March 26, 1885. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



167 



Canada.— A bill now before the Proviucial Legislature to 

 facilitate the formation of fish and game protection clubs 

 in the Province, provider that the Lieutenant-Governor in 

 couucil may, on the recommendation of the Commissioner 

 of Crown Lands, grant a corporate existence to any number 

 of persons, not less than five, who petition therefor, consti- 

 tuting such persons, and all others who may afterward be- 

 come members of the club thereby created, a* body corporate 

 and politic, for the purpose of enabling them to acquire and 

 hold such property, real and personal, as may be necessary 

 and requisite to accomplish the objects and purposes of their 

 incorporation. The aim and end of nil such clubs shall be 

 to aid in the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the 

 protection of fish and game iu the Province; and whenever 

 the Lieutenant-Governor in council is satisfied, upon satis- 

 factory evidence, and upon report that any club created 

 under this act is engaged in any other pursuit than the fore- 

 going, the powers conferred in virtue of the preceding sec- 

 tion shall be revoked. The members of any such club may 

 adopt such by-laws, rules and regulations for the manage- 

 ment of their affairs as they see fit •, and whenever and as 

 soon as the same shall have received the approval of the 

 Commissioner of Crown Lands, they shall have full force 

 and effect. In so far as applicable, the provisions of law 

 respecting joint stock companies shall govern clubs formed 

 and organized under this apt. 



Miuuiuajs Deer-Hotjndinc4 Bill. — The game bill, which 

 makes it unlawful to hunt deer with dogs, came up in the 

 Senate last week. All amendments were voted down. The 

 friends of the bill had a perfect organization and obtained 

 support for it from reluctant Senators. They were, however, 

 unable to carry the measure through, lacking one vote. 

 Those who voted yea were— Messrs. Cline, Davis, Edwards, 

 Francis, Heisterman, Henry, Hubbell, Monroe, Moon, 

 Phelps, Pulver, Shoemaker, Geo. A. Smith, Sam W. Smith, 

 Stephenson, Woodruff— 16. Nays— Messrs. Austin, Bel- 

 knap, Brown, Carpenter, Hawley, Ilertzler. Hues! on, Kempf, 

 Manwaring, Heuneli, Sherwood, Spencer— 13. Absent- 

 Messrs. Carveth, Davenport, Greiner. The bill was recon 

 sidered and tabled. The best speech of the day was by Sen- 

 ator Brown, of Kalamazoo, who made a decided impression 

 by the vigor and originality of his remarks; 



Montreal Notes. — March 16.— Saw a number of crows 

 here yesterday, which must mean spring, or else the crow's 

 almanac is wrong, which latter I think is the case, as ther- 

 mometer to-day shows zero withstiff ISLE. wind blowing. Guns 

 are being cleaned up, etc., preparatory to the usual spring 

 slaughter of ducks, as soon us the ice breaks up, There is 

 one certain cure for spring shooting, which all civilized com- 

 munities seem to be willing to adopt, and are doing their 

 utmost lo bring about, and that is extinction. Any ob- 

 servant man can see it coming slowly but surely. Dr. 

 Thos. C. Brainerd, president of the Hamilton Powder Com- 

 pany, has been elected president of our fish and game pro- 

 tection club, and we hope his intlueuce, energy and ability 

 may be productive of some much-needed reforms in our 

 game laws. — Caribou. 



A St. Patrick's Day Dinner,— Dorchester, N. B., March 

 18. —The first wild goose of the season was flagged by 

 Deacon Millard Lawreuce, on the 16th inst. We celebrated 

 the occasion by giving a St. Patrick's dinner to a number of 

 the local sportsmen. There have been few geese reach this 

 far north as yet this season. "Mine host" Wilbur of the 

 leading hotel here has had constructed a new gunning boat 

 for the spring shooting, with which he threatens to distance 

 all competitors. A number of the crack shots of the town 

 are discussing the formation of a shooting club for trap- 

 shooting practice. — B. 



Iowa Spring Shooting.— Anita, la., March 18.— Spring- 

 has fairly opened and the geese and ducks have been wing- 

 ing their way northward for two weeks. The old line nim- 

 rods have been overhauling their outfits and shining up their 

 guns. The quail had hard rustling this winter, but noticed 

 several bevies recently that seemed lively. — C. B. 



A.N Odd Conceit is that of a correspondent who, having 

 missed his first rifle shot at a squirrel, has ever since wished 

 that the rodent might have known that it was the first shot. 



Kentucky Sportsmen will meet in convention at Louis- 

 ville, April 8 and 9, at the Louisville Hotel. 



