
Dec. 28, 1907.] 

Rhode Island Game. 
Proviwence, R, I., Dec. 15.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The tail enders are in from the clos- 
ing season in Maine, Capt. M. L. Stone, of the 
Central Police Station, Inspector S. D. Sessions 
and Manley Tibbets, having returned from a 
most successful trip to Camp Echo, on Richard- 
son Lake (Me.). They report game scarce, 
but managed to secure their full quota and an- 
nounce the trip as the most successful one they 
ever had. 
The local hunters appear to have devoted 
most of their time the past week to rabb't 
hunting, and judging from the reports, the game 
is plentiful and easy to obtain even without a 
gun. Three men went down Kingston way, 
where they secured a bag of the biggest bunnies 
they had ever seen, and to crown the story, it 
is claimed that one long-eared runner (rabbit 
by the way) was so hard pressed by the dogs 
that the hunters did not dare to shoot, and the 
rabbit ran along a stone wall and finally jumped 
to his death in the arms of one of the astonished 
sportsmen. Another shooter claims to have 
killed his game with a well thrown missile. 
While birds have been unusually scarce, one 
of the best trips was made by John Aldrich and 
George Russell, who went down below East 
Greenwich and secured six ruffed grouse. 
Deputy Commissioner of Birds, Walter 
Waterman. is investigating the death of a buck 
deer which was found in Still River, not far 
from the summer resort Rhodes-on-the-Paw- 
tuxet. One of the animal’s legs was broken 
and the antlers had been removed, so that 
some one no doubt has a good story to tell, 
but it can hardly be that of a farmer or market 
gardener who shot the deer to prevent damage 
to his crops. 
This brings up much argument as to the 
action taken at the last Legislature, allowing 
the farmers to shoot deer, and many of the 
sportsmen would like to see this permission 
withdrawn. While it was claimed that deer had 
done considerable damage to crops, it seems as 
though some arrangement could be made to 
justly reimburse the garden men for what dam- 
age might be done by the few deer we have 
here in this small State and that the deer might 
be allowed to live and thrive until such time 
as they really became a nuisance. The licensing 
act is certainly an excuse for unfair slaughter, 
and Rhode Island might well take pattern after 
New Hampshire and some other States and do 
the thing right. ; 
It is a good plan to have laws, and it is easy 
to make them; but what we need here is some 
provision whereby a warden can be appointed 
to spend some time looking to see that the 
laws are carried out, pinch a few “dagoes’”’ who 
gun for anything that moves, in and out of sea- 
son, and go strict where trouble lies. H. 

New Hampshire Deer. 
Cuartestown, N. H., Dec. 16.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The slaughter of deer in this State 
the last two weeks has been something unprece- 
dented and unknown to even the oldest inhabi- 
tant. The long close season which the animals 
had enjoyed had rendered them so tame that 
they even invaded the village streets, and were 
seen in herds of half a dozen or more in the 
immediate neighborhood. One fine buck was 
seen a few days since on a side street within 
300 yards of my house by the village grocer who 
came round before breakfast with his wagon for 
his morning orders. 
The result of this tameness has been that in 
fourteen days forty-one deer have been brought 
in, some of them very large ones. On Wednes- 
day, the 4th inst., at the village market, I saw 
one shot the day before which weighed 337 
pounds and had a superb head of antlers of ten 
tines, and I have heard of two more of about 
the same size. Two young men, living near the 
village, killed their limit of two each the first 
day. How many more were killed on the last 
day after the snowstorm I cannot say, for de- 
spite the law prohibiting Sunday shooting I hear 
that a number of young men were out to take 
advantage of the tracking snow. The worst 


REPAIRING A DAMAGED SNOWSHOE. 
An Adirondack Incident. 
feature of the case is in the absurd law passed 
by the last Legislature prohibiting the use of 
rifles and confining the hunters to smoothbores 
and buckshot. How many wounded deer escaped 
to die of their hurts no one can tell, but I 
heard of one certainly which was tracked a long 
distance by his blood and finally lost sight of. 
Neighboring towns, Langdon, Alstead and 
others also report many deer killed, but I have 
no record of the number. Two men, one from 
Massachusetts, were arrested on Monday the 2d 
inst. for using rifles contrary to the statute, and 
for pursuing a fifth deer after having killed two 
each, and were fined $25 and costs and put under 
bonds for $75 more, so I hear. 
I am at a loss to account partly for the enor- 
mous number of deer which have been found 
in this part of the State, but think it highly 
probable that a portion of the increase is due 
to deer which have escaped from Blue Moun- 
tain Park, in Crovdon, twenty miles to the north 
of this town, which was established by the late 
Austin Corbin some thirty years ago. Our 
township is a very large one, thirteen miles long 
from north to south on the Connecticut River, 
and four miles wide, rising in a series of ranges 
of hills from the meadows, with many brooks 
and small meadows between, and many old 
farmsteads with abandoned orchards, where the 
young men have gone, either to the cities or the 
far West, and the old men have died out, and 
offers an admirable refuge and feeding ground 
for the deer. 
The present open season of two weeks holds 
for another year, and judging from present ap- 
pearances the deer will be exterminated again 
by that time. The same scarcity of ruffed grouse 
is noticeable here, as is reported in other parts 
of the country, and though I can no longer go 
afield for them myself, I console myself by read- 
ing Mr. Hammond’s delightful letters, which I 
hope will long continue. 
Game Warden E. D. C. Corbin was called 
on Monday last to a house a mile from the vil- 
lage to kill a deer which had been badly wounded 
in the shoulder by some previous hunter, and 
yesterday he was sent for to a house three miles 
away in another direction, to perform a similar 
act of mercy. One of these was no doubt the 
animal mentioned in my letter, which had been 
tracked some time by the blood, but finally lost 
sight of. 
So much for smoothbore guns and buckshot 
in the hands of boys and careless hunters. Re- 
ports are that the deer have been practically 
exterminated in Merrimac and Rockingham coun- 
ties. I hope we may get a full statement of the 
slaughter from the fish and game commissioner. 
Von W. 

A Veteran’s Opinion. 
Syracuse, Dec. 18.—Editor Forest and Stream: My love 
for FoREST AND STREAM is very strong, and grows with 
years. I have read every number of it from its initiation 
under another name, and once was a somewhat regular 
correspondent. Many pools and trails have been closed 
to me by age, but they are still a delight to remember, 
and a thousand incidents related to them are a joy to 
recall. With the years ForEST AND STREAM has grown in 
both strength and interest, until it has become the lead- 
ing journal of its kind in this country, if not in the 
world. DwicHt H. Bruce. 

