122 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I'Sei-t. 14, 1882. 



ADIRONDACK SURVEY NOTM. 

 ME. — THE TIBER qUE8TI05r. 

 I FIND thai my sixth paper, which treated of killing 

 deer out of season, has been very well received, and I atn 

 tempted tn express some other yiows wliii h, while believing 

 that they will not be as palatalile to all as- the torraerones, still 

 :ov opinions which I entertain., and 1 see no good reason for 

 withholding t.hiMi through tear of their unpopularity, This 

 WOUld appear to me to be a cowardly course, and (medic- 

 ated by fear or adverse criticism, and if (hose who lake 

 ,ssue mi lliis poinl will only -land up aud maintain their 

 point in Fokesi anb Stream and prm e I hat. I he opinions 

 are all wrong. 1 will 1ind no finill, and ('Veil may be con- 

 verted. 



Peer in (he Adirondiicks are mainly killed in summer by 

 "floating" or hre-hiinting them at night in & boat. In Hie 

 iiutumu theynre minted with hounds (except in SI. Lawrence 

 county, where it is forbidden), and still hunted to a very 

 limited extent. In l.li,' winter they ure killed by erust 

 Hunting, a mode which is unlawful. Floating for deer is 

 Hie must popular mode wilh both guides anil sportsmen, and 

 It is one of Hip laziest and unsportsmanlike of tnetliodS. 

 Lazy because it involves no exercise iif the body which sits 

 in the canoe watching for the eyes of a deer to shine up from 

 >:' Hie jack in the bow, and unsportsmanlike be- 

 cause the animal stands in a dreamy sort of way wondering 

 what the light means \\ hicli apprnaehe,- its feeding grounds 

 among Hie lily pads. Added lo this, it is often murdered 

 with a charge of buckshot from a heavy fowling gnu. I 

 have said "murdered" deliberately, and will stick to that 

 part of it at all hazards, and would like to see ii made un- 

 lawful to use buckshot on a deer at. any time, 



My idea of Shooting for Bporl is that the game must have 

 a ChariCC for its life, and that some skill should be required 

 in the killing of it. Nor do 1 believe m killing a swimming 

 deer by any means; let the animal get on it- legs, at least. 

 There arc two methods of deer shooting to which no objec- 

 tion can be made; one is ay slill-huntiug when lie re is no 

 crust on the snow toeut their legs, and the other is to take a 

 shot while tic animal is before the hounds. The last. w , 

 jmJir.. is the highest style of sport and develops skill that its 

 possessor may be proud of. The question of hounding versus 

 still-hunting has been argued pro and eon in many ways, and 

 thegenl-lenieii of the Michigan Sportsmen's Association are 

 undoubtedly COrrecl in saying that it is the best mode of 

 keeping up the stock, and that one good still-hunter will 

 kill more deer in a month than a party of six can wilh 

 hounds, and Ihal the deer do not tear Hie dogs i„ they do 

 men. To st ll-hunl requires much knowledge of the woods 

 and of tne habits of deer, hence old woodsmen prefer il as 

 the most, certain. It develops manly qualities, brings health 

 and muscle, and inures the body to fatigue, while it calls 

 forth the exercise of the brain to circumvent an animal at 

 once swift and wary. To kill a deer before the hounds re- 

 quires paHenei. watchfulness, a quick shot aud steady 

 nerve--. These qualities are those of Hie highest sportsman- 

 ship, but are not developed by floating or by killing a deer 

 which ha.- been run to water and is swimming for life, 

 thereby becoming an easy prey to the man who has cart- 



Our young men who go to the woods are loo luxurious; 

 and seem disinclined either to exert themselves or to seek 

 more dangerous game than the deer. If they can lie in 

 camp all day and at sundown step into a boat and lie pad 

 died up an inlel where the deer feed and kill one. iu au hour 

 or two Hey an- perfectly satisfied with the so-called sport, 

 ami return home without having wasted a drop of perspira- 

 tion and think themselves heroes. If a man wants meal this 

 is the easiest way to get it, bill dou'l. O don't, term it sport. 

