208 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



rOoT. 7, 1886. 



NOTESIFROM PENNSYLVANIA. 



WARREN, Pa., Oct. '6.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 There is not mucli to report in sporting matters 

 along the Allegheny River in this neck of woods. We 

 used to have deer in abundance, with, now and then a 

 bear, and small game without nitmber. But the breech- 

 loader and the pot-hunter who has no regard for the law 

 have made game very scarce. A few woodcock and 

 grouse are about all we get. The law of the last Legisla- 

 ture of Pennsylvania giving a boimty on foxes, wild cats, 

 hawks, owls, etc., is doing good ser\dce. Grouse have 

 not been as plenty in many years as this year, while the 

 di"y scaring made the woodcock shooting fully up to the 

 average of the last six years, though not up to former 

 times. 



We have many good fish in the Allegheny, and might 

 have more if the law was enforced. Several years ago 

 the Warren Sportsmen's Club got a supply of salmon and 

 bass from the State hatchery for the river, and trout for 

 I'estocking the smaller streams. They grew finelv, but 

 seines and spears and set line have left few for die rod 

 and reel. ;For instance: A few weeks ago the Cornplanfcer 

 Indians drew a brush seine at a place called Bi^ Bend, 

 eight or ten miles above Warren, under the mistaken 

 notion that the law does not apply to the red man as 

 well as the white. At least 1,000 spectators were 

 present, many of them assisting in the unlawful 

 work. In a ' single horn- they took about l,5001bs. 

 of fish, many of them large and exceHent for 

 the table. Yet we have no fi.sh warden, and 

 tliis thing is likely to be repeated any day. If brush 

 seines are not used, other seines and spears and night lines 

 are common. Besides dynamite is often used by those 

 who consider seining and spearing too slow for their way 

 of playing the hog. So what can we expect but ]X)or 

 hunting and fishing? In this emergency om- shooters of 

 leisure and ample means seek their sport elsewhere. F. 

 H. Rockwell, who keeps first-class dogs, and H. E. Brown, 

 Estj., retm-ned not long from a Mimiesota hunt. A. D. 

 Wood and M. Waters went for quail last season to Missis- 

 sippi and will probably go ag-ain soon. When all else 

 fails a few of our giinners try breaking clay -pigeons and 

 blue rocks with about the average success, judging from 

 tlie Bcores in tlie Forest and Stream. 



How entirely this sort of shooting has changed here 

 even in the last ten years. Then the wild pigeons were 

 thick every fall and spi-iaig. If a man was too lazy to 

 htmt them in the woods, he could buy them for the trap 

 and thus keep his gun from rusting. Now not a pigeon 

 can be found in all the woods where^ they used to bre«a by 

 the miUion. Truly, pigeon trap-shooting is already a 

 thing of the past. In its place artificial targets bid fair to 

 make more recreation tlian ever at the trap. This change 

 divests trap-shooting of its cruel and repulsive features, 

 whUe it may lack something of the interest attending 

 live-bird shooting. If this sport could also be divested of 

 its gambling f eatm-es, it would be an improvement. But 

 so long as professional trap-shooters follow up the tom-na- 

 ments, I suppose we shaU see shooting for gam, as we see 

 horse racing and boating for the money and not the sport 

 there is, or ought to be, in such recreations. 



"N'VTiat kind of guns we shall use for clay-pigeons is a 

 question hardly settled. Five years ago tne Bradford 

 Shooting Club, which contamed some of the best shots in 

 the State, and held fii'st-class tom-naments, had hardly a 

 gun smaller than 10-bore. Now half the best shots use 

 the 12-bore. and many have 16-bores for game. Tliis is a 

 change in the right direction, and I look for the American 

 shooter to imitate the English in discarding large bores 

 entn-ely. There is little use of lugging ten pounds of pot 

 metal about the bush •.-.-hen six pounds of fine daniascus 

 will do the business, x'he little g-un may require more 

 eldll, but what do men go afield for except to enjo^ 

 tlie pleasmre a skillful use of the gvm always brings? 

