^26 
I I ~- — ■ " • 
dant," "far more plenty than last year/' "have greatly 
increased," etc. But letters from parties stopping at these 
.very sections say that "not a partridge is to be seen." 
A Maine Vote. 
. Boston, Sept. 15. — The Hun. L. T. Carlfeton, chairman 
of the Maine Fish and Game Commission, was elected on 
Monday a Representative to the Legislature from the 
Winthrop district. Reports to the daily papers, as well 
'as private letters, say that dissatisfied Republicans, Demo- 
crats and Prohibitionists united to defeat Mr. Carleton, 
► and fish and game matters wej-e brought into the fight. 
A farmer was nominated in opposition, and it is under- 
stood that he was supported on the theory that he is op- 
posed to game and fish laws, and to the further fostering 
(;f fish and game protection by the State. I have already 
noted in the Forest and Stream a feeling of dissatisfac- 
tion among a small part of the farmers in Maine. One 
man has come out boldly and declared against all game and 
fish laws, and wickedly assailed all lovers of the rod and 
gun as drunkards and debauchers, and declared that the 
■ State ought not to do any more to foster hunting and 
fishing in Maine. He has secured only a very small fol- 
lowing, and the victory of Mr. Carleton over the combined 
opposition by a majority of 282 votes in a small district is 
reckoned as a victory for fish and game protection and 
propagation. A gentleman familiar with Maine legisla- 
tive affairs tells me that Mr. Carleton will undoubtedly 
be tendered the chairmanship of the Committee on Fish- 
eries and Game when the Legislature assembles Jan. i 
next. If that is the case, and Mr. Carleton accepts the 
position, it will be next to impossible for any legislative 
mea.sures to pass to which Mr. Carleton is opposed. 
Now the town of Damariscotta is ahead of the other 
Maine towns in the matter of being visited by members of 
the big-game family. A visitor came into town early, 
doubtless in the night, since he was first seen in the early 
daylight, breakfasting on green corn from the garden of a 
citizen. He finished his repast, roamed around the streets 
a while and then disappeared in the direction of the woods. 
, He was a big bull moose. Speciat,. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
' ■ Change in the Chickens. 
.'"Chicago, 111., Sept. 15. — Quite a change has comC' over 
" the prairie chicken situation in this part of the world 
within the brief space of the two weeks which we have 
now had of the open season. At .the first of the shooting 
season I mentioned heavy bags, such as 67, 62, 36, etc., 
made by different shooters within 100 miles of this city 
at such points as Aurora, Gilman, etc. It was considered 
certain that there was an uncommonly heavy crop of 
chickens, and indeed that was so certain that there is no 
reason to alter that opinion at this time. It is not thought 
that all the birds have been killed, yet they have disap- 
, peared, utterly and mysteriously, as though there had 
ijot been more than a very few to begin with. For the 
hrst week everybody got birds; now nobody gets any. 
The fact seems to be that the American prairie chicken 
is getting over a good many of its one-time easy-going 
habits and is becoming something of a general itself in 
the field. Its habits have changed distinctly, and it is 
much more difficult to make a good bag of these birds 
than it was even ten years ago. It is now only the middle 
of September and we have had no frosts at all thus far 
in Illinois, yet the birds have begun ,to pack up already 
and have practically left their earlier covey arrangements. 
They lie in the big corn fields and feed at night, more 
like ducks than chickens. 
There will be better chicken shooting in Illinois thirty 
days from now than there is to-day, for at that time the 
corn will be cut down by frost, the big flocks of grouse 
will be located and the hunter will have a better notion 
of where to seek his game. The birds will then be still 
wilder, but they will be more in evidence, and there will 
exist the chances of occasional shots ' at stragglers and 
laggards that lie along the edges of the corn. At least 
one can then see the game, even if he cannot kill it. 
This week the hunters cannot find track nor trace of the 
birds, and it is a much mystified lot of shooters who 
have lately been coming back home. I do not learn of 
any bags of consequence this week. 
Cswald Von Lengerke has been out three times after 
chickens. The first time his party got thirteen, the next 
time six, and this last time, on the trip from which he 
has just returned, he only saw one chicken. He was 
at Gilman the last time, the place where so many birds 
were found the week previous. He was at Koutts, Ind., 
i«st week, with Geo. Glissman, a local shooter who had 
several coveys marked down all ready to shoot on order. 
