March 19, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



169 



must be quick and sure of aim, or the bird's plump 

 breast will still continue to thunder tbroiigh the woods 

 instead of steaming from the frying-pan. , 



I have read with great interest the late articles on the 

 woodcock cfjestion, and feel that the subject is yet open 

 for investigation if all doubt is to be removed. 



In the last number (March 5) I notice a communication 

 from Stockton, Kansas, by "A. L. T.,"in which he re- 

 grets the violation of our game Jaw. He has expjessed 

 the right sentiment, and our towns are not far apart. I 

 would be glad to correspond with, him to secure his co- 

 operation to create sentiment against this unlawful 

 slaughter. If he will kindly address me at Kirwiu, 

 Kansas, P. O. Box 11, giving full name, I will gladly 

 reply. H. A. E. 



KiRwm, Kansa?, March 9. 



[The ruffed grouse is commonly called partridge or 

 pa'tridge in New England: that is the name the bird is 

 best known by ; it is the name associated with shooting 

 days in the memory of scores and thousands of men : and 

 there arc lots of people who know the ways of the bird 

 in its native haunts and the txicks of shooting it, who 

 never have and never will call it ruffed groitse nor any- 

 thing else than pa'tridge.] 



My experience for 1890 with dog and gun is as follows: 

 Number of birds shot forty-seven, about half and half 

 woodcock and partridge. All brush shooting. And in 

 some of the most inaccessible places. It cost me about 

 five shots to the bird. All shot on the wing but one. 

 Made my first double shot this season on partridge. 

 Woodcock have been more i^lenty than usual. But 

 partridge scarce, broods small; in the season's hunting 

 did not see a brood with over four in. Something wrong 

 through hatching season. 



Game has all sorts of enemies, and some worse enemies 

 than man. In this section we have only two months" 

 hunting, September and October. Snow and cold weather 

 close it for us about Nov. 1. One day while out 

 hunting I came to a fence of alders. The dog showed 

 game, and a woodcock flushed wild. I marked him down 

 and worked that way with the dog. Before getting half- 

 way to where the woodcock lit, to my surpi-ise a great 

 hawk got there before me. Then there was a hustling 

 right toward me— woodcock ahead, followed by hawk 

 three or four feet behind. I had but little time to think, 

 and wheeled calculating to shoot both. Shot the wood- 

 cock; and in the smoke and confusion the hawk got away. 

 Another time I was hunting partridge. Had just shot 

 one, and Avas working along to where I had seen others 

 go, when, on rounding a clump of scrub pines. I noticed 

 a large hawk making a great effort to fly, I looked at it 

 vrtth astonishment for a minute, when collecting my 

 senses let go a shot which brought some feathers, but the 

 hawk got away. On walking along further I saw a lot 

 of feathers which on examination proved to be of a 

 partridge. The dog stopped, and in going where he was 

 I found a partridge yet warm, I picked it up and ex- 

 amined it. The hawk had gone to work in a scientific 

 raanner to make a meal. First every feather had bsen 

 picked off of the head and neck, then he i^lucked out the 

 eyes, after which the fat and skin of the neck make a 

 dainty morsel. Coming along just then I had broken up 

 the meal. With my jackknife I cut the neck off close to 

 the body— the blood still running— and jiut it in my game 

 bag, not feeling badly at robbing a hawk of its supper. 



Another time, after the snow came, I found that nearly 

 every partridge track had a fox following. So we see that 

 game has enemies all months in the year. J. E C. D. 

 Glovkbsville, N. Y. 



GAME SLAUGHTER ALONG THE BORDER 



RV. GrRIFFIN, an old hunting companion, in a pri- 

 • vate letter to one of the editors, vvrites from 

 Toats Ooula, Washington, near the boundary line be- 

 tween that State and British Columbia, of the destruc- 

 tion of game in that vicinity: "I am deUghted with 

 Forest and Stream, and shall always continue to take 

 it, I wish we had some of your game protectors in this 

 country, for it is a shame the way our game is disappear- 

 ing. The blacktail deer in particular have been shot 

 down here and left lay to feed the magpies and eagles, 

 without even removing the hide, and many four-horse 

 team loads have been killed and hauled to the Columbia 

 River and thrown away and not a pound of the meat 

 used. Even the ranchmen have gone out for a week's 

 hunt and killed from fifteen to twenty large, fat bucks, 

 and never bring a pound of it home. Some of the same 

 party now would be glad to close their lips over a piece of 

 a poor doe. I have hunted a great deal m the last twenty 

 years, and have killed a good many deer, but always 

 made use of the meat and hides, but I never have seen 

 game destroyed as it has been in this section of the Slate. 



