April 11, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



239 



Club people have also been having great sport, although 

 last fall they all thought their shooting was gone for 

 good; Messrs. McFarland and Gammon in their week at 

 the Cumberland bagged 520 ducks, besides their geese, 

 cranes and snipe mentioned earlier, Mr. Henry Stevens 

 got 39 ducks and 1 snipe on Cumberland Marsh last Sat- 

 urday. Mr. C. D, Gammon has put up a gold medal for 

 the Cumberland Club, the man killing the most ducks 

 this season to win it. 



The Illinois River does not compare with the Kankakee 

 so fat this spring. Tbe redheads and bluebills are re- 

 potted lower down on the Illinois. They have not got up 

 in the country very well as yet, although there are a few 

 in Lake Michigan. There were a good many bluebills 

 shot from the Government pier, on the City lake front, 

 yesterday. This is within one mile of Chicago. There 

 are only 'few large cities which have good duck shooting 

 tight in town. 



Two telegrams came down from Fox Lake yesterday, 

 and in reference to them Messrs. Walter Hough and Sam 

 Nash went Up last night* The bluebills were said to be 

 in thousands, No satisfactory bags are yet reported, how- 

 ever. 



Grand Caluniet Heights Club has showd some bags of 

 a dozen ot so. Mr. E; C. J. Cleaver got thirteen, mostly 

 pintails, on the river last Thursday. 



Mak-saw-ba bands in nothing startling yet. Snipe 

 shooting will be good on that marsh soon. The birds are 

 coining in. 



Abe Kleintnan says that the shooting in Missouri this 

 spring did not amount to very much, as the birds did not 

 stop. He has been back about two weeks. I asked him 

 where the birds were and he led me to one side and said: 

 'I'll tell you, if you want a private little shoot. I know 

 where they are and would be there now if I could get off. 

 .You go to Shelby, Indiana, and take a wagon four miles 

 to Fuller's farmhouse, on Hickory Island. There is an 

 overflowed prairie there full of nut-grass and there is 

 ood acorn feed not far from there. The water is higli 

 re, and the shooting at Cumberland, Diana and Water 

 alley has driven the birds back there, where nobody is 

 muting them yet, I will give you a tip, that the man 

 ho gets in there soon is going to get some shooting." 

 A tip from Abe Kleininan is valued more by Chicago 

 shooters than information from any other source. I 

 shall this evening run down to Shelby, and to-morrow 

 try the virtue of Abe Kleinman's tip, if the cold change 

 i of this morning does not change duck matters seriously. 

 ^Billy Mussey is gnashing his teeth over the fact that he 

 Can t go too, and Alex Loyd shed tears when I told him 

 I had the Kleinnian tip, and when be declared that busi* 

 ness had him hard and fast for this week. Mr. Reub. 

 Donnelly will probaby run down with me, and we are 

 hoping the mallards haven't eaten all the nut-grass up 

 yet. 



Mr. J. E. Miller, late with the Peters Cartridge Co., 

 and 10 years with Kittridge & Co,, of Cincinnati, is now 

 in charge of the gun department of the Western Arms 

 and Cartridge Co. of this city. Mr. E, D. Davis, late of 

 the gun department, goes into the tackle encj.< 



The sum of the situation at this date seems to be that 

 the duck shooting is unexpectedly and exceptionally 

 good. It is not thought that the deep-water flight is 

 fully up yet, so that the shooting is not yet over. Even 

 Jf it should stop now, the boys have most of them been 

 out, and nearly all have had as much shooting as they 

 otight to have, whether they got as much as they wanted 

 or not. There is great activity among the sportsmen of 

 all lines this spring, and a better year was never known 

 than 1889 will be, The fishing season will open early, 

 and there seems quite as much interest in that as in the 

 tltick shooting. E; HoUGh. 



SNARING RUFFED GROUSE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I must thank your correspondent "Iron Ramrod" for 

 his very hearty, although imaginary, greeting. I should 

 be more than pleased to meet him. Not because he 

 agrees with me on the grouse question, but because his 

 racy letter awakes memories of my own boyhood days and 

 country life in the Pine Tree State. 



Since writing my last letter to Forest and Stream I 

 have been asked the question a great many times, "Why 

 don't you enforce the law against snaring?" I will 

 answer the question now because it interests the sporting 

 world, and my answer is that of hundreds of sportsmen 

 (true sportsmen) who live on Cape Ann, and would gladly 

 see the game protected. 



