J AN. 1, 18»1.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



'mite §ng mid 0tiif> 



The eull texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories arid British Provinces are given in the Book oj the 

 Game- Laws. 



THOSE NOVA SCOTIA LICENSES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of Dec. 4, under the heading of "Nova 

 Scotia Licenses," Mr. C. S. Harrington, chief game com- 

 missioner, intimates that certain American sportsmen 

 fled the country from fear of arrest for shooting moose 

 without a license. I have reason to believe that Mr. C 

 M. Stark, of Dunbarton, N. H., and myself are the per- 

 sons referred to. In justice to us both I trust you will 

 give space to the following: 



Mr. Sta,rk and myself were strangers to Nova Scotia and 

 its moose hunting grounds. Upon inquiry we were 

 referred to Mr. John Daley, of Digby, who we were in- 

 formed was the game warden for Digby county, a 

 thorough sportsman and one who could outfit us. After 

 corresponding with him we intrusted him last May to 

 make the necessary arrangements. We arrived in Digby 

 Sept. 12. Each took out a license to hunt big game 

 (which I herewith inclose). It reads: 



Licease is hereby granted Roht. D. Gould, Esq., of Fitsburg, 

 Mass., U.S., to shout, large game in Digby county for one year from 

 1st September, 1690, to 1st September, 1891, subject to conditions 

 of game laws as now in force in Nova Scotia. 



JOHN D ai/ev, Game Warden, Digby Co. 



Digby, N. S„ Sept. 12, 1S90. 



We then started for the interior as soon as we could get 

 our traps together. Upon our return to Digby some 

 three weeks later we learned from Mr. Daley that a com- 

 plaint had been made to the Association that we were 

 shooting without a license, that word had come back to 

 send officers to arrest us, and that he had interfered and 

 stopped them. Later we were fortunate enough to meet 

 the gentleman who made the complaint, and upon our 

 showing him our license we learned for the first time 

 that Daley was not at that time game warden; that he had 

 previously held that position for a number of years, but 

 it had recently been tranferred to the County Clerk. 



Now, Digby is a small town. We remained therefrom 

 Sunday at 9 "P. M. until the following Tuesday at 11 P. 

 M. waiting for the steamer. The gentleman who made 

 the complaint, appreciating our position, said he did not 

 care to make us any trouble, and that the Association 

 would investigate the* matter. Mr. Daley is proprietor of 

 the Hotel Royal and is considered responsible, and if he 

 had no authority to issue licenses, why have not the 

 Association stopped him before this, as there have been 

 several parties who have taken out licenses through him 

 since he lost the office? Mr. Daley, in signing a license 

 as game warden without authority, must certainly lay 

 himself liable to arrest for obtaining money under false 

 pretenses. From what I can learn, this whole matter 

 seems to be the outgrowth of some local trouble, and 

 before passing judgment Mr. Daley's story should be 

 heard. Robt. D. Gould. 



Fitchcurg, Mass., Dec. 22. 



MAINE—ITS GAME AND LAW. 



I AM very sorry to be obliged to say that the hounding 

 of deer in Maine continues. Maine papers are full of 

 items of deer killed. During a couple of weeks I have 

 collected items showing the slaughter of some 16 deer in 

 different sections of that State. This would be all right, 

 and every honest sportsmen would rejoice with the happy 

 hunters, were the fact established that the hunting was 

 fairly done. But such is not the case. The fox hunters 

 have increased, and these fox hunters bring home deer. 

 A party of respectable merchants and business men left 

 Boston on Monday night, for a hunting trip in Maine. 

 They told their friends that they were going for deer and 

 caribou, and that they should stay as long as the open 

 season lasts, or until Jan. 1. This looks fair on the face 

 of it, and as though the hunters had some respect for the 

 game laws of the State were they propose to hunt. But 

 on the express team, on its way to the depot of the 

 Boston & Maine Railroad that afternoon I saw a handsome 

 Iiound. Was that hound the property of the hunting 

 party? I had the curiosity to make inquiries and found 

 that he went with them. 



I learn from perfectly reliable sources that the hounds, 

 mentioned in my former article, as dogging deer on the 

 side of Aziscohos, have twice since my first information 

 been over to the West Arm of Richardson Lake, each time 

 running a deer into the water, which the hunters did not 

 get, for the reason that the deer swam the lake, and 

 neither the dogs nor the hunters had time to follow. 

 This pack of hounds is said to be owned in the Magallaway 

 Upper Settlement. 



