794 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 20, 1913. 
were many more of each when Cleveland and 
Jefferson used to come to the St. Lucie “to for¬ 
get the world” and live and dream with the finest 
game fish of the world. 
With the foregoing apology to my brothers 
of the rod and gun for my long silence, I hereby 
renew my covenant and promise to often send 
you greeting from the fisherman’s paradise, the 
St. Lucie and its tributaries near Stuart, Florida. 
With kindest regards from 
W. F. Rightmire. 
Catfishing on the Nodaway 
By ERNEST WILSON BEERY 
Shooting Game From Automobile 
East Orange, N. J., Dec. 8 .— Editor Forest 
and Stream : I read an article in your paper 
“Shooting Game from an Automobile.” I do 
believe the automobile, that is, its use in getting 
to hunting grounds, has a great tendency to lessen 
our game supply. There used to be places hard 
to get by train or wagon; now they can be 
reached by auto in a few hours. In those places 
there used to be some birds left over to breed; 
now they are cleaned out. And, as Mr. Staunton 
says, men can stop and scour a cover for wood¬ 
cock, which season opens long before the other 
game, and shoot whatever comes in their way. 
and be off before any one has a chance to notify 
a game warden. I believe there are plenty of so- 
called sportsmen who do just such tricks. There 
would be plenty of woodcock shot if the law 
opened with the other game, say the first of No¬ 
vember. 
I think our state makes a mistake in trying 
to increase our game supply. Hungarian part¬ 
ridge have several times been turned out by the 
state, but appear to make poor headway. I be¬ 
lieve the reason is because they were allowed to 
be shot the same year they were planted, whereas 
there should have been a closed season on them 
for three or more years to give them a start. I 
have noticed on my hunting trips few cock pheas¬ 
ants but quite some hens. As it is lawful to 
shoot cocks and not hens, the cocks have been 
thinned out most too close. It would be a good 
plan to have one year closed season on pheasants. 
I do not think there are cocks enough left to do 
the propagation. We should also have a closed 
season on quail in the northern part of the state, 
say for three or five years. There are a few 
quail left, but in a short time they will be gone 
if not protected. 
I would like to see the true sportsmen of 
our state get together and form game laws that 
would be an improvement on our present laws. 
Of course to have a meeting of the sportsmen of 
New Jersey would bring together all classes of 
hunters, some that wanted to kill the last living 
thing and others that hunt for pleasure, to see 
their dogs work, and to enjoy the fresh air and 
the outing, and make a good shot occasionally. 
Such men want to protect the game. 
Thomas Dakes. 
A good grade of excelsior is being made 
from fire-killed Alpine fir and Engelmann spruce 
in Colorado. 
It is predicted that western yellow pine will 
furnish an excellent source of turpentine as the 
southern pine becomes exhausted. 
While there are five hemlocks in the United 
States, only two are of any commercial import¬ 
ance, common hemlock and western hemlock. Of 
these two western hemlock makes the better lum¬ 
ber. 
The Philippine Bureau of Forestry uses a 
launch for service between islands. The United 
States forest service employs several, both on 
inland lakes and in salt water, in Alaska and 
Florida. 
T HE Lady and I had been talking about going 
fishing for a month; But as the thought 
uppermost in the mind of the farmer of 
this great agricultural State is how to grow bet¬ 
ter live stock or to make his acres more produc¬ 
tive, so you seldom hear anything said about 
fishing, until the corn is planted or harvest is 
over. Then some half-dozen families will go 
together, and either take a net, usually a 
Tramel, or if the men are experienced they will 
catch them with their hands, The former 
method has nothing to commend it. But while 
the latter method is unsportsmanlike, I must con¬ 
fess it is great sport, as I took a few turns at 
the game when it first came in vogue. The lady 
and I expect to fish with nothing but hook and 
line; and being located on a farm overlooking 
the valley, we must not neglect our farm work 
to enjoy a day with the rod. But there always 
comes a time when one can well spare the time. 
