108 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 8. 1888 



Carolina; 10 In September, including New Hampshire, Vir- 

 ginia, \\ is< onsiE 



i ' ■■!' ptcmber is classed under summer 

 shooting, For the reason thai the summer vacations of pro- 

 Len am a i tttendtis a rule Lnio thai month. 



It will he seen, then, thai the game law,- of the eouniry 

 do not indorse the new watchword of oar reformers, "No 

 summer shooting.'" 



Those laws may he wise or otherwise, but they indicate 

 public sentiment, and are the Ileal expression w<i have of tlxe 

 convictions of the country. 



Let us now take a model law and examine its working, Let 

 us lake the law of Connecticut, which fixes the open season 

 for upland birds at October I. 



What are the facts in the Nutmeg State? Why. in the 

 first place, there is widespread discontent. For several 

 years an organized effort has heen made at Hartford to re- 

 Store July woodcock -hooting. 



in the second place, the law is nol enforced or obeyed. 

 In many parts of the Stale' the shooters have agreed among 

 ! I' CS to shoot ill July, affirming that their local birds 



are goue iu October smd thai Lh« flight birds do not touch 

 bile in other parts of the State the shooters open 

 the hall in Sepuunhtr. A third objection to the Connecti- 

 cut law is thai October 1 is too early for the open season on 

 quail Many of ihc covies are but half-grown at that date. 



November 1 h quite early enough for quail. 



Uniformity, or a universal law, is impracticable. 



Your correspondent at Wellsville, N. Y., is last wet Vs 

 papoi gave .lie judgment of li is section in favor of wood- 

 cock shouting in August. He tells us that it issummer shoot. - 

 in tr ot none. 



■ ; the proposed law now with the Legislature at "Al- 

 bany, if passed, will restore July shooting in the Empire 

 State. 



Let us now ask for the objection which appeared so con- 

 clusive, to our friends on the other side, We are all agreed 

 hi game laws should be framed in harmony with the 

 lour principles stated above. 



Il i- obvious that if you can't enforce your exclusive Call 

 shooting, you had better give it up. unless indeed, like our 

 temperauce friends, you hope to convert people "by act of 

 Parliament." 



These objections are as follows: 



I. Id summer the game i.x not full grown. But let me 



ask the "Professor" whether that is not wdiat he calls pctiHo 



leipii begging the question? We insist that certain 



el eamearo full grown, and therefore lawful prey, 



long before October 1. 



'.'. Tin season, i1 is said, will be too long if gameis killed 

 from summer to mid-winter, We answer; then shorten it 

 sit the end and not at the beginning. Let the open season 

 lie when it will beat suit the public, and not when only the 

 wealthy and the market shooters can enjoy the sport. Let 

 the nun who have protected the buds during liieir nesting 

 have some recompense for their trouble. 



3. The destruction of game is inevitable if summer 

 shooting is not stopped. Well, if that proposition could be 

 pWVed, it would end all controversy. But it is not true. Game 

 is plcufier in England to-day than 'it was centuries 



till "pen season is in August. The tact is, game preser- 

 vation is not a question of .summer shooting or of fall shoot 

 Lng, but Of judicious and executed laws. 1 have been told 

 by Adirondack guides that deer are plentiet to-day than they 

 were twelve ami fifteen years ago; and tills though New York 

 permits deer shooting iii August. 



4. But thepiect dt resistance oi our friends is that men 

 who shoot woodcock in July will "pull on everthing that 

 i ises before them." But this is a boomerang. It proves too 

 Tiiueh. It would prohibit all shooting till November, for 



mceded by all that the open season on quail should 

 not be earlier than November 1. Il mean-, that there should 

 he no shooting till all game is full grown. But nol even the 

 editor ol Forest and Stream would defer cock shooting till 

 then, for he knows that the (light, occurs in October, in the 

 Northern tier of States, and that by November 1 lie 

 bills have got well on their journey toward their winter 

 homes. 



The fact is that something must be trusted to the honor 



ol men, and in the long run it will he found to he as well to 



nine thai eveU men who use the gun are gentlemen. One 



thiug is certain, thai the whole question of game protection 

 with the shooters vastly more than with the laws or 

 the constable. 

