48 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[iAN. 16, 1897. 
have any authentic account was killed m Michigan, and 
weighed before he was dressed alBlbs. But such speci- 
mens are rarely met with. It is much more common to 
meet adults that will not exceed SOlbs. in weight, and the 
average weight may be set down at not more than 
lOOlba. The guesses of hunters often give much larger 
weights, 
"In the fall of 1876 I shot a buck in northeastern Wis- 
consin which waa judged by several experienced hunters 
to weigh nearly 250lb8. Four of our Indians came from 
camp, but woiUd not undertake to carry him in (not more 
than a third of a mile), although we were very anxious to 
have it done. They dressed him on the spot and made 
four loads of him. The chief Indian remarked that 
one might hunt a lifetime and not see such a deer as 
that." 
The foregoing extract indicates that the deer in Michi- 
gan and Wisconsin are not eo large as the Adirondack 
d«er. 
GUNS AND THINGS. 
Yksteedxy was New Year's Day. and I spent the 
morning performing a melancholy yet not entirely un- 
pleasant task. I cleaned and tested my gun before greas- 
ing it and putting it away until snipe shooting time; and 
I cleaned and greased my hunting boots before hanging 
them up in the attic. The choke-bore gun sometimes 
gets the choke shot out of it, and past experience taught 
me that it is well enough to target such a gun every year 
or 80. Accordingly, I shot my choke-bore barrel at a 
30in. circle at 40vd8. and got 330 out of l^jz. No. 8 shot 
in the circle, so I have reason to hope that I may con- 
tinue to "pull down a high mallard" now and then in 
the future. The other barrel is a cylinder and does not 
require any attention. I find such a combination more 
nearly right for aU sorts of shooting than any other. I 
have accustomed myself to shooting whichever barrel is 
best fitted to make the shot — the left barrel if it seems to 
be 40yd8. or over and the right barrel for lesser distances. 
The latter will make uniform kills up to SSyds. and the 
left up to 45, with frequent clean kills up to 70yd8. at all 
Borts of game except deer, which I have quit shooting at 
with a shotgun, as more are wounded and escape than 
are wounded and captured when shot with buckshot. 
And about ammunition: Despite Mr, Tenner's intima- 
tion to the contrary, my American-made gun shoots much 
doeer and harder with one of the powder wads 11 -gauge, 
instead of 12, as the other wads are. It does not bulge the 
Shell if put in properly. My kind of boots are worth tak- 
ing care of. They are watertight. They are made of 
beautifully flexible leather, that never gets hard from 
any amount of wetting. They can be used all day in 
the water, and when dried will be as soft as ever. "But 
no leather," I think I hear some one say, "will turn 
water, especially snow water," and he is right; no leather 
wilL Bat my boots are lined with rubber prepared can- 
vas, and between the canvas and the leather is an inner 
lining of oiled silk. I know of a similar pair that re- 
mained watertight for nearly seven years. They were 
lined with thin It^ather instead of waterproof canvas, but 
the oiled silk kept out the water. Bjots for hunting 
should be made large enough to admit of two pairs of 
stockings being worn, because then the chafing takeS 
place between the stockings, and the tender cuticle of the 
town-bred hunter is spared. 
Not long ago an acquaintance complained that a dog 
that had recently come into his possession had a habit, 
when sent to retrieve, of trying to eat the bird. Now 
I knew the dog, but not the man, so I began to investigate. 
"How much do you feed that dog?" 
"Oh, plenty." 
"But how much is plenty?" 
And when he had gone into the pitiful particulars I re- 
plied: 
"That is not enough and not of the right sort. A hunt- 
ing dog, especially when hunting, requires meat and 
plenty of it, and I never saw a dog yet that thought he 
had enough until his ribs were expanded." 
"Well, the man evidently thought I was crazy, but the 
dogs don't. The only good dog is the all-day dog, for only 
a few of ua can keep a whole kennel of pointers or setters. 
The all-day dog is the tough dog and he cannot be tough 
on "health food." 
When I am shooting chickens, one of my chief pleas- 
ures is to go around to the kitchen door in theevtning and 
ask fcr a lot of cold meat for the dogs, who will have fol- 
lowed me around there and are looking on with grave 
expectancy while the cook lady hands me out a breadpan 
full of cooked meat, left over from the day. Then I call 
out each dog's name in turn, tossing him the while one 
big hunk or two little ones, and when that is over I saun- 
ter down street to a butcher shop and ask him for 25 
cents' worth of lean meat from the cheap part of the 
shoulder or neck, which he cuts into chunks and with 
which the dogs and I go through the pitch and toss pro- 
cess again. When they come out of that butcher shop 
they have the aspect of a man with a toothpick in his 
mouth, and are ready, after a night's rest and digestion, to 
repeat the 75 or 100 miles of ranging of the first day. On 
the third day, however, they must rest. 
