370 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Nov. 7, 1896. 
Sucks in Barnegat Bay. 
Barneuat Inlet, N. Y,, Oct. 39 — At the prespnt 
momeDt there are more ducts and geese in Barnegat Bay, 
in the vicinity of the Inlet, than bas been linown for 
many years past, and beet of all they are of good quality, 
red-head, cub-head, widgeon, teal and broadbill, and in 
excellent condition owing to the abundance of young 
mussels and other food. For several days past I have 
seen an almost unbrolien line of wildfowl, "bedded," as 
we call it, from abreast of Cedar Creek to the Clam 
Islands. Tens of thousands would feebly express their 
numbers, I might better say solid acres of them. 
Occasionally, as a passing boat approaches them, they 
rise in clouds, and as they wheel and turn in the sunlight 
the flash of their breasts and wings are bewildering and 
beautiful to look upon. It makes the gunner rub his 
hands and think of what sport there is in store for him as 
soon as the wind freshens. The Great Sedge Islands are 
certainly getting their share of the sport this fall, as I 
have talked with several parties who have gunned from 
these points and have seen their bags too, and all report 
tine sport and ducks of good quality. 
At Harvey Cedars they report only fair sport, as the 
hirdp are at present out in the bay or bedded to the east of 
the Sedge Island and north of Buster Island. Geese are 
arriving daily in flocks of twenty-five to seventy-five and 
soon we shall have fine sport with these noble fellows. 
Brant are rather backward in making their appearance 
this fall, as I have seen and shot only a few to date. 
Very few canvasbacks are shot here, but I saw two last 
Saturday which were killed by a Mi", Culbert, of New 
York, from northwest point on che Great Sedge, near the 
Inlet. Sea Dog. 
lions' Island Deer Shooting. 
Down on Long Island the deer season opened "Wednes- 
day with a salvo of artilhry. With a good strong east 
wind blowing the Boise of battle might be heard almost 
to New York. Travelers unacquainted with the cause no 
doubt ascribed a political significance to the muttering re- 
verberations that shook the heavens, but even a Presiden- 
tial election is of slight consequence to Islip and Haup- 
Sauge, Scnithtown and Ronkonkoma, Stony Brook, St. 
ames or Patchogue compared with the opening of the 
deer season. 
Long before daylight the hunters assemble, coming in 
ghostly train from all quarters of the compass. Their 
dogs are put on tracks found by lantern light, and with 
the first pink tinge of dawn the game is afoot. By sun- 
rise the fun has become fast and furious, and guns are 
heard booming in all directions, now singly, now in vol- 
lies, till the brimstone smells to heaven and the dim cloud 
of battle envelopes the scene. 
The bunting territory lies on three sides of the grounds 
of the South Side Sportsmen's Club and the lands belong- 
ing to Messrs. Vanderbilt, Roberts, Cutting and Fraser, 
which adjoin, and under the most favorable conditions is 
very limited in extent. AH the lands named are posted, 
and this year the free territory is still further contracted 
on account of the closing to the general public of various 
tracts that formerly were open to all. 
The Bohemia Club, the Fur, Fin and Feather Club, a 
hotel-keeper named Mucklewitz, and others, have leased 
the best portions of the adjoining territory, and appointed 
deputies to^keep outsiders off. Already several arrests 
for trespass have been reported, and aside from the rail- 
road track and public roads there are few stands open to 
outsiders, This means that the hunters will be more con' 
centrattd than ever, and that the danger to human life 
will be just so much greater than in former years. 
Queer Things in Camp. 
Tempe, Ariz., Oofc. 19 — Editor Forest and Stream: 
"What strange things we see, etc." 
Have just returned from a six weeks' camping trip^ 
during which we visited the Natural Bridge (said to be 
the largest in the world), the Ice Cave, the Ciift" Dwell- 
ings and the Grand Caflon of the Colorado. We had 
plenty of venison— black tail deer — turkey, antelope, 
squirrels and quail. I caught 140 fine trout. Ice caves 
and trout in connection with torrid Arizona may sound 
strange to many, but it is nevertheless true. 
On the trip we met with a camping party who had a 
box of * 'silver gloss" starch. What for? we naturally 
asked. No answer, when the small boy came to our 
relief with "I don't know what for. It ain't good, 
though, 'cause pa tried it in his bread this morning." 
We left them without tfinding why they had it with 
them. 
One of the first things I did after getting settled at 
home was to pick up dear old Forest and Steeam. The 
first thing I saw was "A Moose Hunt in Maine," by Capt. 
