f ;282 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Not. 8, 1883. 



oas members of the party. When a victim of drink begins to 

 see double, then there seems to come over him a senseless 

 desire to exhibit himself before a target. However many 

 bullseyes he may Bee, he rarely manages to hit one: but be is 

 a dangerous man, and the place which permits and encour- 

 ages such practice should be shut up by the strong arm of 

 the law, just as any other threatening evil may be stamped 

 out. 



THE BUCK SHOOTING. 

 TT^ROM all quarters we are receiving most favorabls ac 

 -*- counts of the prospects for the duck shooting. First 

 from Canada and the Great Lakes, and then from the north- 

 ern portion of the Western States, we hear of large bags 

 and good sport, and along the whole Atlantic coast prepar- 

 ations are being made for the. reception of the fowl. We 

 have recently learned of the results of a trip made by two 

 members of the Long Point Club in Canada, who have but 

 just returned from their shooting excursion. One of these 

 gentlemen was eleven days on the ground, and averaged 

 fifty-one ducks per diem to his own gun. The other, 

 during nine days, made an average of sixty-one ducks. 

 The birds, which have already appeared there in such 

 numbers will soon be scattered over the country, and as 

 soon as the real cold weather sets in, will move south and 

 concentrate on their winter feeding grounds. Here they 

 will be in a measure protected, for, as we have before 

 shown, these southern feeding grounds are rapidly passing 

 into the hands of private clubs, which make most strenuous 

 efforts to preserve the game from heing too greatly harrassed, 

 well knowing that it is only by this means that the value of 

 their property can be maintained. 



Shooting properly of this kind has a real value, and, as the 

 number of those who shoot, and who can ufford to spend 

 money for pleasure of this kind increases, and as the birds 

 become less numerous on the public shooting grounds, such 

 property must appreciate. It is only a short time since a 

 share of the Carroll Island Club sold for over $6,000, and the 

 shares of other clubs of less note are eagerly sought for by 

 those who delight to use the gun. It is impossible to 

 avoid the conclusion, that at no very distant day 

 all the available ducking grounds within easy reach 

 of any of the greut centers of population will he taken up by 

 associations and so strictly preserved that the fowl will learn 

 that they will be in some degree safe when they resort to 

 them. This state of things, while it may not be in all re- 

 spects a pleasant prospect to contemplate, is wholly our own 

 fault — a direct result of our own selfishness and greed in 

 overshooting, and of our supineness in failing to enact proper 

 game laws and to have them enforced. If the great problem 

 of efficient game protection in the United jStatdS is to lx 

 solved in this way, as we.have predicted would be the case, 

 it will be the fault of the sportsmen of America. 



The Prisoner's Plea. — When a prisoner is brought lie- 

 fore a judge and jury nowadays he tries to make it appear 

 that he is only an innocent sportsman, temporarily embar- 

 rassed by an unfortunate complication of suspicious circum- 

 stances. In this city the other day two men, Allen and 

 Moore, were brought on trial for burglary, "Lizzie Callahan, 

 a chambermaid, testified that when she asked Allen and 

 Moore what they were doing on the fence, Moore replied, 

 Have you seen anything of a weasel around here?' He said 

 they were hunting a weasel." The house-owner missed $375 

 worth of goods after the weasel hunt. In Jersey City last 

 week one 'Banjo Pete" was on trial for highway robbery. 

 The prisoner testified that he was in Hoboken waiting for a 

 man with whom he was going fishing, and was arrested 

 entirely by mistake. The jury did not accept his fishing 

 Btory. 



Shining Geese is practiced to a considerable extent in 

 some portions of Canada, and the attention of the officers of 

 the law is respectfully called to the matter. At the mouth 

 of the Restigouche River, near Campbellton, N. B., there 

 are favorable feeding grounds for geese, and here, from time 

 immemorial, the birds have gathered during their spring and 

 fall migrations. At such times they are slaughtered in great 

 quantities by persons who fit up a canoe or a s kiff with the 

 headlight of an engine, and scull down on the flocks. The 

 birds, bewildered by the brilliant light, permit the gunner 

 to approach so close as to deliver his fire with telling effect. 

 A stop should at once be put to this pernicious practice, and 

 we trust that the proper officials will take the matter in band 

 at once. 



