Jan. Wl, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



78 



That New Jersey Deer Drive. 



Geneseo, N. Y.— Editor Forest and Stream: I've shot 

 a deer through the back of the head while it was in the 

 water and I'll never do it again. I've let the life blood 

 out of the throat of a poor little spike-horn after both its 

 front legs had been smashed by a big bullet from my 

 old Snider carbine, and had the poor little brute look right 

 up in my face and ba-al and I've done sundry other 

 mean things that I'll never do again, and only hope to be 

 forgiven for them. But if ever I am guilty of taking 

 part in the chasing for two whole days of one little 90- 

 pounds doe by fresh relays of dogs in an open country, as 

 was chronicled by "F. S. J. C." and "J. H. W." in last 

 week's Fokest and Stream as having occurred at Port 

 Elizabeth, N. J., in December, I simply won't think of 

 forgiveness either of the Almighty or tho readers of 

 Forest and Stream. 



I am not a kicker and hate to find a jangle going on in 

 our Forest and Stream camp, but I can't keep quiet this 

 time. 



The men who took part in that race were not sportsmen, 

 and the account of it was not worthy a place in the 

 columns of Forest and Stream. La Caribou. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In a recent number of Forest and Stream is an account 

 of "A Deer Hunt in New Jersey;" a graphic story of an 

 exciting chase ended by the pulling down of the deer. 

 I am not ashamed to confess that my sympathies were 

 with the deer throughout, and it would have been very 

 pleasant to read that the innocent little creature at last 

 escaped. No doubt if opportunity had offered, I would 

 have been an enthusiastic member of the party, without 

 a thought of anything save the capture of the deer, but 

 after the hot blood of the chase had cooled, it would not 

 be a pleasant memory, for then the fright and suffering 

 caused the deer, would have forced themselves forward 

 and would not down. For this reason I have long ago 

 quit chasing game with dogs. 



No doubt lovers of the chase will argue that it is no 

 more cruel to capture game with dogs, than with the gun, 

 death comes, as a rule instantaneously and almost pain- 

 lessly, while in the chase, the agony of fright, and desper- 

 ate effort to escape, is often prolonged for hours, and in 

 the case cited, for days. It must be admitted that there 

 is an element of cruelty in all field sports. Most of us are 

 in fact more or less ashamed of having enough of the 

 savage in us to want to kill something, and we compro- 

 mise with ourselves by killing only such things as we or 

 some one elsf likes to eat. If it were not for easing con- 

 science in this way, it would be just as much sport to 

 shoot blackbirds, as snipe or wild pigeons, yet there are 

 thousand of ardent sportsmen who would scorn to shoot a 

 blackbird, or any other harmless bird unfit for food. 



The cruelty in shooting, is wounding game that is not 

 finally captured. I confess admiration for the man who 

 will lose an hour of good shooting, in order to find a 

 wounded bird. It requires self-denial at the time, but a 

 good reward comes, when warmly tucked in bed, the 

 shooter reviews the particulars of the day, and don't have 

 to remember the bird that went off with a leg hanging 

 down, and was not found again. O. H. Hampton. 



Williamsburg, Ind., Jan. 18. 



Nebraska Close Season Shooting'. 



Hastings, Neb., Jan. 16.— Now that the close season is 

 upon us one would naturally expect that the guns great 

 and small w T ould be laid to rest, but as far as my observa- 

 tion goes they are as active as ever. In every town I have 

 visited so far I have seen men starting out, gun in hand, 

 and the inference naturally is that they do not all go after 

 rabbits. By the way, has the State of Nebraska any game 

 laws? My copy of Game Laws in Brief says it has. If 

 that, however, is a mistake, please count me in as a can- 

 didate for the prize for errors. 



While in St. Louis, I saw a wonderful profusion of 

 game of all kinds even for that large game market, and 

 all through the residence portion of the city, men were 

 carrying game for sale at extremely low prices; quail 

 were offered as low as $1.15 per dozen. As both quail 

 and chickens that were openly offered for sale on the 

 streets showed no shot marks, I infer that a great deal 

 of trapping is going on in that vicinity. This I know, as I 

 ate some of them myself. 



Up to date, the winter has been remarkably mild, with 

 scarcely any snow, and consequently the prospects for 

 game next season are particularly bright.. That is, if the 

 pot-hunters I see daily leave enough for seed. No one, 

 however, seems to take enough interest in the matter to 

 stop it. Are the sportsmen of Nebraska asleep? Some- 

 thing should be done and that quickly or the profusion of 

 feathered game on its broad prairies will soon be like the 

 deer and antelope, but a pleasant memory of the past. 



