Mav 9, 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
S67 
^Hg md ^mu 
— $ — 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Fokest and Streau. 
Mr. Craig's Meadowlarks. 
Omaha, Nebraska, April 27.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Rev. Robert E. Lee Craigj Rector of Trinity 
Cathedra], arrived home this morning from the sandhills, 
and calling at his home I had a talk with him about his 
arrest out in Thomas county for shooting meadowlarks. 
He said that the telegraphic story of the regretted occur- 
rence, wliile true in the main, was inaccurate in detail. 
"I was entirely innocent," said he, "of the fact that I 
was violating any game law of the State when I shot 
those birds on my recent hunt in the sandhills near Thed- 
ford. Back in Virginia I have been killing larks ever 
since I was ten years old, and in Kentucky they are not 
protected by the law at all. Coming in from the ranch 
of m}^ host, Mr. Yates, out in Cherry county, about 
thirty miles from Thedford, which is in Thomas county, 
I amused myself by breaking the monotony of the jour- 
ney shooting meadowlarks. I bagged twentj^ of them, 
mostly in Cherry county. When I got into Thedford I 
went to the depot carrying my birds, tied with a string 
in full view of every one, and on arriving at the station 
I threw them down on the platform where they lay for 
one hour and a half. In the meantime some malicious 
person informed the sheriff that I had these birds and he 
came to the depot and sat there talking with me until 
train time, and when I picked up my birds to get aboard 
he arrested me. He took me before the justice of the 
peace, where I was arraigned by the county attorne}'- on 
a charge of killing song birds. The attorney read the 
statute, which imposes a fine of $5 a bird, and the court 
fined me $tii — $110 for the 22 larks killed and $1 for the 
gallant sheriff. I pleaded not guilty, insisting that I was 
irmocent of having violated the law, and furthermore the 
larks in ni}^ possession were killed in Cherry county, over 
Vv'hich the authorities of Thomas county had no control. 
This was met with the reply that ignorance is no excuse 
in the eyes of the law, and the fact that I had the birds in 
my possession was all he cared about. He then said that 
I must pay the fine and costs at once or give bonds for 
my appearance at the next session of the county court, 
'May 8, which I did in the sum of $500. My gun was 
confiscated by the sheriff, who pleasanth^ informed me 
that it would be sold to the highest bidder inside of ten 
days, but if it is, that sheriff's bondsmen will find a 
healthy damage suit on their hands. I have engaged 
the very best legal talent in Omaha to manage the settle - 
ment of this regrettable difficulty and the law will b; 
tested to the utmost." Sandy Griswold, 
The Duck Hunt at Lost Island 
Marshalltown, la., April 28. — It was Pete and S ui, 
Fritz and Charley who left Marshalltown one eve"^'ng 
this spring en route to the shack at Ruthven, Iowa, wli^re 
Trumbull, Mud and Lost Island lakes unite to form a 
triune paradise for duck shooters — when there are ducks. 
1 he impedimenta of the party consisted of general sports- 
man's dufEe, guns, gum boots, shells, etc., to which in 
this case were added a full food supply and a fat Swede 
cook of repute in the toothsome and digestible prepara- 
tion of genus anas to its legitimate end. Boats and other 
necessary paraphernalia remain at the shack from j^ear's 
end to year's end, and have for the past twenty years. 
Of the occupations of the partj^: Pete is a furniture 
dealer, fair, forty and single, with a voice like an even- 
ing bird song when addressing a lady or dealing with a 
customer. Sam, who profits from hides, wool and petro- 
leum. His great grand something or other fit into the 
Revolution and commanded the Constitution or Constella- 
tion or some other American frigate of renown in some 
of the sea fights that have been posted in full sheets on 
the billboard of history. Charley sells everj^thing to 
smoke, from a six inch section of rope to Havanas at 
a dollar a throw. These three are crack shots in the field 
or at trap. Then there was Fritz, last year a neophyte, 
to whorn forcible adjuration and criticism of an adverse, 
and at times profane, character had been necessary in or- 
der to remind him that a gun was made to shoot and he 
placed to discharge it when a bunch of bluebills swooped 
down to the decoys. Last j^ear Mr. Winkle might have 
given him cards and spades. This year Mr. Tupman or 
even the long game keeper himself, might have felt proud 
of his performance. As a managing editor he sees that 
his subordinates make a mighty good daily newspaper. 
