232 



FOREST AND STREAM* 



[April S3, 1880. 



Hie birds fly Beveral chiles for food, passing some points 

 continuously at a G lionri oi the day. 



This roost was thirty miles long, varying in width 



■i 'in one to five milos. Thoro were 800 men ea- 

 rn m i hi the business nt one time that season, and as a 

 result of their work I saw one hundred barrel* of dead 

 pigeons alone shipped in one day from the little village 

 of Shelby. 



I did not think then that there would be a pigeon left 

 to lead the way to the woods of Shelby at some future 

 .,i , i in. but it seems there was, and their enemies are 

 oil hand to wage the war of extermination.. How long 

 can H last? M. 



Ohicwjo, 17/,. April ^th, 



■» 



Massachusetts— Lynn,Apriinth,—Aitcr scientifically 

 crawling and creeping some quarter of a mile, one of our 

 loca i S] ii irts recently succeeded in obtaining a fine shot at 

 two wooden ducks* Five live ones that were a short dis- 

 tance off, and making up to the wooden birds, thought they; 

 would get up and dust about that time. " Sich is 

 life." "A few snipe have been brought to bag iu this 

 vicinity lately. There are rumors of certain parties shoot- 

 ing woodcock, but I hope this-is not so. 



Blue Crow. 



New Yoke.— PougKkeeptie, April 15ffc,— Messrs, Frank 

 B. Johnson and Fred Ftting, of Plattsburg, N. Y., suc- 

 ceeded in bringing to bag on April 5d and 3d twenty-nine 

 Cana'dfl wild geese and seventy-two wild ducks, most 

 . placi, golden eye and whistlers. 



Blunderbuss. 



New Jersey— Xewark.— On Friday night last the honk- 

 ing of i\ ild geese was hoard for three or four hours, evi- 

 dently lost iu thy gale. 



Snipe shooting at Pino Brook, N. J., was good on Sat- 

 iu-dav and Monday last, Messrs. Hinds and Tappan 

 moved a number of birds, of which they killed twelve. 

 We saw the birds. The meadows are in line condition, 

 particularly the Big and Little Piece. Mr, Scott Rodman 

 and party also had good shooting. 



I it this week's paper vour Ocean County, N. J,, corre- 

 spondent sa-, ■• the 1 -a bag heard of, of Wilson snipe, is 

 seven. John W. Bunnell, of Forked River, killed on 

 Thursday, 8th inst., nine snipo. Birds wild ; weather 

 cold ; wind high. 



North Oakouna G .villi and Hospitalitt. —Davidson 

 Collcqe, N. C, March 2'Jf/i.— North Carolina is a nonpa- 

 reil hunting resort for those Of vour Northern sportsmen 

 who are Signing for new worlds to conquer. The quail 

 is found iif abundance all over the State, and it would be 

 hard to say where thev are most plentiful. Iu sight of 

 Salisbury, N. (', coveys are quite numerous ; some gen- 

 llemen there often make bags of titty or sixty a day, and 

 I have no doubt that in some of the less-thickly inhabited 

 and poorer parts of the State they have never been dis- 

 turbed at all. except hv the harmless traps of the young 

 scons of our Color, d brethren ; traps ft* which the aver- 

 age quail has a profound contempt. Near Davidson Uol- 

 lege the writer found two large coveys in a pine thicket 

 of about half an acre in area. Don't you wish you had 

 been there too? , , , 



On our numerous rivers duck and geese are round, and 

 the swamps and mill-pOndS often contain snipe and duck 

 ad infinitum. \n the western pare of the State, among 

 the mountains, there are deer, pheasant and wild turkeys 

 in SlUheiem- numbers to jusiify a vi,.t to llm-m re,;,,,,,,; 

 not to mention the grand and beautiful scenery which 

 meets your eye at every step. 



