270 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct, 23, 1890, 



flicts thern.f |He is a bright and living example of the 

 heights of glory that the illustrious game warden system 

 is capable of attaining. 



There may be some new crook in the ways of the 

 Illinois law which will make these cases stick, but at 

 present it is hard to distinguish them from the others 

 above cited, which didn't stick. The probability is that 

 they will be dismissed. If that is done, the cause of 

 game protection will again be hurt instead of helped. 

 The result will be duly reported. 



It might be supposed that from lack of savage fervor 

 against game dealers who have exposed illegal game for 

 sale, and from the presentation of the game dealers' side 

 of the export question, as vide. Col. Bond's letter, Forest 

 and Streak correspondence was in league with the game 

 dealers, not with the cause of game protection. Let me 

 gravely assert that such is not the case. But it seems 

 better to offer all the facts about the game laws, and not 

 to accredit it to either the laws or the sportsmen who say 

 they wish to see the laws supported with a virtue that is 

 not possessed. If the laws are worthless and will not 

 hold water, it is time we all knew it, and time we devised 

 a better way to stop the horrible slaughter of our game, 

 which in spite of laws and sportsmen is going on all 

 through the West. It seems folly to suppose that this 

 slaughter cannot at least be modified ; it is equal folly to 

 suppose that protection phases of sportsmanship such as 

 we have had in the past ever will do much to modify it. 

 The figure of protective sportsmanship, in the West at 

 least, has long been merely a gigantic effigy stuffed with 

 hay. It is time we knocked the hay out of it. It needs sharp 

 words and appalling facts to startle sportsmen out of their 

 mutual admiration; it needs the display of the resources 

 of those who are interested in game destruction, to show 

 the feebleness of the actual resources of those who claim 

 to be interested in its preservation. It does no good to 

 cover up and to dissemble and to attempt to deceive 

 oneself. It is the locked horns, the issue joined, the fight 

 fought out, that counts in life. For this end, let us hope 

 to see the sportsmen of this region insist on the removal 

 of the man Brusewitz, and insist upon the services of a 

 man who can and will make a case stick against the South 

 Water street men who,- most of all, are encouraging and 

 holding up the slaughter of game. Let them insist upon 

 a change in the law which shall make it read like plain 

 common sense to a common-sense man. As for Col. 

 Bond's letter, I hope' Wm. Alden Smith will start suit 

 against him. The Illinois case is at least an offset against 

 the Michigan case, and a future Michigan judge may call 

 the Michigan case a mere "dictum," and think the Illinois 

 decision, that game is not property, good law. Forest 

 and Stream editorially disagreed with the Illinois de- 

 cision, but Forest and Stream would hardly object to 

 seeing another test case in Michigan and one also in 

 Wisconsin, since now the sportsmen have the Illinois case 

 to stand on. It ought to be decided, and if shooters can 

 ship game across a State line no paper ought to say they 

 cannot, or to keep the fact a secret, 



Should the Sloan and Brosseau cases stick, it is said that 

 fourteen other arrests will at once be made on South 

 Water street, In another column, perhaps later, attention 

 will be called to the season's work of the Fox River Fish 

 and Game Association, and in the obverse of this picture 

 readers may perhaps find something more cheerful to 

 look upon. 



Oct. 17.— Kx. T. F. Rose, of Camden, N. J., and Mr. 

 Frank Toppin, of the Philadelphia News, are in town 

 to-day on their way West, and will travel in company as 

 far as St. Paul or perhaps Winnipeg. Mr. Toppin will 

 go West Ada the Canadian Pacific, and will stop at Van- 

 couver, Seattle and other coast points, making a very fine 

 trip of it, though not stopping to shoot much. Mr.'Rose 

 will stop a few days in Dakota or Manitoba, perhaps near 

 Devil's Lake, N. D., shooting ducks and geese and trying 

 for a few chickens. He then goes to Butte, Mont. /and 

 strikes south via the Park to Cheyenne, stopping for big 

 game at points not yet determined, and spending a month 

 or more on his trip, which should be a delightful one. 



Mr. S. C. Glover, a well-known sportsman of Grand 

 Haven, Mich., and erstwhile contributor to Forest and 

 Stream, is off at Chicago to-day, en route to North Da- 

 kota after geese. 



Mr. S. R. McCormick and his friend Mr. Ryerson, of 

 this city, start this week for northwestern Nebraska after 

 wildfowl and chickens. It is rather late for the latter. 



Mr, Samuel Trude and his son, A. S. Trude, go to Ne- 

 braska, along the Dismal River and three forks of the 

 Loup, for their hunt, and not to Dakota, as was at first 

 intended. 



Devil's Lake, N, D., is the goose-shooting point most 

 valued thiB fall by Chicago shooters, but I am told there 

 is a station about 30 or 40 miles this side, Larryniore, or 

 some such name they give it, which is the best place to 

 stop off. Messrs. Farmer, Dicks and Hansen are in there 

 now. 



