280 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
(Oct. 10, 1503. 
the Canaan River coinitry. It is reported that fifty deer 
have been shipped through Bangor. The proprietors of 
camps reached from Bingham are expecting a poor 
season, although they have a very good moose country. 
Mr. Davis, of the Lakeside, reports deer and bear 
abtuidant, as well as grouse. This is a good point from 
which to hunt in New Hampshire. Central. 
State Game Preserves. 
NelwooDj 111., Oct. 5— Editor Forest and Stream: 
1 liave noted the several communications in Forest 
AND Strea.m regarding the preserve question, and 
wonder if any of the anti-preserve writers own their 
own homos: and how, if they have a pool on their farm 
or in their dooryard, or a deer or two in their pasture, 
or a nice bunch of quail in their stubble, they would like 
it if some person came along and caught the fish or 
killed the game, and they had no right, under the law, 
to say them nay. 
1 do not own a farm, neither a game preserve; but 
I do think that if I did I would wish to say who should 
have the i)crmission to hunt or fish thereon. 
This country threw off the Englisli yoke because that 
Government failed to protect a man in his property 
rights, and imposed on him in other vvays. 
Our forcfatlicrs declared a man's house was his 
castio, and in it he was supreme, so long as he kept 
within the law; and so it stands to-day, and I predict 
that when this right is taken away then there will be 
trouble. 
1 hold the rich man's property to be as sacred to him 
as the poor man'."; Immc is to him, and that he has 
just so much right to forbid trespass as the poor man 
has. These are rights tliat may not be taken from any 
man, nor sliould liiey. 
The question has now sinnricrcd down to. What is 
the remedy? 
In some of the Slates tlic question is easily solved, 
while in others it is a difficult one indeed. In well 
settled old Stales, whore the land is all owned by in- 
dividuals or cnrporaiions. it would be a hard nut to 
crack. On the other hand, in States like Michigan, 
^.lnIlesota. Maine and all the Western and Northwest- 
ern States, it should be quite easy. 
'I'ake for example Miunesola, where they are 
nuiking a national i)ark out of some of the most valu- 
able pine lauds nf the country; and where the pine has 
been cut ofT ihousauds of acres of land that will not be 
usee for any purpose whatever for another generation. 
The cut ofT and burned land lies in tracts of thous- 
ands of acres, which have reverted to the State to sell 
for taxes. Why not make a State preserve out of 
some of this worthless land? It can be done; and the 
game laws will protect the game that thrives in that 
portion of the State. Let no lumting be done except 
during the hunting season, and a moderate license be 
paid for the right to take a limited number of deer or 
moose; and let any one hunt who pays the license. I 
know of enough such land, in St. Louis, Lake and Cook 
counties, to make a State park that would keep stocked 
in spite of all the hunters that would go there; for 
from actual observations I have learned that not over 
one-third of the hunters who go out during the sea- 
son get the lawful allowance of game. 
These lands will no doubt be bought up in time, for 
no other purpose than for game preserves; and if they 
are, individual ownership will bar any one from hunt- 
ing or fishing on them. On these lands are beautiful 
lakes and streams, all of which abound with several 
varieties of fish; and the deer by thousands and moose 
in plenty live and thrive all through that section. 
Why not agitate this question with the several 
States, if for nothing more than the preservation of 
big game? ' J. p. B. 
A New Wrinkle in Tossum Hunting 
A MAN who was raised in the country in Virginia and 
says that he has never been "'possum huiitin' " has not 
only missed the best of sports, but the average man 
would either vote him a "Miss Nancy" or a lazy, good- 
for-nothing fellow. I will admit that the negro, with his 
characteristic sayings, adds largely to the fun of the 
thing, and the "new issue free nigger" who has been 
to school is not capable of getting off the funny sayings 
that we used to hear, but still, a successful 'possum hunt 
cannot be had without having one or more negroes 
along. I have just come through one of the most suc- 
cessful, as well as amusing, in all my experience. 
At this season of the year the foliage is very thick, 
and it is difficult to look up into the tops of the trees. 
