176 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb-. 25, 1892. 



says the third finger and knuckle on the right hand are 

 gone, but the other fingers are uninjured. This, bad as 

 it is, was hailed by the hundreds of friends here as 

 most gratifying news. We hope to see the jolly doctor 

 back again and much himself and living to pull as good 

 a trigger as ever. The sympathy of the entire shooting 

 community here is with the sufferer. Dr. Hutchinson is 

 a prominent member of Cumberland, Fort Dearborn and 

 other Chicago clubs. We can by no means spare him 

 yet. He had been in Florida about a month. His family 

 is now with him. 



The following I notice in the local reports from World's 

 Fair headquarters: 



'"Three Indian canoes from Victoria, B. C, were re- 

 ceived at the custom house yesterday for exhibition at 

 the World's Fair. They were consigned to Director 

 General D ivis, and are beautifully made. 



"Twenty or more familiesof Esquimaux will be brought 

 to the' exposition from Labrador by J. W. Skiles, of 

 Spokane Falls. They will live in huts constructed of the 

 hides and bones of walrus and other aquatic animals. 

 The projectors of this display will also bring reindeer and 

 other animals native to Labrador to give the section in- 

 habited during the fair by the Esquimaux a realistic ap- 

 pearance. The natives will be employed in making 

 spears and canoes." 



Two flocks of ducks were seen by the Diana Club men 

 at Thayer, at their club trap shoot, a week ago to-day. 

 The time is drawing nigh. 



Mr. Claude King, editor of the clean and bright Rocky 

 Mountain reflex, Sports Afield, spent the week in this 

 city. Mr. King is a good sort of man to have in sporting 

 journalism. 



Mr. Walter R. Nursey, author of "Ten Years in Mani- 

 toba," etc., stopped at my office to inquire the address of 

 his old friend Mr. Charles Hallock this week, and I hope 

 the two will again shake hands. 



Mr. John F. Eberhart, of this city, starts soon for a 

 long trip through California. He will go via the Iron 

 Mountain route through Texas, and wishes to stop off for 

 a short side hunt somewhere for deer and turkeys. Mr. 

 Fred Taylor, who regularly goes to the Suggs' ranch, in 

 the Kiowa and Comanche country of the Indian Nations, 

 tells me that for such a purpose it would be well to stop 

 off at Texarkana, and go thence to De Kalb, where plenty 

 of deer and turkeys can be gotten at, and where guides, 

 teams, etc., are cheap. 



Mr. Taylor himself had the usual fine shooting which 

 he always gets at the Suggs' ranch, though not much 

 hunting was done, he being out to spend the winter. Quail 

 the cowboys would not eat, and ducks were too easy 

 to shoot to give any fun. The cowboys would not eat 

 wild turkey but preferred tame. Mr. Taylor killed three 

 turkeys and 100 prairie chickens the last few days be- 

 fore he came away. Hunters are not allowed in this 

 country, and the government watch is strict. 



Canvasbacks are worth $18 a dozen in Chicago now. 



City warden M. R. Bortree has arrested Ceo. S. Sloan 

 for having in possession after season two saddles of 

 "mountain sheep." He does this under the clause speci- 

 fying "buck, doe or fawn." He has also arrested David 

 R. Shively for having in possession one antelope, this 

 under the same clause. The arguments on these novel 

 cases come up next Wednesday. 



Hearing that plans were making for the importation 

 of antelope from Dakota, Mr. Bortree wrote the Secre- 

 tary of State of North Dakota thereon. His letter was 

 referred and answered by Assistant State's Attorney T. 

 C. Ransom, of Bismarck, under date of Feb. 10, as fol- 

 lows: 



"This State has no game warden. We have game laws 

 on the statutes against the killing of wild game, and 

 every person found with any antelope in possession, from 

 Jan. 1 till Sept. 1 next following, shall be fined $100. It 

 is only a fine, but the Court may imprison for 90 days or 

 not less than 30 days." 



A similar letter to South Dakota brought the following 

 from the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. H. B. Gillett, 

 under date of Feb. 11: 



"We would say, this State has no game warden. Will 

 try to be on the lookout for violators, however." 



More law than results in Dakota, too. 



To-day Warden Bortree searched the premises of Sayre 

 & Waterman, 88 Twenty-second street, for quail, on due 

 information. Nothing was found. 



The warden gets many anonymous letters telling him 

 of things he ought to do and could do. This cowardly 

 form of advice is not of much value to sportsmanship. 

 From the Olney Gun Club and from one or two anony- 

 mous parties he got something more tangible, namely, 

 the price current of Terrill Bros., of this city. This had, 

 stamped in red ink, with a rubber stencil made purposely 

 for that use, the following: 



"Ship us your quail, grouse, etc., long as you can get 

 them. We can use them." 



