FOREST AND STREAM 
[Dec. 19, 1908. 
97* 
California Shooting. 
San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 3 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream .* Conditions for quail shooting are 
now better than at any time since the opening 
of the season. The rains have denuded the trees 
and other cover of the dead leaves, and the 
frosts have finished the work. But little heavy 
cover is left for the birds, and hunter and dog 
can now work to better advantage. Open quail 
shooting ground within easy reach of San Fran¬ 
cisco is difficult to find. Almost all of the good 
shooting country has been leased by clubs or 
by individual sportsmen. Such country as has 
not been leased is usually posted against tres¬ 
passers. Many ranchers in the counties around 
the bay will permit a day’s shooting on the pay¬ 
ment of a small fee or the asking of the privi¬ 
lege. These conditions bar the majority of in¬ 
dividual shooters, but the ranchers’ stock and 
fences are immune from the damage that usually 
follows from the invasion of a small army of 
irresponsible hunters. 
Many erstwhile favorite quail shooting dis¬ 
tricts are now about depleted and efforts are 
being made to restock them. In Marin county 
the Country Club, Point Reyes Sportsmen’s Club 
and other shooting organizations are not getting 
the bags that were in vogue a few seasons ago 
and many of them are figuring on restocking and 
protecting the birds for a season or two. The 
oft repeated suggestions of many sportsmen that 
the fish and game commissioners take notice of 
the disappearance of valley quail from different 
sections of the State now bids fair to bring 
some action. With some of the money received 
from hunting licenses it is proposed to restock 
certain sections of Los Angeles county. The 
birds are now being trapped in San Diego and 
Imperial counties where they are plentiful; in 
fact, in some sections of that country they are 
regarded as a pest by the farmers by reason of 
the damage they do to the vineyards. It is pro¬ 
posed to keep the captive quail in Los Angeles 
in a large cage, constructed especially for the 
purpose until after Feb. 15, when the hunting 
season closes. The birds will be liberated in 
favorable localities, in flocks of a dozen or so, 
in the foothills above Pasadena and other de¬ 
sirable sections. This will give the quail a 
chance to mate and rear their young during the 
closed season. What is being done for Los 
Angeles county in this respect will undoubtedly 
be accomplished for other territory in need of 
quail replenishment. 
For the first time since the duck shooting sea¬ 
son opened here nearly two months ago, weather 
conditions are ideal for this kind of shooting, 
and devotees of the shotgun who have been rest¬ 
ing for the past month are again active, and 
heavy bags are being secured with but little 
trouble. The recent cold snap, following the 
rain, is just what hunters have been waiting for 
since the opening day, and although the weather 
has not been as severe as they might wish for, 
it has been such that the general situation has 
materially improved. Until the rain began fall¬ 
ing a week ago, ducks were seen in countless 
numbers loafing about the bay and especially 
in the waters of San Pablo Bay, but they showed 
no inclination to visit the inland ponds where 
the hunters were lying in wait for them. The 
rain, however, brought about a great change in 
these conditions, and the cold spell drove the 
birds from the open stretches of water to the 
sheltered ponds. All kinds of ducks are numer¬ 
ous around the bay shores and there are as many 
fine Northern fowls to be had as there are local 
or home-bred birds. The Northern birds are 
not numerous in the districts further south as 
yet, and hunters in the San Joaquin valley are 
securing but few of them. Wild geese are ar¬ 
riving in large numbers, and hunters are paying 
considerable attention to them. The birds in 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys are in 
splendid condition, the grain fields affording 
plenty of food. 
W. E. Van Slyke will shortly leave for Mexico 
to obtain a consignment of wild turkeys for the 
game preserves of the State. He will be rein¬ 
forced with a special commission from the Gov¬ 
ernment and ample financial backing from the 
California fish commission. Van Slyke made a 
trip there a few months ago, but arrived at the 
wrong season of the year and brought back but 
few birds. It is the intention to ship the birds 
secured on this trip to San Francisco and San 
Pedro by steamer, and they will be at once re¬ 
leased by the fish commission at points to be 
decided upon. An investigation is being made 
at the present time to ascertain favorable loca¬ 
tions. The few which were liberated some time 
ago in San Bernardino county have thriven, and 
have been found scattered in various localities. 
A. P. B. 
Hunting in Canada. 
Quebec, Canada, Dec. 15 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The open season for hunting in Can¬ 
ada is so much longer than in the United States 
that many Americans have been taking advan¬ 
tage of the late season. Caribou, protected 
throughout New England, may be taken in Can¬ 
ada, and moose as well, saving cow moose and 
young of both moose and caribou. 
