July 29, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



78 



shoot, ol- to keep the heav from the boat, for he will sutely 



tty tt) get on board. 

 I have heard old bunterS say, if yoU place an oat across 



the back of the bear's neck he would drown himself by 

 dtting both his forward paMrs up over the oai-, holding 

 Is head under, and being Unable to release himself, will 



drown. 



An old hunter by the name of Leverett shot a bear 

 swimming in Cupsuptic Lake from his boat, and rowed 

 up to him to take him into the boat, and as he took hold 

 of the fur of his back, the bear opened his mouth to bite. 

 Leverett then let go, snatching his arm away, when the 

 bear immediately sank out of sight and he lost him; but 

 going that way some ten days later, the bear had come 

 to the surface, and Leverett cut off the bear's nose and 

 secured the bounty, but the fur was spoiled. When a 

 boat a]3proaches a bear in the water, the bear ^dll open 

 his mouth very wide, gnash his teeth together and make 

 a loud mumbling, growling noise, enough to frighten 

 almost any one. When a bear gets caught in a trap, he 

 wiU. make for water if possible, and if it is deep enough 

 will drown, whether purposely or accidentally I cannot 

 teU. 



I knew a party from Boston who were rowing up the 

 Magalloway River and had Joe West for guide. When 

 some seven miles up river they saw not far ahead an old 

 mother bear and three cubs s^vimming the river, and by 

 hard rowing cut them off before they reached the shore. 



The party shot the old bear and the guide jumped over- 

 board and secured a cub alive before they got to shore, 

 the others they had to shoot, as in the melee they reached 

 the woods. They had quite a circus and like to have up- 

 set the boat. It is always b&'5t to keep a cool head, but 

 we may think what we should do in certain emergencies 

 with wUd beasts, but when the time actually arrives and 

 it becomes a reality, the thing looks differently and we 

 most likely become excited and use so little common sense 

 as to be ashamed of it afterward, J. G. Rich. 



Bethel, Maine. 



THE BABY CARIBOU. 



I LEARN that the story of a baby caribou following up a 

 farmer's heifer, which I gave in the Forest and Stream 

 a couple of weeks ago, is really true. I have a letter from 

 Brother GUman, of the Aroostook Pioneer, declaring that 

 the story is true, and saying that two of his trusted men 

 — the photographers mentioned below— have seen the 

 caribou; that the little fellow is alive and well, and also 

 invitino me to come down, and he will take me to see the 

 natural wonder. I^fear I have done Brother Gilman an 

 injustice in presuming to doubt an item in so reliable a 

 paper. Later I have a letter from the farmer himself, a 

 respected citizen of Moro, who writes: "Yea, the caribou 

 story is true, or nearly true. The 29th day of last May my 

 son, while looking at om- cattle, saw a very queer looking 

 animal sucking our heifer, that never has had a calf. At 

 a distance it looked like a rabbit, and it was about the size 

 of a large rabbit when found. It was about a day old 

 from appearances. It seemed weak for want of food and 

 Could just stagger around. He brought it home and sent 

 for me. In the meantime my folks had sent the boy for 

 a rubber in order to feed it from a bottle, but before he 

 got back it had drank nearly a quart of milk with- 

 out a rubber and seemed much stronger. It fol- 

 lowed the boy around the yard and around the room. 

 It made a noise, a grunting sound, or something like a 

 duck — hmmk or mmk ! — without using the lips, probably 

 using the tongue slightly, the noise being made in the 

 throat. We felt that we were in rather an awkward 

 situation, it being close time on such animals. Two ladies 

 called one evening, just as the cattle were being driven 

 into the yard. Among tliem was the heifer. Immedi- 

 ately the little cariboii went for her again and sucked I 

 should think five minutes, the two ladies clapping their 

 hands and laughing at the sight. They said; 'Keep it by 

 all means, and feed it.' This we have done. We thought 

 that if it sucked the heifer it might suck our old cow. 

 She is very gentle. T had killed her calf in the spring and 

 my little girl had got another and put on her. I had 

 killed that also. The cow let the little caribou suck about 

 a fortnight, but as the little fellow grew stronger it 

 would i>ut both feet against her bag and butt, caxising 

 the cow to look around in astonishment. I feared she 

 might hurt the little fellow, so we did not bother to let 

 it suck, as it toolc so much attention tlu-ee times a day. 

 We now feed it milk three times a day. It seems to be 

 all right and healthy. I lead him down into the woods, 

 and he will play and caper, but at the least noise he will 

 start for home. It is a buck caribou, the horns are just 

 coming through. Mr. Mansur and Mr. White, of Houlton, 

 called the other day and took his i)hotograph. 



