230 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[HascH 16, 1H9&. 



At tliis Kellup noticed on some of the flock a drawn 

 scar on the neck. He thought quickly of the ferret and 

 felt of his own neck. 



The warden went on to say that rhere was a big bounty 

 on poachers down at the town clerk's office but the treas- 

 ury had been ]3oor for a good many years. By and by, 

 ■yhen they got some money, he would fetch in the pates 

 and get the bounty. He said, "That's where I keep 'um. 

 I let 'um out on moonlight nights," and he pointed across 

 the wall to a little old country graveyard. By this time 

 Kellup was sick at heart again but felt somewhat rested 

 in the legs and contemplated another ru.n. He thought to 

 get away pleasantly, though, so he backed off graciously 

 and said he "must be going, now," and bowed and smiled, 

 "be going, going." 



The warden said, "Hold on, though," and gave an up- 

 ward nod of the head confidentially. "Little matter I 

 want to speak about." 



Kellup kept edging off and didn't want to wait. "On 

 account of catching the train," he said. 



But the dwarf insisted. "I notice something wrong 

 about you. If you'll step over to the office I'll give you 

 something to help it. A little peculiarity in your gait. 

 Walk too fast." - 



KeUup said he didn't mind it in the least. An old fam- 

 ily trait. Hereditary. He couldn't help it, but he fol- 

 lowed the warden into the one low room of the farm- 

 house. The moon came through the window where the 

 sun had struck in the afternoon. The air was heavy and 

 bad, and he wasn't surprised when a half dozen hens 

 cackled and fluttered from a roost. The warden invited 

 htm to a seat on the edge of an empty barrel standing up- 

 right, and then he adroitly shoved him in so that only his 

 head and feet were visible above the top. He called that 

 his "operating chair." 



Kellup could think of nothing less than amputation 

 now, but the Dwarf read his thoughts and said: "No; 

 I'm going to give you a little dose of hot shot." So he 

 busied himself awhile at the fire in the chimney and then 

 bored a nice hole in the top of the old man's head, pom-ed 

 in about 351bs. of molten lead at white heat and plugged 

 it up. Then he broke away the barrel, led him stagger- 

 ing to the door and dismissed him with a benediction. 



"Now, another time, if a nice old gentleman overtakes 

 you on the road and wants to go yom' way perhaps you'll 

 be able to accommo^date your .gait to his. And further- 

 more, you better get you a Book of the Oame Laws right 

 aAvay. Study that for yom- Bible a while, and don't meddle 

 any more M^ith crooked sticks." 



Kellup awoke and sat up in bed. He felt his neck and 

 head and seemed relieved. His nerves were somewhat 

 rattled, though, and he had to fix his attention on the 

 objects abotit the room familiar from the night before. 

 The moon came in and shone on an old engraving of 

 "Wellington and Nelson," and showed the lines of age 

 and mUdew starting out from the frame. There was a 

 little mirror in a frame with painted flowers. It cost a 

 trifle once, but that was j^ears ago, and now it has a value 

 not intrinsic, like the rust on rare coins. There was an 

 old wooden bowl, a sort of mortar and j)estle aft'air, chip- 

 chopped clean, with a faint aroma of sage that spoke of 

 cheesemaking days, and best of all was his own gun, 

 standing in the corner, and that reassured him. 



Jefferson Scribe. 



Some More Notable Shots. 



Berthier en Haut, p. Q., March 4. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I once shot a large osprey or fish-hawk with a 

 .22 short cartridge, fired in a Merwin and Hulbert rifle, 

 at a distance of 120yds. The little bullet struck him in 

 the neck, kiUing him almost instantly. This bird measured 

 oft. Sin. from tip to tip. 



Some of us were shooting at different improvised targets, 

 one afternoon, when I made a most peculiar shot. I fired 

 at a tin cup placed with the side toward me, about 30yds. 

 away. The bullet made a hole in the bottom of the cup 

 without touching the sides. It struck a trifle too low, and 

 hitting some hard substance (a knot I think), ricochetted 

 through the bottom of the cup. 



The force of a .22 long rifle cartridge is shown by the 

 fact which follows. I shot at a hghtnihg rod on top of an 

 ordinary sized house. What was my SLU-prise to see the 

 upper part snapped clean off by the bifllet. The rod was 

 an ordinary one, though there was very probably a flaw 

 in it at the place where the bifllet hit. 



I once shot a crow with a . 32-40 rifle, Lyman eight, at 

 108 steps or paces (as near a yard as possible), the bullet 

 going fairly in the middle of his breast. 



I very often practice at birds on the wing with a .23, 

 though with indifferent success. On one occasion, how- 

 ever, I shot a swallow flying at about 30yds. distance. 



