Oct. tg, 1901.J 
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FuirlEST AND STREAM. 
303 
added zest to the pleasure a sportsman finds under such 
conditions. By nightfall sufficient game — deer and par- 
tridges — was shot and hung up, to be brought into camp 
by the following tote teams, to furnish fresh meat for 
some days. Camp was made that night before a roaring 
lire, the sportsmen rolling themselves in blankets or 
sleeping bags, and sleeping on the ground, with no 
house over them other than the trees. The horses were 
staked, fed and blanketed, and at 9 P. M. every member 
of the party was comfortably asleep. At daybreak a hot 
birchwood fire was boiling coffee, frying venison, stew- 
ing partridges and baking cream of tartar biscuits in a 
Dutch oven; all done by the deft fingers of the guides, 
who are excellent woods cooks. The long tramp of the 
luevious afternoon and the dry, pure air inhaled, seemed 
as a tonic which stimulated the appetite of each of 
the party to an extent that is best appreciated by big- 
game hunters in the woods. After a breakfast satis- 
fying better than more civilized conditions could, the 
sportsmen and guides resumed the track into the heart of 
the best moose country in Maine. A suitable clearing for a 
permanent camp was reached about five miles further 
northwest. Springs were plenty, their water pure and 
cold, and a rushing brook, belonging to the headwaters 
of the Aroostook River, skirted the edge of the small 
clearing. The tents were raised, a splendid bough bunk 
built in each, camp-fires started, and every prepara- 
tion was made for comfort and hunting. Great sport was 
anticipated, for many deer had been jumped on the way 
to camp, a couple of cow and calf moose seen, and par- 
tridges were more than plenty. Moose work was abun- 
dant, and tracks, apparently fresh, were frequently seen. 
Our party had brought out a moose from the same 
section in 1898, and again in 1899, neither of which was 
entirely satisfactory. Consequently they were after moose 
again, and were willing and anxious to endure any 
hardship that contained the element of sport, in order 
to secure a good specimen of the grandest game the 
hunter is now generally permitted to draw rifle upon. 
From the arm of Chamberlain to Little Milinocket 
Lake is as good a moose country as there is in Maine, 
and it was this vicinity that our guides settled upon as 
almost sure to furnish the best sport and game. As 
ultimate events demonstrated, they were not wrong. 
About dusk the first night in our permanent camp moose 
blasts were heard north and south, and the party made 
plans for the early morning, which was the first day of 
the open season on moose. Before daybreak breakfast 
was eaten, and the party separated, one sportsman and 
a guide going north, and the other going south, both 
in an endeavor to locate the bull whose blasting was 
heard the previous evening. After ten hours of constant 
still-hunting by the entire party it returned to camp at 
dusk without even a partridge. The next day was a 
repetition of the first. The third day produced a small 
doe for food purposes, and while the party was enjoy- 
ing to the fullest the pleasant weather, the hunters were 
nevertheless a little crestfallen because of continued bad 
luck or absence of luck, particularly after the abundant 
evidence of game noticed on the way in. The fact that 
fresh tracks, apparently of large bull moose, were found 
each morning, not a mile from the camp, in no way 
added to the pleasure of the situation. The tracks were 
patiently followed each day, and generally led into an 
impenetrable swamp or had to be abandoned early to 
give the hunters time to reach camp before dark. After 
going through such a programme for several days, it 
was decided to follow up a good fresh if found, and if 
necessary to camp on the trail of the moose. This op- 
portunity never came, as no fresh tracks could be found 
till a week later, when a light fall of snow during the 
night revealed an immense moose track right across the 
camp clearing. It was immediately trailed, but lost by 
10 o'clock, as the sun came Out hot, and every vestige 
of the snow was remoA'ed. The trail also soon disap- 
peared, for the sun's heat curled every leaf into a new 
shape. 
Being less than three miles from camp when the trail 
was lost, the sportsmen decided to return for dinner, and 
were taking a rest on a blow-down, preparatory to making- 
camp, Avhen a fox was seen and shot at, the bullet taking 
effect in its hindquarters. It made off, dragging these 
parts and leaving a good trail in the leaves. The fox 
was being trailed up and over a little knoll, when all at 
once, on another knoll not forty rods away, stood the 
largest and grandest specimen of bull moose seen and 
kilTed in Maine the past season. The beast had appar- 
ently paid no attention to the rifle report on the fox, for 
when first seen he was feeding. Not a breath of wind 
was blowing. The bull had not scented the hunters. 
