92 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 3, 1894. 



fag md (§ntf. 



HUNTING WITHOUT A DOG. 



Sportsmen will one and all admit, I think, that the 

 ruffed grouse furnishes by far the finest sport of any of 

 the feathered tribe. At any rate, such is my opinion, and 

 consequently, most of my time afield has been spent in 

 his pursuit. 



His rendezvous is the choicest part of the woods, among 

 the pines and hemlocks. Just such a spot as I would 

 choose were I to live in the woods, and, in fact, I have 

 been many times tempted to desert the city and live out 

 here with the grouse, as Thoreau did. Is it to be won- 

 dered at that the grouse is an independent, saucy fellow, 

 living, as he does, out in the woods all the time, breathing 

 the pure air, scented with the odors of the forest? How 

 I envy him. It is a pleasure simply to be out here, even 

 if no game is secured; and many a happy day I can look 

 back upon when I have wandered about from sunrise to 

 sunset without firing a shot or seeing a solitary bird. The 

 question, How many birds have you secured? never con- 

 cerns me in the least. Ask that of the pot-hunter or 

 market-hog. I go for the pleasure and recreation, and 

 many times having secured a brace of birds, I have left 

 others untouched for a future day. 



The first question to present itself was, what kind of a 

 dog should be used; and in working out its solution, I 

 have tried about every variety known to the sportsman's 

 category. Taking all into consideration, I have found the 

 cocker spaniel most satisfactory. It is a pleasure to 

 watch these little fellows quarter back and forth with 

 shining eyes, their excitement amounting almost to 

 frenzy at times. 



One spaniel that I used would occasionally play some 

 very shabby tricks on me. Led by curiosity, I followed 

 him into the cover and watched him, to learn the cause of 

 his pranks. I soon found that he was having as good 

 Bport as I, and that I was missing half the fun. The 

 grouse were playing the pranks, not the dog. 



On my nest excursion, I determined to try the experi- 

 ment of leaving the dog behind and doing the hunting as 

 well as the shooting myself. I soon discovered that never 

 before had I known anything about the ground I had been 

 in the habit of working over. Heretofore I had supposed 

 that I was perfectly familiar with every piece of cover 

 within a radius of twenty miles of my home; and so I 

 was, with the ridges, wood-roads and foot-paths; but never 

 before had I even dreamed of the existence of so many 

 bewitching nooks and shady dells as were hidden away 

 in those woods. I was so engrossed in exploring them 

 that I completely forgot about the grouse; until as I was 

 passing down the deep bed of a narrow streamlet, thickly 

 shaded above and on both sides by a heavy growth of 

 scrub pine, a grouse jumped from the bank into this 

 ditch and ran its whole length at lightning speed before 

 he rose. That was bis trick, and he had fooled me a 

 dozen times before at this very spot, while using the dog. 

 A heavy charge of shot stopped him this time, however. 

 It was a greater pleasure to me to outwit that wily fellow 

 than to secure a score of ordinary birds; and it was with 

 a feeling of triumph that I laid him away in my game 

 bag. I never pass the spot now without penetrating to 

 that little stream in the pine clump and living over that 

 bit of sport. 



Since then, I have come more and more to hunt 

 without any dog. It is harder work, of course, or better 

 exercise, whichever you may choose to consider it. A 

 strong suit of canvas is necessary to withstand the brush 

 and brambles. I enjoy passing quietly along through the 

 woods, meeting new acquaintances, no dog to scare the 

 animal life away, veritable still-hunting. The habit is 

 soon acquired of judging the most favorable spots to find 

 the birds. The sides of a well-wooded gully or black- 

 berry patch, or, in late fall, the sunny edge of a clearing, 

 are promising spots, You have but to seat yourself in a 

 favorable locality and exercise a little patience to discover 

 their hiding places. The young birds practice drumming 

 in the fall and will soon be heard calling, as it were, 

 "Here I am, come and try your luck." When the snow 

 is on the ground, the tracks reveal the presence of the 

 birds, and form a sure guide as to their whereabouts. 



