210 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[OOTOBBB 13, 1881 



ONE OP THE OLD FELLOWS. 



TWO of our sportsmen. Geo. B. and Billv W., are "high- 

 up " authority on duck shooting. Their corner on 

 counsel-giving is as "solid" as their corner on Goose Lake, 

 •where they bag the mallards. No one is too old nor too 

 young, neither too dch nor too poor, to presume to go duck- 

 ing before ordaining the advice of the above named mes- 

 sieurs in regard to all the mumtue of successful duck shoot- 

 ing. A piece of advice in the miud never fails to insure 

 dead ducks in (he bag. A word from them is worth the 

 quack of a dozen mallard. 



Last Tuesday they were snugly ensconsed on their favorite 

 point when a seedy looking parly, with a gun and a yellow 

 dog, emerged from the brush and began reconnoitring. 

 " Vv' u,ler if that old relic intends to pop here?" 

 "Yea; he probably will locate his corporosity near here, 

 blaze away e\ r ery time we shoot and then exclaim in the 

 stereotyped phrase, ' There 1 1 downed that fellow.'" 



" Do you • tumble to ' his old fusel ? See where the stock 

 is worn «ith friction against the side of Noah's ark." 



"Ha! ha! I ' tumble ' to it quicker than any duck ever 

 will." 



"Hold," said Billy, "I've an idea," and approaching the 

 Ancient Party- he sa'id : "Going to try your luck, eh ?" 

 thought on't." 

 ; shoot much?" 

 " Some : squirrels and sich in Alabammy." 

 " Say, I'll give you a point, seoing you're a stranger ; see 

 that point over yonder ? That's a good place to shoot from." 

 " Yes. just the place I was going to tackle." 

 Returning, Billy said, "I've got the old fossil anchored 

 down tbere where, a ducfe will never fly unless it's a crazy 

 one — Blazebl see that mallard tumble?" 



Sure effldflgh, the old gun had spoken. The duck gyrated 

 and fell with a ketrBpIssfl. The " yaller dorg" plunged in 

 and quickly retrieved it, and the Ancient Party finished re- 

 loading in time to repeat his feat on the next flock, and so on 

 till night, when be gathered up eleven mallards, and as he 

 passed our fellows he s-id, " Stranger, you were kind to put 

 me on tbat point. How've you made it ?" 



' ' Oh, we came up to go in swimming but found the water 

 rather loo chilly.'' Alo. 



Meiiom-onU : , Wit. 



REMINISCENCES OF FORTY YEARS. 



THIRD PAPER. 



1HAD an extraordinary day with the wild fowl in 1868. 

 My companion was my old friend Robert Henry, then us 

 now of tlie extensive dry goods firm of William Barr & <>., 

 St. Louis, Mo. Wc were on the Darden prairie, a low Bat 

 bottom, uiRisuy and full of snipe. Many ponds were at that 

 time cause 1 by the overflow of the Misdssippi. These ponds 

 were in many places ! wo miles in circumference, and tbey 

 were all frozen with the exception of one of the deepest, 

 where immense bodies of wild fowl had congregated — ducks, 

 geese, brant and swao. 



We arrived at the scene at daybreak. I planted myself 

 behind some brush nud rushes and began shooting risrht and 

 left, as fasi. as 1 could load and discharge my muzzle loader. 

 The birds fell and still others came from their feeding 

 grounds, among the cornfields g few miles away, to this un- 

 frozen piece of water, This continued all day. 



1 had never snot a bran;, nor a Canada goose before this 

 day. My firs:, shot at brant was at four of these birds, which 

 were skimming around and around the pond without settling 

 down. They passed me all together, their four heads in line, 

 about forty yards out. I shot the four, bringing them to the 

 ground with the first barrel. So ray first In nut shot, was a 

 good one. An hour later I heard a welcome honk, and look- 

 ing round saw two immense Canada geese coming straight 

 for me and about ten yards high. I "lay low" until my 

 double barrels did their work, aud there were my first Canada 

 geese, a double shot. 



