Nov. 14, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



327 



CHICKENS IN ILLINOIS CORN FIELDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Hough, whose delightfully told experiences charm 

 lis all, wrote this week of a prairie chicken's mounting 

 skyward in its death flight and dropping suddenly life- 

 less. I witnessed the duplicate of this performance a few 

 lays ago. It was on my last chicken hunt of the season. 

 We found the hirds in 'the corn, clean fields invariably 

 being chosen by these magnificent game birds as their 

 feeding ground. They were lying about in twos and 

 threes, and we had some good shooting. We had just 

 entered a bit of a field where the stalks were not tall, 

 when suddenly, "boom, boom, boom," the birds began to 

 spring above the stalks and dart away to the north. Be- 

 fore the twenty -five or thirty which composed the flock 

 *ot away I managed to stop four of them in four shots — 

 as good as I ever did on the splendid and not too easily 

 killed birds. The nearest of the four I could see about 

 Forty yards away, and I hurried forward, after slipping 

 shells in my gun, to secure him. I was just reaching for 

 bis head, which was swaying from side to side, showing, 

 is I thought, that he was struck in the brain, when, with 

 i mighty effort, he bounded into the air and went climb- 

 ing skyward on wings less steady than those of the jack 

 mipe when he first leaps up from his moist pasture. I 

 was rattled too badly to hit him, although I tried it, shoot- 

 ing wild and wide of the mark. On, up he went in the 

 mellow autumn sunshine, when all at once his wings 

 ceased to move, and he fell like a lump of lead. One 

 ;hing I learned was not to count your chickens until they 

 ire in the pocket of your shooting coat, for although we 

 marked the spot where this plucky bird fell, and" were 

 are that life was extinct, we failed to retrieve him. 

 I think the best chicken shooting we have here is in 

 Sptbber among Che com. The birds in August and Sep- 

 tember, while yet in the stubble, are too easily bowled 

 irver. The man who cannot make a good bag in August, 

 vhere the game is fairly plentiful, could hardly hit a 

 mock of corn fodder. But bagging the same game in 

 October, especially if it be a little late in the month, is 

 uite another thing. There is no time to waste after the 

 ong wings have lifted the big gray body above the 

 Iks, and have started away with it. This, to me, seems 

 he perfection of shooting, and there has been plenty of 

 t this year in Illinois. The three years close season did 

 ill that it was expected to do in restocking the fields with 

 lie almost vanished birds. It is well known that our 

 pecretary of State, in engrossing the law, put the opening 

 if the season this fall on the 15th instead of the 1st of 

 Jeptember, the latter being the date fixed by the Legis- 

 lature's action. The Attorney General decided that the 

 law must stand as recorded, although every one knew it 

 to be a blunder. Some of us growled, but the result is a 

 happy one. Many birds which would have been easily 

 killed in the first half of September, by the last half were 

 able to fly out of harm's way, and have escaped to give a 

 brood of birds for the gunner's entertainment next season . 

 The opening of the season will be late again next year as 

 jur Legislature does not meet this coming winter. When 

 the game law is again considered it is to be hoped the 

 late will not be made earlier. I believe if the laws were 

 observed and shooting of chickens allowed only between 

 Sept. 15 and Nov. 1, there would always be plenty of 

 game. There are plenty left now to fill the fields next 

 fear. 



The worst enemy the grouse have is the farmer. I talked 

 with, one farmer this summer, who said: "I plowed 

 around their nests last spring and the young brood have 

 fattened on my grain, and it seems to me those birds are 

 mine and I have a right to go out and kill them when I 

 please." And this man was no lawbreaker in other 

 things. But I am sure that he and others like him get 

 what shooting they want before the open season begins. 

 They watch the hunters from the towns and villages. 

 The latter, awai^ that the farmers have an eye on them 

 and that their exploits will be talked over in the town 

 also, are chary about shooting the birds out of season. 

 But the farmer can go out on his own land and do about 

 as he pleases. Few care to dispute his right to do so, and 

 evidence against him would be hard to get. Yet I am 

 mre, from rumors that float about in many neighbor- 

 hoods, and from some knowledge of the farmers' feelings, 

 that many a grouse goes into the pot or the frying pan 

 before the open season begins, brought down by the 

 farmer's old fuzee. Richard Gear Hobbs. 



Paxton, Illinois. 



