Nov. 25, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



488 



Island Club preserve, where Mr. Abner Price had the fine 

 shooting mentioned above. Manito, on the branch from 

 Peoria, is the nearest railway station. When I was last 

 there Lawrence Haggerty was running a very comfort- 

 able hotel for shooters on a cabin boat. Quarters of some 

 sort could probably be obtained if he has left. I foiind 

 everything very comfortable and had good shooting on 

 my trip. It is still open country, I believe. 



As to the late duck shooting, one could not do better 

 than to go to lower Louisiana, or to Texas. "H." would 

 very likely find just what he wanted at Rockport, where 

 I am told there is open shooting. The country back in- 

 land from the sea coastjis also good. Eeelf oot Lake. Tenn. , 

 would once have filled this bill more nearly. You have 

 to stretch your 600 miles these days tf you want a cer- 

 tainty of shooting. 



Good Deer and Duck Shooting:. 

 I am told by one of the conductors on the Wisconsin 

 Central line that deer are very abundaht along that road 

 this faU. He particularly recommended Gills' Landing, 

 where the Fox and Wolf rivers unite, about 210 miles 

 above Chicago. At almost any point north of that dis- 

 tance, clear up to Ashland, one is in good deer country. 

 The crop is unusually abundant this fall, but probably 

 more illegal deer were killed this season than ever before. 

 This is owing to the closing down of the mines in the iron 

 country. The miners all went out hunting, and they 

 killed thousands of deer before the law opened, though 

 they left thousands more — because they couldn't get 

 them. 



My same informant seemed well posted on the Minne- 

 sota country through which he ran, and named points 

 where friends of his had had good wildfowl shooting this 

 fall. The duck shooting was excellent at Heron Lake, 

 Cottonwood county, also at Big Stone Lake, and at Lake 

 Traverse. It was very good at Morris and Ashby, and 

 near Fergus Falls. This is Charlie Burton's old country. 

 He and his friends shot for years each fall at Seven Mile 

 Lake, not far from Ashby, 



The chicken crop in Mirmesota was good this year. 



909 Sboority Buildins, Chicago. E. HoUGH. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Boston, Nov, 18. — Boston gunners are waiting for the 

 flights of coot and other ducks at the best gunning re- 

 sorts along shore. At Annisquam but few birds have 

 yet been taken. A big storm is wanted to start them, 

 ^ome of the gunners have been down there, but with in- 

 different success reported. At Essex River the shooting 

 has yet been poor, though some black ducks have been 

 taken. Many of the gunners the best posted, do not wait 

 for storms for good black duck shooting. On the con- 

 trary, they watch at the fresh-water creeks and rivers, 

 nights and mornings, and take the ducks as they come in 

 to their favorite drinking resoi-ts. They claim that black 

 ducks require fresh water for drinking, and that they will 

 leave the salt water twice a day and fly inland for it. 

 This they do in fair weather, but in rainy weather they 

 can get fresh water enough in the Uttle pools up among 

 the rocks, just above the high tides. Mr. Fred E. Whit- 

 ing, assistant business manager of the Boston Herald, is 

 anticipating a duck shoot of this sort with some friends. 

 A number of Boston gunners have been off Dennis and m 

 other parts of Barnstable Bay after coot the past week. 

 They report that the black duck keeps well off shore and 

 are very hard to get. The same is true of Chatham Bay, 

 though some good bags of coot have lately been made 

 there. At Brant Rock there has been but little good shoot- 

 ing yet. No geese have flown yet, and ducks have not 

 yet been plenty. 



Gov. William E. Russell is back from his fall shoot in 

 Maine. This year he has spent considerable time in the 

 vicinity of Poland Springs, making that celebrated resort 

 his headquarters. It is reported that he has not succeeded 

 in getting a deer, though several have been seen in that 

 neighborhood. One was killed in the town of Hebron, 

 only a few mUes away from the Governor's hunting 

 ground, last week. A couple of noted sportsmen of the 

 Androscoggin Gun Club, of Lewiston, Me., Mr. G. R. 

 Hunnewell and Mr. E. L, Post, gave the Governor and his 

 distinguished party a beautiful day's sport with their ex- 

 cellent bird dogs. The Governor is said to have made 

 some excellent shots, bringing his bird down with the left 

 barrel on a long distance. The Governor is much pleased 

 with partridge shooting in the vicinity of Poland Springs. 

 Messrs. HunneweU and Post were congratulated by the 

 Governor and is party on the fine training and beautiful 

 wor^i of their dogs, and the party wih doubtless try the 

 early woodcock and partridge shooting another season 

 there, and with the same gentlemen and their dogs. 



