64 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 14, 1889. 



GROUSE SNARING. 



UTICA, N, Y., Feb. 11.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The interesting communication of "Hermit" in 

 your issue of ?th inst., on grouse shooters and snarers, is 

 noticed and is concurred in as respects danger of exter- 

 mination of this bird, and it may he added of woodcock 

 also. The destruction by bird dogs among the young 

 broods is also concurred in, and it may be added that 

 foxes and skunks are equally or more destructive than 

 the dogs in the same hue, as these pests are always ram- 

 bling in partridge haunts. What is most surprising is 

 "Hermit's" defense of snaring on the alleged ground that 

 it is comparatively not destructive. That the Cape Ann 

 fisherman, with "forty snares well tended for three 

 months," only got two birds, is very remarkable. Such 

 stories in print are not calculated to benefit the cause of 

 protection. If this remarkable story is tine, one of two 

 conditions must have prevailed, viz: * Either there was a 

 dearth of birds in the vicinity, or else he was a bungler 

 at the business. If such was not the existing condition, 

 then it is more probable the "fisherman" suppressed the 

 truth. Those who violate laws seldom boast of their ex- 

 ploits. 



As an example of destructive snaring here is one ac- 

 tually occurring. Within a few years over 500 snared 

 birds were caught and sold by one man at one leading 

 hotel in this city in one season. They were taken in a 

 locality where thirty year's of gunning had not reduced 

 the supply, yet the snares did it in the short space of four 

 years, leaving scarce a bird. With much effort and ex- 

 pense this man was arrested and convicted upon testi- 

 money of eye witnesses, and in his defense he swore he 

 never caught but three birds in two years, first swearing- 

 he caught none. The actual statistics were obtained 

 from the steward of the hotel. 



The proprietor of this hotel professes to be a sportsman 

 and it is reported that he has supplied his hotel with 

 snared birds the past season. Another party in another 

 locality boasted that he made $500 snaring birds last 

 year. He paid $ 100 fine and costs for one catch this 

 year. It may be that these birds learn the ways of the 

 snares, but it may be doubted if one gets into a snare 

 once that he ever survives to warn the rest of the flock. 

 If any one thing is needed it is a law against the sale of 

 snared birds. Such a law cannot be enacted too soon. 



U. F. & G. P. A. 



A HUNT IN JAVA. 



T\7 E started out from Paraka Salah in the early rnorn- 

 t t ing to go up Mt. Parah to shoot monkeys, of which 

 there are four kinds, one very large gray baboon and 

 three smaller kinds, one jet black. The monkeys live on 

 the mountain, making their houses in the tops of the 

 trees, which are mostly fruit-bearing ones, on which they 

 live except when they make their raids in the fields and 

 destroy more than they eat, and they are hunted more or 

 less by European visitors with the view of thinning them 

 out. It is a comical sight to see them scud across a field, 

 the female usually carrying one young one clasped in one 

 arm while she runs with the other and her feet, and very 

 often having an older one hanging to her tail. Once in 

 the woods, they are at home. The large gray ones are 

 ugly customers for a man alone to meet, as they often 

 attack a single man and bite him to death. 



My friend and I had guns with buckshot, and four 

 coolies to carry the guns, etc., and cut the way through 

 the jungle, which is almost impenetrable, being a 

 matted mass of vines, bamboo and thomy bushes. We 

 rode up through the tea plantation and left our horses at 

 the edge of the jungle, skirting along the edge of a large, 

 deep, shady pool or small lake, in which we could see the 

 noses and horns of several wild buffalo sticking out. 

 They go into the water for comfort, leaving only the tips 

 of their noses and ends of their horns out, and spend the 

 heat of the day, coming out to feed in the evening. We 

 saw two rhinoceros, but they were ugly brutes, charging 

 at the very slightest noise, and were it not that they are 

 so near-sighted that they can see but a little way it would 

 be almost impossible to escape them, but by jumping 

 quickly to one side one can avoid them. They were on 

 the alert, as they could hear but not see us, we being 

 above them, and the small bird which always seems to be 

 near them to give them the alarm was chirping and 

 jumping on them asif to say, "Lookout, there is danger!" 

 The buffaloes are also dangerous. An old bull will some- 

 times charge at you, and when they do they are much 

 harder to escape than the rhinoceros, so we gave them 

 all a wide berth. 



Arriving at the edge of the jungle we started in, the 

 coolies clearing the way for us as well as they could, cut- 

 ting some of the vines and picking the way through. It 

 was frightfully hot down in the thicket, and we soon 

 began to wish we were out, as it is anything but easy to 

 pick your way through an almost impenetrable mass that 

 you cannot see out of in any direction, with the ther- 

 mometer up in the hundreds, and not a breath of air. 

