April 1G, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



227 



IOWA SEASONS. 



.Editor Forest: find iS/raun: 



After one of the most terrible winters 1 have ever experi- 

 enced— terrible from its intense and long-protraetcd cold— at 

 last the Spring has come/just now, with a balmy air, and the 

 first real rainy day for four months. The whole dreary win- 

 ter has been one long, unbroken blizzard, with no snow to 

 speak of here, and what little there was, blown into drifts, 

 filling np railroad cuts and banked along the hedges of the 

 country, "Whether our elevation here lias had anything to 

 do with Our weather I don't know, but we are 900 leet above 

 the Mississippi, and 1 leave it to yon to guess. 



Last fall was glorious beyond compare. "For nine weeks I 

 drove out and back, a distance of ten prairie miles, missing 

 but three days in the whole time— nine weeks of unalloyed 

 happiness. Every day mv eyes were gladdened with the 

 sight of bevy after bevy* of beautiful quails tame as barn- 

 yard chickens, the cute little fellows scarcely getting out of 

 the road to let me pass; with the sight of flocks of pinnated 

 grouse starting up on every hand, and darting away on bow- 

 shaped wings 'like a shot out of a gun; with the sight of rab- 

 bits jumping out of adjacent hedges and skurrying oft into 

 groves and cornfields. ' JSlow and then a weasel would take 

 a saucy look, and fben a flash into the prairie grass. Multi- 

 tudinous crows held noisy conventions, sagely cawing 

 speeches to each other with a seriocomic gravity, highly 

 suggestive of th< iverage politic d I ildicition meeting. 

 Soaring over all were numerous hawks with motionless, 

 wide-spreading wings. Beholding all this through all those 

 long, clear, sunny days of the autumn time, has left a mem- 

 ory with me not easily effaced, 



This section of country was formerly the home aud haunt 

 of the deer, the elk, the buffalo, and the wolf, and that for 

 unknown ages. The mound builders must have hunted 

 them here in prehistoric times, for a few weeks ago Mr. 

 Singleton Smith, in the south part of this county, in digging 

 a well, at the depth of twenty-two feet below the surface, 

 found the petrified skeleton of an elk, a part of the stone 

 bones he brought to town, and another part he still has in 

 his possession. 



But there is no large game left here now ; it has disap- 

 peared with the Indian, "in place of the Indian and his trail 

 we now have the pale face and his railroad. So great is the 

 destructive power of the white man that he has been obliged 

 — to preserve auy game — to restrict himself by laws of his 

 own make. I think the quail must have read "the act in their 

 case made and provided, otherwise how account for their 

 utter fearlessness? But 1 fear that our past winter has done 

 for them what the. shotgun has not, for I have neither seen 

 nor heard of a single one hereabouts yet, though grouse are 

 growing plentiful. 



In some other leisure hour I will endeavor to give you 

 some account of the live sportsmen here and their doings. 



Common Sense. 

 Crestok, la. 



THE ROBINS ISLAND OF TO-DAY. 



THE annual meeting of this club for the election of 

 officers for the year of 1885 was recently held in the 

 city of Brooklyn, where all of its members reside. In fact, 

 the club is distinctly a King's county organization, and 

 numbers on the list of its members' names, many of those 

 best known in our sister city. The question of the sale of 

 the club's property, Bobins Island, came up at the meeting 

 referred to, and after a long and animated discussion, it was 

 resolved by an almost unanimous vote to retain that cele- 

 brated game preserve. 



Our readers are well acquainted with the now famous 

 island. It was first brought into notice by the Eastern field 

 Trials Club, which there held its first running meetings, 

 they being the first contests of the kind held in this section 

 of our countiy. All those who visited the island in the years 

 of those contests, and the number ran well up in the thou- 

 sands at the various trials, were favorably impressed with 

 its manifold beauties. It is little wonder then, that its at 

 that time owner, Ira Brewster Tuthill, received an offer for 

 the property from one among those who were spectators at 

 the trials. It was bought by Bichard Ingraham of our city 

 as agent for the present owners. The price paid was $20,000, 

 added to which has been the cost of the various improve- 

 ments made upon the island, these bringing the expenditure 

 to a total of $25,000, a really insignificant sum considering the 

 present and prospective values of the property. 



