OCT. 31, 1889,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



287 



GAME IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My official duties taking me over considerable territory 

 in this section, I am very much pleased to find that 

 although the past summer has been an extremely wet 

 one. Bob White has held his own and gained several 

 points. The coveys are more than usually large and the 

 young birds in fine condition, and there is every prospect 

 for excellent shooting for those of us who have good 

 dogs, of whom your humble servant is one. I have not 

 shot much yet, merely tried my young pointer pup Milo 

 twice, and though only nine months old he is a "wonder- 

 ful pup." I have not been able to trace his pedigree yet, 

 but it is plain to be seen that he is no scrub. The gentle- 

 man who placed him in my hands not being " doggy," 

 made no inquiry of the party from whom he obtained 

 him. simply receiving the information that he was of 

 imported stock, and that his mates sold at $100 each at 

 six months of age, as sufficient evidence of good blood. 

 I shall endeavor to find the breeder and learn more of 

 the dog's blood, as he is an unusually fine dog. My old 

 setter Ponto has taken all the degrees, and is now all that 

 is needed for good sport. He has developed one trait 

 not possessed by any dog ever owned by me before, I. c. , 

 if lost in a dense growth on a point, lie will invariably 

 round up the birds, back oft and bark to let you know 

 of his location. Sounds " fishy," I know, but I can sub- 

 stantiate the statement by numerous eye-witnesses; and 

 one remarkable fact is that the birds do not take flight 

 from the barking. He will also tree squirrels when pass- 

 ing through woods. He is only six years old and is in 

 full vigor. 



Speaking of albino or white squirrels, a few days since, 

 to an intelligent farmer of Harvey's Neck (a locality noted 

 for the abundance of game), I was told that it was no 

 unusual thing there to kill fox squirrels perfectly white, 

 and occasionally one perfectly black; in fact, one was 

 shot while I was shooting in that neighborhood almost as 

 white as ermine. The ordinary gray squirrel has been 

 extremely abundant this season, but the incessant shoot- 

 ing lias thinned them out. One man killed forty-eight 

 in one day's shooting, and remarked that it was " no un- 

 usual day for squirrels either." Turkeys and deer are 

 also fairly abundant, while bruin is lording it over the 

 farmers on the swamps up the river. Too much water 

 to hunt him successfully, though several large ones have 

 been shot recently. A. F. E. 



Belvedere, N. C, Oct. 19. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The prospect for Bob White in this State is excelleut; 

 at least such is the information I get from all quarters. 

 In the bottom lands on the larger streams there was much 

 destruction, because of high water, but on the hills and 

 narrow valleys the young birds escaped. I hope to have 

 the physical strength and the time to make many a jaunt 

 during the approaching season, to see if my vision and 

 arms are still equal to a sportsman's demands. My old 

 dog Argo has about "served Ms day and generation," but 

 I have a. young setter named Bip, who will be able to 

 supply his place, and a still younger one whom I have 

 called Ned, in honor of Capt. Edwin Sully, who presented 

 him to me. His brother* is of royal stock, but he is a 

 niittiUS filius. Still, lie is a fine looking fellow — much 

 fairer looking for a dog than his former or present owner 

 is for a man. Wells. 

 Rockingh am, N. C, Oct. 20. 



THE ADIRONDACK DEER LAW. 



NEW YORK, Oct. 29.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 think the New York law limiting the number of 

 deer to be killed by each person to three a most excellent 

 one. Of course it is rarely enforced and often ignored, 

 but it does good for all that. In the first place, it pre- 

 vents men from bragging of their slaughter; and puts 

 them in the position of feeling that they are law-breakers; 

 and where there are a number of sportsmen gathered 

 there is a certain feeling of pride that prevents most men 

 from violating that law. 



At the clubs in the Adircndacks all game laws are 

 thoroughly respected by both members and guests; and 

 at the Adirondack Club no does are ever shot, nor are 

 shotguns used to kill deer. I know personally of one 

 member who had six does come within easy shooting 

 distance on one morning, and he did not fire a shot, 

 although he had not had a chance to kill a buck the 

 whole season. 



But the best law of all is the one that prevents the 

 sending of deer out of the woods, for the reason that it is 

 easily enforced. Many a time we have refrained from 

 hunting because we had venison enough in camp; but if 

 we could have sent a deer or two home we would have 

 been glad of the excuse to kill more. 



