Jan. 30, 1890.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



27 



be appreciated. I have seen the time that $500 would not ' Give Them a Chance.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 buy them, and it almost makes me sick to think of giving In 1856, when my father came from Kansas, where he 



up big game hunting for rabbit chasing. They have grit, 

 speed and endurance, all the elements of big game dogs, 

 attained after fifteen years' experience in breeding for 

 this very purpose. 1 sold Buck and Drum (the foxhounds) 

 to a party at Raton, N. M., and they are more than 

 pleased with them. Up to Jan. 1 they bad killed twelve 

 deer and several wildcats;, and treed two mountain lions 

 and chased bears all over the mountains. These men 

 sent me a special invitation to come out and have a hunt 

 with them; but I could not getaway. I will long remem- 

 ber the sport these two hounds furnished us in the Indian 

 Territory, where we were entertained by the 'Spirits of 

 Greever's Camp.' How I would enjoy another trip iust 

 like that!" E. Hough. 



WESTERN LARGE GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have been somewhat interested iu the articles on the 

 destruction of game in the West, and have noted especially 

 the article of J. Q. A. Jones, in regard to hunters from 

 other States and also the extract from a letter from a 

 ranchman near Casper, Wyo. 



Now I wisli to say that I think Mr. Jones is in the main 

 wrong, and the correspondent from near Gasper explains 

 the situation which is about this: That nine-tenths of 

 the destruction of large game in the West is due to local 

 hunters who simply kill game for market and for hides: 

 and when they kill game for market they only save the 

 best parts, and in many instances those who hunt for 

 bides leave the carcasses entire for the beasts and birds, 



I base my conclusion on the matter upon personal ob 

 servation and from talking with the hunters themselves. 

 One man told me a year or so ago that he alone had killed 

 the previous fall some seventy-five deer: and another, 

 that he and another hunter had killed fifty elk in two 

 months. Now from what I know of hunters and sports- 

 men from other States hunting in the mountains, they 

 usually take care of what game they kill, and as sug- 

 gested in a late article in the Forest 'and Stream, they 



f>ay well for their game in the expenses of the trip and 

 eave a great deal of money with the citizens near the 

 hunting grounds. 



I think that if the Wyoming Legislature, instead of 

 forbidding by statute any non-resident hunting within 

 her borders, would look after the men who are destroying 

 the game in fact, she would make a step forward in game 

 protection. Then in addition limit the number to be 

 killed in any season by any person, resident or non-resi- 

 dent, and strictly enforce the law by the appointment of 

 game wardens; and she would have little to complain of 

 in regard to non-resident hunters. Of course there are 

 exceptions to the above, in regard to non-resident hunters, 

 but I think they are comparatively few, and the major 

 part of non-resident hunters would be glad to see a good 

 game law well enforced, and would aid to the extent of 

 their ability in its enforcement. 

 I hope you will still keep this matter stirring. 



Hunter. 



The Cheat Mountain Association.— There was a 

 large attendance of members of the Sportsmen's Associa- 

 tion of Cheat Mountain at the Hotel Duquesne, at Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa., Jan. 20. The report of the treasurer, D. P. 

 Corwin, showed that the association was in a most flour- 

 ishing condition financially, with a healthy balance in 

 the treasury. The following officers were elected for the 

 ensuing year: President. William M. Kennedy; Vice- 

 Presidents, W. K. Shiras, Pittsburgh; W. S. Edwards. 

 Charleston, W. Va.; D. McK. Lloyd, Pittsburgh; Utilles 

 Baird, Allegheny; Hon. Nathaniel Ewing, Uniontown, 

 Pa.; Secretary, Theophilus Sproull, Pittsburgh ; Treasurer, 

 J). P. Corwin, Pittsburgh: Naturalist and Surgeon, Dr. 

