24 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IAottoot B, 1886. 



which played its- part so well in the little drama enacted 

 generations of snakes ago, "with Mother Eve, Alas! we may 

 pardon the ambitions of nlmihUis ohmhtit;-. but that proud 

 eminence must be denied him until be better proves his 

 claim. Autik li Ewwrx littoww. 



Zooloojcai. Harden, Philadel pbia . July S9, 1883. 



A Voice for the SpABKOWS. — The great depredations of 

 ihe Hessian fiv and the wheat worm among the grain in 

 many sections of Chester and Delaware counties, during ihe 

 season just closed, is ascribed fry many fanners to the vast 

 slaughter of the English marrows. By an act passed at a 

 recent session of the Legislature of Pennsylvania i 1 is now 

 lawful to desttoy Ihe sparrow wherever found. Would it 

 not be wise for'thc farming: community to observe the ac- 

 tions of these busy little bodies and ascertain whether the 

 above theory has any foundation in fact? What few seeds 

 the sparrows devour would scarcely be worth mentioning, 

 if, in return, tliev destroyed those insects and la rvre injuri- 

 ous to ihe grain.' Give ihe spiarrows another chance.— Oc- 



CaSIOXAL. 



RoBEf-?FAKHOW 'Fisticuffs.— Dr. E. Sterling, of Cleve- 

 land, , sends us a Leziler of that city with this .account of 

 B birr) fight winch was witnessed by hundreds of peopltf! 

 "An interesting- tight was observed 'iu Monumental Park 

 yesterday afternoon. A robin was hopping about picking 

 up morsels of bread, hits of peanuts, etc , when it was at- 

 tacked by several sparrows. The robin fouglit vigorously 

 for at least half an hour, killing three of the sparrows, when 

 reinforcements for the enemy coming up the robin heat a 

 retreat, but had scarcely gone twenty yards wheat he fell 

 dead." 



Aliuno Si'aiii«.w.— Philadelphia, July 35.— Among the 

 English sparrows in the neighborhood of Ridge and Lehigh 

 avenues, Philadelphia, there can every day be seen a white 

 English sparrow. 



jfeatnp <gir$ Jfflickerings. 



On. myself ar.d friend w, re returning From a very 

 unfruitful shoot rig expedition clown the Island. We 

 were driving about as obstinate a mule as I had ever seen. 

 and. beat and bring him as we would, he would'nt go faster 

 than a wa'k. We had visited every point, and literally 

 •'-'-arched the prahie lngh and U w," bed had not been re- 

 warded with a single leather. Finally we gave up in dis- 

 gust We had gone some distance toward home, and were 

 : slight niar.sh, when suddenly a snipe got up di- 

 rectly in front of Ihe mule and flew straight away, i was 

 driving, hut T., happening to be ready, fired. A slight jolt 

 of the cart at the moment of pulling the trigger, cruised him 

 to miss his bird, but he didn't miss the mule. Took about, 

 three inches ol his right ear off. A wildsleam engine could'ut 

 have jumped I or Ward with greater speed, than did that 

 mule. I was immediately spilled out of the back of the 

 wagon on my back in about three inches of water. T. had 

 fared worse than 1 : iu going over i he side of the wheel, he 

 ■sprained his arm severely. ' We watched the mule until he 

 disappeared, bu! as long'as we could see him he was mak.ug 

 better time than ever did Maud S. Of course be broke 

 things up generally; the wagon cost ns $2-5 for repairs. As 

 for T. and myself, we walked into town, a 

 miles, pickius up a eartiidge belt, a. coffee 

 line of the wagon's mad High). 



dislar 



POt, C 



Ci 



tc. in til 

 Nemo. 