In the report of the Commissioner of Fisheries and 

 Game of the State of Maine, extracts only of which I have 

 seen, the Commissioners frankly admit that the illegal 

 hunting of deer is carried on in some parts of the State. 

 Would that it were a few parts only! The report makes 

 use of this paragraph: "Yet there is a portion of the 

 State where they have put the law at defiance, and have 

 killed them in and out of season, and with dogs. This is 

 at the expense of the law-abiding portion, and is unjust 

 and unmanly, taking the rights away from the law- 

 abiding citizen. Owing to our meagre appropriation for 

 so large an interest as our fish and game, we have been 

 unable to give them the necessary protection they 

 deserve." 



This is an honest statement, and it is worthy of the 

 honorable gentlemen who are the authors of it. It also 

 fully vindicates what the Forest and Stream has had to 

 say in advance of the report. But the idea is shameful, 

 and goes to show how men can bemean themselves, when 

 it is possible to hunt or fish in spite of laws designed for 

 the good of all. Will the State of Maine respond promptly 

 to the needs of the hour, so clearly pointed out by the 

 able Commissioners? Let me say here that it is the one 

 hope of my love for forest sports that the coming session 

 of the Maine Legislature will give the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries and Game the power to enforce the laws of the 

 state, with such wholesome changes as those gentlemen 

 recommend in their able and honest report. I have not 

 a word of fault to find with a single change that they 

 suggest in that report, which report I hope that the For- 

 est and Stream will publish in full. The changes they 



suggest seem to me to come from deep thought and long 

 experience, and with such changes, and then with as 

 nearly absolute enforcement as the able Commissioners 

 would bring about with a reasonable sum of money at 

 their command, the State of Maine would be about as 

 near the hunters' paradise as it is possible to find in this 

 country where game has been so shamefully wasted. I 

 am glad that the Forest and Stream has led in this, 

 work, and I am glad that the experience of gentlemen so 

 amply qualified as the Maine Commissioners are at the 

 helm to direct. Will Maine grant the necessary funds? 

 Can she, as a State, see on which side of her bread the 

 butter hee? Is she not aware that thousands of sports- 

 men are only too anxious to visit her borders— her very 

 inward forests? Is she aware that no other interest, not 

 even that of timber, is as great, as productive of actual 

 wealth , as the interest of fishing and hunting might be 

 made to her citizens? Will the lumber interest in that 

 State again be allowed to spoil wholesome fish and game 

 Legislation at the last hours of the session of the Legislature 

 his winter? Look at what the Commissioners have already 

 accomplished in the way of the increase of deer; the im- 

 provement in fishing, even with the miserable pittance 

 that the Commission has been allowed ! Talk about State 

 aid to railroads in that State, why State aid — State back- 

 bone—in the enforcement of wholesome game and fish 

 laws will prove one of the greatest boons to the railroads 

 in that State. 



The Commissioners of Maine again propose that the 

 open season on moose, deer and caribou be made to 

 commence on Sept. 1. I believe that this can be done 

 without harm to the game interests of the State. They 

 also propose that the same principles involved in the fish 

 law limiting the amount of fish to be transported to his 

 own home, by the person who has legally caught the 

 same, and with his name legibly marked on the property, 

 and accompanied by him in person, shall apply to every 

 species of game. The Legislature to fix the amount thus 

 to be carried including grouse or partridge. This is right. 

 It is sensible, it is even magnanimous. The hunter who 

 has legally killed game in the open season has stolen 

 nothing. He is entitled to his property. For the good of 

 all the State should limit the quantity, however. 



But others are to write on this important question in 

 the Forest and Stream. Will they handle the question 

 as sensibly as the honest Commissioners have done in 

 their report? Cranky ideas must not come in here. Only 

 broad-gauge sentiment will answer. The man who would 

 "make jack shooting a State prison offense" must stop 

 and think that the jack shooting of a deer in the proper 

 open season is no more a crime than still-hunting: that 

 the deer are not dogged out of the country by the act; 

 that only one deer is destroyed, if the hunter is a man fit 

 to be in the woods. A method of hunting is to be con- 

 demned only when it is found that by it the game is being 

 driven away or destroyed by wholesale. Special. 



A GOOSE HUNT IN NORTH DAKOTA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



About the 20th of October the writer, in company with 

 W. S. Parker, a druggist of Lisbon, N. D., and Dr. O. G. 

 Winters, of La Crosse, Wis., left Lisbon, via Fargo, for 

 Devil's Lake for a few days' sport among the wily wild 

 geese. Taking the morning train from Fargo, a six 

 hours' ride upon the finely equipped Great Northern 

 Railway through a portion of the Red River Valley 

 brought us to the lake with the Satanic name, where, by 

 previous arrangement, a team and driver were in waiting 

 to convey us to the hunting grounds. We made our 

 headquarters at the house of a substantial German 

 farmer. 



