Marcs ki, 1892.] 



The full texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Boolt of the 

 Game Laws. 



NIGGER WOOL SWAMP. 



I 1ST eastern Missouri, extending from Poplar Bluff north- 

 east for one hundred miles and from twenty to forty 

 miles wide, is a tract of land so level that but for the fact 

 that part of it is covered by water and part of it is not 

 more than a foot higher than the water, it would be im- 

 possible to notice any variation from a true level. 



It is covered with 'a heavy growth of very tall trees, 

 the dryer portion thickly grown with underbrush, and 

 the wet ground thickly covered with coarse grass. It 

 abounds with gray squirrels, turkeys, a large variety of 

 rabbits, ducks in season, and a few deer. It is also a 

 resort for the diamond-dack, or timber rattlesnake, and 

 is abundantly stocked with malaria. 



One chilly October morning about three years ago, it 

 was my fortune to get out of a warm bed in the sleeper 

 at Poplar Bluff at four o'clock. The only place open at 

 that hour was the bar of the only hotel. At one end of 

 the bar hung the skins of two diomond-back "rattlers," 

 one six and the other six and a half feet long. With them 

 hung the backbone of another one seven and a half feet 

 in length. The barkeeper said they were killed some- 

 where in the neighborhood; two of them quite recently, 

 by a man living in town. I told him I wanted to see 

 that man, and the barkeeper said he would be round for 

 a drink before breakfast. While we were talking the 

 man came in. He was offered $2 to spend the day try- 

 ing to show me a snake, |3 if we found, one six feet long. 

 "No," said he, "can't go to-day, 'cause its my chill day. 

 Thar's Bill; mebby he mought go." "No," Bill said. "Had 

 a chill yesterday and feel too tired. But stranger, what 

 you wantin' a snake so bad fur?" I told him it was to get 

 the skin. Then the barkeeper offered to sell one of his 

 snake skins for a dollar, but I wanted one of my own 

 killing and did not bay. One man volunteered the in- 

 formation that "tbar were slathers uf squirrels out in 

 the swamp, and a feller was purty durned apt to run into a 

 drove of turkeys." The best way to go, was to go out 

 about nine miles on a freight train and back in the evening. 



It did not take me long after breakfast to get through 

 with my business and to learn that there was no train 

 going Bouth till night, but that a freight was ready to 

 start through the swamp, and there was barely time to 

 get out gun and shooting coat and get aboard. There was 

 no time to select ammunition, but the coat felt heavy 

 and I got aboard at once. The coat had in its pockets about 

 thirty shells loaded with 8s and one loaded with 4s. Nine 

 miles out the train stopped, and I stepped into the woods. 

 Squirrels were abundant, but the timber was too tall for 

 No. 8 shot. I soon found the best way was to sit at the 

 root of a tree and keep perfectly still till one came within 

 easy range, and in this manner got a fine bag in three 

 hours. 



A little after noon I got up on a big log in an open part 

 of the woods to eat my lunch, and afterward was lying 

 on the log half-asleep, when there was a good deal of 

 commotion in the brush some 200yds. away, bringing me 

 to my feet, gun in hand, in a hurry. A moment later a 

 magnificent buck sprang into the open. He was not 

 frightened, but in play was jumping, kicking and throw- 

 ing his head about. Presently the play stopped and he 

 began to walk slowly toward me, stopping every few feet 

 to nibble at the grass. He evidently had no knowledge 

 of my presence, but he was constantly on the alert. He 

 never took a bite of grass without first putting his nose to 

 it, and then instantly raising his head and looking about. 

 Yet I stood in plain view on a log 4ft. high; not a twig 

 between us. In perhaps ten minutes he had come within 

 50yds. of me, and was still headed directly toward me. 

 Both barrels were loaded with 8s, but I did not dare to 

 make a motion. So long as I kept perfectly quiet and he 

 did not smell me he might come within 10ft., but one 

 move by me would send him off. About 45yds. away be 

 passed on the other side of a big tree. While his head 

 was behind the tree I got one of the shells out of the gun, 

 and got hold of the one No. 4 shell. Then I stood for five 

 minutes more with the open gun in one hand and the 

 other hand in the coat pocket. Then he passed behind 

 another tree, and I got the shell in and the gun closed, but 

 did not have time to bring it to my shoulder. Any at- 

 tempt to raise the gun when he could see it would be a 

 failure, for he would be turned before I could shoot, and 

 nothing but a side shot at close range would do with No. 

 4 shot. . 



He was now not more than thirty yards away, and I 

 felt more interested in watching and admiring him than 

 in the prospects for killing him. His hair was smooth 

 and glossy, and his eyes looked so bright and lively, and 

 his movements were so light and graceful that he was a 

 veritable beauty, Half a dozen times he seemed to look 

 straight into my eyes, evidently curious as to what I 

 might be, and once or twice a look of suspicion crossed 

 his face. 



