2 I 8 
Boone and Crockett Club Meeting. 
The annual meeting of the Boone and Crockett 
Club was held at the University Club, New York 
city, Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 8 o’clock, President 
Wadsworth in the chair. 
After the usual reading of reports the question 
came up as to an amendment to the constitution 
recommended by the executive committee which 
provides that any member on his own written 
request may be transferred from the list of 
regular members to the list of associate mem¬ 
bers. Not more than five such transfers to take 
place in any one year. The amendment was 
carried. 
Mr. Grinnell called attention to the action of 
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 
Representatives in omitting from the Agricul¬ 
tural Appropriation Bill the item providing for 
the maintenance of the Biological Survey. _ The 
matter was discussed at length and great indig¬ 
nation expressed at the action by all the speakers. 
On motion it was unanimously resolved that: 
Whereas, The Committee on Agriculture of the 
House of Representatives has striken from the 
Agricultural Appropriation Bill the item which 
provides for the maintenance of the Bureau of 
Biological Survey; and 
Whereas, This action shows an entire lack of 
knowledge by that committee that the work done 
by the Bureau is of very high commercial value 
to farmers and live stock raisers, and of great 
importance to all who are interested in the preser¬ 
vation of game and useful birds; and 
Whereas, This action, if carried out, will in¬ 
flict serious injury on the agricultural interests 
of the country; therefore, 
Resolved, That the Boone and Crockett Club 
protests against this action by the House Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture, and respectfully requests 
that Congress restore this item to the Agricul¬ 
tural Appropriation Bill, and that it continue the 
Bureau of Biological Survey unchanged; and 
Resolved, That the secretary be directed to 
send a copy of this resolution to the Chairman 
of the Committee on Agriculture of the Senate, 
to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture 
of the House of Representatives, to the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives, and to the 
Vice-President of the United States. 
Mr. James H. Kidder nominated as officers for 
the ensuing year the following ticket, which was 
unanimously elected: For President, Major W. 
Austin Wadsworth; Vice-Presidents, Mr. Win- 
throp Chanler, New York; Walter B. Devereux, 
Colorado ; Arnold Hague, Washington, D. C.; 
Wm. D. Pickett, Wyoming; Archibald Rogers, 
New York; Secretary, Madison Grant; Treas¬ 
urer, C. Grant La Farge; Executive Committee, 
James H. Kidder, John H. Prentice, L. R. Morris, 
A. P. Proctor, L. S. Thompson, and. Charles 
Sheldon; Editorial Committee, Geo. Bird Grin- 
nell and Theodore Roosevelt. 
After the adjournment of the business meeting 
the dinner was held at which were about forty 
members and guests present, among whom were 
the following: 
D. L. Brainard, W. A. Wadsworth, G. S. An¬ 
derson, Madison Grant, De Forest Grant, J. 
Walter Wood, J. E. Roosevelt, John J. Pierre- 
pont, H. C. de Rham, H. C. Pierce, R. T. Emmet, 
C. Sheldon, Wm. Lord Smith, James H. Kidder, 
Caspar Whitney, Lewis R. Morris, James W. 
Appleton, Geo. Bird Grinnell, R. A. F. Penrose, 
Jr., John Rogers, Archibald Rogers, John H. 
Prentice, A. P. Proctor, George Bleistein, Alden 
Sampson, Wm. F. Whitehouse, Gifford Pinchot, 
Dr. Chas. C. Foster, Henry G. Gray, W. Red¬ 
mond Cross, Lyman M. Bass, Robert P. Blake, 
Townsend Lawrence, Bayard Dominick, Jr., Dr. 
John Howland, Amos R. E. Pinchot, F. C. Wal¬ 
cott, A. B. Hepburn and Warburton Pike. 
At the close of the dinner, Mr. Chas. Sheldon, 
whose knowledge of the wild sheep of western 
America is probably greater than that of any 
living man, showed a large number of photo¬ 
graphs illustrating the country and the animals 
in portions of Alaska and the Yukon Territory. 
He briefly discussed the ranges of the pure white 
sheep, Fannin’s sheep, and Stone’s sheep, ex¬ 
plaining that in certain regions only the white 
sheep or only Stone’s sheep were found, but 
that there were other regions where the Kenai 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
sheep, Stone’s sheep and Fannin’s sheep were all 
mixed up, and found running together. He in¬ 
stanced a case where he had seen a ewe with 
two lambs, one of which was white and the other 
black—in other words a Stone sheep. 
Among the pictures shown were many of stu¬ 
pendous mountain scenery giving a very clear 
idea of the country where the sheep are found, 
others of sheep, some living and unhurt, others 
just killed. Other pictures showed bear, moose 
and caribou. Among the moose pictures was 
one of a cow, showing a large bell, which called 
forth expressions of surprise from some mem¬ 
bers present who were unfamiliar with the facts 
established by the statements of hunters and by 
photographs printed in Forest and Stream a 
year or two since, that the cow moose of the 
northwest coast very often, if not usually, carries 
a bell. Mr. Sheldon’s account of the far away 
land was listened to with great interest, and he 
was frequently interrupted by questions. The 
meeting adjourned at a late hour. 
