Feb. 18, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



71 



in the water ten feet from tbc muzzle of the gun, lends 

 abundant evidence that these men practice what they preach. 

 If Dr. "Ward wants his "shy" argument, we are generous 

 enough to say to him that he is welcome to it. 



Dr. Ward has seen fit to refer to Mr. Henry Bergh. Will 

 Dr. Ward pardon us for saving that we think it would have 

 been in better taste for him not to have done this? When 

 Mr. Denny wrote to Dr. Ward the other day that — of all 

 men— Henry Bergh was not opposed to deer hounding, and 

 when Dr. Ward, in all sincerity, put that statement into 

 type and sent it to the Legislature, he had as an excuse that 

 Mr. Denny had clearly misled bim. But after Mr. Bergh 

 had repudiated such a use of his name and had stamped Mr. 

 Denny's assertion as — a little sweepiug, would it not have been 

 fair and manly, Dr. Ward, to acknowledge your error, instead 

 of writing those closing paragraphs? 



No; no dog ever "tears into fragments one of the most 

 beautiful and harmless of God's creature," because as in the 

 incident recorded by Mr. Clifton, and which you have ac- 

 cepted as true, Dr. Ward, a man always comes to shoot the 

 doe.- before it accomplishes i's purpose; is that it? 



Perhaps the purpose of calling in Mr. Bergh (we made no 

 reference to him last week) may be to take advantage of any 

 difference of sentiment which may be supposed to exist 

 between American sportsmen and the Societies for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals. If 1hat be the object, we 

 assure Dr. Ward such efforts are misdirected. We may 

 claim to being somewhat familiar with the sentiment of 

 the sportsmen of this country as learned during the past 

 twelve years of the publication of the Forest and Stream. 

 It may surprise the Adirondack water-butchers, but we give 

 it as our sincere conviction that on all essential points the 

 two classes are united. When, by such a stupid blunder as 

 that of Mr. Denny, the S. F. P. C. A. is led into taking a 

 position antagonistic to any "sport, it is quite likely to be 

 one which, as in the case of Adirondack dogging, the great 

 body of sportsmen condemn. 



In conclusion we beg to express our entire confidence in 

 an experienced physician's opinion on the sanitary qualities 

 of hounded venison. The numbers of whole carcasses of 

 hounded deer, known by us to have be<n abandoned by 

 eminent physicians and left to rot in the Adirondacks, war- 

 rant the belief that these professional gentlemen were ex- 

 cellent judges of how long hounded deer' would keep, and of 

 the proper time to pull up the tent pins and move away from 

 it— it being too "shy." Lest Dr. Ward should twist this as- 

 sertion into our "calling him a liar," we hasten to add that 

 we do not know that he ever wasted a pound of venison. 

 We are gratified to believe that he would not approve of such 

 wanton destruction ; more than this, we believe ihat if Dr. 

 Samuel B. Ward knew one-half of the abominations and 

 atrocities incident to and inseparable from the sport of bound- 

 ing, and annually committed by houuriers under tbe shelter of 

 the North Woods, he would not now be working to legalize 

 the "sport," but would be heartily with the Fohest" and 

 Stream and the great majority of right-minded sportsmen 

 in their demand that the auti hounding law be not repealed. 



"AN OFFICIAL SLAUGHTER." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Jan. 7, "A. P." tells of "an official 

 slaughter" of large game in the neighborhood of Fort Fet- 

 ter man by a "law-breaking;, game-murdering" officer of the 

 Army during the late war, an author not unknown to fame, 

 but "whose name for shame shall not be told." Your cor- 

 respondent seems to know full well of the shameful opera- 

 tions of this man who with "several friends, a detachment 

 of U. S. soldiers, about a dozen citizen teamsters and packers 

 in the V. S. employ, and three guides," killed "elk by the 

 score and antelope by dozens, and in nearly all cases'leav- 

 ing the flesh to rot where the murdered animals fell," etc. 

 etc. Your correspondent closes his communication with the 

 hope that some one will hold this person "up to the public 

 gaze and contemptfor theunparalleled meanness he displayed" 

 in the wanton destruction ot so much noble game, and says, 

 "Who will rise to the occasion ? Where is Capt, Nessmuk"? 



