New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-27

Bangor Me Sept IS (SpeciaD.-Maine's big game
season will open on Thursday. october ]. from
which date December Is II will Re ia~tul 10
shoot deer the moose season opening on october 10
and continuing 10 December I. There Is. ACCORDING
20 all reports a great plenty Of game deer ana
moose being numerous in all of their accus'oHieu
haunts. while II is asserted by e. e. Garland OF
Debsconeag camps that the caribou lons absent
from this State. have begun TO return ne hdVihe
seen several of these animals near katahdin iast
week
While there is no question concerning the sum
cheney of the game supply, there is c0nsideraoie
anxiety to whether OF not the usual numoer Oh
visiting sportsrnen will come this year TO SHOOT IL
being feared by many that the new law imposing
a license fee OF SIS upon each NONRESIDENT hunter
will have a tendency to keep away many VINO nave
been coming to- Maine for years and spending large
sums Of money in the State.
The law passed for the purpose Ct IdIsiis
money wherewith to support larger number OF
game wardens and to reimburse FARMERS ior 'iS
destruction of their crops by deer Inc leSiSh''.'
anpropriates s25 600 annually for the propagation
and protection of game fishes and the protecuoh
of game animals and birds. About $4,000 OF ths
is expended in the propagation OF hsLes' 80 INC.
an altogether inadequate sum remains iOl '
protection Of game; and as the leglsa'uIt Vii'''o
be Induced to appropriate more than $-9Vc' IN an,
the Commissioners ~ Fish and Game advoc''eu
the massage Of the license law as a means OF Sc
curing the funds needed TO save the Dig game HUM
determination -. .bo
,ax and declare that they will keep away iT0ih
Natre in future while many Maine people REGARD
the law as unwise 10 not urjust Tor rear 'hi' u
will keep away many of the most prOH'do'0
ors The supporters of the law say thlt as 'e
naopIe Of Maine own the game and pay lor l'S
protection the visiting sportsman should DE- "iile
40 nav for the privilege Of shooting It, especfiHy
as they would have 10 pay a Eigher price -o'
poorer privilege in other States ana IN O'"eO'''
Thus the arguments go, and tie contehdlts Id'
lions anxiously await the result Oh 'hi'' ''' ''
season under the new law ,
white men have been killing moose and deer IN
Maine ever since the days when DE Mohts. C"'''
plafn and Weymouth travelled along the coast anu
up the mighty Penobseot, Tor moose anu -.
steaks tasted well the early settler win MS
Indtan corn and later helped out greatly in the
fresh meat supply of the lumber camps WINE u
this day there Is many family In the lonesome
borderland between the forest and civilization
which would often go hungry but for the Dig game
that can be shot at their cabin doors
II was not until the railroads began to pierce the
forests of Northern Maine. however. that men De
gan to go in any considerable numbers to shoot tne
big game merely as sport. few ardent hunts
men from other States braved the hardshlps ana
fatlgues of journey into the woods in ante-rah-
road lays travelling foot. by tote teams or IN
canoes I'D the West Branch of the PenObscOt 10
Moosehead or ChesuncoOk Lake, and a few OF the
natives when the taste for ventsOn or the whim 10
shoot something came upon them. would in those
dave 40 out and knock over a deer. Then. when
the railroads were built from Bangor to Moosehead
Lake, and in the western part of the state 10 the
RangeIeys more sportsmen came from far away.
But the fame of Maine a big game country rests
chiefly upon the remarkable record OF deer and
moose killing that been established since lSSf
when that vast stretch Of forest extending from
the Penobscot to the ST John was penetrated by
the Bangor and ArOOstOOk Railroad, and the way
thus made easy for the sportsman into regions be-
fore that time inaccessible. where deer are almost
az many al the spruce trees Up 10 the time the
railroad was opened for travel no one thought 1t
worth while to keep account Of the number OF
moose and deer brought down 10 Bangor by sports
men on their way West. and the record. had 1t
been kept would have been very imposing.
But look at these statistics. showing the amount
of game transported the railroad in the last
nine years: