306 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 17, 1383. 



conlcl a horse bo killed by a sMguu half a mile away? 



Tom was invaluable to us hoys in the alibi business, as the 

 many fertile schemes concocted is that old printing office 

 would bear ample testimony. Ti is a known Fuel thai 

 country printing offices have proved wonderful schools foi 

 starting and developing successful political pupils, How 

 many of our great men owe their success in life to those 

 early trainings! Is it possible that Tom's brilliant Ban er is 

 stall indebted to the oieir.icterisiie ihus eerU inculi Lted in 

 that dingy office of -making others see things as he would 

 wish them seen? But 1 digress. AN ill, Lance, that was a 

 narrow escape for you, and you remembered thai flight of 

 rifle balls years after at Bull Run and many a hard-Fought 

 battle field ; bul fewer shots really seared you as one of those 

 in your boyhood days. 



Talk about pigeons, w by one spring they were somany, that 

 is. they came in such myriads by platoons, brigades, whole 

 armies, thai the students' (if the (Jniversity used to stand on 

 the hillside and knoek them clown With poles as they BWcpt 

 lip from the valley below. Pigeon stew, pigeon pot pie. 

 pigeon broils, etc.. etc., were the order at the college board- 

 ing ball. Such high livii g was never known in all the 



,; lV L"nivcrsity steward, and this particular steward 

 was a good 'fellow, and his jolly face rotumled in proportion. 

 Bul Where are all these birds now? Why we can't even gel. 

 en. nigh for our trap shooting. Instead of those vast nestings 

 n, -i iii' .in eouuiv. N. V., and Northern Pennsylvania, or 



even Michigan, or Wisconsin, the birds have been driven for 

 real While rearing their young away beyond the 

 Mississippi, miles beyond a railroad, The railroads have 

 done it. When they' opened up through Oculral Mew York, 

 i! did not take long for the farmers to cut down their wood-, 

 for they had a ready sale, and when the groves with their 

 beech mils and acorns were gone, ihe bints soOp went lo 

 never to return. 



I have not visited the scenes of my boyhood for years, hut 

 1 have heard from there, and I know my heart would be 

 sad. Those glorious old hunting grounds where thi gro'isi 

 drummed in lie- thick copse, oi (he may and black s-quiin I 

 barked, and with nimble gait skipped from limb to limb in 

 that beech wood or maple sugar bush, now are only rotting 

 stumps with cattle and sheep feeding between Mo' like 



ga/ing upon Mi : I ,1. urdead friend in his last narrow 



i, i want it not. Let mv last remembrance of him and oi 

 those dear spots of my boyhood be pleasant I wish not to 

 look upon either, after death and destruction have shown 

 their work. .1 acoiistaff. 



IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



I STARTED a former letter with Ihe intention of relating 

 tin' incidents of a hunting trip in the mountains Or 

 Northern California, hut I wandered from the narrative in- 

 tended by trying lo give a general description of the ; . e 



and the uaiiire of Ihe country in the foothills. This time 1 

 shall endeavor to describe a long trip in as brief a. manner as 

 possible, although I will intimate to start with that I am 

 not a "man of few words." 1 know you editors always cry, 

 •'boil il down," but it is no easy matter for an amateur let 

 ter- writer to condense bis thoughts iu'o a few expressive 

 ■words. We are not all Shakespeares, besides, as has been 

 by some level-headed writer, "1 haven't time to be 

 brief." 



Though much may be truthfully said in praiseol th 

 "glorious" climate of California, we have lo admit that. 

 , - the late summer months, the heat is oppressive. Hit? 

 dust is l i" i ■■,'!■!■' i.al least in the inland vaheys and foot- 

 bills), and we casl longing eyes toward th op 



summits of mounts Bhasta and IJasfl c Especi llj o linsc 



of us who know the pleasures extolled by I/aak Walton, and 

 are familiar with the use of the toil and rifle, long to leave 



the dust and heat and seek I lie cool, pure and exhilarating 

 air ot the mountains. 



