Dec. 8, 1900.] 
FOHESf AND STREAM 
449 
CHICAGO ANOgTHE WEST. 
Game Sitaatton in the Middle West. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. i.— The weather in this part of the 
country continues to rule mild. Early in the morning 
of Nov. 20 there was considerable thunder and lightnmg 
and heavy rain, most unusual occurrences for that daie 
in this section. On the morning of Nov. 20 as I went out 
of doors I noticed very large numbers of angle worms 
on the pavements and the neighboring ground, these 
worms having come up out of the moist ground exactly 
as though it were summer time. I have never heard of 
this instance before at so late a date for th* neighbor- 
hood. To-day it remains warm and murky, though we 
are expecting snow again before very long. Under these 
circumstances the conditions for quail are most admirable. 
The ducks have left us, and the deer season is over. 
From now on we will shoot quail until near the end of 
this month, and then a few of us will go South, while 
the most of us will put up our guns until spring time. 
The quail crop in lower Michigan has not been as good 
as u.sual. In Illinois, Indiana and Iowa it has broken, all 
records. If all goes well we should have good shooting 
next year, unless for some mysterious reason the bird 
■,upply should be again cut down. On the whole, we are dis- 
posed to think that there is a growing regard for the 
game laws, and that perhaps the present abundance of 
birds is partly a result of that fact. Undoubtedly, how- 
ever, the weather conditions have also been highly favor- 
able for Western game. 
Iowa and Minnesota Game. 
Mr, J. C. Hartman, president of the "Waterloo Courier 
Company, of Waterloo, la., is a busy newspaper man, who 
none the less occasionally gets busy with the birds. Mr. 
Hartman is good enough to give me some notes regarding 
matters in Iowa and her sister State of Minnesota, writ- 
ing as below : 
"Iowa sportsmen arc enjoying better quail shooting 
ihan has been known since the early '80' s. A number of 
fine bags have been made within three miles of Water- 
loo, a citv of 12,600 population, which speaks well for the 
(jli-^crvance of game laws. ' The ever-present pot-hunter 
will get his work in, however, and yesterday I heard the 
disgusting details of a pot shot made by a game hog that 
ifsulted in fourteen dead quail," 
Fall duck shooting in this vicinity was disappointing. 
Water was plentiful, but food was scarce, and the birds 
•<ave us the go by. Two Waterloo gunners who went 
north report that 'canvasbacks, mallards and other com- 
mon varieties were plentiful at Heron Lake, Minn. One 
gunner there, a man of some means, had killed sixty-eight 
canvasbacks in one day, and on another occasion had 
nade a mixed bag of over 100 ducks. This was late m 
October. It was reported later that two gunners at 
that resort bagged 300 in one day. The Waterloo shooters 
were not provided with a State license, and did not tarry. 
The market- shooters, they say, are very careful that no 
outsider shoots who is not provided with a license, A 
thrifty gentleman who lives some ten miles from the lake 
has a freezer and drives over each day and buys the birds. 
He paid 45 cents each for canvasbacks. Thousands of 
ducks are shot each spring and fall by market-gunners 
at Heron Lake, and if the sportsmen of Minnesota -are 
desirous of stopping the leaks in the game supply here is 
.-(iniethinsf worth investigating. 
Twin Lakes, in Calhoun county, Ia„ were formerly a 
great resort for all species of wildfowl. A friend from 
Rockwell Citv informed me a few days ago that the drain- 
age of the wet lands that formerly supplied the lakes 
with w^ater has resulted in practically drying up one lake 
and reducing the other to a marsh. These lakes, prior 
t(j the drainage project, held from two to eight feet of 
water and afforded excellent fishing. During the past 
fall the drying up of the lakes caused the fish to die, and 
the ducks, which were quite plentiful, fed on these, A 
fish diet gave their llesh a strong fishy odor, and my 
friend stated that the smell of a stewed Twin Lake duck 
was decidedly nauseating. The people thereabouts quit 
eating duck, but the gunners shot them jiist the same, the 
birds finding their way to market. 
The abundance of ducks at Heron Lake was com- 
mented upon in these columns last fall. The market- 
shooters seem to have been able to make a pretty big bluff 
out there. This is a funny sort of country, this America 
■ )f ours, though in a great many ways she is not a bad 
sort of place to live in. 
The Real Thing. 
