48 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 11, 1886. 



A DAY WITH THE GOLDEN-EYES. 



OF all the sports -within reach of the votaries of the gun, 

 in this little province by the sea, the one that has the 

 most decided charm for me, is the shooting of the whistler 

 or golden-eye duck. This bird, by far the most beautiful of 

 any of the duck family, and whose name has always been a 

 .synonym for elusiveness, is, even now, considered so well 

 qualified to take care of itself, that so far as 1 know, no law 

 exists on our statutes giving it the slightest protection. Last 

 winter our Legislature gave us a common sense ruffed grouse 

 8eason (Sept. 20 to Dec 1), and enacted a stringent non-ex- 

 port law that will effectually crush out the slaughter of game 

 for the Boston market. 



Shooting over decoys is little practiced here, and as the 

 golden-eye can find plenty of shallow lakes and bars on 

 which to feed where an unseen approach is impossible, he is, 

 for the greater part of the year, master of the situation. But 

 in the early spring, before the dead water thaws out, and 

 again in the late autumn, for two or three days after it 

 freezes over, he is obliged to feed close to the banks of the 

 deep creeks, and then the sportsman goes for him. The man 

 who tries to pot the whistler by a water shot will get left 

 nine times out of ten, but he will be liable to think many 

 times of the scriptural passage, "A little while ye shall see 

 me and a little while ye shall not see me," and perhaps in 

 this way be benefitted. I shall always look back with 

 pleasure on the days I have spent in trying to circumvent 

 this warv bird, and prominent among these memories is a 

 day in 1883. 



I had agreed to join Arch and Ferris in a hunt in the vicin- 

 ity of Little Musquash Island, on the Biver St. John, and a 

 certain Saturday, about the 17th or 18th of April, was the 

 appointed day. Arch's home was our base of operations, 

 and to reach it in time to get a square start with the rest it 

 was necessary for me to make an eight-mile journey Friday 

 evening. I found the major part of the population of the 

 village gathered for a sort of farewell turn at "the mazy," 

 and was easily persuaded by my prospective hunting com- 

 panions to join them. It was 1 A. M. on Saturday morning 

 when our heads sought and found their pillows, a circum- 

 stance that should be considered before judging our shooting 

 too hastily. It is always amusing to see the malicious pleas- 

 ure that the seniors, who stay at home, take in rousing out 

 the juniors who have been out the e vening before, and the 

 alacrity with which the latter respond, in order to throw out 

 the impression that they were home on schedule time. 

 These motives, working together in pleasant concord, were 

 instrumental in starting our hunting party before dawn; but 

 not before justice had been done to a good, warm breakfast, 

 and the old gentleman had assured us that a team would be 

 at the shore in the evening to haul our game to the house. 

 Musquash Island is at the mouth of Washadeiaoak Lake, the 

 waters of which swirl around it in deep, narrow creeks, that 

 seldom freeze over ; and should they by accident be betrayed 

 into any such indiscretion, the slightest relaxation of the 

 cold will clear them of ice with startling rapidity. The 

 island has a lake in the center, which is connected with the 

 St. John by a deep creek thirty feet wide. 



Would that my pen were equal to the task of describing 

 the beauties of that morning. The gray dawn was gradually 

 gaining strength in the cloudless eastern sky. The air was 

 so soft and mild that no gloves were needed, yet the snow 

 which still enveloped the ground, and the ice in the marshes 

 and on the lake were as solid as in January, apparently 

 bound together by their own innate frigidity rather than by 

 any lowness in the temperature of the atmosphere. And 

 when the sun came up, giving the distant hillsides first a tint 

 of gold, then the appearance of burnished silver, and causing 

 the top of Bald Mountain, which towered in the distance 

 like a monarch "head and shoulders above" the surrounding 

 peaks, to sparkle like a jeweled crown, while the awakening 

 of the world to life gradually deepened into a confusion of 

 clanking chains, tingling bells, and the crunching patter of 

 horses' feet on the frozen lake; it did seem as if we were be- 

 ing repaid for some of the cold, sleet and slush of the. previ- 

 ous winter. 



