140 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. IT, 1895. 



lost me and now they can find me," and with that I began 

 hunting pigeons as if I had no thought or care. I was 

 successful, and aCter nearly two hours of hunting had 

 added seven more birds to my load; just then spying a 

 flock in a distant tree I carefully made my way toward 

 them, and as I was preparing for the shot there almost 

 underneath them I beheld the lost outfit. My exclama- 

 tion of joy at the sight lost me the shot, but I had "just 

 enough." 



Some time after my arrival R. came up, having been 

 gone nearly four hours. "Nice fellow you are," said I; 

 "thought you were coming back in an hour." No reply. 

 Can it be possible that the jolly, good-natured R. is angry 

 with me for my non-arrival? Has he been here before 

 and been waiting all this time for me? I questioned him 

 as to his luck, but found him decidedly non-committal. 

 Finally I said to him, "See here, R., no use in your being 

 huffy; the facts are, I have been lost and could not get 

 back here any sooner than I did." Ah! then once more 

 did the smiles appear upon his genial countenance, and 

 loud and long did the woods give back the echo of his 

 mirth. When he could control himself, he explained that 

 he, too, had been lost, and was overjoyed to find that I 

 had been in the same predicament. Thirty minutes after 

 leaving the road he had turned back toward it, but could 

 not find it. After walking for nearly two hours he dis- 

 covered that he was walking alongside of the road. It 

 seemed that just above where he had left it the road took 

 an abrupt turn to the left, and when he came back he had 

 struck above this ton. He had not the consolation that 

 I had, for he had seen only one small flock of pigeons, 

 and they got away. It was my turn to laugh then, and I 

 did justice to the occasion. 



Our trip ended that night, and was my last experience 

 with pigeons with one exception. The following year R. 

 and I were driving one Sunday around Lake Harriet, now 

 a part of the park system of Minneapolis, when' I discov- 

 ered a small bunch of pigeons in a tree near the road. I 

 had a .32 Colt's revolver, and with it I killed a bird from 

 the last flock of wild pigeons I have seen. Everett. 



TRANSPORTATION COMPANY WAYS. 



Boston. Aug. 8,— The indignation of sportsmen, visiting 

 Maine and the East, is growing more pronounced every 

 day concerning the treatment they receive from the Maine 

 Central Railroad. This indignation is fast coming to light, 

 in fact, and sportsmen, who are almost invariably business 

 men, and men who influence travel and traffic, are avoid- 

 ing that road and urging their friends to do so. Their 

 influence may be small, and the officers of the Maine 

 Central may feel like ignoring it, and trusting that, owing 

 to the desirability of that road as a way for sportsmen to 

 reach their hunting and fishing resorts, they will gradually 

 begin to overlook the attempt to force their fish and game 

 and dogs, as well as other paraphernalia, into the hands 

 of the American Express Co., for that company to charge 

 exorbitant prices for forwarding. But such is a mistaken 

 idea. Sportsmen are submitting only as they are obliged 

 to submit, in some cases quietly, and in others finding 

 considerable fault, and are doing all they can to hurt the 

 express company. Sportsmen do not forget that there is 

 scarcely another railway or steamboat company in the 

 country but what forwards the baggage, the fish and 

 game, the dogs, the tents and camping goods of sportsmen 

 in their baggage cars, free of expense, or at a moderate 

 excess baggage, when above 2001bs. in weight— forwards 

 these articles free, the same as did the Maine Central Rail- 

 way till the celebrated order of last November was issued 

 to its baggage masters. 



A most striking case has just come to my notice. A 

 Boston merchant who has been in business here for nearly 

 thirty years, a sportsman by nature and instinct, a gen tie- 

 man in every way, who always pays dollar for dollar and 

 expects others to do the same, is just back from his spring 

 fishing trip. His name is not given here, because it is not 

 necessary to the illustration of the principle involved, but 

 it can be furnished if either the Maine Central Railway 

 or the American Express desires it. He has a cocker 

 spaniel of which he is very fond. Besides intending to 

 take him on his fall hunting trip he thought that he 

 would take him on his spring fishing trip. He wanted 

 the dog for company and to give him some knowledge of 

 the woods. Fearing the new arrangements of the Maine 

 Central he had a little cage made for the dog, and re- 

 solved to ask the railroads to check it along with his 

 other baggage, which consisted of a bag and a very small 

 trunk, the whole not weighing more than one-quarter of 

 the weight of a single Saratoga, such as the Maine Cen- 

 tral's Bar Harbor travel takes three or tour of to a single 

 passenger— and the road is glad to get the travel at that. 