While shooting sparrows (a great pest here as else- 

 where) a few days ago, I happened to fire at one sitting 

 on the end of a tin water-gutter. I shot a little too low, 

 and the ballet went through the gutter and then hit the 

 sparrow. It had become so flattened in passing through 

 the tin, that it simply tore that sparrow to pieces, though 

 only a .22 short cartridge was used. 



I shot a crow in three different places with one buUet. 

 He was pluming himself when I fired, and the .22 bullet 

 broke one leg, went through his head and then, striking 

 the breast, came out of his neck. L. D. von Iffland. 



A Colorada Wolf Chase Fiasco. 



Denver,^Co1. , March 4. — The hunters of Boulder and 

 surrounding counfciy had a grand wolf round-up Feb. 26, 

 It was a grand success in everything but wolves. At tne 

 close there were two inside of the circle, but Jack Shaeff er 

 got excited and started after them, and tlie rest of the 

 crowd followed Jack, breaking the circle and allowing 

 the wolves to escape. They will try it again next week 

 and hope to profit by experience. Any one who breaks 

 the circle will be given an old-fashioned cowboy "chap- 

 ping." Teseeby, 



SomeZChina Shooting. 



New York, March 11, — I have been sending your paper 

 since October to Shanghai, China, regularly. My corre- 

 spondent writes, and reliably, from Shanghai Feb. 10: 

 "Have just returned from an up country shooting trip of 

 19 days' duration. Our party, three in number, bagged 

 778 pheasants, 83 ducks, 115 'teal, 9 vtddgeon, 12 geese, 8 

 deer, 12 hares, 41 woodcock and 2 bittern— 1,060 head in 

 all— rather better th;iu the average, 0. J- Ashley." 



WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER OF CARIBOU. 



New York, March 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 That certain hunters know where caribou are still plenti- 

 ful and easy to get at is proven by the fact that the writer 

 received withui a certain ten days this season twenty- 

 five heads and five whole specimens, all fresh and 

 frozen within a day or two previous to shipment. 



Our place had the appearance of a "slaughter house" 

 when the fresh blood began to thaw and trickle down 

 over the floor from the heads of the thirty once harmless, 

 roaming caribou. These heads and skins aU came for- 

 ward in two shipments, which would seem to show that 

 the hunters found the animals in herds wdiere they had 

 never been disturbed or shot at, and that they simply 

 stood at short range and slaughtered the poor innocents. 



Dr, Edward F. Brush, who has hunted a, good deal 

 through Maine and Canada, tells of hunting carefully 

 and noiselessly, using every precaution known to a hunter 

 not to startle their game, for three days in search of 

 caribou, and finally giving up in disgust, their party num- 

 bering three, himself and two guides, started off at a 

 reckless noisy pace, laughing and joking as they clam- 

 bered through the brush or paddhng along with their canoe 

 wherever there was water enough to float. They had 

 not traveled but an hour or two in this way when one of 

 the guides stopped suddenly at the end of a swampy flat, 

 bordered with smafl fir trees, and pointed out not over 

 40yds. ahead a herd of sixteen caribou, consisting of one 

 old buU, two or three younger ones, six or eight cows and 

 some pretty little calves. 



The Doctor shot one young bull for meat, but refused to 

 allow any further slaughter, which would have been a 

 simple matter, as the animals stayed curiously around 

 within easy gunshot, while the party skinned and quar- 

 tered the meat. The calves frolicked and played near by, 

 once or twice came so near in their innocent, inquisitive 

 way that it would not have been diflicult to have lassoed 

 them. 



Thfere are many strange and interesting stories told of 

 the peculiarities of the caribou, most of which are true. 

 They are frequently attracted by the hmnan voice, in- 

 stead of being frightened, as many would believe, and in 

 winter they do not yard like moose and deer, but keep up 

 their roaming day and night alike, nibbling the moss from 

 the trees. Should the snow be deep, they would follow 

 roads or paths to find easier traveling, and are known to 

 follow the footsteps of man so closely that lumbermen 

 and woodsmen have turned suddenly in their tracks to 

 find one of those strange docile, seeming half-domesticated 

 animals foUowing him. 



The shippers of the thirty specimens above referred to, 

 although they may follow hunting as a means of support, 

 represent the class whose wholesale slaughter has the 

 greatest effect toward exterminating the large game from 

 oar near-by forests. 



Although natm-alists and taxidermists are, to a certain 

 extent, blamed for encouraging this wanton slaughter by 

 off ering prices for the specimens, this impression is unjust, 

 as their intention is simply to obtain a few choice heads 

 or sk-ins. While the native hunter learning that heads 

 and horns have a value, and not caring to discriminate, 

 shoot all that come within range, and forward them to 

 the nearest market. 