All our early morning attempts to corner a whistler, were 

 fruitless. Sometimes it would be the crunching of the snow, 

 then the flying of a wary old drake that would betray us. 

 At last, a muskrat out for his morning plunge, was com- 

 pelled to heave to by Arch's old muzzleloader. in the hands 

 of our bow-paddle. One of our party climbing a tree, located 

 a flock of whistlers in the outlet of the little island lake. 

 The creek being far below the level of its banks, we had no 

 difficulty in getting within 150 yards, and then on the author 

 of this sketch devolved the duty of taking a "peep." Be- 

 moving his cap, he slowly raised his head till four black 

 dots showed against the snow on the opposite bank; and 

 when they disappeared in quick succession we covered the 

 distance with an energy that would have been no discredit 

 to a wiuner in the Olympic games. A "she-whistler," as 

 the boys contemptuously called her, came up, and as she 

 winged her way down the creek, a furrow in the water a 

 little ahead, told how 1 came to miss her. A second ran 

 the gauntlet of both of Ferris's barrels, without the loss of a 

 feather. A big drake came up, and with a gleam of defi- 

 ance in his bright yellow eye, he dashed into the air, but at 

 the crack of the old muzzleloader, his light was snnffed out 

 so suddenly that he never moved after he touched the water. 



I walked down to the point of the island. Cautiously 

 looking over the bank I saw the head of a splendid drake 

 close to the shore. Still as a statue I stood till it disappeared 

 and a faint swish told me he was under, when I walked 

 cooly out to within twenty feet of where he went down. 

 Wher-er er r-r sounded forty yards down the bank and I 

 gave to him full in the back. The dull "wop" of the shot on 

 his feathers came distinctly to the ear, but he sailed on, only 

 to be discovered later in the day completely devoured by 

 crows. Hardly had I pulled trigger when 1 knew I had 

 been fooled and the one marked down came up and went 

 "his several ways," while I was energetically trying to get a 

 shell into the gun butt end foremost. O for a double barrel! A 

 single whistler dropped into the inlet two hundred yards 

 away and dived almost as soon as he struck. I ran and fell 

 flat on my face, watching the creek with the corner of one 

 eye. He came up, gorged something he brought with him 

 and explored the depths of the creek once more. When he 

 again appeared, I was waiting to welcome him and he died 

 of paralysis, brought on by violent contact with a charge of 

 B shot. ' I then joined the boys who had hauled out the 

 canoe by a hay barn and were preparing to lunch. Soon an- 

 other canoe, bearing George P. and Scott G. who had been 

 out all the morning and got ne'er a feather, arrived and the 

 prospects for a lively morning increased considerably. 



George walked to the canoe and picking up a duck, said 

 with an innocent air, "Where did you find this, boys'?" then 

 tossing it to Scott with a well simulated look of contempt, 



"See, it has been shot a week." "Wouldn't eat it for fawty 

 dollahs," returned Scott, who.it should be explained, has 

 been to Boston, and to quote one of his reviewers : "Failin' 

 to strike a banana, and not bein' indispensable to the exist- 

 ence of the commonwealth," returned to his native land 

 minus $150 and the sharp corners in his vernacular. "Get 

 out! you nineteenth century Sancho Panzas," replied one of 

 our party, "you should not always look at the situation from 

 your own standpoint. What's the reason you got none? did 

 the shooters at the head of the island retrieve all their 

 wounded, or had some darky skimmed the pot before you 

 this morning?" "We didn't get any for divers reasons," 

 said George, dryly. We had such a good time that it was 

 late in the afternoon before we again embarked. 



