424 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Kov. 17, 



NEW HAMPSHIRE DEER. 



We have been to the Connecticut Lakes and are pre- 

 pared to make a little memoranda. Deer hunting with 

 hounds has now been permitted for two or three years, 

 with varying success. This season more have been taken 

 because there are more deer, perhaps, but probably owing 

 to the fact that more hounds and more sportsmen have 

 participated than formerly. 



Vermont does not permit the killing of deer at all; 

 Canada has a gun license of $30, with close season till 

 October; Maine does not permit hounding, so that New 

 Hampshire, wedged in as it were between these more 

 highly restricted sections, is made to suifer more than all 

 in loss of deer. We were at first surprised to find sports- 

 men from Maine and the Canada preserves, but when in- 

 formed of the aforesaid restrictions we wondered no 

 longer. We have not, however, ceased to wonder at the 

 stupidity of the New Hampshire Legislature in permit- 

 ting ail this. 



Farther, it is a notorious fact that along our Vermont 

 and New Hamshire border Canadians are allowed to 

 "crust hunt," with no game warden on the "line" to put 

 a stop to the work of the pot-hunters. The largest bag 

 this season so far which has come to my knowledge, was 

 the recent killing of eight deer in four days by a few gen- 

 tlemen at First Connecticut Lake. And still they thirsted 

 for more, It was a sight — a two-horse wagon load of 

 venison being drawn to the depot from this little spot in 

 New Hampshire, as big as a man's hand when compared 

 to the better protected himting grounds of xMaine and 

 Canada 



The Yankee is fertile in inventing methods to catch the 

 deer. Dropping into a blacksmith's shop the other day, I 

 saw him at work on a steel trap of peculiar pattern, and 

 when I said, "Wherefor?" he ref)lied, "Why, that there 

 thing is fer to catch deer with." 



Coming up with a lad who was peddling venison, I in- 

 quired into his peculiar modus operandi. He told me 

 that, procuring a large piece of rocK salt, and sinking it 

 IHin. in a gentle spring in the woods, he was now pos- 

 sessed of an ideal deer lick, and it was there he got his 

 venison. Jack shooting is practiced with an untiring 

 persistency worthy of a better cause. For days and weeks 

 together three boats were out every favorable night at 

 Second Connecticut Lake, to my certain knowledge. 

 These facts are almost -a parallel to the statement made 

 about a speculator in these parts, that he would never 

 mate a dollar by honest means — if he could help it. 



Notwithstanding all this, we are able to chronicle our 

 success this year in still-hunting. 



Waiting till September, we pointed the prow of our 

 somewhat too large craft for deer shooting purposes 

 toward South Bay, Second Lake. Not long after the start 

 from camp, two miles up the lake, we were joined by the 

 cook and chambermaid from the hotel, who were bound 

 for the same destination for blueberries! Blueberrying 

 and deer shooting did not seem to mix well, at least to 

 my way of thinking, yet, believing as I do in the doctrine 

 of the perseverance of the saints, and, besides, having 

 two "kids"' as spectators, who were taken along as um- 

 pires in the game, and who were desirous to proceed. 

 Columbus-like, I kept on my way undaunted. Putting 

 the lads beside a run just out of sight over a ridge, I en- 

 sconced myself low down in my craft close under some 

 overhanging bushes, and waited— waited for the sun to 

 drop below the treetops, and waited for the cook and 

 chambermaid to withdraw. It was just here that I had, 

 in three or four previous seasons, shot deer, so I was a 

 good deal attached to the locality. 



At a quarter past six, by my watch, as my eve scanned 

 the furtner shore, I was gladdened by the sight of a deer 

 on the edge of the lake drinking. The distance being 

 too great for a shot, I forthwith shoved of£ and started 

 toward the game, I had not gone a rod before the deer 

 was joined by another, both full-grown does. They 

 presently separated till they were perhaps ten rods apart. 

 My progress was slow and water grass impeded the pro- 

 gress of the boat. I had now got within, say, forty rods, 

 when one of the does sighted me and showed signs of 

 fright. The other had not seen me and was quietly feed- 

 ing at the water's edge with a little brush between us 

 and partly obscuring her body, but as she was standing 

 broadside on I quietly dropped my paddle in the water, 

 drew my piece— Colt lightning magazine— to shoulder 

 and fired. Immediately the deer left the water, flag at 

 half mast, and made for the woods. For an instant the 

 other remained standing and so I was able to get in a 

 hasty shot. Tlie bull struck low down between the fore- 

 legs, and she only ran six rods. The other I did not 

 find, may it be that she was not hard hit. 



