892 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May ns, 1895. 
rience he had never seen such a villainous dinner, that the 
soup seemed to have been made from the shadow of birds; 
that the noble shad had faded into river catfish; that the 
duck, the roast and everything connected with this dinner 
was simply abominable; when his lips touched the coffee 
he put the cup down with a frown and said, 'Gentlemen, 
I really must ask you to excuse this coffee, it is villainous.' 
When the feast was over, in the great high toned voice 
of a potentate, he said to the waiter, 'Give me my ticket.' 
The waiter replied^ 'Thar ain't no ticket.' He took a 
long steady look at one of these Tennessee Club friends 
and said, 'Did you pay this ticket?' 'Upon my honor, 
I ;did not,' was the prompt reply. He turned on the 
waiter with a scrowl on his face like the demons of old 
and said, 'Waiter^ give me that ticket.' 'Sax, thar ain't 
no ticket.' 
"This of course caused a great deal of confusion, and, 
greatly to his discomfort, first one gentleman and then 
the other started out of the cafe, and out of the hotel, 
leaving him storming at the waiter, and from there on to 
the clerk. To this day he does not know who paid for the 
dinner, which he was serving and which be so eloquently 
derided, and for which somebody else paid. Now,mind you, 
I would not tell this face to face with this scribe for any 
amount of money; in fact we said nothing about it the 
balance of his stay here, and I imagine he will wish that 
he had never ordered dinner at Luehrmann's. Adam." 
Speaking- of Bear. 
Speaking of bear reminds me that Ira Dodge, or a part 
of him, has just passed through Chicago, to attend the 
sportsmen's exposition at New York. Ira Dodge is the old 
mountain man of Wyoming, who was partially eaten by 
a bear which he had partially killed , so all of Mr. Dodge did 
not go East, to be strictly truthful. The rest of him can 
rejoice in the fact that he got out alive from about as 
close a squeak as a man ever did have with a bear. 
Mr. J. W. Schultz, another mountain man and guide, 
from Piegan, Mont., also passed East for the exposition 
yesterday. The exposition promises to be very notable in 
the attendance of guides, woodsmen and practical sports- 
men of all kinds, and any sportsman of any kind who can 
do so should be on hand to learn the new and old things 
of the craft. 
Mr. Colville (Dick Swiveller), long with the Baker gun, 
passed through Chicago this week for the West. 
Interesting Test Case. 
A friend points out the following from a Dubuque, la., 
paper. The question involved has for years been a much 
mooted one, and of late the sportsmen have been pushing 
it hard. It is all very well to talk of the food rights of the 
people in fish and game, but it has not yet been established 
that a few of the people have the right to forever destroy 
that which belongs to all the people, and which should 
forever be conserved for all the people. The marketmen 
have never been sincere. When they say the people they 
mean themselves. When the sportsmen speak of protect- 
ing fish and game for the people, they do not mean them- 
selves, but all the people, now and hereafter. The sports- 
men are doing the thinking for those who can not or will 
not think. Thought has a way of insistence and growth. 
That is why the idea, "Stop the Sale of Game," is bound 
to grow. The excerpt reads: 
"At the coming session of the Supreme Court an im- 
portant case will be argued, which will, in the opinion of 
the attorneys, settle the question. The first one will be 
the legal limits of the Mississippi River as far as Iowa is 
concerned, and the second will be the fish supply of Iowa 
towns. The case was commenced in Allamakee countv. 
C. H. Haug was arrested for catching 2,5001bs. of fish 
with a net from Big Lake, near Lansing. He was 
acquitted, J udge Hoyt holding that a lake was part of the 
river, as it was originally formed as part of the river bed. 
The county authorities want the case settled and for that 
reason appealed it. If the Supreme Court holds that any 
lakes along the banks of the Mississippi River are not part 
of that stream as far as the fish law is concerned, it will 
put an end to the business of hundreds of fishermen, cut 
down the supply of fresh fish all over the State and inci- 
dentally make the Mississippi lakes a paradise in a few 
years for fishermen with the rod." 
Hail. 
Max Luther, of Corpus Christi, Texas, informs me that 
it recently hailed in that part of Columbia about 4ft. 
deep on the level, the hailstones running as large as 
watermelons. Fortunately the ducks had all gone north. 
It does not hail that large in the north. Texas is a 
great State. 
Possum Club Fire Sufferers. 
