328 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[OCt, 22, 1898. 
country by wardens interested in the preservation of 
Wisconsin fish and game." 
That is good doctrine. Wardens are put in power as 
servants of the people, and they are sworn to do their 
duty under the law. 
Koshkonong. 
There has been complaint arising to the point of 
indignant protest over the violation of the sneak boat 
law on Lake Koshkonong, in Wisconsin. I have earlier 
described this peculiar form of duck shooting, which 
seems to have been originated and perfected on Lake 
Koshkonong, It is a most deadly form of open-water 
shooting, and calculated to break up the bodies of ducks 
on their feeding beds. It is an exciting form of hunting, 
and one demanding skill, and were it not so destructive 
it might be called sportsmanlike. It was long ago put 
under ban in the State of Wisconsin, but it is well known 
that it has been very frequently practiced by shooters 
who could not endure the sight of the great bodies of 
canvasback lying out into the open and refusing to 
work. A number of these little sneak boxes, provided 
with aperture for the invisible sculling oar, were con- 
structed this fall on Koshkonong, and no good purpose 
is subserved by denying that they went into general use. 
Many appeals were sent to the State warden. Many 
newspapers published the fact that the State warden 
'ought to visit Koshkonong. Finally the State warden 
published the fact that he was going to visit Koshkonong. 
Now it is published that he did go to Koshkonong. 
I have not seen mention of any arrests. A Milwaukee 
papers says: "The fish and game laws of this State 
were never better drawn than now. They insure to the 
poor as well as to the rich sportsman an opportunity 
for honest sport, and there is an intention to see that 
the laws are enforced. Complaint similar to that from 
Koshkonong comes from Pukaway and Fox Lake, and 
in fact from nearly every section of the State where 
wildfowl abound. It is the general impression among 
sportsmen and hunters that the laws as they now stand 
are all right, and that the only thing needed is their 
strict enforcement." 
A New Sort of Big Game. 
Mr. C. L. Hayden resides at Columbus, Ohio, visits 
in Chicago, and lives most of the time out in Arizona, 
where he has had some very interesting shooting trips. 
He is just starting this week for another trip, going to 
Holbrook, Ariz., for his outfitting point. He tells me 
that the Mogollon Mountains still preserve their ancient 
reputation as a good deer country. He also tells me 
that he heard of a great many mountain sheep in some 
of the ranges north of Phenix, Ariz. 
It was Mr. Hayden who informed me of a species of 
big game which is now being hunted in Arizona, and 
which, I think, will appear as a novelty to most of the 
readers of Forest and Stream. This is nothing more 
nor less than that well-known cherubim of the moun- 
tains, the burro, or sawed-off jackass of the West. It 
seems that numbers of these burros have gone entirely 
wild, and range, literally wild asses of the desert, over 
the mountains and mesas of Arizona. These herds are 
met with forty to seventy miles north of Phenix, and 
they are looked upon as legitimate wild game. The 
cowboys kill them whenever they can, because they run 
off tame stock, just as the wild mustang horses formerly 
did. Mr. Hayden says that he killed three of these 
animals, and he is ready to pronounce them about as 
hard game to hunt as any he ever saw. They are wilder 
than deer, and will run at sight of a man at any distance, 
from 1,000yds. up. They are very difficult to knock 
down, and shooting the .30 caliber, full mantel bullet, 
he failed to stop one, which was shot lengthwise of the 
body, and then crosswise back of the shoulders. (Had 
he used the soft nose bullet this result would have been 
different.) 
I don't know about this burro business. I have often 
felt like killing a burro, because of its annoying personal 
habits, but I never liked the taste of the meat, and un- 
less I had lost a burro, and wanted him to pack my 
flour, I don't know that I would go out hunting after 
him... You can't kill all the asses in the world, and we 
might as well be resigned. In many ways the burro is an 
amiable creature. I once knew a tenderfoot out in New 
Mexico who shipped one home to his children in Phila- 
delphia. He paid $1.25 for the burro, and it cost him 
$84 express. I used to savvy burro plenty at one stage 
of my career, but I do not recollect ever having seen 
one go faster than a walk, so that this information about 
their big game qualities comes somewhat in the nature 
of a surprise. 
Dope and Ducks, 
Mr. J. B. Whittemore, of Galesburg, N. D., will, I 
am sure, pardon me for using a portion of his letter for 
the benefit of other "all-the-time readers of Forest 
and Stream." In regard to mosquito dope he has this 
advice: "I am a little of a drug man, and your mosquito 
dope formula leads me to suggest that you add to the 
ounce of vaseline, tar, etc., about half an ounce of the 
best insect powder. .It will not make it any more dis- 
agreeable as an application, while it will, in my opinion, 
very much increase its efficacy. 
"This is a very nice country about here, with con- 
siderable game yet, chickens, and ducks, and a few 
geese. Next time you come to North Dakota stop off 
and visit with me. I have been here fifteen years, and 
know all the game pockets. When you want news from 
up here, I am at your service." 
I hope Mr. Whittemore will not forget his last promise. 
