
The Safety Snake-Stick 
FTER experimenting with the 
ordinary forked stick as used by 
most collectors and noting several 
serious disadvantages, I made a special 
loop snake-stick along lines suggested 
by Mr. Hess, the authority in charge 
of the Reptile House at the Philadelphia 
Zoo and found it most successful in 
the capture of even the largest poison- 
ous snakes. The forked stick meant 
that the snake had to be seized behind 
the head with the bare hand, then when 
the stick that pinned the head to the 
ground was removed the section of the 
neck released gave the head a certain 
amount of free play. Unless the great- 
est care was exercised there was a pos- 
sibility that the rep- 
tile might twist its 
head far enough 
around to sink a fang 
into the hand holding 
it. This very thing 
has happened to men 
who had _ previously 
handled many snakes 
with impunity. An 
element of safety is 
welcome even to the 
hardened collector 

and will be found in ||: ;.,....-= 
the stick I have dia- 
grammed. With a 
stick of this nature 
that I hastily con- 
structed of a sawed-off broom handle, 
a one inch strip a yard long cut from 
an old inner liner of an automobile tire, 
the bottom of a “Velvet” tobacco tin, 
and a few tacks, I captured, with a 
minimum personal risk, various,snakes, 
including a western diamond-backed 
rattler dangerously near the six foot 
mark. 
Many outdoorsmen who might other- 
wise collect snakes, do not relish the 
idea of handling them, even the innocu- 
ous varieties. The stick illustrated 
permits the capture of a snake and its 
release in a bag or cage without any 
personal contact. whatsoever. 
Angle for the snake’s head with the 
loop about four or five inches in di- 
ameter.” ‘When the head is lassoed pull 
the Strap just tight enough to prevent 
Page 731, 
Sawed - of f 
broom handle 


fobaco tin dovble serewed 
to both sides of broom-handle 
the head from worming out. Then slide 
your captive into the mouth of your col- 
lecting bag or box and slacken your ten- 
sion on the strap. The reptile will free 
itself quickly enough by drawing its 
. head back through the loosened loop. 
In order that this method of release 
may be effective, care should be taken 
that the strap does not bind, because the 
metal hondoo has been fastened too 
close to the stick. In order that the 
stick may not bruise your captives 
through drawing the strap too tight, a 
circle of felt should be glued on the end 
of the stock where it joins in the cir- 
cumference of the loop. 
CHARLES E. NASH, 
Wyncote, Pa. 
The Safery-First Snake-Stick 
End of srrap 
double screwed 




Loading Big Game 
“ANOTHER kink for your Nessmuk 
>= Department. I am telling all who 
have to load heavy game, such as deer, 
‘elk, bear or anything that has a hind 
leg like the deer, even to three or four 
hundred pounds. If you wish to load 
it easily alone, if your horse won’t 
stand, blindfold him with your hand- 
kerchief. Tie a rope to the hind feet 
of the deer (the legs being long make 
it easy), get into the saddle, pull the 
legs up over the saddle until the hocks 
are above saddle, so far there is not 
much to lift. Then throw your weight. 
onto the feet. The saddle then becomes 
the fulcrum, the legs the lever, your 
body the weight counterbalancing the 
deer’s body and it slips into the saddle 
Strap Should stide 
easily threvgh his 
ometal hondoo. 
Scag, oe 
LEE REEEE 
as though it were greased and you 
won’t realize you had anything to do at 
all. 
You can do the same over the trunk 
of a tree, quite a little distance from 
the ground. If you can pull the hocks 
over the trunk, you can do it easily. 
I did that with a mule tail deer, five 
minutes after he was killed. While yet 
warm, I was surprised at the ease with 
which I loaded the buck. His feet and 
horns touched the ground on a large 
horse and he dressed over 200 lbs. net. 
When I killed him, I was. many miles 
from camp, near nightfall, and was 
puzzled how I would load _ him, 
but right there learned how to load a 
heavy animal or even hang it in a tree 
several feet off the ground. A. M., 
California. 

Clam Chowder 
RYeeeiivess ore Six 
slices of fat pork 
crisp, and chop to 
pieces. Sprinkle in the 
bottom of pot; lay up- 
on them a stratum of 
clams, which sprinkle 
with cayenne or black 
pepper and salt, and 
scatter bits of butter 
over all. Next, have 
a layer of chopped 
onions, then one of 
small crackers split 
and moistened with 
warm milk. On them pour a little of 
the fat left after frying the pork. Next 
comes a new layer of pork, then one of 
clams, etc., as before. Proceed until 
the pot is nearly full, then cover with 
water and stew slowly—the pot being 
closely covered—for three-quarters of 
an hour. Now drain off all the liquor, 
and then empty the remaining contents 
into tureen. Return the gravy to the 
pot, and thicken with flour or finely- 
rolled crackers; add a glass of claret 
or sherry, a spoonful of catsup, one of 
Worcestershire sauce, and boil up, then 
pour over the chowder. 
This makes a dish so sustaining, that 
with the addition of bread, coffee and a 
dessert, it is sufficient for a meal. 
So N. Ag: 
New York Ciity. 