Without moving so much as an eyelid they enjoyed the 
sight of a sportsman's lifetime. There stood this grand 
animal. With head and antlers uplifted, he was reach- 
ing over and bearing down tall young trees for their 
tender tops, on which these animals feed. Grazing 
among the leaves for the tenderest shoots, he would 
-way his mighty antlers from side to side in order to 
remove from his way the overhanging branches. At 
intervals he would throw his head back, ears perpendici^- 
lar, ever on the alert for danger. This monarch of the 
Forest was as grand in his proportions and environments 
.-IS mind could well picture. Dead moose or those in 
captivity are not graceful animals, nor pleasing to the 
c\ e. They are awry and awkward. A wild moose, in the 
lurest alive, fits in with nature and adds grandeur to a 
].icti.:re that few are ever permitted to enjoy. Ordinarily 
llio keen senses of the animal are more than a match for 
ihv skill of the sportsman, and nothing more than a 
passing glimpse is obtained. 
This moose was in fine condition, with a jet black 
mat. '^ave the usual graj' brown about the crown and 
alorg liis back. He stood side on to the sportsmen, 
who were well concealed in some low, black growth, and 
ureutly enjoying the sight in silent wonder. _ Inad- 
virtently one of them eased up a foot. A slight snap 
n{ a twig was all sufficient. The moose threw up and 
turned bis head in their direction, like a flash. His ears 
were up like boat oars, and his dilated nostrils gave a 
quick sniff, followed by a low blast, which demonstrated 
a state of nervousness, inquiry or fear. As he was in 
easy range, with the growth in front sufficiently open for 
sure shooting, with both hunters ready to draw a bead 
on him, a grunting noise was made to start him, it 
mattered not in which direction. Now assured of danger, 
he straightened out, extended his nose horizontally, with 
his back antlers touching his shoulders, and was quickly 
gaming trotting speed, when a .33-30 bullet slipped into 
his shoulder and he went down on to his knees. He re- 
gained his feet quickly, and made a couple of rods, when 
a second bullet was placed in his neck, and he went down 
again. He settled backward, and nearly regained his 
feet a second time, but a third bullet was lodged in his 
spine. Then his struggles were over. Examination 
showed that either of the three shots would have serit 
him down for good before he could have gone forty 
rods. He weighed at least 1,050 pounds, as he lay in the 
woods. After being dressed and five days' shrinkage in 
transportation, his weight was 800 pounds at the railroad 
express office. He stood 6 feet 6 inches high at the 
shoulder; from tip of nose to crown, 30 inches; crown to 
tail, 7 feet; antler spread, 54 inches, with 23 points, 
double palmed; length from forward to back tine, 3 feet; 
v;idth of palms, 12 and 11 inches; length of bell, 8 
inches. He was apparently six or eight years old, and 
m the finest possible condition. The color of the antlers 
is a bright golden yellow, shaded to light brown. It 
was the evidence of thirty or more guides at Seebois 
Farm that no better head or larger animal had been 
taken out of that district in twenty years. 
Such is luck in hunting. For three successive seasons' 
these sportsmen had been in quest of a good moose 
head. They had followed the game for days, only to 
find a poor specimen, a spike-horn, perhaps. This time 
they had seen five cows and a calf, and had about given 
up in disgust, when they walked right up to as fine a 
bull as they had ever dreamed of, and only a short 
distance from camp. 
Game in Massachusetts. 
Boston, Mass., Oct. 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Many sportsmen and others interested in the preserva- 
tion and increase of game in the old Bay State have 
beeia anxiously looking forward to the opening of the 
shooting season, on the first of October, for the purpose 
of forming conclusions as to the effect of the new game 
law, which was enacted last year. It will be remembered 
by the readers of Forest and Stream that this law pro- 
hibits the sale of partridge and woodcock, and to that 
extent eliminates the pot-hunter, who caused such de- 
struction to bird life by snaring, and thus decimated 
game birds to a fearful extent for market purposes. 