It docs a fellow good once in a while to get a genuine 
sporting letter from a man wdio really takes a delight m 
getting out of doors, and who keeps his enthusiasms fresh. 
.\ good many of us get blase in our sport, and are content 
10 go out, come back and forget it till the next time. 
Not so with the man who has the genuine and keen sports- 
man's soul. Here is what one such, a wealthy man whose 
business interests ought to keep him at home, but do 
not. writes about some of his sporting experiences this 
week, I shall not mention his name, because the letter is a 
personal one, and perhaps I ought not to use it, though I 
will. I offer it as the real thing: 
'T did not do so badly this time. I went down Thurs- 
day morning ; it had stormed up to that time. I got up to 
Grassmere at 11 o'clock, and by the time I had changed 
my clothes and walked two miles down to our favorite 
piece of woods it was noon. 
"I took old Bob with me alone. The first bird I ran 
across was near the edge, and the old fellow had a nice 
stiff point. I walked around to the other side of the 
patch of brush, the bird got up all right, and that tallied 
one. I went along a little further; Bob was on the oppo- 
site side of the fence; I saw him stiffen out, and, of 
course, just as I got on top of the rail fence the birds 
began to get up; three good easy ones before I struck 
the ground, but no sooner had my feet touched bottom 
than I let go at an old side winder about 50 yards off and 
tumbled him over. This made two straight. I followed 
that up and got two points in a thicket so impenetrable 
that it was useless to shoot, but you know I always bang 
away on the nrinciole that the bird is in more danger 
than I am and while there are misses^ there was after all 
no exception to hits, with the possibility of one. I s\vung 
around tn come back; Bob crossed the road, stifferretj and 
hardly without an instant's warning a bird got up like 
lightning. How I killed it I do not know, but 1 did. That 
made three. , ^ , 
"Going along a while afterward I somehow or other 
lost sight of old Bob. I called him two or three times, but 
he did not come. I took out a great, big, fat sandwich 
and began walking alotig, trusting to luck I would run 
into him or he would run into me. I had my gun under 
my left arm, and all of a sudden a partridge flushed right 
in' front of me, and I noticed at the same time Bob had 
stiffened out and was pointing directly toward me. With 
my mouth full of sandwich, one hand with the remainder 
of my dinner, I swung my gun around and tumbled that 
fellow over, and as I did this the second bird arose, for 
Bob had not broken his point. More deliberately I 
covered that one, and w^as chagrined to see it keep right 
on, apparently uninjured, though from the cloud of 
feathers in the air I knew it was. hit. I xnarked it down 
about 250 yards away, but the brush was thick, and I did 
not have any hopes of finding it again. Pretty soon old 
Bob began to make game, but I thought it was another 
bird. Just then I heard thrashing of wings, and right at 
my feet laid my bird, making his death struggle, .so I 
felt pretty good, and went in that night with ten_ partridge 
and one quail in practicallv four hours* shooting. The 
next day I had bad luck. Up to noon the birds all flushed 
on the wrong side of the thickets. Three different times 
I saw Queen pointing and the bird was in front of her. 
Once I went up and clucked, and an old cock partridge 
trotted back and forth within a space of 4 or 5 feet on 
a log and raised his ruff at me, and I all the time figuring 
how under the sun I was going to get a shot at him if 
he did get up. It seems as if I was talking to this old 
fellow about five minutes, and Queen was beginning to 
wonder what in the dickens I was at. Finally he concluded 
to jump up. He had evidently picked out a good thick 
brush, and he surely found it, for he was away like 
lightning, and I did not find a single opening for a charge 
of shot. Twice I sent away crippled birds, the brush was 
so thick. I was sorv afterward I had shot at all. but that 
afternoon the thing changed, and I trimmed up eight in 
short order. It is funny that there are no quail this year 
to speak of. I had to come home Saturday, so only had 
half a day to shoot. I went into new ground and lost 
lots of time. Finally I got into some good cover. I had 
my shooting clothes on, and hardly missed anything, and 
it' ended up with my getting seven partridge and two 
quail." 
The Physical Value of Field Sports. 
The man who wrote me the above letter will be a long 
time getting old. Meantime he bids fair to be able to 
make three meals a day for himself and family, and to 
continue a comfort to that family for many a year to come. 
