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FOREST AND STREAM. 
47 
“Game is fairly plentiful in Middle Park. I saw a deer 
within a mile of Hot Sulphur Springs a week ago to-day. 
‘Three were killed in the same vicinity only a few days be- 
oe Plenty are being killed within from five to ten miles— 
that is, plenty for immediate personal use, The law is not 
‘off until Sept. 1, Fishing is excelent all over Middle Park. 
Mosquitoes nearly gone. Horse flies yet bad.” 
DUCKING IN KANDIYOHI. 
PQ ESOLVING to spend our vacation in the Northwest, 
4 we had started at Buffalo to make the grand trip of the 
lakes. At the Sault Ste. Marie, hearing of the fine fishing 
do be found on the north shore of Lake Superior, we had en- 
‘camped for several days upon the shores of Lake Nepigon, 
aroused by the fingerlings caught in our native streams, and 
increased by the fabulous stories of monster trout lurking in 
the deep cold waters of this northern lake, Leaving Nepi- 
gon, we had crept along the northern shore of the lake, 
among countless islands and tortuous passages and, finally 
arriving at Duloth, we had been Jured still further southward 
by a desire to see the substantial and rapidly growing cities 
of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the story of whose rapid 
growth and prosperity had seemed like a dream to our 
sleepy conservative New Bnglatid village, many of whose 
sons had been enticed hither and now openly sneered at the 
effete civilization of their native hills. 
Artiving at Minneapolis, we had idled away several weeks 
upon the shores of Lake Minnetonka, and finally tiring of 
her manifold attractions, we had visited the vast wheat fields 
of Dakota, and falling into the wake of the Villard party, we 
passed over the Northern Pacific to the National Park where 
“we had spent some time among the remarkable formations of 
the Yellowstone, and there taking a guide and outfit, we 
had wandered far from the beaten tracks in search of ante- 
lope and trout. 
On our return to Minneapolis we met Forsyth, an old 
friend, who invited usto accompany him for a few days’ 
shooting to a farni owned by his father in Kandiyohi county. 
The next morning found us, with our equipments, upon the 
northern bound train on the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Mani- 
foba R. R. Leaving the railroad at Willmar we rode about 
thirty miles through a beautiful rolling country, sparkling 
with Jakes, many of which were covered with ducks, while 
frequent flights of chickens rising at the sudden approach of 
our outfit filled us with joy for the morrow. Arriying at 
the house, a substantial frame building surrounded by gra- 
naries and stock barns, we received a cordial welcome from 
mine host Mr. Wisher, Fisher was a great character, tall, bony 
/ and good-humored; he was atypical New Englander. While. 
he was yet. a boy his parents, moved by the migrating spivit 
so common to eyery native-born American, had Jeft ‘*Var- 
mount” and settled in the southern part of the State while it 
) was yel an almost unknown region; when St. Paul, a mere 
collection of huts cowering beneath the wing of Fort Snell- 
ing, was inhabited by half-breeds and hard characters of 
every description; when life was a continual struggle against 
wild beasts and the still more savage Sioux, and when the 
‘settler Leld the rifle between the handles of his plow. He 
had served through the entire war of the rebellion, and had 
Yeturned with Sibley’s command in the dark days to find the 
whole Minnesota valley desolated and surrendered to the 
atrocities of the Sioux, his house burned to the ground and 
his property laid waste. . 
Nothing daunted, he had rebuilt his house and recom- 
menced the strugsle; but the fates seemed unpropitious, and 
he had finally drifted north, discouraged by many successive 
visitations of grasshoppers aud chinchbugs, finally accepting 
the management of the farm here. 
At about 4 o’elock we started for a marsb, or, as they call 
it here, ‘“a slew,” a mile back of the house. It was a mile 
long, two hundred yards wide, and surrounded on all sides 
by marsh grass, waist high. Tyo years before Forsyth had 
had it sown with wild rice, so that now it was a great resort 
for wildfowl of all kinds, being completety covered with 
them late in the fall, just before they take their flight 
south. On one side was a wheat field, now covered with 
stubble, and on the other was a great tract of ground 
but lately broken upon which the wildfowl congregated in 
| large numbers, Truly it was @ paradise for sportsmen. 
