Nov. 21, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
406 
the boys jerked some of the meat and dried some of the 
fish. Nothing was wasted. 
The time came when it was necessary that I should re- 
turn to Portland. I came home a few days in advance of 
the others, I dreaded the trip out, but Myers and I took 
the two pack horses and started. The little roan cayuse 
got out all right, but poor Flora, Ed's big brown mare, fell 
over a precipice and we had to shoot her and let her go 
on down into the Brightenbush, where the bears have 
doubtless found her ere this and feasted upon her poor 
carcass. Ed felt her loss sorely, for she was all he had, 
and besides, as he said, she had been a kind, faithful ani- 
mal. 
He actually shed tears — but they were manly, sympa- 
thetic tears. 
I deeply sympathized with him, and told him that when 
the boys came out we would see what we could do for 
him. But when generous, kind-hearted Mead heard of 
Ed's loss he promptly paid him her full value as fixed by 
Ed himself. Only those who have hunted and fished 
with Mead for years, as I have, know how generous and 
sympathetic he is, and although he sometimes gets a little 
off color when he can't have his own way about every- 
thing, he always follows the good old Bible doctrines of 
do unto others as you would that others should do unto 
you, and let not your left hand know what your right 
hand doeth in charitable matters, He will kick when he 
reads this little tribute from his old sporting friend, but 
it will be too late then, and I am glad of an opportunity, 
for once, to tell on him. 
The loss of the mare compelled Ed and me to lie out in 
the mountains one night, and so I missed the train at Ds- 
troit next morning and had to put in the whole day there. 
Politics was the all-absorbing topic, and strange but often 
forcible arguments did I hear. One old fellow clinched 
his argument for McKinley and protection with the fol- 
lowing broad but doubtful assertion: "When Harrison 
was Pres'dent you could go right down to the Santiam 
hyar a'most any time and cotch a 2ft. trout; now you 
sca'cely ever see one over 1ft. long," Whether he meant 
that our good Democratic President had been fishing the 
Santiam, or that its trout needed Republican protection 
on principle, each reader can determine according to his 
political bias or education. 
At Gates, twenty miles below Detroit, I observed over a 
saloon door this rather novel and suggestive name, "Gates 
Ajar Saloon." The hotel proprietor at the same place had 
neatly worked the word "hotel" in moss over his door, 
and an old timber cruiser who had been sitting near me 
and trying to entertain me all the way down took advan- 
tage of the circumstance to remark that while these 
people were all kind-hearted and generous, they were as 
a rule powerful ignorant. "Jist look at that hotel feller," 
he remarked, "he's spelled hotel with one 1." Yes, we 
do meet some rather peculiar characters in the moun- 
tains, but no better people live on the face of the earth. 
There is lots of game with plenty of fish in the Waldo 
Lake country, but the trail is too rough to ever make it a 
popular resort — for fat men, 
Christy and Mead are already planning another trip to 
the same country. They have my sympathy unless they 
attempt to take horses in. In that case my sympathies 
are transferred to the poor horses. I shall never forget 
those delightful moonlight fishing excursions, and now 
whenever I look at the moon some way I can't help think- 
ing of Waldo Lake. 
Oh, lovely lake, deep buried in the hills. 
Enshrouded in clouds 1 And in your jeweled grave 
Lie secrets, too, which fickle nature gave 
To your safe care from Time's relentless mills. 
That grind full slow, but grind as nature wills. 
Far down where your unf athomed waters lave 
The walls of precious stone and emerald cave. 
Where silence deep the heart of nature stills- 
Yes, deep down in that grave of mystery 
Lie buried secrets of the hoary past 
That wrinkle Time, and in whose history 
The elves and sprites in terror stand aghast. 
But calm in this, your dark consistory, 
Dame Nature hides her secrets to the last. 
S. H. Greene, 
Portland, Oregon. 
THE RANGELEY LAKES IN OCTOBER. 
Rangeley Lakes, Me,, October, 1896.— The past fishing 
season has been favorable both in number and size of 
trout, and fully up to the usual standard. A notable in- 
crease of visitors was occasioned by the completion this 
spring of the railroad from Rumford Falls to Bemis on 
the great lake, and the road is expected to run all winter 
in connection with logging interests. 
While the State of Maine since Oct. 1 has been credited 
with a large influx of sportsmen with shooting irons, the 
Rangeleys have not in this respect been overcrowded 
although the number is in excess of that of previous 
years. 
