Forest and Stream 



A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 



Terms, $i A Yeah. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 



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NEW YORK, JULY 3, 1890. 



( VOL. XXXIV.-No. 24. 



) No. 318 Broadway, New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



Editorial. 



Game in the Great West. 



Snap Shots. 

 Sportsman Tourist. 



Two After Trout. 

 Natural History. 



Adventures of a Black Duck. 

 Game Bag and Gun. 



Illinois Game Seasons. 



New York Woodcock Season. 



Shot Count and Weight. 



California Bear Records. 



Companions of the Grouse. 

 Sea and River Fishing. 



Chicago and the West. 



The Elk Creek Region. 



Fishing on Onion Creek. 



Green River. 



The Connecticut Season. 



New England Waters. 



Angling Notes. 

 Thk Kennel. 



American Kennel Club War. 



Dogs of the Day. 



The Kennel. 



Eastern Field Trials. 



Kennel Notes. 



Kennel Management. 

 Rifle and Trap Shooting. 



Range and G-allery. 



The Berlin Shoot. 



The Trap. 



The Rocky Mountain Meet. 



Dayton Tournament. 



Tournament of the Northwest. 

 Yachting. 



Lloyd's Yacht Register. 



Small Steam Launches. 



Beverly Y. C. 



Quaker City Y. C. 



Hull Y. C. 

 Canoeing. 



A May < Jruise in Cauada. 



Ianthe C. C. 



Brooklyn C. C. 



Toronto C. C. 



Rochester C. C. 

 Answers to Correspondents 



A BLACK BASS NUMBER. 

 The issue of "Forest and Stream" of July 24 



will be a Black Bass Number, 

 ment next week. 



See announce- 



GAME IN THE GREAT WEST. 

 HPHE time is at hand when the Eastern men who hunt 

 big game are preparing for a start to the Rocky- 

 Mountains. There has been much correspondence with 

 guides, each hunter has appealed to such of his friends 

 as make similar trips, to give him information as to 

 localities which they have visited and men with whom 

 they have been in camp. Regions have been looked up 

 where some species of game, unknown to the inquirer, 

 may be found in abundance. Bears, of course, are 

 always in demand, but aside from this — sometimes dan- 

 gerous — game, the hunter wants variety. If he has been 

 killing elk, deer and antelope, he now wants to find a 

 place where mountain sheep are abundant. If he has 

 had his fill of sheep and goats, then moose and caribou 

 seem to him to be desirable, above all things. Many a 

 hunter of the present day longs to kill a bison. 



For the next two months parties of Eastern sportsmen 

 will be starting for the West, and will scatter themselves 

 through the mountains, seeking out the secluded valleys 

 furthest from the settlements, and, so far as possible, 

 cutting themselves off, for the time, from the rest of 

 mankind. Almost each camp of this kind will have a 

 different object in view. One set of men will want to 

 kill elk; another will look for sheep; another will devote 

 its energies to exploration, will try to find new passes 

 across the Continental Divide, or short cuts between lo- 

 calities now connected by roundabout trails; some will 

 fish, some will shoot birds, but all will have a glorious 

 time and will return in tbe autumn with renewed strength 

 and vigor, and a stock of experiences that will ever be to 

 them a delightful memory. 



Never to so great an extent as this year have we been 

 called upon to indicate big game localities in the West, and 

 never has it been so difficult to give such information as it 

 }8 in this year of our Lord 1890, The regions where for- 



merly big game was abundant are now farms, often 

 thriving towns. Where a dozen years ago the antelope, 

 the elk and the deer grazed by thousands, the herbage is 

 cropped by as many sheep, horses and cattle. 



The game is actually scarcer and its range is continu- 

 ally contracting. The number of the hunters is increas- 

 ing, and they of necessity all collect in the country where 

 the game is found. As a rule the hunters of to-day kill 

 with far more discretion and judgment than did those of 

 ten years ago, but they are much more numerous. We 

 know a number of men who refuse to kill female deer or 

 elk. We know at least one man— he had never killed a 

 buffalo — who within the last two years found himself 

 within 60yds. of four buffalo in summer, and yet had 

 sufficient control over himself to decline to fire at them, 

 because he did not want to have a hand in the extinction 

 of this grand race. Such a man is entitled to the respect 

 and admiration of all sportsmen. 



