188 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Maboh 26, 189i. 



already spoken of, with the fur side in, and stretched so 

 as to be as long as possible. Then the hind feet are fast- 

 ened to the stretcher, to keep the skin from shrinking, 

 and the skins are hung up to dry, Tney must be huug 

 by the head, so as to let the tail hang down straight, and 

 they must be hung as far from the fire as practicable, 

 that they may not bake and harden. Skins dried too fast 

 are said to be "burned" and are liable to crack and leak. 

 When the skins are partly dried they should be carefully 

 stripped of any flesh or fat that is sticking to them, and 

 they should be constantly watched and worked over 

 until they are thoroughly cured. 



In this country we traj) until the first or the middle of 

 April. Anything you catch from Jan. 1 to April 1 is 

 prime and brings the best prices. During the last month 

 of this time you may Tery likely get a bear skin or two if 

 you carry your gun, for by this time they have come out 

 of their holes and their skins are now at their very best. 



The winter, though not without its excitements, is a 

 long and lonely one, and the work very hard. For six 

 months you see no living soul and have only your dog for 

 company. Very likely, too, you may be poorly paid for 

 your time. I trapped one whole winter and only caught 

 four marten by my land trapping. After I had bf en at it 

 for a time I saw that there were no marten in the coun- 

 try, and as I happened to have two No. 4 traps with me, 

 I started trapping otter and caught thirty-seven during 

 the winter. 



When the trapping is at an end, you begin to think of 

 getting your fur to market. The skins must first be got 

 out to your canoe, if you are trapping on the coast or on 

 a large river, or else out to some settlement. The fur is 

 made up into bales of a size convenient for packing and 

 carried out, a cache being made of your first load if you 

 have to make two or more trips. Then your canoe is 

 stowed and you set sail for your market, which on this 

 northern coast is generally Victoria, where the skins are 

 sold at auction. 



Nothing definite can be said about the returns in this 

 business. Much depends on the skill and industry of the 

 trapper, and quite as much on the abundance or scarcity 

 of the fur. About the best winter I evt?r made in land 

 trapping was 20 fishers and from 180 to 190 marten. Be 

 sides this regular fur a man may pick up some odds and 

 ends by steel traps and poisnn; a bear or two, a few 

 wolves, perhaps a wolverine. Tiaese would bring in a few 

 dollars in addition to the regular catch. Then, too, a 

 man may have an opportunity on his way down the coast 

 to catch a few otter or bear or to trade for a few furs 

 with the Indians, but on the whole, even in the best of 

 years, a man got but small return for a season which lasted 

 perha]3s from the fiirst of August to the first of June, 



Okanagan County, Washington. R. V. GripFIN. 



[A second paper on "Water Trapping" will follow.] 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, III., March 19.— To-day ducks are in all 

 over the river country below us in thousands and 

 thousands, yea by hundreds. A wire from Cumberland 

 Lodge yesterday from Mr. Zeigner reports the shooting 

 good. Everybody who has crossed the Kankakee marshes 

 within forty-eight hours reports great quantities of game 

 in sight. Mak-saw-ba marsh is full of ducks. Mr. Lin- 

 coln has been wiring from the Undercliff , down on 8en- 

 achwine, that the outlook there was favorable, and it is 

 likely that to-day and to-morrow will be big days there. 

 Mr. Burton and several other shooters are awaiting tele- 

 grams, which they hope will summon them to Fox Lake 

 to-morrow. Word is up from Water Valley on the south 

 that the birds are there. In short they seem to be every- 

 where, and there is no doubt that the flight is now well 

 up in this latitude. Two days ago I saw a splendid bunch 

 of redheads which bad been shipped to T. D. Randall & 

 Son by the Dannells on Fox Lake. In the market alfo 

 the mallards are coming in now from the New Madrid 

 marsh and points in Missomi. We shall hear of some 

 shooting: at the close of this week in all probability. 



Mr. Wolfred N. Low, one of the pillars of Chicago 

 sportsmanship, has been seriously sick for two weeks 

 with the very prevalent lung trouble. Mr. H, D. Nich- 

 olls, another of our notables, is also now lying at his 

 home instead o£ at his place of business. 



:Mr. J. B. Clow and Col. Davis, director-general of the 

 World's Fair, are reported now absent in Florida on a tar- 

 pon trip. 



Mr. R. B, Miller, a prominent fly-caster of Fox Lake, 

 is about to start for a trip to Texas, where I am afraid he 

 will find a good deal more than he can shoot. 



As stated in the Trap columns, there is another pigeon 

 bill introduced in the Legislature, this time in the House. 

 It will probably get lost in the shuffle in the mix and 

 mazes of the great original deadlock Legislature. 



