318 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[APRUi 13, 1893. 



GOSSIP FROM NEW BRUNSWICK. 



The Game Season of 1 892. 

 It is, perhaps, not too late for a little gossip concerning 

 the shooting season of '92. It was an off season for grouse 

 in this vicinity, but there was better shooting further 

 -west, and I was fortunate enough to get some of it. Dur- 

 ing the spring migration in '92 I saw more ducks than 

 have passed here any season in the last twenty. Among 

 them Avas a flock of pintails or "sprigs," the only speci- 

 mens I ever saw in this Province. But they did not get 

 around in the fall. A market-shooter, who rolled in 

 wealth in. '91, had to go out of the business a month be- 

 fore last season closed. It was a good !?nipe year, but bet- 

 ter on the upper St. Johns than around here, and the same 

 is true of woodcock. I spent nearly three weeks in the 

 lake region of York coimty, of which, perhaps, I may 

 have something to say in the future. 



Woodwork of Guns. 



Each shooting season brings its lessons. There is some 

 sense and much nonsense, written concerning the merits 

 of guns made in different countries. But something in that 

 line well worthy of note lately came imder my notice. 

 Two of my friends were caught out in a drenching rain. 

 One had a $60 hammerless made in a country which I will 

 not name. The other had a hammer gun which cost $40 

 a dozen years ago and was made in another country. 

 The wood on either aide of the break-off strap of the ham- 

 merless swelled to such an extent that the top-lever would 

 not work freely, while that on the hammer gun never 

 started. A few days ago I examined a hammerless from 

 a factory not far from the one that turned out the other 

 mentioned above, and in some places the wood had shrunk 

 away from the iron of the action a good thirty-second of 

 an inch. It is quite plain that some firms use imperfectly 

 seasoned wood for their gim stocks, and they cannot call a 

 halt too soon for their own good. Sportsmen, as a class, 

 are a shade more critical than they were twenty years ago, 

 and they are not slow to make a note jot occurrences 

 like the above. 



Reloading Shells. 



Not many 'y^ars since, we Canadians all used foreign 

 made shells. But our paternal government placed a heavy 

 duty on them to encourage home manufacture. I used 

 the Canadian made product in '91, and had about 7 per 

 cent, misfires, each of which caused me a good chance at 

 game. When reloaded, they were wholly imreliable. 

 Again, in the season just closed, I used 100, mostly at the 

 trap, and had three misfires. The manufacturers seem so 

 afraid that some one will try to reload them, that they 

 make the heads too flimsy to insure a discharge at the first 

 using. The paper in them is all any one could ask. I 

 saw a cartridge of this same make which had lain three 

 days at the bottom of a lake. After being dried a little on 

 the outside, it was i)laced in a gun and fired. 



I recently bought some nitro powder cartridges, loaded 

 in the cheap, conical base, American shell. Though these 

 cost only fifty-five cents a hundred, they are much better 

 than the Canadian made case, which retails liere at 

 seventy -five cents. A well known writer said, aboiit a 

 year ago, that no manufacturer would make a cheap re-' 

 loadable case, as it was not to his interest to make them 

 durable. It seems to me it would pay him fully as well, 

 as to have his shells discarded in favor of a higher ijriced 

 brand, which could be reloaded often enough to bring the 

 purchaser out more than even. I have fired seven shots 

 from an Eley shell, that retailed at one cent. 1 have fired 

 three shots from a Squires shell that sold at a half cent; 

 and have no doubt it could have been tised again. 



"Pulling" Sportsmen. 



Mr. B. Watei-s, in a recent note, commented on the 

 tendency of certain railway employees to "pull" sports- 

 men who travel over their lines. The evil is widespread. 

 It seems to have its root in a veiy general opinion, that 

 all sportsmen are, or ought to be, millionaires, and they 

 are worked on that basis. Last fall I witnessed a little 

 altercation between a sportsman and a smart yotmg 

 purser on one of our steamboat lines. The man and his 

 wife had been on a camping tour and had about 801bs. of 

 dunnage in three parcels. The purser demanded "two 

 bits" freight on the largest parcel. The man protested 

 that they were all the personal luggage of two passen- 

 gers, who paid full fare, and that their combined weight 

 did not reach that which one passenger was allowed to 

 carry free. The purser reminded him that the sum was 



small one to kick about and he reminded the purser as 

 to where the kick originated and conciirred in his view, 

 whereupon the purser blui-ted out, "You have a tent 

 there, we don't carry tents for nothing." And the other 

 blandly inquired how he knew there was not a tent in 

 every trunk on board the boat, and cut short further dis- 

 cussion by tendering his name and address in case tlie 

 official wished to attempt collection by legal process. As 

 they separated one of a knot of men standing near 

 called out to the passenger: "Did you work it on him?" 

