FOREST AND StREAM. 
Lumber Camps and Game. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Forest and Stream for Feb. i6 you publish a 
rather severe answer by Mr. James Webber, of Bangor, 
to my article, ''A Month on Millinockett." He wants to 
know "if you think it just to print such a slander 
against lumbermen as this contains without probably an 
iota of proof?" 
Mr. Webber's idea of slander in this case and mine are 
evidently very different. 
From my point of view I said nothing against Maine 
lumbermen. I have a great admiration for the woods- 
men of Maine. Taking them as a whole, whether lumber- 
men, trappers or guides, there are no men that I have 
ever met in any walk in life who have more qualities to 
be admired. They may be a little rough in some ways, 
perhaps, but they lead a rough life. As to their killing 
gailic out of season, however, in spite of what Mr. Web- 
ber says, there is not the slightest doubt of it. My proof 
is from the lips of the men themselves. Lumbermen 
have a habit of saying what they think. I have been 
going into the Maine woods every season for the past 
ten years, and in that time have met many lumbermen 
and have had a number- of different guides, all of whom 
have worked in lumbering camps. I never heard one 
complain of not having enough game during the winter. 
M oose I think they are more careful of. But it is prob- 
ably not from any fear of game wardens. If I were 
working in a lumber camp all winter, I would want fresh 
meat once in a while myself, and probably would have 
it. What I object to are the game laws and the way 
they are carried out. 
The Commissioners certainly do not consult the guides 
very much in regard to them. They are too plainly in 
the interests of Bangor and Portland spoilsmen. The 
idea of making non-residents of the State pay more for 
a license than a native ! It is almost as un-American as 
the tax New Jersey once tried to put on non-residents 
passing through the State. There is no doubt that the 
non-resident sportsmen spend more money in propor- 
tion than the residents do. 
In another article in the same number of Forest and 
Stream there is a great powwow about sportsmen and 
guides setting fire to the forests. 
Some inexperienced sportsmen without guides cer- 
tainly do, but not so the guides. I have never seen a 
guide leave a fire during a dry time without thoroughly 
putting it out with water. They often go to consider- 
able time and trouble to do so. Perhaps I have been 
particularly fortunate in guides, but I think in this re- 
spect they are all alike. 
I own a few acres of land on the West Branch myself, 
and am constantly in dread of fir«. 
I judge from Mr. Webber's letter that his own knowl- 
edge of life in the lumber camps is limited. But it is nice 
to see any good word for the lumbermen themselves ! 
POCKWAKEMUS. 
A Bear Hunt by Moonlight. 
Ypsilan*!, Mich., Feb. 4. — ^This is my first offense, but 
I can contain myself no longer. I have been a constant 
reader of Forest and Stream for a number of years and 
have read with intense interest all the accounts of the 
various contributors, and I feel that I should at least 
attempt to describe the most exciting event of my life 
in way of a small recompense for all the pleasure I have 
received from the reading of your most valauble weekly. 
I shall not go into details as explicitly as I would were I 
a good writer, but shall plunge right in and expect a 
deal of charity from my readers. 
This event took place in the North Bruce Peninsula of 
Canada upon the premises of Wm. MacVicar, lumber 
dealer and all-round sportsman. Mac is a true type of a 
sportsman, genial and generous to a fault. He is known 
and admired by all the deer hunters in Ontario, a number 
of whom enjoy their annual outing upon the MacVicar 
limits. 
After the season closed in '99 five of us, upon Mac's in- 
vitation, remained in our shanty a few weeks hunting 
small game, fishing, trapping and incidentally taking out 
some timber to lighten our expenses. We were located on 
the edge of a "burn," six miles from MacVicar, the near- 
est post-office, where Mac resided, and abotit a mile from 
the shores of old Lak-e Huron. 
One night about 12 o'clock, wliile all were asleep but 
myself, I heard Dinah, our Irish fox hound, and Otto, our 
pointer, growling and whining in the .stable, a small log 
structure about 20 yards distant from the shanty, where 
we kept old Jim, our horse, and the dogs. Thinking that 
they might have got their chains twisted, as sometimes 
occurred, I got up and slipping on my larrigans went out 
to adjust the matter. Well, upon opening the door the 
first thing I noticed (conspicuous for its absence) was 
that we had been touched for half a deer which had been 
slung on a pole just outside the door. The night was a 
perfect one, as lihgt as day, and as I stood there wonder- 
mg at the disappearance of our venison, I caught sight of 
a moving object about 60 yards awaj^ on a small hill. 
