812 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 15, 1891, 



dogs galore. Some of the latter are effective-looking, 

 strongly-built lanky hounds of ancient lineage, with no 

 bar sinister to their genealogy. But others look more or 

 less like disreputable sheepdogs or snarly farm watchers 

 of much-involved descendance, and others still are of no 

 classifiable kind. The guns in the hands of the hunters 

 are a stranger lot still; muskets from the days of the long 

 strife, and muzzleloaders of venerable age, with muzzles 

 grown thin as paper at the end and barrels cunningly 

 fastened to the stocks with many and ingenious twistings 

 of rawhide. The party was divided into several smaller 

 ones, each going in a different direction, to finally con- 

 verge and guard all likely places. Within a short time a 

 deep baying announces that the game is started, and my 

 friend and I are posted in two of what are considered as 

 the very best places, out of the kindly courtesy to visitors 

 and strangers T have always met with in the South. But 

 the deer seems to know what is in store for him, and per- 

 sistently runs in a wrong direction, and finally escapes 

 into such thick and dismal swamp 3 tbat the doers are fain 

 to abandon the chase. Soon after another volley of hay- 

 ings occurs, but this time a coon has been started , and liis 

 lease of life proves a short one, for as he runs up a tree 

 the dogs are after him, and a shot from one of the hunt- 

 ers brings Mm to the ground. So the deer shoot is a 

 meager success, but still holds amusement and interest 

 enough with it to repay us well for our trouble. 



It is all too soon when our avocations compel us to start 

 North again, with another fund of pleasant reminiscences 

 to add to the many that a lifetime of shooting and fish- 

 ing enthusiasm has caused us to accumulate at many 

 times and in many lands. G. V. S. 



MAINE DEER, 



130ST0N, Mass., Jan. 2.—The number of Maine deer 

 -D coming into the Boston market is by far too great. 

 It is greater, in fact, than for several seasons. It is plain 

 that the non-export law is being evaded to an alarming 

 extent. My attention was called to several saddles of 

 venison Saturday that lay in front of a commission 

 house, and in the afternoon a friend, a sportsman him- 

 Belf, told me that he saw the deer drawn from barrels. 

 Again on Monday there were three more in front of 

 another commission house. I asked a salesman if they 

 were from Maine and he told me that they were. He 

 was not at liberty to give me the shipper's name, but be 

 said that they came with a lot of butchers' hides. This 

 is a new way of smuggling the deer into this market. It 

 is very easy to bury the saddles of venison under the 

 hides, and they would scatcely attract attention, done up 

 in the deer skins, as they generally are. The legs are 

 always cut, so that they are easily folded in with the 

 hide. 



The same salesman, who showed me the deer, also said 

 that he had a hide that he wanted me to see. He un- 

 folded an enormous skin — long-haired and very dark. It 

 was the skin of a cow moose that weighed over GOOlbs. 

 This moose hide also came in with the venison, buried 

 under the cattle hides in the car. The skin would make 

 a handsome sleigh robe, and will doubtless be sold for 

 that purpose. The owners wrote the commission dealer 

 that they thought they ought to realize $7 for it. The 

 late heavy snow storm was also heavy in Maine, and the 

 danger is that killing moose and deer in the yards will be. 

 so far started that the coming of the close time will not 

 stop it. Last winter there was so little snow that the 

 yard hunting amounted to nothing, the snow not being in 

 sufficient volume to confine the animals to their yards 

 when the hunters came up. Special. 



MAINE GAME INTERESTS, 



THE Maine Legislature has again assembled, and the 

 fate of the game in that vast forest region is virtu- 

 ally in its hands. It is possible that the greater part of 

 the members of that body realize the importance of 

 proper legislation on this question, but it is also well 

 known that a part of the members — let us hope that they 

 are in a very small minority— are adverse to any protec- 

 tion of game whatever. As near as I can" learn, a 

 movement will be made to repeal all fish and game pro- 

 tective laws. This movement will come from the lumber 

 interest, and it is to be hoped that it will acquire no 

 force. But there is feeling that all fish and game pro- 

 tective legislation in Maine is detrimental to the lumber 

 interest. Prominent men, owning extensive tracts of 

 timber, have this fall expressed themselves in the light 

 that they wished that there was no game in the woods of 

 Maine, and that there were no fish in her waters. They 

 claim that the presence of hunters, drawn thither by the 

 increase of game in the woods and the many reports of 

 game that are published in the papers, in the interest of 

 hotels and transportation companies, endanger their valu- 

 able timber lands to an increasing and alarming extent. 

