•Ian. 4, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



447 



but noticed no decrease in their numbers, eaceepl 



■'I H Iden plover last season, which, however, I attrib- 



in! to some freak in the weather when the bird? -were at 

 sea migrating, and so perhaps altered their Ijne oJ Sight. 



Other rurif.oiis. analogous to. but less salient than those 



already shown, rnjgnt be gi rra . up 101 oi thin vil w of the 



'ml if I have added any bopi : lout i ad 



CJomplarning class of sportsmen, vi lie art tori vvt bewailing 



Uiof ; mi ii pe°i dj i jtlicraiijiatioDj of which! 



••'«') heartily tired, 1 have won niy point. To do more would 

 Inn .lip needlessly trespassing on your Space. II. W. A. 



I'A.Mmue- .i 



The scarcity of ihe partridejjs (or quail) in Xoriheni Yir- 

 • liking, li is due, I think, mainly to the 

 great increase of the Dumber of persons owriJUgapd shooting 

 over aettwsand pointers, audio the destructive effect of 

 Mm mod. rn breech loader- to ihe destruction of the cover 

 by changed methods of culture, thicker settling of the 

 eotmlryar.d elearingof tmesis and BWampS and bnishlands. 

 it is no! due, as oueoi your correspondents suggests, to 

 nogro - >iio itin \ them in nesting time, li is a curious fact 

 ih n these p ■ very greal degree given up hunt- 



ing and trap . : ■■ of all soils for which in a State of -lav-i v 

 they sci ra lohave such an insatiable fondness and Which they 

 indulge . in bo frech immediately ;ificr the war as i,, rnake 

 it. an intolerable nuisance, Self-binders, and otht ■ 



lands, and the birds have taken largely to other feeding 

 grounds, their habits changing accordingly. 



Dfi, M. Gr. Hi.i.ztv. 

 WAsmsuTON, i). (.'. 



I) 



MAINE GAME. 



■in Report 6t tlii? Commissioner' oi ris.i-ries ami (jhuue <.r 

 the Sim- of Main.-, 1882.] 



Ki. I: bave been unusually plenty. Notwithstanding 



<: ; ' 



wording of 



forcement of the law, tbc increase w ithin the last two years 

 hue been very marked The slaughter of deer has 'been 

 greater than for very many years. The law forbidding the 

 bunting of deSr with dogs has beer, utterly disregarded, 

 There can be no sueh .-porl in our Slate as oour.-iu- deer 

 with hounds Our p hda and lakes d ■•' almost every square 

 mile of our territory, li is simply driving the poor, 

 timid, scared brute into one of our thousands ponds, where 

 the murderous poacher in his canoe, awaits the fear-para- 

 breed victim with either knife to cut its throat, or deliberate 

 cold-blooded gun shot at close quarters, Killing sheep in 

 a slaughter-house, or but'ehering-calves in a pen, is soul-stir- 

 ring heroism in comparison. 



There ran be no adequate protection with such legislation 

 RsgLvUs us the following silly law, viz. : 'No person -had 

 hunt, kill or destroy with dogs, any deer or caribou u ithin 

 Ibis Slate, under a 'penally ol forty" dollars for every such 

 deer or caribou so bayed ot destroyed, 01 The same wording 

 fatal to the efficiency of the law, is employed in the statute 

 for the protection of moose. The same old poaching hand 

 has emasculated the law, that formerly doetored the salmon 

 and fioul laws. 



No penalty For limiting" deer, r»r caribou, or moos. . with 

 (JOgS! The warden, ivitln.nl pay. must follow ihcdogsuud 

 see the direr killed, and then establish the ownership of the 

 Bogs; and (hen prosecute the parties, and then returns home 

 a rich man from the accumulated Wealth Of one half Ihe 



p. naltv. Every man wiio take-- dogs into the woods, should 

 be heli'l to have Uilliil every deer traced to his possession. 

 |nd every man in every canin where dogf an sheltered or 



kepi, should beheld responsible and lined for hunting and 

 killing deer with dogs. Much destruction of moose is per- 

 petrated by Indian- Horn Dominion bofdersin spring, within 

 our Sl:ii e-. Some of our own poachers act in complicity 

 with them by exchanging moose bides for peltries that tiny 

 can sell here without Bear of arrest These hides all come 

 back h re in due course. The poacher Iras become a 

 dangerous criminal, whom the lumberman who owns cabins 

 in tiie forests, QJ limber land-, or aiiuhl else that can be de- 

 stroyed, tear.- to offend. The safetj of ill- public demands 

 his speedy punishment and suppression. He is but the 

 deserter, the bounty juniper of the. late war, back again in 

 tbC haunt- from v ii.'ne. he -|,.,i,i- lie picks a few , Tim . 

