260 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 28, 1885- 



CRUSTERS AT WORK. 



Editor ForeM and Stream.; 



We are still having winter weather up here on the north- 

 ern borders of the Adirondacks, and there is but little pros- 

 pect of being able to have any sport with the trout before the 

 latter part of May. There is still a depth of from one to four 

 feet of snow on the ground, and the ice on the lakes and 

 ponds is from two and a half to three feet in thickness, all 

 of which will have to melt and run off before we can expect 

 any good trout fishing. 



As usual, there have been quite a number of deer slaugh- 

 tered in the St. Regis district, south of here, by crusting 

 during the past winter. And only a week ago Sunday night 

 last two men were caught -with two bags full of fresh veni- 

 son, near the lumber "company's new sawmill on the St. 

 Regis River, at the foot of the Nine-Mile Level. They had 

 killed the deer during the day on the crust and had hid it at 

 the mill until night, so as to take it to their homes at St. 

 Regis Falls after dark. They probably would not have been 

 molested if they had not run off, when they saw the parties 

 that caught them coming up. The latter, when they saw 

 them 'make off, supposed they had been stealing property 

 from the mill. As it was, quite a fracas took place between 

 them. Revolvers were drawn and threats made of shooting, 

 etc. They were finally arrested and taken to Dickinson 

 Centre for trial One was fined $40 and the other $15. and 

 sent to Malone Jail for thirty days. 



But neither the fines nor imprisonment were imposed for 

 violating the game laws, for which, so far, nothing has been 

 done, but on the charge of assault with deadby weapons. 

 But it is hoped that Protector Leonard will now take the 

 matter in hand, and see that they are prosecuted to the full 

 extent of the law. There will be no trouble in getting all 

 the evidence against them required; and as they are some of 

 the very worst violators of the game laws in Franklin 

 county, the opportunity should not be lost to get them con- 

 victed. Heretofore they have, as well as some others in that 

 vicinity, managed to escape prosecution on account of its 

 being impossible to get evidence against them. There have 

 been no convictions of any of the violators of the game laws 

 in this part of the county as yet. and now is the time to make 

 an example. I am credibly informed that besides crusting 

 deer, these same parties, with others, have been catching 

 trout through the ice nearly all winter. St. Regis. 



Near the Adirondacks, April 14. 



ON DUCK NETTING. 



THE following letters in relation to the outrageous netting 

 of ducks in Shinnccock Bay express the opinion of 

 hundreds of the residents of Long Island. Both Mr. Foster 

 and Mr. Lane have been experienced fowl shooters for a 

 great many years, and what they say should have the earnest 

 attention of all sportsmen who are interested in Long Island 

 wildfowl shooting: 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



I think the bill introduced in the Senate by Mr. Otis to 

 prevent the capture of wild ducks in nets a good one. Net- 

 ting ducks is the most destructive method that can be 

 employed. As the bill now reads I think it will meet with 

 strong opposition. I think it would be better to strike out 

 from April 1 to October 1. Should netting ducks continue, 

 in a few years there will be no ducks in our waters to protect. 



William 8. Foster. 



Ponq,l'OGUE, L. I., April 12. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I assure you it would be a good thing if the law could be 

 passed prohibiting the use of nets without corks, as the fish- 

 ermen now do not use nets without corks for catching fish in 

 the bay, but use such nets wholly to catch ducks. I know 

 what I am writing about when I say this, and you can 

 depend upon what 1 say. The duck netters sometimes catch 

 1,000 in one night, and have been known to take out 400 

 ducks at one run. There is only one party netting ducks 

 now in Shinnecock Bay, but there are ten parties who have 

 had hundreds of new nets built on purpose, and who will 

 not set them until ducks are in abundance on the bay. You 

 can depend upon it that if this thing continues, in five years 

 from this time we shall not be troubled with anymore ducks 

 in this bay. But 1 am getting tired of trying to protect 

 game without some help. Shooting at night and "fire light- 

 ing'' is doing great damage here; and I have been trying to 

 have the whole thing stopped. But I find I do not get any 

 help from the sportsmen m any shape, and as one man can- 

 not do it alone, I have given the business about up. 



I think there were 1,000 guns shot at night during last 

 winter at the ducks that were frozen out and had to come to 

 the open streams in the night time to get food; and this was 

 done within a mile from the game protector's house, he, of 

 course, paying no attention to it. As long as the sportsmen 

 keep such a game urotector there will be no attention paid 

 to game protection. If we had a good game protector we 

 could work together and stop the thing in a hurry, but the 

 sportsmen know that our game protector is not good for any- 

 thing, and yet keep him in, and as long as they do they need 

 not look to me to have anything to do with game protection. 

