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Nov. 20, 1909.] 
briers and as much exhausted as a hardy moun¬ 
taineer can ever be. 
As I write another bear hunt is in progress, 
an old fellow having been driven within range 
by tlie big fires. Plenty of ’coons and ’possums 
are being captured these nights, and the quail 
and ruffed grouse are seen and heard. 
All last week the mountains about here on all 
sides were on fire more or less, and every man 
and boy able to travel was called on to fight 
the flames away from the homes and fences and 
crops and stock. Hawksbill and Linville moun¬ 
tains were on fire for a week, and so was the 
Grandmother. Persistent fighting and at last a 
little rain stopped the Linville Mountain fire be¬ 
fore any great damage to timber was done, 
though millions of galax were destroyed, and 
there will be fewer huckleberries next year. 
Across the river, on Gingercake and Jena's 
Ridge, the damage was considerable. The worst 
fire was started from a sawmill on Humpback 
Mountain, the grand and conspicuous outlines 
of whicn have been admired by every visitor to 
Linville Falls. This mountain had not been 
burned over for many years, and was not only 
thickly carpeted with leaves, but strewn with 
much dead timber and brush, which fed the 
flames to beautiful but terrible heights. At night 
it was a show never to be forgotten, as the 
rough ridges of the mountain were outlined in 
flame. This fire crossed the Little North Fork 
of the Catawba that flows between the Hump¬ 
back and Linville Mountain, and threatened to 
mar the beauty of Linville Park. Some of the 
most strenuous fighting stopped it, however, and 
the final battle was aided by a light rain. Some 
of the people on Humpback did not sleep from 
Thursday morning till Sunday morning, exert¬ 
ing themselves like madmen all that time in 
either fighting the fire or setting back fires, or 
raking a path clear of leaves and other com¬ 
bustibles across the mountain, five miles long, to 
head the destroyer off. 
Now the fires are over, leaving many thou¬ 
sands of acres of blackened forest and many 
mourning women and children, who will sorely 
miss the galax harvest, so heavily levied upon 
by the fire. Some of the fires were undoubtedly 
set by wretches for vengeance for imaginary 
wrongs or for “pure cussedness,” as some peo¬ 
ple assert, just to see someone in trouble. But 
these are the exceedingly rare exceptions. The 
people have responded willingly and effectively 
to the calls for help to fight fire. 
Frank W. Bicknell. 
Ineffective Bag Limits. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Nov. 8 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Some time ago I read in your 
paper about limit bags, and I would like to say 
something about that. 
In this State the bag limit is fifteen birds a 
day, and no one is allowed to have more than 
fifty ducks or wildfowl in possession at any 
one time. This means that a man can go out 
and in three or four days kill fifty birds. Then 
he can start out again and do the same thing 
over again and can repeat this for a period of 
two or three months. 
This year a hunter of this city stated that he 
started out the first day of the open season in 
September and returned late in October. His 
memorandum showed that the smallest number 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
of birds killed in one day was six and the high¬ 
est forty-nine. It means that this one man 
killed about 500 birds in one season. Does any 
sane person believe in such laws? The law 
should read that no more than fifty birds may 
be killed in a season by any one person. If this 
number is not enough for a man to kill, there 
must be something wrong with him, it seems to 
me. The low fines imposed on lawbreakers in 
the United States are a direct encouragement 
of law violations. In no other country may the 
game laws be violated at so little cost as in the 
United States. A short time ago in Canada a 
man was fined $275 for killing a mountain sheep, 
but if that had occurred in the United States 
the highest fine imposed would have been $25. 
Last winter a man shot the only elk seen in 
Minnesota for the last twenty-five years, and he 
was fined $25! 
Something must be done for the better pro¬ 
tection of wild animals and it must be done soon. 
J. W. P. 
[Our correspondent is probably aware that in 
certain provinces and States the number of birds 
to be taken in a day and a season is strictly 
limited. See such laws in British Columbia, 
Illinois and various Atlantic States.— Editor.] 
Quail Abundant. 
Raleigh, N. C., Nov. ii.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Reports made to me by persons in 
various parts of the State regarding the quail 
have been fully confirmed by personal observa¬ 
tion and by the number of birds found by 
sportsmen in those counties in which shooting 
is permitted. Here in Wake shooting is not al¬ 
lowed until Nov. 15. It is very safe to say there 
are more birds than in a great many years—say 
since a period not long after the close of the 
Civil War. The birds are well grown. There 
were no storms this year to kill them and con¬ 
ditions have been very favorable. The autumn 
has been extremely warm and dry, with only 
one or two heavy frosts. It is found that rab¬ 
bits and ’possums are also very abundant. 
