FOREST AND STREAM. 








A Long Fox Chase. 
ALMA, Ark. ° Oct. 2—Edttor Forest and 
Stream: The quail crop in this part of Arkan- 
sas is something out of the ordinary. That far- 
mers’ pest, known as Johnson grass, has overrun 
many large farms in the Arkansas River bottoms 
in Crawford county, and this affords a cover 
in which the birds are safe from all the usual 
enemies that destroy them, so that they are mul- 
tiplying to such an extent that it is no uncom- 

mon thing to see a dozen large coveys in one 
field, and as the season progresses and the cotton 
and corn stalks are cut and plowing begins they 
gather in the tall grass in great droves. I have 
seen more than one hundred in one place. The 
settling up of the country has caused the rac- 
coons, opossums and foxes to be killed out, and 
with present conditions and the game law en- 
forced, quail will be as plentiful as blackbirds in 
the near future. 
While most of our people are strictly in favor 
of all the laws for the protection of quail and 
fish, ] have been informed that a party of wealthy 
veople from a nearby city, while camped on one 
of our best fishing streams, killed all the fish 
for several miles up and down it with dynamite. 
Such conduct should be severely condemned, and 
if the proof can be had their high position will 
not protect them from the severe penalty of the 
aw. 
The entrance into western Arkansas of the 
red fox has caused the old time gray fox to 
entirely disappear from its usual haunts, and 

1as largely been the means of spoiling the sport 
of fox hunting in this section. A pack of hounds 
that would either catch or put a gray fox to 
earth or up a tree in from one to four hours 
cannot even put up a decent race after a full 
grown red. I have been trying for the past half 
dozen years to get dogs that can stay with the 
red fox, which instead of selecting some over- 
grown mountain side and running there for a 
few hours and then capitulate to the delight of 
both men and dogs, will make a straightaway 
run for from five to fifteen miles and most of 
the time keep in the open; and when the dogs 
become at fault for the first time in the race 
he is so far gone that they never get him going 
out of slow trail any more. Last fall I started 
a young red fox on the night the moon was 
full in September. Just as darkness began to 
fall I had two dogs, Rock, a blue and black 
hound about three years old, and King, a small 
black and tan Kentucky dog of the same age. 
Both are good stayers, good hunters. I had H. 
W. Brown’s pack of five dogs, three of which 
are as good as the country affords. They kept 
the fox going without a break until after 1 
o'clock, one of the finest races I ever listened 
to, and I was sitting on a log in an old road 
when the pack passed near me going up the side 
of a hill as though the fox were going to cross 
a high ridge, when all at once he turned north 
and started to circle back on to a big wooded 
flat. I was surprised to hear Rock coming down 
the road and going at right angles. He came 
in ahead of and caught the fox about a quarter 
of a mile from where I was sitting. 
About a week after this I committed the of- 
fense of shooting at a fox going ahead of the 
same dogs. I suppose I must have hit him pretty 
hard, for in a short time they caught him. This 
is all the success I had in killing foxes. 
A neighbor tells me this: One morning just 
after daylight last April mv two dogs Rock and 
King and a red gyp, which I have raised from 
my old red dog, the crack foxhound of this sec- 
tion and a small tan hound mother, passed 
through his farm going south in full cry after 
a red fox. They passed on south in a rough 
mountain section and were soon out of hear- 
ing. Late that evenine he was a mile south 
of his farm in the direction they had gone, when 


heard them coming down a small draw, and 
short time the fox came into sight, mouth 
open and tail down, with the dogs within a few 
rods of him. Seeing the man he turned and 
ran a short distance and stopped, facing the dogs, 
and they killed him. This was a large red fox, 
1 male, and they must have run him at least 
twelve hours, the longest race I know of their 
running. 
I would like to hear from some of the Forest 
\ND STREAM family on this line. I want to own 
that can and will stay with a red to the 
Who owns them? E. Loupon. 
he 
in a 
dogs 
death. 

Massachusetts Sportsmen. 
Boston, Oct. 5.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
The gunners of Salem have lost no time getting 
out after the birds with the opening of the “shoot-* 
Mr. Frank Benson has gone to Box- 
grouse. Dr. Shreve left a few days 
ago for Effingham, N. H., where he will spend 
a couple of weeks in grouse shooting. Former 
Mayor Waters brought in four woodcock last 
week, the result of one day’s shooting. 
It seems to be the prevailing opinion among 
many of the most experienced shooters that there 
are fewer grouse in the covers of Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire this year than last, and it 
is the belief of not a few that hawks are largely 
responsible for the decrease. No less than three 
sportsmen have told me that goshawks are more 
numerous than ever before, and evidence exists 
that they are killing off partridges in both States. 
The idea is that the extreme cold and length of 
last winter drove these birds of prey south, and 
they have found the living too good to leave 
The season for Mongolian pheasants—male 
birds only—opens in Massachusetts Nov. 1. It 
is astonishing how well these birds have done 
since they were first liberated a few years ago. 
In all the great garden produce country north 
of Boston they abound in large numbers and 
are decidedly unpopular with the produce far- 
mer on account of their pilferings. In the Berk- 
shires they have also prospered, the first of them 
coming, it is said, from Corbin’s Park in New 
Hampshire. Many were shot last year near Bos- 
ton, one taxidermist having nearly fifty in his 
shop at one time to mount. 
ing season. 
ford after 

