Nov. 13, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



307 



In Cahoots.— Denver, Cel., Oct. ZQ.—Edito7' Forest and 

 tiPrmm: '-In cahoot" or "in cahoots" has been a familiar 

 phrase to me ever since I can remember such things (was 

 hroufrht up in Ohio). But never, until since various corre- 

 spondents have been discussing it and wondering over it 

 thiough Forest and Stkeam, did I underslaud or suspect 

 that it meant anything rascally or disreputable, It simply 

 means a partnership, and is generally applied to a petty 

 partnership, such as two or more boys trapping quail or 

 fishing together with an agreement to share and share alike 

 in the results. Sometimes it is applied to more important 

 partnerships, o£ temporary duration, especially by persons 

 ■who have fallen into the habit of using the words. I have 

 often heard it ppokou "in cabootnership." It is simply an 

 American provincialism, fully as expressive as many others 

 and quite as sensible. It is possible that a band of chicken 

 thieves might agree to go "in cahoots," or, if more "tony," 

 t^ey would refer to their organization as a copartnership. — 



Southwestern Kaksas — Gardner City, Kans., Oct. 30. 

 — A couple of friends returned yesterday from a week's tour 

 through the southwestern counties. They report having seen 

 abundance of game. On one occasion, upon reaching a pla- 

 J-eau, quite a panorama was disclosed. Scattered in the fore- 

 ^ound were at least a hundred antelope; skulking about 

 \were coyotes; while further away was a drove of fourteen 

 /genuine live buffaloes, and gangs of wild horses. They saw 

 •also numbers of curlew, plover and mallard ducks. I was 

 ^premature in announcing the extinction of gray wolves in 

 'this loc.'ility. I learn that a grand wolf drive has been or- 

 ganized, to take place shortly at a point on the railroad fifty 

 Smiles vvt;st of liere. the grays having played havoc among 

 stock south of the Arkansas. A prominent stock man has 

 sent out word for all of Southwestern Kansas to come and 

 partake of his hospitality during the big hunt. I hope to 

 attend, and if so will send an account of it, — Rambler. 



PossBSstoiir IN Close Season — Boston, Mass., Nov. 3. — 

 In the First District Court for Bristol county, at Attleboro, 

 Mass., George W. Cheevers. a provision dealer of Attleboro, 

 was fined .14^ and costs on Wednesday ou two counts, charg- 

 ing him with selling and having in possession quail before 

 the loth of October. The evidence showed that the quail 

 were killed Oct. 10 in Connecticut, where the season opens 

 Oct. 1, but the court held that under the statute passed in 

 1881 tbis did not constitute a valid defense. As the first case 

 under this statute the case is one of interest to dealers and 

 sportsmen Simeon Bowen, Esq., of Attleboro, appeared 

 for the defendant and J. K Reed, Esq., counsel for the Mas- 

 saclmsetts Fish and Game Protective Association, for the 

 government. — Henry J. Thatbk, Sec. Mass. Fish and Game 

 Protective Association. 



Philadelphia Notes.— Nov. 7.— The opening of the 

 <d.uckiug seiison at the Havre de Grace and Gunpowder river 



grounds gave good shooting on Nov. 1. As is always the 

 •case when shooting is allowed in tbese waters for the first of 



the season, the fowl were not at all wild and stooled beauti- 

 -fully, having arrived and taken possession of the flats during 

 :lhe last two weeks of October, and were not molested. 



Many redheads were boated and blackheads were numerous. 



Canvasbacks are scarce, the weather thus far having been 

 'too mtid to bring them. Sportsmen who have returned this 



week from quail shooting trips complain of the warm 

 'weather and the heavy growth of weeds and^ other thick 

 •cover they everywhere encountered, but report the number 

 ■ of coveys as compared with last year have increased. — Homo. 



Colorado Game.— Denver, Colo., Oct. 30.— A fair supply 

 of game is now coming into this market, consisting mainly 

 of deer, antelope, bear and ducks. A few grouse and quail 

 — ^the latter from the Missouri Valley. For some reason 

 there are hardly any geese or brant in this region this fall. 

 A hunter killed three black bears in th.e edge of the moun- 

 tains about fifteen miles from this city, the otlier day. They 

 were all young ones and in excellent condition. After killing 

 them the hunter prudently went after reinforcements, as he 

 expected an old one was hunting in the same neighborhood. 

 But the carcasses were found undisturbed and no other bear 

 was seen. Duck shooters bring in large bags from the neigh- 

 boring ponds and lakes. — W. N. B. 



