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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 23, 1890. 



A MICHIGAN DEER SCRIMMAGE. 



KANKAKEE, 111. , Jan. IB.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The deer mentioned in the item "Locked Antlers" 

 taken from > the Gazette, were killed during the latter 

 part of October and fore part of November, open season. 

 There were other and larger parties than ours in that 

 region. A few days since one of the proprietors of saw 

 mills in that country informed me that our party had 

 better success than any other. Probably one reason for 

 it was that my friend and myself have had considerable 

 experience during the last thirty-five years and over in 

 still-hunting deer, not so much, of course, as professional 

 hunters. Another reason was luck; some would call it 

 chance. Our hunting has been entirely by day; we 

 know nothing practically about fire-hunting. 



During our last four years' hunts we have seen abund- 

 ance of "sign" there of hunting out of season, and that 

 too by fire-hunting. The information we received in 

 that region is that it was done hy the Indians for pelts, 

 but I fancy some of the Indians were white. If that out 

 of season pursuit and style of hunting were discontinued, 

 there would be an abundance of game for legitimate 

 sport. 



They have a statute in Michigan prohibiting the ex- 

 portation of game, which compels the sportsman to sell 

 his game for a trifling sum to local dealers. For myself, 

 I care nothing about it, because probably there cannot be 

 a man found who likes an occasional hunt better than I 

 do, and who cares less for game for table use. 



If my State should discriminate against the people of 

 another State in any respect, I would be ashamed of it, 

 or rather of our representatives. We should be one 

 people in spirit; every move in legislation should tend, 

 so far as it can rationally, to the cultivation of that spirit. 



By the way. A few days before we broke camp last 

 fall a teamster of the Ford River Lumber Co., driving 

 two span of horses and an empty freight wagon along 

 the road through the timber a few miles from our camp, 

 espied two bucks engaged near the road in a lively tilt, 

 paying no attention to the team. He dropped his lines, 

 seized his axe, thinking to knock the bucks in the head, 

 but when he reached the bucks his courage failed him 

 and he threw the axe at them, which frightened the 

 bucks and they ran in the direction of the team, frighten- 

 ing the team so they ran away, but the teamster reached 

 his wagon in season to seize the lines. In some way he 

 became entangled and thrown down, the wagon running 

 over him, breaking several of his ribs, and a hub of the 

 wagon striking his head. When we left he was lying at 

 Camp 8 of that company. 



The evening before we left the foreman of that com- 

 pany at that camp, Peter McCrimmon, informed me that 

 the man was in a precarious condition. They feared his 

 skull was fractured. H. Loring. 



GAME OF MAINE FORESTS. 



THE shooting season has closed in all of the States 

 where any pretense is made toward game laws and 

 their enforcement, and it is only to be hoped that the 

 statutes will be better observed, especially on the 

 larger game. Nature is favoring the game in New Eng- 

 land this winter. There is a wonderful absence of snow, 

 and there has been very little cold weather thus far. Ice 

 has not yet formed thick enough for cutting, even in the 

 northern lakes of Maine. Such weather is remarkably 

 favorable to the game birds. The grouse have had no 

 damp snows, followed by crusts, to pin them down to 

 their destruction. The quail have been able to feed in 

 the open fields and hedges all winter so far. One killed 

 the other day— by accident, the killer says— had his crop 

 full of seeds and grain. Every day of such winter tells 

 favorably toward the game supply of another season, 

 provided the extreme is not followed by something much 

 worse than usual. Even at the very worst the number of 

 cold and stormy days must be few, for the sun is already 

 marching rapidly toward the vernal equinox. 



The big game from Maine has certainly fared no worse 

 than usual from the arms of the hunter this fall, and 

 now that the season has closed, and there is very little 

 snow in the woods, the chances for the poacher to crust- 

 hunt are being reduced to a minimum. By the way, the 

 story of the killing of a deer in that State came to my 

 ear the other day. It was early in the open season— the 

 month of October— and the killing would have been noth- 

 ing very remarkable but from the way it was done. 

 Perhaps the hunting was legal, but at the same time I 

 am sorry for it, and I wish that the slayer had let the 

 deer go. Tom French is a good deal of a hunter, and 

 generally his ideas are about right on the game question, 

 except that he will shoot from his little steamer on Rich- 

 ardson Lake. He runs a steamer on that lake, and he is 

 after the patronage of sportsmen who frequent the 

 Androscoggin Lake region." Now right here 1 want to 

 whisper in his ear that every duck he shoots from the 

 deck of his steamer, or allows any one else to shoot, is a 

 step toward driving the attractions from the lake where 

 he expects to earn his money. Every loon that he fires 

 his rifle at is worth dollars as an attractive feature to 

 that lake region, and he will agree with me that the loons 

 are rapidly disappearing. 



