446 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
iDeC, 5, 1896. 
§mn^ §^ md §mu 
WHERE TO GO. 
One important, useful and considerable part of the Fobest and 
Btrkam'B service to the sportsmen's community is the information 
given Inquirers for shooting and fishing resorts. We make it our 
business to know where to send the sportsman for large or small 
game, or in quest of his favorite fish, and this knowledge is freely im- 
parted on request. 
On the other band, vre are constantly seeking information of this 
character for the benefit of our patrons, and we invite sportsmen, 
hotel proprietors and others to communicate to us whatever may be 
of advantage to the sportsman tourist. 
DUCKS IN THE SOUTHWEST. 
Little KocK, Ark., Nov. 25. — Up to the present writ- 
ing it has been a very unsatisfactory season in more than 
one resppct, and there is little prospect cow that it will 
prove otherwise. 
The extreme drought that prevailed almost generally all 
over the Sjuth has dried up many of our finest duck 
marshes and lakes, while of the few remaining ones that 
yet contain water not a few form inaccessible retreats for 
the ducks, for the reason that the water is so shallow that 
it is impossible to push a boat through the moss, flags and 
buekbrush, and the bottom is so treacherous that they 
cannot be waded. These lakes or marshes are invariably 
fine feeding grounds, and in former seasons furnished ex- 
cellent shooting. The above conditions prevail over 
nearly all of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana 
and some parts of Texas. 
There are a few places, however, where the shooting is 
reported good. On Big Lake, a body of water bordering 
the northeastern part of Arkansas and the southern part 
of Missouri, the shooting has been very fine for the past 
month, and will continue so until the lake freezes. Here 
there must be something like fifty market-hunters engaged 
in the work of slaughter. Some idea of the ducks that 
are killed here daily can be gleamed from the fact that 
recently the express company at Kennett, Mo., made one 
shipment of thirty-six barrels of ducks, and the following 
night carried out thirty- two barrels and twenty-s'x sacks 
of ducks, Such shipments are made daily to Sd. Louis 
and Chicago commission firms. The famous Paw Paw 
Flats in southern Missouri have not been up to their usual 
high standard. Kennett is situated on the Kennett, 
St. Louis & Southern road. The way from the North is 
via the St. Louis & Southwestern to Campbell, and from 
there to Kennett; then eighteen miles to the lake, and 
which can only be reached by private conveyance. 
Last week I received word that the ducks were coming 
in at Grassy Lake, near Fulton, Ark., and good shooting 
should be found there. Fulton is situated on the main 
line of the Iron Mountain road, about 100 miles from 
here. The lake is about four miles from the town, and 
all the equipments that are necessary for a trip are a pair 
of waders, and gun and shells. No boat is necessary, as 
the lake can be waded at all points. 
Ducks are also reported plentiful at Swan Lake, Ark. 
Go to Pine Bluff, and from there take the Pine Bluff & 
Eastern road seventeen miles to the lake. Here the 
shooting is from a light-running boat that sets well up on 
the water, as the lake is very low and covered with moss 
that very much impedes navigation. The ducks feed on 
the moss, and the shooter who is well on to his game 
should find it no great feat to bag fifty ducks, which is 
more than sufficient by half. 
There are a number of shooting preserves in eastern 
Arkansas whose chief sport ia duck shooting, but of all 
these at only one is the shooting good. This favored 
one is the Wapanoca, and here for the paat two wepfcs the 
sport has been fine. The club has a rule that limits the 
bag to fifty, and of all those who have shot there during 
this time none, not even the poorest shot, have failed to 
bag that number in a day's shooting. Capt. L G. Bil- 
lings, of the U. S. Navy, and Mr. Morgan Brown, of 
Nashville, Tenn., were there as guests of Mr. W. A. 
Wheatley, the secretary of the club; they shot there sev- 
eral days last week, and each of these reached the hmit 
on more days than one. Capt. Billings also made two 
doubles OB geese one day. 
Capt, R P. Bonner, of Louisville, Ky., was also a guest 
of the club; he was shooting one of those destructive 
comshellers — this time a Spencer — and one time managed 
to knock down six ducks from a fl jck that came in to his 
decoys. The Captain experienced no difficulty in baggin g 
the limit. 
Messrs. Galloway, J. C. Neely and Geo. Gallhan went 
over while the flight was on, and in addition to bagging 
their allotted number of ducks, Neely and Gallhan killed 
a deer between them. 