GtjNPOWDBK Bridge AaAiN. — A South Baltimore would- 

 be gunner wh.0 went out to shoot ducks from the Gunpowder 

 Bridge yesterday morning, came back with a cold and wet 

 clothing, but uo ducks. He said the next time he went duck 

 shooting he would go where ducks were tender. He stated 

 to a number of friends that he fired about twenty rounds at 

 as many ducks flying over him, and he knew that there was 

 BO fault in his aim, as lie heard the shot strike the ducks, 

 but not a duck would fall. His wife, he said, advised him 

 to go to market when he wanted wild ducks again, and he 

 believed the "old woman" had more sense about capturing 

 ducks than he had. — Baltimore, Times. 



ScRANTON, Pa.., Nov. 6.— Woodcock have been quite 

 plenty. The first day I was out I shot 16, the second day 6, 

 and the fourth day Rabbits are so plenty that they are 

 a nuisance. Gray squirrels are very numerous about seven 

 miles from here. 1 have been out only twice and shot 33 

 grays and one fox; was at Stroudsburgh, Monroe county, 

 last week, and bagged 14 quail. A party is in the woods for 

 deer, and they have sent in word that they have shot two.— 

 W. B. L. 



This Time it was for a Deee.— A report from Eau 

 Claire, Wis., Nov. 5, savs: James Dana, brother of the 

 editor of the New York ISun, was out hunting with E. Van 

 Trott near Thorpe, this county, to-day, and, mistaking Trott 

 for a deer, shot him in the back. The victim of the acci- 

 dent will probably recover. Mr. Dana is prostrated with 

 grier at the occurrence. 



Menomonee, Wis., Nov. 3.— A number of residents on 

 the Red Cedar, Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers are using 

 measures to enforce the game law. A few days ago four 

 noted hunters from St. Paul were arrested and flnedln Bar- 

 ron county for hunting down deer with dogs, a statute being 

 in force prohibiting hunting deer with dogs.— Wing Shot. 



National P.\rk Prizes —The Interior Department sold 

 at auction last Monday, in Washington, two rifles and sev- 

 eral bear skins and beaver pelts which had been confiscated 

 by the Superintendent of the Yellowstone Park from persons 

 unlawfully hunting in the reservation. 



Red Foxes in Trees.— Highgate. Vt.— I have known 

 several instances here where hounds have driven red foxes 

 up leaning trees, and it is quite a common thing to run them 

 into hollow trees, where there is an opening at the base of 

 the tree; in the latter case our hunters smoke them down.— 

 Stanstead. 



Michigan.— Cedar Springs, Nov. 3. —Weather here cold, 

 with some snow. Ruffed grouse more plenty than for several 

 years; one man bagged eleven in one day last week. No 

 squirrels except the small red ones. Quail almost extinct; 

 the past two winters have been too cold for them.— W.H.W. 



Vermont. — East Berkshire, Nov, 3. — Game is not very 

 plenty this fall. Scarcely any ducks in the river, while there 

 used to be plenty of them. Very few gray squirrels but one 

 may find some raffed grouse. I have a beagle and shall try 

 the rabbits this winter.- H. B. L, 



Verona, N. J., Nov. 3.— The Verona Valley Gun Club 

 has been organized here. Its purpose is to look out for the 

 game and fish interests of this vicinity. The officers are: 

 Oscar W. .Jaeger, President; Otto Erickson, Treasurer, and 

 M. W. Thurston, Secretary. 



Waterbury, Conn., Nov. 5.— N. Wallace, of this citv, 

 with a friend, bagged thirty-seven partridges and eight 

 woodcock durine the three days' shoot at Norfolk last week. 

 The birds were shown at the Scovill House. 



Lynchburg, Va., Nov. 7.— No killing frosts with us as 

 yet, consequently the leaves and green weeds effectually pre- 

 vent any good shooting; and in addition we have had rain 

 most every day this month. — W. A. B. 



A Water Shot.— Sing Sing, N. Y., Nov. .5,— On Nov. 2 

 James Smith, in Sing Sing Bay, shot with a No. 8 bore gun, 

 in one shot, eight canvasback ducks and two widgeons. 



"Tliat reminds me." 

 172. 



THE following incident is quite likely fresh in tlie mem- 

 ories of some of your Rutland, Vt., readers. A few 

 years ago one of our Ilighgate fishermen speared in the 

 river here a very large maskinonge; in its stomach was found 

 a nearly full grown muskrat and a piece of basswood edging 

 which was some eight inches in length by two inches wide. 

 Shortly after the capture of this lisli one of our sportsmen, 

 while visiting a friend in Rutland, met a number of congenial 

 friends of the rod and gun one evening in the office of Dr. 