But to the story about the deer. Early in October Tom 

 had occasion to go to the head of the lake. When right 

 opposite Camp Stewart he saw something odd in the water 

 a little way ahead. In a moment he saw that it was the 

 head and antlers of a buck, swimming for the other 

 shore. It took but a second to change the course of the 

 little steamer and give chase. Another person, one of 

 the guides at Birch Lodge, also saw the deer, and put out 

 in a boat after him. But the little steamer, with Tom at 

 the helm, or first at the hehn and then in the bow, was 

 too swift for the oars of the guide. By considerable tack- 

 ing and turning the deer was overtaken, so that a rope 

 was thrown over his horns, and he was towed ashore. 

 To use Tom's expression: "By the Mighty, I never saw 

 such an ugly creature. Jump! You bet he did! Then 

 sulk, till some one tried to get near him." It was a fine 

 three-year-old buck. Now, this fun would have been all 

 right if they had let the deer go. But no, they cut his 

 throat. That is just what I am sorry for. How the buck 

 came to be in the water at that time of day, is the ques- 

 tion. The water was rather cold, and he might very 

 easily have gone round the head of the lake, if he desired 

 to cross; for he was within a few rods of the upper end, 

 where he was swimming, when discovered. There are 

 dark hints that there was a dog in the case. Report says 

 that there was a foxhound at the Upper Dam, three miles 



below, and that he was out that day. Besides, it is ad- 

 mitted that the dog would run deer, if allowed. It is 

 more than probable that the poor buck had taken to the 

 water of the lake in order to escape his dreaded enemy— 

 the dog. That is another good reason why I am sorry 

 that the deer was killed. Fair hunting, without dogs, is 

 one thing. Running a deer with a steamboat, a deer that 

 is trying to escape the dogs, is another thing. 



There is still another deer story to tell this season, and 

 then, perhaps, I am done. This was a case of the hunter 

 being attacked by a wounded buck. It happened at 

 Alligator Lake, in Maine, the other day, and it is to be 

 hoped that it was before the end of the open season. The 

 hunter has slain many a deer, though he is not a resident 

 of the State of big game, but goes down there every fall, 

 to add to his score of deer killed. This fall he had good 

 luck. The snow was just right for tracking, and he had 

 already killed two deer. But he wanted another, and so, 

 on the fall of a light, fresh snow, in the night, he was 

 out early in the morning. It did not take him long to 

 start another deer, and soon came up with him, near 

 enough for a shot. He took good aim with his rifle, 

 with the deer head on. He was so near that he could see 

 his magnificent antlers, and he aimed to hit him directly 

 between the eyes. He fired. The deer fell to his knees, 

 at least, and dropping Ms rifle, the hunter rushed to the 

 scene, with his hunting knife, all ready to cut his throat. 

 But the deer was on his feet by the time the hunter came 

 up to him, and instead of toning and attempting to 

 escape, he charged directly for the hunter. He suc- 

 ceeded in catching hold of one of the buck's horns, 

 and then it was nip and tuck for the mastery. The 

 deer was a big one, and very powerful. Once or twice 

 the hunter threw him, and almost drew the knife 

 across his throat. Once or twice the buck dragged down 

 the hunter and came very near disemboweling him with 

 his sharp hoofs. At this point the hunter made a desper- 

 ate lunge toward the heart of the deer, and succeeded in 

 wounding him badly, though too far forward to kill him 

 at once. Again the deer dragged the man down, and the 

 poor fellow was on the point of letting go his hold of the 

 deer's horns and attempting to defend himself with his 

 knife. He saw by the buck's eyes that he was fighting 

 mad, and several times already he had almost felt the 

 prick of his sharp prongs. But he saw that the animal 

 was weakening from the loss of blood, and he held on a 

 moment longer. The deer staggered, and by repeated 

 plunges of the knife the hunter stretched him lifeless on 

 the snow, which was trampled and crimson for more than 

 a rod around. The hunter's clothes were nearly torn to 

 shreds and he was a good deal scratched and bruised; 

 indeed so inuch so that it was nearly a half hour before 

 he had either the courage or strength to move. He says 

 that the fight probably lasted five minutes, but that it 

 seemed more than five hours before he could get anv sort 

 of a chance at the throat of the buck. Examination 

 showed that the rifle ball had struck the butt of the deer's 

 horn, and though shattering it and knocking the animal 

 clown for the moment, had scarcely injured his fighting 

 qualities in the least. Special. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, Jan. 17.— At the adjourned meeting of the 

 1 Grand Calumet Heights Club last Wednesday night 

 the club adopted the committee report recommending a 

 ten years' lease of the ground now held, instead of pur- 

 chasing the same. After a lively contest Mr. Wolfred N. 

 Low was successful in the lots cast for the gun presented 

 to the club by Mr. H. W. Jenney. 



