146 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(Sept. 21, ism, 



sel ami officer, lie was given buck his ocrtrooate and notified 

 that he was released on his own recognizance to appear be- 

 fore tb£ justice the noxl day It la presumable to think 

 i U.i ill.- l.-nrm-.l elignilarv and his Iricnds never expiated 

 * l t;ii Welch would appear the next dav before them, Ian he 

 did, rind hr.uahi bondsmen with him What ili.l tins 

 learned counsu] to the "Wesl Jersey" then do, but demand 

 th.-.i H tie paid him the Sam of ^4.70 as costs he would re- 

 lease him. This U ;is promptly paid, and t In- ease appealed 

 on the spot, anil il is to come io trial in the Camden ('...nt 

 in Ofitoher Tun Board m Directors of l&i New Jersey 

 Gromn and Fish Protective Society iinmediaten instructed 

 the counsel to the snoiety, Judge Win. 11. Kankin, of Jersey 

 City, to at once l0"k after the ease and see thai ii comes tip 

 from the calendar The socictywill pay all costs of the 

 ts.iit . \% liidi is in determine whether their certificates of 

 meuHJOTBhip do not cover II. e whole Slate. As (lie authori- 

 ties (?) of the ""West Jersey" have chosen to act in so un- 

 sportsmanlike a manner> the case will be carried to the 

 highei courts, if ii-t.-siit. for decision, The writer of 

 this recently visited Philadelphia and talked with many 

 members d( Che Wesl Jersey Society, who di-n.Minr.-il in 



StroUJ! terms Hi.- pioeeedii.g-'ol I li.-n ' sn.i.-l \ in Ihis nialt.-r. 



All non residents may r.-si assured thai the case will be 

 thoroughly v. iiiilnte.l in the courts. N. J. G. & F. P. S. 

 PjMD&BLD, \. J., Sept, 18. 1882. 



THE MUD-HEN, 



ol; . U.'IMKI. lillll). 



I^HE fowl called the niiid-h.-n is cither largely on the in 

 crease or has recently made its appearance in waters 

 heretofore never Visited by it. During a long residence ut 

 Vicksburg, Miss., l do not ceraember to havo seen one* or 

 to have heard ol' Ihcm until within lb.- la-i three years, 

 though up to that date- 1 took butlittle interest in yajnoe oi 

 hunting, yi i I <v.as about the lakes a greal deal during all 

 seasons of the year, and would most certainly have noticed 

 this queer fowl had they been about in any great numbers. 

 Xi.w they are to be im'i with ahruwl any where that ducks 

 congregate, cotuhig ahead of all oiin-r ducks in the lall. ev.n 

 the .lihiewingleal.'and being about ihe last to leave in the 

 Rpring. 



Last t'nll a party of four of us weal from here to a small. 



BfiflllOW lake near the little railroad town of Ashland, about 



eighteen miles distant, upon information that tin- take was 

 literally blaek with dinks. On arriving within sighl of the 



lake we felt that for once, at least, the facts bud nol I n 



exaggerated, toi it seemed to us thai ao less than ten thous- 

 and ducks were beforttus, and it was easy to conjure up m 



im&gjni i.i-j bag to each gun Before the doseofthe 



.l..\ . It is hardly necessary to fell ..t the shade of disappoint 

 nii-ni thai passed pvoroiii faces, and the [eelingsof disgust thai 

 tools possession of bs when oui driver informed us that 



what we saw were only mud hens. The water in ihis hike 

 WHS lull ot rushes here and there, with occasional clear 



pitches of about an acre in extent, with numerous musk- 

 rat mounds that reached to the highl of an average man's 

 armpits. Ihe water being aboul a loot and a hall tnlwo 

 fed in depth. 



