330 
FOREST AND ■ STREAM. 
lOcT. 27, 1900. 
party. have crossed the river and are about to enter, the, 
woods. 
2. That all rifles be emptied of their contents before 
entering the boat to be ferried to the island upon return- 
ing from the hunt. 
3. That no one discharge his rifle at a moving object m 
the woods, or elsewhere. UNTIL HE BE CONVINCED 
THAT WHAT HE SEES IS A DEER. OR OTHER 
GAME ANIMAL. 
]vj_ — This rule is above all others the rnost im- 
portant. The great majority of hunting accidents are 
occasioned by criminal carelessness in this respect on the 
part of inexperienced hunters. 
4. That after a member is placed in position to watch 
a certain runway he is not to leave his station, even 
after the dogs have passed, or have gone in another 
direction, until called for by the hunter. 
5. That whenever parties of two or more are together 
in the woods, or elsewhere, it should be the earnest en- 
deavor of each individual to see that his rifle be so car- 
ried as to preclude the po'ssibility of danger to the other 
members of the party in case of its accidental discharge. 
6. That the rifle be never carried at full cock at any 
time, whether loaded or empty. 
It must be remerhbered that it is not an evidence of 
experience to disregard caution. The oldest hunters re- 
spect more tiian amateurs the capabilities and danger of 
the arm they carry. Caution is not cowardice, but the 
desire to guard as far as possible against the perils that 
necessarily surround the hunter when roaming the woods 
in quest of game, in common with numbers of others 
bent on the same mission. 
It is earnestly requested that these simple rules be 
consistently followed. That being_ the case, the risk of 
accident will be very greatly minimized, and the com- 
fort and pleasure of the whole party very considerably 
enhanced. 
Nov. I, 1900. 
Maine Big Game. 
Boston, Oct. 20.— In the absence of the usual number 
of deer to shoot in the Maine woods the amateur hunter 
needs watching. Commissioner Stanley was approached 
the other day by a newspaper reporter, to ascertain if 
there was any truth in the report that the Mame Central 
Railroad, a train of which corporation had killed a big 
moose somewhere in the town of Burnham, was to be 
made to take out a license, and to pay for killing the 
moose in close time. Mr. Stanley was somewhat amused, 
and told a story of a young Dixfield nirnrod who- was 
bound to get his deer the first morning of the open sea- 
son. Early he wended his way up Sugarloaf. The dawn 
was just gilding the east. He saw a motion. An animal 
got up. The excited nimrod fired. The beast made a 
few steps, then fell in its tracks. The hunter ran up. 
There lay a neighbor's Jersey calf. Mr. Stanley says 
that the people there propose to have a close time put on 
Jresej' calves, and think that young hunters should take 
out a license. Another story comes from Kineo. A 
young hunter from the city was being entertained an<l 
guided by a venerable farmer. They were out in the even- 
ing. Not jacking? Oh, no! That is against the law. 
They Avere hunting by moonlight, and had a lantern to 
show them the way home. Creeping along in deathly 
silence, suddenly they saw two glaring eyes in the dim 
light, shining through the bushes. "Shoot!" whispered 
the farmer. The hunter let go two barrels of buckshot in 
quick succession. All was still. The hunters rushed up. 
There lay the game. The shot was a good one. It had 
killed the farmer's old ram, the patriarch of the flock, 
stone dead, and going still further, had wounded a lamb 
or two, so that they had to be killed. "Blast it!" groaned 
the farmer. "How in thunder came those sheep in the 
woods ?" "That was a great shot, though," suggested the 
young hunter. But when the farmer added the damages 
to his bill for guiding and board, the young fellow thought 
he would go to another hunting section next year. 
Reports from the Connecticut Valley region in New 
Hampshire speak of good shooting there. Deer are re- 
ported in greater abundance than for many years. The 
local hunters are after them. Charles Munn, of Orford. 
has slain his deer, which walked down the main street of 
the town quietly browsing. S. Q. Cutting, of the same 
town, has killed two small deer. Squirrels and partridges 
A HUNT FROM TBS FITTSPURG (PA.) PXSPAT^B, 
are plenty. Reports are no better from Maine than a 
weeks ago. I have seen several returned Boston deer 
hunters. They got no trophies, seeing very few deer. 
Commissioner Oak has attempted to explain the scarcity 
of deer this fall under theory of so much rain and 
falling leaves that hunting has been exceedingly difficult. 
Later he expects to see the number of deer taken run to 
greater figures than a year ago. 
The season on moose, which opened on Monday last, has 
not been successful so far as reported up to date. The 
Eastern papers, nearest to the best moose sections, have 
no accounts of moose taken yet. A year ago a number of 
bull moose were slain the first open week. Hundreds of 
sportsmen were in the woods on the opening day, and 
some moose were expected Monday night, but they were 
not brought to light. Some of the Boston hunters are 
waiting for better reports froih the big-game country. 
Speciai,, 
The Fitchbtjrg Club. 
