July 27, 1895.] 



They are a little larger now than the common house cat, 

 and are very gentle. They can be handled like their 

 more domestic relative. 



Reports from the swamp section of the parish say that 

 deer are scarce this summer. This is no doubt a good 

 sign that the deer are being rapidly done away with. 

 They are hunted from one year's end to another, and no 

 attention is paid to the protecting (?) law. They would 

 have all been killed long ago except for the great pro- 

 tection afforded them in the vast forest known as 

 the Atchafalaya swamp. T. A. Jackson. 



VERMONT DEER. 



Ferrisburgh, Vt.— Editor Forest and Stream: It was 

 by just wanton butchery, as is described by Mr. Spear, 

 that the deer were exterminated in Vermont sixty or 

 seventy years ago; and it was done without even the pre- 

 text ot supplying lumber camps with poor meat. I can 

 never forget how in my boyhood my blood ran hot and 

 cold with wrath and horror at an old man's relation of 

 his brief participation in such slaughter. The deer were 

 driven out of their yards, and then, almost helpless in the 

 deep snow and sharp crust, were knocked in the head 

 with clubs and' left where they fell to rot or feed the 

 wolves and foxes, for they were not even worth skinning. 

 The sight of one such ruthless murder was enough for 

 my informant, and he went home Bick with disgust. This 

 cruel work went on till, excepting in the uninhabited 

 northwestern part of the State, where they had no worse 

 enemies than the panther and the wolf, the deer were 

 practically exterminated, though throughout the range 

 of the Green Mountains thousands and thousands of acres 

 of woodlands still afford them a home. 



At first thought it is hard to believe that men of our 

 own race, and of a generation so near us, could be capable 

 of such savagery, or their kinder fellows capable of com- 

 mitting it. But we have only to look about us to see it 

 in some degree still going on , and only to examine our- 

 selves to discover the same apathy that existed then. 

 Laws for the protection of fish and game are violated 

 by men of high and low degree; and under cover of these 

 laws men shoot at and fish for count and the shameful 

 record is published in the newspapers without a word of 

 condemnation, but rather as something worthy of admir- 

 ation. 



More disheartening is the fact that a plain statement in 

 a sportsman's journal of the illegal and wanton killing of 

 deer is met by attempts to ridicule and discredit it. 

 If "Dick" was acquainted with the conditions that exist in 

 the northern forests during the latter part of winter, when 

 the deep snows and hard crust make it difficult for the 

 deer to move outside of their yards and easy for men to 

 make rapid headway on snowshoes, he would not have 

 tried to be funny at Mr. Spears's expense, wherein he suc- 

 ceeds in showing only his own ignorance. Awahsoosb. 



The Rutland Herald of July 17 tells this story of a 

 deer's unfortunate invasion of that city : It is not every 

 day that, in a city of 15,000 inhabitants, a crowd of men 

 and boys have the sport, if it may 1 be termed sport, of 

 chasing and capturing alive a full-grown buck deer fresh 

 from the mountains. Yet, strange as it may seem, such 

 an animal was taken in H. W, Wilcox's garden on South 

 Main street shortly after 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. 



It happened in this wise: About 1 o'clock, when South 

 Main street was filled with men going to the Scale works, 

 a workman at the Chase Toy works happened to see 

 through the window a full-grown deer running through 

 the lots at break-neck speed in the direction of Main 

 street. The animal was evidently insane with fright, as 

 he rushed through the fields, gracefully leaping barb-wire 

 and board fences with ease, and rushing frantically 

 through the Bates farmyard and market gardens and 

 around about the outbuildings of the houses in that 

 vicinity. 



Hardly had the man at the toy works observed the deer 

 and raised the cry of "Deer!" deerl" before the animal 

 was seen by a score of people in the neighborhood, who 

 one and all joined in a hot chase. Large and small, fat 

 and lean, engaged in the run. In fact it was a free-for- 

 all as hotly contested as many a track event. A man 

 named John Barrett and a fellow workman were the first 

 to catch up with the prize, who, evidently greatly fatigued 

 by a long run and bewildered by his unusual surround- 

 ings, was soon overtaken and thrown down. Hardly was 

 he cornered before he showed fight, and forming himself 

 into a hollow square let his feet fly in all directions. In- 

 side of two seconds Barrett had received a disabling blow 

 in the stomach and was completely covered with black 

 mud, while his companion had come off but little better. 

 Before either man could recover from his surprise the 

 buck was on his feet and away. 



