March -12, 1904.] 
FOREST^ AND STREAM. 
211 
we got. there no boat was to be seen; and, moreover, 
I did" not see how it could reach us, as there appeared 
to be no water — nothing but a mass of green weeds 
forming a solid looking mat with a small island of firm 
ground a 'quarter of a mile away, containing a hut of 
the most primitive type of construction. 
When 'I' asked Rosalio where the boat was he re- 
plied, "It will be here jpresently," and very soon point- 
ing with his finger he remarked, "It is coming," and 
sure enough it was; for I saw approaching us a horse 
with an absolutely naked rider, and having a boat tied 
to his tail. - At first the annimal was immersed only to 
' his laiees, but 'presently down he went into a hole with 
little; "more than his ears above water. And how the 
rider did urge the poor brute till he reached a more 
substantial footing. When I had realized the situation 
and had grasped the idea of the method of propulsion, 
I laughed till I had to lie down. It was the funniest 
.sight I had ever beheld. At the same time I pitied the 
poor devil of a horse, condemned to such labor. And 
how he did detest it! At every deep spot he stopped 
and refused to budge; but his relentless rider kept urg- 
ing him on, so in he had to go and scramble thi^ough. 
It took me quite a while to become accustomed to such 
a method of travel, for I could neither conquer my 
tendency_ to laugh, nor cease pitying the poor brute. 
On this morning, though, it was all^ an old story. 
Rosalio and I loaded the boat with the 'paraphernalia, 
stepped in, and pushed of? from the shore, then the 
motor was attached in the customary manner, and we 
set forth, Savas (Rasalio's brother) following on foot 
! in a . state" of nature, having placed his clothes in the 
iboatV 
After three-quarters of an hour's ride, we reached a 
very small island on which was an old blind that I pro- 
■ ceeded to take possession of, Rosalio taking the boat 
: and propelling it with a pole through the comparatively 
open reaches of water, in order to stir, up the brant. 
The location did not prove satisfactory, for after I 
had knocked down seven brant they all deserted that 
end of the swamp; but the duck flight which ensued 
was great. Seeing that there was to be no more brant 
shooting, I .began on the ducks and soon brought down 
some .twenty-five or thirty. .Unfortunately, the sur- 
rounding swamp was in many places impassable, con- 
sequently the : guides succeeded in retrieving only six 
brant and eight ducks. Had either of them been with 
me when I shot the ducks, we would have bagged more; 
but I failed to locate them properly. 
At II o'clock we took lunch and then proceeded 
, further into the interior of the marsh, perhaps as much 
f as two miles, choosing a place for the boat, with com- 
h paratively clear surroundings for the retrieving of fallen 
; birds. We partially covered the boat with swamp grass, 
and thus made a fairly god blind. It was not as ef- 
fective as it rnight have been, for the brant seldom 
came within sixty yards, so nearly all the shooting 
had to be done at very long range. This day I used 
an old Lefever_ gun of my brother's that is a killer; 
. but it has no ejector, as has my Smith gun. Early in 
' the day I had exhausted my limited supply of fours 
1 and had to fall back on sixes. With the latter I man- 
aged to score pretty well; but toward 4 o'clock it was 
necessary to begin using eights; and these were too 
light, although with them I managed to bag four or 
five brant. .: . . 
At 4:30 we quit shooting and started for the shore, 
reaching there a few minutes before 6, consequently, 
; by the time the horses were loaded it was quite dark. (Dur 
[ bag consisted of thirty-five brant and ten ducks. Be- 
sides these, I must have killed seven or eight brant 
and at least twenty ducks that were not retrieved! 
This day I failed to keep count of the cartridges ex- 
pended; but, considering all the conditions, the shoot- 
ing was not bad.^ 
Next day Rosalio and I procured permission to shoot 
over some ground where my son, Leonard, and I 
(two years before had found excellent sport, and took 
a ride of twelve miles and a walk of two or three more 
!to reach it, only to find that the conditions had changed, 
'and that there were no birds there. After picking up 
six straggling jacksnipe, we returned to the hotel 
tired and disgusted — my birthday, too, and I had 
counted on such fine sport to celebrate it; so I 'had to 
confine my celebration to opening a bottle of cham- 
■pagne and : inviting the old landlady and her pretty 
i;daughter to share it with me. 
