MatI, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
349 
Maine License and Moose TiOwM, 
Gkeentille, Me , April 25— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Moosehead Lake Protective Association, representing 
the guides of northern Maine, at their recent meeting here, 
Toted unanimously to respect and uphold the Guides "Regis- 
tration Law passed by the last Legislature, Commissioner 
Oak, of the State Fish and Game Commission, was present 
at the meeting, and explained the provisions and intent of 
the law to the satisfaction and approval of the ninety guides 
who are enrolled as members of the organization. 
There was much feeling expressed by the guides, however, 
over the alleged blunder iu the moose law, whereby the open 
spa&on is made from Oct. 15 to Dec. 1 instead of from Oct. 1, 
as the Game Commissionf rs claim the open season was to have 
been, according to the orig'nal bill prepared with their sanc- 
tion. The guides say if the law as it row stands is an error, 
and was not intended by those having the matter in charge, 
it shows a loose way of making the laws they are required 
to respect, and they allege carelessness, if not something 
worse, in the manipulation of this particular law. Indeed, 
there is a strong disposition to test the validity of this moose 
law, and it may yet be taken to the full bench of the State. 
The guides have behind them influential and interested 
parties, who are willing to make a fight on the question and 
who will furnish the sinews of war. 
At present we are lying low, wailing for the Commission- 
ers to make some move in finding a remedy for the harm 
they unintentionally have done our interests by the enact- 
ment of this most unnecessary short open season for moose 
hunting. They profess to be so sorry for us, and so sorry that 
their law providing for an open season of two months mis- 
carried, that we guides begin to feel sorry in our turn for 
Ihem, and so will give them a chance to do the square thing 
by making an effort to get the law to conform to their in- 
tentions, and thus get themselves out of their unpleasant 
dilemma. 
The outlook for a good season at Moosehead Lake is very 
promising. We have had no freshets to roil the water and 
raise the lake too high for good trout fishing, so that "when 
the ice goes out" the conditions for sport Vill be all that 
could be desired. 
Tote teams with big loads are still crossing Moosehead, the 
ice being 16in. thick. However, we are looking for open 
water by May 12, and good fly-fishing by June 1. 
Guide. 
Ontario Game. 
EELijEViLiiE, Ont., k\m\2Q.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Our Legislature has adjourned without tinkering the game 
law. Sentiment has prevailed against common sense, and 
the city "tenderfoot," instead of being allowed to kill bis 
one deer in the water, will continue to blaze away and 
ivound three or four of the "antlered monarchs" and may- 
tap "pot" a companion, while the cunning law breakers, 
)y invoking sentiment to their own purpose, as his Satanic 
majesty quotes Scripture, will go on slaughtering their 
mndreds of deer, instead of flndicg their occupation gone 
i)y an enactment stopping the sale of venison, as was pro- 
fDOsed by the Forest and Stream Club, of thi« city. The 
ale of partridges, etc., has been prohibited ia order to pre- 
vent their esterminaJ;ion Why not that of venison also, ' 
Messrs. Commissioners of unstable purpose? 
Game Warden Smith has secured convictions ag;ainst ten 
residents of Lanark county, whose fines aggregate |170. He 
;xpects to secure many more convictions in the same local- 
ty. Most of the penalties imposed were for shoptlDg deer 
in the water. 
With reference to catching bass through the ice, as re- 
'erred to in a recent issue of Fokest and Steeam, I may 
jtate that during the past winter a large-mouth bass was 
jaught through the ice at Bradley Bay, on. the Trent River, 
some twenty-five miles distant. A maskinouge, which 
weighed 401bs., was caught at the same place and about the 
ame date with book and line. 
In one of the early papers iu his charming series on "Men 
have Fished With," Mr. Mather tells his readers to pro- 
louuce it Man i-to-5a/i, with the accent on the last syllable. 
i.n Indian missionary tells me that his people place the ac- 
;ent on the penultimate syllable— hence, Mani^£?ha, Oaughca- 
o«ga, xS'ia^'ffra, and so on ad infinitum. R. B. Bell. 
