Deo. 11, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
469 
He said he had been neglecting his business shamefully, and 
le wished that people like me would stay away and let him 
make a little money to keep the wolf from the door, and not 
)e pestering him to go shooting all the time. At any rate, 
dot under any consideration would he go hunting again that 
season, for he had had enough, and knew whrn he had 
nough. Such is the disposition of man ! Who has not made 
similar resolves? His letter does not bear quite the same 
tenor, fgr he seems to have gone out for "just one more 
3ay," and then two or three more, according to the evi- 
dence, 
"We had two pretty good days, didn't we?" he says, "I 
mjoyed it immensely. I feel, however, like an old bum that 
las deserted business entirely and become a backwoodsman. 
; just got back last night from seeing the season out, and am 
:lad the shooting is over with. Between now and the 1st of 
slay, when brook trout are ripe, I may be able to establish a 
reputation for hard work and attending to business ; but it 
lAs been sadly shattered for some time. 
"My friend Dr. S. showed up on the Friday noon train, 
[t rained all that day, but the next morning we took the 
train for our place, with Briggs and McCarthy along. 
A.rchie went with the Doctor and myself, Gladwin with Mr, 
McCarthy; Mr. Briggs, who likes to shoot alone, going by 
himself . 
"We no sooner got over the fence than old Bob made a 
rush across the fields, head up. He quartered it in good 
style and came up like a rock ; but the new dog that the 
Doctor had brought with him had never .seen a quail before, 
and lie lit in the middle of the covey in about ten jumps, so 
■we did not get a chance at them. Then we got into bad 
territory ; we got up lots of birds, but they got into pieces of 
woods like that one you and I struck that night where we 
Stood on some high logs, and after knocking down two or 
three birds we gave it up as a bad job. 
"In the afternoon we got into better territory, and got a 
covey scatterfd in short brush, and my black dog worked to 
perfection (I had left old .Jack at home), and bird after bird 
was picked up; I think only one got away. Pretty soon Bob 
began roading, and picked up a second covey right in the 
same patch ; they scattered close by, and we began trimming 
them out, when up got the third covey. We were shooting 
East and furious; I never had anything like it. I have for- 
jotten just how many the three of us trimmed out, but I 
;hink it was seventy-one birds that we had in our pockets 
ihat night. At any rate, all told, tbe party had ninety-six, 
md I am quite certain that I had my share of them (I did 
A-rchie up brown that day) 
"After that Archie went with Mr. Davis, and we hunted 
)y ourselves. Mr. McCarthy was laid up with a stiff back 
jne day, and another day there was such a wind blowing 
;hat it made it almost impossible to do anything, your fingers 
would get so numb; but we put in our time just the same. 
Baking four days, and we divided our birds fair and square 
ast night and had sixty-two quail and four partridge each, 
;hat is for each of the four. The rats or cats had gotten at 
one of the strings in the barn, and must have used up a dozen 
of them. Pretty nearly slaughter, wasn't it? But the birds 
were there just as thick when we quit as in the beginning, 
and we can do it all over again another year, and I hope you 
will be able to enjoy some of it. 
"I have not forgotten how we knocked down those four 
birds that left the ground at the same time. McCarthy and 
L came pretty near it; three got up and we got all three of 
them, then struck a bunch of five partridge. We killed the 
first three that jumped, the other two got away while our 
guns were empty. We followed them up and got one of 
them, 
"Dec. 2.— I dictated this letter yesterday, but there was 
30 much to write that it did not get away. I learned of some- 
thing that really makes me feel sad, unless McCarthy is 
stuffing me. He sent word last night that I missed one day 
of the hunting season ; that the law reads : 'the 1st of Decem- 
3er, inclusive;' at least he says so; whereas I supposed we 
could only shoot up to the 1st of December. Now, isn't that 
,00 bad for a fellow that is so sadly in need of exercise and 
hunting as I am? It is meaner still for McCarthy to twit me 
about it. 
"By the way, the last day, in the afternoon, I ran across a 
bit of cover that seemed to have a good many ruffed grouse 
in it. The first one I flushed among some burnt logs, while 
I was hunting out a bevy of scattered quail. I went in the 
woods a little further and old Bob made a fine point; the 
bird was killed, and he went after it. When he came in 
about half way he stopped, threw his head to one side, and 
then made as stiff and pretty a point as you ever saw, with 
this great, big grouse still in his mouth. This produced an- 
Dther bird. A tittle later on he made another point, which 
was also added to the bag, 1 think if I had had time to hunt 
that patch of wood I could have found twelve or fifteen 
grouse easily enough." 