My nearest neighbor at mv camp at the Jake, four miles 

 from here, is an old farmer named Robert Gotham, who 

 has passed twfj score years on his farm at the '-end of the 

 road, " as it is called in Maidstone. His m.to is every time 

 good for the face of it. but he. nevertheless, is often quoted 

 as the biggest bar in the country, so lat as fish and bear 

 ".a;:-- go. One day the old gentlemen and one of his sons, 

 bout twenty live years old. weie at my camp, when one of 



the guests interrogated bin 

 eneehe must have bad with bear 

 had lived on the outskirts of eii 

 warming to business, began, "Wj 

 I was out south of the lake goin' 

 I run outer a b'ar, and," said he. 

 viction with it, "I mounted thai 



iigthr 



f tli 



lany years he 



i, and the old gent, 

 ight jest afore dark, 

 ith tin- cows, when 



e that, carried con- 

 iark, an I rode him 



more'n a mile an cr half through the woods, by ,j 

 Bis listeners gulped some, endeavoring !o swallow the story 

 whole, when the son, who had thus far remained siicr.t, 

 rushed to their relief with "Yes, that's SO, father done it." 

 They believed it then. 

 w.v Hampshire. 



Every community has its fishermen. He is a character. 

 He is a success. Luck he has, but he is often invested with 

 enough of ihe mysterious to inspire the belief that by rea- 

 son of superior tact and knowledge, he has become master 

 of the situation, nence he is an oracle, and his tales com- 

 mand the credulity of the masses. Such a man was Shaw 

 on tin? Muskingum River. He could catch fish when he 

 wanted to, and eaten any fish hedesiied. Among the many 

 Who admired unci envied nim, was the learned, wealthy, 

 aristocratic- Dr. R. of I 1 ,. Approaching him one day. Dr. K. . 

 said: "If you will give me your secret. 1 will keep it. and 

 give you live dollars." The bargain was struck, and bend- 

 ing down lOW to the. Doctor's ear, Shaw whispered: "When- 

 ever VOU get a bite, jerk." K. 



Iowa. 



JOKES PHOU TIIK Gehmaxtown "Tf.obivrai>h."— Edison 

 has worn his head nearly bald trying to invent a machine 

 that, would calculate with some kind of accuracy the differ- 

 ence between the fish wheu it is first taken out ol Ihe water 



and when il gets into the newspapers. Angling extraoi- 



dinary— Customer (in a great hurry)-. A small paper of 



Limericks, please, and be quick, I want lo catob a train. 



A I hiladclphia sportsman returning home on the Baltimore 

 Railroad, after a few days' woodcock shooting down the 

 Delaware, was thus accosted by a fellow passenger: "Have 

 pretty good sport? ' "No— very poor. Birds wild — rain iu 

 torrents— ciogs no u-e. Only ebt five brace!" ''Make bints 

 dear, won't it?" "You're right. 

 hi ace this morning." 



1 assure you T paid $1 a 



Sri ID BLOW. — Tn this sultry summer season fishing with 



the fancy lly fast has flown with the flowing waters and the 

 flight of timorous time, and to the ardent angler is left the 

 thrice thrilling thought of the legal wriggle and royal radi- 

 ance of the shimmering sheen of the shilling shad.— MEAT- 

 Hawk, 



%!M(* f§'di} Utfd 0Wf, 



GAME RESORTS — TC« are always glad to receive for pub- 



tienfion siirli nnlcs of d-sireible grime rrxnrfs res mil)/ be of help 

 to the reader? of Forest a_m:> Stream. Will not our corre- 



"eat, on, c 



rmmunicCLtions 



should bi ad- 



and Sbrec 



m Publishing 



Co., and not to 



absence 



•rom the office 



matter* of im- 



, delay. 







AN OLD ALABAMA HUNTER. 



Editor F.rre.it and Stream: 



Please publish the following specimen of notes 1 am often 

 receiving from entire strangers. These old hunters well 

 know what they are about When they want to get, deer, and 

 it is idle lor fancy hunters and others to try and put them 

 down. I know ail about deer hunting with buckshot, hav- 

 ing gone all through this school with an M. L. during 

 the Florida war, 1838.-39-40. Many and many are the 

 like camp hunts I have participated in, and I know 

 such "old hunters" to be huniiis in fact, and that no 

 prejudice nor fashion will ever induce them to use 

 any other weapon than the one which will give them the 

 most game. I made this point specially known to all gun- 

 makers in my last, and other articles,' in your columns. 