 To my young friend going into the woods for the season, I 

 would say: Xever kill a deer out of season, nor while you 

 have plenty of venison iu camp; never kill one while swim 

 ming. and never allow yourself to get behind a jack light 

 any more than you would set a trap or a, spring gun to mur- 

 der one. Kill your deer either by slill-huntiug. where your 

 intelligence is pitted against that of your game, 

 or shoot it fairly before the dogs. Follow these rules 

 and you will learn to respect the qualities which will be de- 

 veloped in you, no matter if you do not have the numbers to 

 boast of which those have who pursue 'he more effeminate 

 methods. 



Deer are more plentiful this year than in many years, a 

 fact which is largely credited to a better observance of the 

 law, and which I incline to believ to be the true reason. 

 The guides are awakening to the fact thai if the woods arc full 

 of deer H means business for them, and they are entering 

 into the spirit of game protection, and certainly no more 

 powerful aid can lie given than their cordial support of the 



ion of the game upon which 

 joil so largely depends. Some guides have, to 

 be it said, given information to the game pro- 

 ien who have opened the season on i heir own 

 1 have had them lined; and when this becomes 

 to bS a general custom throughout the Adirondacks tie- deer 

 will swarm on the hills as before and the sportsmen will 

 leave more hard cash among the hotels and guides than 

 thrice the market value of all the venison killed. F. M. 



law whi 

 their b'vel 

 their bon, 



lectors of 

 account, i 



Attextion is Called to the advertising pages of this 

 journal. All the principal sportsmen's goods dealers of this 

 country are there represented. 



"Che fyortsn\<m §ouri$t. 



A WAR HORSE. 



OY A. >iti.:e. 



"(JHKhK, was you in the war?" "1 w< 



~ joined the cavalry first, but they 



knew something about woods and paths a'ri 



3 in the scouts. I 

 ound out that I 

 sich. and put me 

 ice, though there 



into the scouts.' I can't say I liked the 



was good pints about it. A'lntui could g< 



he pleased SO he kepi to a general line of country, aud of 



course this liberty was verv agreeable to me, but then I never 



could gel used to the idea of soldierin' without a gun.' 1 



"Why, didn't scouts have guns?" 



"Nary gun. li was even agin orders to carry a. six-shooter, 

 though most Of us did it. But you see our business was to 



run and not tight, and if was best to keep out of temptation. 

 When a fellow had no Weapons he had lo run, while if armed 

 be was always b. -in' tempted lo do some bushwhacking on 

 his own account. The Lord know 



camp on both sides of the road, and made a little plan accord- 

 ingly. So about 9 o'clock when everything was quiet 1 got 

 up close to the pickets and put spurs to iny horse full tilt 

 down the road yelling, 'Whoa! whoa! slop that horse!" us 

 loud as I could talk it out. Well, there was the very mis- 



chief to pav. Lot 

 and howling, soar 

 halt!'— bosses brea 

 cussin' ami damuii 

 And me lyiue' Hat 

 wli 



if Y::nleesl 

 I to death — pic 

 ing loose and 

 , 'Why don't vc. 

 i old Ball, and' sj 



road — run i 



ts shouting, 'Halt- 

 ighmg — the colonel a 



ketch that hUSST 



ing and a shouting 

 ■ver did 



,nd nam 

 >\No- 



anoll 



d iff el 



ginerals and colonels 1 mought hn 



done 1 1 , But it would have interfer, 



information, and to supply lhat al 



"You must have had some adve 



"Will, 1 don't know thai they 



lull 1 seed several things along do 



"One time 1 jest dropped into si 



North Mississippi, and hearing th 



.viih'cT.. 



if I had only 

 eneral getting 



e was our business.' 



ires, though." 



mounted to 'hat much, 



g of the war. 



per at a friend', house in 



family in (be parlor 1 



walked right .n. There was nobody there but women, aud 

 they were looking mighty flustered about .something. They 

 were red-hot Union folks, but good friends of niine. and 

 many a good point had I go! by a sociable chat with them 

 simple women. So 1 didn't mind their disturbed looks much, 

 but arfer passing the time of day and sich like I flopped down 

 onto the sofy as natural as life.' 