An Arkansas Game Preserve Opportunity. 
EoREKA Springs, Kxk — Editor Forest and Stream: Hav- 
ng been a reader of Forest and Stbeam for some time, I 
lave noticed a number of articles about game preserves, and 
iGW in late years their number and extent have been increas- 
ag in this country. 
All sportsmen and lovers of nature should take an interest 
n these preserves, and do all in their power to increase their 
lumber and area; for with the wanton destruction of the 
;ame and fish, judging from the past, it is only a question of 
■, few years when comparatively no game will be found ex- 
lept on such preserves. Proper laws for game and fish pro- 
ection are hard to obtain, and harder to enforce. 
I know of a body of land only about twenty miles from 
his city, in which 10,000 to 20,000 acres could be obtained 
n one bunch, cheap. It has fine bass streams, with clear 
prings and good timber, and there are deer stiU on it; I have 
men hunting there several times, and our party never failed 
0 get deer. 
I have no interest in this land whatever, and simply write 
^ou in the hope that you might know of some sportsmen 
vho would like such a tract of land for game preserve, as 
>ur country is fast filling up with home seekers, and I dis- 
ike to see this fine game country broken up. Our people 
lere are all. in very moderate circumstances, and none of our 
portsmen are financially able to carry out such an under- 
aking. Such bodies of land are now hard to find within any 
easonable distance of railway and civilization, and I know 
no other anywhere in this part of the country. 
F. Clapltn. 
The Ooglywoo. 
The London Mail says that a number of wealthy English- 
ncn have organized an expedition to come to the United 
Stales to shoot wild horses in the Rocky Mountains. 
The gentlemen can, after they get through shooting "wild' 
lorses m the Rocky Mountains," come down onto the plains 
nd shoot the Ooglywoo, which Is found in great numbers 
n that locality. It has six legs and a very strong, shcrt 
ail. 
When danger appears, it at once stands on its tail and 
pins rapidly around. Of course this makes a hole, into 
yhich the Ooglywoo sinks rapidly out of sight. The' hole 
lien disappears also. 
The point of the whole matter ia to shoot the animal when 
it first raises up on its tail, and before it has time to make 
the hole, disappear and then pull the hole in after it, and our 
English friends will find rare sport in shooting them, much 
more so in fact than in "shooting wild horses in the Rocky 
Mountains." 
Again there is a spice of danger which will be appreciated 
by our sporting friends, for the Ooglywoo, when in a close 
place, invariably stands on its two front legs, elevates its 
rear end into the air and clubs the hunter over the head with 
its tail, which is worse than any policeman's club. 
The tail is used so rapidly that it makes a buzzing sound 
in the air, and it is impossible to dodge it. We shall send a 
CQvj of this issue to the London Mail, in order that it may 
post up our sporting friends —F. M. Gili'ert in Evansville 
Tribune. 
New York Legislature. 
The several bills introduced into the New York Legisla- 
ture to repeal Sec. 249, which permits the sale of game at all 
seasons, failed of enactment, The New York markets re- 
main open the year round. To them will continue to be 
brought game from other States— exported unlawfully from 
those States — and game killed out of season, and game un- 
lawfully shipped from the various counties of New York. 
Under such a system the game code is in a large measure a 
farce. It restrains and restricts the sportsman, and tempts 
and encourages the man who makes a business of game killing. 
We may not look for any improvement in the ^ame supply 
situation so long as this inicjuitous system prevails. 
In our next issue will be given a summary of the work of 
the fession with respect to game and fish. 
Pennsylvania Game Law. 
