March, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
127 
view and he would be compelled to admit 
that there was a degree of sportsmanship 
in his experience in the field, far in ex- 
cess of lopping the head off a poor bird. 
I write this in the spirit of Sportsman- 
ship, and hope Mr. Weed’s view of the 
uses of the ferret in the pursuit of the 
rabbit will be changed: also that when 
a rabbit “goes in” it is unsportsman- 
like to “dig in” after him. That savors 
of the meat getter. 
Wm. F. Kuhl, Pennsylvania. 
GUIDES WHO SHOOT 
To the Editor of Forest AND Stream : 
T HE bag limit law would go a long 
way toward preserving our Pennsyl- 
vania Grouse, if it was not for just one 
little joker and a bard one to beat: 
guides kill the birds for their sportsmen 
customers. 
The city .sportsman who goes grouse 
shooting is almost always a crack blue 
rock shooter but doesn’t seem to be able 
to kill grouse. 
Just to show you how it works out; 
on my first trip after grouse this fall, I 
put up at a mountain farm house where, 
besides myself and friend, there were 
six other hunters, two of them have shot 
in the Great American Handicap (I be- 
lieve it is called) and, although they put 
up a fair quantity of birds, the six men 
in' three days killed only three grouse; 
there were no guides in this case. 
On our way home we met a gentleman 
on the train who had seven grouse and 
three woodcock and claimed to be a good 
shot on blue rocks. He stated that birds 
were plentiful and the guide an expert 
shot. I made use of the address he gave 
me and as soon as the guide had an open 
date, I spent three days hunting with 
him. The guide informed me that be- 
sides his regular pay for guiding, the 
man had paid him one dollar for each 
bird he killed and while they had hunted 
five days the sportsman had only killed 
one bird. 
This party of four had brought home 
twenty-seven grouse, nine woodcock and 
one jack snipe, how many the guide ac- 
counted for you can surmise. 
The guide did not show much of his 
expertness as in the three days he fired 
forty shells and only killed four grouse 
and one rabbit. I lost favor with him 
the first day, as I happened to kill three 
birds after he had missed them, so on 
the second and third days, I could not 
come any nearer him than long hailing 
distance. His excuse was that my dog 
was not under good control and spoiled 
his dog’s work, but at that I managed to 
kill just twice as many pieces of game 
as he did and only used eighteen shells 
in the three days, and I did not get one 
shot over a point, all the birds I shot 
at got up wild, which was probably my 
dog’s fault as on two occasions, at least, 
I happened to be in a position where I 
could see the guide’s dog on a point and 
plainly saw the bird jump and the guide 
miss. 
The guide did not commit much havoc 
with the game on my trip, but maybe I 
caught him off his form, but take the 
35 shooting days of the open season and 
it is pretty safe to say that he accounted 
for from 75 to 100 birds. The only way 
to stop this would be to make the law 
so that anyone when acting as a hired 
guide cannot carry a gun. 
Has Been. 
BARNACLE GOOSE SHOT ON 
LONG ISLAND 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
I HAVE been advised to report to you 
the fact that on October 16, 1919, I 
shot a barnacle goose on my property 
known as Money Island of the group of 
Fire Islands in Great South Bay, Long 
Island. Knowing the value of such a 
rare specimen of a wanderer from the 
old world, I have had it mounted as a 
museum specimen and am holding the 
bird until I can decide what museum it 
should be placed in. 
The goose arrived on October 12th, 
alighting among a dozen Canada geese 
I had in a large pen near the water’s 
edge. At first it would swim outside the 
Barnacle goose ( Branta leucopsis) 
enclosure but two days later it would 
fly in the pen and feed with the tame 
geese. It was my hope to capture the 
goose alive and I did my best to get Dr. 
Hornaday to come down to help me legal- 
ly trap it for the Zoological Park. Un- 
fortunately Dr. Hornaday was away and 
I could find no one to give me authority 
to act before the opening of the season 
on Octiber 16th. Not wishing to have 
the bird fall into anyone’s hands who 
would not appreciate its value, I accord- 
ingly and regretfully shot it on the 
opening day, October 16, 1919, on the 
water, some short distance from the pen. 
The gop.se did not seem active unless just 
preparatory to flight. Unlike most large 
birds it was very agile in flight and far 
more graceful than our ordinary geese. 
From the length of its wings I would 
judge it to be a powerful flier. 
G. V. Hollins, New York. 
The capture of the barnacle goose is 
an event of extraordinary interest and 
Mr. Hollins is indeed to be congratu- 
lated on having taken this bird on Long 
Island. There is only one previous rec- 
ord of its occurrence on Long Island, 
namely, October 20th, 1876. [Editors.] 
FISHING IN FLORIDA 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
W HEN I located in Stuart, Florida, in' 
November, 1913, Stuart was un- 
known, as a fishing resort, but when, by 
experience, I learned its value as an Ang- 
ler’s Paradise, I began writing accounts 
of my success for the columns of the 
Forest and Stream. I received letters 
of inquiry from all portions of the North- 
ern states, as far west as Seattle and 
Portland, and many times persons have 
entered my office with a copy of the For- 
est and Stream, in hand, open to some 
communication signed by me, saying: “I 
am looking for the man who wrote this 
account of the fishing at Stuart, and the 
people at the hotel tell me it must be 
Judge Rightmire, so I have come to learn 
if you are the writer, and if so, ask you 
to direct me to persons who can advise 
and aid me in testing the fishing possi- 
bilities of the waters about Stuart.” 
Of course this introduction was greeted 
with my outstretched hand and no office 
work could be so important, that I could 
not find time to put the visiting angler 
in touch with some good fellow angler, if 
work prevented my personal attention. 
In this way, many warm lasting friend- 
ships were cemented, for like the fabled 
waters of mythology, that “once tasted, 
the thster would have to return,” so the 
persons who have fished ,one winter in 
Stuart, return the next and succeeding 
winters, and bring their friends with 
them, until the hotels, apartment houses, 
and all spare rooms in private homes are 
filled with happy anglers. Besides salt 
water fishing there are lakes and ponds 
in plenty on the main land, full of large 
black bream, (sunfish) up to 2 pounds in 
weight, and black bass, large mouths. 
The largest I have seen weighed 17% 
pounds, but my largest caught on rod, 
reel and line with small bream bait, only 
weighed 9% pounds, three hours after 
being caught and bled. 
The commercial fisheries located at 
Stuart, and between Stuart and the 
ocean, in the season from September to 
the following May, ship to Northern 
markets, very nearly half a million dol- 
lars worth of fish, caught in these and 
nearby ocean waters, and it is surpris- 
ing to see the effect the market for fish 
has upon enthusiastic anglers, who pass 
through stages like the steps of the 
measles until they take out fishing li- 
censes for their power gasoline engine 
launches, as fishing boats. 
The first season they come is generally 
passed in fishing from the concrete bridge 
across the river, and the wharfs ; the next 
stage is to buy a skiff with an outboard 
motor, which generally answers for the 
first winter; but the second winter they 
become the owners of motor-boats with 
gasoline engines and troll over the sur- 
face of the waters for sea trout and sar- 
gent, with an occasional blue-fish; but 
the third season, if not before, they com- 
bine trolling, still-fishing and surf cast- 
ing in the ocean. 
Even the most enthusiastic anglers, are 
converted to commercial fishermen, by the 
great quantities of fish in our waters, as 
they catch so many that they cannot use 