We were up betimes the next morning, eating break- 

 fast by lamplight, and having carefully loaded our am- 

 munition, decoys, etc., into the commodious two-seated 

 buggy, were soon off into the thick darkness of the early 

 morning, headed for the lake where the geese had spent 

 the night. A lively ride of three miles in the crisp morn- 

 ing air behind a span of cranky bronchos managed by a 

 reckless driver brought us to the lake just as the first 

 faint streaks of daylight began to show in the eastern 

 horizon. 



Stringing out along the shore at intervals of 20 or §0 

 rods, and securing such cover as best we could behind 

 the high grass and small bushes that fringed the high 

 banks, we anxiously awaited the morning flight. We 

 had not long to wait; small flocks soon commenced to 

 rise from the center of the lake and start for the feeding 

 grounds, but they seemed to fly in all directions except 

 ours, and the few that came our way kept safely out of 

 reach; finally, just as we were beginning to get chilled 

 and discouraged, a nice flock of " honkers," or Canada 

 gray geese, came within our reach; and, waiting until they 

 were fairly past, we gave tbem the contents of our trusty 

 Parker ten-bore (charged with 5 drs. of powder and 1& 

 oz. of No. 2 chilled shot), and had the satisfaction of see- 

 ing two fine birds come down with a " swish" upon the 

 prairie. In the meantime the other boys were banging 

 away with good success, and the firing became general 

 all along the line. By sunrise the geese were nearly all 

 out of the lake, and, gathering up the results of our 

 morning shoot (a dozen fine birds), we loaded into the 

 buggy again and followed in the direction of the north- 

 ward flight. About three miles out we found a stubble 

 field thickly covered with geese and brant feeding, and 

 driving them away without shooting, we proceeded to 

 dig our pits and put out our decoys and dead geese. By 

 the time this was fairly accomplished, our empty 

 stomachs warned us that it was "high twelve," and we 

 adjourned to a neighboring house and partook of our 

 noonday lunch. 



Getting back into the pits about two o'clock, we awaited 

 the afternoon flight from the lake. It was nearly three 

 o'clock before the first triangle appeared on the distant 

 horizon; soon the honk, honk, squawk, squawk of the 

 coming flocks was heard, and the order is given, "Down 

 there," and we prepare for action. Soon they are over us 

 and taking the decoys beautifully; all ready — one, two, 

 three; bang, bang, bang; whizz, swish, thump; five fine 

 birds as the result of the first volley. From this time on 

 until dark they kept coming at irregular intervals, the 

 short waits adding zest to the sport. 



Space will not admit of a detailed account of our three 

 days' hunt; of the crack " double shots," nor of the many 

 misses; of how one old "honker" when he was struck 

 took a bee line at an angle of about forty-five degrees 

 for the pit where the writer was ensconced, and only 



missed his head by a scratch ; nor of the sharpened ap- 

 petites with which we devoured the baked goose and 

 other goodies of the good German frau, nor of the yarns 

 spun around the evening fireside amid wreaths of smoke 

 from our cob pipes. 



Suffice it to say that we returned with a bountiful 

 supply of geese and brant, and with minds and bodies 

 refreshed for our respective duties. I purposely omit 

 specifying numbers, fearing that it may overtax the 

 credulity of your readers, and fearing also that the story 

 might not be as large as some one else has told ■ 



We all thought that we had seen large numbers of 

 geese and brant together before, but when we saw the 

 ground literally covered at times for half a mile wide 

 and two miles long, and when we stood on the banks 

 of the lake at evening and saw them coming in, drove 

 after drove, and heard the konking and squawking of 

 from five thousand to six thousand geese and brant in 

 unison until it mingled into the indistinct roar that was 

 simply deafening, we concluded that this was indeed 

 " The Goose Hunter's Paradise." Geo. F. Goodwin. 

 Lisbon, N. D., Dec. 19, 1890. 



A GUN FROM NORTHERN KANSAS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My friend "P. M. F.," of Burlington, desires to hear 

 from others in this State, and that we may become better 

 acquainted with game in different parts will venture a 

 few words. 



