Feb. 24, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



159 



clamation to prohibit the shooting and sale of any species 

 of migratory game during any year upon being satisfied 

 that the same protection would be afforded in Ontario. 

 If you will do this, we will. Wildfowler. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correspondent.] 

 The Storm and the Possum Club. 



Chicago. Feb. 16— The great storm which broke over 

 Chicago last Monday, Feb. 12, was, no doubt, the greatest 

 storm a eity ever experienced. If there is any doubt 

 about this, and if New' York thinks that, her big storm of 

 a few years ago was a bigger storm than the Chicago 

 blizzard, we will have a bigger storm here after a while. 

 At any rate, the streets were impassable and traffic sus- 

 pended almost entirely. Things were in this shape, not 

 a street car running at 6 P. M., when the small coterie 

 representative of the Possum Club started down town for 

 "Possum Bill's" parlors, at 72 Bryant avenue, to celebrate 

 the annual possum dinner given by that worthy. Not a 

 wheel moving and Werner's twenty miles away 1 At last 

 the idea of a trip south on the elevated read to Thirty- 

 fifth street and then a cross-town walk to the point in 

 view was proposed and carried out. And such a walk ! 

 The drifts were waist deep and the air so full of snow 

 one could see hardly a half block ahead? but the resolu- 

 tion not to disappoint Mr. Werner and not to lose the 

 supper carried the party through the long walk, and at 

 last they drew up, breathless except for their ability to 

 >hout, before the hospitable doors and overflowed the 

 entrance as quick as Mr. Werner opened the door. 

 After that all was mirth and jollity, as the society 

 reporter would say. 



Mr. Werner's '94 banquet deserves more than passing 

 mention. The tables were the most beautifully decorated 

 of any the old-time caterer has offered the sportsmen of 

 this city, and it need not be said that the appointments 

 and furnishings from piece de resistance to demi-tasse were 

 all in perfect keeping. The party was small but happy, 

 and the storm outside was forgotten. Mr. Werner was 

 called to the head of the table, and there sat before him 

 Messrs. C. D. Gammon, R. B. Organ, L. M. Hamline, W. 

 P. Murray, F. A. Place and the writer. To quote from 

 the society reporter again, it was a late hour when the 

 merry gathering disbanded. Mr. Werner certainly has 

 given renewed cause of gratitude to the Chicago guild, 

 and the only thing leftlk) be desired is better weather and 

 a larger attendance in '95— for "Possum Bill" vows that 

 this is a fixture which he will not let exoire. 



The Storm General. 



The late storm was one of the most severe and the most 

 generally extended one that ever struck the West. From 

 the middle South to Minnesota the entire country is lying 

 under a blanket of deep snow, and what damage this 

 means to game birds can only be guessed. 



To Widen a Law. 



Mr. E. Bortree, ex-warden of Chicago, and long prom- 

 inent in protective matters, is of the belief that the Illinois 

 statute in regard to importation of game into Illinois 

 should be extended in construction SO as to prevent the im- 

 portation from other States of any kind of game, even 

 wildfowl. Commenting on the position — which would 

 solve the game problem of the West if tenable — the Trib- 

 une of this city remarks: 



The effect of this section, Mr. Bortree says, is to prohibit any one 

 from receiving from any other State and selling any species of game 

 after Feb 1. The prevailiug impression is that wild geese, wild ducks, 

 brantand water fowl are exempt from this prohibition, and there is 

 any quantity of these kinds of game on sale in Chicago to-day. But 

 Jlr. Bortree says that the misunderstanding has grown out of the fact 

 that these birds, if takeu in Illinois, may be sold until May 1. This 

 privilege does not extend to the same birds killed or taken in other 

 States. 



Believing in the strict enforcement of all laws for the protection of 

 game throughout the United States and the Territories, Mr. Bortree 

 gives notice that on and after Feb. 15 prosecutions will be commenced 

 against all persons and corporations not complying with this provision 

 of the statute. 



