534 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Oct. 2, 1909. 
tfr: 5 
frequented by deer. The only complaint I have 
ever heard the owner make was that occasion¬ 
ally a deer, instead of picking up the wind¬ 
falls, would reach up and take a bite out of a 
large red Fameuse apple. 
Regarding the State appropriation and the 
commissioner, Mr. Thomas, I have several 
times in your columns expressed my views on 
these subjects, and will now add nothing more 
on those matters. 
From the sentiment expressed in letters I 
received from sportsmen and others interested 
in fish and game protection in Vermont, I may 
expect to hear of something dropping heavily 
there in about a year from this date. 
Stanstead. 
Bennington, Vt., Sept. 21 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I was somewhat amused at the sug¬ 
gestion of Mr. Cutting in his letter in Forest 
and Stream of the 4th inst., wherein he claims 
deer will not damage garden truck and crops, 
and advises us to set traps for the woodchucks, 
hedgehogs and rabbits, which, he believes, do 
the damage. Does he suppose we pay these 
claims for deer damage simply on the theory 
that the damage was done by deer? Is it 
possible that the thousands of dollars paid to 
farmers in New England for deer damage has 
all been misapplied and wrongly spent? The 
trouble is, a theory in regard to just what a 
deer will do or will not do at a given time or 
place is worthless. That deer may not damage 
Mr. Cutting’s garden in the Adirondacks is no 
reason why they will not damage Mr. \ oung s 
garden in Arlington, Vt. 
You can never tell just what a deer will do. 
For instance, I found at E. H. Fowler’s place 
in Sunderland, where deer had destroyed over 
800 hills of potatoes, and then they made beaten 
trails through E. L. Lawrence’s potato patch 
—the next place—and never touched a hill. 
Just so it is everywhere, but the question of 
deer doing damage to gardens and farmers 
crops has long since passed the theory stage. 
Mr. Cutting lives in Massachusetts. If he will 
consult the report of the commissioners of that 
State for the year ending Dec. 31, I 9 ° 7 > at P a S e 
7, he will find the following: 
“Unfortunately, they [the deer] are indis¬ 
criminate feeders, and the annual damage to 
farm and garden crops is considerable.” Then 
if he will consult the report of the commis¬ 
sioners of Maine for 1908,' at page 60, he will 
find these words: “They [the deer] hang 
around, to a considerable extent, civilizatipn; 
they invade gardens, orchards, mowing fields, 
grain fields and potato fields, doing to these 
more or less damage.” 
In conversation with a brother warden from 
Massachusetts not long since, the latter told 
me the deer were doing immense damage in 
Berkshire county, and he did not see what was 
to be done about it. 
Now, the point is simply this: I am not 
bringing forth this indictment against the deer 
because I am opposed to their presence among 
us and wish to see them exterminated. Far 
from it, indeed. But I would like for the 
sportsmen to know the facts and face the prob¬ 
lem squarely. It will be all the worse for the 
deer if the sportsmen insist that deer do not 
damage crops. If men cling to the theory that 
damage is done by other animals than deer 
and insist upon close protection, there will 
come such a sudden awakening and revulsion 
of feeling against the deer later on there will 
be no saving the graceful creatures. 
And now, speaking of deer, I believe I can 
give those who wish to raise young fawns by 
hand a valuable remedy. I have attempted to 
save and raise seven this summer and only 
lost one. That one, I think, could have been 
saved had it been doctored in time. When 
very young deer are taken from their mothers 
or abandoned by them, the chief trouble is 
to get them started on cow’s milk without 
bringing on the “scours” or dysentery. The 
feed should be about one-half milk and one- 
half warm water with a little sugar. If the 
scours continue for two or three days, very 
likely the little one will die. In these cases I 
have used the following remedy with excellent 
results: One-half teaspoonful of baking soda 
to one pint of half milk and half water, warmed. 
If dysentery continues and the discharge is 
bloody, take a piece of rennet (or back stomach 
of a calf) about the size of a penny, soak in 
warm water for two hours and add to the 
above preparation. Very likely this will pull 
your fawn through its trouble. 
I notice that Chief Protector Burnham says 
in regard to our panther, that it is remarkable, 
“if true.” I can assure him there is no possible 
doubt but what there has been a panther in 
the section of Vermant I mentioned. On Aug. 