We do not live in a good locality for the migratory 

 birds, as we have no lakes, and very few even small 

 ponds. Still living upon the banks of the Solomon River 

 we always have a visit every spring and fall from a lim- 

 ited number of geese, ducks and other wildfowl that 

 follow closely the water, though they do not congregate 

 here as in localities well supplied with ponds and small 

 lakes. Sandhill cranes frequently stop in this vicinity, 

 and one pair at least took up their abode along the river 

 for several weeks the past summer. Whether or not they 

 nested I cannot say, but the writer has often seen them 

 on the wing in the neighborhood, as have also several 

 others. 



One morning, two years ago, I shouldered my gun be- 

 fore daylight and started for the river in quest of ducks. 

 The stream is only three-quarters of a mile from town. 

 So I was there and carefully ensconsed among friendly 

 bushes before dawn, waiting for the flight to commence, 

 Just as the first gray streaks broke the gloom, allowing 

 objects against the sky to be seen, though somewhat in- 

 distinctly, I observed five large forms on the wing coming 

 down stream straight for my hiding place. I supposed 

 them to be white geese, though they were flying noise- 

 lessly; and when slightly past gave the leader one barrel 

 of my duck shot, and the next in line the other. I had 

 the satisfaction of seeing one tumble into the water, and 

 upon getting it ashore found it to be a pelican. I was 

 quite surprised, as I bad never known of these birds fly- 

 ing about here, and was entirely unprepared to find them 

 following our stream , apparently searching for a suitable 

 place to drop into the river. 



Quite pleased with the turn of affairs and fired with 

 the desire to procure such fine specimens for mounting, I 

 fished some stronger shells, loaded with No. 1 shot, out of 

 my hunting coat, and commenced the task of following 

 up the other four, which comprised the remainder of the 

 flock. They did not appear very wild, and after raising 

 them from the water I adopted the plan of crouching 

 low in the bushes, and if they circled within range, rose 

 and gave them the contents of my gun. After several 

 repetitions of this course, and by persistently following 

 them up, I at length had them all floating dead upon the 

 water. I was obliged to secure the services of a boy with 

 a boat, as I had gone considerably up stream, and we 

 landed the five large birds at the mill near town. The 

 obliging miller, finding that one man was not equal to 

 the task of carrying them, kindly hitched up his team and 

 took me home. 



My morning's work was quite a surprise to my friends,, 

 especially one sleepy individual (I trust he will not see 

 this) whom I had urged the evening before to accompany 

 me on. my early stroll. As he gazed upon the five mam- 

 moth frames, covered with beautiful white feathers and 

 the softest of down, and the ten powerful white wings 

 with their gray and black markings, he assured me in 

 classic language that he felt like "kicking himself" to be 

 droning away his time asleep when such game was in the 

 air. The largest bird measured 8ft, 4in. from tip to tip, 

 and the others were only a little smaller. 



At some future time I hope to say more to my Kansas 

 sporting friends, and especially upon the subject of our 

 game laws and their enforcement, which with regret I 

 am forced to admit with "P. M. F."are a dead letter, and 

 it is time we awakened to the fact. H. A. R. 



Kibwin, Kan, Deo. 3. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



There has not been a flake of snow seen here this 

 winter, and the weather is very fine. There is ice on the 

 river, and one can skate along close to the bank and 

 scare up lots of rabbits, or going back a short distance in 

 the brush get some quail. Quail, ducks, some prairie 

 chickens and lots of rabbits are to be seen in the meat 

 markets now, but he who has only a day or two at his 

 disposal must know just where to go to get a fair bag of 

 anything better than cotton-tails. At this season of the 

 year, when the streams and ponds are frozen over, a 

 great many ducks are killed on the river where the water 

 is too swift to freeze. This year, however, water-fowl of 

 all kinds have been very scarce, on the whole, and I have 

 not heard of any beiug killed, except in one case; two 

 men were hunting on the Pottawatomie and came on a 

 flock of ducks in an open spot; they fired three shots and 

 killed sixteen. 



Around this city is the finest imaginable ground for 

 both quail and prairie 'chickens, and a few years of real 

 protection would give" us an abundance of game. 



Ottawa, Kansas, Dec. 18. F. B. 



Michigan Sporstmen's Association.— Grand Rapids, 

 Mich.— The 16th annual session of the Michigan Sports- 

 men's Association will be held at the Morton House, 

 Grand Rapids, Mich., on Jan. t, 1891, at 2 o'clock P. M. 

 All game protection clubs are requested to send delegates, 

 all individual members and others interested in the pro- 

 pagation and conservation of fish and game are requested 

 i ;o be present and take part in the deliberations. By order 

 of Board of Directors.— E. S. Holmes. 



