FOREST AND STREAM. 
ItDEC 17, 1904- 
radically from past interpretations of the common law 
upon which all protective legislation at the present time 
vested in the various State governments is based. Cer- 
tainly the reasons for national legislation on the subject 
are well set forth in the preamble of the bill, and should 
appeal to all the sportsmen of the country. I sincerely 
hope the measure will pass, and that its constitutionality 
will be quickly demonstrated. It should meet with the 
indorsement of all State Legislatures which are enacting 
laws for the protection of game birds. _ I see no other 
way to save the woodcock, the extermination of which 
within a stated number of years is prophesied by the best 
authorities on the subject. If the measure proves to be a 
good law, why not have a similar law for the protection 
of migratory fishes, and thus avoid the wanton slaughter 
which sometimes occurs through conflicting laws or con- 
flict of authorities of adjacent States? Take for illustra- 
tion the slaughter of salmon in the Columbia River dur- 
ing the past closed season, permitted by the game wardens 
of both Washington and Oregon, and as a result of which 
it has been impossible to obtain for either State or 
national hatcheries the customary quota of eggs for pur- 
poses of propagation. These are my personal expressions 
on the subject. John W. Titcomb. 
Saginaw, Mich., Dec. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have yours of the 8th inclosing notice of the Federal 
game law. I had already written to Congressman Ford- 
ney, Rpresentative from our district, bringing this mat- 
ter to his favorable consideration. He is a sportsman, and 
I know he will do what he can. This is certainly a move 
in the right direction. If the people really desire to pro- 
tect game, _ and if they really wish to prevent our bird 
life becoming extinct, then here is a chance for them 
to show it, for this is the only practicable solution of the 
problem. W. B. Mershon. 
State of Minnesota, 
Board of Game and Fish Commissioners. 
St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Yours of the 8th inst. at hand and contents noted. You 
can rest assured that I am in hearty sympathy with the 
bill introduced by Hon. Geo. Shiras 3d, of Pennsylvania, 
and the bill, in my estimation, fills a long felt want, some- 
thing that ought to have been out a long time ago, and 
it certainly deserves the active support of every game pro- 
tector in the United States. 
It is a fact that the different States have tried to pro- 
tect the ducks, especially in the spring when they are 
mating or in their flight to their breeding grounds north. 
While States like Minnesota have been consistent in the 
enforcement of our laws in regard to spring shooting, other 
States all around us have allowed it, and the consequence 
is that our law has been nullified to a certain extent; but 
if this Federal law can be passed, it will do away with 
that and place every State on the level, and will do more 
to protect the aquatic fowl of the United States than 
anything that could be devised by the different States. 
We see in Minnesota the benefits of stopping spring 
shooting, and I have no fear of the results if this bill of 
Mr. Shiras is adopted and becomes a law. 
I have taken the liberty of writing to the Senators and 
each of our Representatives in Washington, and have re- 
quested that if consistent, I. hope they will support this 
measure. It is a just one and ought to become a law." 
Sam. F. Fullerton, Executive Agent. 
Newfoundland Notes. 
Efforts are being made to induce the Government or 
the Reid Newfoundland Company to send an exhibit to 
the New York Sportsmen's Show. We ought to be able 
to send one of the very best exhibits possible. Our seal, 
bear, caribou, grouse and sea bird specimens would inter- 
est sportsmen the world over; and as for our salmon, sea 
trout, grilse, and brook trout, we ought to be able to 
furnish the very best specimens in America. 
I send you a clipping from a late local paper giving a 
graphic description of a fight between a bear and wolf. 
It will not be an uninteresting addition to the discussion 
of "Bears I Have Met." The story is told by a trapper 
from the upper reaches of Grand Lake, whose letter to a 
friend in the city reached him by Saturday's mail. He 
gives an interesting experience of his sojourn in the wilds 
of the country. "I am alone," he said, "and I wish to be. 