It is my custom, a few days before the opening of the 

 season, to take my own dog, borrow my neighbor's and 

 any one else's that I can, and, going of course without my 

 gun, work over the entire ground with the dogs; thus 

 finding about how many birds there are and where to look 

 for them. Then, on the opening day, I saunter out by 

 myself, "To beard the lion in his den, the Douglas in his 

 hall," No necessity of watching a dog all the time, and 

 bursting the lungs bawling af ler him; but plenty of op- 

 portunity to enjoy the surroundings. 



The majority of the shots secured will, of course, be 

 snap-shots in the brush at short range, and l-equire a 

 great deal of skill. But the greater the skill required, the 

 keener the sport. Then, there is the satisfaction of hav- 

 ing met the game on an equal footing and taken no unfair 

 advantage of him. But best of all, the lively scramble 

 up and down has thoroughly tested every muscle, and 

 filled the lungs with the elixir of the woods. 



I would be pleased to hear through these columns from 

 other sportsmen who have tried this method of grouse 

 hunting in densely wooded districts, where it is impossible 

 to see further than a few yards at the utmost. B. 



Nova Scotia Moose Heads. 



Winchester, Mass.— Editor Forest and Stream: In 

 my description of a moose hunt, under the heading of 

 "Two Guaranteed Moose," in a recent number of Forest 

 and Stream, I spoke of C. R. Peavey as being very suc- 

 cessful in finding moose for parties he guided. I have 

 just received quite a long letter from Peavey, in which he 

 says: "The day after I saw you at No. 7 a party came to 

 my place and engaged me to go after moose with them. 

 We started early from Oxbow and reached camp that 

 night. On the third day I put them up to three large 

 bulls, and they killed the three. They were the three 

 finest heads I ever saw together, all with big antlers. One 

 had ten large prongs on one side and nine on the other. 

 The second had eleven points on each horn. The third 

 had the largest antlers, twelve points on one horn and 

 nine on the other. The one with eleven on each horn is 

 said to be the best head seen in this region during the sea- 

 son. We swamped a road to them and hauled them out. 

 I had been home four days when Algie and his man came 

 out, each having killed a bull." C. M, Stark, 



MARYLAND'S GAME INTERESTS. 



Ellicott City. Md.— The well developed movement in 

 this State toward a better protection of its game supply is 

 exceedingly gratifying to every one who has aided in 

 bringing it about, and to none more than myself. Recog- 

 nizing that we have all the natural elements of a vast 

 game preserve, I have seen, year by year, a gradual 

 decrease in the sum total of game, and a wonderful 

 increase in the number of men afield, as well as a marked 

 development in the effectiveness of both men and fire- 

 arms. 



Indulgence in trap-shooting during three-fourths of 

 the year has added many recruits to the army of devotees 

 of field sports, and increased their skill in a measure. 

 Against this what has there been in favor of the game? 

 Nothing, beyond a few desultory efforts upon the part of 

 a few enthusiasts to restock the depleted coverts. The 

 severe winter of '93 had its effect in aiding the general 

 destruction, the market gunner and trapper got in their 

 work, the hawks and foxes helped along, and the curious 

 specimens of legislative action known as the Maryland 

 game laws overshadowed the whole thing, actually abet- 

 ting game destruction rather than aiding game protection. 

 Just take the law as at present in force upon Bob White 

 in the several counties: 



Oct. 1-Jan. 1 in Alleghany. 

 Oct. 15-Dec. 1 in Garrett. 

 Oct. 15-Dec. 26 in Harford. 

 Oct. 30-Dec. 25 in Washington. 

 Oct. 20-Dec. 24 in Carroll. 

 Oct. 31-Dec. 24 in Howard. 

 Nov. l-Dec. 15 in Montgomery. 



Nov. l-Dec. 31 in Talbotfc. 

