



933 

FOREST AND STREAM. 

New York League Meeting. 
Syracuse, N. Y., Dec. 5—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The annual meeting of the New York 
State Fish, Game and Forest League was held 
in the assembly room in the City Hall to-day. 
It was called at 10 o’clock in the morning, and 
after an exceedingly stormy session, adjourned 
at 6 o’clock without having elected officers. 
The league voted to recommend a law plac- 
ing a license of $1 on guns to secure a revenue 
estimated at $100,000 yearly to allow the employ- 
ment of additional game protectors. 
The law and legislative committee recom- 
mended that the number of tipups allowed in 
fishing in Oneida Lake through the ice be re- 
duced from twenty to five. This was carried. 
C. H. Mowry introduced a resolution passed by 
the Onondaga Anglers’ Association recom- 
mending that the sale of black bass caught in 
waters of this State be prohibited. The league 
will recommend that this become a law. It 
recommended passing a law controlling the sale 
of dynamite. 
It was the sentiment of the association that 
the open season for grouse, woodcock and 
squirrel be the month of October, and that one 
man be allowed to shoot only twenty of each 
kind in a season and four of each kind in one 
day. The following was adopted: 
“The Fish, Game and Forest League of the 
State of New York in convention assembled at 
Syracuse this 5th day of December, 1907, re- 
affirms the principle that the sale of game shall 
be limited to the open season for killing the 
same and further that no game shall be kept 
in cold storage during the closed season, 
“In conformity to the above principle the 
Fish, Game and Forest League demands that 
the Legislature pass a law prohibiting the sale 
of wildfowl after the 1oth of January in each and 
every year until the beginning of the following 
open season and also prohibiting the keeping 
of game in cold storage during the closed sea- 
son, and further resolved, that copies of this 
resolution, duly signed by the president and 
secretary of the league, be sent to the Governor, 
the Lieutenant-Governor and the next speaker 
of the Assembly.” 
is 
The league composed of the following 
clubs: 
Rapp-Shaw Fishing Club, Buffalo; Bing- 
hamton Rod and Gun Club; Olean Rod and Gun 
Club; Black River Association of Utica; Ni- 
agara County Anglers’ Association; Cayuga 
County Fish and Game Club; Owasco Lake 
Anglers’ Association; Tompkins County Fish 
and Game Club; Ulster County Fish and Game 
Club; Owego Rod and Gun Club; Seth Green 
Live Fishermans Club, Penn Yan; Rensselaer 
County Rod and Gun Club; Albany County 
Fish and Game Club; Marcellus Fish and Game 
Club; McGraw Fish and Game Club; Anglers’ 
Association of Onondaga; Cazenovia Rod and 
Gun Club; Rome Fish and Game Protective As- 
Association of Rochester; Hunter Gun Club, 
Anglers Association of St. Lawrence River; 
Chemung County Fish and Game Club: Bird 
and Anglers’ Association of Madison County; 
Tramps Retreat Association, Wanakena; Parish 
Fish and Game Club; Orleans County Rod and 
Gun Club; Camden Fish and Game Club: 
Anglers’ Association of Niagara Falls; Erie 
County Rod and Gun Club; Mitchell Preserve 
Association of Rochester; Hunter Gun Club, 
Fulton; Newark Fishing Club; Northern Cayuga 
Fish and Game Club; Phenix Rod and Gun 
Club; Mexico Gun and Anglers’ Club: Wayne 
Gun Club of Newark; Riverside Gun Club of 
Oswego; Leatherstocking Gun Club. Oswego; 
Fabius Anglers’ Association; Brutus Gun Club. 
Weedsport; City Park Gun Club, Watertown: 
Albany County Fish and Game Club: Cortland 
Rod and Gun Club; Cato Rod and Gun Club. 
The fight between the factions led by Dr: 
Frederick S. Honsinger, of Syracuse, and J. H. 
Considine, of Elmira, for the office of president 
of the league was so bitter that questions of 
grave importance to the interests represented 
by the various clubs were overlooked. Mr. 
Considine is president of the league. Dr. Hon- 
singer is president of the Onondaga Anglers’ 
Association, whose membership he has been 

