170 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Maboh 81, 1881. 



made up was; never appreciated more than the hunter's bough bed 

 and smoky woolen blanket. That's the was rath woods life — the 

 hardor tho time tho greater the pleasure 'after it is over with. 

 Supposing yon boys, when you are camping out iu the summer, 

 could go out any day and catch all tho fiRh you wanted, how long 

 would it be before you would not care a snap for fishing 'I If you 

 oould go out any night and shoot a deer, vou would never havo 

 a touch of the buck fever. It is the uncertainty of wood life that 

 makes men have a passion for it. It is the working for the game 

 that makes it worth having. It is tho hard times that make the 



genuine good ones, and the head-winds that ruako us appreciate 

 le fair ones. 



MT LAST MOOSE. 



3X NED BUNTLINE. 



OUR ROCHESTER LETTER. 



FOR a day or two past the sun has been shining with a 

 little warmer beam on this part of Uncle Sam's dominion 

 than has been the case since October, and the cheerful effect 

 ib visible not less among sportsmen than with other mortals. 

 Sportsmen, as such, may be said to have gone into winter 

 quarters with the first snow and remained iu a state of hiber- 

 nation until now. They are stirring themselves a little of 

 late fo the extent of discussing the prospects and making 

 ready for next year. 



The Monroe County Sportsmen's Club held its annual 

 meeting on Friday and re-elected the officers of last year, 

 viz., President, W. J BapCOCk; Vice-President, Jas. H. 

 Brown ; Secretary and Treasurer, L. A. Pratt. The report 

 of the secretary showed the club to be in a very satisfactory 

 condition, financially and otherwise. It has eig'hty members 

 is good standing, is out of debt and there is about $800 in 

 the treasury. As the club is one of the oldest in the United 

 States, it is also, as you see, among the most prosperous. A 

 report was presented showing the disposition made of 188 

 migratory quail imported by the club last spring. Aaron 

 Brownell stated that some of the birds that he placed on a 

 farm in the country raised families and remained until late 

 in the fall, becoming quite tame. I was able to say that at 

 least one pair sent by me to the farm of a friend raised a 

 brood of fourteen, while another pair were uesting when a 

 mowing machine interfered with their family arrangements. 

 I sent out onlyfive pair. 