 A recent contributor, who chose to call himself "Olher- 



cus," seems to be concerned for the fences and potatoes of 

 the poor farmers if summer shooting is not suppressed, lie 

 has (my sympathy. The spectacle is a beautiful one— 

 "Othercus" in tears ovef the woes of the farmers! and in 



genuine pathos it is only surpassed by Mark Twain weeping 

 at the tomb of Adam. Clerk a s. 



THE WEATHER AND WESTERN GAME. 



Ftli IM a good many ami varied sources your correspond- 

 ent learned of the following facts about the chances 

 for quail and other game prospects. Nearly everywhere 

 the disastrous Hoods and (lie preceding extreme cold and 

 heavy fall of snow has killed off the quail at a terrible rate. 

 There will he little show for hunters this spring, and very 

 little chance for these sixty-quail in-tbirty-days fellows. 

 Briefly slated, the reports are as follows: From Peoria 

 comes* word that quail in that section are faring better than 

 most anywhere else. Bloomington sends word that the 

 quail are" killed off by whole coveys. The weather Febru- 

 ary a was very severe on them. There will he no quail this 

 season in Northern Indiana, Reports from Jersey ville. 111., 

 say that there will soon he plenty of ducks there willi pres- 

 ent temperate weather. There will lie good feeding on the 

 Illinois bottom soon. Reports indicate that ducks are mov- 

 ing northward. At Winona, AVis., the .-.now has been over 

 a fool deep, and tiic I hermoineter has been below zero all 

 along, and there is little hope for the quail. The poor Bob 

 White has been I ourai frozen in bunches where they hud- 

 dled together in the fields near Lyons, Iowa. Dayton, 

 Iowa, and Koadhoiise, 111, report the same State; The "boys 

 all rushed around frantically Thursday and Friday when 

 the thaw set in and the thermometer showed fifty degrees 

 above zero. They looked for a regular breaking up of win- 

 ter's backbone and the consequent arrival ot the ducks from 

 the South. It was repotted that they were at Jcvseyville, 

 HI., and even thai, some were seen near Alton, on the Ilti- 

 Euver. Then came the arduous, duty of loading shells 

 and gelling guns out. Lo and behold! Saturday loomed up 

 clear and cold. A rapidly tailing thermometer and exces- 

 sive col. I weather blasted all hopes of ducks. 

 Chicago, hi., Feb. VT, 1883. 



THE WORCESTER "FUR COMPANY." 



IIIAY1'; resided in Worcester about twenty years, and 

 during thai period I cannot remember a single year 

 when foxes were not plenty in tliis vicinity. Thine were 



|' ! is years of this time that my business compelled me 



■ em, bird Shooting almost entirely, and lis 1 had about 

 three months of leisure in winter in those years and must 

 I something, I purchased a hound and' substituted fox 

 hunting. I learned to like it, very much and was as enthu- 

 i ' lie ;i (ho besl of them; but to" mv mind it docs not corn- 

 pare willi bird shooting, and as soon as mv business would 

 permit 1 was quite ready to "return lo pay first love." and 

 the past five years have' done no fox hunting, unless, per- 

 haps, to go out once or twice in a season with sonic friend. 

 Very few of the "fur company" do much bird shooting. 

 "Uncle" Nathan Harrington is,' however, an exception, and 

 it is difficult to make llie : old mm say which he likes best: 

 but 1 have shot with him for many years and have nol iced 

 that ho goes fox minting very little until the Woodcock have 

 gone. Probably if any one should accuse him of having a 

 preference for the woodcock, he would say there was time 

 enough to hunt foxes after they were gone, and wind up 

 with the remark that either was good enough for him. 



Thesea>oii begins October 1, and closes on the last day of 

 February by mutual agreement. The first three mouths 'the 

 weather was fairly good for the sport, but January and Feb- 

 ruary have been exceptionally unfavorable on account of the 

 crust and ice which has covered the country the i ulire two 

 months, and this fact has affected the score very materially. 