Forest Fires. — The Lumber World makes the astonishing 

 assertion that the loss to this country through forest fires is 

 now not less than $300,000,000 a year, simply through the 

 destruction of available timber, without counting the 

 additional loss from the annihilation of the young growth 

 and the seeds scattered on the surface, and the scorching of 

 the ground, which often renders it sterile for a generation. 

 This enormous sum, about equal to the interest on the public 

 debts of all the civilized nations of the world combined, is, 

 according to the reports of experts, annually thrown away 

 forever by the people of the United States, without the 

 smallest return in the way of comfort or satisfaction, but, 

 on the contrary, at the cost of many lives every year, simply 

 through the carelessness of boys and hunters, and of those 

 more intelligent persons who ought to know enough to keep 

 a sharp watch over these destructive animals. Next to 

 human beings of feeble intellect, railway locomotives do 

 most injury in forest countries, and the Lumber World 

 inquires seriously whether the owners of such locomotives 

 should not be compelled, in the public interest, so furnish 

 them with spark arresters during the dry season. The idea 

 that railway companies are responsible for the value of 

 timber destroyed by fires set from their locomotives un- 

 doubtedly has some effect iu preventing legislative interfer- 

 ence with their management; but it is so difficult to fix the 

 kindling of a forest fire with certainty upon locomotive 

 sparks, to say nothing of the obstacles in the way of collect- 

 ing large debts from newly established railway corporations, 

 that the safer way would be to provide as far as possible 

 against raising the question of responsibility by compelling 

 the use of spark arresters. Against animated incendiaries a 

 forest patrol might be tolerably effective, but it would he 

 still more useful to provide in some way for the removal of 

 underbrush from the woodland. Trees by themselves are 

 not easily kindled, and the mischief is usually done through 

 the ignition of dry leaves, ferns or bushes, which burn long 

 enough to char, and at last to kindle the branches of the 

 egg :?bon; ■\]^. — A/n£rm.n ArcMteti. 



fox %nd Miivtr 



THE SEASON'S OPENING DAY. 



TX/TTH joyous heart the angler halls 



' ' The season's opening day, 

 Nor lingers long in city streets, 



Where men of business stay. 



His trusty rod again he takes, 



His silken line and reel, 

 A well-filled book of chosen flies, 



A lunch -box in his creel. 



He wends his way 'cross meadows green, 



And leaps each fence and wall ; 

 lie plucks the violet in his path 



And notes the bluebird's call. 



The country air. is fresh and pure. 



And bright the landscape seems; 

 The mountain stream leaps down the glen 



Iu sunshiue's flashing beams. 



Ho nears the brook -with cautious trend, 



And casts th' alluring fly 

 Upon the surface of the pool. 



Where speckled beauties he. 



In skillful hand his pliant rod 



Most gracefully he wields. 

 The music of his reel meantime 



Is beard across the fields. 



With flashing eye the lusty fish 



Has seized the tempting bait, 

 And now, alaal loo late he flnds 



His life is sealed by fate, 



Thus horn - by hour the, augler cmsl - 



Upon the ripples 1 crest, 

 Or whips the deep, dark pools for trout 



TiU daylight sinks to rest. 



Then homeward bound, with hungry look. 



He hastens on his way. 

 And by the evening fireside tells 



His luck on opening day. 



C. T. Mituhel. 



TROUT FISHING IN UPPER COOS. 



HAVING spent from four weeks to as many months in 

 the woods of northern New Hampshire and Maine 

 every season for the past fifteen years, the most of the time 

 trout fishing, 1 have often been asked to give au account of 

 the haps and mishaps of some of our excursions to the lakes 

 and streams of this region. I will begin by giving my first 

 experience in trout fishing with a fly-rod. 1 have learned a 

 great many things of angling and woodcraft from Fokest 

 and Stkeam in former years, and now scarcely ever take up 

 a number without getting some new idea on the "gentle art." 

 As there are always new recruits joining the ranks of the fly- 

 casters, perhaps this sketch may be of interest to them. 



When I was a boy fly-fishing was comparatively unknown 

 in tins vicinity. A common Limerick hook on a five-cent 

 line, with a piece of tea-lead for a sinker, and a slim tama- 

 rack pole, made a pretty good rig for us boys. Many a fine 

 string of trout was the reward of our half-day excursions 

 that we won by taking our "stints" in hoeing time; and 

 sometimes ►we got a whole day's fishing when it rained so 

 hard that we couldn't work out of doors. But after summer 

 travel began to come this way, and trout were plenty and 

 scientific fishermen came ; their 'fine tackle was almost a won- 

 der to us who had never used a fly-rod. But after seeing 

 W. C. Prime and Dr. Elmendorf use a fly-rod with such 

 effect on Profile Lake and Millsfield Pond, I was never satis- 

 fied until 1 went to the extravagance of getting a $8 fly-rod, 

 two dozen flies and two or three leaders, and took a boat and 

 with Charles Cleveland and John Spalding, started for a 

 week's campiug and fishing at Millsfield Pond. 



