March 17, 1894. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



225 



forest roadside and embellish the sleeping forest with an 

 emerald green. Great rocks line the roadside, and at 

 some places form the forest floor. Scrub pines grow here 

 and there in crevices on these rocky ledges; and where 

 trees cast their shade "moss grows in scanty patches. 

 Around these ledges in patches of blackberry, sumack 

 and haw bushes is the home of the pheasant. On sunny 

 winter days these rocky shelves are his favorite dusting 

 places. Let us stroll over and view his home. Having 

 a good view of the road and our approach, he was on 

 his guard. The setter comes to a stand; there is a moment 

 of silence. Five pheasants plunge headlong into the 

 thicket and down into the ravine below. Sure enough 

 this is his home. At the thicket edge is his drumming 

 log. Mark to the left. Our setter is pointing; as we take 

 a step toward him he discovers his mistake, looks toward 

 you and wags his tail. Never mind, old fellow; it is not 

 necessary to apologize. Better a mistake now and then 

 than a lost bird is our motto when hunting pheasants. 

 Let us follow this cow path down through the thicket. 

 What strange looking tree is that to the right of the 

 path — a crabapple in this out of the way place. See, 

 where they have been building! It looks as though 

 chickens had been roosting here. A cliff rises behind, 

 from whose abrupt walls hang festoons of gray moss that 

 sway to the passing breeze. From the 'very top a pheas- 

 ant hurls himself into mid air with roar that sounds 

 strangely loud on the winter air. A stone fence slopes 

 down to the pasture field below. A ground squirrel 

 sounds his rasping bark, then retires to "his hole in the 

 fence, closely pursued by the setter. Along its moss- 

 grown sides, among fallen rocks, overgrown with part- 

 tridge berry and wild honeysuckle, is the home of the 

 cottontail. It is also the highway for squirrels; in early 

 spring many a trophy falls to the unerring rifle. 



Pasture and forest descending in gentle undulations 

 form a cross-country prospect that makes a delightful en- 

 vironment; in yonder springy meadow that winds between 

 bushy thickets of alders is a splendid woodcock ground. 

 Dull, yet picturesque, it lies under the gray winter sky. 

 Let us turn back and cut across the woods to home. The 

 setter has a point; they are waiting and settle in the stub- 

 blefield; the setter comes to heel, stops and looks wistfully 

 back, then follows homeward. Cumberland. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE NOTES AND NOTIONS. 



Manchester, N. H., March 8.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The near approach of spring and the opening of 

 the trout season, April 15, is looked forward to with joy- 

 ful anticipations by our sportsmen, each being determined 

 in advance to catch a few more fish this year and to put 

 a few more days into the sport than in any previous 

 year. Hope and anticipation furnishing a large share of 

 the pleasures of life, fortunate indeed are we that there is 

 no possible hindrance to taking full advantage of that 

 phase of our temporal career. The tackle of last season I 

 will soon be under inspection, the useless discarded and 

 new put in its place, of better design, if experience has 

 tauaht that there is better to be had, the early worm will 

 be laid in wait for and the early bird will not profit by 

 his capture, and then the fun will begin. 



The past winter has been an unusually prolific one for 

 rabbit hunters. The strings have not run up to what 

 they were known to thirty years ago, when the late Col, 

 John B. Clarke and a couple of companions would go out 

 and bring in anywhere from twenty to forty a day, but 

 among recent seasons this has taken the lead. The best 

 string contained fourteen and the next eleven. In the 

 aggregate the numbei' taken here since September has 

 been immense. W. C. Clarke, Dr. D. S, Adams, Charles 

 and George M. Clark, J. B. Estey and Warren F. Wheeler 

 have been the most successful parties, nearly all of them 

 own excellent dogs> and every one of them are adepts at 

 the business. 



During the early part of the season foxes were wonder- 

 fully thick in adjoining towns, and hunters had the best 

 sport of their lives. So far as I have been able to learn 

 Walter J. Whiting stands at the head with 14 pelts to his 

 credit, and Edgar if, Kelsea next* with 9. For some 

 reason the run Of luck did not extend through many 

 moons, as the last two months have shown slim returns 

 front the sport. It is not that the supply of game has run 

 out, as the farmers report foxes still plenty and as mis- 

 chievous as ever. There have of late been deep snows, 

 cruets and generally poor running, but the knowing ones 

 advance the theory, as the principal cause of the recent 

 poor showing, that most of the dogs used are too fast, 

 causing the experienced reynards to go too far, and 

 entirely out of reach, and, usually, sight of the hunter, 

 many of those started heading for miles straight across 

 the country, as though they had business in an adjoining 

 county of a permanent nature. 



