402 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 9, 1895. 



THE SEASON'S GAME. 



Manitoba Grouse Country. 



Winnipeg, Man. , Oct. 30.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 T o explain the shortage of the grouse crop is a puzzle. 

 T here are lots of theories, but never one that can be satis- 

 factorily substantiated, but the pintailed grouse and pin- 

 nated grouse "crop" was a failure, and this certainly was 

 not in consequence of their being shot out. The ruffed 

 grouse, on the contrary, is more plentiful than for years 

 p ast. It is only about thirteen years ago since the first pin- 

 nated grouse (or what is dubbed the Minnesota prairie 

 chicken) made their appearance in Manitoba. This bird 

 has traveled with civilization, or rather, with wheat cul- 

 tivation, and is now found 250 miles west of the 49th par- 

 allel and seems to be going west a few miles every year. 

 T he pintailed grouse, which abounds — or did abound two 

 years ago — at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and 

 extending eastward for about 100 miles, have this year 

 almost disappeared. I traveled last month 400 miles par- 

 allel with the mountains, and from observation and in- 

 quiries found the same story repeated: "Something has 

 killed them." This phrase covers scores of theories. I 

 could give my own, but it would also be a theory. 



Cranes, both blue white and brown, seem to have bred 

 well north, also swan and geese. They are in the south- 

 western portion of the Province in great numbers. I saw 

 a flock of cranes a few days ago that resembled a flock of 

 sheep to a demonstration; had I not known that sheep 

 were not kept in that locality I should have passed on. 



One thing is certain: every effort will have to be exer- 

 cised to uphold our game laws and see them enforced or 

 we in Manitoba will be like our cousins in Dakota. A 

 friend in Dakota wrote me to get him guest-permits for 

 himself and three friends to shoot in Manitoba, writing 

 me that they had not a feather in their county. I 

 wrote him that when he showed some interest in trying 

 to preserve the game in his county I should be delighted 

 to be of assistance to him; but now he had helped to kill 

 every feather they had without once raising his voice in 

 favor of game protection he would never get my assist- 

 ance to aid him in killing our game to the last feather. 



Thos. Johnson. 



Conditions in Louisiana. 



Opelocsas, La., Oct. 30.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 While the conditions for breeding were not of the best, 

 I am under the impression that the crop will in no wise be 

 cut down. The summer was one long wet spell, and in- 

 terfered very much with the breeding. This wet season 

 lasted several months, and I doubt not that many nests 

 were destroyed or young bevies drowned by the excessive 

 floods. Since about Sept. 1 of last year we have been 

 treated to dry weather, and at present water is scarce. 

 The pools, ponds and marshes are all dry, and it is a mys- 

 tery to me how the birds get water. The negroes down 

 South say that during a long dry spell the birds drink the 

 dew on the grass. This superstition would hardly have 

 held good this time, for the atmosphere has been too dry 

 for even dew to form on the grass. But the birds get 

 water from somewhere, and are not suffering. 



Our open season begins on Nov. i, only a few days off: 

 but it will be entirely too dry to permit of good shoot- 

 ing. 



The best breeding season is a dry one, with occasional 

 showers. T. A. Jackson. 



Texas Quail, Chickens and Snipe. 



Galveston, Tex., Oct. 31.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 From my observation since Oct. 1 1 find quail fairly abun- 

 dant. The severe weather of last February seems not to 

 have affected them. From other sections of the State I 

 learn that the birds are abundant. 



The past season was very favorable for the hatching of 

 prairie chickens, as we had a dry summer and no Bpring 

 rains to drown out the nestings; so our bird supply is prac- 

 tically unaffected either by weather conditions or ex- 

 cessive shooting. 



Jacksnipe are coming in, but on account of there not 

 being any very recent rains, they are not very plenty yet 

 near Galveston, but we may look for good shooting 

 throughout the winter on these birds with the advent of 

 several good rains and colder weather. The first jack- 

 snipe made their appearance on the coast Sept. 2. 



R. W. Shaw. 



The Virginia Bird Crop. 



Richmond, Va., Nov. 1. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The "bird crop" of quail in Virginia this year is the 

 poorest we had since the deep snows of '56 and '57. The 

 truth is there are not enough in any county in the State 

 to enable a sportsman to make a respectable bag in a 

 week's time. The members of the Virginia Field Sports 

 Association are not going to shoot at all, and the farmers 

 throughout the State will forbid shooting in order that the 

 few birds left may restock the covers for another year. 

