'CT. II, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
loat with sea weed, and mighty cold work I found it. 
When this task was finished it commenced to lighten up 
I bit, so we lay stretched out full length in our boats 
leak boxes), waiting for the first flight. This hap- 
i ned a half hour later. The guide was industriously call- 
: :r all this time, and as the ducks were passing they 
I iiced the decoys, and wheeling, prepared to descend, 
iicreupon I arose and banged at them. Mine was a 
in miss, though the guide got his. They, the flock, were 
111 of sight in five seconds. About the quickest get-up- 
i'd-get I ever saw. 
The guide poled out and got his bird and I stamped up 
ind down the meadow to restore circulation. It was 
■old, freezing work lying down in the boat, and I did not 
:nine down prepared for such weather. Again lying 
lown, a solitary broadbill came along, hesitated and I had 
nm. 
Again we went down just as a flock of teal came over 
'rom our back and stopped to descend, when bang, bang, 
■our more joined our party. Then a solitary redhead 
■ame flying overhead and hesitated, but I made a sure 
bins of h m, as he came down without a tremor. 
While the guide was out getting the ducks, he came in 
lurriedly, and yelling to me to get down, I did so, though 
lot knowing what was up. Then my guide commenced to- 
lonk, honk, honk, and by peeping from the corner of my 
ye I saw a flock of geese, about ten of them, coming to- 
vard our decoys. They were on the point of wheeling 
vhen I got excited, jumped up and filled him with No. 4 
hot, whereupon he came down with wings outstretched, 
ooking as large as an ostrich. I was trembling with both 
;old and excitement, and I had forgotten for the time I 
vas half frozen, The guide gave me the devil, and said 
f I had not jumped up so quickly we would have had 
he entire flock alighlmg and would have got four of them 
nyway. I apologized and very humbly promised to obey 
irders, and again stretched ourselves out, waiting for 
nore. Later we got an occasional shot at ducks, our 
ay's shooting representing one goose and nine pair of 
ticks, not counting the jackass in the boat. We passed 
WG gentlemen, Johnson and iHenriques, of Philadelphia, 
little further up, and after reaching the hotel at Harvey 
Jedars, and thawing out, they came in. Each had a 
,tride, and a live goose decoy. I, while watching them, 
kw their gufde come to the hotel and get a wheelbarrow 
nd take out to the pier, whereupon I saw one goose 
brown in, then two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 
line, and then I almost fainted. After coming around I 
vent to the porch, and their shoot was nine geese and 
went3'-six ducks, all hanging head down, wings out- 
tretched, and the prettiest sight I ever saw ; my poor one 
oose hanging a short distance away with the eighteen 
lucks making a poor showing. There was one flock of 
fecse which flew up and down the bay with a thousand 
n !t. We also had a flock of several hundred brant 
round us all day, but too far away to get a shot. In 
he afternoon a flock of swan alighted a half-mile away 
nd sported around for an hour, but there was no way 
0 get to them. They were the prettiest things I ever 
aw. Some one had been trying to sneak up to them, 
»anged away, whereupon they arose and looked like so 
nany patches of snow flying away. The next morn'ng 
got one more goose and three pair of ducks, and having 
gken a chill from the exposure, I came back to iNew 
tork and went to bed for a nice week's rest, and to re- 
over from the strenuous life. But I shall try it again 
his winter, and next spring, but will take the proper gar- 
wnts. Magnum Opus. 
How Long Will It Last? 
