Hept. 10, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



127 



which are sometimes gray with geese and hrant. Many 

 flocks of geese were seen by us sitting upon the fields, and 

 selecting a piece of sluhble which liad been partly burned, 

 with toil and heat Ave dug two pits, in which at about 4 

 o'clock P. M. we disposed of ourselves and "peeled our 

 eyes" for geese. A couple of dozen decoy geese loafed with 

 borrowed "gravity about the pits. After- a^half hour's waiting 

 a waving line appeared on the horizon, and we lay low for 

 a shot as soon as the line should resolve itself into a flock of 

 geese and visit the vicinity of their sheet iron brethren. On 

 they (lame, their discordant honks making more distracting 

 music than a country band. We crouch within our pits 

 until we can see the flock just over us, not three rods away, 

 and then we give it to them right and left. The sport con- 

 tinues until it is quite dark, the same flock often coming 

 twice to our decoys, so deceptive were they; and then the 

 drive home through the cold moonlight and the silence of 

 the prairie. This completes a day of perfect enjoyment. 



The vai'iety of s|)ort which an autumn day on our Minne- 

 sota prau'ies affords is the strongest inducement possible for 

 a sportsman to visit them. The novelty of shooting from a 

 wagon is a thing to be enjoyed only in "the West. Nowhere 

 else is t he pleasui'e of watching the work of the dogs so 

 keenly felt. Their every movement ia under the eye of the 

 master, and when they find game sometimes half a mile 

 away and stand firmly upon their point until the guns ar- 

 rive, they prove their mettle in a way that tries the patience 

 of the best of them. Prairie chickens and grouse are often 

 raised iu the same field and sometimes in the same covey. 



Small lakes and sloughs are numerous and furnish breed- 

 ing places for countless ducks and geese; the fleet jack rabbit 

 is liable to dart up and away before the dog's at any moment; 

 and the wary saudhiU crane may find an innocent-looking 

 wheat stalk conceals a hunter who prizes its succulent breast 

 when stuiied and baked more highly than turkey or goose. 

 A fortunate bag often contains specinaeus of each of the kinds 

 of game mentioned, and all obtained with little more fatigue 

 than that caused by a day's ride and the cHort of getting in 

 and out of the wagon. Can any country under the sun 

 furnish better sport than this? flxJNT. 

 St. Paxil, Minnesota. 



ILLINOIS NOTES. 



SPITE of the rain, prairie chicken shooting has been good. 

 The same can be said of woodducks. Pretty good bags 

 are made at Fox Lake and other club grounds around Chi- 

 cago, but udIcss this month gives us more sunshine to dry 

 up the marshes the snipe will be badly scattered. Here oil 

 my own particular ground (the Skokie Slough) there is now 

 two feet of water. 



Fall woodcock shooting is something we know little about 

 in this part of the country, but one evening after a most 

 successful day at the snipe, in passing thi-ough a twenty acre 

 lot that had been cut over the year before and had grown up 

 to poplar sprouts, I flushed two or three woodcock, and the 

 next afternoon in company of a friend we beat over this lot 

 and bagged nine, and so on for a week, getting altogether if 

 my memoiy serves me right forty -nine birds7 They were 

 evidently flight birds, for we cleaned out all there were each 

 day, and the next day there would be about as many more. 

 This was iu the month of October, and about ten years ago. 

 The next year I tried the same ground again but 'found "no 

 birds, and have tried many other as likely places since, but 

 have never again shot a woodcock iu October or even found 

 a boring. 



I am glad one contributor is tackling the gun question, and 

 fully indorse his position on the "list" and "net" prices. It 

 is high time there shoidd be a uniform price to all. 



Haruy Huntek. 



Highland Park., IU., Sept. 1, 



"A HUNT ON THE YAZOO." 



Editor Forcd and Stream: 



Hunting narratives are not very edif^dng unless the inci- 

 dents, however trivial, are at least plausibleT Mr. Jackson's 

 memory seems to be faulty about some slight matters of fact, 

 and he is quite too sensational. 



