Aug. 13, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
127 
|»ur sleds up to the door of my cabin just at dark, so tired 
|nd worn out that I think we felt in our own minds 
that only fools would undertake such a trip. However, 
F feel gratified now that we made the trip, and saw the 
Rockies wrapt in their winter mantle, which to me was 
furious and interesting. 
I Since then we have ridden past some of our camp 
grounds on bare ground, and sitting on an ordinary sad- 
lie horse we could, by reaching up, just lay our hand 
In top of the stumps of the trees we cut for wood. They 
Ire a source of wonder to people finding them, and not 
S nowing how they were cut. 
1 We found grouse to be very wild and harder to ap- 
Iroach than on bare ground, which is doubtless due to 
■heir being hunted harder by animals. 
Emerson Carney. 
I MORGANTOWN, W. Va. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
New Brunswick Notes. 
\ The salmon fishing season in this Province, which 
■/ill close on the 15th inst, has been above the average 
If former years in regard to the supply of fish. While 
■he catch on the Restigouche has been relatively small, 
fshermen on the Nepisiguit, Northwest and Southwest 
Iliramichi, and Dungarvon, have had excellent luck, A 
leculiar feature of the fishing on the Southwest for the 
I ast four years has been the almost total absence of adult 
■almon, whereas grilse, averaging about 4lbs. in weight, 
lave been quite plentiful. Last year was an "off season 
lo far as this river is concerned, owing to an immense 
■am of logs which filled the stream for miles and stopped 
|he fish from getting up. Mr. Edgar Hanson, of Fred- 
i'ricton returned from Boiestown the other day after a 
two weeks' trip. He brought home about fifty grilse, but 
lo large salmon, and saw very few of the latter in the 
fools. On the Dungarvon, however, a tributary of the 
liouthwest, a party from Fredericton, consisting of Dr. 
fcoulthard, James S. Neill, Joseph Walker and Dow 
Simmons, brought home about thirty salmon, of which 
En were adult fish. They also bagged a large number ot 
■rout running from 2 to 4-lbs. in weight. 
I Tourist travel has been very light in New Brunswick 
■his summer, owing doubtless to the war. But there will 
|e no falling off in the attendance of sportsmen when the 
fig game season sets in. I have up to date personally 
iDcated about forty parties in different sections of the 
I'rovince. The fine display made by New Brunswick 
It the Sportsmen's Exhibition last March, and the al- 
Inost uniform success attained by our American friends 
Ivho came here last fall, axe having the effect. of bring- 
ing in many hunters who never tried this Province be- 
fore. Owing to the improved methods of protection now 
imrsued by the Government, under the able management 
If Surveyor-General Dunn, the supply of moose and deer 
Is certainly on the increase. Caribou, which are becom- 
ing so rare in Maine, are probably not more than holding 
their own in this Province. Some of the guides say 
that the decline of the caribou is owing to some kind of 
Insect that preys upon them. The caribou has not the 
lame fondness for water as the moose, and hence is 
Lreatly afflicted with insectivorous pests in warm 
fveather. 
The lakes at the head of Tobique will be visited by 
|nany visiting sportsmen this fall One of the guides m 
Ihat region, Adam Moore, of Scotch Lake, while erect- 
ing camps there in July saw forty-eight moose and ten 
beer. He states that twelve of the moose were adult 
Snills. Plenty of bear and caribou "sign" were noted, but 
fione of the animals were actually seen. A Boston 
Iportsman returned the other day from a trip of an un- 
Irsual sort with the veteran guide, Henry Braithwaite. 
IHe accompanied the latter for several weeks m his bear 
trapping operations. Henry caught eight bears. The 
■Boston man enjoyed the experience immensely. He said 
lie preferred a trapped bear to a loose one. 
I Nine out of every ten sportsmen inquiring about New 
■Brunswick want to come in September. This makes it 
fiard for all of them to secure good guides. Very few 
Leem to care for snow hunting in November and Decem- 
ber, which is by far the surest way to get a moose. 
Frank H. Risteen. 
1 Fkepkricton, N. B., Aug. 4. 
From Currituck. 
