300 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 28, 1887. 



ON THE KANKAKEE. 



WE reached St. Mary's, Iroquois comity, 111., March 

 17, loaded our outfit on a wagon, and set out for 

 the swamps, eie\ht miles away. My comrades were Mr. 

 Shepherd, who had come with me from Indianapolis, and 

 my friend Mr. Rock, an old hunter and trapper of St. 

 Mary's. In a few hours we had found the place for our 

 camp, and very soon the tent was in position and a corn- 

 fortahle little home fixed up. There had been only one 

 shot fired on the way out, and that brought down a hawk 

 measuring 5ft. from tip to tip of wings. 



The next morning we turned out early, each one of the 

 party anxious for a shot at goose, brant or duck, and 

 still more anxious to make a record. I waded out in the 

 marsh some distance before daybreak, and tried to make 

 a sneak on some ducks, but they were too wild, and after 

 two or three hours I returned for breakfast somewhat 

 disgusted, having shot three or four times only to miss. 

 Sitting down by the tent to wait for my companions, I 

 discovered a line flight of brant heading directly for me. 

 I grabbed my gun that was sitting near by, and fired 

 both barrels loaded with No. 5 shot, but no game fell. I 

 quickly loaded with No. 1, and had barely time to fire 

 the left barrel, which brought down a nine-pounder. 

 This might have been a scratch, but I was happy all the 

 same. After breakfast Mr. Rock and myself started for 

 a marsh about two miles distant, where once, in times 

 past, we had been favored with good shooting; but on 

 this occasion we ordy succeeded in bagging thirteen mal- 

 lards; and by one misstep I succeeded in getting wet to 

 my armpits, so the first day's shooting only scored us one 

 brant and seventeen ducks', "Shep" having killed four in 

 our absence. 



The next day we moved our tent, and after a good deal 

 of fixing, and preliminaries generally, started out for the 

 afternoon and evening shooting. Little game wa3 flying, 

 so it was only by the hardest kind of work that Ave suc- 

 ceeded in bagging three or four mallards and a pair of 

 sprigtails, or pintails as they are called here. Just as we 

 were starting to camp out came a flock of geese, flying- 

 very low, and going right over the head of Shep. He 

 fired into them, killing one outright, and could easily 

 have killed the second, but was too much excited to shoot 

 the other barrel; we abused him not a little for his 

 stupidity, but he said one goose was enough for him, and 

 if we wanted any large game to follow Iub example and 

 go kill it. Getting enough glory out of this incident for 

 one day we retraced our steps to camp, and after a hearty 

 meal, a pleasant smoke, and many a merry laugh, we 

 turned in for the night. 



The next morning was hazy, and every surrounding 

 plainly indicated that there was trouble brewing in the 

 elements; and indeed it did not 'take long for it to materi- 

 alize into a big blow that tried every fibre of our tent to 

 the utmost. The thunder seemed only just above our 

 heads, and the flashes of lightning were really alarming; 

 but soon the rain began to fall in torrents and continued 

 until too late to make any more effort for game than we 

 had already, Mr. Rock having killed a goose, and I a pair 

 of mallards. The wind having changed to the north, had 

 not yet spent its fury; snow and ice were falling thick, 

 driven by a stiff breeze which made our small party only 

 too glad to find shelter. The tent now seemed a godsend 

 against the storm that was so hard to face when once 

 outside our den. But our wood was scarce, and we were 

 forced to make a supply from the very small black oak 

 hat grow thick on the sandhill about camp. 



Monday morning found the marshes frozen with a 

 thick scum ice, but the sun shone warm, and by noon 

 there were openings in places that made us hopeful for 

 some good afternoon shooting. Dick Yarno, a young 

 Frenchman who had come out from town in forenoon, 

 and myself found a good location on a small grass mound, 

 a kind of peninsula that run out in the marsh. We spent 

 about an hour pulling grass by which to cover ourselves 

 from the view of the ducks. The fowl were by this time 

 beginning to come in, and our concealment completed, 

 we lay flat on our backs, covered ourselves with the grass 

 and waited. Our position was anything but pleasant, but 

 soon the sport commenced. For two or three hours they 

 kept coming, in fact, until it got so dark that we were 

 forced to gather in our beauties and start for camp. We 

 filled a two-bushel grain bag as full of mallards as they 

 could be stowed in, and had besides many in our game 

 coats. 



When we reached camp both were about fagged out. 

 This was the first real fine sport since our outing had 

 begun, and indeed it reminded one of the good old times 

 of years ago, when we could stand and shoot to our 

 hearts' content and even refuse to waste ammunition on 

 the smaller birds, shooting only at mallards. But those 

 days are past. The State ditches are telling on the 

 swampy lowlands; and even now, where a few years ago 

 there was good shooting, to-day is found instead good 

 pasture land and meadows were a large hay crop is 

 mowed annually and shipped to Chicago. So it is plain 

 to be seen that in a few more years the marsh shooting 

 of the Kankakee will be reckoned with the by-gones and 

 the wildfowler will have to find new fields for his sport. 