A friend had located a little bog on Coon Brook, and 

 one fine afternoon betook himself to that locality for a 

 twilight shot. Reaching the place, he sighted a large 

 leaning spruce, and thinking a climb into the limbs 

 would enable him to command the situation, he first 

 passed up his rifle as far as he could reach and then pro- 

 ceeded to draw himself up. To do so he must needs hold 

 on by both hands, and while in this position he happened 

 to glance in his rear, and there stood a buck attended by 

 two females. 



The buck was a little restive, but was still curious to 

 know what our friend was in mirsuit of up that tree. 

 Something must be done, and done quickly, and so letting 

 go his hold he made a lunge for tlie rifle as he dropped 

 to the ground. Our friend is a quick shot and improved 

 his opportunity to fire at the reti-eating quarry, but it 

 was unavailing and the deer escaped with(jut a scratch. 

 Moral: When you go up a tree to find deer be sure first 

 there are none standing at the foot of the tree. 



Dr. Whidden, of Portland, went up East Inlet Brook— 

 a dead stream— jack shooting. He was armed with a 

 ,45-90 Winchester, holding four cartridges. He imagined 

 that Lyman sights and a rifle were the things to bring 

 down game under the jack. The guide presently put 

 him alongside three pairs of eyes, so wide apai-t as to 

 show that they were not far away. One pair stood 

 higher than the rest, and reasoning that this was the big 

 one of the three let drive. When the smoke lifted the 

 eyes had not changed position, and so he "pumped" 

 another and another ball, as he supposed, into the car- 

 cass of the deer, but when the rifle was empty the three 

 deer still stood their ground undismayed. 



There was still one cartridge left, but that was in his 

 vest pocket and well encased in a cud of spruce gum 

 Nothing daunted he leisurely whittled off the gum and 

 tnocixmg down his Lymau sight, he succeeded ia knock- 



ing down the deer. It proved to be a good sized doe 

 surrounded by her olfcpring. 



Lately there has been a light fall of snow, and Judge 

 Aldrich determined to improve it. Taking a guide ard a 

 friend he started oK in the direction of Alder brook. Tae 

 way was long and the judge is fat, and so he begged 

 leave to build a fire ana tarry for a while. The guide 

 proceeded, and had not gone far before he struck fresh 

 signs. Following it up he suddenly came upon a two 

 year old buck which stopped and gave him a shot broad- 

 side on at five paces. The guide is a gord shot ordinarily, 

 but made a clean miss, but as the buck began to jump, 

 the spell was broken, and he was brought to bag at the 

 second fire, and putting him across his shoulders he 

 staggered back to the judge, who was still resting him- 

 self by the fire. 



A party coming on fresh moose tracks — very large- 

 made a stern chase and a long one, but failed to sight the 

 animal. And so the hunt goes on, and so it will till the 

 last deer is shot, or till such careful legislation and such 

 care in its execution that will allow a reasonable indul- 

 gence in this sport without lessening the supply of game. 



C. H. Gleasom^. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



Chicago, Nov. jO.— Two weeks ago old Boreas waked 

 from his sound slumber of six months. He stretched 

 himself, felt of his muscles to see if his old rheumatic 

 pains were still with him, and after a profound yawn, 

 which froze the flame in his oil lamp, he stepped to the 

 door of his den and gazed out upon a landscape rich with 

 the bright colors of the dying autumn. 



The mild breezes of the Indian summer blew softly 

 through his icy whiskers; a mallard quacked contentedly 

 in a near pond hole; a flock of rea- winged blackbirds 

 rose noisily from a bed of wild rice and fluttered before 

 his astonished eyes; the subtle perfume of the timid 

 muskrat was borne on the breez3to his imperial nostrils; 

 the querulous cry of the rail greeted his ears, and a j ack- 

 snipe flushed in "front of him and flew lazily away with a 

 half angry scape! The rich deep blue of the sky was un- 

 marred by a single cloud ; a warm breeze arose from the 

 marsh, and over the hills across the lake hung the piir- 

 plish tinge that makes the perfect autumn day. All 

 nature was as quiet as the late political headquarters are 

 to-day. 



The king was angiy. He had not slept well of late, 

 and hie universal peace and contentment aroused his per- 

 verse spirit. He frowned and a gray tinge obscured the 

 blue of the sky ; a small cloud came skurrying from the 

 north; the wild rice and the marsh grasses bowed their 

 gentle heads in fear, and from the lake came echoing the 

 weird, warning uty of the loon. 



The king puckered up his frosty lips and sent an icy 

 blast howling and shrieking over the marsh and across 

 the prairies to the distant hills. Instantly all nature took 

 the alarm. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard called their family to- 

 gether, and with hurrying wings sought to escape the 

 wrath of the king of winds and stormy weather. Nor 

 were they alone. All the wildfowl endeavored to reach 

 the last patch of summer-blue sky that was fast disap- 

 pearing toward the south, A prodigious quacking and 

 gabbling and whistling of fast- moving wings stirred the 

 blood in the heart of the hunter, he who had for so many 

 days sat patiently in his "blind,'" waiting for the long- 

 hoped-for "big day," Whew! a flock of mallards darts 

 past him, hovering a moment over his decoys, and then 

 pi-fou, pi-tou! a rapid right and left barrel leaves three 

 fluttering beauties in the water before him. So it was 

 over many a marsh in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wis- 

 consin. 



