314 



FOEEST AND STREAM. 



it cap easily he seen that all these destroying agencies comhtned will 

 booh depopulate the waters. Should net-llshiug be abolished? If it 

 cannot, be abolished how should it be restricted 1 It is for the purpose 

 or obtaining sugg-e-tlous and advice as to the best mode of obtaining 

 relief in this respect, and to nave the benefit of your ". views as to the 

 best method of preserving fishing in Now l'ort Bay and its vicinity" 

 that I am desired to correspond with yoa. 



With ns the fishing has been each season poorer than it was the 

 season previous, so continuing during the Inst four years. We would 

 like to know what your experience has been in this regard, and, if it is 

 similar to ours, to what you attribute it. If you can, without trouble, 

 we would like you to inform us what the law of New Jersey is upon the 

 Bubject of fishing with hook and line or with nets, and such other mat- 

 ters of uggestion and of fact as occur to you to mention. 



We win gladly give you such information as lies in our power to give, 

 and to exteud to you our aid in the protection aud fostering of the 

 honorable and ancient pastime of angltug ; and we hope that out of the 

 community of interest in which all true sportsmen are equal sharers, 

 there will spring some plan which shall conserve the welfare of the 

 mauy-the angler?, the hotel keepers, tiie wagon men, the tackle deal- 

 ers, the railroad and steamboat people, and ail connected with them 

 directly aud indirectly in their business, aud protect lhem against the 

 depredations of a handful of pot-huntei s whose lahors benefit ooly them- 

 selves and destroy the fishing without lessening the cost of fish to the 

 consumer. Respectfully, Albert E. Cochban. 



ASHLEY HOWE, BABNEQAT TNLKT, Oct. 31, 1S77. 



Albert E. Cochran, Esq., Sew York City: 



Dear Sir— In reply to yours of the 28th inst., it will affird me great 

 pleasure if any snggestiouB of mine will further the cause in your 

 waters. The article referred to in yours, from the Forest and 

 Strkaji, under the heading of " No More Nets in Barnegat Bay," gives 

 you an idea of what I am doing. We had a bill passed some three 

 years ago abolishing all fykes and pounds, and (last winter) the setting 

 of gill-nets between sunrise aud Btinset. The latter did not injure the 

 interests of the gi;l-netter», except in the extra labor of taking up 

 their nets in day-time, as fish will not gill then, except when the water 

 is thick ; yet, it interfered with our fishing, as our channels in all direc- 

 tions would be filled with gill-nets. Bluefish coming in our bay from 

 the bob, meeting nets in all directions, would back out and pass to sea 

 again. As to the others (fykes and pounds), abolishing them drove away 

 all of your New Tork pot fishermen, and no doubt (as you justly observe), 

 sent some of ours to your waters. Weakfish enter our bay as early as 

 May to spawn, and can only be taken with nets ; we seldom hear of 

 one being lak-sn with the hook. Knowing our bay to be full of them ic 

 May and June (having seen hundreds taken every spring with gtll-netb), 

 all spawning Ush, and they being rarely taken with the hook until 

 July, an.! more frequently in August, is conclusive evidence that they 

 will not take the hook until they have deposiied their eggs. That 

 tluy enter the hays for that purpose is without doubt, and, for every 

 fish taken by net until July, hundreds are destroyed. 



Net-fishing of all description should be abolished. If you cannot go 

 that far in your State, and wish to protect the weakfish, stop the use of 

 gill-nets until they bite at the hook; or, better still, make it a heavy 

 penalty to have on the person or in his possession any weakfish before 

 Julv 15. Ourstriped bass and perch fishing has become almost extinct, 

 owing to the fact that in winter parties at the head of our bay, in haul- 

 ing seines under the ice, in catching tons of large fish, destroy wagon- 

 loads of small fish, from two to ihree inches in length, which they pull 

 out on the ice in hauling their nets, and leave them to perish. Our 

 sheepshead and bluefishing have been better since the abolition of the 



pounds. , 



The "Sunrise Bill," and that prohibiting setting nets before July 1, 

 were only passed last winter, consequently we cannot yet see the effect 

 on weakfish. 



The weakfish taken this summer ran small, and scarce at that ; we 

 attribute it to the above causes. 



I find that there is nothing like putting our grievances in print. 

 Write up on the subject ; send it to the Forest and Stream. Several 

 of my articles were copied from that Journal in our local papers with 

 good effec . Give "us Jersey pirates " thunder for passing suehlawB 

 and sending our pot-fishermen among you. 



I fully expect our bill-abolishing all nets of any descrlption-to pass 

 tbiswiuter; even owners of nets in the village of Barnegat are in 

 favor of such a bill. They own yachts, also, and in summer make 

 largo wages by taking out fishing parties. 



