Sept. io, 1898,] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
209 
carrier's wind, and is easy on his back. The lumber 
cruiser carries 60 to 8olbs. on his back in one of these 
bags when he starts out on a trip. Not all soldiers 
could carry so much, for this is matter of long training 
in a country where men have to carry everything, but 
the arrangement of straps on this bag is very practical 
and easy. 
E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
Covers near Town. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I stopped off at a little town not a hundred miles from 
New York, and interviewed, informally, two of the lead- 
ing sportsmen in the vicinity. I asked them what the 
chances were for shooting in their vicinity when the 
open season comes around. They said that partridges 
were plenty, the mild winter having been especially 
favorable for their preservation. Quail were also more 
numerous than usual, and woodcock were plentiful, if 
one only knew where to hunt for them. After giving me 
in a' general way the conditions of game, the chief 
spokesman said: "Don't say anything about it in 
Forest and Stream, for if you do we shall be over- 
run with gunners from the city." This statement is a 
fair representation of the feeling toward gunners from 
the large towns. Local gunners are very jealous of 
the game in their vicinity, and are seldom disposed to 
share it with outsiders. In many towns, which have 
a reputation for gunning or fishing, there is consider- 
able jealousy and more or less hard feeling between 
the hotel proprietors and the local sportsmen other 
than guides. The former would advertise the locality 
as the best place to gun, fish, etc., while the latter would 
keep the fact that game abounds as quiet as possible. 
It would seem as though the best method is to organize 
a shooting or fishing club, post all the land in the 
vicinity, or at least enough of it to keep strangers away, 
and then let the hotel-keeper grant licenses to his guests 
for a consideration, turning the money into the treasury 
of the club. Wherever such conditions exist, the farm-, 
ers who own the land, the hotel proprietors and local 
members of the club are alike interested in preserving 
game and advertising the locality. The game is pre- 
served, the hotels do a good business, and local sports- 
men — who join the club — find that after the visiting 
sportsmen get all the game they want— or can get — 
there is more left than when the location of a flock of 
quail or feeding grounds of woodcock were secrets 
to be divulged only after the birds had been all bagged 
or scattered. Farmers as a rule prefer to have local 
sportsmen shoot the game on their premises, but have 
no objection to outsiders who recognize their rights. 
G. 
Trapping the Coon* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
You have started ''coon lore" by quoting from the 
Fur Trade Review. There is no telling when the dis- 
cussion will die out. You may have to call a halt, but 
before that happens I wish to have my say. 
Since I have lived on the Cape (fourteen years) I have 
trapped eleven coons. Six young coons were trapped in 
the fall, and five old ones, three in the spring, two in the 
fall, all of which were trapped in the woods. 
Now here comes this Fur Trade Review fellow and 
says: "If any one ever told you he trapped a coon in 
the woods, he told you what never happened." This stuff 
is pure bosh. There is not a farmer boy in the New 
England States that cannot cite one case at least where 
a coon was trapped in the woods. 
Off and on from boyhood up I have trapped coons. 
Trapped them in cornfields, in hen houses, in shoal water 
marshes, where they went to feel out frogs, and often 
in the woods by the carcass of a horse or sheep. I have 
had no more trouble in trapping coons than one would 
have in trapping woodchucks. The coons on Cape Ann 
live in ledges and under boulders. Ten of the coons 
caught since I have lived here were trapped at the 
hole. The trap was covered with dead leaves in each 
case. The other coon was caught in a trap set under a 
hemlock spray that drooped to the ground. The bait 
was suspended above the trap. In two cases the coon 
could escape without danger from the trap, for there 
happened to be two entrances to the den. 
Your Fur Trade Review coon hunter says a coon will 
starve in his den if a trap is set at the entrance. I think 
he must have set his trap in the winter, while the coon 
was taking his winter nap. 
To trap or poison the fox is another thing, and calls 
for much skill or ingenuity. Hermit'. 
