250 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[ApeIL 1G, 1891. 



able owners assume for themselves — the right to feed 

 himself economically at a certain season, a limit being 

 set which is supposed to be liberal enough to proTide for 

 all his necessities. It is considered here that it is an un- 

 courteons act to take all a man has because he offers all 

 anyone wants; and so when a sportsman kills a moose 

 where a deer would serve him, or a deer when trout and 

 partridges would suffice, he is doing a wrong act even 

 though the law allows it, and an outrage to hospitality. 



This is the ground of objection 'to waste of game: 

 First, morally wrong; second, ungrateful. That the 

 charge of sportsmen wasting game is not unfounded will 

 be proved. Instead of giving iiidividual instances for each 

 year, I will abbreviate by quoting from the Commission- 

 ers' reports and Forest and Stream, when I know that 

 the statements agree with facts that have come to my 

 notice. 



The Commissioners' Report for 1883 says: 



We have been credibly informed of three moose wantouly shot 

 down in hot August weather by a party of whites (we will not 

 class them) when even the trophies could not be pleaded as a 

 temptation, as bui one bore horns. Of other as flagrant cases, 

 committed in the same region, we are in possession. The destruc- 

 tion of this valuable game is greater by resi-rlcnts of mhcr Slates 

 than hy our oivn, while arrests and cmivictwns arc moslln of our own 

 citizens. 



The Commissioners' Report for 1884 says: 

 All the severity of remark that the Commissioners felt war- 

 ranted in uttering last year in relation to the acts of summer vis- 

 itors, has been more than borne out, more than confirmed by the 

 experiences of the year. * * * We ascain repuat, the meanness 

 aud infamy of the acts seem to be in almost direct ratio to social 

 position, eduoatiou and profession. * * * Tlic hDo has Ixcn bet- 

 ter o'bscrvcd hy our oum citizens than bu visitor;<froiii oilter S'tafcs. 



This is supported by what "Special" says in Forest 

 AND Stream, July 10. 1884: 



Concerning game protection in some sections of Maine, mattei's 

 are not just what they should be. * * * Just such sportsmen 

 are causing tlie friends of game protection a great deal of trouble. 

 They demoralize the worst and lowest class of the guides with 

 their money. They care nothing for the future of the game; they 

 are not citizens of the State; their only object is to kill a deer or 

 a moose and come home to be regarded as a great hunter by their 

 friends. 



In Forest and Stream, Oct, 30, 18S4, "Special" says: r 

 There has been some hunting of deer with dogs, but gcneraUy 

 by persons living out of tlic State, and the law faUs to reacli a 

 poacher of this class. He kills a deer in close time or with dogs 

 and escapes from the State; his crime is regarded as of too small 

 magnitude to bring him back by requisition, and he steers clear 

 of Maine soil ever after. * * * a few cases are also being 

 worked up by the authorities where deer and caribou have been 

 killed before the season opened. These eases are also generally 

 from out of the State. 



Because the Commissioners and "Special," who has 

 always exactly reflected their opinions, have ceased to 

 speak thus plainly, it may have been supposed that the 

 evil has ceased within a few years. It has not. It has 

 increased proportionately to the increase of the visitors if 

 not faster. Fish, it should be said, are not wasted as 

 formerly, but in the jDalm iest days of skin hunting the 

 slaughter of moose sometimes was no worse than it has 

 been this year, and fewer deer and caribou were killed 

 then because there were almost no deer and caribou in 

 the State. Leaving the gap between '84 and '88 because 

 it would take too long to give the history of those years, 

 I may come to what I have seen myself in 1888 and 1889, 

 Of com'se, my own experience is very limited, and would 

 be worthless if not borne out by the testimony "of many 

 others. 



