Oct. 25, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



265 



of in the Forest and Stream. Again I met a fond 

 father some time in August, when the conversation 

 turned on hunting and shooting. His son had just re- 

 turned from the Dead River region. He had shot a deer. 

 He was paddled up to the animal in the night time. At 

 least such was the account he gave his fond parents. Now 

 I do not make these things public for the sake of hurting 

 the feelings or the cause of my good friends the Maine 

 Fish and Game Commissioners, but I tell the story because 

 I believe that every honest sportsman who goes into 

 Maine and does not break the laws, and there are many 

 hundreds of them, is entitled to the fact. I also make 

 the above statements now, since the Maine Legislature is 

 to convene this winter, and a knowledge of the true state 

 of affairs is essential to better legislation. The State 

 should o-ive the present Commissioners funds sufficient 

 with which to enforce the law, especially in regions no 

 more remote and as much visited as Alligator Lake, Par- 

 macheene Lake and the Tim and Seven Ponds. 



As an item of good news it may be mentioned that Mr. 

 Frank Thomas. Andover, Me., has this fall been elected 

 a member of the Legislature. Frank has gmded a good 

 deal in the Richardson Lake region, and an excellent 

 guide he is. He has helped take more than one deer. In 

 one instance he was the guide of Omer Whitteniore and 

 Geo T Freeman, of Arlington, Mass., when they killed 

 a deer at the CranburyBog early in October. The night 

 was so cold, however, that the water froze m the coffee- 

 pot only twice the length of George's gun barrels from 

 where the fire was till it died down toward morning. The 

 next morning that deer had to be toted out to the lake, 

 two miles and a half, through a rough carry. Frank, 

 now a member of the Legislature, held up Ms end of the 

 pole against both Omer and George. The deer dressed 

 off some ISOlbs., but it weighed more than 500 before the 

 boys got it out of the woods. Mr. Thomas will probably 

 take with him a petition from Andover, asking that the 

 deer law be so changed as to permit hunting in Septem- 

 ber, and he will also be ready to help any measure that 

 shall better protect the deer in other seasons. 



Deer shooting in the woods of Maine has not yet been 

 much of a success on the open season this year.. The 

 general verdict of those who have tried is that there are 

 deer enough— more than they expected to find— but there 

 has been no success in getting them. In the first place 

 the weather has been remarkable for both rain and snow, 

 while at the same time the light and damp snows began 

 to come before the leaves had gone from the trees. Hence 

 the tendency of the snows has been to load down the 

 limbs and twigs of the forest, and thus to make success- 

 ful deer stalking almost an impossibility. Mi-. N. G. Man- 

 son, well known in the iron trade of this city, with his 

 friend Mr. Young, also of the iron trade, has just returned 

 from a hunt in the vicinity of the Rangeley Lakes. They 

 saw five deer, or at least deer at five different times, but 

 did not kill any. The weather was made up of either 

 snow or rain generally when they were hunting. A short 

 time from camp, especially on the snowy mornings, 

 would bring them on to the tracks of deer, but generally 

 the deer was hard to find till he had taken alarm, owing 

 to the difficulty of moving in the woods where the twigs 

 and smaller growth were bent down with snow. Mr. 

 Young, whose first trip this was, is much pleased with 

 the number of deer that must exist on the ground they 

 hunted over, and he declares that he will try again. 



Mr. Louis Hartley, with Ms brothers of the wool trade 

 in this city, will take a try for a deer in the Maine woods, 

 before Louis goes back to England. Mr. Hartley is an 

 Englishman. He is much pleased with this country, and 

 says that if all the stories that he has heard about hunting 

 in' the wilds of Maine are half true, he shall be more 

 pleased with the country than ever. He is fond of shoot- 

 ing, but about all the shooting he has ever had the privil- 

 ege of participating in has been rabbit shooting. 



Now and then a deer carcass gets into the Boston mar- 

 ket, I saw several the other day. They were evidently 

 from the West, but they set me to thinking that it will not 

 be long before they will be seen, occasionally, from Maine, 

 though how they get into this market will not be appar- 

 ent. Smuggled" in is about the only satisfactory answer. 

 This matters not to the commission marketman; his com- 

 mission for selling is all that he cares for. He will not 

 give away either the shipper or his methods; it would 

 mean a loss of trade to the merchant. But the shipment 

 of a deer from Maine has been accomplished without any 

 form of secrecy this fall. A Boston merchant, in the 

 machinery trade, has lately returned from a successful 

 hunting trip in that State. He shot a fine buck, weigh- 

 ing nearly HOOlbs. , and he brought it along with him. He 

 took it to the train on the Maine Central and suggested 

 that it be put on board the baggage car. The baggage 

 master refused to receive it or have anything to do with 

 it. His orders are not to receive game for shipment out 

 of the State, the same being in violation of the statutes. 

