Oct. 11, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



227 



Deer on Long Island.— The Long Island deer hound- 

 ing season extends from Oct. 1 to 10, exclusive of Sun- 

 day. An army of hunters have turned out, and the 

 Say ville News reports as many as 100 sentinels being on 

 the track at one time. It is the all-absorbing topic of the 

 day. Everybody is talking deer, and nearly every man 

 has seen one, so that it can safely be estimated tbat sev- 

 eral hundred deer have "been seen," but not shot. Four 

 were killed on Mouday, Oct. 1, two at Bay Shore and two 

 on the North Side. Ex-Supervisor Robbins shot one and 

 John J. Smith another. Whitman Overton also proved 

 to be one of the "favored few." Wm. Cook and a party 

 of twelve were prospecting in the rear of the Cutting 

 place, when Cook's dog sighted a splendid buck. An- 

 other party of forty from Babylon also entered the chase, 

 some in wagons and others on horseback. Thos. Muncey, 

 of Babylon, finally fired the fatal shot, brought down the 

 deer and wounded Cook's clog at the same time. Cook 

 secured half of the buck, which weighed over 2001bs. 

 The balance of the carcass was put up at auction and sold 

 for $10, the money being divided among the forty brave 

 hunters. In another instance Town Clerk LeCluse se- 

 emed a shot and the wounded deer jumped toward him 

 a distance of 30ft. The animal then bounded away and 

 was lost in the woods. Hunters were plentiful the first 

 few days, but the inexperienced ones lost interest later 

 on, and the old-timers were left to get up in the morning 

 at 8 o'clock and "go it alone." 



Arkansas.— Little Rock, Oct. 4.— The season for quail 

 shooting opened on the 1st and I tried my hand. "We 

 found birds plentiful, but not well grown. The summer 

 has been wet and the cover is simply immense. Some 

 wretch poisoned our reliable dogs Bob and Rip, and 

 reduced us to pups, so we had more trouble than satisfac- 

 tion with our trip. It is rather aggravating to wade 

 through grass and weeds to your neck and then have a 

 pup chase the birds to the next township. We killed a 

 few, however, and the medical man of the crowd, known 

 as Dan for short, shot Dick in the hand while shooting at 

 a bird. He missed the bird. Turkeys are reported as 

 fairly plentiful, but I have not looked for any yet. Deer 

 have* been dying of the black tongue in the western part 

 of this and Perry counties. The mast is good and there 

 is every indication of good duck shooting a little later. 

 It has been too warm for them as yet. There will be but 

 little pleasure in the fields until a heavy frost falls and 

 kills the grass and weeds. The season on quail opens too 

 early. The birds are not grown and rise up like butter- 

 flies. I like to hear them when they get up. Do quail 

 breed twice? I have seen full-grown birds and little ones 

 in the same covey. Evidently they were two broods or 

 two coveys mixed together. Last winter I saw in a cage 

 on the street a white quail. — Casual. 



Massachusetts. — Whitman, Mass., Oct. 8. — Local 

 sportsmen who have been at Brant Rock during the last 

 two weeks report coot shooting the poorest for several 

 seasons. The flights of black coot have been few and far- 

 between and only a few birds together. In previous 

 years when there has been no shooting the fishing has 

 been excellent, but this year there has been no fishing 

 to speak of. Expectant gunners hone for large and 

 numerous flights of coots in a couple of weeks. Gray 

 squirrels are said to be plentiful in the woods of this im- 

 mediate neighborhood and Hanson. Last year was a 

 large year for partridges and quail, but present prospects 

 promise little shooting in this line. The cedar swamps 

 in this part of the State furnish excellent rabbit shooting 

 and the fun will soon commence. Several sly old foxes 

 have encountered their unexpected quietus at the hands 

 of local nimrods this faff, and more are coming. Much 

 rain has left swamps and woods in rather bad shape, but 

 we look for a drying up season before cold weather.— 

 Choke-Bohe. 



Canvasbacks foe. Bismarck. — A game dealer on Wal- 

 nut street has two interesting telegrams on file. One is 

 dated Berlin. Germany, and is signed by Prince Bismarck. 

