July 7, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



515 



closed at both ends, but. was slit across on one side. The 

 sack was placed across the aparejo, the uncut side down, 

 and the load for either side was introduced through the 

 slit, which opened in the middle line above. The two 

 ends of the sack were loaded so as to balance each other, 

 and, of course, after the lash rope was put on, there was 

 no chance for it to slip. 



Boxes and baskets are often put on as side packs, but 

 the latter, unless specially arranged for the purpose, are 

 likely to be crushed aud racked to pieces after being in 

 use for a short time. Yo. 



NEW YORK GAME PROTECTORS. 



FOLLOWING are brief abstracts of the reports of the 

 State fish and game protectors for the month of May: 

 Geo. W. Whitaker, of district No. 1, traveled 256 miles 

 and expended $20.07. Among other places he visited 

 Meacox Bay to see and inquire about the shooting of 

 small birds and snipe. As usual, the witnesses to whom 

 he was referred knew nothing except that they heard 

 guns and supposed that some one was shooting birds. 



Joseph H. Goodwin expended $10, but does not appear 

 to have done more. 



Francisco "Wood, of district No. 4, traveled .330 miles 

 and expended $37.50 in a hot search for fllegal fishing 

 apparatus, which, however, he was unsuccessful in dis- 

 covering. 



Seymour C. Armstrong traveled 304 miles and expended 

 $13.60. In Lake Champlain he seized fourteen fyke nets, 

 worth $500. part of which were destroyed and the rest are 

 at Whitehall. He also seized one in Saratoga Lake 

 valued at $15. The suit against Leander Pasco for hound- 

 ing deer in Warren county was concluded by the dis- 

 charge of the defendant. He says that the evidence was 

 very plain and conclusive, but the jury acquitted the 

 man. 



John Liberty of district No. 6 reports that he recovered 

 $100 in penalties from Wallace McFarland, and that he 

 has a suit pending against Fred Lewis, Jr., for killing 

 a deer. Mr. Liberty traveled 111 miles and expended 

 $16.75. 



Peter R. Leonard of district No. 7, including St. Law- 

 rence and Franklin counties, is a very active man. He 

 traveled over 300 miles, spent $36.40, brought three new 

 suits for killing deer, disposed of ttiree suits brought on 

 the same charge, and has one pending for illegal trout 

 fishing. He has destroyed one seine, value $25, and one 

 scoop net valued at $3, and taken two trap nets valued at 

 $50 each. He has recovered $75 in fines. 



Thomas Bradley of district No. 8 traveled 364 miles and 

 spent $27.35. 



J. L. Brinkerhoff of district No. 9 succeeded in travel- 

 ing 307 miles and spending $31.38. He captured a set line 

 worth $1.50 



Nathaniel C. Phelps of district No. 10 traveled 188 

 miled and expended $20.92. 



Fred P. Drew of district No. 11 is another active man. 

 He traveled 592 miles, and expended $5.70. He has 

 brought suits against John Kelley, N. M. Burdick, H. 

 Burdiek, George H. Adams, Arthur Burton, Morris Stowe, 

 Burton Stowe, F. Scklosser, and W. Archer, for hauling 

 seines in Oneida county and against George H. Adams, 

 for catching bass and pike in the closed season. He has 

 recovered $2i0 from parties who were convicted of seine 

 hauling. He has destroyed nets and other apparatus in 

 the lower end of Oneida lake, worth $700. 



William N. Steele, of district No. 12, has captured $510 

 worth of nets, traveled 196 miles and paid out $27.85. 



William H. Lindsley, of district No. 13, has destroyed 

 2,900 feet of gillnets and brought a suit against W. Kiine 

 for violating section 23. 



G. W. Schwartz, of district No. 15, has destroyed nearly 

 $800 worth of nets, and brought two suits for illegal fish- 

 ing and has tlu - ee suits pending. 



T. O. Roberts, of district No. 16, has destroyed $60 

 worth of nets on the shore of Lake Erie. The month's 

 work was a good one. — Utica Herald. 



ALBINO Woodchtjck. — Indian Rock, Me., June 29. — Did 

 you or any of the contributors or readers of the Forest 

 and Stream ever see or hear of a white hedge hog? I 

 killed two last evening, one young black and one white; 

 the black one was quite small. Some six or eight men 

 saw them and said they never saAv nor heard of a white 

 one before. I have seen a white woodchuck, and only one, 

 but have heard of others.— C. F. Richardson. 



Clinton. Mass., July 1.— The Clinton Sportsmen's Club 

 have elected officers for the ensuing year as follows : 

 President, G. Walton Goss : Vice-President, William H. 

 Gibbs ; Secretary, George S. Avery ; Treasurer, A. G. 

