474 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[July 14 1881. 



inches of water and is -well adapted for the business she is 

 engaged in. 



As we got abreast of the Narrows near Van Slyck's, abreast 

 of Rattlesnake Island (a famous place for canvas-backs in 

 the season), a heavy log came down and the captain of Ihe 

 •■Wave" found great difficulty in keeping in Ihe channel. He 

 had lo take soundings with a pole. Presently we grounded 

 bard and fas*. The engineer "went back on I er." but she 

 did not move. All hands and the cook tiied pushing with 

 poles without result, and the deck hand said be "reckoned 

 ■we were thar till the tide riz." But the captain was equal 

 to the emergency, lie went to a locker, and, pulling rjut a 

 pair <-f long rubber wailing boots, put thin on, and, jump- 

 i ginio the sound, put bis ghou'ders to the wheel and sttov.ed 

 her off, and we went on our way rejoicing. The "Wave" 

 passes through the r mous fowling grounds, and the captain 

 told me hat the Waters in the fall and wiuler were alive with 

 dm ks, swan and geese. They begin to come about the mid- 

 dle of October and remain until the first of March. Every 

 man aud boy who can muster ncuu is actively employee! 

 shooting them or waiting on the Northern sportsmen who be- 

 long to the clubs. They shoot the fowl mostly from blinds 

 made of bushes on the points and islands, and from coffhi- 

 like boxes made of jumper that are anchored by weights 

 near the f. edlug ground?. 



Canvas back and red heads, the most valuable of the duck 

 kind, iiequent the waters near the narrows and about the 

 Currituck Club grounds and in Kitty Hawk Bay. Geese are 

 foumall o.cr Currituck aud Roanoke so mds. Swau are 

 more plentiful about Collington Island, Gallop's Marshes and 

 off Roanoke Island. Bisck and whi e brant in millions 

 "place" on the shoals of Pamlico Sound from Duck Island 

 down io Patterns Inlet. Only citizens of North Carolina 

 can shoot from lotteries in Cuitituck County, but in Dare 

 County any one can use them. 



Nature has done so much for these people that they don't 

 find it necessary to do much for themselves, and many of 

 them aie disposed to take life easy. 1 have noticed that 

 their hands aud feet are smaller than those of Western peo- 

 pl', who follow ihe pk/w and earn their bread by the sweat 

 of their brow. 



One r. ason I had f or coming down here was to gratify my 

 fondness for fish. We Cajcli a few brook irout in the moun- 

 tain s reams, but they are scarce and >by, and only those who 

 have plenty of lime and pat eiu-e and are expert anglers can 

 secu e a "mesa." Iiut here Ihe waters are full of Hal) and 

 the names alone of all t' e various kinds that are caught with 

 the greatest ease would fill a column of your riaper. 



If y<~tj Know of a Gooo Resort fob Camping akd Shoot- 

 ing when the season opens, leport it for the benefit of 

 others. 



HOW TO TEST GUNS. 



niXTB ON PATTKPN AKD PENBTBATION TBIALB. 



Editor Forest nnd Stream : 



Every few weeks in the different spnrling papeTS appears 

 an account of some person's gun trial, either of a number of 

 guns by diff'Teut n akeis, or e'se a test of some particular 

 way of loading with various kinds of po« der and shot. 



Now, no .rly all of these, are conducted without any method, 

 or even a knowledge of what will make easily apparent 

 the a' tual results. For mslance, some one borrows a dozen 

 guns from his friends, loads them all with the same charge 

 legaidless of weight or ca'ibre, and then thinks the gun that 

 shoots the most shot in a given space, or through more sheets 

 of paper than the others, is the best. 



The^e is scarcely anything liable to be more false than this, 

 ani the most diametrically opposite results may be produced 

 by afterward loading each gun according to its bore, weight, 

 aud amount of choke: then taking the percentage of shot in 

 the pattern, and that of the penetration by the load of pow- 

 der used in the Cartridge, and we can at once distinguish ac- 

 curate^' the respective shooting qualities of each gun. 



