Sept. I'i, 1891.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



16B 



GAME WARDEN DARLING. 



THE Bangor iVe?fs asserts that "Maine has few more 

 energetic or more honest game wardens than 'Jock' 

 Darling," and prints this letter from him; 



To me Editor of The News: 



I hare recently received letters from hunters and guides 

 asking for an explanation as to why I have accepted an 

 office of a game warden; and one sends me a clipping from a 

 Bangor paper which roads; "Maine's notorious game war- 

 den. Set a thief to catch a thief, etc.," and says that Uncle 

 Jock has long set the game laws and \Yardeus at defiance, 

 and openly advocated the dogging of deer in various puhli- 

 cations over his own signature, etc. 



I will give a partial explanation. I advocated dogging 

 deer during the open season, as my long experience told me, 

 with few exceptions, they could not be had any other way, 

 and that my belief was the most of the deer doggers would 

 help enforce the law in close time. I fought the law or 

 rather the wardens when I believed that they were the law 

 breakers, and I went to our Legislatures aud did all I could 

 to amend the game law by repealing a poition of it, and I 

 did it alone. Not a hunter, guide or sportsman helped me 

 to a cent or lifted a hand to help me. On the other hand, 

 many of the guides that I had given employment that put 

 many a dollar into their pockets, did not appreciate the 

 favor, and worked against me in many ways. 



And now they can take their turn, if they want to hght 

 the law, they have the field, and if they want the law 

 amended or repealed they have a chance to see what they 

 can do. 



Oar judges will tell the jurors in their charge to them 

 that the law may be wrong or obnoxious, but as long as it 

 stands on our statues it must be regarded as law, and that 

 they must decide according to law and evidence. 



Years ago I killed hundreds of moose and used to get 

 every pound of meat out of the carcass, until I found that 

 the other hunters, mostly Canada Indians, were bound to 

 kill them all just for their hides, and to get my share I took 

 a hand in it, at the same time believing it to be wrong. 



I have giveu some of my reasons for accepting the office 

 of game warden, aud, as I have accepted it, 1 shall try to 

 protect and preserve the game when it should be. 



And I will say to the hunters, guides or poachers, that I 

 don't want to catch them breaking the fi.sh and game laws. 

 I shall not try to induce anyone to break the law for the 

 purpose of catching you to get your money. 1 don't want 

 you to kill game when you are not allowed to do so by law; 

 but I do say if you keep on or do kill, as some of you have in 

 years past, I shall catch a few or more of you. 



I shall make it a point to see the hunters, guides, etc., and 

 talk the matter over with them and try to persuade them 

 not to kill the fish and game in close time, and if I am suc- 

 cessful in this 1 shall think 1 have done a better work than 

 I should if I had arrested them and put them to trouble and 

 costs, J. Daelixg. 



Lowell, Mass., Sept. 7, 1891. 



"GuiDO" reports in the Memphis, Tenn., Public Ledger 

 on the game outlook as follows: '"Sportsmen who have 

 toiled through the summer, with the hope of reward, 

 among the south-bound wildfowl are about being amply 

 rewarded, as the growth of small acorn mast, duckweed 

 and other feed is unprecedented. Already a few blue- 

 wing teal, mallard, spoonbills and geese have fallen to 

 the gunner's deadly double, while bags of 20 to 40 wood 

 or summer ducks are frecpaent at Beaver Dam, Wapo- 

 nocka and St. Francis clubs. Yonkapins, wild rice and 

 celery that were sown three years ago, and almost des- 

 paired of (owing to overflows), are freely growing with 

 moss and smartweed, and pepper grass and periwinkles, 

 of which wildfowl are greedily fond; also colt's foot, nut 

 grass, wire moss and willow acorns are abundant, and to 

 aquatic fowl irresistible. Owing to large growths of food 

 and cover the duck shooting especially at Beaver Dam 

 and Wapanocka has wonderfully improved within the 

 last year, and dozens are now bagged where couples for- 

 merly were, and each club has an artist in culinary skill 

 and new and complete outfits in boats. Homes are only 

 more delightful than these clubs in the kind of a duck 

 at each. Fishermen who want the gamiest trout and 

 striped bass, and salmon and pike need go no further 

 than Oak Donick and Black fish, Ark., as the quantity, 

 quality and appointment of the sport of angling are first 

 class. ' For February and March shooting on deep water 

 ducks, for extent of yonkapins and grass nut feeding 

 grounds, and for superb fishing Oak Donick wears the 

 diamond champion belt, "out of sight." Initiation fee 

 in Wapanocka is |3o0 with |20 annual dues added." 



