894 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
LannOgan’s Lake, where only wild ducks ought to be 
found. Besides, the whole story may be only a figment 
of the reportorial brain. 
Michigan — Detroit, Dec. dtli . — Jolm E. Long, of this 
city, was out to South Lyons, December 2d, 3d, and 4th, 
and bagged thirty-three partridges. S. F. W. 
Dakota — Pembina , Dec. 4 th .—Hunting not better 
for years than thiB season. Grouse, or, as we call them, 
prairie chickens, were to bo found everywhere, and my 
hoys kept us supplied with them so much and so often 
that when I went on the street every pointer T met would 
point for me. There were thousands of ducks. My old¬ 
est boy, Ned, killed over six hundred ducks himself, and 
did not go over six miles from town to do it. So you 
see we have sport here, besides we have some good sports¬ 
men. Chickens are now plentiful, as also are rabbits; 
and the picking of the bones of either of them is not an 
unpleasant operation. Old Judge. 
Two Deek With One Shot.— Washington, D. C.. 
yov. 21st'.—Editor Forest and Stream .—In a recent num¬ 
ber of Forest and Stream I read an article entitled 
“Deer in New Mexico,” which brought to mind one or 
two instances of deer shooting that may be interesting 
to your readers. As I was not the principal in either 
of the incidents related below, I will not be accused of 
egotism iu giving them to the public. 
My fattier was noted in our section of South Carolina, 
as being an expert and “lucky" hunter, and I suppose 
in the course of his life he bagged more game than any 
three or four other non-professional hunters of his ac¬ 
quaintance. He was successful because a diligent and 
intelligent hunter. 
On one occasion while I was quite a small boy, I 
saw him making preparations for a turkey hunt", or 
rather, a visit to a turkey-blind. It was always 
my delight to accompany him, and after some solicita¬ 
tion he consented that I might go on this occasion. 
Preparations were made over night, and when he called 
me up next morning I found it had snowed in the night. 
After we started we found that the snow had been fol¬ 
lowed by a slight rain, which had frozen, forming quite 
a hard crust in exposed situations plenty strong to hold 
my weight without breaking through. My father’s steps 
could be heard hundreds of yards as he crunched through 
the frozen crust, and he expressed some anxiety as to 
whether the trip would pay for itself that day. 
Arriving at the blind, and having scattered the bait, 
ive sat ourselves down as comfortably as the cold would 
permit, to await the appearance of daylight. We had 
not very long to wait, for presently we heard the turkeys 
flying from their roosts. My father produced his “ bone,” 
and after yelping a few times we had the satisfaction of 
hearing a number of answers. Father had his gun 
ready, and expected confidently to have an opportunity 
of using it in a moment more, when we heard a noise 
like a regiment of cavalry approaching. Of course, the 
turkeys disappeared at once, and father arose to go. He 
was not a very patient man, and was quite angry because 
of the disturbance. At my urgent solicitation he con¬ 
cluded. after ascertaining the cause of the noise to be an 
ox-cart on the way to mill, to try again. 
Waiting a considerable time after the noise could no 
longer be heard, he again began to yelp, and before very 
long the turkeys were again approaching the bait, and 
he had the prospect of a good shot. Just as he was prepar¬ 
ing to raise his gun (I forgot, by the way, to mention 
that it was a single gun, English, imported about 1807 or 
1808), we heard another noise, apparently from the di¬ 
rection in whiclj the cart had gone. Of course, the turkeys 
were off again, and father, throwing down his gun, began 
to wrap himself up for a start home. I was glancing up 
in the direction of the noise, and instead of the cart, I 
saw two large deer coming toward us at a rapid gait. I 
called father, who, at a glance, raised his gun and fired. 
They were both bucks, and were running one in advance 
of the other. One fell dead in his tracks, and the other 
ran some two hundred yards before falling. Father de¬ 
clared them to be the largest bucks he had ever seen. 
After all, we were compelled to get the ox cart to take 
our game home for us. 
The second incident was as follows: A party of gen¬ 
tlemen were out hunting, and each had taken his 
“ stand,” while the driver had put the dogs into the run. 
Stationed about two hundred yards from me, but in 
open view, was Dr. James McG-. He had probably 
the best stand ou the run, and as it proved, was the right 
man in the rightjjlace. iu a reasonable time a “jump " 
was made, and doer and dogs came like the wind down 
upon the Doctor. Two deer, a buck, and doe, had been 
jumped and were running together. When within 
eighty or ninety yards they divided, the buck going to 
the right and the doe to the left. Waiting till they were 
• about abreast of him, the,Doctor raised his gun and fired, 
and I saw the buck bound into the air and fall dead. 
