Jaw. le, 1««T.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



487 



have seen these sickly sun-glare winter days, call«d by 

 old folks "weather breeders. The moi-ning of this day 

 was one of them. About the time we reached an inviting 

 looking stubble the sm-ly wind clouds rolled up, the wind 

 blew as " "twoiald blown its last," and then came down a 

 mistui-e of rain, hail and snow. Have you not seen in 

 this commingled cliange of elements unseasonable light- 

 ning and thunder? Well, all this came, too. So oiu- 

 overcoats were pulled on by all except dai-ky George, 

 who crept into a corn shock. Finally the stoma some- 

 wh.at abated and a retreat was decided on, when Gem, 

 the yoimg setter, -wild from his summer vacation at the 

 mill, flushed a covey of birds in neighboring brush. The 

 order for retreat had scattered the party, each man to 

 care for himself. The sight of game, however, restored 

 good order, and as the bhds flew toward Chaiiie, in quick 

 succession he fli-ed two shots, and when approached, ex- 

 hiljited two bii-ds; whether or not his ambition for 

 slaughter had gotten the better of him and the birds had 

 met their fate on foot, was not inquired into. The day 

 improved and the sport was excellent. George came 

 over a hill, his eyes shining, "Gcntmen, dem dogs over 

 here in de holler done frize stiff, lookin' at one nur." 

 Sure enough, Scot, the old dog, had on his hai-e attitude, 

 pointing a brush heap, with the younger one on the oppo- 

 site side honoring the jioint. "Graeme," said the parson, 

 "how do you know the point is on a hare?" "Because, 

 look how careless and indifferent he stands, his tail not 

 straight and now and then moves; totally different from 

 his form on Iju'ds." "Let's start and bag him," said the 

 parson. "If we do," said Grferae, "we will be troubled 

 all day with the young dog chasing. I have yet to shoot 

 the first hare before these dogs." "Yander'l Ya-n-der 

 dat cotton tail, please shoot 'im, preacher, boss, please 

 eh," said George. It was upon comi)romise decided that 

 the preacher might punch him, and wliile Grreme secured 

 the yoTing dog the parson gave "puss" a good "chug" 

 with the breech of liis gun, to the unbounded delectation 

 of our Senegambian. George was ordered back to take 

 charge of the horses, but soon retmned and with chatter- 

 ing teeth said, "Bosses, I hain't cold, but yer shootin' 

 round sich close like, 'fraid might splatter feller. Can't I 

 go warm, case I'm so hungry don't know whar to git a 

 drik of warter ?" He was released. 



As the scattered bhds of the flushed covey were fol- 

 lowed and picked up, three more bevies were" f oimd and 

 scattered. "Charlie," said the preacher, "when a bhd 

 flies to your side, you then shoot, but when it flies my 

 side you should not shoot and powder, smoke and deafen 

 me." There were practical reasons, it was perceived, for 

 this lecture, as the smoke from the discharge of Char he's 

 g\m had been uihaled by the lectm-er, and was being 

 emitted from the latters nostrils hire twin smoke stacks. 

 "All light," said the amiable Charlie, for he is the em- 

 bodiment of politeness, amiability and boyish enthusia«m. 



A beautiful stand was made by the dogs in a sink and 

 it was the parson's time to walk in and shoot. So with 

 steady step (and he is a cool, deadly veteran) he flushed, 

 but Charlie forgot his lesson and poured a gust of smoke 

 and thunder over his head, which did not discomfort the 

 parson, who grassed liis bird with deliberate grace. 

 Charlie, however, received a lecttu-e for deaferung the 

 parson. 



Charhe carried a light double muzzleloader and Graeme 

 observed him crossing the fence with muzzle straightf ore- 

 most, dragging the locks carelessly; took hold of the gun 

 and proceeded to show this eager youth how to handle his 

 gun at such time, holding in the other hand at the same 

 time his own gun. Aboiit the middle of this lesson a 

 cock bird, with his ringing whirr, arose right under their 

 feet, when Grteme handed the tyi-o his gun and grassed 

 the bhd at forty paces. "Good enough," cried Charlie, 

 "111-. Gra?me, if I had such a gim as yours I could shoot, 

 too." 



