Febrttaby 10, t881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



31 



THE UNUSUAL NUMBERS OF WILD FOWL SOUTH. 



T71ROM C 

 Jj of tu< 

 wild fowl o 

 River, Albe 

 to have licet 

 ijig in the l 

 sound, the 

 being shipp 

 won id seem 



the major |; 

 North Caro 

 Tuckenon i 

 reached their wat 

 Eteezingaui 



i i. ;'v iCj i 

 since Ihe la 



Sound, North Carolina, to "Wilmington, 



tale, the bays and inlets are teeming with 



'atiety. At the mouth of the Chowan 



mud, swan and geese were never known 



tiful, and multitudes of brant are wiuter- 



At Middletown, situated on this latter 



re reaping a harvest, and many fowl are 



ties Loth 'north and south of them. It 



unusual winter we are having has driven 



E the flight of water birds to the coast of 



e hear from the baymen at Atlantic City, 



Raincgat, N. J., that shortly after the brant 



they were forced southward by Hie 



the b;i 

 ids whi 



Novem 



which have couth 



first , 



De 



shut 

 Hli, 



,L 



feed, unless it may he in open weather, when floating vege- 

 table mailer, carried oil the Hats by the tide, provides then, 

 with provender. Now that the shoal places have beou com- 



pleu-ly frozen over the birds are compelled to seek other 

 gronj da 



Sportsmen who wish to enjoy goose, brant and duck shoot- 

 lug of every variety should visit Middletown, Hyde Co., N. 

 C.7 providing they can accommodate themselves with the 

 rude fare of ihe. country. The. town ran be reached from 

 Washington, Beaufort Co., at the head of Palmieo River, but 



the wagoi 



road lea 



ling thereto is a terrible, one, and as there 



is a dearth 



of the 



luxuries to which the city man is aceus- 



tomed in i 



his regie 



n, coffee, tea, etc., should by all means 



be taken, 







Bogue i 



nd Stun 



lp sounds, south of Beaufort, N. C, are 



now perfj 



ef beds 



of fowl. In fact all along the series of 



sounds frc 



m Beauf 



ort north to Wiiminstou south the sports- 



man cann 



«l go asii 



nv in seeking for good grounds ; and par- 



ties wishii 



g to pro 



ong their stay late into February may be 



certain ol 



having o 



tcelleni snipe shooting, for these sections 



yearly tor 



n rest iirs 



and feeding places for the long bill in h.s 



northern 



uigratioi 





Our riv 



ir men i 



n Philfidelpbia are looking for a sudden 



breakup o 



: winter 



when Jack Frost grows tired of sojourn- 



ing with i 



8, and i 



igue wiih an insfiuctiveness I have never 



been able 



q ejfphn 



i thai \<e are to have excellent ioc-gl . Bg 



for ducks 



when Hi 



ev "get readv to come north," and your 



eorrespon 



lent has 



irrarrgwl with one. of the old paddlers,who 



has promi 



sed to '.' 



mt him on the ducks" when they appear. 



At presen 



.i akifl 



could uot live in our river in such ice as 



cun now 1 



6 seen u 



the Delaware. Homo. 



TRAPPING ON gAlLEY LAKE. 



THIS small sheet of wat -r can be found just at the con- 

 junction of the first range of uplands and the overflow- 

 lauds 'of While River, in the southeastern part of White 

 County, Arkansas, and has for its outlet and inlet Kafl. 

 Creek, which from here is nothing more than a series ol 

 small lakes and ponds mail it mingles its waters with While 

 River, some twemy miles distant. At the lower end of the 

 lake a huge cypress brake, well filled with water and fallen 

 Tees I deeply tangled with lie-vines, intersects that fur- 

 nishes our fur animals with good quarters 



The Cuan and mink pay special attention to the lake as the 

 plain paths along the water's edge will show. The fish here- 

 in afford them splendid repasts, when they a>e fortunate 

 enough to secure such, or to discover the refusal of an otter's 

 breakfast, which is uot infrequently the case — hence the at- 

 traction. 



