326 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. is, 1904. 
them August 1, have long since vanished from the 
grounds then familiar to them. It is a great pity that 
this illogical and unwise, and unquestionably destructive 
enactment cannot be erased from the statute books of the 
State. These birds are too scarce and by far too precious 
to be potted in their age of helplessness. Better one 
October woodcock with the sport of the thoroughbred in 
him, than a kettle full of pin-feathered chicks served in 
July. 
In the southern tier of New York, grouse are unusually 
plenty, say reports, with squirrels reported numerous in 
some sections and correspondingly scarce in others. A 
bag of six to eight grouse is said to be a matter of 
easy attainment for a good wing shot anywhere between 
West Danby and Van Etten along the line of the Lehigh 
Valley Railroad. Rabbits are found in force in both New 
York and Pennsylvania covers. M. Chill. 
North Dakota Wildfowl. 
Grand Forks, N. D., Oct. 4. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The conditions for game in North Dakota this 
season have been very favorable. Prairie chickens have 
been, and are, very plentiful, although comparatively few 
were killed the first two weeks of the open season on ac- 
count of a very small percentage of the grain being cut, 
which gave excellent protection for the young birds from 
the gun, and the consequence is that there will be a good 
supply of birds left over for propagating next season. 
North Dakota, no doubt, has more local ducks this 
season than usual, and this I attribute to the lateness of 
the spring and during the migratory season more of the 
birds remained here than usual, and nested, there being 
abundance of water in the marshes and pot holes. It is 
now a very easy matter for the sportsman to reach his 
limit on ducks during a day's shoot. The duck shooting 
will be improved in about ten days or two weeks, when 
the northern birds commence to drop in. The quality of 
local birds seems to be improving, and in recent years I 
notice quite an increase in canvasbacks and redheads, and 
especially so this season. In about two weeks the sports- 
men will be able to wake up and have their dreams a 
reality by being able to look over the edge of their pit and 
see the big birds (the geese) setting their wings to see 
what is the meaning of a bunch of decoys on their feed- . 
ing grounds (the stubble fields), and in the northern part 
of the State we have always enjoyed excellent goose 
shooting, and know of no reason why this season should 
not be equally as good, if not better, as water and feed are 
in abundance. Clarence A. Hale. 
Utah has "Much Hooting." 
Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 30.- — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The outlook for hunting is about as usual. We 
have any amount of hunting, but not much game, with 
the exception of wild water fowl, which is reported more 
plentiful this season than usual. But to-morrow is the 
opening day of the season, and as hundreds have gone 
out this evening to take advantage of the first flight, I ex- 
pect that in a few days there will be no birds to be seen. 
John Sharp, Commissioner. 
Deer Abundant in Arizona. 
Phcenix, Ariz., Oct. 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Our deer are more plentiful than for years, and in fine 
condition, owing to heavy rains all over Arizona the past 
two' and a half months, causing abundance of feed in the 
mountains. Several hunting parties have gone out pre- 
pared to stay two or three weeks, and have returned in 
five days with the limit. Several deer have been killed 
this year within twelve miles of Phoenix. Quail, ducks, 
geese and rabbits are very plentiful, and will be all winter. 
Doves are so numerous all the year as to be almost a pest. 
W. Z. Pinney, 
Secretary and^ Member Fish and Game Commission. 
Idaho Game, Native and Imported. 
Hagerman, Idaho, Oct. 3. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The ducks and geese are very plentiful, and we had a 
good crop of sage hens and grouse this year. The deer 
and elk are on the increase. We have planted a few pairs 
of Chinese pheasants in Latah county, as we think they 
will do well there. Deputies returning from the Clear- 
water, report that hunters have done well in killing deer 
and elk and mountain goats in those parts. 
W. V. Jones, 
State Game Warden. 
Oregon Deer and Birds. 
Cottage Grove, Ore., Sept. 29. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Game is plentiful this year, especially deer and 
birds. Elk cannot be killed before September 15, 1007. 
I think the prohibiting of killing them will be extended 
next winter when the Legislature meets. 
J. W. Baker, 
State Game Warden. 
New Mexican Large Game. 
Santa Fe, N. M., Sept. 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Game has increased during the past two years, and the 
outlook for. this winter is very good, especially for large 
game — deer, bear, and lion. P. B. Otero, Warden. 
Long- Island Ducks. 
New York, Oct. 6. — On October 1 Oscar B. Smith, of 
Morristown, N. J., and myself, at East Moriches, bagged 
11 black duck, 12 blue-winged teal, 2 green-winged teal, 
2 broadbills (lesser scaup), and one pintail; also a fine 
specimen of the duck hawk. Our gunner was Elwood 
Brown, and we shot from the east end of Reeve's Island. 
