Attg. 11, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
117 
character that is not unbecoming. But there is a con- 
spicuous credit that stands in favor of the wolverine, but 
one that need not alter our prejudice against that animal, 
for it is a good turn done with evil intent. It must be 
remembered that every winter since the fur business began 
in America, wolverines as well as wolves, lynx and fish- 
ers, by destroying the deadfalls on marten roads, have 
prevented the capture of thousands of these valuable fur- 
bearing little animals, and indeed in many localities pre- 
served the race. * 
Rattlesnakes in Vermont. 
Ferrisburgh, Vt., July 28.— One day last week a towns- 
man of ours, Hon. M. F. Allen, while walking from the 
head of Whalon's Bay to Split Rock Light House, encoun- 
tered a wanderer from the great Split Rock Mountain rat- 
tlesnake den, of which a correspondent wrote some 
weeks ago. Mr. Allen heard the alarm note directly be- 
fore him, and though it is a sound to which the ears of 
Vermonters are unaccustomed, at once recognized it, and 
presently discovered the reptile a lyin' in the path, in po- 
sition for the deadly spring. He did not crush the ser- 
pent with his heel, but as our adopted Canadian fellow 
citizen would say, "kicked it wid a stick," which at once 
destroyed its usefulness. Mr. Allen brought his trophy 
home, where in the hamlet of North Ferri3burgh it drew 
enough visitors to have made a crowd if they had all 
come at once, for in Vermont rattlesnakes in the flesh are 
a rarity, though in spite of our prohibitory laws they do 
sometimes appear in visions to such as have too much 
communication with forbidden spirits. 
Several years ago an old Canadian backwoodsman of 
the Adirondacks used to make the tour of the Vermont 
side of the Champlaih Valley with an ancient horse and 
a dilapidated lumber wagon, in which were stowed a box 
of live rattlesnakes with fangs extracted, a few tubs of 
very brown maple sugar, and some kits of salted trout. 
The sugar and fish were for sale, the rattlesnakes for ex- 
hibition, to which he invited the bystanders by making 
loud proclamation: "A-ny mans wan' see it nain 
rattlimsnek for twanty-five cen', jomp on de woggin." 
Mr. Allen's snake measured forty-two inches in length, 
had seven rattles, and was of a diameter that invited dissec- 
tion, which revealed a full grown red squirrel. Do ven- 
omous snakes poison their food in eatirig it? If not, 
how not, if the fangs are raised by the act of opening the 
mouth? If it does, how does the snake escape injury 
from the poisoned food, while its self-inflicted bite is 
fatal ? Mr. Allen tells me that one hundred and twenty 
rattlers have been killed this season in the neighborhood 
of the Split Rock Mountain. Awahsoose. 
[Rattlesnake venom may be taken into the stomach 
without injury, it being a blood poison, not a stomach 
poison.] 
The Mongoose Again. 
There were brought from India the other day, con- 
signed to Mr. O. H. P. Belmont, Newport, a small men- 
agerie, comprising six sacred cows, three bulls, two 
"mouse" deer, one kite, two shikar deer, four cranes, four 
storks, ten jungle fowl, nine China ducks, nine blood 
pigeons, three Chinese squirrels, four mongoose, six part- 
ridges and eight pheasants. It is reported that the ulti- 
mate destination of the importation is Mr. Vanderbilt's 
estate at Asheville, N. C. The possible results of tne in- 
troduction of the mongoose, if set at large, are so grave 
that this note of warning from "Didymus" is well founded: 
"Can it be possible that the owners of these members of 
the mongoose family intend to turn them loose ? If they 
do they will make themselves targets for the maledictions 
of every thinking person in the country. It might be 
many years before much damage could be done by them, 
but they would eventually prove a curse of the worst de- 
scription, as they have on the island of Jamaica. 
"After the clinching arguments which have been ad- 
vanced by Forest and Stream against their introduction 
here a man can have no plea except gross ignorance for 
bringing them. In Jamaica the game, of all kinds, has 
been nearly exterminated, while there is no possibility of 
exterminating the mongoose. 