']> Next morning we returned to the snipe marsh, but 
i found the birds comparatively scarce and rather wild. 
Tn two rounds of the lake , we picked up thirty-eight 
snipe and a dozeH ducks, then Rosalio advised me to 
wait an hour for the evening flight of ducks, which he 
'Said would come to the marsh from the westward; and, 
jsure enough, it did! I had: no blind, so lay on some 
'low, dry ground near a ditch and shot until my gun 
■got hot, dropping a dozen, then moving further south 
some -200 yards and dropping; twice as many more; 
then the shells gave out, so had to quit and start 
back -to town. .AH this duck shooting was done with 
No. 8_ shot. The bag this day amounted to thirty- 
eight jacksnipe and forty ducks, but we failed to re- 
trieve a number of ducks that fell at long distance. 
I had taken the precaution several ' days- before to 
.wire a friend in Mexico City, asking him to send me. 
300 more shells, 100 being for brant; and these came 
CO hand that night. 
The next day (Sunday), which was to be the last 
vlay of my outing, was devoted entirely to brant shoot- 
ing. All arrangements had been made for a 9 o'clock 
5tart in the boat; and we were there ahead of time, but 
:he man with the horse did not put in an appearance. 
VVe lost an hour in finding another man, most of the 
nhabitants of the district hayiag gone to town to en- 
oy.the fiesta that was being held there. After obtain- 
ng a man, the next thing was to 6btain a horse. 
Certainly there we're plenty of them near by, but Ro- 
;alio informed me that only a very few had been trained 
,or boat towing. These few apparently knew for what 
hey were wanted, and struggled hard to escape from 
he half dozen lassos that were in pursuit of them, 
loubling and twisting with great skill and malice. I 
ould not blame the brutes for their unwillingness to 
erve, and in a way I sympathized with them and re- 
joiced when they dodged the rope, although my day's 
sport was .being materially shortened by the delay. 
After the loss of nearly another hour a trained horse 
was secured and hitched to the boat, and a little before 
II o'clock we started for the place where we had spent 
the previous afternoon, arriving there about noon. 
We had brought with us some canes, cut into lengths 
of about six feet, and an ample supply of strong cord 
and old tarpon line for building a blind. - This we con- 
structed by driving the stakes firmly into the bottom 
all around the boat, swaying them with the cord to 
masses of weeds at all four corners, running another 
cord so as to connect continuously the tops of all the 
stakes, and hanging from this bunches of long swamp 
grass. A half hour's work made a good blind; but, un- 
fortunately, it was too good— at least the brant thought 
so later on, as they dodged it almost without exception. 
A less elaborate construction would have served the 
purpose better. The insecure one we used the other 
day was much more effective. 
Although the brant were as plentiful as ever, the flight 
did not begin until quite late in the afternoon, but oc- 
casionally a few birds would come within long range. 
At first I thought I was going to make a killing be- 
cause I_ bagged three with the first four shots; but I 
soon failed to keep up such a record. All the shooting 
was from sixty to eighty yards; and the cartridges 
bought in Mexico City did not seem to have the force 
of those I had brought from home. Of the latter there 
remained only two boxes, and these were sixes, but 
they seemed to do better execution than the Mexican 
fours. 
At about 4:30 the real flight began, and soon the 
bottom of the boat was strewn thickly with empty 
shells. By reason of the weak powder and the long 
range, and perhaps because I was somewhat rattled, 
the_ misses became more and more numerous. Oc- 
casionally a bird would fall dead near by in good shape; 
but often a cripple, or even a dead bird, would drop 
a quarter of a mile away. Perhaps I did not lead 
enough to allow for the very long range and the com- 
paratively weak shells, or I may have simply shot badly. 
Be this as it may, when the approaching sunset called 
a halt, I found I had expended one hundred 4s, fifty 6s, 
and a portion of a box of 8s, while we were able to re- 
cover only thirty birds. We must have left, though, 
fully ten dead birds besides a lot of cripples that dis- 
tance and lack of daylight prevented our searching for. 
Both guides worked well and hard, and even the motor- 
man picked up a bird occasionally. Although the bag 
was smaller than it ought to have been, the saddle 
horses found it quite large enough on the home journey, 
as the thirty birds weighed fully 180 pounds. 
