February, 1918 
FOREST AND STREAM 
97 
farmers in the country through their na¬ 
tional organizations and practically all the 
sportsmen in the country similarly repre¬ 
sented have declared in favor of the meas¬ 
ure; not because President Wilson wrote 
from the White House in its support; not 
because four cabinet members and a large 
majority in Congress have expressed them¬ 
selves in favor of this legislation; not be- 
cuase of the tremendous support behind 
it; but for the reason that this legislation 
is vitally needed for the welfare of the 
nation at this time. 
Splendid work is being done in putting 
our soldiers in the field and our sailors on 
the sea and in backing them up with all 
the things that make for their success, but 
without the birds agriculture would be im¬ 
possible and our armies and navies would 
perish from lack of food. 
It is a- great and patriotic necessity to do 
what Canada has already done and pass 
at the earliest possible moment in this ses¬ 
sion of Congress the Flood bill. This will 
do more to make the crops secure and the 
success of our country assured than any 
other similar measure which Congress can 
pass and fulfill at the same time the solemn 
compact which we entered when the treaty 
with Canada was concluded more than a 
year ago. 
GAME CONFERENCE MARCH 
4 AND 5 
HE National Conference on Game 
Breeding and Preserving, held under 
the auspices of this Association, will take 
place at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel March 
4 and 5. A simple dinner will conclude the 
conference on 'the evening of March 5. 
This will be followed by what is believed 
to be the best showing of wild game mov¬ 
ing pictures ever made, the exhibitors be¬ 
ing Mr. William L. Finley, of Oregon, and 
Mr. Norman McClintock, of Pittsburgh, 
two men whose work with large and small 
game is unique. Those who attended last 
year’s conference will recall the excellence 
of the moving pictures that were shown. 
All sportsmen’s organizations and indi¬ 
vidual sportsmen are invited to the con¬ 
ference and dinner without further notice. 
These gatherings furnish the one occa¬ 
sion of the year when those interested in 
the more game movement can get together. 
Nearly 500 attended last year’s gathering. 
Mr. William B. Boulton, chairman, will 
preside over all sessions of the conference 
and at the dinner. Reservations at $5 each 
should be made as soon as possible, checks 
being made payable to Mr. Tracy Dows, 
Treasurer, 2271 Woolworth Building, New 
York City. 
CORNELL GAME BREEDING 
COURSE 
N February 18 Cornell University, at 
Ithaca, New York, will open her doors 
to young men and women for a special 
course in game breeding, ending May 10, 
to be supplemented by practical work in 
the recently-established Cornell game farm, 
which will be concluded August 31. In ad¬ 
dition, facilites will be offered for a four- 
year special course in the conservation of 
wild life, including game breeding, leading 
to the degree of bachelor of science. The 
short cause is for those who want to be¬ 
come game keepers or to engage in game 
breeding as a commercial pursuit. The 
four-year course is designed to train young 
men for such activities as specialists with 
state game and fish commissions; paid sec¬ 
retaries of state sportsmen’s associations 
and wild life protective organizations ; work 
with zoological gardens and departments of 
the federal government having to do with 
biological work and fish culture. 
The October BULLETIN of this Asso¬ 
ciation, containing detailed information on 
this work, may be had for a three-cent 
stamp by addressing E. A. Quarles, vice- 
president, 2271 Woolworth Building, N. 
Y. City, or prospective students may write 
direct to the secretary of the New York 
State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, New 
York. 
The Cornell game farm will be operated 
in consultation with the Conservation Com¬ 
mission and its surplus product will be dis¬ 
tributed by the commission in the same 1 
manner as are birds from other state game 
farms. 
CAPERCAILZIE FOR AMERICAN 
FORESTS , 
ONALD MacVICAR, a veteran Scots 
gamekeeper, believes that the caper¬ 
cailzie might be successfully established on 
this side of the Atlantic. Says Mr. Mac- 
Vicar : 
“My personal experience with caper¬ 
cailzie has been entirely in the wild state, 
but I am sure they would not give satis¬ 
factory results if penned and bred on the 
same lines as ringneck pheasants. Their 
chief habitat is Scandinavia and Northern 
Russia, and the territory that they favor 
is mountainous old pine forests. They love 
solitude, and their staple food in winter 
and spring is pine and birch buds. I be¬ 
lieve that they could be hand reared on 
suitable ground, as their habits are quite 
similar to the black cock or black grouse 
of Scotland; the latter I have raised by 
hand for pets. 
