446 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
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4 
(Jan. 1, 1885. 
Gane Bag and Gun. 
THE BEAVER DAM CLUB. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The following comprises the organization and complete 
list to date of the members of the Beaver Dam Duck and 
Vishing Club: 
R. W. Mitchell, M. D., President; W. B. Mallory, Vice- 
President; W. A. Wheatley, Secretary and Treasurer; Mr. 
Hutchison, Club House Keeper; James Phelan, Sam P. 
Walker, D. H. Poston, Dr. D. D. Saunders, R. D. Jordan, 
W. H, Carroll, W. L. Clapp, Chas. F. Farnsworth, Jobn 
Overton, Jr., Bun I. Price, J. 8. Menken, W. A, Williams, 
D. W, Lake, John T. Willins, W. D. Bethel, E. F, Adams, 
H. L. Guion, George Gillham, Robert Galloway, George 
Mitchell, L. B. McFarland, A. C. Treadwell, F. T, Edmond- 
son, T. 8. Davant, W. F. Bowdre, C. P. Stewart, W. M. 
Sneed, M. L. Selden, Dr. G. W. Overall, U. W. Miller, W. 
J, Crawford, R. T. Cooper, Dabney M. Scales, Minter 
Parker, W. W. Alsobrook. Honorary Members—Capt. 
Sam T. Carnes, Lieut. John Kerr, Hon. Holmes Cummins, 
Dr, Richard J, Owen, John D. Ussery, J, M, Edwards, 
Charles W. Reagan, Capt. J. A. Grant, C.H., E. P, McNeal, 
Judge A. M. Clayton, James 8. Dayant, John Bradley, Dan 
Shelby, Tom Devine. 
Limited to thirty-eight active members; the list is now full, 
and five applications on file, 
The president of this club, Dr. R. W. Mitchell, has been 
identified with sportsmen’s clubs and matters in this section 
during the last twenty-five years. During the past fourteen 
years he has been president of the Arkansas Prairie Club, 
the famous records of which have a world-round name. The 
Doctor has always been an earnest and enthusiastic worker 
in these matters, and is as bright and full of vigor and energy 
as he was when he first pulled trigger and bagyved game. 
The gentlemen whose names comprise this organization, 
are among the first and most prominent business and profes- 
sional mén in this city. Hence its personelle alone would 
make it remarkable for the singular worth and Tame of the 
individuals in the lists of social and business life, if they had 
no other prominent feiture to make them notable. But as 
hunters and excellent shots, many of them have made records 
that any sportsman may well be proud of. With the prestige 
of good name for hospitality, generosity, and fondness for 
field sports that these gentlemen have exhibited and enjoyed 
for a long time, their kinship of disposition and habits have 
led them to form this club, in whose genial ranks and pleas- 
ant associations there is more pleasure to a true sportsman 
than we have found in any other organization of the kind in 
the West, The club has leased a vast preserve for hunting 
and fishing, at a point on the Memphis & New Orleans Rail- 
way, forty-five miles south of this city. There they have 
erected a handsome, large, roomy club house, and provided 
if with every convenience and appliance that luxurious and 
sesthetic taste can desire, It is really more than a comfort- 
able place, for it has the details of fine hotel arrangements, 
elegant camp equipage, storage and kitchen rooms, large and 
well provided pantry, extensive commissary stores, the best 
of cooking apparatus, and in every detail of attention to the 
wants and enjoyment of the members and visitors, it is com- 
pletely provided. The station is a private platform for the 
club only. 
The location of the house is on the edge of Beaver Dam 
Lake, At the front of the house there is a large platform, 
to which are moored in safe pockets the numerous boats 
which belong to the club. The beautiful sheet of water ex- 
tends westward about seven miles, and its clear and wide 
bosom presents so placid and safe an appearance that vast 
multitudes of ducks, geese, brant, swans and all sorts of 
water fowl are tempted to stop and harbor there. For many 
years the place has been famous among hunters for the large 
quantity, fine quality and variety of game found on these 
witers andin the vicinity, and hence, when the new club 
went into organization, the members promptly contracted 
for a lease to continue during ten years, and longer if de- 
sired after the lapse of that period, at the pleasure of the 
parties mutually interested. 
