240 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept, 24, 189& 
often been described in tbe columns of the Forest and 
Stream, and is admittedly among the finest to be found 
in the South. 1 note a very good feature in the man- 
agement of this club. In large, black-faced type, there 
is printed on the face of the report above mentioned the 
following suggestive sentence, which ought in these 
days to be on the house rules of every duck shooting 
club: "The limit is still fifty ducks per day to the man," 
Trapping Coons. 
I observe some statements in Forest and Stream 
regarding the trapping of coons. I do not remember 
whether or not I mentioned it at the time, but it is the 
fact that, when some friends from the South and my- 
self were once in camp on the sea marsh near the mouth 
of the Mississippi River, we found that country very 
much infested with coons. One of our pushers set a 
trap in a path just back of the tent, and one morning I 
saw him take a coon out of it. It was just a plain steel 
trap, and was put flat on the ground with a few straws 
over it. I set a steel trap myself, and caught a long- 
tailed mouse in it. This I know, because I found the 
tail. A coon had come along in the night and eaten the 
rest of the mouse. I don't doubt I would have caught 
him if I had not caught the mouse first. It didn't seem 
to be much of a trick to catch a coon down there. 
Michigan Record. 
The record of the Michigan State Fish and Game 
Commission for August, as shown by Warden Osborn's 
report, is forty-one complaints, twenty-one arrests, six 
convictions, one dismissal, and fourteen ' cases not yet 
trial. Of this grist all but two were fish cases. 
A Little Soon. 
Deputy Humphreys, of Sheffield, 111., this past week 
caught four parties at illegal shooting, two near Tam- 
pico and two from Mineral. The first two were fined 
$40 and costs, but the latter two could not be landed. 
They could not quite wait till Sept. 15. 
E. Hough. 
1200 Bovce Building, Chicago, 111. 
In the Aroostook Country. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It has been my custom to spend a few weeks of the 
heated term in the mountains, and for many seasons I 
have gone to the Adirondacks, but of late years the lands 
in that region best suited for hunting and fishing have 
been taken up for private use by many large owners, who 
own in some cases over 150,000 acres, and many large 
tracts are taken up by clubs, and being convenient to 
the metropolis and the many cities of the State, the other 
parts of the mountains have become dotted with large 
fashionable hotels; and the hunting and fishing have been 
very much curtailed. 
I decided to tuaKe a trip this year to the interior of 
the wilderness of Maine, and left New York at 3 P. M., 
and at noon the following day reached Masardis, on the 
Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, where I arranged to 
have a buckboard to carry my wife and nine-year-old 
boy, who have accompanied me on these outings since 
the boy was eighteen months old, when he was carried 
in a pack basket over the old Sweeney Carry and up the 
lakes to Little Tupper. 
After a comfortable ride of twelve miles from Mas- 
ardis to Ox-bow, we embarked in three canoes, and 
made our trip up the Aroostook River, arriving at Wil- 
liam Atkins' Salmon Pool Camp at 6 P. M., and while 
the fire was progressing, the cook of the party was get- 
ting ready for supper. I put a Leonard 4^>oz. rod to- 
gether, and with three favorite flies on a salmon leader, 
a scarlet hackle on the tip with a Montreal next, and a 
brown hackle last, I fished until dark, and the result 
was eleven square-tailed trout and one ouananiche. The 
trout ran from y 2 lb. to 3lbs., sufficient for a party of 
six persons for supper and breakfast, with five fish to 
take along for our mid-day meal on our trip up the 
river. 
After breakfast we were in our cano'es and under way 
by 7 A. M, on our trip of twenty-two miles up the 
Aroostook River. We had no time for fishing, as the 
current of the river is swift, and it was hard -work for 
the men at the paddles. On arriving at Millnocket 
Lake at sundown, .we were very much pleased to find 
nice, clean, comfortable camps, with spring beds and 
easy chairs, and a general air of comfort, and a hearty 
Welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Atkins and all at the camp. 
It is easy to find good fly-fishing in May or June, but 
not so in the month of August or first week of Septem- 
ber. I had some misgivings about having as much suc- 
cess during our stay as I had the first evening, but after 
a good night's rest and a hearty breakfast we paddled 
up the Chandler Brook and fished there with the same 
flies, and got twenty-one nice, square-tailed trout, the 
largest one weighing a trifle over 3ibs. The guides ar- 
ranged them on a strip, and I made a photograph of 
tneiii, which I think was a good catch for the season of 
the year, and as this has been a very dry, exception- 
ally warm season, the water is warm even in Maine, and 
the fish naturally are in deep water. 
Mr. Atkins has a line of camps through this Jerritary 
which makes it very convenient and comfortable for 
parties going in that country. The trails are well cut 
out, and wet and bad places have received careful atten- 
tion, so that a person can go to a new place every day 
for two weeks, and find a clean, comfortable, dry log 
camp every night, all under the same management, and 
all well stocked with good provisions. I was impressed 
with the number of deer and moose that I saw in travel- 
ing through the woods, and particularly in the water. 