The remainder of our stay through Tuesday and Wed- 

 nesday was favorable as to weather, the wind having 

 again changed, and a brisk southwest breeze seemed to 

 whisper game, but there was no flight of ducks and we 

 only succeeded in bagging about fifteen or twenty, 

 mostly mallards, and I had the good luck to add one more 

 brant to the score. Our stay being out, with some regret 

 we packed our baggage and started for home. Although 

 in the week we had only killed five dozen ducks, two 

 geese and two bran t, we considered our outing a success, 

 and had all the true sport we could desire or expect. 



Drape. 



Indianapolis, Ind. 



Altering Gun Stock Dbop.— Glastonbury, Conn., 

 April 29. — I stocked pistols in Colt's factory, Hartford, 

 Conn., in '59, and since at my own place of "business. I 

 have fixed five single and three double guns for drop, and 

 all gave the best of satisfaction. I like a stock with 4in, 

 drop. I find that there are hardly two men alike in 

 measure from the eyes to the shoulder. To drop a stock 

 by steaming the small of stock weakens it, especially if 

 it is cut across the grain. My way avoids that, for the 

 small is not disturburbed, and a fair workman, if he be 

 careful, can make a neat job of it. In the first place I 

 find out what more drop I want, and get out a wedge- 

 shaped piece of wood as near the grain of stock as possi- 

 ble: then take guard and heel-plate off from stock, mark 



up both sides, large of stock running almost out beneath 

 at and cut of under small piece. Now saw to mark al- 

 ternately from both sides carefully: then try the wedge 

 and see that pieces come good. Glue the wedge piece to 



stock and secure with finishing nails; then glue on the 

 lower part of stock, putting a "good screw through that 

 and the wedge into stock well down in bed of guard. 

 After the glue has well set, fit the guard back in its place. 

 Take off from top of stock almost the amount of wedge, 

 then recut and fit the heel plate with the end screws to 

 go into the original parts of stock. Now file and finish 

 the stock down to plate with oil or polish finish; and you 

 will be pleased with the way the gun comes up to shoulder 

 without disturbing your vision. If the stock is pistol-grip, 

 saw only to butt of grip; don't disturb the grip. I have 

 brought down ducks with the old gun when I could not 

 see the sight, it was so dark. I think you will under- 

 stand my principle of getting the drop for gun stocks. — 

 Country. 



MAINE DEER AND MOOSE. 



HPHAT the game of northern and eastern New England 

 JL and the near British provinces has wintered well, 

 there is no doubt. That this report from the game is true, 

 is confirmed somewhat by the absence of reports. There 

 is not one report of crus'ted-under partridges this spring 

 where there were a dozen a year ago, while the severity 

 of the winter, and above all, the great depth of the snow, 

 has kept the crust-hunters and the winter mar ket-gunners 

 out of the woods. During the months of February and 

 March and well into April, the hunters have been glad to 

 remain at home. They have not been tempted to make 

 any extensive excursions in the woods by either mild 

 weather or strong snow crusts; and hence the game has 

 escaped. But under the fact of increasing deer and their 

 nearness to the settlements, a curious form of hunting 

 has developed itself — a form not altogether unknown last 

 year and the year before, in the Maine woods particular- 

 ly, but one that has increased in a ratio that threatens to 

 become alarming, and one that will evidently require 

 something of a change in the excellent game laws of that 

 State. It is also understood that the same difficulty ex- 

 ists in New Hampshire. This new form of hunting is 

 that of taking deer and even moose alive. The Maine 

 papers have contained a good many accounts of deer 

 taken alive; the remarkably deep snows and the great 

 numbers of deer rendering such capture possible, and 

 indeed not very difficult where there happened to be a 

 lumber road within a reasonable distance of the deer 

 yards. Some of these papers have given out these items 

 — often concerning the local sportsmen or even the boys 

 of the town — published them with no desire to either 

 evade or make light of the game laws. Indeed, the statute 

 provides that no moose, deer or caribou shall be had be- 

 tween the first day of January and the first day of Octo- 

 ber following, "except alive," and on this exception, the 

 right to take moose and deer alive in the woods of Maine 

 has come up in the imagination of the hunter. But by 

 the Commissioners of that State such hunting and taking 

 of deer is regarded as exceedingly dangerous to the game 

 and demoralizing to the hunter, and they immediately 

 turn to another form of the statute where it provides 

 that no person shall in any manner "pursue, hunt or 

 kill" such game in the close season. They claim that it 

 is not possible to take either a moose or a deer alive with- 

 out "hunting," and hence that such hunting is in viola- 

 tion of the statute. Some weeks ago they commenced 

 active operations in this direction, and I have it fiom 

 perfectly reliable authority that they have, through their 

 wardens, already caused the liberation of between twenty 

 and thirty deer that had been caught alive. In two cases 

 moose have also been caught, and in one of these cases a 

 cry of commiseration has gone up from the friends of 

 ' 'the poor hunter who might have got $200 for his live 

 moose, but the Commissioners wouldn't let him." 