Snared Birds were on sale in' Washington Market, in this 

 city, last week; they can probably be bought there now. A 

 gentleman of our acquaintance visited the market last week 

 and seeing a barrel of ruffed grouse, bought a brace of the 

 birds, took them home, and picked them carefully. There 

 was not a shot mark visible on either of them, but a ring 

 around the neck showed that they had been snared. The 

 barrel bore a label showing that it had come over the Long 

 Island Railroad. 



There is a Vast Distinction between a "sporting man" 

 and a sportsman, and between a "sporting" paper and a 

 sportsman's paper. 



Correspondents are respectfully requested lo 

 twite on one side ofihejHxim unit/. 



pie (jjportmjHn l^omip. 



AD1RONDACKS. 



T^HE wild deer hunter takes the trail, 

 -*- Hark! hark! 

 His trusty rifle will not fail 

 Nor miss its mark. 



iftly thro' the bush. 



The hounds mi 



Look, look: 

 A stag comes bounding with 



And takes the brook. 



One dot- he catches on his horn, 



Yelp, yelp : 

 The hound is mangled, badly torn ; 



Jump in and help. 



The stream he enters at a run, 



Splash, splash I 

 A rifle glitrers in the sun. 



See the quick flash. 



The leaden messenger is sent, 



Whiz, whiz I 

 Directly to the heart it went, 



The buck is his. C. W. D. 



NOTES OF THE YELLOWSTONE TRIP. 



jPHERE are a great many fabulous stories told of the fish- 

 JL ing in the" Far West, and especially in the streams 

 which flow through the Kocky Mountains. That trout are 

 abundant in thesewaters is certainly true, but the generally 

 received stories about catching them by the hundred with 

 pieces of red flannel or fat meat, and with no exertion on 

 the part of the angler, are without a vestige of truth. The 

 impression with many persons who have heard the wonder- 

 ful accounts, so often given by some imaginative anglers, of 

 trout fishing in the West, is that nothing can affect the 

 voracity of "the fish, and that the sportsman can select a 

 luxurious seat upon some mossy rock and drag them out 

 until his appetite for slaughter is satiated. This is a great 

 mistake, as any "tenderfoot" will discover upon his veutiu- 

 ing into the Rockies. 



Upon my late trip from Green River, on the Lniou Pacific, 

 to Livingstone, on the Northern Pacific, I was disabused of 

 much nonsense about the trout of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 I have concluded to give Jou my experience generally, for 

 of course it would be impossible, within the limits of this 

 communication, for me to go into the details of a journey of 

 three hundred and fifty miles on horseback and lasting 

 twenty-eight days. 



I have had considerable experience in trout fishiug, in the 

 mountains of Virginia and in Colorado, and went on this trip 

 fully equipped for the sport. My flies, reel, and split bam- 

 boo' rods were, it seemed to me, faultless, and the President's 

 array of tackle was enough to bewilder an entire fishing 

 dub. Vou can imagine .our surprise, not to sBy consterha- 

 tion, when at the first three camps we came in with only a 

 dozen trout each, the largest not weighing over a pound: 

 while the soldiers and teamsters, with their snake poles or 

 sticks, and a piece of twine tied on the end, brought into 

 camp large strings of fish, many of them weighing over two 

 pounds. "Not believing in the antiquated absurdity that the 

 average country lad, with a hoop-pole and rusty hook, can 

 vanquish the true angler with his six-ounce split bamboo, 

 oiled line, and leader, supplemented by well-made flies. I 

 determined to investigate the puzzling and mortifying results 

 before mentioned. It did not require either time or patience 

 to discover the cause of our defeat. 



At the next camping place, near Torrey's Lake, in Wyom- 

 ing, I quietly reconnoitred the banks of a mountain stream, 

 where a number of teamsters were fishing with tackle im- 

 provised for the occasion, their only bait being grasshoppers, 

 and when I saw 7 the caution with which they crawled around 

 the rocks and bushes, stealthily dropping their bait into the 

 eddies made by the rapid current, and then yanking the 

 wary trout out of the water without a second's delay, the 

 mystery was fully explained. From that time I approached 

 the stream with the watchful tread of an Indian, taking ad- 

 vantage of every means of concealment, and 1 am glad to 

 say that the struggle between fancy tackle, as it is derisively 

 called, and the hoop-pole, twine string system, went each 

 day in our favor to the end. I mention this to emphasize the 

 Statement that caution, skill and work are as necessary to 

 successful trout fishing in the Rocky Mountains as else 

 where. 



