4 68 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Dec. 11 1897 
Early Amendment Impossible. 
Warden Loveday had this case in charge with others, and 
naturally was displeased with the result, but has no dispoei- 
tion to attach any great importance to it beyond one of tempo- 
rary annoyance. He feels sure the Supreme Court will reverse 
Judge Kamsey, and meantime we shall in all probability 
have an amendment to our game law setting all these things 
straight in a permanent fashion. It was at first thought 
possible to bring this question of a new game law before the 
special session of the Illinois Legislature, which is called for 
Dec. 7, but Gov. Tanner says that this cannot be done, for 
if this branch of legislation were opened the body would be 
besieged with a flood of bills, which would prolong the 
special session indefinitely, and cause a great amount of 
trouble. Meantime the would-be law-breaker of course can 
take his chances. If he has plenty of money to hire a 
liwyer, and is lucky enough to get into Judge Ramsey's 
court, he can secure a decision somewhat similar to the 
above; but if, meantime, the law is ultimately decided to be 
valid as it stands, he is liable under the penalties of that 
law, and his case may be briefly stated as thus: In, seven 
under- done prairie chickens that could not fly; per contra, 
out, a fat fee for a lawyer, plus a good stiff fine for violation 
of law and decency. 
Local Sentiment. 
The state of local sentiment on game law matters at the 
town of Sterling may be gathered from a letter sent me by 
Mr. Jas. S. Greenough, of that city, a gentleman who, by 
the way, does not train with the O'Rourke class. Mr. Green- 
ough sent in a copy of Judge Ramsey's decision, with the 
following comment: 
"It is almost an impossibility to do anything with the vio- 
lators of any game or fish law ia this county. The fact is, 
I could buy prairie chickens on the street in tbis town as 
early as July 15 this year, and in fact any year for a long 
time, and I understand i is the same case in Dixon. As far 
as fishing is concerned, Rocky River from this place down 
has been seined until there is not enough fish to make it 
worth while to own a seine. I last week saw some men 
haul a seine where five years ago they would have got more 
fish than they could land, and they only got one small - 
mouthed bass that probably weighed 31bs. These same 
men have seined this part of the river all summer and 
have scooped it dry, and it is t^ie same all along down to the 
mouth of the river, I like to fish and have bee a at it all 
summer on this river, and I have only got three bass and one 
wall-eyed pike. I was down the river "last week af(er quail, 
and dined with an old lady who has lived on the same farm 
for thirty years, on the river bank, and she told me that be- 
fore the river was seined, as it has been for the last few years, 
when she wanted some fish for dinner she took an old pole 
and line the boys used, and either got a few grasshoppers or 
took a few minnows that the boys kept in the horse trough, 
and went down and got a mess of fish, just as she did when 
she wanted a chicken and went to the hen house and got one 
out. ]Srow if she wanted any fish she had to buy them of a 
seiner, and then they did not always have them. 
"It is a shame to have our prairies and rivers depleted of 
the food they once ofl:ered, and by the cla?s of things that 
are doing this; for all the money that comes from this poach- 
ing goes mostly to the saloons. And it does seem that the 
great State of Illinois, when making laws to stop this whole- 
sale slaughter of fish and game, should furnish the means to 
enforce those laws, and not *>sk individuals to put up their 
own money to do it. The board of supervisors in this county 
refused to pay a constable his fees in the case of .the 
People vs. Laithe, illegal seining, and I paid them myself." 
Lethargy of Sportsmen. 
Warden Loveday, when interviewed to-day, was also pro- 
nounced in his opinions in regard to the lethargy of sports- 
men in practical protection. He thinks the sportsman prone 
to lie supinely on his back and ask for the good things of 
shooting and fishing without getting up to help corral tliem. 
Mr. Loveday has more than once asked the good folk 
of Peoria to nominate a man for warden for that city, 
which under the law should be given such a State warden 
just as much p Chicago ; but he can get no word from Presi- 
dent Fahnestock, of the Illinois State Sportsmen's Associa- 
tion, nor any suggestion from any other citizen of a man for 
that responsible position. One man cannot cover the whole 
State, and the late incumbent at Peoria has done nothing at 
all in the way of work at arresting violators At Quincy, 
the third city entitled to a State warden, there is such a per- 
sonage, but 1 do not get any word about his work among the 
law-breakers. It has been the wish of the Chicago warden 
that the local sportsmen would take active interest in this 
protective work, and would do all possible to secure him the 
sort of men he needs to assist him. The local s poitsmen do 
not always see it in this light, and not all are so generous 
and active in practical protection as Mr. Greenough, of 
Sterling, whose example is one worth emulation. 
The Passlnsr of Mr. Blow. 