" 'Oh! Don't sit. on that uncomfortable thing-Mr. McP.— ," 

 they all squealed together. 



•"[)'. occupy the chair,' said the mother getting up out of 

 the rocker. 



•' 'Or maybe this would be more preferable to you. said 

 one of the gals, bringing up her little chair. 



" 'Why, I wouldn't take yer chairs for the world, ladies', 

 I protested, and begged them to believe that most anv sofy 

 Were softer than a saddle. 



"Well, we had a reglar dispute about il. and one little miss 

 about sixteen sin- come and got hold of me and wanted to 

 pidl me up anvhow. I laughexl and got about half war 

 riz. when her hold slipped and down I come again with a 

 bump. And somebody grunted 'Good God'! and Ihe women 

 broke for other parts. 



"'Hello.' se/.l. 'what's that?' 



" 'It's me!' said a tine voice away down Qnder the sofy. 

 And, by hokey, there was a Yankee Major that had come 1 

 over to see the gals and hid under the sofy. But he was too. I 

 fat under the circingle by about six inches and the sofy just, 

 rested on him instead ol the floor, and my cavortin' and 

 bumping had been on him altogether." 



"Did you capture him, Shelbv" 



"Thunder, no. We never captured nobody without 

 orders. I pulled him out and we all had a good laugh to- 

 gether, and a good supper besides. Though I won't say 

 that I didn't get some points out of him, for that wa-'mv busi- 

 ness. But we parted friends, and he sent, me afterward " 



life. I'm blessed if 1 believe they 

 did it!" 

 I should say thai camp must have bad very poor pickets 

 "Is," said i. 



that's just it," said old Shelb. "What yOU read 

 i tactics is one thing, what the officers' order 

 and what is actually done is the very last and most 

 . Wo scouts soon 'found out that it was almost 

 lein the enemy's camp than out of it and eas-v 

 enough to get there if you tried. It die! seem to me that if 

 the big officers had known as much as we did. or would 

 have believed u- when we told ihem, lhat war would have 

 been a very different arfair. f firmly believe that the draws 

 'hi, :, in ill! wars is in Hie Generals getting skeared of each 

 other. They are like two pinter dogs Tom S — uses; some- 

 times they pint each other by mistake and thar they stand, 

 looking and a feared to stir until sornebodv comes up and sivi 

 them a kick to move 'em. Them hidi-blood dogs and seien- 

 tine Generals stand waiting while one of my old cur fighters 

 or a common man would rim in and see what was what " 

 "But yon must have been very lucky to escape so often?" 

 "Lucky is, may be. Ihe right word fork, though I hardly 

 spell it that way." My idee ot luck is in a man keeping his 

 eyes and ears open and Ids brains ready for business on the 

 jump. One time I was ketched by some Federal cavalry, 

 aud as I was their only prisoner there was a poor show for 



of 'ei 

 rode 



However, I rode along in the very middle 



, joking^ laughing and making the best of it until we 



"s a. bit, for a noon halt. This was on 



h banks and a smart chance of bushes 



from whar I was I saw the biggest 



nest in a bush, audi begin to* feel 



ito the 



;k with pretty I: 



about. About ten f. 



kind of it ball borne; 



idees creeping all ovt 



[kept sidling aron 



when all hands happ 

 and hit that ball a tn 

 had. Good lord, how II 

 bosses and men of that 



until I got close up to the nest, and 



ed to not be looking my way, I up 



tnjous lick with a big riding switch I 



i insex did circulate among the 



ipany. Thar was about a hu 



dred of the cavalry, but in two minutes thar seemed to be a 

 thousand. Every boss seemed to think he ought to have, 

 been born a centerpede and was trying to make up the mis- 

 take now. Some run, some backed into the creek ker-slosh, i 

 some laid down and rolled over, but eviiy one was a-buok- 

 jumpin' all the time and all he knew how. About a dozen I 

 lit on me and my old mare and we went to dead plain run- 

 ning! I threw away the switch, and just held on to the 

 mane. The hornets give me the devil, but I got away." 



