The sun., 1919-03-30
MOTOR CAR Is Big
HELP TO SPORTSMAN
Creates New Problems, How
ever, for the Conservationist,
Says Commissioner Pratt.


hunters and fishermen, while Of tre-
mendous advantage TO the sportsmen
themselves. Is opening up serious new
.problems for the conservationist, accord
iDg to Gedge d. Pratt, Conservation
commissioner.
In the old days, says the Commits
sioner. ID was an important outing and
big undertaking for party of hunters
to make trip into the woods where
game could be found. II entailed the
packing OF tent and other camping
.eduipment, and usually meant o stay
of a week or moro In one spot in order
TO make the extensive preparations
worth while.
Now, on the other hand, a party OF
hunters. with their guns, can climb into
an automobile before dawn, drive fifty
or sixty miles into the woods and per-
sshaps have a deer before breakfast.
Furthermore. through the medium of the
motor car. vast stretches Of the remoter
forests. which formerly acted more or
less in the capacity OF sanctuaries for
tl,e preservation Of a breeding stock OF
game. have been thrown open to the
hunter.
The number OF automobiles now used
by sportsmen can only be appreciated
by one who has counted the cars on one
cf the main highways leading into some
such famous hunting ground as the
Ad,rondack Mountains.
IN the open season constant stream
passes along such highways filled with
fnen whose costume IL unmistaka bly,
ahat OF the hunter. Were we to follow
These cars on their way we should find
ahem stopping at favorite hunting
grounds, sometimes being halted at the
cabin OF guide sometimes merely
drawn UP along the roadside at the edge
bf the wood. And there they silently
ttand. perhaps covered by q soft mantle
bf snow, while the hunters are enjoying
themselves away back in the forest.
When the trip Is over or the hunting
Foason ends. back come the automobiles
with their happy crews, often carrying
y handsome buck strapped TO the run
hing board.
II is not only the privileged hunter Of
big game who makes use of the auto
mobile for sport: the rabbit hunter or
fhe partridge hunter, equally with the
sseer hunter, now relies upon his car
40 carry him TO the hunting ground. In
this way the automobile Is innocently re-
Fponsible for the killing of more game
Than was ever possible before its ad-
~cnt.
In those DAYS the hunter and his dog
would tramp from the village IN the
morning and would tramp back at night
r-iihout having covered more than ten
r. twelve miles OF territory. Nowadays
half a dozen village sportsmen and their
DIGS will get aboard the faithful ''bus''
and whizz away to a distant cover where
cartridges are known to abound. In a
cc,nparatively short time they can
draw" this cover and be back again
rts the car ready TO be carried another
ten or twenty miles. II necessary. to
fresh fields OF promise.
In tust the same way the fisherman
c'n enjoy his sport throughout a much
wider area as n result OF the assistance
l's gets from his automobile. In the old
days at best he would drive to some
farmhouse upon the bank OF his favorite
stream, where he would tie his horse
n the barn and go forth TO spend the
balance Of the day wading through well
iuown pools and rapids.
But now he can go three times as
Ear II he wishes before he even starts
~ ash, and then. II results are not What
IL thinks they might be elsewhere he
fas merely to start up his car, which
has been patiently waiting by the road
de, and be Off to whip another stream,
perhaps at the opposite end OF the
county.
Then there is the illegal hunter or
Hiitul violator or the game laws VINO
uSes the automobile either as an aces
sorry or to help him escape the punish
mont Of the law. The lacking OF deer
rpon highways at night by means OF au-
tomobile headlights has come to be a
very serious question where deer
7aound, according TO Commissioner
Pratt.
II, In forested regions. a deer hap
rens to be crossing the road as an au-
tomoble approaches, he becomes daz-
zled by the light and stands motionless
In KAs tracks In spite of the fact that
both lacking deer and shooting on high
ways are contrary to law, there is many
a game hog who will slaughter the mo-
tionless deer with the gun which he has
hidden in his car for that very purpose
Rnd will use the car itself to spirit away
the body OF his victim.