Nov. 25, t90S.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
438 
to get one that shall be the equal of the grand head of 
sixty-six points that was gathered in by Frederick of 
Prussia in 1696, and which was considered such a wonder 
that it was exchanged for a regiment of soldiers. The 
present Kaiser’s best head of antlers is one of forty-four 
points, which is a trophy that can be shown by hardly 
another hunter in the world. 
The Kaiser’s preserves dot Germany east, west, south 
and north. In the east are great domains, kept wild as 
forests primeval by cunning forestry, where the true elk 
still live in herds, a far more royal game than our Ameri- 
can wapiti. In still other forests are the great deer 
known as Edelhirsch. It is from these herds that the 
wonderful antlers come, for among these animals are 
deer mightier than any that the hunters of free Asia, 
Africa or America ever may hope to see. 
There are boar preserves and pheasantries. Quail and 
grouse are bred by the thousands every year. In the 
south of the empire are chamois preserves, hanging to 
the sides of white mountains. In Lithuania there are 
even remnants of the wonderful prehistoric bison of Eu- 
rope, the wisent, half again as big as our American bison. 
Everybody knows that the emperor’s left arm is with- 
ered. Few who see him swing his gun on game and shoot 
steadily all day long would suspect it. So well does he 
shoot that his score since 1872 amounts to 50>798 pieces 
of game. This includes all sorts of animals, from wis- 
ents and bear to rabbits and foxes, and all sorts of birds, 
from quail to ptarmigans and cranes. 
His record of pheasants alone is enormous, for he is 
accounted one of the best pheasant shots of Europe, ex- 
celled only by Prince August of Coburg-Cohary, who 
once killed 997 pheasants out of a thousand shots in the 
preserves of Ferrieres. 
Of course, these enormous scores could never be made 
by still-hunting, or even hounding, as we understand 
hunting here. The royal hunters don’t incline much to 
the delights of the trail and the spoor. They don’t waste 
any. precious time in looking for their game. Long be- 
fore they get out of bed on the morning of the hunt 
scores of beaters have begun to close in on the preserves 
from all directions, and the animals are beginning to 
bunch in the woods near the stands. Then all is in readi- 
ness for the final concentric closing in of the ring of beat- 
ers and drivers, to force the animals along the line of fire 
or past the stands. 
These stands are made like little forts when royalty 
hunts, especially when the game is such vicious game as 
wild boars. There is little danger that even a desperate 
stag or a ravening mother sow w'ill be able to charge the 
station of the hunter with any chance of hurting the 
sportsman. 
Past these stands the game flees in steady procession, 
driven out by the hidden men. The hunter has nothing ■ 
to do except to shoot. To a real wilderness hunter, with 
whom the kill is only the final act, and not the most 
thrilling of the hunt, royal hunting would be like fishing. 
But poor old royalty does not know any better, and, if 
it did, could rarely get anything better, for royalty may 
not permit itself to go ofif alone into the wilderness and 
be a real dead game sport. 
Within their limits, however, there are many degrees 
of sporting blood. Kaiser Wilhelm and Franz Joseph, 
for instance, though they are willing to shoot at driven 
deer, would disdain to shoot like the Czar and the grand 
dukes and grand duchesses of Russia, who shoot pheas- 
ants that have been carefully carried to the designated 
spot in the baskets just before they arrive. 
People wonder at the energy of Emperor Wilhelm. He 
is a young man. Franz Joseph is seventy-five years old, 
and still climbs sturdily around his Austrian Alps to hunt 
chamois and eagles. Wilhelm’s grandfather, Wilhelm L, 
hunted till his ninetieth year. The Grand Duke Adolf of 
Luxemburg was so enthusiastic, a hunter until nearly into 
the nineties that it became a regular practice with his 
huntsmen to weigh all his game before it was drawn, 
while, that of the guests was weighed in regular fashion 
after it had been cleaned. Then the old gentleman would 
smile all over and chuckle' at the ever-recurring discov- 
ery that he still was able to beat all the young men. 
There' is one royal hunter who was almost democratic, 
and who really did play earnestly at being just plain 
human when he went a-h unting. That was Prince Regent 
Luitpold of Bavaria. 
A few years ago, when he was eighty-two years old, he 
went into one of the deer preserves to hunt. The inhabi- 
tants had prepared a reception for him. Among other 
things they had selected the most skillful driver for the 
honorable post of driving the royal guest to the shooting 
grounds. 