A TEXAS RIVER. 



IHAYE a theme or subject here which I wish to suggest 

 to some poet who will utilize it in the proper way. It is 



the 



lMai 

 •outtdings, 



' through the lines, with i 

 o near.' " 

 ■aptured?" 



word 



The river is- all poetry, and so are all 



It reflects poetry, and poet ry is reflected 



upon it. As it rises out of the earth iu the grand fountain 



and moves along among the lilv pads, ten to sixty feet 



deep, with stately and majestic step, if acts poetry; 



often it has escaped the deep pool and moves murmuring , 



but r always got awar by one means or J$* the stony bed -. it Sings poetry whose numbers may be l 



..„ -l... v.,„i.., ™.,i.i i„ Zw ......... 4..1....... .., distinguished by the dullest ear. Let some poet capture the I 



poetry lhat it acts, and the poetry that it sings, puttii w 

 sometimes in a soft, low mellifluous vers-, and sometimes in 

 a grand outburst of song in rapid numbers, He need not i 

 write anything after that, for be will be immortal. The-, 

 river will give him tie poetry and the numbers; he need only 

 put i1 iu the right: words. Translate this poet faithfully, 

 and the poet who does it will place himself among the stars 

 forever. Let him picture a beautiful water nymph, crowned 

 with flowers and sparkling with gems, rising'out of a foun- 

 tain so bright that it may scarcely be called earthly, singing 

 u in the sweetest numbers' of whence she came— from the pro- 1 

 m tackled him, and sure enough he ' found grottoes in the earth; then let him picture her as she 

 Some- t ghdes gracefully over the fountain; then as she enters the 



ne meerschaum pit. 



on it: 'Sofa and vc 



"Did you never as 



"Oh. yes, of t 

 another. Sometimes the Yank's would look father jubius at 

 me and begin to tall; about spies. But lhad on my uniform 

 and regular orders in the pocket, so they couldn't' say any- 

 thmgniore. As for pure lyiu' I always believed that was 

 one of the arts „f war. aud indulged liberally whenever my 

 position required it. One time 1 was ketched in a way "l 

 never heered of before. Y'ou see I was always fond of hoss- 

 tlesii, and during my leisure hours 1 had nothing to do but 

 get up boss races among I he boys and trade around generally. 

 Well, one time a fellow came along with a rattling pony 

 that was a beauty, sure. He said he was a natural pacer 

 aud could outpace any boss in the world. So all the pacin 

 stock in Forrest's di *' 

 gol away with every cent we put up on our hosse 



Hav 



e not 



h-w that peny got int; my mind until Tw.ts ju.it irtzvto { pM* 1 ^ andgcej aancing awey pith th' focm, 



own him. So 1 traded for him at big flgures, and rode off J ^repoelTy for you. O. poet?. It 1 were a poet myseltl 



>enl out. 



tvith a party toward tb* 

 unexpected, and pretty 



pioud as a peacock, 

 -in a day or two l 

 Yankees. 'They com 

 soon it got to lie a question of 

 we had to run like I he deviL 

 and thar I was, Yankees a-eomin 



a-yclling. my men running half a mile ahead, and me a did- 

 dling along on that cussed pony whipping, spurring and 

 cussin' all I knew how, and the pony doing his best, but he 

 couldn't break his pace. He was a natural pacer, sure 

 3 couldn't go another gait. 



would not' betray to others this beautiful subject; 1 would 

 cherish it nntil the work was done at my hands. But, alas, 

 I am no poet. I am only a wandering gentleman tramp, with 

 ithetic taste, to whom such high walks are forbidden, 

 cause of wit 

 hem the 

 nymph of San Marcos and her song and play. When you 

 write your fine poetry think of liini who gave you the cue. 