Scattered Shot.— Ottawa, Kansas,— Last week another 

 careless accident occurred at this place, though fortun- 

 ately no one was severely injured. A farmer was just 

 leaving one of the stores on Main street with a load of 

 wheat in his wagon. He had j^laced his loaded shotgun 

 on top of the wheat and as the wagon started the gun 

 rolled off and was exploded. The load scattered about 25ft. 

 over the buildings across the street, but only one man was 

 hit. The shot went through his clothes but did not hurt 

 him very badly. A horse was also plentifully sprinkled, 

 though not seriously injured. This was not all, however, 

 as most of the load struck th'^ front of Elder's hardware 

 store and filled the plate glass window full of holes; it 

 also broke some glass for the Ottawa Printing Company. 

 The man who caused this havoc will probably be more 

 careful after he has gone down into his pocket for the 

 amount of the damages. — F. B. 



English Pheasants in Vermont.— At Shelburne Far-m, 

 Shelburne, Vt., nearly 1,000 English pheasants have been 

 hatched and turned out into the woods on the farm. 



Hunting axd Fishing tn the Nobthtwest. -Are you plan- 

 ning for an outing tuis summer? Have you ever looked up the 

 famous resorts of the Korthwest ? It is not an exaggeration to 

 say that the best hunting and Ashing grounds in ISIorth America 

 are found in the territory tributary to the Northern Pacitin Rail- 

 road. The lake purk region in Minnesota affords pielfere), pike, 

 bass and mBscalonge; rock bass are found in numerous streams, 

 and deer, elk and bear abound in the forest regions; antelops are 

 found in North Dakota. The Snowy, Bitter Roo\ Grazy, Rocky 

 and Cascade Mountains are the home of moosp, elk, caribou, 

 cougar.". Rocky Mountain sheep and goat and other laige game, 

 while all of the Northwestern States abound in feathererl game. 

 Rocky Mountain trout and grayling are caught in the Yellow- 

 stone, Gallatin. Madison, Jefferson, Clark's Fork aud Green 

 livers, affioiding unrivalled sport. An interesting pampblet, 

 "Game Preserves of North America," can be obtained free on 

 fipplication to Chas. S. Fee, G. P. & T. A. of the Northern Pacific 

 li R. at St. Paul, Minn. JJescriptive publications concerning 

 Yellowstone Park, Pacific coast and Alasks will also be mailed on 

 receipt of application, referring to Forest and Stream.— ^di). 



Names axd Porthaits of Brans, by Gurdon Trumbull. A 

 book particularly Interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question all the American game birds which 

 they may kill. Oloth, S30 pages, price $3.50, For sale by Forest 

 AND Stbbam. 



"That reminds me." 



THE Doctor, Willis and I were spending our vacation 

 at Sugar Loaf Hotel, on the South Fork of the 

 American River. One day while seeking a suitable 

 bathing place we came upo7i the camp of B,, of Sacra- 

 mento, a friend of the Doctor. In making our retreat, as 

 we did not wish to visit the camp just then, we espied B. 

 on the stream below vainly endeavoring to secure a rise 

 to his most enticing flies. We decided to help him. 

 Willis and the Djctor cast small pebbles so deftly as to 

 imitate the splash of a fish jumping for the gnats that 

 faij-ly covered the surface. As poor B. would notice 

 each successive splash in a different place he was kept 

 busy casting his line, but without success. Finally 

 giving up in despair, he left the plaee; so did we — in a 

 different direction. We learned afterward through a 

 mutual friend who visited Brunner's camp the wonder- 

 ful stories of how the stream was fairly living with fish 

 (big ones, too) and of their perversity in refusing to take 

 his most tempting offers. When B, learned of the deceit 

 practiced upon him, he was ready to go gimnmg if it 

 were not for the law, grouse, elk, deer and men being 

 protected. P. H. E. 



