The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
WARY NORTH WOODS DEER
SHY, nut NOT DECREASING IN
NUMBERS, SAY EXPERTS.


~ NN'' ''N'
at the limit Of " Deer TO a Man
The Passing OF the Unpopular Elk
PAUL SMITHS, July O.-Folks in these
parts who make IL their business to know
what is happening in the wilderness say
that there are plenty Of deer h~ereabouts,
but that they are a little less reckless than
they were two or three years ago, when Paul
Smith complained that they ravaged his
garden. Paul has n ten loot barbed wire
fence about the wilderness end OF his garden,
but that is to guard against elk rather
than deer. The neighbors say that he
need hardly trouble himself to fence out
the elk, as none has recently been seen in
these parts.
The elk were not a popular addition to
the Adirondack. The great beasts are
ravenous creatures, and protected by an
absolute prohibition against shooting
them, they fattened upon the thin oats
fields and the little gardens OF the few
mountain farmers The result was that
law or no law, the elk were slain.
The elk kept about here three or four
years ago. One big fellow had his range
in a bit Of deep forest on the edge OF Osgood
Lake, not more h a mile from the golf
links, and was occasionally seen drinking
at the lake or cooling himself in it's pleasant
waters, but he has utterly disappeared.
There are still some elk about Rainbow
Lake, a few miles from here, and others
in the parts Of the wilderness where there
are no cultivated crops to suffer.
osgood lake is the gateway TO a good
hunting country, but deer are not az often
"a formerly seen in the open on the shores
of the lake, because n big summer camp
has been built right on the edge OF the
forest within a few hundred yards OF a
point where deer were frequently seen
drinking at early morning. The lake, too,
is more f~reduented h II was a few years
ago, and the going and coming Of picnickers
tends to make its waters unattractive to
the deer. Three years z a deer landed
on an inhabited island in Osgood in broad
daylight and marched from end TO end Of
the place in sight Of half a dozen persons.
Only the interference of "a woman saved the
life OF the creature. He was permitted to
take to the lake and make his escape to
the deep woods, wk4e two or three guides
looked on half broken hearted.
Even on the civilized side OF Osgood deer
we're often seen morning and evening n
few years ago. Now they have Withdrawn
0sgood River and Jones Creek, the latter
the chief inlet of the lake. On either side
of the Osgood and in the considerable
stretchof country living between that stream
and. Jones Creek are hundreds Of acres Of
damp, quaking plains chad in moss, blue
berry bushes and Labrador tea, and pro-
ducing pitcher plants and other water loving
vegetation. There are upland ridges ira
versing these plains, some of them clad in
small forest. others merely fringed with
~shrubbery.
Whoever penetrates this bit Of the wilder
mesa is like to ace deer either at early morn
ing or shortly after sunset. The river and
the creek have large areas Of lily beds,
through which in a few weeks, when the
leaves will have grown denser, IL will be
hard work to force a boat. The lily pads
are now young and tender and are the
f~avorlte food OF the deer. These pastures
are the opportunity Of the night hunter
Almost any night in spring and summer
that one chooses to paddle up or down
these streams With n dark lantern one will
come upon deer at feed. II the visitor with
a dark lantern does not carry a gun he is
likely to come upon not one, but many
deer in succession.
II deer are decreasing in this part If the
Adirondack, and some experts believe
on the contrary that they are increasing, II
is not to be set down 20 much To the slaugh-
ter in the hunting sea son ms To local hostility
TO the game laws. The attitude OF the local
mind upon tho subject NJ illegal deer killing
il bv no means n simple matter. Very few
Adironda ckers approve of reckless and
/ llF lllhN ~ '
nine natives out Of ten who cnn shoot
straight believe that they are justified in
stockingtheir larder withdeer meat NJ almost
almost any time of year. The guides have
a direct personal interest In the preservation
Of the deer, but very few Of them wish to
see the game laws strictly enforced.
The guides refuse 10 kill does in the breed
ing season and most would rather not kin
the Young bucks, but at ordinary times
any kind Of deer il fair game. II Ia well
known that the Law is systematically dis
regarded, and any keen hunter can End n
guide to take him night hunting from the
middle Of june onward through the sum
mer. II you find men in rough camp on the
Osgood at this time Of year the chances
areJ that they have venison in their pos
session.
alter in the season. when II becomes
lawful to shoot deer. there are few guides
who will refuse to serve an employer after
he has shot the two deer to which the law
restricts him The guides know the cost
Of deer hunting, Their own wages are
never less than 81 a day, and mny I've "a
high AZ Is, with p%erouisitcs OF one kind or
another When a man has laid out q couple
Of hundred dollars In apparatus and sup
plies for hunting, the guide to whom he Is
paying from S. to 81 n dav thinks IL n hard
law that makes the hunters deer cost him
500 apiece. ONLY a bitter quarrel would
ployer who had violated the law, and such
a guide would hardly have the support Of
his professional brethren
Az to the men who are charged with the
enforcement of the game laws. some OF them
are reti ed guides who have cen accus-
toned all their lives to violating those
same laws. Change Of occupation does not
always mean change of heart. and the
game constable who has been a guide is
ant TO retain the conventions OF his old
trade The constables haunt the streams
"a the summer waves on the lookout for
night hunters. AMI the watch ia especially
strict lust before the season for legal hunt
ing begins The game constables are also
pretty keen upon those who attenpt to take
venison out Of 'he region bv rail during the
closed season, hut n constable hates to de
tect an old acquaintance in a violation
OF the law In a thinly peopled country,
where everybody knows everybody else.
the law cannot I've enforced with that i'm
personal se' Gritty and regularity seen in
the administration ~ n great citv.
The increase Of summer hotels and sum
NOR camps has driven the deer from the
edges Of civil, alton. but has probably not
lessened the number at large In the woods.
Indeed. nv making the deer imid II has in
creased the difficulty 81 killing them