A^Kti. 24, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
S29 
Some Great Dodginj^. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
. I have often thought I would write you the facts con- 
taiued in this letter, but the doubts expressed by persons I 
have told the stories to has made me fear the columns of 
Forest and Stream. I only told one man who didn't 
doubt me, and he told me the following story; and as I have 
always found him perfectly truthful in every way I be- 
lieve Mm. 
He was squirrel hunting, and was once walking slowly 
around a tree when, glancing down, he saw a rattlesnake 
within a few feet of him, ready to strike. He said, "I 
stepped back about 30ft. and fired at his head, and it did 
not seem to me to have moved. I reloaded as quickly as 
possible aud tried again, with the same result. I fired sev- 
eral times at his head, but still he held it motionless. I had 
heard that a snake could dodge a rifle ball, so I finally 
aimed about 6in. down his body and shattered his head." 
This was done with a muzzleloader and I suppose about 
tweuty years ago 
The following happened in 1890 on the Woodburn Farm, 
at Taylorstown, Pa. : 
A friend and I were out after ground hogs. 1 had a 
Winchester .23-15; he, my Ithaca shotgun. We saw what 
we thought was a chipmunk, with its head out of a knot 
hole in a log, and he tired at it. When we got to the log I 
saw something run and also found a dead weasel. Dunkle 
began poking in the log and a weasel stuck its head out of 
the knot hole and T fired at It from I should think about 30ft. 
Dunkle called, ' 'You never touched him."" I tried several 
times with the same result, the weasel always disappearing 
into a hole in the log right where his head had been. 
Finally Dunkle moved while I was taking aim, and the 
weasel turned its head and I killed it. We got five, tour of 
which I killed with the rifle, but I did not kill one with its 
eyes turned toward me. One got out in the bark of the log 
and a small hole affoi-ded a fine peep hole for it. I put 
three bullets in that hole, which was hardly large enough to 
let the weasel's head out, but never touched Mm. 
The same year I fired at a weasel on a rail fence, and 
when I went to pick him up he dropped from the far side of 
the rail and scurried away. The shot had gone into the 
very place where he had sat when I fired. 
The next year I was out once with rifle and box of car- 
tridges, and shot fully thirty times at a weasel in a tree top 
and never touched him. I then took the small target that 
was in the box and shot several times at it, and put every 
bullet in a space you could cover with a silver dollar — dis- 
tance, 30 ft. 
I beheve a weasel can dodge a lifle ball, and would thank 
the readers to tell of any similar experience, so that 1 won't 
hesitate about telling of the artful dodger in the future. 
I read a short time since of a man shooting several times 
at a snake lying along an old root, and how he finally 
dispatched the snake with a club and found every bullet 
under where the snake's head had been. If people can be- 
lieve that", my story is safe. Jim Pierce. 
That Confiscated Moose Head. 
I. 
From the New Bedford (Mass.) Mercury. 
It will be remembered that Harry M. Churcli, of this city, 
shot a buck moose down in New Brunswick some months 
ago. The moose was one of the finest specimens ever killed 
in that section, and Mr. Church left the head in Fredericton, 
N. B., to be dressed and mounted. 
It turned out that the head was the finest one ever mounted, 
and Mr. Church makes the claim that the man who was 
mounting the head tried to obtain it from him by improper 
methods. Considerable trouble arose over the head which 
Mr. Church owned, and the services of several lawyers were 
engaged in trying to secure it. So much stir was made that 
finally the Government at New Brunswick took hold of the 
matter, and, finding that the moose's head was the finest one 
ever seen there, inquired into the subject, and alleging that 
it was shot illegally confiscated it. 
The head was placed in one of the Government buildings 
at Fredericton, N. B., and Mr, Church has just received 
notice of the fact, 
Mr. Church will write a sketch about the moose for For- 
est AMD Stream, in which he will warn all American 
sportsmen from going down to New Brunswick, where he 
claims a sportsman is not treated squarely. 
The moose killed by Mr. Church was a bull moose and 
was the largest shot within the memory of man in New 
Brunswick. It weighed, close to l,6001bs., and its withers 
were nearly or quite 7ft.' from the ground ; and its antlers, 
lipping the scales at not far from a hundredweight, spread 
more than 5ft. and numbered twenty prongs. Mr. Church 
at the time refused an offer of $75 for the antlers. Mr. 
