16 2 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 35, 1898, 



Adirondack Game Notes, 



NoKTHWOOi), N, Y., Aug. IQ.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: There are seyeral deer and bears wandering 

 around this town. 



A few inhabitants here would like to have the Fokest 

 AND STKEA.M tell them why a bounty was put on bears. 

 No one was ever killed or'wounded in the Adirondacks 

 so far as we know. They have killed no domestic ani- 

 mals or tramped down any" grain. 



(-)ne was t;e<iu walking' leisurely away from a large 

 flock of sheep a do/,en rods away. He had not touched 

 one though hf passed within three or four rods of them, 



A guide who was in the Moose River region for three 

 months from April I this spring says he did not know of 

 any deer dying of starvation and that there was enough 

 feed for ten times as many deer as there are there. 



AVoodchuck oil is used in preference for all others by 

 backswoodsmeu here for keeping their guns in condition. 



A farmer complained of the partridges which were 

 eating up his buckwheat. 



I saw a black-headed doe on Moose River three weeks 

 ago. Another deer seen at about sixty yards was so 

 thin that its ribs could have been counted. All deer are 

 in poor condition now. 



"Johnny" Jones measured the leap of a panther on a 

 fly of Big Brook a few years ago. It was just B6 feet; 

 the jump was on a level. Mr. Jones who saw the leap 

 made said he wont in the air about ten feet. 



KArMOJSP 8. Sl'EARS. 



Tlie Rhode Island Association. 



Thk Long Island Association for the Protection of Fish 

 and Game publishes for gratuitous circulation the Rhode 

 Island game and tlsh laws and adds; "In presenting the 

 game laws of the State in the present form lor distribu 

 tion, the Association deems it proper to state its general 

 object. First — We propose to enforce the laws for the 

 protection of game, fish and song birds within this State, 

 Secondly — To protect the farmers and land owners 

 against persons who mutilate stock, tear down fences, or 

 shoot and fish on forbidden premises. We desire and ask 

 for the co-operation of our farming friends throughout 

 the State, believing the object sought beneficial alike to 

 the farmer and sportsman, whom we aim to protect from 

 a class of law-breakers who have in the past defied them, 

 and have killed and trapped birds, taken fish, and tres- 

 passed regardless of all laws. 



"Therefore we rec(uest any j)erson who knows of viola- 

 tions of these laws, to make complaint of such ofi:"enses 

 to the Association, which complaint will be carefully in- 

 vestigated and action taken. All communications will be 

 treated as strictly confidential, and should be addressed 

 to A. L. AnijREWs. President, 



75 Westminster street, Providence, R. I." 



My First Goose. 



One morning in the early part of November while I 

 was camped on Lake lugalls I looked out fi'om my tent 

 door, and behold! I saw coming across the lake a fiock of 

 ten Oanadas. As they were coming directly toward me 

 T loaded my gun and stepped clown to the edge of the 

 lake and hid behind an old stump, hoping that they would 

 come near enough to give me a chance to kill my long 

 coveted first goose. 



I had no sooner gotten well hidden when I saw that 

 my wish was going to be gratified, for on they came, very 

 low and directly toward me^ At the head of the flock 

 was an old honker who looked to my young eyes to be 

 big enough to swallow me. HonJc! lionk! he said to the 

 rest of his feathered friends, and as if a bugler had 

 sounded an order, the flock broke their V-shaped form 

 and straightened out in a line. 



Now i was pleased, for in this shape it looked as if I 

 could kill the whole flock with but one shot, so just as 

 they got within good range I pulled on the one nearest 

 me. Spat! fell the bird, but instead of the whole flock 

 only one had fallen to my gun, I had shot at the nearest 

 instead of shooting down the line. When I saw but one 

 fall i was Bo surprised that I forgot I had another load, 

 AO nine out of the previous ten went on their way toward 

 the sunny South as if nothing had happenedj and as they 

 went they seemed to laugh at me and say ; " H onkl some- 

 body got tooled." I wonder who it was. J. M. M. 



Bolting Woodchucks. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Woodchuckb" exist here in large numbers and are a 

 nuisance to the farmers. I believe that good sport could 

 be had killing them with terriers, but as we have many 

 stone walls and as the animals remain in their burrows 

 all day and only come out at )iight, we have seldom suc- 

 ceeded in killing any. The most desirable way would 

 be to drive them from their holes and have the terriers 

 ready when they come out. How could this be done? 