 The cold weather of last winter not only killed out the 

 quail, but almost completely wiped out all of the small 

 birds as well. I have not seen a bluebird since the deep 

 snow last January. The English sparrow is with us, how- 

 ever, in great numbers, both in the towns and in the 

 country, and like that other "nuisance," the small boy 

 and his gravel shooter, is here to stay. 



Polk Miller. 



Mississippi Quail. 



Waveely, Miss., Oct 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 So far as I can say I think birds are fully as abundant as 

 last season. I was out this morning and found altogether 

 in about three hours ten bevies within a half-mile circle 

 of the kennel. Reports from country friends say there 

 are more quail than last year, but some are later and 

 smaller. Striking the medium, I think it is safe to say 

 that the quail crop equals in every respect that of last 

 season W. W. Titus. 



Newton, N. C, Oct. 29.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The bird crop is short this year. The trainers who are on 

 the ground are the people from whom I have gathered 

 my information. I will give you some of their experi- 

 ences here during the last three weeks. Mr. Stoddard 

 and Mr. Hammond have been all over the country i n 

 every direction, and have, I think, about as good idea as 

 anyone can have, They tell me that they have run a 



good brace for three hours and not a single find. Then 

 they have run puppies and found from three to five coveys 

 in an hour. They have gone out a number of times and 

 found nothing, and they have found as many as nine 

 coveys in a day's hunt. 



Mr. Buckle is down in tie country about eighteen miles 

 from here and his report is about the same. Messrs. John- 

 son, Gray and Mayfield are out from town about four 

 miles and their reports are about the same. 



Two young men, residents of the town, drew the west 

 side grounds and found six coveys until 10 o'clock with 

 two brace, and on the eastern grounds they found seven 

 coveys with one brace in an hour's time, and they put 

 down two more trace without a Bingle find. 



Now we must confess that this looks very blue, but we 

 can draw some consolation from the fact that the natural 

 surroundings are dead against the dogs. It is dry here 

 beyond description, there having been no rain for more 

 than three months. The weeds, brush and everything 

 are covered with dust, and a dog after running for an 

 hour sets up a continual sneezing on this account and it 

 kills his nose for birds. 



I really think there are more birds here than the 

 trainers find. I know too that they are not as plentiful 

 as they were last year, but there are enough birds for 

 trial purposes if it should ever rain and the natural con- 

 ditions should become favorable. 



The shortness of the crop is attributable to several 

 causes. The very severe winter left the birds in a weak 

 and feeble condition, and the powers of propagation on 

 this account were undoubtedly impaired, for we see very 

 few full-grown birds, showing that the first crop was 

 almost a complete failure. The pot and meat hunters had 

 something also to do with it. I will give you one in- 

 stance. After the poor birds had weathered through our 

 terrible winter they were weak and frail, and our pot- 

 hunters here and through the country killed them in 

 great numbers. B. J. S. 



Wilkes- Barre, Pa., Oct. 30.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I am pleased to say that there are a great many more 

 grouse this season than last, due entirely to an exception- 

 ally favorable breeding season. This year we had no rain 

 to speak of during the hatching season. Wet weather 

 only affects the very young chicks. Birds 3 or 4 weeks 

 old will survive almost any storm. The season of 1894 

 we had fewer grouse in this section than I have ever 

 known before, due largely, I think, to nineteen days of 

 almost incessant rain, which commenced during the last 

 of April and continued during the time most of the birds 

 were hatching. 



I have gunned three days this Beason and have killed 

 nineteen grouse and one woodcock. All the grouse killed 

 were young birds but two, which proves conclusively that 

 the birds have done well with us. We put out a number 

 of Mongolian pheasants here last fall. I think that they 

 have not done well. I myself have seen none, and have 

 had no reliable information concerning them. 



