Sept. 26, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
24a 
second one, but in the meantime the first succeeded in 
killing his dog, a large hound, and then attacked Sieger. 
The man was almost stripped of clothing by the animal 
and severely cut and torn. Eansacker. 
New England Copperheads Again. 
Me. Wai. H. Atis notes the recf nt killing of a rattle- 
snake in the vicinity nfHamden, Conn., near New Haven, 
and of two copperheads in the same locality, Mr. Thos. 
J. Morrow sends us B. note of the killing of two copper- 
heads on Mt. Tom, Massachusetts, in the current month. 
►arwfi? und ^mu 
DID IT EVER HAPPEN TO YOU? 
SePtembrb 15 arrived at last. It is not necessary to 
inform the sportsmen of Massachusetts that I was anx- 
ious for its coming; they all know what Sept. 15 in this 
State means, and they were probably as anxious as my- 
self for its arrival. 
The night of the 14th I retired early, in order that I 
might get a good night's rest and be in good condition to 
start on the first train on the following morning for the 
covers, where I had roamed through nearly every Sunday 
since last May with my good setter friend Rusty. Wo 
had always found our brood of patties and woodies in 
about the same locality each time we visited the covers, 
and we had watched their rapid growth with pleasure 
from the little wee fellows to almost full-grown, strong 
birds. Bach Sunday I would tickle myself with the an- 
ticipated pleasure that Sept. 15 would bring with its arri- 
val. On our Sunday outings we would roam for hours 
through the birches and alders, never once meeting or 
seeing a sign of a human being. 
As I said before, I retired on the 14th early, but with a - 
feeling of uneasiness. Suppose some native hjinter runs 
into my marked broods before the first train can land me 
in the town, fifteen miles from the Hub. Oh, but no! I 
never met any living person in my cover in all my wan- 
derings this summer. With this last thought I dropped 
off to sleep. 
When I awoke the glorious 15th had arrived. Hustling 
into my togs and snatching a hasty lunch, I whistled to 
Rusty, and in a few minutes we were on the first train 
on our way to pay our friends a visit with gun and shot. 
When within about five minutes' walk of the first small 
cover, where my friends the partridge family resided, I 
saw a sight that almost made my heart stop beating. 
What was that? 
I wiped my eyes. Do I see aright? It can't be true. 
Surely no one would waste time in that small cover. 
Ah yes, too true! for out trotted friend V.'s pointer 
that I knew so well, followed a little later by V. himself, 
with a well-filled bag. It was now 7 A. M, — he a native 
just going home after his early morning sport, and I an 
outsider just going in, 
I hunted the covers out, but not a feather did I start 
till late in the afternoon, when I succeeded in bagging 
one partridge; then started for home, happy with the 
world in general, because it was Sept. 15 and I had not 
returned empty handed, Kirk. 
Boston, Mass, 
SPORT IN NOVA SCOTIA. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent C. B. T., in issue of Sept. 13, makes 
some statements which, for the benefit of brother sports- 
men, I am afraid to let pass unchallenged. And first I 
must ask his pardon. I can see he is a stranger to Nova 
Scotia, and I am afraid his credulity has been sorely taxed 
by the different people he has met, who all had axes to 
grind. 
Last year, when on my way to a hunting ground in New 
Brunswick, I was approached on the train by a mau pur- 
porting to be the proprietor of a hotel in Campbellton 
with the following story, which, in short, was to the effect 
that the week previous he, in company with another, had 
spent four days moose hunting on the outskirts of the 
town, and had each killed a very large moose. One 
of them, among other unheard of things, had horns 
spreading 14ft. from ti^) to tip. Needless to say, I told 
him I would be sure to come to Campbellton to hunt the 
next time. This actually was told me on the train, and 
the man was sober too. I have often wondered since if 
the man really thought I would believe him. 
However, to our subject. First, in place of being known 
only to a favored few, the country is overrun with hunt- 
ers, so much so, in fact, that time and again I have been 
moose calling, and on going out to the barrens some still 
morning have been exasperated to hear, some mile or so 
away, the sound of some one else calling too; or when 
making camp to hear in the stillness of the evening some 
other camper's axe ringing on the trees, and all this, too, 
fifty miles or more from the nearest house. Surely there 
are moi'e here than the "favored few." Tnere are moose 
here, and lots of them too; but you cannot get them by 
Bimply going out with your canoe, rifle and camp outfit, 
and expect to find Mr. Moose waiting to take his lead pill. 
