Nov. 9, 1895.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



406 



was plenty of it there is no sign of any now, and the 

 game laws were as good then and enforced as diligently 

 as now. Sometimes I think the breechloader and rapid 

 firing magazine guns are as much to blame for this as 

 anything else, and I wish there was never a breechloader 

 made. The game was going fast enough with the old tools, 

 and I am sure that my hammerless does not afford me the 

 same pleasure the old muzzle loader did. 



While going to town the other day three Italians sat 

 beside me in the trolley car. Their clothing, full of 

 nettles and burs, as well as their single-barrel breech- 

 loaders, indicated that they had been hunting, probably 

 down the river along which the trolley runs. One had a 

 grain bag half full of something soft, and fresh blcod 

 oozing from it looked suspiciously like rabbits, and an- 

 other of them kept his hand on his side coat pocket, ap- 

 parently trying to keep something in that wanted to get 

 out, which looked suspiciously like ferret. The law on 

 rabbits is not off until Nov. 1 and is never off on ferrets, 

 but that makes no difference to the Dago. 



A young woman who used to work for my wife, now 

 married, called at our house a few days ago to show the 

 madam her baby. Seeing me putting my gun away, she 

 told me that "Larry" had been hunting a great deal last 

 summer and this fall, and had killed "lots of rabbits and 

 squirrels, but she didn't like rabbits, they look so much 

 like cats." This looks suspiciously like violation of the 

 game law, and partially accounts for the scarcity of game 

 in season, and a man who is lawful and waits for the sea- 

 son is pretty sure to get left nowadays. 



One day, while hunting squirrels near the West Virginia 

 State line last September, I questioned a native who told 

 me there were no squirrels there then. Said he: "The 

 West Virginny fellers come here and shoot 'em before 

 they're ripe," and added that they came all summer and 

 killed young ones wherever they found them. "There's 

 no use sayin' anything about it, as they skip over the line 

 and ye can't do nothin'." 



There is very little game in the Pittsburg market so far 

 this season and some of it looks like last year's, a few 

 prairie chickens and squirrels being the most I have seen, 

 unless we count coon and 'possum, which seem to be in 

 great demand by other coons, and roasted raccoon is 

 mighty good eating, as I can testify. J. H. B. 



POTOMAC SHOOTING NOTES. 



Washington, Nov. 2.— The outlook for turkey and 

 pheasant is quite good, and, the mountains- of., the Vir- 

 ginias are expected to furnish good sport to our gunners 

 during the present season. On the other hand the' re- 

 ports from the fields as to quail (partridges) are discour- 

 aging. Farmers having 500 acres or more tell us that 

 very few birds are to be seen, in some cases but a single 

 covey has been noted.' 



The great and unusual scarcity of quail is said to be due 

 to the almost unprecedented freeze of last February, 

 when, it will be remembered, we ha,d several weeks Of 

 bitterly cold weather. 



As to rabbits, plenty of cotton-tails are reported. The 

 cold does not kill them off like the poor birds, owing to 

 their habit of burrowing under ground. 



The ortolan season here was rather longer than usual, 

 several very good bags were made quite late. Early in 

 October, about the first, McCormick and Sherwood shot 

 fifty-three in the vicinity of Four-Mile Run, being guests 

 of the club bearing the name of the run. 



A party of three gentlemen from this city took a day 

 off yesterday and spent it in the "wilds" near Quantico, 

 Va. They left here on an early morning train with dogs, 

 guns and liberal supplies of ammunition, including shot 

 of all sizes from bird to buckshot, the latter in case they 

 should meet bears or deer, of which animals these particu- 

 lar woods might be, but are not, full of — and were early 

 on the more or less famous hunting grounds of old Vir- 

 ginny. Well, to make a long story short, after tramping 

 fully forty miles through brush and brier in which they 

 could make but one mile an hour, they discovered — yes, 

 die covered — no game, but that they were lost. The plot 

 thickened , imaginings of wild beasts of the forest brought 

 on despair, and Goldy, ever brave and courageous Goldy, 

 fell in a faint. The bang of a comrade's gun, by which 

 he shot a poor (lean) unsuspecting blackbird, the first 

 game scented by the dogs, somewhat revived Goldy, and 

 to the utter surprise of bis companions he too raised his 

 gun and brought to earth five blackbirds from a flock 

 passing. Home at 9 P. M. Car fare and lunches, $10. 

 Game bagged, six blackbirds. Quantico is a resort easily 

 reached from Washington, and Goldy will cheerfully give 

 information as to finding game, etc. 



