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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 23, 1890. 



NATIONAL GAME LEGISLATION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The theory upon which this Government was adminis- 

 tered from 1800 to 1860 was that the States should do 

 nothing for the people that the people could do for them- 

 selves, and the general Government shoidd do nothing 

 for the States that the States could do for themselves. 

 A year or two ago Forest and Stream urged State legis- 

 lation to prevent spring duck shooting, in order to save 

 the remnant of that rapidly disappearing game fowl. 

 The writer suggested at the time that Congressional aid 

 should be invoked, and the reply was that Congress could 

 do nothing, lacking constitutional power. I was not con- 

 vinced, if silenced. 



Since that time by study and inquiry I have been still 

 further convinced that the suggestion then made was a 

 good one. Congress has the power to legislate on the 

 subject, and it is the only power that can do so effectu- 

 ally. Concerted action on the part of the States is im- 

 practicable, for many reasons. In sections of the country 

 where pot-shooting in spring is carried on, State laws 

 would not be enforced on account of public sentiment. 

 A law of Congress could and would be enforced. Laws 

 embodying the same principle are now on our statute 

 books, and have been affirmed by our highest courts. 

 Such an act as is here asked for would certainly "pro- 

 mote the public good." 



Suppose Forest and Stream calls for the opinion of 

 some of our public men. President Harrison is fond of 

 duck shooting, ex-President Cleveland is a genuine 

 sportsman, and ex-Attorney-General Garland is fond of 

 rod and gun; so is Senator Vest, Congressman Bynum, of 

 Indiana, and there are many others. 



If spring duck shooting is not soon stopped there will 

 be no fall duck shooting. Something should be done, 

 and that speedily. If not grown weary in the good work, 

 I hope Forest and Stream will take the matter up and 

 agitate it until the desired result is accomplished. Large 

 bodies move slowly. It requires a vast deal to move the 

 great American people, but when once put in motion 

 public sentiment is all powerful. J. P. Applegate. 



New Albany, Ind. 



THE ELUSIVE CARIBOU. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice that a correspondent of your paper in describ- 

 ing his caribou hunt speaks of locating; the herds of cari- 

 bou beforehand, and on seeing a caribou at 2 P. M. held 

 his fire for the next day, so as to give his friends a 

 chance. Now, as I know a man who was equally gener- 

 ous, I am prompted to tell my story. 



It was perhaps Dec. 10 some eight or nine years ago, 

 and just at dusk, that I struck the shore of Lake Parma- 

 cheene and made a bee-line for the light in the window 

 of Camp Caribou. My errand was to make my friend 

 John Danforth a little visit, and if he was agreeable to 

 the idea, take a little turn over around the boundary 

 range of mountains to see what we could see for "hair," 

 and I had come fully prepared. 



Soon after leaving the shore of the lake I came to 

 tracks made by animals, which I soon made out to be 

 caribou. There were a great many, and sometimes for 

 rods it would feel to my feet as though I was going 

 through a farmer's barnyard instead of friend John's 

 usually spotless front yard. The tracks reached up to 

 within a half mile of the camp, and I naturally thought 

 that John must have had some fun, and that caribou 

 meat would be in order for supper, which after an all 

 day's hard tramp with rifle and pack did not taste bad in 

 my imagination. 



I was soon in the camp shaking hands with Bill Whitte- 

 more, glad to see him, but disappointed as could be to 

 learn that John had gone down river three days before 

 for a two weeks' trip. After the first gush of diappoint- 

 ment had passed, I said, " Well, Bill, it can't be helped; 

 and now if you want to cheer me up and make me feel 

 first-rate, you want to slice me off a piece of sirloin, about 

 as large as a horse's upper lip, from the fattest caribou 

 that you've got hung up on the island.'* 



"I hain't got no caribou hung up," said Bill. 



"The deuce you haven't!" said I. "Ain't they plenty 

 enough or haven't you got firearms enough?" looking 

 from Bill to the corner where stood two Winchester and 

 two Ballard rifles and a double-barrel shotgun. 



"Yes," said Bill, "firearms enough and caribou enough. 

 Five of them on the lake here yesterday all day long, but 

 I didn't disturb them. I thought I'd let them hang 

 around till John got back." 



"Well, Bill, you are the most considerate man for your 

 employer that I ever heard of; but I guess that if you 

 have no objections we will play that John has come, in 

 the morning, and if there are any caribou hanging around 

 we will see what we can do for them." 



Bill had no objection to this plan, so early in the morn- 

 ing I started out with my rifle and abistuit in my pocket. 