"Just think of it! Last winter on the Ashnola one 

 hundred rams were killed for their horns, and the meat 

 left to feed magpies. It is no trick to kUl as many as one 

 wants in the winter, when the snow drives them out of 

 the high mountains and down to low hills along the 

 streams to the great licks. Any bod v that can hold a 

 gun f o bis shoulder can kill sheep there. Now, the same 

 party that killed so many last winter have been to the 

 same place with sportsmen for two summers, and they 

 never got but one sheep, and that was a two-year-old 

 ram. That don't speak very well for men who follow 

 hunting and guide for sportsmen. 



"Since writing this the same men havereturned from a 

 six weeks' hunt on that stream. They got two two-year- 

 old rams, two wolverines, which were caught in bear 

 traps, one large silver-tip bear, which they caught in a 

 steel trap; he was very old, his tusks were gone. Two 

 cow elk were seen on the headwaters of Nehumsion 

 Creek, the first that have ever been seen in these moun- 

 tains. The party reported deer very scarce and shy. 



"Some of the old mountaineers here had the laugh'*on 

 me when they heard we got lost a year ago last fall, but 

 one of the same men, a good mountaineer and good 

 hunter, got caught in the same trap as we did a few days 

 ago. He went out in the morning to kill a couple of deer, 

 and had shot one doe when it commenced to get foggy. 

 He came on to a buck and a doe, and shot at the buck"but 

 struck him too low down, but he was bleeding very free, 

 so he kept on after it, but never got to see it again! Then 

 he thought he woidd go back to the doe he had shot and 

 take it to c imp, but he did not find the doe that day, as 

 it was so foggy he could not tell where he was. So he 

 got under a big pine tree and walked around the stump 

 fhe whole night. Do you ask why he did not make a fire? 



Well, in the first place there was no wood and in the 

 second he had no matches and no coat on. and not a bite 

 to eat from the morning he left camp until the next night 

 —and he was not more than a mile from camj) at any 

 time. Such is the life of a hunter. The best of them get 

 caught some time, and when they do get caught they 

 know how it is themselves. 



• 'I see they have placed a hea^^ license fee on all hunt- 

 ing parties or persons that are not citizens in British 

 Columbia. This is a little rough on the boys, ain't it?'' 



A HANDY CAMP BED. 



^^mCA.GO.— Editor Forest and Stream: Some of 

 V.'' your readers like to cam]:) out, but do object to 

 sleep ©n the ground. This is not tlie case with me, for 

 I would rather sleep on the ground than in a feather bed. 

 Still as all "outers" do not think or feel alike, I have put 

 together a device that may be used as a bed. 



A bit of canvas or duck of any required size, as say Sft. 

 by 6ft., is provided along the edge "wdth eyelete, and to 

 each eyelet is a short cord or rope. This forms the bot- 

 tom of the bed; and it is to be used in this fashion in the 

 woods. A few notched poles are cut and put together, 

 as indicated in the sketch; and on the top of the four hori- 

 zontal poles the bed bottotiv is put and the cords tied each 

 to the opposite cord underneatl-. the bed, passing the cord 

 over the horizontal poles on the sides. This forma a can- 



vas bed bottom. Now, my experience has been with 

 these canvas portable beds that they are "colder than 

 Christmas," and to remedy this defect I propose that this 

 canvas bed bottom, as it will always sag, be filled with 

 spruce or pine feathers up to a level with the poles; or in 

 other words fill the hollow, and then spread over it the 

 blankets. Then if the sleeper, before he goes to roost, 

 will spread over the frame a mosquito bar, he will sleep 

 like a top. 



Of course it should be remembered that the poles must 

 be tied together at the top and other joints; and by select- 

 ing the poles with a view to the notches, one can have a 

 bed on which he can comfortably sit in the morning to 

 put his moccasins on or stretch himself and yawn with 

 the greatest comfort. And all it will cost him is a bit of 

 good stout ducij, a little mosquito bar, some cord or 

 thongs, and a few grains of sense; and with a hatchet 

 the thing is done. So am I. Herman Haxjpt, Jr. 



DAKOTA GAME BIRDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I send you a few notes on the game birds of Towner 

 coimty. North Dakota, as I saw them during the spring, 

 summer and fall of 1890. I arrived in Towner county 

 May 10, and from thsit time until late in the fall I saw 

 game birds of some kind nearly every day. The main 

 flight of geese and ducks had gone north, presumably to 

 their breeding grounds, leaving only those which for 

 reasons of their own had determined to try their luck 

 where they were at that time. 



