Forest and 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1908 bv Fobbst and Stkkam Pubushing Co, 
Terms, $1 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, |2. f 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1903. 
j VOL. LXI.— No. 24, 
1 No. 846 Broadway, New Yokk 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruct' jn and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
cages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
5f current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
rorrespondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates and full 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
TRAIL HORSES. 
When Mr. Emerson Carney writes of life in the un- 
settled West, as he often does, he always writes to 
some purpose, and what he says is likely to strike a re- 
sponsive chord in the heart of some reader, who in 
bygone years has followed the elk through the timber, 
climbed the peaks for mountain sheep, packed over the 
rough trails of the Rocky Mountains, or ridden hard and 
fast amid the dust kicked up by the flying buffa:lo herd. 
The note printed elsewhere this week, in which the 
ability of horses to follow a back trail is commented on, 
Vvill bring before the minds of many men, who have 
had experience in the West, affectionate memories of 
some horse, which, on the darkest night, could always be 
depended on to carry his rider back to camp, or which, 
going into some region where he had perhaps been only 
once before, and of which his rider had forgotten many 
of the landmarks, would follow his trail of long ago 
with the utmost exactness, pursuing so devious a course 
that his very twistings and windings would recall to the 
rider the memory of the previous journey by showing 
tc him at frequent intervals objects that he remembered 
to have seen before. 
This trail finding instinct is entirely distinct, we im- 
agine, from that sense of locality which all horses pos- 
sess, and which often causes a large proportion of a 
bunch of range horses that have been driven to some 
distant quarter from the range where they were born and 
brought up, to turn about and make their way back 
to the old home range. Every horse breeder in the West 
has from time to time suffered from this homing in- 
stinct, which exists in horses, and in a less degree in 
horned cattle, and which we may believe is common to 
most mammals and to many birds. 
As Mr. Carney says, there is the widest difference 
among horses as to the possession of this back trailing 
instinct. Some horses do not have it at all, others may 
be absolutely trusted to take one into camp, or to find 
their way along any trail over which they once have 
passed. A horse which will do this is much more than 
a mere riding animal, and one comes to feel for him the 
affection and confidence that one has for a beloved dog 
or a dear friend. 
We have in mind two or three horses, now owned in 
Montana— back trailers always to be depended on. If 
the rider of one of these horses happens to be caught 
out late at night in thick timber, or among rough rocks, 
or in broken prairie, far from the camp, all that need be 
done is to drop the reins on the animal's neck and let it 
go. At a swift walk, which must almost be four miles 
an hour, it swings along toward its destination, pausing 
for no obstacle, sliding down the steep sides of ravines, 
plunging into creeks, scrambling up almost vertical 
banks, with mind always intent on the business of getting 
back to camp without delay. A person unused to riding 
might well enough be alarmed and uneasy at being car- 
ried so swiftly and so steadily through the darkness, 
and among rocks and tree trunks and other obstacles: 
but the horse, witlf ears pricked and eyes ever searching 
the darkness ahead and on either side, moves forward 
without pause. 
.\s Mr. Carney says, it seems to be the little horses, 
and perhaps the Indian ponies most of all, that have this 
faculty of back trailing, and we have thought it was 
more often seen in good horses than in bad ones. Horses 
possessing spirit, speed and generally desirable physical 
and mental qualities, seem to have it more than the 
horses that are lazy, slow and of little value. This 
means only, we presume, that the most intelligent horses 
are the best back trailers. We have more than once seen 
this quality possessed in surprising degree by good buf- 
falo horses and good war ponies. 
As the West settles up more and njore, ajid roads take 
the place of trails, and trails pass through hitherto un- 
trodden valleys and forests and mountain sides, this 
faculty of trail finding will become less and less needed, 
and will no doubt ultimately pass out of use. It is one 
of the phases of the old wild life, which like the buck- 
skin clothing, the buffalo robe bed and the butcher knife 
carried in the belt, has no place in civilization. 
A DEER hunt was planned at Lakewood, N. J., for Sat- 
urday of last week. The affair was organized on the 
carted-stag hunt system of England, in which a tame deer 
is carted to the scene of the start and liberated, to be 
chased across country with horse and hound. This hunt- 
mg has long been followed in Great Britain, where the 
Royal Buckhounds were an institution until the acces- 
sion of King Edward VII., by whom the establishment 
was discontinued. It is not a form of sport that has 
received or ever will receive general countenance in this 
country, and the thing that happened at Lakewood last 
Saturday was just the thing which might have been ex- 
pected. When the men and women and horses and 
hounds gathered for the start, and the devoted deer, 
described as a creature of the size of a greyhound, was 
brought up in its crate, the olficials of the S. F. P. C. A. 
interfered, and declared that any person who took part in 
the chase would be arrested under the provision of the 
law reading : "Any person who shall capture, torment, or 
overdrive any animal shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
demeanor and fined not exceeding $250 and imprisoned 
for six months." The projected deer hunt came to an 
end then and there; an anise seed bag was substituted 
for the live game, and the hounds had their run. The 
teaching of the incident is that there is a long felt- want 
in the world of ultra sport, to the filling of which the 
scientists and inventors of the day might profitably ad- 
dress themselves. The live deer being impossible because 
of the awkward penal code' complications, and the chase 
of the anise seed bag lacking spice because the bag has 
not muscles and nerves, and blood, there is call for an 
automobile deer, geared to the speed of a Fifth avenue 
red devil and equipped with a dirigible attachment like 
that used for torpedoes, to be controlled by the M. F. H. 
