272 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



WISCONSIN NOTES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



If the bill now before the Legislature placing a penalty 

 on hunting deer with dark lanterns should become a law 

 it will be welcomed by all right thinking per.s(jns as a step 

 toward preser\'ing deer in the forests of this State for an 

 indefinitely long period. This method of hunting is be- 

 coming more and more the mode each year till almost 

 every one who owns a repeating rifle also owns a dark 

 lantern, which is not intended for purely ornamental 

 pxirposes, but is very frequently used during the open 

 season and often before the opening of that season. Deer 

 were very plenty all over the wooded portion of this 

 State last fall. They seem to have suddenly increased 

 and appear to be nearly as numerous as they were ten 

 years ago. Even in the Baraboo bluffs, thirty miles from 

 Madison, numbers were killed where they were supposed 

 to be nearly extinct. I believe it is proposed to do some- 

 thing substantial toward permanently preserving the 

 species in that region, which is compai-atively worthless 

 for agricultural purposes. 



Very little attention was formerly paid to the law mak- 

 ing a close season, but the law providing for a game 

 warden in each county brought the matter home to all, 

 and especially to those who were habitually disregarding 

 legislative enactments. 



A large portion of northern central Wisconsin, covering 

 perhaps one-half of the northern half of the State, is not 

 well adapted to the general purposes of the farmer. At 

 present this area is covered with a dense growth of hem- 

 lock and other woods, but chiefly hemlock. As this tim- 

 ber becomes exhausted in the Eastern States, those en- 

 gaged in the tanning of leather turn their attention to this 

 portion of Wisconsin. The four tanneries within sixteen 

 miles of this place require the bark of at least 3,000 acres 

 of land. The lumber manufacturer follows after and 

 removes every piece of timber valuable for his purposes. 

 It is easy to see what follows. A large portion of land is 

 denuded. Fire perhaps runs over the ground, clearing it 

 of refuse. A new growth springs up in a soil naturally 

 adapted to plant growth. This growth, Avhile too dense 

 to admit of successful hunting, is the ideal one for a 

 natural preserve and feeding ground, not only for deer, 

 but for grouse and rabbits. 



A liberal bounty of .flO on wolves tends to lessen the 

 number of that marauding family. Bo far as my obser- 

 vation goes, there were five wolves in this locality ten 

 years ago where there is but oue now. This bounty no 

 doubt, intended primarily for the protection of flocks, 

 has done a good work incidentally for game protection. 



Two trappers wintering ten miles west from this place 

 caught fifteen wildcats before the deep snow came on. 

 A bounty of $6 per head, together with a good price for 

 the pelts, nets them a banilsome sum. 



There were comparatively few good days for hunting 

 last November, yet the number of deer killed in this 

 State, if it could be known, would be astounding. It was 

 estimated that 500 carcasses were shipped out of Douglas 

 county, to say nothing of the large number consumed by 

 the large population at the "head of tae lake." Take one- 

 iaalE of this nu^mber for a basis for the thirty odd counties 

 of the State where deer are numerous, and one obtains a 

 total that seems almost incredible. 



A pecidiar accident happened to a deer hunter in Clark 

 county. He was watching a runwaj'' from a hammock 

 fastened to two trees about 15ft. from the ground. Being 

 supplied with a fur overcoat, he often remained till late 

 at night watching from his perch. Suddenly his huntmg 

 career came to an end. A flying squirrel gnaw^ed off one 

 of the fastenings of his hammock and he fell to the 

 ground. He was partially paralyzed by his fall and would 

 have frozen to death but for his warm fur coar. He was 

 finally rescued, but in a condition which promised little 

 for recovery. 



We have yet all the enow which has fallen during this, 

 unprecedented winter. A few days since we had a ma- 

 terial addition to what all considered asuffiaient qua,ntity. 

 While the addition was material, there was a material 

 accompanying the storm which does not usually accom- 

 pany storms as far from the open prairie as we are. 1 

 refer to a yellow earth which fell with the snow and 

 drift, along with it giving the snow a decidedly yellow 

 cast. Dirt storms are common in the We^it, but the inter- 

 esting feature of this one is that we are supposed to be at 

 least 200 miles from any portion of the country which is 

 not covered with snow. . WyanOxVK. 



Wkstboro, Wis., Mai-ch 17. 



"DUFFERS." 