 It is not a state document, but a carefully worded order 

 for twelve pahs of canvasback ducks. This is only one 

 of many orders that have been received from the German 

 Chancellor. Alongside of Bismarck's order is another 

 from Wilkie Collins, the English novelist. He has been 

 sending orders to this country regularly for several years 

 past, and it is asserted that during the time he was com- 

 posing "The Woman in White" he dined exclusively on 

 New Jersey snipe. The dealer has many prominent cus- 

 tomers in this country, including a member of the Cabi- 

 net, t wo United States Senators, and several members of 

 the National House of Representatives. Near-by patrons 

 include A. J. Drexel.xGeorge W. Childs, ex-Gov. Leon 

 Abbett and Judges Wilson and Arnold. — Philadelphia 

 Inquirer, Oct. 4. 1 



Moose in Nova Scotia.— New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, 

 Oct. 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: A large moose was 

 killed by the night express near Riverdale station one 

 evening last week. Riverdale is thirteen miles from 

 here on the Inter Colonial-Railway. I had been call- 

 ing; left home on Sept. 18, was gone a week and killed 

 one very large bull moose, and saw two more; but as the 

 weather was warm and we were a long way from the 

 settlements we did not kill them. I find that the scarcity 

 of snow for the past few winters has had a wonderful 

 effect on the number of moose; they have increased 

 rapidly, mainly owing to the fact that they have not been 

 crust-hunted for several winters. Another fine moose 

 was called up and shot by two hunters, Ross and Cruck- 

 shanks, at Sunny Bear last week; this moose had an extra 

 fine set of horns; they were sent to St. John, N. B., to be 

 mounted. More anon— Globe Sight. 



The Connecticut Association.— The cases of D. S. 

 Weeks and George A. Baker, of Ashford, prosecuted by 

 the C. A. S. F. P. G. F. S., were tried last week, and the 

 men were fined $20 each for having shot game before 

 Oct. 1. The Association means business from the word go. 



A Game Law Poster has been prepared by the Utica 

 Fish and Game Protective Association, giving a digest of 

 the New York laws. It is sent free on application. This 

 is one very sensible way to forward the work of making 

 the law understood, so that it may be observed. 



Connecticut Quail.— Having spent last week near 

 Lyme, Conn., I found that the quail was very scarce 

 and only to be found in the small swamps that abound 

 in great numbers there. The farmers say that they have 

 seen very few, and lay the blame on the blizzard. With 

 a well broken dog I found it impossible to get many birds, 

 as I was unable to make headway. There were no birds 

 in the open at all; I covered every place there was the 

 slightest chance of finding them in. — A, C. K. 



"Red Dog" Captured.— Philadelphia, Oct. 8.— A dis- 

 patch received here irorn Sheriff Dixson, of Rawlins, 

 Wyoming Territory, announces the capture of "Red 

 Dog," the rnurderer of S. Morris Wain, of this city, and 

 Charles Livingstone Strong, of Rondout, N. Y. , the young 

 men who were killed while asleep in camp near Rock 

 Springs, Wyoming, while on a hunting expedition. The 

 dispatch says the murderer is in jail and will be given a 

 speedy trial. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



m mid ^ivtr fishing. 



Angling Talks. By George Dawson. Price 50 cents. Fly- 

 Rods and Fly-Tackle. By H, P. Wells. Price $2.50. Flu- 

 Fishing and Fly-Making for Trout. By J. H. Keene. 

 Price $1.50. American Anglers Book. By Tlmd. Norris. 

 Price $5.50. 



LAKE MINNETONKA, 



TT ANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 1.— We had listened to the 

 j\- Major's marvelous stories of catching immense 

 quantities of immense bass and pickerel for a period of 

 some three years. Our own catch occasionally of half a 

 dozen or a dozen 2, 2i and sometimes a 3+lb. bass, a few 

 pickerel and forty or fifty croppies seemed to grow more 

 and more insignificant. We were forced, actually forced, 

 this season to accompany the Major to Minnetonka. There 

 was no excuse. Rates were nominal and fishing tackle 

 cheap. For had we not had a big fire, by which one of 

 the best sporting goods houses in the Far West was laid 

 in ruins? And Ed. Menges was selling the salvage at 

 almost any price; and, by the way, I guess Kansas City 

 boys, as a rule, have now the cheapest lot of fine tackle 

 ever picked up in one season. We supplied ourselves with 

 ten years' fishing rations of lines, flies, hooks, reels, sink- 

 ers, and all manner of boxes and paraphernalia. Round 

 trip tickets were bought for Major, wife and daughter, 

 Geo. C, Sam and Tile, Kansas City to St. Paul and re- 

 turn, good until Sept. 30, via Albert Lea route. Rods, 

 telescope, trunks and boxes "all aboard," and the 3d of 

 July we rolled out of the depot for the north fishing. The 

 4th'of July morning found us in Minneapolis hungry and 

 tired, Tile sick with nausea, and. all more or less cross, 

 for we did not have the smoothest trip on account of 

 necessity of changes en route and poor sleeper accommo- 

 dations. A rainy morning and crowded cars from the 

 city to the lake; but once on board the steamer St. Louis 

 we all felt better, and enjoyed the ride to Chapman's at 

 the upper lake. Visions of big bass and 151b. pickerel 

 were not lost in the magnificent scenery which it was my 

 privilege to enjoy for the first time. The Major hugely 

 enjoyed pointing out the different spots where he had 

 "walloped out" these mighty denizens of the deep; off 

 Crane Island he had been very successful, and what be 

 could not catch with a line had accommodatingly jumped 

 into the boat for him. At Chapman's we found good 

 rooms well screened from mosquitoes, good table, good 

 boats, and plenty of bait of all kinds. 



