

FOREST AND STREAM. 



(Dbokmbkb, 8, 188H 



Should the bird, when flushed, gradually rise and sud- 

 denly dart upward, look for him on the nearest evergreen 

 re you saw him hist ; hut if he at once rises to the top 

 of the tree and then shoots off like an arrow, don't waste 

 poking after hiin, for he is a strong flyer and is away 

 distant covert. 

 H. Should tho bird fly up to a steep hillside it will alight 



4 But if from a hill to the level below, then look for 

 your game wi I] |]p in some tall hemlock or spruce, standing 

 ttt and immovable, on a limb near I he body of the tree. 

 If the bird flies from one hill or knoll across a ravine 

 tier hill, it will alight on the ground. 

 6 When Hushed on a side hill and it flies off to the left, 

 it will alight on the ground; hut if it, dies away to the 

 111 it ■ill, when near the end of its flight, either turn to 

 ■ up into a tree-top, or to the right into a low ever- 

 covert, 

 J Tf it flies down a ravine and you observe it turn to the 

 left, look fi>r it in a low thicket on the bank ; but if it turns 

 to the right, look for it in a low evergreen. 



I ! h> 5 l\v the point of a knoll it will usually double 



'■> the left, will seek some covert under the 



but should the point be to the right, it will alight in 



i not high up. 



Remember, the shorter the distance the hird flies before 



alighting the more ready he is again to take to flight. If "he 



i immediately after being flushed he will take the most 



prominent limb in view, and, unless your dog holds his at- 



:, will be away when he perceives you approaching; 



but should he fly some distance and be well followed up by 



v.Hir dog at keen jump and cry, he will select; some lame 



eft c ; spruce tuid alight on" a limb near the body of the 



trots, hug hia feathers Close and stand as motionless as a knot. 



as it is surer than afrontor back 



r-nc. When approaching, if possible get a tree between 



1 your bird. If there is no cover, walk along in a 



ler as though you did not see him and intended 



id w hen within range shoot the instant you 



Stop or he will he off like a bullet, unless your dog is keep- 



it'ertion fixed on him by incessant barking. 



I do not claim the above rules to he infallible, but have 



ioun I generally correct in the settled districts 



that T have shot over in Northern Vermont and the Cauadas. 



The gun used should he close shooting and a hard hitter, for 



grouse are, late in the season, very tenacious of life, 



i Hi, after they are shot through and through, will fly 



."•distance before dropping. As to the breed of dogs 



lis sport, I would recommend the red collie; they 



rery intelligent, with good voice and fair nose, with 



hght, foxy movements, which make them well adapted for 



-o'-k — treeing grouse. The young sportsman should 



try all fair wing shots, and as he occasionally is successful in 



ni'.i down he will gain confidence and become 



' it shot and as he grows older wU I quite likely 



h ay shooting ruffed grouse otherwise than when on the wing. 



Stanstead. 



SHOOTING GROUSE ON THE WING. 



Somf.kviij.k, Mass., Dec. 7, 1881. 