OUr party deployed ahoU) among the mom ds. and each 

 took position near one of .them. Ducks were fairly abun- 



danl during the entire day. and until night brought. the pcr- 

 •i'orinaiiee Io a .-lose, t j nil i- a fu-ilade w:.s maintained. The 

 inn. I lens paid no in. .re ail. nli. hi In lb.- racket than, when 



too near the cause of it. to lazily rise just above the surface 

 of the water and go skimming along H with sprawling legs 



and .lab . I. mil again a hundred yard--. QT so av,a\. \ '. iry 



often tl.ey would swim up t.. the watchers at the mounds so 

 near that the color of Ihe eye could be detected, and many 

 ol them th:.l in their bolder flights misled the hunters on 



thai dark October (lay. fell splashing among the lull.- a! 

 the rep. nl of I In- guns. I remeiiibei that mv lirsi effoil at 



retrieving what 1 supposed lb be a pair of bluewing teal re- 



snlled in my linding one dead mud-hen and an, .tier badlj 

 wounded. w lib his head down among Ihe wce.l.- and Id's 



'bin.t parts" (one cau'l say |'tad") sticking above water. 



Ducks were coining in and going out at intervals during the 



entire day, but 1 do not think a single mud-hen sought other 



c, tors, although in the afternoon our party was largely 



recruited by local hunters, who aided us in keeping up the 

 uss. 



Three years ago I had my firs! direct introduction to the 

 mud-heu. A neighbored tnineal Vicksburg had, in Septem- 

 ber, before the advent of du.-k-. killed quite a number of 

 ' pecld. ..is," ;e. it is pronounced there, and gave me half a 

 iJ.i/i ii. saying I would lind them good eating, As he was. 

 u pi .a ttie'u in.le a fastidious person touching articles of diet— - 



albeit he had conic down to rats during a lime of short 

 rations while in the army and pronounced them nice — I look 

 hi- word for ii and had' the fowls cooked. I confess that 

 when I hey came upon lb- table lb, ii app.-aran.-e wa- nonetoo 

 tempting, and nol a member ol the family se.-mul to h.-inker 

 atter Iheiu. but the table not being supplied with other meat 

 or low I. I think every one tried a portion of the new dish. 

 Byway of encouraging the Others I ate a larger shareaban I 

 craved My recollection now- is that all of us were more or 

 less i. It soon after this feast, while my own stomach fell as 

 II1..114I. a dozen nasty mud-bens were wallowing around in it. 



l.a-.i wintej this same friend -who had been the trumpeter 

 for the virtues ol mud-hen, my nrotner and 1. went over to 

 some lakes in Louisiana, opposite Vicksburg. duck hunting. 

 reaching the main lake in a,..- afternoon in time to push out 

 bur decoys for the evening shoot. The baginaiag proved a 

 miserable failure. Near sundown, as this Friend and I stood 

 in our blind wailing for du.-k- thai never came, an army of 

 mud-hens began to swini by within easy range, and 1 Ihink 

 Ilnv were an hour in passing. As night d re sv near before 

 Hi.-' .avalea.le had gotten by. my friend killed one for our 

 supper. Mv hi-olle-i' got a black squirrel, and that consti- 

 tuted our bag f.'r the day. The mini hen was nicely skinned 

 and nicely broiled at our camp tin- by its advocate., my 

 fri. n.l. who ale most of il himself. I all none at all, a#d 

 mv brother, bavin g heard of the experience of the family 



oii thai former occasion, partook sparingly. During 



night our friend got awfully sick, and was up two or three 



lime- Tiie'n.M i -|iili!r be -aid we w mild have to i-xeu-e 



him from joining in (he hunt, Bui before we bad coffee 

 reads ihe mud hen had SO COmpletelj purged him lhal he 

 Boon came around all right, Since tJiail, however, he neither 

 cats nor recommends mud-hen, and I heard him over in 

 yicksburgi afterwards, telling some of the citizens there 

 11,1,1 in- baa a more appropriate name for the fowl, and would 

 thai it be named the "calomel bird." 