A steamboat cannot leave New Orleans in the evening (the 

 invariable leaving time) and reach Vicksburg by breakfast 

 next morning. In 1870 the R. E. Lee, in a race with the 

 Natchez, for a large wager, made the fastest time on record, 

 twenty-six hours and some minutes. The usual time for 

 packets is forty-eight hours. 



Mr. J. states that the boat "struck a snag," the only 

 noticeable result being to spill some custard into an old 

 gentleman's hat. It is a very serious matter for a steamboat 

 on the Mississippi Eiver to strike a suae. The almost in- 

 variable result is a large hole ia the boUom, and then the 

 pilot runs for shoal water, so she can settle down with as 

 little damage as possible. There is not always time for this 

 eveu. In 1881 the Florence Meyer struck a snag opposite a 

 government camp in my charge. Having at hand a tug and 

 barges I saved all the passengers and crew except five, who 

 were drowned. The boat sunk in deep water in a very few 

 minutes after she struck. 



Mr. J. relates that after strolling about Vicksburg and 

 viewing the sights, his party embarked in a skiff with two 

 pairs of oars, and I presume a pretty good load. They 

 reached the mouth of Big Sunflower with the "lengthening 

 shadows" that same evening. The distance is about sixty 

 miles. A pretty good pull up .stream, against a "stiff cur- 

 rent." 



The next morning they proceeded up the river, "rowing 

 the entire day" and going live miles further the day 

 following. Judging from the rate of progress the first day, 

 their "permanent camp" should have been fifty or sixty 

 miles above the "confluence of the Yazoo and Big Sun- 

 flower." And yet Mr. J. lightly traverses that distance 

 ' 'one morning" to examine an Indian mound. Returning 

 to camp, "I floated down stream, using only my^ paddle to 

 guide my course." This is unintelligible, in view of the 

 fact that camp was a considerable distance up stream. 

 Floating with the current, he passes near enough to an alli- 

 gator on shore to touch it with his paddle— supposes it to be 

 a log until it turns over twice and sinks into the water. 

 Alligators resemble logs to a very slight degree. They 

 never attack canoes, at least in this country. They never 

 "turn over/' but use their legs like other quadrupeds. They 

 are never seen on the Tazoo in the winter time— they are 

 tlieu hibernating at the bottom iu the mud. 



Mr. J. was frightened by a "Spanish tarantula." There 

 are no tarantulas, Spanish or other kind, iu the Yazoo 

 country. At all events, 1 have spent the best part of twenty 

 years in the Yazoo and Mississippi swamps, and have never 

 seen or heard of a taiajituia there or elsewhere east of the 



Mississippi River, I have seen plenty of them further 

 west. 



Moss does not "festoon from branch to branch." It gi-ows 

 straight down from the branch it is attached to. There are 

 no "lily pads" in the Yazoo or any other river in this country, 

 and. they are not seen in the lakes in the winter time. 



It seems remarkable that a party^ of hunters in a peaceful 

 country should agree upon a mysterious signal to announce 

 their approach or call tor "aissistance in an emergcncj'," and 

 that they should select "the screech of an owl." This savors 

 of dime novel literature. It is a diflicult matter to imitate 

 the screech of an owl, and it can be heard but a short dis- 

 tance. Perhaps Mr. J. meant the hoot of an owl. There 

 ai'e great numbers of owls in that country which keep up a 

 pretty hvely hooting on their own account. Mr. J. 's party 

 must have had a good deal of exercise chasing owls about the 

 swamp looking for cases of "emergency." 



It seems incredible that a murderer and fugitive from 

 justice, in hiding at the mouth of the Yazoo, should follow 

 this party some hundred miles through the wilderness to 

 place himself in their hands, in order to find out if they 

 were looking for him, in which latter case he intended to 

 kill them all, send them to keep company with the fellow he 

 had already murdered, if they were imbeciles enough to 

 aUow him to do it. Murderers in this country seldom 

 pursue such a very sanguinary course. They have rarely 

 been known to hunt up sheriffs' posses, and the latter never 

 pursue a murderer by rowing after him up stream in a skiff, 

 as he could easily walk along shore and keep out of the way. 

