Dkc. 10. 1885.] 



FOREST AISFD STREAM. 



38 B 



§unf0 §Hg Htfd §uii. 



Addresi> all comnmnications to the Forest and' Stream JpubHsh- 



irw Co, ' ' 



A VAGABOND DOG. 



DURING tlio year 1883 I happened to be residing in the 

 island of Antigua, in diarge of a small sugar planta- 

 tion {.itualed some eigbteen miles in the interior and sur- 

 round* d by waste laud?^ or "savannahs," as they are termed 

 in lhat part of the world. The island, though very fertile 

 in gfueiaJ, is so biokfu in itis topography in some districts 

 as to render the cultivation of the su^ir cane impossible, 

 even if the soil weie sutBciently productive to reward the 

 planter for the trouble and outlay necessary to clear away 

 ihe heavy undergrowth of cactus and brushwood, which is, 

 iu many places, impenetrable. The term "savannah," 

 curiously enough, embraces the small hills interspersed 

 tlirough"^the lowlands as well as the latter, and these districts 

 are inhabited by an occasional "squatter" negro family 

 A\ ho prefer the precarious Irving they pick up to more re- 

 rnuncralivc, but harder, work on the plantations. 



One evening, the day's work concluded, I was sitting on 

 the small verandah of my house, enjoying the rest so satis- 

 factory after being in the saddle from early morning, when 

 I observed my night-watch, accompanied by another negro, 

 approaching the house, while they conversed with the loud 

 voice and extravagance of gesture peculiar to them. Upon 

 Iheir arrival the stranger turned out to be a deputation of 

 one from a village about four miles away, sent by the vil- 

 lagers to beg the "baekra" (white man) to be jiood enough 

 to come with his gun at his earliest convenience and rid 

 their neighborhood of a "wild dog," whose depredations 

 were threatening to clean the village of all live stock small 

 enough to succumb to his rapacity. 



This Me noir (for by all accounts he was black) had been 

 seen by many, and always at night, and had several times 

 Ijeen obliged to relinqirish his ill gotten spoil and seek safety 

 in precipitate flight, himself the center of a storm of stones, 

 MU-hooks and other missiles sent after him by an infuriated 

 and yelling populace. So manifold had been his escapes, 

 so marvellously had he survived the numerous ambuscades 

 laid for him, that by the majority of the superstititious 

 negroes he was at last regarded as savoring strongly of the 

 supernatual, a being closely allied to "jumbies" (a ghoulish 

 order of departed evil doers, firmly believed in by the West 

 Jndian darky) and hence impervious to their attempts at 

 extermination. His immense size enabled him to overcome 

 sheep and even large calves easily, and it was of common 

 occurrence for an irate proprietor to find half a dozen sheep 

 dead in their fold, the canine epicure having glutted himself 

 on the blood and gnawed choice morsels from each of his 

 victims. On the occasion on which he had fully established 

 his supernatural reputation, the villagers had hemmed him 

 lu a comer and porrred their missiles on him until it seemed 

 a wonder that he survived "to tell the talc," but he had es- 

 caped by a desperate rush, overturning in his flight the 

 patriarch of the village, who, on recovering his feet, had 

 declared with great solemnity and much concern as to his 

 bruises, that "dat darg no darg, him sperrit." This opinion, 

 pronounced by an oracle among them, became the universal 

 verdict, and by his further advice the present deputation 

 had. been despatched to me for assistance, "Jumbies" being 

 eonsidcrod vulnerable to white men. The messenger wc '^nd 

 up by declaring that "de darg was juraby. bekase' he biuck, 

 ebryting bla«k no good,'' a rather singular theory consider- 

 ing the sable hue of his own skin. 1 comforted him with 

 assurances of help and a glass of grog, and sent him away 

 rejoicing. ' 



Several instanc( s of wild dogs, as they are called, had 

 previously come to my notice, and investigation had con- 

 tirmtd my opinion as to their being the degenerate descend- 

 ants of domestic animals which had taken'to the bush from 

 some cause, very possible ill-treatment consequent upon an 

 act of depredation, ard being "under the ban," had been 

 hunted from every dwelling, and forced eventually to take 

 up their residences in the waste "savannah" lands, and live 

 upon the proceeds of their nocturnal prowlings, returning to 

 their haunts at the approach of day. These instances were 

 few, however, and 1 had never heard of one where the large 

 size and unexampled boldness of the vagrant canine had led 

 to such serious loss of property as in this case. 