That same day, while 1 was standing on the. ice, I shot a 

 large goose some sixty yards above me, aiming almost per- 

 pendicularly. Down came the goose, piump within two 

 yards Oi where I was standing, and went right through the 

 ice, which was thick enough to bear my weight of 151) 

 pounds. You may judge if he must not have been a tough 

 old gander. 



The total count of that day's shooting scored 168 ducks 

 (Mr. Henry wilt have it tbat it was 178 j, 17 brant aud geese, 

 with one gun (Mr. Henry too insists that there were seven- 

 teen brant aud seven geese) ; however, it was tall work. The 

 wagon load of game went to Springfield, III., where I was 

 then liviutr. 



In September Of the year 1864, my old friend, George Hol- 

 man, of the Holman Opera Troupe, shot with meat Dawson, 

 ten miles from Springfield, III. Between half past t.l o 

 balf-pa i Ave or bIx o'eloek that afternoon, in a stubble field 

 of ten acres, we killed 64 pinnated grouse, and the next day 

 C7. The Eplemlid birds were all full grown, and we did not 

 miss !i i ■ mi the lot; still, one could hardly miss 



such birds as full fledged prairie chickens, rising right under 

 your nose. The secret in prairie chicken shooting, as in 

 olhel' shooting, is keeping cool ; if you grow excited, plenty 

 of I he birds will fly oil Untouched. 



In tbe-e reminiscences, which include some of my many 

 years' shooting, I have given the shots exactly as they oc- 

 curred. From them sportsmen of the present may realize 

 something of the great abundance of game in the past. 



William: King. 



A VIGOROUS LETTER PROM MAINE. 



Editor Fore**, and Stream : 



I very rarely notice any assertion made in a public print 

 knowing as a rule that they are made by irresponsible per- 

 sons, and are unworthy the cost of the time. But the re- 

 spectability of the source from which a remark is quoted from 

 a "lover of the dog and gun" over the signature of "Homo" 

 entitles it to correction as an error, I give the text as taken 

 from the letter t 



" 'Well, after ah, all yon need do is to give one of the Game 

 Wardens three or four dollars, and he will take you to a moose. 

 Eight dollars a month is not enough wages to keep them interested 

 in their duties.' There may be truth hi this." 



I know of none of our wardens in the Slate of Maine upon 

 whom this is not a gross libel. There are always numbers of 

 loose, disreputable loafers hanging around our places of sum- 

 mer resort seeking work as guides, who are willing to com- 

 mit almost aoy "crime for the price of rum and tobacco. 

 That, they may represent themselves as wardens is very pos- 

 sible, but I do not know of a single warden in the State who 

 is open to the charge made. 



Our wardens are appointed by the Governor and Council, 

 and it has been the custom with but rare exceptions to refer 

 all these appointments to the Commissioners of Fisheries and 

 Game. There have been exceptions, but even the names of 

 such nppointees we do not know. If any of them have been 

 guilty, it requires but to present the evidence fo theCommis- 

 sioners, and bofh'dismissal and punishment will rapidly fol- 

 low. I have yet to learn that any one deserving the charac- 

 terestics of manhood or honesty will bribe even a drunken 

 poacher or pot-hunter to break the laws of his State, as 

 worthy he who would bribe a clerk to rob his master's till. 



Neither can I refrain here from expressing my indignation 

 that visiting sportsmen from other States to whom weshould 

 look for aid and sympathy in protecting our fish and game, 

 who are allowed a!) the privileges of our own citizens in our 

 streams and forests should, while here as our State's guests, 

 break our laws and become poachers, and tempt others to as- 

 sist, them in their very dirty path of amusement. Two arrests 

 have been made this very week of summer visitors, for kill- 

 iner deer and caribou during close time. Penalties 8Dd costs 

 have been paid and they have gone home. Wardens are in 

 pursuit of other parties," still others have fled the State, whose 

 laws and hospitality they have abused. As to the Portland 

 moose killing offense, the indignation of sportsmen is best 

 shown in giving the name of the offender and the evidence 

 oi the offense. The end is not yet, and will not be reached 

 until the penalty is paid. S. W. Stilwell. 



