382 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. IS, 1883. 



\%t ^portsttinn ^aumt. 



AMONG THE MOOSE. 



'Shepherd. * * * Bui ilinua tell me thai yon have lost your 

 passion for the art; lor we never loufl our passion toy any pastime ttl 

 wliloli we continue to excel." iWwltes Amhraalann). 



IN the fall of 1874 my Mend, Mr. L. .T. Peck, then of 

 Lookport, N. T., but now Living in St. Clair. Midi., 

 came down to my place to kill a bear. Having succeeded in 

 tlcl- laudable undertaking, he asked me to pay him a visit 

 and take a bout with hint. This I have been unable to do 

 until This year, as it seemed impossible for us both to get 

 leisure at the same time, but early in the past summer we 

 agreed io arrange our business so thai we could go off in the 

 fall and look up a moose. 



After picking out a place for our hunt we wrote in Sep- 

 tember and made all the necessary arrangements as to guides, 

 tent, provisions and birch canoe, and fixed the nighi of 

 Tuesday, Oct. Ill, AS the time when our Indians should meet 

 us at the railway so as Io start for the woods next morning. 

 I left Washington Thursday, Oct. 4. at 9:50 P. M.. and went 

 by Baltimore, llarrisburg and Klmirato Buffalo. At Buffalo 

 1 gol a ticket via Port liuron and Ridgeway to St. Clair, but 

 got off at Snrnia and took the boat, down the river, by which 

 plan I got to St. Clair at SrfSO A M. ; whereas, had I stuck 

 to the cars 1 should not have reached there until noon. 



Saturday and Sunday passed so pleasantly that I would 

 hat B liked very well to stretch the two days to weeks, bui 

 we had ordered a variety of things, animate and inanimate, 

 in be ready for us Tuesday night, and had no time to count- 

 ermand the arrangements, even had we agreed I o. Then, 

 loo.wefe.lt restless and began to sniff the" air as though to 

 Catch a seen! of the spruce and balsam thickets, and our 

 talk was much of guns, camps and moose. We left St. Clair 

 Monday morning and arrived at the end of our railway jour- 

 ney about 11 -m Tuesday night. Wednesday was a* raiuv 

 dismal day. so we concluded to put off our start until i 

 morning. This gave US time to arrange all our supplies and 

 ciitup equipage, and let f.augvin— commonly Aleck— e__ 

 nf OUT Indian?, sober up. for lie was too tight for any good 

 Wednesday. 



Thursday morning we started, with a I wo-horse, wagon 

 carrying all our traps, and in which Mr. Peck rode, while I 

 and Joe Lavigue. our other Indian, walked. Aleck joined 

 OS about DOOD, and about an hour after we reached a farm 

 and depot of supplies belonging to lire lumber firm whose 

 limber limits covered our proposed hunting ground. There 

 we dined and afti rward pushed on some five miles further. 

 making twenty in all. As this was as far as it was possible 

 to take the wagon we camped near a small creek, pitched 

 our tent, and passed a comfortable night. Friday morning 

 we started the wagon back early and then traveled ou afoot 

 to our intended camp ground, on I he outlet of a small name- 

 less pond, one of several lying uear each other, all surrounded 

 by more or less bog, and much frequented by moose in the 

 warm weather. Notwithstanding the big loads which Joe and 

 Aleck carried with their portage straps, or tump-lines as ihev 

 ealled them, we had to leave some ot our provisions to await 

 another trip, and these we hid away carefully where they 

 would keep dry. After eating our dhinrr and putting lire 

 pamp iu order, we took Joe and paddled up the nearest 

 pond and through the inlet to a second one, frightening a 

 few ducks as we passed, The Indians had killed an old 

 cow moose on the upper pond about, len days before, and Joe 

 showed UH the place. "Bight there, we 'kill a moose, me 

 an' Aleck. Big cow moose.'' 

 "Where, did you shoot from, Joe?" 



'When we come round that point, then we see the moose, 

 an' then we begin to shoot." 



"And where do you say the mouse wast" 

 "The moose was standin' right there iu the bog; an' then 

 when we began to shoot we was all the time paddb'u' along, 

 and then we fire uine limes, and Ihen the moose fell down," 

 ••Nine times! Why. gracious, Joe, the moose wasn't more 

 than a hundred yard's off when you first shot. What in the 

 work! made you' shoot nine times:'' 



"We shoot as long as he was standing up, an' then, when 

 we shoot, nine times, then he fall down." 