,our issue of Dec. 1, is as "sound as a 

 b/ject of shooting grouse on the wing, and I 

 ■ at i hem on sight; let theru have it, hit or 

 imaaBif this noble bird was possessed of some- 

 ln fcinct, foi if it is a possible thing for him 

 1 surely put something between you and himself when 

 i elect deal trip through the brush. A bunch 

 ol a pine, hemlock, spruce, or a large rock, 

 u the butt of a largo tree will auswer bis purpose; for 

 Be he thinks that if he is out of sight he is out of 

 Now, my experience has taught me that it is almost 

 , to attempt to follow him with a " bead," for long be- 

 tiie I can take sight on him he has landed in Canada or some 

 ' lace; ami especially if it is a quartering shot to the 

 When a partridge starts, I look to see which way he 

 ag, and as they generally rise from the ground I throw 

 mi up to my face ("instead of dropping it to the line of 

 nun! and keeping both eyes open, shoot in ahead of where I 

 : w him. I am governed by the distance that he is from 

 to 1 " fi i ahead I shoot : but perhaps two or three 

 reel, it a quartering shot, and he has just started. His going 

 tree top or bunch of hushes is just what suits me, 

 for when 1 see hiin going I know just what to shoot at. Now, 

 although this manner may not be the best for open field 

 shooting, I have faith to believe that there is none better for 

 Ifiges in thick cover. What kept me back in the dark a 

 long tune was the use of fine shot. I used to shoot No. 8 

 I .:>. 10 at them, and in a while I would kill one when an 

 open, straight-away shot offered ; but how many, many times 

 I have fired at them just as they were going behind a tree-top, 

 and would seethe leaves and twigs fall. The shot struck just 

 where 1 intended to have it, but the grouse would go on as 

 Unconcerned as though there had been no shot in the gun : 

 that is, apparently, but I have sometimes found them dead 

 afterwara tt is a self-evident fact that to cut down fifteen 

 or twenty feet of bushes or tree-top, yon must use heavy 

 3hot and plenty of powder besides. In the nestplace.it 

 wants shot heavy enough to smash any bone in the bird 

 after going Through the brush, so as to drop them then and 

 ananot let them go away and die after long suffering, 

 or to be caught by vermin. After using fine shot a long 

 time, I commenced using No. 4. The result was, that the 

 first day 1 used it 1 Id lied four single birds dead in suc- 

 cession,' arid winged the sixth bird so that I soon got him, 

 making five out of six. That converted me from fine Bhot 

 fo,- covert shooting. 1 now use a nine-pound, ten-gauge 

 breech-loader, with 4£ drams charge Lightning powder, and 

 !£ oz. No. 5 chilled shot, and thegrouse, to use the current 

 slang, often literally "tumble to the racket" of Iron Ramrod. 



Havre Db Graob Ducking— Christiana, Pa., Nov. 28.— 

 Since the 1st. of November I have made many strolls for 

 rabbits. Find them very scarce. Not one bird have I seen. 

 J spent four of the first days of ducking at Havre de Grace 

 witli Broomtield and Collary. We bagged over seven 

 hundred ducks, most all were of the red-head species. 

 Black-heads were not shot. That is why "Homo" found 

 them so scarce in market. They do not bring the price that 

 the good variety bring, and gunners do not shoot them. 

 They were, then, in goodly numbers, so were bald-pate and 

 blue wings. Black ducks were also very plenty. Canvas- 

 backs would not dart to the boxes. The bushwhackers got 

 some, and stole lots of red-heads from the box-shooters. 

 They should have a law passed to prevent its occurrence 

 another season- — G. P. 



DEER IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



Allen's, Pocusset, Mass., Nov. 30. 



THE open season for deer hunting closes with us to-day, 

 and for the last three days little rest has been given to 

 eitner dogs or game. As yet I have heard no estimate of 

 the number killed, but I think it falls below the amount of 

 last season. One man last year bought two hundred fresh 

 hides, and he could not have got near all of the deer killed, 

 as many are sent, off whole. 



A great many have been shot this season that could hardly 

 have seen a snow storm in their lives, they were so small. 

 It seems to me that a law which prohibited the killing of 

 fawns, might tend to preserve the deer. Among the deer 

 stalkers of Scotland the aim was not for hinds and fawns, 

 but for stags. Killing these did not lessen the number of 

 fawns in a season, and deer did not decrease as fast as where 

 all are shot that are within range. Of the large number 

 killed this fall very few are found with more than two or 

 three points on their horns. A large number have no bonis 

 whatever ; for does, and fawns too small to have any, are 

 killed oftener than bucks. Pawns are often killed with lhe 

 mothers, and one was shot near this village, the live weight 

 of which was twenty pounds — no larger than a turkey cock. 

