Oct. 15, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



227 



Perhaps any of us can learn a valuable lesson Irom such an 

 uuploasant experience. 



i tShal) read with great interest all communications on the 

 trnjcctory lest, as I have been deeply interested in that 

 matter for years; in fact, have made thousands of experi- 

 mental shots with the "Winchester rifles of all caliber, loaded 

 with various grades of powder, but have not been able to 

 devise a plan which would remove the curved teudencj\ In 

 my experiments, covering the past three years, I have used 

 a telescope sight attached to the side of the barrel after my 

 own fashion, and I find that in the ..33-caliber Winchester, 

 loaded with FFFG Hazard powder, it gives a very sat- 

 isfactory flat line of fire under 150 yards. The telescope 

 lessens the apparent raise of the bullet materially, owing, 1 

 believe, to the certainty of aiming exactly at the brdlseye and 

 not above it, as is the case wiicn the distance or light makes 

 it diflicult to exactly defloe the target. Then again, resting 

 the muzzle of the gun instead at the point of equipoise, in 

 m3'^ opinion causes one to shoot high. This tendency is ap- 

 parently increased in light guns having much recoil. 



E. C. Waldubff. 



Buffalo, Oct. 8, 1885. 



QUAIL— BOB WHITE-PARTRIDGE. 



Edito'V Forest and Slmani: 



I am glad "Coahoma" stands up for the correct name of 

 the Perdix mrginiaims, to wit, partridge. To be sure, our 

 Northern friends have no idea of ever givinf? up their name 

 of quail for the same bird ; but that is no reason Southern 

 gentlemen or huntsmen should bhndly adopt a misnomer. 

 Audubon describes four varieties of partridge in '"Birds of 

 America," but never a quail, ami expressly says that at the 

 North the Virginia partridge is improperly called quail. 

 The accomplished Lewis, author of "The American Sports- 

 man," makes plain the diifereuce between the two birds, and 

 Btonehenge, a high authoiity in England, tells that the quail 

 hreeds in Africa, and flies" across the JMeditereanean into 

 Eiiroj^e, where it is shot in immense numbers. Indeed, 

 these two species are not so neariy allied as the Carohna 

 turtle dove and the passenger pigeon ; for the flesh of the 

 quail is dark, fat and greasy,' while that of the partridge is 

 white and dry. Moreover, their habits are entirely dis- 

 similar. 



I think, too, it is a pity we have let our Northern neighbors 

 change the name of our old hare to rahbit, since the rabbit 

 is not indigenous to this continent, and the two animals are 

 as distinct as ttie sheep and the goat. Birdo. 

 Slashes, Va. 



THE ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Strenm: 



While I would not ignore in the least the many advocates 

 •of the deer hounding law, some of whom I know labored 

 ipersistcntly to the last moment for its success, much credit 

 is due the Forest mn Stream for its wide extended in- 

 ifluence all over the country, when it took the side of 

 ihumanity as opposed to slaughter and butchery of the inno- 

 'cent deer driven into the water in which there was no escape. 

 It has happily moulded a healthy sentiment in opposition to 

 this cruel mode of hunting. 



Call me a sentimentalist, a humanitarian, call me what 

 you please, but T could never bring myself to look on with 

 indifference and see the timid deer chased by the swift, per- 

 isisteut hound until half dead with fright, melted with heat, 

 •and with protruding tongue and panting sides he plunges 

 into the water. Here instinct lias taught him that he can 

 tbaflle the enemy on his track; when well out in the water he 

 •should be safe; when, lo, a boat pushes out from the shore 

 and cuts off his retreat; he plunges frantically this way and 

 that to escape his now more deadly enemy. His pitiful 

 ibleating for mercy is of no avail, there is no possible chance 

 of life and he is ruthlessly murdered bj^ the pot-hunter, or so- 

 caUed "sportsman." 



Age with its attendant decrepitude and failing sight can 

 no longer compete successfully with the sharp senses of the 

 wary deer. But I like to hunt as well as ever, and if I am 

 fortunate enough to kill a deer it will be fairly, and not by 

 trapping him, or what is equivalent, by driving him into the 

 water, where I can have all the advantage. 