That was the personnel of the party. Lew had intended 
to make one but took typhoid and shot what few ducks 
he got this spring in his fever dreams. And, in passing, 
it might be noted that dream shooting beats spring 
shooting — ^in one way, at any rate. 
Once at the shack shooting dragged. It came on cold; 
the ice staj^ed in the lakes and the ducks hiked south. 
Some ducks were secured over the decoys, but shooting 
in general was unsatisfactory. Charley left for home 
satisfied that life is too short to wait for a spring break- 
up when so many and varying interests demanded his 
presence at home. Pete, Fritz and Sam stuck it out. 
Still the ducks were slow in coming. They took up 
their decoys and moved to a neighboring situation' that 
proved no better. Another party preempted the place 
they had vacated and when they returned they found 
the squatters in possession. Then the ducks came and 
they had the gratification of seeing the newcomers gather 
70 to 100 ducks daily over the decoys set where theirs 
had been a day or so previous. The boys watched the 
shooting and mmnbled language that would cost money 
if used on the public street. 
Over .several miles distant from the shack were ponds 
where the ducks were rising, to judge by the clouds of 
birds making toward them daily. Fritz and Sam teased 
Pete to make a trip to Cheseponds in hope of a good 
day's sport. Not by a participled sight Pete wouldn't go. 
He had shot ducks within sight of the shack for twenty 
years and wasn't going out into the world after trouble 
al this Jate day. Sam and Fritz went, however. They 
subsidized a Norwegian lad to hunt one of the ponds 
while they watched their decoys at the other. The birds 
came in fast and the shooting was furious if not always 
to center. The. shells gave out and Fritz walked two 
mJles to a farm house and secured by purchase eighteen 
more. When these had been used each had killed to the 
legal limit and they started on the six-mile trip in re- 
turn. But the3; had ducks, bluebills and redheads galore, 
with an occasional canvasback showing grandly among 
its more plebeian brethren. Sam was happier than the old 
admiral had ever been over his own peculiar aquatic 
successes. Fritz was speechless. 
/Vrrived at the shack Pete met them. He'd killed a 
poor quarter dozen and was in that condition yclept 
"sore" in the vernacular. They threw the ducks at him 
and upon him and over him and Pete simply stood and 
gazed with an occasional mild ( ?) exclamatory remark 
as the situation became more pronounced. When the 
last one was unloaded, "Well," said Pete, "by J — inks! 
you did get 'em." But Pete was "sore" and ready and 
willing for trouble. Had he been in the place of his illus- 
trious Hebrew namesake who grew "sore" 011 a memor- 
able Biblical occasion and cut off a Roman ear, our Pete 
would have annihilated a Roman battalion. Teinpora 
mutantur, Pete .simply smoked at the ceiling and raged 
inwardly. 
The party had set the following day as the date of 
leaving. Pete's meditations ran strongly on this phase 
of the situation. PTe wanted to stay, but wanted the 
others to make the proposition. They sat silent or 
together reviewed the clay's shooting. Pete's cigar 
grew short. He heaved a sigh and said lugubriously, 
"I would like to have one day of decent sport." Then 
the others howled, and a trip to the ponds was ar- 
ranged instanter. Next morning they went. 
Some future time the tale of Pete's performances 
upon that memorable day will be decreed as tradi- 
tionary and received with incredulity. At present they 
are authentic history duly attested by Sam and Fritz. 
Stretched at full length on a haystack in the middle of 
the pond Pete raged like Achilles. Singles, double far 
out or close in, melted down at the crack of hjs gun. 
Flocks paid a toll of three or foui". Fast or slow he 
took them all in with an aim unerring as fate. Between 
flights he danced madly on his mound of hay with 
the grace and vigor of a whirling dervish. Bluebills 
flocked in like a streak of summer lightning, stopped 
suddenly and stayed. A small duck came like an ar- 
row low over the stack. Ten feet away Pete dropped 
the head of the duck on one side of the stack and its 
body on the other. Bird after bird without a miss, 
while the others on the outskirts picked up stragglers. 
It was fierce and altogether satisfjdng. Altogether the 
lliree went back to the shack with sixty-eight ducks 
as the day's bag-, hungry, tired but happy and ready to 
g'l home on the morrow. Next year- — perhaps we will 
i avc a law against spring shooting in Iowa. 
