424 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IJdke 28, 1883. 



\im\e §ug m\d §m\. 



rs - We an always glad to receive for pub- 

 lication such n,<t?s of desirable ttame resort* (is may be of help 

 to the readers of FOREST AND Stream. Will not our corre- 

 rtf \ favor us With such advice f 



A HUNT ON GRAND RIVER. 



4 ^ \V A K "' ;; U P' w;lk *' "i 1 ' ''""' io llirn " ,n '" These wtefa 

 \ T thfl words that roused me from a fitful sleep, full 

 Of Visions of slaughtered game, which the near appioach of 

 a trip to the Grand River bottoms had conjured up in my 

 imaginative brain. Two of us from St. Louis were to go on 

 iiii.-.'iiiint uuder the tutelage of an old veterm in the busi- 



lie line of the Missouri Pacific, near its 



western terminus; a person quite famous aa a dog fancier 

 tod crack shot, one who was never known Io refuse to join 

 with real sportsmen and to give them a cordial welcome to 

 The stories he had told in the evening before 

 bad quite naturally filled my head full of blissful expecta- 

 tions of big bags and plenty of game, and many were the 

 Hid myself bandied about as to the "pot- 

 i; ■ nil other, in order to make a big 



count and net up a bogus reputation. 



A roaring tire of hickory logs soon gave warmth to the 

 log cabin, which was not hermetically sealed by any means, 

 aiiil while our breakfast was being prepared, we groped our 

 an outhouse ami loosed the dogs. The eager 

 beasts crowded around us and seemed to show by their 

 demonstrative actions that they knew perfectly well the trip 

 that was in store for them, and by a complicated system of 

 jumps, barks and wags gave entire consent to the proceed- 

 ings. 



Old Carlo, a grim, weather-beaten, liver and white pointer, 

 stretched his huge proportions to their fullest extent, and 

 then stalking out into the open air, gave vent to a few 

 muffled whines, expressive of a realizing sense of the way 

 he was to ransack the hills and hollows, and lord it over the 

 youngsters who were to accompany him. This done, he 

 was as quiet and dignified as a member of parliament, and 

 only occasionally paid the slightest attention to the rough 



: Oil of Jeff and Ponto, King and Muster; a sudden 



seizing by the nape of the neck, and a vigorous shake, pun- 

 ished the" familiarities of his companions, when they were 

 too rough. The four young dogs were setters— two of them, 

 Kins and Buster, pure red Irish, by imported dam and 

 Hire; the color Of a rich old piece of mahogany; a trifle of 

 white in breast and paw; hair soft and long, with beautiful 

 feathery tails and legs; both perfect models of beauty. 

 The other two. rare good specimens of the Gordon stock- 

 black, and black and white— with tine action, and those 

 bright, fall round eyes and prominent foreheads, that denote 

 great docility and intelligence. A few months' steady (rain- 

 ing under I li'e skillful hands of the Veteran, had made dogs of 

 this ambitious quartette of yearlings, and this was to be their 

 on a regular cut and dried hunt before company. 



Breakfast, over'; the wagon was hitched up; the quarter- 

 master and commissary's departments duly attended to, and 

 just as the stars were commencing to pale their ineffectual 

 BrCS before the glowing moon, we started on our twenty- 

 mile journey among the hills and breaks of this beautiful 

 tributary of the Osage. 



Softly as an April day broke upon us the full, round sun, 

 shitting red and warm over the gently rolling prairies that 

 stretch away into almost boundless distance to the west; 

 while to the 'north, against the horizon, a faint line of tim- 

 ber showed the breaks of the Missouri, dimly visible in the 

 hazy light. Due south, as we were going, the hills and 

 valleys became more abrupt and marked each mile we left 

 the prairie divide, and before ten miles had been accom- 

 plished we were in the timber, and the sun was giving prom- 

 ise of one of those unusually mild and balmy days which 

 have this winter cheered tlte heart of every sportsman and 

 seduced the shrubbery into premature, budding— to-day, 

 alas! to be taught the folly of listening to such untimely 

 wooing. 



