Forest and Stream 
- 

Copyright, 1906, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 




Terms, $3 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. | N 
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EW YORK, SATURDAY, MAR 


The object of this journal will be to studiously 
_ promote a healthful interest in outdoor recre- 
ation, and to cultivate a refined taste for natural 
objects. Announcement in first number of 
ForEST AND STREAM, Aug. 14, 1873. 
THE GAME REFUGE BILL. 
THE bill, introduced by Mr. Lacey, which pro- 
vides for the establishment of game refuges 
within the Federal Forest Reserves has been 
favorably reported to Congress. It has practi- 
cally the unanimous approval of press and public, 
and ought to become law. There are many reasons 
for the growing feeling in its favor, and they 
have many times been set forth, and need not 
be repeated at length. From the viewpoint of 
the broader sportsmanship such action ought to 
be taken in behalf of those recreationists who de- 
pend for their sport on the free shooting or fish- 
| ing, that is to say, who are not members of clubs 
" or associations, and who do not control great pre- 
; SErves. 
With the increase of population and co- 
_ incident increase in the number of hunters of 
game, great and small, there will soon be no spot 
-in the United States, save only the Yellowstone 
' Park and private domains, which the hunter has 
not penetrated. As population continues to in- 
crease and all are at liberty to kill wild creatures 
over all this vast territory, the big game, the 
birds and the fish must ultimately be extermi- 
nated. 
If, however, there shall be established refuges 
where these wild creatures may be free from 
molestation, and may live, increase, multiply and 
replenish that particular portion of the earth, 
they will in time spread outside of these refuges, 
and from this overflow every man who is able to 
reach the neighboring hunting ground may take 
his toll. 
If there is on this continent a spot that is in- 
teresting to the sportsman and the nature lover, 
it is Our greatest game refuge, the Yellowstone 
National Park. Here the deer feed placidly along 
the roadside, while the wagons thunder by; here 
the wild sheep lie in the snow hardly a whip’s 
length distant from the creaking freight wagons; 
here the antelope nibble the grass without raising 
their heads to look at the rattling stages; and 
here wild geese sit on the beaches with heads 
/ tucked under their wings and ignore the passerby. 
Here the sportsman may approach and study 
the wild creatures. which under other circum- 
stances he has no time to study, for his mind is 
concentrated on killing them; and here the na- 
ture lover may enjoy such pleasures as cannot be 
found elsewhere in this country. Scatter over the 
western country in the forest reserves refuges 
like the Yellowstone Park, stock them where it 
is necessary, and give them a dozen years to per- 
mit their wild inhabitants to re-establish them- 
selves, and we shall have in this country a series 
of splendid game parks, a series of splendid nat- 
ural history laboratories, and a series of sources 