Taylor. We note the Captam's menu: "3lbs, Kenso pilot 
bread, one-half bushel potatoes, * * * a flour sieve." 
In the name of all that's good in politics, what for?" If 
the good Captain will tell I'll try to find out why they 
had the starch. G, A. Scroqqs. 
Game Laws of Newfoundland. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I see a notice of this in your issue of the 24th. The law 
as it stands is a farce, and if meant to hampyr and keep 
out foreign sportsmen is likely to be successful. No 
sportsman of course cares to kill a stag unless bis horns 
are hard. But he, the shooter, may begin to shoot on July 
15 and continue until Oct. 6, when there is a close time 
till Nov. 10. The greatest nonsense was talked in the 
House of Assembly at Sfc, John's as regards the rutting 
season and other habits of the caribou. As a fact, the 
horns of the caribou are hard about Sept. 7, and the rut- 
ting season begins about Sept. 15 and lasts till near the 
end of October, But in Newfoucdland the big stags don't 
show up but rarely before the 4th or 5th of October, the 
best time to get them being from the 7th to 25th, But 
the unfortunate sportsman is stopped shooting on Oct. 7 
and not allowed to commence again before Nov, 10, by 
which date the big stags have dropped their horns. 
Then begins the wholesale slaughter by the settlers. A 
gun is also reduced to three stags and two does. Why not 
to five deer if he likes all stags? A more absurd bill 
has never passed into law. But then on the part of some 
people in Newfoundland there is a great jealousy of out- 
siders. RlCHAKD L. DaSHWOOD. 
A New Hampshire Side-Hunt. 
Lebanon, N. H., Oct. 37.— It is the custom of our local 
sportsmen to engage in an annual hunt. Sides are cho- 
sen, and a day is spent in the woods and fields looking 
after the birds and pquirrels. The hunt for this season oc- 
curred last week, ana although the weather was very unfa- 
vorable for such sport the result was quite satisfactory. 
The following list of game was brought in: Four foxes, 
ten coons, twenty-one partridges, forty-six grey squirrels, 
five quail, one woodcock, one duck, two owls. New 
Hampshire has rightly gained the reputation of being an 
ideal summer resort on account of her grand mountains 
and beautiful lakes, but the tourist with a taste for sport- 
ing, who lingers until the autumn days, will not only 
enjoy the bracing air and fine scenery, but will find game 
enough to interest him in the old Granite State. W. S, C. 
Back from the North Woods. 
New York, Oct. 21.— Editor Forest and Stream: Fred 
Sauter's hunting party has returned from the Adiron- 
dacks, bringing with them four deer. Of these Valentine 
Sch mitt killed two, F, Siegler one, and Fred Sauter, Jr,, 
one. The party hunted at Paradox Lake and Johnson 
Pond, finding the best hunting in the latter neighborhood, 
Theii: headquarters were at Laymond's Riverside Inn, 
Severance, N, Y. 
On their return Mr. Schmitt entertained a large num- 
ber of his friends, including many prominent people, at a 
venison supper in his Brooklyn hotel. B. 
Moose are Protected in Ontario. 
Ddnnville. Ontario, Can., Oct, 26 —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Will you kindly allow me through your columns 
to ask yi ur correspondent G L. B., of Elizabethtown, N, 
Y., to go one better in pointers, and tell us where 
"Horace Braman, the well-known guide," has gone to in 
Ontario to hunt moose for a month? As we do not allow 
any one to kill or hunt moose in Ontario until 190O, we 
would gladly send one of our wardens up to help him. 
Dr, G. a, MacCallum, 
Ontario Game and Fish Commissioner, 
Wild Ducks Breeding in South Carolina. 
South Carolina. — Editor Forest and Stream: Have 
any of your correspondents of the last two years noted 
that the mallard and black ducks are beginning to stay 
South all summer and breed in our large marshes? 
We have noted it for three years, and increasing num- 
bers about the mouth of Santee River and Wingate Bay, 
which is perhaps the greatest winter resort of these ducks 
in the United States, owing to the proximity of so many 
rice fields, E, P. Alexander. 
Vermont Grouse. 
Putney, Vt., Oct. 20. — I send you a picture which 
shows the result of a day's outing alter ruffed grouse in 
southern Vermont, and while the string is not large it 
ought to satisfy any sportsman. The birds were killed 
over Mr. Willard's English setter Ned, only eleven months 
old. Grouse are very plentiful here, and a party of three 
with a good dog can easily bag from eight to fifteen or 
twenty in a day's shooting. W. E, Ayres. 
