168 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 80, 1882. 



old Betsy as quick as possible, seen that primin' was up, and 

 cautiously stepped toward where the racket was going on, 

 for there was a fearful floundering in the switch cane. 

 [Switch cane is young cane two to eight feet high]. When I 

 got within about twenty yards of the fracas I stopped, ready 

 to shoot instantly. Soon all was quiet. I waited some little 

 time, then cautiously stepped up. when I found them both 

 stone dead." 



"Oh, Bill! oh. Bill! that's too thin; entirely too thin, " said 

 Jim and Sol. 



"Gentlemen, what do you take me for?" roared Bill. "Do 

 you mean to say I have lied about this thing? Dod blast 

 you! just step out of doors and I'll show you who's a Hah by 

 licking you both tur wunst quickern lightning, old Lark and 

 all the dogs thrown in. Come on, you blarsted tadpole 

 catchers, you." 



The other judges saw that. Bill was in dead earnest, so they 

 quietly tried to soothe him into good humor again. After 

 they had got him "onto his base again," old Sol asked. "Both 

 stone dead, Bill? How do you account for that?" 



"Why," said Bill, "I suppose when the buck raised his 

 head that that was what the painter was waiting for. I shot 

 very qu <k, and just as the ball bursted his heart all to pieces, 

 he sprang for the deer's throat, fastened his fangs into it, 

 and died with them there, and if you smarties will go out to 

 whar I hung up that ar buck, you will find that ar painter's 

 head still hanging to his throat. He had taken so deadly a 

 hold, that I could not get his jaws off, so I thought I would 

 leave them there to show such smarties as vou something you 

 had never seen before. Rot it! I've a notion to lick youb'oth 

 anyway." 



Bill still kept a little mad. He was not satisfied that the 

 other men had not let him go in and shoot the old she-bear. 

 "If you fellers had let me gone in and shot that old baah 

 when I wanted to, our dogs would not have been killed or 

 all chawed up," said Bill. "The. next time I want to font a 

 baah I'm gwine to do it, whether you white-livered critters 

 say I may or not." 



After giving Bill another "snort" of peach and honey and 

 quieting him down a little, the company retired for the night. 

 The next morning all started out for Bill's deer. They found 

 everything just as Bill had said, with the panther's head yet 

 hanging to the buck's throat. They "toted" the deer into 

 camp, struck tent and started for home. Old Tige and some 

 of the other wounded dogs were comfortably fixed in the 

 wagon, and all reached home by midnight. Byrne. 



Crockett's Blot?, Arkansas. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



THE southeasterly weather of the 20th and 21st of this 

 month, brought an additional flight of snipe to the 

 meadows south of Philadelphia, and it will only require a 

 few days of mellow sunlight to render the birds' much less 

 Testless than they now are. The meadows never were in bet- 

 ter condition for snipe, a little wet, however, for the drawing- 

 room and rubber-boot sportsman. Every day some of pur 

 local gunners return from their trips showing eood results. 



Very many of the old Philadelphia sportsmen's club are 

 strongly in favor of the giving up of summer woodcock 

 shooting, in fact without a law preventing them, I know of 

 several who have determined this year to' allow them to re- 

 main unmolested until October 1st. " 



