Aug. 8, 1903.]' 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
107 
rapacity and the joy of a brute's power to seize are' 
almost all we can see. I say, give me the man who 
was in youth a brave, keen hmiter, but in whom the 
student nature steadily grew, so that by middle life 
he can no longer find his joy in smashing these beauti- 
ful forms, no matter under what romantic difficulties, 
but has come to wish them all to live their lives out, 
that he and all may study, or at least know they are 
there in their own wild places. 
An old sportsman in the midst of the Darwins and 
Bairds is too much like a man who has never outgrown 
his toys. 
As to letting animals live the^r lives out, we know, 
of course, that this means, in many cases, their not 
letting each other do so; and, in fact, if the amount of 
hunting of each species could be scientifically con- 
trolled, it would not lessen the supply of game. But 
the trouble is the "runs on the banks" of game; the 
increased pursuit of some species at the very moment 
for holding off. Abbott H.' Titayer. 
Deer in Connecticut. 
New York, July 21. — Editor Forest and Strea»i: On 
Thursday afternoon, July 2, just passed, while driving 
about 6 P. M., on the road leading out of Salisbury, 
Litchfield County, Conn., at a point where it skirts the 
nearly precipitous flank of Baracmatiff Hill or Moun- 
tain, my friend, Mrs. J. William Greenwood, of Shef- 
field, Mass., saw, slowly making its way down the hill, 
a small doe, apparently a yearling. The animal paused 
at the edge of the brush and allowed the carriage to 
approach within thirtj?^ feet, when it bounded a hundred 
yards up the slope, pausing again a moment before dis- 
appearing in the woods. Mrs. Greenwood reported the 
matter to a Mr. John Fox, whose farm adjoins the hill, 
and within a half hour from the time the doe was first 
seen, Mr. Fox jumped her again from the bu.shes not 
far away. 
Mr. Fox, whom I .subsequently interviewed, said that 
he has seen deer on several occasions within the past 
three years, the last time being about a year and a half 
ago in the fall, when he saw a spike buck in the road 
in the early morning. 
Some three j'ears ago, as I am informed by a resi- 
dent of Salisbury, a number of deer, among them a 
large buck, escaped from a carload of animals con- 
signed to the Hon. William C. Whitney, and on their 
way to his preserve, on October Mountain, near 
Lenox, Mass., and betook themselves to the mountains, 
shutting in the town of Salisbury on the west. There 
seems little doubt that the deer just seen is a native 
of the locality, and perhaps only one of a numerous 
progeny of the number escaped from the train. 
The Dome (Mt. Everett), Race and Bear Movmtains, 
and their adjoining .spurs, forming the Taconic range 
of the Berkshires and dividing the States of New York 
and Massachusetts and the upper corner of Connecti- 
cut, being heavily wooded, wild, and sparsely settled 
on their eastern slopes, are, with their many water 
courses and ponds, a natural preserve and capalsle. 
could the animals be protected by proper legislation 
from dogs and the pot hunter, of sheltering a large 
number of deer, as the food supply' is sufficient for all 
time. The ruggedness of the land offers little induce- 
ment to the farmer and the summer visitor, except for 
an occasional mountain climber, finds nothing to inter- 
est him there, while the partridges and woodcock are 
not plenty enough to tempt a stranger sportsman. 
The local gunners, in a community where everyone 
is known, could scarcely escape detection if guilty of 
killing any of the deer, and the condemnation of the 
townsfolk, their interest once aroused in behalf of the 
propagation of the deer, would be a better safeguard 
against a local infraction of the law than a .statutory 
penalty, • John N. Draice. 
[Deer have been often seen in Connecticut of late 
years; in Middlesex County, in Fairfield County, in 
New Haven County, and now in Litchfield County. 
They should be protected by public sentiment, as they 
are by law.] 
Massachttsetts Deef* 
John Cummings, a faiTner living on Dean Hill, Rich- 
mond, Mass.. has complained to the selectmen of annoy- 
ance to him of a herd of deer- — some six or eight in num- 
ber — which are herding in the woods south of his farm. 
He has asked Chairman Sherritt for an appraisal of dam- 
ages to his crops, and a reimbursement for his loss. At 
intervals for several months deer singly and in pairs have 
been seen in other parts of Richmond, but this is the first 
complaint ever entered against their depredations, so far 
as the records show. — Springfield Republican. 