iditor Forest and Stream: 
Shooting being no longer permitted in and about the 
treets of Saint Louis and on this military reservation, 
me of necessity turns his attention to other matters and 
evotes some time to reflection, that, under other cir- 
umstances, might have been spent in action. Having 
hus no longer deeds to recount, I must ask your indul- 
encc a few moments while I give you a sample of my 
houghts; possibly others of your readers may have 
imilar ones. The present coal famine, of which we 
ear so much, brings constantly to. my mind the vision 
if that coal famine, possibly yet to be, which no arbi- 
ration can obviate and no legal process remove; the 
amine that may arise, not from any disagreement be- 
ween master and man, but because the coal itself is ex- 
austed. We are catching now a few fleeting glimpses 
>f what may some day be ever present, probably not in 
his or the next generation, possibly not for several 
'encrations. I have no date wherewith to determine the 
eriod required to exhaust at the present rate the en- 
irc coal supply, nor am I aware that such date is even 
1 existence; but no one familiar with the current theory 
f the origin of coal can view the present enormous 
raught upon these deposits and yet consider them in- 
xhau.stible. The arguments leading to such a conclu- 
ion are few and simple: Coal is nowhere being de- 
osited to-day, or, if such deposit may be claimed in 
le peat bogs, it is taking place at a rate practically 
egligible in comparison with the consumption; the 
oal deposits, though vast, are still of limited extent; 
onstant diminution without increase must eventually 
xhaust any hmited quantity. Taking it all around, the 
resent generation in the United States reminds one of 
young spendthrift just come into a fine property, ac- 
Limulated by the thrift and carefulness of many ances- 
ors. He thinks he is something out of the ordinary 
nd intends showing others how things should be done, 
n the society of flatterers, speculators and gamblers 
e soon parts with his ready money and bank stock, 
le then sells the timber off his land. After that is 
sent he sells his live stock. Having thus deprived him- 
:lf of the means for the proper tillage of his soil, he 
len sells the hay crop from his meadows until they are 
0 longer productive. He next mortgages his prop- 
rty, and the last scene in the final act is the auctioneer's 
ammer at the public vendue. 
The people of the United States during the past thirty 
r forty years, under one pretext or another, such as 
le development of the country's resources, the duties 
f an advanced civilization, etc., have, speaking broadly. 
It off and disposed of all their timber, diminished their 
acer sources, swept their wild game from off the face 
of the earth, polluted their streams so that nothing can 
live in them, and are now consuming with an extravar 
gance amounting in many cases to a prodigal waste, 
their stock of coal, regardless of those who are to fol- 
low them. To be sure, there is something to show for 
all this; there are monument.s — principally large towns 
and cities — indicating the grandeur of the country and the 
refinement of the age; a considerable number have be- 
come fabulously wealthy; and the country itself may 
be regarded as exciting the envy, or, at least, the ad- 
miration, of foreign nations; but, after all, are the peo- 
ple in general any happier, more comfortable, or more 
content than they were years ago before the country 
was sought after by monarchs or refinement had be- 
come a burden ? If we are to believe our beloved writers 
of Forest andStre-^m, Rowland E. Robinson, The Par- 
son, Fred Mather, and I know not how many others, I 
cannot think that we arc. As some writer has well said, 
we may have the improved apparatus, but alas, they had 
the game. Ours is the technical, the artificial, the 
make-believe; theirs the genuine, the real. The whole 
fault in our history I believe to have been dtie to a lack 
of wisdom. I am not of those who believe that any one 
does wrong or commits error for itself alone, but rather 
because, through ignorance, he fails to appreciate the 
eventual results of his present act. I cannot think that 
in cutting off all the timber, destroying or permitting 
the destruction of fish and game, or in the prodigal con- 
sumption of the treasures of the coal deposits, this gen- 
eration is actuated by a desire to do posterity an injury, 
but rather hold to the opinion that the majority of them 
knew no better. It is true that we now boast a great 
deal of our schools and our educational system, yet I 
fear that, aside from the relatively few who read Forest 
AND Stream, the mass of the people are learning new 
and more rapid methods of destruction rather than im- 
proved methods of preservation of our country's real 
resources, and that in the end it will require the services 
of that stern old teacher, Experience, to finally incul- 
cate true wisdom in the minds of the American people. 
Wm. F. Fi^ynn, 
Jefferson Barracks, Mo , Oct. 8, 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
A Rainy Day fn Camp. 
Chicago, 111., Oct. 4. — In the theatrical profession, when 
things are not going as they should, one says there is a 
"frost." Indeed, in general circles, as well, the significant 
expression is used, and when one says there has been a 
"frost," there is a general understanding that hard luck 
or hard times is meant. Just why the word "frost" should 
be used is difficult to be determined from the standpoint 
of the sportsman, for whom the word calls up only the 
pleasantest ideas. The frosty mornings of early fall — how 
can anything be more delightful? Frosty weather in 
camp is good weather, and frosty days afield are pleasant 
ones. 