As an aid to those wh u wish lo make private le-ts of their 

 guns, 1 will give a few hints iu order to let them do it prop- 

 erly. 



The pattern is the most important thing, and when the 

 guns are t sted in the open air a sheet of paper four feet 

 square at forty yards should leceive the charge, and a thirty 

 inch selected ciicle marked out on it af er every shot. A 

 Btationa y circle marked on the paper before it is shot at, is 

 only good for trials held in a long shed or building, where no 

 wind and draughts of a r can deflect the loads from striking 

 exactly in the ring. 



A u' table instance of how necessary the selected circle is 

 in open air trials, was shown in one superintended by a West- 

 ern newspaper about a year and a half ago. A strong 

 breeze blew directly across the firing point, and the pattern 

 in the stationary ring was most irregular, sometimes, with the 

 same load, only one-lhiid as much shot would be found in 

 the target as at other limes, and the penetration also suffered 

 from the poor patterns, as they were outside pellets of the 

 charge and had not as much velocity as the more central 

 ones, t he whole results of this long, tedious trial were so 

 miserably uncertain from the lack of a suitable bu Id ug, or 

 from not using selected circles, that it has proved almost 

 nothing to thoi e who wisher] most to have it. 



One of the quickest ways to find a pattern is to cover ihe 

 surface of the papt r (lour feet square) with thirty inch rings, 

 aud then no matter where the charge strikes on it a ring will 

 always be found in the centre. 



For the penetration a lack of insulated card-board is the 

 best ; the pieces should be cut six or e gut inches Fquare and 

 separated at ban one inch apart, l'ai er pads and iron discs 

 registering the foice stmck l,y a spring snd scale, give very 

 unequal leselts ; the pads because the first pellets of the 

 charge aTe sometimes struck aid driven on further by those 

 comii^ in the rear, and the iron plates on account Of their 

 giving higher results wh<-n a gieat number of shot strike, 

 than the superior force of a few. If very thin cards or even 

 paper is substituted for card-board, the test of the penetration 

 cau be made as delicate as aiy one desires. 



The rest in the open air can he takm on a bag of hay or 

 between the knees of the shooter in the t reedmoor mid-range 

 sitting position, but indoors there is nothing better than the 

 Vise arid machine rett as used by the London Field in its r ast 

 test, wiib aseale attacked lo determine 'he recoil Of the guns 

 Two or three sighting shots should he taken with this before 

 the aim b< gins to score, so lhal all the loads wi.l strike fairly 

 in -he target. 



When the different makes of guns are tested, the depth oi 

 choke, the size of bore, the pr ce, length of barrels and 

 weight of each gun should be absolutely the same if any 

 definite result is desired. 



There have already been in this country a couple of trials 

 for guns of various makers, but hey were so very imperfect 

 in nearly all their details tha 1 I think it is nearly time to have 

 a good reliable test by some disiutere.-ted and competent par- 

 lies. It would settle the question (: s to who makes the best 

 guns here and in tie ht-t lew years, since so many good guns 

 '--vebeen invented and come out, the* makers as well -s 

 irtsmen would be anxious to have it. The idea was pro- 

 posed before in ano her paper, bin as the article disapproving 

 of it was shown to contain nothing bin. false theories, by no 

 1 ss an authority than the English gunsmith Mr! E C. Green, 

 no more attention thould be paid to it than the idea of trying 

 Dittmar's explosive wilh good black powder by the same per- 

 sons, and which seems lo Lave fallen through since your 

 ettpvse of it. Com .v. 



Philadelphia, July 2. 1881. 



. — ,»*— . , 



If you Kn-ow of a Good Resort fob Campino and Shoot- 

 ing when the season opens, report it lor the benefit of 

 others. 



LEA. YEN IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Gbaniteyille, S. C, June 13. 