Reports received from various sections of the State 
indicate a greater abundance of game birds this fall than 
has been known for some years, and sportsmen are cor- 
respondingly happy. Even those who were bitterly op- 
posed to the law now on the statute books, to which 
allusion has already been made, have come to see, and 
have acknowledged, that they were in error, and heartily 
approve of the continuance of the law. As evidence of 
this, the following extract from a letter written to the 
Fish and Game Commission by Deputy John F. Luman, 
of Palmer, is worthy of being quoted: 
'T \vrite to inform you of the success of the first open 
day on game in this section, and also to let you know 
that some of the sportsmen have changed their minds 
considerably from last year, when the law was made tight 
against the sale of birds. In the section of woods I 
covered to-day I met no less than seven hunters, and all 
reported excellent luck. I saw their game, and each had 
partridge, quail and gray squirrel. I had a few minutes' 
talk with each of them, and some of those I met were 
bitter against existing laws one year ago, and said 
many things about the Commissioners and your humble 
servant. To-day they acknowledged that they were 
wrong in their opinion, and said that the Commissioners 
were doing their duty nobly; they were well pleased with 
work already done, and hoped that the good work would 
continue. They all said they had better luck than for 
five years past, and that all kinds of game were plentiful 
this season. 
"I was in Palmer to-night, when two hunters returned, 
and each had his game bag filled with game. They 
said that this section was alive with birds this year, 
and both said it was due to the Commissioners and their 
good work in looking after game. They predicted that 
if game were as closely protected in the next two years as 
in the past year there would be an abundance of sport 
for all." 
Deputy WiUiam N. Prentiss, writing from Milford, 
makes the following statements regarding game in that 
vicinity: 
"Quail are very plenty. In fact, I never saw as many 
during the spring and summer, while at the present 
time there is a covey in every hedge row, and in riding 
a distance of less than a mile from my house yesterday 
I flushed three covers of from seven to a dozen. There 
are more partridges than last year, judging from what I 
have seen while in the woods at work and looking for 
hunters. 
"There is no doubt the shortened open season, with 
the markets closed to the hunters, has helped these 
birds more than anything which has been done for a 
long time. The woodcock here is only a traveler, there 
being scarcely any except flight birds." 
On Oct. 3 Mr. Luman was in Wilbraham, and wrote 
that all the hunters he saw had met with good success 
and reported an abundance of game. 
Deputy A. M. Nichols, who was in the extreme south- 
western part of the State when the hunting season 
opened, reports that "there were quite a number of 
sportsmen out shooting in Monterey and Great Barring- 
ton. The sportsmen throughout that section report lots 
of birds and squirrels." 
Similar statements are made from nearly every section 
of the State, but I will venture to refer to only one more, 
which tells of the capture of bags of birds in the vicinity 
of Pittsfield, ranging from twelve to seventeen. 
The fact that game is unusually plenty this autumn is 
a temptation to many to violate the laws, and particularly 
that which makes Sunday a close season. This is evi- 
denced by the fact that seven arrests were made on the 
first Sunday in October in two adjoining towns, in the 
central part of the State, and in each case a conviction, 
and fine resulted. Except for the fact that the day was 
so very rough and rainy throughout the greater part of 
the State that people were kept indoors, it is fair to_ as- 
sume that many other would-be Sunday hunters might 
have had to face the courts on Monday. The present 
outlook, however, having in mind the vigorous enforce- 
ment of law for the protection of game, is most en- 
couraging;, for if the conditions indicated arc the result 
of only year's application of the new game law, it is not 
difficult to see that its continuance will prove most ad- 
vantageous to the increase of game in this Common- 
wealth. Bay State. 
MaJne Big Game. 
Boston, Oct. 14. — ^The game season is certainly boom- 
ing. Reports from Maine mention the taking of a great 
many deer in many sections. Bangor reports, Saturday 
evening, note the passing through that city of sixty-three 
deer on Friday, the largest day of the season thus far. 
The same reports mention also a feature peculiar to the 
season — ^the greater number of women who have gone 
into the woods to shoot deer. In very many instances 
they are successful. The first woman to secure a deer 
this season was Miss Maud McAlpin, of Winn, Me. Mrs. 
L. W. Rollins shot a deer on Tuesday that weighed 225 
pounds. The report says that she shot him at a distance 
of 150 yards. Mrs. Walter Willey has shot a deer in the 
vicinity of Norcross. Mrs. Teft, of New York, has made 
a trip to Stacyville, and brought out two deer. Mrs. 
Frank L. Marston, of Boston, brought home a deer last 
week that she shot in the Moosehead region. Mrs. 