[DEc. 14, 1907. 


largely instrumental in increasing from 485 to 
1,150. He is very active in game and fish pro- 
tection, and it is claimed that through his 
efforts the membership in the league has been 
increased from seventeen to forty-two clubs. 
Instead of nominating candidates for offices 
in open meeting, a committee was appointed 
for the purpose, and they presented the follow- 
ing ticket. For president, J. H. Considine, 
vice-president, Dr. F, S. Honsinger; secretary, 
John D. Whish; treasurer, A. C. Cornwall: 
chairman of law and legistative committee, 
Charles H. Mowry; chairman of organization 
committee, Dr. Honsinger; chairman biological 
committee, James Annin, Jr.; chairman auditing 
committee, Aaron Mather. 
A motion was made that the secretary cast 
a unanimous ballot for the nominees. Mr. 
Forey, on behalf of the Onondaga Anglers’ As- 
sociation, objected, that the constitution pro- 
vided that the election be by ballot. Vice-Presi- 
dent Bowman, who had been called to the chair 
to preside during the election, ruled that if one 
objected it was not possible to elect by having 
the secretary cast the vote. 
After a great deal of argument Mr. Forey, of 
Syracuse. moved that the name of Dr. Hon- 
singer for president be substituted for that of 
Mr. Considine. The motion was put and de- 
clared lost, whereupon Mr, Forey demanded a 
roll call, quoting Section 2 of Article IV.. of 
the by-laws, as follows: 
“The officers shall be elected by ballot at the 
annual meeting, and such officers shall con- 
stitute the Board of Trustees.” 
He called attention to the presence of a large 
number of game protectors in the hall. and 
stated that they had no right to vote and that 
there was no way to tell how many of the men 
present were entitled to vote. 
Secretary Whish declared he had no list of 
members of the league and said he had seen 
no mention in the minutes of previous meet- 
ings where a roll had been called. A great 
hubbub ensued and finally, after much bitter 
discussion, a motion to adjourn was put and de- 
clared carried. 
There was a banquet at night, at which 
Charles F. Ayling, the toastmaster, introduced 
the following-speakers: J. B. Burnham, Essex. 
“Game Protection from the Standpoint of the 
Home Office”; M. C. Worts. of Oswego, “Game 
Protection from the Standpoint of the Field’: 
J. H. Considine, of Elmira, “Game Protection 
from the Standpoint of Organized Clubs.” 
Commissioner Whipple lectured in University 
Hall on “The Protection of the Forests of New 
York State.” He was followed by Forester 
Knechtel, who lectured on the State forestry 
work. ONONDAGA. 

“American Duck Shooting.” 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The copy of Grinnell’s “American Duck Shoot- 
ing” was duly received, and I thank you for 
your courtesy in the matter. I have carefully 
examined the work and read considerable por- 
tions of it, and am delighted to find. as I rather 
expected to, that it is much more than its title 
indicates. It is really an excellent monograph 
on the ducks, geese and swans, with a lot of 
added information on hunting methods not 
usually contained in such works. TI shall be very 
glad, indeed, to include it in the catalogue of 
useful natural history works soon to he pub- 
lished by the university. and will send vou a copy 
of the catalogue when it is finished, which I hope 
will be within the next two months. 
Juntus HENDERSON, 

Turee American hunters were arraigned before 
a magistrate in Chatham, N. B., recently and 
fined $25 each and costs. amounting in all to 
more than $200, for entering the woods without 
the necessary licenses and without a resistered 
suide. One of them was also fined $100 for kill- 
ing a calf moose. The total expense of the trip 
was high, but they settled. 