Thi- ua- i bv an article in the Koursr am> 



SfliKJUI, ol September ,. giving the mud hen "til:-, 'supple- 

 ment. d by a note bv the editor, in parentaesij, saying the 



author must have been mistaken, as he. the editor, had 

 found the abused bird a. very fair one for Ihe lable. Il is a 

 w.-ll known fad that taste-: differ, and it may be the mud- 

 hens of Mississippi are worse than those of other clinics, but 

 1 do know thai very few down there care to trv them the 

 second lime, the da'rkics e\,n mm. d up 1 heir noses at them. 

 I have seen i li.-ni banging up in the market stalls ill New 

 Oilcans, bul I uev.-r -aw any one buying them or taking 

 tin m away. I never heard of one being eaten in this lati- 

 tude. My honest conviction is that as a diet 1hey are 

 utterly worthless, Having tried mud-hen and not tried 

 .row. I would Choose crow if compelled to eat one or the 

 olhc r. I',i nil II. l'ou;. 



Lincoln, Nebraska. 



['. S, — Since writing the above I ban- read il to Mrs. P. 

 She corrects Die bV saving Ihftl 1 am mistaken about the ap- 

 p.-aran.-e of Hi., birds when they came upon the table al our 

 lioti-c thai in met Aunt Ann. The old cook, did them up so 

 nicely and they looked SO well and tasted s,, good to Mrs. P. 

 she ate beai lily ol I hem. enjoying the meal, bill she got sick 

 afterwards, and I don't think could be induced to trv Un- 

 did again. Ii. II. 'I' 



A COLORADO CAMP HUNT. 



I WAS awakened at dawn by the report of A l's double- 

 barrel cannon, and while I was rubbing my eyes 

 came York with a brace of ducks thai he had kitted" fi 

 near the door as they llcw past. Miguel was up, cooking 

 breakfast. SO I sent "York for the ponies, and dressing 

 went to ihe cr.-ek and wa-hed. When 1 came back break 

 fast was ready We ate and then saddled three horses 

 three of us wciit afoot. as half of the paily hail got io walk 

 all day, and started up the canyon lor our deer-drive, 

 Miguel going along, leaving ihe dogs chained at the door of 

 Ihe cabin to keep out skunks and strangers. 



The programme was that on getting out of the canyon 

 three should ride ahead a mile or so. and station themselves 

 where llic-v thought the deer would run. and the others then 

 hunt till they reached them. The canyon has a growth of 

 cedar and pinon on each bank of aboil! half a mil,- wide, 

 running parallel In the canvon. then conies the open prairie 



for miles. The de.-r are forcedto run through the cedars 



along the bluff or lh.y can't gel down into the canyon, and 

 don't like to run across open prairie. D.-arden carried his 

 shotgun, York mine, and ihev and Hi went ahead for the 

 firsl stand, while Ted. Miguel and I drove. I chose the 

 canyon edge. Ted ihe prairie side, and Miguel took the cen- 

 ter. We wailed ten minute- for the boys to get position, 

 and then worked slowlv down to them. " We cfid our pari 

 faithfully, bttl It was a dry haul. We all saw plenty of 

 de.-r signs but no deer. Miguel. Ted and 1 took the horse-- 

 and struck out. leaving Hi. York and Al Io drive. We 

 were in position in ten minutes, tied Ihe ponies out of reach 

 of bullets, and took our stands on Ihe south side of a little 

 glade that ran at right angles from the main canyon. The 

 I..... - were coming from the north. Ted stood at ihe lop of 

 the glade next io the prairie, Miguel next, I close to the 

 canyon on a knoll. After waiting a long cold hour, crack 

 went a rifle half a mil ■ olT, and Ihe ball came buzzing over 

 my head. I raised my gun and pointed it at a tree to -ec if 

 t could hold H steady, found thai 1 couldn'l. and glancing 

 al Miguel, who was thirty yards off, saw him doing tin- 

 same thing. In a minute I heard the rocks rattle, and an 

 old Hue k bounded into sight followed by three do -s, aiei 

 Stopped on Ihe hillside opposite Miguel. A second, in 

 Which 1 he.ald my breath, and crack went Miguel's old muz- 

 zle-loader, and the buck jumped high in the- air and fell 

 dead, with his neck broken bv a half ounce ball. 1 .-hoi ,.- 

 peatedry at the doe.-, but they dashed up the glade toward 

 Ted uidiarmed by me. and Ted bagged the largest of them 

 al twenty yards, 'with a hall clean through both" shoulders. 



