296 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 2, 1889. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, April 28. — In response to letters lately sent 

 out to the keepers of the different clubs I have re- 

 ceived only meagre and unsatisfactory details as to the 

 amounts of game killed this spring. The record books at 

 the clubs do not seem to have been very well kept. For 

 instance, Mr. Ira A. Pease writes for the Mak-saw-bas: 

 "J. F. Whiting, March 18, 22 ducks; H. C. Burchner, 16 

 ducks. April 8, C. S. Petrie, 32 snipe and 33 plover. 

 There have been numbers of good bags, but they were 

 not recorded." I sbould think not! I have beard of and 

 reported a great deal more than that from Mak-saw-ba, 

 and do not suppose I get much of it. The only club to 

 send in anything like a full report so far lias been the 

 Cumberland. Mr. Martin DriscolJ, superintendent, writes 

 as follows under date of April 18: --W. W. McFarland 

 and C. D. Gammon, total, 749 ducks, 22 geese, 2 cranes; 

 John Heiland 1 duck, Henry Stephens 133 ducks, 1 goose, 

 G. T. Farmer 146 ducks, James Gardiner 7 ducks, H. G. 

 Purington 1 duck, 1 brant, H. D. Nichols 17 ducks, 3 

 geese, W. N. Low 22 ducks, E. Hough 45 ducks, P. P. 

 Street 6 ducks, G. M. Davis 23 ducks, 2 geese, 1 swan, 

 John Gray 27 ducks, W. P. Freeman 32 chicks, E. W. 

 Gillett 24 ducks. There have been about 150 jacksnipe 

 killed to date. The natives keep them pounded out, so 

 the shooting will be rather poor." 



Word should be sent to Mr. W. A. Wheatly, secretary 

 of the Beaver Dam Duck Club, of Memphis, Tenn. , that 

 the experiments of this spring at duck feeding show that 

 buckwheat, planted on wet ground or thrown in shallow 

 water, makes a much-appreciated food. The De Golyer 

 Club found a "hole" so planted was always full of ducks. 

 The keeper of that club told me also that he found the 

 mallards had eaten three and a half bushels of corn in 

 two days out of one pond. Corn is good inallard feed. 

 The "jonquepins," or lily seeds, are eaten by the ducks, 

 but it would hardly pay to seek after them as artificial 

 food. Celery is hard to get started , Wild rice is better. 

 Buckwheat and corn, or mill screenings, make the most 

 available feed for planting. The only rule for putting 

 down the feed is the general one to scatter near the bank 

 and in the edge of shallow waters. Mill refuse can be 

 thrown on top of lily pads or water plants. Corn partly 

 shelled or on broken cobs is best. Waters should be 

 planted in the summer if any ducks are staying about, or 

 just as early as the ducks begin to come in. Crop3 in- 

 tended to be raised and left 'standing, as buckwheat, 

 should be put in at the usual spring time of planting. I 

 hope the Beaver Dam boys will have good luck. There 

 is no doubt it pays to feed. 



Mr. E. S. Hart, a Chicago man, absent on a three- 

 months' trip in Mississippi, writes his friend Mr. Van 

 Uxein that his stopping place, Way's Bluff, Madison 

 county, is a great field for the sportsman, and he won- 

 ders why Northern men do not go there. He reports 

 turkeys, quail, grouse and rabbits very plentiful. Two 

 men have in season killed 300 quail in less than a week's 

 shooting there. 



Prairie chicken shooters will not have to go outside of 

 Illinois this year, that is sure. The State is full of birds. 

 The three-years law has been a pronounced and unmis- 

 takable success. There are hundreds of coveys within 

 fifty miles of Chicago. The cocks can be heard booming 

 all over the marshes when one is out duck or snipe 

 shooting. This is pleasant. Upland shooting, shooting 

 of all sorts has fairly become a thing of the past in this 

 country, yet no more gentlemanly and sportsmanlike 

 form of sport ever existed. 