1 watched and presently saw Mr. Bruin move over the 
hill. Well, I wish you could have seen the interior of that 
shanty when I told the boys of my discovery. It did not 
take more than half a minute for three of us to get some 
clothes on, grab a rifle apiece, some cartridges and get on 
the warpath. When we got to the hill we could see the 
bear about 100 yards distant, and upon seeing us he 
turned at right angles and made for some small balsams 
about 300 yards away. I immediately started to head him 
off. and Harry and Bill opened fire on him, the first 
shot striking him I knew, for he wheeled and hit himself 
several times. The ground was as hard as a rock, but I 
did not feel it nor did I mind the falls I had as I fairly 
flew over the fallen timber. When he saw me between 
him and the balsams he turned and made directly from 
me for the open country, and I now opened fire on him 
also. I shall never forget as long as I live the music of 
that night. 
The deeo baying of Dinah, eager for the chase, the short 
angry barks of Otto, the shorter, more wicked, snaps 
of Harry's ,30, the boom of Bill's big .44 and the thump- 
ing of my heart, which I could plainly hear as I pumped 
shot after shot at the retreating form which had caused 
all this excitement, is embedded in my memory for life. 
Light as it may be, we hunters all know how difficult 
it is to find the sights by moonlight, and I think about 
fifteen shots were fired before Bruin stopped. He turned 
short, and I think through sheer bewilderment rather 
than vengeful motives went straight for Bill and Harry. 
He had got to within 50 yards of the boys when a well 
directed shot from Harry brought him down, and he 
never moved. When we reached him he was quite dead, 
and upon examination we found five wounds on him — 
two in the left fore leg, two through the body and the 
one which stopped him in the forehead. We took him to 
the shanty, skinned him and examined the wounds to see 
the effects of the different rifles. Bill's .44 and my .38 had 
done about equal damage, but the .30 bullet which struck 
him between the eyes telescoped the skull and vertebrae 
clear back to the foreshoulders. This was rather late in 
the fall to find a bear out, but I guess the exceptionally 
fine weather was the cause of his late wanderings. 
I know that this, as it is worded, will not prove very 
interesting to some of our old hunters, but as for my- 
self I never expect again to have as much excitement and 
genuine sport as I had that moonlight night in the fall 
of '99. Pen. 
New York Game Law Committee 
Hearing. 
The joint game law committee of the New York Legis- 
lature gave a hearing on the afternoon of Wednesday, 
Feb. 20, to persons desiring to advance arguments for 
and against Senator Brown's bill making the close time 
for web-footed wildfowl from Feb. i to Aug. 31, 
There were present a delegation of Long Islanders, one 
representative from New York city and two or three 
others from Saratoga and Oswego. Much interest was 
manifested, which on one or two occasions almost reached 
the point of strong feeling. 
The opposition to the bill was heard first. Its forces 
were marshaled by Dr, Robinson, member of Assembly 
from Suffolk county, Sayville, L. I., and the questions 
asked were put chiefly by Senator McKinney and Mr. 
Doughty, member of Assembly for Queens. The reasons 
advanced for making no change in the law were these: 
For the last two years there have been more birds in 
Great South Bay and Shinnecock Bay than for many 
years. Birds do not breed on Long Island and are not 
mated in spring when they pass there. A large amount 
of money has been invested in battery rigs which would 
be useless in spring if this law should pass. Many men 
make their living in part by taking out gunners from a 
distance. Brant visit the bay only in spring, and there 
would be no brant shooting there if spring shooting was 
abolished. The questions put to the various speakers 
tended to bring out and amplify these various points. 
They tended to show also that but few birds were killed 
in spring by comparison with those killed in fall. All 
the witnesses declared that they had never dressed any 
birds with eggs in them. A gentleman from the south 
shore, who said that he had made much inquiry with re- 
gard to the number of rigs owned in the various towns 
and the revenue they brought in to their owners, read a 
table of these sums, by which it appeared that $29,000 
was earned during the last shooting season, one-half of 
which would be cut off if spring shooting were put an 
end to. 