To-hOl Carlo' Steady, King! Steady, Jeff!— and the 

 Veteran, on his scraggy, game little pony, rode up to the 

 dogs in front of us, all on the point and rigid as brazen im- 

 ages. The sight was a beautiful one! The style of the 

 youngsters as they staunchly hacked old Carlo, worthy the 

 pencil of a Landseer. With eyes bursting from their 

 sockets, they hung on the point, oblivious of everything 

 except the birds, and the Veteran pointed with pride to their 

 proficiency as the result of his careful and early training. 

 There was a whirr and away went the covey, and our guns 

 were discharged simultaneously. Steady all! no rushing in 

 allowed in this parly!— and recharging, we moved forward 

 and gathered up five quail out of the thirty or more which 

 but a moment before had never heard the crack of a gun. 

 We marked them down on the sunny slope of a hill, free 

 from bush or briar, and after an hour's "keen sport succeeded 

 iu getting fifteen more. 



the dogs worked like human beings, never making a 

 fault and covering their ground carefully and rapidly. And 

 the excitement of successful sport brought a glow to the 

 cheek and a brightness to the eye such as would cause the 



:,t, old cynic to sympathize with the feeling that makes 



landing hunting in" reality, with all the sights, sounds 

 and influences of the country in its native wildness, dear to 

 the heart or every true sportsman. 



But the Veteran is evidently on the track of larger game, 

 Lakes hi- ritle from the wagon and trots off down the 

 valley, motioning us to take the ridge to the west of the 

 mad.' Hastily we climb to the top of the spur, and charg- 

 ing with buckshot, we breathlessly await the result of his 

 strategic movements. 



Suddenly, from the opposite ridge, a terrific rush of 



, and crack! down flutters a huge gobbler. The rest 



of the gang lake cover on our side half way up the summit, 



and Commence calling each other to canvass this unexpected 



aud unheard of interruption to their daily routine of life. 



Creeping on the offside of the spur, hardly daring to 

 breathe, we succeed in surrounding the wary turkeys and 



fet in a fusilade. which killed two and winged another. 

 "hey were immense birds, fully twenty-rive pounds in 

 weight, and fat as an alderman. The rest took leave of 

 that neighborhood without further delay, and we heard no 

 more of "them 



Warned by the rapidly setting sun, we moved on to our 

 camp ground", and soon were busy making our quarters com- 

 fortable, An old log cabin, near which was a clear, beau- 

 tiful spring bursting out from the foot of a bluff, formed 

 the base of our operations, and many years' experience m 



camp life soon suggested to me Hie means whereby 10 im- 

 proviso a luxurious establishment in a wonderfully short 

 space of time. Looking south from our camp, we" could 

 but admire 1 the chance that had induced our predecessor to 

 select such a lovely spot fora building site. Fever ami ague. 

 that Scourge of the West, had in all probability driven him 

 away, just as he had commenced to reap tlie benefits of 

 many hard years of labor. Straight down the valley of 

 Grand River, as far as the eye could reach, the hills came in 

 to the gradually widening bottom, covered with a noble 

 growth of oak 'and hickory, free from undergrowth, and 

 looking so smooth and clean, that it reminded one of a well- 

 kept park, and you could almost fancy you saw the towers 

 of a lordly mansion peeping out from among the trees on the 

 top of the hill opposite us, where the graceful line of timber 

 melted away into the clear yellow sky of a winter evening. 



Oil 1 httt the smell of the" hissing ham! the fragrance of 

 that steaming coffee! The delicious brown of those plump 

 little pari ridges, as they spluttered in a pan before the huge 

 fire that roared up the cavernous old chimney. Hard biscuit 

 fried in the ham fat; crisp brown fried potatOS, and a "two- 

 pound can of stewed tomatoes with grated biscuit, and a 

 few pods of red peppers thrown in, combined to make up 

 an epicurean repast which left but little wanted The tired 

 dogs enjoyed a liberal supper, and stretched themselves out 

 to dream of their day's hunt, occasionally giving a kick and 

 a bark, to show the way their thoughts were running. 



