THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



[Entered According to Act of Congress, In the year 1SS1, by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, In the Office ol the Librarian ot Congress, at Washington.] 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1881. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial :— 



Where Socio Game Goes To ; Death of Mr. L. H. Abbey ; 

 BritiBh vs. American Troop ; The America Gup ; Notes . . . . 123 



The Spobtsman Tourist :— 



Uncle 'Lishaa's Spring Gun ; A Trip Through the Provinces ; 

 October Reveries , 124 



Natural Historx:— 



Snali.es— Facta and Fables \ Whistling to the Squirrels and 

 Birds ; A Winter Resident in Pennsylvania : Spring in 

 Minnesota 128 



Game Bag and Gun ■■— 



In East Tennessee ; A Sporting Reminiscence of the War ; The 

 Departing fllurv of Mr.ntauli , Whii-l Pswmcs of the Game ; 

 Hunting RilleH ; Flight of Rille Balls ; CarelesB Handling 

 of Firearms ; General News 127 



Sea and Riveb Fishing : — 



A Summer Fishing Trip ; Bobbing for Eels ; Trip to Mada- 

 waska Lake and its Sources ; Suckers; General News ... . 131 



Fish Culture :— 



Deep Sea Fishing 132 



The Kennei. :— 



Tte Beagle ; The Bench-Legged Beagle : Jockeying at Field 

 Trials : New York Dog Show ; Notes from Abroad ; Beagle 

 1'i'izes ; Kennel Notes 133 



Riti.e and Tbap Shooting ! — 



Range and Gallery ; The Trap 136 



Yachting and Canoeing :— 



Yachting News ; The Sweep of Reform ; Rushton Canoes ; 

 Sharpies and Keels , General News 136 



Answers to Correspondents 138 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



The Forest and stream is the recognized medium ol entertainment, 

 Instruction and information between American sportsmen. 



Qommuntcations upon the subjects to which its pages are devoted 

 are Invited from every part of the country- 

 Anonymous communications will not ne regarded. No correspond- 

 ent's name will be published except with his consent. 



The Editors cannot be held responsible tor the views of correspond- 

 ents. 



All communications of whatever nature should be addressed to the 

 Forest and Stream Publishing Company, Nos. 39 and 40 Park Eow, 

 New York. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Thursday, march 17. 



WHERE SOME GAME GOES TO. 



NO one whose attention has not been specially called to 

 the subject is likely to appreciate the rapidity with 

 which the g mic of North America is being destroyed. The 

 practical extermination of the buffalo has already taken place, 

 though, as will be seen below, there are still enough left in 

 the Northern herd to make the destruction of these animals 

 for their hides a profitable pursuit. 



We bave time aud again called attention to the sickening 

 slaughter of the buffalo, which has for years been taking 

 place in the West, and have urged the protection of the largest 

 of our American mammals by national legislation. Ten 

 years ago adequate laws might have preserved the buffalo. 

 Now no legislation can have that effect. Ten years ago 

 buffalo were plenty in Kansas, Colorado, the Indian Terri- 

 tory, parts of Nebraska, and in many other portions of the 

 West. To-day, except for a few scattering animals, they 

 are extinct in the United States everywhere except in Texas 

 and Montana. How long they will continue to exist in 

 Montana each reader can judge for himself byreading the ex- 

 tract from the St. Paul Pioneer Press which we print below: 



Your special correspondent, on the train to-day from this 

 place to Fargo, met a gentleman just from Miles City, Mon- 

 tana, where he had been for the past four months buying 

 furs. He left Miles City the 14th instant, and came over- 

 land on a buckboard to Bismarck, as all trains on the North- 

 ern Pacific west of the Missouri River have been abandoned 

 on account of snow. The firm he represents has bought 

 18,000 buffalo hides during the fall and winter, and he says 

 83,000 have been purchased by the buyers at Miles City 

 during tlie past fall and winter, and the number cannot pos- 

 sibly ever be bought again in one season, as they have been 



slaughtered by the wholesale. The gentleman referred to is 

 one of the largest fur dealers in Michigan, and for the past 

 five years has been pushing to the front in the fur trade, and 

 saysthe buffalo are becoming extinct at a rapid rate, aud 

 gives it as his opinion that, of the 80,000 killed near Miles 

 City this season all but 20,000 were slaughtered for their 

 hides alone. Although the law of Montana prohibits the 

 killing of buffalo for their hides only, this wholesale slaughter 

 continues, and to those on the extreme front it is quite a source 

 of revenue, as the hides have brought this season from $2 25 

 to $2 75 each. 



