Feb. 29, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
178 
these deer scalps, it certainly looks like favoritism to 
allow one man to ship them out of the State at his pleasure, 
while seizing t and holding the same goods shipped by 
another. 
The Parmachenee Club, who have a club house at Par- 
machenee Lake, Maine, have a new steward in the person 
of J. E. Haley, of Rangeley. That old veteran of the 
Rangeley region, John Danforth, who has been the 
club steward since its organization, has resigned in order 
to go into business at Errol, N. H., and he surely has the 
good wishes of hosts of friends in his new venture. 
Robert Storey, of Wilson's Mills, Maine, one of the best 
Magalloway guides,passed through Boston en route to hia 
home a few days ago. His many sportsmen friends in 
Boston and elsewhere will be pleased to learn that he has 
nearly recovered from the serious ill health brought on 
by exposure from fighting a long and obstinate forest fire 
which occurred near his home some months ago. 
Commissioner H. O. Stanley, of Maine, has been spend- 
ing a few days in Boston, and speaks with pleasure of a 
trip to Moosehead Lake from which he has just returned. 
George Greeley, of Bangor, and a Mr. Robinson, of Port- 
land, were his companions, and fishing through the ice 
was the occupation which furnished them so much sport; 
twenty or thirty good-sized togue were captured. They 
found the ice in the lake both thin and treacherous, and 
felt relieved when the shore was reached on their return. 
Mr. Stanley has recently been up to Caribou, Me., on a 
-visit to the State fish hatchery at that place. In a few of 
the pools there he discovered among the stones at the 
bottom a fat and luscious-looking worm. In these par- 
ticular pools the trout were in prime condition and very 
large, while in the other poolsthey were much poorer. 
Just why some of the pools were selected as an abiding 
place for these worms, while others were passed over, he 
was unable to find a reason, and is curious now to see 
what his next visit to this hatchery will show. 
Mr. Archibald Mitchell, of Norwich, Conn., spent a few 
days in Boston last week. Salmon fishing is Mr. Mitchell's 
greatest pleasure, and he has followed the sport per- 
sistently on several of the north shore rivers and at "the 
Bangor pool for some years. Together with F. W. Ayer, 
of Bangor, he has leased a part of the Restigouche River, 
above the Rsstigouche Club's preserve, and known as the 
Grog Island privileges. While in Scotland last year Mr. 
Mitchell fished the River Tay, but did not find it quite up 
to the standard of our American rivers. Still many large 
fish are taken from that stream, and conditions may not 
have been favorable for good results during his visit. 
Pending House Bill No. 449 is an act relative to the close 
season for brook trout fishing in Massachusetts, in which 
it is proposed to make the open season on trout from 
March 1 to July 1, instead of from April 1 to Sept. 1, as 
it now is. Boston anglers who know of the proposed 
measure are much opposed to its passage, believing that 
the change is not needed, and is an act calculated princi- 
pally to benefit those who have trout for sale. Fishing 
with rod and reel in Massachusetts streams in March is 
next to impossible, and the enactment of such a law would 
simply permit those who desired to break the ice over the 
best pools and take out the large trout to sell in the open 
market. Again, it is in the summer, after July 1, that 
the vacation season is fairly inaugurated, and if the close 
season is to begin at that time a large number of people 
who find pleasure in brook trout fishing will be barred 
out of the sport. It is the impression that the present law 
is good enough, and ought to stand as it is. Another pro- 
posed act which is strongly criticised is House Bill No. 
805, which is an act to provide for the sale of the fish 
hatcheries belonging to the commonwealth and to provide 
for the purchase of trout fry from private hatcheries. So 
thoroughly does this bill seem to be in the interests of in- 
dividual trout breeders that it is not believed it can possi- 
bly get through the General Court. After all the expense 
and years of time given by the State to the perfection of 
this work, it would be nothing less than suicidal to turn 
over the preservation of our trout to the bidding of pirate 
individuals and the political wire-pulling which such a 
course would be sure to entail. Hackle. 
AN EVENING ON THE POND. 
The autumn day was drawing to a close. The lovely 
tiuts from the western sky peeped through the scant foli- 
age and playing upon the boughs and variegated leaves of 
the autumn forest added beauty to the already beautiful 
, scene. Across the water, whose every ripple gleamed 
with the golden tints of the setting sun, came the dismal 
hooting of some early-awakened owl. Ever and anon the 
silence was rudely broken by a splashing in the water as 
some large fish, sporting in joyous glee or eagerly pursuing 
its prey, lost account of himself in the water and suddenly 
rinding himself too near its surface dived back into its 
depths. 
