486 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 14, 1886. 



we p;o to press we learn that the maligned grizzlies last night 

 killed two tramps, a book agent and a lightning rod man. 

 Wariike demonstrations against them are stayed, and it is 

 proposed to open a suhscription for the purpose of introduc- 

 ing more bears of similar proclivities." 



Does a grand advertising scheme dawn upon you? to letter 

 the bears "Fokest and Strkwvi, |4 per year!" and turn 

 them loose? But then would those who ran slop to read? 



FEBRlsnDRG, Vt. AWAHSOGSE. 



Editor Foi'est and Stream: 



"Wait till they grow enough to be big and wicked, then 

 turn 'em loose among the foolish Newark doctors, who have 

 raised such a silly scare about hydrophobia. Seneca. 

 Eahwat, N. J. 



Editor Foi'est and Stream: 



Let the grizzlies stay at Central Park, where they will do 

 the "greatest good to the greatest number." A Happy New 

 Tear," an' lashins of 'em, to dear old Forest and Steeam. 



Casselton, D. T. H- P- U. 



GAME PROTECTORS' REPORTS. 



FROM the annual reports of the New York Grame Pro- 

 tectors, sent in to Gen. R. U. Sherman, secretary of 

 the Commission of Fisheries, we take the following extracts: 



FOURTH DISTRICT. 



Francisco Wood, protector fol* the fourth district, in his 

 annual report, writes: "I spent considerable time during the 

 year inspecting the markets at Schenectady, Albany and 

 other places. Also made tours through the counties in my 

 district to look up cases of illegal fishing In May I captured 

 a net in Schoharie Creek. In August secured the conviction 

 of five persons for illegal fishing; they paid fines of $35 a 

 piece. In October I obtained a judgment of $35 against an 

 offender for owning an eel rack. At present I have no com- 

 plaints and no business." 



SEVENTH DISTRICT. 



Peter R. Leonard, of Ogdensburg, protector for the 

 seventh district, in his annual report, says: "I visited a 

 number of lumber camps last winter, and found that, as 

 heretofore, many deer had been slaughtered in the deep 

 snow. In the summer I spent several weeks in the woods 

 of Franklin and St. Lawrence counties, where annually 

 large numbers of deer had heretofore been killed prior to 

 Aug. 1. Last year, however, 1 found that very few were so 

 taken. After Aug. 15 I devoted my time to looking out for 

 violations of the anti-hounding law. St. Lawrence county 

 was comparatively free from dogs from Tupper Lake down 

 the entire length of Raquette River. The Grass River country 

 and Cranberry Lake region were also free. On the west and 

 middle branches of St. Regis River to McDonald Pond and 

 Bog Pond crossing the deer were well preserved. The only 

 hounding I learned of was done on Bog River, at Little and 

 Big Tupper Lakes, and in the Saranac region. Guides, 

 hotel keepers and some others seemed determined last fall to 

 put the game laws and the protectors to a severe test. Men 

 who at Alexandria Bay were anxious to have the laws en- 

 forced, as far as fishing in the St. Lawrence River was con- 

 cerned, went into the woods with their hounds and broke 

 the game laws as recklessly as any fish pirate. There are 

 other matters that are grievous. The still-hunter who visited 

 the woods last fall and met with good success in shooting 

 because the game had been protected from the dogs, was 

 loth to leave even on Dec. 1, after having killed from ten to 

 forty deer. I think there were more deer killed for market 

 in St. Lawrence county last fall than in four or five years 

 before. 



"Hunters are not willing to leave their hounds at home 

 even in the month of June. On Bog River, June 1, I met a 

 party of eighteen men with seven boats going in, as Ihey 

 said, for a three weeks' trip. They had their hounds along and 

 were loaded down with shotguns and buckshot Until such 

 people are made ashamed of iheir nefarious doings and have 

 a better idea of the necessity for game protectien, "the present 

 force of officials in this district wUl be found too small to do 

 the work required. 



