Nov. 20, 1909.] 
837 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
GROUSE POACHING. 
As a fine art branch of woodcraft, grouse 
poaching is almost extinct, and if the taking 
of grouse illegally before the twelfth and all 
through the shooting season had diminished 
pari passu with the decay of the old fowling 
methods, there would have been cause for 
gratulation. But that has not been the case. 
Far more “seasoned” grouse will be served up 
on the night of the twelfth at the tables of rich 
gourmets than all the “old-hand” poachers from 
John O’Groats to Yorkshire could have supplied 
in a whole season. Every one of these birds 
will have been illegally taken, although not 
poached in the ordinary sense of the word. 
I hat applies equally to partridge poaching, and 
in a limited sense to pheasant poaching, and in 
my notes on modern methods of poaching I 
shall explain the modus operandi of the up-to- 
date breakers of the game laws. 
The history of fowling is rich in ingenious 
devices for capturing wild birds, and as far as 
history reveals very ancient methods, and the 
researches of paleontologists lay bare the craft 
of prehistoric man, success was only obtained 
by close study and the exercise of great patience 
and skill in carrying out woodcraft as a neces¬ 
sary industry. Many of the trapping devices 
peculiar to ancient times in our own country 
have been found, with necessary modifications 
of detail, characteristic of the human race in 
every part of the world. 
With the red grouse we must associate its 
congeners—capercailzie, black grouse and ptar¬ 
migan. Before the general use of firearms, 
grouse were netted and trapped, and it is very 
curious that nets play an important part in 
modern methods of “taking grouse”—birds 
legally obtained on the netter’s own land, or 
land which he rents, but which another has 
reared. There were two favorite poaching 
methods extensively practiced at one time in 
Scotland and on the great grouse moors of the 
North of England—snaring and “becking.” The 
latter method I know well, and as it is very 
little indulged in now, and entails much labor 
with no great results, a brief description of it 
can do no harm. 
Grouse do not “pack” while roosting at night 
as partridges do; they certainly associate gre¬ 
gariously, but the birds sleep separately, gener¬ 
ally a few feet from one another. Grouse are 
wakeful birds, very early risers, often up be¬ 
fore daybreak, especially the cocks. The cock’s 
first movement is to rise on the wing for a few 
feet, then dropping back on his resting place. 
He does this several times, often increasing the 
height flight to about twenty feet, and as he 
descends, and also on the ground, he utters his 
love call note, a very peculiar one, represented 
(but very imperfectly) in the words, “Err— 
beck, beck, beck, beck, goback, goback, goback.” 
Even before daylight the hen can be heard re¬ 
sponding with something like this: “Yap, yap, 
yap, yap,” or “Youe, youe, youe.” When he 
hears this connubial response the cock bird 
makes toward _ his mate in low, short flights. 
It is during this becking maneuver that the wily 
poacher has his chance of bagging a few birds. 
He goes out the night before; he may have to 
travel. far, and to reach the chosen scene of 
operations he very often has to take a circuitous 
r u Ute T* or Poachers are marked men, and 
they have to “walk circumspectly.” But, as a 
rule the ordinary gamekeeper is a simpleton in 
the hands of a skilled poacher, and where there 
is poaching confederacy, as is generally the case, 
even women assisting. It is an easy matter to 
avoid arrest or even personal observation, but 
to delude the grouse is a much more difficult 
job. These birds are wonderfully acute of hear¬ 
ing and seem to sleep with one ear as well as 
one eye open, and for anvone to approach their 
haunts undetected and take up a “bab” among 
the heather after dark requires more than cat¬ 
like movements. A wild and stormy night is 
most suitable. 
Having got planted in a good spot the poacher 
lies low, ’ his gun loaded and handy. When 
the time comes he responds to the call of the 
cock, which loyally advances and is bagged 
this peculiar note is sometimes made by blow- 
Why the 
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The Hunter One-Trigger, now attached on order to Smith 
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all two-trigger guns obsolete within a short time. 
Smith Guns 
Hunter One-Trigger 
The Hunter One-Trigger absolutely can not 
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There is already an enormous demand for the 
new 20 Gauge Smith Gun—weight 5 '/ to 7 lbs., 
and a little beauty. If you do not know about 
it, be sure and write. 
The Hunter Arms Company 
90 Hubbard St., Fulton, N. Y. 
To Reduce 
Our Large 
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GOES DRY 
^Lay In a Supply 
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before the Legislature passes more prohibition laws, 
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5 KENTUCKY CO-OPERATIVE DISTILLERY CO., 
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OLD 3 
~,_^hicky CoOferitivO 
— taui»ViVi"'Uc«hi«k» " - 
Danvis Folks. 
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Price, $1.25. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
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A Sequel to “Uncle Lisha’s Shop.” By Rowland E. 
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FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