A correspondent of one of your contemporaries reported to 

 his paper last week that the native quail in this county had 

 been all killed by the cold of the past winter. Now 1 am 

 happy to know that he is much mistaken aud that instead of 

 the native Bob White having suffered severely this winter he 

 fared much better than might, have been expected. There 

 are a largo proportion of men iu this county who shoot, and 

 the wonder is that a quail or grouse at all is left, but there 

 are a few still and I do not And that any were winter killed 

 tliis season. There is a movement on foot to get a stock from 

 the West or South, liberate them in the spring aud shoot 

 them in the fall, and then, if necessary, replace them with 

 another supply from out of the State next season. At its last 

 meeting the Monroe County Club paid $')<j to a lawyer for de- 

 fending Game Constable Schwartz (recently "re-elected 

 by a majority of 18,000). As the officer's services are 

 almost wholly devoted to prosecuting violations of the fish 

 law some of the men who fish very little and shoot very much 

 are inclined to protest against expending money in tho fishing 

 interest exclusively and ask that, the shooting members be not 

 overlooked. The club will probably, if they ask it, put some 

 money in to got Western quail. There is some inclination to 

 laugh at the migratory quail experiment because it has not 

 proved itself a complete success in oue season. But, as 

 "Rome was not built in a day," neither can we expect to see 

 the quail as numerous in this country after liberating a few 

 score as they were when the children of Israel had them on 

 toast three times a day. In speaking of quail, a fact comes 

 to mind that 1 have never seen in print and, taken in connec- 

 tion with your suggestion to import European partridges, is 

 of interest. The European partridge, at least that breed of 

 themiound in Ireland, has a call very much resembling that 

 of the American quail or Bob White. I never heard the 

 partridge utter its call, but from the description of it given by 

 my father I should think the birds would be mistaken for one 

 another by the sound. He taught me how to make a partridge- 

 call with which I have been able to closely imitate the Bob 

 White, and as sonic of your readers may be curious to know 

 how to construct it, here is the plan. Take a metal tube 

 about an inch long and of the same diameter and on one end 

 bind a piece of parchment. Run a horse-hair through the 

 centre of the parchment or drawn head, knotting it inside the 

 tube to prevent drawing out Then rnb the thumb aud fore- 

 finger iu rosin and draw the horse-hair through them, if you 



draw at right inter vals thus: , you will 



produce a sound precisely like that of the Irish partridge, 

 American boys may recognize in the Irish partridge-call the 

 original of the American "Devil's Fiddle," an instrument of 

 torture abhorred of all men. 



By the way, if you were to invite some of your readers in 

 Ireland to send an occasional letter from the Emerald Isle 

 they would be read with interest by many iu America and 

 other parts of the world, for not only is there some of the 

 best trout and salmon fishing there, but fheshootirjg is, or was 

 forty years ago, sis good as any of us could wish. It is not 

 as long ago as that since I was there and left before I could 

 put any gun save a pop-gun to my shoulders. But my father 

 tells me that gray plover and snipe fairly swarmed there in 

 the winter, duck and brant were in clouds along the coast and 

 on the lakes, while quail, grouse and partridges were abun- 

 dant on the farm lands. I have heard similar facts from others 

 who came from the land of the red setter and wolf dog. It is 

 not so strange that the natives left such a land with regret. 

 I was speaking lately to one of the lessees of a fishing preserve 

 or privilege on the famous Caledonia or Spring Creek in this 

 county, and on asking him what was the prospect for trout 

 fishing this season he heaved a sigh and said the prospect was 

 good for the tackle makers, but bad for the lovers of a full 

 creel. They put a lot of California mountain trout, in the 

 stream and they flourish in it, but so gamy are they that the 

 extremely line tackle used for taking the native trout, cannot, 

 hold the Californians which broke away easily last year and 

 promise to part cables this season, as they have increased in 

 size amazingly. Rokehy 



New Yoke — Chittenango, March 18. — Robins and bluebirds 

 are thick with us now and have beeu for the past week. 

 Partridges are quite plenty this spring; we thought they were 

 killed by the cold weather, but they are all right.— S. E. S. 



I HAVE killed moose in New Brunswick, Canada and 

 Maine. I cannot call to mind just, now how many, but, 

 a fair lot of them. 1 got treed by a bull moose that I wounded 

 at very close quarters up iu Aroostook County once, and as I 

 dropped my gun to get up the tree I had to stay in that tree 

 a whole afternoon before the old cuss bled down to a weak- 

 ness which enabled me to descend and finish the job for him. 



My last moose was killed in the lower part of Lake Uto- 

 wana at a place we called the "Narrows." I had been down 

 to the Raquette on a little "tear," with some Boston boys 

 who were camped on the island that Parson Murray afterward 

 appropriated, and had spent a jolly day, audit was late when 

 I made the short cut from Marion Prince into Utowana— a 

 good deal nearer midnight, than sunset. 



I was alone, had my pet rifle (a double-barrelled muzzle- 

 loader) with me— the Colt was the only breech-loader of that 

 day, so far as I remember. Coming on the lake, it was so 

 quiet and still, I thought I would light the jack which was 

 always carried in a forward locker of the boat and try for a 

 deer among the lily pads ou the left shore. 



So getting i be jack ready, I laid in my oars, put my rifle in 

 reach and paddled on up, sitting far enough forward to trim 

 boat properly. It is a poor way to fire-hunt alone, but I have 

 done it more than once — but not always succesfully. 



To take in a dripping paddle, lay it down without noise, 

 lake up a rifle and tire from a boat moving bow on to game 

 close at, hand is ticklish work. If you don't believe it, try it 

 on ! 



