Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, |4 a Yeab. 10 Cts. a Copt. I 

 Six Months, $2. f 



NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 16, 1888. 



I VOL. XXX.— No. 4. 



I Nos. 39 & 40 Park Row, New York. 



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Nos. 39 and 40 Park Row. New York Cttt. 



CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



The Change at Creedmoor. 

 Snap Shots. 



The Rock Climbers.— vn. 

 The Sportsman Tourist. 



Sam Level's Camps.— vin. 

 Natural History. 



Canadian Birds. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



The Megan tic Club Diuner. 



After Mississippi Ducks. — I. 



Shooting Ethics and Accidents 



The Hunting Rifle. 



Approximate Trajectory 

 Curves. 



New York Game Law Mill. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



In the Land of the Micmacs.-iv 



Past and Future. 



TLe Large Trout Record. 



Sunapee Lake. 



FlSHOULTURE. 



I 7 . S. Fish Commission Report. 

 Massachusetts Lobsters. 

 The Mission of the Menhaden. 

 Progress in British Columbia. 

 The Kennel. 

 English Dog Chat. 



The Kennel. 

 Nights with the Coons. 

 The St. Bernard Club. 

 Dalton Dog Show. 

 Barring of Beaufort. 

 New York Dog Show. 

 Worcester Fur Company. 

 Club Sins and A. K. C. Justice. 

 Boston Dog Show. 

 Kennel Management. 

 Kennel Notes. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 

 Range and Gallery. 

 The Trap. 



Dominion Trap News. 



The Long Branch Shoot. 



Trap at Cincinnati. 



Shoot at Franklin, Ohio. 

 Yachting. 



A Winter Cruise in the South. 



Larcbroont Y. C. 



The Steam Yacht Lucerne. 

 Canoeing. 



Atlantic Division Meet. 



The Present Tendencies of 

 Canoe Racing. 



Prizes for Paddling Races. 

 Answers to Correspondents. 



THE CHANGE AT CREEDMOOR. 



THERE is a great deal of current misapprehension 

 about the bill which has been introduced into the 

 N. Y. State Legislature providing for a transfer of Creed- 

 moor back to the State, by whose action the establish- 

 ment of the range was made possible. The facts are very 

 simple; Creedmoor to-day does not pay, and the directors 

 of the National Rifle Association find themselves merely 

 the custodians of a range property of which the State is 

 the largest user, and in which the State has the largest 

 interest. The directors are paid $4,000 annually by the 

 State as compensation for the use of the range by the 

 State troops. Now the directors propose that the State 

 shall take the range, establish rules for its use, hire the 

 markers when necessary, and have entire control here 

 just as it does at the State Camp grounds at Peekskill. 



The directors, however, make a very modest request. 

 There is no intention of allowing the National Rifle Asso- 

 ciation to become defunct nor to reduce it to the position 

 of a mere office association, without range outdoors. 

 The monthy shoots, or weekly ones for that matter, it is 

 thought should be kept np, and the annual fall meetings 

 are not to be dropped. The directors in giving up the 

 ground wish a provision to be made so that these civilian 

 and military meetings may be retained and at the Creed- 

 moor range. 



It would be a great pity indeed if Creedmoor is to be 

 abandoned entirely. The State can take hold of it, put it 

 in order, and get abundant returns from it in the in- 

 creased shooting skill of the National Guard of the whole 

 State, and particularly of the cities of New York and 

 Brooklyn. There is no other site near the metropolis, for 

 the whole territory has been well searched. It is neces- 

 sary that the great majority of the State National Guard 

 in these two cities shall have opportunity to enjoy out- 

 door ball practice, so Creedmoor must be retained. The 

 directors confess they cannot run it and the State can, 

 therefore the State should take it, and the terms of offer 

 are not in the least onerous. 