Oh, no! not by a good deal. 
I have been lucky, never having been skunked but once, 
and that my first hunt. However, I know men, and good 
hunters they are, who go out year after year and often 
fail to make connections. There are four men in Nova 
Scotia who, if you will give them three weeks to do it, 
can go out and show you a bull moose. I think I can go 
out myself now and do the same, and perhaps a little bet- 
ter, but I don't hanker after doing it on a wager. 
So much for moose. Now as for caribou, I do not be- 
lieve there are twenty betweeen Halifax and Yarmouth, 
in Nova Scotia. Not one has been killed for two years in 
western Nova Scotia. 
The same applies to salmon as to moose; there are some 
salmon in the rivers, and if you are lucky possibly you 
may get four or five fiah in one day, bub they will all be 
small compared with Restigouche salmon, for instance. 
The country truly does swarm with trout; every lake, 
stream and river estuary contains abundance of trout of 
one kind or another. 
Partridges m places are plentiful; ducks in their season 
very much so; woodcock and snipe are fairly abundant. 
As C. B. T. says, the sail from Yarmouth to Halifax is 
truly beautiful; all of Nova Scotia, i^ so, but it is by no 
pieans so ioaepe^sible as reported* There is got one place 
along the main shore but is within twenty -four hours' 
reach of Halifax by the daily mail conveyance. Sports- 
men going after moose can reach almost any part of the 
country by the ox-team express, and where he cannot go 
by road he can go by canoe. 
We have a beautiful country here, and its wooded hills 
and valleys, and moss-covered barrens, beautifully stud- 
ded with lakes innumerable, and traced with a perfect 
network of rivers and brooks, contains many a lordly 
moose, and the coy, capricious caribou wanders through the 
land. The salmon jump in the streams and the trout are 
always at hand, but — and here comes the rub— they all 
require a master hand to get them, and he who comes out 
of the woods with a moose head as his prize may well be 
proud ; he has accomplished a feat to be proud of, and 
many there are who will envy him. He will indeed be 
a mighty hunter. 
Now again humbly asking pardon of C. B. T. for doing 
what I consider my duty, I am in the interests of the 
sportsmen Tiam. 
POSTED. 
How often at the present time does the sportsman when 
out on a shooting or fishing trip discover the warning 
signboard, placed in a prominent position, that tells him 
that "shooting or fishing on these premises is forbidden 
under penalty of the law." Not the least factor in causing 
his sadness as he turns away and seeks other fields is the 
thought, nay the assurance, that within the forbidden 
grounds unlimited sport is lurking in every bosky dell, or 
that every ripple of the laughing waters is sparkling ^th 
gleeful' admiration of the beautiful forms that are so 
gracefully sporting in the sunshine and shadows of the 
forbidden waters. 
The practice of posting the resorts frequented by sports- 
men has greatly increased within the past few years, and 
if the increase continues it will be but a short time before 
the sportsman will be so hemmed in, or rather shut out, 
that the pleasure that should attend his outing will be en- 
tirely gone, and perforce the gun and rod will be laid 
away to rust and moulder, fitting emblems of the blighted 
hopes and aspirations of the once enthusiastic sports- 
man. 
The causes that have led up to this state of affairs are 
many and various and not at all difficult to determine. 
First and foremost of these causes are the lawlessness and 
selfishness of many. Alas! far too many who go afield 
with rod and gun in innumerable instances outrage 
the feelings and destroy the property of the land- 
owner, until forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and 
as a sequence all of those who are entirely in- 
nocent in the matter upon their next outing are 
confronted at their favorite resort with the con- 
spicuous signboard which tells them that '''shooting or 
fishing on these premises is forbidden under penalty of 
the law." The worst feature in the case of the lawless or 
selfish individual is that vigorous warning or gentle plead- 
ing are alike useless. The faults are inherent, and so long 
as actual punishment does not follow his misdeeds he will 
continue to break the farmer's fences, trample his grass, 
shoot his chickens, steal his fruit and commit numberless 
other outrages so long as he continues to go afield. Tres- 
pass signs he does not heed, except perhaps to be a little 
more wary; in fact, he rather likes them, and considers 
them as useful to him in that they keep away others from 
his favorite resorts. Thus you s^e, dear reader, that you 
aad I not only suffer for his misdeeds, but have the added 
aggravation of knowing that he actually profits by the 
very means that are taken to punish him. 