Church killed the animal with four shots. 
II. 
FYom the St. John {N. B.) Gazette. 
The fact that Mr. Church shot a moose in New Brunswick 
and did not get it is being telegraphed by the Associated 
Press all over the United States. It would not make so 
much difference if the statement of Mr. Church was true, 
hut it is not. The facts are that last autumm Mr. Church 
came to this Province from somewhere in the United States 
and went up to Canaan, Queens county. There he fell in 
with another person named Ryder and they went moose 
hunting together. 
Church was informed that, being a non-resident of the 
Province, he would be obliged to take out a license, and 
would have to pay the sum of $20. He told the game war- 
den who gave him this information that he did not intend to 
go hunting, therefore did not require a license. Ryder had 
a resident license, but it is generally believed that he is a 
non resident, and if that is the case the license is valueless. 
His brother, however, resides in the Province, and it was 
with this brother that both he and Church were staying. 
The statements of Ryder and Church disagree as to the kill- 
ing of the moose, both of them claiming the honor of killing 
this very fine specimen. The story ia that, as they were 
.^oing through the woods, they came upon two bulls fight- 
ing, and before the animals could get away one of them had 
been shot. 
Both Church and Ryder claim in their affidavits to have 
shot the moose. If Church shot the moose, he was 
liable to a penalty for shooting without a license and to an- 
other penality as well. The moose head, although a very 
fine specimen, is not the largest in the Province by any 
means, the one in the Crown Lands Office measuring lOiin. 
more across tlie antlers thau the new acquisitioa which was 
shot by Church or Ryder. After shooting the moose the 
head was left with Ryder's brother to be prepared and sent 
on. While it was there the game warden learned of the 
killing of the animal, but in the meantime Churcli had de- 
parted to the United States or he would have been prose- 
cuted. All that was done therefore was to seize the head, 
which has been hung in the Crown Lands Office, and forms 
part of the collection of local game in that department. 
If Mr. Churcli had obeyed the law he would not have had 
any difficulty in getting the head of the moose, if he shot 
the animal. He did not, and therefore it was seized. 
Proprietors of fltMng resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Fokest and Stream. 
ANGLING NOTES. 
Shooting Privileges and Trespass. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of April 10 Mr. Tappan Adney, commenting 
upon the growing tendency on the part of land owners to 
exercise the rights of proprietors upon their own land, says: 
"The moment they do, where will the fellow come in who 
has a gun and loves to hunt as well as the land owner?" It 
seems to me he will be in exactly the position everybody is in, 
the gratification of whose tastes requires the use of some one 
else's property. The man who enjoys theatricals pays for 
his hour or two in a theater. The book lover does not ex- 
pect to have the use of his neighbor's library unless the owner 
is good-natured enough to give his consent. Those who 
dance expect to pay the piper and to pay some one for the 
use of a floor to dance upon. 
"The fellow with a gun who has proven his right to live 
by earning his own living," as Mr. Adney puts it (though I 
fail to see what bearing that has upon the matter), belongs 
to the only class which claims a God-given right to use the 
property of others whenever one of its number wants to en- 
joy himself at his favorite amusement, or "to earn his own 
living" by killing the game on another man's land. 
The owner has paid in hard cash for the "right of ex- 
clusive control," and the State requires him to pay each year 
in the form of taxes for the continued right; but Mr. Adney 
seems to think that "the fellow with a gun" has the same 
rights as the owner to roam over the fields and kill the 
game. 
It never occurs to some people that the land owner who 
has a few coveys of quail upon his place may have a fancy 
for shooting them himself, or possibly has some friend with 
a sportsman's tastes to whom he would like to give the pleas- 
ure, rather than to some one who to him is only "a fellow 
with a gun." 
I for one rejoice to see the additional farms whiicli are 
every year being posted, for therein lies the secret of game 
protection. By all means let land owners realize they have 
absolute control over their own acres. Lexden. 
Dearth of Ducks in Long Island Waters. 
