86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| Feb. 24, 1887. 



TALK ABOUT AMMUNITION. 



CHARLESTOWN, N. H., Feb. 11.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I have been reading tbe letter of your cor- 

 respondent, "J. M. W.," on tbe penetration of shot, dated 

 Feb. 2, and am at some loss to imagine what results he ex- 

 pected to get. Did be start out with tbe idea that in- 

 creasing the wads would increase penetration? If so, he 

 overdid tbe matter in a curious way. He starts with no 

 less than five thick wads on 2£drs. powder, in a 12-bore 

 choke gun, and gets a penetration of fifty sheets of paper. 

 Then lie takes out one wad, leaving four, and gets a pen- 

 etration of seventy sheets. Then instead of trying three 

 wads, and then two, with the same charge of powder, he 

 tries the three wads with an increased charge of powder, 

 or Mrs., and gets a penetration of eighty-five sheets, and 

 then tries two wads on 3Jdrs. powder and gets ninety. 



Now, it is a wonder to me. that with five wads in such 

 a barrel, he got any penetration at all. It must have 

 nearly exhausted all" the force in the powder to blow the 

 wads through the barrel, without leaving any for the shot. 

 No force is gained by increasing the wads beyond enough 

 to confine the gas of the powder so that it will not escape 

 by it. There has been an absurd notion of late years that 

 much is to be gamed by greatly increasing the wadding, 

 but there is no sense in it. 



I got some excellent results in penetration last fall, 

 while comparing my old Hollis & Sons muzzleloader with 

 a new Fox gun, belonging to one of my sons, with Only 

 one pink-edge Ely and one Baltimore felt wad on the 

 powder and one cardboard on the shot. I am sorry I did 

 not preserve the records, but we were testing more for 

 pattern than penetration, and the Fox beat my old weapon 

 badly. 



By the way, if the Baltimore people want to keep the 

 market for those wads they must furnish a more perfect 

 article. The box which I bought at Read & Sons, in Bos- 

 ton, contains wads varying from % to fin. in thickness, 

 and many of them have crescents cut out of them where 

 the previous wad was struck and are wortldess. If "J. 

 M. W." will repeat his experiments and reverse them, 

 putting the heavy wads on the heavy powder, and vice 

 versa, or trying all varieties of wad with the same charges, 

 the result will be worth having. 



If we were not "knee-deep" in snow, I would go out and 

 do it myself, but it is impracticable in this region just 

 now. 



I pity the grouse and squirrels in our woods this winter. 

 Alternations of snow, rain and cold have covered the 

 earth deep with an impenetrable coat of ice that nothing 

 can get through for search of food. We have a family of 

 red squirrels living in our attic and in the hollow walls of 

 the house this winter, and it is safe to say they don't 

 "hibernate" much, in the common acceptation of the 

 term. I am so deaf that they do not trouble me, but my 

 family scold about them not a little. Von W. 



IN A GOOSE PIT. 



HAVING so much pleasure from reading accounts of 

 hunting, boating and fishing trips in the Forest 

 A2<d Stream, I feel like giving my mite. In the fall of 

 1885 I was residing on the shores of one of the larger lakes 

 in the park region of Minnesota and was having a grand 

 time boating, fishing and duck shooting. One fine morn- 

 ing about the middle of October, my wife told me she did 

 not want any more ducks brought home: she had had 

 more than were wanted; and I had a well-founded sus- 

 picion that my neighbors did not hanker far any more 

 just then. But here I was, right in the best of the season, 

 game plenty, and I had just got my hand in full swing. 

 I did not want to shoot for the market and a game butcher 

 I despise: but something had to be done. I knew the 

 wild geese were feeding on the wheat stubble out on the 

 prairie, and I made up my mind to "lay for them" with 

 shotgun and shoot out of pits. I had had enough of crawl- 

 ing from eighty to forty rods to get within two or three 

 hundred yards of them to shoot with the rifle. I went to 

 C, one of my neighbors, and told him of the trip. C. 

 was plowing, but lie had the right stuff, called his hired 

 man and said he would go. We were to take a boat and 

 rig out for camping out two or three days. With a nice 

 breeze abeam, in the warm hazy autumn weather we 

 started for the south shore of the lake, three and a half 

 miles away. Half way across we started some pelicans 

 sunning themselves on a stone reef and almost too lazy 

 to fly off as we slowly sailed by. 