Thus ended one of the most successful wildfowl 
shoots of my life. In practically four days' shooting 
(for on the 12th and the 17th I shot only in the after- 
noon, and the 15th resulted almost in a water-haul) I 
bagged 65 brant, 67 ducks, 220 jacksnipe, and several 
other birds, about 360 in all. 
Next forenoon I spent in cleaning the guns, pack- 
ing my belongings, and preparing to start for the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec to attend to professional duties, 
and incidentally to put in nine days of as hard work 
and disagreeable traveling as have fallen to my lot in 
many years. J. A. S. Waddell. 
The Folly of Bear Protection. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The statements Mr. George L. Brown makes about 
Adirondack bears in your issue of February 27, where he 
mentions how few bears are ever shot, agree with the 
state of things in Maine. Very few bears are ever shot 
by fair shooting in Maine, except in summer and early 
fall, when they are picking berries and the skins are 
worthless. I have certainly bonght the skins .,of more 
tiian five thousand well furred bears, and I do not believe 
that fifty were shot, unless in traps or when taken from 
dens, unless one counts small cubs shot when the mother 
vv-as in a trap. And the larger part of those shot were 
killed almost by accident by men hunting other game. 
There has been some movement here about protecting 
bears in order to furinsh sport for visiting hunters. The 
man who indulges in the fancy that he can go into the 
woods in Maine and shoot bears, unless he should have 
clogs trained to the business, will be wiser after he tries 
it. A bear is far harder to hunt than a deer or moose, 
and if a man should kill one in hunting ten falls he would 
be more fortunate than most men I ever knew. It seems 
strange that when it can be proved beyond a doubt that 
bears not only kill a great many calf moose, but also old 
bulls when in their full strength, anyone can be found 
who cares anything for the protection of large game who 
would propose to protect bears. While bears eat a great 
variety of food, they also destroy a large amount of large 
game— moose, caribou, and deer. The reason more deer 
are not charged to the account of bears, is that thev 
can do with a deer as they do with a sheep— drag or 
carry it off to some secluded spot and eat it, and after 
they have done with it, so little remains that if ever found 
no one can prove it was done by bears. I have followed 
v^'here a bear dragged a large buck a long way to find a 
place which suited him to eat it in. I have known one to 
carry off a deer which a hunter had shot, while the man 
had gone for help to get it to camp, and leave so little 
trace of it that it was never found. In this case he 
probably carried it in his arms, walking on his hind legs, 
as I have had one carry a heavy clog to a trap. 
I do not blame Mr. Brown for protesting against bears 
being protected. If the Game Commissioners wish to 
protect the large game in any State where a bear is 
found, they should put a bounty on bears. If they do not 
care for the farmer's sheep, they ought, at least, to help 
protfect the game. M, Hardy. 
Brewer, Me. 
Elizabethtown, N. Y., Feb. 29.— Editor Forest and 
Sii 'earn: Ransacker wrote for fun in the Forest and 
Stream of February 20, 1904, about our bears. However, 
I couldn't be humorous if I would, and wouldn't if I 
could, when writing upon a subject of so much conse- 
quence to those immediately concerned — i. e., the people 
residing in Essex county. Here iti Essex county black 
bears still exist in numbers sufficient to supply local needs 
^"d a little to spare without State aid. The fact that 
30 bears, on an average, have been killed in Essex county 
durmg the past quarter of a century is pretty food evi- 
dence that bruin has been here in the recent past,:,and in 
large numbers, too. That his work of destruction con- 
tmues is evidenced by the sheep killing and pig stealing 
which continues unabated. Less than a year ago two 
men drove up to my office with three cub bears, tw!o 
01 which I bought (a male and a female) for John E. 
Milholland for his ranch— Meadowmount Farms— in the 
town of Lewis, the next town north of Elizabethtown. I 
paid only $15 apiece for the cubs. The cubs were wortk 
$10 apiece bounty, so it will readily be seen that the meii 
who had captured the cubs over in the town of Jay didn't 
value them much beyond the bounty. The pcRgon who 
implies residence by the sundown sea needn't have any 
fears about the black bears of the Adirondacks running 
out, as they (the bears) are not only holding their own, 
but everybody else's. Our sheep are worth $5 apiece 
during July, August, and September, and if we didn't 
raise sheep here, what 'would Ransacker's bears feed 
upon? Three generations of Essex county people have 
toiled unceasingly to hew this country out, to bring it up 
to its present state of civilization. We who have borne 
the burden and heat of the day do not propose to be run 
over with bears, have our sheep, pigs, cattle and horses, 
our crops and fruit trees totally destroyed just for the 
sake_ of giving bruin entertainment. The consensus of 
opinion here seems to be that bruin is a beast of prey, 
and that he should be shot on sight any time between 
January i and December 31, both inclusive. 