Ducks have been reported fairly abundant on the lower 

 Potomac and Patuxent rivers, but near the city very 

 scarce. Poor shooting has been the cry of those not 

 lucky enough to have steam launches, and the majority 

 of our gunners are bitterly opposed to the use of the 

 launches, as they claim that the ducks are chased so hard 

 that they hardly get time to light on the water, never 

 time to settle right, and are consequently kept very wild, 

 making it impossible to get within gunshot by use of 

 small boat. 



Messrs. Bowman, Smith, Webb, McKenny, Capt. Blake 

 and others were out ducking in early October and had 

 fair fehooting. They reported plenty of ducks on the 

 Patuxent. 



Squirrel shooting has been very poor this year. Parties 

 gunning far and wide report very poor results. Even up 

 on the Carroll Manor, Maryland, where squirrels are 

 usually plentiful, hunters have had no success this season. 

 This state of affairs, as in the case of the quail, is ascribed 

 to the cold weather of last winter, parties claiming that 

 the squirrels even were frozen in their tree holes. 



Bart. 



Ducks in Manitoba. 



Winnipeg, Oct. 26. — Editor Forest and Stream: Duck 

 shooting has been very poor here this fall, and unless 

 means are devised for their better protection, our duck 

 shooting will be as scarce as good whisky at High Point, 

 and this to an easy drinker is a calamity indeed. 



Thomas Johnson, 



The Forest and Stream is put to pi-ess each week on Tues- 

 day. Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 tig at the latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable 



WINTER DUCK-SHOOTING ON LAKE 

 ONTARIO. 



Methods of hunting the same kind of game differ with 

 the location and the season. There is no mode of duck- 

 shooting that is so novel, or attended with greater dis- 

 comfort and danger, than winter shooting on Lake 

 Ontario. The ducks that make their home in these icy 

 waters are whistlers, broadbills, coots, sheldrakes and old- 

 wives. The three latter kinds are fish ducks, and on the 

 coast are strong and inferior in flavor, for they there live 

 on fish and sea food. But the lake usually furnishes each 

 autumn several cargoes of barley and wheat that are 

 wrecked and scattered along its shores. Thither the ducks 

 congregate, and after many weeks' feeding on the water- 

 soaked grain their flesh becomes fat and fine flavored. 



They feed with ease in water that is 12 to 15ft. deep, 

 diving to the bottom and remaining under water an in- 

 credible time. It is often amusing to shoot at one or two 

 ducks swimming about, and the next instant to see the 

 water broken in all directions by the birds popping up 

 from underneath where they have been breakfasting. 

 Now is the time for alertness, for if the gunners are busy 

 enough they may slaughter many before they have made 

 a change of elements. 



Ice forms in the shoal water many yards from the 

 shore. Anchor ice and frozen spray are piled upon this 

 in wild confusion, until it looks like the surface of a 

 glacier with hillocks and crevasses. Frequently sprout 

 holes are formed, out of which the water, forced upward 

 by the waves dashing underneath, leaps for many feet in 

 the air, and freezing as it falls forms a cone like those in 

 the crater of a volcano. 



The outer edge of this ice reef is formed into a line of 

 ice cliffs and battlements, containing caves of wondrous 

 beauty, and little coves and fjords like a miniature Nor- 

 way coast line. 



The hunters are clad in garments of white duck, white 

 caps covering the hair, and white masks. Even white 

 covers are used for the guns. These are arranged to be 

 easily slipped off when the time for action arrives. An 

 excavation is made on the edge of the ice, in which the 

 hunters are to conceal themselves. The decoys are 

 anchored at a convenient distance, and the boat, drawn 

 into a little cove of the ice, is covered with a white cloth. 

 One does not have to wait long for a shot, as the ducks fly 

 in great numbers. The cold is often intense and the 

 frozen »spray stiffens the clothing and covers everything 

 with an icy armor. A wind breaik of blocks of ice is often 

 an absolute necessity. But despite cold and discomfort it 

 is sport and everything goes. 



Large numbers of ducks are shot in this way, but not all 

 the slain are retrieved, for the launching of a boat in the 

 wintry seas is a - dangerous operation iand a capsize is 

 something to be carefully avoided, \ Olin B. Coit.- 



OSWEGQ, N..Y. . 



Wild^Turkeys on View. 



