314 
August 24, 1875. 
'"I 
(JAME ON LONG ISi.AND. 
BY I. McLELLAX. 
The deer have almost disappeared from Long Island, 
though a few still linger in the extensive pine woods 
that afford them covert. They have Ijeen slaughtered 
without mercy during the last twenty years; especially 
when the- deep snows ot winter rendered their rapid 
flight impossible, and a club in rough hands was more 
eflectual than the rifle. But the people of the Island 
seem now to be aware ot the necessity of protecting 
them, and some attempts are making to procure them 
elsewhere, and to set them free in the woods. A re- 
cent act of the Legislature prohibits the shooting of 
deer for five years to come, and in that period the num- 
bers of deer, now to be turned loose, will be consider- 
able, if the law is enforced and obeyed. There are some 
deer now at large in the woods in the centre of the Is- 
land, and several of them were killed near Islip by mem- 
bers of the shooting club during the few weeks allowed 
for the shooting. But it will be better if they are allowed 
to increase and multiply in all parts of the Island, and 
if this is done, and care is taken to procure them from 
other parts of the country and they are set loose in the 
woods in considerable numbers, there will be a great 
and rapid increase of this noble game and the sport 
will be abundant. A few years since, there were many 
of them on Gardiner’s Island, in the extreme end of the 
Island, but these seem to have utterly disappeared. 
There was one old buck remaining there within a few 
years, but he has vanished. He wa.s very tame, and 
when our sea-fowl parties landed on the South side of 
the Island for their sport, he would come trotting down 
to the shore to meet them and would accept food from 
their hands, and remain near their yacht till they de- 
parted. The quail, a few years since, were very abund- 
ant on that Island, being carefully protected ; but they 
also have now disappeared. It is .said that they tried to 
fly from the Island to the mainland, a distance of three 
mdes, but the 5 ’ failed in the attempt, and fell and per- 
ished in the water, ilr. Gardiner is now introducing 
quail of two varieties from the far West into the Island, 
and we hope he may succeed in protecting and preserv- 
ing them. In the town of Smithtown some thirty brace 
of prairie chickens were tmiied loose two years since 
and they are now breeding and doing well. They will 
not be disturbed until 1877. These noble birds, so plen- 
tiful (and so fast diminishing in the prairies of the 
AVest), could be introduced to gocd iwlvantage on Long 
Island, and if properly protected by law, they would 
rapidly increase. In early times the wide open plains of 
the Island were their natural home. 
A few 3 'ear 8 since, the wild geese and ducks resorted an- 
nually to the great Pond in Montauk, but they have now 
ceased to visit it since the pond has been rendered val- 
ueles.s by the eelers who have opened to the bay and al- 
lowed the salt tides to flow in and destroy the duck- 
weed, which is the attractive food of the wild fowl. In 
tliose days the shooting for geese was excellent in the 
ponds and around the bars of Gardiner’s Island; but now 
we find very few of them there. The shooting there is 
confined to black-duck, shell-drake, coot and old w ives; 
the two former frequenting the jwnds, and the latter be- 
ing killed, as they fly over the beach and bars in passing 
from the bay to the open ocean. The shooting there from 
the bar and at the ponds is sometimes very good. On 
the 18th of last November we killed there sixty-two 
fowl — black-duck and shell-drakes. The shooting season 
there for fowl is in April and Hay, and in flctober and 
November. The shooting season at the Island and Alon- 
tauk for birds, such as golden plover, black-breast and 
brant birds, is in May and September; and we often have 
good spwrt with them in those months, shooting over de- 
eoj's on the uplands and on the flats. The golden plover 
(here called green plover), were very abundant on Mon- 
tauk a few years since, appearing there in flocks of 
thousands, and pitching well to decoys as they swept 
over the grassj’ hills. But they have not of late years 
been so numerous. They probably take some other route 
in their migrations. They usually appear by the first of 
September, after a heavy easterly rainstorm, and re- 
main fora few- days on the ground. AVe have killed 
them, on Shinnecock Hills, in great numbers on the 20th 
of August, and three weeks later of the same year, found 
them on their flight at Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. 
The shooting for bay-snipe, such as curlew, millet, 
yellowleg, robiu-snipe, dowitcher, etc., is very good on 
the south side of Long Island from the middle of July 
till October. They can be found on the beach now at 
almost any point from the easterly extremity of Sbiune- 
cot:k ’Bay, through East Bay, to [the western extremitj- 
of great South Baj', an extent of fift)’ or sixtj- miles. 