I now began to realize how painful it was to stand per- 

 fectly still for fifteen minutes. Every muscle ached and 

 seemed about to rebel against my will. If the buck held 

 his course he would pass about fifteen feet to one side. 

 There was one more tree that he might pass behind. If 

 he did that the gun could be brought to my shoulder and 

 a killing chance be had. He came right to the tree, rub- 

 bed his nose against it and finally went on the other side. 

 When his head appeared from behind the tree the gun 

 was pointing at his eye. I wanted a shot behind the 

 foreleg, but he stopped with only his head and half his 

 neck exposed. Will he come any further? He looks 

 straight at me, and I feel ashamed of the savage instinct 

 that makes me want to kill such an innocent and beauti- 

 ful creature, and I have about decided not to harm him 

 when suddenly up goes his bead, his nostrils are ex- 

 panded and a look of terror comes in his face; he has 

 scented the danger and in another instant will be off. 

 Instantly the murderous instinct is aroused within me 

 and I pull the trigger. The deer jumps ten feet high, 

 turns round a couple of times in a confused way, recovers 

 himself and in a few seconds is out of sight, no doubt 

 carrying a hundred No. 4 shot in his face and neck, for 

 he was only twenty- seven steps away. I've always re- 

 gretted shooting at him. If it had dropped him dead it 

 would have seemed too much like cold-blooded murder. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Soon after the deer had gone an owl of unusual size was 

 noticed and a sneak was made for him; although fairly 

 successful in getting a good shot, it was not good enough 

 for 8s to bring him. He was badly hurt and did not fly 

 far, but when followed would keep out of the way. 

 After a good many short flights his wounds proved too 

 much for him, and another easy shot brought him down. 

 During the chase he had flown in various directions, and 

 I b&d thought of nothing but following him, so when I 

 picked him up I hardly knew which way to go. The 

 clouds were so thick that there was no telling where the 

 sun was and there had been no wind all day. After a 

 little study it came to my mind that this way was north, 

 and to my left hand was west, to the railroad. It could 

 not be thirty minutes walk to it, but forty-five minutes 

 brisk walk showed nothing but gloomy cypress swamp 

 and water 6in. deep all over the ground. Either the 

 woods or myself had got turned round. It could not be 

 myself that was turned, for I knew this way was north. 

 How did I know it? Well, I just knew it, in spite of any 

 or every evidence to the contrary; "felt it in my bones." 

 I looked at the moss on the tree trunks, knowing that 

 more mos3 grows on the north than on the other sides, 

 but I was surprised to notice that on these trees the most 

 moss grew on the south side, and fell to speculating on 

 the cause of it. Just then the clouds broke away enough 

 to give a brief view of the sun. It was in the northeast 

 and my watch said 3:80 P. M. Both the sun and moss 

 showed that I was wrong, but so strong was the impres- 

 sion that that particular direction was north, that it was 

 impossible to govern myself by them. 



I had often ridiculed the idea of men becoming so con- 

 fused that they would not believe their compass needles 

 pointed north, yet I would not believe the sun was in the 

 southwest at 3:30 P. M. I realized that getting lost in 

 this place was a serious matter, for if a wrong direction 

 was taken I might go fifty miles, or rather attempt to go 

 that distance, through impassable cypress swamps, but I 

 could not overcome the senseless impression that a cer- 

 tain direction was north. The only sensible thing I did 

 do was to remember that I could not be too far from the 

 railroad to hear a train and that a train would pass before 

 night, and compromised matters by deciding to sit still 

 till the train was heard. While waiting for this, a faint 

 boom came rolling through the woods, sounding like a dis- 

 tant cannon. The sound repeated at short intervals, and I 

 soon decided that it was somebody unloading heavy lum- 

 ber on the railroad. No, it could not be on the road for 

 it was not in that direction, but there was somebody 

 there, and I could get directions about getting out. Re- 

 membering that lost people travel in circles, I picked out 

 a very tall dead tree and went directly toward it, picking 

 out another further on as 1 advanced. After twenty 

 minutes of rapid walking I waited to hear the sound 

 again and presently heard it, but it was further away 

 than before, and instead of being in my front it was be- 

 hind and to my left. Were the woods enchanted? I had 

 certainly kept a straight course by those trees, yet the 

 noise was now behind me. While puzzling over it the 

 noise waB heard in the first direction, and in a moment 

 more in both diretions. Then it dawned upon me that 

 both places were on the railroad and I could be only a 

 little way from the road, as I was nearly, but not quite, 

 on a line between the two points. If I faced the place 

 from where I first beard it, and then turned squarely to 

 the left it would take me out. Practice proved the theory 

 correct, and in a few minutes I stood on the track. Evi- 

 dently I could not have been two hundred yards from it 

 at any time after realizing I was lost, but had been trav- 

 eling about parallel with it. I don'c regret having had 

 the experience, but don't care to repeat it. My advice to 

 people in such circumstances is. don't get lost. 