Stevexsville, Pa , April IS.— Editor Forest and Stream.- I had 
thought to be done with the PeDnsylvania Gatne Law question, but 
since some of its defenders have debas*'d the question into a personal 
attack instead of keeping- It in the sphere of reasonable argument, I 
feel called upon in justice to myself and readers of Forest and 
Stream to define my posiiion, and most earnestly protest agamst the 
false Inferences purposely drawn from my opposi ion. 
Mr. Atherton's paper is tooToluminous to be answered in detail. In 
discussing the meriis and demerits of ihe proposed law, I criticised 
it as applied to our ownpropleand conditions, and not as to real orim- 
aginary evils that may or may not exist in remote reeions, under vary- 
inginfluences of climate, varieties of game, citizensbip, etc. Louisiana 
■ nd Mexico are a lit tie remote for the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and 
I am totally ignorant of an attempt at any time in any article to "stir 
up antagODism between the rich and the poor": but' simply ask for 
the same con.sideration for high and low. rich and poor, wise and 
foolish, with justice for all, and discrimination for none. I do not 
champion mbrket-hunting, neither do I champion the club man, nor 
the yacht owner, who kill by "the hunared in a morning's shoot" 
(Mr. Alherton to the contrary notwithstanding); but as between the 
two butchers, the needy market-hunter is the' least to be despised. 
Tne English gentry, who lease shooting privileges in Scotland, 
annually sell large quantities of game, thus bringing it within the 
reach of the poor and less fortunate, and at the same time adding 
materially to the sums required to keep up their preserves, salaries 
of gamekeepers, etc., etc. Are the poor of America to be deprived 
of like privileges because a bigoted few pretend to believe that the 
game was made for a "gentleman's c?) pastime" and not for the 
masses. Will Mr. Atherion, in his broad charity and philanthropy, 
seek out the sick, the poor and the unfortunate; the constant toilers 
and the unskillful, and from his bag of plenty equalize the gifts of 
nature? If not, then by what legal means under the proposed law 
can the less fortunate taste of Q"d's bounties? 
When Mr. Atherton writes that "out of the army of contributors to 
Forest and Strcam, I am pleased to note that such opinions do not 
come from the best writers and thinkers, he they rich or poor," I 
take issue, and would ask, who, in the readers' minds, are the best 
writers and thinkers." Those who think and write for a class, and 
who wish to relegate to themselves "special rights and privileges," 
to the exclusion of the masses, or those who think and write for the 
great majiriiy and seek to obtain equal rights and privileges for all? 
Mr. Atherton's deductions as to the cause that prompts my defense 
of a much and long-abused class (the.so- called pot hunters), as against 
the self constituted "gentleman sportsman," are as rarrow in scope 
as unfair and ungenerous in application as the spirit that 
prompts him to say that "the club owner and yacht owner are the 
better sportsmen," even though the spirit of gentle woodcraft or of 
knight errantry alone beats under the tattered vest of homespun. Is 
Mr. Ather on a better sportsman, in the broad sense that the term 
should imply, because he eats his game, than his needy neighbor, 
who from adverse conditions is forced to convert his into the neces- 
saries of life? Miisr a shooter eat or give away to ungratifled friends 
or thankless companions the fruits of his labor and his skill that he 
may become possessed of the spirit of true sportsmanship? Out upon 
such theories I 
And now that 1 may not be mistaken, but may stand in ray true 
light in print, as I do in forest and field. I will again say that I have 
no interest in "pot-hunters" or "true sportsmen," but am heart and 
soul in favor of honest, consistent game protection, but unalterably 
opposed to protection that protects for tne few to the exclusion of 
the many. w. W. McCain. 
mid 
Proprietors of fishing resorts vdll find it profitable to advertise 
tliem in Forest and Streau. 
FISHING ON THE GUNPOWDER. 
