B66 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



IJrsTD 5, 1884- 



Manitoba Game Law.— S< vera! changes have b< en made 

 in the game laws. The various close seasons during which, 

 game and fur-bearmg ani rals must not. be shot at, hunted, 

 trapped, taken, killed or had in possession within the 

 Province cf Manitoba are as follows: All kinds of deer, in- 

 cluding cabri, or antelope, elk or wapiti, moose, reindeer or 

 caribou, or the fawns of such animals, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1. 

 The following varieties of grouse, commonly known as 

 prairie chickens or phea-auts, and partridges, from Jan. 1 to 

 Sept. 1. Woodcock, plover, snip •, and sandpipers, from 

 Jan. 1 to Aug. 1. All kind- of wild duck, sea duck, pigeon, 

 teal, wild swan, or wild goose, except the variety of wild 

 goose commonly known as the snow goose or the wavy, 

 from May 1 to Aug. 15 Otter, fisher or pekan, beaver, musk- 

 rat and sable, irom May 15 to Oct 1. Mink and marten 

 from Oct. 15 to Nov, 1. Any such animal orbirdmaybe 

 had in possession f> r the private use of the owner and Lis 

 family at any time, but in all cases the proof of the time of 

 killing, taking, purchasing or purpose for which had in 

 possession shall be upon the person so in po^esston. This 

 provision merely applies t,. animals or birds killed during 

 the open sea.-ou. and kept over until the close season, and 

 does not permit anv of the animals or birds above mentioned 

 to be killed or taken dur ng the ] eriodsin which they are pro- 

 tected, No eggs of anv otrth b rds above mentioned shall be 

 at any time disturbed or had in pos es ion. Ne*ne of the animals 

 or birds above mentioned shall h* expoi ted Irom Manitoba 

 at any time whatev.. r. Any per.-on violating anv of the 

 provisions of the game laws is liable to a fine of $50 and 

 costs for each offense, with imprisonment in di fault of pay- 

 ment, f hi- Department of Agriculture lias already appointed 

 aoout two hundred fjiime guard -ans in different portions of 

 the Province. This numb r wi 1 be incr ased as rapidly as 

 possi Je. In or J r to enforce lh- law in the city of Winni- 

 peg, which he'e-tufore appears to have been the principal 

 place in whicn violations occurred, owing to dealers pur- 

 chasing and selling duiing the close season, a sum has been 

 placed in the estimate a to provide for the payment cf ex- 

 penses which may be incurred in pro-e<:utiri£ r offenders, and 

 securing their conviction and punishment.— H A. P. 



Game w the Southwest — Foit Bowie, Arizona Terri- 

 tory. — in Arizona and New Mexico the deer are growing so 

 scarce that it is almost impossible to see one. You may 

 travi 1 for days aud never see- any, where a few \ears ago you 

 could f-it in your c ibin doors and sbe>ot them at any time. It 

 is almost impo-sible to see an antelopp at all, and Ihey are- 

 groping more scarce every day. At the rate they are di-ap- 

 pearing inside of Ave years there will be no such animal in 

 the Semthwest. There are more white-tail deers in the coun- 

 try than of black-tail, for the former are so wild that the 

 hunter and trapper cannot get near them. The Mack-tail 

 deer is almost as scarce astheantetope Wild pigeon-, ducks, 

 partridge s. piai ie chickens and wild turkeys are found in 

 abundance, but the reason for this is that there are very few 

 shotguns in the country, and the hunters prefer large game 

 tei fowl; Of couise, there are laws leu- the purpose of pre) 

 hibiting the killing of game in certain parts of the year, but 

 they are not enf. reed. About the only place large game ran 

 be found at the present day is away upon the mountains and 

 along the Mexican line. As soon as large game disappears, 

 the country will be flooded with shotguns and the sma'l game 

 will disappear. Even now shotguns are becoming very 

 plentiful.— Old Timer, 



Fishing and Shooting Resorts.— The Erie Railway 

 (J N. Abbott, G neral Passenger Agent, New York) and the 

 New York, Ontario & Western Railway (J. C. Anderson, 

 General Passenger Agent, New York) have published guide 

 books to summer resort* reached by their lines. For sports- 

 men's aid they give particulars like- these: "Rutherford. N. 