There had been a light shower in the evening, 
so we agreed to arise early the following morn¬ 
ing. So before the peep of day I was out caring 
for the farm animals and harnessing the driving 
team, Claude and Harry, while the lady was get¬ 
ting breakfast and preparing the lunch for the 
noonday meal, as we expect to eat our dinner 
in the woods. After breakfast I hitched the 
team on the surrey, drove around to the house, 
got the lady and the lunch, and as we drove on 
the highway the sun was shining red along the 
eastern horizon. There was just a light breeze 
coming up from the south, and all the world 
seemed alive and happy. The robin was perched 
on the topmost bough singing its lovely song this 
beautiful morning, and other birds flitted hither 
and thither. The team was quite foxy, and Harry 
seemed determined to put his hind feet upon the 
surrey, but being a good reinsman, I soon had 
them under control, and was going down the 
road at a lively clip. Every little ways a rabbit 
would scamper into the hedge which bordered on 
either side of the road. I noted, too, that a few 
were young and would make nice fries, but I had 
not brought the rifle. We were approaching the 
railroad, which was not far from the river at this 
point, also quite close to a small village. After 
some thought we decided to go about two and 
one-half miles farther down stream to more iso¬ 
lated territory, and where there was a greater 
amount of timber. We proceeded on down the 
road and finally reached a gate leading into the 
field of a friendly farmer and we were soon 
across the railroad, and were nearing the new 
channel. Yes, I have not told you that last year 
the Nodaway rivers were straightened. There 
are two of them, the east and west. The west 
is the larger and the one we were near. About 
a mile up stream the water divides, part coming 
down the new and part going down the old. Also 
the east river runs into the old channel of the 
west river, thus making an ideal place for the 
lazy catfish in the deep pools of the old channel. 
After unhitching and making the team secure in 
the shade of some convenient trees I proceeded 
to cut some poles from a bunch of willows that 
grew near by, locally known as dog willow. They 
grow just nice fishpole size. After everything- 
was in readiness we approached the river at a 
point where there was a short bend. There was 
deep water and quite a drift on the opposite 
shore. After baiting the hook and adjusting the- 
float on the tackle the lady was to use, and giv¬ 
ing her all kinds of advice about fishing just as 
near the drift as she could, I took my tackle, 
with some extras, and went a little farther down 
stream, just around the bend to another likely 
place. I had just cast my line, when I heard the 
lady calling my name. Yes, she almost screamed 
it. Thinking she might be in distress, I hurried 
back to where I could see her. There she was, 
desperately clinging with both hands to the pole, 
which was bent almost double. I called to her 
to keep the fish out of the drift. I was sure the 
fish was a good-sized one by the yanks it would 
give at intervals. When I approached the lady 
wanted me to land the thing, but I told her she 
must complete the task; and as soon as it started 
her way to keep it coming and beach it as you 
would a small skiff. After it was landed and 
safe in the sack we brought for that purpose, 
why, you never saw a prouder woman, as it was- 
a fine blue cat, weighing about seven and one- 
half pounds. She seemed to be afraid to try 
again for fear she might hook a larger one. I 
went back to my fishing and soon landed three 
small ones, but not being satisfied, I moved on 
down to where the old and new rivers forked. 
I cut an extra pole about five feet long, attached 
a short line to this that was supplied with a hook 
and a heavy sinker. I baited the hook with a 
frog I had caught on the way down. Then I 
set it in the new channel a short distance above 
the forks, where the bottom was coarse gravel 
and the water some three or four fee't deep. 
Then my attention was taken up with my other 
pole and line. Just before starting to fish I 
looked in the direction of the set hook and be¬ 
hold, the thing was almost under water. 1 
hurried in that direction and just as I reached 
the scene the pole sprang back in position. I 
took hold and raised on the pole gently to see 
what had been hooked, when I brought to view 
the nose and mouth of a yellow cat, and I must 
say that if the rest of the fish corresponded with 
that mouth it certainly was a whale. Giving it 
slack preparatory to removing the pole from the 
bank, that fish went to the bottom like a sub¬ 
marine boat and I actually heard it grate on the 
bottom. After removing the pole I started to 
pull the monster down stream to a better landing, 
but it seemed to have taken root to the bottom. 
I gave a sharp pull to move it, which I surely 
did, for that fish started for Missouri, the state 
of his nativity; and the next thing I knew the 
line flipped out of the water with a crack' and 
the fish was free, the hook had broken. I stood 
dumbfounded for a moment, then I threw the 
pole and line far out in the river, picked up my 
other pole and was going. But no, I am no quit¬ 
ter! I’ve got red blood in my veins. I walked 
out on the point of land that extended down be¬ 
tween the two rivers, adjusted the float on the 
