The Worcester spy., 1899-11-10
ADVICE TO HUNTERS.

P. A. Fowler Gives Valuable Pointers
to Men Going After Game in Maine.
Philip A. Fowler, formerly reporter of
The Spy, but now located at Farming
ton, Me, where he is doing special work
for the Lewiston Journal and Boston
Globe, was in this city yesterday, and
is choek full Of good advice for those
who intend to do any large game hunt
ing in Maine. Some of his tales of
the woods show how difficult it is for
novice to find his way.
1t is an easy thing to get lost in the
Maine woods, which in many places in
the northern part of the state are for
hundreds of miles in all directions an
almost impenetrable forest
1t is a wise idea for every ineXperi-
enced hunter to have a guide, Fowler
thinks, and even the experienced hunter
needs one if he is going back into the
woods very far. The present law of
the state Of Maine requires all non-res-
dents to hire guides during the height
of the shooting season, and some idea
of the number of men who go cunning
for game in Maine may be CLEANED
from the fact that in the year 1898 the
sum Of $22l 257 was spent for the SER
vices of registered guides. This year,
with the new law in force, the receipts
of the guides should reach at least
$3.50 000
The alleged object of the new law,
which requires nonresident hunters to
hire registered guides, is to guard
against forest fires, which have been
started by careless sportsmen in the
camps in former years. 1t is almost
impossible-to comprehend what differ
ence 1t has already made in the matter
of forest fires in the state for the per-
centage, even this very dry fall, is far
below the average. The law requires
that the registered guides shall keep a
true and faithful record of the party for
which he is acting as guide their
names and addresses, just where they
camped each night, the exact spot, If
possible, how the fire was arranged,
whether it was eXtinguished or not a
full description of the game brought
down, etc.
Deer and moose are so plenty up in
the section where Mr.. Fowler is living
that they come into the pastures and
mingle with the cattle, and incidental
ly do more or less damage, that the
farmers have to fix up after them, but
there is no great loss without some
small gain, and the farmer who kicks
because his ground is torn up or his
fence knocked down makes all kinds of
money during the deer season both di-
rectly and indirectly for many Of them
are guides, their farm products are in
demand, and they have all the deer
meat
The day that Mr.. Fowler came out
from Franklin county, early this week,
he counted nearly two dozen deer
scampering away as the train sped
through the country, and the train had
quite an experience with a moose,
track, notwithstanding the fact that
the engineer nearly blew the top off
everybody's head with the whistle, try
ing to get the moose to vacate the rail-
road property. The moose gave the
train a lively race for about a mile,
when he turned and disappeared in the
woods.
Mr. Fowler advises any one who is
going to Maine to shoot, this year, to
familiarize themselves with the latest
changes in the game laws, for Massa-
chusetts people are always getting into
trouble because they don't know What
their privileges are and what is forbid
den them. There is a clause in the
laws this year authorizing the sports
man to send home his game without
accompanying it, as has been required
in past years. The state furnishes a
special shipping tag, which can be
bought at shipping points. There are
other minor changes, all of which are
intended to drive the screws a little
tighter in the ironclad and rigidly en-
forced game laws Of the state of Maine,