Maeoh 6, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
189 
Ne^v York Deer Laws. 
Bditor Forest and Stream: 
The present game laws of New York that pertain to the 
deer seem very unsatisfactory in their present form, and the 
universal opinion is that they will be changed by the present 
Legislature; and it would seem to me that suggestions in the 
Forest ksj) Stkeam from sportsmen, giving their views of 
the matter, might be of great benefit to themselves as well as 
to the deer. There is no question that a law can be made 
that will in five years increase the deer in the Adirondacks 
tenfold or more, and at the same time not deprive the true 
sportsman of any of hia pleasure, and also be of great benefit 
both to Ihe hotels and guides. Have open season from Sept. 
1 to Nov. 10, and hounding from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1, all in- 
clusive, with a penalty of $100 or more for any person having 
a deer in his possession without head on or without horns, 
or for killing more than two deer in the same season. 
Now we only get estimates of the number of deer killed 
each year. Have a law compelling each person killing a 
deer to report the same, with date and his place of residence, 
to the town clerk of the town in which the killing was done 
within ten days after killing, or pay a fine of $25 for neglect; 
the town clerk of course to receive recording fees for his 
services, and he to mak*^ a full report to the Commissioners 
of Fisheries, Game and Forests within thirty days after the 
close of the season. About one-third of the deer killed in 
1895 (by Mr. Fox's report) were killed night hunting, all of 
whicti was practically over with by Sept. 10, and of the 
1 233 deer reported killed a very large per cent., fully 75, 
■were does that had young, and the killing of the mother was 
really killing two fawns at the same time; for at this season 
of the year they were too young to maintain themselves, so 
that the report of 1,333 killed night hunting in 1895 should 
read 3,081 if the real truth was known. 
Stop killing the doe and you more than double your flock 
every year. R. F. "Meech. 
The Sum of it is that it's a Pretty Good 
Country to Live in. 
"Wabasha, Minn , Feb. 24,.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
There is one chapter in Mr. Robinson's book, "In New Eng- 
land Fields and Woods," that I wish everyone who hunts 
might read ; not that I think it would have any effect on 
some of the blood-seeking butchers who thirst for gore and 
the noise of a gun, but it would help to set a large number 
of young shooters to thinking and older ones as well I 
refer to Chapter XXXI. : "A Plea for the Unprotected." It 
fulfills to the letter my idea of the matter. I have for 
years made a practice of never killing or destroying anything 
from mere wantonness, and I have built my camp-fires for 
thirty consecutive years. The Bible says, "Let man have 
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the 
air, and over the cattle and over the earth, and over every 
creeping Ihing that creepeth over the earth." How few 
there are who do not abuse the blessed privilege of this 
law. 
If there was only some one who could or would write as 
delightfully of scenes, events, birds and animals pertaining 
to our Northwestern States, it would also be intensely inter- 
esting; but writers having the characteristic talent of Mr. 
Robinson are rare indeed. But we must admit that there is 
a certain charm about old New England not equaled by any 
other section of the country, more particularly to those who 
passed their youthful days among the hills, as I did; for I 
caught big trout and shot squirrels in Massachusetts and 
New Hampshire before I was in my teens. However, for a 
right up and down hunters paradise, as I have seen it for 
thirty odd years back, give me old "Star of the ISlorth" and 
the badger, Wapahustj. 
In the Chicago Wilderness. 
1 READ with much interest the thrilling account of brother 
Hough of his adventures with his companion among the 
sandnills back of Jlichigan City. It was really sad to read 
of the sufferings of Hough and "Patti" on account of not 
having sufficient water in their camp while Lake Michigan 
was so near them. "Patti" has ceased to be a hero to me 
since he was unable to get sufficient water from the big lake 
for drinking purposes. Why did he not scoop out a hole in 
the sand and let the incoming wave fill it, and then he would 
have had suflicient water to fill his vessels. Or supposing 
that the waves froze as fast as they came in, why did he not 
take his little hatchet and chop ofi! a piece of that big cake 
on which he was standing and carry it to camp? He could 
•not spill it, and it is well known that melted ice produces 
water ; besides, hot ice water in camp is a great luxury. 
Abbrdbeit. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts vMl find it profitoMe to advertise 
them in Fohest and Stream. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Pike Fishing In Lonjf Lake. 
Can it be possible that there are no longer trout to be 
found in Long Lake in the Adirondacks? 
