88 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 1 , 1883. 



were constantly on the wing, flying from place to place. 

 All this caused my special wonder. ' Suddenly a gun fired 

 very near me., and going hastily ir. the direction it came 

 from, I found an aged colored man busily fishing his dead 

 ducks out of the water with a long pole. He explained to 

 me that Ihc shooting 1 had heard nil day was 1 com liegrOeB 

 along the banks of the river, who wen' so well concealed 



that. I had not seen 

 hig within a few Ec i of I hi 

 hiding place, and ii was 30 gi 

 hundreds of times h ithoui "si. 

 Alter much duck hunting, I ai 

 fill, as they are on Kabine jtiv 

 of hunting them as any that e 

 VV'ehad'Mr. Chita, Ilallock: 

 months this winter. 11 



;h no doubt sometimes paSs- 

 iii. He showed rue bis own 

 tod I might have passed him 

 tspeeting anybody^ presence. 



m satisfied, i'l' ducks are plentl- 

 rer, that this ts as good a plan 

 •an be Invented 



Texas some two 



to call to ni 



,cli 



but am sorry it was impossible lor ine to be with h: 

 on his trip." Hope, to see Lira with us again next winter, 

 and i hat Imav i lien bavea better chance to see him through. 



N A. f. 



Palestine, Texas, lo'b. 88, 



PENNSYLVANIA NOTES. 



ALTHOUGH gl'eal quantities of snow have fallen duilng 

 this winter, I do not believe that the game of Ibis 

 locality has suffered much. Ruffed grouse are careless 

 alike of snow and cold, and if sly Tciynard would OUh 

 leave them alone I hav. no douht next "fall's crop of bird"', 

 would be good : but foxes are very plenty, aiul foxes gel 

 hungry, and then grouse muM die to salt -fv their in atiftl 

 tnaw- The Gardner boys, living about amile from town, 

 have killed ten givn fosei this w inter, and but for the fact 

 of some unhung scoundrel shooting and wounding their 

 lead hound, would have killed as many more. I rather 

 think the person who shot Trueboy would not have in- 

 dulged oftener in this sport had he not been able to di; I 



Joe Gardner in a walking; contest, immediately after tire 

 shooting. 



Speaking of ruffed grouse reminds me that every year 

 their numbers are diminishing. Now, doii'r <n\ (ten subject 

 is worn out. for a discussion that deals with the king of 

 American game birds can never wear out . I do nOi believe 

 that it is on account of improvements in guns or dogs, or in 

 "treeing" them and shooting then), uoi do ! attribute it to 

 tin- advance of civilization and '•ben nigs." bin 1 believe 

 with some former contributor on this subject that their 

 numbers an- decreased by some disease which may be new 



tolheir species, or inoro malignant in lati yew : d 



erly. I.asi spring I found Mime D number of their nests -md 

 Iviiou that quite a large per cent, of the i ggs won hatched, 

 and 1 saw numerous broods of them yet m the down shortly 

 afterward, It is a well known fact that grouse do not travel 

 much from their original home, and when the shooting 

 season opened I went direct to the localities ?:!. r j i I LO 



en the ywing broods, and much to my discomfiture found 

 none, actually none. T know that they were not all shot, 



( ven if thepot-huiitcts did lull aome of them. - I hunted my 

 dogs in the same toea lit ;, several times during the fall, but 

 foiuid none. I do not beUi ire lhar any or ali the enemies of 

 the grouse familj ben I I I fowl, could have thus destroyed 

 them, but it e ' el' firm com ietion that d isi ast ol oon 

 description exterminated them. 



Wild turkeys ww, quii,- oh ,11 ■. tad ,tr.nr a ad numbers 

 of them were shot, hut enough were left foi breeding 

 poses. 1 was told bye granger tht other daj fa ■ i 

 Were wintering well. ,Vlihough tie r- a "ii the 



snow, he said the oak trees had held tin ii acorns long! ' i ian 

 usual this winter, and these dropping on the crusl i Eti 



; .■,.; it food for the turkeys. Deer were more numerous 

 than for year, before, and scores of them were captui ■ 

 Woodcocks were ar • I p ios thei ' d twin I 

 by spring rains, There i.-. mitt' a trowim interest in dog, 

 gam and rod in this direction, and a man who can nit a. bird 

 on the win"' is not B.UCh a tare eha.iaelei as formerly. 1 be 

 lievc that "L ; T. I-'.." of .New Brunswick, and myself were 

 about the first to sttjrt. that long controversy on the "Hurl 

 ling Grouse." I "was glad to see in n communication from 

 him sometime ago that, he had achieved his desire— thai of 

 shooting a grouse on the wing, and I know from the graphic 

 manner in which he describes it thai he enjoyed it greatly. 