 They fear the fires of the hunters, and they would be 

 glad of any legislation, or lack of legislation, that would 

 tend to keep these hunters off their lands. These same 

 lumber owners defeated the proposition two years ago to 

 extend the open season on moose, deer and caribou, so 

 that September might be included, and now the same 

 question is to come before the present Legislature, with 

 added features to strengthen the existing game laws. 

 The result will be anxiously watched. 



The same lumber interest is inimical to the inland 

 fishery interest, for the reason that the owners of dams 

 and waterpowers are compelled by statute to maintain 

 fishways. This is a statute that has never yet been 

 thoroughly enforced in that State. The Union Water- 

 power Company, controlling all the great dams in the 

 Rangeley region, has never fully obeyed the letter or 

 spirit of the law in regard to fishways. The past season 

 the company was notified that the dam at Rangeley out- 

 let must be supplied with a fishway. The company has 

 quibbled for a while over the situation and finally threat- 

 ened to abandon the dam altogether if compelled to 

 maintain a fishway. This alarmed the cottage owners 

 on the borders of Eangeley Lake. The abandonment of 

 the dam and drawing off of the flowage would ruin the 

 beautiful shores of the lake. Finally the matter has been 

 settled, I believe, by several gentlemen interested pur- 

 chasing the dam and right of flowage from the company. 

 These gentlemen will doubtless supply the needed fish- 

 way and keep the dam. 



Another feature these lumber people fear is legis- 

 lation that shall prevent their turning their deadly 

 chemicals into the streams above Bangor, on the tribu- 



taries of the Penobscot. It is a fixed fact, in the minds 

 of the Fish Commissioners, that the salmon of the Pen- 

 obscot are doomed, if this turning of chemicals from the 

 numerous pulp mills, built and to be built, is to be con- 

 tinued. It makes no difference to these lumber people if 

 the Penobscot is the last hold of the Salmo solar on the 

 Atlantic coast. They are interested in pulp mills only, 

 and any legislation that shall compel them to desist from 

 turning chemicals from these mills directly into the 

 streams will be fought tooth and nail. 



But again Governor Burleigh has come out squarely in 

 favor of needed fish and gatne protective legislation in his 

 inaugural address to the Legislature. He says: "The val- 

 uable and interesting reports of the Commissioners of 

 Fisheries and Game will belaid before you, and I earnestly 

 commend the recommendations therein made to your 

 careful attention. Everything possible should be done to 

 sustain the Commissioners in enforcing the laws against 

 those who wantonly violate them. Whatever the Legis- 

 lature may be able to do to secure the better protection of 

 fish and game will advance the material interests of the 

 State and merit the just approval of all its citizens." 



Gov. Burleigh, though a heavy owner of timber lands, 

 is, I believe, an earnest advocate of proper fish and game 

 protective legislation, and the only fault that can be laid 

 at his door is that he has not employed the forces of the 

 State at his command to better enforce the already 

 stringent laws during the past two years. He must have 

 been aware that packs of hounds were being employed to 

 run deer in and out of season the past summer and 

 autumn, and that the commissioners were powerless to 

 stop them from lack of means. Why, it is a fact that a 

 pack of hounds, owned by one at the Magalloway settle- 

 ments — several times mentioned by me in the Forest 

 and Stream — commenced to run deer early in the 

 autumn of 1889, and that no steps have yet been taken to 

 stop them. The other day these same dogs ran four deer 

 into the Kenebago region. The poor creatures were seen 

 by loggers as they fled before the terrible dogs with pro- 

 truding tongues. Indeed the poor beasts seemed to take 

 to the loggers for protection, and the men say that they 

 might easily have killed them with their axes, but they 

 did not desire venison obtained in that way. Report 

 says that they tried to destroy the dogs, but did not suc- 

 ceed. But the State of Maine, knowing almost the very 

 house where these hounds are kept, has not, to mv 

 knowledge, taken any steps to destroy them or to punish 

 their owner. If some men were Gov. Burleigh, officers 

 of the law would visit the Magalloway region and those 

 hounds would be stopped. It is claimed by some hunters, 

 however, that the dogs are not owned in Maine, that they 

 come over from New Hampshire. It is possible that this 

 is true, but they 'have made some very long runs to the 

 east and over into Maine, fully 20 miles. 



But if there was but one pack of hounds that was owned 

 in Maine, or but one pack was ever let loose upon deer in 

 the wide expanse of the State, the matter would be an 

 easy one to settle. Such is not the case, as I have already 

 explained in the Forest and Stream. Hounds have been 

 taken into the State this fall by more than one dozen, and 

 now it remains to be seen what action the Legislature of 

 the State will take toward putting the means into the 

 hands of the Commissioners to effectually stop deer- 

 hounding. Why, the number of deer killed the past 

 season, in the western section of the Rangeley region 

 alone, has been numbered by the Phillips Phonograph at 

 74, a number unheard of before. Now I happen to be 

 positive that a part of these deer have been taken by the 

 aid of dogs, and that some of them were killed in the close 

 season. And this is but a small section of a great State, 

 and is only mentioned as an example of what has been 

 going on. Shooting and dogging operations in other sec- 

 tions of the State have been just as bad. 