 Limit the gun to seven pounds, and the little man 

 or the old man has an equal show with the 

 giant when the result depends on a steady nerve 

 and good eye instead of physical power. The 

 assertion of the English gunmaker that a number of men 

 shooting with light 12-bores would outshoot the same 

 number using heavy lO-bores, was considered rash. But 

 I look upon it as a possibility of the futm-e among gun- 

 ners and gunmakers in this country as well as England. 

 Fine steel is better than pot-metal and scientific skill out- 

 generals physical force in tlie long run. 



Our club lately lost one of its most ornamental, if not 

 useful members" in the death of Thos. H. De Silver, late 

 of Hong Kong, China. He was not a superior shot, yet 

 he probably spent more money in hunting and fishmg 

 than any other member. His guns and rods and accou- 

 terments generally were the best in use and were dis- 

 tributed among Ms special friends when it became appar- 

 ent that he could use them no longer. Penn, 



THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION. 



RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 2d.— Editor Forest atul Stream: 

 I do not know that there is much to tell yoxx about 

 our sportsman's meeting. It convenes pursuant to the 

 call of which I inclose you a copy; and from responses 

 received we will have 150 to 200 members present. Wo 

 will have headquarters on our State Fair Grounds, and 

 some pleasant shooting. We hope to have a good organi- 

 zation and do much toward improving our game protec- 

 tive laws. We also contemplate field trial features in 

 connection with it. John S. AVise. 



The call reads as follows: 



Dear Sib— Yielding to the reouest made from various sources 

 that I should take the initiative in the endeavor to form • Ihe 

 Virginia Field Sports Association," I invite you to meet a number 

 of our friends at my office. No. 27 Shafer s Building, Richmond^ 

 Va., at 10 o'clock A. M., on Thursday, the 21st day of Octoher, 1880, 

 that heing the first day of the State Fair. 



I trust you will be present, if possible, and if you cannot be 

 present, in person, vou wiQ. send me the inclosed authority to have 

 yoia enrolled as a member. If, from the answers received to this, 

 we are assured of the presence of a considerable number of brother 

 sportsmen from a distance, and that our effort will meet Avith a 

 proper response, I will go to work at once and make arrangements 

 for a shooting match at the fair, and other amusements to make 

 your visit atti-active. I beg you to come, if possible, and unite 

 witJi us in the formation of the association. 



Almost e%'ery other State in the country has such an association; 

 but ours, while needing the aid of associated effort to protect our 

 game more than any State in the Union, is altogether mthout any 

 such society. . ., ^. ..i,- 



I have hesitated long about assuming the responsibility ol this 

 call, because the task is laborious and thankless, at best; but 

 some one must put the matter in motion, and I feel it to be a duty 

 we owe that some step should be taken to protect and replenish 

 our game supply before it is too late. It so happened that, trom 

 time to time, friends in difiCerent parts of the country have sent 



me copies of the constitution and by-laws of the various organ- 

 izations of tills kind, and I have preserved them. I bollove I now 

 have the printed plans of organization of nearly every such asso- 

 ciation in the country, and, when we meet, will" take 'pleasure in 

 laying them before the body for the selection of their best features 

 m framing our own code. 



I trust you will not dismiss this invitation lightly, on the score 

 of some more important occupation or employment. It is true 

 that we all have other employments to which," if this be brought 

 in conflict with them, it must yield; but this is not a mere invita- 

 tion to pastime. The proper steps to be taken to preserve our 

 game and replenish it, is a question worthy of the earnest thought, 

 the time and effort of every good citizen, however grave his nature 

 or employment. 



The general scope of our organization will he as follows: 1. To 

 protect, preserve and replenish the game of Virginia. U. To en- 

 courage and promote field sports in such a manner as, wliile hav- 

 ing a due regard to the first object, they will be pursued so as to 

 yield the greatest pleasure and furnish healthful, humane and 

 scientific enjoyment. III. To gain the friendly co-operation of 

 gentlemen in different sections of the State for these objects, 

 whereby results can be reached, far beyond anything attainable 

 through individual effort, however praiseworthy or earnest. 



Under the first head much may bo said: 



1. Undoubtedly we can. conferring together, do much to devise, 

 present and secure the passage of laws far superior to the hap- 

 hazard legislation now on the statute books. 