After a great deal of planning and delay in arrangit 

 leave, i Bet out in company witn u friend ami au Indian last 

 August upon a three weeks' nip, experiencing vaiying for- 

 ie Bnrf-a combination of pleasant and unpleasant inci- 

 dents. We left Shasta in the evening, preferring to travel 



by night, as the heat was Oppressive dining the day, lie. 

 moon was full and shone brightly all night, mid we (houghl 

 we knew the road. We procured a learn and a rather 

 dilapidated spring wagon that had seen hard set vice ami 

 w,'S much ihe worse lor wear. The horses were as unprom- 

 ising as the wagon, and the onl\ vutie we found them lo 

 -, i s was that of gentleness; they were so gentle in fact 

 that I am inclined to doubt whether such exceeding docility 

 is a virtue or not. We were obliged to push on the lines 

 and encourage theta with the whip continually. In going 

 down hill it was necessary for us to walk in order to prevent 

 the wagon from reaching the bottom ahead of the horses. 

 However, the poor unites carried us through our journey 

 safely, audi will make no farther derogatory remarks, ex- 

 cept thai tie;, both :. tSOt Ol Kid We doctored them 

 turn about. 



We I raveled eastward k ward Lasseu's Buttes, passing- 



arising much refreshed and with our pockets full of eggs 

 which the unsophisticated hens must have deposited therein, 

 as we w'tc sttidly honest. We took them to the rancher's 

 house and his wife cooked them for us, she apologizing for 

 the indiscretion of her hens in making so free with strangers. 

 We assured her that we were not all inconvenienced, that 

 tin bins had taken nothing out of our pockets, had not dis- 

 turbed us in the least, and begged hoi not to mention it. We 

 again got started, and, after climbing several steep hills up 

 which" we, were obliged to walk to lighten OUT load, we 

 reached the high timber and a, comparatively level 

 stretch of road. We shot several gray squirrels and 

 seine quails from the wagon, and could luive bagged many 

 had we desired- On all sides the tall yellow pines, sugar 

 pines and cedars, towered above us. the" timber growing so 

 dense i.hal we would travel for miles without being able, to 

 see more than a hundred yards in any direction. Then we 



would ' ie to some high' point where* we could see for miles 



up dark canons, where high mountains arose one above 

 till heavy forests, and the Lassen Buttes 



i the background white 



,- lie. 



- herds of dei 



and bear that we would 

 sented itself, while away below 

 the cold mountain stream, and see 



stretch far up the canon, in whi 

 myriads were waitiug for some fishl 

 short of poetical expression to desc 



liles of forest where 

 f we could find them, 

 id safe opportunity pre- 

 eould hear the roaring of 

 it, like a strip of silver, 

 h we knew the trout in 

 :>oks to swallow. 1 lun 

 be the scenery which is 

 grand any where in our mountains, and will continue by say- 

 ing thai We reached our first, stopping place in the evening. 

 This was a log cabin in the timber by the roadside, where a 

 man by Ihe name of Edwards lived during the summer. He 

 did not know us so very well, and gave us a hearty welcome, 

 lie was a good American, and took us in, let us "sleep in his 

 house for 'a week (we nearly froze outdoors the first night, 

 although it was Autrusl). and helped us with our cooking, 

 thereby j. roving his heart to he infinitely softer than our 

 make of bread. 



We hunted deer for several days with poor success, only 

 killing one. We found plenty of "signs" and numerous 

 beds where they had recently "been, but, owing to our uu- 

 familinrity with the range and the density of the timber, we 

 only saw* three or four during our stay. 1 watched two 

 nights at, the "lick," an artificial one made by boring augur 

 holes in a log and rilling them with sidt. Although the lick 



THE WISCONSIN DEER LAW. 



Editor fared and Stream: 



A game law, which will undoubtedly be of considerable 

 interest to some readers of the FOREST AND Stkeam, was 

 passed by our State Legislature during its last session. 



