

Ootobkr 13, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



n 



209 



shooting. The foxes are not numerous enough to do them 

 much damage, and the winters are no more severe than 

 formerty, There is plenty of cover and plenty of food. 

 Now, what has become of the birds ? Is it a natural and 

 gradual extinction of the, species? It looks like it ; but if it 

 i-t hoi, what ia the trouble. With woodcock it is different, 

 for from the time they are big enough to fly they are pur- 

 sued most relentlessly, and being a migratory bird they have 

 to run the gauntlet of all the guns in the country. Sought 

 after in the South during the winter months, and in the 

 North (in most States) during the summer, they are almost 

 never at lest. 



But about the grouse? Well, I give it up. I cannot ex- 

 plain it satisfactorily to myself. What do you say about it? 

 Vbrde Month. 



LThe weights given in the books are supposed to be, as 

 nearly a3 possible, the average for the species. While many 

 woodcock might only weigh bix ounces, or thereabout?, 

 there arc others that weigh ten. Though, to be sure, these 

 laBt are rani uvea in, terra nigrogm dmillirinv ci/gno. Verde 

 Montc's letter is one which demands the thoughtful consider- 

 ation of our readers. We confess that we are unable satis- 

 factorily to account for the scarcity of ruffed grouse, under 

 the conditions which he mentions. We have seen the birds 

 almost exterminated from a district by suariDg, and it is 

 well known that when this has taken place such a depopula- 

 ted section fills up very slowly. An enemy of the ruffed 

 grouse, to which no sufficient amount of attention has been 

 given, and against which we know of no remedy, is the par- 

 tridge fly. The laivaj of this flydestroy, we have no doubt, 

 many thousands of young grouse annually, and when the 

 young of a family have been killed in this way, and the 

 parents shot off, it can readily be seen why there arc no 

 birds. In a level country the ruffed grouse are, to a consid- 

 erable extent, stay at home birds, and do not wander nearly 

 so much as the quail. A piece of woods, from which the 

 birds have all been shot off, may remain for a long time with- 

 out any tenants.] 



MAKING A FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES. 



A RECENT story in the Forest akd Stream, entitled 

 " Our Last Match," reminds me of a similar adventure 

 that befel me, except that I had not even a match to start a 

 fire with. For the information of some of your readers who 

 may find themselves in similar circumstances I will describe 

 the way I started a fire. 



Late in October, 1868, I was with a party of the Fourth 

 Infantry camped near the junction of Box Alder Creek and 

 the North Platte River, a few miles above Ft. Fetterman. 

 Our work having been stopped by a light fall of snow, I 

 started out over the rolling plain south of the river for 

 antelope, and after tramping for several hours, secured a fine 

 buck, dressed the hind-quarters and shouldered them, with 

 one ham resting on either shoulder and the legs passing for- 

 ward on each side of my neck, in which position one can 

 carry such a load with comparative ease. I could plainly see 

 the belt of timber along the Platte in the north, and south 

 the Black Hills were in plain view, each distant live or six 

 miles, while on my right occasional glimpses of the Box 

 Alder Valley could be seen between the bluffs. Under such 

 circumstances the thought of staying out all night never 

 occurred to me. I took a direction that I knew would take 

 me to camp in less than two hours and started. 



I had noticed a storm in the south and soon it overtook 

 me. It was the worst kind of a storm to be out in, rain and 

 snow together with high wind. I noticed that it blew from 

 the direction I was going, and my view was so obscured that 

 I could not see over one hundred yards before me. The rain 

 froze as it fell ; and soon I was covered with ice, while the 

 ground had become so slippery that walking was very diffi- 

 cult and tiresome. 



I did my best, however, going with the wind at my back 

 until I thought it time to strike the river, but by this time 1 

 was so nearly exhausted that I could scarcely walk. I had a 

 compass, but feeling secure about, my direction I did not take 

 the trouble to open my ice-covered coat to look at it. 



I finally thought that if the swell I was then ascending did 

 not lead down to the river I would stop and look at my com- 

 pass. The ground here were strewn with large rocks, 

 different from anything I had seen so near camp as I sup- 

 posed myself to be. This excited my suspicious and I looked 

 at my compass, which seemed at first to be out of order, but 

 after a moment's reflection, 1 saw that the instrument was 

 all right, that the wind had changed and I hBd changed my 

 course with it. Instead of being near camp I 

 was among the. loose rocks and broken lands just, 

 at the foot of the Black Hills. I also realized 

 that night was very near, with camp at least ten 

 miles away. I could never find my way in such a dark 

 night; and in my exhausted condition could not walk so far 

 even to save my life. I had no matches and for a few minutes 

 thought my last, hunt was over. I cursed myself for not 

 having matches, and then for being so foolish as to go so far 

 from camp without being sure of my direction. I now 

 thought antelope shooting a delusion and bitterly regretted 

 that my love for sport had put me in such a scrape. " I also 

 thought that 1 would be reported as a deserter, and that my 

 friends would always suppose I had deserted and was afraid 

 to make myself known to them, While such thoughts as 

 these were passing I hruugh my mind, I was looking for a 

 sheltered place among the foot hills, thinking I would get 

 some brush and make a nest so that I would not freeze. 



