NOVEMBER 10, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



291 



SPORTSMEN AND FARMERS. 



Worcester, Mass., Nov. 3. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



At the annual meeting of the Worcester Central County 

 Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, held in this city to- 

 day, i he afternoon was given up to the discussion of the fol- 

 lowing: 



VVnereas, tua sportsmen or Mils state nave caused a lswtu.be 



i:ii nned i [•,:•.. makes Hi:- m Onset June by farmers on their own 



lands at certain sen sonant ihe year a criminal offence, and 



Whereas, r< nreneiunihe seorlsiuei, n, this vicinity have offered a 

 lewmvl for ike rtetectli n of offender--, therebv eotisiltuilrig them 

 to which theyiave not a particle ot claim, 



■-i'lM--: I :. eiiers of ga 

 and 



tenilty, ana noi r.bi i a 



.'■■■ : . Th.u the Bgrlei 

 pertinent interference wltt 

 acdon. especially the enfol 



teie.st.s to Lie respected and 



o tlie shooting (ra- 

 ni id resen i tills Im- 

 d by unit erf legal 

 is act, cause Its tn- 



H r, O. B. Wymau, of Shrewsbury, considered the matter 

 was in the hands ot the farmers; a majority of them were 

 in favor of protecting game in its season There are sports- 

 men who are gentlemen— some are not ; all are too apt to 

 forget the interests of the farmer; they are careful to have 

 the law all on their side. The speaker waa in favor of a 

 fine of $20 for every bird shot on forbidden land The 

 sportsmen frequently do much damage to farmers and pay 

 but little n'leiition to trespass signs. 



Mr. t>. P. Perry, of Auburn, cited the law, and pointed 

 out that they made no discrimination between farmers and 

 sportsmen, always being on the side of the sportsman, and 

 show evidences of selfishness on their part. The game, 

 he claimed, belonged naturally to the owner of the land 

 where found, and sportsmen can only obtain it by violating 

 the trespass act. The farmer's redress, after posting or giv- 

 ing verbal notice, is a civil and criminal suit. The remedy 

 is for the. farmers to enforce the trespass act, thus giving the 

 sportsmen a taste of their own style. 



Mr. Charles T. Pi ster, of Holden, did not agree with the 

 wholesale ariaignment of the sportsmen. lie claimed that 

 the farmer ha-i too much protection. The rights of the 

 sportsman were the natural rights of the public, which had 

 never been surrendered to the farmer. The birds belonged 

 no more to one than to the other; each were sent into the 

 world with equal rights. 



Mr. E. S. Knowles, President of the Worcester Sports- 

 men's Club, first refered to the membership of the club 

 which he rep-esented ; they could be with credit placed side 

 by side with those of any other of equal number. He could 

 not see why the Grange should lake up arms against them. 

 The interes's of the two are iden ical. The game was pro- 

 tected lor a proper use by the farmer's b 'ys and gentlemen 

 sportsmen, The only bird positive to snare is the partridge, 

 and that is permitted. The by-laws of the club have provided 

 for the punishment of any one using improper or insulting 

 launm.ge lo a farmer. His own relations with tic- farmers 

 had been pleasant, and he hoped that no feeling of antagonism 

 would be raised between l he sportsmen and the farmer. 



Mr. S. A. Newton, of Auburn, was glad the subject had 

 beeti brought to the notice of the Grange. While he had al- 

 ways found the members of the club to be gentlemen, they 

 would sec why ihe farmers feel aggrieved if they knew of the 

 actual damage done by men who call themselves sportsmen 

 Forest, fires are red with careless shooting; herds of cattle are 

 let out by Ihe tearing down of walls for a rabbit or wood- 

 chuck. What the la. mers complain of is the mischief- 

 making parties who wander from place to place. 



Many others joined in the discussion. J. H. Chickinny, of 

 Grafton, though! the wildgime belonged to the people; K. W. 

