Feb. 10, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



115 



iB a big blacksnake right here.' I went up to him, and 

 there was the biggest blacksnake I ever seen. I threw a 

 stone at him and he run into that holler tree. I told the 

 boy to git some greasy waste from the track and we would 

 smoke the snake out. We built a good fire in the tree 

 and went on with our hunting. The next morning I was 

 a-passing that tree and noticed a lot of snake bones on the 

 ashes. I raked them up and they filled to the brim the 

 water bucket I was a-carrying." 



Then old man Brummell spoke up. "That ain't nothin'. 

 I kin show you a tree down in Gum Swamp that has a 

 bigger den than that in it. I'll bet you a hundred dollars 

 I kin take you ther' now, and ther' will be a blacksnake 

 on every limb and a dozen with their heads a-stickin' out 

 of a hole in the trunk." 



Then Jim Camper spoke up: "I'll tell you a snake story. 

 One day me and Tom Gray was cuttin' wood up on 

 Laurel Ridge, and we downed a big black oak. It had a 

 hole near the fust crotch, which I thought was a squirrel 

 den, but if it was there wern't none in it. I crosscut the log 

 4ft. below the hole and noticed something strange look- 

 ing in the bottom of the hole, which ended just where I 

 cut, and I found it was the tail of a blacksnake. The 

 weather was awful cold, and I knowed that snake was 

 dead, but I wanted to see him anyway; so I cut a long 

 slit from the hole down and got him out. He was a bus- 

 ter, and I cut him in three pieces with my ax. His insides 

 was solid ice; you could see the ice crystals like all 

 through his flesh. I threw the pieces down by another 

 tree, and after a while when the sun got on 'em, I swear, 

 all them pieces began to wiggle." 



I said, ' 'Pretty good, Camper. Who is next?" 



Norell the track walker spoke up: "Did you ever see 

 snakes balled? Well, one day late in the fall I was a- 

 huntin' black ducks in Sunday Ma'sh and went ashore to 

 get a drink of water; right-on the bank of the ma'sh there 

 was a ball of snakes as big as a flour barrel and they was 

 a-squirming and rolling around just like a football." 



I asked him what kind of snakes they were, and he 

 said, "Ev'ry kind of snake I ever see, blacksnakes, vipers, 

 water snakes, garter snakes and corn snakes." 



The next narrator was telling a marvelous tale of how 

 he was charmed by a snake one day while fishing on the 

 bank of a stream, but as my train came along I did not 

 hear whether the snake swallowed him or not. E. A. R. 



Baltimore, Feb. 3. 



ntt[t §zg mti %nt{. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correspondent.] 



Chicago, 111., Feb. 1.— To-day is the last day of the legal 

 season for selling grouse, quail or venison, no matter 

 where they come from. Illinois grouse, quail or venison 

 cannot be sold at any time. City Game Warden Chas. H. 

 Blow asserts that all found violating the law will be 

 promptly prosecuted. The Chicago Tribune gravely states 

 that after Feb. 1 it will be unlawful to kill any "robin, 

 bluebird, swallow, martin, mosquito hawk, whippoorwill, 

 cuckoo, woodpecker, catbird, brown thrush, redbird, 

 hanging bird, buzzard, wren, hummingbird, dove, gold- 

 finch, mockingbird, bluejay, bullfinch, thrush, lark, cherry- 

 bird, yellowbird. oriole or bobolink." 



The Tribune should add that it is also unlawful to kill 

 any of the above-named birds before Feb. 1. 



Daily Press Makes a Discovery. 



The San Francisco Chronicle has made the startling dis- 

 covery that Wm. Weavey, of Durbin, N. D., has made a 

 discovery, the same being the raising of "cattleoes" from 

 a buffalo and Polled Angus cross. It adds the usual story 

 about the excellence of the breed. No apologies are made 

 to Buffalo Jones or others, who might be able to help the 

 discovery out a little. 



From Kansas. 



Mr. Charles J. Mitchell, of Independence, Kans., says: 

 "Can you tell me a good place for duck shooting in 

 either Craighead, Poinsett or Mississippi counties, Ark. , 

 that is not occupied by a private club? 



The new law on quail has been fairly well observed 

 here, and as a consequence, a good many more birds are 

 to be found to-day than this time last year. The winter 

 has been exceptionally favorable to them, and I think a 

 year or two more of close season, if the law can be 

 enforced, would give us good shooting ence more. But I 

 am afraid that as soon as quail get fairly abundant again, 

 the law will be ignored, as there seems to be no real 

 interest in game) protection here. I rather think the rest 

 the quail have enjoyed this season is due more to the 

 scarcity of the last two or three years than it is to the 

 new law." 