Another stand was made on "fur" at a brush heap and 

 the dogs ordered away, but the old canine placed one 

 pa.w on the bnish and artistically put up the hare, which 

 ran into the mouth of the yormgster, but his grip failed 

 to hold, and such a race (the example set by the parson). 

 A blue- winged hawk hovering aroimd gave chase with 

 the puppy and made some clever stoops in the 200yds. 

 run, but seemed too shy of the yoimg setter to close in. 



This shaU not be written to the disparagement of the 

 yomig dog, for soon after he in grand style drew to the 

 top of a knoll, and imder the shelter of a ledge of rocks, 

 leaves and briers, made a beautiful stand. The old dog, 

 doubtful of the youngsters truthfulness, drew up to tlie 

 scent himself. A bird was flushed, killed and retrieved. 

 The youngster returned and pointed again. A second 

 bird, flushed and missed. A third point made at the 

 same place by the young dog, on which the old one again 

 pressed by to scent, and it so taxed the patience of the 

 mnior that he fau-ly bent double to hold. This bhrd was 

 flushed and killed and the hunt ended. 



That weird day of warring elements was the harbinger 

 of worse. The greenswards are now burdened with two 

 feet of fleecy snow, the scattered reUcs of the swift- 

 Avinged bevies that eluded the aims of steady guns are 

 now batthng with the hungry fox and hawk, G. 



The Alaska Exctesion.— New York, Jan. 6.— I am 

 con-esponding only with some twenty-five different 

 people, located in all the Eastern States, and as far West 

 as Detroit, Mich. If a party of thhty can be organized it 

 IS proposed to go to Tacoma, W. T.\ and from there to 

 Alaska, and if this can not be done, those who will go 

 anyway propose to go to San Francisco, and go from 

 there on a whaling vessel to Cook's Inlet. Alaska, and 

 from there to Lake Walker, Ilyamna Lake, Bristol Bay, 

 Kuskovim Bay and up the Yukon River, and such other 

 places as they may hereafter decide upon, in this north- 

 western portion of Alaska.— J. E. Palmer. 



"Pm SxroKiNG."— ^JdiYor Fcrrest and Stream: If the 

 Tuxedo Park club men really want to try pig sticking at 

 "sure enough" wild pigs, let them take a trip down here 

 and we wiU furnish them aU the amusement they will 

 care for m that hue. Our pigs have not much of a pedi- 

 gree to boast of, and they're not EngHsh, you know but 

 each and every one of them is guai-anteed to "tree" a 

 'trould-be pig-sticker every time his broncho pitches him 

 oli, which will be as often as the broncho takes a notion 

 to do It. Come down friends, chapparal cocks make a 

 pretty good substitute for English pheasants.— Guadal- 

 upe (Victoria, Tex., Dec. 30, 1886). 



STOVES IN CAMP. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



' 'Seneca," in a late number of Forest and Stream, says : 

