Nov. 4, 1893.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S8B 



A TRIP TO THE GURNET. 



Boston, Oct. 26. — My friend Brann and I not having 

 succeeded in getting many quail up to date, we thought a 

 ' trip to the Gurnet might afford us some shore shooting. 

 So we checked our baggage for Green Harbor, which is 

 not far from Brant Rock. Half an hour's drive from the 

 station brought us to the Webster House, whose jolly pro- 

 prietor, ilr. Ma Dan, is well versed in shooting lore. Be- 

 fore our traps were unpacked he told us we would find 

 some quail just back of his hen house. 



Four A. M. found us on the beach with our dory, with 

 decoys to imitate the dusky coot, and just as effective as 

 a more expensive article. We thought we were early 

 and likely to obtain a good position, but we found that 

 dozens of boats were anchored long before our arrival. 

 We were forced to take an outside position and not a very 

 favorable one. The boats inshore clearly had the best of 

 it, as the gunners were keeping up a running fire. The 

 coots seemed inclined to follow the shore line that morn- 

 ing. We anchored for three hours and brought in 19 

 birds— butterbills and gray wings. 



We lost quite a number of cripples, the birds diving 

 and causing izs some very lively work when giving chase. 

 A retriever would have been of good service to us, but our 

 dogjhad been^left at the hotel, we thinking he would be a 

 nuisance in the boat. 



We had arranged for a sailboat for the afternoon, 

 hoping for better shooting. In the meantime we started 

 for the Gurnet, which is about seven miles from Brant 

 Eock and is very hard tramping. We saw just one 

 flock of white-breast plovers and they were so wild we 

 could not get within gunshot. We found a few ring- 

 necks and some peep, and three beetle-heads. The birds 

 \ have disappeared, and the tramp over that beach was a 

 dreary and lonely one. 



One o'clock found Ben— who was formerly on the Gur- 

 net light— waiting for us. We were not long in running 

 out under his skillful handling of the boat. Soon we 

 located a bunch of butterbills and ran up to within easy 

 gunshot before they began to dive. We had some of the 

 best and most exhilarating sport all the afternoon, run- 

 ning on to the ducks in this manner, that we ever enjoyed. 

 We would lean far over the side to pick up a cripple, 

 when just as we were about to seize him by the neck he 

 would dive; then we would have to wait for him until 

 the next tack. Thus it was all the afternoon. And to 

 say we enjoyed it would be very tame. Thirty-seven 

 ducks made our score for the first day. 



The next morning we heard the quail back of the hen 

 house but thought we would leave them for later. We 

 went to the beach at high water and found the ducks 

 scattered all along in small bunches feeding. By careful 

 maneuvering we picked up eleven more for our string. 

 Eight here is where om- Irish setter came in on the scene. 

 Without him we would not have got one bird. The wind 

 was off shore and was almost a half gale, so that it was 

 almost impossible to get what you would kill. Old Flash 

 was battling with the rollers and high winds for over 

 twenty minutes at one time before he captured his crip- 

 pled duck. When he brought the duck ashore we be- 

 stowed enough praise and pats upon him almost to turn 

 his head. 



On our way back to the house we knocked over seven 

 yeUowlegs, but began to fear of having a chance at the 

 quail. The trip was an enjoyable one to us. We had all 

 the ducks we cared about and we intend going again next 

 week. The quail will hear fx-om us next, AVe also found 

 an abundance of loons, but they were high and shy, 



John P. Wallace, 



BOSTON GUNS. 



Boston, Oct, 30.— I have to mention a good many un- 

 successful sportsmen if I keep on the side of truth. In- 

 deed among all the huntei-s who have been into Maine 

 from the section of Boston 'this fall, not one in ten has 

 succeeded in getting large game, so far as my knowledge 

 goes. Sir, W. P, Tenney and his brother, Harry Tenney, 

 and Mr. William Gray have just returned from a hunt in 

 Maine, They are usually successful hunters and get their 

 share; but good fortune was not with them this time. 

 They went some thirty miles back from Houlton into a 

 good game section, but they got no four-footed game 

 whatever, though they hunted very faithfully. They got 

 a fair showing of partridges, but even these bii-ds they did 

 not find as plenty as they expected from the reports they 

 had read in the papers. 



Mr. Geo. H. Lamphier has recently returned from a suc- 

 cessful hunt in Elaine. He is reported to have kQled 

 a cow moose and a dozen partridges on a hunt at King 

 and Bartlett lakes. A party of six Boston hunters have 

 made a successful trip into the woods of Washington 

 county. Me. They are reported to have killed a deer a 

 piece. The papers say that Game Commissioner T. H, 

 Wentworth, of Bangor, Me., has just returned from 

 Sebois Lake with a fine deer. He was accompanied by 

 his son. Thus is the gentleman who was appointed to 

 take the place of E. M. Still well, deceased. He is very 

 highly spoken of by his colleague in oSice and by aU who 

 have had to do with him in fish and game protective 

 matters. There is one feature of deer hounding that it is 

 very hard for these commissioners to control. The State 

 of New Hampshii-e permits hunting deer with hounds. 

