Mat 13,1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



287 



hounds, which were poisoned by still-hunters with whose oc- 

 cupation tin- animals interfered. He considered a score of 

 "?ork for a season. This year, accompanied by a 

 German named Haskins, a resident, he has sent ICO carcasses 

 to rjiarbel. 



5. Those who kill for the market, viz. : farmers and such 

 men as Pinnate, kill the most deer. Of the sportsmen the 

 si ill-hunters are most, successful. The best week's work we 

 i.hn e ever did with dogs was seven. Farmers and residents 

 kill hundreds where non-residents do not slay dozens. 



6. The farmers and sit I! -hunters (I mean the market-hunt- 

 ers) would as the dogs interfere with their system. The 

 farmers have one way of preventing hounding, viz. : poison 

 and buckshot. I have seen them shoot the deer with one 

 bancl and the dog with the second. 



7. The territory is almost too remote to be within the vigi- 

 lant eye of the law. The lakes are so numerous that unless 

 a party consisted of a ftdl company of sixty titles little exe- 

 cution' could be done on water. 



H Open season for dog hunting from 1st September to loth 

 October; for still-hunting, etc., without dogs, from 1st Sep- 

 tember to 1st December. 



9. I have seen little of them in winter time. What 1 saw 

 in that country were yarded in a dry swamp between the 

 hi; Is in a second growth of beeches. — F. 



MICHIGAN. 



1st Mostly in the old pine works where the deer get 

 plenty of feed on browse or second growth ; this bordered 

 with thick cedar swamps and tameraek. 



'id. It is pretty evenly divided. 



Hil. They are driven into the water, where it requires no 

 skill at all 'to kill them. In other words, men kill thein that 

 would scarcely ever get one still hunting. I think it drives 

 them away to some extent, for they leave their old feeding- 

 grounds. . . 



4th. Would not be so destructive if they would observe the 

 close season. The deer are killed all through the winter to 

 supply meat for the lumber camps. A man from one of the 

 camps told me the other day that they killed two deer at 

 their camp this month. 



5th. Market huuters or men who kill them for profit. 

 Residents. _ 



6th. Do not think they would ; but there might be game 

 wardens appointed who would enforce the law. 



7th. That seems to be well thought of. I think it would. 



8lh. Sept. 15th to Dec. 15th. 



m,h. They stay in the swamps after cold weather sets in, 

 and yard when the snow gels deep, say from 30 to 48 inches. 



Mr. Ralph Williams, while hunting last December, saw a 

 deer's back over a log, and supposed it was feeding; he shot 

 at it, and as it neither fell nor ran away, he got a little 

 closer and shot again, killing it, when he found two deer 

 with their horns firmly locked together. The other deer had 

 been dead some lime, as its back was broken. 



The victor had drawn the o her about stxty r rods. Their 

 horns are so firmly locked that they cannot be separated 

 without breaking them. Mr. Williams says they would not 

 weigh less than two hundred pounds each. Saw Dpst. 



Alpena, March 1881. 



A TEXAS GAME COUNTRY. 

 1851— 1881. 



THE following extract from a business letter just received 

 from Caleb Baker, a farmer living at Farmcrsvillc, Col- 

 lin County, Texas, will doubtless be read with much interest 

 by many of your readers Mr. Baker, though quite advanced 

 in veais, has yet 'he true spirit, of the hunter in his soul, and 

 he" not unfrequentlv hitches up his team, stows away his 

 traps and guns, and starts off-" git up, Snip "—on one of 

 those Daniel Boone expeditions, when for a time, at least, he 

 can see no signs of civilization around him to disturb his 

 peace oE mind or mar his quietude. By reference to a coun- 

 tv map of Texas his travels may be pretty nearly traced out. 

 1 see his route lies right over my old "scouting" grounds 

 when after the red-skins in those early days of Texas fron- 

 tier life, which have long since passed away. This renders 

 the account of his 'rip doubly interesting to me, for in it I 

 can trace a faithful narrative, and so indorse the same to 

 your readers. He says : 



"1 have just returned from the extreme borders of civiliza- 

 tion on the head waters of the Colorado and San-Saba rivers, 

 where I went trapping for beaver. I was gone all winter. 