It is a singular fact that Mr. F. A. Place, also a member 
of the Possum Club party mentioned last week, and an 
ex-member of the executive committee of the State Asso- 
ciation, was this morning burned out, his elaborate photo- 
graph gallery being almost totally destroyed. Mr. Place 
made many pictures for the sportsmen and had a large 
collection of negatives, most of which were lost. It is 
odd, but true, that this morning, when poking around 
among the ruins of these negatives, almost the first one 
he turned up was that of his friend and fellow loser by 
fire, Mr. Hamline. If this thing keeps up, Foeest and 
bTREAM will need another fire reporter out here before 
long to cover all the hurry calls m Chicago sportsman- 
ship. Mr Lester Stevens, another photographer and an- 
other sportsman, and also a Possum Club member, offers 
Mr. Place the use of his gallery and facilities until he gets 
on his feet again. Members of the sportsmen's guild are 
ever helpful to one another. ° 
Car Fare. 
I have discovered that, if a fellow walks down town 
in the morning he can save his 5 cents car fare and 
can, moreover, for the said 5 cents purchase a fine red 
rose and two red carnation pinks, all the same being; 
very beautiful and fragrant. This morning, when 1 
was eating breakfast in a restaurant where the prices 
are not too swift— because you know it is getting 
toward the middle of the week, and all good news- 
paper men are broke then— I was somewhat surprised 
to see the waiter pick up my two pinks from the table 
in front of me, and inhale somewhat of their fragrance 
"Them's mighty nice," said he. So he got a schooner 
of water and put their stems in it. "That'll keep 'em 
fresn," he said. "I'm awfully fond of flowers. They're 
so sweet." Now, what could you do in a case like 
that, even if it was the middle of the week? Perhaps 
Chicago is not all Chicago, after all. 
A Nebraska Pelican. 
Mr. Ezra E; Howard, of Edgar, Neb., writes as below 
of a pelican which seems to be a little out of ordinary 
pelican bearings, though that bird is sometimes seen along 
the Platte or Arkansas rivers, and is common in many 
Rocky Mountain lakes: 
"A white pelican was caught near here a few days ago 
by a young man. The bird had evidently got its right 
wing injured in some way. It had black feathers on its 
wings and a hump on its bill about the middle about ^in. 
thick, 2in. long, and a little over lin. high. Was it the 
common white pelican or not? 
"The flight of doe birds is pretty good, and hunters are 
getting good bags." 
It was no doubt the common white pelican, the latter 
having black tips to the wings. I reckon they have these 
horns on their noses to give them strength, because when 
you drop from a few hundred feet into the water you 
need a strong fore-runner. I am posted on pelicans, 
because we always see about a million of them every 
time we go down to Texas. E, Hough. 
909 Securitv Building, Chicago. 
BUCK AGUE." 
You gave 
Cincinnati, O. — Editor Forest and Stream 
me quite an energetic "tail twistin'" in Forest "and 
Stream of April 27, but it did not set me back much, and 
I still hold that the term "buck fever" is wrong, as applied 
to the shaking and utter helplessness of a hunter when 
trying to hold his gun on game and can't — Bartlett and 
his "Dictionary of Americanisms" to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 
Bartlett, and Hammond, too, doubtless defined this 
state of the nerves to accord with what the people meant 
with whom they came in contact, viz., that they shook; 
but a misapprehension or misapplication of a term or 
phrase does not make it right. 
I said before, and I stick to it, that fever don't shake its 
victim till the back teeth are about ready to drop out, or 
words to that effect; but that ague does; hence I claim 
that "buck fever," when used to mean the shaking and 
agitation of the nerves when coming suddenly on a deer 
or other game, is a misnomer; a perversion of the to 
meaning of the idea intended to be conveyed, which is "to 
shake, as with a sudden fit of ague — not fever. 
I don't understand why people in one locality should 
call thi3 nervousness, this shaking — which is the same the 
world over— "buck ague," and those of another part of 
the country call it "buck fever;" but it only emphasizes 
the fact that the "agueites" had a right conception of the 
term and the others a wrong one. 
"Buck fever" don't agree with my notions of the fitness 
of things. It don't describe any of the symptoms nor 
bear any relation that I can make out to the shaking state 
of the nerves under discussion, and I am going to "side 
with the man from Texas," and the pioneers of the Wa- 
bash bottoms, and the early dwellers along the Tippecanoe 
and Eel rivers, and call it "buck ague" till I can be con- 
vinced that there is any shake, quake or any other kind of 
a nerve-jerking attribute in a fever. 