We found the best fishiug in the Gros Ventre ana Snake 

 rivers, particularly in the latter. In one afternoon's fishing 

 of two hours the' President and myself caught in the last 

 named stream one hundred and ten pounds of trout, and 

 among them a fish weighing three and a quarter pounds. 

 It was of the white species, and the gamiest fish 1 have ever 

 killed. There are two varieties of trout in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain streams, the yellow and white trout. The former attain 

 considerable size, generally weighing from one to two and a 

 half pounds, but they are sluggish, and give up after a slight 

 straggle, affording little sport." On the other hand, the white 

 trout lights vigorously aud viciously until exhausted, and is 

 equal in strength and courage to any fish I have ever seen. 

 I saw the President take three white trout at one cast, weigh- 

 ing together seven pounds, and it is hardly necessary to say 

 that with a six-ounce rod it required both skill and patience 

 to accomplish the feat. 



After entering the National Park we found the fishing very 

 good in the Yellowstone River, and small trout abundant in 

 one of its tributaries, Black Tail Creek ; but Snake River is 

 beyond question the finest trout stream within my leno wlcdge. 

 In'the Yellowstone Lake the trout rise greedily and are of 

 good size, but they are, without exception, filled with para- 

 sites, and worthless for the tahle. 



My experience in the matter of flies was that the only flies 

 worth carrying into the mountains are the brown and black 

 hackle, and the professor. All others can be left behind for 

 the benefit of those enthusiastic amateurs who are caught by 

 colors and beauty. 



And now I come to the real object of this communication. 



After leaving Gen. Sheridan's party at Livingstone, on 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad, I went West to Helena, for the 

 purpose of joining Mr. Magennis, the delegate from Montana, 

 who was to be my companion in an official visit to examine 

 into the condition of the Indians in that Territory, 



Some four years ago. when trout fishing in the Rio Del 

 Norte River, in Southern Colorado. I caught a trout weigh- 

 irig four and a quarter pounds, and my exultation was con- 

 siderably moderated by the stateinenl of an Englishman at 



the hotel that he had caught fish of the same species, the 

 Snlmr, foaiiiuilix, in Montana, weighing more than fifteen 

 pounds. Although I had grave doubts, aud received his 

 story cvm gia no sub's. 1 now wish to tender the amplest 

 apology to the rrentleuian, whose name I cannot Tecall. 



When at the Flat Head Agency, one hundred miles west 

 of Helena, I saw numbers of trout identical in shape and 

 color with brook trout, which weighed from eight to seven- 

 teen pounds. They arc not salmou trout, for they are also 

 taken in the same stream, the Jocko River, a tributary of the 

 Columbia, and the flesh of the fish I am fliscussinf , hi;. 

 not yellow nor saffron. I saw two of these fish weighed, and 

 one weighed seventeen, the other fourteen and a quarter 

 pounds. The only difference I saw between them and the 

 ordinary brook trout was in the mouth, which in the Jocko 

 fish was thick and black, with a protuberance in 

 the upper Up which fitted into au indenture in 

 the lower. In every other respect they are identical 

 with the brook trout of the Snake and Gros Ventre rivers. 

 They do not rise to the fly, nor often take bait of anv sort, 

 and Major Rouau, the Indian Agent, au enthusiastic fisher- 

 man, told me he had never taken but one, a fish weighing 

 eight pounds. The Indians ride down the river, a shallow 

 stream, on their ponies, and gaff these fish with large hooks 

 attached to poles several feet in length. What they are. and 

 to what variety they belong, was flu- subject of frequent dis- 

 cussion during my visit at the Agency, and 1 quote from a 

 letter just received" by me from Major'R., and dated Oct. 5, 

 the following: 



"Yesterday an Indian caught thirteen trout, the largest 

 of which weighed fourteen and a half pounds, and the 

 smallest six pounds and three-quarters. The weather is now 

 cold enough to ship trout East, and if you go desire, I will 

 send a specimen of these fish to your address, and after an 

 examination, and a discussion of" their merits at the dinner 

 table. 1 trust you will inform me if I am in error in still 

 clinging to the opinion that these overgrown Jocko fish are 

 real and genuine trout." 



Will scune of your readers tell me to what species of trout 

 these fish belong? G. G. VEST. 



Washington, Nov. 3.. 



[The trout were not the Sal mo fond mi! is, but were prob- 

 ably the Sfiliuo purpuratut.] 



