Nov. 23, 1895.] 



FOHEST AN£> STREAM. 



CAPE COD AND MAINE. 



Boston, Nov. 16.— There has heen considerable excite- 

 ment among the hunters at Mattapoiset, Mass. , the past 

 week. A deer, with exceptionally fine antlers, has been 

 seen at several points in that town. He was seen on Sun- 

 day near the Almshouse by a number of persons. On 

 Monday, Melvin Harriman saw him swimming in the 

 water near Angelica Point, and tried to lasso the animal. 

 He was seen again on Tuesday near Pine Island. A friend 

 sends me a newspaper account, and another friend from 

 that town suggests that the deer has doubtless escaped 

 from some private park in the vicinity of the Cape. A 

 mob of hunters have been after him, and any one of them 

 would shoot the beautiful creature at sight, though there 

 is a perpetual close time on deer in Massachusetts in Ply- 

 mouth and Barnstable counties, 



Mr. Charles Z. Basset, of Appletbn & Basset, is absent 

 on a shooting trip in Plymouth county. He is quartered 

 at Farewell's Camp, and several friends are with him. 



I met a Mr. Pierson, of Boston, to-day. He is just out 

 from a deer hunt in Maine. The weather has been very 

 bad— raining nearly every day for a week. He went into 

 the Kingfield region. He was out one day with his guide, 

 in the rain. The guide says, all at onoe: "Now is your 

 chance! take your time, and aim at the shoulder I" Look- 

 ing carefully ahead and into the fog, Mr. Pierson saw two 

 deer. He shot one, but was greatly displeased when he 

 saw that it was a doe. The next day he came out of the 

 woods in disgust. 



How singular it is that the novice— the greenhorn— at 

 hunting and fishing usually comes out ahead. The Gil- 

 lams and Ed. Bean have had some luck, though the 

 weather has not been all that could be asked. Mr. Bean's 

 brother here has a letter from the woods stating that Ed. 

 has shot a deer. His previous hunting experience had 

 been nothing, though he had shot a military rifle some at 

 targets. But the Gillams, old hunters and experts with 

 shotguns and hunting rifles, have got no deer. The Cut- 

 tings, Will and George, were guides. 



C. B. Seagrave has lately returned from a successful 

 hunting trip into Maine. He was accompanied by O. A. 

 Mason. They went to Machias, and from that city, six- 

 teen miles, into camp. They got a deer. 



A party will start as soon as the telegraph advises 

 that there is snow, to be composed of Dr. Heber Bishop, 

 Mr. W. T. Farley and Mr. C. 0. Williams, of Boston, and 

 Dr. McLeary, of Worcester. The other members of the 

 party are good hunters, but they are looking to Dr. Bishop 

 to take them into the land of the moose and caribou. 

 They will go up tho Aroostook Railroad nearly to the end, 

 and thence twenty-two miles to Ashland. From that 

 point they strike to their hunting grounds. They will 

 have four camps, though one of the four will be made a 

 home camp, to which all will look after each day's hunt. 

 But if belated, either of the other camps will have sup- 

 plies of provisions and sleeping accommodations. Each 

 man will have a guide and hunt independently. The four 

 camps are located &ome six or eight miles apart. A hunt 

 of two weeks is on the programme, unless a plenty of big 

 game is secured in less time. Special. 



Brooklyn Men have Luck in Maine. 



Brooklyn, N. Y., Nov. 11.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I noticed in last week's issue my letter from Maine and so 

 send you another to finish our story. We went out the 

 Monday following, each alone, and I walked perhaps a 

 mile and a half from camp when I came upon a company 

 of nine deer. I was even more surprised than they were, 

 but they did not seem to mind me at all, bo I picked out 

 the largest buck I could judge from the distance. We 

 had to drag him the whole distance to our camp, but I be- 

 lieve I have one of the best formed buck heads in Brook- 

 lyn, and am now having it mounted. My partner also 

 killed his buck, but some three miles from camp, and it 

 was one of the hardest pulls I ever had in dragging him 

 to camp; his hair on one full side was dragged off as if it 

 was shaved. 



We now had our full law's allowance, our guide, C. 

 Arbo, keeping his one deer, as he intended taking another 

 party out. The American Express officials at Boston say 

 we had as fine a lot of game as ever came into their office. 