 SporLsmen, while quailing, lower their gun without firing 

 when the old bird rises from the cover followed by a half- 

 fledged brood of young, the product of a second or third 

 nesting. Why not spare the fawns as well ? The hunter 

 whose first deer weighs but twenty pounds has little to be 

 proud of in the way of game. 



The deei in this State are found mostly in the towns of 

 Sandwich, Falmouth and Marshpee ; a few may be found in 

 Plymouth and Barnstable. Should the OapeCodOanalbebuilt, 

 those iu Plymouth would be isolated from those on the Cape. 

 They used to be plenty in Plymouth woods till the fires 

 burned over so much territory that neither food nor cover was 

 left. 



The question of hunting with hounds has been ably dis- 

 cussed in the Forest and Stream. Here hounding seems to 

 be the only method. I have never heard of any jacking or 

 torching. Still-hunting is out of the question on account of 

 the dense thickets of shrub oak. The way with us is to sur- 

 round one of these thickets and send in the dogs. I have 

 known as many as nineteen men in one party, whose shares in 

 a twenty pounrl deer would be a mouthful apiece. 



MXBGttS. 



[We heartily second the suggestions of our correspondent 

 that the killing of these fawns should be stopped. Such 

 business is simply disgraceful.] 



STATE PIGEON TOURNAMENTS. 



New York, Nov. 21. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



I not only agree with you fully in your views as to the 

 pigeon tournaments of State Game Protective Societies, but 

 I foresee the disruption of the association in this State if the 

 present programme at its convention is continued. The idea 

 of an association for the prevention of game setting the ex- 

 ample of slaughtering game for wagers iB an absurdity that 

 will disgust, legislators, and thus destroy the very instru- 

 ment by which it is prepared to attain their ends. 



I was one of the dozen men who instituted the associa- 

 tion, and was its president, but I retitt d in consequence of 

 the abandonment of its purpose of organized m. 



Chas. H. Haswet.l. 



A Still-Hunter's Adventure— Moire, Franklin county, 

 N. Y., Nov. 29 — Editor Forest and Stream: A report has 

 reached here that a man by the na.ne of William Merrick, of 

 the town of Brandon of this county, was, while still hunting 

 deer, on the 17th. in the vicinity of Deer River, shot at by 

 some person and slightly wounded. Merrick's account of 

 the affair is that he was following the track of a deer wnen a 

 hound struck in on the same trail he was following, which he 

 shot. A moment after he heard a noise in the woods to a 

 little one side from where he was standing. He went to find 

 out the cause, and came to a ledge of rocks having a cliff-like 

 face on one side, and leaning forward to peer over he had 

 hardly put his face where it could he seen from the base of 

 the cliff, when a gun was discharged from that point, the ball 

 passing along his cheek and through the rim of his hat, with- 

 out doing any more serious injury than a slight scratch of 

 skin on his cheek. The muzzle of the gun was so near his 

 face that the powder blackened and burned it considerably. 

 The discharge came so sudden Merrick was dazed or st unn ed 

 by it, so that before he could recover to pursue or even ob- 

 serve his assailant the latter bad disappeared and eluded de- 

 tection. It is reported that the owner of the dog isknown and 

 conjectures are made as to the man who tired the shot. But 

 as nothing that is reliable is known as yet, the name is with- 

 held. Sonic of Merrick's neighbors, it, is reported, think that 

 the story was fabricated by Merrick himself, and that he was 

 accidentally wounded hy the discharge of his own gun, and 

 that he made up the above story to create a sensation. I am 

 not personally acquainted with Merrick ; therefore, will not 

 express an opinion as to the truth of his story. I have only 

 beard of him as being one of a number of still-hunters that 

 hunt deer in that vicinity and make a practice of shooting 

 all dogs that they find chasing deer.— Adrian Ondaok. 