"During the past year I have traveled over 3,629 miles and 

 my individual expenses were $374.73. Judgments were re- 

 covered as follows: Barker and Whitby for unlawfully kill- 

 ing deer. $50; M. P. Phillips, netting fish at Chippewa Bay, 

 $35; Cross and Burners, killing deer, $100; Geo. Hunter «fc Co., 

 same offense, $100; Benj. and Louis Petrie, $75; James 

 Petrie and L. Piantz, illegal fishing, $35; Mrs. Simeon Piantz, 

 same offense, $30; Dr. Chattuck, same offense, $50; total 

 $455." 



EIGHTH DISTRICT. 



Following is a summary of the annual report of State 

 Game Protector Thomas Bradley, of the eighth district: 

 "John Pauley convicted of killing deer o\it of season, iu 

 Hamilton county, was fined $50 and $33 23 costs, which he 

 paid. A set line 1,200 feet in length was captured at Piseco 

 Lake and destroyed. Two night lines were destroyed at 

 Caroga Lake, and many others on the Mohawk River in 

 Montgomery county. AtLlewic Lake, seven gillnets valued 

 at over $600, were captured. In the town of Mayfield two 

 seines, valued at $85. were taken, and the owner, M. Fergu- 

 son, prosecuted. The case is still held open. The case of 

 Elijah Camp, arrested for shooting deer out of season, is 

 also pending." 



Protector Bradley has commenced action against Charles 

 Blauchard for hounding deer near Beaver Lake, and against 

 Peter J. Casler and another of Little Falls, for robbing 

 spawning beds of trout and using dynamite in one of the 

 outlets of Piseco Lake. He also has evidence for several 

 other suits. 



In the northern part of Hamilton county he shot three 

 dogs which were running deer. The protector thinks the 

 anti-deer hounding law requires amendment to make it 

 effective. He says: "I frequently find dogs with hunting 

 parties in the woods. I think the presence of dogs with a 

 party should be. deemed evidence against the hunters and an 

 amendment of the law to that effect would be a great help to 

 the protectors. The season for woodcock and partridge 

 shooting should open on the same day. The Board of 

 Supervisors of Fulton county passed a law prohibiting 

 market hunting." 



TENTH DISTRICT. 



Nathan 0. Phelps, of Remsen, State game protector for 

 the tenth district, in his annual report states that during the 

 past year he obtained two judgments of $5 each for viola- 

 tion of section 13 of the laws of 1879 (killing songbirds out 

 of season), a judgment of $50 in Herkimer county for the 

 unlawful kilhng of deer, also one of $50 in Oneida county 

 for hounding deer. He also had a suit for polluting streams 



in Herkimer countj'-, which was settled by the payment of 

 $40. Speaking of the deer-hounding law. Protector Phelps 

 says: "I am of the opinion that the law has been generally 

 observed, though I have heard of a few violations. The 

 floating .season was very poor, and as far as I have been able 

 to learn but few deer were killed in front of the 'jack.' The 

 weather was cold and damp, and consequently deer did not 

 come to the water as much as usual. 



"The still-hunting was better. The deer were quite tame, 

 not having been run with dogs, and were easily approached. 

 Many were killed in this way. The pot hunters were in the 

 woods iu force, the Pennsylvanians taking the lead in tliis 

 respect. More deer were killed in November than all the 

 rest of the season, and the most of them were shipped to 

 poarket Regarding the anti-hounding every person has 

 ideas of his own. 'Those who like hounding and own dogs 

 are opposed to the law, as are the hotel men. who make 

 money from the parties who go into the woods to hunt deer 

 with hounds. The guides who have had good luck still- 

 hunting are in favor of keeping the dogs out of the woods 

 and will help to do it. In fact, every one has a different 

 idea of how the law should read, and it is impossible to 

 please all. The most effectual way of preserving deer 

 would be to cut off from the shooting season one montli in 

 the fall, as this would prevent parties from other States com- 

 ing here and hunting for the market. 