 Nov. l-Jan. 1 in Frederick, Wico- 

 mico, 



Nov. 1-Jan. 10 in Cecil. 

 Nov. 1-Feb. 1 in Caroline, Dor- 

 chester, Worcester. 

 Nov. 1-Feb. 15 in Somerset. 



Nov. l-Dec. 24 in Anne Arundel, 

 Baltimore, Charles, Prince 

 George, St Mary. 



The general State law makes the open season Nov. 1 to 

 Dec. 31; yet here we have local county laws which prac 

 tically make an open season throughout the State, for all 

 sportsmen able to travel and for the ubiquitous market- 

 shooter, from Oct. 1, the date of the open season in Alle- 

 ghany county, till Feb. 15, the last day of the open season 

 in Somerset connty. It may be argued that there are also 

 local trespass laws and others requiring licenses to shoot, 

 which prevent indiscriminate shooting throughout the 

 State. But I am sure that any fair-minded sportsman wil 1 

 admit that the trespass laws and the license business is as 

 much honored in the breach as in observance. 



In Howard county, where I live, a non-resident is sup- 

 posed to require a license to enable him to come into the 

 county; up to date there have not been a dozen sold, and 

 I know by personal observation that a hundred non-resi- 

 dent sportsmen is not an overestimate of the nam bet- 

 hunting in Howard this season without license. I have 

 no hesitation then in asserting that such laws are practi- 

 cally dead letters, and are better off the statutes than on 

 them. 



To still further lengthen the open season, look at the 

 rabbit law. Here again we have a State law making the 

 open season from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, Now look at the 

 county laws: 



Sept. l-Tan. 15 in St. Mary. 

 Oct.. 15-Dec. ?4 in Carroll. 

 Oct. 15- Jan. 1 in Alleghany. 

 Oct. 20-Jan. 15 in Dorchester. 

 Oct 31-Dec. 24 in Howard. 

 Nov l-Dec. 24 in Anne Arundel, 



Kent, Prince George, Queen 



Anne. 



Nov. l-Dec. 26 in Baltimore. 



Nov. l-Dec. 31 in Talbott. 

 Nov. 1-Jan. 1 in Caroline, Fred- 

 erick:. 



Nov. l-Jan. 15 in Somerset, Wash- 

 ington, Worcester. 

 Nov. 1-Feb 1 in Montgomery. 

 Nov. 1-Feb. 15 in Wicomico. 

 Nov. 5-Jan. 1 in Harford. 

 Nov. 20-Jan. 10 in Cecil. 



Here we have an open season from Sept. 1 to Feb. 15. 

 Could anvthing be more inimical to the welfare of the 

 game, more satisfactory in making people law-breakers? 

 Or less effective in the object for which the laws are sup- 

 posed to be made? 



These same laws make a virtual open season for wood- 

 cock from June 10 to Feb. 24. I met a man this fall who 

 is in the habit of killing woodcock late in February 

 during favorable seasons about the time of the evening 

 when these birds begin to perform their curious mating 

 evolutions. Verily we have need of not only stringent 

 game laws, but a campaign of education as well. 



The great scarcity of game this season past has created 

 a reaction, and there seems to be a widespread feeling 

 that a general close season of at least one year would be 

 an advantage, and a bill to make that a law has been in- 

 troduced into the Legislature. If passed this will surely 

 give us time to make headway in securing either the re- 

 peal of all county laws and the enactment of a general 

 State law or the revision of existing lawsand each county 

 adopting the same open season. 



Dr. Ellzey's letter in a recent issue of your paper is one 

 of the best I have yet seen and should have due weight, 

 for the Doctor is a student of nature as well a sportsman 

 from the ground up. His suggestion of having certain 

 days of the week as hunting days during a general open 

 season, is in my opinion the most sensible and practical 

 idea of breaking up market-shootiog and other unfair ad- 

 vantages taken against the game that has been offered so 

 far as I know. I do not agree with his boundary dat< s, 

 fori think Oct. 20 too early by eleven days in our latitude, 

 We rarely have killing frosts until Nov. 1, sometimps not 

 until Nov. 15. At the same time, while not agreeing 

 with Dr. Ellzey to secure legislation along the lines he 

 bas suggested, I will gladly aid in securing the passage 

 of such a law making the dates Oct. 20 to Dec. 20. 



