j uly 8, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



469 



etc., speckled, brown, California trout, May 1-Sept. 15; sal- 

 mon trout, landlocked salmon, May 1-Oct. 1. Black bas«, 

 Oswego bass, muscalonge, June 1-Jan 1. Black bass in Col- 

 umbia county, Lake Mahopac, Schroon Lake and River, Para- 

 dox Lake, Friends Lake, July 1-Jan. 1; in Lake George, 

 Brant Lake, July 20-Jan. 1. Black bass, muscalongp, m St. 

 Lawrence, Clyde, Seneca and Oswego rivers, lakes Erie, On- 

 tario and Conesus. and Niagara River above the Falls, May 

 20-Jan. 1. Lawful weight black bass, H pound; lawful 

 length, S inches. In Lake George waters, bullheads, July I.- 

 April 1 ; pickerel, June 15-Feb. 15. 



Ohio. 



Quail, prairie chicken, Nov. 10-Jan. 1. "Wild turkey, Nov. 

 1-Jan. 14. Ruffed grouse, pheasant, blue-winged teal, Sept. 1- 

 Dec. 31. Mallard, wood duck, other wild duck, April 11-Aug. 

 30; between Sept. 1 -April 1 no killing permitted on Sunday, 

 Monday and Tuesday of each week. Woodcock, July 4-Dec. 

 31. Turtle dove. Aug. 2-Dec. 31. Squirrel, June 2-Dec. 31. 

 Rabbit, Oct. 2-Jan. 31. Deer, Oct. 16-Nov. 19. Dates are in- 

 clusive. 



Texas. 



Deer, June 1-Dec. 1. Wild turkey, Sept. 15-May 15. Ruffed 

 grouse, July 31-March 1. Quail, Sept. 1-March 1. 



Utah. 



Quail, partridge, grouse, Aug. 15-March 15. Wild ducks, 

 Sept. 15-April 15. Quail and other imported game protected 

 to 1SS7. Deer, Sept. 1-Dec. 1. Campers in the mountains may 

 in July and August kill sufficient of the males to supply them- 

 selves with food in camp. Elk, antelope, mountain sheep, 

 protected to 1890. 



Trout, June 15-March 15 ; lawful size, Gin. 



Vermont. 



Deer protected to 1890. Quail, ruffed grouse, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. 

 Woodcock, Aug. 15-Feb. 1. Wild geese and ducks, Sept. 1- 

 May 1. Exportation forbidden. 



Washington Territory. 



Deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, Aug. 15-Jan. 1. Wild- 

 fowl, Aug. 15-April 1. Prairie chicken, sage hen, Aug. 15-Jan. 

 1. Grouse, pheasant, quail or partridge, Aug. 1-Jan. 1. 



TRANSPLANTING QUAIL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Several years ago myself and brother bought in the New 

 York market three dozen live quail in January and sent 

 them to our old home in Connecticut, placing them in charge 

 of a friend competent to care for them, to be kept till the 

 cold, rough weather was over and then liberated. They 

 were kept confined till early in March, only one dying, while 

 the rest were all healthy and in good condition, when they 

 were taken out and let loose, a pair in a place, in localities 

 affording excellent cover and feeding ground. We expected 

 to have a few days shooting the succeeding fall, but on tak- 

 ing our annual trip to the old stamping ground and working 

 thoroughly the entire section where the birds had been 

 placed, we did not find a single quail. We were told that the 

 birds had frequently been heard calling early in May, but 

 after that time they were neither heard nor seen. Is it prob- 

 able that they returned to the country from which they were 

 captured? 1 do not know whether the birds we purchased 

 were from the South or West. 



This being m p only experience in this line, I have often 

 wondered wnaf b< came of the birds. I think now, perhaps, 

 a mistake whs m uU in assuming the responsibility of mating 

 thebiid.-; it migul have been betier to have turned them loose 

 in a b , <h and allowed them to have "managed their domes- 

 tic affair-i in their own' way." 



