448 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Deo. U, 1891. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Dec. 18.— Rather a good showing, cer- 

 tainly, is that made by the game records of the 

 Hennepin Club, of the Illinois Ri^er country. These 

 show that for the past fall the daily average for each 

 man, counting all the hunters and' all the days, was 

 duoks. Some of the less skillful shots did not do 

 so well as that, of course, but the total of the shooting 

 was very good indeed, with a large per cent, of mallards 

 and big ducks therein. Of quail, woodcock, snipe and 

 rabbits large numbers were also killed. There are two 

 flocks of wild turkeys on Hemiepin Club grounds this 

 winter, one of eight and one of eleven birds, and a good 

 tracking snow will probably call out a party after them. 

 Hennepin Club elected officers last week, Mr. W. W, Mc- 

 Farland being chosen President for a third term; Mr. E, 

 P. Hilliard, Secretary and Treasurer; Messrs. W. K. 

 Reed, Gr. M. Davis and Alex White, Board of Directors. 

 This lucky little club is in a highly prosperous condition. 



Diana Club is to elect officers this week. Mr. Henry 

 Ehlers, a foremost sph-it in that body, ■wishes the club to 

 take up more trap-shooting, believing that a good way to 

 make a little more income for the club, Mr. Ehlers is 

 easily first hunter of the Dianas. This faU he had the 

 singular fortune to kill two otters. There were six 

 otters in this family, but the natives have all the others 

 but one. The other is still found once in a while on the 

 Kankakee marshes. Hathaway, a pusher, near Davis, 

 killed two one winter not long ago. 



.Mak-saw-ba Club elected officers at their late meeting, 

 Mr. T, Benton Leiter, President: Mr. C, S. Petrie, Vice- 

 President: Mr. Wm. R, Smith, Secretary; Messrs. R. B. 

 Organ, Jos. P. Card and W. H. Haskell. Plans are on 

 foot for the large undertaking of fencing and protecting 

 the marsh, which is now much infested, night and day, 

 in season and out, by ratters, froggers, turtle trappers, 

 Bpearers and shooters, all of whom are persistent in their 

 belief that they are on the mareh of ancient right. Odd 

 folk, these marsh dwellers, and some day they will have 

 their historian. Their day is now well run. 



Grand Calumet Heights Club held a business meeting 

 last Tuesday, adjourned till Jan. 6. The absorbing ques- 

 tion for this club stiJ 1 remains that of grounds. The great 

 syndicates operating in the vicinity of the present grounds 

 may not occupy the site for ten years, biit, on the other 

 hand, such an event may txanspire the following spring. 

 This unsettled state of affairs is much against the health 

 of the club, as none can tell what the future will be. In 

 the opinion of Mr. Bissell, the secretary, the club should 

 re-organize into a trap club, holding the present grounds 

 as long as possible. 



The tremendous growth of the city to the southward 

 has ousted yet another shooting club, the Lake George, 

 whose grounds a,re no longer land, but "real estate." 

 Lake George is looking for grounds. An attempt has 

 been made for grounds near Camp Lake, north of Chicago, 

 but I do not learn that much has come of it. It might 

 be well for the old Lake George Club and the Camp Lake 

 contingent to unite with the Grand Calumet Heights 

 Club, if so highly undesirable a thing as the disbandment 

 of the latter organization should take place. Out of these 

 elements a very good new club could be built up. 



That sturdy and honorable old body, the Cumberland 

 Club of Chicago, has had rather hard luck with the ducks 

 this fall. Mr. Harry Loveday says the fall shooting was 

 tmusually poor. The shooting is usually best there in 

 the spring. 



Horicon Club has been troubled with low water during 

 the shooting season, though two dams are now at work 

 and holding the water when there is no need of it. Not- 

 withstanding all the drawbacks, some good sport was had 

 on this gi'eat marsh this fall, and the snipe shooting was 

 magnificent. Mr. C. L. Hunter tells me that he and a 

 friend bagged over 100 there one day, and similar large 

 bags 1 have reported earlier. 



