854 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 26, 1910. 
Another place that was once widely known to 
coast gunners and has now gone into the dis¬ 
card is Pelican Bar, near Short Beach Club, in 
Great South Bay, a mile north of Fire Island 
Light. I remember hearing my father tell of how 
he and old Josh Verity, noted at that time as a 
guide, killed eighty snipe with four shots out 
of one great flock on Pelican Bar. Of course 
that was forty years ago, before people began 
to wake up to tbe fact that the abundance of 
game in the world was limited, and when a man 
could kill 200 birds in a day and still retain his 
self-respect. Josh and my father crept up to 
Pelican Bar on the last of the flood tide when 
only a small part of the sand spit was above 
water, and this was covered with snipe of every 
description. When the vast flock rose they raked 
it with their muzzleloaders, and after the smoke 
had cleared away counted eighty dead birds, to 
say nothing of innumerable cripples that got 
away. Nowadays Pelican Bar is scorned by 
shore birds and gunners alike. 
The average man who has shot the shore 
waders needs no introduction to the methods 
usually employed. Decctys, a screen of brush 
or seaweed planted wherever your fancy desires, 
light shells and an open gun—'these, and the 
snipe, and your sport is certain. Of course as 
in decoy shooting of every variety your stool 
should point head to wind. If you are shooting 
in a pond hole, do not plant them in the grass; 
they will be too much concealed. Sink the sticks 
which hold them into mud or sand on the edge 
of the water, or even in the water. I have shot 
snipe with my stool in eight inches of water. 
The care taken to conceal the blind, so essen¬ 
tial in duck shooting, is not important in shore 
bird hunting. As a rule they are not finicky, 
and will come in oblivious of an awkward blind 
with a head and pair of shoulders sticking up 
above it. 
One of the accomplishments most necessary to 
success when shore birds are concerned is the 
whistle. I have known expert whistlers to get 
along without stool as well as men with them 
who could not call so effectively. By whistling 
I mean the ability of a gunner to imitate the 
peculiar liquid notes of the various kinds of 
snipe. Old shore gunners know the call of every 
one of these, and can imitate them so well that 
they can call a flock of birds within gun shot 
without a sign of decoy in sight. The cries of 
the different species are at the tongues’ ends of 
the baymen, and they can talk to the snipe in 
their own tongue and generally to their undoing. 
Formerly the man who could not whistle was 
at a distinct disadvantage, but nowadays inven¬ 
tion has come to his assistance, and tin snipe 
whistles that anyone can blow with practice are 
manufactured. 
The majority of shots at shore birds, when 
using stool, are at close range, and therefore an 
ppen gun is an advantage. A choke bore gives 
too close a pattern, and is apt to tear the game 
as well as reducing the percentage of kills, as 
when once alarmed shore birds have a faculty 
of making themselves scarce with exceeding 
rapidity and irregularity. And then if yOu do 
not happen to strike a flight, if your heart does 
not thrill to one melodious whistle all the long 
day, you will at least see the pale dawn wake 
over leagues of wet lands and the sun rise, and 
you will be glad you went. 
Percy M. Cushing. 
Solid Comfort. 
Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 5. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: This being Saturday night I have been 
enjoying my Forest and Stream for several 
hours, and now that I have read it from cover 
to cover, I am impelled to put some of my 
thoughts on paper. 
First of all let me tell you that I always look 
forward to your next number, as I find your 
contributors always interesting, while many of 
them touch a certain chord of feeling which is 
indefinable, but is common to every true sports¬ 
man and nature lover. 
How many times have we not all experienced 
that peculiar state of mind so vividly reflected 
in Mr. Lemmon’s “An Autumn Evening.” I do 
not expect ever to see the Hackensack Meadows, 
but if I ever do, they will look familiar to me. 
“The Squirrel as a Jumper” shows another 
trait of the nature lover—always pleased to see 
others happy. I can hear those boys shout with 
glee, Mr. Moonan. 
“Hunting with Uncle Hi,” written in the pres¬ 
ent tense, turns out to be a narrative of events 
long since passed into memory, but Mr. Purdy’s 
love for Uncle Hi and the scenes of his youthful 
hunting expeditions stamps him a sportsman with 
poetic leanings. 
“The Sand Hill Crane of Old,” suggested by 
a similar description in a former article of the 
peculiar antics of these birds,* also recalls the 
past. How we all cling to its fond memories! 