By figures and the decrease of their business, their interest has been 

 awakened. We expect some opposition at the head of the bay, but 

 force enough will be sent to Trenton to carry the mettsure through. 



You may command me at any time. That we may succeed, and New 

 Tork follow suit, is the wish of 



Tours truly, J.W.Kinset. 



The Waters or Onondaga County Being Robbed.— 



The Syracuse Journal, Nov. 10, has the following : 



Tor some time past several gentlemen of Syracuse who are 

 tru- sons of Izaak Walton have been m ide aware through per- 

 sonal observations and otherwise, of the terrible slaughter of 

 fish in the waters of Onondaga County, and more recently of 

 the destruction of large numbers of lake trout, by means of 

 devices which are illegal. They have also found that men 

 making claims to respectability are engaged in the nefarious 

 business, and that some of the game constables actually par- 

 ticipate in the profits. It is known to a certainty that trout 

 are bein«- taken from Skaneateles Lake, and trout said to have 

 been caught in Onondaga Lake are in market They are so 

 Plentiful that the price has fallen from 25 and 30 to 12 cents a 

 Dound It has been said that trout were being taken from 

 Skaneateles Lake by Seih Green's men, by direction of the 

 Fish Commissioners, for propagating purposes This story i* 

 utterly false, as will be seen by the following letter to a gen- 

 tleman of this city : 



Eoohestee, Nov. 7, 1877. 

 •' Yours received. None of my men have taken any fish from 

 anv of the inland lakes in this State, neither has any one had 

 permission either from myself or the Commissioners, to take 

 Them for propagating purposes. Whoever is taking them is 

 doing so at Sown risk and for their own use. The waters 

 of he Skaneateles and Onondaga Lafcs are we 11 stocked and 

 if men will fish in them they should be made to suffer for it. 

 Yours, Seth rf ekn - 



When the present protective laws were under consideration 

 by the Legislature last winter, the Journal stated very dis- 

 tinctly that they would never accomplish the object desired in 

 fie matter of affording protection to fish, for the reason that 

 no provision is made for the encouragement of their enforce- 

 ment. The. detection of fish robbers and discovery of sufficient 

 evidence for their conviction involves the expenditure of 

 • money which the laws do not provide, and no true sportsman, 

 or company of sportsmen, care to expend their own funds tor 

 such a purpose for the benefit of the sportsmen drones who 

 will neither pay nor work. It is clear that prompt and effi- 

 cient ; action of some kind must be taken, else our waters will 

 soon haye been robbed of the last fish. 



Hunting Contests.— " Side hunts," with sundry other in- 

 stitions of the good old times, are fortunately less frequent 

 than formerly. In many of the longer settled States, the pro- 

 miscuous slaughter of every kind of game which forms such 

 a prominent feature of these contests, has deservedly met 

 with the disapprobation of more thoughtful sportsmen. 

 Through the West and Southwest, repeated hunts of this charac- 

 ter cause no sensible diminution of game, we may predict the 

 time when, even there, a protesting voice will be raised 

 against the custom. Certainly in such a State as Massachu- 

 setts, the scarcity of game of all kinds should warn clubs 

 against indulging in such slaughter adverted to in a communi- 

 cation from a Boston correspondent : 



Boston, Nov. U, 1S7T. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



I inclose an Item clipped from to-day's Boston Herald, to wit : 



Worcester, Mass., Nov. 13.— The members of the Worcester Sports- 

 men's Club had a hunting contest to-day. Sides were chosen, cap- 

 tained by IS. S. Knowles and W. S Perry. The game shot was princi- 

 pallv partridge, quail, woodcocks and rabbits. The count for Kuowles' 

 side" was 1,145 to 970 tor Perry'* party. The visitors will have u game 

 supper at the Bay State House to-morrow evening, the loBiug side foot- 

 ing the bill. 



Can we wonder at the small bags of the true sportsman when an 

 organized' battue is of a common occurrence, and everything counts? 

 Sportsmen's cub, forsooth ! I think the quotation should be changed to 

 "An honest sportsman Is the noblest work of God." These "side 

 hunts " have bee:, a curse to New England for more years than I can 

 number, and have become as disreputable as "thrown" horse races, 

 to Bay nothing of the game killed out of season ; and the slaughter of 

 those in season in such quantities at one time as to be of no benefit to 

 anyone. The game dealers in our markets about this season, and nj 

 to past the holidays, find ready sale for "high" game of all kinds to 

 the above gentry, for barrels aud barrels are purchased to go into the 

 counts of sides. " All 1b fair, etc." S. 



Wheeling, W. "Va.— In the first week of this month a meet- 

 ing of the gentlemen of Wheeling, W. Va. , was hel d, the 

 object being to form an association for the protection of game, 

 and a committee was appointed to report a plan by which the 

 fish and game laws of the State could be enforced, and such 

 amendments be secured as would serve the purposes of the 

 present acts. 