 J., fine fUtaiug in the Passaic; wejodcock and snipe shooting 

 near Passaic, N. J., fine fishing on river; Lake View, N J , 

 gor d fishing at Dundee Lake; llohokus, N. J., woodcock, 

 quail and pickerel, verv good lake fishing; Suff< rn, N Y., 

 bass and pickerel fishiDg, partridge, email aud woodcock; 

 Ramapo, N. Y., good fishing and gunning; Sloatsburgh, N 

 Y., a paradise for sportsmen! bass and pickerel fishing, good 

 hunting, paitridge-, woodcock and quail; Lorillard's, N. Y., 

 black bass, pickerel and perch, privilege of fishing, liberal 

 price per rod per day, boat included; Se >uth field, N. Y. , 

 partridge, quail, labbits, duck aud woodcock, good fishing in 

 lakes near by; Turner's, N, Y., a retreat for sportsmen, pait- 

 ridge, quail,' we.e'dcocK, bass, pickerel, perch; Monro- , N. 

 Y.," bluets, hass, pickerel, perch, woodcock, quail, rabbits," 

 And so on through the catalogue. 



Let the Trappers be Heakd.— Editor Forest and 

 BtreanU I notice a 1 tter in your lart number signed "Tilli- 

 eum," from Olympia, W. T., regarding liability of present 

 style of Newhouse steel trap to throw uut the foot of the 

 animal, aud asking for an improvement. In my opinion a 

 steel tr.p shou Id always beset lengthways in the path for 

 beaver aud otter, and by so doing they will not set their fool 

 on the catch lhat holds 'the jaw down, but will set their loot 

 Mr on thepai, and as the nap U sprung their foot will not 

 be lilted up by tbe jaw of the trap. 1 think myself some 

 improvement might be made by having the jaws wider aud 

 higher, retaining the san e size of spring, anel I think, too, 

 that an entirely different style of catch to hold the jaw 

 might be advantageously substituted, it is to be regretted 

 that trappers as a class am not mue:h given to writing. Your 

 readers miss much valuable and interesting matter thereby. 

 For the experiene e of many a it mote trapper, if written in 

 a plain, undemonstrative manner, would ae.d very much to 

 the pleasure se- m: ny brethren of the craft d< rive from your 

 good paper.— J. Lee Smkdley Dugdah;, Pa.). 



Smpe Flying prom the Water.— Glendale.O.— In read- 

 ing Forester's 'Field Sports" rcvLed ed p. 16.1-4), I see he 

 notices the fact that snipe swim across narrow streams, etc., 

 and wonders whether they could take wing from the surface 

 of wate r. He de.ubts it, A recent ■ xperimce of my own may 

 therefore lie of interest. While shooting oue day this spring, 

 1 marked down an English snipe on -he edge of a large open 

 pond. Upon walking it up, it flew out directly over 

 the water, and fell to niv secemd barn 1. 1 had no dog with 

 me, and so alter replacing my shells and preparing myself 

 t>wade, all of which time the snipe lay in the water, I 

 started out after it. I had gone pel haps i,f teen yards, and 

 the water was already above my knec«, win n the bird rose 

 ch ar of the water in'o the air and flew about a hundred 

 yards and dropped again. By wading again 1 secured it, 

 and proved it to be beyond a doubt a snipe There was no 

 grass nor weeds in the water from which it could have 

 sprung. Of this 1 am pe>sitive. Is not this an unusual feat 

 for a Hcolopax xcilsonif—T. P. 



Paterson, N. J., has a new ordinance which forbids the 

 capture or sale of trapped nighthawk, whippoorwill, spar- 

 row, thrush, meadow lark, skylark, finch, martin, swallow, 

 woodpeckeT, robin, oriole, red or cardinal bird, cedar bird, 

 taoager, catbird, bluebird, snowbird, or other insectiverous 

 bird. It also forbids nest robbing. This is a wholesome 

 law. Hundreds of song birds have been killed daily in Pat- 

 erson, a city covering a large amount of territory, but the 

 efforts of the officers of the Passaic Association under the. 

 ordinance has put a stop to this. The State law is worthless, 

 as it permits killing of birds for stuffing. 



Off the Chesapeake Bay— May 26.— The shooting this 

 spring is very fine. The curlew are unusually plentilul, the 

 willets very scarce. Calico hacks and graybacks are in pro- 

 fusion. A trio of us killed, one evening off Cape Charles 

 bar, fifty-two curlew. The robin snipe have just made their 

 appearance, and a very late one. The prospect for summer 

 shooting, judging from the number of sportsmen here this 

 spring, will not be very good, as a large flight of spring bay- 

 birds generally is followed by a small flight in summer, aud 

 vice versa. — Cuasseur. 