Although I am a coUector. and anxious to claim owner- 

 ship to the finest specimen of large game heads, I have 

 enough of the blood of a true .sportsmen in me to aid in 

 any attempt to put a stop to this wanton slaughter. 



Wm. W, Hart, 



A GAME PROTECTOR FOR OREGON. 



Portland, Oregon, March 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Your readers have already been apprised of the fact that 

 the sportsmen of this State were making a strong effort to 

 secure better protection for our fish and game. Flatter- 

 ing success has crowned these efforts, and I now have the 

 pleasure of announcing to om- Eastern brethren that we 

 have a full-fledged fish and game protector, with a salary 

 of $2,000 per year, $500 traveling expenses, besides certain 

 perquisites. This is even better than we had hoped. 



Our State is young and sparsely populated; and our 

 legislators have always heretofore so carefully guarded 

 the treasury, that we sportsmen were much in doubt 

 whether the Assembly (just adjourned) would grant our 

 j)rayer, as it involved quite an outlay of State funds. So, 

 imagine om- surprise and gratitude wdien they not only 

 gave Lis all we asked but added $500 to the salary. But 

 there is a little inside history to the matter and I want to 

 giA'e it away. 



Heretofore we have had no protection for our fi.sh and 

 game excejit in so far as the salmon industry was con- 

 cerned. It is trne that there were numerous good laws 

 for their protection, but nobody ever thought of enforcing 

 them. The thi-ee Fish Commissioners were empowered (m 

 fact it was their duty) to enforce aU the laws for the pro- 

 tection of all our food fish. Many and many a notice was 

 served upon them of the existence of illegal dams, saw- 

 dust, dynamite, etc. , but the commissioners were appar- 

 ently too juuch absorbed in the sal uion mdustry or some- 

 thing else to give these trivial matters the least attention. 



As every reader of Forest and Stream well knows, 

 private citizens will not prefer charges against their neigh- 

 bors for infractions of the game laws. This fact has been 

 demonstrated in every State of the Union, and there are 

 plenty of good reasons why they will not. 



Well, when it became apparent to the market-men that 

 our Assembly Avas favorably disposed toward our biU, 

 they proceeded to organize, raise money and attack the 

 bill, tooth and nail. They openly boasted that they would 

 secure its defeat at anj^ cost. The canneries do^vn the river ■ 

 seemed to join hands with the market-men, the old board 

 of Fish Commissioners reinforced our assailants and we 

 sportsmen found om-selves in a decidedly embarrassing 

 position. We could almost imagine how Davy Crockett 

 and his heroic companions felt when penned up in the 

 Almo, for we were outnumbered, and then too, you know 

 that spoi-tsmen have less of the right kind of ammmiition 

 than these other fellows have in such a fight. But we 

 trusted in God and kept what little powder we had very 

 dry. On the eve of adjournment the Assembly got rat- 

 tled and passed every fish and game and Fish Commission 

 biU it had on hand. Of course these bills conflicted with 

 each other, and no two of them could legaUy stand, but 

 by passing aU of them the legislators could go back to 

 their respective admiring constituencies without priming 

 themselves for explanations or feeUng that they had left 



any duty unperformed. The Fish Commission biH was, 

 of course, in the interest of the canneries, but I wih not 

 ask space to particiflaiize or define the object of these 

 various bflls. The Govemor's name Avas necessary, of 

 course, in order to make these various bflls law. 



Suffice it to say, Governor Pennoyer stood by us and by 

 the interests of the great State of Oregon like a man. He 

 vetoed every biU that conflicted with om- game warden 

 bill and to that he affixed his signature. And then too, 

 the bill contams an emergency clause that sent it into 

 effect last Monday. Mr. H, D, McGuire, the appointee, 

 although not so weU known as many other aspirants for 

 the position, is an earnest, active, honest man who wfll do 

 his duty and enforce the laws, and that is what we want. 



In conclusion I desire to say that I have been a life-long 

 Republican, but henceforth I am an out and out Pennoyer 

 Democrat, and if my vote would keep him in Oregon's 

 chair he might rest assured of a life job, S, H, Greene. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Spring Shooting. 



Boston, March 11, — Spring shooting begins to be the 

 topic of conversation with the sliotgun sportsmen, though 

 no flights of birds are yet mentioned. Parties are being 

 made up of members of the Monomoy Brant Club and in- 

 vited guests. Members of this club go for their spring 

 shooting in squads or sections, each party including about 

 as many individuals as the club accommodations at Mono- 

 moy Beach wfll hold. Invitations to enjoy the brant 

 shooting Avith members are at a premium usually with 

 sportsmen who are not so fortunate as to belong to Hhe. 

 club. 



