136 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 22, 1910. 
Shooting in Sullivan County. 
Sullivan County, N. Y., Jan. 8 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: From the reports of young 
and old birds seen in the woods and brush 
lots last summer, we were led to believe that 
there had been a large increase in the number 
of ruffed grouse hatched in 1909, as compared 
with 1908. But when the season opened on 
Oct. 1, these birds were hard to locate, and 
. when found proved to be wild and badly scat¬ 
tered. The largest number flushed together 
seems to have been about five, but this was 
unusual. Two birds were not uncommon, but 
singletons were the rule. 
All of the men who went shooting in Oc¬ 
tober reported poor results, and the opinion 
was pretty generally expressed that partridges 
were very scarce. I confess that I was dis¬ 
appointed and discouraged, but the outlook 
improved somewhat in November, when more 
birds were flushed and a few brought to bag. 
Anyone who found six grouse in a day’s tramp 
was fortunate, and they were apt to take 
precious good care of themselves. 
There are a few places in this part of New 
York where the birds escaped the epidemic 
disease of 1907; at least they are said to be 
quite plentiful. There are probably enough 
partridges in Sullivan county to restock the 
covers if they live through the winter, and if 
there is a good breeding season in 1910. I 
find their tracks in the snow, and occasionally 
flush a bird, though my perambulations do 
not extend to a great distance from the rail¬ 
road and village. 
Rabbits have been plentiful and the season 
for cottontail shooting runs to Feb. 15. I hope 
that no one will kill grouse while in pursuit of 
fur, but when'the snow is deep tempting shots 
at the birds flushed are rather common. I had 
several chances last week at grouse that 
flushed within ten to fifteen yards and pre¬ 
sented an easy mark. 
Woodcock, both the locally bred and flight 
birds, were an average crop. The best bag 1 
heard of was six out of eight started. Speak¬ 
ing generally, there are more of these lovely 
birds in the country than is usually supposed. 
They breed in many places where they are not 
known by the inhabitants; retired or odd bits 
of cover, for instance, where there is sufficient 
food for a single brood. Again they find 
ample nourishment in the rich loam of vege¬ 
table gardens, flying to them in dusk of even¬ 
ing. I have found a brood within the limits of 
a small town in Michigan. In August they 
scatter or move to other grounds for moult¬ 
ing. One may find countless traces of their 
recent presence on the breeding ground, but 
only a few broods can be found. There may 
have been a partial migration, but many wood¬ 
cock have only moved to good cover on the 
hillsides. One or two birds may be flushed 
in the most curious places, or where none have 
been bred. 
Wherever trout are found there are usually 
woodcock, few or many, according to the pov¬ 
erty or richness of the feeding grounds. A 
sportsman who has studied their habits and 
knows the country he shoots over, will find 
woodcock, when a stranger, beating the best 
covers for July and October flight birds, may 
not get a shot. 
At the approach of winter woodcock fly 
southward. ‘ In the Carolinas, Georgia, Louisi¬ 
ana and Mississippi the immense swamps and 
canebrakes offer shelter and abundant food. 
In many of these fastnesses they are quite 
safe from the gun, but a cold wave, with snow 
and freezing weather, drives them before it, 
often into small swamps, brier patches and 
thickets. High water may drive them from 
the river swamps on to the high lands in the 
vicinity. I have found them in old rice fields, 
where the cover was very poor. When forced 
into exposed positions or concentrated upon 
a particularly rich feeding ground, very large 
bags of woodcock may be made. 
I consider that extreme cold weather at the 
South is nearly as bad for the woodcock as it 
is for the orange growers in Florida. I re¬ 
member finding traces of a great flight of 
woodcock near Rosewood, Florida, after un¬ 
usually severe weather further north. Whether 
they ever go as far south as the Wilson snipe 
is uncertain; I think not. 
It is fortunate that real freezing weather is 
rather rare in the Southern States, but it is 
said that winters are colder there than they 
were “before the war.” From all that I can 
learn, I am confident that there are more 
woodcock in the East and South to-day than 
there were ten years ago. However that may 
be, the army of shooters is rapidly increasing, 
woodlands are cleared and the swamps are 
being drained. We have long drouths at one 
season, heavy freshets at another. The great¬ 
est protection that our game birds enjoy is to 
be found in the non-shipping and non-sale 
laws; also the gun license and the heavy tax 
upon nonresident shooters. Wherever these 
are enforced and suitable covers and breeding 
grounds still exist, the birds will increase and 
multiply. The shooting season is short and I 
believe that the bag limits are fairly well ob¬ 
served. 
