IU 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



squirrels, although we have no authentic information that he 

 ever shot a squirrel or anything else. Being a New Yorker, 

 he ought to know a " yaller dog " when he sees it ; hut evi- 

 dently everything is transformed and changed when seen by 

 him in the unaccustomed light of the forests. The dog ad- 

 venture is confidentially told to a friend in this office, as fol- 

 lows: 



This morning before daylight I went out after gray squir- 

 rels. Arter a little while I louutl myself in a magnificent 

 piece of overhaugiug woods, with a narrow wagon track 

 stretching away ahead for one hundred yards. Game was the 

 very last thing in my mind, for I was revolving over the con- 

 tents of a business letter to be written to the city ; when 

 casually glancing up along the wagon track I noticed a yel- 

 low dog about fifty yards distant, trotting leisurely along to- 

 ward me. I paid no attention to him, and in a moment was 

 oblivious again. When I raised my eyes a second time the 

 yellow dog was within twenty-fivo br thirty yards of me. I 

 raised my gun quickly, but the beast had seen me this time, 

 and a bushy tail disappeared in the underbrush like a flash of 

 lightning. That yellow dog was the biggest kind of a red 

 fox, and when I realized the fact that 1 let him go, I went 

 home and begged the farmer's sons to tie me to the barn door 

 and kick me. 



Messes. William Read & Sons.— This is the name of one 

 of the oldest firms engaged in the gun business in the United 

 StateB. Through many long years Messrs. Read & Sons have 

 kept up the reputation of their house by the reliability of their 

 goods. Fine arms being above all things something, where 

 the word of a dealer has to be taken as a guarantee, Messrs. 

 Read & Sons have been enabled by their honest dealings to 

 secure the confidence of their numerous patrons. A specially 

 of theirs is the sale of the well-known guns made by W. and 

 C. Scott & Son. These breech-loaders have a well-merited 

 reputation for strong shooting powers, tine finish, tight fitting 

 in the action and locking parts, and for their perfection of 

 proportion. Captain Bogardus had a Seott & Son gun in 

 constant use, and iu performing his feat of breaking 5,000 

 balls his Scott & Son gun had been previously shot over 

 80,000 times. This same gun has been, up to date, shot 

 65,000 times, being precisely the same arm with which Cap- 

 tain Bogardus beat Pennell, Shelly and Coventry, this year In 

 England. With the fullest lines of these guns, all sizes and 

 grades can be hid, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 20's. Every gun is 

 warranted. In addition to high-priced guns Messrs. Head & 

 Sons have a new grade of $ 50 guu, with top-snap action, al- 

 lowing the sportsman to own an arm of real worth, which 

 costs but little. Knowing as we do the worth of this house 

 and the high position they occupy, we take great pleasure in 

 indorsing their claims on the attention of the Bporting public. 

 See their very full advertisement in this week's paper, where 

 all particulars are giveu. 



Da. Oabvkr on the Pbaikies. — Just before the State 

 Fair at St. Paul and Minneapolis about the first September, 

 our excellent friend, S. B. Dilley, Esq., of Lake City, who 

 recently made our oditor-in-chief his guest, took Dr. W. P. 

 Carver, the celebrated rifle shot, out on the prairie near town 

 and let him shoot over his famous dogs Ranger, Royal, Fan, 

 and Queen. They hunted over three townships, and' brought 

 home an immense bag of chickens. Those sportsmen who 

 have been curious to learn whether Dr. Carver is a good field 

 sportsman will be pleased to learn that he killed 68 chickens 

 straight, never missing a point. 



Wild Kice. — Attention is called to the advertisement of 

 Wild Rice. This much sought for article may now be pro- 

 cured in limited supply. Kemember that the early bird 

 catches the worm. Mr. Richard Valentine, of Janesville, 

 Wis., also has a supply cf Wild Rice seed. 



Dobs Chilled Shot Affect Choke Bobes?— Mr. Ira A. 

