176 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 30, 1910. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., July 20—Editor Forest 
and Stream: During the past week a small 
army of hunters left San Francisco headed for 
the mountains to be on hand when the deer 
season opened on July 15, and from the large 
number of licenses that have been issued it 
would seem that more persons would be out 
after deer at the commencement of the season 
than ever before. The State law allows three 
and a half months of open season on deer, but 
in many sections of the State special conditions 
have made changes advisable, and the season has 
been shortened by the supervisors. The follow¬ 
ing counties have shorter open seasons than pro¬ 
vided for in the State law: Alameda, Aug. 1 to 
Oct. 1; Marin, July 15 to Sept. 1; Santa Clara, 
Aug. 1 to Oct. 1; Santa Cruz, Sept. 1 to Oct. 
1; San Benito, Aug. 1 to Oct. 1; Sonoma, July 
15 to Oct. 1; Santa Barbara, Aug. 15 to Nov. 1; 
Tulare, Sept. 1 to Nov. 1; Ventura, Aug. 1 to 
Nov. 1. A plan was on foot to shorten the 
season in San Mateo county, but at a recent 
meeting of the board of supervisors all of the 
county ordinances relative to game laws were 
repealed and the State law will be followed. Re¬ 
ports from the different sections of the country 
indicate that deer are plentiful and some excel¬ 
lent sport should be enjoyed. Most of the coun¬ 
try in the vicinity of San Francisco is taken up 
by preserves, and the keepers of these have 
counted many deer lately. 
July 15 was also the opening date for doves, 
and these birds are plentiful in most sections. 
This is especially true, in regard to the district 
around Merced where the farmers welcomed the 
opening of the season. The following counties 
have a shortened season for doves: San Joa¬ 
quin, Aug. 1 to Oct. 15; Santa Cruz and Tulare, 
the same, and Merced, Aug. 15 to Oct. 15. 
The open season for cottontail rabbits in San 
Mateo county began July 1 and bags of twenty, 
the limit, have been made by many. Shooting 
will be considera'bly better there as soon as the 
grain is all harvested. Rabbits are protected in 
but few of the counties of the State, being plen¬ 
tiful in most, sections and considered pests. 
A. P. B. 
New Publications. 
With Rifle in Five Continents, by Paul Nie- 
dieck; a translation from the German. Cloth, 
426 pages, fully illustrated, $5 net. London. 
Rowland Wood; New York, Charles Scrib¬ 
ner’s Sons. 
Apparently Mr. Niedieck’s first hunting in his 
journey around the world was at Led Pond in 
the Adirondacks in July, but he says no deer 
were killed, though efforts to bag them by jack¬ 
ing were made. Both the time and the method 
were illegal then as now. 
From New York the author traveled to Japan 
via railway and steamship; thence to Shanghai, 
where he shot pheasants in nearby coverts. Later 
he sailed to Manila, thence to Ceylon, where he 
collected a mixed bag of big and small game. 
From the Indian mainland he went to Australia 
and New Zealand, thence to South and East 
Africa, where he hunted big game, afterward re¬ 
turning to hunt again in India. His next adven¬ 
ture was in Newfoundland with caribou. He 
then hunted moose in Canada and other big game 
in Wyoming, ascended the Nile and hunted 
through North and East Africa and returned to 
America to hunt moose in Alaska. 
The volume is fully illustrated, the narrative 
is never dull, and the pictures are full of in¬ 
terest. 
Morning Star, by H. Rider Haggard. Cloth, 
30S pages, illustrated. New York, Long¬ 
mans. Green & Co. 
Even if one does not care for the romance 
in Rider Haggards’ novels, they are well worth 
reading for other reasons, for they are in a way 
based on history, and his descriptions of ancient 
Egypt, its people and their customs, found in 
this story, make pleasant reading. 
The Rod and Reel on Salt Water. 
III.—Jigging for Weakfish. 
While this subject cannot be classed as re¬ 
lating to either surf or river fishing, yet it has 
opened up such great possibilities to the surf 
angler that it properly comes into the category 
of salt water sports, and its votaries are won 
by its charms; in fact, it is practiced only in the 
open sea and by none save salt water fishermen 
of experience. It is a rugged sport and requires 
the love of the man who neither fears the perils 
of the deep nor dreads the strong chance of sea¬ 
sickness, which is one of the things to be ex¬ 
pected rather than desired. 
About Aug. 15, when the fish begin schooling 
preparatory to their long winter sojourn in more 
congenial climes, the sport begins to interest the 
ardent spirit, and from that time until early in 
November the pursuit is kept up whenever the 
surf will permit, for it is from a surf boat and 
not from the fishing smacks or excursion boats 
that the chase is maintained, and very early in 
the morning is the best time of the day for re¬ 
sults. 
Let us gather the proper spirits for the sport, 
and while the stars are still glittering in the 
bright September skies, assemble on the beach 
and under the direction of the two men who 
have been making ready for the trip, men who 
know the sea and also the signs in the air, markr 
ing where the fish are. It is a pastime fraught 
with peril for the inexperienced, and none but 
the tried-out surfman can be considered as safe. 
Three men besides the two who control the 
boat are enough, and when fish are plentiful, 
make some jolly mixtures of lines and tackle in 
the excitement incident to the strife. 
The eye of experience has pronounced the 
surf as fit, and the boat pushed to the water’s 
edge, waiting the exact moment to launch, as the 
incoming brakers must be timed so that when 
the boat reaches the bar there will be no treach¬ 
erous curling wave to dampen the ardor as well 
as the skins of the venturesome crew. The word 
given, away they go to the command of “Pull 
hard.” for be it known the surfman launching 
a boat and making his passage across the bar is 
not choice of his commands nor to whom given 
until the danger point is- passed, when a rest is 
quietly ordered, the gasolene engine started up 
and its throbbings beat out upon the quiet autumn 
air and thrill those who love the glorious sea 
and its pursuits. On goes the boat, disturbing 
and waking into life multitudes of birds whose 
presence would not be dreamed of from a beach 
view. Flocks of ducks spring into the air 
startled at the sudden interruption of their re¬ 
pose and go winging away to drop again into 
the water with a splash perhaps a mile away. 
Great long-necked loons in their clumsy way 
either dive for safety, or if they have time as 
they view it, rise from the water with their 
peculiar plaintive cry and go scolding along, 
almost touching the water in their driving flight 
and then with a quick whirl drop to rest, always 
with their heads toward the cause of their dis¬ 
turbance and presumably thresh out in loon man¬ 
ner their opinion of motor boats and of fisher¬ 
men generally. 
Daylight at last breaks full across the broad 
waters, and the eye of the man in charge is 
trained in all directions, save at the waters. It 
is not there that he seeks for evidence of fish 
life, but in the air. Miles on miles may be run 
over before the welcome sign is seen, and then 
is generally announced by a pointing of the hand 
to denote to the steersman which way to direct 
the craft. Small objects indeed they seem, dart¬ 
ing swiftly up and down or circling round and 
around. They are gulls. They have marked 
down a school of feeding fish and are eagerly 
catching up the small fragments of fish that 
come to the surface, telling of the tragedy being 
enacted in the depths. Reluctantly they give way 
as the swift motor boat runs into the area, and 
they continue circling about, closely scanning the 
long line of foam left by the churning propeller. 
Rods and reels are adjusted before leaving 
the beach, and as soon as the boat comes to rest 
in answer to her anchor, the real business of the 
trip is on. The proper tackle is much the same 
as that used for surf-casting, but to be just right 
the tip of the rod should be some six inches 
shorter and quite stout in caliber, as the tre- 
