Oct. 6, ipoo.j 
P'OREST AND STREAM. 
267 
Oil for Guns 
tijifbEfe iio bfdinify tifgiim§tanees use vegetable oil on 
ul- about youi- giin Itigks Of iUn§; 1 affl Hot a chemist, 
but my undcl-standing ist that t6 elatify {ilfei§e §il§ acids 
are used and that a certain per cent. Of Sti€n acids iS 
not eliminated therefrom, the quantity fetriaiiiltlf i66 
small is to render their use injurious to human beings 6f 
flnmials, but ample when used as lubricants to engender 
a fltit grbp of rtlst. 
To use a eoffimOn expffeSSion, these oils will gum; 
and not only that, but fof sOiiie reasOH they are not rust 
removers or preventives. In tiin€ tile eitieUent prin- 
ciple mil disappear, leaving a giunmy coating tipf^ii tile 
metal to which they have been applied. Nothing iS 
more disagreeable than to find your gun locks working 
stift and creak}', emitting a dull muffled sound instead 
of a sharp clear click. Examination will disclose, if 
vegetable oil has been used, the delicate mechanism of 
your gun locks coated with the oil residuum. A strong 
alkili will dissolve this and a thorough washing of the 
gummed parts with alcohol, turpentine or coal oil will 
neutralize the alkili. 
The many oils advertised'for lubrication and preserva- 
tion of your gun and its parts are doubtless meritorious 
and will accomplish all for them claimed. Nevertheless, 
t prefer the use of a home-made article which is not 
only a rust softener but a preventive as well. For fflofe 
than twenty yeats 1 liave Used it, prepared in my kitchen. 
The matetial ftom which it is tnahufactured is easily 
attainable, its preparation very siliiple, Its keeping quality 
unsurpassed. 
My formula is not .patented nor copyrighted. The 
ingredient is obtained, at small cost, consisting of one 
or more individuals of the genus Anser, well fattened, 
procurable by daylight from a farmer's flock, or from 
the town or village or city market. When picked and 
cleaned, remove the leaves of fat from the carcass, place 
them in a clean frying pan, to which add a little water. 
Now deliver this to the presiding goddess of your 
kitchen with direction that she try out the oil contained 
in the leaves, of goose fat. The process is not long. 
Care, however, must be observed that the ingredient does 
not burn. Of cour^ie the frying pan will be placed in 
liropet relation to the kitchen range and the fire therein. 
The process of frying should go on until the fat is ex- 
tracted from the substance. Then remove the pan from 
the fan.ge, pour the contained fluid into another clean 
Vessel, l-eturn to the range and boil Until all water is 
evaporated. Then remove and allow all ebullition to sub- 
side. When cool pour into a wide mouth clean glass 
bottle, covfer the opening and set aside for about ten 
days, at the expiration of which time you will find a 
layer of stearLne superimposed by a quantity of pellucid 
or semi-opaque oil of the consistency of dairyman's 
cream as sweet as the scent of wild rose and of tmex- 
cclled quality. 
Caution. — Shouhl your cook be a German it will be 
well that you secrete that bottle lest she substitute the 
contents iti lieu of butter with her bread. 
Septuagenarian. 
St Louis. 
Adirondack Deer and Woods. 
Editor Forest and Stream : ■ 
1 have Several times expressed myself on Adirondack 
matters in your column.s, and beg the privilege of 
doing so again. 
t. As to the present deer law providing that the open 
Season shall begiu Sept. i: This is not favorably re- 
ceived by the guides as a class, nor by a very large pro- 
portion of gentlemen who annually visit the Adiron- 
dacks. I talked with many guides about it this sum- 
mer, and did not find one who favored a change from 
Aug. IS to Sept. I for the opening of the season. 
ihey say the season is so short there is no longer 
any money in guiding. Many of the sportsmen who like 
to get a deer each year, and who generally employ guides 
in doing it, have to return home about the opening of 
the season and so do not go into the woods at_ all. 