Good accommodations can be found anywhere, And 

 fche little urchin black a. writs wii m v ru mvei on the 

 road or in the cotton held will always be willing and 

 happy to show vou where the "patridges' stay ; and will 

 often wonder why you "don't kill 'em on de ground, ' 

 „.,i. s9 m hi- r oefyed some instructions in lihe artof 



hunting. He is often indispensable tO aid ID marking 

 down the birds, especially in the pine woods or brush, 

 where tlie sportsman has enough to do to get lus brace 

 of the swiftly flying, dodging, vanishing bunches of 



As aNorthCarolinian.it ill becomes me to say any- 

 thing about the hospitality and courtesy of the people ; 

 but if any of our Northern friends who entertain any 

 doubts on that score wi II only come and see tor themselves 

 they will never doubt again. The farmers in many 

 places "post" their land, that is, forbid all hunting on it; 

 but a courteous request for permission to kill some quail 

 is seldom refused, and never without good and imluceul 

 reasons, and the practice only serves to make the game 

 more plentiful. Often the farmer hunself IB an ardent 

 sportsman, and then vou are sure of a welcome which 

 every true gentleman and sportsman knows how to give. 



The Gdnkebs of Currituck.— Poplar Branch. jY. C, 

 April 12//).— Our attention having been called toanartl- 



, | , ur paper, beaded: " A Dismal S.ory of Curri- 

 tuck, N. C," wo, the gunners referred torn that article. 

 beg leave to have a hearing in your valuable columns, in 



,Jl '|,i\],e'hrsr place we veidnre to assert that ho is no 

 true sportsman. We will omit his exaggerations ta re- 

 ward to the tmgrammatical language of l ho captain of 

 the "learner Vw'inct and wilt come to Ids landing at this 

 nlw.fi. where oonerej I ' : qnitea number of inhabitants of 

 this most intelligent country WoD^ U|avi toi mmx, 

 ••E/.eykill" whether his pockets ortboseoJ PWlnend Jen- 

 kins were tampered with by any one wl&atm^^ 

 We say.candidly.no sir; such an act has i I t 

 known" to be perpetrated in this ludl-crvilu-.ed country ot 

 ours. Vud j et the gentleman charges us with the crime 



^feeathlnT^e landing he says fee was asked 

 p al o wheel cart which together with 

 that nulled it, Ibis -Ezevkill- burlesqued to lus 



f , i Vov hei stunaratcful to the owner 



hearts jontent. ssov, m is mo. i un mo i. 

 ,, ,!„■ idly caparisoned horse and Ued-up vehicle, be- 

 i Jenkins and their traps were 

 a , n from the landing to the hotel, and the poor 

 man did not even charge a^ent for the services of hiin- 

 se Iquadriq,,.,: and tW&wheel cart, Now, it we were m 

 vour Cd civ we would not, be kindly asked i 



vmi.ie and lake a gratis :•, la te t'c. h :te 

 but. on the contrary would liaye our ears almost deat- 



ened by cries of "Cub, sir? cab. sir r any points .of the 

 e ty " etc,, etc. And when the hotel was reached we 

 would have our pocket-books relieved ot about & by 



the polito request of "One dollar each, gentlemen, one 

 dollar apiece is all I'll charge you." How strikingly 

 the contrast between riding iu a civilised country and 

 n ' here dwell less intelligent heathen! Cannot 

 " Kxoykiir.send a nice hor.se-eollar to the owner of that 



concerned. Mr. B. Bays that his guides select 

 for shooting, and put out the decoys. Then he says : 

 "Soon, what do we have but four oi those gunners ot 

 that honorable and liberal minded place come out with 

 two_ butteries and plant them within three hundred 

 yards of us." This we pronounce literally false. We 

 iiad our batteries planted, decoys out, and two of us 

 were ensconced in the batteries, when Mr. E., with his 

 friend Jenkins and guides sailed by us on their way 

 to the selected point. To corroborate our own state- 

 ment we have to say that we questioned both of Mr. 

 E.'s guides and they acknowledged that we were out a 

 long time before tliey started from the wharf. 