1 had got just abreast of a sharp point making in from the 

 right hand side of the lake forming the "Narrows," when I 

 heard a splash and the crunch of leaves in a cove to my left. 



To turn the boat head on to the cove, give it, two of three 

 powerful lifts with the paddle, then let the latter float off in 

 the water astern while the boat shot swiftly forward was the 

 work of scarcely a second. 



Then my hands, free from the paddle, were reached out for 

 the rifle, for already the blaze of my reflecting jack lamp 

 showed the lily pads before me. 



An instaut later I saw a huge moose and two bright eye- 

 balls not an oar's length awa}'" and cocking both barrels I let 

 drive — a snap shot — quick as thought. 



Jerusalem, what a plunge ! The water and mud flew all 

 over me as the bout moved on and the huge bulk made two 

 or three staggering plunges aud fell iu the tluck brush a rod 

 or two in-shoi e. 



Taking out my oars I backed out and picked up my paddle 

 and then pulled in. 



Taking my jack-lamp I went cautiously in, but there was 

 no danger. The moose was stone dead. Both balls had gone 

 nearly the whole length of him, as I found out when we 

 dressed him in the morning. He was shot so fairly in the 

 throat that no knife could have bled him better, though I did 

 Cut a gash crosswise, just to show that I understood my busi 

 ness. 



1 think Si Bennett was up at Eagle's Nest then, and if so, 

 it was him I woke a little before day to go down with me 

 after my game. 



Moose were veiy rare then. I think Chauncey Hathorne 

 killed two after that, and 1 saw tracks three or four times 

 later, on the hills, when still-hunt ng. But I have never 

 pulled trigger on a moose since that night. Elks, antelope 

 and buffalo in the Far West have had many a call from me 

 since then, but none of them are more lordly as game, or 

 worse to tackle when half killed than an old bull moose. A 

 few can yet be found iu Maine, plenty in the northern for- 

 ests Of New Brunswick and Canada, but 1 doubt if there are 

 twenty left in the entire State of New York, and thirty years 

 ago they were so plenty iu our North Woo Is that they were 

 killed for then hides aud tallow. 



The first name given to the beautiful sheet of water which 

 I named Eagle Lake, next below Blue Mountain Lake, was 



Tftllbw Lake." The canoe of a drunken St. Regis Indian, 



bich he capsized there, was full of moose tallow." The red- 

 skin was drowned aud some hunters found the tallow close 



-shore and named the lake after the find. 



I named the lower lake Utowatm -the Indian name for 

 bright waters— or the Lake of Suushine. The first time I 

 saw it, coming up from Raquette, the sun lu a sheen of 

 golden clouds threw a flood of lovely light upon it. Hence 

 the name, now so well known. 



An insurance company is about to be formed to insure the 

 lives of persons sentenced to be hung. Such good care is ta- 

 ken of them that it will be an extra safe risk. (N. B.— No 

 risk taken in the State of New Jersey.) 



SURROUNDING A SQUIRREL. 



IT has been recently decided by a sporting authority in 

 " Answers to Correspondents" that a man attempting to 

 shoot a squirrel which perpetually finds safety in dodging DC- 

 hind the trunk of a tree upon which it is perched does not go 

 around the squirrel when he has gone completely around the 

 tree. 



This question being thus definitely settled it is well that 

 all should know of the extraordinary difference between 

 squirrels and other animals, for without a doubt, a man go- 

 ing around abarn goes around all the horses and cattle in 

 that barn, q'he same authority answers another correspond- 

 ent who lo.eates his squirrel upon the top of a stump four 

 feet iu diameter, in the centre of which he sits turning slowly 

 so as to keep his head all the while toward the man—" No. 

 By going around the stump ho does not go around the squir- 

 rel." Probably this last questioner might, have thought the 

 tree had something "to do with it. and that sawing it, off 

 might, change the result. It is to be hoped that he is an- 

 swered, aud that now he knows that the matter turns wholly 

 on the nature of squirrels, aud not on any extraneous circum- 

 stances. 