From the Euglish Lake people I do not get so much 

 news as I would like, but believe there has been very 

 little shooting on their marsh this fall. Of the fine Octo- 

 ber mallard shooting at Swan Lake I have already 

 spoken. 



Chicago men do not seem to shoot big game very much, 

 their exploits in that line seeming to be confined to an 

 occasional trip to Wisconsin or IVIichigan after deer. I 

 lately mentioned the trip of Mr. C. D. Gammon and 

 party to Ontario ater moose. Mr. Gammon is back. He 

 tells a lurid tale of branching antlers and forest bowed 

 down beneath thunderous tread of herds of moose. "I 

 didn't know till I got over there that you can't kill 

 moose till 1S95," says Mr. Gammon. "If it wasn't for the 

 law I could have killed a carload." 



The quail seasou'closes Sunday next, Dec. SO, for Indi- 

 ana. The fall has been a phenomenal one. Thcs last bag 

 of which I hear is that by Mr. Organ of 20 birds, 7 rabbits 

 also confessed. 



A singular and pitiable accident of the field is reported 

 in the despatches this week from Quincy, of this State, 

 the matter being thus described: "A party of four Quincy 

 men started hunting yesterday. Lue last night one of 

 them was brought hach a corpse. His name was John 

 Sand bam. The party had landed on a sandbar just be- 

 low the city, and had dug pits about waist deep in which 

 to lie concealed for ducks and geese. Sandham was in a 

 pit with his cocked shotgun on the sand with the muzzle 

 pointing toward him. His dog, in frolicking around, 

 stepped on the trigger and the gun was discharged, the 

 load taking effect in Sand ham's body. He lived but a 

 few minutes. He was fifty years old and leaves a widow 

 and two grown daughters." 



THE TOLLESTON GAME DINNEE. 



Dec. 19. — Doubtless the most interesting incident of the 

 week's doings in field sports here is the annual game din- 

 ner of the Tolleston Club, which transpired , duly to-day. 

 This annual field day and dinner make an ancient and 

 honorable custom of the ToUestons, and while it is estab- 

 lished in no imitation of any other game dinner or any 

 field day, it is a usage worthy of imitation by clubs less 

 closely solidified by intimate friendships than the Tolles- 

 ton, or by any who care for the full flower of the ameni- 

 ties of sport. It is a recognized holiday of the Tollestons, 

 ranking with Washington's bu-thday and the Fourth of 

 July, and is patronized with a fervor which would delight 

 the founder of the institution, if such founder be now 

 known. 



He would liave been a much dried up and worthless 

 man who could feel no enthusiasm in the clear cool air 

 of the sandhills this morning in the drive from the rail- 



way over to the club house. The day was simply per- 

 fect, morning, noon and evening, just cold enough to 

 cut cobwebs and just warm enough to melt the chill out 

 of every cold-blooded man. Many of the house party 

 came down the evening before. Of members and guests 

 the following were present: Messrs. F. A. Howe, J as. 

 Wright, G. A. Schwartz, C. 0. Moeller, Geo. Prussing, 

 Geo. Breeze, A. H. Roche, W. R, Linn, S. B. Raymond, 

 Jas, G. Dwenn, C. E. Felton, J. Gillespie, D. S. Babcock^ 

 L. C. Huck, H. F. Griswold, Frank Floyd, A. J. White, 

 C. P. Johnson, Peter Van VHssingen, A. M. Tully, A. H, 

 Farnum, C. L. Hunter, E. Hunter, E. H. Phelps. 



During the entire day match shooting at live pigeons 

 progressed, captains and teams alternating or changing 

 as one side seemed to have the better of it. iSTothing was 

 up but the price of the birds, and the team that lost had 

 to "settle," This seems to me to be a very pleasant way 

 for a club to practice, and it obviates the old trouble 

 over the usual presence of one or two experts in a club 

 who win practically all the sweepstakes. There can not 

 be any club whose members are even enough in skill to 

 compete on an equitable basis in sweepstakes, but by the 

 process of dividing up the good shots andjpoors as equally 

 as possible, more zeal and confidence is inspired in the 

 less skillful, and a greater interest taken in the result. 