 The sensation about Ball's secreted knife, the carefully 

 loaded shotguns with fresh caps, etc., is too ridiculous for 

 comment. 



Mr. Jackson has evidently mistaken his vocation. He 

 ough to embark in a "yellow "back" enterprise. If he es,says 

 to write more hunting uarratives, it is to be hoped he will 

 treat your readers to a little common sense. 



T. G. Dabnkt. 



Memphis, Teun., Sept. \. 



Btxrning Prairie Chicken Egos.— The St. Louis Bepni- 

 Mean reports that a number of St. Louis sportsmen returned 

 last week from trips after prairie chickens in Iowa and 

 Minnesota. Nearly all of them are greatly disappointed with 

 their sport, and attribute their very inferior bags to the dis- 

 regard of the people of the North to their own game laws. 

 This feeling especially applies to the Minnesota men. the 

 lowans being apparently offenders in a lesser degree. There 

 are, of course, many districts in Minnesota where both 

 townsmen and farmers assist in game preservation, but they 

 seem to prove the rule by exception. Near Albert Lea, Fair- 

 mont Wells, Spirit Lake, Jackson, St. James. Madelia and 

 Winnebago City, chickens have been most scarce this year, 

 almost all of the young having been killed off by village 

 shooters when but squeakers and incapable of any kind 

 of flight. The birds have also suffered greatly by the 

 reckless method of burning off the dead prairie grass 

 each spring. This practice was introduced in Minnesota 

 some years ago with the object of destroying the young grass- 

 hoppers as they hatched out, and in many ways it was most 

 beneficial. If it was to be a case of either no chickens and 

 no grasshoppers, or all chickens and all grasshoppers, it was 

 doubtless best for the State that the grouse should go at the 

 same time as the hoppers, but when these last had finally 

 taken marching orders to the Gulf of Mexico, there could 

 be no reason for the burning of the prairies at so late a period 

 in the year as that usual for the operation at present. It is 

 now deferred until almost all of the breeding grouse have 

 laid, and after the burning of a prairie cooked grouse eggs 

 are to be found in every direction. One St. Louis gentle- 

 man tells of a farmer near Spirit Lake who found no fewer 

 than thirteen dozen eggs so spoiled by one fire last spring 

 on one bit of his prairie. 



The Old Gun.— Melrose, Mass.— In my father's family 

 was an old single-barreled gun that had been changed from 

 a flintlock to percussion cap, and was said to have done 

 wonderful execution in the old days, but in my boyhood 

 rust and time had left their marks upon it. StDl, for the 

 boys of the village the old gun had a mysterious charm. It 

 was said to have been taken from the Indians by my grand- 

 father, and certain strange figures upon it seem to confirm 

 this. Whatever its origin, the clear response of the lock and 

 the workmanship of the barrel showed that it did not have a 

 plebeian birth and that it was worthy of the honorable old 

 age that it enjoyed. Whether the wonderful stories of what 

 it used to do were the result of its merits or of poetic imag- 

 ination is hard to say. All the traditions of its wonderful 

 powers were treasured in my boyish mind — loons killed 

 nobody knew how far. and ducks stricken upon the far off 

 bosom of the lake. This fatality was said to have been at- 

 tained by a particular way of loading. In my days this 

 peculiar method was a lost art and the muzzle was so badly 

 worn that no charge could be made to kill except at short 

 ranges. It would still "sling shot" most terribly, but not in 

 exactly the same way as of old. What it lacked in this re- 

 spect I contrived to make up in perseverance and ingenuity. 

 It seemed to take kindly to an ounce ball, or if an ounce ball 

 was not handy any other smaller size would do with patches 

 enough, and many a vvoodchuck attested the correct adjust- 

 ment of the boy and the gun. I have dwelt upon this gun 

 because it seems now in retrospection a part of my early life. 

 How many of your reader now amid the bu.sy cares of hfe 

 can recall the old gun of blessed memory with all the sacred 

 associations of home clustering about it'?— W. 