 I soon found where the game had left the lake and taken 

 a zigzag course up the Moose Brook valley, feeding for a 

 while as they went. Soon the tracks drew together, and 

 then in single file they seemed to take a direct line to the 

 east. I followed them till well into the afternoon with- 

 out coming to a place where they had lain down or stopped 

 to feed, and it was an hour after dark before I got back 

 to camp. Then I related to Bill what I knew about cari- 

 bou hanging around; and I would advise, if any one 

 wants caribou, to use the old bear hunter's phrase, to 

 "take them when they are around," for they are rovers, 

 liable to start up, either in storm or sunshine, and go for 

 miles without making a halt, and often, like the Indian's 

 otter, they are "here to-day, to-morrow nowhere." 



Camp Bemis, Me. F. C. BARKER. 



"Cap Lock" writes of the memories suggested by a 

 recent illustration of the caribou in these columns: "My 

 mmd reverted back to the day I bagged my last speci- 

 men of this noble game from a drove of three. Not as 

 might have been expected was he the leader but the 

 talesman of this little band. The night preceding had 

 been stormy, snow falling to a depth of twelve inches. 

 The trad was struck fresh and was followed slowly for 

 three hours, when game was sighted at fifty yards, lead- 

 ing off to the right hand, from a moss-covered" dry spruce 

 top. A low bleat was given and the pack instantly 

 halted, throwing up their heads as they turned them 

 towards me, with ears erect to catch the sound. Now 

 was the golden opportunity. There they all stood with 



glistening white snow for a background. Could artist 

 ask for more in order to take an instantaneous photo- 

 graph of the group? That picture lasts injnemory yet." 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., May 17.— No shooting news now ex- 

 cept that of the trap. On the-whole the season has 

 been good. Even at the present date the Kankakee and 

 all other northern Indiana streams are very high, and 

 all altogether out of the banks. 



Mr. J. W. McCauley, of this city, is lately back from a 

 three months winter trip in the mountains of New 

 Mexico, and has been benefited so much in health by 

 the trip that his friends did not know him. Mr. Mc- 

 Cauley killed one black bear and made a very fine collec- 

 tion of birds which he has had mounted, and among which 

 were specimens of the white swan, pelican, night heron, 

 glossy ibis, etc. His parties also killed wildcats and 

 wolves. The Springer (N. M.) Rod and Gun Club has, 

 according to this gentleman, the finest preserves for all 

 kinds of hunting there is on earth. Mr. Charles Springer 

 alone has 47,000 acres under fence. Mr. Robert Steep, 

 of Springer, Mr. William Gibson, of Las Vegas, and 

 many others, seem to linger, in the mind of the Chicago 

 man, as examples of that rare and generous product of 

 nature, the genuine sportsman. 



I was talking with Abe Kleinman the other day, and 

 he says that the ducks, especially the mallards, never 

 went south of Illinois all this winter, or at least the bulk 

 of the flight did not. Abe says that this is more often 

 the case than is generally supposed, the birds clinging 

 along the warm and sheltered streams all winter. Know- 

 ing something about this Abe has just bought about 200 

 acres of marsh in the lower part of the State, and will 

 start a little preserve for himself. The ducks stayed in 

 that section about all winter this year. 



I was around at Billy Mussey's place the other day and 

 heard of a story there which I commend to ardent talkers 

 on gun topics. It seems that one Mr. Eddie Price fre- 

 quents Mr. Mussey's resort habitually, and ho is habitu- 

 ally unable to hear any one tell a bigger story than he can. 

 On a late occasion the boys were talking about close 

 shooting guns, and among them they had some pretty 

 good gun stories. But after they were all done Eddie re- 

 marked: 



"Why, that's nothing. Say, I used to have a gun that 

 shot closer'n that. Say, that gun was a muzzleloader, 

 and I only shot an ounce of shot in her. One day I was 

 in my blind, and a mallard drawded in over the decoys, 

 and made me a pretty close shot. I just waited till he 

 got in pretty well over the decoys, an' then I let him 

 have it." 



"Well, what of that? Did you get him?" 

 "No. Lost 'im." 

 "How'd that happen?" 



"Why, you see, that gun shot so close I filled him so 

 blamed full of shot he sunk, and' so I didn't get 'im. 

 Some guns shoot almost too close. Say — " E. Hough. 



Metropolitan, Mich. — On May 8, a man came into 

 the office and reported that a bear had been seen four 

 nights in succession at Kirby's camp. He said the bear 

 was a large one and came around every night. Within 

 half an hour I had one of my No. 30 bear traps in a sack 

 and a .45-90 Winchester on my shoulder, and started for 

 the depot. I took the train eight miles down the road; 

 the conductor being promised a quarter bear, kindly 

 stopped the train and let me off in a cedar swamp. 