If, for instance, a man should walk entirely around a s^ock 

 farm he would undoubtedly go around all the cattle on that 

 farm, whether they were standing still or m ving, 

 had their heads toward him or their tails, and would 

 even go entirely around the old bull, whether lie was peace- 

 fully grazing or was pawing the earth and bellowing with 

 rage. But if Ihere were any squirrels upon the place he 

 would only go around those who were tmaware of his pres- 

 ence. Again, itis well to remember that a man may go entirely 

 around that upon which a Bquirrel sits, and also arjund the 

 squirrel's head, tail, heart, body, feet — in short, around his 

 centre and circumference, every hair on his body and every 

 atom of his composition, yet not go around the squirrel ; 

 that is, if the squirrel understands himself, and turns slowly 

 iu the direction of the course of the man. If, however, he 

 should be asleep the man would get around him ; and why 

 does it not follow that if an insane or idiotic squirrel should 

 by mistake turn around the wrong way the man; would go 



around him twice by going around the tree once ; and this 

 being so, the faster he turned the more times would the man 

 go around him. 



This opens up a grand vista in the direction of perpetual 

 motion, which is ouly the obtaining of the results beyond 

 the legitimate effect of the power employed ; aud it is mani- 

 fest that the man might, stand altogether still and go around 

 the tree to the right, if the squirrel would only turn once 

 ilowly to the left. Therefore a man engaging in a walking 

 natch, by simply having a trained squirrel in the centre of 

 the race course, will be able to make a record only limited by 

 the endurance of the squirrel. And why not machines upon 

 the same principle in which one squirrel shall develop the 

 practical results of many hundred horse power. Visions of 

 aerial navigation arise as the subject is contemplated, but my • 

 ouly object in this article is to call the attention of all lovers 

 of sportive science to the now established fact, that tie hard- 

 est thing in this world to "get around" is a wide-awake 

 squirrel. " Giroboope. 



New auk, N. J. 



The Onto Game Laws — Akron, O., March 21— Editor 

 Forest and Stream : An item iu one of your recent issues is 

 proof that you know something of the afflictions which Ohio 

 sportsmen suffer at the hands of our legislators. Yet we 

 doubt if yon know, or at least appreciate, the full breadth 

 and depth of the idiocy which inspires them. You truly say 

 that most of our laws on the subject were framed by men 

 who were anxious to do something to convince their con- 

 stituents that they were earning their salaries. You might 

 have added that most of those who have tackled the game 

 laws don't know enough to wrestle with any other subject, 

 and concluded, as the old Dutchman did about his dog, that 

 "he must, be gop't for coons, 'cause there's nodings else he's 

 goot for, under de suns and moons." 



It makes little difference to the Ohio sportsman who does 

 not own the land over which be proposes to hunt whether 

 there is any open season or any game. The trespass law, 

 passed last, winter, is all he needs to know, and if he observes 

 that it, will he very little hunting he will do. This law makes 

 it a misdemeanor to enter upon the premises of another with 

 gun in hand or followed by a dog, and a violation is punisha- 

 ble with fine or imprisonment, or both. The State already 

 had a stringent trespass law, which fully protected every 

 farmer's property, and meted out condign punishment to any 

 stranger who purposely or carelessly injured it. In addition 

 to this, if be objected to hunting on his premises all he had 

 to do was to post a notice to that effect. These laws should 

 have been, and in this section we know were, sufficient,. The 

 subsequent passage of the outrageous law now in force was 

 brought about by a few men, both in and out of the Legisla- 

 ture," who thought to make themselves "solid" with tho 

 Grangers, or Patrons of Husbandry, which is a powerful or- 

 ganization in this Slate. They got, up blank petitions for the 

 law, and got them filled up with the names of tens of thou- 

 sands of patrons by making them believe it was necessary for 

 tin ir protection. Man v members of the Assembly eagerly . 

 embraced the opportunity to conciliate so powerful a class, 

 aud few had enough starch in their spinal columns to with- 

 stand the pressure : so the law was passed. To their credit 

 be it said that but few farmers, even those belonging to the 

 Grange, have shown any disposition to inforce the law against 

 hunters who behave themselves in a becoming manner, and 

 after time for deliberation many, possibly a majority, of 

 those who petitioned for the law would gladly see it repealed. 