 I was charged with 2511bs. for my buck, so you can 

 imagine it was a good-sized one. In all we were charged 

 with 6901bs. of deer. 



I send you under separate cover a picture of my place 

 of business with the four deer hanging outside, and assure 

 you they made a fine show. We both used the Marlin 

 rifle .38-55. 



We may mention that we would be only too pleased to 

 recommend any of our fellow sportsmen to Eleme 

 Pond, and if anyone would like particulars we will gladly 

 tell them all we know about it. 



P. P. Wigand. 



Charles McLaughlin, 



Adirondack Deer Statistics. 



The Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission has sent 

 out a circular letter to residents and guides in the Adiron- 

 dack region asking that these questions be answered. The 

 information thus gained is to be used in the forthcoming 

 report: 



1. Estimated number of deer killed in this territory. 



2. Number killed by floating or night-hunting, 



3. Number killed by hounding. 



4. Number killed by still-hunting or otherwise. 



5. Estimated proportion of bucks and does. 



6. Are the deer in this locality increasing? 



7. Were there more or less deer killed this year than 

 last in this territory? 



8. How did the deer killed this season average in size 

 as compared with previous years? 



9. Were any dead deer found in this locality last win- 

 ter, and about how many? 



10. How many deer in this particular territory are esti- 

 mated as having been killed out of season in 1895? 



Preporttyour luck j 



With Rod or Gun f 



" That reminds me." 



In a recent number of the Forest and Stream I noticed 

 an interesting account of coon hunting in western Ten- 

 nessee. The facts related by Kling remind me of many 

 incidents connected with the sport in the Old Dominion. 

 Many a time I have had just such luck as he. 



I heard a gentleman while discussing this subject relate 

 the following incident in connection with. some of his 

 hunting experiences: 



The party, consisting of hunters, dogs, axes and torches 

 galore, had been hunting for a good part of the night 

 without any luck whatever. Finally, however, the dogs 

 "treed" a coon up a very large tree. While disoussing 

 the subject of cutting down such a large tree, one of the 

 many negroes in attendance volunteered to climb the 

 tree and investigate the whereabouts of his coonship. All 

 agreed to this and sat around to await developments. 

 Soon after the negro had disappeared among the branches 

 the attention of all was drawn to a very peculiar sound 

 emanating from the top of the tree, it was a kind of 

 mixture of negro and coon dialect. Some one ventured 

 the remark: "Bill, have you got that coon?" "Yas, sah," 

 was his reply, "I'se got dis her' coon, but I wish you 'u'd 

 send some o' dem niggers up her' to help me turn him 

 loose." Bang-Bang. 



Licking, Va., Nov. 11. 



BLACK BASS WAYS. 



To FOREST AND STREAK, 

 New York City. 



The Leap and the Shake. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



If you had not given me the assurance in advance that 

 the readers of Forest and Stream would forgive me for 

 "threshing old straw" in reviving once more the question 

 of leaping bass, I would not dare to give my experience 

 or views. 



It is not strange that anglers should differ in views, for 

 with all the literature which we now have there is yet 

 room for a most interesting book on this fish, and its title 

 should be "What I do Not Know about Black Bass." 



I have always believed, and still believe, that the bass 

 leaps from the water for the sole purpose of throwing 

 the hook from its mouth, and an experience of many 

 years confirms this view. It is for this reason that a bass 

 taken with a fly yields greater sport than those taken 

 with bait, for its instinct leads it to believe that a hook 

 in the mouth can be thrown out more readily than one 

 lodged in the stomach. In my experience those hooked 

 in the mouth invariably leap from the water, while those 

 hooked deep in the throat or in the stomach very fre- 

 quently do not leap at all. 



Some years ago I was casting the fly for bass on 

 Pleasant Lake near Monticello in Sullivan county, which 

 was taken by a fish of good size, and on its first leap from 

 the water the snell was broken at the shank of the hook. 

 In a few seconds the bass leaped from the water at the 

 same place and shook its head vigorously, and after an 

 interval of a few seconds more it leaped again from the 

 same Spot, and on this occasion threw the hook from its 

 mouttf'With such force that it fell on the water to a dis- 

 tance of from 10 to 15ft., but after this it did not leave 

 the water any more. It follows that on this occasion at 

 least the bass must have had its mouth open, for it could 

 not have thrown the hook from a closed mouth, and that 

 the head must have been shaken with great force to 

 throw the hook so great a distance, and it also follows 

 that it leaped to free itself from the hook, for after it had 

 been thrown from the mouth the leaping ceased. 