Lighting our pipes we stretched ourselves at full length in 
the tall grass, which completely concealed us, and awaited 
the evening flight. or a long time we lay there admiring 
the beauty of the day, It was one of those perfect Indian 
summer days, seen only to perfection in the clear, bracing 
atmosphere of the Northwest. The air was perfectly still 
and a slight haze hung over the surface of the earth, while 
a sheht chill on the air warned us that summer was gone 
and that old winter was rapidly approaching. The sun was 
near the horizon when a flock of mallards swept directly 
over our heads and circled to our decoys. 
We blazed into the flock, getting six before they recovered 
from their surprise and were out of range. They were fol- 
lowed by ancther flock and still another, until it seemed that 
all the ducks in the country had selected that one ‘‘slew” as 
their resting place. We levied toll upon each flock until it 
was so dark that we could not see to shoot; then gathering up 
our dueks we returned home hungry but happy. Most of 
the ducks were mallards, there were afew teal and redheads, 
and three that Forsyth said were canvas-backs, but 1 was 
quite sure that the canvas-back never came so far west. 
Arriving at the house we partook of a substantial meal of 
duck, chickens and sandhill crane, the last of which, shot 
by one of the men returning from his work, was delicious. 
‘After supper we drew up around a great open fireplace, in 
Which a great fire was roaring, for »sit became dark a cold 
wind had risen which, sweeping across the unbroken prairie, 
shool: the house to its foundations. Presently Fisher, taking 
down his pipe, asked us if any of us had ever been caught in 
a “blizzard,” then he went on to describe the winter before, 
which had been exceptionally severe all through the North- 
west. ‘The snow had been two feet deep on a Jevel, and for 
three months he had not stirred out of the house except to go 
to the barn to tend the stock, several times the thermometer 
‘approached thirty degrees below zero, and during one ‘‘bliz- 
gard,” which term I found was applied to the driving snow 
storms which sweep along the Western prairies, he had been 
lost between the barn and the house and had barely escaped 
with his life.. One family, he said, living about three miles 
west of him, had been caught unsupplied with fuel, and 
| after a three days’ blizzard were found frozen todeath, while 
the hn of furniture showed how they had fonght against 
their fate. 
__ Then becoming still more communicative, he told us of 
| the early days of Minnesota, how he had grown up sur- 
Tounded by wild beasts and Indians, for in those days the 
‘satisfying forthe first time our piscatorial longings, first. 
‘of protection they have had. 
nearest settlement was thirty miles distant, while his next 
door neighbor was three miles up the creck; of the Sioux 
war and the terrible spectacles he had seen on his return, 
children with their eyes cut out left to starve, and babies 
left hanging by their mouths upon sharpend stakes, and 
other cruelties too terrible to believe. It was11 o'clock be- 
fore we retired to our well-earned slumbers, asking’ Fisher 
to awaken us at 4 on the next morning, for we were going to 
try_our luck with the geese on the plowed ground. 
Promptly at four we were awakened by Fisher. It was 
dark and cold, and [ felt very unhappy and sleepy until 
Brown poured a bucket of water on me which effectually 
awakened me, After a cup of coffee anda light meal, which 
Mrs. Fisher had been kind enough to prepare, we set out for 
the “ploughed ground,” as the large section of broken 
ground north of the house was designated. Arriving at the 
edge of this tract we separated, each man taking about a 
dozen decoys. Fisher had sent out some of the hands the 
day before, and we found our pits already prepared, with a 
plentiful supply of straw on the bottom, Setting up my 
decoys and cocking my gun, I sat down on my straw and 
awaited the arrival of the geese, which Reuniled at day- 
break fo feed upon the yarious creatures turned up by the 
breakers, though I could uot see upon what they subsisted, 
as the ground was very hard and would resist the best efforts 
of a worm to force its way through. 
