90 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 21, 1889. 



A great deal of misconception about penetration has 

 arisen through the methods used for testing it. Paper 

 pads are probably the most unreliable of all. When the 

 sheets are pressed closely together a hard-hitting gun 

 will often penetrate fewer than a weak shooter, owing to 

 the extra velocity causing the pellets to flatten. The 

 same gun will vary greatly in successive shots, accord- 

 ing to the number of sheets in a pad, and also according 

 to the looseness or closeness with which they are pressed 

 together. 



The Field force gauge is quite as much a test of the 

 simultaneous arrival of the whole charge of shot as of its 

 penetration. A hard-shooting gun, from which the pel- 

 lets arrive consecutively, will not show so great a force 

 as a feeble weapon which sends them in a mass. 



Some months ago a water target was described in the 

 English sporting papers, but it is never mentioned in t hem 

 now. It seems very probable that after shot reaches a 

 certain degree of velocity, its penetration into water 

 would begin to decrease, owing to the extra resistance 

 offered to very swiftly moving bodies. This principle 

 was well illustrated by some experiments with bullets, 

 described in Cleveland's work on American rifles, pub- 

 lished in 18G4. 



On the whole, the most satisfactory test of penetration 

 is, perhaps, that of firing at cards, placed half an inch 

 apart in a rack, as recommended in Long's "American 

 Wildfowl Shooting," With care in procuring the cards 

 of the same thickness and weight, and keeping them at 

 an even state of dryness, the results of trials are remark- 

 ably uniform. The number of cards pierced also increases 

 exactly as the proportion of powder to shot is increased, 

 which is the result reasonably to be expected. 



In conclusion, I would say that the most important point 

 to be settled in your trial is the best gauge for any given 

 weight of gun. * Suppose, for instance, 71bs. as the'weight 

 which a man of average strength and endurance can 

 carry with comfort in a long day's shooting, 3 to 3£drs. 

 of the strongest powder and l±oz. of shot can be 



fired from it without unpleasant recoil. The question is, 

 whether a 12-bore is best for such charges, or whether, as 

 some t hink, a 10 or 20-boreof the same weight and length 

 of barrel would throw them with superior pattern and 

 penetration. Extra long shells are now made for these 

 smaller bores, so that there need be no difficulty about 

 getting in the. larger loads. J. J. M. 



Dublin, Ii-eland. 



QUAIL IN MARYLAND. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Del. A. Ware," writing from 

 Dover, Del. says: "The Delaware State Game Society is 

 doing good work in waging war against illegal trapping 

 of game." I have lived in this State for two years and 

 have seen none of the "good work," on the contrary, 

 gunners pay no attention to the game laws. In the 

 neighborhood of Frederica, Milford and clown through 

 Sussex county the quail were being slaughtered forty 

 days before the season opened. I enticed a bevv upon 

 my place by planting buckwheat, which I allowed to 

 remain standing. All but three of these birds were 

 killed before Nov. 15. Of course I know who did the 

 shooting, but cannot afford to incur the ill will of my 

 neighbors by punishing them. 



It is my opinion, if instead of "an appropriation for 

 the buying of game girds to be loosed through the State," 

 the money was spent in securing the arrest of illegal 

 shooters we would have as a result a large increase of 

 game. . Victor Ml. Haldeman. 



Melford, Del., Fell. 16. 