Mr. |E. C. J. Cleaver and Mr. Alex T. Loyd will start 

 soon on a little duck trip, probably to the Spring Lake 

 country, described in late mention in these columns. 



Mr. A. S. Trude, the well kno wn| criminal lawyer of 

 this city, accompanied by his father, an enthusiastic 

 sportsman, start from Dakota soon on a trip after big 

 game. 



A novel feature in the project of blasting out the rock 

 ledge at Momence and so draining the Ka nkakee marshes. 

 The drainage trustees of Chicago propose turning a river 

 of their own and a part of Lake Michigan into the Illinois 

 River, and they don't want the Kankakee drained in at 

 about the same time. Indiana Legislature has appointed 

 commissioners to let the contract for blasting out the 

 ledge- There is still some talk that the State of Illinois 

 can interfere with the letting or carrying out of the In- 

 diana contract. Work was to have been begun by this 

 time. 



Mr. Roger D. Williams and his kinsman Mr. E. D. 

 Sayre, both of Lexington, Ky., were in town yesterday 

 on their way to Montana and the Coast, They will both 

 stop off at the meet of the American Coursing Club at 

 Great Bend, Kas., next week. Mr. Williams is known 

 as a prominent greyhound man and will take his string 

 of winners clear out to the Golden Gate with him and try 

 for the big California stakes. But first there will be 

 some dallying with that deceptive Kansas product, the 

 double-geared jack rabbit of the buffalo grass. 



Oct. 18.— Mr. Herbert S. Smith, of the Washburn & 

 Moen offices here, starts to-day for a two weeks hunting 

 trip in Wisconsin. He will try Green Lake and other 

 points in that State, and will also stop off for some squir- 



rel shooting at Barrington, in this State, where he should 

 have some fun. His friend Mr. Cameron has lately had 

 good duck shooting at Green Lake, and if it were not for 

 that Mr. Smith would be disposed to try Spring Lake, in 

 this State. 



Mr. E. C. Cook, the well-known sporting goods manu- 

 facturer, and his friend Mr. Loughridge were down at 

 their club, the De Golyer, about two weeks ago and had 

 magnificent sport at jack snipe. Mr. Loughridge alone 

 killed over 200 and Mr. Cook says he never saw such a 

 bag of snipe as they had. They shot only two days. Mr. 

 Ward was not along. Mr. Cook says he never had a bet- 

 ter time in his life. The weather was too warm then for 

 ducks, but the keeper reports to-day that the water is 

 coming over the marsh in good shape and plenty of ducks 

 are in. Mr. Cook and Mr. Loughridge go down again 

 Monday morning. The De Golyer Club, it will be re- 

 membered, lies above Water Valley and has some- of the 

 very best marsh on the Kankakee. The club ditches are 

 giving them plenty of water this fall, it seems. 



Yesterday the game law suits against Henry A. Sloan 

 and J. B. Brosseau were tried. The Sloan case resulted 

 in an acquittal, as was earlier surmised would be the 

 event. The Brosseau case is under advisement till Oct. 

 24. Such is life in the Wild West under the aegis of the 

 Illinois warden law. 



On last Sunday two young men, Geo. Earl, of 601 North 

 Clark street, and Michael Michaelson, both stenogra- 

 phers, were out hunting ducks in a boat on Fox Lake. A 

 flock of mudhens flew by. Michaelson who, sitting in 

 the rear, and who by any rules of shooting ought by no 

 means to have fired, or to have had a gun with him in 

 that part of the boat, raised his gun to fire. The same 

 old sickening, terrible accident occurred. Earl received 

 the charge in his right shoulder and fell stunned to the 

 bottom of the boat. Michaelson lifted him to his seat. 

 It was a three miles pull to the landing, four or five to 

 to railway station and fifty miles to Chicago. The sufferer 

 was taken to a hospital in the city and his arm was am- 

 putated. From the effects of this young Earl died on 

 Thursday. Michaelson is suffering the usual prostration 

 from grief. Doubtless other young gentlemen will go 

 out with guns scattered all over the boat instead of all 

 placed in the bow, where they should be, and doubtless 

 before long another man-slaughterer will be prostrated 

 with grief. E. Hough. 



DOG AND GUN IN CAROLINA. 



T T has been some time since I wrote to you. Various 

 X causes have contributed to my silence, but the most 

 potential has been the state of my health. I am glad to 

 say that it is now somewhat better, and I hope to be able 

 some time in November to go out into the field with my 

 light 14-bore and my dogs Rip and Ned, and have some 

 sport with Bob White, or the Virginia partridge of Audu- 

 bon. I shall not be strong enough to take long and rapid 

 tramps, for at best when one reaches my age be must 

 have observed the wisdom of the lower order of animals 

 and not attempt the impossible. It was Swift, I think, 

 who, in contrasting the conduct of the human race with 

 the dumb brute, said: 



"A dog by instinct turns aside 

 When Tie sees the ditch too deep and wide; 

 A foundered horse will oft debate 

 Before he tries a five-barred gate." 



