Jan. 12, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
59 
Ducks Abundant in the Northwest. 
Seattle, Wash., .Jan. 2. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: D”rk hunters are praying for a good 
storm to stir things up and give them another 
'aste of the good shootirg they enjoyed a 
short time ago. There are plenty of mallards, 
widgeons, and sprigs in the open water, but 
with conditions as they are now there is little 
doing except in a few favored places where 
grain is thrown out with a lavish hand. 
Widgeon are more in evidence than at any - 
other time this season, but so far as inland water 
goes, the birds have not settled down to regular 
feeding grounds. 
Not only has the weather been against good 
shooting, but the tide has been wrong, and the 
moon has given enough light for the ducks to 
do their feeding at night. Under such con¬ 
ditions the flight is never good. Comparatively 
few local sportsmen were out early in the 
week, the Christmas holidays keeping them at 
home more contentedly than would have been 
the case if the conditions had been favorable 
for good bags. Friday and Saturday, however, 
the gun stores were kept busy, and the fire¬ 
places at all the preserves were running at full 
blast, with rubber boots and hunting jackets 
ornamenting the lounging rooms. 
Joe Schlumpf and A. H. Anderson, who re¬ 
cently purchased Gray’s Marsh near Port 
Williams, have not been to their preserve re¬ 
cently. They have decided to stop all shooting 
while the improvements are being made. Wapa- 
too, which is one of the favorite food supplies 
of the ducks in Oregon, is to be planted along 
the big slough which runs through Gray’s 
Marsh, and it is expected that the hunting will 
improve each year. Wapatoo is a tuber of the 
species of arrowhead, and was given its name 
by the Indians of Oregon. It is one of the best 
drawing cards for ducks in the Pacific north- 
j west. Mr. Schlumpf has thought of trying wild 
rice, but as experiments in this direction have 
not been successful, he may. give up the idea. 
The preserves around San Francisco have not 
afforded better sport recently than those along 
* Puget Sound. Small ducks have disappeared, 
but canvasbacks have been dropping in from 
the north until the bay near Sausalito is liter¬ 
ally covered with them. They are resting from 
their long trip, and unless the wind comes, up 
■ will not drop into the marshes for the present. 
The Los Angeles papers say limit bags are 
scarce in lower California at present, but strings 
running as high as twenty-five are not uncom¬ 
mon. In California the limit is now fifty a day, 
the same as it is in Oregon. In Washington it 
is twenty-five. Large consignments of wild 
ducks are being shipped to the San Francisco 
• market from the south. A San Francisco paper 
says candidly that these hunters pay no atten¬ 
tion to the limit prescribed by law, as they find 
ready sale for all they can kill. It is to be 
hoped that the Legislature will put these men 
I out of business by adopting the recommenda¬ 
tion of the sportsmen to abolish the sale of 
ducks in the markets. If not abolished entirely, 
the number of days during which sales may be 
made should be limited. Portus Baxter. 
New Vermont Laws. 
Nortiifield, Vt., Jan. 1.— Editor Forest and 
\ Stream: I had expected to have been able at 
this date to have given you a full report of 
what our past legislative session had done for 
the fish and game interests here in Vermont, 
but I can only give a partial report of what it 
did which it should not have done, and what 
it has not done which it should have done. In 
the first place, it did not increase the salary of 
our “hard-worked commissioner,” and it only 
added the beggarly sum of $500 to the former 
appfopriation to carry on his work, and will 
require him out of this appropriation, to pay 
transportation for fish, and mileage for himself 
and messengers and lay out at least $800 on the 
State hatchery, and at least during the coming 
I season $400 for repairs. This miserable state 
of things has caused the commisioner to coun¬ 
termand an order for 400,000 eyed trout eggs 
for the State hatchery, as there would be no 
money to pay for distributing the fry, etc. 
In the House of Representatives they, by a 
•large majoiity, passed a bill for the wholesale 
destruction of fish in lakes Champlain and 
Memphremagog by granting licenses to seine in 
those waters, but the Senators showed their 
good judgment by killing this bill when it came 
to them. 
There is no State in our Union that is better 
adapted by nature for the summer boarder or 
summer home trade than Vermont, and there 
is no State that does less to encourage this busi¬ 
ness' than Vermont. We have thousands of 
beautiful trout streams that if properly stocked 
would be a source of attraction that would bring 
the summer visitor and his cash here. The 
summer visitor wants recreation as well as rest, 
and this recreation is fishing, and he is going 
where he can have that recreation which he is 
willing to pay well for, if good. 
A few who were devoted to fish and game 
protection succeeded in having a few changes 
made in the open seasons. Woodcock and 
ruffed grouse open season will be from Sept. 
15 to Dec. 1. The trout season in streams 
opens May 15 and closes Aug. 15; in ponds and 
lakes the season opens May x and closes Sept. 
1. The upland plover season opens Aug. 1. 
Nonresidents are required to take out a license 
of $5 for shooting game birds and are granted 
a license to shoot deer for an additional $10. 
These are a few of the changes made, and very 
soon a full report will be given you. 
Stanstead. 
Questions About Skis. 
Little Falls, N. Y.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Will some reader of Forest and 
Stream kindly answer some questions about ski 
running? I have a pair I sawed out in a log 
camp several years ago, but apparently they don’t 
hang right, and when I try to go over logs or 
hummocks in the woods I land on my nose 
usually, but sometimes on the back of my head. 
At other times I get nowhere in particular, which 
is. very painful. 
What are the proper dimensions of a pair of 
skis ? 
How are they stringed or rigged? 
Of what wood should they be made? 
How can one climb hills with them? 
How can one get over a log when he comes to 
one on the side of a hill? 