New Berne, N. C, Nov. 1.— -To-day the shooting sea- 

 son opens here for turkeys and quail, and I am pleased to 

 say that there will be an abundance of both. The owners 

 of a 1,000-acre forest tract on Island Creek, ten miles 

 from New Berne, are throwing out bait to-day so as to 

 attract the turkeys and hold them for Forest and 

 Stream's patrons, when they come down. It is claimed 

 that there are 200 turkeys at least in that neck of woods. 

 Down near Maysville, which is accessible by rail from 

 New Berne in forty minutes, there are many large gangs 

 of turkeys, as well as at Riverdale, where Dr. Roosevelt 

 and his friends got three birds last spring. 



Quite a few gunners are out to-day prospecting for quail. 

 A good rain yesterday brought the insects to the surface 

 of the ground and will hold the scent for the dogs. 



I saw a fine bunch of mallards, teal and bald pates 

 brought in last Tuesday by two Baltimore gentlemen who 

 are here with their families to spend the winter. Some 

 nice bags of snipe and doves have also been made. There 

 are excellent snipe marshes close by New Berne, on 

 Trent River and Bachelor's Creek. As many as forty 

 doves have been brought in by a couple of shooters after 

 a day's sport. The Hotel Chattawka has just completed 

 a set of dog kennels with abundant yard room, which 

 will be convenient for guests who shoot. There is also a 

 professional guide and two setters connected with the 

 house. 



Owing to eight weeks of drought, the rivers have not 

 been flushed for a long time, so that the water in the har- 

 bor is now brackish, and in consequence is now swarm- 

 ing with myriads of young fat bucks or menhaden about 

 4in. long. There are also many bluefish present. 



C. H. 



DOES TRUE SPORTSMANSHIP EXIST? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have been pondering, deeply pondering, as to whether 

 we have any genuine sportsmanship in this country. 



That there is much pretense of sportsmanship I will ad- 

 mit, but a large part of it is sham. It is natural that it 

 should be so, for our people, traditions, national develop- 

 ment and practice are all against true sportsmanship. 



While loudly professing sportsmanship in the close sea- 

 son on one hand, on the other the practice is to violate the 

 game laws or to kill without limit. 



"The game belongs to the people," and each man with a 

 gun considers himself the people. What belongs to the 

 people has no very definite boundary or title or protec- 

 tion, as we see in the depredations on the great public pine 

 forests, on the game birds, fishes and large animals. It is 

 natural that it should be so. And why? 



Sport only becomes possible after the necessities of life 

 are satisfied. The Indian catches a fish or kills an animal 

 to supply his need for food. It is a necessity. There is 

 no more sport in it than in the work of the farmer who 

 goes forth to dig his potatoes or husk his corn. 



After a time, when the individual accumulates suffi- 

 cient wealth so that a supply to his needs is assured inde- 

 pendently of his personal seeking, he then makes a sport 

 of what to him previously was an occupation. 



Thus we have the wealthy man who equips himself 

 with the engines of death, sallies forth and kills some- 

 thing, or if he is of a more languid or merciful taste, he 

 grows corn or potatoes for sport. . 



Many wealthy city gentlemen have a farm which they 

 run as a side matter for the pleasure it affords and not for 

 the profit. 



In any case, the necessities of life are always assured 

 before sport can begin. If the stomach or pocketbook is 

 empty, the hunter naturally and properly thinks of what 

 a savory dish the game would make, or what its market 

 value is when sold. 



Our national development is opposed to sport. This 

 nation began as a nation of poor people, toilers and 

 hunters. Pursuit of game was necessary to existence. 

 Life was too serious for any kind of sport. 



As population increased, the game decreased. As game 

 decreased, agriculture increased. The latter in time grad- 

 ually became the main reliance for supplying food to 

 the settlers, hunting contributing but a part. Gradually, 

 as agriculture became more fixed, ownership in land more 

 defined and permanent, and game scarcer, more and more 

 people abandoned the uncertain occupation of hunting 

 and took up the more fixed and certain occupation of 

 agriculture. Only the few who either were too lazy or 

 too awkward to work followed the chase as a means of 

 livelihood. 



Man, when he follows any occupation a long while, 

 needs a diversion. If his business affords him a surplus 

 beyond his actual needs, he can leave his business for a 

 longer or shorter time to seek diversion. - 



He may ride horseback and call it sport; to the cowboy 

 or mail rider it is not sport, it is work. 



He may row a boat for sport; to the professional boat- 

 man it is work. 



He may grow flowers or potatoes; to the florist or far- 

 mer the same is work. 



