March 4-, iSgg.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
167 
in their' "native luxuriance, and of surpassing flavor" 
as they described them. It was then a hunter's elysium. 
We soon arrived at the point originally selected as our 
destination and found hospitable quarters for man and 
beast. We lost no time in getting into the fields, and 
most promising stubble of oats and wheat and buck- 
wheat ranged back from the bottom lands of the river 
on either side of the road. Those were before the days 
of hammerless or any kind of breechloaders — our shot 
pouches and powder flasks were hung from our shoul- 
ders, with a few Ely's cartridges in our pockets, a pro- 
vision against the appearance of some presumptuous 
turkey that might rashly cross our path. The dog, who 
made up the trio on this occasion, was my spaniel Dan, 
the incarnation of intelligence, obedience and fun. That 
dog was simply a wonder; what he didn't know about 
matters and things in general, and things that came up 
unexpectedly to be passed upon off-hand, it would be 
of no earthly use for any dog to fool away any time 
upon. I sometimes used to think it was a pity he 
couldn't talk, so that he could give us chap's valuable 
• pointers, but on the whole it was perhaps just as well, 
for as a general thing, when one knows so awfully 
much the temptatioii to talk too much leads to diffi- 
culties. 
I don't want to devote too great space to what oc- 
curred during the forenoon, the things that happened 
to the quail and partridges and the woodcock. What I 
started out to chronicle is in relation to pigeons, as 
may be imagined from the caption of this letter. But 
I cannot refrain from spending just a few moments 
with those darling Bob Whites and the charming grouse- 
that eventually found their way to our game bags— fat, 
lusty fellows, who, from long weeks of absolute free- 
dom from molestation by the "city fellers" and the 
farmers' boys, had become too confiding in their sense of 
security for their own good. 
And yet there would not be so very much to relate. 
Dan did his duty, and we tried to do ours— the game 
bags told the rest. After a good substantial dinner at 
our host's, the hospitable farmer, whose skill as a 
provider was amply demonstrated, no less than the 
accomplishments of the buxom dame who prepared the 
meal. That quail pie looms up in beauty amid the 
thousand memories of good things to this day. My 
dear old Forest and Stream reader, was it ever your 
good fortune to be seated before a dish of that name? 
I don't mean a restaurant game pie, with unknown con- 
tents inclosed in pastry that makes dyspepsia and ugly 
dreams — but a beautihil thing that only comes of a re- 
fined taste, a calm and unerring judgment and a gen- 
eral supreme "know how." This one was a dream, yea, 
better than a thousand dreams— it was a blissful reality. 
Think of a dozen fat, juicy quail, a few slices of home- 
cured pork, a couple of woodcock, a rich, creamy, flaky- 
crust baked to a golden brown, seasoned to the point 
of perfect assimilation, flanked on one side by a crisp 
lettuce salad and on the other by the first rosy plump to- 
matoes from the well-kept garden! Golden butter melt- 
ing on snowy light raised biscuit — heavens! is this 
cooking a lost art? 
Now to the pigeons, but don't make an unreasonable 
and fatal mistake by supposing that we were able to un- 
dertake any sort of exercise for an hour or two. 
That would be too much to expect — ^far too much 
from us in our then condition. Stretched out underneath 
the spreading branches of a giant oak on the smooth 
turf which had just begun to receive the crimson and 
gold decorations from the leaves which Jack Frost had 
already begun to scatter about in these early days of 
autumn, our pipes sending upward the curling columns 
of smoke, Dan at our feet calmly dozing, and the soft 
ripple of the distant river making soothing music, is 
it a wonder that we fell into that delightful mood which 
inspires the one wish, to be undisturbed? The hysterical 
notes of the bluejay away up in the topmost branches, the 
scampering here and there of the 'chipmunk, the timid 
investigations of a gray squirrel, the comical perform- 
ances of a red-headed woodpecker, none of these were 
intrusive, they were the consistent factors of a place 
which would have been incomplete without them. How- 
ever, we couldn't stay there forever, no matter how great 
the effort required to break away. Toward 3 o'clock we 
were approaching a large field which had been "sown 
to wheat," as the farmer'said; it contained perhaps twenty 
acres or more, and was bordered on two sides by heavy 
timber — the primeval forest. About thirty rods from 
the west side in the open field stood a dead tree, a gi- 
gantic oak, with not a leaf upon its outstretching 
branches. It was the skeleton of a monarch. The sun 
was hot, and the shade of the woods on the west offered 
us a grateful shelter from the heat, and here we two 
seated ourselves to rest from the two hours' tramp 
after dinner. Within twenty minutes from the time of 
seating ourselves, small flocks of pigeons began to ap- 
pear and settle down upon the wheat field, to feed upon 
the new-sown grain. • Presently larger flocks arrived 
and more frequently. From bunches of twenty their 
numbers increased to fifty and a hundred. New ar- 
rivals would now alight in the branches of the dead 
tree, and whenever a noise would distrub those in the 
field hundreds would rise into the tree above them. 
