FOREST AND STREAM. 



106 



tymt §<ig mid 



OPEN (GAME SEASONS. 



Dakota. 



Buffalo, elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep. Sept, 1 to 

 Jan. 1. Prairie chicken, pinnated grouse, sharp-tailed 

 grouse, ruffed grouse, Sept. 1 to dau. 1. Wild duck, snipe, 

 goose, brant, curlew, plover, Sept. 1 to May 15. Exportation 

 forbidden. 



Delaware. 



Partridge, grouse, quail, rabbit, hare, Nov. 15 to Jan. 1 in 

 New Castle county; in Kent and Sussex counties, Nov. 15 to 

 Feb. 1. Reed bird, ortolan, rail, Sept. 1 to Feb. 1. Wild- 



eure license (fee §25) from the Delaware Game Protective 

 Association. Exportation restricted. 



District of Columbia. 



Partridge, qt 



SL. 



plover, Sept. 1 to May 1. Wildfowl, Sept. 1 to April 1. 

 Reed bird, ortolan, Sept. 1 to Feb. 1. Venison in possession, 

 Aug. 15 to Jan. 1, 



Indiana. 



Deer, Oct, 1 to Jan. 1. Quail, pheasant, Oct. 15 to Dec. 20. 

 Wild turkey, Nov. 1 to Feb. 1. Prairie, hen, prairie chicken, 

 Sept. 1 to Feb. 1. Woodcock, July 1 to Feb. 1. Wildfowl, 

 Sept. 1 to April 15. 



Iowa. 



Pinnated grouse, prairie chicken, Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. Wood- 

 cock, July 10 to Jan. 1. Ruffed grouse, pheasant, quail, 

 wild turkey, Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. Wildfowl, Aug. 15 to May 1. 

 .Deer, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1. Beaver, mink, otter, muskrat, Nov. 

 1 to April 1. Exportation forbidden. 



Kentucky. 



Quail, partridge, pheasant. Oct. 1 to March 1. Wildfowl, 

 ^Sept. 15 to May 1. Woodcock, June 1 to Jan. 1. Deer (male) 

 ^at any time; female deer, Sept. 1 to March 1. County laws 

 prescribe otner seasons. 



Louisiana. 



I Deer, Oct. 1 to March 1. Wild turkey, Oct. 1 to April 15. 

 Quail, pheasant, partridge, Oct. 1 to April 1. 



Manitoba. 



Deer, cabri, antelope, elk, wapiti, moose, reindeer, cari- 

 bou, Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. Grouse (all varieties), Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. 

 Woodcock, plover, Aug. 1 to Jan. 1. Wildfowl, Aug. 15 to 

 ;May 1. Otter, fisher, pekan, beaver, muskrat, sable, Oct. 1 

 to May 15. Marten, Nov. 1 to April 15. Exportation for- 

 bidden. Non-residents must procure annual license from 

 Minister or Deputy Minister (fee §25). 



Missouri. 



Deer, Sept. 1 to Jan. 15, Wild turkey, Sept. 15 to March 

 1. Pinnated grouse, prairie chicken, ruffed grouse, pheas- 

 ant, partridge, quail, Virginia partridge, Oct. 15 to Feb. 1. 

 Woodcock, July 1 to Jan. 10. Turtle dove, mourning dove, 

 meadow lark, starling, plover, Aug. 1. to Feb. 1. 



Nebraska. 



Buffalo, elk, mountain sheep, deer, antelope, Oct. 1 to 

 Jan. I. Grouse, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1. Quail, wild turkey, Oct. 

 1 to Jan. 1. 



A DUCKING. 



A COLD east wind was blowing, 

 And in the distant west 

 His last red rays were glowing. 



As the day god sank to rest. 

 The rushes brown were bending low, 



The yellow rice stalks swayed, 

 The water lily's wax-like blow 



Had withered and decayed. 

 Higli curling waves with foaming crests 



The lake's broad bosom flurried, 

 And southward from deserted nests 



The noisy blackbirds hurried. 

 The busy muskrat's sheltering roof 



With roots and rushes mended. 

 Added its mute convincing proof 



That summer joys were ended. 

 Pintails their airy circles drew. 



Low svyung the mallard duck. 

 And I, on a capsized canoe. 



Was "cussing" at my luck. 

 Chicago, Hlinois. * . Hoodoo. 



THE GAYLORD CLUB OF CHICAGO. 