The most unpleasant weather which one can experience 
in camp or in the field is rainy weather. A rainy day in 
camp or in the field means discomfort, boredom, irritation. 
Would that we were having frost in Chicago to-day in- 
stead of the cold, gloomy, dismal rain which is steadily 
falling. Nothing will cover the situation of Chicago and 
the West to-day except to say that it is a rainy day in 
camp. Things are worse than a frost in a sporting way 
in this part of the world this fall. Chicago is dull, almost 
unmitigatedly dull, and so is the Middle West, so far as 
sporting opportunities are concerned. The trapshooting 
situation has flattened out here completely. The prairie 
chicken shooting was a failure. The duck shooting has 
not as yet amounted to anything. And the quail crop, ac- 
cording to best advices at this time, bids fair to be a poor 
one. Add to these discouraging signs the gloomy 
weather, the moist and slippery earth and the disagreeable 
downpour of rain water, and one could hardly be blamed 
to-day if he did not feel in hilarious frame of mind re- 
garding sporting matters in the Mississippi Valley. 
We need not expect any duck shooting to amount to 
anything for a couple of weeks yet. The big fall storms 
have begun in the West, but nothing very severe is re- 
ported directly above us, unless the present cold rain may 
turn into something severe in the north. Ducks are re- 
ported as far north as Fox Lake, Wisconsin. These are 
mostly bluewing teal, which would not indicate that the 
northern flight of big birds had begun as yet. Some 
shooting continues on the Tolleston marsh, very little on 
the Fox Lake Chain, and still less along the Illinois River. 
We wait for the first cold storm in the north. 
As to the jacksnipe, we have not had any light nights 
for their migration for several days last past, and al- 
though this rain ought to bring in a flight, it cannot be 
expected to be a general one. During the last week a 
few birds have been picked up, scattered here and there, 
but there has been no shooting entitled to attention. 
Some of our friends think that the wet weather last 
spring -did not hurt the quail in their breeding opera- 
tions, and indeed believed that wet weather in the spring 
never does hurt the quail, since they always nest above 
the levels of the moist ground. In this respect I cannot 
agree, for I believe that nests of quail very frequently 
drown out in the spring, or that the young birds are fre- 
quently killed out by cold, damp weather. Some of my 
friends who have a keen interest in game reports from 
different parts of the country, state that they hear nothing 
encouraging from Illinois or Indiana thus' far, although 
they admit that the heavy vegetation may have kept the 
birds out of sight of chance observers along the roads 
and fields. We had a bad storm early last winter which 
did not do our quail any good. The most conservative 
estimate would not extend any great hope in regard to 
the quail crop for this year. There will be some birds, but 
by no means so many as we had three years ago. Last 
year the quail crop in lower Illinois showed a distinct 
falling off. 
Chickens In the "West, 
A friend recently back from a trip which included parts 
of South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming, states that 
there are plenty of prairie chickens in South" Dakota. iHe 
mentions Iroquois and Salero as points where the birds 
were abundant. It is well enough to keep South Dakota 
ill: mind for next season's chicken trip. 
Can't Do lU 
A gentleman in North Carolina writes me as follows; 
"Pleas send me address of some kendells. I want to 
corrospond in regard to a spannll dog." 
I regret to state that I cannot act as an unpaid and un- 
thanked dog industry in this country. Once in a while I 
help a friend to get a dog or get rid of one, but I am not 
in the "kendell" business. The "kendells" who do not 
advertise in the Forest and Stream ought not to expect 
the Forest and Stream staff to go to work for them for 
fun. I respectfully, but firmly, decline. 
A Small World. 
This is a shore small world. You hear of friends all 
over it whom you have met, are going to meet, or have 
ju.st missed m'eeting by a fraction. The following letter 
is from Mr. C. S. Hawkins, of Fall River, Mass. : 
"I have been waiting since the first of the year with a 
great deal of interest for the story of your trip into 
New Brunswick last December. It is especially interest- 
ing to me, for my friend Mr. Borden and myself were up 
at the headwaters of the Tobique with the Ogilvy boys at 
the time you were making your trip across country. You 
had left Plaster Rock the day before we reached there, and 
we left in the teeth of that snowstorm which caught you 
up at the forks of the river. I simply want to thank you 
for the pleasure I am receiving from the account of your 
trip and the description of the conditions found in that 
glorious country, and to express my regret that I did not 
happen to make your acquaintance. We got no moose, but 
the caribou fairly hindered our progress on the tote 
roads." 
