FOREST AND STREAM 



195 



sporl discussect. Parties are made up for ihe iifext day; 



one for pigeon Bliootttig, an Otis or for ruffed c 



some decide to take a chance on Ihe runways for deer. 



Uncle John and lii.s son-in-law, "Shorty," sire ready next 

 morning witli Ranger, the beat dew hound in the pack, 

 and after breakfast we are off. 



Bui hunting is not all unmixed pleasure; it liaa Us disap- 

 pointments and uncertainties. When we again assemble 

 at lunch time small bags of pigeons are explained by saying 

 that the flocks went over too high; the excuse got away 

 behind tree, the leaves being yet too thick on the branches. 

 But how shall we express the delight of the fortunate 

 Sportsman, who, when two bucks came to his stand, brought 



down one oJUhem, and fired at the other. No doubt the 

 head and armors of this fonr pronged buck "-ill ornament 

 :i for the future, andthe haunch lias been duly served 

 on chattier dishes bv a skillful cook. 



Meanwhile the ladies hare not been idle. They have 

 'ccen rowed over the lake and caught pickerel on a trolling 

 spoon; they have collected ferns aud mosses, visited the 

 deer park and caressed the does and fawns; startled grouse 

 along the roads; made wonderful shots with pistols; gath- 

 ered chestnuts and tointergreerj berries, and have many 

 wonderful adventures to relate at the lunch table, where 

 all assemble with keen appetite after the morning's work. 

 Our flaxen haired four year-old has rather astonished the 

 gamekeeper's children with his free and easy city manners; 

 they being at. first, inclined to resent his warm demonstra- 

 tions of affection, but soou they are on the best of terms. 

 He chooses a pel from the litter of setter puppies, and has 

 two kittens and their dam in a perpetual worry, even ap- 

 propriating their newly caught chipmunks. 



A week Of these bright Autumn days is all too short, but 

 the treadr :11 must be worked though by unwilling foist. 

 The last day comes; good byes are said, and reluctantly we 

 leave Blooming Grove Park for a season. .1. A. 



For Forest and Stream . 

 A CHAT ABOUT GAME. 



I HAVE not written you for soma time, and as Fall 

 shooting has commenced, I thought I would w r rile and 

 let, you know our prospects. Ducks (teal) made their ap- 

 pearance about the 10th of September, and have since 

 been quite, abundant. I have been out three times after 

 them, aud have each time got a successful bag. 1 do not 

 know how to account for it, but the teal this year have a 

 flavor more delicious than was ever known before, at least- 

 such is the opinion of all who nave tasted them, including 

 myself, 



Mallard, sprigttiil and geese made, their appearance about 

 ten days ago, aud from their numbers at their first appear- 

 ance, I should say that: the weather had turned suddenly 

 cold. 1 hear of a "sportsman wdio brought down live geese 

 at one shot ac Four Mile Run. We will have plenty of 

 partridges (June quail) in Maryland and Virginia. Our 

 Spring and Summer was dry, and hence all broods have 

 been ruined. 



I have made many inquiries of persons whom I know- 

 are reliable, and they all speak highly of the abundance 

 of birds. 1 think that there is one tiling thai has helped 

 to increase our quail, and that is the Maryland law of pay- 

 ing 50 cents for every hawk shot. In my shooting this 

 Summer and Fall I have seen about one hawk, where 

 three years aero 1 saw twenty. " Alic," of the Turf, Fidd 

 and Firm, m one of his letters a short time ago, called at- 

 tention to the fact thai I had turned out this Spring a num- 

 ber of quail, and I think he predicted that they would 

 not mote. All I have to say in reply is, thai this is .my 

 third experiment in keeping quail in the Winter and turn- 

 ing them out in the Spring, and that. I have always beeu 

 successful. They mole as well as our own birds. (1 .should 

 have said I had them brought from Eastern Turnpike.) 

 7 have not noticed ntiv old birds this Summer except they 

 had a brood, and the bevies 1 have scared this Fall have 

 all been this year's birds. For the information of your 

 readers 1 will say that 1 think I now have titty quail where 

 I had one lasi year. I must admit that some have reared 

 their broods at least a mile from where I turned them out, 

 hut this was caused by dogs- chasing them last Spring as 

 soon as I had turned them out. If any of your readers 

 desire to keep quail this Winter so as lo have a good stock 

 next Pall, I will cheerfully give them all Ihe information 

 that I have. You can easily make portions of Connecticut 

 and New Jersey a spoilsman's paradise, with a few dollars 

 and a little trouble. The prairie chicken can also be 

 raised successfully, and I am surprised that it has never 

 been done. I think of sending this Fall for a dozen and 

 turning them out on a farm on the Potomac, and I do not 

 doubt but that in two years, even with this small number, 

 I will have all I can "shoot. I have read Capt. Bogardus' 