 Can you or any of your readers tell me? ' Could they be 

 smoked out? If bo, how could this be done':' Some of 

 our farms are absolutely undermined by woodchucks, 

 and I do not see why there should not be a great chance 

 to see some pretty terrier work. Could ferrets be used? 



O. W. D. 



Boston, Mass., Aug. 1J 



New Jersey Reed Birds. 



Perth Ambot, N. J. Aug. 32.— Yellow-leg snipe are 

 reported to be on the Earitan River meadows. No reed 

 birds have as yet been observed flying over. The law on 

 rail and reed birds is oft' on Aug. 2(!, They are fairly 

 numerous along the South River, and feed is abundant 

 this year, 



liOw Bate Harvest Excursions. 



The announcemeiit that the North-Western Line, comprising 

 over 8,000 miles of thoroughly f quipped railway, has arranged to 

 run two low rate Harvest Excursions during the months of Aug- 

 ust and September, will be gladly received by those who are in- 

 terested in the development of the great West and Northwest, as 

 well as by those who desire to visit this wonderfully productive 

 region at a soaaou of thi? year wliou o:£act demonstration can be 

 made of the merits and advautagud It offersj to hom.o seekers and 

 those in search of stife and profitable investmentb. These e^cur- 

 -lions will leave Chicago on Aug. oi' and Sept. £/, and tickets can 

 be purchased at the very Jow rate of one fare for the round trip to 

 coiiits lu Iowa, IMinneBota, North and South Dakota. Nebraska.. 

 Wyomlug, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana. They will be 

 strictly flrtit-claas in every particular, and will be good for return 

 passage at any time within twenty days from date of purchase. 

 Full information concerning rates and arrangements for these 

 eiccursions can he obtained upon application to any coupon ticket 

 agent, or to W. A. Thbalt,, G-. T'. T. A., OWcago & Norfch-Weatern 

 Railway, Obicneo —Ad/>\ 



The Book of the Game I.aws has uii Ush and game kiw-^ 

 of United States and Canada. Prive 50 cents. 



ANGLING NOTES. 



Pike, Commonly Called Pickerel. 



In New York State the pike (Eso.v Innirs) is almost uni- 

 versally called pickerel, which is the proper name for an- 

 other and smaller fish of the same family, namely, Esox 

 retieiUatus, In the fish laws of New York pickerel are 

 mentioned twice, once each in two different sections, and 

 in each instance when the name pickerel is used the fish 

 meant is the pike. The pike is referred to once and then 

 the fish meant is the pike-perch, which is in this State 

 more generally called pike than by its proper name of 

 jjike-perch or wall-eyed pike. I have written columns 

 of descriptions to separate these fishes, the pike, the 

 pickerel and the pike-percb, one from another, and some- 

 times the maFCPloDge comes in as a pike to add to the 

 confusion, but no writ- 

 ten description is equal 

 to an accurate portrait 

 of the fish for the pur- 

 pose of identification. 

 Hon. Jerome Lapham, 

 of Glens Falls, who has 

 a cottage on Phantom 

 Island, Lake George, 

 caught a pike in the lake 

 which weighed 17.1 lbs,, 

 another of 14* and still 

 another of l^ilbs., all 

 within a few days of 

 each other the last of 

 July. The larger fish of 

 the three was photo- 

 graphed and the mark- 

 ings of the fish are so 

 plainly shown that For- 

 est AND Stream has re- 

 produced it. The lemon 

 colored, bean-shaped 

 spots on the sides of the 

 lish appear more dis- 

 tinctly than in any fig- 

 ure of the fish that hap 

 been published that 1 

 can recall. Usually, and 

 hi very excellent figures 

 of the pike these spots 

 are represented as faint, 

 light-colored markings; 

 the shape of them, is not 

 well defined, so that alto- 

 gether I tliink this is the 

 best portrait of the pike 

 that has been published, 

 as it certainly is the best 

 photograph. I have a 

 photograph said to be of 

 a pike that weighed 

 351bs., and was caughc 

 in Lake Le Bouef, Erie 

 county, Pa., by Charles 

 Phelps, but it" does not 

 show spotting of any 

 kind on the sides of the 

 fish, and this very fact 

 has caused me to think 

 it might be another of 

 the pike family, but the 

 photograph is too small 

 to determine the matter 

 with certainty. If one 

 will imagine that the 

 lemon- coloi'ed spots on 

 the side of Mr. Lapham's 

 pike are removed, and 

 picture in place of them 

 dark lines and streaks, 

 producing a reticulated 

 appearance, it will be 

 very like the pickerel: 