The Forest and Stream wants all the North Dakota 
news it can get, all the. time. 
Atiothet Side-Hunt. 
The shooters of Big Rapids, Mich., last week ar- 
ranged for a grand side-hunt. W. J. Trott and W. L. 
Small were selected as captains, and chose sides from 
among the gun-bearing contingent who have a grudge 
against the game in that vicinity. There were thirty- 
seven men on each side, and I have no doubt that the 
birds and animals suffered after the usual fashion of 
side-hunts. This is a good way to keep down the game 
supply, which I infer must Have become dangerous tb 
the citizens df Big Rapids. 
A Saturday Night Train. 
Deputy wardens this week arrested John Silverman, 
Jacob Crowback, Nels Johnson, Fred Fostberg and 
Joseph Odork, the charge being that of shooting water 
fowl around Lake Calumet between the hours of sunset 
and sunrise. From the location of the offense, and 
some of the names of the offenders, I am inclined to fear 
that the officers of the law may have nabbed some of my 
friends of the Saturday night train, earlier mentioned in 
Forest and Stream. 
Dubuque Sportsmen. 
Dubuque, Iowa, has a shooting club known as the 
Minnewaukon Hunting Club, which has a large mem- 
bership. It is a custom of this club to make annual 
pilgrimages to North Dakota, more especially to the 
Devil's Lake country. This week the club started for its 
fall hunt, there being twenty-two sportsmen in the 
partv. This means that $550 will drop into the treasury 
of North Dakota, or rather that the half thereof will 
fall into the jeans of Game Warden Bowers. This is a 
pretty good contribution for one city. 
Texas Game Country. 
Before long a great many persons will be inquiring 
for shooting country in the South, notably in the State 
of Texas. It is not always that a good shooting country 
has good hotel accommodations near it; so that it is a 
pleasure to sneak of a place where it seems sure one 
may find both these desirable qualities. So far back as 
last June my friend, Joe Irwin, of Little Rock, Ark., 
wrote in the Forest and Stream about the sport he had 
found at High Island, Texas, which he said was as good 
a point for jacksnipe and mallards and other marsh ducks 
as any shooter could ask — and Mr. Irwin is used to good 
shooting all the time.* This High Island country I take 
to be not very far from the sea marsh country where, 
about five years ago, I had the best snipe shooting I 
ever saw in my life, and where one could have killed all 
the ducks he cared to kill. This point was only about 
twenty-five miles from Galveston, and I note that the 
distance to High Island is stated as only about two 
hours' run from Galveston, so I presume is much the 
same country. It is one of the best wintering grounds 
for wildfowl to be found anywhere in the South, and I 
think it especially good for snipe. The Sea View Hotel 
is a recent thing in this country, and is said to offer 
attractions not only in winter; but in summer. I have 
some correspondence about that region which it may be 
well to offer now, for the benefit of any intending to make 
a Southern trip. The writer goes on to say: "Until 
within the last two years this favored spot, High Island, 
on the Gulf coast, had been known and enjoyed chiefty 
by the ranchmen, but it may now be better known. Take 
a map of Texas, and on the coast you will observe a 
long, narrow peninsula; midway the strip is located 
High Island, a beautiful fertile elevation, surrounded on 
one side by the Gulf of Mexico, on the other by Gal- 
veston or East Bay, and on the other sides by a mea- 
dow. From Beaumont to Bolivar Point, which is just 
across the bay from Galveston, runs the Gulf and Inter- 
state Railroad, and this is the road that will bring vou 
to High Island, It is a two hours' ride from either 
Galveston or Beaumont." E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
A Hunting Cat. 
Charlotte, N. C, Oct. 2. — Mr. Warren Roark, of 
our city, a local celebrity in rifle shooting and squirrel 
hunting, besides being the proud possessor of the most 
distinguished squirrel dog in the State, has a hunting 
cat, which the enclosed photograph shows to be on a 
point, awaiting the crack of Mr. Roark's rifle, to retrieve 
the sparrow. 50 sure to fall. 
When Mr. Roark strolls out about the cotton platform 
A HUNTING CAT, 
(where he is engaged as city inspector), for the pur- 
pose of adding to the feline commissary, the cat in- 
variably accompanies him, evincing as much delight as 
a pointer pup in a prospective quail hunt. When game 
is sighted the cat crouches low. with her eyes fixed upon 
the bird, and the instant it falls pounces upon it, takes 
it to her master, and is ready for another one. She 
"seeks dead" and trails a wing-tipped bird with remark- 
able speed and unerring certainty. 
B. W. Sperry. 
Notes from the Pine Tree State. 
Cornish, Me., Oct. 7. — The prospects for this season's 1 
sport are not of the best; there are but few partridges, 
and practically no squirrels. It is principally upon these 
two species that we have to depend for our fall shooting, 
with now and then a luck shot at a duck or a woodcock. 
Doubtless a few brace of the latter might be had most 
any day with a good dog, but we have no dogs here [} 
trained for wing shooting, and where one has to do his 
own hunting, in such cover as the woodcock frequents, 
he is seldom in a position to shoot when the bird rises. 