 "I don't believe any one who takes a stove into camp can 

 ix)ssess a genuine and absorbing interest in the beauties 

 of nature." "Seneca" I think is far too sweeping in his 

 assertion. Ever since, I was a boy (and I am not very 

 young now) I have chosen to spend my life among the 

 gi-eat forests and mountains and on the broad prairies where 

 I have thoroughly enjoyed the beauties of nature — some 

 of the grandest scenery to be found iu America — and no 

 one more loves to contemplate the dark caiions, the tower- 

 ing mountains, the woods and prahies, the lakes and 

 rivers, than 1 do. Yet I never camj) out without tent and 

 stove. If one is camping in the gi-eat eastern forests in 

 summer time I will allow that he does not need a stove, 

 for there the dense growth of timber protects him from 

 the wind, and a charming camp can be made of bark or 

 balsam boughs. Here the conditions are different; even 

 in summer we have cold, raw winds that chill one to the 

 bone. If we are camping on the prairie there is no wood, 

 but we always carry some in the wagon. Up goes the 

 tent, the stove soon gives forth a genial heat, and there 

 we sit, indifferent to the blinding rain and rushing wind 

 Avithout. Again, we always have horses on our hunting 

 expeditions, even in tlie mountains we must camp on the 

 edge of the Httle prairies where we can watch and care 

 for them. Here again on cold and windy days do we 

 find comfort and safety with om' tent and stove, having 

 no camp-fire there is no danger of the flames getting be- 

 yond our control and burning a vast stretch of country. 

 From the tone of "Kingfisher's" letters in Forest and 

 Stream I judge that no one possesses a more "genuine 

 and absorbing interest in the beauties of natme" tnan he, 

 and if he wants a stove in camp why should any one 

 criticise him ? I don't know anything about a Michigan 

 summer, but I hunted there once from September to 

 December, and found a log cabin and stove very com- 

 fortable. If "Seneca" should make two trips in this 

 coimtry I am quite siu'e that the second time he would 

 have a four-hole sheet-iron stove. J. W. Schultz. 



MONT.4NA. 



NEW ENGLAND GAME. 



THE Main Legislatm-e is in session and the committees 

 are to be appointed early this week. The friends of 

 fish and game protection are hopeful of such a committee 

 as vnll look out for then- interests, while the enemies of 

 such action are but very poorly organized in that State. 

 It is a curious fact that these enemies quite frequently 

 come to Boston for aid and consolation in their work of 

 opposing the game laws of their own State. I learn from 

 good authority that two or three noted poachers, whose 

 business the past season has been undoubtedly that of 

 guiding Boston sportsmen to shoot deer out of season, 

 have recently been in this city and that they have visited 

 these same sportsmen. What tlieir pm-pose" has been it is 

 not very plain, though the upholders of the Maine game 

 laws are free to declai-e that these chaps are trying to 

 raise money here with which to fight the obnoxioiis game 

 laws of then- own State. That they have met with very 

 poor success is plain enough. They came too late. They 

 should have come before the murder of those wardens 

 changed public sentiment in then- own State to the extent 

 that even their new governor found occasion in his in- 

 augiu-al to refer to a crime so dastardly and to even re- 

 commend that a pension be granted to their families, or 

 at least some action be taken for their aid. No other 

 murder ever called forth such a recommendation from 

 the governor. The action goes to show the tm-n that pub- 

 lic sentiment has taken; and even the worst Maine game 

 poacher in Boston would not be bold enough to lend open 

 aid in the direction these visiting guides desire. I learn 

 that the notorious Jack Darling, who has given the Maine 

 commissioners so much trouble at Nicatous Lake the past 

 summer, has been here on the money raising errand. I 

 do not know that this is ti-ue, for I did not see him here; 

 and if he has not been here, why then he has been mis- 

 represented, but such is the claim of those who do not 

 love him any too weU. 



