Dec. 18, 1690.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



485 



THE MAINE DEER LAW. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Special's" article in this week's issue of Forest and 

 Stream has just come to my notice. While not agreeing 

 with your correspondent that deer are growing scarcer in 

 Maine, or that the number killed before the open season 

 makes any marked difference in their number, I do be- 

 here the law as it now stands is so unpopular 1 as to be 

 impossible of enforcement. In the Maine Legislature of 

 1889 the effort to open the season on Sept. 1 or 15 was de- 

 feated by the lumber interest The lumbermen fear iires 

 in September especially, that being usually a dry month; 

 and reasoning that opening the game season in that month 

 would increase the number of sportsmen in the woods 

 and consequently the danger of forest fires, they lobbied 

 against the bill and killed it. And the law as it now 

 stands on the statute books is an attempt of the minority 

 to rule the majority, and except in a few places where 

 sporting interests especially center, it is as dead as the 

 blue laws of Connecticut. The Maine game is in prime 

 condition during the latter part of September. Nature's 

 law makes it open season. If the Maine game were un- 

 molested after the snow becomes deep in winter, I should 

 have no fears of their decreasing in numbers. 



It is not the sportsman, either within or without the 

 3tate, who destroy most of the game. It is the hunters 

 md trappers who travel the woods all winter and kill 

 ?yery animal they can, if able to use no more than the 

 ride. One such man I have in mind. His line of traps 

 rxtend over a circuit of about 200 miles. This man trav- 

 ils his line for four months every winter and kills every 

 mimal he can. A hundred sportsmen hunting in Sep- 

 ,ember would not kill so much game as this one man in 

 season. 



If the Legislature of Maine desire to protect the game 

 n the State they will surely pass legislation that shall 

 neet the approval of a majority of their people who are 

 sisposed to obey the laws, and will then provide means 

 or its enforcement. We have often seen that unpopular 

 aws cannot be enforced in this country, and any attempt 

 «f a small minority of the people to control the majority 

 vill always fail, even though that min ority represents 

 auch wealth and social position. F. T. 



Providence. 



editor Forest and Stream: 



I feel a deep interest in an article which appears in 



our issue of Dec. 11, "Maine Deer Dogging," and no 

 KHibt many of your readers will also feel an interest in 



our special correspondent's account of the illegal killing 

 ,nd wanton wa,ste of large game. 



On Sept. 30 of this year I passed over a tote road near 

 ^ong Pond, in northern Maine, and my attention was 

 ailed to a big cow moose that lay rotting on the ground 

 lear the road. It had been shot in August by jack 

 mnters, who had probably taken it for a deer, getting 

 )ut one bullet just back of her forequarters. She had 

 •un quite a distance and fallen where Bhe was not dis- 

 iovered till worthless for food. 



From observations which I made in October I am satis- 

 fied that jack-hunting is carried on to a great extent in 

 lorthern Maine, and that more game, especially deer, are 

 iilled during August and the first of September by that 

 node of hunting than are killed during the open season. 

 ' The time is ripe to make jack-hunting a State prison 

 jffense. I shall visit the Moose River and Spencer Val- 

 eys in December, and may take occasion to Avrite you 

 joncerning big game. L. A. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



THE OHIO SEASON. 



DAYTON, O., Dec. 15.— The open season for quail and 

 pheasant shooting ended in Ohio to-night, and the 

 ihousands of hunters who oiled up their guns, put them 

 iway on the rack, rubbed their dogs' feet and joints with 

 neatsfoot oil and fed warm gruel and wholesome meat. 

 ;ood-naturedly vote this the greatest bird season they 

 ;ver knew. All of the sportsmen devoted every spare 

 noment to the field; yet while it would be difficult to 

 jompute the number of quail that these hunters have 

 jagged in the thirty-five days since Nov. 10, it is believed 

 'ry observers that farmers 1 boys and pot-hunters trapped, 

 murdered and marketed more quail in the few days of 

 mow last week than were killed on the wing during the 

 mti re season. Village, town and city markets have been 

 glutted for five days. Live quail and pheasants were 

 wrought into Cincinnati by tbe wagon load, probably 

 -'rem Kentucky. A farmer hauled into Toledo, this 

 State, a wagon load of dead quail and rabbits that he got 

 n the snow. 



