May i 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



291 



THE PRESERVATION OF GAME. 



IT has come to a question as to how our principal game 

 animals and birds are to be kept from total extinc-' 

 tion. So large a proportion of our forests and prairies 

 of forty years ago have since then yielded to cultivation 

 that there has been necessarily a great decrease in the 

 number of wild animals in the country, such as have 

 been sought for food and for their fur. But if the ranges 

 had remained as they were at the time railroads began to 

 be built, with our millions of people free to own firearms 

 and full of adventure as they are, the destruction of the 

 larger varieties of game would have so far exceeded the 

 ordinary increase that very soon some means would need 

 to be found to save them from extinction. 



The bison, moose, elk, mountain sheep and goat require 

 a range so large and diversified by mountain, lake and 

 river, as well as thick forest growth and plains bearing 

 grass, that nothing less than our National Park can 

 adequately provide for their necessities, if the animals 

 are to be kept in a state of nature. It is certain that all 

 of the animals named except the sheep and goat are kept 

 in a half domesticated state on ordinary farms. But so 

 far they have not increased much, and always seem to 

 me to need to be more thoroughly domesticated or to 

 have a stronger fence. 



The great Adirondack forest will, I hope, soon be made 

 into a park, either by the State or National Government. 

 No place is better suited for the moose and elk, as well 

 as deer. Suitable rides can then be enforced. With an 

 intelligent set of commissioners and energetic wardens, 

 the number of deer can be increased almost indefinitely. 

 One of the main sources of loss in deer production is by 

 starvation. Deer in that cold climate, with its deep 

 snows, "winter kill" or die for want of sufficient food. 

 With enough to eat, none but very old ones would die off 

 in winter and spring, If a few wolves still exist, they 

 could be easily destroyed. Then if the deer shall be un- 

 molested by the summer tourist and his guide, so that 

 the doe can raise her fawns undisturbed, and by the pro- 

 fessional hunter when the snow begins to fall, their trou- 

 bles wdl be over except as to a winter supply of food. 



An ordinary pine and hemlock forest is worth very 

 little for the support of deer, summer or winter. Deer 

 want to browse on the twigs of maple, beech, birch, 

 mountain ash and lichens. Generally, when such food 

 is found, snows get deepest and the crust hardest. And 

 at the first heavy snows, deer go to hemlock and pine 

 thickets. But if a timber cutter breaks a road to the 

 pine and fells ever so many, the deer care little. But 

 when for any reason he fells maple, the deer may gener- 

 ally be found browsing from its top very soon after the 

 chopper leaves his work. 



Where the pine has been cut off and the ground burnt 

 over, there soon springs up a thick growth of brush and 

 briers, and then there is food and cover for many deer, 

 where a little while before there were none, making a 

 home. In many places in these pine regions it is practi- 

 cable to plow small pieces and sow oats and rye. Deer 

 Avill be sure to find these places. So, if in a place where 

 they are not disturbed they have access to a field of pota- 

 toes, it will surprise one to see how many they will dig in 

 one night. In reading a description by a correspondent 

 of Forest and Stream of the grounds of a hunting club 

 in Wisconsin, where a large tract was or had been pine 

 lands, I was thinking how that club could plow many 

 patches in that forest and sow oats, or other grain, and be 

 able next July to show its visitors a few deer almost 

 any evening, and when the shrubs and briers got well 

 grown, many deer would find a home there with good 

 food and cover. 1 regard it as no loss to the deer to have 

 all the evergreen forests destroyed. When that is done, 

 in many places in the West, scrub oaks come in at once, 

 and in a few years produce acorns, and in all places the 

 deer is greatly the gainer. It is found that the Virginia 

 deer likes to stay near a farm. This is only because the 

 margin between field andforest is grown up to brush and 

 briers, and he finds here the food he wants, besides mak- 

 ing a raid at evening on a field of growing grain. 



In my judgment the preservation of deer will be most 

 largely" and effectually secured by private hunting clubs 

 and joint stock companies; and it is a pleasure to know 

 that lands are being secured in all parts of the country 

 by clubs composed of men of culture. Gentlemen are 

 Biding the health and rest they need in outdoor sports 

 and finding truth in the old couplet: 



Better search in the fields for health unbought, 

 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 



I won Id urge that in a place where practicable, when 

 land is being seemed for a shooting club, in connection 

 with lake and river a portion of forest be secured and the 

 culture of deer, turkeys and grouse be made a feature as 

 well as that of fish. In the less settled portion of our 

 country such grounds can readily be secured. I camped 

 last fall at a place embracing in one neighborhood more 

 desirable features than I have met elsewhere. There 

 was a small river with a beautiful waterfall. Below the 

 fall was a margin of marshland. 