It was now nearly light, when 1 heard a report far off in 
Forsyth’s section of the tield, and presently I heard the dis- 
tant honk, honk of the geese as they slowly approached my 
side. Presently they passed directly over me to Brown’s 
part of the field, and as they were a good way up I let them 
go. LI was just falling into a doze when another flock 
passed only a few feet above my head with a lond roar, and 
yeering suspiciously from the decoys settled upon the ground 
on the other side of the pit. There were about a dozen of 
them, ridiculous looking objects as they slowly waddled 
around pluming themselves and craning their long necks at 
the decoys on the other side, as if they wondered why they 
did not respond to their overtures. Atter watching them for 
some time I remembered that I had a gun, and waiting until 
they were well bunched around an ear of corn that had been 
left by the breakers, I poured both barrels into them, and 
before they could recover from their surprise | slipped in 
another shell and winged one more before they could get out 
of range. These were soon followed by a couple of sand- 
hill cranes, one of which concluded to stay with the geese. 
Two more tlocks followed the cranes, but were very wild, 
and I only succeeded in getting two more. At about 8 
o’clock [ left my pit, feeling very well satisfied with my bag, 
six geese and a sandhill beside a fat mallard which had wan- 
dered away from the fold and had joined the geese and the 
crane, 
Approaching Brown’s pit I fonnd him in the cave of 
gloom. For some unexplained reason the geese had not 
come near his pit, although they had flown over repeatedly. 
When J looked at his decoys, [ found that he had set them 
all in a line with their heads toward the direction whence the 
geese had come, I suggested that a decoy set in that direc- 
tion (for the decoys were made of sheet iron cut into the 
Shape of a goose and painted) was not calculated to exert 
much influence over a goose flying toward it, whereupon a 
settled gloom spread over his face and he refused to be com- 
forted. Forsyth also had good success, getting four geese, 
three ducks and a badger. 
We remained for nearly a week at the farm, having 
splendid sport and at the end of that time we tore ourselves 
away with difficulty, promising to return again the next 
year if the fates were propitious. W. Dz. W., JR. 
PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 
Apee annual fusilade has begun on the young red-winged 
blackbirds that are flocking from their nesting grounds 
to our Delaware shores. The birds are yet young and have 
but few pin feathers and readily picked, A month hence, 
however, when reedbirds will be with us, the blackbirds 
will be in less demand. It is surprising how any of the 
latter are sold in our markets at the present time. Grass 
plover shooting is quite good in our interior counties, and 
sportsmen who enjoy ‘‘chaising it” for these delicious birds 
are having good sport. One friend, whose horse does not 
stand fire as well as he would like, tells me he fills his ani- 
mal’s ears with cotton to deaden the sound of the gun, and 
the plan works well. 
Your correspondent noticed a marked decrease of all the 
varieties of terns at Barnegat a week since. The demand 
for the skins of these birds by the milliner has caused this. 
So scarce are all sorts of gulls, terns, etc,, that the taxider- 
mists who located at Barnegat and Beach Haven last year 
did not present themselves this season. Their quarters haye 
been taken up on the Atlantic coast south of Cape May, 
where the birds are more plentiful, One resident of Barne- 
gat has*made quite a sum by hatching young chickens by 
incubators and killing them for their skins, 
Thad along talk with an old resident of Barnegat, who 
remembers the last ‘‘grouse” or prairie chicken that was 
killed in New Jersey. This he tells me was twenty-three 
rears ago. He recollects the time when Hast Plains, Bur- 
sion county, held hundreds of them, and related to me 
how he had often made a train of grain in a section where 
the grouse frequented, and from a brush hide more than once 
killed a dozen at a fire as they fed; this was the favorite way 
to make a bag. Is it a wonder then that from such a com- 
paratively limited space as the East and West Plains of Bur- 
lington county, N. J., offered asa harbor forthe grouse, they 
are DOW gone? 
