'SfirxV i$\ 1900.] 
FOREST AND STJlEAM. 
211 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Fish, 
Chicaco, 111., Sept. I.— The Western season in the re- 
view seems to have been rather a poor one from the 
angler's standpoint, j^erhaps largely on account of the 
long spells of intensely hot weather. The record on 
muscallunge, so far as I can learn, still belongs to Dr. 
Baxter, of Chicago, 381^4 pounds, taken in Sand Lake. 
Wis., early in the spring. T hear of no bass over 6]4 
pounds, that from Waukesha county. Wis. In trout 
nothing of special interest appears, except that from the 
Pere Marquette there were some rainbow records of 3. 
4 and 5 pounds, a very good increase in average over 
the weight of last year, they tell me. It is comforting to 
add that the grayling, thought to be gone forever, has 
this year been found again by two or three different par- 
lies. I have private word from a geintleraan who saw- 
some grayling brought in this montH by a friend from 
the upper part of the lower peninsula. " I recorded the 
takmg of a few by yet another gentleinan of Michigan. 
I had an invitation to go grayling fishing this week with 
some Michigan friend.s who know what they are talking 
about. I had an invitation this spring to go out this 
summer with an Alpena gentleman who knows a stream 
where there are still a few of these rare fish to be found. 
There are still a few grayling, but thev are very few. 
The records of the famous Au Sable River for large takes 
of trout, brook and rainbow, continue to be very inter- 
esting, more from numijers than from size, so" far as 
the average report goes. All in all, the trout fishing 
seems to be improving in the States of Michigan and 
Wisconsin, the bass fishing holding its own, tiie muscal- 
lunge lishing deteriorating. Maybe next year the scale 
will be reversed. It is much a matter of guess. 
There Are Grayling in Michigan. 
There are grayling in Michigan. Not many; not enough 
to hsh hard ; not enough to go after if you want a basket 
and do not go for the gentle curiosity of it. But there are 
gra3']mg there. They are breeding, and it is among the 
possibilities that they may increase. Such are conclusions 
based upon several reports at hand this seasqn from 
Michigan gentlemen who are good enough to give the 
results of their personal observations. Ojie of these, a 
triend of mine, writes entertainingly as below regarding 
his recent trip, which was made expressly for the purpose 
ot running down a grayling rumor: 
"I was awfully sorry you could not go with us. We 
had a hue time, but not a great many f^sh, though we 
did not expect many. Three of us in three days, though 
did take twenty-five grayling. I am going to write you 
all alKDut It .soon. It was a joy to once more, after a 
lapse ot these many years, cast and hook with a small 
tty CI\o. 10 and No. 12) my old friend with a centerboard 
on his back. What a rush the first one would be; and no 
one knows, who has not taken a grayling with a fly how 
magnificent are their leaps to free themselves fro'm the 
hook, how they shake themselves in the air and keep at 
It, and how delicately you have to handle them. If this 
stream could be protected so there would be absolutely 
no hshtng of any kind for three years, I think we would 
have Michigan grayling again. The logging is prac- 
tically done, and it never will be a trout stream. We 
have found both large and small grayling in it, taking 
them three, four and five years old, and the next jump 
was to yearlings, and I learned, just as I was coming 
away, that the Fish Commission a j'ear ago put in some 
Montana grayling fry. I only took one of those little 
4-inch fellows after that, and on examination of the dorsal 
fin, with the naked eye. I could riot discover any of those 
iridescent spots that are so well known in Michigan 
grayling. Had I had an inkling that those yearlings were 
-Montana fish, I would have made a more critical ex- 
amination, for I caught dozens of those little fellows, and 
thought at the time it was a sure indication that the native 
fish were breeding and breeding well. 
"Just as soon as I can get time, I want to write up an 
article on this grayling trip. I really feel that I have 
material for something that will be quite valuable as a 
fishing story, or possibly dignified with something a little 
better than a story." 
The story surely will be both valuable and interesting, 
and the sooner the better. 
Biggest Bass. 
The biggest bass of which word is at hand for. the sea- 
son of 1900 in this part of the world is one of 7 pounds 3 
ounces, a big-mouth, taken at Fox Lake, Wis., by Mr. 
Fred Lorenz, of Milwaukee, Wis, Mr. Lorenz fished with 
Mr. Frank Brice, and they took a string of twenty-one 
bass, whose average was over 3 pounds. It is of this 
party that the slory is told that the two men cast for a 
bass which they saw rise inshore, and both caught l*m. 
the fish swallowing both frogs and being plaved by both 
rods. This, however, was not the "big bass above 
-'hroincled, v-hose weight is vouched for bv Mr. D. J, 
Hotchkiss, of Fox Lake. And Hotchkiss is an honorable 
E, Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
West Virginia Bass and Game. 
