The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-11-15
The Hunting of tho Deer.

| In the new Game law passed by the lIegls-
! lature OF 1892 there is special article relat-
| ing to Kings. Queens. and Suffolk counties
| and Long Island Sound. This article provides
| that deer shall not be shot at, hunted with
dogs or otherwise. or killed on Long Island.
except from the 10th to tho 10th day OF No
vember inclusive A violation OF this pro-
hlbition. or an attempt to violate it. Is de-
clared to be msdemeanor. and is there
fore punishable under tho Penal Code by
imprisonment for not more than one year.
or by a iino OF not more than five hundred
dollars. or by both such fine and imprison-
ment. The offender is also liable to PEN
atty, recoverable in civil suit. Of one hun
drcd dollars for each deer shot ut or killed
out Of season.
In commenting upon the Long Island
Game law a few days ago the New York
Times remarks:
"If any hunter is fortunate A. to meet deer on
Long island public grounds between the 10th and
18th Of this month he is At liberty to BAG the game
he can Six DAYS are given tho sportsmen. II Is not
generally believed that there are six deer on Long
Island hut the fact is that once in while one OF tho
animals escapes from private enclosure and that
few rem ain In wild In the middle and eastern
portions OF the island"
The Times is misinformed as to the
number Of deer still to be found on Long
Island. Only a few weeks since. farmer
who lives in tho neiGhborhood OF Lake
Ronkonkoma presented Il claim to the
b ard Of Supervisors o: Suffolk county. at
Riverhead. for reimbursement on account
OF the damage which he alleged had been
done to his crops by the incursions OF deer
into his fields. He thought that. inasmuch
IVA, In, tod d fr,n | linn
animals in he summer. it ought at least to
afford him some redress for the injury
which they did. According to his account,
the deer which thus visited his lands were
quite numerous: and we are assured by n
gentleman who was out deer hunting last
week north OF Central Islip and west of Lake
Ronkonkoma. that there were certainly
as many rs ono hundred deer in that wood
ed district. Twenty-Five years ago deer
were also plenty much further enst. be-
tween Manor Station on the Long Island
Railroad and the village of Wading River
on the Sound. which is to be tho terminus
of the new extension Of the north side
branch. From this region. however. tho
animals have now almost entirely disap-
peared: but the protection afforded by the
law has suiiiccd to prevent their extermina-
ton in the lake district further west. and
the number of deer which have their range
there is variously estimated BY those best
informed at from forty to one hundred.
1t seems somewhat remarkable that any
deer at all SHOULD still exist in a wild state
in part of~the country which has been so
long settled rs Long Island: but we are in
formed that even in Plymouth county
Massachusetts. the earliest inhabited por-
ton of New England. considerable numbers
OF deer nre still to be met with.
In Pennsylvania. a few days ago. snow
white deer was killed at n place called
Bakers Run. in Clinton county. northwest
Of Harrisburg. We have never heard of n
white deer being killed or even being seen
| on Long Island. Pennsylvania seems to
have monopoly of deer Of this color. an
other having been killed about twenty
years ago in Schuylkill county. 1t seems
to us that white deer. like n white crow
ought to be allowed to so free even by tho
most enthusiastic sportsman. unless he he
a man with the instincts OF tho Rev.
THOMAS DIXON. the Richmond county robin
slayer-and such person cannot be digni-
fled with the title Of sportsman at all.