 Larking; Directors, Walter D. Bowers, Henry W. Welsh, 

 Charles H. Lasselle. A committee has been appointed to 

 arrange for a meet some time the present month. 



THE RIGHT TO SNARE GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



In your edition of June 16, in an editorial criticising the com- 

 munication of "Bay State," you lay strictures on the sportsmen 

 of Reading, calling them "market hunters," "grouse snarers," 

 etc.; and by the general tone of your editorial show your want of 

 sympathy with us. Of course you are not personally acquainted 

 with any of us and are obliged to get your information at second 

 hand and from persons who wish to vent their spite and venom 

 through your paper. These are the facts of the case : The farm- 

 ers of this vicinity, or those representing about 5,000 acres of our 

 best hunting ground, were very tired of being liable to a fine of 

 twenty dollars for snaring a bird on their own land or permitting 

 their children to so do, and among them was the retired clergy- 

 man of whom you speak as a "game legislative busybody," who "is 

 here held in high esteem; and they very properly brought the 

 question before the Legislature, which promptly restored their 

 rights after the most strenuous opposition from a lot of men who 

 like to hunt on others' land. The farmers naturally did not like 

 to be denied the right to take their birds in their own way, and 

 yet to see daily parties of sportsmen from the city (only twelve 

 miles away) get over their fences as might be and go through their 

 land shooting right and left (Sundays and week days alike) and 

 on requesting the intruders to move off, to be met with abuse. 

 This is the whole story in a nutshell. 



Now in regard to the "market hunting" and "nest of grouse 

 snarers." I have been in business here for fourteen years, and 

 with an intimate knowledge of most of the sportsmen within 

 fifteen miles, I can recall but one person (and he not a resident, of 

 Reading) who ever made a business of snaring for the market, and 

 he only for one fall when he was out of employment, and the only 

 other snaring there may have been has been done by the farmers 

 or their children for a few birds for their own use, so you can see 

 by my statement it is not a very large "nest." If you should ever 

 be fortunate enough to come to Reading, you will find as good a 

 class of gentleman gunners as you would find, anywhere, with good 

 dogs and guns, and no country louts who make a trade of bird 

 snaring. As for bird protection, we are as solicitous about it as 



any one, but we concede to the farmer his right to the bird on his 

 own laud, where we goat his pleasure. As for myself and most inti- 

 mate friends, we believe in a close season from the first day of 

 January on all kinds of game, and do not favor any extension of 

 time to shoot ducks in the spring, as was done a year ago, giving 

 to gunners fifteen more days time to shoot them in when they 

 need to be protected. We do not like to see the Wilson snipe and 

 five or six other of our best game birds protected by placing them 

 with birds of prey, as was done in a game bill passed three or four 

 years since through the influence of the person from whom you 

 probably received your information about tlie Reading boys; 

 but from the word go" wc believe in strict game protection, al- 

 ways conceding gracefully the right of the farmer to take game 

 on his own land in bis own chosen way during the open season, 

 and in this way avoiding any friction between farmers and 

 sportsmen. Pharmacist. 



[No reference was made to the sportsmen of Reading. The 

 farmer's "right" to snare game is not a "right" beyond the sphere 

 of legislative control, no more than is his "right" to net trout. 

 The permission to snare was restored in the interest of profes- 

 sional snarers and of the Boston dealers in snared game. It is 

 barely possible that the Forest and Stream's information is 

 quite as full and accurate as that of "Pharmacist."] 



\m mtd iih er 



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



THE CUSK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Black Spot" asks for the experi- 

 ence of others as to the edible qualities of the "cust" or 

 "eel pout" (Lota maculosa). My experience with this 

 Ash commenced in the month of March, 1844, at the Sault 

 Ste. Marie, Michigan. The navigation of the river did 

 not open that year with Lake Huron below until the lat- 

 ter part of May, consequently the inhabitants were driven 

 to short rations in winter, stored provisions, and were 

 obliged to subsist largely on such fishes as the adjoining 

 waters supplied. Even the few horses and cows of the 

 place were taking then- daily allowance of fish and birch 

 browse, the store of hay having also quite given out. On 

 the table of our host it was fish, fried and boiled and 

 broiled, morning, noon and night, day after day, with a 

 short accompaniment of potatoes and bread. A more 

 constant accompaniment and one new to us was an 

 overloaded dish of what was considered a great delicacy, 

 the fried livers of the eel pout, a tid-bit I did not care to 

 indulge in, owing to my antipathy for this "disgusting 

 looking creature," remarking always on its being offered 

 me, "While fish was good enough, those that wanted 

 'loche' livers, as the fish was called by the Antoines at the 

 Sault, were welcome, not any of it on my plate." 



