April S, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



207 



T. C. Eldridge. 

 J. W. Slocum. 

 F. W. Armstrong. 

 K. Van Gilder. 

 F. S. Mead. 

 A. E. Mead. 

 Wm. Jenkins. 

 F. W. Barth,Jr. 

 W. H. Hageu. 

 C. M. Woodbury. 

 H. L. Taylor. 

 S. Van Gilder. 

 R. Annan. 

 E. M. Kennedy. 

 W. B. Keener. 

 It. P. McTeer. 



I'enncssee. 



H. L. White. 

 John J. Rowntree. 

 A. Van Glider. 



F. L. Boggs. 

 li .M. Wilson. 



J. H. Scarborough. 

 H. T. Ault. 

 Joe Knaffe. 

 J. C. Duncan. 

 J. D. Cowan. 



H. D. Dreher. 



I. M. Redd, M.D. 

 H. H. Cunning. 



G, W. Ray. 

 W. G. cAdoo. 

 W. H. Bunaughs. 



Editor Forest a nd SPream: 



I cut out the resolutions printed in Forest and Stream 

 of March 8, pasted them on a sheet of legaL cap, and 

 started out for signers. In an hour I had the sheet filled 

 with the best names in the city, and forwarded it to our 

 representative in Congress, the Hon. Wm. H. Grain. I 

 must confess that I was greatly surprised at the general 

 interest in the subject manifested by our citizens. I 

 had hitherto imagined that it was principally sportsmen 

 who were interested in the welfare of the Park, but I 

 found the banker, the merchant, the lawyer, the editor, 

 the politician, in fact, men of all classes whose opinions 

 are of any value, all strongly in favor of protecting 

 and preserving the Park. Our M. C. is himself a 

 thorough sportsman and a good shot, and a good fellow 

 withal, and will. I have no doubt, give his aid and in- 

 fluence to the measure. Guadalupe. 

 Victoria, Texas, March 28. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am glad you are making an effort to have the 

 National Park preserved. I visited it a year ago, and want 

 to see it faithfully protected by the Government. It is 

 the grandest spot in the world. Send me a blank for 

 signatures and put my name down immediately. 



J. W. M. 



Oskaxoosa, Iowa, March. 28. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



An article is going the rounds of country papers, which, 

 on the authority of Warren Humes, an old-time hunter, 

 places the whole number of deer in the Adirondacks at 

 60,000, and further says that the number is increasing. 



Mr. Humes ought to be able to guess pretty well on the 

 num er left, as few men in northern New York have 

 killed more in the days gone by. or, if stories are to be 

 credited, kdled them more wantonly. It is but justice, 

 however, to say that of late years these same stories place 

 him on the side of protection. 



To call the total area inhabited by deer in the Adiron- 

 dacks G,000 square miles is a liberal estimate. This would 

 give ten deer to each square mile — one to eacli lot of 

 sixty-four acres. The inhabitants of the forest, like the 

 human inhabitants of the earth, are not evenly distribu- 

 ted on the surface. It would probably be safe to say that 

 if this whole 0,000 square miles was" laid out into sixty- 

 four-acre lots and numbered, fully one-half would be 

 uninhabited by deer. This would give one deer for each 

 thirty-two acre lot of the remainder. 



Deer are ever active, yet we may travel miles and miles 

 on blazed line or forest path without seeing a sign. 



Let us go to what miglit be called their cities and towns 

 — when tbey are at home. Let us take a trip along some 

 river in June, when deer are tame and co.ue to water to 

 feed and get away from the flies. I have in mind a 

 stretch of about ten rubles on ihe Oswegatchie below 

 Cranberry Lake — famous for its hunting and fishing 

 twenty years ago. We might call this their main street, 

 where all the stores and 3Uoons were located, and where 

 nearly all the inhabitants were likely to come from— say 

 a distance of one mile on each side. Let us suppose that 

 enough came from beyond that limit to make good any 

 within the limit that did not come, and we have on the 

 basis of 60,000 evenly distributed 200 deer that should 

 water every twenty four hours on that ten miles of 

 stream. Lut me ask the old time hunters if they think 

 there was ever within the last twenty years (I might say 

 fifty) a single twenty-four hours when 200 different deer 

 came to that or any other ten miles of river. If we plao 

 it that only one-half the territory is inhabited it makes 

 the number that, ought to be there 400 instead of 200. 



Great Scott! Four hundred deer coming to water on 

 ten miles of river in a single twenty-four hours — forty to 

 every mile, one every eight rods. And this is now; it 

 isn't twenty years ago. Let us go hunting. With a good 

 Winchester one could easily drop a deer at 80 rods. 

 Anchor the boat, shoot up stream and down, and kill 

 twenty deer in twenty-four without paddling a foot. Who 

 would be a pot hunter! 