Well, I am forced to "turn aside" very often and to 

 "debate'' a good deal in both cases. In the one case I 

 search for a cow-ford or family bridge, and in the latter I 

 crawl up very slowly and get down with the most abund- 

 ant caution. I can get down as rapidly as anybody, but 

 prefer the gentler mode for fear I might disable myself. 



.My old dog Argo, which in some respects was surpassed 

 by no dog I have ever seen, has gone to "the undiscovered 

 country." He did not have the most acu te sense of smell , 

 and was often too eager and rapid for the hunt; but he 

 had an abundance of "bird sense,"' and a capacity to 

 endure which I have never seen equalled. He did" not 

 potter along like a galley slave a few yards only from his 

 master, looking back timidly, but ranged wide and 

 rapidly, and when I was resting on the fence or a log or 

 stone, he would find the birds if any were in the field. I 

 would never have one of those snail dogs, fearing the 

 sportsman to go over nearly as much ground as he. If 

 such a dog is a retriever he would be of some service in 

 that respect. Poor old Argo. He had no ancestry so far 

 as I know. His daddy was simply a plain pointer of no 

 pedigree, and his dam was equally humble, but he could 

 wear out in the course of a hunt several of the blooded 

 stock one after another. 



I have long since been the advocate of light guns for 

 small game, and am glad to see that sportsmen are begin- 

 ning to adopt the idea. A gun which will weigh 61bs. to 

 6|lbs. is abundantly heavy, and late in the afternoon, far, 

 far more comfortable than one which will "kick the 

 beam" at Slbs. to lOlbs. Nor do I want to carry 3^ to 4drs. 

 of gunpowder when a little more than half that quantity 

 is abundant. To me it seems ridiculous to use 5drs. of 

 powder for one little bird. It reminds me of what Dr. 

 Wolcot said of Samuel Johnson's style: 



West gives an inch the importance of a mile, 

 Uplifts the club of Hercules— for what ? 

 To crush a butterfly or to brain a gnat. 



From all I can hear, the bird crop is very abundant all 

 over the State. The nesting season was a favorable one, 

 and young coveys are frequently seen. If the hawks and 

 foxes do not get among them sport will be excellent. 

 There is some nice hunting ground near a place which I 

 own, twelve miles north of this town, where there is a 

 mineral spring, whose waters have proved serviceable in 

 cases of hay fever. On the streams near by there are 

 large fields and plenty of cover, and a man who can walk 

 well and shoot well can easily get in a day from fifteen 

 to thirty birds. Then in Montgomery county, just north, 

 there is good shooting. Indeed the whole of the central 

 part of the State is for such purposes quite attractive. 

 The best of the sport is off from the railroads necessarily ; 

 and a man who can do without a daily paper or a 

 carpeted floor can go to some quiet farm house and spend 

 several weeks very enjoyably, and at a small expense. 



I have never seen any of those "feather-weight" guns, 

 and do not know that I ever shall. I have so many, and 

 more in fact than I can use, and cannot afford to buy one 

 more just to add to my armory. Nobody will give me 

 one, I feel sure, so I must get along as well as I can. 



I have been browning gun barrels by the method set 



forth in Greener's book. But I am not able to get thafel 

 shine on them which they had when they came from the j 

 shop. Perhaps I do not rub them sufficiently or am in' 

 too great a hurry to end the job. I am not sure that it is' 

 worth much, any way. 



I do wish that Schultze and E C powders were within) 

 the limits of my purse. The former I have tried and am 

 much pleased with it. With 2| drams, three wads, loz..' 

 No, 6 shot, I made some remarkably clean kills of sage 

 hens in Idaho last year. I think I must try to get a few 

 canisters of the E C and see how it will do. 



I read with much pleasure the account given by "Chas- 

 seur" of his experience in the coast section of this State. 

 He writes well, and as a general thing I presume he does 

 not overdraw the picture. But the scuppernong grape is 

 not black, but a delicate brown when ripe, and the depth; 

 of the water on the bar at the mouth of Cape Fear is 

 more than 12ft. 



And now, having used a nom de plume for a long 

 while, I shall for the present throw off the mask, and' 

 sign inyself Walier L. Steele. 