In brief, it makes the open season for deer hunting from 

 November I to December 15, and prohibits shipments out of 

 the State. We think our legislators have somewhat oveTdone 

 the matter of protection by cutting off the month of Octo- 

 ber. Few hunters, and especially those of the "nabob" 

 type, will care to face the cold days and nights of Novem- 



ould experience in a deer hunt 

 vas tent, and everyone will sorely 

 the most pleasant month in the 



through two or three t 



iB£ ! I" [Ol nery bj <u<" 

 ■ at rabbit- 



1 towns, then into the hills, enjoy 

 light, and firing away our DISto] 

 a hares;, which "are a large variety 

 LirectiODS. We did not kill any — 

 (i— as they are Unfit local during 

 and often' covered with watery and 



ammunition 

 and could be ^wn in 

 didn't expec aot 1 1 

 the summer, being p 

 sometimes wormy lu , 



As is usually 'the ease with si rangers on strange routes, 

 we came to a" junction of two roads, and. as a matter of 

 course, took thfi wrong one. We went out of our course 

 about an bom's drive, and only discovered our mistake 

 When the road narrowed to a mere trail, and from that to 

 the conventional squirrel brack which ran up a tree and into 



a hole. We made a few emphatic end expressive remarks 

 and retraced our way. and by morning reai hi d Cow I !n>ek 

 (at the bead of which stream we afterward fished). Here we 

 encamped, rested our horses, tied some mure roheson to our 



cecal OUS vehicle, and look bt-akfast. Our folks, before 

 we left home, had provided us with a large basket of ready- 

 prepared provisions, and so long OS I hey lasted we were not. 

 obliged to cook, further than to hoil our coffee, Enochs 

 dropped a line for &9h, but we were loo far down stream for 

 trout, and be only succeeded in landing a turtle, which had 

 swallowed his hook. lie left the hook, as we hadn't lime 

 to dissect the turtle, and proceeded on our way. 



It was tedious traveling now; we were tired and sleepy, 

 the road was rocky and uphill, and the sun began lo grow 

 very warm. We "worried along nine mUes further, how- 

 ever, and arrived at a small ranch pretty well up in the 

 mountains, where there was an abundance of hay and 

 water, 



Here we unhitched and slept in the bam until afternoon, 



inly be 



nade 



had 



log al 



and ll 



particular inspired me w 

 doubtedly that of D m 

 half inches long. He 

 said to be au extra large 

 which weigh from 201) t 

 cross between deer 



lew ihs before, deer had eaten the 



th - placi s where it bad been salted, 

 3ty with their tracks. One track in 

 vith hope and patience, it being un- 

 mle deer, and was fully three and a 

 had been seen at the lick, and was 

 ! deer even for the mule species, 

 500 pounds, and are said to be a 

 My patience was not rewarded, 



however, for 1 watched the two nights in vain. The moon- 

 ght was very bright and clear, but the changing shadows 



tier for the pleasure they i 

 when camping under a can 

 miss the mouth of October, 

 whole year for camping. 



The open season last year was from September 15 to Jan- 

 uary 1; thus itwill be seen that the open season is two months 

 shorter than heretofore, 



The clause prohibiting shipments out of the State is abso- 

 lutely necessary in order to stop the wholesale slaughter that 

 has been going on for years past. The early opening of the 

 deer season in our State in years past, and the ready sale 

 for saddles in Chicago and other large cities without the 

 State, has tempted many Eastern sportsmen to Wisconsin 

 for their fall sport, and since Northern Michigan (that part 

 lying immediately north of Wisconsin) has prohibited ship- 

 ments of venison out of the Stale, we have been overrun 

 with hunters from all parts of the country, and the slaugh- 

 ter for the past two years lias been simply terrible. 



We do not wish our brother sportsmen from the East and 

 South to think we are getting "piggish" or that we rejoice 

 over their loss of the oppoitunity to ship an occasional sad- 

 dle to their homes, for such is not the case, but quite the re 

 The law was aimed at the wholesale shipments out 

 of the State and not at the smaller ones, but it is evident 

 that it must allow either wholesale shipments or none at all, 

 and it has wisely choseu the latter. 



The wholesale slaughter has by no means been confined to 

 parties resident without the State, and we know of one camp 

 of settlers not a hundred miles from Peshtiuo Hiver who 

 shipped to Chicago last, year between 250 and 300 saddles 

 (the balance of the carcasses being mostly fed to the dogs) 

 and about the same number the fall of '81. This camp has 

 depended upon the killing of deer tor their livelihood, and 

 we sincerely hope that the law as it now is will force lie ni 

 to seek other pursuits. Other parties in the northern 

 part of the State have killed and shipped quite extensively, 

 but done so only under the consideration that thiy might, as 

 well indulge in money-making sport as well as to leave the 

 whole to those who made a business of it, and it is safe to 

 say that the majority of them will hail the new Law wilh 

 joy. On the w'holc'thc law is a great improvement on that 

 of '81 and 8i, regardless of the shortness and lateness of 

 the season, but there is still a chance for improvement. 