I took with me last night a small quantity of red 
fire, such as is used in tableaux scenes, and set fire to 
it with a match. Instantly it shone through the thick- 
est boughs, and not only enabled us to locate the game, 
but had it not been for the fire we might have lost it 
altogether, for it often happens that the possum goes 
up one tree and crosses over to another. Then it is 
impossible to get him, and oftentimes the negroes say 
"dat dorg done tole a lie," when in fact he has barked 
up the right tree. 
Twice last night the red fire revealed his where- 
abouts by showing every portion of all the trees for a 
hundred feet around. I want to tell of this for the 
benefit of brother 'possum hunters. 
A New York city man, and a gentleman from Buffalo, 
N. Y., accompanied us, and as they had often read 
about such things in the South, they had the very best 
opportunity of seeing it in all of its phases. 
We rarely ever cut down trees, as the young negro 
men can climb almost any sort, and either grab the. 
game by the nape of the neck or shake him out, after 
shoving him into the topmost bouglis. 
Last night a young negro climbed up within a few 
feet of the 'possum and commenced to shake. Failing 
to dislodge him, and as the varmint had his head turned 
toward him. he was afraid to take him by the neck, and 
he cried, "I'll jes* spring off an' ben' de tree down, an' 
you'all can take him off." "All right," said I, "come 
ahead." And I prepared to catch him; but, although 
the tree was not a large one, it was a tough one, and 
the negro couldn't "ben' it down" as he thought, and it 
Lacked about twenty-five, feet of reaching: the ground.. 
There he was suspended in midair and struggling with 
all his might to get his toes back to the tree. Seeing 
that he had to drop, he asked us to look to see if there 
were any stumps for him to fall on. While we were 
looking, the top of the tree broke, and here came the 
man and the 'possum, with about fifteen feet of tree, to 
the ground. In the melee the dogs got excited and 
could not tell the negro from the 'possum, and pounced 
on him. Amid the peels of laughter, the 'possum got 
away, but only for a time, as he was soon caught by the 
dogs on the ground. 
The negro is a great believer in ghosts (they call 'em 
hants for haunts). Certain dogs in our pack have a 
way of treeing game, and on investigation we find 
nothing. The darkies conclude at once that they are 
"chasing hants," and if they go out alone, and one of 
these "hant dogs" strikes the track first, they call them 
olT. One of my dogs last night while running got into 
a barbed wire fence without seeing it, and made a noise 
as if something had hurt him badly. A darkey at once 
exclaimed, "Dar, now, a hant done slap him!" 
The negro is a great believer in the value of the stars 
as a guide by night, and if they didn't get mixed on 
them they would prove a veritable compass; but as the 
old woman said about her ability to tell a bad egg from 
a good one, "it would either sink or swim, she didn't 
know which." We got lost for two hours within half a 
mile of home because we followed the negro and his 
"seven stairs." When we left home, they were in the 
east, and later, they got toward the west; but the 
darkey forgot, or did not know that stars, as well as 
the moon, are moving bodies. 
1 have made a long letter in trying to tell your 
readers what a good thing red fire is on a 'possum 
hunt, but I couldn't help it. We got four 'possums. 
Polk Miller. 
Richmond, Va 
The Adirondack Close. 
Editor Forest and Stream. 
It is publicly asserted that the lives of half a dozen 
or more millioi'iaires who have bought and appropria- 
ted for their private use large tracts of wilderness land 
in the Adirondacks which have hitherto been open to 
the public, have been threatened by the settlers or 
squatters, whom they have sought to evict under their 
right of acquisition and possession. 
Without attempting to discuss the various phases of 
the situation, which are not the pleasantest imagin- 
able, either for the parties immediately interested or 
for that very large class of "Adirondack Murray's" fol- 
lowers who annually set their faces toward the forests 
for recreation, I would suggest to the gentlemen own- 
ers of the preserves in question, several of whom I 
know personally, that an easy way out of a like diffi- 
culty was discovered and adopted by the directors of 
the "Blooming Grove Park Association" in the early 
days of its incorporation, thirty odd years ago, when 
the appropriation of large tracts of land by clubs or 
individuals was a new thing, and quite at variance with 
the ideas of personal freedom and eminent domain in- 
herited from those who had originally driven out the 
Indians and "subdued the wilderness" to their own use. 