Next evening, together with a brother planter, summoned 

 to aid in the killing, 1 rode across four miles of country to 

 the village. "We were greeted with acclamations, and 

 inquiries adduced the information that Sam Thomas had 

 last seen the dog. Sam, upon being cross-examined, stated 

 how he had come suddenly upon the animal at an early 

 hour that morning, while on his way to his yam patch, and, 

 cutlass in hand, had advanced upori him. Now, Sam was 

 reg-arded as the dare devil of the village, but the lonely path, 

 the still hour, and the uncanny reputation and appearance 

 of the dog acted- unpleasantly on his nerves, so that when, 

 instead of retreating, the beast stood its ground and snarl- 

 ingly displayed a row of yellow, gleaming fangs as a 

 welcome to the advancing negro, that worthy had betaken 

 himself to the back path with utmost celerity, never haltin* 

 until he had gained the village and the refuge of his own 

 shanty, breathlessly declaring that he had seen and en- 

 countered "de debbil w'at tief de sheep." We also gleaned 

 that the dog usually postponed his predatory sallies on the 

 village until a late hour, we therefore had ample time for 

 our preparations. These consisted of a young sheep and a 

 light chain with stake attached, procured from the aforesaid 

 patriarch (somewhat giudgingly given), and at about 10 

 o'clock, with these and our guns, we proceeded to the out- 

 skirts of the village, having sternly cautioned tbe excited 

 crowd of negros to remain quietly in their houses. We took 

 our stations behind a thick clump of acacia and cactus, after 

 Stitking out the unfortunate bait ahout ten yards from this 

 stand, and with guns cocked settled ourselves to- wait 

 patiently. 



Slowly the hours dragged on, the night radiant with the 

 brilliant moonlight, and filled with the chirping and whistl- 

 ing of countless nocturnal insects and the hoarse bass roll- 

 ing of huge frogs down in the ravine below us. The monot- 

 onous bleating of the lamb eventually acted on me so that I 

 must have fallen into a doze, for I had an impression after a 

 time, as of some one persistently trying to bore into my fore- 

 head with a pin. When 1 opened my eyes, I found that be- 

 ing close to the prickly screen in front of me, my head had 

 lallen forward gradually against a leaf of cactus, one of the 

 Jong spines running through my .soft felt hat and at the 

 same time a murmured execration alongside came from my 

 friend, who incautiously shifting his seat, had come down 



upon some of the same spines. Just as I was endeavoring 

 t6 stifle the laughter caused by this example of "misplaced 

 confidence," I saw something which quickly centered my 

 attention. About thirty yards away, a little to the left of 

 us, there suddenly emerged from out of a ravine an object 

 darker than the shadowed background of hillside behind it, 

 wiiich, advancing into the clear moonlight, developed gradu- 

 ally into a huge black dog, sneaking toward the lamb with 

 dire intent evinced in his gliding motion and sinister gleam- 

 ing ejus. Slowly he advanced, and when but a couple of 

 yards from the lamb (which had now ceased its cries and 

 stood trmibling with terror) at a whispered "now!" from my 

 friend, our guns sent two chaiges of buckshot right at the 

 breast of Ihe beast. A loud howl and he rolled over arid 

 over, kicking the dust about in his frantic .struggles to regain 

 his le^s and flee, while we hastened out of cover to end his 

 miscrup. But here an unsuspected and ludicrous circum- 

 stance interfered. 