 and if the bean- shaped 

 .^pots are made round 

 and of a dark brown 

 color on light ground it 

 will answer for the mas- 

 calouge. To make this 

 Hsh into a pike -perch or 

 wall-eyed pike it will be 

 necessary in the first 

 place to put two dorsal 

 tins on it, so I shall not 

 undertake it, for the structure of a fish is not so easily 

 changed as the color. 



Mr. Stockton's Tame Fishing. 



Mr. R. B. Marston says in a recent letter from London: 

 ''Mr. Stockton, who is one of our authors, called the 

 other day, and I bad a pleasant chat with him about fish- 

 ing. I told him I quite agreed with his tame fishing- 

 ideas as against game fishing. He says he has written to 

 you about it. The tendency is to get loo scientific and 

 mechanical and 'dodgy' in our angling." 



This is Mr. Frank R. Stockton, author of ''Kudder 

 Grange," etc, and his idea is that with our extremely 

 liglit rods and very fine tackle the modern scientific ang- 

 ler is too long in killing his fish. He makes one of his 

 characters say: "There's only two animals in the world 

 that likes to worry smaller creatures a good while afore 

 they kill 'em; one is the cat, and the other is what they 

 call the game fisherman. That kind of a feller never 

 goes after no fish that don't mind being ketched. He 

 goes fur them kinds that loves their home in the water 

 and bates most to leave it, and he makes it jist as hard 

 fur 'em as he kin. The longer the weak'nin' business 

 can be spun out the more the sport. The idea is to let 

 the fish think there's a chance fur him to git away. 

 That's jist like the cat with her mouse." Mr. Stockton 

 thinks that fish taste better that are quickly landed with 

 the fight still in them, and beca.use he believes in i^hort 



Cauglit byHou. Jerome Laphan 

 Lake George. 



work with a fish once it is hooked. Let no one think 

 that he is not a finished angler, because he is. The best 

 evidence that I can produce that I agree with hie plain 

 fishing idea is that while I have a couple of split-bamboo 

 fly-rods that weigh about 4oz, each, I do not use them 

 once where I use an 8 or 9oz. rod a htindred times. 

 Catching big fish on extremely light tackle is not always 

 proof of sport. I once caught a pike of aSjlbs. that was 

 the biggest dough-head of a fish that I ever saw, A linen 

 sewing thread would have brought him to gaff so far as 

 any fight that he made was concerned. There is a happy 

 medium between ''derricking'" a fish with a weaver's 

 beam and playing a fish with a fairy wand, and that is a 

 rod and tackle to match that is fine enough not to scare 

 the fish, and strong enough to kill them quickly once 

 they are hooked. A. N. Cheney. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a StajU' Correspondeyni.'] 

 Chicago, 111., Aug, 20. — It was one of those ancient 

 parties, Col. Heraclitus, I believe, who was the author of 

 the saying, "No man has ever been twice upon the same 

 stream." I am persuaded that Col. Heraclitus was both 

 philosopher and fisherman, and that he made the above 

 remark after having had bad luck on a stream where he 

 had every right to expect the fishing to be good. Verily, 

 all things are fleeting, and nothing is more than once 

 alike. 



Thus reasoned my experienced friend, the Chief with 

 Two Stomachs, and myself as we paused last week at the 

 deep hole under the bridge where a few weeks ago we 

 caught the 14 small-mouths. The river had fallen 4ft, 

 and the weeds had risen 4ft, more, and our pool was 

 much contracted. Moreover, there were two anglers on 

 the bridge ahead of us, which was eminently wrong, 

 prima Jaeie. 



•'I'lrbet they've read Forest and Stream," said the 

 Chief, "and so got on to our hole.'' And so it proved 

 later. 