 W. J. Riggs, Allegheny; Board of Directors, Hilary S. 

 Brunot, Greensburg, Pa.; Howard Hartley, Pittsburgh; 

 William G. Brown, Kingwood, W. Va.: William H. Tall- 

 man, Wheeling, W. Va. : C. C. Scaif e, McKeesport, Pa. ; 

 Dr. Joseph N. Dickson, Pittsburgh; James B. Dewhurst, 

 Allegheny. Members were present from various parts of 

 the State and after the result of the ballot had been an- 

 nounced there were many good stories told of success 

 and failure of the members in pursuit of deer and trout 

 during the past year, More deer were killed and more 

 trout caught during the past year than ever before, and 

 yet there seemed to be no diminution in the supply. The 

 Cheat River and its tributaries throughout the preserve 

 furnish more than 100 miles of the finest mountain trout 

 fishing in the world, and tlvroughout the entire length 

 and breadth of the immense preserve both large and 

 small game flourishes in abundance. Several parties 

 were made up to visit the club house during June, July 

 and August next on a trout fishing expedition. 



St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 24. — A spell of cold weather for 

 the past few days has caused the lakes and sloughs here- 

 abouts to be covered with ice two inches thick, and the 

 result is that the webfeet have hied themselves to a more 

 congenial clime. The superintendent of the Dardenne 

 Club's preserve., in St. Charles county, was in the city to- 

 day and informed your correspondent that ducks were 

 a " mighty scarce " article in his country. There were 

 a few, he states, yesterday sitting upon the ice, very 

 disconsolate looking sprigtails, evidently praying for 

 "old Sol" to assist them out of their trouble. Geese 

 are still very plentiful up in that section, and the num- 

 bers to be seen daily on the wheat fields are consid- 

 erable. They are molested little, and the result is that 

 their numbers are increasing almost daily, being rein- 

 forced from adjacent localities.— Unser Fritz. 



Oh [O.— Wilmington, Jan. 20.— Quail and rabbits were 

 abundant here, with a good number left over at the close 

 of the hunting season. The winter has been very warm 

 up to date, and I think with a good breeding season there 

 will be plenty of birds next fall. A great many farmers 

 have their farms posted to keep off pot-hunters. There 

 is no protection on rabbits here, and a great many who 

 are not sportsmen take advantage of it, so that quail and 

 small birds have to suffer. I think if there couid be a 

 law passed allowing no rabbits to be killed after the quail 

 season is over, it would be of great benefit to the quail. 

 The squirrels here are about equally divided between the 

 gray and fox varieties; they are scarce and hard to find 

 on account of being almost constantly hunted during the 

 season, which lasts from June 1 to Nov. 1,— G. D. H. I 



had been living, to his former home in Connecticut, he 

 brought a long, heavy Kentucky rifle that lie used while 

 m the Territories; and having no further need of it. gave 

 it to me, at that time a tough, hearty toy of thirteen 

 years. Many were the good times I had with that rifle. 

 It was so heavy that I could scarcely aim it off-hand; but 

 I would manage in some way to get it rested against a 

 tree or over a stone wall when I had occasion for a shot 

 at any game, and what a pleasure it was to me when T 

 could bring down a gray squirrel from the top of some 

 tall tree. Since then I have owned and used a goodly 

 number of both rifles and shotguns, and have hunted 

 deer in the North Woods, partridge in Massachusetts, 

 prairie chickens in Illinois and Missouri, and water fowl 

 on Barnegat Bay, besides in other bays and inlets further 

 south. But never since have I had as much solid enjoy- 

 ment as with that old rifle up home in northeastern Con- 

 necticut. Had I a dozen boys, or girls either, if they cared 

 at all for such sport, I would give them firearms, with in- 

 structions in using and taking care of them. I have a 

 daughter of fifteen years at my present home in Asbury 

 Park, N. J., who can handle a rifle as well as any other 

 girl of her age, or a boy either. Sho has a Ballard .32cal. 

 and 26in. barrel, and but a few young persons can make 

 a better shot than she at a target from 100 to 150yds. 

 distant. As I said before, by all means let every young 

 person of either sex learn to use and take care of firearms 

 if they care at all for the sport. — A. L. L. 



Whatcom, Wash., Jan. 20.— Deer have been captured 

 among the islands in numbers, from two to sixteen very 

 frequently, and are quite plenty upon the mainland. 

 Ruffed grouse were plenty this* season. Ducks were 

 numerous in many places in the inlets and bays. In a 

 few localities mountain goats were captured, seven on 

 one peak or range, three on another. Now that there is 

 a trail opened east across the Cascade Mountains goats 

 will be captured more frequently, as it affords opportuni- 

 ties to prospectors and hunters to get the game to mar- 

 ket.— J, Y. C. 