Oaklanh, Gal. 



The full texts of the game fish laws of all the States, 

 Territories and British Pro\dnces are given in the Booh of 

 the Game Laws. 



CRUISE OF THE PLAYFUL. 



AUGUST, 1891. 



CRYSTALLIZATION requires a good nucleus and the 

 right material. The material existed in twelve 

 busy men. The nucleus, well, Estelle was the right kind 

 of one. He had but to place himself in contact with 

 eleven of his ilk, tell about "a ten days' cruise along the 

 Jersey coast, a schooner yacht, the open ocean, Barnegat 

 Bay, good comp.-j.ny, a trusty skipper, skillful cook," and 

 all that sort of things, and if he had dropped a Montreal 

 fly on some creamy swirl of mountain water above a 

 hungry brook trout his lure could not have met a quicker 

 resi^onse, 



Gro? Of course! Let business, churches, stores and 

 offices go to. Estelle, we're with you I 



A hurry-scurry quick package and expressage of great 

 stores of groceries, fruits, varied delicacies, fishing tackle 

 and everything even to Gospel hymn books; and on Wed- 

 nesday, at 7 A, M,, Aug, 5, twelve disciples of Izaak 

 Walton and three boys for sx^ice were at Market street 

 station, Newark, loaded with luggage to take the train 

 for New Yoi'k, thence to Rockaway, whence the cruise 

 was to begin. Rockaway Avas reached in two hours after 

 numerous separations of passengers and baggage, Estelle 

 concluding his company was about as cohesive as a bag 

 of fleas. 



Yacht, captain, crew, cook, and almost everything 

 ready. But crabs and clams for bait must be had, and 

 barrels and salt. No parsimony was shown in getting 

 any of these indispensables, least of all in regard to salt. 

 Then that score of watermelons hadn't come. Hence an- 

 other delay, yet every day out as we sucked the ruby 

 treasures we blessed ourselves for waiting till they came. 



All aboard by 11:30 A. M., and just at noon the shore 

 loungers and the guests of the hotels gathered on the 

 pier; sails were set, hawsers cast off, the crowd cheered, 

 and before a good breeze we glided out through Rock- 

 away Inlet into the bounding sea. We were as follows: 

 J, A, Estelle, merchant (and Isaac Saull, manufacturer. 



his son Alfie). G. W. Beeson, merchant. 



Lewis B. Cleveland, retired, G, H. Bailey, insurance 

 Geo. Roubaud, merchant, broker, 

 H, S. Faulkner, merchant F. M. Hummel, superin- 



(and son Harry). tendent. 

 Isaiah Peckham, insurance Rev. C. H. Jones, clergy- 

 broker, man, 

 Wm, Kilpatrick, merchant. Rev, H. F. Barnes, clergy- 

 man (and son Robert). 

 Our yacht was the Playful, of New York, 54ft. long, 

 16ft, beam, schooner-rigged, with ample cabin accommo- 

 dations, and a staunch and seaworthy craft, good in any 

 sea and all weathers, and carrying two small rowboats. 

 Either the Volunteer or the Gloriana cotild beat her for 

 speed it is but fair to say. Captain, John Sedelmeyer; 

 crew, Billy and Ben; cook, John Africanus. So we mus- 

 tered nineteen souls on board at the start, though later 

 we claimed to have three females also, to wit, the wind- 

 lass, the rud-her and the penn-ant. 



Wedne.sday, Aug. 5. — Passing out of Rockaway Inlet 

 before 1 o'clock P. M., we laid our course for Sandy 

 Hook, at once heaving over the trolling lines forbluefish. 

