426 
FOREST 'AND STREAM. 
IMa^t 39, 1897 
lower part of MinHesota, conaprisinff the prairie country, 
has long been known and has long since been shot out. but 
the swamps and forests of the countrv lying above the head 
of the Mississippi Eiver still remain full of possibilities and 
invitation for sportsmen living outside the State. 
Spring Shooting. 
The other evening I had a friend to dinner with me down 
town and we did not go to my club, where the girl fries 
beefsteak on top of the stove, but dropped in on Bill "Werner, 
who runs the best department in one of the big restaurants 
of Chicago. In getting us up the plan of hostilities, Mr. 
Werner mentioned the fact 'that clams were more correct 
than oysters, because oysters at this season of the year are 
spawning and are not fit to eat. Mr. Werner suggested that 
it would be an unsportsman-like thing to shoot oysters in the 
spring. 
During our dinner Mr. Werner had occasion to remark 
that there were still at that time. May 15, considerable num- 
bers of jacksnipe hanging around in this country, and that 
some of these snipe were still being killed by shooters. "It 
is all wrong to shoot snipe at this time of the year," said 
he. 
A friend of mine who was up at Lake Koshkonong this 
spring, and who helped in making quite a good bag of can- 
vasbacks, said to me yesterday, in speaking of the occurrence : 
"I never felt worse over anything in my life. It was a 
shame to kill those birds at that season of the year. They 
were skinny and poor, and actually not fit to eat." 
~ The above are some facts which may have some inter- 
relation in their bearing upon the question of spring slioot- 
ing. 
Horlcon Meeting:. 
The annual meeting of the Horieon Shostinff Club, of Hori- 
con. Wis., waa held recently, and ofBcers for the ensuing 
year were elected as follows: President, Robert Rom; Vice- 
President, J. W. Burns; Manager, W. T. Kleifoth; Secretary 
and Treasurer, L. F. Mcljean. 
Changed Cars. 
Mr. C. W. Norris, long of the Bie Pour Railroad of this 
city, and well known as a successful trout fisherman, has 
switched from railroading into commerce, and is now of the 
Chicago Paint Specialty Co., making an enamel by which 
anybody can enamel his own bicycle without having it 
sequestered for a year at some shop. 
Novelists and "Forest and Stream." 
' A book reviewer in a Chicago paper calls attention to a 
curious error in natural history made in a recent novel by 
Max Pemberton. Mr. Pemberton lays the scene of his novel 
in Bosnia, but goes on to speak of a winter so severe that 
"the bears came down from the mountains, even to the gar- 
dens of the houses " The reviewer points out to Mr. Pem- 
berton that he probably meant the wolves, as in severe win- 
ters bears have a habit of holing up under the snow, and not 
prowling around the gardens. 
In his recent novel "Soldiers of Fortune," Mr. Richard 
Harding Davis describes a number of encounters with fire- 
arms, but in one passage he describes the men as sitting, 
"waiting with their thumbs on the triggers of their rifles." 
This feat, I think, is something not commonly attempted in 
actual life, though it is a common one in Mr. Davis' writings. 
All intending novelists should be careful to read Forest 
Am> Stream. E. Hotr&H. 
1S06 BoYOK Building, Cbicag-o. 
Successful Shooting' near New Tork. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
For many years I have enjoyed the stories of fishing and 
hunting in your paper, and now that I am unable to leave 
my business for more than a day or so at a time, I bave 
found that the only way to quiet that longing for a good 
bunt with gun and dog, which will come over me as the sea- 
sons approach, is to read what others have done, and which 
are told so well by your many correspondents. In past years 
I have hunted over many parts of this country for diiferent 
kinds of game, but for the last four years, up to last fall, I 
could not get away. 
Now there are, I imagine, many who have to do their 
hunting through your paper, and so I tell you of my shoot- 
ing, hoping it may give pleasure to some who, like myself, 
imagined that one had to go many miles from New York to 
find any birds at all. 
On lihe first Friday afternoon in November I left the 
Grand Central Depot and went fifty miles up the Harlem R. 
R. and was there met by my cousin, Oscar Mead, with his 
trap, and after a few minutes' ride from the station, found 
myself kindly welcomed by his family in a large, roomy 
farmhouse, and after a good supper and a look at the bird 
dog that was to be our main stay in finding the quail — for 
quail we were after — ^I retired early, to be ready for Satur- 
dav's hunt. 