Now I submit that this course on the part of "A. P." is 

 very hard to understand if he really wishes to have the 

 author of aforementioned outrage publicly exposed. 



Why in the name of good sportsmanship and honest in 

 dignation does not "A. P." himself give the readers of 

 the Forest and Stream the name of the offender? Thus 

 far, to your readers, "A. P." is the only one who can expose 

 the man. I do not understand the "shame" which induces 

 him to withhold the name but which can permit him to call 

 upon Captain Nessmuk or some one else to give it. For one, 

 I want to know the name of this game-murderer, that I may' 

 with all lovers of gentlemanly sports, mark him and help in 

 whatever way we can make him and all his kind suffer for 

 such meanness. 



Let "A P." come to the front and tell what he knows and 

 he will have the thanks of all good sportmen. Unless we 

 are all willing to do this upon occasion, game-murdering 

 will go on till there is no more game to be murdered. 



C. H. A. 



Boston, Jan, 10, 



Southern Shooting Preserves.— For all the purposes 

 of the hunting of the most favorite game there is no place on 

 the Atlantic coast like the islands of South Carolina, and 

 especially those in the vicinity of Charleston. It is gratify- 

 ing to know that interest is being exhibited in fields so 

 aboundingin game and fish of the choicest description, and it 

 must appear a matter of surprise that so little is known out- 

 side the borders of the state of its conspicuous advantages in 

 this line. Every year hundreds of sporting men and others 

 in the pursuit of the pleasures of field exercise and sport go 

 either to Canada and the Northwest and to the prairie lands, 

 where as a geueral rule the enjoyment of the season is 

 marred by the intensity of the cold. One of the advantages 

 of the climate of South Carolina will recommend itself to all 

 lovers of sport under the best of conditions, and that is the 

 equable temperature of our hunring season. It may be 

 said, however, that a very rigorous climate is necessary for 

 the appearance of the best qualities of game. This is not 

 true to an extent that would in the slightest degree interfere 

 with the fact that ordinarily cold weather is sufficient to 

 send to our coasts the kinds of migratory game that is usually 

 sought in. more distant regions. For instance, the appear- 

 ance of the woodcock and snipe begins early in the winter on 

 our seacoasl, and they remain during the season unless the 

 winter is phenomenally mild, which does not often occur. 

 The rice fields on the coast are always in the proper season 

 stocked with snipe, and the breaks and thickets near and in 

 marshy grounds are olive with the splendid and delicious 

 bird, the. woodcock. The low country of South Carolina is 1 



known the world over to be the finest hunting eround for 

 the deer and wild turkey. From September until Match the 

 partridge is found in abundance, and the wild duck in end- 

 less variety flocks to the inland rivers, the rice fields and 

 the estuaries along the coast. The whole of the ocean front 

 of the State is dotted with islands, and on many of these all 

 the kinds of game that have been mentioned exist plentifully. 

 There is scarcely a plantation on the coast of South Carolina 

 which does not embrace in its extent lands on which high 

 land and lowland game may not be found in the winter 

 season. Nearly every one of these plantations, in fact, is 

 composed of highland's and marsh or rice lands, and, indeed, 

 the sites of these old-time domains were selected with a view 

 of comprising such qualities of land. The fishing along 

 the coast, in the inlets and along the banks near Charleston, 

 is well know u to be of the most profitable and attractive 

 kind, including tbe most favorite qualities and species oi 

 fish. There was scarcely a homestead, either on the islands 

 or inland uear the coast, which did uot have its avenue of 

 live oaks, and iu maoy instances these alone remain to 

 tell of the former glory of plantation life and to maik the 

 spot where the ''Memorial hall" once stood, Tne oaks have 

 uot lost any of their beauty by the lapse of time, and it 

 would be easy to restore even on a grander scale, one of 

 these homesteads to its original attractiveness and interest. — 

 Charleston Neuns and Courier. 