I spent a day in part of the vast tract between 
Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, known as the 
Albemarle swamp, forty by sixty miles in ex¬ 
tent. Many bears had already been killed and 
on scores of trees, notably the giant cypresses, 
the marks of their claws were plain and fresh. 
All that region is a hunter’s paradise for deer 
and bear, etc. 
A few miles from the coast near Burgaw, in 
Pender county, north of Wilmington, a large 
party is having a grand time on the estate of 
Edward C. McCoy, known as “Bear Garden,” 
which lies along one of the numerous salt water 
sounds. Among the Philadelphians in the party 
are: C. H. Boyer, J. W. Isett, G. W. H. Sum¬ 
mers, W. I. Mullin, W. W. Smithers, Joseph 
Brant, Robert R. Dearden; T. A. Wright, of 
Pittsburg, Mr. McCoy and a number of North 
Carolinians. In four days’ shooting they got 
fourteen deer, five ducks, fifty-nine squirrels and 
five rattlesnakes, one seven feet in length. All 
unite in the statement that the section is one of 
the best hunting regions they have ever visited. 
Along the sounds an unusually large number 
of bear are being shot or trapped; many more 
than in the high mountain region. Every day 
bear are found in the tops of the black gum 
817 
trees in the swamps, many of these trees being 
now loaded with berries. Cornfields were dam¬ 
aged during the summer and fall by the bears, 
and in very few places anywhere in the South 
are there so many of these animals. 
All over North Carolina there is a standing 
joke that Chatham county produces more rabbits 
than any other place in the world. Last season 
Silver City alone shipped 45,000. This year 
Chatham is fairly hopping with rabbits. 
The autumn has been very dry. In some sec¬ 
tions no rain worth speaking of has fallen in a 
couple of months. The weeds and the dust are 
trying on dogs, but after the rain, which is sure 
to come soon, the hunting will be exceptionally 
good. 
Secretary Pearson made a delightful picture 
talk before the Farmers’ National Congress here 
and had a notable audience. Most of the pic¬ 
tures shown were taken by him. It was a talk 
to farmers and he went on to speak of the aid 
farmers have in so many places given him in 
carrying on his work. 
Under the provisions of the Audubon law 
sportsmen from other States coming to shoot 
are allowed to take home as many as fifty quai’, 
but in the counties which have set aside the 
Audubon law, it is strictly forbidden that any 
birds shall be carried away. In these excepted 
counties, therefore, a number of gentlemen who 
have hunting leases of land are prohibited from 
sending birds away which are killed on what 
may be termed their own property. There is a 
great deal of land held in this way, taxes being 
paid upon it, and in some cases leases being held 
directly. This matter causes no little complaint, 
as may well be imagined. 
Fred A. Olds. 
Connecticut Game Notes. 
Milford, Conn., Nov. 8.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Milford Game Protective Asso¬ 
ciation has over 2,000 acres posted with club 
posters and 1,000 as a State preserve. We have 
three wardens and expect aid from the mem¬ 
bers and the farmers to see that the law is en¬ 
forced. So far there have been few trespasses. 
The month of November will probably keep the 
wardens busy. The leaves and underbrush were 
too thick in October for bird shooting. 
The birds are not as plenty as in past years, 
yet those which the club put up last year and 
fed—as well as the quail—have done well. There 
are quite a number of ruffed grouse. 
I have been over the ground three times since 
Oct. 1 and have flushed a number of grouse, 
where last year there were none. There are 
a few broods of quail that we hope to keep 
over this year, and these with the Hungarian 
partridges will give fine sport next fall. 
Duck shooting all along the sound is good, 
either in line or over decoys. The Woodmont 
line came in with 500 coots and broadbills. 
George Green, one of our professional duck 
shooters, got forty-seven over decoys Friday, 
Nov. 5. 
Squirrels and rabbits are abundant. Bags of 
from six to twenty have been brought in. Three 
’coons have been shot by squirrel hunters, and 
a party of six, including myself, got two ’coons 
Nov. 6. One weighed i 6 yi pounds, the other 
20 pounds. This means another ’coon supper. 
F. S. D. 