"We were in the woods these two years in the months of 

 August and September, when it is illegal to kill any game 

 animal. We traveled as rapidly as possible along the 

 main routes, not going into the side streams and remote 

 places where sportsmen were going and were at that time 

 staying in numbers, and where they did most of their 

 hunting. We endeavored to ask no impertinent questions 

 of those we met about their business or what they had 

 seen. And yet in 45 days, of which 5 were Sundays, 

 when we did not travel, 3 were spent in travel on railroad 

 and steamboat, and 7 days' time lost by foul weather or 

 other circumstances which kept us within a few rods of 

 the tent, leaving 30 days of actual travel, we knew of 

 fourteen violations of the game laws, which may be tabu- 

 lated as follows: 



Four deer, wholly saved, by residents of the State. 



Two deer, at least partly saved, one by resident, one by 

 non-residents. 



One deer, probably partly saved, and probably by resi- 

 dents; the names were left, but not where they lived; the 

 size of the party would indicate that most of it was eaten. 



One deer, mostly wasted, by sportsmen from New York. 



One caribou, all wasted except one hip, by sportsmen 

 from outside the State. 



Two deer, without even a pou^nd of meat cut from them, 

 killed by "sports." 



Three deer, moose or cai'ibou, not seen but smelted. 

 From the stench, probably the whole, or nearly the whole, 

 was wasted; from the location, off the line of travel of 

 residents and far off from any houses, probably killed by 

 sportsmen. 



AU but the last five were actually seen, and of the last 

 three we had sufficient olfactory evidence; the two deer 

 wholly wasted were shot between Aug. 23, when we 

 passed down the West Branch, and Aug. 27, when we 

 returned to Chesuncook, where we were informed of the 

 case by one who had examined the deer carefully, and 

 said that they had no mark on them except the bullet 

 holes. We also saw trout and whitefish left to waste — 

 not even thrown into the water where the eels could get 

 them. 



This is my own experience. I have compared it with 

 that of others, and will present some extracts from letters 

 giving the opinions of men whose information is prob- 

 ably as great as that of any man in the State. 



This comes from an experienced woodsman, not a guide, 

 living at the foot of Moosehead Lake, and so situated 

 that he knows what is done in the woods at all seasons: 



I think there is a great deal of large game killed and wasted by 

 summer visitors. What is killed by our own people is made good 

 use of, which is far better than some of the sportsmen do, as they 

 shoot it down and never touch it, I don't think there are manS' 

 fish wasted by sportsmen; the guides look after this pretty well. 



This is from the head of Moosehead Lake, a point which 

 seventy-five out of every hundred who go into the great 

 game country of the West Branch, AUegash, and East 

 Branch must pass. It contains a good word for sports- 

 men which I am happy to repeat. The writer's knowl- 

 edge and veracity cannot be doubted: 



It is my opinion that ten Pimcs as Tnany moose and deer are 

 killed in the summer months as there is killed in open season and 

 crust-huntiny together. There is a growing tendency among the 

 better class of sportsmen to come in the open season. There were 

 more parties left Kineo for the woods after Sept, 35 tbis year than 

 any two years before. 



One reason for this probably was that the full moon 

 came very late in the month, which made moose calling 

 begin later than usual. 



This comes from the neighborhood of Chesuncook; 



Nine-tenths of all moose killed here and near Chesuncook are 

 wasted except skins. I knew of the last season of more than 

 twenty-five moose skins being taken out to sell and only a part of 

 them were brought out to use. 



It may be said that probably most, if not all, these 

 moose hides were taken by one man who stays around 

 Chesuncook. He has killed this year certainly twenty, 

 probably thirty moose, and some reports which investi- 

 gation has disproved would make the number much 

 higher. This shows who kills the moose? Hardly, As 

 usual the man is not a native of the State, but in this 

 case happens to be a bummer from the Provinces. Our 

 native-born white hunters do not kill game to waste. As 

 the man who wrote the letter quoted from above, says: 



People living here, citizens of the State, do not kill to waste, 

 but Canadian hunters do, and most of the moose hunters ai'e 

 Canadians. 



A guide who has been a great deal on Passadumkeag 

 waters, writes: 



Last summer more than one Imtidred deer were killed and 

 v.'oimded on the Passadumkeag Stream in the months of July and 

 August, and I saw lots of them rotten on the shore. 



