May 19, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



428 



Franklin county, W. Va., many deer, but very hard to 

 get, as the settlers will let the deer go and shoot the dogs, 

 especially if they belonged to a stranger, while they are 

 running their own dogs directly against the laws of West 

 Virginia. But such is life. We fared sumptuously and 

 our thanks are always in order to Uncle Hill Minnick r New 

 Market, Va., for his kindness to us in our six weeks' hunt. 



Flickertail. 



IN SUPPORT OF THE "PLANK." 



A Piatitorm Plank. — Tlie sale of game should be forbidden at all 

 times.— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 



Lincoln, Neb., May 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 believe the position that you have taken, that the sale of 

 game should be prohibited during all seasons of the year, 

 is correct. My observation has satisfied me, that so far at 

 least as the game birds of this State are concerned, the 

 market-hunter is responsible for their destruction. He 

 hunts for profit, and if you can destroy his market he 

 will be compelled to turn his attention to some other pur- 

 suit. The greater portion of the game killed goes to the 

 large cities, and is there distributed to other points. 

 Nearly all the game killed in this State by market- 

 hunters, goes to Chicago, and it would seem that if the 

 law prevented the handling of game in Chicago, St. 

 Louis, New York and a few other of the large centers of 

 population, that the matter of game protection could be 

 brought to a successful issue. 



Of one thing I am certain; and that is, we need a more 

 general reading of the Forest and Stream. The man 

 who can read this paper for any length of time and-see 

 the efforts being made by the better class of men through- 

 out the country to propagate and protect the game, and 

 then wantonly destroy it himself, is, to say the least, a 

 very peculiar animal. 



In northwestern Nebraska, on the line of the C. B. & 

 Q. from Lincoln, Neb., to Deadwood, S. L\, is a strip of 

 country extending from a point 25 miles west from 

 Broken Bow, westward to Alliance, about 150 miles long 

 by 75 wide, embracing four or five counties, that is com- 

 posed almost entirely of what is called sand hill 

 country. This country is the home of what are com- 

 monly called prairie chickens, and they breed here by 

 thousands. This country is the heaven of market- 

 hunters. At every station along the railroad and they 

 are about ten miles apart, we find from two to five men 

 who do absolutely nothing the year around but hunt. 

 These men start hunting early in July, when the birds 

 are not larger than quail, and hunt several days in the 

 week until midwinter, when what few birds are left have 

 become so wild that they cannot be successfully 

 hunted. They then loaf until the hunting season com- 

 mences again. All these men use the repeating shot- 

 guns, commonly called "pump guns," and become so ex- 

 pert in their use that they will sometimes kill seven birds at 

 one rise. When they commence hunting the birds are 

 such weak flyers that they almost invariably get every 

 bird in the flock before they hunt for another. Early in 

 the season they will average 75 birds per day to the gun, 

 and they frequently make $100 a month per man, above 

 expenses. 



I talked with one of these hunters last fall, who, by the 

 way, is only a boy of 18 years, and was told by him that 

 he had not hunted much, as he was obliged to clerk in his 

 father's store most of the time; but that he had killed 

 '4, 800 during the season. He also bought and shipped 

 birds at the station where he lived, and said he had paid 

 out over $4,000 for birds during the season. I am person- 

 ally acquainted with many of these men and know just 

 what they are doing. The birds are put in small barrels; 

 a layer of ice is put in, then a layer of birds, and so on 

 until the barrel is filled; then it is headed up and shipped 

 to some commission house in Chicago, billed "Country 

 Produce." 



It is of no use to try to prosecute these men under the 

 State law, as there is scarcely a person in these counties 

 not interested in this illegal slaughter of game. Unless 

 there is some way to prevent dealers in Chicago from 

 handling this game, there is no remedy. These men will 

 not work and so long as they can find a ready market for 

 their game they will do nothing but hunt, until the game, 

 in what is one of the best natural preserves, is extermin- 

 ated. 



Yours for preventing the sale of game during all sea- 

 sons of the year. K. 



t 



Halifax, N. S., April 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I am much interested in the articles from Forest and 

 Stream inclosed in your letter. The matter has been in 

 my own mind for some time, and I believe that to put a 

 stop to the sale of game as an article of commerce is 

 largely to solve the great question whether game is to 

 remain on this continent or not. C. S. Harrington. 