Profiting by the knowledge of the benefit derived from 

 the establishment of the Merrimack County Fish and 

 Game League, the sportsmen of Hillsborough county re- 

 cently met and organized a Game and Protective Associa- 

 tion.' W. C. Clarke was chosen president, and C. J. 

 Darrah secretary and treasurer. The Association is se- 

 curing a large membership and can do a great work for 

 the fraternity in the county, if the interest of the individ- 

 ual members in the matter does not end with the signing 

 of the constitution and the settlement of yearly dues, as is 

 far too often the case, leaving ah. the practical work for 

 the enforcement of the laws and the carrying out of the 

 designs of the organization to the officers. The Associa- 

 tion started out with- the best of officers, but like a vessel 

 on a cruise, in order to make a satisfactory voyage, xt will 

 require the co-operation of every man connected with the 

 Craft, This State has long had good fish and game laws, 

 but like the prohibitory law of which some are so proud, 

 they have fallen far short of accomplishing their purpose. 

 The New Hampshire Fish and Game Law has existed 

 many years, posessed commendable purposes and has 

 done considerable good, but covering so large a territory 

 made it unwieldy, many of its foremost members have 

 died, others have moved out of the State or lost their in- 

 terest, and for the past two years little has been heard 

 from it, in fact it seems to have nearly or quite passed 

 into oblivion. It was apparent that something must be 

 done for the preservation of the sportsman's interests and 

 a county association seemed the most feasible plan to 

 pursue. 



As an illustration of the lack of interest taken in the 

 enforcement of the game laws, I may note that a deer 

 was killed on Merrimack common, in the heart of this 

 city, a few weeks ago, being surrounded and captured by 



a mob; then clubbed to death and spirited away, few knew 

 where and none made any effort to ascertain, notwith- 

 standing there is a law imposing a fine of $50 or six months' 

 imprisonment, or both, covering such an act, yet there 

 was no one to prosecute the offender. The animal was 

 started in the town of Auburn and run by dogs to the 

 scene of his ignominious death. There, were those who 

 claimed that it was lawful to kill any wild animal in the 

 thickly settled part of the town, as they might do someone 

 harm, or frighten a horse perhaps. If admitting that his 

 presence here was a source of danger, after being unlaw- 

 fully hounded to the place where he was liable to cause 

 trouble, is it not the part of sound reasoning that the 

 person responsible for his being driven to such a place 

 should be the sufferer, rather than the deer, and made to 

 settle all such damages, and the law-protected animal 

 allowed life and liberty. It is my impression that those 

 who killed that deer were fortunate that they had the 

 dreamy New Hampshire League to avoid instead of the 

 new County Association. 



Herbert F. Green, one of the brightest young sportsmen 

 of this city, as well as an ardent boatman, met with a 

 fatal accident the 3d inst. While cleaning a revolver a 

 cartridge left in one of the chambers was by some means 

 exploded and the ball penetrated the man's heart. It was 

 unquestionably an accident, but the circumstances sur- 

 rounding it will never be understood, as the victim was 

 alone and "what might have been" will continue to be 

 sad words, in his case, as certainly as "what was" is 

 deeply deplored by his hosts of friends. 



A singular, and as far as I have been able to learn, un- 

 precedented accident, occurred in my presence a few days 

 ago. A hunter was firing at a target, using a high grade 

 12-bore hammerless gun, with a special smokeless shell, 

 No. 3 primer, 45grs. Schultze powder and lioz. shot. When 

 he pulled the trigger to the right barrel the primer was 

 forced from the shell, crowded back the firing pin anel 

 followed it into the stock, accompanied by sufficient pow- 

 der and force to blow a hole in the side about 4Xfin., 

 throwing the piece of stock 20ft. The barrel was clear, he 

 had fired the gun thousands of times, and used many pounds 

 of the same kind of powder with universal pleasure. Unless 

 some one rises to explain I shall set the occurrence down 

 as a freak of either the powder, shell or gun, with the 

 weight of probability of capriciousness resting on the first 

 named. Possibly the gun was made up wrong end to? 



Payson. 



STOP THE SALE OF GAME. 



A Platform Plank.— 77ie sale of game should be forbidden at all 

 limes.— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 



Clarendon, Ark. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your, 

 discussion of methods for preventing the wholesale 

 slaughter of game is indeed timely, and I believe your 

 ideas could be successfully executed if the sportsmen of 

 the country would lend their active co-operation — that is, 

 use their personal influence with representatives to pro- 

 cure certain legislation. A personal talk with the legis- 

 lator is worth months of public agitation . 



Prohibiting the sale of game at all seasons would have 

 the desired result in many of the States, but in the South 

 a tax on guns in addition thereto would be necessary. 

