464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 16, 1887. 



THE MICHIGAN WARDEN WORK. 



GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 11.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream : I send you herewith a brief abstract of the 

 doings of the Michigan game warden, since his appoint- 

 ment on March 15 last, thinking that it may point a moral 

 or adorn a tale to those who, in other States, are urging 

 the appointment of a similar officer. The game warden 

 is a State officer and is paid his salary and expenses by 

 the State. He has the appointment of three deputies in 

 each county, of which deputies there are eighty-two in 

 the entire State. This being an entirely new thing the 

 first month or so was passed in appointing wardens and 

 getting the machinery of the office into working order. 

 In the month of April last five arrests were made and 

 convictions followed all of them. The fines and costs 

 imposed that month amounted to $21.80. In the month 

 of May the number of arrests was sixty-two, of which 

 fifty-eight were convicted and four were acquitted, or 

 nolle pros'd. The fines and costs imposed during the 

 month of May under these convictions amounted to 

 $333.83. Five of these convictions were for violations of 

 the laws for the protection of fish and fisheries. The 

 offenses were committed in twelve different counties, ex- 

 tending from one end to the other of the lower peninsula, 

 showing how widely spread was the violation of the law, 

 and how much somebody was needed to look after the 

 offenders. 



It will need but a few more months of prosecution as 

 vigorous as this to put a stop to the greater part of the 

 violations of the game laws. That so many have been 

 prosecuted and convicted is a test of the interest taken in 

 the subject by the deputy game wardens, who have made 

 nearly all of the complaints. These deputies, as yet, are 

 serving without any compensation, the only provision for 

 then' payment being that they shall be paid such compen- 

 sation as the boards of supervisors in the various counties 

 shall allow and for which the county boards have as yet 

 made no allowances. 



We hope to better this matter before a great while. 



M. Norris. 



MICHIGAN DEER HUNTING. 



LAST fall, as has been my custom for the past sixteen 

 years, with but one or two exceptions, I lef t home 

 on Nov. 8 for a short hunt for deer. Our party, when 

 gathered at our boarding place, consisted of five persons: 

 Mr. P., from Penn "ian, New York; Cleveland and 

 Harv, from North Muskegon; Cob and myself, from 

 Palo, Mich. "We boarded at Mr. Caster's, about seven 

 miles northwest of Baldwin, a statisn on the Flint & Pere 

 Marquette Railroad. We have made this place our quar- 

 ters for a number of seasons, not because deer are more 

 plentiful here than in other sections, but it is a good place 

 to board, convenient to post office, etc. Cob had preceded 

 the rest of the party by one week, and had been looking 

 the ground over and had had a few shots, killed one deer 

 and wounded another fatally, which he found when 

 spoiled. 



Cleveland and Harv arrived the same day that P. and I 

 did, on the 8th. On the ninth there was no snow, and as 

 we use no dogs, we concluded to drive and watch run- 

 ways. Cob stationed Cleveland and I on a road some 

 thirty rods apart but in sight of each other. After wait- 

 ing for some time a cold rain set in and I concluded to 

 go to the house, and started on a run, and had gone a few 

 rods, when I heard a ball from Cleveland's .45-60 Win- 

 chester singing past me, and I turned just in time to see 

 a fine doe go into the bushes on the opposite side of the 

 road within three rods of where I was standing, I had 

 lost my first chance and felt chagrined. Cleveland got 

 in two shots but failed to hit. Cob got two shots but no 

 deer; thus ended our first day's hunt. 



Wednesday, the 10th, it snowed during the night, and 

 in the morning tracks were quite plenty, but before noon 

 the snow was gone. I saw one deer and shot at it with 

 buckshot, but did not kill. Harv two shots and Cob three 

 and no deer. Thursday Harv made seven Bhort and got 

 one buck. Friday Cob saw two tails, but got no deer. 

 Saturday P. made five shots and got one deer. Sunday 

 we rested and Bpent the day in reading. Monday Harv 

 had seven shots, Dut killed no deer. I had a running shot 

 at a fine buck and scored a miss. Tuesday nothing. 

