













FOREST AND STREAM. 

[DeEc. 28; 1907. 

NO YOAVG 
Amateur Championship 
——WON By! —__ 
DR. E. F. GLEASON, of Boston, Mass., with 95-100, 
using 
“NEW SCHULTZE” 
MR. O. N. FORD, of Central City, Ia, won SECOND PRIZE 
with 94-100, Mr. Ford using 
Dupont Smokeless 
ince Sea 
= World’s Amateur Record 
For a team of five men shooting at 100 targets per man is 
484 OUT OF 500 
An Average of 96.8 Per Cent. 
THIS RECORD was made November 11th, 1907, at Wil- 
mington, O., by the team of the Wilmington Gun Club—Messrs. 
Stephens, Lewis, Sabin, Sayers and Dr. Gaston. In making this 
record each member of the team used 
DUPONT SMOKELESS 










Stream: All your readers will no doubt wel-) 
come the return of S. T. Hammond as a con-' 
tributor to your columns. It may be said that 
the present generation of sportsmen have been 
brought up on Mr. Hammond’s books and sport- 
ing articles. His present series on the ruffed 
grouse is delightful and instructive. The point 
he makes with regard to the exaggerated wild- 
ness of these noble game birds is well taken. 
While the ruffed grouse is a peculiarly wary bird 
and seems endowed with the sense of knowing 
when and where to exercise its powers for es- 
caping observation by men, yet it is by no means 
an_unreasoning wild thing. 
On a plateau overlooking the city of Johns- 
town lies the charming village of Westmount. 
An inclined plane furnishes one of the ways, and 
indeed the readiest and quickest way of reaching 
this village. The plane is laid on a steep hill- 
side, and reaches from the city boundary line 
to the top of the hill in the village. The height 
of this plateau above the level of the city is 
something over 500 feet. The hillside is rugged 
and is fairly well timbered, and the sides ad- 
jacent to the inclined plane are thickly grown 
with sumach, young timber and brush. In the 
winter the ruffed grouse feed on the sumach, 
and are frequently seen within three or four 
yards of the cars passing up and down. I have 
often seen four or five on the sumach trees, feed- 
ing unconcernedly and paying absolutely no at- 
tention to the passing cars upon which are peo- 
ple watching the grouse with great interest. I 
have also seen them on the ground within a few 
feet of the plane as the car passed. They are 
seen close to the plane morning, noon and night, 
though more frequently in the morning and 
evening, 
In a community of sixty or seventy thousand 
people, such as exists here, there are of course 
many hunters, and the grouse therefore do not 
stand much chance of increasing. They are, in 
fact, hunted a great deal, and therefore are as 
wild as the wildest of these birds. The open 
hunting season just past was probably the most 
unsatisfactory we ever had; there was especially 
a great scarcity of grouse. The principal cause 
put forth for this condition was the exceedingly 
backward and wet spring, and there is no ques- 
tion but that many nests and broods were de- 
stroyed by the damp and cold weather. 
There was, however, another reason for the 
growing scarcity of the grouse, and that was the 
great increase in the number of predatory ani- 
mals, such as foxes, weasels and minks. Some 
years ago the State Legislature repealed the act 
providing for a bounty for the destruction of 
such animals, and it was only last April that the 
sportsmen of the State succeeded in interesting 
our legislators sufficiently to have them pass an- 
other law. This law provides for a bounty on 
wildcats, foxes, weasels and minks; and under 
its provisions, large numbers of these animals 
have already been killed, and considerable sums 
of money paid out for bounties by the county 
commissioners of the several counties. The law 
will have a good effect. 
Of course the increasing disappearance of tim- 
ber from our hills and mountains will cause a 
further scarcity of game, and I presume the time 


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SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Dec. 9.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Ruffed grouse have been very scarce 
around here this season. In covers where last 
Season one could find anywhere from twelve to 
twenty-five birds, this fall he was lucky to find 
three or four. A good many theories are ex- 
pressed by local hunters as to the cause. last 
fall and winter we had an unusually large flight 
of goshawks. They were feeding on grouse all 
winter. Then came a bad breeding season fol- 
lowed by an over abundance of foxes; so, taking 
all of this in, nature has been very hard on our 
noble game bird during the last year. The red 
fox is very common this season everywhere 
around this section. A few have been killed in 
the city of Springfield. If one could only know 
just how many were killed by goshawks and 
foxes alone, the number would be amazing. I 