 But the Boston merchant remarked that he could not go 

 himself without his property, and that the deer was his 

 property. He should put the deer on board the car, and 

 take care of it himself. If the company desired to charge 

 him for extra freight or baggage they could do so, but 

 his property must go along with himself. It was legally 

 killed in open season. He, with the assistance of his own 

 man, put the deer on board the car, and it came all the 

 way to Boston without further trouble. Special. 



GAME AND GAME GROUNDS. 



CLEARFIELD, Pa., Oct. 18.— I have been out in the 

 Alleghanies on my annual deer hunt. We hunted 

 but three days owing to bad weather, and at some dis- 

 advantage, owing to the fact that the leaves are still 

 upon the bushes and trees. We killed one four-prong buck 

 that weighed 1751bs., and nicer venison one would not 

 want to eat. We find the deer very much scattered, 

 owing doubtless to the great abundance of chestnuts and 

 beechnuts, on which they are now feeding. We found 

 grouse plenty and in fine condition. Squirrels are very 

 scarce. We found signs of bears very abundant, and one 

 of our party came very nearly getting a shot at one old fel- 

 low who was "lopping*" a chestnut tree, but who was 

 frightened away by our dogs. After the election we 

 propose havmg another hunt, and some time we may 

 give you a more extended account of some of our grand 

 old hunts in the mountains. — F, G. H. 



Hollidaysburg, Pa.. Oct. 17.— The fall shootmg in 

 tMs vicinity is about as usual: ruffed grouse seem 

 moderately plenty and some fall woodcock have been 

 killed. — T. E. D, 



ALL-AROUND RIFLES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with interest the article by "Iron Ramrod'' 

 in your issue of Sept. 27, on rifles for small game. 



I have always been fond of the rifle, and though I have 

 never been much addicted to target shootmg, I have 

 used the single bullet a good deal against game. For the 

 last few years, however, my shooting has been with the 

 shotgun, and partly for the reason that I have found 

 nothing satisfactory in the shape of an "all-around rifle." 

 In this region one is when shooting, often liable to see a 

 bear, and for such cases I habitually carry a few buck- 

 shot cartridges. 



Your correspondent appears to have found at last the 

 style of rifle which might meet the recpiirements of men 

 like myself, and I venture to supplement his idea with 

 one of my own. which is, that as the quality wanting in 

 the piece he recommends appears to be its want of adap- 

 tation to the shooting of moose or bear (there are no 

 moose here), I would suggest that an explosive cartridge 

 ought to meet this want. 



With a long bullet, hollowed at the point so as to re- 

 ceive a .22 blank cartridge, I think that one might feel 

 safe in shooting at a common brown bear, even with a 

 .32-ca,liber rifle. 



I shall be glad to learn the opimon of the correspon- 

 dent referred to, as to this suggestion. Kelpie. 



Centbatj Lake, Mk-h., Oct. 17. 



THE CAMP SAVOR OF GAME, 



TVTEVADA, Oct. I'd— Editor Forest and Stream: I see 

 X\ in your last number an article from "Ebeeme" as to 

 which was the most savory of game meats. I have never 

 heard of beaver meat being considered a damty, leaving 

 ing out of consideration the tail and the liver; the latter 

 is considered equal to chicken liver, and the broad flat 

 tail— ye gods and little fishes! Take it, old or young, 

 impaled upon a sharp stick, hold it over the coals a few 

 minutes, when the rough, scaly hide will blister and come 

 off in silps and sheets without any trouble, leaving the 

 tail clean, white and solid. Now put it in the camp ket- 

 tle and boil until tender; place in a jar and cover with 

 good vinegar. As Burns has it, "Fancy's flight her wing 

 maun cour." I have seen nothing yet to equal soused 

 beaver tail. Or cook it with a pot of beans, then place 

 them in an old Dutch oven, dig a hole in the ground, put 

 in the hole hot coals and ashes; on this place the oven 

 and let it bake slowly for ten hours a la Boston beaver 

 tail and beans. I believe it was the mess of pottage for 

 which Esau sold Ms birthright, and I don't blame him. 



I have eaten beaver flesh of every age and cooked in 

 many ways, but never liked it, and never saw any one 

 who cared much for it. Perhaps the feed is not so good 

 in the Northwest for making good meat as that further 

 East. The oil is very much prized by hunters and trap- 

 pers for cooking. I have eaten prairie dogs and think 

 them equal to squirrel. Being hard up for fresh meat 

 wMle in the Siera Prietta Mountains in Arizona, I shot a 

 ringtail wildcat and made a pot-pie. It was veryfat, and 

 the meat seemed to have a very smooth, slippery taste. 

 Then it was cat. I don't like cat, and my "pardner" of 

 that time did not either. J. J. F. 



A DAY'S SHOOTING IN MY MARYLAND. 