 Iieni-s before thex are ripe, for tear Ihe honest farmer may 

 fairly obtain litem: he net- while perch in our ponds; he 

 poaehes saimrJn on forbidden ground and in forbidden sea- 

 sons: ltc nets and spears troul on the -pawning buds; he 

 even steals from his brother poacher, hounding deer, bj' 

 jvatehing and fcilling-thc. deer driven by the dogsbf some 

 Inoiher'thiet lli- :! n—t ahd conviction and puiiishment. 

 will rid so • I'sive blight, the cause of burden- 



some t.n\ ition for the punishment of ci ime. 



iieni of theslai 

 We have heart 

 by too long tt 

 All this shoult 



own S' ■!■ -. A 

 laxpaying met 

 our iiwn .St.it,. 

 givcupi 



ploying competent detectives, we would soou root out this 

 great evil of poaching, which now bids fair to exterminate 

 thefts) '""''" >'f our State. Woodcock and plover and 

 many of our young ruffed grouse, in close time, are still 

 shot for market, along our lines of railway by our own and 

 outside poachers, 



Our ins-el i vermis birds require protection. There is a. 

 statute forbidding their being killed, but as there is no pen- 

 alty attached, it is valueless. 



BIG GAME AT TIM POND. 

 Editor Fty-est njtd Strewn; 



folOWing the Rteat interest a multitude of the reader- of 



Fniit-.sT am. Sim \.m take in matters concerning the ahove- 



cenlly received from K ;n.-.' . Smith. The letter was mailed 

 the ist'.i inst, Th I. aation referred to is "hallowed 

 grounrl" to many aiitflcra, for thousands of speckled swim- 

 mers have Ldaddeiie I their hearts near Hack and Alder In- 

 lets.— J. W". T. (New Britain. Dee. 35, [883 i 



Mr. Smith write-: ■■ I'lie autumn after ., on left here was 

 pleasant, but w lieu cold weather did come snow came with 

 it. and now we have on an average full twenty inches. 

 Edgar and 1 went to Tim Pond last Wednesday to break 

 oat Ihe road ami to get a caribou. 1 think 1 have told vim 

 thai when the right time came and the law is oil it is no 

 trick to get one of these beautiful animals; so Wednesday 

 we tool; the old gun and Started. We got to the eabius 

 about four o'clock. We soon had the team put up in the 

 stable and a good tire in one of the cabins, and passed the 

 ni-ht very comfortably. It was quite different fiom what 

 it was some years ago when at this season we got to Tim 

 Pond wet and tired and were obliged to build a bough 

 camp and keep up a large Ore all night to keep from freez- 

 ing, and vo',1 may believe I appreciate the change, as I fully 

 realize ! eannol stand now what 1 could once. 



"Friday morning after breakfast, and while Edgar wag 

 taking care of the horses. ; steppi d down to tin- boat, land- 

 landing to take a view of the Pond, dp to the west, uear 

 Hack Inlet, I saw four caribou on the ice. Edgar look the 

 old gnu and went up around the pond by Alder Inlet, and 

 when they came along by he fired and broughl down one. a 

 line buck. The three others slopped and looked at the dead 

 one long enough for him to have killed them, but Edgar 

 had no more shot. When we left home we expected to find 

 plenty <>f buckshot at the camp, but some one had taken 

 them, and we had to content ourselves with one noble 

 fellow, and truly be was a beauty. With the horses and 

 sled we took him out to the house. Not very many have 

 been on tb» he this fall. Wc saw a good many tracks in 

 the -now. and in one place tracks of a tlock of 'deer. We 

 also saw tracks of one moose. If nothing prevents we shall 

 gO in again nexi week, and With more ammunition gel more 

 large game before close lime, which, is January 1st. 



