28 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 9, 1897. 
BIG GAME IN COLORADO. 
Mesa. County, Dec, Id— Editor Forest and Stream: I 
have jast finished reading an article in the Dec. 5 Forest 
AND Stream, entitled "The Passing of Colorado." I can- 
not, in justice to the "boys," "horsemen" and grangers 
accused in the article, on account of one man or possibly- 
more, let pass the assertion of an alarmist that everything 
is gone to the bad with the game and the game wardens. I 
have lived on the border of Colorado and Utah for ten 
years in the capacity of cow puncher, granger, and 
horseman, all of which classes are included in the article. 
I think I can show Mr. H. G. Dulog as much game as 
he used to see of all the different varieties he mentions, in 
spite of the amount that are killed by every one, 
including the dude hunters from away back East. 
Although there may be some good shots among 
them, as among any class of men, nevertheless I 
have found that they let more game get away wounded, 
to die by itself and furnish food for the coyotes, than 
the ones who are credited with the great killing, I am 
writing from my ranch in the Plateau Valley, on the 
north side of the Grand Mesa, in Mesa county, and only 
this morning some of my shepherd dogs ran a buck out 
of the feed yard with the cattle, which, strange to say, 
the grangers did not kill. Every day we do the same, 
and sometimes we run out as many as five or six. They 
eat up the orchards in this vicinity every year about this 
time till spring opens. We killed six bears last spring in 
less than a week without any dogs or traps, and there is 
still a bunch of elk of about fifty head in the upper end 
of this valley, not five miles from the edge of the settle- 
ments. 
Over on Eoan Creek, not more than twenty miles from 
here, I took up several parties of hunters from the town 
of Debeque, on the Bio Grande Junction Railroad, not 
over sixty miles from Newcastle, mentioned in Mr. 
Dulog's article. Every one of them got a buck apiece, 
and we saw as many as thirty or forty every day. I 
weighed some of them preparatory to shipping them 
hime, and they weighed from ITSlbs. as high as 230 with 
the heads out off and most of the neck. Some of them 
vvere fine heads too, as big as they ever were and with as 
many points. None of these hunters stayed over two 
days. Many came up at midnight and the next night 
they went back, well satisfied with the country, and with 
a deer apiece killed by themselves in the morning. This 
does not look as if the game was all gone. We saw sev- 
eral in the road as we were going up to the ranch where 
they stopped to do their hunting, right in the midst of the 
settlements. 
Now I don't want to say that there are not a good many 
deer killed illegally by all sorts of people, for thero is no 
doubt of that; but I do say that the slaughter has been 
going on now for more than six years, and the effect is to 
make the deer wilder, so that they seek those places 
which are more safe from the great crowds of hunters. 
I know several parts of the country where one can see as 
many deer as there are trees for them to stand, behind, 
and the country is not devoid of timber either. But no 
one goes in that part of the country except cow punchers, 
and they can all teU you about seeing deer and big bucks 
all summer long, right in and around camp. The Indians 
know this, however, and they fn quently come over from 
Utah and kill off a few hundred; sometimes they save the 
meat and more frequently they do not. I have seen the 
carcass of a fine fat buck, with antlers in the velvet and fat 
2in. thick, lying with the hide off in the sun, and moccasin 
tracks all round. I met one Ute who had 100 hides with 
his outfit, all the hair taken off and about half tanned ; 
and the two squaws were busy at them then, all killed 
just before the season opened. I don't want to resurrect 
the Indian question again, as it is a Little late now, and it 
does not excuse the white men's slaughter. We "hoys" 
live in the midst of the game and hardly kill one a year, 
as we much prefer beef. What I am driving at is that 
the game is still with us, although the deer have changed 
their runways so that the pot-hunters get left frequently, 
and the old-timers can't find any bucks. They were a 
little late in coming down this year. Elk go clear up to 
the top and winter there. 
Yours for the preservation of game and death to the 
market and pot-hunter, who are also with us. 
H. K. BOGERT. 
I^orth Carolina Quail Netting. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As I have just returned from my annual quail hunt in 
North Carolma, I thought I would drop you a line and 
give you an idea as to what the natives are doing with 
that excellent little game bird, Bob White. I predict 
that in the course of a few years he wiU be exterminated 
by the means of netting. I write this in order to give 
you a faint outline of the method employed to capture 
them. It is as follows: The net is about lOft. long and 4 
or 5 ft. wide, and so made that the hollow of the net will 
come in the center until a few feet from the ends. The 
next move is to get a horse and find the birds, and while 
on horseback locate the covey, and when located set the 
net in the best place to drive the birds, and the whole 
covey is captured, leaving none for seed. You can 
imagine how soon this kind of work will wipe them out 
of existence. * 
My hunt was not very successful, as the birds for most 
part were not to be found on account of this vile method 
of destroying them. We did find some birds where the 
marks of netting were not visible. 
G, V. Hudson, M.D. 
Thrifty. 