Take it all around, the season on snipe has thus far 

 proved much above the average, and bags of two or three 

 dozen have been common. To show how open even so 

 difficult a bird as the jacksnipe is to the gunner's art, I 

 may cite the experience of a market-shooter, Ed. Irwin, 

 whom I met at the Crown Point tournament. This 

 shooter tells me that he has in the past three weeks 

 killed 650 jacksnipe. Last year he killed over 700, and 

 year before that he killed over 2,000. He does not hunt 

 ducks, for purely financial reasons. Jacksnipe have 

 brought much of the time from $2 to $2.50 a dozen, as 

 much as mixed ducks, while the expense of sliipping is 

 much less. Irwin's hunting has been done on the Kan- 

 kakee marsh, within five miles of Koutts, Indiana, on a 

 strip not over six miles long. He says the birds work 

 around over this ground, and often he finds them all on a 

 piece where there were none at all the day before. He 

 does not use any dog, and shoots a very close 12-gauge 

 gun. I presume he must be a very good snipe shot. He 

 told me to come with hiin to Koutts last Saturday, and 

 he thought if I did he could assure me at least seventy- 

 five snipe. I should have been glad to go had that been 

 possible, as I should like to see a professional snipe shot 

 at work. Rather deadly work on the game, I fear. 



Golden-legged plover have been quite plentiful pretty 

 much all over that part of Illinois just below Chicago 

 during the past week, and large bags have been made. 

 Plover shooting is not so very difficult, but is a pleasant 

 sort of sport in its way, if there were not the temptation 

 to kill too many birds. Long before tbis the female buds 

 are with eggs, and it is a distinct shame to kill them 

 when that is the case. Would it not be well for our 

 shooters to stop now on the plover and snipe? It is too 

 warm now to shoot. It is time now to stop shooting and 

 to overhaul the tackle case for a fishing trip. 



E. Hougu. 



INDIANS AND THE NATIONAL PARK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your discussion of the question of restraining the 

 bands of marauding Indians who are destroying the for- 

 ests and annihilating the game in all the country adjoin- 

 ing the Yellowstone National Park, it strikes me that 

 you are complicating the problem unnecessarily by sug- 

 gesting that Indians have inherent rights or any other 

 rights, which need in any way hamper the Government 

 in dealing with the difficulty, on the grounds of public 

 expediency. 



If the Indians ever had an inherent right, it was the 

 right to keep the white man from landing on the shores 

 of this continent, but that so-called right was trampled 

 under foot, and in the interests of humanity it was neces- 

 sary that it should be to provide for the devolpment of a 

 higher race. For us the first and highest consideration is 

 the well being of our own race, and to insure that we 

 have not hesitated to deprive the Indian of his liberty to 

 roam at will over the continents and have shut him up in 

 reservations. 



But you say the Indian has a right under treaty to hunt 



in the neighborhood of the National Park. Very true; 

 but it does not follow that to deprive him of that right 

 would constitute a wrong. The Government of the 

 United States woidd be justified in withdrawing the 

 privilege, if experience demonstrate that its exercise 

 constitutes a source of annoyance or injury to the 

 community; still more if it were found that 

 the privilege operated injuriously to the Lidian3 them- 

 selves. And I say most emphatically that as long 

 as the Indians or any section of them can subsist by hunt- 

 ing there is no hope of raising them to the industrial 

 rank and rendering them fit for citizenship. 



As a sportsman too and on behalf of my brother sports- 

 men I protest against the continuance of the privilege. 

 It is not that I object to the red men sharing in the sports 

 which we enjoy. What I do object to is to see the game 

 utterly exterminated by bands of men who make hunt- 

 ing the business of their life, who spare nothing and 

 have no thought for the future. 