Currituck, Aug. i.— The bay bird shooting for the 
.ast half of July has been excellent. Mr. L. L. Lornlord, 
of New York, spent the last ten days at L. R. White's 
place; he bagged 800, mostly yellowlegs and dowitchers. 
It has been an easy task to kill 100 birds to the gun 
in a few hours any day. Messrs. L. Overton and J. 
L. Turner, of Coin Jock, killed two very large black 
bears on Thursday of last week; the bears came up to 
the house and each took a hog weighing about ioolbs. 
and started back to the woods for their feast, but 
were overtaken and killed with bullets fired from ordinary 
shotguns. 
Mr. Bob Flora, of Shawboro, also killed a bear m 
a very novel manner. He used buckshot in the first 
barrel, which did not go through the skin, but dropped 
him dead with a charge of No. 8 shot with the second 
barrel. This was done by cutting the cartridge in hah 
between the two wads which covered the powder. It 
was a hard story to believe until I saw him fire a load 
through an inch board at 60yds. This is worth knowing, 
for one never knows when he may run across a bear 
or deer while hunting quail near the swamps anywhere 
in the South. 
Although we have hunted in this section for the past 
thirty years, we never knew that rail, or sora, as they 
are called in Virginia, raised their young in Currituck 
until this summer, but we have seen them at all ages 
and in large quantities during June and July. We also 
saw' fifty young black ducks, one day last week, which is 
more than we ever saw before. More Anon. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the; 
latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 
The Prairie Chickens of the West. 
Chicago, 111., Aug. 6. — Optimism is not in order in 
dealing with the prairie chicken question of to-day, how- 
ever desirable it may be as a general thing in human 
affairs. The time was when, as the chicken season drew 
near, friends might say to each other joyfully: "Let us 
take our guns and dogs and go out for a pleasant and 
sociable shoot." In those days it was not a question 
of a scramble, but the shooters who planned for a few 
days of sport might be sure that they would not be 
disappointed. It was not a question in those days of 
early or illegal shooting, for the birds were so abundant 
that the illegal demands did not lessen the supply be- 
yond the requirements of sport, although the common 
law of the shooters ran to the effect that birds might be 
killed as soon as they were half or two-thirds grown. 
The results of those easy, fatal days of certainty and 
abundance are known in the history of sport in this 
country. 
To-day all this is changed. Shooters cannot say to 
each other, "Let us celebrate opening day with a little 
assembly of our own." There is no certainty that any 
place can be found where the shooting will be good on 
the opening day of the season. Tt is to-day not a ques- 
tion of choosing a place, but of searching out a place. 
The illegal shooting outweighs the legal shooting, and 
those sportsmen who wish to observe the law have first 
of all to consider the results of shooting which begins a 
month or two months before the legal season opens. That 
optimism which sees in the fact that we still have prairie 
chickens in the West any augury of the fact that the 
supply will ever again be anything like sufficient to sup- 
ply the demand is too credulous to claim respect. We 
have too many guns in the country now, and these guns 
are in part owned by too many greedy and unreasoning 
men to permit us ever again to look for the pleasant lit- 
tle chicken party where the shooters might sally forth 
confident that they would get their game. In some 
localities the law has been and will be enforced, but usu- 
ally the law has been best enforced, where the birds were 
scarcest. Some few f-.vored sportsmen will have good 
shooting on the first week of the opening season in this 
State and other Western States, but for one party which 
gpes out and returns successful there will be a score of 
parties who will come back disappointed of even reason- 
able results. 
These statements I take to be facts, based upon con- 
siderable experience and a wide inquiry. That they are 
unfortunately true I believe to be attributable to that 
selfishness of human nature which still hangs on to the 
old common law of killing a chicken as soon as it can 
fly. Out in the West a couple of decades ago, if we were 
driving along the road across the prairie, with no gun 
in the wagon, and if we saw a flock of young chickens fly 
up and light, again in the grass, it was not uncommon to 
go after them and secure a mess for supper by no better 
means than the lash of a long wagon whip. The young 
and tender bird, fluttering up out of the grass, was so dull 
of flight that the lash of the whip brought down straight 
on its line of flight would very often cut it down with 
broken neck or wing. There was no law forbidding the 
killing of these birds at any time, because it seemed they 
could never be appreciably diminished in their numbers 
by any means whatever. 
