340 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Marcu 3, 1906. 

Middlesex Sportsman’s Club. ‘ 
30ston, Mass., Feb. 24—Editor Forest and 
Stream: On Monday evening, Feb. 19, the Mid- 
dlesex Sportsmen’s Club held its annual banquet 
in the Town Hall, Lexington. There were 275 
members gathered about the tables when Presi- 
dent A. S. Mitchell asked Rev. F. A. McDonald 
to say grace. The chairman of the refreshment 
committee, ex-President N. J. Hardy, of Arling- 
ton, had furnished an abundance of tempting 
viands. A troupe of colored minstrels enlivened 
the evening with music and won frequent cheers 
from the audience. Reports of the secretary and 
treasurer were read. The election of officers for 
the ensuing year resulted in the unanimous choice 
of E. S. Barker, of Winchester, for president; O. 
W. Whittemore, of Arlington, first vice-presi- 
dent; R. N. Burns, of Cambridge, second vice- 
president; E. S. Farmer, of Arlington, third 
vice-president, and Dr. F. M. Lowe, of Winches- 
ter, fourth vice-president; J. R. Mann, treasurer; 
Dr. J. W. Bailey, secretary; A. S. Mitchell, C. A. 
Currier, Dr:-H. L. Shepherd, C. A. Lane, S. L. 
Noyes and N. J. Hardy as the Executive Com- 
mittee. 
Mr. Mitchell, the retiring president, escorted 
the president-elect to the chair, and there was 
brought in a formidable looking gavel made from 
the hub of a tip-cart, one of the spokes serving 
as the handle. Through the numerous holes of 
the hub had been knotted ribbons displaying the 
national colors. Among the speakers were Dr. 
G. W. Fields, chairman of the State Commission 
on Fisheries and Game; Mr. S. L. Noyes, of 
Somerville, and N. J. Hardy, of Arlington. 
A procession was formed and headed by a fife 
and drum corps marched to Historic Hall, where 
the third exhibition of the club was opened. The 
display of trophies was more extensive and more 
artistically arranged than either of those the club 
has previously given. All the articles in the exhi- 
bition were the result of the skill of the members. 
One of the collections is composed of twelve 
robins, two thrushes and a cuckoo shot by an 
Italian poacher near Monatomy Rocks Park. The 
officers of the Association were the means of 
causing his arrest and the culprit was sentenced 
to five months’ imprisonment. The exhibit of 
R. N.. Burns, of Cambridge. was one of the best. 
Mr. Mitchell, Mr. E. S. Farmer and his niece, 
Miss Locke, E. C. Stevens and C. A. Currier, of 
Lexington, and many members from Belmont, 
Winchester, Concord and other towns showed 
fine specimens of skins, deer and moose heads 
and game birds, and many other things of interest 
to sportsmen and students of natural history. 
Among the curiosities was a night hawk caught 
bys ry ladniton: 
The club is in a flourishing condition and doing 
its full, share in all the lines of work connected 
with the preservation and propagation of game 
and fish, due in no small degree to the faithful 
and enthusiastic labors of its efficient corps of 
officers. 
On Wednesday next will occur one of the most 
important hearings ever held by the legislative 
Committee on Fisheries and Game. The bills to 
be considered affect not only the sale season of 
game birds but the shooting season for black and 
wood ducks. It is proposed to protect wood ducks 
for a series of years or permanently and further 
to limit the season for shooting black ducks; to 
reduce the time allowed for killing gray squirrels, 
hares and rabbits; the sale season for prairie 
chickens and quail. It is expected that Dr. 
Palmer, who is coming from Washington for the 
purpose, will be heard on all these measures. 