C CHICAGO, ILL., Aug. 23.— In many respects the 

 / little organization known as the Gaylord Club pre- 

 sents more of interest to sportsmen readers than any 

 club yet found whose clientage belongs to this city, Its 

 club house is situated just three hundred miles distant 

 from Chicago, in the heart of a wilderness whose general 

 view, at least, offers no sign of human occupancy. Its 

 domain is, or will soon be, larger than that of any other 

 sportsmen's club in this city. Its possessions include 

 lake, forest and stream, in a country where the wild 

 trout and the wild deer are yet native and fairly abund- 

 ant; and, above all, it is extending over its domain a 

 protecting hand which will keep its wild creatures and 

 make them yet more abundant, and which will preserve 

 unmarred and unchanged a generous portion of a coun- 

 try where nature has been generous but abused. 



The president and founder of the Gaylord Club is Mr, 

 M. M. Gaylord, and the notion of starting the club came 

 to him last year, the club being now only in its second 

 season, and in the first year of its actual organization 

 Mr. Gaylord 's health was not very good, and to benefit it 

 in a logical and sensible way he struck north into the 

 pine forests of Wisconsin, joined a party of "timber 

 cruisers'' (scouts sent out by the lumber companies to 

 find available logging grounds), shouldered his pack like 

 the rest of them and so sallied forth on a journey which 

 might or might not end almost anywhere. During this 

 journey the party stopped on the shores of Coleman 

 Lake, named after a noted lumberman and known to but 

 few except loggers and hunters of that region. The 

 beautiful little lake, perhaps five or six miles in circum- 

 ference, rimmed in like a shining jewel by the dark band 

 of the pine forest, appealed too strongly to his eye, and 

 the of tener he gazed the stronger grew the fascination. 

 There were deer about the lake; the north branch of the 

 Pike— as glorious a trout stream as ever preached a ser- 



mon—rolled by distant but a few miles, the south branch 

 of the Pike, an equally beautiful and equally prolific 

 stream, headed right out of the lake itself, the inlet at 

 the upper end of the lake held trout, and so did the lakes 

 into which it widened out; there were big trout and 

 big bass, too, in the main lake itself, and a little 

 way further up lay a lake then known as Moon 

 Lake, where buss fairly swarmed; not far from there lay 

 the moss-edged Five Lakes, wdiere the deer came down 

 at evening; and every way, further than any man could 

 think or listen, stretched the great, quiet, restful pine 

 woods, wherein no man can long be tired or ailing, and 

 where, if one must one day die of sheer old age, his soul 

 could simply join the whisper of the woods, and so talk 

 on of peace and rest to the other mortals in the ages yet 

 to come. It needed but little thought to see the beauty 

 and the advantages of the country, and Mr. Gaylord un- 

 slung his pack and said he would go no further. The 

 idea of the club and its subsequent rapid organization 

 were born of the pity felt m the discoverer's heart that so 

 noble a country should be perpetually outraged by men 

 w r ho could not arrpreciate it. The process of the organi- 

 zation was a very speedy one, and eminently character- 

 istic of an energetic man and the most energetic city in 

 the world. The thirty-five shares — for it svas thought 

 best to limit the membership pretty closely — were rap- 

 idly taken up, and to-day a share is worth five times 

 what it cost, and none are for sale. The annual dues of 

 $20 are light, and the whole conduct of the club is one 

 which offers rare privileges to its select membership at a 

 cost more reasonable than might naturally be expected. 

 There is not really very much expense attached to run- 

 ning a club of this kind, after the buildings are put up, 

 beyond the very moderate salary of the club keeper. It 

 is customary for each member to pay a nominal rate for 

 board during the time of his actual stay at the club, and 

 this adjusts the question of relative use of the club's 

 {mvileges by those who may or may not go up often to 

 visit it. 



Gaylord club house is situated at the edge of the forest 

 and at the edge of the lake, on a bold point of the shore 

 from which a delightful panorama of land and water is 

 visible. The building U about 90x40 feet in extent, and 

 is made from lumber hauled in from the nearest railway 

 station— Dunbar — some fifteen miles away, at which 



GAYLORD CLUB HOUSE. 



point a flourishing sawmill is whittling away at the big 

 forest. Dunbar is on the "Soo Line" railway, and is the 

 nearest telegraph and mail point. The point of disem- 

 barkation for the clubhouse is Kirton, about six miles 

 further west than Dunbar, on the same line. There is a. 