 There is a very long border between Maine and New 

 Hampshire, heavily wooded, and a natural home for 

 moose and deer. The very worst sort of advantage is 

 taken of this border by those who desire to hound deer. 

 In fact the whole Magalloway region is badly infested 

 with hounds running deer this season. On certain waters 

 in Maine, but near the bordere of New Hampshire, guides 

 are regularly employed to put out hounds, ostensiblv in 

 New Hampshire, but they run the deer into Maine waters 

 where they are shot. In fact there are already a number 

 of suspicious cases of deer taken at these waters. Dogs 

 have come this fall clear over the mountains to the bor- 

 ders of Richardson Lake and the ponds above. The only 

 remedy for sportsmen and the owners of camps on Rich- 

 ardson Lake and Umbagog, who do not believe in the 

 hounding of deer, is to take the law into their own hands 

 —which thing they have a legal right to do — and shoot 

 the dogs. The game laws of ilaine empower any person 

 to destroy any dog found hunting deer in that State. 



Another deer has been killed in the town of Durham. 

 Me. , but a short distance from Lewiston, So much for 



Rame protection and the non-hounding of deer in Maine, 

 t is within the recollection of thousands of the older 

 residents of that section of the country when a live deer 



in the woods about there would have caused about as 

 much excitement as would the advent of a live wolf in 

 the streets of Lewiston or Auburn. Venison has been 

 cheap in the markets of both those cities of late. Local 

 and resident hunters have kiUed a good many deer and 

 brought them home, and having more venison than they 

 could use in their own home it has found its way into 

 the markets. 



A Mrs. Dwyer, of New York, has beaten the record of 

 lady sportsmen this fall. She has shot a caribou at 

 Portage Lake in Maine: at least, so the guides say. They 

 came upon the animal appai'ently asleep and the rifie was 

 handed to the lady. Her husband, who was with her, 

 was greatly pleased with the trip. A party of Worcester 

 sportsmen are in the Moosehead Lake region. They are 

 Messrs. A. L. Oilman, T, M. Harris, M. H, Roche, 0. C. 

 Ward and W. B. Gage. 



Some of the Boston hunters are having pretty good 

 sport in New Hampshire this fall. Mr. A. S. Atkins has 

 killed 8 partridge and 4 woodcock in the vicinity of New- 

 market. Ml-, William Lunt has shot 75 birds, including 

 20 woodcock, during a two weeks' hunt. These gentle- 

 men are very careful about mentioning the locahty where 

 they have their success, and who can blame them? 



Quail shooting on the Cape this fall is not yet much of 

 a success. A number of good shots have been himting in 

 the vicinity of Wellfleet for several days, but they got 

 very few quaU. They complain that local gunners have 

 broken all of the coveys, and they darkly hint that this 

 must have been done before the open season begun. Good 

 shore bird shooting has lately been reported at Chatham. 

 The gunners have been few there since the recent gale, 

 while residents mention good flights of birds. Special. 



DUCK SHOOTING NEAR MONTREAL. 



]Me. D. Denne writes thus in the Montreal Stm^ of a Sep- 

 tember day's duck shooting not far from that city: 



At 3:30 we were aroused, our lamps lighted and in a 

 quarter of an hour we were dressed and looking out to 

 find which way the wind came. There was little of it 

 and the worst we could have had, but enough to lift the 

 mist. A good drink of milk and a slice of home-made 

 bread and butter composed our first breakfast, and very 

 soon we were in oinr boats, each accompanied by his 

 favorite guide and dog. There was just light enough on 

 the water to enable us to direct our different com-ses up 

 or down the river. The blackbirds in the rushes were 

 just beginning to welcome the coming morn, A cock 

 cro%ving on the shore, a bell at the village church, a plash 

 of a fish or sometimes a muskrat, were the sounds we 

 heard as we paddled along under the still starht sky. In 

 about an hour we ar-e aU hidden away in our various 

 "blinds," our live decoys quacking as innocently as pos- 

 sible, and feeding away quite contentedly, being well 

 accustomed to being anchored out as lures. 



The "roseate streaks of dawn" were appearing in the 

 east. The fijtiishing touches were just complete about the 

 blind, I was preparing to load my gun. My guide sitting 

 behind me had just got one shell of No. 3 in his, and was 

 feeling in his bag for another, when we heard the ducks 

 coming, and from behind. Joe did not hesitate. Up 

 went his gun, a No. 10, and how it did speak right over 

 my head, then down splashed three black ducks out of 

 the twenty-five or more who took that early peep at us. 

