i6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. s, 1907. 
The Season in Washington. 
Seattle, Wash., Dec. 22.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Gray’s marsh, which is looked upon 
by sportsmen as the best duck shooting ground 
on the lower sound, has become die property 
of Joe Schlumpf and A. H. Anderson, prom¬ 
inent business men of Seattle. A contract has 
been let for the construction of a hunting lodge 
and many other improvements which will give 
the lucky owners one of the swellest preserves 
on Puget Sound. The property comprises 476 
acres, part of which is covered with timber. 
The marsh proper is cut by a long and winding 
slough, and it is here that the shooting is the 
best. The owners will plant grain along either 
side of the stream, let it grow up, fall back to 
seed, and then give the ducks a warm reception 
when they come in. 
With the exception of some of the well-fed 
preserves, duck shooting in western Washing¬ 
ton has not been up to the average during the 
past three weeks. There have been storms, 
but the combination has not been right to yield 
good results all around. State Senator R. F. 
Booth and Frank Atkins were at their preserve 
near Richmond one day, but had indifferent 
sucess, the birds flying very high. H. W. 
Markey caught a good day near York and 
came home with a nice bag. The luckiest of 
the local hunters was a boy who borrowed a 
shotgun and hid himself in a little cover on 
Mercer Island. In half a day’s shooting he 
bagged twelve canvasbacks. 
The California sportsmen’s convention, fol¬ 
lowing in the footsteps of Washington, recom¬ 
mended the enactment of a hunting license, and 
legislation prohibiting the sale of ducks and 
trout. It is gratifying to notice that the Cal¬ 
ifornia sportsmen voluntarily cut the limit on 
ducks, from fifty to twenty-five. In Washing¬ 
ton the limit has been twenty-five for some 
time, but in Oregon hunters are still permitted 
to kill fifty in a day’s shoot. To the credit 
of the clubs which have preserves it should be 
said that they often establish a limit lower than 
the law, and generally speaking, the regulation 
is observed. Of course there is a class of 
hunters who will take advantage of a good flight 
to shoot as long as their shells hold out, but 
this class is decreasing in numbers as sentiment 
for the strict observance of the law gains. Judg¬ 
ing from reports along the coast, it appears as 
if substantial improvement was being made in 
game protection. Hunters can no longer be 
blind to the fact that they are cutting off their 
nose to spite their face . when they slaughter 
game. 
Slowly but surely small-bore shotguns are 
gaining in popularity along the Pacific Coast. 
It was not many years ago that duck hunters 
thought it necessary to use a nine or ten- 
pound ten-gauge gun, and there were those who 
did not object to having.an eight close at hand 
in case of an emergency. Fashion changed to 
the twelve-gauge, which to-day is generally 
recognized as the best all-around gun to be had. 
Four or five years ago a few of the more ex¬ 
pert shots tried the sixteen, and were so well 
pleased that they commenced singing its praises. 
It was admitted that the pattern was not so 
large as the big bores, but it was asserted posi¬ 
tively that the penetration was as great if not 
greater. To-day the twenty-gauge is being used 
to a limited extent, especialy among the quail 
hunters. The advantage, of the small bore gun 
comes in lightness and reduced cost of ammuni¬ 
tion. Portus Baxter. 
Organizing Wolf Hunts. 
Montreal, Can., Dec. 24 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Canadian Pacific Railway is very 
much alive to the importance of preserving game 
for rod and gun. In this connection one of the 
things that it will do is to organize large wolf 
hunts. 1 his matter I have in charge and I have 
written to a number of settlers and lumbermen 
for information as to the whereabouts of the 
greatest number of wolves. The wolf, as you 
know, is migratory, but he is likely to stay some¬ 
where in the neighborhood of where hares and 
partridges are plentiful, and where deer, moose 
and caribou yard., From the information I have 
received it seems almost certain that the country 
north of Desbarats, Ont., twenty-eight miles east 
of Sault Ste. Marie, is thickly populated with 
wolves. One of the settlers writes from that 
section: 
^ “This would be a good place for a wolf hunt. 
The wolves are very thick near here and the 
lakes are situated just right. A neighbor of mine 
shot a wolf. There were two wolves that came 
to his door to try and coax his dog away, but 
the man, Joe Torrence, shot one and the other 
ran away. Later on this winter my son chased 
two on Bass Lake, but did not shoot either of 
them.” 
Another settler says: “Wolves are very numer¬ 
ous and they are doing a lot of damage with the 
big game. One man in a lumber camp says he 
saw five or six in a day.” 
I am taking the utmost care in our wolf hunt 
to avoid the danger of any member being shot, 
as there will be many rifles. No- rifles will be 
allowed on the lake at all, as the ricochetting 
power is almost as great as the direct. I tested 
my .30-30 on a lake in northern Quebec. I struck 
a bit of clear ice at 300 yards, with a rock bluff 
another 300 yards beyond it. The bullet only 
scratched the ice and struck the-rock bluff just 
about the height of my head. I then fired into 
some snow near the clear ice. It ploughed its 
little channel through the snow for about a yard 
and a half and reached the same bluff, a little 
bit lower than the other bullet. Guns with buck¬ 
shot shells would be effective enough, I think, 
for the wolf. I inclose a circular of the wolf 
hunts, which may be of interest. We have not 
yet definitely decided upon what point we will 
select in Quebec. 
The Canadian Pacific Railway has with much 
painstaking evolved plans tO' save the game on 
Vancouver Island. The railway owns a large 
amount of land there. There are clauses in the 
provincial act giving specific classes, such as 
miners, Indians and others, too much latitude in 
the killing of game. It leaves a loophole which 
many pot-hunters use to give them an excuse for 
killing all the year round. An effort will be 
made to overcome this. The following will show 
the benefit of preserving the fishing waters of 
British Columbia: 
Fish caught by Mr. - in unpreserved 
waters: 1900. March, April, May, 20 salmon; 
1901, March, April, May, 17 salmon; 1902, March, 
April, May, 11 salmon. 