Mr. Bortree searched Terrill Brothers but could locate 

 nothing. Of course not. This game is not kept in the 

 stores, but in the big cold storage houses. Terrill Bros, 

 said it was a mistake that that sheet got out marked in 

 that way! That is a trifle lean for an excuse. They will 

 stand some watching. 



The Kankakee Association directors held their meeting 

 at the office of Mr. Abner Price, Friday, Feb. 19, at 3:30 

 P. M. Mr. Abner Price was elected president of the 

 association, and Mr. W. P. Mussey secretary and treas- 

 urer. The committee on fishways are Messrs. Geo. E. 

 Cole, W. P. Mussey and E. Hough of Chicago, and Mr. 

 W. M. Durham of Momence. The committee on protec- 

 tion are Messrs. E. Hough, A. H. Harryman, J. P. Card, 

 A. M. Fuller, Thos. C. Edwards, Henry Ehlers, H. D. 

 Nicholls and R. B. Organ, all of Chicago. The secretary 

 of the Nickel Plate Club was also added to this com- 

 mittee, being first chosen a director, vice Mr. Colby, re- 

 signed. The committee on ways and means are Messrs. 

 Abner Price, R. B. Organ, J. P. Card, W. P. Mussey, 

 Henry Ehlers, C. J. Gammon and E. Hough. 



It is the intention of the Kankakee Association to fin- 

 ish the fishway work thoroughly, and an appropriation 

 of $75 was made for that purpose, whioh will be enough. 

 The main work, however, will this year be expended on 

 the upper river, covering the waters and grounds of the 

 Mak-saw-ba, English Lake, Cumberland and Diana clubs. 

 Illegal shooting of ducks, and illegal netting and spear- 

 ing of fish will be stopped if possible, and a few good 

 cases will probably be enough. The protection com- 

 mittee has $100 still to its credit, and will get most of the 

 funds this year. 



The fishway committee was instructed to get a man to 

 run the river on a trip of inspection as early as the ice is 

 out. The committee on protection was instructed to 

 write at once to the Indiana Fish Commissioner, Mr. W. 

 T. Dennis, of Richmond, Ind., inviting him to meet the 

 committee, at their expense, at as early a date as possible 

 at English Lake club house, on the Kankakee. Euglish 

 Lake Club has paid more money than any other into the 

 treasury of the association. The grounds of this club are 

 afflicted with gill nets and bog nets. It is very fit that 

 some work should be done here, and we want to meet the 

 Indiana Commissioner right upon the ground and dis- 

 cuss a general campaign. There will be no let up in the 

 work, so long as funds hold out. The first year's work of 

 the association was remarkable, and it is to be hoped that 

 contributions for this year will be as good. The work 

 depends on the contributions. 



My friend, the daily reporter, was at the meeting. He 

 states in his report that "Mr. Geo. E. Cole, the retiring 

 president, made a brief address." Mr. Cole was not there, 

 but the daily reporter couldn't help saying that the re- 

 liring president made a brief address. Retiring presi- 

 dents always do that — in daily press reports, 



E. Hough. 



THE GAME FIELDS. 



Southern Vermont. 



RUFFED grouse have not been as plentiful as usual 

 the past season, although a good shot can usually 

 make a very creditable showing. Woodcock are not 

 abundant here. Squirrels are also scarce in some locali- 

 ties. Rabbits are fairly plentiful, and great sport can be 

 had with a pack of well trained dogs. The open season 

 for trout is from May 1 to Sept. 1. In 1888 the law was 

 changed so the open season extended from April 1 to 

 Aug. 1, but in two years it was changed back to its pres- 

 ent date. With the season opening May 1 there will be 

 plenty of work for the fish and game wardens, who are 

 few and far between in Vermont. Nearly every spring 

 some anxious fisherman get3 tired of waiting for the 

 opening day and the result is that quite a number of 

 trout are caught before the law is off, many of them be- 

 ing below the 6in. limit. 



In the fall the open season on woodcock begins Aug. 

 15, and on grouse Sept. 1. This gives another chance to 

 dodge the law, as a man can very often find grouse while 

 pretending to hunt woodcock, and all do not resist the 

 temptation. 



If Vermont would follow the example of some of our 

 neighboring States, we would soon have improved hunt- 

 ing and fishing. What we need are better laws better 

 enforced. Such laws can only be obtained by the united 

 efforts of Vermont sportsmen. I know of no better way 

 of uniting the sportsmen than by forming clubs in differ- 

 ent localities throughout the State, and all clubs already 

 organized as gun clubs, rifle clubs and boating clubs will 

 do well to look after the welfare of our fish and game. 