Deer are yet plentiful, so to speak, in the lower counties of 
New Jersey, but itis owing entirely to the late three years 
In the big swamp near Mana- 
hawken, N. J,, black bears are known now to live, their re- 
treat being almost impenetrable, and for the reason that no 
dogs yet put upon their track will follow them, bruin is quite 
safe, 
Two large broods of black ducks are making their head- 
quarters on the marshes near Gunning River, Barnegat Bay. 
These fowl were hatched in the neighborhood, probably in 
the big swamp on Long Beach, and are large and strong 
enough to make extensive flights. Itis probable they will 
not We allowed to live until the duck shooting seasons opens. 
Homo. 
AUGUST 9, 
TowA Prargim CurcKens.—Eldora, Ja., Aug. 2.—The 
crop of prairie chickens in this central part of the State is 
extra good, and they will have some chance for their lives, 
as by our new law the season does not begin until Sept. 1. 
There is, however, some shooting being done, but the yio- 
lators of the law aré pretty careful about it—W.8,P,  ~ 
Tar Botp Hunter or Pocono.—A young “gentleman 
sportsman,” Solon Chamberlain by name, has been stopping 
at the different villages in the Pocono Mountains for two 
weeks past. He came into the mountains from Philadelphia, 
and has created much amusement among the rough-and- 
ready hunters of Pike and Monroe counties by his fancy 
hunting outfits and large stories of his exploits in the Georgia 
swamps. On Sunday, a party of hunters started and 
wounded a bear near Oakland, but it escaped from them. 
On Monday Solon Chamberlain alighted froma Lackawanna 
train at Oakland and desired to be put on the track of the 
bear. He had on a buckskin hunting jacket and leggins, all 
brand new, and a wide belt filled with loaded cartridges. A. 
Joug hunting knife hung in a sheath by his side. He carried 
a double-barreled gun, which was locked in its sole-leather 
case. He said he did not believe there was a bear in the 
whole country, but if there was he would like to meet it. 
James Smith and Walter Knapp walked down the railroad 
track with Chamberlain, and showed him about where the 
bear had last been seen in the woods. Without stopping to 
take his gun out of its case the visiting hunter entered the 
woods, Smith and Knapp, not believing the bear was any- 
where in the vicinity, started slowly hack. They had walked 
not more than a hundred yards before they heard a great 
noise behind them, and looking back saw first Chamberlain 
emerge hatless from the edge of the woods, still grasping 
the handles of his locked gun case and hallooing for help, 
and then, not ten feet behind, a big bear bringing up the 
rear, and following the wonderfully equipped hunter with 
very evident evil intentions. Chamberlain dashed up the 
railroad track at the top of his speed, but the bear, on seeing 
the two other men, gave up the chase and returned with eyi- 
dent reluctance to the woods. Chamberlain said that he had 
surprised the bear dining ov a shcep in the woods, and that 
it had made for him before-he could unlock his gun case and 
put his gun together. A party went out in pursuit of the 
bear the same afternoon aid killed it. Mr, Chamberlain 
went away on the next train.— Times, _ 
Woopcock my Hasta#aAmMpron.—A correspondentin whom 
we have perfect reliance writes from Hasthampton, Mass,, 
about the reported abundance of woodcock in that vicinity: 
“The item in your issue of July 31, dated here, is an imposi- 
tion. There are parties in this vicinity who are much 
provoked because the land here is Jargely posted under the 
trespass act hy last Legislature. Some three years ago a law- 
less fellow who lived here was arrested and punished for 
killing quail during the close season, and to ‘pay off? the 
sportsmen, he and another fellow, last year, began bunting 
Aug. 1, and continued through the whole season, selling 
their birds in Springtield. As they were both good shots and 
tireless workers, they thinned out the birds more than all the 
gunners here would in two seasons; and they claimed that 
they were going to keep it up as long as they could find any 
birds. The trespass act gaye us an opportunity to check 
them, and now lands are very generally posted, although any 
decent gunner from outside can join the club, which has the 
exclusive right to hunt on the posted land, on the same terms 
as the citizens here have. These are the whole facts. To 
the best of my belief there were not 150 woodcock killed by 
all the hunters in this town last year, including the two who 
shot for the market. [ killed just six, and no one I know 
of did as well except the two market hunters.” 