 Wednesday morning there was a light snow. Harv scored 

 five shots, no deer; P. three shots and wounded a four- 

 pronged buck. P. and I were hunting together to-day 

 and had tracked this deer a long distance before raising 

 him. When he jumped out of his bed P. got in three 

 shots, but had a very poor chance. And now comes the 

 unaccountable part of the story. We followed the track 

 for a half mile or more and found neither hair nor blood, 

 and we had concluded that the deer was not hit. But 

 just at this point P. was following the track, and said to 

 me, "Some one has shot our deer," for new blood was 

 scattered on each side of the track profusely. Having 

 heard no gun and no person appearing, we concluded that 

 P. had hit him hard. We followed for about a mile fur- 

 ther, the deer still bleeding freely, whether walking or 

 standing. P. started him again and the blood stopped 

 almost entirely. It now began to rain and the snow went 

 off, and we didn't get the buck. This is the only instance 

 of the kind that I have had in hunting during the past 

 forty-eight years. I have shot a deer and not found a 

 drop of blood when there was a good snow, but have 

 found the deer dead. I have shot others that bled freely 

 from the start, but soon stopped bleeding. Cob had two 

 shots that day and killed a fawn. 



Thursday, 18th, there was a snowstorm; no deer. Fri- 

 day P. shot a fawn. Saturday P. and Cob hunted to- 

 gether and brought in three deer, a doe, a yearling and a 

 fawn. Monday, the 22d, we concluded to hunt with a 

 bell, Mr. Caster going with us, making 6ix in the party. 

 Cob had three shots, but failed to kill a deer. We had 'a 

 big tramp and came home in a heavy rain, late in the 

 evening somewhat tired. Tuesday we did not hunt. 



Wednesday, the 24th, P. and I came home. The rest 

 of the party remained another week and had a good 

 tracking snow with deer quite plenty, and yet they didn't 

 get the deer. Mr. Coster got a fine buck when hunting 

 with them. Cleveland and I failed to kill a deer, and 

 yet I enjoyed my hunt first-rate and hope to have another 

 next fall. We had a good time, secured ten or twelve 

 deer, which are as many as any small party ought to kill 

 in one season. 



A few years ago I wrote up a hunt of our party — "An 

 Unvarnished Tale" — and thought at the time that I would 

 write something about hounding deer, but finding that 



the Senate had failed to pass the bill to prohibit hunting 

 deer with dogs I was so disgusted that I felt it would be 

 as well to say nothing. The House has passed this session 

 a good bill for the protection of game, but I presume the 

 Senate will fail to pass it. Our State game warden and 

 his deputies are doing something in enforcing the present 

 game laws; but as long as the Michigan Sportsmen's As- 

 sociation favor hounding deer and practice it in all their 

 hunts, the deer will soon be a thing of the past. Mr. Ed H. 

 Gilman is very active in enforcing the present game laws 

 against pot-hunters, and full as active in his opposition 

 to a law to prohibit hounding deer. Such a law would 

 interfere with his sport and no doubt would reduce some- 

 what the number of deer that he and his party report 

 after each season's hunt, which is usually from forty to 

 fifty. Still-Hunter. 

 Palo, Ionia County, Mich. 



A Sensible Hint —Editor Forest and Stream: Here is 

 a quotation from a letter recently received from a Virgin- 

 ian at whose plantation Northern sportsmen, with their 

 dogs, can be entertained in the hunting season for a con- 

 sideration. 1 send it in no pharisaic spirit, but as a hint 

 which many of your readers may need and be thankful 

 for. He says: "I must thank you for remembering me 

 much oftener than a good many of my hunting friends. 