An Adirondack Wolf. — It was reported last Monday 

 that a panther had been seen near the Rome and Floyd town 

 line, and that a number of hunters were in pursuit of the 

 animal. The panther turned out to be a wolf. It was killed 

 about 3 P m. on Monday in Bentley 's swamp, in tbe town of 

 Floyd and brought to Rome this morning by David Car- 

 penter. It is a laige and fierce looking male. The woll's 

 tracks had bten seen by different persons for several days. On 

 Monday morning a party of hunters turned out with shot 

 guns and litles prepared to do or die. The party was 

 made up of William Kilbourn, H. Parsons, Eugene Cleve- 

 land, Thomas Bennett, Welcome Carpenter, W. Hogle, 

 and D. C. Carpenter. The latter has a good fox dog which 

 he put on the scent, but the animal refused to follow it. 

 The hunters ran the wolf about ten miles in the woods and 

 fields, Kilbourn got the first shot at him with a shotgun. 

 Thomas W. Bennett had three or four "cracks" at him with 

 a shotgun and one with a Title. Then he crossed Hogle's 

 path and was made the target of a shotgun. Then Bennett 

 got bead of the animal again and fired three times with 

 a shotgun. Eugene Cleveland next had a chance at bim 

 with a rifle. The wolf ran through the door yard of a man 

 named Murphy and he fired a revolver at him. Hogle next 

 tackled tbe beast with a sbotguu. It is not positively 

 known that any of the shots hit the wolf up to this time, for 

 he ran just as though nothing had ha| peued. He became 

 very liied, however, and finally crawled under a bush to rest. 

 W. Bennett found him there and, having no ammunition, 

 called his brother Thomas, who weut very close to the wolf 

 and let him have a charge of buckshot in the head, killing 

 him instantly. Thus ended the only wolf hunt that has 

 taken place iu these parts in years. It is supposed that the 

 animal strayed away from the North Woods. He had been 

 subsisting on the carcass of a cow that laid in the woods. 

 The deaa wolf has been on exhibition in front of Petrie's 

 meat market to day. it weighs fif cy pounds. There is a 

 State bounty of $30 for every wolf scalp. — Rome (N. T.) 

 Sentinel, Feb. 10. 



New Jersey Quail. — It was only a few years ago that the 

 Forest asd Stream went to the trouble and expense of 

 making a c replete canvass of the State of New Jersey as to 

 how the quail had fared during the winter. Such a canvass 

 had never been made before in this country, and it proved to 

 foreshadow the coming shooting season with wonderful accu- 

 racy. Were such an investigation now to be prosecuted the re- 

 sult would show that since the first of tbe year the destruc- 

 tion of quail has been very great. This was due io the great 

 and sudden fluctuations in temperature, deep snows and their 

 immediate crusting, aud the intensely cold weather. At the 

 beginning of the last open season in New Jersey there was 

 an abundant crop of quail in both Warren and Sussex 

 counties. The birds had beeu favored with a fine breeding 

 year, and the crop was an unusually healthy one. In almost 

 every case the bevies were full ones and well grown when 

 the shooting began. Taking it as things go nowadays, they 

 were not harassed as much as one would suopose, and when 

 the season drew to a close there stiJl remained a goodly 

 showing of birds on the sunny side of the brush-covered 

 hillsides. Then came the terrible cold weather, aud now the 

 sportsman hears on all sides that the birds have perished 

 while being protected from want of protection. The shoot- 

 ing outlook is the most gloomy we have had for years. 