In a minute along came a little buck, trailing a broken 

 hind leg, on the track of the deer, and I fired twice, missing 

 as be ran past me. and then ran for my horse and went for 

 him in earnest. He was forced to run across open prairie. 

 1 closed on him, and poking the muz/lc of inv gun against 

 hiiu.; roiled him over with a ball in the lungs. Trying my 

 excited pony to a tree near by, i disemboweled the aeel, 

 put him on the Saddle, and led the horse down to where the 

 boys had got the two others. Hi and the two other drivers 

 had reached them, and were admiring Miguel's buck, which 

 was without exception the finest deer 1 ever saw. It had per- 

 fe.-l antlers With six prongs. Hi was ihe one who had broken 

 the little buck's leg. It was running when he tired at. it. 



Hanging the deer in a tree Ihe drivers took the ponies and 

 rod.- oil', while T.-d. Miguel and 1 built a lire and got warm, 

 and then hunted down towards Ihe slanders, i skulked 

 along about half a mile, catching occasional glimpses of 

 Miguel and Tel through ihe cedar- 1 Crossed a Uttje glade, 

 and w hen I reached the summit of the opposite bank 1 saw 

 in the next glade a beautiful sight. Aboul T.'i yards from 

 me in the open glade six deer, two feeding, the others lying 

 clown, and all unconscious of my presence. 1 quietly sal 

 down, and r.-ling my elbow- on my knees upset a big doe 

 thai -lood broadside towards me, and ihe rest bounded oil a 

 few yards and stopped, being a clean miss, and oil' the\ went. 

 I ran down, knifed my deer, disemboweled when she had 

 finished bleeding, and "just then two reports came from a 

 distance down the canyon, unmistakably those <jf Ai's big 

 shotgun, followed by 1'ouT shots from Hi's riflo, then bang 

 bang again from Al. and I started on a trot for the scene of 

 action. I soon reached it. and there were three ot the deer 

 chad in a little glade, and the boys fixing them. Al had 

 killed one, Hi two, and the two others had escaped un- 

 banned. We built a big fire, broiled the livers, eat them, 

 got warm, then held a council of war. York wanted to 

 make another drive for he had not had a .shot , but it was 

 getting late, and we had a load for Ihe horses, so we slung 

 the deer onto them ami started for home. 1 was pretty cross 

 by the time we reached camp, for ilu- boys gave mean un- 

 merciful Chaffing aboul mv wretched shooting, but after a 

 drink from the keg I recovered my tamper, and we soon had 

 supper and settled down for the nighi. I occasionally have 

 day- like this when i! seems as if 1 coulcln'l hit a house at 

 40 yards, and thefi ..th.-r .lavs when I can kill deer or ante- 

 lope with perfect ease al a dead run. We each told Our 

 story of the day, then York asked T.-d to tell about his^id- 

 venture with the mountain lioness for Hi's benefit, and Ted, 

 ..-v.-r willing to oblige; commenced: 



A few mile- from I lech's r,inehe on the slope of the Raton 

 range U tie- mic in. a canyon, where 1 used to live. Thehuul- 

 ing is pretty fair in the spring the day after a fall of snow. 



