26 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JtJLT 10, 1897 
ADIRONDACK JUNE DEER SLAUGHTER. 
ISTuw York, June 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: In a 
letter just received by me from the president of a Western 
railroad— an excellent sportsman — occur tbe two following 
paragraphs, wliicbiwiU, 1 think, interest the readers of Forest 
AND Sii!Ea:m:. 
"I spent three weeks oa Saranac Lake, St. Regis (Paul 
Smiths), Big and Little Tapper Lake, etc., and caught less 
fish all told than I can catch in Michigan in a day. One and 
one- fourth pounds was the largest trout, and that on a trolling 
line with a gob of worms." 
"I was surprised at the little attention paid the game law. 
Deer were being killed right and left and no signs of any 
game warden. "People were surprised that I did not have 
a gun and wondered I took no interest in shooting deer in 
June. It is a shame ! Guides and hotel men are all at'it, 
night and day. How any one can kill does in June ia a 
mystery to me." 
It is tolerably well known that the administration of the 
law in Franklin and Hamilton counties is weak and uncertain. 
On two different trips in July through Hamilton county, I 
have had ocular evidence of deer killing. It is stated to be 
a fact that there is not a single lawyer in Hamilton county. 
It is an illustrative fact that within a few years a school dis- 
trict in this county issued bonds for building a new school- 
house and sold them in New York. The interest was not 
paid, and it was discovered that no school-house was ever 
built but that the money was used for building a summer 
hotel. Nevertheless, although it is plain that civilization is 
backward in Franklin and Hamilton counties, it would not 
?eem to an ordinary sportsman any excuse whatever for a 
failure by the game protectors appointed and paid by the 
Fish, Game and Forestry Commission, to enforce the game 
code, even in such a community. It is well known that 
Justices of the Peace will not, in those counties, ordinarily 
convict, and that a jury cannot be found to convict. Never- 
theless, the code provides for a Supreme Court trial of these 
violations of the game laws, and these violations are and 
long have been notorious. 
My object in writing this note to you is to say that it 
seems to me to be the duty of every good sportsman who 
visits that or similar regions, to report directly to the Fish 
and Game Commission such violations as he knows of, or 
such information as might lead to a conviction, and to 
follow up his report by letters of inquiry. The game protect- 
ors can be forced to do their duity if just complaints are 
made frequently and repeatedly. W. H. B, 
Detroit, Mich., .June 28. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
have just returned from a three weeks' fishing trip in the 
Adirondacks. I did not ge much fishing, and black flies 
were very plentiful, I did not expect a great deal in the 
way of fly-fishing, and so was not disappointed. 
I did expect, however, to see some attention paid to the 
game law, but so far as I could judge by results, you have 
no close season for deer. I heard of assistant game wardens., 
but saw none. I was told there were ten of these gentlemen 
in Saranac Lake village, but not one of them seemed to take 
interest enough in saving deer to get out of the village. I 
presume there were more deer killed in the dark of the moon 
in June by jacking than will be killed in an equal number 
of days in the open season. Fontinaus. 
AN ARKANSAS GAME COUNTRY. 
Five miles south of Mena, Polk county, Ark., the mid- 
way division town of the K. C. P. & G. R. R, , and sixty 
miles south of Fort Smith, bounding the Dallas basin, on 
the south, rise the Potter Mountains, 800ft. above the level 
of the basin, thence, to the south, rise in succession moun- 
tains by the name of Blowed Out, Church, Mill Creek, Bee, 
Dalton and Boar's Tusk, which are not located on any 
of the maps of the State, except that of the Government 
Survey, where they are all included under the general term 
of the Ouachita Mountains, 
Except for a few homesteaders' openings along the valley 
of the Two-Mile Creek, one mile south of the Potter Moun- 
tains, there is an unbroken wilderness of virgin forest, cov- 
ering a tract thirty-five miles in length south of Potter 
Mountains, by eight miles in width. The surface of this is 
broken by mountain, ridge and valleys, and it is all a home 
for bear, deer, wolves, quaU, bob-cats, wild turkeys and 
such small deer as cotton-tail rabbits, gray and fox squirrels. 
Owing to a drouth, from May to November of 1896, there 
was no mast in the forest, and reports were given out that 
the game had all left that region, hence all the hunting 
parties were directed to the lands of the Choctaw Nation, 
fifteen miles west of Mena, and the native hunters alone 
hunted over this territorj^. During the open season game 
was so abundant in the Mena market that the choice venison 
cuts were retailed from butcher shops at 31bs. for a quarter, 
quail at 75 cents per dozen and large wild turkeys at 50 cents 
each. 