 Here is the short but pointed note: 



"YoTtKi.AMi. Alabama, July 10. 1983.— Major, you are 

 right. S'ick: When we go camp hunting here for deer we 

 lav down ourB. L. guns, and take up our fathers' old M. L. 

 gun. The B. Ls scatter buckshot too much, and do not 

 penetrate like, our old B. Ls. The 13. Ls. cripple, but the 

 M. Ls. drive the shot through .and through. This is only 

 in reference to shotguns. The B. Ls. [rifles] won't do for 

 deer hunting and long lauge. Stick to it, Major; you are 

 right.— An Old AlaIiama Huntf.h." 



Here we have it in practice, straight and good. light from 

 the camp of the life-long hunters in the pine woods of "old 

 Alabarne," where i\w\- forty years ago were '-were as thick 

 as hops." This postal note vividly lecnlls to mind our own 

 camp li res in Alabama t'orty-two years ago, wdien ihe pine 

 knots, called "lighrwood," so beautifully lighted up the tall 

 pice forests by night as to render it a picture which no pen 

 or pencil can portray. 



1 m„st tell my hunting friend a little story about these old 

 hunters. In 1810 three mounted companies of ihe ad 

 liegt., I'. S. Dragoons, were ordered to match from Florida 

 west to the Choctaw and Chickasaw country, now the In- 

 dian Territory, bordering on Texas. 1 was one of the num- 

 ber iu that i.2uO miles march. We passed through the 

 Southern half of Alabama, then a new and almost, unin- 

 habited country. One night there came into our camp, in 

 the deep pine woods, one of the old pioneer hunters. He- 

 was mounted on his hunting "mar" and clothed in his deer 

 and 'coon-skin toggery. He carried his long Kentucky rifle 

 on his shoulder, and strapped to his saddle were "many 

 haunches of venison and a lew wild turkeys. He had been 

 out hunting that day, ho said, and brought, his game to camp 

 to sell. As we were living on "hard tack and salt meat,'' his 

 game found a ready sale at fifty cents each piece. Never 

 have I seen a ucrsoii more delighted, 



"Luh me," said he, as be received each half dollar in his 

 hands, "1 have never seen so much bright money before si nee 

 I came to 'Alabam', and that's nigh live years aj I 



here, strang-rs. if you'll only 'low me lo hunt as you maich 

 along 1 will bring ye plenty of deer meat into camp every 

 night, but as to 'liar' meat I can't promise ye. 1 reckon 

 bow's this old 'mai' kin travel as far as yours kin iu a clay 

 and hunt besides." 



"Yes, yes! oldhuutei. 1 give you the privilege, and you 

 mav follow us clear to the imiian country if you like. We 

 will buy all your game, and be very much obliged to you 

 besides/- 



•I thank you. Lieutenant." said he; ••then I'll camp with 

 ye to-night and be right off on your flank after deer and 

 'bar' to-mortow." 



Earlv on the next morning he saddled his "mar." mounted, 

 and, with his ever trusty muzzle-loader, disappeared iu the 

 dark pine woods. As the night came on the old hunter 

 emerged from tin- forest and joined our camp again. He 

 came loaded dovvu with venison and turkeys as before. For 

 these he was paid ill half silver dollars, and as he received 

 each, he looked at it, turned ii over and over again in his 

 hand, and his joy and astonishment were so great at his 

 good luck that lie kept on repeating, "Eak, lab is UK . I've 

 not seen so much bright money afon- since I Oral came 

 to 'Alabam, and that's nigh on rive yeais I reckon. Hod' 

 bless ve all, and Hie good days that has come to my luck. 

 I'll hang to ye as leng as I kin, and when I'm donel reckou 

 how my- old' -mar' will take uie home agin to see Polly and 

 the chiidran." 



For several days lids good old hunter hung ou our thinks 

 by day and en'.'ainped with us by night. On each day he 

 came in loaded down with game, and this gave OS our 

 dailv fresh broils of these delicacies, and also added t« his 

 leather purse more "bright half silver dollars " than he bad 

 seen for years before, He kept with ns, bunting as we 

 marched, 'until we had reached the western borders of his 

 State, and there around the camp-lire, with a hearty "good 

 luck to you home," we parted in deep regret with our "old 

 hunter." 



