April 2, 1904.3 
278 
he covered it is safe to say that there are from two 
thousand to twenty-five hundred deer. 
Dead deer have been found in past winters along 
Moose River, and some eleven years ago the mortality 
was quite large. The dead deer found were nearly all 
late fawns and old deer, bucks principally. Everyone 
knows that deer lose their teeth at about the same age 
that sheep do, which naturally makes them unable to 
live on coarse browse, and it is a fact that the bucks 
that roam over a large territory during the rutting sea- 
son are not in as good condition the first of January 
as other deer. 
Since hounding was abolished deer have been on the 
increase rapidly, and as the south branch of the Moose 
River for many miles is too far remote from still- 
hunters to make it profitable getting their deer to the 
settlement, little hunting is done in that locality as 
against the time when the hunter went there to_ start 
his dogs and drive the deer to the larger bodies of 
water, where, if killed, they could be gotten to the set- 
tlement quite easily. 
All of the protectors referred to, and many interested 
guides, including the Brown Tract Guides' Association, 
have devoted much time in the felling of trees suitable 
for deer to feed on. 
On the 6th and 7th- of February there was a thaw 
v/hich formed a crust sufficiently strong to hold a deer, 
which enabled them to leave their yards and to reach 
higher for browse and moss, which is their entire living 
through the winter. 
There is no question that the feed along the south 
branch of the Moose River consists too largely of 
balsam, which is weakening to any _ animal, but many 
deer naturally congregate in that vicinity, as there is 
more or less open water there ; and there is no doubt 
the same instinct in the 'deer to-day that there was 
thirty years ago, when wolves were numerous and they 
yarded in the vicinity of some rapids or open water 
where they could plunge in and keep away from the 
wolves. 
I hope that this statement, which is gathered from 
the facts as they exist, will be good news to all in- 
terested in the Adirondack deer. 
J. Warren Pond. • , 
Chief Protector. 
Game Birds iot Stocking. 
Grand Forks, N. D., March 21. — If you would take 
up the subject and advocate the enactment of laws in 
the different States relative to giving permission to take 
game birds and animals from one State to another dur- 
ing the open or closed season for propagating purposes 
1 believe a great good would result from it. 
This is one of the good features of the "Lacy Law," 
but it is inoperative when it conflicts with the game laws 
of a State. 
It has been an oversight, I think, in most of the States 
in not providing for this in drafting game laws. It is 
my desire to experiment to a limited extent with quail 
in North Dakota. I am confident that they will thrive 
in many parts of the State, but have encountered the 
difficulty of securing them from some of the northern 
States on account of their game laws not permitting the 
birds to be taken put of the State for propagating pur- 
poses. This certainly is of mutual interest, and an in- 
terchange of game birds, when they have become scarce 
or extinct, or bringing into a State game birds not native 
and such that would in all probability thrive and mul- 
tiply by having proper protection under the game laws 
of the State, is of interest to every sportsman and citizen 
of their home State. Laws permitting this should be 
made stringent and such that could not be abused. This 
could be easily done by having the birds or animals 
shipped through the proper parties in authority, whose 
duty it would be to see to the correct distribution of 
the same. Clarence A. Hale, 
/ State Game Warden, District No. i. 
[If Mr. Hale will refer to our issue of March 5 he 
will find there an editorial urging this very thing.] 
Spring- Dacfc Shooting-. 
East End, Long Island, N. Y., March 28.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: Mr. W. E. Hookway is on the right 
track in your issue of March 26. 
I do not believe in spring shooting, and I do not agree 
with Mr. Hookway that this spring shooting law is es- 
pecially for the rich man; but I do know it hits the poor 
m^an in this section. January and February are the 
months he can best gun, and the season when work and. 
consequently, food are hard to get. This class of shoot- 
ers work hard for a "mess," and do not break any spring 
shooting law. 
Two ways to protect game. First : "Forbid shooting ;" 
second, "Limit the bag." 
The first would be fought by all who love to shoot. 
The second, by owners of game preserves and market 
hunters. 
We must strike a happy medium. A law that will be 
respected by the greatest number of shooters. 
Such a law, I think, would let us shoot in the fall and 
winter. Not later than March 15 on Long Island. If 
the birds are still on the decrease, "limit the bag," or 
shoot every other week during the above season, and 
forbid the sale of game. But don't pass a law then not 
not respect it. 
I am also secretary of an organization for the propa- 
gation and protection of game. D. C. 