The pintail and a broadbill were found to have pin- 
feathers on, so winter ought to be mild, if "Lyin' Oby" is 
correct. We saw a great many blue-winged teal — several 
large bunches. Robt. B. Lawrence. 
East Quogue, Long Island, Oct. 10. — By request, I send 
you the number of ducks shot here: October 1, 27; 
Oct. 3, 15; Oct. 4, 8; Oct. 5, 14; Oct. 6, 10; Oct. 7, 12; 
Oct. 8, 10. The ducks were blacks, sprigs, and widgeons. 
Snipe, yellow-legs, plover, and creekers were killed each 
day. There were some geese on the 8th; we saw about 
100. It is quite early for geese. E. A. Jackson. 
"The Rule of Oby." 
New York, Sept. 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: Who 
killed a broadbill, a sheldrake, and a black duck on Long 
Island on Sept. 17, 1904? Duck law opens on October 1. 
Am surorised and grieved. I suppose it was "Lyin' Oby." 
R. B. L. 
[We do not know who killed the ducks out of season. 
It was probably done for scientific purposes; but even 
so, a naturalist's permit with penal bond of $100, would 
have been required.] 
Bob, 
From the Log of Camp Nessmuk. 
The story of Camp Nessmuk would be incomplete 
without, at least, a mention of Bob— Old Bob, we lov- 
ingly called him. 
Bob was our dog; rather he claimed kinship with 
Pap, though I believe he really belonged to the mistress 
s and children at home. Bob was of the collie breed, his 
forebears hailing from auld Scotia's rough and rugged 
soil. The long-pointed muzzle, shaggy, tawny coat, 
pointed, shapely ears, keen, intelligent eye made an 
ensemble bespeaking blood of high and ancient lineage. 
Bob was a young dog, hardly a puppy, yet he had not 
attained to the wisdom and dignity of an older dog, 
and who so wise, so dignified as an old dog. He 
has learned wisdom from rough-bought experience; 
dignity sits him as though born to the cloth. While 
Bob was, perhaps, fully grown, being quite large for one 
of his ilk, yet his ways were youthful and puppy-like. 
His manner was awkward and with strangers he might 
have been at times, maybe, a bit fresh. 
Bob was a handsome dog. And who so lacking as 
not to love a handsome dog? Truly, the dog is man's 
best and truest friend, save woman; on his everlasting 
friendship you may safely count, even though the world 
has cast you beneath its haughty gaze. The good com- 
pany and real companionship one receives from his dog 
is an unknown factor only to those who have been 
denied that boon— the confidence and friendship of a 
good dog. 
Bob's early training had not received that careful 
supervision so necessary with young dogs and boys if 
they are to be best fitted to avoid the snares and temp- 
tations of a wisely wicked world. He early acquired 
some habits, as boy and dog are apt to do, not very 
bad ones; but in the end they brought him into_ disgrace 
and caused his banishment from the home of his puppy- 
hood, consequently from the joys of a Nessmuker. He 
had a mind to run out at passing wagons and bark at 
horses; he had even been known to grasp a rapidly re- 
volving spoke and make a flying summersault through 
the air. In his big bungling, playful way he would 
jump against fat women, and, while Bob's intentions 
were of the best, his attentions were rather hard on 
the nerves of his more timid victims. 
I think it was the mistress who suggested that we take 
Bob along to camp. He had recently been guilty of 
some little indiscretion and she wanted to have none 
bf his blood on her hands, as it were. So Bob be- 
came a Nessmuker; a right good one he proved. 
Did you ever stop to think of the distance a live, 
active dog travels in making a journey of twenty or 
thirty miles? Aren't his powers of endurance simply 
wonderful? How may miles he does cover. In and 
out, across the road, over the fence into the field, then 
over again and ahead, only to come back and run be- 
hind to see something apparently missed a moment be- 
fore; always on the go, he must fairly treble his steps, 
yet he never says "quit," and turns up at the end in 
good condition. 
Bob entered into the spirit of the week and became 
an ardent fisherman; his lot was cast with Pap and 
Pard, and he remained a faithful henchman on their 
many trips up and down the 'Sock. He must have acted 
circumspectly, else Pap would have interdicted his 
going. He. no doubt, remained demurely in the rear, 
patiently refraining from rushing in where they were 
about to cast. The late Seth Green — apostle of fishing 
and fish culture, our Izzak Walton — somewhere says 
that fish have no sense of sound, protecting themselves 
by their vision which is exceedingly keen, a falling leaf 
sending them scudding to cover. So if Bob kept out 
of sight he could do no harm. 
Bob was an arrant coward at night, but not in the day- 
time, for he had spirit and would fight. Pie was not 
to be imposed upon by base and ignoble brutes, and 
had no end of snappy encounters during the week under 
the maples with the mangy curs belonging to Miller. 