On starting, the Boston & Maine very politely checked 

 •the gentleman's baggage, little dog's cage and ail— not 

 only checked the cage, but asked for the dog, which was 

 then at his master's heels, saying that gocd care should 

 be taken of him. In this way the dog and cage went 

 through to the gentleman's rail destination; since the 

 cage bore the cheeky of the Boston & Maine, the Maine 

 Central did not see fit to trouble it, though passing over 

 the line of the latter road from Portland up." But it was 

 on the way out that the snag was struck. The gentleman 

 first embarked on the Canadian Pacific. The baggage- 

 master cheerfully and politely checked the little dog's 

 cage down as far as Greenville, the junction of its line, 

 with a road controlled by the Maine Central, I believe! 

 The baggage-master here, also agent of the American 

 Express Co., declined to check the dog's cage. He de- 

 clared that his road was not going to check sportsmen's 

 dogs any more. When remonstrated with by the gentle- 

 man he insultingly replied that he did not care for sports- 

 men any way; they were a class of travel that did not 

 pay. Often they had to pawn their guns or fish-rods in 

 order to get money enough to get home with. ThiB was 

 news to the gentleman. He reluctantly put his dog and 

 cage into the hands of the express company. At Pitts- 

 field, where the next change was made, on to the Maine 

 Central proper, the baggage-master refused to check 

 the dog and cage. He said that it was against the 

 • rules. When asked to show his rules, he turned his back 

 and walked away. The dog and cage were again given 

 over to the American Express Co. The express company 

 got $2.50 out of the gentleman for transportation of his 

 dog on the way out, when it was started free by the 

 Boston & Maine on the way in, and went in free. He is 

 aware that not another road in the country scarcely, ex- 

 cept the Maine Central, would have insisted on his turn- 

 ing his dog over to the American Express Co. He very 



naturally feels that he has been unjustly treated, and for 

 that reason he will hereafter go to his fishing and hunting 

 resort via the Concord & Montreal and Canadian Pacific 

 railways; avoiding the Maine Central altogether. He is also 

 sending merchandise, in which he deals, by some other 

 way than by the American Express- Now he recommends 

 his customers to buy in larger quantities and have him 

 ship by freight, and he keeps his freight off the Maine 

 Central whenever it is possible to do so. Special. 



NITRO POWDER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Nitro seems to be the powder of the day, whether at the 

 traps or in the field, and should any one stick to the old- 

 fashioned black powder at a tournament, he is spoken of 

 as a black powder fiend. About all the guns now adver- 

 tised are spoken of as bored especially for nitros, and 

 guaranteed when using the same. Are such guns tested 

 with nitro in the same manner as formerly with black 

 powder? Is there anything in the proof marks (of guns 

 which bear such marks) to show they stood anything more 

 than the ordinary black powder test? 



I think I was the first to use a nitro powder to any ex- 

 tent at a large tournament. At the first Ligowsky clay- 

 pigeon tournament, held in Chicago in the spring of 1884, 

 I won the Ligowsky diamond badge against a field of 

 seventy shooters. At the same place Ben Teipel and I 

 killed fifteen live pigeons straight, shooting off a tie. Abe 

 Kleinman spoke to me at the time, saying, "I never saw 

 that powder do anything before." Since then I have used 

 in trap-shooting a good many thousands of cartridges 

 loaded with nitro powder. 



The sportsman or trap-shooter of to-day can have his 

 choice of a number of different brands of nitroB, each of 

 which is claimed to be the best, but is it as safe and reli- 

 able as black powder? I mean, of course, when properly 

 loaded. Do any of the manufacturers claim it is? I know 

 I cannot find a gun dealer who has practical knowledge 

 of shooting who will tell me that it is. I have seen it act 

 queerly at times; saw a gun blown to splinters not 50yds. 

 from my house here. The gun in question was well made 

 and apparently sound and safe, borne twenty-five shots 

 of the same powder had just been fired in it and its owner 

 wanted to try a shot at a target to see what the penetra- 

 tion was. The charge was 2drs. (I measured it myself) 

 and 1-Joz. shot. Fortunately the shooter shot from a rest 

 and held both hands back of trigger guard. We picked 

 up twenty-eight pieces of gun and did not find all of it 

 then. Afterward I tried to make the same powder burst 

 something and could not. Loaded an old flintlock mus- 

 ket with nearly half a pound with about a foot of wad- 

 ding and touched it off with a match, and it did not do 

 any damage. 