 book. I must say that at my first hurried glance I was a 

 little disappointed, as I thought it was too muehJohmonized; 

 that is, contained too many l's, but will say, in all candor, 

 that after reading it I am highly pleased Willi it, and I 

 here return him my sincere thauks. The book should be 

 in every sportsman's hands, and to a beginner I know of 

 nothing that will prove as valuable as this book. ' I differ 

 with him in regard to the lasie of ducks. I do not con- 

 sider the mallard the best by any means, but place il about 

 the fourth or fifth. I consider canvass back, red heads, 

 shufflers and teal far superior to the mallard, and Capt. 

 Bogardus will be of the same opinion if he were to come 

 here and eat each variety. I do not doubt for a mcTmeut 

 hut, that in the Western States the mallard is superior to 

 the canvass back, and it is for the simple reason that oue 

 has its proper food and the other has not. Let him, for ex- 

 periment, coop up a pair of lame ducks and feed them on 

 celery alone for two weeks, and compare them to ducks 

 that "eat any and everything. People in Maryland and 

 Virginia often feed their tame ducks on celery, and they 

 have all the flavor of the canvass bark, What gives the 

 above ducks (except teal) their excellence is that they feed 

 on the wild celery, irallMiiend ',.) The canvass backs eat the 

 root, the red heads, the stafk, and the shufflers the tops 

 aud leavings. Let any of our clucks above be deprived of 

 celery tor a short time, and ihey are of no value. 



My letter is too long already, but before I close I must 

 say that your Crecdmoor shooting has carried terror into 

 the brain of our ouly bookseller, Joe Shilliugton. I need 

 not tell your readers 'who he is, or what he is, for I do not 

 Buppose that there is a city or town of three hundred in- 

 habitants in the world that, has not some one but knows Shil- 

 lingtou. Well, to my story. Our friend is a great marker, so 

 much so that his rlvalj Sir Edward Thornton, has been 



1,1 to return to England this Summer and recruit,. 



Well, Sli'iltiiiglon hasbeeh reading' about the 1,000 yards 



centres nl Croedi ax, so the other day when he saw me he 



said "My walks are ended.'' lsnid, "Why?" He said, 

 " Have yon not read about the shooting at Crecdmoor? No 

 one is anv longer safe walking, for you will be hit and 



lie r'tin' report dh account of the distance, and every 



boy now will be on his back, a hi Pulton, shooting at 3,000 

 yards." 



Shilliugton snvs he is a pillion man iu the manner of 

 , f 01', he saya, "My stomach has served tile well, 

 and I aid not going to put it in Jeopardy," Dckil. 



Watftiiigtoft, OW: 20^,1871. 



■♦*♦■ 



SPORT IN MICHIGAN. 



ttanovkh. Mich., October Sltlj isrt. 



EniTiiu Forest anii Sturami— 



As n rpadei aud mJiuirei of your piper, 1 ink,' the. liberty of sending 

 you ii Imsly sketch of a day's sport among the quail ttnd chicken which I 

 was a participator in on Monday list, fruiting it may prove interesting 

 to some of your subscribers. 



My friend Mr. IX, whose gnest I am.baving made all the arrangements 

 necessary and the day being pleasant, 7 A. II. found us seated in the 

 wagon, behind a pair of rattling young horses, and our dogs Don and 

 Juno behind, ready ami Igor I iriness." A half hour's drive found 



na Ell the edge of one of those dry marshes in which this section of the 

 ounxts, and win re D. felr confident we sho lid liud the birds. 

 Leaving Che wagon with gun in hand, we made for a small clump of brash 



na U I e "f the marsh, and at, the word "hnnt," the dogs get to work 



soon . Don appears as though ho Mad struck something, and D. and my- 

 ■ .■ . . n IdJ". Aricrn short trail he is staunch and stiff, Juno backs 

 Mia splendidly, and then the quick l*whirr"ofihe startled bevy— two 



d, .ui ile -.in 'I and four Mi i- I'uenng the dead birds and putting 



in our No. 10 shell, We follow the dogs to where we have marked the 

 rest of the bevy down. Mow for some snap shooting, as they have taken 

 to the hushes. We get our positions, and soon the dogs are drawing; 

 this time ,luno comes lo a point not ten feet, from me, and at Ihe word 

 '•hie on,' up goes a tine old cock, which I stop just ns he is going over 

 the top of the bank. 1 bring Juno to a charge, and loadine Quickly, step 

 : thi i _!n, when Ihe bird comes right at me, followed by the report of 

 bf.'sesni tl Into them, bat ocing excited, never loach a feather, and 

 ,. ; ..„ii .. •.'. .' I" '■ have gone. D. shows three birds as the result of 



his skill, and i :i.i.'._' rmr dog* to heel, wo cross into n stubble field a few 



",,,,'! aerev r ews led with line success, aud find the birds 

 plenty. The dues work finely, and art-ran hour's work we conclude to 

 leave the quail and cross ntu the mruBh for chickens. 