AN AMERICAN GAME UTOPIA. 



rj^HE discussion of some plan to secure a great game 

 JL preserve in Illinois enlists all my interest and sym- 

 pathy. When it is forever too late, I suppose an Ameri- 

 can Congress may become civilized enough to appropri- 

 ate enough money for such a thing, but where tben will 

 be the prairie chickens, antelope, wild geese, etc., where- 

 with to stock it? To the real sportsman the thought of 

 this hideous slaughter which is exterminating our noble 

 game is almost unbearable. While we wrangle over our 

 "rights" in the matter all our questions are being rapidly 

 suid permanently settled by "elimination." There will 

 right speedily be no game to scramble for. How one 

 longs for the power of a Vanderbilt or Gould that he 

 might himself make possible such a game preserve. I 

 3uppose, however, that when one gets to be a Vanderbilt 

 or Gould he has other things to think of. but what a 

 benediction from real sportsmen and naturalists the 

 world over would fall on the head of any one who should 

 Establish such a preserve! 



Col. T. W. Higginson once said it was well worth the 

 annual fee of membership to the Boston Appalachian 

 Club just to know that such a club existed and that so 

 many good people were enjoying its field excursions at 

 low rates. What I would give most to see would be a 

 game preserve of grand proportions and superbly stocked 

 with all kinds of game which could flourish together, and 

 wherein not a mortal should ever be allowed to shoot, but 

 where the naturalist could study to his heart's content and 

 the dead shot and the man accustomed to make a tremen- 

 dous bag could learn the higher pleasure of stalking game 

 without destroying it, and where the only hunter who 

 carried any trophies away should be he whose weapon 

 was the camera. 



I have been very sad indeed at the thought of the 

 rapid extermination of the prairie chicken from the 

 Illinois prairies, where I hunted when a boy; and the 

 plan of the preserve at Rising Sun Farm and the state- 

 ment of Mr. Hough that the birds are actually there, 



within eighty miles of Chicago and in the oldtime 

 marshes, are enough to make me wish that every sports- 

 man would interest himself in the matter if a plan at all 

 practicable can be proposed. I would like to get in a 

 few rights and lefts at prairie chickens again before I 

 die; but I would give even more to see once more the 

 wonderful tournament of the mating birds in spring- and 

 to hear their curious booming call, which used to excite 

 my curiosity, till by dint of careful creeping and stealthy 

 approach I could see the birds in the act of making it. 



If any one wants sport that is rare in quality and car- 

 ries with it no manner of regret whatever, let him creep 

 upon and watch a lot of prairie chickens at such a time, 

 and my word for it he would not exchange the experi- 

 ence for even the exhilaration of a day's hunt and a big 

 bag of birds in autumn. I have felt the rage for killing 

 as keenly as any man, and I have by no means given up 

 my gun, but I am in position to say that the cultivation 

 of* the gentler and less destructive delights of the chase 

 ore equally profitable to the soul. Mr. Hornaday tells 

 me that on his last expedition for buffalo for the Smith- 

 sonian his cowboy assistants wanted at first to shoot every 

 living thing that came within range, and hardly knew 

 what; lie meant when he tried to inspire them with the 

 idea of preserving all game not strictly needed, instead 

 of slaughtering it. When once, however, they caught 

 the idea, a great change came over them, and they were 

 willing to think of the future as well as the present 

 moment. 



Sometime I want to apply this idea to fishing and to tell 

 you of the champion bass hog whom I. once found in 

 Florida and who has remained an unpleasant figure in 

 my memory ever since. C. H. Ames. 



AIMING AHEAD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I read with a good deal of interest, some time ago, the 

 views of "Ancient" upon cross shooting, but have not 

 seen the articles of others upon the subject. If you will 

 kindly afford space, I will give my opinion and the reason 

 for it. 



In the diagram let AB represent the position of the 

 gun at the time of pulling the trigger, and E the position 

 of the bird at the same moment moving toward D. Now, 

 if the muzzle of the gun be in motion toward H, it will 

 reach some point at the left of B, as point C, by the time 

 the shot can reach the muzzle. For it must take some 

 time for the hammer to fall, the powder to burn and the 

 shot to start from rest and with an accelerated motion 

 reach that point (B). If the shot should continue in the 

 direction they are moving at the moment they leave the 

 muzzle, they would not follow the line CD, for they 

 have two motions, one due to the swing of the muzzle 

 and the other a projectile motion toward D. The result- 

 ant of these motions is the direction OF, 



-2&FT 



• 120 Ft. 