He was then young tlike myself:, but who knows but that 

 this "old hunter." who sends' me this postal card, now lie- 

 come (like myself) well frosted in years, is the same who fed 

 US— -Verily the children of "Uncle Sam'' — with manna in 

 the wilderness, a long'. long lime ago? Whether Ibis be so. 

 or whether it is Ms son, or the sons of others that are now 

 using Ihe old muzzle-loaders of their fathers in preference 

 to the new breech-loaders.] sav to you one and all, that 

 you should and must know which of these give you the most 

 game in camp. 



1 believe the muzzle-loader the best for buckshot, but not 

 for bird shot or a close target I think it much safer a gainst 

 bursting. My trim's are yet to be made. 



Old hunters if you are right "Stick." 



Ma.i. H. W, Mkkuili.. 



The race of hunters has not vet perished from ihe earth. 

 I i„. Red Bluff '.<"". has 'this account of a famous 

 California shot: -'The old gent.emau is now Hearing his 



i. and ten years, wears his 'plug* hat. steps as 



:i and has every appearance of liv- 

 ing 'twenty years longer. The Majoi is a noted deer and 

 bear hunter, and whenever he comes to town he i- sure to 



visit the Cause office and give us an account of his recent 

 hunting exploits. Tile Major was in excellent mood last 

 evening, and as we sal in front of Ihe cilice, eni ■ 

 cool evening breeze, he told us of his last big hunt. He 

 said thai betook it into his head that there weie some old 

 fat bucks about six or eight miles from his place, so he 

 saddled up his horse, took down his trusty rifle, and started 

 for the hunting giound. His objective point WHS near tie- 

 foot of South' Valla Balls Mountain, where there are sev 

 eral 'licks.' He arrived there, 'pitched camp,' put the horse 

 on good grass, cooked supper and had a good nigh'' -I" 1 ! 

 Next morning he visited the licks just about daylight and 

 succeeded in bagging eleven of this finest old bucks he says 

 he ever saw. The Major is a center shot and didn't lose a 

 deer he took sight on and fired at. After he got all the deer 

 meat he wanted he concluded to skirmish arourd a little 

 and see if there were any 'bar' iu the Country. He did not 

 hare to hunt very long before he found one,' a brown bear, 

 which he killed and took iuto camp. It was tolerably fat 

 nnr> weighed about 300 pounds. He also killed a nice fat 

 the same species. The Major til i ii I- in .' i 

 pretty wt-U in five days, having lulled and cured the meat 

 of eleven bucks and two bears. He says about a mile or a 

 nlile and a half from his place, on the south foil; of Cotton- 

 wood Creek, there tire the finest, largest trout in the coun- 

 try, and plenty of them, too. Pleasure seekers and invalids 

 would find the Major's ranch a nice place to spend a lew 

 days or weeks during the hot weather. 



A DEER HUNT AT LAKE HARNEY. 



SOME twenty odd miles from Enterprise, Fla , is Lake 

 Harney, where. I was informed, deer abound. A few 

 days after my arrival at Enterprise. Mr. C. and myself de 

 chled thai we would make a trip to the lake region' and try 

 oil! luck. 



We Iherefore set. about making our preparations, guides, 

 horses and dogs were engaged, and provisions procured. 

 It was on a lovely morning, about the middle of February, 

 that our cavalcade stinted from the Brock House, with the 

 best wishes of our friends for success, mingled with ex- 

 pressed doubts as our having anything to show on our re- 

 turn. Our party consisted of Mr. O. (lie Doctor [who was 

 not a sporting 'man i, myself and two guide-. Our pack 

 contained eight clogs, not beauties, but good workers for all 

 that. No pilgrims to a promised laud ever passed over a 

 more uninteresting path, ft wound mostly through scrub 

 oak and sterile pine lauds, Ihe monolony being relieved now 

 and then by a stretch of prairie. At ' last we reached our 

 destination, the cabin of an old "cracker," the hero of many 

 an exploit in the field; and tired from our journey, were 

 8000 asleep in our lads in the loft, through the cracks of 

 which we could see the stars as they kept their Watch over 

 us. 