Not a large number of deer have been slain thus far, 
although thirteen deer and part of a moose are at present 
hanging on the porch of the principal camp on the large 
lake, where fourteen hunters are domiciled. 
Directly about the two Richardson lakes perhaps a 
dozen and a half deer have been shot so far, of which the 
writer with two companions shot three during the first 
week of the month. 
Since the first week the condition in the forest has 
been unfavorable for stalking, owing to the great fall of 
leaves, which have been dry and crisp, and has made it 
almost impossible to get up within sighting distance. 
With a good, soaking rain and some following misty 
weather the condition would again become favorable, as 
the carpeted ground would become soft and noiseless for 
the stalker. This condition can be the only one expected 
favorable for still-hunting until the snow comes. 
With the approach of cold weather deer become more 
timid than at any other season of the year. 
During the summer, while the deer have been seen 
daily about favored localities on the lake and pond 
shores, they have been easily approached, and have al- 
lowed boats to come within a hundred feet or so without 
exhibiting much alarm. I have repeatedly during the 
summer approached within very short distance of them, 
finding them sometimes feeding along the shores and at 
other times well out in the water. 
In some instances they would go off in a bounding, 
frightened m&nner when too nearly approached, and at 
others with a slow walk, and in some instances simply to 
retire in sight behind the fringing bushes of the shore 
and remain peeping through until the intruder departed, 
and then return to the water. 
At one fishing place near a lilypad growth, which I 
frequented during the summer, I always found two or 
three deer about, and one doe with her fawn became 
conspicuous by her constant frequenting of the spot, and 
would allow a very close approach; but when I ventured 
too near would simply retreat a short distance, and as I 
retired return to the pads and grasses. 
So for a number of days I had her company at my fish- 
ing, and on two occasions she brought out her fawn for 
inspection — a tiny kid, which paddled about the shore 
while its mother grazed in deeper water. 
We often notice the inclination of animals and birds to 
frequent the immediate vicinity of human beings, and 
invite their companionship, evincing a disposition to be 
friendly if they could, but, alas, too often compelled to 
pay the penalty of death for their temerity. 
One might consider, from the advertising of game in 
the State of Maine, that the woods swarmed with deer; 
they may in some parts, but not about the Rangeley 
lakes. They have visibly increased in the past few 
years, and the occasional visitor in the summer, by often 
seeing deer in the water at the retired ponds, might as- 
sume that the woods were full of them, but such is not 
the fact, as many sportsmen during the past few weeks 
who have been out daily will attest. A large proportion 
of the deer come to the water in the summer, and it may 
be doubted if they are much in excess of one to the 
square mile of forest. At this season they are doubly 
cautious and shy, and if observed browsing in the woods 
appear to be on the closest guard, and steal off upon hear- 
ing the slightest crackling of twigs or rusting of leaves, 
and generally before being observed by the sportsman. 
When lying down, they will often rest until sighting the 
intruder, sometimes allowing a close approach, expect- 
ing possibly to be unobserved, and when rising will im- 
mediately bound off at a rapid rate, and most adroitly 
take advantage of shielding trees or bushes to cover the 
retreat. Rarely they will stand a moment or so before 
the sportsman or bound off in the partially open forest, 
and occasionally, under favorable conditions, they are 
first observed. These are the opportunities sought for by 
the sportsman, and fortunate he is if his shot is a stop- 
ping one; for often, although fatally wounded, they will 
travel for miles. 
It is undoubtedly owing to the rigid Maine laws that 
deer are increasing about the lakes, for the practically 
enforced regulations against shining and crusting give 
an opportunity to increase, and they do so slowly but 
surely when protected and free from wolves, as in this 
locality. 
The feed is prodigal, as evinced by those killed, which 
are invariably fat and full, and there is room for many 
times more than those already about. 
Trout are also well protected and plentiful, and no sea- 
son has been better than the last, and if the fishermen 
who displayed their skill at the Upper Dam during the 
season could see the large trout on the spawning beds 
now they would hardly expect any diminution of the 
noble fish in the immediate present. The water below 
the Upper Dam has been drawn down about 3ft. since 
Oct. 1, and the shallows below are covered with large 
trout of 4, 5, 6 and Slbs., who make great commotion and 
exhibit their immense backs and tails with prodigal pro- 
fusion. Ornamented as they are now in their highest 
colors, they present a most fascinating sight; now swim- 
ming along in pairs at a slow pace, then whirling in great 
eddies, then plowing across reaches with speed and stream- 
ing wakes. 
