River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1922-06-01
Out-Of-Doors
BY wisco

Tresspassing;; how these jar upon
the sensibilities of the sportsman.
The honest nimrod or angler feels
that he is being robbed of privileges
which are by all rights his own.
Sometimes these restrictions are
result of pure selfishness or the part
of the land owner In other instances
the landlord has been gOaded to take
such action by acts of vandalism on
the part of self-styled "sportsmen
short time ago | heard sports
man give his experience in an in
stance OF this kind which is well
worth repeating. He said: Three
OF us were hunting grouse in the
northern part of wisconsin few
years ago and stopped one day beside
row OF trees which fringed stub
BILE field The field looked INVITING,
so letting the dogs out, we covered
it but without success. On return
ing to the car we found young
woman with her husband looking at
our car. With tears in eyes and
catch in her voice, she told US that
three hunters in large. car had
driven by a few minutes earlier and
deliberately shot her ten little tur-
keys, thrown them into the car and
driven of in a cloud of dust. She
said that she had been raising the
turkeys with the expectation of hay
ing the money to buy Christmas
presents Can anyone find 1t in his
heart to blame this little woman If
she saw fit to post her fields? Acts
like this have in measure been
responsible in the past for the cur
tailment of hunting and fishing priv
ileges on private property.
1T is an encouraging fact that in
stances of the kind just mentioned
have been becoming less frequent
during the past few years. This is
due to the fact that sportsmen's or
ganizations have become more numer-
Gus, with resultant elevation of
the ideals of the individual Vandal-
ism has become an exceedingly I'M
popular pastime. The farmer or land
owner is human being and subject
to the same stimuli as is any otner
individual Pinch him and he will
feel the pain and resent it; tickle
him and he will laugh and enjoy it.
He appreciates decent treatment the
same as you and /, and, by the same
token, he is antagonized by unkind
words and destructive acts. Just as
drop of ink will blacken quart
of pure water, so will acts of van
dalism, committed by few reckless
and irresponsible rough necks, ruin
the enjoyment of hundreds of jnno-
cent and law abiding seekers after
out door pleasures.
Above all, the sportsman worthy
of the name is gentleman. and the
first qualification thereof is due con-
sheraton for the property and feel
ings of others. Just as it is i'm
possible to make a silk purse out of
a sow's ear" so is it without the
realms of possibilities to make
gentleman out of the individual from
whose make up the finer sensibilities
have been omitted
Some acts of seeming disregard for
the rights Of others are mere acts of
thoughtlessness, as, for instance, the
leaving of "a gate Enclosed, or the
strewing of waste paper and other
refuse on the ground. If we would Z
be more careful of our acts and con-
slider their effects upon others there
would be less antagonism to the
sportsman and fewer posted fields
Every OCT doors man should re-
solve that never would he fail to
close "a gate which he has opened;
that he would always leave his camp
ing spot as clean as when he found
it; that he would never build a fire
on growing grass in pasture land
nor where it could in any possibility
do harm; that he would never fail
to extinguish his fire before leaving
it; that he would never walk across
or injure growing grain: that he
would never climb over wire fences
where there was the least possibility
of injuring them; that when in doubt,
he would ask permission of the owner
before attempting to hunt upon or
otherwise trespass upon the property
Of another.
General Prizes