H. H. Kimpatt. 
Lack of Luck and Why. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
_ Uhave just had the pleasure of reading in your 
issue of Jan. 13 last an account of Dr. Thorp’s 
experience and his “lack of luck” in duck shoot- 
ing last fall in the waters of the Great South 
Bay, L. I. Having been there myself I can vouch 
for the truth of his statements, both as to the 
scarcity of ducks and game wardens. The few 
ducks that wished to locate in the bay were 
driven out of there at once by parties “dusk- 
ing” thém after sunset and at night. This prac- 

tice was carried on openly without fear (I will 
not say) and without favor, in the vicinity the 
Doctor mentions. I think that there is more 
cause to complain of in the night shooting than 
there is of the Brown duck law. 
He also writes of the Peconic Bays. Knowing 
him to be both an enthusiastic and lucky fisher- 
man I would like to see him wielding his able 
pen in showing up and trying to stop the out- 
rage of allowing the pirate bunker boat ruining 
the fishing in those beautiful bays. I have seen 
ten of these boats fishing in those small bays at 
the same time. Anybody who knows anything 
about fishing knows that such a condition means 
plenty of fishing for the rod and line fisherman, 
but no fish. I have often been surprised that this 
practice is allowed in any inclosed waters of this 
State, and I would like to see the Doctor advocat- 
ing the passage of a law to stop the bunker boat 
pirates in place of wishing a repeal of as good a 
law as the Brown duck law. Farr PLAy. 
A Chesapeake Wild Turkey. 
? 
“Don’t you shoot my turkeys, boy,’ my wife 
said as I grabbed the first gun in reach, which 
was an old single-barrel shotgun. There had just 
rested on the lawn seven strange looking turkeys, 
and for the moment I hesitated to consider lest 
I might make a mistake and shoot our own fowl. 
The occupant of a boat on the river was calling 
and gesticulating to me, but all that could be un- 
derstood was “Roy’s Point.” My.wife was after 
me with a broomstick, and like the boy with his 
pants on hind part in front, I didn’t know 
whether to go or come. 
When I looked around the turkeys had lifted 
their wings and flown across on the other side 
of the creek. They ran across the lawn of my 
neighbor’s, and about 500 yards to the side of the 
river in the bushes and stopped. No time was 
lost in going after them. A boat was approach- 
ing the shore and.a man was in the bow of the 
boat with a gun, evidently intent on getting the 
first shot. Under cover of the fodder stack near 
the shore I crept within a safe distance and 
waited for them to flush. Bang went the other 
fellow’s gun, while the turkeys were still sitting, 
and when about twenty-five feet high, I reckon, I 
raised one foot, opened my mouth, shut both eyes 
and fired at the bunch with the result that a fine 
hen weighing about fifteen pounds came tumbling 
down. I found that one leg and a wing had been 
broken, and the excitement had just begun, as 
that turkey could then jump ten feet every clip 
around the fodder stack. I finally hit it on the 
head with the barrel of my gun‘and killed it. 
The other fellow, who was said to be a pretty 
good claimer, as expected, claimed it as his game, 
but evidences were so clear his protests were not 
considered, and the roast was much enjoyed for 
Thanksgiving. It was afterward learned that 
these wild turkeys were the remnant of a very 
large flock which had been seen during the early 
fall, and they flew across from Roy’s Point in 
search of food, or being pressed by sportsmen 
in that locality. 
Roy’s Point is considered to be the regular 
haunt for wildfowl and deer, and a good many 
deer have been caught in attempting to cross the 
river here. C. Foster, 
CARDINAL, Va 
Newfoundland Caribou. 
St. Jouns, Newfoundland, Feb. 16.—Editor 
Forest and Stream: I think that there has been 
no serious diminution in deer notwithstanding 
the reports of slaughter which you have seen 
reported in the newspapers. There are several 
places where an enormous slaughter took place 
some years ago, where practically no deer are 
killed now, and this offsets to a considerable ex- 
tent the loss of animals which through huntsmen 
and other causes has otherwise increased. 
For instance; on the Humber River and Lake 
there used to be an enormous number killed, 
probably 1,000, and probably 500 to 1,000 killed 
annually about the Exploits River, and a very 
large quantity were killed on the Gander Lake 
and river. This lake and river killing is prac- 
tically stopped now. 