There is one question I would like to ask Dr. Ellzey in 

 regard to the period during the "late unpleasantness;" I 

 was then too young to remember about the weather con- 

 ditions, but during the four years' compulsory close sea- 

 son was not there any winter corresponding to last win- 

 ter, which did not succeed in killing out the birds? 



I must confess that I do not favor the so-called migra- 

 tory theory as to the disappearance of the birds in certain 

 vicinities. Thatsome, perhapsmany Bob Whites, migrate, 

 we know or surmise, but that there is a general migratory 

 movement I very much doubt. The movements of Bob 

 White seem to me to be governed by the food supply of a 

 vicinity, and the cover supplied by that locality is another 

 factor in causing the so-called migration. For instance, 

 where I live the entire district is yearly getting cleaner, 

 and yearly I have noticed that the gross number of Bob 

 Whites seemed about the same, but the coveys were more 

 widely distributed, always using as near good cover as 

 possible. On my own place there are usually two coveys 

 hatchedoutand raised, this year three. One covey stayed, 

 the other two left, one, as well as I could determine, going 

 to an adjacent farm where there was a large swamp, the 

 other to a branch about a mile distant from my house, 

 where there was such excellent cover that fully one-half 



the cunning rascals are alive and hearty to-day, with fair 

 prospects of pulli.ig through the winter. 



Of course there is only subjective testimony; the birds 

 certainly hatched in my fields; there were no birds in 

 either of the two localities that could be found by two 

 dogs and a man who knew every foot of the ground. 

 Later, when cold weather came and the fields became 

 bare and food scarce, two coveys were lost from my place, 

 and when the season opened I found two coveys, one in 

 each of the above mentioned places, where none were 

 found before. 



There is one other argument in favor of a close season 

 — that we could undoubtedly succeed in getting together 

 a fund to purchase rabbits and partridges wherewith to 

 restock our covers. Fifty thousand pairs of Southern 

 birds put out through the State and a close season for one 

 year would, I think, make a very decided increase, in the 

 general supply. Short open seasons thereafter with rest- 

 ing days between shooting days and all could have sport. 

 May this, the millennium of sportsmen, become an ac- 

 complished fact. Samuel J. Fort, M.D. 



Ellicott City, Md. 



ADIRONDACK DEER SEASON OF 1893. 



Mr. W. E. Wolcott has compiled and published in 

 the Utica Herald a statistical report of the Adirondack 

 deer supply, which is well worthy a careful study : 



In order to obtain all the information possible concern- 

 ing deer and the workings of the game laws, the opinions 

 of prominent hotel men and well-known guides in the 

 Adirondacks have been asked, and the views expressed by 

 each are given in brief below: 



A. D. Barber, Honnedaga Lake, Herkimer County — I 

 think deer are increasing very rapidly in this section, and 

 believe the reason is the stopping of jacking or floating in 

 the Adirondack League Club preserve. I have noticed 

 several articles in t'^e papers about deer starving:, which 

 I cannot understand, for beech nuts are plentiful. The. 

 deer have not as yet yarded up, but are traveling about 

 everywhere and feeding on nuts. My men see deer every 

 few days while at work near this lake, and they say they 

 look nice, and must be in good condition. I still think 

 the season for running doss should begin later, say not 

 before Sept 20, or even Oct. 1. Everyone knows the 

 meat is far better then than early in September. 