Two well grown deer, one of which had well developed 
horns, were seen Friday near the Curtis place on the road 
from Laurel Park to West Hatfield Chapel. They are 
£iip))osed to be two that have been making their home in 
the woods beyond AVest Hatfield. Dear" are becoming 
plenty again and specimens of the family are seen everv 
day or so. — ^Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Mass., 
July 25. 
100 Spommen's Tinas. 
Jome of ttie Queer Discoveries Made fay Those Who Arc 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
93 
Gloucester, July 26. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
lad my atention called a few days ago to a gruesome find 
'jf a Gloucester fisherman on Georges. He had pulled 
^'P a forty-pound codfish and when it was dressed found 
n its stomach a pebble with a strip of human hair grafted 
the surface. The pebble was about one and one-half 
ir.ches in length. The hair was nearly three-eighths of 
m inch long and was fine in texture and of a light brown 
;olor. The strip of hair was about one-half inch wide 
md one and a quarter inches in length. The graft was as 
complete as if the surface of the pebble, had been a part of 
he man's skull, Permit, 
— • — 
Froprietora of fiihlag re«»ta will find It pr»Ctable to a4vertiM 
them in Fokzst akd Sikkaii. 
Recreating in Florida. 
I LEFT Macon on the night of May 11, last, bound 
for Alcyone, the home of Capt. J. F. Stapler, at Al- 
cyone. An all night's run brought me to Valdosta, 
that thrifty little southern city of such rapid growth 
and remarkable development. Changing cars at Val- 
dosta, in about forty minutes we reached Lake Park, 
Georgia, only a few miles from the Florida line, and 
in a few minutes I was in a double hack bound for 
Alcyone, six miles distant. 
We passed around and in sight of Ocean Pond, quite 
a large lake, recently bought by a stock company who 
propose to fence it in, and prohibit shooting and fish- 
ing, except to club members. I learn that a great 
many fish are caught out of this lake, and often some 
very large ones. My brother (Judge R. J.), caught 
a black bass there some years ago that tipped the 
scale at ten pounds. I reached Alcyone in good time. 
Capt. Stapler has a most lovely home in a beautiful 
grove of large water oaks, festooned with moss, with 
an occasional magnolia scattered among the oaks, all 
combining to afford an abundance of shade. In front 
of the house there are two rows of oaks sixty feet 
apart, the limbs of which meet, and this gives a stretch 
of one hundred and twenty feet of shade. Back of 
the house 200 yards is Lake Alcyone, the largest of 
five or six lakes, covering about seventy-five acres. The 
others are much smaller, and one of these is connected 
with Alcyone. It is almost circular, surrounded al- 
most entirely by woods, and is a very beautiful sheet of 
water. Bream and large-mouth black bass abound in 
these lakes. 
May is an off month for fishing here in these lakes, 
except for bream. You can catch a good many bass, 
but mostly small ones. The Withlacoochee River flows 
through the pine lands about one mile from Capt. 
Stapler's home. It is a beautiful stream, and I had 
high hopes of some excellent fishing there, but the 
continuous and very heavy rains of the first week of 
my visit put an end to my hopes in that direction. We 
did not wet a line in that beautiful stream, and hence 
my fishing was in the lakes entirely. 
It was my very great pleasure to meet a party of 
twelve ladies and gentlemen, mostly from Marshalville, 
the famous peach section of Georgia. Several of the 
Rumphs, with their wives, among them Mr. Sam 
Rumph, who has made the Elberta peach famous, were 
with the party; and Mr. Ben Moore, a veteran fisher- 
man, as fond of fishing as the youngest of the party; 
it would do you good to hear him yell when he hooked 
a big one. 
Mr. Jesse Hunt, of Jones County, an old friend, was 
the life of the party. He kept the party full of fun and 
jest, and was up to most of the tricks of the young 
folks, though the young widow taught him how to "pin 
a saucer to the wall," resulting in part of a cup of 
water running down his back, greatly to the amuse- 
ment of the entire party. 
As we had quantities of rain for about a week after 
arrival, and not wishing to exert myself too much, or 
be in the hot sun a great deal, I did not catch any 
large strings of fish. About twelve or fifteen a day 
satisfied me. We had quantities of them every day. 