I never saw a prettier pigeon shoot in my life than 

 that at ToUeston to-day, and I believe that soine trap 

 clubs which often languish for attendance might well 

 consider the two-teams arrangement. Under it the 

 total penalty for a man is to pay for two men's birds, 

 and not for all to pay for two or tliree men's birds and 

 give them something besides. Pigeon shooting at Tolles- 

 ton is purely social, the birds being shot at fifteen cents, 

 so nobody makes any money at it, and nobody loses very 

 much unless, as at the close of to-day's shooting, there 

 arises some speculation as to the relative merits of two 

 dark horses of unknown capabilities. Nearly 500 birds 

 were shot to-day, some very good ones after the sun be- 

 came warmer. Col. Felton shot very well, running 27 

 out of 38. Mr. S. H. Roche, who has done some phenom- 

 enal shooting on these gi'ounds, was not at the traps 

 much of the time. Mr. Linn, Mr. Schwartz, IVIi-. Ray- 

 mond and Commodore Griswold all did very nice work 

 also. The pigeon traps claimed the entire party, and the 

 turkeys and the rifle range were quite neglected. Tolles- 

 ton Club uses the King automatic traps and Mr. 

 Schwartz's automatic retriever, the spaniel Roxie. 



Of the game dinner itself, served in the evening, it 

 would be best comment to say that it was, like all that 

 Tolleston ia, has or does, simply thorough and elegant. 

 A roast pig, smuggled into the bill of fare, elicited much 

 praise, and so did a genuine Indiana possum. Thence 

 down there was a wide variety of game. The chefs of 

 the large hotels might well go and consult with Mr. and 

 Mrs. West, who attend to the material comforts at the 

 lodge in the near by wilderness. 



You are thirty miles from a lemon at Tolleston, and 

 while the creature comforts of the annual game dinner 

 are not what give it its most prized qualities, these yet 

 under the circumstances demand study and care in the 

 detail of preparation. Behind the easy success of this 

 undertaking there was, I am sure, very much of the quiet 

 and careful attention of the club's beloved president, Mr. 

 F. A. Howe, to whose conscientious hands the club is 

 quite willing to leave grave issues of any sort. There 

 probably will never be any other jjresident of Tolleston 

 Club while Mr. Howe lives, for "that dear old man," as 

 one of the younger members designated him in a toast, 

 has done so much for the success of the club that 

 the club will not consider any one else as its head. 

 Mr. Howe is the Gladstone of Chicago club sportsman- 

 ship. Were it not for his leadership the rare ijrivileges 

 of the Tolleston marsh, coveted and vulnerable as it is to 

 its natural enemies, could not have remained what they 

 are. He has seen many changes in the sport and sports- 

 manship of this region, for, as he told me to-day, he came 

 to Chicago in 1834, only two years after the Ft. Dearborn 

 massacre. "I believe," said he, "that it is only true to 

 say that I have lived in Chicago more days than any one 

 of her citizens, for this has been my home since then, 

 and I have rarely left the city for more than a short stay. 

 At first," he continued, "when I began to shoot, we 

 himted plover and prairie chicken, and then quail, and 

 then got to shooting ducks. This Tolleston marsh was 

 always good. It lies in the natural line of migration of 

 the fowl, which leaves the edge of Lake Michigan about 

 four miles above us, and follows this chain of marsh. 

 The east end of om- marsh catches the southbound birds 

 in the fall, and they come in first on the west end in the 

 spring as they go north." 