Early Monday morning we partook of our breakfast. 

 Half-bilked corn-bred, bacon floating around in a I ii [] 

 grease, cold sweet potatoes and coffee, the latter good. (Our 

 provisions which we sent by boat did not arrive until the 

 day we left, and the above noun was S< rved ' ' 



succession during our stay. I meekly asked for a hot potato 

 and my request was received with horror. The idea of eat 

 mg anything r -o rich was unknown.) We were soon on our 

 horses! and had gone but a short way when a .: 

 from the ground, .she received a salute and was off Tin 

 injured. A lit t lc later the hounds struck a hot trail, which 

 they followed to the edge of a grass pond, where they were 

 battled. A few rods from the shore was a small island, and 

 stationing ourselves so as to command il. the dogs were 

 urged On. They bad scarcely reached il before a line year- 

 ling buck left it'and swam directly for the point at which 

 Mr, C, was station d. As the deer beared him he sprang Up 

 and gave him both barrels, which proved effective, ami we 

 SOon had him hung and drawn. Although sec eral more 



deer were started no one succeeded in getting a shot, and 



we returned to our Cabin. 



The next day a deer was killed early iu the morning, and 

 that completed the second day's bag. Wednesday was 

 taken for a day of rest for the' horses, while our colored 

 guide, known' as L'nele. started off to find the dogs, I he 

 larger part of which had wandered. His cpiest was re 

 warded and about noon he returned with the truanl 

 in the evening we took our tent, ns we had decided to camp 

 for the night al a spot known as the ''Hundred Acre Pocket" 

 on the ground early in the morning, and expected 

 to obtain large returns from hunting the vicinity. 



Our "cracker" host, who accompanied us on ..air hums, 

 was a character ol a type unbeknown to me heretofore A 

 small, wirv man. of wonderful endurance, he would should.-r 

 his muzzle' -loader of antique make, and we nevi i 

 tire him. he on loot, we on horse, It was a hard count n 



lo ride over and must have been a barn one p 



Scrub oak and pine which tore the flesh ol man and bua.i , 



dry bogs, clinging mire, all wen- encountered. His gun, on 

 which he doted, had almost kil.cd him once, recoiling and 

 striking him in the groin, injuring him so severely that lor 

 three weeks he lay between life ami death. At another time 

 it broke his collar bone. \ cheerful plaything to handle, 

 thai gun. 



Our guide selected our camping ground. and after building 

 a good lire, for the night was chilly, we turned in. 1 have 

 spent a good many nights in camp, and sour i 

 been far from comfortable, but for downright torture lei me 

 recommend the Florida Ilea; and this creal are pni in he 

 best work ou me that night. 1 had to sit in front of the tire 

 ligliiin- all the night through until dawn. Our Iriend 

 "reckoned" we had' struck an old hogs' nest, Whatever we 

 had struck we si ruck il heavy, Urdl'an hour all 

 that day we killed a small doe, and late in ihe evening got a 

 shot at another which escaped. 



On our return to the cabin we were coldly received by all 

 excepting th< Doctor, who, as I have said, did not shoot 



It seemed la- caused all the trouble by being couri. - Ihi 



married daughter ol our host. The Doctor bad taken a 

 good supply of books, and had lent, one to the ••lady" in 

 '.s she appeared to enjoy it lie offered herauolber. 

 This attention made the husband very jealous, : i. 

 formed Ihe Doctor that if his wife wanted reading matter he 

 could buy it for her. .Mild expostulations were of no use. 

 nndl fear the poor Doctor's visit was not a pleasant one after 

 that. 



Friday, the last day of the hunt, was to be used in going 

 a Branch. Hour after hour was 

 spent in beating- the most favorable-looking pit 

 never a trail was struck. At last, however, the ■ 

 tongue in a small thicket, which we surrounded 



noise in the Jn-ush; aud slipping from my horse 

 waited Presently two bucks appeared on the edge of the 