More power to bim! 



Iowa Affairs. 



The war progresses in Iowa. The sportsmen continue 

 to molest the Mississippi River seiners. The Des Moines 

 Capital says: 



State Fish Commissioner Griggs has a measure in process of incuba- 

 tion that will correct the insufficient phraseology of the present law 

 and add many new features, chief among which is the abolition of 

 spring shooting. Seining, dynamiting and fishing out of season are 

 covered in such a way that the hobos who dangle for black bass over 

 their spawning beds will tumble into a whole ocean of grief if there is 

 an efficient Commissioner appointed. Freezers and market-hunters 

 come in for attention. 



Meantime, not to be outdone, the market-fishermen 

 have a member of the house, Ross, who has introduced a 

 bill to allow seining in the back waters or border rivers. 

 It is, at this stage of the game, bill and bill. 



The Big Tree. 



The big tree which made so wide a reputation as a 

 restaurant counter at the Worlds Fair has been moved to 

 Lake street, this city, and is still in the same business. 

 This great stick of timber is of yellow fir, and came from 

 Washington. As it now is seen, it is 110£ft. long, breast- 

 high in diameter, and weighs 74,0001bs. 



They Will Come To It. 

 What is going to happen when even the kennel writers 

 begin to come around to my often expressed position in 

 regard to the despised raeat-dog? The Stock-Keeper speaks 

 right out in meeting, and what it says for New England 

 is good elsewhere: 



Can the craze for a flyaway hunting dog be compared to anything else 

 than te a fad which arrests attention for a short time and then, 

 meteor like, disappears? The t hought is suggested that it is about 

 time for the dawning of a practical era, when the dog who is able to 

 find game birds in the near vicinity to the sportsman who is directing 

 ids movements will be duly appreciated. 



The day is past when a majority of the sportsmen cry out enthusi- 

 astically, "Look at the range and speed!" It sounded w ell and for a 

 time had the call, but necessity soon brought this accomplishment (?) 

 to a practical level, and something else is now demanded as a recom- 

 mendation of a dog's value. 



Several pet names have been bestowed on the practical shooting dog 

 by those who affected the race horse canine of the South and West, 

 some ridiculing the slower dogs as mole-diggers, potterers, meat hunt- 

 ers, etc. 



It is this popular cry of those who have heretofore allowed fancy to 

 drift in another direction that will counteract the evil effect and give 

 to sportsmen of this section a dog that is capable of useful work in 

 the field. 



So there is a "popular cry," is there? Well, it has come 

 up suddenly; but the men who voice it have a lot of hard 

 sense on their side. Long live the meat-dog. I remember 

 that I had the "range and quality" notion once upon a 

 time, but the older I get the more do I cherish the prov- 

 erbs that facts are stubborn things and that results count. 

 As an amateur, I have seen so much range and quality 

 sometimes, and so few birds. The dog you can run over 

 with a wagon, and that will hunt six days in the week, 

 and find birds, too — that dog is good enough for me and 

 he has my fondest regards when I am out of meat or out 

 for sport. When I am in need of a poem or a rhapsody, I 

 might get along with range and quality. There will be 

 more who will come to this notion in the next ten years. 



Club Banquet. 



appear and show cause why the seine or net should not 

 be destroyed. 



A bill so strong as the above will be hard to pass, but if 

 once on the statutes we might indeed have, for once in a 

 way, a game law which could be enforced and which 

 would have some show of being put in practice. 



Michigan and Canada. 



A Chicago inquirer is advised that the C. & N. W., the 

 Wisconsin Central, Lake Shore & Western or Milwaukee 

 & Northern railroads can manage to land a traveler in 

 good trout or deer country in the North Peninsula of 

 Michigan, in proper season. The Grand Trunk can take 

 him to the Muskoka district in Canada, where he can pay 

 a license of $25 and kill three deer only. The last question 

 I cannot answer. 



