388 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LDec. 13, 1883. 



feed on partridge berries and chicken grapes until their flesh 



in unsurpassed in "gamincss'" and richness of flavor. 



There ate two "ways- of hunting the ruffed grouse. The 



first is ieal sport anil is practiced by those who hunt for 



excitement and recreation. Tin: Bocond is a pot-hunting 



method in which there is no spurt except the pleasure of 



lie birds. 



Kg Who would gel a day's sport out of pheasant shooting 

 will go either to Western' Maryland or to the mountain dis- 

 tricts of Virginia. Either the IS'orth or South mountain, 

 near I lugerstowu, orthe Bull Run and the Blue Ridge moun- 

 tains in Virginia, afford line fields. Virginia isof course the 

 best us it is not so thickly populated and the grouse shuns 

 civilization. The Bull Run mountains about Thorquj! ; ' I 

 Gap, in Priuce William county, is about the ideal place to 

 go. There are places either at Broad Run. Gainesville, or 

 Thoroughfare, where the spoilsman can put up. Carry ahuu- 

 drcil shells and enough powder and No. 6 shot to load them 

 •■■I'll. With an ordinary gun 3i drams of powder to an 

 ounce and a quarter of shot is about the right load. Start 

 out on your hunt early in the morning, and if you have un 

 Old seller, very staunch and very careful after single birds. 

 fake .him along with you. The mountain is youl plac 

 necessarily a rocky cliff with pines, but a rid'ge where tber~ 

 are plenty of whortleberry bushes and laurel Strike alon, 

 the backbones of the ridges and in the accidental trail 

 through the bushes. When you gel well into the mouutai 

 your dog will soon show decided symptoms of drawing oi 

 game. He will carry his tail low. and creep and Bmiff 

 around carefully. If you areas wulchful as your dog and 

 step along without unnecessary noise, you may walk right 

 up i.'ii your bird. He will be lying low" under a tuft of un- 

 dergrov, ih watching you. Your dog will root him out, and 

 he will rise at ten yards in front of you. He never gives the 

 dog a chance to stand him unless the weather is very warm 

 anil murky. If the air is clear and cool he will be up and 

 away before you can say Jack Robinson. Kow. you must 

 be a cpu'ek snap shot if you would slop him. The under- 

 growth is thick, the pine saplings are -numerous, and the 

 ground is uneven When the pheasant is once 

 will go m a direct line, but that line is very hard to catch. 

 With a whirr and a buzz that is almost inexpressible, he 

 rises from the bushes. Possibly two or three of them may 

 get up. Then your nerves are severely fried. A quick, cool 

 -hot, however, can often cut the ruffs from his kingship's 

 neck and make him fall with a tremendous thump and 

 flutter. 



A hunter who bags leu or a dozen pheasants in a day may 

 euusider himself very successful. In ihe Blue Ridge moun- 

 tains a. gooo shot has been known to bag twenty in a single 

 dayV i lamp. The labor entailed, how-. ■:-;•. is ir'emeiidtnis\ 



Vuuther way to kill the pheasant, however, is when I he 

 snow is on the ground and they Co into the -rap.- bushes to 

 eat chicken-grapes. When the am m is di Sp the birds caunot 

 And enough hips or partridge bei lies, and of course they 

 must go to the grape-vines that are trellised up the trees. 

 The pot hunter who finds a good bush "stocks" it every day. 

 If there, are any pheasants feeding in it be takes up his posi- 

 tion secure from their sight, and picks off the bird that U 

 lowest down in the bush." The others will he startled, but 

 will not fly. He may then kill them all from the lowest up 

 to the' topmost, This is, however, quite as uninteresting 

 sport as shooting corn-fed turkeys from a blind. Pheaj anl 

 are served in restaurants for $1.25 apiece. Hunting them 

 for the market is, therefore, lucrative. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



IT is estimated that fifty deer have been killed in Atlantic 

 county, N. J., during the season ending Dee. f, 1888. 