 Yet so long as it remains every sportsman goes out with the ' 

 not very comfortable feeling that he is a law-breaker. 



The result is obviouB. On their own premises farmers and 

 their boys trap aud shoot, in or out of season. Many local 

 sportsmen, who took the chances of being arrested as poach- 

 ers, report finding numerous quail traps, and most of the 

 birds sold in our market, during the past season never came 

 to their death by cold lead. This wholesale slaughter was 

 not checked, for who would care to criminate himself for the 

 Bake of punishing some other offender r Sportsmen or shoot- 

 ing clubs have no incentive to protect game which they have 

 no right to hunt. The same spirit is exhibited in regard to 

 the fish in the small lakes which are more abundant in this 

 county than else »bere in Ohio. Spearing, netting and fish- ■ 

 iug through the ice arc indulged in b} r all who choose, with- 

 out fear of prosecution. 



If we had laws in Ohio which were reasonably effective 

 for the preservation of game I should be, as Foukst and j 

 Stream expressed itself, in favor of letting them alone. , 

 Now, 1 feel very indifferent as to the amount of tinkering 

 done, hoping that they may blunder into something that will I 

 be bctier than the present laws for the encouragement of 

 game extermination. Pork. 



>od, March 15. -When I 

 were four or live quail 

 .mrlcsans (see Web. Die.) | 

 lc-ssly cry aloud for some 

 !e." I thought I would 

 m dear old Tilestmi and 

 let up an establishment. 

 id all the bright, summer 

 patch my dogs (lush the 

 th the greatest aatisfac- 



Bi-oicr in New Jersey Englei 

 came here, some years ago, ihei 

 about the country. These vulgar 

 used to sit on the fences and Shan 

 dissolute person called "Bob Wli 

 go in for spoM, 1 bought a gim fro 

 a brace of dogs to match, aud thus 5 

 I used to feed the quail all winter at 

 afternoons I used to go out aud w 

 votmt: coveys and turn tail to shot v 



tion. 1 did" expect, great, things when " the season " should 

 open. Alas! for a week before that event I lived in an at- 

 mosphere of 4th of July. It was "pop, bang! bang, pop !" 

 till my wife cried with nervousness and my poor sellers 

 nearly starved to death under the barn. Twas the pot-hun- 

 ter abroad in the land. There were myriads of them Spe- 

 cial railway trains brought, them from every direction. 

 Whole companies of German Yaegers, with beautiful canvas 

 garments and bright green gun-straps and dark red sausages 

 swarmed at every station. "I couldn't take a seat in a ear 

 without, looking down the muzzle of a blunderbuss. On the 

 morning of the 1st I got up early and put, up three scattering 

 quail, but I did not dare to shoot, for fear of peppering a 

 sportsman. They were behind every tree and under every 



grass and repos- 

 oo, I found that 

 ist, was a sports- 



80 Ihat the few 

 nldn't fly acroEB a 

 i tattei 



bush aud lying on their stomachs in the I 

 ing on their knees in the swamps. The 

 the doctor was a sportsman, and the t 

 man, and the postmaster was a sportsn 

 poor quail that did escape the pot-hunter coi 

 five-acre lot iu season without being bio' 

 once and multiplied bv seveu next day. Thank the Lord the 

 winter and the hawks havo killed them all off this year. I 

 hear no reports of any coveys in this section save a few that 

 have been fed by the' railroad employes (they are all sports- 

 men, too), and they note the disappearance of many bunches 

 seen along the line of the track early in the winter ' I think 

 seven-tenths of the native birds must have perished, and the 

 occupation of the pot-hunting Othello is gone — hereabouts 

 at least.— F. 8. P. 