The other prominent clubs in this part of the State are 
•the Blackfish, St. Francis, S\van Lake and Hatchie Coon. 
At none of them, however, is there any shooting worth 
mentioning. 
At Beaver Dam, another good shooting preserve located 
in Mississippi, and owned principally by Memphis sports- 
men, the ducks are quite numer >u8; but owing to the 
extremely low water it is impossible to get to them; so 
while there are plenty of ducka, there is virtually no shoot- 
ing. On the 5th Tom 0"Sullivan went there, and by push- 
ing his boat a mile through the mud succeeded in bagging 
twenty-two mallards, two geese and two turkeys. The 
e:|:ertion necessary to push bis boat proved almost too 
much for the old man, and he is now under the care of a 
{loctor. 
There are no ducks to mention in the vicinity of Vicks- 
burg and Natchez, Miss,, owing to there not being any 
water. The same condition prevails in the northern 
gart of Liouisiana. At Monroe there are none, while at 
hreveport there has been something of a spasmodic 
^ight. A party of four, consisting of Messrs. Sam. 
Eoders, Walter Jackson and S. J. Jenkins, of Shreveport, 
and C. L. Dammann, of Memphis, bagged <}07 m less than 
a day's shooting at Cross Lalce, about four miles from 
that city. This, however, is also a protected preserve. 
Mr. Du Bray was there shortly after, but there were no 
jducks then to speak of. 
Mr. Oscar Guestaz writes me from San Antonio, Tex., 
that the shooticg is fine down on the Texas coast. The 
fresh-water ponds are all full of water, and everybody 
who has ever visited this part of the country knows that 
The shooting in this immediate vicinity has also been 
of an uncertain quality; from the 5th to the 15th the 
shooting was fair in those few places that contained food 
and water, though at present the ducks are scarce 
again, for yesterday a hard day's wading and some good, 
lucky shooting resulted only in a bag of ten mallards 
where two years ago I could invariably bag the limit, 
twenty-five. Paul E. Litzkk. 
IN MASSACHUSETTS COVERS. 
About the middle of September I gave the readers of 
the Forest and Stream a small account of my hard luck 
on the opening day on partridge and woodcock (Sept. 15) 
in covers about fifteen miles from Boston, where friend 
John and myself used to tramp through nearly every 
Sunday to get some fresh air, being "chained" through- 
out the week, and incidentally watch the birds grow and 
keep track of their whereabouts. 
The hard luck was to go there on the first train on the 
opening day and find that a native hunter had discovered 
our broods and broken them up so badly that we were 
unable to start a feather. 
Yesterday, Nov. 83, we "unchained" ourselves again 
and started for our old stamping grounds. I remarked to 
John that we must keep up our reputation (we generally 
have good luck) and have game with our turkey next 
Thursday (Thanksgiving). The day was a glorious one, 
cold and crisp, just such weather that makes one feel like 
moving around right smart, in fact, an ideal hunting 
day. 
We hunted perhaps an hour before either of us secured 
a point. At last my dog Rusty made game, but before 
he could locate the bird away she went, but nevertheless 
offering me a fine shot, and I did my best to frighten her, 
drop her with both barrels, but she didn't drop worth a 
cent. 
A few minutes later I heard John's Colt speak out twice 
and was about to call: "Did you get her?" when I heard 
a birch switch swish through the air and a yelp quickly 
followed, which told the story without asking. 
Within a short time from this I had secured the first 
bird and John was busily engaged in trying to locate a 
bird that he had feathered badly and had marked down, 
but we both had to give it up, and struck out in another 
direction. Presently John's dog came to a stand, but John 
failed to score. 
In going through a piece of scrub oak I secured another 
partridge that got up wild ahead of the dog. All the 
forenoon I could hear John letting go two barrels at short 
intervals, and other times hear his dog yelp. His dog 
was working so rank it completely upset his shooting. 
We concluded to eat our lunch and have a smoke, talk 
with ourselves, size up the situation, and discuss the best 
remedy to prevent any more misses in the afternoon. 
Then we sallied forth again, with blood in our eyes. No 
more misses this afternoon. In a few minutes we struck 
a very likely looking cover; my dog was working hard on 
a trail. "Watch out now, John, she is liable to jump us." 
Sure enough, before either dog could locate her away she 
went, offering a beautiful shot for us both, and we let go 
two barrels each. That bird's life would not have been 
worth gambling on at the moment she jumped, but if she 
hasn't stopped she must be going now. John looked at 
me, I looked at John. Words were unnecessary. We 
simply started again to look for more birds that needed a 
little frightening to help their education along. 
