8 5 6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 28, 1908. 
would, and the chances are that a metal-patched 
bullet would have passed through and on with¬ 
out knocking him down, and that he would have 
run many rods in the thick brush near by and 
I might not have found him at all, as night was 
fast approaching, and this is a difficult region 
to track game in, especially when the sandy 
ground is very dry. R. V. Pierce. 
Hounds and Deer. 
Pasadena, Cal., Nov. 11.-— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since the opening day on quail, very 
few good bags of these birds have been made 
in this vicinity. In localities where, when the 
dove season opened, there were large and 
numerous bunches of quail, now only a few 
small scattering coveys are found, but the ground 
is strewn with empty shells which tells the story, 
“Shot out of season.” 
Every day since July 15 parties with automo¬ 
biles have been running over the country and 
banging away at everything that flies, and to 
stop this kind of work will require a game 
warden in every neighborhood. An effort is 
being made to have more stringent laws made 
against shooting in or from the highway and 
against trespassers. This would in a very great 
measure help protect our song birds as well as 
the quail. 
The Vermont Legislature is, I note, tinkering 
away at the deer law. Some of the members 
are in favor of allowing does as well as bucks 
to be shot, owing to the fact that the majority 
of the does are dry. If they would pass a law 
requiring all foxhounds to be kept tied up dur¬ 
ing the spring and early summer months, there 
would be no reason to complain about dry does. 
When a doe is heavy with young, a short run 
before dogs or a plunge into the ice cold water, 
or in fact any sudden fright, will cause her to 
drop her young. The .claim that killing of most 
of the bucks is the cause of scarcity of fawns 
is a mistake, for it is only the old bucks that 
are killed, and only a portion of them. A year¬ 
ling buck will serve for a couple score of does. 
If a foxhound is allowed to- run at large and 
he once gets a taste of venison, he will hunt 
down and kill every fawn in his neighborhood. 
Reports from the northwestern part of Ver¬ 
mont, along the Canadian frontier, say that a 
migration of gray squirrels has come in there, 
and also that ruffed grouse are found in goodly 
numbers. A bill has been brought before the 
Legislature in favor of a local gun tax, and it 
is to be hoped that Vermont will fall into line 
with other States that have such laws. This 
would give the commissioner funds to enforce 
the game and fish laws. Hitherto he has been 
handicapped by the lack of funds to carry out 
his work. Give Brother Thomas funds and he 
will see that the laws are enforced. 
Stanstead. 
Vermont Fish and Game. 
The nineteenth biennial report of the Com¬ 
missioners of Fisheries and Game to the Gover¬ 
nor of Vermont and the General Assembly has 
just been issued. It ends with June 30, 1908. 
Commissioner H. G. Thomas refers to the de¬ 
struction in the State of small birds and game 
birds and suggests the protection of game birds 
by stocking co-operative preserves, made up of 
the lands of farmers and employing on such 
preserves, game protectors whose functions 
would be not only to keep off hunters, but to 
destroy vermin. 
The Commissioner repeats his recommenda¬ 
tion that a resident hunter’s license law should 
be enacted. Vermont already has a nonresident 
license, but nonresidents take the advantage of 
the existing law by hunting deer and game birds 
without a license, and when approached declare 
that they are residents of the State. If each 
gunner were obliged to carry a license with him, 
it would be easy to identify them. 
The State is well stocked with deer, and Mr. 
Thomas estimates that nearly 2,500 deer were 
killed illegally, two-fifths of this number by dogs. 
Many lumber camps are reported to be well sup¬ 
plied with venison and other game illegally taken. 
The Commissioner suggests that the Legislature 
prohibit the carrying of firearms during the 
closed season. The protection of deer without 
horns has undoubtedly contributed much to the 
rapid increase of these animals, yet eight out 
of ten deer usually shot and killed by dogs are 
does. The law in relation to dogs chasing deer 
is ineffective. It should be changed. 
In Vermont, as in other States, the pollution 
of the public waters goes on practically un¬ 
checked, and the streams have become dumping 
places for sawdust, refuse from tanneries, 
starch factories, pulp and paper mills and sew¬ 
age. Commissioner Thomas’ strong protest 
against this ought to be heeded by the Legisla¬ 
ture. 
As elsewhere, the fish and game protectors of 
Vermont are greatly troubled by the depreda¬ 
tions of undesirable aliens who clean out the 
streams by nets and dynamite and threaten the 
wardens if inquiry is made about violations of 
the law. The enactment of a law forbidding 
aliens to carry firearms at any season of the 
year is urgently recommended and such a law 
should be passed. 
