Fee, 30, 1890.] ' 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



83 



while I am speaking of the article in question, I am in 

 reality replying to Messrs. Geo. W. Esterly, G. E. Gordon 

 and W. Y. Wentworth. 



Your correspondent states that he visited the Black- 

 hawk Club through the courtesy of Mr. John L Stock- 

 ton, of Chicago. I risk the assertion that Mr. Stockton 

 did not advance any of the ideas which appeared in the 

 article, and which I may criticise in tins letter: and I 

 also chance the belief that if all the members of the 

 Blackhawk Club had been of Mr. John L. Stockton's 

 type of humanity, the differences and enmities that have 

 so long existed between a few of the members and the 

 shooters who live in the vicinity of the lake would have 

 been buried long ago, and some mutual understanding 

 arrived at which would have protected the game on this 

 lake at least far better than it has been under the laws 

 dictated by Mr. Geo. W. Esterly. 



When a person by his own words and acts places him- 

 self before the public as an advocate of rigid game and 

 fish laws, and with influence and money makes a great 

 show of enforcing them, his individual acts must be very 

 nearly above criticism: and whether or not such has been 

 the case is my object in writing this. In speaking of bile 

 ride along Kock River to the Blackhawk club house, Mr. 

 H. says, "Thanks, to the long efforts of Mr. Wentworth, 

 who is game warden for the southern district of Wiscon- 

 sin, it is also a very good fishing stream." It is probably 

 not generally known to the readers of Foeest and Stream 

 that the game warden mentioned lias been a "market 

 fisherman,'' during the winter season, nearly the entire 

 time that he has had charge of the club house. It cannot 

 be possible that the man who has "'done so much'' can be 

 one of the "wise men who live upon its shores, men born 

 with the joint butcher miser instinct, etc.,'" and that he 

 will be one of the "Koshkonong robbers who will later 

 On snivel and cry out that the poor man has no show, 

 etc." Yet the great disagreeable fact remains that the 

 "model game warden" has made a business of fishing 

 winters and shipping his catch to Chicago nearly every 

 'season for the past ten years; and even since his meelir m 

 with Mr. H , he has more than once inquired of me where 

 minnows could be obtained, and said that if lie could get 

 some he would go to fishing. Surely any further com- 

 , ment on this point is unnecessary. 



Twill quote again from Mr. EL: "We counted eight 

 shanties and one big cabin boat as we drove down to the 

 club house. In each of these were two or three down- 

 trodden market fishers and hunterp, waiting for the lake 

 to freeze. These folks are called 'rats' by the sportsmen 

 of the lake. They made a living formerly by legal or 

 illegal floating on canvasbacks, legal or illegal netting of 

 fish. * * * Poor unfortunate creatures, born too tired 

 to do an honest day's work, who must restrict themselves 

 to plain rat catching, fishing through the ice, etc." Now 

 in simple justice to a large majority at least of these 

 ^rats" I will say that whoever gave Mr. H. the informa- 

 tion that prompter] Mm to write of them as he did has 

 knowingly and willfully misrepresented them. To be 

 more correct, Mr. H. must have counted at least one 

 boat house and one haying shanty, one paper-covered 

 frame intended for use on the ice; and, as my own 

 cottage is mentioned as a shooting house, it really loaves 

 but four occupied by the "rats." 



As to four of the "down-trodden" I will explain that 

 two at least are foremen in the shops of the N. W. M'i g 

 Co., at Fort Atkinson, the other two being employees. 

 These men— although it may be a sin in the eyes of the 

 Rev. Mr. G. E. Gordon— unfortunately enjoy a'day with 

 the gun or rod; and have built their shanties at this con- 

 venient point, where they keep their boats, cooking 

 utensils, etc., so that occasionally, when the shops shut 

 down for a day, they can nin down and enjoy their 

 shooting for precisely the same reason that the "Black- 

 hawk Club do; and I have never yet heard of one of them 

 accused of either "legal or illegal netting or float shoot- 

 ing." 