Can some of our Arkansas friends answer Mr. Mitchell's 

 question? I am not familiar enough with the county 

 lines. As to the Kansas quail and their protection we 

 may suppose the result of "protection" will be there, as 

 elsewhere, much cry and little quail, until finally the 

 scarcity teaches its lesson, the rare becomes valuable and 

 the protection begins to protest. The Forest and Stream 

 editorial "plank" of last week is the only one. Hold out 

 to stop the sale of game altogether. We will come near 

 to that before we prevent extinction. 



Has a System. 

 In an issue of early November "Hoodoo" had the fol- 

 lowing comment: "In your last issue Mr. Hough des- 

 cribes, among other things, a group of mounted lions at 

 the World's Fair, two of which were "kittens," which he 

 astutely surmises (because of the difference in their color) 

 'were not of the same litter.' " Going on "Hoodoo" cites 

 a fable as proof that mounted lions never have more than 

 one kitten at a clatter time, and the editor of Forest and 

 Stream corrects him by showing that the fable is away 

 off. There is only one more gentleman to be heard from 

 on this point and that is the intelligent cornjjositor, saving, 

 perhaps, the proof-reader with the eagle brain. In my 

 description I did not write "mounted lions" but "moun- 

 tain lions," meaning the American big cat, panther, 

 cougar, puma or California lion, etc. I allow this latter 

 animal often has a whole flock of little cats. I have an 

 infallible system by which I can always lay hands on 

 anything in my desk. That is how I happened to answer 

 the above, criticism so soon since last November. 



Will Move. 



I OhlMay 1, the firm of A, G. Spalding & Bros, , so long 



known here at 108 Madison street, will remove to 149-151 

 Wabash avenue, a thoroughfare until recently given over 

 to wholesale houses. Large and better quarters will be 

 secured by the change. 



Feb. 2.— Mr. W. B. Wells, one of the most enthusiastic 

 and thorough-going as well as one of the best known 

 sportsmen of Canada, arrived in this city to-day from his 

 home in Chatham, Ont., on his wav to the Southern field 

 trials of New Albany, Miss, Mr. Wells has along a string 

 of good youngsters, and will do a little shooting after the 

 trials, either at New Albany or further South. He thinks 

 the birds still abundant enough in his country to secure 

 the future for them and to make certain the success of 

 the International trials next year, although the numbers 

 have been much cut down by a combination of causes. 

 At the Forest and Stream office, Mr. Wells happened to 

 meet Mr. W, L. Wells, of this city, whose friends also 

 call him "Billy." The two fell to discussing family trees, 

 and came very near proving that they both had a com- 

 mon ancestry somewhere or other. Anyhow, they are 

 both red hot sportsmen and good people, and therefore 

 related closely in a good way. E. HOUGH. 



909 Security Building, Chicago. 



PROHIBIT THE SALE OF GAME. 



Danvers, Mass., Feb. 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I read with a good deal of satisfaction the article in your 

 last number that suggested a law to stop the sale of game 

 birds at all times of the year. I think this would be a 

 step in the right direction toward preserving game. I 

 know it is a large undertaking and cannot be done at 

 once, but if every sportsman in the country should make 

 this something to work for it could be accomplished. I 

 do not want to deprive of game any one who cannot shoot 

 it, but the ones that do not shoot it are the ones that are 

 to be blamed for the rusting state of the game laws; they 

 don't hunt but want to be able to buy game at any and 

 all times, and are willing to pay an extra price to get it 

 out of season, thereby holding out an inducement to men 

 who are willing to do anything for money, to kill any 

 kind of game they can find and at any time of the year 

 they can find it. I hope some of the sportsmen will 

 agitate this matter, ' A. W. B. 



Lima, Ohio.— Editor Forest and Stream: When I read 

 the article written by McClintock in the last issue of 

 Forest and Stream, on the taxation of firearms, ammu- 

 nition, etc. , that go to make up the outfit of a sportsman, 

 I was surprised at the stand taken by this correspondent. 

 It looks to me that he wishes to protect the game for a 

 favored few, the rich, those that are more abundantly 

 blessed in this world's goods than the majority of the lovers 

 of the rod and gun. 