The Evening Standard, of Wheeling, devotes a column to 

 this topic, and we quote its excellent comments on this inter- 

 esting subject : 



The difficulty with the present statutes seems to be that no 

 one is specially interested in, or responsible for, their observ- 

 ance. True, this is the case with a majority of Ihe laws 

 enacted, the only interest in seeing them carried out being the 

 general desire entertained by good citizens to have civil 

 authority respected, and the responsibility . of having all 

 properly constituted laws enforced, resting equally upon 

 grand jurors and other officers of State. But as a matter 

 of practice, the fish and game laws of this State arc practically 

 nullities. We do not remember to have seen in any record of any 

 of our courts a mention of any prosecution for their violation; 

 and yet we know that such violations are frequent and 

 flagrant. The reason may be partly found in a belief that 

 prevails among some people, that no harm can come of such 

 violations; that the supply of game and fish in this State is 

 inexhaustible, and that t ot-hunters and midnight seiners may 

 be permitted to ply their vocation at all seasons, without fear 

 of any serious or lasting injury. That this belief is erroneous, 

 nobody who has given any careful attention to the depletion 

 of many of our fish streams and the gradual destruction of 

 accessible hunting ground through continual and murderous 

 shooting at all seasons, needs to be informed; but there are 

 a large class of people who never give the subject any care- 

 ful consideration, and are indifferent as to an inevitable 

 result which they do not appear to fully realize. * * * 

 We earnestly advise that the sportsmen of other counties of 

 the State follow the example set them by their brethren 

 in this county and organize for the purposes indicated. Such 

 associations have proved of incalculable advantage in other 

 States, and if we are to derive any benefit from the efforts 

 put forth by past legislatures to improve and keep up our 

 own fish and game supply, it must come through similar 

 co-operation on the part of those most interested with the 

 civil authorities. 



Land-Locked Salmon— Dr. John. P. Ordway, President of 

 the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, 

 has caused warrants to be served on John Bacon, M, A. Snell, 

 Henry Snow and Levi Perkins for each having in possession 

 one land-locked salmon. All pleaded guilty and were fined 

 $10 each without costs, it being their first offepce. Our Fish 

 Commissioners have,at a large expense,stocked our own waters 

 with these fi;h, and the above association proposes to see that 

 all violators of the law are punished. The close lime is from 

 the first of October in each year to the following first of April, 

 These fish came from Ellsworth, Me., where the close time is 

 similar to our own, and had, by the large gashes in their sides, 

 been evidently speared on their spawning beds.— Boston Jour- 

 nal, Nov. 10. 



Violating the Game Laws in New Jersey/.— In October 

 last, Charles Collins was arrested in Camden, having in his 

 possession five rabbits, which it was alleged he held in viola- 

 tion of the game, laws of New Jersey, which do not permit 

 the killing of that kind of game until the first of November. 

 Mr. Collins was arraigned before the Mayor, and his hearing 

 was postponed in order to allow him to bring evidence to show, 

 as he alleged, that he had killed them inMarylaud, where the 

 game laws did not prohibit shooting them at the time of the 

 killing, Mr. Collius giving security for his appearance. Mayor 

 Ayres gave him a hearing in the case, and, as the defendaut 

 did not show lawful possession of the rabbits, he ordered a 

 fine of five dollars for each rabbit, as the law provides, making 

 an aggregate of twenty-five dollars and costs. Mr. Collins 

 thereupon appealed to the Quarter Serious, giving bonds for 

 the penalty, in case the decision is ag init him there. Peter 

 Roulette, of Da Costa, Atlantic County, was fined by the \\ est 

 Jersey Protective Society $15 and costs for shooting quail out 

 of season. The complaint was made some time ago. 



We are informed on very reliable authority that contra- 

 ventions of the Connecticut game laws are becoming more 

 and more frequent. Quail and woodcock have been shot all 

 this year out of season ; and what is worse, the provision deal- 



Canada, Nov 16.— Canadian sportsmen and the 

 very generally complain of the wanton and wholes 

 tion of deer in the townships of Beauce and Compton, to' 

 Canada. Pot-hunters from Maine cross over the 

 and shoot without license, and it is quite possible iba 

 some precautions are not taken, the deer will be exl 

 There is talk of sending a special force to rout oul 

 dators. 



OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. 



PARTRIDGE SHOOTING IN LOWER MARYLAND— DUCK! 

 PATTJXENT — JAOK3N1PE HA1PNT3 IN '.THAT LOCAL) 

 THE! ARE NOT SHOT IN AUTUMN, ETC., ETO. 