Office of Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective 
AssoGtATiON, Boston, Mass., Oct. 22. — Editor Forest an'd 
Strcdm: In my last letter I gave a very brief account of 
our meeting Oct. 11 in Boston, but unintentionally omitted 
to mention that the Fitchburg Rifle and Gun Club was 
ably represented by its president. Dr. D. S. Woodworth. 
The Doctor is well known as an enthusiastic sportsman, 
and his brief review of the work that has been done by 
his club was listened to with earnest attention. The 
club has for many years been a terror to evil doers, having 
been active in the enforcement of fish and game laws, 
while at the same time it has been engaged in other 
lines of work. It is a wide-awake, progressive organiza- 
tion, numbering 150 members, among whom are many of 
the ablest m.en of the city in business, professional and 
mechanical circles. 
The club has made a record of which it lilay justly be 
proud, and has for several years been in close touch with 
the iVlassachu setts Fish and Game Protective Associa- 
tion, and has labored assiduously in seconding the efforts 
of the parent organization to secure an increased supply 
of fish and game. 
Unquestionably the Fitchburg sportsmen haA'e one of 
the best clubs in the State, and if the pres.sure of other 
duties is not too great, I hope before long to give your 
readers more detailed information pertaining to its history 
and work. I hope also to find time to draw off an abstract 
of some of the carefully prepared manuscripts that I 
have received from other clubs. 
On Thursday evening. Oct. 25, our Board of Manage- 
ment will meet at the Copley Square Hotel to consider 
the subjects suggested by Chairman Collins and others 
at our last meeting, other matters pertaining to the wel- 
fare of the .\ssociation and plans for work to be done the 
coming winter. Henry H. ICtmbatx, Sec'y. 
Proprietors of fisliing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Cottonwood River Big-Mouths. 
When I was a school boy on the west shore of 
Cayuga Lake, in central New York, I learned in my 
geography that the Great American Desert included the 
greater portion, of what was then the Territory of 
Kansas, while we sang with the teacher; 
"Ho, brothers! brave brothers! 
List, we call to theel 
We'll sing npon the Kan.sas Plains 
The song of liberty." 
And ftdw, forty-five years later, I am writing an ac- 
count of a day with the large-mouth black bass of the 
Cottonwood River, 150 miles by railway southwest of 
Kansa.s City and 120 in a direct line west from the eastern 
State line of Kansas and about 20 miles west from the 
farm Fred Mather took as a hoinestead, as described by 
him in his peerless recollections of "Men I Have Fished 
With." 
Extending north from the Kiomeche Mountains of the 
Indian Territory is a range of hills, high and rocky, 
with ledges, boldly encircling the tops of the hills like 
fortifications of blue and gray limestone, and this range 
of hills extends about half way across the State of 
Kansas, known as the Flint Hills. This county of Chase 
has this range of hills crossing it froni north to south 
through the central portion of the county, and the copi- 
ous springs of these hills nourish and feed the Cotton- 
wood River, and keep its water always of a low tempera- 
ture. This river has a bed of a few shoals or "ripples" 
(common name), separated by long, deep pools of clear, 
cold water, in which the lordly bass flourish, kings of the 
finny ttibes, and so well fed are they that as I look back 
over thirteen years' fishing in its pools I can never recall a 
single instance when I caught a bass with an artificial 
bait othfer than a spoon hook or phantom minnow, and 
never have I been able to get a strike on an artificial 
fly; nor have I ever found a person who could tell when 
or where the first bass were planted in its waters, except 
that the early settlers say, "They were here when civilized 
rnen first came here," so, like Topsy, probably they 
"just growed" here, and it is on account of their 
plebeian origin that they have such a depraved taste 
that they only bite a good fat chub or sucker minnow, 
or,_ if they can be found, the most tempting, attractive 
bait is a young flathead, shovel head, yellow or mud 
catfish from 4 to 6 inches long, and his clear, faint yellow 
body becomes very attractive.when fastened to a hook 
inserted through his skin just at the base of his dorsal 
fin, and in spite of his many local names he makes the 
most perfect bass bait that we can get here. 
Just at present we are enjoying that perfect autumn 
weather found only in Kansas of clear sunshine, warm, 
drowsy days, with light frosts at night — just enough to 
make the forest trees along the river banks put on 
their "show day" garments of many colors, and the air 
is filled with pulse-quickening ozone, so that a day 
spent upon the river, foUow'- \=s course from hend to 
bend, with the scenery ever changing, with a blending 
of all the colors of the rainbow, reflected from the sur- 
face of each pool, is a day in paradise (even if you have 
a boat that leaks, which has to be bailed out about 
every fifteen minutes, as was the case on the day of 
which I write — Oct. 11, 1900, which will hereafter stand 
out on memory's calendar for the perfect enjoyment 
that fell to the lot of the writer and Ed E., one of the 
editors of the Topeka Daily State Journal). 
