
JuLy 13, 1907.] 
FOREST AND SEREAM. 
57 


was effected under the name of the National 
Association of Game and Fish Wardens and 
Commissioners. Papers were read and dis- 
cussed on various phases of game protection, 
spring shooting, hunting licenses, export and 
sale,’ bag limits, and the right: of search. The 
primary object of the association was to secure 
co-operation between the States. The constitu- 
tion adopted made all State and Federal game 
officials eligible to membership, and fixed the 
entrance fee at $10. The discussions at this 
meeting had a marked effect upon subsequent 
legislation and have resulted in more stringent 
enforcement of the game laws. This associa- 
tion was reorganized on February II, 1904, and, 
with dues reduced to $5, now numbers among 
its members the State game officials of most 
of the States where such office exists. 
A personal acquaintance with the deputy and 
county wardens in the State is always of great’ 
advantage to the State officer in the administra- 
tion of his duties, and in recent years several 
officials have called conventions of their 
deputies for this end and to discuss matters per- 
taining to their duties. One of the first meet- 
ings of this character of which the writer has 
any knowledge occurred in Montana in 1got, 
shortly after the creation of the offices of State 
and district game wardens, and when, in com- 
pliance with the summons of the State game 
and fish warden, the eight deputies met at his 
office in Helena for the purpose of mutual ac- 
quaintance and instruction by him in the duties 
of their position. 
Quite the most notable and successful of these 
conventions met in the Armory Building at 
Springfield, Ill., on Jan. 26, 1904, pursuant to a 
call issued by the game and fish commissioner 
of that State. There were seventy-five wardens 
present, and after organization the commis- 
sioner stated that the object of the meeting was 
to become acquainted, discuss matters of gen- 
eral interest in game protection, study care- 
fully the new game law in order that all might 
understand its provisions, and outline a general 
policy for its enforcement. Some very inter- 
esting and important papers touching various 
phases. of bird and game protection were read 
and discussed, and new legislation was pro- 
posed, some of which was enacted at the follow- 
ing session of the legislature. 
One of the most recent meetings was that of 
the game protectors of New York, who met in 
Albany during Feburary, 1906, and formed a 
permanent organization. Hereafter they will 
meet yearly for. the purpose of discussing mat- 
ters pertaining to their duties. 
Perils of the Warden's Position. 
The record of fatalities incident to the 
warden’s official life ‘testifies to the perils of the 
position. Exposure to inclement weather, with 
attending discomforts, may be reasonably ac- 
counted part of the chances a warden assumes 
when he enters: upon the duties of the office; 
but conditions should not be such as to com- 
pel the risk of surrendering his life to the de- 
pravity of his fellow-men. Yet such is the fact. 
Several deputies and other officials have been 
killed within recent years while in the discharge 
of their duties. In not a few cases the culprits 
have received merited’ punishment for their 
crimes and have been sentenced to prison for 
longer or shorter periods. In other instances 
they have gone unpunished, as in the case of 
a nlume hunter who killed a Florida warden 
while he was attempting to arrest him for shoot- 
ing herons in a colony of nesting birds and 
who escaped through refusal of the grand jury 
to indict him.- In cases of miscarriages of 
justice like this, however. it should be remem- 
bered that game laws and game wardens are of 
comparatively recent origin in the United 
States. and that only a short time ago the 
popular idea respecting fish and game was that 
wherever found they were almost as much the 
property of the individual citizen as the air we 
breathe. The creation of a healthy public senti- 
ment everywhere in regard to the protection of 
game and the enforcement of game laws is only 
a matter of time, and the wonder is, not that 
violations of the law, followed by occasional 
tragedies, occur in remote districts, but that 
respect for the law is so widespread, co-opera- 
tion so general, and that the cause of bird and 
game protection has advanced so far in public 
estimation in such a short time. 
The most serious problem the warden of to- 
day has to contend with in some sections of 
the country is the control’ of certain classes of 
immigrants who in increasing numbers infest 
the woods and fields of some of our Northern 
States at all seasons intent upon the slaughter 
of all kinds of birds. They set at defiance the 
game and trespass laws, and to warnings not 
to hunt upon the farmer’s land they sometimes 
respond with the use of weapons, occasionally 
with fatal results. The seriousness of the situa- 
tion is echoed in the following paragraph from 
the report of the board of game commissioners 
of Perinsylvania for 1904: 
We are deeply impressed with the grave condition that 
surrounds the enforcement of our game laws in com- 
munities where the foreign element * * * is in any 
force, and recognize in this question the most serious one 
we are compelled to meet. This class seems possessed 
with the same purpose throughout the State, and is the 
most persistent and determined in not only violating the 
law, but in resisting arrest and attempting to evade 
punishment after they have been arrested. MHardly a 
week passes without an assault of some kind upon our 
officers from these people. 