Almost, without losing a second of time, the Doctor 
wheeled and fired, and the doe rolled over — the neatest 
thing in deer shooting I ever saw. 
THE CALIFORNIA QUAIL. 
T HE following sketch of quail and quail shooting ou 
the Pacific coast, is so interesting, and contains so 
much that will be new to many of our readers, that we 
take pleasure in printing it complete as it appeared in the 
San Francisco Bulletin. It is interesting to know that 
the quail are so useful to the vine growers of the greatest 
wine State of the Union :— 
The California quail is held by all sportsmen to be the 
game bird par excellence, the hardest to hit, the hardest 
to bring to bag, and the most wily of the feathered tribe. 
The quail is a native of the length and breadth of Cali¬ 
fornia from Siskiyou to the Mexican line, and from the 
Pacific Ocean to the extreme limits of the State. In cer¬ 
tain counties they are found in an extraordinary abun¬ 
dance, particularly in San Diego, San Buenaventura, San 
Bernadlno, and in other of the southern and midland 
counties. Some ten or twelve years ago quail were very 
numerous in Alameda and Contra Costa Conn ties, but the 
vast army of San Francisco sportsmen found these places 
easy of access, and have almost annihilated the large 
packs of quail that so abounded in these Bay Counties. 
Still quail exist in a fair proportion in those localities 
wb«o some attempts at their preservation have been 
made. Tlieir remarkable fecundity has defied the per¬ 
sistent efforts of pot-hunters and the trapper. In regard 
to this fecundity it is alleged by runny close observers of 
the habits of these birds that they bring up two broods, 
the last in August or about the early part of September, 
which are of course unfit for the gun. 
In the southern portion of the State a quail, which __ 
called the Orti/x Gambelli, or Gambel’s partridge 
[ Luphor/y.e —Ed. | is found. It is similar in plumage to 
the valley quail; but it is not a partridge. No true 
partridge ever roosts in trees, and the Gambel partridge 
follows the example of his valley sisters and seeks his 
rest at night on the spreading limbs under the protect¬ 
ing foliage. It very closely resembles the valley quail, 
and requires a very close inspection to distinguish be¬ 
tween the varieties. 
The sportsmen's first piece of furniture, necessary in 
the pursuit of the California quail, is a good, steady dog. 
That he should be a retriever is a matter of the utmost 
importance. He must also work within easy shooting 
range of the gun, as the wide ranging dog of Europe and 
the East would be altogether unfitted for this sort of sport. 
The quail is easily flushed, and is the most, restless of all 
game birds. They, on most, occasions, do not iie well to 
dog ; and this is particularly the case before the pack is 
broken. But when they are flushed and broken twice or 
so in succession, they iie comfortably well, and it is no 
uncommon thing, or, rather was not, some years ago, for 
a couple of good shots to kill from a hundred to a hun¬ 
dred and twenty-five out of a single pack. After the 
opening of the season these birds pack very similar to the 
Scotch grouse, hill-side bred beveys getting together in 
packs of from three to four hundred birds. No bird in all 
the range of game birds possesses bo much vitality as the 
saucy little California quail. In “Ways that are dark, 
and tricks that are vain,” it is most peculiar. Their worst 
habit is running before a dog, malting him unsteady, 
often spoiling a good dog by making him liable to flush. 
A slow, pottering dog, with a good nose, is the best 
adapted for quail shooting, but his retrieving qualities 
must be perfect. 
The gun used for quail shooting should not be larger 
tlnana twelve bore, and some prefer fourteen and sixteen. 
It should he light, handy and a hard hitter. The charge 
of a twelve bore should he three drachms of powder and 
one ounce of No. 9 shot. For smaller bores a lighter 
charge is desirable. What pleasure a man can have in 
shouldering a nine-pound, ten-gauge gun, and tramping 
over a dry hill-side in pursuit of California quail, seems a 
singular question, when he can so much enhance his en¬ 
joyment and improve his shooting by the use of a lighter 
weapon. Some of the best shots in the State are using 
sixteen-bore guns, and have been wonderfully successfm 
with them. That small bore guns, with light charges, 
will be the fashion next season, is evident. These guns 
give an actual test of skill, unlike the cannon so much in 
•ogue at present.. 
