Sepi'. 3, 1891.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



12 8 



and his too evident breaking of twigs, not to mention a 

 Tery human but very artificial cough permits only a 

 momentary belief that be is edible and worth shooting at. 

 _ 2\iesday, Nov. 4. — As our bodies this morning showed 

 signs of rebelling against this unaccustomed way of life, 

 we decided to give them a day of rest, and sent the guides 

 off to get meat for camp. G. returned by noon, hav- 

 ing shot two buck cai'ibou within a mile' of the pond, 

 80, of course, all indisposition vanished and we started 

 for the place at once. The caribou lay where they fell, 

 and were the center of a perfect hunting scene. While 

 they were being resolved into a transportable state I 

 foraged for fuel over the picturesqtie neighborhood, and 

 soon had a tire blazing at the foot of a big birch. Mac in 

 the meantime sat on a fallen tree with pipe in mouth and, 

 for aught' I know, was in communion cheek by jowl with 

 the familiar spirit of the place. His easy attitude and 

 benignant face expressed a placid interest in all about 

 him, while the incense of the nicotian weed wafted gently 

 upward toward Diana's nose. The records of the h\int, 

 the mossy forest floor and the big trees near at hand 

 called "As You Like It" to his mind, though he did not 

 say who tigured as Rosalind in his imagination. In this 

 new forest of Aden we spent the middle part of the day, 

 and with lunch swallowed large drafts of Sooshong 

 tea and sylvan beauty. W. traveled all day without 

 seeing anything, getting liome at 8 P. M. with his much 

 dilapidated trousers, and woiild have had to lie out all 

 night but for birch-bark torches, blazed trees and 

 signal shots fired at camp. 



Wednesday, iVoi'. 5. — Spent the morning lugging in 

 the caribou over three-quarters of a mile of rough and 

 swampy trail, and after lunch all started up Seven- 

 Ponds buckboard road. G. and I followed north on 

 partridge track and got one, then crossed to south of road 

 and watched for deer a while. Mac went further along 

 and waited, while W. circled to the north. They saw a 

 bear track made within a day or two. Reached camp 

 at 5:30 P.M. 



Thursday, Nov. 6.— Got away at 7:15 A. M. and went 

 about a mile from the pond up the South Ridge, where we 

 watched a little distance apart for four hours, but saw 

 nothing bigger than a squirrel, G., however, got a 

 young buck deer, about half a mile west of us. The 

 dropping of water, ice and lumps of snow from the trees 

 was continuous, and each new sound suggested venison: 

 but none came within sight or ken. The snow gobs and 

 icicles falling on the wet snow made every conceivable 

 intaglio, resembling the footprints of all sorts of uncre- 

 ated and impossible beasts, from monopeds to multipeds, 

 not to mi^ntion a variety of winged and amphibious 

 things. G and I brouglit in the deer over some two 

 miles of no path at all, swamps and thickets alternating 

 in very displeasing variety. Found Mac himting an elu- 

 sive musquash, which he got after scaring it to death 

 with several pounds of ammunition. A saddle of caribou 

 (much like deer, but coarser) for dinner restored wasted 

 tissue, 



[CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK.] 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Aug, 25.— Mr, W. R. Boyle, otherwise 

 "Billy" Boyle, otherwise the proprietor of the Eng- 

 lish chop house where the}^ formerly served illegal prai- 

 rie chickens— note the past tense — now wears a heavy 

 pall of gloom on his noble brow, Mr. Boyle will not 

 speak to a shooter. Mr. Boyle is angry, fairly boiling 

 over, so to speak. He doesn't think sportsmen ought to 

 eat prairie chickens and ducks at his place and then 

 "give it away." "That ain't right," says fill-. Boyle, It 

 is a little tough for Mr. Boyle. 