He may fish or shoot for sport: it is only sport because 

 he has abundance already to supply his needs. 



Thus a man must have his wants supplied beyond a 

 doubt before he can engage in any branch of activity as a 

 sport. 



Out of our entire population the ratio of the rich to the 

 poor is very small, therefore the ratio of sportsmen to the 

 men who hunt for material results is very small. 



Wealth is essential to sportsmanship. Still wealth does 

 not of itself make sportsmen any more than it makes 

 gentlemen. From habit and avarice, some men never 

 cease striving for gain, whether their wants are supplied 

 or not. 



The effects of our old development still prevail. The 

 natural effects of a poor population, where pocketbook 

 and stomach are both needy, having free access to the 

 game supply, are in action. It is asking too much of a 

 hungry man to make sport of his dinner, or his means of 

 obtaining one. 



Sportsmen are a class, not a people. To define sports- 

 men, there must be class restrictions. To perpetuate 

 them, they must have class privileges. The latter is the 

 game preserve which excludes the hungry man, or his who 

 is seeking a livelihoood. 



Who says nay? Dick op Connecticut. 



AN ADIRONDACK TRIP. 



The Dominie and Scribe had been visiting the Adiron- 

 dacks for years. For years George had been serving them 

 as guide when they needed one. To the three it was a 

 great pleasure to initiate a tenderfoot, and many a hard 

 tramp and rough camp had been enlivened in that way. 



Two years ago a wealthy friend and confirmed dys- 

 peptic found his way to one of the large hotels near which 

 our trio were domiciled. He had "never been camping" — 

 he had heard much of its benefits— he would like to try it 

 "just for the fun.qf the thing," and especially for the sake 

 of his boy "Stevey." Accordingly an initiation trip was 

 planned, George .was engaged,, and on a hot afternoon 

 boat, tent, duffle, guns and men were placed on a lumber 

 wagon and started down the stage road, the heavy work- 

 horses never going faster than a walk, As the Irishman 

 said when a mob was riding htm on a rail, "If it wasn't 

 for the name of riding I would about as soon have gone 

 afoot." But the hot dusty ride came to an end and it was 

 a relief to shoulder guns and packs and plunge into the 

 forest. 



A mile brought us to "the flow," where it was again a 

 relief to throw down: our burdens. Here were plenty of 

 trout in the streani,.deer fed on its borders, an old lumber 

 camp would afford shelter, and last, but not least (in 

 numbers) mosquitoes so abounded that neither hunting nor 

 fishing could grow monotonous. We halted for the night. 

 The tenderfeet rested, the Dominie tried the pool and 

 called the scribe to help catch trout for supper. The trout 

 were hungry, the men; more so, the mosquitoes most of all 

 — they must have been starving since the lumbermen went 

 away. Did you ever know one of these tuneful birds to 

 neglect an opportunity? If so, it must have been a 

 "Jersey bird" down with chills and fever. The Adiron- 

 dack birds are exempt. Their opportunity had come. 

 They literally drove us from the pool, but not until we had 

 caught enough trout for supper, and the Scribe something 

 more. In walking out over the water on a log he steadied 

 himself by, a projecting pole; alas, his confidence was mis- 

 placed — he clambered out and returned to camp a wiser 

 and a wetter man. The fire was welcome, so was supper, 

 and in due time rest. 



We spread our blankets on the chamber floor of the old 

 house and tried to sleep while George and the Dominie 

 went out for a deer. In vain! The night was cold, the 

 fire out of doors and our expectant ears too eagerly lis- 

 tening for the shot.. It came at last — sudden, heavy, 

 awful — as it broke upon our drowsy senses amid the still- 

 ness of the night. Then a long waiting and the heavy 

 tramp of feet approaching. 



"Did you get him?" 



"I don't know; £ don't, see how I could have missed 

 him, but he ran quite a distanced and then we heard him 

 fail; we shall know in the morning. " 



We found him, a nice 2-year-old buck, lying dead about 

 ten rods from where he had been, shot directly through 

 the heart. In his honor we named this first stopping 

 place Buck Camp. The name of our next camp was 

 equally appropriate, though forced upon us. While 

 George and the others went on the Dominie and Scribe 

 slung the deer on a pole and packed him out to the stage 

 road, where, after waiting an hour, a wagon driver came 

 along and agreed to carry the deer to our cottage at the 

 lake. Having thus planned a pleasant surprise for the 

 friends at home, we retraced our steps and met the party 

 at T Pond. 



Another deserted lumber shanty offered shelter, so it 



