May 10, 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



287 



York OT Philadelphia sportsmen, and reserve the privilege 

 for himself ami brother to shoot as heretofore. 



My advice to whoever rente it, is to expressly stipulate 

 fhat'no one save members of the club are to he permitted to 

 ■ .1 mi on the -bore under any consideration. 



A shrewd market gunner, up to the sharp practices of a 

 baysklc duck shooter, will rent bis place to a club of gentle- 

 men for three or lour hundred dollars — enough to pay ex- 

 penses it the ducks do not come in remunerative numbers, 

 as often happens— and by casually remarking as the con- 

 tract is being drawn up, "1 would' like to reserve the privi- 

 lege for myself and a friend to BllOOl when none of you gen- 

 tlemen are around." will manage to sell more ducks than 

 the ten or a dozen gentlemen will kill during tin season. 

 Has not this heeu the experience of every sportsman who 

 ha- been caught iu the trap so ingeniously 'bailed'.' 



GUKPOWDEB. 



THE GAME OF CALIFORNIA. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the enterprise and extensive cir- 

 culation of your paper, I have noticed in ihs columns 

 few r if any contributions from the sportsman's paradise, 

 California. I do not hclicve that any State of our Union is 

 favored with such abundance and' variety of game, both 

 small and large, a-- this. 



Prom the utile striped cbipmimk — a minute simile of a 

 squirrel — to the ponderous grizzly bear, almost any species 

 of game native to North America may be fouud. fi'or pane 

 birds we have numerous varieties— valley quail, mountaiu 

 quail, doves, pigeons, grouse and sue.- liens, arid for water- 

 fowl almost everything desirable, from. the swift little-teal 

 to tbe wild goose, honker and swan, our rivers are stocked 

 with many kinds of fish, principally salmon (for two or 

 three mouths of the year), salmon trout, whitefish, suckers, 

 Catflsll and shad, the two last having been translated from 

 01 h.1 -r waters, while our mountain streams afford unecrualed 

 trout fishing, and contain several species of brook trout hotli 

 l&rge and small. Were I granted space I could not do half 

 justice to the subject iu describing the many varieties of game 

 and fish of the forests and streams of California, and will 

 confine my remarks to such sections of the Shite as 1 am 

 the most familiar with only— the foothills and mountains. 



The northern portion of the State is for the most part 

 broken and mountainous. From the Coast Ranee on the 

 west to the Siena Nevadas on the east the country Ja broken 

 and comparatively thinly settled. There is ridge "after ridge 

 of high mountains aud lesser hills, and comparatively little 

 land thai can be utilized except as a range for stock! The 

 mountains aud ridges are mostly covered either with heavy 

 timber or dense undergrowth. 'according to their altitude. 

 Throughout, these mountains game abounds-, comprising 

 deer, bear, grouse, quails, rabbits, etc. In some sections 

 trappers, succeed very well in their seasou, the best grounds 

 for fur being high up the mountain streams. 



For deer and bear, probably, the counties of Shasta, Sis- 

 kiyou, and Trinity arc not excelled by any in the State, al- 

 though the character of the country fenders successful 

 hunting more difficult than in sections where the garnets 

 less abundant but more easily accessible. During the fall 

 and winter deer are driven from the mountains into the 

 valleys hy storms and snow, aud generally seek localities 



ii'K i " mast is heaviest. They are tamer at such times 

 than others, and arc often found within sight and hearing of 

 the settlements. It is no uncommon occurrence for resi- 

 de nts in the mountains, in thinly settled districts, to shoot 

 deer, or occasionally a hear, from their doorway. In fact, I 

 know of a stockman, who, when he desires a "venison, has 

 only to keep a. lookout in the morning and evening aud' wait 

 for one to come within gunshot, aud "he is rarely whithout a 

 supply of such game iu his larder. So plentiful" are deer in 

 places, that they make themselves obnoxious by their raids 

 upon gardens or grain fields, paying their visits hy night. 

 An ordinary fence is no impediment to these nimble animals, 

 in fact they frequently choose the highest portion of a fence 

 for their crossing places, aud ignore a gate even wheu left 

 open. A deer will stand outside a fence, look around awhile, 

 flap his mule-like ears, wag his piece of a tail, and then 

 merely float upward and alight upon the inside with cxeeed- 

 inj mifffroid: He will then express satisfaction' with an- 

 other vfatr of his tail, and proceed to prospect for such 

 garden ■'truck" as he may prefer. 



Iu many parts of the State, however, where deer were once 

 plentiful, they are now scarce or extinct, aud, unless the 

 laws provided are more strictly enforced, they are likelv to 

 be entirely exterminated in time. Although the mountains 

 afford a comparatively safe retreat, the deer are driven out by 

 snow to the valleys and foothills, and are there killed ingreat 

 numbers. Parties frequently kill them for their hides atoms— 

 making a profitable, although despicable husiuess thereby. 