I do not want to see the Indians discriminated against, 

 and if the State Legislatures of Wyoming, Idaho and 

 Colorado would pass laws limiting the game which may 

 be taken in a season, to one or two head for each hunter, 

 by all means let the Indians go and get their taste of veni- 

 sion with the rest of us as long as they conform to the 

 law, but in the name of all the sportsmen of the United 

 States, and of unborn generations, I protest against the 

 Indians being privileged to extirpate the game of the 

 country, and I hope that your representations will move 

 the Government to the reflection that while it is com- 

 mendable to be kind to one's dogs, it is not right to take 

 one's children's bread and cast it to them. C. F. A. 



CALIFORNIA SPORTSMEN'S RIGHTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Nov. 28 appears a well- written letter 

 from "Pacificator," concerning a supposed impending 

 "row" between the so-called "pot-hunters" and the club 

 men of this city. Now, I do not for a moment suppose the 

 quarrels of a few duck hunters on this coast greatly con- 

 cern the ma j ority of your readers. Still , as the mem bers of 

 the duck clubs in this city claim to be at least as law- 

 abiding citizens, honorable gentlemen and fair-minded 

 sportsmen as the random bird shooter whose cause is 

 espoused by "Pacificator," and as many of the statements 

 in his communication are misleading and place us in an 

 unjust light, I will respectfully request space for a reply. 

 I speak only as an individual. 



I wish, first and chiefly, to advert to the event which 

 "Pacificator" intimates caps the climax of infamy on the 

 part of the club men, viz., the securing of 7,000 acres of 

 the Sonoma marsh land. He states that sixty men for 

 $120 "pre-empted" this marsh land, inferentially by some 

 "jobbery." Now as to facts. This piece of marsh land 

 is the property of Hon. J. P. Jones, formerly U. S. Sen- 

 ator from Nevada and a member of our club (the Ala- 

 meda Sportsmen's Club). Mr. Jones owns and pays taxes 

 upon this land, and presumably has the right to devote it 

 to such purposes as he sees fit. Our club, seeing its avail- 

 ability as a game preserve, secured from the owner a lease 

 of the property for a number of years. The cream of 

 the shooting on this preserve is a large piece of territory 

 which was some vears ago under cultivation. This is 

 bordered on one side by a range of hills and on the other 

 two sides by a levee following the banks of the Sonoma 

 Creek. At one point there is a break in this levee, which 

 permits of the partial flooding of the farm at high tide. 



Located near the north end of this property is the old 

 farmhouse, with outbuildings, which we now occupy as 

 a club house. For a couple of years or more before we 

 took possession, this house was at the mercy of any wan- 

 derer, but was usually occupied by casual duck hunters. 

 We found the numerous windows all broken, the wooden 

 walkways destroyed, probably for firewood, and even 

 some of the ceiling planks torn away, presumably for the 

 same purpose. However, having taken possession, we 

 soon put things to rights, when a great hullabulloo was 

 raised. A certain class of shooters of which "Pacificator" 

 writes himself a member, began to assail the "selfish," 

 "wealthy," "patrician" club shooters, who "wanted the 

 world," who wanted to prevent outsiders from shooting 

 on the water highways, or on non-preserved ground, or 

 on Sundays for fear the ducks might be made wild and 

 scarce to the detriment of club shooters. This and simi- 

 lar bosh was and is frantically iterated and re-iterated ; 

 and one might infer, from the frequent mention of 

 "bloodshed," "war" and similar expressions, that these 

 worthies contemplate going gunning in the future not 

 for the wary duck, but for the oppressor whose iron heel 

 has trodden the liberties of the free-for-all shooter into the 

 mud. Oh, "Pacificator," why beliest thou thy peaceful 

 name? Or dost thou, indeed, contemplate making peace 

 with thy foe after the manner of the bold pioneer with 

 his little red Indian — by cutting his throat and then ex- 

 claiming, with bloody knife brandished aloft, "Let us 

 have peace!" 