It seems that Sam Thomas, with a dozen of his friends 

 and admirers,, bad followed us secretly to the scene of ac- 

 tion, and carefully secreted themselves at our rear among 

 the bushes. Here most of them had fallen asleep, but the 

 indomitable Sam had kept awalo?, fully resolved to rebuild 

 his shattered reputation for courage by some brilliant deed 

 that would stimulate the waning respect of the villagers and 

 restore him his former precedence for fearlessness. Accord- 

 ingly, as we sprang from cover, Sara and his friends simul- 

 taneously appeared, and Sam, whooping wildly, rushed upon 

 the w^ounded beast with raised cutlass, to finish hira. But 

 when under full impetus he tripped over the chain with 

 which the frightened lamb was now rapidly describing a 

 circle, and pitching flat on his face, rolled right on to the 

 furious animal. For a couple of seconds we could not dis- 

 tinguish Sam from the dog, and thought was impossible in 

 the atmosphere of- screams and howls arotiud us; but sud- 

 denly the negro separated himself from the dog, yelling 

 lustily and half mad with fright, and continuing his revolu- 

 tions with the speed of a trained acrobat, never stopped 

 until he had placed some dozen yards between himself and 

 his enemy, when he limped away groaning in a terrible 

 manner. My friend lay upon the ground, kicking and 

 shouting with uncontrollable laughter, and I hastened to 

 send a quietus into the iog. By .this time the entire village 

 had turned out to inspect their conquered foe, and in the 

 nearest house we examined Sam. The only in jury he had 

 received was a severe bite on the foot, which had nearly 

 severed the great and second toes from that member, and a 

 hastily summoned doctor completed the amputation How 

 on earth the dog got hold of him there puzzled me, 

 but Sam explained the mysteiy by stating that, when 

 on his back, he "kick' at de debbil beas' an' he nyam [eat] 

 me toe." ■ 



The dog was a huge, gaunt, mangy hound, black as night 

 and villainous of aspect even though dead, his hide bearing 

 innumerable scars, souvenirs suggestive of rapid flights 

 through Ihe razor like cactus under fire of raining missiles. 

 One eye was out, and the loss by no means tended to lessen 

 the furtively ferocious style of his beauty— a sadly demoral- 

 ized specimen of man's noblest companion. The" rejoicing 

 of the n(groes was kept up for hours after, and a vote of 

 thanks was tendered us through their mouthpiece, the pa- 

 triarch, who concluded his oration by saying : "We berry 

 glad de darg dead, and me more gladder de lamb not dead 

 too. " The old sinner 1 Don Jtjajs^ 



THE ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Voreii and Stream: 



The season for deer hunting in this State closed yesterday, 

 and a brief summary of the season's sport in the Adirondack 

 region may not be out of place at this time.. Tn Lewis, Her- 

 kimer and Fulton counlies and the western part of Hamilton 

 county, the portion of the wilderness most frequented by 

 Central New York sports:men, the hunting has generally 

 been fair, though perhaps not quite as good as last year. In 

 the northern part of the woods game has been comparatively 

 scarce, while in Essex and the northern and eastern portions 

 of Hamilton county it has been plentiful. In the Lake 

 Pleasant conntry an Albany party killed twelve deer in eight 

 days, besii : securing a large quantity of smaller game. The 

 hunting in the vicinity of Big and Little TuppeV lakes has 

 been very good, as it also has been at and near Schroon 

 Lake. Quite a number of deer have been killed at Piseco 

 Lake this se.ison, and near Moorhouseville many have been 

 taken. At South and .Jock's lakes the hunting has been fair, 

 and at the Fulton Chain and in the Beaver River region the 

 season has been nearly, if not quite, up to the average. The 

 hunting at the Bisby Lakes and on Moose River has been 

 very poor, as is shown by the record of the Bisby Club. 

 During the open season last year twenty-three deer were 

 killed by members of the club on the south branch of Moose 

 River, whereas this year but six were killed. 



There have been more hunters in the woods than ever 

 before in one season, and as a natural sequence the number 

 of deer killed has been very large. On the whole, however, 

 deer are said to be less numerous than last year, and experi- 

 enced woodsmen attribute this fact to the great havoc among 

 the animals by the hunters and their hounds during the past 

 two years. 