A few years ago it was no unco mmo n thing for a 
sportsman to start from San Francisco iu the morning 
and return the same evening with a nice bag of fifty, 
sixty or seventy-five birds, but over the same ground at 
the present day it is difficult to bring a dozen birds to 
hag in a single day's shooting. To reach the prime quail 
grounds now necessitates a long and tedious journey, re¬ 
quiring from a day to a day and a half to get on the 
ground, and for a couple of days’ shooting the expendi¬ 
ture of four days is demanded. In the southern counties, 
where no restriction is placed on quail shooting, grand 
sport can he obtained. There the birds exist in thous¬ 
ands, and are as tame as chickens in a farmyard. In 
Tulare County, ontheHaggin & Carr estates, where ir¬ 
rigation has been introduced, quail have bred in myriads. 
In shooting over this section before, it was necessary to 
pack water along in demijohns for men and dogs; hut 
now, as water can he obtained in every ditch, all this is 
done away with. 
Squirrel poisoning has had much to do with the de¬ 
struction of quail in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. 
In other places where they once existed in thousands 
they are completely cleaned out, and the call of this 
beautiful bird is now unknown on many hillsides where 
they formerly animated every cover. But not by squir¬ 
rel "poison alone have the quail suffered. A more destruc¬ 
tive agent is the wholesale trapping which is practised 
with impunity in many counties. The birds are |ca.ught 
both in and out of Beason, and all prospects of propaga¬ 
tion are ruined. The trap technically known as the fig¬ 
ure four trap is used, and one with half a dozen of these 
traps, well attended, null clean out a whole county side 
of quail, where a hundred guns in a season could not ac¬ 
complish as much, for a large percentage of the birds 
will escape from the most expert sportsman. The trap 
is deadly. It is sure and noiseless, and does its work in 
the most effective manner. It certainly devolves on the 
next Legislature, in view of the great destruction of quail 
in traps, to pass stringent anti-trapping laws that will be 
strictly enforced to prevent the total annihilation of this 
noble little game bird. 
It is charged that in grape-growing counties, Napa, 
Sonoma, etc., quail do a vast injury to the crop. But 
tills, like many other allegations agamst the quail, is 
greatly exaggerated. In place of injuring the vineyard, 
it has been ascertained tnat quail do a vast amount of 
good by devouring the insects that infest the vines, and 
their destruction of the fruit is a mere bagatelle in com¬ 
parison with their removal of these vine parasites, A 
gentleman who owns a large vineyard has encouraged 
the visits of a pack of quail with the object of assuring 
iiirncnlf if they were guilty of the misdemeanor of which 
many viniculturists accused them. He ascertained that 
the birds flick the insects from the vines and fruit, and 
examining the crops of those that were shot, found that 
they contained but a single grape 6kin, To green crops, 
such as peas, beans, etc., quail are very destructive, de¬ 
vouring the sprouts with avidity as they appear above 
the ground. 
To obtain a day’s good quail shooting the sportsman, in 
the majority of cases, must get a permit from the agents 
or owners of the lands. In Marin, Napa, Solano, Contra 
Costa, and San Mateo counties the farmers have posted 
their lands, and strictly preserved them fr om the ravages 
of the pot-hunters. Sportsmen, however, can always ob¬ 
tain permission for a day's shooting by making proper 
application to the proper persons. The farmers have 
been driven to rule out the great army of hunters on ac¬ 
count of the destructive tendencies and general cussed¬ 
ness displayed by pot-hunters. They will tear down 
fences, leave gates open, and set fire to the grasses, dam¬ 
aging property to a considerable extent. So great was 
the annoyance caused by this obnoxious class of shooters 
that special legislation was called into requisition for the 
above-named counties, making it punishable by fine or 
imprisonment, or both, for persons to enter on enclosed 
lands with dog and gun in pursuit of game without spe¬ 
cial permission from the owner or agent. 
The majority of sportsmen consider (fuail Bhooting the 
most difficult of all branches of the pursuit of game, and 
very justly so. To bring the California quail to bag re¬ 
quires the exertion of the very acme of the gunner’s drill. 