2. In the manner of replenishing game where, bv the severity of 

 the seasons, or other causes, it lias been destroyed'. For instance, 

 last winter, in Georgia, I saw hundreds— nay, thousands— of quail, 

 alive m coops, and for sale as Ion- as $8 per lOO. In the particular 

 localities where I shoot, we needed no replenishing, and I did not 

 have time to hunt up localities where they were needed. Yet 

 there are sections of the State where they are almost absolutely 

 destroyed. With such, an organization as I propose, we will have 

 reports from aU sections, and as they become barren, they may be 

 restocked at an expense so trifling as to be no bB.rden upon an as- 

 sociation of tills sort, yet witli a result gratifying beyond expres- 

 sion. 



We may also try interesting experiments in introducing now 

 siiecies of game, and in putting back upon tiie large wastes in 

 Tidewater the game which was originally there and "driven from 

 those sections where they were more closely cultivated. 

 _ Under the second head much may be done to make the associa- 

 tion a source of interest and pleasure to the members. We can 

 provide for the improvement m breeding and training our sport- 

 ing animals, and incidentally find great sport in competitive trials. 

 One who has been content with happy-go-lucky shooting, and 

 thought more of the size of his bag than the way he filled it, little 

 realizes how much more intense and liow much more praiseworthy 

 is the enjoyment of the sportsman whose interest is centered iii 

 the performance of his dog, and who subordinates the tldrst for 

 slaughter to an ambition to make his sporting companion a scien- 

 tific workman. Our Virginia sportsmen, as a rule, have little idea 

 of what advances have been made of late years among sportsmen 

 in the science of hunting, or how mucli more pleasure is attainable 

 in that way than in the rough-roU-and-tumble style of other days. 

 It is to give them an insight into the "higher walks of art" in this 

 matter of hunting— to introduce the Bcientiiic element in Ijoth the 

 breeding and training of dogs, and thereby to increase the pleas- 

 ure of using, as well as the intrinsic value of tlieir stock— t hat 

 this association is proposed. I need not repeat how much more 

 effective is associated effort, than individual, to effect all this. 



Hoping to receive assurance of your personal presence at the 

 time named, I am, yours truly, John S. Wise. 



Three Foxes and a Big Bear. — Jefferson, White 

 Mountains, N. H., Sept. 26. — Foxes are very plenty here 

 this fall. The champion still-hunter of the' State resides 

 here, Nick Tuttle, a blacksmith, who takes a turn around 

 the pastures near liis house two or three times a week. 

 One morning he returned with three red foxes before 

 breakfast. He shot them all on a still-hunt. His method 

 is when he sees a fox to Avait imtil reynard is busy hunt- 

 ing mice; then make a few steps toward him; if the fox 

 discovers him he will remain quiet and imitate the 

 squeaking of a mouse, when the fox will trot within easy 

 gunshot. Nick shoots a 12-bore breechloader, with 4drs. 

 powder and loz. No. 8 shot. I have read with great 

 interest the articles on breech and muzzle, and think the 

 man behind the gim has something to do with the shoot- 

 ing. The following will illustrate my views: A few days 

 ago a large black bear was seen to enter a small sw^amp 

 within a mile of Littleton Village. Within two hom-s the 

 swamp was surrounded by over $2,000 worth of repeating 

 rifles, shotguns and revolvers. The bear broke cover and 

 the ball opened. Over 100 roxmds were fired at a distance 

 of from 10 to 100yds. Bruin is still li^^ng and en joying 

 his usual good health. The boys are all siu-e they aimed 

 at his heart. The next day Mr. Webster, a farmer who 

 has a small clearing sowed to oats on the side of the 

 moxmtain, saw there signs of bears. He has an old hand 

 cannon, which was formerly a flint-lock and has been 

 percussioned over. He ran a slug about fin, lon»- and 

 small enough to go down with a patch, putting in a hand- 

 ful of powder. Taking spare cajis he started at dusk after 

 bruin's scalp. Tired out with waiting he started home, 

 and as he passed a corner of the oat field saw a movement 

 in the tall grain. He drew u]) the old lilimderbuss and 

 tired. The recoil laid him fiat on liis back. One deep 

 growl from the du'ection he fired, and all was still. After 

 waiting a short time he lit a piece of birch bark and found 

 a bear' weighing over 4001bs., with Ms skuU literally 

 crushed. Chance shot you wUl say. — Spoetsman. 