LIVE QUAIL WANTED. 



Kkypob-p, N. J., October 3. 



Editor ForeM and Stream : 



A friend and myself purpose making a trip to Virginia 

 this winter. Our main object is to negotiate, with parties for 

 from three to four tkonar.nd quail to be. let loose next spring 

 in this county, one thousand of which our club (the Rari- 

 lan.i -ill retain for this especial vicinity. The rest we will 

 try and distribute with other club9 at actual cost. As we 

 for the gunning season, our time and expense in the 

 matter is our loss and their gain. Now, can you tell us the 

 bast, or more likely locality in said Stale where we can "kill 

 the two birds with one stone ? " 2d. Can you give, or pro- 

 cure, names of parties in the South whom we could corres- 

 pond with to this end, and from whom we could procure the 

 trapped quail ? 



The few quail let loose here last spring, we have reason to 

 believe, bare done well, aud several pair have brought out 

 full broods within our town limits. — Fhank. 



pass over the gills of the old gray, for he doubtless thought 

 the driver was brushing off the flies. Well, about then it 

 began to rain, and how it did pour. So we pulled off our 

 boots aud socles and waded to the shore ; but even then the 

 balkers would not move. Then if, began to hail, which made 

 it interesting. The hail kept coming harder and harder, and 

 how I did take them on my shoulders. When it let up the 

 hail stones were over an inch deep. Then the river began to 

 rise until it had risen over a foot. For fear the wagon would 

 go down stream, we had to lug everything up on to the hank. 

 The horses would not pull the empty wagon out, so we all 

 had to get hold of the wheels and shove horses and all out. 

 We loaded up, went a mile and camped. We.seut the driver 

 and one of the boys back after another team ;' they ret urtied 

 at noon the next day, and we started on. We got up into 

 the timber Thursday afternoon, and saw three deer that 

 night, but could not get a shot at them. The next morning, 

 while climbing over a windfall of old trees, I scared out a 

 big elk, but of course was in a position where I could not 

 shoot, as I was using the gun to help me over the logs. In 

 the afternoon I went out again and saw a large doe. After 

 that I sat under a tree to rest a little. I had sat some time, 

 when all of a sudden I saw a wild cat within eight feet of 

 me. He saw me and crouched down. At the same time I 

 could feel my hair pushing my hat up into the trees, but I 

 brought up the gun, took good steady aim and bored him 

 through the shoulders. Then he made for me, but was hur 

 too bad to make any headway. So I soon got, another sho 

 aud sent it through him lengthwise, fixing him in short 

 order. He was within an inch of the length of the rifle , 

 or, as near as I could measure with my hands, forty-nine 

 inches from nose-tip to tin of tail, and weighed from fifty to 

 sixty pounds. I had just, made up my mind to take bis hide 

 off, when I discovered another wildcat in the bushes working 

 that way. Not daring to trust to a rifle shot, I skipped out. 

 Had I shot, and only wounded him, I would have had a 

 lively tussle: I would probably have got the worst of it, for 

 they are bad medicine in this country. The next day we 

 went down the river and struck camp near Port Bridger. 

 We had some fine chicken shooting, also some good trout 

 fishing. Monday night, while making for camp, the dark- 

 ness came on and we' got lost. Wc did not find our way to 

 the camp ground until about midnight. We had some 

 chicken shooting most every day. We were soaked to the 

 skin with rain almost every day, which was unpleasant. 



H. A. T 



MONROE COUNTY NOTES. 