In trapping for coon and mink we use for bait fish when 

 easily at hand, as they have a particular partiality for this; 

 Otherwise birds, rabbits or anything they have a fondness for. 

 The trap we [dace under water when convenient, as then 

 it would not be so liable to be observed and stepped over in 

 taking f.he bait. Coon, being speedy travelers," occasionally 

 sally forth, all following the "same trail, on a gormandizing 

 tour to the neighboring corn fields that are only a mile or 

 two back in the settlements. The trails are made plain by 

 frequent passing, and along this roadway many a coon feels 

 the close embrace of a Newhouse trap*. Not having been 

 molested in a steel trap-way by a Kit Carson since" Davy 

 Crockett made his lonely tramp "through here, the coon do 

 noteu ertain any Suspleionsas to the trapper's devices. 



The banks of the lakes are very fiat— only a few feet above 

 the level of the water — and in consequence the other cannot 

 enjoy the fun of sliding. About the only device the trapper 

 can successfully employ is to prepare vo take them at their 

 accustomed place of going ashore During the first snow, 

 November 17, they engaged id unusual fishing and frolick- 

 ing, and several were The fish we found they had apparently 

 caught through sport, being but slightly mutilated. These 

 we promptly secured and devoted to the coon and mink 

 cause. The succeeding snows we.o accompanied with such 

 freezing that th- lake was sealed with a coating of ice three 

 inches thick, and the otter were forced further down the 

 creek to open: water. To capture these animals, excepting 

 the otter, is only a matter of slight skill and ordinary exer- 

 cise ; therefore the liberal compensation and sport we derive 

 from the time and labor speutis quite satisfactory and we do 

 not regret the venture. 



The weather so far this winter is of uncommon severity, 

 and still continues, having had only a few pleasant days, and 

 is In fact a grand exception to tlic generality of Southern 

 Winters, and is better suited to more northern latitudes. This 

 inclemency will accordingly enhance the value of onr furs, 

 which will substantiate the saying, "What is one's loss is an- 

 other's gain. Walter D. Childress. 



Wegt Point, Arkansas, Jan.19. 



Tf.axsi'oktinCt Oct of BSk^ffs-—. Rockland, Me., Jan. 21. — 

 I wrote you that the Game Warden here had seized three 

 carcases of deer while being shipped to Boston. A Iter [lay- 

 ing for trucking, tel graph and legal advice, the warden has 

 restored them to the express company who were carrying 

 them, learning that some of our judges had decided that if 

 it could be proved that the deer were killed before the first 

 of January they were not liable, to seizure, although the law 

 Section C, Chapter 50, 1878: "No person 

 sport from place to place in this State the 

 any part thereof, of any such animal dur- 

 of lime in which the killing of such animal is 

 jer a penalty of $4(1." So a man can go to 

 kill them all, and send them to Boston. 'The 

 it trouble them ; it cost him too much to seize 



ids like this 

 shall carry or t 

 carcass or hide, 

 ing the period 

 prohibited, urn 

 a yard of deer, 

 warden will 



these, and if a man brings twenty deer to the boat and say_ 

 he shot them in Decemqer and has had them frozen is the. 



woods, the. warden" will not try to prove that they were shot 

 in January. So much for the game law of Maine. Citizen. 



The law of 1878, quoted by our correspondent, has not 

 been changed. It still holds good. The warden should 

 have held on to the deer. This is the law as it appears in 

 the conipend furnished by Commissioners Smith and Stil- 



well. 



», -«>.—« 



HUNTING WITH DANIEL WEBSTER. 



Putnam, Cosn., Jan. 17. 



IN the winter of lM-lo-'M deer were quite plenty in Ply- 

 mouth woods. The Hon. Daniel Webster was then at 

 Marshfield. "Word was sent to him that the Kingston gang 

 was going on a deer hunt, the day before TliaJlksgiViflg, ■■■ il S 

 invitation for him to join us, and all were to meet at the old 

 naxing place at Smelt Pond, at sunrise, sharp. Ity s o'clock His 

 Honor appeared with a. gentleman friend; and SaUi lei and 

 Waldo P., Uncle Thomas 15. en I m\ I al her and myself. We 

 all had old-fashioned King's arniSj p irei ssicmedj except Mr, 

 Webster and friend, who bad double guns. It Was a fine 

 frosty morning and our parly lively. We had Uv<> good hounds. 