The next morning my cousin and myself started, and 
after going about half a mile across some fields we came to 
a clump of woods that covered not over three acres. Our 
pointer Sport soon began to work in the open on the edge of 
the woods, and in less than a couple of minutes came to a 
steady point. We at once walked up and stepped in ahead 
of him, and as the birds rose we each gave them both barrels. 
As I had not shot a gun for four years, how delighted I was 
to see my bird fall at my first shot, though my second was a 
miss. My cousin was equally successful; and so witb two 
between us to begin with we marked the birds as well as we 
could and started after them again. There were fourteen in 
all, and they stuck to that little piece of woods all day, and 
we kept them company. What, though we did make a 
good many misses, we had that keen enjoyment that only 
those feel who love hunting for hunting's sake, and not for 
how many they have killed. 
When the sun began to go down we went home with ten 
birds in all, as satisfied as only tired hunters who have got 
their share can feel. 
I could only get away on Saturdays, but I spent every Sat- 
urday in November and two in December up there, and in 
OUT six days' hunting we got, within a range of five miles, 
fifty quail, two partridges and one woodcock, 
F. L. KlifBEIiAIirD. 
A New Resort in Texas. 
High Islastd, via Galveston, Tex. — This is a new point, 
and is the coming summer as well as winter resort of the 
South. Hunters will flock here in abundance during the 
winter season. The shooting surpasses that of Florida. All 
species of duck, snipe, brant, geese, prairie chickens and 
deer are plentiful and easily reached. 0. T. C. 
A Victory for Texas Sportsmen. 
The sportsmen of Texas working through the Game 
Protective Association have won a great victorv in the 
enactment of a new game law based upon the hill intro- 
duced and nushed on request of the Association by Repre- 
sentative Blair and Senator Lewis. 
The new law declares that all game found within the 
borders of the State is the property of Texas, "and the 
taking or killing thereof is declared to be a privilege and 
not a right." And an expr«^as stioulation is made that no 
game may be shipped out of the State at anv season. A 
special dispatch from Mr. O. C. Guessaz, of San Antonio, 
tells us: 
W. L. Moody, of Galveston, who owns and runs the can- 
vasback farm called Lake Surprise, fought the exportation 
eame clause, but is finally beaten. No county is exempt. 
It is a great victory for lis. Thanks are due Representa- 
tive Blair and Senator Lewis. The strangest part of it all is 
that we came very near prohibiting the sale of game alto- 
gether. ■ 
Snake, Babbit and Club. 
One day while I was nlowing in a cornfield I heard what 
I thought was the cry of a young rabbit. The sounds pro- 
ceeded from a brush pile, and were thn cries of an infant 
rabbit. A black snakf had swallowed one of the rabbit's 
hindlegs up to the body, and had crawled up throuffh the 
brush until the rabbit was suspended in the air about 4^ft. 
from the ground, and neither the snake nor the little rabbit 
could do any more. The parent rabbit was immpdiatelv be- 
neath the yoimg one on the ground, and was making earnept 
efforts to rescue her young. She would leap back and forth 
and then as high as she could, toward her young, but could 
not reach it. She was making a very peculiar, low, mur- 
muring sound, similar to that made bv a mother cat when in 
unusual anxiety about her young. I crept up cautiously and 
with a club delt the snakfl a blow which cauced it to release 
the youne animal, which escaped, along with its mother, 
with apparent joy and agility, as if unharmed. The snake 
also escaped. P. E. Whittemore. 
Chuckors in Illinois. 
Macomb. 111. May 14. — Editor TForest and Sirearii: I am 
pleased to inform the readers of Forest and Stream f^at 
ray chnekor partridges have been heard of, Ypsterdav a 
flock of seven (grown) were seen on a man's farm three miles 
from this city. Two men were plowing in a blueerass patch, 
when the birds became frightened and flew into the oat field 
and remained there half a dav, walking around feeding on 
the oats that failed to be covered. The question is now, do 
these birds mate off: like prairie chickens and quail, or do 
thev go in flocks like guinea chickens? 
Prairie chickens and quail have been mated for a month, 
and are laying and setting. 