Comment has often been made upon this mai«h. It is 

 indeed a singular thing that it should still remain, 

 almost upon the edge of the city, less than thirty miles 

 from the city's heart indeed, and should stiU be so fre- 

 quented by the wildfowl. This fall the shooting was as 

 good as it ever was, the October flight of mallards was 

 most extraordinary. Mr. Howe told me that in one day 

 he bagged forty mallards besides other ducks, and in two 

 days later he got ninety-three ducks, fully two-thirds of 

 them mallards. And yet he missed the days when the 

 heaviest flight was on, for instance the time when one of 

 the club got forty-six mallards, shooting away 100 shells 

 in less than two hours and going back to the club house 

 for more. This member himself confesses that he shotdd 

 have killed 200 mallards on that day. 



Is it any wonder that the Tolleston Club fights strenu- 

 ously to maintain such privileges as these, which are not 

 equalled in any region now, no matter how wild? Take 

 away this club and the shooting would be gone forever 

 in a year. I know no better commentary on the preserve 

 system than these examples. I have no confidence in 

 the unmuzzled shooting public. I know also that much 

 of the talk about the severity of the Tolleston Club is un- 

 just. To-day I saw the "brutal watchman" of whom we 

 have heard so much as a terror to poachers. He pulled 

 the traps for the shooters. He isn't brutal at all, but a 

 very decent fellow indeed, though big enough to whip 

 about eight men, I should think. He is instructed to be 

 polite at first, firm always and serene at the end of his 

 negotiations with trespassers. He has been shot at, 

 threatened and all that, but seems t<T enjoy uncommon 

 good health and to be ready for a few more of these 

 toughs who are always trying to get in after the coveted 

 Tolleston ducks. 



Since I was last at this club an addition, 43 X 38ft., 

 has been built to the former house, the gift of 38 of the 

 members, who contributed flOO a piece, and whose sole 



monument therefor exists in the form of 38 cosy lockers. 

 The main room of this wing is a handsome sitting room 

 30ft, square. The mantel here is the gift of the late Mr. 

 Wirt Dexter, one of the most noted of Chicago sports- 

 men. Upon the walls are pictures carrying out the pre- 

 vailing scheme of excellence. Commodore Griswold, of 

 the hanging committee, rigidly excluded all cheap litho- 

 graphs and meretricious works of every sort. Tolleston 

 quality is a very good sort, all around. From pig to 

 possum, and from pigeons to pictures, the Tolleston 

 annual game dinner of to-day was an unmitigated 

 success. E. Hough. 



OLD FIELDS AND OLD FRIENDS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have had more tramps in the woods, more enjoyment, 

 more recuperative benefit, and have found less birds this 

 fall than for any time within a dozen years. During 

 nearly the entire month of October thejleaves on the trees 

 and bushes were almost as thick a,nd fresh as they were 

 in June, thus proving to our Legislature (if we had one) 

 the propriety of changing the beginning of the open season 

 certainly as late as the 15th of October instead of the 

 first, as the law now is. Of course, one don't Kke to be a 

 "day after the fair," hence we all go out when the law 

 says we may and bang at the lea ves and bushes where we 

 think the birds may be; get a few, cripple and lose more, 

 and go home disgusted. Neither partridge, quail nor 

 woodcock were as plenty as usual. There were only two 

 or three days during the months of October and Novem- 

 ber, when woodcock were fairly plenty in this locality, 

 and I was informed that the same was true in towns along 

 the Sound from Saybrook to New Haven. 