It is the opinion of some who are well qualified 
to form an opinion that in recent years the deer 
have actually been increasing. I do not think 
this myself. I think from my observation there 
has been a small increase, but so far it is not very 
apparent from traveling through the deer country. 
Probably the estimate given of 100,000 to 150,000 
animals now in the country will not be very far 
out. St. JoHNs. 
Ducks, Fish and Dynamite. 
BuFFato, N. Y., Feb. 14.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Assemblyman Quinn has a bill in the 
Legislature providing for an extension of the 
open season for ducks in this vicinity to March 
16, under the pretense that we should not give 
protection to the fish ducks, which are on the 
river during the winter months, as they are very 
destructive to fish life. This would be one rea- 
son for trying to get such a bill passed if any 
effort were made to enforce the laws as they now 
stand against the illegal methods of taking fish 
practiced along the river. They are dynamited 
and netted in every way contrary to law, and 
the restrictions brought to bear on the poachers 
amount to nothing. If more were done to pro- 
tect the fish in the way of getting after violators 
of the fish laws some faith might be put in the 
honest purpose of Assemblyman Quinn’s bill, but 
it looks like a local, selfish measure to give local 
shooters special privileges, and the bill should be 
defeated. It is bad enough to have different laws 
in different States affecting wildfowl, but much 
worse to have anything but uniform State laws. 
DIxMontT. 
Union Sportsmen’s Club. 
Tue Union Sportsmen’s Club, of Bath Beach, 
N. Y., one of the oldest organizations of its kind 
in the State, celebrated its twentieth annual birth- 
day on Wednesday evening, Feb. 21, by a grand 
dinner and banquet at the club house. “The club 
was founded in the year 1886 by Mr. William E. 
Tufts, its president. The object of the club is 
camping, exploring and canoeing, and it boasts 
of one of the finest camping and canoe outfits in 
the country. The club owns hunting privileges 
Over some 12,000 acres in Pike and Sullivan 
counties and the members spend from two weeks 
to three months at camp during the summer. 
The annual dinner is always looked forward to 
each year, and heretofore has been held in 
Manhattan, the Imperial, Hotel Astor and Café 
Martin being the most recent. This being the 
twentieth year the management decided on their 
own club house. The dinner was a novel affair, 
the members all wearing the camp uniforms and 
the ladies dressed in red and white, the club 
colors. 
The menu contained everything from bluepoints 
to bear steaks. After the dinner Mr. James 
Harper, treasurer, acted as toastmaster. Mr. 
Charles Lodge, vice-president, opened the cere- 
monies and was followed by Mr. William E. 
Dalton, the secretary. Mr. Dalton, after his open- 
ing address, presented, in behalf of the club, a 
beautiful rifle to Mr. William E. Tufts, the presi- 
dent, as a token of appreciation and esteem in 
which the members hold their president. Mr. 
Tufts was taken somewhat by surprise, but man- 
aged to make some very grateful remarks. Mr. 
Tufts has been president of the club ever since 
it was organized. Dancing followed the banquet. 
The members of the Union Sportsmen’s Club 
present were: Messrs. Charles H. Nammack, R. 
W. Palmer, George M. Cowenhoven, Louis W. 
Dumont, William J. Ostermayer, Charles E. 
Lodge, James Harper, William E. Dalton and 
William E. Tufts. The invited guests were Mr. 
Harry V. Radford, Secretary Canadian Camp- 
fire Club; Commodore William R. Lamsburg, 
Bensonhurst Y. C.; Mr. J. Frank Case, President 
Tanawadeh Club, and Mr. James Lathrop, Pre- 
sident Niagara Gun Club. 
The ladies were Mrs. William E. Tufts, Mrs. ~ 
W. J. Ostermayer, Mrs. Charles E. Lodge, Miss ~ 
Violette Cox. Miss Marion Cox, Mrs. W. R. 
Lamsburg, Miss Brilliant Kriel, Miss Helen Cox, 
Miss Florence Gorman and Miss Alice Cox. 
SECRETARY. 