The first event on the afternoon's programme was some 

 rifle practice at a flock of geese, floating down the river on 

 a cake of ice — no damage done. In speaking of the next 

 incident, 1 could borrow a part of the language of the 

 Hibernian, who sat down on a hornets' nest and becoming 

 aware, in some mysterious manner, of the sort of cushion he 

 had, got up and trampled it to pieces in his rage. "It was 

 mesilf that didn't like it, and the hornets didn't like it, but 

 it was darn fine fun for the boys." A single bird was 

 sighted so far away that he took no notice of our canoe; and 

 the boys put me ashore on the ridge, with orders to go up 

 and rake him in. By a series of maneuvers similiar to those 

 before described, I got behind a very small drift stump with- 

 in forty yards of where I last saw him. When he came up 

 what was my chagrin so see him settle himself for a rest, 

 instead of diving immediately, as I hoped he would. I was 

 lying face downward on an icy glade, with the fierce after- 

 noon sun beating down on my back, producing a sensation 

 similar to that caused by a gigantic mustard plaster. The 

 minutes seemed to stretch into hours as with cramped neck 

 and eyes a-water I watched that confounded whistler, till 

 at last he went under, and I stalked out to the edge of the 

 bank, full of a grim determination to square the account 

 with him when he came up. He appeared, with surprise and 

 consternation plainly depicted on what little countenance he 

 bad, and also in every motion. Before flying he darted 

 about a couple of feet one way, then turning half around 

 made a quick dash in another direction, as if to take a look 

 at me from two different points of observation, and seeming 

 to come to the conclusion that I was not the sort of person 

 whose acquaintance he would care to cultivate more closely, 

 away he went into the air. When the smoke cleared I con- 

 fidently expected to view his lifeless remains, but instead 

 there was a cloud of feathers— more than ever I saw shot 

 out of any six ducks, and my bird was pursuing the not 

 altogether noiseless tenor of his way. My companions 

 chaffed me unmercifully for lying and waiting for him to go 

 down, instead of firing at Mm and either killing him or 

 compelling him to dive" and also complimented me on my 

 skill as a collector of "pillow-stuffings." I have often, when 

 watching a game of checkers, seen chances for brilliant 

 strokes in playing, when the persons engaged in the game 

 were vainly thumping their brains for moves. 



We started for home, Ferris gallantly giving his place to a 

 young lady who was going our way and preferred a short 

 canoe ride to a long walk. I have a suspicion that Arch 

 hop^d that I would join Ferris, and when Idid not, he would 

 have almost seconded the motion of the executioner in "The 

 Mikado"' concerning "all third persons who on disturbing 

 tete-d-tetes insist," but I hardly think he would have gone so 

 far as to say, "I'm sure he won't be missed," Glancing back 

 at the day, 1 am vividly reminded of a few lines 1 once saw 

 in a little English story book, and 1 can only trust to their 

 close-fitting, blister-like applicability to our case to commend 

 me to the lenience of Forest and Stream's quotation 

 fiend exterminator. The piece was entitled "The Three 

 Jolly Sportsmen," and one of the stanzas went something 

 like this : 



'■We hunted and we halloaed till the setting of the sun, 



And we had nought to bring away when the hunting day was done. 



Then one unto another said, 'This hunting does not pay,' 



But we've powdered up and down a bit, and had a rattling day." 



Nova Scotia. L. I. Flower. 



MAINE GAME. 



READING the Forest and Stream's earnest plea for 

 the retention of the New York non deer-hounding law 

 brings to mind the struggles of the Maine Fish and Game 

 Commissioners a few years ago for the holding of just such 

 a law upon the statute books of that State. The owners of 

 packs of hounds, both at home and in neighboring States, 

 sent lobbyists to the Maine Legislature, and members were 

 approached with the same plausible arguments that are being 

 used in New York this winter. But they were met by a 

 force too great. The Hon. E. M. Stillwell, the strongest 

 and truest friend the noble game of Maine has ever found, 

 together with his colleague, Henry O. Stanly, aided by Dr. 

