Jan. 4, 18S6.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
0 
CALL DUCKS. 
Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your last issue a correspondent tells of three 
broods of call ducks being raised from one pair last 
summer, and an editorial note asks what kind of ducks 
"call ducks" are. As these birds are not as well known 
in America as they should be, I take pleasure in answering. 
They are dwarf or bantam mallards of two varieties, 
called white or gray. The smaller they are, if otherwise 
perfect, the higher they are valued by fanciers of water- 
fowl. They are bred to perfection in Holland for calling 
wild ducks and excel all other callers in this line. A 
female taken from her mate is clamorous all day long if 
not restored to him and the calling is surprisingly loud. 
In size they should not be over 20 in. in extreme length, 
or about the size of a wood-duck. The "gray" variety 
are exact mallards in color, the female never having a 
white ring on the neck; the other kind are pure white. 
They are very tame and are great pets. 
Some years ago I imported several pairs mainly for use 
in hatching wood-ducks, mandarins and teal, for they are 
light and are good mothers. I sold a few pairs and lost 
those which were kept and so have none. Your corre- 
spondent terms tb em "Long Island call ducks" and he may 
refer to mongrel black ducks, which are often kept for 
calling on the Island. In the poultry shows either the 
white or the gray calls are disqualified if the bills are 
yellow, but they may be of any other color; the feet and 
legs of the white calls must be bright orange and'those of 
the grays the same with a tinge of brown. By the way, 
few men seem to know that of the species which make a 
loud "quacking" call, it is only the female which makes 
that sound. Fred Mather. 
DEER AND LILYPADS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
"When a man reads in Forest and Stream statements 
to which he takes exceptions, I presume he will not be 
accused of presumption or a disposition to be captious if 
he ventilates his views; for I believe it is thus that we set 
on foot discussions which ultimately result in giving us 
exact knowledge concerning the habits of the creatures 
we love. No man "knows it all," but almost every hunter 
or fisherman occasionally stumbles upon some peculiar 
fact which he is able to authenticate and contribute to 
the general fund of information. 
In reading the article published last week entitled 
"What Old Deer Hunters Say," I note that the writer 
states that it is a question whether or not a deer will eat 
lilypads. Now, I never saw a deer eat them; but, as 
Thoreau said, "There are some kinds of circumstantial 
evidence that are unanswerable, as when a man finds a 
trout in the milk;" and that sort of evidence I have, for I 
have seen where the lilypads have been eaten, and in 
such quantities as to demonstrate that the deer liked 
them and selected them in preference to other food. 
In 1894 I camped for two or three days on the shore of 
a pond which was literally covered with lilypads, and the 
deer had been having fun there. My guide — Arthur 
Phelps, of Spring Cove — called my attention to the count- 
less stems from which the leaves had been nipped off by 
the deer. We paddled all over the pond, and everywhere 
it was the same. Hundreds of lilypads had been eaten, 
and as nothing could have reached them excepting the 
deer, I was thoroughly convinced that they do feed very 
freely upon them. 
Certainly there are those, with more experience than I 
can claim, who should be able to settle the question, and 
I trust we shall hear from them. Arthur F. Rice. 
MOOSE AND DEER WEIGHTS. 
Banqor, Me. — Editor Forest and Stream: Special's 
Boston salesman was correct when he spoke of the 
weight of moose being overstated in newspaper reports. 
We are constantly seeing reports of moose weighing 
from 800 up to 1,4001 bs., when actually the most weigh 
500 to 600. One was yesterday carried through Bangor 
which many set at l,000lbs. Having seen a good many 
moose, I set it at 700. Later I learned that it weighed 
only about 5001bs. 
The weight of caribou and dper is overstated in the 
same way. One resident here claims to have been in a 
party which shot a caribou weighing GOOibs., but the head 
only was saved. We see statements of deer weighing 
3501bs. I have handled a great many hundreds of deer 
and never saw one yet which would, weigh over 250. 
The heaviest deer I ever knew weighed tipped the beam 
at 2731bs. after it had been brought out over 100 miles. 
Of course, by leaving in the heart and liver the weight 
can be increased, but this is not what is called fair weigh- 
ing. 
