490 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jcxt 20, 1882. 



aggravating of the" olfaetories"with the delicious aroma, in 



we went, without ceremony. The clams thus prepared so 

 nearly resembled oysters or salt water clam?, that not a 

 doubt disturbed us as to the entirely satisfactory outcome * 



Will, the first spoonful I fished up a cl.im, au'd so did Ber- 

 nard, and While the soup would have conferred credit upon 

 Professor Biol, and advanced the reputation of Delmonico in 

 then- palmiest days, not so the aforesaid clams. As often as 

 I closed my teeth on the mussel my jaws would go hack with 

 an involuntary spring as if encountering a piece of india- 

 rubber. Blessed with the best of teeth at thai time, and 

 dauntless courage, 1 repeated the "open and shut process" 

 without success, when casting a sly glance at Bernard. 1 

 saw him vigorously essaying to make mince-meat of his first 

 encounter with a fresh-water clam. With the utmost cau- 

 tion and assumed sincerity and gravity at my command, I 

 ventured the inquiry how he relished fresh-water clams? 

 The loos he gave me wa« one of mixed diseust. disappoint- 

 ment and despair, which I shall never forget, as be replied, 

 "The soup is delicious, but, by heavens! I can't make an im- 

 pression with my teeth on these clams." So deep was my 

 amusement at. his looks and reply, that whatever remained 

 in my mouth went, out in a spray, succeeded by a choking 

 guffaw that nearly dismantled my upper story. 



The apparently sober and earnest, inquiry of your Western 

 professor recalled with so much freshness this trifling inci- 

 dent i of long ago, I bat I ventured to cast the feeble light of 

 my expeiience toward the solution of this fresh-water clam 

 problem. 



Into one of those pockets, which time, the grinding of sand 

 and pebbles had worn into the otherwise, smooth rock near 

 by, we emptied our new and delicate dishes, to which 

 "Tromp," our foxhound, only needed to he invited to do 

 ample justice to this, to him, toothsome award. 



As the Fores r and Stream is a regular visitor at my old 

 home, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., it is now, 

 and long has been a wonder to me, that, with the native talent 

 and sportive bent of so many of its citizens, and more especi- 

 ally of the St. Lawrence Game Society, they do not adorn 

 the pages of you. popular journal with frequent contribu- 

 tions from a place "chock full" of really sporting lore of 

 by-gone days of the now living devotees of the rod and gun. 

 There is one "Jos ph," "L. D. V. H.," "A. C," "NT H. 

 L.," and numbers of others I can now tally on my finger 

 ends, who could tell "o'er true tales" full of "truth and preg- 

 nant with dilemmas and contre-tem s well worthy of being 

 chronicled in the Forest and Stream. I trust' they will, 

 without exception, excuse the freedom of this gentle rap 

 on the old hive. F. B. Hitchcock. 



Mankato, Minn., June 26, 1882. 



"GAME PROT ECTION FOR THE PEOPLE." 



Editor Forest, and Stream: 



I reproduce the above caption from Forest and Stream. 

 You used it to broaden the principles that should underlie 

 organization for the protection of game and fish. To advise 

 you of the results of effort in "that direction, however 

 partial, to inform you that within never so limited a sphere 

 it has become an accomplished fact, is to make acknowl- 

 edgments for your fearless and persistent, efforts in that 

 behalf What power there is in words spoken right to the 

 mark. To point at iniquity and outrage, and say their right 

 names is to brand them for public reprobation, and to set 

 the good against the bad. There is a power, too, in the 

 sympathetic cheer they excite, and I have heard men whose 

 hands were yet grasped, emphasize in the very first syllables 

 of salutation, the sterling truthfulness and coinage of For- 

 est and Stream in all the varied departments of its labors, 

 and notably fish and game protection. 