Our miuin? camp was located early in January, and 
thence for two weeks our party was busy locating and sur- 
veying mining claims, and not a day passed but we would 
meet one or more deer and one or two flocks of wild turkeys, 
and several times on our way to work we met deer on the 
trail, one day three, and on three other days four, and seven 
ne day. 
1 Having plenty of rainfall this year, there has been an 
enormous crop of blackberries and blue or whortleberries, 
and from some place deer, bear and wild turkeys have come 
to this region, until it is now fairly alive with them, and as 
the trees are loaded with mast, tJie coming winter promises 
to be one of the best for game that Polk county has ever \ 
known, 
I inclose you the beard of a wild, bronze gobbler, the 
largest turkey I ever saw, which was estimated (having no 
scales) to weigh from 35 to 401bs., and we saw several close 
mates for him, what are still gobbling on the mountains in 
the region above described. WracHESTEK. 
Tlie Ohio Pheasantry. 
A State hatchery for Mongolian pheasants has been estab- 
lished at Van Wert, under the charge of E. H. Shorb, one 
of the State Fish and Game Commissioners. This farm 
consists of seventeen acres and has been very carefully 
managed by Mr. Shorb. About 3,000 young chicks have 
been hatched there this year, and there are also about 600 
old birds on hand at the present time. A number were sent 
to different parts of the State last year, and all reports 
indicate that they are doing weU. Some were liberated in 
the vicinity of Van Wert, and there are now a number of 
coveys there, numbering from twelve to fourteen each. 
The law protects the§e birds till Ifovember, 1900, and it is 
honed that by that time they will become well established. 
J. H. Sturgeon was at Van "Wert this week, and brought 
home to Bucyrus some of the eggs, which were given to 
some of our bird fanciers, who will endeavor to hatch them 
and raise the young birds. In the event of making a success 
of this, the birds will be liberated at some favorable locali- 
ties in the fall, and given a chance for themselves. An 
earnest effort will also be made to secure for them the pro- 
tection which the law affords, and anyone found molesting 
them wiU be severely dealt with. — Grawford Gounty Neios. 
Henry Braithwaite. 
I HAD the pleasure, the other day, of meeting at Stanley, 
the famous guide and trapper, Henry Braithwaite, who had 
just emerged from his trapping grounds after an absence of 
five months from civilization. He had about $500 worth of 
furs, including seven bearskins. He built a bark canoe in 
order to bring out his fur, and had a thrilling experience 
coming down the north branch of the Clearwater, As there 
was not sufiicient water to float the canoe in the rapids, he 
closed the dam for a day and a half and then pulled out all 
the stops and "let her go" full diapason, with the result that 
the canoe was whirled along with lightning speed for several 
miles, and he came within an ace of being carried over a 
roller dam 12ft, ia height. Henry was in the best of health 
and spiilts, and exhibited over seventy-five applications 
which he had received to go moose-hunting next fall. Of 
course only a few of the many could be accommodated. 
Henry stated that he had discovered a fact which he had 
never heard of before, namely, that some moose will respond 
to the "call" at any season of the year. We had a good 
many things to talk about, and I forgot to ask him for par- 
ticulars, but will take an early opportunity of submitting 
the evidence to Forest and Stream, 
On July 7, Henry is to take charge of a fishing expedition 
down the sou'west Miramichi, the party consisting of Dr. 
Heber Bishop, Mr. and Mrs, B. D, Wiggen and Charles 
Williams, of Boston, together with the undersigned and his 
much better-half. Frank H. Risteen, 
Fredbricton, June 28, 1897. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts vnll find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest anb Stream. 
WHERE TO GO. 
One important, useful and considerable part of the Forest and 
Stream's service to the sportsmen's community is the information 
eiiven inquirers for shooting and fishing resorts. We make it our 
business to know where to send the sportsmen for large or small 
game, or in quest of his favorite flsh, and this knowledge is freely im- 
parted on request. 
On the other hand, we are constantly seeking Information of this 
character for the benefit of our patrons, and we invite sportsmen, 
hotel proprietors and others to communicate to us whatever may be 
of advantage to the sportsman tourist. 
MEN 1 HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XLVIIl.-Charles F. Murphy. 
