The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-28
OBSERVING GAME
LAWS SLOW GROWTH
Few Still Ignore Enlightened
Conception Of Present
Day Ideas.
OLD CHANNELS FOLLOWED

1.-THE story printed In THE SUN last
| Monday OF a sport paying 800 penalty
for killing a doe deer in Cranberry Lake
one night recently Is a matter for re-
Election for those who go into the woods"
said an old hunter to SUN man yes
H., terday.
Il have fished and hunted all through
that region. / know the guide well. He
is one OF the old time Oswegatchie
guides. What fishing and hunting he
has known In that wonderful Adirondack
region! But of course guiding was bust
| ness with him, and the Joy that would
have been yours and mine he could never
have known. Notwithstanding this scrape
the guide is not a bad fellow. but he has
| chung to the earlier belief In the In
dividual ownership Of game-a belief
which held that fish and birds and ami
mails might be taken as one saw 1T,
| Ignoring the enlightened conception of
| this present day.
| II saw the same attitude displayed
only the other day in a conversation
had with Barnegat guide. He con-
sidered the Federal control of wild fowl
an oppression and showed his defiance
| by announcing that he still hunts In the
| spring-as his grandfathers did before
him.
! Here's a matter for consideration
| the cases OF this Barnegat and of the
Cranberry Lake guide. Their mental
workings are alike; they cling to old
channels which have seemed good to
them and which they still desire to fol-
low, for the course leads to some slight
financial return. risky though the pas
sage may be. They have not advanced
| with the rest Of us who shown the error
OF other ways, desire to be law abiding
! and decent.
THE sorry part OF 1t Is that alleged
sportsmen OF the type Of this man
| who killed doe deer In summer in
| Cranberry Lake. who should be travel
| ling on higher plane. are always on
| hand to stir up what my old friend
AL Olches would term 'Bolshevik' ideas
in the heads Of those OF lesser intelll-
| gence.
lacking and Hounding Years Ago.
Up to. roughly. twenty-five years
| ago we all lacked deer and bounded
| them as well. The law said thu was
| workmanship, and it was then. We
| killed deer out of season also. but only
| when way back in the woods, where
Other fresh meat was unobtainable
And wasting nothing even though deer
were very plenty ana never killing for
| sport. we felt that we were living up
to the spirit IL not the letter of the
| law
| The practice was then universal
| among backwoods campers. Sportsmen
from the ranks of the clergy, profess
| sional men. educators ard the holders OF
high public office alike Killed deer to
eat when no other substitute was within
| reach. Whenever 1t was possible to do
so yearllng buck was picked out.
I'm jao> bunting, however what
a O IN &c. a fN11 Il
glare of the bow light generally be-
| came n victim Of the cumbersome A
| and this often resulted in an orphaned
| fawn. In reality the thing was con-
doned and never knew a game
warden to interfere.
| Likewise further north until very
! recently We depended on venison when
| back in the wilderness to supply US
with the only fresh meat TO be had
| And this present day killing OF spring
venison for the table in remote coun-
try corresponds in n way with the
earlier periods in the Adirondacks which
| l have dHelt upon.
Meat In Present and Past Days.
Il dwell upon these things that men
may realize its bearing upon the view
| point Of the Adirondack and Barnegat
guides. The sportsman in the former
case had nothing extenuating back OF
him. With our current way Of re-
gard!ng game law observance he was
plain outlaw.
I'VE in other days had to kill our
/ meat or else live on salt pork and
, bacon. We needed but to row or drive
by auto TO Wanakena or Benson Mines.
four miles at most, and a meat market
was within reach. At the bottom OF
the affair was probably the high cost
OF dressed meats, and venson seemed