KoMNEY, W. Va.— Editor Forest and Stream: Have 
heen intending to write you a short account of our bass 
fishing on the South Branch of the Potomac this season 
and of the prospects for hunting this fall. We have 
caught a great many small bass and some few large ones 
here this summer, but the river has been so low and we 
have had such a drought and so much hot weather that 
tlie large fish ha^'e not been biting. Also in our river 
there 3s practically no protection on the bass With the 
tie rattsmen catching bass in the spring and the people 
with their cursed fish pots in the fall, together with w 
many fishing, and no protection for the bass, in a couple 
of yenrs there will be no more bass fishing in the South 
Branch of the Potomac. 
Our prosj^ects for hunting Uiis fall are goo.I, In 
tact, partridges aiid pheasants are more plentiful than 
for several years Our game law.s in this State are a dead 
letter. They will never be i^etter until our Legislature 
gives tlie game warden power to appoint a deputy in each 
county to enforce the game law. In Hampshire county 
lots of fishermen bring their guns and shoot everything 
in sight, and at Capon Springs ,the residents kill game 
and take it to the Springs and sell it to the guests at a 
good price. In Hardy county, which is the most lawless 
county in the State as to game laws, they have no close 
season, and do as they please. In Randolph county they 
run deer with dogs in the summer and shoot small game 
at any and all seasons. Our turkey season commences 
Sept. 15, which is two weeks, if not more, too soon. 
Our $25 license law on non-residents is a farce, and only 
gives the citizens who hunt to sell the advantage, and 
shuts out a great many sportsmen who hunt for the pleas- 
ure of it. J. B. B. 
I hc League of Salt Water Fishermen. 
New York, Oflice 106 West Thirty-first Street, Sept. 
10. — Editor Forest and Stream: Mr. Charles A. Shriner, 
ex-protector of New Jersey, has promised to attend our 
next regular meeting of the League, and Mr. F. J. Mc- 
Guire, secretary of the Hudson River Netters' Organiza- 
tion, has promised to be with us on Monday evening, Sept. 
17. It will be one of the most interesting of the League 
meetings, and will pay fishermen from far and near to 
hear those two distinguished men talk. It is with pride 
that I invite all true fishermen to attend. Mr. Edgar 
Hicks, game protector of the New York waters, has also 
been invited to attend. 
It pains one that while so many fishermen go fishing, the 
most of them do not even think of joining the League to 
work for their own protection. They all see the cause of 
poor fishing in our nearby waters, and yet they do not 
come and give a helping hand to abate it. Just to 
think of it — dues onlj^ $1 per year, about 8 cents per 
month. Surely that is a mere trifle, and yet it helps to get 
a law passed and enforced that will benefit the masses in 
the end. How many there are who pay that dollar and 
yet do not attend the meetings ; this also is very wrong ; 
fishermen should take more interest in the meetings. 
Attend, one and all, and I know that in a very short time 
things will be very much as we fishermen want them. 
The League is well organized and it is the wish of the 
officers to make it a banner League of New York State. 
A bill will be presented to the Legislature this_ coming 
winter that will provide restrictions well placed to benefit 
all — fishermen and netters alike — and we must have the 
fishermen (tide water) with us to indorse the .same, and 
then to enforce it when it becomes a law. I earnestly 
hope that all will be interested in this, and above all, will 
come to the meetings and hear what is being done, and 
help us. as we need all true fishermen in this work to 
restore good, fine fishing again. I hope to .see many new 
faces at our next meeting. 
T. BiEDiNGER, Pres. 
he Mmml 
Mexican Tarpon and Game Grounds. 
Shannon, 111. — Editor Forest and Stream: I was 
highly entertained by Mr. Waddel's descriptive articles 
on tarpon fishing at Tampico, and while I have never 
pursued this sport and know nothing of its details, I take 
the pri\'ilege of "chipping in" merely because I have been 
in Tampico and feel a friendly interest for our sister 
Republic. 
Mr. Waddel speaks of . fishing parties resorting to 
Tampico during the winter months for fishing in the 
Gulf. Aside from this special attraction they should 
find Old Mexico a most excellent ground to play over, as 
her historical rise and fall and rise again are laden with 
romantic legends that one can muse and dream over when 
the tarpon will not bite. 
Some fifty or sixty miles back from Tampico on the 
^Mexican Central R. R., where the foothills begin, and on 
up over the mountain ranges along the narrow cafions 
and back among the plateaus, are numerous little towns, 
haciendas and native clusterings. There are Rascon, Las 
Palmos. Las Canoas, El Alva, Villas and a multitude of 
other places along this line where abounds excellent 
shooting. 