Mos. 
A Proposed Massachusetts Presei:-v*e« 
If the present plans of some of the leading members of 
Ihe Grafton Country Club are carried out, the name of 
i'Vank Forester, who has done more than any other man 
'i! inspire Americans with a love of sport in wood and 
field, will be perpetuated in a most appropriate manner. 
The idea is to have an immense game preserve extend- 
ing over nearly fifteen square miles, and to be known as 
the Forester Club. 
There has been a movement on foot for the last two 
years among certain members of the Grafton Country 
Club to purchase the Brainey property, which is south 
of the club, the purpose of which would be to unite the 
Brainey property, the Grafton Country Club, the Red 
Farm, the town farm. Woodland, Lordvale, Edgewood, 
Potter Hill and Elmwood into a large game preserve. 
The above comprises some 3,000 acres, and adjoining 
the above property on the north, about Doherty Pond, 
there is a large quantity of woodland which is especially 
desirable for cover for partridges, and on the south the 
Crosby farm, and about the Fitzpatrick property and the 
House Rock a large amount of open land, which is well 
known as the best quail ground in or about Worcester. 
This all makes up a total of some 10,000 acres. 
Those interested in the welfare of the club secured an 
option on the property, and in the past three days papers 
have been passed, so that the ownership of the Brainey 
property is now vested in the newly founded Forester 
Club. 
The ownership of the club is divided into a certain 
number of shares of $100 each, and that the same will be 
a siiccess will be easily seen from the fact that the fol- 
lowing gentlemen have come forward freely and inter- 
ested themselves by subscribing for the stock: P. W. 
Moen, Eben J3raper, of Hopedale; H. T. Whitin, of 
Whitinsville; Randolph Crompton, of Worcester ; Charles 
S. Barton, William Marcy, Chester Lasell, of Whitins- 
ville; H. W. Wynian, Charles Crompton, George Cromp- 
ton, George B. Inches, of Grafton; Samuel Colton, of 
Millbury; Plarry W. Smith and William B. Schofield, of 
Worcester, and Marston Whitin, of W^hitinsville. 
A meeting of the club will shortly be held, when a 
committee will be chosen to take charge of the interest of 
the club, which will, of course, include the hiring of a 
suitable game keeper to look after the property and ar- 
range as to purchase of quail, pheasants, hares, etc.— 
Boston Herald, May i. 
Where Tired Trap Shots May B«ild Up. 
Dunbarton, N. H., May i— Editor Forest and Stream: 
How the readers of Forest and Stream do respond to 
things pertaining to fish and game. The day following 
my receipt of Forest and Stream containing "my account 
of our New Foimd Lake fishing trip, I received a letter 
from a well-l<nown trap shooting expert. The latter 
writes: "I am run down and tired out shooting at tar- 
gets. I now want a rest and building up. Can't you 
tell me of some place to go where I can catch some brook 
troiit and also gain some pounds in weight?" I have 
written this tired expert and advised his going to the 
headwaters of Mad River in Watervillc, N. H. Lie ought 
to catch some small trout; he will surely gain in both 
weight and health if he has not passed the point where it 
is possible for improvement. Waterville is an ideal spot 
in the Granite State. When you get there you have 
reached the end of the road. If you cannot pick up there 
your case is hopeless. C. M. Stark. 
— <$, — 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Fokest and Stream. 
A May Fishing Trip. 
SuitELY there is nothing more invigorating, more life- 
giving tg both body and soul than ily-fishing for the 
gamy trout in the cool, sweet days of May. There are 
still some places where the hopes and ambition of an 
angler's heart may be gratified, and among these few 
chosen regions are the Adirondack Mountains. Exquisite 
scenery, clear rippling streams, shady pools and blue, 
placid lakes more than add to the charm of casting a fly 
for the speckled trout in this region. With these visions 
cf the pleasures and delights of a spring fishing trip to 
the North Woods, it was small wonder when the Veteran 
proposed we should sojourn to the woods for a few 
days' outing. 
Preparations were soon made, and our sections en- 
gaged on the Montreal express for the night of May 10. 