Joi!.ns.town, Pft. Drto 



Guinea-Fowl as Game. — A correspondent, *'Octo," calls 



our attention to the billowing nolo on this subject in Col. 

 Hutchinson's work on "Dog Breaking:" "Mr. M — i, an 

 officer high in the military store department, -Wrote tome 

 but last Christmas, 1868, 'almost in the following Words; 

 When stationed in Jamaica, quail and the wild guinea-low! 

 weir the only game I ever hunted for. The latter are very 

 difficult to approach, as I hey run forhou.ru through the long 

 grass and brushwood, and will not rise m:|i-; bald, pressed, 



but when once flushed they spread through the cover and 



lie -o close that one may almost kick them before without 

 raising them. My dog Albert was broke on grouse before I 

 had him out from home. A steadier Or better dog you will 

 rarely see. The first time we went out alter guinea-fowl 

 he set to work as though limiting for grouse, pointing ami 

 loading cautiously when he came on the run of the birds, 

 but from their pace through the cover, never coming up 

 With them. This occurred the first two or three mornings, 

 and annoyed him greatly. At last, one day. as be found 

 the birds' wen- running through (he brush, he halted, tinned 

 found and looked Up to Bie ns'tuueh as toijsay, " 'My poking 

 after these fellows is all nonsense; do lei me try some other 

 dodge.'" So 1 told him to go on, when he immediately 

 started off, making a wide cast until he headed his game, 

 when ho commenced beating back toward inc. driving the 

 birds before him until thej wert sufficiently near me. when 

 lie (lushed suddenly In among them, forcing the whole pack 

 to take wing. They spread through the surrounding grass 

 and cover, and Albert and his mother Peggy went to work, 

 picking up the birds snugly • •; in pairs where they lay.'" 



'•Ari'Ki; Antki.ih'i:.''— F.l Pafco, Texas. Feb, V,.—tui;t<.r 



Fbreit arid Stream: fn response to your queries c< truing 



my antelope shooting, ma* in yo«r Issae of Feb. 8, 1 have 

 to say, seriatim t l'. The distance was estimated hi each 

 instance given. 8. S"es, the person making the pstimates 

 was competent to determine the distances. Real]; there i- 

 nothhur strange in auch jhoQluig. I am quite certain that 1 

 can kill antelopes further than any of the distances given, 

 3. Because mustangs are mischievous and ait worthless. 

 They frequently decoy away good horses. The stock men 

 want them all killed", i. Our only defense. is the common 

 one, to wit: fondness for sport and good eating. T wish you 

 had uu aulelopc saddle now.— G. W. B. 



TiltssotHi Notes.-- jVIaryville, Mo., Feb. 16.— Quad have 

 been very plenty this season, with plenty left over for next. 

 Chickens are no! us plentiful as they were a few vi i a-.. 

 although one man killed, he claimed", in four dais' oyer lour 

 hundred: he had them anyway, whether he killed them in 

 the time mentioned or hot." Rabbits are very thick, a 

 friend of mine had the boys beal the brush for h'irn, and in 

 one day killed seventy-nine. Running wolves is also one of 

 our amusements, and Uncle Jake with his pack of bound.-., 

 teral favorite. Our Jack-snipe shooting:oh the 

 bottoms, when water is plenty, is very tine. Ducks and 

 tally very plenty. . Our shooting club always 

 kboih fall and spring in camp, when ducks and 

 In December 1 was shooting quail in a corn 

 ip with grass, mid had a covey nicelv scattered, 

 'don, and f were ha \ inn- Hi 



I spends 



field grown 

 and ftieks, 

 bad three, bivik, be 



when he slopped at 

 h i] e .. m e a mot 

 some ten feel cam 

 methebird. [aei 



and came to a poi. 