I soon found a place to camp, and about the same time the 

 thought of getting fire with my rifle struck me. I remem- 

 ber having, when a boy, seen gun wads take fire and 

 smoulder away until burned up. Tearing out the cloth 

 lining trom my cap, 1 put a small rag of it into the gun and fired 

 into a log, holding the muzzle close to it. 1 expected to find a 

 smoking nig in the bullet hole, but was disappointed. Next, 

 I removed a bullet from a cartridge and wrapped up part of 

 the powder in a hit of rag, stuffed it into the shell, loaded 

 and fired. This glowed a few seconds, just long enough to 

 raise my hopes, and then went out, leaving me very neatly 

 discouraged. My case was now desperate. I had not 

 noticed the cold when walking, but began to realize that 

 there had been a great change in the weather and that I 

 must have a fire or freeze to death. My fingers were so 

 cold and stiff that I could hardly get the bullet out of another 

 cartridge, but I succeeded in doing so, and then put some of the 

 powder in a rag, and, holding it in the palms of my hands 

 ground it till the fine powder dust penetrated the rag, so 

 ihat when fired as before it took fire, and then, by bio's im: 

 it a few times, it blazed up and burned long euough to 

 kindle some light wood, I soon had a large fire and melttd 

 the ice from a lot of brush with which I made a hunk ; and 

 after eating a large ration of broiled antelope, lay down and 



slept. Aftor three hours I awoke nearly frozen and rebuilt 

 the fire, and then passed the. rest of the long night in a 

 series of short naps and expeditions after wood. 



I started for camp at daybreak, and on the way got 

 within fifty yards of three antelope before I saw them. 1 

 killed them all before they got out of range, This, with a 

 single shot Springfield rifle, caused me to reconsider my 

 decision of the night, hefore, and think that after all Antelope 

 shooting is worth'all it costs. E. G. Latta. 



18 SWEEPSTAKE SHOOTING GAMBLING ? 



Boston, Oct. 10. 



Editor Forext and Stream: 



The question put by the Jamestown "Rifleman " in your 

 last, number, asking whether the shooting by a number of 

 members of a rifle club in a sweepstake contest may be 

 construed into a violation of a rule of the club prohibiting 

 " gaming," opens up a very interesting topic. 



There seems to be some doubt in the miuil of the inquirer 

 and a suspicion that there may be an infraction of the rule 

 unwittingly practiced. Tf it, be taken that this form of sport 

 is gaming or gambling, using the words interchangeably, 

 then there are a great many bands of gamblers scattered over 

 the country, and it follows that the members of these many 

 clubs are grandly; and unanimously in error, for it is absurd 

 to suppose that there would be a tithe, of the trap practice 

 now done if it were granted that every sweepstake shoot was 

 but a form of gambling. Supposing that the amount made 

 up by the contributions of the several contestants is a wager, 

 then in common law it is considered to be a legal contract which 

 the courts are hound to enforce;, for a wager is good and 

 sufficient grounds for a suit, unless it he on a subject which 

 is illegal or contrary to public policy, good morals, or the 

 peace of society, or which affects the feelings or interests of 

 third persons. To claim that a sweepstake match is a gam- 

 bling proceeding simply because the issue is uncertain, would* 

 make too broad a premise, for then every business transaction 

 becomes measurably a gamble. We are not gifted with 

 prophetic vision, and if using our best judgment we go 

 into an enterprise, whethrr that venture be the knocking over 

 of a dozen pigeons from a trap or the despatch of a fleet of 

 vessels across the ocean, we are not gambling. If money or 

 other consideration is staked on the issue of au event on- 

 lirely beyond the control of either of the wagerert it may 

 fairly be regarded as a gambling performance, unjustifiable 

 in any way, and properly not to be collected through the 

 machinery of the courts. Thus, for instance, A and B are 

 horse breeders. Each uses the best of his ability to produce 

 an animal capable of the highest speed. It would be entirely 

 proper for these two breeders to test the results of the labor 

 by a compet.it ion.or race, and to place a valuable consider- 

 ation on the result of the race. Of course the result is 

 uncertain, as every other in oi.r human economy is uncertain ; 

 but if A has shown the best breeding ability he will win. 

 barring accidents. He really backs his knowledge of the 

 subject of horse breeding when he backs his horse ; and B 

 does the same. A and B to a certain extent control the 

 result of the race. But let C be a mob of outside betters, 

 and D another company of wagerers, placing money on the 

 horses of A and B respectively, and they become a mere 

 company of gamblers. The result of the race is one to 

 which tbey contribute nothing, no point of public policy is 

 served by having them take part in the race, and they 

 deserve only repression at the hands of the law, not because 

 what they are doing is in itself vicious, but because it has 

 been shown time without end that the practice leads to 

 pernicious results. 



