86 4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. i, 1906. 
writer’s notice. Two leading residents of Unga 
town, which is situated on the island of that 
name, informed him that a brisk trade was still 
being done at Unga by the sale of caribou meat. 
Boats conveying professional meat hunters cross 
frequently to the mainland of the Peninsula and 
return loaded with caribou meat, which is sold 
in Unga throughout the summer and winter for 
an average price of about ten cents per pound. 
One of the informants added that the system 
adopted there reminded him of what he had seen 
in former days on the North American prairies 
when thousands of buffalo were killed for their 
tongues and hides. According to him, the cari¬ 
bou" are still killed in the Unga district irrespec¬ 
tive of seasons, sex or ages, and merely the 
haunches are packed away for sale, the re¬ 
mainder of the meat left to rot on the ground. 
Ample evidence of the above facts can be ob¬ 
tained by making inquiries to-day at Unga. 
Episodes similar to this are rife throughout 
Alaska to-day, and tend to make the average 
sportsman question the wisdom of the present 
form of laws affording protection to the game 
in that country. 
Now those interested in this matter may ask, 
“Can nothing be done to alter such a state of 
affairs?” The reply is that undoubtedly it can 
be done. And the writer is in a position to 
know, from recent conversation with the highest 
authority in Washington, that attempts will 
shortly be made to place the administration of 
such affairs in the hands of capable men resident 
in Alaska, who know the wishes of people living 
in that country, and who, owing to their local 
knowledge of existing conditions, can frame a 
sensible and beneficial set of game laws. of 
Alaska. Even now Governor Hoggat, who is a 
shrewd and able man, is giving this matter his 
personal attention, and ere long we may hope 
to see a state of affairs exisiting which will 
be more beneficial to the game of Alaska, and 
more satisfactory to the minds of all those who, 
like the writer, are honestly interested in seeing 
a big future throughout which Alaska may still 
claim to hold, as it does to-day, many of the 
most notable specimens of big game still roam¬ 
ing the face of the earth. 
C. E. Radclyffe. 
Minnesota Fish and Game Notes. 
Aitkin, Minn., Nov. 20.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I inclose clipping from Duluth News 
Tribune in regard to a large fish caught in a 
Mississippi bayou. 
“Is there any difference between a pickerel and 
a muskelonge? Is the muskelonge an overgrown 
pickerel? These questions are going the rounds 
of the City Hall and interest in them is deepen¬ 
ing. A number of sportsmen, presumed to be 
learned fishermen, have been asked for advice 
and they also differ. 
“The discussion started after Miss Lucy A. 
Jaques, deputy city treasurer, brought to her 
office a large fish mounted on a board. The 
young lady, in company with her brother, Attor¬ 
ney Alfred Jaques, caught the fish last week in 
one of the lagoons in the Mississippi River near 
Aitkin. She had a hard time landing it, her row¬ 
boat being pulled upstream at a pretty lively clip. 
Late Thursday afternoon the discussion became 
so warm that to prove his contention that the 
fish is a ‘muskie,’ A. E. Zimmerman, deputy city 
clerk, took it and is going to make the rounds 
of all the anglers in Duluth in the hope of meet¬ 
ing the well versed of piscatorial knowledge.” 
As is usually the case the news report is mainly 
error. Attorney Jaques, of Duluth, was not hand¬ 
ling the paddle at the time the fish was taken 
or at any other time. This heroic act was per¬ 
formed by Francis Lee Jaques the amateur artist, 
taxidermist and erstwhile winner in the Forest 
and Stream’s prize deer head competition. The 
fish was taken into a 16-foot canoe, 34 inches 
wide at widest place, and three persons aboard. 
The same day I was paddling the boat when the 
other “Kid” hooked a fish of exactly the same 
size as the one spoken of in the clipping. Our 
style of taking in these large fellows, 20 to 25 
pounds (I believe a 39 inch fish would weigh 
25 pounds), is to play the fish till it can be 
led up beside the boat quietly, then quietly work¬ 
ing a hand down, a quick grab lands thumb and 
finger in the eye sockets. A firm hold ends all 
struggles until the fish is released. Once you 
have a secure hold you can take your fish into 
the boat with you or paddle to some sloping 
shore, and stepping ashore drag your prize to a 
place of safety. 
Of course where one is fishing from a large 
scow or rowboat any convenience for landing 
may be taken along, but the inconvenience of 
handling so much lumber more than offsets the 
advantages. This particular fish broke my hold 
after I had it in the boat and then another 
spring landed it back in the water. This is the 
only fish I ever knew to make a struggle while 
the grip was on. When it was once back into the 
water the fight was much fiercer than at first, 
and getting an eye-hold again was impossible. 
We were finally obliged to lead it ashore. 
As to the difference between muscalunge and 
pickerel it is the same as the difference in spell¬ 
ing and pronouncing “musky.” It is the whim 
of whoever expounds it. It is somewhat like 
the name muskrat named from the musk. The 
early Indians in trying to speak the white man’s 
name got it musquash and now some of the 
knowing ones are telling us musquash is the 
original. 
The weather has played it upon us here much 
as it did last year; rained for six weeks until 
every depression in wood and swamp was filled 
with water and then covered all with sixteen 
inches of snow, so that one does not know when 
he puts his foot down, whether he is going to 
hit solid ground or a concealed bottomless pool. 
The deer season, too, opened about as unfor¬ 
tunately as last year. The first good tracking 
snow came about a week before the legal date. 