IVTaine Menhaden Fishermen. 



The Maine Legislature is agitating the question of open- 

 ing the season for duck shooting in that State Aprfl 1. 

 The biU has made some progress, having passed one 

 branch. But the measure that is interesting the shore 

 fishermen the most is to open the bays and harbors be- 

 longing to Maine to the menhaden and mackerel seiners 

 within the three-mile hmit. It is the same old measure 

 that has been several times killed in Massachusetts; the 

 proposition to permit of seining in the waters of Buz- 

 zards Bay. In Massachusetts the measure has been 

 kflled several times, for the reason that thei-e are cottage 

 owners and people interested in shore fishing, along the 

 shores of Buzzards Bay, who have considerable mfluence 

 and a good deal of money. Here the influence of the 

 menhaden fishermen and oil-makers has been met by 

 more than its match, and Buzzards Bay is stfll closed to 

 the seiners. But in Maine it looks as though the in- 

 fluence and the wealth of the menhaden catchers was 

 being used in the Legislature. A bill has actually been 

 introduced and has passed through its first stages in the 

 Senate, though the lovers of harbor a.nd shore fishing 

 have protested vigorously. The danger is that the bill 

 wfll pass both branches, but it is hoped that Governor 

 Cleaves wiU veto it. 



That Maine License Bill. 



The obnoxious Maine si)ortsmcn's license bfll has been 

 up in the Senate, and has been tabled there. The better 

 sense of the Maine Legislatm-e hopes that it wiU stay on 

 the table, but its friends, and among them are numbered 

 some of the lumber kings, will be siu-e to call it up again. 

 The form of the bill proposes to tax every person, not a 

 resident of the State, an annual license fee of $5, for either 

 hunting or fishing in that State. An amendent has been 

 proposed allowing owners of propertj' to the value of 

 $2,500 in the State, or persons paying a tax of §5, to be 

 exempt from the license law. This amendment was 

 tabled last week, along with the bill. The desig-n of the 

 amendment is to favor the owners of camp property. A 

 lawyer of considerable note teUs me that the owner of 

 camps in Maine woifld have a constitutional right to oc- 

 ciipy them, though erected and maintained ostensibly for 

 the purpose of hunting and fishing, and to occupy 

 them without paying a license. Then being an oc- 

 occupant of his own camps, a person would be 

 for the time being a citizen of the State, with 

 all the rights of any other citizen, except that of voting, 

 and being a citizen for the time, with all the property 

 rights and privileges of any other citizen , and it being 

 open season on trout in the lake or stream beside his 

 camp, or open season on moose, deer or cai'ibou or birds, 

 the State cannot make a constitutional law that can pre- 

 vent his taking his legal share of the game and fish about 

 his camp. This sotmds like good law, but how the Maine 

 courts might regard it is a question, i^nother lawyer, 

 with whom I have talked on the subject, suggests that 

 the owners of camps and cottages in jNlaine, built for the 

 purpose of himting and fishing, cann(jt be legislated out 

 of their rights to all the game and fish legally belonging 

 to them under the existing fish and game laws. Their 

 camps were buflt for the sake of the privfleges of himt- 

 ing and fishing, and they are worthless without these 

 privileges, and hence these privileges cannot constitu- 

 tionally be taken away by any tax not equally imposed 

 upon all jjersons, whether residents of the State or 

 not. The ownership of real estate carries with it 

 all the privfleges of the neighborhood — of the sm'- 

 roundings, the air, the water, the shade trees and the 

 fish and game — aU these without any tax or restriction, 

 beyond that which the real estate pays. Not only would 

 the owner of real estate be entitled to afl of these priv- 

 ileges without further and equal tax \v-ith the citizens 

 of the State, but he could also invite his friends to en- 

 joy them with him, and permission or invitation from 

 the owner of the real estate would carry with it all of 

 the privileges of any citizen of Maine or any other 

 State. It looks as though it might be a difficult matter 

 for the solons at Augusta to frame a hcense law that 

 wiU hold. 



The Gilbert Troyt Bill. 



Up to the present writing no further progress had 

 been made in regard to the Gilbert trout law in the 

 Massachusetts Legislature. In the meantime March is 

 rapidly passing away, with winter still upon the trout 

 streams. It looks as though the legal opening on trout, 

 Aprfl 1, would be a very cold one this year. Yet the 

 sportsmen are interested, and already they are gettuig 

 their tackle together. Special. 