As soon as our tent was set up my companion took his 

 gun. Ducks were as plenty as one could wish, and geese 

 were near by. I took my rod and went to the fall and got 

 some beautiful trout. These were small , from a quarter 

 to half a pound. In the stream just below the fall the 

 trout were large, running from 2 to 4lbs. Whether sal- 

 mon come up as far as the falls I do not know, but a few 

 miles below Indians were catching and smoking salmon. 

 Deer were coming from the foothills to the river, and the 

 Indians were said to have killed, after I left, 300 deer and 

 several elk in that vicinity before complaint was made, 

 and the agent recalled them to their reservation, for they 

 had no right to be there. The climate is good, with no 

 ram in summer to bring mosquitoes and other like pests. 

 The autumn weather is so mild and dry that an invalid 

 may remain out in the air day or night without danger. 

 A ranch near by could supply milk and vegetables until 

 the club grounds could be put in order. The land belongs 

 mainly to the Government, except that the falls are most 

 probably included in the ranch property. Take it for a,U 

 in all it would be hard to find a, more desirable spot for a 

 sp'irtsmen's club. 



Quail are easily cultivated in this county. The 

 margins of the rivers grow thickets for good cover, and 

 grain planted near by gives all the food they need. 

 Those brought here, the Bob White, have increased 

 wonderfully. They are not only abundant on the bottom 

 lands of the Boise Valley, but have crossed the range of 

 hills into the Payette River Valley. The Chinese pheas- 



ant and several varieties of grouse as well as the wild 

 turkey could be cultivated in the dry climate west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Many of the mountain sides have 

 scrub oak chapparal growing acorns such as turkeys like, 

 though with beechnuts and acorns in abundance, I used 

 to find them in the cornfield, where the field was near 

 the woods. When our country is many years older I be- 

 lieve the people will see deer and elk, wild turkeys and 

 grouse quite as frequently as the present generation has 

 done, and for the reason that these and other varieties of 

 game will be preserved on the grounds of private persons 

 and clubs, who will be as proud of their shooting boxes 

 and hunting grounds as gentlemen of England now are 

 and ought to be. G. H. W. 



BotSK City, Idaho. 



SPRING SHOOTING IN NEBRASKA. 



OMAHA. Neb., April 23. — This is proving one of the 

 most satisfactory springs for wildfowl and snipe 

 shooting that has been experienced here within the past 

 ten years. Notwithstanding the winter was an unusually 

 mild and open one. and that the birds might have been 

 expected to come in in straggling flocks and offer but 

 poor shooting, they did nothing of the kind, but swooped 

 down upon all our lakes and streams, sloughs and 

 marshes within a single day or two. Of course, this 

 made the gunner's life a happy one. It has been no trip 

 at all to go out here on the Elkhorn, to Waubuncey, 

 Bartlett's, Horseshoe or Honeycreek lakes, and a half- 

 hundred other good grounds, any day since March 18 

 and bring to bag anywhere from two to seven dozen 

 ducks— mallards, pintails, widgeon, redheads, bluebills, 

 and not a few canvasback, although the latter, king of 

 all feathered game that he is, has not been as plentiful as 

 some other seasons. And geese! Oh, my! oh, me! The 

 legendary Platte is even yet to-day alive with them, and 

 there haven't been snch bags made in twenty years. The 

 Canadas, however, have pretty generally gone north; but 

 yet a few remain. They were here, though, for a period 

 of three weeks by countless thousands, big, glossy- 

 plumaged, magnificent fellows, the like fof which I do 

 not believe I ever saw before. Dr. Galbraith killed a 

 Canada out at Brady's Island one week ago that weighed 

 I91bs. 4oz. How was that for a big goose? The geese 

 here now are principally the Hutchins and the snow, and 

 they line the bars in the Platte until they resemble end- 

 less snow-drifts These birds will furnish superb shoot- 

 ing for two weeks yet. 



Just now gunners are in the midst of a moat glorious 

 snipe seasom The precious little gallinago rode in on a 

 high, warm wind one week ago to-night, and since then 

 the meadows and the marshes have literally swarmed 

 with them. As is invariably the case, the birds were in 

 poor condition at first, but in the midst of such splendid 

 feeding as they find here, it doesn't require more than 

 forty-eight hours for them to get in most tempting con- 

 dition. 



Frank Parmalee, who is one of the finest shots in the 

 country, and G. W. Loomis, of the B. & M. R. R. , spent yes- 

 terday at Gretna, snipe shooting. They found, the birds 

 in great numbers and scored a big kill — Parmalee 53 and 

 Loomis 37. The birds were found in the mown meadows, 

 where stand straggling pools of water and where the soil 

 is soft and mellow, and just right for boring, instead of 

 in their customary haunts along the reedy sloughs. 



