Nov. 9, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
867 
Some Timely Hints. 
From. "611 Hints and Points for SJ'Oristnen."' 
Hanging Up a Deer. 
After inserting a gambrd in the hind legs of the aJni- 
nial in the usual manner, cat a couple of crotches about 
eight feet long, then bend down a springy sapling and 
insert the top under the gambrcl. Now place . your 
crotches, butt outward, at right angles to the sapling, 
hook one of them into the sapling, just below the gambrel. 
and place its butt so it will not slide ; now, with the top of 
the other crotch in your hand, lift up on the sapling, 
pressing it against the crotch at the same time. When 
as high as you can get it, insert the other crotch above 
the gambrel. If the sapling is not strong enough to hold 
the W'Cight of the deer, carry the foot of this crotch toward 
the other and the thing is done. If the deer is very 
large, or your muscular energy small, you can start with 
crotches three or four feet long and then use longer ones. 
Pinnated Gfoose. 
Pinnated grouse (prairie chicken) will be found in the 
stubble fields in the morning and evening, and near 
sloughs or in cornfields in the middle of the day. 
Quail Hunting. 
Don't start out too early in the morning ; -tlie birds 
are then seeking their feeding grounds — are running, 
and will never stand well to be pointed. Wait until the 
sun has dried off most of the dew\ and yow can hunt with 
decidedly more comfort to j'ourself, as well as to your 
dog. The birds will have finished feeding in a great 
measure in the meantime, and will be quietly resting in 
some grassy covert in their feeding grounds, or immedi- 
ately contiguous thereto. Their flight will not be so long, 
and their movements more sluggish after taking flight, 
which, however, they will do ver}' reluctantly. 
Dogs in the Field. 
Do not feed too much before starting out for a hunt. 
Look after your dog's feet after a day's hunt. Leave 
no burrs on over night. Feed at night after hunting. 
Don't allow them to fill themselves with water while 
hunting. 
Portrait of an Elk. 
Some kind friend connected with the office of the 
Forest And Stream mailed me some literature, accom- 
panying w^iich was a "Portrait of an Elk," photographed 
by one Wallihan. The literature refers to sundry other 
portraits, twent}'- in all, of live animals other than elks, 
which, judging from the work in front of me, must be 
very fine and fully worth the price asked. I have put 
the portrait of the elk in the recess of my desk and have 
between times admired him as he stands in all his glory 
upon the snow-cuvcrcd ground. He looks at you and 
gives out from his nostrils the breath of life. You can 
run your hand over his hide and feel the frosty particles 
adhering to the hair. To rub j'our hand through the 
standing hair along his spine would set free millions of 
icy atoms adhering thereto. 
Protruding from his mouth is a small blade of dried 
grass that he has just cropped from the growth before 
him. This particular elk, although shot by the camera 
upon his stamping ground on the boundless plains, stands 
at attention as one would imagine an elk to stand within 
a fenced paddock at peace \vith his mortal enemy — ^man. 
He certainly "hears and sees something," but if he was 
alarmed, when the shutter snapped, he has not yet shown 
any evidences of his fright. He stands there an elk in 
all his natural grandeur and beauty, sleek and graceful, 
liead poised upon his shoulders in a way no taxidermist 
could equal, a beautiful, living, real thing. You can 
almost hear the dry snow cranch itnder his poised hoof 
as he brings it down. Between the man wdio slew his 
elk with leaden bullet and ^vhose antlered head now 
graces the dining hall and the man who shot this elk with 
his bloodless camera, transferring him a living, breathing 
thing for all time upon his plate, perhaps the greater 
glory and pleasure is with the latter. 
Photographically speaking, this particular shot at an 
elk was a great one — a shot ever to be remembered and 
to be proud of for years to come. 
CriARLEs Crist ADORO. 
Qoail in Town. 
