Stpt. 1903.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
^39 
further, and I kept on shooting; soon one staggered and 
fell, while the other remained standing there until a shot 
struck him about the shoulder, when he whirled around 
and disappeared over the bluff. I went up to the one that 
had fallen and fotmd him between two big logs, and 
wedged in against a big rock, so that I couldn't move 
him one way or the other, and certainly had a most inter- 
esting time getting it dressed, and thought ere I was 
through that I had truly earned my bread that day by the 
sweat of m.y brow. 
After following the trail of the other one for a very 
short distance I saw it get up and go off at a very un- 
steady gait. I watched it, and before it got out of my 
sight' it laid down behind a log. I crawled up within 
about fifty yards of it, which was as close as I could 
get without being seen. Its entire body was behind the 
log, and only its head and part of its neck were exposed. 
I aimed carefully at its head, and when the gun cracked 
it never moved. When going out for a short hunt like 
that I invariably and very foolishly took only what cart- 
ridges were in the magazine of the gun, and here I dis- 
covered that I only had one cartridge left. I concluded 
to try its neck that time, and when the gun cracked its 
head dropped out of sight and my success was complete, 
r found a bullet hole through the butt of its ear, close to 
its head, which accounted for next to the last shot. I was 
back to camp at ten o'clock and the boss was well pleased 
with my report, and said as one elk was all we could 
use, he would take the other one to the ranch and sell it 
and give me the proceeds, which he did. He hitched the 
oxen to the running gears of the wagon, which he 
coupled up until the front and hind wheels almost 
touched, and went right through the woods, over logs 
and anything else that came in the way, lashed both elk 
whole on the wagon, and brought them into camp through 
country where ordinarily a person would hardly think it 
possible to ride a horse. 
Game and the Settler* 
As has always been the case in any new an thinly 
settled country where game is abundant, there was no 
such thing known as a game law, and the settlers killed 
yame as the needs demanded if they could. The senti- 
ments in regard to hunting change as conditions change. 
The "sportsman" of to-day naturally condemns the 
"hunter" of the past for their excess in the killing of 
game. Excess it Avould seem as seen from the present, 
and yet could those of the present know all the condi- 
lions as they "'ere, there might be less feeling of con- 
demnation. Noi .hat there have not been excesses in the 
extreme, where an abnormal thirst for gore seemed to be 
tkc r,nly cause for .killing. There always has been, and 
perh-ips always will be, a blood-reveling, life-destroying 
son of bipeds wnich only the law and active executors 
of the law can keep from killing everything in sight, but 
mvch gmie has been killed which, in quantity, would 
seem extravagant as we look at it now, with the game 
becoming so scarce, which in reality was not so. In the 
days and locations of abundant game, the inhabitants 
were few, and the means for securing a livelihood lim- 
ited, and though the States had their game laws, they 
were a dead letter to the thinly populated districts where 
game was plentiful, and why not? The object of preserv- 
ing game, as is the preservation of any commodity or 
laxury, .surely is that it may do the greatest possible 
got d. \\ hen the pioneer, living where there were few 
convenier.ces and no luxuries, killed a deer every time he 
wa< in need of meat, and sometimes where he had an 
opportunity to furnish someone else with meat and re- 
ceive ill return some necessity which he could not other- 
\ ise have secured for himself, then it was that the 
greatest possible good was being realized from the game 
ihus killed. Even though they killed beyond the limit 
in numbers, and out of season, that which he killed was 
put to better use and proved a greater blessing to man- 
kind than that which was preserved to a later day, when 
the conveniences and luxuries of civilization were acces- 
sible to all, and which was killed by the sportsman just 
for pleasure, while perhaps the carcass was left in the 
woods where it fell, as is often the case where antlers 
are the prime object of the hunt. 
