Dec. il, 1897.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
487 
Iowa and soutliern Minnesota, leaving here Oct. 28. 
We were at East and Center Chain Lakes, Minn. The duck 
I shooting was poor. Up to the time we left there had 
i been no flight of ISTorthern ducks, and Mr. E. T. Alder- 
man, who was near Fergus Falls, Minn., duck shooting, 
informs me that there was good shooting in that vicinity at 
local ducks, but tbe "Korthern flight" failed to materialize. 
I shot a rabbit the other day with a .23cal. rifle, firing but 
one shot. When I skinned him I found six bullet holes in 
his hide. He was nestled down in a bunch of grass, facing 
me; the bullet entered near the eye, passed out through the 
back of the head, entered the shoulder, passed out again 
near the back ribs, entered the thigh, and came out again at 
the lower part of the leg. 
I have always "prided" myself on my careful handling of 
a gun, and never had an accident in my twenty years of 
' using firearms. However, my "pride" received a severe 
shock last week. I was walking along holding my new 
repeating shotgun at an angle of about 45°, muzzle up, the 
hammer at half cock, when to my surprise the gun 
was discharged. How it happened was a mystery 
which puzzled and worried me extremely. There 
was no question about the hammer being at half 
cock, as not more than one mmute before 1 had let the 
hammer down from full cock. I am positive that nothing 
touched the gun but my own hand, and my right hand 
grasped the barrel midway between the sliding forearm and 
the hammer. Examination of the exploded primer showed 
that the indentation was not more than one-fourth of the size 
ordinarily made by the firing pin when the hammer was at 
full cock. After study, and thinking the matter over for 
some time, 1 came to the conclusion that I had solved the 
problem. After numerous trials I finally succeeded in 
catching the sharp, wedge-shaped upper part of the trigger 
on the point of the notch that holds the hammer at full cock. 
The jar occasioned by walking was sufficient to release the 
hammer, and thus was the mystery cleared away. So, 
■ after twenty years' experience with firearms, I have learned 
another thing, viz.: when letting down the hammer from 
full to half cock, be sure you hear the click of the trigger as 
it enters the half-cock netch on the "dog" of your gun lock. 
JoFrN O. Briggs. 
HUNTING RIFLES AND THE WOUNDING 
OF GAME. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The subject of hunting rifles is one which has been dis- 
cussed to u great extent through the columns of Forest and 
Stream. 
Whether or not all the talk on hunting rifles has accom- 
plished anything seems doubtful. It is difficult to con- 
vince some men that a large, expanding bullet, driven by a 
heavy load of powder, would certainly kill anything that a 
smaller, solid bullet, driven by a light load, would, and that 
the larger bullet would kill in many instances where the 
other would only wound. 
Several years since I thought I would vary the shooting I 
had constantly been doing each season on rufEed grouse and 
woodcock, and try for larger game. I practically knew but 
little about a hunting rifle for large game. At the lime I 
carefully read Van Dyke's "Still-Hunter," and was much 
interested in wbat was said about hunting rifle. Mr, Van 
Dyke spoke of rifles which would wound game and of rifles 
which would kill game, and I decided that I wanted the 
killing sort, and 1 ordered a .45-90 Winchester with half 
magazine. I tried the rifle with various open sights, 
and settled on the Lyman hunting sights. 1 then kept 
constantly practicing at various targets, rocks, stumps and 
such objects in all kinds of places, in the woods and out on 
open ground, to get used to the rifle, and also to txy different 
lights and to learn lo estimate distances. At first I used the 
solid and the hollow pointed express bullets. I did not like 
the latter, as I found they would sometimes tip on long shots, 
and on three deer I afterward killed I could see no signs of 
expanding. I wrote the Winchester Arms Co. about an ex- 
panding bullet, and they sent me some of the Keene express 
bullets with split points. I gave these bullets a careful test 
on targets and found them accurate and with good penetra- 
tion. 1 was so well satisfied with the rifle and the Keene 
bullets that I have used both on all my hunting trips, killing 
three moose, five caribou, four bears and one deer with them, 
and I used eighteen cartridges to kill them. None of the 
animals went SOyda. after being hit and the larger part did 
not go 10. 1 had good chances usually from 40 to 70yds., 
but oJten had to shoot quickly, as the animals .were moving. 
A companion on a trip to Nova Scotia had a rifle exactly 
like mine and used gome of my cartridges. He shot one 
afternoon on a barren two moose, one at 295yd8. and the 
other at 175. He had plenty of time to estimate the dis- 
tances, as the moose were standing broadside. The first 
moose dropped at once, got up and staggered a few yards 
and went down to stay. The Keene bullet had struck a trifle 
high, just back of the shoulders. I wanted much to 
find tne bullet, but it made such a mess of the interior of 
the moose that although we looked carefully we could not 
find it. The second moose was struck at base of the ear and 
dropped in its tracks and never got up again. In this case 
the bullet went two-thirds of the way through the head, and 
vfe only found a few pieces of it. My companion said he 
was surprised to see those moose drop so quickly, and that 
in the future he should have great faith in the Keene bullets. 
