Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 30 , 1908 . 
VOL. LXX.— No. 22, 
No. 127 Franklin St.. New York, 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1908, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary- 
Louis Dean Spki r. Treasurer. 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
ffill be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. • 
1 —Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
NEW YORK FISH AND GAME. 
Among the thirty-day bills signed by Gover¬ 
nor Hughes on May 23, was Assembly bill 2262, 
introduced by Mr. Mills. This bill became effec- 
I tive at once and the law is now in force. Through 
its provision Sections 32, 82, 89, 91, 96, 106, 123, 
1153 and 174 of the forest, fish and game law 
I are amended and the changes, while of a local 
I character for the most part, are of importance. 
Some of the provisions follow: 
Trespassing and hunting on private lands or private 
parks are made more difficult, and the restrictions more 
severe. 
The rabbit season in various counties is rearranged; a 
clbsed season on quail until 1910 applies in Dutchess, 
Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties; and a 
closed season until 1910 on grouse in l’utnam, Rock¬ 
land, Steuben and Westchester counties. 
County provisions for pheasants are rearranged and 
certain days in October allowed for shooting male pheas¬ 
ants in a few counties. 
The trout season is changed in certain counties and 
local provisions inserted regarding opening and closing 
dates. The prohibition of night fishing was killed. 
In the old law the length of set lines for use in Canan¬ 
daigua and Keuka lakes was limited to fifty feet, but 
this limit has been removed. 
The season for plover, snipe, etc., has been extended 
until Dec. 31, but the opening date remains July ltj. 
A new section permits the shooting of quail and 
woodcock on Robbins’ and Gardiner’s islands in season. 
These amendments, instead of simplifying the 
law, tend to complicate it still more than did the 
original Cobb-Mills bill. A number of the pro¬ 
visions apply to parts of counties only, and be¬ 
cause of these the hunter and the angler must 
post themselves carefully if they wish to be on 
the safe side. 
THE ALASKA GAME LAW. 
Congress has passed the Alaska game bill. 
| When he signed it President Roosevelt said that 
I in his opinion it was the most important game 
legislation that has been passed in recent years. 
The Hon. W. E. Humphrey, who worked dili¬ 
gently for the passage of the bill, believes it will 
be a long step toward protecting this last great 
game region of our country. 
The law provides for a license system. The 
■ proceeds will go into the treasury. The amount 
1 of money necessary for the enforcement of the 
1 law will be estimated annually by the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture and appropriated for, after 
the Governor of Alaska has rendered a detailed 
report. Nonresidents of Alaska must pay a fee 
of $100, and citizens of the United States $50, to 
hunt any game animals except deer and goats, 
while on the Kenai Peninsula one must also 
employ a registered guide. Each license will be 
accompanied by coupons authorizing the ship¬ 
ment of two moose—if killed north of latitude 
60 degrees ; four deer, three caribou, three mouti 
tain sheep, three goats and three brown bears, 
or any part of said animals, but no more of any 
one kind. 
The seasons are defined, but the Secretary of 
Agriculture is empowered to make such changes 
as may be deemed necessary for the preserva¬ 
tion of game. The sale of game or any part 
is prohibited in the closed season, but dealers 
who obtain game in the open season are given 
fifteen days’ time in which to dispose of it. 
The Governor of Alaska will employ game 
wardens and regulate the registration and em¬ 
ployment of guides and the rates they shall 
charge, and all officers of Alaska and of the 
United States Government stationed there are 
required to assist in the enforcement of the law. 
The law is brief and plain, and its provisions 
cannot well be misunderstood. They are not 
severe and will work no hardship on anyone. 
The fact is made plain that the law will be en¬ 
forced, and that its violators, if caught, will 
not only be punished by fine or imprisonment or 
both, but may lose their outfits and trophies as 
well. 
ADIRONDACK CAMPS. 
The references, given in another column, to 
the troubles of camp owners in the Adirondacks, 
should be read carefully by all persons who live 
in or visit the mountain region in the summer 
or autumn. That a mild form of feud exists 
there between the residents and the camp owners 
no one will deny. Nor can it be denied that 
both sides are partly right and partly wrong in 
their methods. 
In the days when a camp was left open, and 
the tired hunter or angler could find in it shelter 
from a storm and sufficient food to appease his 
hunger, there was little stealing or wanton de¬ 
struction of camp property; but with the advent 
of locked camps completely furnished with more 
or less valuable articles, the cupidity of a certain 
class has been aroused, and the temptation to 
make away with such property has become very 
strong, particularly as the likelihood of being 
caught is remote. 
The resentment, too, of honest men has been 
aroused on finding themselves storm-bound, but 
unable to enter these snug shelters save by force. 
Instead of the old-time outside latch string they 
find locks and bars, and a hungry and half- 
frozen man seldom hesitates between the alterna¬ 
tive of a miserable night beside a puny fire and 
one of comfort to be obtained by the free use 
of the axe. 
The burning of camps, however, has become 
a serious menace to all parties concerned, and 
the practice, born of selfishness, constitutes 
malicious mischief in its worst form. It places 
every person in the vicinity on his guard, 
and no one knows when his cabin or camp 
will be burned during his absence. Men 
who are highly respected among their fellows 
build camps in the woods and furnish them com¬ 
fortably, then cast about and try to rid the entire 
vicinity of other shelters that may be used in 
the fishing or shooting season. In not a few 
cases parties have arrived at these camps after 
a long day’s snowshoeing, to find themselves 
hungry, wet or half frozen, beside a pile of fire- 
blackened logs, with the nearest human habita¬ 
tion miles away. 
We are told that there is apparent in the Adi¬ 
rondacks an increased respect for the written 
laws, but while this state of affairs is pleasing 
to all who have at heart the welfare of this 
great recreation ground, it is not so certain that 
the unwritten laws are observed as they should 
be, and as they must be before amicable rela¬ 
tions between residents and campers are brought 
about. 
Men who go into the woods and build camps 
cannot with safety make themselves and their 
habits obnoxious to the residents, but it is as¬ 
tonishing that so few of them make an effort 
to earn the good will of their neighbors. 
It is often asserted that the more one handles 
firearms, the greater his respect for them. Proof 
of this is found in the great scarcity of acci¬ 
dents on well regulated rifle ranges and trap¬ 
shooting grounds. Millions of shots are fired 
annually in competitions at flying targets, with¬ 
out accidents of a serious nature, and on the 
rifle ranges where group and individual shoot¬ 
ing is carried on at the same time, enough lead 
is sent into the backstops to annihilate an army. 
In the majority of all the cases that have come 
within notice during the past quarter of a cen¬ 
tury—and they have been remarkably few in 
number—those who have been injured violated 
all the rules of safety and were themselves to 
blame. If equal care w'ere exercised in the hunt¬ 
ing fields the number of casualties would dwindle. 
It is not unusual, this month, to see wild 
black ducks flying low over New York city on 
their w'ay to and from the w T aters of Long 
Island and the various lakes in Central Park. 
Not a few of them have brought forth broods 
in the park and swum about the lakes with their 
tiny offspring, content with their environments. 
One pair, said to have nested for several years 
in the park, may now be seen with six tiny 
ducklings, all that remain of the eleven that 
hatched out. Rats are abundant, and they are 
credited with having made way with the rest. 
