FOHHlST BTM.EAM. 
iri''t''-"'n'?rir°'r-'^-^='^- 
to ? I imagine that the killers of this moose will have 
more trade offers next year than any six other guides. 
It is to be hoped that the parties who employ them will 
have their names conspicuously posted — but not unless 
the names of every other gang that employs guides to 
violate the law are also posted. 
We Adirondack woodsmen are in a sad way. We fr\' 
venison for breakfast, jerk it for lunch and boil it for 
supper in season and out when we can get it. We've all 
of us got a sort of sympathy for each other. W^e don't 
own any of the land up here to speak of, and if we went 
to makmg money, it is likely there would be "proper 
officials" mquiring into the matter. We earn money the 
best way we have open to us according to the lights of 
the land. We are not especially wise ; We try to do the 
best we can, and live up to the example that is set for 
us by the people who emplo)' us. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
NoRTHwooD. Herkimer Covinty, N. Y, 
Notes from the Game Fields. 
Sussex CotJnt7, New Jersey, 
Newton, N. J., Nov. ii. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
This has been a star season for old Sussex. Quail are 
more abundant than they have been for several years. 
Many nice flocks of ten to fifteen full-grown, strong-flying 
birds can be found within a mile of town, and many nice 
bags are being taken. 
Partridges are fairly abundant, and some are being 
killed by those who have the nerve to. hvmt this wary 
bird. 
Woodcock have been scarce, but a few have been shot. 
Rabbits are fairly numerous, and gray squirrels have been 
more abundant than for many years; I have counted fif- 
teen in a small patch of woods south of here in the 
early part of September ; but our new laws do not allow 
us to shoot them till November, when one does good to 
get two or three in a morning's shoot. But all in all, we 
are having a splendid season, and it has been some time 
since the rafters in our woodshed have been so well 
decorated with the spoils of the chase. Sussex. 
In Virginia, 
Chase City, Va., Nov. 24. — Quail are not quite as 
plentiful here as last season, but this seems to be gen- 
erally the case through the country. Our local paper re- 
ports that a party of Northern hunters were quite suc- 
cessful in a deer hunt one day this week. They started 
eight deer, and Hon. N. M. Lewis, of Pennington, N. J., 
killed a fine doe, and Mr. Taylor Muir, of New York, a 
very large buck. W^e are told that Mr. Muir's gun kicked 
him heels over head the first shot, but he was on his feet 
again in time to kill the buck before it got out of gun 
shot range, with the other barrel. This was better shoot- 
ing than the fellow who shot at and said he knew he 
had killed the deer, and that it would be found dead a 
short distance from where he shot it, but never could be 
found. He took his friends back to the spot where he 
shot to show them that he had shot true to the mark, and 
when they showed him that he had shot the tops off the 
pines about 15 feet from the ground, he said he "be gol 
darned if the deer wasn't up there when he shot." 
W. D. Pa.xton. 
Deer in New Hampshiee. 
Charlestown, N. H., Nov. 23. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In my last .letter about "Winninish in New 
Hampshire," I forgot to. add some notes on "Deer in 
New Plampshire" which I intended to add. 
The letter of Mr. W. A. Brown, of Springfield, Vt, 
which town lies right across the Connecticut River from 
us, and the later one from J. B. B., from Essex, N. Y., 
set me to making inquiries from my friends on the hill 
farms, and one of them, who brought me in a load of 
wood last week, tells me that a deer crossed his "home 
lot" the week previous, and that a neighbor of his had 
seen two together in his pastures but a few days before. 
It is now about seventy years since the last deer was shot 
in this town, and there is no doubt of their reappearance. 
It was at first thought that these might have come from 
the Corbin Park, twenty miles to the northeast of us, but 
as they have been reported, as seen in Honniker, over 
toward the center of the State, and' also over by Lake 
Winnesaukee, it seems hardly probable that they could 
all have escaped from that source, and I think \ye may 
safely claim t ''eir return to be due to game protection and 
the beneficent lesult of proper game laws. 
Commissioner Wentworth is very busy following up 
trespassers, and last week picked up three or four promi- 
nent citizens of Fitchburg, Mass., who had shot quite a 
number of ruffed grouse in Hancock and Stoddard, and 
were about to take them back to Massachusetts in defiance 
of the non-export game law, which they openly sneered _ 
at, relying on the speed and bottom of a "fast horse." 