Me. Mubphy was slightly referred to in the last article as 
the maker of the first split-bamboo rod. Like the late 
William Mitchell he was one of the old-time rod makers who 
did all the work by hand. They sawed the ash, hickory or 
lancewood into strips, hung it by one end to prevent warp- 
ing while seasoning, and ttien with plane, rasp and sand- 
paper would turn out the best rods that could be had in those 
years, which lie almost half a century behind us. These 
men had great reputations for excellent rods and their cus- 
tomers extolled them as masters of cunning work. These 
were the days when a split-bamboo rod could not be bought 
for a dollar and then prove to be far inferior to an alder pole 
cut on the bank. 
I remember first meeting Murphy in 1865, in Conroy's on 
Fulton street, then a place where anglers most did congre- 
gate, and- then for the first time hearing that there was a bet- 
ter material for rods than ash and lancewood. I listened 
with wonder to the talk of angles, tapers, glueing and other 
details, until I thought that the building up of a split-bamboo 
rod required more careful attention than the grinding of a 
lens for a great telescope, and 1 looked with admiration on 
a man who could make one with a good, even action, A 
wooden rod is worked down from the outside, tested, 
sandpapered here and there to get the proper curve under a 
strain, and that ends it. But the split-bamboo, which our 
trans- Atlantic friends call a "built cane rod," must be so 
worked from the inside of each of its strips that it will be 
perfect after they are joined, for there can be no taking down 
of the outside enamel, where the strength and resiliency lie. 
In factories the tips and second joints can be culled over 
until a perfect rod is found, but as to a single hand-made rod 
I can't understand how one can be made perfect unless with 
elaborate tests of each strip in each joint, which seems nearly 
impossible. 
One September day, while I was snipe-shooting on the 
Hackensack meadows with George Gelson, who was an old 
man then, we came across Murphy with a good bag, for 
birds were plenty in those days, but he was in distress, hav- 
ing stepped into a hole, and in falling he cauglit the spring 
of his shot pouch and lost all his shot. From my knowledge 
of him afterward he seemed to be unfortunate in usually 
meeting with an accident of some kind, but we helped him 
a little from our pouches and he turned toward home, getting 
an occasional shot as long as we could see him. Before he 
left us he asked me to fish for striped bass with him next day 
at Bergen Point, above Staten Island — a thing I had long 
wanted to do. "Never mind bringing bait or tackle, I'U 
have plenty." 
"You'll have a good time with Murphy," said Gelson, "he 
is one of the few men that I would divide shot with when 
out for a day, but Murphy would do the same for a friend. 
You'll find him good company and weU informed not only 
about field sports, but other sports. He knows all the prom- 
inent volunteer firemen in New Y''ork, and used to run with the 
machine himself until the new system came in. He's a good 
fisherman and a fair shot, a little given to brag of his ex- 
ploits and to think that no man can equal them. If this 
kind of talk does not weary you, a day with him will be 
well spent." 
This was a fair sketch of Murphy, as I afterward learned. 
and one always likes to know something of the man who is 
going to be his companion for a day or more. This talk was 
held at our nooning, which was a long one, for our dogs 
were very tired from working in the long, coarse grass, and 
we were in the same condition; but shooting later in the day 
was not as good as in the morning, and we had a little shot 
left when we reached the ferry, so that our playing the 
Good Samaritan had not put us to any inconvenience. 
In the morning we met to fish the mouth of Newark Bay 
and the Kills, where they enter New York Bay. It was a 
new kind of fishing to me. and I looked over the baits and 
tackle with much interest. He had the salt-water sand 
worms and white worms, clams and shcdder crab, short 
rods, reels, and sinkers to suit the strength of the tide at dif- 
ferent times. The tide^ras I'ight, he had looked out for 
that, and was at half ebb. We anchored the boat at both 
ends across the channel, and fished. The tide was strong, 
and we used sinkers of 3oz at first, with about 2ft, of line 
and a 2-0 sproat hook below it. We started in with white 
worms, and I took a sea bass of about a pound weight, but 
as I was unaccustomed to reeling up a heavy sinker the fish 
seemed to be a monster until brought to boat. Murphy took 
several white perch, and some came to my hook, and so we 
fished for over an hour, when he said: "Tbe striped bass 
don't seem to be running on this tide, let's try shedders and 
see if weakfish will take hold." And we did, with, great 
success. 