 1 went first to MeKiniiey, thence to Fort Worth on the Tex- 

 ■is and Pacific Railroad. Worth is quite a city now. 

 Thence to Granbury on the Brazos River ; thence to Erath 

 County ihence to" Comanche County; thence to Brown- 

 wood in' Brown County. All of these are very fine agricul- 

 tural counties ; they now abound m vast herds of of cattle, 

 sheep etc. From Brownwood, which is quite a populous 

 place ' I went down Pecon Bayou seven miles, where I put 

 out my traps and caught some beaver. It is a small, clear 

 nrairio stream. I then trapped up the Bayou seventeen 

 miles to the mouth of Gim Ned's Creek. Thence up this 

 creek which is but a small, lovely, clear stream, to Camp 

 Colorado, which is quite a large place, and has a post-office. 

 J then drove across the high, rolling prairie country about 

 twenty-five miles to the Colorado River, where we found 

 plenty of beaver signs, but the weather now turned so cold 

 that we did not do much trapping for them, but remained in 

 camp I went with a two-horse wagon and a span of ponies, 

 and was well supplied with everything I needed. From the 

 l olorado River in Coleman County I went, south over the 

 prairies about forty miles on to the San-Saba River, and 

 thence followed it. up, I rapping as I went, along seventy-five 

 miles and away up into the unsettled and mountainous re- 

 gion near its headwaters. This is a very beautiful, small, 

 clear stream, which heads among the hills and mountains of 

 this truly picturesque and subli me region of country. I lived 

 in camp all the time, and 1113' team fared quite well on the 

 rich and nutricious grasses around the camps. 



"By this time I had to start back, for my time 

 was 'nearly c.pired. Oh, how I regretted it, for I 

 was truly happy in these wild retreats. Here I could 

 commune with nature, and there were none to molest or 

 make afraid I caught of beaver alone fifty-four, and if the 

 winter had been as mild and genial as i scommon, I could 

 have caught, as many as I could have managed. I saw a vast 

 ,,,,.,' ,-,£ thi'-, ■' <'i'i. Jul 1 v:.i.iieti ooyulr, K'-^ ! " lJl '- ■■"-'-' " ; IL ' & . 

 and I wish I could give you some idea of its rich praines, 

 rocks and mountains. lean say, however, that the moun- 

 tains of Western Texas are the roughest that I have ever 

 seen I was brought up from a child at the foot ot the Cum- 

 berland Mountains, but these do not compare with the. moun- 

 tains of Western Texas. There were more wild fowls in 

 these small rivers than I ever saw in any rivers before, such 



as geese, brant and ducks of all kinds. Antelope, deer and 

 turkeys were plenty, with some bears, and the best, fish are 

 abundant in all the streams. I had no trouble to catch them 

 with a hook and line. 1 always had plenty of game in camp, 

 and I often thought of you and wished you were present, to 

 enjoy the scenes. " 



Truly, my kind friend, my heart was with you. Under 

 your I'.'cital it now beats as freely as in 1850-1-2-3 and 4, 

 when T roamed over these same prairies, encamped 

 upOn these same streams, and slept in these same moun- 

 tains. But then all was nature primeval. Not a, hu- 

 man footprint, except that oE "poor Lo" (" yer 

 honor " on his trail), was to be seen in all of this vast 

 upper region of country. And then even, his wily tracks 

 were very few and far between, for they we're those generally 

 made in hot haste, as he was fleeing to' his far-off northern 

 wigwam; while returning from his accustomed forays into 

 the white settlements from below, and driving before him, 

 in full tilt— bow-strung and in war-paint and tea' hers — n lot 

 of stolen horses and mules, and hanging to his belt or strung 

 to his bow the yet bleeding scalp of some helpless woman or 

 innocent child that he had butchered. Such were the fre- 

 quent scenes on these frontiers in those early days of Texas 

 history. 