The Evening Gazette, of Port Jervis, N. Y., recounts 
that recently a hunting party of three from Philadelphia 
and Scranton, Pa., had made Shohola Falls an annual 
visit for several years past, staying at Falls Cottage, where 
for a reasonable charge they enjoyed the comforts of a 
cozy home with the added privilege of hunting on 8,000 
acres of land owned by their host. They arrived this 
year as usual, but with a radical change of procedure; for, 
instead of staying at the Cottage, as they had done in 
former years, they engaged two local guides and stealthily 
ensconced themselves in the hunting grounds of their 
former host and proceeded to enjoy gratis that which 
they had formerly considered worth paying for. Infer- 
entially all the privileges could have been legitimately 
secured for a nominal consideration, yet to them, as to 
many other people, it seemed more direct and economical 
to help themselves to such things as they desire if such 
were loosely guarded, 
It would seem as if men of otherwise good standing in 
the community would value more highly their own self- 
respect and the respect of their fellow men than to com- 
mit petty, sneaky depredations on the property of others, 
acts of petty meanness, particularly ones, as in this case, 
which embodied ingratitude for former favors accepted 
by the offenders, aside from the direct offense of surrep- 
titiously taking privileges to which they had no claim. 
The Gazette mildly relates the sequel of the thrifty ad- 
venturers as follows: 
"Whether for economy, greater accessibility to their 
favorite grounds, or the persuasion of the local part of the 
party is of no tt\oment, but this year the hunters sought 
the grounds from another direction and were comfort- 
ably quartered in camp before their presence in the 
county was made known to the owner of the premises. 
Any one who has ever hunted, fished or camped on the 
property of Mr. Hart knows that he is entirely liberal in 
respect to sportsmen; but when encroached upon stealth- 
ily, in an unsportsmanlike way, with preparations to de- 
populate his woods, he very justly felt incensed, and he 
acted promptly and in accord with his feelings. The 
party broke camp and decamped, and it is hopeful that 
they have learned that such privilege as they attempted 
to enjoy are at least worth asking for." 
Were the offensive acts of those whose honesty and de- 
portment are pursued and gauged as a matter of profit- 
able policy to bring a just odium only on the real offend- 
ers, there would still be much to deplore, but the odium 
of those who have but a sneaky manhood is visited upon 
the true sportsman and casta a stigma on the guild. 
tween the two. The shrimp is a compact mass of solid 
meat, though the body of a living specimen is as colo 
less &8 window glass, while the gammarus, comparative! 
speaking, is but a bundle of legs. 
Hoime of the Shrimp. 
The speedy appropriation of this hitherto neglected or- 
ganism as a staple article of diet for fishes seems not im- 
probable. It is apparently adapted to various kinds of 
water, even flourishing in shallow holes, such aa mosqui- 
toes breed in. In parts of North Carolina it is found in 
ponds, running streams, and in borrow pits alongside 
railroad tracks. In the latter it is landlocked, and obvi- 
ously subject to an extreme high temperature, derived 
from the direct rays of the summer sun, and to an op- 
posite low temperature such as accompanies occasional 
ice formation a foot or more thick. Its thermal limit re- 
mains to be determined by experimental trials, but it i 
known to already inhabit streams, and it maybe inferred 
naturally, as far north as the Ohio River, and other 
southward to Arkansas. 
Natural Abundance. 
In its localities it is generally very abundant. Notwith- 
standing incessant attacks by its natural enemies, it seems 
to outbreed them all. With a small dip-net, 1ft. in diam- 
eter and 8Pt. of handle, often a thousand can be dipped 
from the water grass without the operator moving from 
his tracks, and in a brief space of time at that. In the 
Connocanary, a tributary of the Roanoke River, 200 were 
taken at one dip. At the second dip 177, and at the third 
164: were secured. It was found that the shriiEp existed 
mid ^iv^r ^mfiing. 
THE FRESH-WATER SHRIMP. 
Washington, D. C, Dec. 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: When I cast my lot with fishculturists twenty 
years ago, the great problem was how many millions 
can we hatch. While the question of feeding did not 
then concern us, and need not now to any extent as re- 
lates to commercial fishes, it is pressing for discussion 
with the growth of angling clubs and fish ponds. Fishes 
of the predaceous kind are everywhere preferred, such 
as trout and bass, but how and where is natural food to 
be obtained for their bodily support? Where are suitable 
living forms at inconsiderable cost to come from? This 
was a problem to some extent when I began my studies, 
but a thousand are concerned now where one person was 
then. Many expedients have been resorted to, but the 
solution is yet to be forthcoming. 
Well aimed suggestions being always in order, I modestly 
present some points with regard to an organism which may 
claim a place— at least experimentally— in well-ordered 
fishcultural establishments. I claim no superiority over 
other investigators in this line. But while behind many 
in actual experiments, I have nevertheless been an ob- 
server of the works of others, and a student of the sub- 
ject myself. In order to make my suggestions as far- 
reaching as possible, I have gone to the expense to have 
two cuts made for purposes of illustration. 