"Foxes have been very plenty here, and many have been 

 shot near my farm.'' 



hounding of deer? If the short season saves thousand- of 

 deer why not Stop the dogs and s;ive thousands mure? Will 

 the association do this, or will thev try to bave the season 

 close on the 15th of November-/ Mr. Jewet, of the Howell 

 Gun Club, said: "We organized three years ago, and set. to 

 work to post ourselves on what the game law was and to 

 secure obedience to it. 1 found it one of the most difficult 

 undertakings 1 ever got into. We expected the support of 

 nil the leading farmers around How-ell. but t 

 we found we had debased ourselves in their ( 



i who wished to preserve the game for 

 It looks tlir.i way to many here, and 1 



thrown into the river at Koekiand. 

 been eor.-unied by sportsmen ill our 

 ■: stands it was mostly killed by non- 

 .ther Stales, for profit, and returns to 

 onecenl. No. »ne should be allowed to 

 zen. and make a living by killinu- and 

 ling what belongs equally to all. and what is intended and 

 should b,- protected lis a healthful recreal ion and bolidl - > pa- 

 timcforall. A law somewhat similar to one in foree in 'N,,\ a 

 Scolia Should he passed, forbidding the billing of more than 

 two or three moose oi leeror oaribou by any ona person. The 

 laws in New BrunswiBk and Nov.! Scotia and other provu* 

 Ceo of. the Dominion, requiring the pa\ni.-ni of S$5 or |30 

 for permission to hunl Or shoot Withlll their boundaries, by 



every bod resident, has had th- effect to precipitate upon our 

 .Slat- an unusual number of hunter-, mostly for iu.m l.ei : 



"Amkhk.wn I0\rm:s-. ('omi\\n\ . North Eastern Division, 

 Nov. 22> 188& -Number .,i sad lies of venison and carcasses 

 shipped by Atu-ri-an Express Company tromOct. I to Nov. 



BangOr, 42 land one caribou and hear), Pis-alaipiis route, 

 7 (and one caribou); Alattawamkea";, -i; Lincoln, ;(0; forest, 

 8; Olamon. -17; Win, 10 (and one "caribou i: Ellsworth, (>2j 

 Costiaau, -I. Maeldas. 26; Mtlbridge, 98; total, 408." 



Wild ducks are rare ,ind to be seen but in limited num- 

 ber-, owing to the wide-spread crime .1 bailing and netting, 

 Farmers who like to vnrythc monotonous fare of their tables 



IcbsIj testifying in all cases oj infractions of our game, laws 

 that come to their knowledge. If we had the means of em. 



HUNTING DEER IN MICHIGAN. 



/"\N the 17th of October I left home for the purpose of 

 V/ finding a favorable locality for 11 party of six to upend 

 fiom two to three weeks deer hunting. I took the ears at 

 Ionia, weni to Owasso. fchenee to Hay City, Ihence to Ros- 

 common, thence to a lumber camp about six miles from 

 Houghton Lake. I made it my business to. get all the in- 

 formation possible from those" 1 met. in regard to the best 

 places for deer within their knowledge. I met a gentleman 

 on the ear- who lives a few miles above Evart on Hik Muske- 

 gon. There were rive hunlers boarding with him who were 

 hunting with dogs, and they had killed eighteen deer in 

 two weeks. 1 remained at camp two weeks looking the 

 country over thoroughly. 1 found parties hunting, but not 

 getting many deer. I heard from parties on tii- Bauble 

 who were getting very few del r. 1 went north to Oavlord, 

 thence across to Eltnira on G. K. & I. Railroad. 1 saw- there 

 a few local hunters, wdio gave me no encouiagenieiil 

 to stop there. 1 was told thai a while deer was in that 

 vicinity and had been .shot. at. but not killed. On my way 

 home I met a man who had been visiting twelve mile's nasi 

 o! lit- Lake. From his account of the country and the 

 deer 1 concluded to hunt, there. 



On the J 4 tli of November two of the party and myself 

 stalled lor Fyfe Lake and Ihe next day at noon we arrived 

 at our boarding house, one mile and a half from the Manis- 

 tee. A party was camping on the east side of the river and 

 was hunting With dogs, and bad twenty deer We hunted 

 two weeks and shot live deer. The rest of our party were 

 detained till late in tin- season and concluded lo go to Lake 

 county, where we had bunted for a few .-.-.isons past. The 

 three killed eleven d-er and one fox. While returning home 



I bilked with a number of hunting parties, who had been 

 out from two to four weeks, and " nearly all reported less 

 deer killed than usual. 