of game supply, which will give our people game 
and fish for all future generations. 
Mr. Lacey, whose services in the cause of game 
protection are so well known, has been work- 
ing on this bill for six years and has found a 
sentiment in its favor constantly increasing. This 
year it should pass both Houses of Congress. 
Mr. Lacey has also induced the Committee on 
Agriculture to insert in the appropriation bill an 
item of $15,000 to fence a large pasture in the Wi- 
chita Forest Reserve in order that the Govern- 
ment may accept and may have a place to pas- 
ture the herd of twenty buffalo, which the New 
York Zoological Society desires to present to it. 
The establishment of a herd of Government buf- 
falo in this reserve, giving the Government a 
second herd of these animals which would be 
under its absolute control, would be a long step in 
the right direction. 
TRAPSHOOTING PORTENTS. 
ALL the premonitory signs concerning trap- 
shooting interests augur unmistakably that the 
forthcoming trapshooting season will be a record 
breaker, likely far to surpass the trapshooting 
doings of previous years. The signs are many, 
great and small, and in their entirety are a unit 
in their favorable indications. Many new gun 
clubs have been organized, denoting a growth of 
interest and a multiplication of shooters; a large 
aggregate of dates have been claimed by State 
associations, and by gun clubs in city and town, 
throughout the United States. Gun clubs are 
building their houses as a rule on a more gen- 
erous scale with a view to roominess, comfort 
and utility, and leasing or purchasing grounds 
with a view to greater permanency or full title. 
The trade interests contribute much by moral 
and material support, and this is supplemented 
by the hearty enthusiasm and pertinent activity 
of the individual shooters of all America. From 
being a popular sport in irregular patches of the 
United States a few years since, trapshooting 
has steadily gained, year by year, to such a degree 
at present, that it is justly entitled to be classed 
with the few great sports which are truly nation- 
al. It is popular with all classes of the public, 
and its activities and supporters are everywhere, 
from cross roads to city throughout the national 
domain. 
Without doubt, one of the most forceful fac- 
tors in promoting this rapid and_ beneficent 
growth has been the sound and energetic effort 
of the Interstate Association. It has standard- 
ized the sport in many ways, and has been an im- 
portant factor in spreading and establishing it in 
new fields. The four new tournaments, given by 
the Interstate Association in addition to the 
Grand American Handicap at Indianapolis, in 
June, cannot fail to impart to the sport an im- 
petus to greater growth and popularity, much to 
the benefit of him who shoots as a matter of rec- 
reation and to him who manufactures the useful 
clial 21 pes ope yey 
i VOL. LXVI.—No. 13. 
| No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
articles which are essential in supplying the 
shooter's needs. Thus, great as is the sport at 
present, it has much greater possibilities of 
growth because of its favorable appeal to all who 
Jove a gun, good fellowship and clean competi- 
tion. 

pls CROIXSSALMON POOL 
IN our angling columns this week will be found 
a curious correspondence carried on between Mr. 
J. E. Hinden Hyde, of this city, and officials 
of Canada and Maine. Last year Mr. Hyde, on a 
visit to the Calais Pool of the St. Croix River, 
found many apparent violations of the fishing 
laws, the stream was being polluted and netted 
and trapped, and there was evidence of the use 
of dynamite to kill salmon. Naturally enough 
Mr. Hyde wrote to the authorities on both sides 
of this boundary river, setting forth the apparent 
conditions, and from the authorities he received 
promises that the matter would be taken up and 
that they would do what they couid to better the 
condition, 
The correspondence, strung out over a number 
of months, seems to have ended in nothing at all. 
At all events we do not understand that any in- 
formation was ever given to Mr. Hyde that any 
steps of any nature whatever had been taken to 
improve matters. 
This year let us hope that these complaints may 
be taken out of their resting places and that the 
State and Provincial authorities will do whatever 
may be in their power to improve conditions on 
the St. Croix River. 
This was—and with proper protection may again 
be—a great salmon pool, and in these United States 
there are few places where salmon can be caught 
with the rod. Let us hope that the officials of 
Maine and Canada to whom we all of us have 
to pay a non-resident tribute, may help take ear- 
nest steps to remedy the abuses found at the St. 
Croix Pool. 
THE TROUT SEASON ATGHAND. 
THE inclement weather of the North, prevail- 
ing during the latter part of this month, has been 
specially depressing as regards the interests of the 
anglers. Snow, severe cold and boisterous winds 
do not promote the happiness of the expectant 
trout fisherman, nor does he care to saunter 
through half a foot of snow along rippling brooks 
to enjoy the taking of the gamy trout. 
However, much that is favorable in weather 
changes may occur between now’ and April 1, 
on which day the trout season opens in Con- 
necticut and New Jersey; March 31 on Long 
Island, April 15 in Pennsylvania; and April 16 
in New York in a general way, there being many 
local laws which it is well for the angler to know 
if he contemplates meandering at large. It is 
well, however, to get ready, to be ready, for no 
man knows that the fishing will not be good 
when the statute permits it next month. 