. Story and Jest were soon passing and after a number 



of long yarns had been spun our friend related truthfully the 

 facts about the capture of this big maskinonge. After he 

 had finished silence reigned until one old sport turned to his 

 left hand neighbor and said in an undertone, "1 say, do you 

 know why that fish swallowed that piece of edging?" "No, 

 I don't know; what did he swallow it for?" "Why, to 

 stretch that muskrat skin on." Our friend left, and on his 

 return home said that those Rutland fellows couldn't be 

 made to believe that there was in the world any game larger 

 than a hedgehog, or a fish larger than a quarter pound trout. 



Stanstead. 



HiGHGATB, vt. . 



173. 



Not a bad answer was made by a sportsman returning 

 from the marshes, when asked if he had shot anything, "No," 

 he said, "but I have given the birds a good serenading." j. 



Halifax, Nova Scotia. 



md Mivet 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE TOURNAMENT. 



BY one of those accidents which are said to hap^sen in 

 the best regulated families, two of the figures in our 

 illustrations of the fl3'-casters last week became mixed. If 

 those interested will transpose Figs. 1 and 3 and read the 

 description in that light, it will be as we intended. The 

 figures were sufficiently well drawn to enable those who are 

 familiar with the men to recognize them, and the positions 

 are just as the camera seized them. It is evident from a 

 study of the figures that most of the men throw the rod 

 further bacu than they are aware of, and too far to be as 

 effective as it might be. 



We have received several comments on the tournament, 

 chiefly suggestions as to rules and the time for holding the 

 next one. We do not think it worth while to publish them 

 because by the time for holding the next meeting to decide 

 on the date of the tournament of 1886 they will be forgot- 

 ten. The proper time to make suggestions is just before the 

 committee revise the rules, although those concerning the 

 date might be in order at all times. There are several mem- 

 bers who are in favor of a spring meeting, and urge the fact 

 that the weather is more certain. There will, no doubt, be 

 a business meeting before long, when this question can be 

 brought up. 



There have now been four tournaments held by the Asso- 

 ciation, they having adopted the "Forest and Stream 

 Tom-nament" of 1883 as one of theirs, and interest in the 

 contests is increasing, the work of organizing a tournament 

 goes on with less friction, there are fewer protests made, and 

 the records in the classes, except the amateur single-handed 

 fly-casting, have been broken nearly every year. If this 

 latter feature continues we may predict that in a few years 

 the enormous distance of one hundred feet may be reached 

 by a fly in the hands of some of our experts. No one who 

 has not measured his casts beside a buoy line realizes what it 

 is to cast eighty feet. Many who imagine that they are casting 

 that distance when fishing or practicing would hud that the 

 rigid buoy line told that they lacked many feet of it, Sixty 

 feet is a long cast and all beyond it must be worked for by 

 patient practice and perhaps with theassistaace of a tutor or 

 coach. Nothing is more common than to hear of some man 

 who "can cast a hundred feet," and wonderful stories are 

 told of the castings of unknown men, but these do not show 

 themselves at the contests. It seems as if the limit had been 



reached and that a single-handed eleven and a half foot rod 

 could not be made to do more than has been done in casting 

 ninety-two feet, but a few years ago we thought the same 

 when eifihty feet was covered 



As a rule the casting of the amateurs affords the best 

 study of eracc m the positioa of the men, and of stvle in 

 the handling of the rod and delivery of the flies, and is 

 therefore the best school for the student who wishes to leirn 

 the art and make application of it in angling; and we know 

 that several old aui-lers have taken mental notes thereon 

 and received much benefit from their observations. 



We have been presented with photagraphs of the recent 

 tournament near London, taken by Mr. Thomas B, Mills, 

 who cast there and whose name often appears in the Central 

 Park contests. These pictures show a platform elevated 

 about three feet and set in the side of the bank along which 

 the casting is done. The measuring line is marked in yards 

 and is strctc'ied on the bank along the edge of the water, 

 where it is supported by stakes. The casting is done on a 

 running stream, and the arrangement does not appear to be 

 as perfect as ours for conveuience of casting or of lecording 

 the results. 



ODD ANGLING EXPERIENCES. 



Editoi' Forest and Stream.- 



Having' had many interesting accounts of "remarkable 

 shots," why should not the Waltonians have a chance to tell 

 of some of their remarkable catches? While casting for 

 trout on Upper Chateau2;ay Lake last year, in a listless man- 

 ner, I had a strike that at once aroused me to the basiness in 

 hand. The line went whizzing oft" the reel at such a rato 

 that I saw at once a sudden check would be fatal to all hope 

 of final suc<'ess, if not disastrous to the rod. Meanwhile mv 

 boatman trimmed the boat for a big fight, cautioning me tc 

 be more careful this time, as I had previously lost the largest 

 trout I was ever hooked to from hasty reeling. But I kept 

 steadily at work, the supple rod curving gracefully under the 

 constant strain, thus proving that it was not bogus, but made 

 of the true material. But— not to make the story longer 

 than the flght— I finally worked my game up to the boat's 

 side, so that by a careful sweep of the landing net mv boat- 

 man deposited him in the boat; and two more surprised men 

 are not often seen, for instead of a four or five pound trout, 

 as we fully anticipated, we saw one of less than eight ounces! 