I see from the report of the Fish Commission, that dur- 

 ing the past year something like 17,000,000 fish and fry 

 were planted, but from observation I believe it to be a 

 waste of time and money. Fish are seined out faster than 

 planted in all the waters of the State, and no effort seems 

 to be made to stop it, at least I have never heard of a 

 prosecution, and evidence could easily be obtained in any 

 town near water containing fish. The violators of the 

 law as a rule openly boast of their catches. W. R. H. 



[The Brief gives the law if not as now "in force," at 

 least as it is on the statute books.] 



Old and New Style Shooting Matches. 



Jerseyville, 111., Jan. 5. — Members of our gun club 

 and other sportsmen in this part of Illinois, are rejoicing 

 over the beautiful weather we have bad this fall and 

 winter up to date. No snow, sleet, heavy rains or cold; 

 it is warm and more like May than January. It insures 

 an abundant yield of quail for the coming season, should 

 it continue. One violator of the game law has come to 

 grief here for offense, shooting four quail out of season. 

 He was arrested and taken before Squire Erwin and fined 

 $20 and costs, amounting in all to $29.45. It will probably 

 be some time before he sits down to such an expensive 

 dish again. Many of our shooters have been enjoying the 

 good old-fashioned holiday sport of our fathers called "tur- 

 key shooting." It has been the custom since 1 first came 

 to this country, when a boy in 1840, or rather something 

 similar. In the old times beeves, hogs and sheep were 

 shot for, but only with rifles. The natives had no use for 

 the "scatter gun," as the shotgun was then called. Forty 

 yards off-hand and sixty with rest, closest lead to the 

 center. Many a time have I seen the "swallow fork" cut 

 as accurately as though done with a center bit. But now 

 the tables are turned ; the rifle here is laid aside and the 

 shotgun is used, turkeys are substituted for beeves, the 

 distance from the targets is 35 and 40yds., dust shot is the 

 size used, and the man that does not get one of these 

 pellets within £in. or less of the center, is not likely to 

 have turkey for his dinner unless he buys one from his 

 more fortunate neighbor. A match of this kind came off 

 yesterday a few miles east of town. The boys report hay- 

 ing a good time along with fair success, and that their 

 turkeys did not cost them more than twice as much as 

 they could have bought them in the market at home for. 



L. S. H. 



A Tariff Discourager on Guns. 



Ann Arbor, Mich. , Jan. 12. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Some months ago I wrote Chairman Wilson of the Ways 

 and Means Committee, asking that he consider a proposi- 

 tion to place a tax on firearms and ammunition. I note 

 that Senator Voorbees advocates such a tax and will prob- 

 ably offer an amendment to the revenue list to that 

 effect. 



It seems to me that such a tax would greatly benefit the 

 sportsmen of the country in conserving game, and the 

 community at large in limiting the reckless use of fire- 

 arms. The fact cannot be gainsaid that for the country at 

 large game is a luxury, and no one should grumble at 

 paying a reasonable price for the privilege of its pursuit. 



1 have advocated in letters to the aforesaid legislators a 

 tax as follows: On all single-shot guns, rifles and pistols, a 

 tax of $15 each. On doublebarrel guns $20. On repeating 

 guns and revolvers $25 each. On ammunition one cent 

 for each shell. The tax on ammunition would of course 

 have to be placed on powder, shot, balls, etc. 



There would be some little difficulty in arranging this 

 tax, but nothing insurmountable. The finer grades of 

 powder for pistols and rifles would have to bear several 

 times the tax of the coarser shotgun powders if th8 one- 

 cent-a-shell tax was to be carried out. 



I can see nothing but good from such taxes, so far as 

 the community at large and the sportsmen in particular 

 are concerned. It would doubtless cut down the sale of 

 arms and ammunition, and so work ill to manufacturers. 

 But here, as elsewhere, the good of the many is tne first 

 consideration. We have a few factories making fine 

 arms, we have thousands of sportsmen, and above all, we 

 have a fast decreasing game supply. 



Chas. T. McClintock. 



Vermont Small Game. 



Springfield, Vt., Jan. 6. — The open season on ruffed 

 grouse closed last Saturday. The birds are in excellent 

 condition, owing to the abundance of beech-nuts here; 

 and there is a fine prospect of their wintering well, for 

 the weather is very mild thus far and the snow has nearly 

 all disappeared. On going into the woods I find the snow 

 covered with gray squirrels tracks, which shows that the 

 wily gray fellows will be plentiful next fall. By the 

 way, 1 have been much interested in the many accounts of 

 gray squirrel shooting in your columns, and I would like 

 to give an idea of the facilities we offer for this exciting 

 sport. An hour's ride in any direction from this town 

 will bring one into splendid snooting grounds. Especially 

 is Skitckenaug Mountain, which runs for several miles 

 parallel to Connecticut River, a haunt for the sly 

 beauties. On the sides and top ridges of this mountain 

 one reaches the J"forest primveal." Here, on a bright 

 frosty morning of September or early October, as the 

 hunter steals along the winding w^oodroad or scrambles 

 over ledges and mossy logs and breathes deeply of our 

 pure mountain air, he will find sport that will make his 

 nerves tingle and his heart beat fast. 