This was about the middle of May, and we took plenty of 

 worms in case the flies did not answer the purpose, for some 

 of the old fishermen told us it was too early for trout to rise 

 to a fly. We fastened our boat on a one-horse express wagon, 

 put in our luggage and a paddle, took a couple of pieces of 

 boards for seats, and one morning we mounted our vehicle 

 and were "off for the woods away." 



Nothing of particular interest occurred till we arrived at 

 Uncle Tom Went worth's, thirty miles distant and the last 

 house on our route, five miles from our destination. The 

 rest of the way was through the woods and over a "tote" 

 road, as the roads to the winter logging camps over which 

 they draw their winter supplies are called. It had only been 

 used in the winter, and was too rough for us to take in our 

 boat on the wagon; so we fastened a moose sled behind the 

 forward axle of our wagon, put on our boat, the forward end 

 resting on the axle and the other on the sled. We hired a 

 boy to return with the horse, put our baggage into the boat 

 and started, our boy leading the horse, the boat on the im- 

 promptu vehicle, John with a long ducking gun on his 

 shoulder, Charley with the axe, and "ye scribe" with a fly- 

 rod bringing up the rear. As we wound through the thick 

 alder woods and through the old Tyler opening, across 

 Newell's Brook, over the mountain and through the long 

 stretch of hardwood growth, where John shot the ruffed 

 grouse as we neared the pond, made a picture that was im- 

 mortalized on the sides of our bark camp with a piece of 

 charcoal and will be remembered by all of that party long 

 after many more important things have been forgotten. 

 Everything went along nicely, the moose sled sliding over 

 the logs and stumps without an accident until within a few 

 rods of the pond, when the nose of one sled-runner struck a 

 stump and the sled went to pieces very much like the "Dea- 

 con's one-horse shay." But after taking our baggage to 

 camp, we carried the boat to the pond and found it perfectly 

 •water-tight, which was much better than we expected after 

 so rough a ride. It was the first time a boat was ever on that 

 pond. It remained there several years, and Dr. Kingsbury, 

 J. Menzie, Dr. Elmendorf and many others can testify to its 

 being a great improvement on the rafts that we had to use 

 before, especially for fly-fishing. I took a bait-rod and 

 caught a half dozen trout for supper, while the others broke 

 a few fresh fir boughs for a bed and cut the wood for night. 

 Our camp was a lean-to roof and ends covered with spruce 

 bark, and had been substantially built the year before, and 

 after au extra covering of white-birch bark was tight as a 

 cup. Four or five miles distant was an ice-cold spring, about 

 hree feet across and perhaps twenty inches deep, where we 



proposed to keep our large trout alive, if our flies proved a 

 success. After a supper of fried trout, flap-jacks and coffee, 

 we built a fire to last all night and turned in early. There 

 were no flies or mosquitoes to trouble us, and we slept undis- 

 turbed till broad daylight. 



The woods were vocal with music, the rose-breasted gros- 

 beak taking the most prominent part in the concert, but the 

 other feathered songsters seemed to be trying for a prize in 

 vocalization. The rose-breasted grosbeak is ahead of the 

 bobolink as a songster, and is more plenty around Millsfield 

 ponds than at any other place in this county; it seems to be 

 a favorite meeting place for them. Cow Mouutain, near 

 Cow Mountain Pond, in Vermont, is another favorite spot 

 for them. 



After breakfast we put together our rods, found a stone 

 for an anchor, John took the paddle, Charley the fly-rod. 

 and myself with a bait-rod we started out The pond con- 

 tains thirty acres, one-half of it from one to three feet deep 

 and the other half running to fifteen feet deep. There was 

 not a ripple on the water, and we could not get a fish in the 

 shallow part of the pond, but they began to take the bait as 

 we moved into deeper water, and 1 soon had several flopping 

 around our feet in the boat. But Charley had got none yet, 

 although he had two or three rises, but. every little while 

 would wind the leader around his head or hook John in the 

 back. John began to get excited, and wanted us to put him 

 ashore and let him take the raft and go by himself, so I took 

 the paddle and put him ashore, and after cutting a long pole 

 for an anchor pushed the raft out into the middle of the pond 

 and commenced Ashing. ' 1 feel safe now anyway," said he, 

 "and if you don't come within reach of me I shan't feel as 

 though 1 am liable to lose au eye at any moment." "No, 

 but that don't seem to help me any." said Charley as he 

 turned round for me to take. a. fly-hook out of the back of 

 his coat collar. "If you will get that out of my coat I will 

 give, up fly-fishing for the rest of the day." 