. Has the introduction of pike, the pickerel of New York, 
into th^it famous lake been the means of exterminating the 
last of the brook and the lake trout which once swarmed in 
the lake? It would seem so, judging from several news- 
paper items that I have read, or the fish law of the State has 
been violated openly, and the violation of the law widely 
advertised. Section i04 of the law forbids fishing through 
the ice in any waters inhabited by trout, salmon trout or 
landlocked salmon except in certain named waters, and Long 
Lake is not one of them. Whoever violates this law is 
guilty of a misdemeanor and is also liable to a penalty of $25 
for each violation thereof, and $10 for each fish caught or 
possessed. 
Mr. J. C. D. Kitchen is a "citified man" who is spending 
a portion of the winter at Long Lake, and he "writes to hia 
friends in the city" much as an explorer would write home 
from a strange land: "The natives resort to bickering, de- 
ceit, lying, stealing and pettiness of every description, for 
cause if there he any, and if there is none simply to pass 
away the time." To give cause and to stir up the depths of 
this iniquity generally, Mr. Kitchen arranged a fishing con- 
test, offering small prizes for the biggest fish and for the 
largest quantity caught by any one man. The narrative 
coniinues: "The fishing on the Adirondack lakes is done 
by drilling holes in the ice with a crowbar, through which 
the baited line is dropped and attached to a tip-up or ar- 
rangement of cross-sticks which causes a miniature flagstaff 
to arise and flutter a signal in the wind when there is a tug 
at the line. * * * These natives aren't a bit afraid of 
work," writes Mr. Kitchen, "not a bit! Why, they will lie 
right down beside it in this particular instance." 
A<i an example of the aforesaid "bickering, deceit, lying, 
steahng and pettiness," Mr. Kitchen relates that it was found 
that the claimant for the prize for the largest fish had filled 
his "pickerel" with shoti. 
I do not know what Ed. Butler, Jerry Plumley, Dave 
Helms, Charlie Hanmer and other friends at Long Lake will 
think of Mr. Kitchen's analysis of the Long Lake natives, 
but that is a matter entirely aside from the fact that as a re- 
sult of the fishing contest inaugurated by Mr. Kitchen he 
came into possession of 34 pickerel (let me see: $25 for each 
violation and $10 for each fish makes $365— quite a tidy 
li'.tle sum in these hard times, but that is what it figures, 
provided the trout have not all been caught out or eaten out 
of the lake to make Sec. 104 inoperative), weighing 1701bs., 
and sent them to the Knickerbocker Athletic Club in New 
York City. 
Dr. John Todd. 
Rev. Dr. John Todd, writing of the people of Long Lake 
in 1841, said: "Nearly in the center of the wilderness we 
came to a beautiful sheet of water, the Long Lake, which 
is about twenty miles long and from half a mile to three 
miles wide. It is studded with islands and surrounded by a 
heavy forest, and in the warm sky of summer seems like a 
fairy land. Scattered along toward the head of the lake 
we found a little community of eight or nine families. They 
are here alone, shut out from the world. The hunter's axe 
alone had marked the trees when they came. They lived in 
their little log houses, and their little boats were their horses, 
and the lake their only path. A pocket compass was used 
as frequently as by the sailor. They were skillful in taking 
the moose, the deer and the salmon trout, and these were 
their world." These people are no longer shut out from the 
world, now that fifty-five years have passed, and they may 
protest that the picture that Mr. Kitchen has drawn of them 
is not a true one. 
The book from which 1 have quoted is entitled "Long 
Lake," and was published in 1845. Hallock first told me of 
it, and I searched so long and fruitlessly for it that I thought 
Hallock was mistaken; but I found he was not when a friend 
sent me a copy. I was particularly anxious to get the book, 
for I first met Dr. Todd in the woods. I was at a lumber 
camp on the Cedar River fishing. I think it was in 1859. 
One evening Dick Birch, the guide, came to the camp with a 
man he called Doctor, For some reason I assumed that he 
was a doctor of medicine and not a doctor of divinity, but 
why I do not know, except at that lime perhaps the former 
were much more likely to be in the woods with red and gun 
than the latter. That night I had a little misunderstanding 
with Dick Birch, which he did not know about for some time 
after. I had made a deer lick not far from the camp and 
one of the men spoke about it. Dick, without consulting 
me, said he would go out that night and watch the lick and 
perhaps get some venison for the camp. This did not meet 
with my approval, but it was my father's lumber camp and 
I could not say no without violating the laws of hospitality ; 
so when Dick loaded his rifle and placed it in the storeroom 
shanty I drew the ball out of it and replaced it with a wad 
of paper well rammed down. Dick and the camp keeper 
went to the lick, and the Doctor, my boy friend and I went 
to bed. 
