Sept. 8, 1887. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



129 



Massachusetts Shore Birds.— Salem, Mass., Sept. 2.— 

 BJiooting runs quiet now, although the cream of the season 

 is coming. Some coots (siu-f . and velvet ducks) are along. 

 Terns arc flocking, and the loons are coming south. Up- 

 land plover have not been plenty. By the way, some gun- 

 ners say theso birds will not call, but I have shot them 

 BGveral times by lying low and whistling them within 

 ehooting distance. During the last long dull stormy spell 

 in Augrist quite a number of doughbirds (iV. borealis) and 

 BO-callecl black breasts (C. virgmiits) were about Saga- 

 more and Esses hills. Some were shot, but green and 

 greedy gunuers spoiled the chances for others who know 

 how to handle birds. Small birds have been more scarce 

 this year than I ever knew tliem — I mean peeps and ring- 

 mecks. Wilson's snipe are along; some have been shot at 

 Newburyport or near by. Rail prospects seem not very 

 good, but may improve. I recently tried "Johns' auto- 

 matic shells" in 10-bore Parker with very poor results. — 

 X. Y. Z. 



How the Dakota Non-Export. Law Works.— East 

 Saguaw. Mich. — Our Saginaw party will not goto Dakota 

 on their annual pilgrimage this fall. For the last four 

 seasons we have taken our car and spent from ten to four- 

 teen days shooting ducks and geese, and we have never 

 had any birds spoil or waste on our hands, but have man- 

 aged to bring home a good many to gladden the hearts of 

 friends less fortunate than ourselves in not being able to 

 take an outing. However, the good people of Dakota 

 have passed a law that prohibits the shipment of game 

 out of the Territory, and hmits the lulling to 25 birds per 

 day. Wo could get along with the 25 birds per day part 

 of it, but what would we do with them if we could not 

 brim; them home to our friends? Consequently we shall 

 be debarred from our annual shoot. I suppose this is what 

 the law was passed for, and while it pinches us pretty 

 hard, we are willing to put up with it. — W. B. Mershon. 



Homosassa, Fla., has not lost its charms for the shoot- 

 ing and fishing fraternity. A Brooksville, Fla., corres- 

 pondent writes: "I wish to say to any of your readers who 

 miay visit Florida the coming winter, that if they wish to 

 find a place where they can hunt and fish to their heart's 

 content, with no disappointment, and at the same time 

 view one of the most picturesque and tropical scenes in 

 Florida, let them go to Homosassa, on the Homosassa 

 River, in Hernando county, there you have the fresh-water 

 black bass or redfish, tarpon of immense size, etc., all in 

 the sa*e waters. Deer and bears plenty and a few 

 panthers. Wild turkeys and smaller game numerous. 

 Read what Dr. Henshall has to say on the subject in his 

 book on Florida.— H. B. D." 



Cadiz, O., Aug. 31. — Quail are very abundant here but 

 are all late hatch. I surpose all the early hatch were de- 

 stroyed by the early spring or summer rains. Cotton-tails 

 are unusually plenty; can see old and young ones three 

 and four at a time out playing almost any time after noon 

 along the roads. My beagles have had several nice little 

 runs within the last week, merely for exercise and to 

 tram the yougsters. Any of the readers of Forest and 

 STREAM that are in search of good rabbit hunting can be 

 accommodated in this vicinity. — S. C. 



Recreation.— Editor Forest and Stream : In the first 

 paragraph of my paper, "A Michigan Wild Turkey,*' in 

 your issue of August 25, there is evidently an omission 

 whero I speak of billiards, dancing, etc. What I meant 

 to say was that the dancing hall, race course, billiards or 

 base ball may serve as a relief from oppressive mental 

 toil, but he who enjoys field sports finds in them the 

 completest rest for body and mind, etc. I intended to 

 rate field sports on a higher plane than dancing and bil- 

 liards.— John Dean Caton. 



