Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1921-07-21

let us be good sports"-which is to say let US
pe sportsmen and live up to sportsman's ideals!
AND what is a sportsman? 1t is easy to say this:
Inc sportsman is the gentleman of the out-of-
DOORS But that does not comprehensively de
me the sportsman because it is still more diff
cult to define the gentleman
anyway, whatever else he may be, the sports
man is the man who plays fair-with nature with
wild animal life, with his companions with him
self. He never wantonly defaces the fair face of
nature He never pollutes stream lake. He
never cuts down tree that he does not need.
He buries or burns his camp rubbish He cleans
up his camping place. And he is very sure that he
sets forest fire.
The sportsman plays fair with wild animal life.
He will not hunt out of season. He will not kill
a female deer elk. He will not shoot a bird
except when flying. In angling he uses light
tackle to give the fish fair chance He will
use the fly rather than the worm for trout He
will put back the small trout-and handle it with
wet hand. He will use the single hook rather
than the gang hooks. He never takes from for
est, field, lake and stream more than he can use.
And always he obeys the local game laws.
The sportsman is delight in camp and on the
trail. He takes pride in keeping up his end in
doing his full share efficiently, willingly and
cheerfully. In emergencies he is volunteer
He helps the tenderfoot. Poor luck cannot ruffle
his temper or spoil his outing. He gets fun out
of trouble and take a joke on himself. He
is good loser; he grins and bears 1t when defeat
is his He is a good winner-which Is harder
and his aurels modestly
And the sportsman plays fair with himself.
which is perhaps the hardest thing of all He
is not too proud to learn from his betters IF he
catches fish with silver SPOON" he owns nm
to it. He does not blame his own mistakes ON
others or on his tackle He does not exhibit his
musky trophy and tell Of his skill while all the
while his inner self is saying: you know per
fectly we'll the guide rugged your rod and tackle
padded you to the place. showed you the exoct
tn caSt hou TO-
netted it and landed it," In short possibly rho
browning ideal Of true craftsmanship is linda
pendent achievement in sport woodcraft
Speaking of muskellunge, please recall those
immortal lines in Sir Izaak Walton's "Compleat
Angler:
"We may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said
of strawberries, Doubtless God could have made
better berry, but doubtless God never did, and
so, If might be judge, God never did make a
more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than
angling"
Possibly DR.. Boteler was right about straw
berries. And probably Sir Izaak was right about
the innocence of angling, in spite of fish yarns"
which do most amazingly smack of rank perjury.
But when the model and pattern of all good
anglers doth speak of angling as calm" and
"quiet" here is one disciple who rises up to say
that Sir Izaak is "Compleat Angler'-and II
this be treason, make the most Of 1t!
For he rises to inquire: How can anyone use
the words "calm" and "quet" in connection with
thirty-pound musky? And how can any angler
be "compeat' who has not been fast to this "tiger
Of the inland seas'2
Calm Quiet! Oh, would that Sir Izaak were
back on earth. This is what would happen to
him. He'd be taken to certain lake and given
handmade split-bamboo casting rod with null
tipying reel, braided silk line and spoon hook
with pork rind. Along toward evening he'd be
rowed past certain rushy point where the pick
erel weed and lilies grow, and there is deep
water on either side. And with good luck Sir
Izaak would thereupon find himself fast to