370 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. s, 1898. 
or enclosed lands of another, without permission; and 
Whereas, such hunting has become an intolerable 
nuisance, endangering human life, disturbing stock and 
animals, breaking down fences, etc., 
Therefore, we, the undersigned owners and proprietors 
of cultivated and enclosed lands in Jackson county, 
Iowa, for the object and purpose of putting a stop to this 
nuisance, do hereby mutually agree to no longer grant 
to any person or persons the privilege of hunting on 
our premises; and do agree to prosecute to the full ex- 
tent of the law all persons hunting on our premises, 
from and after this date, with dog or gun. And we and 
each of us do hereby mutually agree to assist one an- 
other in the enforcement of said law; and do further 
agree to share equally the expense that may be incurred 
by any of the persons signing this agreement, and who 
shall hereafter institute suit under the provisions of the 
statute in relation to the subject aforesaid; and in all 
things aid and assist such prosecution to the best of our 
ability in any manner, not in violation of law and con- 
sistent with good citizenship. 
Dated this 10th day of September, A. D. 1898. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Deer. 
Chicago, 111., Oct. 29.— From all accounts the deer 
crop in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota this faUis a 
good one. The number of licenses taken out in Michigan 
and Wisconsin this week would appear to indicate that 
there will be at least the usual number of hunters who 
will go out after deer this season. At Waukesha, Wis., 
twenty-one applications for licenses have been taken out 
this fall. At West Superior, Wis., a large number of 
licenses have been issued. At Green Bay, Wis., twenty- 
seven licenses have been issued. Other towns on the 
borders of the deer country report numbers equally 
large or larger. In Michigan there will hardly be so 
large a number of deer hunters as in Wisconsin, though 
the license law is practically the same. At Ann Arbor, 
Mich., eleven licenses had been issued this week. At 
Saginaw five licenses had been taken out at date of last 
report. One Michigan man, by name of Leon Reynolds, 
of Augusta, a man past seventy-five years of age, has 
taken out his license, and will go into the woods this fall 
for his favorite sport of deer hunting. It is safe to say 
that Mr. Reynolds has seen many changes in deer hunt- 
ing methods in his time. 
Out in Minnesota the influx of non-resident hunters 
has already begun. It is estimated that 200 strange 
hunters have gone in through Duluth. The crop of deer 
and moose bids fair to be a good one. Near Bagley and 
near'Bemidji Lake moose sign has been reported abun- 
dant. 
Ducks. 
We have had a good flight of Northern birds in Wis- 
consin the past week, but the flight seems to be composed 
of highly educated fowl. On Lake Winnebago there 
have been large bodies of ducks, but they have been 
pursued steadily by boats of all descriptions, until they 
have become very wild and difficult to work. At Puck- 
away Lake much the same state of affairs has prevailed, 
though the birds have not been disturbed so much in 
the open. At Pewaukee Lake bags of 30 and 40 ducks 
have been made. At Poygan Lake one party, of four 
Appleton gunners bagged 60 ducks, but reported 
the shooting uncertain and difficult. On Lake Kosh- 
konong the flight has been heavy, the feed in this lake 
being the best to be found in the State of Wisconsin; 
yet the hammering has been so steady that the birds raft 
up in the open water, and do not work very well. This 
state of affairs would be a picnic for the sneakboat 
hunters, but the latter are still wary, owing to the recent 
visit of Warden Johnson, who is commonly known to 
be a bad man with violators. 
• The flight, of course, is scattered over a thousand 
miles of country now. Duck shooting is good in Texas 
and has been for some weeks, a part of the first flight 
seeming to go clear through to the Gulf without stop. 
In Arkansas and Missouri, more especially on the better 
club preserves, the birds have been in for some time, and 
the shooting has been fair. During the past week there 
has been a good flight in on Lake Senachwine and Swan 
Lake, of the Illinois River country, and a number of 
Chicago and Peoria shooters have had sport. 
The Minnesota duck season is not yet over, but the 
edge is worn off-. From all I can learn I am inclined to 
think that it was quite up to the average. In North 
Dakota, of course, the great waterways of the Devil's 
Lake and Dawson countries have produced their myriad 
of fowl in much the usual abundance. A good many 
Dakota canvasbacks go to the markets in Baltimore, 
Md.. once the center of the canvasback cult of the 
world. Thereby hangs a tale. Last week a lot of these 
Dakota ducks were seized in Baltimore ahead of the 
Maryland season, and it is gratifying to state that the 
judge before whom the case was tried upheld the Mary- 
land law, which runs to the effect that illegal game 
cannot be held in possession, no matter where it comes 
from. 