HUNTING REMINISCENCES OF ALGIERS. 



EXTRACTS FROM A SPORTSMAW'fl NOTE-BOOK, 

 i Concluded from Age -Ml.) 



THE afternoon being very pleasant, we decided to make a 

 beat, and in consequence leaving our "mounts," started 

 on foot again with a couple of the- Arab hounds. These 

 dogs, or more properly perhaps termed hounds, resemble, 

 somewhat a mixture of "the Persian and Scottish greyhound. 

 Though lower upon their legs, they possess great fleetness of 

 ■ said to run down the gazelle. We left our 

 pointer, dogs, the guide thinking it likely we should meet 

 with some larger game. For the first time we became aware 

 that we were in the land of porcupines, for every few feet 

 we would gather a number of their defensive weapons, 

 placing them in our Arabs' heads, who seemed much amused 

 at the joke. They were turned into a pi. , , 



North American Indian chiefs, and in figure and physiog 

 nom y were strikingly symbolical of them. The pori aplnes 

 were plentiful, and that night our hounds were much 

 worried by these nocturnal "marauders, nod several times 

 after returned to us with bleeding noses and lacerated 

 wounds, which the guide bathed with au oil lie had extracted 

 from the same animal. The flesh of the porcupines is eaten 

 and much relished by the natives. It does in reality taste 

 much like ill-fed pork. 



Toward sunset, having tilled our game bag aud becoming 

 tired of the walk, we seated ourselves to rest. We had not 

 been long resting, when a peculiar sound caught our ears, 

 proceeding from a bush near by" Our hounds had given 

 chase to some game and had not "yet, returned. We called 

 the attention of our guide to the, aoise. "Walk carefully up 

 and you may see something curious," said he. We did so, 

 and as we emerged from the underbrush we were 

 to a singular combat. The contestants were strange :.ud 

 new to us, and we watched with great interest. In the open 

 space before us a huge snake was coiled up in an attitude of 

 defense, evidently in an agony of terror. Its opponent 

 seemed much less concerned, and by the agile movements 

 with which it avoided the strikes of the serpent, was fully 

 master of its attack. It was a beautiful ichneumon (ILr- 



pebte&ichneuf) I twal i orach-cherished household 



pet of the Egyptians. It. was. a large specimen, and the sand 

 snake was at least two feet long. The ichneumon would 

 every few moments make a rush and throw himself upon 

 the snake, when a general struggle would follow, and dust 

 would be raised so as to hide both combatants from view; 

 they would then separate, and for an instant neither seemed 

 attack. Again and again they rush upon 

 each other. At. each rest the snake appeared to have 

 received severe treatment from the hard ana sharp claws of 

 the ichneumon. The snake was evidently desirous of get- 

 ting its body round the animal, when undoubtedly it would 

 have gained the battle by crushing its adversary within its 

 coils; but the ichneumon was too clever and wary for it, 

 and by the heavy breathing of the snake it was clear which 

 party was to win. Another elose tussel and the snako rolled 

 over and over, lashing the ground with its tail in a most 

 threat en ing manner, but the death blow had been given, for 

 the sharp teeth of the ichneumon had penetrated the neck 

 and almost severed the head from the body. The victor was 

 evidently much pleased by the termination of the battle, and 

 : I i.ui about its victim like a kiUenaround a ball of knitting 

 twine, Standing upon its hinder legs it would playfully 

 bite at the snake, shake it, let it drop again to the ground, 

 run a few feet, return again, until the snake lay motionless 

 and dead. Now is our chance, thought we; but we had not 

 before known the agility and quickness of foot characteristic 

 of the ichneumon, and as we ran the animal, perceiving us, 

 made a dash and was out of sight in the space it takes to pen 

 the word. We regTetted not having used more caution to 

 hare obtained a pretty specimen. 



Wc continued our shooting round, returning at night to 

 camp. Passing over a hill we noticed that the ground 

 seemed trodden in a great measure as if by the feet of some 

 hoofed animal. Asking the guide the reason, he informed 

 us that the ground had thus been torn up by the wild boars, 

 which he said were numerous through all" this part of the 

 country. He informed us also that they sometimes came to 

 the cultivated openings and fed during the night upon the 

 'king at times much damage. Within a past few 

 yeais, however, he said their attacks were becoming much 

 "less frequent. They are a dreadful foe to meet in the open 