Harvey McGrew, who is one of Omaha's most success- 

 ful goose hunters, has just returned from a four days' 

 camping near Sioux River. McGrew has six pair of 

 domesticated wild geese which he has trained in a won- 

 derful manner and uses as decoys. He gets geese where 

 the ordinary hunter couldn't get a shot. The result of 

 his four days' shoot was ninety-eight, principally 

 Hutchins. 



Billy Townsend, with a party of Eastern friends, were 

 at Waubuncey a couple of days this week. They report 

 the buds exceedingly plentiful, especially redhead, teal 

 and widgeon, and verified this statement by bringing in 

 a bag numbering nearly, if not quite, 200. 



Dr. D, C. Bryant and several friends spent yesterday 

 at Waterloo, cracking away at the blue and green wings. 



Dr. J. R. Conkiing has returned from a two months' 

 Florida outing. The Doctor reports a glorious time, and 

 judging from his appearance all his fish stories are true. 



C. Claflin with several other well known business men 

 are encamped on the Platte, at Utan. 



"Doc" Haynes, manager of Boyd's opera house, killed 

 seven white geese at a single shot out at Cozad Monday. 



Jed Gris. 



MORE PRESERVES. 



HON. W. T. DUNMORE, Dr. C. M, Hitchcock, W. E. 

 Owen and A. B. Gardner, of Utica, have just pur- 

 chased of Whitman, Marsh and Ostrander, of Albany, 

 1,200 acres of woodland in the Adirondack region. The 

 tract is located in the town of Morehouse, Arthurboro 

 patent, and a portion of the laud borders on Pine, Little 

 Pine and G lakes, thus affording the owners fishing 

 privileges in all these waters. The lakes are inhabited by 

 speckled trout, and in the first named many handsome 

 salmon are taken. The lakes are comparatively easy of 

 access, and are only four or five miles from Matteson's 

 Adirondack Mountain Hotel and Hoffmeister's place. — 

 Portsa (Utica, N. Y., April 21). 



Ten Potsdam sportsmen have organized the Potsdam 

 Burnt Bridge Club, and have purchased 640 acres of Adi- 

 rondack forest land from H, W, Stevens, of St. Albans, 

 Vt. The place is good for deer and trout, and is about 

 eight miles southwest of Gales. 



Several gentlemen of northern New York have obtained 

 options on about 100,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks, 

 belonging to the hens of the Blake estate. It is proposed 

 to form a joint stock company of 500 shares at $100 each. 

 This tract includes a number of fine lakes, and is said to 

 afford remarkably fine fishing and good deer hunting. 



Pelicans in Iowa, — A large flock of white pelicans 

 passed over Sheldon, la., a few days ago, from which 

 flock one was shot measuring 74f t. in extent. The flock 

 was said to be about two miles long. Wild geese and 

 ducks of various kinds have been wending their way 

 northward for some time; are nearly all gone from here 

 now. — A. S. J, (Hull, la., April 21). ' 



Club Meetings. — The Utica Fish and Game Protective 

 Association has elected the following officers: President, 

 Col. I. J. Gray; Directors— I. C. Mcintosh, W. K. Gilmore, 

 W. E. Wolcott, Gustavus Dexter, Dr. C. M. Hitchcock, 

 Elon G. Brown, A. K. Seymour. The Association adopted 

 the following preamble and resolutions: Whereas, the 

 lands belonging to the State in the Adirondacks have 

 been set apart as public domain for the benefit of the 

 public, and other lands are to be acquired by the State; 

 and whereas, various bills are or have been introduced 

 into the Legislature looking to a grant of power to State 

 officials to sell or exchange lands to private parties under 

 color of being barren or untimbered lands; and whereas, 

 the effort and design of these bills is to obtain certain 

 franchises that are valuable to the public at large for 

 fishing and hunting, and consisting of valuable lakes and 

 streams, which are to be turned into private preserves, 

 from which the public are to be excluded, and whereby 

 the intended Adirondack Park will contain little, if any- 

 thing, of public value; therefore, resolved, that this 

 Association deprecate all such attempts, and are opposed 

 to the granting of all such permits of sale or exchange: 

