Water Poachers. 193 



this fashion. Of course, poaching with click- 

 hooks requires to be done in the light, or by 

 the aid of an artificial one. Lights attract salmon 

 and trout just as they attract birds, and tar 

 brands are frequently used by poachers. Shoot- 

 ing is sometimes resorted to, but for this class 

 of poaching the habits and beats of the water 

 bailiffs require to be accurately known. The 

 method has the advantage of being quick, and 

 a gun in skilful hands and at a short distance 

 may be used without injuring the fleshy parts of 

 the body. That deadly bait, salmon roe, is now 

 rarely used, the method of preparing it having 

 evidently gone out with the old-fashioned poachers, 

 who used it with such deadly effect. 



The capture of either poachers or their nets is 

 often difficult to accomplish. The former wind 

 their sinuous way, snake-like, through the wet 

 meadows in approaching the rivers, and their 

 nets are rarely kept at home. These they 

 secrete about farm buildings, in dry ditches, or 

 among the bushes in close proximity to their 

 poaching grounds. Were they kept at home the 

 obtaining of a search warrant by the police or local 

 angling association would always render their 

 custody a critical one. They are sometimes 

 kept in the poachers' houses, though only for a 

 short period when about to be used. At this 

 time the police have found them secreted in the 

 chimney, between the bed and the mattress, or 



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