 There are very few market-hunters in the South, especi- 

 ally is this the case in Arkansas. The colored brother 

 with his smooth-bore musket or pot-metal breech-loader 

 is the gentleman we want to stop. He hunts in season 

 and out of season, and woe be unto whatever cresses his 

 path — fat hogs not excepted. The negroes live in the 

 country district in the midst of the game, with probably 

 not more than one white family to the square mile, and 

 thus situated they violate the game laws with impunity. 

 A small tax on guns— say $5 or $2.50 each — would afford 

 much relief, and, so far as the South is concerned, accom- 

 plish more practical good than anything that could be 

 added to the game laws already on the statutes. I do not 

 believe that such tax would conflict with or abridge the 

 privilege to bear arms that is guaranteed by the Constitu- 

 tion. 



The sportsmen of this State and other States where the 

 game is still fairly plentiful will soon be confronted with 

 the same conditions that now confront those of older 

 States. Ten years hare wrought wonderful changes here. 

 Then it was considered nothing Unusual to bag thirty or 

 forty prairie chickens in an afternoon's hunt; now it is 

 doubtful if a thousand of these birds exist on all of Grand 

 Prairie. Ten years ago our veteran hunter, Dr. R. M. 

 West, killed sixty-six deer; he was delighted last season 

 over a score of fourteen. Ten years ago more than forty 

 coveys of quail could be found around the outskirts of 

 Clarendon; season before last I found but thirteen coveys, 

 and last season I found only four on the same grounds. 

 It is the same as regards other game. Only a few more 

 years at the present rate will be required to complete the 

 work of extermination. Whatever is to be done should 

 be gone ahead with at once; delay would be to simply 

 "lock the stable door after the horse had been stolen." 



Wm. E. Spencer. 



Sprinofield, Vt. , March 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The sportsmen of Vermont are with you in your fight 

 against the market-hunter. We'll take that pl_tnk of 

 yours and with the aid of all intelligent voters in this 

 country we'll close the entrance to that slaughter pen into 

 which countless thousands of our game birds and animals 

 are driven each year. Now don't imagine for a moment 

 that I want to stop the market-hunter from killing fifty 

 birds a day to support his wife and babies and allow the 

 so-called sportsman to kill a hundred to give to his friends 

 or rot in the garbage barrel. "H. C. S." in your edition 

 of Feb. 24 touched the keynote to a theme that has run in 

 my head for a long time when he said, "Count me one 

 against the market-hunter, and when you get through with 

 him, then there is another man who is just as bad, and 

 I sometimes think worse, who wants looking after badly. 

 He does not go round with 'a muzzle-loader and yaller 

 dog. ' On the contrary he generally has the finest of out- 

 fits and is a good shot. He is the man who kills a hun- 

 dred ducks a day and boasts about it." If some poor fellow 

 breaks away from his weary round of toil and spends a 

 day in the fragrant woods or pleasant fields, breathing 

 God's pure air and getting in touch with all nature, then 

 if he sells the contents of his bag to replenish his always 

 slender purse, he is a "blamed pot-hunter," while the in- 

 dividual "H. C. S." describes may spend weeks afield, 

 slaughter game right and left, and the world of sports- 

 men smiles its approval. 



"Kelpie" comes in good and strong on the chorus in the 



March 3 number when he writes, "But what business has 

 any man, be he prince or peasant, with more than a 

 dozen birds in a day, or with more than one, or at most 

 two, deer in a season?" 



I am very much pleased to hear these sentiments ex- 

 pressed in your columns, and I want to raise my voice in 

 a loud amen. These few words may fall to earth before 

 reaching their mark, but I have relieved my mind, any- 

 way. I would like to know the opinions of brother read- 

 ers of this paper on this theme. W.W. Brown. 



Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 28.— Editor Forest and ' 

 Stream: It is my opinion that no legislature of any of 

 the United States or Territories will ever pass a law pro- 

 hibiting the sale of game at all times. Insteael pass a law 

 prohibiting the selling or offering for sale any game (no 

 matter where killed) at any time during the close season 

 on such game, and making the having in one's possession 

 any of such game prima facie evidence of guilt; and for- 

 bidding the shipping of game out of the State at any 

 time, and you will have solved the game preservation 

 question. Such a law, in case of arrest for its violation, 

 would put the burden of proof on the offender; it would 

 prevent the storage of game, to be sold during the close 

 season; it would prevent the shipping of game out of the 

 State at any time; and last, but not least, it would effectu- 

 ally shut off that old dodge "that it was killed in some 

 other State." A. B. Witcher. 



New York, March 7. — Editor Forest and Stream 

 While out for lunch to-day I saw more evidence of the 

 necessity of the prohibition of the sale of game, in the 

 shape of a bunch of rabbits hung up in front of a game 

 dealer's stall in Washington Market. If there is any way 

 to bring these violators to justice I will do my share 

 toward it It is bad enough to have game pot-hunted in 

 open season, but to do it when it is unlawful is worse yet. 

