! Dec 8, 3900.1 
FOREST * AND STREAM, 
447 
southward, as in Maryland and North Carolina, it is 
frequently killed. In many of its ways, as of cburse in 
its appearance in some respects, it resembles the teals, 
but it is much less gregarious in its habits. The shoveler 
breeds from Texas to Alaska, and I have frequently 
found the nests in Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, 
usually near prairie lakes, often under a bunch of rye 
grasps or a sage bush, and usually fairly well concealed. 
There are usually a few feathers and some down in the 
nest, which contains eight or ten greenish-white eggs. 
The female sits close, but when startled from her nest 
flies away without sound, and soon disappears. 
The young, when first hatched, do not show the 'pe- 
culiar shape of the bill possessed by the adult, this being 
a later development. Young birds of the first season, 
when killed in the fall, will be found to have the bill 
very flexible, so that it can be bent in every direction. 
The shoveler is a fine table bird, but because of the small 
numbers that are killed it is not very well known. 
Mr. Trumbull gives as the names for this bird the 
,blue-winged shoveler, red-breasted shoveler, shovelbill, 
broady, butler duck — "the bird being so called because 
of its spoon-like bill, with reference to a well-known 
general in the Civil War" — cow-frog, spoon-billed 
widgeon, spoon-billed teal, mud-shoveler and swaddle- 
bill. In Louisiana the bird is known as mcsquin. The 
note of the shoveler is a weak quack, somewhat like that 
pf the green-winged teal. 
A New Hampshire Deer Hunt. 
On the morning of Nov. 17 two of my neighbors, a 
friend and I started on a short trip after deer. We 
reached our hunting grounds about 10 A. M. of same 
day. There had been a few inches of good tracking 
snow, which fell about a week before our arrival. A 
little of it was left, but was of no use for still-hunting, 
being very noisy. The onlj'- good point was that it gave 
us a chance to see what were the signs of deer. The first 
afternoon we went over a good deal of ground without 
seeing a fresh track. In fact, we saw very few tracks, 
all apparently four or five days old. I crossed the track 
of a bear, but it looked older than that of the deer. 
On the second day one of our party hired a local 
hunter as a guide. The rest of us hunted alone during 
the whole trip, each going by himself. My tramp that 
day covered some ten miles of good looking deer ground, 
but I saw only three or four very old deer tracks. The 
man with the guide jumped two deer, but could not get 
within sight on account of noisy snow. 
x\nother of the party found very old tracks of' either 
two or three bears; he followed them up pretty well on 
a mountain and took a circle around, failing to find where 
they had gone out. He then followed the tracks to a 
ledge, and saw where two tracks led into the ledge. He 
carefully plugged up all the holes he could find and then 
started to look for a deer. He found the tracks of a 
doe which had been started, and followed it a loiig time. 
Now this young man is a novice at hunting deer or any 
large game, never haviiig seen a deer iintil this fall. I 
had loaned him some time before we started on our trip 
Van Dyke's "Still -Hunter," and he followed the advice 
there given, and did not keep on the deer's track, but 
kept circling. At last he ' found that the deer had 
stopped, and getting the general direction the track 
took, he went around and livorked up to a ridge from 
the other side. By very careful work he saw the deer 
lying down watching its back track. A .30-30 bullet killed 
it at once. 
The fourth member of out" party was sitting down, 
when he saw a large buck coming some distance away. 
He did not get a very good chance to shoot, bi:t his .30-30 ■ 
bullet struck the hind leg just below gambrel joint, cut- 
ting off the bone entirely, leaving the leg hanging by ' 
a strip of skin. The buck bled very badly, and after foi' ■ 
lowing some distance was found. That afternoon both" 
deer were hanging in the stable of the cottage we were 
staying m. ■ ■ 
That night we had sonie callers, local hunters most of • 
them. They had to own that we knew something about""? ' 
deer, but when our bear man said he had some bears 
plugged up in a ledge they laughed at him, saying bears 
didn't den at that time of the year and all he had in the 
hole were hedgehogs. We told them to call the follow- 
ing night and we would show them. They were so, dead 
sure that we would find nothing but hedgehogs\;that 
they did not care to go to the den with us, although vif'e 
•asked them to. ''H . : . 