\e2 mid ^iv^r S^¥^& 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XIX.— Antoine Gardapee. 
(.Concluded^ 
The Christmas sun was not too bright for a winter day 
and there was no wind, I was roused by the loud tap- 
ping of the great northern woodpecker on one of the logs 
of our house. This large bird is almost extinct to-day 
and few young men have seen it alive. Its length was 
18in, and its tappings were in proportion. Antoine had 
been up some time and was smoking his pipe by the fire, 
for he was one of those who can smoke before breakfast. 
When he saw me up he rose and with a hearty shake 
said: "Merry C'ris'mas, I'll hope you'U be all well," and 
he prepared the breakfast. As I went to the spring to 
wash I looked at my unshaven face in its glassy surface 
and wondered what the good people at home would say 
if such an apparition should walk in on them, for we had 
no razors nor mirrors, and had been all winter in the 
wilds of Wisconsin, with only an occasional Indian visitor 
to look at us. 
The spring near our cabin was the head of a bit of 
marshy ground which was so filled with springs that it 
never froze nor was even covered with snow, as it soon 
melted and drained off into a tributary of the Bad Ax, 
But on this Christmas morning of 1856 there was a wood- 
cock feeding in that marsh. I saw it plainly, flushed it, 
and know that it was a woodcock. Those who have fol- 
lowed these sketches will credit me with knowing this 
bird when I see it. Why it was there is a question. It 
could fly well. 
After breakfast, and the meditative smoking which 
seemed part of Antoine's religion, I thought of fleshing 
some skins, but Antoine said: "Let da skin res' to-day, all 
res', all man he res' on C'ris'mas; you doan do no work 
w en he come in you' home; no, sare, you doan do not'ing 
but res', all a peep' da res'. W'at you say, hey?" 
"I say that I can't sit by this fire all day just because its 
Christmas, I wouldn't sit down that way if I was home 
among my people, I'd walk around, and if I'd been at hard 
work all the week I might ko and spear eels through the 
ice. A live man can't sit like a lump on a log all day. 
There's no place to go here and these last skins want flesh- 
ing and I want something to do, that's all." 
"You go spear da heel on C'ris'mas, hey? Well, he's 
all right in da hafternoon, but I go in da church on a 
C'ris'mas mornin', and mebbe I'll got drunk in a hafter- 
noon, I'll doan work on no ole skin an' 111 doan spear no 
heel; on'y res'." 
"Do you ever go to church any other day in the year, 
Antoine? I'll bet fifty mink skins you don't, and the 
chances are that you go to a dance on Christmas Eve and 
sleep all the next morning and don't get to church at all." 
"W'at you talk? Did you say some prayer w'en you 
got hup dis mornin'? Not I'll bet nine or 'leven mink 
you ha'n't said prayer all da wint'. I'll count all-a my 
bead 'fore you'll git hup. I'll tole you I'll got s'prise wot 
make you' eye bung hout. Dat make no dif w'en I'll go 
in da church, I'll show you some C'ris'mas dinna till you 
bu'st you' belt, you bet." I'll been look hout all-a wint' for 
see da day come w'en we res' an' heat jess lak' da peep' 
way down da riv' by Potosi." 
Our food had been simple, but always in plenty. Ven- 
ison, coon, bear, rabbit, partridge and fish prepared in 
several ways, as boiled, fried, broiled or roasted; and we 
had good bread, coffee, sugar and an occasional bean 
soup. The fat of the bear and the coon was as good as 
lard and often our stale bread was soaked and fried. So 
we had a good substitute for butter and lard, and the only 
thing that might have been lacking was the potato, 
which would be difficult to keep and was too bulky to 
carry. Surely this was good living for healthy men in a 
wilderness in winter. But from hints which Antoine 
dropped from time to time this profusion might not last. 
This was the first idle day of the winter, and as my part- 
ner had intimated that he was going to surprise me with 
a Christmas dinner I left him to arrange it and wan- 
dered out with my snowshoes and snow-blinders. 
Heretofore I had always gone up the several little 
streams which formed the east and west branches of the 
Bad Ax River, where our traps were set. To-day I would 
go down the stream, which I had not seen since we 
brought our provisions up its valley in the fall. I had 
gone about two miles when a log invited me to rest. The 
winter landscape was beautiful; the bluish tints of the 
twigs against the sky and along the stream relieved the 
whiteness and the day was perfect. A rabbit came slow- 
ly jumping along and passed within 20ft. of my log and 
soon a fox appeared following its track, but took the 
alarm at several times 20ft. and trotted off over the hill, 
with an occasional glance over his shoulder to make sure 
that the man on the log was not following. I fell to 
thinking how animals differ, just as men do: one dull and 
unperceiving, and another alert and watchful, A child 
could have shot the rabbit, but only a rifleman could have 
touched reynard. 