"Congress should pass a law inflicting the severest pos- 
sible penalty upon any one who brings a curse of that kind 
into the country, even for exhibition, for fear of escape. 
Messrs. Belmont and Vanderbilt are certainlv 'old enough 
to know better.'" " Didymus. 
'mt[t fjng nt[i (§im. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
[From a Staff Correspondent.] 
Advice About Chickens. 
Chicago. 111., Aug. 4. — These are the days when every- 
body is either going chicken shooting or wishing he could 
go. All who can go are asking about locations, routes, 
dogs, etc. There is some color to a wish for a chicken 
shoot this season, because there are really some birds. 
Probably this is the best chicken year for the past six 
or eight years, at least so far as abundance of birds is 
concerned. The drought which has been general through- 
out the West may spoil the fun some, but one can always 
help out a little by taking a cask of water for the dogs 
along in the field wagon. 
There are birds in half a dozen States this year in num- 
bers enough to promise good sport. The Dakotas, of 
course, will attract many shooters, but it is not necessary 
to go so far. There are chickens in Iowa, this year, 
enough to set all the illegal shooters to work long before 
this, but also enough to afford shooting in season for gen- 
tlemen. I should advise any one wanting to make a nice 
little hunt to take the Albert Lea route to St. Paul, and 
to stop off at some little town say forty miles below the 
north line of Iowa, then working over to the westward. 
Iowa has always been illegally shot to death, and her laws 
have been about as bad and as badly administered as they 
could be, but since the glory of her days departed a great 
many shooters have gone elsewhere, so that the local head 
of game has slowly increased. Sometimes it is better to 
drop into a place which has b°en let alone that way for a 
while, than to go to a more popular locality. Just now 
the Dakotas are the popular thing. One may be abe to 
get good, fair shooting in northwestern Iowa. Chicken 
shooting is all too easy. I beg all friends to set a limit to 
each day's bag, and to adhere to it firmly. The game is 
going all too fast. Just now protection is beginning to 
show its good effect. Let us not go to work to see how 
many we kill, but how much pleasure we can have in kill- 
ing a nice gentlemanly bag. Suppose four guns go out. 
If they find plenty of birds, in two hours each gun can 
kill 25. There you have 100 great birds. What are you 
going to do with them? Do you think it right to go out 
and kill even 25 birds a day, one day after another ? 
Isn't one "good day" about enough for a gentleman, and 
can't he afford a little moderation after that? This is 
woi'th thinking over. 
Points on the Northwest. 
For the use or information of those who are going 
shooting or would like to go, I will give a few points as to 
some towns of the Northwest, inasmuch as a great many 
people at this season of the year write in to Forest and 
Stream wanting to know chapter, page and verse in reply 
to their queries as to shooting country. I feel sure that I 
can pretty near guarantee good sport this fall at the 
points I name below, by exerting the proper kind of gen- 
tlemanly zeal in the way of making local inquiries. Any 
stranger's succees in going into a strange country depends 
largely on the way he conducts himself. 
I do not mean to say that one needs to go so far north 
as the towns named to find good sport, but once so far 
north the matter is less of a chance and more of a cer- 
tainty. Thus, lower Minnesota often has fine chicken 
shooting, but sometimes does not, the season governing 
that. This season I know there is game at the points I 
will mention. 
Bralnerd, Minn. 
They do tell me that if the right man goes to the presi- 
dent of the First National Bank of Brainerd he can get 
exceeding straight tips on where to go in the fall for 
chickens and ducks, and can, moreover, be assured of 
good fishing. 
Moorhead, Minn. 
What I shall say about Fargo, N. D., could be almost 
said in advance in regard to Moorhead, as the latter place 
is only just across the river from Fargo. 
When you get to Moorhead just check your grip at the 
GEORGE T. BREWSTER, 
Designer of the "Neesmuk ' Memorial. 
depot and start right up to the Mayor's office. The Mayor, 
Mr. Arthur Lewis, is just the man you are looking for. 