Getting OVBB tuu Fences.— The movements of a young 

 city sportsman never fail to furnish amusement for his older 

 and more sedate companions. His freshness and vigor in 

 the morning create a laugh, and when he crawls along and 

 wants to lie down after a few hours' hunting, smiles are ex- 

 changed at his expense. His manner in taking fences is 

 characteristic. The first is vaulted. with one hand on the lop 

 rail, while the gun is held high in the air. The second fence 

 ca))8 0uta leap' which shows considerable less spring. The 

 third is taken with one foot on the lower rail. The next is 

 climbed over with a lively sort of a scramble. He sedately 

 climbs the fifth, lies upon the next and rolls over it, sits a 

 little while on the seventh, crawls under the top rail of the 

 eighth, the middle rail of the ninth, the bottom rad of the 

 tenth, hunts for an opening in the eleventh, and positively 

 refuses to take the next until he has rested his gun against it 

 and stretched himself full length on the ground for a while. 

 His hunting, which commenced with a bold dash through 

 all the rose-brier patches aDd thickets in the first few fields, 

 is now confined to the cow-paths and open places, and he is 

 willing to let his companions start all the game, or even to 

 second any motion to give up and take to the roads, shame 

 alone preventing him from making the proposition. His 



shoes are cut through at the toes and the bottoms Mi l 

 trousers worn to fringe in the. contact with the briers and I 

 twigs in his early rushes ; his hands are bleedintr, and tie I 

 hack parts of his knees feel very much like giving in; hutlei I 

 a rabbit start or a quail flush, and all the troubles are instflHI 

 forgotten, and he is as alert, as his oldest and most seaiuml 

 companion, but as soon as the excitement is over he reJ JUH 

 again and shudders at the thought of the next fence.-rJH 

 ark Call. 



Rangrlkv Notes— Rangeley, Nov. 25.— Still-huhttofl 

 thus far has not been satisfactory, the light, falls 

 wholly disappearing or forming a crust, making it 

 Soon after the firat Bnow, some four weeks ago, D. T. Haines 

 and Rufus Crosby, noted guides and hunters, who had been I 

 trapping near Arnold's Bog, started a cariboo which the first, 

 named hunter wounded, but failed to get, owing to meijifi 

 of snow. Since then they have shot a large buck with tin* 

 usually fine antlers. Haines got in the first shot wijHS 

 Winchester rather high in the shoulder. The buck ranjflraS 

 Crosby who gave him a charge of buckshot, one of. wgfflfl 

 entered the eye and brain, bringing him down. | J15( 

 Tuesday Elmer Snowman, while hunting in company vjjth 

 the above named parties near the same place, shot a Iwo JWB 

 old cariboo, shooting twice with a light sporting eightffiS, i 

 inch .82 calibre rifle, hitting at each shot, grassing him 

 while on the run. As I write the air is redolent of brolllu* 

 steaks of said cariboo. Thanks to the generous hunter vrtio 

 also brought me a share of the one shot by Messrs. Hai 

 and Crosby. Last Wednesday was enjoyed by the lt,„„, 

 gunners in a grand hunt with seven on each side, captained 

 by A. J. Haley and Charles Neal, Haley's side wirmii aWi 

 thirty points in a total count of nearly five thousand. Sharp 

 practice was charged by the defeated party, neverthehjjrafl 

 enjoyed a capital supper at the expense of the latter at Vile 

 Oqtiossoc House. On the day preceding the grand uthffij 

 party of a dozen, or more with several dogs , hi 



footed bear till dark unsuccessfully. Brain, Shone ; ,i ! 

 handicaped, could take care of himself on a iong chaseJBfl 

 had been hunted the two preceding days by a partjffli 

 three and a dog.— Warftrld. 