Quite a number of Philadelphia gentlemen in the past ten 

 or twelve years have erected boat houses along the shores of 

 the Delaware River on the Philadelphia, Delaware and New 

 Jersey sides. These houses are used as a general rendez- 

 vous by their owners in rail shooting time as storage places 

 for their skiff , and frequently as sleeping quarters 'when an 

 early tide is to be caught, or a morning start for ducks is to 

 be made. At present they are being visited for the purpose 

 of getting ready for the 'shad season, many of the owners 

 being very fond of gibing, and own pleasure nets of this 

 character. NewgUl nets are now being hung, old nets mended, 

 and in a week or ten days at farthest, we shall hear of the 

 work of these amateurs. It is at these boat houses that 

 planked shad can be enjoyed in all its lusciousness, and it is 

 generally the staple diet of the amateur giber, whose" fish 

 never go to market. Every boat house is provided with one 

 or more stout oaken planks on which the split shad is nailed 

 inner side out, placed before a fire of hot embers, broiled and 

 basted with good butter from a neighboring farm until 

 nicely browned, when with a cup of coffee and home-made 

 bread a meal fit for a Icing can be had, bul it must be eaten 

 on the rive* shore, for nowhere else is it planked shad. So 

 think we who have tried it. A planked shad dinner is as 

 peculiar to Philadelphia as a clam bake is to Narragansett 

 hay. Homo. 



AN EFFECTIVE SHOT. 



FROM time to time there have appeared in the columns of 

 the Eorest and Stream statements' of wonderfully 

 effective shots made by some "brother sportsman." 



Sometimes I have been constrained, when reading these 

 marvelous records, to cry in Scripture language, "I believe, 

 help thou mine unbelief," and at other times the recoil has 

 been so tremendous that I have been hurled into the position 

 of a "doubting Thomas." Henceforth, however, my faith 

 will be undimmed, no matter how many ducks, geese, quail 

 or other game some member of the fraternity claims to bag 

 at a single discharge of his trusty .gun, for I, too, have made 

 a wonderfully effective shot, and perchance am the "noblest 

 Roman of them all." In telling the story of this effective 

 shot I shall confine myself strictly to facts, neither expand- 

 ing nor economizing the truth, for, at all hazards, my min- 

 isterial veracity must be, like Caesar's wife, "above sus- 

 picion." 



Last fall I was called to go nine miles into the almost un- 

 broken wilderness, to see a sick woman. The messenger 

 gave it as his opinion that it would be utterly impossible for 

 me to get through with a horse and buggy; vet I decided to 

 make the attempt, and had Kitty, my" high-mettled mare 

 (by the way, she is decidedly ",gun'shy jV ) harnessed to a light 

 open carriage. It took me four hours to make the nine 

 miles, frequently having to unharness and make a road 

 through the dense wood or build a bridge over a quagmire. 

 On my return, and whim three miles at 'least from the near- 

 est house, Dan, my dog, flushed a flock of pigeons which 

 alighted in a large oak tree a few rods ahead of me. Of 

 course my favorite "Clabrough" was in the buggy, for I 

 never ride into the woods without it, and, hastily "slipping 

 in a couple of shells, I alighted, tied the mare to a convenient 

 tree, and went forward. When I reached the oak I could 

 see hut one solitary pigeon (this is the truth), and that upon 

 the very topmost bough, though I had no doubt that more 

 birds were hidden from my sight by the thick leaves upon 

 the. tree. 



Raising my gun, I fired up through the branches at the 

 one. pigeon. Almost simultaneously with the report of the 

 gun, I heard a sound which caused my heart to go pit-a-pat, 

 and I ejaculated "Goodness gracious! but I must have killed 

 two or three thousand pigeons, and they are all coming 

 down through the leaves." 



But (" 'deed, it's the trufe") only one falling bird greeted 

 my strained vision. The noise, however, continued, and I 

 distinctly heard and distinguished the sound of breaking 

 wood (fact), and like lightning the thought flashed through 

 my mind, "You've killed so many birds that they have 

 lodged and are breaking the tree down upon you. Run!" 

 I turned to flee, but even as I came to the right about face 

 the mystery of the sounds I had heard was explained. 



I saw the mare streaking it through the woods like all pos- 

 sessed; I saw the buggy wheels; saw that the buggy was fol- 

 lowing after the mare, and yet the wheels were not revolv- 

 ing; there was no very dense mystery about that, though, 

 for the buggy was "t'other side uppermost.*' I followed on. 