They had no luck at finding these coveys, but did find 
OHe big band in that some country— .about forty birds in 
one bunch — out of which they could get no work. 
-Another party who hunted three days around Gilman 
with three dogs saw only three chickens in the three 
days. Messrs. Adam. Wolff and Billy Pease, of Harvey, 
hunted two days in that same section of country and they 
put up only two chickens. Still another party, among 
whom are Mr. D. W. Trotter and J. Wilson, are now 
absent at Gilman, but from all prospects they cannot be 
expected to have much sport. Mr. Harry Chester and 
three friends went down to Koutts, Ind., yesterday, but 
unless times have changed sharply since earlier this week 
they will meet but little luck. In point of fact, the 
chicken season of 1900 is over right now, so far as any 
regular sport is concerned. It has been short, sharp 
and decisive and the chicken seems to have the best of 
it at this writing. 
Docks and Jacks. 
Mr. W. Johnson killed thirty-three teal one day this 
week at Bluff Lake, one of the Fox Lake waters, and 
reports from the same place say that there are some 
jacksnipe in at that point. At the Kankakee bottoms, in 
Indiana, a few jacks have been seen within the week. 
Billy Mussey has gone down there to investigate, there 
being a sort of leaning in his soul for this particular 
and pestiferous bird. I do not think many ducks can 
be hoped for along the Kankakee as yet, but one might 
have a little fun down there with what teal and jacks he 
could find, especially if this good weather holds. 
FOREST: AND _ STREAM. 
This week thousands of yellow-legs and grass plovei 
.showed up on the marsh near the Maksawba Club, on the 
Kankakee, so John Watson tells -me to-day. They have 
found some good feeding ground down there and are 
apt to hang around for quite a wliile. 
The regular tali duck .shooting has not begun to the 
north of u.s in VVisconsin, and the sporl thus far has 
been tnainly on local ducks, about as good as it was 
last year in some places and upon the average rather bet- 
ter, since there has been a good deal of rain in thi- late 
summer and lunce more water and more feed. 
News from Iowa and the Northwest. 
MViJj C. Hartman, of tlie Waterloo Courier, VValerloo, 
la., is a very well posted and kindly hearted sportsman 
and he is good enough t<j send the following notes on 
the shooting in his neighborliood and in the States to 
the north and west of him. The city of Waterloo is in 
one of the oldest settled parts of the State of Iowa, 
which latter i ssaid to have less waste land than any 
other State of the Union and is farmed within an inch 
of its life all over the section where Mr. Hartman lives. 
The latter sends a very fetching photo of his outfit, friend, 
dog, birds and all, and it seems pretty good to a man 
who has been robbed out of his own chicken shoot this 
fall. Mr. Hartman writes: 
"I suppose that you have gathered your share of the 
1900 chicken crop ere this; if you haven't you will regret 
that you were not in it with me the morning of Sept. i. 
The law was not observed as well as usual in this section 
during the latter part of the close .season and fully one- 
third of the birds were killed off by farmers and city 
pot-hunters before the lawful period commenced. Ef- 
forts were made to apprehend the scamps, but it was im- 
possible to secure sufficient evidence to warrant arrests. 
The first prairie chicken that I flushed this season had 
been crippled. It was a morning early in July and I 
drove out a few miles to run a little of the fat off from 
old Pat, my Irish setter. He dodged into a clover patch 
near the road and came to a stand. I got out of the 
buggy and went in, a half-grown bird rising as I reached 
the dog. A broken leg that hung several inches below 
the other as the bird sailed away told the story. Five 
others flew up, showing that at least half of the flock 
had been potted. Within 10 rods of this bunch the dog 
located a hen and four young ones no larger than quail. 
The size of this flock also was evidence of the game 
hog's work. 
Sept. I, in conipanj' with Al. Hummel, I killed my 
share of twenty birds. The bulk of our bag was made 
on the 320-acre farm of a friend who lives five miles 
south of Waterloo. We could have killed more, but pre- 
ferred to leave plenty for seed and the number shot was 
all that two guns should take in one day. They laid 
well to the dog and all of our shooting was done in the 
stubble and clover, none being followed into the corn. 
"Not since 1880 have quail been so plentiful in Iowa 
as at the present, and sportsmen are promised better 
sport in pursuit of Bob White than they have enjoyed 
in many years. The winters of 1882-83-84-85 nearly anni- 
hilated our quail, but their numbers have increased won- 
derfully of late years and this year especially has been 
a most favorable one for hatching. 