But, to the subject matter: You published, in March last, 

 the proceedings of the first annual meeting of the St. Law- 

 rence Game Club. It is a corpoiation organized under a 

 general statute, and "means business." Its constitution is 

 printed on a quarter sheet, and its by-laws do not occupy a 

 larger space. Its officers are a president, vice-president, 

 five trustees, a secretary and treasurer, and a vigilance com- 

 mittee. Membership is created by signing the constitution 

 and paying to the treasurer fifty cents. Annual dues are a 

 half dollar. Another source of revenue is voluntary sub- 

 scription, and it supplies the sinews of war. 



In April the trustees held a business meeting at Canton, 

 he county seat, aud arranged the plan and details of action 

 f jr the following year. Pains were taken to have the pur- 

 poses of the club widely disseminated, and to invite member- 

 ship and co-operation. The whole northern section of the 

 State.the Adirondack territory, its forests and waters, left out 

 of account in the selection of game protectors, was the mat- 

 ter of principal concern, and It. was determined that within 

 the sphere of its immediate efforts, St. Lawrence county, 

 preventive and punitory measures should be undertaken. 



You will be gratified' to know that the club is doing effi- 

 cient service. Public attention has been fixed on existing 

 abuses and demands their suppression. The classes hitherto 

 in the habit of visiting the forests in the close season are re- 

 strained, out of deference to the general sentiment of eon- 



mnation. 



Detectives in the employ of the club, and paid from its 

 treasury, are doing service. in the county, and this it is pro- 

 posed to continue until the interest of the people shall be 

 property represented here in the persons of State game pro- 

 tectors. The Legislature and the Executive of the State 

 will have their attention properly directed to the matter, and 

 we believe proper consideration will be given to it. Results 

 thus far are encouraging— surprising. In a section where. 

 before all was lawlessness, less than a dozen prosecutions, 

 civil and criminal, have been commenced for violations of 

 the game law, 



Encouraging as all this is. it is to be remembered that par- 

 tial, local effort cannot attain satifaetory and general results. 

 There is need of local organization throughout the Adiron- 

 dack regions — organizations in counties. To awaken the 

 attention of the public, organization is necessary. Senti- 

 ment is sound, and when expressed is always on the right 

 side. Let me repeat organization is wart-l f:>r organiza- 

 tion is public opinion taking life, and having a tongue, man- 

 dates, ministers. Then the law-abiding are strengthened, 

 and the rest coerced. If the good citizens persist' the bad 

 ones will go under. 



"When e>ne gets a comprehension of the value and uses of 

 well stocked game preserve, the benefits hygienic, economic, 

 to result from its proper and legitimate pursuit and capture, 

 and above and beyond all the essential aid to moral and in- 

 tellectual culture afforded by the gratification of a love for 

 field sports, natural or acquired," it would seem that the 

 average citizen, with a modicum of civic virtues, should not 



fail in his duty to the laws. And he will not. Properly 

 appealed to, he will be an effective worker in the cause, and 

 will cry stop thief at the poachers with the. spoils of their 

 wretched vocation. And this is about all that is required. It 

 is an expression, and so strengthens and directs public senti- 

 ment. 



Shall there not be local organizations representing counties, 

 in the Adirondack territory, and each represented in an 

 Adirondack game club that will have in charge the vigorous 

 enforcement of the laws in the whole section. 



St. Lawrence county to its neighbors sends — 



Greeting: Join us in a common effort to protect the game 

 and fish, or harbor the poachers we shall drive from our bor- 

 ders, and leave us a monopoly of benefits. 



Mr. Editor, please say— in qualification of a statement in 

 a late issue— that hounding deer in St. Lawrence county is 

 unlawful at all times. Mac. 



THE PHILADELPHIA POACHERS. 