With cautious steps they can be approached to within 
10 or 15ft. and most closely observed, and if disturbed and 
driven away to deep water will speedily return. 
I have never in many seasons seen the beds below the 
Upper Dam more fully occupied by large trout than now. 
Many believe the trout to be less plentiful than before, 
and prophesy that in a few years trout fishing at the lakes 
will be a feature of the past, but I do not agree with 
either opinion, and my annual experience extends over 
nearly forty seasons, and I have been here during the last 
season from its commencement in May to the end, and 
short enough it has seemed. 
Particular fishing places do undoubtedly become more 
or less depleted, as notably that below the Upper Dam, 
which has been constantly occupied, not only during the 
day, but far into the evening. The boats about the pool 
have been so thick that one could hardly Bah any time 
there without being entangled. 
Although many trout come in there, they bear but a 
small proportion to those in the lakes. They are well 
distributed, and the favored fishing localities but few. 
Probably nine-tenths of the trout have their spawning beds 
in retired places, in comparatively stUl water and entirely 
unknown to the average visitor. The larger proportion 
are already upon the beds or through, but many families 
and tribes will come on later and spawn beneath the ice 
in December, and as late as January. I have watched 
them many seasons through the ice. 
I think next to man the blue heron (Ardea herodias) is 
the greatest destroyer of trout at these lakes. This bird 
is an incessant nocturnal as well as daily feeder, and of 
inordinate appetite, and although its principal food is 
chubs and frogs it destroys a great many trout and will 
get away with J pounders, if not larger. They will have 
no hesita.ncy in striking and fatally wounding trout of 
over lib. in weight. Yearly I see trout swimming about 
which have been struck and pierced by this bird, and this 
year I caught two which were unfit for food, each over 
lib. in weight, having holes in the back nearly through 
them as large as pipe stems. It may be a question if this 
bird, of which hundreds frequent the shores of the lakes 
from the early spring to the ice, do not in the aggregate 
kill more trout, principally small ones up to ilb., than 
all the fishermen. Aided by the loons, kingfishers and 
mink, they undoubtedly do. The latter, the mink, is a 
voracious feeder, and will destroy large numbers with 
the greatest ease from congregating pools and the breed- 
ing streams which feed the lakes. 
A mink will kill a dozen lib. trout in a day when they 
are easily accessible, eating only the heads and leaving the 
bodies to decay. If one can get into a fisherman's car it 
will strip it clean of trout in a single night, even if there 
are several dozen, and carry every one off, 
I had a car, which was accidentally left open, stripped 
pne night laet month of a dozen trout weighing from 1 to 
2lbs. It was a very large car, having but a'small opening 
in the top of about Sin. square, and was but half sub- 
merged, leaving fully 1ft. of raise from the water to the 
exit aperture. I could hardly see hov?' so small an animal 
as a mink could haul out trout weighing more than itself; 
but a few days after, when I had replenished the car with 
ten or twelve more trout, one or two of which pulled 
above Slbs. and one nearly Slbs,, I saw how it was 
done, I was sitting upon the shore when I ob- 
served a commotion in the car scarcely 40ft. from me. . 
It was covered, but the trout were splashing about 
at a great rate; and presently I saw a mink appear 
on one side of the box, swimming about and beneath 
it, endeavoring to find entrance. I watched him 
for some minutes with great interest and amazement. 
He would swim around the box several times, then be- 
neath, then crawl up the sides and inspect the top, then 
dive down beneath again and appear up on the other side, 
then hesitate apparently on top for reflection, and then 
in the most active manner commence his journey around 
and about the box again. He paid no attention to me 
whatever, as I remained perfectly quiat. He finally dove 
into the water and disappeared. Interested to know how 
he would act in taking the trout, I took advantage of his 
absence to go to the box and remove the cover, and re- 
turned to my previous sitting place. In a few moments 
I saw him appear at the box again; he swam about several 
times before mounting. On top he immediately dis- 
covered the opening, down which he disappeared. At 
first I thought I would run up and replace the cover, but 
then it occurred to me that I should perhaps catch a tar- 
tar; and besides I wished to see how the work was done, 
as I had been the victim of several losses of this charac- 
ter. The splashing in the car indicated his entrance, and 
in half a minute he appeared at the top dragging out a 
struggling lib. trout. But the struggles were compara- 
tively faint, as the mink had evidently given the fish a 
distinctive quietus. Down into the water he slid and dis- 
appeared, I saw him soon appear along the shore above, 
when I lost sight of him. In less than three minutes he 
appeared again at the box and repeated his first act with 
a second trout, which he disappeared with as before, and 
retm-ned after about the same lapse of time. The third 
act was more prolonged, as he attacked the largest trout 
in the car, heavier than himself but finally dragged it out 
and carried it off. I concluded it time to put the cover 
on the box and end the play, well satisfied that otherwise 
aU the trout would soon disappear. 
