216 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 5, 1911. 
crack of day began his wanderings, and instead 
of tracking back to camp, headed off. nearly 
north to where the grading camps were blasting 
for the new track, about twelve miles away 
across muskegs and cedar swamps that were 
enough to break the heart of a moose. 
We saw that he was in good condition when 
he left that camp and decided that there was no 
call for us to go any further, as he had un¬ 
doubtedly reached the camps about ten miles east 
of Mesaba the evening before, where he would 
have to stay until the next morning to catch a 
work train out to Mesaba. It turned out that 
we were correct in assuming this. 
After resting for half an hour we got out our 
compasses and laid a course nearly due south, 
expecting to strike one of the timber company’s 
roads in about a mils. We were agreeably sur¬ 
prised to run into one after fifteen minutes of 
travel, and after a walk of about half a mile 
on this road we struck the camp from which 
the fellow had wandered. Here we rested and 
ate our lunch, then began the six-mile journey 
back to Skibo. 
When about a mile on our way we met the 
lost man and his friends returning to their camp. 
He had made the trip we had figured he would 
and had landed at the graders’ camp about 4 
p. m. of the 10th so badly done up that he was 
unable to make the journey to Mesaba to tele¬ 
phone his friends that he was safe. I did not 
wait to find why he did not track himself out, 
for I was so disgusted with him that I felt more 
like booting him than anything else. 
Shortly after we reached Skibo the other party 
followed us in, having quit the trail where it 
crossed the Partridge River about three miles 
further than we had gone. They had figured 
out the result just as we had and turned back. 
The next morning those fellows packed up 
and returned to Two Harbors. Can anyone say 
why it is that a man grown and supposed to be 
of a sound mind should do as this fellow did? 
I was told by his friend that he had been lost 
twice before, and to a man up a tree it looks 
like he would have profited by his previous ex¬ 
perience. J. P. B. 
To Hunt in Alaska. 
A Kansas sportsman who is preparing for a 
hunting trip to Alaska wants one or two com¬ 
panions. He says: 
“I want a companion, a man who is agreeable, 
fairly educated at least; good health, and a stayer 
to go with me on a hunting trip to the Kenai 
and Alaskan peninsulas. I have been in corres¬ 
pondence with Alaskan authorities, agricultural 
departments, guides, merchants’ outfitters and 
transportation companies for months and I be¬ 
lieve I have located moose, bear, sheep ( Dalli) 
so that we can get the limit in comfort. This 
can be done without excessive cost, about $1,000 
from Kansas City and return, two and one-half 
months’ time. 
“Can you put me in communication with the 
right sort of companion? I prefer a single com¬ 
panion, but would not object to two. I prefer 
a good physician of course, as every big-game 
hunter does who goes, far back in the wilds.” 
If interested parties wish to communicate with 
him, their letters, if sent in our care, will be 
forwarded promptly to him. 
Ward-Mcllhenny Preserve Accepted. 
New Orleans, La., July 26. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The commission formally accepted 
the donation of the big wildfowl preserve of 
13,000 acres made by C. W. Ward and E. A. 
Mcllhenny in Vermilion parish, near Vermilion 
Bay. A building will be erected on this preserve 
by the commission for the game warden in 
charge. 
The largest shipment of alligators ever made 
from this city was the 500 sent out yesterday 
by fast freight to the California alligator farm 
at Los Angeles, Cal., by William E. Voelkel & 
Son. The alligators filled two cars and measure 
from a few inches to fifteen feet in length. It 
is said some of them were very old. They are 
in charge of Howard Harris, who said his firm 
desired to raise alligators for their hides. The 
local firm that made the shipment has been gath¬ 
ering the saurians for months. It is understood 
that the State Game' Commission will make an 
effort to have the City Council pass an ordi¬ 
nance protecting the alligator in the parish of 
Orleans and also introduce a bill in the Legis¬ 
lature protecting the alligator in all parts of the 
State. It is claimed that the alligator destroys 
the muskrat and the alligator garfish, and serves 
a useful purpose, and he is fast becoming ex¬ 
terminated. 
Several boy scouts who are in camp at Cler¬ 
mont Harbor on the Mississippi Sound near the 
Louisville and Nashville Railroad will make a 
canoe trip to New Orleans during the present 
week by the way of the Rigolets and Lake Pont- 
chartrain. The distance is about fifty miles. 