As a rule, I have ever found the farmer to be a pretty 
good fellow, and during an experience of more than half 
a century in all sections of the country it has very seldom 
been the case that my request to shoot or fish through 
his grounds has been refused; and even since the afore- 
mentioned signs have become so plentiful the same rule 
holds good, aad very many times have I obtained per- 
mission to shoot over posted grounds. 
It is not that the farmer begrudges the sportsman his 
pleasure, and it is nearly always the case that a polite re- 
quest will secure permission to shoot or fish, and in every 
instance gentlemanly and sportsmanlike conduct will 
secure a cordial welcome for future visits. It is very rare 
that a surly disposition prompts refusal, in fact I can 
recall very few instances where this was the case. Hav- 
ing devoted considerable time to probing for tlie reasons 
that influenced landowners to post their grounds, I have 
been forced to the conclusion that the unsportsmanlike 
conduct of many who go afield with rod and gun will 
account for a very large proportion of the trespass signs 
that are now so plentiful. 
It is not always the case, however, that the predatory 
shooter or fishermaUj in whom the vice is inherent, is 
alone to blame for damage done the landowner, for it 
often occurs that with the best intentions one may inad- 
vertently, in the heat of an ardent chase, do something 
that he would not do in a cooler moment and in conse- 
quence the farmer's property is damaged thereby. Your 
bird may fly directly in line with buildings or cattle that 
are unseen by you. A vigorous fish may lead you through 
growing crops, or ia your haste to reach a desired position 
you may break down a crazy fence or leave down a bat , 
Should either of these or any other accident occur by 
which the landowner's property is damaged the well-dis- 
posed sportsman should at once do alt in his power to 
repair the damage. In nearly all cases of this nature a 
properly worded apology wUl make of the farmer a 
friend instead of an enemy, especially if, in case actual 
damage is don°, the apology is coupled with an offer to pay 
an amount suffleient to make the loss good. It is best to 
go easy over crazy fences, but in case you should break 
one down you should at once repair it to the best of your 
ability. 
• Once, when out shooting with a companion, in getting 
over a stone wall, we tumbled down at least a rod of it, 
and, although we were very anxious to get among the 
birds, we laid down our guns and set to work building it 
up again. We had been at work but a few minutes when 
the landowner put in an appearance, with a club in his 
hand and a most ominous frown upon his face; but when 
he saw what we were up to his grip on the club relaxed, 
a smile lit up his countenance and he greeted us cordially, 
at the 8a,me time telling us he heard the wall tumble and 
had come out to collect pay for the damage and then 
drive off hiR land; but. added he, "I guess that you are 
not Miftt kind," and he took hold with us, and we soon 
bad ^jie wa>ll m good as uew. * 'There," Ba,i<i he, when 
the job was finished, "you are the first hunters that I 
ever heard of that stopped to put up a wall that you had 
tumbled down, and I guess it is safe to let you hunt any- 
where." Then he directed us to a run that was unknown 
to us, where he said we would find woodcock, and told 
us to be sure to come to the house when the horn blew 
and get some dinner. When we finished the run we had 
eight woodcock, and as we smoothed their feathers and 
returned them to our pockets my companion exclaimed: 
"Verily, virtue hath its reward." But this was not all; 
we also had a good dinner, and better still, we made a 
friend who was always glad to see us, and, although he 
posted his grounds soon after, and enforced the law with 
that big club, we were always welcome to shoot or fish 
on his grounds, and it was through his kind ofl&ces that 
his neighbors allowed us free admittance to their 
grounds. 
I was once shooting in a covert that bordered posted 
grounds, and to get around a dense brier patch I got over 
the fence into the forbidden grounds and walked along 
the edge, coming to a cro^s fence in which was a bar- way. 
I let down two bars and was about to pass through when 
my companion, a short distance away, signaled a point 
and bade me hurry. Telling him I must first put up the 
bars, and doing so, I started to climb the fence into the 
covert, when I was confronted by the owner of the posted 
grounds, who exclaimed: "It is all right; go and get that 
bird, and then come back and I will show you where 
there are lots of them. A man that will stop to put up 
bars when his dog is on point can shoot on my grounds 
ail he wants to." I lost perhaps half a minute in time; 
what I gained cannot yet be estimated, as for years I have 
shot over these grounds, and hope to do so for many more 
to come. 