Well, these game laws will have to be made plain on 

 the question of taking moose and deer alive. It is under- 

 stood that the Commissioners have generally given direc- 

 tions for the liberation of the captive moose and deer, 

 without prosecution of those who have taken them. But 

 just think of it, fellow sportsmen! Are not more than 

 twenty far too many to be taken out of the stock the law 

 is trying to save in one season's close time? What a ser- 

 mon on the value of game protection might be preached 

 from the text that there is a possibility of taking more 

 than twenty deer and two moose alive now, when a few 

 years ago these animals were almost extinct. The idea 

 that such game is plenty enough that the law must pre- 

 vent its capture alive in the winter season. In considera- 

 tion of such facts, was it any wonder that twenty-five 

 or thirty years ago, under free hunting for moose and 

 deer all through the winter — just for their hides — that 

 such noble game was almost driven to extermination? If 

 it is possible to secure more than twenty deer in one 

 winter without killing them, how many coidd be butch- 

 ered by an enterprising party of skin-hunters in the same, 

 length of time? Then, if a band of loggers happen to 

 camp in the vicinity of a deer or moose yard, and they 

 wish for fresh venison, how many shall be taken and how 

 many shall be left? Deliver Adirondack and New Eng- 

 land deer from all the danger from deep snow and and 

 dog hunting, and they will increase to plentifulness. 

 Even the lordly moose would again flourish under im- 

 munity from "crust and dog hunters, with a law that 

 should protect the cow moose. Yet we are regaled by 

 those Solons at Albany with the idea of "hounding deer 

 to make them shy" so that the still-hunter and wolves 

 cannot destroy them. But the last argument I have 

 heard that touches me to the quick is one that comes f rOm 

 a Maine lumberman. He claims that it "is absolutely 

 necessary to kill off some of the older and stronger deer, 

 in order that they do not eat up all the browse around the. 

 winter yards, and thus cause the weaker ones to starve." 

 He is of the opinion that the law should allow the lum- 



bermen to kill off a part of these larger and stronger deer; 

 and the Forest and Stream has hb word for it that 

 there wood be more deer in the woods the next season if 

 such were the case. Special,. 



Missouri State Association— Office Missouri State 

 Sportsman's Association, Palmyra, Mo., April 19. — The 

 issue of the programme of the annual meeting of the 

 State Sportsman's Association offers a favorable oppor- 

 tunity for drawing attention to the apathy of the sports- 

 men of Missouri to the action and intentions of the Na- 

 tional Association for the protection of game, birds and 

 fish. This organization was commenced at an annual 

 convention of Missouri sportsmen and was perfected in 

 St. Louis, and yet only one club of Missouri sportsmen 

 (that at Jefferson City) has, outside of St. Louis, joined 

 it. The objects of the association are known to all our 

 sportsmen, and if they treat its existence with indiffer- 

 ence it is natural to expect that other States will do the 

 same. Individuals can join as well as clubs. Dues are 

 as follows: Clubs of between five and twenty members, 

 $5; clubs of over twenty members, $10; individual mem- 

 bership, $2. Capt. H. C. West, the secretary, (post-office 

 box 699. St. Louis), will be glad to register memberships 

 on receipt of dues. The national convention assembles 

 at the Palmer House, Chicago, on June 22, and, of all the 

 States in the Union, Missouri, the parent of the associa- 

 tion, should be best represented. This cannot be the case 

 unless many State clubs join it immediately. — John W. 

 Lemmons, President; Frank W. Smith, Secretary. 



Express Bullets for Large Game.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: I was greatly interested in "Bear Stalking 

 in Canada." The rifle test given in the second paper re- 

 calls an experience of my own the past winter in shoot- 

 ing caribou. I put seven balls from a single shot Win- 

 chester .45-60-300, entirely through a large bull before he 

 gave in; two through the shoulder before he fell as he 

 stood broadside. He immediately regained his front 

 feet with his head from me, and five more balls struck 

 the small of his back, passing out at brisket and shoulders. 

