128 
caotured several men. Further raids will be made, and 
whatever may be the crop of prairie chickens in that 
vicinity, there seems to be no doubt whatever about the 
crop of sooners. 
Ohio Warden Law Unconstitutional. 
A large and gaping hole, through which any gentleman 
may toss a dog or drive a coach and four, seems sud- 
denly to have opened in the game law of Ohio. The 
law has been discovered to be unconstitutional in re- 
gard to a certain clause, and inasmuch as this clause 
happens to be that governing the appointment of the fish 
and game wardens in the various counties, it would 
appear that the question of game protection in that 
State is in a A'ery simple condition, in which the man 
with the longest legs has the best chance. 
It all happened over a squirrel which William Walker 
killed on Aug. 30, 1897, just one day before the law 
was up. He was fined, and he went to jail, and the 
costs ran up to $122.24. The auditor of Delaware county 
refused to pay these costs. Then came the lawyers, and 
just to relieve the situation Judge Wickham decided the 
law was unconstitutional, which seems to have pleased 
everybody all round, except those who think that now- 
adays a State should have game wardens and game pro- 
tection. 
The point of the decision was this: "The court holds 
that Section 409, O. L., providing for the appointment of 
fish and game warden, is unconstitutional in that it pro- 
vides for the creating of a county officer otherwise than 
by election, as provided by the constitution of Ohio." 
E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, III. 
Only One Way to Trap Coons. 
"If any one ever told you he trapped a coon in the 
woods, he told you what never happened," said a Poh- 
cuck coon hunter. "Coons can't be trapped except in 
one way, and I never found a coon hunter yet who knew 
how it was done. You may track a coon to his home 
in some crevice of a rock, which is a favorite retreat 
for him if he can find one; place your trap in front of the 
hole «.nd disguise it as much as you may — cover it a foot 
deep with leaves if you like— but that coon will never 
leave that hole as long as that trap is there. He will 
starve first. He can smell the iron of that trap, and 
he seems to know it will be death to leaw. the hole, and 
he prefers death by starvation to being trapped. I have 
tried iron traps and snares and all sorts of devices, but 
never could succeed in fooling one of these little beasts 
into getting caught by any of them. 
"It isn't often you seen a coon in the daytime, but 
you may, if you know where to look for them. If 
there is a creek anywhere in which crawfish abound, 
you may see some epicurean coon fishing for them al- 
most any day, ak-ng in the afternoon, if you hide at the 
side of the creek and keep very quiet. The coon is par- 
ticularly fond of crawfish. The way he fishes for them is 
to wade in the creek, generally going down stream. The 
crawfish live under the stones on the bottom. The coon 
feels with his forepaws under each stone he comes to, 
thrusting one paw under from one side and the other paw 
from the other side. It is a comical sight to see a coon 
fishing for crawfish. He keeps his head high in the air, 
moving it up and down and to and fro, his eyes evi- 
dently gazing at nothing, every sense seeming to be con- 
centrated on the business beneath the water. You can 
tell instantly when he has fastened on to a crawfish, for 
the expression on his face changes at once from the 
dumb, vacant stare to one of brightness and animation. 
He draws the crawfish out of the water, and standing 
erect on his hind feet, rolls it smartly between his paws. 
This crushes the shell and claws of the crawfish and 
makes the sweet meat accessible. The coon eats his cap- 
ture with great relish, and then begins the search for an- 
other one. 
"While watching a coon fishing in this way one day, I 
got the idea of trapping coons. I thought that by plac- 
ing a steel trap on the bottom of the creek where 
coons found the crawfishing good they might be de- 
ceived, and more than likely caught. I made the ex- 
periment. I sank two traps at different places on a 
favorite crawfishing route for coons, and the same after- 
noon found a coon in each trap. I have trapped hun- 
dreds of them since then, and that is the only way you 
can trap a coon." — Fur Trade Review. 
