Oct. 24, 1903.1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
819 
There are those, however, who can never overcome 
this nervous start at the roar of this bird's wings, 
though they may be perfectly undisturbed in any other 
bird shooting. 
And the skill of the shooter, be it ever so higb in 
degree, must be supplemented by the work of a quiet, 
well-trained, industrious, intelligent dog, for the shooter 
is much better ofif without any dog at all than with 
one that is riotous, or one that ranges too far, or that 
is heedless of his work. Loud orders to the dog have 
no place in ruffed grouse shooting. The sports- 
man himself cannot observe too great a silence. The 
human voice, in particular, alarms and puts the birds 
to flight. 
The work required of the dog in this shootmg is 
distinctly different from that required in any other kind 
of bird shooting, except perhaps Avoodcock shooting, 
which in a way it resembles, though a higher degree 
of dog intelligence and obedience are required, as the 
ruffed grouse is far more cunning and wary than the 
woodcock. 
The "partridge dog" should not work far from the 
gun in cover, and he should be silent and diligent in 
his quest. Many experienced shooters highly commend 
the use of a small bell tied to the dog's collar, its low 
tinkling constantly indicating the dog's whereabouts in 
the thick cover, and, generally, when the bell stops, it 
indicates that the dog is on point, thus in a way keep- 
ing the shooter posted by ear as to his dog's doings 
^id whereabouts. 
The rattle-headed, highly nervous dog, or the one 
ivhich gallops swiftly and merrily about, is distinctly 
^I't of place in this kind cjf shooting. The aesthetic 
ibooter. whose dog must carry a high head and a tail 
ashing his sides merrily as he gallops and bounds 
about in the ecstacy of his enjoyment, as the dogs 
Tiany times do in idealists' tales of great work afield, 
vould better take his fiery dog into the open where 
lie can better disport himself unhampered, and where 
mis pretty ways may be admired without any unplea.s- 
nt interposition of the ruffed grouse. Such manner of 
he dog's seeking is incompatible with ruffed grouse 
hooting, for the shooting should be the dominant 
eature, not the joyousness of the dog. 
A dog of fair gait and persistent industry can easily 
)eat out the necessary range, and the one which makes 
lis quest patiently and soberly and quietly, working 
vith judgment and honesty to the gun, will bring the 
looter satisfactory success in the results, to say noth- 
ng of the incomparable comfort and pleasure in shoot- 
ng over him. 
Nine out of every ten dogs which are running with 
igh head and merry action are running because they 
e in high spirits and for their own pleasure, with no 
-O'-ght of the birds or of work to the gun. When 
ey come on birds, snch is often a matter of chance 
nd their point work is marked by detrimental errors, 
his kind of dog leads his partial master to believe 
mt when he wears off the wildness and wire edge he 
;ill steady down to a useful grade of work; but often 
rhen such dog has worn off his exuberance he has 
orn off all there is of field performance in him, and 
e either loafs or does his work in the same slovenly 
Tanner, though, loafing, he does less of it. 
In shooting for sport, the shooter takes his birds on 
je Aving. Of course, in shooting for market, the mar- 
et shooter has no thought of sport or its practices, 
is one object is to kill the bird and bring it to bag. 
he manner of it is of the least importance. His theory 
nd practice are founded on commercial principles, 
lerefore, he shoots his birds as he can, whether they 
e on the limb of a tree, the ground, or flying. 
Some hunters have dogs trained to seek for the birds, 
id finding them, thej'^ flush and follow them. When 
Lished by the dog, the birds generally take to the 
ees. and the dog, barking, so engages their attention 
lat they fall an easy prey to the hunter, he often 
igging every bird in the covey under, such circum- 
ances. Often when flushed by the dog they fly to 
le tree tops immediately overhead where, in fancied 
curity, they calmly watch the dog. The shooter then 
rops them one by one, taking the lowest birds first, 
he falling of the lowest ones does not disturb the 
les above, though if a top bird is dropped the others 
r away forthwith. 
