July 83, 1885.] 



Forest and stream. 



509- 



nearly so, being terribly lacerated arid disfigured for 

 life. Here remember the bear was not the aggressor, and 

 then again, if on a hunt von run on a bear or more than one, 

 Surprising them, and one or more are wounded when close 

 upon them, you are likely to be attacked, especially if cubs 

 are along;, but if at a distance and there is a show, they will 

 he way as rapidly as possible. Remember in this 

 case, also, fhehuutcr is the attacking party. 



Still again, suppose these wounded, retreating bears are 

 followed hastily and carelessly, and come up with while 

 down exhausted and bleeding, then it is reasonable to 

 expect a fight, and Woe to the hunter who does such. Other 

 than these cases that T have pointed out, there is little or no 

 danger from the grizzly to the careful hunter. In fact, there 

 is not so much danger 'in bunting the bear as there was in 

 hunting the buffalo of the plain twenty -five or thirty years 

 ago. 



I really remember no instance of disaster to man, woman, 

 or child in all theseyears, the bear being the aggressor, lie 

 has a kindly countenance and withal is quite cowardly 

 aud harmless if let alone, and will flee from man as 

 rapidly as his shambling gait will admit— quite rapidly 

 'especially if up hill; so much so is this the fact that the 

 hunter's 'greatest concern is that he will go from, instead of 

 toward him and get away at last. Illustrating the kindly 

 nature of our "pet" 1 will" state that a few years ago a party 

 was made up for a grand hunt, myself counting one. In 

 due time we departed back into the 'mountains in high 

 Aiter gettjpg well established in camp we started out by 

 twos to capture deer. One of the relays on a certain day 

 was pushing on at a quiet pace when the two dogs along 

 foegan to growl and bark, furiously, and on looking around 

 •they saw an enormous grizzly approaching at an easy shuftl 

 lit ; when within twenty-five or thirty yards he stopped, 

 [took a quiet survey of men and dogs and tried to go about 

 his business, but the fatal bullet finished his career in a 

 moment. Fortunately indeed for those hunters that this bear 

 was well disposed toward them. It appeared that a hundred 

 yards away he was laying away a winter supply of provi- 

 sions in the way of a part of the carcass of a mountain buff- 

 alo. He weighed eight or ten hundred pounds and had as 

 mild a face as 1 ever saw on an animal. 



It seems that your correspondent is disposed to compare 

 our shagey friend rather unfavorably with the carnivorous 

 man-eaters, etc., inhabiting the jungles of Asia and Africa, 

 such as subsist on flesh and lie in wait for their prey, attack- 

 ing both man and beast without provocation. In this also, I 

 think "F. A. M." is quite mistaken. 



It seems droll, at, least at this era, to bring forward what 

 the old hunter may say about the dangers of hunting the 

 .grizzly, this old hunter of the muzzieloader and knife. 

 Really it is not strange they should tremble and become a 

 little shaky at the mention of that inhabitant of the Rockies, 

 when their recollections takes them back to that fearful en- 

 counter, when they had only one shot and then to the 

 grand hug and the knife. 



Thus much for our mouutainneighbor. I have made this 

 longer than intended in his behalf, so will stop by calling 

 next! L.'C. T. 



Central City, OoTo., July 17. 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the excessively hot weather of 

 this week, three enthusiastic sportsmen systematically 

 worked the cripples on the New Jersey side of the Delaware 

 River for some distance below the city for woodcock, and 

 after two days of toil returned to Philadelphia with a dozen 

 birds, all on ice to keep them from spoiling. Is this sport? 

 Does it pay, even if woodcock are bringing $1,25 a pair'? 



The disastrous New Jersey fires which lately occurred in 

 Camden and Burlington counties, now fortunately smothered 

 by the last severe rain, was started, it is said, by a party of 

 Philadelphians who were on a turtle hunting trip, and who, 

 on being ordered away from the ground by the owner started 

 the conflagration through spite. Much game has been de- 

 stroyed by it, and from late accounts fully 100,000 acres have 

 been devastated. 



Many of the overflowed meadows which last September 

 furnished good rail bird grounds, owing to the large growth 

 of reeds which sprung up, have this summer been banked in 

 and reclaimed. This will force pushers to seek other locali- 

 ties. Year by year it is noticed that our rail shooters are 

 compel led to extend their trips to points further down the 

 river, aud the Lazarette and Chester marshes are becoming- 

 less frequented by sportsmen. Maurice River and Port 

 Penn of late years seem to be selected for a day T 's sport more 

 than any other grounds, and with good reason, for birds are 

 always plentiful, there is an abundanae of feed and the 

 marshes are extensive enough to furnish shooting for as 

 many as go there; besides pusfiers do not charge such out- 

 rageous fees as the up-river men do. Homo: 



July 18. 