I do not wish it understood that I mention these things 
boastingly, or that any credit is due me for their perform- 
ance. They are jotted down merely to illustrate my 
argument and to demonstrate that the farmer is not 
always the churl that the lawless hunter would have you 
believe him to be. A large experience prompts the belief 
that when all of us who go afield shall do unto the farmer 
as we would that others should do unto us were we in the 
farmer's place, then will be the hunter's millennium, and 
"Shooting and fishing on these grounds is forbidden im- 
der panalty of the law" will not stare ua in the face when 
next we visit our favorite resort. S. T. Hammond. 
WHAT IS A TRUE SPORTSMAN? 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In one of your numbers some years back a correspond- 
ent asked: "What is a sportsman?" and himself offered 
as answer, that in Scotland a man was entitled to_a 
sportsman's badge when he had killed a salmon, a buck 
and an eagle. Your recent letters from Joe and Armin 
Tenner et al raise the question again in a more acute 
form, viz : "What is a true sportsman?" Now I propose 
that Forest and Stream establish an order, with an ap- 
propriate silver badge— that should be quite easy in view 
of silver prospects — an order of True Sportsmen. Each 
member shall be — to take it backward and analytically — 
through and through a man, a sport and true. 
Bat maybe this isn't much help — this offering three 
difficulties for one. Well, then try again. Each member 
must pass in ten of the following subjects — qualification, 
I mean : 
1, K'lep the game laws of his State, 
a. Walk five miles in one hour. 
3. Land a lOlb. fish with an 8oz. rod. 
4. Kill a buck with his own rifle. 
5. Kill a bear with his own rifle. 
6. Ride a century a-wheel in a day. 
7. Light 100 camp-fires with 100 matches. 
8. Relate a fishing expedition with liquor left but. 
9. Swim. 
10. Osvn the best dog in the world. 
11. Never have killed a perching bird within five paces. 
12. Make some kind of a rattling good revolver target 
(I know nothing of such things). 
13. Subscribe to Forest and Stream. 
14. Prove that on at least one occasion he could have 
shot more game than he possibly could use and didn't. 
15. Never have poisoned his neighbor's dog. 
16. Bring down ten flying birds in succession with ten 
cartridges. 
17. 0«vn and sail the "neatest little craft afloat." 
18. Had the buck ague. (This is psychologically im- 
portant.) 
19. Must have seen the hoopsnake and the glass snake 
or the sea serpent. 
aO. Never have killed a doe when he could have killed 
a buck, or a deer 100yds. off when he could get one at 50. 
21. Run a mile in— (I'll let you fill this up.) 
33. Rode over a five-barred gate (I know that should 
come in). 
28. And he must do it all for pure love, at least most of 
the time. 
I am not sure that this last just fits on to all the others, 
but you can see what is meant, and as you are going to 
SUP"-' -he medals you may add a few more qualifications 
_ you want to. I don't mind. 
N. B.— 1, 13 and 23 are not optional. Sloat Hall. 
P. S.— It's time I stopped. I find I've frozen myself 
out. No. 13 is the only ore I'm quite sound on, and I'm 
away behind on that now. 
P. S. No. 2. — ^I'll send design for badge next week. 
Send check for same, of whatever value you think proper, 
provided it goes into two figures. 
In Western Illinois. 
Jebseyvillb, 111., Sept. 14. — Our duck and chicken 
season opens to-morrow, but it will create little stir in 
local shooting circles. There are some few chickens, but 
the corn is so tall and thick that the birds are in very lit- 
tle danger. 
Quail have bred well and are now many of them well 
grown. The dense growth of weeds, corn and other 
cover will, however, prevent many sportsmen from hunt- 
ing them until the latter part of October, unless we have 
earlier frost than common. 
While hunting squirrels recently an old pheasant very 
defiantly flirted his brown tail almost in our face. He 
knew that safety was assured, as we were armed only 
with a .22 rifle. Bat there are other days, and we may 
happen down that way with a surprise in the shape of a 
Cfl/tter gun jn store for the old rascal. L. S. Hansbi-l, 