Mr. Boyle wanted to fight his case, and as it was about 

 the clearest case in the lot of those discovered in the late 

 raids, the opposition gladly accommodated him. Then 

 he wanted his case continued, and again he was accom- 

 modated. Yesterday morning was the final day set for 

 trial. Mr. Low, the sportsmen's attorney, was ready, and 

 so were Mr. Donald, Mr. Harry man and myself, the wit- 

 nesses in this case. Mr. Boyle's attorney wanted another 

 continuance, because his wife was still sick and because 

 Mr. Boyle was probably in Indiana. To this Mi-. Low ob- 

 jected, and claimed a forfeiture of the $200 cost bond 

 filed with the first continuance. Justice White declared 

 the bond forfeited. This $200 now stands a debt against 

 Mr. Boyle's property. If he chooses to step up and pay 

 his fine and costs, he can avoid the remainder of the $200. 

 If the justice consents to set aside the forfeiture and hear 

 evidence, he could, prosecution being willing, get his 

 case into court again. He can also go to a higher court 

 with it, in which case he will only lose more money, Mr, 

 Boyle would better pay his fine. Also, he would better 

 not sell any more illegal game. 



We have now five straight cases against Rector's res- 

 taurant besides the case in which I would be only a soK- 

 tary witness and which would not be so strong legally as 

 those in which two or three witnesses were on hand, Mr, 

 Rector will get his foot in about |I80 worth this time, in 

 all probability. 



A friend of mine tried Kern's restaurant yesterday for 

 prairie chicken. The waiter sized him up carefully and 

 asked him, "Do you see it on the bill of fare ?" 



"No, I don't see it there," said my friend and emis- 

 sary, 



"Then we don't got it," said the waiter with a grieved, 

 pained sort of look. 



Ml-. Kern has not yet told the Illinois State Sportsmen's 

 Association where he, or his steward more properly, 

 bought those six prairie chickens that he had. He has 

 said that "he might do that," but he hasn't done it. Now, 

 Mr, Kern is, or has been supposed to be, and has posed to 

 be, a prominent sportsman and devoted to true sports- 

 manship. If he is loyal to his professions, why has he 

 not vindicated himself? Why has he not washed his 

 hands ? Why has he not told where these birds were 

 purchased ? This action of his has hurt him with some of 

 the old standbys of the Association. I know what I am 

 talking about when I say that the talk aeainst him is 

 growing stronger. Two cases against Mr, Kern 'remain 

 untried. I think I state absolute facts when I say that 

 these cases will be pushed unless Mr. Kern divulges 

 where those birds were purchased, Mr, Kern will think 

 this a "bluff," He will be mistaken. He has gotten out 

 of this too easily, so people think since his silence about 

 the game market. We want South Water street worse 

 than we want ilr, Kern. 



There was talk in this town her? lately about a piotioB 



made in the Illinois State Sportsmen's convention three 

 or four years ago, a motion said to have been seconded, 

 or at least supported by Mr. Chas. Kern. The motion 

 was passed. It forever disbarred from the Association 

 contests any man convicted of an offense against the 

 game laws. This was the popular statement of it, and 

 the talk became general that Mr. Chas. Kern, ex-presi- 

 dent of the State Association, president of the Audubon 

 Club, etc., etc., etc., would therefore be barred from the 

 privileges of the Association tournaments, 

 Mr. Kern is so barred to-day. 



Of course in a matter of this kind the only thing to do 

 was to go the records. I went to Mr. Shepard, secretary 

 of the Association, and put the question to him. "There 

 never was any such motion made," said he. Then Tasked 

 him to find the records for 1888 and 1889, Meantime I 

 asked Mr. W. N. Low about this same motion. 



"Yes, sir," said Mr, Low very positively, "there was 

 such a motion made, and I know it, because I made it, 

 I don't remember who seconded it, but it was passed. 

 That was the year when Roll Organ was president. The 

 records ought to show this. 