His manner of fighting was not of the hold-and-hang 
style of the bulldog, but after the quick, snappy way 
peculiar to shepherd dogs. Who can blame poor Bob 
if, after the darkness had settled over our leafy world, 
the fire burned low and the blanketed forms of his 
fellow Nessmukers had sunk into the arms of Morpheus, 
he quietly sought the feet of Pap and curled himself for 
sleep on the blankets? Not I. For I like not the lonely 
watches of the night when the sounding stillness that 
broods o'er the mountain fastnesses is broken only by 
the chirping of the crickets, the ceaseless reiteration 
of "katy-did" and "katy-didn't," monotone of mur- 
muring waters and sighing winds, the lonesome cry 
of the whippoorwill ond the haunting plaint of the 
night-hunting great owl or the horse-like whinny of 
the little screech owl — all depressing sounds apt to get 
upon one's nerves. Bob had my sympathy. 
Who can honestly claim to be without the sense of 
fear in the darkest hours of night when dire occasion 
fares him forth afoot and alone to brave the unseeable 
and unknowable dangers that may lie in wait in his 
path? I am free to confess that from my boyhood up 
the dark has held many terrors, though I know not 
what they can be, yet, they haunt my every step into 
the impenetrable void of blackness, and require the 
exercise of the coward's courage to exercise them. It 
is not the mere sense of loneliness or fear of unseen 
danger; but is it not rather a remnant of that fear of 
the dark come down to us through the countless gener- 
ations of men since our forebears of the stone age 
dwelt in tireless caves and shuddered the terrifying 
night away while pliocene monsters raged without? 
For with the rising of fair Luna above the mountain's 
crest, lurking fear flees as the mists before the day- 
bringing sun. I am often led to speculate on how much 
nicer this old world would be if we had two moons, or 
better, Jupiter-like, four; perhaps one would be al- 
ways full. 
Although Bob was an honored guest, and that we 
justly prided ourselves on the open-handed hospitality 
of Camp Nessmuk, there are those so fortunate as to 
have enjoyed it, who will bear me cheerful witness, 
truth compels the reluctant admission that Bob fared 
but indifferently well. His daily fare was not so sumpt- 
uous as he might have wished and the occasion war- 
ranted. A fish diet, even though it be of the dainty of 
dainties — trout — is not the most robustious and satis- 
fying for a healthy, hungry dog. We, however, did the 
best we could by him, feeding him premium dried beef 
at twenty-five cents per, and whatever from our larder 
we could spare and he would eat; but he must have 
wagged his tail with evident relief when he returned to 
the fleshpots of home, for he was gaunt and hollow from 
his .menu of fish, alas ! too oft but the bones. 
That was a battle royal Bob waged with Miller's 
old black dog just when the wagon was starting for 
home. Miller, his. dogs and kids, vulture-like, were on 
hand to see what they might pounce upon, when be- 
for some unknown cause Bob, who liked not the pack 
of 'em, man, kids, dogs, pounced upon the old dog. It 
was short, sharp, fierce, and created no end of excite- 
ment for a few moments. Luckily for Bob, the old 
dog was shy on teeth or it would have gone hard with 
him. 
Shortly upon his return home Bob got into an un- 
premeditated mix-up with a man, a horse and a churn; 
the horse was frightened, the churn broken, the man 
wrought to a mighty wrath. Irate and obdurate he 
sought out Pap, who, as alleged owner of the dog, 
was demanded to make good. Pap, with the .instincts 
of the true sportsman, demurred, and started forth on 
a visit among his legal friends with a view to discover- 
ing the status of the dog and his maste'r before the 
majesty of the law. After completing the circle of the 
half dozen shining legal lights of his fellow Nessmukers 
.(feeling in kind) and finding it more disconcerting than 
a case of school discipline a loco parentis, he settled. 
Bob was banished. 
Poor fellow, we missed him next year. 
William Walters Champion. 
Susquehanna River Fishing Notes. 
Sayre, Pa., Oct. 8. — The law permits the use of eel 
pots or fish baskets for catching eels, provided the user 
of such a device has previously procured a license, which 
is described as being in force only from the 25th day of 
August to the 1st day of December of the year in which it 
is issued, it being necessary to renew the license annually. 
The eel crop is said to be unusually large this season, and 
experts estimate that 20,000 eels have already been 
caught. A local river fisherman lately caught 1,700 eels 
during a single night, so it may reasonably be inferred 
that the above total estimate is under rather than above 
the actual figure. 
Dip nets of prescribed size may be used during the 
remainder of the year for the taking of carp, eels, catfish, 
and suckers in waters not inhabited by trout, and as a 
result, this class of fish are being taken in considerable 
quantities both in Susquehanna and tributary waters. 
The bass and pike fishing has been poor for some time, 
owing to the peculiar conditions of the river which some- 
times obtain at this season of the year. Improvement, 
however, is anticipated to occur shortly. 
M. Chill. 