Contrast this sort of a life with another, equally busy, but 
directed upon slightly different lines. There came^ this 
week from Minnesota the sad news of the death of Sena- 
tor Cushman K. Davis, one of America's most talented 
sons. Mr. Davis died at the age of sixty-two from a 
disease which had senile tendencies, according to the 
doctors. His father is living to-day, ninety years of age, 
and his mother is eighty-six years of age. Physicially Mr. 
Davis himself had originally a fine constitution. The 
Pioneer Press, of St. Paul, itself presumably not too much 
devoted to outdoor sports, but directed on sane and 
sensible lines, printed in connection with the news of 
Senator Davis' death the following editorial comment : 
"It would have been better for his health if he had 
worked less and played more. His inherited physical 
vigor, if nourished by a reasonable modicum of physical 
exercise, promised a life as long as that of his venerable 
father, who is now bowed down less by the burden of 
his ninety years than by the weight of this great sorrow. 
But he had no taste for the sports of field or brook or 
forest. His library was his hunting ground, where he 
tracked nobler game than deer or antelope in the deeds and 
thoughts of great men. Here flowed the pure streams 
of classic lore, in which he angled with a fastidious taste 
and keen discrimination for more splendid trophies than 
reward the sportsman's skill." 
There are all sorts of views regarding that Illusion 
which is known as success. The death of Senator Davis 
is so sad as to leave little inclination for discussion of 
the might have beens of his life, yet we may say that in 
all probability he would have succeeded quite as much, 
and would have lived much longer, had he gone to Mother 
Earth now and then for the renewal of his vital energy. 
Lower Illinois^ 
Mr. Warren Powell finished his quail hunt at Ramsey 
last week as per schedule, and he and his friend. Hooper, 
had very fine shooting. He writes me that there are 
still plenty quail in his part of the world, and still_ sug- 
gests that we ought to do something to assert our dignity 
and not allow these birds to run over us. 
All of lower Illinois is stiU alive with quail, in spite 
of the thousands that have been killed. Ernie McGaffey, 
who shot on the Okaw last week, killed two or three dozen 
birds daily and had a fine time. He says there is lots of 
game all through that country. 
Number of Deer Killed in Michigan. 
Warden C. E. Brewster, of Michigan, stated under 
date of Nov. 26 that since Nov, 8 there had been shipped 
through Mackinaw 2,412 deer up to that date. Mr. 
Brewster thinks that the total shipped in the entire season 
will be about 4,000 for the State of Michigan alone. These 
figures sound simple enough, but if we could see 4000 
deer piled up in one heap it would be a startling spectacle. 
There is a great deal of local complaint regarding the 
above slaughter, and it is probable that an attempt will 
be made to cut down the legal number to tAVo deer per 
man. 
How to Carry a Revolver, 
Assistant Surgeon Morris, of the United States Navy, 
makes the following report to the Navy Department: 
'T should like to mention the habit now obtaining in 
the service of loading the navy revolver all six chambers. 
It is extremely dangerous, not only to the men carrying 
the piece iDut also to those around him. When loaded 
in that manner, if dropped it will go off with almost 
absolute certainty. 
"One man was killed outright on the Helena before ray 
joining it, and another was badly wounded on the Basco, 
and I have just heard of another similar case on the 
Monterey. 
"If some provision could be made or some order issued 
whereby it would be obligatory to carry the piece with 
one em'pty chamber under the hammer, the number of 
casualties traceable to the revolver would be much re- 
duced." 
When the writer used to live out in the cowboy country 
it was always considered the mark of a tenderfoot to 
wear a revolver belt buckled tight around the waist, or to 
carry the revolver in any way except with the hammer 
on an empty. A ranch boss who found a man with six 
cartridges in his gun would have been pretty apt to say 
something sarcastic. 
Geese and Fish Hooks. 