They are tame, and allowed our canoes to get within 
15ft. of them on several occasions. 
I had a camera, and made five photographs of deer 
and two of moose. Once we got within 30ft. of a spike 
bull moose in the river, but the sun and the reflection in 
the water prevented us from getting what would other- 
wise have been a close, desirable picture. The deer and 
moose are in fine condition. There is a pond about four 
miles from Munsungan Lake, called Reed Pond. It 
contains very cold water, and the trout run large, and 
George Cole, my guide, said "it was a good moose 
country." 
On our trip from Munsungan, from the home camp, wc 
saw a lot of deer and two moose, one, a large bull, was 
swimming across the lake. He was about a mile from 
the shore, and when he saw us he seemed to climb 
right out of the water, and his great horns looked like a 
bush. But as we had left our camera at the home camp 
we could not get a picture of him. Munsungan Lake is 
very deep, and there are a great many trout in its waters. 
But although we fished it for four hours, we only got 
one trout, about 2lbs. The water was quite warm, and 
our trip to it had less success than any of the others. Jn 
fishing one day in Brown Pond, we got a -*few large 
trout and a chub that weighed over a pound, which is 
the largest one I ever saw; but I learned afterward that 
they had been caught even larger in the same pond. 
One day, while fishing near the home camp, I saw a 
few trout jumping, and cast where we had seen them 
rise. The result was a small trout on the brown hackle, 
and the vigorous little fellow made such a splutter when 
near the canoe that I gave him a long line to see how 
far he would go, and after letting him swim around a 
little we had two other trout on the remaining hooks, 
which we succeeded in landing safely in the canoe. I 
fortunately used salmon leaders, and had No. 4 flies 
tied on extra strong gut, intended more for saving 
large fish than for getting three at a time. Once, two 
years ago, at Tim Pond, I had Mrs. S. and the boy in 
the boat with me, and had the pleasure of seeing them 
take two fish on each line at once, but the trout in Tim 
Pond, (in the Dead River region) are small, and rarely 
exceed lib. 
The country near the head waters of the Aroostook 
River is a great place for deer and moose, as well as for 
large trout; and Mr. Atkins, who is a good taxidermist, 
finished seventy heads of deer, moose, caribou and bears 
deer showing the white flag; 
Photo by William Simpson. 
last season, some of which were shown at the Sports- 
men's Show, and all were killed near his camps. I saw 
twenty-one deer in one day, and one of the gentlemen I 
met at the camp counted thirty-nine in one day. The 
caribou are very seldom seen this year; and some of the 
old guides I talked with said they thought that they had 
moved off toward the Fish River country. But any- 
one who goes to the head waters of the Aroostook 
River, from the time the ice goes out until the middle 
of July, can get plenty of large trout anywhere when 
there is over 2ft. of water, and by looking around a 
little can get all a large party can eat in August; and in 
the hunting season any person who can shoot fairly well 
can get all the heads the law allows, both deer and 
moose. I am sure if the law was observed in this 
State as it is in Maine, the deer would increase rapidly 
as moose has in Maine. If our State Legislature would 
pass a law to prohibit the killing of does, and make the 
violation punishable by imprisonment, there would 
speedily be a large increase in the number of deer in the 
Adirondacks. Few persons dread the fine, but the 
prison has its terrors, and no doubt would be effective. 
And, at the same time, would make novices more careful 
what they were shooting at, and would prevent the kill- 
ing of persons by mistake, as has too often been the case. 
William Simpson. 
New York, Sept. 1?. 
Boston Gunners. 
Boston, Sept. 19. — Shore bird shooting is improving, 
and the gunners say that a storm and cool weather is 
sure to bring some excellent flights. Theoretically they 
fly far out to sea in warm, calm weather, and this seems 
reasonable, since the best shooting early in the season 
and during warm, bright weather is always to be had off 
Chatham and Monomoy; places well out to sea. Good 
reports of the shooting at that location are coming in. 
Dudley Hall brought up 120 big birds the other day, the 
returns of one gunning trip. In the lot were beetleheads, 
green plover, etc.; a beautiful bag. Sully Corcoran also 
got twenty-nine birds out of the same flight. Louis B. 
Wellington had to leave for Boston just before the best 
part of the flight, and got but few birds. C. A. Brown 
has had good shooting, and always gets his full quota of 
birds. He has succeeded in calling down a jack curlew, 
but for another gunner to shoot. One day, in one of the 
boxes off Monomoy, he was calling and looking at a 
flock of birds circling- in front of him, when, hearing a 
very near reply to his' call, he turned his head and right 
on a little humimock, not 12ft. away, were a couple of 
yellowlegs; so near that the twinkle of their bright eyes 
could be seen. He watched them for a minute or two, 
hating to bag the little fellows till they flew. 
Quite a company of Boston gunners have gone down 
to Plum Island for a shoot. Some of them will spend 
a vacation of two weeks, and hope to get some cool, 
stormy weather in that time. Leonard Chapman, a 
young gunner living with E. M. Gillam, in Reading, and 
under Mr. Gillam's training, went out yesterday with 
Gillam's dogs and flushed and bagged two partridges. 