The tendency of the country is already toward the 

 European plan of game preserves, in which the rich only 

 can indulge and the poor assist only by camp drudgery 

 and carrying game killed by their superiors (in riches 

 only). What was more disgusting than the large drive 

 for hares, given by one of the monarchs of Europe lately, 

 where a large number of peasants were required to drive 

 the game into a small space, and numerous attendants to 

 load the guns as they were fired. Thousands of hares were 

 killed in this manner. In his enthusiasm of wholesale 

 slaughter this king exclaims, "What glorious sport." Is 

 this sportsmanlike? How much more skillful and sports- 

 manlike if each hare had been given a chance for hislif>\ 

 Suddenly started from his cover, he makes rapid strides 

 for another known cover, but if the hunter has not lost 

 his wits, and with sure aim is as suddenly stopped by a 

 charge from his favorite gun. With what pride is he con- 

 signed to the game-bag can only be imagined by those 

 that have been there. 



But again to my subject. If Mr. McClintock wishes to 

 see the game preserved, let him petition the Legislature of 

 his State to prohibit the sale of game. There is where the 

 danger lies, and not with the sportsman that spends his 

 two weeks' vacation in the woods after deer, or a day off 

 during quail season in the field. Let every State make 

 laws prohibiting the sale of game, and also let the hunter 

 have his game to take home with him. If there was no 

 market for game the market-shooter would seek other 

 avocations. It is the market-shooter that depletes the 

 game. The sportsman that hunts for the pleasure in it, 

 would kill only enough that could be used in camp and at 

 home. The market-shooter does not hunt for the pleasure 

 he derives from it but for the money he makes. 



Hundreds of deer and thousands of quail and other 

 game are destroyed by being kept too long in the markets. 

 In this way, the Indiana Game and Fish Association re- 

 ports, that the least possible estimate on the number of 

 quail that was destroyed in that State alone was 17,000 

 dozen. The dealers would buy them up, especially those 

 small country dealers, a few at a time, until the required 

 number for shipment was secured, and by the time they 

 reached their destination they were unfit for use. 



Let Mr. McClintock watch the stations on the railroads 

 leading into the hunting districts of this State. He will 

 be surprised at the amount of game that is shipped to the 

 game dealers of Detroit. He will also be surprised at the 

 large amount of this game that is unfit for use. In one 

 carload of 200 deer saddles it was stated to me that there 

 wasn't one fit to use. This I can substantiate by a gentle- 

 man who saw it. What is done with all this meat that 

 goes to Detroit is asked by many. All the game is shipped 

 there that is for market. Is it possible that the law of this 

 State prohibiting the exportation of game out of the State 

 is made for a favored few? Game shipped to other States 

 as "poultry," "veal," etc.? Surely Detroit people cannot 

 consume all of the game that is shipped into that city. 



I say, let every State pass laws prohibiting the sale of 

 game. "In union there is strength." These ideas of 

 prohibiting the sale of game have been expressed in the 

 meeting of the National Game and Fish Association 

 which has recently organized and in which I heartily 

 concur. There being no market for game the market- 

 hunter will not hunt, and the sportsman will only kill 

 enough for his own use. 



The majority of sportsmen are men of limited means, 

 and to put such an exorbitant tax on their hunting outfit, 

 means that they must forego the pleasure of a vacation 

 in the woods, therefore, they are "chained to business" 

 the year round. Because, "no gun no vacation." But 

 the rich man, with his $400 grade double barrel, or his 

 fancy repeater, has the good time. Why? He has plenty 

 of money and guns, and has the man of limited means to 

 ' run his business while he is gone, 



This is a free country. The poor man should have the 

 same privileges as the rich one when it comes to a vaca- 

 tion in the woods, along the stream, or afield. The Presi- 

 dent of this country cannot command a boatman to row 

 his boat on a duck hunt without compensation to the 

 boatman. We are his equals when it comes to rights 

 and privileges. 



Put a tax on firearms, etc., and the l'ich man has the 

 advantage over the poor man, although the poor man 

 is as much of a sportsman at heart as the rich man. If 

 Mr. McClintock has more money than he knows what to 

 do with, instead of putting it in taxes on his own guns, 

 buy another gun and present it to some poor sportsman 

 that is "tied down to business" for want of a gun. 



A member of the Legislature of this State has intro- 

 duced a. bill to prohibit the sale of quail. Make the law 

 on all of the game, gentlemen, and Ohio will be first to 

 lead in the right direction for the preservation of game. 



Selmo. 



CONCERNING A HIGH TAX ON GUNS. 



Rochester, N. Y.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have 

 been for many years a reader of Forest and Stream, 

 always with interest, often with pleasure and occasionally 

 with indignation. As for instance, I notice in last week's 

 issue a proposition to levy a tax on guns and ammunition 

 so high as to be absolutely prohibitory of the privilege of 

 any but the rich bearing arms. To enact such laws is to 

 say to the working man that he must forego the right to 

 go to the woods and streams for such relaxation or recrea- 

 tion as may be found in communion with nature in her 

 wildest — and to most of us her pleasantest aspects. It is 

 to say to him that he shall have no escape from the debts, 

 duns and deviltries of this working world. It is this spirit 

 that gives England her game laws and fills her jails with 

 poachers. E. P. Halbert. 