We were to reach our destination at an early hour of the 
morning, and the Veteran decided the best plan would be 
to take our breakfast with us and eat it at the station 
before driving seven and a half miles through the woods 
to the lake, for if the morning was cold such a drive on 
an empty stotnach would hardly prove pleasant. The 
Veteran therefore told Al (who is his right-hand man 
and always accompanies us on such trips) to buy a coffee 
pot with cups, spoons, etc., and in fact everything which 
would supply us with a good meal. 
Finally the day for our departure arrived, and a quar- 
ter_ past eight found us at the station waiting for the 
train that would carry us to the heart of the North 
Woods. A sharp, clear whistle and with puffing and 
panting the huge express rumbled in. Another minute 
and I landed safely on the platform, when, to my sur- 
prise and dismay, we commenced to move out of the 
station without giving the Veteran or Al a moment in 
wdiich to board the train. Suddenly I perceived the lat- 
ter, loaded with bags and bundles, scrambling up the 
steps, and heard the Veteran say sharply: "Hurry up, 
Al, for goodness sake or we'll get left !" Al managed to 
reach the platform and the Veteran followed close be- 
hiend. "If I had jumped on first," said the Veteran, "do 
you know where Al would have been now ? At the 
station with most of our belongings. Fortunately I 
managed to get him started and kept him going." 
We turned in about ten o'clock, and, lulled by the 
rocking motion of the car, I soon was in dreamland. 
Somewhere near four o'clock I awoke, and lifting the 
curtain peered out of the window. Never will I forget 
the beautiful scene that met my gaze. We were passing 
a marshy piece of ground overhung by a white, quivering- 
fog, w;hich stretched toward the east and was met by a 
dark line of woods. The sharp points of the spruce and 
tamarack trees stood out black and clearly defined against 
the pale, bluish-green slcy, and suspended just over their 
tops, glittering and silveiy, hung Venus, the morning 
star. 
As we skimmed smoothly along another exquisite vista 
presented itself to the gaze. We had reached a more 
elevated region and for miles in every direction stretched 
the forest in undulating hills met by mountain ranges. 
To the northeast, nestling amid the brown and green of 
the hills, lay Big Moose Lake, overhung with white, 
njisty clouds, which caught and reflected the color of the 
sky above. Gradually the rosy tinges deepened until the 
long golden rays of the sun appeared above the wood- 
clad mountain. 
"Fulton Chain," said the porter. "Time to get up." 
My dressing was quickly accomplished in the pure, cold 
air which_ flowed through the car from the open ventila- 
tors, and iii a short time we were all together on the plat- 
form waiting as the train slowed down and finally drew 
in at the little station. 
The keen, crisp air smote our cheeks as we stepped off 
the car, filling every chink and crevice of the lungs with 
life-giving ozone, and the first sound that greeted our 
ears, as the noise of the train died away in the distance, 
was the clear, mellow note of a white-throated sparrow. 
We_ found a good fire going in the station, and a man 
awaiting our arrival. The ground was hard with a heavy 
frost, and the cold air quickened one's appetite im- 
mensel}^, so when the Veteran said, "Come, come, Al, 
get breakfast ready !" the words sounded most welcome 
and agreeable. 
Al commenced undoing the package which contained 
our morning meal, when suddenly he looked up with a 
dismayed and chagrined expression. 
"What's the matter?" asked the Veteran. 
"The eggs," he answered, dismally. "I forgot the 
PO-crc " 
"Just as I supposed," said the Veteran, laughing. "You 
are a nice one! Now all we have for breakfast is coffee 
and toast. A little more, though, and you would have 
been left with the eggs." 
"Oh, pshaw !" said Al, disconsolately, and as this is his 
favorite expression when disturbed, the egg episode 
caused us not a little fun and amusement at his expense. 
The Veteran then proceeded to make the coffee. Well, 
the thought of it even now makes my mouth water, and 
a cup of this beverage, combined with a hot piece of 
l:)Uttered toast, more than appeased our hunger. The 
repast finished, a big strong team of grays drove up with 
the three-seated wagon, and we were soon ready for the 
drive to the lake. 
The woods, stripped of every leaf, for as yet the buds 
were scarcely visible, appeared very different from the 
Slimmer season, and were brown, open and sunny, the 
gray trunks of the trees standing out distinctly, especially 
those of the smooth, stately beeches. 
Suddenly a fox darted across the road ahead of the 
wagon, and later we caught a glimpse of a deer running. 