One ruing o!e of il,.- ('... I.oys and 1 -larted OUt for a 



dav. -hunt and tooifc Opposite dire.-iioiis. each resolved to 

 beai the Other. I had a dog and wound my way Up and 



along the bills traveling Slow and keeping a good lookout for 

 game. 1 had gone, perhaps, five miles, wh.-n 1 come to a 



big patch of low brush about up to my shoulders and com- 

 menced skirling it, when I heard ihe 'liru-h crack and saw 

 indistinctly an animal leaping over the brush and coming 

 toward me. I imagined that" it was a deer and squatted 

 behind a bush expecting a good shot. It was a large moun- 

 tain lioness or cougar and had e-ome out forafight, sol made 

 a virtue of necessity and fired at iti It jumped high in the 

 air and came down howling, so I shot al it. again and turned 

 the dog loose. The lioness then retreated inlo the brush 

 while I made good time toward the ranch, scared worse than 

 Hi was with the hear 1 reckon. The next day four of us 

 went up on horses with a lot of dogs and turned thein loose 

 at the edge of the brush and soon heard a Ircin.-ndoii- row at 

 the other edge. Dashing around there we found ihe lioness 

 at bay fightingthe dogs like a lieurt. She could nol run, a- 

 she was broken down in the loins by my shot of the night 

 before, but she could strike with her forefeet and knocked 

 over every dog that came within her reach. She would not 

 notice us as we came? up but kepi cm lighting the dogs. \\> 

 all rode back about 100 yards, dismounted, tied our horses 

 securely, and taking good aim fired a volley at. her head. 

 Every man hit the mark and her death was instant. 



The dogs commenced worrying the carcass and we 

 mounted our horses and rod.- cautiously into the brush as we 

 did not know but lhal We might find anot hea-, and sure 

 enough we did — two of them, bul they were- link- ones — cubs 

 of about six weeks old, aboul as big as a tomcat aud savage 

 as demons. We caught them in a little while- by one man 

 putting a forked stick on their necks while ihe others lied 

 them. Took the carcass of the lioness and ih L - two live cubs 

 home, and some Mexicans asked us for the meat of ttio lion- 

 ess. Wo gave il to them and the w retches said it was good. 

 It did Io ,k nice and while, hut 1 didn't t.i-i. il When we 

 reached home we chained ill'- cub- up to two kennels and 

 fed them. They ale milk and meat greedily, aud became 

 very tame. Coe gr.-w -tired of them, and sold them to a 

 saloonkeeper in Trinidad for $10 a piece. He sent them 

 East and got $7.") for them, and now F.nrnum has them. 

 •■There, that's all. "said Ted, "now I'm dry." The keg 

 wenl round, and Hi remarked that last winter lie killed a- 

 cougar and ate tin; hind quarters, and it proved to be nice 

 meat. He then began running through a lisl of frontier 

 deiicaeies, mountaiu wolf cubs, skunk." rattlesnakes, beaver's 

 tails, etc.. til! we nil rebelled and made him quit and go to- 

 lled. 



The wind rose in the night blowing from the east, and 

 the snow commenced falling. When we rose at daybreak 

 W8 -aw thai hunting was out of the question, SO we fed the 

 shivering horses double ralioiis of corn, and sal around the 

 lire all day mending saddles, playing-cards and longing for 

 it to clear .off. We bad a fancy dinner al sundown, cooked 

 by your obedi.nl servant, consisting of venison roast, venison 

 stewed, roast du.-k stuffed with potatoes, fried green corn, 



fried potatoes, pi.kl.-d onions, colf.-e. tea. -ugar, biscuit, ami 

 butter, condensed milk and canned p-aclie-. How is that 

 for a bill of fare 100 miles from the nearest Store? 