 Whi-eler, of this city, believed it was the property of the 

 man who fed it ; Mr. J. M. Alger, of Auburn, said the time 

 would c ime when the fanmr would be protected 

 even if they had to have a land league to do it ; Pliny 

 Moore, of Worees'cr, did not think the trespass law was of 

 any practical value; I). B. Hubbard, E q., a Grafton law- 

 yer, claimed the game belonged to the farmer on whose land 

 it. was found, because DO one else had a right to it — when it 

 goes off of Ihe laud the claim ceases. If game is to be 

 taken to sustain human life let it be doDC in the same spirit 

 as the beef or niter a filial is slaughtered, and not as spurt; 

 J. H. Gleason, of Holden, believed the trespass law as it 

 now is should be enforced — it had been unjus'ly criticised : 

 Mr. James Draper, the Master of the Grange, in summing 

 up, sdd he hoped a united movement would yet be organ- 

 ized, in consequence of the discussion, which would result 

 in the framing of laws beneficial to both the farmer and the 

 gentleman sportsman. E. 



The Middletown. Conn., Association. has made a success- 

 ful attempt to secure better eame presentations by enlisting 

 in the work the co-operation of farmers and land owners. 

 The system works well because it recognizes and provides 

 for the mutual interest of farmer and sportsman. 



For a certain merely nominal payment, the owners of the 

 land agree to confine the privilege of shooting over it, and 

 fishing in its streams lo the members of the Association, of 

 which they are themselves by the terms fft the agreement 

 honorary members, bavintr the same shooting and fi6hing 

 rights as the rest. Each individual belonging to the Associa- 

 tion is furnished with a ticket, which serves as a permit to 

 enter the lam Is under its control ; if ot hers trespass, l hey are 

 intercepted aud driven off. The advantages accruing fmrn its 

 Expenditure of funds are thus secured to the Association. 

 The game and fish replenished by them are protected from 

 the pot-hunter and net fisherman. 



The Middletown plan appears well in theory, and we are 

 assured by its officers that it works web in practice. It pre- 

 serves the game, aud involves no clashing of interest between 

 sporisman'and farmer. We printed in our issue irf May 20, 

 1881, the form of government of the club, and commend it 

 as a model to be "adopted elsewhere. The society is incor- 

 porated and can bring suit through its attorney, without in- 

 volving any individual member in the thankless task of 

 prosecuting offenders. 



The President of the society, D. J. W. Alsop, writes us 

 under date of November 4 : 



In FoKEsr and STKB4M of November 3 I notice an article 

 headed "Farmers and Sp >rtsrnen." To meet just such cases, 

 at the request <jf farmers living near our large cities, the ac- 

 companying law was passed a' the,last session of our Legisla- 

 ture. The complaint was that th-y were overrun by "gun- 

 ners," who would not leave their land when ordered ; and by 

 the time a constable and writs were procurred the of- 

 fenders were off lo parts unknown. By this act, as you see, 

 each landowner is made a special constable on his property 

 and can call for assistance, etc. I had a number of copies 

 of the law printed and distributed among the farmers of this 

 jgction. The law reads as follows: 



"Chapter sne hundred and sixteen of the public acts, ap- 

 proved March 22, 1877, is hereby amended by adding thereto 

 the following section, to be known as section eight of said 

 act: B 



"Section 8. Any person found with a bird, dog or gun upon 

 lands where birds mentioned in section one of this act. are 

 known to exist, shall be deemed prima facie to be there fcr 

 the purpose of pursuing said birds with intent to kill, and 

 the owner of such lands, with such others as he may com- 

 mand to assist him, may arrest such person, while on said 

 land, if he refuses to leave the same at once, and forthwith 

 carry him before a justice of the peace, who, upon a written 

 complaint of such owner, shall proceed to try said person in 

 all respects as if he had been complained against by a grand 

 juror or other proper informing officer." 