A Shot at Geese. — Editor Forest and Stream,: About the 

 middle of last November I and Mr. Edward Cook, of Pitt 

 Meadows, were out goose shooting, not far from Port Ham- 

 mond, early one morning, in a cranberry marsh. I was. 

 posted under a small pine tree, he near another, about 150 

 yards to the west of me, when a flock of geese passed, but 

 too far from me for a shot; hut on seeing me they swerved 

 toward him, and he fired the right barrel, and as he covered 

 them he noticed two of the flock flying side by side. The 

 left barrel brought down two more in the same way, though 

 he only saw one fall, but on going to pick them up he found 

 fits dog just retrieving the fourth. We had. some good 

 shooting that morning;, having killed eleven geese in about 

 an hour and having to pick up three more shot the night 

 before; so we had quite a load to pack home — fourteen 

 geese aud our guns, ammunition, etc. — through grass over 

 our head, and on weighing some of them lound them to 

 weigh from nine to fourteen pounds each ; and I can tell you 

 by the time we did get home they r seemed to weigh twice 

 that weighr, and if two men did not do justice to~a good 

 breakfast no men ever did. — Jno. Hammond (Port Ham- 

 mond, British Columbia). 



Mb.. II. H. Warner, of signboard and reading notice 

 fame, owns a big game preserve on an island in Saginaw Bay. 

 It is said that Senators Conger, Palmer and Miller helped to 

 get, passed in the Senate a bill authorizing the sale of these 

 marshes to Mr. Warner for $3 an acre. 



Seattle, W. T., July 8.— Our fishing is very fine now, 

 and the prospects for fali shooting are very good.— Alkie. 



Northern Minnesota. — Janesville, Wis., July 17.— I was 

 much interested in the letter of Mr. W. 11. Wiuslow, of 

 Pittsburgh, in your issue of June. 11, entitled "Roughing It 

 for Hay Fever/' I have been a hay fever victim for several 

 years, and I fully agree with him that there is nothing like 

 a change of climate and outdoor life for relief. But the sea- 

 coast is not the only sanitarium for hay fever sufferers. For 

 three seasons past I have spent the hay fever period, from 

 Aug. 1.1 to Oct. 1 in Minnesota, making my headquarters at 

 Alexandria and Osakis, Douglas county, about 160 miles 

 northwest of St. Paul, and I was not only free from hay 

 fever, but was in a, land where I had the best shooting and 

 fishing I have ever seen. The shooting consists of both pin- 

 nated and ruffed grouse, ducks of all kinds and geese. Black 

 bass and wail-eyed pike are the principal game fish, 'and 

 when I state that I have known two rods to take over 128 of 

 them in oue day, none of which weighed less than three 

 pounds and some going seven and eight pounds, you will 

 admit that the fishing is good. Douglas county is said to 

 contain over one hundred lakes, and all of them fairly teem 

 with game fish. There are nine of them, ranging from five 

 to ten miles in length, within four miles of Alexandria, and 

 the whole chain is connected so that one can pass from one 

 to the other in a, boat. At Osakis there is a lake sixteen miles 

 iu length by from two to three in width upon which there 

 are two steam yachts lor the accommodation of tourists. 

 The hotels at both places are good and the rates low. If you 

 have any more hay fever readers who wish to obtain relief 

 and at the same time enjoy good sport, let them go to either 

 of the above resorts, and I know they will thank me for the 

 information. Last season I was in different places from St. 

 Paul to the Manitoba line, and during the whole time I did 

 not ha#e a symptom of hay fever. So free was I from it 

 that although I returned home three weeks before we had a 

 frost here, 1 remained free from it the balance of the fall. — V. 



A Valuable Book ok Reference. — The Philadelphia 

 Library attaches great value to a complete set of Forest 

 and Stream in its possession, which was presented to the 

 institution: by Mr. Franklin C. Jones, of this city. There is 

 not a single number missing, and the whole are handsomely 

 bound, with index, in several volumes. Your correspondent 

 can bear witness to these volumes being continuously used 

 as reference books, as scarcely a day passes— so I am told 

 by the librarian — that they are not called for. One scien- 

 tific gentleman remarked to me that the experiences of 

 the many sportsmen who have contributed their views to the 

 columns of Forest and Stream, and which are contained 

 in these bound volumes, have been of great assistance to him 

 in his studies. The Philadelphia Library will continue to 

 bind Forest and Stream, which is presented to them 

 from time to time by Mr. Jones.— Homo. 



