78 



FOREST AN£> STRlAM. 



|VjAN. 28, 



men throughout the State, from whom I hope you will 

 hear. Notably among these gentlemen is Mr. Lane, of 

 Hartford, who is acknowledged to be one of the finest 

 and most thorough sportsmen in every sense of the word. 

 He cut off a good many 12 bores, and if I remember cor- 

 rectly, found that be could cut them down to about 20in. 

 without loss of penetration ; but I hope to read of his ex- 

 perience from his own pen. I also know of a gun (in the 

 hands of quite a novice) that weighed less than 71bs,, 

 25iti. barrels, that was pitted against guns at least a third 

 longer and heavier, in the hands of experts, but the short 

 gun was the victor every time both for spread and pene- 

 tration. Another trial with this gun after it was cut off 

 another inch was made with a gun that weighed 8 lbs. 

 9oz., 30in. barrels, 12-bore; but again the short gun dis- 

 tanced its competitor, putting in more shot and very 

 much deeper. All these long guns were considered by 

 their owners to be extra good. 



I do not think there are any sportsmen, however strong 

 and energetic, who care to load themselves with long 

 guns, when they can kill an old partridge just as far with 

 a short one. The only way to test it is at the target with 

 gun in frame. A man to do good shooting must have 

 confidence in his gun while in the field. There are some 

 men down on Cape Cod, or in that vicinity, who have 

 experimented with short guns against long ones, whom 

 I hope to hear from. F. T. COOMBS. 



Connecticut. 



WATCHING THEM ARRIVE. 



MY pusher and I had run our boat into an old blind 

 that was standing in the middle of a small lake in 

 northern Indiana. It was just noon, and as we had been 

 running all over the country trying in vain to find the 

 birds, we had begun to get "hungry, so I proposed having 

 some lunch, to which proposal my pusher was always 

 agreeable. 



It was one of those warm still April days, when every- 

 thing seems to be quiet except, perhaps, once in a while 

 a cowbell is heard across the marsh, or an engine whistles 

 some miles off. 



As we were eating our lunch I asked Bill why the blue- 

 bills had not arrived. "They're due now," he said, with 

 a wise sort of a look, "and if you stay down here a day 

 or two longer you will get some of them." 



While he was talking I heard a sort of rumbling noise, 

 seemingly overhead, but as I looked up I could see noth- 

 ing but clear sky. It kept growing louder, until finally 

 my curiosity was aroused, and I asked Bill what he 

 thought it was. "You just wait," he said, and with the 

 exception of a very broad smile this was all I could get 

 out of him; so I began trying to find out for myself. 



By this time the noise was quite noticeable, and as I 

 looked up I could see what I thought was a large flock 

 of blackbirds, but as they came nearer I could see that 

 they were an enormous flock of bluebills coming in from 

 the south- They swung over the lake two or three times 

 and then lit. During the afternoon several more flocks 

 of less size went through the same maneuvers, and by 6 

 o'clock there were two or three thousand birds skipping 

 around on the lake. 



Bill's propbecy had come true, the birds came and I 

 took thirty-five of them into the club house that evening, 

 and all Bill said on the way home was, "I told you so." 



J. M. M. 



NOTES OF GAME. 



THE season for quail in Indiana closed Dec. 20, with 

 many thousands of strong, fat birds left; but as the 

 law does not protect rabbits, the first snow brings an 

 army of rabbit shooters into the fields. Their main ob- 

 ject is to find a covey of quail bunched and to try how 

 near every one can be killed by the simultaneous dis- 

 cbarge of both barrels. It frequently happens that more 

 quail are killed in one snowy day than are killed over 

 dogs during the entire season. There is no help for it 

 except to make the close season close for everything.— 

 O. H. H. 



Auburn, Susquehanna Co., Pa., Jan. 7.— The shooting 

 season ending Dec. 31 has been full of disappointments. 

 But little game has been killed. Most of the shooting 

 here is at grouse and rabbits. The covers contained a 

 fair number of grouse, but the weather was such as to 

 render good bags out of the question. Six for a day's 

 work was the best I heard of. It took a good one to 

 average two. Two very wet seasons in succession nearly 

 exterminated the grouse. But the past season was very 

 favorable, and on opening day there was double the 

 birds of a year ago, and as but few have been killed a 

 good stock for breeding remains; and if next season be 

 favorable we shall expect a good supply of birds next 

 fall. 



Rabbits not as numerous as last fall, yet there was 

 enough for good sport with the musical beagles. Not a 

 particle of snow fell during the open season, which saved 

 the lives of thousands. A tracking snow and a ferret 

 make a combination they cannot withstand. Bar the 

 ferrets and they will hold their own against dog and gun. 