How do they compare with snowshoes in the 
woods—I mean in Adirondack balsam swamps, 
spruce knolls, hardwood ridges and steep, for¬ 
ested mountain sides? 
Can a ski runner go through the woods as 
fast as a snowshoe man? Where would he go 
faster, where slower than the snowshoer? 
Can one climb a steeper hill with snowshoes 
than with skis; can he climb faster? Why? 
Why are skis popular in the west and not in 
Maine, New York, etc.? 
I’m all right in rolling country, and along 
ordinary woods roads, but the moment I get 
against the side of a log, I’m in trouble. I want 
to go everywhere a snowshoe ■ man can go. I 
want to go faster; I want to go further, be¬ 
cause my friends among the woodsmen jeer me 
very much when they catch me on a 20 per cent, 
up-grade or worse. I should be obliged to any¬ 
one who will help me exasperate and humiliate 
them, as they have exasperated and humbled me. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
[For replies to the first four of his questions, 
we would recommend our correspondent to study 
the little volume, “Ski Running,” published in 
London, and dedicated to the Ski Club of Great 
Britain. There is much that is interesting in 
it, especially about the stringing or rigging of 
the skis. It can be furnished by the Forest and 
Stream Publishing Co., price $1.25. 
It is quite obvious that one can get over a 
log only by stepping over it sidewise. He can¬ 
not step over it with his skis directed at right 
angles to the length of the log. 
We believe that in the woods snowshoes are 
far better than skis. We must, however, get 
persons more learned in skiing than ourselves fo’- 
full reply to our correspondent.— Editor.] 
Maine Sportsmen’s Meetings. 
Bangor, Me., Jan. 5. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The annual meeting of the Maine Fish 
and Game Association, which is held alternately 
in Bangor and Augusta, convened on the after¬ 
noon of Tuesday, the first, third Vice-President 
D. M. Parks, of Pittsfield in the chair. The meet¬ 
ing was held in a committee room at the State 
Himse in Augusta, and about 35 persons were pres¬ 
ent during the session, including ' over twenty 
wardens, who had come to Augusta to attend the 
annual meeting of their association, which met 
later in the day. 
The annual report of Secretary-Treasurer Far¬ 
rington showed the association to be in good 
condition, financially and numerically] He re¬ 
viewed the work of the year, and made some 
strong suggestions regarding the need of legis¬ 
lation, to - further restrict the activities of the 
illegal killers of big game. He disagreed with 
the Commissioners who, in their annual report 
just issued, claimed that the reduction in ship¬ 
ments of big game over the railroads this year 
(having fallen off about 30 per cent, from the 
shipments of 1905) was due to a decrease in the 
deer supply. He believed, however, in a resident 
license of at. least $1, as “it would be the means 
of saving a large amount of game, by giving the 
Commissioners means to provide better protec¬ 
tion in close time.” He Called attention to the 
great danger that confronts Maine’s forestry 
from the rapid extension of railroads into the 
very heart of the forest reserve, and urged that 
attention be given to this danger before it is 
too late. Fie reviewed at considerable length the 
importance of the inland fisheries, and the futility 
of stocking with fry, asking that funds be pro¬ 
vided for rearing the fry to two-year-old fish be¬ 
fore liberating. 
The following officers were elected for this 
year: President, D. M. Parks, of Pittsfield; 
Vice-Presidents, I. K. Stetson, of Bangor; J. F. 
Sprague, of Monson; F. C. Barker, of Bemis; 
J. W. Brackett, of Phillips; J. Putnam Stevens, 
of Portland; A. H. Shaw, of- Bath, and W. H. 
Newell, of Lewiston; Directors, David M. Parks, 
ex-officio; C. A. Judkins, of Kineo; V. W. Mac- 
Farlane, of Greenville; E. C. Farrington, ex- 
officio, and A. B. Farnham, of Augusta; E. P. 
Mayo, of Waterville; Harry R. Virgin, of Port¬ 
land; Secretary-Treasurer, E. C. Farrington; 
General Counsel, Wm. T. Haines, of Waterville. 
Chairman L. T. Carleton, of the Inland Fish¬ 
eries and Game Commission, then made a verbal 
report of the doings of the legislative committee, 
which had not .formally adopted the measures 
which he then, in the committee’s name, pre¬ 
sented. Among the measures which that com¬ 
mittee recommended was one to prohibit the 
carrying of firearms on the wild lands of unin¬ 
corporated townships during June, July and 
August; a larger appropriation to enable the com¬ 
mission to feed fish to the second year before 
liberating, and to screen lakes and ponds stocked 
by the State; shortening the deer season by re¬ 
moving the last fifteen days, making its close 
coincide with the close of the moose season; 
also recommending that nonresidents be forbidden 
to take more than one deer out of Maine, the 
intent being to make it unprofitable to kill for the 
Boston market. Mr. Carleton then proceeded to 
present, in place of the recommendation of the 
committee, a bill which he had drafted himself, 
and designed to protect the deer in close time 
from wanton slaughter by railroad employes 
(Italian laborers) and lumbermen, not to mention 
the summer canoeist. 
Mr. Carleton’s proposed bill follows: 
Section 1. It shall be unlawful to have in pos¬ 
session any firearms in or upon any of the wild 
lands, or upon the waters situated in wild land 
townships of the State, from Dec. x to Sept. 15 
next following to each year, except upon a 
written license of the commissioners of inland 
fisheries. 
Therefore, under a penalty of $50 for the of¬ 
fense, and $5 a day for every day firearms are 
had in possession, contrary to the provision here¬ 
in contained, and a further penalty of forfeiture 
to the State of all firearms found in possession 
of a person, in violation of this section. 