Last fall I hunted ruffed grouse and woodcock a good 

 deal with a mwa who used a popular brand of nitro; and 

 occasionally his gun would sound like a cannon and kick 

 like a mule. A young man in this neighborhood is get- 

 ting ready for the fall shooting. He bought a new gun 

 of one of cur best makers. The first cartridge he shot in 

 trying the gun was loaded with nitro (he did not load it 

 himself) and it kicked almost out of his hands. 



There is no question about there being many things in 

 favor of nitro against black powder — light report, quick- 

 ness, absence of smoke and dirt— but is it as safe as ordi- 

 nary black powder? C. M. Stark. 



Dumbarton, N. H. 



SHOOTING AT LONG RANGE. 



Editor Forest and. Stream: 



"A Moose Paradise," published in Forest and Stream 

 of Aug. 10, has merit far above the ordinary descriptive 

 article of camp life and tb e pursuit of large game. 



There is one part of it, however, which sadly mars the 

 whole, since it records an act which was flagrantly un- 

 sportsmanlike, one which was wantonly and unfeelingly 

 cruel. The writer of it, "Tiam," says: "I saw on the 

 edge of the woods 200yds. away a second moose eyeing 

 me with as much astonishment as I saw it. We both 

 concluded to act at the same moment, the moose bound- 

 ing away into the woods with a fearful crashing and I 

 shooting after him. As before, I followed up and was 

 gratified to find blood on both sides of his track. I now 

 found Frank running after me, attracted by the shooting, 

 and we followed the moose over bogs and barrens and 

 sticks and stones and windfalls and every barrier con- 

 ceivable, till I was utterly exhausted, but never got a 

 sight of him, although we found he had lain down sev- 

 eral times. Finally we concluded to leave him, as we 

 would have to hurry anyway in order to get the one shot 

 in the morning out of the woods without spoiling; in 

 fact, we did almost lose the head. On reaching the spot 

 where the moose was standing when I first saw him we 

 found two distinct clumps of hair, showing that the ball 

 went through seme portion of him." 

 ^ To make my point clearer, it is necessarv to mention 

 that "Tiam" relates that this odious act occurred after 

 breakfast, and that before breakfast he had killed a 

 moose, off which he and his companions cut some steak 

 the. quality of which he testifies to as follows: "How 

 juicy that steak did taste, and how we enjoyed it!" 



Now "Tiam" was not hungry when he mutilated his 

 second moose, for he had eaten his fill of palatable steak 

 and there was abundance left. He confesses that they 

 had great difficulty in saving the meat of the first moose 

 as some of it almost spoiled before they could convey it to 

 the settlement. J 



He confesses that he shot the second moose 200yds 

 away when it was fleeing in cover— a distance at which 

 he could have no certainty of killing it even if it stood 

 immovably quiet. 



Considering the last act of this> somewhat irregular 

 case, is it humane or sportsmanlike to shoot at a moose 

 200yds. away when the animal is fleeing through cover ? 

 In European countries such an act would be considered 

 such a flagrant violation of the commonest laws of sports- 

 manship that the offense would be denounced as odious 

 to the sight of ail true sportsmen. There could be no 

 possibility of a reasonably certain shot at 200yds which 

 would kill, but there were many possibilities of a cruel 

 wound, which would result in a painful and lingering 

 death to the noble animal, and also a waste of a large 

 quantity of valuable meat. The latter apparently was 

 the result in this instance. A magnificent animal was 

 fatally wounded and lett to die a slow and painful death 

 from an act which eanie from a spirit of mere wanton- 



ness. "Tiam" utters no word of regret. The party had 

 plenty to eat. They already had so much moose meat 

 that it was saved with difficulty. The party had just had 

 a good meal, so that none of the fiercer instincts of hun- 

 ger were in action. The moose shot at was out of the 

 range established by humane reasoning or the conven- 

 tions of sportsmanship. Why was it done? 



I would like, to read the opinions of large game hunters 

 on this matter, for information as to whether such care- 

 less and wanton destruction is after the manner of true 

 and approved sport, or whether it was simply butchery. 



Dick of Connecticut. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



Chicago, 111., Aug. 9.— On last Monday a box marked 

 "poultry" was opened by Warden Blow at the store of 

 George T. Randall, commission merchant, 219 South 

 Water street, and within were found a prairie chicken 

 hen, eleven chicks and five turtle doves. All these were 

 condemned and sold under the statute, and Randall was 

 additionally fined $5 for each bird, $75 in all. 