bird in hi j mouth, 

 adding one more 

 readers had a like i 

 ally occurs. We I 



nd the flog i 



.,, . tt poii 



in. turned am 



round to me it 

 lint in again, 

 .vhere he had . 

 id iu a momeu 

 tail 



ttri 



i. I called tc 



walked away 



a half circle 



rd bird 



Flohiua Notes.— Cedar Key, Florida, Feb. 16.— it takes 

 about. 100 shells for a full day's hunt here. I was out yes- 

 terday and killed about forty birds — ducks, snipe, curlew, 

 inarslt bene etc They hunt by taking a hoat audgorm] 

 the islands along the coast, where there are any ouantity of 

 birds pi all kinds, though mostly ducks, [saw three Phila- 

 delphia sportsmen come in from the country a few days ago 

 with 150 quail, which they killed in one day. I would 

 ink-? a quail hunt, bhl ea'n gel nodog. It IS very Wasni; 

 temperature about 85' during the day.— Wm. Kyeu" 



the whole Stale, and object 

 provisions, In this we ag« 

 law do not favor tht sportsi 



while they rob those in oth 

 they are justly entitled. Fo: 

 i a a -i a sou on woodcock 

 reason: Nearly if not all the i 



my scon . Have any of your 

 2— Crl vol re [This oeeasiote 

 seen it.] 



$6 i,80K. - Wellsville, N. Y , 



',. ; f;. a recent uum- 



i :•■ a game law for 



l.o all toea! exceptions fo its 



'(' when the provisions of the 



iieu «\' one pari of the State, 



er part, of the sport to which 



c instani ■ b aiakiug 



m i mbef I, for this 



_ .ehave .'.le those hied 



here Bometimt tht flight l-.egin.- so early thai bv the. heat 



obei our bird a* o te When the last change 

 .i A from July 3 to August l. ii was proposed to 

 makeil September 1. but we sept in o protest from this 

 county; other counties did the samt and August 1 was 



finally agreed upon as a. .. I ; - ii d I ■ :'!i 



the law as it is in lit;- respect, bul anj change to a later 

 date we will feel justified fn opposing, Wehavt tew birds 

 ben -. any kind; what -we havewi liaUtati ride in tie- 

 fending against robbery and murdei [n capturing theni 

 we will endeavorto be flportsiiien, laitld'ully observing the 

 restriction- o i ,, je, game law, by Kxample, as well as by 

 no- i. :a i lie iliose who are inclined to murder for plun- 

 dr-r to forsake their shameful practices and come oyer, if 

 iheywill shoot, to the ranks ol thosi host tianne i in 

 scribed. Sense and Decency. — C. B. M. 



. a., i | eb 13 The Btwettv Oi Ibis after- 

 i. mi in Its "County News" has the following! "Mr. James 

 F. Whitin inr- for some time been feeding in his yard a lot 

 of gray squirrels and quails. They are now ery lame, and 

 will come into the house. All his family haw become very 

 much attached to them. Ambrose. Nooles shot, and killed 

 several of the squirrels, 'ir Whitii remi trt ed sitt 



bin i ivas of ao avail 1 1 v 



afternoon and killed .is; ■ 



and placed in tht bands of 5h -"' E B I B, "■ tie "■■ 

 a chase ol eight or ten minutes, tirrested him, and he waa 

 taken before .ludgi Putnam this hi r!.> ■, n ; ie, and lined 



$30 and co its, amounting to §S9, JO, which lie paid \ It 

 is a stone cutter and is employed bj George M Blanehard. 

 of Whitinsville." Mr. "Whitin lives atwhitins tt station 

 ..ii the l?rovidcnce & W >r< tt i R ilroa I in i i« V ■ \ 



ilhbridge, hordes must be a hard uca i [t . . 



