Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-18

'~.A>sb A<iHAAttIlNts2t AA1t1S
| knowing that they can shoot something
i in that region, and that, having reached
/ the heart of the wilderness in Pullman
cars, there are waiting to receive them
/ camps and hotels that are cheerful,
| comfortable and, in some cases, even
luxurious.
4 The deer season opens on Oct. l. and
/ closes December 10, and two deer is the
legal allowance to a hunter. The moose
4 season is from October Is to December
1 l, and one bull moose is the legal allow
ance. Probably 500 moose are killed
i each year in Maine in the open season.
4 Cow moose and calves are protected at
all seasons, and caribou are protected
4 by a siX-year close time, which runs
to 1905. Formerly three deer We're al
4 lowed, and there was senseless
slaughter, everybody seeming to feel 1t
duty bound to get all that was coming
to him, while COW moose and caribou
We're also legal targets for the hunters
rifle When it became evident that thu
1 killing of COW moose soon must result
in the utter determination of the spe-
cles the legislature protected the COW
by a perpetual close time, and in 1899
the caribou We're given six year ex-
emption from bullets in the hope that
their disappearing tribe might come
back to Maine. Az for the number of
deer. 1t was reduced to two, on the
ground that two is enough for anyone
but a game hog and game hogs
should have none.
While the shooting of the big game is
a sport and pastime for the men from
| the big cities, it has come to be re-
/ garded by the Maine citizens chiefly as
a source of revenue, and as such it Is
a grand success. All sorts of estimates
are made as to the cash value annually
of the moose and deer to the state and
its people. 1t is said that 10000 sports
| men come to Maine every season, and
that for every deer killed by them the
4 visitors spend. in various ways, not less
| than 500, and for every moose from $500
to $1,000. i think the cost of the moose
is much exaggerated, but really the
| man who gets moose nowadays must
| be prepared to spend considerable mon
| ey-for guides, for transportation, for
hotel and railroad bills and for taxid-
ermy. The amount of expense depends
| largely upon the length of time occupied
in the hunt, the distance to be Travelled,
/ the quality of the game and, in come
measure, upon the generosity Of the
| hunter.
The aggregate Of expenditures OF the
/ thousands of sportsmen while in the
state must be something enormous.
| They pay railroad fares over a distance
/ Of say. 600 miles from the time they en-
| ter Maine till they leave the state: they
4 pay for baggage and game transporta-
| ton, for accommodations at hotels and
camps, for the services Of guides and
| for various supplies and accoutrements,
/ and then IL successful in getting good
moose or buck deer head there is a
| good-sized bill at the taxidermist's, for
/ most of the heads are mounted here In
/ Bangor Even at the low average of
| 500 piece 10000 sportsmen would leave
| 81 600 coo here in Maine every season,
| and good authority has placed the
1 amount at 81. 600. There's sport and
4 profit combined for you! The game sea-
/ son is a harvest time for hundreds of
men from Bangor to the headwaters Of
/ the Penobscot, and the opening of the
| season Is hailed with satisfaction, like
the ripening of harvest or the arrival
/ of a big log drive. There is money
much money--in it for good many
1 peole.
i The visiting sportsmen begin to ar
| rive in Bangor two weeks ahead of the
opening of the season, that they may
be early on hand when the law is off.
They stop here little while. this city
being the last place of any considerable
size on the way into the woods, and
here they buy many things. When
they come back, game laden, they often
make another brief stop to visit the
taxidermist or to find out what has
been going on in the world since they
i left home. When the trains come into
Bangor laden with sportsmen and their
game picturesque scene is presented
at the railroad station. Here every man
HIS Obliged to get out on the platform
/ and identify his game, else 1T will be
seized by the watchful wardens, for
! the law says that all game shipped
out of the state must be accompanied
by it's owner The wardens read off the
Hist of deer and moose as received
from the express messengers with the
names of those shipping the game, and
every man answers to his name as 1t
lis called, or, failing to appear after
several callings. loses his game. This
process is gone thru with in order to
prevent illegal shipments. Without such
lprecaution market hunters would soon
kill off and ship away all the deer in
i the state.
i A good many seizures are made OF
game being carried thru by careless
sportsmen or those ignorant of the
laws, or of game that others try to
smuggle thru. Thus far this season
there have been about twenty seizures
at Bangor. The total shipments of game
to and thru Bangor from northern and
eastern Maine to Nov l, this season,
j aggregate sos deer and ninety-seven
/ moose. There are more hunters this
year than ever, and the game is of bet
ter quality, on an average than usual
most of the deer brought down being
good sized bucks, while the moose,
few of them excepted, run even in
weight, shape and style of heads. Eight
hundred to 900 pounds is good weight
for moose, altho many of 1000 pounds
are killed, and occasionally one of LOO
to 1900 pounds. In 1899 a moose weigh
ling about 1900 pounds was killed near
Jackman, and George M. Houghton,
the general passenger agent of the
Bangor and Aroostook railroad, sent the
head, mounted, to Admiral Dewey as
gift. This moose head carries antlers