This is as it should be. When Warden Blow abandons 

 his open-field theories and gets down to practical work 

 with the game buyers, he will bo doing some good and 

 will be finding a wide field of activity. But what is not 

 so good is the news that Warden Blow comes to members 

 of the Illinois Association with the story that he has spent 

 considerable money on the Merritt cold-storage case at 

 Kewanee; that he can now get nothing out of it 

 until it goes to the Supreme Court, and that unless 

 the Association can raise him a little money to reimburse 

 him on the Kewanee case, he will feel very much 

 like settling the case with Merritt. I do not think 

 the Illinois association should allow itself to be bluffed 

 into raising money, but I do think and say that if that 

 Kewanee case is settled now it will leave a taint on the 

 sportsmanship of Illinois. Why did not and does not 

 Warden Blow proceed against game-dealer Merritt pre- 

 cisely as he did against game- dealer Randall? Is not the 

 one as liable to fine as the other? Are there f avorit es in this 

 arresting business? And why talk of settlements and com- 

 promises in one case and not in another? The law is 

 plain for Warden Blow. The closer he keeps to it the 

 better it will be for him. The public will look with very 

 small toleration en any settlement of the Merritt caBe. 

 The Illinois Association can do nothing so good as to take 

 hold of this case and fight it through, and it can win it if 

 it does. If for reasons personal or otherwise it is not ready 

 and anxious to fight this case, let it say so frankly, and 

 frankly get out of the road. But it has now the chance 

 of a lifetime to win a big fight, and one which will be of 

 incalculable value to the sportsmen of America. It is 

 almost certain funds enough can be raised to push this 

 case; but money, if raised, should be expended by the 

 Association's lawyers to cover actual expenses incurred or 

 to be incurred. 



From Indiana. 

 Mr. O. H. Hampton, of Indiana, one of the valued 

 Forest and Stream contributors, calls in with his son to 

 say good morning once in a while, and to-day was one of 

 the times. 



From Abroad. 

 Mr. M. Harry Marlin, secretary of theMarlin Fire Arms 

 Co., is in Chicago this week. Mr. Marlin says he has 

 been in Europe for the past six months selling Marlin rifleB 

 to crowned heads. He dined with the Prince of Wales 

 at Wiesbaden, and says the Prince drank only water, be- 

 cause that is the best kind of water there is anywhere, 

 and nothing is too good for him. 



Around Again. 

 Mr. Silvester, Western representative of the Winchester 

 Repeating Arms Co., who has been dangerously ill, is 

 now around again. He had a wrestle with what I be- 

 lieve they call his vermifuge appendix, a portion of the 

 human form, divine which seems to have been just 

 thrown in for lagniappe, as we say in New Orleans, as a 

 sort of bargain cotmter remnant. In fashionable circles 

 this is always removed, I am told, because bargains are 

 not believed in there; but Mr. Silvester let it live to fight 

 another day and says he is all right now. 



Another Cun Man. 

 Charlie Willard, of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. 

 Co. , writes that he will leave Hartford soon for his West- 

 ern circuit, apd will be as far West as Chicago by the end 

 of August. Mr, Willard's health also has been very poor 

 for some time until within the past few weeks, but he 

 says he is mended up and in good health again. 



Spring. Lake Bass. 

 From Mr. Chauncey M. Powers, of Decatur, 111., I learn 

 that the fishing at Spring Lake this year is better than 

 was ever known. Two men went there from Pekm; one 

 landed seven bass that weighed 271bs., and the other six* 

 teen that tipped the scales at 5Tlbs. These were all caught 

 in one day. 



A Portable Boat. 

 Every once in a while Chicago brings out some new 

 idea in sporting goods. One of the late ones is the Kan- 

 kakee portable boat, the invention of Charlie Heimbaugh, 

 known for years as sportsman, club-keeper and warden 

 along the Kankakee near Momence. Mr. Heimbaugh is 

 a practical river man and has devised a practical boat 

 under the conditions entailed in the demands of boat-con- 

 densing. The Chicago Metal Boat Co. make the boat and 

 advertise it in the Forest and Stream business columns. 

 The boat is very compact and readily transported. A 14ft. 

 boat when packed in its case makes a package 57x3GX 

 I6in., which is readily carried in a buggy or light wagon 

 and can be checked as baggage when traveling by rail. 

 It retains its model, strength and durability, and is very 

 simple in construction; can be put together in two 

 minutes or less; all that is required is to place sec- 

 tions together and turn up eight thumb screws. 

 The joints are made each with one tongued and one 

 grooved brass casting, reaching from rail to rail clear 

 across mid-section of the boat. The grooved casting is. 

 milled out to receive a soft rubber gasket 3-16 by £in. 

 The milled slot holds gaBket in place, and the pressure of 

 the tongued casting on the rubber makes a perfect and 

 absolutely watertight joint. The joints are held together 

 each by four brass clamps, two at bottom of boat and one 

 on each rail at top of joint. The boat is stiff and tight as 