This is especially true of professional men, and of^ all 
who have children to enter tlie schools. It is therefore 
probably true of the great majority of men who go into 
the Adirondacks at all. Surely they are as much en- 
titled to their share of sport as the minorty, who can 
go later in the fall. I liave before urged these considera- 
tions, but they arc worthy of repetition, and are em- 
|.)hasized by present conditions. These work against 
visitors, hotel-keepers, guides and residents in the 
Adirondacks. People will have less desire to go there 
if reasonable sporting privilege is denied them, and 
the less visitoi'.s the less business for guides, and all 
residents. Furthermore, many are disgusted with the 
present law, and the tendency is to create a lack 
of respect for law. 1 have heard many say, "I pre- 
fer to earn money to live on. But if the law cuts of? 
my opportunity to do so. I must still live, and my family 
must live, and they shall not lack for meat this winter." 
The conclusion is obvious; for ever}' deer saved alive 
by shortening the open season, making it begin Sept. i, 
two or three at least will be killed later to feed families 
resident in the woods. In the interest of the guides, of 
the people living there, and of all who love our noble 
Adirondacks, I ask for a change in the game law this 
■winter, putting the opening of the season back to 
'Aug. 15. 
2, As to the devastation of the forests: The lumber 
companies are doing this faster than any written state- 
ment can make you realize. While it is claimed that 
they only cut certain kinds and sizes of trees, and so 
do not denude the land, I know from personal obsers-a- 
tion that they are "letting in the sunlight" on large 
areas in such a way as to not only affect the beauty 
of scene, but the amount of rainfall. If our Solons of 
the Legislature had put most of the time heretofore de- 
veted to modification, and restriction of the game laws, 
to forest preservation and acqvrisition of more lands by 
the State, their wisdom would have been more apparent. 
.A single further instance must sufifice. 
It is reported that Blue Mountain, the vast, con- 
spicuous and noble feature of all the splendid scenery 
at Blue Mountain Lake, is this year to lose its crown 
^•f evergreen timber. Scars of tJie axe already appear 
on tfife mountain side, and the entifc summit is to be 
laid bare, i gonfess to a feeling of righteous indigna- 
tion when I heafcl f}}c report. I hope the State will 
hasten to acquire all the afea. possible in the Adiron- 
dacks before it is too late, both W buy the land and to 
preserve the forests. And this leads to 
The proposed plan of supplying New York city 
and all .th€ Hudson River towns with water frOm the 
Adirondack^ fcy.thfe State; I believe that in the intefest 
of the people of the Cities and of the entire State, both 
as regards a good water supply and the preservation 
of the forests and the greatest natural sanitarium of the 
East, this is the best plan yet proposed, and that the State 
should speedily adopt it. JxJVEWAL. 
My First Coon Hunt. 
I WAS a boy then, aboUt the age wheii ihe owner of a 
gun was the possessor of all. Atid an ifiyitatioli to apend 
two or three days in that picturesque section ol Massa- 
chusetts, the Berkshire hills, was gladly accepted. How 
1 recall those beautiful, crisp autumn days ifi the htiiti' 
part of October, when nature with her magic_ touch 
had transformed the landscape into a picture which the 
greatest artist could never dream of imitating. Having 
cleaned my breach-loader and packed my traveling bag 
with ammunition, 1 boarded the first train for Hunting- 
ton, where the old stage driver eagerly awaiited my 
arrival to drive me up the moOtitain to illy destination. 
That drive waS ohe to be remembered. Imagine a foad 
of six or seven mileS tip a hill almost petpendiculaf. 
and every few rods we would have to drive ofer a huge 
boulder, as that part of the country was noted for rocks, 
and the driver remarked that rocks Were about the only 
thing that grew there. At last we reached the farm 
house, a weather beaten place, and to all appearances 
built in Revolutionarj' days; you could lie abed and 
count the stars through the cracks in the roof. But 
what a place for a first-class rest, and with what ex- 
hilaration I awoke the next morning, and with an im- 
patient mood waited that day for evening to come, when 
we were to take our guns and dogs and start for the 
corn-field. I could picture myself going home with at 
least two or three coon pelts and a thrilling story to 
relate of that night's hunt. 
At last everything was read}-^ and we called the dogs 
and started. It was a beautiful night, the air was keen 
and frosty, and what a moon ! So clear was the atmos- 
phere that it seemed more like day than night. We 
were going about three-quarters of a mile down the road 
to a neighbor's corn-field, where many a coon had par- 
taken of his last corn supper, and many a hunter had 
gone home well satisfied with his night's sport. Having 
reached the corn-field, we loaded guns and waited for 
the dogs to scare up a coon. And that is about all we 
did do, to wait, and as the hour of three had arrived, we 
decided it was an "off-riight" and reluctantly started for 
home. 
