184 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 1, 1886. 



hunted the ground and failed. This came from having many 

 times followed hunting parties, learning to mark, and noticing 

 -where the birds took refuge. I knew every thicket and little 

 piece of ''cat brier" swamp, almost the number of woodcock 

 and where they sat. All the logs where grouse drammed, 

 and the proper time of day to find them home. They seemed 

 to have but little fear of me or my gun, and always* whirred 

 "good-bye" to me in a most sarcastic way. This was why 

 hunting parties wanted me with them. 1 knew it, and didn't 

 go. 



One day one of thes° parties got into my favorite covey of 

 quail and killed thirteen of them over single points before 

 my eyes. I couldn't stand it any longer. "A double-barrel 

 gun of approved pattern and bird dog I must have. Having 

 just formed this determination, I was sitting on the fence 

 sadly ruminating on the havoc made in my quail, when I 

 heard one of the p^ly calling up some of the others as two 

 dogs were pointing in thick undergrowth. I mechanically 

 cocked my gun, when I heard a tremendous whirr, and bang 

 went four shots at a splendid coek grouse, which came 

 toward me like a streak of "greased" lightning. As I had 

 a cl ar space, I took deliberate aim along my little 16- bore 

 single barrel, held well ahead, and fired. The heavy thud of 

 my fin-t grouse striking the ground sent a thrill of enthusi- 

 astic delight and triumph to my heart which could not be 

 excelled. 



Two of the men saw the bird fall. One of them rushed 

 toward it and told his dog to fetch. I sprang for the bird 

 just in time to kick the dog off and secure it, when the man 

 excitedly demanded to know why I kicked his dog and 

 violently claimed the grouse, which he said he had hit. In 

 an instant mv gun was clubbed and its stock splintered, the 

 bi'd thrown to the ground, as I had no pocket to put it in. 

 When the third party stepped in as an arbitrator, 1 wanted 

 no arbitration ; I wanted that grouse, and I got it. When it 

 was picked I found only No. 4 shot in it. My gun had been 

 loaded for squirrel. 



Thus far I have traveled backward in my recollections, but 

 in future articles I propose to narrate occurrences from the 

 time I came into the possession of Dash and a double-barrel 

 gun up to the present time — an experience of about twenty- 

 five years in the field, woods, and on the water. 



Bedford. 



THE ANTI-DEER HOUNDING LAW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am very much amusrd when reading about the benevo- 

 lent and easy-going dogs that the deer bounders use in the 

 Adirondack*. The advocates of deer hounding would have 

 U9 believe that the hound is a slow-going animal that cannot 

 get up to a deer, and would not bjtte.it if he could. Hounds 

 have been bred within rifle-shot of my residence and used all 

 about me. 



I have repeatedly heard guides and hunters discuss the 

 training of deer dogs and the best crosses for practical use. 

 The full blooded hound for deer is not very highly prized 

 here, as they are not fast encugh. A deer for some time will 

 not take to -the water before a very slow dog, but plays 

 around on the bills and knolls and listens and watches for 

 him. Sume so-called still-hunters take one of these dogs into 

 the woods to stir up the deer and are often quite successful 

 in getting chance shots. All hunters agree in saying that the 

 faster the dog and the harder the deer is pursued the quicker 

 it will take to water. The dosjs most used in the Adiron- 

 dacks are a cross between a car and a hound ; but the best 

 dog, and the one most highly prized, is one-half deerhound, 

 one-quarter bulldog and one quarter greyhound. This dog, 

 properly trained, will trail the deer to the death. It has 

 speed to overtake it. and feroci ty enough to catch and kill 

 or cat it alive, which it often proceeds to do. 



There are two wa\s of training deer dogs. One is to put 

 out a young dog with an old one and let it learn by example; 

 but the best training and one lhat makes the most valuable 

 dog, is done in this way: In February or March, when the 

 snow is deep and crusted, the trainer takes the young dog 

 into the woods and finds a yard of deer. As soon as the 

 poor deer leaves the yard it flounders helplessly in the snow. 