Our Indian guides in Nova Scotia and some men I met in 
Maine, and who saw the results of some of my shots, said 
they did not like the way those bullets worked, as they 
spoilt too much meat; but I prefer spoiling some meat and 
killing my game quickly to chasing after wounded animals. 
Your correspondent Mr. Risteen speaks of the amount of 
game which is wounded and seldom found. There probably 
always will be more or less wounded animals which are lost. 
No doubt poor shooting is accountable for a good deal of it. 
No matter how killing the rifle may be, it is better to put the 
bullet in a vital place. I think, however, that the wounding 
of a good deal of game is on account of trying long-range 
shots. In the "Still- Hunter" Mr. Van Dyke speaks plainly 
on this subject. He says the chances in most cases of get- 
ing nearer is better than the chances of killing at long range. 
I bore this in mind on the last caribou I shot. A companion 
and I were on a lake in Maine, when we saw a caribou com- 
ing on the ice. The caribou was so far away that it did not 
lookliirger than a fox; but it was coming toward us, and I 
expected an easy shot; but when some SOOyds. away it turned 
to go across the lake. iMy companion urged me to shoot, 
saying, "You can hold high and hit him before he can get 
across," I said no, I migtit hit him, but most likely only 
wound him, and would wait until he went into the woods, 
and then follow and get a better shot or none. As soon as 
the caribou entered the woods I took after him, and after 
following about a mile got a shot at 70yds., killing him with 
a single shot. 
Mr. Risteen evidently has not as much faith in the small- 
bore smokeless rifles as some men who have never yet shot 
any large game seem to have. I heard of a man' who, I 
think, has never shot a deer telling about his new rifle "with 
smokeless cartridges and saying that he could kill a deer at 
l,000jd3. Nevertheless the new ,30cal. and smokeless car- 
tridges will find favor with many would-be slayers of moose, 
caribou and deer. The light weight and shght recoil will 
appeal to men who are afraid of carrying a fairly heavy gun 
and who also think the latter will kick. .Just after getting 
my ,45-90 I looked at the stock of rifles in several of our 
large gun stores and found that very few of the .45-90 or 
oOcal. were kept in stock. Several salesmen told me they sel- 
dom had any call for them; men coming to buy a rifle 
to take to Maine or elsewhere preferred something lighter, 
using smaller cartridges, and also something carrying a good 
many cartridges in the magazine. Their theory evidently 
was, that if the air was filled with flying bullets some of 
them ought to connect with the game. 
I heard recently of a man just home from the Maine woods 
who shot at fifteen or sixteen deer, claiming he hit every 
one; he killed two. There never was or never will be made 
a rifle which will instantly kill everything it hits; but if a 
man is a fair shot and does not get rattled, and will use a 
rifle which will kill when the bullet is in or very near a 
vital spot, and will only take reasonably fair chances, there 
would be much less needlessly wounded game. 
C, M. Stark. 
Dtjsbaeton, N. H. 
COMPASS POINTS OF NATURE. 
Editor Forest mid Stn'eam: 
I have read with much interest and profit the article re- 
cently printed in Forest and Streaii, from the pen of Mr. 
Dearborn, on the subject of woodcraft as applied to ascer- 
taining the points of the compass. If I had had that paper 
in my pocket on one or two occasions that I can remember 
I would have been spared some laborious miles of travel. 
It is the most definite and concise statement of facts that 
I have ever read; but there is one point as to which I am 
still in doubt, as it conflicts with what I had supposed to 
be true; I refer to his remarks concerning the large limbs 
almost invariably being on the south side of a tree. 
Two years ago Mr. Eugene Bruce, of Axton (near Sara- 
nac Lake), who now holds a responsible position with the 
Dodge-Meigs Lumber Co., and, as many readers of 
Forest and Stream can estify, was formerly known as one 
of the best guides and one of the most intelligent woods- 
men in the Adirondacks, called my attention to the fact 
that the tops of the big pine trees make a decided dip 
toward the north, which of course means the sending out 
of one or two prominent branches in that direction. I 
saw so many instances of this that I would unhesitatingly 
use the sign as indicating the north direction. I am there- 
fore particularly interested to find out whether this is cor- 
rect, as no man is so hopelessly lost in the woods as he 
who follows the wrong sign in the confidence that it is the 
right one. Getting lost is so serious a matter — especially 
for those who have little inherent sense of direction or 
faculty for taking care of themselves when alone and 
astray in the woods— that absolute knowledge, so far as it 
goes, is most essential. 
