Nov. 34, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



449 



were possible to preserve the grounds rigidly it would at least 

 serve to perpetuate some of the game that now seems des- 

 tined to extermination. The suggestion is not a new one except 

 as to the application of the idea to small territories. Ttie Yellow- 

 stone Park affords an Instance of the good effect of a preserve, 

 and the private preserves in New Jersey aifeo prove the value of 

 the idea. In the vicinity of these places game from the preserves 

 comes outsides the houndaries and affords sport when the original 

 stock is exhausted. It is well known that what are called 7ioii-mi- 

 gratory birds, such as ruffed grouse and guail, while they do nos 

 move from one climate to another witti the seasons, neverthelea. 

 travel over many miles of ground in the region where they are bred 

 This practice would guarantee fair shooting away from the pre- 

 serve, for some of the birds woiild be sure to come out. Such a 

 place could without much expense be protected from vermin 

 that is very destructive to game. If the sportsmen in the towns 

 of a county could be induced to try this idea for a few years it 

 might prove to be exceedingly beneficial to the cause of game 

 preservation. Every one who goes out with a gun in this State 

 knows that game is disappearing rapidly, and that it is Only a 

 question of a short time when there will be nothing in the woods 

 to .invite one out for a day's sport. The local preserve idea 

 would also enable those interested to try, with some chance of 

 success, the scheme of liberating quail or other birds, such as 

 the Mongolian pheasant. If something of this nattire is not done 

 very soon the woods and fields of this country will be destitute 

 of game. 



Niagara County Anglers' Club. 



Chas, RiPsos— The membership of our club h large, 

 They take a great deal of interest in the laws for the 

 protection of fish and game, and as the protector for the 

 Fifteenth District I can assure you that they not only 

 urge a strict enforcement of the game lavrs, but they ma- 

 terially assist me in many ways in the performance of 

 my duties. How well those duties are performed I will 

 have to leave to others than myself to tell. 



The fishing in my locality is good. I think it is better 

 than in years pasi; and though it may sound "fishy," 

 I state from postive knowledge that persons have caught 

 500 perch and eighty large black bats each in a single 

 day." This was done in Niagara River. I meet very few 

 people who are opposed to the enforcement of the laws 

 for the protection of game. 



If this Association intends to make any recommenda- 

 tions to the Legislature I would suggest the following: 



That the law with regard to Lake Erie remain as it is. 



That the penalty for having black bass and muscalonge 

 in possession should be $10 per fish. A total penalty of 

 $2.5 will not pay a lawyer's fee in case you have to go into 

 the courts. 



Sec. 134, prescribing the size of meshes of nets used in 

 lakes Ede and Ontario, should call for ]|in. bar instead 

 of liin. as it now is. 



One-half the penalty recovered should go to the ijro- 

 tector, and $75 per month would not be too mtich pay for 

 a man who is willing to do his whole duty and look after 

 our intei-ests in a territory covering three or four counties. 



The law should be so amended as to prevent fishing 

 within three miles of the mouth of the Niagara. 



Mink, Otter and Weasel Dodg'e Shot. 



Bbewer, Me., Nov. 19— In your last issue M. C. H. 

 asks, "Cm the mink dodge shot?" I have shot at a mink 

 at close range which had its forefeet resting on a log 

 covered with snow, the whole upper part of the body 

 being fairly exposed. The shot cut the snow all up 

 exac ly where the forefeet rested, but the mink was not 

 touched, as he dodged beliind the log. I have repeatedly 

 seen otter and. weasel dodge rifie balls, which struck 

 exactly where their heads had been when the gun was 

 fired. Although I have shot otter, mink and weasel, 

 which were looking directly at me when I fired, I do not 

 consider thi^ as any proof that they cannot dodge when 

 they try to. M. Ha.ex>y. 



An Exclusively Vestibule Line. 