 I was more than disapfjointed at losing my chance at this 

 flock. They were so near, but it's always" that way with 

 duck shooting. Be off your guard at any moment." filling 

 your pipe or something' else, just then you lose the best 

 chance of the day. However, it's no good "crying over 

 spilt milk. " We are both ready now. Our dog lias brought 

 in the ducks, and we are pleased with the result of the 

 first shot. In a few minutes five black ducks are seen 

 coming up the river; our decoys quack well. Nearer and 

 nearer they come; up goes my 12-bore for a right and left. 

 Down drops one almost among the decoys, another falls 

 well over the other side of the river, and being only 

 wounded, goes ashore there, and hides till om- retriever 

 looks him up later on in the day. Then follows a flock of 

 teal, a long shot, but we get one bird. Then a bittern's 

 curiosity costs him his life. 



Afterward a long wait, and nothing moving we start 

 for breakfast with astonishing appetites considering we 

 liad not gone out fasting. The other boats also return, 

 finding the day too fine for duck shooting. They bring 

 a few birds and relate their experience while we enjoy our 

 second meal. About 10 o'clock it is suggested we ti-y the 

 different snipe grounds in the neighborhood. We are 

 soon ready again, but only to be disappointed; the birds 

 are not to be found near the river. They mtist be up in 

 the fields, but where, none of the party can say. Then it 

 is proposed we try for three woodcock, known to be in a 

 certain cover just outside a big swarajj. These woods are 

 so thick, and the walking such hot work this lovely bright 

 day, that we are not over-quick in responding to this last 

 suggestion, but we do go and have a walk that we won't 

 forget in a hurry. We hear the birds as they rise and fly 

 toward the middle of the swamp. We cannot follow them, 

 so return to the farmhouse to await the evening's flight of 

 ducks. This does not amount to much, the weather is 

 not favorable. We are too early in the season for fall 

 ducks, and the summer ducks won't fly till too late on this 

 particular night. 



Once more we return to the house, change our "things" 

 and that gladly, as rubber boots were uncomfortable to 

 walk in, especially on a hot day. We have some good 

 roast chickens, pies, etc., for dinner. Then drive back to 

 the "station," and in a desperate hurry, for we have taken 

 too long over om- meal hstening to some wonderful stories 

 of the day's sport. My guide, Joe, is a marvelous ramatmr 

 and amused us by teUing us that last week he had a flne 

 fat heron for dinner. He liked it better than duck. The 

 only fault he could find with it was that his wife could 

 not wash the smeU of this "gamy" bird off the knives 

 and forks, although she had tried her best ever since. 

 ''Cliacun a son gout.'- 



birds having them alike. When going north or south, to 

 or from their breeding grounds, these geese are always 

 found mixed with the wavies, and never in flocks by 

 themselves. They seldom alight in the lakes here, pre- 

 ferring the open prairies, where they eat the tender shoots 

 of the prairie grass. They, of course, do go to the lakes 

 for water, but only remain in them a few minutes. 



John Monroe came in yesterday from the headwaters of 

 Badger Creek, and brought with him the head of a very 

 large bull moose which he killed up there. He says there 

 are quite a number of elk, deer and bear in that vicinity, 

 and is going back there to-morrow to have another htmt, 

 Monroe is said to be the best moose hunter in the North- 

 west. In the early days, when he was employed by the 

 Hudson's Bay Co. , way up m the Saskatchewan country, 

 he was far and away the most successful hunter of this 

 game. He is getting pretty old now, and his eyesight is 

 poor, yet it seems he still knows how to "get there." 



No one in this country, Indian or white, knows how 

 to caU moose, and they are not much hunted. As near 

 as I can learn, Monroe finds the track, and then instead 

 of following it he keeps circling until he locates the an- 

 imal. 



Our Indian police and several employees of this agency 

 had a hunt after a band of train robbers the other day. 

 They were a desperate set of men and killed one white 

 man and wounded one poUceman. A party of Kalispel 

 people were also out after the robbers, and as they had 

 a reporter with them, the press despatches gave them 

 all the glory of the affair, I take pleasure in stating 

 here that Wm, Jackson, well known to many Forest 

 AND Stream readers, was the leader of our party, and 

 chased the robbers up over the summit of the moxm tains, 

 exchanging shots with them every few minutes. Jack- 

 son drove them so fast that they had no time to eat, and 

 finally the men were headed off by the Kalispel party, 

 two of them killed and two captured. J. W. Schultz. 



Game Notes. 



Dcnbarton, N. H., Oct, 23.— Shooting in this section 

 has been poor this season. It has been unusually dry all 

 the summer and up to the present time, and the wood- 

 cock have left. There are some grouse, but most of those 

 I have found were old birds. 