It may perhaps be borce in mind that this department of 
FoKEST AND Stebam lor some time waged a little war on 
our late lamented State sjame warden, Chas. H. Blow. Pos- 
sibly there were some who thought it wrong to go back on 
the warden in this way, or some who thought a game war- 
den was a sacred thing and could do no wrong, 1 had all 
along a very definite notion of what I was writing about, 
and was positive the man was not entitled to any better treat- 
ment than he got. At the present writing Mr Blow is some- 
where ia Wisconsin, engaged in a fish business, it is said. 
There is a State warrant out for him here in Illinois. A 
while before his departure from office Mr. Blow went to a 
certain club of anglers in this State and represented himself 
as the State Fish Commissioner, and said he would stock the 
club waters for the sum of $75. The club could raise only f 68, 
which Blow pocketed, thereafter forgetting all about the 
stocking proposition. Messrs. Bartlett and Cohen, of the State 
Fish Commission, have sworn out this warrant for Blow, and 
propose to find out whether or not the latter was really the 
cook and the captain bold and the crew of the captain's gig. 
There was a certain sincerity about Mr. Blow such as to 
command one's respect. He and the French monarch were 
much alike, and the belief of each was: "The State, it is 
myself." Which, being interpreted, is to say that Charles 
and Louis each devoutly believed himself to be the whole 
thing. I trust the Slate Fish Commission may get Mr. 
Blow, but I doubt very much whether the club will ever get 
its $68. 
Game and Fish Work.3 
Deputy Game Warden Goelter has recently received his 
conamission as fish warden also, this on account of a bit of 
good work he did at fish wardening. For a long time two 
parties at Pox Lake, Ernest Sayle and Mathison Lincoln, 
had made a practice of seining in the lake near the outlet, 
the ground where they drew their seine being covered with 
dead lii tie pike and bass. No local fish warden could do any- 
thing toward catching them, so Warden Loveday sent Goelter 
up from his force, and the latter after watching two days 
landed his men. They got $50 each, and had their 300ft. 
net confiscated. 
Officials Shoot. 
Gov. Tanner, Clerk Van Cleave, Warden Loveday and 
two local shooters of Wayne county. 111., had a c uple of 
days' shooting at quail this fall, with the extraordinary re- 
sult of 360 quail to the five guns. These birds are vtiy 
abundant in Wayne county this year, and numbers of prai- 
rie chickens were also seen. Mark this down in your note 
book for next year. 
The steamer Lotus, State fish c mmission, was last week 
in commission on her closing trip of inspection. Gov. Tan- 
ner was expected to join Commissioners Cohen, Bartlett and 
the State warden, but the Governor failed to appear. The 
boat had been outfitted witfi a view to the gubernatorial 
visit, and the party actually present didn't do a thing with 
the supplies. 
Illegal Quail Seized. 
Mr. D. O. Whitcomb, of South Water street, thi^ city, had 
twenty-six dozen illegal quail taken away from him yester- 
day by the gamy warden. Mr. Whitcomb thinks it very sad 
for his private business to be interfered with in this unpleas- 
ant manner. 
The dealers have lost a considerable amount of illegal 
Illinois game this sea?on, the express companies having 
given the deputies very great assistance in locating ship- 
ments of 6.uch game. 
Without a Country. 
The rich lands of the Indian nations were bound to fall 
into the hands of the white man, who only grants conces- 
sions to tbe Indian with the view of getting them all back 
again after awhile with a slice in addition ; but it was hardly 
to be predicted that so soon in the history of these tribes the 
red men were to be not only without lands, but without a 
country. The following singular dispatch would seem to 
warrant the latter conclusion ; 
"Muskogee, I. T., Nov. 29.— -The Choctaw and Chicka- 
saw Indians, who have been in session at Antlers, I. T., for 
the past week, have determined to organize a colony and 
emigrate to Mexico. They have been offered lands by the 
Mexican Government very cheap. Not being able to agree 
on a leader to conduct them to the promised land in their 
own nation, United States Agent Wisdom was fioally se- 
lected. The Indians propose to sell their lands to the United 
States and with the proceeds purchase new homes. 'The 
Dawes commission is authorized to negotiate for the Indian 
lands. Agent Wisdom has not yet decided whether to ac- 
cept the offer. " 
The Ute Difficulty. 
The difficulty out in Colorado over the Ute arrests and 
killings by game wardens has not yet all died away, A 
number of Utes have asked hunting leave from their agent 
and a good many have taken it without asking. We may 
expect to hear of a few white men being killed in revenge. 
The Indians have made a statement about the affair in 
which the killing took place. They say only four bucks 
were in camp, and that the wardens took hold of two of the 
bucks by the wrists. A squaw ran up to help the prisoners, 
and other wardens fired, killing the two bucks and shooting 
the squaw in the arm and the back of the head. The In- 
dians say they have not at any time fired a shot at the 
wardens. 