Conclusion. 
It will be seen from the foregoing that game 
wardenship in this country has reached _ its 
present state of efficiency within a compara- 
tively short time. Beginning with the very 
local moose wardenship in Maine in 1852, the 

“service has been gradually extended in scope 
and purpose until now there is scarcely a lo- 
cality in the United States where a game warden 
is not.in service—scarcely a wild bird or animal 
which does not come under his protection. 
This satisfactory condition has not been at- 
tained without a struggle. Many obstacles 
have been placed in the way of progress by an 
unwilling, because uninstructed, public, and 
these have been overcome only by the persist- 
ence and devotion to duty of those who have 
occupied the office during the formative period. 
The game warden of to-day should recognize 
this obligation to his predecessors and endeavor 
not only to maintain but to surpass the high 
standard established by them. 
Some of the former antagonism against game 
laws still persists, and in certain parts of the 
country the wardenship is yet in an experi- 
mental stage; but it may be safely predicted 
that in the near future every State in the Union 
will have established its game department on a 
footing with its other executive offices. In 
spite of its growing importance’ and power, 
however, the office of game warden is a diffi- 
cult one to fill, and it is the duty of every good 
citizen to lend this important public servant 
every assistance and encouragement in the dis- 
charge of his duties. 
Arms of the American Hunter. 
As will be seen by President Wadsworth’s let- 
ter printed below,:the Boone and Crockett Club 
has undertaken the getting together and the cus- 
todianship of a collection of arms of the Amer- 
ican hunter from early times down to the present 
day. It is eminently fitting that this association, 
the oldest and best known club of American 
big game riflemen should take up the work of 
making such a collection. The arms and im- 
plements and paraphernalia generally so brought 
together by the Boone and Crockett Club, will be 
exhibited in the Administration Building of the 
New. York Zoological Society, in connection with 
the National Collection of Heads and Horns. 
Together, they will form a unique group of ob- 
jects of the highest interest and importance to 
sportsmen. We understand that the Boone and 
Crockett Club in fact, if not in name, will in this 
matter act as trustee for the great body of Ameri- 
can big game hunters. 
The arms of past days are becoming more and 
more scarce. Displaced by more modern wea- 
pons, they are likely to be relegated at first to the 
garret, and after remaining there for a time to 
be destroyed and finally thrown away. Com- 
paratively few people realize the importance of 
preserving such material. 
President Wadsworth’s letter, addressed prim 
arily to the members of the Boone and Crockett 
Club, is in fact an appeal to American sportsmen 
at large, and it is hoped may be received as such 
and generously responded to. There are many 
sportsmen who possess articles that they highly 
value which are yet in constant danger of de 
struction from one cause or another, and which 
ought to be preserved—as should all objects of 
public interest—in a fire-proof building. Such a 
building is the Administration Building of the 
New York Zoological Society, where the present 
collection is to be held, and sportsmen possessing 
interesting relics, even though they may not be 
willing to donate them outright to this collection, 
would yet do well to deposit them with it, where 
they will be safe. 
Each object given or loaned to this collection 
should have attached to it a label bearing the 
name and address of the owner, and as full a his 
tory of the object as can be had. 
President Wadsworth’s letter to the members 
of the Boone and Crockett Club, and to sports- 
men at large is given below: 
Dear Sir: 
In connection with the National Collection of 
Heads and Horns now being made in behalf of 
the American Sportsmen, by the New York 
Zoological Society, the Boone and Crockett Club 
is taking up a kindred work—the gathering 
together of a collection. of American hunting 
arms, implements and paraphernalia. Both these 
collections will be exhibited in the Administra 
tion Building of the New York Zoological So 
ciety. 
No such collection exists anywhere in the 
world, so far as known, and it seems high time 
that such a series of arms should be got together 
While firearms would naturally take the first 
place in such a collection, the bowie knife, the 
hunting hatchet, the powder horn, and a multitude 
of other articles used by the early hunter should 
find a natural place here. 
It is the purpose of the club to establish this 
collection as a permanent exhibition of the hunt 
ing arms used by the American pioneers from 
early days down to the present time, and members 
who feel inclined to donate articles to the collec 
tion are requested to forward such articles to 
Geo. Bird Grinnell, 346 Broadway, New York 
City, who will duly acknowledge them. 
Several members have expressed a wish to 
contribute weapons in use during the first half of 
the last century, and it is believed that from the 
membership of the club a number of interesting 
weapons can be secured. Sportsmen at large 
should be interested in the collection and will, it 
is hoped, freely contribute to it. 
Yours very truly. 
W. A. WanpswortTH, 
President Boone and Crockett Club. 

Massachusetts Fish and Game. 
Boston, July 6.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
[I had the pleasure on July 2 of meeting with 
members of the Middlesex Sportsmen’s Club, at 
the Town Hall in Winchester. An exhibition 
of quite unusual motion pictures preceded the 
collation which was furnished by the organizer 
and first vice-president of the club, Mr. Napoleon 
J. Hardy, of Arlington, an enthusiast in fishing 
and hunting, and an expert in the use of the 
camera. Mr Hardy has sometimes entertained 
the club with a lecture, illustrated by piétures 
taken. during his numerous trips to the Maine 
woods. Mr. Edward S. Barker, the president, 
was happy in the role of master of ceremonies 
Dr. J. W. Bailey, the secretary, states that the 
membership of the club has reached the 400 mark. 
This was one of the first of the outlying clubs 
to become affiliated with the State association. 
That deer are rapidly multiplying in southern 
New England is evident from the numerous re 
ports of their invading the most densely popu- 
lated sections of cities and towns. During the 
past week people living on Prospect Hill, Somer- 
ville, were treated to the sight of a beautiful 
doe, and several deer have been seen on Union 

Square. Concord, N. H., has recently received 
a similar visitation. From Williamstown comes 
a report that several farmers have received 
awards for damages done by deer, 