Food of Quail.— Mendon, Mass., Jan. 18.— In your 

 issue of the 9th inst. one of your correspondents men- 

 tions finding beans in quails' crops. In the latter part of 

 December I found a quail whose crop was full of some- 

 thing that I had never seen in their crops before, and I 

 do not know what it is. Can you tell me ? Please find a 

 few inclosed. Birds were more plenty the past season 

 than for several years, and hunters more plenty than 

 birds.— C. T. [The seeds are those of the skunk cabbage.] 



Quail Stocking.— Saratoga, N. Y., Jan. 21.— Some 

 time ago Mr. Schaffer, of the Delaware and Hudson rail- 

 road restaurant, received a number of wild quail from 

 his friend, C. R. West, now in Kentucky, which were 

 mostly killed and duly served. Some half-dozen were 

 saved alive, however, and those in possession of them 

 have about concluded to get some more and have them 

 set free in the spring in some locality near here, where 

 they can be cared for and alio wed to breed. — Don Ricardo. 



To Clean Metallic Shells.— Referring to inquiry 

 made some time since by one of your readers as to best 

 method for cleaning metallic shells, here is a practical 

 one which I always use; it is quick and effective: Take 

 a pail of hot water, into which put a lump of caustic soda 

 the size of your fist. Dissolve the latter, then throw in 

 your shells, stir them around with a stick, rinse them off 

 in straight hot water, throw them out and they will dry 

 themselves. That is all there is to it, and it beats single 

 entry to death. — H. A. P. 



CANADIAN GAME INTERESTS. 



MONTREAL, Canada, Jan. 25.— The Fish and Game Protection 

 Club held their annual meeting at the club rooms yesterday 

 afternoon, the president, Mr. I. H. Stearns, occupying the chair. 

 In his opening remarks, the chairman congratulated the club on 

 its good financial standing, and then referred to the bill which 

 had been lately read in the Legislature, making duck shooting 

 legal until May 1. He deprecated such action as being contrary 

 to the welfare of our game protection laws, and advocated a 

 movement which would have for its object the abolition of spring 

 shooting. As it was now the amendment had been rushed 

 through the House so quickly that nothing remained for them 

 to do 'but to petition the Legislative Council to disallow the 

 amendment. The secretary, Mr. John Nelsou. being absent, Mr 

 A. N. Shewan read the annual report as follows: 



"Your committee, in laying before the members their statement 

 of the work done during the year just ended, have to report but 



during the prohibited time, but the great difficulty is getting 

 proof of the charges, it being almost: impossible! to secure wit- 

 nesses. As far as the gamekeepers are concerned, they are of 

 little or no use. This may be easily understood, as in the majority 

 of cases they are local men. receiving no pay, and naturally hesi- 

 tate before taking action against their neighbors and friends' for 

 any infringement of the game laws. The committee wish to re- 

 iterate here what they have continuously mentioned in the an- 

 nual reports, that until such time as the Government realizes the 

 necessity of attaching a salary to the office of gamekeeper, it can- 

 not lie expected that the laws will be enforced. Last March the 

 president, Mr. I. H. Stearns, and the secretary, proceeded to 

 Quebec to oppose a bill then before the House extending the open 

 season for ducks to the first of May. A petition was before the 

 Assembly at the time, signed by several thousand persons in the 

 Grand Nord and the neighborhood of Lake St. Peter. After a 

 week spent at the capital, and several interviews had been had 

 with the Premier and his colleagues and many of the members, 

 the delegation had the satisfaction of seeing the bill defeated, 

 though only by the small majority of two In this connection 

 Mr. Arthur Boyer, M.P.P., was of the greatest as6i= tance. We 

 have recently been informed that another such attempt would be 

 made at the present session. With regard to moose, a law had 

 been passed protecting thip animal for five years, which time 

 would only end in October, 1890, and it now appears that the act 

 has been repealed. This legislation must have been done very 

 privately, as no notification was ever received by the club of the 

 change, allowing moose to be hunted in the autumn of 1889. 

 Much controversy has arisen out of this, and the president and 

 the secretary of the club have several times been appealed to for 

 information from sportsmen in the United States as well as Can- 

 ada, as to what the law really was concerning moose. The nat- 

 ural cry was that moose was protected until October of the present 

 year, and this placed the officers in an awkward position, when 

 on inquiry at the department it was learned a change had been 

 made. 