Of two more of these "rats," one of them a first cousin 

 of Mrs. Wentworth's, I will explain that they are honest 

 and industrious carpenters, who support their families 

 in comfort at least, and who also enjoy a day on the 

 water in quest of a mess of game or fish; but as they are 

 not millionaires and do not "control a preserve," they are 

 of course "rats" in Mr. Gordon's eyes. Perhaps Mr. II. 

 included among these rat shanties one standing north of 

 and some distance from the river; if he did, it is neces- 

 sary to explain that it is owned by a highly respected 

 citizen of Fort Atkinson, also a member of the Black- 

 hawk Club, and used by him only during his hours of 

 recreation. 



Of some three or four of the occupants of these shanties 

 I am compelled to admit that they are sometimes rat- 

 catchers, otherwise known by all but a select few as 

 trappers. To this they unquestionably must, and no doubt 

 will, plead guilty. Surely the occupation of trapping 

 should hardly of itself Ming them into disgrace, as the 

 character of a trapper has been repeatedly used by noted 

 writers, and if my memory serves me, never in any man- 

 ner except to represent fidelity, honor, manliness and 

 hardihood. Undoubtedly the Koshkonong trapper of 

 to-day and the trapper of Cooper's times would not be 

 recognized as brothers; yet I believe there are hundreds 

 of occupations considered respectable that would not 

 bear the scrutiny that trapping will. 



That these folks are called " rats" by the sportsmen of 

 the lake is positively false. In all the years that I have 

 spent or partly spent at Koshkonong, this is the first time 

 I ever heard the slur applied to them. I did once hear 

 that Mr, Gordon had referred to me as the " king of the 

 river rats," but I paid little attention to it at the time, 

 and have not let it trouble me much siuce. In no light in 

 which they can be viewed can these men be made to 

 appear to a wholly unprejudiced person as showing the 

 selfishness and greed that have been displayed by the 

 parties who already own or control 887 acres, and* who 

 are now "taking steps to get possession of more shore 

 territory," which means simply that a few wealthy men 

 are trying to get possession of" Lake Koshkonong— com- 

 monly supposed to belong to the public— for no other pur- 

 pose th*an to secure it for their own selfish use. Yes, they 

 have already taken possession of a large portion of the 

 best shore of the lake, and not only prohibit all parties 

 from camping there, but peremptorily order oil any 

 shooter who unfortunately trespasses on their (Uncle 

 Sam's) game preserve. In justice to the Blackhawk 

 Club I will say that I have never heard that they have 

 ordered any one away while shooting, although they 

 prohibit camping. 



Tb quote again thn saying ol Mr. Gordon, "I want to 1 second or third season, and that too when the lake showed 

 make it as hard as possible for any one to kill a canvas- j solid flocks of canvasbacks m iles in extent, do you not 

 back duck. If G. had said as hard as possible for any A 

 one else he would have stated the case squarely as it is. 

 Mr. Gordon has also said that every duck that is killed 

 ought to cost the shooter one dollar. If that could be 

 accomplished perhaps some of the " poorer classes " might 

 cry out that they had " no show," 

 Is it possible that the Foxiest and Stream advocates 



the taking possession of the few remaining shooting 

 grounds by a few wealthy sportsmen to " shut the public 

 out and the game in?" And is not this exactly what the 

 modern, thoughtful and consistent Mr. Gordon is doing 

 as fast as it can be accomplished with the unlimited 

 mean* at his disposal? If these are the qualifications 

 required to make "sportsmen," I thank God 1 am not 

 one; and I hope that I can always say, as I do to-day, 

 that I have never refused any respectable person the 

 privilege of camping on my lands, the free use of boats, 

 guns, etc., when I could reasonably accommodate them. 