The invention and perfection of such an accessory ' of 
sport is quite within the scope of the inventive genius 
of the day, and instead of wasting the time in useless ex- 
postulations with the S. F. P. C. A., the Lakewood deer 
hunters should consult Edison. 
•* 
• The newspapers have just published the obituaiiy of a 
well known clergyman whose life was one of usefulness 
and power and good. Yet by one of the idiosyncracies of 
association which give spice to life, it happens that our 
one thought of this man for years has been that he was of 
the class of individuals who appear to have an honest 
belief that the game laws were made for the control of 
all the other folks on earth save only themselves. This 
reverend Doctor of Divinity would kill quail but of 
season, and stoutly maintain that there was no harm in 
it — for him. He apparently could not recognize that he 
was not by virtue of his calling and election superior to 
the every day average common gunner. There are 
m.any others who have just this feeling of superior 
immunity; every profession knows them, every country 
witnesses their lawlessness. They are fewer, perhaps, 
now than they used to be, for the better education as to 
game protection and the growing public spirit in indorse- 
ment of game preservation mean the creatioir of a com- 
mon sentiment to which even these superior beings must 
confess themselves amenable. 
It 
Darkest Africa is setting an example to enlightened 
America which may well be followed. In the Cape Times 
not long ago appeared the report of the annual meeting 
of the Game and Trout Protection Association, of the 
western districts of South Africa. This report indicates 
that the protection of game over large districts is being 
well looked after. The laws for the preservation of big 
game were opposed by many residents, who endeavored 
to have the close season curtailed, but these attempts 
were promptly vetoed by the government. Moreover, it 
has been found necessary to establish special close sea- 
sons for certain kinds of gam-e, as well as for certain 
species of birds which are not properly game. More- 
over, in the Bushmanland division of Namaqualand, a 
large tract of oountiy has been set asfde a game 
refuge, in which it is forbidden to kill, hunt or trap any 
description of game animals whatever. Certain species 
of antelope still exist in this country which have long 
been on the very vei-ge of extermination. There are said 
to be about 650 blesbok, 275 bontebok, 250 reitbok, and 
340 zebras. 
A generation or two ago, these ranges swarmed with 
these species, and vv^ith a number of others which are 
now extinct. It may be hoped that the protection of 
these few survivors has not come too late. 
The setting aside of a game refuge in South Africa 
shows that at last public sentiment is aroused in favor of 
big game protection. Like action ought to be taken in 
the United States, in many of the forest reserves of the 
West. 
«e . 
A PARTY of Brooklyn policemen, who went shooting in 
Pennsylvania the other day, have made much of a griev- 
ance of their experience with New Jersey game wardens, 
who confiscated their game. To reach home the Brooklyn 
men had to pass through New Jersey, and when they took 
the birds from the cars to the ferry the constables seized 
them as game in course of illegal export. The losers 
deserve no sympathy, because they had already violated 
the Pennsylvania law by taking the game out of that 
State; it was in the nature of illicit and contraband prop- 
erty, even before it reached the Jersey City ferry. Brook- 
lyn policemen should advise themselves of the laws gov- 
erning in the country they resort to for shooting. 
■e 
Residents of Huntington, Long Island, have appealed 
to the authorities for relief from the nuisance of the 
Sunday shooter; and the game protector tells them that 
it is not within his province to interfere with the Sunday 
shooters, as their offense is not a violation of the game 
law, but of the penal code. This is true. As a penal 
offense the Sunday shooting should be not difficult of 
correction.- It is an unmitigated nuisance when done 
ijt the vicinity of a town or in the neighborhood of a 
dwelling; and the officials whose duty it is to suppress it 
should be given no rest until they have bestirred 
themselves. 
' The Christmas Number of Forest AND Stream, the 
issue of December 5, has been received with decided 
favor and appreciation; and kind words in praise of its 
beauty of illustration and interest of contents have been 
coming from readers in all parts of the country. The 
common verdict is that it is the handsomest issue of the 
Forest and Stream ever printed. 
te 
■ We print to-day a number of responses to the inquiry 
as to the season's woodcock and ruffed grouse supply. 
Other communications on the subject are of necessity de- 
ferred until next . week. We trust that still other corre- 
spondents who have been afield will favor us with notes 
of their observations of the condition of the covers. 
n 
Mr. Charles Cristadoro's report of Heron Lake duck- 
ing affairs demonstrates that Executive Agent Fullerton 
is still doing good work. The Heron Lake market- 
shooters have been active and defiant; but the recourse 
to the courts could have had no other outcome than that 
of a finding against the holders of illicit game. 
- » 
The New York Journal illustrates an article on Long 
island duck shooting with a picture of a shooter training 
on the game a monster swivel-gun, or punt gun. As this 
mode of shooting is forbidden on Long Island waters and 
almost universally in this country, the Journal's punt gun 
picture is sufficiently ridiculous. 
■e 
It is worth while repeating here what is said in the 
announcement on another page, that the opportunity to 
secure books at very low prices is open to all subscribers 
alike, whether new or old. The opportunity should be 
one which will put thousands of the world's best books 
into the hands of new readers. 
The annual meeting of the New York Fish, Game, 
and Forest League was held at Syracuse last Thursday, 
December 10. A report of the convention will be given 
in our next issue. 
•S 
The Forest and Stream of January 2, the New Year 
number, will contgiii a colored supplement printed ii* 
twelve coiof^ 
" I 
