18^ 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 2, 1898. 



New Brunswick Bear Traps. 



Boston, Feb. 20. — have read with great pleasure in 

 tlie Forest and Stream a descrixation of the traps used at 

 tlie headwaters of the Tobique, but I find one discrepancy 

 in the bear traps. 



The ones that I have seen haA^e at tire entrance to the 

 trap sliarpened stakes which protrude above tlie lower log 

 at the mouth of the dead fall some Sin. These are driven 

 into the ground inside the trap, and I was informed by 

 an old bear hunter that their use is to bleed the bear and 

 also to hold him more securely when the dead fall strikes 

 liim. This, you will notice, is quite an important item. 

 I have seen all of these traps that have been illustrated in 

 some of my numerous trips to the Tobique, where I this 

 fall killed a moose with a pair of horns that measured 

 4ft. 9in. across. Frank Dewing. 



Denver Notes. 



Denver. Col., Feb. 35.— E. A. Callicotte, the new game 

 w.irden, says that if the Legislature will pass one of the 

 bills in regard to fish and game which are now before it 

 he will make it his business to personally investigate 

 all charges of game violation that are rejiorted to him. 

 He intends to make a collection of native trout and 

 exliibit them alive at the World's Fair. 



The citizens of Los Animas celebrated Washing-ton's 

 birthday with a jack rabbit hunt and scored 2,190. 



The Boulder hunters are arranging for a wolf chase on 

 the 36th inst. It is proposed to circle thirty miles of 

 coimtry in Boidder coimty with men and horees and 

 materially diminish the number of coyotes and gray 

 wolves. Teseeby. 



Quail in the South. 



Birmingham, Ala,, Feb. 30.— The Southern quail are 

 having a hard time of it in the winter of 1893-3. I was 

 told of 600 being sold at Durham, IST. C, for $6. Supposed 

 to be trapped by the negroes while snow was on. I was 

 told by a gentleman on a ti-ain on the Georgia Central 

 R. R. one night last week who owns a plantation of 5,000 

 acres in Alabama that he and five others in a week's shoot 

 on his place killed 1,100 quail. What woidd some of our 

 Northern shooters, who are happy to get a dozen or two 

 birds after the hardest kind of a day's tramp, think if 

 tliey could run into such shooting? K. 



In order thai these amendments might be properly considered, the 

 Commissioners.have called to their aid Mr. Whitaker, who was the legal 

 member of the "Codification Commission, and the Chief Game and Fish 

 Pi'otector, and as a result of their work have caused to be introduced 

 nineteen bills. 



In regard to the remaining legislation now before your committee, 

 the Commissioners, with the aid of the two gentlemen just mentioned, 

 have given them careful examination, and desire to present herewith 

 a statement, giving the number of the bill and its title, and an expres- 

 sion of their opinion. They trust that this action on their part wiU 

 not be presxunptuous, and that the committee wiU receive it in the 

 spirit it was intended. 



Assembly bill No. 104. by Mr. Thornton, adding in Section 141 Orange 

 and Sullivan coimties in which Ashing for bullheads, etc., is allowed, is 

 disapproved. 



Assembly bill No, 147, by Mr. Parkhurst, allowing the same privilege 

 to Honeoye Lake, is also disapproved. The Commissioners disapprove 

 all bills for tisliing through the ice unless the lakes desired to be ex- 

 empted ai'e named in the bill. 



The four following Assembly bills, also amending Section 141, are 

 disapproved for the same reason: No. 191, Mr. Roberts, amending 

 Section 141 so as to include Hemlock and Conesus lakes; No. 830. Mr. 

 Lounsbm-y, including Ijlster county; No. -514, Mr. Kinsila, allowing the 

 use of "tip-ups" in Orange and Sullivan counties; No. 017, Mr. Rice, 

 allowing the use of "tip-ups" for pickerel and rake-hooks for suckers 

 in any of the waters of the State not inhabited by trout. 



Assembly bill No, 383, Mr. Townsend, allowing Mgiing in Jamaica 

 Baj' every day in the year, is approved; as is also No, 566. Mr. Foster, 

 amending Section 136'so as to forbid at any time purse-nets, scup-nets, 

 fyke-nets aud hoop-nets in the Hudson Biver a,bove Poughkeepsie. 