Oar esteemed and venerable friend, the Tribune of this 

 city, is showing flattering signs of growth in its knowl- 

 edge of field sports, if not in rhetoric. Commenting on 

 the success of a certain politician in this same recent 

 deadlock, it mentions the fact that "two suckers were 

 jerked into the bosom of Democracy." Does the editor 

 of the Tribune still jerk fish into his bosom when he goes 

 fishing? It is very old fashioned. 



But speaking of growth in matters of field sports as 

 evidenced in the daily press, which is the immediate 

 neighbor of the people, what a change there has been 

 since ten or a dozen years ago. The fellow with the gun 

 is coming into his innings. Witness the following from 

 a late symposium in which a number of the most promi- 

 nent thinkers, scientists and educators gave their opinions 

 or what the "perfect man" should be. Professor William 

 James, of Harvard, said: 



"What are the cardinal points to be insisted on for the 

 more perfect development of the coming young man? 

 Out of a large number of answers to that question seems 

 to me that something valuable may probably emerge in 

 the shape of a consensus of opinion as to what the actual 

 young man in America most lacks. 



"The young man of the sedentary and commercial 

 class in cities most lacks, as it strikes me, the wholesome 

 and manly sort of animalism which gives to the very best 

 of the youth of the upper classes so sweet a tone — the 

 sort of thing which comes from plenty of dealings with 

 the animal elements of things, as swimming, boating, 

 fishing, riding, tramping, mountain climbing, and camp- 

 ing out. It seems fair to think that the 'athletic move- 

 ment' may be productive remotely of great good in chang- 

 ing, little by little, the rather unmanly ideals of the 'mid- 

 dle claee.' " 



Another learned gentleman, none less than the presi- 

 dent of Clark University, Worcester, starts right out this 

 way about the perfect man: "1. Health is chief. Health 

 is absolutely of prime importance— not physical culture 

 merely, but right eating, drinking, bathing, breathing, 

 exercising, sleeping. In Germany they have thrown out 

 the classics to make room for hygiene. This was done 

 long ago in Sweden, Dyspepsia, bad teeth, nervousness, 

 and the seeds of phthisis are poor foimdations for a per- 

 fect man." 



The growth of the man with the gun into a practical 

 prominence and into the most highly rational and scien- 

 tific indorsement has not been instantaneous. In other 

 words, the general press and the general tone of public 

 thought is now getting along toward where Forest and 

 Stream was ten or fifteen years ago. But as testimony 

 to the main exhortation I may say that more shooting 

 and outing material is now sold in Chicago than ever was 

 the case in any other year, while the fishing tackle trade 

 for this coming season will altogether distance that of 

 any pei'iod known before. 



'•It is funny," said a leading gun and tackle salesman 

 to me the other day, "about the ideas our Eastern house 

 has in regard to this Western trade. Thoy think they 

 can sell a lower grade of goods here than in New York. 

 The exact reverse of this is true. I can not get enough 

 of the very highest grade of goods for my customers. 

 Chicago wants a higher priced and better grade of goods, 

 on the average, than New York does, and the sales of 

 our two houses, here and there, will demonstrate this." 

 I shall not add more, for it would be unwise to make 

 New York more jealous of Chicago than she is now. 



Will "Scarlet-Ibis," or somebody else who knows a 

 whole lot, please tell us what is the best wading gear, 

 especially for angling? I can't find wading trousers 

 which don't leak, or lose their boot soles, or otherwise 

 cause grief. All these things are getting mighty im- 

 portant out here just about now, because the stir of the 

 spring preparations is beginning to be heard out here un- 

 mistakably. Every sportsman you meet now has a sort 

 of uneasy look on his face, and he is buying things. 



E. Hough. 



STOCKING OLD BAY STATE COVERS. 



'"pHE committee on restocking of the Massachusetts 

 JL Fish and Game Protective Association is doing a 

 good work, and one that must result in good, unless the 

 best efforts of the Association to restore our game birds 

 are frustrated by some very unfavorable circumstance or 

 chain of circumstances over which the society has no 

 control. Nature may not work in harmony with this 

 committee, but its members have given Dame Nature 

 considerable study. At the same time the committee — 

 John Fottler, Jr., president, Henry J, Thayer, secretary, 

 and Edward E. Hardy, treasurer, with Edward Brooks 

 and Outram Bangs as eiiicient members, have been labor- 

 ing earnestly in the work and gaining a good deal of ex- 

 perience that will be of good help to them in the future: 

 an experience peculiar and not laid down in the books. 