The canoe party will be composed of Dr. New- 
hauser, C. M. Cheney, Mr. Allison, Richard 
Barnes and August Barnes. The boy scouts are 
being instructed in the art of managing canoes 
and swimming in addition to the regular drills 
and practice of camp life. There are about 100 
boys in camp from this city and several Louis¬ 
iana towns. The boys are also enjoying the 
pastime of fishing, and several good catches are 
reported, and crab gumbo and fish are daily en¬ 
joyed. F. G. G. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., July 26. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: When the State Legislature opens 
its sessions next winter a determined effort will 
be made by sportsmen in Tulare and other cen¬ 
tral counties to have the opening of the deer 
season made at least a couple of months later. 
Deer in that section are very plentiful, but they 
are being killed in such large numbers that it 
is feared they will soon be exterminated. The 
season in Southern California has not yet 
opened, hunters are coming north and the moun¬ 
tains east of Tulare are overrun by them. The 
deer are now coming down to the lower meadows 
to feed and become easy victims. If the season 
opened in September, as it does in Southern Cali¬ 
fornia, fewer hunters from that section would 
come North, and besides by that time the deer 
would be found in the higher ranges. 
Not only are there many sportsmen who be¬ 
lieve that improvements can be made in the time 
set for the commencement of the open season in 
some districts, but there are many who believe 
that the present system of licensing hunters is 
too lax. There are reasons to believe that the 
bag limit is not being observed. The law is suf¬ 
ficiently plain in regard to the naming of the 
limit, but there is too much left to the honor of 
the hunter. In some States a tag system has 
been found to be a satisfactory one, and some¬ 
thing along this line may be adopted here, as 
the present one certainly is faulty. In former 
years when a man killed a deer his friends soon 
learned about it, but this season it is with diffi¬ 
culty that a man can be found who has killed 
a buck, especially in the sections where game is 
to be found. Hides and horns are coming out 
of the open territory in larger numbers than has 
been the case in several years, but there is a 
general unwillingness on the part of hunters to 
acknowledge that they have secured a full or 
even a half bag. 
Another feature of the law that is not meet¬ 
ing with favor is the provision prohibiting the 
taking of deer meat from open into closed terri¬ 
tory. Southern California hunters are opposed 
to this rule, for under the present district plan 
they are not enabled to take home with them the 
deer killed in district No. 4, visited by them so 
extensively this season. Officials are on the 
lookout to see that no game is shipped into the 
large cities of the closed territories. 
This season for the first time cottontail and 
bush rabbits have been protected in California. 
The open season commences in all of the game 
districts on Aug. 1; limit, fifteen per day. In 
districts 1 and 3 the dove season opened on July 
15 and in districts 2 and 5 will open on the first 
of August. The daily bag limit is twenty. 
Golden Gate. 
New York Game Laws. 
Albany, N. Y., July 29.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Governor Dix has vetoed Senator Mur- 
taugh’s bill amending the forest, fish and game 
law in relation to hunting hares and rabbits. 
These reasons are given by the Governor for 
his action: “I am opposed to special legisla¬ 
tion dealing with this subject for the reason 
that I think the question of taking game in this 
State should be referred by the Legislature to 
the Conservation Commission, which may after 
suitable examination determine the season, time 
and manner of taking game in this State.” 
Governor Dix has vetoed the following bills, 
giving similar reasons: 
Senator Roosevelt’s, in relation to taking quail 
in Dutchess, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and 
Ulster counties. 
Assemblyman C. W. Phillips’, in relation to 
the taking of Mongolian ring-necked or other 
pheasants. 
Governor Dix has vetoed Assemblyman Gur- 
nett’s bill relating to game protectors for the 
reason that there is no longer a forest, fish and 
game commissioner, his office having been abol¬ 
ished by the Conservation Commission, hence it 
would be impossible to have the statute a work¬ 
ing one. 
The Governor has signed Senator Roosevelt’s 
bill relative to actions and penalties so as to 
allow the commission to settle or compromise 
such actions, also relating to appropriation of 
lands and pollution of streams. E. C. C. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any nezvsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