 Samuel and Waldo were to take the hounds aud drive Wat- 

 Bon's Valley. Uncle Tom was to drive over and take Nick's 

 Bookstand. The rest of us were to hurrj oyer to the Carver 

 road aud string out at the guide board crossing. We had 

 scarcely reached our places bcfoie v.;.- heard the welcome 

 voices of the hounds in full cry, and soon the thundering 

 echoes of two King's arms at tile head of Watson's Valley, 

 and then echoing down the valley came Whoop : oh '. WTioop- 

 oh ! Look out, lookout! The hounds were coining directly to- 

 ward ns I soon detected something coming down the blind 

 road at my right and when within forty yards It Stopped be- 

 hiuda bush. I shot at the fellow that I saw, When aftnosl 

 immediately two deer came out of the bushes at my left and 

 crossed the road within a few yards or me. My father, who 

 | stood on iiiv right, and Mr. Webster and friend, who stood 

 at my left) all tired aud one deer fell. 1 ran inlo the woods 

 where I had shot and, not finding anything, returned, found 

 that Mr. Webster and friend had jumped Into their wagon 

 anil ran their horse to West Pond road to intercept the oilier 

 deer at the crossing, as the dogs had cone on in track of the 

 other deer. Father advised me to hurry on aud he would 

 stay there with the dead deer and wait for Sam and Waldo 

 to come up. Uncle Tom had come up and kept, on in his 

 carriage toward West Pond, and while he was driving the 

 deer came within gunshot and he shot at it from bis wagon, 

 The deer, slightly "wounded, now came back directly toward 

 the guide-board crossing again. I, hearing the dogs, hurried 

 back. The deer jumped into th road some niceiy yards off 

 and we all tired. The deer fell but gained his feet and 

 bounded away, i'iilliiio at every jump. Running up the road 



old mare overtook and shot the deer. We now T yv hooped up 

 all hands and bad a joyful lunch, washing it down with 



soaicthh^ -nod from Mr Websrei's lunch basket. We uow 

 concluded to start for home, as it was about 3 o'clock. We 

 decided that Mr. Webster aud his friend had shot the buck 

 and my father had shot the doe. Mr Webster gave us a dol- 

 lar each and he and his friend took the buck, which was a 

 ice pne, and Bather gave [he other two men fifty cents each 

 and took the doe, 1 as three rjf ns were at my father's. 1, feel- 

 ing a little dissatisfied with my Best shot, took one of the 

 hounds and went up the blind road where I first shot. The 

 hound, snuffing around, soon fou> d a large red fox dead 

 within I en feet of where I shot at him. W r e now took our 

 bells from our wagon boxes aud returned home jinsling, as 

 was tits custom if successful. G. F. W. 



THE DUTCHESS COUNTY LAW. 



WITH many others of your readers I have taken great 

 interest ill the good work you are doing in bringing: 



together the farmers and" sportsmen. 



Your plan applies to the river counties as well as to Long 

 Island. 



I send you a game law that we have been fortunate enough 

 to have passed by I he Supervisors of Dutchess County. We 

 have two gentlemen in tire Board— one a devoted amateur of 

 the gun, the other of the rod— to whom I am indebted for 

 the inclosed copy ; if is the same that has been for some time 

 in force in fie county of Ulster and has been found there of 

 much service. 



We hope that some of our sister counties may adopt it next 

 year and that we shall then be enabled to protect our game 

 from the annual incursions of professional gunners, encour- 

 aged in their unholy work by the marketmenof youruietrop- 



Besides giving the game no rest, even upon Sunday, and 

 not infrequently mistaking a chicken for his wilder cousin, 

 the ruffed grouse, they bring sportsmen into such discredit 

 by their unsportsmanlike behavior dial, in parts of our neigh- 

 boring country the sight, of a stranger with dog and gun has 

 the same effect on the farmer as a red flag would have upon 

 his bull. Nemo. 



