Animals clubbed to death, 1000 doves killed illegally, and a starched linen band imperils women’s fair necks

Maine Woods Newspaper uprightOn March 21 and April 15, I published columns of hunting and other stories gathered from the Maine Woods, a newspaper published in the early 1900s. Historian Adam Fisher has left out a half dozen books loaded with copies of Maine Woods, at the State Library, for me to read and write about. Here is the third column in this series. On my second visit, I opened one of the books at random, to the November 20, 1903 edition of Maine Woods, where I found pages 6 and 7 loaded with outdoor stories, laws, and ads. The April 15 column includes some of the stories from those two pages. Here are a few more stories from that same issue.

Pleasant Island Camps The present sportsmen at the camp are A.C. Holt, of Somerville, Mass., J.A. Gammons, Providence, R.I., Harry Tuttle, New York, H.B. Higginbotham, Philadelphia, and Dr. Chase of New York. Deer are quite plentiful and an 8-point buck and one with a 4-point antler on one side and a spike horn on the other are the fruits of the last fall of snow. Partridges are also very numerous, and hundreds of ducks have been seen all over the lake. There is a jolly time at the camp and Capt. Billy expects a dozen more to sit around his Thanksgiving table which I hope to have the pleasure to write about.

Advertisements If you want to know where to get good HUNTING or desire circulars, descriptive matter or information regarding Hotels or Camps in Maine’s Hunting and Fishing Regions, address Maine Woods Information Bureau, Phillips, Maine. Rangeley Lakes Steamboat Co. – Connections in the season with trains on Phillips & Rangeley and Portland & Rumford Falls Railroads. H.H. Field, General Manager, Phillips, Maine

Traps and Trappers Weasel Skins This year weasel skins will be a commercial article. The brown or pale ones will not be worth much but pure white, winter caught ones, are quoted from 10 to 25 cents each. These little animals have been a nuisance to trappers in the past as they are numerous in some sections and easily caught. For some reason they are not much seen till after the ground freezes, when they suddenly begin to appear and are caught in traps set for mink and sable and probably could be taken more abundantly in traps set for them only, for they are too light to spring many of the traps as set for larger animals. The average weasel is smaller than the red squirrel and is of a pure white in winter, with a black tip on its tail. The tail will strip from the bone like that of a mink and they skin easily.

Killing Animals in Traps The first question that presents itself to a trapper upon finding a live animal in a trap is “Now, how am I to kill it?” It is an easy matter to take a club and maul it to death unless it is a bear or skunk, but this is neither nice nor human. The neatest method is to have a 22 pistol along, with some BB caps or gallery ammunition, and to shoot the animal in the head. I used a 22 diamond model Stevens pistol two years and found it perfection for everything from a mink to an otter or fox. One shot produced instant death and there were no bruises and no holes that would be noticed. As some animals are very tenacious of life, like the fisher, they are often pounded much more than is necessary and the whole head becomes blood settled and gives the hide a suspicious appearance in market. Upon finding an animal alive in a trap, a well aimed blow at the head should knock it insensible. Before it has time to recover from the first shock, the skull should be examined. If it is found broken that is sufficient and no subsequent pounding will hasten its death. Some animals will live and make frequent efforts to breath for a period of fifteen minutes after being shot in the head or having the skull crushed.

License Not Real Cause I do not believe that the falling off (of license sales to nonresidents) has been due to any great extent to the license law, but rather to other reasons entirely outside the control of the legislature. The principle cause, in my opinion, was the smallpox in Bangor that was advertised so freely in some of the newspapers. The out of state people did not realize how little danger there was to patrons of the Bangor hotels or that they need not stop in Bangor at all. And we think we have problems!

Black Brook Camps Still the hunting is good and the game record is fast growing… The biggest buck of the season, with ten points, was claimed by old Bruin and eaten by him one night last week. He was said to be a monster. The Ada, Ohio party of four who have just gone home, got seven nice deer, five of which were bucks, two of them having ten point heads. The best buck of the lot was eaten by a bear.

The Oquossic Hatchery The fish hatchery at Rangeley outlet is in active operation. They have taken from the Rangeley waters 300,000 salmon spawn and 175,000 trout spawn…. The most of the parent fish were taken in the Rangeley stream near the hatchery by use of a trap… It is understood that the fish raised in this hatchery will not be sent to other parts of the state but will all be distributed in the Rangeley Lakes waters.

Danger in Collars The Starched Linen Band Imperils Woman’s Fair Neck London specialists on the subject of feminine beauty are indignant with the fashion-makers because they are bent upon bringing back into vogue the starched white linen collar…. For three years or more the high priestess of comeliness has pointed out that compression of the neck means the improvement of the muscles, the coarsening of the cuticle, and the ultimate spoliation of a well-rounded throat. It was their unanimous verdict upon this point that led to the rage for the collarless blouse.

Man Kills Doves Robert Jacobs, a small farmer of East Hampden, who gets a living by raising fresh eggs to supply the hotels, was taken before a Justice this week on charges of having killed and converted to his own use 146 doves. As doves are protected under the game laws of Maine, which impose a fine of $5 with costs for every dove slain, it was expected that he would enter a plea of not guilty and contest the suit. Instead he confessed to killing the 146 doves mentioned in the warrant, but more than 1,000 in the last year. “It was the only way I could get a living, your Honor,” said the prisoner. “As soon as I have gathered in my crops the doves which breed in the ice houses along the river come to my place and eat up every bit of grain I put out for the hens. I have built wire fences to keep fowls inside the enclosures, but I cannot afford to buy fine netting to keep the doves out. They took more than two bushels of corn and meal every day from late September until a week ago when I could stand it no longer and began to kill them. Now I can’t pay any fine and do not propose to do so. If you send me to jail you will have to feed me and the town will have to take care of my family. Go ahead and do your worst.” After consulting with the town selectmen the justice put the case on file and advised Jacobs to go and sin no more. “I shall shoot every dove that comes to my hen pens,” replied Jacobs. “Doves have no more right to live than I have.”

Announcement Maine Woods will give away a first class Canoe absolutely free of charge. The Canoe will be disposed of through a voting contest and will be given to the Most Popular Sportsman who visits Maine, as determined by the largest number of votes. A form was included for voting.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.