 Is it not a fact that (to quote another writer) " it is money 

 and its selfish use that is trying to squeeze every germ of 

 pleasure out of the poor man and extend it to the rich r" 



In this section of the State it is commonly admitted 

 that the game laws— particularly those that apply to 

 duck shooting— are the handiwork of Mr. Geo.W, Esterly, 

 ex president of the Blackhawk Club; at least they 

 should be, as he has spent time, money and influenc 

 enough to entitle him to that honor. He is cci taiuly th 

 author of the law which is intended to, and should, sto[ 

 all shooting on the open portions of our lakes. Mr. Es- 

 terly told me himself that he had visited Madison six 

 times in the interests of the bill, and had done all he could 

 in other ways to secure its passage. The bill was finally 

 passed April 8 and was signed bv the Governor on the 

 loth; and on either the 23d or 24th of the same month, 

 he— Geo. W. P.sterly— shot from a fiatboat a half a day 

 at least, on Lake Koshkonong, over a quarter of a mile 

 from cover of any description. Not only that, but, in 

 answer to a letter of mine, he wrote me that such shoot- 

 ing was a violation of the law, but claimed that it was 

 done on April 8. That it was done either on the 23d or 

 24th can be proved by a large number of witnesses, among 

 them the present Governor of this State, the present 

 president ol' the Blackhawk Club, the last Chief Clerk 

 of the Assembly and several others, including the writer; 

 also by the club house register. 



Another of Mr. E^terly's laws was one making it a 

 crime to use a net of any description, even for minnows, 

 within five miles of Lake Koshkonong. Probably the 

 first violation of that law was by Mr. Wentworth, ' the 

 only intelligent and effective game warden," who hauled 

 a seine for minnows in the canal close to the club house, 

 to catch minnows to be used by parties staying at the 

 club house. Such violations occurred frequently by the 

 same parties. Even as late as a little over a year ago 

 Mr. Wentworth openly violated the law by hauling a 

 seine, which it was a violation o? the law to use at all, 

 and catching for bait fish that the law strictly prohibits 

 catching; even fair-sized pickerel were taken from the 

 net and saved. This was since he has held the position of 

 game warden. 



A somewhat different case occurred in November, 1888. 

 One morning bright and early Mr. Wentworth brought a 

 party of Chicago gentlemen down to the club house. I 

 do not care to give then- names, but may say that the 

 names of two of them at least have appeared often in 

 every prominent newspaper in the Union. This party 

 boughfcali the ducks they could find for sale and spent 

 the day rowing about the lake shooting what they could, 

 and I was informed that in both ways they obtained 

 several dozen. Now it happened that on that day Mr. 

 Wentworth was prosecuting a poor boy at Fork A tkin- 

 son for violating the law by shipping game out of the 

 State. As the Chicago party had visited the lake before 

 and had taken their ducks home with them, and had 

 said that they would do so again, I thought it would be 

 a good time for the "only intelligent" game warden to 

 apply the law to one of the cases for which it was in- 

 tended. I made it my business to go to Fort Atkinson 

 and notify, first the deputy warden (Mr. H. Flint), giving 

 the names of the parties, where they were and when they 

 would leave, and demanded that when they attempted 

 to take then- game away they be arrested. *I also made 

 the same demand of Mr. Wentworth in the court room 

 in the presence of a dozen witnesses. 



The result was that nothing whatever was done, but 

 the party took their game home unmolested. Eemem- 

 ber that this was on the occasion of a poor boy's being 

 prosecuted for the same offense. The Chicago party 

 being very wealthy and able to pay a fine without any 

 inconvenience, it seemed to me that this was just the 

 kind of a case that the law was intended to cover. But 

 such cases are never molested by the "only," etc. 



I could fill columns of the Forest and Stream with 

 cases similar in most respects to the above, but I will 

 mention but one more. About Nov. 15, 1888, I was 

 myself arrested on a criminal warrant and taken before 

 a justice and prosecuted by Mr. Wentworth; and when 

 the testimony was in there was not one word to show 

 that any law had been violated; and even if I had done 

 what Mr. Wentworth said he had heard I had, it was not 

 in any manner a violation of any law, nor any more than 

 their own men had been doing all the fall, i. e. , shooting 

 from a flatboat. The fact was that Mr. Wentworth did 

 not say one word to the witness before the trial began to 

 find out what the merits of the case were. I being only 

 a "rat," it of course made no difference whether there 

 w T as any occasion for the arrest or not. It took the jury 

 just four minutes to bring in a verdict of "not guilty." I 

 believe it to be almost impossible for Mr. Wentworth to 

 win a case before a jury in Jefferson county, no matter 

 what the evidence may be, on account of the partiality 

 shown and practiced to offenders. 