Some time before the almanac said the sun would rise we 

 were up, and had cooked our breakfast and were off for the 

 river in hopes of getting a shot at some ducks. After touch 

 creeping and disagreeable floundering around, we succeeded 

 in getting six mallards, and concluded to give it up and turn 

 our attention to stalking the geese, whose incessant cries 

 had been heard among the lakes lower down tin- valley, ever 

 since the evening before. Myriads of them hovered over an 

 old field, bill so wary and suspicious were they, that it 

 seemed impossible to 'get a shot at them, except by using 

 decoys, and blinds. The Veteran knocked one over with 

 his r'itie. but they must be hard hi;, to kill them, and except 

 for the sport are of little value. For food they are not 

 worth the trouble, of banting. 



Working down the valley that day, in old fields, over 

 grown with weeds, we found quail in the greatest abund- 

 ance, and in the middle of the day the grouse stood to the 

 dogs as well as in October. Rabbits and squirrels were 

 numerous, and as the day drew to a close we had fifty-one 

 quail, five grouse, seven "rabbits, three squirrels, one "goose 

 and six ducks, as the product of our sport. The Veteran 

 had killed five turkeys and half a dozen squirrels with his 1 

 ritle. which he brought into camp, as his share, of the hunt. 



The Doctor's pocket barometer had been steadily falling all 

 day, and that night it Commenced to rain cats and dogs, so, 

 finding our cabin more picturesque than comfortable in such 

 weather, we concluded to pack up and leave for home next 

 morning. A rivulet of muddy water was milking a breach 

 through Otte corner of the cabin, and an improvised shower 

 bath filtered down through the partially rootless top. Noth- 

 ing so completely and effectually demoralizes a person as to 

 have a stream of water trickling down his back, and feel 

 thai to change his seat is only to go from bad to worse. 

 The steady and monotonous drip, drip, of the pouting rain, 

 unrelieved by the slightest sound— except when one of us 

 made a brief remark on the weather— thoroughly dampened 

 our ardor, and made us ready to bundle our traps, dogs and 

 nil, into our wagon, as soon as possible in the morning, and 

 weud our way. sloppily and slowly, homeward. 



The general depression seemed to affect the dogs also, as 

 old Carlo, who had a briar in his foot anil tugged at it per- 

 sistently, was very cross and snappish, and resented any 

 attention shown h'ini. The young ones rolled themselves 

 into a mass, and when one side was thoroughly saturated, 

 turned over and exposed the othffl The Doctor, always 

 jolly, especially under adverse circumstances, tried to keep 

 Up a jerky conversation with the Veteran on fishing, hunt- 

 ing, surgery and farming, but it languished and got creaky, 

 and (hen died out altogether. 



Our extra underclothes and socks, which the foresight 

 and care of our respective wives had provided, came into 

 good use, and with warmth aud comfort the disagreeable 

 journey home in the rain passed away into oblivion and for- 

 getfuhicss. That night the express sped along over the 

 prairies with two tired but happy hunters on board, who 

 will treasure up the memory of their Grand River trip, until 

 some more recent undertaking causes it to fade away, aud 

 in the light of a day's extraordinary performance among 

 the snipe" or grouse "seems but an ordinary affair after all. 

 Vale. C. 



St. Lotus, Mo. 



LEFT-HANDED SHOOTING. 



IF "Snapshot" will try the following simple experiment he 

 will find an explanation for his difficulty in 'left- 

 handed shooting." mentioned iu your issue of May 81. 



Let Mm point with his finger at any object— say a knob— 

 with either hand and with both eyes open. He will see that 

 he is pointing apparently directly at the object, even though 

 both eyes are open. With the baud held steady now let him 

 close the right eve: lie will see that he is not now pointing 

 at the door knob, but apparently away lo the right, of it: 

 now open the right eye and close the left, aud he will see 

 that he is pointing at 'the object, provided the hand has been 

 bold steady. Bepeating this as many times as one pleases, 

 fhe result is always the same— for the general rule of man- 

 kind, some few finding the exact opposite lo be the case. 