Now, the latter part of the month the blueback trout 
(SalniO oquassa) are spawning, and swim in large quan- 
tity in the shallows below the Upper Dam. They are not 
visible during the day, but at night come on in large num- 
bers, and do not appear at any other season of the year. 
They are said to be an Arctic trout, and not found, that I 
am aware of, south of the region of the Rangeley lakes. 
They never take the fly or bait, and when taken at the 
spawning grounds are invariably with empty stomachs. 
They are very handsome, with very pretty heads and 
large eyes, are swallow or forked tailed, and carmine 
spotted, with blue backs. They average about 7in. in 
length, and about five to the pound. Occasionally one 
weighs iVo,, and one has been caught this season of ilb. 
and llin. in length. They are caught by wading in the 
shallows with a lantern and dip-net. They are much 
more tenacious of life than the ordinary trout, I have 
had them out of the water an hour, and apparently life- 
less, and resuscitated them by putting in the water again, 
and a number will live in a barrel of water without 
change for weeks, which would be fatal to the ordinary 
trout. For food they are passably good, but not superior. 
Their teeth are very fine and plentiful, and they evidently 
live on ground feed and the variety of infusoria which 
are so plentiful in the lakes. The large trout feed on 
them more or less, and they are occasionally found in 
them. 
They undoubtedly inhabit the deepest water in the 
lakes. The only one I ever saw out of season I picked up 
some years ago on the surface, which was in a dying con- 
dition, having been wounded evidently by a loon, as 
evinced by a large hole through its body. 
They remain on the spawning beds during the nights of 
about a week in the latter part of October, and sometimes 
swarm in such quantities that barrels full could be taken 
if nets were used. J. Parker Whitney. 
MASSACHUSETTS AND MAINE. 
Boston, Nov. 14. — Some remarkably good shooting has 
been enjoyed right in Massachusetts by those well posted 
on the grounds, and having good dogs and the opportu- 
nity to go after birds when the weather has favored. A 
number of coveys of quail have been located in Dedham, 
and Boston hunters have got some of them. G. H. Smith 
got half a dozen the other day. In Reading also a num- 
ber of quail and partridges have been taken lately. In 
Byfield the shooting has been excellent. 0, H. Tarbox 
and the Baileys have had their share of them. The other 
day they started several bunches of quail, with thirty or 
forty in a bunch. One day last week Mr. Tarbox, with 
the aid of his dog, started seven partridges at one outing, 
and within a short distance of his home. He was for- 
tunate enough to get four out of the seven. Black duck 
shooting is also good in that section. A local gunner got 
twenty or thirty birds out of one flock the other day. The 
Plymouth county lakes and ponds are being worked for 
both ducks and geese, and with, considerable success, "^^e 
clubs having shooting camps, blinds and other privileges 
are the best off. Some Boston club sportsmen got twelve 
wild geese at Pleasant Lake the other night. 
Dr. Heber Bishop, who has the best moose record of 
any sportsman in New England, if not in the world, is 
out of the woods again from the Moose River Valley, He 
was accompanied by a friend, Mr. Arthur Wilson. They 
brought out four buck deer and a bull caribou. One of 
the deer was the largest on record. Dr. Bishop thinks, and 
his opinion is good, coming from much experience. It 
weighed, bereft of everything but meat, hide and horns, 
3831b8., the exact weight the American Express Co. 
charged for the transportation of it. In its state as killed 
it must have weighed over SSOlbs. Dr. Bishop is skeptical 
about the weight of deer as well as moose, having found 
the latter oftener under ISOlbs, than over. Frequently a 
large deer is killed. The guide declares thatit wiU weigh 
2601bs., but put on to the scales the sportsman is disap- 
pointed at finding that it barely tips 150lbs. The weight 
of mco3P the Doctor finds to have been greatly exagger- 
ated. He has killed a large number and seen a large 