We may feel sure that a time is coming when the Rocky 

 Mountain region will afford no better hunting than do 

 now parts of Switzerland. There will be a little game 

 left, but it will be shy and hard to get at, confined to the 

 highest peaks of the range, and ever on the lookout for 

 its enemies from below. Then the man who can return 

 from his Western trip and boast that he killed, after a 

 month or two of exhausting work, a couple of elk or sheep 

 will be regarded with envy by his fellows. 



It is true that so long as the Yellowstone Park is effi- 

 ciently preserved there will be a breeding ground for big 

 game which will furnish sport for hundreds of hunters, 

 but speculators and land grabbers have fixed their greedy 

 eyes on this beautiful spot, and are striving hard to ruin 

 it as a game preserve and deface its natural beauties. The 

 bill for the preservation of the Park has been amended by 

 the Public Lands Committee of the House of Representa- 

 tives, so as to grant a right of way to a railroad to be 

 built through the Park, and if this amendment should be- 

 come a law, the value of the Park as a game preserve 

 would be destroyed. The passage of this amendment 

 would mean the ruin of the Park. 



The storm of protest evoked from newspapers of the 

 better class by the announcement that the Public Lands 

 Committee had agreed upon this amendment has had the 

 effect of delaying the presentation of the report, and it 

 looks now as if the committee intended to postpone it until 

 all the friends of the Park have gone away for the sum- 

 mer. Then it may come up and the railroad lobby will 

 try to force it through. 



It is to be hoped that it will fail, and each sportsman 

 or individual who is interested in the big game of the 

 West or in the preservation of the National Park ought 

 to write to his Congressman, urging him to oppose this 

 amendment by every means in his power. The case is 

 urgent. 



FLY-RODS AND THEIR USE. 

 A SURPRISING change has taken place in the weight 

 and length of rods during the past few years. It 

 was but a short time ago that anglers considered it 

 necessary to fish with fly-rods from 12 to 13ft. in length 

 and weighing in the neighborhood of 12 to 14oz. And 

 salmon rods were of enormous size. Think of swinging 

 a 20ft. rod all day. No wonder we used to hear of men 

 confined to their beds with swollen arms and hands. 

 Now a 10ft. trout rod, of 7oz. weight, is considered a 

 fairly heavy rod, and one of 8oz. and 10|ft. long, suffi- 

 ciently powerful to kill the largest bass or landlocked 

 salmon. 



The perfect rod for trout fly-fishing should be of either 

 6 or 8 sections, if of bamboo, and not over 8£ft. long. 

 Such a rod need not weigh over ooz. at the utmost. The 

 tip should be quite strong and able to pick up 50ft. of 

 fairly heavy line and cast it in the wind. With such a 

 rod one can cast from morning till night without the 

 slightest fatigue, and feel that fly-fishing is really a 

 pleasure. Mr. Heald, prominent in insurance circles in 

 this city and a veteran fly-fisherman, ihas just returned 

 from New Hampshire where he has been killing large 

 trout on one of these little rods. He says he never knew 

 what comfort was in fishing before, and the guides could 

 not get over their wonder at seeing him handle 3 trout 

 at once (one weighing over 21bs.) on what they called a 

 toothpick. Of course such small rods must be carefully 

 made and are expensive. 



The same change has taken place in bait-rods; the ex- 

 pert with a casting rod weighing Ooz. and not over 8ft, 

 gin, long, will oast a, frog a hundred feet) away, while the 



fisherman with a long "pole " will hardly get his bait ou 

 20ft. 



One of the weakest points in the fly-casting of many 

 anglers, in fact we might truly say of the majority of 

 anglers, is the back cast. Of course, it is easy enough to 

 watch the front cast and correct any faults, but the back 

 cast is generally neglected. The result is disaster; fly 

 after fly is cracked at the head or else entirely snapped 

 off, and the fly maker is blamed for the angler's faults. 