The Care of Blistered Feet. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Much suffering and discomfort are experienced 
by the novice on snowshoe tramps by the want 
of knowledge as to how to care for and protect 
the feet from blistering. 
The toes are the parts that suffer most from 
the friction of the cross snowshoe strings that 
are continually see-sawing the front part of the 
moccasin, and many, from an erroneous idea of 
COW AND CALF MOOSE—COW WITH BELL. 
cause and effect, pile on extra socks, thinking 
thereby to prevent the blistering by the thickness 
of their foot padding. 
During my first years in the Hudson Bay ser¬ 
vice I suffered like any other new “hitter” of 
the long trail, but once started on the tramp 
there was no giving in. Places being hundreds 
of miles apart, there were no houses nor any 
place to stop and say, “I can go no further.” 
On a journey of seven, eight or ten days, we 
took probably one day’s extra provisions, but no 
more, therefore be the back lame through the 
heavy bundle it had to support day after day, 
or our every toe blistered to the bone, walk on 
we must and did. I have often seen the blood 
appear on my moccasins, working its way through 
three or four pairs of socks and become so dried 
and caked that before the shoes could be re¬ 
moved at the night’s camp-fire, warm water had 
to be poured freely upon the moccasin to release 
the foot. 
The agony at such times was past explaining. 
It was quite a work to patch up each separate 
toe with balsam gum and rag before turning in 
for the night, and yet stiff, swollen and sore, 
[Feb. 9, 1907. 
those poor feet had to have the large heavy 
snowshoes suspended to them next morning and 
the weary tramp continued as on the previous 
day. 
Our guides, the Indians, did not suffer, as their 
feet were hardened from childhood, and as an 
Indian never gives advice nor offers to relieve 
his companion’s load without being asked, we, 
the unfortunate greenhorns, were compelled to 
trudge on in the wake of our pace-maker as 
well as we could. 
Of course I tried by all manner of changes in 
footwear to alleviate the trouble by taking off 
some thickness of socks and by putting on extra 
ones, all to no avail. Trip after trip, and year 
after year, I suffered with cut toes and blistered 
feet. By good fortune, I think it was my fifth 
year in the country, I was ordered from the St. 
Lawrence posts to meet a winter packet party 
from Hudson’s Bay. A certain lake on the 
divide was arranged for in the autumn as the 
meeting place of the two parties. The packeters 
from Hudson’s Bay were to leave on the 3d of 
January and had a journey ahead of them of 
325 miles. My party, two Indians and self, left 
on the 6th of January, having 55 miles less to 
travel, or 270 miles. Our day’s tramps were so 
similar in length that we arrived at the rendez¬ 
vous within four hours of each other. 
One of the party from the bay was a Scotch 
half-breed, and from him, for the first time, I 
learned the art of caring properly for the feet. 
He made me cast aside all my woolen, knitted 
socks, and out of his abundance he supplied me 
with smoked fawn-skin socks, ankle high, made 
in the fashion of a moccasin, only with no tops 
or welts of seams. The top and bottom pieces of 
leather were herring-boned together, a slit was 
made in the top half tO' insert the foot and this 
was put on the bare foot. On top of this two 
other shoe socks, made of duffle or blanketing, 
were placed and the moose skin moccasin over 
all, the leather top of which was tied about the 
naked ankle. 
I ventured to opine that I would possibly be 
cold there, or freeze, but my new friend told 
me the object was to keep the feet from over 
heating. “And this and the knitted socks is the 
cause of all your suffering.” 
“Now listen to me,” he went on; “at every 
noon day fire, or in fact any time a lengthened 
halt is called, sit on the brush before the fire 
and take off both moccasins and all your socks, 
turn them inside out and beat them on a stick 
or the brush to take out all the creases the feet 
have made. Let them cool wrong side out, and 
while this is taking place, have your feet also 
cooling. Let them become thoroughly cold be¬ 
fore replacing your socks and shoes and when 
doing this put those that were on the right foot 
on to the left, and vice versa. This affords a 
wonderful relief to the tired feet and you re¬ 
sume the journey with a rested feeling. At 
night, after the last pipe is smoked, and you are 
about turning in to get what sleep you can with 
no roof to cover you but the far-off heavens, 
then turn up your pants to the knee and jump, 
bare-footed and bare-legged into the nearby snow 
and stand in it until you can bear it no longer, 
then stand near the blazing camp-fire and with 
a coarse towel, or bag, rub the legs and feet •well 
until the blood is tingling, and the color of your 
lower extremities resembles a boiled lobster, and 
my word for it, you will rest better, sleep sounder 
and arise refreshed—what you never enjoyed be¬ 
fore.” 
Fitted out as I was and following his advice 
of the snow bath, I made the return journey with 
ease and pleasure. I made long tramps for 
twenty years following and never again was I 
troubled by either blisters or cut feet. Even 
making short trips about the post hunting, I 
never allowed a knitted sock near my feet. 
Martin Hunter. 
February. 
A box of brown earth on my window-sill. 
Where tiny seeds lie for my garden beds, 
A faint promise that the winter’s hold will loose— 
The wood sled ’twixt the farm and mountain lot 
Draws logs to heap again our dwindling pile. 
C. Du B. 