cast by tl 



culi, todt 

 ground a 

 watched 



the dry ti 



Ihe shrill snort o 

 twice I saw mov 

 that was all— all 



tall trees 

 ne objects 

 1 uighl sh< 

 ltil two O'l 



rroundii 



)tiug. 



the lick, rendered it diffi- 

 1\ a hunter familiar with the 

 hid have been successful. 1 

 h night, and frequently heard 

 g on all sides, and occasionally heard 

 i«tle ol some suspicious buck. Once or 

 badows that were probably deer, but 

 pi the mosquilos; they kept 



tinual misery. Losing patience I went to camp, and return- 

 ing in the morning found numbers of fresh tracks, showing 

 that the cunning" animals came into the lick cither during 

 the time- I was there or after. Subsequently I did not hunt 

 a ch, '■■■<■ joined Enochs and the Indian in fishing, and 

 was more successful. The creek was half a mile from camp 

 in a deep eauou, and its banks were so rugged and steep, 

 and there was so much underbrush, that it was necessary in 

 many places to wade in the water to get along. The stream 

 was c!ear as crystal, very rapid, and so cold as to be almost 

 able. We tried bugs, flies and grasshoppers for 

 bail, but with little success, and we had begun to think the 

 fishing a hoax, when our Indian brought his sagacity into 

 requisition. We saw him reaching under the water in the 

 eddies, ami in a few minutes he came up wilh a handfull 

 of "salmon Ikes.'' These peculiar flies, or rather 

 worms, are found attached to the under side of roeks in 

 along our mountain streams. With the shell 

 e size and shape of a small peanut. The shell 

 if I mall pebbles and grains of sand finely glued 

 pldelv inclosing the insect, which, When the 

 ' , el is e-.uid to be a long, vellow worm, 

 i : i resembles a gruh'wa'sp. The In- 

 nit like "Yin very much." and he was correct. 

 Although the fish would take neither common flies or grass- 

 hoppers, they took the salmon flies greedily, and we landed 

 trout as fast as we could bait and Cast our lines, Ihe only de- 

 in obtaining the bait, the coldness of the water 

 thai a disagreeable task. The fish were small, 

 o ten inches long, wilh very bright brown and 

 , and fl red stripe along their" sides* We returned 

 to camp with about 200 the first "day and Ih.-reafter caught 

 as many as we could use, and during our three weeks In the 

 mountains wc had trout ai out twice daily, and the last 



Manitowoc, Wis., May 9, 1883. 



D, 



HUNTING RIFLES. 



Ma 



the hunting 



l Knowing 



. Merrill. 



"ml I must 

 ait from what I intended, 

 cle in question reassures me. 

 npt to criticise or conf i e, i 

 ons or positions in regard lo 

 itttd at the outset its superior 

 nd consc queut force; this 



ihell is br 

 .villi wim 

 diaii said' 



1.1 V 



fror 



black e 



,,,- i tasted every bit 

 cabin we amused 

 chipmunks, which 

 were, very trouble; 

 camp, including oil 

 very pietly little sir 

 ever, than a la: 



good as the first. In 



-civ. 



by 



tl 



yarns 



* Apt 

 sleep, : 



W 

 edy 

 or thr 



rith an i 



•pa 



ma) travc 

 jlhemoi 

 e to slee-I 



p at the 

 ootiug at squirrels and 

 around the place and 

 y nibbled everything about 

 ' ami clothing. They are a 

 iry in size, none larger, huw- 

 •n we played cards, swapped 

 r, or slept. 



tains from the valleys can 



bout twenty hours of each 



ime, and if' he smokes will 



ty of tobacco. 



PP'V 



liar liquor, as a reni- 

 xhausled the first two 

 eeedingly fearful of 

 nake lu- applied (lie 



ni,) 



Jiat of a snake 



in a snake country, 

 however, and only 

 It was a large or 



days out. Enochs was so 

 being bitten that whenever he saw a 

 remedy internally, and he finally rcqi 



1 1 . ■ track' of anything I hat resi 

 in the road. As a consequence we wi 

 minus antidote. We were not bittei 

 siw one rattlesnake, which we killed, 

 and if wc had had antidote at that time, it would have been 

 hastily and unsiinliugly absorbed. 