Game on the Border. 
Enosburg Falls, Vt., March ig. — We very much fear 
that the heavy crust that has formed on the snow has 
killed most of our ruffed grouse. Recently during a 
long drive through eastern Canada we only saw one 
grouse track. On the iith inst. we saw, nearly sixty 
miles north of here, a robin, and he appeared as lively 
and pert as in early May, and the whole country was 
alive with crows. Deer are quite numerous all along 
the frontier, and foxes have been, and are still, very 
plentiful._ Quite a number of bay-lynx have been killed 
in this vicinity, and but a short distance north in Canada 
there is a small pack of wolves — an old she and two 
or three yearling whelps. The catch of coon and mink 
has been a large one, and their pelts have been well 
furred. _ Up to date we have had over one hundred days 
of continuous sleighing and forty-eight days the tem- 
perature has been at or below zero. A record winter 
for cold weather. Stanstead. 
"There are some things," said the philosopher, "that 
money cannot buy." "I suppose so," answered Senator 
Sorghum. "But that doesn't alter the fact that there is 
an almighty lot of things that it will buy." — Washington 
Star. 
j\ND YSVTK mniN 
Random Casts. 
How times change and we change with them. Many 
old residents of New York city can remember when 
there was plenty of free water on Long Island; now all 
the streams and ponds are owned by clubs or individ- 
uals, who close them to the public. Trout were found 
to be in good condition very early, as Long Island 
enjoys a comparatively mild cHmate, owing to the 
proximity of the Gulf Stream. I believe that at one 
time the season opened on the first of March, and even 
now, the law allows trout to be taken on the island 
two weeks or more earlier than elsewhere in the State. 
The fish which had access to salt water were celebrated 
for their fine quality, and may be still, I do not know. 
Of course, the conditions in our mountain streams are 
very different; snow is usually found in the woods until 
the end of April. I have seen it on the slopes of the 
Catskills early in May. The nights are very cold, and 
the rivers often too high for good fishing. May and 
June are the angler's favorite months, and the thirty 
days from May 15 until June 15 his harvest time. In 
fact, any one who is master of his time would in all 
probability kill more trout between the dates named 
than in all the remainder of the season. There are 
usually a few days or a week of really fine fishing. The 
trout in this golden week seem to be innumerable, and 
if one can strike upon the right day and the right fly, a 
heavy basket will be made. It is not easy for a business 
man to time his visit so as to enjoy the best fishing of 
the year, as the few days I refer to may come at any 
time from May 10 to the middle of June. Our climate 
is a very uncertain quantity, and the seasons vary 
greatly from year to year. It is really very puzzling to 
note the great numbers of trout at this season. They 
have a way of disappearing suddenly a little later when 
the hot weather begins. A few schools may be found 
at the mouths of cold brooks, but where thousands 
were, a few hundred at most remain. 
What a fortunate thing it is that the equipment of 
the fly-fisher is so interesting and attractive! How 
much pleasure one has in hours of ease fussing over 
rods, flies and tackle. This is particularly the case 
where trout are shy and only the smallest flies and 
filmiest casts san be used with any prospect of success. 
I believe that the importations of the best work of the 
English flj'-maker have been larger this year than 
usual, and I know that there has been a large increase 
in the number of dry fly-fishers. Even in Maine, the 
fashion has changed, and small flies were quite the rage 
last season. It was formerly the custom to use pat- 
terns dressed on hooks as large as No. 2, old style, for 
the big trout of the lakes; but now we hear of 8, 10, 12, 
and even smaller sizes. I have noticed that these hoc^s 
are favorites- on the Scotch lochs -an4 for sea trout figh- 
ing in Scotland and Ireland, and have been so for years. 
There is no doubt, however, that at times, if you want 
.big fish you must put up a big fly. Large brown trout 
particularly, which have taken to a fish diet, will not 
be attempted by any infinitestimal insect. I remember 
locating one of these busters some years ago, when the 
water was very low in the stream I was fishing. It was 
a fine big pool, and I worked at it faithfully many times 
and oft without moving the big chap, though I took a 
number of smaller fish. One afternoon I tried every fly 
I could think of, ending with several of Holland's float- 
ers (after pointing my cast with three lengths of his 
cobweb gut). Nothing was any good, and I sat down 
to think about it. Turning over the leaves of an old 
book, I found a whacking black bass fly which I had 
tied on a Pennell eyed hook. What a fool I was! Just 
for something to do, I knotted the end of the cobweb 
gut to the big metal eye and cast the fly oiit where the 
smooth water began, near the head of the pool. As 
the hackle was heavy and put on dry fly fashion, the 
fly floated beautifully and looked like an enormous 
moth trying to fly. There was a tremendous splash, 
and out sailed the big chap with the fly in his mouth. 