In making the transfer, the directors present the State 



with a rich opportunity. It already has a proud history 

 and it should remain for many years to come the practice 

 ground of thousands, each one inspired by the story of the 

 struggles which have been had in small arm work on that 

 memorable range. Turned into pasture lots, cut up into a 

 struggling town site, the range with its story of a decade 

 and a half of endeavor and triumph will become a mere 

 tradition. This is worth something, and this cannot be 

 put into the bond of transfer against the modest reserva- 

 tion which the directors demand. 



SNAP SHOTS, 



4 Ta dinner given recently in New York by a well-known 

 gentleman who is interested in big-game shooting 

 in the West, it was proposed to form a club which should 

 bear the title of the Boone and Crockett Club. Only per- 

 sons who have killed one or more varieties of North 

 American large game with the rifle are to be eligible to 

 membership, and the name, embracing as it does those of 

 two of the best known American rifle shots, sufficiently 

 indicates the character of the organization. It is essen- 

 tially a club of American riflemen who use the arm for 

 hunting. The suggestion made by their host was warmly 

 welcomed by the gentlemen present, and a few names 

 were suggested of persons who might be glad to become 

 members of such an association. The members of the 

 club, so far as it is developed, are all persons of high 

 social standing, and it would seem that an organization 

 of this description, composed of men of intelligence and 

 education, might wield a great influence for good in 

 matters relating to game protection. It would be prema- 

 ture at present to speak of the possibilities of such a club, 

 but as matters develop in regard to it, the public will be 

 kept advised upon the subject. 



Although the Commissioners find their appointment no 

 sinecure, they do not hesitate to urge that the Forest 

 Commission should be charged with the enforcement 

 of the game laws within the forest reserves, and that the 

 duties of game and fish protectors and forest guides 

 should be combined. This would be for some reasons a 

 desirable change. There have been employed during the 

 past year fifteen forest guards, whose duties have com- 

 pelled them frequently to traverse the game districts of 

 the Adirondacks and the Catskills. By charging these 

 officers with the duty of enforcing the game and fish 

 laws the force of game protectors would be increased by 

 fifteen. Again, if the game protectors whose districts 

 include the forest preserve were charged with the addi- 

 tional duty of guarding the forests, the forestry police 

 would be increased. If this suggestion be adopted, it is 

 clear that the entire force of game and forestry wardens 

 in the forest preserve should be put under the control of 

 the Forest Commission. 



Some one writes to ask the New York Times to "advo- 

 cate a United States Game Commission in connection with 

 the Fish Commission for collection of game buds from 

 States and Territories where such birds are abundan t for 

 distribution in sections near the same latitude where birds 

 are scarce or unknown." The transplanting of game 

 can best be done by the enterprise of clubs or individuals. 

 Then there is some one who is interested enough to en- 

 deavor to protect the transplanted species. If the chim- 

 erical scheme of the Times correspondent were ever real- 

 ized the transplanted game would have no such protection. 



The bill before Congress appropriating $30,000 for a 

 statue of the late Prof. Spencer F. Baird, seems likely to 

 pass, if it has not already done so, and the question is who 

 will be intrusted with the execution of it. The friends 

 of J. Q. A. Ward, the New York sculptor, are quite con- 

 fident that he will be commissioned to design it, while 

 others are pressing St. Gaudens to submit a model for 

 competition. 



Mr. C. J. Jones, the buffalo breeder of Kansas, recently 

 made in this city a sale of live stock which is quite out of 

 the usual run of such transfers. He sold to Mr. Austin 

 Corbin, of this city, six head of buffalo, three bulls and 

 three heifers. These are a part of Mr. Jones's herd of 

 tame buffalo, and were captured by him as calves down 

 in the Indian Nation and Texas. They will be sent East 

 before long and will be put on Mr. Austin Corbin's place 

 on Long Island, where in time a number of native Ameri- 

 can wild animals will be gathered by that gentleman. 



The price paid for these buffalo has not been made public, 

 but that the figure was high may be inferred from the 

 fact that on more than one occasion Mr. Jones has refused 

 $500 apiece for buffalo. 