Peconic Bay, in which the island is situated, is most 

 singular in its conformation. Forty miles in length and half 

 that in width at its widest point, its entrance from Long 

 Island Sound is so narrow as to escape notice from the 

 passing voyager. The first notice the writer can recall of 

 the Great Peconic was in the reading of Eenimore Cooper's 

 novel "Red Bover," where he describes the escape of the 

 skimmer of the seas from the chasing corvette Coquette, by 

 an entrance to the bay and a successful hiding in its land-con- 

 cealed waters. Absolute security from storms, large area, 

 a perfect anchorage, with any desired depth of water, 

 combine to make the bay one of* the largest and best harbors 

 in the world. The commencement of the bay is at River- 

 head, the county town of Suffolk county, where the 

 Peconic River, the largest of Long Island streams, enters the 

 bay. 



The scenery is enchanting to a lover of nature. Long 

 reaches of the most brilliant of sand beach, backed by low- 

 lying stretches of salt meadow, alternate with bluffs of vary- 

 ing height the whole length of this inland, or rather, land- 

 locked, sea. Midway in the bay's length stands Bobins 

 Island, its shores rising bold and precipitous above the 

 pebbled beaches, in some places these sand bluffs reaching 

 an altitude of near a hundred feet. Comprising some 

 hundreds of acres, well watered and of rolling character, 

 the island is already one of the most charming spots of the 

 writer's acquaintance. The bathing is superb, while if auy 

 wind is stirring an ocean-like surf thunders in, breaking spray 

 to the tops of the sandy cliffs. When I first knew the island 

 difficulty of access had always made it almost uninhabitable 

 during the winter. In summer it was and is a paradise. 

 Surrounded by miles of water, the air is ever bracing and 

 cool, necessitating the use of blankets at night in even the 

 warmest of summers. 



Lying at f idl length upon the bluffs in the dense shade of 

 the scrub oaks, tiie famed bay of Naples can show no fairer 

 or more delicious views. "Water and sky rival each other in 

 the deepness of blue color, while the surf as it combs before 

 breaking upon the yellow sands, assumes an emerald tint un- 

 matched outside of God's laboratory. To the south rises 

 bold and clean of outline the Shinneeock Hills, pierced at one 

 spot by the low-lying passage from bay to ocean yclept 

 Canoe Place, famous in local history as the spot where the 

 Indians dragged with toil their bark canoes from the placid 



water to the surf of the outer bay. This track is being used 

 by the State as the line of the canal now being cut to connect 

 the wafers of Peconic Bay with those of the Atlantic. To 

 the eastward the point of Hog Neck extends nearly a mile 

 into the Bay. Then follows a deviating undulating coast 

 line until the Peconic fairly ends at Sag Harbor on its 

 easterly and Greenport at its westerly sides. Shelter Island 

 fairly blocks the entrance, a mere channel running on either 

 side. On a clear day no greater enjoyment to one fond of 

 natural scenery can lie found than a siesta under the shadows 

 of the trees upon the bluffs. The narcotic sound of the surf 

 upon the sand, the drowsy hum of the bee amid the wild 

 grasses, the warning cry of the loon over the water, the 

 scream of the gull' all combine as an inducement to nap, 

 which is seldom resisted. Fortunately the soil is of sand, 

 where no ague-breeding dampness exists. 



The improvements the club have already made upon 

 Robins Island are but an earnest of what is to follow. 