The Chicago Fly-Casting Club will banquet at the Lake- 

 side restaurant, evening of Feb. 22, and hold an enjoyable 

 reunion. The invitation states that two menus are offered, 

 one of which is an "old-fashioned fish dinner, chowder, 

 red snapper, baked pig, black bass, etc., etc." Isn't baked 

 pig really a little out of its class there? 



An Old Story. 

 Mr, W. C. Thomas, of Sheboygan Falls, Wis., writes as 

 follows: "I inclose a communication that appeared in 

 our paper, the News, which readers of the Forest and 

 Stream hereabouts have requested me to send to you and 

 ask if you feel so disposed to publish in part or entire in 

 the Forest and Stream with comments as you may see 

 fit." The clipping inclosed is too long to reprint in full. 

 It tells of much venison left to waste by "gentlemen 

 sportsmen," which class it supposes to be arrayed against 

 the "pot-hunters." It goes on to recite the wrongs of the 

 latter class, and to show the injuries inflicted on the pub- 

 lic by sportsmen's clubs. After duly roasting the Caw- 

 Caw Club of Puckaway Lake, the writer of the article, 

 W. J. Mozley, of Princeton, Wis., pays his respects to the 

 Nee-pe-nauk Club as follows: 



In the course of two or three years the Nee-pe-nauk Club began to 

 buy all the land bordering on Grand River and the old Fox River, and 

 what they couldn't buy they leased on as long time leases as they 

 could persuade the farmers to grant, telling the farmer to obtain the 

 lease, that they would never interfere with any of the inhabitant of 

 the surrounding country. As soon as they got a firm hold of these 

 valuable (?) lands, worth from 25 cents to SI per acre, they at once 

 posted their lands with notices for all persons to keep off, under pen- 

 alty of the law. The club also hired two men to patrol the waters by 

 boat to enforce the law. One of our oldest citizens went down Grand 

 River into Mud Lake two years ago. He was stopped by the club's 

 police and ordered out. He refused to go, whereupon the police told 

 him they had orders to take away his gun, smash his boat, 

 and there was 850,000 to back them. However, the party was 

 allowed to return unmolested. This season several Marquette 

 boys, a party from Kingston and also a party from Markesan went 

 down Grand River into Mud Lake to have a quiet hunt and bag some 

 mallards, there being thousands of them there. We were all met by 

 the club's police and ordered off. "Off of what?" "Government 

 water." We refused to go, whereupon we were all sued in the Circuit 

 Court at Dartford and will have a hearing in January, 1894. The club 

 claim they are keeping people off Mud Lake to protect the ducks from 

 the ravages of the infernal pot-hunters, and also get the birds wonted 

 to the lake "so they wifl breed there, you know," in from 4in. to 3ft. 

 of water in the nesting season ! During the month of October, 1893, 

 the Nee-pe-nauk Club of sports buried over 200 mallard ducks they 

 could not use before they spoiled. They were watched so closely by 

 some of the pot-hunters they couldn't ship tbe game out of the State, 

 as has been their practice since their organization. 



If an efficient State Game Warden would spend part of his time 

 looking after the clubs instead of trying to jump on some resident 

 who utilizes every duck killed either for food or sale to support his 

 family, we would" have better service — "But the appointment and tips, 

 you know." One leading Nee-pe-nauk man told one of our citizens 

 this fall, that the club was not positive they could control Mud Lake; 

 but the club would make it cost this man $100 if he didn't keep out. 



What are we coming to if this goes on? Are we slaves in bondage? 

 Are we to be downtrodden? What will become of our posterity if we 

 do not defend our rights? I trust every reader of this will think the 

 matter over candidly and use his influence in the future toward secur- 

 ing the rights of his fellow-men. 



This is the same old story, the cry of. the "people" 

 against the sportsmen's preserves, a cry which will never 

 be fully silenced until all the game is practically gone. 