By further experiment it will be found thai this same pre- 

 dominance of the right eve over the left is constant, although 

 insensible, through habit. Let anyone look steadily at 

 any distant object with both eyes open. Take the corner of 

 any house at a distance for instance, and bring it on a line 

 with the edge of a post close at hand, both eyes open all the 

 time. Now r closc the left eve; there is no appal ent change 

 in the relative positions of the edge of the post and the cor- 

 ner of the distant house; closing the right eye aud looking 

 with the left, the edge of the post close at hand appears to 

 move over to the right and covers the corner of the distant 

 house. 



This only shows that insensibly wc see with one eye at all 

 times, even though the other be open, and equally strong; 

 one eye takes in the landscape, while the other rounds out 

 and gives the relief to the objects seen, by which we art en- 

 abled to judge distances, etc., and objects appear with the 

 relief we know them to have, and as is shown in stereos- 

 copic views, as compared with ordinary photographs. 



This also shows that, to be successful, the man who shoots 

 with both eyes open must lirst ascertain which eye has the 

 predominance; he may be a right-handed shot, aud the left 

 eye predominate, oi ud only long practice would 



make his shooting successful under such circumstances, 

 whether shouting with double or single barrel gun. 



By trying the above, '•Snapshot" will probably find that 

 his right eye predominates, so that right-handed shooting 

 with both eyes open conies natural to him, and left-handed 

 does not, as he sees the right barrel with his right eye, while 

 he is trying to see his left barrel with his left eye" 1 Have 

 just tried it with my gun, and find such to be the case; and 

 il ;i rigid -eyed man must shoot left-handed, he will find 

 he can do better by throwing his bead well over to the left, 

 so as to bring his right eye oil the line of sight. 



My eyes are apparently equally strong, and I only discov- 

 ered the above from having read the matter in some article 

 on the subject. Since finding it out 1 have tried many men 

 on the subject, and have always found one eye, and gen- 

 euerally the righl, to predominate. CD. 



Wyoitrar. Tehritohy. June 11. 



GUNS AND SHOOTING. 



I DO not wish to criticise "Nessmuk's Screed" to any ex- 

 tent. Whether I indorse if or not, 1 do as it advises. 

 1 do very little shooting , He says: "If every man would 

 confine himself to the old muzzle-loader, he would still get 

 as much game as he has a decent right to." He is right as 

 far as he goes, but I think it is possible for a man to use a 

 breech-loader and still get less than his share; that is if he 

 is entitled to any at all. After all, it is not so much a ques- 

 tion of what sort of a gun to. use, as how we use it. 1 am 

 willing to admit that many people who use breech-loaders 

 do it for the sole purpose of increasing the bag; but there 

 would be hogs in the world if we had nothing but the bow 

 and arrow. 



I never owned a very high-priced breech-loader, but 1 

 have shot them and seen them shot. Nevertheless, 1 have 

 yet to see the cylinder-bore breech-loader of the same size 

 "and weight that could outshoot a 16-bore. fUlbs. Westley 

 Richards muzzle-loader that I used for five years. Aside 

 from convenience aud uniformity of charge, which are 

 almost out of the question in a muzzle-loader, the breech- 

 loading .shotgun has a point in its favor that must commend 

 it to every humane sportsman, and that is the ease with 

 which cripples are picked off. When shooting ducks with 

 a muzzle-loader, 1 have frequently seen two or three 

 wounded ones skulk and hide among the long grass before 

 they could be overtaken with a canoe, or a gun could be 

 loaded to shoot them. Now, all that seem alarmingly lively 

 are treated to a second dose, and it is seldom any wounded 

 game escapes. There has been a lengthy discussion iu these 

 columns as to the comparative merits of' breech and muzzle- 

 loading rifles. Major Merrill champions the latter, others 

 too numerous to mention the former. One of the Major's 

 disciples cites Mr. Van Dyke as an authority, while he him- 

 self gives great praise to "P." as a writer on hunting rifles. 

