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JAN, 15, 1885.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
485 
perfection we see described in newspapers, that a man can 
haye a pretty and good gun without costing him a fortune, 
and can shoot better in his common apparel than he can in 
the costume of the sporting dude. However, I can searcely 
handle the pen in field sports, and simmer down as dry as 
you scem to prefer. The great enjoyment at last of the 
sportsman is in the imaginative and fancy part. To simply 
shoot and kill is not the enjoyable. Bright anticipations; 
the indtseribable influence of crisp, autumn air; the rich, 
golden hue of the receding sun, rolling low in the clear blue 
sky; the richesf of perfumes distilled from fading plants 
and melting frost; the blustering whirr of the winged 
pheasant; ‘he weird whistle of the selfish woodcock’s flight; 
the flashy dart of the startled quail; the fluttering, foaming 
Splash of the ducks in the river, their rise higher and higher 
until they become dotted strings far against the sky; the 
praceful, gamy gallop of your laborious setter; the twirling 
downfalling leaf. What a pity to grow old! GRAEMA, 
DEER IN THE ADIRONDACKS, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My personal knowledge of this subject extends back only 
to the year 1870. Previous to that time, I am eredibly in- 
formed by men born and brought up in that country and 
who made hunting and trapping throughout the winter 
season a specialty, there was seemingly no end to the num- 
bers of deer and fur-bearing animals all through that locality. 
One of my informants—a gentleman of unquestioned 
veracity, who has always resided in the eastern part of Lewis 
county, and whose father was one of the earliest settlers— 
informs me that he used to kill as high as fifty or sixty 
deer during the fall and fore part of winter by still-hunting, 
shipping the same to Albany for a market, and that the deer 
continued equally plenty, notwithstanding those killed by 
still-hunters, until they commenced hounding. This same 
gentleman, last fall, undertook to supply himself with a 
quantity of yenison for winter’s use, and succeeded in bring- 
ing to bag during the entire month of November Jast the total 
number* of four deer. This feat was accomplished upon 
ground so well stocked with deer four years ago last fali 
that he would not have considered it worth boasting of had 
he killed that number in a single day. 
Two of his neighbors living near have for years past acted 
as guides through the summer season, and still-hunted later 
on in the fall, but since the introduction of dogs have each 
heen led into*using them in driving deer. In talking with 
these men, I learned that they did not approve of hounding; 
were conyinced that it was annibilating the game of the 
whole country; both were sure that it had already caused 
such havoc with deer in their section that it was nearly use- 
less for them to devote any more time to still-hunting, and 
also confessed that it was only a question of a few years 
longer at best, unless the law was changed, before the whole 
deer family would be exterminated. Why, then, do you 
follow hounding, I inquired? Because so long asit is law- 
ful and every one else follows it, we must fallin while they 
last and try and get our share. This was their reply, although 
they each would sign a petition to have the law changed, 
knowing full well that they were helping to **kill the goose 
that laid the golden ezg.” Now, I believe this to be the 
case with most of the hotel men, guides and hunters through- 
out that whole wilderness. They can but see the steady 
decrease of game, and must realize that when it is gone one 
great inducement to the tourist, invalid and sportsman to 
make their annual sojourns to the woods has thus been cut 
off. 
Of course, we ever have and aJways will find a class of 
men styling themselves sportsmen that love the music of the 
hound. J cannot say that it is unpleasant to my ear when I 
know that reynard is being put to his trumps to evade the 
pack, Buttouse them on game as harmless and innocent 
as the deer, especially when its flesh is to be used as food, at 
a time when they are out of condition, bestowing their atten- 
tion and care upon their helpless young, at a season when 
the game thus killed must be rapidly disposed of if it ever 
leaves the forest untainted; at a season when shipments to 
the central part of the State and much less to any of the 
southern half (hereof, are completely out of the question; at 
a time when but a very few out of the great mass of our citi- 
zens can or would ever think of participating either in its 
capture or the fruits thereof is, to say the least, sanctioning 
a law a8 ungenerous asit is odious, Man may argue until 
the Jast dcer is exterminated of the fuir show it gives the 
game by running it down before the hound, that it thrives 
by dogging. That hounding does not scare, injure, nor 
materially Jessen the numbers; and that the country is too 
full of brush, rocks, or something else that retards the sus- 
ceseiul hunting of them in any other manner. But I have 
seen aseclion of country filled with deer signs as was that 
portion of Herkimer county lying north of the Beaver River 
ouly four years ago lastfall. Valleys that contained hundreds 
of acres where the deer had congregated tu winter, where 
the tripshin and other low brush had all been trimmed 
up like a sheep yard, where the tracks were so plenty 
that one could not tollow out a single deer after 
the snow had laid upon the yround twenty-four 
hours, where the hunter could start ten or twenty in a day 
and frequently Lalf that number in a single drove, all of this 
upon ground which I know that the still-hunters have not 