H. M. B. 



Chattanooga, Tenn., Oct. 29. — North of Chattanooga 

 the cold weather of last winter killed most of the birds 

 eft over. In this immediate neighborhood they are re3 

 ported to be fairly plentiful. I hear from good authority 

 in southwest Tennessee that birds are very plentiful, and 

 I take it that they are fairly abundant south of this place, 



The hatching season was favorable in this section, 

 though heavy rains in July and August may have 

 drowned a good many of the young birds. F. I. Stone 



Cincinnati, Oct. 2d.— Editor Forest and Stream: I hear 

 no encouraging reports about the quail, as a result of the 

 almost unprecedented drought of the past summer, but 

 my investigation of the subject has not been as thorough 

 and extended. One of my acquaintances, recently in 

 central Illinois, found the birds scarce and quite small, 

 evidently of a second hatching. Unless the country is 

 favored with drenching rains to get the ground in proper 

 condition for the dogs, the shooting will be seriously in- 

 jured, even should birds be found more plentiful than 

 now. Hunter. 



Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 28.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The rapidity with which birds have been destroyed in this 

 section is much to be deplored by those entereBted in 

 reasonable sport and the preservation of game. It seems 

 to be a matter of little difference whether the season is 

 good or bad, as the majority of the hatch is exterminated 

 before they are well feathered, while in the long open 

 season from October to April scarcely enough escape for 

 seed. Edward S. Gay. 



Washington, D. C, Nov. 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I have been carefully investigating the question as to 

 prospects for quail shooting this season, and am fully sat- 

 isfied that so far as relates to the States of Virginia and 

 North Carolina the shooting will not be anything like as 

 good as in the past two years, especially during the early 

 part of the season. My advice to sportsmen from the 

 North would be to defer their visits to these particular 

 States until late in the season, as most of the birds were 

 late hatched, and are too small as yet to afford any en- 

 joyment to either dog or sportsman. 



F. B, Farnsworth. 



Perth Amboy, N. J., Nov. 1. — Yesterday's storm will 

 make better shooting than has been since the opening of 

 the season. There are some quail and many rabbits, but 

 both have been hard to find on account of the extreme 

 dryness of the ground and fallen leaves. Ducks are fairly 

 plentiful in Raritan Bay. The attention of game warden 

 5. L. Tooker has been called to violations of section 10 of 

 the game law, which prohibits the use of sailboats in 

 hunting wildfool,and the practice is likely to be broken up. 

 Woodcock have been very scarce, but there should be a 

 flight next week. Some large striped bass were taken 

 recently in the Raritan River, one of 5lbs. with rod and 

 line and one of 141bs. in a fyke net. Last week one man 

 caught twenty -five good-sized bass in two hours at Marsh 

 Point, half a mile above the railroad bridge. J. L. K. 



Grand Forks, N. D., Oct. 27.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The rainfall during this spring and early sum- 

 mer was exceptionally heavy for North Dakota. While 

 this produced two crops of wheat in one it produced about 

 one-third of a crop of chickens. 



Never did I see such a quantity of old birds as wintered 

 over ready for business this spring. Although January 

 and February had the lowest average temperature of 

 many years, birds wintered well. 



But we had some very sour weather in the latter part 

 of May and early part of June. It was both cold and wet. 

 This either addled the eggs so they did not hatch or it 

 chilled the young ones to death. My experience with 

 birds I have hatched under a domestic hen is that during 

 the first two or three days after incubation they are easily 

 chilled. 



I have just returned from my month's shooting over the 

 State and find that the scarcity of birds has not been local. 

 In some localities I found it was attributed to a hail 

 storm. But I found birds just as scarce in localities where 

 there had been no such storm. 



Nor is it attributable to excessive shooting. For several 

 years I have shot in a locality thirty-five miles from a 

 railroad station, where no one has shot but myself. For 

 miles from my center not a gun has been heard but mine, 

 save an occasional farmer's — very few of these, because I 

 have kept them supplied with birds. I have never shot 

 wantonly; never wasted a bird. Last year I shot more 

 birds than during my first visit there; but this year I 

 bagged about half as many as I did during the first season. 



So it cannot be excessive shooting that thinned the 

 birds this season. 



My experience is that birds can stand a dry season better 

 than they can a wet one. There were plenty of birds here 

 in '89, although we did not have a shower between seed- 

 ing time and June 6. 



Our State has suffered in spots from some non-resident 

 sportsmen (?), who have shot only with the idea of slaying 

 everything in sight. Hundreds of birds have been shot 

 and allowed to rot in heaps in certain localities, especially 

 in the northern part of the State. I am sorry that the 

 law for next year is not likely to exclude such persons; 

 for although it imposes a fine of $25 on non-residents, it 

 will not reach the class of men who commit such 

 wantonness. W. Hamilton Spence. 