At the western end of the large lake there is a bayou 
passageway leading to a smaller lake, and in the sharp and 
rapid current of this connecting stream there is found the 
largest quantity and variety of fish of which we have any 
knowledge inthe South, The fishing members of the club 
are among the most famous anglers in the West, and they 
report such marvelous catches that LT will not attempt a 
record for the present, but can promise that it will be hard 
to beat. The feeding grounds of the fish in these waters 
are inexhaustible, and hence there will always be unsur- 
passed sport here in this line. 
The present season has thus far proved remarkably enticing 
to the ducks and shooters, and large bays of luscious fat 
fowls have been bagged by the members. The food area is 
provided with unlimited supplies of native materials, but to 
make everything as sure as possible the club sowed a Jarge 
quantity of wild rice on the rich feeding grounds of the 
lake, and thus provide very luxurious and luxuriant incen-: 
tives to the wildfow] that harbor in vast numbers in these 
preserves. There is also a large areca of wild mast and grass 
nuts, floating moss and other vegetation, the assimilation of 
which gives remarkable flavor to the meat of the game, 
The club also controls several thousand acres of forest 
bordering on these lakes, in the recesses of which there are 
large numbers of bear, wild turkeys, squirrels, deer, beaver, 
quail, etc., in sufficient yariety and quantity to gratify the 
wishes and ambition of hunters of every kind and degree, 
There is a very considerable area of open plantation land iu 
the vicinity, so that those who desire to shoot in the fields 
and thickets can find variety to their satisfaction. My own 
decision with regard to the Beaver Dam Club preserves is 
that the place is hardly equalled and not excelled by any 
other on this continent, 
Capt. W. A. Wheatley, the secretary and treasurer of the 
Beaver Dam Club, has a famous name for his fondness for 
sport with dog and gun. He is one of the most enthusiastic 
gentlemen in the lists of sportsmen, aud with his affable, 
genial and generous ways, is justly entitled to the reputa- 
tion he bears. Those who are entitled fo the courtesies and 
kindly attentions of the club will find treatment such as a 
royal host always accords a favored guest. 
With regard to new shooting grounds, there are several 
lately-developed places where the game is just too enticing 
for a description to do justice to the subject. In North Ala- 
bama, in the vicinity of Tuscumbia and for seventy-five miles 
west along the line of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, 
the country lying along the Tennessee River and the hills on 
the south of the line, abound with all kinds of field and water 
game. Throughout all of that region there are immense 
quantities of mast and food, and quails, ducks, turkeys, 
wolves, squirrels, pigeons, etc., haye accumulated during 
the past few years in vast quantitics, that invite sportsmen 
to make the biggest kind of bags of a variety of game. The 
people of the country arc hospitable, and the young men are 
generally very genial and welcome strangers who are fond 
of hunting, and disposed to show themevery kind of courtesy 
and kindly attentions. 
On the battlefields of Shiloh a wonderful large amount of 
various kinds of game attracts those who are fond of sport 
that. requires quick sight and sharp attention in shooting 
among the thickets and sedge grasses of those old fields. 