In H. W. Wilcox's garden the now thoroughly tired 

 animal got mixed up in a muck hole, a corn patch and a 

 barb- wire fence, and before he could extract himself from 

 his position and gain the main highway he was pounced 

 upon by three young men by the names of Fish, Short- 

 sleeves and Ellis. But they had no easy time holding 

 their captive, who kicked, bucked and bleated, and made 

 every endeavor to gain his freedom. It is doubtful if he 

 would have been taken at all had his antlers not been in 

 the velvet, and broken and shivered at that. 



After the buck had been strapped down he was taken to 

 a box stall in Lester Fish's barn and released. Shortly 

 afterward the news of the capture was sent to F. H. 

 Chapman, president of the Rutland Fish and Game Club, 

 and other local sportsmen. 



About 3 o'clock Mr. Chapman, City Judge J. A. Merrill, 

 S. E. Burnham and a Herald reporter went to the Fish 

 farm to see the animal. After carefully inspecting the 

 buck, President Chapman advised the men to keep the 

 deer until it had fully recovered from its fright and chase 

 and then release it. After supper last evening Mi - . Fish 

 informed Mr. Chapman that the deer was acting in a 

 peculiar manner and he was afraid it was going to die. 

 In company with Mr. Fish, Mr. Chapman and S. E. Burn- 

 ham went to the barn, where the animal was found 

 stretched out dead. A careful examination disclosed the 

 fact that the buck had been torn somewhat by barb wire 

 fences and that the left antler had been torn for about 

 6in. from the base upward. No bullet holes were found 

 on the body or any evidences that the animal had been 

 shot at. It is not known what caused death, but it is sur- 

 mised that the buck died from fright. 



Where he came from is a mystery. Mr. Chapman 

 thinks that his appearance in the city might have been 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



the result of "hounding," but of this he is not certain. A 

 small boy who lives in the vicinity of the fair grounds 

 says that he saw a deer in Dyer's woods yesterday morn- 

 ing. If this is so it is probable that the two are identical. 

 Mr. Fish will skin the animal this morning, when it will 

 be easily discovered whether or not he has sustained 

 internal injuries, and if so of what character. He will 

 then be disposed of according to law. 



Local sportsmen are especially interested in the capture 

 of the buck owing to the fact that at a time some years 

 ago when the animals were almost extinct in the State 

 they imported a dozen from New York and turned them 

 loose on the mountains abcutlhere. These animals were 

 procured by S. E. Burnhsm, A. W. Higgins, the late Mar- 

 tin Evarts and others at a considerable expense, and have 

 now multiplied until they are said to be fully as plentiful 

 as in the Adirondacks, from whence their progenitors 

 came. 



THE WOODCOCK SUPPLY. 



What has become of our woodcock is a question not 

 very difficult to answer, when we consider the hundreds, 



ea, perhaps thousands, of miles those game birds travel 



oth during the spring and fall migrations, shot and 

 shelled the whole distance. These birds in their passage 

 to the south to winter are hunted and killed as flight 

 birds, which is perfectly legitimate. But the hunting 

 and killing of the woodcock in his flight to the north to 

 his breeding grounds is a crime not to be forgiven. 



Your correspondent in your issue of June 29th writes 

 that unless prompt measures are taken to save the wood- 

 cook from extermination, this beautiful and wily game 

 bird is doomed to follow the wild turkey here in Canada 

 on the path of extinction. As far as Canada is concerned 

 it is my opinion that she has very little to do with the 

 scarcity of the woodcock. In this locality (where I have 

 seen more woodcock in one day than I ever saw in a 

 month anywhere else in Ontario) with a few exceptions 

 the same covers stand just as they did ten, fifteen and 

 twenty years ago — covers I am sorry to say devoid of a 

 single brace of these great game birds, except late in the 

 fall, when a few flight birds drop into them for a day or 

 two's rest on their journey south. It is hard to credit it 

 now, but it is nevertheless a fact that not further back 

 than 1885 I have raised in one afternoon in these coverts 

 fifty woodcock, and that with very indifferent spaniels, 

 no such dogs as I hunt with at the present. 



In Ontario follow the Nottawasaga Riyer from its out- 

 let into the Nottawasaga Bay, south through North and 

 South Simcoe, and we have 100 miles of the best woodcock 

 ground in Canada, ground that used to teem with wood- 

 cock. This ground is black with soft loam to an endless 

 depth, spread over with decaying vegetation and filled 

 with an abundance of worms, and shaded by covers of 

 briars, underbrush and small shrubs, with wild grapes 

 and other clinging vines dispersed through it. This was 

 the great breeding ground of the woodcock in North 

 Ontario, and at the present time I am convinced that not 

 a dozen brace hatch their young out in a season in this 

 great extent of ground. Last fall, in the months of Octo- 

 ber and November, the woodcock were more numerous 

 with us than they have been for many a year, all flight 

 birds. Other seasons, by the 1st of November, all our 

 woodcock had left for the South; last fall being so fine 

 and warm these birds prolonged their stay. 