 Then "P." and Mr. Van Dyke are diametrically opposed in 

 many of their views, notably with regard to caliber, and so 

 on ad infinitum. 



It is impossible* for. the most casual observer to read 

 the correspondence of these men, especially the last men- 

 tioned two. without seeing that they have a vast amount of 

 knowledge of the subject about which they are. writing. 

 The inference that we naturally draw is, thai the rifles ad- 

 vocated by each have their merits and defects; that the rifle 

 which actually fits erne person is of little use to another, and 

 after till wc must rely to sonic extent on our own judgment 

 in the selection of a weapon. Will a muzzle-loader always 

 kill a deer at first fire, and if so, are there many men who 

 can hold straight enough to do it? If we may trwt the evi- 

 dence of one on the Major's side of the fence, and I don't in- 

 tend to dispute it, one, shot often merely puts a deer in good 

 traveling condition, that is judging from the distance they 

 will run alter being nearly shot to pieces. If a second or third 

 shot is needed, the quicker it is got in the belter, on the 

 score of humanity if nothing else. I shall patiently await 

 the result of Mr. Dunne's trajectory experiments. I do not 

 see any good reason why a breech-loader should not have as 

 flat a trajectory as a muzzle-loader, all other conditions 

 being the same. Every man has his hobby and sub-bobby, 

 and neglects not a goo'd opportunity to extol the merits of 

 either. Were we to depend entirely on the writings of 

 others for guidance in the choice of a rifle, we would be in 

 danger of perpetrating the mistake made by the hero Of the 

 fable of the old man aud the ass. My advice is. use the 

 rifle that is most effective iu your hands, he it breech or muz- 

 zle-loader, single shot or rcpWter To insist that all true 

 sportsmen should use a certain kind of rifle is about as rea- 

 sonable as to confine the guests at a hotel to one article ou a 

 bountiful bill of fare. 



We learn much from the writings of those who are deeply 

 versed in the theory aud practice of ritle shooting, but when 

 1 see learned men arguing over the difference of au inch and 

 a half in a string of fen shots, it reminds one of the "school- 

 men," who. though very wise men, are said to have gravely 

 discussed such questions as — 



•'flow many angels can stand on the point of a needle?" 

 Some one may ask. as iu (he case of "Penobscot," "Who 

 is this fellow?"" Though I consider ffllC* a question not in 

 very good laste, hinting on "lowly birth aud ranging with 

 humble livers in content," I will anticipate it by saying I 

 am a subscriber lo Forest and Stream and have a right. 

 Subject to the veto of the editor, to express my opinion on 

 any subject coming within the range of my experience. 

 Here a man is judged by what he writes, and it is well for 

 us not to lose 'sight of" the fact ihat, no matter how strong 

 our assertions ou a subject like the one under consideration, 

 others will regard them simply as expressions of opinion: uot 

 merely I rue as the- supporting arguments are more or less 

 plausible, but also in proportion as the experience of the 

 reader coincides with that of the writer. In the present dis- 

 cussion, anyone who has used both gun? to any extent is 

 qualified to form an opinion. The ground I take is the 

 same as that taken by several othei writers. "Granting I he 

 muzzle-loader the superior accuracy (which is very little) 

 that is claimed for if, and the. breech-loader the degree of 

 steadiness in shooting which matches have shown it to 

 posses.-., together with "the superior convenience which every- 

 one will acknowledge, the latter is a long way ahead." 



Far he it from me to undervalue the opinions of others, 

 On the contrary. "I have a great deference for public opin- 

 ion, and believe that, nothing but that which is good can be 

 permanently popular." If any man with V. S. to his name 

 were to tell me that chronic inflammation in the larynx of a 

 horse superinduces pulmonary disease, I would not contra- 

 dict him. for I don't know anything about it ; but if he tried 

 to persuade me that the Clydesdale is the roadster par cee.i- 

 Imce, because he possesses strength, endurance and is easily 

 guided, it would be throwing words away, for 1 know the 