This would lead me to believe that the chuckors go in 
flocks like the guinea hens, as it is getting so late in the 
spring. If they mate off, they would have done so before 
now. W. O. Blaisdell. 
Poultry Tard Wisdom Applied to Wild Ducks. 
I LrKE early fall chickens when they are ripe. Don't you? 
Now T suppose the best way to get them is to keep over the 
hens until about March, when they will be about ready to 
fill up a good nest of eggs, and then kill the hens. When 
it comes time we want a spring chicken in the fall we can 
begin to find fault and growl because there are no chickens 
for the table. 
This is the way with spring shooting. Kill all the birds 
you can before they breed, and find fault in the fall because 
there are so few birds. This is what a lot of people are 
doipg. 
We berate the market shooter; but is the member of some 
club any better when he kills 50 to 100 rlucka a day, and will 
kill the last one there is if he could? Kill the hens, and no 
chickens. Kill the birds in the spring, and no birds in the 
fall. Go on. and see where you come out. Old Man. 
Iowa Prairie Chickens. 
BEEKEliET, la. . May 15. — The outlook in this section of Iowa 
is unusually good for prairie chicken (pinnated grouse) shoot- 
ing this fall. Owine to the continued wet weather this 
soring they have not attempted to nest on the lowlands, but 
all the nests which I have observed are on high ground, and 
consequently quite a number of the young will avoid being 
drowned, as has been the case in some of the previous 
years. 
Five young wolves were discovpred in an old straw stack 
by a farmer near here recently. During the past winter sev- 
eral farmers have complained of the depredations made by 
the wolves upon their hen roosts, but have never succepded 
in killing the old ones. E. D. C. 
The Maine Caribou Season. 
As THE Forest and Stream was the first to point out. 
the Maine game law adopted at the last session omitted the 
provision of a close season for caribou. Commissioner 
Henry O. Stanley writes us under date of March 23, in this 
regard: "The Legislature two years ago gave us the power 
to grant (or rather make') special laws, and to add to close 
time on fish and game, but not to take olf. We have the 
power to make the close time on caiibou. and have done so, 
making the open time the same as on deer, viz., Oct. 1 to 
Jan. 1. It seems very queer that none of us noticed the 
omission of the close time on caribou." 
A Stray Shinplaster 
Cotnes to us once In a while for a copy 
of "Game I..aws Sia^ Brief;" but shin- 
plasters nowadays are scarcer than Moose 
in New York; and 35 cents in postage 
stamps will! do just as well. 
BLACK BASS OF THE TRENT. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Having spent many happy hours reading the experiences 
of some of your correspondents, T thought I would give you 
the contents of our camp log bnok. 
Long before the season opened for black bass fishing we 
had our plans all arranged, and many pleasant evenines we 
spent together discussing the contemplated trip. As I look 
back to it now. I am convinced that half of the pujoyment 
of camping is the anticipation. We had spent a few weeks 
once before on the Trent, but this was our first experience 
there under canvas, but wp had no trouble in perfecting the 
necessary arranepments. We scoured from our gpnial wood 
and water boy bis 13x24 tent with 6ft. walls. Four of us 
left Rochester Friday morning for the lake, thence bv steamer 
North King for Coburar, Ontario. A wait of three hours for 
a train and then to Brighton, where we found team waiting 
us for a twenty-two-mile ride to Campellford. The drive 
was a longone, but the thouffht of the good times coming, 
combined with the natural wit of our fripnd Foster, lessened 
thp distance wonderfully. An-iving jil Oamppllforr' at 
8 P. M . we were met by the genial host of the Hotel Win- 
sor, T. BlutP, and Foon after supper retired for the nieht, a 
tired lot. Next morning'we purchased what few remaining 
provisions we needed and started for the final pull to camp. 
The trip was n, short and pleasant one of about pix miles 
along the bluff banks of one of the finest rivers it has been 
my lot to see. 
Healy Falls, where we pitched our tent, is simply the ideal 
spot for the man who loves a pplit-bamboo. a silk line and a 
small-mouth bass of from 1 to Slbs. weight with which to 
toy in a rapid current. My word for it. his business cares at 
home will not occupy his attention while so doing. By 12 
o'clock our tent was erected, the camp stove was in place, 
and dinner was being prepared. 