We are having our first cold weather for the season 

 here. Ice is now 2in. thick on Calumet Lake, near 

 Chicago. At Fond du Lac, Wis., on Lake Winnebago, 

 ice is only 6 or 7in. thick. The water at Tolleston 

 Marsh is at this date high, running clear over the boat 

 landing. 



Hennepin Club contemplates building another and 

 larger house-boat for the accommodation of its members. 

 This club claims that it and the Tolleston Club make the 

 only two that had any shooting last fall. Mr. W. K. 

 Reed, with whom I talked, attributes this fact to the feed 

 that was put out by his club and the Tolleston. Other 

 clubs adjacent to these two (which are 100 miles apart) 

 did not put out feed, and had no shooting. Mr. Reed 

 said that the Hennepins farmed forty acres of bottom 

 corn land, and whatever share they got of this (it is 

 farmed "on the shares") they put out as duck feed. It is 

 the hustler gets the mallard nowadays. 



I think that by this time I may let a light into the 

 greatly talked of and much advertised so-called sports- 

 man's paradise below Alliance, Nebraska. This region 

 was brought into prominence by an article called "A 

 Week in a Wagon," which appeared a year or so ago in 

 another sporting paper. The writer vaunted this sand- 

 hill region to the skies, and it got quite a reputation 

 through some railway circulars gotten out by an enter- 

 prising road, which accepted and quoted this article as 

 true, as it was doubtless accepted by the paper which 

 printed it innocently. Now, I have word from that re- 

 gion which says that parties have made long trips thither, 

 only to become grievously disappointed and to become 

 grievously angry. The magnificent lakes described as 

 the home of the wildfowl turned out to be ponds with 

 shores white with alkali, and with no vegetation except 

 a few tough bulrushes. The game was elsewhere. I 

 presume this sandhill country is like that near Sylvia, 

 Kansas, not far from the Arkansas River. The water 

 seeps up in countless little ponds. We sometimes used 

 to get a few birds at these ponds. They drifted in there 

 for shelter, but there was no regular flight and no regu- 

 lar feed. I never saw this Alliance country, but I spoke 

 of it very highly indeed in a note last fall. That is an 

 unsafe thing to do, 1 have learned. From what my 

 friends tell me in recent letters from that country, I am 

 inclined to think that "paradise" yarn was either an 

 ignorant or a malicious fake, which it would be bad 

 sporting journalism to leave uncorrected. Two friends 

 of mine were going out there next season, but they will 

 not go now till they learn more, and I would advise any 

 who have planned a trip to that region to investigate it 

 fully before they spend their money. 



Speaking of paradises; I have just heard from two gen- 

 tlemen who are lately back from a very long and ard- 

 uous trip north of Lake Superior. They say they have 

 found something better than the Nepigon country, and 

 that there is big game as well as trout in any quantity. 

 I shall not give further facts, for my knowledge is very 



vague, and I should not wish to spoil this paper's repu- 

 tation for being usually reliable in what it says on such 

 matters; but I think so much about this particular para- 

 dise, that I shall strain every effort to get in there next 

 summer. There is probably something in this worth 

 writing about and worth telling the truth about, and if 

 there is, the paper will get it and tell it straight. For 

 any part, I am about done writing of sportsman's para- 

 dises that I never saw myself, and which turn out to be 

 built of alkali and bulrushes. I have been guilty of it 

 only once — in this Alliance business, and I am anxious to 

 hedge in regard to that. 



Jan. U — Mr. W. H. Skinner, representing the new 

 Whitney hammerless, is in town fer a short stav on busi- 

 ness. 



A Mr. Clevenger, for twelve years an employe of the 

 Adams Express Co. here, has been adjudged insane. His 

 physician testifies that it is from overwork. In that 

 whole twelve years the poor fellow had never had a va- 

 cation or a day of rest. His life is now done. Thp cor- 

 poration which will permit a state of affairs like that is 

 an enemy to humanity, and the civilization which toler- 

 ates it is a foe to manhood and good morals. 



E. Hough. 



AIMING WITH THE SHOTGUN. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is clear there are two distinct methods and not sur- 

 prising that each should have its advocates. Lefiingwell, 

 in his work on "Wild Fowl," declares it is impossible for 

 a snap shot to succeed in single duck shooting, especially 

 at cross shots in the open. As I had always been an ad- 

 vocate of snap-shooting, at least to the extent of prac- 

 ticing it, I had to admit on reading this opinion that he 

 had described the shot most difficult for me. I have de- 

 cidedly improved by taking his advice. There is no 

 reason, however, why a snap shot cannot aim ahead if 

 he choose to. Aiming ahead of cross-flying birds is 

 clearly a necessity, unless the gun be swung very rap- 

 idly. It is hard to do this with malice aforethought. 