Mbrbmac, Mass., March 30. — Editor Forest and Strearii: 

 I am a regular reader of yom- paper, and as I glanced 

 through last week's issue I noticed particularly the article 

 under the heading "Massachusetts and Maine," signed by 

 "Special." Let me say a few words in defense of the poor 

 workingman, who in a whole year can hardly save $50 or 

 $75 with which to take a short outing to enjoy what 

 natUL-e fm-nishes in its season. I would like to ask the two 

 Boston gentlemen who want the license fee raised to from 

 $25 to $125, where the man with the $75 for all the ex- 

 penses of an outing comes in? He works hard all the year 

 and wants a vacation just as well as the rich man. Why 

 don't these gentlemen buy the State of Maine and then 

 they can have the exclusive i-ight of going there with a 

 few of their friends, and by doing this tliey can keep out 

 the many "dufi'ers" whom they don't want tiiere. 



Because they have ample means to pay any license 

 which, the State might see fit to impose, is that any reason 

 why thy should try to have the fee raised beyond tiie 

 reach of the man who is limited to a certain sum with 

 which to enjoy himself for a short time? What benefit 

 they could get by havuig the fee raised I can't imagine. 

 It can't be for the better protection of ga.me, for does not 

 the State game laws furnish the necessary protection? If 

 it does nut, it ought to. I should naturally suppose that 

 sucti an action on the part of the State woifld hurt these 

 gentlemen, more especially the one who owns so many 

 thousands of doUars worth of property there; for no doubt 

 he makes considerable by leasing his camps by the season 

 to parties who go there for the express purpose of hunting 

 and fishing. But the great question is, would these parties 

 be so num<^rous if such a high license fee was imposed upon 

 them? I, for one, don't thmii they would. 



I .suppose "Podgers" would lite to have the farmers 

 small boy sit on the fence and whistle wliile lie was at the 

 stream near by with rod and bait Gfitf-hing all the fish. 

 Is that 60, "Podgers"? I.J. Nq, 



NOTABLE SHOTS.— V. 



The Great Scratch Rooster-Under-the-Corncrib- 

 Hogshead -Ricochet - Around - the - Corner - of - the 

 Chickenhouse-Hogpen-Shute-Chicken Shot, with 

 a Diagram of How it was Done. 



Philadelphia, March 11.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The articles in some of the recent numbers of the Forest 

 AND Stream, under the headings of "Snap Shots," and 

 "That reminds me,'' recalls to my mind a scratch shot 

 that I once made, which from its unexpected results, and 

 the singular circumstances that caused the shot to be 

 made, have tempted me to commit it to paper, and for- 

 ward it to you, and if you think it worth the space, give 

 it a place in your columns. 



The incident related is strictly true in every particular, 

 and the actions of this rooster, on this occasion, are totally 

 unaccountable except on the supposition that domestic 

 animals sometimes understand something of human lan- 

 guage and expression. We know this to be the case with 

 many animals, but it is a faculty not generally accorded 

 to the ordinary domestic fowl. 



Once, when living in the country, I had an old par- 

 tridge Cochin rooster that I thought had outlived his use- 

 fulness as a stock bird, and I had decided to kill and eat 

 him. It was his custom, after the fowls had been fed 

 their early supper, to retire immediately to roost, while 

 the rest of the fowls would pick around outdoors an hour 

 or so afterward, the old rooster, meanwhile, being the 

 sole ocjupant of the hen house. This habit had been long 

 established and was well fixed. 



So I said to my wife one day, "When the old rooster 

 goes to roost this afternoon I will go in and catch him, as 

 it then can be done without disturbing the rest of the 

 fowls." 



But whether he overheard and understood the conversa- 

 tion Avith my wife about him or for what other reason 

 will probably never be known, but certain it is that he 

 utterly refused to go to roost at all that night. 



After the fowls were fed, instead of going to roost as 

 usual, he would walk up to the hen house door, look in, 

 cominence cackling, and wander away, to come back and 

 repeat the operation, and after the old fowls had long 



0- 



Oa 

 O B Oa 

 O ; OA 



— D 



A A A, supports or cornerib. B, rooster. C, liogsliead. D, shooter. 

 E, hogpen. F, trough. G, chickens in trough. H, chicken house. 



been to roost he still kept it up and refused to go in. 

 Eiually, as it was getting dusk, we tried to drive him in, 

 but in alarm he ran away round the barn. 



I then took the bucket of well scalded meal and went 

 to feed the hogs. I had a shute on the outside of the hog 

 pen, leading to the trough, in which I poured the feed, 

 and I was never particular about scraping the shute out, 

 as the half -grown chickens used to follow me to the pen 

 when I fed and jump up on the shute, as many as could 

 accommodate themselves on it, and clean it out. These 

 half-grown chickens did not roost in the hen house with 

 the older fowls, but had little cooj^s of their own in which 

 thej^ still staid nights. 



