FOREST AND STREAM 
83 
The old saying “Set a thief to catch a thief’’ 
is as applicable to birds as it is to certain classes 
of bad men. In this section of the state the 
crows are being fought by means of large owls 
and hawks which the crows hate. Men who 
desire to kill crows often do so by using live 
or stuffed owls as decoys. 
This fact has been utilized by Capt. F. N. 
Moore, a prominent granger near Rome, Pa., 
who had lost a lot of young turkeys and numer¬ 
ous chickens through the visits of crows which 
reared their young in the .woods around his 
farm. He has two stuffed owls and when the 
crow tenants become too aggressive about his 
poultry yard, he places one of the big owls on 
a pole or in a tree top, erects a blind within easy 
gunshot and he soon gets rid of the unwelcome 
visitors- 
Game Commissioner Arthur Chapman, of 
Doylestown, uses with great success the mounted 
skin of a large red-tailed hawk. Live owls or 
hawks tied to poles or trees are much better as 
decoys than mounted specimens. Dr. B. H. War¬ 
ren, of the Everhart Museum at Scranton, has 
lured various birds which he desired as speci¬ 
mens at Wallop’s Island, Va- He exterminated 
many egg, fish and song bird devouring crows at 
the same place by decoying them to brush where 
he and his guides, shot them. 
The Reading Railroad is powerless to prevent 
the state of Pennsylvania from stepping in to pro¬ 
tect the fish that are menaced in the big Tumbling 
Run Dam near Pottsville. This novel situation 
has appeared through the action of City Comp¬ 
troller Portz in producing a commission from 
State Fish Warden, N. R. Bueller, ordering him 
to save from destruction all the fish, both game 
and not game, in the waters of Tumbling Run 
Dam while the level is being lowered. 
The Reading is doing away with the dam as a 
spot for boating and fishing and plans to use it 
as a reservoir for storage of water for its mines. 
To make necessary changes, the water is to be 
taken out but the Reading now has under its 
nose the notice of the state that when water 
levels are being lowered, the law specifies that 
no fish may be killed unless caught with a hook 
and line. 
City Comptroller Portz intends to protect the 
fish and has called upon Capt. Wilhelm, of the 
Pottsville troop of the state police, to aid him. 
W ilhelm has put mounted troopers on guard to 
prevent the killing of any fish except in the 
manner permitted by law. This also includes their 
being destroyed by the emptying the dam which 
will be stopped if this danger becomes apparent. 
Sportsmen are watching the conflict between the 
state fish authorities and the big railroad and 
coal company with great interest. They hope to 
see the scene of so much pleasant angling saved 
to them. 
Fishing off the wild Newfoundland Banks is 
said to be thrilling but it has nothing on the ex¬ 
perience that Frank Stoyer, H. C- Seivert and 
Harry Schatzlein, three Mahan'oy City anglers, 
went through on the Hauto dam in Carbon 
county, the home of a goodly percentage of the 
wild game still living in this state. 
The three men locked their boat to a stump 
protruding from the water and were engrossed 
in fishing for bass, of which they had taken over 
twenty, when a thunder storm descended upon 
them. They could not find the key to the lock 
and had to sit in a slowly filling boat from which 
the dead fish drifted, as the downpour drenched 
them and almost swamped their craft. Their 
frenzied shouts for help in the lulls of the storm 
finally brought out other fishing craft and they 
were taken ashore. 
Harry S. Price, of Canadensis, son of Lafay¬ 
ette Price who conducts the Mountain House and 
Mountain Lake game preserve in Pike County, 
was married at Wilkes-Barre to Miss Blanche 
Corey, of Factoryville. The groom is well known 
to all sportsmen who have done any angling or 
shooting in Pike county. J. W. KRAFT. 
QUAIL IN IOWA. 
Waterloo, Iowa, June 29, 1914. 
Just a line to let you know that the quail 
prospects in this country are a lot better this 
summer than they have been for a number of 
years past. 
I made a 150 mile drive through the country 
not' long ago and saw a great many quail 
in that part of central Iowa through which 
I traveled and also a large number of Chinese 
Pheasants which have been liberated by the 
State Game Commission. The State is setting 
apart from time to time different districts as 
game preserves and this is going to be the salva¬ 
tion of game in this country. 
A real sportsman is glad to see the little sign 
that calls attention to the fact that the city has 
set apart this territory and has provided it with 
game birds because he knows the lands adja¬ 
cent will soon be well provided as well and 
that shooting will be better in that section than 
it has ever been. 