During the last three or four days of my stay I caught 
forty fish a day, just as many as I cared for. I caught 
no very large ones, one aj^-pound bass being the 
largest one that I landed, and the largest caught by the 
party. The large ones are caught very early in the 
spring and in the fall. The river fish are much more 
game and finer food fishes. The most successful lure 
is phantom minnows, and one can catch bream, red 
perch and black bass if skillful in handling a 20-foot 
pole. The rod and reel don't work as well here. 
Dr. J. B. S. Holmes, of Atlanta, has a plantation 
about half way between Lake Park and Alcyone. The 
Doctor is very fond of fishing and hunting, and comes 
down frequently to fish in spring, or to hunt foxes or 
wildcats in the winter. He keeps a very large kennel 
of foxhounds. I would like to have a cut for you 
illustrating the Doctor's fishing, but you may imagine 
how he looked. Not being able to procure a boat on 
one occasion, he ordered his man to saddle old Liz, 
a little black mule belonging to Capt. Stapler, famous 
as a saddle animal and deer hunter. Riding out into 
the water as far as he could without wetting his feet, 
he sat on Old Liz, and, having a long rod, threw the 
hook to land and had a live minnow put on the hook. 
He would cast out from him, get a strike, play his 
bass and work it to the land, where his man would take 
it from the hook and rebait for him. Thus fishing he 
landed fourteen bass. How is that for novel fishing? 
Mrs. Holmes is more enthusiastic as a fisherwoman 
than the Doctor is as a fisherman, and frequently 
catches large strings. She reserves one lake for her 
own fishing, and allows only a few friends to fish there. 
Capt. Stapler's friends and visitors are among the 
number. I went over with Capt. Stapler and Mr. Nash 
Murph, of Marshalville, to fish in this pet pond, and 
while arranging my rods, preparatory to taking a boat, 
the other gentleman having gone around the lake to 
get another boat, Mrs. H. came along, stopped, and 
asked what I was going to do. I replied; "Going to 
fish." When she said: "We do not allow fishing in 
this lake," I politely informed her who I was, giving 
my name, and telling her I was a guest of Capt. 
Stapler. She very smilingly apologized, and told me to 
go ahead, and remarked that she had heard of me. We 
afterward had quite a pleasant conversation at Capt, 
Stapler's, and I was glad to meet her and to learn that 
she was a classmate of my v/ife, and graduated with 
her at old Wesleyan Female College — the mother ot 
female colleges — located in Macon. 
Quite a shower of rain came while fishing, and I had 
to seek shelter, and v.'ith my friends we left for home 
NVith about twelve bass between us. ^$rs, Holmes con- 
tinued to fish till after sundown, and landed twenty- 
one bass, as she told us next day. I felt like getting 
her to take me along and show me how to fish. 
Capt. Stapler has leased the fishing and hunting 
privilege of his place November, December and Janu- 
ary of each year to several wealthy gentlemen of New 
York. They come down at that time and find great 
quail shooting, and can very easily kill the limit allowed 
by law. They sometimes go by wagon about sixty 
miles below Alcj^one, and spend a week deer hunting, 
killing from five to ten each trip. Quail shooting is 
very fine in that country, but the excellent law that 
Florida has is very frequently violated. Like the game 
laws of Georgia, most of the better class of sportsmen 
keeping them ; they do not amouiit to much, and will 
not till our sportsmen have a large number of war- 
dens appointed and prosecute all offenders to the ex- 
tent of the law. I have pleaded for years with our 
local .sportsmen to reduce their bags, but fail to make 
converts to my theories. The prospect is that good" 
game laws are coming to Us. 
After riine days deHghtfully spent, I returned to 
Macon with the hope that I could accept the invitation 
of the Marshalville party to "be with us on the full 
of the moon next May." J. 
Memories of Fishing at Devil's 
Lake, Michigan. 
TwENTV-srx years ago, in 1877, Forest and Stream 
published an article by me, entitled: "Penciling at 
Devil's Lake;" and this was its final paragraph: 
"We feel that one who has suffered a two years' im- 
prisonment in a busy city office, surrounded by stone 
walls, and breathing an atmosphere of smoke and dust, 
may be excused for his enthusiasm over the attractions 
of this sheet of water — bluff-guarded, rill and spring- 
fed, forest-girdled, wide-winding, with its many coves 
and grassy banks, its pure air, green pastures and still 
waters— beautiful Devil's Lake!" 