This river is a ver}' remarkable one. About a mile above 

 the town of San Marcos, on the Internationa] Railroad, it 

 suddenly out of the earth in one great, grand outburst 



speed with us. in other words so™ , ' ' : - to^Uom SucU Wgn walks are tor 



Off went, evervbodv but me li: ' 1 ' n I ( ' aanot Be Wlttv myself, I will "be the caust 

 nin up like,, ail shootin' audi l^SS^&S^rSSS^ L^ti !TLr\^ 



enough and couldn t go another "ah nam buumkwj yu* «*» >"c e.n.u , u ...x^ s .i»i, & . ui ,.* ^..j....... 



tff -up* Hi. Pea." i-ril picked ne and the pacer up like of sparkiing wat?r, and moves ^wav fr:.m this lot ntau- | 

 we was a sittiu' down ' I col away in -t iiMit or two mil 1 full-fledged river from the start. Just where it gush. supfrom 

 w, , i* ' , ,.,,„,. • B • ' Hie subterranean depths, it comes with such force that one 

 itu one p.ieei. , • -,•_.„_ .,,.,, .... „.,»*„,„„ .o,,. 



hep 



"Didn't the Federals have their scouts, ton':" 

 "1 suppose they must But, they werenot like ours, for 

 certain ; because ' being in a friendly country we could go 

 unarmed 1 anywhere, and get all the information the people 

 had. while a blue uniform straying about was very quickly 

 picked up by somebody. So their scouts must have been 

 almost if not altogether s'pies — that is without their uniform, 

 and going concealed. 



"Did you have any regular system in your operations or 

 every man go on his'own hi 



jften sees cones of water-dancing about on the surface like 

 lunatics. They dance and dance until they sink away ex- 

 hausted or burst to pieces in their mad joy. it is a peculiar 

 sight, forsooth. The spring or great pool at the head of the 

 river is about a mile in length, and often several hundred 

 yards in width, a little lake of unsurpassed beauty. In some 

 places it is said to be 60 feet deep, and yet the waters are so 

 bright and pure that one can see the bottom as in a mirror, 

 and count the glittering pel ibles. Water lilies with gigantic 

 leaves grow everywhere except in the deepest places, and it 



every nam -' , , ' ,. , .ioojt: : , ,. ^r . , * ■; — ; , — =■,-, , u j -u -i ..• 



"VVhv. we couldn't have von a week without a verv rigid h delightful to see ttre fishes-black bass and perch-dartmg 

 system' Sunno-e for insiauee lhl ,;,.,,,, , ,, ,...„! aud glittering among these. Besides these, you may see blue 

 or r ei- at "' rt'iin . v, dn s ,,« know w ere Hie " fats leisurely moving about, as if in a high state of easy con- 

 qu.ui.is ai a i jit din town ana; wisnexi to Know wnere uii. j wo,™ *> ,««« m™ nf «nrVnr« 



Well, now spread 



you gel an idea how we worked, 

 on separate roads, all leading tt 

 greater or less interval five more 

 the nails and joints of 

 scout. In i 



.ut y^onr fingers 'vide and 



First, say live mm started 



ward the " enemy. After a 



vere sent out, and so until 



•eseuted each by a 



r was extended' to 



iporfant cases this sys 

 any stretch ot country and any number of men. 



"As soon as one of the first men discovered anything he 

 dropped back, told the second and returned to his road. 

 And so the news was rapidly curried to the< General. Among 

 so many some one was sure to find out what was wanted. 

 One time, without knowing it, I had got entirely oehind a 

 Federal force out On a raid. And how" to pet back I did hot 

 know, finally in despair, 1 deturminei/ to run through 

 them, 



tentment, and on the bottom a graceful race of suckers 

 maneuvering like armies in regular file. The fountain breaks 



forth at the foot of a rugged, lofty hill, but covered with live 

 oak, elm and a wild entanglement of grape vines, loaded 

 with purple grapes in their season. It is delicious to bathe 

 in the great head fountain even in mid winter. The moun- 

 tain that rises above it to the north is good protection should 

 a blue-nose Texas norther whistle up at the time of the 

 bath. There is no winter here except when the norther is 

 blowing. N. A. T. 



San Marcos, Texas. 



Notwithstanding that the Forest and Stream has 

 been permanently enlarged to twenty-eight pages, the sub-i 

 Ik'i'ew'they^woiTla'be sure 'trTjusi. drop"down and | scriptton price remains the same as before. 



