Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-01-12
REPLY TO NIMR0D.
@. N. johnson, of Merrill, Sets Forth
His Idea in Regard 10 Killing Deer.

EDITOR PILoT:
/ | have no desire to enter into a news
paper controversy with "Nimrod" over
the present game laws, but as it is a
subject of considerable Importance to
the people of Northern Wisconsin in
particular, the discussion OF amending
the present game laws affecting the
killing of deer will tend to crystalize
public opinion and so be of some value
to the legislators of the state
in former article, recently pub
lished, / suggested that the laws relat-
ing to the killing of deer be amended,
so that only bucks could be killed, and
only one buck to each hunter. | also
suggested that the long-range rifle. be
excluded, if possible. Incidentally, J.
said that at present, hunting wasa very
dangerous pastime, owing partly to
The long-range gun and partly to the
proneness of hunters to shoot at every
moving object they see. shall have
no quarrel with "Nimrod" as to my
ignorance of the subject of hunting,
being willing to leave that to the read
er to Judge fer himself.
Though "Nimrod" does not say SO in
so many words, the tone of his article
conveys the idea that he is opposed TO
the principle of one deer, and that a
buck, TO each hunter. Why true
| sportsman should object to cutting
down the amount of game to each
hunter, where it is plainly evident that
that particular kind of game is fast be-
coming extinct, | cannot see. TO my
mind, one deer is plenty. L do not see
why real sportsman should want
more. Ignorant as / may be of hunters
and game, / have never met true
sportsman but who was perfectly salts
| fed to get one deer. And most hunters
real sportsmen-that | have any ac-
quaintance with, prefer that deer to be
"a buck. Real sportsmen go into the
woods more to secure the antlers of a
buck than for the purposes of stocking
up their larder with deer meat ! can
conceive of farmer with large fam
lily, struggling to make farm in North
ern Wisconsin, with no cattle to kill
and but scant means 10 provide meat
for his family, would desire to be able
to lay in supply of meat from two or
more deer, but real sportsman never.
Or in other words, the man who needs
meat for his family and has no other
means TO provide it but hunt it in the
woods, the more he would be allowed
to kill, the better for him and bis family
If l was a game warden and l knew
that ''Nimrod' needed meat for his
family and had no means other than to
secure it in the woods, | would wink at
his violations of the law rather than to
see his family go hungry. But | take
"Nimrod" at his word. that he is a
sportsman, and in my judgment all ha
should be allowed to kill in season is
one deer and that buck. If 'Nimrod"
got one deer year he would then get
more than his share, as there is not
deer enough in Northern Wisconsin to
give every head of family only one
deer. This being the case, and though
others may think different, think one
deer to each hunter enough and
plenty.
"Nimrod' says the law limiting the
killing of deer to bucks only, cannot be
enforced. Tc my mind that seems the
easiest AS said in my former article,
the possession of doe would be prima
facie evidence that the hunter had vio-
lated the law. The trouble now with
the enforcement of the game laws is to
secure the evidence that will convict
the violators. AS "Nimrod'' says, deer
| is being hunted with dogs, killed at
'licksn and hunted in the night time
with artificial light, all in violation of
law, because of the difficulty in secur-
ing the necessary evidence to convict
Not so with the provision for killing
only bucks, for reasons already stated,
and which are obvious. The hardships
of the hunter mentioned by "Nimrod"
is hardly germane to the question.
| Sportsmen 60 out for game and must,
perforce, hunt. Whether the sportsman
chooses TO follow the deer on the trail
or stand on runway is matter of choice
with him: but "Nimrod'' TO the con-
trary, Notwithstanding the real sports
man does not, or should not, shoot un
til he was sure of the object he was
shooting at was deer Then, of course,
blaze away.
| | admire the nerve of "Nimrod" when
he says that accidents during the deer
| hunting season "are rare, nearly all
the hunting accidents being caused
from the careless and ignorant handling
of fire arms" The hunting season opens
Sept. LIST and by Oct 1st, as the Official
records of the county clerks in Northern
Wisconsin will show, 95 per cent of
hunting licenses are taken out. Pre-
sumably all those who have, by the first
of October, provided themselves W th
bunting licenses, hunt during October
and the first part of November, but it Is
not Till the deer season opens when the
slaughter and manning of human beings
begins. This fact is so we'll known that
it is hardly necessary to call attention
to it, If this annual slaughter and
msjming of human beings is, as MIN
rod" asserts, wholly due To carelessness,
more the reasons for placing further
restrictions uponthe careless Illwager
that if a ninety-day Jail sentence stared
in the face the hunter found with doe
iu his possession, that hunting accidents
would not be any greater during the