Although not so stated, this must have been done 

 principally by sportsmen. The doggers do not go to work 

 so early, and do not run deer into the streams but into the 

 lakes. The fact of the deer being killed on the stream 

 shows that they were shot while feeding in the water. 

 Settlers would not have left the deer to sjjoil after killing 

 tliem. I have been told of two sportsmen who went to 

 this region to fish in July, and who killed six deer in spite 

 of all that the guide could do or say against it. When we 

 were in there we saw no sign of waste, except the fore- 

 quarters of two deer which had been skinned out and 

 left. Most guides, it may be said, would not call this 

 waste, because the forequarters of a deer are small and 

 light compared with the "saddle," and are not as good 

 meat. 



Instead of quoting what I have received from Aroostook, 

 I prefer to repeat what some one who signs himself "Back- 

 woodsman" writes in Shooting and Fishing for April 2, 

 1891; the sentiments are the same: 



Almost all of the violations of the Jaw in summer are done by 

 tourists and flahermen while going the rounds of our lakes and 

 rivers. They are armed with repeating rifles, and slioot at every 

 living thing they see, whether it be a nursing doe or a chickadee. 

 This is no fancied sketch, but plain, unvarnished facts, aud I 

 claim these are the most despicable of poachers; for what they 

 kill is left to rot; while the native crust-hunter usually takes his 

 ill-gotten gains to his family, and in a good many cases is tbe only 

 meat these poor folks have through the long, cold winter. The 

 latter class are the ones usually caught, as they make more tracks 

 in snow: while those on the water, in a canoe, with a good fat 

 purse to bribe the guide to silence, go unpunished. As a general 

 tiling, there has been mnre poaching the past winter than usual. 

 The law ^iolateTS attempt to justify themselves by saying if they 

 do not kill the game, the tourisr will. 



It certaiulj' is true that more game has been killed this 

 winter in close time than for many years, but it has not 

 been by accident nor entirely because the snow has been 

 deep. It is an avowed retaliation for the enormous waste 

 of game last summer and fall by sportsmen. In Novem- 

 ber I knew as well that it would be done as I do now that 

 it has been done. Any one who was in the woods last 

 fall could not fail to predict it if he knew anything about 

 the waste and the feelings of the people. And next 

 winter the same wiU be repeated unless sportsmen re- 

 form very suddenly. 



Concerning the waste of game in 1890 by sportsmen, 

 it is enough to say that it has been unparalleled. With- 

 out touching at all upon what has been done the length 

 and the breadth of t£e State, I will give a few facts re- 

 garding what has been done in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of Chesuncook Lake. And I will quote from only two 

 men, who write only a loart of the cases they have known 

 this year. I asked only these two in that vicinity for in- 

 formation because there was danger, if I asked many, of 

 getting the same mstances repeated again and again and 

 thus making the case appear worse than it really was; 

 for, of course, no one covdd tell whether five independent 

 witnesses going to these different ponds and lakes saw 

 the same cases of waste or different cases, without going 

 into a more extended investigation than the importance 

 of this case warrants. Therefore I call on but two who 

 tell only a part of what they know and confine them- 

 selves entirely to cases where the meat was wasted. The 

 first says: 



I went to Duck Pond to get some fresh meat myself and I found 

 three moose dead that had been killed some ten days there, only 

 one hindquarter taken. Mr. Hosford and wife went to Cusabexis 

 Lake on Sept. 25, they foxmd two large ones there left. 1 savv one 

 left at Mud Pond and at the foot of this lake, and at Harrington 

 other people saw the remains of six. 