Just then there came a shout from John that might have 

 been heard half way to the settlement, as he took out one 

 that weighed about three-quarters of a pound. He came 

 very near falling into the pond before he saved him; but 

 finally he got hold of him, and a Modoc shout went up from 

 his throat that must have awakened the owls on the moun- 

 tain. 1 took the fly -rod, but only got a few more; but when 

 we went in for dinner we had more than we could use for 

 the meal. We had four or five nice ones to put in the spring. 

 In the afternoon a breeze sprang up, and taking the fly-rod 

 again, we started out about 2 o'clock and found that the 

 trout had begun to move down info the shallow water feed- 

 ing, and they began to rise quite freely. My cast was a 

 Montreal and Jew for droppers, and brown caughlin for tail 

 fly. T supposed that I must have three flies on the leader, 

 and I was going to begin right anyway. It was a partly 

 cloudy afternoon, and trout seemed to rise about alike to 

 each fly. After I had taken several and Charley had netted 

 them for me, we put them iu the spring. Charley took the 

 rod again, but after windiug himself up in the leader two or 

 three times more, he concluded he had rather paddle the 

 boat and land the trout, and let me do the casting for the 

 rest of the trip. I began to get nervous as the trout began 

 to rise at nearly every cast, and I did'nt hook more than one 

 in six that rose to the flies. We were drifting in shallow 

 water, and I was casting with the wind, when two large 

 trout came clean out of the water for the flics, but I struck 

 too quickly^ and missed them both. 



"Stop the boat," said I, excitedly, "and hold it, and I will 

 try and get one or both of those fellows," and shortening my 

 line I made another cast, as I thought, over the same place, 

 but no sign of either of them. ' 'They seem pretty easily 

 discouraged," said I, reeling in more line and making an- 

 other cast with the same result. Another cast still nearer the 

 boat, when I said, "If you had held the boat so it had not 

 drifted over them, I should have one of them anyway. They 

 would weigh a pound apiece sure; but we have frightened 

 them now with the boat." This was probably spoken in a 

 vexed tone, when he looked up and coolly said: 



"The boat is just where it was when you first spoke, for 

 I put the paddle in the mud and have held the boat in just 

 the same place ever since." 



It was even so, the moving waves making the water and 

 boat appear to be moving when they were not, and I had 

 been casting further from the fish every time. 1 don'tknow 

 whether I ever got either of those fish or not, but whenever 

 I meet Charley on the street, even to this day, he will stop 

 me to inquire why I don't jaw him about holding that boat. 

 We caught quite a number of large ones that we managed to 

 keep alive, and as the spring was only two or three rods from 

 the shore, after we had caught a half dozen or so would take 

 them in the landing net and carefully put them in the spring, 

 and when we quit fishing at night, it was a fine sight to a 

 lover of the SalmofoiiiinaUs to see them swimming around 

 and seeming quite at home. 



The trout in this pond are the genuine brook trout, running 

 up to two pounds weight, very fat, for they have all the food 

 they want both summer and winter; small heads, for they 

 grow very fast; the head of one weighing one pound is about 

 the size of one weighing half a pound caught in a stream. 

 Almost black backs in deep water, turning to darkish green 

 in shallow water; white bellies and red-meated, and of the 

 most exquisite flavor, feeding almost entirely on flies in sum- 

 mer, and in winter there are plenty of flies and worms. 

 Sometimes they are lying in the mud and it is of no more 

 use to fish in the pond for them than it would be to fish on 

 dry land. If you don't happen to know of a spring hole 

 where there may be a few hanging around, you had better 

 go ashore and pick a few more boughs for the camp, cut 

 wood for the fire, and get ready for the time that is coming 

 when they will bite again. 



Well, let us go to camp, for John has supper ready all but 

 making the coffee. The trout that he caught with bait were 

 hurt so that they had to be killed, so we had adundance of 

 trout every meal, and we never tire of them, for they are 

 cooked just to a turn in pork fat with a piece of butter put, 

 in the pan near the finish, to give them a perfect brown, and 

 is it not marvelous what a quantity can be disposed of by 

 three outers, after they have been in the woods two or three 

 days, and how soon they are hungry again. I believe John 

 ate six meals in one day, but he denies it now and says it 

 was only five. 



After supper we got out the beans, washed them, put them 

 to soak in warm water, and when we go to bed we will put 

 them on the fire in the camp kettle and let tbem parboil, 

 and as we leave a small fire to-night, whoever gets up at 2 

 o'clock to fix the fire, will drain off: the water, put in some 

 more with a piece of pork, and stewed beans are on the bill 

 of fare for to-morrow noon. If we don't have company to 

 dinner to-morrow there will be enough left for supper; sq 

 •we shall have nearly all day for fishing if we want it 