The following morning, as soon as we could "sre.ej we 
started for the bear den. I had had but a little formej ex- 
perience with bears, and we carefully exanjined all the 
plugged holes in the ledge' and circled ahout ' to ' see 
whether th^y had gone out at any other point. W!e were ' 
satisfied that If there were any bears in the ledge the , 
day" before they were still there. The main entrance,: was 
opened and some punching was done with a pole, with 
no results. - Then I. watched the hole and the others tried 
punching on the back side of the ledge. While care- 
fully looking into the hole I saw for an instant an eye 
shine. We then found a seam on the t,op of- th'e 'ledge, 
which after being cleared of dirt and leaves gave us a bet- 
ter chance; The man who had found the den was sta- 
tioned at the entrance; and bear after bear ^vas induced 
by vigorous punching to show his head. We got four, 
an old one and three cubs. The old bear had lost one 
fore foot some time before in a trap, the'stUrnp of the; 
foot being completely healed. , - '". ' . . .. 
I then left the rest of the . party to drag the.: bears: 
down the mountain to our house, and started to 4ook-. 
for a deer. The snow was melting fast, and was about . 
gone, except for a small patch here and there. I<found: 
where two small deer had been, andiwhile I was trying; 
to work them up they got wind of me and a whistle and 
the faint glimpse of two white "flags we're all I'saw.'or 
heard. I followe<i those two deer very carefully 'for two 
hours, and they never stopped. " , '■', / ' ? 
That night we had quite ^a numhier' -of callers - to' -see 
our hedgehogs (as they expected)." They had not much: 
to say.' Some of them niade^Ti few tfrofarne.-remarfe^iboui 
•what they were pleased to -Gall, our." luck. ~ '.. ' ,:.f '^ 
The following morning two of us set out to look for 
the deer I had started the previous day. After getting 
gpnie distance back we separated, and-my coinpanion. 
with the unfailing luck which seems to follow both him 
and his brother (who found the bears) ran on to both 
the deer within fifteen minutes. Again a .30-30 bullet 
dropped the deer instantly. Shortly afterward I found the 
track of one of the old grandfathers of the deer in that 
region. I knew well from former experience what I was 
pretty sure to undergo in following an old buck at this 
time of year, but I knew that sometimes such deer did 
lie down, and trusting to luck I kept on. The further 
back I went the more snow I found. I have followed 
deer before in bad places, but never through such holes 
as that old buck led me. Finally in the afternoon I 
gave him up. I was a good many miles from our house 
and apparently no nearer the deer than when I had first 
taken his trail. I then took quite a swhig over the 
mountains on my way back. In all my tramp that day 
I did not see a track, fresh or old, of any deer other than 
the one I followed. 
The next morning opened with rain and heavy fog. 
Two of us started to look up some ground quite a dis- 
tance back. We went soinething over six miles before 
reaching the grounds. There was no snow, but we saw 
a good many fresh signs — more in fact than we did before 
or since. We worked over a good deal of ground, ex- 
pecting at any time either to see or jump a deer, but 
did not. The fog would at times settle down so that wc 
could not have seen a deer at 30 yards. We got back 
to our house about dark a little tired. It is not the easiest 
kind of walking over those mountains. 
The next day there was very little prospect of doing 
anything with no snow, and very slight chance of run- 
ning across a deer, yet we took that chance. On all 
my former hunting trips after larger game than deer 
I have always hunted on all sorts of days. There was no 
possible chance if we stayed in the hoitse. So two of us 
started for some deserted farms lying well back some 
five miles away. Deer were said to be feeding there on 
the apples. We took what we thought the shortest 
route across country, and had just climbed a brush fence 
in a back pasture and reached the top of a ridge, where 
we sat down for a few moments to have a smoke. While 
sitting there I saw something I took to be a cow or 
steer. I could see only the top of its back, as it was 
slowly walking along. I rose up slowly and saw that it 
was a buck. I could then see his head and part of the 
neck. There was no cartridge in the barrel of my rifle, 
but the magazine was full. At the click of the lever the 
buck stopped, and turned his head. I held on his neck 
just back of his jaw, and at the crack of my Savage the 
buck dropped in his tracks, never getting on his feet 
again. He was a fine deer, and as he lay there I think 
would weigh 250 pounds. I put a knife in his neck 
low down near his chest, and the blood spurted. I should 
think nearly a pailful ran out. I never saw an animal 
bleed so before. His stomach was packed full of ap- 
ples, fully a peck, besides some browse. Some of the 
apples were entirely whole, not even showing marks of 
his teeth. The buck weighed after getting him here 
191 pounds; and I think he must have lost in blood and 
entrails 50 pounds. I had in ray pocket a rig of strap and 
rope to haul out deer with, but it took two of us to drag 
that deer about a mile to a lumber road. 