Whistling ur Quail,— Augusta, Ga., July 18.— In one 

 of your late issues you copy an abstract from a South 

 Carolina paper, in regard to shooting partridges (quail) by 

 whistling them up. 1 saw the item and have made numer- 

 ous inquiries about it and find it a very common custom both 

 in South Carolina and in Georgia. The parties who do this 

 are not confined to the poorer class, who might do it for 

 meat, but include many city folk and gentlemen (?) who 

 pretend to back the game laws. They claim to kill "only 

 the male" birds, but in a bunch of seven there were five 

 •'heus" as one of the sportsmen confessed. The "no fence 

 law" has done wonders for the birds in this section, and they 

 will be very plenty this fall. — Old H. 



Iowa Prairie Chickens. — Latimer, Franklin County, 

 July 17. — Prairie chickens are moderately plenty, and where 

 the grass was not burned off in the spring, are large for the 

 time of year. The most of the coveys have from eight to 

 fifteen. For more than a week past the farmers' boys have 

 been shooting them. The writer has a cat that goes out 

 hunting with him, and capers around with the does, seem 

 ing to have just as much sport as any of them. Will follow 

 for a mile or two, and then go back 'home.— Rand. 



Glue for Gunstocks.— A correspondent writes: Having 

 obtained many valuable hints through your columns, I take 

 great pleasure in recommending tlie strongest adhesive 

 known, Le Paige's liquid glue. It is all the manufacturers 

 claim for it. We use it in our workshop, and have quite a 

 trade in it. I am not drumming up trade, and you need not 

 give my address, but if Le Paige's glue will not mend a 

 broken gunstock, nothing on earth will. — E. H. Fox (933 

 Eighth avenue, New York.). 



Meacham Lake, N. Y., July 14.— The non-hounding 

 bill is having the effect I expected. All hands in Franklin 

 county are mad. The still-hunters are making their plans 

 for a big hunt in the fall, and I heav, rumors from all sides 

 of deer having been killed in June. None have been killed 

 about the lake. The guides accept the situation, and say 

 they will respect the law and will have to make up then- 

 losses in the fall by still-hunting. — A. R. Fuller. 



Ontario Game and Fish.— Harwood, Rice Lake, July 

 18.— I have not seen so many ducks breeding here in the 

 marshes for many years as there are this year. The indica- 

 tions are good for a first-class shoot the 15th of August, when 

 the season opens. The black bass are biting splendidly; 

 large catches every day. Maskinonge fishing very good, 

 but not so good as it was a mouth ago.— Chas. Gilchrist. 



Shore Bird Flights.— Salem, [Mass., July 20.— Shore 

 bird fall flight has begun. I got a good bunch of them last 

 week. Among the varieties already along are jack curlew, 

 winters, summers, robin snipe, ringnecks, both kinds of 

 ''peeps," and uplands. These latter are not plenty yet ; in 

 fact even the "peeps" are thin in flesh, which shows them to 

 be just arrived. — X. Y. Z. 



Maine.— A moose was seen in Orland recently, said to be 

 the first seen in that vicinity for a generation. His hoof 

 prints were found to measure 5x7 inches, and his strides 

 reached fourteen feet, although trotting an easy gait. 



A Saturday Afternoon— Sedalia, Mo., June 27.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: We often have preached to us, 

 in a journal like Forest and Stheam, the gospal of rest— 

 a let up from business and business cares. Ol what a de- 

 light to some of us the woods and trees afford, and the assur- 

 ance that now we are completely beyond the sound of the 

 front-doorbell. Yet we often say, "have no time to day, 

 but w r ill go next, week." I had promised my little boys that 

 they might go fishing next Saturday. This was good news 

 to them. How the little fellows did work and gather up 

 their tackle. It was papa this and papa that; how do you 

 put on the sinker, and how much line would you use, etc., 

 until 1 was nearly crazy to go fishing myself. Saturday 

 came, and by daylight the little fellows were ready with 

 worms, lunch, lines, "etc., for a three mile tramp. After 

 dinner I suggested to my wife that I thought we had better 

 drive out and see what had become of the boys. I put my 

 hunting outfit into the buggy, called the dog," and together 

 with my wife we started for'the fields and streams. I knew 

 where a good snipe draw was, provided there were any snipe 

 in the country. Upon our arrival 1 left my wife with an ex- 

 cellent friend, a widow lady, on whose farm I expected to 

 hunt, while I investigated the snipe question. I did not have 

 far to go, about four" hundred yards, to strike the edge of 

 the boggy lands, where a number of years ago I had hunted 

 snipe with Senator Vest who, by the way. is an excellent 

 shot. I hardly had time to adjust my shells before a snipe 

 got up and fell" to my rigid barrel. The report of the gun 

 Hushed another that fell to left barrel. Proceeding down the 

 bog about a hundred yards, the dog flushed six or eight to- 

 gether, when I failed to bag. On approaching a small 

 stream some three or four teal ducks arose, and I secured 

 one at long range. Further on I shot another snipe, then a 

 brace, then another teal duck. This I thought was enough 

 for our friend and ourselves. The snipe appeared to be on 

 the increase When I quit shooting. This I consider a pretty 

 good showing for an evening's sport within four miles of a 

 city of 20,000 inhabitants. I found the boys all right and 

 highly pleased with the day's fishing, each having a string 

 of smallfish. This was my first spring shooting. — OCCIDENT. 