 Purchased for the purpose of a game preserve, that idea has 

 been conscientiously followed from the inception of the club 

 until the present time, now some four years. The dense 

 patches of scrub oak woods have been intersected with wide 

 paths in all directions. The brier thickets which so marred 

 the working of the dogs at the first trials have been cut out, 

 so that now a dog can be seen at any point and a fair judg- 

 ment rendered as to his merit. Acres of sod have been 

 turned up, and the ground seeded to oats, rye and wheat, 

 while patches of Indian corn and buckwheat have been 

 planted and sown with a liberal hand. As a consequence. 

 the quail have multiplied in a marvellous fashion and it is 

 a matter of no dispute that there are more birds to the square 

 acre than on any other spot in the United States. While 

 abundance, of food has been provided as above mentioned, 

 the superintendent resident on the grounds has waged 

 constant warfare upon the hawks, crowds and snakes, so that 

 the danger from those formidable sources has been pretty 

 thoroughly eliminated. 



The shooting pleasures of those of the members whoare 

 i'Qnd of dog and gun was last fall something to be envied. 

 Each member was allowed twenty dead birds a day, so that 

 if a good shot, his bag at the end of a week was more than a 

 good one. Nearly a thousand birds were thus disposed of. 

 The preparations for the coming season have been begun on 

 a still larger scale. Five hundred birds have been turned 

 loose already, and have, according to the reports of the 

 present superintendent, Mr. E, D. Lecomple, recovered from 

 the effects of netting and transportation with the smallest 

 percentage of loss. It was the pleasure to be derived in this 

 manner, as well as the comfort of owning virtually your own 

 watering place, that induced the refusal by the club of the 

 $100,000 recently offered by a syndicate, who proposed the 

 purchase of the island for the erection of a mammoth, hotel, 

 its many advantages in this direction having led to the offer 

 alluded to. The members, who are largely men of fortune, 

 cared not to look upon the island as a business venture, but 

 simply as a means of comfort, health and recreation. 

 The officers elected for the present year are as follows: 



President, S. Fleet Speir, M.D. 



Vice-President, H. D. Polhemus. 



Secretary and Treasurer, W. H. Force. 



Board of Directors, Alden S. Swan, W. B. Kendall, W. B. 

 Dickerman, Henry I. Cullen Jr., and the officers above 

 mentioned. 



Under the government of such officers, seconded by the 

 board of governors, the original ideas of the club cannot fail 

 of being carried on with more energy than ever before, for 

 all of those named are thorough sportsmen, ardently devoted 

 to rod and reel or to dog and gun. The club has already 

 made a grand success in two directions, first in creating one 

 of the best, if not the foremost, game preserve of the country, 

 and secondly as a magnificent business speculation pecun- 

 iarily. May it long continue in its career of prosperity. * 



FIRE-HUNTING DEER. 



BY many people it is considered unsportsmanlike for a 

 man to slip up on a deer behind a light and shoot him 

 down, and so it is if one does it for pleasure or sport, but 

 when a man wishes venison for self or family, the surest way 

 to get if here is with a frying-pan and light wood chips or 

 knots. Nine out of ten deer shot at while fire-hunting are 

 kdled, and when, after perhaps hours of tramping, the hunter 

 gets a deer to "stand" while he slips up near enough to shoot, 

 and finally kills it, I think he has earned his venison. He is 

 apt to think so too, especially after ' 'packing" it from one to 

 four miles or more back to camp. No one ever fire-hunts in 

 this country unless in need of the meat, as it is the hardest 

 kind of work, and requires endurance as well as patience. 



While I am on the subject I will tell the readers of Forest 

 and Stream about a fire-hunt I recently went on with my 

 friend, Abner C. Spencer. Mr. Spencer is a tall, well formed 

 man, of about 50 years of age, an ardent lover of shotgun 

 and rifle, and a "crack" shot with the latter. Mr. S. built 

 the Waterbury Clock Company's factory, etc., and for 

 several years was superintendent of the Wheeler & Wilson 

 Sewing Machine Company. He moved here several years 

 ago, and now the country cannot get along without him. If 

 your gun gets out of order your first thought is, "Well, 

 Spencer can fix it." No matter what one wishes repaired 

 or made, "Spencer can do it." 



