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FOREST AND STREAM 
fresh water fishing, except when casting 
from the reel. Among such reels the 
■writer regards the “expert” and the 
■“featherweight,” made by Meisselbach, 
as offering splendid value for their cost. 
They would be still better if provided with 
a guard to keep an enamelled line away 
from the too sharp edge, and it is under¬ 
stood the makers are contemplating this 
improvement. 
You can file the edge, if the line draws 
when pulling it from the reel with the 
left hand. The click on these reels is 
somewhat weak, but the firm repairs all of 
’its reels very promptly and free of charge. 
'Our British brethren make exquisite single 
taction reels but they are expensive. They 
:also excel in minute artificials, but nothing 
really beats the best American rods, lines 
or reels. 
The American reels mentioned are very 
strong and light—too light in the estima¬ 
tion of some undoubted experts. Some of 
the latter, no matter how “fairy-like” the 
rod, prefer the balance and consequently 
less fatiguing action obtained by use of a 
reel that weighs approximately one and 
one-half times the weight of the rod. 
Thus they would have a four-ounce rod 
carry a six-ounce reel. Mr. Southard 
speaks very convincingly about this in his 
sumptuous and most reliable “Trout Fly- 
Fishing in America.” 
Satisfactory manipulation of the line is 
impossible if its weight be not properly 
suited to the resiliency of the rod. In 
most cases a five-ounce rod should carry 
an E enamelled line, whether level or 
tapered, and anything over six ounces a 
D line. 
SNOW STALKING BETTER 
SPORT THAN ‘‘CALLiNG.’ , 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
I was much interested in reading in your 
January issue the reply of Mr. C. S. Bird 
in re moose calling as a “sport”; also that 
of the editors. 
While I heartily agree with Mr. Bird, I 
am not replying with the view of settling 
this matter for all time, but for the pur¬ 
pose of showing how utterly impossible it 
is to be settled! 
The word “sport,” like the words “re¬ 
ligion,” “civilization,” etc., covers a pretty 
large field, including kind, form and de¬ 
grees. Just as there are forms, kinds and 
degrees of religion and civilization, so are 
there forms, kinds and degrees of sport; 
and I for one—as far as big game hunting 
is concerned—while I wouldn’t go so far 
as not to call moose calling sport in any 
sense of the word, would certainly put it 
very much lower in the scale of sport than 
moose hunting in November. 
Everything goes by comparison. 
In comparison with August, January is 
.a very cold month; November not so cold. 
In comparison with moose hunting on the 
snows in November, I should call moose 
calling very tame sport. I have done both. 
I can readily understand the viewpoint 
of the man who has killed moose only by 
calling them: to prove by every possible 
argument that this is sport instead of mur¬ 
der. Naturally, he doesn’t want to convict 
himself; and as far as he is concerned, it is 
sport for him. But on the other hand, I 
can’t conceive of this same man having 
hunted and killed moose in the two ways, 
attempting to prove that the calling of 
moose to their death was as sportsmanlike 
a performance as hunting them in the 
woods in November, where they have a 
much greater chance for their lives, and 
where greater skill is required on the part 
of the hunter; and it is just these very 
factors that should determine the degree 
of sport. 
The degree of sport should be registered 
by the opportunity the animal has for mak¬ 
ing his getaway, and by the amount of 
skill necessary to be displayed by the hunter 
to get him. The greater these factors, the 
greater the degrees of sport. 
This is very well illustrated by wing 
shooting. Certainly no sportsman would 
call it sport to shoot game birds setting. 
On the other hand it is much sport to shoot 
them flying. Why this difference? Simply 
because the flying bird has a very much 
better chance for his life and because it 
requires some skill on the part of the 
sportsman. 
So for these reasons I would call the 
still hunting of moose in November very 
much more sportsmanlike than calling. It 
is simply a question of degree—with quite a 
few degrees between the two. 
Of course you have heard of war babies ? 
Well, did you ever hear of or see a war 
rabbit? This specimen of the bunny bri¬ 
gade has the sports¬ 
men of Nebraska not 
only up a tree, but 
some of them actually 
fell off—the water 
wagon. Many there 
were who doubted the 
genuineness of the 
queer looking horns, 
but'the writer hap¬ 
pened to be the taxi¬ 
dermist selected to 
mount the head, and 
when he skinned 
down to the roots of 
the horns, no doubt 
was left about it. The 
horns were securely 
and naturally fastened 
to the rabbit’s skull. 
Jim Brennan, a ranch¬ 
er living on the Red 
Bird River, north of 
O’Neill, Nebraska, 
trapped the specimen. 
He noticed the horns 
as soon as he exam¬ 
ined it, but took them 
to be frozen fur. Up¬ 
on looking closer, 
however, he saw that 
the horns were real 
prongs of bone, so he H 
took the head to town 
and had .the writer mount it. The large 
horn is two inches in length, and a 
cluster of five small ones are to be 
As the editors say, "this matter is not 
susceptible of definite decision.” And they 
have said rightly. What is sport for one 
man would be very tame sport for another. 
It’s a matter of taste and opinion, based 
more on comparison than anything else. 
And yet as far as big game hunting is con¬ 
cerned, I believe the degree of sport should 
be gauged by the opportunity the animal 
has for making his getaway and by the 
amount of skill necessary to be displayed 
in bagging the game. 
Bronson C. Rumsey 
Cody, Wyoming. 
BULLET IN MOOSE’S HEART. 
The recent big game hunting season in 
the Northwest brought forth a discovery 
of unusual interest to pathologists as well 
as to sportsmen—the case of a moose that 
lived, probably for months, with a large 
leaden bullet imbedded in its heart. 
A South Dakota banker shot the animal 
during a hunting expedition in the forests 
east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. When the 
carcass was being prepared for shipment, 
a healed wound was noticed on the heart, 
and on probing, the bullet was found. The 
moose was a full grown bull and appar¬ 
ently had been in perfect health. 
seen close to one of the ears. The large 
one shows signs of having been used in 
either combat or digging burrows, which 
has inclined supersti¬ 
tious people who have 
seen it to the theory 
that the appearance 
of “armed” rabbits 
indicates that Ameri¬ 
ca is destined shortly 
to enter the arena of 
war. The horns are 
very hard and closely 
resemble those of a 
deer. The large one 
is as large as your lit¬ 
tle finger at the butt. 
All are symmetrical 
and seem to have 
been placed there for 
some purpose. The 
owner values the spe¬ 
cimen at $200, and has 
offered a cool thou¬ 
sand for one like it 
brought in alive. 
Hunters are planning 
on. combing the Red 
Bird as soon as the 
weather moderates, 
with the hope of un¬ 
earthing more of the 
horned phenomena 
and perhaps other as 
yet undiscovered spe¬ 
cimens, that are al¬ 
ready girding them¬ 
selves up wi.h armor. Forest and Stream 
would be glad to hear of any success they 
meet with in their campaign. 
ENTER THE WAR BUNNY 
HE WANTED SO MUCH TO BE BORN A BILLY 
GOAT THAT NATURE GAVE HIM HORNS 
By JOHN O’SULLIVAN. 
Has Nebraska’s Nimrods Up a Tree. 
