JAN. 27, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 






Massachusetts Association. 
Boston, Mass., Jan. 20.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: ‘The first meeting of the new board of 
management of the State Association was held 
on Thursday evening, the 18th, at the Copley 
Square Hotel, Vice-President Dr. George H. 
Payne occupying the chair. A letter from Dr. 
T. S. Palmer, in charge of game protection, 
United States Agricultural Department, was 
read, pointing out some defects and inconsisten- 
cies in Massachusetts game laws. After discus- 
sion it was voted that the legislative committee 
should be authorized and directed to frame peti- 
tions for such changes in existing laws relating 
to the sale of quail, pinnated grouse and ducks as 
shall render them more in harmony with those 
regulating the sale of other game birds. 
Ex-Senator William A. Morse was made chair- 
man of the Committee on Legislation, and has to- 
day entered the necessary petitions and bills to 
cover the above points. 
Dr. Palmer refers to the good results which 
have followed the enactment of the anti-sale law 
on ruffed grouse, as shown by reports of our 
Game Commission, but declares that the exemp- 
tion allowing land owners and members of their 
families to snare grouse during October and No- 
vember acts as a serious handicap. He points 
out the fact that a warden is unable to tell 
whether the snares discovered by him are set 
by the sons of the farmer who owns the land or 
by a professional market hunter, who, unknown 
to the land owner, may be snaring birds over a 
considerable area. No such exemption exists in 
any other State of New England except Rhode 
Island, he says, and “its necessity is not appar- 
ent. Snaring or trapping is not compatible with 
successful pr tection.” 
At present under Massachusetts laws quail may 
be sold from Dec. 1 to May 1. Ducks and pin- 
-nated grouse may now be scld by persons dealing 
in game or engaged in the cold storage business 
at any season if the birds were not taken in this 
commonwealth, although pinnated grouse (found 
only on Martha’s Vineyard) may not be killed at 
any time, and the shooting season for ducks is 
from Sept. 1 to March 1. Shore and marsh birds 
can be sold only during the shooting season, al- 
though they may be held in possession, for stor- 
age purposes only, during the time in which the 
taking or killing of them is prohibited. What Dr. 
Palmer says of the effect of the long-sale period 
under our laws is so pertinent I will give it: 
“The effect of such an exception (allowing 
sale) is far-reaching. Boston is one of the most 
important game markets in the country, and with 
the present laws allowing long open seasons for 
the sale of game the quantity required to meet 
the demand is enormous. Theoretically, such 
game is taken in the open season for hunting, but 
practically it is captured and shipped whenever 
the market is open. Most of the States from 
which the Boston markets draw their supplies 
have short seasons and prohibit export of game, 
but the cold storage exemptions in the Massachu- 
setts law encourage all manner of evasions and 
place Massachusetts in the position of protecting 
its own game, while openly receiving illicit game 
from other States. These shipments often violate 
not only the State laws, but also the Federal 
law, commonly known as the Lacey Act.” 
He speaks of shipments concealed in trunks, 
boxes, egg-crates or marked as “dressed poul- 
try.” butter or eggs and consigned to fictitious 
addresses. One marked dressed poultry for- 
warded from South Dakota to Boston contained 
g12 quail and 186 prairie chickens. In order to 
prevent wholesale destruction of their game for 
Eastern markets the Western States have been 
forced to enact stringent non-export laws, which 
are making it more difficult each year to obtain 
birds for market or for propagation. 

| GANTE BAH AND GUN 
The “anomalous” position of Massachusetts in 
regard to her quail law the doctor assigns as one 
reason for the difficulty she experiences in secur- 
ing quail for purposes of propagation. While 
dependent on other States for live birds to re- 
stock her covers “she places a premium on the 
destruction of quail in these and other States to 
supply her markets.” 
In illustrating the necessity for co-operation be- 
tween States Dr. Palmer makes this quotation 
from the recent report of'Prof. E. H. Forbush 
regarding waterfowl: “When we have done what 
remains to be done in Massachusetts, some influ- 
ence must be brought to bear on other States, for 
if the birds are shot on their way north through 
the Southern and Middle States, and also in 
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, protection here 
will have only partial results.” 
Dr. Palmer charges Massachusetts with offer- 
ing little protection to waterfowl on their way 
to the breeding grounds, while at the same time, 
by holding her markets open throughout the year 
she invites their destruction in other States dur- 
ing the spring until “their northern migration 
stops the killing.” 
Besides the bills above alluded to several others 
have been introduced and I will tell your readers 
about them later on. CENTRAL. 
The Megantic Dinner. 
Boston, Mass., Jan. 20.—The annual dinner of 
the Megantic Club was held this evening at the 
Copley Square Hotel with some 200 members and 
guests present. It was the nineteenth annual of 
the famous organization, and was an event that 
will occupy a green spot in the memories of those 
who enjoyed it. Among the guests was Gov. 