The brave blast that old Boreas blew two weeks ago 

 started the wildfowl of the far North on their annual ex- 

 cursion to the South, and thus filled the boats and glad- 

 dened the hearts of many an ardent hunter. But the 

 ducks caught up with the patch of blue and settled con- 

 tentedly in the marshes of lower Wisconsin, Illinois and 

 Indiana. There thej dallied infancied security until last 

 Saturday. Then old Boreas roused himself in wrath once 

 more and again sent a chilling blast that chased the patch 

 of blue yet further eouth. And over many a marsh and 

 many a lake echoed the sullen "boom-boom" of the heavy 

 guns sounding their farewell to the hurrying flocks of 

 ducks as they came and went on their south ward journey. 

 But all of them did not go South. From the'Horicon 

 marshes in Wisconsin the reports of the closing of 

 the season show exceptional fport. Dr. H. C, Buech- 

 ner has undoubtedly been most favored. On the 

 big day he scored 78 mallards and pintails, and ran out of 

 shells when the birds were coming thicker all the time, 

 A few days later he scored G7, all big ducks, and in thi-ee 

 consecutive days kiUed 126. Percy Stone, Walter Grey 

 Fred Donald, Major Hanley, C. C. Lamos and W. L. 

 Shepard likewise enjoyed superb sport, each averaging 

 from 25 to 50 birds pt-r day. 



From Illinois and Indiana points also come accounts of 

 good to excellent shooiing. At Fox Like last week, can- 

 vasback, redhead and blujbiils were rej)orted very 

 plentiful, though I have heard of none of the bags ma'de. 

 At Lake Koahkonong, Wisconsin, last week, Ed Bino-- 

 ham and Al Knox had good shooting at redheads and 

 bluebiUs. Like Calumet, which is inside Chicago's 

 limits, has been for the past week the nightly resort of 

 thousands of ducks, but each morning they have been 

 promptly driven away by the horde of reckless shooters 

 who infest that region, Tolleston Club and the marshes 

 of the Kankakee River in Indiana have furnished excel- 

 lent sport. At Mak-saw-ba Club, Will Haskell, John 

 Whiting, Joe Card and Le Roy Brown have had steadily 

 good shooting at mallards, and John Watson has 

 slaughtered quite a few snipe. Uncle John massacred 

 3 / jacks last Saturday and Sunday. Bill Haskell killed 

 18 mallards in two days this week. The great body of 

 the ducks are now on the lower Illinois River, and many 

 Chicago sportsmen are down there among them, 



Charlie Carhart of the Board of Trade, who has just 

 returned from a week's visit to the Swan Lake Club 

 averaged over forty mallards a day, refusing to either 

 hunt or shoot teaJ and other small ducks, of which he 

 reports there were myriads. 



At present there is no doubt but what excellent shoot- 

 ing can be had on the lower Illinois River, but a letter to- 

 day from V. M. Lincoln, of the Under cliff House at Like 

 Senachwine, warns intending visitors to hurry or they 

 time ^ freeze up may now be expected any 



But with the approaching close of the duck season, 



quail are beginning to attract the attention of Chicago 

 i-portsmen. Magnificent quail country is to be found 

 within easy reach of Chicago, and there doesn't live a 

 true sportsman whose heart will not b.jund with excite- 

 ment when the whirring wings of the little brown beau- 

 ties beat a rnerry tattoo on the crisp November air, 

 Oswald von Lf^ngerke, Charlie Antoine, RoUa Heikes, 

 Frank Place, Bsn Dicks, Lee Hamline and other well 

 known Chicago sportsmen, have already had grand sport 

 and are not yet ready to quit. Von Lengerke and An- 

 toine go out once a week regularly and their bags run 

 from thirty to fifty each time. There never was a better 

 quail year, 



Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Kan- 

 sas are great quail States, and in all of them this year's 

 crop is phenomenal. The quail are nearly as numerous as 

 Democrats this year. 



Charley Comley has just returned from Mississippi, 

 where he and a party of friends have had royal sport 

 with deer, turkeys, quail, ducks and "sich," Mr. Comley 

 considers it part of bis regular business to make this trip 

 every year. Mr. R. R. Street, of New York, and Mr. 