Thomas Nelson, of Brunswick, N. J., has gone out of 
the Maine woods with a buck deer. She is said to be the 
champion woman slayer of moose, her record being seven. 
She was obliged to go out of the woods tliis season 
without having secured a moose. The open season on 
moose, in Maine, begins on Tuesday of this week, Get. 15, 
and there are more hunters than usual after them. The 
more reliable reports say that moose have increased in 
Maine the past year, while deer have barely held their 
own. That more deer are being shot this year than 
last there is no question. Mr. C. H. Heniken, of Boston, 
tells a good story concerning deer. He came home on , 
Thursday, with his legal quota of deer. He says that he 
went into the woods with five other men. They made an 
early start, and by noon they found that they had secured 
twelve deer — all that the law allows. His idea is that a 
man could kill twenty deer in a very short time as well 
as two. The section where he found deer so abundant is 
not mentioned, but it is up the line of the Bangor & 
Aroostook Railroad. Kingfield, Me., reports are very 
jubilant concerning the number of deer taken. Ten or 
twelve have already been secured in that town, mostly by 
local hunters. Several moose have also been seen. Bears 
are also numerous in that section. Bert Dolbier shot a 
large black bear last week. Mark Cross and George Ken- 
nedy got a bear the other day, and on their way home 
they saw two others, but failed to get a shot at them. 
Bingham, -Me., reports mention team loads of deer going 
out almost every day. Fully .twenty-five deer have been 
shot in that section the past week by local gunners, and 
even more by sportsmen from outside. In one day last 
week a team load of eight deer came out of the woods, 
another with six and two or three teams with one, two or 
three each. Many of these deer were landed at the rail- 
road, to be shipped away. Thomas A. Towne and Will- 
iam Foss, of Bingham, have killed an enormous black 
bear on Pleasant Ridge Mountain. The monster we-ghed 
597 pounds, "woods dressed." He was 7 feet 10 inches 
from the tip of his nose to the end of the tail. He meas- 
ured 30 inches across the breast, and his forearm was 19 
inches in girth. It is claimed by the hunters that one shot 
from a rifle did the business, the missile striking him 
squarely between the eyes. Mr.N Towne is an old hunter 
and guide, but says that this is the largest bear he has 
ever seen or heard of. He has a record of nineteen bears 
shot, besides forty-three caught in traps. 
Kineo reports say that over thirty deer have gone from 
that section since the season opened, killed by visiting 
sportsmen, besides a good many taken by local hunters. 
Game Commissioner L. T. Carleton and Judge W. P. 
Whitehouse, of Augusta, are in the woods at Chesuncook 
Lake, after deer and moose. Deer are reported plenty in 
the neighborhood of Skowhegan. Several deer have 
been taken in the vicinity of Waterville the past week. 
In the town of Sidney two deer were killed last week 
These towns are on the Kennebec, in one of the older 
farming sections of the State, where a deer twenty years 
ago would have been unknown and unheard of. The 
taking of such game, even in the more settled sections of 
Maine,- has set farmers and farmers' boys "crazy." Every 
man carries a rifle. A gentleman tells me that he met a 
man ninety-three years old the other day driving along in 
his wagon in the town of Rumford. In the wagon beside 
the aged hunter was a rifle. Asked why he carried the 
weapon, he replied that the boys had seen a deer beside the 
road he was driving over the day before. "I was a good 
shot when younger, and that deer -will fall in his tracks if 
I meet him." 
Newspaper reports mention a great many partridges in 
the Rangeley region, the Dead River country, the Bing- 
ham vicinity and all over the State of Maine, in fact. It 
is not easy confirming these reports, since the law is very 
particular about the transportation of partridges, and the 
Boston mailcets dare not sell them. A North Anson 
report says that partridges have never been as plenty and 
as tame as this season. Mr. Benjamin Walker, of that 
town, went down the line of the railroad one morning last 
week and soon returned, having shot two buck deer. At 
Solon, five miles further up the Kennebec, a number of 
deer have been brought in. They have beene shot witihn 
a couple of miles of the village, and mostly by local gun- 
ners. 
New Hampshire reports mention partridges plenty, and 
a good many deer being taken. Eugene C. Coolidge, of 
Bristol, has shot two deer near Rumney. In the vicinity 
of the Dorchester lumber camps deer are reported plenty, 
and Granite State hunters are after them. Good bags of 
partridges are being obtained by local gunners in the 
vicinity of Canaan. 