After feeding the hogs, I returned to the house with 

 the empty bucket, and the old rooster came up and took 

 a position under the corn crib, still keeping up a great 

 cackling. The corn crib was set on posts, and the bottom 

 of it was fully i?ft. from the ground. I always kept a 

 loaded gun standing just inside the outer kitchen door, to 

 have it handy when hawks made a descent on the poul- 

 try, which they often did, and frequently they paid for 

 their audacity with their lives, as I often got a successful 

 shot at them on such occasions. 



So, now, being out of all patience with the old rooster's 

 perversity, I said to my wife as I stood in the dooryard, 

 "Hand me the gun, 1 will shoot his head off where he 

 stands." She did so, and I raised it to my shoulder, took 

 good aim at his head, he standing sideways to me, and 

 tired. 



The rooster fell promptly at the discharge, but a tre- 

 mendous outcry from the chickens which were feeding 

 from the slmte of the hog trougli told me something was 

 wrong there, and, running around where I could get a 

 view, there laid three of them in the throes of death and 

 we found two more dead ones in the coops the next 

 morning. 



Now, these chickens were neither in sight nor in 

 range, and to imderstand the situation a little plan of the 

 premises will be of assistance, which please find inclosed. 



Beyond the corn crib, and in the line of fire from 

 where I stood, was an old oak lime hogshead, used at the 

 time for keeping wood ashes in and weU away from all 

 buildings as a precaution against fire. It also stood op- 

 posite a passageway between tlie hog pen and the hen 

 house, this passageway running at right angles to the fine 

 of fire, and the chickens feeding at the shute were in this 

 passagewav, fully 80ft. from and at right angles to the 

 line of fire and protected by the \\m hOU§e; whiofc was 

 l(jft, square, 



I The explanation is this: The hogshead stood at the 

 intersection of the line of fire and a line drawn at right 

 angles to it, between the hen house and hog pen where 

 the chickens were feeding; the staves of the hogshead 

 were nearly as hard as iron, and the shot, striking on the 

 hard curved surface of it, caromed or glanced off, tak- 

 ing a course at right angles to the line of fire and killed 

 five chickens 30ft. from it. It is the only instance I ever 

 knew where a gun actually shot round the corner of a 

 building and did execution. F. R. 



A TOWN MAN'S NOTIONS. 



New York City, March 22.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 If you will permit me, I would like to do a little "kick- 

 ing." I know of no paper which reaches and teaches the 

 vast number of sportsmen who dwell on Manhattan 

 Island, where there is no hunting grotmd, better than 

 Forest and Stream. 



What is the use of purchasing high-priced guns and 

 hunting outfits, with the hope of bagging a httle game, 

 when the natives take good care that most of it is killed 

 a week before the open season. On such days as Thanks- 

 giving and Election Day all trains leaving the city carry 

 crowds of sportsmen, who cannot get off any other day. 

 while the country boys gather round the depot to see the 

 city chaps arrive, and laugh as they think that shooting 

 tomato cans is about all that's left. 



Putting up the sign, "No shooting .allowed on these 

 premises," is also a httle game, butsome people don't know 

 it. I was once told by a teamster, whom I had treated to 

 cigars, that the signs in his locality were mostly put up by 

 local .sportsmen to fool outsiders. 



As regards license to hunt in certain States and counties, 

 it's all wrong. I don't believe in putting on any restric- 

 tions to hunting that will bar out the poor clerk who 

 works all day in a dark office, in favor of his more for- 

 tunate brother, who can afford to pay for these privileges. 

 It is not right. The game of the forest don't belong to 

 any one in partictdar. Put on restrictions of a different 

 nature. Let it be a test of skiU, not of wealth. Take 

 squirrel shooting, for example. Pass and enforce a law 

 prohibiting the use of a shotgun, and allowing only a 

 small caliber rifle. In this way the game is not so easily 

 killed; the sportsman who takes pride in his skill with the 

 rifle will make a decent showing; the hunters wiU be less 

 numerous, leaving only the true sportsman, and the man 

 that wants to put his scatter gun within 20ft. of the ob- 

 ject, close his eyes and puU the trigger can "keep off the 

 grass." Otherwise stop shooting altogether for ten years 

 and give the boys a part of Central Park for their exclu- 

 sive use to keep up practice. F. H. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[JVojJi a Staff Correspondent] 