The gut, fine as a woman's hair, and tied to thick 
iron, popped at once, and I was left lamenting. This 
was on hard-fished water. 
It is a curious fact that one sometimes finds wild 
trout that have seldom or never been fished for as shy 
and hard to take_ as it is possible for fish to be. I 
remember a pool in a perfect wilderness that was sim- 
ply alive with trout; they could be seen in companies 
and regiments, but two or three fish only could be taken 
at one time. The hundreds remaining were alarmed 
by the struggles of the first fish that were hooked, or 
else realized that the flies were not the real thing. 
There are streams in this country where the trout are 
not in the habit of seeking food upon the surface, and 
these are wilderness rivers also, usually situated in 
heavily timbered, mountainous districts. I fancy that 
some of these waters do not produce natural flies at 
all, I have fished brooks in hemlock forests, where the 
trout were said never to rise until the month of July. 
Two friends and myself traveled several hundred miles 
to reach one of these, not being aware of this peculiar- 
ity. We had expected great things, as an official of 
the railroad had given us wonderful accounts of the 
sport to be had; and we were sadly disappointed. A 
good basket of fish was to be had with bait by going 
up stream about eight miles, but we were fly-fishers, 
and had been dreaming of this trip for months. How- 
ever, on our way home, we stopped off at Lockhaven, 
on the Susquehanna River, for a good night's rest, as 
we were extremely tired. Next morning we were 
sitting in the reading room of the hotel, feeling any- 
thing but happy, when the landlord joined us. After 
questioning me as to our sport, he asked if we were 
good fly-fishers, and was answered (modestly) in the 
affirmative. He then said that an excellent hotel had 
just been opened for the season at Bellefonte, in the 
Bald Eagle Valley, and that there was good fishing in 
the stream which flowed through the town, for anglers 
who were fairly expert. My friends were too much 
depressed to take this bait; but for many months I had 
been looking forward to the time when I could enjoy 
a little fly-fishing. I took train therefor in the course 
of an hour, and soon reached my temporary destination. 
I found everything as represented. The hotel was first 
rate, and I was the only guest. Meals were served at 
all hours, and everything possible was done for my 
comfort. The stream was large, with numerous dams 
upon it, and held a large stock of trout. The finest 
tackle was necessary, and very small flies. It was most 
important to ascertain the color of the fly the fish were 
rising at, as, if this could be matched, a fair basket 
of trout would follow. To give an instance of this, I : 
will relate a single experience. I went up stream one 
afternoon with a resident of the town to a dam which 
had been constructed only two or three years before 
the time of which I am writing. We found that the 
trout were rising all over the shop at a small ephemera 
with pale yellow body. This we tried to imitate in 
vain, and also used all of the flies that were usually 
most successful. At last my companion found a small 
yellow dun in one of the leaves of his fly-book, and 
upon attaching this to his cast, found that he had done 
the trick. Casting over rising fish only, in a very 
short time he killed forty-three trout, while I could do 
nothing. He had no other fly at all like this one. This 
was many (can it be thirty) years ago, but the experi- 
ence was useful, and I have never forgotten that trip. 
It began in discomfort and disappointment, and ended 
in a week of pleasure, with a fine lot of trout. There 
may be fish there now. I know not. 
Theodore Gordon. 
Kippewa Fishing and Hunting- Club. 
The recently organized Kippewa Fishing and Hunting 
Club controls a territory of 587 square miles, and holds 
an option on 400 more. This great territory includes a 
vast number of lakes and rivers, whose waters abound 
in lake trout, pike, pikcrel, maskinonge and bass with, 
of course, brook trout in the rivers and smaller lakes. 
Moose are abundant, and the originators of the club 
have had good hunting. The largest moose killed there, 
of which we have heard, measured sixty-three inches 
across the antlers. There are plenty of deer, some bear 
and caribou, besides other smaller animals. An interest- 
ing feature about the club is its accessibility, since one 
can go directly to the club house by rail and steamer 
in less than two days. The limit of membership is six^, 