Tub Ohio & Mis-sissippl Railway runs three solid vestibu'e 

 irains each wav daily between Cincinnati and St. Louis without 

 change, permitting all classes of passengers to occupy the vesti- 

 bule cars without extra cbargf. It is the only line running a 

 passenger train between Cincinnati and St. Louis, notwithstand- 

 ing the advertisements of competing lines. The running time is 

 less than t<-n hnure, easily made over its straiglit track and solid 

 roadbed. The Ohio anrl Mississippi is the best and quickest line 

 between St. Louis and Louisville and between Louisville and Cin- 

 cinnati. Pullman buffet sleeping cars are run each way by 

 Ih's line between St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington, Baltimore, 

 Philadelphia, New York and Boston, and bet«?een Cincinnati and 

 Louisville. Tickets via Ohio & Mississippi Railway are for salo 

 at offices of connecting lines Wast, West. North and South.— W. 

 B. Sh ATTUC. Qen. Pass. Agent. F. W. Thacy, President. Cincin- 

 nati, O.—Arlv. 



ROD AND GUN AND CAMERA. 



As a recognition of the important place of amateur photography 

 in its relation to t-ports of the field and prairie and mountain and 

 forest and stream, the Foubst and Stkgam offers a series of 

 prizes for meritorious work with the camer.a. The conditions 

 under whicti these prizes will be given are in brief as here set 

 forth: 



There will be ten prizes, as- follow?: First $'25. Second $30 

 Third .flS. Fourth SIO. Six of $5 each. 



The competition will be open to amateurs only. 



The subjects must relate to Forkkt and Stkeam'S field— game 

 aud dsh (alive Or dead), sboofcing and Ashing, the camp, campers 

 and camp life, sportsman travel by land or water. 



There is no restriction as to the time when the pictures may 

 hii ve been or may be made— whether in 1893 or in previous years. 



Pictures will be received up to Dec. 31, of this year. 



All work mtist be original; that is to say, it must not have been 

 submitted in any oth-er competition, nor have been published.- 



Thci'e are no restrictions as to make or style of camera, nor as 

 to size of plate. 



A competitor neednbt ljB;astibsoriber of FoKtiST and Stream. 



All photographs will be submitteed to a committee, shortly to 

 be announced. In making their awards the .iudges will be in- 

 structed to take into consideration the technical merits of the 

 work as a photograph, its artistic qnilities; and other things 

 being equal, the unique au'l difficult nature of the subject. 

 Photographs must be marked only with initials or a pseudonym 

 for identificatiou. With each photograph should be given name 

 of sender, title of view, locality, date, aud name of camera. 



The photographs shall be the property of the Forest and 

 StrbA-M, This applies onlv to the particular prints sent us. 



From time to ttme we shall reproduce by the half-tone process 

 samples ot the work submitted, and should the interest in 

 FoiiEST AND Stream's Amateur Photography Colleei ion prove 

 to be what is anticipated, we may ask for au expression ot opinion 

 by a vote of all our reader.^ after the manner of the successful 

 and famous "Camp-Fire Flickering Vole." Such popular vote 

 will he quite distinct from the award by the committee- 



Hiid giv^r Sighing. 



TJic Fish Lmvs of the United States and Canada, in. Lhe 

 ''Game LoMs in Brief," 25 cents. In the '■•Book ot the 

 Oame Xows'' (full text), 50 cents. 



CAMPS OF THE KINGFISHERS— XV. 



CARP LAKE. MICHIGAN. 



The Carp Lake Camp, 



(Coiirliuli'd from paQcSSS.) 



I HAD to put on fresh fins every once in a while, as the 

 trout would occasionally jerk one off the hook, and they 

 were continually splitting and fraying them with their 

 teeth till they soon became unattractive and useless. 



I killed several of them as needed for their fins, and 

 when I got through with one his belly was as bare as an 

 eel's, for I found the pectorals answered as well as the 

 ventrals or the anal. 