If the inhabitants of the State desire the utter destruc- 

 tion of noble game in their forests, then the Legislature 

 has but to leave matters as they are, and a season or two 

 will do the work. Stop hounding effectually; make the 

 open season for otherwise hunting moose, deer and caribou 

 what it should be, and give the present efficient Commis- 

 sioners the means wherewith to enforce the laws, and 

 deer at least will go on increasing till every honest hunter 

 will stand a reasonable chance of success who is willing 

 to visit Maine in the proper open season and hunt deer as 

 any humane and respectable lover of the gun would desire 

 to hunt. Special. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The close season for nearly all kinds of game is now 

 on, and a brief notice of the past season and some of the 

 needs for the future may prove of interest to the readers 

 of your unequalled paper. 



The hunting and fishing during the season now ended 

 has been the most successful for many years. In fact, 

 it is doubtful if at any previous season sportsmen have 

 enjoyed such uniform good luck. 



Visitors from others States have come to Maine and re- 

 turned te their homes more than ever satisfied that 

 Maine is in very truth the sportsman's paradise. Nor 

 have local hunters met with less success. Parties of two 

 or three, or more, have gone from the cities and towns in 

 the southern portion of the State into the woods of the 

 northern section and brought back big supplies of game 

 to divide among their admiring friends. 



All this is on the bright side. But there are ugly facts 

 connected with the season's sport. Not satisfied with an 

 abundance of game that ought to satisfy the most ardent 

 sportsman the hunters have, in many cases, obtained 

 their game by methods both unsportsmanlike, contrary 

 to the laws of the State and dangerous to the future of 

 the now flourishing supply. 



If every returning hunter were compelled to state 

 honestly and exactly how he secured his big stock of 

 venison there would be, in a great many cases, little room 

 for pride on his part over his achievements. Men who 

 are posted on the manner in which much of the hunting 

 has been done know that hounding has been employed 

 and water shooting in the most reckless fashion. The 

 hunters have displayed the three or even four carcasses of 

 deer brought back with them with much pride, but ques- 

 tioned closely as to the manner of the killing they are ex- 

 ceedingly reticent. All this points to one fact, and that 

 is, that everything has been sacrificed to success in ob- 

 taining a big supply of game, and laws of decency and 

 of the commonwealth have alike been disregarded. 



Now, what can be done to do away with this state of 

 things, and insure for Maine a system which shall secure j 

 the continuance of a game supply that is even now ade- 



quate to supply all demands of legitimate sport? The 

 vast extent of the Maine hunting grounds and the vicious 

 disposition of some of the lawbreakers make this a diffi- 

 cult problem to solve. The report of the Game Commis- 

 sioners of the State declares that last year one Frenchman 

 killed forty moose for their hides, leaving their bodies to 

 rot upon the snow. There are plenty of natives who 

 were engaged in the same deadly work of extermination. 

 But one course is open. It is for the this winter's Legis- 

 lature to awake to the importance of fish and game pro- 

 tection, pass better and stronger laws, and what would 

 be still more desirable, provide an appropriation approxi- 

 mately sufficient to secure the enforcement of the laws 

 and the punishment of offenders. It is going to cost 

 something — a good deal of money— to keep the State 

 what she now is, the resort of sportsmen from all over 

 the country, But there can be no question about the 

 wisdom of such outlay. The visitors pay annually a sum 

 of money to the railroads, the hotels, the guides, and in- 

 directly to many others in the State, far greater than the 

 cost of the needed protection. It all rests with the dis- 

 position of the individual members of the legislative 

 body, and it is sincerely to be hoped by all true sports- 

 men that they may view the situation in its true light, 

 and make wise provisions and much-needed appropri- 

 ations. E. T. W. 

 Watebvxlle, Me. 



A NEW SYSTEM OF BORING SHOTGUNS. 



IT is only too well known that chokebore guns lose 

 their concentrated pattern after a certain amount of 

 service. This is caused by an expansion of the constricted 

 muzzle, slightly from attrition, mainly from the severe 

 shocks attendant upon altering the form and direction of 

 the swift-traveling shot charge. 



When this effect is produced the gun is said to be "shot 

 out," and the only remedy is reboring. 



