FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 29, 1902. 
To on the day following. Hie party who went down from 
Chicago to Hennepin Club must have met interesting- 
sport, for none has yet arrived from the club, and the 
single bag above reported indicates that the othets must 
also have had good sport. 
That the birds went no further south than first open 
water and decent feeding is well indicated by the success 
met by some shooters in upper Indiana. To-day Henry 
Ehlers, of Diana Club, came in from Thayer, Ind., on 
the Kankakee River, and he had an express wagon nearly 
full of ducks, 06 mallards in all. He had met the flight 
fairly and had very heavy shooting. Mr. Ehlers has been 
watching the Kankakee country for a couple of weeks, 
and he says not for twenty years have so many birds 
been in as were there in the first big flight which came 
up over northern Indiana ten days or two weeks ago. 
It would seem that this same big body of birds is now 
beginning to work north again, since we are now having 
our second day of milder weather after the Cold snap of 
last Sunday. Word came down yesterday morning from 
Fox Lake that one shooter there had killed a dozen ducks 
before breakfast, and several Chicago shooters at once 
packed their guns and started for Fox Lake once more. 
That much shot and thickly settled district is the most 
available open shooting ground adjacent to Chicago, and 
it need hardly be said that there is a rush of shooters 
there at the first indication of a flight, The entire. Satur- 
day, Sunday and Monday contingent were disappointed. 
Messrs. Wells and Pope, who reached Fox Lake Mon- 
day, found everything frozen up tight, and did not go out 
at all. They report many other shooters similarly dis- 
appointed. 
The members of the Tolletson Club have this week and 
last had good shooting, and it is reported that numbers 
of them killed the limit of 25, part of the time picking 
out the greenhead mallards and not pretending to take a 
all the opportunities offered in the flight 
Up at Otto's. 
One of the popular resorts of the Fox Lake coutitr U 
in these days is that occupied by Otto Muehrcke on th « 
east bank of Nipersink Bay. Otto runs a wide open 
house which is patronized by most of the Chicago shoot- 
ers who go to that side of the lake. He is a sort of Poo! 
Bah in his way, being a justice of the peace, hotel keeper, 
boat hirer, bail bond furnisher, constable, or almost any- 
thing else in which there is a dollar or so. It is a mixed 
and somewhat difficult set of guests which he finds on his 
hands at the week end during the shooting or fishing 
season, although he customarily rises to the situation, and 
is able to administer affairs in an impartial and effective 
manner. ■ i: *flWHl 
Last Saturday, as above indicated, found a good manyi 
Chicago shooters at Otto's place gathered for the pur- 
pose of meeting the flight which did not materialize.! 
Among the Chicago talent were two newspaper men, Mr.l 
Hollis Field, of the Tribune, and Mr. William Smedgten] 
artist of the Record-Herald. Both of these gentlemen 
have a notion that they can stop a wild duck in mid 
career as well as the next one, and they went up to' 
Otto's full of youthful expectations. They found it very 
warm down stairs where the crowd was and very cold up 
stairs where the beds were. There is an old saying that! 
a man who would steal a red hot stove is somewhat am- 
bitious in the stealing line. It .is perhaps a trifle harsh 
to accuse a newspaper man of theft, yet surely the charge 
would lie against Mr. Smedgten, and the object of his 
theft was nothing less than a red hot stove. It seemed 
that another Chicago shooter had chartered a room up 
stairs and had endeavored to heat the same by means 
of a gas stove. Smedgten and Field, having emigrated 
to the upper regions, and having found their own room 
a trifle frigid, began to skirmish around, and discoverer' 
the hot stove engaged in warming up the other fellow 1 , 5 
apartment. This Smedgten calmly appropriated to the 
use and behoof of himself and friend. Having wanned 
up their own room, they returned the stove in time tc 
anticipate the arrival of its rightful owner, who com 
plained bitterly to Otto that his room was cold as an Icf 
box. such beirig some of the expedients of the true, news 
paper man when he moveth himself aright. 