 "No," said the other, thrusting his hands deep into his 

 pockets and following with his eye the "all hands round" 

 movementB of a flock of bluebiUs the steamboat had 

 routed, "he did not work it on me." 



New Brunswickers in Florida. 



Speaking of camping reminds me that WilUam and 

 Harry Chestnut, of Fredericton, two Forest and Stream 

 men whose names were immortalized in these columns 

 not long since in connection with the Pot Cover Trap 

 Club, have been camping out in Florida since Dec. 8. I 

 heard from them about the 1st of February. They were 

 then 350 miles south of Jacksonville, in the Everglades. 

 They had killed two deer and quite an assortment of wild- 

 fowl. They will be home early in April, and ought to have 

 quite a yarn for us stay-at-homes. 



About Wolf Yarns. 



"Prowler," in some notes published in yom- paper earlj 

 in the winter, mentions a desperate conflict in the woods 

 near Oromocto, between W. H. Dykeman, a Jemseg 

 blacksmith, armed with a sheath knife and revolver, and 

 two wolves. By "the twinkle in Brer 'Prowler's' eye" as 

 he tells the yarn, he more than half doubts its truth. And 

 well he may. But I believe in putting the saddle on the 

 right horse. I am very well acquainted with the afore- 

 said W. H. Dykeman. He is no great friend of mine. 

 ' Neither is he a very bitter enemy. I freely admit that when 

 he is in a jocular mood he does not always get his facts 

 straight. But it was very difiScult for me to believe that 



he was foolish enough to try to stuff people of common 

 sense with any such imx^robable tale. A few days ago I 

 interviewed him concerning the correctness of the story 

 as published in this paper. "Yes," he said, "barring a 

 few small and apparently unimportant details, it is every 

 word true. Except that it was thirty-two years last 

 Christmas since I saw the wolves; that I was unarmed; 

 that the brutes showed no disposition to attack, but only 

 paused for a moment to look at me, and that when I 

 yelled at them they got away so fast you could riot see 

 their tails for snow, the story of the fight is all correct." 



In justice to "Prowler," whose notes I would be glad 

 of the privilege of reading oftener, I may say that I be- 

 lieve that the story came to him in his capacity as jour- 

 nalist through the medium of the St. John Telegram, in 

 which it was first published. There is a young man at 

 Jemseg, and his identity is no secret either, who period- 

 ically furnishes that paper vidth items faked and dis- 

 torted with the evident intention of hurting the feelings 

 of certain persons. Less than a year ago he wrote up the 

 marriage of a son of this same Mi". Dykeman, and styled 

 the son a daughter, changing the name slightly to suit 

 the changed character. The strong arm of the law should 

 be invoked to suppress such a foolishly "smart" indi- 

 vidual, and should this fail, a boot toe apphed with energy 

 and frequency to the terminus of his spinal column might 

 produce the desired effect. 



Another Great Shot. 



I showed the " Johnny-Get- Your-Gun" series of notable 

 shots to my friend, Mr." Milton Hutchicar. "Why," said 

 he, "none of them is a patch to the shot 1 made in '78, the 

 last year the wild pigeons came around here. You see I 

 had crept up behind a bush within 30yds. of a flock of 

 pigeons sitting on the stakes of a worm fence, near the 

 corner of a buckwheat field. As 1 was about to fire the 

 pigeons jumped and I only kiUed five, but I killed a red 

 squirrel and a ground squin-el sitting on the ends of 

 alternate panels and directly in range, and a snipe that 

 jumped about 20yds. further on was wing-broken. Sixty 

 yards away, on the edge of the woods, a flock of i-uffed 

 grouse were dusting in an ant-hill, and blamed if a stray 

 shot did not penetrate the brain of one of these and kUl 

 him." 



In these days the man who tells the first story places 

 himself under a fearful handicap. L. I. Flower. 



EXPERIENCE WITH A BAY LYNX. 



In the fall of ^87 I found myself temporarily located in 

 Concho county, Texas, where" I was engaged in the study 

 of the domestic sheep— his habits, diseases, etc. Having 

 plenty of spare time on my hands, I set out a number of 

 beaver traps on the banks of a small water hole (a part 

 of the North Brady Creek). During the day I could 

 catch all the fish (black bass, cat and sunfish) that \\^ere 

 required for camp use, and it was when thus employed 

 that a neighboring ranchman came down from Eden to 

 try his luck at the gentle art. For baits ho used chunks of 

 prairie dog, the remainder of which animal he hung up 

 in a pecan sai^ling. The next morning I walked down to 

 the creek and found the dog missing. On examining the 

 tree large claw marks were plainly visible. 1 hm-ried off 

 at once for another trap which 1 placed on the outlying 

 branch of a cedar about loyds. up the steep side hill which 

 terminated at the water's edge; a little beyond the trap I 

 fixed a coot and retired to await resiflts. 