AMOS BURHANS. 
ST. LOUIS CASTING CLUB. 
St. Louis, June 30th, 1914. 
The St. Louis Fly & Bait Casting Club held 
a tournament June 28th, in Forest Park. The 
wind was from the Southwest, blowing between 
20 and 40 miles an hour. The following events 
were cast:— 
■/i-Oz. Accuracy—scores per cent.—won by 
Brennan. 
Brennan .96.3 Steinmesch .91.4 
Werner .96.2 Wimmer .95.2 
Fleming .96. 
%-Oz. Distance—average—five casts in feet— 
won by Werner. 
Werner .119.4 Steinmesch .38.3 
Wimmer . 71.2 Brennan .30.2 
%-Oz. Accuracy—Fishing Tackle—scores per 
cent, won by Werner. 
Werner .99.1 Solomon .95.7 
Fleming .97.7 Brennan .94.4 
Steinmesch .96.2 
%-Oz. Distance—-Fishing Tackle—average five 
casts—scores in feet—won by Werner. 
Werner .144.11 Fleming .80.3 
Steinmesch _116.10 Brennan .43.5 
Solomon .109.2 
Fly Accuracy—scores per cent.—won by Bren¬ 
nan. 
Brennan.99.1 Steinmesch .96.14 
Fleming.08.1c 
Fly Distance—score in feet—won by Brennan 
Brennan .86 ft- Steinmesch .81 ft 
Fleming .82 ft. 
H. J. Steinmesch, Secretary. 
PENNSYLVANIA FISHING. 
Greenville, July 9, 1914. 
While fishing recently on Hemlot run near 
Oil City, Charles L. Smith of Oil City, caught 
a rainbow trout that measured 19% inches in 
length and tipped the scales at exactly two 
pounds and six ounces. Abner Williams, who 
was fishing on the same stream, landed one 15 
inches. At the opening of the season Mr. 
Smith, through the Oil City camp, United Sports¬ 
men of Pennsylvania, offered a prize for the 
largest trout caught this year and it looks as 
though he will have the pleasure of presenting 
himself with the prize. The trout are thought 
to be from the fry planted in the stream many 
years ago by the Fur, Fin and Feather Club. 
Cooperstown, N. Y., July 3.—The largest fish 
on record ever taken from Otsego Lake was an 
18% pound lake trout captured by Alexander S. 
Phinney, an expert fisherman, while trolling near 
Three Mile Point Tuesday morning, June 30. On 
Thursday morning Mr. Phinney caught 5 more 
of these beauties, the largest weighing 16 pounds. 
This is the biggest catch within one week record¬ 
ed here. 
Herbert L. Kimball of New York succeeded in 
landing a 6 pound pickerel from Otsego Lake 
near the O-te-sa-ga Hotel Sunday morning. 
R. D. S PR AKER. 
OUR NEW HAMPSHIRE LETTER. 
Concord, N. H., July 4, 1914. 
The numerous convictions which have followed 
detected violations of the fish and game laws 
in New Hampshire have given impetus to an 
all around agitation of a proposition to organize 
in different towns and localities associations or 
clubs which will operate as auxiliaries to the 
state fish and game authorities, who can, of 
course, detect and punish but a certain proportion 
of 'the criminals who are really guilty of law 
violation. Many of the law infringements com¬ 
plained of are for catching short trout, an evil, 
which, if not checked, must have the result of 
depleting most of the trout waters in the state 
It is argued that the reason of catching short 
lobsters is easily seen in the fact that epicures 
demand them and they find a ready sale. But 
small trout are not permitted to be sold, and why 
any man, capable of pushing his way along a 
trout stream, should have a desire to carry around 
trout so small that he would be ashamed to show 
them to a fellow fisherman, if there were no 
law, passes the understanding of any right-mind¬ 
ed sportsman or angler. 
A peculiarly aggravated case of short trout 
catching in defiance of law was that in which a 
man was caught “with the goods,” having in 
possession 181 trout under the legally prescribed 
length which he took from one of the best trout 
streams in Essex County, Vermont. Rumor 
claimed that the offender was a New Hampshire 
resident, but if so, strong as the argument might 
work in his favor, it did not save him from the 
penalty of paying $453 for his day’s illicit pisca¬ 
torial enjoyment. 
In appeals for the extensive organization of 
auxiliary associations it is suggested that the im¬ 
position of fines alone will not be sufficient to 
secure the preservation of game or of fish. There 
must be enlightened public sentiment which will 