The hotel keepers are the ones most to blame for what 

 poaching is done in the Adirondacks. I have heard this 

 Beason of one who bought venison in May, June and July, 

 and I dare say there are many others. They serve it as 

 "mountain lamb," or put it away in their cold storage 

 rooms. They do the same with ruffed grouse. By the 

 way, I wonder if the Connecticut sportsmen know that 

 hundreds of ruffed grouse are being shipped to the New 

 York markets. They sell (?) them to the stewards of the 

 steamboats, and they turn them over to the New York 

 agents. J W. Holbertox. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As a constant reader of your interesting paper, I have 

 noticed that others are bewailing the great slaughter of 

 deer which has been going on since the law allowed all 

 the dogs in Christendom to chase them. Ever since Sun- 

 day, Sept. 1, till the sun set Sunday, Oct. 20, there has 

 noi been a lake or pond to which deer could be driven but 

 has been watched by from three to a half dozen men or 

 boys, Sundays the most of all. Now that the hounding 

 season is over reports are plenty of pai"ties who went 

 hunting. From 500 to 1,000 deer have been killed since 

 Aug. 15 in the Adirondack region. This is an estimate 

 made by carefully looking over the map and comparing 

 the result of the lake and mountain resorts by reports in 

 the local newspapers and by actual observation in my 

 own locality. Will those who have written for your 

 columns assist me or give me same points on which to 

 work? for I, as a native of those grand old woods, love 

 those timid creatures too well to sit still without a 

 protest against such slaughter. Maine has had to pro- 

 liibit bounding and Wisconsin will not allow it. Will | 



the Empire State, with those beautiful mountains, allow 

 this deadly work to continue? 



Our game protector Major Pond is an energetic officer 

 who never sleeps (in the eye of the law), but I would 

 strengthen his hands by a system of rewards for infor- 

 mers, It may be this is out 'of place, but I know not 

 where else to turn. I therefore ask all who will to give 

 me their name and address and suggestions as to mode 

 of procedure in the line of concerted action, so that 

 when the next Legislature meets, a vigorous effort can be 

 made toward attaining the desired end, for I am willing 

 to devote time and what little money I can spare. My 

 views as to the proper legislative enactments are for an 

 open season from Aug. 20 to Nov. 10, hounding season 

 from Oct. 5 to Oct. 20. A reward of $25 made payable 

 by the State Game Commissioner to the informer, upon 

 affidavit of the officer before whom trial and conviction 

 of the guilty party is obtained. In order to fully enforce 

 a law that if broken harms no individual or his interest, 

 complaint to the proper officer is seldom made: but if 

 you appeal to the mercenary men — and they are as plenty 

 as the lazy wretches who will put on snowshoes and 

 tramp to the deer yard to slaughter at pleasure— then you 

 will get a watch put on the law-breaker and the State 

 will not have to exp3nd very much in the way of rewards 

 before the cruster and June jacker will cease his work, 

 because for $25 his nearest neighbor perhaps will land 

 him in jail. "Musset," let me help you or you help me. 

 Ellenbubgh Centeh, Clinton County,- N. Y. LAW. 



OUR TURKEY HUNT. 



LAST winter, while collecting specimens of natural 

 history down on the gulf coast of Florida, my boat- 

 man informed me that there were plenty of turkeys back 

 in the swamp; and he thought we would have no trouble 

 to shoot a gobbler if I cared to try it, and would get out 

 to their roosting place by daylight. I readily accepted 

 the invitation. A change of diet was not to be ignored 

 after a week's trial of fish and pork; and moreover I had 

 for years been coveting a chance to shoot a wild turkey. 

 Twice in my life had I gone to the mountain region of 

 my home State of Pennsylvania, for the purpose of trying 

 for a shot at a turkey. The first time we saw none; on 

 the second occasion my companion ran on to three tur- 

 keys as they were feeding in the woods; he was quite as 

 much surprised as were the birds, and they were out of 

 shot before he recollected that he carried a gun. I had 

 only the satisfaction of seeing them fly over the hilltops 

 to a distant mountain range. Several years had elapsed 

 without presenting an opportunity to fulfil my ambition, 

 and I was determined that no lack of effort of mine 

 should lead to another failure. 



We were camped on a creek two miles back from the 

 gulf, and our tent, formerly used by fishermen, was 

 under a clump of cabbage palmettos^ just where open 

 marsh or salt meadows met the timbered swamp or low 

 hamak, as it is called in that country. Traveling through 

 the timber was extremely tiresome, there being but a 

 single path leading but a short distance back from our 

 camp — the remains of an old road used for hauling out 

 cedar logs. After leaving this path we had no trails, and 

 for the moat part the ground was wet, muddy; or if dry 

 frequently thickly covered with the cabbage palmetto, 

 with naked leaf stalks projecting in every direction, and 

 so close together as to make it a matter of time and exer- 

 tion to travel any distance. 



An afternoon was spent in locating the turkeys, and 

 fortunately they were found to be not far distant from 

 the old road. The next morning we were stirring early. 

