384 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 9, 1886. 



DEER IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 



Hditor Forest and Stream: 



At the close of the open season for hunting deer in the 

 Adii-ondacks it is fitting to take a reti'ospective ^dew of 

 tlie workings of the game law as amended by the Legis- 

 lature of 1886. Being in a position to learn the views of 

 sportsmen and tourists who visit the Adu-ondacks I must 

 gay there never were such universal expressions of dis- 

 satisfaction from all classes as there have been to the pres- 

 ent law. The bounder has been shirt off too soon to glut 

 his insatiate thirst for cruelty and slaughter. If the sea- 

 son for hounding had extended later, when deer take to 

 water more readily before the hound, he might have killed 

 a dozen where now he has only obtamed half that num- 

 ber. 



The worst of it is the law has been disregarded and 

 hounding has been continued in all of the secluded places 

 in the Adirondacks throughout October and even in No- 

 vember. It brings forcibly to mind the assertion of 

 Forest and Stream, "that hounding one month meant 

 hounding twelve months in the year," Great slaughter 

 has been committed. More than double the deer have 

 been killed this year than in 1885. This must necessarily 

 be so, so long as hounding is permitted, as tliis method 

 of huntiiig makes it possible for every one to kill deer, 

 and every one is ready to improve the opportunity who is 

 not particular how he kills them, whether he shoots, clubs 

 or dro \vns them. 



The tourist whose vacation comes from the middle of 

 July to middle of Augaist does not quite like the idea of 

 being obliged to go without venison just to save them, 

 only to be miu-dered and i-endered unlit to eat by hoimd- 

 ing"^in September and October. The three-deer clause and 

 one for transportation are the only redeeming featiires 

 of the law, although this does not amount to anything 

 when hunting with homids — they go in such large parties 

 that even three deer each make a large number. 1 know 

 of one party that numbered over fifty lumters, and several 

 that contained ten to fifteen. Besides, there are no 

 detectives on the ground and it is such an easy thing to 

 kill deer in this way they are likely to overrun theu* quota 

 and bring out their heads as trophies, as tlie law allows 

 them to do. Tlie tlu-ee deer applies to still-Jumters. There 

 is perhaj)S one man in a thousand that can kill from fifteen 

 to thirty deer by still-hunting them if allowed the whole 

 of November to htmt. But it requires so much hard work 

 no one will kill them if not allowed to take them out of 

 the woods. But the close season, Nov. 1, shuts off all 

 possibility of getting their three deer, as no one can himt 

 successfully while the leaves are on the trees, 



I think it is all -wrong to close the season Nov, 1. Dm*- 

 ing November deer are in the best condition of any month 

 in the year; besides, since the general aversion to ranning 

 deer with dogs many sportsmen like to come up and have 

 a quiet hunt, and if possible kill a deer when they are in 

 then* prime, and when the weather is cold enough to ad- 

 mit of taking one home. 



I have heard much complaint this fall in this respect. 

 They ai'e satisfied with the number allowed, but they do 

 want the pri^dlege of getting those three when they are 

 the best and when they can save and enjoy them after 

 their arrival home. Tlie Beaver Eiver country and per- 

 haps the northern part of St. Lawi-ence county were the 

 only sections free from tlie scourge of hounding. Tlie 

 Beaver River Club, who are aware of tlie evil effects of 

 hounding and have not only isledged themselves to re- 

 fi'ain therefrom but also to use all j)roper means and influ- 

 ence to prevent this mode of hunting, have succeeded be- 

 yond all expectation. 



