444 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[MAY 26, 1894. 



Beaver in! Strange Places. 



Philadelphia, N. Y., May lb— Editor Forest ^ and 

 Stream: The inclosed article was taken from a Water- 

 town daily, and may be of interest, especially if those m 

 the locality mentioned would only verify the statement, 

 made concerning the presence of beaver in the Adiron- 

 dacks on tne outlet of Lake Meacham, and, the report 

 being true, prompt and proper should the action be toward 

 their preservation from those vagabond villains who 

 respect neither law nor right, but go roaming through the 

 woods with no other purpose than the gratification of 

 selfish desires and barbarous instincts. 



It has been supposed tbat beaver were long ago extinct in the Adir- 

 ondacks, but fresh work by them has been found on the outlet of Lake 

 Meacham, twenty -five miles south of Malone. This discovery has 

 attracted a good deal of attention from the guides and hunters. 

 Beaver feed on the bark of the birch, willow, alder and poplar and it 

 is their habit to lay by stores of food in the summer. Guides who 

 were fishing on Meacham outlet found last week sticks of poplar of 

 varying length and diameter, from half an inch to an inch, cut almost 

 as neatly at each end as the work could have been done with a knife. 

 It was unmistakably the work of beavers. It would add largely to 

 the charm of the Adirnndacks if beavers were again to establish 

 themselves there and erect their strange habitations. The game laws 

 now forbid the trapping or killing of these animals at any time of the 

 year. 



As for the fishing about Philadelphia, it is somewhat 



food— bass, pickerel, perch, bullheads and nearby trout, 

 oth speckled and salmon. But not many of the former. 

 Near Redroad there are numerous lakes where the fish 

 leap and grasp the fisherman's hook fit to make him dance. 



The real point is the beaver. Are they there or are they 

 the idea of some newspaper man? Raymond S. Speaks. 



The Washington Star of May 10 reported: "Alive 

 beaver was found on the farm of Mr. G. D. Gilbert yes- 

 terday, near Four-Mile Run, in Virginia, which makes 

 the fact all the more remarkable. Where it came from 

 or how it got there nobody knows, but it made its first 

 appearance walking contentedly along on its hindlegs, 

 taking in the sights and enjoying the landscape. Its 

 first appearance was also its last farewell, for the hired 

 man, who was spreading manure with a pitchfork near 

 by, didn't wait for the beaver to present its card or cre- 

 dentials. He struck it with his fork in the head, killing 

 it. Mr. Gilbert was at the house at the time, but is 

 bemoaning his fate in tbat he was not there to catch it 

 alive. He brought the beaver into the city with him this 

 morning and took it over to the Smithsonian to be stuffed 

 and kept as a specimen there. The animal was full 

 grown and heavy, and would unquestionably been valu- 

 able if it had been taken alive." 



Another Albino Deer. 



Chicago, May 9. — I read your note on the albino deer 

 killed in Maine in a recent issue of Forest and Stream, 

 I noticed the other day in the Chicago Tribune the inclosed: 

 John M. Bredt, Columbus Memorial Building, has a genuine white 

 deer, which he has secured to go with his collection of animals, birds 

 and butterflies. The deer was killed near Cable, Wis., after it had 

 badly frightened two young men. The deer is without a single mark 

 upon its body. Its eyes were pink like those of an albino, and in the 

 mounting the color of the eyes was reproduced. It is 3ft. 5in. in 

 height and 4ft. 6in. to the tip of its horns. Its age was three years. 

 Two young men where hunting near Cable four months ago and they 

 returned greatly excited, and reported seeing an animal in the woods 

 which was perfectly white and of the size of an elephant. Many 

 thought it was a ghost and a party of fifteen was made up to capture 

 it. After two days 1 hunting the white deer was killed. Mr. Bredt 

 heard of it from a friend who saw the deer an hour after it had been 

 killed. He made an offer for it which was accepted and it was 

 mounted in Washburn, Wis. There is no doubt of the genuineness of 

 its color. 



To-day I went and saw the specimen. It is a pretty 

 thing, though there is room for improvement had it fallen 

 into the hands of a better taxidermist. R. D. 



" That reminds me." 



"Ain't Them Ducks?" 



The letter entitled "Wooden Ducks," in your issue of 

 May 5, reminds me of a parallel circumstance tbat hap- 

 pened to me in 1887. A professional call necessitated a 

 trip to the northern limits of Illinois in October, and hav- 

 ing learned that there were "a few ducks around," I took 

 along my gun and a dozen of Danz's folding decoys. A 

 pond of about ten acres area, and situated upon a penin- 

 sula between two lakes, was a favorite feeding ground, 

 night and morning, for the few resident ducks. Here I 

 selected a cape-like point and put; out my decoys in a little 

 bay — repairing thither early and staying late. During a 

 week I bagged about two dozen birds. The pond was 

 surrounded by marsh, and was immediately lined by a 

 thick growth of very high grass, so that the approach to 

 the water's edge was difficult and tedious, and shelter was 

 too profuse. 