• 'i. In i.'.ue. -Ceeati.ir, 111.. Ceb. IF— The great 

 sleet has just left US. I WOS fearful that every quail m 

 Central Illinois would be starved and frozen to death, liul 

 1 am happy to hat u of at least two bevies that have Sur- 

 vived the storm. One covey of twenty-two was counted near 

 our house yesterday. And' a neighbor has been caring foi 



a covey of'twenty-oiie thai ha- been feeding in his barn lot 

 (and apparently quite tame; all winter. We have U01 manj 

 prairie chickens ueiu here, bul there ate iomeleft, J have 

 seen more this winter than for the. past five years. I. counted 

 over eighty in one flock a few days ago. I suppose they 



have ail 'hunched.' and they wi-iv all ll„-ie are I'm eight 

 or lett miles itroiiiiti.— D. T. S. 



hold ii,.\ 

 slipped a 

 out it go 



COUld no 



foolishly 



t;i \ BahkEL itu-iui. tio.ns — When hunting ihMiclu- 

 .go hist fall 1 met some boys, and let one of them 

 :■ , ingle barrel shotgun, for a minute. He 

 Mill snake down the barrel. In trying to get it 

 edged in ai about three inches of the muzzle, I 

 ait it an inch, and finally gave up trying. 1 per} 

 d the. charge, but u did nol hurl the gun a par- 

 Ii il nearly knocked me over \t another time I 

 got a shot cartridge Stuck about half way down the barrel, 

 and tired it without any injury either to the gun or myself. 

 — F. L. J). (Boston, Fob. ii. 1883). 



'I'm. Qt i.e.i:r Law. — By an act now before the Legislature 

 of tin Province of Quebec, it is proposed that the game laws 

 Of the Province be amended SO that il shall be forbidden to 

 hunt or trap hare between March 1 ami October f, yearly. 

 Also thai it he forbidden to hunt or take any wild swan, 

 wild goose, or wild duek of any kind, w idgeon or teal, 

 between April 16 and September I, yearly, and any Canada 

 g — between May 15 aud September I, in each year. The 

 ait formerly read for hare, .March I u. November I: and for 

 ( anada gOOSi from Atnil 1") m September 1, 



"Die Yviio.vvl Brno."— Hartford, Conn., Fete 32.— 

 The lower house of the Legislature to-day discussed the hill 

 for the protection of American eagles A number of spread- 

 members poked all sons of fun at the bill, but, it was finally 

 passed by a rising vote al the suggestion of patriotic mem- 

 bers. The bill had its outgrowth in a. desire of residents of 

 the venerable town of Litchfield to preserve, some eagles 

 which have, been in that section for rears, and which 

 spon mien RIG gradually killing off. 



EUFOBCJjra tEE -Maine Law.— Bangor, Me., Feb. 35, 

 1888.— James E. Berry, American Express agent at Bar 

 Harbor. Mount Desert', upon complaint of Fish and Game 

 Waidei \h.r-c. was fined $30 for shipping (rout during 

 close linn in November Geo. L. Bunker, for killing one 

 deer Feb. 7. upon complaint of same officer, was 'lined 

 $41.60, Freemail Collins, for killing a. deer Feb. 20, Wil- 

 tind $40 on complaint Of same officer. — Lf.x T.VMirNis. 



Uessus. William READ & So.ns. of Boston. Mass., have 

 removed from their former establishment in Fanettil Hall 

 ttiori commodious quarters at No. 107 Washington 

 sheet, 'the lii'ttt is well-luiowu in New England and 

 throughout the country as dealers in first class goods. We 

 bespeak tor the Messrs. Bead m tneirneW establishment "- 16 

 patronage of an increasing host of friends 



OBEGOS lM'.i.i: aie reported more plentiful in the hills 

 along the coast than ever before, known, and have become 

 cjuite taniesince the game law went into effect, in some places 

 running with the sheep, 



MAIKK Scmiav StiooTiNu. Maine lia- pa-.-ed a law for 

 bidding the killing of birds and game on Sunday, but an 

 amendment to prohibit tithing wi rtrted d 



3 



M \r-.i. |)i:t:i( - \ eoriespondetil of the Fllsworth Atiuri- 

 can says that the number of deer shipped from Maine the 

 pa i year has exceeded 3,000. and it ii sab- to say that three- 



fourtb- Of those dee) were killed by le-s than 100 men. and 

 a curious la. I is that nol one in ten of the venison saddles 

 shipped before the ponds froze had a bullet bole upon them, 

 and, of those that had the beads on, nine out often were 

 shot in the back of the head, thus proving that they weje 

 slaughtered in the water, driven in by hounds. 



