Feb. 55, 1862,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



69 



between a pigeon shooting match. Dong Ishmd rules, 



md snipe b as when the yellow legs are dying against a 



ingto give vou my score, but 1 had 



birds enough for a monsterpie; nor tell of my poor sbootimr at. 



times, but there was plenty of that when I lie frightened birds 



went hurtling through the tree tops "like lightning." Fever 



about that, but the discovery w&s, that nearly all day 



long the doves were coming to that spot, singly, and in small 



ii i, never mote than five in a flock. 



Fhat (yagmy first clay, bul not my last. 1 have never 



! that meadow since in the summer or early fall but the 



some days, of course, more than others, There 



have been days when very few that oame escaped, but that 



ippear to affecl the flight of the next day in the 



st. The bird'; e.ame from long distances, always appearing 



■:ei from one direction, directly up the river." and, unless 



! ; variably with an intent ion to light upon the same 



Lhiri gunshot of that group of pines. What thev 



" I :ot [ know not. Some say for gravel, others, for salt. 



oil. my opinion you can have it. Those doves are 



g a team of mtyes and a carry-all. each family of dovi 

 i its own hook, and mnkesits way to the nearest tide 

 " aler. The sad fate of those who arrive' to-day cannot inter- 

 Fere with the caravan that is coming to-morrow. They are 

 bound to come, md 1 am glad of it. They furnish good 

 in the shade, no tramping required; and if anybody 

 thinks that because he can shoot down a dozen 'dumb 

 dow belters or hay birds out of a flock of fifty that come to the 

 stools, he would be sure to make a good score on the dove 

 meadow, let him just step over to iheMorseRuildiuirauda.sk 



my friend & c c ' i Isq. who will give hi 1 ; experience 



that direction. But this sketch is long enough, and I 

 merely wished your readers to know that, thereare such 

 places as "dove meadows." T know of but two, the other 

 one being on Bhark River, and neither of them available for 

 public purposes, being closely guarded by their owners, not 

 Selfishly, but as affording a source of pleasure to their 



Selected friends. When your venerable friend R e. the 



stationer, drops into the sanctum, Mr. Editor, vou may' ask 

 him to tell you how he sat on a camp-stool 'one dav last 

 Bummer and enjoyed a dove meadow. T. B." A. 



HmllTSTOWK, N. J. 



REMINISCENCE OF RANGELEY LAKES. 



THIRTY-NINE years- ago the coming month of March, I 

 visited the liangeley Lakes for the first time. The shores 

 of the Mooselucnuguntic and Cupsuetic were then an un- 

 broken wilderness, with the exception of an opening, or small 

 farm, on the west side of the big lake called the Oakes or 

 Haines place; and a family by that name lived there and had 

 quite a clearing. There was beside this not evenabough 

 camp, and no logging oi cutting of the grave old forest, had 

 been clone of any amount. Moose were plenty and could be 

 found near the lake. Wcweut there to fish and hunt moose, 

 camped at ihe old mill near the. outlet of Ranuvlev Lake. At 

 thai time there was a good saw and grist iriill standing. The 



' ug was good. One mail could get thirty or forty per day. 



The fish were not large. 'from lib." to 81b.' was the average. 



We did not know where to fish for the big ones then, fve 



out fi diing at the bar (so called) in the narrows between 



nsuel c and the big Lake, near the present Ocruassac 



( amp. 



In a few days the. fishing grew monotonous with some of 

 the party, and two of them decided to go moose hunting. 

 We bad one dog aud borrowed another at the place, where 

 we stopped. We had but two guns in the party, so there was 

 no use for the third person. 1 took the team and carried 

 them to the head of Oupsuetie Lake and stopped there my- 

 self to fish until their return at night. There was just 

 crust enough to bear the dogs aud make good snow-shoeing. 

 I had been busily engaged in fishing with good success per- 

 ils].-' an hour, when I heard sound of the dogs maMng the 

 woods ring, f stood, listening and soon found they' were 

 coming toward the lake. In a few minutes they were so 

 near that, I could hear something crashing along through the 

 thickets and soon a big bull, moose burst into view, making 

 directly for me. Didn't my hair rise? 1 was only a boy 

 then, and of course this was excusable, but if 1 had been a 

 man, I am inclined to think the effect would have been all the 

 same. 