He can tell you just where you will need to go after 
chickens, and how to get there. Ho knows all the 
shooters, all the grounds, and all the dogs— rif you want 
to buy a dog. If I were going shooting in Dakota, I 
would rather buy a good local chicken dog than take on 
the best sort of an untried chicken dog from the East. 
Mr. Lewis is a shooter besides being a mayor. A power- 
ful, vigorous man, and the soul of good nature. I hope 
he will long be mayor of Moorhead, and long be as kindly 
to all strangers as he was to me when I was there. 
• Mayor Lewis is the head and front of a goodly trap- 
shooting club at Moorhead. Hearty, pleasant men one 
will find these citizens of the new Northwest. 
If Mayor Lewis is out shooting when you strike Moor- 
head, ask for "Babe" Daubener, who runs a restaurant 
down on Front street. I saw a lot of bird dogs around 
there, and know what that means, though Mr. Daubener 
was out of town when I called. 
Fargo, North Dakota. 
At Fargo the traveler may want some more money. 
The First National Bank has money, and moreover its 
officers are shooters. Mr. S. S. Lyon, the cashier, iB 
president of the Fargo Gun Club, and Mr. C. E. Robbins 
is secretary. These two started their club, which after- 
ward grew to 25 members, by themselves. They used to 
shoot tin targets, but have long since blossomed out with 
electric trap pulls and all that sort of thing. Mr. Robbins 
got up a novel scheme for this little club, a member's target 
ticket, which costs $1, and is good for 100 targets, at any 
date, the number shot on any day being entered on the 
card. Unused cards are redeemed by the secretary. On 
this basis it is cheaper to break targets on the grounds 
than it would be to do it throwing rocks in the barrel. 
That doesn't look like a wolf club. 
Of the Fargo Union Gun Club G. E. Bowers is president 
and Clint. Smith secretary. Here one gets a lot of shoot- 
ers, who next year will want Elmer Shaner and the Inter- 
state Association to come up to Fargo, and who even now 
are beginning to work for a North Dakota State Sports- 
men's Association. If you go down to Clint. Smith's 
blacksmith shop you will be apt to see some more chicken 
dogs lying around. That is the way to tell the sportsmen's 
rendezvous in the Northwest. There is where you can 
learn where the chickens are, if you are willing to behave 
like a gentleman, and not try to see how many you can 
kill. 
The Meat Dogr a Sign of Game, 
If you can afford it, when you are going out on a 
chicken hunt, you want to have two dogs along, one a 
field- trial dog, to look pretty and to talk about, and the 
other a meat dog, to do your chicken shooting over. 
When I get out into a country where I can once more 
meet my old friend of earlier years, the genuine, old- 
fashioned chicken dog, I always know I am in a chicken 
country. I knew this when at Fargo I heard Mr. G. E. 
Bowers speak of his dog, which "hunted thirteen days 
out of the sixteen days we were out." This dog was a 
liver and white pointer that weighed 62^1bs. He might 
not win on the bench, but he or some other meat dog 
that will jolt the wagon that runs over him can carry my 
money in the field. 
It should not be understood that chicken shooting is at 
its best right in the edge of Fargo and Moorhead. Ten 
years ago the case was different. The chickens were then 
literally abundant in the edge of town, and the wild ducks 
were numerous along all the railroad ditches. Now the 
Fargo men go 200 miles west for duck shooting. For 
their best chicken shooting they go fifteen to thirty miles 
southwest of town into the sandhill country. There the 
birds are plentiful enough for anybody. 
The Fargo and Moorehead men all say that in their 
neighborhood the game laws were remarkably well ob- 
served during the past year. They say spring shooting 
also was little practiced. Not 150 ducks were killed, and 
not a dozen illegal chickens. Stop the visiting shooter 
and the market shooters, and I imagine the Dakota men 
would have their game forever. Let it not be supposed 
for a moment that they are not in the front rank of game 
protection. 
Mr. C. E. Robbins, of Fargo, is State secretary for the 
N. G. B. & F. P. A., and will cheerfully try to cinch you 
if you try to ship or carry chickens or ducks out of the 
State, or if you will kill any more than twenty-five of 
either in any one day. 