The -next morning was to be the last of our hunting 
trip. Two of our party went to an old orchard some 
five miles away, getting there at daylight. A buck was 
just coming in, but he came up wind, and did not show 
himself, gave a whistle and left, and this ended our 
hunt. 
Heretofore in my hunting trips I have always stuck 
to a heavy rifle of large caliber. I had never tried the 
small bore nitro on game. Hereafter a .303 is big enough 
for me. C. M. Stark. 
DUNBARTON, N. H., Nov. 26. 
p. S. — One day last week a fine specimen of Canada 
lynx was shot a few miles out of Manchester, N. H, A 
party from that city were after foxes, and the dogs treed 
the lynx. It took several loads of double B shot to finish 
the animal. C. M. S. 
Toledo and Thereabouts. 
"Chained to Bosiocss." 
Whatever may be the fate of the average Toledo man 
during the rest of the year, he manages somehow to 
escape the fetters that bind him to his desk or shop in 
the last twenty days of November. And within the past 
ten days, if you attempted to find any man of shooting 
proclivities, his truthful stenographer would be pretty 
sure to inform you that he was "out of town on busi- 
ness," and would not return till some indefinite time sub- 
sequent to the day after to-morrow. Hence, to make a 
list of these would draw heavily on the city directory. In 
spite of the general exodus to the stubble, the quail shoot- 
ing in this portion of the State — that is to say in north- 
western Ohio — has been better than the average. C. G. 
"VN^^ilkinson, of the Legal News, came in a day or two ago 
with nearly 300 birds as the result of a week's shooting in 
Van- Wert cotmty, an exceptionally good bag. But all 
the counties bordering on Indiana in the upper part of 
the State — Williams, Defiance, Paulding and "Van Wert — 
afford good shooting for quail and grouse, and it is not 
very- long since deer and turkeys were to be found in 
their forests in reasonable abundance. Others have made 
good scores, and the man who coitld not spare a week has 
managed to get out for a day here and there with com- 
paratively satisfactory results. For example, Sam An- 
drews put in a day last week- just beyond the city limits 
and brought _ back with him a bag of nine birds. Mr. 
Andrews is in his seventy-fifth jear, and has hunted in 
northwestern Ohio ever since he was a boy, having killed 
a number of deer in the present city limits. The boys 
are all somewhat envious of his skill, but so far he shows 
no intention of abandoning the. field to hjs younger com- 
petitors. 
Among the Ducks. 
The duck shooting season as a whole has been rather 
poor. Talking the other day with Mr. John Cummings. of 
the Cedar Point Club, I learned that the hunters attribute 
this to the unseasonable weather of the fall. The mild 
weather lasted into November, and the northern ducks de- 
layed their Tnigration till the sudden cold wave warned 
them to seek a milder climate; but when they arrived in 
the marshes along the shores of Lake Erie they found all 
their feeding grounds frozen up so firmly that the most of 
them continued on their southward journey. Later flights 
have been more fortunate, but in the quiet Aveather the 
ducks have an exasperating habit of lying out in the open 
water of the lake miles from the shore, where it is prac- 
tically impossible to approach them. But there have been 
occasional days which left nothing to be desired, such as 
Mr. Fred Dodge found last week, when he boated thirty- 
five canvasbacks in a single day's shooting. 
It is a poor week which does not bring with it d ilfeW 
hunting club at Toledo, and the latest of these has just 
been organized by a number of Toledo people who have 
secured control of about 140 acres of marsh on the River 
Raisin, near what is known as Johnson's Island, about 
half-way between the lake and the head of vessel navi- ^ 
gation. The gentlemen concerned are Messrs. Ralph 
Herman, F. C. Smith, Henry Cope, James P. Locke, 
David Tobin, Ross Hodge and some others whose names 
I do not now recall. All the vast range of marsh lying 
between the town of Monroe and Lake Erie is famous 
for its duck shooting, and Toledo expects to get its 
share. 
Speaking of upland shooting, Mr. George Volk and 
Mr. Alex Arnold were grouse hunting last week near the 
little village of Omer, about fifty miles the other side of 
Bay City. They certainly have no reason to complain, as 
they brought home thirtj^-thrce ruffed grouse as the pro- 
ceeds of two days in the field. Mr. Volk was accom- 
panied by his educated pointer, who loiows a lot of things 
besides grouse hunting, but that is a story which will 
do for another titnc. 