IN our last issue we gave an account, from a guide, of 

 some of the "Taylor party" who were found with un- 

 lawful venison by Game Agent Dodge, and taken in to 

 Booneyille and fined. We are now permitted to print the 

 following letters on the subject, written to a gentleman in 

 New York city : 



Dear Sir — As you appeared to feel some anxiety in re- 

 gard to what the Philadelphia party might do over on Big 

 Moose Lake, I thought I w T ould drop you a line in reference 

 to my visit to them. I succeeded in getting into Big Moose, 

 and was there three days and nights watching their move- 

 ments before they knew I was presmt. Seeing that one of 

 their boats did not. return Friday night, I concluded it w T ould 

 be best to hunt it up, and on the following day I overhauled 

 two of the party, with a guide, on the trail from Big Moose 

 to Twitchell. I interviewed them a few minutes, and then 

 went through their baskets, finding in the bottom of one, 

 under about forty pounds of trout, a nice little lot of veni- 

 son, just the. hams skinned out and done up nicely in a little 

 canvas bag. I took one of the young men out with me to 

 Booneville, where, after an introduction to Justice Morling, 

 he squared up for penalty and costs. The whole thing, with 

 expense of coming out and going back, amounted to about 

 one hundred dollars, and when I get through with them, the 

 "meat" they had will cost about ten dollars per pound. The 

 names of the young men I captured were Joe 8. Clark and 

 Ernest Wright, of Philadelphia, and their guide was Jerome 

 Wood, from Long Lake. As the Fulton Chain people were 

 much pleased with the turn of affairs, and anxious to give it 

 publicity, they desired me to write you and have it noticed 

 in Forest and Stream, as a warning to others who have a 

 disposition to evade the law, or violate it, rather. Fred 

 Hess and Chris Goodsell, Fulton Cuain guides, were with 

 me, and did me good service. The Fulton Chain guides, to 

 a man, are in earnest in this matter, aud are determined that 

 the game laws shall be respected in that country. What 

 makes the boys feel pretty well over this affair is: This 

 party had nine guides with them from the other side, and 

 they rather intimated that they were cute enough to kill 

 what deer they wanted to and not get caught at it. 



Wm. P. Dodge. 



Prospect, N. T., July 15. 



State Game Constable Dodge came out of the wood last 

 night with Joseph Claik, of Philadelphia, in tow for vio- 

 lating the game law by killing deer out of season. Dodge 

 went in and camped in the club camp on Big Moose and 

 watched their boats for three days when he missed one boat, 

 and caught the young man on his return from Twitchell 

 Lake, on the trail, with the ham of a deer in his pack. 



This morning Mr. Taylor was up before Justice Morling 

 and fined $50 and costs, nearly $50 more, and returned to 

 the woods very quick. It was a big thing to catch one of 

 that party when they knew that the game constable was at 

 Big Moose and on the lookout for them. It also pits the 

 Brown's Tract against the Long Lake guides, and saves' the 

 deer until the season opens. 



Should any of your friends sour on you this warm weather, 

 I will be glad to sweeten them, as I have 4,000 pounds of 

 maple sugar on hand Calvin V. Graves. 



Boonvllle, N. Y., July 10. 



THE ADIRONDACK DOE SLAUGHTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your ' 'practical suggestion" to the New York Association 

 for the Protection of Fish and Game, in your issue of the 

 6th inst., is indeed a good one, but I fear it will, like all 

 other means looking toward the protection of game in this 

 section, fail to hit the mark. The account given by ' Adrion 

 Ondaek," in the same issue, of the shameful slaughter of 

 deer in the Blue Mountain region holds good for the entire 

 wilderness. 



At one summer resort coming under my notice, seven deer 

 were brought in early in June, four of winch were does who 

 were giving suck to their fawns. These deer were shot by 

 the guides of the house, and were bought by the proprietor 

 for his table! And the same guides are now nightly carrying 

 would-be sportsmen to the spots where they can best slaughter 

 deer in front of the headlight. And 1 am in formed that 

 what is true of this one resoit is equally true of all the re- 

 sorts in the woods. The extermination of deer in the Adi- 

 rondacks, when it comes — and it is surely coming — will not 

 be chargeable to true sportsmen inside or out: of the wilder- 

 ness, but to the natives or guides, and the hotel proprietors, 

 who will not discountenance the detestable business. 