Von W. 
Curritocfc Docks. " 
Currituck, Nov. 17. — Editor Forest and' Stream: Our 
game season. Nov. 10. opened on Monday, Nov. 12, on 
account of Saturday being rest day. It was calm and 
raining, which is not considered a good day for ducks. 
There were perhaps more redheads than we have had on 
opening day in five years, but they were all feeding in the 
north end of the Sound, between Swan Island and Curri- 
tuck Court House, which caused the killing to be much 
Ughter than usual. I think 2,000 ducks would be a fair 
estimate for the first day, with perhaps 1,200 for the 
second, and the bag on the next shooting day— Thurs- 
day — was about 1,000. Canvasbacks as usual were very 
scarce. Not over fifty were bagged by sportsmen and 
market-hunters altogether. But Friday was rather a cold 
day for this section, with a strong north wind ; and while 
crossing the Sound yesterday (Saturday) I saw large 
flocks of canvasbacks which came in the night before. 
The largest number of ducks skot were the now famous 
little ruddy duck, but to-morrow there will be a large 
number of redheads killed, with quite a sprinkling of can- 
vasbacks. 
The Swan Island and old Currituck clubs seem to have 
the largest number of birds in their marshes, The latter 
i-lnh Mses Indian corn in large quantities, which, T 
think, from experience, is by far th^ ha^t food lor ducka 
(I mean, of course, artificial food). Nothing gives them 
the flavor equal to wild celery. It is now a well-known 
fact that geese, swans, canvasbacks, redheads, blackheads, 
widgeons, sprigs, teal, black ducks and mallards can be 
induced to visit marshes in large numbers where very 
few were ever seen before by baiting with corn. 
Quail seem quite as abundant as u.sual along the wes-t- 
ern shores of the Sound. But English snipe are very 
scarce. Very few of the club men have visited their Curri- 
tuck clubs so far, but quite a numbers are expected next 
week, 
I have received letters from gentlemen who saw^ my ex- 
perience in Dare county, Roanoke Island, asking about 
the duck shooting, etc. I would say for the benefit of 
all who expect to visit that section for ducks, geese and 
black brant that December and January are the best 
months. The best shooting in that section is to be had 
in batteries or sink boxes, and there ,is a license tax of 
$20 before one can shoot. More Anon. 
Long Island Ducks. 
New York, Nov. 20. — Good luck rewarded ray week's 
stay at E. A. Jackson's, East Quogue. Long Island. I 
shot over fifty, including all species from sea coot to 
mallard. E. A. Schoverling. 
lo West Virginia Mountains. 
MoRGANTOWN, W. Va., Nov. 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: West Virginia mountains are affording their 
share of big game this season, in some cases where if is 
not expected. Recentlj' four hunters were out after small 
game, three of them having shotguns and one a rifle, when 
they came within close range of a large bear which was 
gathering chestnuts. They all pummeled it with shot, and 
finally laid it out with the rifle. It weighed nearly 500 
pounds. Capt. J. R. Miller, of this place, along witii 
some others, started Monday last for Pocahontas county, 
where they will try for deer and bear, both of which 
animals are reported plentiful. A party from Fairmont 
recently returned from a hunt on Gauley. They killed 
nine deer and report them ])lentiful, but bears are said to 
be scare in that region. Emerson Carney. 
Hunting in the South. 
Richmond, Va., Nov. 22. — In the olden times, in the 
South, there were three distinct classes of sportsmen. 
The cultured class of whites hunted the fox with large 
packs of well-bred hounds, and also the partridge (or 
quail) with setter and pointers. 
The horses selected for the fox chase were the very 
finest, and were trained to jump gullies, ditches and the 
old fashioned worm fences which have now been sup- 
planted by the barberous "barbed wire." The "po' 
white folks" hunted the turkeys, for meat and not sport 
was their object. Then came the third class, and in fact 
the "all round sportsman". — ^the negro. I have never 
seen one who wouldn't chase any kind of wild varmint 
day or night, when he got the chance, though the 'pos- 
sum was his favorite of all the game_ of which our country 
abounded. I have knowm them to hunt all night long, and 
then work all of the next day. With a well trained mule 
they would walk down a furrow in the cornfields fast 
asleep. With but few exceptions the negroes do not 
care for partridge shooting, for the reason that they are 
not expert in wing .shooting, and the game doesn't go 
far enough after they get it. 