 Several black bears have been seen in the same county, and 

 last month a lernale with two cubs were seen crossing a road 

 near May's Lauding, which is only about fifty miles from 

 Philadelphia. Jessie Reeves, a hunter of Port Elizabeth, 

 Cumberland county. K. J., killed an albino deer a fort- 

 night since, which makes the second one shot in this viebul y 

 this year. 



An application will be made to the New Jersey Legislature 

 at Its next session for the organization of ''The Fanners and 

 Citizens' Game Protective Society of Atlantic County," to 

 net independently of the West Jersey Game Protective Asso- 

 ciation. It is becoming a great shame that even the non- 

 edible sea aud shore birds along our coast are killed in such 

 great quantities, Theprev 

 iiat ornamentation has pis: 

 die.-.. Especially are the g 



fling rage 



summer t 



M, J., on. 



Beach Ha 



vo taxklcr 

 at the Ba 



t Of the J 



Fifteen ec 

 snipe, m 

 gunners n 



nts ajiecc 



faet, evel 

 ade "gooc 



stuffed birds for 



i value on everything that 



he gulls and terns prosecuted Last 



ists setdeil themselves at Long Beach, 

 egat Inlet end, and the other al the 

 ail were kept busy the whole summer 

 tumn skinning and mounting birds. 

 as given for terns, ten cents for strand 

 Hung was bought. Several market 

 sag •- ' i In ■ whole season, ami found it 

 more profitable to give up their bbata and itteiid to the new 

 business. 1 learned from reliable sources that one shooter 

 snipped to Tncw- York fifty dollars' worth of terns in one 

 week. The consequence was, that long before the season 

 was over the gulls and terns, which ordinarily could be 

 easily approached, became very shy, and seldom' came near 

 the beach. Even the nesting places of the birds on the 

 islands in the bay were sought out, aud the half feathered 

 young were secured aud sold. Everything that could fly 

 had a value, it is a satisfaction to know this rage will have 

 its run, anil that our sea birds will he allowed to live in 

 They are a great ornament to seaside watering 

 places if nothing else. 



Many of our sportsmen have been postponing their quail 

 shooting trips until this month. The weather selling in cool 

 and seasonable has had the. effect of starling a number off. 

 Dinks have not been as plentiful as it was expected they 

 would be at Havre de Grace, and box-shooting has been poor 

 lately. There has been some fair point shooting, but the 

 day, have been few even when the yvind suited. We have 

 some marsh ducks down Ihe Delaware River, and tin- fowl 

 have been useing on the Slaughter Neck and Prime Hook 

 marshes on the" Delaware Slate side of the bay. At night 

 the ponds in these marshes have lately been visited by wild 

 get '■ We have not had so many deer m our markets for 

 years, aud western mallards and prairie chickens shipped in 

 refrigerating cars are numerous and cheap. 



1 am tolil try Gapt. A. It. Clay, who has just returned 

 from Rotter county, Pa., that ruffed grouse are getting very 

 scarce in his section of (he country. He attributes it to 

 then: having been so many frozen under the snow where 

 they frequently "burrow" for shelter, and a crust forming 

 on the. surface confines therm There has been no beech 



mast in his region this year, and wild pigeons did not show 

 themselves. 



Quail have been plentiful in New Jersey this fall, but 

 warm weather thus far has been against successful hunting, 



The West Jersey Game Protective Society is now having 

 a great deal of trouble. Ear],- in ihe fall at a regular meet- 

 ing ol the association, held at'Ohm'-clcr Gily, K J., after a 

 stubborn light, Postmaster Gluts. H. Bernard, of that, place. 

 was elected secretary, but has refused to give a bond for 

 $2,000 because he claimed that his predecessors had not clone 

 so. The former secretary, Judge R. T. Miller, consequently 

 refused to deliver over to Mr, Bernard the books of the 

 society, and the latter then threatened to procure them 

 through the aid of the courts. President T. W. Walker and 

 Secretary Miller have now resigned. It is claimed by some 

 that the last monthly meeting was not properly advertised, 

 and that a number of members have received certificates for 

 the purpose of sustaining the original organizers. The re- 

 port mentioned abo e, thai Benator (ferdner will at the 

 aexl esslph of tie Legislature introduce a bill to incorpor- 

 ate an Atlantic County Association so as to prevent the 

 West Jersey Society from exercising any further control 

 over that section, will make the trouble More complicated. 