[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONOENT. | 



Washington, D. C, Nov. 17, 18*7, 

 The Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries probably afford 

 good sport to those fond of aquatic shooting as can be Tcrnv 

 anywhere on the Atlantic coast. The wild fowl whioh ft 

 quent these waters, both in variety and numbers', exceed Ilia 

 found in any other section, and from the first of Norsmhi 

 until late in the spring, there is always good shooting. h, 

 it is not the abundance of ducks and geese alone which malt 

 this locality so attractive to the sportsman. The surttAffl 

 country is filled with partridges (Oriyx virginiarms), ruff 

 grouse (UmbeUus banana), jacksuipe (Gallinago wUwni 

 ortolan (Porzmia Carolina), reed bird (Dolychonyx oryemmi 

 and other varieties in season too numerous to mention, so tt 

 there is no time of the year, except spring and summi 

 when the birds are breeding, that the sportsman canaol In, 

 his pleasure here. 



In a recent letter I described at length the ortolan and rt- 

 bird shooting on the marshes of the Patuxent, near Noith 

 ham, Prince George County, Md , and in this one I hope 

 interest the many readers of Forest and Stream ~ iTjJSrjrii 

 thing about the partridge and duck shouting in that linmlii 

 which seems to have been an attractive place for spoilaui 

 many years ago. In a recent conversation with a genQcm 

 — uow seventy-five years of age — and for the greater part | 

 his life a resident of this section, I spoke of the purtritl 

 shooting there being good, and "oy that I meant it wiw hH'sii 

 matter for a fair shot to bag from twenty to thirty blfdg lu 

 day. This gentleman, who had been an ardent sportsman 

 his younger days, assured me that in that locality (hiij 

 years ago the partridges were so plentiful that he, in cornpn 

 with a friend, killed a two-bushels bag full in two day*' slic*' 

 ing. To use his own words, "They were as pleuiitul as bliOj 

 birds." Every field there of any extent had a dozen or mr.: 

 coveys in it. Of course they are not so plentiful now, thotvj 

 Mr. Maccubbin, who keeps the very comfortable hoteuttlfl 

 village, informed me a few days ago when I was tliere jpfl 

 the fall of 1870 he found fourteen coveys in a single fflffl 

 field of about 200 acres. There has been a great increufct 

 the destruction of birds during the past thirty year»j|fl 

 count of the larger number of persona engaged in it, sofitt.' 

 pleasure and others for profit. Besides, the constant diflu 

 ance of them on their feeding grounds scatters therflfic 

 greater extent of territory and causes them to forsaWHIij 

 favorite haunts. 



The "Bald Eagle" plantation, which fronts ininivOM 

 on the Patuxent, a short distance below Nottingham, COW* 

 over a thousand acres, much of it in stubble fields, affordi 1 

 excellent feeding grounds for the birds. The cover ud I 

 farm, which they seek when disturbed by the sporrtnWuJ 

 not at all difficult to penetrate, consisting of brier putclWM 

 thickets along branches and ravines, in which a well-jgph 

 dog can easily find the birds. Just across the river iJ^H 

 County and in Anne Arundel County, a short distaU^H 

 and opposite to the village, are numerous s(nM>l - St'ik 

 affording good breeding grounds for the birds, an(l$W 

 quently attractive places for sportsmen. Mr. iMaectiMjic 

 ing popular with all his neighbors, they accord to hlMJIlf 

 the privilege of shooting on their farms, knowiDg, as JBi 

 that they are gentlemen who shoot for sport only, anil l 

 for market ; besides, the fanners there have no fear of fa 

 poultry being molested or other depredations buirijB* 

 mitted, as such an act would receive its merited condeni 

 tion not only from Maccubbin, but others in that ^&* 

 residents as well as visitors, and the offender would^H 

 a welcome guest at that place afterward. The farmeio| 

 section whom I have met are intelligent and courtq^B 

 there is none of that selfishness among them which pifll 

 gentlemen from enjoying himself on their fields. Tl^H 

 partridge shooting in this section affords such dH| 

 sport it is fully equalled by the 



DUCK SHOOTING 



to be found on the Patuxent, from the mouth of the 1W 

 11 ill's Landing, a distance of sixty or seventy miles..^ 

 the greatest features of the pleasure here is the eujoj^M 

 both partridge and duck shooting withon: 

 ing consequences. The sportsman stopping at NotS 

 can arise about daybreak, walk a couple of hundred^M 

 the river, where he will find his boat and man to padd* 1 

 ready, Maccubbin always having experienced hoaWJH 

 ployed to convey his guests to the most desirableWH 

 grounds, and such places are plentiful all along the rit*f- 

 run of fifteen minutes either up or down stream fc^| 

 sportsman to some feeding point for the ducks 



ers seem to invite pot-hunters to commit these outrages on numerous creeks winding through the marsh< 

 the laws, I aad " Waunk-a-pins " (a local name applied 