West Vikgima.— Editor Forest and Stream: In For- 

 est akd Str -am of the 7th I noticed a query as to the 

 best place for black bear. Let me suggest Greenbrier 

 and Pocahontas counties, in West Virginia. White 

 Rock and Greenbrier Mountains in the former county 

 are said to be well supplied with black bear. These 

 animals are also reported numerous in the William* 

 River region, Pocahontas county. Should Dr. Dwyer 

 wish to visit West Virginia to try his luck and pluck on 

 black bear he will do well to write to Henry Gilmer, 

 Esq., Lewisburg, who can give him all the information 

 he desires. Mr. G. would likely accompany him in a 

 chase after bruin should his business permit, and if the 

 doctor wants a good companion. The best time in the 

 spring to hunt bears here would be from the 1st to the 

 20th of March, because during that time we often have 

 good tracking snows, and later in the spring it is a rare 

 thing to see the ground white twenty-four horns at a 

 time. It is thought that the West Virginia Legislature 

 will change the game law to a certain extent if its mem- 

 bers get through quarreling over the Senator in time. — 

 P. C. O. (Lewisburg, W. Va.). 



Grouse, Guns and Snares.— Edit or Forest and 

 Stream: If a person understands the art of setting 

 snares, he can catch a whole flock of grouse or partridges 

 if he sets the snares while the birds are in flocks, before 

 the leaves begin to fall. After the birds are scattered, 

 and the leaves begin to fall, the snarer does not have as 

 good a show as the shooter (who can shoot). A good shot, 

 one who understands the tricks and habits of our part- 

 ridge, with a dog that knows how to work them up care- 

 fully, is in my opinion about as destructive to partridge 

 as the condemned snarer. There are probably three 

 hunters to one snarer; the shooter gets at least half the 

 birds. There are many more hunters than there were 

 ten years ago. Hunting and snaring kill the birds. The 

 farmer and land-owner should regulate the killing on his 

 territory so that "supply will exceed the demand," then 

 there is a chance for this noble bird to increase.-FARMER. 



Strahan, la., Feb. 11. — I consider your paper worth 

 double the subscription price, and wili not do without it 

 as long as I am able to rake enough together to pay for 

 a subscription. Game is very scarce here this winter, 

 there are a few prairie chickens on the river bottom, but 

 rabbits seem to have been killed off. Quail are very 

 scarce here; I have seen but one covey of sixteen this 

 winter.—H. W. 



Sunday Hunting in Ohio.— For hunting on Sunday, 

 three men of Gregg's Corners, O., were arrested, and one 

 docked in the sum of $48. The residents there mean to 

 enforce the law.— Canip. 



Putting out Quail.— Dover, Del., Feb. 4.— The Dela- 

 ware State Game Association has contracted for 2,000 

 live Southern quail to be turned loose in the State. In- 

 deed game was shot so close this season that a petition is 

 likely to go before our Legislature at its present session, 

 asking for an act to prohibit the killing of game for one 

 or two years. Such an act would be acceptable to lovers 

 of good sport and to those desiring- an increase in our 

 game supply.— Del. A. Ware. 



Newport Fish and Game Association.— This club is 

 in a prosperous condition; it has a membership of forty, 

 a boat house on Lily Pond, where the black bass fishing 

 is now fair, a fruit of the club's work of restocking the 

 pond. Trout have been put into Neilson Pond. The 

 Newport anglers are taking common sense measures to 

 provide good fishing for themselves. 



THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE. 



[.Special Correspondence of Forest and Stream. '\ 



ALBANY, Feb. 19.— Senator Collins has introduced two lulls. 

 One of them prohibits the importation of game into this 

 State and forbids the selling out of season, whether killed in this 

 State or outside. 



The other bill appropriates JJSL500 for a fishway at Lackawaxen, 

 where the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey ccme up to the 

 New Yr.rk State line. It is expected rhat each State will con- 

 tribute the same amount, thus making $7,500 in all. 



Assemblyman Me Ad am lias introduced a bill prohibiting the 

 sale of speckled trout in Oneida countv at any time. 



The Assembly Committee on Game Laws has reported the fol- 

 lowing bills: McAriam, prohibiting the shooting of partridges 

 outside of Oneida (ordered to a third reading); Savey, for the pro- 

 tection of fish in Lake Ontario adjoining Cayuga countv (to third 

 reading); Little, prohibiting the selling of quail and partridges in 

 Niagara county for three years more"; McAdatn, amending the 

 general act of 1879 so as to prohibit the shooting of ducks in spring 

 (to third reading). 



Senator Hawkins's hill for the protection of oysters, etc.. has 

 passed both houses and gone to the Governor. 



Names asi> Portraits of Bibds, by Gurdou Trumbull. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question all the American, game birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth, '£i0 pages, price $2.W. For sale bv Forest 

 and Stream. 



"That reminds me." 

 260. 



I^HE communication from "J. M. S." which, under 

 . the heading of '-The Bronzebacks of Sussex," ap- 

 pears in your issue of the 7th inst. , reminds me of the 

 following facts: 



Will, John and the humble scrivenor hereof were fish- 

 ing in the Fox River, Wisconsin, one afternoon late in the 

 summer of 1887 and caught twenty-one black bass and 

 one pickerel, the lot weighed exactly 551bs. on scales as 

 honest as ever "aided and abetted" a grocery man in "the 

 struggle for existence." 