Gardner, Mass., Sept. 3.— The Manomonoc Sporting 

 Club of this town went into camp at Rindge, N. H., yes- 

 terday. The party includes Dr. G. W. Garland, A. S. 

 Warren, Walter Newton, Fred Greenwood, George F. 

 Ellsworth, S. W. Brown. J. Frank Pilke, Ed Coleman, 

 John D. Edgell, Lewis A. Wright, C. H. Newton, George 

 Nichols, Amos Coleman, T. P. Perley, L. L. Sawin, Fred 

 Garland, Joel Flagg and L. S. Walker of this town; T. C. 

 Sheldon and F. J. Nichols of Fitchburg. 



Near New York.— Perth Amboy, N. J., Sept. 5.— 

 There was an unusually large flight of night hawks on 

 Saturday evening. No railbirds to speak of have been 

 killed on the Raritan or South River marshes owing to 

 poor tides. The birds are reported quite thin but in fair 

 abundance. There have been hardly any snip 3 on tne 

 Raritan or Rahway meadows yet. Young bfuefish are 

 numerous near the railroad bridge. — K. 



Michigan. — East Saginaw, Aug. 26. — Every one is anx- 

 iously awaiting the opening of the season, and I suppose 

 next Thursday mornir-g the marshes along the Saginaw 

 River will be filled with sportsmen, probably ten to every 

 duck. But it is a fact that there is more game in Michi- 

 gan this year than usual, and every one attributes it to 

 the better observance of the law since our game warden 

 system went into operation. — M. 



Hyde Park, N. Y., Sept. 3.— A friend of mine has 

 been around on a voyage of discovery, and reports that 

 he did not see a woodcock anywhere. The season has 

 been very wet. I hope October will "pan out" better. 

 Partridges (you may know I'm an old country boy) or 

 ruffed grouse are reported to be quite plenty this year, 

 and I hear good reports of quail. — Cart. Clayton. 



Smith-burg, N. J. , Sept. 1.— The prospect for the fall 

 shooting is very good. I have seen a good many young 

 quail. A friend told me that he saw fourteen phea ants 

 (grouse) on the road the other day as he was going to his 

 work. There is quite a number of rabbits and a few 

 gray squirrels. — Blue Rock. 



Rail Shooting.— Chester, Pa,, Sept. 1.— Birds very 

 scarce. High boat 21. Mr. Fred Ingle, of New York, 

 the lucky man. One man shot in right eye. They say 

 the scar-city of birds is on account of Jersey men gunning 

 for reed birds and frightening the rail away. I got 8.— 

 Mac. 



Quail on Long Island.— Advices from the eastern 

 end of Long Island, in the neighborhood of Southampton 

 in Suffolk county, assure us that quail are very plenty 

 there and that there is every prospect of good shooting 

 this fall. 



Westerly, R. I., Sept. 2.— The quail shooting prom- 

 ises to be very good at this point. The other day while 

 out for a walk I raised six largo coveys.— J. S. A. 



FIDDLING AROUND. 



HERE is aa extract from Game Protector Geo. W. Whitaker's 

 report to the New York Commissioners of Fisheries, setting 

 forthwith careful detail his arduous discharge of duty to warrant 

 him in drawiug that salary. What an admirable Pepya he would 

 have made, had he lived two hundred years earlier ; and what a 

 perfect picture he draws of a protector who fiddles around doing 

 wonders and actual y accomplishing not an iota : 



"September. To South bays in Kings county to ascertain 

 if Staten Island fishermen could be caught, when I found 

 they had not been drawing nets since I visited the persons who 

 'lotifiedme last; riding in the woods watching parties shooting 

 there ; no chance to take them ; to Bridghampton to find out if re- 

 ports were true that song birds were being shot and game was be- 

 ing snared ; could get no evidence of the fact ; having heard par- 

 tridges were being sold by the Smiths, formerly express men, 

 which no doubt was true, but could not be proved; to (Janoo Place, 

 making general inquiry as to the shooting of ducks and game ; 