Pennsylvania Prospects.— Hollidaysburgh, May 27. — 

 Prospect fur summer shooting is fair. Black bass and catty 

 fishing is already begun, with satisfactory results. — Juniata. 



'£*» *nd 



Uver 



CAMPS OF THE KINGFISHERS^ 

 Black Lake, Michigan.— IV. 



WE roused Merrill out and were on the way to the lake 

 before sun-up, through green fresh woods, vocal with 

 bird melody and redolent with all the sweet smells of an 

 early morning in the pines and cedars. 



Three quarters of a mile over a rough road, part of which 

 was swampy, brought us to the lake, where four boats, 

 pulled np on the shore, awaited our use, and Merrill pointed 

 out the location i f the cart ping place he ha- selected lor us, 

 a couple of miles below, which, he said, coulel be reached 

 with the uagons by driving along a narrow strip of sandy 

 beach which lined the shore down this side as far as we could 

 see. 



We did not expect to fish any that day, and started with 

 only two of the boats; Frank, Old Dan and the Deacon in 

 one boat and neighbor Merrill and I in anothe-r, the others 

 preferring to stay with the wagons. Before we bad gone a 

 hundred rods a shout from Frank's boat ahead proclaimed 

 lhat sometheni bad happened, and looking in their direction 

 we saw the Deacon, who had before leaving home concealed 

 a trolling line find spoon somewhere about his person, hold 

 up a shining small-mouthed black bass that, when weighed, 

 pull' d down the scale to nearly four pounds. This was a 

 symptom, a very large -sized symptom, of good things to 

 come, and then we all shoute-d and felt better than we did the 

 night just passed. But we had our opinion of the Deacon for 

 snaking in mat first baas on us in such a surreptitious manner, 

 and with a hand line, too. Shade of gentle Tnad Norris! A. 

 se^lemn conference was helo that night around the flickering 

 camp-fire aud the Deacon was vote d a pot-fisher of the Deep- 

 est dye, aud fit only to rank with a man who will fish for 

 blacR bass with woims. 



In crossing the mouth of a little creek (Rocky Creek) near 

 where the bass was taken, one of the horses attached to 

 the spring wagon took it into his cranky old head to mire in 

 the soft sand and fall down. The driver and the boys in the 

 wagon jumped out and into the wate-r; a couple cl feet deep, 

 and yanked hie; to his feet before any damage was doue, 

 and putting their strength to the hind wheels, quickly had 

 all safe on the beach across the creek with no more serious 

 consequences than a partial wetting and a slight scare; thus 

 pulling out of a "caeegory" that might have be en a calamity 

 had the horse drowned A few hundred yards further down 

 the wagons came to a halt where a couple of trees had fallen 

 across the- strip of beach, and as they could not drive around 

 them through the wood nor around the tops lying in the 

 water, we were foiced to unload and take to the boats. The 

 other two were brought down and all feeur were loaded and 

 started to camp, the drivers stopping long enough to feed 

 the horses before starting back, but declining our invitation 

 to go to camp and take breakfast. 



Two trips of the be.ats heavily loaded took the traps to 

 tbe camping place, and after a hurried breakfast, of which 

 the Deacon's bass formed a toothse me part, we decided that 

 this place Merrill had si leeted was just no camp at all, and 

 we would hunt for a better one. 



He had hacked out with his axe a small square in a dense 

 cedar swamp within a few feet of the water, which was 

 barely large enough for a good sized tent, to say nothing of 

 four, and a kitchen fly, and the ground was lumpy, damp 

 and spongy; in short a spot that Dick said would be "very 

 dih'torious to our health." 



The only reeleeming feature was a little stream running 

 into the lake at erne side e>f this opening; but even this was 

 a small inducement to stay, as the water in it tasted flat and 



swampy. 



The place would not do, and, taking a boat, Merrill, Jim 

 and I started down the shore to look at a spot about a mile 

 below, that M. said was dry, grassy, free of underbrush, and 

 "nig enough to hold fifty tents, br a hundreel of 'em if we 

 had 'em;" a place he would have picked on in the first place 

 only the drinking wate r was not handy, he thought. Arriv- 

 ing at the spot a hasty glance satisfied us, and, leaving Jim 

 to'cut te nt poles— we had brought the axe with us, thanks to 

 the Scribe's usual forethought— Merrill and I went back, and 

 the work oi moving began again. 