The next day was very cold with a high wind, but Hi and 

 Ted were out all day. Ted killed a deer al long range and 

 Hi wenl towards the big prairie on Ihe east side of the 

 canyon and found thai t licr storm had driven thcttBtolbpeS in 

 by hundreds from the big prairie. II. shot ai several bul 

 cMd nol kill any, and came home in great glee al the prospect 

 of an antelope mini the nc-xi day. Running antelope is Ihe 

 only thing I cvertry to heal Hi it. bin I can makehim work 

 to keep even with me then.-, so I fell very pleasant at the 

 prospect of an antelope run. At daybreak nexl morning I 

 was up and out hunting the horses, bul nol a horse could I 

 find. Hi- mar.- wa- tied up, iuckiiy. aud so 1 came to camp 

 in about an hour and sent York oil to follow the trail em the 

 mare. Hi came in at 8 or 4 P. M. with them all. found 

 them on the roa I home. BO We picketed them, and the next 

 morning made an early start to:- the big prairie, sending 

 Miguel uo the catiybn with the empty wagon to come 

 after us and get the game that we killed. 



We five led our horses up the steep path out of the canyon, 

 and riding to the top of a liit.le mound we saw a sight that 

 do.- a mini. a good to even look at. There, in the" rays of 

 the ri-ing sun, stretched the billowy prairie for miles, extend- 

 ing further than the eye could reach, and literally covered 

 withherdsof antelope, ifullv lielicvelhal there were five hun- 

 dred in sight from that mound. The modus operandi of 

 hunting antelope horseback is to lide in ahead of a bunch up 

 wind, and when ihvy try to run past you jump off your 

 horse and shoot al them running as many times as you can. 

 Every man forgot his friends then. Hi rode- off slowly with 

 out a* word. I struck out alone, and the rest did. loo, i guess. 

 I rode up a hollow- and headed a bunch, ran my horse about 

 three hundred yards, jumped off as a big old buck, followed 

 by forty or fifty more, came whizzing past me, and com- 

 menced shooting; and now I can't fell you anyiliiiur more 

 distinctly oi that day'ssporl. I shot and" killed' I crippled, 

 I slabbed and disciiibowelcd. I ran my lior.-e down. I ran 

 myself down, and finally shot away all the cartridges I bad 

 out there on the prairie and had to stop al about 1 o'clock. 

 Then 1 wenl to the wagon and commenced gathering the 

 dead. York and Ted had come to- the wagon and had got 

 my dogs and were catching wounded antelope, aud Hi and 

 Ai were eating liver. Wc'went into camp lliat night with 

 twenty-six antelope between us, all of lis half dead with 

 fatigue, the horses worse. 



Of ihe events of llie succeeding day 1 know nothing prior 

 to 3 o'clock P. M., for I slept like a log. When I did get 

 up 1 eat and wenl to work breaking up deer aud antelope 

 and enveloping the hindquarters in the skin to take home. 

 While eating suppci Hi proposed io go up to ihe turkey- 

 roost in Cottonwood caiiy.in.whichTed had found some days 

 before. We were all rested and so assented. The moon 

 would rise at !), and SO there was plenty of time as we didn't 

 want to gel there till we could sea pretty w. II. So we tied 

 up the norses and waited I ill about s 1'. M.. and then rode 

 u]> the canvon. 1 1 is a lonely place in the day. but in the 

 night— whew!— ii'stlieeloumirsi.uneannicst place I ever -,:w . 

 A lide of two miles and we had got within a quart-, i •■( ii 

 mile of the roost, and hitching our horses, built a lire and 

 waited till the moon lose. When it got light we went 

 creeping up to the roost afoot. 



Al had his shotgun. I mine, and Ihe- re.-l rifles. The turkeys, 

 roosted in s.-w-ra! tree- thai gr.-w close together, and I should 

 say thai therewere aboui .'ighty in fho gang. We crepj 

 within about twenty yards of the trees; .-ae-ii picked our 

 biiris and tired at the- word. The turkeys thai were hit 

 cam.- down. seven in number, the others llcw in all din etions, 

 and we saw lliem no more, for we were satisfied and went 

 back to camp. 



The next morning every one wanted to go home, and 

 packing the wagons w-e started. Al's wagon, crowned by 

 Miguel's big buck entire., my wagon with my little buck and 