 That the same result is accomplished as by aiming ahead 

 I think certain. I have often noticed that I rarely miss 

 a duck, even a "green-winged teal behind time and going 

 down the wind," if lie passes behind me and I wheel to 

 the whistling of his wings. In this case the muzzle of 

 the gun comes around at a rate that is bound to influence 

 the flight of the shot. 



But is there any reason why one should adopt either 

 style entirely? Every one who shoots much will soon 

 instinctively point his gun, just as a boy throws a stone. 

 This really must be learned before he can have time to 

 look along the barrels if he wishes to. It seems to me, 

 therefore, that one must become a snap shot first, and 

 that it is good advice for a beginner to tell him to shoot 

 just as he bats or throws a ball. Afterward he can take 

 aim, if he finds it an advantage, though in cover-shooting 

 it is out of the question. Practice in judging distance 

 and rapidity of flight is more essential, if possible, than 

 the handling of the gun. 



Since reading Mr, Meyrick's opinion that one accus- 

 tomed to snap-shooting will not do well with the rifle at 

 moving objects, I have been reflecting. Of something 

 like a dozen deer which I have killed running— at least 

 half of all I have killed— I can only recall three purely 

 snap shots. These were generally at short range. Be- 

 yond 60yds. I usually found it possible to cover my game 

 with the sight. But I use a rifle fitted with a shotgun 

 butt. If one is going to take aim, it is so much the more 

 important that the gun come to place quickly. In fact, 

 taking aim is about out of the question with a beginner. 

 He can't get his gun pointed right. By the way, are 

 there others as fully persuaded that the shotgun-shaped 

 stock is an advantage to a rifle as I am? For me it has 

 many advantages and nothing objectionable. Aztec. 

 Mexico. 



Indiana State Fish and Game Association.— Indian- 

 apolis, Ind., Jan. 15.— The Indiana State Fish and Game 

 Association will meet in this city Jan. 30, at 2 P. M., in 

 the Agricultural Rooms of the State House. This Asso- 

 ciation was organized Dec. 19 last, and has already be- 

 come a means of arousing much sentiment throughout 

 the State in favor of enforcing the fish and game laws. 

 The officers are: Pres., Col. Wm. T. Dennis, of Rich- 

 mond (State Fish Commissioner); Sec. and Treas., Jesse 

 H. Blair, Indianapolis; Executive Committee, Col. Wm. 

 T. Dennis, Col. Eli Lilly, Indianapolis; Mr. J . P. Apple- 

 gate, New Albany; Hon. Thos. F. Davidson, Crawford - 

 ville; Mr. M. D. Butler, Indianapolis, 



Red Deer on the Lower St. Lawrence.— Within the 

 last few years the "Virginia deer have begun to make 

 their appearance in considerable numbers on the south 

 side of the St. Lawrence River below Quebec. Residents 

 there state that up to a few years ago this species was 

 unknown in the vicinity, though common about Lake 

 Megantic, south of the City of Quebec. These Virginia 

 deer have been observed in Kamouraske. 00 miles below 

 Quebec. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In a recent issue of Utica Herald, and also Boonville Herald< 

 both of Oneida county, we read reports of a meeting of Adiron- 

 dack hotel-keepers and guides at Lowville, at which a resolution 

 was adopted recommending the adding of fifteen days to the first 

 of the season, that is from the first of August to the fifteentb, 

 which means fifteen more days of jacking deer, as this is the only 

 method used at this time of the year. And it means fifteen days 

 more of killing wet does with their fawns left to die for the want 

 of their mother's care andsustenance, as it. is well known that eight 

 out of ten deer thus killed are does. The law as it now stands 

 seems to many of us to go too far already in that direction. Of 

 course an extension of time would be a good thing for these men, 

 and would give them lucrative employment and help to fill their 

 houses, but would be mighty hard on the deer, and is certainly 

 the most wasteful and unsportsmanlike way that deer can be 

 killed. They cannot be kept in the hot weather of that time of 

 the year; and all are in poor condition; many are mortally- 

 wounded and die, and are never found until the tainted carcasses 

 tell the tale. 



The present law allows fifty days dogging deer, fifty days of 

 driving them from one lake and stream to another, until if they 

 are not killed they succeed in reaching some out of the way pond 

 or St. Lawrence county, where they are safe, thanks to Gen. Cur- 

 tis. I was in the southwest part of the Adirondacks for nearly 

 two weeks last fall, and in a radius of about six miles there were 

 over forty dogs, and more or less of them were used almost every 

 day in running deer. All the lakes, ponds and streams were lined 

 with men, almost all armed with magazine rifles that would give 

 t hem at least five or six shots, and it would be a very lcuky deer 

 if it ran the gauntlet unscathed. Over one hundred deer were 

 killed in this sectioa alone. 