As to matters on the main floor of Otto's emporium 
they would seem to have been somewhat confused at th 
time above mentioned. It seems that Otto was trvin 
the case of a man accused of horse stealing bv one of h 
neighbors. The defendant alleged that he did not stei 
the horse, but only took it in out of the cold when ft 
owner became too drunk to be fit company for man c 
beast. These charges the owner of the horse indignant! 
denied, and the two fell to cheerfully fighting, to th' 
delectation of all concerned. Witness Otto the enter- 
prising rising to this occasion with the facility of tru<; 
genius. Handing out the beer with one hand to al' 
thirstv customers, with the other he proceeded to uphold 
the dignitv of the law. He fined both the contestants 
above mentioned and indeed pretty near everybody else 
w : th nromntness and impartiality. He engineered his 
constabulary in such fashion as to keep all the contend- 
ing parses and the witnesses within reach of the bar 
and indeed so manipulated the entire affair that abso- 
lutely nothing got awav. Toward midnight everybody 
exnressed his entire willingness to whip evervbodv else 
and indeed hostilities of this general and self-sacrificmr 
sort became the main feature of the occasion. Ttu 
owner of the horse aforesaid seemed to get the wors- 
of it and was licked bv prettv nearly evervbodv then an* 
there nresent. Picking out Mr. Field, of Chicago, as i 
possible victim, he confided to him the fact tbat^he ha''* 
hem licked so often that evening that he didn't mind 
taVino- another licking, and proposed to the Chicago mar 
that thev enlace in a friendly contest of pugilistic skill 
not necessarily for publication, but to show there was no 
coldness. Mr. Field declined to lick him. but asked him j 
to stand not less than twenty feet distant from him for the 
remainder of his sojourn in the room. It is a little biti 
hazv as to who the chief offender was. or why he was 
commuted to jail. The jail was at Waukegan twenty- 
two miles distant, and the thermometer was below zero ^ 
The prisoner executed something of a coup when he de-j 
dined to stem anv bail bond, and insisted that he must 
he taken to foil. "Extending his bands in melodramatic 
fashion he asked that the "shackles be put upon him. 
and insisted that the constable hitch up his rig at once 
and start on the twenty-two mile drive to Waukegan. 
the constable Had, beet] brave jjefore «| 
is, but he now? 
weakened. He was found in the morning in a hay mow 
across the street, . the prisoner meanwhile diligently 
searching for someone to take him to jail. 
It may be imagined that_ the duck shooting did not 
prosper under these conditions, but the city men who 
were present at Otto's insist that they had a busy and 
very enjoyable time. They add that they are going to 
try it again on Saturday of this week. As to the fate of 
the prisoner, nothing definite is known. "I've got the 
ease under advisement," said Otto to Mr. Field. 
Artificial Preserves in California. 
Mr. Charles Mears, formerly one of the best known 
duck shooters of Chicago, and a member of the old 
Maesawba Club in its palmiest days, some years ago 
made the State of California r his home. None the less, 
Mr. Mears Occasionally visits this part of the country, 
and he was in Chicago this week. When interviewed, he 
said that he found considerable shooting on the Pacific 
Coast, and that he was a member of a club not far from 
Los Angeles. * 
' "The way they get their shooting out there is by 
overflowing a tract' with water from a big artesian well." 
said Mr. Mears. "There is one of these shallow ponds 
in this district of which I speak, five or six miles inland 
from the sea, and on this one lake there are three different 
clubs. A membership in one of these clubs was offered 
at $1,500. The next one cost $100 to get into, and there 
was a third one a little farther down toward the end of the 
lake whose privileges could be had for $35. I thought 
I would take the little one just for luck, and as it turned 
out we had better sport last year than the more expensive 
clubs. I usually found no trouble in getting two or three 
dozen birds in a morning's shooting during the. season. 
In that district all the shooting is had very early in the 
morning, the guns going out before daybreak and the 
sport being quite over by 10 o'clock. On all these club 
marshes, if you can call the country a marsh, the ducks 
are rested for pretty much all the week, two or three 
days' shooting being the limit allowed. In this way 
we have found no difficulty at all to keep plenty of birds 
for such bags as seem rational and desirable." 
It is quite likelv that the shooting on these fresh water 
ponds is similar to that offered along the Gulf Coast in 
Texas. 
The birds which bank up or feed along the salt water 
fiats go to the fresh water at least once a dav. It is this 
fact which causes the tremendous flights at Gum Hollow 
in Texas, or upon the celebrated mud flats of the old 
Fulton pasture. It is therefore not so much a ^ question 
of food as it is simply one of water. The wisdom of 
moderation in' club preserves is well evinced in this ac- 
tion of limiting the number of days' shooting in the week. 
\11 our northern clubs will come to this thing one of these 
days, and it is to be hoped that they will also place a limit 
on the daily bag, iust as the State of Indiana has placed 
such a limit and as all our States ought to in this part of 
the West. 