 also resolved, that our board take measures to respect- 

 fully bring these views to our Legislature and ask the 

 enactment of laws to do away with all private preserves 

 within the Adirondack wilderness, and for the enforce- 

 ment and exercise of the right of eminent domain over 

 the entire Adirondack wilderness; and that the same be 

 kept and reserved by the State authority equally and for 

 the benefit of all, and against all, with suitable, reason- 

 able, consistent and practical restrictions thereto, as to 

 the time, mode and reasons for taking of fish or game 

 therein, and the amounts thereof, to the extent of meas- 

 uring the supply and prevent diminution and extermina- 

 tion. Resolved, that it is the sense of this Association 

 that unless measures are adopted looking to these ends, 

 the utility of game laws will soon become of no public 

 advantage; but only advantages and benefits by which 

 the few rich may oppress, harass and deprive the masses 

 of rights and benefits which should be equally free to all 

 for comfort and enjoyment.— Portsa (Utica. N. Y., April 



Jekyl Island Club's Game Keeper.— I hear that the 

 Jekyl Island Club has seemed the services of Mr. John 

 Clarke as head game keeper on the island. I know his 

 father, Mr. Thos. Clarke, now proprietor of the Turf Hotel, 

 Shrewsbury, England , to be one of the best rearers by hand 

 of pheasants on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. John 

 Clarke had a good tutoring under his father for years 

 with the present Col. C. G. Wingfield, of Onslow, Shrews- 

 bury, and shooting members of the club can feel confi- 

 dent that they will see some sport under his management. 

 He wili have a great many vermin to contend with, such 

 as wild hogs by the hundreds, coons by thousands, and 

 hawks, snakes, minks, etc., but being a first-class shot 

 and trapper, and with a good staff of white and colored 

 assistants, he will slaughter a good many of them who 

 frequent his rearing establishment. He has only a few 

 hen pheasants up for breeding this season, but next sea- 

 son the game committee intend giving him a good stock, 

 and if they find pheasants will thrive there, there is no 

 reason why it should not be the best shooting grounds in 

 America, and second to none on the other side of the 

 Atlantic. The island at the present time is full of deer, 

 wild turkey, etc. — N. Y. 



A Veteran Deer Hunter. — A few days since we met 

 the bronzed and smiling visage of one of our veteran 

 deer hunters, "Uncle Jim Slaten," wmo greeted us with a 

 laugh and an old-fashioned shake that made our arm 

 tingle to the shoulder. No hypocrisy in that grip, noth- 

 ing but good will and good fellowship. Time writes few 

 wrinkles on his brow, for he is always happy. He was 

 born happy, under a happy planet. He only sees the 

 bright side of things. It is a positive treat to be in camp 

 with him. Luck is never so bad hut he can see some 

 bright spots and something to laugh at, and many a 

 hearty laugh has he had at our expense during the pleas- 

 ant days we have camped together. He had just come 

 back from a three weeks' deer hunt with hounds, in soutfe- 

 east Missouri among the spurs of the Ozarks, on the west 

 fork of Black River. He says that deer is not nearly so 

 abundant as when we hunted there 20 years ago. He 

 saw three and killed none and came back without tasting 

 venison. Had he tried still-hunting, in which he won 

 his laurels, he would have brought back a "buck" or two 

 to grace the old homestead in Illinois.— Cameron (Elsah, 

 I".)- "_ 



Spring in New Brunswick.— Fredericton, N. B., April 

 19.— Editor Forest and Stream: The weather is cold and 

 disagreeable here and the river is full of ice. Mr. Cole- 

 man, proprietor of the Barker House here, will soon 

 through your advertising columns make to those who 

 love good trout fishing combined with comfort an import- 

 ant announcement. The snow is still of unusual depth in 

 the northeastern part of the Province, which has made it 

 bad for the poor moose, which are being run down and 

 murdered in the deep snows. The so-called stringent 

 game law is, I believe, being violated by many of the. 

 citizens of this place, and moose meat is quite a common 

 article of diet, especially on some of the hotel tables. If 

 the local correspondent here to the spoiting press would 

 use the space given him in showing up and condemning 

 the work of the pot-hunters, it would be more to his 

 credit than to use the said space as he does. Our fish and 

 game will never receive proper protection so long as greed 

 and selfishness reign supreme with those who claim to be 

 protectors.— Stanste ad. 



Ohio Notes. — fronton, O., April 24. — Editor Forest 

 and Stream: I had a nice little duck hunt this spring, 

 but pressing business kept me at home so long that I was 

 about one week too late for the flight, and the spring 

 freshet also interfered. Report says there are plenty of 

 wild turkeys, the mild, open winter having given birds a 

 chance, and the prospects for next fall are flattering. 

 Squirrels are very scarce, I think the report of the U. S. 

 team shoots more than pays me for several years' sub- 

 scription to your paper. I learned a good deal about 

 loading during your gun trials too. Why don't a few 

 more of our gun makers take advantage of them ? It is 

 a splendid advertisement. I think I can with my Ithaca 

 gun make an average pattern. Some day I will shoot it, 

 count the shot and send you the sheets to see how they 

 compare with some of the crack guns you test. — D, 