Baltimore, Md,— Learning that a friend of mine who 
was very fond of fishing, but seldom had an opportunity to 
indulge iu the sport, could spare a day off, I told him if he 
would go down to the Gunpowder River with me I would 
endeavor to give him a real good day's sport. He accepted 
my invitation with alacrity, and wishing to make our day 
on the river as long as possible, we went down the night 
before and made arrangements to stop over night at the 
bridge-tender's house. On our arrival, having about an 
hour of daylight left, we went over to the boat house and 
arranged my boat for the next day's work, putting on board 
sails, oars, anchor and fishing tackle. A severe storm had 
carried away our wharf, which made it rather difficult to 
get the things on board, and as soon as we finished we 
rowed to another wharf that had withstood the storm, and 
moored the boat off the end of it. 
At a o'clock the next morning (which is my usual hour 
for rising when on my fi,shing trips) I got up and started the 
alcohol to burning under my Vienna coffee pot, and by the 
lime the collee was ready had some water boiling on the oil 
stove, into which I put eight eggs, boiling them just four 
minutes by the watch. The people we stayed with had left 
bread, butter and preserves on tlie table for us, and we sat 
down and ate a hearty breakfast, with delicious coffee. 
At half past 3 we left the wharf, it being a glorious 
morning, the atmosphere clear and cold, with a good 
breeze from the north. The stars shone with unusual bril- 
liancy, the beautiful belt and the sword of Orion being 
directly in the zenith, while a magnificent planet in the 
south served me as a beacon to steer by. The breeze fresh- 
ened as we went down the river, and the little boat bowled 
along finely. In less than an hour we reached our first stop- 
ping place, and taking in sails anchored and fixed up our 
rods and lines, which was a difficult job in the uncertaia 
light of approaching day. After we were ready for fishing, 
and had a good supply of bait cut up (we were using shedder 
crab), we pulled up the anchor and I put the boat exactly on 
• the right spot for fishing, which was at the end of a bar 
where the depth of water increased suddenly from 3 to 7ft. 
By this time the river had become quite rough, owing to the 
tide cutting across the wind, and the boat wallowed and 
pitched a good deal. After fishing for quite a while I 
hooked a good-sized fish, which proved to be a white catfish 
of about 31bs. My friend in a minute after caught a large 
white perch much to his delight. Then I hooked a rock 
fish about 20in. long which gave me splendid play, bending 
my split-bamboo rod nearly double in his efforts to get under 
the boat. My friend became very much excited and thought 
I would surely lose the fish, but in a few minutes I had hira 
safely in the landing net. So it went on for about an hour, 
first one, then the other of us catching either a perch, rock, 
or catfish. 
A.S the tide by this time had run down considerably and 
the fish had stopped biting, I decided to move to another 
point, a mile further down the river. As we rounded the 
point off which we had been fishing, we disturbed two 
large blue herons, seeking their breakfast, which rose, and 
lazily flapping their great wings souaht more secluded 
quarters. Off to the east was a large seine boat containing 
eight or ten men, who were laying out their seine, they and 
their boat looming up in the early morning lioht and ap- 
pearing very much larger than they really were. By this 
time the sun was beginning to show himself throuoh the 
openings in the woods on the-bluff, suffusing water and land 
with a beautiful rosy flush, bringing out the brilliant colors 
of the variegated clays in the banks on the west shore and 
dissipating the little fog banks that slowly floated in the 
rnouths of the creeks. The wind was dying out, and by the 
time we reached our objective point it was so nearly a 'dead 
calm tha:t we had to resort to an ash breeze to place the boat 
just right. 
We had no sooner gotten our lines over than the fun be- 
gan again, and there was hardly a time for the nest two 
hours that there was not a fish of some kind being lauded. 