The foregoing record is a large one, though more surpris- 
ing in the grand totals than for the daily scores. An aver- 
age of over fifteen birds to the gun for four days is an unusual 
one nowadays. Many may ask how it comes that such a 
shooting country still exists in the North, but I may reply 
that this is a result of a close protection. These few guns 
did well this year. Throw this little country open to all the 
guns, and half a dozen birds to the gun would be above the 
average- The shooting there is still good because the market 
tunting has been stopped there, but I do not think the local- 
y can stand even to heavy a drain as is above mentioned 
for very many seasons, nor do I believe that such shooting is to 
be predicted for any unpreserved country in the North for , 
any very great length of time. I enjoyed most of all the 
sport with the grouse, of which I had never before seen so 
many on a hunt. E Hough. 
1200 BoYCK Btjildino, Chicago 
Iowa Game Export. 
AiiGONA, la., Nov 27.— Editor Forest and Stream: 1 notice 
in the Forest and Stream of Nov. 37 an article stating 
that a New York game dealer is quoted as saying to the re- 
porter of the Evening Pod that he had received 350 dozen 
grouse and 400 dozen quail from Iowa. 
Any one who knows anything about Iowa game knows 
that that is all talk. Iowa game laws are well observed, 
and no such amount of game has left the State this season. 
There is a class of people who like to see our game laws 
violated, but they are few in numbers. I should judge that 
the New York game dealer was one of that crowd. 
.John G. Smith, 
President of the Iowa State Association for the Protection 
of Fish and Game. 
An Undesirable Industry. 
Me. Ohaeles Hallock writes a timely word of caution 
to the people of eastern North Carolina respecting the con- 
servation of their deer supply. He sends this letter to the 
New Berne Journal: 
I notice in your paper of recent date a statement to the 
effect th5,t "the continued shipment of bear meat and veni- 
son to Northern markets is assuming the aspect of an in- 
dustry, "and that carcasses are expressed almost daily over 
the A. & N. C R R bound northward. 
This new movement, I maj' say, is easily accounted for by 
the fact that Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, 
from which market venison has hitherto been principally 
drawn, have forbidden the shipment of deer meat beyond 
the State limits, and that the game wardens are strenuously 
enforcing the law, under the stimulus of big pay and large 
rewards. Market hunters have therefore changed their 
guests to eastern North Carolina, which they find even easier 
of access than their old stamping grounds, and although the 
deer are not more than half the size of their Northern kin- 
dred, they are at present easier to capture and ship, and upon 
the whole more remunerative. 
Now, although I have sought, conscientiously, for seven 
years past, to attract legitimate sportsmen to your section, 
and am even now pressing the purchase of Bogue backs 
upon a select club as a game preserve of unequaled attrac- 
tions, yetjl confess that I am sorry to see that the remorseless 
market hunter has found his way thither, for he will soon 
make a barren and a desolation of every present haunt of 
game. The only possible chance to save the deer now, and 
all lesser game afterward, is to interdict his efforts, and no 
county law or legislature enactment will stop them so prompt- 
ly and completely as a strict enforcement of the common 
trespass law. Let every owner of marsh and forest lands 
post them forthwith, permitting shooting at discretion (and 
better far for a fee than for no compensation), and bravely 
prosecute offenders at sight, relying upon the conservatism, 
providence, and self-interest of the community to back him. 
I pray that you may see fit to indorse this proposition 
editorially and that every journal in interest may copy it. 
By-and by it will be too late. 
I have lived in your section, and call myself one of your 
people, and I have made a life study of game and forest 
problems. Hence I feel sure of my position when I declare 
that unless this wholesale slaughter of deer is stopped in 
your section, right away, there will be no deer left for sport 
two years hence. Mark these words ! 
Heretofore your neighbors have had all the vension they 
needed for meat, at any season of the year; and seldom has 
any animal been wantonly killed. 1 had rather depend upon 
the common sense of a conservative community for my close 
and open seasons than upon the State or county laws. The 
game will fare better, and everyone, farmers as well as 
sportsmen, will have more sport. I do not hold modern 
legislative enactments in the highest esteem, by any means. 
They irritate every one they touch : hunters, middlemen, 
and consumers aUke, and in general they defeat the objects 
which they claim to wish to promote. I have always looked 
upon eastern North Carolina as a primitive Eden, where no 
tempter landed, and where no threats from tables of the law 
disturbed the peace and pastime of the people. I am sorry, 
then, I say, that the hedge is already broken down, and a 
breach been made in the closing. 