One clear, breathless morning found me, as usual, at 

 my stand before sunrise, and I waited until old Sol was 

 marching in plain view, but never a bird came my way. 

 When happily musing on the quiet scene, in an atmosphere 

 of health and. free from care, and contentedly watching, 

 I espied a man's head in the high grass across the pond! 

 My decoys rested life-like upon the placid water in front 

 of me. The man looked toward me and then up and 

 down the pond, and disappeared. He again appeared at 

 the end of the pond nearest to me. I now became inter- 

 ested, for I knew that he was coming my way. He again 

 passed from view, and in order to easily reach my stand 

 from his last seen place, he would have to travel the 

 higher ground at the edge of the marsh. This he did, 

 and he soon appeared in view, and when opposite me he 

 entered the pathway that I had made by successively 

 traveling it for several days. 



He had a gun with him, and on he came, and as he 

 approached the higher grass fringe of the pond, he insen- 

 sibly stooped his shoulders, and with bowed head made a 

 bee-line for me. I heard his hammers click, and when he 

 had crept to about half a dozen yards from me I suddenly 

 stood up. He was surprised, halted, and with chagrin 

 deeply depicted upon his countenance, exclaimed, "Ain't 

 them ducks?" 



A stranger to me, he said, a lady, had recently arrived 

 at his house and had stated that she liked the flavor of 

 wild duck, and he had started out that morning to "the 



pond" to get her one. I afterward learned that he was 

 one of the crack shots of the neighborhood and an invet- 

 erate market-hunter. When I related the experience to 

 my host he regarded the circumstance as a great joke on 

 an old hunter. 



I have recently become a reader of your newsy ( and 

 interesting journal, and I regret greatly that I have missed 

 years of satisfaction in thus sharing quietly the pleasures 

 of your nnmerous and facile correspondents— both statt 

 and promiscuous. I wish I could personally know them. 

 I look for the paper now. and amid its peaceful scenes I 

 find rest from [the fatigue of professional tire, and, lost 

 for the time, I live over again with the narrators the joys 

 of the chase, the fishing-rod and the camp-fire. 



Alfred Hinde. 



Chicago, DJ. 



The String goes with the Gun. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Some time ago while fishing in the wilds of Wisconsin, 

 my attention was attracted by the loud barking of a dog 

 in the woods near by, and thinking something unusual 

 was going on, I started in the direction of the racket and 

 soon came to two men and a dog with a bear up a tree. 

 There was no gun in the party and how to get bruin down 

 was the question of the hour, as he was high up in the 

 tree. 



One of the men said he thought he could "borrer a 

 rifle of a neighbor several miles away, so he started leav- 

 ing us "to watch the bar." 



After a tedious wait of nearly two hours he returned 

 with a long, heavy old-fashioned rifle and a bundle of 

 string. The inquiry "What in the world are you going to 

 do with that string?" was answered by saying, "The string 

 goes with the gun," and he proceeded to explain. "Now," 

 he says, after tying the string to the hammer and getting 

 a good rest over a limb of a tree, "one er yur fellers pull 

 and tuther cut the string when I say cut, so get yur knife 

 ready." Everything being in readiness the above pro- 

 gramme was carried out, and after a deafening report and 

 clearing of the smoke, the bear could be plainly seen al- 

 though in a somewhat altered position, having settled 

 down into the crotch of the tree. Fourteen times the 

 rifle was fired at the bear this way with apparently no 

 result, when our champion of the rifle declared if "he 

 couldn't shoot that thar bar he'd climb the tree and drive 

 him down," which he proceeded to do. It was quite an 

 effort, however, as the tree was bare of limbs for some 

 distance up, but he finally reached the vicinity of the bear 

 which he approached with caution, but the bear didn't 

 move. Nearer and nearer. The excitement was intense, 

 we on the ground momentarily expecting a demon- 

 stration of some kind. All at once the excitement was 

 ended by a remark from our hero, "Say boys, the bar's 

 dead." Nearly every bullet had hit him, and one through 

 the brain explained the fact that the first shot had killed 

 him. And famous to this day in all that country is the 

 old rifle with the string attachment. H. B. J. 



Wabasha, Minn., May 15. 



§xtt(e §*g %ni §nt\. 



PARK POACHERS AND THEIR WAYS. 