Speaking of weights a recent lecturer here on "Pictur- 
esque Maine" showed us a photograph of a moose which he 
said- weighed 1,440 lbs. and stood 7£ft. high. Now I can 
prove positively that the moose there photographed was 
never weighed at all. It was a large moose, but never 
weighed nor measured as stated. The same lecturer said 
that same moose stood 9ft, high, and that a moose could 
smell a man five miles away. Also that a caribou could 
jump over an object 19ft. high. He also informed us that 
deer rose about half an hour after daylight and fed till 
noon, and then lay down, but always walked back on their 
track before lying down. 
When one hears a man talking in this way, it reminds 
one of the story of Mr. Plummer. A man in Oldtown, 
Maine, had invented a mixture which he called eye salve 
and of whose wonderful virtues he was never tired of 
telling. One day a Mr, Plummer came into his shop. 
This was too good of an opportunity to lose, so he began, 
"Meestar Plummer, Meestar Plummer, af ye will put some 
of me eye sarve on yer eyes ye can see a crow a mile 
away." 
"Pooh-pooh," says Plummer, "I can see one now two 
miles off without any of it." 
"Meestar Plummer, Meestar Plummer, yer a leear." 
H. 
Deer Antlers and Velvet. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Writing from the Adirondacks, Musset says that he has 
i 'seen no markings before October," In my Adirondack 
cottage I have a stick rubbed by a large buck early on the 
morning of Sept. 12 a few years ago. My guide (a man 
of long experience in the woods) was starting dogs and 
found the young tree soon after the rubbing was done, 
while the buck track was still fresh, and cut the stick 
and brought it to me as a curiosity, saying the buck did it 
to rub off the velvet from his horns. J. C. Aleen. 
'm\t mid 0uiu 
FIXTURES. 
March 16 to 21, 1896. — Second annual Sportsmen's Exposition, under 
the auspices of the Sportsmen's Association, at Madison Square 
Garden, New York city. Frank W. Sanger, Manager. 
WISCONSIN NON-RESIDENTS. 
In Forest and Stream of Dec. 21 your Chicago corre- 
spondent lets himself loose about non-enforcement of 
Wisconsin deer laws and the violation of same by Ohio 
and Indiana hunters, The general tone of the article is 
that these hunters have no right to shoot Wisconsin deer, 
and besides conduct themselves in ways that make the ir 
presence undesirable, bringing all their supplies with 
them, and chasing deer with dogs. It also blames the 
game wardens for not enforcing the laws. 
Whom do these deer belong to? It would appear from 
the State legislating for their protection that they belong 
to the State, and the State law allows any one, from any- 
where, to kill them between Nov, 1 and 20. The people 
of Wisconsin are not so narrow in their views as to try to 
shut out a sportsman because his home is not among 
them, but, as will be shown further along in this article, a 
man is welcomed by them in accordance with his be- 
havior, and he is not asked whether he lives in Oshkosh 
or Cincinnati. 
There is howling about non-resident hunters, of course, 
coming from market hunters and men hired to kill veni- 
son for lumber camps, and a few other fellows who don't 
want" anybody but themselves to kill any deer. Does 
your correspondent want non-resident shooters kept out 
in order to save the deer from these wolves? It is difficult 
to see what other reason there can be, for these wolves 
will get them if the sportsmen don't. An attack on non- 
resident shooters does not come in very good taste, any- 
way, from a man who shoots in as many different States 
as this correspondent does. Maybe he lives in Wisconsin, 
Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisi- 
ana and Texas, Oi dunno. Sure, he tells us of shootin' in 
ivery wan of thim counthries, thot he did hisself ! 
Two of the recently returned non-resident shooters, one 
from Ohio and the other from Indiana, have been inter- 
viewed by the writer of this, one belonging to a party 
camping near Ingram, and the other near Glen Fiora, 
both places being in the territory of the game warden at 
Prentice. They tell so nearly the same story that only 
one need be told. 
The Hunter's Story. 
"As our party was rather large, myself and one other 
went up three days in advance of the opening day, to look 
for a good location and get the camp ready for the rest of 
the party, who were expected in about a week, On 
arriving at Prentice, where we changed cars, we were met 
by the game warden, who introduced himself and 
cautioned us about shooting any deer before the time, 
about having more than two deer in possession of one man 
except at the camp, told us no dogs would be allowed at 
hunting camps under any circumstances, gave us some 
pointers about some good locations, and told us that all 
law-abiding hunters were welcome. 