In attempting to follow the signs in the forest I think 
some allowance should be made for the "lay of the land," 
so to speak. For instance, in a valley or slope with an 
eastern exposure, and where the cold winds draw in from 
the west, the indications which would usually be found on 
the south side of the tree would prevail on the east side. 
I have always believed that, as a last resort, the best way 
to get out of the woods is to strike running water and fol- 
low it down stream, no matter how difficult it may be. 
Sooner or later a man is thus bound to come out some- 
where near civilization, and at least avoid the danger of 
traveling in a circle. The subject is a very interesting 
one, and I hope we shall have a further discussion of it in 
the columns of Forest and Stream. Arthur F. Rice. 
Passaic, N, J, 
THANKSGIVING QUAIL. 
Editor Fm'est and Stream: 
The quail crop is being harvested here, and a few shooters 
have been fairly successful. The general complaint among 
sportsmen is that most farmers will not allow shooting on 
their premises. As the law prohibits marketing quail, we 
who have not been invited out, and do not care to be set 
down as poachers, have to content ourselves with the recol- 
lection of how pleasant quail was lo our palates years ago. 
Just before the open season they were at my threshold. 
They tripped along my stone pavement, and flew from one 
property to another. A large covey once flew up the street 
past my place of business when the street was thronged 
with people, and separating rested themselves on the tops of 
the buildings. They were everybody's and at the same time 
nobody's quail then. 
The morning before Thanksgiving I said to my wife that 
I preferred quail to turkey, and that I would take a day off 
and shoot some for a Thanksgiving dinner. I drove out 
four miles to the home of a friend who had invited me out 
to shoot rabbits "when it snows." I put the horse in his 
stable, and getting into shooting togs went down through 
the fields to where he was husking corn. He said he was 
sorry, but he could not go with me, as it was a busy day with 
him; but that I should go ahead and hunt, and when the bell 
rung come to the house for dinner. There was no snow, and I 
had no dog.but 1 tramped around and finally got away from his 
farm; and about 10 o'clock I was counting rabbit beds in a 
small, weed grown wood lot, but in point of fact was hunt- 
ing quail. If I had been hunting rabbits I would not have 
walked so close to a big feUow as to cause him to scamper 
away before I saw him. But the rabbit probably did not know 
that, and lost no time in hiding among the tall weeds. I did not 
get that rjtbbit for the simple reason that I missed him. The 
cause lay in my having to shoot v.hile he -was too near for 
the shot to scatter, or not shoot at all. But the report of the 
gun had tbe effect of waking up a lusty youth on an adjoin- 
ing farm, and he came tearing across the field and stood on 
the partition fence looking at me. I asked him if he was 
looking for me, and he said no, he was looking for some 
boya that were there the day before and who had talked 
saucy to him. His father had told him if it were those boys 
to get on ahorse and go to town and have them indicted, and 
he had thought it a possible chance to get to go to town. 
He took occasion to add that they did not want their quail 
killed, and they had some colts in the adjoining wood lot. 
I did not like that very well, and replied that I was not 
shooting colts; that I had handled a gun some. 
When I made myself known by stating that I had sold his 
father the farm he was protecting, he warmed up and pro- 
posed to help me get some rabbits. Now it was not rabbits 
I wanted. What I wished most was that this young man 
was needed up at the barn, where they were baling hay. 
But he seemed disposed to serve me in the capacity of beater, 
and I could do nothing but receive his services with the 
same good grace it was tendered. At this distance I am not 
f 0 certain that his seeming friendliness was not a mask cov- 
ering a deep laid plot to save the quail. However, he took 
the liberty to beat the weed patch for me and flush a fine 
covey. I could not at the moment satisfy my mind as to 
whether I was justified in shooting some of those quail or 
not, so gave them the benefit of the doubt, but with the men- 
tal reservation that if that boy went on home I might con- 
clude to pick up some of the birds yet. The boy, however, 
did not go home. 
He beat about and flushed the nearest of the quail a second 
time, causing them to fly into the wood lot among the colts; 
then he told me we could get a rabbit in a weed patch over 
in their field, and very kindly led the way. We did not find 
the rabbit, but just as we finished the weed patch a very 
large covey of quail flushed about 15ft. in front of me and 
sailed away directly toward the colts that were still browsing 
in the adjoining wood lot. I stood and watched them until 
they settied down among the timber, then turning toward 
the boy said 1 was going home. He did not answer, but 
looked as though he was sorry for me, and I may be doing 
him an injustice by expressing even a suspicion that my 
failure to secure a Thanksgiving dinner of quail was not at- 
tributable so much to bad luck as to this boy's shrewdness. 