The spring-shooting for them is not so good as that in 
the summer and fall months, as the birds pass on with- 
out much delay. . 
The fishing season on the east part of the Island does 
not begin until June ; and then bass, blue-fish, weak-fish, 
porgies, etc., are abundant until late in the fall. The 
cod-fishing is very good oflF Alontauk point. The bunker 
fishing-fleet, which is . very numerous at Greenport, is 
about getting ready for their business, and as soon as 
the fish appear in the Bay and Sound they will be hard 
at work. ATe propose, hereafter, to give a detailed ac- 
count of their doings. Last year, in Gardiner’s and Pe- 
conic Bays, the number of fish taken was about 00,000,- 
(XK). Generally, about nine hands are employed in each 
fishing vessel, and about $500,000 are invested in the 
business in one district alone. The fish are landed at 
different factories and converted into oil and guano, and 
some are delivered in a raw state to the farmers to be 
used for manure. There are many factories for the man- 
ufacture of oil and guano along the bay, and a large 
number of people are employed in the work. The bun- 
kers swarm in these waters, in innumerable schools, and 
the fishermen here say that their numbers are not per- 
ceptibly diminished by all that they can take. Some of 
our brethren of the rod contend that there is a decrease 
in the numbers of the fish; and as they are the natural 
food of the blue-fish, Spanish mackerel, etc., there must 
be a diminition m the numbers of the food-fish that 
supply them with sport and the markets with saleable 
food. 
CHOKE-BORING, ETC. 
BY REC.tPPER. 
In some of my former articles I endeavored to show 
the impossibility of procuring good guns for low prices; 
and though one critic accuses me of wishing to set my- 
self up as “Sir Oracle,’’ and even tells me he knows of 
my articles having created “a had impression,” I shall, 
in the interests of sportsmen, attack the subject again. 
Tricks in gun-making, as in other trades, are cosmo- 
mopolitan, belonging alike to all nations who manufac- 
ture guns; and if my efforts to expose some of these 
shams are not appreciated it is my misfortune, not mj- 
fault. There are gun-makers in England who are con- 
scientious — plenty of them — regard for their reputation 
compels them to be so; and there are plentj- who are not 
so scrupulous. The guns of these latter find but a lim- 
ited market at home, and so they are shipped bj- the hun- 
dred to that perfect paradise of “skelp-guns,” the United 
States. But are the dealers in such ware so much to 
blame after all? Is not the trouble with ourselves? How 
many, very many, sportsmen there are, .who think if a 
gun shoots well that is all that is necessary. In the days 
of the muzzle-loaders this mistake was bad enough, but 
with the introduction of the breech-loader the mistake 
is still worse. “Gloan,” when speaking on this subject 
in his book, says: “The best breech-loader, with the 
soundest action, will wear sooner or later, becatise there 
must be some strain and some friction. Durability, 
therefore, will depend upon the excellence of the ma- 
terials and the finish of the work. It is no economy 
to bny a low-priced gun of inferior workmanship, be- 
cause it will soon become u.seless. As to the shooting 
of the gun the man misleads himself who says that be- 
cause a cheap .gun will shoot as well as a high-priced 
gun, the cheap gun maj' as well be taken. The cheap 
guns onlj' are within the reach of the majoritj’ of buy- 
ers in America. But because they are cheap that is no 
reason why they should be worthless, and no reason 
why the buyer should be cheated, as he constant^ is. 
And certainly, because they are cheap, it is no reason 
why they should be built in defiance of every idea of 
art, beauty or color. H the sentiments I have just ex- 
pressed more generally prevailed there would be seen 
fewer of those cheap monstrosities, which are danger- 
ous, ill-shaped, ill-balanced, daubed over with red paint, 
tricked off with mountings of brass and inlaid with viler 
metals; but cheap guns would be made to a higher stand- 
ard for the same money, and the difference between 
them as they would lie then, and as they are now — the 
price remaining the same — would be just the difference 
between the water-colored wood-cuts of half a century 
ago, and the beautiful oil-chromos of the present day.” 
Now, this is strong language, certainly,Iyet it is every 
word true; and just so long as sportsmen refuse to learn 
what their guns should be it will continue to be true, 
and just so long will hundreds of dollars be yearly 
thrown away for guns that upon thorough trial will be 
certain to prove not worth one-fourth of what they cost 
the owner. Out of all the many trades that are followed 
I cannot call to mind a single one in which deception 
is so easily practiced as in the trade of gun-making, 
and that, too, of a kind difficult to detc-ct, even bj' 
the initiated. There is no one part of a gun that can- 
not be slighted by an unscrupulous maker, and in such 
a manner as not to be noticed when the gun is finished. 