 I* A woodcock is a very easy bird to hit if you can get 

 him in the open, but this is generally what you cannot do. 

 However, on the 2d of November last I got a snap on a 

 woodcock (a thing that I never got before in my thirty 

 years' experience of hunting these birds). I was out on 

 the afternoon of that day when I came on an old wood- 

 cock ground that had been chopped down some three 

 years ago, and let grow up again with swamp willow and 

 poplar to about 3 or 4ft. This low cover was very thick 

 and close, there being about five or six acres of it. The 

 spaniels, on working through this covert, raised ten large 

 fine fat birds, nine of which I killed without a miss; the 

 tenth bird, when I first started in, flew over to and lit in 

 some high grass alongside of a rail fence. I left him for 

 the last, but when I went after him he was nowhere to be 

 found. These birds had nearly a quarter of an inch of fat 

 on them, and were the largest lot of woodcock I have 

 seen. A friend to whom I sent two wrote me that 

 he thought they were as large as the English bird. 



How far north the woodcock is found in Canada, or 

 what his range may be, I am unable to say. I have shot 

 a few birds in the northern townships of North Simcoe, 

 that being the next county to Muskoka. I never shot a 

 woodcock in Muskoka, nor have I ever heard of one being 

 killed in that district. 



In the spring of the year I have flushed woodcock and 

 snipe together, but never in the fall. The snipe, I fancy 

 for warmth and protection from the storm and cold, take 

 shelter at that season among the swamp willows and pop- 

 lars. 



To the young sportsman who wishes to become a pro- 

 ficient woodcock shot, I would say, fire at every bird that 

 gets up, if you get the slightest glimpse of him; fire when 

 you think or feel he has gone. Do as the Irishman said he 

 played the fiddle, neither by sound nor by note, but by 

 main strength. Just so must you make many a shot at 

 this game, taking all the chances of probable, possible and 

 very doubtful shots. 



Years ago, when the woodcock were plentiful with us, 

 the season opened on the 1st of July. Then these birds 

 were to be found in small clusters or families, generally 

 composed of about four — mother and father and two 

 young. How this came I do not know, as all the nests I 

 have discovered in every instance held four eggs, leaving 

 two young, or two eggs not accounted for. 



About the first week in August these birds commenced 

 to disappear, leaving behind just an odd on or two, and 

 reappearing again in numbers about the latter end of 

 September. Where the woodcock go to during the moult- 

 ing season is, I know, a thrashed out question, but it will 

 always be a puzzle to me, as I never succeeded in thrash- 

 ing it out satisfactorily; in fact, in all my searches I never 

 got the slightest inkling as to where the birds were. 



When the woodcock were plentiful, so also were the 

 wild pigeons; I could always when out in the covers kill 

 half a dozen or a dozen young pigeons without the slight- 

 est trouble. I cannot bring myself to believe that the 

 complete extermination of the wild pigeon is owing alto- 

 gether to the netting and killing in the rookeries of these 

 birds. I am of the opinion that disease of some kind 

 must have had a good deal to do with such a total ex- 

 termination as the wild pigeon has suffered There 



73 



must be numerous places quite inaccessible to man where 

 these birds could and did hatch their young that would 

 have prevented the bird from becoming extinct. 

 Cookstown, Ont. Henry B. Nicol. 



DEER HUNTING ON THE CHOWAN. 



We had been bird shooting several days last autumn in 

 the Chowan country with varying success, and on at least 

 one occasion down by the river had seen marks of deer, 

 although they were some days old. 



There had been a good deal of talk about deer and vari- 

 ous ways suggested to secure one. We had tried one of 

 them; that was to carry our right hand vest-pocket full 

 of buckshot shells to load the gun when passing through 

 a thicket where birds were not to be found. This brought 

 no success and was a nuisance as well, although we were 

 frequently told of a young man in the locality who had 

 shot several deer that way. 



Another way suggested was to secure a deer in Wash- 

 ington on the homeward trip, where Virginia venison is 

 sold to returning sportsmen at 30 cents per pound. 



We finally decided to spare a day from the quail and 

 organize a hunt. The day came, or rather the darkest 

 hours before daylight, and we looked out to find the cover 

 all soaking wet. 



However, the mules hitched, we drove on to the meet- 

 ing place, but the driver and dogs failed to appear. Our 

 friends fortunately owned several hounds of deer-hunting 

 breed and we journeyed on, bouncing over the rough 

 road in the old Tennessee wagon, making enough noise 

 to drive all the deer out of the county. 