I am a recluse of the forest; I have been trapping for 
thirty years, and the life is a pleasant one. Early in Sep- 
tember, with some others, I canoed up this splendid lake, 
and after enjoying a good time with them, a rough crew, 
many of them loggers, some sportsmen, and others 
tourists, started on my work in the interior. I had a 
small canoe which could be paddled only by one, and I 
gave some people an opportunity to try their skill, but they 
came to grief, and I often laughed heartily at their ex- 
pense. Deer were seen and shot, and some of the Ameri- 
cans marveled at my skill as a deer stalker and salmon 
catcher. Splendid antlers were secured, and the products 
of the lake and its tributaries often afforded savory meals 
of salmon, trout and venison. The visitors when leaving 
said the country was an El Dorado for sportsmen, and 
parted from me with many regrets. But I was after game 
which would bring me in gold. Inured to hardship, I de- 
termined to face further inland than ever before, and 
often wade weary portages with canoe on back, but pitch- 
ing camp after a hard day's traveling enjoyed the rest 
which my labors had earned. The scenery was beautiful, 
and the forest denizens were my companions. I trusted 
to my good rifle to repel any incursions which beasts 
might make to my camp. On October 15 snow began to 
fall. It was quite calm, and the big flakes descended 
noiselessly, changing the landscape, and the trees bent 
wth their burden of crystals. Rabbits were snared or 
shot, and I feasted royally. Fox, lynx, muskrat and other 
skins were taken by day, but one night quite an adventure 
occurred. Rabbits were plentiful, and from the camp the 
bones were thrown around. For days I had seen the 
tracks of animals that showed big game to be about, and 
was on the alert each morning tracing the tracks through 
the forest. Guessing that bears or wolves were about 
on the night of the 21st, a brace of dead rabbits was 
left a few yards from the camp, and I tracked for hours 
for my quarry. The weather had become mild, and as 
nothing occurred, I rolled myself in my blanket and fell 
asleep, when suddenly fomethmg hit the place, and the 
canvas covering came down with a bang. • Crawling as 
best I could from underneath my shelter, rifle in hand, I 
ran to a tree, up which I climbed, and saw two animals 
in deadly combat. The night had become clear, and the 
moon shone full on the scene. The fight was a deadly 
one.^ A full-grown wolf had captured the rabbits and was 
tearing them with his fangs when a black bear, which evi- 
dently had visited the place before, came upon the beast. 
The latter turned on bruin, dropping his meal and avoid- 
ing the blow aimed at him, fastened his teeth in the bear's 
flanks, bringing bruin to earth, and both rolled over and 
over. The bear several times shook the wolf off and ran 
for the rabbits, but the wolf disputed his right, and once, 
grasping one of his forepaws, bit it through, crippling it. 
Bruin vainly thought to hug him with the other. The 
member, however, did good w r ork in the struggle, as it 
tore the wolf down, and the fur and blood flew in all 
directions. Maddened with pain, the wolf fastened on 
the bear's neck, and over and over they fought, flattening 
the canvas of the tent and destroying everything inside. 
Big tufts of hair and flesh fell from the bear, who was 
getting decidedly the worst of the encounter with his 
broken paw, when I drew a bead on him and my rifle 
woke the echoes, shooting bruin through the heart. As he 
rolled over, the wolf painfully emerged, but ran to take 
the rabbits, when another shot brought him down. This 
only hamstrung the beast, which lay growling with his 
prey in his mouth, but another well-directed and delib- 
erate shot gave him his conge. I secured two fine skins. 
I will remain up country till March, and will write out 
any further incidents of note." 
s r r From Massachusetts. 
Boston, Dec. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
readers have all heard of the Rev. H. K. Job, who 
has delivered illustrated lectures on birds in many 
cities and towns. In the lecture at Cambridge last 
week he showed on the screen many pictures of egrets. 
He said for the life of him he would not tell where the 
extensive rookery, discovered by him, was located, for 
if he did, "there'd be an army of millinery gunners 
organized for their extermination." 
The lecturer also showed blue herons in the ever- 
glades; buzzards in Southern cities; shore birds along 
the coast; pelicans, red-backed sandpipers, curlew, on 
the beaches; plover, their nests, eggs and young, and 
other species ot game birds. He gave a graphic ac- 
count of his visit to the Magdalen Islands, showing 
numerous sea fowl, black ducks, bittern nests, with 
young, Wilson's snipe on her nest, razor-billed ducks, 
gulls and terns. At the close lie explained that his first 
interest in bird life was developed by his experience 
as a sportsman, and urged his hearers to give them 
the "right hand of fellowship." Members of Audubon 
societies, he said, should welcome their assistance in 
efforts to protect birds and animals. 