A walk of about a tulle brings us to the ground, and nowlumtosee 

 for the first; time Ihe much favored bird of the West In his "native lair." 

 D. now allows the dogs to range well frcm as, and at. last Don comes to 

 a stiff point near an aid rail fence ili.it runs into tile marsh, and we 

 quickly get ready. Ill another moment up goes a fine covey of birds. 

 We both mark our "victims" and let yo. Down eonio ihree beauties, 

 and the rest whirl uway III least a mile. We start after thein and socn 

 are near where we ihink they are down. Soon the dogs are still, aud as 

 an otd rooster lakes wing, 1 send folium and lie comes to ground; an- 

 other up and 1 misshim clean, but D. stops him handsomely. I must 

 confess it rather astonished me to miss BO large an object, but t find that 

 it is necessary to be well on your bird in order to bring him dou n. We 

 now have the cove; EOa t. :■■.!. and after some hot work, hut royal sport, 

 we bag eight more birds. Tins more tltnu satisfies us, and upon our re- 

 turn to the wagon, Counting Out Oird« WO find we have forty. one quail 

 and thirteen chickens, which we think worth writing about. Being a 

 New VoikState man 1 have just leveled in the quail shooting, and must 

 admit thai 1 do miss them now aud then, as a quail in husband ft wood- 

 cock ditto are very different in their manner of flying. Next week wo are 

 cniug for English snipe, and then I shall be "at home," and hope to do 

 some good shooting; so au revolt: XmoA. 



y DROWNING A BEAR. 



New Smttixa, Fla., October 2d, 1S74. 



EniTOH feOTlEBT AND STREAM I — 



In theof Winter 1869 I bought my present homestead, and while build- 

 ing my house aud clearing up the place, heard some wonderful bear sto- 

 ries from those in uly employ, two of whom claimed to be experts. Hav- 

 ing excited my ambition, I was desirous to meet a bear, and I did not 

 have long to wait, for seeing something black swimming in the river, 1 

 inquired of one of my men what it was, aud he replied that it was a hear 

 swimming for the main land. Telling him to jump into ihe boat and be 

 ready to go for him, I hurriedly got my musket, (an old Springfield) and 

 my Smith & Wesson, aud jumped in also, aud was soon alongside of 

 him, when 1 gave him ihe contents of the musket. 1 tbOVgbt I had my 

 bear, as he was quiet, so I quickly made a slip uoose of the boat's paint- 

 er aud casting it over his head, having Imn safe, as 1 thought, but as I 

 drew the rope lam he began to show signs of life, and made for the boat. 

 I immediately «ave him the. contents of my Smith & Wesson, bnt with- 

 out effect, for he soon had his fore paws on the gunwale. I found he 

 had rue then, so 1 caught the boat hook, which I soon broke up over his 

 head, wheu ho let go his hold for a moment, and my man pulled the boat 

 away as fast as possible, while I belabored him with a small sprit, which 

 was soon broken up also. I had the boat turned about against the tide, 

 hut made little headway. What would I not have given at that moment 

 for a knife to cut the painter! but neither of us hurl one. The bear final- 

 ly made an extra effort, and was about to get into the boat, when I ran 

 the remainder of the sprit down his throat, and held my arm under 

 water, thinking I would soon drown him, which I succeeded in doing 

 after a severe struggle of nearly an honr, and then towed hiin home iu 

 triumph. 1 found the musket ball had struck him on the head, cracking 

 the skull and glancing off, as none of the balls penetrated his hide. I 

 learned one thing in this straggle, and that i<, Unit a bear will never do 

 to tie to. Tours, G. J. A. 



