324 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 25, 1886. 



The Phoposed Game Law. — We give elsewhere a syn- 

 opsis of the open seasons provided by the bill now before the 

 New York Legislature. The bill itself is very long, very 

 complex, and iu many of its provisions vciy unsatisfactory. 

 If passed, it will not in our opinion be. much of an improve- 

 ment on the present Jaw. The provision specifying tjiat the 

 game protectors appointed by the State shall reside during 

 office in particular counties, where they can do some good, 

 is a wise one. There is much iu the bill that is obscure, and, 

 if made a law, liable to defeat the ends which should be at- 

 tained. We have elsewhere referred to two sections which 

 are grossly unjust to the people of Otsego county, and which 

 should be stricken out of the bill. There are other sections 

 that could be spared to advantage. Section 35. which we 

 give in full, allows too long a market time after the close of 

 the season for the game, birds detailed in it, Ten days at 

 most are enough for all the legitimate market demands; the 

 only proper thing to do, in fact, is to stop the sale of game 

 when the season for killing it ends. 



Otsteb. Ottltuke.— We commend to the attention of fish- 

 culturi.sts the paper of Professor Ryder on oyster culture, 

 in another part of this journaL After a man has solved 

 problems, they appear easy to others; and of all the problems 

 that have been solved by tishculturists and ended in success, 

 there has been none like that now engaging the attention of 

 Professor Ryder. The minute eggs and embryos, with 

 which he deals, necessitate the finest of filtering material, 

 which immediately clogs with sediment; and he is baffled 

 in his attempts to catch the microscopic embryos and afford 

 them a lodging before they perish. That lie will succeed we 

 believe, and also that a triumph in this line will exceed any 

 triumph yet achieved by fisheulturists, because the difficul- 

 ties are greater. 



Rules Wanted. — Again and again within a short time 

 past we have received complaints of the difficulty of getting 

 copies of rules for rifle practice from the National Rifle 

 Association. There are many shooting clubs and smaller 

 organizations who adopt the rules and regulations of the 1ST. 

 R. A., intending thereby to secure a carefully digested com- 

 ppnd of all that relates to the carrying on of matches. It is 

 the duty of a cen'tral body such as the 1ST. R. A. claims and 

 strives to be to furnish such a guide, but when the answer 

 is made for months successively that they are "out of print," 

 there is an indication of loose management somewhere. 



Colorado has a State association. This is gratifying 

 intelligence. The gentlemen, whose names we publish as 

 initiating the movement, are well known for their activity 

 in matters pertaining to the best interests of sportsmanship. 

 We have the fullest confidence that the Colorado association 

 will be an influential society, and we bespeak for it the sup- 

 port of the citizens of the State. 



PrRE-HuNTmG Woodcock.— One of T. B. Thorpe's 

 sketches is descriptive of fire-hunting woodcock in Missis- 

 sippi. The plan was to go out at night with a fire pan and 

 kill the birds as they were flushed by the light. It would be 

 interesting to know if this mode of woodcock shooting is 

 practiced at the present day. 



FOREST AND STREAM FABLES. 



III.— TILE UNLUCKY BASS. 



ONE day a Bass, feeling somewhat sharp-set for food and 

 sport, set forth on a trip for both. But it seemed as if 

 there was nothing for him. but hunger and disappointment, 

 for search as closely as he would he could not find a minnow, 

 frog, dobson or cray-fish. Even the insects seemed all to have 

 gone to other parts, except one fly that came skimming over 

 the. water, and this, dashing his length out of water at, he 

 missed and with shame saw it go buzzing safely across stream. 

 So, unprofitably, he spent the day, and at nightfall turned 

 homeward containing nothing but his empty entrails and his 

 ill-humor. As he sculled along iu this unhappy mood he over- 

 took some, and was overtaken by others, of his brethren, and 

 asking of them what luck they had had, all answered that 

 theirs had bfeen no better than his, and in some cases worse, 

 except one fellow who declared that he had never had finer 

 sport ; but his lank sides belied his big mouth. At this our 

 Ea«s Belt greatly relieved both in mind and stomach, and went 

 home happy though somewhat hungry. 



MORAL. 



There is no sauce that will so sweeten one's own ill-f ortune 

 as the ill-fortune of others. 



♦ 



"That reminds me." 



WE all sat around the club room after a fair day on the 

 marshes, when up spoke an old punter: "I saw Mr. 

 M. make the blankdest longest shot, to-day. I ever saw. He 

 Shot from Peach Orchard, while the duck was over Cow 

 Island" (.'200 .yards). 



This, of course, was received with astonishment, which 

 was pictured, open-mouthed, on every face. Finally, some 

 one said, rather timidly: "W-e-U, did he kill the ducjt?" 



