IBO 
F6REST AND STREAM. 
ilPEB. 24, 1900. 
These gentlemen own a grand property there, and are put- 
ting in a great, deal of money in keeping it up. They have 
fine bird shooting, but seem to lean to fox hunting. Their 
pack is a fine one, and they are in a region where they 
can get a good run on a red almost any time they like. 
Mr. Spears is well Icnown in the South as one of the best 
breeders of fox hounds and most enthusiastic of fox 
hunters, so it may be supposed he was a proper guest at 
last week's sport at Hickory Flat meet. He was called 
home by a telegram, announcing his wife's illness. Later 
I shall wish to make some more extended mention of Mr. 
Spears' own place at Ingram's Mill, and his wide plans 
for a good, practical preserve for small game and a 
hunting country for red foxes. This is the same proposi- 
tion which was briefly mentioned in these columns a couple 
of weeks ago, and from that brief mention Mr. Spears 
tells _me he has had several inquiries and offers of parti- 
cipation. It will duly appear that he has in mind a 
limited membership. As to tlie country itself, I can 
now_speak from personal observation, and shall take pleas- 
ure in doing so more at leisure. 
Southera Hospitality. 
Above I have spoken of Bobo, Tom Divine and others 
of our old and well-known friends of the Southern 
country, who are, I am sure, as well known to all the 
Forest and Stream family as though each reader had had 
a persbnal introduction. Down at New Orleans, being a 
bit tired with hotel life in a rainy week, I wrote Bobo to 
look out for me and Another at his platform in the Delta 
below Memphis (Bobo has two main places of abode, at 
his big Delta plantation and his hill farm near Ingram's 
Mill, neighboring to Mr. Spears). We did not hear from 
Bobo, and supposing he was away from his Delta farm, 
did not go there, but went over to his hill farm. Here 
it cam^e out that he was not yet back from his Delta place, 
and no one could tell where he was. I telegraphed him 
then that I was running his farm, and liked it pretty well, 
and he need not come home unless he felt like it, as we 
were very comfortable. No answer came to this either, 
and at last our time was up, and we had to start home 
via Alemphis. Here, face to face at Gaston's (every 
Southern man knows where Gaston's is at Memphis), we 
met Bobo, and Bobo was mad. 
"Where've you been?" he asked, with some asperity. 
"I've been wiring after you all over the South. I wired 
you at New Orleans to come on ahead to the Delta, and 
then I got word that you were over at my other place 
a-running it. I gave up tr3ang to catch you, and con- 
cluded to come here to Memphis and lay for you when 
you started back North. Do you know what you've done?" 
I told Bobo I wasn't aware of having done anything 
much, except eat up everything there was at his farm, 
but this did not mollify him. 
_ "We postponed the wedding for you," he said. "Yes, 
sir, we put it off a whole day, and then you didn't come. 
What sort of way is that of doing?" 
This left me a bit incoherent, and we sought light on 
both sides. The facts appeared to be as follows. Fincher 
Bobo, Capt. Bobo's oldest son, was to have been married 
at Bobo, Miss., on Feb. 13. My letter reached them 
Feb. 10, and Bobo's reply was wired at once to New 
Orleans, but was never received, through the gross 
stupidity, of the most grossly stupid of all hotel clerks. 
"Now, Fincher," said Bobo, to one of the high contracting 
parties, "it's no use talking, you've got to postpone that 
wedding till Mr. and Mrs. Hough get here, and that's 
all there is about it, I've telegraphed him to come, and 
he'll be here the r4th, and then we can have the wedding 
just the same." Fincher knew me from our acquaintance 
on the last bear hunt down in that country, and he wanted 
to have me see him on the happiest day of his life, but he 
.didn't exactly feel enthusiastic about putting off the wed- 
ding, when, all preparations had been made for it. Still, 
he wanted to be polite, and he really and actually did post- 
pone his wedding, and was not married until Feb. 14, in- 
stead of Feb. 13. Imagine how they all felt when they 
went to the train that day and did not find the anticipated 
guests ! Imagine also our own feelings at learning of 
this state of affairs ! t understand that Fincher thinks he 
ihas a ground of action against me, and I am sure I have 
.one against the hotel. But I want to ask if anybody in 
the whole world ever heard of a better example of hos- 
pitality than, that? These are actual facts. I believe 
they would have the whole wedding all over again if I 
asked them to. The bride has not been heard from, and 
I am not quite sure what she thinks of guests who do not 
come. The hotel clerk would better resign. 