J. Francis Chase." 



The letter is a, good one, and Mr. Chase will have the 

 gratitude of the readers of the Forest and Stream for it. 

 Later some more facts concerning the little fellow will be 

 very pleasing to sportsmen and lovers of natural history. 



Special. 



BIRD NOTES FROM FLORIDA. 



Feeding Habits of Ospreys. 

 Atlantic, Fla. — ^I have been very much interested 

 lately in observing a number of fish-hawks who come 

 over every day from the w^est bank and beyond of Indian 

 River, and after a long or shorter trip to the ocean, wing 

 their flight homeward, each bearing a fisli in his talons. 

 They cross two rivers, the Indian and Banana, each at 

 least two miles wide at this point, and the narrow strip 

 of land which forms the south end of Merritt's Island. 

 These rivers swarm with Jish far easier to obtain, it would 

 appear, than to catch them in the ocean. So it would 

 seem that the hawk prefers the flavor of a fish from the 

 sea to one pickerel out of the Indian or Banana rivers. 

 If this is not the reason, whac is? For he comes a long 

 distance and must shun many a tempting opportunity to 

 catch a fish on the way. It goes to show much of intelli- 

 gence and what may be called a cultivated appetite even 

 a fish-hawk can possess. 



Disappointed Buzzards. 

 Another incident occurs to me, which at the tiuie 

 afforded a great deal of amusement to a friend of mine 

 and myself, who ^s^ere for nearly an hour witnesses of 

 how even a bird may be mistaken in his reasoning from 

 the results of his ordinary observation. It occurred last 

 winter neai' New Smyrna, on the Halifax. Among the 

 jiumerous islands that make the river so pictm-eeque was 



one not far from the shore, which was in reality only a 

 sand bank, between which and the shore the water at 

 16w tide was vely shallow. Across this water a single 

 cow had strayed, looking for the few tufts of marsh grass 

 tllat were scattered over the otherwise barren surface of 

 the sand banks. Meantime the tide began to rise, and so 

 the cow having eaten all the grass in sight stood still, as 

 if waiting for the tide to fall that she might regain the 

 shore. Suddenly, from out the sky, a buzzard appeared; 

 and wheeling around, alighted close by the meditating 

 animal. 



As all who have observed these birds know, the alight- 

 ing of one is the signal for all his far-sighted companions 

 sailing in the blue sky for miles around to accept this as 

 an evidence of a feast a,t hand to which no invitation to 

 join is needed, and so from every quarter they came until 

 more than fifty by actual count stood around that meek- 

 looking cow evidently waiting for her to die, or else aston- 

 ished that she should be in that place if not already dead. 



And so they waited, and some of them slowly walked 

 around while the greater number stood perfectly still with 

 an air of patience comical to see. After a while, how- 

 ever, it seemed to dawn upon some of them that some- 

 thing was wrong, and after waiting and watching for 

 more than half an hour one or two, after taking a last ob- 

 servation, and concluding that the cow was not likely to 

 die very soon, took flight and disappeared. In a few min- 

 utes another and another followed, and so one by one, a 

 disappointed lot, they all left except four or five, who 

 were apparently determined to see the thing out, and we 

 finally left them to keep company with the cow until she 

 should conclude to wade the deep water to the shore. It 

 may have been a spot where the currents were accus- 

 tomed to float and strand dead animals, and so the buz- 

 zards reasoned that any animal appearing there alive or 

 dead was their meat. We were not able to find out about 

 it, but certainly no more ludicrous exhibition of disap- 

 pointed expectations was ever shown by a company of 

 birds. W. 



'unie ^Hg md ^nij. 



"Game Laws in Brief." June, 189S, revised. Game and Fish laws 

 of all the States, Territories and Provinces. Correct, reliable, hand- 

 somely illustrated. Published by the "Forest and Stream.'" Sold by 

 all dealers. Price $6 cents. 



ADIRONDACK DEER LAW. 



Whatever may be the differences of opinion with re- 

 gard to the deer hunting laws between the advocates of 

 hounding, jacking or still-hunting, and those opposed to 

 one or more of these methods, there is a remarkable uni- 

 formity of sentiment on one point, at least so far as those 

 most interested are concerned. All who are uninfluenced 

 by i)urely selfish considerations, agree that the season as at 

 present begins too soon and ends too soon. The general 

 oj)inion seems to be that hounding should be extended 

 through the month of October, and twenty days taken off 

 the beginning of the season to compensate. 