 Hunter, of Machias, told the Legislature that winter that to 

 let loose the dogs it would require but two years — three years 

 at the most — to exterminate the deer. Said Mr. Stillwell: 

 "A deer dreads a wolf — its natural worst enemy. Several 

 times in the history of our State the deer have been driven 

 almost to extermination by wolves. Our forests are just re- 

 covering from the last of such periods, thirty or forty years 

 ago. A dog is a wolf's first cousin. Both are equally de- 

 structive to the deer. Turn off the dogs and your deer will 

 increase. Let loose the dogs and your deer are gone for- 

 ever!" How have these words proved? Everybody familiar 

 with the Maine woods will grant that the deer have more 

 than quadrupled under protection, the be-it part of which is 

 a non-hounding law. 



Is hounding destructive to deer? Yes. Why? Because 

 every greenhorn who goes into the woods can, by employ- 

 ing guides and dogs, surely get a deer. For proof, take a 

 case right here in Boston, hundreds of miles away from the 

 Adirondack wilderness. Two years ago last August a party 

 of young salesmen took their vacation in that part of the 

 country. They went armed with repeating rifles and money 

 enough to employ guides. The guides, of course, gave them 

 the chance to kill deer. One of them explained to us how it 

 was done. "The dogs were let loose. My guide took me in 

 a boat. Soon the hounds drove the deer into the water. My 

 guide begun to pull for dear life, and as soon as I got near 

 enough 1 begun to pepper that deer. I was so excited that 

 I fired ten times before I stopped him. I wanted to kill 

 another deer, but the guides refused. They said I had had 

 my share of fun." 



Another Boston case dates only back to last November, 

 and shows that in some sections of the New York wilderness 

 the non-hounding law has been evaded. An old gentleman, 

 a Boston merchant, who didn't even own a gun, but bought 

 a new repeating 'shotgun for the purpose, killed: his deer in 



the Adirondacks. As in the case of the youns: salesman, the 

 dogs drove the deer into the water, and, paddled out by the 

 lusty arms of the guide, the old man pulled away on his 

 repeating shotgun, crowded with buckshot, till the deer suc- 

 cumbed. Ah, such hunting! No. Butchery! 



Now, in all fairness, let any advocate of deer hounding 

 answer: How many deer could those young salesmen, 

 reared in a city, unfamiliar with the woods or with fire- 

 arms—how many deer could they or that old gentleman of 

 sixty have killed without the aid of dogs? I have tramped 

 all day through the woods, where the tracks of deer were 

 too thick to single out one and follow it, never getting sight, 

 of a deer, or at the best, only a chance for a snap shot; and 

 1 am willing to do so again. I have lain in ambush more 

 than one day beside a deer path, actually beaten like a sheep 

 path, and yet have never obtained the much-desired shot in 

 that way. But I am willing to do both again, and if I live 

 long enough, I expect to kill my deer by legitimate still- 

 hunting; but I trust I shall never so thirst for butchery as to 

 allow a dog to drive a deer into the water for my shooting. 

 Oh, the prowess of such hunting! Why not hire' the guides 

 to tie the legs of the poor creature and then fire away with 

 the repeaters? Good Forest and Stream, leave no stone 

 unturned to preserve the non-hounding law in New York. 

 Bepeal it, and the days of the deer are numbered ! Retain 

 it and enforce it, and your deer will multiply. 



Commissioner Stillwell writes me that the recent rains 

 have made a bad crust over the snow in Maine, and that 

 years ago he should have trembled for the deer, but the law 

 has nagged the poachers so closely that they dare not follow 

 their old tricks. The Commissioners, with their able corps 

 of wardens, are as much on the alert as ever in Maine. 



Some things distress me, but perhaps they are all right. 

 I saw the head of a female moose at a taxidermist's the 

 other day — the whole skin, in fact. It was a noble speci- 

 men. The head measured nearly two feet from the muzzle 

 to the top of the forehead. It looked, as it lay over the tax- 

 idermist's block, very much like the head of Barnum's hip- 

 popotamus, so broad was the muzzle and wide the nostrils. 

 The creature must have weighed 800 pounds. It belonged to 

 a Portland, Me., gentleman, and is being made into a mat. 

 It was either killed in open season or was killed unlawfully 

 in the summer, for the skin had been some time at the tan- 

 ner's. 