When 1 came here, four years ago last August, I found 

 the game law a dead letter— I refer to fishing and shoot- 

 ing as well as snaring. I soon became acquainted with 

 a great many people on the Cape, a liberal number being 

 sportsmen. I recall a conversation with one of the last 

 named that has a bearing on the subject. His only sport 

 consisted in following the foxhounds, and one day he 

 was saying hard things of the Snarer while removing 

 loops from his dog's feet, and I asked him why he did 



not enforce the law. "Oh, the law be d d," said he, 



"the law is all wrong. What right has the State to de- 

 pend upon enforcing the game law through bribing the 

 individual? If the law is worthy a place on our statute 

 then let game wardens be appointed to enforce it." 

 It is true that the American people do not take kindly 

 I to the idea of the individuals enforcing the law. As an 

 instance take the liquor traffic; it has cost the world 

 more misery than, poverty, more tears than death, and 

 yet tbe paid complainant is called an informer, a spot- 

 ] ter, and is looked upon with contempt by all decent people. 

 As for myself, I do not choose to turn spotter to enforce 

 any law. I want no blood money. Furthermore, I be- 

 lieve that a law for the protection of game that looks to 

 , the individual for enforcement, particularly if that in- 

 dividual is bribed by offer of half the fine, does not pro- 

 tect. I call the readers' attention to the State of Maine as 

 a proof of this. Year after year the Legislature tinkered 

 the game law, winding up each act with a bribe of half 

 the fine, and what was the result? Why, game received 

 no protection, and was fast being exterminated. Before 

 it was too late the State awoke to the fact, and appointed 

 enough wardens to insure fair protection, and since then 

 game of all kinds has steadily increased. 



Once more I want to call attention to my former state- 

 ment that grouse and quail are in danger of being exter- 

 minated by bird dogs. I do not mean by dog and gun in 

 the proper season. I mean that bird dogs are allowed to 

 run at large in the breeding season of grouse and quaiL 



and that these dogs take to the woods in pairs and hunt 

 out and kill the chicks before they can fly. On Cape 

 Ann, last year, the dogs killed nearly all the young grouse 

 and quail, I have no selfish motives in making this state- 

 ment. I simply desire to see the game protected. I live 

 in the Woods and know whereof I write, and no one 

 should bar investigation, for the mischief may be wide- 

 spread. 



Essex county is one of the smallest counties in the 

 State in territory, yet for the year 1888 the county paid 

 to individuals, for domestic fowls killed by dogs, the sum 

 of $1,641.80. The county also paid $951 for killing un- 

 licensed dogs, and $2,687.93 for domestic animals killed 

 of damaged by dogs, which goes to prove my statement 

 that dogs are running at large on the Cape. Hermit. 



Notes on Snipe.— A leading ornithologist, who has just 

 returned from Florida, states that English snipe have 

 been very abundant during the winter, but excessively 

 poor. A party of three killed 91 of these birds in a day. 

 Up to April 3 snipe were very scarce in the vicinity of 

 Washington, D. C., and Laurel, Md. It is time for this 

 species to make its appearance in large numbers. The 

 few birds obtained are in fine condition. Dayton, O., 

 April 8.— Snipe shooting continued good in the marshes 

 and along t he streams in this vicinity, until the cold snap 

 Friday. Rolla O. Heikes and a party were out for a day's 

 spot t, and Heikes killed seven snipe straight with first 

 barrel, He made a double shot with 12-gauge gun, frjdts. 

 of powder, Hoz, No. 7 shot, killed both snipe, and found 

 the distance to have been eighty-eight steps.— A. B. 



Game Protection in New York.— The Hoosick Val- 

 ley (N. Y.) Game Protective Association has been organ- 

 ized with the following officers: Chas. H. Stockwell, 

 Pres.; John Marshall, Treas.; F. G. Stewart, Sec'y, with 

 a board of twelve directors from surrounding towns, 

 This association is a new one, but has a membership of 

 over 200, and includes some of our first citizens. Quail, 

 white rabbits, bass and trout have already been deposited 

 in good numbers.— C. A. Johnston, Secy. 



Narrows Island Club.— The annual meeting of the 

 Narrows Island Club was held in this city Monday, April 

 8. The following officers were unanimouslv elected: 

 President, D. G. Elliott; Vice-President, J. A. Hewlett; 

 Secretary and Treasurer, Thos. W. Young. Other mem- 

 bers of the Executive Committee, B. Dominick and J. B. 

 Lawrence, Jr. 



Notes ON Birds. — A gentleman just returned from 

 Quantico, Md., reports that he killed his first snipe there 

 April 2. On the following day there were about two 

 dozen on the marsh. The flight has not yet come. Most 

 kinds of ducks are very scarce. The creeks are full of 

 rook, or ruddy duck, Erismatura nibida. 



Bellville, Ont., April 4. — The annual meeting of the 

 Belleville Gun and Rifle Club was held last evening. 