Through the eastern Adirondacks, in Essex county, for 

 example, the writer has been accustomed to hear an al- 

 most universal condemnation of the present season ever 

 since the law has been in force. This sentiment has be- 

 come so strong in places that the native hunters of the 

 better class will not hunt during the first part of the sea- 

 son, unless to accommodate non-resident sportsmen. 

 Their reason for hunting, in addition to the sport, is to 

 obtain meat, and they do not believe in kilUng for the 

 mere pleasure of the sport. Experience has taught them 

 that a deer killed in the fore part of the season is as likely 

 as not to prove unfit for food. If it runs any distance 

 before the dogs it becomes heated, and is likely to spoil in 

 a few hours. Moreover, most of the hunting is done at a 

 distance from the settlements, and in warm weather it is 

 practically impossible to get the meat out untainted. 



Mr. Carl Pickhardt of New York teUs me that a few 

 years ago thirteen dead and decaying deer were lying be- 

 side the road between Newcomb and Schroon River. They 

 had been killed in the early part of September by one 

 party, probably from Port Henry, who attempted to take 

 them out in their wagons, but the weather, which had 

 been cool, turned suddenly warm, and every deer they 

 had killed spoiled and had to be dropped by the way. 

 And this only represented a portion of the waste allowed 

 by a law ostensibly passed in the intei'ests of protection 

 and economy of the game supply, a law which allows the 

 deer to be killed but which does not allow them to be 

 eaten, which operates in the interests of the few and 

 against the needs of the many. 



Taken alone the above is an unanswerable argument 

 against the present season. It cannot be answered and no 

 attempt is made to answer it. The only argument ever 

 advanced in favor of the law as it stands is the purely 

 selfish one of the hotel keeper or man who finds it most 

 convenient to be in the woods in August and September. 

 No one who cares for his game after he has got it, which 

 includes all true sportsmen, wants the season to open 

 when it does. The head, liide and carcass of the deer are 

 none of them prime till a month after the date of the 

 legal commencement of the season, Aug. 15, and the sport of 

 hunting is not to be compared with that of the latter part. 

 In hounding, which for all intents and purposes is hunt- 

 ing in the Adirondacks, the early season is hard on the 

 starters, dogs and deer ahke. There is not the snap and 

 energy or the exciting chases of the October day. 



Moreover, in many localities it is said that an early sea- 

 son lessens the future supply because the deer kUled are 

 almost entirely does. In the region of high mountainsjthe 

 does are said to be on the low lands and near water at the 

 commencement of the hounding season, while the bticks, 

 whose horns are not yet in condition, are on the very tops 

 of the mountains. The result is that the does are started 

 and killed while the bucks escape. And when the does 

 are killed their fawns either die or grow up stunted and 

 poorly. 



Later the bucks come down from their retreat in search 

 of the does, and then the big deer are killed. But in parts 

 of the woods that are much hunted the injury done the 

 supply by the early hunting is irreparable. 



There are few complaints against the length of the sea- 

 son, and the law as it stands is conceded to be vastly 

 better than no law at aU. The supply of deer all through 

 the mountains has undoubtedly increased of late years. 

 But while good in that it puts an effective check upon in- 



discriminate slaughter, the present law is, to say the 

 least, open to improvement as regards the time of the 

 open season. Why is it that this faulty law is allowed to 

 stand when New York neither finds its acceptable to her 

 people nor after the precedent of neighboring States? 



There is no State in the Union climatically or physically 

 similar where the season opens so early or closes so early 

 as in New York. In Maine the deer liunting season be- 

 gins Oct. 1 and lasts till Jan. 1. In New Hampshire the 

 season opens Sept. 1, is the same with the exception that 

 hounding is allowed only from Sept. 15 to Nov. 1. In 

 Pennsylvania, with the exception of Pike county, where 

 the season closes Dec. 1, deer may be killed from Oct. 1 to 

 Dec. 15. In Wisconsin the month of October is open sea- 

 son. Even throughout British America, including Quebec, 

 Ontario, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, etc., which are 

 as a rule much colder than New York, in no case does the 

 season open so soon. Only in some of the Southern and 

 Western States, where the game laws have never received 

 much attention, and where there are few restrictions 

 against kflling at any time, may a parallel be found to 

 New York's unseasonable season. 