II. — AFTERNOON. 



AFTER our chat, following dinner, we set out once 

 more; and taking opposite directions hunt two fields 

 without a find. As we enter the third field Sport stops 

 on the top of the fence, hanging as it were in mid-air, and 

 we know' the birds are directly under his nose. Flora, at 

 a signal, comes up and stands firmly on a back, while 

 Dash, who is some distance off, is let run. We cross the 

 fence, go out in the field, turn and walk toward the dogs, 

 which is the hardest test you can give them. The birds 

 rise confused: we get in our four barrels, but only one 

 bird down on a tipped wing. "Too much dinner, old fel- 

 low," B. says in his quiet, quamt way, wMle Sport, 

 although at charge, looks the deep disgust he feels. For 

 this winged bird we had a hunt, as he ran, but after a 

 long trail Dash came to a point and we had Mm. Never 

 give up a wounded bird, but find him if it takes an hour. 

 It will improve the dogs. 



The birds flew to a swamp, where in the middle was a 

 firm place, about forty yards long and twenty wide, sur- 

 rounded bv bushes and greenbriers. Here I had splendid 

 shooting, and got some ten birds over as many separate 

 points, as the covey lay close. I noticed Sport at a green- 

 brier, looking in a quizzical, uncertain way, and gave it 

 a shake, when up sprang a woodcock and settled down 

 about ten yards distant. It was too thick to shoot if I 

 flushed him, so I took aim at his large, expressive eye, 

 put one shot just above it, and saved his bacon. It was 

 the largest one I ever saw, weighing 9*oz. and measuring 

 17in. across the wings. I am no advocate of summer 

 shooting, and you men who call yourselves sportsmen and 

 kill the half-fledged younglings in July, do not know the 

 excitement of shooting nor the enjoyment of the flavor 

 of woodcock killed the last of October. We got several 

 that day, but this was the only one shot sitting. As we 

 were going out of the field, B., who woMd not often shoot 

 at the rabbits, because so heavy to carry, saw one sitting, 

 and picking a stone he threw and killed it, which was a 

 good joke, as he had to carry it. We shot until dusk, 

 havmg a fine day's sport, and gettmg a bag wMch for 

 variety only the woodlands of our own dear country will 

 furnish. Sixty -six partridges, some woodcock, several 

 rabbits, a few larks and other smaller game. I shot at a 

 wood duck, but missed, wMle B. winged a pheasant 

 (ruffed grouse), but did not get it. B. had three* more 

 partridges than I. 



After a light supper we bade our kind host good-bye; 

 our ride home was pleasant and exhilarating. The dogs, 

 who were tired enough, curled themselves up in the 

 wagon and slept the sleep of the righteous; we were re- 

 ceived by our wives with that joy and gladness which 

 ever attends the meeting of the loved ones. Mine has 

 long since gone to her last sleep, while Mrs. B. lives to 

 add joy and peace to my friend's life, and shed a halo of 

 happiness and love around his beautiful home. 



At the risk of being tedious, I wish to say a word or 

 two about dogs. It always has been, is now, and ever 

 will be, a moot question among sportsmen whether the 

 setter or pointer is the better dog. The two above named 

 were nearly perfect specimens of their class. Sport was 



the best pointer I ever saw, and I have seen him go in 

 greenbriers of his own free will and come with his sides 

 lacerated and bleeding, but he had extraordinary nerve. 

 In dry, hot weather he. could find more birds than Flora, 

 but m rough, cold days she was Ms superior. Pointers 

 will suffer from a little cold, while setters will give out 

 entirely m hot, dry weather. I have seen them exhausted . 

 but a lap of water and a roll will put them all right. My 

 advice to youngsters is, to procure a brace, one of each. 

 The pointer after being broken once will always be broken, 

 but will never be so affectionate and so companionable as 

 a setter, who will, no doubt, have to be flogged several 

 times at the commencement of each season, but he will 

 forgive you, and lick the hand for a caress and goto work 

 in good humor. The best dog I ever had was an English 

 setter of native breed, once removed from imported stock. 

 He would work to perfection in the open, slowly and 

 carefully in the cripple, cautiously in the woods, and take 

 water and retrieve like a Chesapeake water dog. Of his 

 exploits I may tell you anon. Josephus. 

 OkciIi OotTNTV, Maryland. 



SHOT AND POWDER MEASURES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Whether the dram used as a measure of powder is an 

 arbitrary quantity now or not, I am satisfied that it was 

 at one time the dram of avoirdupois weight, in which 

 16drs. makes an ounce and Kioz. makes a pound. My 

 father, who is an old-time sportsman, has informed me 

 that the graduated thimbles of the old-fashioned powder 

 flasks measured off drams which, by his personal test, 

 were equal to of an ounce, and I have recently talked 

 with other old sportsmen who have made the same test 

 with a like result. The cups now used to measure powder 

 for loading shells vary considerably in the quantity of 

 powder in their respective drams, and there are consider- 

 able differences in the weight of a dram of various kinds 

 of powder. An ounce of No. 12 shot (Dixon's loading 

 cup) weighs more than an ounce avoirdupois, and a 

 measured ounce of No. 1 shot weighs less than an ounce 

 avoirdupois. Seneca. 