"The wild rice crop is abundant this fall, and in ponds 
that have not been surrounded by pasture so that the 
cattle have eaten the stalks rice beds are common and 
.some fair shooting is looked for when the frosts start the 
ducks southward. 
"Gunners who have been to North Dakota and Min- 
nesota reports ducks very plentiful. Bags of from sixty 
to eighty in a half day to three guns are reported. One 
shooter told me that he saw young ducks Aug. 15 that 
could barely fly. Hundreds of these will be potted and 
find their way to the freezers. 
"A coal man who makes South Dakota informed nic 
a few weeks ago that farmers told him that during the 
severe drotight that section has experienced the past sum- 
mer many ponds went completely dry. Ducks had 
nested in many of these and it was related that the young 
died from want of water, their bodies being found in 
numerous instances. 
"A novel way of smuggling game out of the States 
where shipping of same is prohibited is reported, and it 
is a new one to me. The scheme is this: Purchase sev- 
eral quart fruit jars with patent tops. Fill these with ice 
and pack the birds around them in your grip or trunk. 
I do not recommend this, bttt advise game wardens to 
keep an eye on strangers who bliy fruit jars." 
A Dog Stofy. 
Mr. D. C. Plum, a Chicago gentleman who has a big 
cattle ranch in Texas, and who has seen a bit of sport in 
one part or another of America, tells this story: 
"I used to have a dog, and I thought a heap of that 
dog. He was a Gordon, black and tan, and 1 called 'him 
Grouse. That dog could do everything in the world 
that a human being could do and a good many that no 
human being could. He was the idol of our family and 
the treasure of my heart. I do not expect to find just 
such another very soon. I had Grouse trained and a 
few of us got together in a sort of little club so that 
Ave could have our dogs boarded together and well cared 
for. We got a young man who was born in ]^^ichigan 
and whose name was Willie Davidson. He was a good 
sort, faithful and a good trainer; not the sort of man 
you wotdd accuse of any sentiment, but a very good 
dog trainer. We had no difficulty while Davidson had 
our dogs, and we knew he loved them, every one. 
"We used to go over around Chatham, Ont. I know all 
those folks over there, Billy Wells and all the others. 
It was near here that Grouse came to his end. 
"We had a sort of stable where we kept the dogs, and 
one night Willie Davidson, going to the door, stumbled 
over the body of Grouse, who was curled up at the door- 
step, apparently asleep. He told him. to get up, but he 
did not move, and still did not move when he pushed 
him with his foot.. Davidson stooped over, and, in short, 
he found that it was the same old story. The dog had 
slipped away into a neighboring yard, had found the 
poison that was put out by some fiend of that town and 
it had killed him. That ended the season for me right 
there. 
"A short time after that we were down in Tennessee 
[Sept. 22, igoo. 
and we had WHlie Davidsion with \i& to take cai'e of the 
dogs, AVe shot for a time there; and one night we went 
into the house where we stopped, all feeling pretty 
dred. I was cleaning my own gun and Willie was busy 
about something or other, when all at once I happened 
to have a look at his shooting coat. Now, I had not 
long before given him a very nice Enghsh hunting coat 
that 1 had brought over with me for my own use. 'Why 
don't you wear that Enghsh coat — the corduroy that you 
used ro like when we w^ere up in Canada?' I asked hiui, 
for i knew he liked that coat and had always worn it 
when he was out with the dogs there. He did not make 
any answer to my question, and I spoke again to him 
a moment later. 
" 'Why don't you wear the old corudroy I gave you?' 
I asked again. Still he did not answer, but bent down 
low over his work, so that I could not see his face. 1 
thought something, was wrong with him and J said: 
'Davidson, man, what's gone wrong? Is anything the 
matter?' 
"He raised his face and looked up at me. There were 
big tears standing on his cheek,s. He could hardly 
speak at all, but at length he said: 'Mr. Plum, sir, the 
truth is, I buried old Grouse in that coat. He knew and 
liked it, and I wanted to do the best I could.' 
"Well, I think he came near to doing the be.st that 
any man could." 