ALTHOUGH last winter was :ti severe f r ibis latitude 

 that even the Oldest inhabitant could not remember, 

 etc., yet iu the face of it the most bono able Ro'eit White, 

 came in for a full share of public patronage aud braved as 

 well the inclemency of the weather. The number of shooting 

 days allotted t3 us were not as many as heretofore, being 

 only eighty perienl; usually it is one hundred percent, 

 fiotn ihe 15th of October lo ihe lGth of Atril, not including 

 Sundays. The bright and glorious winter days come and go, 

 morning aft r morning the sun " comes peepiug over the 

 hills" and.takes his course full of smiles all day. Seldom 

 does he allow the elotiiis to weep; and if i hey do and you 

 happen I' i be caught, there's fun in it. Build a "ligntard" 

 fire if you get eld, take out your luneh and be happy. 

 Keep on > hooting if you '>ish, with plenty of bruises and 

 ihe shooter iu good form. Let it, ram, be will not notice it, 

 that is, if you have a gun that you load at one end and the 

 charge toes out of the other. This little joke is not original, 

 consequeuily I claim no credit f >r it. It came about iu this 

 way: I was trying to persuade a sou of Noah, who owned 

 " the best gun iu the county" (it being the original piece of 

 orduance that formed the armament of tbeArkJ, to purche-c 

 a breech-loader. 1 had two samples. He examined (list 

 one i ben the other, opened aud Bhut them and made diligent 

 inquiiies. At last, after many shakes of the head and re- 

 marks not calcula ed io reflect, ciedit on breech m chanism, 

 he concluded he would not have a g in that loaded at, holh 

 ends. He evidently was afraid of centrifugal forces and an 

 explosion ne-ir the centre. 1 sold him a U'ce gun at last. 

 He is ihe mo.-t del glitetl chap ; he i as been initiated in the 

 mysteries of pattern ad penetration, and talks iu a pedaulic 

 way to his neighbors of the relative power of the choke and 

 the evliueler; so it's one mo'c convert aud a game protector 

 as well. Step by step we are pulling a stop to quail trap- 

 ping aud covey shooting. 1 put the Pokkst ano Stukam 

 iu the hands of all wuo will read, and bang away at the 

 game laws, mos ly to the Ffteentb Amendment representa- 

 tive, for be is the very worst trapper. He t ,kes whole coveys 

 ana wriegs the necks of the innocents. Where he traps lor 

 a while " the suu of noon looks down and sees not oue," and 

 many a fry and brile '• the old ooman and chil'ii have." 



Peter Jones (colored) live- iwo miles from here. 1 found 

 traps on Peter's place. He — he fell sure " ue chil'ii mus hev 

 8 l dem traps." Peter was shadowed and caught. Peter sees 

 through au emirelv different pair o' specs, aud his respect 

 lor the South Carolina game laws has increased. One more 

 convert and one more' soul made happy, as the Magic Oil 

 may said. 



I thould like to say something about dogs of this vicinity, 

 but lime and waut of space forbid. We will try again. 



Diok Bwivellee. 



If tou Know of a Good Place to camp and fish, pr to 

 board and fish this summer, report it for the benefit of 

 others. 



CALIFOHNIA GOOSE SdOOTING. 



IN reply to a correspondent's query, transmitted through 

 the Fohest and Sntkkam, Air. N E. White, of the Sac- 

 ramento, Cal., i>V, recently wrote ihe loll wing letter, which 

 we have permission to print here. It is dated at Sacramento, 

 May 80, 188 , and is as follows : 



" 1 am afraid thai 1 cannot give you any new light on the 

 subject of goose hunting, for the reason that it has been for 

 many years only an incidental feature of sport out here. 

 Duck bun crs often bag such geese as happen to come their 

 way and send ihem bi market ; but 1 know of no one making 

 a specialty of goo.-e sh otmg. 



" Some years ago, when 1 was in my teens and living on a 

 ' ranch ' iu one of Ihe coast counties, I used to take some 

 in eresl in wba' I would call 'stalking' the 'critters.' Our 

 favorite method then was lo crawl through ihe ditches, which 

 ran at frequent points around and Ibrou.h the grain fields, 

 and 'bus get within r nge ot lh« too, too wild geese. Orca- 

 aionally «e would get a genlle old horse, or ox, and creep up 

 on Ihe -off' side to the big II Ck9 of (lie fowls aud ftt the 

 riiUu moment let go the contents of two barrels, or oi a big 

 ' Vaeger ' anions Ihem. , 



" 1 his is, in reality, the mos' successful way of bunting wild 

 geese. Hunters u-ed to employ big six and eight gauge-guns 

 an', fr in behind an ox or boise, literally slaughter them. 