"So soon as we left for Glen Flora, the warden, as we 
learned afterward, wired his deputy at that point to be 
on the lookout for us. When our main party came, one 
of them brought a dog. It was not a deer dog, and its 
owner merely brought it as a camp companion, but the 
warden would not let it go to the camp, and was inex- 
orable on this point; no dog big or little should be allowed 
in any hunting camp during the deer season. He made 
frequent visits to the various camps in his territory, ex- 
plaining the law and warning hunters that violators would 
receive no mercy. In one camp he found half of a deer 
before the season opened, which the hunters claimed they 
had got from a native boy. The warden at once arrested 
the party for illegal possession, and they were roundly 
fined. The law, as explained by this waiden, permitted 
the killing and having in possession at the camp any num- 
ber of deer, but in transit or any place except at camp, or 
at one's home, no man could have more than two deer at 
one time. He might take out two and sell or give them 
away; then go back to camp and get two more, and repeat 
the operation as often as he liked. No deer were allowed 
to be shipped, except when accompanied by their owner. 
"The intent of the law seemed to be that deer might be 
sold locally, and permitted any man from anywhere to 
take two home with him. We thought it the best law we 
ever knew of. It allowed us to kill what we wanted for 
camp use and to take two apiece home with us. It gave 
everyone all the privilege that could be reasonably asked, 
and effectually shut out the market hunter. We were 
more than pleased, too, with the vigorous policy of the 
warden. Had hounding been allowed, we would prob- 
ably have got little or nothing. As it was, we had 
plenty of camp meat, and each man of our party took 
home two deer. 
"As to our reception by the citizens, it was cordial. 
Everyone, except two market hunters, was ready to do us 
any favor, and did not want the last cent for doing it either. 
One teamster asked two dollars per load for hauling our 
stuff to camp. It was six miles over a road so bad that it 
took a whole day to make the trip and return. An Irish 
family were the only people living anywhere near the 
camp, and the first time any of us came near the house 
she hailed us with : 'Will, byes, Oi'm glad to see yees, 
sure Oi am. Coom in wid yees now an' be havin' some 
milk, fur sure its tired and hungy yees be lookinV Any- 
thing those poor people could do for us they did and re- 
fused any pay. When we broke camp we had, perhaps, 
twenty dollars' worth of groceries, which we had the 
teamster unload at the door of their cabin. We left the 
old lady with tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. 
'Grod bless yees for noble-hearted gintlemin, ivery wan 
of yees,' was her parting salutation. The railroad people 
treated ue with the greatest courtesy from start to finish. 
We had a good deal of excess baggage, but it all went 
free, as did each man's two deer." 
"Did you read the Wisconsin deer article in last week's 
Forest and Stream?" 
"Yes." 
"What did^you think of it?" 
"Well, of course there were camps of toughs and law- 
breakers, and no doubt a larger per cent, of them lived in 
Wisconsin than in Ohio or Ind iana. Most of the men who 
go so far for the shooting are men of means and 
respectable people. I'm not surprised that some of the 
small newspapers of the State should have published what 
they did, Some of them get their ideas at the village 
saloon, but I'd like to know what good is achieved by col- 
lecting these adverse articles and publishing them in' 
Forest and Stream. This non-resident idea is all wrong. 
The constitution of our country says a citizen of any 
State shall have all the rights of a citizen of the State he 
may be in. Mr. Hough's article says there -were probably 
1,000 guns in a region fifty by sixty miles. That is one 
gun for 1,920 acres— three square miles. Probably the 
men hunted an average of ten days each. Nearly" all of 
the non-residents were in strange territory, and two- 
thirds of them knew next to nothing about deer hunting 
and hundreds of them failed to get a deer, while the law 
prevented the expert hunters from killing more than two 
deer and camp meat. If no deer are killed illegally, they 
will increase instead of diminish." American, 
NEW BRUNSWICK MOOSE AND CARIBOU 
Mr. Wileiam Chestnut has just returned from a hunt- 
ing cruise of over six weeks in company with the veteran 
trapper and guide, Henry Braithwaite. He would have 
been out long before, but owing to the Dungarvon port- 
age not being used by the loggers this winter it was 
necessary after snow fell to swamp several miles of new 
road to the lumber camp3 on Rocky Brook. William 
brought with him two of the finest moose heads that have 
been seen in Fredericton for some years. William de- 
served to shoot these moose, for he is a good shot and a 
true sportsman; but he frankly says they are both to be 
credited to Braithwaite's rifle. Incidentally he remarks 
that hs has a .40-82 Winchester repeater which he will 
dispose of at an extremely reasonable figure. "A porcu- 
pine gun" he calls it. Ho says it will kill a porcupine most 
every time, but when it bucks up against a moose it 
doesn't seem to disturb the harmony of the proceedings 
unto any vast extent. On several occasions moose that 
were hit good and hard and often with this rifle, or even 
with Braithwaite's .45-85 English express, at a range of 40 
or 50yds. , simply moved over into the nexfe parish and 
refused to be overhauled, though followed on the snow for 
hours, and in one instance for two days. One moose 
escaped in this fashion that was hit three times. Both Mr. 