From Memphis the best shooting grounds in the South and 
West are those lately opened and made accessible by the 
Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway, which goes 
through the rich bottom Jands lying along the Mississippi 
River. A few miles south of the lodge of the Beaver Dam 
Olub, which is located on this new line of railway, there is 
game of all kinds incident to this country. Several officers 
of the road are members of the Beaver Dam Club, and as 
they are a most enthusiastic erganization, those who go down 
that line to hunt will find very sympathetic men to deal with. 
very facility that is within reasonable bounds is extended 
to hunters, and those parties who desire to try their quality 
and capacity in slaying bears, wildcat, catamounts, deer, 
turkeys and smaller same will find all they want all along 
the line, so they will not go astray by stopping off at any 
point on the road, There are numerous stations along the 
line down through Sunflower and Yazoo county, such as 
Clarkesdale, Yazoo; Pass. Greenyille and Swan Lake, where 
hunters can be accommodated, housed and furnished with 
cooking apparatus, or stop with the planters, whose hospi- 
tality is proverbial, or parties can take camp equipage and 
find easy access to shooting grounds where the supply of 
fame is inexhaustible. The railway furnishes quick trans- 
portation, and at low rates to those who wish to send their 
game to the North. 
In the vicinity of Vicksburg and Natchez there are illim- 
itable quantities of small game, the working of which in the 
fields will test the best qualities of amateur shooters. Club 
men and shots who have reputation will find genial com- 
panions and hearty welcome at all points in this line hunting 
region. Ido not know of any otlier section that offers so 
many pleasant inducements to those who love field sports 
than those places which I have mentioned. 
Mempxts, Tenn., Dec, 10. Dr. J. E. NaGue. 
EXPERIENCE AND ADVICE. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As the season has been unusually favorable for late shoot- 
ing, and having a young doz which I was anxious to develop 
as far as possible this fall, lextended my shooting rambles 
a little beyond my customary limit, and have only to-day 
cleaned and put away my guns for the year. I look with 
pleasure at the three as they stand side ty side, and recall 
the past season’s work done with the little 12-cauge 28-inch 
cylinder bore, and wondered if “M. D.” is so very wild in 
his suggestion regarding a gun for early shooting, as set forth 
in your issue of Dec, 4. I think not. 
My next gun is a 12-80, 72 pounds, full choke, and I have 
only used it twice this season, and for no other reason than 
because I have fallen very much in favor of a 28-inch cylin- 
der bore. The next gun is a 10-32, 102 pounds, is only used 
in duck shooting and has been aired but once this fall, con- 
sequently it has but a small record for this season—tive blue- 
winged teal and two yellowlegs. I have used the cylinder 
bore gun in all my field shooting the past season, and | have 
come to believe that for our game bird shooting we have 
no use for chokebored guns, In three clay-pigecon matches 
(the only ones in which I have ever participated) I held my 
own against chokebores at 24 yards rise. J also killed with 
this gun eleven out of twelve live pigeons at 21 yards rise, 
using 1 ounce No, 8 shot. The wind was blowing a gale 
from the shooters, and some of the birds were killed at 65 
yards. I have also killed many ducks with this gun, and 
give these little experiences merely as points in favor of 
cylinder guns for field purposes. The recoil is also less from 
a cylinder bore than from a chekebore, and it also does not 
clad at the muzzle, making it much more easily cleaned. 
I load with 3 drams powder, 1 ounce No. 9 shot, for early 
shooting; later in the fall 83} drams and 14 ounces No. 8 or 
No, 7, After trying a preat many experiments in loading 
shells, [have found none more simple or effective than to 
usé the first grades or powder (the higher brands of any of 
the manufacturers are good), | use Orange, as itis conyeni- 
ent for me to get and gives good satisfaction; put a paste- 
board and two pink-edge wads over powder, and a pasteboard 
wad oyer shot, The cardboard wads I cut myself. Lalways 
use chilled shot, as they give better penetration and do not 
lead the barrels as much as the soft. 
[think cylinder guns are gaining in favor every season, 
and I know of several sportsmen about here who have dis- 
carded chokebores entirely. 
