Oct. 9, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



229 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, Oct. 2.— The ducks are agin us and not wid 

 t us, so far this fall. Fox LaJce is no good, so the 

 boys say, and thus far no bags of consequence have been 

 made on the Kankakee. The best shooting has been on 

 the famous Horicon Marsh of Wisconsin, Percy Stoue 

 went up there again yesterday. Messrs.! Fred 0. Donald 

 and Ben Dicks go up to-night. Mr. Donald had his plans 

 laid yesterday to go with Mr. Fred Lord and Mr. Charles 

 Levings down to the Spring Lake country, of which men- 

 tion was made last week. Mr. Levings was the engineer 

 in charge of the Government works on Copperas Creek 

 dam, and is thoroughly acquainted with Spring Lake, 

 Clear Lake, Beebe Lake and all that country in tbere. 

 He goes on down and will put in a week or two fishing. 

 He says the bass fishing below the Government dam is 

 the finest he ever knew, when at its best. 



Mr. C. W. Lee and Mr. J. W. Keogh are back from 

 their bicycle tour through England. Mr. Lee says they 

 could not see much popular interest or general participa- 

 tion in field sports, the main things ?eeming to be borse 

 racing and cricket, which everybody was ready to talk 

 about. In Devonshire they saw some beautiful streams, 

 and here Mr, Lee thought the angling was good, most of 

 the waters, of course, being closed to the public. At the 

 Lakes of Killarney some good catches were being made. 

 Mr, Lee heard nothing of shooting during his trip, and 

 thinks that a poor country for the shooter of average 

 means. Even boating and canoeing seemed to be dull in 

 England. 



Mr. J. O. Blake, of Spaldings', is back from his grand 

 western tour in company with Mr. Geo. J. Charlton. At 

 Denver they joined the excursion of the American Asso- 

 ciation of General Passenger and Ticket Agents, and went 

 to all the great scenic localities of the Rockies and the 

 West, from the Grand Canon to the Park. That this is a 

 country alike, beautiful and stupendous Mr. Blake is ready 

 now to attest to any extent. 



Mr. W. C. Wire, of the same house, enjoyed himself 

 luring a sick spell of six weeks on his vacation, near 

 Oshkosh and Lake Winnebago, this fall. He reports some 

 fishing, and shooting just beginning. 



Messrs. H. M. Levy, Jos. A. Fuschlander, Albert Heidel- 

 oach, J. L. Workman and S. Kuhn, all of Cincinnati, 

 aave just passed north for a fishing and shooting trip in 

 the woods of Wisconsin, where they should have a 

 pleasant time at this season. 



Mr. W. L. Shepard and Mr. J. T. Cowler have left for 

 a deer hunt on the Upper Peninsula. They go about 40 

 miles northwest of Branscombe, and will start from the 

 station as soon as they get off the cars, their team and 

 camp outfit being in waiting for them. They are almost 

 certain to get deer. Mr. Cowles has often hunted the 

 country. They will have good local guides also. 



Messrs, Alex. T. Loyd, R. R. Donnelley and Wallace 

 De Wolf returned lately from a three weeks' chicken 

 trip in Minnesota. They shot near Tyler, north of Pipe- 

 sione, and seem to have had fair luck at snipe, ducks and 

 curlew until the water dried up in the sloughs, after 

 which these birds left. It is very dry in Minnesota this 

 season, according to all reports. Mr. Donnelley thought 

 that the chicken shooting they had, while fair, was not so 

 good as that they had in Iowa last year. Nobody seems 

 uproariously enihusiastic this fall about the chicken 

 shooting in any of the States west of here. 



Dick Turtle has gone back to Saybrook, 111., this week, 

 to get some more chickens. 



Oct. 3,— It might be well for Forest and Ssream to 

 send its natural history man out here to inoculate the 

 daily p ess of this city with a little common sense. 

 Nearly every paper in the city has published the news of 

 I a child here, whose death, it is officially announced, was 

 icaused by a cat that "sucked its breath." This is good 

 j matter to class with the hoopsnake story. The paper 

 which first printed this cat yarn, the Journal, had hi the 

 same issue ahout half a column cut from Forest and 

 Stream without any credit. Superstition and loose morals 

 go together. 



But of late the city papers here, with a charming una- 

 nimity and a display of intelligence that is remarkable, 

 have been giving our friend Mr. Brusewitz, the Chicago 

 game warden, a good warming up. Forest and Stream 

 is a little ahead of them on that, but it is all in the fam- 

 ily. Brusewitz is quoted as having publicly admitted 

 that he didn't know what the game law was, had never 

 read it, didn't know a chicken from a duck and didn't 

 know what all this fuss was about anyhow. He is about 

 the most modest game warden ever was. He don't know 

 anything and he don't think he knows anything, and he 

 don't care who knows that he don't know anything. But 

 Gov. Fifer keep3 him right where he is. He'll do, Gov. 