O. H . Hampton. 



WORCESTER AND ITS SPORTSMEN. 



WORCESTER, Mass., March 4.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The season just closed has been a record 

 breaker for the Worcester Fur Club. 



It was reported last summer and in the early fall that 

 an unusually large crop of reds were being raised for the 

 winter's sport, and the appended score shows that the 

 estimate was well taken. 



During the first of the hunting there were few good 

 following days, but later there was good sport, and some 

 of the hunters braced up and finished strong. 



In spite of the large number killed there is a good sup- 

 ply left over for breeders. About all of the foxes killed 

 the past month have been bitches, and carrying from six 

 to nine pups, and it is quite a question whether the sea- 

 son should not close Feb. 1 rather than March 1. Season 

 of 1891-9.} score: S. A. Smith 13, A. C. White 10, E. T. 

 Whittaker 8, Horace Adams 7, John M. White 6, A. B. 

 Maynard 6, Charles H. Howe 5, Geo. B. Appleby 5, H. A. 

 Moffit 4, E. W. Gill 4, Noah Willard 4, John R. Thayer 3, 

 A. E. Brown 3, L. E. Dtvoll 3, F. J. Hathaway 8, W r . L. 

 Taft 3, H. N. Ingraham 8, E. O. Eldridge 3, A. W. Hunt 

 2, N. S. Harrington 3. if. E. Harrington 2, Geo. T. Bates 

 1, A. L. Joslin ], A. B. F. Kinney 1, H. W. Eager 1, E. 



0. Conforth 1, N. E. Rand 1, E. J. Bates 1, W. R. Dean 



1, G. J. Rugg 1, Geo. H. Cutting 1, James Adams 1, H. 

 L. Kinsley 1, Leonard Rand 1, George Galley 1, E. A. 

 Learen 1, Geo. E. Blake 1: total 115. 



The annual meeting of the Worcester Sportsman's 

 Club was held at the Bay State House March 2. A very 

 stormy night kept the attendance down. An entire 

 Bhake-up in the list of officers was inaugurated and car- 

 ried out. The retiring secretary's report showed a very 

 prosperous year's work and a well-merited vote of thanks 

 tendered him for the splendid showing he had made, 

 taking the club a year ago with a debt of $136 and show- 

 ing a balance of $86 on hand, all bills paid at present. 



The retiring president's speech called the club's atten- 

 tion to the fact that trap-shooting was absorbing the 

 entire energy of the club to the exclusion of its legiti- 

 mate objects of late years, and suggesting that some- 

 thing must be done to interest the majority of members 

 who are not trap shooters. 



The falling off of the membership list is evidence that 

 this is a fact and one that needs immediate attention. 

 With the infusion of new blood into the board of officers 

 it is hoped that something may be done to interest those 

 who do not feel that smashing clay is the only amuse- 

 ment worthy a sportsman. There is scarcely another 

 sportsman's club in New England that dees not cater to 

 some extent to its fishermen and bird hunters. Talking 

 over the fish and game laws at the annual meeting, even 

 pulling in some poor devil for fishing on the Lord's Day 



22 S 



(if April 1 falls on that day), and then voting the entire 

 income and energy of the club for the remainder of the 

 year to running a series of shoots is not what is going to 

 tend to strengthen the hold the club has on the majority 

 of its members. 



The new officers are, many of them, young men. Some 

 of them are enthusiastic lovers of oxitdoor sport, and we 

 expect great things from them. 



With $200 or more per year coming in for dues they 

 have quite a capital to work with, more in fact than some 

 clubs who are doing good work. The whole of this can 

 be expended in the interest of fish and game. 



The past year has proved beyond a doubt that trap- 

 shooting in the hands of a good man, backed by an exe- 

 cutive committee who have been instructed by their club 

 to run the shoots so that they would be no expense to the 

 club, can be so managed as to pay its own exjsenses. 



And next comes trouting. Two theories are afloat as 

 to the probabilities for the coming season's fishing. One 

 is that the continued low water of last year will prove 

 ruinous to this year's fishing. This seems logical, and in 

 fact we usually have our best fishing the year following 

 a very wet season. 