There are still a few of the so-called mountain buffalo in 

 North Park aud in the Yellowstone National Park, and it is 

 really on these that our hopes for keeping alive this magnifi- 

 cent race in North America depend. The Yellowstone Park 

 is a Government reservation, and we believe that it is con- 

 trary to law to hunt on it. By the appointment of half a 

 dozen game wardens to patrol the park the game now there 

 could be preserved forever. 



Not less disheartening than the destruction of our large 

 game is that of the birds. Quail, prairie chickens, ducks 

 au d turkeys are shipped each year from this country to Europe 

 in quantities that seem almost beyond belief. A letter from 

 our correspondent, Mr. D. G. Elliott, the ornithologist, calls 

 attention to this subject, and the clipping from a newspaper 

 given below emphasizes what he says. Little comment is 

 needed on the state of things represented to exist. Each 

 sportsman can read and draw his own conclusions. Here 

 it is: 



Every year tbis country auguments its exports to the Old 

 World. One of the recent shipments to Europe is wild game 

 from the West, the trade having assumed considerable pro- 

 portions. The principal points of shipment are naturally 

 Chicago and St. Louis. It is roughly estimated that the 

 business for the present year in the former city will be about 

 $1,250,000 to $1,500,000, and in the totter much in excess of 

 $1,1)00,000. A single firm in St Louis has already filled an 

 order for the London market for 1,600 dozens of quail, 1,700 

 dozens of prairie chickens and 700 dozens of wild turkeys. 

 The birds were closely packed in barrels and put in charge 

 of the stewards of the transatlantic steamers. Ordinarily 

 the bulk of shipments is delivered fresh and sound. The 

 present winter is reported to be very favorable to the pro- 

 curement, of game at the West owing to the unusual fall of 

 snow. Venison has been remarkably plenty there. It is al- 

 so shipped across the sea in small quantities, and dealers are 

 expecting orders for antelope and bear. These are already 

 shipped East, and the demand is growing. A great many 

 English families will have their Christmas and holiday din- 

 ners from American game. Various ( 'hicago and St. Louis 

 dealers say that the wild game trade is yet in its infancy, and 

 predict that before a great while it will reach at least $10,- 

 000,000 a year. 



Now, if one firm does this amount of business, how much 

 is done by all the game trade of the United Stales, and how 

 long will the country be able to bear this sort of thing, and 

 still have enough left for the sportsmen ? Such a state of 

 things would be remedied by a law prohibiting the exporta- 

 tion of wild game from our ports, and this might bo backed 

 bylaws in each State forbidding the exportation of game be- 

 yond their borders. Such laws would probably be very 

 strongly opposed by a certain portion of the community, but 

 is it not necessary that something should be done for the pro- 

 tection of our game ? As long as the exportation of game 

 is going on on such a stupendous scale the time and money 

 expended by the friends of protection can avail but little to 

 increase the supply of our birds. We credit the workers in 

 the cause of game protection with a great deal of charity, but 

 we do not believe that they are willing to labor as they have 

 been doing simply to swell the pockets of the dealers i 

 game. What are the sportsmen going to do about it ? 



Death of Mr. L. H. Abbet. — We record with sorrow the 

 death of Lorenzo Harris Abbey, of the wall known firm of 

 Abbey & Imbrie, manufactures and dealers in fishing tackle 

 at 48 Maiden Lane, New York. 



Mr. Abbey was for a long time a well-known angler. He 

 was in his fifty-ninth year, and for the past three years his 

 health has been so bad that he has devoted himself almost 

 entirely to angling, and in the hope that the climate of 

 Florida would benefit him he went there on February 26, 

 but without avail. He died at Jacksonville on the 15th of 

 th s month, of hydro-thorax. Mr. Abbey was for ten years 

 a clerk of the old firm of Andrew Clerk & Co., and was after- 

 ward admitted as a partner in the concern, where he remained 

 for four years until it was succeeded by the present firm, 

 January 1, 1875. 