A few hundred yards further along I came to a great 
hole in the ground under some pines. I called to John 
to come over and look at it, and then whistled to Rusty, 
who was ranging off too far. With a roar up jumped a 
bird almost under my feet and went across an open. Ah 1 
Miss, you are my bird. I swung on to her and tugged at 
both triggers; no report, safety catch up. "Why didn't 
you let her have it?' came from John across the open. 
"Oh, I saw she was only going into that corner down 
there, which will give you a sure thing," Wasn't that 
good of me? Whi-r-r-rl There goes another out of a 
pine tree right over my head. The safety was all right 
this time. This made my score three birds, 
"Now, John, we'll get the bird that went into that 
corner.'* 
I sent my dog in while John stationed himself in the 
open on the opposite side. The dog made no sign of 
game, so I followed. 
There she goesl She jumped out of a pine tree on the 
other side of the road, but neither of us could get a shot. 
We marked her down and followed. On the way I 
bagged a rabbit and put him in my pocket with the birds 
for company. We failed to raise the bird we had marked 
down, so we retreated in the direction of the depot, as it 
was getting near train time. Coming to a likely looking 
place I started my dog into it, then engaged myself pick- 
ing up frostbitten apples under a tree. I was hungry 
enough ta eat almost anything about this stage of the 
game. Glancing over the stone wall, I spotted my dog 
stiff as a stake. I called John's attention to Rusty and 
asked him to go and get that bird up. I was so hungry I 
would not leave those apples for a dozen birds then. 
John started to do as I asked. When he was about half- 
way up to the dog, out rushed his own dog from behind 
some bushes, and bou aiding by my dog, put up the bird. 
I had just time to see this, for the next minute the air 
was so blue and thick my power of vision was not strong 
enough to penetrate the atmosphere in that direction, but 
out from the haze I could hear the swish of a switch and 
the yelp of a dog. 
Further on John's dog Antonio realized it was better 
for his health to point his birds than to fiush them, so 
John succeeded in grassing one. 
Everything seemed to go my way on this trip; the dog 
worked well, and I got more game than I ever expected 
to get so near Boston. The reverse seemed to follow 
John; dog worked bad— something unusual — which upset 
his whole day's shooting. But he is sportsman enough to 
admit that he was glad he had ventured out, for the fresh 
air was worth a great deal. Although neither of us were 
overburdened with game, we got what we started for, 
and the turkey had company on both of our tables Thanks- 
giving D jy. Kirk. 
Boston, Mass. 
Ga^ne Iiaws in Brief. 
Ten Game Law* in Brief, current edition, sold everywhere, has 
new game and fish laws for mor« than thirty of the States. It cQvers 
the eetlre country, la carefully prepared, gj|yei aU tbftt' itiOOterf 
DEER AND HOUNDING. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
An item relative to deer hunting in the vicinity of 
Lake George, recently published in a New York paper 
and reproduced in several papers in Central New York, 
makes the following statement: "Most of the hunting is 
done in the vicinity of Tongup Mountain. Warren county 
hunters never go across the lake into Washington county 
for deer; not if they value their dogs. In the towns of 
Fort Ann and Dresden local hunters have established a 
law peculiar to the locality that no matter whether in 
season or not all dogs found trailing deer are shot. In 
consequence of this arbitrary law, not down on the 
statute books of the State, hunters give the eastern shore 
of the lake a wide berth. The reason given for the pro- 
miscuous slaying of dogs in Washington county is said to 
be that Dresden and Fort Ann hunters wish to preserve 
the deer until winter and then kill them crust hunting or 
on snowshoes." 