 But in this locality there are twenty- five ferrets to one 

 beagle, and the slaughter is sickening. One young fel- 

 low boasted of killing 357 in less than three weeks, and 

 another writes a companion of destroying 93 in three 

 days. A shooting friend tells me of meeting a boy this 

 fall with nothing but a sack and ferret in the way of 

 "tools" and sweating under a load of fifteen rabbits. 

 Such killing is not sport, it is slaughter; and such "sports- 

 men" should lay aside the guns and secure positions in 

 one of the abattoirs of Chicago. There they could gratify 

 their inordinate thirst for slaughter. — Bon Ami. 



Eddy, New Mexico, Jan. 15.— Game continues abund- 

 ant in this vicinity. Myself and a friend drove out four 

 miles east of town, a few days ago, and run on to a band 

 of eighteen antelope, but they were on a flat, level piece 

 of country where It was impossible to get a shot at them. 

 The surveyors and land locators have recently, however, 

 found several bands within three to ten miles of town, 

 on rolling ground, and in several cases got within 50yds. 

 of them. None of our local sportsmen here have hunted 

 antelope for several months past, hence they are remark- 

 ably tame. A hunter brought in eighteen saddles of 

 antelope and six of deer a few days ago. Mr. G. W. 

 Patton, of Chicago, who is visiting here, has put in from 

 two to eight hours every day, hunting jack rabbits, for 

 tbe past month, and his score, to date, counts up some- 

 thing over 300.— G, 0. Shields. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correspondent.~\ 



CHICAGO, 111., Jan. 22.— Copious tobacco in fluid 

 form, a discouraged stove and a close crowd around 

 it of evenings in the country grocery. Given these what 

 will be the topic talked of all through this region this 

 week and may be next. 



It will be quail. Some one will ask, " How many was it 

 you killed at one shot, Bill?" "Seventeen," Bill will 

 say. Then he will spit. After a while he will say, " Got 

 the whole bunch. Jim, he got two shots, but he only 

 got 13 one shot and 11 the other." 



•' What's quails bringin' now?" some one will ask. 

 " Dollar'n quarter." 

 " Gee ! You made purty near two dollars to one shot. 

 That's what I call a blame lucky shot." 



Yes, but it's blame unlucky for the quails. Yet many 

 and many such a shot is ringing now out in this western 

 country, made possible and probable, and indeed certain 

 by the heavy snow which has fallen over so wide a reg- 

 ion within the week now closing. This storm must 

 prove more destructive to game life than any for a num- 

 ber of years. For the last two years quails have been 

 unusually abundant all through this immediate section. 

 This was the result of a succession of milder open win- 

 ters. We have had no such snow as this for a long time. 



Snow began to fall here Sunday evening, and it con- 

 tinued to fall almost without cessation till Tuesday, late 

 in the afternoon. At this writing the city streets are of 

 course in a horrible condition of slush, but a little way 

 out in the country the blanket of snow remains deep and 

 white, and so will be long enough to prove the winding 

 sheet for many a bevy, especially if sudden cold should 

 follow. 



It is in this sort of weather that the birds move about 

 little and remain huddled up. The pot hunter who finds 

 a " bunch" will destroy a bevy at a shot. 



The storm was general over a large section of country. 

 The Signal Service reported that the course of the storm 

 was from northwestern Texas toward the Lakes. The 

 temperature struck zero along the southwestern Kansas 

 line. In North Dakota it was 20 " bslow, 15 below in 

 western Iowa and in Nebraska, St. Louis had 8 above, 

 and 5 inches of snow. All of Tennessee near Memphis 

 had sleet, rain and freezing slush. Mississippi had snow 

 and unusual cold, with sleet and freezing near Jackson. 

 Kanas City, Mo., had 24 hours of snow. Texas had a 

 "norther," ruinous to stock and to game undoubtedly, 

 from Dallas to the Rio Grande, altogether the worst 

 storm for 5 years, xlrkansas had snow, sleet and ice. 

 Even Georgia and Florida suffered. 



Six inches of snow and 5 3 below zero was reported from 

 Quincy, in southern Illinois. Hillsboro, 111., reported 2ft. 

 of snow. Sumner, III., reported 6 to 20 inches of snow, 

 drifting. Vandalia, 111., had 15 inches of snow onalevel, 

 the deepest since 1874. Duquoin, 111., had 9 inches of 

 snow, and a strong wind. 



Reports from Newton, North Judson and Warsaw all 

 of Indiana, in response to personal inquiry, say the snow 

 averages from 6 inches to a foot, but the birds were not 

 thought in great danger unless sudden cold set in. Near 

 Davis, Ind., tbe club men thought the birds would stand 

 the storm all right 



This storm has been by far the most important event 

 of the week from a sportsman's standpoint. Its effect 

 upon the shooting can not be told until next fall. It de- 

 pends much upon what the weather for the ensuing week 

 may be, At present it is mild in this vicinity. It would 

 appear a moderate estimate to say that quails will not be 

 so abundant in this section next fall by one- half as they 

 were this fall. 