■»«»■ 



Canadian Ice Signals, — A very beautiful and useful 

 system of ice signalling has been recently adopted by one 

 of the Canadian steamship lines, which promises lo give 

 great safety aud security to passengers crossing the Atlan- 

 tic. The company has issued to all its commanders au ice 

 chart and tallying ice .signals, by the use of which steam- 

 ers passing each oilier can learn" when and where danger- 

 ous bergs and ice fields have been encountered. Thelee 

 chart is divided into degrees of longitude and half degrees 

 of latitude, nearly making squares, each of which has a 

 separate literal designation. This in eaclt section of the 

 chart consists of two letters, representing two flags of Ihe 

 commercial code, and when ihe corresponding flags are 

 hoisted bv a steamer they indicate to the passing ship" the 

 exact position of the ice met. The ensign hoisted above 

 the three, means berg ice, aud the Union Jack, field ice 

 likely to imperil navigation. The flags are, of course, only 

 servicenble in the day time, but at night the ice signals are 

 made by means of Colomb's Chatham lamp. The whole 

 system is one of extreme simplicity, both in the chart and 

 code, and easily enables any steamer, after passing through 

 the ice track near Newfoundland, to communicate to ihe 

 steamer approaching it the precise place of the peril, aud, 

 therefore, the imminent necessity of extreme caution in 

 neariuE; that point. 



THE GASCONADE. 



IVF-ItED BLACK I 



St Lotus, October 81, 1B74. 

 EniToit I'oukst and StukiVm:— 



Believing that Mr. A. Mr. Belmore Kelton and myself are the first CM 

 glers who have ever fished the Gasconade Elver, aud having had recent 

 and most delightful experiences of Us charms. I have thoni>ht it right to 

 communicate through the medinin of your Journal, to tho brotherhood 

 of the rod and reel, the detail* of the discovery which I have helped to 

 moke. 



The Gasconade takes its rise in the heart of the Ozark Mountains, 

 which extend from the Missouri Bivcr, near its mouth, iu a southwest- 

 erly direction across this Slate and part of Arkansas. Fed by innumer- 



able boldlv flowing s 



: .il' u, 



is, the 



y coldui 

 the Big 



ectlot 

 I shall i 



nde 



Hei 



andr 



-inforced by un- 



d Liu 



ci Pine; und the 



in a i 



oriheastcrly di- 



Gosct 



nade county. 



with n 



uy "enthused" 



Suffice 



it to say that I 



to do, although o 

 numbered by sow 

 seen taken, and ' 

 river from this pc 

 the geud 



description of the beauties of the Gasc 



have seen many mountain streams, but none w hich, for the purposes of 



the anitler and the artist, will bear comparison with It. 



Our party of four, provided with two boats and ample camp eqnlpage, 

 left St. i.ouis by tho Atlantic and Paciflc Railway, aud disembarked at 

 Arlington, a promising town of three or four dilapidated shanties situa- 

 ted at the point where the railroad crosses the river, ninety miles above 

 its mouth, und one hundred and twenty miles from St. Louis. iiere we 

 were joined by Mr. Delraore Kelton, a mo=t conrteou-s geutlernan and 

 accompUslied angler, and loading our boats and equipage upon wagons, 

 were conveyed over a moat execrable road to "S.uitu's," where onr boats 

 were launched and our first camp established. 



The establishment f onr first camp, after the experience over "one of 

 the cussedest cross-roads iu the kingdom," was of course a matt, r of 

 some delay, but we made ample amends for all our trials and i'udgue by 

 arousing supperund dreamless sleep. 



During the succeeding dny we fished the pool below Smith'sand took 

 some fifty fish, ranging from one and a half to three and a half ponuds 

 In weight. On the following day we siruck our camp and proceeded down 

 the river in boats, Bending our camp equipage by wagon to Moss' Spring, 

 distant nlue miles by the rivor. As onr start was accomplished about 

 noon, we conld not fish tho river ns it deserved, or as we were tempted 

 n* catch at Oxley's pool in an hoar's fishing was 

 i twenty odd or the finest aud gamest bass I have ever 

 re ouly moved oat from a sense of necessity. The 

 nt (we stand sponsor.- for tho name given it in compli- 

 jnanwho here look his lirst three and a half pounder) 

 Is very beautiful, the rapids, and pools beiug very treqiiciit, and theflsh 

 most abundant and game. We trolled on the remainder of our voyage 

 to the cump, both with roiiiuows and with a No. ti Buell spoon with 

 great success, the fish taking the lure eagerly, and in most cases ws 

 could see several larger fish flashing about the one hooked. And right 

 here I desire to enter protest against the use of tho three hooka attached 

 to all spoons. I intend hereafter using only a siugle OO hook, No. B, 

 Buell spoon, and to attach the spoon to a hue watu a single gut suell. 

 There is simply no art in talcing them otherwise, and no true angler de- 

 sires so tremendous odds as the mode first described assures. 



