April 4, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
277 
every time in the hands of a careful rifle shot. By this I 
mean one who is tolerably certain that his bullet will 
strike a vital spot. Let him shoot the large caliber who 
fires at every deer he sees, trusting that his bullet will 
cause a mortal wound; this man will certainly be more 
successful with the .50 and .45-70 than with the, 88 55, 
although, as E. M. 0. says, the .38-55 with the mushroom 
bullet will cause a larger wound than the solid bullet of 
the larger calibers, but it spoils the meat. 
U. F. Bender. 
ONTARIO INDIANS AND MOOSE. 
Fenelon Falls, Ont., March 27.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Under the heading of "Ontario Indians and 
Moose," Mr. J. E. Newsome, of Port Arthur, in your issue 
of the 28th inst. professes to bring to public notice a great 
wrong which is being perpetrated by the Government of 
Ontario by the way Indians and half-breeds are per- 
mitted to slaughter game. 
Mr. Newsome is manifestly misleading in his statement 
when he says that "the Ontario Government is protecting 
the moose and caribou for the lazy half-breed Indians to 
slaughter as they see proper," 
Indians have no more right to kill game in Ontario 
than have white men, except where that right was ac- 
corded them by treaty prior to the enactment of the 
present game law, or "in any portion of the provincial 
territory as to which their claims have not been surren- 
dered or extinguished." 
But there is a section in the act which says: "The 
provisions of this act shall not apply to Indians or to 
settlers in any unorganized township or territory not 
divided into townships of this province, with regard to 
any game killed for their own immediate use for food 
only and for the reasonable necessities of the person 
killing the same, and his family, and not for the purposes 
of sale or traffic." 
Mark the punctuation of the above and say where 
Indians are given any privileges over the whites. 
I am well aware that advantage is being taken of the 
above to a very great extent, but why? Because the 
hunters almost invariably find a ready market for both 
antlers, hide] and carcasses. I have yet to meet the Indian 
who while he had a territory or hunting ground to himsel f 
and could not find a ready purchaser for more game than 
was required for the sustenance of himself and family 
who slaughtered any animals unnecessarily. 
I came across a camp of two Indian hunters only a few 
months ago with no less than three newly slaughtered 
bull moose heads, which I am confident would still be 
alive and ornamenting their native wilds were it not that 
their slayers knew of a ready market for both heads and 
hides; for it was impossible to have taken more than half 
of one of the carcasses to the nearest settlement before it 
would spoil. 
Let our hotel keepers or dealers in furs and others re- 
fuse to purchase game unlawfully killed, and the slaughter 
will soon cease. What Indian, or white man either, will 
go even one day's trip into a moose or deer country, either 
on snowshoes or by canoe, to kill more game than will 
satisfy his own wants, if he does not know of a ready 
market for his Burplus supply. 
James Dickson, 
Member of Ontario Game and Fish Commission. 
The Monongahela Valley Game and Fish Pro- 
tective Association. 
Pittsburg, Pa., — The second annual field trials of the 
Monongahela Valley Game and Fish Protective Associa- 
tion are going to be a great success this fall. At this early 
date many applications are being made for entry blanks 
and running rules. The blanks will soon be ready for 
distribution, and it is hoped all sportsmen interested in 
these trials will apply for them. 
The entry fee will be the same as that of last year, $10 — 
$5 to nominate and $5 to start. After deducting iojg of 
the entrance fees to cover expenses, the money will be 
divided into 50, 30 and 20$. Entries in both Derby and 
All-Age Stakes will close Aug. 1, pointers and setters to 
run together. The trials will be run under the Eastern 
Field Trial Club rules. 
We have liberated 100 dozen Kansas quail on the pre- 
serve this spring; these with the birds left over from last 
season will give an abundance of birds to work on. 
Our overseer, deputy game warden J. W. Phillips, re- 
ports finding from six to eleven coveys a day while work- 
ing the dogs he has in training, showing that the birds 
from last season have wintered well. 
Mr. W. S. Bell, of this city, and Mr. S. C. Bradley, of 
Greenfield Hill, Conn., have been asked to judge, if suit- 
able arrangements can be made with them. 
S, B. CuaiMiNCts, Sec'y. 
More Grouse Shooting Haps. 