The Rev. F. P. Rosselot, pastor of the United Brethren 
Church of Toledo, has returned frbm his deer hunting 
vacation in Missouri, and he found the trip so enjoyable 
that he talked to his congregation about it last Sunday 
evening in lieu of a sermon. Mr. Frank Moulton, of the 
Bostwick-Braun Company, was a camp companion, as 
were also Hon. Paul Moore, private secretary to Gov- 
ernor Stevens, of Missouri; Hon. J. J. Russell, Speaker 
of the Missouri House of Representatives; J. F. Navin, 
Hon. W. O. Swante, Hon. W. J. Lee and others. Frank 
Baird, State Oil Inspector for northern Ohio, is also back 
from the camp of the Ocqueoc in the northeastern part 
of the lower Michigan peninsula. Mr. Baird reports that 
the boys had five deer hung up when he came away, and 
yesterday he distributed sundry savory slices of venison 
among his friends. 
Hon. Noah H. Swayne, chairman of the Toledo and 
Lucas County Republican Executive Committee during 
the late Presidential campaign, has gone to New York 
to escape politics, and to take a month's rest from busi- 
ness. If you should chance to see him, don't forget to 
ask him about his experiences on the waters of the Triton 
Club last summer. Jay Beebe. 
Toledo. O., Nov. 29. 
Ohio Duck Shooting. 
Cleveland, O., Nov. 16. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I must tell you of the nice shoot I had last Saturday, Nov. 
10, which was the opening day on ducks in Ohio. I 
went up to the Ottawa Club house Friday, found seven 
members there, and on Friday night we drew cuts for 
positions, after allowing Col. Smithnight, our president, 
first to choose his position. He took the upper end of Big 
Pond, an artificial blind, then we drew cuts as follows: 
Roland White, i; John J. Flick, 2; J. O'Hara Denny, 3; 
Charles P. Ranney, 4; Isaac Reynolds, 5; Arthur O'Dell, 
6, and F. B. Many, 7. 
White took upper end of the Big Mud Hole ; J. O'Hara 
Denny lower end of Big Mud Hole; Chas. P. Ranney 
lowed end of Big Pond; Isaac Reynolds Mound Spring; 
Arthur O'Dell between Channels No. i and No. 2; John 
J. Flick, Two Tree Pond, and F. B. Many, Cherry Island 
Pond. 
We were called at 3 o'clock A. M. and had breakfast 
at 3 :30 and took the naphtha launch down the Sandusky 
River, dropping each man and his punter as we passed his 
location. I got over to Cherry Island Pond before day- 
light, and could tell by the noise the ducks made that 
the pond was full of ducks. 
I stayed back in the bushes a couple of hundred feet 
from the pond until about dajdight, when the ducks arose 
in two great flocks (at least a thousand) at the sound 
of shots fired in the lower marshes a couple of miles 
below me. As soon as the ducks had left my punter and I 
carried a large arm chair and all my shells, guns (10 and 
16 gauge) and heavy coats, etc., down to the edge of the 
pond. The pond was about 100 feet wide and about 500 
feet long. I located on the south side of it with the 
wind at my back. I just set the chair in the high flag 
so as not to make much of an opening. I sat in this 
chair with my gun (lo-gauge) across my knees. I had 
no sooner got fixed than the mallards commenced to 
come back in singles, pairs and small flocks, with once in 
a while a big flock, which I would not shoot at, as I 
did not want to scare them, as they were generally pretty 
high, just taking a good fly around the marsh. In about 
the first ten minutes after daylight I had nine ducks on 
the water dead, and I had only shot twelve shells. My 
punter said: "My! you are doing good shooting." _ I 
was surprised myself. I account for ray good shooting 
by the way I was dressed. It was mild weather; I was 
down in the high flag and it was warm; I only wore a 
sweater over my vest. This allowed free action of my 
arms, then again, it was an ideal spot to shoot in, the 
ducks wanting to come right where I was located, and 
they came in nicely. I only set out four decoys, mallards, 
and had my punter set up the dead ducks, which are 
fine decoys. Well, I just wish you had been with 
me. I knocked them right and left. I made eight or ten 
doubles. Of course I missed a good many, because I shot 
about 150 shells. ^ 
By 9 o'clock I had forty mallards, and said to my 
punter, "I guess I will quit. I have all the ducks I care 
to shoot in one day," but he said, "Mr. Many, this is the 
first time I ever punted a man; it's my first duck hunt; 
T wish you would shoot some more so that we will not be 
I0W man." To tliis I assented, and changed my guns, 
using the i6-gauge gun, as it was much nicer to shoot on 
account of the smaller load. Well, by 2 o'clock I had 
5\^ty duckfi and s^id to ray punter, "That settle? it, I am 