Dead River Region Game, 
Stratton, Me., Aug. 2. — Replying to numerous in- 
quiries from readers of the Forest and Stream in re- 
gard to a truthful statement as to the game to be had in 
the Dear River section of Maine, I will say that moose 
are quite plenty, and under the present existing law will 
continue to increase. I think the chances will be very 
good to secure some fine specimens this fall, after Oct. 
15. Black bears are quite numerous, and a large number 
have been trapped during the present season. Deer 
are too numerous to mention, and every sportsman com- 
ing into this section is sure to get his number of bucks 
which the law allows. Caribou are not plenty; occasion- 
ally one. Ruffed grouse, commonly called partridge, are 
much more plenty this season than last; and the out- 
look is fine for bird shooting after Sept. 20. The ducks 
promise to be an average crop. Specimens of fur-bear- 
ing animals are frequently seen, such as wildcat, black- 
cat, fox, lynx, beaver, otter, marten and mink. I shall 
be pleased to furnish reliable information to sportsmen 
intending to visit this section on a hunting trip this 
fall A. M. Jones, 
President of the Guides and Sporting Camp Owners' 
Association. 
Not all of Shooting to Shoot. 
Titusville, Pa.. Aug. 1. — The Herald of to-day re- 
cords that ex-Councilman Charles F. Emerson had a 
thrilling experience out on the old Tidiou-te grade Sat- 
urday afternoon. Mr. Emerson was woodcock hunting 
and had just brought down a bird. In proceeding in the 
direction of the spot where it had fallen he walked right 
into a veritable nest of rattlesnakes. So intent was 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
he in the search for the bird that he had not heard their 
warning rattles and was unaware of his danger until 
he caught sight of one of the reptiles directly under his 
feet. Jumping aside, he pulled up his gun and shot it 
before it could strike him, and turning around served 
another of the venemous creatures in the same manner. 
Mr. Emerson brought the two big snakes home, where 
yesterday they furnished indisputable proof of his exciting 
adventure. They had six and seven rattles respectively 
and measured 25m. and 281 n . 
Black Bass of the Bay of Quinte. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
I am well aware that your correspondents are expected 
to write for the purpose of giving your readers the 
benefit of the knowledge which they possess and not 
for the purpose of showing their ignorance, but this 
article is intended to be simply a confession of ignorance 
as to the habits and peculiarities of black bass. 
I have fished for black bass more or less for over for- 
ty years, and many years ago was conscious that I knew 
all about them, but I don't now. 
I used to know when they were through spawning and 
breeding their young in shallow waters, but do not any 
more, for our astute legislators have changed the time 
and the movements of the bass in these particulars, and 
they are now regulated by implication of law. 
I used to think that, all other things being equal, ex- 
perience and skill in casting the fly would always count 
for something, but they don't. 
A few years ago we had three days during the first 
week in June exactly alike in character and temperature, 
and on the first two days I whipped a noted bass lake 
faithfully, taking but few bass, only two or three of which 
were of fair size. On the third day two persons who had 
vcr cast a fly in their lives visited the lake and learned 
of my success. Each of them had a long reed pole and a 
line of about equal length, and between them two flies 
which some one had given to them. They "slashed" 
over the same ground fished by me, and brought in 
twenty-seven small-mouthed bass, all of good size, a 
number of them being between 2 and 3lbs., in weight. 
If asked how this happened I can only give my usual 
answer, "I don't know," but it is not an unusuaj. ex- 
perience. 
I have not fished long enough for bass, however, 
to become utterly ignorant, and still know something 
about them, and to show some things that I do not 
know it is necessary to state some of the things that I 
do know. 
That black bass usually seek deep, still waters as 
winter approaches and remain dormant and to a large 
extent imbedded in the mud during the winter is a fact 
which has long been well known; also that as the waters 
become warmed by the sun in the spring they leave their 
winter haunts for their usual spawning grounds, and 
when these grounds are situated in the inlet or -outlet 
of a lake they will migrate a long distance. In Lake 
Erie they go down the outlet nearly to the falls for 
spawning purposes, and large numbers of the bass in 
Lake Ontario descend the River St. Lawrence for scores 
of miles to reach their spawning ground, and from per- 
sonal observation and examination, as well as from the 
information derived from others, I am satisfied that 
black bass will migrate down a river for the purpose 
of reaching suitable spawning grounds full}' as far as 
shad will ascend the rivers on our coast for the same 
purpose. 