 1 would not be mixed up with him. Wc all think Captain 

 Gill Penny would make a tip top game protector. We need 

 a change badly. William A. Lane. 



Good Ground, L. I. April 18. 



would be more effectually tied then they now are. The 

 excuse would be perfect for a warden who felt disposed to 

 shirk his duty to avoid prosecuting persons who net ducks 

 in the waters of those counties. I don't think one of the 

 duck netters will oppose this proposed amendment. 



It seems to me an amendment would be better which would 

 make it the duty of a warden to constantly watch those 

 waters and inspect, with care, for nets, not only in deep 

 water but the shoals on which ducks are accustomed to feed. 

 Make it obligatory upon the warden to destroy the nets when 

 found containing ducks, and when no ducks are found a 

 proper replacing of the nets should relieve him of liability to 

 prosecution. _ Really the proposed amendment appears to 

 me to have hidden a meaning for a warden to have less duty 

 to perform than is open for an active man now, and instead 

 of a protective measure will result in more destruction. It 

 is my belief that the "intent" to catch ducks could be estab- 

 lished by proving that nets found with ducks in them were 

 set on the accustomed feeding grounds for ducks and set at 

 an angle with the bottom different from that at which nets 

 for catching fish are set. It is said in your editorial, "It is 

 alleged, upon what appears to be good authority, that the 

 only nets used without floats of any kind are those which aie 

 set for the express purpose of capturing ducks, and that all 

 nets used for taking fish invariably have floats." Concede 

 that your information is reliable," there exists an item of 

 proof that nets taken up by a warden were set with intent 

 "to capture or kill any or such birds" provided there were 

 no floats attached. There are a number of men who, no 

 doubt, could be watched and found to visit certain nets time 

 and time again, and who are known to ship ducks to market; 

 proof could possibly be established in that way and a warden 

 be released from prosecution. Possibly the ' 'good authority" 

 could inform your readers whether ducks are ever found in 

 nets set for taking fish with floats properly "attached thereto 

 in such manner that the same shall float on the surface of 

 the water over such net when set." Wollat. 



New York, April 3, 1885. 



Some time since complaint was made by the Brooklyn 

 Gun Club against the Long Island warden. As to this mat- 

 ter the following information is received: 



New Hartford, Oneida County, April 13. — The com- 

 plaint of the Brooklyn Gun Club against George W. Whit- 

 aker, Protector, was forwarded to the Governor the day it 

 was received. The power of removal in these cases is with 

 the Governor, not with the Fish Commissioners. They have 

 no official duty in the case after transmitting the complaint 

 to the Governor. I have no information of what has been 

 done in the case. — R. V. Sherman. 



Again from a most reliable source it is discovered that a 

 number of letters were addressed to those in power, by the 

 friends of Mr. Whitaker, our informant says: "I judge a 

 strong influence was brought to bear on the Governor by 

 personal and political friends of Whitaker in his favor. I 

 think it would be well for those who make the charges to call 

 Governor Hill's attention to the matter." 



PROTECTION IN MONTANA. 



Editor Forest and Strea/n: 



Montana, rich in its mines, its fertile prairies, its vast 

 ranges, is fast becoming a highly civilized Territory. The 

 vigilance committee no longer hold their nocturnal entertain- 

 ments, otherwise known as "hanging bees," with the 

 frequency that they were wont to in the past. The buffalo 

 trails, stretching here and there over the prairies like a great 

 serpent, and now and then a skull overlooked by the hungry 

 coyotes, is all that we have to remind us of those vast herds 

 that only three or four years ago roamed over these very 

 lulls and throughout these self-same valleys. Civilization 

 has come, bringing with it towns and villages, dotting the 

 valleys with farms, and the ranges with stock. 



Game is very abundant. The streams are alive with fish. 

 The prairies abound with chickens, the hills with grouse. 

 Antelope and deer, though mercilessly hunted in the 

 past, are still plenty. Elk, bear and mountain sheep can be 

 found by striking away from the trails, or roads as they say 

 in the East, and going into the wilderness. Elk, however, 

 are very rare, as they have been almost exterminated by the 

 Indians, who, as you know, prize them above every kind of 



And now as the Territory is fast becoming settled up, 

 there comes the necessity of giving the, game"a chance for 

 life, and a fair one at that. A right step in this direction 

 has been taken by the town of Billings, an enterprising city, 

 situated on the banks of the beautiful Yellowstone River, in 

 the very heart as it were of the Territory. 



A club has been formed here for social and sporting pur- 

 poses, but particularly with a view to enforcing the game 

 laws, and protecting the game. The club extends a hearty 

 invitation to all sportsmen who may chance along the Yel- 

 lowstone. At its headquarters may be found all the sporting 

 papers of the country, and from its members all information 

 in regard to game will be cheerfully furnished. 