Assembly bill No. 61^, Mr, Thornton, is necessa.ry. It amends sub- 

 division 5 of Section 271 so as to define angling as "taking fish with 

 hook aud hue held in hand." 



The Commissioners approve of Assembly bill No, 621, Mr. Higbie, 

 amending Section 164 so as to make the close season for wood- 

 cock from .Tan. 1 to Oct, I, the close season for possession or sale 

 commencing Feb. 1, Assembly bill No, 6.52. IVIr, Avery, is also ap- 

 proved. It amends article 5 by 'adding two additional sections relating 

 to whiteflsh and weakfish, sea'bass, etc. 



The commitlee has reported Mr. Townsend's bill, No. 383; Mr. Thorn- 

 ton's bill. No, 612; Mr, Guenther-s bill, No. 38; Mr. Higbies bill. No. 

 V27; Senator Parson's bUl, No. 168, chartering the Genesee Valley Fish 

 Breeders' Association; Assemblyman O'SuUivan's bill, not jjriuted, to 

 legalize the acts of the forest commission; also Ausemblyman Avery ''s 

 bills Nos. 609, 60S, 606, 607, 605, 602, .595, 590, 598, 594, 596, 593 ajid 678, 

 nearly all of which are from the forest commission and desci-ibed, by 

 numbers, ki the Forest and Streaji of last week. 



fed ntid 



The Finh Laws of the United States and Canada, tn the 

 ' Game Laws in Brief " ^5 cents. In the "Book of the 

 ' Game Laws'" {full text), 50 cents. 



and final quivering throes of death, and he was almost 

 glad that his was not the hand that caused it. Collecting 

 himself he shouted and was soon joined by Coulton and 

 Si, who mercifully drew liis knife acro-ss the j^oor beast's 

 throat; the crimson blood bursting out upon the snow 

 while an exultant gleam of satisfaction overswept the old 

 man's countenance as, without a word, he deliberately 

 filled and lit his pipe. 



When the train stopped at the little station to pick up 

 Coulton and Bo two days later, a doe was loaded with the 

 buck in the baggage car, but no one of the admiring 

 passengers were told that it did not fall to Bo's gun, and 

 when lie sent a portion of the moat to each of his neigh- 

 bors, he cimningly permitted their return compliments on 

 his skiU as a mighty hunter to go by without contradic- 

 tion. J. H. B. 



JACK RABBITS BY MOONLIGHT. 



Cando, North Dakota, Feb. 30.— Seeing several articles 

 in late numbers of the Forest and Stream relating to the 

 jack rabbit, has led me to think that a few notes from 

 here would not come amiss. The jack rabbit is the onlj^ 

 animal that we liave here in any numbers that is consid- 

 ered game. They are quite common and on the increase. 

 The principal reitson for this is, I think, that their natural 

 enemies have been reduced both by killing and by being- 

 run out by the increase of settlers. Another reason would 

 be the increased supply of the best of food and hiding 

 places furnished by the grain fields. 



Considered in a sportsman's way, they are of but little 

 interest until all other game has sought a warmer clime. 

 In the late fall and early winter they are in the finest con- 

 dition for eating, and great numbers are disposed of in 

 that way. When they can get it, they feed almost exclu- 

 sively on grain, and consequently their meat is sweet and 

 free from all strong flavors, usually said to be a character- 

 teristic of this rabbit. 



In the winter, after the first heavy snows, they come in 

 in the night to feed around the elevators and side tracks 

 of the railroad, where farmers have been loading grain. 

 I followed beaten paths like sheep paths for several miles 

 out on to the prairies, where they have made their daUy 

 nest, to lie quiet and rest after their nightly frolics, for no 

 one can call it anything else than a frolic after watching 

 them for a time on a moonlight night. 



During the period of the bright nights there is a con- 

 stant fusilade going on all evening, as from one to a dozen 

 men and boys wiU be out in the vicinity of the elevators 

 Waiting for the rabbits. Many of the creatures are killed 

 and many more are missed, as distances are very deceiv- 

 ing, and it is not always easy to see a white animal on the 

 snow. In either case there is excitement enough to keep 

 the blood circulating, if the thermometer does range down 

 in the 20s and 30s below zero, which it usually does here. 