"While on the south branch of Moose River last faU I met 

 Frank Hall, William Leight, George Barber and Nelson 

 Chandler, all well-known guides. They reported having 

 found the skeletons of seventeen deer in "the vicinity of the 

 outlet of Canachagala Lake. They thought from the appear- 

 ance of things that the deer had been killed by wolves. A 

 wolf was killed at North Lake last winter and I saw tracks 

 in that section last month. The wolves should be hunted 

 out before they get too numerous. If the State bounty on 

 wolves were raised to $50 I am of the ooinion that it would 

 start new hunters out after them, The old wolf hunters 

 who did such good work in the Adirondacks several years 

 ago are all gone." 



FIFTEENTH DISTRICT. 



State Game Agent Geo. M. Schwartz, of Rochester, pro- 

 tector for the fifteenth district, in his annual report says: "L 

 was employed 134 days, and dui-ing that time seized and de- 

 stroyed 88 nets, 3 seines and three spears. Their aggregate 

 value was $1,330. I have instituted legal proceedings against 

 35 persons for violations of the fish and game laws. Judg- 

 ments amounting to $338 have been obtained and the follow- 

 ingsuitsare still pending: Against Melvin Fisher and A. Dun- 

 ham, of Orleans county^; Robt. Breeder, Wm. Carson, Henry 

 Andrews, F. Ridgeway, Chas. Howard, Daniel Tompkins, 

 Daniel Clump and Robert Scott, of Wayne county, all for 

 illegal fishing; also against the Rochester Paper iVliU Com- 

 ])Siny for polluting the waters of Genesee River." 



SIXTEENTH DISTRICT. 



Slate Game Agent Stephen A. Roberts, of Buffalo, protec- 

 tor for the sixteenth district, reports as follows: "During 

 the past year I traveled 3,833 miles and my expenses were 

 $1.38 39.' I .seized and destroyed four fyke nets valued at 

 $55 and tw^o seines worth $80. J. B. Stafford & Co. were 

 fined $50 and $20 costs for having venison in their posses- 

 sion out of season. Fred Jauner, for drawing a seine, paid 

 a fine of $100; W. L. Chamot, his assistant, was fined $10. 

 John Roberts, whom I sued for killing deer out of season, 

 died before the case was tried. I have requested District 

 Attorney Ottaway to commence action against Gilbert W. 

 Smith, of Irving, for fishing with pound nets. The season 

 for black bass fishing opens here May 20. This is wrong, 

 for these fish do not go on their beds in Niagara River until 

 the forepart of June, and poachers have everything their 

 own way as things are now. If the season for bass opened 

 June 20." or better still July 1, the poachers could do noth- 

 ius. as the bass would be off their beds and in deep water. 

 In addition to this, the weeds would be so grown that nets 

 could not be used." 



STRAY SHOTS FROM AN OLD RANGER. 



n. 



HAVING been born and raised in Connecticut, of course. : 

 my earliest education iu regard to game and the de- 

 lights of its capture began there; and I assure you it was not 

 neglected for any fault of mine. I must plead guilty to the 

 charge of trapping birds, especially partridge, when a boy. 

 I did it, and that too successfully; so 1 know how surely one 

 can sweep the woods of the last unsuspecting partridge by 

 appealing to his crop, and then encircling his neck with the 

 deadly snare. I have often cauglit the last one of a brood 

 of tenor twelve, taking one each day till they were all gone. 

 I will not say I derived no pleasure from this, for I think I 

 had a boyish pride and satisfaction iu going to my snares < 

 and finding a poor fellow hanging there by his neck, a vic- 

 tim to his "appetite and my cralt and deception. But as soon 

 as I became the possessor of a gun, I abandoned this process, 

 which was literally a "delusion and a snare," not because- 

 there were laws a2;ain&t it— for at that time there were none — 

 but in some way I happened to see it was w^rong, and I have 

 never ceased to regret that 1 was ever guilty of the murder- 

 ous practice. Ever since I have "taken unto myself a law/'" 

 which made me kick to smithereens every trap and snare I 

 liave found in the woods. This probably is a high-haudedi 

 procedure on my part, but it is quite certain I have done my 

 share toward breaking up the trapping of this kind of game. 