A movement is on foot in Lewiston, Me., for the forma- 

 tion of an association of Maine sportsmen and gunners, 

 for the purpose of hberating different species of game 

 birds. The association is proposed to be something like 

 the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, 

 in its work toward the acclimatization of game birds at 

 least. This movement originated with Mr. G. Gay, of the 

 John P. Lovell Arms Co. , of Boston. Mr. Gay is soon to 

 issue a circular letter to the sportsmen and hunters of that 

 State, calling a meeting at Lewiston, Dec. 7. In the cir- 

 cular Mr. Gay will call attention to the success the Massa- 

 chusetts Association has had in liberation of sharp -tailed 

 grouse from North Dakota, pinnated grouse from Illinois 

 and Iowa, and quail from the South. He will call atten- 

 tion to the fact that Maine is believed to be admirably 

 suited to the propagation and growth of such birds as the 

 black game of Norway and Sweden. But in this move- 

 ment Mr, Gay, or any other enthusiast in the propagation 

 of game birds, will find that it will require special acts of 

 the Maine Legislature to make it legal to let loose any sort 

 of game or fish in the woods or waters of that State. The 

 Fish and Game Commission of Maine will be likely to look 

 upon any such proposition as one requiring supervision, 

 lest some sort of game be introduced that shall prove in- 

 imical to the noble game and fish already there. It was 

 proposed in the Maine Legislature, at its last session, to 

 take some steps toward the introduction of black game 

 from Norway and Sweden, but the measure was killed, 



Sartly because there was a fear that the game already in- 

 igenous to the Maine woods might be injured thereby. 

 Still the "tracking snow" is very slow about coming, 

 and the deer hunters, all ready to go to JIaine, are waiting. 

 Up to Nov. 19 there had been no tracking snows in the 

 lower part of Maine, though a couple of inches had fallen 

 in the northern sections, only to go oft' about as soon &s it 



came. The body of leaves is so great on the surface that 

 deer htmting is next to impossible. The deer mentioned 

 in the papers as captured of late, are doubtless stumbled 

 upon, or possibly — though I dislike to say it — taken with 

 the aid of dogs. On the first snows deer hunting must 

 be excellent in many sections of that State. I have a 

 number of reports from different sections in Maine, which 

 mention a good deal of hunting that will be done as soon 

 as the snow comes, by resident gunners. If city sports- 

 men wish to accompany them, they will doubtless be 

 welcome, providing they are wilUng to pay the resident 

 hunters well for guiding and toting the game, if any is 

 taken. The same reports say that the amount of lumber- 

 ing to be done in Maine th^ winter is unusually small, 

 and thus a great many men, who would otherwise have 

 been employed in the woods, either chopping or teaming, 

 will have the time on their hands, and much of it is 

 Ukely to be used in himting. It looks like a hard season 

 for the game. 



Indeed, Maine grows more and more in danger of being 

 "hunted to death." Her own people are very enthusiastic 

 over the abundance of big game reported this year, and 

 the way that it is believed to be increasing, and every 

 man and boy is either the owner of a rifle, or soon will 

 be. From its own people there will be gunners enough 

 to destroy aU. the game in the State, tf the increase in 

 sporting enthusiasm is continued. Then the fame of the 

 State is reaching across the water. A London hunter, 

 with "a plenty of money," has lately been in Bangor, and 

 he has had great luck— so the papers say — and has kiUed 

 an albino deer in the woods somewhere above that city. 

 He is reported to be greatly pleased with his success, and 

 to declare that he will be back another season with a big 

 party of his friends to hunt big game. Then, the amount 

 of reporting that the daily and Sunday papers are giving 

 game matters in Maine is sufiicient to send an army of 

 deer hunters into that State. These reports only "score 

 the hits;" the misses are never mentioned. Such is 

 scarcely fair shooting, but it has its purpose just the same; 

 a false notion of Maine hunting is put into the heads of 

 even those who ought to have sense enough to know bet- 

 tea. But nevertheless the tendency is greatly against the 

 retention of a supply of game in the wUds of Maine. 



SPECTAi. 



MORE ABOUT THE .22. 



HORNELLSVILLE, N. Y., Nov. 4,.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: In all probability the air must be awful thin in 

 Exeter, Neb., where "Diamond Walt" can do such great 

 work with a .22 short rim-fire, cartridge. It may be that 

 the yards are shorter out there, and the wood soft, be- 

 cause the .22 short R. F. here will not penetrate 5in. of 

 pine nor Sin. at 200yds. 



We have some good shots here, but they can't kill a 

 woodchuck that is twice the size of a prairie dog at 303yds. 

 with a .32-40. I do not beheve that any one can see a 

 prairie dog at 303yds. , let alone shooting it. 