Two hours of hard work completed this last move, and as 

 old Ben lent a hand to get the last box out of the last boat 

 he was moved to warble a line from an e>ld song, slightly 

 altered to fit the occasion, "Sicb a gittin' to a camp I never 

 did see'' — agreed te> on the spot without a dissenting voice. 



In two or three horns more the four tents were up in good 

 shape, a flv stretched for the diuing-roe>m, stove put up, and 

 supper and dinner at once under way, and we liegan te> fed 

 at home and well pl< ased with our surroundings. A nice 

 level, dry place, Ave or six feet above the lake level, plenty 

 e»f crass for a carpet, no underbrush, trees enough for shade, 

 abundance of firewood along the beach, and a cold spring 

 branch within fifteei. or twenty rods of the "kitchen door"— 

 what me re could heart of camper-out hanker after? A few 

 rods back of us a strip of cedar swamp ran along the loot of 

 the low hill, and from the brow of this, stretching away 

 toward Little Black River, was another vast tract cf plains— 

 and hueklebi rries. 



A hundred yards below us stood an old roofless loggers 



camp, back a short distance from the water, which may 

 serve as a land mark for any wandering brother who may 

 some time waut to find about the best camping ground on 

 Black Lake. 



After supper was over and pipes lighted for a resting 

 smoke, neighbor Merrill gave us a taste of bis quality as a 

 talker "of many parts." He was wound up to the last notch, 

 and as this was no doubt the first opportunity presented for 

 some time to unburden himse-lf, "he jest turned himself 

 loose," as Ben said afterward, "and kt the oM macLine 

 buzz till it run down." 



He said the plains back of us were a great rerort for the 

 black bear during huckleberry time; in fact they were regu- 

 lar "summer resorters," and as ibis fruit was just now in its 

 prime, we were liable to see a bear most a»y day that we 

 would take the trouble to ge> a half mile from camp in the 

 burnt district. 



And then he told us how, a few days before our arrival, 

 one of his boys ami one of the Stewart boys had been out 

 on the plains, not far from our camp, bringing in a pair of 

 stray oxen, and bow ihey e-ame suddenly on a monstrous 

 bear eating bt rries by the roadside, and how one of the be>ys 

 put a load e>f birdshot into him at short range anel the bear 

 got away, and how in the ev< ning he and the boys and 

 the dogs had picked up the trail and run him half the night, 

 finally losing him in a ceelar swamp not far from his house, 

 after he had" "jest licked the daylights out o' all the de>gs." 

 Without giving us time to catch a breath after this story, 

 he gave the crank auothe r turn and pr ceeded to dilate at 

 length on Turk's merits as a bear dog, and dog for the- "gia- 

 eral run of all kinds o' varmints." Tnik was a sple-ndid 

 specimen of Scotch terrier, very l.erge for this breed, sinewy 

 and wiry looking as a wildcat, and possessed of rare dog 

 sense and intelligence. He sat on his haunches near his 

 master's knee with eyes half closed, as themgh he had heard 

 this story before, and as the narration of his many exploits 

 was volubly rehearsed and his name occasionally mentioned, 

 he would look up at the old man with one eye shut aud the 

 other half open, as much as to say, "Draw it mild, old pard 

 — a leetle milder, ef jou please." 



Aft"r giving us a long history of Turk, he called him and 

 said, "Turk, show tbe hoys that scar." 



We could see an old scar that began near the top of the 

 head and extended down back of the left ear unt.er the jaw, 

 which hael healed so well that it was barely noticeable unless 

 closely observed. 



"B'-'T done that," said Merrill. "One night a bear came 

 a smellin' around the hou«e — spect after a deer i'd killed »n' 

 hung up that day, and you bet Tuik lest went fur him. If 

 there's anything Turk likes to fight its a bear, and as I was 

 a bayin' he went fur that bear like a house alire, and the way 

 they kicked up the sand around them was a caution. 'Twas 

 after night, and b< fore I could git up and git my gun they had 

 fit across the clearin' into the hushes, and sich a yelpin' an' 

 snarlin' an' thrashin' arouud in the brush you never heard. 