The first day of the snow the farmers, young and old, 

 mnted on horseback, shot right and left, and annihilated 

 ?Ovey after covey. One of the market hunters of this 

 5ity bragged that on Tuesday he had a ground shot, killed 

 seventeen quail and but one got away; and another saw 

 i covey under the snow, fired and killed thirteen in one 

 ihot. Slaughter like that all over the State has shame- 

 'ully thinned out the birds. Had the snow come this 

 \veek instead of last, the law would have been ample 

 protection. What birds are left will go through all right 

 low unless the winter is too severe Quail were selling 

 s,t $2 to $2.25 per dozen after the season opened, and to- 

 la? can be had for 75 cents to $1. Pheasants held at one 

 price through the season, 50 cents per pair at Chillicothe, 

 10 cents per pair at Fort Recoverv, Wapakmeta, Toledo 

 ind Kent, $1 at Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus and Cin- 

 unnati. The pheasant season opened Sept. 1, but there 

 tfas very little hunting until cooler weather, about Nov. 

 .. After that there was no let up until the season closed 

 ;o-day. Pheasants were so sly. and so protected in the 

 ihicket?, that a bag of four birds was counted a big day's 

 *rork. Therefore, there is an abundance left over. In 

 mdiana there is talk of passing a law forbidding the kill- 

 ing of pheasants for five years, but the proposition is not 

 ipproved by a majority of sportsmen. 



Thomas Hannah, of this city, and his brother Reuben, 

 pf Yorkshire, have been the most successful pheasant 

 ranters of this vicinity. Since the first of December they 

 lave bagged 34. In four days last week they killed 6 

 Jheasant* and 150 quail. William G. Lyman, of Kent, 

 ihooting at King's Creek. Champaign county, bagged 87 

 jpiail, 8 snipe, 13 rabbits and 3 squirrels: and in one day 

 n his own oounty.killed 4 pheasant?, 6 quail and 4 rabbits. 

 Thj» best individual record here is 100 quail in three days' 

 ftafyfc'ng, Pheasants are quite plenty in Portage county* 



Warren T. Timberlake writes from Fayette county, West 

 Virginia, that there is fairly good wild turkey shooting in 

 tbe mountain forests, and that pheasants are plenty. 

 Sportsmen of Ohio will now give their attention to rab- 

 bits, squirrels, foxes, coon and opossum. Pointers and 

 setters will go into their kennels for well- earned rest, and 

 the dachshunde, foxhounds and beagles will be put to 

 work. 



Not all of the farmers in this valley annoy the hunters 

 by posting trespass notices. There has not been such un- 

 pleasant clashings as last year, though the area of for- 

 bidden territory has been vastly enlarged. We have one 

 farmer here who has done the clever thing, and the hun- 

 ters want the Forest and Stream to make mention of it. 

 Joseph Miller, who owns a large, rich bottom farm 4 miles 

 south of here, was critically ill last summer, and some of 

 the hunters occasionally sent him a bird, and Mr. Miller 

 did not forget it. When the quail season opened he- 

 planted a large sign board, "Hunters Welcome. Put 

 your horse in the barn and feed him. Enjoy all the shoot- 

 ing you want on these farms, and when the bell rings 

 come to the house for dinner." The hunters propose to 

 have some handsome signs painted for him to read just 

 that way. Brown. 



Adirondack Deer.— Whitesboro, N. Y., Dec. 15.— 

 Dogging was not confined to the open season this year in 

 certain parts of the Adirondacks, as I know from my 

 own observation. Not only that, but salt licks and 

 various other schemes are practiced openly, all of which, 

 with timber cutting, will soon drive the deer into parts 

 unknown. I sat on a runway myself and heard the 

 sound of axes and falling timber all day. There were, 

 within a radius of five miles, at the least 50 dogs and 75 

 men at the time I speak of, naroely Oct. 1, and I was 

 told 55 deer had been killed by dogging on Jock's Lake 

 alone up to Oct. 1.— C. T. S. 



The full texts of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Provinces are given in the Bom/, nf 

 the Qamc Laws. 



THE GOLDEN TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is in evidence that the golden trout (Salirlhuty, 

 aureolm) has been taken in Sunapee Lake, N. H., with 

 hook, spear and net years before 1888. No saibling have 

 ever been put into Dan Hole Pond, and the aureolus are 

 certainly there, as Mr. Dey and I caught them tliisfalJ, 

 and Shooting and, Fishing had a sample of the same fish 

 sent to it this summer, from the same pond, before we 

 took ours. From conversations with old residents around 

 this pond I was told that they had been speared there in 

 the fall for so many years that the "memory of man 

 runneth not to the contrary." There is a pond in the town 

 of Warren, N. IL, upon the mountain side, which is said 

 to contain a few very large and highly-colored trout. I 

 visited it some twenty-five years ago; but, as the day was 

 very hot and sultry, I did not get any. From the descrip- 

 tion I got of them at that time I should judge that they 

 were the aureolus or golden trout. Commissioner E. B. 