Philadelphia Notes— Nov. 30. — The season thus fat ft* 

 upland shooting has been a total failure, as was prophesied 

 All our sportsmen going out from Philadelphia and (uHH 

 ing their grounds in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, 

 report quail scarce. Those who happened to strikJH* 

 Bight, of woodcock had sport, but this was bu 

 duration. We hear of not. a few gentlemen to startyjnl 

 December for North Carolina, where birds suffered lessIaSt. 

 winter. Duck shooting at; Havre de Grace is moderately 

 good. The fowl are fast, learning the difference between S 1 

 body of their own kind and a flock of stools or decoys, and i 

 do not give the Shooting they did earlier in the mouth, i 

 Ten brant were killed at Barnegat and Tuckertoa Bays I 

 last week.— Homo 



Northern Michigan— Washington, D. C.,Dec. 1.— Have 

 just returned from a month's trip to Northern Michigan.; 

 Found game plenty in neighborhood of Reed City and to the 

 northward. Had only one slight tracking snow up to '■ <■. 

 22, which lasted two days and was duly improved, abOlit' 

 thirty deer being killed in that, vicinity. The new Michigan, 

 law in regard to not shipping game out of the State is a dead t 

 letter, as venison is shipped "to the little towns near the 1 

 Sttde line and taken across the line iu 'wagons and re-shipped | 

 to all parts of the country, — T. F. E. 



Massachusetts — Linn, December ?>, 1881. — Birds are 

 quite plenty along all the shores of Massachu 

 mostly coot and old wives, some widgeon, and now and then I 

 a broad-bill. One of our gunners shot fifteen last, Wednesday 

 in au hour. An unknown man shot a white-whip 

 the marshes a few days since. I uever saw one, but take tie 

 word of older gunners than myself. The geese are flying! 

 this week quite plenty, but. fly too high. — S. M. 8, 



The Shenandoah Valley. — Deer, "pheasants" (ruffed 

 grouse) and turkeys are more abundant this year in thfe 

 Shenandoah Valley than for a lone; time. It will really nay , 

 those of your readers who are lovers of deer and turkey 

 hunting to seek their ground somewhere in this valley. 

 Your correspondent saw a letter from Wilcox M 

 to-day, in which it is stated that quail were comparatively 

 plenty there, notwithstanding the snows of last winter.— 

 Homo. 



Woodcock Near Hartford — Hartford, Conn., Nov.fl 

 — On Tuesday, Nov. 22, a friend and my sell killed seven 

 woodcock, all within ten miles of Hartford. They were 

 large, fat birds, and in better condition th-m any 1 have seen 

 this season. While I have occasional ly shot, a s"t ragglor later 

 than this, I have never in twenty years' e 

 so many woodcock so late as Nov. 22. — Wit. M. Hudson.. 



A Correction- -New York, Dec. 5, 188 1 . —JSditor f'wA 

 and Stream: In issues of Dec. 3 and 7 I advertised Greener 

 Hammerless, 2-2,603, as winner of Anybody Cup at the West- 

 minster Kennel Club reception. I am informed I was mis- 

 taken as to the gun, and that it was a gun of another maker. 

 I desire the correction to be made. — Henry C. Squires. JM 



Missouri. — Columbia, Dec. 2. — Our game is usually plen- 

 tiful, i.e., the smaller varieties — turkeys, prairie chickens, 

 quails, grouse, etc., and to be prevented from k 

 same in season or out of season, our sportsmen (?) would 

 look upon as a restriction of their rights, and in 

 with the freedom of an American citizen. — 0. B. B. 



A White Deer. — Number Four, Nov. 23, — A 

 was brought out of the woods anve a few days ago. It 1^1 

 all white but the head, which was the ordinary color. It Wto , 

 caught in the water after being driven by hounds, — Mnssrv. 



New Brunswiok — St. Martins, Nov. 23. — Gat m 

 scarce here. Ruffed grouse nearly all gone Cs 

 scarce. Ducks have been plenty, but are now all gone 

 south.— H. V. 8. 



Washington Territory --Fort Walla- Walla, Nov, !).— 

 Sharp-tailed grouse are more plentiful than 1 expected U» 

 find them, and fair bags have been made. — C. Bbnddjb. 



New Jersey — Wenonah, Nov. 21. — As I repoi 

 last spring, the destruction of quails was almost universal 

 in this region.— Milton P. Pbibob. 