It is a fact that the restocking of the country with 

 game, a most noble work, is deficient in literature, and 

 mainly experimental. The society has furnished the 

 means, bat the brains of the committee have been severely 

 taxed to do the work in tlie best manner. That they have, 

 in a great measure, succeeded, is more worthy of praise 

 than success much more replete can ever be in the future. 

 This committee has opened the way, and the work of the 

 future will be easy comparatively. In all the committee 

 has liberated about 2,000 quail in difl'erent sections of the 

 State, the warmer and seashore counties generally being 

 selected, while avoiding too close proximity to the cities. 

 Last year 800 were liberated, while the committee has 

 just finished the distribution of 1,200. One quail is left 

 of this number, a stray one that was found m the room 

 where the birds were received and repacked for distribu- 

 tion. The committee has found that quail will absolutely 

 die of starvation when food is plentifully scattered aboiit 

 them, the dead birds invariably being found with crops 

 and intestines completely empty. The quail have also 

 been found to burrow almost as successfully as the grouse. 

 They invariably return to the coop or cage that they are 

 liberated from each night, for some time after they are 

 set free. The idea is that it is the food scattered about 

 that draws them to the spot, but how the birds should be 

 able to burrow down into the snow and find the cage is a 

 fact that has interested the committee a good deal. The 

 snows have been heavy since some of the birds have been 

 put out this winter, and the fact of their burrowing under 

 the snow for several feet till the old cage was found, has 

 been observed by careful eyes. 



The success of the quail put out in this State last year 

 is not a matter of doubt with the committee. That the 

 broods raised were very late is generally conceded, and 

 how well the youngsters will winter is a question. The 

 lateness of the broods is explained by Mr. John Fottler, 

 Jr., upon this theory, A few years ago he put out some 

 quail on private grounds, where there were no quail 

 previously. It was months before the birds became suf- 

 ficiently accustomed to their new surroundings to give 

 attention to mating and raising broods, and consequently 

 at gunning time the next fall the birds were i-emarkably 

 small. The committee is satisfied that the broods may 

 be expected to be late till the birds are m«re thoroughly 

 acclimated than it is possible for them to become in one 

 season. The committee is of the opinion that the quail 

 fared fairly well last year, so far as the gunners are con- 

 cerned, for the feeling was very good generally with the 

 best informed gunners, and the little half-grown birds 

 were not troubled. In Dedhara a covey of birds were 

 put out and were thoroughly watched by the gimners 

 that were interested. It was generally understood that 

 they should not be troubled till the open season, and then 

 the understanding was that it would be small business to 

 shoot the half-grown birds, A number of broods were 

 seen many times in the season, and it is believed that the 

 birds have wintered well. 



The committee of the association has also succeeded in 

 obtaining about 300 pinnated grouse, or prairie chicken, 

 from South Dakota, and these are being liberated in Ply- 

 mouth, in suitable locations in Barnstable and Bristol 

 counties chiefly. These birds have borne confinement and 

 transportation so long a distance, remarkably well, only 

 a very few dying on the way. Some of the birds were 

 nearly starved on arrival, and unlike the quail, they 

 readily took to coi'n, even while in the hands of the per- 

 son taking them from the c-oops. Putting them down in 

 the midet of corn, they continued eating till eridently 



satisfied. In a few days they became quite tame. They 

 were taken from the coops, on arrival in Boston, and 

 w-ere liberated in a large upper room hung with cloth a 

 little distance from the four wall-s, in order that the wild 

 birds might not injure themselves by flying against hard 

 substances. The windows also were first grated and 

 then covered with white cloth in the same way, 

 the cloth far enough from the grating that the 

 birds could not be injured by flying against it. In 

 this room the prairie chickens have actually become fat 

 and hearty while awaiting distribution. It' has been in- 

 teresting to the committf-e and other privileged persons 

 to watch the birds and listen to their notes. Some of 

 their notes closely resemble the chirps or clucks of the 

 barnyard fowl. The committee feels quite sure of the 

 success of the birds in the localities where they are being; 

 put out. In the first place there have been for time im- 

 morial a few pinnated grouse on Marthas Vineyard.. 

 Then in all the localities where the birds are being- 

 liberated the wild rosebuds or seeds are very abundant 

 and the birds are believed to subsist on these seeds in 

 winter, when other food is covered with snow. Again 

 the land is much of it oak and scrub oak, and prairie; 

 chickens are noted burro wers after acorns. In summer,, 

 and in fact the greater portion of the year in the seashore 

 counties, the ground will be bare and food abundant. 



