Devoted To 



($ttt=door Recreation and $fttdg. 



Game Protection, Fish Culture, Natural Histort, Preservation op Forests, Rifle Practice, Yachting, Boating, 



tips Kennel, and Sports of all Kinds. 



Terms, Four Dollars o Yi 

 Ten Cents a Copy. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1877. 



For Forest, and Stream. 



ALL those who sing of " gentle spring," 

 Its many charms revealing, 

 Had better try and tell us why 



Its faults they are concealing. 



They may be right to keep in sight 



The things that give us pleasure; 



To paint the rare in earth and air, 



The skies when they are azure; 



But don't forget we're living yet 



Where storms are ever rising; 

 Where " gentle spring " will often bring 



TJs weather that's surprisi ig. 

 Now you may fly boyona the sty, 



Where you delight in flying, 

 And leave behind the aust and wind. 



And us poor mortals sighing. 



But you'll alight some stormy night 



In this most lovely season, 

 When boia'trous March will take the starch 



Out of your very reason. 

 There is no doubt you've oft beoll out. 



When wind and dust togother 

 Would blind your eye and make you sigh 



For some more pleasant weather. 



Now I, forsooth, would tell the truth, 



As naturo it discloses, 

 And paint aright the dark, the light. 



The thorns as well as roses. ( 



For Forest and Stream. 



Jp£ Rock fUsnmp. 



" What should wo speak of, 

 When we are old as you ! When we shall hear 

 The rain and wind beat dark December, how, 

 In this our pinching cave, shall we discourse 

 The freezing hours away f We have seen nothing." 



—Cymoetine, act 8, scene 3. 



"Well, 'tis done; 

 We'll hunt no more to-day, nor seek for danger 

 Where there's no profit. I prithee, to onr rock.' - 



— Ibid, act, 4, scene 2. 



ON a bright November afternoon, in the year of our Lord, 

 one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, I was 

 finishing a two-days' journey on horseback which I had to 

 make so as to reach the cabin of my friend Franz, the com- 

 panion of former hunts, with whom I had made arrange- 

 ments to go on a long-projected bear hunt. We had talked 

 of that bear hunt as early as the fishing season before, or 

 rather I should say, as early as our last deer hunt of the 

 previous fall. In the summer Franz had hired a man to help 

 him through with his work, so that he should have time to 

 spare far play instead of work, and should have enough to let 

 him suit the hunt to my conscience whenever I could get 

 away from home to join him. As I broke from the darkness 

 of the tangled spruces that shaded my warm trail, and came 

 into the light of the clearing about Franz's house, I pressed 

 my dear old mave with my knee, and away we went; but we 

 could not reach the house unnoticed. The dogs set. up a bark 

 of welcome, and the next moment Franz was dancing about 

 over the wood pile, calling to his wife, who was inside the 

 cabin, " Hyar comes the Colonel!" "Just in the nick of 

 time, eh, Francis?" I said, as I dismounted, and having 

 shaken hands, I slipped off my saddle, hitched my mare to 

 the fence until I should be ready to rub her down, and wo 

 carried gun. provisions, and other traps into the house. 

 ■ By George, Colonel, fm glad you're come ! We'll just rake 

 bji said Franz, as he drew a stool up in front of the fire 

 and sat down. After I had been welcomed J>y Franz's wife, 

 and had brought out some candy for the little ones, I pulled 

 up another stool, sat down, and while smoking a quiet pipe, 

 talked over again with Franz the long-expected hunt. " What 

 about dogs, Franz ?" "Well! You see Thompson, why he 

 promised to let me have his dogs this fall for a couple of 

 Weeks, whenever it crime good tracking. He ain't no chance 

 to hunt now, hell be too busy about MeNeal's cattle, so I 

 agreed with him about the dogs." "He promised them to 

 me, too," I - hi see," replied Franz, "that makes 



it all the better, lie cant go back on both his promises. 

 Oh! we'll [ ..re won't be no bother aboivt that.'' 



" That's all right, Franz, lint what about snow; vail wo have 

 enough of that?" " H'm! It's hard talliu.' Oil, of course, 

 well have snow. It always has si owi . ' no snow in 



November! Why.it. can't help but snow. &sgoi < 

 You seo this is how we'll fix it. Let's see, this is Thursday." 

 ; this snow will be gone by Saturday night," I put 

 in; " and we ought to know something about bear sign before 



we go out and bring in the dogs. We had better look that 

 up to-morrow." "Well, now I'll tell you what we can do,'' 

 said Franz, and so we went on and talked over our arrange- 

 ments, while Mrs. McCoy got ready our tea and set the table. 