Partridge were scattered even in the last of November, 

 wandering singly and in pairs over the hills, the weather 

 not having been cold enough to force them to seek the 

 warm and sheltered swamps and runs. Quail were 

 really scarce, and in my experience with them acted 

 very strangely, seldom finding them in the open culti- 

 vated fields but in dense thickets and underbrush. I re- 

 peatedly went over fields of rye and buckwheat stubble 

 morning and evening without my dog showing the least 

 sign of game having been there; in fact I found but one 

 bevy of quail during both months in the open field, and 

 that was in October, and they were not more than two- 

 thirds grown. I can not account for the scarcity of 

 quail and partridge this fall, for I know that quite a 

 number wei-e left over last year, and the winter was an 

 open one and the summer unusually dry, both seeming 

 favorable for the breeding of both birds, 



I have said that I enjoyed my hunting very much and 

 derived much benefit from it, even though my bags of 

 game were very light, I am nearly sixty-six years old, 

 and of course have outlived many of those who used to 

 share the sport with me in earlier days and by their con- 

 genial tastes and good feIlowshi|) added a charm to it 

 which cannot be forgotten, and is brought up with a 

 vivid freshness as I tramp over the ground again at each 

 point where we beat the brush together. This may seem 

 a little sentimental for an old stager, but I trust it is not 

 out of place or unwholesome; in fact, there is very much 

 charming sentiment iii field sports, and I often wish some 

 capable pen would write up the subject as it deserves, 

 for I am sure it would fill the pages of an enjoyable vol- 

 mue, as it does now the honest hearts of all true sports- 

 men, A. 



Haddam, Ooniij; 



DUOKS IN Central America,— Tumbador, Guatemala, 

 C, A., Nov. 1^.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have seen 

 the question asked so many times in the Forest and 

 Stream, "What has become of the ducks?" That I will 

 now make known to the duck hunters the following 

 fact: Seventeen years ago I never saw a foreign duck 

 here. Twelve years ago I saw a few. This year I have 

 seen thousands, and killed a great many widgeon, teal, 

 spoonbills, and other kinds which I do not know the name 

 of. Immense flocks of them can be found in the inland 

 lakes on this coast, and I suppose all over Central America 

 and in Mexico it is the same. Do you not think the ducks 

 are flying over the United States to avoid the continued 

 shooting which they receive from every part of the 

 country and come down here where they are never shot 

 at once a year: as many of these lakes are never visited 

 by white men, and the natives never shoot birds to any 

 extent?— Guatemala. 



New Yorkers in VijtQiNiA.— There are stopping at the 

 American Hotel several parties of New York city officials 

 and citizens bent on bagging some of our game and de- 

 stroying ammunition. Some of them have been here a 

 week and others arrived later. We heartily welcome 

 them and hope they will make many trips to our sunny 

 town in the future, though we would caution them when 

 bringing down .e,ame to be more accurate in marksman- 

 ship than the President was when hunting here about 

 two years ago, and not shoot any of Gilbert Wooten's 

 hogs. The different arrivals composing the parties are as 

 follows: Alexander Williams, Inspector of Police of New 

 York city; J. W. Jacobus, U. S. Marshal, New York city: 

 G. M. Clark, of Clark & Wilkins, wood merchants. New 

 York city: Capt. D. N, Pearse, of the schooner Thomas L. 

 James; Dr, G. W. Tolson, New York city; W. J. Arm- 

 strong, New York city, and L. C. Phillips, Portsmouth, 

 Va. — Clareraont (Fa.) Times, Dee. I4. 



Sportsmen's Calendars for 1893. 



In this age of calendars galore, the favorites with men who shoot 

 are those which come each year from the Winchester Eepeating 

 Arms Co., and the Union Metallic OartridgelOo. The Winchesters 

 have brought out for 1892 a calendar bright with hunting scenes, 

 drawn by Frederic Remington, The chief picture is of a sports- 

 man and his guide, perched on the brink, of a cliff in the Bockies: 

 the sportsman has drawn a fine bead on a noble mountain sheep , 

 and if the hunter's aim ie as true as his Winchester there will be 

 a handsome pair of horns to carry home. Other Idrawings are of 

 a cowboy on a Remington horse: '.and a Maine scene picturing a 

 canoe with its occupants stealing toward a big buck on the shore. 

 Taken all in all, the Winchester calendar is one which will have 

 a cherished place on the sportsman's walls. 



The Union Metallic Cartridge Co. have imade a happy hit this 

 year with a striking figure of a youngster in the fleltl, equipped 

 withgan and cartridge belt full of U. M. O. shells. The boy knows 

 how to shoot, too, as the captured game gives evidence. The 

 U. M. C. calendar depicts a phase of life which will be the special 

 subject of our Boyhood Number, week after next, and it ought te 

 shed sunshine ia a growu-ap boy's room, all the year through- 