In Nova Scotia the moose hunting has been poor as far 

 as I have heard. Several parties who went in from Bear 

 River returned without any game. A gentleman to 

 whom I gave some points regarding grounds I had hunted 

 in the Province, recently retm-ned from a three weeks' 

 trip. During that time they saw the sun on two days, 

 and had no weather fit for calling. The party killed one 

 three-year-old buU moose and got shots at some caribou. 



From the northeastern part of Maine I hear that big- 

 game himters have been imusually successful. Several 

 men I know have each killed a bull moose. From the 

 grounds, where I usually go every winter, I hear that 

 caribou have been plenty. Quite a number have been 

 killed, two of them having exceptionally fine heads. I 

 hope to start for this region about Nov. 20. I had a com- 

 panion who intended making the trip with me, but 

 owing to sickness he will be unable to go, a.nd it looks 

 as tliough I should go it alone. After reaching the 

 grounds I prefer to hunt alone, but it is pleasant to have 

 a companion on the trip. I happened to find this place 

 one winter when cruising about in Maine, and I think it 

 a good place to spend a few weeks each season, I stay 

 in a comfortable house, and often find deer and caribou 

 tracks within a quarter of a mile. It is not a place 

 where deer are as plenty as I have f oimd them elsewhere, 

 but there are a fair number; generally caribou are quite 

 numerous, and with good stiU-hunting weather I am 

 quite sure of getting shots. It is also much cheaper 

 than going to any of the hunting camps, and in the 

 present financial condition this is quite an item to some 

 sportsmen. C. M. Stark. 



Texas Quail and Ducks. 



Velasco, Tex., Oct. 25.— Though we have had no frost 

 yet, the weather has been and continues perfect for field 

 work, and contrary to the prognostications of some local 

 nimrods, who saw last season's tremendous slaughter by 

 nomads from far Northern and Western cities, quail and 

 prairie chicken are as thick as "in Indian times" or 

 "dui-in' the war." 



The three Ohio shots, W. L. Gardner and C. H. Stewart, 

 of Norwalk, and John A, Waite, of Toledo, who during 

 three mornings last January bagged 980 quail near 

 Velasco (and most powerfully astonished some of the 

 natives with their "trick dogs," for which the Buckeye 

 sportsmen refused liberal offers of mustangs and cows on 

 the range), write J. W. Moore and W. P. Morrissey that 

 they will return next month and take in the Brazorian 

 and Matagordan lakes neighborhoods, a few miles dis- 

 tant, the greatest winter resort in Texas of ducks and 

 geese, and already black with fleets of birds. The long 

 dry spells of central and western- Texas, where the first 

 flocks touch, have made mud holes of the shallow 

 prairie ponds and streams up there, and have hurried 

 the returning Arctic voyages to the coast, where lakes 

 and creeks are wide, and forty feet deep, with plenty of 

 rushes and seed grass on their shores, and where skilled 

 sportsmen are yet few. R. McC. 



Florida West Coast Resorts. 



Tarpon Springs, Fla.— You may refer any one making 

 inquiries about himting and fishing in Florida to me, I 

 will take pleasure in answering all letters inclosing stamp, 

 I think I am competent, as I have spent the most of the 

 past ten years in looking up the hunting and fishing, and 

 locating the desirable camp grounds. Quail ai-e more 

 than plenty here. Please accept my congratulations on 

 Forest AND Stream's record at the World's Fair. You 

 are not only always doing well, but continually doing 

 better. 'All of which pleases no one more than yours 

 fraternally, S. D, Kendall. 



Montana Doings. 



PiEGAN, Montana, Oct. 24.— The water fowl have been 

 going south in immense flocks for the past ten days, and 

 the flight is nearly over. Capt. Cooke, Dr. Martin and 

 the writer were out a few hours last evening and bagged 

 twenty-five geese, five ducks and twelve sharp-tail grouse. 

 Twenty-one of the geese were wavies (CTten, hyperhorea) 

 and four were the rare Ross's goose {Chen rossii). 



In comparing these four I find that the warts on the 

 base of their bUls are of irregular size and shape, no two 



Pennsylvania Game. 



SCRANTON, Pa,, Oct. 28.— Pheasants are more numerous 

 on the hills around the city than usual this fall. I heard 

 of a Frenchman who bagged twenty-one woodcock and 

 ten pheasants near Newton. Clem, aiarsh shot over forty 

 pheasants _ in three days' shooting west of Dunnings. A 

 two hours' drive from the city wiU take on* among pheas- 

 ants almost any time. They are rather wild and the 

 leaves are still pretty thick. The shooting wiU be better 

 in a couple of weeks, J, H. Fishes. 