On the other hand there are a few careful observers 

 who claim that the dry spell last j'ear came on so early 

 that but few trout ran up the brooks, and that the good 

 supply of water which we had later prevented the brooks 

 from running so low as to kill any fish, hence they argue 

 that with good water this spring we shall be able to gather 

 in what we missed last year. This also looks plausible, 

 especially to those who may be influenced by the wish 

 that it may prove true. I incline to this belief myself, 

 and anxiously await the time that will prove which 

 theory is corre ct. Hal. 



IN THE FLORIDA "CYPRESS." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I suppose there are others besides myself who have been 

 trying to find good bunting and fishing, and for that 

 purpose I pen these lines. 1 would ad vise a party wish- 

 ing to have a good time to try Ft. Myers, Lee county, 

 Florida, noted throughout the country as the resort of the 

 Silver King. 



The Caloosahatchee has the record for the largest and 

 greatest number of tarpon of any resort in Florida, and 

 for jack and bass you can go out any day and have all 

 the fishing you want. 



Our party went not so much for the fishing, since it 

 was the gun we preferred, and to the lover of gun and 

 dog the Everglades are the nearest approach to the hun- 

 ter's paradise that can be imagined. You can go up or 

 down the river, without any decoys (as I have done,) and 

 have all the shooting at duck and curlew you want; or 

 take a tramp with the dog, and have all the shooting you 

 want at quail, English snipe, (jack snipe,) fox squirrels, 

 black squirrels, deer and turkey. There is other game 

 that I have not mentioned, as I name only those we 

 bagged. 



Our party consisted of three others besides myself from 

 this place, and W. Langford of Tampa— with guide six 

 in all. We started from Myers to penetrate the Ever- 

 glades as we know it here, but the Cypress as they call it. 

 We had for cook and guide Tom Roberts (one of the 

 'gater hunters, who by the way are the only ones outside 

 of the Indians that know the Cypress). He took his 

 ox team and we traveled 50 miles southwest of Myers, the 

 team following us from day to day. A party going in 

 that part I would advise not to take a tent; we wished 

 many a time during our stay we had left ours at home. 

 The climate is mild and healthy, and [one can sleep out 

 anywhere during the dry season. 



Through the aid of the ox team -we were not bothered 

 by baggage, and yet we had everything a camping party 

 could ask for. If we were out after small game and 

 wished a change, we would go to the wagon and exchange 

 gun for rifle, and thus were ready for deer or turkey. 



Many have a notion that Florida is a land of snakes, but 

 I have seen more in Pennsylvania in the same time than 

 I have there. I did not see a dozen in all, and of the 

 rattler I have yet my first one to see outside of a glass 

 case. 



At Ft. Myers is the Caloosa House, Mr, Boyd, Prop., 

 rates $3.50 per day, and boats included for this: or if you 

 desire a camping party to go with ox team, or to go down 

 the coast and gun along the rivers, write to Tom Roberts 

 of Ft. Myers, and I am sure you will not think his charges 

 too great, as we found him very reasonable. 



Any one desiring further information on write to me 

 or to the above named parties. W. O. Fkeet. 



Reading, Pa. 



WOODCOCK AND RESTAURANTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your edition of Feb. 25 I notice an editorial entitled 

 "The Delmonico Woodcock Case,"' and in another 

 column a letter from Mr. H. W. Brown, of Binghamton, 

 N. Y., on the unjust discrimination of the proposed New 

 York game law so far as it relates to the open season of 

 woodcock (Section 149), which exempts Saratoga and 

 some other counties from the original section of the bill 

 and opens the season in these portions on Aug. 1 instead 

 of Sept. 1 as provided by the original section. 



If Mr. Brown had appeared before the game law com- 

 mitte of the Assembly as I did in opposition to this sec- 

 tion 149 he would have found that the Saratoga hotels 

 have a short season which ends about Sept. 1, and the 

 best market for woodcock is during August, and that the 

 same influence was brought to bear in favor of this sec- 

 tion as that to postpone the Delmonico case above men- 

 tioned, viz., the hotel interest. I know from Mr. Brown's 

 letter that he is a sportsman and is familiar with the fall 

 flights of woodcock, but I am sorry to say that sportsmen 

 cannot compete against the interests of hotels. I want 

 to say in conclusion in justice to Mr. Gould who intro- 

 duced the bill and also had Lewis county exempted from 

 the original section, that he told me in person that he 

 was heartily in favor of having the season open on Sept. 

 1, but that if Saratoga and Warren counties were ex- 

 empted he owed it to his constituency, who desired it, to 

 have Lewis exempted. 



I hope Mr. Brown will now see that this section is to 

 provide Saratoga hotels with August woodcock and to 

 put a penny in the pockets of "game hogs" and market 

 gunners of the adjoining counties. 



Henry A. Vanderpoel. 



Albany, N. Y., March L 

 ' [The obnoxious section has been killed.] 