Deer are still frequently seen all through this section, 
and it is probable that quite a number may be shot iii 
nearby towns in Oxford county, which is not included 
in the area covered by the five-year law. Those of us 
who have not the means of visiting more distant hunting 
grounds are looking ahead to the expiration of this law, 
in the hope of getting a little big game hunting near 
home. 
During the summer several of our riflemen have been 
keeping up their practice by shooting woodchucks. It 
is surprising the amount of sport these little animals 
afford, and one always has the additional satisfaction of 
knowing that he is ridding the farmer of one of his most 
troublesome pests. 
I. W. Colcord, with his .32 caliber, has borne off the 
honors on this game. He shot one through the head at 
75yds., and knocked over another specimen weighing 
i2}Albs. The latter was declared to be the boss 'chuck 
by all who saw it, and we would like to hear of a bigger | 
one. 
Fishing, for some reason hard to explain, has been i 
better than for several years past. Hundreds of brook 
trout were taken early in the season, and later many 
good catches of bass, pickerel and trout were made on 
surrounding ponds. 
The best boat fishing I have heard of was that enjoyed 
by Mr. E. L. Watson, our enterprising furniture dealer, 
who camped for two weeks on Peabody Pond, Sebago. 
He took many fine red-spot trout, his best catch being 
a 5-pounder. But the incident of the trip he takes the 
most pleasure in relating was the capture of two trout, J 
hooked at a single cast. He was in a boat alone, wi.h 
an extremely light fly-rod, and it required a tussle of 
fully two hours before he had them in the net. They 
weighed lib. and 4lbs. respectively. 
Perhaps the most successful bass fishers this season 
were Win. Ayer and Ned Woodbury, who took eighty 
bass in a day's fishing on Long Pond, Parsonfield, many 
of them ranging between 2 and 4lbs. This pond has 
recently been stocked with salmon, which are reported 
as doing well. Template, 
The "Forest and Stream" Plank. 
I iM'om the Report of the Vermont Commissioner:* of Fisheries and 
Game.] 
Much has been said in the papers and magazines de- 
voted to the interests of the sportsmen during the past 
years, advocating the prohibition of the sale of game, 
not only for shipment outside of the State, but lor home! 
consumption. Market hunters adjacent to our larger 
towns make a business during the open season on 1 
partridges of hunting these birds for a living. The men 
who do this hunting are usually well posted on the habit* 
of the birds, and in many cases have various covey 
located previous to the open season, so that they can 
go to them before the young birds have scattered and 
bag a large number daily. It is not an unusual thing foi 
market hunters to sell from seventy-five to one hundrec 
and fifty birds each season. One market hunter there- 
fore destroys on an average as many birds as seventy- 
five sportsmen can do for pleasure. Of course, many! 
sportsmen kill a large number of birds, but the majority! 
of them secure none, or one or two birds. If the markel 
hunting could be stopped entirely it would probably stof 
the killing of one-half of the partridges which now an 
nually fall in Vermont before the shotgun. 
An added protection would be to limit the number o 
birds which any one person can lawfully kill in one day 
Any sportsman ought to be satisfied with five birds. I; 
is possible to kill many more with the use of trainee 
dogs. If the law is passed limiting the number of par, 
tridges which can be killed in one day, the same sectiot 
could advantageously limit the number of pounds o 
trout which can be lawfully taken by one person in un< 
day. 
Reasonable. 
New York, Oct. 17. — Very well said, and very apro> 
pos, was that one short editorial paragraph in Fores: 
and Stream last week, on the editorial page, word fo 
word as follows: 
"The hunter is required to distinguish between a moos 
and a deer, and between cow and bull, or buck and doe' 
before firing his shot. Is it too much to demand tha 
he shall also distinguish between moose or deer and 
human being before he shoots?" 
If we kill the farmers' hens, turkeys, sheep, cows 
horses, mules, asses, peacocks, goats, or the putting tjj 
of his fences after taking them down, . the aforesah 
farmer has a just ground of action. But if we ki! 
the farmer, or his wife, children, or the stranger withifl 
the gates, we only are guilty of an accident, although w 
pressed the trigger purposely. 
An accident is something which human foresight coul« 
not guard against, unless I am hunting deer, and tliei 
anything pertaining to the wild impulse of the tuoj 
ment is an accident if I kill a man; if I kill a deer if ij 
calm, skillful sportsmanship. This is following out t 2 
conclusion what should be the statute law, for which sug 
gestibn I am indebted to the editorial aforementioned 
A Texas Diana. 
Maggie lives at the head of the creek, and lately a wild] 
cat or some other "varmint" has been taking" off hej 
chickens. The other morning, when she and her im>theJ 
were fixing up the house, they heard the old dog bay 
ing something about a mile off. Thinking that it migki 
be some animal that was fond of chickens, they saddle] 
up two of the horses and started to (he dog, Maggii 
carrying the shotgun and a couple of shells loaded wit 