Otuunaxce No. 8. 

 An Act for the further protection of birds aud game in the County 

 of Outclass. 



The Board of Supervisors of the County of Dutchess, at their 

 annual meeting, held at then rooms m the city of Poughkeepaio, 

 in said county, on the seventeenth uav Of December, 1B80, pursu- 

 ant to the power vested in them by Suction 37 of uu net of the Lep.is- 

 lature of the State of New York, passed June. 211, 1K7'J, Chapter 634, 

 and theact aiiieiidaiury flicrctu. passed iVIay 31, JHSO, do enact and 

 ordain as follows : 



Sectiox 1. No person or persons. Bit-bar resident or non-resident 

 of the County ol" Dutchess, shall, alter the passage of thJB act, 

 take or kill in any manner, within the limits of said County of 

 Dutches-, auv woodcock, 'quail, bare or rabbit, squirrel, ruffed 

 grouse, commonly patted partridge, meadow lark, snipe, rail or 

 wild duck for the purpose of selling or marketing the same, or for 

 any fee, hire, or reward from another, for the taking or killing any 

 of said birds or game for such other person ; nor shall any person, 



spt than 



by absolute 

 mentioned I 

 County of I 



rthe 



laid 



ration shall aid or 

 ■ausportmg, either 

 • cemie for the pur- 

 ■en taken or killed 



8ec. 4. Any and every person, company or corporation violating 

 any of the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty of 

 t iveuty-nva dollars for each offense : all penalties to bo recovered, 

 execution enforced and proceeds applied m the same manner as 

 proiifled tor m Section 33, Chapter 53±, of the Laws of 1S79, for 

 the recovery and enforcement of the penalties mentioned in. said 

 act. 



r last, ft 



i.lenf 



tday, a 



with 



if the ! 



candid expression ( 

 merits aud demerit 

 of the association has 1 



or killed within the limits of said county during the month of Au- 

 gust in any year (except tied, squyrroic may be lulled during said 

 month by the owner of any fruit or grain if in the act of destroying 

 the same), 



THE GAME LAW AMENDMENTS. 



THE following correspondence has been handed to us 

 for publication : 



The Long Island Sportsmen's Association,) 

 Beooxlin, N. Y., Feb. 7. J 

 lion. Robert B. Roosrvei/t: 



My Dear Sir— Herewith 1 send you a copy of the " New 

 York Market and Index Journal," containing proceedings of 

 the Long Islaud Sportsmen's Association at the annual mect- 

 c new gome law proposed by its 

 la) report stating chang s. As 

 ciatiou, 1 am anxious to receive a 

 n from you and others as to the 

 bill. An. unfavorable impression 

 created by an editorial of the 

 Forest and Stream, followed by your ciicular through our 

 mutual friend John B. Sage. 



On Friday next, 7 i\ m., at the Brooklyn Music Hall, 

 Royal Arcanuui Koom, corner Flatbush avenue aud Fulton 

 street, Brooklyn, the bill is to be open for free discussion. It 

 may contain some unwise provisions, but 1 feel sure it pos- 

 sesses some valuable features. It is specially desired that 

 you and other members of the New York I ity Associaion 

 should be present and give us the benefit of your experience. 

 If this be impossible, may we not have a written communi- 

 cation from you on the subject. 



It seems to me that we who hold the interests of Ihe State 

 Association for this, the first year in which this section of the 

 State is to be honored with a'convention, should endeavor to 

 prove incorrect the statement that the association has degen- 

 erated, aud should do all the reasonable service in our power 

 to obtain a game law equally fair to all classes. If we suc- 

 ceed, I firmly believe stability will result, and the prohibi- 

 tions be enforced by common consent, as certainly as is pos- 

 sible with any penal legislation. 

 I have the honor to be yours truly, Abel Crook. 



F-KBKEABY 8. 