A big moose is not the pleasautest looking animal in the 

 world, especially one that is chased and maddened by dogs. 

 Neither is their countenance very reassuring at their best, to 

 a youngster of a dozen years. Rut I was more scared than 

 hurt. This huge monster had not seen me; and when he did 

 discover me, about a dozen rods away, he was apparently as 

 much astonished as I was, and turned' for the shore without as 

 much as stopping to pass the compliments of the season. I 

 thought at the time that of the two ends of a moose, the tail 

 end looked the best, as I Was situated, without gun or jack 

 knife. 1 am even inclined to think if I had had a gun I 

 s'hould not have thought to use it until he was out of range. 

 About the time the moose turned for the snore, the dogs came 

 On to the lake and saw the moose and then the race'" began 

 It was about nip and tuck. If anything, I thought the dogs 

 a little ahead; 1 might have been mistaken; and I have not 

 f-urly decided ts this dav. cut as soon aa the moose struck 

 be shore n here Ihe snow was deep and the crust was sharp, 

 the dogs were mud i lie fastest team, and if thev wen-' ahead 

 i bey fell back, if behind, forged ahead and began to attack 

 bis flanks. it thai he fell to and began to fight the dogs and 



■■■lid run no further. Soon 1 began to gain courage (as 1 

 found the flogs w err all he cared for) and went up within 

 gunshot of the animal to examine him. 



Bert I won't undertake to describe a maddened bull moose. 

 1 cannot do it- 'They must be seen to be fully appreciated." 

 The more Hooked at tin- creature, the more my courage came 

 Irak to me; and didn't I want a gun? I stood there and ex- 

 amined his tine points and beauties. He w as big, too, fifteen 

 binds high, sure. It was nearly an hour before the hunters 

 came up. They had never seen a moose before, and were as 

 much excited as myself. Roth had good rifles— and arranged 

 thai both should shoot, together, aha point just back of the 

 shoulder. 1 to give the word. They walked up to within twenty 

 yards, took deliberate aim, I gave theword. om-: two', three! 

 both rifles cracked simultaneously. We stood a few seconds 

 expecting to see him fall, bul nvoVdleb; had no effect on him 

 apparently. The men said they would load their guns for 

 fear he might start and getfurthei from the lake before he 

 fell. When the rifles were loaded he showed no Big 

 giving up, so they concluded they must have missed the 

 few inches, This time tticywoujd make sure 



1 ' " "" i! '"" i u i '-' ■' ' i ■ ' ' i ■ Itpqfc 



deliberate aim. I gave the word. The moose dropped in 

 his track stone dead. Where do vou suppose they hit him'/ 

 We found all four of the bullets went through one- hole just 

 under the ear. It must be so. as there was not another hole 

 in the skin. We dragged him on the lake, loaded him on our 

 team and came to camp. 



Those days are passed. We don't hunt moose in Maine in 

 that way now. Neither do we catch the trout as we did in 

 those times. I was a boy then, and have never bean moose- 

 hunting since. I have visited Rangeley every yeafSini e, and 

 hns 3ab.ee 1 her waters wiih sunt Aryans susc.kss m falls tj 

 the lot of all angl ers. ' AK T)t;osco<n;m. 



HINCKLEY HUNT GROUND MEMORIES. 



r IMdE naturalist, Edward, gives the following account of 

 1 the remarkable intelligence and sympathy of turds: 

 "Loitering along the sands one autumn' afternoon, lie saw 

 some Hocks of the common tern fishing in the sea. As he 

 wished to get a speeimen of this bird he watched their move- 

 ments. Presently one came flying toward the shore. Edward 

 raised his gun and fired. The 'bird, with one wing broken, 

 fell into the water. The report of the gam and the screams 

 ot the tern brought all the flock around it, They flew round 

 and round their wounded companion as the tide' carried it iii 

 toward the shore. Just as Edward was preparing to receive 

 his prize, two of them took hold of the wounded bird, one at 

 each wing, lifted him up from the water and carried him 

 baek_ seaward. WTien they had gone seven or eight, yards, 

 the first two gently dropped their burden, and two others 

 took their place at its wings, in this way it was gradually 

 carried off to a' rock at some distance.' When" Edward 

 approached, this rock, the wounded bird was again carried 

 oil in the same manner. The naturalist might easily have 

 secured his prize hj another shot, but he could not level his 

 gun at such brave and kindly birds.'" 