He is only seventeen, and very proud of his success. He 
did it with a gun the stock of which is broken and 
mended, with only the left barrel being useful. He 
bought the gun last winter of a departing Klondiker for 
$5. No returns have yet come in from the Maine par- 
tridge gunners, and it is evident that they have found 
birds terribly scarce. Reports say that duck shooting 
on the Androscoggin River, from Merrymeeting Bay 
way up to Berlin Falls, is remarkably good this fall. 
Lisbon and Lewiston gunners have bagged a good 
many. 
It is reported, on excellent authority, that the very 
successful Sportsmen's Show of last March is not to be 
repeated the coming spring.* As a show venture it 
did not pay sufficiently for the promoters to be willing 
to risk weather and other features again, besides they 
believe that it would not be easy to secure new and 
striking attractions sufficient to warrant its success again 
next year. Special. 
Adirondack Deer Hunting Conditions 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There is no question that the non-hounding law is 
contrary to the sentiment of the great majority of men 
living in the Adirondacks who hunt. The natives have 
never had a law to suit them, for hounding, when per- ! 
mitted, opened too soon and closed too soon. The na- 
tive hunts for meat, and wanted the hounding season at 
a time when the weather was cold enough to keep his 1 
meat from spoiling. The hotel influence, however, was 
too strong, and the law was framed for the city guests — j 
business and professional men, college students and the 
like, who found it more convenient to hunt in August 
and September than later. The men who were born 
and bred in the same counties with the deer had to 
defer to their wishes. 
Now another distinctive influence has appeared in the 
Legislative field, and succeeded in stopping hounding ; 
altogether, against the wishes of hotel men and natives 
alike. The law is a good one, though no doubt there 
is a selfish interest at the bottom, and men who have 
studied the game problem in other States know it is in 
the interest of the deer supply. 
Its chief defect seems to be that it makes the season I 
too long, a sop apparently having been thrown to the 
hotel interest in permitting hunting to begin in Aug- 
ust, earlier than any other State in the Union, if memory 
serves me, and at a time when there can be no profit in 
killing deer. 
The effect of the law is very apparent in the Adiron- 
dackc Both hound dogs and rifles have depreciated in 
value. I bought a .38cal. Winchester rifle, model of 
1892 — a favorite deer gun here — for $8 a few days ago, 
and loading tools were thrown in as well as gun case 
and cleaning rod. Under the old conditions the late 
summer brought a sharp demand from farmers and na- 
tive sportsmen for rifles. Deer were likely to be driven 1 
almost anywhere during the hounding season, perhaps 
through the village streets, and a man who could shoot - 
often got meat even though he was no hunter. More- 
over, nearly everybody living within driving distance 
of the deer country went hunting at least two or three 
days during the season, and to go hunting it was neces- 
sary to own some kind of a gun. 
Similarly, and to a greater extent, hounds have de- 
preciated in value. Reub Heath, who has sold nounds 
for as much as $50, offered me a promising looking 
foxhound pup, two years old, for $4. Ordinarily this 
dog, coming from good stock as he did, would have 
brought $15 or $20. Reub has to keep him tied up. 
Not long ago the dog ran something — it may have been 
a fox — and was caught off by a man living in a town 
ten miles away. When Reub asked for his dog he was 
told he could have him on payment of a pretty stiff I 
fee for lodging and care, and Reub only got the dog 
back through the aid of a lawyer, who threatened to 
bring suit for theft against the enterprising harborer of 
lost dogs. One pities the poor hounds who seem bound 
to spend the rest of their days in chains, because man 
first cultivated an instinct in them and then forbade its 
use. J. B. Burniiam. 
Maine Hunting. 
Jock Darling's camps on the Sebois chain of lakes 
in northern Maine' will be open this fall under the man- 
agement of the old hunter's grandson, Natey Fogg. 
Most of Jock's old friends know the new manager as 
an obliging guide and a keen and successful hunter. I 
have had several letters from him during the summer, in 
which he mentions having seen considerable moose 
sign, and predicts an abundance of other game. The 
Sebois country is an excellent game region, there being 
a considerable mileage of dead-water streams empty- 
ing into the different lakes, on all of wdiich are good 
caribou bogs and also extensive hardwood ridges where 
deer are very abundant. Any one contemplating a trip 
to this country would do well to address N. C. Fogg, 
Patten, Me. J. B. Burnham. 
A Veteran Fisherman. 
A Rutland, Vt., communication to the New York 
Times records that Le Grand Eastman, of that city, 
ninety years and thirty days old, brought in twenty trout 
one night, after a day's fishing. Some of them weighed 
nearly a pound. He walked four miles to the stream, 
caught his fish in a few hours, and walked home, Aug. 
31 was the last day of the open season for trout fishing. 
Since May 1, when the open season began, he has 
been on a fishing trip every week, and sometimes twice. 
He knows every mountain stream and river where fish 
are found in this section. 
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. 
