Marcu 3, 1906.] i 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

6 BAG AND GUN | 





Do You Eat Your Game? 
Charles A. Shriner in Paterson (N. J.) Chronicle. 
“T HAD an English pheasant on the breakfast 
table the other morning,” said a resident of 
Paterson who is fond of sport with dog and 
gun, likewise of good things to eat, “and there- 
by hangs a story. Perhaps you do not know the 
ailment known as buck fever. It is that unac- 
countable failure to pull the trigger until after 
the game is out of range. I have seen men hunt 
for hours without getting a shot and then when 
an opportunity presented itself to get a bird fail 
to fire in time or to fire at all. I saw a good 
instance of that kind about twelve years ago. 
I had a friend who had done considerable hunt- 
ing, but he had never seen an English pheasant 
on the wing. Like all such mortals he was will- 
ing to sacrifice a week’s income or almost any- 
thing else to get a shot at an English pheasant. 
So one day I took him along, posting him on 
the way on some of the characteristics of the 
bird, telling him that he should not spare his 
powder too long, for although the birds gen- 
erally lie close they can carry a great deal of 
shot and consequently ought to be blazed away 
at at the first chance. We had been in the field 
about twenty minutes when up sprang a glorious 
cock within ten feet of where my friend was 
standing with his gun. It may be unconscious 
cerebration for a gunner to raise his gun to his 
shoulder when he hears or sees a bird flush, but 
it goes no further. My friend raised his gun 
quickly, properly covered the bird and then de- 
liberately permitted it to get out of range. Then 
he put his gun down and looked around at us 
with an expression which contained a large in- 
terrogation mark. Of course, we had all seen 
such things before. To-day I am glad that my 
friend had buck fever and did not shoot at that 
bird, for he would have been more mortified if 
the bird had kept on its course after he had dis- 
charged a couple of barrels at it than he was in 
not shooting at it at all. I feel confident that 
that bird was the one I had on the breakfast 
table the other morning, and I do not believe. 
that shot was ever made that would have pene- 
trated the skin of that bird. Tough! That bird 
missed its vocation; it should have been a foot- 
ball, for as such it would have been perfection, 
elastic and indestructible, and not even malle- 
able. I bought it after it was dead and as I had 
no hand in killing it I thought I might like it on 
the table. How it ever came to its death is a 
mystery to me, for if its internal economy was 
as tough as its carcass it certainly would have 
lived forever, barring such accidents as drown- 
ing or asphyxiation.” 
“You apparently do not like to eat birds you 
had a hand in killing?” was the question pro- 
pounded by one of those present. 
“Of course, I do not, and that is a character- 
istic of a great many sportsmen. I could never 
-eat the game I brought home from a day’s hunt, 
even if birds were selected I had never seen 
until after they had been killed. I may carry this 
further than some, but I could never eat a 
chicken out of my own chicken yard. When 
the bird was placed on the table I could see its 
spirit stalking about the room, looking at me 
with reproving eyes. It is a part of a savage 
streak in us, I presume, partly obliterated by 
civilization, or it is just the opposite, a refine- 
ment of stupid sensibility, but do you know you 
find it in a great many dogs? Very few hunt- 
ing dogs will eat game. I have tried numerous 
experiments in this direction but every gunner 
will tell you the same thing. I had a Gordon 
setter once, a very intelligent animal. One day 
we had English pheasant, some of the edible 
kind, on the table, and some chicken, the latter 
having been added for my benefit, on account 
of my objection to English pheasants to eat. 
I handed my setter a piece of chicken and he 
disposed of it quickly. Then I passed him a 
piece of pheasant and he would no more eat 
it than he would have if I had offered him the 
table cloth. I tried to fool him several times, 
but it would not work. I certainly could have 
been fooled in that way. I presume it is a sixth 
sense dogs have of which we have no con- 
ception. But this does not apply to hunting 
dogs exclusively. I remember one time when 
my friend, Captain John J. Bowes, of Passaic, 
sent me a hunk of venison. We had it for din- 
ner, together with some steak. I had a Great 
Dane, and I tried to feed him venison, but he 
would not touch it. I handed him a piece of 
stéak, and it disappeared with the usual alacrity. 
I tried to fool that dog, but it would not work. 
How he could tell the difference between veni- 
son and beef, both cooked alike, is more than I 
can even guess at.” 
Game Club Constitution. 
Tue Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective 
Association has issued the following circular: 
“Many clubs or organizations have been formed 
during the past few years in different parts ‘of 
Massachusetts for the purpose of assisting in the 
work of protection and propagation of game, and 
we are glad to notice the excellent accomplish- 
ments of many of them. Such organizations are 
having good moral effect on the pot-hunters in 
their vicinities and bringing about a better feel- 
ing between the farmers and sportsmen, besides 
doing much in the line of game law enforcement. 
We are anxious to assist in every way possible 
the formation of such associations and welcome 
their co-operation and assistance in the work so 
necessary to our fish and game. As we have re- 
ceived many requests for suggestions regarding 
suitable by-laws, we have had prepared and 
printed a set. The form of constitution and by- 
laws is as follows: 
CO det tk LCN. 