When I was a hoy, in my "teens, I lived on a farm in Ohio, 

 and was an inveterate hunter. There was yet in the region 

 tm occasional flock of wild turkeys. A ten-acre field, per- 

 haps a mile away and surrouuded by heavy virgin forest, 

 was a favorite resort for turkeys, and I occasionally visited 

 it for rifle practice. One day I carefully approached the 

 field and waited m vain for the sight of a turkey. On a very 

 large, tall oak about 100 yards distant in the open field, were 

 perched two of the largest variety of hawks. As it was time 

 for me to go home I thought I would discharge rny rifle at 

 one of them, and did so, killing it dead. As it fell to the 



f round its mate followed it, almost touching it in the latter 

 alf of the descent, and circling around a few feet above it, 

 uttered a peculiar, mournful scream. I reloaded my rifle' 

 thinking to get a shot at him, but he would not settle nor fly- 

 steady enough to enable me to obtain correct aim with my 

 heavy rifle, for in those days I could frequently bring a hawk 

 down with a rifle while it was flying in a direct line. "~ X finally 

 went over the fence to the dead'hawk and picked ii up. As 

 I did so its mate darted within a few inches of my head, 

 uttering piercing screams, and he repeated this nearly or 

 quite twenty times before I could reach the forest, I striking 

 cat it each time with my rifle. As soon as I w r cnt over the 

 fence he. slowly began to mount into the air. uttering his first 

 mournful cry, and finally slowly disappeared over the fence. 

 This, by the way, was in Medina comity, and I knew per- 

 sonally some of the surviving participants in the great 

 Hinkleyhunt. an account of which you published in your 

 issue of Dec. 8, 1881. I have listened for hours to their 

 descriptions of that exciting exploit. One old man used to 

 tell about catching a deer upon the tines of a hay-fork its the 

 deer was leaping over the heads of the human cordon. 

 Another man near him actually killed a wild turkey in the 

 same manner as it flew over their heads. Some families 

 possessed no other fire-arms except their old, down east 

 training musket. One would take the musket and another 

 the bayonet affixed to a pole, and some of the latter weapons 

 drew then first and only blood on this occasion. 

 _ The large game was mostly gone from that region when I 

 lived there, nearly forty years ago, but small game was very 

 abundant. I well remember killing thirty black and gray 

 squirrels one forenoon. 1 have not been there for many 

 years but a daughter, while visiting there last summer, said 

 the. old people of the region told her of my rifle-shooting 

 exploits when a boy. I had killed one's cat, another's dog, one 

 had found his whisky bottle, which he had left on a slump 

 in the harvest field, shattered in pieces, aud one very old 

 man remembered how a glancing bullet from my rifle" had 

 entered his house, nearly killing, "but just missing* the whole 

 family; in short, they remembered every mishap and mis- 

 chievous shot, but had evidently forgotten the baokloads of 

 game, and particularly the immense quantities of noxious 

 vermin, which I had exterminated. Those, my happiest 

 days, are brought vividly hack every week as I read the 

 Fokest and Stream through No. 16 lenses, already one 



number "tnn vnnnD* " -\T-rr n,r\xT T> T>T,rr-A~.., 



"too young." 

 AVenokah, N. J, 



Milton P. Petkck. 



HOW TO KILL CROWS. 



MOST men who know anything about the suhjei r agree 

 that crews should be killed. All persona a: K ■ ■ . w: -- 

 have regard for the preservation of .game and song birds, 

 count the crow among the pests which should be extermi- 

 nated. Rut how this may lie done is a question which 

 troubles some of our correspondents. Here is one way which 

 we have often tried with great success and can recommend. 

