592 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May io, 1913 
fill, as happened after we had made an unfortu¬ 
nate miss or two, or had a bad night’s sleep, 
or drank too much of the strong niggerhead 
coffee we always made for lunch, we got slow, 
and this is a fatal defect with a 20 —with a small¬ 
bore gun. If you can shoot quickly, and do 
shoot quickly, you will kill your birds clean 
and beautifully. Therefore, I recommend a 20- 
gauge to a quick shot, and if he has trouble, 
let him snap his birds for a few times; but a 
slow shot, however good, has no use for a 20. 
The average number of pellets is only 2/3 those 
in a 12, while the pattern is just as wide, there¬ 
fore it is cruelty to shoot a 20 cylinder when a 
bird is more than thirty-five or forty yards, and 
it should not be necessary with a gun weighing 
514 to 5% pounds. 
I shot for a week longer, and while I had 
an occasional bad spell, it only lasted three or 
four shots, when I would become aware that I 
was slowing up and would begin to pick them 
off the tops of the grass. 
An interesting incident happened on my last 
day but one. The dog pointed a covey in open 
oak scrub “cut down land.’’ About thirty feet 
in front of the dog stood a pine sapling; a 
small covey of eight or ten birds got up. I 
picked out a bird, as usual, the leader, and fired 
as it passed round the sapling. To my surprise, 
I saw three birds fall together, and out of the 
corner of my eye got the impression of some¬ 
thing like an oak leaf flutter off to my left al¬ 
most at right angles tO' my line of shot, and 
about fifteen feet away. The guide also saw the 
three birds fall, and was equally astonished. 
We walked over to retrieve, but only found two 
birds, the third was evidently crippled. As it 
was getting dusk and we had several miles to 
drive, we gave up the search shortly, and 
started for our horses. I bethought myself of 
this leaf-like thing I saw as I fired, and casu¬ 
ally went over to see what it was, and there 
found a bird literally shot to pieces. What had 
evidently happened was that I not only knocked 
three as the bunch tried to round the sapling 
and crowded together, but a bird had flown 
into the charge near enough to the muzzle of 
the gun to be blown to pieces. Twice before I 
have gotten three quail at a shot, but this was 
the first time that I ever seemed in imminent 
danger of getting four. 
Hunting in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
Sportsmen throughout the State, and all 
those interested in the conservation of wild 
life, are much interested in the many game bills 
that have been introduced in the State Legis¬ 
lature. The non-sale of game bill is one of the 
most important of these and the indications are 
that this will be passed, provided the Legisla¬ 
ture can find time to give it attention. The 
Senate has just passed a meritorious measure 
which forbids the killing until April i, 1918, of 
any dove, woodducks, ibis, wild pigeons or 
shore birds such as stilts, dunlins, willets, 
plovers, curlews, kildeers, rails or oyster- 
catchers. An attempt was made to amend the 
bill so that doves might be killed in the lower 
San Joaquin Valley, but this failed. 
The prolonged storms in the mountains east 
of Chico have driven the deer down from the 
high levels into the foothills section, and farm¬ 
ers are having trouble to protect their orchards 
and gardens. More deer have been seen in 
that section of late than for several years past. 
Quail are also very plentiful in Butte county 
for reasons not apparent. 
Another Game Warden Sacrifices his Life 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
For the third time in less than three 
months a game warden in the employ of the 
Fish and Game Commission of California has 
been assaulted with murderous intent, the last 
attack resulting in the death of the public 
official and one of his assailants. This grim 
tragedy occurred off the Marin shore, when 
Ernest Raynaud and M. S. Clark overtook a 
boat containing Italian fishermen and placed 
the occupants under arrest for using nets of an 
illegal size. Other fishermen came to the rescue 
of their countrymen and began a sudden at¬ 
tack upon the deputies. Raynaud was knocked 
down and beaten to death with a heavy club 
and Clerk was knocked into the bay, but not 
before he had shot two of the Italians, killing 
one of them. Repeated attempts were made by 
the fishermen to run down the deputy struggling 
in the water, but he managed to keep his head 
and dived under the power boat each time. 
Assistance soon came, and he was rescued. It 
is feared that the fishermen who killed Ray¬ 
naud have escaped. The killing of Bert 
Blanchard in the Berkeley hills on Feb. 8, and 
the shooting of John W. Gallaway on March 10 
by desperate Marin county law-breakers, fol¬ 
lowed by the killing of Raynaud, has aroused 
a tense feeling and deputies making arrests are 
being cautioned to take absolutely no chances. 