Did you ever miss a whole flock of birds — seriatim, I 
mean? 
Well, that is what I did on Wednesday. A meat dog 
(thanks for the word, Hough), named Jim Crow, and 
I were approaching a little gully, when a btvy of quail 
rose out of it. They were too far away for more than my 
left barrel, and so I only shot at one hole, which I hit. 
They flew into a piece of woods, where Jim Crow, care- 
fully pointed them by ones and twos. They didn't seem 
to care which way tbey went so long as they got there. 
Some would dart straight up into the tops of the tallest 
of the trees, some would duck down behind the hazel 
brush, some would wheel in their first spring and take 
the back path, while others would make a side lunge for 
the cornfield adjoining. I had begun to realize that I 
was having a sensation by the time Jim pointed the last 
one in the leaves beside a big white oak. 
"Well, I've got you anyhow," I exclaim, as I confident- 
ly walked in ahead of Jim. "It's open here and you 
can't dodge me " 
And just then he "pcreamed" around behind the white 
oak, and when I got «r luml a'ur t im h.- w^s out <f 
range. He did it so well that I cii.!il out, ■ Good for 
you!'' and retraced my steps, hoping as I went that that 
valiant covey might live forever. It is true that once, as 
I proceeded on my way, some fine feathers were floating 
in the air, and Jim Crow shortly thereafter stopped ana 
fetched me one dead quaU from off in the woods, but I 
think he flew against a tree and killed himself. It was a 
wonderful covey of quail: trained by their papa and 
mamma in every device for eluding No. 83; able to fly 
around corners and over tree tops; going off in the clouds 
almost like mallards or turkeys. I trust they may elude 
other dangers as they do the danger of shotguns, so that 
one may have the keen pleasure of missing them again 
each year. The next covey consisted of twelve birds of 
quite another feather and parentage, for they had none 
of the tricks and manners of these first ones. 
I scattered them, killed seven, left four for next year 
and missed one. It was tame. Besides it was late and 
my farmer friend called to me from the house on the 
edge of the valley that dinner was ready, and I quit 
shooting for the day. 
Jim is one of the dogs that has not been trained so 
much as to know nothing but drill tactics. Most of his 
knowledge has been derived from association with an 
older dog. I only have to whistle for him a few times 
each day, and those times are occasions when he has 
pointed in a dense cornfield and I cannot find him. He 
is a perfect retriever, and not only finds every bird I 
knock down, but averages about two birds a day that I 
think I have missed, but which he thinks I have crippled, 
I carried him up to a hayloft that night where he would 
have a warm bed to sleep in and where he could not fight 
with the hounds, and when I started to take him down 
the next morning it proved to be more of an undertak- 
ing than I had bargained for, owing to his great weight 
and the fact that I had to get him down through a trap 
door that had no ladder leading to it. When I sat on the 
edge and reached him down as far as I could his hind- 
feet still would not reach the manger below. He did not 
know but what he was going to get hurt, so he clasped 
my leg with his muscular forearms, and I saw at once 
that he proposed to hang on and sustain his weight in 
that manner, so I let go my hand hold and he swung on 
to my leg until I lowered it to the manger. 
Geor&e Kennedy. 
UTAH GAME LAWS. 
The year that has just closed has put the new game law 
of Utah to a thorough test. Many of the features are un- 
satisfactory to the sportsman, the professional hunter and 
the man who fishes for a living. The new Legislature, 
which meets within a week, will be asked to make 
several amendments or to entirely revise the act of March 
30, 1896. 
Those sections which relate to fish are especially dis- 
tasteful. Commencing with the trout, July 15 is con- 
sidered entirely too late for the opening of our season. 
From my personal observation in almost all the trout 
streams of the State, I find that, excepting those that run 
from Fish Lake, Wayne county, spawning is practically 
over by June 15. Then the trout commence to work 
down stream. To say nothing of their lacking the fight- 
ing qualities that form the fisher's true sport, they become 
soft-fleshed and almost unfit for the pan. Then again, 
the irrigating ditches are opened about June 1. The 
streams are dammed, the water diverted and, at a low 
estimate, 80 per cent, of the available trout supply is 
turned upon the fields to rot in the July sun and fertilize 
the soil. This is no guesswork, but the result of careful 
observation and figuring. The following facts will prove 
the case and I have verified them. They will also explain 
how I came to investigate the matter. 