"The years have passed since then, and with them 
have changed many things.' But that same helplessness 
of the young prairie chicken in July and August still 
remains unimproved in the way of nature. The thought- 
lessness of human nature still remains in many cases also 
unchanged. Regardless of the law, regardless of the 
changed conditions, there are still a great many men in 
this country who will take their guns and begin cutting 
down the young prairie chickens from the time they are 
able to top the grass in their feeble efforts to fly. I do 
not hesitate to say that if a decent chicken date could be 
set for the Western country, and if that date should be 
absolutely respected, we should still have left in this 
country plenty of shooting on these birds, not only for 
the hom but for the gentlemen of the land. It is to-day 
a question of illegal shooting, and not a question of the 
natural supply. When we were boys in school we de- 
cried that spirit of cowardice which took advantage of 
odds. As boys we were sportsmen. We said, "Two on 
one ain't fair!" The thousand-to-one odds against the 
prairie chicken are not fair. Give it a chance and it 
will take care of itself, as will a boy, or as will any other 
animal. This bird has not had its chance. 
In Illinois. 
In the State of Illinois we have the curse of sooner 
shooting though there are still prairie chickens and 
possibilities of prairie chickens in considerable numbers 
in different sections of the State. There was one Illinois 
iudo-e Judge Ramsey, of Whiteside county, who did 
more 'last year to injure the prairie chicken in Illinois 
than can be done for its benefit in the next ten years. 
This judo-e had a criminal case before him under the 
chicken law, and decided that the law was unconstitu- 
tional and that shooters might begin killing prairie 
chickens on Aug. 15 instead of Sept 15. Tins sort of 
law pleased hundreds of shooters in this State, and the 
effect of this decision is still distinctly noticeable to-day. 
For instance, I have before me a letter on this head, a 
sample of many which have been received at this office, 
and the like of which Warden Loveday tells me have 
come into his office in very great numbers. This letter 
^"Fulton, 111., Aug. 5— As some parties here tell me 
they intend to go out and shoot prairie chickens on the 
15th of the present month, on the decision of Judge 
Ramsey, of this county, given last fall, will you please tell 
me if that decision was upheld or reversed by a higher 
court D. N. Allison." 
Of course the answer to this letter is that the chicken 
date in Illinois is Sept. 15. in spite of Judge Ramsey, who 
has not yet the honor to be the whole Supreme Court ot 
Illinois. The case brought before him was a criminal 
case and hence no appeal could be taken from it. But as 
J have earlier stated, Warden Loveday will prosecute all 
cases where persons -are discovered shooting before 
Sept. 15. I would, advise, all sooners to respect this latter 
legal date, else they may learn a thing or two about the 
wrinkles of the law which shall not prove to their lik- 
ing. Warden Loveday will this season prosecute not 
with criminal cases, but with civil cases, bringing an ac- 
tion for debt in the name of the State of Illinois. Thus, if 
a man has any property, he may find his sooner shooting 
a direct tax on this property. Where a man has no 
property, he will be prosecuted criminally, and the war- 
den will" take his chances, on the basis that there may be 
judges in this State who do not quite agree with Judge 
Ramsey. It will therefore be wisest to wait till Sept. 
15- 
The Law and ths Land. 
I have talked with Warden Loveday to-day about the 
chicken prospects, more especially in regard to the early 
illegal shotoing. He is just back from a week's trip out 
in the State, He says that at Galesburg there is a very 
bad state of affairs. Shooting chickens has already be- 
gun, and many of the best men, leading business men of 
the town, are going out right along after the birds. At 
Bloomington affairs are a little better. There is a new 
club there, which has raised some money, and asked for 
an outside deputy, not trusting to the services of any 
local man. At Poutiac the law is better observed this 
year than it was last. At Mendota matters are very 
bad, and there is a great deal of open defiance of the 
law. At Minonk matters are equally bad. and also at 
Assumption. A great many complaints of sooner shoot- 
ing came from Pekin. At Champaign the sooners have 
been at work two weeks. At Anawa the illegal shooting 
has been very pronounced. At Beard stown there is a 
very nest of illegal shooters, and at Kinderhook matters 
are about equally bad. The shooters of Keithsburg. Ill- 
are many of them already going out after prairie chickens. 