HAVRE DE GRACE DUCK SHOOTING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Duck shooting on Havre de Grace Flats opened Nov. 1, 

 according to law. The day was a misty one, with no wind, 

 and consequently few fowl were on the wing. The first 

 ducks that make their appearance at, these shooting grounds 

 in the autumn are the blue wing teal, the next the widgeon 

 or baldpate, and the sprigtail or grav duck, then comes the 

 bald-head, the red-head, and last of all the canvas back. By 

 the first of November the several varieties have reached the 

 feeding grounds, where shooting is allowed every other day 

 of the week until March 1 following. 



Sink-box shooting is followed by "quite a number of sports- 

 men at Havre de Grace, who have outfits in the way of com- 

 fortably fitted scows which carry them and their decoys to 

 the eround and furnish snue sleeping quarters at nieht after 

 work is over. " The Reckless," the largest and best fitted 

 sporting craft at Havre de Grace, owned by a private parly, 

 is the property of Messrs. C. Osbourne and John Dumatt 

 Polheimus, of your city. She carries one double and one 

 single sink box and five hundred decoys. The "Carrie," the 

 properly of a prominent stockbroker of Philadelphia, is ad- 

 mirably fitted up, and also carries a double and single bat- 

 tery. The owner of the Reekie- s opened, Nov. 1 at Havre 

 de Grace, with a score of 250 duck. Those from the Carrie, 

 we hear, about 200. On the " Jno. Russell," we understand, 

 Judge Oildersleeve and other knightB of the trigger from 

 New York city were sailed to ihe lower end of the flats and 

 secured nearly 200. 



Prom Philadelphia, the owner of the "Lillie," had capital 

 sport, but we failed to learn the score. Among the other 

 craft that campaigned against the ducks the opening day, 

 were the Widgeon, owned by Messrs. Jos. Earl aud Flint, of 

 New York; the Mi^non, a steam yacht owned by Col. 

 Stickney, and a second propeller ; the Mischief, belonging 

 to Hon. Disston, Esq., of Philadelphia. The Mischief's 

 boxes were anchored near the mouth of North East River, and 

 their guns making much noise, we suppose, a g.od score was 

 counted up— we failed to get the number 



Mr. J. G. Watmough, of Philadelphis, whose steam yacht, 

 it will be remembered, burst her boiler while atBdtimore 

 last season, is now building, and has nearly completed, a 

 fine shooting and cruising yacht, but this year will hardly 

 see it on the grounds. 



It is a gieat, wonder that, the continual every other day 

 shooting at Havre de Grace does not. decimate the ducks. 

 We learn, notwithstanding the terrible harassing they are 

 subjected to, tnal this year fowl have made Iheir appearance 

 in good numbers. Other than the pleasure craft mentioned, 

 there ate on those waters river one. hundred professional sink 

 boxes, and perhaps twenty-five or thirty professionals who 

 follow paddling on ducks for a living. 



Notwithstanding that the opening daj;, Nov. 1, was as un- 

 favorable as could be had for shooting, the following profes- 

 sional scores were made (I do not include those of private 

 parties), from which a faint idea can be gained of the im- 

 mense slaugdler that is made when everything is propitious : 

 Wash. Barnes, 340; W. H. Dobson, 250: Perry Barnes, 

 108; Thos. Kirby, 209 ; R. T Clayton, 107. We learn the 

 wild cellery crop is profuse this season. Homo. 



WILDFOWL NOTES. 



Shelter Island, L. I., Oct. 29. 



THE wildfowl are beginning to collect on these waters in 

 considerable numbers, such as coot (chiefly), broadtails, 

 sheldrakes and loon. A friend of mine here, Captain C, 

 killed eighty of the former fowl in ihe battery this week. 

 The fowl now are assembled in numbers, principally in the 

 lower Gardiner's Bay, but will soon be working their way 

 westward into Noyae, Great and Little Peconic bays. I 

 think the shooting-club at Robins' Island will have good 

 sport with them riff the southwest point of their island, as 

 the fowl fly past the- point. I hear the shooting is very 

 good now in Shinnecock Bay. The geese are just beginning 

 their flight, and several flocks passed over here yesterday. 

 So come on with your hreech-loaders and plenty of No. 3 

 shot, which is my favorite number. 



