86 
FOREST AMD : STREAM. 
[[Jan. 36, 1904 
Boone and Crockett Glub JMeeting. 
The annual meeting of the Boone and Groclcett Club 
was held in Washington, Saturday, January 23, at 4:30 
P. M., at the residence of Mr. Arnold Hague, 1724 I 
street. President Wadsworth was in the chair, and there 
was a good a'tendance of members. The report of the 
secretary showed that during the year there had been 
but one deaih among the members— that of Mr. Chas. E. 
Whitehead — am! that the membership of the club at 
present was full. 
The report of the treasurer showed the finances of the 
club to be in a satisfactory condition. The publication 
committee reported that the new volume was under way. 
As officers for the ensuing year the following gentle- 
men were chosen: President, Major W. Austin Wads- 
worth, Geneseo, N. Y. ; Vice-Presidents, Chas. F. Deer- 
ing, Illinois; VV. B. Devereux, Colorado; Howard Mel- 
ville Hammond, Ohio; CoL W, D. Pickett, Wyoming; 
Archibald Rogers, New York; Secretary, Madison 
Grant; Treasurer, C. Grant La Farge; Ef iff rial Com- 
mittee, George Bird Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt; 
two members of the executive committee to replace 
LJessrs. GifTord Pinchot and Caspar Whitney, whose 
terms have expired, and to hold office until 1907, Messrs. 
Arnold Hague and Winthrop Chanler. The other mem- 
bers of the executive committee who hold over are Dr. 
Lew is Rutherford Morris, Dr. John Rogers, Mr. Alden 
Sampson, and Mr. Owen Wister, 
The meeting then adjourned. 
The annual dinner was held at the Metropolitan Club, 
in Washington, at 8 o'clock the same evening. Mr. 
Wadsworth presided. Among those present, either 
as guests or members, were Messrs. D. M. Barringer, W. 
J Boardman, Capt. Willard H. Brownson, W. B. 
Devereux, Madison Grant, De Forest Grant, Arnold 
Hague, C. Grant La Farge, James H. Kidder, Geo. Bird 
Grinnell, Dr. Lewis R. Morris, Henry May, Lyman 
Nichols, M. G. Seckendorf, Alden Sampson, Casper Whit- 
ney, James S. Watson, Mr. A. P. Gordon Gumming, Mr. 
Gordon Gumming, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Prof. Henry F. 
Osborn, Mr. Chas. D. Walcott, of the Geological Survey, 
Hon. Joseph Cannon, Speaker of the House, Mr. Frank 
Mondell, Representative from Wyoming, and a number 
of others. 
, At the close of the dinner the President of the club 
entered the dining room with the President of the United 
States, who was also the founder of the club. He was 
received with much enthusiasm by his fellow members. 
Mr. Henry F. Osborn delivered an exceedingly interest- 
ing address on the preservation of game, referring inci- 
dentally to the forests, as typified by the big trees of 
California, the great Sequoias, which are threatened with 
destruction by the lumber interests, and for the preserva- 
tion of Vv^hich efforts are now being made. Mr. Osborn 
made a strong point of the antiquity of these various 
types — the trees and the great wild animals. It has taken 
millions of years to develop these, yet within fifty years 
they have been almost swept out of existence. A very lit- 
tle more carelessness on the part of the people and legis- 
lators will witness their complete extinction. Estimates 
made by the most competent authorities put the; age of 
some of these big trees at 4,000 years. Thus they were 
perhaps 1,000 years old when Homer wrote the Iliad, 
and 2,000 years old when Christ walked upon the earth; 
yet for a few dollars to be paid for shingles and boards 
the commercial spirit of the age is willing to utterly 
destroy these monuments of antiquity. If Westminster 
Abbey were to be leveled to the ground money could re- 
produce it, but one of these huge trees destroyed could 
by no possibility ever be restored. 
Mr. Osborn's address was listened to with interest, 
and was punctuated by frequent applause. 
President Roosevelt listened with close attention to the 
address of Mr. Osborn, and at its close President Wads- 
worth proposed the health of the President of the United 
States, which was drunk. Mr. Roosevelt acknowledged 
the toast, at first in humorous fashion, referring to his 
participation of this meeting as a holiday from the toils 
that occupy him the most^part of his time. He told some- 
thing about what might be done by the establishment of 
game refuges, as shown by his visit to the National Park 
last spring, of which he gave some brief account. The elk, 
the bears, and the mountain sheep were referred to, and a 
story or two told about the way in which the tourists and 
the bears mingle in the Park. He told of a telegram re- 
ceived by Major Pitcher from the superintendent of a 
hotel there, which read somewhat as follows : "Please 
send detail of soldiers down here to protect the bears. 