The barrels ma.y be full of flaws, external and internal, 
and yet by means of what is termed “faking,” viz. : 
tapping with light hammers on the outside, and polish- 
ing up on the inside — all this may lie hidden from the 
sight. The stock may be made of unseasoned wood, but 
dipped in lioiling oil to make it look as if cut for many 
years. The locks may only be made of iron, case-hard- 
ened, or, if of steel, of a poor qualitj-, and carelessly fit- 
ted and filed. In short, there is no end, scarcelj’, to the 
frauds that may be, and oftentimes are, practiced by 
gun sharpers; and .the only wa)' for sportsmen who 
have not time to devote to learning something of the 
trade, in order to protect themselves from imposition, 
is to refuse to deal with any but reputable makers. 
There are some, I believe, who think that a good gun 
is onl}' to be obtained of London makers. This, how- 
ever, is not entirely* the case. There are as good guns 
made in Birmingham, and even in some of the English 
country towns, as are made in London. The onl.v dif- 
ference between these makers and those of London is, 
that the country makers are comparative!}' unknown out- 
side of their immediate neighborhoods; whereas the 
London makers, having been in the trade for generations 
and having opportunities of becoming known all over 
the world, have .-iucceeded in keeping their names ever 
in the foreground. Alany of the London makers have 
much of their work done outside of London, and very 
few indeed have their own barrels forged at their works, 
though there are exceptions. 
Gun-making, which to the uninitiated is the work of 
but one man, is, in reality, the work of many men. 
Every part of a gun is made by a separ:ite workuum, 
who knows just how that individual part should be 
made, and who knows nothing more. For any one 
man to undertake to learn to perfection all parts of 
gun-making would be a hopeless task, as he would fail 
to do so and keep pace with all the improvements in a 
long lifetime. One or two Birmingham makers of 
reputation have adopted the plan of establishing branch 
offices in this country, and a veiy- goo<l notion it is, if 
the original idea is only adhered to. I mean the de- 
termination to take orders from, and to sell to, indi- 
vidual sportsmen only, and to refuse to sell to importing 
houses. By the adoption of this plan, the buyer has a 
better chance of getting what he wants; and dealing, as 
he does, directly with the maker, he avoids all exce.s- 
sive importer.*’ charges, and knows that the gun is really 
made by the man whose name it bears. Unfortunately 
for us, the London makers have .«o good a run of cus- 
tom at home, that they do not think it worth while to 
adopt this plan here. It is to l)e hoped, however, that 
those other makers who have introduced this system 
will always deal fairly and honestly by the sportsmen 
of this country, as I feel confident they will then suc- 
ceed in building themselves up a trade that will am])ly 
repay them for their trouble, and will likewise bring 
about a change in the gun trade that will be even a still 
greater ble.ssing to us. 
And now a few words about the so-much-talked-of 
“choke-boring.” AA'hat does it all amount to? If we 
are all going to give up field shooting and shoot only at 
targets, and pigeons from traps, or ducks and gulls on 
the bays, I must admit that it is a good thing to have a 
gun shoot extra close. But no one propioses to do this, 
at least no one that I have heard of. Arc game bird.s 
any wilder now t ban Itefore the introduction of the 
“choke-bore?” I think not. I lielieve that two-thirds 
of all the game killed in this country fall within thirty 
yards of the gun, and I believe that more game can be 
killed at that distance by guns well bored on the old 
system than by “choke-bores.” If birds never rose 
within forty yards of the gun, and if every man who 
shoots was a crack .shot, “choke-bores” would be the 
thing. But before adopting the new system, will it not 
be as well to examine it thoroughly, to ascertain if it 
will last, and to assure ourselves that it is really a new 
and desirable invention, and not simply a revival of an 
old idea, and one, too, that has been testeil, and con- 
demned in former years by some of the best authorities 
in such matters the world has yet known ? 
1 Lave my views on the subject, but the views of no 
one man are to be taken as final in such a matter, and I 
wait for others to speak in your columns. I hope that 
others will come forward and give us the benefit of 
their ideas on this subject, and that, too, at an early day. 
For the present, I hold my opinions in reserve, for I 
feel that I have already tre.spa.ssed too far upon your 
valuable space. 