MC-NTAKA (JBOTJBE SBAfiOH - fort < 'ii-e : ..U.'l , Feb. f.'. 



Referring to your schedule ol game laws published Decem- 

 ber 7; 1 would say that dusky, sage and sharp-tail 

 ptarmigan and "tool hen-'' (Franklin's grouse), are protected 



in Montana till Amru-t 15, not A" ted— .\jik- 



t:\uiit \ 



■Thro pen ' i tat . 



0HN il.. as ii apt to be fhe case witli Whole-souled 



vporlsmeii, is a ihorcnghbred joker, and lets no oppor- 

 tuiuiy go Let i e thelaugh in a tpiiei way 



against any of tht boys. Sitting in a hotel the other day 



s with a friend abon rip to Sandusky 



B ■, .- m " remark - 9 see Ii tout ■ ime extraordinary 



Teas ;o ducks. These remarks caxighl the ear of a com- 

 mercial traveler, who, all unasked, chipped in and immedi- 

 ately monopolized the whole eouversation with glowing 



,:i nl Ids wonderful skill with the gun "Ninety-six 



glass bails it raigbl Was a bagatelle" to biiil "Nine out ol 

 U:ti shot- [it grouse in the tf U Of COVi ;uu know," had 



been his east gi a ad tin iber i 



matches iu "which he had come out victorious was simplj 

 countless, •fohn listened attentively, and after the hist lie 



or two sized hi.- man; and when the follow Stopped for 



breath, asked in an innoeepl voice. "What charge did you 

 use in that last match with Bogardtis when you beat him 

 feu birds?" 



"O, just an ordinary eie .. , red the C. T. 



Well, bul bow much by actual measurement? I would 

 like to know." 



'O. just the same as 1 use at all times. 



••Well, what do you use tit nil times?' 



"t», sometime more ami sometime less, just as it hap- 

 pens. Then thinking to sec his way out of a dilheultv, he 

 Continued, "How much do you use. Fir. If.':" 



Well." replied John, "in ni\ every day field gun which 

 is a very heavy piece, a thirty-six bore wejghing 

 pounds, I use seventeen drains of powder and four drams 

 of shot." 



The commercial man's face lirigliteiie.il, for In now -aw 

 his way out, and speaking up boldly, he said: "Well, you 

 shoot a hea vie i irun that f do, so of course you can use a 

 bigger load: now 1 only dare use in my t'iiit ty-li>. boro, 

 fifteen pound gun, sixteen drams of powder and three and it 

 half drams of "shot, and I tell you even then I have a pretty 

 sore -Foulder otter an all day '- -hoot." 



The boys had by this rime gathered around, and all saw 

 the point but the 0. T„ who, shouldering his grijfcack, 

 moved complacently out. scowling fiercely "at the roaring 

 crowd as much as to s-,y "What in thunder you laughing 



ai V 



U w Drx 



ft was ill September. The owls hud killed some of our 

 most valuable fowls. One night I was aroused by loud 

 squalling and cackling -among some fowls (hat rousted in 



some cedar trees that stood ■■ indoW where 



I slept. 



1 jumped up, seized toy gun aud ran out. 1 eould hear 

 the owl as he darted al his victim, but would fail to strike 

 it, but 1 could nol see it in the darkness. I throw up my 

 gun and touch both triggers— n splendid snap shot— 1 



-. i iiing strike the ground. Walking up to the tree, 

 there lies a t urkey, and further on a. chicken. BlWH >. 



Fonr Royal, Tens 



1 like your new departure in the line of illustrations; 

 the sketches of dogSOn point were excellent, and "Asleep 

 at his Post" is .still better. An incident precisely like that 

 occurred last fall to an -attache of the Rochester post 

 Office. A fellOfl F man who is an expert fowler, 

 took him duck shooting to Braddock's Bay. put idm in a 

 blind on a good point, and drove a big lioek of ducks to 

 the deeoys. Aftei waiting an age., and not seeing hi- 



friend shoot, the man in '1 iori 



bis companion snoring. Sfw 