The Profitable Woodchuck.— The woodchuck, usu- 

 ally accounted a curse by the average farmer, has proved a 

 blessing to New Hampshire rural districts. Not long ago 

 the Legislature of that State provided a bounty of ten cents 

 on every woodchuck killed, the tip of the tail to count as 

 proof. The result exceeded all anticipations. The appro- 

 priation for bounties on vermin jumped up tremendously. 

 According to a report made by State Treasm'er Carter, the 

 bounties paid on wild animals for year ending- June 1, 1877 

 was $737; for year ending June 1, 1878, $620; June 1, 1879] 

 1871. SO; 1880, foxes and hawks having been added .$3 loo- 

 1881. foxes dropped, $1,491.90; 1882, $2,030.10; 1883, $3,' 

 021.90; 1884, $4,087.::i0; 1885, woodchucks added, $14,756.- 

 10. During the month of June last, being the first month of 

 the present fiscal year, the bounties amounted to $2,239.97, 

 of which nineteen-twentieths were on account of wood- 

 chucks. Woodchuck farming was rapidly advancing to be 

 a leading industry; it paid even better than keeping .summer 

 boarders; but a sudden stop has been put to the business by 

 the repeal of the bounty. Now the question is, what are the 

 New Hampshire people to do with their extensive "ground- 

 hog" plant? 



"Quail" and "Bob 'Wm'm."— Editor Forest mid Sfn^eam: 

 "Wells" horned a child and christened it "Bob White," 

 and now "Coahoma" assumes paternity and re-christens it 

 "partridge Bob W^hite." Whose child is this any way? I'm 

 sorry for "Wells." for it's hard on him. As for the term 

 "partridge," it has been shown conclusively, I think, in your 

 columns that it is entirely a misnomer and .should be dropped. 

 As for Bob White, he may be any sort of disreputable human 

 who neither has wings nor Uvea in coveys, and as for choice 

 of names, I had rather have quail, for 1 never knew a dis- 

 reputable quail. In all probability he was properly named 

 after his European conqueror, whose right to the name no 

 one will deny. It has always been my impression that he 

 was in shape a European quail. He don't flv across the 

 Mediterranean, it is true, because it is too far off'' He would 

 if he could get there. No little thing like that would dis- 

 hearten an American bird. Of course the European bird is 

 dwarfed. It dwarfs anything to live under a monarchy. 

 Here he has expanded to the fuU capacity of his original 

 quail nature and has become the full blown American quail. 

 It is not necessary to bimlen him with a human name. 

 "Coahoma" calls him "our southern partridge." Since when? 

 Now that we have one name for our country, let us have 

 one name for the same bird wherever found. What's the 

 matter with "quail," anyhow? "Wells" says "Bob White," 

 "Coahoma" says "partridge Bob White." Somebody else 

 might say ''Ortyx drginiaims, Bob White, partridge, quail," 

 and add "pheasant," by which name he is called in some 

 sections of the country. Those who so call him insist that 

 they are right. I do not claim the name quail proper because 

 it 18 a local one, but because the bird, as I suppose, more 

 nearly resembles the true quail than any other bird or Bob 

 White. Else why the name? There is no desire on my 

 part to "tyrannize" over anybody — I am shrinking in my 

 disposition. However, it is in human nature to be like the 

 man who disputed hotly with his wife as to the merits of a 

 country or city residence, he wishing the former, and being 

 unable to agree consulted a friend who advised him to com- 

 promise. Afterward his friend a.sked him if it was settled, 

 and the reply was, "Oh yes, we compromised on the coun- 

 try,"— S. 



New Hajipshire "Prfvate Shooting Bill."— An effort 

 to make the trespass law of New Hampshire more stringent 

 was defeated in the last Legislature. The bill was a very 

 sen.sible one, but it provoked such opposition that after hav- 

 ing been pa.ssed and sent to the Governor for liis signature it 

 was vetoed by him, and being retm-ned to the House the veto 

 was sustained by a vote of 148 to 14. The text of the bill 

 was as follows : "An Act to prohibit shooting and trapping 

 on private grounds. Be it enacted by the Senate and House 

 of Representatives in General Court convened: Sec. 1. When 

 the owner or occupant of inclosed lands conspicuously posts 

 on the same a notice that shooting or trapping thereon is 

 prohibited, if a person thereafter willfully enters upon such 

 lands without the permission of said owner or occupant, and 

 shoots or sets traps thereon, or for the purpose of shooting 

 or trapping, the owner or occupant may recover against such 

 person, in an action of trespass for such entry, a penalty of 

 ten dollars in addition to the damages sustained thereby. 