Thicker and thicker came the pigeons, and the noise 
of their wings and chattering was almost a roar. It was 
a most exciting and novel scene to us, as we sat there 
in the shade and watched the unsuspecting birds. 
But human nature could not stand that sort of thing 
very long, and especially human nature at the age of 
twenty-five, with two loaded shotguns in their hands. 
"Say, Buck, how long are we going to sit here like 
bumps on a log? I'm going to have some fun." Thus 
said my chum, and proceeded to carry his sentiment into 
practical and tangible form. Without rising, he brought 
his double-barreled muzzleloader, lo-gauge, to his 
shoulder and let go both barrels into the tree. At that 
time, although there was not a leaf there, the tree had 
the appearance of being densely loaded with foliage, and 
every leaf was a live pigeon. I followed suit with mine 
ajid dozens fell to the ground. The remaining birds 
rose from the tree in a great cloud, and after circling 
around for a few moments again alighted upon the 
branches, accompanied by as many from the ranks of 
newcomers as could find a resting place. We rapidly 
reloaded our giins, and the second time blazed away. I 
don't know how many birds were killed at each dis- 
charge, but if there were a hundred it made no ap- 
parent difference in the remaining hordes. After each 
volley the birds would nearly all rise into the air in a 
dense mass, only to return in five minutes or less to 
the tree and the field. We never moved a foot from 
our point of vantage, nor allowed Dan to retrieve a bird 
for an hour and a half. At the end of that time we had 
driven the birds from the field and saved our host 
twenty acres of newly sown wheat. 
We occasionally took a wing shot as the pigeons flew 
over our heads or on either side of us, and this re- 
lieved the monotony of the continuous fusillade. When 
our ammunition was exhausted and our heads ached 
as they never had before, nor hare since, from the 
recoil of the befouled guns, nor went over to the old 
dead tree to pick up the victims of the slaughter, for 
it was nothing else, and it was a sight to behold! 
The ground was literally covered with dead pigeons, 
and mighty few wounded ones, I was glad to see. Well, 
we brought over the farmer to see the field, and if there 
ever was an astonished and grateful man he was the 
chap. 
"Why, boys, ye.'ve saved my wheat, as sure's shootin'; 
them pigeons would jest nachally eat up every grain of 
that wheat in the hull twenty acres, and I do' Ivnow 
how I'm goin' to make it right with ye, I don't for 
sartain." 
"Well, Mr. Talford, just take some of these pigeons off 
our hands and we'll call it square." 
"Wall, I swan, it beats the evilastin' thtinderation ; 
I'd never dreamed on't. Now, what you boys do, you 
come out here, say, in November or October, when I 
can take a leetle time to it, when fall work's over, and 
I'll try to give ye a leetle mite of a good hunt, if that's 
what you like, eh?" 
"All right, and thanks, Mr. Talford. We'll accept 
the invitation, and now we must start homeward." 
We loaded 364 elegant fat pigeons, 27 partridges and 
17 quail into one roomy buggy and started for home. 
If it wasn't for that beastly headache we'd have been 
two of the proudest and happiest young chaps in 
Monroe county; and as it was, when we drove through 
the main street of the town just about sundown, with 
that pile of game (disposed so as to show to the great- 
est advantage of course), we weighed about 240Z. 
to the pound, and were bigger lions than Barnum had 
in his menagerie, which exhibited in town the next 
day. Keuka, 
Detroit, 189'9. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Elk: Slaughter in "Wyoming, 
I am in receipt of the following communication from 
Mr. Edwin F. Daniels, long president of the Tolleston 
Club, of this city, and a sportsman of the best sort. He 
writes : 
"I took a trip to the Rocky Mountains last fall, and 
was very much interested in what I saw while there. V\>c 
got into the mountains about Sept. r. and our party had 
fairly good luck. We got enough elk to keep the camp 
supplied with meat, and I believe that is all we ought to 
have had, although I Avould like to have gotten a head 
for my home. One week longer would have given tis 
this opportunity, for just as we were coming out, w-e saw 
several heads that had just been brought in. 