 We passed the nests of several hornbills. When they 

 are ready to lay, the nest is made in a hollow tree, the 

 female goes within, leaving her whole immense beak 

 sticking out, and the male plasters the hole around it up 

 with mud, that hardens at once; she lays her eggs and 

 sits on them until they are hatched, the male feeding her 

 all the time. The monkeys and snakes looking for eggs 

 see this formidable-looking beak sticking out of the hole 

 and are afraid to tackle it, so she hatches in peace. The 

 poor male in feeding her gets so poor he can hardly fly. 



After about an hour of crawling and pushing through, 

 our men suddenly stopped and began to point ahead, 

 chattering and gesticulating. Looking the way they 

 pointed, we saw in a tree an immense boa constrictor 

 waving his head to and fro, with his scales glittering in 

 the sun. My friend said. "Get back, quick, he is pre- 

 paring to jump!" and we did so as fast as possible. After 

 consulting a few moments the Malays cautiously ad- 

 vanced with a lasso, which by a dexterous throw caught 

 the snake around the neck, and jumping behind a tree 

 tightened it on him. He thrashed and pulled, and it 

 was all the four Malays could do to keep from being 

 drawn near - enough for hiin to crush them, and once or 

 twice it Reemed as though he would get them. We 

 could have shot him at first, but they wanted to capture 

 him alive. After a while, by pulling and choking him, 

 he gave up and they pulled him down from the tree. He 

 was a big fellow, 20ft. long and very large around. They 

 have great strength, and this one I was assured could 

 swallow a goat or calf. He was looking probably for 



leopards that are plenty there, living principally on 

 monkeys, and the snakes also catch them when they can, 

 but usually the monkey is cleverer than the snake. They 

 sometimes gather in big bands and club them to death. 



By this time we were so hot and tired that we con- 

 cluded to let the monkeys rest, although we could hear 

 them chattering and jumping not so very far ahead of 

 us, so we turned back to our horses with our coolies 

 carrying our trophy. The Malays made a cage very 

 quickly, cutting lengths of bamboo and notching them 

 together, into which they put the snake, and swinging 

 it on two poles marched off with it on their shoulders. 

 There were plenty of jungle fowl, the parent of our 

 domestic hen. It looks exactly like a game cock, and is 

 equally pugnacious. The natives when they catch a 

 cock put him down when near the jungle in a' cage with 

 a swinging door, and when he crows the wild ones come 

 out to fight, and jumping against the door that only 

 swings one way get caught. A great many are captured 

 in this way. They are very shy, strong flyers and fast 

 runners. There are also pheasants, parrots, coffee pig- 

 eons, etc., but we only had buckshot, so did not molest 

 them. 



Java would be the paradise of hunters if it were not so 

 hot and the jungle so thick that it is hard work to get at 

 big game; still, this day, if I had had a rifle with me, I could 

 have killed two rhinoceros and several buffalo, but was 

 afraid to try it with buckshot. I saw any amount of 

 small game. w. 



Chicago, Illinois. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The resolution of S. R. Fuller, submitted to and adopted 

 by the Black River Fish and Game Association, as set 

 forth in No. 26 of your valuable journal, sounded the key 

 note and should stir to action every association of this 

 State. How the intelligent and enlightened sportsmen 

 throughout the country have sat so unconcerned, with 

 ears closed to all appeals, while our noble game animals 

 and birds were being so ruthlessly butchered, is the query. 



The sportsmen of Maine only came to realize the true 

 situation and apply an effective remedy after the game 

 had become nearly estinct. Have we, of this State, to 

 follow their example before the game of bluff has been 

 played and a suitable and conservative game law been 

 enacted? Let our sportsmen from every county within 

 the State wake up to this important subject. Talk it over 

 with your neighbors and friends of all classes and occu- 

 pations. Instruct your Senators and Assemblymen that 

 suitable enactments may be made. 



The resolution above i eferred to, so far as it relates to 

 the shortening of the open season for hounding deer, in 

 cutting off the latter half of August and the first half of 

 September, and adding on the month of November for 

 still-hunting, is a step in the right direction, not that I 

 believe in hounding deer into lakes and ponds to entrap 

 them at any season of the year, as I do not. But the idea 

 of ending the open season for hunting them in this lati- 

 tude on the first day of November, just at the only time 

 when the does that have suckled fawns all summer have 

 recuperated sufficient to be in edible condition , and at the 

 only time after which we may expect or look for cool 

 weather for keeping game, is as inconsistent as it is die- 

 graceful. 