Melrose, Mass., March 28. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
An article in your issue of March 21, by J. E. B., relative 
to his dog retrieving a dead ruffed grouse after his 
brother's dog had retrieved one which they had both shot 
at, reminds me of an incident which happened while I 
was ruffed grouse shooting. I was walking along an old 
road, on each side of which were low pines and a few 
birches very thickly distributed. My pointer was a little 
in advance of me. Suddenly I heard a clucking noise, 
which I knew to be a partridge. I brought my gun up 
very quickly , so as to be ready when he started, when 
suddenly it was discharged. Scolding myself for being 
so careless and thanking my lucky stars there was not a 
companion with me to receive the charge, I quickly re- 
loaded. I had just closed the gun when out flew a grouse. 
I fired at him as he crossed the path, but missed. While 
reloading I heard a flutter at the right and just a little 
ahead of me. I sent my dog in and stood ready to shoot 
the bird should he flush it. I was thunderstruck when he 
came running up to me with a grouse in his mouth. The 
bird had evidently been sitting on a limb of a low pine 
and had received a part of the accidental discharge. 
Another incident happened with me while ruffed grouse 
shooting last fall which might cope with J. E. B.'s article. 
I was hunting, late one afternoon in November, in a thick 
piece of woods for a wary old grouse which I had hardly 
ever failed to flush in about the same place at the above 
time of day. Keeping my dog in pretty close, I had not 
far to go to hear his ever-welcome whir about 40yds. 
ahead of me. I just caught a glimpse of him as he cleared 
an oak, but could not get a shot. I followed, however, in 
the direction I supposed he had taken, intending to hunt 
him as long as I could see, as it was growing dark very 
fast. Sending the dog into some scrub oaks, I waited two 
or three minutes. As he did not start the bird I whistled 
him up, intending to send him in another direction, when 
what was my surprise to see him come trotting up, proud 
as a lord, with a grouse in his mouth. The bird was still 
warm, and had been dead but a short time. I think the 
bird had been wounded by some gunner who did not have 
a dog, or if he did the dog was worthless. The bird I 
flushed I failed to find again, but I am quite sure it could 
not have been the one the dog found. 
I think I have got as good a retriever as is made. He is 
quite stamen, although not perfection. He has retrieved 
many a grouse which I had no idea I had shot, besides 
retrieving the above grouse, which I have no idea who 
shot. F. D. S. 
North Dakota Non-Residents. 
Fargo, N. D., March 20.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The inclosed clipping from the Fargo Forum gives the 
result of the test case brought to test the validity of our 
North Dakota game law : 
"The hearing of the proceedings brought to compel 
Auditor Miller to grant a hunting permit to a non-resident 
for the same amount as to a resident of the State was 
taken up by Judge Rose at the court house this morning, 
and the peremptory writ was quashed. 
"State Attorney Pollock appeared on behalf of the State, 
and cited the section of the code providing a license fee of 
$25 for non-residents, as the ground on which the appli- 
cation was rejected. Mr. Maclay, of Ball, Watson & 
Maclay, represented E. H, Earle, the plaintiff, and the case 
was submitted without argument on either side. Judge 
Rose quashed the writ, and the case will probably be 
appealed to the Supreme Court. Mr. Maclay claims that 
the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 
the Connecticut case does not cover the point raised here, 
although a large number of local sportsmen disagree with 
him." C. E. Robbins. 
West Virginia Quail. 
Sistersville, W. Va., March 21.— I saw a welcome 
sight yesterday — five quail in a place where there has not 
been a quail in several years. I was attending to my duties 
and saw their tracks in the snow, and all duties were for- 
gotten and I followed their trail in the snow until they 
flushed; and as they disappeared in the woods my thoughts 
went back to the weary miles I traveled last season with 
not a feather. The companion of then, my Gordon Ted, 
is sleeping by his sire, Irish Ted* Why is it that a mon- 
grel, with no pedigree, no home, nothing, will live to a 
ripe old age, while the dog whose forefathers can be traced 
to the originators of his race must meet the spite of one 
who is far his inferior in everything, that curse of every 
community — the dog poisoner? 
I expect to go to Venezuela in a few months. Will any 
of the readers of Forest and Stream who have had ex- 
perience in the torrid zone write me all the information 
they can on what to wear, what weapons, etc., they 
would take to the gold fields of the above country? 