Among the i.:i- 

 hinih'n-.'we not ha 

 fore ih- .-, a-nii <■ 

 gamem.,.1- 



de, r lo the 



what i saw 

 who used d. 

 -t ason, 



I will give my views of the Michigan Sportsmen's Asso- 

 ciation in relation to ihe game laws now existing. Here are 



II few extracts from addresses delivered at. their' last, session. 

 Mr. Catcsavs: "I think the result oi shortening the season 

 hasbeengood Heretofore stillJiunters would go in the 

 woods as soon as tsnow came. md Slav, and thev could kill 

 Iwiee a- uianv on snow as without it. I think U saves thou- 

 sands of deer in this State to shorten the Sporting season.'' 



President Holmes says theihing of first importance is a code 

 of simple ami equitable laws that will command the respect 

 of all order-loving and law-abiding citizens. Again, sports- 

 men and game protectionists, who like other men cannot all 

 think alike, must compromise with each other and agree on 

 a code of taws Ihat all will endoisc and support. Professor 

 Roney believes that the present game law has reduced Hie 

 annual slaughter of deer from ?'0,0u() in 1880 to 10,000 in 

 1 HS1 — a wonderful effect if true. Do our game laws com- 

 mand the respect of all order loving and law-abiding citi- 

 zens? 1 think not. They favor one class of sportsmen, 

 while thev d.piive as great and perhaps a greater number 

 Of a few (lay's .-port in hunting. lie o.-iei.-iMe object ol 

 th- as-oei'ilion i.- the protection of game, if tin- is the real 

 object why not secure the passage of an act to prohibit the 



■ I Id- lack of success was ooiSJ 

 iOW except for about one week be- 

 The short, time allowed to -hip 



10 nave i hem shipped as freight, From 



got Ihe greater part of Ihe deer killed this 



sed. 



•ssary t, 



of nabobs in the lo 

 our own shoolir 

 tJUnkftrr good 1 



I will refer to one more, prominent member of ;ln associ- 

 ation, I feel Inadequate to dp him justice, He6tands.fi rep- 

 resentative man among sportsmen, a snap-shot, and an 

 effective deer hunter, 1 make a few extracts from your 

 correspondence. Th- "Michigan State Sportsmen's Lsso- 

 ciation hasevidentli been doing a good work in its efforts 



lo pul a stop to the W0n( leslruelion of ■_-..m- lid. (Jdl- 



manof this city, and a parly of Ohio fiie.ids w re on the 

 happy hunting grounds at sunrise on the 1st inst. an d have 

 since been sending down from len lo sixteen deer per day." 

 Consistency isajewel. Again: "E. H.Oillniuniind I wo I riends 

 have just returned from a six weeks' sojoni n in Ihe North 

 Woods, during which time Ih.-v hnve kill, d nearlv till v ■ d, el- 

 and several good bags of ruffed erouso and quail. '' 'Th,v 

 are uot pot or mark. I hunters, fail gentlemen sportsmen 

 and game protectionists. T fail to si e ihe difference between 

 the killing of fifty or a hundred deer by Mr. (iillin.in and 

 his friends with Ihcir fancy hounds, and "the pot hunter 



with his mangy bound of doubtful antecedents." An ex- 

 tract or l wo from your Adirondack correspondence. "Murril" 

 says, "One hundred and fifty will not cover the number 

 of deer killed in Beaver River, and the lakis and ponds 

 within 1 wo miles on either ride of the river, by driving tbetu 

 into the water with hounds during the open season fust 

 closed, and unless -lill-huiilers are more, successful than Ui.-v 

 have been in previous years they will not get one-tenth as 

 many as have been killed by hounding." "Why Nob: 

 "Siill-huntiiig by common consenl. is' as a sport eminently 

 legitimate. Hounding supplemenls every other method 

 of destruction. It is the multiple of all the e\ ii- : md abuses 

 threatening game destruction. There is no season, no hour 

 of day or night, no bottom soft or hard, snow or crust, no 

 condition of weather, when the dog may not scour the most 

 secluded game haunts, and there is no quality or condition 

 of humanity on its legs that may not share the degradation 

 of this, pastime." Shooting deer in the. uai.r during the 

 open season is quite common among hunters who use 

 hounds in Michigan. We are waiting for Mr. (Jillumn's re- 

 port of his hunting trip and hope he will lie able to put him- 

 self in a better light before the. public than your correspon- 

 dents did. Sin. 1, lit NTf.it. 