A good tracking snow opens the season here at 
any old time and everybody was out except the 
few who later buy licenses and go out and hold 
the bag. By the time the season opens the deer 
that have been eating my cabbage and turnips 
all summer and fall have been driven to the re¬ 
mote fastnesses of a tamarac swamp twenty miles 
away; and there is no possible cure, for you can¬ 
not touch them for hunting without a license for 
it is not the hunting season. Neither can you 
take them for killing game out of season for they 
do not kill any, simply chase it into the further 
distance. 
The other day I made a desperate resolution to 
get a deer. I knew of a wooded island in an 
open sweep of swamp where there is nearly 
always deer. Getting there was indeed a des¬ 
perate undertaking, but with long wading boots 
with pants over to exclude the snow, I started 
out feeling that success hinged entirely on being 
able to get there. More than once I nearly gave 
up and turned back, yet kept on and at last found 
myself skirting the island to get a favorable wind. 
I was rewarded, too, by seeing several tracks 
leading from bog to island. It had stopped snow¬ 
ing at daylight, so of course the tracks were 
fresh. Then as I looked away toward the open 
what should I see but a belated buck coming 
directly toward the island and sure to pass within 
fifty yards of me. Just as I spied the fellow 
I stepped into one of those before mentioned 
pools and disappeared, that is, all but my head 
and shoulders, two- feet of me being in the water 
and two feet more buried in snow. I instantly de¬ 
cided that the water lacked half an inch of com¬ 
ing over the top of my boots and lay still as 
I had landed. I watched that buck come leisurely 
along until within 73 yards, the point blank of 
the rifle I had, and then drew back the hammer. 
As I raised it there was a sharp snap and the 
hammer fell back limply in my hand; the main¬ 
spring had broken. It was a horrible moment, 
and to add to the anguish I seemed to feel cold 
water trickling over the top of my boot and 
imagined I could hear a torrent rushing in. This 
was a false alarm, however; the boot came out 
dry. I have read often of hair being turned 
white by extreme mental anguish, and that mine 
did not, seems the greater miracle of all. I 
watched that deer loaf quietly by and disappear 
in the wood and then took up the dread home¬ 
ward march, leaving the island and its tenants 
to pass the day undisturbed. 
The Y. M. C. A., of Duluth, have general 
camp outings each year, and fishing is part of the 
programme. Their rules require each young 
man to dress his own catch of fish ready for the 
pan. It is a very good protective measure and 
should be extended to all society outings. If 
members of shooting clubs had to pluck the 
feathers out of their own ruddy ducks, many 
would be allowed to pass unmolested that now 
are sacrificed. One of the oddities of this season 
was the flushing of a woodcock out of a snow 
bank in mid November. E. P. Jaques. 
The Adirondack Deer Season. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have been gratified at the general approval 
of my position on this subject in your issue of 
Oct. 20, the said approval having been expressed 
both personally and in the public press. Your 
Hudson, N. Y., correspondent, Columbia, who 
while assenting in the main, called attention to 
the possibility for “jacking” in September and 
claimed that if the season opened Sept. 1, 95 per 
cent, of the deer killed in September would be 
by jacking, is so evidently earnest and sincere 
in his interest that he deserves to be set right. 
I think his estimate of 95 per cent, is altogether 
too high. Others who know the localities to 
which he refers, say 40 per cent, would be too 
large an estimate. But suppose Columbia’s esti¬ 
mate is O. K. and 95 per cent, the true propor¬ 
tion, that could not mean the decimation of the 
deer supply, for the total killed in that way in 
September would, if necessary, be very small. 
And for this reason the habits of the deer and the 
usual weather in September would preclude much 
successful “jacking” at that time. Most of the 
nights are cold and the deer come to water late 
if at all. Later and later as the season advances 
is their well understood habit until they almost 
entirely cease. Even in midsummer cold nights 
often keep them away. This was matter of fre¬ 
quent experience by many in the old days of legal 
“jacking.” The weather can generally be. de¬ 
pended on to protect the deer during the nights 
of September. But there is another factor in the 
problem. The food which the deer find about 
the ponds in early summer, lilypads, etc., on the 
surface, and certain moss, etc., on the bottom, 
has either disappeared in September or ceased 
to attract them. The fact is September does not 
afford opportunity to kill many deer by “jack¬ 
ing.” . . 
Mr. W. A. Bradshaw s communication, and in¬ 
tended criticism, in your issue of Nov. 10, was 
rather amusing than otherwise. It reminded me 
of the clergyman who preached an earnest revival 
sermon and then called on a minister of another 
denomination who was present to lead in prayer. 
He consented, but before beginning carefully 
turned up the cushion of a pew and then kneel¬ 
ing beside it began: “O Lord, we have heard to¬ 
night” (then followed a few sentences of what 
he supposed the preacher had said), “but O Lord, 
we knozv better,” and brought down his fist with 
a resounding whack on the naked seat of the 
pew. This was several times repeated, each “We 
know better,” and each whack being louder than 
the preceding. When the prayer was over the 
preacher quietly remarked to the audience: “Our 
brother has evidently very much misunderstood 
and misapprehended the sermon.” 
“Why, didn’t you say so and so?” questioned the 
man of the prayer. 
“Not at all,” said the preacher. 
“Well, I thought you did,” was the reply. I 
assume that your Jamestown correspondent 
thought I said what he attributed to me, and 
that I argued for all that he implied. But a 
candid reading of my article will show 
that he almost entirely misunderstood and mis¬ 
represented niv position. Only one of his state¬ 
ments requires answer; the suggestion that if 
September shooting be allowed, consistency re¬ 
quires that August and July shooting should also 
be permitted. For those who know anything 
about our noble game, it is sufficient reply to 
call attention to the relation between does and 
fawns in the comments. Mr. Bradshaw states 
fairly two important points: First, what legis¬ 
lation is necessary to perpetuate the game for the 
people of the commonwealth to whom it belongs ? 