 Hodge is of the same opinion. There is also a lake in the 

 town of Madison, N. H., called Silver Lake, where this 

 same kind of highly-colored trout has been speared in the 

 fall for many years past. Mr. Hodge gives it as his 

 opinion that these trout also are the aureoius. Now I do 

 not think Professor Garman can for an instant contend 

 that saibling have ever been introduced into these 

 waters. 



Landlocked salmon were introduced into Sunapee and 

 Newfound lakes at about the same time, and have done 

 equally well in both places, and have been caught in each 

 in large numbers. 



No saibling have ever been seen in Newfound since 

 their introduction. I have been on the spawning beds with 

 Col. Hodge taking lake trout {Salvelinus namaycush) for 

 the hatching house, and we have m ver seen either aureo- 

 lus or saibling. I do not think the saibling put into New- 

 found have been seen since, I am inclined to think with 

 Col. Hodge, the aureolus one of the oldest fish in our 

 inland waters, and that it is becoming gradually extinct. 

 You will ask if so old why have they not become known 

 before and been caught? They have been taken with 

 the spear for years on the spawning beds, but the people 

 taking them were not versed in trout lore. They could 

 tell a brook trout from a fork-tailed lake trout and that 

 was about as far as their knowledge of trout extended. 

 They did not fish in the summer time in deep cold spring 

 water where these trout lie. They did not know where 

 to look for them. It is only within a few years that we 

 have found out where they are in Sunapee Lake in the 

 summer. There are only a few places there where they 

 can be taken, and one might fish until doomsday 50yds. 

 away from those places and catch nothing. You may 

 ask why I think they are becoming extinct. In some of 

 these _ ponds pickerel, perch, shiners and redfins have 

 been introduced, and as the aureolus spawn on reefs or 

 rocky shores, the spawn and young fry are destroyed by 

 these robbers. This with indiscriminate spearing for 

 years is doing its work. 



I can give you examples in my own expei-ience. There 

 is a pond in Andover and Hill, N. H., called Poverty 

 Pond. A long brook runs from it into the Black water 

 River, Years ago this pond and brook were full of brook 

 trout. I have caught many thousands there. Some one 

 put hornpouts and shiners into the pond, and to-day it is 

 almost impossible to find a trout in either pond or brook. 

 The pouts destroyed the spawn and fry. There are two 

 communicating ponds in Sanbornton, N. H., called Rol- 

 lins and Calley ponds, which used to be famous for large 

 brook trout. Some one put pickerel into them and they 

 now swarm with pickerel, but the trout have disappeared. 

 Under similar conditions the aureolus will do the same, 

 and, as they exist in but few waters unless they are pro- 

 tected and artificially pi-opagated, their days are num- 

 bered. Walteb Aiken. 

 Frankln Falls, N. H. 



During a vi*it to New Hampshire, in October of this 

 year, the writer first met his friend and correspondent 

 Ool. Elliott B, Hodge, a gentleman whose name fa 



thoroughly identified with rishculture and protection in 

 the State which he loyally serves as Fish and Game Com- 

 missioner. We were at Plymouth and. Sunapee Lake 

 together, and discussed many subjects of mutual interest, 

 among them the golden trout, which Col. Hodge first 

 brought to the notice of ichthyologists and which was 

 introduced to the general public through the columns of 

 Forest and Stream. From him I learned many inter- 

 esting things relative to the history and habits of the new 

 trout, and, as they have an important bearing upon the 

 inquiry now being made into the relationship of the 

 golden trout to the introduced saibling, I think this an 

 opportune time for making the information public. 



Mr. Pike, who was born and brought up at Sunapee 

 Lake, says that about twenty-five years ago he and. his 

 father saw a great school of trout in the lake. They 

 caught a good many of them, but never looked for them 

 again because they supposed it to be a mere chance 

 occurrence. 



Mr. Nat. Lear, of Newbury, N. H., told Col. Hodge 

 that when they were building the Concord & Claremont 

 railroad, in 1872, shortly after the introduction of smelt, 

 he and some others were catching smelt at the mouth of 

 Beech Brook one night (this brook is a tributary of Sun- 

 apee Lake), when they saw what they supposed to be a 

 large sucker and dipped it up. It proved to be a white 

 trout of 411^., and looked to him, as he remembers it, just 

 like the aureolus, which he has seen since. It was very 

 white and silvery. 



Mr. Moses Gould, of Bradford, N. H., who was one of 

 the earliest trout fishermen on the lake and fished from 

 boyhood, claims that in 1873 he caught two large trout of 

 this kind in Sunapee and showed them to a number of 

 persons as a very peculiar trout. 