On the appointed day I saddled Black Prince, got my 

 camping kit out, provisions, grain, etc., fastened them to the 

 saddle and went over to Spencer's, about one aud a half 

 miles east. He soon had Major ready and everything fast- 

 ened behind the saddle, and we started south for Cow 

 Creek Hummock, six miles away. We took the road past 

 Mathew's old sugar house and Dan French's fine orange 

 grove, and entered Turnbull Hummock on one of the old 

 turnpike roads built over a hundred years ago. Arriving at 

 Chilton's, in the hummock, we filled our pockets with juicy 

 oranges and continued north, arriving at the creek about 

 'd.'dQ. We at once dismounted, moved our "plunder," and 

 made a shelter — to protect us from the dews and a possible 

 rain — with forked sticks, poles, and the'broad fans from low- 

 branching cabbage palms. These fans — as they are com- 

 monly called — or leaves, are just the thing for making a camp 

 in a hurry. Two leaves will often cover a space the size of 

 a large extension table. It was our object to "still-hunt" 

 until dusk, return to camp for supper, and fire-hunt until 

 moonrise, which was at 12 o'clock that night, After get- 

 ting everything ready for preparing supper in the dark, we 

 started out of the hummock into the open pine woods bor- 

 dering the same, and took stands about one-half mile apart 

 to watch, Spencer up a low cabbage palm and the writer 

 near an immense pine. At this season of the year the deer 

 stay in the hummocks during the day and come out to feed 

 about sunset. 



We were in a fine locality for deer. It had rained the 



night before, and the ground was broken with numerous 

 fresh tracks. But after watching for over two hours we 

 were compelled to return to camp without a shot. We had 

 not gone far, however, before we saw a deer jump and shake 

 his white plume, then stand still, about 200 'yards off. We 

 stood watching it for some minutes, but not having a rifle, 

 it was useless to shoot, although the writer had a noted 

 "deer gun," a 12-pound 8-bore muzzleloader, which had 

 killed many a deer at over 100 yards. As long as we re- 

 mained motionless the deer stood there looking at us. We 

 then walked toward it a few steps, when with a few high 

 bounds it disappeared in the edge of the hummock. Going 

 back to camp we found Major had broken loose and got 

 outside of a peck of sweet potatoes. 



Having got supper we went back to the pine woods. 

 With my camp axe we cut a lot of dry, fat (resinous) light- 

 wood — old dead pine timber, so full of pitch that when a 

 match is applied to a piece it will light and burn as though 

 it had been soaked in kerosene. Placing some of this in the 

 frying pan we soon had a bright blaze. All arcund us, out- 

 side of the circle of light, was "dark as a pocket." Spencer 

 took the pan, which had a handle about five feet long spliced 

 to it, and a sack of lightw r ood cut up into eight-inch pieces, 

 and I followed with the gun. With the handle on his shoul- 

 der and the blazing pan behind his head we trudged along, 

 through saw palmetto, water and low scrubby growth. All 

 was silent (not a word being said by either of us), except 

 now and then the "Ough, ough ough-ough, ough-ough, 

 ough ough/" of the great horned owl so abundant in our 

 forests. Some time after though we heard the wailing cry 

 of a panther off in a cypress swamp. Every little while we 

 would put more wood" on the pan to keep up a bright blaze. 



All at once Spencer stopped, lowered the pan a little, then 

 raised it again in his effort to throw the light further out 

 into the darkhess; one could easily tell that he saw glowing 

 eyeballs staring toward the light. Slowly his right hand 

 left the handle of the pan and was outstretched behind him, 

 into which I at once placed the gun. He then walked 

 stealthily toward the eyes, but only to find that it was a 

 cow. The eyes of deer and cattle are readily told apart by 

 one who has seen them several times, the principal difference 

 being that the former are very near together and of a pale 

 light. We hunted until the moon rose, but saw no deer, 

 although we were fooled several times, for a moment, by 

 cow's eyes. On the way back we got lost, and did not arrive 

 at camp until about breakfast time, having spent two or 

 three hours by a huge fire of lightwood knots about two 

 miles away. 



The morning before we left camp we each shot an otter in 

 the creek, but one of them got under the bank and defied our 

 efforts to get it out. The skin of the one we got will bring 

 about four dollars. 