Baltimore, Md. — Editor Forest and Stream: I am 

 greatly in favor of your "Platform Plank," as I think the 

 sale of game should and must be prohibited if we wish to 

 save what game is left throughout tho country from the 

 murderous hand of the market-hunters. I am sure this 

 class of men are mostly responsible for the rapid decrease 

 of our game. I have noticed the great amount of game 

 that is shipped to this city and I presume the greater 

 amount of it is killed by market-hunters. 1^ think your 

 paper will do a great deal in bringing about a change in 

 favor of the new platform plank, and I wish it much suc- 

 cess. M. P. 



Cle^land, O. — Editor Forest and Stream: For some 

 weeks I have been wishing to add my word in favor of the 

 1 'Platform Plank " I am delighted with the stand Forest 

 and Stream has taken in regard to the sale of game. 



The game is the property of all the people, and should 

 no more be reduced to possession in large quantities and 

 made an article of merchandise than air or sunlight. 

 Prohibiting its sale would work inconvenience or in jury 

 to but three small classes of citizens— the rich who buy 

 game for their tables, the dealer, and the market-hunter. 

 None of these classes has shown itself so heartily on the 

 side of game protection and preservation that its conveni- 

 ence should for a moment be considered, particularly to 

 the detriment of the rights of the whole body of citizens. 



It will be universally conceded, I imagine, that the 

 wild game of a State rightly subserves tw o purposes; that 

 is, it supplies food to those in newly-settled districts, while 

 its pursuit furnishes recreation and health to all citizens 

 who care to hunt and fish, Neither of these.f unctions 



will be impaired by the passage of a law prohibiting the 

 sale of game, but both will certainly be extended. 



The city which furnishes its citizens with a public park 

 where they may enjoy fresh air and sunshine, and the 

 State which provides a forest preserve, offering the same 

 blessings on a larger scale, are but doing their duty by the 

 community. So, too, a State which, by proper laws, 

 makes it possible for its citizens to pleasurably take a rea- 

 sonable amount of game for their own use, is but protect- 

 ing the large majority of its members from the greed and 

 rapacity of a few. 



By all means let us have a law which shall prohibit the 

 sale of game and its possession in large quantities. 



F. M. C. 



-Eufatjla, Indian Territory, April 24. — Editor Forest 

 and Stream: By all means let the sale of game be stopped 

 in every State and Territory. And while we are working 

 against the market-hunter let us not forget to rebuke 

 some of our own members who profess to be true sports- 

 men, yet kill inordinately. On Sept. 1 last, when the 

 season opened, 1,000 ducks were killed on Horicon Marsh 

 in one day, 75 by one man. See Forest and Stream re- 

 port. I should not want such sportsmen to visit my sec- 

 tion of the country, and I should never let them shoot 

 over my land. Such wholesale slaughter of ducks has 

 thinned them out until we have almost none in this 

 country where they once were plentiful. The whole num- 

 ber killed by me from Nov. 1 to March 1 was 25. How 

 does that look beside 802? 



Gentlemen, it is time that you were being a little more 

 moderate in your shooting, and when you have killed a 

 dozen ducks or two dozen quails in one day you should be 

 satisfied and go home. Do not try to kill everythjng you 

 see just because you can kill it, and manage in some way 

 to dispose of what does not spoil. There is little game 

 here in spite of reports to the contrary. G. R. E, 



Ardonia, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: I am with 

 you in your efforts to stop the sale of game. If there is 

 not something of the kind done soon we will have no 

 game to protect. Yes, stop the , sale of and limit the 

 quantity of game any one person may take in a season. 

 And as to the farmer's boy being so destructive to game, 

 I think he is not half so bad as the boy of the small town 

 who has nothing to do and can run with a pot-metal gun 

 in season and out. B. 



San Francisco, Cal. — Editor Forest and Stream: I de- 

 sire to add my vote in favor of the universal adoption of 

 your Platform Plank, regarding the sale of game. A few 

 relatively worthless fellows may be thrown out of their 

 usual occupation, and hence be compelled to follow some 

 more prosaic calling for a living. A gourmet here and 

 there may be compelled to content himself with just the 

 common domestic fowl and lamb instead of wild duck 

 and venison; but the rights of these and similar classes, 

 when placed over against the enjoyment, the welfare and 

 the incentive to healthful exercise on the part of the great 

 mass of men are not for a moment to be considered. 



The prolonging of the existence of game in our country 

 is a matter to be considered now. Inevitably in the 

 course of years the hunting of game will be confined 

 largely to the wealthier class of every community, for 

 only they will be able to afford the means of feeding and 

 breeding wild game. There is, happily, in my own State 

 yet abundance of game in its natural state, and with our 

 present population, with short open seasons, and with 

 total suppression of the sale of game and of the skins 

 thereof there will be good shooting here for generations 

 to come for both rich and poor. 