But, Mr. Editor, I have a scheme that is better than 

 this. The Government does not know what to do with the 

 surplus. Let them improve the wilderness. Let it be laid 

 out into streets, or rather canals. As the State believes 

 in free canals, it might assist in the Avork. Run these 

 canals through on parallel lines two miles apart. This 

 will cover all the ground. Mark stations half a mile 

 apart, and allow our weathy clubs to lease them. Then 

 let them (the clubs) appoint a day for a grand hunt. 

 They might practice for a day or two at a pigeon shoot 

 given by the New York State Society for the Protection 

 of Fish and Game just to get their neiwes steady, so as to 

 avoid an attack of buck fever. 



Such a hunt would be a thing long to be remembered, 

 and would be a more suitable celebration of the final ex- 

 tinction of deer in the Adirondacks than to see the last 

 poor starving doe pulled down by dogs to furnish "moun- 

 tain mutton" for some summer hotel in June, 189 — . 



J. H. R. 



The First Snipe.— Oakdale, L. I., Maroh 81.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I bagged the first pair of English 

 snipe to-day, all I saw. I covered the same ground yes- 

 terday; there were none there. I was in hopes the quail 

 had come through the late storm ail right, but was sur- 

 prised while crossing a grass lot to-day with the dogs on 

 my way to the meadow, to see them pick up two dead 

 quail. The birds were very fat, and in fine condition, 

 their crops being full of corn and seeds. It is surprising 

 how the little f ellow3 find so much to eat in the winter. 

 —Alfred A. Fraser. 



FROM AND TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



TVTEW YORK, March 16.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I* In March 15 issue of Forest and Stream, I noticed 

 a paragraph from "C. F. U.," Princeton College. I can 

 give him information for Minnesota. Chisago Lakes, 

 situated 28 miles from St. Paul, and about same distance 

 from Duluth, will afford him and companions excellent 

 fishing, duck shooting and small game; probably a chance 

 deer. The whole country thereabouts belongs to a private 

 party who does not object to gentlemen shooting there. 

 In 1884, when I was there, orders were given to oneWal- 

 mark and assistants to preserve game and fish. A young 

 man named Tripp is the best guide in vicinity, but any 

 of the game keepers are good guides. Camping facilities 

 are excellent — there are no hotels there. For further 

 particulars, address C. D. B., P. O. Box 863, New York 

 city. I can give them any information of places from St. 

 Paul to Montana.— C. D. B. 



Chicago, 111., March 25.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Starting from Duluth, the Princeton College party may 

 go south on the C, St. P., M. & O. Railroad to Gordon 

 Station, Wis., near which are several lakes where tnus- 

 kalonge, black bass, wall-eyed pike and pickerel may be 

 takenm sufficient numbers and of such size as to please 

 any reasonable man. Several streams in the neighbor- 

 hood , among them the famous Brule, also afford good 

 trout fishing. Deer are abundant, ruffed grouse reason- 

 ably plentiful, and a black bear may be met with. East 

 on the line of the Northern Pacific, within 25 to 60 miles 

 of Duluth, several good trout streams may be reached. 

 Guides and helpers can be hired at $1.50 to $2.50 a day, 

 and boats at about 50 cents a day.— G. O. Shields. 



Orangeburg, S. C, March 9.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: If your correspondent "G. F. P.," in Forest 

 and Stream," Feb. 23, from Washington, D. C, will cor- 

 respond with T. L. Smith, Middlepen P. O., S. C, he will 

 get the information wanted. — L. S. C. 



Information Wanted. — New Petersburg, O., March 

 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: Can you inform me 

 where in Pennsylvania or West Virginia I could go for a 

 week or so and kill some bear? If you do not, would 

 you be so kind as to insert a query in your paper to 

 that effect, and it will bo reciprocated. — W. R. L. D., 

 M.D. 



[Will the Princeton campers kindly send us their ad- 

 dress?] 



STOCKING GAME GROUNDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Friend "Ortyx" desires results of experience iu stock- 

 ing with quail and grouse. Judging from the rest of his 

 communication, lie has quail most on his mind. Although 

 I have had no experience in stocking with game birds, 

 and consider my humble self not fit to give advice, I may 

 venture to state wh it I am thinking about this subject, 

 which greatly interests me, as I have to do my hunting 

 near home, like "Ortyx " 



I conscientiously read every line of Forest and Stream, 

 keep my eyes open on game matters generally, and have 

 come to tne conclusion th it it is almost useless to try to 

 stock with quail in this northern latitude. It has been 

 attempted many times, resulting almost invariably in 

 failuie, as poor Bob White is not able to stand our snows. 