G. W. Cunningham:, 
Indiana, 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Illinois Game Law Declared Invalid. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 4. — Something of a bombshell, or 
what at first sight would appear to have something of that 
nature, was this week exploded in the camp of sportsman- 
ship in this State by Judge Ramsey, of the Circuit Court, at 
Sterling, Whiteside county, who declared that the Illinois 
game law as at present spread upon our statute books is in- 
valid, and that all the game law we have is the old one 
dating back to 1879, under which the prairie chicken date is 
Aug. 15. Thus the war is carried into Africa, and instead 
of quarreling over the dates of Sept. 1 or Sept. 15, those 
who do not love any game laws may now temporarily exult 
in the fond delusion that chicken kilfing may begin Aug. 15, 
before all the birds are fully out of the shell. I say tempo- 
rarily exult; for no sane sportsman will for an instant 
believe that this bit of judicial wisdom will^be allowed to 
stand without further proving. Waiden Loveday will at 
once take steps for carrying this case to the Supreme Court 
of the State, vvhich will pass upon this remarkable situation 
before the absurd date of Aug. 15 will be admitted by the 
thinking sportsmen of the land. 
The facts of this case are as below: On Aug, 37, 1897, 
State Warden Loveday caused the arrest of John O'Rourke, 
of Whiteside county, on the charge of shooting prairie 
chickens before the open season. This case was one of five 
made at about the same time, all five of which appealed to 
the Circuit Court. Yet others will now perhaps attempt to 
get their cases heard by Judge Ramsey, and of course should 
there be no check to this in the Supreme Court the law 
would in effect be ruined and we should have a still worse 
state of affairs in this commonwealth of things odoriferous 
in matters of game protection. 
O'Rourke was represented by Attorney Caleb C, Johnson, 
who set up the old claim that the game law was invalid by 
reason of technical error. The judge held this to be the 
case, and handed down the following decision: 
"The defendant admits the shooting of prairie chickens 
within the county of Whiteside on Aug. 27 last, and for hia 
defense claims that the alleged amendment to the game law 
now sought to be enforced was not properly passed by the 
Legislature and insists that the old law on that subject is 
still in force. It seems that the amended law as published 
is not in harmony with the intention of the two branches of 
the Legislature expressed and finally determined by those 
two bodies as shown by the records of their proceedings. 
The House passed a bill March 8, 1889, which made it law- 
ful to kill or otherwise destroy pinnated grouse or prairie 
chickens only between Sept. 15 and Nov. 1 of each year. 
That bill was duly reported to the Senate, which body on 
May 23 amended said House bill by making it lawful to kill 
such game between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1 of each year. Said 
House bill, thus amended, was on May 25 duly passed by 
the Senate and afterward concurred in by the House as 
amended. Thereupon said bill as amended was duly or- 
dered enrolled and signed by the presiding officers of the 
two Houses and offered to the Governor for his signature. 
As a matter of fact, when said bill was enrolled and pre- 
sented to the Governor for his signature the word 'first,' so 
placed in said bill by the said amendment of the Senate 
and concurred in by the House, was omitted and in 
its place appeared the word 'fifteenth,' which left the bill 
as originally passed by the House. In this form the 
Governor signed the bill, which is the alleged amendment 
to the game law now sought to be enforced. The Governor 
did not sign a bill which had "the concurrence of the 
majority of the members elected to each House, as required 
by the constitution,' and it therefore never became a law. I 
therefore hold the amendatory act invalid and that the old 
game law is still in force, which permits the shooting of 
prairie chickens between Aug. 15 and Dec. 1 of each year. As 
the shooting complained of in this case took place on Aug. 
27, the issues are found in favor of the defendant. 
"The provisioQS with reference to close seasons in the two 
laws, that of 1889 and 1879, the latter of which would be re- 
vived if the former finally be invalidated, are as follows: 
"1889— Wild buck, doe, fawn, wild turkey, Jan. 15 to 
Sept. 1; pinnated grouse, prairie chicken, Nov. 1 to Sept. 15; 
quail, ruffed grouse, Dec. 1 to Oct. 1 ; pheasants, parcridges , 
Dec. 1 to Oct. 1; woodcock, Sept. 15 to July 15; squirrels, 
Dec. 15 to June 1; geese, ducks, waterfowl, April 15 to 
Sept. 15. 
"1879— Wild buck, doe, fawn, wild turkey, Jan. 15 to 
Sept. 1; pinnated giouse, prairie chicken, Dec. 1 to Aug. 15; 
quail, ruffed grouse, Jan. 1 to Oct. 1 ; pheasants, partridges, 
no dates; woodcock, Jan. 1 to July 4; squirrels, no dates: 
geese, ducks, waterfowl. May 1 to Aug. 15," 