It don't seem a question to be settled by being possessed 
of any special knowledge of "the ways of speech of past 
generations." It should settle itself by the adaptability of 
the term to the effect produced. 
Does it throw one into a fever, or into a shaky state like 
unto an ague fit? If a fever, I will acknowledge that I 
am in the wrong; if into an ague, like an old-fashioned 
"Wabash shake," I claim to be in the right, and I can't 
quite see it in the light of carping or "cantankerous criti- 
cism" to try and set the readers of Forest and Stream 
right in a matter that seems to me a plain misconception 
and misuse of a term that does not express any of the 
symptoms or effects of the malady under consideration. 
No, I have no more fathers in reserve; but from the 
one 1 used to have — the quickest with a rifle, the truest 
and best deer hunter I ever knew — and from other old 
deer hunters of the time when I was a boy, I learned to 
call these unaccount ible attacks of "rattles" by the right 
name — "Buck Ague." 
I have had my say, and will rest my case. 
Kingfisher. 
P. S. — I have another "crow to pick" with the composi- 
tor and proofreader. On page 349, first column, ninth 
line from top, issue of May 4, one or both of them make 
me say, "white scarlet flannel," which I wrote "bright 
scarlet flannel." Who ever heard of "white scarlet?" 
K. 
NOTES OF A FLYING TRIP. 
Lincoln, Neb., May 7.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Well, here we are again, after making a kind of double- 
cushion carom via Portland, and spinning half-way 
across the continent, ending with a graceful parachute 
drop down on old stamping grounds — for the present. 
Item — Omaha to-morrow, maybe savie Sandy Griswold, 
huh? Item— Chicago next week, savie Hough sure, and 
smoke good cigars with him (if he has any), 'cause he's 
one of the family, see? Several items — saw Judge Greene 
and his side-partner Meade in Portland. Good crowd 
that, know a good thing from a salted claim. Going into 
the Olympics, western Washington, all three of us some 
day. Tell you all about it when we get back. Reason, 
Meade wants a Dolly Varden that will weigh umpty 
pounds; and what Meade wants, he has to have. The 
Judge, being older, lias given up such vanities and is con- 
tented with brook trout, and lots of them, about ten 
inches to a foot long. 
More items — asked every man I saw coming across 
what the game outlook was where he lived. Here is 
what I found out: 
Grande Ronde Valley, Ore. — Plenty of grouse and 
chickens, some pheasants in the valley. Mule deer and 
bear f airiy plenty in the mountains close by. 
Nampa, Idaho — Lots of blacktail deer. Bear (big ones), 
sheep and goats, all you want back in the hills. Chickens,' 
willow grouse plenty, Pheasants once a week. 
Glenjs's Ferrt, Idaho.— Lots of blacktail deer, some 
few elk, sheep, goats and bear, all in the Sawtooth 
Range. Lots of trout, Snake River and tributaries. 
Pocotello, Idaho.— Blacktail deer, goats, sheep and 
beariin the mountains; lots of willow grouse along the 
streams. Plenty of trout anywhere you can find a damp 
place (so they tell me). 
Ogden, Utah. — Ducks and geese in season. Bear, deer 
and few sheep in the Uintah range. Plenty of trout in 
Weber and Bear rivers— salt free with water at the lake. 
Mosquitoes big enough to shoot. 
Bear Lake Valley. — Deer, grouse, pine hens and sage 
hens enough to feed the whole crowd. Lots of trout and 
whitefish (?): both take a fly. 
Star or Salt River Valley, Wyo.— Best place 
on eaTth, not counting out the head waters of Green 
River, 100 miles from McCammon junction, sixty miles 
east of Montpelier on the Short Line. Good place and 
full of white folks clear down to Evanston. Deer, elk, 
bear and sheep until you get tired shooting. Grouse and 
sage hens plenty. Stray antelope once in a while, maybe 
twice in a while sometimes. Trout and whitefish sit up 
nights to get first chance at your fly; man who lives there 
told me — fact. 
Eastern Wyoming.— Turned into a sheep ranch and 
worked out, even jack rabbits leaving both slopes of the 
Continental divide. Western Nebraska— baked. Eastern 
Nebraska— Sandy Griswold's reservation and posted! 
I heard "Arefar's" remark a few weeLs ago about a 
trout that lives in California; but it's a different breed 
from my red one up in Washington. Will talk to Arefar 
a little later on about fish. Got other things on the reel 
right now. 
■•Von W." is o.k. about that 160-acre spear that some 
fellow got a patent on to "help us poor anglers out." 