If more clubs shall be organized throughout our Territory 

 of this same sort, and we can protect our game, then indeed 

 Montana will be the great paradise of sportsmen for years to 

 come. Parmly Billings. 



Billings, Montana, April 14, 1885. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of this day, on the editorial page, is given a 

 transcript of a bill for amending the law pertaining to net- 

 ting ducks, which is ostensibly drawn to overcome the 

 power of the word "intent" in the law as it now stands. 

 Even should the proposed change take place, it does not 

 seem to me that a game warden will be better able to fulfill 

 his duties or prevent netting ducks. Of course that is the 

 object of the proposed amendment. The matter of floats 

 will make no difference with ducks. The angle at which 

 nets are placed for catching ducks will not be interfered 

 with by attaching floats to the nets, as weights can be used 

 to counteract the effect floats "upon the surface of the water 

 over such nets when set" will have to naturally keep "such 

 nets when set" in a perpendicular position. On the contrary 

 my belief is that an active game warden, even one who 

 honestly desired to prevent the netting of ducks, would be 

 still more hampered by finding all nets with floats attached 

 when set, whether for the purpose of capturing ducks or 

 taking fish, and would then be obliged to say they have con- 

 formed to the law in all' 'the waters of the counties of Queens - 



and Suffolk," and no seine or net has been found without hunter would ever wish lor. 

 flnflfq nrooerlv attached Tim™ inrlnorl thp wnrrlp.Ti's hands I ?arrt Sound. Ont. 



AN UNACCOUNTABLE. 



LET me tell you about my remarkable shot, aud how I 

 missed the biggest buck I ever saw by the meanest shot 

 I ever fired. I will give you the whole of it just as it hap- 

 pened. It was in the fall of '76; my chum and I were on 

 our annual deer hunt on the shores of Whitestone Lake in 

 the valley of the Magauetawan. 



I had sold my old muzzleloading rifle, and had made up 

 my mind to go in for a breechloader that fall. But before I 

 had got armed for the autumn hunt, the first fall of snow 

 came, and along came my chum and the annual hunting 

 fever. I borrowed a muzzleloading rifle from the village 

 postmaster, got our outfit ready and loaded up a team, and 

 sent it on ahead. We followed on foot, and in due time we 

 reached our rendezvous, unloaded our supplies and packed 

 them into camp. We spent the rest of that day in fixing up 

 our camp and cutting up a supply of wood, and got every- 

 thing ready for the next day's hunt. 



Next morning we were up long before the dawn of day. 

 A slight fall of snow during the night just made it what we 

 wanted. We parted at the camp-fire, one going west and 

 the other going east, each with a determination of making a 

 record on the first day's hunt. 



I had not tramped more than a quarter of a mile from 

 camp when I struck a fresh track on the new fallen snow, 

 which I followed on to the foot of a ridge. I proceeded 

 around the hill until I came back to my tracks. I knew my 

 game was on the hilltop and no mistake, and going back to 

 the opposite side of the hill, cautiously crawled and sneaked 

 up to the top. Here I peered aud scanned through the thick 

 underbrush, looking for my deer, but I could see nothing, 

 and dared not move. 



I waited, watched and prayed for a breeze of wind to break 

 the stillness, which was oppressive. Oh, for a howling storm 

 among the trees— something or anything to make a noise, 

 so that I could move further on. But hold fast, there is the 

 snow showering off a small balsam not a hundred feet away 

 from me. 1 squatted close to the roots of the tree that shel- 

 tered me and pulled my rifle out the cover. I was ready. 



Out stepped a bouncing doe, followed by the noblest buck 

 I ever saw. There he stood, a picture of pride and beauty, 

 a model for a Landseer, a free-willed and untrammeled mon- 

 arch of the forest, an antlered beau of the wildwoods. I 

 coolly and deliberately raised my rifle, drew a bead on his 

 big, 'honest eye, and fired— fired and missed him. He 

 bounded toward me, and then back to his female partner 

 and rubbed his nose against her neck, gave a defiant snort, 

 and left for over the hills and far away. And there sat in 

 the snow one of the most digusted stili-hunters that ever 

 pulled a trigger, and that was me. I returned to camp and 

 hung that Irish sporting rifle on the hooks, and vowed that 

 I would never fire another shot out of it. I never violated 

 that vow. 