 In closing I learn that a stormy meeting of the West Jersey 

 organization was held at Camden lasf'night. After much 

 debate, il was finally decided to put off the election for sec- 

 retary until the next annual meeting, and Mr. Bernard was 

 asked to serve until thai time, Mr. B., still refusing to give 

 bond. Mr. Wm, Rjsley was elected a director from Atlan- 

 tic county, and Mr. Larry Peterson from Cape Mav county. 

 The trouble is not ended yet, Homo. * 



PHTLADEtrHlA, Pa., Dec, 7. 



GUNPOWDER NECK. 



THAT portion of Harford county, Maiylaud, embraced 

 between the Gunpowder and Bush rivers, nearthe head- 

 waters of Chesapeake Pay. and forming a peninsula, with an 

 jut eighteen thousand acres, is perhaps not ex- 

 celled, if equalled, by any other section of country of no 

 greater dimensions. In the abundance mid variety of the 

 luxuries abounding here on land and water. Two-thirds of 

 its outline is bounded by water, the shores of which are 

 intersected or indented by numerous creeks, coves, estuaries 

 and lagoons, each of which furnish numerous varieties of 

 marine plants suitable to the different species of waterfowl 

 Lien, annually migrate hither to feed. The soil contiguous 



to the margins of thei 

 connection with the L 

 tant of an oozy soi 

 truly astonishing, nnc 



duets Of a ::' HCaJ I 



of this paradise for 

 thatnatun provide i 



mate, as well as inani 

 I will not risk a sta 

 to the number of wab 

 on their feeding ground; 

 uessed it would pronoun 

 species are almost intuitu 

 swan down to the diminu 



Hi p, 



ow 



■edingly fertile; this, in 

 lospuere, the natural concomi- 

 nuually a mass of vegetation 

 ma] in magnitude to the pro- 



■ ■ ■ rive productiveness 

 rnishes indubitable evidence 

 •ves a con eel balance in ani- 



It with the view of approximating 

 1 we often see in one tlock or bed 

 If I did, those who never wit- 

 :e it incredible. The different 

 rable. All, from the magnificent 

 •e teal, and the defies i blue 



find an abundance of feed suited to their different natures 

 Here the patrician among the waterfowl, the stately canvas- 

 back, obtains the wild celery, which imparts lo the' flesh of 

 the fowl that peculiar flavor which tickles the palate of the 

 epicure. In fact, this is the favorite feeding ground of all 

 the different families, tribes and clans of waterfowl. Here 

 they revel in luxury and grow fat. 



Then the sportsman's buuming gun 



Is heard along the sandy shore. 

 From early dawn till set ol' sun 

 In one incessant, echoing roar. 



This being ihe favorite [ceding ground of the game, it 

 necessarily follows that it is the favorite resort of the sports 

 man, numbers of whom come from a distance as far north 

 as Boston. Many ducking clubs have been organized unde 

 various names, one of the most notable of w "hich is the St 

 Domingo Ducking Club; if is located on the Giutpowde. 

 Rivera short distance below Magnolia, and is composed of 

 gentlemen from Baltimore and New fork. All the members 

 are professional or business men, with ample means to 

 sustain the most elaborate style they may desire in the en- 

 joyment of their recreation. They have erected a commo- 

 dious mansion al a suitable distance from their gunning 

 points, and equipped it with all the modern conveniences 

 necessary for social enjoyment during leisure time. The 

 nightly meetings, at Which they discuss the incidents and 

 circumstances in connection with the sport and trophies 

 won. are exceedingly pleasant, aud constitute an important 

 factor in the enjoyment of the gunning season. 



They also entertain their friends (ladies and gentlemen) at 

 various times during the season with elaborate filmier parties 

 gotten up in ri'/nrr/ie style. In addition to the house ser- 

 vants they employ three or four men to assist in handling 

 the decov's and building blinds. The club also keeps six of 

 eight of 'the purest bred Chesapeake Bay retrievers, one of 

 which a short time ago followed a wounded canvas Lack 

 t brae miles and finally captured it. Then" principal employe. 