The laws will be more respected when backed by organ- 

 ization than when allowed to remain a dead letter. 

 Nearly every summer we have visitors who fish our 

 brooks several days in succession, and keep every trout 

 they catch regardless of size. This will not improve our 

 fishing, and I hope every person interested in the preser- 

 vation of our fish and game will unite in securing proper 

 legislation and upholding the laws that are passed. The 

 time to do this is now, not after the trout and game are 

 nearly exterminated. It will be too late then. 



Southern Vermont. 



[Our correspondent and all others interested will do 

 well to communicate with the Vermont Fish and Game 

 League, John W. Titcomb, Secretary, Rutland, Vt.j 



The Ducks in Boston Harbor. 



Will some one kindly inform me, through the Forest 

 and Stream, where the immense numbers of ducks go 

 to for the night that cover the Charles River between 

 Boston and Cambridge during the day? At dusk they 

 collect into a great flock, and after circling around they 

 fly off a little east or south. During the day they fre- 

 quently approach within 25yds. of both shores for feed. 

 They can generally be seen within that distance of the 

 Cambridge Bridge and along the shore to the factories, 

 and are apparently as unconscious of the electric cars and 

 heavy teams, within easy gunshot of them, as domestic 

 ducks on a duck pond. Would that they were as tame 

 as this when gunpowder can be burnt! Duck. 



Boston, Mass. 



[The ducks go to the lower harbor and outside into the 

 bay. However tame they may seem to be on account of 

 their not having been disturbed from the shore, they view 

 the approach of a boat far differently, and it is extremely 

 difficult to get within several gunshots of them if in a 

 boat.] 



An Adirondack Hare Hunt. 

 Rabbits (hares) are very plentiful this winter in this 

 part of the Adirondacks. I had a two-days' hunt under 

 old Raven this winter. Numerically we had three dogs, 

 otherwise they would count about one and a half, My 

 full-blooded English beagle did most of the work. Old 

 'Lijah Simond's little deer dogs came along. He is a 

 good dog for old 'Lije to still-hunt deer with. He follows 

 a deer far enough but not too far, and being so small the 

 deer are not alarmed. We first tried the swamps. Here 

 a swamp is wooded ground, covered with large or small 

 growth and normally wet. Low, wet ground in an open 

 country is a "mash," The swamps were full of fox 

 tracks and the rabbits had been driven out. We found 

 them on the hillsides in the soft timber in heavy under- 

 growth. The beagle started the bunnies bobbing through 

 the woods, and as they swiftly loped across a little glade 

 or bounded across a narrow wood road, then or never was 

 our chance for a quick shot. Most of the shooters here 

 hold their pieces with the butt close under the armpit, 

 barrel pointing down and hand on the guard when ex- 

 pecting a shot. Sometimes they sway the gun up and 

 down and plant the feet again, much as an unprofessional 

 at the bat sways his club to get the swing. Many are 

 good game shots, even if their methods are not the same 

 as our own. 



We had a good laugh at one of our number. He was 

 expecting a shot every moment, and had his piece to his 

 shoulder, barrel raised above his head, like an elephant 

 with his trunk raised, when he means business. "Look 

 out there! Right behind you!" we called out. He made 



frantic efforts to get a bead on the rabbit, two feet behind 

 his boot heels, but could not. It was hard to make out 

 whether he was going around the rabbit or the rabbit 

 around him. It made me think again of that puzzling 

 question of the man with a gun and the squirrel in the 

 tree. He said the rabbit was almost too near to focus, 

 but if his gun barrel had not been so long he thought he 

 could have got a shot. 



Some, perhaps, have seen a buck fight, but I wonder 

 how many have seen a buck-rabbit fight. Just before 

 dark there was heard the "awfullest squallin'" near the 

 house. The house is nearly surrounded by woods and 

 rabbits live all about. Little Scotty ran out and said "Two 

 rabbits were having it out and were squallin' and bitin' 

 and clawin'. He is in the habit of picking up his tame 

 white rabits by their ears, so did not hesitate to take his 

 favorite hold. He brought one into the house and the 

 other scampered off. They both were young and small 

 and inexperienced. I doubt if an old buck rabbit would 

 allow himself to be lugged off by the ears. Nik. 



Bay Fab ms, Essex county, N. Y. 



Elk in Jackson's Hole, 



There is, at this date, only about 14in. of snow here. 

 All kinds of game are doing well. At a rough estimate, 

 there are about 3,000 elk in sight, Sounds rather "fishy," 

 but all the same they are here for every one to see who 

 wishes to come here this winter. Fred. E. White. 



R atimttick. P. O., Idaho, Jan. 30. 