Chestnut and the guide know how to handle a rifle, and I 
can vouch for it just the same as if I had been there that 
no blame is to be attached to them because these wounded 
animals got away. The weight of testimony is inclining 
more and more every year to the view that nothing but 
the most powerful sporting rifles can be relied upon to do 
justice to a full-grown bull nioose. 
While encamped at the Crooked Dead water, Chestnut 
and the guide ascended the County Line Mountain, 
where they dropped into a regular moose paradise. One 
day they started sixteen moose, including several im- 
mense old bulls. It is believed by Braithwaite that some- 
where up in this region the king of all moosedom 
holds his court. William says it made a man feel 
solem to look at his track, which resembled th e print of 
a water pail in the mud. They named the patriarch Tim 
Lynch, for the reason that his territorial jurisdiction 
seemed to be confined to the timber lands of that well- 
known operator. 
The finest, though not the widest, of the two heads 
brought in by William was secured on this County Line 
Mountain. Braithwaite administered to the noble patient 
three doses of lead from the English express, each of 
them labeled for an adult. Even then the moose took his 
own elegant time about passing in his checks. In the 
meanwhile another big moose appeared, but he was on 
the wing and Braithwaite scored a clean miss. After that 
a third old bull, fearing to miss the music, meandered in 
upon the scene and Henry knocked him over, but while 
Henry was hugging himself, behold 1 he straightway "riz 
up and gat." They followed him for the greater part of 
the day, but failed to overhaul him. I, the prowler, who 
have been there, would have given much for a glimpse 
of Henry that night, after he had adjusted the Captain 
Kidd bandana on his dome of thought, and as the fitful 
lights and shadows of the camp-fire scampered over his 
corrugated brow. It is not Henry's habit to miss the 
target, nor yet to hit and have the target run off with 
the score. 
The head of the bull that was killed is exceptional for 
massiveness and beauty. It measures 47in. between the 
outermost prongs, has very wide, deep shovels and 
twenty-five points, all of them perfect. This head is also 
adorned with two well-developed bells (one of them 16in. 
long), which is unusual, though not unprecedented. The 
bell is a Kind of whisker the moose wears, which, like the 
whisker of a man, makes the wearer even homelier than 
he was before. 
The other moose was slain by Braithwaite at Jimmy 
Crangle's spring near Musquash Lake. Hearing a cow 
moose whine as though in protest against the rudeness of 
her lord and master, Henry, who was alone at the time, 
proceeded cautiously to investigate. At first he came 
upon a young bull, which he did not consider was the 
guilty party. Then he spied a much larger bull, with a 
wide spread of horns and his hair turned the wrong way. 
This time the guide was armed with a .45-90 Marlin half 
magazine. He worked the lever too slowly, with the 
result that the cartridge lodged when half-way into the 
chamber. The moose became uneasy and moved away. 
Henry was obliged to whittle a wedge-shaped stick to 
coax the cartridge into place, at the same time following 
the moose and grunting in a sociable manner so as to 
allay his fears. When he was again in sight of the moose 
and tried to shoot, the cartridge failed to explode, 
probably owing to the breech of the rifl.6 having been 
thickly coated with vaseline, which deadened the impact 
of the firing pin. As the moose shambled off Braithwaite 
again resorted to his grunting tactics, and when a clear 
chance offered planted a bullet behind the shoulder. The 
moose made off choking or coughing through the brush, 
when a second bullet which struck within gin, of the first 