An Old Question. — Ruffed grouse are reported scarce. 

 I think hunting them Avith "treeing dogs" is slowly, but 

 sm-ely, working toward the destruction of tliis noble 

 game bkd. I would like to know if the readers of the 

 Forest and Stream consider this a sportsmanlike method 

 of shooting. I think it leans strongly toward pot-luint- 

 ing. — Black Spot (Cumberland Co., Me.). 



Maryland.— Elkton, Sept. 27.— The prospect for quail 

 shooting in this section is better than for some years. 

 Tliere has been no good rail shooting yet, owing to low 

 tides and the large growth of ruslies and eat -tails on the 

 marsh, from 30 to 40 birds being the best bag heard from 

 so far.— E. S. G. 



Recoil. — Editor Forest and Stream: As to recoil in 

 shotguns and rifles, what are the best means for control- 

 ing Its effects? Will some of your contributors kindly 

 give their views and experience. — Granger. 



October Days Afield will reward most sportsmen 

 with something worthy of record in the Forest and 

 Stream. We will be glad to have notes of field experiences 

 this month and next^ 



A PoUGflKEEPSiE Man tried to club two fighting dogs 

 apart. The gun missed the dogs, struck a tree, broke, ex- 

 ploded, and IcUled the man. Don't use a gun for a club. 



Pennsylvania Deer Season.— The open season for 

 deer in Pennsylvania, is Oct. 1-Dec. 31. 



We caU attention to the new advertisement of Parker Bros., in 

 another column, which gives an account of the very creditable 

 perf ornaaace of theii' guns at the second annual tournament of the 

 Chamberlin Cartridge Co. 



nnd Miver 



Address all amimunicatiom to the Forest tmd Strewn Ptib. Co. 



IN RE "HOME OF THE BIG TROUT." 



To the Printer: 



Thou grimmest of all jesters, teU lue, pray, 



Wliy "peek 'gainst peek" last week you made me say ? 



I'll promise this— if e'er I visit thee. 



Oh printer mild, it "Greek 'gainst Greek" wUl be ; 



And angler never fought a, busier fray 



Than you and I wiU— on that "arctic" day. 



J. Harbingxon Kbbnb, 



NOTES OF CANADIAN ANGLING. 



EXPECTATION is often the greater part of happiness. 

 Is there a greater delight, when the wind roars in 

 the chironey and snow covers the ground, than to sit in a 

 comfortable easy chair, before a roaring fhe, and to map 

 out in detail a fishing txip for the summer? All former 

 mishaps are forgotten; there is no thought of the many 

 times flies were entangled in the most demoniacal fashion, 

 large trout were lost, tips were broken, but we see in our 

 mind's esye onlj the pleasing spectacle of enormous fish 

 taking the fly in the most approved fashion and being 

 landed in safety. When, therefore, last wmter I saw Mr. 

 J. U. Gregory's letters in Forest and Stream describing 

 the new fishing gTounds in Canada, I lost no time to 

 write to him for fm'ther information; and often after 

 that, when to all outward apiiearances grav ely engaged 

 in thinking out some diflicult legal question, my thoughts 

 were really far away in the woods and rivers of Canada, 

 and the question before my mind was w^hether bright or 

 dark-colored flies would best answer my pm-poses. 



Thank Heaven! there is an end even to winter, and one 

 fine July morning found me in Quebec and sitting in 

 front of Mr. Gregory in his comfortable ofiice in the De- 

 partment of Marine and Fisheries. Talk about the 

 brotherhood of Free Masons! There is only one brother- 

 hood in the world — that of anglers. The kindness of the 

 recei)tion I found, the interest with which this gentle- 

 man, notwithstanding his numerous official duties, en- 

 tered into my plans, is something I will never forget. 