We simply made game wardens and camp keepers of 
the settlers or squatters who had log cabins or houses 
on the premises, paid them fair salaries, hob-nobbed 
with them around the open fire-places, and so made 
them interested sharers with us in the privileges and 
benefits of the park, which were to be enlarged and 
promoted by the protection and propagation given to 
its forest denizens by our joint efforts. Their experience 
and lifelong knowledge of the tract made them far 
more efficient, and loyal to the club's interests than 
introduced hirelings would have been, and their services 
were obtained at a minimum expense. Several of their 
sons are helpers to this day; some of them keepers of 
out-stations at distances remote from the club house. 
Of course, there are lots of outsiders; jealous of our 
prerogatives; and some who live adjacent to the park 
boundary have made no end of trouble and expense by 
malicious prosecutions for suppositious infractions of 
the game law^s. But the Association has had upon 
the whole undisturbed peace for a generation, and I 
doubt not some similar course of procedure by the 
princely Adirondack owners would bring surcease of 
annoyance and anxiety. 
Charles Hallock, 
First Sec'y B. G. P. A., 1871-4. 
The Mississippi Bottom. 
Sandis, Miss., Sept. 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
T took a short trip down among the lakes in the great 
Mi ssissippi bottoms (it is now very common to call the 
bottoms the "Delta," and is a mistake, if we understand 
the meaning of the word "delta"), and oh, how things 
have changed within the last few years. Two railroads 
enter and pass through what used to be some of the best 
and most desirable limiting grounds, and along the banks 
of some of the lakes. One can hardly get out of sight 
of a sawmill, timber camp, or railroad ; and of course this 
makes game rather scarce and wild ; but really not so 
much as one would suppose under such circumstances. 
Reports from timber haulers and choppers say that deer 
and turkeys are quite plentiful, while the bear has not 
given up all claims to this long resort of his race. But 
with the present strides of settling up that great cotton 
belt, it will be but a few years before that vast territory 
will be thickly filled with small towns, and all the timber 
will be cut down and sawed into merchantable lumber; 
and then one of the finest hunting and fishing regions of 
the South will be a mere dream. But the vastness of this 
bottom will yet take several years to turn it into towns 
and plantations, instead of the "Sportsman's Paradise," 
as it now is. There is a strip ranging from a point at 
Lake Cormorant, on the Y, & M. V. R. R., running south 
for more than 250 miles in length and from 10 to 20 
miles wide, that is as wild and dismal as it was a. hun- 
dred years ago, and there are some few places away down 
. where the Tallahatchie and Lallobunsha rivers come to- 
gether and form the Yazoo River, that I believe will be 
unsettled ^ hundred years later on. 
I'here is one" thing the sportsmen have got to see— that 
the law is .enforced, and that a stop must be called on 
dynamiting the lakes and shooting game out of season, 
which is now very common with some men. We have a 
moderately good law on this subject, but not such as I 
am anxious to see passed and enforced. 
Dennis. 
Down at Chatham. 
Chatham, Mass., Sept. 21.— Editor For^^i and Stream: 
Perhaps you would like to know something about the 
shooting at Chatham this season, and taking advantage 
of an off day (a dry nor'easter having been blowing for 
the past forty-eight hours), I send you the result of two 
days' work in the boxes. We were favored the past week 
with strong southeast and southwest winds, which are 
considered at this place to be the most favorable, and in 
conjunction with a temperature like mid-summer, the 
birds seemed to be in no hurry to continue their flight 
south, and were not at all shy, decoying easily, and nearly 
every box showed a good bag at Aight. The follow- 
ing score will give you an idea of the different species 
of birds usually shot here during the season: 
Sept. 14. 
2 
Sept. 15. 
.,..38 
, 18 
... 2 
12 
, 23 
5 
. , 1 
5 
15 
. .. \ 
1—72 
It is rather unusual not to have had days when we 
were able to kill at least from 75 to 100 grass birds, but 
the extremely warm weather seems to have made the 
feed on the marshes too dry for them, and the few that 
have been shot are not in the condition of former years. 