J. H. Pierce. 
Utah's New Law. 
Provo, Utah, March 26. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
send you a note in order that the matter may be men- 
tioned in next issue if you think best- 
The game law has passed the Legislature, and is in the 
Governor's hands. It is as stringent as the sportsmen 
desire — too stringent to be effectually enforced in some 
places. 
1. The export>f game at all seasons is absolutely pro- 
hibited. 
2. The sale of trout, even within the State, is prohibited 
for three years from the passage of the act. 
3. The killing of elk, deer, antelope and mountain 
sheep is prohibited for three years from passage of act. 
4. Close season is extended materially. 
5. Not more than fifteen birds or 151bs. of fish allowed 
to any one person in one day. 
If the Governor does not sustain his reputation 
vetoer, we are O. K. Shoshone. 
Wounded Partridges. 
One morning on starting out to see if I could find any 
birds, I came upon an old partridge, which I wounded. 
He flew quite a distance, and after I had followed him up 
I found him under a pine tree. Soon after I wounded an- 
other bird in the same way. He got away, but I found 
him unable to fly under a pine. Now, was it on account 
of the soft pine needles that these birds stopped here after 
being shot, or was it merely luck that they fell there, and. 
being unable to fly were forced to remain there? 
E. C. W. 
To Prohibit Nets in Lake Ontario Bays. 
The following bill has been proposed, to put an end to 
the ruinous bass netting and other fish destruction in the 
bays of Lake Ontario. It should have the prompt and 
hearty indorsement of every man who is interested in. 
saving from destruction the game and food fishes of those 
waters, and the way to indorse the measure is to send 
approval of it to Senator James Mullen and Assemblyman 
C. J. Clark. The bill amends Section 132 of the game 
code as follows: 
Section 132. No fish shall be fished for, caught or killed in any man- 
ner or by any device except angling in the waters of Lake Erie within 
half a mile of the shores thereof, nor of any of the islands therein,, 
or in the Cattaraugus Creek or within five miles of the mouth thereof, 
nor of any island therein, nor in Lake Ontario within one mile of the 
shore thereof, nor of any island therein, or within three miles of the 
mouth of the Oswego River or of the mouth of the Niagara Klver,. 
nor of any island therein. Nor shall fish taken contrary to the pro- 
visions of this section be knowingly possessed. 
PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. 
Messrs. Lawrence & Lichtenstbin have opened a sporting goods 
store at 39 Beekman street (near William), New York, They have a 
full line of sportsmen's goods, but their specialties will be trap and 
field shooters' supplies, bicycles, boats and fishing tackle. 
They have associated with them Mr. Frank Lawrence, who is well 
known to the sportsmen throughout the "United States and who is 
thoroughly up to date in all sportsmen's requirements. 
They will make a specialty of hand-loaded shotgun ammunition— a 
business with which Mr. Lawrence has been identified for some years, 
and in connection with which there are few experts better known. In 
his line a novelty will be introduced in the way of guaranteeing the 
mmunition. 
PASSING OF MISSOURI BASS. 
In his 1 'Deserted Village" Goldsmith tells of the old soldier 
who shouldered his crutch and showed how fields were 
won, and the same condition of affairs prevails with the 
old anglers who switch their rods and tell how once they 
caught the great bass in Missouri waters. But these days 
are gone, and if during the next five years the destruction 
of game fish in this State continues as it has during the 
past five, the waters will be as bare of fish as the great 
plains are now bare of buffalo. 
It is not a pleasant story to relate of the wanton de- 
struction of game fish in the rivers of Missouri, but it is a 
story which cannot be told too soon, nor its dire effects 
put too strongly. As is well known, Missouri contains 
the finest natural waters for game fish of any State in the 
Union. The great range of hills or mountains, which 
pass through the southern half of the State, contain the 
sources of many rivers which are fed by enormous springs. 
Thus the water is kept cool during the whole summer 
season and it is admirably fitted for the propagation of 
game fishes. In addition these rivers, emptying into the 
Mississippi, have this mighty stream to fall back upon for 
a supply which comes from the great States of Mississippi, 
Arkansas and Louisiana. But in spite of these advan- 
tages, the game fish, especially bass, are rapidly disap- 
pearing. 