The sight of that enormous head reminded me of the expe- 

 rience of a chap from Boston. He went down to Parma- 

 cheene, Me., and hired a guide to "call" a moose for him to 

 shoot. As he told the story himself : "The guide kept up 

 an unearthly roar on that old birch horn. It was about as 

 dark as pitch. AH at once I heard a crashing, when down 

 came a giant beast close upon me. His head was in the air 

 aoout twenty feet. His horns were ten feet broad, and 

 kuocked the spruce limbs into kindling wood. His eyes 

 were as big as saucers, and from his nostrils came two 

 streams of fire as big around as my arm ! As for me, I 

 dropped that little shotgun and ran!" 



I learn from good authority that the case of the New 

 Haven gentleman, who, after having been prosecuted for 

 killing a deer at Bangeley, Me., in June, two years ago, 

 began a suit against Commissioner Stillwell for $1,000 dam- 

 ages, has been settled. I understand that the jury gave him 

 $1 for damage to his reputation. This is the first case of the 

 kind in my recollection, and shows how juries regard the 

 game laws. Spectal. 



SAVE THE ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Sportsmen, of all men, are prone to hobby riding. This 

 one advances the true theory perhaps. If you investigate 

 you will probably find that his theory is the one he finds 

 most successful in practice. It might not suit the next case 

 at all. It is just as absurd to say which method of hunting 

 deer is least destructive to the game as to say which is the 

 best gun. It all depends. 



Deer vary in habit in different localities; the locality often 

 determines the method of taking him. Given the nature of 

 the land — whether level, rolliug, or mountainous; whether 

 well watered or dry, timbered or open — and the hunter will 

 adopt the method so as to make nature serve him in the pur- 

 suit of his quarry. 



In the high dry lands of Western Virginia I suppose the 

 floating would be poor, and because of the abseuce of large 

 bodies of water, hounding becomes in such sections an alto- 

 gether different thing from houuding in New York. What I 

 have to say in this article has reference solely to the methods- 

 n vogue of capturing deer in that most charming spot for an 

 outing, the Adirondack wilderness. 



Three principal methods obtain there — floating, still-hunt- 

 ing and hounding. The first is possible only during thig 

 months of summer, and cannot always be depended upon- 

 even in September. The second is practiced by the native 

 hunters only, and not to any extent until after the first snows- 

 have fallen." The third method is possible any time, and can 

 be successfully carried on by anybody who can buy a dog. 



Now what are those aiming at who write for your valua ble 

 paper? It is to be hoped that the great army of sportsmen 

 are not taking this means to assist each other to knowledge 

 which may enable them to kill more deer, but to, if possible, 

 find out how to get the maximum of hunting and the mini- 

 mum of killing, i. e., to have the most sport possible, aud 

 give the deer as many chances for his life as possible. Can 

 we agree upon the above? Now I am bound to work for 

 the suppression of hounding in the State of New York, 

 absolutely, and at all times of year. I will tell you why as 

 clearly as I am able. 



In the first place we need to keep on foot as many deer as 

 can be ; the time is coming, all too fast, when there will be 

 only hunting and no finding in the great northern forest. 

 The woods will breathe their odorous balm, the delicious 

 water bubble from the rocky crevices, the air will come laden 

 with the incense of the pines and the balsams just the same 

 decades hence, but the deer, the chief charm to many, will 

 be gone if great care is not taken for their preservation. 



Now, what does hounding enable a man to do? 



It enables a man to put out a dog to get venison every 

 time. With the intersecting streams, the thousands of lakes,, 

 deer hunting can be reduced to a science and a certainty 

 with dogs. 



Suppose you wanted to procure twenty -five deer, for no 

 matter what purpose, in a given time. You go up to the 

 borders of the woods and find your "old guide," tell him 

 your mission and ask if the thing can be done. Does any 

 woodsman doubt what he would say? He would say, "We 

 might float for 'em and have good luck, we might still-hunt, 

 but we would run a good many chances ; give me the dogs 

 and we'll do it." 



Dogs will and can hunt deer in all weathers; the exception^ 