 Paine assures us that a few days ago he had his Parker Bro.'s 

 breech-loader tested to see what effect chilled shot might have 

 had on his piece. During the last two years Mr. Paine has 

 used this same gun at all exhibitions, having fired it certainly 

 over 35,000 times. On examining the barrels, which proved 

 to be full choke, Mr. JSason, of Luwiston, Maine, having criti- 

 cally measured the barrels, he declared that they were per- 

 fectly intact. This speaks well for both the gun and the 

 chilled shot. As numerous questions have been put to Mr. 

 Pavneand to ourselves on this question, we should think that 

 this matter of chilled shot not affecting barrels would be now 

 forever settled. 



Rtjst. — We are glad to know that sportsmen everywhere, 

 East, West and South, are appreciating the merits of "Eaton's 

 Rust Preventer." Like all the other productions of our friend 

 Jacobstafi, it proves the experience of a thoroughly practical 

 sportsman. We congratulate him on his success with that, 

 as well as his recent election as President of the N. J. State 

 Sportsmen's Association. A good man in the right place. 



Movements of Sportsmen. — Jerome Marble, Esq., of Wor- 

 cester, has just started for the Northern Pacific R. R., for the 

 shooting season. He will go by the St. Paul and Pacific R. 

 R. to Sauk Falls. 



Lioht Charges. — Editor Forest and stream: I agree with 

 " E. R." in regard to his charges for field shooting, for snipe, 

 quail, woodcock, etc., my charge would be only 3 drachms 

 powder and 1 oz. shot. I have shot alongside of gentlemen 

 who used from ih to 5 drachms powder and 1^ oz, shot at 

 these birds ; but 1 csuld see no use in such large charges, 

 necessitating as it does the carrying of much heavier guns 

 and more weight of ammunition, besides tearing birds to 

 shreds if shot near by, and, if in making a snapshot one's gun 

 gets on his arm instead of his shoulder, and he is not heavily 

 clothed, he feels " in his bones" he has too big a load. But 

 for pigeon shooting I should by all means use a 10-eauge gun 

 and 1£ oz. shot. The light gun— small charges used by " E. 

 ii." in this particular shoot— showed better shooting done by 

 Mm, as his charge probably covered a smaller circle than that 

 of any of the otherB. My article referred principally to the 

 use of heavy guns for wild fowl shooting in late October and 

 November, when canvas-becks and red-heads are wild, strong 

 and heavily feathered, requiring a hard knock to bring them 

 down. And when 1^- oz. shot, No. 2 or 3, seems a small 

 charge wheu thrown at a swift flyer 50 or 60 yards away, then 

 one wants the best charge of powder, the one that will throw 

 his charge of shot the closest, most regular and strongest. 

 And 1 contend that 4 oz. 2 gr. is the best charge. " Fusil " 

 hits my "theory," as he calls it, a dig when he advises me to 

 put 6, or even 0^, drachms of powder in my gun and shoot it, 

 and see if I don't feel that it burns inside of the barrels. I 

 confess that for some time I could see no good reason why 

 6 drachms of powder should exert go much more force against 



my shoulder and not increase the force of shot against a tar- 

 get; yet this has been my experience: I have shot 6 drachms 

 of powder and could get no more penetration than with 4 

 but could get some 400 or 500 per cent, (f had nn acorn-ate 

 method of comparison) more recoil. My " Ureorj ' is this j 

 that the extra amount of powder, the amount that 1 i hink wil\ 

 not burn inside of the barrel, aots as so much sand might 

 causing friction, packing, and retarding the force of the shot 

 and increasing the force the other way. Of course a portion 

 of this extra powder will burn outside of the barrels, and 

 until it gets outside must cause friction. If "Fusil " takes the 

 trouble to carefully watch, and has the opportunity of doing 

 it, two men shooting about dusk, one using 5^ or drachms 

 powder and the other 4, I think he will be convinced that 

 the one using 6 drachms is burning much more powder out- 

 side of his gun than the other, and in all probability, beimr 

 equally good shots, is not doing as good execution. If 

 "Fusil " will load half a dozen shells with 4 drachms of pow- 

 der and \{ oz. of No. 2 or 3 shot, and another half-dozen with 

 6 drachms powder and same shot, and get at least 40 yards 

 away from a standard pattern and penetration tester and keep 

 an accurate memorandum of the results of each shot fired, he 

 will find his 4 drachm charges give much better pattern, as 

 great, if not greater, penetration, the targets will be more 

 alike, will run more regularly in every way than with the 6 

 drachms, and his gun's tendency to mulishness be much 

 lessened. At least this has been my experience, and I have 

 wasted much ammunition and have seen others do the same 

 before I came to this decision. I hold to my former assertion, 

 that 4 drachms No. 2 grain powder wil give better satisfac- 

 tion than any larger charge of any grain in a 10-guage 32-bbl. 