 The fishing grounds he had written about (the lakes on 

 the Ime of the Quebec & Lake John Road) had not turned 

 out as well as he expected. But my mentor and guide 

 provided better entertainment for me. He yvt me in 

 charge of his nephew, a charming young man, who with 

 his mother and sisters and one of their friends were sum- 

 mering at St. Raymond, a French village about forty 

 miles up the line. This was to be my headquarters, and 

 from there I could make excm'sions among the Lauren- 

 tides and go up and down the St. Anne and connecting 

 rivers. 



St. Raymond is situated in the valley of the St. Anne, 

 The scenery in the immediate vicinity, while not grand 

 nor imposino;, is pleasing and picturesque. The village is 

 entirely and thoroughly Frencli. Walldng tlirough its 

 streets and talking witli its people carried me back to the 

 times long ago, when I used to take my vacation in some 

 out of the way nook in the French provinces. It is tliis 

 utter change in siUTOundings which gives such a charjpni 

 to the stay in tliis quiet place. The boarding houses are 

 fairly comfortable and very moderate in price, $13 to flo 

 a month is the ordinary price. Any number of short ex- 

 cm-sions can be made, and the boating on the river is 

 good. 



But I forget in describing the place, that I am writing 

 for a paper devoted to the gentle art. So I forgot the first 

 days I was in St. Raymond, that I had come there to fish. 

 There were stronger attractions. Although on angler, I 

 am still a man. I would have sorry opinion of any one 

 under 70, who, when an opportunity was given to him, to 

 enjoy the society of four charming girls, woidd rush off 

 at once and go trout fishing. I tried to combine the two 

 pleasiu-es during my stay, and I believe I succeeded. 



Now for the iisliing. Whoever imagines in going to St. 

 Raymond that he has simply to walk a few steps to fill 

 his" basket with two-pound trout, will be disappointed. 

 The parish of St. Raymond is pretty well settled. There 

 are farms in many places along the liver. The Canadians 

 are a very prohfic race and all the urchins fish. That 

 under those circimistances there is still such an euonnoua 

 amoxmt of trout, even in the immediate neighborhood of 

 St. Raymond, is astonishhi^. Tliose satisfied witb trout 

 running from to 8in., with occasionally one of a half 

 pound or a poimd, can gratify that ambition without 

 sleeping one night out of the comfortable beds provided 

 in his boarding house. Smaller trout can be taken by the 

 thousand, but of com-se these do not count. Sometimes 

 the excursions \vill lead him amid scenery equal to any to 

 be found on this continent east of the Rockies. The drive 

 to the Little Saguenay (the north branch of the St. Anne) 

 especially is magnificent, and he will find there simple 

 but excellent accommodations at Delaney's, and a perfect 

 gTiide is Richard Stranahan. A Brooklyn artist, Mr. 

 Grote, has built a house there, where he and his wife live 

 duruig the summer, so that congenial company wiU not 

 be lacking. All through this coimtry there are many 

 lakes, but I did not try them. 



But the trip of all trips is to the Malcolm Pool and the 

 falls of the St. Anne. The country there is perfectly 

 wild and in five years only seven persons have fished it. 

 [I begin my narrative, which may sound to some as a fish 

 story^ by asserting solemnly, as if I were in the presence 

 of a'notary, that I will tell tlie truth, the whole ti-uth and 

 nothing but the ti-uth.] 



Starting in the morning, a three hours' drive, part of 

 which is through grand scenery, brought us at about 11 

 o'clock at St. Gabriel, locality called "Plguemouche." 

 The guide and boat were soon secured, our provisions and 

 tent (the guide furnished the latter) put aboard aird away 

 we started up stream for our four days' trip. The first 

 day led us over ground I had fished before. The fishing 

 was good, although the trout did not run very large, and 

 a very short time was sufficient to secure our supper and 

 breakfast. We struck our camping ground at 6 o'clock, 

 and went to bed early, knowing that we had a heavy 

 day's work before us. Two miles brought us, the next 

 morning, to the foot of the rapids. For five or six mUes 

 the river is here a succession of rapids, or rather one con- 

 tinuous rapid. All the gtiide can do is to ^ole up the 

 empty boat, and in maAy places even this is impossible, 

 go that the boat has to be pushed up. I tried the former 