After the bill had been passed I found there was still much 

 to do to insure the enforcement of the law. I consulted 

 with sportsmen and guides interested in the preservation of 

 game in this section and found that they were willing to 

 contribute something toward having a good man to attend 

 to the enforcement of the law. I started the subscription 

 with |50, but it will cost me three times that, as I am bound 

 to pay all that others do not contribute, which will not be 

 one-half of the expense. But I do not care for that. 1 mean 

 to have one year of quiet if its does cost me $300. I accord- 

 ingly engaged a man deputized by the State game constable, 

 and he began his labors the first of July. He has proved to 

 be the right man in the right place. He is all over and turns 

 up where he is least expected. Silence reigns supreme. 

 The deer grazes undisturbed on the mountain side and in his 

 native haunts, and I imagine that his heart yearns with 

 gratitude to Foekst and Stream and other coworkers for 

 the Curtis hounding bill, for the quiet, undisturbed rest he 

 is permitted to enjoy. 



I am informed that hounding is practiced on the Fulton 

 Chain of lakes and on the east side of the woods, which is 

 only winked at hy the game constables of that section, and 

 if so, these negligent oflicers should be removed and others 

 that will do their duty put in their places. But there has 

 not been heard the voice of a hoimd in pursuit of deer in all 

 the Beaver River country, patrolled by our private game 

 constable. 



There would be no trouble whatever in enforcing the 

 "game law in respect to hounding if the game constables 

 were disposed to do so; but I think the constable in 

 •cliarge of the Fulton Chain of lakes was much opposed to 

 the hounding hill, hence his lack of energy in this respect. 

 Deer are, of cour.se, scarce from the great slaughter of the 

 past two years. There is great rejoicing here that this 

 slaughter cannot be repeated this fall. While the law is on 

 my side I shall see that no hounding is done in this section. 

 Last fall more deer were killed in one day by the bounders 

 within three miles of my house than I have killed in the past 

 two years. But, thanks be to Forest and Stream and all 

 workers for the deer hounding law, this thing cannot occur 

 again. 



In my post office I have posted the deer hounding law pub- 

 lished by Forest and Stream and directly under it is a 

 large rooster, cut from pasteboard, in the act of crowing, 

 whose clarion voice proclaims to both friend and foe the 

 great victory we have achieved in the salvation of the deer 

 by the completion of the Curtis hounding law, 1 rejoice 



that this fall I shall not be compelled to send in to Forest 

 .AND Stream iJie bloody record of the wholesale slaughter of 

 deer by hounding. 



Inclosed is $4, for which please send me Forest and 

 Stream for one year. I like it for what it has done. It has 

 taken the side of humanity, decency and game protection. 

 Lot the deer slaughterer heap maledictions upon it if they 

 will, they cannot harm it. It is above reproach. It has the 

 honor of advocating and aiding in the completion of the best 

 law that could be devised for the protection of the deer in 

 om- Adirondack forest. Chas. Fenton. 



Number Four, Adirondacks, Sept. 38. 



AN UNSUCCESSFUL DAY. 



Y TENT is, for the present, pitched at the mouth of 

 the Jemscg— the outlet of Grand Lake — a place made 

 memorable in the history of Acadia as the site of one of La 

 Tour's forts, and the scene of some of the bitter fights 

 between him and his rival Charnisse. Though all recent 

 writers on the subject mention the fact that La Tour pos- 

 sessed a fort at this place, yet some of them place the .scene 

 of the fighting near the present city of St. .John. Cannon 

 balls and musket bullets have been found in the wa.shouts on 

 the adjacent intervale banks in .sufficient quantities to indicate 

 pretty sharp fighting, and as he was always at peace with the 

 Micmacs, the only inference that 1 can draw is that it must 

 have been done with his rival. The fort was situated on a 

 knoll commanding both the St. Lawrence and the entrance 

 to Grand Lake. Portions of the glacis are still visible, but 

 the site is now a cultivated field. The boom of the French- 

 man's cannon has given place to the sharp roar of the 10-bore, 

 for the marshes adjacent to this place cannot be excelled by 

 an}"- inland place in this province as a resort for wildfowl, 

 but it was much better ten years ago than it is now. 