Within a month an angler living in Wisconsin wrote me, 
asking where he could get shedder crab, as he had heard 
they were a good bait, and I will leave Murphy in the boat 
for a while to say: The crab of salt water is very unlike the 
crawfish of fresh water, although where Germans have 
settled the latter are called "crabs," German krebs. Both 
are edible, and, like all crustaceans, must shed their shells in 
order to grow. Then they are soft, but harden in a few 
days, and in this state the salt-water crabs bring a high price 
as a table delicacy, being fried and eaten paper shell and all 
except the "sand bag," or stomach, and the gills. But a few 
days before the shell is cast the animal shrinks, and there is 
a apace between it and the shell which can be detected by 
tapping it; this is a "shedder," and the outer shell can be 
peeled off, leaving a very tempting bait for most fishes. No 
doubt the crawfish would be as tempting to fresh-water 
fishes if it could be found in that state. After this bit 
of crabology we will rejoin Murphy in the boat off Bergen 
Point. 
Said he: "We usually get striped bass here on the last of 
the ebb tide, but they don't seem to come our way this 
morning. The weakfish are biting well, but I don't care 
for them." 
"They're gamy fighters," I remarked, as I boated a yellow 
fin of about 61bs. "I don't know anything about big striped 
bass, although in boyhood fishing we used to get them about 
Albany up to lib; but this weakfish fights well and I'm en- 
joying taking them." 
"Yes," said he, "that is their redeeming quality. They 
are a fair fish for the table when just out of the water, but 
after being caught six hours are only fit to feed to the hogs. 
Tons of them are sold in the markets to people who don't 
know one flsh from another, and they are good enough for 
them. The tide is slackening and we will change to lighter 
sinkers, sand worms and clams, and take what comes until 
after low-water slack and the tide sets up the Bay, when we 
may strike better luck," As I was only a student, I accepted 
the suggestion of my teacher without question, and for an 
hour we took perch, porgies and flounders as fast as we 
could attend to their surgical needs in the way of extracting 
hooks from hps, cheeks, jawbones and stomachs. Then 
came the time when the flshermen felt the need of the bait 
that Murphy had in the basket, and it was both good and 
generous. "While we eat," said my companion, "let's take 
in our lines and not leave them out for any fool flsh to hook 
himself while we're not fishing." 
That remark has been embalmed in my memory like a fly 
in amber. It comes up whenever I read of "fish hogs" and 
of those who would not like to be placed in that class, but 
who never cease killing as long as there is anything to kill. 
Please remember that this was thirty years ago, or more, 
and there was little or no sentiment toward the preservation 
of game or the restriction of the number of fish a man might 
kiU, especially in salt water, where the supply was supposed 
to be inexhaustible. Yet, Charley Murphy was one of that 
class which composed the old Volunteer Fire Department 
that in those days "would rather fight than eat." He was a 
small, wiry man, and I have already related his pugilistic 
exploit in "cleaning up" a fistic terror. 
As low-water slack passed and the faint flood appeared 
we changed our positions to the upper side, and before the 
half-flood had passed we had six striped bass which aggre- 
gated 351bs., the largest weighing 91bs., besides all the other 
fish, which Murphy took along to give away, and I voted 
the striped bass to be the gamiest salt water fish which had 
ever tackled my tackle. Murphy wanted to divide the fish, 
and I had hard work to make him understand that I could 
not use them in New York city. 
At this time I think Murphy must have been about forty- 
five years old, while I was about a dozen years younger. 
He was small and thin, one of those tough, wiry men who 
can often stand more physical strain than a muscular one, 
and that day as we sat in the boat he chatted in a remi- 
niscent way about old times in New York and the old fire 
■ laddies. 
"Ever hear of Bill Poole?" he asked. 
"Yes, Lew Baker killed him ten years ago on Broadway, 
corner of Prince street. I was in the West then, but I read 
all about the affair, and how George Law loaned his clipper 
Grapeshot and captured Baker off the coast of Africa." 
"You're right," said he, "it was in 1855, and few things 
have ever stirred the city like that. It was in the good old 
'Native American' days, and Poole was killed because he 
belonged to that party and John Moirisey couldn't whip 
him. I was in the room when he was shot in the Stanwix 
Hall, opposite Niblo's Garden, and when I saw Morrisey, 
Jim Turner, McLaughlin and Baker come in and find Poole 
alone I knew there would be trouble, but I didn't get out 
quick enough. I escaped being called at the trial, but it 
made no difference, for Baker was acquitted and appointed 
to a good oflice in the Street Department, while Morrisey 
went to Congress. But it would have done any American 
good to see the funeral that Bill Poole had. The City Hall 
flag was half-masted, and 10,000 men marched to his funeral. 
That was the last of the Order of United Americans; the 
foreign element became too strong and has been so ever 
since. The new paid Fire Department may turn out all 
right, but they will never have the pride and spirit in their 
work that the volunteers did." 
There was much more of this, but the above will serve tg 