Hunting in Virginia. 
Chase City, Va., Nov. 20 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Another week of fine weather has de¬ 
lighted the sojourners here, and the hunters have 
been busy. Numerous parties go out daily after 
Bob White and credible bags are the rule. 
Messrs. W. A. Faunce and H. R. Cloud, of At¬ 
lantic City, N. J., are among the most indefatiga¬ 
ble of the hunters, and their luck is proverbial. 
Considerable interest is manifested in the tur¬ 
key shooting, and several fine gobblers have been 
bagged recently. Dr. E. Leister Jones, of Cul¬ 
pepper, Va., and guide, flushed two gangs yes¬ 
terday, getting a shot, but failed to bag. A fine 
three prong buck was killed on the preserves, 
only three and a half miles from the hotel, two 
days ago. Four foxes were caught in two chases 
this week and gave the two packs employed a 
lively time. 
Messrs. John Morrison, Howard Sweetser, J. 
W. Quinn and J. Jacoby, of New York, are 
among the shooters who came in yesterday. 
Game is plentiful here this season, and it is 
a tired but happy lot that gather around the big 
fires that make the spacious lobby of the hotel 
cheery in the evenings and recount the deeds of 
the day, and to live over in rumination and exul¬ 
tation the glorious sport of the day that is gone 
and in anticipation of those to come. 
W. H. Whitaker. 
Shooting in Southern California. 
Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 19 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Local duck shooting has held out 
at a rate rather surprising to club men. Gun¬ 
ners of experience generally maintained that 
opening the season Oct. 15 was quite early 
enough, in view of the fact that the lochl supply 
of birds bred south of the Tehachepi had to be 
relied upon principally for the shooting until 
the northern migrants came south in mid Novem¬ 
ber, driven in by storms and the final freeze-up 
north. Judged by this year, the change in the 
game law opening the duck season Oct. 1, two 
weeks earlier, was a wise one, and club men gen¬ 
erally are well pleased with it. 
There has been no rain since the opening of 
the quail season, and* but for the scarcity of 
natural fobd for ducks, conditions generally 
would be favorable enough. The light grain 
crop and the weed seeds, left from last summer, 
were sprouted by the mid October shower, thus 
depriving the fowl of one of their chief sources 
of income. Recognizing this fact most of the 
clubs are scattering considerable barley, lima 
beans, cracked corn and other kinds of food 
upon their ponds, which has served to keep the 
birds here, and the last two weeks indications 
of heavy rains, thus far unfounded, have caused 
the ranchers to dry-seed their fields to barley 
and harrow it lightly in, so as to take advantage 
of the slightest rainfall. This, too, has been a 
boon to the hungry ducks, and aided by the light 
nights of the waning moon, they have fed a 
great deal, the result being plainly visible in 
their greatly improved condition. 
Wooden decoys are not much in vogue among . 
expert gunners here. The marshes are shallow 
and the thirty-third degree duck hunter’s decoys 
consist of a bunch of two or three dozen stiff 
wires about twenty-four to twenty-eight inches 
in length, sharpened a bit at each end. One end 
of a wire is stuck into the mud, the other into 
a dead bird’s head between the bones of the 
lower jaw, and run up through the head until 
it encounters the skull. This props up the fowl 
in most life-like attitude. Cock sprigs and wid¬ 
geon are in particular demand, because they are 
such showy birds. Half a dozen of either light 
up a stand of the sobered colored females to 
such good purpose that few passersby can with¬ 
stand the temptation to alight, especially if the 
gunner be able to call. 
The coming of the widgeon is always a matter 
of gratification to the shooters, not so much on 
account of the gastronomic qualities of the bird, 
but rather from the excellent sport they offer. 
The wings of widgeon are easily broken, and 
many a freak shot can be attributed to this 
peculiarity of the variety. I made a couple one 
day that may be worthy of mention as showing 
what a sixteen-gauge gun, properly loaded, will 
do. Our No. 2 blind is in the middle of an ob¬ 
long pond. To the west levee is just ninety 
yards, to the east levee a little less than eighty. 
One of the boys put up a lone widgeon at the 
lower end which came straight down the west 
levee, and I missed it with the first barrel, but 
turned it, and the second shot straightaway 
broke a wing and dropped the bird fifteen yards 
over in the other pond—a clear hundred yards, 
allowing for the bird’s momentum after being shot. 
A few minutes later one came up from the north 
end and swung clear of the east levee, offering 