 Shouldering my trap and gun, I had seven miles to walk 

 on a pole trail to Kirby's camp. Before 1 got there, con- 

 siderable of the enthusiasm had oozed out of me and the 

 last drop was lost completely, when on arriving at the 

 camp I was informed by the foreman that the only bear 

 seen was when one night a man had gone to the door and 

 heard something run through the brush, which he 

 thought might be a bear or deer, or some other animal. 

 After making a careful examination of the ground for 

 bear tracks and signs, I decided that there had been 

 none around. However, I selected a suitable place and 

 set the trap, baiting it with some spoiled whitefish which 

 the cook gave me. After a hearty supper the foreman 

 gave me part of his bed. The lights had not been out 

 fifteen minutes before the porcupines made a raid on the 

 camp. Some got on the roof and others gnawed at the 

 door. Then a couple of owls held a long debate in a tree 

 near by. I slept, and woke and listened for the bear 

 several times, and at daylight I was out to look at the 

 trap, which I found just as I had left it the night before. 

 After breakfast I put that trap into the sack again, threw 

 it into the boat which was going up river in a day or two, 

 took my gun and started for home, 15 miles. On the 

 rock I saw eight porcupines, one deer and several par- 

 tridge. But I was after bear and did not molest them. At 

 10:30 o'clock I reached home pretty tired and consider- 

 ably wiser about bear stories. They are not nearly so 

 plenty here this year as last spring. Some ten days ago 

 I bought three cubs (two males and one female) of an In- 

 dian, and my children have them for pets. They weigh 

 about 15 or 201 bs. each. We feed them bread and milk, 

 and in feeding each one must have a separate dish or 

 there is a fight. Otherwise they are quiet, and will play 

 and sleep together all in a bundle.— B. B. 



King Duck in the Great Lakes.— Cleveland, O., May 

 12.— A fine male king duck (Fuligula spectabilis Linn.) was 

 brought in yesterday, caught by the gill-netters in 55ft. 

 of water, twenty miles off shore. Within the last week 

 six more of the long-tailed ducks (Anas glaeialis Linn.) 

 have been taken in the same manner and locality. The 

 king duck is very rare along the chain of Great Lakes: 

 this is the first specimen ever met with in this locality. 

 May 17,— Day before yesterday seven long-tailed ducks 

 were taken; to-day five more, also a fine specimen of the 

 white-winged scoter. All these birds were taken at the 

 usual depth, about 50ft. In the case of the first lot of 

 seven birds quite a flock must have been in the vicinity, 

 as they were all taken in the same net over a stretch not 

 exceeding 20ft. The longtail, or "old wife." is a com- 

 mon bird during the winter along the Sault, Niagara and 

 St. Claire rivers, where the rapid water is generally open. 

 The scoter is rare at this point now, though years ago 

 in their fall migration they and other sea ducks used to 

 pass down the lake in tens of thousands, in flocks so large 

 and well packed as to remind one of their famous resorts 

 along the sea coast.— Dr. E. Sterling. I 



Shore Birds on the Virginia Coast.— New York, 

 May 14. — I have your favor of the 6th inst. in answer to 

 mine of an earlier date in reference to woodcock and Eu- 

 ropean widgeon. I beg to advise that I have just returned 

 from a shooting trip to the Accomac Club at Wacha- 

 preague Inlet, Virginia, and perhaps it may be of interest 

 to you to know that the curlew snipe are very plentiful 

 there at the present time, also plover, calicobacks and 

 dowitchers. If any of your readers should care to have 

 a few days' good sport, thev should go at once to Powell- 

 ton by the N. Y., Phila. and Norfolk R. R., via Keller, 

 Va. I am a reader and admirer of the Forest and 

 Stream, and I have enjoyed so much the reports of trips 

 from other sporting friends, I thought I might do a little 

 something in the way of reciprocation. — S. W. F. 



The Pittsburgh Quail Case.— Pittsburgh, Pa., May 

 16. — Editor Forest and Stream: The case of J. W. Hague, 

 game warden of Pennsylvania, vs. Noamie Sassara, alias 

 Noamie Jones, came up for trial in the Court of Quarter 

 Sessions of Allegheny county. Defendant had pleaded 

 "not guilty," but withdrew that plea and plead nolle con- 

 dentere to having in her possession twenty-five quail out 

 of season, and was fined §250 and costs. She had been 

 found with 115 quail, but the warden did not insist upon 

 the full penalty, and she promised to observe the law in 

 the future. The warden's position met with general 

 approval. — X. 