'■Say, won't you come over here and unfasten my line?"' 

 called one of the fishers to us as we passed by in our boat, 



"Naw, unfasten nothin'," I replied: whereat the Chief 

 rebuked me, and gently rowed over for the required ser- 

 vice. Shortly Ave learned that the anglers had recognized 

 us, though we did not know them at first. It was Billy 

 Tuohy, from over at Eagle Lake, who had brought over 

 Doug, Bergh, of Chicago, to try for some of our small- 

 mouths under the bridge, as per recent issue of .FcRE.ST 

 AND Stream. Such are the ministries of a big sporting 

 paper, 



"Your big bass ^vith the white spot over his eye is in 

 there yet,'' said Billy. "I hooked him and ought to have 

 landed him if I had been careful. He's a whale,"' (This 

 shows the veracity of my fish story in regard to this old 

 fellow,) Still, as Col, Heraclitus said, things change, and 

 so far from ca'ching very big bass, our friends had only 

 taken five fish, none over a pound and a half. The 

 school of big bass we had left in there had dispersed or 

 been destroj'ed. I much suspect the reel or spear of the 

 natives who saw us catch our big string there. 



There remained for us, however, the consolation of the 

 fact in natural history that if bass are not in one place 

 they are in another, provided there are any bass. As to 

 this latter we can speak in the light of our discoveries in 

 cjuite a new water of the different waters near this same 

 town of Mukwonago. Indeed, as we talked to our friendg 

 on the bridge, we had in our boat a water pail full of big 

 bass which we had caught on the way to the bridge. We 

 had passed hurriedly over good fishing to get to what we 

 thought was better, only to find the latter poorer than we 

 could have believed, 



Mukwonago Creek rises in Beulah Lake, for one leg. 

 Its other leg is dammed and makes Eagle Lake, Joined, 

 filled with cold springs and dammed again, it makes the 

 Mukwonago mill pond. Above this lower dam there are 

 no small-mouth bass, though once in a while you see one 

 in Lake Beulah, Below the dam at the village the stream 

 is shallow enough to wade, 10 to riOyds. wide, and though, 

 it runs through a marsh for its two and one-half miles to 

 the Fo.x Piver it has a hard, gravel bottom nearly the 

 whole way. No one had ever fished that water, so far 

 as we could learn, because it was very hard to get at. 

 The Chief and I sort of 'lowed we would try it, knowing 

 that we could descend the stream to the Fox River, and 

 thence row a mile or so up to the bridge, where we ex- 



Eected to make a heavy killing in the bass family. We 

 auled our boat over the dam, struggled under innumer- 

 able wire fences, and at length found ourselves drifting 

 down a swift, cold, hard-bottomed stream running 

 through what looked like a sea of marsh and mud. The 

 bass were in that creek, about '7,000 of them, and for 

 about a mile of the swiftest water every one of them 

 was a small-mouth. 



"See here," said the Chief, who was rowing, "that 

 bridge may be all right, but there's a good many fish 

 right here. S'pose you put up a rod and try these fellows 

 right here, and not go hunting for those in the bush, you 

 know." 



Without thinking that the baes would take a bait in 

 such clear shallow water, I did put up a fly-rod, and 

 began to whip a small trog about the boat, trying to 

 head oft' the big waves which were running every way 

 just ahead of the boat. By and by and bitf ! a big fellow 

 went at the frog, and after a hard tussle we got a 31bs. 

 small-mouth in on the fiy-rod — about as much fun as 

 landing a hundred big-mouths on a bait rod. This set us 

 to thinking, and though we passed rapidly on down the 

 creek, and did not stop and fish carefully, I kept on whip^ 

 ping with the little frogs, and we caught six splendid 

 small- mouths in this way and one big-mouth, out of 

 fifteen strikes. They smashed our leaders up awfully, 

 and tore loose in the weeds very often. The bass were 

 feeding, and they had that little creek fairly alive with 

 big boiling splurges where they were catching frogs. 

 Right there was where we missed our chance to catch a 

 big string of bass. The bass had left the dirty, weedy 

 river to run up in that cold creek and catch minnows 

 and frogs. If they had ever been fished very much they 

 would have been too shy to take the bait so close to the 

 boat as they did, I think we made a discovery in this 

 creek here, just as we did in hunting out the channel 

 through and above the big pond, where we caught the 

 largest big-mouths ever take'n in that section. 



And yet the Chief heeded not Heraclitus, "To-mor- 

 row," said he, "we will go down that creek again, and 

 we will break the record," On the morrow T could not 