In the Massachusetts Senate tho Committee on Agri- 

 culture have been directed to consider "the expediency 

 of providing by law for the offering of bounties for the 

 destroying of injurious birds and other animals, including 

 English sparrows, crows, hawks, foxes and woodchucks, 

 which are destructive to farm crops." The committee 

 may profitably familiarize themselves with the course of 

 Pennsylvania. The law there giving a bounty for hawks 

 and owls was repealed last year, because competent 

 naturalists proved to the satisfaction of the Legislature 

 that those birds were useful instead of injurious, and 

 that laws to promote then - wholesale systematic destruc- 

 tion did not partake of wisdom but of the rankest folly. 

 If hawks and owls are useful allies of agriculture in 

 Pennsylvania they cannot be injurious in Massachusetts. 



We observe that Capt. Chas. A. Bramble, of Fredericton, 

 N. B. , has recently returned to his home, closely followed 

 by a Dutch blessing from Mr. Wm. C. Harris, who is the 

 editor of a paper printed in this city. It is understood 

 that Capt. Bramble offered to sell the fishing rights of the 

 Renous River to Mr. Harris, and Mr. Harris's intimate 

 friends, Messrs. Fred. D. Storey and E. Hurtzig; and that 

 when Mr. Hams failed to take his share, the entire interest 

 was assumed by the others; hence these tears. It would 

 be a mistake for Capt. Bramble or any of his numerous 

 friends to take Harris seriously; he is only playing the 

 part of a man who says naughty things when a fish gets 

 away; and however much such objurgations may assuage 

 the fisherman's chagrin, they do not affect the fish one iota. 



When Mr. Harris accuses Capt. Bramble of sharp prac- 

 tice,he accuses by implication Messrs. Hurtzig and Storey, 

 the Captain's associates in the deal. But Messrs. Harris 

 and Storey have been intimate friends; and when Harris 

 espoused the cause of the Maine trout jiggers, Mr. Storey, 

 writing under the name of "Guy Herne," also gave what 

 defense and comfort he could to the jiggers. It is a 

 melancholy reflection that these friendly relations may 

 now be strained; and indeed ths most distressing feature 

 of this Renous River complication is the spectacle of this 

 little coterie of brothers of the angle, once so devoted, 

 now fallen out and at sixes and sevens right on the bank 

 of a salmon stream, as it were. 



The inaugural dog show of the Fort Schuyler Kennel 

 Club, held at Utica this week, was excellently managed, 

 and the quality of the dogs shown was above the average 

 even of our large shows. Mr. A. A. Francis, of Roch- 

 ester, judged the setters and pointers, and Mr. James 

 Watson, of Philadelphia, the remaining classes. A list 

 of the awards will appear next week. 



The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Associa- 

 tion has petitioned the Legislature to change the wood - 

 cock season to Sept. 15, to forbid grouse snaring, to 

 protect black ducks and shore birds in winter and spring, 

 and to make a close time for lobsters in the egg-bearing 

 season. The laws of Massachusetts are sadly in need 

 of a change. 



Dr. E. S. Holmes has resigned the presidency of the 

 Michigan Sportsmen's Association, after a long term of 

 most useful service; and his retirement will be a genuine 

 loss to the society. His name is identified with the pro- 

 gress of game protection. 



The statue of Izaak Walton, which is to be given by 

 the anglers of England to Winchester Cathedral, where 

 he is buried, will be the work of Miss Mary Grant, 

 the English sculptor, who has recently visited this 

 country. 



The Megantic Fish and Game Club is practically en- 

 forcing the game law on its territory in Maine and Can- 

 ada. If properly managed the preserve will supply good 

 fishing and hunting for generations to come. 



The value of a dog bite is fluctuating. A New York 

 firm, whose dog bit a small boy, passing on the sidewalk, 

 were sued for $2,000 damages. The jury last week gave 

 a verdict for $250. 