 I'at..), Ionia 1 '..tiuty, Mich., Dee. 23, 18S>. 



HOUNDING vs. STILL-HUNTING. 



I NOTICE in the last number of your journal ihat your 

 coi respondent, Mussil, makes' a comparison between 

 still-hunting and Ihe killing of deer in ponds or river.-. I 

 suppose it wag only a question of .still-hunting, or hunting 

 with hounds. I do not consider that, because hounds ure 

 used it becomes absolutely necessary to kill the deer after 

 they have taken to water. 1 did sav in my article "thai 

 when deer look lo water ahead ol the' hound.' half lo three- 

 quarters of the time that was the end of the hum." Of 

 course as far as the dog was concerned; Now, under the 

 present law it is the end of the hunt, as far as the hunter is 

 concerned also, but formerly under the old law, as I said. 

 "quantities of deer were slaughtered in the lakes and ponds. ' 

 uol by the hunters (for no man who butchers a deer in water 

 deserves Ihat name', not by Ihe owners of the dogs, forlhey, 

 Ihe hunters, were in the woods and on tin- runways where 

 they belonged, but by a class of people who simply wanted 

 venison, and made it a business to go to the ponds and gel 

 it. the hunters very seldom getting any share, and very often 

 not wanting any. It is worse than casting pearls before 

 swine for Ihe Stale of New York to allow deer to he killed 

 in the lakes and rivers of her Adirondack region a- i- de- 

 scribed by Murrit. Let the Legislature pass a law similar to 

 the law of this State, which forbids, under a heavy penalty 

 the killing of deer at any seasou, in or within two' hundred 

 yards of any pond or river. Then let the hunter use his 

 hound and stand upon Ihe runway to kill his gi>me, and 

 there need be no fear of its being exterminated. 



Buck Shot. 

 Massachusetts. Nov. is, issj. 



DETROIT NOTES. 



r jj Ml II shooting season, which nominally closed to-day, in 

 L reality closed two weeks ago, with the exception of 

 quails and ducks, and but. few bags of these have been mad-. 

 The -rouse disappeared in an unaccountable manner early 

 in Ihe full, and hunters are al a loss to know what became 

 of them. 



Since the Stale Sportsmen's Bad£e, contended for monthly 

 for nine year-, became the individual property of K. il. 

 tiiilmiin, bv his winning three successive Limes, then has 

 been no trap shooting. 'The fact is, the shooters ure still 

 afraid of the Society fur the Prevention, of Cruelty lo Ani 

 mals, though it is as dead as Ihe junior member of the firm 

 of Scrooge & Marley. 



There are plenty of rabbits in this section, but the ground 

 is as barren of snow as it was in August, and the cotton tails 

 are hul liltle liunled in consequenee. 



The shooting and fishing clubs throughout the Slate have 

 chosen delegates to the Slate Convention thai is to be held 

 on the 9th pros., and there is no douht ihat it will be a large 

 and interesting meeting. W. 



Detkoit. Mich.. Dec. 30, 1832. 



LAST MOOSE IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 



The undersigned is desirous of obtaining full data eon 

 cerning the number of moose killed in the Aditondacks 

 since 1850. Any information bearing on this point wiil be 

 thankfully received and duly acknowledged. 



0. Haut Mi:niu,v\i. M.D.. Locust Grove, JSt. Y. 



Missoi ri. --Moberly. Randolph 1,'ouniy.— Game has been 

 rather plenty this tall; diu Us, quail, 'wild turkeys and 

 prairie chicken. One day, in November, mv bug was-ixiy 

 eight quail, one tui key and foul chiclwns. — B> E. 1). 



Mr. Faul 13. du Chaillu will address tho New Vork Association ioi- 

 the Protection of Game at their mcetiup nest Monday Blglft. 