A few words about our stove : It consisted of the top of an 
old stove which we secured in Campellford, and two lenetbs 
of stovepipe for a draft. Having built two walls 14in. high 
and 3ft. long, and 18in. apart, we placed the top on, con- 
nected the pipes, and filled the holes in the wall with mud to 
make the draft perfect. Such cooking as came off that 
stove! It makes my mouth water to think of it, but all the 
glory should not go to the stove. Our first cook was as good 
as a French chef. "I'll marrv the cook myself" got to be a 
camp word from the excellence of bis service. Having 
dined on such food as our larder contained, we proceeded to 
fish for black bass for supper, and in less than twenty min- 
utes bad more than we could use. 
It was then that the idea was put in practice of returning 
the fish to the water in as good a condition as possible, 
when they were landed. I remember on one occasion four 
farmer boys came down to fish with rods that would make 
pood tent poles; luck was against them, so we seized the op- 
portunity of loading the boys up with fish. After drawing 
a net that we had made out of mosquito clo'h through one 
of the small eddies, we had minnows enough fnr a couple of 
hours good fishing ; and what sport it was. You put on a 
minnow, throw your line up in the rapids for the current to 
carry it behind some boulder, thpu you commence to wonder 
if that one weighs 2^ or 31 bs. The sport continued until we 
were out of minnows, and the boys started home with their 
burden, all they could carry, and with plenty left for camp 
use. 
By Monday the remaining three of our party found us, 
and we settled into camp life with as much ease as the log- 
gers on the river. We early four had arranged to put up a 
job on the later arrivals, but through some error it fell 
throueh; still we had our minds at work for something new, 
and the opportunity arrived after we had been in camp about 
a week. Foster proposed that he should shave the first dish- 
washer, who agreed. The victim was lathered in true ton- 
serial style and shaved on one side of his face. Foster then 
stepped back as if to strop the razor, laid it down, and 
sneaked out the back of the tent. Some one then purloined 
the razor and started after him. Our friend Miller, not 
knowing what had happened, waited and waited. Finally it 
dawned on him that it was a put-up job, and for a few min- 
utes his anger got the best of his feelings, and he went on a 
hunt for that barber; but as it did not hasten his return, he 
looked on the affair as a joke on him and proceeded to square 
things. 
One day an acquaintance from C. arrived. Here was an- 
other opportunity for the disposing of fish, so the tackle was 
produced and fishing commenced I can almost feel that 
jerking sensation in my wrist now as I did then as I landed 
fish after fish, and it was a clear case of exhaustion on my 
part when I returned to camp. All had been as successful 
as myself in the catch. Such a string of bass! I doubt if I 
ever will see the like of it again. There were fully seventy- 
five of them, and two maScalonge. As a matter of fact bass 
were so plenty that Shepard came in camp and actually 
found fault that they got in his way; said he was trying to 
get a mess of bullheads for supper, and the bass grabbed his 
bait every time he made a cast, and before the line could get 
into the hole where the bullheads lay; however, he got 
twenty-two of them, and they were excellent, done nice and 
brown just to a turn, and out of that pure running water. 
A bullhead under those conditions ia not to be slighted, how- 
ever much we may despise him when taken from sluggish 
water. 
Upon our retxirn from the liver one morning we were met 
by the boss of the loggers, whose camps were situated about 
a mile above us, and he insisted on our joining him at din- 
ner. Not knowing what to expect, we hesitated for a few 
moments, but finally accepted. We were treated in royal 
style — that is, our appetites were. Each man had placed in 
front of him enough for six to eat. If I remember rightly, 
■Rowarth wanted to fiU his pockets with the good things to 
carry back to Rochester for the high-priced cTiefs to pattern 
after. I had always considered the loggers' lot a hard one, 
but from that time On I began to envy their fortune. 
Our two weeks was drawing to a close, and how short the 
time seemed ! All felt like staying a month longer, but busi- 
ness would not permit. As we packed our camp kit a little 
stanza of some old angler came in my mind, and I thought 
fi'om the sweetness of the taste of our bass that they had 
dined likewise: 
"These little trout have dined on naught 
The past six months but what they ought— 
That is to say, the Uttle sinners 
Have swallowed soft-shell crabs for dinners." 
Our return trip was pleasant. How the ripples seemed to 