 I found the mare wedged in between two trees and unhurt, 

 but the harness was as badly demoralized as a torchlight pro- 

 cession after refreshments." The fender, whiffletree, cross- 

 bar and other portions of the buggy were minus. I extri- 

 cated the mare, hitched her, and sat "down on a log. I said. 

 "This is surely the most effective shot I ever made. I feel 

 the need of food; I will return and get that pigeon, roast 

 and eat it. I returned to the oak, but Dan had been think- 

 ing also, and only a few, a very few of the bird's longest tail 

 feathers were. left. 



Whether I shouldered the mare and led the buggy home, 

 or how it was, I am not quite clear, but I do know that I 

 frequently dream of that shot, and never without having the 

 "nightmare." 



I've had it to-night. J. Prank Locke. 



Pillsbury, Minn. 



A SHOT NOT SHOT. 



MANY years ago the undersigned had millions of sport 

 hunting and fishing round about the town of Terre 

 Haute, Indiana, and while much could be written and told 

 in reference to game killed and fish caught, much might also 

 be said of times when game was not killed and fish were not 

 induced to take hold. I am inclined to think there is studi- 

 ous effort on the part of sportsmen who write and talk (the 

 few who are so disposed) to mention only the brighter side of 

 their experiences, and to ignore the incidents and trials that 

 exasperated their souls. 



Talk about songs that are never sung, of kisses that are 

 never kissed, of immense sums of money that might have 

 been made— they are as nothing compared to the big fish we 

 have hooked and lost, and inopportune occurrences that have 

 kept us from flagging magnificent game. 



You probably know of 'the great depression of spirits that 

 has followed the discovery that your powder-flask was lost— 

 in the muzzle-loading days — when pigeons were coming over 

 in myriads; you know how thoughts of immeasurable dis- 

 appointment arise with the view of a man on horseback 

 between you and a flock of wild geese to which you have 

 been groping your way on hands and knees; you" probably 

 know how soon life becomes a burden by seeing intervening- 

 footprints in the virgin snow when you "have been tracking 

 a deer for hours, and near by hear the report of a gun; you 

 possibly know the desolation of spirit that comes, after 

 going ten miles to a favorite fishing-ground, to find that some 

 "rural roosters" have just hauled a hundred yards seine and 

 raked out every living thing. These are the tooth-aches of 

 memory; but thank the Lord they are only here and there. 

 The good times are the brightest, and .grow brighter, while 

 the misadventures and disappointments serve their purpose, 

 perhaps to point a moral and adorn a tale, to teach us to be 

 more careful, more observing, more expert 



Speaking of turkeys, I was coming down to town from a 

 friend's farm on Otter Creek where I had spent several days 

 hunting sqnirrels, and having a grand old time, for a boy 

 with a new gun. It was early morning, and I was footing it 

 on the highway, approaching what was known as Marlie's 

 Mill. The owner of the mill had put a fence around a dozen 

 acres of land near the creek, where he was feeding hogs for 

 the Terre Haute market. Nearing the enclosure. I saw six 

 turkeys running alone by the side of the fence, about sixty 

 yards ahead of me. ducking their heads occasionally, pick- 

 ing up corn, and trying to find an opening to get into the 

 field, 1 had never" killed a wild turkey;" intact, had seen 

 but few ab ve. 



"What a splendid shot," I said to myself, "if they were 

 only wild!" Raising my rifle I took aim, and further com- 

 mented on the beautiful shot I could make, thinking of the 

 likelihood of bringing down two at one fire, and what a jolly 

 thing it would be "to take home a nice, fat wild turkey. 



They ran along in the position I first saw them two or three 

 hundred yards, showing some distress at my near approach, 

 as some tame turkeys are wont to do, but evidently eager to 

 get into the com. Three times 1 raised my rifle "and" took 

 good aim, wishing I could have such a shot at wild turkeys, 

 and regretting that I had not been able to find any the two 

 or three days before. 



Finally the "gang" crossed the road within fifty yards of 

 me and disappeared in a strip of dense woods up the creek. 