In regard to the mortgaging of boat*, batteries and de- 

 coys by the professional gunners, to sustain them 

 through the summer, wo nave to say that your in- 

 formant was very much .mistaken. We are quite well 

 posted in regard to who have and who have not; mort- 

 gaged their property, and we can safely say that wo do 

 not know of a Bingle instance (much less the majority of 

 gunners) where a gunner has had to mortgage his boat, 

 battery or decoys for his sustenance during the summer, 

 Sony that one of our citizens should - 'get up" such a 

 misrepresentation of the gunners, The fishermen some- 

 times mortgage their boats, but the gunners never, or 

 hardly ever. 



Without using any fictitious names wa respectfully 

 subscribe ourselves as the four gunners referred to by Mf, 

 " Exaykill." A. B. Williams, S. D. DuUTON, W. H. 

 Walker, J, T. O'Neal. 



Arkansas Notes.— Pitttbwg, Pa., March 23d.— 1 have 

 read with much interest the letter of " Yell" in one of 

 your late issues on the " Attractions of Arkansas." I had 

 taken copious notes on the arrival and departure of our 

 different birds of passage, but being unfortunately 

 wrecked on the Iron Mountain Road on the. edge of Black 

 River at midnight, 1 lost my cote-book and all my traps. 

 These notes I unci in other papers. 



Saw the first meadow lark on Oct, 20th, 1S79 ; the first 

 flock of wild pigeons ] on the 22d. Saw ten or twelve 

 meadow larks on the 28th ; shot one for examination ; 

 found its crop full of persimmons. Saw the first robins 

 Nov. IbI ; shot one ; found its crop full of dogwood ber- 

 ries and some small weed I could not name. Same day- 

 saw a woodcock, but failed to kill. Nov. 5th saw the first 

 flight of wild ducks, flying south. Nov. 10th saw the 

 first flight of wild geese, course southeast. Red and gray 

 squirrels plenty ; raccoons and opossums plenty ; hares in 

 fan proportion ; turkeys fairly abundant, but hard to get 

 at ; deer in fair proportion ; but the little Hob White is 

 plentiful everywhere. Ha is a very poor sportsman who 

 cannot fill his bag in half a day. I never saw them so 

 thick in my life ; but they hava a bad habit of taking to 

 the sage grass. Then the trouble begins ; if you do not 

 kill your bird instantly, you are apt to lose him. 



Now for the non-attractions : First, chills and fever 

 plenty; malarial fever, bilious fever ; pneumonia in the 

 fall, and verv fatal; fore eyes ; plenty of snakes ; plenty 

 of every description of ticks ; musquitos few or none ; 

 hawks plenty. What they call the sickly season lasts 

 from the 1st of June until the first frost, 



I was aU over Yell County, and for that matter the 

 wholeof the State ; but the place I mean to par; i 

 is Tell County. I was located three miles from Darda- 

 nelles on the" military road to Fort Smith. This is in 

 Yell County. And especially do I mean along tin: Ar- 

 kansas bottoms and along the'Petit Jean and the Fourehe 

 La Gave rivers. I have traveled mostly the whole coun- 

 try over on horseback. Tliero are no pheasants there as 

 we call them here ; but prairie chickens are plentiful, as 

 I have seen their eggs sold in Dardanelle for a "bit " a 

 dozen. There are no game laws in that part of the State. 

 Dardanelle is about midway between Little Rock and 

 Fort Smith. Bards 



Minnesota — Lovg Prairie, April Villi. — Ducks made 

 their appearance hero about the 1st of this month, and 

 have been more numerous than for many years. 1 have 

 bagged quite a number at odd times, but, have no time 

 to hunt, except an hour or so mornings and even- 

 ings, lull few are bagged, as most of our sportsmen are 

 not provided with decoys and boats to hunt them prop- 

 erly. Mallards and canvas-backs make up a large major- 

 ity of the ducks, but a good many tea ducks are seen 

 also. N. W. 