Tips on Deer iHantirg. 
When you go deer hunting, the best thing you can do is 
to stay at home. If you feel that you must go, wear a 
red cap and a red coat. In this way you can lose only 
a leg or an arm. If several of you can make up a 
party, the safest thing to do is to .stretch out in line about 
200 yards apart. Then, as you go forward at about the 
.same pace, let each member of the party whistle at regular 
intervals, so he_ can keep track with the man on each side 
of him. In this way you will be able to keep your line 
fairly regular and ought to get through each day with the 
loss of only a few of the party. It gives the deer good 
warning of your presence, but in deer hunting these days 
the main thing is not so much to get deer as to secure 
personal safety. 
By the way, as to that hunting in line, it really was done 
by some Eastern gentlemen who made a hunt in the 
Rocky Mountains near the Two Medicine country a few 
years ago. Their guide objected, stating that if they 
went through the woods so closely together and making 
so much noise they would not see any game. They re- 
plied that they were a little lonesome in the woods and 
would be much more comfortable if allowed to whistle 
and keep track of each other in this way. They didn't 
kill anything, but had a very pleasant time. 
' Death of M, J. Eich. 
Last week it was a painful duty to report the death of 
Mr. ^A. _M. Hofmann, long prominent in Chicago sports- 
men's_ circles. This week it again becomes one's duty to 
chronicle the death of a Chicago sportsman. Mr. M. J. 
Eich, one of our best-known shooters, died on last Thurs- 
day in this citj'. Mr. Eich and Mr. Hofmann were friends 
and had a very wide circle of friends in this city. Mr. 
Eich was twice a winner of the capital prize of the Illinois 
State Sportsmen's Association, the Board of Trade D a- 
mcnd Badge, was long known in different sporting clubs 
in this city, and was prominent in the councils and com- 
mittee work of the Illinois State Association. A man of 
singularly quiet and unobtrusive manners, he was uni- 
versally respected by those who knew him, and his death 
removes from the ranks of Chicago sportsmen one of the 
very sort of figures which can ill be spared. Mr. Eich 
was fifty-two years of age. E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
New Hampshire Gtotise and Woodcock, 
I FIND grouse very scarce in this section this season. 
On the opening day a neighbor and I hunted all day 
over some of the best ground I know. We started four 
broods averaging four birds each, and once in a while a 
single bird. We killed nine and worked hard to get 
them. I have never found grouse as wild, and it was 
very hard to start them a second time. Since the open- 
ing day I have been out several times in nearby covers 
which have not been hunted this season, and I am sure 
that birds are very few and far between. I find but one 
young bird in a place, and not another within a quarter 
of a mile. 
Here, in this town, we have miles of good' cover, plenty 
of food and but three bird dogs, owned in the town. 
Never were birds better protected than during the last 
two j^ears. Markets closed and no out-of-season shoot- 
ing, yet the birds do not respond. Perhaps our grouse 
have become fashionable and no longer believe in rear- 
ing large families. There is one thing as to the few 
birds I have killed so far. I never killed young grouse 
at this season which were larger or in better condition; 
never a sign of a woodtick on them. 
As for woodcock, some years we find some flight birds 
and a few locally bred. Both are growing scarcer. Our 
wood ducks practically disappeared with die wild 
pigeon. 
"In a recent issue of Forest and Stream woodcock 
and wood ducks are mentioned as "Two Vanishing Game 
Birds." Does not the vanishing clause apply to all New 
Engkmd feathered game? \ 
Other sections may have a better showing. What I 
have said refers to this locaHty and I have described it 
just as T find it. C. M. Stark. 
DUNBARTON, N. H, , OcC. t. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to (he Forest and Stream Publishing Co., Nevf 
V«rk, and aot t» aar iodividoal coa&«cted wiUi the mper, 