 I have been told that they could not be prosecuted because 

 they would prove that the game had been in cold storage. 

 Will you please enlighten me on that point? On Monday 

 afternoon my brother saw a deer landed at East New 

 York station of the Long Island Railroad. It was done 

 up in bagging as if it was a calf. It was immediately 

 taken in charge by two policemen, who ordered it sent to 

 the station house. I suppose they were notified by people 

 who saw it shipped, as they were on hand when it arrived. 

 Somebody did a good day's work against law breakers. 

 Keep putting a new prop under the platform you have 

 built and there will be more climbing on it all the time. 



Old Squaw. 



[The New York law eloes not forbid the sale of rabbits 

 even in close season. This is a defect which should be 

 remedied.] 



Hudson, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: Some 

 years ago you waged a war against summer shooting. 

 This was one of the many needed reforms in our 

 game laws, and although your task at first appeared 

 a hopeless one, thanks to your persistent and untiring 

 efforts, the sportsman saw that you were right and to-day 

 the shooting of woodcock in July is a thing of the past. 

 Now you strike the keynote to another great protection 

 when you say, "Stop the sale of game," and let me tell 

 you right here that Columbia county has already antici- 

 pated you in this great reform, and last year our super- 

 visors enacted the following law: 



Sec. 9. No person shall, after the 1st day of May, 1893, catch or kill 

 within the limits of said county of Columbia, any -woodcock, quail, 

 hare or rabbit, squirrel, ruffed grouse, commonly called partridge, 

 meadow lark, snipe, rail, woodduck or speckled or brook trout, for 

 the purpose of selling or marketing the same; nor take or receive any 

 fee, hire, barter or reward from another for the catching or killing of 

 any such bird, animal, game or fish for such other person; nor shall 

 any person, company or corporation, market, sell, have in possession 

 to sell, offer for sale or attempt to sell, any of the said mentioned 

 birds, game, animals or fish, if caught or killed within the said county 

 of Columbia. , , , . 



Sec. 10. No person, company or corporation shall carry, ship or 

 transport from one point to another, either witnin or without said 

 county, any of said birds, animals, game or fish caught or killed within 

 said county of Columbia; provided the same are being shipped, carried 

 or transported for the purpose of selling or marketing, or when the 

 same are not accompanied by the owner thereof. 



i Sec. 11. Any and every person, company or corporation violating any 

 of the provisions or restrictions of this act, shall be liable to a penalty 

 of .§25 for each violation thereof; and in addition thereto shall be liable 

 to a penalty of $10 for each of the foregoing mentioned and named 

 birds animals, game or fish had in possession, caught, killed, marketed, 

 sold, attempted to sell, carried or transported contrary to or in viola- 

 tion of any of the provisions or restrictions of this act. 



Sec. 12 All penalties provided for or imposed by this act may be 

 sued for and recovered, judgment thereon had and executions en- 

 forced, and the proceeds or recovery applied or distributed as pro- 

 vided in Article 10 of Chapter 31 of the General Laws of 1892 of the 

 State of New York, for the collection and enforcement of penalties 

 provided for in said chapter; or as otherwise provided by law for the 

 collection and enforcement of penalties. 



This law went in effect May 1, 1893, and was a death 

 blow to the market-shooters and fishers in this county. 

 Heretofore it had been their custom to hunt and fish 

 every day from the opening to the closing of the season, and 

 peddle their game and fish from door to door. Now if this 

 can be a success in Columbia county (as it has been) why 

 can it not be in every county in this and other States. 

 We know full well what you have to contend with, but 

 don't let up. Keep the ball rolling, and as in the 

 past, so will you have your reward in knowing that your 

 efforts are appreciated not only by those of us who are 

 sportsmen now, but also those who are to come after us. 



Colt's Neck, N. Y.— Editor Forest and Stream: I can 

 truly say that the sentiments expressed through the 

 columns of your paper in regard to market-shooting fully 

 agree with mine, and I would be too glad if every State 

 made or amended its game laws so as to put a veto on that 

 business entirely, for I have noted the results of market- 

 hunting in different places, and also of game protection. 



An American contemporary, Forest and Stream, advo- 

 cates the forbidding of the sale of game at all seasons, on 

 the ground that it has no longer any economic value as 

 food but "has become a luxury, is so regarded, ana sold 

 at prices which make it such. We can now supply food 

 with the plow, reaper and cattle range cheaper than with 

 the rifle or shotgun. We are no longer dependent for our 

 sustenance on the resources and methods of primitive 

 man " Forest and Stream pleads for the game from the 

 sportsman's point of view. Both ground and feathered 

 ^ame have certainly been entirely blotted out of wide 

 areas and unless legislation steps in, the American fauna, 

 will only exist in museums.— 77?^ Eaho, London, Eng. 