P. S. — I got forty-four jacksnipe one afternoon this 

 fall, between 2:30 and half an hour before sunset." I was 

 not trying to make a record either, or I had shot more. I 

 shot at nothing I knew I could not pick up in the open 

 ground. This, with my No. 16 gun, with which I shoot 

 chickens, ducks, sand-hills, geese, etc., is not bad, is it? 

 Compared with this, gooae shooting is but pot-hunting. 



W. H. S. 



Little Rock, Ark., Oct. 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Heavy rains during the early season destroyed most of our 

 first "crop" of birds, but the second crop is growing nicely 

 and in a few weeks will be right to shoot. Many crops 

 are now but half grown and very few have been shot up 

 to date. We had snow on the ground for seven weeks 

 last winter. That is very unusual here and thousands of 

 quail were trapped and potted; so our crop will be short, 

 but we will have plenty for good sport by Dec. 1. We do 

 not shoot them until heavy frost kills the vegetation. 

 Our duck shooting is very good just now and will be fine 

 within the next two days. The mast is also very heavy, 

 and my information is that there are plenty of deer and 

 turkeys in the southern districts; a friend of mine killed 

 two last week within a few miles of Little Rock. 



Jos. W. Irwin. 



Dallas, Tex., Oct. SI— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 have been out with my gun but once or twice, but from 

 what I can learn the crop is a good one. The shooting 

 season begins here by law the 1st of this month, but I am 

 sorry to say that it is observed only by gentlemen 

 Bportsmen. The common herd shoot at any time and at 

 anything they choose to. I live near a city, and thiB class 

 begins on the birdB just as soon as they can fly, and of 

 course they are quite scarce near me. My hunting ground 

 is in Montague county, this State, where birds are very 

 plentiful. I expect to go there next week for a month's 

 shoot. Maj. A. J. Ross. 



A Day's Sport in Pennsylvania. 



On Oct. 25 Messrs. F. S. Hyatt, C. A. Hall and I. S. 

 Vought, of New York city; W. H. Schroeder, of Elmira, 

 N. Y., and Price Bros., W. J. and M. D., proprietors of 

 Spruce Cabin House, Canadensis, Monroe county, Pa, — a 

 popular headquarters for sportsmen — accompanied by the 

 noted guides Paul Price and Mart Fish, left the house for 

 a hunt in Monroe and Pike counties, the object being 

 large game, which abounds in this section. Ere the 

 guides had posted the gunners on the different runways 

 Fish ran plump up against a black bear of immense size. 

 This fellow was brought to grief by two well-directed 

 shots in the head, and the fun commenced. Scarcely had 

 W. J. Price secured favorable position, awaiting the ap- 

 pearance of . anything in the game line, when a large 

 buck and doe bounded directly toward him. Price, free 

 from "the fever" and biding his time, brought down the 

 doe with the first shot at a distance of 60yds. The buck, 

 being behind, veered to the left and escaped. In the 

 second drive another buck came from the same direction 

 and was downed at long range by two well-directed shots. 

 A goodly number of pheasants were also secured. 



All the game was brought to Spruce Cabin House on 

 the following day, and, with the gunners, was photo- 

 graphed by Mr. Parsons, of New York city, a patron of the 

 house. The photographs will adorn the walls of the re- 

 ception room. W. E. D. 



Adirondack Deer. 



Brooklyn, Oct. 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: Apro- 

 pos to the discussion relative to the hounding of .deer in 

 the Adirondacks, permit me to state a little of my obser- 

 vation and experience. Some of your correspondents 

 write as if a deer had no chance for life in "dogging 

 time," but I believe that of all the deer run by dogs nearly 

 or quite as many escape as are killed. No "starter" and 

 no dog can steer a deer into a given lake, and water is so 

 abundant in the Adirondacks that "stray" races are fre- 

 quent. I have known a dozen dogs to be in the woods 

 and as many men watching on ITtowana Lake and vicin- 

 ity, and not a , deer came to the water all day. Again, 

 I have known parties to hunt with dogs unsuccessfully 

 for a week at a time, and once did it myself, though I 

 have had my share of success both hounding and still- 

 hunting. If no man kills more than his legal two a year 

 we are in no danger of exterminating the deer. 



J. C. Allen, 