 The trainer then sets on, and encourages the dogs until they 

 succeed in killing it. They are then encouraged to eat a full 

 meal and lap its warm blood. After four or five lessons of 

 this kind its education is considered complete. Afterward, 

 to keep it in proper training, it is only necessary for the 

 hunter to open the deer as soon as killed and give the dogs a 

 meal from its quivering heart and liver. I have seen it done, 

 and it is not a pleasant sight. I must say it is anything but 

 a pleasant sight, too, to see a deer running before one of 

 these fast hounds— to see the poor thing loping along at a 

 slow gait, its head down, its tongue hanging out and its 

 neck and breast white with foam, having run at the top of 

 its speed until it is tired out and can go no further: and then 

 to see the dog overtake it, pull it down, and then hear its 

 despairing and pitiful bleats. This happens very often in 

 the valley where I live, there being no lakes or ponds in the 

 immediate vicinity. 



Isil any wonder that dogs of such blood and training 

 make havoc among the dter when they get loose and have 

 a chance to slip away into the woods? 



Balnbridge Bishop. 



Kew Kussia, Essex County. N. Y.. March 22, 1686. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association 

 held their regular monthly meeting Wednesday evening at 

 the Parker Home, full thirty five members being present. 

 Thirteen new members were elected, and also three proposals 

 were prpsenud, speaking well as an indication of the pros- 

 perous condition of the association. Sympathy for the 

 opposirs of the dter hounding bill in the New York Legis- 

 lature was expressed and the following resolution was 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That the association express its appreciation of 

 the good work of Forest and Stream iu its opposition of 

 the hounding of deer, and its hope that those efforts may 

 not be made in vain. 



The prospect for successful legislation in our own State 

 were discussed, but as a game bill had not as yet been re- 

 ported by the committee, no definite arrangement can be de- 

 termined upon. It can be said, howevei, that the prospects 

 are decidedly better than for a year or two past for the enact- 

 ing of a better law than is at present in force. 



H. J. Thayer, Secretary. 



Boston, Mass., March 24. 



The advocates of the repeal of the anti-hounding law 

 began their campaign by misrepresenting facts, and they 

 seem determined to carry these tactics through to the bitter 

 end. Mr. H. J. Cookxngham, of TJtica, writes to the ! 



HeraM of that city: "Every market man is opposed to it 

 [the bill of repeal], and wants the law to remain as it now 

 is. The chief, yes, almost the entire opposition to the bill 

 comes from that source." In reply to this Mr. John D. 

 Collins says in the Herald that Mr. Cookingham's statements 

 are "buncombe." B-u-n-c-o-m-b-e is a roundabout way of 

 spelling it; but it is more euphemistic and less harsh than 

 the commonly accepted characterization of statements not in 

 accord with the truth. 



Mr. George W. Palmer, who made the funny ' 'shy" 

 speech in Ihe Assembly, is jealous of his fame as an old 

 practical hunter, and resents 'the imputation, in our issue of 

 March 18, that he did not know whether deer were hounded 

 by day or by night. According to the stenographer's report 

 of the oration of the silver tongued orator from Clinton, Mr. 

 Palmer said: "1 assert here lhat a party of six gentlemen 

 going into these forests with half a dozen dogs, two or three 

 nights on an average, every deer they bring out costs them 

 more than one hundred dollars." Mr. Palmer thinks that 

 he must have said days instead of nights. We take pleasure 

 in taking this occasion to correct the erroneous impression 

 conveyed by the stenographer's report of Mr. Palmer's 

 speech. 



From the Utica Herald, Mm-eh 23. 

 An esteemed correspondent sends us what seems to be a 

 very honest and straightforward appeal for the deer bound- 

 ers. While admitting that he has never hunted deer with 

 hounds himself, he declares that his sympathies are on that- 

 side, and proceeds with several ingenious arguments in favor 

 of the repeal of the present law. His appeal is largely based 

 on the theory that if the hounding of deer was likely to be 

 the cause of their speedy extermination, the hotel keepers 

 and guides would not favor the repeal of the present law. 