Here is a perfectly trustworthy man who teUs of thir- 

 teen moose which he has known to be wasted, and 

 twelve of the thirteen killed on four ponds or lakes lying 

 within the limits of three adjoining townships. He 

 makes no mention of deer or caribou, nor of any cases 

 where only one moose was left in a place, except two 

 which he saw himself. This shows that he is telling the 

 smaller part of what he knows about. But it maybe said 

 that, since no particulars are given, a large part, if not 

 all these, might have been killed by .Jack Russell, the 

 Nova Scotian 'renegade, who killed so many last year for 

 the skins. As to the absence of names of tiae offenders, I 

 particularly stated in askiug the information that I 

 wished it for publication and did not want the names; 

 but I think I made it sufficiently clear that I wished to 

 know of cases where sportsmen had done the wrong. 

 We will grant that the above proves only a heartless and 

 inexcusable waste of game; the following shows who was 

 responsible for something simdar. This writer knows 

 nothing of what the first had written: 



Last August a party camped at Mud Pond landing two weeks. 

 It is a well-known fact that there is not a ti-out-flshing ground 

 within five miles, but they were within easy reach of Mud Pond, 

 Quaker Brook and Caribou Thoroughfare, three of the best hunt- 

 ing grounds on Chesuncook. This goes to show that it was hunt- 

 ing and not fishing they were after. In Quaker Brook I saw tbe 

 body of a large deer with only the horns taken, and after they 

 left, the body of a moose and a caribou were found in Mud Pond. 

 Kear Sept. 1 two calf moose were killed at Duel? Pond hy a party; 

 they lay about two rods apart. The hides and a small piece of the 

 meat were taken. Near the last of September a party of sports 

 killed a bull and a cow moose on Cancomgomoc Stream near Little 

 Scott Brook. They camped till October and then brought the 

 hides and head out openly as killed in October. The meat was 

 left. I made a trip to Loon Lake Sept. 1 and saw a dead caribou 

 at the foot of the lake, and got the smell of taiiited meat in a 

 number of places on Loon Lake and Hurd Ponds. This is only a 

 few cases of a great many that have come to my notice. 



Comment seems superfluous. Here are five moose, two 

 caribou and one deer wasted. Four of the eight were 



seen by the writer, and all but one are expressly stated 

 to have been killed by sportsmen; for "a party" does not 

 mean Frenchmen, Indians, residents, nor Jack Russell. 

 If they were sportsmen in this ease they probably were 

 in the other, for two of the instances referred to by each 

 man are probably inclusive of each other. The three 

 moose which one saw at Duck Pond probably include the 

 two which the other saw a few days earlier.' The moose 

 and caribou which one hears of at Mud Pond probably 

 cover the moose which the other saw there. If so, there 

 is no doubt that sportsmen were the murderers. Here 

 are at least eighteen large game animals, principally 

 moose, wasted in the immediate neighborhood of Chesun- 

 cook; and if I say that this is one-fifth of the waste on 

 waters that run into Chesuncook last year, I am putting 

 the statement so low that those who know most about it 

 will laugh at the caution shown. This does not include 

 what was honestly eaten whether summer or winter killed. 



Besides these thoroughly trustworthy accounts, various 

 reports have come to me from men whom I know to be 

 truthful, but who did not actually see the game. Two dif- 

 ferent men tell of a moose wasted at Moosehorn Stream on 

 the AA^est Branch above Chesuncook. One of the best 

 guides in the State tells me that his brother saw a cow and 

 a calf sunk in the West Branch between Northeast Carry 

 and Chesuncook, and two others tell the fame thing. 



Anotlier correspondent writes me concerning what a 



guide and hunter told him: " was telling me that he 



saw a Boston man that was guided by one Joe , an In- 

 dian guide, who shot and killed eight deer in two days 

 and never xased only part of one of them, and then he 

 asked his guide if he could not take him where he could 

 find good shooting; and that was last summer. He said 

 that he saw four big moose lying dead just as they was 

 shot by a New York pai-ty, and if this kind of work is 

 carried on we know that our ga,me must play out in a 

 short time. There are lots of moose being killed in this 

 section." This accotmt is almost startlingly like a story 

 Darling published; although differing in some particulars, 

 there is no disagreement between them. I do not present 

 it as being absolutely correct, for I have not investigated 

 it ftu-ther, preferring, since I had the matter at a point 

 where it would be easy to find out the real facts, to treat 

 it merely as an example of the way that the news gets 

 around here. That there is truth in it cannot be doubted. 