Buffalo. 
Las Animas, Colo., April 25. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Your correspondent, D. M. Edger- 
ton, in speaking of the buffalo in your issue of 
April 19, has his data somewhat mixed. The 
fort he refers to in Western Kentucky was 
Wallace instead of Russell. Fort Russell is at 
Cheyenne, Wyo. The old K. P. is a part of the 
U. P. system. The big killing was made in 
1873. During that year tens of thousands of 
hides were stacked along the railroad tracks at 
Wallace awaiting shipment. 
I rode with old Pete Martin on his engine 
when he was compelled to stop his train to 
allow the buffalo to cross the track. The buf¬ 
falo could be seen at the way stations along 
the line during a blizzard seeking shelter on 
the lee side of box cars on the sidings. Many 
of them were unable to see by reason of the 
snow and sleet that had been driven into their 
wooly pates. 
Buffalo traveled or fed against the wind. 
This was the rule except in the most severe 
storms, as their head and shoulders were pro¬ 
tected by long hair and fine wool which was 
not the case with their hind quarters. 
Mr. Edgerton speaks of the buffalo wallows, 
hut says nothing of the more interesting rings. 
The wallows were made by the animals rolling 
in a small pool of rain water. The mud ad¬ 
hering to their wool was carried away, and thus 
a depression was made which was increased by 
the wind scooping out the soil after it had dried 
and pulverized, and by successive rollings. The 
ring was much larger than the wallow, being 
sometimes several hundred feet in diameter, and 
was made by a herd rounded up by wolves. The 
outside was guarded by the bulls and old cows 
who broke the sod by pawing, and thus allowed 
the seed of the long blue stem to take root 
where had been the short buffalo grass. Many 
years after the disappearance of the buffalo these 
well defined rings, like an old circus ring, could be 
seen on the Kansas prairies. F. T. Webber. 
Iowa Fish and Game Laws. 
I'ort Dodge, Iowa, April 26. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: I am sorry to report that our 
Legislature adjourned without doing much in 
the way of legislation to improve the- conditions 
for the protection of game and fish. True, the 
Legislature raised the State game warden’s 
salary and passed an act prohibiting the spear¬ 
ing of carp, buffalo and suckers, except during 
the months of April and May, and forbidding 
the use of trot lines within 300 feet of dams. 
Ducks can be shot in Iowa from Sept, i to 
April 15. Thousands were shot here in the past 
five or six weeks. 
The open season on the fast vanishing rem¬ 
nant of the pinnated grouse, or prairie chicken, 
in this State is still Sept, i to Dec. i. We 
need a closed season for at least five years on 
these birds if we are to have any left. I for¬ 
got one act the Legislature passed. It placed 
the quail in the song bird class, thus giving pro¬ 
tection to these birds the year round. 
Our State game warden was credited by the 
press with saying he could not protect quail if 
placed in the class with song birds. I can 
scarcely believe the warden would make such an 
assertion. However, the Legislature passed an 
act requiring the warden to protect song birds. 
The statute now gives the warden the right 
to kill or confine wild deer “when found neces¬ 
sary.’’ This measure is evidently aimed at the 
destruction of a few deer near Wabausee in the 
southwestern part of the State, which broke out 
from some private herd and have multiplied to 
some extent in the timber along the Missouri 
River. These deer are credited with all sorts 
of depredations, from murder to missing mass, 
by the local press, including total destruction of 
all crops in their range. Hence, the bill for 
their extermination. Wouldn’t it be a pity if 
these harmless animals were permitted to in¬ 
crease? C. A. Bryant. 
Three Alaska Trappers. 
Seward, Alaska, March 31 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I inclose herewith a print which 
I took on one of my recent trips to Lower Kenai 
Lake region, checking up the trappers and their 
catches. These three men had headquarters at 
what is known as “Kings Co. Cabin’’ on Lower 
Kenai Lake, and trapped from there to Kelly 
River. From left to right is “Windy’’ Wagner 
holding red fox and wolverine; Frank Stanifer, 
silver gray, black and two cross foxes; R. N. 
McFadden, fifteen mink and twelve ermine. 
They have been trapping there since November. 
Their catch should bring them about $2,000. 
They shipped them by the last steamer from 
here. Stanifer and Wagner caught one black 
fox and quite a lot of lesser valued fur at the 
same place last winter a year. 
J. C. Tolman, Sr. Game Warden. 
[See illustration on page 591.] 