At the mouth of Provo CafLsn, where the river of the 
same name leaves the Wasatch range on its level run to 
Utah Lake, eight large irrigating canals are taken out. 
These water about twenty-eight square miles of farm 
land. On July 2 a boy went out to water. He had a 
four-acre field of lucerne stubble and six hours of water 
right. Above him, on the same canal, were seven large 
laterals and forty-seven smaller ditches. He was five 
miles from the head of the canal. When he was through 
with his work he gathered from the muddy field thirty- 
two trout of marketable size. I saw them. This li tie 
incident set me to thinking. I went up the canal in 
September and inquired of the farmers how many such 
trout they had gathered during the season. At the cur- 
rent wholesale price the value amounted to $320. This 
would give for the eight canals $:i,560, and of course this 
is but a small percentage of the number that are lost in 
the tall alfalfa and grain. 
Later in the season I had a trout supper at the cabin of 
a farmer in Garfield county, near the headwaters of the 
Sevier. Knowing that my host was very busy, I asked 
him where he had bought his fish. The reply was: 
"I don't have to buy. Every time I water I get enough 
to last the folks a week, and I've got a barrel salted down 
for winter." 
The law as it reads at present requires unconstructable 
screens at the mouths of ditches. They have never been 
put in, and as the great run of trout is during the latter 
part of June and early in July, I believe that then the rod 
and reel should have a fair chance. 
With regard to bass, fishermen claim that they are mul- 
tiplying rapidly. Their breeding haunts are inaccessible, 
and now many more are caught than can be legally used. 
The Legislature will be petitioned to allow their exporta- 
tion. An t ff ort will also be made to have doves recog- 
nized as a game bird, as in many of the Eastern States. 
A strong effort will be made to reject the Governor's 
nomination of a new Fish and Game Commission for 
Utah. While I voted for Gov. Wells, I do not believe in 
giving an office simply as a reward for political services; 
and while the appointee is an estimable gentleman, he is 
absolutely ignorant of the work before him. He has sent 
out letters of inquiry to find when fish spawn, etc. To 
show his fitness, he visited the Provo Woolen Mills a short 
time since to inspect the new fish ladder. When asked if 
the turbines should not be screened, as they resulted in 
the destruction of hundreds of pounds of fish, he replied 
that so long as the fish ran up it made no difference how 
they came down. He is strictly opposed to spending 
money for the importation of eggs and fry, regardless of 
the fact that every $1,000 expended has brought $10,000 
into the pockets of the people. 
Utah county thinks that as the leading fish and game 
tiini county of the St ite it should havd the * ffi !e of Scate 
Commiaaioner, but for my part I fail to see the neces- 
sity of removing, on political grounds, the man who has 
made Utah's fish and game what it is to-day —A, Milton 
Musser. Shoshone, 
Salt Lakb, Jan. 4. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Winter Camping: Trip. 
Chicago, III., Jan. 9.— It is only within the last few 
years that I have discovered for my own satisfaction that 
the best time for a vacation trip is not in the summer, 
but in the winter, provided that the purpose of the trip 
be one of benefit to the physical health. The city man is 
always more or less out of health, or at least is not per- 
fectly healthy, because he does not take exercise enough 
to keep him in condition. A trip to the lakes or woods 
in the summer time is well enough in its way, but very 
often it falls in warm weather, when one is indisposed for 
much exercise. In consequence of this, the vacationist 
goes back to town improperly rested because he has 
not been properly tired. His muscular tissues remain 
unfreshened, and in a short time he is seedy as ever. A 
camping trijp in the winter time means of necessity 
plenty of hard work, and that work in a pure and whole- 
some air, whose oxygen burns out all the waste matter 
of an overworn physical machine. The enforced exer- 
cise confers an enforced benefit. 
A winter camping trip is of course much better if it can 
be taken in the pine woods or some wild country far away 
from civilization, but when one cannot do that he may 
do the next best thing. I am on the point to-day of doing 
the next best thing, and going out for a couple of days' 
tramp in the wilderness which lies within thirty miles of 
Chicago. This wilderness is one not in the least to be 
sneezed at. There lies around the southeren end of Lake 
Michigan a strip of rough country, three or four miles 
wide by thirty or forty long, covered with pine and cedar 
and broken into a series of mountainous sandhills of con- 
siderable picturef queness. The traveler who penetrates 
half a mile into this rough coimtry might well imagine 
himself in the wildest part of the Loup country of Ne- 
braska or in the foothills of some Arizona range. He 
could never imagine that he was within a few miles of the 
edge of a great city. 