 Perha 



the salt meadows, where my friend began operations. He 

 took from his basket a nicely stuffed crow and a bullock's 

 haslet: placing these about, twenty-five yards from our biding 

 place, he set the crow in the attitude of feeding. We had 

 not long to wait before five crows spied the decoy at his pre- 

 tended feast, and they came circling around us, which wc. 

 stopped with four well-directed shots from our breech-loaders, 

 lulling three. In fifteen or twenty minutes along came three 

 more, which wc served in the same way; and so it continued 

 all day, we killing thirty-nine crowds and five hawks. I had 

 a good time and plenty of fun, the salt hay keeping us warm 

 and comfortable. We went down again yesterday, hut. I was 

 not so anxious this time about loading "my cartridges with 

 No. 4 shot, as the time before, my friend used No. «S, aud he 

 killed flK' most birds. W T e killed' twenty-one crows and seven 

 hawks. By keeping well hid wc killed the majority of these 

 birds as they circled over our heads at a distance of not over 

 twenty-five' yards. One of the hawks wc killed was a very 

 large rcdtail, and he had in his crop the body of a chicken, 

 which must have weighed considerably over" a pound when 

 alive. He had eaten it, feathers and all.' 



My friend Sargood has been to Rockaway about a dozen 

 times this winter/ and he has killed over two" hundred crows 

 and nearly fifty hawks, lie makes skins of the crows, for 

 which he has a ready sale during the summer. 



I have read the opinions of your different correspon dents 



in reference " to the enemies of game birds," in which crows 



and hawks are both classed; so I write this to show how to 



get rid of a number of these birds, besides having a day's fun. 



Efl.h'tem. 



MAINE SPORTSMEN'S CONVENTION. 



IN the annual report of Commissioner of Fisheries and 

 Oame of the State of Maine, Mr. Stanley suggests that 

 the sportsmen of Maine should take concerted action in the. 

 interest of game. The plan is a sensible one. Wc hope to 

 sec it carried out. That portion of Mr. Stanley's report which 

 relates to game is given below: 



"When the power of the Commissioners of Fisheries was 

 extended to include game, no increased salary was provided 

 for doubling the amount of work and duty, already sufficiently 

 onerous; when the power of fish wardens was' extended to 

 game, no increased provision was made for their pay. The 

 law dictates that the pay of fish wardens shall be fixed by 

 the Governor and Council, provided that the sum paid all the 

 wardens shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars. The war- 

 dens arc appointed by the Governor and Council. Not even 

 a reference of their qualifications to the Commissioners who 

 are to use them to enforce the laws of the department is re- 

 quired. 



"There are now over sixty wardens on our fist, and this 

 provision of fifteen hundred dollars, if equally divided among 

 them, would afford a salary of twenty-five dollars apiece. 

 Game wardens have no salaries provided for them at all; 

 they are expected to be sustained by enthusiam alone in 

 game protection; to abandon home' and the occupations 

 that give bread to their families and go forth to the forest 

 for the reward of one half the penalties they may obtain from 

 captured and convicted law-breakers, and the soul-stirring 

 privilege of shooting at sight any dog they may discover 

 chasing deer. 



"It.fs a disgrace to our State. We would suggest that a 

 congress of sportsmen be called from, all parts of the State, 

 and that they should organize and. after a thorough discus- 

 sion of the whole subject, choose a committee to draft a code 

 of fish and game laws to be submitted to the next Legislature, 

 for enactment. The Commissioners should be left entirely 

 unembarrassed in the matter. It is their duty to enforce such 

 laws as the people, through their Legislature, give them, with- 

 out being liable to the charge of having favored this or that. 

 enactment. 



"It has been the experience of the Commissioners that, 

 whenever called upon before a committee of the Legislature to 

 favor or oppose the passage of any particular law, the defeated 

 party has always opposed the appropriation for the Commis- 

 sion, and made it a matter of personal animosity against the 

 objects of the department. 