Rochester, N. Y., Oct. 8. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



The summer of 1881 has not been a very eventful one to 

 the sportsmen of this city, and since the return of the Mon- 

 roe Couuty men from the Coney Island tournament there has 

 been no event of much note to record in the line of sport. I 

 feel, however, under a sort of obligation to contribute a few 

 facts now and then that may be of interest to some of your 

 many readers and contributors as their communications in- 

 terest me. This was a greatly famed county not many moons 

 ago, and even now, although the best cover has been cut 

 away, the snipe grounds drained and club houses built on the 

 shores of the bays where wild fowl did most abound, lucky 

 or skdlful and well-posted members of the shooting fraterni- 

 ty occasionally have very successful shoots. I have seen 

 several good bags of woodcock since the opening of the season. 

 On two occasions I had the second-hand pleasure of examiu- 

 ing bunches of the brown beaut ies (not "speckled beauties") 

 containing twelve brace each. The same men who shot those 

 birds have brought in a great many woodcock in bunches 

 numbering half a dozen orso at a time. The boys who have 

 the sport of shooting so many of these much admired mem 

 ' i of the game family are not only good shots, but so cir- 

 cumstanced that they can attend to their ordinary' business, 

 and at the same time shoot two or three times a week if 

 they please. Their trade brings then in contact with farm- 

 ers, and they are thus enabled to learn where game may be 

 fouud as soon as it appears. Their record of woodcock killed 

 this season must aggregate some hundreds. 



The severity of last winter does not seem to have done any 

 harm to the ruffed grouse in this neighborhood, for I under- 

 stand that the birds are even more numerous than in other 

 ars, and some good sport has been had among the coveys 

 uirrel shooters, too, report that their favorite object of pur- 

 it is unusually abundant this year in this and adjacent 

 counties. 



There has been a good flight of teal on Irondequoit Bav 

 durimr the last week or two; and their ranks wire Ihinm d 

 out by an army of shooters, one of whom asserts that he 

 killed twenty-two blue-winged teal with two shots. Blue- 

 bills and red-heads have also appeared on the bays and ponds 

 of this county bordering Lake Ontario, and from now 

 until ice covers the water the boom of the duck gun will be 

 heard incessantly along the shores of the many wild fowl 

 resorts within four to fifteen miles of this city. 



A few gray plover have been shot in the wheat fields 

 hereabout, but they do not, as in former years, come in num- 

 bers enough to promise a good day's sport, and they are now 

 usually picked up as incidentals to woodcock or partridge 

 shoot in tr. 



The first snipe I have seen this fall were shot the past 

 week, and it is reported that they are to be found in fair 

 numbers on the marshes around the bays. One of my 

 acquaintances bagged fifteen a day or two ago, and as I have 



more than duck or snipe shooting if the birds are to be 

 found in fair numbers. If fortune smiles I may let you 

 hear of how the field was fought and won. E. R. 



A Hornjsllsvtlle Man in Wtomino.— A Homellsville, 

 New York, sportsman, has been trying the game of Wyom- 

 ing Territory. In a private letter, extracts of which we are 

 kindly permitted to publish, he says, under date of August 

 1, describing a trip from Evanston toward the United Range: 

 Attempted to cross the ford and go into camp, as we saw a 

 storm coming up. We got nicely into the middle of the 

 river, when the horses concluded tbey had gone far enough. 

 They could not be budged an inch. The driver stood up aud 

 belabored them until he brought the claret' on one of them, 

 but tbey did not even wiuk at it, and once in a while when 

 he would put in an extra hard blow you might discern a smile 



Long Island Shore Notes. — Shelter Island, Oct. 9.— 

 I write in answer to the inquiries of your friends tbat I 

 would recommend them to go to Napeague Bay for a con- 

 venient harbor, and one which will be handy for fowling in 

 Gardiner's Bay. The fowl arrive there and remain there- 

 first, aud later reach the shoresof Shelter Island. The shoot- 

 ing here is very uncertain, and little can he done without 

 batteries. The birds soon become too shy to be Approached 

 wih sail-boats. Much depends upon the supply of scallops, 

 their natural food. I have not heard this season whether that 

 shellfi-h is plenty or scarce. I think at Gardiner's Biy, in- 

 cluded between the mouth of Napaegne, Gardiner's Island 

 and Fire-place Point, is the best ground for fowl-shooting. 

