37^ With Rod and Gun in Neiu England 



difficult of access in the first place, and there being no positive assurance 

 of obtaining a reliable guide : for as yet, in this State, comparatively few 

 persons follow the vocation of professional guide. There are, however, in 

 every village or town in the upper country, one or more persons who, famil- 

 iar with the surrounding woodlands, through their love of fox hunting, an 

 occasional tramp after a deer themselves, or by working in the lumber 

 camps during the winter, would be almost sure to give a visiting sportsman 

 a shot at a deer. 



An article relating to deer in New Hampshire should, perhaps, contain 

 a passing reference to the Blue Mountain Park Association, so called. At 

 the time of the purchase of " Croyden" mountain a few years since by the 

 late Austin Corbin, and the announcement that the purpose of the purchase 

 was the founding of a gigantic game preserve, much dissatisfaction was 

 expressed that so large a portion of New Hampshire's wild and unculti- 

 vated land was to be reserved for the exclusive pleasure of a few, and the 

 sportsmen of the State prepared themselves fully to defeat any legislative 

 privileges which the association should ask for. 



When, however, the intentions of Mr. Corbin in establishing the park 

 were fully stated, and the objects of the association were made known, no 

 opposition was offered, and the present relations between the managers of 

 what will soon be probably the greatest deer park in the world, and the 

 sportsmen of the State, as represented by the Board of Commissioners, are 

 entirely harmonious, as, under existing arrangements, New Hampshire, her- 

 self, will be considered first of all, in supplying animals from the park to 

 replenish from time to time her stock of native deer. 



FOX HUNTING- 



To that numerous class of sportsmen to whom nothing brings such 

 pleasurable excitement as the melody of the hounds, and whose experience 

 has taught them that the pursuit of no animal affords the chances of grati- 

 fying their tastes in that particular as does the fox, New Hampshire lays 

 just claim to be in the front rank of desirable localities. Foxes are abun- 

 dant throughout the State ; in fact, from a bird-hunter's and possibly from 

 a farmer's standpoint, they are too plentiful, and there are not as many 

 residents who make a business of running foxes with dogs as might be 

 expected ; for there is no section of the State in which, on any day when 

 " scent will lay," a fox cannot be started without delay. Of course, some 

 places, owing to the lay of the land, afford better opportunities forgetting a 

 shot, or of hearing the music of a spirited run than others ; but there are 

 foxes enough everywhere, despite the fact that scores and scores of them 

 are trapped every season. 



While finishing the subject of foxes and hounds the writer would say 