After the weather comes the grip injimportance. Num- 

 bers of our shooters here are down with it. Geo. Hof- 

 tnann is a wreck of his once voluptuous self, having lost 

 28lbs. in 2 weeks. J. L Wilcox is ordered South by his 

 physician. Others are sick or half sick. Postponed 

 matches are not unusual. Field shooting is not thought 

 of. 



From this last remark I must except the little Mak- 

 saw-ba party of three who, with a hound and a ferret, 

 went out after cottontails early in the week. They ac- 

 cumulated 19. It was a wild and bloody hunt. The 

 ferret would put the rabbit out of the hole, then all 

 three of the hunters would fire two barrels each at it. 

 After that, the hound would run it down. I withhold 

 names, in consideration of the broiled rabbits which the 

 guilty parties, or rather the chief instigator of the crime, 

 offered in expiation at a little supper the other Dight. 



Mr. Nat. B. Nesbitt, of Chesterville, Miss., well known 

 in the doggy world, writes us out here that he went out 

 on a " still hunt" for rabbits the other day, and got 73 to 

 his one gun. This breaks the record for one gun so far 

 as known. Those who attended the United States Field 

 Trials at Bicknell, Ind., however, tell me that a man 

 ought to kill 300 rabbits in a day there with a light snow. 

 Two or three were in sight most of the time during the 

 running. 



A pretty good wolf story comes from Tuscola, 111., and 

 I offer what the despatches give : 



" Tuscola, 111., Jan. 21.— Early this morning a party of 

 hunters, headed by Harvey and Stephen Campbell and 

 Henry Bloase, started a large wolf near Bourbon, that 

 has long been seen in that locality. They were mounted 

 and had a pack of five trained English ioxhounde. The 

 snow was fifteen inches deep and the hunters' prospects 

 were favorable. The beast is a large black timber wolf. 

 The dogs got the worst of two skirmishes with him, and 

 were very shy at the end of the chase. The wolf took 

 dogs and hunters over all sorts of country, and at one 

 time, within half a mile of town, was closely pressed. 

 But he got away with some teeth wounds, and at dusk 

 the hunters gave up the chase. The wolf left a trail of 

 blood in the snow, and will be again sought to-morrow." 



In earlier letters I have spoken of the wolf chase which 

 lately took place in Chicago, and also the bear hunt. 

 Since the account of the dead antelope found in the 

 streets of New York, I have nothing further to say, al- 

 though I think that story was only a bit of jealousy 

 against Chicago as a big game center. 



Some years ago, in writing a review of the sporting 

 clubs of Chicago, I had occasion to describe fully the 

 Mineola Club, of Fox Lake. A cut was shown of its 

 magnificent club house, at that time certainly the finest 

 in this part of the West, and probably only equalled by 

 the palaces of St. Clair Fiats. This morning there 

 was a Mineola Club. This afternoon there is none. A 



mortgage for $23,850 was foreclosed to-day, and the club 

 is no more. Its bonded indebtedness was $22,500, and 

 there was $1,350 of interest due. The property, includ- 

 ing real estate, club house and furniture, is valued at 

 over $19,000. Capital stock was $50,000, with $29,250 

 issued. It is likely the club will be reorganized under 

 another name. Mineola was a highly fashionable club. 

 Really, the club house was nothing but a big hotel, used 

 by the members as a summer resort. A hard-working 

 sporting club it never was, but rather a dilletante. It 

 was a problem from the first, whether the club could 

 swing so large a plant on such a basis. Support must 

 needs come only from the summer patronage. Of shoot- 

 ing Fox Lake could not offer, and has not of late years 

 offered enough to attract more than a few rare visitors 

 of the club membership. The patronage would not 

 carry the club. Turned into a summer hotel, open to 

 the full public, and its great building might pay for it- 

 self, for as a summer resort pure and simple theBe lakes 

 grow yearly in importance. 



Citizen Bill Griggs, of Browning, 111., probably the 

 widest traveled and most sucessful market-hunter in the 

 United States, is at present on Galveston Bay, Texas, 

 shooting canvasbacks. He has a sloop lined for trans- 

 port to open the market, and is getting $15 a dozen for 

 his ducks. He will make a trip to South America, start- 

 ing within the month, and will not return till spring. 

 He is going after plumage birds. The trip is an experi- 

 ment. With all kindness for Bill, I hope the experi- 

 ment will fail. Last year Griggs located a heron and egret 

 roost in Mississippi, and made a young fortune out of it. 

 He got his boat in to the heronry, and killed the birds 

 with a .22 rifle, easily getting a load. The experiences 

 this man has had would fill a book, and a mighty inter- 

 esting one too. 