 Fifty and upward h.ve b en laid low at "ue dhc mrge. On 

 the great what ranches in the Sacramento Yal ey the 

 myriads of wild geese do great damage to Hie younu grain n 

 the late fail aud farmers employ men by the mouth to shoot 

 them— or shoot a- them. I don't know tha' they try to bag 

 many of them, howevtr. but simply to frighten ihem off. I 

 may safely say ihat goose shoouug — ilher for sport or game 

 —is a thing of the past out here, although there is au un- 

 limited field for all Ihat like to follow it. 



"Game of all kinds will be plent ful here next season no*- 

 wi-hstau lug t! e persistent violat ons of the law. Our dove 

 a ason continences July 1 and will afford good sport until 

 ihe quail trad duck season opens, Sept 15. Toe open season 

 for ii ule deer also begins July 1, and, in the w> rds of a D m- 

 ocratic orator, 'the woods >va lull of 'em,' for all they are 

 regularly slaughtered for their hi ies iu the far-off counties. 

 The law 'prohibits' it, but the worK goes ou all the same. 

 Our mountain likes and streams are full of trout, but the 

 best fishing is some weeks off yet. N. E. Whits." 



If tott Ksow of a Good Resoktfor Camping and Shoot- 

 ing when the season opens, report it for the benefit of 

 others. 



ARKANSAS GAME. 



Owl's Cove, Ark. 



THE game prospects in this " neck of the woods " are good. 

 Deer ar. frequently seen in the deep forest, but by asort of 

 common consent no one shoots them th a time of year. 



Turkeys lnve partially rai-ed large broods. They are fre- 

 quently seen near grain fields. They are considered big 

 enough to pick here in Sep ember; they are then of the size 

 of a Brahma fowl, full feathered and strong on the wing, but 

 not " educated " like the o d ones. Tb.se will be fully ripe 

 hi November, and better sport than they afford then is hard 

 to imagine. 



The Virginia partridge, colin. Bob White, did not suffer 

 much last winter. The breeding stock is undiminished ; the 

 woods and fields are alive with ihem. There is p obably no 

 part of the United States so well supplied Along the Little 

 Reick and Fort Smith Ra lway, right in the t-wns, bbds are 

 plenty, and more so, of course, a little out of the lino of travel. 



I was down in Jackson County a few days ago, along » bite 

 and Blaek rivers, and there learned ihat the supply was large. 

 A gentleman lion Ihe Norlhhad been there training d gs aud, 

 taking advantage of the want ot a game law, had slaughtered 

 some i irds in April and May. Some of the citizens had 

 mildly remonstrated with him to little effect. A Utile more 

 of ti at might possibly induce our numbskull legislators to 

 paBs a game law. 



The llights of aquatic birds— ducks, geese and swan — can 

 not be foretold. The food supply for litem will be fair and 

 other conditions favorable. Whether ibey will come in large 

 or small numbers will depend upon the weather and ihe "in- 

 ducements " held out by other localities. We have h >d three 

 rather unfavorable seasons iu succession. Ev n in a bad sei- 

 son, however, we have what in most sections of the country 

 would be called very good sport. 



1 have heard of but very little bear sign ; th*y rmy crac 

 in and may not. The woods are and have been alive with 

 squirrels. 



The prospects for al' sorts of game are unusually good in a'l 

 that region about Panther Bluff and 'Possum Walk. In 

 Greasj' Vall-y quail and turkeys a-e iu full supply. There 

 is no part of ihe State where 1 am acquainted where good 

 and even fine suort may not be confidently looked for during 

 ihe approaching season. Yell. 