 In another case a cow that went down with a broadside 

 shot just back of shoulder, falling quartering head 

 toward me, and got two through the head and another in 

 center of heart. Of those through the head, one entered 

 the eye passing out at the base of the oar on the opposite 

 side; the other struck 3in. below the same eye, passing 

 out 3in. back of the same ear. To my mind either of the 

 last three shots should have at once proved fatal, but 

 doubtless the one through the heart was the one that did 

 the business, and was the last shot; audi have arrived at 

 the same conclusion as the writer of the article referred 

 to as to the superiority of an express bullet; i, e., hollow 

 pointed. Can any rifle shooter tell me where to obtain 

 fixed ammunition with such a bullet to fit my rifle?— 

 Warfield. 



Maine Game.— Indian Rock, Me., April 20. — I am very 

 much interested in the Yellowstone Park, and have 

 perused with pleasure "Winter in Wonderland." Mr. 

 Hofer's description of the lynx catching rabbits, corre- 

 sponds almost precisely with what I have seen in the 

 northern part of Maine; they are called loup ( ■■ rcier in 

 this section, and were quite plenty here twenty-five 

 years ago, but the trappers have exterminated them. In 

 1861 there were no deer in Franklin and Oxford counties, 

 at present there are hundreds. There was seldom any 

 sign of beaver seen in 1861; they are fairly plenty now. 

 Sable have been fairly plenty the fall and winter past, 

 having been caught nearer the settlements than for 

 several years. Caribou appear to be drifting toward the 

 northeastern part of the State. Moose are not plenty; 

 there is but small chance for them unless the Canadian 

 French and lumbermen stop slaughtering them, — O.T.R. 



NEW YORK CAME BILLS. 



"\ TOW that the Legislature is drawing to an end it will he of in- 

 X\i terest to any who have watched the progress of legislation, 

 and more so to those who have not, to scan the roster of hills and 

 see just exactly where they are to-day. The following is a com- 

 plete list of both, the Senate and Assembly hills, the introductory 

 number being given because some of the bills are not printed and 

 hence have no other number than the one given: 



SENATE BILLS. 



85. Coggeshall, amending 437 of 1886 so as to prohibit the catch- 

 ing of brook trout less than Bin. long. lu committee of the whole. 



91. Coggeshall, amending 533 of 1879 and subsequent amendments 

 so as to make season for woodcock, partridges and squirrels Sept. 

 I to Dec. 1, and relating to snared birds, etc. In committee of the 

 whole. 



209. Wemplc, establishing a fish hatchery in the Adirondack 

 wilderness. In the Assembly. 



318. Comstock, including set lines among prohibited devices, 

 unless by permission of the Fish Commissioners. In the committee 

 on game laws. 



•111. Pierce, making the quail and rabbit season on Long Island 

 Nov. 15 to Dec. 31. 



456. McMillan, exempting from 437 of 1886 salmon caught in the 

 Great Lakes. In the Assembly. 



465. Fagan, to protect the planting of oysters in the town of 

 Jamaica and Hempstead. A law. Chap. 182. 



484. Comstock, amending 534 of 1879 and subsequent acts so as to 

 prohibit set lines. In the Assembly. 



490. Comstock, providing for a fish way in the. State dam at Troy. 

 In the Assembly. 



533. Dunham. In committee of the whole. 



565. Daly, a general codification. In committee of the whole. 



597. Hovsradt, forbidding Sunday fishing for shad in the Hud- 

 son. In the committee on game laws. 



606. Vedder, making quail season Nov. 1 to Jan. 1, and hare 

 season Nov. to Jan 1. In committee of the whole. 



ASSEMBLY BILLS. 



154. Roeves, to permit sailing for wildfowl in Gardiner's and 

 Peconicbays. On third reading. 



178. Beeves, amending the law of 1879 so as to post notices of 

 trespass every half mile along the highways. In game laws com- 

 mittee. 



301. Fitch, providing $5,000 for the erection of a fish hatchery at 

 Cold Spring Harbor. On third reading. 



433. Bulkley, forbidding the use of nets in certain parts of Jeffer- 

 son county. On third reading. 



454. Erwin, amending the song bird law of 1886, so as to allow 

 shooting fcr crows, hawks and blackbirds. On third reading. 



477. Cornwall, limiting mesh of net to be used for minnow fish- 

 ing in Keuka Lake and permitting fishing through the ice m 

 Seneca and Canandaigua lakes. On third reading. 



501. Hamilton, amending the prescribed methods of posting of 

 game preserves and the laws relating to trespass. On third read- 

 ing. 



503. Davies, providing a special commissioner to aid the Com- 

 missioners o: Fisheries in preparing a general game bill. In game 

 laws committee. „ 



525. Sime, amending the law of 1880 fcr the appointment of fish 

 protectors relative to the auditing of account. On third reading. 



508. Moore, amending the song bird act so that scientifically-in- 

 clined persons may collect birds, eggs, etc.. for the purpose of 

 science only. On third reading. 



710. Thompson, amending the Jefferson county act of 1886. On 

 third reading. 



797. Speet, permitting netting and fyke fishing for eels, suokers 