Then came a thought that food might be scarce with us, 
as what Antoine had said was recalled. As I understood 
the case, the deer were in "yards" where they had tram- 
pled the snow so that the crust did not cut their legs, and 
as they could not forage far they were getting poor. And 
these yards were some distance off, so that a special trip 
of twenty miles or more would have to be made to get 
venison. Bears had gone into winter quarters, and would 
not stir out for a couple of months. Partridges found 
food scarce, were poor, and were eating bitter buds, which 
made them unpalatable. Coons were laid up, like the 
bears, and there was a prospect of scant rations. Antoine 
said that some trappers ate the flesh of the pine marten, 
or sable, and the related species called pekan. fisher, 
black cat, etc. ; but Antoine wouldn't eat them, and very 
naturally I refused them. I should think that a man 
would have to be very hungry to eat any of the tribe to 
which the mink and weasel belong. We do not care to 
eat the animals whose diet is exclusively flesh — such as the 
cats and dogs — whether we call them tigers or wolves, 
but the deer and the sheep are vegetarians, while the bear 
and the hog eat similar food, and we eat them. It looked 
as though we must live on rabbit and our present store-of 
venison and bear the rest of the winter, and rabbits were 
not plenty. 
While engaged in such thoughts a gray squirrel came 
in sight and I watched it run up a tree and jump into 
another, and then it stopped at a hole in a tall tree and 
seemed to want to enter it, and then appeared afraid and 
would draw back and then peer in again. The tree was 
an oak, and the hole was small, like a woodpecker's, I 
noted that the bark on it was torn, and as the sun was 
high I went back home. 
"HeUo!" said Antoine, "I'll t'mk you go got los', an' I 
mus' heat a C'ris'mas din' all 'lone. Jess in tarn, an' glad 
for see youl Bon jour!" 
We shook hands like old friends long parted, and he 
motioned me to my seat at table with courtly grace, and 
it began to dawn upon me that I was, for this occasion, 
not his partner, but his guest. He had prepared the din- 
ner alone, as he had intimated he would, and he was 
host, chef, garcon and companion all in one on this 
Christmas Day in the wilds of Wisconsin, The first 
course was a soup of deer shanks with the marrow-bones 
cracked; but I will try to put that memorable dinner in 
the shape that some dief of to-day would put it, when it 
would be like this, with my translation: 
MENU. 
POTAGE. 
OonsommS du bois. (Deer shank soup.) 
POISSON. 
Saumon du font, au naturel. (Brook trout fried.) 
BKLKVfi. 
Tranches d'agneau montebello. (Venison steak with sweet sauce.) 
Aqua pura. (Bad Ax water.) 
EKTR&ES. 
Poularde & la cbevreuee. (Boiled partridge. 
Haricots. (Baked beans.) 
Vin du Bad Ax. 
KNTRBMBTS DE DOUCBUB. 
Pouding de rls au fruites. (Rice pudding with raisins. 
Caf6. 'robac. 
Now I ask you— I mean you sportsmen old and young- 
how does that seem to you for a Christmas dinner either 
in the woods or in the wildest restaurants of New York 
city? 
Most of these things we had cooked in one shape or 
another, but never such a lay-out as that at one feed. 
The great surprise came with the rice pudding" with 
raisins, for I had no idea that these things were in camp, 
but Antoine had smuggled a handful of rice and a few 
raisins among the things bought at Prairie du Chien for 
just such a treat, and the old man enjoyed my surprise. 
The whole dinner was a surprise, for that matter; but the 
rice and raisins, well, they more than filled the bill. The 
"tobac" was burned by the fire, and after such a gorge 
we laid ourselves down and slept until dark. 
We were awakened by the entrance of Ah-se-bun, the 
raccoon, who accepted the invitation to dinner, and he 
mot only cleaned up what we had left, but he put a polish 
on every bone until he could work no more. There was 
a big lot of the rice pudding left, but when he finished 
the last of it he grunted, "Nish-ish-shin," and curled up 
to sleep. 
As Antoine and I sat by the fire while the Indian 
snored I told him about the oak tree and the squirrel 