Wyoming; Game. 
Wilson, Wyo., Aug. 18. — For the past two months 
much game has been killed in this, part of the coun- 
try — at least 100 antelopes, and how many elk and deer 
no one knows. The main antelope country lies along 
the west side of Snake River, below Jackson's Lake. 
Any one riding through this country could usually see 
300 or 400 antelopes in one day's ride. I passed through 
that part of the country last week, and during the 
whole of my ride could see only thirty-one antelopes. 
The cause of this is that there is no game warden to 
protect the game. There is one deputy £tate warden, 
but he refuses to act on account of receiving no salary. 
The county commissioners refuse to appoint wardens 
under a salary, as the law provides for. This is, I be- 
lieve, the hardest blow that the big game of Jackson's 
Hole has been dealt. People coming to this country to 
hunt will soon hear of this, and will, of course, not take 
out any hunting license. Fred E. White. 
A Moose Hunting Opportunity. 
An opportunity is offered for one to join in a trip 
to New Brunswick for moose hunting; and we shall be 
glad to put inquirers into communication with a New 
York gentleman personally known to the Forest and 
Stream. 
Newfoundland Notes. 
The claim of Newfoundland to the title of the 
"sportsman's paradise" would seem to be well founded, 
judging from the following clipping from the Herald, of 
St. Johns, of date Aug. 12: 
"Judge Prowse has just returned from a successful 
fishing trip on the west coast, and reports that about 
Codroy is a veritable sportsman's paradise. Messrs. 
Ritchie, of London, and Howell, the great tobacco 
manufacturer, secured 75olbs. salmon and trout during 
their stay, some of the former tipping the scales at 
i7lbs. Sir W. V. Whiteway and party did some excel- 
lent fishing, taking a 35lb. salmon with an ordinary 
rod. It is Mr. Ritchie's intention to erect a building 
at the Codroy River for next season's sport, and we pre- 
dict that hundreds will visit Newfoundland when it is 
known that 110 other country can give the same facili- 
ties for rod or gun as this can, while one can be drop- 
ped from the train within two minutes' walk of the best 
places in the island." 
This island, heretofore considered almost inaccessible, 
is now fast becoming a favorite resort for American 
travelers and sportsmen. The scenery around Codroy 
and Bay of Islands, it is said, will compare favorably 
with that of any other part of America. There is tri- 
weekly connection with the continent, and the Trans- 
Insular Railway, running this season 1 for the first time, is 
equipped with all modern luxuries. In consequence of 
some notes which appeared in Forest and Stream 
some time ago from this island, your correspondent has 
had numerous inquiries from readers from all parts of 
the United States for information as to the means of 
getting here. For the benefit of sportsmen, I would 
simply repeat that there is tri-weekly connection by rail 
and by the palace steamer Bruce, and that through re- 
turn tickets may be had of any of the large railway 
companies in New York for about $54- This includes 
passage in the Bruce, railway accommodation from New 
York to Sydney, and railway accommodation to any 
point in Newfoundland from Port au Basque, the port 
of connection, . W. S. C. 
Death of Ernest Coulson. 
Tupper's Lake Station. Aug. 30.— The first tragedy 
in the Adirondack region since the opening of the hunt- 
ing season occurred at an early hour Sunday morning 
in the woods about four miles from this place, on the 
road to Saranac Inn. Ernest Coulson, one of the best 
Adirondack guides, was shot through the body, the shot 
entering the back under the right shoulder blade and 
passing through his heart, completely rupturing that 
organ. Coulson was with a fellow guide, Zeke West- 
cott, and had been out all night looking for deer. They 
had heard a rustle in the woods, and imagined it was a 
deer. Just then their attention was attracted by a sound 
further up the road. Before Westcott could discern the 
newcomers there was a crack of a rifle and Coulson fell 
among the bushes along the roadside, dead. Westcott 
said he was able to distinguish the shadowy forms of 
two men, who took to their heels and disappeared among 
the trees. Westcott shouldered the body of his fellow 
guide and friend and tramped to this place. A call was 
sent to Saranac for a coroner. Meanwhile the citizens 
are endeavoring to unravel the mystery and determine 
whether guide Coulson met with foul play or was killed 
accidentally by some one who was hunting for deer. 