Chicago, IU., March 24. — A gentleman of Aurora, 111., 

 whose name I will not give, lest he should not like so 

 much publicity, writes me this week as follows: 



Some time ago I wrote you inquiring; about duck siiooting on the 

 Kankakee marsh, and you gave the. address of Sandy Boilers, Shelby, 

 Ind. I have made arrangements with him by which he is to keep me 

 informed of the movements of ducks this spring, and am going down 

 soon. I wish to tbank j^ou, and wish to say without any hesitation 

 that I get more information in your letter about local matters than I 

 can by taking the American Field, and have discontinued taking the 

 same. 



My business is such that I have but little time for the field, but take 

 a few days in the spring and fall for ducks and geese, but bave had 

 none of the latter shooting for three years. Can you tell me where I 

 would be likely to get a little shooting this spring? I have a dog and 

 good profile geese decoys, and used to go out to Winnebago Marsh, 

 but have not been out there for six years. I used to get off at Har- 

 mon, Lee county. Can you give me the address of some one in that 

 section with whom I could correspond? I used to bunt around Little 

 Beaver Lake, Newton county, Ind. Is there any use of gomg there 

 for geese? I one shot a swan on that lake. 



There are quite a goad many ducks and geese passing over here, but 

 they do not stop. No quad. Quite a number of prairie chickens left 

 over. Have seen no jacksnipe this spring, but they will be here soon 

 after this rain. Rather dull in sporting matters here at present. 



If I can be of any help to you in keeping you posted on matters of 

 interest to your paper in this section let me know, and I will wilhngly 

 help you so tar as I fan. Am invited to accompany three different 

 parties to the Wisconsin woods this fall after deer, and will have to go 

 with one, I think. 



We have two gun clubs in this city, but they have been rather 

 dormant of late. Will report when they get in shooting order. Good 

 weather will bring them out. W hen I am in the city will try to call on 

 you. Please keep us posted in the Forest and Stream on movements 

 of ducks. 



Probably I can best answer the above query by offering 

 another letter, which comes in the same mail and Avhich 

 reads as follows: 



Dakota Geese. 



Cajtoo, N. D., March 21.— Judging from your notes in Forest akd 

 Stream 'that you are running an ofnce closely approaching an intel- 

 ligence headquarters for sportsmen I take the liberty of asking you to 

 direct this way some of the many that must be looking forward to a 

 goose-hunting trip this spring. 



This vicinity is yearly visited by countless numbers of the snow 

 geese and others of the goose family. I have hunted here three ye.ars 

 and feel that I would be "competent to give any who might come here 

 plenty of good chances to kill geese to their heart's content; that is, 

 unless they are something besides real sportsmen. 



I can give good, comfortable bachelor quarters in the town, have a 

 team and outfit, plenty of decoys, a good spaniel for retrieving, and I 

 know the country. I can care for two only. What I want is two 

 gentlemen who will take things as they come, or, at least, partially 

 so I shall expect them to remimerate me for board and loss of time, 

 for I have to work for a living. I will guarantee plenty of good 

 board, the best the land affords, and will devote aU of my time to 

 their mterests and comfort. Time for hunting from Aprd 10 to 

 May 10. Elmer T. JroDD. . 



The law of North Dakota, as I see by reference to the- 

 Game Laws in Brief, opens the season on ducks and 

 grouse Aug. aO. It does not in-otect geese in the spring as 

 it should. I leave the matter of a spruig goose hrmt to 

 the conscience of my shooting friends, but don't beheve I 

 should advise it. It seems nicer to shoot geese in the fall 

 some way. and I don't doubt that Mr. Judd will be at 

 Cando in the fall. As to the Wmnebago marsh, its gloiy 

 has departed, and if Beaver Lake is any good for the fowl 

 now I don't know it, though once it was very good. The 

 geese do not stop in Illinois or Indiana very much now. 

 Once in a while a tired flock of honkers wdl tarry a while, 

 but not often, and I don't remember ever to have seen a 

 gang of the HutchLns or of the snow geese this far east. 

 Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas are the best goose countries, 

 and it doesn't pay to call a hunt a goose hunt much this 

 side of there. Any success would be by accident. 



Where the Ducks Are. ■ 



As to the ducks of this section, the flight is now up all 

 over this countiy. On Thursday the bluebills were 

 di-opping into Fox Lake in large numbers. A week 

 before that they had scattered north all over^^Wisconsin. 