 gun of 10 pounds or less. Tho recoil is slight and will hurt 

 no one, and the result in my case has been better in every 

 way. I believe a No. 2 shot thrown from a good gun will 

 kill a duck 100 yards away if it hits him in the head or neck 

 or under the wing, or will break a wing if it bits it with 4 

 drachms of powder. A person who has uot tried this will be 

 astonished at the force of a No. 2 or 3 shot at long distances. 

 Minous Point Slvooting Club, sept. 14. Canvas B4.ni. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 

 SEPTEMBER SHOOTING. 



TO the sportsmen resident of New York State, the 1st of 

 September is seemingly the real opening of the shoot- 

 ing season. True, during the preceding month, the season 

 has been open for woodcock ; but few birds have been found, 

 and those bagged scarcely equal in number an October good 

 day's sport. Infinitely preferable would it be— for reasons 

 which are obvious— if the close time for FhiloMa minor was 

 extended until the 1st of September, thus saving hundreds of 

 young ruffed grouse that are annually slaughtered under the 

 pretext of August woodcocking. 



What becomes of the woodcock during August has never 

 heen definitely ascertained. As much mystery now shrouds 

 their disappearance in moulting time as twenty years ago, 

 when "Forester, "in his "Field Sports," arrived at either of 

 two conclusions— viz., that of a brief northward migration, 

 or an exodus to the tops of the highest adjacent mountains. 

 there to stay until disturbed by the frosty nights of glorious 

 October. The few woodcock found in August are generally 

 discovered in dry swamps adjacent to some spring drain. 

 When September, with its cool breezes, proclaims the coming 

 autumn, and the sportsman is enabled to bag his brace or two 

 of ruffed grouse, knocking over perhaps a couple or so of 

 woodcock during the day, then indeed, and not till then, can 

 the shooting season be said to have opened. 



The difficulty of killing ruffed grouse has been much over- 

 rated, together with the so-called inaccessibility of his haunts. 

 Admitting that he is often found in the thickest brake or the 

 most stony, impregnable hillside, amid interlacing boughs of 

 pine trees and the sinuous rhododendron, he is as of ten flushed 

 in the comparative open of the swampy woodland— the open 

 patches bordering the woods, where grow the raspberry and 

 whortleberry bushes, and, later in the season, upon the edges 

 of the buckwheat fields ; white again amid rhododendrons and 

 second growth white birches, he lies well to the setter cr 

 pointer, generally affording a fair shot to the gun. There is 

 a peculiarity about this magnificent bird which ultimately 

 ends in his destruction— namely, that the oftener one is 

 flushed the longer and closer will he lie to the dog, and the 

 shorter will be each succeeding flight. At first approach he 

 may flush wild, giving one but the" glimpse of his glossy back, 

 and leaving his loud hurtling ringing in the fears. The second 

 flight, should he not lie well, will probably allow a much 

 nearer approach, and perhaps a short point ; and this time, if 

 the bird be not bagged, you may not blame his wildness, but 

 tho hypothesis of an inexplicable something " which no fel- 

 low can understand." 



As the grouse invariably flies in a straight line, but a slight 

 glimpse will enable one to perceive the direction taken, then 

 making a short sweep to the right or left lit alights. Occasional- 

 ly a bird will "tree," and if it be in a tall pine or fir, and 

 especially in a thickly wooded section, there is but one thing 

 to do ; if you perceive him as you may, nestling with regal 

 splendor in the shadowy embraces of the pine, then shoot hini 

 sitting, if you would have him at all, for a whirr when he 

 flushes is all that will solace you — you will see naught. 