Rumson Neck Game Association. — A number of promi- 

 nent business men in New York city, who own property on 

 Rumson Neck, a long ttretch of land between Seabrightand 

 Red Bank, N. J., have banded themselves into a. game pro- 

 tective society, which hereafter will probably be knowm as 

 the Rumson Neck Game Association. It is their intention 

 to stock Rumson Neck with quail and then protect t hem as 

 much as possible. To effect ibis Mr. David Keeler, of Rum- 

 son Neck, has at present over 050 quail in his barn, and he 

 has ordered 1,000 more qnail from the West. The birds will 

 be liberated when the spring has fairly opened. Prior to 

 their being put out, 1he farm owners have contracted to 

 brush their fences to afford cover for the birds. They will 

 also, later on, plow a ten-foot-wide furrow along the fences, 

 which will be planted with wheat and buckwheat, anil 

 remain uncut throughout the season. This, it is thought, 

 will provide ample food for the birds. Six keepers will be 

 engaged to exterminate hawks, cats, foxes, and to warn off 

 all shooters. In fact, everything that can be will be done to 

 protect Mr. and Mrs. Quail and the Masiers and Misses Quail- 

 ina. It is only by sucn determined efforts as these that the 

 shooting can be restored in this vicinity. 



Amesbury, Mass., Feb. 9.— Owing to the unusual severity 

 of this winter, the birds are having a hard show to find food 

 to retain life, as the woods are covered with such a coating 

 of ice and snow as was never seen by the oldest inhabitant. 

 While driving to Haverhill Sunday, 1 saw a flock of eight 

 quail feeding in the road on the droppings of horses; they 

 were as tame as chickens, and only hopped on the wall to get 

 out of the way.— J. O'L. 



The Accident Policies of the Travelers, of Hartford, Conn., in- 

 demnify tiie business or professional man for his profits, the wage 

 worker for his wages, lost from accidental injury, aud guarantee 

 principal sum in case o.f death.— Adv. 



m md l^ivet fishing. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co, 



CEDAR STREAM. 



r pHE letter of "S. G. G.,"in the last Forest and Stream, 



1 describing bis experience in taking suckers with the 

 fly in the Millsfield ponds, has sent my thoughts wandering 

 to the forests of Northern New Hampshire and recalled a 

 day spent the summer hi fore the last on an almost unknown 

 stream, whose name furnishes the text for this letter. Semi- 

 invalided all the past summer by the effects of an attack of 

 malarial fever, caught at the far South ibe autumn beforp, I 

 have led a very lazy existence, and after trying unsuccess- 

 fully some of the old brooks where 1 spetit many happy 

 hours in my boyhood, finding: little water and less fish, I put 

 up my rods, too indolent to pull a boat on the river in the 

 broiling sun for the chances of hooking a capricious bass, 

 and devoted the balance of the summer to what an old friend 

 of mine was wont to call "flower catching." 



Many a delightful hour was whiled away in this pastime, 

 gathering in the successive harvests from the gorgeous, 

 candelabra shaped Silium canadensis of the meadows and its 

 more brilliant and solitary cousin, the Silium philadelphicum 

 of tbe bills and pastures, 1he drooping harebell and the glow- 

 ing cardinal flower, the aster and the golden rod, until tbe 

 frosts of October finished my botauizing, when they killed 

 the fringed gentiaus, which were the last of my trophies. 



Thtn I got out my old double-barrel and diligently ex- 

 plored what is left of the old oak and chestnut woods which 

 once crowued all the bills in this vicinity, but in vain. Not 

 a gray squirrel was to be seen. The oaks that had escaped 

 the axe, which has converted almost all tbe old trees of the 

 region into sleepers for the rail way or fuel for the locomo- 

 tive, bore few or no acorns this fall, and the chestnuts blos- 

 somed late and bore a scanty harvest. The woods were 

 voiceless; save, the rustle aud squeak of an occasional chip- 

 munk, nothing disturbed their stillness. One ruffed grouse, 

 rising a hundred yards in front of me, as I emerged from an 

 old wood road into a sapling pasture, and as instantly disap- 

 pearing in the biush, was the only living game 1 saw in sev- 

 eral long tramps over the hills, and the only time I pulled 

 trigger was to drop a saucy bim -jay who crossed my path 

 one day, chattering and screaming, as I neared home after a 

 bootless ramble. 