There is generally a good deal of satisfaction expressed 

 among the best and the most reasonable of sportsmen here 

 concerning the report of the Maine Fish and Game Com- 

 missioners, which the Forest and Stream has already 

 published extracts from, and which it probably has in 

 full before this time. It is looked upon as a valuable 

 work, both in the methods it maps out and the amount of 

 actual experience it involves in fields to a great extent 

 untried heretofore. It is also looked upon as magnani- 

 mous, and comhig from the hearts of earnest men — men 

 who have encountered and sm-mounted difficulties in 

 then- work which would have disheartened any but true 

 lovers of the cause. In point of magnanimity, the recom- 

 mendation that the whole of September be granted as an 

 addition to the open season for moose, deer and caribou 

 hunting ought to convince even the worst enemies the 

 Commission has ever made by the enforcement of the 

 laws, tliat the Commissioners have never had any other 

 motive at heart than the best good of the sportsman him- 

 self. Indeed it is looked upon in this light by flunking 

 sportsmen, even if they have hitherto been unfriendly to 

 the work of the Commission. I have heard a gentleman say 

 within a couple of days, and I know him to be a tine gentle- 

 man jiiotwithstanding that he has been in disgrace in Maine 

 for shooting game out of season, for which shooting he has 

 paid his fines. I have heard him say that if Maine 

 changed her game laws so as to give September as a part 

 of tlie open season on her larger game, that he should do 

 all in his power toward helping the Commission. At the 

 same time he would hke to see, as we all should, some 

 tremendous effort put forth toward making the lumber- 

 men and the Indians obey the law, as well as the sports- 

 men. He claims, and not without good reason, that the 

 Indians, and many of the other men who act as guides m 

 the summer and hunt, trap or lumber in the winter, 

 ^destroy more moose and deer for then- hides alone, than 

 "it would ever be possible for sportsmen to do, even with 

 the open season made to include August as well as Sep- 

 tember. In proof of his position the gentleman mentions 

 the thirteen moose hides found in the camp of one noted 

 guide, also mentioned in the report of the Commissioners 

 themselves. These hides were the work of a skin hunter 

 when the snow was on the ground, deserted because they 

 were too heavy to be carried to the settlement. 



The chances are most excellent for some of the best fish 

 and game protective legislation in Maine this winter that 



the world has ever seen. The GoTemor recommends 

 such changes as are needed. Alas! If we could only 

 have the same in Massachusetts. The game of the whole 

 country wordd be saved thereby. There are less of 

 western deer in our Boston markets at the present time 

 than usual at this season, but there is too much of the 

 disgusting venison. It comes largely from States where 

 it is killed illegally, and in most cases shipped illegally, 

 but it reaches this" dumping ground some way, and the 

 laws of one of the best, governed States iu the Union — so 

 say its boasters — permits it to be sold when it is close 

 time in almost eveiy other State that makes any pre- 

 tenses to game protection. It pemiits it to be sold just 

 to help a few marketmen to make a few hundred dol- 

 lars. The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Asso- 

 ciation has not yet laid down its arais, and some whole- 

 some legislation may be reached this winter. But the 

 mere opening of the ciuestion before the committee will 

 call out the marketmen iu full force. They veiy much 

 desire to be let alone. Special. 



White Crake.— Editor Forest and Stream-: How 

 many, tliink you, of the gallant nimrods whose exploits 

 are recorded in the columns of your joiu'nal, have ever 

 killed the trumpeter or white sandhill crane ? I have never 

 succeeded in bagging one, although I have spent a great 

 deal of time in then- pursuit. It is the shyest and wariest 

 bird I know of. The Avild tm-key is a barnyard f oavI in 

 comparison. The only fair oiiportunity to kill one I ever 

 had occiured a few days ago, and was lost through my 

 own stupidity. I was lying flat in the grass callmg a 

 flock of sandhills, and when they had approached suffi- 

 ciently near I raised quickly and fired right and left at the 

 two nearest me, killing both. Just as I pulled the ti-igger 

 of the second bairel I saw a white crane in the bunch, 

 but too late to withhold my fire. I could easily have 

 killed it if I had seen it in time. The other cranes flew 

 off about 400 or 500yds. and Ut, but the white one seemed 

 in a hurry to get into Mexico, and unless he has arrived 

 there I am sure he is still going. They seem to be some- 

 what larger than the ordinary sandhill, and I presume 

 from their similarity of habits they are also edible. WiU 

 not some reader who has been more successful favor us 

 with an account of the killing, weight, dimensions, etc., 

 of this bu'd ? In my note book I find the following 

 account of the bagging of a good bird: "Dec. 18, '86. 

 Killed sandhill crane, following measurements: Length, 

 tip of tail to end of toes, 56in. Spread of wings, 76in; 

 weight, lllbs. l4oz. Shot at 240 paces with .32-40 riae." 