New York, April Vi.— Editor Forest and Stream: The 
decrease in the number of wildfowl frequenting the western 
end ot Long Island Sound appears to have reached a climax 
this season. For the past three years as each spring and 
autumn have come around the flocks of coots, old squaws, 
etc., have grown smaller and smaller until now, when on a 
day last week there were by actual count less than 100 birds 
on feeding grounds, which until recently supported many 
thousands. In the vicinity of Captain's Island, Matinnecock 
Point and the adjacent coves the birds oould always be 
found in enormous rafts at this season of the year; and the 
fact that there are not any this spring would seem to indi- 
cate that they do not exist in anything like the numbers 
which formerly migrated up and down our coast. 
The cause must be sought in the raids made upon the 
breeding grounds by egg hunters, as the birds are protected 
by the laws in a more effective way than ever before, and as 
they are of little value in market the number killed by gun- 
ners must be a small proportion of the whole. That the 
merry call of the "south-southerly" is now so seldom heard 
is a matter of regret to many who have watched for their 
coming to our waters each returning season as one of the 
many pleasures afforded by that placid arm of the sea. 
Long Islander. 
Spring on the Eastern Shore. 
Weatuer warm and as fine as silk, pleasant as Florida in 
winter. The gull has come to furnish her annual supply of 
rich and palatable eggs. Our coast is her breeding grounds. 
The marsh hen is dropping from the clouds each night— as 
the story goes— doing her share of cackling and will, too, do 
her share in giving fine eggs; the "marshy" is an honest 
layer, and so long as her nest is robbed she will again fill it, 
though our legislators, by recent enactments, have put a stop 
to the business of robbing nests. The bee martin has come 
to let us know that winter is gone and to drive the hawks 
from the poultry yards, while robin redbreast is busy mixing 
mortar. 
Atlantic Coast birds liave not yet reached oui- meadows, 
but a few days hence and they will be on hand no doubt'. 
Snipe axe here in limited numbers. Doctor French generally 
gets a clever bunch when out. 
Messrs. Gordon Fisher, of Pittsburg, and Brown Caldwell, 
of Chicago, members of Revels Island Club, came by to-day's 
train, and repaired at once to their club building on the 
island. T: G. E. 
Keller, Va., April 15. 
Elephant: Hello! there comes a party of hunters; we'd 
better run for our lives before they see us. 
Giraffe : Gracious goodness, you're right ! I guess I'm a 
goner. 
Elephant: Why so?. 
Giraffe: Don't you see I'm spotted?— JTew Yorh Times, 
Our readers are invited to send us for these columns 
notes of the game supply, shooting resorts, and their 
experience in the field. 
CHAINED 
to Business? ® 
Can't go Shooting? 
Do the next best thing-.* 
Read the 
Forest AAA StreafTk 
Wlnsrs of Artificial Flies. 
Some ten or fifteen years ago there was given to me a 
white miller fly, dressed to order for Dr. W. C. Prime, the 
the author of "I Go A-Flshing." The wings of this fly 
were entirely diflferent from any that I had ever seen on. a 
fly at that time, and I may add that I have never seen 
anything like that since, and I have always kept the fly as 
a curiosity, and it is on my desk as I write. 
In fact, did anyone ever see but one style of wings, as a 
rule, on a trout fly? They may stand up at right angles to 
the direction of the shank of hook, as is the case with 
"upright-winged" dry flies, or the points of the wings may 
droop a little toward the bend of the hook, which is the 
case of the orthodox artificial fly the world over. The 
wings usually stand close together, back to back, as it were, 
and to all intents and purposes the two wings are one and 
inseparable. In some of the modern eyed-hook flies and 
May flies the wings curve away from each other at an 
acute angle; but practically the wings of our trout and bass 
flies are fashioned in the same mold. Perhaps this is as 
they should be; anyway I never questioned it until I saw 
the Prime white miller, and that made me think that pos- 
sibly there was room for improvement in fashioning the 
wings of trout flies. I do not forget that a fresh fly just 
from the hands of the fly dresser is quite a different object 
from the same fly after it has been dragged a dozen 
times on the surface or beneath the surface of the 
water, and I know that there are advocates of form 
and advocates of color in trout flies w-ho believe in one 
and not in the other; but if the advocates of form 
dress flies to imitate a natural insect, why are the wings 
all alike? There is a question that I asked myself when 
the Prime fly first reminded me that all artificial flies 
were made with wings practically on the same model, 
while the insects supposed to he imitated carried their 
wings quite differently. The wings of the Prime fly are 
made of three feathers, and they are put on not so much 
to imitate the wings of a white miller as to cover the hook. 