When everything was in readiness word was received 
that the prince regent did not wish to have any formality, . 
and that he would arrive incognito as Mr. Sornebody-or- 
Other. The committee, told the driver immediately that 
he would not drive the prince, but would have a plain 
mister as passenger. 
The disappointed man, who did not understand the 
subtle principles of traveling incognito, indignantly tore 
the decorations from the carriage and began to swear 
with the fluency of Bavarian swearers, which is pretty 
good. . . 
The prince regent climbed into the carriage, and the 
driver whipped up his horses and continued to swear. 
The passenger tried to engage him in simpler conversa- 
tion, wilhoiit success. At last he fell back on cigars. He 
handed out a handful to the driver, and passed a gold 
piece to him at the same time. 
The driver looked at the generous gifts for a moment. 
Then he whistled and turned around. 
“Say,” he said, “you. there! I was plenty good and 
mad wlien they told me that I wasn't going to drive his 
royal highness. But now I feel better. That miserable 
old prince regent can go and drive wherever he darned 
well pleases for all of me. I guess j^ou're as good as 
any old relic of a royal highness, and me and you wall 
just have a corking good time, hey?” 
And the prince regent laughed, and said: “Yes, old 
boy: me and you will.” 
.\nd they did. 
All commimicafions for Forest aito Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., Ne%v York, to 
receive attention. iVe hav^ ne Qther office. 
My First Camp Hunt. 
Richmond, Va., Nov. ii. — On Monday, Nov. 6, I 
landed in Cheraw, S. C., bound for W. H. Powell’s 
camp, five miles away. I was met by a young man who 
said, “I’ve come to meet the best looking man who gets 
off the train, and you must be the man.” ^ Lifting my 
baggage into the buggy, I was soon speeding away to 
the hunting camp, which was reached in an hour. I 
found a row of tents pitched, and every convenience for 
the comfort of a man who wanted to live out of doors 
and still be as comfortable as if he was at home. There 
were dogs galore, and good ones, too. I had my own 
dogs, but soon saw that I could make a better bag with 
those provided by Mr. Powell for his guests, and left 
mine in the camp. My guide knew every hog path in 
twenty miles of the place, and as he was able to get 
about, while I was inclined toward corpulency, I al- 
lowed him to do the walking, until birds were found. 
He carried a horn, and I responded to his calls. 
It was rather early for good shooting, as the frosts 
had not killed the vines and grass, and many of the 
coveys found were too small to shoot. Besides, the 
weather was hot and dry, making it hard on both man 
and dog. Had I not been handicapped by my two 
hundred pounds of flesh and old age, many a bird now 
roaming the field would have fallen a victim to my old 
reliable Parker. At the age of sixty-one, I find myself 
about as good a shot as I ever was, but I can’t get at 
’em as I did when I was younger. As it was, I was sat- 
isfied with 141 quail in four days, the majority of them 
falling to my gun. My fifth day, and in a section where 
I was assured of a big find of birds, the rain poured 
down upon us, and we sought shelter under the hos- 
pitable roof of a farmer, who had 5,600 acres of land, 
and who insisted upon our staying with him until the 
weather cleared up. The horse show in New York, to 
which I had promised to go, forced me to leave on a 
beautiful day and at a time when the changed conditions 
in the weather had made it an ideal day for sport. My 
advice to those who come to the Powell camp is to live 
in tents, which are as comfortable and clean as any 
private house could be, and with a kitchen presided over 
by Green, a typical Southern darky of the olden time. 
He is not only a good cook, but possesses a rich fund 
of anecdotes about coons, possums and ghosts which 
makes a tired sportsman hate to go to bed. A man can' 
get any kind of sport he wants now, for in addition to 
bird dogs, there are also some trained fox, coon and 
possum dogs. 
I never stopped among a more hospitable people 
than those in and around Cheraw. I spent two nights 
in the old Colonial home of Mr. J. H. Hartzell, whose 
charming lady knows how to take care of sportsmen, 
and in whose home ladies, as well as gentlemen, will be 
entertained delightfully while hunting with Mr. Powell. 
