o 



328 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 25. 1882. 



trustees for the c«%ar;:'«itton, to serve for rbnejjyear. Upon 

 motion a committed id live was appoihted by the chair to 

 Belect the nine dtrLtttnrs. The chair named as this corn- 

 <p. Judge AI-mI :,!, . .). Cook, Jr., of Denver; Fish Com- 

 missioner Sisfcy, of l<Kho Springs; Dr. Dangaii, of Leadville, 

 and Mi- Keith, of Puu'ilo, FLsh Commissioner Sisty asked 



I w excused, and State. Treasurer Sanders was named in his 

 stead. 



The committee, aft a* a brief absence, reported the follow- 

 ing trustees: W. \. Byors, W. J. Kinsev, J. Cook. Jr., W. 

 Y. Sedan and Beja M. Hughes, of Denver; C. L. Hanna, of 

 Greeley: J. N Lisher, of Leadville, and T. .1. Bates and J. 

 E. Roberts, of Pueblo. 



directors were selected from Denver, in order that if 

 a called meeting had to he held a quorum could be secured 

 without trouble. The trustees were requested to tile articles 

 of incorporation with the Secretary of State to-day, so as to 

 complete the organization as soon as possible. 



"THE CHARMED WHITE DEER." 



THE article ou While Deer (Fouest and Stbeam May 11) 

 has more of interest to an old woodsmao than you 

 might think. 



Few, very few men, are aware of the strong undercurrent 

 of superstition which permeates the whole, being of many an 

 old, courageous, hard headed hunter, sensible in all 'else. 

 Within two miles of where I write lived 0. W., a sturdy 

 New Hampshire Hercules, who came here when land was 

 sold at 25 cents per acre. He cleared up and "made" three 

 farms, and was a, noted hunter. His word was good as gold 

 wherever he was known. He was as witty as Hood, fairly 

 ediicated for the times, and a "man among men." For 

 many years lie was obliged to go sixty miles with a bushel of 

 wheat on Ins back, through the woods to Williarnsport, to 

 get, bread for his family. Year after year he averaged over 

 seventy deer per annum, With his old, long-barreled Lancas- 

 ter rifle, not to mention an incidental bear or panther now T 

 and then. And this man helieved that his rifle could become 

 utterly useless through being bvicitrJted. 



Cue day, in his presence, I w T as ridiculing superstition to 

 my best ability, when 1 noticed that "Old "Oliver" safe still 

 and quiet, with an expression on his weather-beaten face 

 such as one sees on a white-oak knurl. When we were alone 

 the old man opened about thus-: 



"Young man, mebbe you are right. But there may be 

 some things wc don't understand. You ought to know 

 whether 1 am a shot with the rifle or no. Now, how do you 

 account for a thing like this? One day, in November, '2*0, I 

 was out on a, light trackin' snow in the South Woods.' Half 

 a mile, from home 1 had a fair shot at a buck ten rods off. 

 The i in i ave a iook and walked off. In less than an 

 hour 1 had anOthev fair shot — not a twig in the way— and 

 never knewwkere the ball went. Before noon I got the third 

 shot — big buck, seven rods or so away— and I missed again. 

 Then 1 came borne There was a squirrel on the roof of my 

 • corn-crib. I hauled up and knocked bis head clean off at 

 seven rods. How do yon account for it?" 



'T don't account fur it. What did you do?" 



■'Tell you what i did Started that" afternoon for Auntie 

 on's, on Pine Creek, twenty miles away. She on- 

 britched the ride, cleaned it out and greased it with some- 

 thing, and tied three red strings round it. Then she made 

 me a silver bullet, and loaded the gun. Told me not to shoot 

 till I got a fair shot, and could make sure. If I found the 

 ball in the deer, 1 was to set my compass and throw the ball 

 as far ■ -. 1 :vuld to the east." 



"And y m did it?" 



"Yes, 1 old. 1 killed a buck with that bullet, and didn't 

 miss another dew that season." 



"What did the old lady charge you for her incantations?" 