Mr. Shepard showed me the records for 1888, and they 

 held no account of this motion. They did mention that 

 the president's address was omitted, and that in a stirring 

 speech Mr. Low denounced the game law violators. The 

 records may or may not be correct. I dare not say they 

 are not, for if that insinuation should reach Mr. Shepard 

 he would simply fall dead of horror, 



Mr. Shepard did not have the transcript for the con- 

 vention of 1889, but he did have the original notes, and 

 in them he showed me the following: 



"Moved by Mr, Sheahan a,nd seconded, that any mem- 

 ber having been found guilty of violating the game laws 

 be barred from all privileges of this Association, Carried." 



This was June 4, 1889, the year Mr. Low was president. 

 This is exactly how the record stands. It is official, 

 whether explicit or not. Compare this record vsdth that 

 of Justice White's police court, and it is needless to say 

 that right now, without further action, Mr. Chas. Kern, 

 ex-president of the State Association, etc., etc., can not 

 compete in a tournament sweepstakes here next June. 

 He can not vote in the convention. He can not make 

 any ringing speeches there. He isn't in it. Of course, 

 Mr. Kern has plenty of friends in the Association, They 

 will smooth this all up. They will accept his alibi. They 

 will get him back in. They will rescind the above ob- 

 noxious motion. And thereby they will satisfy the 

 Illinois State Sportsmen's Association, and will put it on 

 record to the exact contrary of the above motion. That 

 will be very nice. 



It is not of record that Mr. Kern made a speech. 



I like my old friend, Col. Bond, the king of the Chicago 

 game dealers, because I can always go down and have 

 a pleasant time with him and learn a lot about where 

 illegal game is not sold, and a lot about the virtues of 

 those good men, the game dealers. Besides, the Colonel 

 is pretty clever and pleasant anyhow. Last winter I 

 published several letters from him, until he began to 

 mark them "Not for publication," This morning I got 

 another letter from him, which reads as follows: 



If you liave leisure I would like to have you call on. me as I 

 want to talk witli you. I inclose a letter for your perusal, I have 

 many of such tenor. 



The letter which the Colonel mentions has the signature 

 carefully torn oft", but I give it unchanged elsewhere, as 

 it may give a pointer to some sportsman who wants some 

 good chicken shooting. It reads: 



JOHNSTO-WN, Neb., Aug. 19.— Messrs. Bond & Whitcomb, Chi- 

 cago, 111.: Dear Sirs -It will be lawful to handle all kinds of game 

 in this Stale after the 1st of September. Can you handle grouse 

 and chickens there? The prospects are favorable for a good trade 

 here; but if we can't sell in Chicago will have to ship further 

 East. Please give me prices on venison dried. Yours respect- 

 fully, 



I don't know what the Colonel wants to see me about. 

 Maybe he wants to explain again that if Chicago doesn't 

 handle illegal game. New York and Boston will. This, 

 of course, makes it all right for Chicago to do so. 

 I will go down and see my pleasant friend pretty soon 

 and find out what is troubling his mind. It can't be the 

 new game warden, or perhaps these ne%v restaurant 

 cases, 



Evanston Gun Club performed a novel act of justice 

 lately. It found a citizen who had killed nine prairie 

 chickens illegally. The club told him it proposed to enter 

 suit. The citizen was a pretty decent sort of a fellow, 

 and he just compromised the suit by paying $45 into the 

 hands of the club treasury ! This is certainly a trifle 

 unique. 



They caught another fellow killing prairie chickens out 

 that way not long ago, and took him before a justice, who 

 asked him what defense he had to make, 



"I never killed no chickens, judge," said the prisoner, 

 "I only killed two meadow larks that these fellers fought 

 was chickens." 



"Ten dollars and costs!" roared the justice; and till to- 

 day the culprit in the case, who didn't know that larks 

 are protected, thinks he was a victim of misplaced 

 confidence. 