Little did I then dream that I would live long enough to 

 write the following for the benefit of your readers, viz : 



The Texas and Pacific Railroad is now running as far 

 west as Abilene, in Taylor County, and will soon bo com- 

 pleted to El Paso, on the Rio Grande Kiver. 



This road passes through or near to all the counties men- 

 tioned by Mr. Baker. It runs through a great game region, 

 much of it unsettled, and thus opens up another great thor- 

 oughfare to the tourist, the seeker of health and the sports- 

 man. It may be reached from New York city via Dallas in 

 about seventy-two hours, and at an expense of about sixty 

 dollars. October, November and December are the prime 

 months for sporting and enjoyment in Texas, and truly 

 happy will they be who can enjoy them. H. YV". Mrrkh.l. 



New Rochelte, W. Y. 



SHORE AND INLAND NOTES. 



GAJiR AND GAME PROBPKOT9, 



Philadelphia.— There were a great mauy ducks on the flats 

 near Havre de. Grace, and on the Gunpowder and Bush 

 rivers, but they have evidently paired, and are, ere tins, on 

 their way to their northern breeding grounds. Captain Clay 

 has returned from his trip down the bay, and reports im- 

 mense flocks of snow geese between "Stow" and "Mad 

 Horse," in the neighborhood of Bombay Hook. These fowl 

 have visited the Delaware Bay every spring for the past 

 three years, and during the day reniaiu well out in the bay, 

 resorting to the burned meadows to feed at. night. Captain 

 Clay, observing this, made his blind in one of the meadows 

 or marshes used by the fowl, and cutting out a few decoys 

 from an inch plank, and painting them white, managed to 

 get two shots and kill a number as they came in to feed. 

 -"The trouble was," remarked Captain Clay, "the geese 

 came to me in two great bodies, and having been shot, at 

 would not return. Had they came into the meadows in 

 twenties, or even fifties, I would have had rare sport. There 

 must have been twenty thousand of them, and the noise they 

 made almost deafened me." The fact that these snow geese 

 are visiting our bay every spring should be noted by natural- 

 ists. The natives do not know them, and call them "white 

 geese," and say "they are not fit to eat." The meadows 

 between Mad Horse and Stow creeks show their work in 

 feeding, the grass, for a long distance, having been pulled up 

 by the roots. 



This spring our snipe shooting has been very unsatisfactory, 

 the birds having been restless and frequently shifted then- 

 quarters. We have heard of few pleasurable shoots, the 

 Weather has been so variable when the birds first arrived. 



Lake Sfega-iitic, Quebec, May, 1881.— A half-dozen moose 

 have been killed by parties from this vicinity, ostensibly over 

 the boundary, but, boundaries and lines are little regarded by 

 these gentry, so I comfort myself with the probability that 

 they were Canadian moose after all. Migratory quail are 

 reported to have made their reappearance on the farm of Mr. 

 Sam. Burrell, in Lenuoxville, where they were loosed last 

 season. This is encouraging; — Pbnobsoot. 



Tom's Biver, N. J.— Quail have wintered remarkably well 

 in this section, considering the severity of the weather. Dur- 

 ing the heavy snowstorm the wind blew hard, causing the 

 snow to drift, and leaving many bare spots where birds could 

 feed. Besides they have, in some cases, been fed by the 

 sportsmen. I know of one man who has been feeding two 

 bevies near his house all winter, one of which contains twenty- 

 two birds, the other eighteen. A neighbor who was out a 

 few days since giving his dog a run, found, in walking a dis- 

 tance of about one mile, six bevies, numbering from six to 

 fifteen birds in each.— H. 0, Q. 



Wauxeon, 0. — I do not think the quail have been destroyed 

 to any extent with us by the cold, as plenty of unhusked 

 corn has remained standing, affording the birds plenty of 

 food during the winter. — W. H. H. 