So we returned home without our venison, but having had 

 a good time nevertheless. Your true aud ardent sportsman 

 always manages to have a good time while out in the woods, 

 whether successful or not, and rarely regrets a long tramp 

 after game he does not get. Of all men, deliver me from 

 your grumbling sportsman who keeps stating that "he know 

 it would be so," etc., etc. Another time we may have bet- 

 ter luck, and I will tell you of it. Redwing. 



Gi^ncoe, Fla. 



DUCKING IN VERMONT WATERS. 



Y ATE in the afternoon, Oct. 9. as the weather suddenly 

 JLj turned around cold, the Doctor, Charlie, Tom, Dick. 

 Harry and myself agreed that the next day would be a good 

 one for ducks and that we had better try them. The Doc- 

 tor, Charlie and myself started for the lake that evening, 

 leaving the rest to follow in the morning, and reached the 

 landing about 8 o'clock. 



It was with some difficulty that we boarded the yacht, as 

 the water was rough, and the clouds had shut down black 

 and threatening. This was just what we wanted to see, as 

 it is all that makes the ducks stop, for there is no feed in the 

 lake. Hoisting our sail and getting our anchor aboard, we 

 stand out into the lake and soon find we have got all the 

 wind our cat-rigged "skimming dish" can stagger under. 

 The spray comes over us in torrents, and it is no exertion at 

 all to imagine ourselves under Niagara. We climb on the 

 weather rail, but are soon warned by the skipper to man the 

 pumps if we don't want to swim. After coming round on 

 the other tack she goes much easier. 



In half an hour we sight the point and soon round-to in 

 the cove out of the wind, and after everything is made fast 

 we put our traps into the tender and are soon at the cottage ; 

 and while the Doctor and Charlie shake out the bedding and 

 wipe up the guns, I make a pot of coffee, which is very 

 agreeable after our cold sail. Coffee over aud a pipe smoked, 

 we turn in and are soon fast asleep. We are aroused before 

 daylight, and as soon as it is fight we sight a flock of ducks 

 to leeward, and, taking the tender, we start down wind for 

 them, having previously put in some hemlock boughs for a 

 blind. They do not like the looks of things and start up out 

 of range, but settle again further down, and we follow, 

 Charlie taking the paddle. This time we get nearer. They 

 rise toward us, and as they quarter we give them four bar- 

 rels from our 10-bores and seven fall dead, and watching the 

 flock four more are seen to drop, which, after picking up the 

 others, we follow and get after considerable trouble, for they 

 seem to think it is safer under than above water. 



We find that we have drifted some ways below our cot- 

 tage, and as the wind is rising, we decide to make for it. So 

 throwing overboard the blind we take the oars, and after a 

 hard pull reach our landing. Leaving the others to take care 

 of the guns and birds, I get breakfast. The menu consists of 

 slapjacks and maple syrup, doughnuts and coffee. I never 

 pretended to be much of a cook, but the way those slap- 

 jacks disappeared has raised my opinion of myself in that 

 capacity several points, I at length got the boys filled up, 

 and leaving Charlie to wash the dishes, the Doctor and I 

 take the yacht and sail down to the landing for the others, 

 where we find them waiting very impatiently, as they had 

 arrived in time to hear us firing, and naturally wanted to do 

 their share. On our way up we see another flock of ducks, 

 and start after them. We get well up, and six barrels are 

 emptied, but no ducks fall, and three disappointed gunners 

 look at each other in amazement. However, we bear down 

 on six more, aud succeed in getting them all, which makes 

 up in a measure for the previous failure. But the wind 

 keeps increasing, and it is wet work. We decide to go in, 

 but before we can reach the point we are thoroughly wet 

 tbrough. The wind blows hard all day ; we try it again 

 toward night, and get few more ducks, and then give it up. 

 The next morning at daylight we start for home, but very 

 unwillingly, as there are several flocks in sight. 



B. AND H 



Bratti,bboro, March 38, 1885. 