I think the fowlers are beginning to learn that numbers 3 

 and 4 are good numbers for fowl-shooting. The English 

 fowlers on their coast usedNo. 4 some years since wh»n I fol- 

 lowed fowd-shooting for several months yearly. The old 

 gunners would use only No. 1 or BB shot, thinking any- 

 thing smaller would be useless; but they have changed that 

 opinion now. In shooting at Currituck a few years since, 

 I called at one of the country stores there for a bag of No. 3 

 shot, but they had no such large number, saying that No. 6 

 was the right sort, and that I found to be the case on trial. 



In your last number you speak of Mr. Cad well, of Curri- 

 tuck. He was an old experienced gunner with whom I 

 boarded for several months, and often joined him in his 

 fowling expeditions. He was then so disabled with rheu- 

 matism that we had to lift him in and out of the boat. He 

 was a good man and brother sportsman, now gone to the bet- 

 ter land beyond the river. Isaao MoLellan. 



Roosevelt's "Game Birds."— No. 11 Commonwealth ave- 

 nue, Boston, Mass. — Editor Forest and Stream : Every at- 

 tempt I have made to obtain R. B. Roosevelt's " Game Birds 

 of America " has been completely floored. I have tried at 

 numerous book stores, both modern and antique, and also at 

 five or six publishers, with no success. I have become stub- 

 born now and am determined to get it. — H. W. Abbott. 



[Mr. Roosevelt, informs us that the edition of the book is 

 exhausted. Possibly you may hear of a copy through this 

 notice.] 



FOOD OP SQUIRRELS. 



Hoosier Hall, Rush Co., Ind. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A special dispatch to the Cincinnati Commercial from Bed- 

 ford, Ind., October 30, reports : " For s-everal days past the 

 woods in this vicinity have been full of squirrels— more 

 numerous, in fact, than for a quarter of a century back. 

 They seem to he migrating from the southwest to Ihe north- 

 east, no doubt in search of a section of the country where 

 mast abounds. As there is scarcely any mast in this part of 

 the State ihe little animal" depend upon the corn fields for 

 subsistence. Farmers say that they even eat black walnuts, 

 something never known before." 



The writer of this item seems to be profoundly ignorant 

 of the habits and tastes of squirrels, or else the squirrels I hem- 

 selves which are overrunning that, section of country, are 

 very unlike their bushy-tailed relatives abounding in these 

 parts, which prefer the nut of the walnut tree to almost any 

 other nut. 



Last winter, while the snow was lying upon the earth a 

 foot deep, I noticed where the squirrels had traveled down 

 through the frozen mass in search of the toothsome nut, and 

 their explorations were rarely in vain. 



Squirrels are more abundant this fall in this part of Ihe 

 State, than for many years, and when shot in the vicinity of 

 walnut timber, their ebony-stained lips and paws tell only 

 too truly the kind of forage they have been subsisting upon. 



Mast of all kinds is very abundant, and the birds aud nut- 

 cracking animals will fare well this winter. 



The forests are resonant with the racket of the wood- 

 peckers scolding and chattering with each other, as they 

 husily gather and store away, in safe retreat for the winter 

 Uie, i he sweet and nutritious beech-nut. 



The long continued cold, deep snows, and piratical hawks 

 during the past winter almost exterminated the quail. What 

 few pairs were left over raised fine broods this season, but 

 there will be no quail-shooting iu this vicinity this fall. 



U. Bekke. 



[So the woodpeckers lay up a winter store ?] 



GAME IN DUTCHESS COUNTY. 



Fishkill Landing, Nov. 4, 1881. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



As it, seems to be in order to discuss the decrease of game 

 birds. I would s*y that the Dutchess County law this year, 

 prohibiting the shooting for market, has done a vast amount 

 of good in this section — not that there has been any notable 

 increase iu the birds, but there has not been any failing off 

 since last season. The poachers do not take the trouble of 

 trapping a lot of birds, as under the present law they have 

 no right to sell them. Last fall onr markets were, full of 

 grouse and quail; this season there are none, and the game 

 is still in the fields and forests of this vicinity. I am well 

 aware that there are fewer birds now than there* were five or 

 six years ago, but it is my belief (although I may be wrong) 

 that the main catiFe of the decrease has been the poaching. 