 Before 1 reached the mill a man came up to me and asked 

 with great seriousness: 



"Why, what's the matter with your gun?" 



I held up my pet rifle with "some" show of pride and 

 answered, "Nothing." 



' ' W hy, er — is she" loaded ?" 



"Yes," I replied, a little piqued at the man's peculiar 

 manner, 



"01 you're not after game?" the man continued. 



"Yes, I have been, but on the way down to town I don't 

 expect to see much, a prairie chicken or two perhaps, below 

 here. I killed a lot of squirrels yesterday." 



"Don't care much about big game?" 



"Yes, sir," I said, emphasizing the latter word. 



Just then two men crossed the road back where I had seen 

 the turkeys, both armed and intent on business. 



"Reckon you haven't hunted round here much — haven't 

 practiced much on turkeys and things?" 



"No, squirrels have been my best holt." 



"Well, that's curious; well, why didn't you give 'em a 

 twist anyhow?" 



"Say, mister," I almost gasped, as I heard a crack of a 

 rifle, "were those wild turkeys?" 



"In course they was, and busters, too. Bill Gartrell's got 

 one of 'cm now, I reckon!" i 



It was no use to talk further; it was too late to repair my 

 loss, and I trudged on home with a regret that twenty-five 

 years have softened but bttle. Jerome Burnett. | 



A GOOSE AT 750 PACES. 



SHOT WITH A REVOLVER. 



I HAVE been for several months an eager reader of the Fob- 

 est and Stream, and am much interested in several 

 subjects under discussion in its columns, notably the scores 

 of rifle and pistol experts and the comparative merits of 

 breech and muzzle-loading rifles. 



I am not ambitious to make my debut before your readers 

 in the character of champion liar of the country, and have 

 taken precautions, as the subjoined depositions will show, to 

 avert it, but the annexed performance, which is substan- 

 tiated by three persons of reliable character, is so truly won- 

 derful that I think it will prove interesting to sportsmen, 

 and is worthy of record. 



The story is this: Mr. Ralph Neasham, Jr., a young man 

 of about eighteen years, a resident of this place, 'saw m the 

 field a long distance away two wild geese. He immediately 

 opened fire on them with a .38 calibre, five-shot, double- 

 acting Smith and Wesson revolver, holding the weapon in ' 

 both hands without rest, and aiming, he thinks, about fifty 

 or sixty feet above the birds. At the first shot one bird flew 

 a few yards and be fired four more shots at it, when the 

 mate flew away and the latter bird began to flutter. An ex- 

 amination of the bird showed it to be shot clear through the 

 body. The distance was paced, and found to be by actual 

 count seven hundred and fifty (750) paces or yard's. That 

 this is one shot in ten thousand will hardly be denied. 



A, C. Lowell. 



Fort Bidweli,, Cat, March 11, 1882. 



Personally appeared before me, this day, Mr. Ralph 

 Neasham, Jr., who being duly sworn, deposes and says: 

 "That on March 6,-1882, at Port Bidwell, Modoc county, 

 California, he shot and killed a wild goose with a ,88 calibre 

 Smith and Wesson, double-acting, five-shot revolver, at the 

 distance by actual count of seven hundred and fifty (750) 

 paces. And further that the bullet passed entirely through 

 the body of the goose. [Signed] Ralph NBASHAM. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 11th day of 

 March, 1882. John M. Smith, Notary Public. 



This is to certify that each of us witnessed the feat of 

 Mr. Ralph Neasham, Jr., in shooting with a pistol a wild 

 goose at seven hundred and fifty (750) paces. The fact as 

 set forth in Mr. Neasham's deposition of this date we know 

 to be correct, 



[Signed] A. I. Spalsbury, 

 George Wilder. 

 Subscribed and sworn to before me, this Itth day of 

 March, 1882. 



John M. Smith, Notary Public. 



NOTES ON BAY BIRDS. 