This is accomplished by gradually enlarging the orig- 

 inal bore, commencing say 15 or i!0in. from the breech. 

 As the muzzle is approached this bore is quite abruptly 

 constricted. 



The defects of such a method are self-evident. No gun- 

 smith would think of so boring a new gun. The diverg- 

 ence of shot toward a common center is secured in so 

 short a space that the angles of inclination are unduly 

 great. Experience has taught the gunsmith the requisite 

 form necessary to concentrate the shot at 4<>vds., the 

 standard distance, but trial of such a gun at 30, 40, 50 and 

 60yds. will exhibit its weakness. There is also a materia I 

 loss in penetration. The wads adapted to the shell and 

 to the barrel fail to fill the cavity or recess produced in 

 reboring. This is plainly shown by the "caking" of such 

 guns toward the muzzle, as the wads do not so closely 

 touch walls of barrel in this recess as to remove the de- 

 posit from the burning powder charge. Therefore, in 

 penetration we must depend upon the first 15in., say, of 

 the barrel; in pattern, we are restricted to the last I5in.; 

 in effect we are shooting a gun with barrels only 15in. long. 



It is conceded that the most satisfactory results, in 

 penetration, in pattern at long and short distances, with 

 large and small shot and with black and nitropowders, 

 are secured by using a taper choke. There are many 

 forms given to this taper, longer or shorter, but all agree 

 in their avoidance of an enlargement of the natural bore. 



Therefore, the only unobjectionable plan of reboring is 

 one that will restore the original form. This can be done 

 in but one way; by treating the "shot-out" gun as a new 

 work, and reboring every particle of the barrel from 

 breech to muzzle. This, of course, involves a change of 

 gauge, and the increase from a 12 toalO-boreis too great. 

 Hence we should have two new sizes of shells, 9 and 11 

 gauges. The increase of only one number in gauge is so 

 slight as not to seriously impair the strength of any gun 

 worth reboring. Possibly it will not require an enlarge- 

 ment of an entire number in caliber; one-half or three- 

 fourths of a gauge might suffice. The experienced 

 reborers could decide as to exact size of new shells that 

 would cover the needs of the major part of "shot-out" 

 guns. 



An incidental advantage of this plan is that your new 

 9 or 11-bore gun would retain its choke longer than the 

 old one. The tendency of iron to resist expansion is pro- 

 gressive, and the natural "stretch" of the metal has now 

 been largely exhausted. 



The new sizes, 9 and 11, in shells would also supply a 

 present need. Many guns, notably the Parker, do their 

 best work with wadding one size larger than the nominal 

 bore. For such guns manufacturers of ammunition load 

 No. 9 wads in a 10-gauge shell, etc. This is but a poor 

 makeshift. The compressed wad is no longer a No. 9 

 but, say, a No. 9-J— neither hay nor grass. All such large 

 bored guns, and there are many thousands in use doing 

 their best work with brass shells and large wadding, 

 would be rechambered to take the new sizes, Nos. 9 or 

 11, leaving barrel untouched if satisfactory. The result 

 would be to combine the efficiency of the brass shell with 

 the convenience of the paper shell. 



I can think of but two objections that may be raised to 

 this plan of re-boring, or rather re-making a gun, and 

 neither is vital: 



First — As to shells being difficult to obtain. It is a 

 sufficient answer to say that a demand always finds a 

 supply. It may be doubted if there will be as many 10 

 and 12-bores in use, say three years from now, as there 

 are of 9 and 11-bores. This may sound extravagant, but 

 consider the proportionate number of unsatisfactory, old 

 or "shot out" guns, as compared with those compara- 

 tively new and free from fault in shooting qualities. 



Second — The present rules of trap-shooting contests bar 

 all 9-bores and in many cases make a 12-bore the stan- 

 dard Now, this increase of only one gauge, if a whole 

 gauge should be found necessary in the new shell, is not 

 sufficient to justly outclass a gun. There should be no 

 material difference between the shooting of the best lis 

 and 12s. Probably the 11-gauge would have slightly the 

 advantage. If so found, it should be admitted in all con- 

 tests now restricted to 12-gauge, or smaller, guns and 

 penalized fairly, say one half a yard. In matches where 

 a 10-gauge is standard the 11-gauge should be interme- 

 diate between that and the 12-gauge, and the 9-gauge 

 similarly proportioned beyond the 10-gauge. Managers 

 of tournaments are only too glad to secure attendance 

 and will brush away ficticious difficulties if occasion de- 

 mands. Rules are flexible creations and can readily be 

 enlarged one bore. 



I would invite the careful consideration of gunsmith-' 

 and sportsmen to the many advantages these new sizes 