MoRGANTOWN., W. Va., Oct. ,^o. — Edilar Forest and 
Slrcain: This morning, Avhile taking a ilttle stroll out 
in the suburbs o£ our town. I saw a fine covey of fcmr- 
teen quail not over .350 yards fi'om the court house, and 
within the city limits. I sat doAvn and watched them for 
several minutes, at a distance of about 40 yards, and 
had a good opportunity to comit them as they walked 
fro mone patch of weeds and brush to another. This, 
however, is nothing new here, as they can be seen within 
the town limits at almost any time, and during the 
summer months their cheerful Bob White can be heard all 
day long from any point in town. This, in a town of 
5.000 population, we consider rather rare, and it shows 
what a few years of close time on game will do. After 
to-morrow they can be killed, and no doubt some good 
sport will be had, Et^ierson Carney. 
Skunk Farming-. 
Pine Btsh, Orange County, N. X.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am thinking of starting a skunk farm, and am 
anxious to secure all the information possible on the sub- 
ject before undertaking it. Ciui you give me the names of 
any parties successfully engaged" in the business? If not 
do vou know whether there are any? Or whether it can 
be made a profitable business? Do you know of any 
books or papers treating on skunks or tlieir habits? Do 
you know whether the fur of skunks raised in confine- 
ment is good? I have been told that it is not. 
H. J. C. 
[We have read many reports of skunk farms that were 
gold mines, but we have never been successful in finding 
them. The nearest we ever came to it was in the case 
of a man in Pennsylvania, who claimed that he had 
solved the problem, but he wanted to sell his secret for a 
sum which would buy all the skunks in the country. In 
a 'report by Dr. T. I. Palmer, Assistant Chief of the 
Biological Survey, it is written; 
"Misled by the statements abolit the rapid increase of 
skunks and the high prices paid for their skins, many 
pcr.sons seriously considered the experiment of starting 
skunk farms. For several years a list has been kept of 
such farms located in various parts of the country, but 
so far as can be learned most of them have been aban- 
doned. 
"Raismg fur-bearing animals for profit is not a new 
idea. The industry, however, has apparently never ad- 
vanced beyond the experimental stage, except in the 
case of the farms for raising the Arctic or blue fox, estab- 
lished on certain islands of the coast of Ala.ska. 
"Minks and skunks breed rapidly in captivity, but the 
low price of skins makes the profits rather small. Last 
season the highest market price for prime black skunk 
skins from the Northern States averaged about $1.45 
each, but white skins sold as low as 15 to 20 cents apiece. 
Skins that liave much white or which are obtained from 
the Southern States usuallj^ bring less than a dollar each, 
a price that leaves little margin for profit after paying the 
expenses of raising the animal in captivity."] 
Game in Town and Out* 
Hudson, N. Y„ Oct. 31. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Noticing several articles about game in towns, I add an- 
other instance. A Hudson woman walked out of the back 
door of her house one morning last week, and on the 
clothes reel there sat a ruffed grouse, Slie called the 
members of her family out to see it. and they walked 
within a very few feet of it, when it flew away, apparently 
not in the least frightened. The following week one of 
our business men stepped out of his front door on the 
street, and, hearing an unusual noise, looked across the 
street and saw a bird fluttering. He walked over and 
picked up a full-grown grouse that had struck against 
the brick building with such force as to kill it. This 
happened on Sunday morning, and it may be that the bird 
was so annoyed by the Sunday shooters that he con- 
cluded to come to town, and mistaking the building for a 
church, met death in this way. 
.Still another. The grounds surrounding the Hom'e for 
the .\,ged were visited by a flock of sixteen quail, and they 
were there for nearly two hours, apparently as much at 
home as the}' could have been in the thickest cover they 
could find ' 
We have more quail in Columbia county this year than 
have been for many years,, and the sportsmen are hoping 
to get a great many birds, but they may be disappointed, 
as we have shooters here who have been out for grouse 
every day since Sept. 16, and have hunted in open lots 
w here grouse are never found, and where several broods 
of quail .were raised ; and the chances are that the quail 
are cleared up by this time. Reports show that there 
arc a great many half-grown coveys. We can only ac- 
count Tor this by the ' supposition that the early season 
was so wet that they have been lost, and these are the 
second brood. ' H. 