Bhomsbw-y, N. J., April 23.— I have made inquiry during 

 the past three weeks in the southern part of Warren County, 

 Greenwich (including Pohatcong), Frauklin aud Harmony 

 townships, and in eas 1 era Hunterdon County, Bethlehem, 

 Alexandria and Holland townships, which territory includes 

 very fine hunting ground of both valley and hills, and tind 

 that where remnants of coveys were left from last fall there 

 still exists enough for breeding purposes to insure pretty fair 

 shooting next fall, provided the nests are not destroyed by 

 vermin, hawks and crows. Within two miles of this place 

 one gentleman lately saw a covey of twelve fine birds ; 

 another counted twenty-two at another place, undoubtedly 

 two or three remnants together, as when flushed they flew 

 in different directions to their usual haunts. As yet but two 

 have been heard whistling — nothing strauge at this season. 

 Some of our birds must, certainly have peiished, but nothing 

 like the numbers given. What percentage actually did perish 

 can not be ascertained by any one From what I can find 

 out I infer that neither 50, 75 nor 90 per cent, were killed. 

 Woodcock are reported here in fair numbers, and the boys 

 expect to do some tall sweating in July again aud call it 

 "sport." 



Muira, Franklin Co., if. Y., April 25 —The snow is still 

 deep all over the southern part of this county. And sleigh- 

 ing excellent on all roads south of the centre of the eoumy. 

 The ice on the lakes and ponds is two feel, thick, and resi- 

 dents living near them have during the past week been catch- 

 ing trout through holes cut in the ice. One was caught, at 

 Conger's Pond, three miles from Dickinson Centre, weighing 



four pounds ; and one weighing two and a half. Friday 

 night four bears were seen near a barn about two miles from 

 the village. Saturday morning a party of hunters here with 

 guns and dogs started in pursuit of tbera, and succeeded in 

 killing one of the old ones and one cub. the other old one and 

 cub escaped, but quite a number of hunters are out again to- 

 day. The two killed were very thin in flesh. The old one, 

 which had a frame that when in good condition would weigh 

 from 350 to 400 pounds, only weighed 110. A large otter was 

 shot near here a short time ago. In February a silver gray 

 fox was shot about a mile south of the village, and its hide 

 sold for .$25. Martin birds havs just arrived here during the 

 past week. A large martin house is erected in the centre of 

 the village in which hundreds nest, every summer. The 

 English sparrows take possesion of it when they leave in the 

 fall, but have, to evacuate when they return in the spring. 

 The first spring the sparrows -were, in it there was considera- 

 ble fighting between them and the martins on their return, 

 but the martins drove them out. — A. C. 



Kent County, Delaware. — The marsh lands bordering our 

 creeks aud bays are good snipe shooting grounds. Not as 

 many birds killed here this spring as usual. — H. R. 



Tolland Go., Conn,, Mai/ x.— Our spring has commenced 

 with a few snipe on the meadows, and the ducks, which have 

 been quite plentiful for this section, about going north. A 

 woodchuck was shot here on the 12th of March, when snow 

 was on the ground, which is the earliest I ever knew of ooe 

 being seen. From my own observation I should judge that 

 about half the quail were killed last winter. Partridges all 

 right. A friend of mine commenced to feed a flock of seven 

 quail ; before a month's time the flock had increased to forty, 

 but crows encroached as well and got a good share of the 

 grain. He finally succeed' d in drawing the quail within fifty 

 yards of the barn— so near the crows dare not come — where 

 the quail came regular every morning, and some of the time 

 to the Darn yard itself. They did seem to be afraid of his 

 dogs, which were pointing them every day, and wondering 

 why some one did not shoot. — Maus. 



Twin Lakes, Fla., April.'20.—Xn unusually late spring has kept 

 ducks and snipe with us for im unwonted time. Last week I killed 

 twenty-two snipe and fourteen teal, besides bagging a very fine 

 otter, killed with No. 6 shot in the head at twenty paces. A eot- 

 tou-mouthmoccaHiu five feet long came to grief also. The prairies 

 bordering Die St. Johns have been in the finest condition for weeks 

 for snipe, and they have, been numerous, but are getting scarce 



GJWt/egtan, Jll, April 23.— The weather nasi been very warm 

 hero for six days, and the brant, gouae, cranes, ducks and wood- 

 cock have nearly all left us for a cooler climate. The snipe and 

 plover are tolerably plenty yet. 