If one could have seen through the maze of dead, de- 
caying willows that were unsparingly dispersed over the 
upper part of the pond, he would have espied two figures, 
motionless and alert, silently peering toward the northern 
sky. Each held a gun carelessly over his knee. Before 
them in a small open space several decoys floated lazily 
with the ripples. 
Do they see those small well-nigh invisible specks away 
toward the North, which but for their V-shaped line 
would scarcely attract the attention of even the trained 
eye? Do they hear the faint almost inaudible chuckling 
of these beautiful winged creatures as they chat and joke 
in their onward flight? Yes. For soon the swamp spar- 
row was startled from his perch in the willows; the 
screech-owl flapped his wings and turning his head from 
side to side peered inquiringly through the twigs. The 
i far-away hills sent faint responsive echoes to the shrill 
"quack! quack! quack!" The silent figures had observed 
the passing line and one of them had blown into his duck 
call. The line swerved at the sound of the call and came 
directly toward the pond. The slight rustle of their 
wings grew louder and louder until at last it developed 
into a sound like the raging wind aa it whistles through 
the treetops on some chilling winter's eve. The figures 
remained silent and still. The flock of mallards, for such 
they were, circled 'round and 'round, coming by degrees 
nearer to the water's surface. Presently they seemed to 
hover lingeringly in the air just above the decoys. Four 
reports rang out in quick succession on the still evening 
air. They were echoed and re-echoed along the water 
until the first loud report had gradually died away in a 
aint, far-off roar. The occasional glimpses through the 
louds of smoke revealed a confused line of departing 
ducks. And there before them on the water lay two mal- 
lard drakes creating much confusion in their final death 
struggles. 
Again silence reigned supreme. The gorgeous colors of 
the west faded into a faint red streak along tbe horizon. 
The evening star shone out large and clear and was the 
signal for the advent of many other heavenly gems, The 
bullfrogs croaked and bellowed. The marsh hen cackled 
and the hooting of the owl seemed plainer than before. 
The boat was guided slowly to the bank and the hunters 
disembarked for their homeward tramp. 
That night their dreams revealed to them the happy 
hunting grounds of the red men, and when they awoke 
from these sweet dreams of peace they had none but the 
happiest remembrances of the evening on tbe pond. 
Bang-Bang. 
ABOUT CALIBERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
"Every sportsman has his own pet theory in the above 
question and everyone will advance some more or less 
strong argument in defense of his own gun. Personally I 
have always used a .50-110-300 Winchester, but am not 
satisfied with it, and in fact so little did I like it that had 
it not been for Mr. Irland's interesting letter in last week's 
paper I would have bought one of the new ,30-cal. smoke- 
less with mushroom bullets to experiment with; mind you, 
I did not say to shoot moose with. 
The Indians here invariably prefer a shotgun to a rifle; 
using a ball cartridge, of course, when the game can be 
approached sufficiently close, say 80yds. and under. Now 
this is not a matter of expense with them, because I can 
cite several who have been offered a rifle and preferred a 
cheap shotgun; they argue that it makes a bigger hole 
and kills more quickly, and in matters of wood life I am 
very prone to follow the red man's advice and counsel. 
My own fault with the .50 110-300 is want of accuracy; I 
mean to say you cannot be sure to an inch or two where 
the ball will go at say 50yds. and the greater the distance 
the less accuracy you have. 
Then again the trajectory is in my opinion too high for 
a good hunting rifle. How often the hunter comes on 
game some foggy morning, or perhaps they are away up 
on a hillside, or a dozen and one things may combine to 
render it an extremely difficult task for any but the most 
experienced hunters to judge the distance correctly. 
Take the instance Mr. Irland gives of a moose 300yds. 
away across a lake. Now I am quite sure that ten out of 
every twelve hunters will make a big error in estimating 
distances on or over water. Had we a rifle with such a 
low trajectory as to make any shot up to 300yds. almost 
point blank, we would have nearly solved our question. 
The misses made are nearly all in my opinion owing to 
overshooting. 
A bullet that will hit hard is wanted also, something 
that will give a great shock, and of course the more 
ragged the wound the quicker an animal will bleed to 
death. This is accomplished to a large extent with the 
soft nose bullets. 