 Last year the club employed an inspector to prevent 

 shooting in the marshes, and this year they will add a 

 fishery inspector to see that the laws are properly observed. 



Vermont Game Outlook..— We have had a very favor- 

 able winter for what little game we have here, and indi- 

 cations point to a good breeding season for the birds; so 

 we may hope for an increased number next fall. — F. E. 

 A. (Waterbury, Vt., April 1). 



The Michigan Legislature has passed a bill to repeal 

 the law prohibiting spring duck shooting. 



SAWDUST IN STREAMS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Piscator's" letter in your issue of Feb. 21 reads very 

 well, but with all his dates and figures he does not prove 

 to me that sawdust is as harmless as he would make it 

 out to be. I would refer him to the opinions of men like 

 Messrs. Jas. W, Milner, J. J. Brown, Arnold and Watson. 

 They all state that sawdust is injurious to anadromous 

 fish in one way or another. 



"Piscator" asks that the name of some river be given 

 where fish have been killed in numbers. I quote the 

 name of Kouchibougnac. In the year 1885 thousands of 

 dead trout were seen floating down the river. Now, what 

 was the cause of this? Directly, sawdust. Great quan- 

 tities of sawdust have accumulated in that river. At the 

 time the trout were killed, for a few days the tides had 

 been quite low. The sun had a powerful effect on the 

 accumulation of sawdust exposed, causing it to heat and 

 throw off gases. Then a big tide came in, stirring up the 

 sawdust, spreading it all over the river, killing all fish 

 that it reached. 



This is not the only occurrence of the kind on this 

 river. People who live in the immediate vicinity of the 

 rivet informed me that on a similar occasion they watched 

 the effect it had on the fish. When a big tide comes in 

 after a dry spell of weather, and stirs up the sawdust, the 

 water becomes the color of milk (or s,s if milk had been 

 poured into it). The tide forces it along with it. Thou- 

 sands of fish were seen swimming ahead of this milky 

 substance, trying to keep clear of if; when they ascended, 

 the river as f ar as they Could, to where a dam was erected 

 across it, the deadly "substance overtook them, and the 

 result was as above stated. 



I would state further, as a proof that fish would sooner 

 live in a stream clear of sawdust than one infested with 

 it, that in Tweedie's Brook, a branch of the Kouchi- 

 bougnac, you can always get trout, and good ones, too, 

 and the catch on that brook every year is very large, 

 while on the Kouchibougnac the catch is small. AVhy is 

 this? I offer as a reason — and a good one, too — that on 

 the Tweedie Brook there is no mill, and consequently no 

 sawdust. 



Since "Piscator" has boasted of the magnitude of his 

 Nova Scotia trout, I might state that I have known trout 

 to have been taken out of one of our New Brunswick 

 lakes weighing over 71bs. and 8lbs, each. Sportsman. 



Kingston, N. B., March 30. 



Mastigouche Fishing Clug.— Montreal, April 3. — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: The annual meeting of the 

 Mastigouche Fishing Club, of this city, was held on the 

 afternoon of the 1st Inst., when the following members 

 were elected office bearers for the ensuing year, viz.: 

 Henry W. At water, President; E. H. Botterell, Vice- 

 President; George Kemp, Treasurer, Herbert B. Ames, 

 Secretary. Messrs. James Slessor, J. A. Cantlie, John 

 Kennedy, I. H. Steams and Robert W. Paterson, Direc- 

 tors. The report for the past year showed the club to 

 be in prosperous condition, with a large, comfortably 

 furnished club house, numerous boats and canoes, one of 

 the most extensive and best fishing grounds in the Prov- 

 ince, a substantial balance in the bank and no outside 

 liabilities. The fishing (trout exclusively) has been ex- 

 ceptionally good the past season, and some fine catches 

 have been recorded. The difficulty has not been in catch- 

 ing the trout, but in preventing visitors taking more 

 than can be used advantageously. The Mastigouche 

 house and lakes are open to the public with the excep- 

 tion of a small portion, which is reserved for the exclu- 

 sive use of club members. The ice it is expected will be 

 out of the lakes earlier this season than last, when the 

 fishing season will probably open about the 24th of May. 

 Several of the members expect to visit the club house 

 about that time, and in a manner becoming the loyal 

 subjects of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, 

 celebrate the anniversary of her natal day. — H. W. A., 

 President. ' 



Muskoka Trout.— The following notes are given in 

 response to an inquiry: Salmon trout are abundant in 

 the chain of lakes including Simcoe, Muskoka, Rosseau 

 and Couchiching. They are fairly common in Gull Lake. 