For five seasons I used a full choke gun in field shooting, 
and am not sorry I did so, for it taught me to ‘‘hold on” my 
birds more closely, and Iam much the better shot for it, 
“M. D.” made a good record, and J have also had some of 
my most pleasant and successful days’ shooting in the New 
England States, where 1 have hunted and fished nearly every 
season until the present, when business matters prevented me 
from leaving home for any length of time, so I was forced to 
take my outings nearer home, in Dutchess and adjacent 
counties. Perhaps the bags were notso large, but game 
was much more abundant about here than usual, and agood 
bag was often the result of a day’s tramp, and the rambles 
through forest and field were as enjoyable as ever, 
“M. D.” has given some very good advice, and although I 
should puta little more than 24+ drams powder behind 12 
ounces shot, and prefer shooting game birds over a dog, 1 
shall not dispute anytoing in his most interesting little 
sketch, for *‘M, D.”’ has had more experience than myself, 
and evidently knows of what he is writing. 
As I said before, I have three guns, two with laminated 
steel barrels and one with Damascus; two I have used seyen 
years and one two years, and to-day they are all as bright 
and free from rust as the day they came from the factory, 
and never have they had a particle ot rust on them, Ihave 
used them on the salt marshes duck shooting, and in rain 
and snow, and when away from home having run short of 
Joaded shells, have used the most inferior ammunition. 
I never use anything fora rust preventer but plenty of 
soft, dry rags and the best sperm oil, which I buy by the 
quart, When I hear of the trouble others are always having 
With their guns rusting, I can’t but think they are not 
properly cleaned. If all the foulness is not first remoyed, a 
pint of oil will not prevent the rust spots from making their 
appearance. I always clean my gun after a day’s shooting, 
first wiping out the barrels with 4 soft, dry rag, then with a 
yag dampened with a little cool water, This will take all 
the burnt powder which may be caked to the barrels out: 
then wipe dry with soft rags made to fit the barrels tightly, 
and changed two or three times until you are sure there is 
no dampness left; then with another rag and a little oil wipe 
them out and they are finished, In a chokebore the barrels 
will often lead at the muzzle after firing many shots, as in 
clay-pigeon and other matches, Then the wire brush used 
with plenty of oil, and used only at the muzzle will remove 
the lead without any injury whateyer to the gun. The locks 
I only take off once a year, unless the gun has in some way 
become so wet as to damage them. In taking apart the 
locks, have a spring clamp and a screw driver that exactly 
fits the small screws, and use it for nothing else; clean each 
part with benzine and an old tooth brush (kerosene will do 
in place of benzine), then wipe with a soft cloth. Now take 
another cloth with a little sperm oil and wipe each piece, 
and as you put the lock together, oil the working parts, and 
where there is any friction with a very little watchmaker’s 
oil, and your lock is good fora year. All this can be done 
in a very few minutes, and after once baying become accus- 
tomed to cleaning a gun thoroughly, itcan be done as quickly 
and as easily as to half do it. Your gun will then Jast 
longer; shoot better and be a pleasure to look at. G. F. A, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Pye read a great deal on the cheice of guns in your col. 
umns lately, and as I said once before there, I believe the 
craze for high-priced foreign made guns has about run its 
length. I used for two years a fifty dollar 12 hore Colt, with 
all the new improvements. When in Virginia last season I 
loaned it to a young and ardent sportsman to go out after 
quail. It pleased him so much that he gave me no rest until 
he bought it. The following paragraph from the Warrenton 
True Index, of Dec. 18, relates to the same gun and sports- 
man: 
“Jas. K. Maddux killed 28 partridges on the wing in 26 
shots one day this week and wants the veteran sportsman, 
Col. Judson, to know that the reputation of his gun is being 
kept up,” 
When one knows the rough, hard cover they hayeto shoot 
through in that section, no better proof of gun and good 
shooting can be had. J own an English gun now, but Pl 
part with it the first chance I get. Nep BuNTuLINn, 
“SOME REMARKABLE SHOTS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Colonel Alexander’s article, ‘“‘A Lousiana Deer Drive,” 
brought to my mind an experience that once happened to 
myself and a friend, some twenty miles north otf Minden, 
La, The home of old Col. F,, whose hospitable residence: 
stood on the main road, nearly midway between Minden 
and Magnolia, was a general rendezvous of all the noted) 
huntersin that section of the country, He was the owner: 
of a pack of some of the best deer dogs that ever answered : 
the long, shrill blast of a huntsman’s horn, while the old. 