I am a gimsmith and sell the best of all kinds of rifles, 

 I belong to the rifle club, was champion of the county for 

 seven years and won the medal this year, so I know a 

 httle about rifles. I have a new plug hat, if "Walt" can 

 hit it at 32oyds. off-hand with his .22 short Winchester 

 I'll give him the hat and $10. If he does not hit it in five 

 shots it will cost him §5 to treat; or I'll let him shoot at 

 the hat all day and give him a dollar every time he hits 

 it, if he will give me twenty-five cents when he misses. 

 The .22 long rifle is the proper cartridge to use at any 

 range over lOOyds. J. Otis Fellows. 



Toledo, O. — Editor Forest and Stream: Having read 

 in recent articles of Forest and Streaji the experience 

 of various brethren with the .22cal. short cartridge, I was 

 tempted to experiment a little on my own account, which 

 I did with the following result: 



I took the side of my barn as a starting point and meas- 

 ured off with a line 330yds. or 60 rods, and then elevating 

 the sights I fired several shots. Upon going to the bam I 

 found that the bullets had gone entirely through the lin. 

 pine boards which compose the side of the barn; how 

 much further they went 1 am unable to state. Every one 

 of the bullets struck fairly and made a neat, round hole. 

 The cartridges used were Winchester .22 short; the gun a 

 Winchester single shot .22 short, having a 24in. bai'rel, 

 which I have used for five and one-half years and which 

 in that time has been fired many thousand times without 

 having cost one cent for repairs. Thus much for the pen- 

 etrating power of the .23cal. short. Autokee. 



New Haven, Conn. Nov. A.— Editor Forest and Stream; 

 I have used a'.22cal.[tn outdoor shooting, more or less, for 

 the past five or six years. My present .22 is a MarHn re- 

 peater model of 1891, with a twist in the rifling of one 

 tm-n in 18in. It is fitted with Lyman front and rear 

 sights (no middle sight), and will take short, long and 

 long rifle cartridges indiscriminately in the magazine. I 

 give it the best of care, particularly the inside of the 

 barrel. 



I have never made any long shots such as "Diamond 

 Walt" speaks of; but I once shot a woodchuck sitting in 

 the mouth of his burrow, so that I could see nothing but 

 his head, which disappeared at the report. Walking up 

 to the burrow I was surprised to find the woodchuck stone 

 dead. He had been killed instantly, and had not had 

 time even to sUde down his burrow, which they nearly 

 always manage to do, if within a foot or so of it. The 

 distance actually measured 97yds. I have often killed 

 muskrats, ducks and grebes at from 150 to 200yds., and 

 am perfectly satisfied in my own mind that the .22cal. is 

 good up to 300yds., if, as "Diamond Walt" says, "one 

 knows how to use it." 



The other^morning a friend, also a lover of the .22cal., 

 and myself went out to a small pond near here in the 

 hopes of seeing some ducks. W^ arrived at the pond just 

 before daylight and found a man with a shotgun already 

 there, apparently also looking for ducks. When light 

 enough to see we saw four ducks in the center of the 

 pond. The pond is somewhat circular in shape and about 

 300yds. in diameter. My friend and I opened on the 

 ducks and all four of them were being blown ashore dead 

 before the man with the shotgun had a chance to fire 

 once, they being out of range for him. They proved to 

 be ruddy ducks, and a more disgusted man than he of the 

 shotgun I have seldom seen. They now adorn our collec- 

 tion. Of com-se I do not mean to say that we only used 

 four cartridges that morning, but our record was not a 

 bad one considering. 



The .22 long rifle is a cartridge far superior to the .22- 

 short for range, accuracy and penetration; as I and_ my 

 friends have often proved by firing at stationary objects 

 on the water. There is not so much variation and a con- 

 siderably flatter trajectory. I sincerely hope that the 

 devotees of the .22cal. will increase as its virtues become 

 better known. Telilla. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I think I have used nearly every make of .22 rifle, and 

 while I strongly recommend them for small game, they 

 are far too small for deer and other large game. As re- 

 gards their range, it is far greater than usually supposed. 

 With a .22 short cartridge from a Merwin & Hulbert rifle 

 I shot a large osprey 5ft. Sin. from tip to tip at 120yds, 

 distance, the bullet going faMy through the neck. A 

 friend of mine who was standing fully 200yds. further off 

 than the bird said that the little bullet sang past him high 

 in the au.-, and was traveling very fast. With a .22 Win- 

 chester I made some good shooting from a small bluff at 

 a log in the river, some 600 or 700yds. away. The cartridge 

 in this case was the .22 long rifle. The first deer I ever 

 shot fell to this gun, with a long rifle bullet in the heart. 

 On another occasion I fired four shots at a deer quite close 

 to me without any result. Now I use the .45-90. The .22 

 short will penetrate about 3in. of well seasoned pine, but 

 wood is a poor thing to test penetration with, unless the 

 very greatest care is used in getting timber, sound, of the 

 same age and degree of solidity. There is too much varia- 

 tion in "pine," as many call spruce, hemlock, Norway 

 pine and even basswood. What we need is some invari- 

 able material. A self -registering, pneumatic target an- 

 swers very well for tests of impact, and the ranges tell 

 the trajectory and range of a rifle. I shall try sheets of 

 felt in my next test and will write you my experience. 