 On examination we discovered that he had gone for the fiy 

 with his mouth, but had struck it with his tail, and fasttmed 

 the barb in the firm muscles near the caudal fin, so that I 

 had not only the weight of the fish to reel in, but the active 

 resistance of his entire locomotive powers — much the same 

 as puUine a cat over the fence by his tail. J. H. D. 



POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 



A TRAMP FOR TROUT. 



THE angler must sometimes play soldier and sleep on his 

 arms, ready for the attack at the first gray of dawn. 

 Leaving the train at a little cross-roads station at mid- 

 night, shouldering our knapsacks and baskets and taking 

 rods in hand, we starred on our midnight tramp through the 

 mountains. Keeping on the railroad, we walked about a 

 mile, until we came to the tunnel through the mountains. 

 As we ascended the hill, in order to get over the tunnel, we 

 aroused a nest of ugly-looking tramps, who were waitina: to 

 jump some freight train at the mouth of the tunnel While 

 we were walkmg over the tunnel the freight train entered 

 it, and we could hear it rumbling far beneath us. 



Crossing beneath the railroad, down past the old mill, 

 across the river bridge, we were again on the mountain. By 

 this time the moon had gone down and left us in utter dark- 

 ness. As I had been over this portion of the road before I 

 knew its ins and outs. The road zigzags up the mountain 

 side to the top, and then winds over a flat country and down 

 into the hollsw again. After a walk of forty minutes I 

 thought that we must be in tlie neighborhood of an old lum- 

 ber road, and made a plunge into what seemed to be an 

 opening in the woods, but which proved to be only a water- 

 shed from the road. On the next attempt we succeeded in 

 finding the road, and in a few minutes the welcome sound 

 of running water was heard, and we knew that we had 

 reached our destination, the site of an old sawmill which 

 had been abandoned years before. An old oversnot wheel, 

 a few standing timbers and the ruins of an old race, with a 

 portion of the old tram road, were all that remained, but 

 the ground was well strewn with old slabs, edgings and other 

 off-falls from the mill. Finding a log, we gathered up some 

 sticks and soon had a fire buroing. Then procuring two 

 broad slabs, we placed one on top of the log on either side 

 of the fire and were soon asleep. 1 had been sleeping for 

 perhaps half an hour when I was awakened by one of those 

 forest pests, a hoot-owl. I lay down once more and managed 

 to get a few minutes' more sleep, and then woke to find the 

 gray morning appearing. I at once called W., and we went 

 down to the creek and soon had our eyes opened with a dash 

 of cold mountain water. 



We had improvised two pails out of tomato cans, and W. 

 had brought some coffee, cream and suffar. He soon had a 

 cup of coffee fit for a king, and we were ready for the fun. 

 Jointing our rods we went to the river. The fu'st cast I 

 made was near the mouth of the old flume behind a moss- 

 covered rock, and I was rewarded by a handsome trout. A 

 few yards above, at an old fallen tree, a beauty rose to my 

 fly two or three times, but I failed to secure it. W. followed 

 and the trout rose to his bait, but he also failed to hook it. 

 Up the stream we went, both taking a number of fish. At 

 a point where the water had been dumned up by driftwood 

 we came to a large pool, just the place where you will always 

 find the largest fish. Near the center of the pool protruded 

 a large rock, and over this I made a cast. A fine fish took 

 my fly and immediately went to the bottom, where he lay. 

 I thoueht that he had missed it, and that tlie whirl of the 

 eddy had taken it down, but a gentle pull showed that there 

 was something on the other end of the line, and after a few 

 dashes I landed the fish, at the imminent risk of breaking 

 the tip of my light rod. W., at a point just below this place, 

 had immed and was fishing down the run. 



I went on until I reached the falls, the last of a series, in 

 all of which the stream makes a descent of 150 feet. At the 

 head of this stream there is a large spring in which there is 

 said to be a number of very large trout, which refuse all 

 kinds of flies or bait. I have had a great desh-e to go there 

 and give them a trial, hut it is a very aifticultplace to get at. 

 At the falls is the largest pool on the creek; and behind a 

 large rock, on which the falls break, an old patriarch made 

 his appearance, but would not deign to take any of the dain- 

 ties that I cast to him. Retracing my steps I overtook W. 

 who had been quite successful, as his creel showed. 



We went on hshing down stream, each alternately going 