"01 -it t^eJ me three debar* It was. cheap. Kept me over 

 night, am 1 killed abciit eighty deer that season. Venison 

 wasn't wc, .1 nniah. 1 gave a saddle and skin of a big buck 

 for twelve i omuls of pork, and was glad to make the trade. 

 Yes ; pork and bread was mighty scarce. Game was plenty." 



"Di I I', occur to you that the old lady might have run a 

 pewter ijal' oti you?" 



The ok' hunter wv.s disgusted. He seized his cane and 

 marched off without a word. 



"Old Oliver" joined farms with a man named Joel Culver. 

 They came in her ■ iogether about 1805, were hunting "pard- 

 ners.' neighbors and friends all their lives, and Joel was a 

 college-bred man. He was witty, cynical, and sceptical. I 

 thought the superstition of his old neighbor would tickle him 

 mightily, and related it, verbatim. 



To my astonishment, Joel took it seriously. He thought 

 a minute, and then said quietly: "You are beginning to 

 hunt, jus1 as 1 am done. I have killed over 1,100 deer." In 

 my best days 1 could cut a chickadee's head off about every 

 shot. And one fall 1 missed six fair shots in succession, all 

 standing, It was just when 1 was in my best shooting days. 

 How do you account for it?" 



1 was dumbfounded. I said: "I don't pretend to account 

 for it, And did you, the best off-hand shot in the county, 

 and a man '' good education, take your gun to 'Auntie 

 Johnson' to ;,,■ .' enchanted?'' 



"1 have taken u/y rifle there twice," he. said, quietly. 

 Old Bill D—k was the hardest-headed old sinner 'on the 

 upper waters of Pine Creek. As his neighbors said, he 

 •didn't believe anything." His experience was a little dif- 

 ferent from the above. T (bought to get up a laugh and 

 some, sympathy by relating the foregoing incident, but old 

 Dill took it sel'iolisjy, and told me how his rifle was be- 

 witched by a Pill, black-eyed young woman, who "came in 

 from below" I o cool-; for SloweH's camp. AVhen he found 

 bis gun would not kill a deer under the most favorable 

 chances, be took it to Auntie Johnson; and here is bis exact 

 smart, taken down at the time: "She loaded the rifle 

 .nil a silver bullet, an' told me not to shoot 'till I got a sure 

 stand in' sl±_' An' to beat the fire-shovel red hot the next 

 lia'acc — ■._ it into a bar'] of soft soap, and I would 

 hear from thai, lack-eyed witch down to StOweU's before 

 sundown. Wa'l, 1 diil it. 1 stuck the shovel red hot inter 

 the soap, and Ik fore night (he news cum up that. 'Jet Lee,' 

 that wuz her name, had giv' a yell an* tumbled onto the 

 floor jest about the time I stuck the shovel inter the soap. 

 There wuz a big blistered burn on tier back, the size an' 

 shape of (he shovel. My rifle shot well enough after that, 

 it was six weeks afore that burn healed up, and there's livin' 

 people to-day who will take their oaths to just what I 

 tell Ve." 



e are '>,(Mill years tooneur our muscular ancestor, the 

 gorilla. 



As regards the superstition about "white deer," it has not 



',i - linn, and is new lo me; but I know some- 



■ Human being should 



attach mysterious importance to the color of hair on a deer, 

 weazel, otter, or any other animal, is one of the things I 

 never shall find out. I ought to be "unlucky." I ought to 

 be drowned three times. (I have heen drowned twice,) I 

 deserve all the bad luck that can befall a woodsman— for I 

 have killed two white deer — innocently, not knowing my 

 sin; like the Yorkshire lad, who shot an owl, and only found 

 out that he had killed a "cherry bim" by inspecting the 

 tomb-stones of the village burying-ground. 



"White deer are always does." "Oh, tire they? I killed a 

 buck in Eaton comity, Michigan, thirty-two years ago, white 

 as snow. It brought no bad luck that I know of. 



I killed a fat doe on Flat Biver, Michigan, white, with the 

 exception of a gray patch on the shoulder. Twenty-two years 

 ago there were three white deer on "Middle-Fork." a buck, 

 a doe, and a yearling. The two first were milk-white. The 

 yearling had a patch of gray hair on the shoulder. The way 

 those white deer were hazed and chased was a caution to 

 white deer. I took a hand in, and lamed mvself, and failed. 