“Where Rolls the Kooskia” was very interest¬ 
ing, especially the finding of the skeleton in the 
bunk of the secluded cabin. One cannot help 
speculating on the pathetic death of the lonely 
trapper and of the poor faithful horses who must 
have starved. Dr. Moody does not mention that 
he found fire-arms in the cabin. If there were 
none on the premises, what became of them? 
Perhaps he merely failed to mention this. 
William P. Orth. 
Massachusetts Deer Season. 
Boston, Mass., Nov. 20.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The town and city clerks of Massa¬ 
chusetts have been taking in a fresh harvest of 
dollars from sportsmen who will try for a deer 
without journeying to outside States. On Tues¬ 
day night, Nov. 15, the season for shooting up¬ 
land birds terminated, and at sunrise on Mon¬ 
day, Nov. 21, the season for deer shooting in 
the five western counties will open. Those coun¬ 
ties are Worcester, Hampden’, Hampshire, Frank¬ 
lin and Berkshire. Bona fide residents of the 
State only are entitled to procure a license for 
deer hunting. Rifles and dogs are barred and 
posted land must not be entered upon in pursuit 
of deer. One deer only may be killed by each 
hunter. That may be either a buck or a doe. 
A report of the shooting, killing or wounding 
of a deer must be sent to the Commission on 
Fisheries and Game, State House, Boston, with¬ 
in twenty-four hours. The penalty for violating 
any provision of the deer law is $100. 
I have been gathering facts concerning the suc¬ 
cess of hunters during the season on quail, wood¬ 
cock and partridge. A well known sportsman of 
Wakefield tells me that his son secured three 
partridges one afternoon, and each of his two 
companions got one bird each. A man who 
hunts in the central part of the State has a dif¬ 
ferent story. In several hunting trips covering 
nearly a week he was able to get but three 
grouse. 
An efficient warden whose duties extend over 
fifteen towns in the western part of the State re¬ 
ports woodcock more plentiful than for five years 
and less partridge seen or killed than in any sea¬ 
son for twenty years. He says the worst violator 
of the partridge law is the man who has plenty 
of money and stands ready to pay $3 to $5 per 
pair for the birds. The vandal and pot-hunter 
want the money and will deliver the birds in a 
suit case. Later they receive a check for the 
game. Next to this class of violators comes the 
squatter, who poses as a farmer. This man 
“would shoot a partridge on her nest and then 
sell it!” Song and insect-eating birds suffer at 
the hands of the Italians. 
I see no way, he says, to increase the supply 
of partridge, but by a close season of perhaps 
three years and the killing of all hawks and 
vermin which destroy the eggs and young. The 
increase of the supply of quail would have some 
effect in saving the partridge. 
Another officer writing of conditions in a dif¬ 
ferent section in the western part of the State 
says there has been but little change in the native 
woodcock and partridge during the three years 
of his service there. The chief violators of the 
laws, he says, are “cheap Yankees,” the com¬ 
munity being made up of farmers in the main. 
An officer in charge of enforcement of the 
laws in a dozen towns near the northern border 
of the State writes: “At the close of the sea¬ 
son partridge are very scarce, a falling off as 
compared with previous years; foreign popula¬ 
tion the chief violators.” 
An officer who has charge of several towns in 
the southeastern part of the State says partridges 
are scarce; fairly good numbers of flight wood¬ 
cock and more quail than there were a year ago. 
If the reports so far received are indicative of 
conditions generally over the State, it may be 
necessary to reduce the length of the season for 
upland bird shooting. We will hope for reports 
of a more encouraging nature. 
Henry H. Kimball. 
Moose and Caribou in Newfoundland. 
St. Johns, N. F., Nov. 10.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Readers of Forest and Stream wdl 
remember that a few years ago several moose 
were imported from Canada by our Government 
and set free in the interior. They have been 
reported several times; but do not seem to be 
increasing to any extent. Guide George Nicholls 
last season saw signs of them in the Humber 
country, and he was of opinion that they had 
some young ones among them. 
A well known guide says he never saw caribou 
so plentiful as they are the present season. Fol¬ 
lowing a light fall of snow the deer began to 
migrate south, and for the next six days they 
passed in thousands over the reserve. The guide 
says that during that time not less than 10,000 
were seen by him. The sight each day was most 
imposing, and more than a hundred fights among 
the stags were witnessed. 
N. Andrews and J. Perez, who are deer stalk¬ 
ing at the Topsails, send in word that they never 
saw the big game as plenty before. The weather 
has been fine and they are enjoying their holi¬ 
day immensely. W. J. Carroll. 
