428 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Oregon Game andllndians. 
.. Portland, Ore., Nov. 10.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The inclosed clipping from this morning's Oregonian is 
self-explanatory. Twenty years' experience and obser- 
vation in the West incline me to the belief that the 
Indians have done and are doing more to bring about 
the complete extermination of all big game (except 
buffalo) than all other influences and agencies com- 
bined.' S. H. Greene. 
"Willard H. Herren, who is in the sheep-raising 
business in the Heppner hills, and who runs his sheep in 
the Blue Mountains during the summer season, has 
just returned to the home range near Heppner, and 
writes to a friend in Portland as follows: 
" T have not hunted much for the last month, but 
in September I shot several deer, elk and bears. I got 
some particularly nice fat elk, and could get plenty 
now by going after them, as I know where they are, 
but a white man is not allowed to kill them now, as 
T see the last Legislature passed a law prohibiting the 
killing of elk during the next eleven years. I fear it will 
do but little good, as the Indians will slay them just the 
same. 
" T found a nice band of six elk last fall out in the 
Blue Mountains, and expected to keep track of them and 
shoot a large one as soon as his horns got ripe. But 
as soon as the snow got deep enough for the Indians 
to be able to catch up with them, they went in there and 
exterminated the whole bunch. 
" 'Last spring I was running a band of yearling sheep 
over on Skookum Creek, and the deer were very plentiful 
there, especially the old does, who were heavy with 
fawn. I used to take great pleasure in watching a band 
of them feed near our camp. But just about the time 
they commenced dropping their fawns a band of Umatilla 
Indians came in there and began slaughtering them. I 
soon fired the Indians out of that immediate vicinity, but 
of course they went elsewhere and killed all they could. 
They wasted most of the meat, simply skinning the 
deer and letting the carcass lay. I hope that there 
Will be a game warden to stop the Indians from killing- 
deer out of season. I think it can be done by going 
after the different Indian agents. 
" T expect to go out in the mountains soon and 
shoot a few good fat deer, and will start as soon as there 
is snow enough for good hunting. Will get enough 
for dried venison for the winter, and may also get a 
few bear skins for robes.' " 
The New York Non-Transportation Law. 
Several readers in this town have asked us to tell 
them why the game law in regard to transportation of 
certain game birds lawfully shot or taken in the season 
therefor is so framed as to practically prevent the sale 
or sending to market of such birds. As the law now 
reads it absolutely prohibits transportation of woodcock, 
partridge, any member of the grouse family, or quail, 
from or through any county of the State, except that 
they may be carried from the county where killed when 
.H-companied by the owner; it also definitely prohibits 
common carriers from having these birds in their pos- 
session or in that of their employees, on penalty_ of 
guilt of a misdemeanor and a fine of $25 for each bird. 
The effect is to destroy any market (except local) value 
I he birds might have for the local gunner. He cant 
afford to go to the city with a bunch of birds, and must 
forego all profit from their sale. But the city sportsman 
can come out anywhere on the island, kill all the v birds 
he can find, and carry them back with him on his re- 
turn, either to eat. to give away, or to sell. In such an 
obviously unfair discrimination what can be the under- 
lying motive if it be not to discourage logal gunners 
and help "preserve" the birds for the better success, 
pleasure or profit, of the city sportsman? Can any one 
tell us, so that we can answer our querists? — Greenport 
( Long Island) Republican- Watchman. 
[The Republican-Watchman will find an answer to 
its question on our editorial page.] 
A Virginia Quail Country. 
Lumberton, Sussex County, Va., Nov. 18.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Since a recent publication m your 
columns of my report from "The Game Fields of Vir- 
ginia," so many inquiries have come to me by letter that 
I have been unable to answer all. Will you therefore 
give me space in your columns to satisfy these "inquiring 
friends"? I will endeavor to be brief: 
First _The season for quail opens here Oct. 15 and 
closes Jan. 15. .■ 
Second.— Owing to protection by State laws for two 
years past, and unusually mild winters and favorable 
breeding seasons, quail were never more abundant. A 
good shot can bag fifty in a day's hunt with ease The 
coveys are very large, and until late in December lie 
well to the dogs. 
Third.— The lands in this section are not generally 
posted— with some exceptions— and the cover is of the 
best. . 
Fourth— Delightfuraccommodations can be had at at 
least two or three country houses, where a few sportsmen 
are taken and guides, horses and dogs furnished at 
reasonable rates. ,. 
Fifth.— Besides quail, deer, fox, squirrel, hares and wild 
turkeys are hunted and killed in large numbers. Fox 
hunting is the favorite. sport with our country gentle- 
men. 