Two of the feathers are put on alongside of the hook, the 
planes meeting at an angle above the shank as the hook 
is held point down, and the third feather simply extends 
horizontally along the top of the shank and over the other 
feather. It is not a pretty fly, although said to he a "kil- 
ler" when white millers are out. Now an English angler 
writes to the Gazette that he proposes to inaugurate a re- 
form in fly dressing, and dress flies on three models in- 
stead of one. First, he will have wings to imitate the May 
fly, March-brown, spinner, etc., the planes nearly vertical 
to the body, diverging a little upward. Second, wings on 
each side of the body, like the alder and sand fly, the 
planes meeting at their upper margins and diverging down- 
ward; and third, wings in a horizontal plane, like the 
wings of the house fly. It may be said that the wings of 
all flies when in motion are very like the wings of the 
conventional artificial fly, but a drowned fly, as in wet fly- 
fishing, is not supposed to be flying. The subject is one 
that will admit of argument from various points of view, 
but it is to be hoped that Mr. Charles Walker will give us 
the results of his experiments with flies dressed as he 
proposes, and that will he of greater benefit than pages of 
theorizing. If trout and other fish can distinguish be- 
tween shades of color, why not between changes in form? 
Mr. Rowland Ward. 
In a previous note I mentioned that Mr. Rowland Ward, 
the eminent taxidermist, of London, was on his way to 
this country from England, for the purpose of fishing for 
tarpon in Florida. Upon his arrival he remained but a 
few hours in New York city, as he writes me, but long 
enough to visit the American Natural History Museum, 
where he saw Audubon's birds. His particular interest in 
our great naturalist comes from the fact that Mr. Henry 
Ward, his father, was Audubon's companion and visited 
Florida with him sixty years ago on a collecting tour, and 
he wonders if his father saw or attempted to catch the 
tarpon in his day. Mr. Ward says that he has mounted 
many tarpon during the past few years, and that the first 
tarpon scales were sent to him sixteen years ago. Now he 
proposes to go over at least pa,rt of the ground where 
Audubon and his father tramped and journeyed together, 
and catch tarpon on his own account. Later we hope to 
give something of the results of Mr. Ward's fishing, as he 
came for that and notiiing else,^ and will return to London 
the last of May. 
Pike and Young Ducks. 
Spoons, gangs, snap-tackle, live bait (minnows), frogs, 
etc., have been lures for pike (the fish we in New York 
continue to call pickerel when we do not mean pickerel) 
since time out of mind and probably long before, but an 
English angler has departed from the regular and custom- 
ary baits, and drags an imitation of a young duck on the 
water and through the weeds where the pike hide, and as 
a result of the dragging the imitation young duck with a ■ 
stuffing of hooks brings large pike to his bag. I have seen 
pretty much everything that swims or flies, and some 
things that walk or run on land only, imitated to lure fish; 
but an imitation duckling is a notch or two above me and 
savors of an imitation baby to catch crocodiles. 
Pike have often been charged with capturing young 
water fowl, but I have always believed such instances ex- 
ceptional if they were true; but Mr. T. E. Sachs, of London, 
leaves no room for doubt on the subject, for he says the 
angler fishing with him caught larger pike with the imita- 
tion duckling of his own creation than he, Mr. Sachs, did 
with snap-tackle. He says further: "Once fishing a back 
water on the Thames, I caught a pike of 61b8. Having oc- 
casion to procure a fresh bait from the well (of the boat) 
soon after, I was surprised to see seven small moor hens 
floating in the water which had been disgorged by my 
captured pike. This fellow had evidently snapped up the 
brood one after another. At Lough Conn, in Ireland, I 
once saw a big pLke seize one of a flock, which I was told 
was not uncommon, and that the wild ducks had a bad 
time of it there." I think I understand now why I never 