Mr. A. N. Cheney, of the New York Fish, Forest and 
Game Commission, first addressed the committee in favor 
of the bill, stating that he appeared merely as a representa- 
tive of the Commission. He cited their recent report and 
shortened on upland game in order that the breeding 
stocks might be kept up. In years gone by, at hearings 
before the Legislature on bills which had to do with 
shortening the open season for deer, Adirondack guides 
have made the plea that their business would be ruined if 
the season were shortened, just as the Long Island gun- 
ners now declare that their business will be destroyed if 
spring shooting were abolished. But it has proved that 
with the shorter deer season the Adirondack guides were 
better off than ever, and so it is very sure to prove with 
the Long Island batterymen. 
Mr. Manning, of Saratoga, spoke for the sportsmen of 
his section, who are earnestly in favor of the bill. The 
ducks untroubled by the spring shooters would breed over 
a considerable part of New York State, and the result 
would be an autumn harvest of fowl which would be for 
the general good. He cited examples drawn from his own 
wide experience to show that in spring and even in late 
winter the birds had already paired and were ready to 
breed so soon as they reached their summer home. He 
accounted for the greater number of ducks to which the 
Long Island men had testified by saying that this increase 
in numbers was due to the passage of a law prohibiting 
spring shooting in Ontario, and showed that the ducks 
which were now permitted to breed undisturbed in that 
Province returned there in great numbers, to the great 
advantage of all New York gunners. 
Judge Stowell, of Oswego, bore testimony to the fact 
that when the spring ducks reached his section of the 
country they were already mated, and gave examples to 
prove it. 
Chief Protector Pond, who had just risen from a sick 
bed, spoke convincingly concerning the great numbers 
of ducks which in old times used to breed along the 
northern borders of this State, in the Montezuma marshes, 
in the Adirondacks, and about such lakes as Cayuga, 
Seneca, Oneida and Owasco. He believed that with 
reasonable protection in the spring, such breeding birds 
would be with us again, and that in this way much 
would be added to the supply of game in the State. Pro- 
tector Pond's testimony was extremely interesting and 
convincing. 
The question of the eggs in the female bird seeming to 
be misunderstood, one of the witnesses explained that it 
was not intended to say that the eggs referred to were 
complete eggs, possessing shells and ready for extrusion, 
but they were developing eggs which might be laid in 
the course of a few weeks or a few days, according to 
the conditions met with by the bird. All female ducks, of 
course, contain eggs, but these eggs may be in all stages 
of development. What was intended to be said was that 
the eggs for a spring's laying had begun to develop in 
the very early spring or late winter, but a person not 
familiar with bird anatomy might not recognize them as 
eggs at this stage, when they might vary in size from a 
No. 8 shot to an ordinary boy's marble. 
It is not known when the bill will be reported. 
Presidential Sport at Marly. 
We are indebted to a French correspondent for the 
following account of the photograph which we repro- 
duce : 
"On Thursday last one of those official huntings to 
which the President of the Republic invites all the digni- 
taries in every department took place in the shooting 
fields of Marly. This time the guests of M. Loubet were 
the members of the Superior Council for the War. The 
himting, very cleverly led by the eminent M. Lamy, first 
huntsman of the Presidential hunting train, attended by 
president loubet in the field. 
the fact that the members of the Commission had imani- 
mousjy voted for the abolition of spring shooting. He 
then introduced a representative of the Boone and^ 
Crockett Club, who spoke of the constantly decreasing 
numbers of wildfowl, and declared that if the stock is to 
be preserved it is necessary to take such steps that 
fewer birds will be killed each year. This can only be 
done by shortening the season for shooting. The birds 
are now shot constantly for eight or nine months of the 
year, and the close time covers only the period when 
they were not within our territory, bu,t were in the north 
breeding. It has become a recognized principle of pro- 
tection in the various States that the season must be 
shortened in order to limit the killing. Spring shooting 
has been abolished in a number of States, and other States 
were named in which the season has been markedly 
M. Leddet, general superintendent of the forest, has been 
capitally entertaining. 
"Before taking the field, the President's guests, the 
Generals Brugere de Negrier, Florestin, Duchene, Grisot, 
Faure-Biguet. Lucas, Zurlinden, Grasset, Ganier des 
Carets and General Dubois, chief of the military house, 
met to the himting lodge, where they lunched. The lunch 
is always very simple — an omelet, cooked by the game 
keeper's wife, a pie, some cold meat, and, besides, some 
dainties. 
"After the meal, the members of the Superior Council 
for the War get up in a landau that drove immediately to 
the game keeper's lodge, where the first battue took place. 
"The rain then began to fal.l, but it did not prevent 
the hunt, which was worthy of notice, for capital cynege-tic 
exploits wer« perforraed. 