As to the number a shooter can kill in a day, so 
uch depends on the shooter's skill, the bird supply, 
id the local shooting conditions, that they alone de- 
rmine it. 
In some sections of New England two or three birds 
the end of a day of diligent effort is considered a 
ghly successful result, and it is not an infrequent 
ciirrence in that section that a diligent day may have 
birds at all at its ending. 
In certain favored sections of New York, Wisconsin, 
innesota, Dakota, etc., and in the mountain sections 
lere the ruffed grouse abound, such a bag would be 
'nsidered an absurdity if held forth as an index to 
'iod shooting, industry and superior results. 
hile in North Dakota recently I hgard of one bag 
of eighty birds, made to one gun in a day, something 
extraordinary. They were shot at the air holes along 
the banks of the Red River after it had frozen over, 
the birds coming to those places for water. This was 
not recounted to me as a matter of sport, nor is it 
so set forth here, but will give an idea of the numbers 
of the ruffed grouse in the sections where it is in the 
greatest abundance. 
But the sportsman who seeks the ruffed grouse for 
the true sport of it, has a more exalted pleasure than 
comes from shooting any other game bird. First of 
all, he must be skillful with the gun, and when he 
shoots, be he ever so skillful, he can only apply such 
skill as he can muster in a moment, the opportunities 
of ruffed grouse shooting being but mere fragments of 
the opportunities accorded to shooting in the open. 
When the bird at length is brought to bag, it repre- 
sents a toiling through brush and bramble, wooded hill 
and dale, scrambling over ledges and floundering 
through swamps, all colored by constant expectancy, 
unavoidably lost opportunities and seeking to circum- 
vent the birds by cunning woodcraft, supplemented by 
the wonderful powers of the dog, a degree of cunning, 
skill and persistent effort, greater than that required 
in the shooting of any other bird. 
It is shooting pitched in the highest key, and that is 
why I think the shooter can justly feel a greater glow 
of pleasure when he makes a successful shot at a ruffed 
grouse, and why he loves this sport above all others, 
since it tests to the utmost his skill, his woodcraft, his 
patience, his endurance and his dog; and of the dogs, 
if he own a good one, he owns one of a thousand. 
- B. Waters. 
The Maine Game Country. 
Bangor, Maine, Oct. 15.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
As yet the expected rush of sportsmen to the woods of 
Maine has not materialized, but there are still those who 
contend that it is early yet, and that the moose hunters 
will soon be seen in numbers on every train, filling our 
forests with rifles and the camps with guests. Reports 
from almost every section of the game belt are that the 
-numbers in camp are far less than last year at this time. 
The exceptions are those sections reached via the Ash- 
land branch of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad, which 
has a wide reputation for shipping more moose than any 
part of Maine, and as sportsmen generally, who pay the 
fifteen dollar license, prefer to go where they have some 
expectation of getting all that the license permits, the 
business at Ox Bow and Masardis has received an un- 
usual impetus, and the influx of moose hunters is greater 
than ever before, as one prominent camp owner told the 
writer a day or two since. 
Reports from the Rangeley and Dead River regions are 
that inany of the camps in that part of the State are 
closed, or closing, since so few sportsmen care to pay the 
required fee to hunt just deer, that they cannot afford to 
keep the camps open for one or two. As moose in that 
part of the game belt are unusual, the hunter hardly hopes 
for a sight at one, although of course he may be disap- 
pointed, now and then. 
Were it not for the allurements of the famous Alle- 
gash and other canoe trips, which furnish a most de- 
lightful outing, change of scenery every hour and a de- 
lightful variety of diet if the trip include a part of Sep- 
tember and a part of October, one might almo.st " think 
the shipments of game would be even lighter than they 
have been, which up to date is a falling off from the 
same period in 1902. Within three nights the writer has 
met five parties at least who have just completed the trip 
from Moosehead Lake to Fort Kent, and in every case 
they felt that they had received their money's worth. 