At about 8 o'clock on the following evening I started, as 

 usual, to inspect my traps, when my attention was at- 

 tracted by a very pecuhar sound, somewhat similar to the 

 rotation of a circiflar saw; it came from the hillside, but 

 having quite forgotten the trap on the tree, which, by the 

 way, was only an ordinary single-spiing rat trap and very 

 small, I was very much puzzled, but of course made direct 

 for the sound. The night was as dark as could be, so I 

 climbed very carefully up the hill, and soon arrived at the 

 overhanging branch, probably a foot or more above my 

 head. By squatting down and getting the branch in a 

 line Avith the sky I cordd see the outline of an animal 

 somewhat larger than a coon, and presently 1 saw by his 

 round head and short ears that a wildcat or bay lynx was 

 my prisoner. Off I went for a stick, but only found a 

 rotten one; with this, however, I returned and struck at 

 the cat, who dodged the blow and sprang at me, evidently 

 intending to land on my head, but 1 was not there, luckily, 

 and the chain brought him up with a jerk. He passed so 

 near my nose that I concluded I had enough of this sort of 

 fun in the dark and returned to camp for a lantern and 

 an ax handle; thus equipped I easily dispatched him, and 

 although I forget the exact measurement, I remember he 

 was a very large one. 



1 kill a goodly number in traps every winter and spring, 

 but take care not to get my face too near until they are 

 quite dead. A. P. F. Coape. 



A WAR-TIME SHOT. 



When the boy came in the other day and showed the 

 mother of his boy the fu-st gray snipe of the season, I was 

 reminded of two things. First, that I was getting old, 

 second, of my first English snipe. 



It was in 1862, and the "old 9th" Avas in camp at Caro- 

 lina City. Among my trails was a double-barrel shotgun, 

 sawed off to fit my army trunk, and many a bunch of 

 robins or brace of ducks had it brought to our mess — when 

 I had loaned it out. Between the camp and Bogue Sotmd 

 there was a Uttle strip of meadow under the bluff, and 

 some of the men reported that gray snipe were to be found 

 there. Stepping up to regimental headquarters 1 saluted 

 the colonel and asked permission to leave camp for a little 

 while to get a few Enghsh snipe. Colonel Stewart, after- 

 wards General James Stewart, Jr., chief of police of 

 Philadelphia, asked me if I had ever shot that particular 

 kind of game, and on my replying in the negative said, 

 "All right, sir; you may go, and I will give you a new 

 hat if you kill two out of the first five you shoot at." 



Giving him notice that he might order that hat at once, 

 I went down the bluff, and had barely reached the 

 meadow when it seemed to me that a hundred spectral 

 corkscrews arose at once, and each one whistled "scape" 

 in turn as I successively tried to get aim at them. They 

 all escaped. Two or three times I repeated this perform- 

 ance, and then determined upon a change of tactics. I 

 would follow with my aim the very next bird that rose, 

 no matter how he flew, and would puU on him if he was 

 a mile away. "Scape," and I began the movement. It 

 seemed to me that I wobbled my gun after that bird until 

 every particle of twist was out of my barrels, and just as 



I was ahout to give up he dropped to the ground and I 

 could see him. Bang! without thought of ethics, and I 

 walked over to pick him up. He had dropped beside an- 

 other, and the two lay there together. With no desire for 

 further sport I walked into camp, reported at headquar- 

 ters, and the following colloquy closed the performance: 



"Well, colonel, I wfll take that hat." 



"What hat, quartermaster?" 



"The one you agreed to give me if I killed two snipe 

 out of the first five I shot at. Here are the two." 

 "Did you shoot at five?" 

 (A considerable pause.) 



' 'No, sir, but I will before sundown, for they are as thick 

 as mosquitoes out there." 



"No more permission to leave camp to-day, quarter- 

 master." T. B. A. 



HiGHTSTO-\VN, N. J., April 6. 



The Wiping Out of the Wild Pigeon. 



EAST Saginaw, Mich.— Here is a clipping evidently writ- 

 ten by some one that cannot distingush between a sports- 

 man and a sport, a gentleman and a prize fighter: 



Jolin Sims, writing to the Lakeside Monitar. tells what has become 

 of Michigan's wild pigeons. He says: "The forest fires are the one 

 great thing that destroyed our wild pigeons in Michigan. The next 

 great thing that helped to destroy them are those who now call them- 

 selves sportsmen. They had men hired to trap tliem with a net and 

 ship to every State in the Union to be shot and slaughtered hy the 

 sportsmen for their traps. The sportsmen alone, or g-Aiiie butchers, 

 who destroy game for mere sport, went hand in hand with forest fires 

 and wiped onr wild pigeons out. I defy a sportsman to read this 

 article and deny it. If he does he is one of the kind of sportsmen who 

 hunts nine months in each rear, and when caught swears to a lie m 

 front of a jury to get rid of paying a fine for violating the game. laws. 