Guide Coulson, as far as is known, had no enemy who 
could have desired his death. He had been guide for 
hundreds of the best sportsmen in the State, and his 
death will raise the question among hunters relative to 
the drafting of rules as to paths to be followed and pre- 
cautions to be taken before discharging their arms. 
Another tragedy occurred on Sunday at White Lake 
Corners, when Fred Picknall, who last year accidentally 
shot one of his sons, killed another, his youngest son, 
Philip. Picknall and his four sons had started out to 
hunt, and had separated to cover the ground more thor- 
oughly. Picknall thought he saw a deer moving in a 
thicket, and raising his gun fired. Arriving at the spot 
lie found his son Philip on the ground with a bullet 
wound in his head. 
Early Birds at Currituck. 
Currituck, N. C, Aug. 27. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Blue-wing teal, pintails and widgeon are arriving 
from the North. They are about fifteen days earlier 
this season than last; they went North much earlier last 
season than usual ; I suppose this accounts for it. Messrs. 
Joseph Serlinger, Edward Myers, Joe Cockswain and 
son, all of Norfolk, were down for a try at the bay birds 
last week. 
The yellowleg, willet and plover shooting is in its 
prime now, and some fine bags are made every day. 
Wild celery is so abundant in Currituck this season 
that it is next to impossible to navigate a boat through 
it; this should insure good duck shooting for the com- 
ing fall and winter. I am told that the old Currituck 
Club, kept by Mr. T. J. Poyner, and protected through 
the summer, has raised many broods of black ducks and 
mallards this season. 
More Anon. 
Heavy Guns and Light* 
Reading an article from the Forest and Stream on 
light guns, I have thought to give something on medi- 
um and heavy guns. It is much easier to aim a gun in 
a horizontal position; but aiming at high angles, rest- 
ing almost the entire weight on left arm or shoulder, I 
have found in rifle shooting that a heavy gun is more 
easily balanced than a light one, shooting at vertical 
angles straight up, or coming back to 45 degrees or 
more. The same principle applies to shotgun shooting. 
I have a gun weighing 7 1 /aVds., with a 24m. barrel, and 
find that this is too light weight for shooting at vertical 
angles, or when the wind is blowing. A shotgun should 
not weigh less than 81bs., single or double. As a wing 
gun firing heavy charges, it is not so apt to be kicked out 
of range on the object fired at G. W. C. 
Adirondack Deer. 
Ausable Forks, N. Y., Aug. 26. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The law abolishing the hounding of deer is 
vindicating itself, so far as this section is concerned. 
Deer are more numerous than for many years past. 
Thus far but three deer have been placed on the mar- 
ket, at this village, but presumably more have been served 
to "the friends" of the successful hunters. 
Chenango. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Where to go. 
One important, useful and considerable part of the Forest and 
Stream's service to the sportsmen's community is the information 
given inquirers for shooting and fishing resorts. We make it our 
business to know where to send the sportsman for large or small 
game, or in quest of his favorite fish, and this knowledge is frealy 
imparted on request. 
On the other hand, we are constantly seeking information of this 
character for the benefit of our patrons, and we invite sportsmen, 
hotel proprietors and others to communicate' to us whatever may be 
of advantage to the sportsman tourist. 
Bass Fishing on the Greenbrier.— II* 
The bass season, now at its height, is in some respects 
very good, though the waters have been so high that 
fishing has been greatly interfered with. It rained the 
first day of dog days and that settled it. The weather 
wiseacres had an old rule to come to time once and it is 
once more established and will last for years to come. 