 Coot, old squaws, and sheldrake, and sometimes brant, are 

 met there in great numbers. When the fowl are numerous 

 around Shelter Inland, the best pla'-e for them is on the 

 flats, on the southeast side of Great Ram Island, and there 

 the scallops are sometimes very plentiful. The shootim- is 

 also sometimes good at Noyac Bay aud Jessup's, "r at Gib- 

 son's Bar. The golden plover have been very scarce at Mon- 

 tauk this year ; hut a friend of mine got there forty birds 

 last week. I hear the bay-snipe shooting at Shinnecoek Bay 

 is now good, and Will Lane Bays the feed for them there is 

 now good.— Isaac MoLellan. 



Nebraska Duck Shooting— Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 4— On 

 the 13th of September last, Mr. Halletand I drove by a small, 

 narrow lake in the open prairie, two and a half miles from 

 this city, and in walking along its margin knocked down two 

 wood-ducks, a blue- winged teal, three rail and two snipe. At 

 the farther end of the lake we came upon a boy, fourteen 

 years old, barefoot, an old muzzle-loader across his shoulder 

 and an even half-dozen blue wings swinging at his waist. To 

 our inquiry as to where he bagged his game, he replied, " In 

 there," pointing to the lake He then informed us that he 

 crept up on them through the grass and got them all at one 

 shot. " How many were there in the flock ?" I asked, 

 " These were all — I killed them all," he said, without seem- 

 ing to feel that he had done anything particularly clever. 

 A few days after this my friend and I got two shots into a 

 flock of green-wings in this same lake, and our dog retrieved 

 sixteen as the result.— B. W. P. 



Englishmen's American Hunting Preserve — Among the 

 details of the immense landed estates of an English duke just 

 appearing in print, we find him accredited with the possession 

 of 23,000 acres of wild laud in the State of Colorado. As 

 all these English noblemen are great huntsmen and desperate- 

 ly addicted to field sports, it appears that this duke comes 

 to America to hunt over his own estates. What particular 

 necessity there was of this might be a source of wonder to 

 the average American citizen in view of the immense wildoi- 

 nesses of the West that are open to all the world as free hunt- 

 ing grounds ; but it must be remembered that the one thing 

 especially required by the English aristocratic hunting class 

 is exclusiveness. Hence this duke buys a great estate in 

 Colorado in order to be able to hunt over his own grounds, 

 and to be under no obligations to anybody else for his en- 

 joyment. Many important considerations will readily occur 

 to our 'thoughtful readers in this connect ion. We will only 

 say that while the public lands of the United States are offer- 

 ed for sale to all who choose to buy at extremely low prices, 

 of course foreign noblemen are as welcome to purchase as 

 any other class. But in view of the enormous wealth of the 

 European nobility and landed gentry, and of their compara- 

 tively large numbers it will not be difficult to forsee the pos- 

 sibilty of such a land monopoly for hunting grounds as might 

 eventually become a positive evil, the p y if up- 



on these hunting grounds the exclusiveness of the English 

 game laws were to be attempted seriously. — Germantown 

 'Telegraph. 



Oobsip on Various Sot jeers.— Prospectvilie, Pa., Oct. 8. 

 —Editor Forest ami Stream : "Pentagon" must have had a 

 'j ood tune all to himself laughing at* "Teceel's" explanation 

 of "Left-eyed Shooting." xNow let Mr. "Perttag-m" do as 

 "Teeeel" says with the gun, give it a good trial, and if he 

 fails to change his mind, why he is either "left-eyed" or 