At 3 o'clock we landed, and pulling the boat up as high 

 as we could, made fast, shouldered guns, decoys and 

 spades, and went southwest over the prairie a mile and a 

 half, where we came on a flock of geese feeding on the 

 stubble of a wheat field. Of course, they fit out as soon 

 as we appeared. Here was our chance. Walking up to 

 the spot we found two pits already dug, which showed 

 there had been sbooting here before. This saved us con- 

 siderable work. We set out decoys and jumped in. prom- 

 ising ourselves that we would do some terrible execution 

 when the evening flight commenced. In a short time we 

 heard the welcome honk, and a single goose came in our 

 direction from the lake. We lay low, the decoys did 

 their work, and when the goose swung by C.'s musket 

 and my double breechloader paid their compliments and 

 the goose dropped. We felt able to "scoop" Bogardus. 

 Then came honking again. Carefully looking over the 

 edge of our pit we could see to the southwest two flocks 

 coming our way, one a mile off and the other we could 

 just see against the sky. We squatted down low and now 

 they were right on us. Three reports woke the welkin, 

 but instead of half a dozen or so, the least expected, not 

 one goose fell. But there was no time to fool around ; the 

 other flock was coming our way. I could hear C.'s iron 

 ramrod pounding while he was muttering something, and 

 I slipped in a couple of shells with a hearty approval of 

 C.'s remarks. But here they were wheehng close by us, 

 now we would have them sure: our guns banged again, 

 but not a feather dropped. We looked at each other with 

 blank astonishment. After a abort while another flock 

 gave warning, there they were coming straight for us; 

 we were ready for them with blood in our eye; now they 

 were straight over us, and not— I will draw a veil over 

 our feelings when, in response to our three shots, not a 

 goose nor a feather dropped. It was dusk, and without 

 a word we crawled out of the pits, took our guns and th e 

 single goose and started for tbe boat, which we reached 

 about dark. C. built the camp-fire while I prepared our 

 lone goose. At bed time we crawled under tbe boat tent, 

 where we were warm and comfortable and soon fell 

 asleep, 



But a bad beginning sometimes ends well. We spent 

 one day and a half in the same pits, had glorious weather, 

 took our noon nap when the geese were not flying, shot 

 all the geese we wanted for our own use, had some to 

 spare for our neighbors, and in fact, enjoj r ed a splendid 

 time, and that ought to satisfy anv reasonable sportsman. 



AW 



Bbloit, Wis. 



A CAROM ON BRUIN. 



THE frequent mention of remarkable shots reminds 

 me that the man that shoots much will be quite sure 

 to score some remarkable hits, also some remarkable 

 misses. But the most remarkable shot that I remember 

 just now, was made by W. Stone, who shot at a five mark 

 for the first time. It happened in this wise. Several 

 hunters started one morning (after a light snowfall) to 

 drive some bears out of a windfall, and with much urging 

 they persuaded Stone to make one of the party, also 

 furnished him with an old musket loaded with an ounce 

 ball. They put Stone on one of the several places where 

 they supposed tbe bears would be likely to run, and some 

 of the hunters took in other runways, while one or two 

 men put for the windfall. About one hour had elapsed 

 when the roar of Stone's old musket was heard, accom- 

 panied by tremendous yells and hallooing, which brought 

 two men on a dead run to learn what the trouble might 

 be. They found Stone standing in his tracks, and pointing 

 toward a bear about twelve rods distant, which lay kicking 

 with its back broken. Stone says that he saw the bear 

 running past and had no time to get a sight, but pointed 

 the gun that way, shut both eyes and fired. While Stone 

 and the two hunters stood over the bear, the third man 

 came up. He was a hawk-eyed old fellow, and before be 

 got up to the trio, he noticed that a bullet had grazed 

 through the frozen bark of a beech tree, and scattered 

 the dust on the new show. Here was a matter that must 

 be looked into, and he did not stop investigating until he 

 had ascertained, first, that the beech tree was about eight 

 rods from where Stone stood when he fired, and that the 

 grazing was a long way out of a straight line toward the 

 bear, and that the ball glanced off on a tangent of 45 or 

 50 degrees to strike tbe bear. Had the bullet not turned 

 its course it would have passed the bear some 25yds. one 

 side. Tbe hunters considered that such an unheard of 

 result from such wild shooting was past joking about, 

 and Stone all the while declaring that it was the most re- 

 markable shot ever made, and no one seemed to feel in- 

 clined to dispute it. Stone had never been known to fire 

 a gun before, and I have never known him to fire a gun 

 since. 



The shooting of that bear, as above described, is an ex- 

 ception to all bear rules, and very likely never had a pre- 

 cedent. I am sure that a bear has as many lives as a cat, 

 which is generally rated at nine. I have never hunted 

 grizzlies, having never lost any, but I have lost several 

 black bears, some of which were mortally wounded, and 

 cost me many miles travel. But his get-away powers 

 are marvelous. Where there seems to be only one chance 

 in ten to escape, he will invariably get the benefit of that 

 one chance. Antler. 