Mississippi. 



Trenton, N. J. — Editor Forest and Stream: In looking 

 over my last "Stream" I read the article on taxing guns 

 and it set me thinking. I have been led to believe by 

 meeting sportsmen both in the field and on the stream 

 that they are as a rule broad-minded and large-hearted, 

 when here comes along a man who, if I can read aright 

 between the lines, thinks that the pleasures of the field 

 and stream should be preserved for only those who are 

 wealthy, for surely no one would advocate such an un- 

 sportsmanlike and undemocratic idea unless they possess 

 more than a fair share of this world's goods. But how 

 about us poor fellows? I know, and in fact we all know, 

 that such a law would shut out a good many men who, I 

 am satisfied, are as true sportsmen as your correspondent, 

 men who look forward through many weary months with 

 a joy only known to the sportsman to the short two 

 weeks' vacation that they are allowed during the year. 

 And how carefully they look after the small amount of 

 money they can spare from the family use for this outing. 

 Now a tax of $20 would spoil the whole trip. Personally 

 if they keep the tax from my rod it would not be such a 

 hardship to me, as my friends say I see a bass or pike in 

 every mud hole. But I do like a few days' gunning, and 

 if such a law was passed I would have to do as a thousand 

 others would, just sit ©n the fence and watch the sport. 



Jerseyman. 



Harrisburg, Pa., Jan. 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 In your issue of Jan. 27 I note an article from Ann 

 Arbor, Mich. I have been a constant reader of your 

 valued columns for nearly twenty years, and in all that 

 time I have never yet seen anything in print to equal that 

 heartless and senseless article. Think of it, you American 

 sportsmen who have to work" for a moderate salary. How 

 you have worked everyday through the long, hot summer 

 so you could get a few days off in the fall to go into the 

 woods or fields with your dog and gun, and this Michigan 

 man wants to crush out this one bright spot in your life 

 by a tax or rather a robbery of $20 on your gun, which you 

 had to save your hard-earned dollars to buy. And what 

 more? He says you should pay a tax of one cent for every 

 shell that you shoot in it. Think of it, you men who love 

 to hear the crack of a breechloader. No Tax. 



THE .22. 



One of my friends is often trying experiments with 

 rifles, of which he owns half a dozen or more. Living on 

 a farm and owning a good deal of livestock, several of the 

 experiments have proved disastrous to cattle or hogs. 

 One day he took a shot at one of the horns of the old bull, 

 "just to see the bull shake his head and to hear the bullet 

 sing." A valuable cow stood four or five feet beyond the 

 bull, her head about opposite the bull's hips. Her head 

 being about on a line drawn at an angle of 45 degrees to 

 the line followed by the bullet, when the shot was fired 

 the cow fell, to the great surprise of the shooter, and died 

 in a few minutes. Careful examination, both before and 

 after skinning the cow, failed to show any wound; but 

 some months afterward, after all the flesh was gone from 

 the skull, a narrow hole, a mere slit half an inch long, 

 was found in the center of the forehead, and the flattened 

 bullet was foixnd in the skull cavity. No doubt the bullet 

 had been flattened against the bull's horn and had struck 

 the cow's head edgewise, making so small a wound that 

 no blood flowed out, and leaving no visible mark. The 

 bullet came from a .22 short cartridge. 



Another of this man's amusements was shooting hawks 

 and crows with a .50 express, "just to spread 'em wide 

 open." One day a hawk alighted on a gate post 50yds. 

 from his house. Half a mile away, and right in the line 

 of fire, stood a neighbor's house. He could not move, for 

 the hawk would fly. Sighting at the hawk, he noted that 

 the line of sight struck the ground some distance short of 

 the house, and concluding there was no danger, fired at 

 the hawk, and was surprised at missing it and that no 

 dust cloud appeared where the bullet ought to have struck 

 the dry ground. His neighbor was surprised, too, for the 

 bullet entered the side of the house about four feet above 

 the floor, passed between two people who were within 

 three feet of each other, and was stopped by a stud in a 

 partition wall. Examing the gun, he found that the 

 sights were set for 700yds. , and then he remembered that 

 the day before he had been shooting at long range from 

 his front porch, and one of his workmen calling him, he 

 had set the gun in the house and forgotten about the 

 sights. The incident convinced him that it was not safe 

 to shoot such a gun in a settled country, except at a well- 

 I backed target, 0, H, Hampton. 