 He intimates that the sentiments expressed in the Herald 

 have only represented one section of the sportsmen, and do 

 not represent the regions further north. He alleges that 

 there is a chivalric spirit among the guides, hotel keepers, 

 proprietors and sportsmen, which will and has prevented the 

 slaughter of deer, and the use of unfair means iu hunting 

 them. He urges that the use of hounds is no more cruel than 

 still-hunting, and that the number killed that way is no 

 greater. 



We shall endeavor to treat these suggestions in the same 

 spirit of fairness in which they have been offered. There 

 is an honest difference of opinion among genuine sportsmen 

 in regard to the matter, though from published evidence the 

 majority against hounding deer is large and eminently 

 weighty. 



The argument that the hotel keepers of the Adirondacks 

 and guides always do what is for their highest interests, is 

 unfortunately not proved by the general experience of 

 human nature. As against their true interests in the future, to 

 favor their present interests, they are apt to choose the latter. 

 The extermination of the game in the course of twenty years 

 is a matter of no special moment to the present proprietors, 

 many of whom look at that result as a matter of course 

 undt r any system. If the principle here laid down by our 

 correspondent held good, what would be the necessity of 

 legislation against taking fish in nets, setting weirs in the 

 streams, and of making laws for the preservation of the 

 forests from ruthless destruction by the lumbermen, whose 

 interests it is supposed to be that the forests be conserved as 

 long as possible? It is evident that all proprietors or all 

 sportsmen can not be trusted to carry out the very chivalric 

 but somewhat too optimistic theory of our correspondent in 

 the treatment of game. 



Moreover it will be seen by a glance at the petitions sub- 

 mitted against the repeal of the anti-hounding law, that those 

 guides and sportsmen who are regarded as best representing 

 the interests of the game, are found favoring the present 

 law. The hunters of the whole State, and not of any sec- 

 tion, must have their interests consulted. This opposition 

 to the repeal of the law is not gotten up by those who know 

 nothing about the merits of the case, but by men who have 

 tried both methods of hunting the deer and who know what 

 they are talking about. The articles published in this 

 journal have been written by practical hunters and sports- 

 men, who have hunted deer and who regard them as game, 

 and not as so much venison running wild. 



Now as to the final argument of our correspondent, that 

 the hunting of deer with hounds is no more cruel than still- 

 hunting, we readily admit that, when hounding is properly 

 carried on, it is a legitimate and exciting sport and has re- 

 ceived the sanctiou of ages of sporting methods. It is not 

 on this ground that the Herald opposes deer hounding. If 

 New York was still part of a boundless wilderness, with an 

 unlimited supply of game, the situation would be such that 

 no restrictions of this kind would be needed. But such 

 scenes as pictured in last Friday's issue* are not the mere 

 results of an artist's lively imagination. The hunter of to 

 day is not always as chivalric as he might be. The possible 

 escape of the coveted game is now too much of a stake to 

 hesitate long at using very unfair and unsportsmanlike 

 methods of capturing it. As to the number of deer killed 

 when both methods of hunting are allowed being less than 

 when only one, that of still hunting, is used, the absurdity 

 is apparent. Is not an army with both cavalry and infantry 

 more effective than an army with infantry alone? "Which 

 will cause the most destruction? Which will most rapidly 

 annihilate the enemy? The opponents of the repeal law 

 believe that in so doing they are not only serving the best 

 interests of the sportsmen, the tourist and the proprietor, 

 but are also showing a humane and chivalric spirit toward 

 the noblest, and what would soon become the rarest of our 

 native game. 