And the good results are apparent. I would like to 

 have taken you through the Beaver River coimtry in. the 

 fall of 1884 and then repeat it now, you would be sm-prised 

 at the increase. Where you would find one track in 1884 

 you would find a dozen"^ now. There have not been so 

 many deer in the vicinity of Number Four in twenty 

 years as there are now, 



I do not attribute it all to actual increase, but the deer 

 have sought refuge from other sections where thej^ have 

 been harassed by hounds. There was a light fall of snow 

 the latter part of October which aroused all my old hunt- 

 ing propensities, and the day found me in the woods try- 

 ing to compete with the waiy deer. I found an abund- 

 ance of tracks and started several, but they were too 

 sharp for me, i only caught a glimpse of their tail as they 

 waived defiance on then- rapid retreat. At length I came 

 to a place where, I should judge by their ti'acks, that there 

 had been not less than twenty deer the previous night 

 feeding upon an area of fifty acres. Their tracks were so 

 plenty going in every direction that it was impossible to 

 follow any one detr. I moved slowly on, keeping a sharp 

 lookout in every direction and feeling every footstep lest 

 there should be something under it to snap and give warn- 

 ing of my approach. I had not i)roceeded far when, at a 

 long distance ahead, I saw tlurough the brush the dim ovxt- 

 line of a deer. His head was erect and ears tlii'own for- 

 ward and was evidently looking directly toward me. His 

 quick ear had detected my approach and at the first 

 glimpse of motion he would have been no more. Pressing 

 my Winchester firmly to my shoulder and drawing a 

 good bead on his breast, I drew the trigger. He gave one 

 plmige forward and fell to the ground. Going down to 

 where he stood I found a splendid buck stretched at full 

 length on the ground. Glory enough for one day. The 

 following morning the snow had disappeared, and thus 

 ended my hunt for this year. 



It does seem that the people of the State of New York 

 would be wise in time and protect the most noble game 

 in her forest preserve by x^assing a good protective law, 

 one that would be resperrted by all good citizens. Having 

 always lived in the Adirondacks, and knowing well what 

 would best tend to the presei-vation of deer and at the 

 same time conform to the wishes and needs of the great- 

 est number of people that visit the woods, allow me to 

 suggest a law which, I think, would be respected and 

 would tend greatly to the preservation of deer for all time 

 to come. 



First — Hotmding shoidd be strictly prohibited luider 

 heavy penalty. liimting deer with hounds in a coimtry 

 like the Adirondacks, abounding in lakes, is sure exter- 

 mination, and if allowed all other protective measures will 

 be of no avaU. 



Second — As there are as many or more sportsmen who 

 go to the woods from the middle of July to the middle of 

 August who think, and perhaps rightly, that tliey ai'e as 

 .much entitled to venison to supply their camp as those 

 that come later — and it seems almost an absolute necessity 



to suggest to their guide that they must have meat to eat 

 — this has a demoralizing effect on the guides, so they 

 do not feel like complaining of offenders in the early 

 summer when they may be expected to do the same later 

 on when deer are good, but is equally illegal. Therefore, 

 I firmly believe that there would be less deer killed in 

 earlv summer if the open season for bucks commenced 

 the i5th of July. Make it $100 penalty for killmg a doe 

 before the 15th of August, and no jacking before that 

 time. 



Third — Make the open season to Dec. 1. Deer are 

 in their best during November, and as long as one is 

 lunited to three deer let them get them, if they prefer, 

 when the weather is cold enough to keep them a while. 

 Keep in the tlu-ee-deer clause and transportation to one 

 as now. 



With such a law as the above every one would be in- 

 terested and would act as game constable. Give us such 

 a law, or even exclude hounding, and the Beaver River 

 Club will put a good man on the ground at its own 

 expense, and keep him there during the close season, to 

 prevent ' all violations of the law. But if hounding be 

 allowed there is no inducement to prevent summer kill- 

 ing, as they are only saving them for water butchery in 

 September and October. 



1 know there are a few that will object to any law that 

 does not include a season for hounding. But they are 

 not more than 10 per cent, of the people of the State of 

 New York. And why is it? Because it makes hunting 

 easy and killing a sure thing. But it must be prohibited 

 on the score of j)rotection. 



There is a deer as well as a '*trout hog," and there are 

 scores living all around the borders of the wilderness who 

 have no sporting proclivities and no regard for law or 

 deer protection, whose only desire is to Idll all they can 

 and in any way they can, and thus a law that admits of 

 hunting deer with hoimds is just Avhat they want, as 

 with such a law they can gratify their propensity to the 

 utmost. Instinct vdll surely lead a deer into the water 

 Avhen piirsued by the hoimds, and when once in the water 

 the hunter has a sure thing. No previous Icnowledge, no 

 practice or experience is necessary, only the implements 

 of destruction. ' MuSSET, 



N UiMBER FOUK, Nov. 13, 1886. 