We found out. by questioning, that they killed this moose 

 with a single breech-loader, but of what, make they did not 

 know. AH they could tell about it was, thai •'•whin we 

 shoot then we put in another cartridge." "With your 

 hand?" "Yes." They had hung the moose hide near our 

 camp, where also was the meat on a scaffold, smoked. 



Saturday morning we started out to look for moose. The 

 leaves were .somewhat damp and not very noisy; still in the 

 hardwood timber we could be heard much further than we 

 could see. We struck a hardwood ridge about half a. mile 

 from camp and followed its top looking for fresh tracks. 

 We found one in about half an hour, aocl in a few minutes 

 got a glimpse of the moose as it left an opening a little to 

 our right, but got no shot nor could we see what idud of one 

 it, was. As itran it seared out an old bull within a hundred and 

 fifty yards of us, which went off with a bellow or two. 

 Half an hour after, Aleck and I turned aside to look at a 

 track we crossed and caught a similar glimpse of another 

 moose, but aot no shot, as it was standing at, the brink of 

 the steep hillside, and one step took it clear out of sight. 

 On our way home we slopped a few minutes to get the In- 

 dian's tent 'which was pitched on the side of the ridge on 

 which we hunted, Where they had killed an old cow and 

 two calves on the same 1 rip "on which they killed the one 

 before mentioned. They showed us where the moose 

 stood and where they were when they opened (he. 

 Joe shot first at about a hundred yards,' and, without 

 any idea as to where his shots went, kept on until he 

 struck a small tree between them and the moose. Aleck 

 then took the gun and after a while got the cow down, 

 when of course the killing of the calves was only a matter 

 of time. They fired twenty-nine shots before they got all 

 three down. The hides were hung on poles and all the meat 

 smoked. 



huuday we spent quietly about camp. Monday we found 

 the leaves dried so much that there was no chance to still- 

 hunt with any reasonable likelihood of success, so we con- 

 cluded to move to another pond a half mile or so away, 

 where we could camp iu an old deserted lumber shanty anil 

 wait for a change in the weather. Tuesday 1 toon Aleck 

 and went oul to where we left ottr extra provisions and 

 brought them into camp. On our way we sat down to rest 

 ou the bank of a small pond, perhaps §00 or titto yards 

 across. As we sat idly gazing at the water I said; "A'leck, 

 if I was in a canoe anchored in the middle of this pond I 

 could kill a moose anywhere on the hank." 



"You think yon hit him that far, ehv That's long way 

 across thai pond, Maybe then vou don't hit him at all." 



"Why. it, can't be mure (hail 250 or 300 yards to the shore. 

 This little gun oughl to kill one that far certainly," 



"S'pose vou try a shot,'' suggested Aleck; "you shoot at 

 that white iog stic'kiu' iu the water up there." 



"Why. that is a good deal further than ihe middie of The 

 pond." I replied, "it must be '. ; !50 yards." 



"Well, you try him auyhow. We not html here any more 

 and won't'scare 'noliiin'.'" 



I told him 1 would fire oue shot for range, which would 

 probably be short, as it was, and to notch the second one. 

 The second shot hit it. 



Aleck was amazed. "1 couldn't do that," he exclaimed; 

 "you kill a moose then when vou shoot at him, sure." Evi- 

 dently he and Joe had had doubts as to what Air. Peek and 

 1 could do with our guns, a 2S-inch '70 model, and a 20-inch 

 '73 model Winchester. The. doubts, as far as he was con- 

 cerned, were now removed, and he began to talk about, gel- 

 ting a gun like one of ours for his own use. 



Wednesday was. as the preceding days, clear and pleas- 

 ant. Air. feck- and I took a hatchet and marked a line some 

 mile nud a half east, of camp to a hardwood ridge, where lie 

 thought be might go next day and loaf about, while I went 

 off a tew miles to look at a lake said to be full of trout, and 

 of which 1 wanted to take a sketch. I asked Joe how far it 

 was to the lake, 



"Oh! 'bout live miles." 



"What is the mime of the lake'; What do you call if?' 