 — C. S. Wells, (Victoria, Tex., Dec. 30, 1886). [The name 

 "white sandhill crane," though often used, is not quite 

 coirect, the white and sandhill being distinct species. The 

 white is the wliooping crane (G^rws americana), and the 

 ray the sandhill crane (G. canadensis). A third perhaps 

 oubtful species is given in the books, resembling the 

 sandhill, called O. mexicana.J 



IMassachusetts Game. — Taunton, Mass., Jan. 8.— Yom- 

 correspondent "Woodman" seems to be of the opinion 

 that woodcock are getting scarce in this locality, and 

 gives his scores for several years as evidence. I am afraid 

 he does not keep up Avith'the times, or rather the birds. 

 Of late years the best grounds have been cleai'ed and cut 

 into house Jots, and the sijortsman must tramp further 

 each 3'ear to find the birds. But I am sine they are not 

 all gone yet, as I shot five in a half day's hunt this year 

 during September, and I know of several gentlemen 

 whose scores for the season have been over a dozen. Last 

 year I made several tiips and succeeded in bagging 

 twenty odd birds as the season's work. Others have done 

 better than I, but I agree with "Woodman" that the birds 

 are not as plentiful as they might be. Quail were never 

 so thick, in my remembrance, as this year. Pai-tridges, 

 however, although they promised to be'tliick, were kified 

 by ticks in large numbers. One bird that came under my 

 observation had a great fat tick as large as a five cent 

 piece. It was back of the ear, and the poor bird was 

 wasted nearly to a skeleton. The gunners who went 

 from here to the "Cape" had fine sport and very fair bags. 

 Fowling at the ponds has been unusually poor, and I have 

 not been the means of killing one duck. Summer wood- 

 cock sliooting is very poor sport here, and I know of no 

 sportsman who indulges. We have a branch of the Fish 

 and Game Protective Association here, and we hope it 

 will be the means of stopping the underhand work in 

 trapping, etc. — Cohannet. 



Michigan Association.— Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 8. 



—Editor Forest and Stream:— The an:;jual meeting of 

 the Michigan Sportsmen's Association will be held at 

 Lansing, Mich,, on Tuesday, Jan. IS, commencing at 7:30 

 o'clock P. M. The headquarters of the Association will 

 be at the Hudson House. A full attendance has been re- 

 quested, as business of interest and importance to the 

 sportsmen of the State will be considered. Clubs, mem- 

 bers and individuals are requested to send to the under- 

 signed any information they may possess which will aid 

 the Association in its endeavor to save the game and fish 

 of this State from the rapid destruction now menacing it. 

 The secretaries of all auxiliary clubs are requested to 

 send the names of their officers and the number of their 

 members to the secretary for the information of the Asso- 

 ciation. Each auxiliary club is entitled to be represented 

 at the annual meeting by five delegates. Individual 

 members, and others interested in the objects of the Asso- 

 ciation, are earnestly invited to be present, — Mark Nor- 

 Ris, Secretaiy, 79 Lyon street. 



Sauk Centre, Minn., Jan. 2.— Jack rabbits are as thick 

 as "hair on a dog" out on the prairies west of here. A 

 good many deer have been killed this season. Partridge 

 have been brought in by the hundred. It is said that 

 "Bob White" is making his appearance up in this part of 

 Minnesota, but as yet I have failed to see him. There is 

 plenty of snoAv here, and it bids fan to help us out on the 

 prahie chickens for next season's sport. Have noticed 

 large flocks of them hereabouts. — Dell. 



Where they Shade their Eyes to See a Goose.— 

 Amboy, 111.— This section of country was, a few yeai-s 

 ago, one of the finest geese flights in the United States, 

 being situated between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, 

 and on the borders of the once famous Winnebago 

 Swamp. But now the once familiar yonk brings out 

 half the citizens with hands shading eyes to catch a 

 glimpse of a wild goose.— P. S. 