If enough evidence has not been presented to shov? that 

 the sportsmen who come here "have brought diecredit 

 upon themselves by inexcusable violations of the laws, 

 involving the waste of large quantities of game," more 

 definite evidence with names and dates can be furnished. 



F^VNKiE Pearson Hardy, 



White Deer and Bad Luck.— -Negaunee, Mich.— In 

 reading your valuable paper of Feb. 5, I Avas much inter- 

 ested with Mr, Hough's account of the white deer, as I 

 had the pleasure of seeing one at Humboldt Station in 

 this county in 1874 — a 2 -year-old buck as white as snow. 

 It was shot by a deer hunter by the name of Candy. An 

 old Indian told Cundy it was bad luck to kiU a white 

 deer, and that the Indians never kill them as they are the 

 spirit deer. Shortly after that, Cundy was out deer hunt- 

 ing. Somehow or other his rifle was discharged and shot 

 him in the back. He was laid up a long time and came 

 near passing in his checks. There are a number of people 

 at Humboldt that know this to be a fact. — GuiffFlN. 



Look Him Up. — AU readers of this department are re- 

 quested to read the communication in our Trap columns 

 of this week, regarding the mysterious disappearance of 

 E. S. Benscotten, the well-kuown trap-shooter, late of 

 Sliinrock, O. For the relatives of the missing man we 

 bespeak among the trap-shooters of the entire cortntry, 

 and more particularly on the Coast and in the Northwest, 

 every effort to determine his whereabouts or his fate. 

 Let more than idle curiosity govern in this. Will shoot- 

 ers of the Northwest kiirdly send to this office any infor- 

 mation they may have as to E. S. Benscotten, or E. S. 

 "Brown." He must be found. 



Nebraska Wildfowl. — ^Edgar, Nebraska, April 8. — 

 The shooting has been fine in this vicinity for some 

 weeks. We have had more than our usual supply of the 

 game, by reason of plenty of water in the lakes and 

 ponds. Canada geese, Hutchins geese, brant, snow 

 geese, redhead, mallard and pintail ducks have been 

 plentiful, and some of our hunters have made good bags. 

 One of our hunters bagged a fine specimen of the whistl- 

 ing swan. It was quite large, being nearly 8ft. in ex- 

 tent. We are expecting the dow birds to put in an ap- 

 pearance in a few days. — H. 



"That reminds me." 



IT was in the winter of 1870 that I made my first visit 

 to Florida. At that time railroads were not; the 

 Northern tourists were few in number; St. Augustine was 

 a sleepy old town with no Standard Oil king in sight. 

 The alligator basked quietly on the bank of the St. John, 

 and the white plume of the egret gleamed from every 

 swamp. Bears, deer, and turkey were abundant. Ac 

 Lord's comfortable cottage at New Smyrna were five or 

 six anglers who filled their boats dady with channel bass, 

 sheepshead and spotted sea trout. Almost all those 

 worthies have joined the great and silent majority. New 

 Smyrna then contained three houses and "a store, and 

 from the head of the Halifax to the Inlet there were 

 hardly 100 people. Daytona I think was laid out that 

 year. A mile below that hamlet lived a kind of natural- 

 ist named Chamberlain, who had a cottage on the river 

 bank filled with skins of beasts and birds, and copper jars 

 of alcohol containing fishes and reptiles, which he had 

 collected for Northern museums. Like that of most men 

 who live close to nature, his conversation was interesting 

 and I often visited him. One day he said, "I think you 

 have not seen my alligator. Come with me and I will 

 show you my pet." We went to a small creek about a 

 hundred yards from the river, winding through a hamak. 

 At one place there was a hole under a high bank into 

 which Chamberlain thrust a pole. The reply was a loud 

 and ugly growl. "He is at home but he won't come out 

 to-day," The pet was a good-sized alligator, seven or 

 eight feet long, which 0, had partially tamed by feeding 