Est us suppose a cool, breezy morn in early September, and 

 following a little babbling stream, the drain of some clear 

 mountain spring as it meanders down the hill side, over and 

 between the mossy stones, spreading over the damp grouud 

 and watering the luxuriant growth of ferns and mosses, whilst 

 the cool September breeze is sighing among the tall pines, 

 wafting their aroma over the hill side. In a place where the 

 shadows play with the golden sunbeams which come stealing 

 through overlaciug foliage which as yet but by a rare and 

 beautifully colored leaf of red or gold betokens that glorious 

 autumn is at hand— yes, in such a spot we find our setter 

 pointing — now carefully and steathily he advances, now be- 

 coming rigid under the enthralling ecstacy of the hot scent. 

 Then we advance a step, whilst the ready forefinger is hover- 

 ing twixt guard and trigger : and as the heart in its quickened 

 tatoo forces the blood surging through the veins, the brain 

 harbors no thought save of the present glorious moment. 

 Whirr! and the golden chain is loosened, as the grouse darts 

 athwart the open. As we raise the gun we see, as tapping 

 yonder clump of rhododendrons, the pointed pinions, fan-like 

 tail and the extended rull whose jetty blackness gleams in the 

 sunlight, the typical emblem of American feathered game. 

 But a report has broken the stillness of the hill side, and 

 " Dead bird, fetch," proclaims that the shot has been true. 



Nearing the base of the hill, we overlook a blue Limpid pond 



nestling among huge boulders, in whose shadow, 



. rn growths are blooming, vieing in their pictures- 

 que fantastic outline, the virgin beauiy of "the lilies along the 

 snore. Here in an adjacent clump of alders the dog is point' 

 ing, but not with that sneaking, crouching attitude he em- 

 ployed when working on the grouse, but firm, upright, rigid, 

 with head but Slightly lowered and turned, and advancing we 

 are not surprised to hear the tremulous whistle of t.Le wood- 

 cock as we see but. a glimpse of his shadowy form darting 

 through the interlacing covert, but even that glimpse has been 

 enough to send him with broken neck and pinion whirling 

 earthward. Thus; reader, many a day may be healthfully 

 and righteously spent whilst waiting for later autumn, the 

 most brilliant time of all. Fbank Warwick. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun, 

 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AT MILLER'S 

 BAYOU. 



BY November the ducks come South, and, enticed by the 

 fine food and quasi secluded bayous iu Louisiana, any 

 quantities flock hither. But by no means are they safer here 

 than in the ponds of Minnesota or in the marshes of Long 

 Island Sound ; indeed, quite the contrary, as the vast and ap- 

 parently impenetrable prairies are intersected by narrow but 

 navigable passes, which afford the hunter a chance to steal 

 quietly in upon them and create sad havoc among a dock 

 before and as they rise, Sunday is the day for sport, and the 

 hunting grounds most accessible for a day's shooting are situ- 

 ated on the Mobile Railroad. Parties of gentlemen form and 

 go over Saturday evening, returning Sunday night. As we 

 were not to be lull out iu all this sport, a party met at the 

 train and bought tickets for Lake Catherine. We jumped iuto 

 a smoking car where our brother sportsmen were chatting in 

 anticipation of a " fine hunt to-morrow," little knowing how 

 miserably the sport would end I So pleasantly did time while 

 itself away in conversation that the howling of dogs suffering 

 tortures at the hands, or feet rather, of a brutal master, did 

 not distract us until the brakeman cried out "Lake Catherine I" 

 where we jumped out and left the hounds and man to pro- 

 ceed en routs for deer hunting further north. Though 1 wish 

 no man evil, I do hope that that fellow, who, to quiet his 

 dogs, stamped his heels on them, failed to bring a buck to 

 bay. 