Lower Illinois Shooting. 
Mr. Fred Taylor, one of the best known of our old-time 
( 'Chicago sportsmen, leaves this evening for ^ visit to the 
Green Wing Club, of Bureau Junction, 111. Mr. Taylor, 
"'who is a man of considerable means, owns the lake known 
as Mud Lake, near Bureau Junction, and although he 
has had repeated offers, has always declined to sell the 
property for club purposes, stating that he intends to 
giye it to his son if the latter cares to keep it. It hardly 
need be said that all these lower marshes are gaining m 
value yearly. Fifty acres of marsh land near Wolf Lake, 
at the lower edge of Chicago, were sold this week for 
25,000. The man who first bought the tract gave only 
1 few dollars an acre. Of course, this was a purchase for 
manufacturing purposes, and has nothing to do with the 
mhancement of values of duck preserves, though none the 
Vss very substantial profits could be made to-dav by m- 
'ividuals or clubs holding good duck marshes. The pres- 
ent heavy flight of ducks has encouraged everv shooter 
>f this section, and has sent up the prices of club shares 
•ery materially, as well as starting out a great many other 
hooters in search of possible club marshes. _ < 
Mr Taylor, who has seen very heavy shooting m his 
• me , 'said, when seen to-dav. that he did not care to kill 
nv very great numbers of ducks. "If I can kill a dozen 
"rds a 'dav for two or three days," said he. "I shall be 
ntirelv satisfied. I want to go down there and look 
round for some snipe country. I think the snine will 
- in there in a counle of weeks if the weather keeps 
•arm. T have sometimes had very decent snine snooting 
* that district, and several vears ago a friend and I killed 
c tv-two woodcock in one dav. the finest bag of woodcock 
ever saw in all mv life. Of course, it is not so good 
here now for any kind of game." 
Better Days in the^Indian Nations. 
Mr. Taylor was long engaged in the cattle business in 
the Indian Territory, and even now he makes an annual 
visit to that country for a little snort, going usuallv to the 
ranches of his friends, the Suggs bovs, near Suggden, 
O. T. He savs that this year he found quail very miirh 
m'nre abundant than thev were on his earlier trip. He 
killed a dozen or so one dav. and thirtv-three on the next 
dav. and that ended it. He had no place to u=e his hirds, 
-uid so discontinued his shooting. He savs that although 
L he wild turkevs are pretty nearly cleaned out all over 
'he Indian Nations, so far as he knows, the ouail and 
-trairie chickens are far and away better off than they 
were two years ago. He report'; a most encouraging state 
of affairs there, due almost altogether to the practical 
workings of the Lacey law. While he was in the Terri- 
tory, one shooter from a little, town along the Choctaw 
branch was fined S^o for shipping one barrel of quail. 
Denutv marshals visited the new 1'ne of ra'lroad and 
nracticallv stopped a11 the shooting of game. Thev seized 
twenty-six packages of game along that one short branch 
of the railwav. . Outside shooters who had intended to 
take or shin home some game were afraid to trv it. and 
Mr. Tavlor believes that there is every hone m the world 
that prairie cbirkens and anai! will incres^e in Oklahoma 
verv substantially. So much for the difference between 
United States marshals and the average country game 
warden. 
Mr. Taylor says that the Osage country is urettv nearly 
I air tight so far as shooting is concerned. The Indians 
tdowji there live in fine dwellings, and. they are very stiff 
about allowing shooters to come into the country. They 
do not even like to have parties come through there on 
the Arkansas River, and are apt to make trouble for 
any one showing the least disposition to get gay in their 
part of the country. He adds that the Suggs boys, Cal 
and Ike, bought a ranch down in Texas about 150 miles 
east of El Paso, paying this spring the little check of 
$250,000 for the pasture. The Suggs boys write up that 
they have considerable game in their new territory in 
Texas. They were formerly located in one of the best 
deer and turkev fields of the Indian Nations. 
March 22. — The activity in duck circles continues, and 
the good bags recently made have started out more 
shooters than have gone from this city for some years 
during any single soring season. Fox Lake will be packed 
to-morrow with Chicago gunners. There is considerable 
shooting going on along the shores of Lake Michigan, and 
the Calumet Lake, Lake George and Wolf Lake contingent 
is getting ready this afternoon in force for the regular 
Sunday doings, the railroad stations this afternoon being 
thronged with earnest looking individuals clad in high 
rubber boots and brand new scooting coats. 