David Helms. Long Lake, Hamilton County — Deer are 

 increasing. I think that as there are so many sections of 

 the woods where the deer are starving for lack of food, 

 the hunting season should be extended until Dec. 1. I 

 saw a guide from Moose river tract last week, who assured 

 me that according to the best of his belief there would be 

 at least 200 deer starved this winter in that section. I was 

 in the Beaver river country in June, and sa w acres where 

 there was hardly a green twig in sight. I do not wish to 

 be understood to say that there is not feed enough in the 

 woods for the deer, but in certain sections, where they 

 yard thickly, as the snow gets deep they do not move 

 around much and finally cannot get away far enough to 

 find sufficient food to keep them alive. In the Cold river 

 and Preston pond region last spring, there was a large 

 number found dead with no marks on them, and the men 

 who found them said they had starved. So long as venison 

 is not shipped away to market, there is no danger of deer 

 being killed off to do any harm. 



Henry Studor, Bisby Lakes. Herkimer County— Deer 

 are about hold intr their own. The guides in our locality 

 do not favor jacking. By this mode of hunting many 

 deer are wounded and go off in some thicket to die. The 

 idea of deer starving to death is all nonsense. There is as 

 much feed in the woods now as there was twenty years 

 ago, if not more. 



Theodore C, Remonda, Morehouseville, Hamilton 

 County — Deer are decreasing, Th« guides and people 

 generally favor a law that would prohibit hounding and 

 give a bunting season open from Sept. 1 to Noy. 15. 

 There are three things necessary to the increase of deer: 

 The prohibiting of hounding, mild, open winters, and 

 protectors that protect. If the present mode of hunting 

 deer continues the deer will soon be exterminated. 



O. L. Howland, Rudeston, Hamilton County — Deer are 

 just holding their own. It is the opinion of the guides 

 and other people about here that hounding should be 

 abolished and the hunting season extended a month later. 

 Floating does not harm the deer alter Aug. 15. Hound- 

 ing is what destroys the deer, and it must be stopped in 

 order to protect them and have them increase. 



Byron E. Cool, of North Lake, Herkimer County — The 

 game law of 1893 seems to give satisfaction both to the 

 sportsmen and guides, but it is a fact that many deer 

 were killed out of season in this locality last year, and the 

 unlawful acts can not all be laid at the door of the woods- 

 men that live or work here. From signs that do not fail 

 it is evident that some who call themselves sportsmen had 

 a hand in it. What we must have is better protection. I 

 do not notice any change in the number of deer. 



C. H. Bennett, Raquette Lake, Hamilton County — The 

 guides in this section would like very much to have the 

 hounding extend from Sept. 15 to Nov. 20. They would 

 like still-hunting allowed until Dec. 15 and jack hunting 

 done away with altogether. Tnis would give general 

 satisfaction to both guides and sportsmen. Deer are 

 increasing. 



Sam Danakin, Fourth Lake, Fulton Chain, Herkimer 

 County — Deer are increasing. I find that the vote of 

 the guides in the Adirondacks is almost unanimously in 

 favor of abolishing the jack and leaving November a 

 hunting month. There never was any need of blocking 

 out November, as the law limiting the number of deer 

 killed covers the whole business, and every hunter and 

 sportsman knows that November is the natural hunting 

 month. When I say "guides" I do not mean the great 

 army of boys and men of all occupations that flock into 

 the woods with their jacks for their summer outing, and 

 pose as guides during the season and return to their jobs 

 again. 



Munroe H. Bullock, Stillwater, Lewis County — Deer 

 are increasing. This locality is now owned by a club and 

 we only kill what deer are wanted at the house. The 

 guides think the game law is all right as it is for it gives 

 everybody a chance to hunt as he bikes. 



Charles Fenton, Number Four, Lewis County — The 

 number of deer reported as killed here by hounding last 

 fall, 280, may appear large, but it is below the true figure 

 if anything. This portion of the woods was filled with 

 hunters and dogs during the hounding season, and the 

 deer have been nearly exterminated. Guides and others 

 in this vicinity are now opposed to hounding. 



