The New York herald., 1921-04-06
Deer Hunting Laws.
Seven Changes Suggested by Long
Experience i'm the Adirondaeks.

To THE New YoRK HERALD: Having
had considerable experience In the Adj
rondacks for the last eighteen years, l
would like to make few remarks on
the subject of unlawful deer killing.
This killing is IN nearly all cases done
by old residents OF the woods TO save
meat bills and To Introduce a little va
dety in their diet. They know that the
neat is poor in spring Ard early sum-
raer. and also that nur ing doe is al
why's In poor flesh. For this reason,
when hunting for meat, fat young deer
without fawns. preferably young bucks.
are chosen. and consequently very few
fasgs starve because theic mothers find
therNway to the soup pot. it's a bad
practse. i admit. and morally wrong,
but teel certain that few deer are de-
stroyedlin this way in comparison with
the great numbers killed each hunting
season,
/ also know that II is practically inn
possible br the game wcrdens to stop
this killlnA It Is done by old residents,
in out of,tfe way regions Of the woods.
For the Preservation OF our deer ] be-
lieve 1t viii pc necessary to have game
laws very diTerent from those now In
force. l think that II the following
suggestions ware Incorporated into our
laws they wouN go long way toward
accomplishing the desired result:
First-There should be a clored sea-
son for at least dne year
Second-Futurel open seasons should
be Of only two weeks Duration. and
should be the last two weeks of october.
thus doing away with election day hunt
ing parties and also with hurting on
the snow, which frequently rails in No
vember.
Third-Hunting license fees should be
increased to So. and each license should
have a detachable tag with correspond
ing numbers. which would have to be
attached to any deer .r part thereof
before the game would be- accepted for
shipment by any railroad, the License
itself to be displayed to the carrier at
time OF shipment. A penalty should
then be provided for applying for more
than one license in a year.
sI'ourth-Driving deer should be pro-
hibited. We stopped the use Of hounds
for this purpose years ago. but now 1t
is customary in some places to hire men
to act as dogs These iner circle
through the forest and by shouting and
pounding trees with sticks, &C.. drive
deer before them along rrnways or old
roads on which hunters are stationed.
Many deer are Killed ana wounded this
way.
F'ifth-The use OF automatic rifles
should be prohibited. Because these
rifles can be fired very rapidly hunters
are encouraged to take chance shots
which otherwise they would not take.
Thus deer are often wounded, cnly TO
die miserably later. wh,lc the hunter
goes on and gets another one. Thus
two are killed to get one. There are
some men who would take machine
gun into the woods to hunt deer If II
was not too heavy.
Sixth-The penalties fer illegally talk
ing deer should be made much heavier
than ct present. II n man faced fine
OF $1,000 for illegally taking deer he
culd think twice before he broke the
game law.
Seventh--Finally. would like to see
a law passed providing a ten year jail
term for any one killing man in mis-
take for a deer. Any man who is so
careless or exctable that he shoots at
the first thing that moves in the woods
would be safer in jail than in the Adj
rondacks with a gun
Practical oNSERvArroNIsT.
New York, April s.