"We call if 'Coohon Lake.' " 



"Pig Lake! That's a nice name for it. What sort of 

 country is there around it? Any hills, or is it tint and boggy- 

 like tluspond?" 



"No bog. Mountains all 'round ibc lake. Big moun- 

 tains." 



"ll-in ! I must go and see it if there arc mountains about. 

 1 may -jet. a good view." 



Thursday Aleck and I went to the lake iu the morning, 

 but by the lime we got there the wind blew so that we only 

 waited long enough to take oue sketch, when we started back 

 and gut Io camp In- noun. Joe's "big mountains" turned 

 out. when seen, Io lie uothiua- butlitlle hills; still, they made 

 broken outlines agaiusl the sky, and framed the road om'te 

 picturesquely. As we found no one at the shanty, We eon 

 eluded that' Mr. P. and Joe had gone otl' to the' hardwood 

 ridge to sit about for a while, for Mr. Peck was too unwell 

 Io go far or long at a lime. Just after we hud finished our 

 dinner they came in, Joe carrying a full pack, and Mr. P.'s 

 buckskin suit showing fresh blood stains. I supposed, as did 

 Aleck, that .Mr. Peck bad killed a moose, but we said noth- 

 ing, and after a while the story came out. They/ had sat 

 down on Ihe hardwood ridge to look about, when Joe saw a 

 deer move its ears, and calling Air. P.'s attention to it, the 

 latter at once shot it, smashing the shoulders, and they had 

 brought the meat and hide to camp. The killing of thisdeer 

 had a salutary effect all around. What we were after was a 

 shot at a moose, and as we could clearly see that, it was not 

 much to the interest of these Indians to'sliow us moose, or to 

 disturb the game ou this hunting ground of theirs, where 

 they proposed to do their fall hunting, for >S2 a day apiece, 

 when one moose if killed by them would bring them a num- 

 ber of dollars, we had told them we would take only the 

 head and horns, and give them the meat and hides of any we 

 might kill. Joe saw by the effect of the '70 model on the 

 deer's shoulders what, a moose might expect, and Aleck had 

 seen in \ '73 model shoot, so now they spent most of that 

 evening in discussing the best Way to get a moose, using the 

 barbarous patois common to their class, in that part of 

 Canada. 



Air. Peck, who is not as young as be was more years ago 

 than I can remember, was far from well, and probably would 

 have been contented to have started home from where we 

 were encamped had it, not been for the dislike of going 

 back without a shot, and after hunting only oue day. Kill- 

 ing the deer was a small matter to an old hunter, but still it, 

 was an incident which broke the monotony of watching the 

 wind and weather signs, and he felt rather encouraged. I 

 got plenty of fresh meat, and, being well fed, fell equal to 

 most anything in the way of a tramp. 1 do not get low - 

 Spirited in camp, no matter what the weather or success. 



We took some part in the discussion as to what we had 

 better do, and decided to start the next morning and move 

 our camp some miles In a creek, where there was a big bog, 

 and where, as Ihe country round about was burned for miles, 

 and therefore open, so that we could see as far as we could 

 be heard, we thought we could do better still-hunting during 

 the dry weather when the leave.- Were so noisy. [ bad been 

 telling Aleck and Joe that if they would show either of us a 

 moose anywhere within a quarter of a mile we would kill it, 

 and not let it go fifty yards. While we were waiting for a 

 change of weather, each morning at, breakfast and each 



Joe, have patience; it is I who will kill the 'big buck,'" 

 which was what he called an old bull. "Wait until we get 

 to the burnt country. It is then that the glory will rest 

 with me. 1 shall kill' the old bull; seven feet, high! Joseph!" 



"Alaybe then when you shoot at him then you don't hit. 

 dam one, eh !" exclaimed Aleck, "fine time 1 was huntin' 

 out there an' 1 shoot at an' ole bull. Big buck! Big horns! 

 Great bigmoose! An' I shoot a lot of times, an' I couldn't 



:t him "down, an' then I had no more balls, an' I went up 

 maybe as far as this shanty," indicating its length by a 

 gesture.' 



"Why, you certainly ought to kill one that close, Aleck." 