 Some I don't hear from until old Jack Frost puts in an 

 appearance, and then they want to know 'how is the 

 weather,' and 'how are the birds,' and 'how are the dogs, 

 etc.' " Now, an occasional copy of Forest and Stream, 

 or the Graphic, or the Sunday Sun, or a cheerful letter, 

 however short, falls like a sunbeam upon the leaden dull- 

 ness of winter farmlife, and shortens amazingly Sunda ys 

 and rainy days of spring and summer. With these few 

 words to the wise I remain — J. L. K. (Perth Amboy, N. J.). 



SNARING GAME. 



Editor Forest, and Stream, : 



A writer on this in Forest and Stream of the 12th instant does 

 not give the side of the law for Massachusetts. All valuables on 

 the land, fixed or movable, belong to the owner of the land, 

 whether cultivated or uncultivated. The decisions of the Supreme 

 Court have settled this, as regards all wild fruits, nuts and ber- 

 ries, which are stationary by nature. In the same way the Su- 

 preme Court has decided as regards bees, fish and game, which 

 are movable from one man's land to another's, by their own will. 

 Their ownership goes with the land on which they are at any 

 given time. A Bristol county decision of the Supreme Court ruled 

 that a man in pursuit of his own game lost ownership and right to 

 pursue when it weut beyond his own boundary line. Fish in nat- 

 ural ponds of twenty acres and above are reserved for tbe public, 

 but in brooks and smaller ponds they belong to the owners of the 

 banks. Prior to 1S84 the gunner had free range, liable only to 

 damage by trespass, which ordinarily was of no account. But he was 

 so taking "it as a right, and sometimes so arrogantly, that a law was 

 then passed allowing the owner to "post" his grounds, and so, 

 if he would, keep off the gunner totally. This was in 

 accordance with the court decisions referred to and conceded to 

 the land owner total and absolute ownership and control of all 

 game on his land. This "posting" law, fully enforced, would allow 

 the game to die of old age, so far as the outside gunner is concerned. 

 Still the farmer was tolerant of the gunner who disregarded this 

 law, till in 1886 the sportsmen quietly secured a law which forbids 

 the owner to snare on his own land. This was reserving all game 

 for the gun and dog, which generally the farmers cannot use. It 

 was the old story of the camel in the tent with no room left for 

 the owner and ho right for the camel to be inside. The farmers, 

 of whom there are more than 40,000, became warm, and when the 

 bill just passed was introduced it passed quite unanimously and 

 with almost no division. They restored promptly a usage which 

 has been enjoyed in Massachusetts from earliest colony time, ex- 

 cepting the one year of the law of 1880. Here are the rights and 

 the laws and the facts as to snaring in this State. The "codfish 

 eloquence" was not abundant nor needed, nor the "suggestions" 

 of a "retired clergyman." The thing went itself when started. 

 That gentleman, instead of being retired, was too busy with great 

 educational interests east and west to do much. He got in only a 

 few charges of No. 10 shot. Really, the gentlemen gunners are in 

 a bad plight for partridge shooting, since they have passion and 

 skill and splendid dogs for the sport, but no right in equity or law 

 to any hunting ground. So to speak, they are thoroughly equipped 

 and trained for a regatta, but have no water at control. No doubt 

 if they let the owners' rights and snares alone and are gentle- 

 manly toward them, they can have the shooting ground they once 

 had, but they must ask the privilege of 40,000 farmers. 



Bay State. 



"That reminds me." 

 215. 



I SEND you some notes from my old friend and camp- 

 mate "Bush" D. The documents explain themselves 

 to a degree. I will add that "Bush" is one of the most 

 genial and ardent outers I ever camped with. I never 

 knew him to take a gun or rod into the woods, or catch a 

 fish, or bag anything but his trousers. But when you 

 came to the commissary department, he was what you 

 would call reliable. He was not fond of risks or adven- 

 ture, and my light canoes were a standing terror to him. 

 When we found it necessary to double-team and muzzle 

 a fractious hoimd to relieve him of porcupine quills, 

 "Bush" always went to roost on a log; and I have known 

 him to take to a tree for a wounded woodcock. But all 

 the same, he was the life of the party; and for genial 

 good nature, wit and companionable quahties, not easily 

 beaten. And once more before I die I should like to rest 

 with him, for a brief summer week, on browse, under 

 bark. Nessmuk. 