for the past four years killed and taken from the section to 
exceed fifteen or twenty deer per year, and where last fall 
they had become so scarce that a man on good snow failed 
some days in striking a single track to follow, and succeeded 
only in baging four deer during the month of last Novem- 
ber, the same man who used to kill as high as sixty in a 
winter; knowing all of this to be a fact, how do [ solve the 
mystery? Simply by saying that for three summers past 
there has been a constant scouring of that locality with dogs, 
not only all summer long, but covering a good share of tle 
month of November each year, and principally by one set of 
Dutch that came in from Crogan, This company having 
cut trails from Crooked Lake over to the Mosier Ponds of 
~ sufficient width to carry in boats, built seyeral camps along 
its route, erusted, floated, hounded and fished tlie whole 
section toits utter ruin. Seuth of the Beaver River and 
along the highway leading easterly from Lewis county 
through Herkimer, also north to Albany and Smith’s lakes, 
including the Red Horse chain, may be found camps and 
trails ju all directions. In passing along that road one 
usually meets loads of venison on its way out and other par- 
ties going in, hears the baying of hounds and the constant 
report in volleys of guns in the distance on either side of the 
road any day during the open seasun that he may choose to 
travel over it, untilhe wonders to himself how it can be pos- 
sible thut a single head of game can escape the fusilade. 
To my mind, the fatal mistake was in passing a law to 
* 
5 iri 
Oa a 
suit the convenience of men that wished to combine hunting 
with trout fishing and other amusements, entirely overlook- 
ing the more essential points necessary for reserving an 
ample stock of game for future wants. Unless the law can 
soon be materially chanved in regard to length of open season 
for hunting, cutting off crusting, floating, driving with dogs, 
watching of salt logs or licks, natural or artificial, and per- 
haps a clause limiting the number to be killed by any one 
person during the year, the last of the deer family left in the 
Adirondacks can be counted as doomed. 
It is not unreasonable to expect that, should the subject 
come before the Legislature for amendment, a class friendly 
to hounding may argue, in connection with other redeeming 
qualities as heretofore, that if driving with dogs were en- 
lirely prohibited many of that class would be cut off both 
from participaling in its capture or their just share of the 
game, and for this reason strenuously contend for a short 
space of time to be allowed them, lest the still-hunters 
would monopolize the whole trade. Such, however, to my 
own personal knowledge, would not be the case, for the 
ssimple reason that this same company of men referred to 
above, notwithstanding all they have accomplished by hound- 
ing and floating for three summers past, were not satisfied, 
neither were those who followed it south of Beaver River, as 
all the deer killed up to Noy, 1 were gathered in and sent 
out of the woods to the nearest market, disposed of for what 
they would bring, 
After the first snow fell in November, where did we find 
these hounders? Right back again, occupying their old 
camps or new ones built upon more fayorable grounds. My 
camp wus surrounded upon three sides this last November 
by men that hounded all summer long and had taken out of 
the woods several loads of deer driven to water by their dogs 
and killed. But they all stayed and still-hunted through the 
last month just the same for all that. They came to kill 
some that they could hang up and cut from during the 
winter, Did they succeed without dogs? Why, certainly, 
I found out they were good still-hunters and bagged as many 
deer as the best of hunters. -That is just the mode adopted 
by the hounding fraternity years ago by those that followed 
it in the State of Pennsylvania. They always hounded 
through the summer and fall months, claiming that it was 
the only way to get a deer, but they also came in for their 
share of the balance left upon snow, and usually succeeded 
in obtaining it. The little game we now have left should be 
guarded and protected by a law similar te that in force in 
the State of Maine, Cap Lock. 
FREWSBURG, Jan. 4, 1885. 
Hditer Forest and Stream: 
I think more than one-half the deer killed each year in the 
Adirondacks are killed by hounding, and many are also 
killed each winter by dogs on the crust, when deer are unfit 
for eating, Quite a portion of this poor venison is ‘‘jerked,” 
brought out and sold for 25 cenis per pound. Of the deer 
killed with dogs in season allowed by Jaw much is wasted; 
the foreparts of many being skinned out and thrown away, 
especially if they are killed where it requires much work to 
get them to a road, in such cases only the saddles and hides 
being saved, I know of one instance wherea party of four 
killed eighteen deer in a few days on a_ back lake, and only 
brought out the saddles and skins. This year on the last 
day of the hounding season eight deer were driven into 
Beaver River at No. 4 and killed. The estimate of good 
men, who are in a position to know, for last year is that three 
hundred deer were killed by hounding or driving on the 
Beaver River alone and two hundred were killed in the same 
way in the same section this year; and when to this you add 
the number of deer which escape so nearly run to death that 
they crawl away and die, the slaughter is great. I know of 
two instances the last fall when deer have been found dead 
and spoilt, which undoubtedly bad been run by dogs. Of 
the deer driven in by dogs and killed, I think three does to 
two bucks is about the average. 