Will others wh > have tried similar experiments with this 

 livel \ game bird rell us of their success through the pages of 

 Fokest and Strbam? Was the effort to introduce the Mes- 

 sina quail in tni-. country an entire failure? A. 



DAKOTA GAME AND RESORTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mv la.-i letter to you has awakened a great interest in 

 D tkota. Letter- an pouring in every day, and the questions 

 are so varied and numerous I must beg to reply to the major- 

 ity in a letter toyuu I have written to many sportsmen 

 personally in the last week rnirl if all come to Dakota to hunt 

 who have said the) would next fall, there will be news for 

 the Forest and Stream 



The best time tor prairie chickens is the latter part of 

 August. Then as but tew would come for less than a two 

 weeks' hunt they enn have goose and duck hunting ; and as 

 the deer law expires on the first of September, they can 

 vary the sport as much as may please them. Board is $5 

 per week. Horse hire reasonable. Shooting is to be had in 

 all directions from this city. You cannot start out in any 

 direction without finding prairie chicken shooting and goose 

 and duck shooting. Deer within three miles of us. One of 

 my friends was in from the country on Saturday; he lives up 

 the river six miles, and as I have stated before, there is 

 hrush and timber skirting the river: he told me he had not 

 seen so many deer at this time of year in the five years he 

 had lived here as he has seen in the last week or two. He 

 told me he could walk out any evening or morning and see 

 them walking around. But if any one thinks he can come 

 out and shoot them without an effort he will "get left." I 

 have gone up there evening after evening and have seen 

 from two to six in an evening, but could not get them. I 

 am not a professional. But any one coming here can go up 

 there, stop with a farmer, and by going down to the timber 

 evening aud morning can have fine sport. They will find 

 geese on the sandbars of the river by the thousands, afford- 

 ing splendid rifle shooting from the brush ; and by going into 

 a graiufield and digging a pit they can have rare sport. You 

 can get decoys here at twenty cents, unpainted. Better bring 

 one dozen with you. Duck decoys are not needed. 



To the young men writing me who want sport and busi- 

 ness, I would say you should have some capital in coming to 

 a new country. With one thousand dollars, with pluck, 

 and it takes pluck (and a willingness to rough it) any one 

 can become the possessor of a good farm. There are no busi- 

 ness openings for clerks, as all western towns have a big 

 supply of young men. To come cheap, get a round trip 

 '•land seekers' ticket; " if not sooner, at Chicago. 



For bear, elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, etc., you 

 must go further west. On the mountains south of the Na- 

 tioual Park is the best place. We will give all a warm wel- 

 come at Bismarck, the capitol of Dakota, and will do all we 

 can to make your stay pleasant and will send you where 

 you can find game. W. H. Williamson. 

 Bismarck, Dakota, 



Mr, Griffin Smith, of Longniont, Colo., claims to have 

 shot a mountain lion on the Little Thompson which meas- 

 ured nine feet from the end of its nose to the tip of its tail 



ON A RUNWAY. 



ON the old dirt road that runs down from Minden to 

 Conshata Chute along the eastern borders of Lake 

 Bistenau, in Northwest Louisiana, twelve miles from Min- 

 den and one mile and a half from where the road crosses 

 Brushy Bayou, at the foot of the old mill damj and just as 

 you reach the high lands ascending from the bottoms through 

 which flows the bayou, lived, in 1862, and still lives for 

 aught I know, Green Mays, one of the greatest hunters of the 

 Southwest. 



A man of powerful frame, of untiring energy, passion- 

 ately fond of the wild sports of the woods, he had settled 

 here, in the midst of an extensive forest abounding in wild 

 game, for the enjoyment of the great passion of his life. He 

 had made no bad .selection of a home suited to his tastes. 

 Around him stretched an almost unbroken forest, where the 

 antlered monarchs paid court to the meek-eyed does in un- 

 disturbed security. A mile back from his house flowed the 

 waters of Brushy Bayou, filled with jack and bass and other 

 fish, where he could, after a few hours' sport with rod and 

 line and hook, supply his table with a luxury a king might 

 envy; while two miles distant, nestled among the hills, was 

 Lake Bistenau, a very paradise for wildfowl, whence might 

 be heard in the still mornings the distant honk, honk of the 

 wild ejeese, inviting the sportsman to their own destruction. 