On Tuesday evening a goodly number of members of 
the State Association met at the CopSey Square Hotel 
for dinner, and were pleasantly entertained by an ac- 
count of recent moose hunting trips by the president, 
Dr. M. A. Morris, atld Mr. George Perry, all of whom 
have had successful trips this fall. Dr. A. R. Brown 
conducted the musical part of the entertainment, as- 
sisted by Mr. Bruce Belmore as pianist. On Thursday 
evening the board of management took action looking 
to the renewal of the work of last spring in restocking 
with quail. The committee appointed in November to 
present a list of officers for next year presented a re- 
port. The election will be held the second Wednes- 
day of January. The president was authorized to ap- 
point a committee to arrange for the annual dinner. 
Reports from northern New Hampshire show the kill- 
ing of a large number of deer this season, and in the 
southern part of the State, where they have no open 
season, they are rapidly multiplying, having been seen 
in groups of from four to eight in several towns just 
over the border of Massachusetts. 
Yesterday I met Mr. Farle}', of Boston, who has 
just returned from a trip of several weeks duration in 
the Ox Bow region of Aroostook -county, Maine, where 
he found game surprisingly plenty. He had the for- 
tune to secure a moose and a good buck. He says he 
could have shot a dozen deer but for legal restrictions 
and had he been so disposed. There is some discrep- 
ancy between the reports from Bangor of the number 
of moose killed this season, as shown by the number 
tagged there, one giving it as 208. the other 198. At 
any rate, there is no doubt of a slight falling off this 
year, as compared with 1903, when there were 215 
shipped. The season closed at midnight of Nov. 30. 
Deer shipments to Friday noon show a footing of 
4,008, as against 4,274 to the same time in 1903. The 
decrease in the number of moose has been a surprise, 
for they have been reported all along as very numerous; 
"many moose seen," has been the report of visitors dur- 
ing the summer and fall. In the number of bears killed 
there has been an increase of twenty-two, as reported. 
In a very few days the deer record will be completed, 
the season ending at midnight of Dec. 15. 
A hunter from the Hoosier State claims the honor 
of getting the largest moose secured in Maine this 
year. The animal is said to have weighed 1,400 (?) 
pounds — the largest on record for several years. It 
was killed in the Chesuncook region. The head was 
out of the ordinary, but a good one. On the left was a 
treble web with seventeen points; on- the, right were 
twelve points; spread 56 inches. 
Mr. E. C. Frost, of S. Framingham, as the result of 
a few days' trip, brought from the Rangeley region two 
fine bucks. After a month in camp a party of four 
Fitchburg sportsmen has returned with four deer. 
Since I wrote you last week the sportsmen of our 
State have met with a great loss in the death of Capt. 
J. W. Collins, for the past five years chairman of the 
Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission. Your cor- 
respondent is not alone in regarding this event as a 
great calamity to the State. The Captain was taken 
with pneumonia on Monday, and- passed away at his 
home in Brighton on Friday. Funeral services will be 
held at the house on Monday at 10 o'clock. In" a 
future letter I hope to present to your readers a resume 
of the work accomplished by the board since Capt. 
Collins took the helm in 1899, Central. 
Two Guides for Sale* 
Jersey Citv, Dec. 8. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
editorial, "He Pays His Fine," reminds me of a visit I 
received from a certain guide coming from Montana, 
early in August, 1903. He wanted to know the camp ad- 
dress of a guide in New Brunswick; he had written to his 
home address, but had received no reply; it was a mat- 
ter, of importance, could I give him the camp address? 
He then showed me the letter that must be answered. 
It was from our New Brunswick friend, in which he had 
agreed to take our friend from Montana and his two 
friends to kill moose in tile close" season. The sum and 
substance of the letter was that it would be all right for 
him to come in with his two "sports," but to come in as 
trout fishermen ; the Montana man could not act as guide, 
but he could pole a canoe, thereby saving a dollor a day. 
They were to arrive in the moose country in the latter 
part of August, and be out before the opening day, Sep- 
tember 15. They were to bring trout-rods, not rifles; he 
would supply the rifles. His charges per day would be 
the same as all of his parties pay in open season, with 
the proviso that in the event of their killing moose he 
would have to charge them extra for the risk he was 
taking. It gave other valuable advice to our Montana 
friend. 