Now, bring the same condition of affairs to the rifle field or 

 before the trap. A has secured a fine gun, has, he thinks, 

 devised an improved method of loading cartridges. He has 

 arranged the sights of his gun in a superior manner. He 

 has, in short, looked carefully over the many points of minu- 

 tiai which go to make the accurate result in marksmanship. 

 B has been using his judgment and manipulation on the 

 same problem. C D and a dozen others have been similarly 

 engaged, and they meet to test their practice and theories. 

 Of course, the result is an uncertainty, but each wishes that 

 the best man may win, and that best mau is in the long run 

 the marksman who has most successfully overcome the many 

 obstruetingj influences, which culminate in a " missed bird:" 

 where any other result follows it is due to an accident; and 

 does not vary the general rule. 



For an outsider to "bet" on the result of such a sweepstake 

 shooting is as much a pure gamble as though he allowed the 

 disposition of the wager to depend upon a throw of dice. 

 There it is wholly a matter of chance— a child may vanquish 

 one who has throwa dice for half a century, aud no public 

 good can come of the placing of money on such a chance. In 

 shooting, the conditions, the motives and the consi quences 

 are entirely different. There is u positive gain in having the 

 contest take place. When the Irish team met the Ameiican 

 marksmen in 1874, they were convinced, to the extent, of $500, 

 that their muzle-loaders fired from the prone position were 

 superior to the breech-loaders, and back position, of their an- 

 tagonists. It may have been a gambling transaction in the 

 opinion of some, for there was the uncertain issue and the 

 money stake, but the result has shown the Irish marksmen 

 Ihat they neglected important and governing elements in ac- 

 curate long-range work, and, therefore, it was not on their 

 part purely a matter of chance, but of erroneous judgment 

 and lost opportunity. 



There are many fine-drawn distinctions to be noted about 

 this interesting subject. One would regard the ordinary sweep- 

 stake match in the nature of a gambling operation, while had 

 the sweepstake money been paid in 'as dues of a club, and 

 then these members voted to offer the total dues as a prize 

 in a shoot open to club members only, then the affair is not 

 to be regarded in the light of a gamble— which seems to me 

 mi rely a way of whipping Old Nick about the slump. 



By keeping strictly in mind the distinction between con- 

 trolling, even in a measure, the issue of an event, and having 

 absolutely no part in guiding it or in the deciding conflict, we 

 may readily see what is gambling pure and simple, and what 

 is to be regarded as legitimate Bport properly encouraged. 

 Leaving entirely the question whether fairly conducted games 

 of chance for money, discreetly and moderately engaged in, 

 are not proper forms of amusement and stimulation, we 

 have a broad domain of competition such as that of the rifle 

 club and gun club, where the money stimulus leads to the 

 best results ; a?vfl to style these contests as "gambling" is to 

 display at once ignorance of very plain differencee of 

 morals and motive to inhibit an over-sensitive prudery, and 

 to insult a large body of our best sportsmen. 



Bunker Hill. 



THE TRAP SHOOTING OF PIGEONS. 



Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 34. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



There seems to be a growing sentiment strongly adverse to 

 the practice of using live pigeons at shooting matches, and 

 the day is probably not far distant when the slaughter of the 

 innocents will be regarded as too barbarous to afford sport 

 for gentlemen. Outside of the sporting class it is already so 

 regarded. There are very few non-sporting people so callous 

 that they can look upon the sight of dazed and half-sick 

 pigeons being spning from a trap and then shot down, 

 wounded and bleeding, without, feelings of pity for the poor 

 birds and disgust for the heartless shooter. 



Now and then we read a scathing criticism upon some 

 gunner, who strolls upon the sea coast" aud tumbles over the 

 harmless gulls, to see how many of the poor things ho can lay 

 upon the beach without a miss, and we readily see the justice 

 of the criticism, and often conclude that the man is a 

 heartless fellow and no true sportsman. The shooter of 

 pigeons, which are prisoners till they are sprung from the trap, 

 often barely able to fly, commits, in the estimation of many 

 poople, a greater cruelty than he who wantonly bangs away 

 at birds in the air, simply to keep his hand in. In the one 

 case the birds arc often enfeebled from long confinement in 

 crowded coops, and drop upon the ground near the trap ; 

 while in the other they are in health and have a far greater 

 chance of escaping the murderous shot. That the one prac- 

 tice is not universally regarded as bad as the other is perhaps 

 because custom has somewhat quieted our scruples with re- 

 ference to trap shooting. 