In regard to the law's preventing the killing of good 

 bags, Mr. Gordon is right in making it as hard as possible 

 to kill a canvasback. As for myself, although at the 

 lake during the fall, I did not get a single specimen, and 

 killed, all told, six bluebills. At the end of the season of 

 1888 the club house register showed the names of thirty- 

 six visitors, staying from one day to two weeks each. 

 Upon inquiry of Mr. Wentworth 1 found that not more 

 than twenty-five canvasbacks had been killed by them. 

 Eighty per cent, of the shooters who visited the place 

 did not get one. I did not look up last fall's record, but 

 I believe it to be poorer still. Now, if you had been one 

 of the many to go away empty-handed, perhaps for the 



think it might have appeared to you that Mr. Gordon's 

 ideas had possibly been carried too far? 



It has been for years the opinion of a large majority of 

 the shooters who live near the lake, that by limiting the 

 shooting to two or three days a week, and stopping all 

 shooting whatever on the open lake, the shooting could 

 be materially bettered without frightening the birds as 

 badly as is now being done. As it is now, they are kept 

 entirely off from their best feeding grounds through the 

 entire season; and last season the canvasbacks remained 

 only about two weeks, leaving in a body about Nov. 1, 

 Such a law would have been passed lastwinter but for 

 the opposition of Messrs. Gordon and Esterly. The peti- 

 tion asking for its passage was signed by every officer of 

 the Black Hawk Club, and with one exception of Mr. 

 Esterly by every member who could be reached, as well 

 as by at least nine-tenths of the shooters living about the 

 lake. 



As I said before, Mr. Esterly is credited with being the 

 author of many of the rigid game laws of the State: and 

 yet with the single exception that bliuds and flat boats 

 are limited to the cover, I would like to have pointed out 

 to me wherein the kind of shooting indulged in by him 

 and some others have been in the slightest degree re- 

 stricted, although far more injurious than other kinds 

 that have been wholly prohibited. Mr. Hough practically 

 admits that the flat boat is fully as destructive as the 

 float, but has their use been prohibited ? Certainly not, 

 and for the reason that Mr. Esterly uses a flat boat. 



Since writing the above I have read Mr. Hough's letter 

 dated Dec. 9. In speaking of the laws allowing shooting 

 but three days a week he says, "As I understand it, such 

 a bill was attempted to be put before the Assembly, but 

 the bill had a tail to it, it wanted to have but three days' 

 shooting a week on Lake Koshkonong. but carried a re- 

 peal clause abolishing all other laws on this head." 



Now, Mr. Editor, as 1 drew up the bill myself, and 

 handed a copy of it, together with a large petition, to the 

 joint committee on game and fish laws, I think I can 

 safely say that no such clause was attached. 1 inclose a 

 copy of the bill just as it was presented, and ask you to 

 judge for yourself whether, even if such a clause had 

 been attached, the restrictions of the bill itself do not 

 appear sufficiently rigid when it is remembered that it 

 applies to only one lake. 