If the velocity of the bird is such that it will go from 

 E to F or / (which is nearly accurate) while the shot are 

 passing the distances AC + CF, the shot would inter- 

 cept the line of the bird at the point F. If the bird be a 

 swift flyer, or the swing of the muzzle less rapid, or the 

 powder* slow burning, the shot in either case would fall 

 behind. 



This computation is upon the supposition that the 

 shooter swings the gun more rapidly than the flight of 

 the bird, and discharges at the moment the line of sight 

 reaches the bird; that is, he swings upon the object and 

 fires without stopping the motion. My own rule is to 

 swing in line of flight and pull when the bird is visible 

 behind the muzzle. I consider this a good rule for swift 

 birds. 



If the shooter should follow the flight and fire while 

 holding on, he would fall behind a distance, a trifle less 

 than the bird would fly while the shot are going from B 

 to E, or from C to D. The shot would have a lateral 

 motion and would follow the line of a diagonal of a par- 

 allelogram as CF in CDFO-. This of course would 

 lessen the distance the shot would fall behind. 



If, on the other hand, the shooter should hold on the 

 bird without swinging, and shoot while holding on, the 

 shot would fall behind a distance equal to the flight of 

 the bird during the time from the moment of pull till the 

 shot reach the point E. 



Let us try approximately to compute these distances. 

 Suppose a 30-inch gun to be swung on a bird with a muz- 

 zle velocity of 4 feet a second; that it take, for the ham- 

 mer to fall, the powder to burn, and the shot to tra- 

 verse the barrel, jjfe of a second; then the lateral motion 

 of the muzzle would be from the time of the pull till the 

 shot reach the muzzle of 48 inches or 2 inches. Then 

 we have BC = 2 inches. As the triangles ABC and 

 ADF are similar, 



AB : AE = CB : BE, or 2$ : 120 — i : DE. BE = 8ft. 



To compute FD, we have CD = 120ft.— 3ift., or in 

 round numbers, 120ft. If we suppose the velocity of shot 

 to be 960ft. a second, they would traverse the distance 

 CD or (120ft.) in i|g seconds, or \ of a second. If the 

 muzzle velocitv is still 4ft. a second, we have for the dis- 

 tance CO or DF\Hn., or 6in. This added to 8ft. gives 

 8-j-ft. for EF. Now the problem would not be essentially 

 different if we take the tangential line Edf, which would 

 be a more natural flight. 



Now let us see what would result if a bird were flying 

 a mile a minute. The question is how far a bird with 

 the above velocity would move during the time from the 

 pull of the trigger until the shot reach the distance 120ft. 

 Time of shot in reaching muzzle, - 2 L 4 - of a second; time of 

 CD or HTML, isec. ^ 4 -+£ = -± 4 -==£sec., 1 mile = 5,280ft. 

 H ■g fl =88t't. a second, velocity of bird. Then in ^sec. the 

 bird would go from E toward / 14|f t. As the shot in the 

 above case would strike 8£f t." to the left of E, we have 



14$ — 8i or 6|ft., the distance the shot would fall behind 

 the bird. In such a case a swifter motion of the gun 

 would be necessary, or as is the case, I think, with most 

 duck shooters, the gun could be carried somewhat ahead 

 of the bird. 



If a bird were flying i mile a minute, the bird would 

 move 7^ft. in ^sec, and the shot would be something 

 more than a foot ahead of the bird. W. 



Melrose, Mass. 



CONNECTICUT GAME MARKET. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



In your issue of the -.1st ult. I was glad to notice an 

 extract from the Hartford Post stating that some parties 

 had been arrested in the attempt to ship game from the 

 State of Connecticut in violation of the law. You may 

 remember that last fall through vour columns I called 

 the attention of the Connecticut Game Protective Asso- 

 ciation of Hartford to this subject, and now that ener- 

 getic measures have been begun I earnestly hope they 

 will be persisted in until the traffic is stopped. There is 

 much game taken to New Haven from the adjoining 

 towns, especially those along the line of the Shore Line 

 Railroad; it may be all used there, but I am afraid not. 

 One party whom I saw on the cars last fall, then on his 

 way to New Haven with game, told me that he had 

 taken 2,500 game birds that season to the New Haven 

 market. This week, in passing over the line from Say- 

 brook Junction to New Haven, I saw the same party and 

 two others on the train with four baskets of game, I 

 should judge numbering 150 pieces, which were taken 

 off at New Haven. 