I have hunted the black-tail in central and northern 

 California more or less for twenty-seven years, and can 

 say that this deer is still quite abundant in its favorite 

 haunts, notwithstanding the vast numbers that have been 

 slaughtered annually by professional skin hunters previous 

 to the last two or three years. 



We are happy to announce to co-workers in the com- 

 mon cause that the sale of venison and deerskins is now 

 prohibited by law in this State at all times. As a conse- 

 quence deer are increasing in numbers every year. 



In anticipation of the meeting of the State Legislature 

 this winter a large number of representative sportsmen 

 from throughout the State were called together last week 

 in this city for the purpose of discussing and recommend- 

 ing certain more rigid laws for the protection of game. 

 There proved to be a strong sentiment existing in favor 

 of the suppression of the sale of game; but of course it 

 was deemed unwise to attempt too much at one time. 

 The work of the convention, however, was on the right 

 lines, and if its recommendation s^become laws, California 

 sportsmen are to be congratulated. 



I wish to advert to one specious, but fallacious argu- 

 ment used by our opponents, which is unfortunately as- 

 sented to by too many right-minded sportsmen. That 

 argument which I would like to see "scotched" is that 

 the so-called "game hog" is worse than the professional 

 hunter. Now, I venture to say that a score of the latter 

 gentry will, in any given year, destroy more game than 

 all the so-called "game hogs" in the entire country. 

 Again, the amateur, even though he be habitually greedy 

 for a big bag, will be found advocating short open sea- 

 sons, and other measures for the perpetuation of his 

 favorite game, he stands ready with both head and purse 

 to further these ends — something the stolid professional 

 never troubles himself about. Roeel. 



Charlestown, N. H. — Editor Forest and Stream: Let 

 me claim the privilege of the old proverb, "Better late 

 than never," to drive a spike in the "No Sale of Game" 

 plank in your sportsmen's platform. 



It is the sale of game, for the purpose of replenishing 

 the pockets of those who are too lazy to work for an hon- 

 est living, which is robbing our forests and streams of 

 their great attractions. Nor is the much pitied and 

 sympathized with "farmer's boy" to be excluded from the 

 list, for he is usually the "chief of sinners." 



Living out on the hills, near the brooks, he usually 

 spends his Sundays on them, catching anything that will 

 bite, as long as the season or the trout last, and driving in 

 to the village tavern in the evening to sell those which 

 are above the legal size, and, I suppose, eating the little 

 ones at home as they do the small potatoes! Nob- do they 

 confine themselves to their fathers' farms, for I have met 

 them miles away from home, on a wet day, when they 

 could not plow or hoe, stripping all the brooks within 

 walking distance.jiThe ruffed grouse suffer too from their 



snares, and I^delight in occasionally destroying one or two 

 of the latter in my woodland rambles. 



I know of no way to prevent the utter destruction of 

 our game, except to prohibit its sale as an article of 

 merchandise. Von W. 



Madison, Wisconsin.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 am very much pleased at the stand Forest and Stream 

 has taken in regard to the sale of game. I have long be- 

 lieved it to be the only solution of the problem, and 

 sincerely hope the step will be a successful one. 



The other day while walking through the markets of 

 one of the neighboring cities, I saw many hundred ducks, 

 most of which were redhead and bluebill with a sprink- 

 ling of canvasbacks among the lot, for sale at the different 

 stalls. The greater part of these ducks had been shipped 

 to the proprietors of the stalls for sale on commission aihd 

 were the result of a three days' trip by three local market- 

 hunters. The birds were in such poor condition that they 

 could hardly be disposed of at any price. When one sees 

 canvasbacks and redheads offered at 50 cents a pair and 

 finding but few takers because of their poor condition, I 

 think it's about time to call a halt, and I say most earnestly 

 "Stop the Sale of Game." G. K. T. 



Nashville, Tenn.— I am most heartily with Forest 

 and Stream in the effort to protect the game of this 

 country, and believe that nothing short of such a drastic 

 measure as the absolute prohibition of the game traffic 

 will accomplish the desired result. A. A. W. 



RIFLES FOR SMALL GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is to be regretted that the .25cal. shell suggested by 

 your correspondent, W. L. Carpenter, in Forest and 

 Stream of March 10 and May 18, '93, does not seem to be 

 appreciated by the manufacturing companies in the 

 States. 