*Ihe '-Hounding a Deer" illustration, from the Forest and Stream, 

 March Hi 



Wildfowl in Iowa.— Burlington, la., March 23.— The 

 spring shooting, which commenced at the grounds of the 

 Crystal Lake and Eagle Grove Club grounds about the 15th, 

 has not proved to be as good as was expected. When the 

 ducks came up from the south they found no water in the 

 swamps and no feed. The ice is now out and the spring rise 

 has come, but too late, for the ducks are gone. The game 

 register of the Crystal Lake and Eagle Grove Club was 

 opened on the loth by Mr. Goldthwaite, with a score of 18, 

 2 mallards, 1 canvasback, 1 redhead, and 14 blackjacks. 

 From the 15th to the 23d but 373 ducks have been shot on 

 the club grounds, an average of 5 guns shooting each day, 

 not a very good showing. Camp hunters in various parts of 

 the State and on the islands have made very poor scores. 

 Parties who were out from one to two weeks bringing back 

 all the way from 50 to 100. In one instance a party of four, 

 and they are all good shots, who were out two weeks, got 

 only 150.— C. L. E. G. 



RIFLES AND BULLETS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Van Dyke is quite right when stating, in your paper 

 of Feb. 18, that "J. J. M." "certainly will not assert that a 

 bullet whose axis of rotation is correct up to 40 yards could, 

 without touching anything, begin to wabble before it reach 

 100 yards;" but I do assert that a bullet may be so slightly 

 tilted sideways when leaving the muzzle, that its deviation 

 from accuracy is hardly, if at all, perceptible- at 40 yards, 

 and yet very evident at 100. At extremely short ranges, the 

 great rate of the spin keeps the point of the bullet nearly as 

 straight as when starting, but when the spin becomes slower 

 the pressure of the air forces the point more and more aside, 

 causing a rapid increase in the curve from the true line of 

 flight. 



I think this is proved bv the fact that many express rifles 

 will shoot well at 100 yards, fairly well at 150, and very in- 

 differently at 200, although the rate of spiral is quite suffi- 

 cient to keep their short bullets straight up to the last-named 

 distance, provided they leave the muzzle with the axis of ro- 

 tation perfectly coincident with that of the bore of the bar- * 

 rel. The deviation from accuracy is often out of all propor- \ 

 tion to the increase in range. For instance, a rifle wi u ' 

 will hit regularly a 10-inch "square at 150 yards mav nor 

 reliable for less than a 20 inch square at 200 ; or Urn, > 

 be no wild shots discoverable up to one particular -u.-u. 

 and yet they may be very apparent 50 yards further on. . 

 .36 express rifle alluded to by Mr. Van Dyke (printed .30 by 

 mistake), could be depended upon after the maker had im- 

 proved it, to hit a 6-inch square several times in succession 

 at 100 yards, but at 150 it almost invariably made about 2 

 wild shot out of every 6 fired. 



I have always believed that irregular shooting of this kind 

 i3 partly due to the bullets in most sporting breechloaders 

 not being held firmly by their bases in the shells, thus be- 

 coming jammed slightly aside at the moment when the ex- 

 plosion of powder drives them into the barrel. Even when 

 crimped the shell, through fitting loosely in the chamber, 

 expands so as to leave the bullet without support. With the 

 long bullets used in target rifles this source of error is, to a 

 great extent, avoided by their resting with more than half 

 their length in the grooves when the cartridge is pushed 

 home, and I understood that in some of the American sport- 

 ing breechloaders, the difficulty had been quite overcome by 

 having shells which fit the chambers very closely and using 

 loaders which drive the bullets with mathematical exactness 

 into the shells, where they are held so tightly that crimping 

 is unnecessary. Why a bullet with its fore part already in 

 the grooves and all the remainder of its length held firmly in 

 this manner until it has entered them, should not be as ac- 

 curate as in a muzzleloader is difficult to understand. 



In large bore rifles made expressly for spherical balls, 

 which, of course, lie in the shells without touching the 

 grooves until fired, there is, according to my experience, no 

 difference in favor of muzzleloaders, and the late Captain 

 Forsyth, of the Indian army, who experimented with sport- 

 ing weapons more than perhaps many men of his time, stated 

 in his book on "Sporting Rifles and their Projectiles," that 

 spherical ball breechloaders are "equal, if not superior," in 

 accuracy to muzzleloaders. 