 John Sweeting, is one of the two best cluck shots on the 

 waters of the Chesapeake; Edward Lynch, the superintend- 

 ent of another celebrated ducking point, is theother. Messrs. 

 Sweeting and Lynch have studied the nature aud habits of 

 the wildfowl to such an extent that they are considered reli- 

 able authorities on the birds and also on the weather, which 

 they predict by the movements which instinct gives the 

 fowl. We who live in this section prefer their judgment to 

 that of "Old Prob." Some of the gentlemen who compose 

 this club, though they only come down occasional! ■, i 

 remarkably flue shots. Messrs. Wells and Stewart particu- 

 larly. If either of these gentlemen are in the blind the fowl 

 that approaches within a circle of seventy yards leaves hope 

 behind. I believe Mr. Wells is the oh lest member aud presi- 

 dent of the club, and in the exercise of his prerogative in 

 the enforcement of the rules he is an accomplished martinet. 

 Among the specified rules we find that gunning on Sunday 

 :s prohibited, no sink boxes nor tubs are used, and all game 

 I. hut on the Wing unless it is wounded. They also 



keep a record of the different species and number of fowl 

 killed each day, with the date aud name of member who 

 kill them. In short they enjoy the sport, aud social assem- 

 blies in connection therewith, "in a style commensurate with 

 their means, yet perfectly exempt from objectionable prac- 

 tices which sometimes prevail in other clubs. 



Maxwell's Point Club is located below St. Domingo and 

 near the mouth of the Gunpowder, and is composed entirely 

 of a few wealthy gentlemen from Philadelphia. Maxwell's 



Point is said to be the finest ducking point in the State, par- 

 ticularly for bar or overhead shooting. One of Ihe gentle- 

 men belonging to this club is nearly eighty years old. and 

 has become so much infatuated wrjh thi spar! hbal he 

 migrates as regularly as the fowl; aud, notwithstanding his 

 great age, is a dangerous competitor for any of the craek 

 shots. Occasionally some young man has the temerity n> 

 enter the lists with him, but the old man invariably trims' his 

 feathers, and retains his lam i 



With crouching form, and upturned eye 



The old man marts, in rapid (light, 

 The oanvas-baek— doomed to die 

 Before his keen, unerring sight. 

 The favorite feeding ground of the swan and 

 located on the bav shore, in the vicinity of Legoe'6 "Point, 

 near the mouth of Bush River. Hundreds of swan may be- 

 seem, here almost any day during the season, either feeding 

 along the margin of breasting gracefully the billows of Ihe 

 Chesapeake, with their snowy plumage glistening in the sun. 

 This point was purchased a short rime ago by John S. 

 Giltings, Esq., a Wealthy hanker of Baltimore, who is, al- 

 though a young man, one pf the ablest "financiers in Mi. i 



He frequently visits it in company with his friends to" enjoy 

 " ran' sport, 



might continue ad infinitum,, in describing the various 

 productions, natural and transient, furnished by this prolific 

 country, but find it would occupy too much space, therefore 

 I will speedily close with a slight introduction of another 

 style of luxuries, equally as abundant as the wildfowl, the 

 departure of which about, the hist of March is Ihe signal of 

 the advent, of the fish in the waters of Gunpowder and Bush 

 rivers, which literally swarm with rock, perch and pike; in 

 fa ei. there are as many different species of fish below as there 

 had been fowl on thesurface of the water. The natural fer- 

 tility aud productiveness of the laud is equally as remai I ftbli 

 as that of the waters surrounding it; a description of which 

 may be condensed in the single but comprehensive word- 

 cornucopia. ETTJR08 

 Magnolia, Wd. 



THE CHOICE OF HUNTING RIFLES. 

 Editor Forest and Sfrmnn 



Your correspondent, "Greenhorn,'' who is evidently much 

 better posted than he would have appear from his selection 

 of a signature, has raised the objection to a fO-iJU repeater 

 which 1. of course, had expected. 