We were hustled into a large skirt which served as a ferry 

 boat between Lake Catherine Station and Millers,— a distance 

 of say a mile. Scarcely were we in and seated when some 

 one spied an astronomical and lunar phenomenon eommonly 

 known as the "Crescent and the BSar." The moon was a 

 crescent, nearly directly over us, and inside of its ere 

 as bright a star as we ever witnessed. The night was magnifi- 

 cent and clear, the reflections of the moon were ta 

 silvery and tipped by the twinkling i What, per- 



haps, "it may never be our fortune to again behold! Edward 

 and Mac, two stalwart darkies, rowed US, and soon we turned 

 into a bayou marked by a signboard as "MiUei's Bayou." 

 True, the posts sustaining this guide mark were a tritie off 

 the perpendicular, but save to a geometrically Critical eye 

 such an acute angle would not be observed. 



In but a very few moments now we came in sight of some 

 white buildings, flashing lanterns and in hearing of mingled 

 Dutch and Congo. "Hold, Mac!" "Pull, Edward," and 

 slowly our starboard touched the little wharf. 



"Good evening," said a little dried up old woman whom 

 we immediately took to be the widow Miller— widow I say, 

 for one year previous on that clay her husband bad been stand- 

 ing just where she was when his gun hammers Struck the 

 wharf and both charges were lodged iu his lungs, death tnsu- 

 ing very soon. We bade her good evening and got ashore by 

 the combined lights of her lantern and the moon. We walked 

 a few feet and entered her house, » very clean cabin, with a 

 dining room and adjoining two other rooms, each Eull of 

 bunks for the accommodation of hunters. 



She, that is, Mrs. Miller, prepared a supper for us, consist- 

 ing of trout and wild ducks, the product of the day's pot fish- 

 ing and hunting. Upon disarming ourselves of our guns, etc , 

 we ate heartily, and, gathering about the little stove— the fire 

 in which had been replenished by some wood brought in by 

 Mac — told stories uutil nearly midnight. The atmosphere 

 was cold and crisp, and after making our (raps ready we went 

 to bed. At three o'clock Sunday morning we were up. A 

 cup of black coll'ee, a biscuit, and we were ready. Taking 

 separate dug-outs, we started— some for the Seven Ponds and 

 others— quorum minium pars fui— paddled across Lake Cathar- 

 ine for a. lagoon known as Bayou Bob, some three miles dis- 

 tant. We got there just at daybreak. Putting out my de- 

 coys I staved at this end; the others went further toward the 

 upper end. There were some ducks swimming around, but 

 comparatively few. Hiding myself by pulling the pirogue- 

 into the prairie. 1 sat still, cold and uncomfortable. Occasion- 

 ally a duck would fly by, far away from gun shot, and 1 he- 

 came disgusted by seven o'clock. However, a stray 

 forded me a shot and brought with its fall a resolution to stay 

 a while. So I waited two hours, singing and whistling: 



but not a fowl of the Anatida or any other tribe or genu* 

 appeared. Aware that there is an end to all things,! pushed out, 

 a convert to the belief of its practical illustration in the instance 

 of ducks— there were none ; llie speeies of aqua ;ie. fowl was ex- 

 tinct, having become so with the spoonbill f CUt down. So 1 

 paddled slowly through the bayous, across the lake, up the 

 bayou, and by ten o'clock was in front o! Mrs. Miller's, from 

 her 1 procured a fishing line and a few minnows for bait, and 

 from a disciple of Pan I was transformed into a monument of 

 patience, quietly sitting in a dug uot watching a cork float. 

 Trout were, abundant, I heard; trout were few and rare I 

 learned. But I had caught eight by two o'clock, when I again 

 returned to Mrs. Miller's ; and, poor as the shooting was, I 

 preferred the noise and company of a gun to the dreadful soli- 

 tude of piscatorial pursuit! '" an entirely dif- 

 ferent direction to Lake Frederic, about a mile distant. With 

 great trouble I haul bo .id pushed 

 along. I killed several marsh hens, but only to i' 

 When I entered the laeoon it was filled with hunters who had 

 done precisely what l"had— sought it as a last resort. The 

 lake is about one-third of a mile long and uoe-tweru i< 

 mile wide, surrounded by prairies where the heads 

 loomed up. I took a place v. shot of any I fief, 

 and as a mud hen rt. length of the lake, 

 nfne hunters' guns boomed to try and atop him. U was a. 