I left New York September 14 that same year to hunt 
moose. In order to reach my country I had to pass 
through this man's country. I learned on my way in that 
he had two men in in August, and that they had left 
early in September, before the opening day. In passing 
through this man's country I met him and one of his 
"sports." He had three sportsmen in for the opening 
season. They had seen nothing. On my way out three 
weeks later, I met him again; his first party had left; 
they had seen no moose, and only succeeded in killing a 
cow caribou or two. Three weeks in one of the best 
moose countries in New Brunswick, and the opening 
weeks at that, and no moose. Perhaps our trout fisher- 
men can tell why! 
To get back to our Mont ma friend. After reading the 
letter we left the office and I questioned him in regard to 
shooting in his country. He gave all the information 
asked; told me my chances for game were good, and 
finished by saying he had just returned from a two 
months' trip through his country with a "sport" from 
New York (the name is connected with one of New 
York's leading papers), in which they had killed moun- 
tain sheep, elk and deer. They went down the Missouri 
in a house-boat, I believe he said, and for which trip, 
where the killing must have been done in June and July, 
he said he received $1,500. 
What are the chances for sportsmen in the country of 
either of these gentlemen for securing game after living 
up to the letter of the law and coming in in the open 
season? 
Such is the reputation of "two leading guides" as I 
know it from the lips of one and the pen of the other. 
Perhaps your editorial, "He Pays His Fine," is the out- 
come of the one's dirty work; then again my man may 
be still another, for no doubt there are others. 
Otto Keim. 
Shooting a Sitting Duck, 
Philadelphia, Dec. 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Comfortably located in a blind or club shooting box, per- 
haps heated with an oil stove, with an attendant to pick 
up dead birds, arrange decoys, etc., it is an easy matter 
to criticise those who, under entirely different circum- 
stances, may elect to "pot" a dusky mallard. But how 
about him who marks down one of these wary birds in a 
pond hole with little or no cover and makes a stalk of 
perhaps half a mile, the greater part of which is on 
hands and knees and through mud, only to find his quarry 
a long gunshot away; must he forthwith arise and say 
"Shoo!" before shooting? I have never heard of yelling 
at a deer to get it in motion under like circumstances. 
A certain Blunt Old Man, more or less well-known, 
himself an ardent duck shooter as well as fisherman, has 
recently in public print mildly ridiculed the class of "ex- 
clusive sportsmen" who refuse to partake of nicely-cooked 
trout unless assured that they were taken on the fly. I 
am not sure but some of the same argument may be ap- 
plied in other directions. 
I recall an occasion near the end of a highly unsuccess- 
ful ducking trip, when a few birds for the friends at home 
were almost a necessity. Seated in mud and water at the 
edge of a small pond, I anxiously watched the flight of 
seven dusky mallards, and when I saw they were about to 
pay me a visit no fears of wet clothes kept me from sink- 
ing lower and lower into the mud. As the leader was 
about 1/16 of an inch from a sitting position in the water, 
and his followers 1%, 2V4, 3%, etc., inches (estimated) 
from the same position, I fired. As the survivors made 
a frightened leap in the air, two drew together and came 
down at the crack of the second barrel. As I gathered 
five plump birds I did not at that time realize by what a 
narrow margin I escaped being a social outcast. I do 
now. As the meeting comes to order I will take a seat 
with M. Hardy. Ocean. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Blunt Old Man seems to be in for a scoring now from 
correspondents, on account of his ideas about hunting. 
But cirucmstanc.es alter cases. I have been busy for the 
last few weeks looking up all the proverbs in the English 
language in an attempt to win $250 a Pittsburg paper 
offers, and I am filled up with proverbs now. I would 
not crawl up on a flock of quail and shoot into them 
while they were sunning themselves. I can once in a 
while hit one or more of them when they fly; and if they 
w r ere slow about flying, I would kick a clod in among 
them and make them fly. But in the case of the duck, if 
he will not fly, what are you to do? I met a duck of 
that kind early this fall, the only one, by the way, I .had. a 
chance to get They were late in coming in here, and 
when they did come, the weather was too cold. I had 
already laid my boat up and had quit; I can't stand cold 
weather as well now as I could forty years ago. 
The Union Arms Company, of Toledo, sent me a new 
gun this fall, and I was anxious to try it just as soon as 
the law was off the. ducks ; the law came off at the proper 
time, but the ducks did not arrive. I took the gun across. 