The grouse law was off Sept. 20. I cleaned up my old 

 gun, or parody on a gun, and loaded a baker's dozen of 

 shells, thinking perhaps I would be content to come home 

 by the time I had fired them all away, and prepared to spend 

 tlie day in the woods of Clifton. True, I had no dog, but 

 had 1 not often in my boyhood days made ^ood bags without 

 the aid of a canine, and was I less smart now than then? 

 In m}"" snowshoe tramps last winter I had located every 

 grouse within a radius of two or three miles; and I never 

 saw more grouse or a finer lot winter safely than tided over 

 last season's cold weather. 



In this country tlie ruffed grouse individually haunt a par- 

 ticular territory, usually about one-fourth of a square mile, 

 but the real shape of their beat depends a good deal on the 

 formation of the ground and the abundance of food. I have 

 noticed no ditference in the extent of their range, whether 

 there were two. three, or a whole flock using the same piece 

 of ground. I have seen the same grouse every day for three 

 months. I don't believe they ever migrate, except when 

 compelled by scarcity of food, or some other cause they 

 cannot control. I have noticed also that they have their 

 favorite places in their beats, without being able to see any 

 reason for their partiality. Some turn in an old road, per- 

 haps, or a little glade or flat. 1 can point to one single spot 

 where I have killed probably a dozen grouse, but never saw 

 more than one at a time; neither did I ever kill two during 

 the same season. The hunter's success depends to some ex- 

 tent on his knowledge of these places. I do not believe there 

 are more than two men living who can discount me in find- 

 ing birds on the grounds adjacent to the place where I was 

 brought up. 



On this day I beat the woods thoroughly between the Ken- 

 nebeccasis and Pudtlington's Lake without seeing anything 

 but one hermit thrush and an occasional red squirrel. 1 

 approached the lake cautiously, hoping to find some ducks; 

 but there were none there. While I was doing this fine 

 piece of creeping I passed within thirty feet of a pine limb 

 which was lying on the ground. On it was a projection 

 which very much resembled a squirrel. Passing the same 

 place again twenty minutes after I was so much struck with 

 the likeness that I shied a stick toward the limb and the ex- 

 crescence disappeared like a flash. I present this as evi- 

 dence that things are occasionally "what they seem." 



I struck through a splendid growth of sugar maple to- 

 ward Walton's Lake. On the whole, I rather like mountain 

 lakes, but I hate the oozy .swamps that often environ them. 

 While picking my way along the edge of one of these, an old 

 cock grouse which I recognized as a former acquaintance 

 rose and dashed into a thicket like a bullet, I hunted for 

 the old thunderbolt about half an hour, and then instead of 

 "riddling" him, as 1 intended, I "gave him up," as I often 

 have riddles. Going on about a mile I came to an old lum- 

 ber road, when up went another grouse not ten rods from 

 where I had often seen one last winter. He offered me a 

 good, fair, flying shot, and I wouldn't take it; but having 

 seen where he settled, I deliberately followed him up with 

 the fiendish intention of potting him. However, I didn't 

 pot him to any appreciable extent, for he ran about thirty 

 yards at right angles to his line of flight, and rose, twisting 

 around a dead tree top as he went, and I almost thought I 

 could see him wink his left eye at me as he disappeared. I 

 think I hear some one say, "Served you right," and I bow my 

 head to the justice of the verdict. "But I beg to present to 

 the reader a few extenuating circumstances. I have spent 

 weeks in the woods of_ Clifton and vicinity, and only three 

 times did I succeed in shooting anything. If the good 

 people of the villao-e knew the Indian name for "The-Man- 

 Who-Goes-to-the-Woods-with-a-Gun-and-Gets-Nothing," I 

 would doubtless get the benefit of it; hut the English' form 

 is rather long for common use. Is it any wonder, then, that 

 in order to remove the stain on my character I would en- 

 deavor to get in a sure thing on that cunning old grouse? 