The law makers of no other State in the Union, I be- 

 lieve, ever thought of enacting such a game law. In 

 fact our open season ends at precisely the period when it 

 should commence. It gives a still-hunter the privilege 

 of bagging three deer in warm weather upon dry leaves, 

 which feat, in being accomplished, usually costs the 

 death of five or six deer, owing to the difficulty of fol- 

 lowing up and securing wounded game without the aid 

 of snow: and in connection therewith it gives us the 

 right, as it seems, that in case the deer we have bagged 

 are not spoiled by the time of our arrival at the cars, we 

 can. by becoming market-hunters and disposing of two of 

 our catch, express one carcass home — by accompanying 

 the same. How the fulfillment of this clause acts to 

 bring deer back to life or enhance the future stock or 

 keep the disposer of his legally killed game from being 

 classed as a market-hunter is another query. If it would 

 be any greater sin or a more revolting crime for a sports- 

 man, who, having bagged three deer at Big Moose Lake, 

 comes out, gets aboard the cars at Boonville, and on his 

 way home disposes of one carcass at Utica, another at 

 Rochester and takes the third on through to Buffalo and 

 uses it up there, or in fact to take, all three carcasses home 

 and use them up or dispose of them there, than it would 

 to sell two carcasses at Boonville and take the third one 

 home, I for one cannot see it. If the intention was to 

 prevent those living at a distance from bagging but one 

 deer or of becoming a market-hunter by disposing of two 

 of the number or even of all three, in case they should 

 feel so inclined, it is still a decided failure. If one carcass 

 is sufficient for sportsmen occupying certain portions of 

 this State the same should suffice for all, no matter where 

 domiciled. 



Limit the number to two, or even one carcass, but 

 serve all sections alike and there can be no just com- 

 plaints. Cap Look. 



Dover, Del. — The weather this winter has been so 

 mild and pleasant that many of our summer songsters 

 ha ve w intered with us. Numerous blackbirds and robins 

 and occasionally a bluebird can be seen in sheltered 

 nooks in the woods. Owing to the almost entire absence 

 of snow and to the great quantities of loose grain left in 

 the fields, the birds have a plentiful supply of food. Our 

 game birds have been hard hit and often this year, the 

 weather enabling continuous hunting, and as the condi- 

 tion of the birds was fine, they were pursued relentlessly. 

 It is doubtful if there will be one-half as many birds to 

 breed from the coming season as last. Our gunning sea- 

 son, as allowed by law, is entirely too long, being from 

 Nov. 15 to Feb. 1. The Delaware State Game Society is 

 doing good work in waging war against illegal trapping 

 of game. It is stated thai an appropriation for the buy- 

 ing of game birds to be loosed through the State is to be 

 asked of our Legislature during this session. One of the 

 several pairs of pheasants that were loosed in this county 

 two years ago bred here this season. — Del. A. Ware. 



Sam Loyel's Camps, a sequel to "Uncle Lisha Shop," 

 is meeting with great succes. It is as full of good things 

 as was Mr. Robinson's first volume, 



THE SHOOTING CLUBS OF CHICAGO. 



VII. — THE MAK-SAW-BA CLUB. 



THE Chicago clubs, which are more properly to be 

 called duck clubs, divide themselves roughly into 

 two classes, the lake clubs and the river clubs, always 

 with more or less interlocking membership. The lake 

 clubs cluster about the Fox Lake district, to which has 

 already been given such mention as space allowed; the 

 river clubs lie to the south of Chicago, and may again be 

 loosely divided into those of the Kankakee River and 

 those of the Illinois. The former clubs are organized 

 under the laws of Indiana, and the latter under the laws 

 of Illinois. The membership is practically all from Chi- 

 cago; and here again there are some members who hold 

 shares in clubs of both sections. 



The Mak-saw-ba Club, chosen for this week's mention, 

 is a, Kankakee River club, and its grounds are located in 

 Indiana, subject, therefore, to all the fearful and won- 

 derful legislative enactments of that most lawless of all 

 States, so far as any respect for actual game protection is 

 concerned. The great and good politicians of Indiana, 

 willing to promise anything or to do anvthing to get a 

 vote, have put upon the statute books some very pretty 

 examples of politico-granger wisdom. It is trespass of 

 rank sort to walk with gun in hand across a dry field 

 where there is not any game, nor any possibility of any; 

