Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-08-30
Rights of spOrtsmen.
THE OTHER SIDE.

Sportsmen are making a great outcrv
and sporting papers are filed with Trades
against the owners of land, because they
are not willing to permit the broadest Il
cense in tramping with guns and docs
over their fields, and as if there wss
neither right or feeling upon the other
side. From their standpoint the farmer
and Granger has no business to open
his mouth in objection, no matter now
much crops may be injured, fences
destroyed and stock alarmed. 1t matters
not that they have paid for the land; ex-
pended large sums in cultivation and
taxes. They are to have nothing to say
as to who shall hunt over their fields,
and are to have no more claim upon the
birds they have fedfrom theirgrain than
the man who lives hundreds of miles
away and if he shoots for his table, or to
reimburse himself, is to be dubbed "pot
hunter" and abused in the most round
terms.
1t strikes US this is quite a iug-handled
View-al upon one side. We are fain to
believe that the owners and tillers of the
soil have some grounds for complaint.
and that their occupation is quite as
honorable and necessary to the welfare
of the country as those who pass a few
weeks every year in shooting. Not that
we have anything to say against men so
passing time, if they have the inclination
and means; but it does seem as if those
who gain their substance by the sweat
of their brows should not be made mere
keepers of preserves for others to shoot
over, without giving the slightest glid
pro quo.
There used to be law that thus forci-
bly, entering upon the land of another
was trespass Wonder what has become
of it? That the owner had as much right
to its sole occupancy and use as his
house, and that any breaking the law
were liable to the penalty. Possibly
such an enactment has been repealed,
else how can sportsmen claim as right
what before was sought as a favorP
True, there should be a certain amOnnt
of liability, and would be much more
than at present, if there was not quite so
much arrogs nee and dictatorship. The
majority of farmers would willingly
grant permission lat proper times and
under proper eonditions) if requested,
and we are old fogy enough to believe
that anything worth having is worth the
asking for.
As the matter now stands, antagonism
is growing stronger every day, and judi
cial aid is being evoked. That it will
! (if pressed) end against the sportsman
is not difficult to foresee. The mere
pleasure of hunting can scarcely hold its
sway, SIS against ownership and right;
and the fee simple is stronger than any
theory of birds belonging to any one
who chooses to shoot. Suppose they do;
suppose the wild fowl are as much yours
as any ones, does that give the requisite
| authority to tresspass upon the land OF
another and trample down all interests
and feelings? We would be just foolish
enough to answer in the negative, and
with the title deeds in our pockets, some
what strenuously insist upon having our
possessions respected.
1t may be we are entirely wrong. 1t
may be that the owner of dog and gun
is greater in authority, and his pleasure
higher than any ownership; but we fail
to see it, and would hint, in the most del
icate manner possible, that little less
of overbearing and assertion and def
ance and disregard of the rights of 9TH
ers, would be likely to smooth the way
to q satisfactory adjustment OF the ques>
ton that now is developing considerable
feeling. There is even yet law in the
land, and it is not all upon one side, and
mere sport has not as yet become so
mighty as to crush honest labor and its
inheritance.