In these days the waU of separation which once divided 
the pepple into classes, having tumbled down, we've got 
into a state which calls for the most rigid enforcement 
of the game laws, for there is a certain class of both 
whites and blacks who never leave their homes to visit 
a neighbor a mile away without carrying their guns 
along, and will shoot anytliing that comes in their way 
in any month in the year. Our. farmers never objected 
to shooting on their premises by men of Respectability, 
but when these "game hogs,''- as they are called, go 
prowling about with guns, and often pick up a barnyard 
fowl which happens to come in their way, and out of 
hearing of the land owners, it is but natural that they 
should ask our legislatures to pass the most stringent 
laws with regard to trespass. 
From objecting to the rougher element, thej' have 
begun to object to everybody's coming on their prem- 
ises, and they post up notices to that effect. No gentle- 
man wants to be "ordered off," nor does he want to 
walk a mile to a man's house to tell him who he is and 
ask permission to shoot. It takes too much time. I 
have never had a farmer to object to my shooting when 
I wen! tO' his house and asked the privilege, but when 
I go hunting I am looking for game, and on our large 
farms, if I've got to pay a visit to every man's house 
before shooting, the day is gone. 
The gentlemen sportsmen from now on will have to 
get together and rent or buy land and stock it with game 
and rely upon it for the pleasure of shooting. I have 
just returned front Aberdeen, N. C. — the Piney 
Wood-s — in a few miles of Pinehurst, the celebrated resort 
for New Englanders, and owned by Mr. Tuft, of Boston, 
Mr. H. PI. Powell, who runs a hotel at Aberdeen, was 
kind enough to take me to his game preserve of 3,500 
acres, and I had delightful sport, bringing home thirty- 
seven birds and a turkey. I had been "run off" by an old 
woman, whose face was the color of a pumpkin, with 
eyes like buttonholes, the day before. I don't see how 
this old crearture ever found the place, for she was in a 
wilderness of black-jack oaks, pines and sand, and 
must have descended from some family that lived in the 
time of Noah and the flood. 
Mr. Powell conceived the idea that if lie would plant 
peas in quantities it would attract the wild turkey and 
the quail, and judging from the game we found there, 
when every other place had proven blank, he was not 
mistaken as to results. Deer, foxes, raccoons and pos- 
sums were already there, but the food "especially pre- 
pared" for the turkeys and quail has drawn them tbere 
in numbers. I understand that the Grand Hotel of Mr. 
Tufts, at Pinehurst, will be opened in a few weeks. I 
could hardly believe that so much improvement could 
have been made in a few years, and ^a wild, barren 
country, such as that has always been, could have been 
made as beautiful, and the sand hills teem with the 
most beautiful flowers and plantSi If any of the sports- 
men of the north who goes to Pinehui'st this winter 
will call on Mr. Powell, who is himself a great lover of 
field sports, he can tell them all they want to know about 
the game down there. I am now too far advanced in 
years to do much more hunting myself, but if I were a 
younger man I would get together a lot of men who love 
field sports, and buy this land and make a game preserve 
of it. It can be done at a small outlay, and there is 
land enough there to furnish shooting for the next fifty 
or a hundred years. Polk Miller. 
The West Virginia License. 
We have not killed many deer here this fall, but I 
have kept an account of over twenty that have been killed 
so far. Two of these deer were killed Saturday, Nov. 
17, on the mountain opposite Romney, a distance of one 
and one-half miles. We have a good many wild turkeys 
this fall, and a goodly number have been killed, the 
evidence of this being the turkeys hanging in front of the 
stores in Romney for sale. We have more pheasants 
and partridges this fall than for many years, but the 
farmers are all posting their lands, and you have to get 
permission from the owners to shoot over the farms. 
Our non-resident license law is a fake pure and simple. 
In the first place, it is not enforced, and I for one do not 
think it ought tQ; be, for several reasons which I will 
briefly state: 
First, the license is too high; in fact it is a prohibitory 
one. 