On the other hand I have frequently taken bass in 

 Canadian waters, while drifting or dragging with a long 

 line and using a minnow for bait, which did not leap from 

 the water at all, and have commonly found that in such 

 cases the bait had been swallowed and the hook was far 

 down the throat or in the stomach, and in fact it is fre- 

 quently possible to tell to what extent the bass has swallowed 

 the bait by its tendency to leap or not to leap from the 

 water. As to the frequent leaping of bass as a matter of 

 habit, as claimed by some of your correspondents, I can 

 only say that I have often seen them break water, and in. 

 such cases have always found that they were after food 

 abounding on or near the surface, but I have never seen 

 them leap clear of the water except when hooked. 



The Migration of Black Bass. 

 A question of much greater importance in regard to the 

 habits of the small-mouthed black bass seems to have 

 been overlooked, or at least not to have elicited discussion, 

 and it is one which must be carefully considered in our 

 future legislation for the protection of these noble game 

 fish. 



It is well known that the Senate Fish and Game Com- 

 mittee of this State were authorized at the last session to 

 confer with the representatives of the Canadian Govern- 

 ment for the purpose of arranging if possible for the 

 adoption of a system of uniform laws to apply to the com- 

 mon waters of the St. Lawrence. The fish needing 

 especial protection is the black, and one of the principal 

 questions to be considered is whether the bass which, 

 spawn in the St. Lawrence inhabit those waters during 

 the entire year, or whether they migrate to a large extent 

 from Lake Ontario in the early spring for the purpose of 

 spawning, and then retire to the lake for the winter. 



During the conferences held in the latter part of last 

 August I made this the subject of careful observation and 

 inquiry, and am satisfied that most of the bass which 

 spawn in this river migrate from the lake, descending as 

 far as Ogdensburgh or lower. As the shad leave the 

 ocean and ascend our rivers to reach congenial spawning 

 grounds, so the bass leave the deep waters of Lake Ontario 

 and descend the St. Lawrence until the shoals at the foot 

 of the lake and for a distance of sixty miles or more down 

 the river become every spring one vast spawning ground 

 for the bass of at least the lower part of the lake. 



A single fact, if my information on this point is cor- 

 rect, will corroborate this view. In July the bass fishing 

 down the river begins to fall off, and then as the season 



advances anglers are obliged to frequent grounds nearer 

 and nearer the lake. I met a party of gentlemen about 

 Sept. 1 last at Marysville, in Canada, across the Bay from 

 Kingston, who told me that they had visited that place 

 for many years because the bass fishing continued good 

 there after it had fallen off down the river. 



The bass, as they work toward the lake, stop to feed on 

 the shoals, and the nearer the lake the longer the season. 



If I am correct as to the above facts and conclusions, 

 then the protection of the bass in the St. Lawrence is a 

 matter of much more than local importance. We protect 

 the shad as they ascend the Hudson River, and especially 

 protect them on their 'spawning beds and as they descend 

 to the sea, so that they may return with each recurring 

 year, and we must likewise protect the bass of the St. 

 Lawrence, so that the lake can every year yield a full 

 abundance of brood fish for the great spawning grounds at 

 the head of and in the river. 



To accomplish this result three things are necessary. 

 The close season should be slightly extended, say until 

 about June 10, although many of the bass are even then 

 on their beds or brooding their young. The limit of size 

 should be not less than 12in. in length, which is 

 about the length of a fish weighing lib., although many 

 fish of this length will not exceed lloz. in weight; and 

 the number of fish allowed to a rod or to a boat, if more 

 than two rods are used, should be limited. 



Such a law if passed should certainly command the 

 heartiest approval and support of all true anglers who are 

 interested in the restoration of these waters, and if re- 

 spected and obeyed the St. Lawrence would soon regain 

 its former wealth of black bass. J. S. Van CleeF. 



POUQHKEEPSIK, N. Y., NOV. 11. 



MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION. 