 Fifer thinks, because he stands in with the boys. At the 

 next meeting of the Legislature a determined effort will 

 be made to have Brusewitz removed and a tin man put 

 in his place. 



Evidence has been collected of late by one Bortree, 

 which in case of prosecution by the legal warden, would 

 convict two prominent South Water street game dealers 

 of illegal handling of game. But Brusewitz didn't see it, 

 so the prosecutien can't go. Great country. Great law. 

 Great Brusewitz. Stonewall Brusewitz. 



The Herald of this city this morning prints an astute 

 article on '"Law-Breaking Game Eaters," in which it 

 proves to its own satisfaction that about the only breakers 

 of the law are sportsmen. Their bad example, it thinks, 

 demoralizes the public. It says: "If people knew the 

 i law was going to be enforced, and they were in danger of 

 [ arrest if they violated it, they would not run the risk of 

 getting into trouble by purchasing game. The hotels and 

 restaurants would not buy it, and the dealers, having no 

 market for it, would cease to purchase it from the so- 

 called market-hunters, and the latter's occupation, conse- 

 quently, would be gone. Thus, if the sportsmen only 

 keep the law themselves, game preservation will be per- 

 [ feet." That is an easy way of figuring. The Herald 

 writer forgets that the legal season of selling game 

 would afford the market-hunters an occupation. In short, 

 the Herald forgets a good deal, and don't know a good 

 deal more, about this game law business. For instance, 

 it says: "Another breaker of the law is the man who 

 shoots grouse and quail in Illinois and brings them home 

 by railway. There is a law prohibiting the transporta- 

 tion of Illinois game by rail, and if it is illegal for the 

 railway company to carry them, it is equally illegal for 

 the man who has shot the birds to bring them with him 

 on the cars." A statement like that is misleading and 



ought to be corrected. The best correction is to call it 

 plain nonsense. No such law exists. The railroads can- 

 not carry illegal game to market, but they can carry legal 

 game, with or without the owner's presence, to his home 

 or to his friends. Any lawyer will tell you that. The 

 article in question is miscolored and lmrthful. The 

 Herald knows more about the Cronin case than it does 

 about the Effingham county case. 



In talking over some of these things to-day with Mr. 

 Wolfred N. Low, legal counsel of the Illinois State Sports- 

 men's Association, that gentleman said: 



"As a matter of fact, we hav<? now got very fair game 

 laws on the statute books of Illinois. At next winter's 

 meeting of the Legislature, I shall beat Springfield with 

 the sportsmen's committee, and we shall ask for only one 

 change, and that is to make the prairie chicken date Sept. 

 1 instead of Sept. 15, as the late accidental law has made 

 it. As a compromise with the southern part of the State, 

 we should make the date Sept. 1. Their harvest is earlier 

 than ours, and by Sept. 15 it is impossible for them to get 

 any chicken shooting over dogs at all, as the birds all 

 pack up and will not lie to the dogs." 



In this I do not agree with Mr. Low. I do not think 

 we ought to ask how many, but how few, prairie chickens 

 we can kill now. Don't kill the birds when they are 

 young and easily approached, so that the w^hole covey 

 can be bagged. Wait until they are big and strong, even 

 if you do have to inaugurate another style of shooting 

 them. We have got a few chickens in Illinois now, 

 thanks to the three years close law, and let us keep them 

 now we have them, and make it harder, not easier, to kill 

 them. Let us establish the bud firmly all over the State 

 again, and this time take care of it. Every one knows 

 how babyish and how exterminative is the "sport" of 

 kicking young prairie chickens out of the grass or stubble 

 and kuling them at a few yards distance. Shoot them 

 out of the corn, the birds can then take care of them- 

 selves. But Mr. Low further remarked: 



"What we need now is not more laws, but better en- 

 forcement, and our next move will be toward getting 

 better executive machinery. At the next session we 

 shall try to secure the passage of an act authorizing the 

 appointment of two or more wardens for each county in 

 the State; no warden, however, to be appointed except 

 upon the petition of twenty-five or more residents of that 

 county. This will do away with the political features of 

 that work, and should secure the right men. We shall 

 also ask that these wardens have police powers to arrest 

 without warrant on detection of an offense against the 

 game laws. I believe that in this way we can really do 

 much to break up illegal shooting, 



"I attended the meeting of the Central Illinois Associa- 

 tion, at Jersey ville, and am pleased to state that we shall 

 have the cooperation of that body. They have promised 

 to get the pledge of every candidate for the Legislature 

 from their districts in favor of the measures I have just 

 mentioned. 