 New York, Oct. 16. 



Hunting Notes from the Roseau Region. — Hallock, 

 Kittson County, Minn., Oct. 13.— The Hallock Enterprise, 

 our local paper, of this date contams the appended hunt- 

 ing notes. The attraction to this region is greater than 

 ever, but several parties who contemplated coming have 

 failed to show up. The Mershon party from East Saginaw, 

 Mich. , took their hunting car as far west as the Bad 

 Lands of the Little Missouri early this month, and re- 

 turned on the 17th regretting that they had not carried 

 out their original plan to go to the Roseau. However, 

 this leaves more game for others. I quote what the 

 Enterprise prints as follows: "Beautiful Indian summer 

 weather, and the farmers are improving every oppor- 

 tunity.— Scott Riddell and Al Suffel started for the big 

 lakes in the Roseau country last Saturday.— On Monday 

 morning John Websterson, W. H. Alley and Ole Johnson 

 left for the Roseau valley.— Last week "Messrs. Vasterline 

 and Maran, of St. Vincent, and Messrs. Kabenogle and 

 Moorhead, of Pembina passed through Hallock from the 

 Roseau well loaded with game. — Several parties have 

 made trips out east to the Roseau the past week to hunt 

 geese and ducks. — Last Friday morning mine host Wood- 

 worth, of Hotel Hallock, Dean Benson and the sporting 

 editor of the Enterprise left Hallock for a two days' shoot 

 among the eastern swamps. Ben TMane took Ole Peter- 

 son along to help load the game. At daybreak we started 

 for Benson's favorite spot about five miles east, when we 

 found game in abundance. At four o'clock we were 

 ready, to start home, and when camp was reached we 

 counted out forty -seven ducks and thirteen geese. Ben 

 and Ole came in later hi the day with a good supply." 

 Next month big game shooting will be in order. Last 

 year seventy-six elk were Mlled, besides deer, moose, 

 bears, etc.— Quack. 



One of Frank: Forester's Guns. — Hollidaysburg, Pa., 

 Oct. 17.— Editor Forest and Stream: I recently had the 

 pleasure of examiMng and handling a valuable relic of 

 Henry W. Herbert (Frank Forester). It is a fine old 

 double gun, 14-bore, weight 7 T pbs., 39in. twist barrel, 

 with platina vents, and marked "James Sperling, Lon- 

 don, Maker to Royal Family." It has a handsome straight 

 stock and is in fine condition. The locks are the finest I 

 ever saw, and finished like the works of a chronometer. 

 The breech, hammers and lock-plates are finely engraved, 

 and the gun case is solid mahogany, lined and partitioned 

 with leather, brass-bound and engraved, and on the name 

 plate is the name of its famous owner, "Henry W. Her- 

 bert." The gun was imported by Mr. Herbert, and is said 

 to have cost £40 in London. Some time before his death 

 he presented the gun and case to Major John W. Duncan, 

 who was at that time an army officer stationed at Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa., and was a son-in-law of the original "Iron 

 King" of Pennsylvania, Peter Shoenberger. Over thirty 

 years ago Major Duncan exchanged the gun for a fine 

 fly-rod to H. S. Van Tries, Sr., in whose possession it has 

 remained ever since. Its shooting powers are unim- 

 paired, for with it 18 out of 20 bluerocks have been broken 

 at 18yds., single traps, and some modern chokebores 

 won't do any better.— T. E. D. 



The Game Laws of New Jersey have been published 

 in pamphlet form. The compiler is Mr. Chas. A. Shriner, 

 secretary of the Passaic County Fish and Game Protec- 

 tive Association and fish warden of Passaic county; the 

 work was done under the direction and supervision of 

 Hon. John W. Griggs, late President of the New Jersey 

 Senate, and was revised by Mm. The book contams all 

 the numerous laws relative to game and game fish, the 

 rights of property owners and associations, forms for the 

 prosecution of offenders, and a great deal of other matter 

 of interest to persons who hunt and fish m New Jersey. 

 It is a complete compilation of all the game and fish laws 

 passed by the Legislature of the State. The price is 50 

 cents, and copies maybe procured from Chas. A. SMiner, 

 Paterson, N. J. 



Philadelphia. Oct. 22.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The writer has seen three bunches of quail, one bunch of 

 ruffed grouse and several bunches of rabbits. Where do 

 they come from? The law is not up until Nov. 1 in Penn- 

 sylvania. I think. — R. L. L, 