Every evening about dusk some one would go down to 

 the ice on the river and pull out a dozen or more set lines 

 with as many 10 to 151b. "loche," "ling" and "eel pouts" 

 hooked at the baited end. Knock them on the head, ex- 

 tract the livers, which were put carefully in a basket, 

 while the loathsome-looking "pouts" were loaded on a 

 dog sled to be taken, as I remarked, "for cattle pro- 

 visions." "Oh, no, mon ami," replied the fisherman, 

 "part go there, some go to the house likewise; these are 

 the kind of whitefish you likes so well every day since 

 you come here. You see the whitefish, you suppose, are 

 not caught now. See the rapids and the middle of the 

 river. See the ice. Catch no white — poisson blanc, little 

 or big truite, long as the ice goes over there. Break the 

 canoe through every time. Ice run now six week or 

 more, will run. maybe, a month or more, too. If you 

 stay here and want fresh fisb, may be you eat 'loche,' 

 white and herring all the time, two, three, four times a 

 day, jes as good as seal whitefish, so you don't know him." 



Well, to tell the truth, I was a little weakened after 

 hearing this disclosure; but I ate "loche" that evening for 

 supper and daily afterward until the catch for real 

 "poisson blanc" set in. Even then, possibly, I partook of 

 one fish as often as the other. I will not say that the 

 "loche" of the Sault equals the whitefish of that locality, 

 as the latter is considered the most superior of its kind; 

 but this I will say, this "loche" from the cold waters of 

 the North is a most excellent fish for the table. Its fat 

 liver, wdiich I have often eaten since, I prefer to that 

 of the overfed, stuffed goose of Strasburg, which is so 

 much sought after. 



But the "loche." like all other fishes, as many know, 

 must vary in food qualities according to its general sur- 

 roundings and season. The "loche" from Lake Erie does 

 not rank in fine flavor and firmness of flesh above the cat- 

 fish of the Mississippi Valley, neither does our whitefish 

 (C. albus) in this point equal those of deeper, clearer and 

 colder waters; it is often so fat, oily and soft as to be 

 hardly fit for food, and those who have only eaten the 

 fish from this locality consider it very inferior fish; and 

 more, we have heard many declare it to be a "worthless 

 fish." 



In Sir John Franklin's first overland Arctic expedition 

 this Lota maculosa was met with in all lakes and rivers 

 tributary to Hudson's Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Dr. 

 Richardson, who accompanied him as a surgeon and 

 naturalist, mentions this fish as excellent food, the 

 livers especially. The late "Win. Mittleberger, of this city , 

 once twenty years a factor in the Hudson's Bay Fur 

 Company, often interested me in relating his experience 

 in that lonely and little-known region. One day while 

 watching the hauling of a seine, a burbot, as he called it, 

 was thrown out with some other worthless fishes. He re- 

 marked as he examined it, "This fish is quite abundant 

 on the Great Slave Lake, Peace and Athabaska rivers, 

 and is considered there one of the best of fishes, and how 

 is it that it was considered worthless here '?" Since then 

 I have learned that in Montana it is eagerly sought after, 

 its liver and roe being considered a delicacy. Even to 

 Alaska it is known as an excellent food fish and weighs 

 40 to 501bs. 



It has often been a wonder to me why this fish is so 

 generally condemned, it certainly is quite as attractive on 

 close acquaintance as any of its salt water relations, the 

 Gadidaa, such as the cod and haddock, compared with 

 eels and catfish it is a perfect beauty. 



Let the Ichthyoplagous Club explain. 



De. E. Sterling}. 



Cleveland, O. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Cusk are plentiful in the St. John River near Frederic- 

 ton. The usual time for the commencement of fishing is 

 at that period of the year when the river begins to freeze ; 

 they are also taken during the winter through the ice. 



They are said to be of the finest quality when taken in 

 the autumn before they have spawned. 'The fish and roe. 

 which is very large, are fried in butter; as they are thus 

 served up at the Queen Hotel in this city, they are very 

 highly prized by the Fredericton Blue Noses. Whether 

 such food would be agreeable to the dainty palates of 

 New York aristocrats is doubtful. Cusk are also plenti- 

 ful in the lakes on the left hand branch of Green River, 

 one of the tributaries of the St. John; the immature fry 

 being a favorite food of the Green River trout which, 

 when gorged With them, will pay but little heed to the 

 angler's wiles. The cusk is also found in many other 

 lakes in New Brunswick. Edward Jack. 



Fredericton, New Brunswick. 



MEMORIES THAT DO NOT FADE.— I. 



EVERY sportsman who has grown gray in the cause 

 finds still clinging to his memory fond recollections 

 of incidents and. events connected with his early experi- 

 ences with the rod and gun, which, unlike "footprints on 

 the sands of time," do not grow dim or vanish. Where- 

 ever his lot may be cast, or whatever his calling in the 

 busy scenes of life, there will be intervals when these inci- 

 dents in his early sporting career will come uppermost in 

 his mind with all the vivid freshness of the long-gone 

 days in which they occurred, and he lives over again some 

 of the pleasantest incidents of his early life. 