Such fishing is no novelty to me, as I indulge in the sport 
quite frequently during the season, but it did me good to see 
the way my friend enjoyed himself. He was supremely 
happy, and many times durmg the day would break out 
with such exclamations as "Isn't this splendid." "The 
finest day I ever had." "By jingo, this is grand," and kin- 
dred expressions. When he would hook an eel his lamenta- 
tions were long and loud, but as 1 always went to his rescue 
on such occasions we soon had the slimv squirmer in a qui- 
escent state, and the hook extracted. I manage eels without 
any trouble in this way, my boat has lateral strips running 
fore and aft, nailed to the ribs about three inches apart, 
when I hook an eel I lift it clear of everything by the line 
and let it run its tail between two of these strips. When it 
finds its tail between them it will twist round them and pull 
hard on the line. I watch for a favorable moment and stick 
it through the spine near the head. This paralyzes the eel 
instantly, and it is an easy job to get the hook out of its 
mouth. 
By this time the tide had almost ceased to ebb, and I could 
see that vessels out on the Chesapeake Bay bad the wind 
from the south, which was a sure indication that the fljod 
tide had commenced. It was not long before we had a 
gentle puff from the south, which was followed by another 
much stronger, and out toward the bay could be seen the 
dark-blue line of the breeze, which was coming in with the 
tide. The fish ceased biting all at once, and I told my friend 
that our day's sport was over, and that we might just as well 
quit, which we did, having a strong and fair breeze that sent 
us flying toward our boat house". On arriving there we 
counted our fish and found we had seven rock, seventy-two 
perch and twenty white cattish. After putting everything 
out of the boat we moored her to her buoy, and went over 
to the house to rest until train time, and to watch the varied 
changes of a most remarkable sunset. 
The sun went down in a blaze of glory behind a bank of 
heavy cloijds, and after he had disappeared the whole river 
and sky toward the west was bathed in a beautiful rose- 
colored haze, which turned to a delicate purple in the dis- 
tance; toward the north the water took on a warm, steel- 
gray tint, caused by the reflection of the clouds in that 
direction. There was not a ripple in the beautifully tinted 
water, and the reflection of all objects on its surface was per- 
fect. To crown all, Venus, in all' her glory, shone with tran- 
scendent brilliancy just above the edge of the dark clouds, 
adding her magnificent beauty to the lovely and peaceful 
scene, which will long have a dwelling-place in our memor- 
ies. This beautiful simset was a fitting ending of a happy 
day, thrice happy to me, on account of the pleasure I had 
been enabled to give my friend, whose delight at all that 
transpired, and whose genuineappreciationof evtry moment 
showed how fully he had enjoyed the outing. 
Edwakd a. Robenson, 
Catching a Ghost. 
Over on Cheesewesick's Creek, on the eastern shore of 
Virginia, lived a man who had a habit of going fi-^hing by 
niaht, after this fashion: He would run the bow of hisskiff 
on shore, bait his hooks, cast them seaward as far as the 
p wer of his arm would allow, then with lines made fast to 
his wrist, fall asleep, waiting a bite from the striped bass, or 
rock, which frequented the shallow water, 
A practical joker found him thus, and casting off his 
clothing slipped gently into the water, detached the hooks 
and fastened the line to his waist. 
Now came the circus. A solid pulibrought the somnolent 
fisherman up standing. Down went the man fish swimming 
low while the man at the other end put in his fine work. 
At last he drew his prize gently toward the boat, when 
his blood froze at the sight of a naked human form rising 
from the deep with extended arms which seemed about to 
clasp him. with a yell that would shame a Comanche the 
fisherman broke for home, his flying feet beating a rataplan 
like the long roll of a snare druin, while a little later he told 
the story of the ghost, his teeth chattering with his fear. 
Just imagine the situation. True, every word. 
PxsTK Edge. 
Florida Tarpon. 
At Port Myers, Fla., the tarpon record up to April 14 
shows seventy-three fish taken. The record tarpon fell to 
the lot of Mr. R. T. Holloway, of Kentucky; it measured 
6ft. lOin. and weighed 163ib3. Up to the same date fourteen 
tarpon had been taken at 31arco, and thirty-two at James 
City, the largest weighing 1.581bs. 