At Villas, Rascon, in fact any of the places named, a 
person can find all the deer, turkey and parrots a man's 
heart could desire. It is only a short ride from Tampico 
on a direct line, where one can go up in the morning and 
back in the cA^ening. thus having a whole day's pleasure 
where the game is unlimited and the noise of the rifle and 
shotgun for sport is practically unknown. Also, nearer 
the coast he can, if he wishes, spend enjoyable hours 
with the wildfowl, snipe and other aquatic species. 
These are only side trips, but I feel assured .will be 
a pleasing diversion to the follower of Father Izaak when 
the winds blow hard and the waves roll high. 
E. K. Stedman. 
San Francisco Fly-Casting Club. 
Mkdal contests held at Stow Lake, Axxg. 25. Contest 
No. 12. Wind, west; weather, foggy. 
Event Event 
No. 1, No. 2, 
Distance, Accuracy, 
Feet Per cent. 
r Event No. 8,- 
Acc. % Del. % 
Battu 
97 
90 
93 
70.10 
9tl 
86. 4 
87.4 
72.6 
Brotherton . . . 
J 14 
94.8 
90.4 
77.6 
8G 
90.8 
81.4 
77.6 
117. 
91 
90.8 
84.2 
Heller 
79.8 
85.4 
73.4 
Muller 
102 
88.8 
• 90 
85.10 
72 
90 
97.4 
75.10 
Watt - 
88 
70. S 
Aug. 26. — 
■Wind, 
west; 
weather, :feir„ 
Battu 
96 
S7 
91.4 
73.4 
10.1 
.S7.8 
79. S 
66.8 
Brotherton . . . 
111 
91 
90. S 
72.6 
Daverkosen . . 
114 
84 
89.8 
72.6 
Everett 
112.6 
90.4 
9.3.4 
75.10 
Foulks 
95.(5 
77.4 
82,8 
S8.4 
65.10 
Haight 
SI 
83.8 
70.10 
tJuvek 
91! 
90.8 
91.8 
69.2 
Heller 
86.4 
67.6 ' 
Chiller 
'95 
8ti 
SS.4 
73.4 
Young 
99 
91.4 
92.8 
71.8 
Judges. E 
verett 
Brotherton, 
Net it 
80.11 
79.11 
83.11 
84.5 
87.5 
79.4 
87.11 
86.7 
82.4 
73.2 
81.7 
81.1 
84.7 ■ 
74.3 
79.7 
76. 11 
8O.TO 
82.2 
Event 
No. 4, 
Lure 
Casting^ 
.^fuller i clerk. 
Fixtures. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Sept. 18-19. — Brandon, ]\Ian. — Third annual trials of the Branclpn 
Kennel Club. Dr. H. James Elliott, Scc'y. 
Uct 30.— SenecaviUe, U. — Monongaheia Valley Game arid Fish 
Protective Association's sixth annual field trials. A. C. Peterson, 
Sec'y, Homestead, Pa. 
Nov. 7.— Hampton, Conn.— Connectictit Field Trials Club's field 
trials. J. E. Bassett, Sec'y, Box 603, New Haven, Conn. 
Nov. 7-8.— Lake View, Mich.— Third annual field trials of the 
Michigan Field Trials Association. E. Rice, Sec'y, Grand Rapids, 
Mich. 
Nov. 12.— Bicknell, Ind.— Third annual field trials of the In- 
dependent Field Trials Club. P. T. Madison, Sec'y, Indianapolis, 
Ind. 
Nov. 13.— Chatham, Ont.— Twelfth annual field trials of the In- 
ternational Field Trials Club. W. B. Wells, Hon. Sec'y. 
Nov. 16.— Newton, N. C— Eastern Field Trials Club's twenty- 
second annual field trials—Members' .Stake. Nov. 19, Derby- 
Simon C. Bradley, Sec'y, Greenfield Hill, Conn. 
No. 20. , . — Illinois Field Trials Association's second 
annual field trials. O. W. Ferguson, Sec'v, Mattoon, 111. 
Nov. 20. — Ruthven, Ontario, Can. — Second annua! field trials of 
the North American Field Trials Club. F. E. Marcon, Jr., Sec'y, 
Windsor, Ontario, Can. 
Nov. 20. , Pa.— Central Beagle Club's annual field trials. A, 
C. Peterson, Sec'y, Homestead, Pa. 
Nov._ 22.— Glasgow, Ky.— Kentucky Field Trials Oub's annual 
field trials. Barret Gibson, Sec'y, Louisville, Ky. 