 But my pard, Da Crosby, killed the yearling. A long-leg- 

 ged Campbell killed the buck, and I don't know what, be- 

 came of the doe. I suspect she came out in blue or gray the 

 next October; for it is a fact that the deer that is white one 

 season is just as likely to come out gray the next as not. 



In Addison, Steuben county, N. Y.," I have seen car-loads 

 Of venison e?t transitu, and I have seen at least three milk- 

 white, bucks on their way to New York. White deer sue no 

 mytli- Nessmuk. 



THE RUFFED GROUSE AGAIN. 



IF any doubt existed as to the estimation in which this 

 noble game bird is held by the sportsmen of this country, 

 a glance through the columns of Forest akd Stream for 

 the last six months would fully dispel it; and that the subject 

 is worthy of the theme, no true lover of the gun will deny. 



I am among the number who think that the scarcity of 

 grouse in all the well-settled portions of the New England 

 States is wholly due to overhunting; not that they are all 

 killed off, but because I firmly believe that when harassed 

 beyond a certain point the bird will forsake its haunts. I 

 well remember an article on this subject in the first number 

 of Fourst and Stream that I ever saw, sent to me. by the 

 proprietor of the "Bromfield House," Boston. It was a reply 

 to an article in a former number, in which the statement had 

 been made that the bud was not naturally wild, but the re- 

 verse. This was disputed in the article I read, and authori- 

 ties were introduced to prove that the ruffed grouse was by 

 nature extremely wild and wary. Nothing could be farther 

 from the facts than this. The bird, when wholly unmolested. 

 is exceedingly confiding and unsuspicious, scarcely less so" 

 than its cousin, the spruce partridge. 



1 spent the past winter in camp just north of the Mcgantic 

 Mountain. The woods in every direction were full of ruffed 

 grouse, and their tameness was almost beyond belief. One 

 day, while examining the roots of a huge tamarac as to its 

 fitness for ship timber, I spied a bcautifullv sleek female 

 partridge picking gravel from an upturned root a few steps 

 away. I suspended operations on my tree and called to her 

 softly. She came from under the root a few steps toward 

 me, and began to daintily pick the buds from some yellow 

 birch sprouts. Then she looked curiously at the mingled 

 moss and snow piled up around me and walked quietly away, 

 feeding as she went. I had the curiosity to pace the distance 

 -r-just six paces to the root! 



That same evening two of my men came in from work 

 quite excited. They had seen seven partridges under one 

 tree, and one of them behaved in a singular manner — his 

 tail was spread to its fullest extent, all his feathers were erect, 

 his wings drooped to the ground, and he made little rushes' 

 "exactly like an old gobbler." Old readers of Forest and 

 Stream will recognize this bird. 



One marked peculiarity of the ruffed grouse I have never 

 seen' alluded to by any writer. When in flocks, in September 

 and October, they give utterance to notes like the "prating" 

 of domestic fowl, but inexpressibly soft and pleasing, like 

 the tenderest cooing of the dove. I have heard them for an 

 instant, on several occasions, and once, a few years ago, had 

 the pleasure of listening to them as long as I pleased. This 

 was on the Sebois, where I came upon a covey of nine 

 "dusting" one pleasant clay in October. They paid not the 

 slightest attention to my presence, but continually gave forth 

 their soft call, sometimes two or three of them at a time. An 

 experience like this would be impossible where the birds had 

 learned to regard man as an enemy. Penobscot. 



Maine. 