The daily press of this country seems to be waking up 
now and then to the fact that there is such a thing as 
game, and such a thing as sportsmanship. The influence 
wielded by the daily papers is a very great one. The 
following editorial from the Chicago Tribune speaks in 
no uncertain terms regarding the barbarity of some man 
who lately set out baited fish hooks for some of the wild 
geese which at this season of the year resort to Lake 
Alichigan near our northern suburbs : 
"If the Humane Society wishes to do something worthy 
of its name it should join forces with the officials of the 
Game Commissioner's office and seek to arrest and punish 
the miscreants who were guilty of such barbarous cruelty 
a few days ago to a flock of wildfowl which were feeding 
in the lake of Rogers Park. Some heartless pot-hunters 
attached fish hooks to a long cord, and, after baiting them 
with corn, set them adrift, with either end of the line 
attached to a floating buoy. Wild geese, though usually 
the wariest of birds, took the bait and the hooks. In their 
efforts to release themselves they broke the line loose from 
one of the buoys and with the other they floated out into 
midlake, there' to die a torturing death. It is hard, to 
conceive more thoroughly diabolical cruelty. There are 
two State laws which cover this case, and the full penal- 
ties for. the violation of each should be inflicted upon the 
perpetrators of this outrage against humanity. One of 
the laws provides a heavy fine for the taking of wild 
game in any way except by shooting. The other law is 
the well-known law against cruelty to an'mals. Game 
Commissioner Loveday should see that his deputies do all 
that they can to bring the cruel pot-hunters to justice." 
Game in Tennessee. 
Mr. Will G. Harris, of Gallatin, Tenn., is kind enough 
to write a little about the game situation in his country, 
the sort of news that is always welcome. He says : 
"I am a regular reader of Forest and Stream and in 
each issue take much interest in the reports that appear 
in j'our department from different sportsmen all over the 
country regarding the game supply. I have not seen any- 
thing in print about the supply of birds in middle Ten- 
nessee, and I make bold to send in my mite of informa- 
tion, 
"Our quail crop this year surpasses anything that I have 
known here in the last ten years. Birds everywhere. A 
pair of good dogs should have very little trouble in find- 
ing from ten to twenty bevies a day. For a while I 
ascribed the increased number of birds to the protection 
our new game laws give them, but since reading of the 
great number of birds in other States I am at a loss to 
account for the increase. Our game law, I regret to 
say, applies not to the whole of Tennessee, but to only a 
few counties. The best clause of the law is that one that 
prohibits the sale of game at any season of the year, and 
it has still a better feature, in that it punishes both the 
seller and the purchaser. Some game lavvs pun'sh the 
marketer and allow the man whose money is the root of 
the evil to go scot free, but- our law is like the old man's 
fish net, it 'ketches 'em comin' an er gwine,' " 
I have always said that the future of American sports- 
manship rests with the South. The South will have game 
after the North has marketed all its game. In many 
Southern States there are county laws prohibiting the 
shipment of game, and these county laws work, too. More 
power to Tennessee and all her sisters of the South, and 
may they always present a solid front against the game 
hog and the market-shooter. I don't know why it is, but 
it has always seemed to me that if there is such a being in 
the world as that much talked of and somewhat mythical 
being, the trtie sportsman, he would be easy to find south 
of the Mason and Dixon line. The Southerner seems 
to be able to go out and have a good time kill a few birds 
and then go out at some later day and do it over again. 
This is the kind of sentiment which goes with sport of 
the best kind. 
Nebraska Game, 
Mr, Fred Mehl, of Fremont, Neb,, is good enough to 
send me some mention of a little fun he had with the 
jacksnipe late in the season, with some information re- 
garding the other game. He goes on to say : 
"My friend, Guy Hinman, and myself enjoyed some 
sport on Nov. 19. The day was cold and drear5% a heavy 
mist falling and freezing as it fell, grass and trees covered 
with ice, and altogether a bad day to find any snipe about. 
The place in whu^h we found them is an open ditch of 
about two or three miles in length, a continuation of the 
city's sewer line, maybe not quite as nice a place as one 
might wish, though the water is as clear as crystal. That 
we have been having some freezing weather was cAndent 
from the condition of the grade road alongside it being 
frozen solid enough to bear heavy loads. 
"From the first crack of the gun — six jacks flushed 
within a space of 30 yards — the sport was good for three 
hours, and we bagged in that time twenty-six birds and 
ten ducks. As you can imagine, the conditions were per- 
fect — the smoothly mown prarie on one side, a grade road 
on the other, no hard walking, and after getting under 
headway forgot about the cold. If we missed one. a circle 
or two and back again into the ditch it would go. My 
friend got ten straight, 'wiping m.y eye' in nice shape a 
couple of times. Don't you think that for this latitude 
those snipe were somewhat in error, and were not the con- 
ditions somewhat at variance from the usual habits ? That 
is, if a jacksnipe is guilty of any definite purpose or 
habit, other than to get away in good shape when flushed. 