"What!" Vou think 1 go any closer with just a little 

 hatchet? An' the moose was staudin' there" — moving his 

 hand to show how he pawed — "an' goin' ' 1 IW Wear an.' 

 all his hair turned up. I tell you I don't go any nearer to 

 him, an' I come away an' left 'him there iu the snow and 

 went away T off to a shanty and stayed all night. An' in the 

 morniu' a whole lot of moose had been there, an' the ole bull 

 was gone an' I never get him." 



This seemed to amuse .Ice, who evidently thought our re- 

 marks about shooting, when measured by I heir standards, 

 sounded like "blowing," so he suddenly began: 



"Once there was a man. Once there was a man. An' — 

 An' he was goin' — An' he was goin' with a lot of men. Ad' 

 they was all goin' into the hush; away up into the bush: 

 Temisosmingue! Keepawa! away up into the bush. An' 

 they was going to stay in a shanty aud cut logs in the bush 

 all 'winter. An' they was all goin' along. An' this man 

 had a gun, an' they was goin' along, an' this man In would 

 all the 'time tell thorn to show him a moose; an' he would 

 say 'they would show him a moose and then he would kill 

 it;' he would shoot the moose. So then they was goin' along 

 and they came to an old shanty, an' they stayed all night In 

 Ibe shanty, an' then in the mornin' they was startin' nut, 



an' there was snow on the ground, an' thev was all startin' 

 out, an' they was goin' by a pond, an' it was bog all along 

 the pond, an' they was all walkiu' along in the snow on this 

 bog. So Ihen they showed him the moose walkin' out of the 

 bush. Bigmoose' Old buck: Great big horns on film! 

 Walkin' out tin the bog. Three moose; five moose; whole 

 lot of moose; all walkin" out on the boa- iu the snow , An' 

 then the man he took his gun an' be went up by the moose, 

 an' thcY was all walkin' along in the snow, an* then he began 

 shootin' at the moose. ' 



"flow close did he get before lie shot, Joe?" Air. P. asked. 



"Oh! forty yards; fifty yards, maybe. Air then he began 

 shootin' at Ihe moose, an' he shoot four tunes, six limes, a 

 lot of times, an' the moose was all the time walkin' along ill 

 the snow. So then the moose was all gone, an' they had all 

 walked away. An' then the man he laid down his guij an' 

 he took his butcher knife ami he was guiim to cut the throat 

 of the moose — he had shot at the moose. So then be en me 

 up where the moose was all walkin' along iu the snow, and 

 then there wasn't, any moose, an' he didn't hit dam one!" 



"Thai is a pretty good slory , Joe." said [.smiling. "I 

 know one ihai begins almost the same way. Listen: Once 

 there was a man — imitating bis voice and' manner— and he 

 was going into the bush with another man to get a buo 1 at, a 

 mouse, am I be had two Indians going With him, loo. And 

 he was all the time asking about 1 be country, and where the 

 lakes were, and what they were like. And then if there were 

 mountains around a lake, Ihen he Would say he would go see 

 the lake. So one day he asked about a lake and it Was called 

 Cochou Lake, and he asked one of the Indians what kind of 

 banks the lake had, and he said, 'Mountains! Big moun- 

 tains! Big hi ah mountains!' So then the man weni, Io look 

 at the lake, mid he came to the lake aud looked for the 

 mountains, and then there weren't any mountains, at all. only 

 little bits ot hills. So then he came 'back and he told the 

 Indian, T did uof. understand you this morning. I I bought 

 you said "big mountains," but you must have said "pig moun- 

 tains.'' ' " 



Aleck grinned at this. "Eh, Joel What you think of 

 that? Pig mountains I Show us the Cochou Mountains, 

 Joe! Big mountains! High mountains' ' 



As a matter of fact I do nol believe Joe had ever been to 

 this lake; all be knew about it he had been told by AJcck, 



Own. Clay. 



Washington, fi, {'.. November, 1883. 



| TO HF. CONCLUDED.] 



EGEHIA PARK. 



stXHNri PAPBM. 



BEFORE we start for the hilltops let me tell you how 1 

 came tO be making this trip: as ii is one of' a chain of 

 interesting events which lead up to, and culminate iu, one of 

 the most frightful massacres ever perpetrated bv Indians; to 

 the death of a gallant officer of the United Slates Army, the 

 defeat of his command, aud to the final removal of tlie Ule 

 Indians from their beloved haunts iu the mountains of 

 Colorado. 