George L. Brown, 
Editor and Manager Post and Gazette. 
New York Spring Shooting. 
Much interest is being taken by sportsmen generally 
over the Hubbs bill (Assembly 85), introduced in the 
New York Legislature to repeal the law forbidding the 
shooting of ducks and geese in the spring of the year. 
Many gunners on Long Island, as well as a smaller num- 
ber in central New York, are anxious that this prohibition 
should be removed and that the State should repeal the 
bill passed last year, and should restore the permission to 
shoot in the State. 
Letters written on paper on which is printed in large 
letters, "Association for the Protection and Preservation 
of Wild Ducks" are being sent in all directions, with 
view to arousing an influence in favor of the Hubbs bill, 
but no one knows who constitutes this association, for its 
members and officers do not appear willing to have their 
names known, and the only information evident about the 
society is the signature to the letters, "W. E. Hookway, 
Secretary." A. Mr. A. H. Hollenbeck, referred to in the 
Syracuse paper as "A prominent duck hunter of this city," 
is quoted as making a carefully prepared argument in 
favor of a change in the existing laws, but his argument 
is disconnected and lacks logic. Mr. Hollenbeck 
acknowledges the necessity of protection for wild game, 
but declares that in the case of wild water fowl compara- 
tively few come to New York State, and that therefore 
this State is not at all responsible for their welfare, when 
compared with States where they congregate in vastly 
greater numbers. He declares that if protection is to be 
applied to water fowl, it should be in the States where 
they are numerous, and not here where a small number of . 
ducks, and those mostly of an inferior quality, furnish 
recreation for a large number of busy men. He then — 
without any definite purpose — goes on to enumerate dif- 
ferent places in the 'United States where ducks are 
abundant. He acknowledges that some species breed 
here, but, declaring that many others do not, says that it 
is a blunder to protect these last. If the report given 
of this argument is correct, it shows that its author has 
very little idea of close reasoning. 
On the other hand, the Audubon Society of New York 
has put forward a strong plea for the retention of the ex- 
isting law, which was published in Forest and Stream: 
last week. The Boone and Crockett Club, at a meeting 
held last week, expressed its views in no uncertain terms 
by a letter sent to the chairman of the Fish and Game 
Committee of the State Senate, which reads as follows: 
Hon. Elon R. Brown, chairman, Senate Chamber, Albany, 
N. Y.: Dear Sir — It is an accepted principle of game 
protection that all wild creatures should be protected 
during their mating and breeding season, and this has 
been generally recognized by the Legislatures of all the 
Provinces of Canada, of several of the New England 
States, and many of the Western States, which have 
adopted laws forbidding the spring shooting of wildfowl.- 
The destruction of wildfowl over pur whole "country, 
which in the South is going on for eight or nine months 
of the year, is far greater than the annual increase, and . 
from economic motives alone it is highly desirable to 
shorten the period during which they may be killed. 
Recognizing these principles, the Boone and Crockett 
Club recently adopted the following resolution: 
Resolved, That the Boone and Crockett Club con- 
demns Assembly Bill" No. 85, introduced by Mr. Hubbs, 
repealing the prohibition of spring shooting, and earnestly 
advocates, the retention on our statute books of the law 
prohibiting the shooting of all wildfowl in the spring of 
the year. Yours truly, 
Madison Grant^ Secretary. 
The general feeling seems to be strong that the law as 
it stands on the statute book should remain in force. 
It is hardly to be imagined that the Legislature will 
repeal the existing law, and it is hoped that nothing will 
be done, unless it should be to amend the present law by 
making the prohibition against spring shooting absolute, . 
and so removing the permission to shoot brant. 
Major Powell Cotton, who recently returned from a 
trip in Uganda,^ reports that there are, on the upper Nile,, 
special cemeteries for elephants, which the natives are 
not allowed to enter. In one of them he saw hundreds of 
bleaching skeletons. 
All communications for Forest and Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, tq 
receive attrntioa. We ht^e no other qiUjse. 