"My object in writing this to you, however, is not to 
describe the trip, but to tell you a few facts about hunt- 
ing parties that were in the mountains after we. left. 'Two 
of the parties, which I understand were composed of four 
or five members each, were connected with two of the 
wealthiest families in New York, and another party Avas, I 
believe, from Boston. These three parties, I have been 
told, were there during the last part of September, and up 
to the middle, or a little later, of October, and were hunt- 
ing almost every day during that time. The game was 
more abundant than it had been for a long time ; it was no 
uncommon thing to see bands of several hundred elk — in 
fact they could be found any day when the hunters chose 
to go after them. From what I have learned, I have no 
doubt that in the four weeks, or thereabouts, that these 
parties were in the mountains, they killed more than 150 
elk, I believe they took back not over twenty-five heads, 
leaving the balance, or probably more than 125, that were 
simply shot recklessly and wantonly, and without any 
object whatever, except it might be perhaps to get their 
teeth. For the most part, the skins were not even taken 
off them ; they were left in their tracks as they were 
shot, with simply the teeth knocked out. 
"'The same spirit of slaughter is perhaps intensified in 
the case of the residents of that section. It has been 
brought to my notice in two particular instances, of men 
who live there, who make it a business to go out and kill 
all the elk they can for the purpose of getting the heads, 
hides and teeth. These people, however, have always 
lived in the midst of this game, and do not realize the im- 
portance of preserving it, and they are much more ex- 
cusable than Eastern people — educated and with a knowl- 
edge- of what will be the result if game is allowed to be 
slaughtered in this way. What I wonder about is, what 
the game wardens and State officers are thinking of to al- 
low it. I know from experience that the soldiers in Yel- 
lowstone Park are doing a good work in protectinsc game 
in the open season. I do not know as there is any restric- 
tion in the amount of game a man or a party can kill in 
Wyoming; they take out a State license, and I presume 
are privileged to go and shoot elk in unlimited quantities, 
as the circumstances, and their inclination may be. 
"I believe that the Forest and Stream is more in- 
fluential, and is making a stronger and better fight for the 
preservation of game than any other publication or any 
association. Cannot the Forest and Stream take up this- 
matter, and send copies of editorial protests to the right 
parties, so that the neople can be awakened to the magni- 
tude of the slaughter, and the importance of putting a 
curb on it? There is no reason why a sportsman who 
goes into that country, even if he has a game license, 
should be allowed to kill more than a certain number of 
elk, which may be determined by the circumstances, and 
by the taste and judgment of those that are best qualified 
to pass upon these points. There certainly ought to be in 
every license, jt seems to me, a restriction as to the nuin- 
ber of animals the hunter shall kill. 
"The trip [ made last fall was the first one I ever made 
in the Rocky Mountains, and I was delighted with it, and 
I have been more interested than ever before in this mat- 
ter of the protection of the big game since I returned. T 
have gotten my information from every source where I 
could get it, and believe that it is absolutely reliable." 
This slaughter of elk by non-residents is something 
which is going on and has been going on steadily for a 
long time, though it is something which is not known to 
the public, and which never would be known were it not 
for the sporting papers and for such gentlemen as Mr. 
Daniels, who do not hesitate to make known and to con- 
demn such acts. It seems almost past belief that men 
claiming to be decent would in these days care to go into 
the mountains and assist in the killing of over 100 great 
animals like the elk. Yet what can be done? The moun- 
tains are big and the wardens are few. For my own 
part, I believe in mountain law. I believe that the ranch- 
men and residents of that big game country should take 
these luatters into their own hands, and should warn all 
such non-resident butchers to leave the country, and to 
leave at once, never to come back. I have seen this sort 
of law put into effect, and you never did see any other 
kind of law which worked quite as quickly, smoothly and 
thoroughly. I never could really blame a poor man who 
lived in a game country for killing tneat when he actually 
needed it, and I do not think that game laws ought to 
be made for the benefit of sportsmen, but for the benefit 
of the people. A sportsman is no better than any other 
man, and if he classifies under the description of these 
elk butchers who went into Wyoming, he may be worse 
than any other sort of man, and worse than a market 
hunter, The laws of older days come into effect when the 
population becomes numerous and centralized. Until 
that time has arrived, the laws of the old West whose 
spark stin remains in some of the corners of the Rockies, 
ought to prevail, laws which were founded on justice and 
fair play, and laws whose executive arm had nothing of 
the pitiable weakness known to the statutes of our so- 
called civihzation. If the men of the elk coimtry wish to 
stop this butchery, let them stop it. Then it will be really 
stopped. 