"Oh, blank no," said the man, "lie never touched the 

 duck. " 



The fearful strain was relaxed, No-Name, 



["No-Name" says: "Why c;mnot we have a column of 

 short, pithy stories, jokes and incidents in our sporting life? 

 There are, of course, hundreds of them, if they could only 

 be drawn out, I think that the boys would 'chip in' all over 

 the country." Who is next?] 



bhe ^ortmr\m\ §anri$t. 



A SWAMP HUNTER. 



BY A. MULE. 



AWAY down in Mississippi, in the recesses of the great 

 swamp, lived a great num. Great because success is 

 the only criterion of merit, and he succeeded in all he under- 

 took. There, many years ago, had he bought a hundred or 

 so acres of land, and there, upon the banks of a beautiful 

 bayou, had he pitched his cabin, cleared space enough to fur- 

 nish corn and pumpkins, and commenced a long war to the 

 knife upon the game around Mm in the mighty woods and 

 dense canebrakt-s. 



Like himself, bis wife had but few artificial wants. The 

 "patch," only half -cultivated, vielded bread, vegetables, and 

 cotton enough for coffee and tobacco; the busy loom of the 

 good housewife supplied the clothes necessary, while the 

 woods furnished fruits, meat and skins. Here, then, have 

 they lived for forty years in health and peace. What more 

 can man have to make him happy ! 



Our friend is no holiday sportsman — he does not dress so 

 neat nor smell so sweet as a waiting gentlewoman— but 

 a stalwart frame of six feet, muscles tlfin but hard as iron, 

 a keen hawk-eye, and the ruddy cheek of perfect health 

 complete the picture of a thoroughbred swamp hunter. 



But though he has killed, of course, thousands of deer, 

 wolves, and wildcats, and trapped other thousands of otters, 

 beavers, minks, and coons, yet these are but trifles light as 

 air, serving to.fill up an idle day or to send for barter to the 

 Landing. His real business is bear hunting, for in this way 

 he provides his "meat." 



Now, bear hunting may be fun to some men, but it is cer- 

 tainly death to many dogs; hence, upon riding up to his 

 comfortable and neat cabin, a wilderness of dogs, "both 

 mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound," rush headlong upon 

 the traveler, each yelling his best and seemingly frantic with 

 desire to "chaw up" the stranger at once. It 'is plain to see 

 that Shelby Mc raises his own dogs. 



Of course he is hospitable to excess, and nothing pleases 

 him more than a visit from a friend in anv season, but es- 

 pecially in "bar time." Often, though, he will load up his 

 horse with necessary articles, blow up his dogs, and be off 

 on a camp hunt by himself for a week. These trips always 

 result in plenty of meat ; and it requires several loads to 

 bring home the results of his solitary campaign. 



Bear hunting in the swamp has been too often described to 

 repeat the details here. Every man, however, has certain 

 ways of doing some things. The "personal equation" belongs 

 also to bear hunting. Hunting so much by himself, Shelb. 

 has not much reliance upon the system of stands. To head 

 off the game, to divine its course and watch its coming, and 

 finally, when the despairing beast has turned to bay, to dash 

 through briars, vines, cane, and the thousand difficulties of 

 the swamp with a startling velocity and determination— this 

 is his practice. 



He knows his entire section of country better than any 

 book, and every bayou, brake, pass, and ridge is as familiar 

 to him as his own fields. Consequently he has a tremendous 

 advantage to begin with. His weapons are the army revol- 

 ver and long bear knife; a gun would be both heavy and 

 awkward in the canebrakes. 



Riding into the woods at the head of his miscellaneous 

 pack, which soon disperses on all sides, he listens for the 

 voices of a few steady old start-dogs. These he has trained 

 so they only open on bears, and very rarely deceive him. As 

 soon as their deep notes give, warning of a scent, the whole 

 pack make for them, well knowing the character of the vet- 

 erans. When the ' 'burst" tells that the game is afoot and 

 away, be takes out a map of his own make, and with a 

 pocket-compass carefully notes the probable course of the 

 chase, and, as a seaman would say, "takes his departure." 

 To this sort of coolness and science is due his great success 

 as a bear hunter. 



Once fairly started before old Shelb. and his wild pack, 

 there are few things will save that bear. Through mud, 

 water, cane — every obstacle — on horseback, on foot7or even 

 on hands and knees, he follows the panting beast to the final 

 bay of desperation and death. Once he crawled two miles 

 on aM fours through a brake after a bear, and, as he told me, 

 "had to lap water like a dog as he crawled through it." 