MUCH has been published in the columns of Forest and 

 Stream of great interest regarding show birds, but 



little if anything has been given relative to the change of 

 feeding grounds and growing scarcity of the numerous 

 variety of all species of wading" birds in sections where the 

 sportsmen a lew years since found them numerous, and 

 sought spring and summer enjoyment in their quest. 



Beginning at Barnegat, where good shooting was once to 

 be hud, both during the spring and late summer passage of 

 all the species, and ending at Great Egg Harbor, on the salt 

 meadows and bars of which large bags a lew years ago could 

 always be made, we find the intervening oid haunts and 

 feeding grounds are gradually being deserted by them - not 

 on the account of the scarcity of food, but by their incessant 

 harrassiug by greatly increased numbers of market shooters, 

 who take advantage of their first arrival in the spring and 

 the ready sale they have for shipment to the large cities of 

 New York, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. 



This warfare is causing the flock in their vernal migration 

 to the north and their return with their young in a very 

 great measure, to pass by unvisited the Long Island, Batne- 

 gat, Little Egg Harbor, "Atlantic City and Great Egg Harbor 

 feeding grounds, and it is seldom a stoppage is made with a 

 determination of settling down, short of the isolated and un- 

 frequented regions of Townscud's and Corson's Inlets, north- 

 ward of CapeMay, It is known that the beaches south of 

 Peck's are but sparsely settled or built upon, while from 

 Barne.gat to Great Egg Harbor the entire line of ocean water 

 front is taken up here and therewith summer watering places 

 with their accompanying huge buildings and cottages. These 

 resorts have added their part in driving the birds from their 

 old haunts and preventing their stopping in spring and sum- 

 mer. One can at any time during the summer migration 

 while standing on the beach of any" of the watering "places, 

 observe flocks of curlew, martin, willet, brown hacks and 

 robin snipe making their way outside of the breakers, close 

 to the water, bound to more unfrequented regions, their very 

 manner of Bight showing their ' 'minds are made up not to stop/" 

 All the decoys of the shops, backed by the most deceptive 

 whistler at those times, would not procure a dart within 

 shooting distance. During favorable winds, while these 

 flights are moving, occasional good shooting can be had if we 

 place ourselves in the way of the birds, but the great bulk 

 pass on to quieter neighborhoods, and at the old-time grounds 

 we find two or three days, on the average, are all that aie 

 allowed us by the clerk of the weather, when we can select 

 favorable positions in the line of the flight, The writer has 

 paid much attention to the movements, habits, etc., of the 

 endless variety of bay birds that once frequented and do now, 

 at some points, frequent our Atlantic coast. There is 

 scarcely a bay or thoroughfare from BarHegat to Cape May, 

 in which I have not .been with my skiff, but to have good 

 sport the coming summer with bay birds after all upland 

 shooting is over. I shall pass by my' old grounds and locate 

 somewhere south of Corfu's Inlet, where birds are less mo- 

 lested and, I daresay, mosquitoes more plentiful. A visit to 

 Ocean City (about twelve miles from Berlin, Md.), on the 

 beach that separates Sinnepuxent Sound from the ocean, is a 

 capital place to have the best of bay bird shooting. There is a 

 good hotel here and the large bags of brown backs, willots, 

 curlew, etc., etc., that can certainly be made in season fa 

 week later than New Jersey shooting), will be utilized. 

 Furthermore, shore birds are not generally sought by the 

 natives about Sinnepuxent Sound, and good comfortable 

 quarters are readily obtained at the hotel. T learned of this 

 latter ground while at Sinnepuxent Sound three or four 

 winters ago, goose shooting. I know of but few that ever 

 visited it in the summer, but from all that returned I received 

 the most glowing accounts of their success with all the va- 

 rieties of shore birds over decoys taken with them for the 

 purpose. Nearer Berlin than Ocean City, but on the main, 

 is a hotel kept by Capt. I. Coffin, from which point, with 