THE MAINE TRAGEDY. 



MACHIAS, Me. , Nov. 2d.— Editor Forest and Stream.: 

 While I sit sm-rounded by my family all weU and 

 happy, my thoughts wander to the "shores of Gardner's 

 Lake", where live the widow and five children, homeless 

 and penniless, made so by the murderous gun of the assas- 

 sin, Calvin P. Graves and his accomplice. Lyman O, Hill, 

 the murdered warden, was an honest, upright man, was 

 ready to do his duty and brave, never flinching in the 

 pi'esence of danger. He saw that the poachers were 

 determined to defy the officers of the law, to hotrad and 

 destroy the deer, and he like a true man planned to en- 

 force the laws of the State. He first went alone and 

 found that poachers were at Niccatous Lake in force and 

 were following the deer with dogs thi'ough to Eagle 

 Lakes, Gassipius, Machias and Horseshoe Lakes, and that 

 one camp at Coombes's Brook was filled with poachers 

 from that nest of defiant poachers upon the shores of 

 Niccatous Lake. I say defiant, because they have notices 

 posted: "No Wardens Allowed Here." A man told us in 

 the Post, "Calvin P. Graves would be as safe at Niccatous 

 Lake as he wotdd be in the interior of Zululand." I judge 

 this correct if the commtmication in the Industrial 

 Journal issue of Nov, 19, signed I, Darling, is to be 

 understood as it reads. He also fotmd that a crowd of 

 poachers had escaped Warden French and were hound- 

 ing deer atTliird Machias Lake, and more, he was notified 

 that another party was expected soon with hounds. He 

 then hired Charles Niles, a guide and good hunter, to aid 

 him. They started to do their duty as officers of the law, 

 and the result is known to yoin- readers. With such a 

 dark page of lawlessness we should not expect the sym- 

 pathizing friends of the murderers to tmdertake in less 

 than two weeks to traduce the unblemished moral char- 

 acter of a faithful officer and true man, killed by the 

 hand of an assassin wliile in the discharge of his dirty, as 

 we believe. But we were pained to see the cmel and 

 cowardly attack upon the dead man's good name. This 

 so aroused the citizens of this comnumity, notably the 

 comrades of the G. A. R., that the following resolutions 

 were passed, tlie object of which you wiD readily see. 

 May God care for the widow and fatherless, and we from 

 our plenty contribute to a w^orthy and needy family. 



CoamADE, 



BBSOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY BBADBTTKY POST. 



Whereas. Bradbury Post has but lately been called upon to 

 mourn tlie loss of a beloved and respected comrade, Lyman O. 