The great fault with most sportsmen is shooting too 
quick, and before fairly covering the bird. This does not 
mean that a man should follow the bird with his gun 
until it is almost out of sight, but there is a happy me¬ 
dium in the time for pulling the trigger, neither snap 
shooting nor poke, shooting. The whirring of a quail’s 
wing has a tendency to disconcert the shooter, and this 
is particularly the case witli young sportsmen, who mil 
then, on flushing a bird, throw up the gun and fire al¬ 
most before the gun reaches the shoulder. The conse¬ 
quence is, a waste of powder and shot, and some sound 
swearing at the frequent misBes. In shooting over a dog, 
as the bird flushes the gun. should be kept at the ready, 
and when it has reached a distance of fifteen or twenty- 
yards the gun should he raised, a quick and decided aim 
taken, making due allowance for the velocity of the 
bird, and the trigger pressed gently, with the gun in 
motion. This lateral motion iscallea “swing,” and to be 
a good shot at any game this swing is absolutely neces¬ 
sary. Some use swing in all shooting, and others fire 
as the gun reaches the shoulder, and these are called 
“snap” shots. Of course there are occasions when one 
must snap shoot in order to get a bird flying in heavy 
cover, but the perfect quail shot is the man that can 
adapt himself to the kind of shooting that presents it¬ 
self — who, if a bird gives him but a yard of sight will cut 
him down, and when shooting over his dog in the open 
will be deliberate. 
The combination of these different styles of shooting is 
the grand one to attain. Practice is absolutely necessary 
to obtain proficiency in any sport, but some may practice 
a lifetime and never go beyond mediocrity. To he a 
crack shot is a good deal of a gift, and requires an aggre¬ 
gation of qualities rarely seen in one individual. Cali¬ 
fornia, however, can boast of possessing the best field 
shots in the world, which is owing, in a great measure, 
to their practice at quail. Finally, all sportsmen should 
bear in mind that game should not be killed in wanton¬ 
ness, or with the view of m a ki ng extraordinary bags, but 
that their skill should be used in moderation, and their 
cooperation given in all cases where the preservation of 
game is concerned. 
SHOOTING MATCHES. 
—Mr. S. A. Tucker, agent for Parker Brother’s guns, is 
a capital Bhot. At the late tournament held at Kansas 
City he killed 179 birds out of 190 fired at, of which 115 
were killed in the main shoots, and 64 in shooting off 
ties at all distances. In ties he missed but two birds out 
of 66 shot at, which is a diffi cult score to beat. 
Newspaper Challenges.— The publication of sporting 
challenges in newspapers, now so common, is only a 
natural outgrowth of the modern system of publishing 
in the daily paper whatever is of interest in every branch 
of pursuits. The daily paper and its weekly supple¬ 
mental issue contain more art than the art journals, 
more home than the turf journals, more religious news 
than the religious periodicals, more fiction than the 
story papers, more sporting news than the sporting 
journals. If a man thinks he can jump higher than any 
other man in the world, he says so in the daily paper, 
and straightway finds the other man. So if Captain 
Bogardus thinks that he oan shoot more glass balls in less 
time than any other shooting man in the world, he puts 
his belief into print, and may, or may not, find the other 
man. Some experts have made a name for themselves 
in the newspapers, who, without these pen and ink 
matches, would never have been heard of. They usually 
fail to come to time. It must he said to the credit of 
Captain Bogardus, however, that he is always more 
ready to plank down his money than to spill much ink 
over it. The shooting lights of the world have come to 
understand that when Bogardus says a thing he means 
it. Hence there is very little of the newspaper bickering, 
brag, and bluster so common in other forms of shooting 
matches. 
Another Great Shooting Match.— The next great 
shooting match will take place at Captain Bogardus’ 
Shooting School, November 20th, when the Captain will 
attempt to break 5,500 glass balls, sprung from two or 
more traps, distance not less than fifteen yards, loading 
his own gun, within 450J minutes. The match will be 
for a purse of $1,000 deposited by the Dittmar Powder 
Company. The shooting will begin at 3 o’clock, p. m. 
This feat is to be undertaken for the purpose of eclipsing 
Dr, Carver’s record of 5,500 balls in 450m. 30s. 
Bogardus’ Shooting-School,— Capt. A, Eh Bogardus 
has at last opened his long-talked-of shooting-school in 
this city. The location is the old Tivoli Theater, Eighth 
street, between Second and Third avenues. The hours 
are from 3 to 5 and from 7 to 11 p.m, At the opening 
last evening Capt. Bogardus performed almost all of his 
famous feats. 