 Wednesday came out bright and clear with a new snow, and 

 gave promise of being all that could be desired for the clos- 

 ing day, but the wind was soon blowing a gale and it turned 

 out very unsatisfactory. There were, howevec two foxes 

 killed i'n the party, and when one of thein was skinned the 

 fact was revealed that there would be eight less foxes next 

 seasou. The company respect the eK-v seas, m as faithfully 

 as the bird shooters do the game laws, and if one should kill 



a fox after the first day of March, he would he read out of 

 the parly at once as unfit to associate with. 



The names which appsarin the list are all citizens of 

 Worcester except Mr. white. The Tourtellotte House in 



Milbury. of which he is I he genial proprietor, is justly 



eele rated for ita elegant game suppers, and so thoroughly 



doe- he please his patron.-, Ihe house has gained au enviable 

 lepnlation. and being a thorough sportsman as well as a 

 very pleasant gentleman, Mr. White has a good many 

 friends who like to accompany him on his fox-hunting trips. 

 Of the number sei against his name in the list eleven were 

 killed by him personally, which is the best individual string. 

 The score follows: 



John M. White ami company. .14 A; P. Cutting 3 



A, II. F. Kiunev ' ...3 Horace Adams 2 



M. il. Fremiti !) Benj. Knights i 



Leonard Hand 8 M. S Harrington 1 



John A. Sloeum d John K. Thayer :t 



;■■ .i | , ocke .... r, 

 K. 11. Smith 4 Total.... GO 



Worcester can shake hands with Atlanta, Oa., on the 

 panther question, having enjoyed (?) a sensation the past 

 winter quite equal to theirs. Had your correspondent the 

 descriptive powers of "Uncle Bemus" he would certainly 

 write up a complete history for the Forest and Stream. 

 tuns should more pioperly be called the panther "bore." as 

 for the past two months it has been almost impossible for a 

 citizen wdio was ever known to shoot a gun to get fairly off 

 his doorstep in the morning before he would he accosted "with 

 "Why ain't you after Ihe panther?" etc., etc. 



The newsboys cry has been "All about the panther," and 

 for a time the local papers received a perfect avalanche of 

 ii about the panther from the amateur poets of the 



county. For several weeks the neighboring town of Doug- 

 las monopolized the business, but of late his "hideous 

 screams" are heard and his "huge tracks'" are seen in vari- 

 ous other towns in the county. Meantime Douglas is tak- 

 ing a rest. After the monster is killed I shall hope to see 

 him, and if I do shall forthwith send a full description to the 

 Forest and Stream, K. 



WoisKsiea, Mass.. March a, 1B83. 



le Grace, 

 F. Gallo- 



THE BIG-GUNNERS. 



Reported for die Baltimore Sua, March a, 



MAG1STHATF ADAMS yesterday, at Ilav 

 delivered his decision in the case of Rolli 

 way. Hied on Thursday on charge of shooting ducks at night 

 with one of the big-guns which kill and cripple a flock at a 

 discharge. Coml was held in the City Hall, which was 

 packed with several hundred spectators, 'among whom was 

 Judge Stump, of the Second Judicial Circuit. The magis- 

 trate said that the evidence of Detective Lindsey showed 

 clearly that Galloway was out gunning on the night in 

 question, but there was some doubt as lo (he defendant 

 having used a big-gun, as Ihe detective had not testified as to 

 the weight of the weapon, which must weigh over fifteen 

 pounds to come under the penally of the law. He would, 

 therefore, tine him $100 for the one offense and hold him not 

 guilty in the other. 



There was a great uproar. Men crowded about the stage 

 loudly denouncing the decision. Lawyer Vuiidiver said'it 

 was ii, compliment to Lawyer Scmmes's rich clients. Law- 

 yer Marine plumped out a sttong ejaculation of censure, and 

 look an appeal. .Magistrate Adain- calmly ignored Ihe hub- 

 bub. Mr. Yandiver demanded that Detective Lindsey 

 should give security to appear at court in October as a 

 witness or go to jail. Mr. Serumes went bail for the detec- 

 tive. 