 Henry Stephens, of Chicago, have been for the past two 

 weeks at the grounds of the Eagle River Shooiing and 

 Fishing Club in Wisconsin. Taey went after bass, mus- 

 callonge and deer. They will be joined in a few days by 

 a party consisting of Messrs. Ai. Hofmann, Geo. Hof- 

 mann, Alex. White, J. B. Sanborn, Geo. T. Farmer and 

 others, on a deer hunt. 



Don't it make you shiver to think about fishing at this 

 time of the year? Ugh! ugh! ugh! But actually, little 

 more than a week ago, a man caught over sixty bass in 

 the Deep R ver, near Liverpool, Ind, And he caught 

 them on a hook and line, as the law provides, and Bill 

 Haskell saw them. Ed Price started to say, "Pshaw, 

 that's nothing. One time in December, I caught — but 

 we all stopped him, and the mate to the Kekoskee fish 

 story remains untold. 



Anglers of the West should rejoice that George W. 

 Peck has been re-elected Governor of Wisconsin. Gov- 

 ernor Peck is an enthusiastic fisherman, and during his 

 administration has done much to encourage the preser- 

 vation and propagation of the different varieties of fish 

 native to the magnificent waters of Wisconsin. 



The latest returns from Wifconsin indicate that Dr. 

 Thomas has not yet paid that fine for his July deer, 



W. P. MUSSET. 



Massachusetts Association. 



Hon, Geo. W. Wiggin occupied the chair at the No- 

 vember meeting of the association at the American House, 

 Boston, last Thursday evening, 135 members being pres- 

 ent. Three applications for membership were presented 

 and referred to the committee. Me.ssr8. Kendall H. 

 Damon, Chas. F. Chamberlayne, Chas. F. MoNamaraand 

 Chas. E. Butterman were elected members. 



Messrs, E 1 E. Hardy, Chas, A. Brackett, Warren Hap- 

 good, Geo, B. Appltton, Dr, J, W. Ball, D.-, M, A. Morris 

 and John Fottler, Jr., were appointed a nominating com- 

 mittee to prepare and present at the December meeting a 

 list of candidates for offisers for 1893. 



Mr, Edward E. Hardy, for the committee on the for- 

 mation of a United Fish and Game League, reported that 

 representatives from the Old Colony Club, the South- 

 eastern Massachusetts Fish and Game League and the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association had 

 held a meeting and had prppared a constitution for the 

 proposed league. The main objects of this league are to 

 obtain such legislation as will result in the propagation 

 and preservation of fish and game in the interest of our 

 fishermep. and the general food supply of the people; to 

 watch legislation,i State and national, with the object 

 of preventing adverse legislation : and seeing that favor- 

 able legislation is legally adopted to the end in view; to 

 suggest to the Legislature such codification and amend- 

 ment of the laws relating to fish and game as will 

 advance the object of this league. The United Fish and 

 Game League is to be an executive body composed of 

 representatives from the different Massachusetts associa- 

 tions to better watch legislation. 



After discussion the question was referred to the board 

 of management for their consideration. 



Richard O. Hakdiwg, Sec'y. 



The New "STork Seasons. 



It is with pleasure after returning from a three weeks 

 trip I sit down and read the accumulated numbers of 

 Forest and Stream, 



In noting the game reports from different parts, taking 

 them as a whole there is a reported increase over last 

 season's supply. Partridge and woodcock, so far as my 

 observation goes, are certainly not so plentiful in the 

 counties of Brown and Chenango, this State, and Susque- 

 hanna county, Pa., this season as last. 



Under the condition of things, a season of only one and 

 a half months duration in the first two named counties, 

 the winter not being unusually severe, with the absence 

 of ice storms, we looked for a good supply of birds this 

 year. There seemed to be only one thing in the way of 

 nalure to retard them, a very wet and cold spring. 



What should be done to try to preserve and increase 

 these noble game birds ? That something must be done 

 to save them from complete annihilation can easily be 

 proven by refering to some other parts of the country 

 where they are practically extinct. To start the ball rolling 

 in the right direction, let us encourage those who write 

 for the public eye, that instead of writing of big bags, 

 they formulate some plan of further game protection. 

 My own ideas briefly stated would be to first offer sustan- 

 tial benefit to those who bring game law breakers to 

 terms. Another to adopt the Pennsjlvanialaw in regard 

 to bounty on game, axterminating animals such as fox, 

 skunk, etc. Last but not least I would change open sea- 

 son to from Sept. 10 to Dec. 1. By all means I would 

 take off the month of December. With the weather as 

 it was last December, more birds were killed than in all 

 the rest of the season , for the reason that the previous 

 cold weather had driven them together into thickest 

 cover, then to come out those warm December days and 

 to be easily found by gunners. Let us hear an expres- 

 sion. H. W. Brown. 



Syhacttsb, N. Y. 



Chimpanzee (professional humorist of the district, to 

 lioness)— "I say. that dude huoter must have felt very down 

 in the month when you swallowed him."— 