Just as we climbed over the fence at the edge of the 
woods the dog barked and snapped at something, and 
we could hear a hasty retreat itp a tree, and hurrying 
over we discovered the dogs had treed the game. There 
between the branches of the tree, about 20 feet from the 
ground, we could see a pair of glistening eyes. I must 
admit, I was more than excited, as we had given up all 
hopes of any sport that night. I waited with breathless 
anxiety, while my friend George took careful aim; as 
he had the heaviest gun and we wanted to be .sure of 
our game, the honor fell to him. He fired both barrels, 
and down came something crashing through the 
branches to the ground. No sooner had it struck the 
ground when the dogs had pounced on it and had it 
securely pinioned. Holding the lantern to view our 
prize, what was it but an old cat! Possibly it had strayed 
away from some farm liouse. Just what the animal 
was doing there in the w'oods at 3:30 A. M. a mile from 
any house, I have never been able to decide, and we did 
not feel inclined to inquire into the matter very deeply. 
A solemn silence seemed to reign over both hunters and 
dogs, and like a small funeral procession we started for 
home. Even the dogs felt the disgrace, and one of them 
hid himself for three days and did not eat anything for 
over a week. The story of that night was kept secret 
for some titne, but finally leaked out, as the next season 
when I made another trip they were very anxious to 
know how I enjoyed my "coon" hunt last fall. 
W. H. W. 
The Maine Woods. 
Boston, Sept. 2g.-^Boston merchants and business 
men who love the rod and gun cannot all get zway for 
long trips to the better hunting and fishing localities, 
hence they have to be satisfied with sport nearer home. 
Barret's Camp, on the Concord River, in Billerica, is 
well spoken of by those who find longer trips difiicult. 
The camp is only a little OA^er an hotrr's ride from Bos- 
ton, besides Barret is spoken of as "a white man, every 
inch of him." Mr. J. H. Jones has been up there for 
a week or more, a good part of the time. He was ac- 
companied by his father. A. Jones, well up to seventy 
years of age, but loving hunting and camping as well 
as when a boy. He surprised his son by the wing shots 
he made on snipe and grass birds. The wife and boy 
of six were also at the camp a part of the time. The 
youngster shows that he is to take after the father and 
grandfather, for his greatest delight Avas sitting in the 
bow of the boat with hook and line and catching perch. 
They had good pickerel fishing, while squirrel shooting 
was very good indeed. Mr. George C. Moore, of North 
Chelmsford, Mass., has returned from his shooting trip 
to South Dakota and Wyoming. He Avent in company 
with Dr. French, of Boston, one of the noted loA^ers of 
the gun and shooting grounds. The Doctor has not yet 
returned. They found prairie chicken shooting all they 
could ask for. Duck shooting Avas also great. At first 
Mr. Moore, although a good wing shot, found it hard to' 
hit the swift-flying ducks of that country, but h& soon 
"got on to them." 
The latest reports from Maine say that the leaves are 
already falling fast — doubtless one of the results of the 
extremely dry weather. A gentleman out of the Maine 
woods yesterday says that the leaves are coming off 
vefy rapidly without changing color, and that the 
awtumn foliage cannot be as beautiful as usual. But the 
tree.^ will be bare early, and the early hunters will reap 
the advantage. 
Mr. William F. Bateraau, of Boston, has been on a 
htmting trip to the Megantic preserve. He secured 
two deer on the Canadian .section of that preserve, the 
Canadian game laws permitting of shooting deer in 
September. Here he had a double advantage, for he 
might have stayed over into October and obtained his 
two deer on the Maine side of the line. 
Partridge shooting on tlie Megantic preserve is re- 
ported better than for yea: Duck shooting will be 
good as soon as the weather is cold enough. 
Messrs. C. L, Howes arc! Stanley Howes have re- 
turned from a A'ery satisfactci-y hunting and fishing trip 
to Upper Magaguadavic Lf;'s;c, New Brunswick, They 
appreciats the position of tlie game laws of the British 
provinces, Avliich allow of the taking of deer in Septem- 
ber. They easily secured Xwa deer down the lake only 
a short distance from the Hills Camp, in which they are 
interested. Partridgf and duck shooting was fairly sat- 
j'ifactory. But they are greatly disgusted with the fish- 
ing, though the Avatcrs are not in the least to blame. 