 There are more quail about here than last year, and full as 

 many grouse and woodcock. By this I do not msan to 

 convey the idea that they are plenty, for they are not, but 

 I do not hesitate to say that if all our pame laws were strictly 

 obeyed, both in regard to trapping and killing out of season, 

 we would soon have an increase of all our game birds. The 

 hawks and owls also destroy a large quantity of young 

 birds, and sportsmen, while out in the fields, should shoot 

 all such marauders as come within reach ; it would save 

 enough game to make it worth the while. I very seldom go 

 out for a day's shooting about here that I do not get. a shot 

 at a bawdt of some sort. The night hawk is an inoffensive 

 bird, and is protected by law. But whatever the cause may 

 be for the decrease of game, I would like to see a law in 

 this State that would prohibit the shooting of any game bird 

 before October 1. — G. F. A. 



Newfoundland Caribou Suooting— Halifax, N. S , Nov. 

 ^ . — Editor Forest and Stream : Being a frequent reader of 

 your interesting journal I have taken the liberty of sending 

 you the enclosed, clipped from one of our evening papers, 

 thinking perhaps that some of your readers in the United 

 States might like to know how a Captain in the Royal Navy 

 fei Is about being accused of unsportsmanlike behavior. I 

 subjoin his letter to the Evening Chronicle of this city. — D. 



'•H. M. S Druid, Halifax, 30th October, 1881— To the 

 Editor of the Citiun and Evening Chronicle : Sir — I have ob- 

 served with astonishment that according to several local 

 papers. Sir Ri:«e Price and myself had slaughtered thirty 

 caribou in Newfoundland lately. This statement is copied 

 from a Newfoundland paper, and is such a gross exaggera- 

 tion, I shall be obliged to you to contradict it. If Sir R. 

 Price and I had really been guilty of such butchery, we 

 should be the last persons to boast of it. but, as a matter of 

 fact, we did nothing of the sort. Sir R. Price killed four 

 deer, and I three, all good stags, and 1 do not think that too 

 much, after working hard for it as we did. I have huntad 

 in Newfoundland three years in succession, and always con- 

 tented myself with three, or at most four stags. On each or 

 all of these occas ! ons, I could have killed hinds by the dozen, 

 but 1 can honestly say that I never shot a hind in Newfound- 

 land. I wish all sportsmen could say as much. As an old 

 deer-stalker, I have naturally been much annoyed at seeing 

 my name in connection with wholesale slaughter, and I know 

 that Sir Rose Price would be equally so. In justice, there- 

 fore, to us, I beg you to do me the favor to contradict the ob- 

 noxious article, and to convey to the author of it that he has 

 been lying under a mistake. For my part I would sooner be 

 accused of forgery or manslaughter than of unsportsmanlike 

 behavior. I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, 

 W. R. Kennedy, Captain R. N." 



Tennessee Game Notes — Na=bville, November 3. — 

 Within the past week a number of large bags of quail have 

 been made about here. Felix Mitchell brought in forty- 

 three, which he killed yesterday at Madison Station, in 

 Humphrey's County birds are reported in quantities, aud 

 turkeys and deer quite plenty. Up in the mountains of East 

 Tennessee bear are said to be in large numbers. Quite a 

 number of snipe and woodcock have been shot about here 

 recently, though they are too scarce to be seen in market. 

 John Buckhofz leaves to-morrow for a day with quail. 

 Steinbauer goes along, and if they fail to find birds, (the latter 

 is a notorious rabbit and 'possum hunter.) they will cer- 

 tainly bring home game. From every section squirrels are 

 represented as being abundant. William Hobbs caught and 

 killed a raccoon the other night which he eays weighed 

 thirty-seven pounds (a pretty good 'coon story.)— J. D. H. 