May 1 I saw first willets and bartramian sandpipers — 

 called plover — the 13th I saw a good many mallards, some 

 widgeon and bluewing teal, four ruddy ducks (the only 

 ones seen during the year), hooded mergansers, tv70 sand- 

 hill cranes, and flocks of geese that looked very large to 

 me. and they were when compared with what I had seen 

 in old Connecticut. The 16th I had my first goose hunt. 

 With two friends I went to the Big Slough, some 2^ miles 

 northeast of town. We arrived late; the flight was over. 

 The geese and ducks frequented the place for the purpose 

 of rest and to drink. Charlie, thinking to give the two 

 novices a chancp, went back and around a hill, coming on 

 to the shore of the pond opposite our stand. Every "bird 

 immediately took flight, several hundred coming over our 

 heads. Billy picked out his bird, kiUing one with first 

 barrel and missing wdth the second. As for myself, I 

 scored a complete miss. As the flock went over my head, 

 I thought the geese were so thick that a shot could not 

 get through without striking a bird, so I drew up and shot 

 both barrels into the flock, and, so far as I could see, never 

 stirred a feather. Small wasn't the word for the way I 

 felt. This proved to be the last flock of geese we saw 

 until the fall flight. 



On the 19th 1 added the gray duck to my list: the 20th 

 an American coot; the 33d the pintail duck; the 25t.h 

 prairie chickens were seen, also a large flock of black- 

 bellied plover. May 21 I found a mallard's nest with 

 eight eggs; the 31st another with eleven- eggs. June 4 I 

 added the marbled godwit to the list. .June IS saw^ female 

 gray duck with six or eight young two or three days old. 

 June 14 a friend brought me a young prairie chicken less 

 than a week old. His dog had killed it. There were a 

 number of good broods of prairie chickens raised within 

 a short drive of the town. A few were shot before the 

 law was off by local hunters. The farmers at this season 

 are very busy, or in all probability more would be shot. 

 In 1888 chickens were rarely seen in this vicinity, while 

 the sharp-tailed grouse were quite numerous; but now it 

 is changed. The prairie chicken is increasing and the 

 sharptail disappearing, although said to be the only 

 grouse in and ai-ount Turtle Mountains, 



Sept. 8 I found a flock of twenty chickens, apparently 

 two broods, as they were of different sizes, nearly full- 

 grown and very strong flyers. Pj-evious to finding the 

 chickens I had put up an old male shai'p-tailed grouse, 

 who proved to be too sharp for me, as, after following 

 him over three miles and shooting at him several times, I 

 gave it up, thinking it would be too bad to annihilate the 

 only specimen of its kind I had seen. 



Two days later, with my friend Charlie Canfield, I had 

 some fine shooting for a short time at the same flock of 

 chickens, getting seven. They were about the last killed 

 in this place. Sept. 20 I saw a small flock of brant which 

 were the advance of the fall flighfhere. The 25th I saw 

 the first flock of snow ^eese, which were common fronl 

 then on. Oct. 5 Hutchins's brant and white crane made 

 their appearance. Some flocks of sandhill crane had 

 been seen flying over, but they did not stop to feed. Oct. 

 1 it commenced storming and it rained or snowed evei-y 

 day until the 17th. It was an unusual thing for so much 

 water to fall at this season of the year, but the hunters 

 thought it a great blessing, as it filled up the sloughs and 

 coulees. Before the storm general complaint was heard 

 from shooters that there would be no geese or duck shoot-, 

 ing as there was no water. From then on geese and mal- 

 lard ducks were without numbers. Figures can give no 

 idea of the size of the immense flocks that were seen. 

 The largest flock I saw was in one continuous line over 

 a half mile in length and they were flying from 20 to 50 

 abreast. Nearly every resident agreed in saying that 

 there had never been so many mallard ducks seen in one 

 fall as there were during the last weeks in October, 1890. 

 They were considered small game. Every one could eat 

 goose. One man, who had killed a good many ducks, 

 took a buggy load into town. He could not give them 

 away and they were fed to hogs. 1 heard of an old half- 

 breed who sneaked on to a flock of geese and killed twelve 

 with one charge from an old muzzleloading shotgun of 

 not over 16-bore. The geese I saw, and could identify, 

 were snow geese, which were abundant and led in num- 

 bers. Hutchins's brant were quite common and often 

 seen in large flocks of snow geese, besides many flocks 

 that kept by themselves. The Canada geese were common 

 but not seen in any great numbers at one time; the 

 American white-fronted or speckle-bellied goose was 

 quite frequently killed out of flocks of snow geese. I 

 also saw several that I could assign to no place, apparently 

 hybrids, or they might be classed as sports from the varie- 

 ties of the genus Berniela or brant geese. 