 The result of this practice is becoming obvious, and all true 

 sportsmen are endeavoring to enforce the laws and prosecute 

 these infamous characters in the future. 



The Sacramento Ba is an able ally of the sportsmen of 

 the State and is doing good work in denouncing transgres- 

 sions of the game laws and iu aiding to establish such. laws 

 as will protect fish and game from unlawful destruction 

 and extermination, and its efforts are greatly appreciated. 



Bears are found over a large scope of our'coumry and oc- 

 casionally trouble stockmen a great deal. They exist princi- 

 pally on berries, roots and acorns, hut manifest a fondness 

 for pigs, calves or sheen, when opportunity offers. The 

 California liou is the most destructive of* our varmints 

 They attack cattle, colt,,, hogs, or almost any kiud of stock 

 and frequent ly do much damage, although they are not 

 plentiful except in some parts of the mountains. 



The so-called liou is little different from a tiger, of a light 

 red-yellow color, long tail, and about the size of alargedog, 

 onlv longer, and is cat-like in stealth and treachery. It is 

 said I hey seldom attack person,, but to hear one howl and 

 know what it is. is sufficient to terrify a person considerabllv, 

 I have heard them when alone in the mountains, several 

 miles ironi everywhere in particular, aud I have been terri- 

 fied— to state it mildly— and have regretted that such un- 

 necessary animals existed. 



Their cry is like that of a human-a woman, in distress, 

 and I blandly proclaim that there is nothing soothing about 

 and in make it worse you can't tell exactly where it comes 

 Horn, nor how far oil.' it is. They are uot good to eat-but 

 they are good eaters. They arc game in one sense but are 

 not much sought after; 1 do not seek any— always inclined 

 to leave them alone— or together, or any way to suit them- 

 selves, bo 1 abstain from arraying their affairs before the 

 public. 



I intended to detail a hunting excursion, but will reserve 

 it for u future letter, as this is already long. Esau. 



Shasta, California, April, 1883. 



GAME AND FISH PROTECTORS. 



SECTION four of the law- reads: "For the purpose of 

 the more- effectual enforcement of the provisions of 

 this act, the game and fish protectors Shall be, subject to the 

 supendsion and direction of the commission of fisheries, who 

 shall divide the territory of the State into protection dis- 

 tricts and shall assign to each protector his district, and 

 shall have authority. "also, to assign for temporary duty in 

 any district, a protector from any other district Tin; said 

 commissioners shall require of each protector, at the close of 

 each calendar month, a report in writing, and in detail 

 stating the service performed by such protector during tht 

 last preceding month, including an account of the "suits 

 commenced af his instance, the disposition made of such 

 suits, the result of any brought to trial, and the condition of 

 any undisposed of; and no payment for services performed, 

 or traveling expenses paid by any protector shall he made 

 until the claimant shall present to the comptroller, in addi- 

 tion to the usual oath of performance and payment, a cer- 

 tificate from the said commissioners that he has made the 

 report required by this act, and has in all other respects 

 faithfully performed his official duty. The commissioners 

 of fisheries shall report to the Governor all cases of derelic- 

 tion or neglect of duty of any protector which shall come to 

 their knowledge, together with such evidence as they may 

 have touching the case, and the Governor shall have author- 

 ity to remove from office any protector so reported to be 

 delinquent, after giving liim au opportunity to he heard in 

 his defense." " 



TEOTEfiATriuc axd Shooting.— In the report of the 

 Chief of Ordnance for 1882, which has just come to hand, 

 w r e find the following interesting report of some experiments 

 made, at the Frankford Arsenal ■" "During December. 1881, 

 and January. 1883, very extensive experiments were under- 

 taken to determine why our velocities obtained iu summer 

 were SO touch bigger than those obtained in winter, when 

 the same charge was used, the only seeming variable being 

 the difference in temperature of the atmosphere. Some 338 

 velocities were taken, with the cartridge and rifle both warm 

 and cold, the air through which the bullet passed heiug 

 about the same temperature. With the cartridges and rifle 

 warmed by a temperature equal to that obtained in summer, 

 and cleaned between each shot, our velocities were 1.350 

 feet; and with cartridges and rifle cold at a temperature of 

 thirty-two degrees, theeartridges being kept at that temper- 

 ature long enough to insure the powder iu the case having 

 that degree of heat only, guii not cleaned between shots, We 

 obtained only 1,295 feet velocity; a difference of some til 

 feet. We also found that the pressures under these different 

 circumstances varied between 29,300 pounds when wuirtn to 

 85,050 pounds when Cold, and the fouling varied from 7.6 

 grains with cold gun and cartridge to 5.4 grains with warm 

 gun aud cartridge: our conclusions from these experiments 

 being that tlie effects of heat upon both cartridge and rifle 

 arc to decrease the amount of the fouling and increase the 

 pressure of the gases and the resulting velocities; also, that 

 the temperature of the air through which the bullet passes 

 has very little effect upon the velocities, and that care should 

 always he taken to have cartridges and rifle at a uniform 

 temperature when taking velocities," 