Iowa— Creston, April Qth.— There are lobs of ducks, 

 geese and sand-hill cranes flying north, and quite a num- 

 ber of them light around here. Yesterday 1 '!: 

 to a small ponO in the open prairie, not a quarter of a 

 mile from my house, and got one duck, four grouse and 

 one snipe in an hour — all living shots and no miss, 

 Shooting from a wagon is now much better than on foot, 

 for birds are not frightened by it so much. The spring 

 is very dry, and I think game" will be plenty , t fall 

 Old cock 'grouse are "booming" loudly every morning 

 around my house, and beat even campaign politicians 

 for noises. N..D. MSBEILL, 



Indiana— Indianapolis, April 18th.— Snipe here in 

 abundance, and many have been bagged. A splendid 

 outlook for the fishing season, class are taking kindly 

 to i he hooli ■ si Feral | .1 sized ones have been taken. 



lUC cing Inn. nenn & ir, but no good bug has yet reached 

 your correspondent's ears from around here, but m,-uiv 

 are being 01 have been killed in the Kankakee Marshes, 

 about 100 miles north of here. 



Novun Shooting Stands. — Indianapolis. Intl., March 

 ?Mh.— The secluded habits of the woodcock, leading hiin 

 to blink away the long days of summer am 

 tumn in damp and impenetrable thickets, hay i 

 We most difficult of our game birds to bag. With your 

 permission, 1 will tell how some people hi bhil SM iOh 

 overcome most of the difficulty, and brush away the 

 safeguards which nature has thrown around him. At 



Thornton, End., lives Capt, P. A. Huffman; a cl 



tleman and true sportsman, and Withal 



Held shots in the Stave. This last assertion needs no 



I' ih ' ' a'd of sixty-seven Jack 



without a miss, which is a sample of his ever.'. 1 1 



Being visited by some friends from this city, intent on a 

 day's cock shooting, disappointment seemed in store for 

 them, as the birds were in a. Willow think, t, SO dense as 

 to preclude ah hope Of doing any execution. ,\ happy 

 idea struck the Captain, and he proceeded to get a num- 

 ber of step-ladders, which were placed at favorable 

 points around the thicket. Taking their positions on 

 .... ml lei ' n In .' ici ul poi hen .. mi-.. 



being flushed, took flight above the willows. It was a 

 novel idea, and illustrates how the ingenuity of man will 

 be successfully exercised against the obstacles with which 

 nature sometimes surrounds him. HOi >sir,R. 



Thread-wound Cartridges.— Dover, Del., March 20//o 

 —Some months ago we sent for samples of t he thread- 

 wound cartridge cases, not having a great deal of faith 

 in their usefulness, nor believing the high price asked for 

 them would warrant their use. The first one we tried 

 was marked for U0 yards range. Used odrs, Orange rifle 

 powder under two" wads, in a 12-bore ; loz. No, 5 shot; 

 case held in brass shell, with thin court-plaster, greasing 

 it when dry, The day was cloudy, with a steady cast 

 wind blowing lightly, the water lolerabl y culm. Paddling 

 up the mouth of Scott's Run. we sighted two black ducks 

 800 cards ahead. Wishing to get the result as accurately 

 as possible, we advanced swiftly and silently until within 

 as near as we could then judge ot DO yards, and. slghth g 

 on rhe m aresl, duck, fired. It never moved. Sticking a 

 pole into the bottom where we shot, we rowed at once to 

 the spot where the dead duck lay, and drove another 

 stake— the water averaging about six feet in depth— then 

 running a line from pole to pole, wo found the distance, 

 by actual measurement. 110 yards. We found the marks 

 of but four shots in the bird, two near the. eye and two in 

 the breast. The other duck flew off, apparently unhurt. 

 There being no further use for them on that day, they 

 were put, aside and forgotten until this morning, when 

 we took them out for a conclusion of the trial. With the 

 70 yards' cartridge, loaded as above, we killed a " dipper " 

 duck in the stream back of our kennels, and tying one end 

 of a cord to the dog's collar, sent him for the duckand as- 

 certained that the distance was ft) yards. The duck's 

 neck was broken and badly torn. 