There was a severe cold snap the first week in Novem- 

 ber, after which the geese were seen flying in the trian- 

 gular-shaped flocks in which they migrate, and from then 

 on the numbers seen grew rapidly less and all were gone 

 by Nov. 15, with the exception of now and then a small 

 flock which would be seen flying rapidly toward the 

 south, until about Dec. 1, After geese and ducks go south 

 it is seldom a game bird of any descrij^tion is seen on the 

 prairies of North Dakota. I append the weights of a few 

 of the geese and ducks I killed during spring and fall. 



Snow geese in adult j)lumage: 7 weighed respectively 

 olbs. 6oz., .51bs. 5402,, o^lbs., Oflbs., 6fibs. In young or 

 gray plumage 8 weighed 41bs. 6oz., 41bs. lOoz,, 61b. 12oz., 

 41bs. lOoz., 51bs., fflbs. 2oz., 4lbs. 8oz,, 4lb3, 4oz. 



Mallards: 6 drakes weighed 31bs., 2ttbs., 21bs, lOoz., 

 2ilb3., lib. lOoz., 3lbs., 2ilbs; 3 ducks, 21bs. 2oz., 21bs. 8oz,, 

 2tbs. lOoz. One gadwall drake weighed 31bs., one pin- 

 tail i 21bs., one widgeon drake l|lbs., 2 ducks, l|lbs,, 

 l^lbs. Blue- wing teal, 5 drakes, 4 ducks, weighed with- 

 out any variation fib. each. Elmer T, Judd, 



Bethel, Conn. 



WYOMING SHOULD ACT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was glad to see you editorial of March 5, calling at- 

 tention to the destruction of game and fish in the region 

 bordering on the southern boundary of the Yellowstone 

 Park. For a very small expenditure the new State of 

 Wyoming could do much to prevent the poaching going 

 on in that portion of her preserves. It is surprising how 

 quickly the wild animals take advantage of protection 

 and come back to their former beloved ranges when un- 

 disturbed. I have been amazed at the results attending 

 our efforts on the east side of the Park to stop wanton 

 and indiscriminate killing. We have only been at work 

 for a few years, and the increase of game is most gratify- 

 ing. If similar action could be instituted in the other 

 districts adjacent to the Park it would not be long before 

 the natural increase and overflow would provide enough 

 game to warrant a modification of the game laws, or at 

 least to the extent that they could admit the visiting 

 sportsman to a reasonable share in the trophies of the 

 chase. 



Hunters and guides now are generally in favor of strict 

 game laws; they see that without them their occupation 

 is gone. They could do a good work too in restraining 

 their parties from going too far. Patience and great 

 moderation should be their guiding principles. Let us 

 hope that Wyoming will, before it is too late, realize the 

 necessity of action. It is extraordinary that the protec- 

 tion to game throughout the whole country has always 

 been of a puerile character, locking the stable door, etc. 

 On a trip last fall and certainly within a mile of the south 

 line of the Park, we saw many evidences of game ruth- 

 lessly shot down and left to rot. Archibald RoaEES. 

 Hyde Park-on-Hudson. N. Y. 



General Sibley's Sketches. — Referring to two 

 sketches by General Sibley mentioned in a recent article 

 by Chas. Lanman, a correspondent asks where "Buffalo 

 Hunting" and "Hunting on the Western Prairies" can be 

 obtained. Can any of our readers answer the question"? 



Scott Guns.— Tariff changes may come and go, but 

 there are a large contingent of American shooters who 

 are wedded in their likes to the English gtms and secure 

 them no matter what the customs rates may be. When 

 an order is given for a prime weapon it's Scott to be filled, 

 and Wm. Read & Sons, of 107 Washington street, Boston, 

 can take the instructions of the gun user and fill them to 

 the smallest detail. They import Scott guns direct from 

 the maker and have an exceptionally large supply on 

 hand, and can fill a special order in a very short space of 

 time. They report that the demand is increasing at a 

 very gratifying rate, and from the best class of shooters, 

 those who have used guns for some time and learned just 

 what they want for the best work. A list asked for from 

 the firm of Read & Sons will give Forest and Stream 

 readers full particulars about old reliable Scott arms. 