Grandvtew, Tenn., Feb. 14, 1887. 



MAINE WINTER NOTES. 



IT IS the season when the gun rests harmlessly in the 

 case, and yet when the sportsman reflects that it is 

 the time which tries the game that he loves to hunt, he 

 mentally asks, "How fares the game? Was the last bliz- 

 zard—the last snow storm— destructive to the grouse? 

 How did tbe quail stand it ? Have the partridges been 

 crusted under this winter as badly as last? Is the snow 

 very deep in the woods where the deer are yarding? Are 

 the last of the lordly moose to be crusted this winter?" 

 This is a string of questions that would be difficult of 

 answer as they should be answered, but here and there a 

 hint from the game regions may give us some light. In 

 the first place the snow is remarkably deep in the north 

 woods, that is, in the wilds of Maine, New Hampshire 

 and New Brunswick. Even down the coast as far as Nova 

 Scotia, reports indicate a hard winter, with very deep 

 snows. [One guide of long experience in the north 

 woods of Oxford county, Maine, writes me that he fully 

 intended to have spent the greater part of tbe winter gum- 

 ming, an occupation at which he has made $2 per day 

 in other winters, but the snow has fallen so deep and 

 generally so light that he has staid at home, tbough he 

 hopes to get info the woods on the crusts of March. He 

 says that he has never known the snow deeper in that 

 section. Once he had been into the woods for gum, but 

 gave it up as a bad job after a day or two out, and turned 

 his attention to gathering pine for pillows, which pine he 

 sent to Boston. By the way, these pine pillows are be- 

 coming a feature in the best rooms of the Hub houses, 

 takes a fancy to, and filled with the fine-cut boughs of 

 the pine and balsam fir. Then as the husband or brother 

 of shooting and camping prolivities, when he happens to 

 feel blue or bored with cares, why he justs takes that pine 

 They are made of silk, or of whatever material the maker 

 pillow, gives it a shake, buries his face in it, with a long- 

 drawn sniff, and is in the woods again, in imagination, 

 with gun in hand and the balsam trees all about him. 



But we started out to look after tbe game and not to 

 shoot it, even in imagination, though I believe that the 

 laws do not prohibit that sort of shooting, even in close 

 time. The guide writes me that so far as his trips into 

 the woods have extended he is of the opinion that the 

 partridges are wintering well. Tbere have been no snow 

 crusts to trouble them in that section. The deer are re- 

 markably plenty; they are well yarded up by this time 

 and it is greatly to be hoped that the temptation to crust 

 them will not be too great. At Kingfield, Me., in the 

 northern part of Franklin county, three or four live deer 

 have been taken by the boys in the woods where they 

 were lumbering. The snow was so deep that they could 

 run but a short distance, and they were secured without 

 difficulty or injury and brought down to the village for 

 the captors' friends to see. It is understood that the deer 

 were then allowed to depart in peace. 



Letters from lumbermen to lumber merchants here in- 

 dicate that the snow is from five to seven feet deep in the 

 woods of eastern and northern Maine, and if such be the 

 case, as it is without a doubt, then God pity the deer in 

 the Michigan region. The feeling is such that they will 

 be slaughtered there for their hides, if not out of pure 

 spite against those who are trying to protect them. In 

 New Brunswick also the snow is so deep that the lumber 



teams are getting out of the woods, and the chances of 

 the moose and deer are hard. What the results will be, 

 if these deep snows are followed by crust in March, re- 

 mains to be seen. At any rate the chances are against the 

 larger game more than for two or three winters previous, 

 which have been characterized by very light snows in 

 February and March — one year with the ground so bare 

 that the lumbermen had to leave the woods for the want 

 of snow, and following which Commissioner Stillwell 

 wrote that nature had saved the deer for one season at 

 least, by giving no snow on which to crust them. 



The increase has been wonderful up to this year. Why 

 at this very Kingfield, where tbe deer have been taken 

 alive by tbe boys, thirty years ago, such a thing was un- 

 heard of? The deer came up to the deep snows of this 

 winter holding their own remarkably well. The Boston 

 market did not get them, and the law was better obeyed 

 among the local sportsmen than usual, but now it looks 

 as though the chances for crusting were to be bad for tbe 

 game. But those who would like to crust-hunt will be 

 more careful than formerly, for the law is more widely 

 known and understood, and well-meaning people will 

 hesitate more than ever about breaking it. Would that 

 the Maine Commission had the means whereby the law 

 might be enforced as it ought to~be enforced. 'It is pain- 

 ful to think of, that a few idle poachers and crust-hunters 

 can, if the snow happens to be deep and covered with a 

 crust, go into the woods and destroy the whole work of 

 years of deer protection in a few days, when the winter is 

 so far passed that but for the miserable slaughtering pro- 

 clivities of these game thieves, the worst would soon be 

 over and another season of increase would follow. 