Another bit of export news comes from Minnesota 
Messrs. A. F. Stolt, Fred La Barre and Ben Froelich. 
of Waterloo. Iowa, went hunting in Minnesota and had 
good luck. They started back home with a nice bunch 
of birds, but happened to meet one of Sam Fullerton's 
wardens, who relieved them of their game. They re- 
turned empty handed to their homes. Expressing game 
is not a safe industry in Minnesota. 
The State's Attorney's office of Texas hands down an 
opinion on the construction of the Texas game law 
which runs to the effect that a man may not ship game 
by any transportation company, though he may carry 
game out of the country upon his own person. This 
covers deer, antelope, turkeys, geese, prairie chickens 
quail, plover and jacksnipe. The ruling states that the 
law is not intended to prevent a man from taking home 
some game, but is meant to prevent his shipping game. 
Quail. 
This is a good quail year in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois 
Take your dog and go south 100 miles in Indiana, or 
Illinois. Get off at any town. Go to the barber, shop 
and borrow the barber's dog, leaving your own dog at 
the livery barn, then go out*almost anywhere, and you 
can kill a bunch of quail. Or, at least, the barber can. 
Colorado Game Law. 
The mooted game law of Colorado, earlier attacked 
as unconstitutional, has been sustained in every particu- 
lar. 
Ways that are Dark. 
They are having fun with the sparrow law in Michigan 
this fall. The law itself is proving aboon to a good 
many poor fellows who would otherwise have to work 
for $2 a head on election day. Down in Indiana they 
have a way of putting out doctored grain for sparrows 
and catching about a thousand at a clatter. The State 
line between Indiana and Michigan is but an imaginary 
thing. You do not stub your toe against it as you walk 
from one State to the other. With unstubbed toes, men 
have walked from Indiana into Michigan, bearing with 
them 50,000 head of sparrows, for which much gold can 
be obtained under the Michigan sparrow bounty. Spar- 
row hunting has become a fine art. When the expert 
sparrow bounty man goes into town to collect his hard 
earned wealth, he nearly always manages to arrive at the 
house of the town clerk just about dark. He has his 
birds in a large pail, and he has taken care that these 
birds are none too fresh. The town clerk is supposed to. 
count these birds, but he doesn't. "Take 'em away," he 
says, "and keep the change." Thus the sparrow hunter 
gets an O. K. practically on his own statement. This 
would seem to be shrewd enough, but does not mark the 
limit of the hunter's ingenuity. Sometimes he appears 
with a bucket of birds which in reality is a bucket of 
sawdust, with a few layers of malodorous birds on top. 
The clerk usually accepts the count without question. 
Nor is this all. Not satisfied with robbing the State of 
Michigan of sums probably aggregating several 
game wardens, and under the supervision of Superin- 
tendent Nevins, and we learn that several pairs were 
put out in the Lake Superior region last fall, whereas 
they should have been kept until spring before being 
set out. We have not learned that much if any in- 
crease or benefit has been realized from this fall plant- 
ing in a region altogether too far north, with sparse 
feeding grounds, deep snows and extremely cold 
weather. 
"Here in Tomah we have a pheasantry under the man- 
agement of Mr. J. F. Blome, which has proven success- 
ful, and this spring there was formed the Tomah Fish 
and Game Protection Club, with about fifty members, 
who purchased from the above-named gentleman seven 
pairs of the English ring-necked varieties, which were 
put out in this immediate vicinity last spring, great care 
being taken to place them in close proximity to the creeks 
and feeding grounds, and the pledge of adjacent farmers 
to look after and protect them was easily secured. Most 
of them have been seen, and so far as heard from have 
hatched out from ten to twenty young to each pair, 
which are now nearly full grown, mature birds, and 
strong flyers. 
"This club has also purchased ten pairs more of the 
young birds, which it will set out the coming spring of 
1899, and by 1901, the protection limit set on them by 
the State, we think this will be a neighborhood well 
stocked with these noted game birds. 
"Without the aid of any of the State funds, this club, 
organized last spring, and composed of fifty of Tomah's 
leading sportsmen and business men, have made a be- 
ginning that shows that these birds can be successfully 
raised in Wisconsin, with proper protection. They have 
also made a determined effort to see that the game laws 
are properly enforced. 
"The officers of the club are as follows: Editor J. A. 
Wells, President; G. A. Altenberg, Vice-President; C. J. 
Wells, Secretary; L. W. Earle, Treasurer. 