Tire Gunnison Country.— During the year 1880 I spent 

 about eight months in the Gunnison and San Juan country 

 in Colorado. My headquarters were at Mountain City, 

 about sixty or seventy miles from Leadville. Such a para- 

 dise for large game I have seldom heard of. My "pard" 

 and 1 had a cabin on the hanks of Castle Creek, which 

 emptied into Roaring Fork River, two streams of which I 

 could tell many wonderful trout stories. There were three 

 German brothers, who were working a claim seven miles 

 above on the Maroon Creek. Theo. carried a Sharps rifle, 

 Jim carried a breech-loading shotgun, an excellent shooter'. 

 too. the other one carried nothing but his revolvers. They 

 started b- m:- one afternoon about five o'clock, but had no't 

 been gone more than an hour wdien they came hack very 

 much excited, saying they had killed a grizzly bear. It 

 seems that when a mile and a half from the cabin they 

 heard hushes crackling behind them and saw the bear fol- 

 lowing fnem. Theo. tired at once and struck the bear in 

 the right side of the face. Jim, scared nearly out of Ms 

 senses, tired both barrels of his shotgun loaded with buck- 

 shot and fortunately broke the bear's backbone. They soon 

 put an end to him. Three such seared Dutchmen are sel- 

 dom seen. The bear was a very large cinnamon, and we all 

 had a feast on bear steak.— P. 8. (Buffalo, N. Y,). 



Onondaga County, New York.— I believe I could yoke 

 with "Nessmuk" on many points. I observe he don't 

 have the "whisky bottle" among his equipments, and own 

 that 1 am at a loss to understand why so many sportsmen 

 cannot go out for a days's shooting, even at glass halls or 

 clay pigeons, without a whisky bottle or a keg of lager. I 

 have been fox-hunting the past winter where some of the 

 party were drunk before the day was half gone, aud I don't 

 wonder that some men objected to their boys going with 

 such hunting parties, and concluded they didn't, care to have 

 their sons acquire a taste for hunting and whisky combined. 

 Game of all lands has nearly left these parts. We found 

 where four partridges had been eaten by foxss this winter, 

 and I believe foxes eat more than are killed by sportsmen.— 

 Novice, 



Notes From Colorado.— Como, Colorado, April 30.— 

 Buck shooting here in South Park has been rather poor this 

 spring. The ducks have been plenty, but very wild. How- 

 ever, 1 have shot twenty in three days' hunting. Most of 

 the ducks are redheads) mallards und gray ducks. Yester- 

 day 1 drove to a lake six miles from here to dig me a blind, 

 and saw the first flock of curlew I have seen in the park. 1 

 find it very difficult to judge the distance of game at this 

 altitude (9,804 feet), The air is so clear, that the game 

 appears much nearer than it really is. This makes duck 

 shooting much more difficult than on my old hunting- 

 grounds, on Lake Champlain. — F. B. J. 



Dowts the Mississippi. — May 3. — I have, found plenty of 

 duck down the Mississippi, that is as far as I am. The 

 first day out from Louisville I saw three flocks of mallard, 

 the third day out. while I was sitting on the boiler deck I 

 saw three single ducks, four pairs, and nine large flocks 

 within a half hour: the fifth day out I saw seventy-five 

 ducks within five minutes aud within four miles of Vicks- 

 burg. I expect to see- many more befoie the trip is over. — 

 Jem. 



Snipe Shooting.— The snipe have made a late appear- 

 ance on the Jersey meadows this year. Mr. Justus Von 

 Leugcrke was out the first of the week, and reported nine 

 killed out of ten found; and this in the wake of two other 

 gunners. In Connecticut, we are informed, Lyme is a good 

 point for snipe shooters. Go to Clark's Hotel and eugage 

 the services of ''Bill" Flint, who is a good guide for the 

 Essex meadows and the Ely meadows uear by" 



A Gala Day.— Munc.y, Pa., April 22— The oldest sports- 

 men say that for a great many years so many ducks have 

 uot been seen on the river at this place as on Friday last. It 

 was a grand old holiday for sportsmen. The little steamer 

 Full Moon, owned by Captain John M. Bowman, steamed 

 down on Muney Dam, a beautiful sheet of water, and on 

 their return home the captain and party shot forty-seven 

 ducks. — Full Moon. 