To-day I learn that State Warden Buck sent two lady 

 detectives to Wm, Werner's restaurant for illegal prairie 

 chickens. That was last week. They reported themselves 

 unable to buy any, which many of BUly Werner's friends 

 will be glad to hear, 



A typical letter of the sort I am getting about now is 

 the following from Mr, Ray Tompkins, of Elmira, N. Y., 

 which reads: 



Last year I asked you for some advice, followed it out and had 

 the best of sport. I visited many lakes north of Trout Lake, Wis., 

 and found all ihe fishing I wanted. For one who is willing to take 

 his pack on his back and throw back what fish are not necessary 

 for his existence, this region will furnish all the sport ho may 

 wish. 



Now I am after more advice. I hope to make a trip west to 

 Devil's Lake, Dakota, after ducks and geese in October, and I 

 want to know if I can get some chicken shooting without going 

 far from my way. I note by yesterday's Forest and Stream 

 you speak of the region about Devil's Lake as being good. Are 

 you assured if this is so? 



From Devil's Lake, after a week or ten days' shooting, 1 want to 

 go from Hallock or Crookston into Minnesota after big game. Do 

 you know of any people in either of those places who could guide 

 me or advise me after I got there? Anything you will write me 

 will be greatly appreciated. Would it pay me to take my dogs so ' 

 far for chickens? ; 



I never was at Devil's Lake. Last fall I heard of 

 many shooters going further west than that for geese, 

 but should think that one who had never had better 

 shooting would believe the goose and duck shooting still \ 

 PQSsiWe there the best oa earth. The Turtle Mountain 



I region, north of there, was reported good last year for 

 sharp-tailed grouse. Personally I can not speak for it. 

 If Mr. Tompkins, and everybody else, will write to Mr, 

 C, D. Gammon, 1.^9 N. Des Plaines street, Chicago, and 

 1 to Mr. Geo. T. Farmer, Rookery Building, Chicago, they 

 will strike mighty clever men who have shot all through 

 that country and know it well. I take the liberty of 

 giving their addresses? publicly, because I want to make 

 them a whole lot of trouble which after all they will 

 probably enjoy. They are pretty near decent men, both 

 of them. I bear in mind that they reported last fall that 

 the Devil's Lake country was unpleasant from the fact 

 that hotel men, teamsters and farmers were all rank 

 robbers— $10 a day for a team, and that sort of thing. 

 This is worth investigating, 



I should think it safest and wisest to take one's dogs in 

 with him. Then he is all ready, provided the dogs are 

 any good. By October, however, even in this lower lati- 

 tude, the grouse are all packed, and do not lie close to 

 the dog. When a dog is to be used at all, it is best to 

 take one along if possible. What is the fun in hunting 

 over another fellow's dog? 



At Hallock or Crookston I konw no one to whom I 

 could direct a sportsman, Mr. Chas. Hallock, that emi- 

 nent sportsman after whom this town was named, has 

 within the past three years said that the great Roseau 

 Swamp, east of that place, contained abundance of deer 

 and some elk and moose. Will some reader from that 

 section respond? 



Mr. Merrill, of Milwaukee, has gone to Andover, S. D., 

 for his chicken shooting. This is on the Hastings & Da- 

 cota division of the St. Paul Railway, Mr, Merrill says 

 the shooting is good all the way from OrtonviUe, Minn., 

 to Fargo, Dakota. Earlier in the season, while having 

 some dogs trained, Mr. Merrill found birds very abundant 

 at Stuart, Minn. He found 25 coveys in one day. 



Mr. C. S. Burton to-day told me he had just talked with 

 a man from Neche station on the Great Northern Rail- 

 way, N. D., and the latter said that he had never seen so 

 many birds as there were this year around that place. 

 Mr, Burton is a shooter and this should be reliable, as his 

 friends would not misinform him. 



Mr. W, L. Shepard starts next week for chicken shoot- 

 ing near Volga, S. D. This point I have mentioned earlier. 



Mr. Burton and party will make their annual trip to 

 northwestern Minnesota within a week or so. They will 

 go to Detroit Lake possibly. 