So far as ruffed grouse are concerned, in 
such a rough country as this they take good 
care that no great slaughter occurs. This was 
true when the birds were much more plentiful 
than they are at present. Late in the season 
of 1906 three sportsmen informed me that on 
the previous day they had flushed fifty-five 
grouse, but that the birds were so wild and 
cunning that only four had been brought to 
bag. I know that one of these men is an ex¬ 
cellent shot, and has hunted “my friend the 
partridge” all of his life. The most delightful 
ruffed grouse shooting I have ever enjoyed 
was had in the oak woods of Ohio many years 
ago. We found large broods together as late 
as Thanksgiving Day. Just imagine eighteen 
splendid grouse rising from a patch of briers 
and thundering across a narrow valley. But 
that is another story. 
May good fortune attend you by flood and 
field in 1910 . 1 trust that all readers of Forest 
and Stream have pleasant recollections of 
sport to carry them through the winter. 
Theodore Gordon. 
[We know of no evidence that it was disease 
that made grouse so scarce as they appeared to 
be in 1908, and until something more definite on 
the subject is known it seems hardly worth while 
to speak positively of an “epidemic disease.” An 
• explanation which seems to have some evidence 
to support it is the wet breeding season. —Editor.] 
Commissioner Whipple’s Report. 
Commissioner James S. Whipple has com¬ 
pleted his report on the work of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission for the year 1909, 
which has just been transmitted to the New 
York Legislature. It 'shows a general, notable 
improvement along all lines of work. A com¬ 
parative statement between the years 1904 and 
1909 indicates the present increased efficiency 
of the department. Total receipts have in¬ 
creased $204,000, while the increase in ex¬ 
penditures has been $111,000, of which $60,000 
is due to the cost of a new fire system and the 
game bird farm. The increase in the number 
of fish reared and distributed is 418,000,000. 
Tree nurseries have been enlarged from one 
and one-half acres in 1904, wh«n Commissioner 
Whipple entered the department, to twenty- 
eight and one-half acres. The number of trees 
grown has increased over two millions; the 
number of trees sold to private landowners last 
year was one million; in 1904 there were none. 
During this time the State has purchased 
201,000 acres of land and contracted for 47,000 
acres more. 
The income of the department has kept pace 
with its increased expenditure, and furnishes a 
net saving of more than $100,000, as the fore¬ 
going figures plainly show. 
The law under which the force for protecting 
the forests against fire existed was radically 
changed by the Legislature of 1909. Some of 
the features of the amended law which are of 
greatest public importance follow: 
Cutting the limbs from the tops of coniferous 
trees that have been felled, so that the tops 
may lie flat on the ground and rot. 
A paid fire patrol was established. Also, ob¬ 
servation stations on mountain tops and tele¬ 
phone lines through the forests connecting such 
stations. Equipment has been provided for 
thirteen stations. 
The State now pays in the first instance all 
the expense of actual fire fighting, half of which 
is rebated later by the towns. 
Railroad companies have been made to pay 
the entire expense of patroling their rights of 
way. The results of this law, which was drawn 
at the Commissioner’s suggestion, reduced the 
average cost of fighting fire in each forest 
preserve town this year to $5.76 as against 
$4,915 last year. 
The commissioner states that practically all 
of the coniferous trees have been cut in the 
Adirondack country, and that extensive soft¬ 
wood lumbering operations will soon be a thing 
of the past. Lumbermen will next take hard¬ 
wood trees which now compose much of the 
standing forests. He recommends that the 
State acquire and control every acre of land 
for which it can afford to appropriate money, 
in order to prevent the denudation of the im¬ 
portant watersheds of the State. Hardwood 
lumbering should be prevented within the blue 
line in both State parks. Every encouragement 
should be given corporations and individuals to 
induce them to conduct lumbering operations 
in such a manner as to prevent the entire de¬ 
nudation of their property. If this cannot be 
done, State authority should be invoked to pro¬ 
hibit clear cutting in the interests of public 
welfare. 
Trees may be planted to produce 100,000 