OUR DETROIT LETTER. 



rpilE 1st of May ended the duck and snipe season in 

 1 Michigan, and all sportsmen shot right up to the end of 

 ihe last day. William jardiue, manager of the Point Mouillie 

 Shooting Club, arrived in town on the 5th inst. He reports 

 a few canvas backs, red heads and blue bills hanging around 

 Mouillie Bay. Any quantity of swans and geese yet remain, 

 though they seem less restless than when I last wrote with 

 reference to them. Jardine bagged a swan last week of 

 enormous measurement. The Mouillie Club is improving its 

 property in a way to excite the genuine sportsman's admira- 

 tion, and fill him with a passion to be one of this club's well-, 

 cared-for guests. This seems by general consent to be the 

 sportmen's paradise. Not only does it afford the best hunt- 

 ing at all seasons, but those who shoot there are made com- 

 fortable, aud even luxurious, by Bp.pt. Jardine and his wife, 

 the latter being one of the most accomplished caterers to be 

 met in a day's "journey. 



J. V". D. Eldredge and Messrs. Metzger and Stenton re- 

 turned from St. Clair Flats last Monday with 130 ducks and 

 200 black bass- the finest lot, offish ever speared by mortal 

 man within this bailiwick. The spearing season is now at its 

 height, and the Flats fairly swarm with half-breeds and In- 

 diana, who are making big wages, as black bass sell a! the 

 drop of the hat. Wah-nk-ta. 



PROHIBIT GAME EXPORTATION. 



Wauskon, O., March 21, 1881. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



At last you have hit the uail on the head in the matter of 

 game proteciion. In the editorial of last week, "Where 

 Some Game Goes To," you suggest the idea which, if car- 

 ried into legislation, will do more for game protection than all 

 the game laws in force, aud I am glad for one to see the 

 leading sportsman's journal take the position there occupied. 

 Everything else has been tried. Now try protection, with 

 heavy penalties for shipments of game beyond the State 

 when killed, and see how it will lessen the demand, and thus 

 lessen the trapping and ground mashing and otherwise hog- 

 ging of game. As long as there is a demand iu Europe and 

 in the larger cities of the East for our Western game, with 

 no prohibition of exportation, so long will there be local 

 dealers who make it, an object, for hoys to trap and .loafers 

 to destroy whole coveys at a single shot for the money that 

 there is in the business. 



With only the local State demands to supply, the prices, 

 with our present supply, would be low enough to take away 

 the present incentive to slaughter. 



I have long wished to see the Forest anb Stbkam take 

 this stand, and hope that you will push the matter on sports- 

 men until our Legislatures are induced to pass absolute pro- 

 hibitory laws of the kind suggested. W. H. H. 



Spbikg DnoK Shooting. — Just now our market is over- 

 crowded with wild ducks of every kind and name; in fact, 

 the massacre of ducks the present season has been more 

 than usually large Single hunters bag 80 and 100 per day, 

 and every choice feeding spot hides a hunter iu his " blind " 

 and reveals his " beautiful decoyB." The deadly storm of 

 lead with which these beautiful birds are met. as they return 

 to their northern homes for nesting is cruel, and should call 

 out the protest, of every true sportsman. The long fall sea- 

 son, during which they are legitimate game, as well as their 

 trying and" precarious "winter life in Southern waters, should 

 suffice: It is well Known to every sportsman that many va- 

 rieties of ducks choose their mates before their flight to the 

 North, aud this cruel slaughter breaks up the brightest an- 

 ticipations that cluster around the old homes to which these 

 birds every year return. It is small wonder that the cry 

 comes from 'many of the formerly most favorite haunts of 

 these birds that the finest varieties are very scarce. They 

 should be protected by the law— humanity and the best 

 sportsmanship both demand it.— Chicago Inter-Ocean, April 