Arkansas Game. 
Mr. Jos. Irwin writes me from Little Rock, Ark., this 
week, stating that ducks are now coming in on the corn- 
fields in large numbers. The lakes and slashes are still 
full of ice, so the birds are going to the river at night. 
Mr. Irwin says that the cold weather only lasted for a few 
days in his vicinity, so that the quails are not very badly 
damaged. In this respect Arkansas is luckier than the 
Northern country, where all reports seem to indicate that 
the quail crop has suffered very seriously by reason of the 
extremely severe weather. 
Wisconsin Game, , 5 
Mr. George A. Morrison, of Fox' 'Lake, Wis., is so 
good as to send me the following notice about game mat- 
ters in his State. I am glad to see that there is sentiment 
in favor of stopping spring shooting, though I fear it may 
not result in an actual law to that effect. The sports- 
men's bill at the Legislature of Wisconsin this winter 
is being met by many others far less thoughtful and 
less modern, and it is not known what the result will 
be. Mr. Morrison says: 
"A friend of mine, Mr. J. Hoffman, just returned 
from near Kilburn reports having seen a good bunch of 
quail Feb. 13. lie had counted forty when they began 
to mix up, but he says there were at least sixty in the 
coyey. They approached within 20ft. of them. While 
at Pardeeville last week I was told by a gentleman that 
he saw a small covey along the roadside while driving. 
Small bunches have been seen about the country ad- 
jacent to this town during the past two years, and also 
about Waupun, teri miles east of this place. This all 
goes to sliow what can be done if game is protected. 
The coveys seen about here and at Waupun are undoubt- 
edly offspring of some few pairs released at Fon dti Lac 
some seasons ago. This winter has been very favorable 
for quail and chickens in this section, little snow having 
fallen, and the ground now is entirely bare, so what few 
we have ought to pull through. 
"The sentiment among sportsmen here is to stop 
spring shooting; this feeling has been growing for nearly 
two years. At that time a petition was circulated by a • 
leading sportsman and signed by a large number of 
local shooters, petitioning the Legislature, then in ses- 
sion, not to abolish spring shooting. There is not a 
man of them that would sign that paper to-day. The 
leaven is also working regarding the sale of game. It 
must be stopped if the game is to be saved." 
In Arizona, 
Mr. E, E. Bliss, of Saginaw, Mich., who is now at 
Phcenix, Ariz., and enjoying the splendid winter climate 
of that region, sends me some- notes in regard to valley- 
quail shooting in Arizona. He says that his first experi- 
ence was with Messrs. Pickerel, Walker and McCowen, 
residents used to 'the game, who took out himsell and 
Mr. Vincent, both from Michigan.^ 
"Mr. Vincent is a business associate of the Mr. Briggs 
you know, of Saginaw," Mr. Bliss says, "and he does not 
claim much experience as a hunter;, but under Mr. 
Briggs' direction purchased an outfit before coming here. 
In reply to my question as to how it happened that Mr. 
Briggs had never taken him on some of his hunts, he 
said: 'Mr. Briggs did invite me once, and only once. 
Soon after we began our hunt our (borrowed) dog point- 
ed, and in my hurry I stubbed my toe. The dog lived, 
but I never got another invitation to go shooting.' So 
much for an open confessi^^n. 
"Our drive of fifteen or sixteen miles over smoQth^ 
roads, past almond orchards, orange groves, etc., out' 
into the Unimproved desert, was no small part of our- 
pleasure. We found the birds where the brush was thick- 
est, as it was after morning feed time. The sport was 
lively for a time, and then our lunch was eaten in the 
shade of the buckboard and buggy at a Government well 
some 15 or 20ft. deep. After a rest, more quails, and 
then home with some fifty-odd birds, with which bag we 
Michigan men were well pleased, though the others had 
expected more. As you know, they use no bird dogs 