Since I have "gone out into the woods," it has always been 

 my greatest delight to get back during the fall season among: 

 the rough and rugged old hills and valleys where 1 spent my 

 early life, and with dog and gun to wander and dream, oc- 

 casionallv having my reveries broken by the announcement of 

 my dog that ' 'there's game near here," when I would get down 

 to business— steady the old dog's eagerness (for in the usual 

 thick underbrush of this locality one has to work very care- 

 fully) until he made his point, when I would renew the ac- 

 quaintance of a woodcock, quail or partridge that it seemed 

 to me I had known in the years that are gone. For me, 

 there is more delight iu seeing the dog carefully work up 

 and point, and then in bagging this one bird, than there is. 

 in slaughtering and slashing dozens in other localities. 



I have never failed to visit the old stamping ground during 

 the fall season when I have been within a reasonable range 

 of it, and my recollections of those trips are among the most 

 cherished of ray life. The picture of the whole country is 

 now fresh in my mind, and will remain there as long as- 

 memory lasts. I can see the broad landscape of hill and 

 valley, whose foliage was painted with a wealth of colors 

 which none but nature's artist can produce, and in no place 

 on earth in such exqui-site profusion as there, while the 

 whole was covered with the soft dreamy atmosphere of aa 



Indian summer. Here and there at long intervals nestled 

 the quaint old dwelling of the farmer, whose inmates .«epmed 

 unselfishly glad to know that the little patches of stubble 

 where they had cultivated buckwheat and ryo were the 

 means of affording us so much ]ileasure. I say "us' be- 

 cause poor Comf, an old chum of mine who w'as "to the 

 manor born," and who never strayed or left it till "called 

 hpnce to be here no more forever,*" was ever ready to join 

 me in my week's sport, and I had seldom spent it without 

 him. He was the best shot and hunter for the three game 

 birds of that locality I ever met. He was a tough wiiy Uttlc 

 fellow, as quick as a cat; and the only fault I could ever find 

 with him was that he would shoot for a market, but never 

 till after we had taken our annual tramp; and I think even 

 then he hunted more for sport than profit. He knew where 

 every bevy of quail were raised and the stubble on which 

 they fed. and the cover to which thi^v restorted after satisfy- 

 ing their hunger— he knew the haunt of the partridge and 

 the location of the purple grape and the wintergreen berries 

 on which he fed ; and he knew which way and' just how far 

 he would go if flushed before we were near enough for a 

 shot; and many a time has he said to me as we were approach- 

 ing a thicket of alders,;"You go round and stand in that 

 opening on the other side, while I work the dogs carefully 

 up on this side, and if he gets up give it to him," and "^I 

 have tumbled many a partridge in this way. ' He knew all 

 the soft springy spots among the alders, and the smooth 

 grassy patches under the white brrches where the woodcock, 

 while on their journey from tlie north, plump, solid, strong 

 and fat, delighted to stop and linger till the cold and frost 

 of approachinff winter bade them resume their journey south. 

 Knowing these things, we did not have to hurry and range in 

 an aimless waj^, but could lay out our day's jaunt and go 

 over it in a quiet and pleasant way, bagging' a tew quail here, 

 and a brace or two of woodcock and partndge there, which 

 with our lunch at noon — these intermingled with the jokes, 

 stories and honest friendly chat, would fill the day with un- 

 alloyed delight. 



This may not seem like sport to the dash and push of 

 many sportsmen of the present day; but I have tried many 

 a field where one could warm the barrels of his gun by the 

 frequency of his shooting, but none warmed and satisfied the 

 yearnings of my inmost nature like those tramps over the old 

 stamping ground of my early life. A. 



"A WILD GOOSE CHASE." 



"But pleasures are like popples sprea<1, 

 You seize the flower, the bloom is shed; 

 Or like the snowfalls on the river, 

 A moment white, then gone forever." 



—Tarn O'Shanier. 