 having received a letter from the secretary of the South Side Club 

 informing me it was not understood around there. Huntington, 

 etc., that deer could not be killed for five years; writing him I 

 would see him and also attend to the matter ; drawing notice and 

 particulars with reference to the law, sending one to the editor of 

 the South Side Signal for one insertion, one to the editor of the 

 Patehogue Advance ; also to the postmaster at Huntington to affix 

 in his office; again travelirg in the woods after a shooter who, 

 when caught, Baid he was after woodcock ; to New York to see 

 secretary of the South Side Club to get further particulars as to 

 killing of deer ; no one had been heard of killing any ; it is likely 

 my notices had the desired effect, the law having been uninten- 

 tionally broken. 



"October.— Visited the shores of Peconic Bay for nets and shoot- 

 ers, also Meacox Bav. Hearing the reports of guns in the woods, 

 and having no doubt parties were shooting quad and partridge, at 

 the same time pretending to hunt woodcock, followed at a distance 

 for a long way, and although sure what they were hunting for, 

 having no power of seizure, and not sufficient evidence wherein to 

 arrest them, I could do nothing but remain unseen; to Brooklyn 

 and New York examining depot for birds out of season which had 

 been represented as transported in the cars, having no power of 

 seizure, I could find no case of a breach of the law; attending on 

 several persons as to the netting and fishing in the several bays; 

 inspected stations for birds between Southampton and Sag Har- 

 bor, from where it was reported birds were being killed out of 

 season. 



"November.— To Peconic Bay, being informed parties were going 

 sailing for ducks— going and waiting there; weather bad; no one 

 in sight on the bay; Gravesond Bay, inspecting the shores and 

 making inquiries of Board of Health which was still at work on 

 the drainage of refuse, killing the fish, and general inquiries as to 

 the people on Staten Island fishing in the hay; all appeared satis- 

 factory; to Canoe Place, to examine canal so as to judge as to the 

 fishing interest; making inquiries as to the shooting of ducks by 

 sailing and the snaring of quail; to Gold Spring after parties sail- 

 ing ducks; engaged on report, having received notice of parties 

 shooting duck after sunset; writiug for further particulars and for 

 an appointment to confer as to what is best to do; my presence 

 would put parties on their guard and make it impossible to get 

 evidence to convict." 



Erie, Pa., Sept 2. — While out hunting beach birds on 

 the 30th of August, I had the rare good fortune to shoot 

 a white crane. It proved to be a fine specimen, and I am 

 having it mounted for my dining room. — O. L. G. 



\m nnd Jfttw ^fishing. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



CAMPING ON THE SAUK. 



IT was a glorious July day when John and myself 

 X. boarded the Mazeppa, a small sailboat that plows the 

 waters of Big Sauk Lake, and with a canoe in tow started 

 from Sauk Center for the head of the lake, nine miles 

 back in the timber. The wind was blowing stiff and the 

 sailboat fairly jumped before it, and with John for a 

 skipper, we were off on the cruise. Our outfit was such 

 that we had carried it to the sailboat in our hands, and 

 for the benefit of many persons who make use of a dray 

 for such purposes when they go off on a camping excur- 

 sion I desire to enumerate our paraphernalia. It con- 

 sisted of a heavy cottonade tent which John had made 

 and treated with a proper composition to make it water- 



{nroof . It weighed about three pounds and was amply 

 arge enough for our purpose; a pair of blankets, three 

 tin plates, two tin cups, a camp kettle, a frying pan, a 

 coffee pot, three spoons, two camp knives and forks, some 

 sugar, coffee, bacon and bread. This was the full amount 

 of our camp fixtures, except our overcoats and some 

 mosquito bar. We had two bass rods with proper tackle, 

 two rifles, one a small ,22cal. and one heavy ,45cal., and 

 my old dead shot Remington shotgun that I never leave 

 behind on any occasion. Big Sauk is a handsome sheet 

 of water and is environed by the forest, which forms in 

 many places picturesque headlands, points and promon- 

 tories that enchant the beholder who has stolen a clay to 

 spend in this sylvan retreat. The waters teem with fish 

 of various kinds, including the large and small mouth 

 bass, muskalunge, pike, pickerel and sunfish, with now 

 and then a perch, and it was these finny inhabitants that 

 John and I were expecting to interview in our own par- 

 ticular way. 