Gen. Ed. MeCook, then Governor of Colorado, bail made 

 arrangements with the Seven Tribes to meet in council at Ihr- 

 Southern, or "Los Pinos" Agency to discuss the treaty, by 

 which it. was proposed the't'tes' should cede tu the United 

 Slates that part of their immense "reset ? : sine i knots n a 

 the "San Juan country." Agents tvcresent out to summon 

 the different bands, and my own mission was to hunt up and 

 bring in the band then known a.s the "Rovers," under the 

 leadership of the notoi ions and since dreaded "Colorow." 

 My instructions were to bring the eulire band, if possible. 

 and if that could not be done, then to induce ten of their 

 "head men" to come to the grand council. I had with mn 

 an excellent, interpreter, Uriah, Mr. Curtis, and a frontiers 

 man named Jefferson, or "Jeff" Lee. Our outfit was a 

 stout cow-pony for each man aud two pack-horses well 

 laden with "grub," two pairs of blankets and a buffalo robe 

 apiece, and a canvas wagon sheet, double size. Of course 

 each had a good rifle— I a Remington, 41-77, knife and re 

 volver; and I carried what. I would recommend to all -ports 

 men iu this region, a good field glass 



At Hot Sulphur Springs, half way from Denver to Hie 

 Park, we found "Pi ah," a Mil- chief of the Km, is, and 

 "Black John," his half brother, who Spoke good EngUsh- 

 for a Ute. Our ride was uneventful, beyond the killing of a 

 gray old buck antelope at Muddy Creek, lill we struck. the 

 camp, where my last letter let! you, aud which was to be 

 the scene of my first real good hui'l in the Hocky Mountains. 

 Blacklail Creek forks just above where we had made camp; 

 the east fork rising, as 1 have Faid, but. a few hundred feel 

 west of the sourcehf Pass Creek. The west fork i 

 five miles further west, on the main ridge of the Gore, aud in 

 a cOEWtry of alternate glades, strips of pine forest and quak- 

 ing aspen thickets — one of the prettiest spots I ever saw for 

 still-hunting- It was for this ground that John and 1 

 "pointed." leaving Jell' to go down stream and "ketch a 

 handful of lish,"~as be expressed it, while the other two 

 went up the east fork, it is a good three-quarters of an 

 horn's climb to the lop of the first ridge, through tirsl dense 

 willows along the stream, then a thousand feet or so through 

 standing and over "down" pine; but when the top is reached 

 Ihe going is easy, and Ihe careful hunter may move almosl 

 ,s silently over the pine leal carpeted ground or along one of 

 he innumerable deer trails as a eat on a bouse cm-pel. (),,i 

 ascent to the summit was quickly made, for the Indian 

 seemed to know the ground, and I let him take the lend. 



On reaching Ihe crest he simply said. " l'ou stay here, 

 me go diS Way," pointing to the west, whence the wind 

 came, aud making a sweeping curve with his left hand, as 

 much as to say, "I'll surround the game aud give it the 

 'wind;' in running away from me it will come your way, 

 and you can shoot it." 1 took in bis meaning ami sat down 

 on a granite boulder. It seemed as though 1 had hardly got 

 seated when thump! thump! 1 heard the jumps, ot a stai 

 tied deer, and, coming straight toward me, with bead high 

 up and one eye over his shoulder, 1 s:.w a very large buck, 

 lie slopped "dead" within a hundred yards, turned his head 

 back for a moment, looked all round, dropped his nose io 

 the ground, and Ihen, as if satisfied that he was not pursued, 

 went to cropping the wild peas and doers' tongue that grew 

 ahundantly here. I waited till he was within sixty yank, 

 and broadside, when, from a knee rest aud with a most, de 

 liberate aim at the region of his heart, I fired. When the 

 gun cracked 1 think that buck jumped ten feet Straight to- 

 ward Ihe tree tops, and before he struck the ground 1 felt 

 for my knife, expecting that he would fall a bleeding car- 

 cass, and I would in the next fifteen minutes be on my way 

 back to camp with his hind quarters on my back. Well, lie 

 didn't comedown that way; he just lit square on hiafeet, 



