Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-13
A SMUGGLING GAME.
Tricks of Sportsmen to Circumvent
 State Authorities.
Birds Concealed in Beer Bottles and
 Sample Bags of Wheat to EIude n. nhe Game Wardens of the DRkOtas.

The game waroens of the Dakotas learned lot of new tricks last season,
 but their information will not be of
 much use, for next season there will be other tricks of gunners who wish to
 ship game out of the two states in de- f1ance of law. The Dakotas, like other western states, charge an outsider good li- cense fee to use gun within their bor- ders. They limit the amount of game he may slay in day. They set limit 1 on the amount of game he may take across the state line with him when he starts home. They do not permit him to ship pound while he is still on the ground, states the New York Sun. These laws, of course, are designed to cripple market hunters, and such a sentiment has been built up that they are enforced as rigidly as any blue law
 that Connecticut ever heard of.
 Men who pay big railway fares and l freight for camp equipment and often express charges on dogs and license 1 fees to get to Dakota lake for the au- tumn ducks snipe and prairie chickens kill more than they can possibly use in
 camp. They want to send game back | to their families and friends and they
 use a good many devices to fool the
 wardens.
 l Shipping baskets of ducks or chick ems to friend in St. Paul, who is sup l posed to run laundry, is one of the
 most transparent of the devices. It is 1 transparent for the reason that men out shooting in a camp ten miles from
 railroad are not believed to have or
 need boiled shirts and standing collars.
 When warden finds big wicker
 basket with the top fastened down and
 marked ''Laundry," he pulls out lit
 tie sharp steel instrument he carries,
 which has hook at it's end, and jabs l it into the basket. When it comes out
 it has small bit of flesh and feather
 or two clinging to it. Then the basket and contents are confiscated and sold 1 for the benefit of the state.
 1 No attempt to prosecute the men
 who shipped it is ever made. The off, cers are content with confiscation
 A good deal of game got out last sea
 son was returned beer bottles. s s-Ae
 ingenious chaps had their beer sent 1 to them in cases which had false bot toms five inches deep. Two layers of chickens or ducks might be packed | tightly into these bottoms.
 1 It was noted that great deal of ] beer was drunk and cases filled with
 empty bottles went back over the
 roads every day. The trick was finally 1 exposed by a clumsy expressrnan who
 dropped beer case and broke it and
 the birds came out on the station plat 1 form. After that the steel finder was | damned through the cracks of every
 beer case which went back to the Wis
 consin and Illinois breweries.
 Small, neatly built cases, supposed
 to contain samples of Dakota minerals
 or soils, were used for long time for
 shipping game. Every Dakotan, whether a game warden or not, is
 land boomer by nature and it went I sorely against the grain to suspect 1 these boxes which on the outside were
 meant to bring immigrants in the 1 stat teand hoist the prices ofland. For
 awhile this was a most excellent de-
 ice, but it was betrayed finally by a
 carelessly fastened lid that came off
 and displayed a beautiful layer of l plump prairie chickens just under it. | Many boxes were sent out labeled as printed matter from big land compan-
 ies. Birds were buried in sample bags
 of wheat
 l There was at least one instance of a
 coffin full of mallards and pinnated 1 grouse that went through. First-class I fare was paid for this coffin, which was
 dumped on at little out-of-the way
 station and rushed through by
 friendly express messenger. The war | dens heard of it afterward and thought
 it so funny that they made no effort
 to prosecute anybody.
 Every warden who boards train
 and goes through the express cars has l his steel finder and often he has a
 setter or pointer. The dog is set to 1 smelling the various cases. If they contain birds with plenty of paper be- tween them and the box the dog may ] pass on, but the birds must be almost
 dramatically excluded from outside air to accomplish this. The nose of l pointer or setter is hard to fool and often they will come down hard on an | innocent looking box ina rked ''Books'' or Minerals" or "Glass-Handle with
 Care" or anything which express com Y1a rine 11S17a1Jv 5oorry