When we had followed the winding stream about a 

 quarter of a mile 1 thought I had about fished my share 

 of it and asked Kelpie to change places that he might 

 get some of the glory before it was all gone; but to my 

 utter surprise he flatly refused to surrender his seat in 

 the bow, where he had been sitting since we left the 

 bridge, with his mouth watering — else he was made of 

 difi!erent stuff from other men — to take a hand in the 

 sport, for he was an old and crafty trout fisher, who 

 would rather "poke" along a trout stream than to sit 

 down to a feast of his favorite "red rozberriea an' 

 cream.'" 



What had come over the man? Had the hot sun made 

 him clean daft? Had I offended by fishing a longer 

 stretch of the stream than courtesy would warrant? No. 

 In the pure goodness and unselfishness of his old heart 

 he wanted me to get all that was to be had out of the 

 remainder of the afternoon, as I would not, he said, 

 likely get another chance at the ti'out for a whole year, 



"Id stands just this way, Hickory, or sits rather in ray 

 CfJse," he said, as he braced the oar against the bottom 

 and held the boat in mid-stream. "We will break camp 

 in a couple of day.°, as the arrangement is, and we will 

 probably not have an opportunity to come back and fish 

 this stream again. I can go fronting over where I live 

 most any day when I feel like it, but you will not get to 

 see another trout after to-day, it may be, till next year, 

 and I want you to enjy the fisbing in this stream while 

 it's right here under your hand. I'll take my turn next 

 year, if we come back to Carp Lake. Now, go ahead and 

 fish and I'll hold the boat wherever yoti say 'stop 'er" — 

 and he let the boat drift against the bank in a little 

 pocket, where the current held it till he got up and de- 

 liberately filled and lighted his pipe, blew out the match 

 and dropped it in the water, and then he sat down again, 

 pufiing complacently, while I stood looking at him and 

 wondering if there was ever such another exhibition of 

 self-denial "on the face o' this livin' airth."' 



I urged him in vain to take my place in the stern: his 

 decision was not to be altered, and the boat drifted out in 

 the current again, and I turned to be ready to "stop 'er" 

 at the next trouty looking hole, biit the sport had lost a 

 good deal of its charm, for I was uneasy in my mind at 

 the thoua-ht that I was, on his own insistance, howeA er, 

 robbing Kelpie of his ehare of a glorious afternoon's fish- 

 ing. How many Kelpies are there claiming membership 

 in the gentle craft? Too few and scattered. 



A little further down we came to where there were 

 some s-kids lying on the bank, where the lumbermen had 

 rolled logs into the stream, and here was a hole deeper 

 than any we had found, with some sunken logs in it, and 

 one, bigger than its fellows, lying slanted out down the 

 stream. "Kelpie stopped the boat about 10 or 12yds. above 

 it, and I let the bait drift down the current till it was 

 nearly over the big log, when I saw a trout fl^irt out from 

 urder it and make a snatch at the slowly turning tins 

 that made my blood tingle like from the shock of a bat- 

 tery. As he struck at the bait I gave the rod a quick 

 twist that was a fraction of a second too soon, as he 

 missed it and whirled back out of sight under the log. 



Had Kelpie seen that trout I think he would have 

 swapp d places with me on the instant without further 

 argument, for he looked fully as big as a three pound 

 bass, larger if anything than the big fellow that I was 

 sure was still hiding under the bank in the pool by the 

 bridge crossing McConnell's Creek; but he was sitting too 

 low down to get much of a view of the stream below him. 



I said nothing, only to request him to "drop 'er down a 

 couple o' yards," that I migfit have a better chance for a 

 sure strike by using a little less line. 



When tho current again carried the bait down near the 

 log and it was about to suck under, the big trout came 

 out again with a dash, seized it and turned to go back 

 under the log, but like the one up at the bridge he took 

 the wrong direction, and right there began a fight, short, 

 sharp and fierce, that was enough to make "gentle old 

 Ike" turn over in his coffin. 