 Hill, who gave np his life in tJie faithful perfoi-mance of his duty 

 as an officer of the State, thus marking him as a hero in peace as 

 well as in war; therefore, ^ , . , 



E( solved. That we hereby express our admiration of his manly 

 and courageous character, our love and respect for liim as a sol- 

 dier and comrade, and our profound sorrow for his loss; _ 



Resolved, In token of our sympathy for those thus deprived of a 

 loving husband, father and friend, that these resolutions be entered 

 at longtli upon the records of the Post, and that a copy of the same, 

 attested by the Commander and Adjutant, be forwarded to his be- 

 reaved family. ■ „ ^ . ^ j> 



We, the comrades of Bradbury Post, G. A. R.. Department of 

 Maine, feel it our duty to express our most unqualtfled indiguatinn 

 for the cruel, cowardly and wicked attack upon the moral t-barac- 

 ter of our murdered co.mrade, Ljonan O. ILill, who ^v aB killed, as 

 we believe, while in tlie dischargte of his dutj' as an oilicer ot the 

 State of Maine, at Flatcher Brook House, Nov. 8, l^Sd, by the as- 

 sassin, Calvin P. Graws and his accomplice. We, therefore, re- 

 solve, 



That the attempt to ti-aduce the moral character ot our mur- 

 dered comrade, Lyman O. Hill, by correspondents tor several 

 newspapers in this State is most cruel, cowardly and wicked, 

 equaled only in audacious cruelty by the assassin and accomplice 

 who did the" horrible dee^. ^ •, , , 



Tliat we have known our comrade, Xiyman 0. Hill, from boyhood 

 until his untimely death at Fletcher ISrook House, we can truly 

 say Lvman O. Hill w.as honest, bnive and sympathetic, and pos- 

 sessed of all the qualities requisite for a true man and upright 

 citizen. He was a brave soldier, an honest and faithful oflicer both 

 for his State and countrv. and an affectionate father and husband. 



That we do not feel it'a disgrace tJutt in the struggle oi lile he 

 did not accumulate wealih, for he lost au arm in the sci'vice ot his 

 country. And as by his untimely death he has left his family 

 homeless and penniless, we feel it a duty and privilege to con- 

 tribute to the wants of his needy family. 



That we ask all the sympathetic fi-iends in this and other States 

 to contribute to a fund to be held in trust for the maintenance of 

 his family. 



That we ask Rev. Henry F. Harming, of East Machias, to act as 

 agent to solicit subscriptions for this most worthy and helpless 

 family, and in ease that he accepts this position that he may visit 

 the cities and larger towns of the State and present the true con- 

 dition of this distressed family, with tbe full indorsement of this 

 Post. A. E. PKTaBLE, Com, 



e. A. R, HAtL, Machias, Me., Nov. 2L E. H. Bryakt, Adjt. 



FIRST LESSONS.— 11. 



TRUE to his word the jolly old farmer had come in for 

 us, and bundled up in the blankets and hay I most 

 thoroughly enjoyed the ride in the ''bob." Fortune 

 seemed to have again favored us, for a new and heavy 

 fall of snow was on the groimd. The smooth running 

 sled flew along swiftly lieliind the large and well-fed farm 

 horses, but it took us a long time to arrive at the barn 

 yard gate, and when Ave did Cookie exclauned, -'Well, 

 Canvas, I bet there's good hunting out here, as it's so far 

 that none of the city chaps come out;" and the farmer 

 repHed "That's where you're right, tiiere is good hunting 

 out here and you fellows '11 be tlie first ones over my 

 lands, and I reckon the only ones, as you seem to be pretty 

 straight and did right by rne I'll not forget it." We could 

 never convince him that he was the one that had shown 

 the kindness. 



Following Cookie's example I helped unliitch and lead 

 the horses to water and then to the great bant. As we 

 stepped into the house we met the farmer's wife, who 

 made us feel perfectly at home. Soon after supper was 

 ready and all, including tlu-ee hired hands, sat dovm to 

 the evening meal, and what a meal it was. Hot biscuit, 

 three different kinds of jelly, a great veal roast, tea and 

 coffee, pie and cake. 



Supper over we insisted on helping, so I fed the horses 

 which I ga-eatly enjoyed, letting hay down from the great 

 loft and running the oats to the different stalls by means 

 of a. slide and trough at each manger. After that I helped, 

 feed the calves, shee]i and pigs; at the same time I found 

 that everything on the place from, the two dogs to the 

 blooded horses, had all it could wish. 



The evening work done we gathered around the fire- 

 place on which the hickory back log crackled and blazed 

 brightly. By its light and lying on the floor in front of 

 it Cookie and I had a close and interestmg game of 

 checkers, while the old farmer sat in his chair near by 

 and watched every move made, and as I at last cornered 

 my opixment's only man and king, the old man chuckled 

 away and said it was a close tussle, and the old lady 

 looked up from her knitting and asked. "Who beat?'' As 

 the clock on the mantle struck nine with a clear and swift 

 ring the farmer said we would be up at five, so then we 

 foUovi^ed hun as he showed us to our room and a won- 

 drous comfortable bed. 