NAME. 
Miniserxssooiationy SiallmwexknOw? AS’ “wees aeeesirse eas ucere 
OBJECTS. 
The objects of this Association shall be to promote the 
protection, preservation and propagation of birds, game 
animals and fish. 
OFFICERS. 
The officers of the Association shall be a President, 
Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and an Executive 
Committee of five members. The offices of Secretary and 
Treasurer may be held by the same person. The Presi- 
dent, Vice-President and Secretary shall be members of 
the Executive Committee in addition to the five above 
specified. 
ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 
The officers of the Association shall be chosen by 
ballot at the annual meeting, and shall hold office for 
one year or until their successors are chosen. 
DUTIES OF OFFICERS. 
1. THE PRESIDENT shall preside at the meetings 
of the Association. 
2. THE VICE-PRESIDENT shall act as presiding 
officer in the absence of the President. 
3. THE TREASURER shall collect all bills and as- 
sessments and shall pay from the funds of the Associa- 
tion all bills approved by the President. 
4. THE SECRETARY shall keep a careful record 
of the proceedings of each meeting of the Association 
and of the Executive Committee in a book for that 
purpose and shall send all notices of meetings. 
In addition to the duties above specified the officers 
shall perform the duties usually pertaining to their 
respective offices in similar societies. 
DUTIES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
The Executive Committee shall have general charge 
of the affairs and property of the Association and may 
appoint such committees as they deem necessary. Three 
members shall constitute a quorum. 
ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 
New members may be elected at any meeting of the 
Association provided the application of each candidate 
is approved by two members of the Executive Com- 
mittee. 
In the election of candidates for membership the votes 
of three-fourths of the members present and voting shall 
be necessary to elect. 
AMENDING CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 
This Constitution and By-Laws may be amended at 
any meeting of the Association provided the proposed 
amendment is specified in the notice of the meeting sent 
to each member. 
BY-LAWS. 
1. THE ANNUAL MEETING of the Association 
SMA EDGMHGLA OL Mele rate ee tee sana ee anes dcnay eee ale nee us 
Other meetings may be called by direction of the Ex- 
ecutive Committee but notice thereof shall be sent to 
all members. 
The fee for membership in the ............ Association 
shall be The Annual Dues 
special meeting of the Association shall be called upon 
the written request of five members. 
ORDER OF BUSINESS. 
At meetings of the Association the following order of 
business shall be observed: 
Reading of the records of preceding meeting, 
Reports of officers. 
Reports of Committees. 
Election of new members. 
Election of officers. 
Miscellaneous Business. 
Quorum. 
_ Seven members shall constitute a quorum at any meet- 
ing of the Association. 
SOS 
Prospecting and Hunting. 
OROVILLE, Cal., Feb. 14.—Geese have been fly- 
ing northward in big skeins for the past two 
weeks, day and night, except the night of the 
moon’s eclipse, it being too cloudy, and it looks 
as if there were to be an early spring in the 
Arctic regions, though groundhog day conditions 
did not warrant such a prognostication locally. 
Aquatic hunting this past season in the tule 
basins of the Sacramento Valley was not entirely 
satisfactory—the drought cut into the season too 
far, and then when the rains did come the storms 
and flood were too strenuous for enjoyable sport. 
Mountain quail have been very (unusually) 
plentiful this winter in the foothills of the Sierra 
Nevada mountains in Sierra and Butte counties, 
but the birds seem to have been preternaturally 
shy, and whoever got any of the plumed little 
knights of the sugar-pine forests, earned them. 
Big bags were seldom heard of. 
During my wanderings this past fall as a pros- 
pector I had a dish or two or venison, some b’ar 
meat on one or two occasions, and more recently, 
while on a tributary of the Yuba River, during 
the last run, had a liberal supply of salmon that 
had been taken with a gaff at night by the light 
of a bonfire. 
The Western Pacific Railroad, now under con- 
struction across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 
goes through a fine big-game country—bear 
(grizzly, black and cinnamon) and deer (‘white 
flags’’)—that will be directly accessible by the 
tourist from the East as soon as he enters Cali- 
fornia. Noble trout, eel and salmon-running 
streams abound in the region. 
Recently I did a little hunting of rabbits in the 
black oak belt off the plains of the Rocky Hon- 
cut, taking refuge, when a storm or night came 
on, in a German colony of fruit raisers, their 
horticultural products including oranges, figs, 
peaches and strawberries. They made an excel- 
lent wine there which sold at from forty to sev- 
enty-five cents per gallon. Choice was had of 
claret (zinfandel), mission, angelica, port and 
gutedel. He who believes in heeding the ad- 
monition to take a little wine for the stomach’s 
sake, and “thine oft infirmities,’ would have been 
satisfied with the card, methinks. 
But think of a hunt that culminated with a 
haasenpfeffer and linsengericht, or a pigeon pie 
and a celeraic salad, with a quantum sufficient 
of chilled gutedel or mulled claret! Or quail on 
toast and panned sauerkraut, with a bumper of 
ruby port! More anon. Wo. FITZMUGGINS. 