Birds of the Newfoundland Caribou Country. 
The yellow-legged curlew, great gray sea gulls, shield 
ducks, black duck, w'illow grouse, ptarmigan, crows, 
hawks, ravens, the red-throated loon, the white-throated 
sparrow, woodpeckers, a few dull-colored, tuneless small 
birds, and the great Northern diver were the most notable 
representatives of the bird tribe. Occasionally a marsh 
harrier was seen beating the meadow, with a design, I 
believe, on our merry little friends the curlews, or "twil- 
licks," as the men called them. A constant visitor was 
the ubiquitous "whisky-jack," or Canada jay, which in- 
vades every forest camp, and is not satisfied with the 
most astounding gorging, but takes choice morsels 
which he cannot swallow. I cannot say that I appreciate 
the presence of birds when executing a wary stalk on a 
deer. More than once have I been defeated by the warn- 
ing given to the game by the wild burst of the willow 
grouse from the moor or the untimely cawing of some 
sentinel crow. On several other occasions a flock of 
ducks or wild geese, hitherto unobserved, rising with a 
fright and clangor from some tiny lakelet, have. created 
a sudden panic. Birds in an undisturbed solitude -are 
supposed to be very unsophisticated, but I must say that 
the rever.se of this appears to me to be the case, for I 
have always found them more wary than near the haunts 
of man — and ever on the lookout for danger. There is, 
seemingly, one exception to this, the camp robber or 
whiskw-jack; but he is everywhere a close companion of 
ni;mkind. — London Field. 
Deer in Rhode Island. 
.Mantok, R. I., Sept. 18. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Here is another exemplification of the old saying, "It is 
tile unexpected that always happens." In this case it 
was a deer, seen in iny pear orchard; and when I first 
saw her (it was a doe) she was within 50 yards of the 
house. She did not appear at all wild, trotting quietly 
about the orchard, then through my garden to the 
boundary wall, and after a moment over the wall and 
away, f ossibly it is an escaped tame deer, although I 
know of none such about here. Providence city line is 
oidy a mile away! W. A. Sprague. 
Wisconsin's Skitter Snipe. 
Madison. Wis.. Oct. 30. — It is a great year for snipe 
out here. A good shot can easily bag twenty-five or 
thirty a day. I grieve to say that I am not in that class. 
"The cussed things skitter too mucli," as a native once 
said to me. Fayette Durlin- 
An Ohio Successful Hunt. 
Toledo, O., Oct. 28. — Prof Edm. H. Osthaus and I 
went on a little hunt last week for two and a half days 
and had, as usual, a very nice time. We got fifty-eight 
quail, ten partridges and three woodcock — a very nice 
mixed bag. C. A. D. 
The Gun" Borrower., 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The article in this week's issue of Forest and Stream, 
under the heading, "The Giin Borrowers," treats of a 
subject which deserves attention. Many of us, no doubt, 
have been victims of gun borrowers before now. That 
there are different kinds of borrowers, however, goes 
without saying. 
It is to be regretted that the individuals described by 
your correspondent are greatly in the majority of gun 
borrowers; at least, it has been my luck to find this to 
be the case. But tlicre is an individual to whom it 
affords one pleasure to lend a gun. I refer to the born 
Nimrod who loves a good gun and the free outdoors, but 
who cannot afford to buy a modern gun. I know a few 
such persons, and I can truthfully say that my gun is in 
hands more careful of its welfare when they use it than 
wdicn T use it myself. Then there are a few friends who 
can afford to own several guns to whom I do not hesitate 
to loan a gun. But I have reached that stage where I do 
not lend a gun indiscriminately to all who invite me to 
do so. 
I have one gun, a rifle (resting on antlers overhead as I 
write), that was presented to me, that — that, well — my 
admiration for our President, Theodore Roosevelt, is so 
great that I might lend it to him; but there is no danger, 
for he doesn't know me, and he has guns of his own to 
burn William H. Avis. 
Another Ruffed Grouse Vagary. 