Fishing In the Dark. 
Our beds were over the storeroom shanty, and there were 
seven or eight in a row. The Doctor selected one, pulled the 
sheets over his face and began to snore. Such snores I had 
not heard up to that time, and it was more than I could 
stand, added to Dick Birch's attempts to kill my deer. There 
were two beds between the Doctor's and mine, and from my 
tackle box under my bed I got a lake trout line used for fish- 
ing at a buoy. The hook was a big one made by a black- 
smith from a rat-tail file, and I unwound the line and crawled 
over the two beds, and hooked the hook through the bed- 
clothes on the Doctor's bed When 1 was back in my own 
bed I began to pull gently on the line until all was taut, and 
then gradually i pulled the bedclothes from the bed of the 
snorer. Suddenly the snoring ceased with a violent snort, 
and while I could not see, I could feel that two hands were 
making desperate clutches for bedclothes dissolving in the 
cold night air. It was evident that the bedclothes were 
secured and replaced in proper position, for the snoring was 
resumed at the old stand with unabated vigor. Then I pulled 
in the slack in the line, and finally pulled off the clothes as 
before. The snoring ceased, only to be resumed whea the 
bedclothes were again captured. This was repeated over 
and over. Once the Doctor seemed to be feeling in the next 
bed toward which the clothes continued to slide, but he 
found nothing but undisturbed bedclothes. Another time 
after awakening with the usual snort it took him longer to 
arrange the clothes, and I heard a jingling of metal like a 
bunch of keys; and when the snoring was resumed it con- 
tinued until morning, for when I pulled in the slack in my 
line I had lost my fish and my hook, for the line was parted 
by the cut of a knife blade. 
The Round-up. 
Remorse did not sit oh my neck next morning when I 
heard Dick say he shot at a deer, but had no ball in his rifle; 
that it was the first time in his life that he ever did such a 
thing; that he could almost swear that he remembered taking 
the patch from the patch box, and putting the ball on it, 
driving it down; that he could not understand how it hap- 
pened, etc. I could not face the Doctor at breakfast, for 
his case was different, and I was not sure but the laws of 
hospitality had become a little warped in the dark hours of 
the night. A few years later I was sent away to school, 
and my first Sunday in Pittsfield, Mass. , I marched with the 
school to church, and when from behind the pulpit rose the 
head and shoulders of a man with short, stiff, gray hair, 
standing straight up, homely but kindly face, with keen 
eyes looking out through spectacles, I knew that Dr. Todd 
was not a doctor of medicine, and remorse not only sat upon 
my neek, but jumped on me with both feet. I patched it 
all up with the Doctor afterward, but not with the patch 
that Dick Birch thought he drove into his rifle around a 
rifle ball to kiU my deer, as I considered the animal he shot 
at with a charge of powder. 
Artificial Floods. 
The English sportsmen's papers have recently been die- 
cussing the feasibility of producing floods in the salmon 
streams in summer by storing the water ia the spring, when 
the snow from the hills about headwater lakes, panicularly 
in Scotland, is melting and producing an over -abundance of 
water, and when the streams are low, and the salmon will 
not run, to let the water from the lakes down to create an 
artificial flood. Opinions on the subject seem to be about 
equally divided. One writer says that there will be no diffi- 
culty in storing the water and letting it down at times of 
drought through sluice gates, but it will avail nothing. 
"The red deer and the grouse might be rather astonished to 
see rivers running brown and flooded when the land was 
parched for want of rain, and none had fallen for weeks; 
but they would be about the only creatures to witness so 
strange an event except the sportsmen who caused it." 
If he means by this that fish will not run on an artificial 
flood he is in error, for fish will run whether the flood is 
made by rain or by "tripping a dam" in time of drought. 
It is not so many years ago that good trout fishing could 
be had at times on the upper Hudson River, from The Glen 
north to the mouth of the Boreas River, but the best fishing 
was in the tributary streams when they were flooded by the 
lumbermen for driving logs into the main stream.- At such 
times the large trout wsuld run up into the tributary streams 
from the river, but the fishing was not good at the height of 
of the flood. When the water was falling after a flood was 
the time to fish for big trout. Thirteenth Creek, the outlet 
of Thirteenth Lake, which comeS into Uhe Hudson just north 
of the hotel at North River P. O., was famous for its flood 
fishing, and the trout caught were river trout. A man who 
lived just at the mouth of the creek was fond of fishing, and 
being on the ground, and knowing just when the flooded 
stream would be at its best, he was able to make some won- 
derful catches of big trout. I was once wading the upper 
Hudson with Dick Birch and fishing for trout, and when 
we got to the man's house Dick took me to see the live trout 
he had in a tank, and it was a sight worth seeing. To fish a 
flooded stream one must be on hand at the proper time. A 
friend, the proprietor of a stage line running • to Schroon 
Lake, came to me late one afternoon to say he had just 
heard that a creek flowing into the Hudson had been flooded. 