The trout tried his level best to get under the log, which 

 meant "good bye Hickory," but failing in this he made a 

 wild rush across the stream and came near stranding on 

 a small sandbar, and then before I could think to give or 

 take up a little line he was back at the log making savage 

 jerks and plunges to get under it. 



It was a desperate case : if the line parted my hopes 

 were blasted; if he got under the log he would saw the 

 line in two before I could catch my breath, and with 

 these two possibilities worrying me I was in a "state of 

 mind." 



The fight ended as suddenly as it began. At last he got 

 the right purchase on the current with his broad tail and 

 with a mighty surge disappeared from sight under the 

 log and the hook flew back over my head and beyond 

 Kelpie, stripped of both the fins. 



I L^uickly reeled in the line to put a couple more fins on 

 the liook, and there was the cursed fraud, a No. ti Car- 

 lisle, straightened out to about the shape of a cant-hook 

 iron, It hadn't the honesty to break fair and leave a 

 clean record; it jtist lost its grip at the supreme moment, 

 and me the big trout at the same time. 



D — arn a Carlisle hook anyhow, or words to that effect; 

 it is the thinnest excuse for a hook, whatever its size, 

 that was ever put on the market to fool the confiding 

 angler. 



1 was tii'ed and sat wearily down on tbe little stool near 



the stem and "cussed" — cussed a whole catalogue of new 

 f angled cuss words invented to suit the occasion, till the 

 air grew thick and blue, Kelpie sitting meanwhile puf- 

 fing calmly at his pipe, as though the loss of a big trout 

 was one of the ordinary mishaps of life. 



Finally, with his usual deliberation of speech, he said, 

 holding on to a snag sticking up from the bottom with 

 one hand while he took the pipe from his mouth with the 

 other, "Hickory, I'm sorry about that trout; no, I didn't 

 see him when you called to me, but I know he was a 

 monstrous big one by the way the old rod worked, and 

 by the remarks you made. Yes, I'm sorry you lost him," 

 and that was all the consolation I got out of him, but it 

 was enough, for I knew he meant it, 



I found a No. 3 Limerick in my pocket calamity box 

 and tied it on, and then cut a couple of bright colored 

 fins from a dead trout and strung them on the hook in 

 such a way that they would revolve in a most "bewil- 

 derin' an' enticin' " manner, but it was of no avail, even 

 though I let it drift repeatedly under the log and pulled 

 it back with the most captivating flirts and alluring 

 jerks known to the art; the big trout was too smart, or 

 too badly scared to again fool with a crippled, crazy-act- 

 ing bug that had nearly dislocated his jaw during the 

 brief time he was trying to let go of it. 



I tried patiently for fifteen or twenty minutes to coax 

 him out again, but it was only time wasted, and Kelpie 

 once more let the boat drift with the current. 



When we were within a few feet of the log the old fel- 

 low came out from under it like a flash and shot off down 

 stream three or four rods and hid in a snarl of roots along 

 the bank, but we paid little attention to him, knowing 

 that he would not be likely to bite again that day. Kel- 

 pie stopped the boat just below the big log and I caught 

 four good trout, 9 and lOin. long, and then we drifted 

 along again to where I had seen the big trout go in 

 hiding, but before we got Avithin the boat's length of the 

 snarl of roots he made up his mind the crazy bug was 

 still after him and again he went off down the stream 

 like a streak of light and we saw him no more, although 

 we must have passed by him, lying scared nigh into fits 

 under the bank, or behind some friendly log. 



It was a crushing disappointment to lose that trout; I 

 would have given my last "chaw tobacker," and thrown 

 in an almighty dollar for just one more whack at him 

 with the little Limerick, for after I tied it on I missed no 

 more strikes nor lost a single fish. 



