9 wildcats, 8 grey fox, 30 red fox, 
34 mink, 54 weasels, 18 stray house 
cats, 22 crows, 11 hawks, 1 owl, 15 
woodchucks, 180 rattlesnakes, 64 water 
snakes, 312 red squirrels. 
So you see I am a destroyer as well 
as a protector. I have no apology, for 
my natural bent for my first plaything 
was dad’s old six-gun. I trapped a 
wolf pup before I could recite all of my 
A B C’s and my first lesson in nature 
was given to me by an old Flathead 
Indian chieftain. 
JOSEPH BARBER, 
Stroudsburg, Pa. 
Maine Deer Change Habitat 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HERE has been a_ remarkable 
change in the habitat of the deer 
in this state within the memory of the 
writer. For nearly 40 years, in his 
younger days, he was in the woods al- 
most constantly in the hunting season, 
and up to within two or three years of 
the close of that period, never saw even 
so much of the track of a deer. No 
one, in fact, hunting in the long-settled 
portions of Maine or New Hampshire, 
thought of seeing a deer. Few owned 
rifles and these were kept chiefly for 
target practice. The shotgun was the 
universal weapon of the less extensive 
woods. Occasionally some ambitious 
party tiring of shooting small game, 
visited some wild section of the states 
mentioned on a deer hunt and when 
they returned from a successful trip 
they were looked upon as a sort of 
heroes by less fortunate Nimrods. 
About the year 1900 it was reported 
that three deer were seen in close prox- 
imity to our village. Great was the 
excitement. Men, boys and even women 
were as anxious to get sight of these 
unusual visitors, as people were to see 
the first automobile. Naturally the 
little band could not long survive the 
crusade that was inaugurated against 
them with the coming of the hunting 
season by everyone who could lay hands 
on a rifle. But after these were bagged, 
more came. Year after year they con- 
tinued to come and in increasing num- 
bers. Other towns, too, were having 
the same experience. The shotgun has 
been deposed from its old time suprem- 
acy by the deadly high power rifle. Men 
for whom ordinary small game has no 
lure have gone crazy over deer, which 
are now plentiful all over the state. 
And following in the wake of the 
deer has come a less welcome visitor— 
the savage bobcat. A few years ago 
anyone hereabout who reported that 
he had seen a bobcat was set down as 
a deliberate liar, or one whose imagina- 
tion was getting beyond his control. 
Recently several have been actually 
350 
shot by our hunters, and the yowlings 
of others at night in tangled swamps 
indicate that the savage creatures are 
likely to become plentiful, attracted by 
their favorite prey. 
Will McDonald, one of our most suc- 
cessful hunters and trappers, had the 
luck to bag one of these big cats. While 
out fox hunting he came upon its tracks 
in the fresh snow. For nearly two 
miles he followed the trail, bringing it 
to bay under a cliff on a wild mountain. 
The beast snarled savagely, but Will 
had the nerve to draw near enough to 
kill it with a single charge from his 
shot gun. 
JOHN L. WoopBurRY, 
Cornish, Me. 

bees 2 : = 
Will McDonald and his bobcat. 

A Red Fox Drive 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
| AM enclosing a clipping which ap- 
peared in the Indianapolis News 
and which is so unusual in character 
that I am sure it will be appreciated 
by FOREST AND STREAM readers. 
Automobile horns, sleighbells, fish 
horns, hunting horns, slap | sticks, 
whistles, tin cans with resin strings 
attached and all the noise-making 
devices of Halloween and New Year’s 
celebrations raised a din such as might 
have been heard for miles and miles, 
when more than 800 persons conducted 
a successful fox drive Thursday in 
Hancock county near New Palestine. 
Seven foxes were captured alive. An- 
other selected a point in the line 
guarded by two boys, rushed between 

their legs and escaped, and still an- 
other was killed when he tried to rush 
the lines. ‘ 
Farmers had complained that fre- 
quent visits of the foxes that had 
infested the neighborhood had de- 
pleted henhouses, and that . even 
young pigs by scores had been vic-- 
tims of the hungry beasts. 
The hunters formed a square inclos- 
ing an area of about twenty square 
miles. When the square closed in, the 
din from the noise-making devices be- 
wildered the foxes and deafened the 
hunters. 
Covered Twenty Square Miles 
The lines formed at 10 a. m. The 
north line, the National road, was com- 
manded by Albert Bueshing; the south 
line, the Brookville road, was com- 
manded by George Lance; the east 
line, Little Sugar creek, was com- 
manded by Bert Swain, and the west 
line, the Gem and Palestine road, was 
commanded by Edward Ruschhaupt. 
The east and west lines were five miles 
apart, and the north and south lines 
were four miles apart at the start of 
the drive. 
Over hills, down valleys, over 
fences, through brush heaps and 
across prairies the lines moved for- 
ward. The foxes, none to wide-awake 
after visiting neighboring henhouses in 
the night, were rudely awakened from 
New Year’s slumber and, frightened, 
ran from brush piles and fallen logs, 
pursued by the hunters. As the lines 
drew together in an open field about 
two miles north of New Palestine, 
where a large circle of stakes and wire 
had been set up, the foxes evidently 
realized that they were caught. Their 
instinct was to “dig in,” and the foxes | 
dug with all their might in an effort 
to hide. Slowly but surely the line of 
men approached. The inner group 
knelt at the wire circle which was 
about 200 feet in diameter and those 
at the rear interwove themselves in 
such a fashion that escape for the ani- 
mals was practically impossible. 
Race Selves to Exhaustion 
“We will take them alive,” an- 
nounced the captains. “No brutality 
will be allowed. They will race 
themselves to exhaustion within a 
short time and then we can pick them 
up.” 
Such was the case. The tawny 
little animals raced around the cir- 
cle for about twenty minutes and — 
then were taken easily. Several of 
them snapped at heavy leather 
gloves, but no one was bitten. Farmers ~ 
said the hunt was one of the most 
successful held in that part of the state 
for some time. Several rabbits, caught 
in the lines were a prey to several 