Without desiring to be impertinent, I would like to offer a 

 "practical suggestion," No. 2, to the aforementioned asso- 

 ciation. It, is this: Let them place a good, reliable man at 

 each one. of the summer resorts in the wilderness early in 

 the season, say about the time the ice goes out of the lakes, 

 and I will .guarantee that he will be kept busy until the end 

 of the close season in reporting, first, the guides shooting on 

 their own account, and later, the sham sportBmen under the 

 care of the guides. He can sit on the veranda of the resort I 

 have referred to and hear the arrangements being made for a 

 deer hunt (?) to take place that or the following night, and 

 he can hear of like plans being made every day. Now, I 

 claim that the known presence of such officers at the. differ- 

 ent resorts would break up such arrangements and render 

 the business a risky one, and it is a well known fact that 

 neither sham sportsmen nor guides are fond of taking risks 

 where the law has a chance of becoming operative. 



Such a plan as I have suggested, if honestly worked, 

 would, I believe, considerably decrease the usual slaughter 

 of deer in May and June. Another means oi arresting this 

 slaughter rests, I rhink, with the gentlemen sportsmen 

 temporarily residing at these resorts. They, while con- 



demning the evil, quietly wink at it, because, to become an 

 informer under the circumstances, would render their sojourn 

 at such place very unpleasant: but I think they should' face 

 the music and denounce the business whenever detected 

 How many guides do you suppose would go out 

 parties out from a hotel, to shoot, deer out of season if they 

 knew that the sentiment, of the guests was against such 

 action and that among the guests were gentlemen who 

 would promptly report them to the proper officers of the 

 law? But a few indeed, I trow. 



If the association wants points or spots in this locality I 

 can and will furnish them in quantities to suit and / 

 In the Adirondack!, July 8. Hardy. 



THE INDIANA OUTLOOK. 



I THINK it too early yet to form a correct judgment as to 

 the prospects for autumn shooting in this the central part 

 of Indiana. Woodcock, at least the first broods hatched 

 have done well, notwithstanding the numerous storms and 

 freshets. I had the pleasure of observing a nest as early as 

 the 9th of April. The female was sitting on fo 

 On the 23d she hatched, and so far as I could ob- 

 serve, successfully raised her little mood. Bv the 1st of 

 June very little difference could be noticed, on fiustiino- be- 

 tween the old and young birds. But I think th 

 efforts to nest have been a failure— as the grounds ha 

 frequently flooded, so much so that I doubt if any second 

 broods have been raised. 



"Homo's" observations in Pennsylvania, will, doubtless 

 apply in this State, as the high waters have been so frequent 

 and so general, that the birds mavfind good feeding grounds 

 everywhere, and so be dispersed' over 'too much ground to 

 make their pursuit interesting at this season of "the year 

 I have not tried them yet, although this is the fduitu I 

 the open season, but 1 may do so, if only to verify my im- 

 pressions. 



We had a remarkably warm, open winter— the bluebird 

 and goldfinch I observed every month during the winter 

 —and quail were comparatively unmolested, and. a fair num- 

 ber paired off early in May; but I fear the long-continued 

 rains and cold during June has interfered with the giowth 

 of the young chicks. 



We hope for the best, and certainty the prospect is better 

 for later broods. A good mast crop— one of 'the very heav iest 

 I ever saw— will no doubt cause a better supply of game to 

 tarry with us, if it does not induce emigration. 



Hares and squirrels w T ere plentiful this spring, and prom 

 ise good shooting for such as enjoy it. 



Lpon the whole, there maybe enough game this fall to 

 try a new breech-loader on, or to secure a dainty for a sick 

 friend, or enough to satisfy a lover of nature, who only 

 makes gunning an excuse or pretext for a, day's stroll it: 

 wonderland, but I doubt if there will be enough to satisfy 

 the sportsman who hunts for same alone. Him, indeed, no 

 amount of slaughter will satisfy. O. W. W. 