Nov. 27. — Paris, Mo. — Fourth annual field trials of the Missouri 
Field Trials Association. L. S. Eddins, Sec'v, Sedalia, Mo. 
Nov. 30.— Newton, N. C— Continental Field Trials Club's sixth 
annual field trials— Members' Stake. Dec. 3, Derby- Theo. 
Sturges, Sec'y, Greenfield Hill. Conn. 
Training the Hunting Dog 
For the Field and Field Trials. 
n. — Instinct, Reason and Natural Development. 
As tending to a better understanding of dog nature, con- 
sequently as tending to a better appiication of the ways 
and means of a dog's education, a brief discourse on 
the instincts of pointers and setters, their powers of rea- 
son in the abstract and as applied to field work, and the 
best nianncr of development from the sportsman's point 
of view, is essential. 
To the average beginner, all dogs are simply dogs, 
and all dogs are alike. This is a natural consequence 
to commencing as an educator without first acquiring any 
correct ideas as to how dogs learn and what they learn, 
or indeed without any thought of the matter, even after 
he commences the training; hence it never occurs to 
him that the apparent stupidity of his pupils may be an 
index of his own inability to teach. A man may be ever 
so able to instruct one of his own kind, whose mental 
capacity, being similar, he understands, and yet be unable 
to instruct a dog, whose mental capacity is so dissim- 
ilar and therefore so misunderstood. Let him carefully 
note how the dog learns; how much his intellect can com- 
pass lesson by lesson and how much as a whole; what to 
teach step by step and how to do it and at the same 
time retain his pupil's affection and confidence. 
As to instinct, nothing is more difficult to define— in 
fact, the definition of it has never been satisfactorily 
given by even the greatest philosophers. Abstruse spec- 
ulations concerning it have been advanced, but all are in 
that broad realm of speculation where the intangible 
reigns. No one can tell how the colt, when its age is 
measured only by minutes, is impelled to suckle its dam 
and succeeds in doing so, or how it knows enough to 
follow her about or how it recognizes and obeys her 
voice; or how young birds know how to build a nest 
without ever having seen one built, or how they know 
that it is necessary to build them at all, or how they 
have the migratory impulse and know the proper direc- 
tion to take when they migrate, or how the grub knows 
how to spin an envelope around itself, etc. The manifes- 
tations of instinct in the animal world are innumerable. 
Even a brief treatment of them would require a volume 
of space and the trainer, after reading it all, would know 
nothing definite concerning them save that they ex- 
isted and seemed to be independent of all experience in 
their exercise. 
^ Those who care to further investigate this subject will 
find much of interest in respect to it in "The Descent of 
Man," by Darwin; "Animal Intelligence," bv Romaines; 
"The Senses and the Intellect," by Bain; "'Animal Life 
and Intelligence," by Morgan; "The Principles of Psy- 
chology," by James, and in works of Spencer, Wundt. 
Buchner, Wasman. Hume. Wesley Mills and in those 
of a host of other writers, German, French and English, 
all of whom most interestingly present much to instruct 
and much more to confuse the reader. 
When, however, an animal consciously performs an act 
as a means to an end, all the recognized authorities agree 
that the act then comes within the domain of reason. 
Dogs at a very early age profit by experience and dis- 
play a discriminating use of their acquired knowledge. 
It is impossible to draw a definite line between instinct 
and reason, but the two as a whole are easily distinguish- 
able. Thus the natural impulse of the dog to hunt rab- 
bits or birds might be termed instinctive, while the man- 
ner in which he conducts his pursuit of them in his ef- 
forts to capture is an act of reason. 
His physical structure closely resembles that of man. 
His ^brain is somewhat similar in shape and material to 
man's, and it relatively serves the same purposes. Like 
tnan, the dog gains a knowledge of the external world 
through the means of his senses — hearing, seeing tast- 
ing; feeling and smelling, the latter being the one' most 
used and the most keenly developed. 
The common, every-day life of the dog in and about 
the home of man displays in innumerable ways a keen 
perception of cause and efifect. He learns to a nicety 
what privileges are permitted to him, at what time and 
place and of whom he may expect to receive his food 
what people are most friendly to him. what places afford 
tlie most comfortable sleeping quarters for summer or 
wmter. what dogs of the neighborhood best romp or hunt 
to his hking, etc. All his acts are founded on knowledge 
acqun-ed by experience, and as instincts are quite inde 
peiulent ol experience, the distinction is apparent. 
All instincts are much aHke as displayed one animal ' 
with .-mother. They may vary in the degrees of intensity 
but tliey are the same in kind. The mother's love for 
]]?}• offsprmg, th? in^tinv't of self-pre.semtjon, ^tc, ar« 
