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Live Notes From The Field 
Being Reports From Our Local Correspondents 
SOMETHING MORE ABOUT ANCIENT 
WEAPONS. 
Claridge’s Hotel, London, England, 
Editor Forest and Stream'. 
In your October number Mr. S. Allen, of The 
Facade, Charing Cross, London, says “Early hunt¬ 
ing weapons are often amusing to modern eye.” 
On the contrary, it is lot these weapons but 
Mr. Allen’s remarks, which are so amusing. 
lie thinks that "The XVIII Century sword, 
which presumes (only presumes to Mr. Allen) re¬ 
markable sprinting powers” was used by running 
after a stag on foot and when the stag was over¬ 
taken, it was eaten with the knife and fork en¬ 
closed in the scabbard !!! 
Mr. Allen seems ignorant of the fact that the 
stags were hunted with stag-hounds, the followers 
being mounted on horseback; when the stag 
went to bay he generally was “set up” in a stream 
or lake; the Master of the Hounds got off his 
horse, and wading into the water killed the stag, 
or wild boar, with his sword as it fought the 
hounds. 
There was then a feast and the knife and fork 
were used at the feast of provisions which were 
brought along in carts. 
The pistols were used later, instead of the 
sword, for killing the stag or wild boar when it 
was at bay, by men who were not active enough 
to use the sword. 
In every case however the men hunting rode 
on horseback during the chase of the animal by 
the hounds, and only shot or used the sword 
from on foot when the animal was standing at 
bay no longer able to run. 
I have hunted this way in France within the 
last few years; in France all the old customs of 
hunting still prevail. 
The reason the stag or boar is killed with the 
sword or shot, when at bay, is because the stag 
standing in deep water with the hounds swim¬ 
ming round him can kill off the hounds piecemeal 
unless he is killed by human aid, and the boar, 
which usually goes to bay with his hind quarters 
protected by a thicket, can rip up hounds till he 
decimates the pack unless a man gets up quickly 
to the assistance of the hounds. 
In the present French hunting, the Master of 
the Hounds, unless a young active man, carries a 
.38 carbine with short barrel, in two holsters 
in front of his saddle, the barrel one side and 
the stock the other. 
But in every case the hounds are allowed to do 
all the work of tracking, hunting (often through 
herds of other deer, the hounds never leaving 
the hunted stag) till he is at bay and refuses to 
go on further, when he is shot, both to save the 
hounds and to avoid cruelty to the stag from 
being torn by the hounds 
It is never safe to sneer at what is not modern 
or to say it is “often amusing to modern eyes.” 
The ancients were not fools; they knew much 
more about hunting than those moderns who 
laugh at them, not knowing anything about 
hunting. 
Oct. 21st, 1915. Walter Winans. 
A MONSTER LOBSTER—NEWFOUNDLAND’S 
SURPLUS CATCH. 
St. John’s, N. F., Oct. 25, 1915. 
The following account clipped from a local 
paper, will interest Forest and Stream readers. 
The largest lobster secured for many years on 
the West Coast was recently captured at Middle 
Arm, Bay of Islands (Nfld.), by William Clarke, 
who was operating a canning factory at that 
place. The crustacean measured three feet across 
from the tips of its claws, the girth of the body 
was one foot, and it measured eighteen inches in 
length. It contained sufficient meat to more than 
fill three cans. 
Since the war commenced, the market for local 
lobsters has almost completely shut down. The 
consequence is that our dealers find themselves 
with immense stocks on hand. 
It struck me that it might interest Forest and 
Stream, family or club men, to hear, that if they 
wanted delicious lobsters, at a cheap rate they 
could get all they want right here. 
One of the larget dealers informed me recently 
that there are many thousand cases of prime lob¬ 
sters on hand, with no market for them. They 
are offered in the open market for $15.00 per 
case containing each 48 1 pound cans. I do not 
know how this price compares with American 
quotations, but if any reader wishes to get in 
communication with dealers to order anything 
from one to a thousand cases, I will be pleased to 
put him in communication with reliable parties. 
W. J. Carroll. 
SOME DEER DON’TS. 
Don’t shoot at anything you can’t see—the 
chances are you won’t hit it, unless it is some¬ 
thing you don’t really care to hit—your hunting 
companion, perhaps. 
Don’t hustle around in the woods looking for 
an animal with the architecture and action of a 
cow—the critter you’re after more closely re¬ 
sembles a collie dog seeking an interview with 
the neighbor’s cat. 
Don’t believe all the dope handed you by the 
“deer slayers” assembled in the general store of 
the settlement where the cars drop you—and don’t 
expect them to believe anything you tell them. 
Don’t neglect to make a careful study of the 
bullet holes in the carcass your guide has hung 
up for you. It is sometimes embarrassing to be 
suddenly asked to account for a broken hind leg 
on the buck you dropped with a single ball 
through his heart. 
Don’t go crawling through thickets on your 
hands and knees. The attitude won’t deceive any 
deer but it may • mislead some well-meaning 
stranger into endowing you with a couple or three 
soft-points just where they will do you the least 
good. 
Don’t fail to shoot when you see a deer. Shoot 
at him, if possible, but by all means shoot—it 
makes a better impression upon the bystanders. 
Don’t rest your rifle on any hard support. It 
will shoot off aim if 3^011 do. Instead rest your 
body or your elbows. 
Don’t think it necessary to mangle your victim’s 
throat with a bowie knife. It spoils the head for 
mounting. Stick him in the chest—and be blame 
sure lie’s dead before you do it. 
Don’t run after a wounded deer, give it time 
to lie down and bleed. The chances are that it 
will never get up, if well hit. About the only 
exception is when falling snow is obliterating 
the trail. 
Don t hurry—that’s a game where the deer ha; 
you beaten. 
Don’t go out without matches, a compass and 
a bit of something to eat stowed about your per¬ 
son. You may want to stay out longer than you 
anticipated. And again, you may have to when 
you don’t want to. 
Don’t let getting lost fuss you. It’ll take you 
about a week to starve to death and you won’t 
freeze as long windfalls give shelter from the 
wind and wood and matches make a fire. Re¬ 
member, your companions will begin looking for 
you the next morning and that a bonfire sending 
up a big smoke from the top of a hill will help 
them a heap in finding you.—C. L. Gilman, 
THE RECORD MOOSE HEAD OF SEASON. 
What is probably the largest moose head se¬ 
cured in New Brunswick this year has been shot 
in the Tobique Woods near the Nictau Camps. 
Guide Adam Moore, of Scotch Lake, had a party 
of eight American Sportsmen at Nitcau for the 
month of October, and they had shot four fine 
moose at last reports, one of the heads having 
antlers spreading 62 inches, while the other also 
had large spreads. 
The moose were never more plentiful around 
the Nictau Camps than this year, and the party 
went after caribou on the barrens along the 
Canadian Pacific. After a couple of weeks cari¬ 
bou hunting they returned to Nictau and finished 
their trip hunting deer. 