An outside market makes a dema,nd for market-hunt- 

 ers, and two or three such men can wipe the game from 

 a town in a few weeks. They are usually good shots; 

 are tough, wiry fellows, who can rustle through the brush 

 and thickets where a sensitive dog would unwillingly 

 enter; they know every foot of the ground thoroughly, 

 and the haunts of partridge, quail and woodcock; and 

 by putting in the time from daylight till dark during the 

 first two weeks of the open season, have not only de- 

 stroyed any hope of pleasure for others in a day's shoot- 

 ing, but have wiped the ground so effectually that but 

 very few birds remain to replenish the stock for another 

 year. 



There are undoubtedly many birds snared and trapped 

 in Connecticut now; but in the sections I have visited 

 this fall the practice is much less than in former years; 

 in my few days' tramp I saw but one fence built for en- 

 snaring partridge, and that one I am quite sure will do 

 no more harm. It is the market-hunters that are de- 

 stroying the pleasures of shooting, and that, too, for a 

 very slight profit to themselves, and even this could not 

 be sustained but for the market found outside the State 

 by illegal shipments of game. So, Mr. Editor, please en- 

 courage the game wardens and all game protective asso- 

 ciations in rigidly enforcing the law, and Connecticut 

 will afford as good a natural field for a day's shooting as 

 a sportsman could desire. A. 



Nov. 6. 



ONTARIO INCIDENTS. 



BELLEVILLE, Ont., Nov, 5. — Your correspondent had 

 the good fortune to be presented, on Saturday last, 

 by Mr. Wm. Clarke, of Sydney to wnship, with an albino 

 black squirrel, which be shot the preceding day about 

 twelve miles from this city. This " freak " is of the ordi- 

 nary size of a black squirrel, but is of a yellowish cream 

 color. Its fur is very thick and silky, and its brush is 

 rather smaller than that of its black brethren. Another, 

 somewhat more yellow in color, has been seen in the 

 same vicinity. My specimen, which is regarded as a 

 curiosity here, is in the hands of Mr. Colet taxidermist. 



Parties who went to the northern townships to hunt 

 deer have had much less success than usual. One party 

 who went from Belleville, and which included Judge 

 Hoyt and Mr. Loos, of Syracuse, N. Y., did not get a 

 single deer in their two weeks' hunt, although they 

 wounded two. Another party of two got 1 deer in a 

 week, while a party of six got 0 deer in two weeks. A 

 party from Stirling got 5," and a party from Marmora 

 secured 8, one of which weighed 2721bs. A reliable cor- 

 respondent from North Hastings states that deer have 

 been scarcer than in previous years, and that dogs, 

 which are running everywhere, have in different locali- 

 ties driven several deer into the clearances, where they 

 have been shot by the settlers; in fact, most of them seem 

 to have been got in this way. 



The same correspondent narrates the following re- 

 markable series of events which happened at Maynooth, 

 one of the most northerly villages in this county: "Last 

 week a deer was seen to enter a small lake on the west 

 road; a man headed it and kept it in the water while Mr. 

 Green ran home for a gun. The only 'shooting iron' he 

 could procure had the stock broken off short, close 

 to the lock, and with this extraordinary weapon he 

 succeeded in shooting the deer; and last Thursday a 

 deer entered the village and rambled playfully along;the 

 sidewalk. It was soon discovered, and Messrs. J. B. 

 Cleak, S. Eoss, G. Green and others chased it through 

 the village, the priest adding to the excitement by send- 

 ing a couple of shots 'promiscuously' after the deer. A 

 house was burnt there some time since, and a large cellar 

 now yawns where it stood; into this the deer jumped, 

 closely followed by S. Ross, who seized it by the hindlegs 

 while G. Green hammered it with a club till life was ex- 

 tinct. On the Friday previous to this a large bear was 

 seen around the cheese factory. Mr. S. Rouse armed him- 

 self with a rifle and sought some time for it in vain, but 

 at length looking over into the vat he discovered it there 

 drinking the whey, and quickly gave it a quietus in the 

 shape of a bullet — and only a short time previous to this 

 another bear was killed at the same factory." While 

 deer have been scarce, ruffed grouse have been plentiful. 

 Some of the parties killed about a hundred of these usu- 

 ally wary birds. R. S. B. 



Quail, on Long Island are said this year to be rather 

 scarce. A report from Southampton says that there are 

 but few birds, and that such as there are are great wan- 

 derers and scarcely ever found twice on the same ground. 

 A gentleman familiar with the grounds about Sayville 

 says that there are fewer birds than usual there. This 

 scarcity is attributed to the wet weather of the summer 

 which drowned the young ones. 