I have hunted over the same grounds several seasons since, 

 and, believe me, 1 have stalked up that same hill to the same 

 old hemlock tree as stealthily and cautiously as I did on that 

 calm, still morning; I have watched and waited as eagerly as 

 I ever did, and hoped to see the same monarch of the forest, 

 but though I have made dead venison of many a deer since 

 then I cannot forget that deer— and that unaccountable 

 miss Time and again have I raised my rifle to my shoulder 

 and squinted through the back sight, and drawn bead on some 

 twig or piece of bark about where that deer stood and sent 

 the bullet to the spot. I held on, but for alt that I missed 

 the biggest buck I ever saw, and one of the easiest shots a 



Caberpeigh. 



Then indeed the warden's hands | Parry Sound, Ont. 



REYNARD'S WAYS. 



Editor Fared and Stream: 



During the fall of 1869 I witnessed the very shrewd per- 

 formance of an old fox that had given me the "dodge" for 

 at least a half dozen times. 1 was a boy then, but I kept as 

 fine a pack of dogs as Middle Georgia afforded. Two of my 

 cousins, living near my father's, also kept a number of splen- 

 did hounds. We hunted together, and the sounding of one 

 horn brought all the dogs together. We rarely failed to 

 catch a fox if we could once strike his trail ; but the one 

 Under consideration had succeeded in worrying us not a 

 little. We always lost the scent at the same place. After 

 running for an hour or more, and allowing the dogs to come 

 very close on her, she would make the circuit of a small 

 mountain, and start directly from that to another on the 

 opposite side of the little creek, but the dogs invariably 

 failed to carry the trail more than thirty or forty rods from 

 the stream. Her bridge was a large pine log that lay across 

 the creek, fifteen or twenty feet above the water. The banks 

 were very high. 



One fine frosty morning, after a race after her that ter- 

 minated as all the others had done, it was decided that, the 

 next Monday morning — this was Saturday— the other boys 

 were to proceed with the dogs to the "striking" ground and 

 that I should make for the pine log at once and watch for 

 the trick. Our plan was carried out and the secret discov- 

 ered, 



I took my position on a knoll about one hundred yards 

 from the log, with it in plain view, and waited for develop- 

 ments. The "striking" ground lay one mile west of my post, 

 and I had just begun to feel like nodding, when I heard 

 Forest, one of the truest and best foxhounds it has ever been 

 my lot to know, strike the keynote, and pretty soon the 

 game was up and the whole pack of eighteen in full cry,, 

 sweeping around the base of Anawaka Mountain. It was a 

 clear, calm morning with a gentle breeze from the west, and; 

 every note was borne to my ravished ear. There were four 

 or five dogs in the pack with a liberal supply of English 

 deerhound blood in their veins, and they sounded the bass 

 notes grandly. The very thick cover of brushwood gave the 

 fox a decided advantage, and one turn around the mountain 

 gave her the lead by at least a half mile. I was listening 

 very intently to the 'cry, trying to decide which one was 

 ahead, when on the top of the ridge across the creek, and 

 directly in front of me, I saw the fox dash into view, clear 

 the little strip of tableland at a few bounds, run across the 

 creek on the old pine log, aud make straight up the little 

 knoll on which I sat as motionless as a statue, whirl directly 

 back, after coming within ten feet of me, recross the creek 

 on the same log, leap as far off the log up the creek as she 

 could, and lie as flat as a fox could on the bare ground. 



I sat still to watch her panting sides and await develop- 

 ments. In a few seconds, on came the pack in full cry led 

 by Alec, a fine young dog of my cousin's. They dashed 

 across tne creek past me in a twinkling despite my frantic 

 efforts to turn them back. Casting my eye back to see what 

 had become of the game, I caught one glimpse of her scud- 

 ding back toward the mountain on the line she had just 

 come over a few minutes before. Here was the trick. I 

 knew her secret, and as soon as the over-eager hounds had 

 satisfied themselves that they had been duped by the wily 

 brute and had come back to strike the scent anew, I suc- 

 ceeded in explaining the trick to them, and in forty minutes 

 after the dodge, around her breathless body 1 explained it 

 to the other boys. J - ^- w - 



Wetitnka, Indian Ter. 



The West Chester (Pa.) Record says: "On Wednesday 

 William Eachus drove from West Chester to the Roberts 

 farm, in W?st Goshen, at which place he has a wood-leave. 

 While walking around looking for a place to locate a bridge 

 across a creek Mr. Eachus was surprised to see a fox banging 

 from a limb of a tree directly over the stream. Upon closer- 

 inspection it was found that the fox's head was firmly held 

 in a fork on the limb. It is Mr. Eachus's supposition that 

 reynard attempted to cross the creek during the recent 

 freshet, and while so doing ran his head directly into the 

 fork and in consequence was drowned. When the stream 

 had 'returned to its natural size the fox and limb were left 

 several feet above water, swinging in the breeze. The 

 animal was well preserved, and the brush in the future will 

 adorn one of the lead horses of a team." 