 Sec. 2. The notice mentioned in the preceding section shall 

 be given \>j erecting and maintainine- sign-boards not less 

 than two feet long by one foot wide, in at least two con- 

 spicuous places on the premises, which notices shall have 

 appended the name of the owner or occupant. Any person 

 who breaks down, defaces or injures such sign-board shall be 

 fined ten dollars. Sec. 3. All acts and parts of acts incon- 

 sistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed." 



Deer and Crops.— Woodfoid's, Me., Sept. Z.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I inclose item from a Machias (Me.) 

 paper, which says: "One of our suburban farmers is sorely 

 afflicted this season by the depredations of what he denomi- 

 nates Gov. Robie's neat stock. The wild deer are destroy- 

 ing his crops, and as he is not allowed to kill them, he has 

 requested the Governor to see to it that no moce damage is 

 done by them." It would appear that the suburbs of the 

 city of Machias are being devastated by deer, and I would 

 suggest that the police force be increased so as to protect the 

 crops. I am pleased to learn that our "deer laws" are prov- 

 ing so effective, and do not fear that Gov. Robie will give 

 the "suburban farmer" the right to kill "his neat stock," or 

 the State's neat stock, or his neighbor's neat stock, whether 

 it be deer or horse or cow. The "suburban farmer" ought 

 to have that trespassing deer impounded, and Gov. Rouble 

 should pay the bill. Many years since a deer jumped 

 thi'ough a door (or window) of a store in the city of Bangor, 

 ran to the other end of the store and jumped into a large 

 mirror. I do not remember if he suffered the death penalty 

 for his crime or not, but am quite sure that neither the city 

 of Bangor nor her injured citizen petitioned the Governor of 

 the State for protection against such savage attacks of wild 

 bea,sts. This citizen of Machias must not murder the neatest 

 stock the State owns, unless the stock bites him. — Mac. 



Lassoing a Bear.— Clarendon, Tex., Aug. 29.— As W. 

 H. Oliver was riding over the range of which he is foreman 

 in company with one of the boys, they discovered a black 

 bear to which they immediately gave chase. They soon 

 overtook his bearship, who showed fight. Neither having 

 any firearms, they availed themselves'of the only weapons 

 they nad, their "riatas." Mr Oliver succeeded iu catching 

 the bear by the neck, and his friend secured a hold by one 

 hind foot. They stretched hirh out and leaving the horse to 

 hold him, cut his thi-oat with a pocket knife. The bear will 

 probably weigh .200 pounds and is in fine order. Plover are 

 very plentiful and very fat, several fine bags have been made. 

 The last time I was out twenty-six of them fell victims to 

 my Spencer. I shall keep a record of outings and birds 

 bagged, also shells used. I do not expect to equal some of 

 those that have been given in Forest and Stream, but get 

 as many as any one who shoots with me. — Perito. 



Protected by a Newspaper. — Baltimore, Aug. 35. — 

 Near Oakland, Md., last Wednesday, Lieuts. Chisholm and 

 Jamison, of the Garrett Guards, were out bird hunting. 

 They had but recently separated when Jamison raised a 

 bird. He fired, and besides bringing the quail down lodged 

 the largest portion of his charge in the body of his friend 

 Chisholm, who was concealed from view by the underbrush. 

 The shot pierced Chisholm's clothing, but fortunately most 

 of them lodged in a copy of the Eraiiug Star, which the 

 lieutenant was carrying in the inside breast pocket of his 

 coat, The folded paper was literally filled with shot and 

 prevented serious injury being done to Chisholm. Ofie stray 

 shot lodged under one eye, inflicting a painful wound, but 

 his breast was saved by the Star.— Washington Star. 