A straight shell is certainly superior to one of bottle 

 shape for general purposes. It is less liable to stick in the 

 chamber, it does not require swedging even after long 

 use, and it can easily be loaded with reduced charges 

 when less power is required than that given by the full 

 measure of powder. The sole advantages of the bottle- 

 shaped shell are its comparative shortness and its capacity 

 for retaining a certain amount of fouling which might 

 otherwise be deposited inside the barrel. 



That the straight shell proposed by Mr. Capenter would 

 be extremely useeful for small game shooting there can, I 

 think, be no doubt, judging by the success of a cartridge 

 of very similar pattern brought out in England at the lat- 

 ter end of 1892 by a Mr. Leeson, a gunmaker at Ashford 

 in Kent. Many American sportsmen are probably aware 

 that the favorite small game rifle in this county has, for 

 some years past, been one of .30cal. taking a straight 

 shell which will hold 12grs. of powder, with a wad and a 

 bullet weighing 82grs. (or 72grs. when hollow-pointed), 

 seated over the cannelures. This is, on the whole, a very 

 satisfactory weapon for all animals on the British Islands 

 that can fairly be classed as sma 1 ! game. It can also be 

 used with much success for killing seals and roe deer, but 

 for such purposes, and for stalking game like bustard, 

 wild geese, etc., in other countri* s, it is defective through 

 having too high a trajectory. Mr. Leeson has therefore 

 had a .30cal. shell manufactured, perfectly straight like 

 the old pattern, and taking the same bullet, but long 

 enough to hold 24grs. of black, or the equivalent of 

 smokeless, powder. It can also be loaded with reduced 

 charges which make accurate shooting up to 75yds. 



The rifle is chiefly made for foreign sport. It weighs 

 61bs., has a detachable barrel with side lever action and 

 is often fitted with the Lyman sights. I may here 

 remark that for game rifles of this description it is diffi- 

 cult to find a nearer approach to perfection than Lyman's 

 ivory-bead fore sight and his smallest sized folding rear 

 aperture sight. 



(Composite guns are likewise made which form splen- 

 did collecting weapons for naturalists. They weigh 5*lbs., 

 have one barrel chambered for the same cartridge as the 

 rifle and the other for the .41cal. brass shot shell, which 

 is loaded with 28grs. of black, or 14 of smokeless powder, 

 and §oz. of shot.) 



The editor of the London Field, after superintending 

 a trial, reported that this small charge gave a pattern and 

 penetration sufficiently good to kill rabbits with certainty 

 at more than 30yds. His trial of the rifle showed that it 

 would put seven successive shots at 150yds. into a ring 

 6 or 7in. in diameter. 



Here I think an improvement in accuracy might be 

 obtained by a somewhat diminished powder charge both 

 in the English .30 cartridge and in the .25 described by 

 Mr. Carpenter. However valuable a flat trajectory may 

 be, it does not pay, especially in small game shooting, to 

 gain this at a sacrifice of minute accuracy. If the 

 express principle be carried to excess, not only will small 

 animals be often missed but, what is far worse, will 

 often escape with broken limbs or wounds not immedi- 

 ately fatal, or else will be so badly mangled as to be 

 unfit for the table. Some American sportsmen complain 

 even now of the .25-20-77 cartridge tearing game too 

 much. 



Numerous experiments at targets have proved clearly 

 that with the projectiles at present in use there is a 

 marked diminution in regular accuracy when the pow- 

 der charge exceeds about one-fourth the weight of the 

 bullet. This proportion of the black rifle powder as made 

 in England gives 1,600ft. a second initial velocity and a 

 trajectory curve 2in. high in the 100yds. flight. With 

 some of the milder brands of powder made in America, a 

 little more may perhaps be used, but the velocity above 

 mentioned seems to give the best combination of accur- 

 acy and trajectory for game shooting. 



Practical sportsmen will, I am sure, admit that three- 

 fourths of the small game actually bagged is killed within 

 50yds., and most of the remaining fourth within 80yds. 

 It is evident therefore that a rifle with a trajectory of 2in. 

 can be sighted so that no allowance need be made for the 

 distances at which it is advisable, with rare exceptions, to 

 fire at small animals, and it is not worth while to sacrifice 

 even a slight amount of accuracy for the sake of making 

 the bullets curve a little flatter. These very small bore 

 rifles are more liable than the larger gauges to have their 

 shooting spoiled by a trifling increase in the amount of 

 powder, and I doubt whether the 86grs. bullet will do its 

 best if the charge exceed 20grs, J. J, Meyrick, 



South Devon, Englao4. 