PlanQing for the Rockies. 
Mr. W. Ed. Marsh, of Corry, Pa., writes regarding a 
trip to the Rocky Mountains next season: "Will you 
kindly give me some information as to the best locality 
you consider for a general hunt with elk, bear, antelope 
and sheep in mind, and the most desirable time. Our 
method has always been to take our tent and camp 
equipage and locate in some good game section and live on 
the fat of the land until we 'hiked home,' and this way 
we never employed a guide except so far as the party 
who located us and hauled in our luggage could be called 
a guide." 
Answering letters like the above is a pleasure, but a 
risky sort of pleasure, because one does not like to give 
advice which may spoil another fellow's good time. In 
these days the game supply in any given locality is sub- 
ject to sudden changes, so that it is next to impossible to 
tell from year to year what the opportunities may be, as 
based on the data of former supply. In general terms, it 
is not difficult to reply to Mr. Marsh's inquiry. A trip to 
the Rockies is a different matter now from what it was 
even ten years ago._ It has become a more expensive and 
more elaborate affair, and big-game hunting has become a 
sort of a fad with some, as well as a sport with others. 
Some men go out for such hunts on a very wide scale and 
make a trip cost a great deal of money. Two gentlemen 
last fall told me their trip had cost them $1,500, and they 
traveled modestly. In most parts of the Rockies a guide 
is a very necessary companion for the stranger, if the 
latter has but limited time at his disposal. This need not 
mean that one should take a vast outfit into the moun- 
tains with him. One is as good as fifty to show a party to 
the country, though it may very likely take several men 
to get a big outfit and supplies into a very rough regioil 
of the mountains, I hesitate naming any certain locality. 
The mere publication of this letter is sure to bring very 
many letters to Mr. Marsh from men who know all about 
the very best game country on earth. If I had leisure to take 
a Rocky Mountain trip myself this coming season, I be- 
lieve I should write out to Wm. Wells, at Wells' .Post- 
Office, Uinta county, Wyo. This is near the Wind River 
range, which is very likely the best of the big-game re- 
gions of the Rockies now left and accessible to ordinary 
travel. The Jackson's Hole region is very popular, and 
any of several guides can be had there. I am disposed 
to believe that Mr. Wells would make almost any sort of 
arrangement this party would like, guiding them in much 
or little, as they liked, with some of his men, though per- 
haps he personally could not go with them. It would 
be very much worth while to write him, I should think. 
Mr. Marsh will have to answer several other answers, me- 
thinks, for there is no absolute cinch on hunting country 
or on guides to the same. He will like the Rockies more 
than any of the localities he has named, and will find them 
laid out on a rather large scale, with a fascination which 
will make it hard to turn back home again. 
Ohio Sportsmen Organize. 
The following call has been issued to the sportsmen of 
Ohio to unite in the fight against misjudged legislation 
which threatens in the current session of the Ohio Legis- 
lature : 
"To the Sportsmen of Ohio: The Summit County 
Game and Fish Protective and Propagation Society, of 
Summit county, Ohio, realizing, in their efforts to prevent 
vicious legislation in the Legislature of this State, against 
the true interests of all sportsmen and property owners 
where game is harbored, the urgent necessity of a State 
organization, for the purpose of dealing with all svib- 
jects relating to sportsmen's interests, has assumed the 
initiative in calling a meeting for the purpose of form- 
ing such an organization. 
"This meeting will be held in Columbus, Monday and 
Tuesday, Feb. 26 and 27, the first session being held in 
the office of the Fish and Game Commissioners, in the 
State house, at 2 P. M., Monday, Feb. 26. Every county 
is requested to send five representatives. D. W. Hollo- 
way, Chairman; L. C. Miles, Vice-Chairman ; J, M. 
Mackey, Secretary; George W. Brewster, C. E. Sheldon, 
P. T. McCourt, R, T. Dobson, Executive Committee of 
the Summit County Game and Fish Protective and Propa- 
gation Society," 
The Ohio Legislature is largely made up of farmers, and 
the body has recently shown itself very hostile to the 
sportsmen of the land who like an occasional day afield. 