The amusing part of this "war" is that the random 

 hunter is doing all the fighting. He loudly toots his big- 

 war trumpet; he beats his mightiest tom-tom; he arrays 

 himself in his most awe-inspiring war paint, with his 

 medicine men (lawyers) sitting on their haunches in the 

 rear, urging on the braves and waiting for the spoils. All 

 the while his enemy quietly pursues his daily avocation, 

 for who are these "aristocrats" who go up to their club 

 houses during the week days, not having anything else 

 to do, shoot all day, and then at night lose such large 

 amounts at poker that their sense of charity and justice 

 becomes clouded to such a degree that they impudently 

 claim exclusive right to shoot on their own preserves? I 

 cannot speak for other clubs, but suppose they are in the 

 main composed of material somewhat similar to ours. 

 Outside of the owner of our Sonoma preserve I am not 

 aware that we have a single wealthy man on our list. On 

 the contrary, to my certain knowledge the large majority 

 have to look to their daily wages and salaries for their 

 daily bread. Then- incomes are meager, but they do not 

 gamble, get drunk, or waste their substance in riotous 

 living. Thus they are enabled to expend a small sum 

 annually in the pursuit of health and sport. The greater 

 number of the duck-shooting members take the Saturday 

 afternoon train for the club grounds, hunt on Sunday 

 and return early Monday morning to their daily labors. 

 We are not "game hogs," "aristocrats." We claim to be 

 genuine sportsmen , observing all the laws of the land, 

 including the game laws. Can our opponents say as 

 much for themselves? We even go further than the ' 



statute law and prohibit spring shooting on our grounds. 

 Does the wandering shooter ever consult his almanac 

 when he goes in search of game ? Is not every animate 

 object, irrespective of season, utility or other considera- 

 tion, the target for his aimless shooting? The accusation 

 that we attempt to exercise a surveillance over the water 

 highways and non-preserved ground is too absiu-d to take 

 any notice of. 



In short, the matter stands thus : Our club, casting about 

 for a desirable shooting ground, found this. We ap- 

 proached the owner and asked the lease of it for shooting 

 purposes. He replied that he had no present use for the 

 property and would let us have it. We agreed upon 

 terms, the details of which concern no one but the parties 

 interested. I will say, however, that we hold a written 

 lease of the property. We took possession and posted 

 conspicuous notices to that effect, warning outsiders not 

 to trespass. The dispossessed casual hunters naturally be- 

 came em-aged and declared "war." The reason is too 

 obvious to mention. 



The opponents of the duck clubs in speaking of mem- 

 bers, I am informed, freely use the expressions "hogs," 

 "selfish," etc. Now let us look at the matter closely and 

 see who are the "hogs." The club takes a preserve, of 

 course the best it can get. Its members for convenience 

 sake build a house, ark, or what-not, and lure a keeper 

 if they can afford it. They are content to shoot on the 

 ground they pay for, and all they ask is that their rights 

 to their own ground be respected, a right they would 

 cheerfully concede to "Pacificator" or any other sports- 

 man. They do not "want the world." On the other 

 hand, what do their opponents ask? They explicitly ask 

 to be allowed to roam over everybody's ground, wherever 

 the birds fly. They are not content with a fixed share of 

 the marsh," but "want the world" themselves. Now, who 

 is the "hog?" 



I shall make no attempt to discuss the hair-splitting 

 legal technicalities dilated upon by "Pacificator," for I 

 am not competent to do so; but 1 fearlessly assert that 

 neither "Pacificator" nor any other intelligent man will 

 for a moment deny in bis heart the moral right of the 

 owner of a piece of marsh land to reserve the latter, ex- 

 cluding water highways, etc., for his own legitimate use; 

 and no high-minded man will, under cover of mere legal 

 technicalities, knowingly trespass upon such ground, for 

 he recognizes the validity of the axiom, "A man's house 

 is his castle," even if it is a wet one. "Moral bosh," do 

 you exclaim? Now, let us see. You, a stranger, go some 

 promising Sunday morning at 4 A. M. with "Pacificator," 

 who, we will say, is familiar with some popular non-pre- 

 served duck shooting ground. Presently, while rowing 

 along the slough to your blind, you hear a great rush of 

 wings overhead. Near by you descry a fine point of land 

 projecting into the slough, with a clump of weeds at its 

 extremity. Instinctively you say, "Let us run in here." 

