Major J. Warren Pond, Chief Game Protector:

My Dear Sir-In accordance with your request I have the honor to submit a special report for the year ending September 30, 1894.

The number of arrests made during the year was 18-12 violations of section 70 and 6 for violations of section 78. Duck shooting, from steam launches, is carried on to a considerable extent in some parts of my district, especially on Long Island Sound, and to undertake to apprehend this class of gunners with any degree of success it is absolutely necessary for me to hire a steam launch or tug. The expense, however, is large and quickly exhausts the amount allowed me monthly for traveling expenses. It seems to me that provisions should be made to reimburse the protectors for actual and necessary expenses incurred in such emergencies.

Nearly all the violations committed in Richmond County is the work of foreigners-principally Italians-as you have no doubt observed from my monthly reports. To shoot and to trap songbirds seems to me to be the height of their ambition, and, when caught and convicted, invariably have to be committed to jail.

The game laws, as a whole, have been generally observed in the First District.

Respectfully yours,

Robert Brown, Protector, First District

Game Protectors had only been in existence 14 years when Protector Robert Brown submitted his Special Report of Protectors to Major Pond. On June 26, 1880, Chapter 591 of the Laws of 1880 had been signed into law authorizing the Governor of New York to appoint eight persons to be known as game and fish protectors. Their duty would be to enforce statutes established for the preservation of moose, wild deer, birds and fish, and any other game laws, and to bring actions in the name of the people of the state to recover penalties to punish any parties for violating these statutes.

The protectors were to hold office for three years. They were given the power to arrest without warrant, and to seize nets and pounds. The officers were given travelling expenses not to exceed $250 annually, and were paid a yearly salary of $500. A total budget of $6,000 was appropriated to implement the act.

On July 1, 1880, Governor Alonzo B. Cornell appointed the eight protectors. They were assigned to work for the Governor and to report to the Senate. Apparently, the formation of a protector force was a sensitive issue, and the state wanted a degree of control and accountability. In spite of the fact that the natural resources of the state were dwindling, the widely accepted opinion that the taking of fish and game was a freedom to be enjoyed in an unregulated manner by the people was going to be a difficult one to change. Indeed, the work of the early protectors was resented by many.

"I feel that one or two years vigorous work...by the game protectors is worth more for the general protection of game than a dozen years of mild, half-way work. These [people] want to be driven up sharp enough that they will understand it means reform and not a running fight between them and the officers." So stated Protector William P. Dodge of Prospect, New York in his annual report. He also reports of the public's reluctance to cooperate with the protector force for fear of being labeled as spies or informers. Additionally, protectors were not often welcomed with open arms. Instances were reported where hotel keepers at prominent fishing resorts would charge a protector who had responded to their call the highest rates for board and boat rental. Protectors often had to make their own shelter and look to their own pack baskets when in areas where public sentiment favored the poachers. In one lake where the state had stocked two million salmon eggs, a protector was unable to obtain the use of any of the eight yachts owned by residents along the lake in order to remove illegal nets these same residents had complained about. The illegal fishermen, however, were given use of these vessels, the excuse being that the residents feared the poachers' wrath if it was thought that they sided with the protectors. Even the commissioners of the state were reluctant to expand the protector force. They felt that the state had done all that it could reasonably be asked to do. Nevertheless, by 1883 the protector force was increased to 16 men.

The protectors were given specific instruction concerning their conduct. They were expected to devote their principal time to public service without allowing any other avocation or occupation to interfere with the performance of their duty. A Commissioner was assigned to oversee and manage the activities of the protectors.

In his annual report to the senate in 1883, the Commissioner stated that more had been done in the past three months in securing the observance of game laws than had ever been done in the state before. More than twenty indictments had been made for hunting deer out of season and a large number of violations had been documented for minor offenses.

Slowly, the job of the Game Protector began to gain respect. Indeed, it was not long before it was a coveted position, often given as a political patronage appointment. By 1898, the situation drew the attention of Governor Theodore Roosevelt who stated publicly that he wanted protectors appointed who were proficient with gun and rod, who could live comfortably in the woods, and were intimate with the wilderness. This sentiment, and the evolution of the Game Protectors into a uniformed force by the turn of the century, helped to professionalize the occupation. The stories and legends began to be told as well. Continued.......