Fargo is a great town for frogs. They breed in the 
ditches, start overland for the Red River and fall into the 
cellar windows along the street by dozens and hundreds. 
Jamestown, N. D. 
If you get to the edge of the State, probably you want 
to go on further out into the State. It is a nice little run 
out to Jamestown, over the Northern Pacific, and when 
you get to Jamestown you are in a fine game country. 
No chicken roosting on the court house steps, as you per- 
haps expect, but all the chickens in working distance a 
gentleman need want. Note the use of the word gentle- 
men. I do not so classify those who want to slaughter 
and ship. James A. Rankin or Will Gross might possibly 
not object to being looked up at Jamestown. 
Spiritwood, N. D. 
Spiritwood is not far from Jamestown, and in a good 
chicken country. Some fishing in Spiritwood Lake, but 
Dakota isn't the place to go fishing. 
Eldridge, N. D. 
Eldridge is a little place not far west of Jamestown. It 
is not much better than plenty of other little places in 
around there, but there are lots of chickens all through 
there this year. 
Turtle Mountain Country. 
The Turtle Mountain country, north of the N. P. road, 
is historic for chickens, and I do not need mention it. It 
is thought to be good this year. It has been much fre- 
quented by those who wanted to ship or slaughter. 
Dawson, N. D. 
Dawson is the place on the N. P. road where the special 
hunting cars sidetrack in the fall, carrying the fellows 
who kill sacksf ul of chickens, ducks and geese, which they 
ship illegally by tons. I wish the Dakota game protectors 
would slip a good man or so in at Dawson this fall. They 
could catch a fine grist of fine-haired Eastern law break- 
ers. It is time to call a halt on the old destructive ways. 
If you want a guide at Dawson, get J. J. Gokey or C. L. 
Pettibone. 
At Dawson illegal chicken shooting is the common 
thing. 
Dawson is on the same flight of geese which crosses the 
Platte near Grand Island, Neb. 
Crystal Springs, N. D. 
This town is near Dawson on the east. It is especi- 
ally good for ducks. But few snipe stop in this section. 
In the fall there is a good flight of avocets, golden plover 
and a few curlew. 
Mandan, N. D. 
From Dawson all the way west to Mandan, about sixty 
miles, there is good chicken shooting. Mandan, as 
should be known by all persons, is on the west bank of 
the Missouri. On the east bank is Bismarck. I shall 
speak of the two as practically the same for all purposes. 
Mandan is near the place where Lewis and Clark wintered 
on their glorious journey into the then unknown West. 
They found good hunting all through there. Even now 
there is very good deer shooting near Mandan. There 
would be more if the Indians did not kill so many in the 
flood times of the Missouri, when the deer are driven out 
of the thickets on the bottoms. The farmers have been 
killing hundreds of deer illegally in that section. A 
party of Russian farmers went out hunting and camped 
on the Mandan Lake last fall. They shot at everything 
they saw, but got no deer. When they counted noses 
they were one Russian shy. They got one Russian. In 
the Killdeer Mountains, about forty miles from Dickin- 
son, the deer are abundant. They still cling to the dense 
thickets of the Missouri Bottoms. On the Little Heart 
River, thirty miles southwest of Mandan, there is good 
deer hunting. 
All around Mandan there is good chicken shooting. In 
the fall, about October 15 or 20, the goose shooting is fine. 
It is a notable fact that about twenty miles east of Man- 
dan the geese are nearly all the snow geese. West of the 
Missouri, they are nearly all Hutchins geese or Canada 
geese. On the 23d and 25th of last March one party killed 
41 Canada geese. This was on old stubble. All last fall the 
goose hunting about Mandan was very good. All over 
Dakota the game this spring was reported to have gone 
north in almost phenomenal numbers. When I was at 
Mandan in April the flight had not gone north entirely. 
I saw a Canada goose there which weighed 131bs. It was 
very lean. It was a giant in frame and I never knew a 
goose grew so large. A trumpeter swan was also killed 
that week, and I saw the big skin in course of mounting. 
Sometime later I shall write a lot more things about 
Mandan, after the flurry for chicken country subsides, 