A Novel Mode of Killing vVolves— Monomonie, Wre. — 

 A few weeks aao the Secretary of State at. Madison received 

 a certificate entitling a fellow r in. the southern part of the 

 State to a reward of $120 for killing 2.) wolves. The idea 

 occurring to the Secretary that that was a pretty good haul 

 for one man to make, he sent one of his clerks to investigate 

 the matter. He went lo the chairman of the town board and 

 found that a certificate had been issued to the man in ques- 

 tion entitling him to the pay for 3 wolf scalps ; he ihim went 

 to ihe chairman of the county board and found the same io 

 be the case, aud that the chairman addressed the letter con- 

 taining the certificate 1 i the Secretary of State and banded it 

 to the applicant to drop in the post oflice. Then the wolf 

 was let out of the bag. The brave slayer of Canis nceidentalis 

 had converted the 8 into 20 and $12 into $120. Tnis is cer- 

 tainly very encouraging to sheep-raisers. — .no. 



Wooooook i?r New York Rkstaukants — N,ew York 

 July 9, 1881— Etttior Forest and Stream : — la. it lawful for 

 restaurants in this city to serve woodcock to their customers 

 al this time of the year when shooting or having the same 

 in possession is expressly prohibited by Ihe State game laws 1 



A. I'. W. 



It is unlawful ; but in the absence of tiny machinery to de 

 tect violali >ns of the game laws and to punish offenders we 

 see no way of remedying the mailer. This sale of game out 

 of season by ihe niarketmen of New "York 1ms been lully 

 ventilat- d iu our columns during ihe past year ; and wo had 

 indulged the delusive hope that some act ou regarding the 

 provision of a remedy might have teen taken by the A3socia 

 lion which met at Conev Island ihe other day. There is 

 plen'y of room for energetic action if a society which truly 

 intends to do anything of the kind would take hold of it 



Siiinneoook Bay— Good Ground, Long Island.— Bay snipe 

 shnotina promises to be unusually good this >eason , the birds 

 commeiiced to fly July 4, and have kept it up right along. 

 To-day Wm. Lane, Jr., brought in a nice bag of do wits aud 

 yellow-lejs; 3ome jacks have also been seen. The kind of 

 b rds and the unus ial qutulity out this early date leads me 



I I believe that we shall have a good season ; besides, large 

 quantities went north this spring, and, owing to bad weather, 

 were not much shot.— William N. Lane. 



If tou Know of a Goodbesoet for Campixg and SnooT- 

 ing when the season opens, report it for the benefit of 

 others. 



The State Association Pkogramme.— The few remain- 

 ing coi ies of the handsome book recently published by the 

 Long Island Sportsmen's Association for the u«e of the mem- 

 bers of the New Yeirk state Association for the Protection 

 of Fish anil Game, at their annual convention in June last, 

 are now offered for sa'e at 25 cents each. Ir, is quite a com- 

 plee history of the Association for Ihe past 2L1 yeais. Orders 

 may be tent to this office. 



Minsebota Chicken Phootivg.— A Chicas-o correspondent 

 tells us Ihat Capt. B. K. Cowles, noted as Ihe proprietor of the 

 Railway Ealing House, atBaraboo, Wis , opened, on July 1, 

 a new h ael at Tracy, Minn. This point is in the midst of tbe 

 Minnesota chicken shooting grounds, and Capt. Cowles will 

 be glad io see and take cafe of all chicken shooters who 

 make Tracy their headquarters. 



To Drivs Away JlosQciTOES-OakfieM, Wis., July 2 — 

 To prevent mosquitoes irom biing 1 have used oil of tar 

 and Other mixtures, but find carbolic acid, mixed with lard 

 or any heavy oil, to be the best preventive. Try it and be 

 convinced. — UomooN. 



For SosniER KEABivo bur a copy or Van Dyke's "nine, "Rod and 

 dun in California," prle-e iX 50, postpaid For aide ar, tills olllce. 



Holablrd SUootlng Suits. Uptliegrove & McLellan, Valparaiso, tod. 



We have liad tniny inquiries for something to prevent ihe iiltes of 

 mosaultoes. black aies.. etc. uosquiioine, advertised in tins issue by 

 Johii ". Wood, la claimed to be a sura preventive. 