Over i6in. of rainfall occurred in this section during 
the. six weeks, and for two weeks not a hook did we cast 
in the river or creek. Finally the rain centered in one 
terrible day, when 4.2m. fell, and the river and creeks 
got up and flooded the town. Your humble servant was 
chased out of house and home at midnight to his 
ancestral hall, while the water came up and around his 
house, and we had the biggest flood since '77- 
The waters went down and the weather has been dry- 
er. The common belief is that the bass have been 
shuffled somevhat, and that when we go out to fish we 
meet with bass which were hitherto strangers to this part 
of the river. Knowing very few bass by sight, it is im- 
possible for me to say. I half-way believe, however, 
that instead of coming out in the eddies or being car- 
ried down in a flood, bass go under the ledges and 
rocks generally, and stay in until the weather has 
cleared. 
The beauty of the bass this year lies in his prime 
condition. He is full of fight and vigor, and is clear 
of parasites and good to eat. The waters have been 
flush the whole summer, and well aerated, and I am in- 
formed that the bass' condition depends upon the purity 
and temperature of the Water it lives in. 
The catches have not been large, but the good fish- 
erman has hardly ever been wholly disappointed v The 
best catch I have heard of was a party of four catching 
127 in one day with grasshoppers. This is a very un- 
usual catch. One of our average bass makes a man a 
meal, so you see this party caught too many. I general- 
ly have enough of it when I get eight or ten. 
I have caught several full-grown bass this year which 
would weigh a couple of pounds perhaps, and which 
refused to come out of the water until the matter had 
been fully argued. 
If he will bear with me, I will recount a few of the 
instances which may give the reader as good an idea of 
the fishing on this river as is possible for him to get 
from me. This first real big bass I caught quite acci- 
dentally. Having started to visit a pool where there are 
some big shelving rocks "back of the meadows," one of 
the ubiquitous thunderstorms came up, and I crept 
into a pile of planks on the bank of the river. While 
there I put on a "king of the waters" (gray wings, red 
body), a favorite for this water, and waited for the rain 
to cease. Before the drops had fairly ceased to fall, I 
started out and walked across the mouth of a slough. 
The river came in against the mouth of this slough, 
forming a little pot of water, and having the fly in my 
hand, I cast it over this place, more to get the leader 
wet than for any real fishing intent. But the bass did 
not know that it was not intended for him, and he 
boiled up and took it, and my journey up the river 
was broken into. He took persuasion, and I was among 
the waterlilies, in the mud of the slough, but the. bass 
made for open river. When he was finally reeled in, he 
took refuge in the waterlilies, entirely tuckered out, and 
he was picked up ingloriously. 
On different days I landed three other big bass, two 
on a Montreal and one on a Furgerson, but there was 
no special incident connected with their deaths. They 
died game in a fair field of water. 
But into each life some rain must fall, some days be 
dark and dreary. There was a "king of the waters" 
the store clerk had sold for five cents. He reckoned 
that was what it was worth. If I took the dozen, why it 
would be fifty cents. I took the dozen and left, and it 
is said that the Jewish gentleman who owned the store 
came in shortly and told the clerk that those flies re- 
tailed at twenty-five cents, and cost $1.70 per dozen 
wholesale, and the clerk had a bad quarter of an hour. 
That particular fly had taken just twenty-five bass by 
actual count, when a bass took it and 6in, of the leader 
at the mouth of Stony Creek. It was a sad time, for I 
was beginning to get anxious about fish, not having- 
caught any. But how can a fly go better than to be thus 
taken when its work is done That was the worst day I 
ever saw. Another fly was lost in the same way, and 
-still another bass, the largest seen that afternoon, when 
just about ready to capitulate jumped out of the water 
and shook the hook_from his mouth. "Oh, the dreary, 
dreary moorland! Oh, the barren, barren shore!" 
Then again last Friday I went out, and the wind was 