There is not much skill in shooting sick pigeons. The 

 shooter has his eye on the very spot where the bird is thrown 

 into the air, and he directs himself the moment the prey iB 

 to appear, so that the chances are all in his favor and against 

 the bird. Big scores at the trap do not show corresponding 

 scores in the field, and it is in the field a man would prefer 

 to make good scores. Very often men whose records at the 

 trap are No. 1 make miserable failures when they try their 

 hands on game. In such cases the murderous practice on 

 pigeons has been devoid of any good results. Practically, as 

 much benefit would have resulted from shooting at chips 

 thrown in the air. 



There are parties belonging to the club here who decline 

 to shoot at pigeons. It n against their better nature ; and 

 when pigeons are to be the sacrifice they withdraw. It is to 

 be hoped that this feeling will spread throughout the country 

 and create a healthy sentiment against the wanton destruc- 

 tion of a harmless bird. Inanimate substitutes are abundant, 

 some of them decidedly superior to the average pigeon used 

 in matches, and their cost insignificant in comparison with 

 the cost of pigeons. 



Humanity clearly demands the abolition of pigeons at 

 shooting matches, and it is to be hoped that the day is not 

 far distant when it will be decidedly unpopular for any club 

 to use them. It seems strange that barbarity and sportsman- 

 ship should have gone so long hand in hand. B. H. P. 



MISSISSIPPI NOTES. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Saudis, Miss., October 1. 



To-day opens the season for quail, deer and wild turkey in 

 Mississippi, and from all indications and reports we will have 

 a very good season for quail and turkey. As to deer I can- 

 not say much now. The drought, which has been so univer- 

 sal this summer, has been au advantage to quail and turkey ; 

 no heavy rains to drown them out, and very few drizzly days 

 for the netter to drive the half-grown birds into the nets, 

 consequently we have more birds than for several years. A 

 great many of the old birds, too, have their second brood far 

 on the road to maturity. I say second brood, of course I 

 don't know positively that some are a second brood, but 

 merely judge from the size of the birds. Some coveys 1 no- 

 notice arc full grown, to all appearauces, while others can 

 hardly fly a hundred yards. Can you tell me whether quail 

 ever raise more than one brood a season or not ? 



While the drought has been favorable for the birds, it has, 

 at the same time, been destruction to the fish. The small 

 lakes in TalloLatchie River bottom have nearly been drained 

 by seiners. So long has it been without rain that these lakes 

 have gone down very low siuce being cut off from the river, 

 many of them have become so shallow that the negroes go 

 into them with long seines and drag out all kinds and sizes 

 of fish. Nearly any Saturday a party of colored individuals 

 can be found dragging some of these lakes. Not only do the 

 negroes indulge in this barbaric-like work, but I Know of a 

 couple of white men, right here in Sardis— very successful 

 anglers, too— who, on several occasions, have resorted to the 

 seine in their greed for quantity and not quality of fish. I 

 have tried to shame them for such "niggerly " sport, but of 

 course they are hardened to shame. I believe that they 

 would have gone for the quail a month ago, had they not 

 known that if they did, aud myself and one or two others have 

 found it out, they would certainly be interviewed by the 

 district attorney on the subject. 



1 anticipate a grand time soon down on Pecan and Bear 

 lakes. I am going to try to be the first one in that glorious 

 hunting ground this season, and I have arrangement made 

 with a friend, Mr. A. F. D, Goodwin, living just in the edge 

 of the canebrake, to let me know when a party starts in 

 around the lakes for bear so I can be on hand, and he will 

 keep his word. 



J luck shooting would be good on Tallohatchie River in the 

 winter, were it not for the almost numberless boys and 

 negro men that line the river hanks with single-barreled cheap 

 O'd. o0; shot-guns, from the time crops are " laid by" until 

 they are planted again. Thank fortune, they cau't shoot on 

 the wing and, therefore, are no drawback to quail-shooting, 

 unless they trap them during a snow. 



Last spring, for several days, I noticed that what I pro- 

 nounced to be a Virginia rail had taken quarters in the grape- 

 vines and grass in my > arden. I watched it closely with the 

 hope that it would make my garden its permanent home. It 

 had a habit of seeking shelter in a pile of brush and corn- 

 stalks near the grape. vines when disturbed. But alas I one 

 morning the house-cat came stepping up with the bird in its 

 mouth. The entire household turned out to capture Thomas 

 and get the bird, and after a long and spirited chase, the cat 

 dropped his breakfast; and as the "gude 'omen" flicked the 

 last bone for he-r breakfast, she said it was real good, and she 

 wished the cat would bring one in every morning. I send 

 you the scalp which 1 saved. Can you tell me wlmt it is? 



W. H. C. 



[The scalp is that of a Carolina rail (Porza-na Carolina, ) 

 Quad often raise a second brood.] 