 I know some of this class. 



He is right in saying that it was slaughter the way the 

 pigeons were trapped years ago for trap-shooting tom-na- 

 ments, but is mistaken, I believe, in supposing that the 

 forest fires had anvthing to do with wiping them out. Of 

 course if fires occurred during nesting time, the young 

 birds would be kUled, but oiu- forest fii'es invariably take 

 place in the f aU or along in the summer after nesting is 

 over with. Possibly the writer of this article may belong 

 to that class of "mossbacks" who years ago used to profit 

 during the netting season on the money they (;ould earn 

 working for these netters, who employed dozens of men 

 and bovs in packing and shipping pigeons that were netted 

 and sent to New York and Chicago m.arkete. I have seen 

 carload after carload shipped in this way from all around 

 Traverse City and otlier points in nortliern Miclugan. 

 There is no doubt that the indiscriminate netting and 

 slaughter of pigeons during the breeding season has been 

 the means of exterminating them. Last summer when 

 fishing on the Little Manistee I saw a few bunches of 

 pigeons now a,nd then, but no large flocks have been seen 

 for a number of years. 



Market-Huntei'S Bagged Them. 



HADDA3I, Conn., April 7.— I promised (alas for the 

 promise) and intended (a certain place is said to be paved 

 with good intentions) to give you a few items during the 

 last open hunting season in iny locahty. .The birds were 

 not plenty, and the quail were soon thinned out by mar- 

 ket-hunters. There were foiu- coveys witlun a mile of 

 my house, where I had hoped to have some quiet sport, 

 but these market-hunters bagged 31 of them the first day 

 of the open season. Owing to. our swamps and thickets 

 manv partridges escaped the gun, and there was not the 

 usual amount of snaring, and as partridge can withstand 

 our snows and cold, 1 tliink more than the usual mimber 

 survived the winter. Quail must have suft'ercd .severely. 

 I know of but two bunches in my vicinity whieli survived, 

 and those I caused to be fed during the Asmiter. Wood- 

 cock were fairly plent>% and, though not getting large 

 bags, I had some quiet sport. 



Missouri Small Game. 



Sedalia, Mo. , April 3.— Although we have had the cold- 

 est weather here this winter that we have experienced for 

 several years, the quail and prairie chickens have wintered 

 weU. I have noticed several large flocks of both quail 

 and chickens dming the last week, but should Ave experi- 

 ence the electrical storms tliat Prof. Hicks prophesies tor 

 the months of April and May, I am afraid the first setting 

 wifl not produce any young birds. NiMROD. 



en Htid ^iv^r fishing. 



The Fish Lmos of the United States and Canada, in the 

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

 " Game Laws" (full text), 50 cents. 



MY CHANCE ACQU AINTANCE.-III. 



His Testimony as to Spirits. 



The weather during the day had been duU and gloomy. 

 In the evening it was no better, it being cheerless and de- 

 pressing. The wind in fitful gusts wabbled through the 

 treetop under which we were lounging, with a aighiag 

 mournful sort of a twang. Even our pipes had a dyspep- 

 tic turns; the ashes were knocked out of mine. I roUed 

 over and asked the old man if he beheved in ghosts and 

 spirits. The old gentleman straightened up a little, 

 gave his boots an extra pull and unraveled as follows: 

 "As for sperrets. that depends; if the article is a good one 

 and you can git the riglit combinatLon, a httle sugar, 

 lemon, nutmeg and hot water, I am a solid believer. 



"So far as ghosts go, sometimes I don't know, then agin 

 I can't tell. A few veai-s ago I was a-cutting and piling 

 drift wood on the lake shore, when a party from the 

 village came down to fish through the ice. It were a cold 

 raw day. They told me that if I'd let them use my fish- 

 ing shanty and they had any luck, they would give me 

 some fish. Well, at it they went. Just as 1 was a-picking 

 up at night to go home, they fetched me a pickerel that 

 would a-ptdled down 61bs. good and strong. I brought him 

 home and put him up in the crotch of that apple tree over 

 thare. Then I done my chores, eat my supper, got the. 

 pickerel and thought I'd clean him; but he was froze hard 

 as a brick, so I run a string through his gills and hung 

 him up back of the stove to thaw out,. Just then a neigh- 

 bor came in, wanted me to go with my team the next 

 morning and help him haul some logs out of a bad place 

 where his single team couldn't fetch 'em. In them days 

 we always helped oge aoagther when, there was a cali for 