In yoiu issue of May 11, I notice an article from the pen 

 of "Buffed Grouse," wherein he -pays his respects toNessmuk 

 in a manner not too complimentary. I will only remark that 

 Nessmuk's "brief experience in grouse wing-shooting" ex- 

 tends over a period of 4(5 years, and that he has not usually 

 "experienced great difficulty in doing much more than to 

 make the 'feathers fly,' " having, during all that time, been 

 quite able to hold his own shooting grouse over a setter with 

 any party of "true sportsmen" he has been out with. As to 

 the "pleasantry" of hunting deer and "playing a huge pick- 

 erel for two mortal hours," etc., I have very seldom lost a 

 badly wounded deer, He cannot lodge in a tree like a 

 wounded grouse, and we always have dogs that, are nearly 

 sure of stopping him. In the last fifteen years I cannot recall 

 losing more than three wounded deer. I have lost that many 

 wounded grouse in a day, as what grouse shooter who uses 

 a setter has not? If it is necessary to drag a "huge pickerel" 

 from the North Woods to make out a charge of cruelty, I 

 will only say I have not observed a general disposition among 

 anglers to decline a rise from their best trout or pickerel 

 because, forsooth, there might be dead limbs or lily pads in 

 the vicinity that would make a tangle probable. Getting a 

 large fish anchored on the bottom and tiy ing for a long time, 

 patiently, to work him free, is a queer way of playing him. 

 And I could have killed the fish in twenty minute's with a 

 fair show in clear water. 



I have no objection to the graceful and intelligent pointer, 

 though 1 prefer the companionable setter, nor to the man 

 who enjoys shooting over a finely (rained dog. There is no 

 sort of hunting with gun and dog that does not include 

 cruelty; but the least cruel modes are best, and those which 

 send iv. .iy the mosl game in a wounded slate arc to me the 

 least defensible. 



The evidence from nearly all parts of the country is that 

 the "i i' failed and faded away suddenly. Reference to 

 back files in f orest and Stbeam and other Sporting papers 

 will show this. In more than forty years' observation of 

 grouse habits, I have seen no evidence that the birds make 



norl local migrations, i had rather thought them tile one 



specie:-: of game bird that never migrated; that the old cock 

 stuck to his home und dm mining-log year after year, and the 



hen made her nest from year to year in the same thicket, 

 even though food became scarce enough to threaten starva- 

 tion. 



Yes, the snarer is a myth in this region. I do not know 

 of a snare being set in this county, of near it, during the 

 last fifteen years. We don't allow it. If sportsmen about 

 market, towns and in old settled regions allow the snarer to 

 follow his accursed trade, the more shame to them. And 

 we have no pot-hunters sneaking through the brush, slaugh- 

 tering grouse for market. A man hunting in that way kills 

 few birds. Let R. G. try it. Let him leave his pointer at 

 home, and, pitting himself fairlv against the wary arouse. 

 try stiii-nuntmg him for a few days" If lie gets moiv than 

 two birds for a hard day's tramp, he wilt beat any pot-hunter 

 I know of. 



Let us not abuse terms; we are all pot-hunters. No man 

 hunts grouse in any way unless he has a love for the sport ; 

 and no man has a moral right to murder such birds unless he 

 can make good use of them, i. f., bring them to pot. But 

 when we talk of the snarer and hunter for market, we strike 

 solid ground — a platform on which all humane, reasonable 

 sportsmen can stand. And our experience of the market 

 butcher seems a little different from that of R. G. 



For instance : Soon after the season opened for woodcock, 

 two strangers came to W. for, as they said, a. little shooting. 

 They had two tall, wiry red setters, of excellent style and 

 appearance, and used the conventional ten-bore Parker. 

 They went through our w r oodeock covers in two or three 

 days for about all there was in them; went over to Pine 

 Creek and worked the covers there; from there to the Tioga 

 Valley, the Cowanesque Valley, and we heard of them to 

 the west of us, working from daylight until dark, and slip- 

 ping all their birds to market. They made a vigorous cam- 

 paign against the woodcock, and did not make any pretense 

 of secrecy about their business. "They \v ere professional 

 market-hunters, and had been for years," so they said. 

 "They had as good a right to the birds as any living inan or 

 class of men, and as good dogs as Grouse Dale or any other 

 dog that ever showed on Robbins' Island. They loved the 

 sport, and intended to make a living by it. They only shot 



two men and their setters, they made the most destructive 

 "team" he ever saw in the field. 



Woodcock were scarce after they left. 



This was last summer; and, as they went through our 

 villages they took stock and note of all the grouse covers 

 along the route, to repeat the campaign when the grouse sea- 

 son opened, sending their birds as before to market, These 

 two men did more tow'ards exterminating our game birds in 

 one season than all the sneak-hunters ami pot-hunters have 

 done in the last ten years. 