Wednesday evening we put in two hoiJirs of hard work 
upon a rocky rapid, holding a minnow seine below rocks, 
which we lifted and piled out of the way, catching our 
bait, the young catfish I have given a description of, and 
at 7 A. M. we bailed out _the (so-called) boat and started 
down the Cottonwood River thrdtigh the foggy mist 
that hung over its surface, and O 'the charm and the 
beautiful vistas that opened up to our 4elighted eyes as 
we rounded bend after bend for a distance of a mile 
until we came to an old log and brush heap on the 
south bank, which we quietly approached and each 
dropped a minnow just outside the brush to see the 
floats disappear. After giving time enough for the min- 
now to be taken in the mouth we made our strikes and 
drew up the lines, and one caught his bass and the 
other one failed to hook his, and this style of fishing ad- 
mits of no light tackle with reel and fly-rod, but in 
lieu thereof each had a light bamboo solid rod of about 
12 feet in length, and when the bass was hooked there 
was business on hand lifting him by force from the 
water to the boat, giving him no chance to play or 
fight on account of the brush that lines the banks and 
bottoms of the pools. Placing the captured one upon 
the string, we continued this style of fishing down the 
river for a distance of about one and a half miles, and 
then fished back over the same course, until, just at night- 
fall, we found all our stock of small minnows were used 
up and only some large ones, about 8 inches long, left 
in the can as we drew near a brush heap at the upper 
end -of a pool. Casting two large catfish minnows at 
the outer edge of the brush, they were seized and for 
ten minutes we had the fun of bass big enough to partly 
swallow the minnow, but not large enough to take the 
hook hanging upon the minnow until lifted to the sur- 
face of the water, and then dropping back, but not being 
able to catch a single one, when we promised the hungry 
ones that we would call upon tliem some other day, and 
left them with their appetites unsatisfied, and not one 
added to our string, to reach onr boat landing with 
thirteen large-mouths, all above 12 inches in length 
(our rule here), the lot weighing 30 pounds — not a very 
large catch, but one satisfactory to those who made it 
upon one of the most ideal days and of the most perfect 
enjoyment that the fishers ever spent in their lives. 
Truly did Izaak Walton say "that the catching of fish 
was not all of fishing." W. F. Rightmire. 
Vermont Fish Stocking. 
From the Fifteenth Biennial Report of the Commissioners of 
Fisheries and Game. 
First — 'As to the introduction of foreign varieties of 
fish. Without any reflection on past Commissioners, it 
may be said that during the past ten years no pickerel, 
bass, pike or perch have been introduced into waters 
not already inhabited by them, with the knowledge and 
consent of the Commissioners. The Commissioners 
recommended to the State Legislature, and the recom- 
mendations were incorporated into law, prohibiting the 
introduction of any fish, except trout, salmon, smelt and 
minnows, into the public waters of this State frequented 
by trout or salmon, and the violation of this law is sub- 
ject to a penalty of not more than $500, and not less than 
$50. It is a regrettable fact that a very large number of 
our natural trout ponds and lakes have been ruined by 
the introduction of foreign varieties of fish, like pickerel, 
black bass, rock bass, pumpkin seeds, perch and bull- 
heads. .^.11 of these fish are valuable as food fishes 
commerciall}' in the waters to w'hich they are congenial. 
In most of the waters to which they are introduced they 
do not thrive, and after the trout have been cleaned out 
by them their food supply is practically exhausted and 
they prey upon each other, and in many instances become 
a thin and cadaverous race, unfit for human food. They 
are a curse to all trout waters. When they were intro- 
duced into these trout waters, it was in the infancy of 
fishcultural work. The Commissioners who did it 
thought they were doing some good, just as the man who 
introduced the English sparrow thought he was helping 
us in increasing our song and insectivorous birds. It was 
done at the same time by Commissioners in other States, 
notably Maine and New Hampshire. The most of this 
destructive work was done from 12 to 18 years ago. It 
is a curse to the trout waters which can never be over- 
come. 
Some illustrious examples of this work may be men- 
tioned in connection with Crystal Lake at Barton, which 
ought to be inhabited by lake trout and salmon instead 
of by black bass, pickerel, rock bass and pumpkin seed,s. 
Seymour Lake, in Morgan, should be inhabited by lake 
trout and salmon, but bass were introduced. Newark 
Pond, of about 150 acres, in the town of Newark, should 
be inhabited by lake trout and salmon. It is probable 
tliat it was originally inhabited by the spreckled trout. 
The lake is now inhabited by rock bass, known as red eye 
or goggle eye. It is not the pumpkin seed, although 
frequently so called. The rock bass is a valuable food 
fish in some waters, but it is not of much value in Newark 
Pond. It was probably introduced as food for the black 
bass, but black bass do not now exist there. One of the 
old reports of the Commissioners states that they intro- 
duced rock bass as food for the black bass in many 
waters. Even Pillsbury's mill pond, in South Barton, is 
cursed with the little rock bass, so thin and cadaverous 
that it is almost transparent. The pond naturally should 
be inhabited by brook trout. There' is no way to ex- 
terminate the rock bass in a water of this character, unless 
it can be entirely drawn out._ Lake Dunmore was stocked 
with all kinds of fish from Lake Champlain, many years, 
ago, 
Now. afi to the viQtk of the present Commission, 
When we find a body of water like Newark Pond cursed 
with rock bass or other useless varieties of fish, we strive 
to find something mor^ yal^ablf. th^n any fis^i now h-^ 