People who do not live in Maine can have but little 
idea of the closeness with which the wild wards of the 
State touch the borders of civilization. Bangor is a city 
of upwards of 20,000 inhabitants, yet partridges have 
been picked up with broken wings or in rooms oi houses, 
where they have either flown through windows or struck 
the walls of buildings in their flight; moose have been 
seen within a mile and a half of the post-office, and deer 
have run through principal residential streets. Hunters 
need not go two hundred miles to reach the game sections 
from Bangor, although he who should come here expect- 
ing to see all the uncommon incidents above referred to 
\vould be bitterly disappointed; he must go beyond this 
city for his sport. 
C. E. Noyes, of Portland, has returned home from a two 
weeks' visit at Pickerel Pond, only fourteen miles from 
Oldtovra and twenty-five from this city, and while there 
he saw, in the last week of September and the first of 
the hunter's month, five moose, and easily shot his limit 
of deer and a fine lot of partridges. 
pne of the most happily disappointed parties to go out 
within the week was made up of R. L. Bond, of Bond- 
ville, Mass., E. S. Loomis, of Boston, and H. S. Ludlow, 
of Troy, N. Y., who had been at Fish Lake. They had a 
splendid time, shot partridges and ducks until they 
thought they would never care to eat another duck, and 
were tired of partridge, while they had no difficulty in 
securing their quota of deer. On the Sunday before they 
left for home they saw two moose — but the protection 
was still on, so they came away without the. trophy. 
F. A. Guild and John R. Buchan, of New York City, 
and Henry A. Bishop and W. A. Trubee, of Bridgeport, 
Conn., are out after a delightful outing at Carr Pond! 
The water was so low that streams became mostly car- 
ries, and they were thus prevented from undertaking 
many trips planned. But they found birds plentiful, and 
their limit of two deer showed a buck and doe apiece. 
One of the finest bucks to be brought down over the 
roads leading into Bangor in the first part of the month 
came down the first day of the moose season. It was a 
very large buck to be secured so early, and was verj' 
attractively antlered, its horns spreading seventeen inches 
and bearing ten points very evenly arranged It was shot 
by G. P. Stevens, of Orono, in the valley of .the Passa- 
dumkeag Stream. 
Those who think the game all killed off in the woods of 
Maine, ought to take the Allegash trip if they are willing 
to be convinced. One of the parties above mentioned 
told the writer that they counted deer until it was impos- 
sible to keep the record if one was to take note of any 
other features of the trip. The record kept by another 
party was, perhaps, an average of the whole. They 
counted 170 deer within easy rifle shot, which they might 
readily have killed, not counting those which were merely 
started but were not really seen long enough to have shot 
at them. The count of moose was 26, and of these, six 
were bulls. Two sportsmen just out of the Patten region 
also report a large number of these animals there, and 
one man said he saw, just ahead of the season, one 
monster moose whose antlers were very fine, the frontal 
liorns being very long and having palms, much like the 
brow antlers of the Newfoundland caribou, although 
much more massive. 
William Einstein and A. W. Mack, of New York, have 
gone home from their delightful camp on Snowshoe 
Lake, once the home of the famous Jock Darling, with all 
the game the licenses allow to their credit. 
The first moose to be brought into Bangor this year 
was shipped out by Frank Osgood, of Boston, and was 
shot in the Patten region. The same night saw a second 
moose started from Washington county, but it came only 
as far as Cherryfield in the same county, being the prop- 
erty of a Cherryfield hunter who had been further east 
for his sport. The second moose to reach Bangor ar- 
rived on to-day's noon train from Aroostook county, shot 
by Samuel A. Ordway, of Maiden, Mass., and still a third 
came in to-night, the prize of John Graham, of Chelsea, 
Mass. 