I do not know if this sort of thing is becoming common in 

 the older and more thickly settled portions of the country. I 

 should think it might be. Certainly there is no law to 'pre- 

 vent it. 



No. I did not "credit the best wing shots with only three 

 buds per day." I credited two ordinary cits, out of practice, 

 with killing six birds and wounding about as many more.' 

 One man, as every sportsman know^ would have been likely 

 to do as well, or better. 



And probably R. G. and I could talk together without dis- 

 agreeing very widely when it comes to the bed-rock of true 

 sportsmanship— preservation of our fast-failing game, and 

 humanity. 



There is no call for Ruffed Grouse to "beat" his "dogs and 

 fishing-tackle into ploughshares," just yet. And, as he says 

 of me, he has only my best wishes! Nessmuk. 



T 



NEW YORK GAME BILL. 



'HE open seasons proposed are: Deer, Auc. 1 to Dec. 1; 

 use of dogs allowed only in October, and at no time in 



spotted coat. 



Wild duck, goose, brant, Sept. 1 to May l ; begins Oct. 1 

 in Richmond, Westchester, Suffolk, Queens and Lings. 

 Snipe, plover, sandpiper, bay or shore birds of any kind, in 

 Richmond, Westchester, Suffolk, Queens and Kings coun- 

 ties, Julyl to March l. Night shooting prohibited. Swivel 

 guns prohibited: Floating' batteries and bough-house at 

 greater distance from shore than twenty rods prohibited : 

 does not apply to South Bay west of Smith's Point, PecOnic 

 Bay, Lake Ontario, River St. Lawrence, the Hudson below 

 Albany, Long Island Sound. Sailing for wild fowl forbid- 

 den, save in Long Island Sound (where pursuit in steam 

 vessels is prohibited), Lake Ont;mo. the Hudson below 

 Nyack, and waters of Wyoming countv. 



'Quail, Oct. 20 to Dec. 81 inclusive. 



Hare or rabbit, Oct. 30 to Dec. 31 inclusive. In Wayne 

 county, Oct. 1 to March 1. L T se of ferrets forbidden, Bave in 

 orchards, etc. 



Woodcock, months of July, September, October, Novem- 

 ber and December. In New Y T ork, Richmond, Kings, 

 Queens, Suffolk and Westchester counties, month of July, 

 and from Oct. 20 to Dec. 31, 



Black or gray squirrel. Oct. f to Dec, 1. 



Ruffed grouse (commonly called partridge), pinnated 

 grouse (praiiie chicken), spruce grouse (Canada partridge), 

 Sept. 1 to Dee. 31. Ruffed grouse may be, killed in Otsego 

 county in month of August. In counties of New York, 

 Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Westchester, Oct. 20 to 

 Dec. 31; pinnated grouse in Kings, Queens and Suffolk pro- 

 tected for five years. 



Netting and snaring forbidden. 



§ 35. Any person may sell or expi ise for sale, or have in pos- 

 session, any venison, any quail, any hare or rabbit, any 

 woodcock, any black or .gray squirrel, any ruffed grouse 

 (commonly called partridge), any spruce grouse (commonly 

 called Canada partridge), and any pinnated grou-e (com- 

 monly Galled prairie chicken), during the month of January, 

 without liability to punishment or penalty, provided it he 

 proven that such birds or game were killed without ihi* 

 State, or within theperiod provided by/this act. In such 

 ease any action commenced may be discontinued without 

 costs to either parly. 



Killing song and insectivorous bards, eagle, woodpecker, 

 night hawk, yellow-bird, wren, martin, oriole, whip-poor-will, 

 swallow, thrush, forbidden. Kobin, meadow lark, starling, 

 may be killed Oct, 80 to Dec. 31 Robins may be killed when 

 destroying grapes or fruit. Nests of wild birds may not be 

 robbed nor destroyed (except crows, blackbirds, hawks ami 

 cwlO Siiaiing forbidden.' Exception to foregoing 



: Indents and collectors holding certificates, from 