Quail are an uncertain quantity at be t with us Good 

 numbers have frequently been seen during the earlv part 

 of any winter, but not a brood could be found in the 

 same vicinity the summer following. At other times 

 coveys would be started where none had been noticed for 

 several seasons. Surely they are not even moderately 

 plenty. 



Raffed grouse, on the contrary, care naught for snow 

 and cold, and are able to hold their own. They can be 

 found every season in the fame covers, and are fairly 

 plenty in this neighborhood in spite of numerous market 

 hunters, quite respectable men otherwise, capital shots 

 with excellent dogs, but hunting every fall for a month 

 or two without interruption, and selling their birds to 

 meet expenses and wages. If "Ortyx" and his friends will 

 give their grouse full attention in the way of protection 

 against snares and vt-rmin, and shortbill woodcock 

 hunters, and will leave a reasonable number of birds for 

 breeding out of every covey, they will soon find a decided 

 improvement in their numbers. If, however, "much 

 shooting has led to the natural result," as "Ortyx" says, 

 it is safe to say that stocking will be useless, as "much 

 shooting will lead to the same natural re-ult." 



In conclusion I will offer a question which has occurred 

 to me quite often, viz. : Why should not the Chinese 

 pheasant, introduced into Oregon so successfully, be a 

 good game bird in Massachusetts? There would certainly 

 be no more risk in introducing Chinese pheasants here 

 than Vu-ginia quail. Worcester County, Mass. 



A Crust in Maine. — The latest reports from Maine 

 indicate that there has been a very strong crust, and 

 the fears are great that the moose and deer have suffered 

 badly. The Commissioners are handicapped for the 

 want of money, and very little is being done toward 

 the enforcement of the game laws. But attention is 

 being called to the defect in the law, that was sprung 

 upon the last Legislature, and there is not a doubt that 

 the trouble will be remedied next winter. The leading 

 papers in the State have called attention to the defect, 

 and altogether the best of public sentiment seems to be 

 in the right direction after all. The lumbermen are now 

 all out of the woods, and the moose and deer are again 

 safe as far as the lumbermen are concerned. — Speclal. 



The First Woodcock.— Cranford, N. J., March 27.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: This evening, at 6:30, driving 

 home from the depot, I saw the first woodcock I hav^ 

 run across this spring. One crossed the ioad flyiag jupt 

 ahead of the horses, the other a little further on, one was 

 humped up in the ditch alongside of the road, and scarcely 

 moved as I went by, so I got out to investigate, thinking 

 it might be hurt. It let me get within five feet of it, 

 when it got up and dropped over into the field lively, as 

 they are wont to do.— F. M. Bennett. 



Steuben County (N. Y.) Game Law Bill.— There is a 

 bill in the hands of a committee in the Assembly, which 

 if pissed would make the duties of the District Attorney 

 of Steuben county, N. Y., a non-compubory one in all 

 suits brought in the name of the people for game or fish 

 violations. Should this bill become a law what a snap 

 the market hunter or fisher, or the violators in general 

 would have; they could violate the laws at will, and if 

 complained of they could carry it to a higher court and 

 that would end ninety nine out of every hundred cases. 

 What person would bring suit, employ and pay his own 

 counsel, and the people get the benefit. Should any per- 

 son have the sand to follow violators into high court and 

 succeed in convicting them, the suoervisor.s could meet 

 and order the District Attorney to satisfy the judgment and 

 the guilty go unpunished. This sounds silly, don't it? 

 But it is a fact that the supervisors have done so: no 

 later than la-t fall or the early winter the supervisors of 

 Steuben county ordered the District Attorney to satisfy 

 a judgment against a Mr. Nicholson of $263. The guilty 

 went unpunished, the complainant got nothing and the 

 people pay tax to settle the costs. From this case sprang 

 the bill referred to. Mr. J. W. Near, ex-diatrict attorney, 

 is the father of the bill. He went personally betore the 

 supervisors, and by his representation and declarations 

 holding that the laws for protection of game were a farce, 

 succeeded in enlisting sympathy, hence the canceling of 

 Nicholson judgment and the bill in the Legislature. Mr. 

 Near, the ex-district attorney, has always expressed him- 

 self unfriendly to the cause", and for this reason he met 

 with defeat at the last electi n for district attorney. 

 Should this bill become a law he will have accomplished 

 his satisfaction of getting even with his opposition and a 

 law in force to suit his purpose. We aprjeal to any and 

 all who are in favor of protection to assist us in the de- 

 feat of this bill. — S, H. Brown, Sec'y Hornfll Gun and 

 Game Protective Association (Hornellsville, N. Y.) 