So the gun was returned to its case, and put away with 

 tbe rods for a more auspicious season, and my sporting ram- 

 bles have been solely spiritual on s; for have I not beeu to 

 the "Walled -In Lakes" with "Yo" and "Appekunny"; have I 

 not listened to the chats of "Wawayanda" with the "Colonel" 

 and the "Captain," and read to the madame who sits by my 

 side the adventures of the one who accompanied the historian 

 of "Camp Flotsam" in his delightfully described excursion*? 

 Have I not explored Florida with that master of woodcraft, 

 "Nessmuk," aud hoped that the day may come when 1 may 

 meet him in the oody ; and has not Forest and Stream 

 thus clone my angling for me while I have enjoyed it over 

 the winter fire? 



Verily it has, and as the old war horse rouses himself at 

 the sound of tiumpet. so do my thougnts go back to the days 

 when I loitered by the brookside and watched the play of the 

 sunlight on the ripples as it flickered through the green leaves 

 overhead, or listened to the bobolink as he trolled out his 

 musical linkle from the top of a "poke stalk," in the adjoin- 

 ing meadow. 



The tastes and habits ingrained in boyhood hold through 

 life, and so it is that, although 1 like to feel the pull of a big 

 fish at the end of a light rod, still "it is not all of fi-dnng to 

 fi«h;" and the leisurely saunter by the swift rippling waters, 

 the song of the birds, the sunshine and the 'flowers, have 

 charms which more than compensate for the lesser weight of 

 the basket at the end of the day. I like the free use of my 

 legs, too, and they are too long to be comfortable when 

 cramped up in a small boat, and so, after mach preamble, I 

 come to my text again. 



I had been fishing for a week at Second Lake, when a 

 message was brought in to me requiring my presence as a 

 witness at court in Concord the next day. Dropping every- 

 thing, I walked out through the woods to First Lake, got a 

 horse and wagon, and drove down to Colebrook that evening 

 so as to take the stage at four the next moiuing, catch the 

 first train at North Stratford and reach Concord eaxly in the 

 afternoon. 



The case was on trial, and my evidence short, and the next 

 day 1 returned to Colebrook, and the following one to First 

 Lake, where Mr. Shoppe, the landlord of the Lake House, 

 informed me that my son, who 1 had left at Tom Chester's 

 camp, bad come "out" the night before with a young Iriend 

 from New York to attend a dance, and that they hud gone 

 that day to Cedar Stieam with the intention of coming back 

 at night, and going "in" to Tom Chester's in the morning. 

 I therefore decided to wait for them, and just after dark they 

 appeared, with two baskets full of trout, besides a "string" 

 on a willow branch about two feet long, and the report that 

 they had given away another string of seventy-five trout to 

 the man who had taken care of their horse. To be sure the 

 trout were small, from six to eight inches long, but they said 

 that they had gone far up the stream to begin, and by the 

 time they got down to were they had no room for any more; 

 it was almost dark, and my son Bob had changed places with 

 the fish, and been to the bottom of the deepest hole they 

 had found. 



The next day was Sunday, and we went leisurely in to 

 Second Lake again, where we staid a few days longer, and 

 when Bob had to return to his business Joe and I came out 

 to the Lake House with him and staid there a few days to 

 try that neighborhood. Joe earnestly advised me to try 

 Cedar Stream, beginning where he had left off, and a young 

 man employed about the hotel said he had been up on Sun- 

 day and caught 400. 



Of course, I discounted that a trifle, but determined to give 

 the stream a trial, and Joe, who was not very well, said he 

 would drive me down the river road to a point opposite the 

 mouth of it, and call for me again at night, which he did. 



The stream rises in the hills south of Connecticut Lake, 

 and after a course of six or seven miles empties into the 

 river about three miles below the lake. 



Reaching this point, 1 crossed the river on a convenient 

 sandbar and struck into the woods to follow up the side of 

 the stieam, but soon had to give it up and take to water. 



Tbe old spruce forest had been cleared many years ago, 

 and the new hardwood growth of birch, maple, poplar and 

 alder was so dense as to render the bed of the stream pref- 

 erable. At places 1 found gravel beaches on alternate sides 

 .of the stream, all marked by the tracks of the young man 