Only one featui-e gives the committee much iraeasiness,. 

 and that is the possibility that the birds are immediately 

 to fall into snares. Snaring is now permitted the farmer- 

 boys, on their own land, but if this is continued, the 

 whole work of the committee will be in vain. The com- 

 mittee on fisheries and game of the Massachusetts Legis- 

 lature will, without any doubt, report a bill to prohibit 

 all snaring, and the Fish and Game Association will work 

 for its passage. Indeed, the restocking committee feels, 

 very confident that the bill will become a law. They 

 know of but one member of the Legislature that is really 

 opposed to such a law. This man is making some talk 

 about the rights of farmers' boys being infringed upon. 

 But the sentiment of the farmers' boys is one of so rnuch 

 gratitude to the committee, especially in sections where 

 the birds are being liberated, that they will urge their 

 fathers in the Legislature to vote for just such laws as the: 

 committee desires. 



But the restocking of the State with game birds ia not 

 all that the committee has undertaken. The association' 

 has instructed them to obtain game animals and 150 great, 

 northern hares {Lepus canadenftis)), and set them free in 

 different locations of the State, a pair in each location. 

 The committee has also engaged 100 more, making 250 in 

 all. These animals they have little difficulty in obtaining. 

 They are caught in Maine and Canada, probably in box- 

 trap^. But the shipment is not an easy matter. They 

 will fight, and that too to the death. In the first lot one- 

 old buck killed four. One he "went for them" after the. 

 lot wei"e taken out of the boxes they came in. He seized 

 his antagonist, and with a few hard bites the under dog- 

 was finished. The victor drew away, but seeing a little 

 motion he again bit the dying hare tremendously. This; 

 he reppated several times till not a motion was to "be seen. 

 The committee ordered the hares packed separately -as i 

 they "would fight." The shipper left the work to his: 

 boy, and he did pack them separately. He put each hare^ 

 into a separate compartment, separated by inch boards 

 and so narrow that Mr. Hare could not turn round. But 

 the fellows are tough and they came through all right. 



Special, 



WILD GEESE. 



LAST fall I saw one goose, high np in the sky, %ing' 

 southward, uttering a cry which sounded peculiarly 

 wild and forlorn. I always scan the sky closely in sj-ring 

 and autumn for the migrating wildfowl, which fairly 

 draw the heart of a gentiine hunter out of his body after 

 them as he watches them drive steadily and swiftly along 

 in their high flight. With all my looking last autumn 1 

 saw but the one solitary goose. There would have been 

 nothing remarkable in this in some parts of this broad 

 land. But I live just now in eastern Illinois, in the very 

 center of what was once an unequalled highway for all 

 waterfowl. So recently as fifteen years ago they passed 

 over this region in vast numbers. This part of Illinois, 

 was thickly dotted over with swamps and shallow ponds. 

 Leaving the IMississippi River at Cairo, the chain of ponds 

 made the duck and goose highway from south to north 

 in the spring, leading up to the Calumet region, then to 

 the great Skokie above Chicago, and so on up to the 

 countless Wisconsin lakes and the waters of the far north.. 



What has wrought the change? I do not think it 

 entirely due to the breechloader and the game dealer. 

 But let me shift over on the other foot and say that the- 

 common belief out this way is that brother Hough isi 

 right, in supposing that game dealer has something to 

 answer for in this direction. However, the game in this- 

 particular region has gone because the farmers have- 

 honeycombed the soil with tile. The swamps and ponds 

 are all gone. There is hardly water enough in whole' 

 counties to attract a duck's eye or wet a goose's foot. 

 Fine farming country, getting to be a superb chicken 

 country, but the wildfowl are gone. The poor goose that, 

 leads oft" in this article had a cry that was not only lone- 

 some but sounded as if the poor fellow had not had a 

 chance to wet his throat for a long time. No game laws, 

 will ever bring back the ducks and geese to this country. 



Word came this morning, from a friend living on the 

 Illinois River above Beard.stown, that the spring flight 

 was on in good shape. But alas, that invitation, from a 

 royal fellow, cannot be accepted this season. It will not 

 make much dift'erence in the quantity of the game that 

 will get by to breed in the North, for I never made very 

 big bags on my best shooting days. But it will make a 

 big hole in the pleasure of one man's life — my own. 

 P.VXTON, 111., March 18. RlCHARD Gear Hobbs. 



A large flock of wild geese were in this vicinity March 

 11. Four separated from the main flock and dropped into 

 a wheat field inside the borough limits. One man tried 

 a shot at them with his rifle, but shot under; they rose, 

 ended and came down about the same spot. He tried a 

 second shot and again shot pnder. This time they went 

 up the creek about a mile, where the balance of the flock 

 were. We believe they left before the boys secm*ed any 

 of them. Quail and grouse have wintered well; two or 

 three fine coveys of the former being reported in this 

 vicinity recently. H. 



Wtamtsisg, Pa., Mwch 16, 