Well do I remember when, just twenty four years ago, I 

 traveled that road for the first time. I can almost see the 

 flock of green-headed mallards disporting themselves in the 

 shallow water at the foot of the old deserted and broken 

 milldam, just above the ford, as we approached the bayou 

 on our way down from Minden. Oh! how I wanted a gun. 

 I was young then and had inherited a love for sport. I did 

 the best I could with a little .22 caliber Smith & Wesson 

 parlor pistol, the most formidable weapon we could muster, 

 but I did no harm to the ducks, other than to cause them to 

 seek other haunts for their aquatic sports. A mile and a 

 half beyond on the brow of a hill we came to a comparatively 

 new settlement. The dwelling, built of hewn logs, the 

 stables, the cabins, the fences all bore a new and neat ap- 

 pearance. What attracted my attention most was a tree that 

 stood just outside the gate, between the road and the house, 

 that formed a sort of rack, upon which were piled the horns 

 of many a noble buck. They were the trophies of the hunt, 

 which the great hunter had captured and out of which he 

 had created a monument to his prowess. It needed no one 

 to tell us that this was the home of a great hunter. But I 

 was on a mission of business and not pleasure and we passed 

 on to our destination, about eight miles further down the 

 road. The occupation of Nashville just at this time by the 

 Federal forces gave an unexpected turn to events, so far as I 

 was concerned, and caused me to prolong my visit to this 

 country just four years longer than I at first contemplated. 

 But I was disposed to make the best of the situation, and 

 can now look back to many a day of royal sport enjoyed 

 during that time. 



A few days before Christmas, I received an invitation 

 from Mr. Green Mays to join him in a Christmas deer hunt. 

 I was a novice then in deer driving, my previous experience 

 in hunting being limited to the pursuit of smaller game. Of 

 course I accepted the invitation. On Christmas eve I rode 

 up to the gate of the great Nimrod, whose wonderful skill 

 in the chase had given him a fame far and near. He was 

 expecting me and came out to welcome me with the genial 

 hospitality of a veteran hunter. His hounds had been rested 

 a few days for the occasion, and joined in the welcome ex- 

 tended to me by their master in a chorus of deep-mouthed 

 hayings, as if they understood full well the import of my 

 coming. Nothing opens the way to the friendship and con- 

 fidence of a pack of deerhounds so readily and quickly as the 

 possession of a gun and a hunting horn. They recognize in 

 them at once the symbols of the chase. That night, before 

 a roaring wood fire in the wide-mouthed fireplace, we dis- 

 cussed the pleasures of the chase. My host entertained me 

 with many an incident from his own experience, and with 

 the wonderful exploits of Charlie, a splendid specimen of 

 the black and tan deerhound and his favorite of the pack, 

 and when the hour for retiring came, I went to sleep to 

 dream of a wild and incongruous mixture of antlered bucks, 

 screeching wildcats and baying hounds. 



By daylight the next morning we were through with 

 breakfast and by sunrise we were in the saddle, with the 

 eager hounds around us, and off for the haunts of the game. 

 A neighboring hunter had been notified and was promptly on 

 hand to take part in the hunt. My experience in the chase 

 was very limited. A few years before I had enjoyed the 

 pleasure of a camp hunt with some skillful hunters in South 

 Alabama, but only got one chance to shoot at a deer. I 

 boldly laid claim, however, to exemption from the initiation 

 act, a ceremony customary among the old deer hunters of 

 the Southwest and enjoyed very greatly by all except the 

 victim. When a young hunter kills his first deer he must be 

 "blooded" to entitle him to be recognized as a sportsman. 

 If unsuspicious, the older hunters make him believe that his 

 assistance is very important in skinning and dressing the 

 deer he has killed. He is put to hold a leg or some import- 

 ant part while the dressing is going on, and while his atten- 

 tion is thus engaged, one of the hunters with bloody hands 

 wipes them over hie face, and this is the signal for a burst 

 of merriment. It is useless to be offended, and he soon 

 recognizes the situation and makes the most of it. 