George H. Utter, of Rhode Island. After the 
dinner, interspersed with music, in which all were 
participants in some way, and a showing of mov- 
ing pictures of a lively character and suited to the 
occasion, the President, Dr. George H. Payne, 
of Boston, having spoken a few words of wel- 
come, introduced Hon. W. L. Quimby as toast- 
master. Mr. Quimby, sometimes called by his 
intimate friends the “Demosthenes of the Green 
Mountain State,’ proved equal to the occasion, 
exhibiting much tact as well as eloquence in the 
presentation of the speakers. Governor Utter’s 
welcome was three rousing cheers, and he must 
have realized at once that he was among friends. 
His numerous pointed anecdotes enlivened an ad- 
dress characterized by brilliant and solid thought 
appropriate to the occasion. 
Hon. George W. Titcomb, of the Fisheries Bu- 
reau, Washington, related graphically his experi- 
ences in the establishment of a fish hatchery in 
South America. Commissioner L. T. Carleton 
told the members how glad the people of Maine 
are to welcome them, and that, as an official, he 
was desirous of promoting the best interests of 
the Club. 
The audience manifested great pleasure in lis- 
tening to Mr. Bliss Perry, editor of the Atlantic 
Monthly, and after him came Rev. William J. 
Long, of Stamford, Conn., who told about ani- 
mals he had watched, and recommended hunters 
to give more attention to learning the traits and 
peculiarities of game animals and less to the kill- 
ing of them. CENTRAL. 
Quesec, Canada, Jan. 15.—I was agreeably 
surprised to receive your first issue of Forest 
AND STREAM in its new and handy form, and, 
as our mutual friend Hallock says, “with its 
familiar features all retained.” Will you allow 
one of your oldest friends to offer his congratu- 
lations, for you well deserve them, and his best 
wishes for a Happy New Year and many of them 
to come. J. U. Grecory. 
Cephus Dodge’s Two Shots. 
OccASIONALLY I see accounts of some notable 
shots recorded in Forest AND STREAM, such as 
killing two woodcock at one shot, or two grouse 
at one shot. This brings to mind that I once 
shot two ruffed grouse with one bullet. It was 
not a very remarkable shot, however. I had 
been hunting deer one sunny day in October, 
without even getting a chance shot. They 
seemed to be laid up somewhere out of sight; 
and as I was somewhat tired, I sat down on the 
dry leaves, leaning my back against a long log, 
when I heard the queerest of all queer noises. 
I couldn’t guess what it was until I looked over 
the log; and then I saw about three rods distant 
two old cock grouse walking slowly around on 
a little circle of two or three feet diameter, each 
one keeping opposite and facing the other, all 
the time keeping up that low cawing noise. 
They made no attempt to fight, but appeared to 
be having a serious quarrel. Now, the most 
natural thing to do was to lay the rifle across 
the log, and when both necks came into line to 
cut both heads off; and this I did. “Potted,” 
did you say? Well, perhaps so. But I thought 
then, and think now, that the birds made a 
cleaner broil than if they had been killed on 
the wing and filled full of No. 6 shot. 
I remember many remarkable shots made by 
old-time hunters, some of which may be worth 
mention now. Away back there lived a man in 
Ashtabula county, O., by the name of Cephus 
Dodge. At that early day the country along 
the northern border of the State was sparsely 
settled. Deer and wild turkey were plenty, and 
Dodge was a noted hunter, and was considered 
a dead shot on deer. He used a heavy rifle 
with large bore, as such guns were thought to 
be a prime necessity then and there, where the 
face of the country was comparatively level, with 
rather open but heavy timber, and mostly clear 
from thicket and underbrush; consequently deer 
were shot mostly at long range. 
It was after a fall of snow in November that 
Dodge came out of the woods very late one 
night, and said he believed that he had broken 
the record of all the remarkable shots that were 
ever made. 
His story was about as follows: Early in the 
day he started five deer, which kept together 
and which he followed a roundabout way during 
the day, without getting a shot within reason- 
able distance. Toward night they began to 
bunch, as he said, but would start again before 
he could get in shooting distance. It was get- 
ting near night, cloudy and stormy withal, and 
he concluded to shoot into that bunch when he 
should see it again, let it be short or long dis- 
tance. A half-mile of travel brought him in sight 
again. As he said, he couldn’t tell heads from 
points, but he held high and pulled for the 
center, when the bunch vanished at once. On 
going up he found one deer which had fallen 
dead in its tracks, and, following, in less than 
eighty rods he found two more. Now it rather 
strikes me that had I made such a shot I would 
have gathered up the slain and gone home 
satisfied. But Dodge knew well enough that the 
two live deer which were left would not go far 
without a halt, so he followed the trail until he 
saw a dark spot in the distance which he thought 
might be the broadside of a deer. He drew up 
and fired, it being so dark that he could barely 
see the sights on his gun, and the two deer 
started off on a run. He found spots of blood 
on the snow, but night had closed in and it had 
grown so dark that he could follow no further, 
so he left for home. 
The next day the two deer were found; shot 
plumb through and near where he had left the 
track the night before; those with the others 
were hauled in with a team, and Dodge was 