“The reintroduced capercailzie is found 
in several parts of the North of Scotland, 
notably in the old mountain forests of 
Perthshire and farther north. In my young 
days we had a number on 1 the Argyle 
estates. There we had extensive old Scotch 
fir woods interspersed with birch, which 
they delight in, but there was no attempt 
at hand rearing. At Tagmputh Castle, one 
of the residences of the Marquis of Bread- 
albine, they are quite numerous. Penned 
in large sanctuaries and pinioned, with all 
the natural conditions of their favorite 
haunts within their reach, I believe they 
would breed to such an extent that the nu¬ 
cleus of a wild stock could be produced. 
“There are many areas in the eastern 
states that combine the necessary conditions 
for the maintenance of the capercailzie in 
the wild state. I should very much like to 
hear of an enterprising sportsman trying 
the experiment of importing live birds, 
also eggs, both of which could be procured 
from Norway in normal times. From a 
sporting point of view the capercailzie is a 
most desirable bird to shoot. Driving is 
the favorite method of bringing him over 
the guns. His flight is swift and powerful, 
and over the gullies of the old forests he 
gives splendid, tall, rocketing shots when 
going down wind. 
“The male is very handsome and weighs 
as much as a medium turkey hen. Gilbert¬ 
son & Page, Hereford, England, would fur¬ 
nish data as to where birds could be pur¬ 
chased ; in fact, they would, I think, sup¬ 
ply them, but at present I fear the war 
would make the obtaining of stock impos¬ 
sible.’’ 
[Capercailzie have been imported to this 
country from time to time, but efforts at 
establishing the species have not proved 
successful. Failure may have been caused 
by the use of improper methods. Editor.] 
SHOOTING PARK DEER FOR MEAT 
OHN B. BLTRNHAM, an experienced 
deer farmer, states that venison from 
an undressed deer which has lain in one 
spot for only four or five hours is usually 
unfit for food; that is, that portion of the 
carcass which has been in contact with the 
earth. The carcass of a deer placed on a 
rock will not spoil, provided there is a suf¬ 
ficient circulation of air between the earth 
and the carcass. 
, Mr. Burnham states that the shoulder 
shot is the most effective one for deer and 
particularly advises against aiming at the 
heart. The shoulder shot affords a target 
of approximately twelve inches in diameter, 
almost any portion of which, if struck, will 
incapacitate the deer from running. The 
chances are that either the shoulder will 
be broken or the lungs or heart hit, and 
the deer will not go far. 
The heart shot is a very difficult one, 
and unless the bullet falls within a highly 
restricted area the deer can run for such 
a long distance that even if it receives a 
mortal wound the carcass may not be found 
before the meat is spoiled. The tendency 
in trying for the heart shot is to shoot 
high or too far back. The sighting point 
on the shoulder obviates this, and in one 
deer park at least has resulted in saving, 
much venison that prior to adopting this 
shot was lost. 
An old-time hunter, with years of ex¬ 
perience in the West, to whom the above 
was submitted, vouchsafed the comment: 
“It is very well to recommend the shoulder 
shot to people in the East, where game is 
scarce and wild, and where most people do 
not know how to shoot, but the old-time 
hunter would have felt himself deeply in¬ 
sulted if he had been advised not to shoot 
at the heart of a deer, but at its shoulder.” 
So times change. 
Mr. Burnham added that, employing the 
shoulder shot, seventeen deer had been 
killed on his farm this season without the 
loss of a single one, whereas the record of 
previous years, when the heart shot was 
tried, resulted in losing nearly half the 
deer shot at. He thinks his experience has 
demonstrated that a deer struck in the 
lungs will drop quicker than a victim of 
the heart shot. 
When the deer faces the hunter, the 
shot is obviously at the center of the chest; 
when the rear is the only part of the anat¬ 
omy exposed, the animal should be allowed 
to go unscathed unless a good shot at the 
head or upper neck is presented. 
Mr. Burnham states that he has never 
known a fox to touch a dressed deer, the 
human scent probably preventing this. On 
deer farms foxes occasionally spoil car¬ 
casses of animals that are shot and lost. 
In such cases, of course, no human being 
has touched the carcass. 