Cohasset Coot Shooting, 



The three Crehore cousins, well known Harvard boys, 

 have a nice shooting box at Cohasset, Mass. They go 

 down there as often as the shooting is good, and as often 

 take their friends with them. They are very fond of shoot- 

 ing, and their blinds are very admirably arranged. For- 

 tunate is the shooting friend who gets an invitation and 

 accepts it. They star ted with a party on Monday evening. 



Special. 



A SHAWANGUNK WILD BOAR. 



ON Thursday, Jan. 31, a party, among whom were 

 Charles B. Stearns, of Oakland Valley, and that 

 well-known sportsman, Lew Boyd, of Hartwood Park, 

 were out to hunt the wild boar and succeeded in killing 

 one. Following some tracks these two gentlemen came 

 upon two of the animals in their nest — a very large boar 

 and a young sow, apparently about a year and a half old. 

 The hogs took the alarm when at too long range to be 

 killed, but Boyd selected the boar for his game and sent 

 two loads of buckshot after him, wounding him, as the 

 blood-stained trail proved. Mr. Stearns reserved his fire 

 and the sow, having turned about and changed her 

 course toward the hunters, he fired both barrels and 

 killed her. She ran about 100 yards after being shot and 

 fell dead. Her weight was about 215 pounds, being 

 about the siz^ of the wild hog killed by Judge Crane in 

 October, 1890. 



On Friday morning the party took up the bloody trail 

 of the big boar again and pursued it all day but failed to 

 overtake the animal. It is a peculiar characteristic of 

 these animals that when aroused they keep on running 

 for a long time and travel many miles before stopping, 

 unlike the deer, which, if not pursued, will soon stop to 

 reconnoiter and rest. At last accounts all but Boyd had 

 abandoned the trail. That worthy girded up his loins 

 with the remark, "I want that boar's head," and those 

 who are acquainted with the man perceive the boar to 

 be in imminent danger unless a fresh snowfall hides the 

 trail. Lu is a long stepper, and with the present depth 

 of snow, something less than two feet, a tramp of ten or 

 fifteen miles is a mere constitutional with him. 



B. T. Henley. 



Port Jkkvis, N, Y. 



A WORD ABOUT HOODLUMS. 



Editor Forest and, Stream: 



The last of Mr. Ames's entertaining letters, "In the 

 Maine Woods," leads me to say something which I have 

 refrained from for a long while out of respect to our fair 

 friend, for I think we may call her so, Miss HaTdy ; and 

 that is, that this illegal destruction of game is not due to 

 the visiting sportsman, but to the pure inherent "cussed- 

 ness" of the ignorant, envious, country "hoodlum," 



I have known the animal well for more than half a 

 century, and my first recollection of him dates from my 

 boyhood, when an old friend of my mother's sent her son, 

 a boy of 12, up into the country to spend the summer and 

 recruit from over study in the Boston Latin school. Now, 

 coming from the sea side, he naturally wanted a boat, 

 and we soon had one on the river. I think it cost the 

 enormous sum of $2; but what a time we had to keep it. 

 The village hoodlums stole the oars, sunk the boat, filled 

 it with mud, and committed other atrocities on it, until 

 it became more plague than profit to keep it, and pleasure 

 with it there was none. I have been running athwart 

 this same noxious animal all my life. It is he who puts 

 pickerel and "hornpout" into the trout ponds, who limes 

 the brooks or doses them with Cocculus indicus, and 

 would rather make a big haul by foul means than enjoy 

 a decent catch by fair ones. 



During my years of experience as game warden and 

 fish commissioner I have run across him or his tracks 

 everywhere. I have found the stakes to which gill nets 

 had been set at the mouth of springs emptying into 

 choice trout ponds; I have come across places in the 

 woods where the shovel and hoe had left the marks of 

 their use in damming brooks during the low water of 

 summer, so as to scoop out all the finny inhabitants, and 

 I met a lovely specimen of the breed up at Connecticut 

 Lake half a dozen years since, who attacked me on the 

 tavern porch with a volley of abuse of the Fish Commis- 

 sion and the State Government and preached "Democ- 

 racy" at me with all the energy of a "Tammany heeler," 

 until I told him "if he did not stop his talk I would stop 

 it for him," and the man whom he had been "guiding" (?) 

 seeing that I meant what I said, seduced the brute off 

 with another drink, of which he had too many already. 



Now, this animal is not the much-abused foreigner, he 

 is neither Irishman nor "Canuck," but pure native Amer- 

 ican, and he gets his brutality and his bad manners from 

 the same English stock immortalized by Punch in his 

 "Sketches of the Black Country:" "Say, Bill, who's that 

 chap?" "Don't know; not of these parts. 'Eave 'arf a 

 brick at him 1" 