 All experience, all reason, all common sense show that 

 when the "people" are left to exercise their "rights" to 

 shoot as they like, they ruin their privileges. The de- 

 pleted covers of the country show this too sadly and too 

 surely. The game of this country will be preserved from 

 extinction only through the action of the law of trespass. 

 The clubs may be selfish, and many have among them 

 poor specimens of men, but the work they have in view is 

 a good one, and its benefits do not accrue to the club 

 alone. The "people" are benefitted in spite of themselves 

 by the increased, or rather the continued quantity of 

 game. 



The law of trespass sits hard in America, but it is as 

 good law as any of the whole common law system to 

 which we must come in the regulation of our social com- 

 pact. We have got to recognize this law of trespass or 

 see the game go. You pay your money and you take 

 your choice. At a guess, I should say that eventually 

 the law of trespass will save the game in this country as 

 it has done in England. It is no guess at all to say that 

 meantime there will occur with unvarying regularity this 

 same old story, these same old kicks from the "down- 

 trodden people," so many of whom want to eat the cake 

 of the whole actual people, and to eat it right away. 



I should need better proof before believing that the 

 Nee-pe-nauk men buried #00 mallards. If they have been 

 killing more game than they could use, they deserve the 

 hearty censure of every sportsman in or out of the clubs. 

 The latter point makes no difference whatever, for a 

 sportsman is a sportsman, whether j>oor or rich, whether 

 belonging to a club or not, and a spotted sportsman doesn't 

 change his spots when he buys a club share. 



Some More Down-Trodden Ones. 



The sportsmen of Dubuque, Iowa, are rising against the 

 "down-trodden" market-fishermen, who are practically 

 depopulating the waters of the Mississippi and tributaries 

 thereabout. One paper, the Lansing Mtrror, mentions a 

 haul of a large seine in which 10,0001bs. of fish were 

 taken, of this oOOibs. being of black bass. Another paper 

 speaks of a haul made under the ice of Frentress Lake, 

 which netted l,0001bs. The Dubuque Trade Journal 

 speaks of angling as a pastime soon to become impossible. 

 The sportsmen have organizad, held meetings and pre- 

 pared a bill which they are endeavoring to have passed. 

 The measure is a strong one. It prohibits all fishing in 

 any public water of Iowa or in the Mississippi or 

 Missouri rivers along the eastern and western boundaries 

 of the State, in any manner whatever, except with hook 

 and line. It makes it unlawful to have a net or s^ine in 

 possession, and gives police powers to any person to seize 

 without warrant any seine or net, and to deposit the same 

 with a justice of the peace, who shall cite the owner to 



Can Get His Trapping Country. 



Sometimes one is asked questions difficult to answer, 

 but by referring the ma/tter to the readers of Forest and 

 Stream it shall go hard if one does not learn what he 

 wishes. The following I offer not so much because I am 

 after trapping country, as because I want to show a hard 

 question answered definitely and concisely. My letter 

 comes from Mr. J. W. Gray, Westboro, Taylor Co., Wis., 

 and reads as below. 



"I see by Forest and Stream that Mr. O. Goode in- 

 quires in regard to fur-bearing animals in Taylor and 

 Price counties, this State. I think I can answer his ques- 

 tion. At the present time hunting would not be profitable 

 with thirty inches of snow in the woods. If he were to 

 come, say, in early October and study the country and get 

 a good location for the winter, trapping would be reason- 

 ably remunerative. Mink are quite plenty. A good deal 

 of territory should be covered to make it profitable. Rats 

 are scarce except in one or two lakes just south and east 

 of Prentice. Martin are found east of Medf ord north of 

 State road. Beaver are scarce and protected by law. Otter 

 are scarce, but a few are found on Jump River and trib- 

 utaries. Wildcats are quite numerous and bring a bounty 

 of $6 in this county and $3 in Price. Cats are most numer- 

 ous in the swamps in Town 33, Range 2 west and on 

 Mondeau Creek, just w^est of this place. Elk River, just 

 west of Phillips, would be a good location. Can give 

 further information if necessary." 