"Ducks have been plentiful, but the same cannot be said of 

 smaller birds, such as cock, snipe and plover, which appear to 

 have abandoned their old haunts and taken to pastures new in 

 the interior of the country. This is probably due to the wet sum- 

 mers we have had latterly. Big game, moose, caribou and red 

 deer, is reported plentiful; a herd of twenty-one caribou was seen 

 within a few days on a lake belonging to one of our clubs, and 

 five were killed by members of the F. & G, P. C. 



"Reports have been received from different parts of the Pro- 

 vince stating that the wild rice sown by the club is doing very 



well. 



"It is to be hoped that the Government, if petitioned to extend 

 the open season for duck shooting to May 1. will be firm and re- 

 fuse. If spring shooting could be stopped altogether, what a 

 boon it would be, not only to the sportsmen but to the very people 

 who oppose Ihem. 



"As regards the close season for fish, it appears to be the opinion 

 of the majority that the 15th of May should be the opening day 

 for bass and maskinonge. as well as d ore, which is allowed to be 

 taken from that date, but the rod alor,o should be used. 



"Letters frequently appear iu the newspapers findind fault 

 with the club for the small amount of work done by its members, 

 but it should also be noticed that little or no encouragement 

 comes from the public. The Government, too, might do worse 

 than assist us in the work we have undertaken.— John Nelson, 

 Hon. Sec." • 



The secretary's report was adopted and the treasurer's was 

 fupially satisfactory. In discussing the reports Mr. Shewan called 

 attention to the sawdust nuisance in the Ottawa River, which 

 kills more fish than netting or any cause in season or out of sea- 

 son, and related some experience of his in those waters during 

 the past twenty-five years, which went to show how under the 

 present system the rivers were being rapidly thinned of their fish. 



Mr. Geo. W. Stephens spoke in much the same strain and pro- 

 tested against the granting of net licenses in Cisco Bay. 



In speaking of the falling off in bass fishinjr Mr. A. A. Wilson 

 bad something interesting to sav,and instanced Rivers Beaudette 

 and Du Loup, hnth of which are dammed for milling purposes, 

 t here are no fishways in these dams, and bass and other fish find 

 their usual spawning grounds close to them. Fish of the sucker 

 variety are perhaps three weeks ahead of the bass, and the latter, 

 finding it impossible to pass the dams, deposit their eggs along 

 the shores of the St. Lawrence. When the early spawners come 

 down the greater part of these eggs are eaten and millions of 

 bass are destroyed. 



Mr. Wilson then moved a resolution that the Government be 

 petitioned to enforce the laws regarding dams and fishways and 

 that the size of the mesh for nettine be increased to 2}^in. 



It having been suggested that the Provincial Government would 

 make some improvement in the game laws if there were any 

 direct revenue to cover the expenses. Mr. Wilson advocated the 

 imposition of a gun tax, an idea that seemed to meet the approval 

 ot the club. 



It was then resolved that a delegation wait on the Premier and 

 the Legislative Council at Quebec, with the particular object of 

 having the latest amendment, to the game laws rejected by that 

 body. The delegates will be Messrs. I. H. Stearns, G. W. Stephens, 

 A. Wilson and H. W. Atwater. 



The election of officers resulted as follows: President. Mr. G. 

 W. Stephens; Vice-President, Mr. H. W. Atwater; Secretary, 

 Mr. A. N. Shewau; Treasurer. Mr. H. W. Beckel t; Committee, 

 Messrs. I. H. Stearns, John Nelson, A. Bover, M.P.P., Dr. T. C. 

 Brainerd, L. A. Boyer, Geo. Home, W. H. Parker, A. A. Wilson, 

 T. v. R. Brown, A. Henderson, Geo. H. Matthews, J. W. Skelton, 

 H. R. Ives, W. H. Rintoul, Selkirk Cross. 



It was resolved that the Government be memorialized with a 

 view to the abatement of the sawdust, nuisance. 



After resolving that the Fish and Game Protection Club heartily 

 co-operate with the Fish and Game Club, the meeting adjourned. 