The run up the lake was delightful. The water heaved 

 heavily, making the boat dance; the wind was cool and 

 bracing, and, best of all, dull business cares were left 

 behind for at least four days. An occasional loon drew 

 John's fire, but the rocking of the boat made it impossi- 

 ble to plant a ball within a dozen feet of one of the birds. 

 When the head of the lake was reached we had a stout 

 fight with the contrary wind and lily pads to run the sail- 

 boat into the channel of the inlet, where we wished to 

 leave it, and it was well toward sundown when, with our 

 complete outfit packed into the canoe, we said adieu to 

 the Mazeppa and started up the river by paddle. 



Here commenced some rare sport. The stream is over- 

 hung with heavy forest trees on both sides and hundreds 

 of kingfishers had made this place their summer resort. 

 John's little rifle was brought out and he commenced to 

 exterminate these expert fishermen, on the principle, I 

 suppose, of the survival of the fittest, which should hold 

 good among fish rmen as Avell as others. But a kingfisher 

 makes a small target for a rifleman who is in a rocking 

 canoe stemming a swift current and lurching among the 

 rocks, and the birds escaped with the loss of a few tail 



feathers. A paddle of half a mile brought us to another 

 little lake which the river rims through, and a location for 

 a camp was discussed. A high, bold hill that rose from 

 the eastern side of the lake was selected, for the reason 

 that a brisk wind was moving most of the time and that 

 would carry the mosquitoes away. In ten minutes we 

 had our complete equipment at the top of the hill, which 

 was about one hundred feet above the lake. John took 

 the hatchet and went into the brush near at hand to cut 

 tent poles, and there flushed a couple of pigeons. He 

 returned for the shotgun and brought them to bag, and 

 just as the dusk of the evening was coming on and the 

 moon brightening its silvery rays we we re comfortably 

 located, with a brisk fire burning in front of the tent, bacon 

 frying, coffee boiling, pigeons beautifully broiling, a d 

 happiness reigning supreme. Delmonico never served a 

 supper that was relished with such keen sense of pleasure 

 to the gastronomic man as we enjoyed. When John 

 opened his commissary he was most surprised to find that 

 his good wife had stolen a march on him by putting along 

 with the bread a cream cake of large dimensions. No 

 amount of argument was sufficient to convince him th t 

 cake and bacon did not agree, and that camp fife was not 

 made happy by the sweet cookeries of the good wife at 

 home. He ate his cake, but I did not. 



Supper having been disposed of in this most pleasing 

 and primitive manner, plans for the morrow were laid. 

 It was decided to try for bass in the deep pool of the 

 little lake first, and the rods and ines were carefully cared 

 for and made ready for active service in the early morn- 

 ing. John enjoyed his cigar, and dreamed of old hunt- 

 ing adventures for an hour, but I never use the weed, 

 and yet the sylvan surroundings returned to my mind the 

 many scenes of exciting adventure I had passed through 

 during twenty-two years of hunting in the wild forests of 

 Minnesota. Where now were farms, villages and rail- 

 roads I had killed deer in the early days, but one might 

 hunt a month now and not see a track. Without indulg- 

 ing in much conversation we retired into the tent, and 

 went to bed. During the evening we had not suffered 

 from the mosquitoes, although there were millions of them 

 around the low ground. The wind prevented them from 

 working about our camp. ■ A few days before this a party 

 of rather fresh campers had come to the head of the big 

 lake and attempted to sleep in the sailboat, and during 

 the night waged a continuous battle with the mosquitoes, 

 in which the latter came out victors, and the would-be 

 campers fled with the first streak of dawn for home, 

 where liniments and lotions for punctured skin at once 

 went into a genuine western boom. Before retiring a 

 few drops of the oil of pennyroyal were sprinkled about 

 the camp for fear that the wind would go down and the 

 insects hnd a way into our stronghold, but we were not 

 awakened, and a night of dreamless, restful sleep was 

 enjoyed by both of us. 