After breakfast we shouldered otu batteries, and were 

 surprised to meet the farmer at the kitclien door with a 

 fine double-barreled breechloading gun. wliich in reply he 

 said he had got a long time ago, but he "thought he'd ti-y 

 his hahd at sliooting this mornm' witli you young fellers, 

 though of com'se he'd get left," which we then believed 

 but afterward found to be just the other way. As he 

 called the two dogs he said tbey were "worth a little to 

 take along," as he had "framed 'era last fall," at which 

 remark we both stopped and I said, "Why, you are a true 

 sportsman, I'll warrant," at which he said he "was 

 at one time" and "guessed he still had it in his bones." 

 This then exjilained the reason why we were so thoroughly 

 and royally treated. 



The snow was not very deep, while the air was just a 

 Uttle below freezing jioint, just about right. Going to a 

 cornfield on %vhich the corn had been standing, the 

 dogs stopped their frisking and playing and settled down 

 to business. Going a little in advance of the others as 

 we neared the center of the field, I aavf something gray 

 and about the size of a common cliickeii standing up so 

 still that I was almost sure it was a clod of dirt; never- 

 theless, I thought I would shoot at it, which I did, and 

 was highly pleased to see the featliers fly and the pheas- 

 ant—for that is what it was— give its last, dying move- 

 ments. As the other two hunters came up with me, they 

 sent the dogs in and they soon came to a stand. Moving 

 forward, a large flock got up one at a time, making every 

 nerve tingle witli tlie sound of tlieir short wings. The 

 farmer was tlie first to shoot; standing in perfect position 

 he fired both barrels, and was rewarded by two birds. 

 Cookie was the next to shoot, in fact, he was but a frac- 

 tion of a second behind the faa-mer, and like him he 

 brought down two. In the meantime I had been stand- 

 ing, mouth open, at first startled at the noise with which 

 they got up and after-wai'd charmed at the picture. The 

 flock, scattered and flying, the dogs far cooler than my- 

 self, and my two companions, the smoke pouring and 

 wreathing round one, wliile a great flame leaped with 

 lightning-like rapidity from the gun of the other. As the 

 last pheasant got up' I was aware that I had a gun; pull- 

 ing up and shooting before it had gone a yard, I, of course, 

 missed; as for the second barrel, I was utterly uncon- 

 scious of having such tmtil the bird was far beyond reach. 

 Never before had I known what a "hunting dog" was, 

 and no one could have fathomed my astonishment at hav- 

 ing seen them "point" the game and wait until the firing 

 ceased to then run on and seize the spoils to carry back, 

 without fail, to the shooter who had won. 



I wondered if Cookie had seen my failure in shooting 

 and my neglected second barrel, but, of course, he had, 

 thoughhe made no fun of me. Instead, he told me how 

 I could do better and did take a genuine interest in my 

 advancement, for wliich I then and now inwardly thank 

 him. Each one of us had fastened on to where some 

 particular bhd had dropped, and we all started out to get 

 the same. By accident I had seen where the one I had 

 shot at had lit. It was in a thick clump of weeds gathered 

 around a hill of com. Walking slowly to the place with 

 my eyes never taken off of it, I stopped when in good 

 range to steady myself, for my knees and arms were a 

 httle given to be shaky. Cocking both barrels I at last 

 crept nearer and nearer. Again I stopped to cool down 

 and "wonder if it had got away." But bound to be sure 

 I stepped up and kicked the weeds, when out from right 

 by my feet it flew. Oh! how I, poor tenderfoot, jumped; 

 and this time neglected to shoot at all. Happily for me 

 nobody saw my blunder, and closely watching where it 

 dropped, I followed the same bird. As I neared the spot 

 where it had settled I saw it walking away. I had him 

 now, Throwmig the gun up and taking quick sight I 

 fired. As the smoke cleared away I looked for mj game. 

 HoiTorsI where was it; why I couldn't have missed it? 

 But as I saw the weeds waving not far away I realized 

 all; that I had shut my eyes and fired. Calling one of 

 the dogs I showed him where I had last seen the bird, 

 and sure enough it had walked off, for the dog tracked 

 it and came to a stand. Again did I see the proud 

 fellow strut so bravely and stately, but this time 

 I kept my eyes open and wits about me, and of 

 course was rewarded to see the beauty, torn and rent 