 The plan agreed upon at last was that we should spend the 

 next two days in utilizing what, little snow was still on the 

 ground in finding out where the bears were; that then we 

 would spend Sunday quietly at home, and on Monday morn- 

 ing go out in the settlements to get Thompson's dogs and 

 some more flour and meal, coming back by Tuesday after- 

 noon. Then, the dogs on hand, provisions in the house, and 

 plenty of snow on the ground, we would be perfectly happy, 

 and could start at a moment's notice for a trip of any reason- 

 able length. The conduct of our hunt was based upon the 

 existence, use, or possession of three things. To make a bear 

 hunt interesting, there should be bears, or at least a bear, 

 within the neighborhood of the hunt; then there should be 

 snow in which to track the game to its lair, whether, as usual, 

 in a laurel thicket, or, as once in a while, a rocky den; this 

 done the dogs are slipped, the bear "jumped," followed, 

 worried, treed, probably, and then killed. Delightfully 

 simple on paper. Knowing, as the slang phrase hath it, how 

 it was myself, even to the successful ending of hunts, I al- 

 ready saw in imagination my several new bear-skin rugs 

 stretched upon the home floor; the old ones sigh as they see 

 the new comers. One of the panther skins is relegated to the 

 children's room, my favorite little bear goes under a table. 

 Suddenly in come the children, "Oh! let's have a roll!'' 

 "Now, Nelly, I'm going to take the big one, you take the 

 other one." "No! Scort, I'm the older, I must have the 

 big one. Oh ! isn't it a big one. Did you kill it, papa ? I 

 don't see why they kill such nice great big bears, anyhow ; 

 bears don't hurt people, at least, not much, do they, papa ?" 

 " Now, Nelly, you know you'd kill a bear if one came here, 

 'cause you always want papa to kill hawks and things when 

 they come after birds; and panthers bite, and they're prettier 

 than bears, because they're like cats, and people kill them," 

 " When they_can, Scort," I add; but at this point my imagin- 

 ings are cut short by Franz, who says, "I'll tell you, 

 Colonel, what I was thinking of; you see we'll have lots of 

 hides presently; well, now, you can take what you want of 

 'em, and then I want you to sell my share, and when you 

 get home. I want you to send me enough stuff to make me a 

 suit like that shooting-jacket your brother Dick had last 

 time he was out here — brown velveteen ; and then I want," 

 and he went on with his list of articles, great and small, for 

 wife,and children. Clearly we were to have " lots of hides;" 

 and they must not sell r low, either. We followed out the 

 plan we had sketched. Friday and Saturday were spent in 

 looking for bear sign, and we tramped many miles; deer 

 tracks we saw, but we were not deer hunting; panther tracks 

 we crossed, but traveling tracks two days' old, and we could 

 not expect the snow to last long enough to make sure of catch- 

 ing them; so we looked for the bear tracks or signs, but in 

 vain. 



On Sunday we talked the matter over. ' ' I'll tell you where 

 them bear are," said Franz, evidently referring to those par- 

 ticular beasts whose glossy skins we had in our several imagi- 

 nations devoted to such a variety of purposes: "them bear is 

 all on the Black Mountain, where you and me pitched into 

 'em last time. It ain't no use to look for no bear here. 

 There's too much mast. Down the river its all spruce, and 

 only little patches of mast, and its in them little patches 

 we'll find them bear, that's what I'm thinking." So on Mon- 

 day early we went after the dogs, and that trip kept us busy 

 as could be until late Tuesday, when we got back to the cabin, 

 tired enough, but in good spirits. "Now, Franz, we're all 

 right. We have the dogs, plenty of provisions, guns are all 

 right; now, if we only have snow, what may we not have." 

 Franz sat before the fire meditatively scraping a turnip. 

 "Oh! we'll have snow. I ain't bothering about that. 

 Shouldn't wonder if it snowed before morning. If it does, 

 we ought to get four or five anyway, agin Saturday." So 

 we went to bed. 



" Did it snow ?" says Dick, who has listened to me as I 

 read over to him what I have thus far written. Snow ! I 

 waited ten days at that place, for snow, and never saw a flake. 