 And that was the least we hove over after reaching the 

 great rollers off Rockaway. Little Alfie Estelle placed 

 first oflering on the shrine of Neptune. The Chaplain, 

 as became his office, next rendered a very hearty tribute 

 to the ruler of the sea, A strange pallor quickly spread 

 over the others, and one after another they kept back 

 nothing as they worshipped at Neptune's altars and sank 

 back exhausted on the deck, so paroxysmal had been 

 their devotion. The Chaplain declared he had seldom 

 seen a congregation so deeply moved. A slack wind, 

 and the long and glassy ground swells would have kept 

 the entire company on their backs on deck, had it not 

 been for Peckham, Jones and Hixmmel, whose tireless 

 brains and witty tongues made "animated busts" of the 

 sickest cruisers. At 5 P. M. rormded Sandy Hook and 

 dropped anchor in the Horseshoe for the night. At once 

 Cleveland and the boys were beginning to pull in dogfish, 

 skate and hammer-headed sharks, which seem to be the 

 chief piscatorial treasures of tlie Horseshoe. 



Supper over, that placid bay, the fleet of yachts and 

 fishing craft at anchorage close by, the low emerald 

 shores of the Hook, the sunset with its lane of golden 

 sheen westward across the waters, the flash of the High- 

 land lights, the bold headlands to the south, the night 

 lanterns hiing out one after another on the vessels at 

 anchor, all wove a magic spell of restf ulness and joy over 

 every voyager oa the Playful, and spontaneously the 



whole company broke out into song which rang out 

 within hearing of the neighboring fleet, securing appre- 

 ciative applause. 



Thurvday, Aiig. f?.— Sailed from the Horseshoe at? 8 

 A, M. with contrary wind and tide. Four hours round- 

 ing the hook. The light wind and the long rollers out- 

 side the hook began to create again the nausea of the pre- 

 vious day. Every eftbrt was made to counteract it. 

 Stories, jokes and puns were hmded so fast around the 

 cockpit that it seemed as if wind would triumj^h over 

 matter, but Neptune captured two victims. Of course, 

 all the stories were strictly true, for as yet no fish had 

 been caught, and the world knows it is not until they have 

 been caught that a man begins to clothe himself with lies 

 as with a garment. The Playful passed Asbury Park at 

 noon, and the chaplain was just beginning to sigh for a 

 hallelujah camp meeting time on shore when there was a 

 sharp jerk on his troller, quick retrieving of 200ft. of line, 

 and the first bluefish of the cruise was whirled over the 

 taffrail into the cockpit. At once all were convalescent 

 and the sea had no further terrors, though it yielded no 

 similar returns that day. Passed Barnegat Light at 5 

 P, M., wind S.E. Came to anchor opposite Wearetown 

 at 6 P, M., the skipper deserving great credit for pilotage 

 through the roaring breakers of Barnegat Inlet, and then 

 along the labyrinthine channels of Barnegat Bay at ebb 

 tide without hanging up the Playful but once on bar or 

 flat. Before dark enough weakfish were caught for sup- 

 per and breakfast. 



Friday, Aug. 7. — Weighed anchor for Wearetown at 5 

 A. M. Anchored near the shore. Capt. L, G, Mitchell, 

 of Barnegat, whom we had hoped to secure as pilot to 

 fishing grounds in the bay, came off to see us, but could 

 not go with us owing to engagement with Enother party. 

 Got hung up on a ledge of rocks, where we had anchored, 

 and were compelled to drop anchors shoreward and pull 

 ourselves off. At 9 A. M,, were off, and followed boats 

 to fishing groimds to the south in the bay. 



After fishing two hours, tide compelled us to sail back 

 for Wearetown, having caught only one weakfish from 

 the yacht, Peckham, Scull and Beeson, who had rowed 

 over to Harvey's Cedars in one of the small boats, we were 

 compelled to leave behind to overtake us at their leisure. 

 They caught some large weakfish, sea bass, and a large 

 sea turtle, not returning to the yacht until late in the 

 afternoon, after rowing 10 miles, 



Estelle and Kilpatrick, from the other small boat near 

 the yacht, caught three weakfish. 



Without a local skipper we did not allow Barnegat Bay 

 to do herself justice on the weakfish, consoling ourselves 

 that we saw few fish being caught from the other boats, 

 and that bluefish tasted better. 