"The pheasants put out last spring were placed in 
A MAINE HARVEST HOME EXHIBIT. 
thousand dollars, the sparrow hunters have now taken to 
forging orders. Several arrests have been made on the 
latter head, and more are expected to follow. As show- 
ing the boldness of some of the hunters, it may be stated 
that one of them asked for an order of $35.80, for 1,790 
dead sparrows. This was at Sandstone, Mich. The 
clerk asked to see the birds, and the most that could 
be produced was one pail of sawdust that contained ten 
sparrow heads. He refused to accept this doctrine of 
sparrowtorial expansion. Thus is the frugal and hard 
working man crushed down under, the heel of an imperial 
government. 
Snipe. 
Does anybody know where there are any jacksnipe? I 
have heard that around the duck marshes of Wisconsin 
some snipe were in, and I have reports from Lake Minne- 
tonka stating that a good flight is in there this week. 
I have, however, heard nothing from Indiana marshes 
which would lead one to suppose that a trip for snipe 
would yield any decent returns, and can not say that the 
snipe situation is altogether satisfactory. 
Mongolian Pheasants in Wisconsin* 
In several of the Western States a very interesting and 
important work in acclimatization has been going Oti, 
one of great interest to sportsmen, though perhaps not 
fully appreciated. In this importation and rearing of 
the Mongolian pheasant the State of Ohio has taken a 
most intelligent and advanced position. In Wi scons i n 
also equal strides have been made. I have .from time 
to time made mention of the pheasantry of Mr. Howard 
Bosworth, of Milwaukee, whom I take to be the pioneer 
in the Mongolian pheasant industry in that State; or 
at least I heard of him most frequently some years ago. 
Mr. Bosworth is. however, by no means alone in this 
good work in Wisconsin. The breeding of these birds 
has been carried on successfully at Tomah, and I have 
often had occasion to mention the turning out of some of 
the birds to take their chances in the woods. Readers of 
FoitEST and Stream will be interested in the information 
contained in a letter, kindly sent me by Mr. James A. 
Wells, of Tomah, Wis., in which he says: 
"I should like to give you a short history of what 
Tomah has been doing, and is now doing, for game birds 
in the State of Wisconsin. 
"In T896 the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin ap- 
propriated $500 for the purpose of breeding and rearing 
pheasants, and to stock the uplands and breeding 
grounds of the State with these noted game birds. The 
money was placed ir\ the hands of the State fish and 
suitable locations, from two to five miles from the 
city, and the club intends to extend the supply next 
spring to the extreme limits of the grounds Tomah's 
sports hunt over in the open season. 
"Mr. Blome intends to raise from 1,000 to 1,500 birds 
next spring, and the club will have no trouble in secur- 
ing the birds they want for future planting. Mr. Blome 
has been in the pheasant business for several years, and 
has met with good success. He is an ardent sports- 
man and a true lover of birds, hence his unparalleled 
success. 
"Next spring we shall endeavor to inform you how 
our birds came through the winter. One thing, how- 
ever, is evident, and that is that old birds set out in 
the spring, and hatching their young in the fields, will be 
better, prepared for winter protection than birds set out 
in the fall, wholly unacquainted with the nature of the 
country, and the location of water and feeding grounds." 
E. Hough. 
1200 Boyce Building, Chicago, 111. 
Told Just as it Happened 
MokcANtOWfJ. W, Va,, Oct. 18. — The autumn evert- 
ing was fine. It was generally known that coons did 
abound in goodly numbers in the surrounding forest, 
but not a Coon dog of satisfactory reputation was in all 
the land. A coal-black dog with a white spot in the 
center of his breast, belonging to one of our number, had 
all the visible qualities of a coon dog. "Boys, let's go 
coon hunting to-night with our dog! I believe he'll 
put 'em up all right." Agreed! Guns, axes and lan- 
terns were hustled out, and as darkness enveloped the 
surroundings we stole forth with every prospect of fun. 
Deep and yet deeper into the forest we went, seldom 
seeing the dog — because he was behind in the dark. 
"Well, doesn't it beat all how the old fellow searches?" 
"Yes: I always thought a chance was all he needed to 
make a good coon dog." k 
"Suppose we stop and wait; he may have found a trail." 
We stop and sit down, miles from home, in a likely 
place for coons. We wait fifteen minutes. 
"I'm only afraid he has treed one away out of hearing." 
"I thought I heard him bark away over on that ridge 
across the creek." 
The oppressive stillness makes everything weird and 
lonely. Our imaginations are busy picturing the noble 
and "fearless old dog away in the depths of the lonely 
woods, faithfully striving to unravel a crooked coon- 
track and run it to tree, or barking and viciously tear- 