One time there was a great deer drive gotten up, and one of 

 the party was a city greenhorn. While engaged deep in the 

 drive, Shelb. suddenly broke away and struck off like a 

 quarter-horse for a mile. It seems he thought he heard a 

 bear kttliny a calf ; but it proved to be the green one trying 

 to blow his horn! Old hunters will appreciate this. 



Shelb. had a brother-in-law who was deaf and dumb. He 

 paid the old fellow a visit, and was anxious to join in a bear 

 hunt. Of course this was like falling off a log iu that neigh- 

 borhood, and next morning they started. After along chase 

 the bear was brought to bay iu a very dense thicket of bam- 

 boo and cane. Of course, seeing was impossible, but all the 

 rounds of a terrific tight came out of the dense mass, and the 

 dogs were evidently getting the worst of it in such close 

 quarters. The only possible entrance, was where the dogs 

 and bear had left behind them a sort of tunnel about a foot 

 wide and two long. So Shelby took the deaf man'sslate and 

 directed him to shove at his (Shelby's) legs, and thus push 

 him through the tunnel But on getting his head through, 

 he. discovered that the bear had killed all but two of the 

 dogs. These were lying whipped under the cane, and the 

 Old he, with savage eyes, was anxiously awaiting the appear- 

 ance of his new foe. Shelby now wished to re; 

 yelled to Ids pusher to pull him out. But alas! devoted to 

 duly, t he deaf and dumb strained every nerve to push his 

 charge through the hole. In vain the hunter kicked and 

 yelled and twisted. As well whistle to the Sphynx. Through 

 he was bound to go, and go he die!. A most desperate fight 

 ensued, and the bear was killed; but old Shelb. was almost 

 in the same fix, and now says he won't hunt with a man 

 without patent, ears. 



Some city man was so pleased with Shelby's kindness in 

 putting him through a bear hunt that he offered to send him 

 a genuine bulldog. Now, the old fellow had no idea what 

 sort of a dog thai' was, but it sounded well and he gladly 

 welcomed the gift. The morning after the dog's arrival he 

 Was carried out for a trial, being led by a chain, as he evi- 

 dently was too fierce to turn loose among the home dogs, 

 and Shelb, feared tlmj mhjht hurl him. The bear was hayed 

 and a thundering fight was going on w T hen Shelb. came up 

 togring at the bulldog. He turned the bull loose, but he 

 paid "no manner of attention to the bear, but killed three of 

 my best dogs before 1 could kill Mm" That bear got away. 



If there, is anything the old hunter is afraid of it is a snake. 



This will seem odd to those persons who consider the great 

 Mississippi bottom as practically one vast snake pasture'; but 

 there are many facts to take the" edge from the wont.!- thai 

 a man afraid of snakes should live there. In the first place, 

 where both parties arc anxious to avoid each other, it is 

 easily done, and snakes are as afraid of us, as we of them, 

 while in point of fact there are not so many snakes here as 

 our Northern friends suppose. The writer" has lived all his 

 life in the Southern States, and almost constantly engaged in 

 pursuit of game, yet has never seen a rattlesnake alive iu the 

 ■woods. Not that snakes are absent, but they are not so 

 abundant that one can be seen at an hour's notice. 



But. the old hunter fairly shuddered when he saw a snake, 

 and would leave his knife sticking in a bear in order to 

 destroy one of the reptiles. 



On one occasion his dogs had treed something at a distance, 

 and on coming up he found it to be a large wild cat The 

 tree was not tall, but had a thick cluster of leaves near the 

 top, from which the demoniac face of the cat looked out 

 upon his enemies below. 



Wishing to get a better shot, the old man was moving 

 around the tree with eves fixed upon the cat, when he Butt! 

 denly felt his legs gripped with a band of steel, and looking 

 down, saw that he had stepped upon a large blacksnake, 

 which had coiled around both legs just below the knees! 

 The man fainted and fell, but the last tiling his failing senses 

 saw was the cat leaping on him from the tree in a paroxysm 

 of fury ! 



Was ever such a fix? 



When he recovered, he was alone; the dogs had mn the 

 cat away, the snake had uncoiled and gladly slipped oft'; 

 and of the adventure nothing remained worse than a sick- 

 ness at the stomach and greater fear of snakes than ever. 



"Befo' the wall" the old man had a nigger that came 

 nearer owning his master than otherwise; and Jack never 

 got a thrashing but once. The bears had been making sharp 

 raids into Shelby's patch of "roastin' years," and he resolved 

 to watch for them. Just before dawn he placed .lack at a 

 comer of the fence, with strict injunctions not to stir a foot 

 until his master returned. In the meantime, Shelby crept 

 well info the field and sat down among the corn. Jusl as the 

 gray dawn began to lighten the fog, he heard a rustle among 

 the green blades, and saw a large, dark mass moving 

 stealthily by him. Hastily bringing" his gun up, he fired, 

 and bagged his unlucky nigger, who howled to the world 

 to save him. Fortunately, the charge had missed in the dim 

 light, and the man was no worse than beared. But while 

 Shelby was equally frightened, he was also enraged, and 

 baring the unlucky nigger he gave him all he would bear. 