The first afternoon's fishing was light, and more for re- 

 connoiter of the ground than anything else; fears were 

 well grounded for poor fishing on account of the extreme 

 high water in the lake, it being some four feet above 

 ordinary height. My record book is mislaid, so I will 

 have to give the detail of our various catches from 

 memory. 



The next day Sam and Tile started early, having Dewey 

 to row. Dewey has to use hooks in place of one arm, but 

 we found him a rattling good oarsman. After a fair 

 afternoon's work we returned to the hotel with a long 

 string of fine bass and pickerel. Our hopes ran high, but 

 that catch proved the best, a 41b. bass by Sam and 81b. 

 pickerel by Tile being the largest one. We remained at 

 the lake about eight days; in the forenoon we would all 

 fish for the big bass, and in the afternoon anchor about 

 three hundred yards from the hotel to toy with croppie 

 and sunfish. It was in the afternoon we had the most 

 sport; the sunfish and croppie averaged fib., and gave our 

 light 8oz. rods quite a tussel at times, for we would occa- 

 sionally hook a good bass or large pickerel, and one espe- 

 cially good afternoon gave a return of nearly lOOlbs. of 

 fish, one pickerel of 71bs., one croppie of 1-J-lbs. ; and 

 George Case beat the record by taking about twenty fine 

 hornpout or bullheads. These are a specialty with George 

 on all occasions. 



The Major and George added zest to our amusement by 

 a discussion as to the wind; it never was and never will 

 be settled by them which way the wind must blow to get 

 the best results a fishing. At night we always knew 

 what was the matter. "I told you we could not get a 

 bite with the wind in the east," and "you was all the 

 time piilling that anchor up and down; do you suppose 

 fish will bite with such a racket?" The Major has many 

 a time informed us that "those little poles are no good." 

 We have at last succeeded in his reform and everything 

 now is a rod, be it seven pounds and twenty feet long or 

 seven ounces and ten feet long. A reel he has no use for, 

 neither for a float. His majestic form of six feet three 

 standing very erect in the bow of the boat casting a frog 

 of a quarter-pound weight at the end of a twenty-foot 

 line, it being at the end of a twenty-foot pole, 

 (I mean rod) was the cynosure of all, but the grandest 

 of all sights was the infinite grace with which 

 he administered the coup de maitre and "walloped" the 

 unfortunate fish into the boat, "There, didn't I tell you 

 so?" when our poor little rods were nearly bent double by 

 having to pull up some seven or eight cubic feet of bass 

 weed oesides the fish, and all but the weeds would get 

 away. The Major is about right; light tackle is good, for 

 clear water, but when bass and bass weeds and pickerel 

 and pickerel grass become one great floundering mass 

 then it nee-ls poles, clothes lines and a derrick to safely 

 land the lot. 



Taken altogether, the early fishing at the lake this 

 season was bad; further north it was good but the reports 



of those who tried it were that the mosquitoes ruined the 

 pleasure, and judging from the knots on the boys' noses 

 and cheeks I guess they tell the truth. One reason for 

 poor fishing was the lateness of spawning; I presume the 

 high water and cool weather had more or less to do with 

 this. 



George C. distinguished himself by having the longest 

 tussle after a fish "struck." It took liim thirty-five min- 

 utes to land a dog fish, a "beauty," but George swore it 

 was a "California simon." 



We had a nice time and all the fish we could eat, the 

 weather was all that could be desired and as a trip I am 

 ready to go it again. Since our return we have put in 

 the summer variously, I spent some five weeks catching 

 trout in the Colorado, Sam has kept score cards and been 

 shouting for the cowboy baseball team, but the Major 

 and George C. have beguiled theii? time at Cooley Lake, 

 a nice resort close to home where a few years ago were 

 plenty of fine bass, but this season they had to content 

 themselves with bullheads and bass weeds but no bass. 



Teal, (bluewing) are now plenty and the boys are hav- 

 ing much sport; the fall croppie fishing is just commenc- 

 ing, chickens are numerous in the Territory and quail 

 plenty near home, our season is open for the latter the 

 first 6f November. Tile. 



P. S. — Particular attention is called to the Ma jor's idea 

 of landing big fish, he invariably refers to it as "wallop- 

 ing out;" and the Major can do it, for he has a specimen 

 head of a seventeen pound pickerel which he "walloped." 



T. 



DAYS IN MICHIGAN. 