Rockingham, North Carolina. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is quite true, as your correspondent "Hubert" would 

 have me believe, that the hounding of deer is not a noc- 

 turnal sport. The chase is usually begun in the early part; 

 of the day, but it is not uncommon for an ambitious and' 

 lusty dog to follow his deer in and out of a stream till 

 long after dark, and only take the back track when tired 

 dog nature is on the verge of collapse. I have heard, 

 such foolish hounds yelping far into the night, and can 

 readily imagine that the early slumberer might be much 

 disturbed by it. 



By the way, why does not some one argue the case; 

 against this imitation sport from the hound's standpoint, 

 for, omitting the element of terror, they surely surfer as 

 much as the deer. The morning after a long run a hound 

 is a pitiful sight to see, with his swollen paws, stiff joints, 

 and thin enough to pass for an image of vanity. And if 

 in addition to other incidental misfortunes he has run 

 foul of a fretful porcupine and got well quilled, the dog's 

 misery is complete. 



But to return. Your correspondent asks if it be true.' 

 that the deer are being exterminated in the Adirondacke 

 as the result of hounding. I think those who are fatnil- ! 

 iar with the country will answer no; and in fact it is 

 generally believed that the deer arc increasing in num- 

 bers. If the practice of hounding was as fatal to deer as, 

 it undoubtedly is to the finer feelings of those who fol- 

 low it, the deer by this time would have dwindled into a 

 tradition. Unfortunately for argument in the matter, the) 

 deer in the majority of cases escapes capture when, 

 hounded, and each experience aids them in future ad-j 

 ventures of the kind. I set out to put your controver- 

 sialists right regarding night hunting and the destruc-' 

 tiveness of hounding, but it is impossible to approach! 

 within gunshot of the latter subject (excuse to figure of 

 speech) without trying to persuade others of its iniquity. 

 Yet when it comes to the point I don't see what we Phar- 

 isees are going to do about it. Cut and dried logic will 

 lead to but one or two conclusions: Either all deer shoot- I 

 ing is unholy, or hounding is a proper occupation, for 

 there is really no probable moral difference between 

 shooting a deer in the woods and cracking his skull with 

 a bullet or club when the animal is in the water. 



But dropping logic and viewing the case from thei 

 higher lead of humane instinct, there is no more re-; 

 volting custom in the world of sport. Written words are' 

 cold and unpersuading, but the object lesson of a single! 

 water butchery, such as I myself have been guilty of , i 

 ought to settle the matter beyond doubt for every right- 

 minded man or woman. I don't believe that even Cain, 

 who was the first sportsman we have record of, would, 

 have played such a dirty trick upon the Mesopotarniah 

 deer, and I am quite sure thatNimrod, Adonis, Diana 

 and the other lights in hunting matters would have 

 wept to think that men could ever sink so low. 



D. C. L. 



A PLEA FOR BRUIN. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In a recent issue of you paper "Special" has something 

 to say about the cruel practice of bear trapping, and de-, 

 tails a case of unnecessary cruelty by reaso'ri of neglect 

 to properly attend to the steel trap after the same had 

 been set. In the same issue of the paper, speaking on the 

 subject of the proper liinit as to the quantity of game 

 killed by any one sportsman in a stated time, you say, 

 "as regards the shooting of bears, panthers, wolves, wild- 

 cats and all that class, the sportsman is generally con- 

 ceded to be justified in availing himself of his oppor- 

 tunities to the utmost." "The object here is to annihil- 

 ate," etc. Now, in regard to the black bear I beg leave 

 to differ from you, and believe that he as one of the grand- 

 est game animals on this continent is entitled to proper 

 protection as such, besides that he, and all other fur- 

 bearing animals as well, ought to be protected at certain 

 seasons of the year for economic reasons. 



Unlike the other animals aforementioned, the black 

 bear is not a game destroyer, nor can he be to any great 

 extent charged with the destruction of domestic animals, 

 and it is safe to say that where a hundred dollars' worth 

 of sheep have been killed or maimed by dogs, not a dime's 

 worth have been destroyed by black bears. Such being 

 the case, I see no good reason why the black bear, an 

 animal conceded by all who have been successful in his 

 capture by fair means, to be, next to the moose, the 

 noblest game found on the American continent east of 

 the Mississippi River, should not be accorded the 

 same protection as deer or any other game animal. 

 His glossy black hide when prime is a trophy that any 

 sportsman might well be proud of, when he is satisfied 

 that its original owner was killed in a sportsm unlike 

 manner, and not by a lingering death in the cruel jaws 

 of a steel trap, and his flesh is by no means to be despised 

 as an article of food as all who have eaten of it will' 

 testify. His capture requires more of those qualities that 

 go to make up a true sportsman than the capture of any 

 animal with which I am acquainted on this portion of ■ 

 the continent, and as I write before me lies a rug made 

 of the glossy covering of an old veteran, which a few 

 years ago led a party of us a merry dance over hill and 

 dale, through thickets and swamps well nigh impenetra- 

 ble, for the greater part of the day, until finally brought 