My tourists insist on throwing things at them, and an 
accident is sure to happen." The ferocious grizzly which 
in the time of Lewis and Clark and later frequently tore 
men to pieces, has now become a semi-domestic animal 
to be chased about by the women and children who visit 
the National Park. 
The President urged the members of the club to realize 
that it was useless to seek for Federal or State legislation 
in behalf of great game, unless the people living in the 
country afifected could be made to recognize that such 
legislation was wise and for their own best interests. 
Nothing can be more ineffective, and so more foolish, 
than to assume an attitude of hostility or of superiority 
toward the people to be most directly affected by such 
legislation.. He referred again to a point brought out last 
year," that game protection by Federal and State legis- 
lation is truly democratic, since wealthy men can secure 
great areas of land, and are able to stock .them and so 
to have theii- own game and their own shooting directly 
under their own hands, while the game and the shooting 
of the poor man, or the man of rrioderate means, must be 
cared for by the Government. 
The strong common sense of President Roosevelt's 
speech was very impressive, and was heartily applauded.. 
At the close of his address, the President again expressed 
the pleasure he had had in attending the .meeiing,> aiid 
left the room. He was followed by Mr. FrankMondell,. 
of Wyoming, who declared himself opposed to game , 
preserves, and vchd was frequently internipted by, shrewdy 
questions by Speaker Cannon. The speaking was kept up ■ 
to a late hour. , : - . . ■ j - 
■ , r . X . - -T y S'-^-r^,^ -^^ 
All communications for Forest and Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New Forks 
receive attention. We have no other oHUe. 
Fbxhounds and Foxes. 
The old-fashioned New England foxhound is getting 
scarce in this section. Now and then a good one can 
be found, but is seldom for sale. There are so many 
qualities that a really good fox dog (for our New 
England manner of hunting) should have, that a dog 
having them is very hard to buy. 
I never care to use but one dog at a time, if I want 
to shoot a fox. I want the dog to work alone and 
pay no atterition to other dogs he may hear. A joung 
dog trained to hunt foxes in company, gets in the habit 
of joining other dogs he may hear, and it is almost 
useless to try and break him of it. Again, a dog which 
runs well will not have the right voice, and a fox seems 
very much afraid and will run over a great deal of 
ground, often running out of hearing and not come 
back during the day. While with another dog with a 
different voice the same fox will fool around over a 
small space and seem to enjoy it. I owned just such 
a dog some years since, and killed a good many 
foxes with him, many of them standing looking back 
at the dog on their trail, not over fifty yards away. 
With the passing of my old fox dog (from old age) 
last winter, I thought I would give up hunting foxes. 
In the early part of last December the sight of quite 
fresh fox tracks nearly every morning, within a quarter 
of a mile of my house, rather stirred me up, and I 
have been looking for a fox dog. Have tried three 
and none suited. Have now the fourth. This dog is 
of medium size; two years old, well marked, black, 
white and tan. Has the long ears I like in a foxhound. 
He has been hunted a few times, and two foxes killed 
with him. He looks to be all right, but a trial will 
show what he can do. Just at present we are having 
a streak of about the only poor fox hunting weather 
of this winter. Several inches of snow with a crust 
which holds a fox. 
As to the foxes, they are not as numerous as in 
some years. During the early part of last December, I 
saw quite a number of tracks where two or three foxes 
had crossed during the night, quite near to my house. 
Occasionally a fox, other than red, is reported be- 
ing seen. During the years that I hunted them, I killed 
something over three hundred, and I have seen four 
gray ones, killing two of them. A number of years 
ago I saw what I am quite sure was a black fox. The 
fox was some two hundred yards away, came into the 
open field and sat for some time on the snow. On 
that day I was trying a fool of a foxhound, which 
did most of his running on old or back tracks. I 
hunted a good deal afterward in that section with a 
good dog, but never saw the black fox again. During 
the first part of last December there_^ were a few days 
when there was a few iuches of crusty snow with half 
an inch of dry snow on top. A neighbor telephoned 
me one morning, saying, "I saw a black fox this morn- 
ing in the road, near your old saw iriill." The man 
said he saw the fox plainly some thirty yards away, 
and he was willing to bet all he had that it was a black 
fox. I did not have a dog at the time, and could not 
get one anywhere near.' T found the fox had crossed 
a field near my house and I followed the trail a long 
time and finally lost it in quite a tract of small pines. 