Mr. Mays had assured me that he could put me at a stand 

 where he could and would run a deer within a few feet of 

 me and that if I did not kill it, it would be my own fault. 

 Though poorly equipped for the purpose, I felt confident I 

 could do the shooting, if I only had a chance. Guns were 

 scarce in that region at that time, and I had to contend my- 

 sely with an Pawkward old blunderbus, with a home-made 

 stock, so heavy and cumbersome that I could scarcely wield 

 it at all. It was the best to be had. Arriving at our desti- 

 nation, I was told to stand at a certain spot, and there I was 

 left, with the assurance that a deer would be certain to come 

 out at that place. 



Left alone in the forest I stood around for a time and di- 

 rectly began to get tired of the monotony. I saw no reason 

 why a deer should come to that particular spot more than 

 anywhere else, and I seriously doubted whether he would. 

 The uubrokeu woods extended all around as far as I could 

 see, and one place looked to me as favorable as another. I 

 saw a log about thirty or forty yards away that was much 

 more tempting to me than standing in that place. 1 con- 

 cluded the deer was just as apt to come where the log 

 was as where I was. 1 saw no sensible reason why he should 

 not. And then the log offered a good seat and I had none 

 where I was. Furthermore, I concluded the log was in 

 shooting distance, anyway, if the deer should really prove 

 to be so very fastidious as to be satisfied with no other place 



than the one where I was told to stand, and off to the 

 log I went. A few minutes later I heard the distant 

 note of a hound. Was that one of our dogs? Was he 

 really going to get up a deer and was that deer going to 

 come out where I was? It looked very improbable. But 

 listen, I hear the hound again, and this time he is joined by 

 another. Still another joined in the cry and they seem to be 

 coming nearer. I get restless now ; Maybe that deer is 

 coming. I look at my old blunderbuss aud my heart begins 

 to thump loud enough to be heard. Nearer and nearer come 

 the dogs. Now they are all in full cry. I can hardly hold 

 myself still. I hear a rustle in the leaves at the bottom of the 

 elevation on which I was told to stand, and in a moment 

 more a beautiful yearling deer, fat and slick and blue, emerges 

 in graceful bounds from the thick undergrowth, coming 

 directly up the hill and straight on a line to the spot where 

 the old hunter told me to stand. A few feet behind it comes 

 another, and then another. With what exquisite grace in 

 easy bounds they glide along. The dogs are still a good dis- 

 tance behind and they are not badly frightened yet. Little 

 do they suspect that my old blunderbus is waiting to belch 

 forth fire and smoke and lead for their destruction. On they 

 come. My! if I had only staid where Mr. Mays tola 

 me. Three in a line. What a shot I would have 

 had. It is too late now. The leader has reached the 

 very spot where I was told to stand. I raise my gun and 

 fire. Headlong to the ground plunges the leader. The 

 others, started by the report, dart by like a flash of light, I 

 fire my second barrel at their vanishing forms as they dis- 

 appear in the bushes. Well, I have killed one at any rate, 

 and I rise to go to the place where it fell only to find no deer 

 In blank amazement I look around. There is the place 

 where it fell, hut no deer is visible in any direction. I can 

 scarcely credit the evidence of my own senses, so confident 

 was I that I had killed the deer. "The hounds had passed in 

 the meantime like a whirlwind on the track of the now 

 thoroughly frightened deer. 



In the midst of my dilemma Mr. Mays rode up out of the 

 drive and asked me what 1 had done. I told him and 

 pointed to the place, plainly visible, where the deer had 

 fallen. With the knowledge of an expert in such matters, 

 he remarked: "Your deer is not far off," and with these re- 

 assuring words rode in the direction the deer had taken. In 

 a few minutes, from near the spot where I had last caught a 

 glimpse of their rapidly disappearing forms, I heard his 

 pleasant voice announcing "Here's your deer." The sensa- 

 tion produced by this announcement can better be imagined 

 than described. In a moment my feelings of disappoint- 

 ment were gone, and in less thime than it takes to write 

 these words, I was standing over the first deer I had ever 

 bagged in the full realization and enjoyment of that wonder- 

 ful and indescribable sensation of exaltation, the result of a 

 thousand commingling emotions of pleasure that comes only 

 to the young and ardent hunter, and to him but once, and 

 that is when he stands beside the prostrate form of his first 

 deer. H. E. Jones. 