 but when a body of men have by purchase acquired a 

 quantity of overflowed land, and have endeavored to set 

 apart for their own use a preserve for wildfowl where 

 the presence of the trespasser with the gun does create 

 an actual injury and convey an actual damage, the good 

 Janus spirit of Indiana institutions takes a look over its 

 other shoulder, and solemnly declares that trespass on 

 wet ground don't count. 'Cause why, Indiana people are 

 so constructed that they always want, to go out walking 

 where the mud is waist deep, always want to leave 

 the roads and take to the marshes, and are alwavs 

 consumed with a mad desire to meander around 

 over meandered grounds. This being the estimate 

 the politico-granger puts upon his fellow citizen, 

 it at once becomes the duty of said politico-granger 

 to make it an act of public policy to throw open the duck 

 marshes to public travel, they being overflowed and un- 

 surveyed lands. Indiana would resent the imputation 

 that she had legislated against alien capital, which sought 

 to preserve for its own wise use a privilege which the 

 people of the State were not using wisely but were abus- 

 ing; and yet every member of an Indiana duck club 

 knows that the overflowed lands act is a slap in the face 

 of Chicago clubs, and therefore in the face of intelligent 

 game preservation; nor can such a member disguise from 

 himself that back of all this lies the greedy and lawless 

 selfishness of a mass of people who live in a wonderfully 

 good game country, but who cannot rise above the old 

 ruthless, thoughtless, merciless and murderous instinct 

 of killing so long as there is anything left to kill. 

 Against this well-known sentiment there is no real local 

 current. It is common talk that it is impossible for a 

 club to get a conviction against a resident trespasser for 

 an act the most obviously contraventive of clear rights. 

 The evidence falls through. The judges cannot see it. 

 The clubs have about come to the conclusion that the best 

 way to do is to catch the trespasser, drown him, take his 

 gun, break up his boat, wipe up the earth with his be- 

 longings, and then let him do the prosecuting if he wants 

 to. Certainly nothing herein should for a moment be 

 construed as indicating any hesitancy on the part of any 

 of the clubs, or auy disposition to yield for an instant any 

 of the rights to which they feel they have a perfect claim. 

 There is no relaxation of vigilance; to the contrary, there 

 is now more than at any previous time a disposition to 

 use prompt measures in putting an end to trespassing, 

 and a determination to keep up the fight till opposition 

 is done away with entirely. The Mak-saw-bas mean 

 business in this matter; and so well is this known that 

 the actual trouble on their marshes does not now amount 

 to much, and is growing yearly less and less. In this, as 

 in other planes of life, the higher and sterner moral fibre 

 is destined to ultimate victory. 



In years gone by, the site of the present club house was 

 the favorite camping ground of an old Indian chief, I 

 believe of the Pottawattomie tribe, whose name was Mak- 

 saw-ba. This wise old red man had seen the vast swamps 

 of that locality years long blackened by rushing wings of 

 wildfowl, and had scorned to notice them while he could 

 so easily kill a deer in any of the grassy draws that ran 

 down to the gentle stream of the Kankakee upon the 

 higher side. Old Mak-saw-ba. saw the sweeping tide 

 of the white men flow over the country, and even take 

 possession of the sandy marsh ground which could scarce 

 produce more than a healthy ague. Old Mak saw-ba was 

 a sage in his way, a friend to the white man, and yet 

 wise enough to see that the day of the red men was done. 

 "White man come!" said old Mak-saw-ba one day, and he 

 folded his blanket over his face, and was gathered to his 

 fathers, in a country, I do trust, where he may have fair 

 hunting all his life. 



The camp ground of old Mak-saw-ba became the farm 

 of an old settler, who put up a log hut, with all the archi- 

 tectural trimmings of his time. This log hut stood for 

 forty years, and was the first club house of the Mak-saw- 

 ba Club, being purchased, with the more modern farm 

 house, by the first of those enterprising men who foresaw 

 that the ducks were disappearing, and were in need of 

 some protection, and who realized that the vast marshes 

 of the Kankakee, almost interminable in extent, and 

 usually supplied with abundance of the natural food of 

 the wildfowl, constituted the best possible choice for a 

 wildfowl preserve. In those days geese fed upon the 

 Kankakee marshes in acres, and the flight of ducks often 

 filled the air in a passing stream as far as the eye could 

 reach. There is no exaggeration in this, nor is impossible 

 to exaggerate in stating these numbers. Within two or 

 three years almost the same abundance has been visible. 

 There was no question about the wisdom of the choice 

 made by these first members of the club, eleven years 

 ago. 



The first complete organization of the club consisted of 

 fifty members. The membership fee was placed at fifty 

 dollars, and the annual dues at five dollars. Then the 

 membership was raised to seventy-five, the fee to seventy- 

 five dollars, and the annual dues were made ten dollars. 

 The farmhouse was remodeled and enlarged, and made 

 more suitable to the requirements of a club building. 

 Boat houses were erected, the club began to reach out 

 for land, and entered rapidly upon that vigorous and 