Mrs. Hartzell possesses a grace of manner and an air 
of culture and refinement which captivate and make a 
stranger feel at once that he is in the home of a friend, 
while her husband finds time to mingle with his guests 
and assist the hostess in preparing for the comfort of 
everybody. I have often thought it strange that visitors 
coming from the North seeking a milder climate, should 
put up at hotels, when they could be so much better off 
in every way in the homes of these cultured people, who 
appreciate the fact that some other things beside 
climate are necessary to the happiness of those who 
have to live away from home. 
My possum hunt was a success, but its laughable and 
most enjoyable features must be left for another time, 
as this is already too long. Polk Miller. 
In the Maine Game Belt. 
Bangor, Me., Nov. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The big game shipments centinue to hold up, and from 
the present indications not only will last year’s record be 
surpassed but very probably the record of 1902, when the 
greatest shipments of deer and moose ever known in 
Maine were made. The pessimists were fearful for the 
supply of game in the face of such killing, but the fact 
that the deer have increased faster than the food in many 
localities has shown the need of killing off at least a large 
proportion of the normal increase, if this winter starva- 
tion would be avoided. October saw more deer shipped 
over the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad than in 1902, and 
during this month there have been many days when the 
deer shipments were very close to the hundred mark. 
Moose, too, are coming in good numbers, and some very 
nice antlers are awaiting the final touches at the hands of 
the taxidermists. 
A story published by a Maine newspaper this week 
created quite a sensation, to the effect that the Interna- 
tional Paper Company was about to enter upon a policy 
of driving off all camps from the vast tracts of timber- 
land under its control. A camp owner in this office and 
talking with your correspondent .about the matter said 
that if the rumor were true it meant enormous tracts of 
burnt land another season, for the enraged camp owners 
wouldn’t hesitate to destroy all the timber they could in 
retaliation for such exclusion. This is but one phase of 
the question raised by the rumored action, but alone 
offers a mighty reason why the public camp owners, who 
are really the finest fire warden service possible and at 
the same time the cheapest, should be permitted to re- 
main where they have established a business that hurts 
none, and benefits the land owner, as well as all who re- 
ceive a part of the wealth distributed by the sportsmen 
visitors. It is gratifying to learn through the officers of 
the American Realty Company in this cily, which is the 
Maine corporation looking after the International Paper 
Company’s realty in this State, that no such action is 
contemplated, and that the camp owm.ers are regarded as 
the best of protection against fire by the company, which 
courts more camps rather than desires to exclude those 
already built. Squatters and other irresponsible campers 
will, however, meet with small favor and be obliged to 
throw up their shacks elsewhere, as only reputable camp 
owners are wanted. 
It was thought when Messrs. Howell and Morse, of 
Newton. Mass., went through here on their way hom.e 
with a moose, four deer, a bear, fox and the limit of 
birds that this bag cOuld safely be counted on to head 
the list for the season. Three young men, however, 
passed through Bangor to-day with a bunch of game that 
certainly equals the above, and perhaps exceeds it by a 
bit. They are E. L. Howard, of Taunton, Conn.; W, G. 
Howard, of Boucksville, N. Y., and Marvin J. Howard, 
of South Londonderry, Vt., and they have been in camp 
with Abner MePheters and Byron Edgerly, of Penobscott 
county for guides. Their total bag included two rnoose„ 
two bears, five deer and a magnificent lot of partridges,, 
at least one of them having twelve. And for fear that 
they might have left some game in the valley of ScotJi 
Brook, where they hunted, they brought along a fox. 
This is rather an unusual year for albinos, among the” 
rare specimens taken being an albino grouse, shot by Ros- 
well L. Crane, of Whiting, and two albino otter, one of 
which was shot by James Hall, of Milo. Hon. Edward 
W. Hyde, of Bath, while at his camp at Doughnut Cove, 
Moosehead Lake, took an unusually handsome buck, al- 
most pure white, with ten point horns. The buck was a 
large specimen for an albino, weighing about 150 pounds, 
and Mr. Hyde will have it mounted whole. 
Sudden changes have marked the weather of the last 
week, and while for a few days it was sharp and clear, 
following a considerable snowfall of last week, this week 
has seen a change to warm, wet weather, which in most 
of the State has been rain, although coming down in snovr 
in the higher portions. At the present writing the snow? 
ranges from an inch or so to two feet in the game belt,, 
and as it is rapidly growing colder, the hunting is sure to 
be very noisy until a snowfall occurs to cover the crust. 