The following afternoon, about sunset, I went to the 
field and waited ; as it was getting dark a fox came into 
the field and I shot it, a red one, of course. I see 
every few days a fox track crossing the field pretty 
near where the black one was said to have been. 
Should the dog I now have, prove to be a good one, 
I mean to give that fox a chance to get killed. 
There is a certain attraction connected with our 
New England' way of hunting foxes which lasts. A 
man who has done such hunting and killed a few foxes, 
ustially dislikes to give it up. After one gets the 
knack of knowing where to stand, and has the patience 
to stay there, he usually, becomes much interested. 
Foxes atid rabbits furnish our only hunting, during ' 
the winter ' months. I would just as soon sit in my 
door yard and shoot chickadees as to hunt rabbits. 
The latter are too easy, and (to me) of no use after 
being killed. CM. Stark. 
DuNBARTON, N. H , Jan. 15. 
Massachwsetts Qaail. 
Boston, Jan. 23- — Editor Forest and Stream: Dr. W. 
C. Woodward, secretary of the newly organized sports- 
men's cliib of Middleboro, Writes this week that "the 
quail are suflfering terribly at this tirhe, and we have coin- 
menced --to-day (Jan. 18) to feed them, having different 
members, of the association distributing barley, cracked 
corn, ground oyster shells, and wheat in different sec- 
tions. A good number of bevies," he says, "were left 
over, arid some of the birds have been found so weak 
one can pick them up, being unable to fly." 
This is anything but pleasant news for our quail 
hunters, although not surprising, in view of the heavy 
snows and unusually cold weather. 
The North Attleboro Association has made a special 
appropriation to feed the birds. Scenes have been ^wit- 
nessed on the shore side of Boston the past week right 
within less than a mile of the South Union station such 
as were never before observed in the life of the oldest in- 
habitant' On the South Bay persons walking pn/Sputh- 
ampton street (formerly Swett street) saw himdreds of 
ducks swimming around, many of theni within less than 
a hundred feet of the street. One eye-witness says "they 
were as thick as bees about, a hive in summer/' As there 
is a city ordinance which prohibits the discharge of fire- 
arms Within the 'city limits, the birds were liot molested. 
GW Friday evening the formation .of a new club called 
the Middlesex Sportsmen's Association was celebrated 
by a- banquet- inMenotoiriy Hall, Arlington, where about 
125 devotees of rod and guii gathered about the tables. 
Flanking the president right find left were the" State 
Commisist)ners", Mr. ' C. W. Dihiick and Dr. Hebe.r 
Bishop, -b-i the - Sta^te Asspciation ;-' Dr.- D. W, . Weli,, pf 
Watertown; arid- Dr. F." M. Lowe/ of Newtoh. ; The asso-; 
,^ciafioti- SECtired;its cterter^tfte~.iotfi-o| :ti^^ 
among the charter members being President Napoleon J. 
Hardy, pf Arlington; Vice-President Abbott S. Mitchell, 
of Lexington; Treasurer James Mann, of Arlington 
Heights; Secretary John W. Bailey, of Arlington. Thel 
club already has 100 members, arid a large v\?aiting list. 
Among the speakers of the evening were Capt. J. W. 
Collms, the Rev. J. C. Jaynes, of W. Newton, who is, as 
you know, Mr. Editor, one of the most entertaining of 
after-dinner speakers to be found anywhere ; Dr: Well, ^ 
and Dr._ Bishop. Of the exhibition of trophies, hunting 
and fishing outfits, curios, etc.— one of the best :amateur 
collections ever shown in the State— I may writ^ at an- 
other time. , _ ; - Cb3*eral. 
Wasliington Duck Shoctbg. r r I 
SEATTLE/Wash., Jan. 2o;--Inland duck sjiootmg in} 
western Washington has been a- dismal' failure this' 'season. ' 
Why this should be so is a difficult matter to explain.! 
It may be due to the long spell of comparatively warm; 
weather and ab.sence of the usual amount of rairi, yet the 
fact remains that even when the waters of Puget;Sou!id 
have been swept by severe storms no ducks have appeared 
on the lakes and sloughs. In riiakirig this stateriierit I do 
not mean that there is an entire absence of waferfowL 
Of course there are a limited number of mallards, teal, 
and widgeon, but the skill with which they -avoid the de- 
coys would seem to indicate that they are' not birds of 
passage. - ' : - :: 
In past seasons the shoPting has almost invariably been 
good after storms, but this year there has been little do- 
ing, no matter what happened. Take for instance the< 
storm which wrecked the steamer Clallam ; that wind was-l 
unusually severe, and it kept up for several days. It is' 
true that it was not cold, yet one would naturally sup-' 
pose that some of the birds would be driven inland. 