" T ET'S go to Old Mission for a month." This from 



\~J the Dominie's wife as we sat on the porch watch- 

 ing the Fourth of July procession. All the night before 

 firearms had made the night hideous. With the first 

 flush of day the din had taken on a still more diabolical 

 character, and we fully realized what all sensible people 

 know, that the country's natal day is getting to be a 

 grand nuisance, to the delight of the un terrified small 

 boy and the man who deals in death-dealing fireworks. 



"Certainly," said the Dominie without a moment's 

 hesitation, ready to go anywhere out of the endless din. 



The first of August found us hurrying northward to- 

 ward Old Mission, which lies, half village and altogether 

 rural, at the end of the long shaft of land reaching north- 

 ward into Grand Traverse Bay. I had supposed all that 

 region to be wild and full of game. But alas! for my 

 anticipations, it proved to be a well-settled farming 

 country. There is a fairly good supply of partridges on 

 the peninsula, but the open season for these does not 

 begin until September, the time we came away, so I had 

 little use for my new Daly three-barrel gun. From the 

 western shore of the peninsula we could look across the 

 west arm of the bay to the hills, only four miles away, 

 which skirt the bay shore and behind which lies Carp Lake, 

 where "Kingfisher" and his party have fought black bass 

 and mosquitoes. I wanted to go on to the scene of their 

 conflicts, but instead went over to Elk Rapids and fished 

 in the lakes and streams east of there. 



One of the most delightful of these trips was up to 

 Rapid River. Taking the little steamer Morley at 11:30 in 

 the morning, I was in Elk Rapids at 12 :30. The Ida, a 

 mite of a boat, soon after had steam up, and we ran up 

 the river to Elk Lake. Crossing this beautiful sheet of 

 water and running through Round Lake we entered Torch 

 River, and I left the boat at the bridge, about two miles 

 up. From here I was to walk to farmer Clemmens's 

 house, four miles east. The bridge keeper's wife, a good- 

 natured, talkative old body, gave me directions and then 

 groaned a good deal as she took her place beside her 

 husband at the pole end to swing the bridge back into 

 place. No wonder! A big strong man who makes his 

 wife a beast of burden ought to be shot. 



My walk was one which brought strange feelings. I 

 had never been before in the dense Michigan woods. 

 The road plunged into the heart of the forest. The sombre 

 hemlocks and giant maples touched hands and locked 

 fingers far up the narrow roadway, which wound on I 

 was not certain whither, for the directions given me were 

 not very clear. A wagon load of Indians had gone down 

 the road an hour before, and I wondered how civil they 

 would be if come up with. Night was coming on, and in 

 the silent forest the rain began to fall with a melancholy 

 whispering among all the leaves. The place seemed more 

 solitary than ever, when I came out into a little clearing, 

 where three houses with boarded up windows stood 

 silent and tenantless. Here a new perplexity arose. 

 There were three roads running in decidedly different 

 directions. I had forgotten which I was to take. But 

 fortune favored me, and the one I chose proved the right 

 one. Farmer Clemmens's wife came in from weeding the 

 garden and said they could give me bed and board, such 

 as they had; and they treated me well while I staid. I 

 could hear the water roaring down out of the mill dam 

 not far away. 



At daylight the next morning I was casting my line 

 out on the stream. This stream is Rapid River, and 

 strikes the angler at once as an ideal trout stream. The 

 water is as clear as crystal, spreading out in places under 

 the roots of countless trees, and affording innumerable 

 and splendid-looking places for the shy fish. The fish 

 themselves are moderate in size, with now and then a 

 few ranging from 1 to 31bs. These last are not as numer- 

 ous as the angler might wish, but the smaller fish are 

 gamy and the sport is very fan:. I spent the time the 

 first morning fishing just below the race, where the 

 waters rushed out from the sluiceway. Here they took 

 the hook freely, and by 7 o'clock, when breakfast was to 

 be ready, I had thirty fair-sized fish in my creel. There 

 seemed to be two kinds, one with all the brilliant gold 

 and white and vermillion of Salmo fontinalis, the other 

 had no yellow or golden color; the belly was whitish 

 gray and the vermillion spots were less brilliant. 



After a plain but hearty breakfast, I returned to the 

 stream and fished down the current. There was not 

 much chance for long casting. Overhanging trees made 

 it necessary to crawl out on the logs, which every few 

 yards lie across the stream or just under the surface of 

 the cmrrent. Wherever the current burrowed under a 

 log there was sure to be a fish. I did not travel over a 

 quarter of a mile during the day and at night I had in all 

 a hundred fish. I had what in that region is considered 

 the standard day's catch for a good fisherman, and this 

 was my first experience in trout fishing save a few hours 

 the week before further down the same stream. Farmer 

 Clemmens praised me as a skillful fisherman while he 