At anchor off Wearetown at night again, Cleveland and 

 the boys kept fishing up ail sorts of strange marine 

 curiosities, 



Saturday, Aug. S. — All were sorry this m orning that 

 Peckham, Jones, Scull and Bailey had t(3 leave the party 

 and return to Newark, 



The only consolation of the company as they were j»ut 

 ashore. Bailey at Wearetown and the others at Barnegat 

 City, was that we should probably need their storage 

 and tonnage capacity to accommodate the great catch of 

 bluefish expected that day. Nevertheless, their flashing 

 wit and ceaseless stories and merry songs were greatly 

 missed. The next cruise should have all under ironclad 

 pledge to stick to the boat till she ties up to the home 

 dock. 



Under a light W.N.W. wind at 8* o'clock A, M, the 

 Playful glided out of Barnegat Inlet; not, however, till 

 Roubaud had taken a fine bluefish from the breakers. It 

 was not a bluefish day outside. The breeze ran up and 

 down the mast and spilled out of the sails until 3 o'clock, 

 when enough came to let us catch two bluefish and to 

 bring us to Tucker's Inlet, the entrance to Little Egg 

 Harbor, at 5:30, where we came to anchor. After sup- 

 per the party, except Cleveland, went ashore in two 

 boats and had their Saturday evening bath with athletic 

 sports en, deshabille, impossible in a less secluded resort. 



The return to the Playful in the darkness and fog, and 

 the mill-race tide, the separation of the boats, the search 

 with the ship's lantern, the terrific strain at the oars, the 

 fortunate finding of the slack shore current, the swift 

 plunge of the small boat against the Playful's adde, 

 Faulkner's gigantic grasp of the outrigger, the whole two 

 hours' fight to make the yacht, though but a few rods 

 away will never be effaced from the memory of any 

 participant. That was a sincere Te Detim sang by us all 

 that night in the cabin of the Playful. 



Nothing but excitement over unspeakable peril just 

 escaped by a hair's breadth could have kept the party on 

 deck till midnight recounting that evening's adventures, 

 oblivious of the swai'ms of mosquitoes infesting the 

 place. 



If we cruise along the Jersey shore again a prime stip- 

 ulation will be, "Any harbor at night but Little Egg and 

 Tucker's Inlet!" 



The school of porpoises which played around the yacht 

 and the glorious bath were small compensation for that 

 fight m the darkness and fog with the rapids and later 

 with myriads of sharp -billed sleep-destroyers. 



Sunday, Aug. 9. — Is it right to sail on Sunday? Well, 

 all moral considerations go by the board if Sunday morn- 

 ing finds you in Tucker's Inlet. Get right out of that 

 Stygian stream if you wish to honor the day of rest. It 

 is Sabbath- breaking to stay there a moment. At 5 A.M. 

 we were away, leaving only our anathemas. Our course 

 was laid for Atlantic City. Two hours of calm, coming 

 on when we were well off shore, were not unwelcome. 

 Being headed for a popular watering place, and all hav- 

 ing fish-bone beards of four days growth, the calm 

 enabled us to use our razors withoitt sundering om- 

 jugulars. At 2 P.M. we dropped anchor among the 

 yachts off Atlantic City, in the Inlet. At once the party 

 went ashore. After strolling along the great trestle 

 board walk, partaking refreshments, looking up and 

 down the broad avenues, getting and sending mails, we 

 gladly took the electric car for our dock and went aboard 

 ship after a couple of hours, pitying the hot and swelt- 

 ering crowds that were seeking a day's respite from care 

 on the burning sands, all ignorant of the cool and free 

 life we were having on the ox>sn sea. As to fishing on 

 Sunday — well, only our unregeneraf e crew did that, and 

 many a fat bluefish got served right for helping them 

 break the Sabbath, 



Monday, Aug. 10. — ^At 6 A, M. we sailed from Atlantic 

 City, breeze and tide in our favor, For two hours wo 

 swung lazily on the long gyound swells just outside the 