 season Lever knew without plenty of it at that 

 time in November. I'll tell you what we did do, Dick. We 

 went twice down the river to our old rock camp, a good ten 

 miles, and each time we were gone several days, starting out 

 expecting to have snow forthwith, and only coming back 

 when we found the prospect of a fall over. The first time 

 Franz and I went without company, and did not get there 

 until after dark. While we were scrambling around the 

 moss-covered boulders and fallen timber that guard our camp 

 from too curious eyes, suddenly a panther sprang from 

 under the cliff and clashed up between the rocks to the top 



of the ledge, and off up the mountain side. He had been 

 lying right in our bed. There was no snow, as you have 

 found out by this time, so we could do nothing with him, 

 otherwise we would have killed him next day. He did not 

 go out of the neighborhood, for he hallooed at Franz a day or 

 so after away up on the mountain. The second time we 

 went there we had company. Just as we were tying up our 

 packs out on the piazza, before McCoy's cabin, and were 

 otherwise about ready to start, a man named Townsend 

 came up and said good morning. "Why Franz, it looks as 

 if you and the Colonel was thinkin' about bears.'' "You're 

 right we. are, " said Franz, ' ' and were goin' to start right 

 now. " Then Townsend, whom as a near neighbor of Franz's, 

 living some five or six miles off toward the settlements, be- 

 gan feeling his way toward an invitation to go with us. 

 "Well, now, Bill," said Franz, "I'll just tell you how this 

 thing is. You see, me and the Colonel we got up this hunt; 

 we've been a talkin' about it for the last year, ever since last 

 fall. And the Colonel, he's gone and brought in a lot of 

 provisions and such, and him and me went out and brought 

 in Thompson's dogs. Well, we can kill all the bears we need 

 just as well as if there was a dozen of us. The Colonel he's 

 got his pumping gun (Winchester), and he can do all the 

 shootin' needed, and the two of us is enough to trail up and 

 to manage the dogs and make camp and all that. I don't 

 want to be mean though, seein' as you're come over to take a 

 hunt, you come along and join in the fun. We won't give 

 you no share in the hides. You can have what meat you 

 want, and if we have to go to killm' deer, why, we'll divide 

 even all round." "That's fair enough," he replied. "I 

 don't, want no bears, I only want to join in the fun." So off 

 we went. We had various creeks to cross at different times, 

 and the river to ford besides. I waded through as the quick- 

 est and simplest way, but Franz was for keeping his feet dry, 

 saying it was too cold to wade, so he started to cross the river 

 on some fallen timber, the result of which was, that his right 

 foot went off the left side of the log, and his left foot off the 

 right, causing a most ingeniously complicated fall back- 

 ward, gun, man, pack, and dog plunging in a confused heap 

 into the river. I tell you what we made good time after 

 that. Franz drove along like a professional against time. 

 That night we lay at the Book Camp, and instead of snow, as 

 we had expected, had a tremendous thunder storm, which 

 drove across the Black Mountain from the South Fork. The 

 next day was foggy and wet; we started out to see what we 

 could find out about bears. I went one way, and Townsend, 

 who knew nothing about that part of the country, and Mc- 

 Coy went together in an opposite direction. We got nothing, 

 but had a laugh at Townsend. It seems that he and McCoy 

 separated away off on the mountain, to go around a spruce 

 thicket, he to go above it, while Franz went below, and they 

 were to meet at the brow of the mountain some half a mile 

 beyond. When Franz got beyond the thicket he climbed to 

 the top of the mountain, which is there a beach flat, and 

 stood looking about for Townsend. Suddenly he heard a 

 panther hollow at a little distance. Supposing Townsend was 

 calling to fool him, he did not answer until the call was 

 several times repeated, then he answered, and the calling im- 

 mediately stopped. Looking to his gun, he went over to a 

 thicket some two hundred yards oflY from which he sup- 

 posed the calls had come; and after calling Townsend several 

 times without eliciting any reply, he got provoked, and ^call- 

 ing out, "H you don't, choose to answer you can let it alone," 

 marched off to camp to get something to eat. He came 

 in about half an hour after I did, and we then went 

 off down the river to shoot red squirrels to feed the 

 dogs. After I had made my fourth or fifth straight 

 shot — twenty in. barrel — Townsend turned up; he had heard 

 our shots and come in. It then turned out that it was a 

 panther, and not he, calling at Franz. He had got lost on the 

 flat on top of the mountain, and could not tell on which side 

 to go down. He could hear water roaring below him when- 

 ever he came out to the brow of the mountain, but had he 

 got down on any side but toward our camp, he might have 

 traveled far enough before he would have found any one. 



We were at camp so early that day that we determined to 

 use the time well until dark and get in a good lot of fire- 

 wood, so as to be prepared if the weather should turn cold 

 suddenly, or if we should make another visit to the "rock 

 oamp," tired and hungry, and in no humor for wood-cutting, 

 so at it we went. First we cut a beech back-log, some foot 

 and a half or two feet through, and with the aid of hand- 

 spikes and a lumberman's knowledge of log-rolling, not a 

 politician's, placed it before our room in t L 



Let me try to describe our camp, for it is a good one. We 

 are at the river, which here runs northwest, a beautiful 

 stream, some thirty yards wide, brawling along our boulders, 

 and quieting itself now and then in a foam-dappled trout- 