It may be as well to put a few words here as to the reasons 

 given by the Fish and Game Protection Club for not wishing the 

 duck shooting season extended, and it can perhaps be as welf done 

 by quoting the petition which last year defeated the extension 

 amendment: 



To the Honorable Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quchee: 



The petition of the Fish and Game Protect ion Club of the Prov- 

 ince of Quebec humbly showeth: That a bill has been intro- 

 duced in your honorable House, making it lawful to bunt and kill 

 wild ducks of all kinds in the spring of the year up to the first 

 day of May; that it is a well known fact that many of the duck 

 that visit our waters in the spring, such as black ducks, wood 

 ducks and teal, have commenced laying before the 1st of May in 

 some years, and that all of them, including such ducks as golden 

 eyes, which breed in the north, are mated by the 1st of May; 

 therefore it is cruel and unnatural to hunt aud kill such ducks at 

 that season, besides being destructive to the snecies and calcu- 

 lated rapidly to exterminate it. 



Therefore, your petitioners would humbly pray that from 

 motives of humanity as well as those of good policy, in preserving 

 the duck species, your honorable House would be pleased not to 

 pass that portion of the said bill permitting the killing of all 

 kinds of wild ducks up to the 1st of May in any year, but that the 

 law may be allowed to remain as it is at the present time. 



As an instance of the destruction of wild ducks that has laken 

 place under a law similar to that now proposed to be enacted, and 

 that will assuredly occur again, your petitioners would mention 

 the fact that before the 1st of May in one year, as many as two 

 thousand couples of black ducks have been exposed for sale in 

 the Montreal market alone at one time, thus entailing the de- 

 struction of that number of broods, averaging at least ten each. 

 When to this is added the immense numbers that are disposed of 

 outside of Montreal, the destruction that results from spring 

 shooting will be seen to be fearful, and will lead at no distant day 

 to the entire extermination of the species. 

 And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray. etc. 

 The Fish and Game Protection Club of the Provicnce of Quebec. 



I. H. Stearns, President. 



John Nelson. Jr, Hon. Secretary. 



NEW YORK GAME LEGISLATION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The Coggeshall bill limits the hounding to the month of Sep- 

 tember, and closes the season Nov. 15. The restriction of the 

 hounding to September is the best feature, of the bill. If hound- 

 ing can be restricted to September, I dare, say it will save about a 

 thousand deer annually. I can figure up 150 deer killed last fall 

 by hounding in October, in my immediate vicinity, and this is 

 only a mite to the whole wilderness. I am in favor of this bill as 

 being the best we can expect to do, and now think I shall do all I 

 can to secure its passage. XX. 



"That reminds me." 

 297. 



SOME years ago the veteran trout fishermen, George 

 Lyman and Gardener Knapp, tried trouting on Plum 

 Creek, in Wisconsin, near Lake Pipin. There was a 

 Swiss settlement along the stream, and the farmers were 

 not partial to strangers. The consequence was that some 

 reaches through meadows were not accessible. The next 

 season the veterans tried another plan. They carried a 

 fiddle and a flute. Reaching the creek they notified every 

 family along its banks that there would be a dance that 

 night at Linder's, their stopping place. Night found the 

 settlers out in force, and Knapp with his fiddle and 

 Lyman with his flute made music while the Switzers, 

 male and female, danced as they had not done since 

 leaving the old country. After that "dot old Lyman und 

 dot old Knapp yust went where dey bleased." 



No handsomer creel of brook trout was ever seen than 

 was carried in one day during their stay by Mr. Lyman. 

 There were 60 trout, weighing SOlbs., and there was 

 not an ounce difference between any two of them. 

 Indiana. Jap. 



At the recent annual dinner of the famous- New England 

 Society at Delmonico's, in New York, a bov, mot was made 

 by the Rev. Dr. Wayland, which brought down the house 

 with roars of laughter. He said among other bright things 

 that it seemed rather hard on old New England for her sons 

 to sit here enjoying themselves in such a luxurious fash on, 

 when even Plymouth Rock pants for three dollars, and 

 moved that a collection be taken up to relieve the distress! 



Names and Portraits of Birds, by Gurdon Trumbuu. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question til the American game birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth, 220 pajes, price $2.50. For sale by Forest 

 and Stream, 