The Size of the Sea Otter. 
For the benefit of others, who perhaps know no more 
about the sea otter than I did, I should like to present a part 
of the information sent me by Mr. G L. Ainsworth, of Ra- 
cine, Wis., who writes me thus, and compels me to believe 
that the sea olter is a good deal of a ballooning old fraud: 
"I quote bflow from report of Henry W. Elliott to U. S. 
Fish Commission, and published in 1887: 
"An adult kalan is an animal not much larger than a 
mature and well conditioned beaver. It will measure from 
the tip of the tail, which ia short, to the extremity of the 
muzzle 3* to 4.|ft , the tail not being over 6 to Sin long, and 
it has a proportionate girth of a little over 2ft. The skin lies 
upon it, however, in a very different manner from that pecu- 
liar to the giant rodent above cited, with which I have just 
compared it as to size; for the folds of the other's hide, when 
seized by the hand, seem to stretch and rise from the body, 
just as does the skin on the seruff of a puppy's neck. In 
other words, the skin of the animal seems to be big enough 
for a creature twice its anatomical bulk. * * * When 
the skin is taken from the body the native makes but one cut 
in it, and that is at the posterior. The body is literally 
turned inside out. The skin is next air dried and stretched', 
so that it then gives the erroneous impression of an animal 
at least 6ft. and over in length and disproportionately lesser 
girth, suggestive of the shape of a weasel or mink * * * 
The feet are so small that really nothing of the whole ex- 
pansion of the sea otters skin is lost when they are cut off". 
I should say, however, that the hind flippers evidently are 
the swimming or propulsive organs. They, compared with 
the impotent, tiny forefeet, are large and strong, and webbed 
between the toes like those of a duck, * » * The natives 
assure me that as these skins, taken during every month in 
the year, never show at any season those signs of shedding 
and staginess so marked in the seal, they do not renew the5 
pelage by that process, but that it grows and falls out just as 
the hair on our heads does. 
"The above I have copied from Section Y., Vol. 3, of 'The 
Fishery Industries of the United States,' published by the 
U. 8. i'ish Commission in 1887." 
Michigan Grouse and Quail. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 3. — Which he was the mayor, and they 
called him Pirate Bill, and he asked me to come along of 
him, so I came along. We took the train and rode and rode 
till we got to the edge of the world, a place where the lum- 
bermen had long since robbed the earth and left only stumps 
and burnings and slashings, all overgrown with hardwood 
trees and thickets and briers and brush, and with here and 
there a sad and solitary corn or wheat field thrusting out into 
the wilderness, where some farmer had gotten stranded and 
hadn t money enough to get back to his wife's folks. It was 
good, crispy, fall hunting weather. We had two good dogs 
— Bob, a Gordon, and Jack, an old, old, old-time meat-dog, 
a pointer over thirteen years of age, with both front feet 
swelled out of shape by rheumatism and a jowl pendulous 
with age, but with a heart untamed by anything. We had 
to help Jack over the fences, and he could only waddle a few 
yards ahead of us, hut he kept on waddling right into points 
on grouse and quail, and when we killed a bird he would go 
and bring it in like a gentleman. 1 had just come from some 
field trials, and of course the subject of retrieving is taboo 
at a field trial. But at sight of this venerable old meat dog, 
with his waddle and his point and his retrieve, I felt that the 
world was not without its recompenses after all. 
The Pirate said he didn't care for any quail, and that he 
was going to show me some ruffed grouse, with a lot more 
fun. And we did find the grouse, plenty of them as that 
sort of thine goes— I think perhaps we put up fifteen grouse 
that day and bagged only five between us. But we had so 
much walking and so much fun with these fellows that we 
hardly stopped to think about the quail. Once in a while we 
would blunder over a bevy of quail at the edge of a slashing 
we were working for grouse, and would mark them down a 
quarter of a mile in the thicket— I never saw quail fly so far 
— and then we would go after them till we put up a grouse 
and followed off after him. Toward evening we concluded 
to pick up a few quail, and we found a bevy on every stub- 
ble field that we struck. We would get our double shot on 
the rise over the point on the stubble, old Jack and young 
Bob both doing handsomely for us, and then we would fol- 
low the singles into the worst sort of cover. It was hard 
shooting, hut we found the pockets getting fuller little by 
little. The Pirate was a corker of a field shot, and he was 
fully posted on the local wrinkles of getting at Ihe birds, so 
we had a lovely day. One odd little bit of shooting 1 re- 
member very well. We had marked a bevy down at the 
edge of a little open wood, and killed one or two singles as 
they went up. All at once four birds sprang out together 
from the edge of a brush heap. Three went straight ahead 
and the fourth twisted over our heads and went hack of us. 