In a long course of shooting at both targets and game with 

 three of my own sixteen -bore rifles, two being single muzzle- 

 loaders and one a double breechloader, I could never dis- 

 cover any inferiority in the breechloader. I certainly can- 

 not oblige Mr. Van Dyke by showing "a breechloader that 

 will hit a half inch ring at twenty yards with four or five 

 inches of powder and the ball seated in the shell." No shells 

 are made in England that will hold so much powder. 



In target shooting I never tried a rifle at so short a distance 

 as 20 yards, but judging by what a good express rifle will do 

 at 40 or 50 yards, I believe it would hit a half-inch ring 

 regularly at 20 yards. The longest shell made in this country 

 is that of the .45 "Magnum" express, which holds 150 grains 

 of powder or barely 3 inches. As the shell is slightly bottle- 

 shaped, this might, perhaps, be equal to 31 inches in a muz- 

 zleloader. More powder is not likely to be tried, because 

 the recoil would be too great in rifles light enough for men 

 of average strength to carry with comfort. Another objection 

 to a heavier charge is that the fouling, in spite of lubricated 

 felt wads, increases to such a degree a9 to spoil the accuracy, 

 unless the barrel be wiped out after each shot, a nuisance to 

 which few sportsmen on this side of the Atlantic would sub- 

 mit. Rifles of .42-bore and 12 or 14 pounds weight, such as 

 those used in the Forest and Stream trajectory trial, 

 would be almost unsaleable in England. 



From the letters of "Mississippi Lowlands," Mr. Van 

 Dyke and others, it seems clear that there is much greater 

 difference betweeu breech and muzzleloaders made in 

 America and those made in the British Islands. At the 

 shooting matches of the North Indian Rifle Association, to 

 which I once belonged, brecchloading express rifles were 

 allowed only three points when contending against muzzle- 

 loaders for a possible score of 60; six shots being fired at 150 

 and six at 200 yards, from any position, but without any 

 artificial rest. And these three points were found quite suf- 

 ficient to equalize the rifles. I have before me now a report 

 of the shooting in 1877. Among the first twenty competitors 

 the three best used express breechloaders, the muzzleloaders 

 coming iu fourth, seventh, eighth, eleventh, twelfth, four- 

 teenth, sixteenth and nineteenth. The latter were made by 

 some of the best riflemakers, and were fired by some of the 

 best target shots in India — men who made the highest scores 

 at the long range matches. 



I fully agree with Mr. Van Dyke when he says that "the 

 express or high speed system is as old as American rifle 

 shooting." Captain Forsyth, in the book above mentioned 

 said, as long ago as 1862: "With the Yankee rifles no judg- 

 ing (of distance) was required at anything under 100 yards, 

 the aim was taken point blank with the same sight." I my- ' | 

 self, when living in Canada about 1865, drew attention in a 

 letter to the London Field to the long flat trajectory of sm ~ n 

 bore American rifles, stating that the bullets made a curve 

 about 6 inches high when fired at 200 yards. In those «** - 

 the favorite sizes among British sportsmen abroad were iro in 

 16 to 12 bore, and few men used less than 25-bore, or .577. 



Within two or three years after my letter appeared muzzle- 

 loading sporting rifles of .45-gauge came into fashion, with 

 short bullets and 80 to 90 grains of powder, then considered 

 a heavy charge. The bullets were at first solid, and even in 

 that form were found very deadly when made of soft lead. 

 A noted sportsman, named Colonel Cuppage, wrote to the 

 Oriental Sporting Magazine, while 1 was in India, describing 

 how these small bores gave a large striking surface in conse- 

 quence of the bullets smashing up into the shape of mush- 

 rooms when hitting large animals at great velocity. The 

 hollow bullets came into general use about 1870, through 

 some sportsmen trying to make up for the smallness of 