Failing to find the bird again I struck through the woods 

 to McGinn's clearing, a fair specimen of a backland farm. 

 As I crossed it I couldn't help wondering how much money 

 it would take to induce me to live there. An old man, with 

 one foot in the grave, and the other so near that it displaced 

 the loose earth on the edge, came out of the house and began 

 to cut wood. As I watched the feeble blows of his axe I fell 

 to moralizing on the bright and dark sides of the picture 

 presented by a long life. Soon I canae to a beech ridge 

 where I had f recjuently flushed six grouse last winter, and 

 from which I expected great things now that they had had 

 a chance to increase and multiply. My best work could only 

 start one grouse, and he rising very wild took a bee line in 

 the direction of Auticosti. I took another route to Walton's 

 Lake. On my way I called at Camp Campbell, or "Hotel 

 Backlands," as we used to call it; a deserted lumber camp, 

 which only last winter was the scene of all the Dustle inci- 

 dental to this busiest of lives. As I leaned against a tree I 

 recalled the small neatly dressed figure of the foreman who 

 Gould take as heavy a "hand-^pike lift" as the best, and the 



stalwart forms of the men who used to labor shoulder to 

 .shoulder with him. I thought I could see "Hilly," the cook, 

 with his briglit red hair, good-natured, freckled face, and 

 his feet, for bo it known there never was so much of any 

 man of like weight lying on the ground, while his canvas 

 pantaloons, as if uncertain of whic'h to be most afraid, the 

 face or the feet, hovered about his knees at a safe distance 

 from either, stayed only by a calf skin suspender which con- 

 stituted the "moorings" that prevented them from making 

 their escape. For a complete picture of departed glory give 

 me a deserted lumber camp. Some forest vandal had broken 

 the windows and the door stood ajar; while around grew a 

 few spires of timothy and oats, whose lives in the forest were 

 destined to be about as ephemeral as had been the slay of 

 those of the persons who were the means of sowing them. 

 The lumberman has been thoroughly condemned by con- 

 tributors to sportsman's papers. I know him as few men do. 

 I've been one with him. I consider him an industrial 

 necessity and there I leave him, with the additional remark 

 that he is fast disappearino; from this province. 



Eesumiug my journey I crossed another aggravating piece 

 of swamp. As I stood on a hummock I saw a red squirrel 

 preparing to jump from a Umb of an ash, and when he was in 

 mid air I threw up the gun and fired, A dull thud told that 

 my aim had been true, but had he been anything worth 

 shooting I would not have touched him. Stepping carelessly 

 backward one foot sank in the soft ooze of the swamp, per- 

 haps a just retribution for killing,- the squirrel, but it was a 

 fair flying .'^hot. The rest of tlie hunt degenerated into a 

 tramp, and 1 reached home feeling as if 1 didn't want to see 

 the woods again for a month; but actually I would have 

 been glad of the chance in two days. 



The result of my hunt was a bad cold. The most notice- 

 able feature in the hunt was that I saw no young birds, but 

 the same old bachelor and old maid grouse" that were there 

 last winter. In my year's stay at Clifton T acquired a 

 knowledge of its gi-and old woods and little lakes that is 

 not equaled by tliat of some that were to the manor born; 

 and I .shall look back on some of the days I spent there with 

 a good deal of pleasure. My exploits w'ith the gun were few 

 and insignificant, but some of my feats with the rod gained 

 me a local reputation if nothing more. The hills were gen- 

 erous to me, for 1 enjoyed such health there as I have not 

 known for two years. Farewell land of rugged hills, de- 

 licious small fruits, delightful autumn scenery, semi-peren- 

 nial fog and genial people. Vale! L. I. Flower. 