About 1873 or 1874 Thomas Roach caught two trout 

 through the ice in Sunapee, one of which weighed more 

 than 71bfl. Up to 1871 Sunapee Lake was practically un- 

 known as a fishing lake for trout, and there were scarcely 

 any boats on the lake. The little fishing that was done 

 was chiefly for pickerel. No one fished in deep water for 

 trout until their accidental discovery in great depths 

 about 1881 or 1882. The aureolus, being a very late 

 spawner, came on to the shoals at a time when there was 

 little or no travel across the lake. 



A Mr. Peabody stated that in 1881 or 1883 he saw a big 

 school of suckers on the shoals south of Loon Island , Suna- 

 pee Lake. Of course, there is little doubt that these were 

 golden trout. 



The golden trout have sometimes come on the spawning 

 shoals by the ton at a time. They do not pair to any 

 noticeable extent, and a female 19 sometimes attended by 

 five or six males. They make no nest, but move around 

 continuously like the lake trout. The lake trout voids 

 the eggs by rubbing the belly over the coarse rocks, and 

 the males sometimes lean down on top of the females. 

 At Loon Island Shoals the fish have spawned in waters so 

 shallow that their backs were not covered. The usual 

 depths range from six inches to four or five feet, but some 

 of the large ones doubtless spawned in deeper water. Since 

 the trout have become so numerous they are coming into 

 shoaler w r ater in the spring and summer in a few places. 

 They are never seen in the brooks at any time of life so 

 far as observation goes. Col. Hodge accounts for the 

 rather sudden increase of the golden trout by I he destruc- 

 tion of the yellow perch, which breed on the trout spawn- 

 ing grounds at the time when the embryos are making 

 their appearance. The prohibiting of the drawing off of 

 Sunapee Lake in such manner as to expose the breeding 

 shoals contribu tes to the increase of these trout ; and he 

 b°lieves that the black bass helped to destroy the yellow 

 perch. 



When the aureolus was first sought for bv Col. Hodge 

 as many as thirty would leap for the trolling spoon at 

 one time. Now it is impossible to catch one with the 

 spoon, as they wiil pay no attention to it even if pulled 

 right over their noses. The Colonel caught 75 in one 

 afternoon. Seven or eight consecutive easts took a trout 

 each time. The two-year-old aureolus have scarcely 

 ever reached more than 8 or 9in, in length, but the next 

 season they will reach 1 to l-Jlbs. A male aureolus fully 

 12in. long, at the Sunapee hatchery, showed parr marks 

 very distinctly. One man caught a hundred of the 

 young in a day, in 50ft. of water, and sold them as blue- 

 backs. On this account the law was framed limiting the 

 catch to trout of lOin. or over. Mr. Walter Aiken caught 

 32 young trout of this species, in deep water, last sum- 

 mer, but only one of them reached the legal limit of lOin. 



In 1879 the fry hatched from 5,000 eggs of blue-back 

 trout were planted in Sunapee Lake. They should have 

 been deposited in the brooks and not in the lake. There 

 is nothing to show that the planting was successful. 



The statement of Mr. Carl Peyrer, translated in Report 

 U. S. Fish Commission, Part lit., page 611, that the saib- 

 ling "leaves the lakes during the spawning season," ' 

 rliffers from what is usually recorded of the species. Dr. 

 Goode, for example, in the "Fishery Industries," page 503 

 writes: "At the spawning season they come into shallow 

 water near the shores or in the mouths of streams and 

 may be taken with the greatest of ease." Peyrer's re- 

 mark on page 605 of the Fish Commission report on the 

 lack of confirmation of the fertility of the cross between 

 saibling and trout (S. fario) should be considered in con- 

 nection with the question of a hybrid origin of eggs sent 

 to America. " T. H. Bean. 



Rhode Island Striped Bass. — Where I go every sum- 

 mer in Rhode Island we, who are fond of that finest of 

 fishing, catching the striped bass with rod and reel, have 

 excellent chances for the sport. The biggest catch made 

 by any of us was made by a boy eleven years old. He 

 caught in one morning's fishing three bass"of 1.61bs. , 151bs. 

 and 61bs. Many of us made catches slightly inferior to 

 this one; I, however, "came out the very small end of the 

 horn." Some made remarkable catches, one in particular 

 catching three fish which weighed together llOlbs. This 

 was done in one afternoon. — T. de C. 



Chicago, 111.— The fisb commissioners, or fish census 

 takers, or some other learned body, has been sending out 

 circulars asking for details about illegal netting, etc., 

 etc. One of these circulars was sent to the Mak-saw-ba 

 Club, on the Kankakee River, The only thing singular 

 about that is the orthography of the sender, the name of 

 the club being made to read "MeSawby." The boys of 

 that club have no right to laugh, however, for it is a well 

 known fact that one of their leading members spells it, 

 ''MeSorby*" Mak-saw-ba Is pure Heathen, anyhow. 