Against some marauding and criminal shooters there is a 
natural ill feeling, but this should not be visited upon 
the hands of the decent and lawabiding sportsmen prop- 
erly to be so called. It is without likelihood that the 
Legislature will be unamenable to argument and to facts, 
and very probably the sportsmen of the grand State of 
Ohio will find themselves worse scared than hurt, but this 
action of the Summit county men is most praiseworthy 
and will no doubt result in securing the agitation which is 
all that will be necessary. The trend of game legislation 
is forward and upward, and Ohio will hardly forget this, 
jealous as she has always been of her reputation for en- 
lightenment. E. Hough. 
300 BoYCE Building, Chicago, 111. 
The Boston Show^. 
Boston, Feb. 19. — The feature of interest in sporting 
circles just now is the Sportsmen's Show, to open Wed- 
nesday evening with a grand initial entertainment, ten- 
dered by the management to associate members and in- 
vited guests. This opening promises to be much of a 
society event, and will doubtless enlist the support of the 
Four Hundred throughout the show. Just at present the 
Mechanics' building is in much of a state of chaos, but 
later the scene will change to one of woodland, lake and 
stream. Hunting and fishing clubs are to be well repre- 
sented with camps and guides. The Megaiitic Club is to 
have an actual log camp, built in Maine and transported. 
But the features of attraction have about all been enu- 
merated in the Forest and Stream, and need not be re- 
peated. The management has had in view all the time 
the making of a real sportsmen's show. All now de- 
pends upon the weather, which is likely to be considerably 
Marchy just at this time of the year. 
The many friends of Capt. F. C. Barker, of Bemis, and 
the Birches, Rangeley Lakes, will be glad to learn that 
he has lately passed through a rather difficult and danger- 
ous operation safely, for relief of a glandular throat 
trouble, and is now mending rapidly, with every reason 
to expect restoration to perfect health. The operation 
was performed at the Roosevelt Hospital, New York, and 
Capt. Fred hopes to be out to the Boston Sportsmen's 
Show. 
Tfie rain of last week was followed by terrible crusts in 
much of the New England forest territory. Grave fears 
are entertained tiat partridges and quail have suffered 
severely; the partridges especially, from burrowing un- 
der the snow at night, as is their want, and being frozen 
under. Up to Saturday night the Maine Commissioners 
are reported to have had rep9rted to them four cases of 
deer exhausted and unable to' move in the terrible sharp 
crust, not strong enough to bear them. In each case the 
finders of the deer have asked permission to feed the deer, 
with the promise not to molest them as soon as the 
weather conditions permit of their taking care of them- 
selves. Doubtless the Commissioners are pleased with a 
sentiment so greatly changed ; since only a few vears ago 
the plan would have been to have quietly slaughtered the 
deer for the sake of their hides, if the meat was too thin 
to use, and the Commissioners would never have been the 
wiser. Special, 
The Massachusetts Grotjsc. 
Every partridge in New England will drum his ap- 
plause of Forest and Stream's appeal to the sportsmen of 
Massachusetts. We have all read it as the right thing to 
do, and now we hope every man who has the love of the 
woods and birds in his make-up, will use his voice and in- 
fluence to the making of the proposed righteous enaction 
of a law to stop the sale of game. What becomes of an 
amateur athlete wlio sells his prizes and medals won on 
the cinder path, or the wheelman who disposes of his- 
trophies for money? They become professionals, and are 
forbidden the company of their former friends. What are 
the birds to the man who loves his dog and gun and the ' 
use of them? Trophies of his skill, beautiful prizes of his 
day afield. And what shall we say of him- who exchanges 
them for money ? Is he not a professional pot-hunter ? 
Through the courtesy of these columns the Fitchburg 
Rifle and Gun Club express their entire satisfaction at 
the proposed bill, and their president, Mr. Harry A. Esta- 
brook, has a petition signed by himself and members, and 
asks every gun club in Massachusetts to do the same and 
forward to their representative, that everything may be 
done to make this bill a law, and save our dear old friends, 
the ruffed grouse. Irving O. Convene, 
Sec'y Fitchburg Rifle and Gun Club. 
In the Pound-Net. 
BY FRED MATHER, 
Crappies and Black Bass. 