Jbmseg, N. B, 



MOOSE HUNTING IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 



ON tlie twenty -fifth of February last, after driving sixty 

 miles from Derby station of the Intercolonial Eailway 

 to the headwaters of the_ Savogle branch of the Mira- 

 michi Elver, a friend and i left McPowers's lumber camp 

 in the gray of the morning, he carrying a double-barreled 

 gun charged with bullet and buckshot and 1 a .44 caliber 

 repeating rifle. We had three hunting days before us; the 

 snow was five fett deep and a slight crust made fairly good 

 snoesflowing. After traveling about three miles in one di- 

 rection by pocket compass we struck a caribou track. Our 

 hearts beat high as we turned to follow. In about two 

 hours we saw two small caribou standing in the edge of the 

 thick wood across an open distant about 150 yards; but 

 there was very little chance for a shot among all those trees. 

 At this moment a fine large fellow jumped up from the 

 snow, where he had been resting, ran a few steps and 

 stopped behind a clump of trees which allowed only about 

 a foot square of his belly to be seen. My never-failing rifle 

 X)laced the bullet in this spot and he felL like a stone. Be- 

 lieving him dead I turned to look for th(; others, when a 

 shout from my companion told me that the caribou was up 

 again and away. As the snow was plentifully sprinkled 

 with blood we felt sure of overtaking; him; but in this, we 

 were mistaken. They did not sink more than a foot in the , 

 snow and could run two miles to our one. They would lie 

 down and rest about every mile and start again on scenting 

 us. Late in the afternoon we ran across a moose yard, but 

 kept on after the caribou until it was time to steer for the 

 lumber camp, which we reached at dark thoroughly dis- 

 gusted with caribou hunting. A good square supper with . 

 the lumbermen and a glorious sleep fitted us out for the next 

 day, which was destined to see a yet more exciting chase. 



We went straight to the moose yard, and after circling 

 around for a considerable time, found his track leaving the 

 yard. Straining every nerve, we gave hot chase for about three 

 miles. As we were nearing a large tract of second growth, 

 and on rising ground, a "'There he is" from my companion 

 woke me up to the fact that he was not far oiS. We could 

 see the bushes swaying to and fro about 350 yards ahead. 

 We both started to run for a little knoll 50 yards atiead to 

 get a good shot. In the excitement his snowshoe caught in 

 a twig and he fefl into the deep snow, so that I reached the 

 knoll first. When I got on top the moose was about 300 

 yards away, making lively for other parts. I fired for his 

 left shoulder and over he went. By the time ho got up I 

 fired again and over he went again. I then ran along to get 

 another shot at shorter range. When I got about 100 yards 

 from him he started off again, so I stopped long enough to 

 fire two more shots, the first of whtch 1 missed, but the last 

 one stopped him. The shell caught in the rifle comina; out, 

 on account of some snow getting in, but he stood perfectly 

 still until I got vnthin 20 feet of him, when he made for me 

 full drive, and it was then my turn to leave for other parts, 

 which I did on the double-quick. I succeeded, however, in 

 getting out the shell, and turning gave him a finishing touch 

 behind the ear, which dropped him stone dead. Ah this 

 happened in much less time than I have taken to tell it, and 

 the shooting was all over by the time my companion had ex- 

 tricated himself from the scrape into which he had got when 

 we first started to run. In an instant more my hunting knife 

 had done its work, and we very complacently sat down and 

 took a smoke, after which Ave removed the skin and buried 

 the carcass in the snow to cleanse it from the blood. 



It was with light hearts that we turned to walk to camp, 

 bringing with us enough of the moose to prove that we had 

 really killed him. The next morning we pressed a lumber^ 

 man into the service, made a toboggan, and in two trips had 

 the whole at the camp. 



On the morning of the 38tfi we left the hunting ground, 

 and the camp cook succeeded in running down the wounded 

 caribou the same day. I am promised the skin and head for 

 my share of the prize. 



When any of your readers want gootl moose hunting send 

 them to New Brunswick, where they can take the Inter- 

 colonial Eailway and stop at any one of a dozen stations, 

 from which a few hours' drive will land them on good hunt- 

 ing ground. When the snow is deep, about last of February, 

 is the best time for hunting moose. In the first of the win- 