A CHEAP TRIP TO THE ADIRONDACKS. 



INTENDING to spend two weeks in visiting some of the 

 beautiful rivers and lakes of the Adiroudacks, your corres- 

 pondent made his way to Saratoga, which he left at 9. 15 A. M. 

 After traveling by rail through a very uninteresting country, 

 for about an hour, we had a good view of the Hudson, the 

 left bank of which we followed for about twenty miles, tlLl 

 we saw it as I he merest creek. Before the starting of the 

 stage, that was to convey us from North Creek to Blue Moun- 

 tain Lake, we had an hour for dinner, which cam be obtained 

 for 75 cents at a little hotel opposite the railroad depot. As 

 there was a large number of pes- ager . -., )me had to be con- 

 veyed on "buck-boards," which is sSd to be much the easiest 

 mode of riding, while the stage company's gentlemanly super- 

 intendent, Mr. R B. Searreit. determined to drive the coach 

 himself. I, however, to secure an extended view of the coun- 

 try, had engaged a top seat; and as 1 found Mr. Scarlett will- 

 ing to answer any number of questions, and anxious to make 

 the trip a pleasant one, was very glad that I had done so. 

 While crossing one of the ranges" of foot hills, the horses had 

 "some heavy pulling;" but once on the other side, we had a 

 splendid view of the great peaks, Mount Marey, Blue Moun- 

 tain, etc. At Jackson's Hotel we changed our Stage for a 

 lighter one, and entered the great North Woods, tha 

 away in one vast wilderness to the St. Lawrence. Between 

 Jackson's and Blue Mountain Lake, not a single house is to 

 be seen. Even the log "camps" are not inhabited. It soon 

 grew dark, and on coming to a turn in the road we found 

 that it lay through a portion of the forest that was on lire. 

 The flames were all around us; but having seen that our 

 driver was careful and knew his business well, we took it 

 quietly and passed in safety on. Before reaching Blue Moun- 

 tain we crossed a bridge over Rock River, narrow and very 

 high, but unprotected by a railing. Even now 1 shudder 

 when I think what a. terrible accident a frightened horse 

 might cause, and would respectfully suggest that the stage 

 company take the matter in hand before another spring. 

 We reached the Lake House at. 9 P. M. 1 will here observe 

 that throughout this region. I found the charges were nearly 

 the same; $10 per week, $2 per day, or 50 cents for single 

 meals, well cooked, well served, sleeping accommodations 

 likewise 50 cents. 



Sunelay morning. As it rains hard anil 1 am compelled to 

 stay indoors, I will acquaint the reader with my intended 

 route and mode of traveling. During the spring 1 

 and made a portable, canoe-shaped sailboat, 12k. in length 

 and Sift. wide. It has a mast made in sections, fait easily 

 and firmly put together^ and a mainsail, The whole thing- 

 folds up in a canvas bag, S-i-bySift, and 15iu. deep, having 

 a handle at each end. On leaving New York 1 checked it to 

 North Creek as personal baggage, and therefore without 

 charge. The boat itself weighs about 60 His., and even with 

 all my camping materials, folding oars, etc., weighs less than 

 100 lbs. At Blue Mountain Lake I put it together, intending 

 to sail through a chain of lakes and rivers to the Racquet; 

 down that river 150 miles to the St. Lawrence; down the St. 

 Lawrence to Montreal. There I intended to fold and pack 

 my boat and return to New York by rail. On consulting 

 with some guides, I was told that as I'was alone, it would be 

 almost, impossible to get through the lower Racquet, for that, 

 owing to the rapids, tails and "long carries," even with ■ • HE 

 panyj 1 should have my hands full. I therefore decide, I, 

 though most reluctantly', to change my route wo as to "re- 

 enter^ civilization" by the Saranac Lakes instead. 



On Monday morning I hoisted my sail and took a trip round 

 the lake, wondering as I went if any of the Adirondack lakes 

 could afford finer scenery than that. With the exception 

 of Lake Placid iu the north, which I shall speak of later, I 

 have not seen any one that I admire as much. It is sur- 

 rounded by mountains, and so dotted, here and there, wiih 

 islands, that altogether the picture presented is very beautiful 

 indeed. One of the prettiest of the islands is owned by a 

 Mr. Thatcher, of Albany, who has built a charming log cot- 

 tage, boat-house, etc., and as it is covered with tali piue. tim- 

 ber, it strikes one as a perfect little paradise. There is but 