While the sympathy of the people of Havre de ■■ ■ , ; 

 With Galloway, they are not in favor of hig-gunuing. Their 

 feelings were aroused by the action of the committee of 

 sportsmen in sending a Piukerton dctcclive there to ferret 

 out the gunners. They think the authorities uf Harford 

 county ought to have had charge of the case, and that the 

 gunnels ought to have heen arrested by the regular police 

 appointed lor that particular duty. The sporting men say 

 that the police are slow to act, and that Ihey cannot break 

 up the shooting unassisted. Mr. Semmes says thai- he sent 

 Slate's Attorney Maynadier ahsl of the witnesses against 

 He gunners, and asked him to prosecute them, but the letter 

 was nol even answered. Mr. Semmes then took hold of 

 matters himself. His clients are nine-tenth.-, of the property 

 'S along the ducking shores, and are sportsmen from 



Baltimore, New Yo 



Ded dive Lir ' 

 i , tal i ■ 

 melodrama rec 

 Uii pit 



and was HiouLd 



id Philadelphia 

 files blandly at his present, unpopular- 

 he actor who plays He- villain of the 

 U hisses, which attest the cleverness 

 ic here some mouths ago with his wife, 

 an English gentleman in search of 



amusement. He won the intimate friendship of Wash. 

 Barnes, the. king of the big gunners, anil went out and helped 

 Ef-nas p.bk up tin da.-ks killed v.-f.h i. Ag-gut. '-o e]., 

 did their friendship become thai. Mrs. Lindsey volunteered 

 to teach the piano to Mrs. Barnes's children. What Mr. 

 Lindsey didn't learn from Mv. Barnes Mrs. Lindsey learned 

 from Mrs. Barnes. The detective was on the bay in all sorts 

 ' i weather. Once he eame near losing his life by being 

 swept along by drift-ice. He was such' an enthusiast about 

 I he, -port of duck shooting that it was whispered he was a 

 crank, But there's not a man, woman, or child in Havre 

 dcGiaec who thinks so now. 



In the testimony it was brought out that Lindsey in his 

 operations here after the bis-guuners had violated the wild- 

 fowd law himself: benee this afternoon charges were tiled 

 against him before Justice Adam- far I WO violations of the 

 law. The cases were tried at once, and h" was fined iji.35 

 for the first offense and $50 for the second, The fines were 

 paid. 



The In" : ■enuers are very hitler over the detective's work. 

 They say that if the law should be amended SO as to permit 

 them to gun at night from January 1 to April 1 they would 

 not gun at any other time. It frequently OCCUl'S, they say, 

 that the bay in this vicinity is frozen over after Christina's, 

 and it is difficult as well as unprofitable to shoot ftomboxe,-. 

 At night the ducks bunch and feed. Then it is the big- 

 gunners sneak upon them and bang away. Our; shot from 

 a big-gun brought down !lo ducks "this season, To get two 

 shots a night is good luck. The gams are put in skiffs which 

 placed on runners when necessary. The gunner is 

 tided from head to foot in white canvas, so nsAo escape 

 detection. Sometimes he moves along on skates The big 

 gunners urge that if a man cannot make his living in day- 

 time in frozen weather, and is willing to undergo aiiy 

 amount of discomfort for that purpose atAiight, it is neither 

 fair nor right to deprive him of the privilege. The owners 

 of shore-side property say that if the big-gunners are not 

 stopped, wildfowl will be frightened oil' permanently after 

 awhile and their property become comparatively valueless. 

 They say that the legitimate gunners, who greatly outnum- 

 ber the big-gunners, make a very good thing of their busi- 

 ne.v throughout the ducking season, and there is no reason 

 why others should not do likewise except it be that nothing 

 less than wholesale slaughter will content them. 