IS there a man who has not, at more times than one in his 

 life, realized the full force of the language which I have 

 quoted? Can a sportsman be found w^ho has not had the 

 most glowing; anticipations "tui-ned into ashes," and instead 

 of "a good time" had bitter experience -of the fatality of 

 human hopes? At all events, I have met with the saddest 

 of disappointments, and expect, if I live even a few mouths 

 longer, to have a repetition of them. But hope is an im- 

 portant factor of life, and in itself affords much pleasure. 



About the first of the present month I had an engagement 

 to visit Chatham county and try the birds in the neighbor- 

 hood of my old and hospitable friend Mark Byuum, who has 

 given tne a standing invitation to make his bouse my home 

 during my hunting expeditions. When the day came my 

 companion. Mud, and myself and my Uttle pointer Argo — 

 who is as active a fellow "as ever lap a sleugh or dyke"— 

 >started on foot to make the journey of six miles from Egypt, 

 on Deep River. On the route we bagged about a dozen 

 .birds, and these helped somewhat to give variety to our 

 morning's meal. They were not needed at all, tor Uncle 

 Mark's first salutation was, "I'm glad to see you. I killed 

 hogs to-day and can give you plenty to eat." This was joy- 

 eu9 news to Mud, whose capacity at the table is well known, 

 and it was by no means offensive to me. The next day we 

 bagged thirty-three birds, and the following morning bade 

 our entertainers farewell. Ten birds at Effypt before we 

 took the train for Sandford completed our trophies. Game 

 was not abundant. 



We should have remained another day and tried some 

 fields w^hich had not been hunted, but for the fact that I had 

 accepted an invitation to join some friends, within a few 

 days, on an aquatic, excursion along Topsail and Stump 

 sounds to the waters of New River, in the county of Ons- 

 low. , , , 



On Sunday morning, the 6th of the present month, the 

 writer, with Teceel, Wat M. and Crickett of Saint's Rest, 

 with his dogs Jack and Dot, and Murchison's Old Mark, left 

 the Orton House in Wilmington, for Stokley's, cn Wrights- 

 ville Sound, where M.'s sharpie, Nina, and a pilot boat were 

 to meet us, so that at an early hour on Monday we could set 

 sail for what we were told was a sportsman's paradise. We 

 had a bountiful supply of coffee, sugar, crackers, bacon, 

 bread and other things in that hue, and plenty of blankets. 

 We had also provided ourselves with an excellent tent,. 

 13x9, our guns were in capital order, and we hoped to enjoy 

 ourselves with a quantitv of sport rarely falling to the lot of 

 mortals. It had been rehably reported to our companion 

 Wat that the waters near the mouth of the river were swarm- 

 ing with geese and ducks, and that we could shoot until we 

 became disgusted with the abundance. We knew that 

 oysters, as fine as ever grew, could be had. However, we 

 expected that our menu would certainly consist of ducks, 

 curlew, willet, plover and the Fullard's Greek bivalves. With 

 such anticipations Crickett and Wat carried each five 

 hrmdred loaded shells, fitted for all kinds of game. Teceel 

 had about three hundred and fifty, and I, being more moder- 

 ate only took two hundred and seventy-five. 



The trip might, very probably, be justly characterized by 

 the lines: 



"The King of France, with twenty thousand men. 

 Marched up the hill, and then— marched down again." 

 But to please all anxious friends I am inclined to give 

 your readers a more piirticular account of our ever-to-be- 

 remembered "wild goose chase. " ^ 



With a rising tide, on Monday morning, the / th of De- 

 cember, A. D. 1885, our luggage was safely stowed on the 

 sharpie and we and our dogs comfortably seated on her 

 sides. Pinner, of Smithville, took the helm, and Owen 

 Jones, a gentleman of color, stood at the prow, Gus 

 Latow, a native of Oporto, manned the pilot boat. After 

 cruising toward all points of the compass and often against 

 both wind and tide, sundown found us just nine miles Irora 

 our starting-point. The fruits of this day's labor could have 

 been put in a gallon measure. A dry spot in a forest o 