Don't write, please, unless you mean to come to Vir- 
ginia. L- P- B L °w. 
Hounds and the Still-Hunt. 
Morgantown, W. Va.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some of the ideas advanced by L. H. Hascall in his 
"Hounds and Still-Hunters" of Nov. 12 are misleading. 
By his statement "all the still-hunting outfit has to do 
now is to take a bull dog and a hatchet and wait for 
a deep snow and crust," we would infer that he is try- 
ing to class the dastardly and unmanly practice of 
slaughtering big game when the deep snow and crust 
clace them entirely at the mercy of man or beast (which - 
should be put together when it comes to anything so in- 
human) with the manly sport of still-hunting. This 
classification every true sportsman will resent. 
The still-hunt proper is to me the only true sports- 
manlike way to hunt big game. It was the mode adopted 
by our forefathers in pioneer days, when the safety 
of our race and the development of our country depended 
largely on the qualities in a man, which are called out 
by the still-hunt, in which tfie patience, endurance, art 
of woodcraft, keen sight and steady nerve of 
the hunter were pitted against the instinct and cunning 
watchfulness of the game, each having an equal oppor- 
tunity for victory. True, since the game has dimin- 
ished in numbers, and with it the chance for a suc- 
cessful hunt, we must be lenient with those who take 
advantage of the game in such manner as the law allows, 
such as watching on crossings while some of the party 
drives the game, or calling a moose up within gun- 
shot. Yet how much more gratifying it is to kill our 
game by fair still-bunting, where it has a fair and 
equal chance to defeat us. 
Mr. Hascall speaks of men he would back to kill 
nine out of every ten deer he would start after on a 
light snow. We infer that he means by fair, still-hunting. 
That's a stunner to me. I supposed myself and several 
others I know were fairly good still-hunters, but we 
must take off our hats to such men as he speaks of. 
Any observing person must agree with me that it is 
not the amount of game killed in hounding that causes 
game to decrease in a locality so hunted. Hounding 
deer tends to drive out that which is not killed. 
One day's running of hounds in a deer country will 
alarm deer within a radius of' several miles, and put 
them on the move for safe and quiet quarters, whereas 
the still-hunter only disturbs the game with which he 
comes in contact. Surely any one noting the effect of 
hounding deer as I have done, and instances of which 
I could give, could not uphold the practice as tending 
to the preservation of game. Emerson Carney. 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stkeam. 
Ducks in Long Island Sound. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Have been shooting at Sachem's Head, Conn., since 
Nov. 9, and will not return until the 19th. Therefore I 
can't get out the concluding chapter of "The Louisiana 
Lowlands" for your next issue, as promised. Dr. Bash- 
for«d Dean, of Columbia University, and Mr. W. PI. 
Avis, of the Winchester Arms Company, are with me 
(Mr. Avis is our host), and we have a cottage where we 
do our awn cooking, and are jolly. The ducks are 
scarce and wild; do not stool well, probably they have 
been deceived too many times this season. Old squaws 
and sea coots are about all that we get. A few "broad 
bills," the "ruddy duck" of books, are seen, and one 
day we got four of them. None since, and I am writing 
this as we pack up for home. If ducks are scarce, fun 
has been plenty, and we have enjoyed every hour. There 
was a little shooting on Sunday, but not by our party. 
Fred Mather. 
Guilford,, Conn,, Nov. 19. 
Gun Flints on the "Way to Mr. Belknap. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
To-day I opened Forest and Stream, issue of Nov. 
5. because it was a rainy day. The appeal of Mr. Orin 
Belknap for a flint, a regular simon-pure, for his old 
Hudson Bay gun, sent me to the garret in search of a 
box of flints, from which receptacle I had my supplies 
back in the thirties, and from which I fitted out the 
"bear gun" some thirty-two years ago. I was fortunate 
in finding a dozen or more, and mailed three, different 
sizes, to Brother Belknap, address, "Valley, Washing- 
ton." Juniata. 
Virginia Game. 
Jersey City, Nov. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
My friend, Mr. Van Dyne, and I have just returned 
from a two weeks' shooting trip in Virginia. We found 
abundance of Bob Whites and other small game, but 
failed to bag the wily turkey. Shooters contemplating 
a Southern trip can do well by communicating with Mrs. 
C. L. Leak, Licking, Va. Le Roy Johns. 
In North Carolina Mountains. 
Sapphire, Jackson County, N. C, Nov. 12. — Mr. J. P. 
Cunningham, of Newcastle, Pa., who is one of the share- 
holders of the Toxaway Comoany and Fairfield Gun 
at this place, is on here for the fall shooting, and a few 
days ago brought in a buck which weighed i861bs., 
shot within an hour of the house. This is heavy for 
North Carolina. J. F. H. 