"We are always ready to give counsel and make general 

 suggestions, but the people should give active personal protec- 

 tion to the fish and game of their locality, and go into the 

 Legislature and insist upon proper protective laws where forest 

 and stream are being impoverished by abuse. 



' We cannot too forcibly impress upon our brother sportsmen 

 the necessity of taking this matter in hand at once. Let the 

 whole subject be discussed exhaustively. As the law now 

 stands on our statutes, it is ahnost impossible to make out a 

 case of hunting deer with dogs; there seems an inherent absur- 

 dity in laws which permit weapons for the destruction of game 

 to be taken into our forests by parties at a. season when it is 

 unlawful to kill the game, and then expect wardens to follow 

 up each party to discover infractions of the law. 



' 'There are no beasts of prey in our forests that a pistol woidd 

 not be an ample defence from, if ever required to be used at 

 all. Again, why should hounds be allowed to be taken into 

 Our forests when their use is forbidden by law? 



"The great money value of the fish and game to our State, 

 should make it a. subject of fostering care and protective 

 legislation. We append an item taken from a Portland 

 paper: 



"Tu conversation with one of the officers of one of our 

 banks Friday, the statement, was made that few people have 



perhaps others may tell us of equally satisfactory methods of any idea of 'the amount of money left in Maine by summer 



lreumvcntmg this most cunning bird, visitors who visit our watering places and country resorts 



Our plan is this: Secure a large stuffed owl. Fasten this , He said that up to six weeks ago it was difficult for a bank in 



to a pole, and project the pule from a tree, making the owl i Portland to get, many large bills/and the payroll 

 appear to be perched upon a limb. Fasten this securely in j companies required an active •'shinning round" t< 



plain sight, where any passing crow can see it. Then retire 

 to a concealed spot, within gunshot of the lure, and wait for 

 the crows. They will come as soon as they catch sight of the 

 owl. Each crpw must be shot when it comes within range, 

 that the report of the gun may mat frighten others awav 

 which may bo coming. If frightened away a crow will 

 directly constitute himself a committee of one to hang around 

 the spot and tell every other crow within five hundred miles 

 that there is a man with a gun there. We have found that 

 the great horned owl is the best '-row deoo\ . although thev 

 will come to others, such as the barred owl. We ha v. also 

 used a stuffed hawk as a decoy, but with less success. For 

 crow shooting wc use, in a l&gauge gun, Bdrs. of Hazard's 

 duck No. 3, wiih loz. No, (i SfhOt. 



A Brooklyn correspondent sends us ibis account of a trip 



rolls of various 

 to secure the 

 necessary amounts in fives and tens to meet them, in addition 

 to those of their regular customers. Since that time, lire, i v, , • 

 bid. have beer a glut in ti: bank and the depoe.tt s ha , : i, 

 eluded many large-sized bills. This great increase is due ro 

 the summer visitors to Maine. Their money focuses in the 

 Portland batiks, and this officer's bank four weeks ago for- 

 warded $6.0,000 in lulls to New York; two week,-, t,. ' $30 - 

 000, and Friday .$.50, 000 more, or $140,000 in six weeks, and 

 this bank is but one of six in Portland.' 



■ Tt is a legitimate sul eject to be discussed by our Legislature, 

 as to how ibis important Crop or product of' our fprcstfl and 

 streams can lie mosl profitably managed for the. State's inter- 

 ests. So soon as our trout fishery opens in the spring, all our 

 best localities are infested by men fishing for market. Wc do 

 not know what their net return may be from Boston, but there 



in company with Mr. Chas. Sargood. a taxidermist of that is one fact staring us in thu face— that these men bring noth- 

 ing into the State of value, and that every pound of Trout is 



We took the SblO A. M. train for Rockaway Reach, gcttimr 

 off at Hamill's first landing and going toward Far Rock: 

 away. We anchored at one f td m ■ m, ,. n g ttaycoc&j OH 



1 pilars taken from the State. We'do not believe that 

 there is a pound of trout taken at Moosehead or Rangeley by 



visiting spo.,, cost than live dollars ;,eriioitnd' 