Complaints are continually coming in concerning the in- 

 roads made on the deer by the pot-hunters or men who hunt 

 deer solely for the money there is in it. Heretofore the men 

 who have supplied the market with venison have generally 

 hunted with dogs, hut since the passage of the act making 

 the 1 practice unlawful, other measures have been adopted by 

 many, although some of them openly defy the law and cling 

 to their hounds. As a rule it requires long experience to 

 successfully still-hunt deer, and the pot-hiinter rarely has 

 the patience or disposition to depend on this method. Other 

 more certain and speedy means of capturing the animals are 

 resorted to. In many parts of the woods salt licks are con- 

 structed, and the deer thus attracted are shot down in large 

 numbers. This is a violation of the law, but is not as noisy 

 a mode of hunting as hounding, and can be practiced with 

 comparative impunity. 



A party of four hunters from Pennsylvania recently en- 

 camped on the West Canada Creek, near the outlet of .Jock's 

 Lake, and have since thoroughly canvassed the Metcalf, 

 Indian River and other valleys in search of deer. One of 

 the party owns a pointer dog, which has been trained to fol- 

 low the track of a deer. The dog is kept in leash, but takes 

 the scent and follows the trail as steadily as the best trained 

 hound. The hunter brings up the rear, and when approach- 

 ing a deer is warned of its presence by the actions of the 

 dog, which stands or points the game when ten rods distant. 

 The Penusylvanians have thus far killed over fifty deer, all 

 of whic^h have been shipped to market. The hunters who 



seek to evade the law in this manner claim that the anti deer 

 hounding act does not cover their mode of hunting. The 

 law says, however, that "no person shall hunt or pursue any 

 wild deer in this State with any dog," etc. ; and if the act 

 were framed especially to prevent this manner of hunting, it 

 is difficult to see_ how it could have been more strongly 

 worded. It certainly affords sufficient excuse for a prosecu- 

 tion, and State Game Agent Phelps will doubtless make a 

 test case of the Pennsylvanians. He has gone into the woods 

 to look the matter up. 



The law making it unlawful to hunt deer with dogs ha.s 

 been in force so short a time that it is impossible to judge 

 accurately of its effects. There is, however, every reason 

 to believe that, were it properly enforced, it would prove 

 a great protection to the deer and prevent the ex- 

 termination which has been so seriously threatened of late 

 years. 



In Franklin and Hamilton counties the anti-hounding law 

 has been practically a dead letter, and in some parts of 

 Herkimer county it has been but little better. In the 

 counties of Clinton, Es.sex and Warren, however, the law 

 has been well observed and productive of much good. The 

 rule appears to hold good that in sparsely populated districts 

 the law cannot be enforced, while in the more settled por- 

 tions of the country it is quite generally observed. 



State Fish Commissioner R. U. Sherman, of New Hart- 

 ford, to whom all the protectors report, says that in order to 

 have the laws enforced the number of protectors will have 

 to be materially increased. He is of the opinion that it 

 would be wise to have the shooting season for deer begin 

 Aug. 1 and close Oct. 15. Portsa. 

 Utica, New York, Dec. 1. 



Editor Forest and Blream: 



In your issue of the 26th ult. I notice an article headed 

 "Pot hunters in the Woods," which goes on to say that 

 Hamihon county (it is thought) is being plagued by 

 some two hundred vagabond Pennsylvania pot-hunters. I 

 also notice an article in the Boonville MeraJ/l of recent date 

 stating that one Williams, from Pennsylvania, had during 

 last month, by the aid of a still-hunting dog, killed and 

 shipped from the Moos_e River country thirty-six deer, 

 "That more deer were being shipped from the woods by still- 

 hunters than had been killed for years previous by all other 



methods combined." If the above assertions were tr-ue there 

 would be little use of replying to them. But as they are 



far from the truth und given circulation for certain 



objects only, I deem it but jast a true state of affair,? be 



presented. 