 Speckled trout are abundant in the south branch of the 

 Muskoka, Moon River, Sharpe's Creek and the Maganete- 

 wan. Gull Lake, Trading Lake and numerous lakes adja- 

 cent to the Maganetewan abound in trout. The south 

 branch of the Muskoka is broken by thirteen falls; tbe 

 river is about ten miles wide and uniformly deep; its 

 banks are heavily timbered. The Maganetewan is about 

 100 miles long, and its bed is thicklystrewn with boul- 

 ders, which make wading difficult in most places; its 

 banks are densely timbered. The expenses of a round 

 trip from the States have been estimated at about $100 a 

 month. A gentleman starting from Toronto spent two 

 weeks in the district at a cost of $20, including railroad 

 fare both ways. Williamson & Co., Toronto, Ont., pub- 

 lish maps of Muskoka, and, doubtless, guide books also. 

 Mercer Adams, of Toronto, has written s. guide book to 

 this district. Any of the general trout flies will be use- 

 ful, bearing in mind that the Maganetewan has speckled 

 trout of olbs. A gentleman who has fished extensively in 

 the Northwest Territory finds a red-hackle more taking, 

 two to one, than any other. 



Cape Cod Brook Trout.— Wood's Holl, Mass.— On 

 Dec. 8, 1885, I went to Waquoit and seined in the 

 streams. Small trout from 2in. to 5in. lone: were plenti- 

 ful and two large ones were found. On Feb. 8, 1886, I 

 caught a trout in a fyke net in Great Harbor, Wood's 

 Holl, above the guano factory. Jan. 12, 1887, I caught 

 another large one in the same place. On March 21, 1887, 

 I used a dip net to catch smelt at Waquoit in the evening 

 after dark. In an hour or so I took about a hundred 

 smelt and twelve trout, the latter full of eggs. The next 

 morning I saw barge numbers in the stream in tbe eddies. 

 Trout are caught in these streams about Feb. 15, when 

 fishing for smelt, none are found before. After July 

 there are none to be seen until fall, when the small ones 

 are caught. The small trout are not present every fall, 

 but occur in the latter part of the winter with the large 

 ones, Before we had a trout law the people began to 

 fish for trout about the middle of February, or when the 

 first thaw came. Some seasons they were plentiful; at 

 other times not so many were seen. This season but few 

 have come in. — Vinal N. Edwards. 



Maine Fish Laws.— Sebago (Maine) waters received a 

 little beneficial legislation the past winter. The advan- 

 tage of one act, which prohibits all fishing in Roger's 

 and other brooks for a term of six years, cannot be too 

 highly estimated. These streams are natural spawning 

 grounds for landlocked salmon and also plants of young- 

 fry have been made in them by the State ; but their suc- 

 cess has been handicapped by brook fishers who could 

 not, or would, not distinguish between the silvery-sided 

 young of the landlocks and redspot fingerlings. Another 

 act prevents the throwing of sawdust, slabs and other re- 

 fuse matter into the streams and waters tributary to 

 Long and Sebago lakes. So general has been this prac- 

 tice that in certain parts of Long Lake are beds of saw- 

 dust, acres in extent and of a depth of several feet. 

 Although tbe season is a month in advance of last year 

 the ice still holds firm excepting at the mouths of brooks. 

 Blackspot. 



Great Catch op Red Snappers.— Capt.T. A. Cromwell, 

 of the Gloucester schooner Mary Fernald, reported a 

 great catch of red snappers, Lvtjanus black fordi, off 

 Igmont Key, Dec. 29, 1888, while bound for Port Tampa, 

 Fla. They first caught a few groupers for bait, and then 

 threw out deep-sea lines; in a few moments the sport was 

 immense. The crew of fifteen, each man fishing with 

 two lines, caught 18,0001bs. of red snappers in a few hours. 

 They shipped them from Port Tampa. Capt. Cromwell 

 stated that the fish were very plentiful; the channel to 

 Port Tampa is deep, there being nowhere less than 16|ft. 

 of wafer at half-tide. The facilities for shipment from 

 Tampa are good and improvements are now in progress. 

 Port Tampa promises to become an important fishing 

 center in the near future. 



Lake Erie Whiteeish Station.— By an error of the 

 types we were made to say, last week, that the capacity 

 of the hatchery will be five million eggs instead of five 

 hundred millions. The establishment will be located on 

 Peach Point, in the immediate vicinity of natural spawn- 

 ing grounds of the whitefish. About one-half acre of 

 ground will be given to the Government by Mr. Doller 

 and other public-spirited citizens. 



Trout for Wyoming Streams.— Mr. D. R. Cassidy, 

 Fish Commissioner of Carbon county, went to Laramie 

 recently for his quota of trout fry. He will plant them 

 in tributaries of the Upper Platte, Big Creek, Cow Creek 

 and other suitable streams. 