Montana, May 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: It was 

 during January, 1893, that I became acquainted with 

 Howell, the Yellowstone Park poacher of whom we have 

 recently heard so much. He is a man of a little more than 

 ordinary intelligence, has a fair education, is stoutly built, 

 with dark hair, bluish gray eyes and a heavy blond mus- 

 tache. His businegs has been prospecting and hunting for 

 a living among the Rockies in Montana, and he has all the 

 rugged strength and endurance that Rocky Mountain 

 hunters and prospectors possess. 



From conversations had with Howell in 1893, I learned 

 that there were a number of hunters besides himself in the 

 vicinity of the National Park and Cooke City, who gained 

 a livelihood by poaching in the Park and selling elk heads 

 to the taxidermists residing along the railroad. One man 

 had sold 60 scalps from elk heads that were not worth the 

 trouble of mounting at $5 each, besides quite a number of 

 complete heads at from $8 to $30 each. 



I asked Howell how this could be done with Capt. 

 Anderson and two companies of soldiers guarding the 

 Park and the game. He said "It is the simplest thing in 

 the world. When the snow begins to fall in September 

 and October, we wait until a nice snowstorm has set in, 

 and then taking a saddle horse and two or more pack 

 horses, we start for the Park and travel fast. After reach- 

 ing the ground we have previously selected to hunt over, 

 we make a long detour and cross our tracks perhaps ten 

 miles from camp so as to ascertain whether the soldiers 

 are following our trail or not. If no other tracks are seen 

 we go back to camp feeling safe, for we know that the new 

 snow will obliterate all tracks before dawn. We then se- 

 cure enough elk to load our pack horses and are soon on 

 our way out of the Park and to the railroad. The railroad 

 companies are glad to haul freight and we have no trouble 

 there in getting our spoils to market." 



The above is what was gleaned in 1893, and here is the 

 substance of a conversation in 1894 since Howell became 

 known to^Uapt. Anderson and others. "On the 19th of 

 September last, I took my camp outfit and grub for the 

 winter, and loaded it on to a toboggan and started for the 

 Park. From that time until Feb. 10, I saw no human 

 being. The snow was very deep and my method of camp- 

 ing was to build a fire at night on the snow, and after 

 cooking, to pile logs on to the fire and let it burn. By 

 morning a hole would be melted in the snow so deep that 

 when I stood up by the fire I could barely see out, and if 

 any one had chanced to be looking for me they would not 

 be likely to see me. I had very little trouble in market- 

 ing heads. I have known eleven buffalo to be hauled in 

 one day through the Park, and one taxidermist in Living- 

 ston has bought twenty -two heads this winter at from §40 

 to $125 each, and I know of one head being sent to New 

 York that sold for $275 green. There are trappers in the 

 Park all the time during the fur season. I occasionally 

 saw men fishing, and one of them I knew was trapping 

 and used the fish line as a blind. The soldiers did not see . 

 through his device, for it takes a mountaineer to see all t 

 the signs. I have concluded to try other ways of gaining 

 a livelihood, and I will let the Park alone if the soldiers 

 will let me alone from this time on." 



From what has been said and from other facts that have 

 come to my knowledge, I conclude that a considerable 

 number of the inhabitants of Cooke City are making a liv- 

 ing from the sale of game from our only National Game 

 Preserve, and that not only people from Cooke City, but 

 others, are spending the best part of the game season dodg- 

 ing what Uncle Sam thinks is a sufficient force of soldiers 

 to guaxd his game. 



I would rather have three good intelligent, honorable 

 men, inured to the life of a prospector and hunter in these 

 mountains, to watch that Park, than all the soldiers now 

 there, and I am personally acquainted with men who are 

 educated, intelligent and honorable who will not kill a doe 

 nor even a mother grouse, for meat when they are 

 hungry, who have spent this whole winter alone in cabins 

 miles away in the mountains, content to live on bacon, 

 coffee, flour and sugar, with just a frying-pan and a tin 

 can for their cooking utensils. Men of such a stamp are 

 the ones that Uncle Sam should hire to look after the 

 Park, and a good plan to hire them on is to give them a 

 liberal salary, the privilege of shooting the first hunter 

 they see within the Park, if he will not give himself up, 

 and to pay a reward in hard cash for ever poacher cap- 

 tured. 



I believe that the true way to preserve our stock of buf- 

 falo in the Park is to start a hay ranch there and build an 

 inclosure, into which the buffalo should be put in the 

 fall. Two good men should watch them as carefully as 

 they would Nancy Hanks if they had her to care for, for 

 we all know that the buffalo is little nearer extinction 

 than it should be. 