Will can disport the delusive sproat and feathers with 

 a sinful seductiveness, the result, I suspect, of closely 

 observing the maneuvers of the appetizing "bluebottle" 

 on a molasses barrel, and scrutinizing the habits of bone- 

 less cod and canned .salmon; but John, being a master 

 mason, fishes "on the square," with a rod from nature's 

 workshop and the sinuous and succulent earthworm for 

 bait. John had hooked a big bass (in fact ho had a lien 

 on most of our catch) and was trying to land him after 

 the manner of the Scotch navigator— by main strength 

 and stubbornness — when Will, who was watching the tug- 

 of-war with dubious eyes, remarked: "Let him play, 

 John, let him play." "Yes," said John, "just as soon as 

 I get him in the boat he can play all he pleases." 



Hoodoo. 



Aurora, 111. 



"Sam LovePs Camps:' By R. E. Robinson. Now ready. 



THE STEEL ROD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In regard to the standards designated by "Splasher" of 

 elasticity, pliability, weight and strength, as mentioned 

 in last issue, these requirements w T ere all (to me) very 

 satisfactorily met, in the rod used last season. The 

 balance needed correction for use as a casting or fly-rod; 

 durability as yet undetermined. The eight ounce fly-rod 

 just submitted, guides outside, fulfils, so far as I can see, 

 all the necessary requisites of a fly-rod in above men- 

 tioned points, and including a proper balance. 



I never permit my rods to remain jointed over night, 

 but separate, clean, wipe and bag, as all good anglers 

 should at the close of each day's fishing. 



There was no protection to the bare metal where 

 united at joints, and a little oil wiped on prevented rust. 

 I see no more need to have the rod rust than a gun. How 

 it will affect the rod by having a wet line drawn through 

 I cannot say, as I use guides outside, and also bottle up, 

 with a vial cork, the opening of the tube joints at butt. 

 The joints being on last season's rod slightly tapered 

 (from being telescopic) were that much objectionable, 

 but those made now are parallel at joints, and exactly 

 equivalent to the ferrules on rods as commonly united. ' 



I never "tackled" a setter dog. Solomon says "spare 

 the rod," but, if the dog didn't mind it, I would hang on 

 to the rod and land the dog. Black Bass. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Errors in my article in your issue of Feb. 14 make me 

 say just the reverse of what I intended. Instead of 

 "the strength and durability of the metal rod was next 

 questioned," read "the strength and durability of the 

 metal rod was not questioned." Instead of "I wrote 

 more from the standpoint of one who requires such flexi- 

 bility in a rod as enables them to use the most delicate 

 tackle," read "I wrote more from the standpoint of those 

 who require such flexibility in a rod as enables them to 

 use the most delicate tackle." Instead of "and when the 

 steel rod is so made as to equal the cost of the best split- 

 bamboo." read "and when the steel rod is so made as to 

 equal in cast the best split-bamboo." Splasher. 



Cedarvtlle, O. 



THE VIRTUES OF MUD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In Charles Barker Bradford's pamphlet on black bass 

 fishing at Milton Lake, N. J., he says: "The fish under 

 and about the bridge are very tempting, but also very 

 wary, and the residents say that they are but seldom 

 caught from the bridge itself. If fished from the bridge 

 they will lie there and never move a fin; the current is 

 weak, and if scared away by a stone or twig they will 

 return in a second or two, almost to the same spot. Now, 

 if any of my fishing friends think they can catch these 

 bridge bass I will guarantee to show them (or they can 

 go and see for themselves) from six to a dozen of the 

 beauties lying there at any time. When I do not succeed 

 with them. to my satisfaction I get some one to systemat- 

 ically drop stones and drive them up stream, where, per- 

 haps out of pure unadulterated cussedness, they seem to 

 readily take a fly." 



I can tell Bradford a better way to take either bass or 

 trout that have grown too familiar with man and his 

 methods to be enticed from their native element by the 

 usual means. I have found that where there is a current 

 the best mode of procedure is to go a few rods up stream 

 and cave in a bank or dig up the bottom until the water 

 is very muddy. This I keep up until the cloud of thickly 

 earth-colored water reaches within a few yards of the 

 pool that shelters the "big ones." I then wade down and 

 cast a worm bait (the large night-walker is the surest) 

 into the muddy water, allowing it to float down into the 

 pool with the muddy cloud not ahead or behind it but in 

 the part of the current that is the most deeply colored. 

