot, but often when only one or two 
pellets hit a fast going quail, it has not the 
stopping power of the soft shot. The same rea¬ 
son may be taken for this performance as the 
soft and hard bullets in the modern sporting 
rifle and their effect on game. 
A number of years ago, when I first began to 
use chilled shot, I seldom thought of following 
a bird that had been merely feathered, for my 
experience had been limited to the old style of 
shot, but my shooting experience caused me to 
notice the effects of chilled shot on game. Trudg¬ 
ing home one afternoon, my old partner began to 
draw on a covey that had been dusting in the 
center of a log tramway. The birds refused to 
lie, with the exception of one, which I gave 
right and left, but not a feather flew, though I 
was not twenty yards from the bird. I saw it fly 
straight up the tramway for an eighth of a 
mile, and then suddenly drop. Following it in an 
attempt to redeem myself from a supposedly 
poor shot, the dog came to a point and I could 
not flush the bird. The dog then brought it to 
me; it was stone dead. I placed it in a separate 
pocket, and when cleaning the birds that even¬ 
ing examined it carefully. Three shot had 