 Before I could git to Vm the be ar h id hud Turk eeut an' grot 

 away, an' when I got the poor felkr back to the house ne 

 was the wust used up dog you ever see, but gentlemen, he 

 never whined, no, siiee, he was too trritty for that One leg 

 was bad hurt an' he was all over blood, an' one side of his 

 head was jest cuffed loose — lhat's the scar — but he never 

 whimpered. I patched him up an' uussed him for three 

 weeks before he could git hi* jaw in workm' order agin, but 

 he's all right now, an' would tackle a bear jest as quick as 

 he would a mink; tact is, he 'pears to hev a giuuge agin 

 bears ever since, an' I b'lieve he would swim the lake any 

 day if he thought there was a bear on t'other side waitin' for 

 a fight. Why, I've bin offered twenty dollars for that de)g, 

 but" money won't buy him, no, sir, the'd be war up 10 e.ld 

 Merrill's if I'd sell Turk, for if you b'lieve me, boys, the 

 young uns and my wile thinks more o' that de>g than they do 

 o'me." All this was rattled off in about the words X have 

 written, as near as I can now recall them, and as he "run 

 oown," he broke into a quiet chuckle that could have been 

 heard half a mile, Turk, meanwhile, snapping aimlessly at 

 an imaginary fly and dozing through it all with the air of a 

 martyr. 



Here the Scribe in the goodness of his heart offered the old 

 man "a drap to moisten his thrapple" after all this 1 Xpendit- 

 ure of wind, but to his utter amazement he declined with the 

 terse statement, "I never drink linker," which scored a point 

 in his favor with at least one ol his auditors. The sun was 

 now down, and straightening up from the campstool he said, 

 "Well, boys, I must be goin' back; I'll lake erne o' the boats 

 an' bring that lumber down in the mornin' to make your 

 table." 



"Speakin' o' bears," a<3 he dipped a cup of water out 

 of the bucket, "there's one thing about be^ars that mebbe 

 you don't know. Sometimes they come smelJiu' 'round a 

 man's camp in the night, an' sonie times they git into mis 

 chef, break up things an' carry off any kind o' loose vittels 

 layin' 'round, but you neeetn't be scared of 'em to-night; 

 there's one thing about bears, they never ecme botherin' 

 'round a man's camp the fiist night, it's most allays the 

 second night, or mebbe the third or fouiU night, an' if they 

 don't cemie then, they ain't a goin' to come at all, hut they 

 won't come to-higbt,' they allays come the second ni.^iht, you 

 can bet on that," aud with this cenulorting assurance he 

 shoved off in his boat and went up the lake singing, "Come 

 all ye u-alvant sailyers," or some such ancient ditty, in a 

 camp keetle tone of voice that 1 confidently believe culel 

 have been heard clear across the lake, a distance of six mil« s. 

 Tu-k was indeed a splendid dog, the finest Scotch terrier 

 I think I ever saw, and without a dem. t deserved all the 

 praise his master bestowed on him. He was a haret dog to 

 get acquainted with, but as he got the hang of the camp, 

 kind tn atment got the better of his surliness and Turk te>ok 

 his place as a favorite, his bright eye and the wag of his 

 stump tail always insuring him a welcome from the boys. 



Old Ben sat for some time holding bis campstool down, 

 one leg over the othe r, looking up the lake at Merrill's re- 

 ceding" boat, something evidently on his mind, aud as he 



got up and knocked the ashes out of his pipe he said in his 

 deliberate way, "Boys, it's a heap o' comiort to know them 

 bears aiu't a comin' 'rountt tonight; it's mighty good in '< m 

 to give us a rest the first night, for we're too tired to enter- 

 tain 'em." He-re a few whiffs to start a fre-h pipe. "To- 

 morrow we'll hev the camp all fixe-d up slie^ker'n grease, an 1 

 ef they drap in on us in the evenin', we'll git up a reception 

 fur 'em. Receptions is one of my best holts." A few vigor- 

 ous puffs to keep the- pipe from going out seemed to develop 

 a new idea, aud he went on, "But maybe they'll come 'r und 

 to-morrow night, an' maybe they won't. Old Merrill pears 

 to hev 'em oown fin.-, been studyiu' their points some, it's 

 likely, but you kin jest put up jour la t nickel that he kin 

 smell a cauip further'n a bear kiu, an' mind ye he'll be here 

 oitener'n the bears will." 