 "Oh, no, 5 ' says "Pacificator," "that's Jones's blind;" 

 though, as you plainly see, it is not occupied. A little 

 further along you come to another blind, but that is 

 Smith's, also unoccupied ; and so on. Presently you come 

 to "Pacificator's" blind, but, lo! as your boat grounds at 

 the edge of it an unknown head pops up. Your com- 

 panion's eyes flash fire. He exclaims, loudly and angrily, 

 that some folks are "d — d cheeky!" etc. The interloper 

 suddenly discovers that your friend is the owner (?) of this 

 blind, and accordingly vacates it. (Incidentally, this 

 supposed case, the facts of which are strictly in accord- 

 ance with custom, illustrates the "first- come- first-served, 

 free-for-all" principle (!!) so strenuously advocated by 

 "Pacificator.' ) 



To continue, has Jones, Brown or Smith any legal right 

 to these choice locations? Not at all; but by virtue of 

 long possession, work on the blinds, etc., they have ac- 

 quired a moral right, which even "Pacificator" recog- 

 nizes to be as binding as if it were a legal one. Very 

 well, if Jones et al, in addition to the foregoing rights, 

 owned the land on which these blinds were constructed, 

 would not their rights be by that much the stronger? 

 Does the possession of the legal right weaken the moral 

 one? I think not. 



Again, one would suppose from reading "Pacificator's" 

 article that all available shooting ground in this vicinity 

 is now in possession of the clubs. This is not true. On 

 the contrary, thousands of acres of accessible marsh land, 

 affording good shooting, are open to all on the borders of 

 San Francisco and San Pablo bays, and on the Sacramento 

 and San Joaquin rivers. If the shooting on these unoc- 

 cupied lands is not quite as good as on club grounds it is 

 partly because the clubs by thoughtfuhiess, care and the 

 judicious expenditure of a little money have made the 

 feeding grounds attractive for the birds, and partly be- 

 cause the club men, in looking for grounds, got the best 

 they could find. And is this so different from business 

 principles and procedures in other affairs? Does the 

 shrewd business man, when he finds a good investment, 

 wait for another man to take advantage of it, or does he 

 run to his neighbors asking them to join him in reaping 

 good profits? No. He acts on common sense principles 

 and reaps the reward of his sagacity. Nor is he blamed 

 by sensible men, though he is envied by others. 



I wish my shooting friends who belong to no club dis- 

 tinctly to understand that we hurl no such epithets at 

 them as "d — d pot-hunters" or other derogatory nomen- 

 clature; for very many thoroughly genuine sportsmen do 

 not hold membership in any club for various reasons; 

 but these are not the men to advocate vicious warfare 

 upon those who choose to club together for the sake of 

 economy, convenience and enjoyment to secure a pleas- 

 ant shooting home. I shall not attempt to portray quite 

 another class of casual shooters. The species is well 

 known to every one who has occasion to pass to and fro 

 on Sundays. This fellow goes doubly armed, but his 

 pocket pistol is much more heavily loaded (in the morn- 

 ing) than his cartridge box. He is the terror of the far- 

 mer, whose cattle, horses, fences and crops bear only too 

 frequent testimony to the lawlessness of this so-called 

 sportsman. He is a stench in the nostrils of every true 

 sportsman, whether the latter be a clubman or honorable 

 casual shooter. Isn't it possible that ' 'Pacificator" unwit- 

 tingly makes himself an advocate of these gentry? 



Finally, I predict that "Pacificator" and his coadjutors 

 who are plunging so furiously into this aggressive "war" 

 will find their course ill-advised; for the clubs will event- 

 ually find some means of protecting their shooting rights. 

 If it is necessary to fence their grounds they will do it. 

 If some other course is more advisable they will take it; 

 nor will it be through "bulldozing" measures, but by 

 strictly legal procedures. Bear in mind that heretofore 