If Howell, by his desire for buffalo scalps, has aroused 

 Uncle Sam so as to cause him to care for his game as he 

 should, I am ready to give three cheers for Howell, and 

 three hisses for the taxidermists that buy his game 'and 

 aid him^ and men like him, to evade justice. J. 



Helena, Montana. 



[The letter which we print is from an old correspond- 

 ent, a man not very long in the West, yet long enough to 

 have learned something of life there. Much of what 

 Howell says is no doubt true, but it is pretty badly mixed 

 up with what is not true; for example, it would take a 

 considerable force of men to haul eleven buffalo, or even 

 eleven buffalo heads, and they would make a broad 

 trail that would last all winter. We question Howell's 

 statement that from Sept. 19 to Feb. 10 he saw no human 

 being. He had a partner when he went into the Park, 

 though just what became of this man is not known. We 

 entirely agree with our correspondent as to the import- 

 ance of additional mountaineers to patrol the Park. They 

 can do work that a soldier cannot, and instead of a single 

 scout in the Park there should be at least half a dozen. 

 The project of rounding up the National Park buffalo and 

 driving them into an inclosure is of course entirely im- 

 practicable, but a considerable number of calves and 

 young might be captured and kept in confinement, and it 

 is not unlikely that this may be done at no very distant 

 day. The enactment of a law for the punishment of 

 crimes in the Yellowstone Park will no doubt have the 

 effect of largely reducing the poaching on its borders, and 

 after one poacher shall have been sent to prison for this 

 offense, infractions of the regulations will almost wholly 

 cease.] 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[From a Staff Correspondent.] 



Lead-Poisoned Ducks and that Rice Farm. 



My old-time market-shooting friend Billy Griggs wrote 

 me soon after he returned from his winter's work at 

 Galveston as follows: 



"lam safe at home and was gratified to find the "old 

 reliable" awaiting me. 



"A word as to Mr. Guessaz's discovering lead poisoning 

 in ducks. The facts as to this strange condition of the 

 canvasback you have stated correctly, but this condition 

 has been noted for years and was called cholera. An 

 increase in the number of stricken birds led to an investi- 

 gation as to the probable cause and the result was the 

 discovery of lead in the gizzard. This later and correct 

 diagnosis took place during my first winter on Lake Sur- 

 prise, four years ago. As to their shipment, it is a 

 physical impossibility, for if packed on ice immediately 

 after killing, in twelve hours they are green in every 

 tissue. Long experience has taught us to recognize the 

 symptoms, and such birds as possess them are never 

 killed under any circumstances. As to how, when and 

 where they contract disease is a mooted question. 



"Now, as to our bribing the chief magistrate of the 

 biggest of all States with twenty ducks per week. The 

 genial Governor did spend a few days, all too short, at 

 Lake Surprise and was the recipient of the same courtesy 

 that all gentlemen receive — neither more nor less— five 

 pairs of canvasbacks graced the official bag; and if any 

 else adorn the gubernatorial mahogany he pays for them 

 with the current coin of the realm. 



"A recent publication says Lake Surprise contains 7ft. 

 of water. There is as much water in it now as at any 

 time since the storm of '75; from 24 to 30in. is a fair esti- 

 mate, but beneath the water is ooze unfathomable! 



"Not being a lawyer I know nothing of the validity of 

 Col. Moody's patent to Lake Surprise, but if his title is 

 not clear it is passing strange that some fine-haired nim- 

 rod doesn't attack it in the courts and secure for himself 

 the 'best canvasback preserve in America.' " 



The latter suggestion is a good one that would be best 

 for both sides and, indeed, the only practical thing to do, 

 as mere discussion is valueless. 



Spring Shooting in Manitoba. 

 Mr. Thos. Johnson, of Winnipeg, Man., writes: "Some 

 of my oldtime shooting companions have had their spring 

 'wavey' shoot. 'Waveys,' as we term them here, are the 

 snow goose. They make Manitoba their resting andfeed- 

 ing-up point, previous to their great flight to their breed- 

 ing grounds in the vicinity of Hudson's Bay. Before the 

 advancement of civilization and cultivation the 'waveys' 

 had a well-defined spring flight, in fact, you would rarely 

 see them outside of a territory of five miles wide, and in 

 some portions in less yards than that. The wavey has, 

 like almost every other water fowl, diminished in num- 

 bers. Yet last spring there were thousands. They strike 

 Manitoba from March 7 (the earliest I ever knew them) 

 to middle of April and stay with us until about May 24. 

 They are very easily 'decoyed' and can be also 'called.' 

 As you know, I never even shoot waveys in spring, yet 

 I'll admit I don't think it any very great sin for a Mani- 