27 I went to eastern Sunderland and remained 
there nearly a week in an effort to satisfy my¬ 
self thoroughly in the question. At that time 
I found a panther’s tracks in twenty different 
places in the swamp around Beebe Pond. I 
had three witnesses with me—Deputy Warden 
Loziear, of Arlington, and Oscar McKolt and 
Mr. Baldwin, of Salem, N. Y., who were camp¬ 
ing in that vicinity. We found one track in 
soft mud and measured it, and it was over four 
inches in diameter. Commissioner Thomas in¬ 
forms me that parties also claim to have seen 
a panther near his home in the town of Stowe, 
Lamoille county; besides, the local press claims 
one was seen in Washington county somewhere 
in the vicinity of Montpelier. We are going 
to make strenuous efforts to get the pelt of 
one of these big cats, and if we only had snow, 
I think our efforts would prove a success in 
a short time. Harry Chase. 
Quail Increasing. 
New Publications. 
The Sloops of the Hudson, by Verplanck 
Collyer and Moses W. Collyer. Cloth, 171 
pages, illustrated, $1.50 net. New York, G. 
P. Putnam’s Sons. 
Of peculiar interest just at this time is this 
volume. While it is intended as a record, the 
narrative is replete with anecdotes every lover 
of the Hudson should read. It contains his¬ 
torical sketches of the packet and market sloops 
of the last century, with a record of their 
names, together with personal reminiscences of 
certain of the notable sailing masters of the 
river. The frontispiece is a reproduction from 
the late Lafayette W. Seavey’s painting of the 
Half Moon, in the State House at Albany, and 
there are other reproductions from photographs 
and from paintings. 
Omaha, Neb., Sept. 20.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The windbreaks or artificial groves' 
that are springing up so plentifully all over 
Nebraska are rapidly making fine cover for the 
quail, and in the course of a few more years 
this State will be one of the most favored habi 
tats of this royal little game bird. With the ex 
ception of an occasional intensely cold wintei 
the birds have multiplied in a wonderful man 
ner in this State during the past twenty years 
and with a continuation of this thrift, thi: 
promises to be one of the best quail States ii 
the country. 
When on my last shoot last fall the Barriste 
and I did all our shooting in one of thes. 
groves, comprising a tract of some twenty acres | 
The birds loved to hang about the outskirts 0 
one of these motes where the grass grows tal 
and much of the shrubbery holds its leaves unti 
late in the winter. When flushed the whol 
bevy curls round and makes for the center 0 
the grove where the grass is the tallest and th, 
bushes the thickest. But even here there is 
fair field for the gunner. The trees are nc 
numerous enough to hamper the shooter in th 
least and the undergrowth is too stunted to ii: 
terfere with his view ahead, hence the shootin 
is just about as satisfactory as it would be i 
the open, and yet there are plenty of oppoi 
tunities offered to test the cleverness of th, 
best shot living. Most readers, of course, ar 
familiar with the sport, but there are many wh 
are not fully educated and will not be until the 
endeavor to connect their line of sight over tl 
gun with a rosewood flash through a maze c 
almost the same color. Vastly is the difficult 
increased by the curve of the line when a bii 
comes curling down over or through the top 
of the low thin box elders and darts throug 
the opening below. At other times it shoo 
straight upward long enough to lead you 1 
think you have caught its direction, and the 
having cleared the top of the brush, it scurri* 
away on a horizontal line among the interlacii 
tendrils and fluttering brown leaves before yc. 
can come anywhere near covering it. But y( 
will fare better among the dead leaves ai § 
grass on the floor of the grove, where yu 
bird lies hiding scarcely a foot from the no, 
of the white and liver-colored statue into whi 
your dog has turned. 
Be as quick as you may, the little whirriij 
blot of brown often fades into the russet cano 
before you can possibly shift the gun upon 
but oftener you can get a clean open chan; 
and are tolerably certain of making a 
k. 
Again the bird curls back over both you a 
the dog in the most exasperating way, and 
such occasions only the eye of faith can u 
you. In this grove shooting, however, a doub 
is a rare achievement indeed, unless made 1 
the first flush, when the birds are going strain 
before you and you have a pick of the who 
bunch. When the birds scatter and the dog’ 
standing singles, you are never disappointed J 
you drop but one out of the brace that may t" 
expectedly take wing. 
There is another feature about the quail 1 
Nebraska and that is the sportsman has a betr 
opportunity of getting acquainted with him 1 
the summer than does his brother of the Ea- 
ern States. In Ohio and adjoining States F 