BRITISH vs. AMERICAN TROOP. 



r^ EN. HANCOCK, the new President of the National 

 V_T Rifle Association, has an opportunity for a grand move- 

 ment in rifle matters if he can and will only improve it. If 

 he can manage to bring together teams of American and British 

 soldiers in such a match as that for the Hilton Trophy he 

 will revive interest in rifle matters and gain credit for him- 

 self and the association of which he is the head — a fair test 

 between our Springfield system and the Martini-Henry 

 weapons of the British army. Five years ago, to propose such 

 a match on behalf of the regulars of the United States would 

 have been to place them in a position for sure and positive 

 defeat. The weapon was as good then as now, but the. men 

 were not able to use it ; and this deficiency Gen. Hancock 

 was the first among army officers of prominence to discover. 

 It was due to his encouragement tbat the regulars made their 

 appearance at Creedmoor ; and the Division of the Atlantic 

 has made some creditable showings at Creedmoor several 

 seasons before the other military divisions of the country were 

 represented by teams. It would, therefore, be entirely fit and 

 proper that the Major-General wko taught the whole army 

 how to shoot should appear now as the champion of that 

 force against the similar bodies of other countries. It would 

 he exceedingly difficult to found any reliable estimate of the 

 outcome of such a match. The Hilton Trophy provides for 

 shooting at 200, 500 and 600 yards only. To such low ranges 

 the English shooters would very properly object. The Mar- 

 tini-Henry is a hard-hitting weapon, with charge enough to 

 carry with accuracy up to 1,000 yards. On the Wimbledon 

 Common the second stage of the Queen's Competition is 

 fought with it, and in case of any international team match, 

 the troop armed with that weapon would insist very properly 

 on having it tested to the utmost. The Springfield of the 

 ordinary issue while an excellent mid-range arm would not 

 do good work at the long ranges, nor have the men in the 

 army at the several forts where practice is carried on at- 

 tempted any records at ranges of from 800 to 1,000 yards. 

 With the improved Springfield, however, it would be entirely 

 possible to make a creditable showing at any range which could 

 be covered by the Martini-Henry. 



Of course, there may be trouble in getting two such teams 

 together. Considerable time would be consumed iu unravel- 

 ing the red tape which would surround the proposition ; but 

 that the match would be popular and that it would provoke 

 discussion where it is most needed there can be no doubt. 

 Long-range, small-bore shooting is of interest, in a strictly 

 shooting sense, to a comparatively few. What lias been done 

 in this way has been of great interest to shooters everywhere ; 

 and the lessons of that practive have been taken up by the 

 makers of military arms, so that the matches which we have 

 been having for the past few years have a real bearing on the 

 proposed military match. 



The British rifleman and soldier should be, it strikes us, 

 heartily in favor of such a match. Just now the marksman 

 of Great Britain is under somewhat of a cloud. In small 

 bore work he has tried in various ways to gain a victory over 

 the American shooters, and all he has to his credit is the de- 

 feat of a company of American gun drummers, even if thero 

 be any credit in the routing of the commercial travelers' 

 brigade. There is apparently little disposition on the part of 

 the Britishers to make any further struggle for the long- 

 range championship and the Palma. But Great Britain has 

 an expensive military establishment. For years past rifle 

 instruction has been an important part of the training given 

 her soldiers. To be sure the Boer outbreak seems to be a 

 very recent demonstration that much of the rifle training of 

 the British soldier is of a nominal sort. But the fact remains 

 that, in everything that should make him a superior marks- 

 man, he has had superior advantages to his American fellow 

 in arms. 



If we cannot have a match among the regulars we can at 

 least have one with the militia of this side matched against 

 the volunteers of England. In arms, experience and 

 familiarity with shooting matters this would make a very 

 even contest. Both forces are built up of civiliaus, and in 

 neither case would the men be considered other than ama- 

 teurs in the art of -war. There would be less breaking of 

 precedent in Buch a match, and possibly a great deal less of 

 formality to be circumvented before the men were brought 