Wish he would make a nice big one for a present. 
Wouldn't I like to just make a few jabs at him with it. 
Invention for anglers, humph! 
I'll drop in again about the time roses begin to bloom, 
in the moon of tne hatching of the birds, and tell you 
about that dead antelope that the eagles fought over up 
there in the Bad Lands. Just now I'm "tied to business ' 
and only got here by doing a quick sneak, see? Klook- 
wah, Tillacums. El Comancho. 
WEIGHTS OF MICHIGAN DEER. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
I received a quaint sort of a letter a few days ago, dated 
April 1, from "Uncle Billy Richardson," the hermit of 
Hubbard Lake, near whose cabin we made our camp 
last summer, and I think some extracts from it may in- 
terest some of the readers of the "old paper." "Uncle 
Billy" is eighty years of age and lives alone— not count- 
iig his cats and chickens— in a snug cabin three and a 
hilf miles from the foot of Hubbard Lake, and during 
the deep snows of winter seldom sees the face of a fellow 
man for six and eight weeks, as there is no house nearer 
him than the foot of the lake. He is one of the very best 
of the many good neighbors and friends we have made in 
Michigan, and I take pleasure in "saying it to his face," 
for I'm going to send him a paper with these remarks in 
it— if you print them. Kingfisher. 
Uncle Billy writes: "I write to return thanks for the 
large and beautiful calendar and papers and everything 
else you sent me. I am told it has been a very cold win- 
ter here, but I did not feel it so much myself, for I was 
out but very little. We had fair weather in March, snow 
all went away, except in the thick woods and Bwamps, 
but I woke up this morning to find four inches of snow 
on the ground. 
"They are cutting holes in the ice to put in 50,000 lake 
trout fry, as they think they will do well in Hubbard 
Lake. The ice is 2ft. thick, the snow has been about the 
same on the level. The ice goes very quick with a little 
fine weather. * * * I see in one of the Cincinnati 
Commercials you sent that a Mr. B. W. Campbell claims 
to have killed the largest deer in the Northwest, 2501bs. 
I think that he is away off the range in the weight and 
size of Michigan deer. The first deer that I killed on 
Hubbard Lake weighed 3071b. good weight. I weighed 
one for old Indian Joe of 30S*lbs., and I have weighed 
many deer for the Indians under and over SJOOlbs. The 
hide of my 3071bs. buck weighed 7lbs. when flint dry, and 
4+lbs, when tanned, which sold for $11.25, 
"Many hunters about Alpena kill larg-r deer than 2501bs. 
every year. Plenty of Indians round here. Indians and 
deer go together. There was a party of hunters here last 
fall occupying your old camp ground. They killed 
twenty-five deer, one a little short of 2701bs., and half of 
them over 200ibs. ; a very pretty sight to see them hung 
up. They got tired killing deer and went homp one week 
before the season was out. Among them was one pro- 
fessor, one State representative and three farmers. In- 
dians now making maple sugar. Best wishes to the 
Colonel and all the rest of the Kingfishers. 
"Wm. Richardson." 
The Canvas Hunting Boat. 
Marlin, Tex., May 4.— Editor Forest and Stream: We 
wish to take mild exceptions to the treatment " W. R. H." 
gives a favorite of ouns under the head of "Roughing for 
Ducks," in your issue of April 27— the canvas folding boat. 
He would give one not experienced the impression that 
the boat is too cranky for useful purposes. While it is 
true that it would not do in most instances for a ferry, nor 
answer a great many purposes so well as some other boat 
we have never failed to find our little 12x40 the right 
thing in the right place. We have used it for four years 
on various rivers and lakes in this State, and it has never 
tipped over with us yet, although we use 65sq. ft. of can- 
vas in a mainsail and jigger, and were out in one squall 
that broke the main stick in two. 
When we first got it, the stools that came with it as 
seats tipped over and "spilled" us into the gunwales a 
couple of times, and we got some cork cushions made the 
proper size, which prove to be easy and comfortable seats. 
In case of an accident, with a person in who couldn't 
swim, by taking one under each arm there would be no 
danger of drowning. When it comes to transporting a 
boat to fishing or hunting grounds, it takes very little im- 
agination to decide which boat is the handier. 
Our boat seems to be just as good now as when we got 
it, about four years ago, and stands the wear and tear 
better than some of our high-grade wooden boats. 
We enjoyed the article written by "W. R. H." very 
much, and would like to have some other brother's expe- 
rience with a canvas folding boat. E. R. E. 