Wants Live Wild Ducks. 

 Mr. Fred Mather, superintendent of the New York 

 State Fishery Commission, is in need of a few live wild 

 ducks, so he says. Can any one tell where he can get 

 them? We are just out of live wild ducks. 



E. Hough. 



909 Security Building, Chicago. 



MAINE AND MASSACHUSETTS. 



Control of the Wilderness. 



The Maine newspapers are discussing, with a good deal 

 of interest, the rights of clubs made up of non-residents to 

 control hunting and fishing rights in that State. The dis- 

 cussion has grown out of the attempt of the Megantic 

 Club to prevent hunters and trappers from invading their 

 preserve without permission. These papers are generally 

 setting up the claim that the fish and game are the prop- 

 erty of the State, and hence the property of any citizen of 

 the State; that any citizen of the State has a right to hunt 

 for his own on any unimproved land or on any of the 

 watei'8 of the State; that no owner or lessee of wild lands 

 can prevent this; that camping and the building of neces- 

 sary fires on wild lands cannot be prevented by the own- 

 ers or lessees of wild lands in the State. An interesting 

 question for the courts to settle is likely to grow out of 

 this discussion, and it is also proposed to ask the Legisla- 

 ture, which convenes next winter, to fix the matter. The 

 question is a very important one, and I have the promise 

 of some fact for the Forest and Stream concerning what 

 the Megantic Club and other clubs and lessees of camp and 

 cottage lots have done in the State. 



The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective 

 Association 



is still greatly interested in the stocking of the woods of 

 the State with quail and other game birds. The associa- 

 tion, through its president, Mr. Edward Brooks, has lately 

 ordered over 1,000 quail from Tennessee. These will be 

 liberated in the eastern part of the State and near the 

 coast, where it is hoped that they can better withstand 

 the severity of the New England climate. It is feared 

 that many of the quail liberated in former seasons in the 

 northern and western part of the State were a total loss. 

 The association will spend all of the available funds of 

 the organization on quail this year, the opinion prevailing 

 that the result will be better than from the putting out of 

 Western grouse J Special. 



Deer . Untimely Taken Off. 



According to the Game Laws in Brief, deer are pro- 

 tected in Connecticut for ten years from 1893; yet the 

 South Norwalk Sentinel recorded the other day: "The 

 famous deer which has been seen several times during the 

 past few weeks in the section of country lying south of 

 South Norwalk, is no more. Yesterday, while out after 

 rabbits, Ira Petty and William Broadhurst, of Rowayton, 

 sighted the fleet-footed quadruped. Mr. Petty fired, the 

 shot taking effect, but the deer kept running at quite a 

 lively pace. When near Dr. Kindred's sanitarium in 

 Darien, the animal turned and began retracing his tracks. 

 This brought him in near Mr. Petty, who fired, the shot 

 taking effect behind one of the animal's forelegs. He 

 gave one bound and fell dead. The deer was a fine speci- 

 men, weighing ISOlbs. dressed." This is a case which 

 should have attention from the Rod and Gun Club of South 

 Norwalk. 



A Catskill, N. Y., correspondent sends us a note saying 

 that of the deer released from the Catskill State Park, last 

 fall, three or more have been seen this month in the vicin- 

 ity of Austin's Glen, two miles from Catskill; and it is 

 reported that some miscreant had shot and wounded one 

 of them. The district game protector has been called on 

 to investigate the case. 



Canvasbacks are Horse Ducks. 



Norfolk:, Va., Feb. 8._— There is a New Orleans French- 

 man on the Cotton Exchange here in Norfolk who speais 

 of canvasback ducks as canard chevatix, or horse ducks. 

 This synonym is new to me. I do not recollect that 

 Trumbull gives it in his "Names and Portraits of Birds." 



Charles Hallock. 