Notes From lowa,—Glenwood, Ta,, Aug. 7.—Having 
been out in the country very often this summer, I have 
found the quail plenty, and good shooting may be expected. 
Rabbits are Dumerous everywhere, Our mainstay is the 
duck shooting, especially in the fall, which is the proper 
time to shoot them, | think. Heavy bags may be made by 
eyen*an ordinary shot. At Waubousie Lake, twelye miles 
south of this place, good shooting may be found until very 
late m the season. Boats may be had at any time during the 
season. Ducks linger here long after the small ponds are 
closed by ice, as they find good feeding here, Itis asad 
thought that with us ruffed grouse are a thing of the past. 
During five years of shooting here I have not.seen one; this 
in woods where they were once plenty. ‘Turkeys are found 
in small flocks aleng the timber of the river-bottom lands, 
Our fishing is limited to the above lake, and many of our 
sportsmen avail themselves of its cool shade and fine springs. 
Snipe shooting was the best this spring that we bave had for 
many years, and heayy bags were made by many of our 
good shots. We expect to give all kinds of game a warm 
welcome this fall, I have just finished reading ‘*Wood- 
craft,” and it is the best work on the subject I have ever 
read,— W. H. Ri. 
Two-Hyep SHootTmne,—“‘S. Y, L.,” of Glassyille, Mo,, 
thinks “me *‘oft” in what I have said of two-eyed shooting. 
Perhaps 1am, Most of the men who advocate two-eyed 
shooting claim the use of both eyes to be a decided advan- 
tage. ‘S. Y. L.” says: “Now, the fact is two-eyed riflemen 
shoot just exactly as others do, ¢. ¢., they look through the 
sights with one eye, while the other is of no use whatever— 
it might as well be shut.” If this be a true statement, I can 
understand how my clerical friend missed the glass balls 
formerly referred to; but I cannot understand how a man’s 
eyes are arranged who can be looking through the fine sight 
of a rifle with one, and off into futurity or elsewhere with 
the other é¢ye at one and the same time. I’ve tried for years 
to acquire the art. But, in all seriousness, the eyes of men 
who shoot with both eyes opeu must be differently arranged, 
as regards the axis of vision, from those of ordinary men, 
that is, if they see the sights. 1 know that when I shoot at 
a fruit can with my revolver, and without sighting, I simply 
throw the pistol out to position, keeping both eyes open, 
and I do not see the sights of the pistol at all; it takes the 
proper direction instinctively. —AMATBEUR. 
Mn. TaAyver’s Back Door.—Milford, N. Y., Aug. §.— 
Editor Forest and Stream: Woodcock shooting is very poor, 
the birds being very much scattered, four or five beige an 
average day’s work. Grouse are more plentiful than usual, 
and if Mr. Thayer’s pot-hunters will only let them alone, we 
shall have some splendid shooting here in September, By 
the way, this man Thayer, who runs an eating house near 
Cooperstown, is still holding out inducements for gunners to 
break the law, as te offers the same price for ‘‘shortbills” 
(meaning grouse) that he does for woodceck; and he also 
makes it a point to ask gunners whi sell him birds, why 
they don’t bring him some “‘shortbills.” This is the man 
who claimed to represent the sportsmen of Otsego county at 
the State Convention several years ago, and who really did 
get on the commision for a revision of our game laws. The 
sportsmen of this vicinity are ‘laying low” for birds of this 
feather, and his judgment day may he near at hand,—Sorv, 
TATOR, 