Ducks have been plentiful this seasou. The champion 

 legitimate gunner is Win. Dobson, Who has been known to 

 bring down 30fJ in a day's shooting. The money spent in 

 Havre tie Grace by visbing sportsmen, and their liberality in 

 paying for the service of hunters, has done a great deal for 

 the place and its inhabitants, and is one reason why so many 

 persons side with the sportsmen in desiring to prevent the 

 big-gunners from driving the ducks away. There are no 

 visiting yachts at Havre de Grace now. and but few of the 

 sportsmen owning property along the shore, as they come 

 earlier in the season, which begins November l and ends 

 April 1. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



SPRIG-TAILS and bald pates are now coming back to 

 . our river; these, with a few mallards and black ducks, 

 which the open feeding "rounds and marshes are attracting, 

 are drawing the attention of some of our Philadelphia duck- 

 ers. I learn that a great many brant have reached both 

 Barnegat and Tuckcrton Hays, and that a number of ducks 

 were being killed in both of these waters by (lie market- 

 shooters. "Some redheads were among the lots brought in. 

 From the fact that considerable ice has made this winter 

 on the fiats in these bays, the natural aedgc-grass hides have 

 been destroyed by the floating ice when it broke up and 

 good bunds are difficult to make; hence brant will be found 

 hard to stool, wheu it is also well known these fowl are 

 more wary in the spring than they are in ihe fall, when they 

 arrive from the North with their young. 



We hear that the ice in the upper Delaware River, above 

 tidewater in the mountain section of Pennsylvania and New 

 York, and in the Susquehanna River, above Williainsport, 

 is gorged at some points. This a wi ek since raised the ex- 

 pectations of a few duck shooters here, who imagined that 

 this ice would have to pasB by Philndelpbia and down the 

 Delaware, and thus make good "ice Shooting" or paddling 

 on the late-arrived bald pates and sprigtail ducks, it should 

 be remembered that ice made aoove Trenton, N. J., only 

 about thirty miles above Philadelphia, never reaches our 

 city in its drift, but melts long before it can be carried by 

 tides past- our city. v 



We shall have no more "ice shooting" this season unless 

 we have a hard freeze and the river at and below Phila- 

 delphia is affected, which is doubtful. This ice she i . , . . 

 say the best of it. is almost on a par with the swivel-gun 

 work on ducks at Spesutia Island. The floating blind of an 

 ice shooter, his white skill' made to represent a drift hit: mass 

 of ice and himself dressed from cap to boot in spotless while 

 likewise, is a fearful deceit whereby the unsuspecting fowl 

 can he approached oftimes within twenty yards, and mowed 

 down as they sit huddled together by a discharge from a gun 

 that a giant could not throw to his shoulder. A piece nol 

 even pressed to the shoulder, but braced to the gunwales of 

 the skiff by "kicking straps"— in a word a gun, the younger 

 brother of the Spesutia Island swivel piece. This shooting 

 is also carried on in the majority of cases in the spring When 

 there is ice in the liver, when Ihe fowl are on their way to 

 the breeding grounds. 1 have indulged in it. 1 am sorry to 

 say, and have pulled the trigger of a gun and "steered" 

 the long barrel in the direction of a sitting or swimming 

 flock when an even quarter of a pound of No. : : i killed or 

 crippled half of its numbers, but I shall never be guilty 

 of if again. One I rip sufficed me and gives me reason why 

 lo condemn such shooting. Few but market shooters now 

 systematically indulge in it, I am happy to write, but Iheie 

 is no law against it and it is wrong, root and branch, and 

 out of all order nevertheless. 



Some of our sanguine sportsmen are even now looking 

 for an advance coming snipe. Spring is hen- to be sure, but 

 in name only. Mr. Longbill will postpone his visit to us 

 (and few have been their" numbers about Philadelphia in the 

 past live years) until more genial weather attracts bim. 



Homo 



Minnesota Pinnated Grottse Season. — Mantorville, 

 Miun., March 3, — Editor i-Ws.< awl Stream: The bill mak- 

 ing pinnated grouse season to open August IS, instead of 

 September IS," has been passed. The law ■ I si n ! la 

 Season was of very little uae ; sportsmen did not o serve it 

 in this vicinity. Chickens are reported unusually numer 

 ous this winter, and shooting for next fall looli 

 Quail are not very numerous, the unusual depth of snow 

 may have, something to do with it. — Del', Wells. 