They arc sure that one of their best trout coves has 
been treated with a big char.ge of dynamite. Dark liints 
are dropped concerning the big haul of fish that came 
to the surface after a terrific explosion. Still the game 
wardens cannot seem to locate the miscreants. Naturally 
the owners of the Hills Camp are much displeased, and 
believe that the authorities should take promp action. 
The cove where deadly explosives Avere used has been 
a favorite fishing ground, where even the ladies, who 
have been taken to- that camp this year for the first 
time, could easily have taken trotit of from i pound to 
3V2 pounds. It was one of the best fishing grounds in 
the lake. Special. 
The Palmetto Gun Club. 
Charleston, S. C, Sept. 22. — A determined movement 
has been started among the sportsmen of Charleston to 
put a stop to the wholesale slaughter and final destruction 
of the stock of game in South Carolina. At a recent 
meeting of the Palmetto Gun Club, of this city, an 
organization which is composed of representative and 
leading men of Charleston, it was decided that some 
steps must be taken looking to the prevention of the con- 
tinual and flagrant violations of the laws which have been 
passed for the protection of game in this State. Realizing 
that unless something was done and done speedily, the 
entire stock of game in the State would be absolutely 
annihilated, these sportsmen met to face the situation 
squarely and to see in Avhat Avay it could be remedied. 
The meeting developed, among other things, that the 
members of the gun club at least were heart and soul 
in the movement and would cast their Aveight on the side 
of securing strict enforcement of the game laws. 
In pursuance of this determination it was decided that 
the Palmetto Gun Club itself would undertake the prose- 
cution and punishment of any person or persons caught 
violating the laws of the State regulating the protection of 
game. The club has, therefore, published the following 
ad\'ertisement : 
■'A reward of $10 will be paid by the Charleston Pal- 
metto Gun Club to any party or parties furnishing 
sufiicient legal proof to convict any person or persons of 
offering for sale any partridge or partridges as prohibited 
by the act of the General Assembly of the State of South 
Carolina, approved Feb. 9, 1900, or in any Avay violating 
the provisions of said act or any part thereof; or of catch- 
ing, killing or injuring such bird or birds between the 
1st day of April and the ist day of November, in any 
year, as provided by law." 
As will be seen, this notice applies especially to the law 
meant to keep the game from being sold by commission 
merchants. But it is not the intention of the men behind 
the movement to make it hot for the pot-hunters and 
salesmen alone. They are also going after the sportsmen 
who shoot out of season. There is one laAV passed at the 
last session of the Legislature prohibiting the offering 
for sale or purchase of quail for a period of five years, but 
there is also another statue which provides that no quail 
shall be shot from the season between April i and Nov. i. 
Already dozens of hunters from Charleston as well as 
elsewhere have started killing the birds, a thing which 
is done every year, and it is for the apprehension of these 
as Avell as the marketers of game that the reward is 
offered. In other words, the real sportsmen have become 
alarmed at the way in which the game laws are being 
violated and are determined to put a stop to it. Especial 
attention is called to the notice published in to-day's 
EA'ening Post in order that due warning may be given. 
As an indication of the determination of the local gun 
club to carry out their movement it may be stated that 
a special committee has been appointed to look after the 
enforcement of the law and to institute such measures 
as may be deemed necessary in making the movement a 
success. 
The following compose the committee : (5ol. Z. Davis, 
W. G. Jeffords, L. L. Cohen. W. G. Chisolm, J. R. Read." 
J. A. Ball, J. A. Miles. J. W. Peterman, W. M. Mucken- 
fuss, T. P. Whaley. 
These gentlemen ha\ c agreed to do everything in their 
poAver to urge on the movement and devote'their attention 
to seeing that the game is protected in accordance Avith 
the law. 
Considerable interest in the movement has also been 
aroused among the lawyers of the city, and a number of 
them have promised to lend their support. Mr. R. C. 
Merritt has been chosen as attorney for the club, and will 
be charged Avith the duty of prosecuting any one caught 
violating the game law. 
In addition to the above measures taken it is understood 
that an effort Avill be made to secure the co-operation 
of the city police in catching offenders. Great assistance 
could be rendered by the members of the police force in 
securing proof against commission merchants. The Mayor 
Avill be asked to give his assistance in this direction. 
The chief trouble which has been in the way of the 
enforcement of the laAvs in this State has been that there 
Avas no one directly charged with their execution. This 