 good litle station house at Kirton, but there is no regular 

 station agent there, and trains only stop there upon flag 

 or to let off the occasional traveler bound for the club 

 house on the lake. The club road leaves the railway 

 something over a mile west of Kirton station house, and 

 it is hoped by the club that, as it grows older and brings 

 more business over the road, the "Soo" people will move 

 the station house down to their road, put in a station for 

 them, and make things generally a good deal more com- 

 fortable and convenient for the club than they ever have 

 been yet. There is only one passenger train each way, 

 daily, over the "Soo" road on this division, but the 

 freight trains— semi-occasional as all freight trains are — 

 will carry the club visitor from Pembine, on the Mil- 

 waukee & Northern road, over the thirteen miles to 

 Kirton on the "Soo." The total time from Chicago is 

 about twenty-four hours, or a trifle more. Still, the club 

 members ought not to expect all the conveniences of 

 perfected railway travel in a country which they pride 

 themselves is still a wilderness, and through whose dense 

 forest the railway winds, like a thread, for miles and 

 miles, unstrung by any human habitations except those 

 of the infrequent little sawmill towns, whose traffic is 

 not yet worth a fortune to any railway. 



The interior of Gaylord club house is very spacious, 

 convenient and inviting. There is an ideal great fire- 

 place in the main room, and in this room, which, answers 

 as the general club room, there are the racks for guns 

 and rods and the lockers for the storing of garments and 

 odds and ends of personal property. The dining hall, 

 kitchen and keeper's rooms lie to the left of the main 

 room, and to the right are something like a dozen sleep- 

 ing apartments, all furnished with democratic equality. 

 A broad gallery Ironts the lake, and is a delightful spot 

 in the evening, as the sun sinks on the opposite side of 

 the lake. There is an ample ice house, well furnished, 

 and there are also barns and kennels for the dumb mem- 

 bers of the menage. A good team is kept all the time at the 

 club house. There are, I should think, fifteen or twenty 

 boats of different sorts in and about the lake, and on the 

 last day of my visit a big sailboat was brought in by Mr. 

 O. R. Glover, a friend of Mr. Caylord's, who with his 

 brother is putting up a big log camp for a pleasure resort 

 on a bluff further up the lake. This is the only other 

 habitation about the lake. 



I met Mr. Glover on the freight train going over from 

 Pembine, and as there was no team over from the club 

 house, we started out to walk the six or seven miles over 

 to the lake. There had been a heavy rain that day, and 

 the deep woods were moist almost to unpleasantness; in- 

 deed, our feet and legs were wet as if we had waded de- 

 liberately in water. We were, however, well fortified 

 by a dinner obtained at the table of the "bridge gang," 

 who were boarding in a box car side-tracked at Kirton. 

 We did not mind wet feet, when at length we topped the 

 last hill between us and the lake, and looked out over the 



little mirror lying in the woods. Mr. Gaylord was out 

 trying for a bass, and we met him at the boat landing, 

 and were soon well fed and comfortable before the big 

 fireplace. 



On the following day Mr. Gaylord inaugurated a trip 

 over a part of the club territory, it being incidental to 

 the programme that we should try for a little trout fish- 

 ing on the way. Mr. Gaylord has been up at the club 

 house all summer, and will remain there until the close 

 of the deer season, preferring the woods to the city. He 

 should, therefore, be fairly posted on the whereabouts 

 and condition of the fishing on the club premises. He 

 said: 



"These fish puzzle me. Sometimes we catch very 

 large trout here in the main lake, but they are not biting 

 now. Earlier in the season one boat has taken forty-four 

 black bass in little over an hour, but now you can 

 hardly expect half a dozen in a morning's fishing, and 

 they will not bite at all in the middle of the day. In 

 June I have caught sixty trout below the Brock dam, as 

 fast as I could cast the fly to them, yet now you cannot 

 catch a thing there but chubs. Last week I caught a 

 half dozen good trout in the stream below there, but a 

 while ago I could easily have filled a basket in the same 

 time. I don't know where the trout have gone. Of 

 course many of them have worked up into the smaller 

 and colder streams, but my firm belief is that our fish 

 have been skinned out. There have been two fellows 

 fishing for the market all the season; their camp is at the 

 bridge on the North Pike. A lot of "Soo Line" railway 

 officials came in on the North Pike this summer, and took 

 out nearly 3,000 trout. Every party that has gone in 

 below here has killed its similar numbers, and every little 

 stream around here is visited continually by men fishing 

 for the market. These streams are too small to stand 

 such a drain. I know we have plenty of bass left, but as 

 to the trout, I simply believe we are fished out." 