From Wheeling, W. Va., Crappie writes: "From your 
remarks in Forest and Stream of isth inst., I am led to 
infer that you are of the opinion that Wheeling Creek 
contams no game fish. This is an ideal stream^ for black 
bass, and is inhabited by them now, and has been, I 
suppose, always. You will recall, no doubt, that it was 
from this stream that the Potomac River was originally 
stocked with black bass, as described by Dr. Henshall, in 
his 'Book of the Black Bass.' My description of the 
stream was based not only upon my knowledge of the 
first twelve miles up from its mouth, but also upon its 
comparison with streams upon which most of my fishing 
has been done, which are in Ohio, say within a radius of 
twelve miles from Columbus. Take the Big and Little 
Walnut, Big and Little Darby and Alum creeks, also the 
Scioto River. These are comparatively slow, quiet, slug- 
gish streams when compared to Wheeling Creek. In these 
streams, ten to fifteen years ago, the black bass, also rock 
bass or goggle ej^e, used to be plentiful, but we never took 
any crappies. Hardly think Wheeling Creek suitable for 
trout, but could not say positively. Think temperature 
higher than you mention at the seasons named. There 
are, of course, other fish in the stream besides black bass, 
such as sunfish, carp, goggle-eyes, etc. 
"I had my first trip up the creek on April 13, the water 
being quite high; three of us caught three black bass, 
small-mouths, one of which weighed a pound and the 
others half a pound each, all caught on minnows. On 
cleaning them we were surprised to find no spawn in 
them, although the larger one looked to be heavy in the 
abdomen. I found in the larger one three, in one of the 
other two, and in the last one, one crawfish. These craw- 
fi.sh were all very hard, but still perfect, so must have been 
bolted that day. I have never found hard-shelled craw- 
fish a very good bait. How do you account for this? 
Perhaps the bass have not yet begun to move about much, 
owing to our late spring, and the crawfish were more 
easily obtained than minnows. I expect to go up the 
creek again before long, and if I succeed in locating any 
of the crappies, will let you know. None of them have 
been seen or heard of except those captured below, as 
previously advised." 
In the article referred to, Crappie tells of the planting 
the crappies in Wheeling Creek, which is a rapid stream, 
. by the United States Fish Commission in November, 1898. 
There were some 2,000 crappies of both kinds, large and 
small-mouth, and 900 black bass. About the middle of 
March, 1899, some men seining about the mouth of Fish 
Creek, which empties into the Ohio about thirty miles 
below Wheeling, were reported to have taken some crap- 
pies, and as this was a new fish for that region, it was 
thought by my correspondent that the creek might not 
be a proper place for them, and that they had gone down 
to the Ohio in search of more congenial waters. (See 
Forest and Stream, April 15, 1899, p. 292.) 
It seems odd that all three black bass taken in April 
should have been barren. I am somewhat familiar with 
barren trout in confinement, and in a forthcoming book 
have taken up the question, giving the opinions of other 
fishculturists, but that wild black bass are barren opens up 
a new field for inquiry. 
Eels aad Black Bass. 
If evidence were wanted that some missionary work is 
needed among those who intend to stock their waters, the 
following letter would prove it. I sometimes feel as 
if it might be doubted if I really receive such letters, and 
often send them entire to the editor, as I do this one, in 
order to show him that they are really written. Here 
it is with name and place suppressed: 
"I take the liberty of writing a few lines to you for 
information. I was told tliat you could inform me re- . 
garding fish supplies. I am going to stock a fish pond 
with black bass. Would also like to put in some eels. 
Would they do together? If so, where can I get them, and 
at what cost. Any information you can give me will be 
kindly received. Please let me hear from you." 
This correspondent is seeking for information, and 
sadly needs it. That a man who has a stream or pond 
which he wishes to stock has not had time nor inclination 
to study the habits of fishes is not to be wondered at. He 
has begun to realize that fishculture is a good thing, and 
should be pushed along. He gives no hint as to the size, 
flow nor temperature of his pond, but as he is in Kansas, 
no doubt the black bass may thrive there. It is a question 
of depth and character of bottom, as well as of area and 
temperature. But the eels! He knows that the eel is a 
good fish_ fried or stewed, but he does not know that all 
fishculturists kill every one, large or small, that are caught 
aboitt their ponds. Thejr prowl about at night when other 
fishes are asleep and bite into them ; they are am.ong the 
most destructive things that the fishculturist has to con- 
tend with. I cannot tell him where to get bass nor eels, 
nor what they would cost; he should write to his State 
Fish Commission, if there is one, or to the United States 
Fish Commission, but I can say that with the exception of 
a shipm.ent of eels from the Hudson River to Michigan 
som.e twenty years ago, which fortunately all died in 