What was the actual condition? Sunday al^ the 
himters went down White River Valley south of Seattle, 
Thirty or forty of them came home on the night train, yet 
there were not ten ducks shown for the entire day. 
Hunters sat in the blinds from morning until night and 
freely confessed that they did npt get even one shot. The 
same conditions existed on Squak Slough. High up in 
the air quite a number of mallards passed over; there 
were also several large bands of sprigs, yet no one got 
any shooting. 
Close to the salt water conditions were somewhat bet- 
ter, the Swinomish Club reporting good sport. It would 
appear, however, from- different statements made; that 
even along the salt water sport was not invariably good. 
It should have been, just the same, because all conditions 
conducive to a good flight were present. 
PoRTus Baxter. 
Attists "Who Didn^t Know it was Loaded, 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Several didn't-know-it-was-loaded accidents reported 
in the papers of late impel me to make a few notes on the 
subject. I wish to call attention to the mistakes of illus- 
trators in this line. G. O. Shields poses for his picture 
leaning on his rifle. Of course, paper guns do not go oft" 
and kill people any more than game shot with a foun- 
tain pen lessens the supply; but the one incites to care- 
lessness, the other to slaughter. Again, in one Pf his ex- 
tra good group pictures, Oliver Kemp has his central fig- 
ure leaning on his gun. In the Youth's Companion about 
a year ago was a picture illustrating C- A. Stephen's story 
of a camel hunt in southern Arizona. The men have been 
alarmed by the yell of an Indian, and are' standing with 
rifles at ready. The hunter in front has his gun -pre- 
sented at the woods, but those behind are each leveling 
their weapons at the next in line. Should the rear man 
accidentally discharge his gun the whole line ■ would 
surely be killed. In a current rifle advertisement* is a 
man and a boy going to the rifle range. Boy trots on.^ 
ahead and man has gun leveled at boy's back. Coijiiitless^ 
others could be cited, but I thirik a very little discussion.)] 
will cori-ect this careless handling of guns by artists. 
Of course, where a group of trained hunters meet ton 
talk it over, there are no loaded guns in the crowd ; but 
this does not show in the picture. Neither should pre- 
caution cease with taking the shells out of your gun. 
Never lei your gun point at any human being. Practice 
this for a while and it becomes second natui-e, and comes ^ 
as natural as it does to take the shells out when you - 
enter a house or stop to talk with a friend. After you 
are tised to it, it looks frightful to see a man ttan'mgi 
on his gun, or swinging it aboiit and pointing it at any 
one and every one in sight, even if you do know that it ; 
is not loaded. The Parson. 
i Ohio Qt<ail and License. 
Macomb, 111., Jan. 8r— Editor Forest and Stream: i The , 
quail season ending December 20 was iii most Jespects a ; ; 
good one. The one trouble seemed to be that th'e "birds - 
would -riot lie well for the dog. My Own score with j 
another shooter each day was 32, 19, 22, 25, 16, anH 20... 
There are plenty of birds left over, and unless We should.l 
get a killing, snow before spring, there should be plenty;' 
next year. • The new game law "graft" worked/vvery well/ 
as far as the graft is concerned, but as for protecting the 
game any it failed in this section. If the Slate had usedi 
the money collected for licenses for protectirig game in-- 
stead of using it for "political graft," it would have been: 
a good thing; but as it is, it protects: only the few .game- 
wardens, so called, by giving 1 hem a good job. Besides- 
this they have the law in such a muddle that it cannot 
be enforced. ■• ' En Aaii. 
Exhibit'on of Shootings Sketches. 
Sportsmen residing in New York and vicinity will be 
interested in an exhibition of original drawings and' 
sketches by Mr. Dwight VV. l iuntiugton^ vvhiih are to 
be on exhibition from Wednesday, January 27, 1 0 Febru- 
ary 13. They will be at Messrs. D. B. Butler & Co., 398' i 
Fourth avenue, one block above the Madison Square ^ 
Garden, New York. 
Mr. Huntington's sketches, in reduced form, are 1 
familiar to all readers of Scribner's Magazine, the'Cen-. J 
tury, and Mr. Hitntington's capital ;bPok; "Oiar -Feathered^- ' 
Game." SPttte of those to le exhibited have appeared in 
the publications named, and sportsfiien •will be interested' * 
to see theni in their original form. ' 