E. T. J. 



PENNSYLVANIA LAWS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



All sportsmen and many farmers of Pennsylvania see 

 and feel the great need of a change in the game laws. In 

 making this change, do so with tlie point in view of per- 

 mancy, not a law to be altered at the next session of the 

 Legislature; and have in addition to the close season 

 clause, one that will carry enforcement — by game war- 

 dens — with it. To-day this is the great weak point; no 

 one acts. Grouse are able to take care of themselves; 

 make the open season Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. Woodcock should 

 not be protected after Oct. 1. The fall flight arrive about 

 Oct. 10-15; and protection, as proposed — until Nov. 1 — 

 would not be only unreasonable, but would tend to lead 

 to much opposition in any change in present code. Y. 



Wilkes-Barre. — I hope the lawmakers of our State 

 will enact some law that wiU be more protective to our 

 game and fish, and especially our beautiful trout. I 

 know of parties who claim to be sportsmen, right here in 

 my town, who caught trout last year that I had put in 

 the tributaries of the Wapwallopen in April, 1891. They 

 caught them in May and June, 1891. If we had game 

 and fish wardens in counties where trout are being put 

 in streams every spring, and they should do their duties, 

 these sportsmen would be taught a lesson, and true sports- 

 men might have some pleasm-e when they go out and 

 catch two or tliree year olds. H. L. M. 



Nova Scotia Moose. 



Winchester, Mass.— I am told by a resident of Shel- 

 burne, N. S., that at the close of the open season, Feb. 1, 

 43 moose and 5 carlliou were known to have been killed 

 in that part of tlic Pro^ iuoe (hiring the past season. Most 

 of the moose were young bulls and cows, in fact, there 

 was but one l;ii-go bull m tiie lot. This moose was men- 

 tioned in Forest and Stream of Jan, 36 under tlie head- 

 ing of "An Ear-Marked Moose." I saw tlie liead a few 

 days since and it is an imusually large one, the horns 

 spreading a little over 50in. The latter, however, show 

 signs of age, antl would have been better liad the moose 

 been killed two or three years earlier. 



There are quite a number of wildcats to be found in 

 Shelburne coLmt5^ Jesse Bowini of that town hunts them 

 with a couple of liounds and claims to get about every cat 

 he starts. In the fall and winter of '93 he killed between 

 70 and 80, and has killed about as many this season. 



C. M. Stark. 



A "Webfoot" Duels Story. 



Portland, Oregon.— A good duck story comes from 

 Astoria, down at the mouth of the Columbia. Recently a 

 barge with several thousand bushels of wheat went to 

 the bottom alongside one of the docks and myriads of 

 canvasbacks flocked there to feed. The security aft'orded 

 them by the ordinance, forbidding the discharge of fire- 

 arms within the city limits, encouraged the ducks to such 

 a degree of boldness that thek aggravating audacity 

 became absolutely unbearable to the urchins that "go a 

 angling" for tomcod and smelt along the wharves. Equal 

 to the occasion, as are most "webfoot boys, one of the 

 ' 'kids" x>rocured a sturgeon line, attached a lot of baited 

 hooks, made a cast and was rewarded with 16 fine fat 

 ducks the first haul. This story sounds just a little bit 

 fishy, but as its truthfulness is vouched for by one of our 

 most reliable sportsmen I give it for what it is worth. i 



S. H. Greene. I 



Johnny Get Your Gun. 



What earthly anology is there between shooting a brace 

 of woodcock on the wing at one shot and a brace of par- 

 tridges? Partridges associate in coveys; woodcock never 

 do. Time and time again have I shot the former in 

 doubles and several times in triplets; but in all the long 

 years of my htmting never have I seen two woodcock fly 

 in range of the same load of shot, and if any man or cow- 

 boy in North America has ever killed two on the wing at 

 a single discharge of his gun I should like to hear from 

 him ; he is certainly entitled to a chromo. Of coiirse, in 

 what I have said, I refer to the Virginia partridge and not 

 to the ruffed grouse. J. L C. 



Virginia's Cold Winter. 



Lynchburg, Va., Feb. 15.— From all reports that lean 

 get the snow and cold have been hard on the quail in this 

 State. When the snow is on then is the time for the col- 

 ored man with his musket to scoop a bevy of birds at one 

 shot in a bunch. And many have been found frozen. 