 Many of my friends say that wood seldom tells the truth. 

 I have shot a .22 short through 4i:in. of clear, sound pine, 

 and on trying it again on simflar wood (to all appearance) 

 I have found the bullets only penetrated from 2 to Sin. 

 A long rifle will go through a oin. pine slab (white pine, I 

 mean). All these penetration tests were made at 20 and 

 30ft. I very much doubt a .22 short going through 4 or 

 even 3in. of very soft pine at 200yds. At least, I have 

 never seen any one do it and never did it myself. Eastern 

 and Western yards are so extremely alike that the error 

 between the measurements may be disregarded, unless 

 indeed the distance is measured by a human "pedometer." 

 I hope to hear some more of this. L. D. voN Iffland. 



The Ontario Moose Season. 



Belleville, Ont., Nov. 10. — Deer have not been killed 

 in such large numbers as usual in this county since the 

 season opened, and partridges and ducks have also been 

 scarce. Writing from Bobcaygeon, however, Mr. Robt. 

 Foy states that one day last week eight deer took the 

 water in Concession Lake at once before the dogs, and 

 four of them succeeded in escaping. 



Incited probably by the example of other law-breakers 

 from your side of the Une whose exploits in violation of 

 our game law have been published to the world in full 

 detail, two New Yorkers have invaded our territory and 

 have gone to the Mattawa country in pursuit of moose, 

 which are protected under the laws of this country until 

 Oct. 20, 1895. The game warden has been informed of 

 the facts and the apprehension and punishment of these 

 outlaws and the ruffians whom they bribe to guide them 

 are among the probabilities of the near future. R. S. B. 



Deer in the Cabbage Patch. 



Mt. Pleasant, L. I., Nov. 16.— Some weeks past we 

 noticed in our garden, which is some 50yds. from the 

 house, quite a well-worn deer trail. Surprised that deer 

 should come so near the house, we investigated the matter' 

 carefully, and learned that a fine buck and a doe made 

 regular trips to our cabbage patch at an early hour in the 

 morning. Figuring that the loss of some fine cabbages 

 was well worth a shot at the buck, we waited untU. the 

 morning of the 10th and had no trouble in securing the 

 buck by a well-calculated shot. 



This buck, so far as we can learn, is the heaviest deer 

 taken this year on the island. Weight dressed, 275lbs.; 

 age, 4 years; with an unusually perfect head and antlers. 



F. L. Schenck. 



To Refrain from Quail Shooting. 



Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. W.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 At a special meeting of the Pittsburgh Gun Club, held 

 Nov. 10, at W. S. Brown's gun store, 520 and 522 Wood 

 street, the following resolution whs unanimously adopted, 

 viz. : Owing to the scarcity of quail in Pennsylvania at 

 present time the members of the Pittsburgh Gun Club are 

 Tespectfully requested to refrain from shooting same 

 within the State of Pennsylvania during the season of 

 1893. By taking this action and securing the co-opera- 

 tion of other sportsmen's clubs, there is every reason to 

 believe the quantity of quail will be very materially in- 

 creased during the season of 1894. 



Elmer E. Shaner, Sec'y. 



Iiong Island Deer and Ducks. 



Sayville, L. I., Nov. 20. — From the best obtainable in- 

 formation it is estimated that sixty deer were killed on 

 Long Island in the season which closed last Thursday, 

 Of these twelve were killed by local parties, including one 

 nine-year-old buck. A pet doe owned in Sayville came 

 to a tragic end at the hands of a so-called sportsman 

 from New York, who bought her for a consideration of 

 $25 and then foully murdered her. As might have been 

 expected, his work was clumsily executed, for though 

 shooting buckshot in a barn he missed his first shot. 



Ducks are very scarce at present, owing it is said to the 

 continued mild weather. They will probably be back 

 again inimmbers la ter. 



Pennsylvania Game. 



Susquehanna, Pa., Not. 13. — Our gunning season 

 promises well here. Birds and rabbits are plentiful, with 

 a few wildcats thrown in. I drew a bead last week on 

 one in Wolf Swamp, about fifteen rods off, with No. 6shot. 

 It did not stop him. Night coming on I called the dog off, 

 promising to f oUow him up another time. O. H. S. 



" Chained to Business." 



GRiFPrN, Qa.— Your paper is all that a sportsman could wish. It Is. 

 to those who are bound by business ties a source of pleasure, and 

 they can, after reading it, "clank their chains" and think of pleasant 

 things that "used to be." p. i. 