Tiring of fishing and lacking the energy to hunt where 

 we had met with such poor success, we decided to move 

 siill further into the mountains, and headed for Lassen 

 Buttes and Muuzenita Lake. Concerning our further wander- 

 ings 1 w.ll -peak in a future letter. "EflAtF, 

 .iliL'-jruia, April 3, 



Editor Fur&it and Stream: 



The strictures on my innocent little article c 

 rifle by "C. II. I." has given me a genuine, surpri 

 that I was free from any intention to criticise 

 1 concluded that under temporary abberation c 

 have written something very di 

 hut a careful perusal of the ai ti 

 There is not the slightest attn 

 any one of Maj. Merrill's opinii 

 the muzzle-loading rifle. 1 adn 

 accuracy and its gi eater range i 

 all and perhaps more than Alaj. Merril claims for it, and he, 

 as an officer and a gentleman, bad sufficient intelligence to 

 recognize these facts, and know that an auswer'was not 

 called for. I cheerfully admit his right to be called the 

 Nestor of riflemen; but would suggest, if this classical^ no- 

 menclature is to obtain, that "O. H. I." he called the Ajax, 

 and he evidently considers me the Achilles, as under no other 

 hypothesis than" my supposed invulnerability can 1 account 

 for the ardor of "his attack. "V. II. I." wishes to know 

 '"fromwhat standpoint, of experience" I write. It can be 

 easily and briefly told. Forty years' practice with the rifle; 

 a score of a little over five hundred deer, with larger game 

 in a smaller proportion, over an extent of country extending 

 from the St. Lawrerce to the Pacific Ocean; and 1 houe t 

 may beforgiven for thinking that my actual experience wilh 

 the bunting rifle on large game in the field will compare 

 favorably with almost any one on this coast. If I have not 

 heretofore thrust these statements voluntarily in ihe faces of 

 the readers of Forest axd Stkuam. it. is because that be- 

 tween the choice of being considered a braagart by the gen- 

 tlemen who contribute to that paper and a presuming 

 ignoramus by "C. H. 1.," I infinitely prefer the latter alter- 

 native, 



11 is true that my experience has not been "superimposed 

 by a thoroughly exhaustive and scientific research into the 

 fundamental laws which unlleilie and govern physical 

 science, and although 1 have a superficial knowledge ot the 

 principles of evolution and the atomic theories, I cannot till 

 at i breath the bulk of gas disengaged by the instantaneous 

 combustion of liO gr. O. & 11. diamond grain, or the chem- 

 ical formula of the atoms in a .10 eal. bullet, hut I have 

 read with pleasure and profit Daiwiu "On the. Origin of 

 Species bv the Mcan_- of Natural Selection," and Diaper's 

 "intellectual Development of Europe," and am tolerably 

 familiar with the play from whien "O, H. 1." fires his quo- 

 tation at me; I am also pretty thoroughly acquaint i tth 

 the laws which govern the flight ol projectile,, hut perhaps 

 this latter qualificaliou has no relation to the subject under 

 discussion in regard to the deer, whose feet "s< are ly appear 

 to touch the ground," I have never yet. seen it, either 

 Virginia mule*or hiaektail, and if ever 1 do, shall not fire 

 it il running for it is sclf-evil.nt that if it goes like a 

 shot" the bullet cannot overtake it. 



And then "C. H. I." declares I know very little about 

 cold weather. 'Ihis is "the most unkindest cut of all." 

 After being born and raisef away "down East," where the 

 sun is popularly supposed to be pried up with a lever; after 

 passing winter "after winter buried in the illimitable forests, 

 amid the frosts and snows of our northern border, to be fold 

 1 know nothing of cold weather is mournful, at least, ihit 

 docs "C. 11. I." seriously claim that a hunter with gloves. 

 "and warm gloves at that," cm open the patch-box in the 

 breech of his rifle, take therefrom a single oiled linen patch, 

 place it on the muzzle of his rifle, and hold upright in the 

 center thereof an elongated bullet, till it can be driven in 

 by the starter? If he does, then his statement that Maj. 

 Merrill had forgotten more than he ever knew is several 