Zinc for Gun Barrels.— Jersey City Heigh tes.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I see in your issue of Jan. 2 that 

 "Splasher" made tests with zinc, but not in gun barrels, 

 and I am sorry that he did not, so as to see what results 

 he would have had. I read "Austin's" article, which was 

 in FOREST and Stream, June 9, 1887, and was very much 

 interested to see it. I have tried according to " Austin V 

 plan with the strips of zinc, but it did not work satisfac- 

 torily. Ten days after I had put the zinc in I found all 

 spots outside and a few inside, but after cleaning found 

 it wa-i like fine emery dust. Then I took the same piece 

 of strips again and soldered on both sides small pieces of 

 zinc, something as the nails are put on a telegraph pole, 

 and placed this again in the gun barrels. Afier leaving 

 it unseen for several weeks all spots disappeared where 

 the small pieces were, only where the empty spaces Avere 

 there was rust to be seen. ' So I started to experiment too, 

 as "Austin" and "Splasher" did, and succeeded. I took 

 zinc, and made two strips about 10ft. long and made 

 them into tubes something like the springs in a roller 

 shade and 1-I6in. apart between every turn. The out- 

 side I cleaned bright, and heated it and coated it with 

 cod liver oil. In the inside of the tube I placed a steel 

 rod about as thick as a lead percil, and kept in the center. 

 After using my gun, I cleaned it with vinegar and oil 

 (shoemaker's) and placet! the zinc in ifc again, and since 

 that time never found rust in my gun barrels. The z.nc 

 I used is as thick as cardboard, and lin. wide. I hope to 

 see others experiment in the same way. I was very 

 much interested from the beginning, and was experiment- 

 ing and found the above the best so far. I hope to see 

 "Austin" and "Splasher" continue their experiments and 

 let the readers of Forest and Si ream know if they had 

 better results.— The Wise Qame. 



Game and Fish in Maine.— D tmariscotta.— Beer are 

 jetting quite plentiful here. There have been three shot 

 in this neighborhood this fall, and lots have been seen. 

 The gunners here regard the game and fi-h laws quite 

 well and do not go gunning and fishing in close time. If 

 any one wants good black bass fishing we have it, and 

 ruffed grouse and woodcock are quite plenty. We have 

 lots of lakes, but only one has been stocked with black 

 bass for any length of time. I stocked a small lake five 

 years ago with black bass and they are doing well. I 

 sh dl stock a larger lake in the s,.ring with landlocked 

 salmon. I got them from Game and Fish Commissioner 

 Stanley. Three other men and myself built a cottage on 

 an island in the Damariscotta Lake last summer. This 

 lake is well stocked with black bass. Take the K. & H. 

 R. R. from here to Musconcurs Bay. There is a small 

 steamer that runs to head of lake, eight miles distant. 

 The man that runs the steamer keeps a hotel at the head 

 of the lake, where any one will get used in first-class 

 shape. Our cottage is four miles from the hotel. The 

 lake is twelve miles long and three miles wide. No finer 

 place in the State for any one that wants to build a sum- 

 mer cottage, and land is cheap. If any one wants infor- 

 mation and will write for it I will be pleased to give it. — 

 W. N. Chiles. 



Railroad Regulations.— The Maine Central Railroad 

 Company has issued the 1 olio vying circular: 



Portland. Me., Ma vim 17, 18S8.— To Employees: The lines now 

 operated b,y this company probably lead to m .re uuuvng and fish- 

 ing reso-ts than any m the country, and a large volume of travel 

 results therefrom, rt set su necessary, then, that some rules be 

 established regulating the transportation of such articles and 

 supplies as are incident to sportsmen. And hereafter gun and 

 roci cases or boxes of sportsman's supplies may be cheeked or 

 caviled in cars same as other baggage. Guns not cased cunnot be 

 carried, except t» baggage musters in baggage cars, free of 

 charge and at owners' risk. Dogs will be carried in baggage cars 

 free of charge and at owners' risk. Dogs, if crated, may he 

 cli eked same as other baggage. Boxes of fish an o other game 

 may also be checked during time when transportation of same is 

 not prohibited by law and provided there is not more in quantity 

 for each person than the law allows, and tha f owners accompany 

 same, subject in all cases as 10 weight to established rules for 

 transportation of "baggage. Baggagemen may accept a personal 

 fee for care of dogs and game wuen tendered them, but are not 

 permitted to iisk for such.— F. E. Boothby. General Passenger 

 and Ticket Agent. Approved: Payson Tucker, General Man- 

 ager. 



A summary of the Maine game and fish laws accom- 

 panies the above. 



Birds in Virginia.— B-rryville, Va.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: We had fairly good shooting last fall, and 

 have had a mild winter and little or no snow, and our 

 birds have wintered well. If the breeding season shall 

 favor us, we will have good shooting the coming season. 

 —Old Pao, 