"Tbere is unquestionably a great deal of illegal shoot- 

 ing done in that lower country. While I was at Jersey- 

 ville a fellow by the name of Bauer declared that his 

 neighbor had been shooting chickens all summer, that 

 he had eaten some of them and that upon invitation he 

 had gone over on his neighbor's farm and shot chickens 

 before the season opened. Dr. Henry, of Jacksonville, 

 heard him say this and said, 'Bauer, I am going to see 

 that you are expelled from this association and not 

 allowed to shoot here next year. A man who will do 

 what you have done is not fit to belong to a sportsmen's 

 association!' There is absolute truth in that last and I 

 hope Bauer will be expelled. He certainly is a disgrace 

 to the association. 



"The Central Illinois men appointed as their commit- 

 tee Mr. I. Taylor, of New Berlin, Mr. J, Brown, of 

 Havana, and Mr. C, W. Parent, of Jersey ville. These 

 are good men and we hope for some good work to show 

 results next winter. It is not probable that the man 

 Brusewitz will last longer than that session." 



It is to be hoped not, and hoped further, that out of the 

 plans above outlined there may come success, and such 

 an agitation of the matter as shall amount to an educa- 

 tion of the people who are now so ignorant and careless. 

 Even such articles as the inaccurate one of the paper- 

 above quoted do good, for they keep the matter before 

 the public. ' ' E. Hough. 



Bear Trapping.— The result of Mr. Bayard Thayer's 

 bear hunt has at last come out in full. It will be remem- 

 bered by the readers of the Forest and Stream that, 

 with his guide, he ran on to a cub, which little fellow took 

 up a tree. He was treated to a charge of bird shot, which 

 brought him down from the tree, wounded, and that in 

 dispatching him with an axe the guide kicked up so much 

 of a yell and a rumpus that the old lady herself suddenly 

 appeared on the scene and made for the men in a manner 

 that caused some uneasiness. The guide shouted to Mr. 

 Thayer to reserve his fire — only bird shot in the cart- 

 ridges — and if possible to get another cartridge into his 

 gun. In trying to obey these admonitions and at the 

 same time not to let the old lady get too near, Mr. Thayer 

 tripped on a stick and fell backward, discharging his gun 

 into the air. Fortunately the old lady took fright at the 

 smoke and discharge and ran one way about as fast as 

 the trie** did the other. The men do not confess to this 

 latter feat, however. They came back that day with more 

 help and more powder and lead. They carried the cub 

 to camp and set a trap for the old bear. They visited the 

 trap only once, a few days afterward. But on the last 

 day of September, some 20 days later, they went to take 

 in the trap. It was gone. They followed the marks of 

 the clog a mile or two, and finally came to the decayed 

 carcass of the old bear, where she had died in the trap, 

 doubtless of starvation. Oh , the cruelty of this trapping, 

 even of savage bears! When will men with souls learn 

 to have pity for animals and birds? The agony of that 

 poor old bear in the trap, waiting for death from starva- 

 tion!. My guide tells me that he heard dismal bowlings 

 on calm nights, that made him think that the old bear 

 must be in the trap. The least that those who set steel 

 traps for bears can do is to visit them daily.— Special 

 (Boston.) 



Towanda, Pa., Oct. 4.— Ruffed grouse season in this 

 State opened Oct. 1. A number of sportsmen from this 

 place took the opportunity to go out the first day. Very 

 small bags were made, owing, they claim, to the dense 

 cover the birds frequent. Some report finding many 

 grouse, others say they are scarce.— W. F. D. 



New Hampshire Deer.— Colebrook, N. H., Oct. 4.— 

 Sporting matters have been nearly at a standstill in this 

 vicinity for the past month, owing to the continued rains. 

 The opening of the season for deer afforded us about five 

 days of fine weather, and a number of parties werp already 

 on the ground ready to participate in the first deer hunt 

 of the season, and several deer were brought in here as a 

 result. Harry Huston, of Concord, N. H., brought in the 

 first deer to the Diamond Pond Camps: and he it was who 

 brought in the first one at the same place last year. Otto 

 Haufbaur, of Holyoke, Mass., brought in the second deer 

 at Camp Diamond; and a fine one it was, too, a five-year- 

 old buck, with as handsome a pair of antlers as are often 

 seen. Mr. Haufbaur left the head with Albert Wallace, 

 of this place, to be mounted. Two gentlemen from Massa- 

 chusetts, with Charles Kelly and "Spoff" Flint as guides, 

 left here for Connecticut Lakes Sept. 3, returning the 

 6th with two deer, a buck and doe, and several more are 

 reported from Errol, Greenough Ponds and Ward's Hell 

 Gate Ca mps. But for only a short time were these things 

 possible, for with the beginning of the second week the 

 rain descended a,nd the floods came, and both hunting 

 and fishing were hung up to dry. — BOB. 



A Hawk Retrieves a Duck.— Winona, Maine, Oct. 