Abei. Cuook, Esq., Secretary Long Island Sportsmen's Asso- 

 ciation : 



Dear Sir — I acknowledge the receipt of a copy of "The 

 New York Market Index and Journal," containing the pro- 

 ceedings of the Long Island Sportsmen's Association in ref- 

 erenced the game law, and also your letter requesting "a 

 candid expression of opinion as to the merits or demerits of 

 the bill." I will lay the proposed law before, the New York 

 Association for the Protection of Game at its next meeting, 

 on Monday night, when it will probably be fully discussed. 



Replying to your letter as an individual, I regret to say 

 1 see little besides demerit in all the important changes pro- 

 posed. It is probably without intention aud only through 

 the inexperience of those having the mutter in hand that, 

 these changes arc made wholly for the protection, not of the 

 game, but of the illegal vender of game. 



No one — not even the honest sportsman— requires the aid 

 of the law against the dealer who sells out of season so much 

 as the honest dealer, whose trade may be injured because a 

 less scrupulous person in the same business has game for 

 sale which he cannot conscientiously sell. The inexperience 

 of your committee is shown by their retaining all the incon- 

 gruities and inconsistencies of the present law, and most 

 conspicuously iu paragraph eighteen, which, by mistake of 

 the engrossers, or in some other way, says precisely the con- 

 trary to what it means and transposes the open and close 

 seasons and which, nevertheless, with its manifest blunder, 

 your committee has retained verbatim. 



The principal changes you suggest are: Firstly, that the 

 purchaser shall be equally guilty in law with the sel.er (il- 

 though he is not in morals) so a3 to close his mouth as a iS n- 

 ness against the real criminal; seco dly, that, a dishonest 

 dealer must be convicted of " wilfully " having the prohib- 

 ited game in possession, although what is the legal meaning 

 of the word " wilful " and what proof is required to Sustain 

 its allegation I do not know ; thirdly, the penalties are so 

 changed that many pending suits would have to be discon- 

 tinued. I know of no reason for such changes and do nDt 

 mean to imply that your committee have suggested them 

 '•wilfully," but attribute them to the same inexperience 

 which, as you said in nominating your President, "knew 

 nothing of the workings of the State Association for the Pro- 

 tection of Game till two years ago." Finally, you propose 

 that the dishonest dealer may escape liability, even after suit 

 brought, by surrendering bis illegal game to an officer to be 

 appointed by the State Association expressly to relievo him 

 from punishment. 



1 think I need say no more to a body of sportsmen, al- 

 though my objections are founded on a very hasty examina- 

 tion of the proposed changes, but this I will add, no one de- 

 sires to convict a dealer who innocently or iguorantly re- 

 ceives game out of season which he has not ordered, and no 

 such case has to my knowledge, ever been prosecute. i. The 

 New York City Association has, practically speaking, carried 

 on all the prosecutions iu this part of the State for infractions 

 of the game law, and has not only never brought any unfair 

 prosecutions, but has shown every liberality with the purpose 

 of winning as I think it has now the confidence and support 

 of the honest dealers, and if any legislation is needed for the 

 protection of the latter it will unite with them most freely to 

 obtain it. 



I do not elaborate my objections because I suppose I am 

 sptcaking through you to gentlemen who understand the sub- 

 ject aud can appreciate anil if necessary explain them. 



Yours very respectfully, Robeet B, Roosevelt. 



St. Andrew's Ba.y— Cedar Keys, Fla., June 25, 1880.— 

 Notes of a six weeks' hunt on St. Andrew's Bay and its 

 tributaries in the months of January and February— My boy 

 Jim, two dogs and myself arrived at my camps on Big 

 Sandy Creek, up East Bay, January 10. This creek is about 

 fifteen miles from the entrance of the bay. St. Andrew's is 

 a beautiful sheet of water, entirely land locked, with plenty 

 of water for large vessels to enter, there being eighteen feet 

 on the outer bar. It is one if not the best and safest harbor 

 for both large and small vessels we have on the (lull coast of 

 this State. There are three arrhs to this bay, known as the 

 North, East and "West Bays, The scenery here is different 

 from any part of East or South Florida— very picturesque 