What I have to tell is the direct outgrowth of an in- 
vestigation made by the Fish Commission last fall con- 
cerning the fresh-water shrimp, its relation to fishes as 
their food in a state of nature. The investigation was 
ordered by Commissioner Brice, and covered some weeks: 
from late in September till the middle of November. It 
will require time of course for the problem to be worked 
out, buc it must be apparent that whether successful or 
not it is a step toward rational methods. He has pro- 
cured living specimens of the fresh-water shrimp from 
the South, which are under observation to determine 
their rate of multiplication and climatic adaptability. 
aiVEB, OR FBESH-WATER SHRIMP. 
hoping subsequently to be able to recommend their 
cultivation for game and other fishes. 
Where the shrimp abounds fishing is good. When it 
is caught for bait numerous small fish are unavoidably 
brought in with it. They are feeding upon it. These are 
small bass, darters, sunfish, top minnows and catfish. It 
is found in the stomachs of all. Besides being a natural 
food, the shrimp is very abundant. There are evidences, 
too, that its range can be extended to nearly all parts of 
the United States. 
What It Is. 
The river shrimp is a fresh- water animal. Of the craw- 
fish kind, it is yet more transparent, like the soft-shell 
crab. It is more than an inch long, being, however, the 
size of a finger in the waters of Arkansas. In North 
Carolina they run 2,000 to a pound. The two forward 
pair of the larger or anterior Ipgs are provided with 
claws. The animal is a miniature of the salt-water 
shrimp or the prawn. It would be a mistake to confound 
it with the so-called fresh-water shrimp, about which so 
much was said in the year 1878 by the New York Fish 
Commission; for the latter is only a water flea, It has 
gradually become known by its true name, gammarus, 
and it is both abundant and valuable at Caledonia. In- 
terested parties will not, fail, to ^n,ote the distinction be- 
GAMMARUS, OB WATER FLEA. 
there at a rate as high as, and probably far exceeding, 
6001bs. per acre, and in a wholly unprotected state. But 
this rate was maintained only in the shoal, grassy areas 
where conditions were tributary to their requirements. 
Under cultivation, however, where the entire space 
would be installed with reference to their feeding 
grounds, every square yard would support its proportion- 
ate number. 
Conditions for Culture. 
Enough is known of the shrimp to justify the belief 
that it is futile to introduce it into waters devoid of cover. 
It is an animal which does but little free swimming. It 
seeks food and shelter in thick growths of water plants, 
grasses and mosses, and is found around the shores or in 
shallow places among the plants, and sometimes on 
trunks of trees which, like the cypress, live out in the 
water. When frightened it darts out into deeper water, 
going backward a foot or more, and rests motionless 
there till danger seems past. It can, however, do free 
swimming, in which act it uses the swimming legs situ- 
ated just forward of the tail. In winter it is believed not 
to burrow or enter a full state of hibernation ; but some 
anglers, for convenience, make a practice of corralling 
them in field ditches for winter bait. 
In Transportation. 
Though quickly responsive to overcrowding, there is no 
difficulty iu transporting the shrimp alive over long dis- 
tances, with proper but simple precautions. In the fall 
months, with air temperature 50° to 
55°, a four-quart tin pail half filled 
with water will safely carry 150 
from North Carolina points to New 
York city, while seventy-five would 
go alive to St. Paul or Sb. Louis with- 
out change of water or application of 
ice. In captivity it becomes very 
nervous when there are too many 
in the vessel for the amount of water. 
They leap out, and sticking to the 
inner walls of the vessel or falling on 
the ground, perish. Also they hop 
around, several inches and very 
lively, when taken with the net. 
While crawfish, crabs and lobsters 
cannot withstand shipment in water, 
this animal appears to be clearly of 
the reverse type. Crawfish in winter, 
if kept from freezing, will survive 
two weeks or longer, simply held in 
barrels. The shrimp dies as quickly 
as do most fish when exposed to 
the atmosphere. But impaled on fish 
hooks it lives, in cool weather, two hours or more. It 
has a fishy smell only when its shell is broken. 
Economic Application. 
From partial observations made, it appears that the 
chief requirement of the river shrimp is profuse plant 
growth. This can with certainty be had only in shallow 
water which the sun's rays can penetrate. The water 
need not be as much as a foot deep. Therefore, springy, 
marshy bogs may be slightly dammed up and afford as 
good breeding grounds as any. In deep, treeless ponds 
no production may be relied on except along the shores, 
the middle area being wasted. 
If the river shrimp ran be successfully colonized in the 
greater portions of he country, it may be possible to 
produce it without cost other than the outlay attending 
installation of the imply-constructed breeding ponds, 
and in such quantities too as may feed vast numbers of 
market fish. 
Should such a r. suit attend the study of the shrimp, 
the question of commercial fishculture in the inland 
waters will be solved. As it is now, the food comes too 
high to admit of a general industry of profit. 
S,:G. Worth. 
