Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-04-25


with dogs in certain parts of the State,
provided there is proper restriction on
the amount of game which can be killed
1t is really more humane than still hunt
ing, he thinks, because you don't wound
so many to go off in the woods to die.
There are OF course rigid restrictions now
on the amount OF game allowed to each
person, and the new law will make the
number of animals still smaller-allow
ing but one moose, one caribou, and two
deer to each hunter.
AS matter of fact, Mr.. Darling says,
big game is generally on the increase in
Maine, with the possible exception of
caribou, which is not being shot off, but
seems to be moving out of the State into
Canada. 1t is n restless, rowing animal,
and Mr., Darling can remember once be-
fore, when he was small boy, when it
left the country entirely and didn't re-
turn for thirty years. Deer, however, are
growing constantly more plenty, while
there are twenty times more moose than
twenty years ago. Some thirty years ago
the moose were nearly exterminatec by
the Canada Indians, who came over the
line to get their hides for moccasins. Mr..
Darling was hunting them himself at the
time for the city markets, and when he
saw what was going on he took hand in
the game. One winter he killed 100 him
self but that was small number COM
pared with those slaughtered by the In
dans. Mr.. Darling says that he has seen
bands Of thirty Indian hunters come in
together, and each take at least thirty
moose hides out with them. In little
while this about cleaned the big animals
out, so it did not pay the Indians to
come over any longer, and the moose got
a rest, which they have been improving
ever since. The trapping business is,
however, about played out, as most Of the
fur bearing animals have been killed off.
For the future, with proper game laws,
Mr.. Darling thinks there is hope for
Maine as game country. The owners OF
the timber lands see that the young trees
are not cut out, and so the forests are not
likely ever to be cut of entirely. The
only people who show a disposition to
destroy all the trees are the pulp and
stave mills, and there are already evil
dences that their business is being over
done. Few settlers are coming in, and
indeed the owners Of the forests are not
willing to sell them land.
Mr.. Darling isn't much on backwoods
tales. He has had his experiences, OF
course. For instance, he well might tell
you OF the time he and another man came
across three bears under log, and when
they had exhausted the charges killing
the first, how they sacrificed the third
with hatchet. Then there is that
recent addition to his repertory which he
made this winter while fishing through
the ice. The trout were so thick, he says
that while one man was hauling in fish
another jumped out after it on the ice in
its ferocious pursuit OF the bait. He had
heard OF trout being 80 thick in hole
you had to put your hat over:it to KEEP
them from jumping out, but never sa"
it before. Besides he can tell of any
number of times when he has been caught
out in the woods at night and nearly
frozen to death before morning. 1t is
particularly chilly, he says, to spend the
night in the snow after chasing deer all
day and having gotten your clothes full OF
what they call in Maine ''sweat."
But, after all, Mr.. Darling really does
more in the line OF Christening the i'm
agination OF others than in expanding
his own. For instance, you would natur-
ally think from what you read in your
i'm - fSroc do hnr hat
it was worth your life to tackle moose
in the woods, but Mr. Darling says that
out OF the / 900 he has killed only one was
coming toward him, while bears will
make every possible effort to avoid you.
A deer yard, it seems, is another popular
fallacy. The public has an idea that a lot
of helpless animals stand herded in a
small space, which they have trodden
down in the deep snow, waiting to be
slaughtered. AS a matter of fact, yard
is merely piece OF woods where the
animals are feeding, and may be mile
across. Still another popular delusion,
quite common in our cities, is that OF a
man who considered himself true
woodsman because he has had guide
paddle him across a Maine lake or two
| while he hung. onto both sides OF birch
bark canoe and wondered if the fact that
his hair was parted in the middle would
be any considerable factor in saving him
from a watery grave. Mr.. Darling has 6
sort OF paternsl feeling OF pity for his
city friends ''sports," he calls them. HI
has seen two of them cool, he says, in the
presence Of big game, but the more
common practice is to get the end of the
muzzle in line with deer and blaze away
into the atmosphere, without any specia
regard as to how the barrel is pointed