A party consisting of Fred Gould, Sr., and 
John Coyne, of Malden, and E. M. Wilder and 
A. C. Whipple, of Boston, leitmonmOct mh an.on 
Quinan, N. S. Landing from the steamer at 
Yarmouth they will go by rail to Bellville and 
ox team to a camp owned by Mr. Gould situated 
among the lakes of the region. Partridges, 
woodcock and ducks are the game in view. The 
ponds of this section are said to be the finest 
feeding waters in the Province for ducks, and 
T am told that it is a most amazing sight to see 
the thousands of birds congregated there in 
October. 
Mr. E, C. Woods, of Arlington, who has been 
up in the neighborhood of Bedford and Carlisle, 
brought home a few birds, but in many of the 
covers, where they were plentiful last year, there 
were few, indeed. HACKLE, 
Game in Maine. 
Sesec, Me., Oct. 7.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
Ouite a number of moose have been seen in this 
vicinity. Deer are as abundant as they have been 
in past years. 
A large bay lynx, measuring 4% feet, was 
shot near Sebec village last Friday by a Massa- 
chusetts man. Ba. DEG 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
> ind) 

















































































Hunting in the Mississippi Bottom| 
Editor Forest and Stream: | 
As we pass down the river of time we scarce} 
realize the beauties that have faded from memor 
until something comes back to us like voices fro 
the spirit land that with the sad thoughts |! 
those we've loved and lost, scenes of pleasu}! 
come back as bright a picture on the canvas 
memory as if a button were pressed that flashijs 
an electric light on the scenes that made lil! 
happy in the long ago. Captain Rodman fro}! 
New York was visiting the South and we gat]! 
ered some old friends in a camp on Moon Lak}; 
Coahoma county, Mississippi. Captain Hobso}! 
of Okolona; Major Hubbard, Will Renno-/} 
whom from his peculiar way of showing hil 
teeth when he smiled we called Bill Poss, <{s 
abbreviation for ’possum—Mack Wheeler, and }§ 
couple of old hunters living in the swamp; A|! 
Edwards, generally known as old Asa, the be! 
hunter; and Wash Dye, a splendid representati'|! 
of the class of men who, with rifle and ax} 
opened up a continent to a new civilization u'll 
known and undreamed of in the progress of ag| 
in the old world of the East. The game hg! 
increased during the war, but the negro has [! 
a great measure exterminated the game in Mil 
SiSsippi. : 
Moon Lake at that time was a beautiful she} 
of water in shape of a crescent, about eighte¢!? 
miles long and a mile wide, and including tv 
l 

islands. The islands were filled with deer, beag 
panther, wildcat and turkeys, and the waters «1 
the lake covered with ducks, 
geese and swa f 
all of which we hunted. We had a pack of de 
hounds, and our friend old Asa had a> pack i 
bear dogs, so we were well equipped for | 
kinds of game. ! 
The deer had been undisturbed a long tim 
and when we went on the islands and starteW 
them it was like scattering a herd. The largetr 
island called Texas was about three miles lor! 
and one in width. We hunted that first. 4% 
narrow pass about a hundred yards wide cis 
across a peninsula and made the island. Thi 
in one place from the deposit in overflows « 
the Mississippi made a shallow ford. He: 
after passing through an immense cane brake wii 
found a wide body of open land covered wit! 



tall cottonwood and gum and_ various othe 
growths. It was indeed a charming scene thitt 
greeted us. There is an instinct born of tthh 
woods to which experience adds knowledge, an 
yet it would be difficult to explain why we seeili! 
to know the deer will pass close to a particule) 
spot. And after we become acquainted with thi 
runs of the deer we call it a stand. I waitein 
for the hounds at one of these. The big bucir 
leaped a fallen tree, and as he struck the operbe 
ing he either saw or winded me and wheelell 
too late and caught my shot behind the shouldete 
I stood in silent admiration of his beauty, thei: 
sounded a note of victory on my horn to cal 
my comrades together. We had had fun enougy) 
for the morning, so we packed our deer on th} 
horses and returned to camp. itr 
The latter part of the day we spent on thix 
lake shooting ducks. It was a November dare 
cool and pleasant. The cold wave from the ic!‘ 
lakes of the north had only sent their herald) 
of a change of season by the wildfowl comin)‘ 
in large flocks. Ro 
The cry of the hounds came across the waste 
They had started a wildcat from his lair in th 
canebrake. What a beautiful chase a cat makes(j 
Always in hearing, dodging about in the thicket: 
running on logs, crossing bayous on poles a do} 
cannot walk on, but the strong scent is followed 
through all his windings and doubles untts 
pressed hard he is forced to take a tree. W)" 
forced him to jump out, and then there was 
howling and squalling by dogs and cat. The cajiy 
scratched, and shaken by maddened hounds, yelte 