 However, a fair head of game isstfll left in this State, and 

 with no more snow good shooting can be had next season. 



E. H. K. 



Game and Fish Laws at Albany. 



Albany, Feb. 23.— On Tuesday afternoon the Assembly Committee 

 on Fish and Game gave a hearing- in the presence of the Fish Coni- 

 rhissioners. Assemblj-man Thornton wanted a number of amend- 

 ments made so that the people of Orange county could fish through 

 the Ice everywhere in that county. The Commissioners said that they 

 would approve of Mr. Thornton's amendments if he Avoidd name the 

 lakes in his county and guarantee that there were no trout in them. 

 Mr. Thornton became very much excited and made some personal re- 

 marks about the Commissioners, who took them in very good nature. 



Assemblyman Rice, fi-om Ulster coimty, made a plea 'for the catch- 

 ing of sturgeon, which fish was the food of a great many people and 

 the catching of it should not be restricted. The Commissionei'S were 

 inclined to grant his request. 



Senator Pai-sons appeared for his bill paying special protectors $100 

 a year. 



Assemblyman Parkhm-st wanted fishing thi'ough the ice in Steuben 

 county. 



Mr. Yetman, of Richmond county, opposed the use of nets for men- 

 haden in Raritan Bay. 



The committee had been furnished with a memorandum from the 

 Msh Commission in regard to the principal bills before them. The 

 memorandum is as follows: 



To the Committee on Game La ws of the Assembly of the -State of Bem 

 York: 



Gentlemen — The Commissioners of Fisheries at a meeting held Feb. 

 13, 1893, decided to memoralize yoiu' honorable body upon the subject 

 of pending fish and game legislation. 



While they have no desh-e to influence your committee in any man- 

 ner, BtUl they feel that it is their duty to take some action in tiie pre- 

 nu'ses. At the beginning they wish to recite the circunistauces untler 

 which the present code of the game and fish laws we{-e enacted. L'jjon 

 the recommendation of Governor Hill in several anmial messages the 

 Legislature. of 1890 made provision for the apjiointnient of a eoniinis- 

 sion of thi-ee to codify the game laws of the State, Robert B. Roose- 

 velt, president of (he New York Stale Assoeiatiou for the Protection 

 of Fish and Game, Richard U. Shei-iuaij, at that time a Commissioner 

 of Fisheries, and Edward G. ^^'llitake^, then Deput.y Attorney-General 

 of the State, were ajipointed as Comuiissioners, 



The Commissiouers held a laj-ge number of meetings in various 

 parts of the State, and devoted a ,gi-eat deal of time aud attention to 

 the subject, aud Uiade their repoii to the Legislature at its session of 

 18i3l in the form of a bill known as the "ri.sb and Gauie Law Codiflca- 

 tiou Bill." 



This bill was pa.^sed by the Assembij' of 1891, but failed in the 

 Senate, owing to the deadlock of that year. 



It was again introduced in the Legislature of 1895 and finally passed, 

 was signed by the Governor and becauie a law. It has been "in opera- 

 tion less than one year and the Commissioners feel that it may con- 

 tain many imperfections, still it has had so short a trial and the work 

 of game and fish iirotection has progressed so favorably under its 

 provisions that it would not be advisable to make any radical changes 

 in it at present. 



Ignorance of the law, of course, cannot legally be urged as an 

 excuse for its violation, but at the same time it seems to the Com- 

 missioners that fish and game laws are of such a character that 

 ignorance of their provisions, while not a legal excuse, may be con- 

 sidered a moral excuse and, therefore, that all fish and game laws 

 should be widely advertised and the people should be kept as famUiar 

 with their provisions as possible. They beheve, therefore, that when 

 once established such laws should be changed as little as possible, 

 and then only upon certain well-known lines and in the interest of 

 fiu'ther protection. They believe that they differ from statutes 

 passed against crimes that are in themselves immoral, and that this 

 fact shotild be taken into consideration by the Legislature before 

 passing hastily upon amendments submitted for their approval. 



Of course there are some amendments that are absolutely necessary, 

 arising from ackno\\iedged defects in the existing law, errors in print- 

 ing the bill as it passed last year, and some few slight amendments 

 that the chief game and fish protector and bis force during the past I 

 year have considered absolutely necessary. j 



RANGE AND SIZE OF TROUT. 