There are old timers who refrain from giving out inter- 
esting experiences for publication because of the censure 
to which they are liable for having done so much toward 
the extermination of game. Certainly it has not been the 
residents of the game districts of the past, killing game 
for their immediate use, who have been, for the most 
part, responsible for the rapid extermination of game. It 
has been those who have made hunting a business. The 
buffalo would have lasted some years longer had they 
only been killed by settlers living within their range, as 
their needs for meat demanded; but, after all, it is not 
such a great misfortune that they are so nearly exter- 
minated, for it would be an utter impossibility for them 
to survive in any quantities under present conditions, 
with their ranges all overrun by cattle and sheep. Had 
they been preserved from the hunters, it would have sim- 
ply been a matter of starvation with them, as it evidently 
is at present with elk, in places where their winter range 
is overrun by stock. Of course the matter of feed is of 
greater importance in the preservation of elk and buffalo 
than of the other game animals, since the others are not 
so dependent upon that which is eaten by stock, and live 
in places which are more inaccessible to stock. We might 
as well try to preserve fish without water as to try to 
preserve and perpetuate our game without preserving 
with and for them the territory necessary for their sus- 
tenance and natural seclusion. In the years past our 
country has been so engrossed in its industrial activities 
and growth, there has scarcely been time to think of the 
necessary conditions for game preservation, and laws 
have been enacted and enforced with some degree of ex- 
actness to protect the game on the public lands from the 
hunters, while the matter of its subsistence has hardly 
been considered. Never has there been so good a time for 
the securing of legislation to perpetuate forests and game 
as the present. With the most enthusiastic sportsman of 
all — our President — now at the head of our affairs, it is 
a most fitting and hopefid time to put forth every effort 
aloiTg the line of preserving the forests and game, which 
belong to each other. Emerson Carnsy. 
■ " [to BE CO^JCLUDED.] 
Maryland Ducking. 
(In reply to a request from the Baltimore News, ex- 
Mayor Latrobe, who, like many of his fellow citizens, is 
fond of the Maryland sport of duck shooting, has written 
the following article on that subject, and also told what 
he knows about the origin of the Chesapeake Bay dog.) 
Maryland is the home of the Chesapeake Bay dog. 
This animal is the product of the sport of duck shooting. 
The canvasback and the redhead, with the diamond- 
back terrapin, the fish, the oyster and the crab of the 
Chesapeake have given to our bay the reputation it every- 
where enjoys of producing more epicurean delicacies than 
any one other sheet of water in the world. 
In the language of a former Mayor of Baltimore, whose 
well-known birthplace was Liberty Hall, in Kent county, 
"Maryland is the gastronomic center of the universe " 
But the attractions of these waters are not confined to the 
epicure; they also offer unequaled sport to the lover of 
the dog, the rod and the gun. 
Before the days of gill nets, purse nets, sneak boats, 
New York prices of $80 to $100 a dozen for diamond- 
back terrapins, naphtha launches and other diabolical con- 
trivances and inducements for the destruction of game 
and fish, the Chesapeake Bay was a sportsman's paradise. 
Duck shooting twenty years ago was, in the writer's 
opinion, the king of sport; and even now some of the 
clubs on our bay and its tributaries, the Gunpowder and 
Back rivers, will afford in fall and spring some fair days' 
shooting. How familiar to old Maryland duckers are the 
names of Back River, Middle River, Carroll's Island, Mil- 
ler's Island, Grace's Quarter, Bowly's, Biddison's, Liegp's 
Point, St. Domingo, Cockle's Point, Townsend's, etc. I 
At nearly all of them, like Ichabod, their glory has now 
departed. The club houses are there, and the wild celery 
still grows in the waters; but the ducks have found other 
feeding grounds. 
The Old Clofa Houses. 
In the old club houses will be feund tne record books, 
showing the names of the members, the big days of sport, 
the remarkable shots, incidents of jolly times, names, 
pedigrees and performances of the dogs, names of ser- 
vants, etc. But the advance of civilization, shell roads, 
fishing clubs, trolley lines, bicycles, automobiles and other 
ingenuities and iniquities (in a sportsman's opinion) have 
had and are having the same effect on the duck shooting 
of the upper Chesapeake and its tributaries that similar 
agents of civilization, together with the improved 
methods of destruction, have had on the buffalo and game 
of the West. 
At a few of the clubs where, as I have said, there is 
still some sport, the purity of the breed of the once 
famous Chesapeake Bay dog is still maintained, and pedi- 
grees of their ancestry are kept with the same care as are 
those of Alderney cattle and thoroughbred horses. 
Around the story of the origin of these dogs are many 
traditions, some of them actually believed, especially by 
the old colored people of what is called the "neck (or 
shore) country" around Baltimore. One is that this 
breed of dogs is the result of a cross between the otter 
and the Newfoundland. Hence many strains are desig- 
nated as belonging to the "otter" breed. The true story, 
however, as far as the writer knows, is as follows : 
Origin of the "ay Dog. 