The Caluoaet Heights Club is located in the upper part 
of this sandhill w ilderness, and mention has often been 
made in these columns of the character of the country, 
which is well known to the members of that club. There 
has never been, however, any attempt made to fully 
penetrate and explore the extent of this wild hill coun- 
try. The region can never be farmed and will probably 
never be settled, the tall sand dunes offering a most in- 
hospitable front to any home-seeking invader. This 
strip of heaped-up sand lies between the edge of the lake 
and the edge of the terminal moraine of the great glacier 
which once swept down across this country. I have at 
times described our tracing of the course of the mysteri- 
ous Calumet River, which curls far around the foot of 
Lake Michigan and heads in the top of this moraine, the 
divide between Lake Michigan and the Kankakee waters. 
It remains now to see what lies in this country between 
the Calumet country and Lake Michigan. There are ru- 
mors of mysteries which have a certain fascination, since 
they seem so close at hand. The country has no wild 
game to speak of, excepting a few foxes, an occasional 
ruffed grouse and an infrequent wildcat. In places it 
holds little landlocked bodies of water which seeps up 
from the sand. Alex Loyd and myself have long figured 
on going through this country together, as a sort of 
sequel to our first voyage on the Calumet; but Alex does 
not turn up just yet ready for this winter trip. Mr. A. 
C. Patterson is the next man to declare that he is as big 
a fool as I am, and hence ready for the walk- 
ing and camping trip of a couple of days 
through this nearby wilderness. I notice that Mr. Patter- 
son also is absent at this writing, and I am not sure that 
he will qualify to start. As I can find no one else foolish 
enough to go with me, I presume that I may be obliged 
to go alone. The weather just now is not so very cold, 
but this climate is uncertain, and we may have a blizzird 
at any time. It is necessary, therefore, to go pretty well 
prepared. This I think it is possible to do, and yet con- 
fine one's luggage within portable limits. Of course 
everything must be earned on the back, as horses and 
wagons are not possible in that country. I have gotten 
out the old pack-bag, which is one of my dearest posses- 
sions, and as I write it sits beside me ready loaded. It 
holds a tent weighing 2 or Slbs., one pair of blankets, a 
buckskin shirt, a sharp little axe, one aluminum diah, 
and my Yellawstone tin cup, which serves as a coffee-pot. 
My rations are confined to beef, bacon, bread and apples; 
and here I am in doubt, for it is always difficult to tell 
how much a man is going to eat when he is on a winter 
tramp. My theory is that the above outfit, with a pound 
or two of further odds and ends, wiU enable me to keep 
comfortable, even in pretty rough weather, and the whole 
will weigh only about SOlbs. As to the nature of the 
country, we shall see what we shall see; but as to the 
nature of the trip itself, I know very well it will be a 
good one. Hard walking all day in the winter air is good 
medicine, and I hope that before the 5 o'clock train starts 
one or more of my friends will see it in the same light. 
Wisconsin Deer Killing. 
Mr. F. A. McDougald, of Clear Lake, Wis., writes me as 
below in regard to the killing of Wisconsin deer; 
"In Forest and Stream of Oct. 31 last you expressed 
an idea that the deer in Wisconsin would have a chance 
for their lives this fall; but I can safely say that more deer 
havd been killed from Oct. 15 up to date than before for 
twenty years. Ojt of fifty or sixty deer that are known 
to have been killed around here not more than three or 
four have been killed by settlers and sportsmen; the rest 
have been killed and shipped out by market-hunters, and 
they are still hunting at this writing. Inclosed please find 
a clipping from our weekly paper, the Weekly Courier, of 
Clear Lake, which covers the case to perfection, and any 
settler in this country will say the same. We have got to 
stop the sale of game at all seasons of the year or lose our 
game." 
The newspaper clipping referred to by Mr, McDougald 
reads as follows: 
No one objects to anyone coming out here to kill a deer in seaBon, 
but to keep comiDg out here day after day, month after month, inde- 
fioitely, and hauling them out tor what they are worth, we draw the 
line, tiome say deer can't he shipped away now, as it is agaiiat the 
law. Possibly so, but I notice that If a aeer is killed on one day. they 
are right back nexi day for anotner. If no complaint la maoe, this 
will last as long as the deer last. If ihe State inienaa to proctct the 
animals, there must be a game warden to every township— three or 
four would be better— in the infested districts, with full power to ar- 
rest any party on bUlHcient evidence— which would be the least of all 
trouble here. The few warden* there are no dciubt doing all they can, 
but that avails but little when one man has about 500 .10 cope with. 
The State may be long oa law, but it is nugbty short on protection. 