Having a curiosity to know the effect of a shot at 40 

 yards, with a 50 yards' cartridge, we sharpened the end 

 "of a piece of shingle, 4x6 inches, and drove it into the top 

 of a stump. The wind was blowing hard from the north, 

 and the target was standing east from us. Aitei shool 

 ing, we found the thread thrown neatly across the stump, 

 not a shot in the target, and the ground torn by the 

 whole discharge in the side of a slight hill IB ya . 

 of the stump, and on a line six inches to the right of it— 

 a natural result. 



We are fully convinced that these cartridges, when 

 properly used according to manufacturer's directions, are 

 a perfect success, and a decided acquisition to the sports- 

 man's outfit. True, the price is rather Steep ; but a lew 

 of them must, find their way into every shooter's ammu- 

 nition case when their value is fully known. We tind no 

 trouble with brass shells used as above stated— have 

 never shot them from paper sheds. Would like to hear 

 the subject, having noted hut two min- 

 is in recent volume of Foitli.ST AND STREAM; 

 enefit of strangers, would say that we have no 

 ice with Messrs, Schleber & Co,, and no fur- 

 ■mI, than every sportsman should have in a 

 land useful "invention so clearly associated 

 pleasure. E.&C. Yon Cm, in. 



Another Complaint of CrtE.vr Cu.ns.— Brooklyn., 

 April Milt.— Editor Forest and at ream :— As "A 

 Sufferer" has started the ball rolling in your last issue m 

 reference to gun selling, I will add my 

 say it is about time that something was don tail 



dealers by our manufacturers and wholesale houses, who 

 now sell' one gun with a discount -off to any one who 

 comesalong, as aheap "- I i a bn l< iman who has devoted 

 Ids lifetime to [he business. ThisiBUD.t.OnlS sons to guns, 

 but also with shells, v. ads. powder, shot, etc. Allowing 

 the right of all men to do as they please, and to sell then- 

 wares at prices to suit themselves, 1 question much if 

 this is a correct way of business. But '-Sufferer" must 

 come to the conclusion, as 1 have done long ago, that 

 brains, energy and skill without plenty of cash do not al- 

 ways succeed, Stakvatiun. 



from other: 



inunicatin 

 For the 

 acquaint a 

 ther iutei 

 really go. 

 with'theii 



E. M. Leaven.. 



fl Km :-■ . ■ 



H.U. H.lll 



M. Bwrteitfh 



P, Jerries 



.1. B. Jones 



E.G. Heath .„-, 

 E. G-. Nnson.... 



i i.. i 'iMnn.ni. 



Cbas.F. Ntisom.. 



SHOOTING MATCHES. 



MAINE— .l»'aifi!, .-iTiri/lfl/h.-Scm-us of jrlass-l'till mulches stint 

 on the s rounds of tho Andi-oseosgin Sporting 01U1>, fast Buy, 

 April 16th;- 



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Open to fill without me. 



■.,..,,, .; ,, Mi BS1 ' i , . I..: . I , ... i Bh foi club 



i,; • ., I ton ipl • ' n-'o.'lt ehiLlleni'bjH-. 



Mutch betWOin Mr. tlius. In ..... .i . .in ■ . . 



Club, ami Mr. J. B. J Ones, of Peaks 1 1 1 1 



Glass-Ball Championship and ninmoinl tiadge. 



I, .,,'_,., Mr. ,'. n ■ ■_ ; twenty sonde rbos . Curd hap ; IU 



Sin fit' :: 



t B Jones 11 l 1 t in I llininnfilll I I 



lli.k F. -N'asm, 1 I I 1 I 1 m 



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. ■ m emJIavcn, AprUUih. Ttie Now a 

 Club held c- 



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 ... 

 chilled 9s will break glass ba I 