Let the hunter stay a week at any of the beautiful farms 

 which spread their meadows between the base of old 

 Skitchenaug and the broad Connecticut. The mountain 

 is big enough so that he won't need to spend two days in 

 one place, and if he is worth a little bit, I can guarantee 

 him some royal sport. The best bag taken out of the 

 woods this fall was of twenty-nme in one day by Mr. M. 

 B. White and the writer. W. W. BROWN. 



East Side Rod and Gun Club. 



SUCCESS IN BREEDING QUAIL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



IN the month of November, 1892, I procured two pair 

 of quail and put them into an ordinary packing box 

 2x2ft. and about 6ft. in length. Wire cloth was put in 

 one end and in two places on the side, so that the birds 

 could not at anytime get out of sight. This box was 

 kept during the winter in a woodshed adjoining the 

 kitchen, and some member of the family was continually 

 passing back and forth before the birds, and a pair of 

 small bantam pullets were put in with them. The quail 

 at first were very wild and were continually dashing 

 about the box whenever any one approached. Before the 

 winter was over they became much quieter, and would at 

 times pick up some of the feed while it was being thrown 

 to them. When the fine spring weather came I had a 

 nice poultry run constructed with poultry netting. This 

 run was 12X6ft., with an addition 6 x4ft. closed in and 

 roofed over. 



The birds got along very nicely and in June commenced 

 to lay. After they had laid six eggs a weasel got in dur- 

 ing the night and killed the two quail hens and badly 

 wounded one of the male birds. The eggs were put under 

 one of the bantam hens, which faithfully attended to her 

 duties; the cock quail meantime standing sentry and 

 promptly taking her place on the nest whenever she 

 came off to feed. Four of the six eggs were fertile and 

 hatched out in due seasou. The young birds were fed at 

 first with hard boiled eggs chopped very fine, followed 

 later by all manner of feed. But I found later that in 

 the way of grain or seeds, timothy sped was their special 

 delight; and in other kinds of feed grasshoppers were 

 greatly relished by them. The young birds would fly up 

 5 or 6ft. to take the hoppers from the hand. 



These birds are now full grown, very large, with beau- 

 tiful plumage and as tame as chickens, and if hungry 

 will assail you with a chippering call plainly asking food ; 

 and when their wants are attended to they will continue 

 to Rive evidence of their pleasure and satisfaction. 



The poultry netting first used by me was Hin. mesh 

 and it was through this that the weasel gained access. 

 To prevent a repetition I again covered the run with fin. 

 netting, and if I had it to do again I would use Un mesh. 



I hope to be successful in raising a larger number next 

 season and, of course, will require an enlarged run. If 

 my expectations are realized I will cheerfully give your 

 readers an account of my success with any additional 

 information that may be attained during the coming 

 season. Allan Duncan. 



Wtohikg, Ontario. 



Long Close Seasons on Quail. 



Mr. W. B. Mershon sends us this interesting note on 

 the Michigan three years' close season on quail: "As to 

 the success attending the three years' close season on 

 quail , I can say that to some extent it is a matter of specu- 

 lation. There is no doubt that at the beginning of the 

 close season quail were very scarce, in Michigan, and it is 

 an undisputed fact that at the termination of this period 

 they were extremely plentiful. I remember no time 

 when there were so many. I have hunted quail in Caro- 

 lina, Virginia and in the Western States, and never found 

 better shooting than we had here at home a year ago this 

 fall. But there were no quail worth speaking of last 

 year, and the question arises, was it because they were 

 allowed to be shot off? I do not believe the number 

 the sportsmen killed has much to do with it. A 

 covey here and there are cleaned out by them, but 

 there are thousands of coveys that never have one of 

 their number killed by sportsmen, yet they entirely dis- 

 appear in the spring. The fact is that during the 

 three years that they were protected we had open win- 

 ters one after the other; very little snow, a great deal of 

 the time warm; and none of the birds were winter-killed. 

 Yet the winter one year ago was unusually severe, prob- 

 ably the hardest winter we have had in ten or fifteen 

 years. The result was that the birds that were left over 

 after the shooting season closed were winter-killed. That 

 is about all there is to it. With several open winters in 

 succession, we can depend on it that quail will increase; 

 but no matter how many birds there are left at the end of 

 the shooting season, if we get a hard winter like we had a 

 year ago 90 per cent, of them will disappear. 