Many years ago a vessel from Newfoundland ran 
aground near an estate called Walnut Grove, on the 
shores of the Chesapeake. This estate belonged to Mr. 
George Law, a member of a well-known Maryland family. 
On board the ship were two Newfoundland dogs, which 
were given by the captain to Mr. Law in return for kind- 
ness and hospitality shown to himself and his crew. The 
beginning of the Chesapeake dog was a cross between 
these Newfoundlands and the common yellow-and-tan 
colored hound, or "'coon dog," of that part of the 
country. 
The marked characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay dog 
give every evidence of the truth- of this story. The strong 
power of scent, its hardihood, its shorter hair, its medium 
size and its remarkable endurance come from the hound, 
while its love of water, its powers of swimming, its ex- 
traordinary ability to endure cold, its furry coat, wonder- 
ful intelligence and general good temper are all due to 
the Newfoundland. There has doi.ibtless been added, 
from time to tirne, some water-spaniel cross, which has 
helped its remarkable retrieving qualities. The yellow- 
and-tan of the hound, combined with the black of the 
Newfoundland and the introduction of the spaniel, pro- 
duced the liver color of the true Chesapeake Bay dog. In 
course of time the Chesapeake Bay has, in Maryland, 
become a distinctive breed. 
Catroll's Island Stock. 
At the Carroll Island Club, of which the writer has 
been a member for over thirty years, and the records of 
which go back for over a century, this strain of dogs have 
been carefully bred, and for many years the pedigrees 
have been kept. The same care in breeding the Chesa- 
peake Bay has been followed at some of the other clubs. 
From Carroll's Island the stock has been sent to the 
Currituck Sound clubs, and also to the Pacific Coast. 
On the island are still preserved many of the old names 
of celebrated dogs. We have now a Tinnie, Turk, Dan, 
Jack, Gill, Mollie, Lady, Tim, Drake, Belle, etc., the won- 
derful retrieving powers of whose ancestors are fully set 
forth in the records of the "big bags" of days gone by. 
Methods of Duck Shooting. 
At the Maryland ducking clubs there are three diflferent 
kinds of shooting, viz., point shooting, bar shooting, and 
shooting over decoys. In point shooting the sportsman 
is stationed in a blind — that is, a wooden box — erected on 
the end of a point, around which the ducks fly near 
enough to be within shot. Often a few wooden decoy 
ducks are anchored near the point, with the effect of 
drawing the ducks in closer to tlie gun of the sportsman. 
In bar shooting no decoys^ are used, the blinds being 
erected on the bar, over which the ducks fly early in the 
morning, or before dark in the evening, in moving from 
one feeding ground to another. Decoy shooting is from 
a blind or box located on the shore or at the end of 
a causeway about 50 or 80 yards off shore, in front of 
which are anchored about a hundred decoy ducks. At 
Carroll's Island we have bar, point and decoy shooting. 
For bar shooting, which is altogether overhead, large 
guns are used — either a heavy No. 8 double gun, or, what 
i? more effective, a No. 4 single gun. The charge is No. 
J or No. 2 shot. In the single gun the writer uses 12 
drams of black powder and 2j4 to 3 ounces of shot. In 
point shooting a No. '8 double or No. 4 single gun is 
used; and, over decoys, a No. 8 double, with a charge of 
No. 4 shot. At the Currituck Sound clubs, where the 
birds come nearer and where the sportsman sits in a 
temporary blind erected on the edge of a marsh, a lighter 
(No. 10) gun and smaller shot are used. At the Chesa- 
peake clubs a light southerly or easterly wind, with a fair 
tide, is desirable. In a stiff northwester, producing, as it 
does, a very low tide, the duck shooter might as well re- 
main in the house. 
The dogs are trained to lie down near the blind, and 
to start for the retrieve only when the bird falls. 
Sickboats on the Susquehanna. 