gentleman, who had been born and raised in the mountains) 
and glens (valleys) of the Cherokee purchase in Northern 
Georgia, was one of the best marksmen in that section of) 
the State, and the owner of as fine a rifle as falls to the lot 
of man. He had become so skilled in the use of his pet 
rifle that he could place his bullet in any desired spot of a 
squirrel, a turkey or a deer, generally nickiug the latter in 
the back of the head so as to cut the cord behind the ears, 
when he could get a side shot. Turkeys invariably came| 
home minus the head—he always contended that it spoiled| 
the flayor of the meat to shoot them through the body. 
For years it had been the height of my ambition—in 4 
sporisman sense—to be as good a marksman as my old 
friend; and he, knowing my desire, had taken much care” 
and pains to teach me the secrets of the rifle, and many 
were the leisure hours we spent in the woods tovether, 
snufilng off the heads of the squirrels, from their perches 
on the tall hickory trees of Horsehead Bottom. His rule} 
was to count out ten, fifteen or twenty bullets for each of us, 
so that there could be no dodging when the spoils of the; 
hunt were reckoned. This made me very careful not to 
waste ammunition, as the merits depended wholly on the) 
number of successful shots, not on the amount of game; 80° 
that if I had received ten bullets, and brought home three 
squirrels minus their heads, and seven bullets, that was. 
satisfactory, and gave me a full score; while his ten equi 
rels proved that he had sharper eyes than mine. : 
Thus the years passed on until I was—under his instruc- 
tions—considered a fair shot. One day, while spending a 
month’s vacation at the old plantation, 1 had started with 
my rifle to hunt around the cornfieid that bordered the edge 
of the creek bottom. Moving slowly along the outside of 
the fence, I started the finest gang of turkeys | ever saw in 
a wild state; they were feeding in the edge of a field, and) 
being disturbed, took wing and flew in every direction, two 
alighting on a dead tree a hundred and fifty yards from: 
where [ stood, To approach nearer was impossible, and I: 
hesitated to risk a bullet, as the old man knew how many I: 
had in my pouch, but the shot was so tempting that I 
touched the hair-trigger; when, to my surprise and pleasure, 
the bird fell, the other craning its neck and looking after its 
fallen comrade. I reloaded slowly, drew a bead on it, and, 
beyond all expectation, it fell to the ground. Returning to 
the house in time for breakfast, displaying my trophies, I 
noticed that the old gentleman eyed me with a jealous 
glance when I told him the spot where I stood and the tree, 
which he knew well. After counting my bullets, he grunted, 
*‘Ahem; good shots,” and turned off apparently dissatistied. 
For ten days after this his actions were full of mystery; 
he would slip quietly off with rifle in hand, dirceling hig 
steps toward the cornfield and bottom, without as much as 
‘‘Alex, my boy, get your gun and let us go to the woods,” 
his usual hearty salutation; and day after day he came home 
empty-handed, hung up his gun, bis sour face precluding 
questioning. Taking grandmother into my confidence, I 
queried the cause, when that good old soul said: ‘Let 
father alone; he feels sore at you killing those turkeys, and 
fears you are going to beat him,” 
I kept my own counsel, but determined to follow him the 
next day, keeping well out of his sight, but near enough t& 
observe his movements. 
Sure enough, the next morning found him on the move by 
the first peep of day. Watching his course from the win- 
dow, I was soon on the trail, down around the cornfield 
fence, then off on a tangent into the bottom, bere 
stealthily close after him, along a hog path for a hupdrec 
yards, atJast [ spied him safely ensconced bebind a br 