At Norcross yesterday morning the ice was so firm in the 
cove of North Twdn Lake that a hunting party was able 
to walk across the cove on the ice. Ice has formed in 
the coves of Moosehead, but thawed out or broke up so 
that up to date the big lake is still clear, as it protebly 
will be for at least three weeks longer, and possibly a 
month. 
Snow, a good fall of dry, light snow that will permit 
tracking without crusting, is what the hunters, are look- 
ing eagerly forward to now, and if that comes within 
the week there will be some lively hustling among the 
sportsmen now in camp, many of whom are just staying 
day after day hoping each morning as they awake, that 
the longed for blanket of white has come while tkey 
slept. Herbert W. Rowk. 
Massachusetts Game. 
Boston, Mass., Nov. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Several reports on game conditions have come in this 
week from Massachusetts towns. One from Temple- 
ton, Worcester county, says that quail and grouse are 
scarce; one from Rutland, reports no quail seen and 
partridges “not very plenty.” This writer says that 
sportsmen coming into the town and not satisfied with 
hunting, day after day themselves hire other men who> 
are crack shots and carry home all the game they can 
get. In his opinion, this is overshadowing the thing, 
and ought to be stopped. There are no quail, some 
partridges in Granby, and the writer would have a 
law regulating the number of birds killed in a day, also 
in a season. 
Your readers are aware that several States have such 
a law, but from its very nature it is difficult to enforce. 
To make it effective wardens should have a right to de- 
mand that the hunter show the contents of his game 
bag (and pockets) and, in case he refuses, to arrest him 
at once without the delay of securing a warrant. Ini 
our State legislators have not yet been convinced that 
it is safe to clothe wardens with that power. While 
the late Captain Collins was able to get almost every- 
thing he asked for from the Legislature, he was not 
successful in this particular, although he declared he 
would keep trying for it as long as he held his position 
as chairman of the commission. 
Former Representative Butterfield, of Dunstable,, 
Middlesex county, writes, that prospects for game birds 
are about as usual, but, though owners have been noti- 
fied, dogs continue to run deer and he is at a loss to 
know how it can be stopped. He also wishes the viola- 
tion of the Sunday law might be stopped, and adds that 
in his vicinity the game laws are not well observed. 
Poof conditions are reported in Wayland, while Hop- 
kinton, one of the towns benefited by quail planting 
two years ago, reports prospects good for birds this fall. 
The town of Adams has a trapper named “Bill Nye,” 
who has recently shot the largest wildcat .'seen in 
Western Massachusetts for a long time. It weighed 
twenty-nine pounds and was shot on Savoy Mountain. 
A veteran hunter of Middleboro, P. W. Bump, cele- 
brated his 88th birthday last week and is as fond of 
hunting as ever. He is the nestor of the Assawampsett 
Fox Club and is reputed to have killed more than a 
hundred foxes. 
The accidental discharge of his gun while crawling 
through a barbed-wire fence in Needham, was re- 
sponsible for the death of Mr. Joseph Nickerson, a 
well-known produce dealer in Quincy market, a man 
about 60 years old. 
At Gi. Barrington yesterday P. Mougen, an unnatur- 
alized Frenchman, was in court for hunting without a 
license and for snaring. His fines were $10 and $20 re- 
spectively. When Judge Sanford asked him if he was 
ignorant of the law, he replied: “Yes; if I had known 
the law, I would have done it in the night time, then 
I would not have been caught.” 
Our State commissioners have received a few pairs 
of capercailzie and black cock from Sweden. They 
reached Winchester on Thursday and, although when 
first liberated they were unable to walk; they soon re- 
covei'ed the use of their legs and appeared to have 
recovered from the effects of their confinement for six- 
teen days on their journey from Copenhagen. The 
birds were obtained by Mr. Josef Sanburg, of Win- 
chester, a native of Sweden. 
It will be remembered that in 1894 Mr. E. G. Gay, 
now of Clearwater, Me., made an effort to rear some 
of these species in captivity at Auburn, and about that 
time some of the black cock were liberated in the town 
of New Sweden, Me. It is said that last fall some of 
the species were seen in that neighborhood. 
If any of your readers know the results of experi- 
ments with these birds elsewhere, I hope we may hear 
from them through your columns. Central. 