A friend of mine has an English express rifle which 
shoots point blank at 200yds. and it makes a big hole too. 
Among American rifles I fancy the Winchester .40-125 
would act almost the same, but then the trouble is one 
has only two shots in the first rifle and one shot in the 
next, and several times in the past my repeater has given 
me game which otherwise would have escaped. 
To sum up, I think that what we want for moose and 
caribou is a big caliber, low trajectory, great penetration 
and the mushroom bullet. 
Let us hear from some other hunters on the subject. I 
may say in closing that the Winchester people tell me 
they cannot make me a workable .40-125 repeater. 
Tiam. 
Halifax, N. S. 
MOOSE HUNTING WAYS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I read Mr. Cecil Clay's admirable article in Forest and 
Stream of Feb, 8, and I like it very much except in so far 
as the part I do not like, which is the part in which he 
contumeliously refers to me. He mentions no names, 
but he is discovered. I know he refers to me. I feel it 
in my bones. He mentions certain phrases which I con- 
sidered excellent, and which I deliberated over some days 
in my garret room before I used them. He trippantly 
tosses them to one side as if such phrases and such ideas 
were to be found at every corner. I could have forgiven 
him if he had even said that they were pretty,buthe didn't, 
and therefore as to being forgiven we will let that go. 
His whole argument is not on the theoretical merits of 
the question, of which merits he must be well informed. 
No man knows precisely just what the theoretical merits 
are, although Mr. Clay writes of them. I have written 
of them also. I don't know what they are. As Mr. Clay 
treats of them learnedly, I am constrained to believe he 
knows what they are. I wish he would define them in- 
stead of assuming them. Making an assumption and then 
drawing a conclusion is too nimble a way of proving a 
case. That is the way I did. I had hoped it would not 
be copied. If you wish to prove you are right, just show 
that some other fellow did the same thing or worse and 
presto! proven. 
I forgot to mention that this was ah* about moose and 
moose shooting. Read Mr. Clay's article in Forest and 
Stream of Feb. 8 and it will save me some explanation. 
I do not agree with Mr. Clay in his oracular statement 
when he saya, "The pleasure is in the hunting, not in the 
killing," If the pleasure was in the mere hunting, he 
could hunt mushrooms, or wild strawberries, or rats. 
There is more than the mere hunting. There is the dan- 
ger. There is the capture. There is the food. The more 
dangerous the animal the greater the zest of sport. There 
is the personal danger of being hunted, and the personal 
gratification of victory. 
These are the old savage considerations which sur- 
rounded man's aboriginal environment when he was 
hunter or hunted. In civilization, man returns to his 
primitive life betimes and revels and thrives. He has de- 
lights, but he does not understand them. He tries to in- 
terpret them according to the light of his experience, and 
not the light of his nature. 
Mr. Clay sums up the whole matter in the argument 
ad honiinum as follows: "Opinions depend upon the point 
of view." There he hit it. The ad hominum is good. 
Since my very learned and most correct articles on moose 
hunting a? it is not practiced— the theoretical q£ the par. 
lor as against the reality of the field— I have had some 
practical experience. 
Now a fellow when he sees a moose feels different then 
from what he does when he reads that the other fellow 
has seen it. There is quite as much difference as there is 
between the pathos of prevention of cruelty to animals 
which are not to be killed at all and animals which are to 
be kdled if you can kill them. 
In short, I went moose hunting myself. 
Gentlemen, when you have worked and waited, toiled 
and boiled, hungered and thirsted through several days, 
then have seen a moose, you are not very apt to organize 
yourself into a country debating society as to whether 
you will do so and so or whether you would better do thus 
and thus. The ethical principles which are so nice in the 
parlor, where gas light and dress suits are in evidence, 
and where immaterial sentiment overshadows absent 
reality, may be all right under those conditions, but possi- 
bly may be out of place with a man who goes out to get 
moose. When you go for moose the way to get him is to 
do so. A dress suit is out of place hunting moose — a moose 
costume is out of place in the parlor. 
When I saw my moose I forgot all about the niceties of 
the parlor; the rules which obtain for the hunter who 
does not hunt; the rules which one fellow who doesn't 
makes for the other fellow who does. I saw my moose at 
200yds. and I turned loose, but, gentlemen, I could not do 
it again unless I had a chance. There is nothing like true 
ethics of sportsmanship for the other fellow and making 
the other fellow live up to them. Long live the ad ho?ni- 
num, Let us hope that Tiam will be generous to one who 
has emerged from the theoretical to the practical. 