"I believe they will do well this winter. We have had 

 very little severe weather, and I would not be surprised to 

 find them in abundance when the season opens next No- 

 vember. W. B. Mershon." 



A Louisiana Quail Country. 



New Orleans La., Jan. 13.— I note in your issue of 

 to-day "W. L. B." wants information regarding quail 

 shooting near New Orleans. He can find as good a quail 

 country as any in the Union in the parishes of Iberia.Ver- 

 million, Lafayette and St. Laudry. Should he desire 

 large bags I am sure that he can find his wants in the 

 vicinity of the pretty little town of Abbeville, the parish 

 seat of Vermillion parish, situated on the Abbeville & 

 Vermillion R.R., a branch of the Southern Pacific at New 

 Iberia, the distance from New Orleans being 145 miles, or 

 about five hours. I am just from that section and learn 

 that quail were never known to be so plentiful. I can 

 safely predict that if friend "W. L. B," will consent to 

 making the trip and get a good guide (there are many 

 there, and thorough sportsmen at that) he can kill from 

 75 to 100 quail a day, and if the weather be favorable he 

 could bag equally as many snipe. 



Quail about Abbeville have been shot at but little this 

 season owing to the enormous crops that have kept every 

 one busy, and those who did hunt have shot the mallards 

 in preference, and how they did slaughter them. 



Should "W. L. B." decide to make the trip I will give 

 him all the information necessary, with letters of intro- 

 duction, etc., and if my health permits might join him 

 for a day or two. A. Cardona, Jr. 



Italian Laborers and the Quail. 



Donaldsonville, La. — The gj.me here, such as d< er, 

 rabbit, duck, dove and bear, is fairly plentiful, but we 

 have hardly any partridges. Planters have bem employ- 

 ing large quantities of Italians, and during the summer 

 they hunt the partridges in the roads as they are rolling 

 in the dust. All plantations are cut up on each side of all 

 roads with large canals, and by getting in and following 

 those they can crawl up almost on their quarry. The 

 birds are consequently being gradually destroyed. The 

 planter takes no interest whatever in the preservation of 

 the game. A, G. 



Note from the "Saginaw Crowd's" Winter Retreat. 



Saginaw, East Side, Mich.— Game Warden Stone has 

 been stirring up the marketmen here. Recently we made 

 a seizure of fifty-four birds, partridge and quail, the 

 majority of the latter seeming to be snared birds. At 

 Green Brothers' fish market he unearthed a lot more. I 

 do not know how many, but there must have been a dozen 

 or more ruffed grous6. 



The "Saginaw Crowd" won'thave to go away from home 

 another year. There was an account in our last week's 

 paper of the killing of two wildcats and three bears by a 

 party of four farmer's boys at Lee's Corners. This is only 

 twelve miles from Saginaw. It seems that they were 

 following the track of a wildcat made in the fresh snow 

 that finally led them to a big windfall, which proved to 

 be the hiding place, or winter quarters, for a bear and 

 two cubs. As the wildcat was hotly pressed he stirred 

 up the bear, who in turn was stirred up by the doughty 

 hunters. I do not think this is a fairy tale, for the meat 

 market was adorned with the carcasses of the three bear 

 and the Mossback went home with forty odd dollars in 

 his inside pocket. W. B. Mershon. 



Stamford, Conn., Jan. 18, 1894. — At the annual meeting 

 of the members of the East Side Rod and Gun Club, of 

 Stamford, Conn., the following officers were elected for 

 1894: Edw. W. Ricker, President; Dwight Waugh, Vice- 

 President; Harry F. Devens, Treasurer; John R. Kinsey, 

 Secretary. Directors: A. W. Sibley, Nathan Olmstead, 

 Charles E. Thompson. Amusement Committee: Henry 

 Oothout, J. D. Goulden, A. S. Pitt. After the election the 

 members present enjoyed a fine supper prepared by the 

 club steward. J. R. Kinsey, Sec'y. 



Sportsmen's Association of Cheat Mountain. 



Pittsburgh, Jan. 16. — At the meeting of S. A. of C. M., 

 held Jan. 15, the following ticket was elected: President, 

 W. M. Kennedy; Vice-Presidents, W. K. Shiras, W. S. 

 Edwards, D. M'K. Lloyd, TJtilles Baird, Nathaniel Ewing; 

 Secretaiy, Theophilus Sproull; Treasurer, D. P. Corwin; 

 Naturalist and Surgeon, Dr. J. W. Riggs; Board of Direc- 

 tors (seven to elect), W. G. Brown, Dr. Jos. N. Dickson, 

 A. P. Tallman, S. B. Elkins, C. C. Scaife, Geo. Shiras, III., 

 H. P. Pears. 