Wyoming Non-Resident Hunting. —Mr. John G. 

 Worth, of Cheyenne, Wyo., sends us a notice of a pro- 

 jected camping and hunting tour, which he contemplates 

 making as a guide for a party of sportsmen from other 

 parts of the country; but Mr. Worth does not inform us 

 as to how he proposes to circumvent the law, which for- 

 bids game hunting by non-residents in that Territory. 

 This is a point camp-hunt organizers cannot very well 

 overlook. 



Aiming the Gun.— I am not a professional shooter, 

 but have done a great deal of shooting with a shotgun 

 for the last twenty-five years. It was nearly all wing 

 shooting, mostly duck shooting, and I found I could kill 

 more birds when I was sighting down over the barrels 

 than I could otherwise. I see a great many sportsmen 

 and some fine shots here, and the sportsman that gets the 

 game is looking over his gun barrels for it. — G. M. W. 



A Chance to Make Money.— Mr. Editor: I bought one of 

 Griffiths machines for plating with gold, silver or nickel, and it 

 works to perfection. No sooner did people hear of it than I had 

 more spoons, knives, forks and jewelry than I could plate in a 

 month. The first week I cleared $31.30, the first month 167.85, and 

 I think by July first I will have $1000 cash and give my farm con- 

 siderable attention too. My daughter made 827.40 cents in four 

 days. Any person can get one of these machines by sending S3 to 

 W. H. Griffith & Co., Zanesville, O., or can ohtain circulars by 

 addressing them. You can learn to use t he machine in an hour. 

 As this is my first lucky streak I give my experience, hoping 

 others may be benefited as much as 1 Lave been. Yours truly, 



M. O. MOKEHEAD. — AdV, 



A Book About Indians.— The Forest and Stream will mail 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. GrinnelPs book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk- Tales," givine a table of contents 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume.— Adv. 



"That reminds me." 

 303. 



YER talkin' about nateral pictur's, but I reckon the 

 one I once had beat anything you ever sat eyes on, 

 or any one else. But I lost it, and it was the worst slap 

 I ever had, knowin' as I do about the price some pictur's 

 fetch. 



In my young days I was mighty fond of hunting, and 

 I would let go the plow tail when my hounds wus yelpin' 

 after a fox, and I could set under a hickory tree watch- 

 in' fur a squirrel half a day without complainin'. One 

 day I told Sally — that was my wife — that I believed I'd 

 shoulder old Tom and take a hunt. But the only thing I 

 could get was a rabbit, after half a day's tramp. When 

 I got home who should I see but a long-haired, crazy- 

 looking coot of a feller settin' on the grass eatin' what 

 Sally had give him for his dinner. She never turned a 

 beggar away, but I never took any stock in tramps. As 

 I came up he said, "How de do." hke a gentleman, and I 

 could tell by his way that he was nobody's fool, if he did 

 look crazy-like. 



"That's a fine hare you have," says he, "and it would- 

 n't make a bad picture. You'd better let me paint a like- 

 ness of him." 



"You're a pictur' painter, hey?" says I. 



"Yes, sir, I am an animal painter." 



"Well," says I, "I've got a pictur' of game in the 

 house that I don't reckon any one can beat," and so I 

 went in and brought it out. 



"Nonsense, neighbor," says he, "that is very inferior 

 work. If you should see what I can do you will say I 

 am right. Come, now, what will you give me to paint a 

 picture of the hare, so natural that your dogs will bark at 

 it?" 



"I aint got nothin' to spend on pictur's," says I. 

 "Will you give me two dollars';'" says he. 

 "No, I won't give you a dollar." 



"Well," says he, "I'll make a bargain with you. I'll 

 paint it, and if it suits you, you can have it for fifty 

 cents. If it don't suit. you, I'll keep it." 



"I agree." 



He had some materials, and at it he went. The way 

 he drawed off that rabbit and slashed on the paint wus 

 jest boy's play. He'd pick up a little paint here and a 

 little there off the board he held on his thumb, and al- 

 most before I knowed it he had a likeness of that dead 

 rabbit hung up by the heels as true as very natur' itself. 



As soon as he got it done I said, "Boss, here's your 

 money." He pocketed it and away he went. After a 

 while Squire Sikes came in. The Squire was a great 

 man for pictur's, and when he sat eyes on it he said, "I 

 declare! where did you get that?" 



"Why?" says I. 



"Well, sir, that's a wonderful imitation," says he. 

 "What'li you give me for it, Squire?" says I. H 