After passing the forks of the road, several miles nearer 

 home than the selected hunting grounds, we halted. Mr. 

 Lehry, owner of the houndB, alighted, leaving his un- 

 loaded gun in the wagon, approached the fence, looked 

 sorrowfully at the wet underbrush, and threw in a stick 

 to encourage the hounds, when almost from under it up 

 jumped a deer and slipped cat-like into thicker cover, 

 from which it appeared in view for an instant as the 

 voices of the now excited dogs broke forth. 



There was excitement for a few minutes. The mules 

 were run into the pines and left to look after the wagon 

 themselves. Tom caught his pointer, which had fol- 

 lowed us, now terribly excited and bewildered, and 

 stuffed him in my new dog crate, where he made himself 

 useful by chewing at the door. 



Mr. Lehry drove to a well-known crossing in the oppo- 

 site direction from which the deer ran. My brother-in- 

 law (the fellow who had brought us into the muss), now 

 the most excitable of us all, ran to the forks of the road 

 and then up the one toward home, running two sides of 

 the triangle to the deer's one. The deer came out ahead. 



We then spread out along the road some hundred yards 

 apart and quieted the pointer in the box and the mules 

 in the woods. In fact, we made every preparation to 

 kill the deer should it return; and stood there quietly 

 while a cool drizzling rain came tumbling down. The 

 deer, it never came back. But Mr. Lehry, a hunter of 

 experience, said it would two or three days later, as it 

 had not been scared much. 



It may be well to state that the deer, after crossing the 

 road to which my brother-in-law was running and where 

 jumping the fence it nearly alighted on a man walking 

 along without a gun, journeyed through the woods some 

 miles to an old strawfield, acres in extent, then no doubt 

 recollecting that it had played there many a time when it 

 was young, circled round and round over the same track 

 until the hounds had become bewildered or were led to 

 apprehend that the deer were combining for dangerous 

 motives. It then, retired to the deep recess of a large 

 swamp to rest its weary limbs and smile with others of its 

 kind at those fellows from the North. 



The hunt being up, as the long drawn calls of Mr. L.'a 

 horn indicated, we returned homeward, stopping at a 

 cornfield in sight of the house, and soon found a covey, 

 which the pointer stood. The birds arose, but before 

 they reached the pine thicket we killed several of their 

 number, which in part allayed our thirst for the blood of 

 the deer that we didn't get. 



Then we walked over the fields to the house and to our 

 dinner. Edgar J. Parker. 



In Indian Territory. 



Loco, I. T., July 15. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 often read in your paper of men who walk all day and at 

 night return almost or quite empty-handed. Then I 

 think that we who live on this frontier have little cause 

 to complain of a scarcity of game. In our immediate 

 vicinity there is very little of the larger varieties of game, 

 although we occasionally hear of some one killing a deer 

 or turkey. Only a few miles north of our little town, in 

 the foothills of the Arbuckle Mountains, are quite a num- 

 ber of deer and turkeys; and occasionally a wildcat or 

 panther is found. But the latter are very rare even in 

 this wild and rough country. Of the smaller varieties, 

 we have an abundance of quail and squirrels, while of 

 rabbits "the woods are full of them." Prairie chickens 

 nest here; and no matter how severe the weather, remain 

 in large flocks all winter. 



Any one used to shooting can take his dog and gun and 

 in a few hours' time kill all the game he wants. The 

 only drawback to the visiting sportsman would be a lack 

 of hotel accommodations. There are, however, some 

 towns along the Rock Island Railroad that are very well 

 supplied with hotels. There are no "posted" signs and 

 no opposition to be met with by shooters in these parts, 

 and every one generally shoots where and when he 

 pleases. In winter the quail retreat to the dense thick- 

 ets of dogwood and green-brier that abound here; this 

 makes hunting them very difficult. I have lost many a 

 fine old Bob White by his falling in vines so thick that I 

 could never reach him. 



There is an article in the Indian code making it a mis- 

 demeanor for any one not a native to kill and ship game 

 from the Territory. It is, however, very little regarded, 

 as there are shippers located at different points who not 

 only ship, but advertise their business in the local papers. 

 As a result there are men who follow netting quail and 

 shooting deer and turkeys as an occupation during the 

 winter monthB. This, if persisted in, will soon do the 

 business for us, and if the country ever does become the 

 property of the white man he will find very little in the 

 way of game to "protect," and nothing for the true and 

 law-loving sportsman but the depleted haunts and the sad 

 recollection of what this now excellent game country 

 once was. W, 