The reason generally given to explain why this faulty 

 law remains is that it is due to the political influence of 

 the hotel men in the Western Adirondacks, where they 

 have much water and jack-shooting. No doubt there is 

 something in this explanation, but on a recent journey 

 through the lake region, I was told that the hotel interests 

 were not to blame, and that hotel men and guides alike 

 strongly condemned the early season. The onus was 

 thrown upon either the ownere of private parks or the 

 ruling party in the State Legislature. Nine out of every 

 ten men I talked with wanted the season put later, and 

 these men included guides and hotel keepers aUke— the 

 most representative class of the native population. Un- 

 fortunately the Adirondack "back counties" send repre- 

 sentatives to the State Legislature who are of another 

 poUtical faith from the dominant party, and who conse- 

 quently cannot always have things as they want them. 



There is a nigger in the woodpile somewhere, and the 

 present law is a disgrace to the State. J. B, BurnHAM. 



MOOSE HUNTING IN 93. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A gentleman called here a few days since who is going 

 to Nova -Scotia moose hunting in September. He was 

 greatly interested in some heads I have here, particularly 

 one of a moose, and said: "I am going to stay in Nova 

 Scotia until I get one." I cautioned him against telling 

 his guide so, as the latter might make the trip a long and 

 expensive one. I found he was going to grounds which 

 I had previously hunted, and advised him to engage at 

 once a certain Indian whom I think is the best man he 

 could have for that section. Were I going to the same 

 region I should get this particular member of the Mic- 

 Mac family. He knows the ground thoroughly, is a keen 

 hunter, and, unlike most of his tribe, is a hard worker. 

 Heretofore I have had good luck with him, and feel 

 sure I could add another moose to my score should I go 

 with him. In a letter he says: "If you want to kill an- 

 other moose come here and take me. I can find them, 

 and I know you will kUl one if you get a chance; we kill 

 one sure." 



I think, however, I have had enough of moose hunting, 

 during the last three years I have killed three and have 

 let others go without shooting at them. There are plenty 

 of sportsmen who have never killed a moose and who 

 want to. Moose are getting scarce in the places I have 

 been notwithstanding some of the reports of how they 

 are increasing. There are stUl some to be found, and if a 

 man will go where they are and is willing to rough it 

 and is not easily discouraged, his chances are good of 

 getting shots. I am willing to give sportsmen any infor- 

 mation I can about the grounds I have hunted. I will 

 say now that I do not know of a place where you are 

 perfectly sure of getting one or where you can find them 

 without some hard work. 



I think there are now more moose in Nova Scotia thto 

 in any other place which can be reached in the same 

 amount of time. Large buUs, however, are getting 

 scarce, and those left are very wary, and it is very diffi- 

 cvdt to get shots at them either by calling or still-hunting. 

 Hunting parties are very numerous and often interfere 

 with each other when calling. On a still morning when 

 calling you are likely to hear others doing the same in 

 different directions. Calling is also overdone, and the 

 moose hear so much of it that they have become very 

 suspicious. , , 



In the part of Queens coimty where I hunted the 

 country was almost entirely bogs and timber; the ground 

 was quite soft and a moose would leave a plain track 

 almost everywhere. I saw more tracks and signs of 

 yards than m any other part of the Province. In Digby 

 county, where the gentleman I speak of intends going, 

 the groimd consists of bogs, barrens and timber, and is 

 perhaps as good as can be found. You are liable to see 

 moose at any time traveling around the edges of the 

 bogs and barrens, and the latter are good places to look 

 for bears. I saw five in about a week when I was there. 



Last fall I hunted in Shelburne county, near the head of 

 the Shelburne River. My reason for going to this part of 

 the Province was on account of its being more remote and 

 not oveiTun by so many hunting parties. True enough, 

 we were not troubled in this way as on previous trips, but 

 also we did not find the game we wanted. The ground 

 was almost entirely barren, with patches of small bushes; 

 in fact, tliere was not cover enough for moose to stay in. 

 Our guides said that moose did not stay in that region, but 

 traveled across it a good deal, and many were killed when 

 doing so. It was very evident they were not traveling in 

 that section when we were there. In fact, it was the 

 poorest moose hunt I ever had in Nova Scotia. There is 

 some satisfaction to me in seeing plenty of signs of the 

 game I am after, even if I cannot get a shot. I would 

 often say to myself last fall (after spending the night any- 

 where from two to five miles from the main camp and 

 turning out at daybreak on a frosty morning to listen to 

 my caller, when there w-ere no indications that there was 

 a moose witlun five miles of us), "What a fool you are to 

 travel so far and to work and expose yourself in this way 

 when you do not want another moose." After staying, 

 out twelve nights I got a shot, and killed what is prob- 



iably my last moose. Had I never kiUeda moose, I should 

 stick to it till I did, if it took five years. A it is, I am 

 satisfied to stop. C M, Star^, 



DtjjJBARTON, N. H., July 17ii 