Horicon Club is having some trouble in litigation, own* 

 ers of adjacent land threatening injunctions if the work 

 on the marsh dams is not discontinued. If I am not mis- 

 taken, there was once printed in Forest and Stream a 

 decision which would be of help to this club. 



Mr. A. W. Knox tells me that yesterday he saw, at a 

 West Side market near Das Piaines street, 24 barrels of 

 black bass and pickerel, just received from the Illinois 

 river .'country. He was told similar shipments were con- 

 stant from that region. So much for one beauty in our 

 fish law. Here is work for the State League, 



There is one feature about the Icelaw passed last winter 

 prohibiting winter fishing. The prohibition extends only 

 till March 1. If winter should hang on so late as that, 

 and it often does, thousands of fish will be killed. The 

 first week of March is worth three weeks in January, to 

 the market-fishers. They catch the most bass just as the 

 ice is breaking up. All the ice fishers of the lake coun- 

 try are observing the law very well, but as one of them 

 says, they are "just layin' for the first of March." 

 Thousands of lines will be out if the ice holds. 



The bass which Mr. Knox saw were not caught on hook 

 and line through the ice, and it is even probable that 

 they were taken in seines. A favorite method of the 

 Senachwine fishers at this season, as I know from per- 

 sonal observation, is the use of the "set net," or fyke, 

 with wings and pocket. Except in especially cold 

 weather, they will use this all winter, keeping the ice 

 open above the pocket, which they empty every day. 



Mr. Rolla O. Heikes is now in the employ of Thorson 

 & Cassaday, of this city. Both should be felicitated. 



The Cleveland Target Co. sends out a very full and 

 tasty catalogue this year, the work of Paul North I am 

 told. What a growth this artificial target business has 

 had. At first a freak in sportsmanship, it now has its 

 thousands in capital and its own special literature. 



As may have been noticed elsewhere, Mr. B. Waters, 

 one of the best known kennel writers of this country, 

 has lately been added to the jewels on Forest and 

 Stream's' string. Mr. Waters is all right, but it was 

 thought best to initiate him fully into metropolitan jour- 

 nalism and get him acquainted a little bit with the shoot- 

 ers also. Accordingly he was led up against a certain 

 syndicate of practical jokers who have been victimizing 

 the public ever since the shooting season stopped. This 

 syndicate makes its home at that unique center of shoot- 

 erdom mostly known here as "Billy's. ' Of Mr. Mussey's 

 hall I have often spoken. There is no place like it in the 

 United States as a general assembly place for sportsmen. 

 Well, we will suppose this is the"scene. Billy Mussey, 

 head of the syndicate, is behind the counter where the 

 billiard clocks are. Dick Cox, head capper for the game, 

 is a little at one side. Doc Malcolm, assistant pigeon, is 

 just beyond them. To these enter the victim, as per pre- 

 vious arrangement. 



"Oh, here is Mr. Waters, now," says Billy. "Sixty 

 cents, please— no, I beg your pardon, good morning, Mr. 

 Waters" (Billy sometimes gets excited). 



"Good morning," says Mr. Waters. 



"You are the very man I was looking for," says Billy 

 (truthfully enough). "A fellow has just been asking me 

 about his dog, and I don't know a thing about dogs. Oh, 

 there he is now, Dick Cox, over there. Say, Dick, here's 

 a gentleman that can tell you what to do for your dog, I 

 expect. Mr. Cox, this is Mr. Waters; Mr. Waters, Mr. 

 Cox; forty cents on No. 10, please. I'll be there in a 

 minute, Mr. — ." At this stage Billy retires behind the 

 clock and hugs himself while he watches the progress of 

 the plot. 



"I am glad to see you, Mr. Waters," says Mr, Cox (alBO 

 truthfully enough). ' Then Mr. Cox smiles one of his daz- 

 zling smiles. The victim is helpless. Cleopatra wouldn't 

 be in it with Dick Cox. 



The talk now progresses smoothly for a moment, Doc. 

 Malcolm drifting up, and the crowd gradually drawing 

 about the group. 



"Those kennels down at the club are all wrong," says 

 Doc. Malcolm. "My Chesapeake Bay dog is just full of 

 is." 



'Well, I suppose that's where my fox-terrier got 'em, 

 too," says Mr. Cox. "Oh, by-the-way, Mr. Waters— I 

 was just asking Billy — but can you tell me what's good 

 for fleas on a dog?" 



"Gentlemen," says Mr. Waters, "there is an immortal 

 work on the dog, known as 'Modern Training, Handling 

 and Breaking,' by B. Waters. When I consult its 

 pages, the best authority on the subject, I discover 

 that after all there is nothing better for fleas than pure 

 Persian insect powder, thoroughly applied." 



"But, Mr. "Waters," says Mr. Cox, with a troubled look 

 on his face, "that kills them, doesn't it?" 

 "Why, yes, certainly." 