The reason given why the Dresden and Fort Ann hunters 
are so anxious to prevent the deer dogger getting the 
game is to my mind wholly erroneous. It was my good 
fortune in the early 80 a to be so located that 1 was en- 
abled to devote considerable time to roaming over the 
hills and mountains of the strip of land lying between 
lakes George and Champlain in Washington county, and 
1 do not know of a class of citizens anywhere more de* 
voted to the interests of game preservation than the resi- 
dents of that territory. Fifteen years ago, when the deer 
had practically disappeared from all other localities on 
the outskirts of the Adirondack forests, thanks to the 
efforts of the deer dogger and the market hunter, thedeet 
held their own in the towns of Fort Ann and Dresden 
owing to the fact that hounding was absolutely prohibited 
through an enactment of the Washington cotmty board 
of supervisorsj supported by the detprmined efforts of the 
residents of the towns named. When the State game 
law Was amended so as to abolish all county enact- 
ments (a good change oti general principles) the 
good people of Washington were left for a brief 
period each year without this protection, and 
perhaps have been forced to adopt rather harsh 
methods to save the deer on this territory from exter- 
mination. If, as alleged, the hunters of Fort Ann and 
Dresden have ceased to be law-abiding citizens, it is a 
pleasure to learn that their law-breaking propensity has 
taken the mild form of an earnest endeavor to prevent a 
most cruel and destructive practice. When I first visited 
this locality I was informed by a resident of Dresden that 
that town was not a healthy one for deer-chasing doga, 
and I am delighted to learn that it has not since improved 
as a sanitarium for that animal, but the statement that 
the deer are preserved from the bounder in order that 
they may be slaughtered later on by the crust hunter may- 
be set down as wholly false. 
My knowledge of the Dresden deer hunter convinces 
me that still-hunting, and that only in the open season, is 
the only method practicei by him, and it would take un- 
doubted evidence to change that conviction. No fine? 
object lesson in deer protection has ever been afforded in 
this State than that in the county of Washington during 
the past fifteen years, 
Deer were by no mf-ans an uncommon sight during the 
period from 1880 to 1890 within four miles of the village 
of Whitehall, at which time they had practically become 
extinct in all other portions of the State, through the 
combined efforts of the deer dogger and the jack hunter 
and a want of wholesome laws to prevent unlimited ship- 
ping of venison out of the woods. In conclusion, permit 
me to say that if the perverse hunter of Fort Ann or 
Dresden will persist in enforcing the unwritten law of 
that locality which prohibits a most cruel practice, may 
his shadow never grow less and may the biggest buck 
with the fiaest set of antlers await him when he shall go 
forth to slay his deer in a humane and sportsthanlike 
manner. " M. Schenck, 
A LONG ISLAND DEER HUNT. 
Brooklyn, Nov. 27. — Editor Forest and Stream: Now 
that the season of deer shooting on Long Island is over 
the experiences of the hunters have become memories, 
and many are the tales that will be told, both fact and 
fiction, of the wonderful shots that brought down deer of 
fabulous weight. If lean gain the attention of an audi- 
ence I would like to tell the story of a hunt that wa« a 
reality. 
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, Mr. E. B. Remington, Mr. L, D. 
Martens and I arrived at the station of Central Islip. As 
we had made no previous arrangements, we found some 
difficulty in securing a place to remain at over night, but 
at length, through the kindness of a Mr. Wolfarth, the 
proprietor of one of the hotels, we were taken in at a pri- 
vate house, where we passed a comfortable night. 
In the meantime, after we had eaten supper, we went down 
to Mr. Wolfarth's place again. He kindly showed us the 
head of a fine buck he had killed two years ago, and 
gave us some points about the country and best shooting 
localities, which proved to be very valuable indeed. 
An hour before daybreak we were on the grounds 
where we expected to watch, and even at this time we 
found two others ahead of us; so we were obliged to go a 
trifle further east than we intended. Mr. Martens and I 
were armed with Marlin repeaters, while Mr. RemingtQU 
used a shotgun loaded with buckshot. 
Mr. Remington stationed himself on the railroad trapfe 
near the eastern limit of the South Side Sportemen'ei 
Club's preserve, while Mr. Martens, and I watched along 
the track on opposite sides of a few acres of swamp lanq 
which lay just north of the railroad. 
There were several advantages in our position; we were 
in a good locality for game, and all possible shots woul^ 
be at a range of from 100 to 400yds. As most of the hunt? 
ers vised shotguns, we were alone on these watphes, witii 
the exception of the two men before mentioned; then the 
open nature of the country made it possible for us to use 
our heavy rifles without danger of shooting any one. 
Accounts do not exaggerate the number of gunners 
that turn out for Long Island deer shooting, and froui 
our stands we could see them strung along the railroad ai^ 
far as the eye could reach, less than 50yds. apart. 
No dogs were started on the north side of the track 
far as we could tell from the sense of hearing, but there' 
were raany to the southeast, and soon there was repeated 
firing in that direction. 
Shortly before 8 A. M. , just as X was beginning to give up 
bop© of seeing anything from position, mi thmking 