Michigan Ducks in Spring. 
Norvell, Mich., Nov. 14. — I have seen more mal- 
lard ducks flying about this fall than I have seen in the 
past five vears combined. This is the first season in 
which spring shooting has been prohibited in Michigan. 
H. H. R. 
The annua! meeting of the Vermont League was held 
at Montpelier on Tuesday, Nov. 22. 
The New York League will meet in Syracuse, Dec. 8. 
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 
The address label on the wrapper shows the date of 
the close of the term for which the subscription is 
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dress label constitutes the subscriber's receipt for 
money sent to us. 
Subscribers are asked to note on the wrapper the 
date of expiration of subscription ; and to remit 
promptly for renewal, that delays may be avoided. 
:f For prospectus and advertising rates see pag§ iii. 
Late in the Season. 
I want to go a-fishing, 
The wind is blowing hard; 
I'll lay aside my tackle, 
And take the role of bard. 
For days I've lingered, waiting 
For a man, for boat, for bait; 
Now that I can command them, 
The wind blows at great rate. 
There is no use of wishing, 
I must accept my fate; 
I'm sadly disappointed, 
The season's getting late. 
I'll sing of seasons past and gone, 
Of many a long, bright summer day; 
Of'casts I've made, of fish I've caught, 
And of the fish that got away. 
Who can portray, in verse or prose. 
The fisher's joys, the fisher's woes? 
Who. but by experience taught 
Expresses sense of that word "caught"? 
Who, but has counted to his cost, 
Knows grief endured when fish is lost? 
With faculties alert, alive, 
Emotions, varying as you strive, 
With springing rod and singing reel, 
Excitement one can scarce conceal — 
You've struggled manfully and deft, 
Your skill's outwitted, and you're "left." 
What fisherman cannot recall 
Days when it seemed that fishes all. 
In lake and pond and running brook, 
Sought eagerly his baited hook? 
How he has scorne'd small fish to show, 
But put them back to let them grow. 
No length prescribed by statute law 
Has this day filled his soul with awe; 
He on its limits won't encroach, 
Nor ordinary things approach. 
How he has wended homeward way, 
Eager his prizes to display. 
Success and confidence would seem 
To stimulate his self-esteeem, 
Till ere he seeks his downy bed, 
All symptoms indicate "big head " 
What shall we sing of other days, 
When sweltering 'neath the sun's hot rays 
He's striven with all skill and might, 
For fishes small— even a bite. 
How he has found at set of sun 
No fishes caught — no trophies won. 
Save such as other days he scorned, 
'Gainst laws' infractions — even warned. 
Such days as these, 'tis plain to see, 
Develop great humility. 
On the one day he "owns the earth," 
The next — "life's living's hardly worth." 
The lesson taught don't fail to see. 
When in: great extremity 
Things which in brighter days we'd scorn 
Are welcomed as a hope forlorn. 
Shall we not view with charity 
Those mortals whom adversity 
Has driven, unrelentingly, 
To deeds they'd scorn as soon as we 
Could they but with clear vision see. 
When casts are made with bait or fly 
We measure distance with the eye; 
Imagination gen'rously 
Fills up the space for you and me. 
If fighting bass or wily trout 
Leave in our minds a shadowy doubt 
Of weight, or size, orTength of run, 
Or height of leap (isn't it fun?), 
We've ample source from which: to draw 
When telling what we did, and saw. 
Why should one doubt were I to state 
That each lost fish was heaviest weight? 
For this is true — I tell but facts, 
I've seen the scales (upon their backs) ; 
And furthermore, all fishers say 
'Tis biggest fish that get away. 
In speaking thus of fish we've caught, 
The story's often overwrought; 
And some maliciously have said, 
"You slyly stuffed their throats with lead." 
When showing fish in self-defense 
(Of fine day's sport good evidence) 
'Tis said with sneering, doubting look, 
Those fish were caught with silver hook. 
This is hard lot- for fishermen, 
No matter where — no matter when; 
No matter how sincere they be, 
They're met with incredulity. 
Would that I might good reason find 
For treatment so severe — unkind; 
For habits, it is sad to say, 
Our fishermen too oft display. 
Perhaps the cause of the complaint 
Lies with our wicked Patron Saint (?) 
Old Ananias, cynics, say, 
Guards fishermen from day to day. 
If so, the reason we reveal, 
Why stories of the rod and reel 
Are often met with doubts and. jeers 
And truth is crushed when- it appears. 
Our fishing seasons, one by one, 
Are passing by. soon they'll be gone; 
If in our visions we must paint 
The usage of -some "patron saint,'- 