Let us station timely guards thereat, and protect what is 
left. I am sure that if responsible parties of means would 
only purchase Bogue banks, which can be bought for less 
than $1 per acre, it could be preserved as a nursery and 
refuge for hundreds of deer for decades to come. And if 
farmers would only make a practice of protecting their out- 
laying lands, and leasing their shooting privileges to appli- 
cants at discretion, they would be able to realize a nice little 
income for the permits they issued, which should in all cases 
be printed. 
The Maine Game ladustry. 
The Bangor & Aroostook R. R. Passenger Department has sent out 
this game record for October and November, 1897. The table shows 
the amount of game shipped from our stations during the above 
months. Moose shipments were from Oct. 15 to Dec. 1: 
October. November. 
Shipped from. Deer. 
Caribou........ 3 
Presque I*le ,. .. 
Fort Fairfield,... 
Houlton 1 
Oakfield 3 
Island Falls,. 11 
Orystal . . • • . t.ii J.. ^ 
Patten M 
Sherman ., 14 
Stacy ville &8 
Grindstone 62 
Millinockett 31 
Twin Dam 11 
Norcross 261 
SomhTwin... 16 
Perkins' Siding 24 
Ingails' Siding 32 
West Seboois.. 19 
Schoodic 84 
Brown ville, 1" 
Milo..... 3 
Alton..,*..,.*,........ 1 
Ashland. 33 
Masardis. , IS 
St. Croix 6 
Weeksboro 1 
Smyrna Mills 2 
Katahdin Iron Works. 36 
Brown ville Junction. . 4 
Monson 5 
Greenville 437 
Shirley 2 
Monson Junction 1 
Guilford 1 
Lagrange 
Mars Hill and B 
South Sobec 
Abbot Village ... 
Blanchard , 
aioose. 
2 
1 
1 
Caribou. Deer. Moose, Caribou, 
1 
16 
11 
Total game.. .....1,246 
55 
20 
2 
1 
1 
5 
4 
2 
113 
34 
82 
43 
27 
9 
179 
14 
17 
38 
44 
46 
8 
2 
. 1 
33 
36 
2 
*3 
56 
12 
6 
173 
14 
"i 
6 
o 
1 
1 
3 
1,023 
4 
7 
3 
'i 
1 
1 
'6 
2 
37 
In Central New York. 
Caytjga Coontt, N. Y., Dec. 5.— Partridge shooting in 
Cayuga county is usually fair, excepting that this year, 
where last year there were a dozen birds, this year there are 
none. Shooters say it is due to the cold weather last spring. 
Ducks on Cayuga Lake and Seneca River are quite 
plenty, some fair bags being made. Rabbits and squirrels 
are fairly plenty in some parts; rabbits are ferrettd and 
squirrels shot six weeks before ihe open season begins. If 
the sale of game could be stopped game would soon be quite 
plentiful again and old-time shooting had. I, C. U. 
Ruddy Ducks. 
CtJBEiTTJCK Sound, Nov. 29. — It has only been a few 
years since this delicious and now famous little duck was 
not considered valuable ; in fact, I have often let them swim 
around among my decoys for hours at a time, not consider- 
ing them worth a load of shot. To-day the demand far 
exceeds that of the canvasback, and the price, considering 
the size, is quite equal. Did you ever try a ruddy duck 
breakfast? Split on the back, leaving the breast whole; sea- 
son with pepper and salt only; place inside a hot stove or 
ranse; cook fourteen to eighteen minutes. Serve with 
hominy, and you have a breakfast for any one. About nine 
years ago we had the pleasure of helping to introduce the 
ruddy duck to some of the members of the Manhattan Club, 
insisting at the time that they were quite as good as the 
canvasback, if killed at Currituck or Havre de Grace, and it 
has only taken those few years to convince the general pubhc 
that we were right. 
This little bird, when its value was not known, as we have 
said, was very tame, but now the schemes resorted to for 
their capture are numerous and novel. One of the plans 
largely resorted to is to place a battery or sink-box in the 
line of flight, placing the iron ducks inside the box and 
tying them underneath the platform, using no decoys at all. 
The shooter then places his feet to windward and shoots the 
game going before the wind. The best practice for this kind 
of shooting is to have a baseball pitrher stand twenty paces 
away and throw balls straight at your head. The general 
average for our best shots at Currituck is one killed in three 
shots, but some of them claim to kill half of the time. 