The trout kept biting greedily— and so did the deer flies, 

 but I had become so absent-minded and wrapped up in the 

 fishing, and thinking of patient, unselfish old Kelpie sit- 

 ting cramped up there in the bow, denying himself one of 

 the greatest pleasures of his life— red-letter days of his 

 life — he still refused to change places with me— that the 

 flies failed to keep up the "enthusiasm" they had aroused 

 in me on their first onslaught, and, besides, I had run 

 out of cuss words of the right sort, and didn't think it 

 quite fair to start over and treat Kelpie to the same old 

 grist. 



When we got down to where the' stream widened and 

 the bottom was sandy and free of logs, and roots, and 

 snags, we found no more trout — at least they quit biting, 

 and the most careful fishing for a hundred yards failed 

 to provoke a rise ; btit we had had enough— a string of 

 them tied to one of the rowlocks half as long as a man's 

 arm, and there were no finerlings among them, nor 

 had we returned more than three or four to the water, as 

 under the lawful limit. 



They ran from 8 to llin. in length; a string of'beauti- 

 f ul fish that made Kelpie's'old eyes snap with the fire of 

 youth, and I was in much the same humor. 



Curious how a fine string of fish will take the old griz- 

 zled veterans back to their boyhood days, when they felt 

 rich with a pole cut in the woods, a frayed straw hat, 

 that took its turn as headgear and dipnet for 'minners, 

 and a one suspender out-in-the-rear pair of breeches, a 

 world too wide. Oh! the marvelous] fishing — the won- 

 derful days when we were boys. 



The old rod was placed carefully in the bottom of the 

 boat and we took our way down the stream, pushing 

 with an oar apiece and standing up that we might better 

 follow the devious water trail and look out for snags 

 that might bring on a catastrophe at any moment and 

 lay us out for the night in the swamp. 



As long as the trout had kept biting, and while we 

 were feeling our way out of the swamp as it were, I had 

 forgotten I had such a thing as an appetite, but when we 

 got to the mouth of the stream, and stopped to I'est a few 

 minutes alongside of the old wood scow, a hungry fit 

 seized me that soon put the better part of the remaining 

 lunch out of sight, and then shipping both pairs of oars, 

 we followed the windings of the bayou out to the lake 

 and out into the shadows of the falling evening that had 

 just begun to darken the foot of the hills on the further 

 shore. 



We lifted our fish in the boat to save the drag, and 

 bending to the oars — Kelpie had picked up muscle till he 

 could pull a fairly vigorous stroke — were soon a quarter 

 of a mile out aud into a strong breeze blowing our way 

 down the lake, one of the rare favors bestowed on us by 

 the wind god since we had been in camp. 



When we got back to the camp the sun was down, but 

 there was sbill light enough left for the keeper of the 

 fryin' pans to see to clean the trout and fry some of them 

 for sux3per, and I managed to keep up my end in dispos- 

 ing of then, even though I had fared sumptuously on hard 

 crackers and cold fried bacon less than a couple of hours 

 before. The others were sprinkled lightly with salt, 

 packed in a camp kettle and set in the "refrigerator" 

 under the bank, well covered to keep night-prowling 

 varmints out, and we had some for breakfast and some 

 more for dinner, and there were enough left for a taste 

 all round for supper next evening. Truly, the trout of 

 Cedar Run are toothsome and comfortin' to the inner 

 man. 



Silting around the camp-fire that night, Kelpied and I 

 tried to induce the "Perfessor" and Johnny to spend next 

 day on the C-dar, but the account we gave of the diffi- 

 ciiltiea of navigating the stream and the danger of the 

 boat turning over in the swdft current with a couple of 

 fresh- water sailors who were not thoroughly at home on 

 the water in a "collar box," gave the "Perfessor" a back- 

 set, and he concluied he woui 1 rather risk a ducking in 

 the warmer wat«-rs nearer oamj) than a bath in the frigid 

 waters of Cedar Eun. 



Then we tried to talk the Colonel into making the trip 

 with one of us, but he preferred the comforts of the camp 

 and his pipe to being flayed alive by a swarm of blood 