Reading the "Log of the Bucktail," whore "Nessmuk" 

 speaks of deer not being so plentiful as they used to be, 

 puts me in mind of a question I once asked an old hunter 

 of "Nessmuk's" town. He came into the store, and 

 knowing his propensity for telling big stories, I started 

 him by saying, "Mr. L., I suppose deer are not as plenty 

 as they were when you first came to W." "Oh, no. Ire- 

 member one morning of taking my gun down and going 

 just back of my house just over the hill. I stopped to 

 see if there was any deer in sight, when up popped a 

 buck's head just over a knoll a short distance from where 

 I stood. I raised gun to shoulder and fired, and down 

 went the head. Before moving 1 loaded my gun, and 

 just as I was putting on the cap up came the buck's head. 

 I thought it very strange that I should miss such a ahot, 

 and I shot again and the second time down went the 

 buck. The third time I loaded, and just as I was ready 

 to start up came the buck's head again. Then 1 was 

 thunder struck, but I shot again, and as before down 

 went the buck; and, sir, as true as I am standing here, I 

 loaded that gun eight times, and as many times appeared 

 the buck's head. The ninth load I did not shoot, as the 

 buck's head did not appear, so I thought I would walk 

 over and see what had become of my deer, for I thought 



it must be mine by this time, and when I looked over that 

 knoll there lay eight as nice deer as you ever saw. No, 

 deer are not as plenty as they used to be around here." 



The first time I ever saw a wild deer I was in camp 

 with "Nessmuk" at the same eddy he speaks of in his let- 

 ter in Forest and Stream, of Sept. 11, 1886. There 

 were four of us in camp, Capt. N., George D., "Nessmuk" 

 and myself. There is one thing "Nessmuk" never goes 

 in camp without taking with hi as, and that is a canoe, 

 and a light one at that. After dinner one day, Geo. D. 

 proposed taking the canoe and crossing the eddy to the 

 other bank. "Nessmuk" did not care to go. Capt. N. 

 was too tired (he was born tired). I myself have a slight 

 remembrance of starting to cross that eddy in that canoe, 

 but I remember walking back as vividly as if it was only 

 yesterday. The sight of my first deer was the cause of 

 our returning without the canoe. We were about half 

 way to the other bank when "Nessmuk" called to us to 

 stop as there was a deer coming down the mountain. We 

 sat there a moment and a deer came into the Tiadatton 

 above us, crossing at the riffles. After getting into the 

 stream it stopped and looked at us, and the first thought 

 I had was of buck fever. "But," said I, "no buck fever 

 about me, if I had a gun and the law would allow it, we 

 might have venison for supper." After watching the 

 creature for a moment, "Nessmuk" gave a whistle, and 

 the deer made a break for the woods. I don't think that 

 the deer stepped on my toes, but I felt a shock that went 

 through me from head to foot— something very like an 

 ague, I think they call it— and I made a quick motion 

 with my hands for the sides of that canoe, but they were 

 not where I could put my hands upon them. The deer, 

 the shock and the canoe all started at once, and this is 

 the reason why George and I walked back to camp, wet- 

 ter, if not wiser men than when we left. George can tell 

 you just how deep the water is in that eddy, for he is 

 taller than I am. The moral is: If you go canoeing 

 with "Nessmuk," walk. Bush. 



816. 