Deer Hounding Logic,— The Boonville 11 raid has the 

 following: "Deer hunting commences Aug. 1 and continues 

 until Dec. 1. No hounding allowed. Observe the law even 

 though it gives the pot-hunters full sweep to drive the veni- 

 son back into the woods, and the sportsmen have to live on 

 beef and pork. Boxes for carrying fresh meat from Boonville 

 to the Fulton Chain are already being made in anticipation of 

 a scarcity of venison under the new law." The last sentence 

 about the anticipated scarcity of venison, reads rather 

 strange, comi'ug, as it does, from the pen of the editor, who 

 is devoting columns of his paper to the attempt to. prove that 

 the law against deer hounding, referred to in the article, is a 

 bad one, and will prove far more injurious to the preservation 

 of defer than if floating was prohmi.ed an ! iumtuig v, ith dogs 

 permitted. Some of the guides say that it would be better 

 to have the deer season "open" for all kinds of hunting from 

 Aug. 1 to Oct. 15, the latter date, being the limit, of the stay 

 of the majority of sportsmen. After that the guides devote 

 the greater portion of their time to killing and shipping deer 

 meat; to market. — Utica Obst 



That Cartridge Test.— Memphis, Teun., July 15.— It 

 is gratifying to learn that the cartridges manufactured by 

 the U. S. Cartridge Co. stood the test of submergence in 

 water for over two days without being spoiled. But in 

 reading the item I was struck with the" exeeediug clumsi- 

 ness; not to say bad taste, of the method used in making the 

 test. — to send a traveling man out West to Denver and have 

 him seize the opportunity of a sportsman being drowned and 

 being under the water for over two days with his shell box, 

 when it would seem to have been so much easier and more 

 appropriate to have dropped a handful of cartridges in the 

 chicken trough in the backyard in New York and allow 

 them to stay there a week or so. But I have been fighting 

 mosquitoes for a week past in Coahoma swamps and per 

 haps have grown cynical iu consequence. — Coahoma. 



Fish and Game and Cheap Board.— We arc enjoy 

 ing- a fine season of boating and fishing in the beautiful 

 lakes fifteen miles north of Kingston, Out. Sydenham Lake 

 abounds in pike aud bass. Knowlton Lake has both bass 

 and salmon. Last week two of us were out trolling in Eel 

 and Little Long lakes and caught twenty-two pike and bass. 

 One of the pike measured twenty -eigh t inches. Sydenham is 

 a pleasant little village, sixteen miles from Kins'ston, and 

 good board can be had at $3.50 to $4 per week. Partridges 

 and ducks are verv plenty in the fall and good shooting is to 

 be had.— J. L. S. " 



$**np Sm SUckqings. 



"That reminds me." 



156. 



READING of many "remarkable shots" in your valuable 

 paper reminds. me of one I saw made many years ago, 

 when I was a boy. For several nights our pigeon coops had 

 been devastated by a small brown owl. This so enraged one 

 of my father's hired men, Jake, that he borrowed an old 

 flint lock about six feet long and carefully loaded it, using 

 hornets nest for wadding, it being confidently believed that 

 this material possessed special virtues for "this purpose. 

 Night came, aud Jake took his station by the garden fence 

 in ambush for the marauder. An hour passed, when sud- 

 denly we saw Jake peering cautiously toward a dead apple 

 tree." In a moment he carefully brought the firelock to his 

 shoulder and took deliberate aim, but just as we expected to 

 hear the old piece roar, we observed him carefully lower it 

 and cautiously face to the right behind a small bush, then 

 bringing the gun to his thigh he pulled trigger. A tremen- 

 dous flash and bang followed. Father and I ran up to see 

 what it all meant, and I heard old Jake say, "The darn old 

 thing went off after all." To father's question what he was 

 about he answered that he had tried the gun after loading in 

 the morning and could not get her off" and just as he was 

 going to pull on the owl it struck him that he had better try 

 her again and not fool the bird. Farnswcrth. ' 



Nobeistown, Pa. 