Fairland, Inrl., July 4. 



Ohio Game Prospects.— Cleveland, July 10, 1882.— 

 Prospects for quail are very good; all along the country 

 from Cleveland, Ohio, to Monroe, Mich., they sqeni plenty'; 

 but very few woodcock there or here. I think mdi 

 than last year here, and last year they were scarce, r.ad 

 mostly old birds. Know of no reason "for this, unless, as 

 with some other game, they are playing out. And no won- 

 der it is so, when they are shot, at continually in the South 

 from December to. April, and almost six months in the North. 

 They will soon be a bird of the past unless summer shooting 

 is abolished. Places where I could formerly bag three 

 dozen and upward in a day, I have now to hunt harder to 

 secure one dozen generally, without a very unusual steal 

 of good luck. I am sorry it is thus, because L am getting 

 old and not so swift of foot as I formerly was. — J. C. 



Minnesota Game Prospects.— Pillsbury, Minn., July 7. 

 — From present indications the open season will bring unusu- 

 ally fine sport hereabouts. In every little slough and pond 

 hole large flocks of young ducks, mostly mallards and now 

 nearly half grown, may be seen. Farmers report that every 

 field has its large family of "chickens/' while for the first 

 time in years pigeons have nested in this locality. I think I 

 saw fully 5,000 during a short ride a few mornings ago. 

 Grouse wintered extra well, and have been steadily I 

 ing in numbers in this town for the past three yei 

 think there are ten now where there was a pair three years 

 ago, and this despite the fact that pot-hunters receive a 

 higher price for them now than then. Deer and bear "sign" 

 are not wanting. — J. Frank Locke. 



Night Shooting Woodcock. — Del Rio, Texas, July 5, 

 1882. — In your issue of June 15 I note inquiry in n 

 to fire hunting woodcock in the South. 1 have known this 

 to he done by the negroes in Mississippi, and the Creoles in 

 Louisiana. Large numbers are slaughtered annua] 

 find a ready sale in the Ncw r Orleans market, which 1 have 

 seen fairly glutted with this noble game bird This worse 

 than pot-hunter provides himself with an assistant, a pine 

 torch, and shotgun loaded with a squib of powd 

 thimble of shot, aud proceeds to the cotton fields, where the 

 birds feed at night. They are easily approached, being be- 

 wildered hy the glare of light, and are virtually lulled at the 

 muzzle of the gun. — G. W. P. 



Leather-Stocking Club. — Oswego, N.Y., July lo. — The 

 Leather-Stocking Club of Oswego county held n< 

 meeting at the secretary's office on July 13, when the follow- 

 ing officers were elected. President. 0. S. Osterhout; Vice- 

 President, George G* Warren; Secretary, G. P. Mat,te;on; 

 Treasurer. Hon. N. W. Nutting; Attorney, H. C V i 

 Board of Managers, C. A. Tanner, George W. Lyman 

 Emerick, J. B. McMurrich, and W. A. Failing. A 

 mittee of three consisting of O. S. Osterhout, George G. 

 Warren, and H. C. Tanner, were appointed to secure birds 

 and make arrangements for a grand old fashioned club tour- 

 nament. — Veteran. 



Tennessee Game Notes. — The prospect s for an abun- 

 dance of quail were never better. Many young birds are 

 already reported hatched out, and as the grain crops art 

 fine this year and the weather favorable, th .y will have 

 plenty of food and grow rapidly. Doves are also very 

 numerous. They are much esteemed here by epicures, and 

 our local sportsmen say they enjoy shouting them more than 

 any birds w T e have. Large game is imported as more plenti- 

 ful than usual. If our game laws were only respected, with 

 the vast forests in this State there should be" any quantity of 

 it.— J. D. H. 