Take for instance the Merrimac River, one of the finest 
streams in the United States for small-mouthed bass, 
which is fed by immense springs in the Ozark Hills, and 
with its sandy reaches, gravelly bottom and deep pools, it 
is the ideal place for the home of the black bass. But so 
wanton has been the destruction of fish in this river that 
a person would starve to death before he could catch 
enough to sustain life, Netting and dynamiting have 
been the causes which have ruined this great river. Of 
late years there has not been so much dynamiting, but 
during the period when the San Francisco Railroad was 
being constructed the river was mercilessly dynamited 
and everything in it was practically destroyed. It seems 
to be a fact that where a river has once been dynamited 
fish do not return to it. Certainly the passage of fish 
from the Mississippi River up the Merrimac should in a 
measure restock the river, but such is not the case. 
Another great Missouri fishing stream, nearly ruined, 
is the Big Piney. It is located in the southwestern part 
of the State, lies wholly within the Ozark Hills, and is 
fed by immense springs, the same as is the Merrimac. 
The destruction of fish in this river is due to the fish hogs 
from the great cities. We are aware that the native is 
roundly denounced who sets his net or who spears by 
torchlight, but the total number of fish taken by these 
did not amount to much, and fish were abundant in the 
Big Piney in spite of all that the natives took out. At 
Arlington on the Gasconade is a supply depot where 
boats and guides can be obtained, A day's ride across 
the country gives parties a sixty or seventy mile float on 
the Big Piney River, and two days' travel will take them 
near the headwaters of the river, giving them a float of 
over 100 miles. Now just imagine three or four parties 
a week during the whole fishing season floating down 
from the headwaters of the river, and it will be seen what 
an immense destruction of fish takes place. The usual 
course is for the guides and camp equipage to pull out 
early in the morning and move down the river to the next 
camping place. The fishermen then leisurely follow, fish- 
ing all the best places they find and dragging behind 
them the bass as they go down. For their supper a few 
of these fish are eaten and by the next morning the whole 
of them are dead and thrown away. This process of 
slaughtering has been going on for the past ten years. 
We are sorry to say that so-called anglers from St, Louis 
are the worst offenders, one party bragging that they had 
caught 1,200 bass in one of their trips. Is it any wonder 
that the river is now almost depleted? 
The Gasconade, a larger river than the Big Piney, into 
which the latter flows, and once the home of myriads of 
small-mouthed bass, Is also practically given up by fisher- 
men. There are some places where fair fishing can be 
found if one goes so far from the railroad that it is not 
generally reached by the city fish hngs. 
Passing to the southeast portion of the State, the 
smaller streams between the Ozarks and. Mississippi have 
been practically fished out, but now and then a bass or 
croppie may be taken. Going further south we come to 
the great St. Francis River, which has been one of the 
greatest fishing streams of this State. It also flows through 
the hills of the Ozark range in its southern course, goes 
through the lowlands of Missouri down through Arkansas. 
In its lower reaches of water are immense beds of moss, 
which are the natural spawning grounds for the bass. 
Club houses have now been located along the river where 
these spawning places occur and the waters are being 
mercilessly fished the whole year round. This fishing is 
done by members of clubs who are supposed to take some 
interest in the protection of game, but who in practice 
take every thing that comes along. Not only do these club 
members fish in the daytime, but especially at Buffalo 
Island, where there is a club house, a great many bass are 
taken at night with the fly. Last season thousands of 
them were taken in this manner and right from the moss 
beds. With a guide who knows all the open spots in 
the river the angler goes out at night, and with a big gob 
of bright feathers attached to a hook, and with* a short 
line at the end of a stiff cane pole, the fly is skittered 
along in front of the canoe and thus the bass are taken 
and ignominiously yanked into the boat. 
The Blaek River, long the favorite with St. Louis fisher- 
men, is also being rapidly depleted, and parties are dis- 
couraged who have gone to this river during the past few 
years. Many club houses are located on this river also 
and the members seem to take but little interest in the 
saving of the fish. 
In these rivers most of the destruction has been done by 
members from the cities. In addition there has been 
dynamiting, and also catching by nets and fish traps. 
Between Silver Dam, on the St. Francis, and Greenville, 
a distance of fifty or sixty miles, there are six large fish 
traps in active operation. These are very firmly con- 
structed, so as to resist the floods of spring, and fish are 
caught and sold to the markets. 
In addition to these points which have been stripped of 