Allardt, Tenn. — Editor Forest and Stream: I cut the 

 inclosed from a local jjaper in this State, whose editor for 

 some time published a paper in Maine and should know 

 something of what he writes: 



"A 10-poundcr is no uncommon thing to land at the 

 Rangeley Lakes, in north \ve,st Maine, while occasionally 

 one of 12 and lolbs. is heard from. But then the Eange- 

 leys are the only waters not overfished in New England. 

 The fish called trout in Tennessee watei-s are not the true 

 speckled trout so highly prized by epicures." 



I have occasionally fished for trout in the Eangeley 

 lakes during the last fortj^-two years and never saw nor 

 before heard of a 10, 12 and 151b. trout of the mountain 

 or speckled species. Will you kindly let me know what 

 your information is on the subject? I wrote the article in 

 the Gazette and the supposed facts were given from per- 

 sonal observation. 



Will you kindly faA'or me with a specimen copy of the 

 Forest and Stream? J, W. Blanchard. 



[To the trout fisherman there is probably nothing moi'e 

 interestiu,g at this time of the year than a discussion of 

 the limit of size of his favorite fish. The correspondent 

 named below will find further west several kinds of trout, 

 that reach a very large size. We hiive weighed a Gaird- 

 ner's trout, for example, of 291bs., and Clark's trout runs 

 up to 201bs. The lake trout, which is a near relative of 

 the common brook trout, reaches SOlbs. and upward. 



Forest and Stream has frequently published notices of 

 large brook trout. The largest weU aiithenticated speci- 

 men known to us was caught by Seth Green in the "'Soo" 

 and weighed 121bs., according to the personal testimony 

 of the late Dr. P. R. Hoy. The National Museum exhib- 

 ited at the Centennial Exposition a lOlbs. brook trout be- 

 longing to Geo. Shepard Page, Esq. , which was caught in 

 1867 at Rangeley Lake, Maine. This fish was carried alive 

 in a box of water which also contained a female trout 

 weighing 8Jlbs. to Stanley, New Jersey. Visitoi-s to the 

 U, S. Fish Commission Exhibit at the World's Fair will 

 see a cttst of a 91bs, bi'ook trout taken at the Eangeleys- 

 last year. 



"Speckled" ti-out are found in streams flowing over 

 limestone rock, but thej'' do not appear to thrive as well 

 as in waters of free stone and granite regions. They 

 occur in the headwaters of the Chattahoochee, Savannali, 

 Catawba and French Bi'oad, and nta fchward thrtnigh the 

 Alleghany Region and the Great Lfikes, at least, to 

 Labrador. 



The scales of the broOk trout are so small that the fish 



is often erroneously considered scaleless. The native 

 tiout of Idaho and Colorado, howevi , .ire mainly black- 

 spotted forms, with larger scales. Thi; Sfilmon and Trout- 

 Supplement of Forest and Stream contains illustrations 

 of all the ii'ijp.,a-tant species.] 



The Tourilli Fish and Game Club. 



QtTEBEC, FeL. 18. — I have just returned from our club 

 hmitti where il was my duty to inspect the work of build- 

 ing an ujjper club house, thirty-five miles from the main 

 club house. You can get an idea of the extent of our limits 

 when I tell you this is the center of our gi-ounds. We 

 shall also buUd the camps and a third house at the en- 

 trance of the Little Saguenay or Northeast Branch St, 

 Anne Ri'^'er. 



The trip to the upper club house was rather a hard one 

 owing to several snow.stor)ns in succession, which inade 

 snowshoeing very heavy. All the work of construction 

 is done on the spot as there are no roads to this place and 

 we are fifty miles from a roadway, Boards, sliingles, 

 square and round timber are made on the spot. The cost 

 of the building will be about $1,600. We had but little 

 time to follow up any game which from the numerous 

 tracks seemed to be plentiful. 



Local clubs and spoi-tsmen from all parts are actually 

 agitating the enforcing of the game laws, which are 

 totally ignored by pot-hunters and farmers around here. 

 A few changes are also to be made, and I shall try and 

 find the time to let you know more on this subject later 

 on. G. VAN F. 