Not long after the spawning season is over, and be- 
ginning probably in the latter part of July or the 
first part of August, the bass in the St. Lawrence begm 
their return to the lake, the fishing falling off first at the 
lowest point and continuing to fall off as they work tip 
the river. 
A party of anglers recently informed me that they 
had made their home for many years at Marysville, 
which is situated near the head of the river, about three 
miles from Kingston, for the reason that thev vvi 
always sure of good catches late in the season, and 
always after the river below had ceased to furnish good 
sport. 
Some two or three years ago, while examining; into the 
habits of the bass in this river during the latter part of 
August, I happened to know that a party of anglers then 
fishing at a point some ten or twelve miles below Clay- 
ton made up a small purse, which was to belong to the 
person bringing in the largest black bass on the next 
day, and the purse was awarded on a fish weighing 6oz., 
and that shows or indicates at least that at this time the 
bass had largely returned toward the lake below and 
at this point. 
At this time the fishing was more than indifferent as 
far up the river as Clayton, and it was found by personal 
test that it improved as we approached Marysville, at 
which point it was still excellent. It is. therefore, safe 
assume, in my judgment, that the above views as to 
the gradual return of the bass to Lake Erie in the latter 
part of the season are correct. 
How far the bass which had been hatched in the St. 
Lawrence River when old enough to spawn return to 
the spawning grounds of the parent fish, as we know is 
the case with shad and salmon, is a question yet to be 
determined, but in my own judgment such is their habit; 
and jf I am correct the depletion in the St. Lawrence can 
be easily accounted for. 
In this river the fish have been taken both legally and 
:n egally in such large numbers during many years past 
that comparatively few bass visit this river for the pur- 
pose of spawning, and it is not likely that those fish 
which have their habitat in other places will frequent 
the St. Lawrence for spawning purooses any more 
than the shad which are produced in the Hudson River 
would for the same reason change to the Connecticut, 
where the fish have become scarce. 
If this is true, the evil suggests its own pemedy, and 
that is that the. bass in the St. Lawrence must be pro- 
tected and the catch limited, or in a very few years "that 
[Aug. 13, 1898. 
magnificent ground, the Thousand Isles, will afford m< 
attractions to the angler for black bass. 
But this is not what I started out to write about ij 
order to show my lack of knowledge; it has been givei. 
largely to emphasize or explain my ignorance in regan 
to black bass in the Bay of Quinte. 
This bay, as well known to most of your readers, com; 
mences not far westerly from the city of Kingston in th 
Province of Ontario, and extends along the northern shop 
of Lake Ontario for some ninety or one hundred mileji 
the head of the bay being about due north of Rochestet 
It is a sheet of water ranging from a half or three-quarter 
of a mile to two or three miles or more in width. 
On the southerly side lies what is often called "th 
Garden Land of Canada." 
The lands on the shores are in a high state of cultiva 
tion, and give evidence of great thrift and prosperity 
on the part of the owners. 
About three miles from the head of the bay and at th 
mouth of the River Trent is situated* the City of Treri 
ton. Some twelve miles to the east is the city of Belle 
ville, both on the north shore, and further down th 
bay is the city or village of Northport, from all of whic! 
some of the finest bass grounds in the bay can be easil 
reached for a day's sport. 