1 have just returned from a six-weeks' camp-out in Her- 

 kimer county, and during that time saw, conversed with 

 antl heard from a good portion of the hunters, guides and 

 hotel men in the Beaver and Moose River country. The 

 total number of deer killed on the former river during last 

 open season by still-hunters does not exceed fifty. The law 

 regarding hoarding was faithfully lived up to. Not one 

 sound of any hound in pursuit of deer did I hear. Every 

 one seemed to rejoice lhat the time had come when a deer 

 could venture forth unmolested by the baying of hounds to 

 its once favorite haunts. During" the open season of 1884 It 

 was acknowledged by competent judges that at least two 

 hundred deer were slaughtered and taken from the same lo- 

 cality. 



The Moose River country it seems has not fared so well, 

 the law being but partially lived up to, owing in part pre- 

 sumably to the bad advice given by this same Boonville 

 paper. Two hundred Penn.sylvania pot-hunters, with one 

 hundred native still-hunters, fifty bounders and twenty-five 

 floaters have succeeded in capturing some seventy-five or 

 one hundred deer. Just where the profits accrue in this 

 transaction is left for some one else to figure out. 



But is it true that two hundred, one hundred, or even ten 

 still hunters from the State of Pennsylvania have the past 

 fall been hunting in Hamilton county ? I think not. Mr- 

 Williams, of Corydon, Pa., accompanied by three of his 

 friends, went out into Hamilton county the .89th day of 

 October last, the former took no dog of any kind with him, 

 but the latter took with them three trained bear dogs, which, 

 however, were not out from camp during their stay, as no 

 signs of bruin were observed. The party killed during last 

 month thirty-four deer. Mr, Williams bringing to bag 

 thirty-one of the number. No salt licks v/ere made or 

 watched by any of the party. Had Mr. Williams dm-ing 

 the month succeeded in capturing only a deer or two, then 

 the exploits of Pennsylvania hunlers would have passed un- 

 noticed. But because another Dr. Carver has been exhibit- 

 ing his skill in shooting deer on the run instead of glasa 

 balls thrown from the trap, comes all the bluster and non- 

 sense about the still-hunters now speedily going to annihilate 

 the deer. 



It is a fact well known by all hunters and others who care 

 to search the records, that the still-hunter doe.s not kill on 

 the average to exceed one deer to the man per season. Not 

 one-half of the number going into the woods succeed in bag- 

 ging even one. Now, because one sportsman from the State 

 of Pennsylvania has been found (and I affirm that he is one 

 out of at least five hundred) that can average his deer per 

 day while in the woods, shall the other four hundred and 

 ninety-nine sportsmen be debarred from taking a few days' 

 recreation? or because of this single instance shall the dogs 

 be let loose again? ' 



I am happy to learn that some of our sticklers for hound- 

 ing are becoming convinced that it is not so easy to sly up to 

 a deer unaided by dogs and shoot it as they imagined. One 

 gentleman of note in Lewis county has always insisted that 

 it was no trick at all for a hunter to sneak up to a deer and 

 shoot it unawares; that it gave the deer no chance for its 

 life. Well, he went into camp last month north of Beaver 

 Lake, where game was plenty, and after sneaking around 

 on track, ridge-hunting on the leaves, and all other modes 

 that he could conjure up, for two wefeks, left for home a 

 much wiser man ttian before and with a blank to represent 

 his score on bagging deer by still-himting. 



Let the present game law stand as it is and every, one live 

 up to its reqmrements, and my opinion is that within five 

 years deer all through the Adirondack woods will more than 

 treble in numbers. Those impenetrable spruce and balsam 

 swamps, rocky heights, dark and almost inaccessible gorges, 

 with uplands interspersed with dead and fallen spruce tim- 

 ber, tripshin and dry brush, form a barrier that protects the 

 game so completely frorn the ordinary still-hunter, that it 

 cannot be depleted by that mode of hunting. But the dog 

 can pui'sue, follow out, and drive to water^ in weather wet 

 or dry, warm cr cold, still or noisy, over rough ground or 

 on a plain— it's all the same, esterminatioD. follows his path. 



Cap Locsk, 



FBBwsBDBa, Pa., Dec. 5. 