Most of such incidents may seem trivial to the general 

 reader, but I fancy, will awaken an interest in the breasts 

 of those who began early in life to gather that enjoyment 

 which can be found in no other way; and there may also 

 be an interest, and possibly some grains of instruction, to 

 those who are just beginning to learn the ways of the 

 imperial, wary and gamy denizens of the forest and 

 stream. 



It was my fortune to be permitted to begin early in this 

 interesting pursuit, and though bereft of a father's care 

 and guidance when quite young, a kind and indulgent 

 mother aided my strong and natural desires in this direc- 

 tion much more than the average mothers are wont to 

 do. She evidently took a sensible view of the matter, for 

 she did not allow me to run wild in this direction, but 

 kept me under due restraint; and though often assisting 

 me in the care of my gun and fishing tackle, the former 

 of which she always kept in her own room when not in 

 use, I was never allowed to go out without due caution to 

 beware of accidents and a promise exacted from me to 

 return by a stated time. And I kept my promise faith- 

 fully, partly out of dutifulness and partly, no doubt, be- 

 cause I knew a failure on my part wordd endanger the 

 frequency of my little outings. 



The first silk line of which I was ever the proud pos- 

 sessor my mother made for me, twisting it on the old 

 spinning wheel from sewing silk, and though my joy and 

 pride were exceedingly large over it, they were of short 

 duration, for while fishing in the river a few clays after 

 'it was given to me, a fish took it away, breaking the tip 

 of my rod, and as I had no reel I saw my beautiful silk line 

 vanish from my sight, but not forever. I have often 

 wished it had been so, for the next day I went down to 

 the river wdiere some men were fishing with a seine, and I 

 saw them take out of their net a splendid pickerel with 

 my hook and silk line still fast to its mouth. I told them 

 it was my line and how I had lost it, but they neither 

 gave me the line or fish. Perhaps it was fortunate for 

 me that my physical powers were not as great as my 

 boyish indignation and wrath, for if they had been I 

 should certainly have recovered that line or made things 

 very lively for those unjust fishermen. I have never 

 ceased to despise the man who refused to give me my 

 silk line, though this may be wrong in me, for he has 

 long since gone to his reward. 



In the gratitude I now feel for the kindness of my 

 mother who so cheerfully aided me in my early efforts to 

 win these gentle pleasures, rnay I not be indulged in ask- 

 ing, if it would not be better if more mothers and fathers 

 Avould in like manner guide, direct and instruct their 

 boys who evince a love for these sports instead of striving 

 to smother or obliterate an instinct which, if properly 

 encouraged, will afford pleasures rational, manly and 

 lifelong? A. 

 .Iune 24, 1887. 



THE TOURNAMENT. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I've been thinking over the tournament and venture 

 some suggestions for criticism : 



Shoidd there not be a limit to size of line used in single- 

 hand fly-rod casting, and to the weight of rod? 



I would put the entrance fee in each contest down to 

 fifty cents or a dollar anyhow. 



Contestants should be classed the way trotting horses 

 are. Thus, for single-handed over head fly-rod casting I 

 would suggest classes as follows : Sixty feet and under, 

 70ft,, 80ft., 85ft., 90ft. No man with a record to be 

 eligible below his class save in a free-for-all. If a good 

 lotof prizes were put in the lower classes we would have 

 a big entry. The judges should have discretion to cut the 

 time down to five minutes ; and then give the first three 

 or five a further period of five minutes. Distance only to 

 count in these contests, but special contests for delicacy 

 and accuracy being had. 



Rule 2 should be done away with or else strictly en- 

 forced. 



What do you say, folk, specially about the classing, and 

 if so name your classes for each sort of casting. 



Graydon Johnston. 



[It is time now to make a class for winners of first 

 prizes in the amateur classes. Under the present rules 

 they are forced to stay out or to go in with the experts. 

 It is also time to do away with the ride prohibiting men 

 engaged in the fishing tackle business from entering ama- 

 teur classes. This rule was forced upon the Association 

 after the first contest in Central Park, because men who 

 test rods in a factory came down and swept the amateur 

 classes, and it was necessary to provide against an occur- 

 rence of this. Perhaps if memberships could not be ob- 

 tained on the ground it would be well. This practice 

 encourages mug-hunting to a great extent. We agree 

 with Mr. Johnston that classes should be made according 

 to the previous records, but do not think that rods and 

 lines should be too severely restricted, because one object 

 of the tournaments is to develop the tools which can do 

 the best work. His other suggestions are well worth the 

 consideration of the Association.] 