Mr. Plum did not tell his second story immediately 
after his first, but this is what it was when he did tell it: 
"I was out at Cheyenne, one time," said he, "ani} there 
were a lot of cow men in there at the tim.e. Yrou know 
what a center that city is for the cow trade. Well, it 
happened that we had out there Mr. Moreton Frewen, 
You have read of him; he married a sister of Lady Ran^ 
dolph Churchill, one of the lovely Jerome sisters, and 
he has later attained a lot of prominence in English poli- 
tics, as you know. Well, Frewen was out in Wyoming 
looking for a chance to make a barrel of money in the 
cattle business, and he was having plenty of help from 
local sources by way of advice and liberal offers to turn 
over all sorts of cow propositions. You know how all 
that is on the range. ' . . 
"In the course of events we had a little banquet at the 
Cheyenne Club, which perhaps you know is just about as 
good a layout as you can get in New York. You ineet 
all sorts of money and all sorts of good fellows there, 
and it is not a place for a man to go if he expects some- 
thing crude. We had a good dinner and a lot of good 
speeches. I think I shall always remember one, and 
that was made by an Irishman named Plunkett, a bright 
sort of fellow who was always welcome at the speech- 
making stage. It was Plunkett who made what. we might 
call the formal address of welcome to the visitors. He 
stuttered a little in his speech and this made him all. the 
more funny. < 
" 'W-w-we w-welcome you, g-gentlemen,' said he, 't-to 
America. Am-m-merica is the greatest land on e-earth, 
W-we w-welcome here all the p-p-peoples of the earth. 
W-we w-welcome the F-Frenchman, the Z-Z-Zulu, the 
S-S-Spaniard, even the Irishman. W-\ye w-welcome the 
C-C-C-hinaman, h-h-humble as he is. W-we w-welcome 
the Austrahan to these b-b-broad acres of the w-w-wind- 
s-swept p-p-plains. We w-w-welcome y-you all to 
th-this land of p-plenty. Ab-b-bove all, and w-w-with 
esp-p-pecial f-f-f ervor, d-do w-we w-welcome here to- 
night, as alw-w-ways, the E-E-EngHshm-m-man, because 
he c-comes here to p-p-pay us t-t-thirty d-d-doUars for 
our tw-tw-tw-twenty d-d-dollar cows.' ■'■2 • ' 
"Frewen sat solemn as an owl through it all, but'We 
had reason to suspect that he did a little thinking over 
this 'address of welcome.'" " 
Galveston. 
Galveston! Ah, Galveston! What shall the men of the 
Northwest say for Galveston? Very little that can fit 
such a case. Yet a sportsman, as well as a business 
man, may take out his pvirse, take off his hat arid hold 
out his hand. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
North Carolina Coast Game. 
Wanchese, Dare County, N. C. — Editor Forest and 
Stream. \ The bay bird shooting has not been as good 
along the Carolina coast this summer and fall as u.sual, on 
account of the exceeding dry weather, but it has been 
better down here in Dare county than up at Currituck. 1 
have been stopping with Capt. M. D. Hayman, of this 
place, and made some good bags. I find for large yel- 
low-legs, plover and dowitchers April and May are best 
months. It is very pleasant shooting there, and I know 
of no place where one can obtain better sport in this 
line. This is also an excellent place for wild goose shoot- 
ing, and very good for redheads and broadbills. They 
have to be shot from a battery, however, and this county 
demands a license tax. of $20 for, non-residents. There 
is no license tax required for bay 'bird shooting nor wild 
goose shooting from the islands in the sound. Capt. 
Hayman has a fine lot of wild geese (live decoys), and 
also battery, redhead, brant, broadbill decoys, etc. T 
think perhaps the black brant shooting is better here 
than any other point along the coast — I refer to Dare 
county — and the Captain uses a large house boat and 
follows them up. 
Trout (yellow fin) and salmon or spotted trOUt (both 
salt water fish) are plentiful now and make keen Sport 
for the fisherman. 
Sharks have been unusually saucy this summer, and 
while no men have been eaten by them, some have had 
very narrow escapes. Capt. James Hobbs, of Kitty 
Hawk, was driving some cattle along the ocean side. A 
young call among them took to the water and was imme- 
diately devoured by a large shark. The only case in 
which a man was ever known to be eaten by a shark 
along this coast occurred at Nag's Head about fifteen 
years ago, but I really think there are "man eater.s" here 
at times. 
The quail crop is a large one. The season was never 
more favorable. 
Wild celery in Currituck Sound is so abundant that 
one can hardly propel a boat on its waters, and we should 
have fine duck shooting there this season. 