These, with all the small game and birds, make 
the sport unusually attractive, and the great 
game preserves in the Lake St. John district, 
north of Quebec and in the Laurentian Moun¬ 
tains, have attracted many sportsmen from over 
the line during the past few weeks. 
Many members of smart fish and game clubs 
bring their wives on the annual hunting trip and 
many of these Dianas can handle a gun as well 
as their husbands; others journey as far as 
Quebec and remain at the hotel, while the men 
of the party penetrate the forests in search of 
big game. Occasionally, however, a couple ap¬ 
pear on the scene with equipment for two or 
three weeks’ in camp with their guides, and one 
of these has just left for New York after a 
delightful sojourn on the premises of the 
Tourilli Fish and Game Club. Mr. and Mrs. 
Frank V. Cone, of New York, elected to spend 
their honeymoon in this romantic fashion. They 
carried back with them a fine caribou, which was 
shot by Mrs. Cone as proof of her prowess as 
a huntswoman. Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Gude, of 
New York, are also frequent visitors to the 
happy hunting grounds, with an annual fishing 
trip into the bargain. 
A light fall of snow during the week has made 
the conditions for hunting perfect, and although 
the season is much later than usual this year, 
and Quebec has been enjoying real Lakewood 
weather, it is expected that the week end will 
bring many sportsmen into Canada to winter 
headquarters at Quebec. A. L. P, 
- -———- I 
Boone and Crockett Club Meeting. 
The Boone and Crockett Club had a dinner 
at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, Dec. 
12, for the purpose of discussing the question 
of an American exhibit at the Austrian Hunt¬ 
ing Exposition, to be held at Vienna in the sum¬ 
mer of 1910. Major W. Austin Wadsworth, of 
Geneseo, N. Y., presided, and the attendance was 
large. Among the members present were: Rob¬ 
ert Bacon, Secretary of State; W. J. Boardman, 
Admiral Willard H. Brownson, Royal Phelps j 
Carroll, William Astor Chanler, Winthrop Chan- 
ler, J. Coleman Drayton, Geo. Bird Grinnell, 
Arnold Hague, James H. Kidder, C. Grant La 
Farge, Gifford Pinchot, A. P. Proctor, Hon. 
Theodore Roosevelt, Alden Sampson, Dr. J. L. 
Seward, Charles Sheldon, H. L. Stimson, Wm. 
F. Whitehouse, J. Walter Wood, Jr., William B. 
Bristow, A. P. Gordon-Cumming, Gen. A. W. 
Greeley, C. Hart Merriam, E. W. Nelson, Col. 
John Pitcher, Col. Hugh Lenox Scott, Hon. 
George Shiras, 3d, and Gen. S. B. M. Young. 
Among the guests were: His Excellency, the 
Austrian Ambassador; Count Porrock, the Earl 
of Warwick and Senator T. H. Carter, of Mon¬ 
tana. The President of the United States sat 
on the right of President Wadsworth and the 
Austrian Ambassador on his left. 
At the close of the dinner Major Wadsworth 
explained the purpose of the meeting, and call¬ 
ing for a discussion of the subject introduced 
Mr. Roosevelt, who spoke very interestingly of 
the purpose and uses of such an exposition and 
urged that the United States should take part 
in it for many good reasons, not the least of 
which was the generous response which the 
Empire of Austria-Hungary has always made 
to invitations from the United States Govern¬ 
ment to take part in the World’s expositions held 
in this country. The President was followed 
by the Austrian Ambassador, who explained the 
purposes of the exposition and extended a cor¬ 
dial invitation to the Boone and Crockett Club 
and through the Boone and Crockett Club to 
the American sportsmen at large to see to it 
that at this exposition—the first of the kind ever 
held—this great country be adequately repre¬ 
sented. 
Senator Carter spoke in behalf of the plan, 
and following him came a number of members, 
all of whom believed that this country should 
be represented at Vienna, but some of whom 
pointed out that a proper representation would 
call for an expenditure of large sums of money. 
Dr. Merriam spoke in behalf of an adequate 
representation of the big game animals of North 
America in their native surroundings; Mr. Pin¬ 
chot of the possibilities of a forestry exhibit, and 
Count Porrock of the desirability of having an 
exhibit of photographs such as those made by 
Hon. Geo. Shiras, 3d. 
The matter was finally put over for final de¬ 
cision at the. annual meeting of the club to be 
held in January. 
A party of young sportsmen sailed on Dec. 
16 for the Mediterranean, whence they will go 
to British East Africa to hunt big game. They 
are E. Hubert Litchfield, of Brooklyn, and Henry 
Sampson, Jr., and Bayard Dominick, Jr., both 
of Manhattan. It is their intention to make 
Nairobi their actual starting point. Mr. Litch¬ 
field will collect specimens for the American 
Museum of Natural History. 