Mississippi.— Brookha ven, April.— Quail shooting the 

 past season was unusually good. The freedman of this 

 section is one of Bob White's most harmless enemies. 

 Neither his trap nor army musket has much to do with the 

 extermination of our favorite game. I know of but one 

 darkey iu the county who shoots on the wing, and he being 

 an industrious fellow spends very little of his time hunting. 

 -I. L. G. ' 



Texas Quail.— Indianola, Calhoun County, Texas, April 

 30. — We are having a very cool, backward spring, and 

 there are some ducks here yet. If some of your readers wish 

 to shoot quail they ought to come out in this section; across 

 the bay from us, three miles, there are thousands, and thev 

 are hardly ever shot at.— A. 



Tue Owl Club has been organized at Lynn, Mass., for 

 the promotion of gunning and fishing. The membership is 

 limited to eight. The constittitiolf is printed in a dainty 

 little pamphlet, with a design on the cover like a P.?i Vpsih'n 

 initiation card. We wish the Bubo a long life. 



Black Flies and Musquitoes.— To the, many repcllants 

 already noted in these columns, we add another, namely, 

 citronella, the oil of the lemon verbena. This is agreeable 

 to use, has a pleasant odor; and our informant tells us it is 

 as effective as the oil and tar combination. 



This Sedalia Gun and Shooting Club held a meeting 

 at the Park, Sedalia, Mo. . last Mondav. The officers are : 

 J. W. Trader, President; E. C Evans. Vice-President; J. C 

 Pariiieiiee, Secretary; John Montgomery, Treasurer; F. 

 Houston, Attorney. 



"That reminds me." 



SPEAKING of digging a blind "reminds me" of the 

 novel method of concealing himself used by an old 

 friend of mine. "Hank" was possessed of an extraordi- 

 narily large understanding, and was never known to black 

 his boots. When duck hunting, he would lie down on his 

 back, and put his feet up in the air, which would effectually 

 screen him from the observation of the ducks. In this way 

 he would often come home with his hag well filled, where 

 others would utterly fad. F. B. J. 



Colorado. 



|*# md jjfwer jffashing. 



prompt, attention, communications should be ad- 

 dressed to fhe Forest and Stream publishing Co., and not to 

 individuals, in whose absence from the office matters of im- 

 portance are liable to delay. 



ANGLING RESORTS— We shall be glad to have for publi- 

 cation notes of good fishing Idealities. Will not our corre- 

 spondents favor us with notes of desirable points for angling 



'.rsions:' 



'•Fishing, if I, a fisher may protest, 

 Of pleasnres is the sweetest, of sports the best. 

 Of exercises the most excellent ; 

 Of recreations the most innocent. 

 But now the sport is marde, and wott ye why 

 Fishes decrease, and fishers multiply. " ' 

 -Thtumtn Bustard, in Collier's "JPoetical Hevamermiy" Vol.2, p. 108. 



A TRANSFORMATION SCENE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Will-you accept a short story t 1 was going to add "afishy" 

 one, only some might accept that adjective in its wrongful 

 sense, and imagine- that truth was not the basis of the nar- 

 rative, which it certainly is. 



Colonel D. T. and Mr. II. were spending a few days at 

 their fishing and shooting lodges on the island of Long 

 Point, Lake Erie, some time ago, and one afternoon were 

 quietly yet quickly, capturing some line green bass, and en- 

 joying their sport. 



The Colonel hooked what he deemed a three-pounder, and 

 gave the gamy fellow plenty of time aud line, insomuch 

 that uninitiated onlookers might imagine almost that he was 

 flying a kite in the lower world, or exercising some fractious 

 phantom colt, which, like the solar eclipse this year, is invis- 

 ible to us; but nevertheless the Colonel's head, like his hand, 

 is calm and cool, and experience has taught him the value 

 of the maxim, "a lost fish is cheaper than a broken rod." 

 Time at last does its work, and the apparent three-pounder 

 begins to show himself on top of the water. I say "begins" 

 because it took quite a while to show all of himself, for he 

 was no longer a three-pounder, hut a thirty -pounder; he had 

 grown in the struggle ; he had likewise changed his name 

 from bass to muscalonge. A wonderful life he must have- 

 led during the past ten iniuut.es. Silentlydid the gentlemen 

 look at one another, then at the fish. Quietly did the at- 

 tendant exchange the landing-net for a gaff-hook. Not a 

 word was spoken, not a muscle moved, only the color in the 

 angler's face, vet I doubt if all the gory fields of glory through 

 which the gallant Colonel had passed found him flunking 

 more in the same period of time, than did this change in his 

 piscatorial luck The gaff-hook is softly lowered by a some- 

 what shaky, excited hand, and the fish is also lowered by a 

 somewhat 'similar disposition, and both disappear, the first 

 into the scow and the latter into twenty feet of water, and 