In Kane county the law has been well observed. At 
Macomb the better class of shooters has prevailed and 
the law has had fair observance. An amusing letter from 
one of Warden Loveday' s deputies came in to-day. The 
latter says to his superior officer that if he can get the 
"sports" to hold off till Sept. 15 he will not begin shoot- 
ing himself. "But if they are a-goin' to shoot Aug. 
15, I feel as if I had ought to shoot, too," he says. This 
naive confession 'may have done good to the soul of that 
deputy, and it shows very clearly the mental attitude of 
all too many shooters. 
Mr. Loveday tells me that in the low country of the 
State the birds were drowned out last spring by early 
rains. Some of them nested again, and these late coveys 
are not any bigger than quails at this date. 
So far as he is able to determine, Warden Loveday 
thinks very few illegal chickens are coming into Chicago 
market. He has seized only five illegal birds. Young 
prairie chickens are worth $9 a dozen on the market 
here, but are hard to get. The demand for them, from 
clubs, etc., is very strong. 
Warden Loveday is planning an extensive campaign 
against the illegal prairie chicken shooters of this State. 
He will need to send out deputies, lawyers, witnesses, 
etc. It costs money to go to law, and Air. Loveday 
wants more money. Hearing that the Illinois State 
Sportsmen's Association has a certain amount of money 
set apart for the purposes of game protection, Mr. Love- 
day is writing to the president of that Association, ask- 
ing help for his summer campaign against the sooner 
shooters. There is a chance here for the sportsmen to do 
some good. A glance over the list of towns above 
mentioned will discover the fact that some of the places 
where illegal shooting is going on are towns where clubs 
of sportsmen are organized which send delegates to the 
State Association. If the latter can help the warden it 
will be helping the better element of sportsmanship in 
these towns. 
In Texas. 
Chicken shooting began in the State of Texas on Aug. 
1, and reports from that State are on the whole not very 
roseate. It is stated that the birds have been pretty well 
shot out in some parts of the country, and that in other 
parts a great many ranches have been posted. Of 
course, for a State so large as Texas it is absurd to make 
any general statement. The above reference comes more 
especially from the section about Houston, which was 
once a very good chicken country. The new law of 
Texas, forbidding the shipment of chickens from the 
county in which they are shot, will receive its first serious 
test this summer, and by some it is considered not an 
unmixed benefit. 
In Oregon. 
The sooner is abroad in the State of Oregon, and re- 
ports come from the neighborhood of Portland that a lit- 
tle hustling would uncover a lot of illegal shooting. In 
the Willamette Valley grouse, quail and pheasants are 
all a good crop, and if the shooters will hold off until 
Sept. 1 they can all have sport. The State of Washing- 
ton opens its season two weeks earlier, and many Ore- 
gon shooters go across the line. 
In North Dakota. 
Advice from Forman, N. D., states that chickens were 
never more abundant than they were this. summer, that 
the law has been well observed, and Hie prospects for 
opening day, Aug. 20, are very good indeed. 
In South Dakota. 
In South Dakota the chicken season opens Sept. 1. A 
report from Mitchell, S. D., states that the sooners have 
been at work for over two weeks. This week Warden 
W. B. Dodson succeeded in arresting Thomas Fuller- 
ton, Peter Burns, Dick Smith and Ted Wedehose, who 
all pleaded guilty and paid $10 apiece for the birds they 
had killed. This has rather cast a gloom on the sooners 
around Mitchell, and I shouldn't wonder if they thought 
the law was unconstitutional. 
In Wisconsin. 
The State of Wisconsin is not by any means to be 
sneezed at as a prairie chicken country.' The law opens 
there on Sept. 1, but, of course, the sooners cannot wait. 
In the neighborhood of Ipswich the shooters have paid 
no attention to the law. The wardens made a raid and 