 We had planned to have breakfast over an hour before 

 sunrise, but as we were minus a timepiece our guess- 

 work proved in error. After a hasty repast of coffee, 

 crackers and onion omelette, we sat around the camp- 

 fire for an hour wondering what time it could be. Ex- 

 cepting an occasional rustle of a "cabbage" leaf, all was 

 still. An old bull alligator, who had the night before 

 kept up a continual bellow back of the hut, was silent. 

 We were too far from the gulf to hear the noise of water; 

 and apparently we were alone. Our hunting party num- 

 bered three, and it was planned that I should go with S., 

 my boatman and guide, and we to take the dog, while J. , 

 who was not a new hand at the work, should cross over 

 the creek a half mile above cauip and try his luck alone. 

 He had heard an old gobbler over there a day or two be- 

 fore and was quite confident of success. 



After exhausting our patience around the camp-fire, 

 we started through the woods and swamp, trying to keep 

 in the old road; but time and again getting off into the 

 wet ground, stumbling over logs or runnina: up against 

 the outstretched stalks of palmetto. A half mile or more 

 of this brought us to where J. was to branch off; and as 

 there was still no signs of daybreak, we built a fire to 

 temper the chilly night air, and sat around it for nearly 

 an hour; and finally decided (and after events proved) 

 that we had begun our hunt about 2 A. M. 



After leaving J, with instructions to yell for us if he 

 should wound a bird and need the dog to trail it up, we 

 followed the old road. Now that we were among the 

 older cabbage my guide showed me a novel substitute for 

 a lantern. Picking up a fallen and dry palmetto leaf 

 with stem five or six feet long, and palm spreading four 

 feet or more, he lighted it, and marched ahead with 

 torch on shoulder, lighting our way most brilliantly. 

 When one was burnt out it was dropped and another 

 lighted from the embers with scarcely a halt. They 

 seemed to ignite easily, but burned steadily and not 

 rapidly. For a mile or more we traveled in this way, 

 with cabbage and pine arching over us, our light glisten- 

 ing through the overhanging branches, until we ap- 

 proached the supposed vicinity of the turkey roost. Then 

 we put down our torches, rested our guns against a tree, 

 and dried our feet for a few minutes by the flames of a 

 few palmetto leaves hastily drawn together. We stood 

 thus probably ten minutes, when S. moved a few steps 

 from the path, put up both hands to his mouth and gave 

 an excellent imitation of the hoot of the barred or swamp 

 owl. "Hoo, hoo, hoo-hoo oo-oo." This, he had informed 

 me, usually provoked a gobble from any turkeys if 

 near at hand. The echo had scarcely died away, 

 when to our astonishment a turkey flew off, with no 

 warning, from the lower branches of a pine not twenty 

 feet from where we were standing. Daylight was 

 far enough advanced for each of lis to note a Very blank 

 pook on the face of the other fellow, as we saw a dark 

 orm disappear in the treetops before either could lay 

 n ands on a gun. A minute or two later a second bird 



was heard to fly from a short distance behind us, and 

 apparently close by the path we had followed. We had 

 gone too far and were right in the midst of them. We 

 kept perfectly quiet in hopes others would betray them- 

 selves or that we could call them up after a little; but 

 within ten minutes we heard a shot over across the creek 

 and then J. 's call; so, on the uncertainty of our getting 

 another shot, S. took the dog and hurried off. I lay quiet 

 for an hour or more, heard several distant gobbles, which 

 I followed, but saw no birds. I started over to join the 

 others and found they had followed the wounded bird 

 more than a mile, and J. had finally shot it as it flew 

 from a low tree. It was a large gobbler, which we judged 

 Would weigh over 201 bs. The meat was excellent "as pre- 

 pared by camp cooks and flavored with a "cracker's" 

 appetite. Thus ended my third turkey bunt, a good deal 

 more interesting than the others, but so far as I am con- 

 cerned, no more successful. If any of the readers of 

 Forest and Stream know of a few real tame wild tur- 

 keys, information is solicited. MeleaGris. 



A MAINE DEER STORY. 