Now mark the difference. After establishing 
a preserve in his own waters this gentleman 
caught: 1904, March, April, May, 77 salmon; 
ipoSj March, April, May, 122 salmon; 1906, 
March, April, May, 123 salmon. 
Two really wild buffalo have been'found near 
Stonewall, twenty-five miles north of Winnipeg. 
The Government is trying to corral them to add 
to the herd at Stonewall. What a fine thing it 
would be if the first fruits of the agitation for 
game protection would be the saving of the buf¬ 
falo on these famous old hunting grounds. 
L. O. Armstrong. 
[The first wolf hunt will be held on Monday 
Jan. 21, in the Province of Quebec, starting from 
Montreal, and the second on Feb. 9 from Des¬ 
barats unless a better starting point is decided on 
meanwhile. The entire outfit necessary excepting 
fiiearms and including blankets, clothing, snow- 
shoes, railway fare, food, guides, etc., will be 
furnished for a certain sum, the outfit to be re¬ 
tained by the user. Full information will be sup¬ 
plied by Mr. Armstrong.— Editor.] 
The Kyler Case. 
A jury called to try the case of David Kyler, 
of Holhdaysburg, Pa., charged with killing a 
bear during the closed season, acquitted Mr. 
Kyler and imposed a part of the costs on the 
game warden who prosecuted him. Mr. Kyler 
testified that while fox hunting a bear attacked 
him and that he fired twice at it with bird shot 
then clubbed it to death. Self-defense was his 
plea. The decision is an astonishing one, since 
it is well known that black bears do not attack 
men.so long as escape is possible. Why he was 
hunting foxes with small shot he did not say. 
Lost in the Woods. 
Nilwood, Ill., Dec. 22. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The inclosed clipping regarding the 
disappearance of Caldwell and Lincoln, explain 
the situation. The story of their disappearance 
is about as follows: Ihey, with their guides, 
went into camp several miles from Grand 
Marais. Their provisions ran low and the guides 
went to Grand Marais for a new supply. They 
were detained, on their return, by a snow storm, 
and when they reached camp both Caldwell and 
Lincoln were gQne, and as no tracks were to 
be found, it was supposed they had gone hunt¬ 
ing before the snow storm and had lost their 
way. 
Search parties were sent out from Grand 
Marais, but nothing was found except a note 
they left in Wamabo’s shack. 
3 . he story of the search is too lengthy to 
be given, but Caldwell’s diary, kept on birch- 
bark, is eloquent. It follows: 
“Nov. 16—Started for and arrived at Mud 
lake, 3:30 P. M., beginning of snowstorm. 
“Nov. 17 to 20—Remained in camp on short 
rations—last food morning of 20th, when we 
attempted to go forward on improvised snow- 
shoes. Found the task impossible and returned 
to shanty. 
“Nov. 21 and 22—Awaited rescue and relief 
from our guide, Pete Wamabo. 
“Nov. 23—Started for Mark lake camp without 
food. No trail visible, so followed compass. 
Made about one mile and camped in swamp. 
Traveling had been terrible. 
“Nov. 24—Made about one and a hah miles 
and in evening^ camped in big burning.. Shot 
a porcupine. Good food for hungry man. 
Nov. 25—Made about ip2 miles and crossed 
outlet of stream of Mark lake about one mile 
south of lake. Camping again in cedar swamp. 
“Nov. 26—About one foot of soft, wet snow 
fell and added to our discomfort. 
Nov. 27—Reached Mark Lake camp about 
noon, and found all our clothing and effects 
had been removed and the food supply which 
we had expected to find had been eaten by the 
men who brought it out. 
“Nov. 28 and 29—Rested in camp. Mended 
our clothing as best we could, and in evening 
of 29th made our Thanksgiving dinner on a 
piece of rabbit we had left at camp previous 
to having, gone to Mud Lake. 
“Nov. 30—Left camp at noon for Cascade 
River Crossing, near east end of Pine Lake, 
camping in evening on southern slope of big 
burning. 
“Dec. 1—Broke camp about 7 o’clock and 
were overtaken by Axel Berglund and his men, 
who had been looking for us for eight days. 
Glad to meet them. After hearty exchange of 
felicitations we crossed Pike Lake arid made our 
way to small shanty on Mrs. Hume’s home¬ 
stead. 
“Dec. 2—Reached lumber camp of Reynolds, 
Minick & Marshall, and, after hospitable treat¬ 
ment at hands of Mr. Minnick, we secured a 
team and were all hauled to Grand Marais.” 
Newfoundland Game. 
St. Johns, N. F., Dec. 20. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The great caribou migration is about 
over. The herds have all worked south to¬ 
ward their winter feeding grounds. During the 
last month or so they were seen crossing the 
railway track in vast numbers. Up north the 
frost has sealed the marshes, and the uplands 
are covered with snow. It was later this sea¬ 
son than usual, when the herds began to move 
south. The weather was mild and wet all the 
fall. Last week the railway section men saw 
great numbers on the move. They report that 
large herds crossed the track between Deer 
Lake and Bay of Islands, and some companies 
numbered as many as eighty caribou. All the 
hunters who have been here this fall have been 
pretty successful. Some of the earlier ones had 
to work for their heads, but. the later ones got f 
all the sport they needed. I would not be sur- 
prised to see some good illustrated articles in 
Forest and Stream the coming winter, as many, 
of the hunters carried cameras along. 