On what are known as the flats of the Susquehanna 
River, near Havre de Grace, duck shooting is done from 
what are called "sinkboats" — that is, from a boat, or 
rather a float, with a coffin-shaped box in the center, 
where the sportsman lies on his back, his head supported, 
of course, by a pillow, with two light No. 10 double guns 
across his body, the whole concern being little above the 
surface of the water. This float is surrounded with 150 
or 200 decoys, and is anchored in the feeding grounds of 
the ducks. When the birds, attracted by the decoys, 
come within shot, the sportsman rises to a sitting posi- 
tion, and, if the flock is large and the gtinner is skillful, 
he can sometimes get in all four of his barrels. The 
retrieving of the game is here done by a boat or tender, 
which comes out for the game after the morning's sport 
is over, or, it may be, at intervals when the flying slacks 
up. 
On the Susquehanna the shooting is permitted only 
three days in the week, the other days being known as 
rest days, when the birds are not disturbed on their 
feeding grounds. The same rule prevails at the clubs 
on Currituck Sound. The Carroll Island Club, to 
which the writer belongs, is located at the west side 
of the mouth of the Gunpowder River. The majority 
of its members are from New York City. This club 
has been in existence for over a century. It opens 
on Nov. I and closes on March 31. In addition to 
ducks, there are large numbers of geese and swan that 
feed in the waters of the Chesapeake. They are known 
among the club members as big game, and afford 
good sport, although as a table luxury not much ap- 
preciated by the epicure. A young goose or swan is 
not unpalatable. It is a common saying, however, 
that an old swan or goose, especially the former, must 
be carved with a hatchet. 
Story of a Swan. 
At Carroll's Island, on one occasion, a swan was 
killed, imbedded in the breast of which, on being pre- 
pared for the table, was found a barbed iron arrow 
head. The arrow head was sent to the Smithsonian 
Institution for investigation. It was returned with the 
diagnosis that it had probably been shot from the bow 
of an Indian in Alaska, thus indicating that this bird 
had received a severe but not mortal wound from some 
sportsman in the Arctic regions. How long ago was 
a matter of speculation, for a swan is said, to live for 
a century. 
The Chesapeake Bay dog is not really in his prime 
under the age of two years, and seldom lasts over 
four or five. The hard service of retrieving game jn 
very cold weather, often when the water is filled with 
floating ice, brings on rheumatism, stiffness of the 
joints and lung trouble. This, of course, ends its use- 
fulness. The color of this breed of dogs is liver, or 
a reddish brown, often with a narrow white frill on its 
breast, and is especially distinguished by its bright, 
golden-colored eyes. There are wlw are known as 
the smooth-haired and also the close, curly-haired 
strains, but on both will be found, by parting the hair, 
a fine fur next to the skin. To this fur can doubtless, 
in some part, be attributed the story of its otter origin. 
The Chesapeake is essentially an outdoor animal; it 
thrives best in cold weather, and suffers much from 
the heat and flies in summer. If you vfant to keep 
your dog in fine condition, do not let him lie before 
the fire in the sitting-room of the club house. 
To the writer much of the enjoy.nent of duck 
shooting has been found in watching the action of the 
dogs in retrieving and their ingenuity and resource- 
fulness in capturing a wounded and diving bird. All of 
this, however, while perfectly familiar to the old duck: 
shooter, is difficult to explain to a layman. 
Advice for Sportsmen. 
In duck shooting at the Chesapeake clubs the cos- 
tume worn by the sportsman is of a drab or leather 
color. Many wear a leather coat, which protects the 
body from the wind. Water-proof long boots are 
essential, and also a leather or khaki-colored cap. In 
wet weather a leather-colored water-proof coat is, of 
course, required. The object is to accommodate the 
dress, as near as practicable, to the color of the reeds 
or dried grass of the shore. 
When the flight of ducks approaches the shore where 
the blind is located, the object of the sportsman must 
be to keep perfectly still, as the slightest motion will 
divert the flight of the birds. Don't raise your gun 
until the ducks are within range; then rise, put up your 
gun, catch the game with the eye over the sight, keep 
your gun moving, recollect that the bird is flying very 
rapidly anil if you fire directly at the object of your 
aim you will shoot behind it; therefore throw your 
gun some two, three, or even four feet ahead, and 
then pull the trigger. It is best, in bar shooting — 
which the writer generally indulges in — to let the ducks 
pass a little way before firing, unless the flight is di- 
rectly overhead, Don't shoot "face and eyes," as the 
term is; that is, when the game is coming straight at 
you, Resist the temptation and wait until the birdi 