The head of the bay is connected with Lake Ontari 
by the Murray Ship Canal, which is some six miles i 
length, and through which the line steamers to and froi 
Toronto usually pass in order to avoid the rough wate 
in the lake. With the exception of the channel, which : 
deep enough for all lake vessels, the bay abounds i 
numerous bars or shoals having usually a depth (j 
water of perhaps 10 or 12ft., and from about the las 
week in August until in October these shoals and bat 
abound in large bass, running generally from 2 t 
4^41bs. in weight, the latter being about the limit < 
size, although larger ones have been occasionally takei 
I have taken and have seen taken many bass of th 
latter size, but have never seen one taken there that ej 
ceeded this weight. An average catch of 3lbs. is m 
unusual, and an average catch of 2j^lbs, is very comrao 
in a catch usually ranging from ten to twenty bass in 
day, and these are exclusively small-mouthed bass, n 
large-mouthed bass being found on the shoals, and jui 
here I am moved to confess my ignorance and ask whei 
do these fish come from? Inquiry of those who resic 
on the shores fails to solve the problem, and all the iv 
formation which I have been able to gather from tl 
inhabitants, as well as from those who have visited the( 
waters in the summer, is to the effect that large bass al 
very seldom seen or taken there until about the begii 
ning of September. 
The water is hardly deep enough for them to remai 
in during the winter, nor, as their habits are general! 
understood, would they be apt to stay when they can t 
easily reach the deep waters of Lake Ontario. If the 
have no other home and hibernate in these waters i 
the winter they would be there in the summer and wou! 
naturally be caught, but those taken in the sumnw 
are essentially smaller than those taken in the fall. 
In some of the issues of Forest and Stream la 
year or the year before reports of bass fishing in tl; 
Bay of Quinte were published during the summi 
months, in all of which, as I remember them, the p 
were reported as being comparatively small and tl' 
catches were about the same as those in the St. Lav, 
rence River at the same season of the year. 
It seems hardly probable that they come from the S 
Lawrence, as such large bass are rarely if ever found the: 
any more, for the reason that these waters were Ion 
ago largely depleted of their large bass, and also becaui 
the bass in this river have very generally worked the 
way back into Lake Ontario before the fishing in tl 
bay is at its best, which is from the middle of Septemb. 
to the middle of October. 
Do they' come from the lake in the early fall h 
the purpose of reaching their favorite feeding grour 
and then return in the latter part of October? Possibl: 
but if so then we have something yet to learn as to tl 
habits of these fish. 
Plow far these feeding grounds are peculiar to tl 
Bay of Quinte I have no linearis of knowing. It 
claimed by the oarsmen who have frequently visited the; 
waters that the bottom where the shoals exist is covers 
in the fall, but not earlier, with grasses and aquat 
weeds which are a few inches high, and which abour 
in small fish, and that these attract the bass. In "draii 
ging" or "drifting" with a small minnow for bait the ba. 
usually take the bait near the bottom and just abo\ 
these grasses or weeds. 
As a general rule the bass do not appear to run : 
schools, but are more or less scattered over the shoal 
On one of my last trips, however, my companion toe 
in one day on a ver3>- limited portion of one of tl 
shoals eleven bass that weighed 3ilbs., which indicate 
that he had struck a school, all of them being large fis 
On one afternoon during a previous trip the wat> ! 
became too rough for drifting, and we were oblige 
to anchor our boat, which we did close to or directly ovi 
a bar, which was near the surface, and we soon caugf 
on short lines some fifteen or twenty fish of all size 
ranging from less than a pound to over 4-lbs. in weigh 
and this indicated not only a school of bass, but ah 
that the smaller ones are not afraid of the large ones, ar 
do not keep out of their way; and this was only a rep* 
tition of a like experience on one or two other occasioi 
when forced to anchor, but when drifting over or nei 
this same bar I have never taken anything but -larj 
and usually very large bass. 
If I am correct as to these facts they do not thro 
arv additional light (but rather shed darkness) on tl 
solution of the question, where do these large ba. 
come from, and why are large ones almost exclusive 
taken and small ones so seldom taken when driftir 
over these shoals? J. S. Van Cleef. 
PouGHKEEPsrE, July 30, 
To those who contemplate visiting the Bay of Quin 
for the first time I think that I ought to say that not 
but St. Lawrence oarsmen should be employed. The-' 
are several of these oarsmen at Clayton who are tho 
oughly acquainted with all the good grounds in this bal 
The local oarsmen are not provided with the Claytc 
boats and are without experience in caring or caterirl 
lor anglers. J. S. V. C. I 