After several mishaps in flshiug the rapids, the most serious of which 

 was a broken rod, we arrived ut our second camping ground at dark, 

 fearfully lircd und ravenously hungry. On the followiug morning, after 

 taking a laree supply of minnows, we pulled up to the head of Airtran'a 



pool, where we entered at once upon royal sport, Mr. O , with the 



proverbial luck of tyros, had hardly made his lirst cast, when he hooked 

 a fish, certainly large, and evidently game. In plnytug him— which he 

 did admirably— he lost his balance, and sat down forcibly on A's "flue- 

 haired" minnow bucket; then, dire mishap! his reel detached from his 

 rod. Yet in spite of these aud sundry ludicrous gymnastics, he finally 

 landed his fish, a beautiful four and three-quarter pound pike perch 

 (called hy the "natives" jack salmon). When A pointed to his dam- 

 aged bucket, O , excited and triumphant, coolly replied: "Hang 



your bucket; buy you another." "But my rod?" said S . "Confound 



your rod— oee, pardon," said O ; "yon see I'm a little excited this 



morning." By noon our strings were all complete and onr fish boat 



filled to repletion. S bad scored bis first channel catfish, a five 



pound fellow, who gave him the best and gamest fight made during the 

 eaiire trip. To add lo his triumph was the fact that he prolonged the 

 contest for nearly a half hour, knowing that his single suell was badly 

 frayed aud that his fish was badly hooked. 



I desire right here to add my testimony to that of the author of tho 

 "Fishing Tourist" In behalf of that appareutly little known fish . Those 

 of your reuders who-c acquaintance with tho catfish family is confined to 

 its'fat. sluggish, repulsive representative of stagnant ponds aud muddy 

 creeks, cau .have no conception of the spun, afforded by its slender, 

 shapely aud powerful cousin of the spring-fed streams flowing Into the 

 .Missouri from Ihe Ozark*. With the forked tail and adipose dorsal of 

 the salmon, long, graceful, muscnlar body, hardened by conflict with 

 fierce rapids, and iuvigorated by pare cold water, its capture, If Of largo 

 „ize. is an event long to be remembered. 

 The afternoon Was devoted to the concoction of a chowder based upon 



the channel cattish, the capture of which had afforded 8 such rare 



sport. The chowder was unanimously voted a perfect success, an i we 

 sought our couches with that contented mind only known to the honest 

 angler, encamped by his favorite stream. 



The next morning, after an early breakfast, the impedimenta were 

 loaued into the largest boat, and shooting the brawling rapid at the foot 

 of Annan's pool, we pursued our adventurous voyage. With every mllo 

 of our jonrney the varied beauty of the scenery through which ws 

 drifted— busily in the deep pools, with impetuous force iu the rapids— 

 increased. The mountains were higher, the perpendicular clitts i.odded 

 more threateningly, the waters were deeper, stronger, clearer, and mir- 

 rored a bluer sky. At the head of each pool through which our course 

 lay we paused lo offer our lines to the fierce, courageous bass lurking 

 hidf seen under the shadows of great Tocks in the clear depths, and never 

 without success. Always the glittering spoon was taken by some hun- 

 gry victim, until sated with victory we paused lor our niooiuig under the 

 mighty shadows of Cedar Mouutain. 



Our attention had been called to the spot where our boat was beached 

 by the rippling murmur of running water, aud wo found ourselves at tho 

 month of a clear torrent as long as nu .Eastern trout stream. Deter- 

 mined to explore It, we assumed our wailing booia and entered the gorge 

 through which ii issued. Imagine our surprise, when we fouudns whole 

 length to be less Iban two hundred feet, and that It was the p.oduct of 

 one spring. After a hearty luncheon wo resumed our jourue.,, passing 

 three difficult rapids and the mouth of the Big finer, arriviug at Boiling 

 Springs at suuset. 



The Boiling Springs are a natural wonder, Seven In number, cold as 

 ice water, they issue from the bottom and side of the river, aud contrib- 

 ute to swell its flood a volume of water as large as Cheat Htver at its or- 

 dinary stage. Here we fixed our third camp, and the next day, stopping 

 ouly to fish Keltoif a pool, we reached Arlington, 



Were not this letter already of an unconscionable length I should add 

 some practical facts as to the peculiarities uf the bass of ihe Gasconade, 

 ihe oddities and virtues of the sparse population uf the rsgUin,Of i be claims 

 of the river to the attention of the fly-fisuer.ot itsabso.utelu.muuit) from 

 such pests as block Hies, midges, sand flies and "puukiea," and much 

 other information which must now remain untold, unless ihe su'iject 

 should arouse sufficient interest among brethren uf the angle to render 

 the labor of writing a supplementary letter a duty to tho craft. 



Gasconade I 