The birds are in on the Kankakee without any ques- 
tion, and the lower Illinois River clubs are also" having 
heavy shooting this week. Mr. John Uoham. of this city, 
and his friend, Mr. Louis Hill of St. Paul, returned 
Wednesday from Swan Lake Club with fifty-six birds. 
Mr. Charles Lester, of this city, also brought in a good 
hag when he came back from the same club this week. A 
deep silence still prevails in the neighborhood of Henne- 
pin Club, but stories come up that the shooting has been 
very heavy. Mr. J. V. Clarke, of this city, and several 
others of the Hennepin members, have been down to the 
club for nearly a week, and they would not have remained 
so long had not the sport been good. 
Mr. L. R. Brown ran down to Maksawba Club this 
week and got eight birds. He had no pusher and did 
not work very hard. He reports considerable numbers 
of birds in on that part of the marsh. 
_ The ice is reported not yet out in Fox Lake, The blue- 
hills had not yet showed up at that point at last accounts. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
The Hunting Rifle. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The articles which have appeared in your valuable 
paper of recent date on the killing merits of the small- 
bore hunting rifles have interested me. I cannot under- 
stand why so many readers of the Forest and Stream 
denounce the small-bore rifle for big-game hunting, es- 
pecially when using the soft-point bullet. My experi- 
ence with the .30-40 Winchester 220 grain soft-point 
bullet has been most satisfactory, and why a man wants 
a heavier bullet than the above is beyond my conception. 
Last fall, in Maine, I shot a fair-sized bull moose; the 
first ball entered the paunch very low, coming out on 
the other side: the other shot hit about a foot back oi 
the right shoulder, passed between the ribs, making a 
hole in the liver large enough to put in your closed fist, 
then through the heart, and finally coming out on the 
other side, as it went in, between the ribs. The moose 
bled very freely, and did not go 20 yards from the spot 
where it was first shot at. 
Now, possibly some of your readers who take cannon 
or obsolete rifles in the woods will say that if I had 
been using a large bore the moose would have been 
down with the first shot. This is where I differ. Most 
big game when hit hard will fall, but if it is shot, 
through the paunch — it makes no difference whether hit 
hard or not — they will go quite a distance before stop- 
ping, especially if followed by the hunter. Now, the. 
.30-40 soft-point bullet, whether hit high or low, will make 
quite a good-sized hole on entering; therefore will draw 
considerable blood. 
A writer of another article says that when the small 
bore soft-point bullet strikes the thick winter fur and 
hide of a moose it shatters the bullet to powder. This 
assertion seems absurd <and hardly possible, because 
when shooting a .30-40 soft-point bullet into a tree or 
any other hard substance, it does not break apart, but 
mushrooms, and most always completely covers the 
jacket. 
The above are the conclusions of many friends who 
use the small bore, as well as myself, and I must say that 
this new rifle fits the bill as well as the purse and is 
certainly an all-round, up-to-date sporting rifle. 
Two gentlemen whom I met in the woods last Novem- 
ber each had a .45-70 Winchester, which were very pretty 
rifles, yet a little light, 6^4 pounds. These same two 
hunters last fall and at the same camp used the' small- 
bore rifle, and they each got a fine moose. Why they 
changed the size of the bore I cannot say, but I do 
know that they could not do any better -than they did 
last fall; that is, two moose in three shots. 
The writer of this article expects to have many more 
hunts for big game, and will surely use the .30-40 until 
he becomes convinced that the small bore is, as many 
hunters declare it, only a popgun for moosebirds. 
30-40. 
St. Ignace, Mich. — Editor Forest and Stream: I see 
that the wordy war is still raging, between the "small- 
bore cranks" and those who advocate a cannon. Evidently 
it is still an unsettled question in the minds of many, as to 
which is the "best gun." One cannot be blamed for 
basing his opinion upon his experience, and the former 
will vary as the latter. If one has had very great luck 
with a very small gun, why should he not swear by it? 
But what should the verdict be, based upon the accumu- 
lated evidence? What is the sirnmered-down, rational 
•conclusion. Is it not this: 
That the .30-30 is the best gun made; 
That the .30-40 is the best gun made; 
That the .577-160-500 is the best gun made? 
Speaking from experience that has come under my 
direct observation, I should say that the .30-30 is one of 
the best guns made for anything up to and including deer. 
The .30-40 is a better, and has killed everything that walks 
this continent, but both of these guns are "open country" 
gups ; they are not effective in the brush. If one is jpine. 