Second,, when a man pays a license he should have 
the privilege to hunt somewhere, as West Virginia has 
no game preserves, this privilege the State cannot give. 
Third, this law gives to the residents who only hunt 
for market, more license to go and destroy all game they 
can, because it brings a good price in the markets. 
Fourth, it is a blow at every farmer who ever kept a 
city boarder, every hotel and livery stable keeper in 
tile State, and all people who desire to keep fishermen 
and hunters, and does very little for the protection of 
game or fish. 
Every county should have a game and fish warden, who 
should enforce the laws regardless of any one. This a 
prosecuting attorney of a county is not apt to do, as he 
might want to run for office again and does not want to 
incur the ill-feeling of his constituents by enforcing what 
to them seem useless game laws. Pheasants are bring- 
ing from forty to fifty cents apiece in our stores, and 
partridges sell for ten cents apiece, and quite a good 
many are brought here for sale. Venison sells for from 
twelve and one-half to fifteen cents per pound — that is 
the saddles. Whole deer bring from eight to fifteen 
dollars apiece,, according to their size and how badly 
they are shot. A. law preventing the sale of game en- 
tirely would do away with a vast amount of trouble to 
enforce complicated game laws. J. B. Brady. 
RoM.VEY, W. Va, 
The Good of It. 
Mr. Brady sends ns as worthy of a place in Forest 
and Stream these notes written by Editor John J. Corn- 
well, of the Romney Review; 
A subscriber asks: "What causes 'Indian summer' and 
why is it that it does not begin and end just at the same 
time each year?" Were we able to answer the first part 
of the question propounded we would be wiser than any 
one yet heard of. Various theories have been advanced 
as to the cause of the quiet, hazy, smoky period in each 
year that occurs late in October or in November, which 
is known as Indian summer, but no satisfactory explana- 
tion has ever been given. So say the books. Therefore 
as no one knows the cause it is easy to guess why it 
can not be explained that Indian summer does not come 
at regular intervals. The explanation of the name "In- 
dian summer" is found in the fact, as is well known, that 
years ago the white settlers imagined that the haze and 
smoke, incident to that particular part of the season, was 
caused by the Indians burning the prairies over, to drive 
out the game in order that they might the more easily 
find the wild animals that made their home in the tall 
grasses. Of course this was only a myth, but it served 
to furnish the name. In British America and Canada the 
same season is known as "St. Martin's summer." Why, 
I don't know. 
However, whatever the cause, it is a most delightful 
period. The mountains, tinged with gilt and gold, grow 
dim in the distance as the atmosphere becomes thicker 
and heavier and then it is that that tired and restless 
feeling comes creeping over one and he begins to look 
up his old shotgun, "Betsey," as a well known local 
huntsman terms his fowling piece, and hies himself to 
the woods with visions of swift winged turkeys and fleet 
footed deer in his mind. Perhaps he finds a flock of 
bluenecks and crawls a mile around to head them off and 
be just where he can kill and slay to his heart's content. 
Out of breath, with palpitating heart and perspiring brow 
he discovers when too late that he is just one hundred 
yards too far the wrong way and that they are crossing 
the ridge out of range. Perhaps, like the wily Boers, if 
he is a patient and persistent huntsman, he executes 
another flank movement with more success, bitt perhaps 
in sheer desperation he crowds them and they begin to 
fly. He bombards the atmosphere as they go, well nigh 
out of range, and presently hears some more fortunate 
cuss open up over on the other side, right where they 
seemed to alight. Did you ever have that kind of luck: 
Eh? Of course you have, if you ever hunted, and when 
you come home at night, empty handeil. tired and foot- 
sore, wishing- you had a thimbleful of "conversation 
water" to brace you up, you almost swear you will never 
go a.gin. but perhaps before bed time you hear whert- 
somebody saw several deer or a whole flock of twenty 
turkeys late that afternoon, and you know" to a dead 
certainty just wdiere those turkeys will roost and where 
those deer will lie, and as a result you sleep with one 
eye open, for fear of being belated, dream of trying to 
shoot something and of seeing the shot all rolling otn 
of your gun. but are uo and off again before daylight, 
perhaps to be again disappointed, or in some degree 
successful. 
But there is lots of fun about it all and besides that it 
expands the appetite, aids digestion, gives color to the 