 2.— A party of young men from Winona, at Marshall, 

 were out duck hunting a few days since. As they were 

 watching the flying of the ducks over the lake, one came 

 within gun shot of them. It was shot by Harry E. Mel- 

 vin, and came down into the water a few rods from the 

 shore. It lay floundering there, the hunters having no 

 way of getting it. The dog was lame, and no boat was 

 at hand. While pondering and trying to devise some 

 means to reach the game, a large hawk came flying over- 

 head. The hawk spied the duck and soon commenced 

 circling around, and in a few moments shot down out of 

 the air, seizing it, commenced flying over the young 

 hunter's head. Thereupon Mr. Melvin blazed away at 

 the hawk, which came down with a thud a few feet away 

 with the duck, thereby saving all trouble of wading or 

 swimming after the game. Who will say that Winona 

 hunters are not ahead this year? By the by, this was the 

 first duck ever shot by Mr. Melvin. He will probably 

 shoot thousands more before he has another one retrieved 

 in that fashion. — X, 



ANGLING NOTES, 



A LATE number of the Springfield Republican men- 

 tions the fact of the great improvement noticed 

 this season in the size and number of trout caught in the 

 White Mountain streams. These waters have been well 

 restocked, and this encouraging result is a proof that re- 

 stocking pays. Because a few people have made a fail- 

 ure of their attempts to raise trout for the market, itdoe3 

 not follow that all artificial trout breeding is a failure, as 

 some cranks would like us to believe. 



There have been a number of instances where restock- 

 ing of old and fished-out trout waters have been followed 

 with excellent results. There is hardly an angler who 

 has not noticed this fact. 



The Castalia Club waters in Ohio, for instance, is a re- 

 markable proof; for there were absolutely no trout in 

 these waters originally, and now their streams contain 

 any quantity of fine, well-fed fish running up to 4lbs. in 

 weight. The return of the salmon in the Penobscot and 

 Hudson rivers is a well-established fact, and dozens of 

 other case3 could be mentioned . 



Of course, it is necessary to do something besides re- 

 stocking. Proper protection and food must be provided, 

 and means taken to prevent the trout hog from killing off 

 the fingerlings. If this is done, success is found to fol- 

 low. 



Last season we had occasion unfortunately to call the 

 attention of our readers to the condition of affairs in the 

 Adirondacks, showing a state of lawlessness that in for- 

 mer years was unknown. We refer to the robbery of 

 Gen. Brandreth's baggage on his way into the woods; and 

 that was followed by the stealing of trunks from the 

 Prospect House. Senator Livingston, who has just re- 

 turned from the Adirondack Cluo, relates the following 

 incident. He went to Andrews' pond one rainy afternoon 

 intending to fish there for a day or two. The club have 

 a camp there and always keep a few simple cooking uten- 

 sils and an axe. When he and his guide arrived just 

 before dark they found everything had been stolen . They 

 were in a very disagreeable predicament— wet through, 

 no axe to cut wood and nothing to cook in. Fortunately 

 the guide, while hunting about for dead wood, found the 

 axe where it had been left by the thieves, so they were 

 enabled to get firewood. The next day the Senator caught 

 some forty-five speckled trout, which he cleaned and cov- 

 ered up with moss. The next morning they were there 

 all right and he added a few more to the pile. The guide 

 and the Senator then crossed the lake to a spring for some 

 water, and though away only twenty minutes, they found 

 on their return that their trout were all stolen. So they 

 had to go back to the club house empty banded. 



The footprints were quite distinct, showing what had 

 become of the fish, and the thieves had evidently come a 

 long distance intending to poach ; but seeing some one 

 there, had kept in hiding until the Senator and his guide 

 crossed the lake. Then they stole what they could and 

 left in a hurry. Hereafter the club will keep a man there. 



In old times such occurrences were unheard of, and no 

 one ever dreamed of taking precautions against thieves 

 in the woods. 



Mr. Osgood's Trout.— Colebrook, N. H, Oct. 6.— The 

 weather effectually stopped fishing here during Septem- 

 ber, and none was attempted; but as a rule in some local- 

 ities here the fly-fishing in September is better than at 

 any other time during the season, especially in point of 

 size. In "Special's" letter in last issue he mentions a 

 trout caught at Middle Dam, Me., by Mr. Osgood, which 

 weighed 91bs. 2oz. I have a letter before me, written by 

 a gentleman who was present at the time. He says: 

 "iii-. Osgood caught with fly on a 5|oz. rod a trout that 

 weighed 91bs. 2oz., which beat anything that I had ever 

 seen. It was a male fish, and a perfect beauty. I was 

 close by at the time." The gentleman also mentions two 

 of 6Jlbs. and one of 8Jlbs. taken at the same place. — ROB, 