The kind of birds given in the score are what are called 
at this place large birds, or birds that are swift of flight, 
although there are a great many sanderlings that offer to 
the gunners who run down for a day or two a chance to 
get a little practice. You will understand that with us 
here it is an unwritten law among the gunners that a bird 
is to be shot only on the wing (unless crippled), and a 
wounded bird to be killed, even if a 'gunner has to leave 
his box to do so. I am pleased also to write that the 
practice of shooting on the Sabbath is discontinued 
by mutual agreement, and I can see the effect of this in 
the class of people I meet here this season as against that 
of three or four years ago. Should anything of unusual 
interest occur before my return in October, I shall be 
pleased to send it to you, for I am much interested in 
Chatham Beach, with its grand ocean view and the good 
fellows I meet here, that I feel that you ought to know 
something about it. Howard Wade. 
Duck Shooting: Exttaofdinary* 
Ossining-on-the-Hudson, N. Y., Sept. sS.^Editor 
Forest and Stream: This morning while reading the 
article by L. F. Brown in your issue of this week entitled, 
"Spurious Writings About Angling and Nature," I was 
reminded of an article which might come in for a share 
of attention. It was printed in last Sunday's New York 
Sun under the heading, "Duck Hunters Who Are Rich." 
It should have been labeled, "Something Rich for Duck 
Hunters." I will wager the man who wrote it never 
fired a shotgun in his life. Here is a part of it, and 
enough of it. "Old Dick," the star duck hunter of Spesu- 
tia Island, tells of "Duck hunters who are rich." 
"Good shots? Yes, some of 'em pretty tol'ble," said 
Dick, between pipe puffs, "and the cur'ous part of it is 
I've seen a man knock down black-head after black-head 
who didn't know how to clean his gun after it was wet — 
gave me something extra to fix it for him. I took a man 
out last spring who brought along as fine a pair of bar- 
rels as you'd want to look at, but he didn't seem to be 
able to shoot at all. I 'member we got up a brace of 
fine canvasbacks at close range— dead easy shot. T 
knew he was an old hand from the way he kept his nerve 
while waitin' and the way he handled his piece, but when 
they rose the charge went 'way over 'em. We waited half 
an hour and along came four more — as pretty a shot as 
I ever saw. He fired just at the right time, but the shot 
went all over the place — never near 'em. _He looked at 
the sights — they were of the telescope kind — to see if 
they were adjusted right, and took the piece apart and 
put it together again, but there was nothin' wrong about 
it; it seemed to be in first-class shape," otc. Then he 
goes on to say the man borrowed his old muzzleloader 
and killed three out of the next five — like the old story 
of the alder pole and bent pin. There is no use picking 
it apart, as it is "hash." How the sporting editor of the 
Sun allowed a duck gun fitted with telescope sights to 
get action on itself in the paper is more than I can com- 
prehend. C. G. B. 
The Old Familiar Chatms. 
From the Clinton Courant. 
For we all know that the same blue ocean still surges 
above us and the same kaleidoscopic variety of clouds flit 
aross the heaven's arch, the same sun journeys from the 
Orient to the Occident of our vision now as in the olden 
lime, the birds sing the same tunes on the same key as 
did their feathered ancestors, the verdure of field and 
forest remains unchanged, the streams and brooks course 
their way through equally attractive landscapes, and the 
man in the moon as graciously smiles down upon the 
hills and vales as he did in the years of yore. The super- 
nal charms of that landscape which we, whose youthful 
home was in the country, so thoroughly enjoyed, and 
the apparent loss in scenic attractions as the years go by, 
have a ready and satisfactory explanation. 
Those mountains of cloud which we vainly attempted 
to fathom and measure — that dazzling sun which daily 
toured the sky, spanning long days of innocent pleasure — 
the birds which favored us with hallelujah chorus as a 
sunrise accompaniment — the stream on which we sailed 
and in whicli we sported — the brook in which we con- 
structed dam, dike and reservoir, with no damage to the 
marginal owners — and the moonlight evenings when all 
the world was hushed to peace — these several attractions 
all came to us as our introduction to a _ world oi many 
and varied beauties, making an ineffable impression upon 
the then unsullied tablets of our memory; then we were 
new to the world and the world was new to us. In later 