THe Forest ann StrrAM may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly, 

Geese on St. Vincent Island. 
St. Vincent Istanp, Fla. Nov. 27.—Edito: 
Forest and Stream: I was out. this morning 
shooting ducks from a blind in one of the 
numerous fresh-water ponds which abound or 
this twelve-thousand acre island game preserve 
and had out ten live mallard decoys and a stil 
larger number of inanimate ones. After having 
































brought down several ducks of differen}| 
species, I presently heard the animated 
“honk, honk” of an immense flock oj 
























































































Canada geese approaching. Although at the! 
Same time several mallards were scaling in to-| 
ward my decoys, I paid no attention to the} 
latter, but awaited the pleasure of the larger 
game, which was approaching in a phalanx at 
least two hundred strong. As I had my double- 
barreled gun, nothing larger than No. 8 shot, 
which I had found very effective on ducks, but 
which is several sizes too small for the best 
success in goose shooting, I waited until the 
foremost geese had scaled in close over my 
decoys, when I let go with my first barrel and! 
brought down the leader, but, unfortunately, | 
my second barrel shapped, a thing I don’t re- 
member to have had occur as long as I have 
shot the gun—now several years. As I 
thought I was almost sure of my second goose 
at such close range, I was naturally somewhat 
chagrined. 
I have a friend who, I am sure, would have) 
attributed this missfire to “the innate cussed- 
ness of inanimate objects.” However, an im- 
perfect shell proved to be the cause. 
When my guide came in at my signal and 
picked up the dead goose and several ducks 
which I had brought down, I sent him off to- 
ward a large pond nearby, to stir up some 
ducks which had “pitched” over in that direc- 
tion. As he entered the pond, he noticed a 
large bald-headed eagle struggling with some| 
large object out in the middle of the pond, and | 
going out that way, he frightened the bird of 
prey away and found that it was another dead 
goose which had evidently received enough of 
my load of No. 8 shot to lay him out cold. It 
was picked up about thirty rods from my blind, 
and as the flock I shot into went over that 
way, and as no one else was shooting, there 
could be no other conclusion than that my 
one load of No. 8 shot had proved fatal to two 
geese, but, of course, at pretty close range. 
The geese come into these fresh-water ponds 
in large numbers for fresh water daily, but | 
feed and roost elsewhere. | 
At a_secluded cove on the Gulf side of this | 
island I have the geese well baited with corn, | 
freely strewn about, and they feed up very close 
to a blind located well out on a bar. Here I | 
put out my live decoys which, by their lively | 
honking, lure their relatives to their destruc- 
tion. My. gamekeeper passing that way this 
morning, coming in from the other side of the 
island, reports that at least five hundred geese |. 
were feeding on my corn strewn about for their 
entertainment. They are very wary birds, but | 
their great appetite for corn gets the better of 
their judgment and leads them sometimes to 
venture into dangerous places. | 
Neither ducks nor geese are as numerous | 
here as they commonly are at this season of 
the year. but I attribute their tardiness in | 
putting in an appearance in this semi-tropical | 
climate to the unusually mild weather in the | 
more northern latitudes. I see a few snipe al- | 
most daily, although they are not yet here in 
full force. 
Deer are becoming quite plentiful on this 
preserve, are seen almost daily and often come | 
very near to our camp. Wild boar and wild | 
cattle, both quite as difficult to approach as the | 
deer, are also quite plentiful in the island ri 
forests. 
An abundance of palmetto berries and acorns | 
keep both deer and hogs in fine condition all | 
through the fall and winter months. while sev- I 
eral thousand acres of savannahs furnish an ib 
abundance of nutritious grasses for the wild | 
cattle which make very good beef. lq 
Fish, in great variety. including tarpon in ! 
their season, abound in the channels about this j 
island, while the best of oysters are very plenti- 1] 
ful and easily secured. R. V. Prerce, M.D. { 


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