Here is a picture of that lake from a photograph 
taken last month; and it seems identical with the mem- 
ory-picture of more than a quarter of a century ago, as 
it lay, a vision of loveliness, under the light of a late 
afternoon when I turned away from it with such regret. 
"There is no doll like the old doll." I have since 
fished for trout, salmon and ouananiche in lakes on 
Vancouver Island, and in British Columbia, Qubeec and 
Newfoundland. But the fishing of that far-off springtime 
of life has made Devil's Lake hallowed in recollection; 
and memories remain vivid of those early years that 
held no dream of split bamboo rods, shining reels, and 
flies and leaders. And when, years later, I ventured to 
write about it, how I hesitated! And how gratifying 
to the young angler that genial welcome in his lower 
Broadway sanctum, of the editor of Forest and 
Stream, Charles Hallock, recognized even then as the 
Nestor of American anglers and writers about fishing 
— a man of ripe experience with the Adirondack, Nepi- 
gon, and Maine trout and Restigouche salmon — who 
used flies made in Edinburgh, and cast them with Mur- 
phy rods. He was a very seer of angling to this boy 
who had as yet only wielded a cane pole and used a 
cork "bobber" with the line tied fast to the pole's tip; 
and who had caught only perch, sunfish, blue-gills, 
rock bass and pickerel, and a very few black bass. 
May the years pass lightly over Mr. Hallock's head; 
he is an oldish man now (sixty-eight) ; but still rays 
forth his terse articles for Forest and Stream, al- 
though not its editor. 
The writer's earliest memory is of a little pool on 
Bean Creek (outlet of Devil's Lake), forty years ago 
in Lenawee County, Michigan, where he saw and felt 
two-inch shiners bite the "nightwalkers" tied to a tow- 
string — which soon held a bent pin hook, and was tied 
to a four-foot pole cut with a dull jackknife. 
There came a day when a boy comrade showed him 
a "sure-enough" fishhook, a No. 10 Limerick, with an 
actual barb. As a great favor, he was allowed to hold 
it between thumb and forefinger, and jerk violently at 
an imaginary shiner impaled thereon. No rest now 
until he owned a like hook. A silver dime was begged 
from a big brother, and off he trudged, bare-footed, to 
"Coontown," (now Addison), where he actually bought 
two hooks and a cotton fishline. Osborn, the grocery 
man, pinned the tiny packet into the boy's shirt, for he 
had n© pockets. And the boy felt for that packet over 
every rod of the returning two miles to Hale's mill- 
pond, where he caught his first sunfish from the pool 
below the waste-weir. How many men in that region 
have seen and recall Hale's and McLouth's millponds? 
Their beds have long been green fields in summer. 
During five happy years the writer fished and bathed 
in that creek. He wondered where its waters started — ■ 
where they came from — -and a comrade said to him that 
the creek was the outlet of Devil's Lake, a great ocean 
three miles long and a mile wide. Impossible! Yet 
an afternoon came when he saw it from his seat beside 
his father in the "lumber wagon," saw its blue vastness, 
the waves, tipped with whitecaps, and heard it roar. 
Even over the tops of those woods that intervened, it 
seemed more titanic and beautifully fearsome than the 
Atlantic Ocean does now. He dared not even hope to 
fish there. But the next week a great summer camp- 
meeting was held on its south shore; and he had the 
joy of crouching in the bow of one of the three old 
boats on the lake, and looking, frightened, at the awful 
clear depth and blueness of the water, and the terrible 
waves, at least six inches high! He slept in a tent 
made with sheets, and heard the lake roaring in the 
night. Those were the days of Evangelist Polly Cross 
and class-leader Charley Carmichael, forty-five years 
ago — days all but forgotten even to the residents of 
that region. How few of them will recall the old 
names: Darlington's P'int, Chandler's Landing, Wil-. 
lett's Cove, Doc. Benders, Saunders' log house. Gassy 
John and Col. Elliott, and that the only available boat 
was owned by "old man Thrasher," a leaky puiit used 
mainly for spearing by the flames of tamarack light- 
wood in an iron "jack." He often saw that crazy old 
craft careen, and its wet sides glisten in sunshine; and 
how he longed to be out in it, anchored over the fish- 
weeds at the point of the long bar tha,t extends south- 