Aft Jet for the Belter Pratco 

 Section 1, It shall be unlaw 

 attempt to kill at any time 

 aquatic bird whatever on any 

 in this State, in the night 6i 

 steamboat, snare or net of a 



: on of Game on Lake Koshlwnony.— 

 ul to take, catch, kill or pursne, or 

 n y wild duck, goose, brant or any 

 if the waters of Lake Knshkouong 

 by the aid or use of any sailboat, 

 ftescriptjOB, or any punt or swivel 



gun, or any firearm not habitually held at arm's length and dis- 

 (•luu^ed troni i he shoulder. By tlio waters of Lake Koshkonong 

 If tl'« hike proper together wit h all the bays, sloughs and 



lowed lan-1? connected with and adjoining said lake, and also 

 that part of Lock River lying between the Newville Bridge at the 

 outlet and the Blackhawk club house above said lake Section 3 

 It. shall be unlawful to use at any time in the pursuit of an y of 

 the birds before mentioned, auy boat, box, or device of any de- 



above the surface of the water. Section 3. It shall be unlawful 

 to take, catch, kill, or pursue with intent to kill in any manner 

 whatever or to shoot at from any boat or device whatever on any 

 Ot said waters, any of the birds above mentioned on any davs of 

 the > car except Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between the 

 hrst day ot September and the succeeding first day of December, 

 lection 4. It shall be unlawful to discharge a gun or firearm of 

 any oescription on any of the waters before mentioned or from 

 any of the shores within 50yds. of the margin thereof at any time 

 other than on the days mentioned in Section 3 of this act, except 

 ft* pursuit of fur-bearing animals. Section 5. Any person who 



ceeding six months, or both. One -half of said fine when collected, 

 shall be paid to the informer. Section 6. All acts or parts of acts 

 conflicting with this act are hereby repealed. 



And this is not all, for in a coversation which I have 

 just had with Hon. F. C. Kiser, of this city, a member of 

 the Assembly and chairman of the Committee on Game 

 and Fish Laws, and who had charge of this bill and gave 

 it his special attention, he told me emphatically that no 

 such clause was at any time attached to it. Certainly 

 there seems to me but one solution, which is that some 

 one who sat ai-ound the stove that 20th clay of November 

 must have intentionally misrepresented the matter to 

 Mr. Hough, and the object in so doing was to excuse his 

 own opposition to the otherwise unanimously supported 

 measure. 



Should any " angler or summer tourist " follow Mr. 

 Hough's advice and take the trip down the famous "Bock" 

 from Fort Atkinson, notwithstanding the fact that both 

 sides of the river near its outlet in the lake, and also the 

 best camping grounds on the lake shore, have been mo- 

 nopolized and all camping prohibited, there is still a strip 

 of 600ft. just above the club house on the right bank of 

 the river, where they can— while the writer lives — set up 

 their tents and enjoy themselves with the fish and game 

 as the great Creator intended for ail men. I admit that 

 in this letter I have replied, not to Mr. Hough, but to 

 those from whom he received his information, and in 

 speaking of Mr. Esterly I do not mean the Blackhawk 

 Club. And I challenge a denial of any statement I here 

 make over my own signature. Duane Starin. 



Whitewater, Wisconsin. 



Wintee. in the Adieondacks.— North wood, N. Y., 

 Feb. 3.— Editor Forest and Stream: The ice is from 3 

 to lOin. thick on the still waters hereabout?. It is gen- 

 erally from 3 to 5ft. thick at this time of the year. Flies, 

 spiders and "skeeters." are seen in the woods almost every 

 day by the loggers. There is no snow in the woods. Deer, 

 hares and partridges have fared first-rate. I have not 

 heard of a deer being killed since the season closed; but 

 a few partridges have been killed this winter. Hares are 

 very plenty this year. A man who lives here does not 

 like hares to eat. but he goes out and shoots them "jest 

 fer the fun of it," as he says. Four fine ones were given 

 to his dog last week. — WobnciircK. 



Those Maine Wolves.— Indian Rock, Me., Feb. 7.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 1 notice in the Forest and 

 STREAM of Jan. Ill) a communication from in regard 



to wolves in Maine; and in reply let me say I have seen 

 a statement of one of the game wardens, who lives in the 

 neighborhood of the wolf-infested district, who says 

 there are no wolves in the North Woods, but the cause 

 of the deer working south is the effect of hounding, and 

 that the wolf scare was gotten up by persons who prac- 

 » tice dogging deer.— Q. T, Biqharoson. 