Mr. Alex, T, Loyd and R. R. Donnely, accompanied 

 this year by Mr. F, R, Bissell and one or two others per- 

 haps, will this faU make their regular chicken trip, start- 

 ing this week, probably for Stuart City and Detroit, 

 They talked of Tracy, much further south, but fear dry- 

 ness there. 



Shooters should be careful where they go in northwest- 

 ern Minnesota this fall, for there has been considerable 

 drought in some sections. A letter received to-day from 

 F. A. Pheatt, an old traiiper of Dalton, Minn., gives the 

 following blue report: 



"I thought I would let you know how the local ducks 

 are and what the prospects are for shooting. There are 

 no ducks, no game of any kind so far, and if we don't 

 have rain before long, and lots of it, I don't look for any 

 shooting this fall to amount to anything. Everything is 

 dried up, what wasn't last year is this, and is so hard 

 that there are no plover in the country. I never knew 

 game so scarce as this fall so far." 



I do not learn that this is general, and have heard that 

 in Dakota the season has been favorable. The crop re- 

 ports indicate good game weather. E, Hough. 



THE SAFETY OF HAMMERLESS GUNS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your last number I notice "Hints in Handling Guns," 

 which are good. One sentence struck me as peculiar: 

 "Hammerless guns are a constant danger to persons boat- 

 ing." I have hunted ducks and shot at them a good 

 many times from a boat, and have used and been in com- 

 pany with persons who used hammerless guns for years 

 and never had an accident, nor did any of the numerous 

 friends using these guns while in my company have one. 

 On the other hand, with people using hammer guns the 

 case has been entii-ely different, and memory recalls many 

 hair-breadth escapes and some serious accidents, and also 

 some deaths occurring from the rise of hammer gims, 

 which could not have occurred had a hammerless been 

 used. A hammerless gun is far more safe than any make 

 of gun with hammers, and if properly constructed with 

 a good "block safety" there is no possible danger of shoot- 

 ing your friends or yourself; and if no "block safety" is 

 used, there is not near the danger of accidents in using a 

 hammerless that there is in one with "dog ears." When 

 two people are in the boat and you are going to the shooting 

 ground allow only one gun to be loaded after the parties 

 have taken their places, one of them facing the bow, the 

 other to use oars or paddle. When the place designed to 

 shoot over is reached, remove the shells, set out four de- 

 coys, assume your places, and if shooting from a boat 

 face each other, and never swing your gun over your 

 companion's head, nor around in front of htm, but let 

 each do his shooting from the right side as you face each 

 other, and my word for it no one will be harmed. The 

 writer has been in this position and seen his companion 

 kill thirty ducks when not three fell to his gun. But 

 how was it when the setting sun was sinking in the west- 

 ern horizon and the ducks were returning to the "mash"? 

 Then my companion could sit and watch me kill or mits 

 them the same as I did him during the morning flights. 



Hammerless, 

 Oazenovia, n. 



The Weedsport Rod and Gun Club has been organ- 

 ized at Weedsport, N. Y., with these officers: President, 

 Dr. Haskall; Vice-President, B, J. Hoyt; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, E, L. Benedict; Directors — H. A. Stevens, Geo. 

 Stickle, J, I, Weed, C. F, Brooks, A, Stickle, The club 

 proposes to see that the game laws are enforced. They 

 will occasionally hold social meetings and target shoots. 



Spobtsmkn Attention!— If you want fine sport and plenty of 

 feathered game, go to northern Iowa. The shooting is excellent 

 and you cannot fail to enjoy the trip. Or if yon desire to go a 

 little further, the prairie and lake region of Minnesota is equally 

 good for both fish and game, and the distance not much greater. 

 Both are reached by the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railway, 

 the leading line for sportsmen and tourists between Chicago arid 

 the Northwest, as well as the West and Southwest, and a favorite 

 route with all who have traveled over it. Tourist tickets now ott 

 sale. For any further information call on or address F. H. Lord, 

 General Passenger and Ticket Agent, Phenis Building, Chicago, 