Special. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



A Malone, Franklin county, N. Y., paper has this to say 

 of the Adirondack deer : 



"We hear reports every now and then that deer are 

 being killed in the country to the south of us by crusting 

 them, and that the practice is more prevalent this whiter 

 than before in many years, There would seem to be a 

 field here for the investigation of a game protector if the 

 State has one in this section who is not afraid to do his 

 duty. Another paper says that Albert Mann, while sur- 

 veying in the Adirondacks last week, had occasion to 

 cross Twin Ponds, in township No. 9, Malone, and while 

 near the neck between tbe waters saw an object moving 

 on the ice, which on approaching proved to be a dog eat- 

 ing a deer. The deer was yet alive, but the dog had 

 mangled the body in a fearful manner, the hide was 

 stripped from the flesh in several places, and as Mr. Mann 

 approached, the dog was eating from the hind part of the 

 carcass. The ice for a space of ten rods around was 

 covered with tracks and blood, which indicated that a 

 fearful death straggle had ensued. A short distance 

 from this Mr. Mann discovered another object, and on 

 going to it found it was the half eaten carcass of a noble 

 buck, which had met a fate similar to the first not more 

 than a day or two before. On Tuesday Mr. Mann saw 

 the dog which was killing the deer at the shanty of 

 Charles J. Adams' lumber camp, located in the northwest 

 corner of the town of Duane. The dog is a black shep- 

 herd and is owned by a teamster drawing logs to Mr. 

 Adams. At this season when the snow is deep and the 

 crust is sufficient to carry a dog, but not sufficient to hold 

 a deer, it is an easy thing for a dog to overtake a deer 

 while the animal is yet alive, and something should be 

 done to prevent such outrage." 



The above, if true — and there is no reason to doubt it — 

 is an outrage on humanity and the people of the Empire 

 State alike. 



Tins comes from the home of Assemblyman Hadley, 

 chairman of the committee on game" laws, whose 

 action as such chairman more than that of any other 

 man, made it possible for such an outrage to occur. The 

 writer attended the hearing of the Senate committee at 

 Albany last winter, and listened to arguments in favor of 

 hounding. The speakers said that hounding made deer 

 shy, that dogs never caught deer; that deer simply played 

 with dogs; that they loafed around until they tired of 

 then company and then ran off: that they could rim three 

 miles while a dog ran one, etc. , etc. When it was sug- 

 gested that a dog under certain circumstances could catch 

 a deer, they scouted the idea, and when it was said that 

 dogs sometimes ate their victims alive these gentlemen 

 simply laughed the notion down as unworthy of argument. 



Here is one case reported. How many have gone un- 

 reported? How many deer has this one dog killed and 

 eaten? How many has he killed or helped to kill that 

 have been eaten by the workmen at this lumber camp? 

 How many other camps could be reported in like manner 

 if tbe truth was known? Dog deer in summer for the 

 pleasure of Mr. Hadley, Dr. Ward & Co. Dog deer in 

 winter for the sustenance of the lumbermen and starving 

 curs. And how long will you have deer? The dogs must 

 go or the deer will have to. Which shall it be? 



There ought to be no question in the matter. The 

 Legislature of the State of New York should take the 

 matter up, and in the interest of humanity, if nothing 

 else, make such cruel slaughter of our noblest game im- 

 possible. Will they do it? Or has the baying of the 

 hound — so different from the howling of the wolf — and 

 the soft argument of a few persons who want to sit on a 

 log and listen to the music, euch a soothing influence that 

 they forget the horrible cruelty perpetrated? Shoot the 

 dog that worries sheep; everybody — even his owner — 

 says so. Make that owner pay the damages, everybody 

 says that is justice. Shoot the dog that eats deer alive, 

 make his owner pay damages, and then let our Legisla- 

 ture express in emphatic language its disapproval of any 

 law that makes it possible to feed lumber camps and 

 howling curs on deer meat hi midwinter. 



J. H. Rushton. 



Canton, N. Y., Feb. 16. 



Massachusetts.— Boston, Feb. 19.— In the Municipal 

 Court on Wednesday, F. A. Belcher and Gilbert F. Quinn, 

 doing business as F. A. Belcher & Co., provision dealers 

 in Dock Square, were arraigned on complaint" of the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, on 

 charge of having in possession ruffed grouse (partridge) 

 during the close season. The case was not pressed be- 

 cause the defendants, who had just started in business, 

 could not have paid the fine and one would have gone to 

 jail. They were let off with costs.— Hub. 