Boston, Nov. 15.— Editor Forest and Stream: The first 

 regular monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Fish and 

 Game Protective Association since the summer vacation 

 was held on Thursday evening, Nov. 14, at the Copley 

 Square Hotel. Between sixty and seventy members were 

 present, and an excellent dinner was served by Proprietor 

 Risteen. President B. C. Clark occupied the chair, and 

 opened the speechmaking with congratulations upon their 

 successes during their various outings with rod and gun, 

 and urged upon the members renewed activity in the 

 work of the Association. He read the decision of the 

 Supreme Court, just promulgated, in the case of the Com- 

 monwealth vs. Follett, of Lee, Mass. This was the case 

 where Mr. Follett was convicted of the illegal taking of 

 trout in close time. He claimed the right to take trout 

 from a brook running through his own land for the pur- 

 pose of securing their spawn for breeding purposes, hav- 

 ing planted the trout to that end. It was shown that the 

 brook was a natural trout stream and that it contained 

 other fish than those planted by him. He was convicted 

 in the lower court, and the case was carried to the Su- 

 preme Court upon exceptions. These are now overruled, 

 the Chief Justice — Judge Field — holding that as it was 

 shown that the stream was in part a public waterway, the 

 defendant had no right to take the fish. 



The routine business was then proceeded with. The 

 following gentlemen were appointed a committee to 

 nominate a list of officers for the ensuing year: Dr. J. F. 

 Stetson, Charles Stewart, Dr. J. W. Ball, Alexander Pope, 

 W. B. Hastings, Ivers W. Adams, Luther Little ; and 

 Messrs. Dr. Heber Bishop, Walter M. Brackett, C. J. H. 

 Woodbury, Senator Robert S. Gray, Hon. George W. 

 Wiggin, Senator Charles F. Sprague and William B. 

 Smart were appointed a committee to arrange for the 

 annual dinner in January. Messrs. A. R. Coolidge, Clif- 

 ton A. W. Bartlett and Geo. L. Young were elected to 

 membership, and the applications of Sumner A. Gould, 

 William L. Henry, Arthur R. Robinson and E, B. Parker 

 were received and will be acted upon at the next meet- 

 ing. 



Then followed an hour of interesting talk by members 

 and guests. Hon. John F. Hutchinson, president of the 

 Fruit and Produce Exchange, told of his experiences 

 with rod and gun in various parts of the country. J. 

 Russell Reed, Esq., was warmly welcomed back to the 

 ranks after a long illness. He said that for several years 

 past business had taken him to the West, and he always 

 took his rods and guns along, to get a day's sport when- 

 ever the opportunity offered; and it was his opinion, 

 based upon actual experience, that better shooting could 

 be had within 100 miles of Boston than within the same 

 distance of Denver; that on the whole there was better 

 shooting right here in New England than in very many 

 parts of the great West. Dr. Ball, ex-president E. A. 

 Samuels and others added to the general fund of experi- 

 ence and information, and the meeting was brought to a 

 close at a seasonable hour after a very enjoyable session. 

 Mr. Clark makes an admirable presiding officer and there 

 is no lagging when he is in the chair. 



William B. Smart. 



To Protect Potomac Bass. 



The Maryland State Game and Fish Protective 

 Association, Baltimore, Nov. 15. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The Maryland Game and Fish Protective Asso- 

 ciation has for some time had under consideration the 

 best means for the better protection of black bass in the 

 Potomac River, and, after a very thorough investigation 

 of the subject, is convinced that it is absolutely necessary 

 for Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia to agree upon 

 a uniform law regulating the catching of bass in the 

 Potomac, and then have the law agreed upon enacted by 

 the Legislatures of the respective States. I will not say 

 anything about the many nefarious methods employed in 

 depleting the Potomac of bass, but it is apparent to all 

 who have investigated the subject that unless radical and 

 speedy measures are adopted the black bass of the Potomac 

 will soon be a thing of the past. Our Association is 

 equally as pronounced in the opinion that with proper 

 laws restricting and regulating angling (the only way 

 game fish should be taken) in the Potomac the "supply 

 of bass will be inexhaustible, affording anglers of the tri- 

 party agreement and whosoever will perpetual, healthful 

 and delightful recreation. 



Earnestly desiring the accomplishment of the plan 

 briefly outlined, the Maryland Game and Fish Protective 

 Association has issued this call for a conference to meet 

 at the club house of the Blue Ridge Rod and Gun Club, 

 Harper's Ferry, W. Va., Nov. 23, 2:30 P.M., for the pur- 

 pose of discussing and drafting a satisfactory uniform 

 law. George W, Massamore, Secretary-Treasurer. 