Elmira, N. Y., Oct. 27: — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Referring to September changes in your paper of Sept. 
28. I had the idea of the birds having a crazy spell dur- 
ing this month brought to my notice last month at 
Corning, N. Y. I was about to enter the Dickinson 
bouse there, when a boy called my attention to a grouse 
he had in his hands, and asked me if I did not want to 
Iniy it. I questioned him as to where he got it, and 
he said it flew across the river- and struck a bank of 
earth, and he, being near, picked it up. It seemed to be 
alive and in good shape, but did not seem to know 
enough to fly from the boy's hands as he held it out to 
me. 
All honor to Brother Tallett, of Watertown, N. Y., 
for getting the spring shooting stopped in Jefferson 
county. E . H. Kniskern. 
Long: Island Ducks. 
East Quogue, Long Island, N. Y., Oct. 25.— Mr. 
Lemuel Quigg and friends visited this village the past 
few days, duck shooting. Yesterday's bag was eighty- 
one black, mallard and sprig ducks; to-day's bag five 
geese and seven ducks. Large bags of mallards were 
made last week. E. A. Jackson. 
Ducks arc reported in large numbers in the South 
Bay, Sayville, L. I. Good bags have been made through- 
out the entire week^ 
New Jersey Quail. 
Bayvixle, N. J., Nov. 3. — The season opened yesterday 
with lots of birds ; but out of nine flocks found I only 
shot into two ; the others were too small. Lots of rab- 
bits. Herb. 
An Indiana View of New York. 
Fountain City. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
little note was duly received, and it was almost like shak- 
ing hands with you. Your mentioning that you thought 
while crossing the Brooklyn Bridge that it was almost 
time for another letter from me started a train of 
thought in my mind. I saw you in a crowded car, seats 
all full, every strap grasped by a hand and the people so 
crowded that those who had no strap to hold on to could 
not fall because there was no room for them to fall in. 
Hundreds of other crowded cars preceded, and hundreds 
followed the one you were in, and all crowded as the one 
you were in, and on the other track was an endless pro- 
cession of nearly empty cars, returning to be crowded 
again with people hurrying to their toil. If it was be- 
tween 6 and 8 in the morning, the vast majority of these 
people were under a life sentence to "work every day 
or starve." These people would resent the insinuation 
that they were not their own masters, and free to do as 
they please, but the fact remains that they are under task- 
masters as much as was blind Sampson, and will be so 
to the end of their lives, and the curious thing about it 
is that many of them know what green fields and free- 
dom are, for they were bred in the country. Why did 
they turn their backs on it? Because they did not know 
but that all was gold that glittered, and, like the ignorant 
savage, were ready to barter their freedom for shining 
tinsd. Later, there come in these .same cars the task- 
masters of the great procession that preceded them. 
These are no more free than others. The luxuries of the 
poor are none, and the things that the poor call luxuries 
are. to those who arc rich, the bare necessaries of life. 
If their incomes :Tre larger their necessities are larger. 
In the city it is all grind; if two women are grinding 
at the mill and one is taken, the other still grinds. When 
night comes, the harness is taken off and the animal is 
turned into the stable and fed. When morning comes the 
harness is put on again so surely as the morning comes. 
Now, in the country all is different. There nobody 
works all the time. The pressure is not great enough to 
compel it, and there are seasons of rest, in harmony 
with the rest of nature. There is something to rest the 
tired eyes besides piles of bricks and mortar. The ears 
are not all the time assailed by rush and roar. The nerves 
are not continually set on edge by all the thousand jars 
and jostles of mind and body that go on and on all the 
time. The nose is not disgusted by a thousand vile 
smells, nor the body brought into close contact with all 
manner of disagreeable things animate and inanimate. 
I am glad — more than glad — that my lot is cast in the 
country, and I gro-w more glad every year that it is cast 
in the country. It seems to me, after the free life I have 
led so long, that if I were shut up to an endless task in 
a house, in a city, I would live no longer than a wild bird 
in a cage. _ H. 