 Try this and I will wager that you will be rewarded with 

 a strike in a moment. I first saw this practiced by a 

 Maori guide recommended to me by an old fisherman in 

 Christ Church, New Zealand. We were fishing the Avon 

 River above the public gardens and saw plenty of fine 

 large English brown trout in the deep holes that would 

 not notice anything I carried in my well-stocked book. 

 We ti ied worms with no better success. The fish were 

 not even shy; they would nose the bait but not take it. 

 The Maori explained his method and I prepared for it as 

 above described, and soon had three fine fish out of the 

 first pool. 



In casting into muddy water, do not use either shot or 

 float, but allow the worm to drift down with the current, 

 letting 15 or 20ft. of line lie in the water. This gives the 

 worm the appearance of floating down without being- 

 attached to anything, and I have never kown it to fail. 

 Whether the fish form the impression that high water 

 is bringing down an extra supply of worms or not I do 

 not know, but I do know that the moment they see muddy 

 water coming down stream they begin t o show signs of 

 activity, and when the lure reaches them they take it, 

 provided the operation of discoloring the water takes 

 place far enough above the pool not to alarm them, and 

 is kept up long enough to allow the pool to become well 

 muddied. I have tried this in many different streams and 

 always with killing effect, both on trout and bass, and am 

 sure if my friend Bradford will carefully pursue this 

 plan he will surely basket some fine fish from his pool of 

 "bridge bass." 



Your correspondent "G. E. W." might also find this 

 method of great value to him in angling in his pond near 

 Taunton, Mass., where, he complains, the black bass, 

 though plenty and of great size, seldom take a bait. 



J. Chaeles Davis. 



JERKED TROUT. 



ON a promising morning during the second week in 

 September a friend and myself, who had been for 

 some time sojourning at Smith's Lake, in the heart of 

 what is left Of the wilderness proper of the Adirondack 

 region, started with our guides for a trip to Clear Pond, 

 noted for the size and beauty of the speckled trout that 

 thrived in its pellucid waters, as well as for the variety 

 of catches made therefrom. It was our avowed intention 

 of exhausting every means known to anglers of some ex- 

 perience in the endeavor to capture a fair creel of some 

 of the "old settlers." A pull across the western end of 

 the lake soon brought us to the north inlet, where the 

 rough and stony carry of half a mile leads up the inlet to 

 the navigable stream which forms the outlet of Harrison 

 Pond. Having launched our boats in this stream, the 

 sportsmen took their places in the bow and the guides 

 silently paddled up to and through the pond, each with 

 eager eye intent on surprising a deer feeding along the 

 shore and obtaining a shot en route. The season was 

 getting late, however, and we were not disappointed in 

 the fact that none were seen, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it is a famous resort for deer. 



The carry from Harrington to Clear Pond is a well cut 

 out trail of a mile and one-half, and leads through a 

 magnificent growth of beech, birch and maple, after first 

 passing one- third of a mile of tamarack and balsam 

 swamp. The glimmer of Clear Pond is seen through the 

 trees for quite a distance as the trail slopes gradually 

 toward it. It is a beautiful sheet of spring water, pure 

 and bright as crystal, shaped somewhat like the letter Q, 

 and nearly three-fourths of a mile in diameter. In some 

 places the water has quite a depth, and is remarkably 

 clear and transparent, as the name implies. It is fed en- 

 tirely by springs within its compass, and an outside area 

 of but limited extent. 



Our first trial was in the orthodox way of fly-casting,' 

 and although persisted in, and several changes made, no 

 trout of any unusual size could be lured. Then a trial of 

 minnows was had, both trolling and casting, with but 

 little better result. Then artificial baits were tried for a 

 time, including the phantom minnow and spoon trollers, 

 but the catches made were not up to the standard. The 

 guides then induced a trial of angleworms and chub tails 

 in still-fishing in the best-known localities, and with long- 

 lines, and were disappointed in the result. It began to 

 be conceded that' there was not much show of getting 

 any of the big fellows until springtime should again 

 whet their appetites, and an early bird with a worm 

 struck them on some favorable day. 



As a last resort, some 9-foot leaders were gotten out 

 and adorned with a gang of three selected large bass 

 flies, a set of swivels arranged, and half an ounce of 

 sinkers completed the preparation for trolling with long 

 lines in deep water. Before casting off we gratified what 

 we considered a whim of our guides, by consenting to 

 permit them to add a worm upon the hook of each fly, 

 "that in case a fish struck and was not hooked, but got a 

 taste, he would try it again," Whether this had any- 