With the first dawn we were astir and with rod in 

 hand commenced to cast in the deep water of the lake. 

 Half a dozen handsome bass from 2 to 51bs. were soon 

 taken; none of them developing any very exciting fighting 

 qualities for some reason, although they were large 

 enough to have fought for life. After an "hour of excit- 

 ing sport, during which the small fish were put back into 

 the lake, we returned to camp with our five picked bass 

 which were properly dressed, and the largest one cooked 

 according to the most scientific rules of camp art. It is 

 needless to add that the most delicate flavors of the fish 

 were thoroughly developed, and that our breakfast was 

 even better enjoyed than our supper. John even let his 

 cream cake go begging while he paid his exclusive atten- 

 tion to the piscatorial delicacy. We were not out for the 

 purpose of depopulating the waters of their treasures, and 

 it was decided to take a day of quiet rest in camp with a 

 little fishing in the evening. 



About 10 o'clock a dark cloud which had been threaten- 

 ing in the west suddenly developed into a wind, rain and- 

 hail squall, and came down upon us before we knew it. 

 We had made things snug, however, and with some 

 degree of contempt for the fickleness of weather that 

 could give so magnificent a promise in the e?,rly morning 

 and break it before 10, we awaited t:e onslaught. It 

 came with tremendous peals of thunder and flashes of 

 blinding lightning that sent cha'ns of fire from the clouds 

 to the earth, and then came the wind. John and I soon 

 found that our passive attitude was to be broken, and we 

 had a long and hard battle with the wind to keep peace- 

 able possession of our tent. By cons derable physical ex- 

 ertion we succeeded in holding the fort, and the storm 

 passed over without the expected disaster, and our little 

 tent had preserved all our camp traps in a comfortable 

 state of dryness. The wind and sun soon dried off the 

 grass and woods, and after shooting at a mark until 

 weary, we went for a walk through the trees. Not far 

 from camp we found a large patch of ripe, delicious wild 

 raspberries, and soon picked several quarts of them, 

 which added to our dinner a most acceptable dessert. 



In the evening I decided to stay at the tent and enjoy 

 the great pleasm-e of communing with myself and nature. 

 I cautioned John not to carry the murder of fish beyond 

 a point allowable by conscience, and with a knowing 

 shake of his head he went to the boat and p ut out into 

 the lake. Shortly afterward I noticed an old heron, that 

 had been flying around during the day, settle down on 

 the lake shore about 200 rods away, and taking John's 

 Sharps r del proceeded to send half a dozen shots at the 

 bird, and finally dropped a ball so near that it flew away. 

 Pretty soon John came to camp with a w T oeful face. The 

 biggest fish of the season had got away, iu fact, it just 

 swam off with boat, man and rod, and by a sudden lunge 

 snapped the rod at one of the joints and carried off half 

 the line. So John's rod was useless without anything to 

 mend it with, and a fit of blues was coming upon him 

 fast. I got out my fishing box, a little inoffensive square 

 of tin, and unlocking it produced the treasures it held. 

 Winding silk, wax a sharp knife, a dozen lines, twenty- 

 five kinds of hooks, leaders, and about everything ever 

 wanted by an angler, even to a whetstone, needles and 

 thread, and a pair of scissors. 



"Who would have thought that box held all that stuff," 

 said John as he settled down to mend the disabled rod. 

 "I gad it was a lunker that I had, andif I had only landed 

 him!" continued the disappointed fisherman, but the fish 

 was not landed, and aside from the discomfort of swal- 

 lowing the hook and carrying around forty or fifty feet 

 of bass line is no doubt doing very well, and will be on 

 hand for John next time, The next morning we were 

 out for the fish early, but they did not take either fly or 

 bait, and we then tried a troller with no better success 