There is hardly a lake in the woods where deer are left 
but what is hunted around in this way. The usual way of 
hounding or driving is for one man to take the dogs away 
from the lake and put them on deer tracks, the rest of the 
men remaining at the lake, two in each boat, at points 
where, with the aid of a field vlass, the whole lake can be 
watched. When a deer enters the water to escape from the 
dogs, it is allowed to swim out, and then the nearest boat is 
rowed so as to cut the deer off from shore, and as it swims 
for some landing, the boat is generally run so as to force the 
deer’s head under water, and when it comes to the surface, 
half strangled, a charge of buckshot or bullets from a re- 
peating rifle soon finishes the brutal work; and this is called 
sport, which good hunters and sportsmen can only condemn. 
Deer are run from two to five hours, and when they enter 
the water it is their last resort, and they are so heated and 
tired that the venison is wholly unfit for eating, The water 
is cold; the deer are chilled before they are got out; hardly a 
drop of blood will run from them, and the meat is stiff and 
black within a very short time, and if the weather is warm, 
will spoil even for market in forty-eight hours. I would not 
eat venison so killed. Would any one buy and eat beef or 
muttou that was killed after having been worried by dogs 
even for one hour? Would a butcher be allowed to sell 
such meat? 
I am of the opinion decidedly that hounding ought to be 
whiolly abolished, and if it is not done the deer will be nearly 
or quite exterminated inside of six or eight years. I am 
satisfivd that there is not one deer now where there were three 
ten years ago, and I think the decrease is due mainly to 
hounding. More dogs were taken into the woods this fall 
than one year ago and less deer by thirty per cent. were 
killed with them than the year before, which indicates a 
large decrease. Still-hunting is only done through a portion 
of November, and the estimate is that from fifty to sixty 
a were killed by still-himting this season on the Beaver 
iver, 
I am informed that hounding hag been prohibited in Potter 
county, Pa., for the past five years, that the increase in deer 
has been very marked and that the number is estimated to 
be as great as it was twenty years ago. 
I decidedly think a non-hounding law practicable, as the 
guides, bunters and hotel men through this section, asa rule, 
desire it, and while many of them keep dogs and drive deer 
for market, they generally say, “I know it is ruining {our 
busivess and I would kill my dogs and help keep them out 
of the woods, but as long as the law allows it and others 
hound deer I must also and gt my share while they last.” 
Besides this, dogs are used up to Dec, 1 for market veni- 
son, When the law only allows it up to Oct. 31. ThisI know, 
as I have guided and still-hunted each November for many 
years, and I saw on the Ist inst. when coming out of the 
woods, six places in nine miles where dogs had run deer 
across our camp trail, and they were made that day, as snow 
had fallen the day before, 
I would have a law prohibiting the use of dogs at any 
time, with a $50 penalty to be paid by the owner of the dog, 
or in default of payment, 30 days’ imprisonment; any one 
catching a dog running deer to have the right to shoot the dog, 
and the dog’s carcass when produced in court, to be evidence 
as against itsowner. Deer are killed by dogs eight months out 
of the year. Make the law so there is no excuse tor keeping 
dogs and many deer will be saved that the present law 
attempts in vain to protect. Irom my talk with guides and 
hunters I think they would see that no doe lived long in the 
woods if the law gave them a right to shoot dogs running 
deer, and that they would also take the trouble to see that 
the owners of the dogs were properly prosecuted according 
to law. C. W, Purrer. 
WatEins, New York. 
[See notice of petition elsewhere. | 
NOTES FROM WORCESTER. 
ea EY the sportsmen hereabouts cannot complain of the 
shooting season of 1884. The season just closed has 
been one long to be remembered on account of the abundant 
supply of game, and the delightful weather extending half 
through the month of December. 
If we could hayea fall of snow deep enough to render 
bird shooting impossible a month earlier than the time pre- 
scribed by law, I think if would be better for all concerned, 
for we all know that bare ground and pleasant, weather in 
the month of December means fearful havoc withthe grouse. 