 It also frays out the leaders and wears out the' lines. 



The great trouble is that anglers will not give the line 

 time to straighten out in its backward flight, and unless 

 this is done it is sure to snap. Another mistake is in not 

 lifting the line quick and clear from the water. The 

 flies are drawn too close to the caster before making the 

 next cast. This brings a great strain on the rod, and 

 causes it to be thrown too far back in the effort to com- 

 plete the cast. It is better to keep the rod down and take 

 up the slack line by drawing it through the rings with 

 the left hand. Then when the cast is make, let the slack 

 run out with the forward motion. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 A SUGGESTIVE contrast between the value of year- 

 lings and fry for stocking bodies of water is afforded 

 by the experience of Mr. Charles G. Atkins, Superintend- 

 ent of the Maine stations of the U. S. Fish Commission, as 

 related in a recent letter to Col. M. McDonald, CJ. S. Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries. Mr. Atkins, on June 

 17, saw five landlocked salmon, the largest weighing 

 about 21bs., which were caught in Craig's Pond, and are 

 the first ever taken there. The Commissioner informs us 

 that 6,000 yearling landlocked salmon were planted in this 

 pond in the spring of 1889, and the recent captures are 

 from that source. Meanwhile, according to Mr. Atkins, 

 73,000 lake trout fry deposited in May, 1886, have as yet 

 showed no trace of their existence. 



At the special meeting of the Advisory Committee of 

 the American Kennel Club, held yesterday, there were 

 present Messrs. Perry, Terry, Wise, Anthony and Bel- 

 mont. Mr. Peshall was not present. His letter declin- 

 ing to appear, published elsewhere, was read. The 

 Committee declined to recognize his claim of unconsti- ' 

 tutionality as to its composition and jurisdiction. After 

 a protracted discussion it was decided that the Committee 

 had jurisdiction to try the accused on counts two and 

 three. Testimony on these counts was taken; and then 

 the following resolutions were adopted: 



Resolved. That it is the sense of this committee that it should 

 decline to act upon the charges this day presented by A. P. Vred- 

 enburgh, Secretary, against C. J. Peshall. 



Resolved, That it is the unanimous sense of this committee that 

 the recent publications made by Mr. Peshall in the sporting jour- 

 nals concerning the American Kennel Club and its Secretary, Mr. 

 A. P. Vredenburgh, are unjust, untrue and libellous. 



Resolved. That the Secretary of this Club be authorized and 

 directed to exhibit the books and accounts and vouchers of this 

 Club to any delegate member of this Club at any time. 



Resolved, That we have absolute confidence in the integrity and 

 veracity of tbe Secretary of this Club. 



Resolved, That the conduct and language of Mr. Peshall in the 

 controversy, out of which these charges arose, have been in our 

 opinion so extraordinary and outrageous as to make us seriously 

 doubt whether he is in possession of his normal faculties. 



Resolved, That the proceedings this day had and the evidence 

 this day taken be submitted to the American Kennel Club for 

 such action as it may seem best. 



Dr. Perry tells us that in company with Mr. Jas. Wat- 

 son, he went through the books of the American Kennel 

 Club yesterday, including the bank books, and that they 

 in all respects substantiate the published financial state- 

 ments made by Secretary Vredenburgh. 



The Sundry Civil Service bill authorizes the expendi- 

 ture in the Yellowstone National Park of seventy-five 

 thousand dollars. This is to be devoted to completing 

 the road from the Upper Geyser Basin to and around 

 Shoshone Lake, thence across the Continental Divide to 

 Yellowstone Lake and River, and down the latter to the 

 Grand Canon, thence over Mt. Washburne to intersect 

 the Cook City road near Yancey's. The Gibbon and 

 Madison Canon roads are to be completed, and various 

 others kept in repair and somewhat extended. 



Major Taylor informs us that at the conference between 

 the two English setter clubs the most amiable feeling pre- 

 vailed, and there is not a doubt that the cihbfj will con 

 splidate as one, 