Other moose have been shot, among those reported 
thus far being one secured in the vicinity of Ebeeme 
Pond, about fifteen miles from Brownville, by P. F. Ham, 
of Monroe, whose moose was taken home by team. 
Three Presque Isle men went out after moose the first 
day and returned by noon of the next day with three bull 
moose and a deer, a bag for the number . of men and 
length of time that is unlikely to be surpassed if equalled 
this season. 
Thomas F. Strange,, of Charlestown, Mass., passed 
through the city to-day with a moose head, secured by 
him in the Provinces, he having gone in by way of Fort 
Kent, across the St. John and to the woods beyond 
Conners. 
E. C. Ostby, of Providence, who visited the Grand 
Lake region in the spring to try the salmon fishing, has 
gone back for his fall sport, and sent a buck to his home 
the other day. 
And this reminds your correspondent that there seem 
to be a great many misunderstandings regarding some of 
the advantages of the new license law. Express and sta- . 
tion agents, and not a few guides, still cling to the idea 
that all game must be identified at Bangor, whether the 
game bears the red tag of the non-resident or not, and as 
a consequence many trips have been cut short, or else 
sportsmen have gone home with their game to return 
later and finish their outing. Sportsmen from outside of 
Maine having bought a coupon for that purpose, which 
comes as part of the license, may have it attached to their 
game and thenceforward bother their heads not at all; so 
far as wardens are concerned it will reach its destination 
without further attention on the part of the owner. But 
all owners of game whose homes are in Maine, unless 
they purchase the special shipping tags heretofore issued 
for all sportsmen, and permitting them to ship game un- 
accompanied, must go home with their game or it will 
be seized. Herbert W. Rowe. 
In New England. 
Boston, Oct. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: Deputy 
Thayer, who runs the commissioner's boat, the 
Scoter, has arrested two men for pursuing wild fowl 
illegally on Sunday, in Boston Harbor, and certain spe- 
cified waters adjacent thereto. 
Deputy Nickerson secured the conviction of Mr. G. 
M. Wilkinson in court at Salem, for violation of the 
lobster law, and a fine of $70 has been imposed. 
The commissioners inform me that they have com- 
menced the sending out of fingerling trout. They have 
about 90,000 for distribution this season, including some 
rainbow and brown trout, besides the common brook 
trout. 
Reports they have received are to the effect that par- 
tridges have not been found in great numbers by the 
sportsmen, but that quail are unusually plentiful. 
Mr. C. C. Munn tells me that hunters about Spring- 
field say they have never seen so many quail in that 
section. In my last letter I said that probably the 
storm of a week ago would drive many birds in from 
the sea. A report receiA^ed from Lake Assawampsett, 
Middleboro, states that thousands of wild geese have 
been driven to shelter in the woods and waters about 
that lake, and many of them and ducks as well have 
been bagged by the gunners. No doubt the same is 
true of scores of other ponds in the southeastern part 
of the State especially. To the hunter who desires 
good bird shooting along with the pursuit of large 
game, Lake Umbagog offers special attractions. The 
lake is easily accessible from Middle Dam. On the 
first day of the open season several deer were shot not 
far from the hotel. Among those who are now hunting 
at Umbagog are Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Ambrose, of New 
York, and Mr. S. Boothby and wife of Portland. The 
well-known Boston sportsman, Mr. J. Parker Whit- 
ney, his family and several friends, are now at Camp 
Whitney, on Richardson Lake. Partridges and deer 
are reported very numerous about Billy Soule's camps, 
on the Cupsuptic. One of the surprising things con- 
nected with deer killing in Maine so far this season, is 
the large number that have been reported killed in 
towns outside of the great northern wilderness. 
There is a report, too, that even Connecticut is re- 
ceiving acquisitions to its game supply, and the farm- 
ers of Glastonbury are suffering from their depreda- 
tions. A report in the Boston Herald of Oct. ii. says 
one of them is to bring suit against the State for darn- 
ages to his crops, caused by deer. 
I 