Nashville, Tenn. 



* JUNE DEER FLOATING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The fishing about here has been unusually good so far this 

 season, the trout running larger and more of them, and 

 not the least good thing about it is that it has convinced the 

 natives that it is a good thing to have protection. Two 

 years ago for the first time in this section, a number of the 

 streams and ponds were restocked, and last season the six- 

 inch limit was very generally observed, and the gain is so 

 apparent that the guides are anxious now to have the law 

 observed more strictly. And most of them regret that the 

 hounding bill was repealed. They see that if protecting the 

 trout results so well, perhaps the deer would survive the loss 

 of a few hounds. There is one man in this place who used 

 to be a good still-hunter and thought it the manly way to 

 hunt. But he has grown older and developed a "bay-win- 

 dow," and consequently cannot travel the woods as easily as 

 in the old days, and finds it much easier to have the deer 

 driven to him. He has a business in which he can employ 

 a good many men. Most of them are constantly in his debt, 

 and therefore will do his bidding, and are ready to "put out 

 the dogs" for him in season or out. He used his influence 

 to get the hounding bill repealed, but laughs at the stupidity 

 of the legislators to be fooled by the arguments that were 

 presented to them last winter. But he is now at the lakes, 

 the Ausable, with two others, floating for deer in June. 



A number of the guides, Le Grand Hale, Braman, Charley 

 Beede, Ed. Phelps, the three Turnbull boys, Frank Parker 

 and one or two more have organized a club for the protec- 

 tion of game, and have men now out watching the above- 

 named party, and hope to get evidence to convict some of 

 them. The hotelkeepers, or some of them, are very much 

 opposed to the movement, and say they will do all they can 

 to prevent members of the club from getting work as guides. 

 But I think most sportsmen will have intelligence enough to 

 employ them in preference to lawbreakers. The club se- 

 cured the conviction of a number for fishing on Sunday 

 recently. They are doing a good work and should have the 

 help of all who care to fish or hunt. I hope that you will 

 not give up the fight against hounds. Let us have that law 

 again, and let it come to stay next time. 



There is no opportunity to buy Forest and Stream here, 

 and I can't do without it. Send me a bill for a year's sub- 

 scription, and I will remit. X. 



Keene Valley, Essex County, N. Y., June 30. 



[Such efforts on the part of Adirondack guides should be 

 encouraged. Upon the conviction and punishment of the 

 June deer floater, the Forest and Stream Publishing Com- 

 pany will pay into the treasury of the club $25.] 



Southern Quail Grounds. — Elizabethtown, Tenn./June 

 21. — This beautiful little town lies in the forks of the Wata- 

 gua and Doe rivers, close up in the great Smoky Mountains. 

 Quail are abundant; no [end to them. Stopping as we have 

 been in towns of from fifteen hundred to four thousand inhab- 

 itants, it has been a surprise to me to hear the notes of Bob 

 White almost every waking hour for the past two months, 

 and on our drives to see them as they rise by the roadside 

 and once or twice in the garden. Where is this, do you ask? 

 Anywhere along the Western & Atlantic Railway from Ma- 

 rietta, Ga., to Dalton, Ga., and from there along the line of 

 the East Tenn., Va. &,Ga. Railway to Johnson City. Eliza- 

 bethtown is said by knowing ones to have the best bass fish- 

 ing in the South, and we are told that within twenty miles 

 of here is as fine trout fishing as any one need ask. We 

 hope to try it, and then to be able to tell your readers how 

 the bass fishing compares with the St. Clair Flats, Kelley's 

 Island and a the Potomac, and how the trout fishing will com- 

 pare with our Northern streams.— V.; A. T. 



