290 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1919 
THREE GEESE AT ONE SHOT 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
1 AM forwarding to you herewith the 
story of my success in bagging three 
wild Canadian geese at one shot with a 
Winchester repeater. Am enclosing a 
photograph which was taken by flash- 
light the night following. The young 
man at the right of the photograph was 
with me at the time and he can substan- 
tiate my story. He is now in the Ex- 
peditionary Force somewhere in France. 
I feel somewhat backward in sending 
you this story for fear that some of 
your readers might think that I am in- 
clined to be boastful. However, inas- 
much as I so keenly enjoy the stories 
of others which appear in your maga- 
zine, no doubt some of your readers will 
enjoy this one. 
On the 18th day of October some four 
or flve years ago “Ace” Porter and my- 
self started out about a half hour be- 
fore sunrise for a swamp which is situ- 
ated about a mile and a half south of 
Hinsdale, Illinois, which was my home 
at that time. This swamp is about 
three blocks long and about a block 
wide, fringed on the east end with weeds 
and rushes. It is quite a place for ducks 
in the fall of the year, but geese very 
seldom stop there except occasionally in 
the night time. Once in a great while 
geese have been shot in that locality, 
but so seldom that my exploit was al- 
most unbelievable. 
We arrived at the top of a hill over- 
looking the swamp just about sunrise 
and from force of habit we peeped over 
the brow of the hill before walking down 
the slope. Just about the time we ar- 
rived a sudden flurry of snow came from 
almost a clear sky, lasting only a few 
minutes at the most. I remarked to 
Ace that I was sure I spied a flock of 
geese sitting on the edge of the rushes 
on the east side of the swamp, which 
was the side we were approaching. He 
didn’t think so at flrst, but I finally con- 
vinced him. We the’’ talked over a 
plan of action. It was almost impossi- 
ble to approach the east end without be- 
ing seen. The geese apparently saw us 
at the same time we spied them and 
we had to do some quick thinking. There 
was no time to make a detour to the 
south, which was the only way to get 
within range. However, as I have here- 
tofore stated, it began to snow quite 
heavily and I told Ace that I thought 
the geese would be blinded by it so that 
we could approach quickly without mak- 
ing a detour. So we boldly walked down 
the slope of the hill and then decided 
to separate, he going to the left to the 
edge of a cornfield some rods distant, 
and I walking directly toward the 
geese. We calculated that in this way 
one of us would get a shot at them. I 
crouched as low as I could, but did not 
get down on my hands and knees. Ap- 
parently the geese were watching Ace. 
I could see by their actions that they 
must have had a suspicion that all was 
not well. They were so intent on looking 
in his direction that they took no notice 
of me until I was within about thirty 
yards of them. They were just begin- 
ning to rise when I took aim at two 
which seemed closest to me. I could not 
see plainly on account of the sudden 
snowstorm. My first shot brought three 
tumbling down into the water. My sec- 
ond shot hit another in the rear, but he 
struggled away with about a dozen 
others. Such a clatter and honking you 
never heard in your life. It was snow- 
ing so hard that I decided quickly not 
to bother further about those that got 
away, but put my whole attention on 
the three that dropped. Two were killed 
almost instantly, shot through the neck, 
and the third was only winged. I soon 
put him out of his misery. In the semi- 
light caused by the sudden snowstorm 
they looked as large as elephants lying 
there in the water. I jumped in a small 
boat which we always had on hand and 
brought them to shore. It seemed like 
The three geese, weighing 12 , 10 , and 8 
pounds, which were killed at one shot 
a dream to me when I gathered them in. 
and it was a long time before either of 
us could come back to normal thinking 
and to realize what a lucky shot it was. 
A. E. Wolf, Washington. 
CONCERNING BROWN TROUT 
To the Editor of Forest and Stpj;am: 
I SHOULD like to ask the fly-fishing 
^ readers of your magazine if the com- 
mon eastern brook trout, such as are 
caught in large numbers in the streams 
tributary to Lake Rossignol, Queens 
County, Nova Scotia, are scientifically 
any different fish from the so-called 
“brown” trout which I have noticed 
spoken of in the columns of your period- 
ical from time to time? 
At the mouths of the rivers of Queens 
County, Nova Scotia, we catch what is 
locally known as sea trout. As nearly 
as I can tell from catching many of these 
trout each season for a great many years 
past, as they progress up stream they 
gradually turn a dark golden brown, and 
their spots, which are extremely brilli- 
ant when they leave salt water, fade par- 
tially out. Are these sea trout, “brown” 
trout by the time they reach the head 
waters? The flesh of the large, dark- 
colored “brown” trout is pink like a sal- 
mon’s, while the flesh of the so-called 
brook trout (which are smaller in size) 
is mostly white, but sometimes showing 
a pinkish cast. 
Isn’t it possible that all these spotted 
trout are really the same fish, but some 
are blondes and some brunettes, with a 
percentage of neutrals? If my supposi- 
tion that the “brown” trout and the 
brook trout are the same fish, is not cor- 
rect, how can the reader account for the 
fact that in the Lake Rossignol district 
the small trout are mostly bright hued 
with brilliant spots, and the large ones, 
which are very numerous, are mostly 
brown with dull spots? 
It seems to be a piscatorial paradox. 
Can you throw any light on the matter? 
Phil H. Moore, Nova Scotia. 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
T HAVE before me the letter of Mr. 
A Phil H. Moore with its most interest- 
ing contents. He is evidently a most 
thoughtful observer of fish and their 
ways in the neighborhood he writes of. 
His concluding sentence, however, “pis- 
catorial paradox” leads us to the very 
meat in the nut to be cracked. Some- 
where among my files of information I 
knew there was something bearing on 
the subject which puzzles our friend and 
I cannot do better than to quote from 
no less an authority than the late Dr. 
G. Browne Goode who wrote of this very 
subject as far back as 1880. “Without 
many specimens to examine, and the 
most careful research made, it is impos- 
sible, if not unsafe, to classify in a de- 
terminate manner the trout of many 
northern waters. Anglers as well as lo- 
cal residents along such streams and 
lakes are and have been for generations 
in confusion over just how to determine 
trout species. In these northern rivers 
there may be as many colorations of a 
single species as there are townships 
through which the river runs.” 
Professor Agassiz in considering the 
same subject says: “In streams where 
the current is swift and there is much 
sunlight the colors are bright and the 
body lithe and active whereas the same 
fish going into sluggish, dark waters be- 
come heavy bodied and dark in color.” 
He has also noticed that there was dif- 
ference in color according to the side of 
the stream the fish inhabits. Those on 
the shady side being always the darker, 
and it is his belief that they have the 
power to change their tint at will. 
That the nervous system controls, to 
a great extent, the coloration of many 
kinds of fish appears to have been estab- 
lished by the French scientist M. Pouchet, 
who, by destroying the eye of a trout 
always found that the same side became 
perfectly white within a few weeks. It 
seems to be well established that the 
pink flesh of the Salmon family depends 
on the shrimps and other Crustacea on 
which they feed, and the greater abun- 
dance they partake of, the deeper the 
color. Thus it would seem that, despite 
the fact that almost endless study has 
been devoted to the subject, it has re- 
vealed rather a great amount of unex- 
plained fact than a solution to the ques- 
tion involved. 
Leonard Hulit, New Jersey. 