We fired first at those going in front, and^I killed with each 
barrel and the Pirate killed the third. Then he swung 
around quickly after the fourth bird, which .had gone back 
of us, and with a pyrotechnic sort of shot killed that one 
also, a long way back of us, as it was topping the woods and 
going like a ghost. I do not think this little piece of work, 
on all four of the birds, would be soon seen repeated, even 
by so distinguished a pair of shots as ourselves. Anyhow, 
we did it. 
At night we counted up our birds and found that we had 
twenty- six in all, five ruffed grouse and twenty-one quail. 
We had gone over very good quail country that had not 
been shot very much, and we thought that we could have 
killed fifty birds between us if we had cared to hunt quail. 
Our friend, Mr. McCarthy, had poorer luck on his round, 
and got but few quail. Two other gentlemen were shooting 
at the same place, and one, Mr. Davis, with his guide, killed, 
if my memory serves me, nearly fifty quail that day. Mr. 
Davis did not care to hunt grouse. The other gentleman 
was Mr. Stone, who also had a local guide, and they got 
some twenty or thirty birds, I believe; so that all in all we 
had a grand lot of game. 
The next day the Pirate and I again took up our system 
of exterminating all the grouse, and we exterminated them 
just about the way we did the day before, bagging five more 
glorious big fellows, everyone fully earned and fully enjoyed. 
This was the finest ruffed gronse country I was ever in during 
aU my life, and though we did not gee more than a dozen 
or a dozen and a half of these birds in all we had plenty to 
do with these. We missed but one fair or easy shot, where 
I let a bird get away which Bob had pointed right under our 
feet at a log, and which went up in broad daylight and in 
full view, for a wonder. This bird I think had had a leg 
broken by an earlier shot from my companion's gun, but 
you have to break a leg or two en a grouse before it forgets 
how to fly, so we never got this fellow at all, much to our 
sorrow, though we put him up again in thick cover. We 
did not strike such good quail country this time, for the 
bevies had been shot into and broken up, and the birds were 
wild as hawk,s, flying to all sorts of distances when put up. 
Our bag that night was five grouse and only sixteen quail, I 
think. Mr. McCarthy improved his score this day, and our 
friend Mr. Briggi had better luck, getting five grouse him- 
self and over a aozen quail. Mr. Davis and his guide had 
top bag, if I recollect, about sixty quail, and Mr. Stone 
and his man brought in over a dozen each, if the figures re- 
main in memory correctly. I know the total was a very 
large one that night, and showed very plainly that we were 
in a remarkably good game country. 
The next day the Pirate went home, and I went out for a 
little hunt with Mr. Davis and Archie, his guide, an old 
market hunter. The latter I found to be a ratthng good field 
shot He used a Winchester pump gun, close choked, but 
he never lost any lime getting on to his bird, and when he 
■fired he usually got meat. I always think that a man who 
kills half his quail is a good shot, and that three out of five 
is excellent. Whether Archie can always do it or not I do 
not know, but I am sure he killed over 80 per cent, of his 
birds that day, in all sorts of cover. I don't think I ever 
saw any man shoot quail so well. So much could not be 
said for Mr. Davis and myself, who each had a bad streak. 
The dogs. Monk of Elmo (Tony for short) and Doc, per- 
formed perfectly. We bagged to the three guns — mostly 
Archie's — forty-two birds that day, I think, and of these 
nine were ruffed grouse. Think of thatl We killed three 
grouse almost before we got started. Then Archie got off 
from us in the wood and put up four grouse, and only killed 
them all ! A while later we heard him shoot once, in a bit 
of brush neai' by, and perhaps half an hour afterward 
thought to ask him what he was shooting at. 
"Pa'tridge," said Archie. 
"Why didn't you kill it?" (This in would-be derision of 
him ) 
"Ob, I did kill it," said he, innocently. And in fact we 
found that when he shot at a grouse he rarely did anything 
but kill it. It is all right to talk about the wonderful skill 
of this bird in evading man, and it is certainly a hard bird 
to kill, but after this it is in my mind forever shorn of its 
glory. It can not only be killed easily and in good average, 
but it can be killed in a great big per cent, by a man who 
knows how to shoot. Archie did not miss any more grouse 
than he did quail, and he shot a close choked gun at that. I 
learn more about these tilings as 1 get older. Had Mr. Davis 
and I shot as well as Archie did, we would have had more 
birds than I should have liked to see. Mr. Stone and his 
mkn shot near us, but in poor luck, only getting about a 
dozen birds. This closed my trip, a very pleasant one in- 
deed, with quite enough shooting in it to make it eventful, 
But this does not end the record of that country, as I shall 
go on to show. Since my return the Pirate has written me 
about a little further shooting he has had in the same spot. 
When I saw him last he was a very sad and penitent man. 