 " What do you propose to do about it? " I asked. 

 " Come with me to the outlet of this lake, and I will 

 show you. We have as fine a natural breeding stream 

 for trout as you ever saw. We intend, with the assist- 

 ance of the authorities at Madison, to put in a fish hatch- 

 ery right here. There are three loggir g dams below here, 

 one a ' rolling dam,' or dam built high enough to insure 

 a heavy enough volume of water to enable the men to 

 roll the logs over the wide shallows below it. This dam 

 is so high that no trout can get over it. Above this dam 

 and the others there are wide pools which hold no fish 

 but chubs and trout. We will stretch strong wire nets 

 below to keep our trout from going down stream. They 

 can have these pools to grow in, and the lake and streams 

 above here to run up into if they like. We do not care 

 how much they run up above the lake, for we are watch- 

 ing the inlet now, so that we do not fear trespassing to 

 any serious amount. If the young trout go into the lake, 

 they will work out one way or another, and so we will 

 always have good fishing above or below the lake. The 

 water lies so that it is a natural preserve. We are going 

 to stock it, and in five years we will show you better 

 fishing than there is now, you may depend on that." 



Our subsequent journey down the beautiful South 

 Branch bore out all th#t Mr. Gaylord said and more. 

 That stream is an ideal trout stream. Broad and with 

 great volume of water even at the present low stage of 

 the lake, clear and cold as ice water, and tumbling 

 along over a rocky l ed which seemed a natural right-of- 

 way for trout. I have never seen a stream, unless it were 

 some of the mountain streams of the Rockies, which was 

 more beautiful or more beautifully adapted to trout 

 fishing. Here I had my first opportunity, and, indeed, 

 almost my only opportunity during the trip, to cast a fly. 

 What was the result? Hundreds of chubs, and hardly a 

 trout in the prettiest part of the stream. By cbmbing, 

 crawling and wading up to a small stream which runs in 

 above the Brock dam, I found a long pool of nearly mo- 

 tionless water just at the edge of the overflow of the 

 dam. Here, standing nearly waist-deep in the trembling 

 bog, whose bottom was no one knows where, I 

 caught about a dozen splendid trout, a few of which 

 would run over a pound. They bit very sluggishly. In 

 fact, the trout in that section were not nearly so gamy as 

 the chubs. The latter took the fly readily, and the trout 

 would not. I think it was too late in the season, and 

 believe the trout were working up into the narrow 

 waters preparatory to the spawning season, which begins 

 in September. The bass spawned very late in Coleman 

 Lake this year, many so late as the end of July; but the 

 trout seem about to spawn early. I took several trout 

 nearly ready to spawn in the pool above mentioned, 

 lear ning this too late to spare them. 



The Gaylord Club must have between 3,000 and 4,000 

 acres of land in title and under lease. It controls all the 

 shore of the lake, about five miles along the South 

 Branch, and nearly as much on the 4 Inlet," including 

 the enlargement of that stream known as Trout Lake, 

 It owns all the lake shore where the club house and gar- 

 den are situated. Its tenure on most of the other land 

 is by lease from the great lumber companies who practi- 

 cally own that country. The land is now nearly all 

 "logged off." and is worthless for any other purpose. 

 In most instances, therefore, the lumber kings have 

 been content to lease bodies of the land merely in con- 

 sideration of the payment of the taxes. They ought to 

 be glad to get even that much for it, for it is the most 

 desolate pine country on earth, and never will be farmed 

 in the lives of any now living, at any rate. In this way 

 the Gaylord Club has been continually picking up land, 

 and will continue its operations until it has an immense 

 acreage under its control. The lumber people all feel 

 very well disposed toward the club, and well they may, 

 for it is starting in the middle of a great wilderness of 

 lawlessness the only movement that will ever bring peo- 

 ple into that country, and the only movement which 

 will keep up the supply of fish and game which consti- 

 tute the sole inducement to bring in any visitors except 

 the logging gangs and railroad men. 



There are a great many deer in that country yet, and 

 under intelligent treatment there always will be plenty. 

 Thirty deer were killed from the Gaylord club house last 

 fall, and doubtless the shooting members of the club will 

 have good sport this season, although old Nig, the club's 

 big hound, will have to be left tied up this year. Wis- 

 consin has already offered her proof of the fact that 

 hounding of deer is the worst thing possible to spoil the 

 sport and to drive the deer out of the country. The only 

 protest I heard from the natives against violations of any 

 law were against the Chicago and Milwaukee men who 