It happened in the wilds of New Jersey. Two friends, 

 A and B, went to spend a couple of weeks of shooting in 

 the Orange Mountains. A had his old reliable Reming- 

 ton, while B was equipped with a Greener, for which, 

 two weeks before, he had paid $100. The third day was 

 one to make any sportsman thrill with joy. The two 

 New Yorkers started at sunrise in quest of birds, and by 

 noon had quite good bags. While eating their lunch and 

 resting under a large tree they were startled by a rabbit 

 which ran by them, not more than three yards away. It 

 was closely followed by a mongrel dog. The dog had 

 hardly disappeared in the thicket when the owner ap- 

 peared, as true a specimen of a Jersey farmer as one ever 

 met. Discovering A and B he stopped, and asked if they 

 had seen a dog pass that way. B was about to answer, 

 when all three heard the dog barking, 300yds. away, 

 where it had run the rabbit to cover. All three immed- 

 iately followed after the dog and found him in a swamp, 

 which was too marshy to penetrate. So the countryman 

 proposed that A go around to the right of the swamp and 

 try and rout the game from its stronghold. After A had 

 gone, the farmer asked B to let him have his gun and he 

 would go to the left and try and get a shot at the rabbit 

 from that side. After patiently wating for five minutes 

 or more to hear from the countryman, B started to find 

 him. After hunting for an hour or more he arrived at 

 the conclusion that he had been taken in and done f or 

 by an innocent'Jersey farmer. He decided to go back to 

 camp, where he found A. The first thing A asked was 

 where was B's gun. B mournfully replied, "I let the 

 countryman have it." The whole affair immediately be- 

 came clear to both of them, and after promising not to 

 give the joke away to the boys they returned home, B 

 unburdened by the weight of a gun. Hutch. 



217. 



It is not all of fishing to fish. I went fishing the other 

 day and had a combination of good and bad luck, so will 

 tell you all about it. In this part of the country the last 

 of May and the first of June are the time to catch pike, 

 so accepted an invitation from three fellows to go fishing 

 out to Clear Water Lake, which is about ten miles from 

 here. Our stopping place was where P. F. Douglas, of 

 Minneapolis, is building a summer house, and it is a very 

 pretty place to camp and fish. There being no barn, we 

 had to hitch our horses to the trees, giving instructions to 

 the men to keep an eye on them. We soon got off on the 

 lake, P. and L. in one boat M. and myself in the other. 

 C. and L. pulled down to the mouth of the lake while we 

 struck across about one mile from the other boat. We 

 fished until the score ran up to 18 nice pike, when M. 

 said we would pull back and see how the boys were mak- 

 ing it. As we came ashore one of the carpenters came 

 down and told us that we would have to walk home, for 

 the team had left us. About 4 o'clock the horses broke 

 the halters and "fit out" for home. They ran about half 

 a mile and then came to a wire fence. One horse went 

 clear over, while the other struck the top wire and got 

 flopped over on to its back, cutting its forelegs very badly 

 on the barbs. A man came down and told C. and L., and 

 they threw up fishing and put out after the horses, tramp- 

 ing the ten miles in the hot sun and getting into town 

 half an hour behind the horses. When we came ashore 

 it was 7:30 o'clock, and sundown; and to walk ten miles 

 after dark was anything but fun. But the best thing we 

 could do was to grin and walk. We were soon on the 

 road, and seeing an Irishman asked him if he had seen 

 the horses. The answer was "Yis, and they wint at full 

 spade." We got home at 11 o'clock at night, to stand the 

 laugh of the boys and the damage to the horse. So ends 

 my first fishing excursion of this season. Ramrod. 

 Clear Water, Minnesota. 



New York Citt, May 18, 18S7. 

 The U. S. Cartridge Co., Lowell, Mans.: 



Gentlemen — I wish to thank you for the very excellent shell 

 you are putting on the market. I refer to the "Cliniax." I swear 

 by it, not at it, as I lave had to do with other makes. It has given 

 me unqualified satisfaction ever since I first began to use it, and 

 that is since its introduction. Don't allow it to deteriorate, and 

 sportsmen will call you "blessed." Very truly yours, 



-Adv. (Signed) C. W. Cushxer. 



Bountiful Nature Affords no finer Specific for skm dis- 

 eases than Sulphur, a fact that is proven by the action upon the 

 cuticle afflicted with eruptions or ulcerous sores, of that supreme 

 purifier and beautifier of the skin, Glenn's Sulphur Soap. Htll'S 

 Hair and Whisker Dye— Black and brown, 50c— Adv. 