There is something peculiar about late grouse shooting 
which I do not understand and which I wish could be ex- 
plained. Why is it that a much larger proportion of hen 
birds are killed than in the earlier months of the shooting 
season? This is not only my own experience, but is the 
subject of common remark among our shooters. Some of 
the members of our club were inclined to believein the early 
part of the season that grouse had not bred as well, and 
were not as numerous as a year ago, but their aggregate 
scores and also their average per day does not confirm this 
belief, and if is a fact beyond dispute that we have enjoyed 
the best grouse season that has been known in this séction 
for many years. The two previous years had passed with 
no woodcock te speak of, and we had almost come to believe 
that good flight shooting was a thing of the past, when this 
year we had a splendid flight covering a period of about ten 
days, from Oct. 18 to 28. Those who could attend to them 
had rare sport and many fine bags were made. I doubt if 
we see the like again for some years to come. There are 
never quail enough in this part of the State to consider them 
of much account, but 1 think we have had the usual quan- 
tity. 
The “fur company’ commenced operations as usual Oct. 
1, and have had fair success. This time-honored company 
of sportsmen is composed of men of all ages and almost every 
station in life. Gentlemen of wealth, professional men, 
business men and working men, all meet at the rendezvous 
on common ground and talk over the events of a foxhunt 
like a band of brothers, The harmony that exists and tiie 
discipline that is maintained, is really refreshing. Any little 
matters of dispute that arise are generally referred to ‘‘Uncle 
Nathan,” whose decision is considered final. 
A man must kill a fox in a legitimate manner before he 
can become a member, and to be eligible to office must be the 
owner of a well bred foxhound. While there is a peculiar 
fraternal feeling existing among sportsman generally, I 
think it is a little more marked among fox hunters than any 
other class. The individual scores to Jan, 1 are: N. §. Har- 
rington 2, John M. White 7, Henry Locke 2, Leonard Rand 
5, John Slocum 2, Horace Adums 2, A. P. Cutting 1, A, H, 
Perry 1, tota] 22. The season closes on the last day of Feb- 
ruary, when I will endeavor to give the readers of the Forzsr 
AND STREAM the season’s score complete. 
With the close of the bird season trap-shooting reyives and 
it is again lively at the club house on Thursday afternoons, 
Several members contemplate attending the international 
tournament at New Orleans and are looking forward to that 
event with pleasant anticipations. 
One of the newly electid members of the ‘‘fur company,” 
who shot his first fox the present season, is under indictment 
for a misdemeanor, and the case is to be tried at the rendez- 
vous on Saturday evening, Jan. 10. It is expected that 
Alderman ———, one of our most prominent lawyers, 
will appear for the plaintiff. The offense isa grave one, but 
as the youthful detendant has hardly had sufficient time to 
get “read up,” it is barely possible that ‘‘Shattuck’s” best 
cigars fur the company may settle it. Raresport is expected 
at the trial. EH. SPRAGUE KnNow1es. 
Worcester, Mass., Jan. 9, 1885. 
SMALL-BORE SHOTGUNS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In looking over the article on small-bore shotguns, in F'on- 
EST AND STREAM for Dee. 11, I find that ] forgot to give the 
charges of shot larger than No. 4 for 16-gauge guns. As the 
whole gist of my article was to refute the error, common in’ 
this country, in relation to small-bores and the proper loads 
for them, it may not be necessary to add anything more io 
what I have said, but the error is such a prevalent one that 
| will give in detail the charges 1 have found best for the 
16 gauge cylindrical bore. J use for wild turkey BB shot, 
for ducks No. 4and somelimes No, 3, for quail and snipe 
Wo. 6, The powder charge is 22 drams; 14 ounces of Nos. 
6 and 4, 14 ounces No. 38, 12 ounces BB. 
J cannot insist too often, however, that to get good results 
out of a 16-gauge not more than 2% drams powder must be 
used, as in the small-bore this gives force enough, more pene- 
tration than 5 drams in a 10-bore, and a larger charge scat- 
ters the shot foo much. 
Of course every gun differs more or less, even when of 
the same gauge, and to get the exact load suited toa pun 
requires much patient shooting atatarget. One cause of 
the errors prevalent in reference to smatl-bores is that users 
of large-bores, finding that big charges of powder were abso- 
lutely necessary to get any penetration out of their cannon, 
had to use very fine shot, the coarse sizes containing too few 
pellets, and seattering too much with their big powder loads. 
Then by the falsest method of reasoning, ‘‘reasouing by 
analogy,” they jumped at the conclusion that as coarse shot 
was inefficient in their guns it would be still more so in the 
small-bores. For instance, witness the following idiotic 
twaddle from a standard book on shooting, published a few 
years ago: 
“With a 14-cauge gun, the heaviest shot that could be 
used with any degree of good judgment would be No, 2,” 
lam aware that many of my statements are in direct con: 