There are many oth- r schemes resorted to, but I have 100 
ruddy duck decoys and use nothing else. They are a very 
proud duck these late years, and rarely associate with red- 
heads or canvasback decoys. 
Some fine bags have been made during the past week, and 
the condition was never better. Should the reader decide to 
take our advice, from now until Christmas is the best time. 
Redheads are still rather scarce, but canvasbacks were more 
plentiful during the past week. Cukrittjck, 
Widgeon Point. 
Kingston, Mass , Nov. 37.— The shooting at the ponds in 
Plymouth county. Mass , is not so good this year as it has 
been in the last two or three. At Silver Lake the leading 
stand is Widgeon Point, as usual, with eighty-one geese to 
their credit up to the present time. They have a good lead 
over the others, and Mr. Arnold says they will have no 
trouble in keeping ahead. There was a pleasant party at this 
place last week, when the club entertained Mayor William- 
son and friends from Brockton. With the Mayor were Dr. 
Riply, chairman of Board of Health; E. M. Low, Wm. H. 
Shaw, and also J. A. Curtis, from Reading, Pa. There were 
also present friends from Boston and the members of the 
club. Mr, C. H Carey, secretary of Board of Health of 
Brockton, who with Mr, Theo. Ainold, of North Abington, 
are the largest owners in the club, received the party and 
conducted them to the dinner table, which was set for 
twenty-one. It was a game dinner, and was prepared by 
Millard Churchill, assisted by Oliver Bryant, two cooks hard 
to beat when wildfowl are to be served. The party was en- 
tertained with stories by Mr. Bryant and also by Mayor 
Williamson, and Mr Churchill related some of his war ex- 
periences and army life. ■ 
Everything was enjoyed to the fullest; and George and 
Herb, tried to get some geese for the crowd to shoot at, but 
the best they could do was to see two flocks, and the friends 
had the pleasure of seeing the decoys work. 
The club hopes that with some cold weather the birds will 
fly again, and then they will run up the score.- For a good 
time and a first-class fellow, I will recommend Widgeon 
Point Club and Theo. Arnold. P. E W. 
Daath of Fayette S. Giles. 
Fayette S. Giles, the founder and promoter of the 
Blooming Grove Pdrk Association, died at New Berne, N. 
C, from heart disease on Sunday. Mr. Giles had not been 
in robust health for some time. He was on a hunting trip 
to North Carolina and had been visiting his relatives there. 
In 1870 Mr. Giles conceived the idea of establishing a large 
and suitable game preserve within easy reach of New York, 
Within a year he had selected a site in Pike county, Pa. By 
1871 he had effected the organization of the Blooming Grove 
Park Association. The Association now owns or controls 
over 20.000 acres, one-fourth of which is timber land, besides 
many miles of the adjaiuing streams. 
Black Duck Decoys. 
r 
Cape Cod, Mass. — Black duck decoys can be bought on 
the Cape from most of the shore gunners. They are small 
black duck decoys bred from the wild black duck, and the 
best all-round decoy I have ever used. 
I have owned some gray call ducks, but they never were 
so satisfactory as the ones the gunners use here; besides they 
would not breed to the extent of the ones here. 
The black are a merry lot, and as noisy a lot of ducks as any 
one would want. Shooters generally use about twenty to 
thirty of them in their stands on the shore of ponds or laiies. 
The prices that most of the gunners here ask for them range 
from 50 to 75 cents apiece when the season ends. 
Theo. Gray. 
But is there any Game there? 
Alliance, Nov. 30. — Afarmerliving just over the line in 
Mahoning county from this city, contrary to the actions of Ifls 
neighbors who have forbidden hunting or shooting on their 
farms, has posted the following notice: 
"Hunt and shoot all you want to on this farm, and when 
the bell rings come in to dinner." 
Books ^or Holiday Gifts. 
The Forest and Stream Publishing Co. invites attention to its list of 
works on outdoor life and sport as including many books which are 
admiirably adapted to be given as Christmas or New Year's gifts. 
Mather's "Men I Have Fished With," Whitehead's "Camp-Fires of 
the Everglades,'' Robinson's Danvis books, Gritmell's Indian books, 
the Boone and Crockett Club's series, Kunhardt's "Small "Saehts," 
and the "Supplement" to it— these are some of the volumes which 
are in subject and examples of fine book maklug certain to be valued. 
The list is given on another page. Orders should be sent in such sea- 
3, on that they may be filled in titne for the holidays. 