ALREADY several deer have reached the Boston mar- 

 kets, doubtless from Maine, in spite of the law 

 against transportation. The underground railway is 

 open for both illegal partridges and deer. The other 

 morning a friend of the game laws, who hunts in Maine 

 as often as a busy life will permit, observed the carcass of 

 a deer being drawn from a barrel just in front of a com- 

 mission house. The joints of the legs had been cut in 

 order to get the body into the barrel — the old trick — and 

 marked cranberries. The doe was quickly hustled out of 

 sight, and not a man in the store knew where it came 

 from. But, on the whole, this underground system of 

 getting game into the market is becoming unpopular, 

 even with those who do the work in the States where 

 transportation is forbidden. In the first place, there is 

 the risk of detection and punishment, and besides, the 

 receivers of such goods are likely to "skin" the shipper 

 down to the last cent. The venison is usually shipped 

 here to be sold on commission, and together with the 

 higher cost of freight and teaming attendant upon such 

 shipment, and the extra trouble of managing such a 

 trade, the receivers manage to get about all there is in 

 the shipment. In the case of a fine buck shipped by 

 steamer last winter from Calais, Me., in a barrel, the 

 shipper had left for him the sum of 50 cents— and all this 

 for breaking the law and the risk of detection and fines. 

 Each season the sentiment in favor of game protection 

 improves, and such lessons as the above are weighty in- 

 struction for such as can be touched by no other means. 



Harry Moore, of the Boston grain trade, has just been 

 down to Maine, though he did not go deer hunting, as he 

 will do later; for the forests were too full of falling 

 leaves. But he did get hold of a good deer story, and all 

 the better from having happened this season. Harry 

 vouches for the truth of this deer story, and brings the 

 names of reputable hunters in Maine to prove it. lie also 

 did the same in regard to his celebrated moose story, pub- 

 lished in Forest and Stream last year. Mr. Harding, a 

 very respectable business man of Bangor, told the story 

 the other evening, as they sat by the fireside. The even- 

 ing was chilly and the birch backlogs lent a cheerful 

 blaze. Harding had been hunting only the day before. 

 With a friend, he had tried the deer grounds of Goulds- 

 boro. They had hunted nearly all day without a sign of 

 a deer, other than the tracks, and Avere about discouraged. 

 At last they came to a brook, and beyond the brook a 

 hill. Here Harding's friend and guide was sure that they 

 ought to sight a deer, and very cautiously they passed the 

 brook. There were fresh tracks that led up the hill. Hard- 

 ing took one set of very large tracks and his friend another. 

 Cautiously he followed up the hill till he got were he dared 

 to peep over. He lay flat on his stomach and took a look. 

 The first sight was disappointing. There were cattle 

 browsing — the land was partially cleared. But about 

 one hundred yards beyond the cattle, though some of the 

 cows had bells on, there was a beautiful buck! He stood 

 head on; his quick ear or scent had detected the presence 

 of a more dangei-ous enemy than the cows with bells on. 

 Harding had nothing but a muzzleloading rifle, but one 

 with which he had done some fine work. He was a man 

 of quick thought and of quick action. He glanced along 

 the barrel. In his crawling over the hill he had broken 

 off the forward sight of his rifle, but the magnificent deer 

 stood there, head erect, and just ready to jump. Hard- 

 ing was bound to shoot, and he pointed the rifle as best 

 he could. The report startled the cows into a run, but 

 the buck fell as stiff as a log. Harding shouted to his 

 friend and ran to cut the deer's throat with his hunting 

 knife. He came up to where the animal had fallen, but 

 he was gathering up and was nearly erect, though rather 

 dizzily, and was beginning to get away. This would 

 never do. Harding was as quick of action as of thought, 

 and he made a grab for the buck and just succeeded in 

 getting a good hold of the short tail of the beast. Here 

 he hung on for dear life — deer death it proved — and the 

 buck began to bound away. The ground was covered 

 with hummocks and logs, but Harding hung on. Here he 

 paused in his story. 



"Harry, did you ever, when you was a boy, try to 

 hang on to the tailboard of a wagon, with the driver 

 whipping up his horse in order to shake you off?" 

 "Yes, I have." 



"Well, you know just how that deer was making my 

 legs hum, only I could not let go as easily as you could 

 let go of the wagon on the smooth road, and it would not 

 do to let go, for I wanted that buck. All at once he 

 stumbled over one of those hummocks and fell to his 

 knees. His prongs plowed the next hummock and stuck 

 fast. He was my buck and he was down, and I jumped 

 for his throat, calling to my friend. The buck kicked as 

 only a deer can kick with those mighty long legs of Ms. 

 I tried to approach Ms head, but with a well directed 

 stroke of his hind leg he ripped my vest, shirt, pants and 

 drawers from my throat down almost to my feet and 

 came near cutting my head off with his sharp hoofs. 

 Then my friend came up and helped me dispatch the deer. 

 Afterward he dryly remarked that his first thought was 

 that I was about to retire — from the conflict — I was so 

 well unbuttoned." 



"Now, Harry, where do you suppose that buck was 

 hit? The bullet had just grazed Ms backbone lengthwise 

 and for the moment paralyzed Mm." Special. 



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