1 regret that I cannot in all points agree with him. His 

 objection, though very reasonable, p, not conclusive. He 

 takes it for granted that the breech work, being elongated. 

 would necessarily be too weak 1,0 stand the heavy charge 

 40-90-500. 



lam willing to confess that, my object has been to raise 

 this discussion in order that this question might bo settled 

 by test. 

 "From looking over Winchester's catalogue we find that 

 their rifles are subjected to tests wherein much heavier 

 charges are used, and I see no reason why, if found to be 

 necessary, the machinery could not be made stronger. 1 

 freely admit that I have the same fear that by reason of the 

 "carrier block and adjacent parts" being lengthened to an 

 extent necessary to accommodate the four-inch carl ridge of 

 tin io-on. the breech work or machinery in the line of fire 

 will not, as at present constructed, be strong enough; but 1 

 am not willing to take this as an accepted tact, until it is 

 proven. 



If it be found from experiment that such a repeating rifle 

 (lever action) can be made and be as safe as Ihe best i ; ii - 

 ei's now in use, 1 am confident that it would he the most 

 effective and consequently the most popular of all sporting 

 rifles. For not. only would we have therein a repeating 

 rifle with a trajectory as flat almost as any express rifle, but 

 also we would 'have, "which is far more important (judging 

 from experience with a 40-90 Sharps), a rifle wfiieh would do 

 the necessary amount of execution when the bullet arrives 

 at its destination. This is in striking contrast to and an 

 inestimable advantage over, for Hie purpose of game shooting, 

 the majority of English express rifles, at leas! over the e 

 which 1 have tried." 



Far be if from me to attempt, to raise the old discussion as 

 to the relative merits of the express as compared with other 

 rifles. Themostof ushave pretty well made up our minds one 

 way or tlie other upon that subject, some insisting that the 

 express, with its light and usually hollow-pointed bullet, is 

 the most deadly; others like my sell claiming wilh equal 

 ■ ,i i 'lice thai a heavy, solid bullet to preferable, being one 

 which will not fly into'a dozen pieces almost as soon as it 

 strikes the game,' and which will always reach and pen.- ■ ■ 

 the "hollow" from whatever point, it be fired, i. c, no matter 

 what flic position of the game may lie. 



I'm- pwenthete, I may as well say that 1 am a convert 

 from the other side, being at one time a strong adherent of 

 the express rifle and hollow pointed bullet theory. From a 

 large number of experiments (sometimes with, a blank .22- 

 cal, cartridge inserted in the end of the bullet, thus making 

 il explosive! generally, however, without this), such as firing 

 into soft woods, old 'logs, boards, clay banks, etc. and into 

 such living bodies as rabbits, cats, and a few small deer, I 

 was made lo believe that a ,50-cal, express was the most 

 deadly rifle made. 



Many were the arguments I would adduce in" its favor, 

 and learnedly (J) would I discourse about the "terrific 

 shock" imparted owing to the velocity of the bullet, and the 

 "terrible wound" infiieted owing to the spreading or ex 

 paneling of the same, and the consequent flow of blood and 

 derangement ot the vitals. All this and more did 1 advance 

 in favor of the express principle. 



But alas, like many of our cherished illusions, all this 

 rudely dispelled when, several years ago, 1 came to test the 

 same upon the larger game of the Rockies. 



It is rather mortifying lo shoot an old hull elk in Ihe 

 "yellow patch" on the "rump (ordinarily a dead shot) and 

 have your ball fly into six or eight pieces in the Icon before 

 even it reached the bones, doing, therefore, very little dam- 

 age and then afterward see Ihe same elk "broken down" 



, iiuilet from a '78 model Winchester, the ball having 

 penetrated near the same place. Or to shoot, as I have done, 

 B bull elk behind the shoulder a little too high al thirty 

 paces with a 13-lb. double express, .lfi-bore, 155 grains 

 powder, L oz. hollow pointed bullet, and although if stag 

 gered him" to find upon examination that the bullet, flattened 

 until it resembled a saucer as much as anything, had fallen 

 down into ihe hollow of the body, having done no more exe- 

 cution than to slightly blacken one lung which it penetrated 

 an inch or two. The" whole force of that heavy charge had 

 been expended upon flattening the bullet, breaking a rib and 