Dick of Connecticut. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Wardens and the Markets. 
Chicago, III., Feb. 21.— It may be news to most folk to 
learn that the game wardens of different States are 
looked upon as legitimate source of supply by the game 
dealers of the delectable commission street of this city. 
The laws of some States render this one of the possibili- 
ties of the fearful and wonderful protective system of the 
United States — a system which is rushing the game into 
market as rapidly, perhaps, as any that could well be de- 
vised. I am in receipt from Mr. Will Cave, of Missoula, 
Mont., of a circular sent by a Chicago commission house 
to Mr. Jos. S. Booth, game warden at that point. The 
circular speaks for itself, and I give it, hoping thereby 
to show the enterprise of the dealer in contrast to the 
lack of enterprise of the average sportsman-protectionist 
over the country. I may add that Warden Booth declined 
to take advantage of his position in this way. 
Chicago, Jan. 22.— Game Warden— -Dear Sir: We wish 
to call your attention to the excellent facilities and the 
large trade we have in game of all kinds. Handling game 
in ear lots and less from the different wardens and shippers 
in the different States, we feel confident we can handle 
any and all shipments you may favor us with to the very 
best possible advantage. We report obtaining the follow- 
ing prices to-day. On all large lots we obtain the highest 
prices. * * * The open season is drawing to a close 
and not much time left to ship. In conclusion, let us say 
that if you have disposed of your game this season, let us 
make some arrangements for your future business. We 
can make it an object for you to do business with us. 
Awaiting your reply, we are yours truly, 
ElCHENGREEN & KENNEDY. 
It may not be plain to all just how a game warden can be- 
come a seller of game, and for the benefit of those who 
do not understand the wrinkles I will explain by an in- 
stance taken from the annals of protection in the State of 
Illinois. It will be remembered that our illustrious war- 
den, Mr. Blow, Jast summer brought action against a 
cold storage outfit in Kewanee, III., which had for years 
been worse than a menace to the game of the State. Our 
statute provides that a fine of not less than $5 per bird can 
be imposed upon one having illegal game birds in posses- 
sion. It further provides that the game seized is to be 
sold at auction by the warden, half the proceeds of such 
sale to go to the warden and half to the school fund. It 
is curious to reflect that Warden Blow never made any 
attempt to have the man Merritt fined at all, but he vig- 
orously went after the illegal game, getting Merritt's 
sworn admission that he had 27,000 head of illegal birds 
in his freezer. The case then went on in the usual legal 
grind, the game being replevined from the warden by 
Merritt, and left in situ in the freezer, under bond »iven 
by Merritt of $10,000. In the meantime, of course, the 
warden got nothing for his services, nor did the deputy, 
who really deserves the credit for getting the evidence 
which convicted Merritt. The case was to come up at the 
next session of the circuit court, which falls on the sec- 
ond Monday of this month. (The judge advises that he 
will probably have his regular jury in working shape 
some time during the first week, so the case maybe heard 
from within the next ten days from now.) Should all go 
well at that session of the court, Warden Blow will be 
the proud one-half possessor of 27,000 head of game. He 
is shrewd enough to know that no jury would fine old 
man Merritt, offender though he certainly is, anything 
like the amount of the lowest just legal penalty; and he 
knows that he has, in his half ownership of this enormous 
amount of game, a legal though outrageous cinch on 
making ten times as much as he could ever have made in 
fines. He has behind him, in short, the law of Illinois 
and all the machinery of the commission business, which 
openly sends out circulars to the wardens and offers to 
buy their game. He knows he can sell that game for a 
big sum of money at a bona fide sale, for game in these 
days is worth good money. He knows that he can con- 
vey title absolute to that game, In one sense he is not to 
be blamed for taking advantage of a law which seems to 
have been framed expressly for the behoof of the game 
markets of Chicago. This is our law— we take what the 
dealers allow us to take when it comes to legislation. This 
shows again the enterprise of the trade and the lack of 
enterprise on the part of the sportsmen. I do not need to 
refer again at this place to the shameful record of the 
sportsmen of Illinois at the last session of the Legis- 
lature, when by reason of the blunders of this same 
man Blow and hia would-be friends we nearly lost 
even what law we now have left to fighfc the markets 
with. 
This, then, was Mr. Blow's laudable record in the Mer- 
ritt case, He ^ent first after the -rame^ not after Yh?) 