He telegraphed for relays of horses along his line and we 
started about sundown and made a record drive to the creek 
that night, and early next morning we were fishing it; but 
the flood was over and we got only a few small fish, while 
others, two days before, caught large river trout. 
A. N. Cheney. 
Still Harping^ on Carp. 
St. Louis, Mo.— In the Bulletin of the United States Pish 
Commission for 1895 will be found a long article on the 
introduction of carp on the Pacific coast. In connection 
with this history the report gives many complaints of peo- 
ple in California, who state that these fish destroy the wild 
celery beds, which are the food of ducks, and destroy the 
spawn of game fishes. It is well to state in connection with 
these complaints that no evidence was produced to prove 
the truth of these statements, but the disappearance of the 
celery was laid to the carp without any investigation. The 
same is true in regard to the spawn of game fishes. The 
United States Fish Commissioner himself expresses doubts 
in the Bulletin as to the truthfulness of these reports, and 
intimates that a thorough examination of the stomach of 
carp is required before the question can be considered 
settled. 
The Fish Commissioner states that the white bass intro-^ 
duced into the Pacific coast has flourished and is now very 
abundant. He also says that almost their entire food in fresh 
waters consists of carp, and hundreds of bass have been 
opened to make examination of their stomachs. Now, if 
the white bass will feed on carp, why will not the black bass 
do the same? 
In this same report of 1895 will be found an illustration of 
the German carp, showing the peculiar arrangement of the 
scales. This recalls to mind the statement made by an 
Illinois correspondent of a Chicago paper, in which he told 
how the carp and the buft'alo had crossed, and the result was 
a mongrel fish, with very few scales and a sort of leathery 
covering. Of course what he had seen was the German 
carp, and his reasoning is a fair sample of the other com- 
plaints made against this fish. As for myself, I have noth- 
ing particular to say in favor of the carp, but am anxious 
that the truth should be found out. Let some facts be given 
and not all theory. Aberdeen. 
Fly-Casting Indoors. 
At the third annual Sportsmen's Exposition, March 13 to 
20, at Madison Square Garden, will be held an indoor fly- 
casting tournament. The committee in charge of this 
unique feature consists of P. Cooper Hewitt, chairman; 
William C. Harris, sec'y; James L. Breese, H. C. de Rham, 
Edwin Clark Kent, Robert B. Lawrence, William Kent, 
Charles Bryan, Frederick Engle, C. G. Levison, John G. 
Heckscher, Nathaniel S. Smith, H. W. de Forest, William 
B. Williams, P. Lorillard, Jr., W. R. Garrison. 
Those who desire to enter the tournament will be fur- 
nished with the rules, entry blanks and all necessary infor- 
mation by applying to the Sportsmen's Exposition, Madison 
Square Garden. The fly -fisherman will cast over the sur- 
face of an artificial lake. For long casts they will have a 
clear stretch of water, but when the utmost Ji?iesse of putting 
the artificial insect just where the angler wishes it to go la 
attempted, the contest will he made difficult by semi-sub- 
merged branches of trees in the water and bushes irregularly 
disposed about the water's edge, where they are likely to 
prove metaphorical thorns in the impatient fisherman's flesh. 
The fly-casting tournament will go on every afternoon and 
evening during the sportsmen's show. 
The entrance fee for contestants will be $2 for one event, 
or $5 for three or more events. There will be eleven different 
contests, every one of which is bound to be interesting to all 
fishermen and to every spectator. 
A Man We've All Fished With. 
St. LoTJia, Mo. — Regarding the excellent pen pictures by 
Mr. Mather of men he has fished with, he seems to have 
been a mighty fortunate individual, for all his fishing com- 
panions appear to have been thorough good fellows. Is it 
possible that he never went fishing with John Doe, who was 
never willing to row up-stream; who wanted the first cast at 
every favorable point; who took the biggest bait in the 
bucket; who would slap down his hook beside yours when 
you had a bite and was always grumbling when the fish did 
not bite fast enough to suit him ! John Doe ought to be 
written up, and we hope brother Mather will run his gaff 
under him and hold him up to public view. John may not 
be a reader of Fqeest and Stream, and again he may be, 
but we think he is known to all its readers. Aberdeen, 
