266 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|iN.v,. 3, issa. 



%<i$ m\d 



Open Seasons. — See table of open seasons for game and. >!*h 



in wave of My 20. 



THE MOOSE CALLERS. 

 X\/ 1TH sprilli'y gnit and hopeful l.rerist. 



Two men mid n boy start, for the west; 

 With gun in hand and rack on bank, 

 Ana pom and pork rtowad ma sack: 

 To call u]. moose at break of day 

 Rrom nUetn baCTaga fa) dwy. 

 wiir; coaxing notee and lovesick tones, 



Thrills tin- bull to ins marrow lumps. 

 In ie iky tent nod dripping dress. 

 n sic with u boy. and bless 

 The ram that falls, [behind fl>,it blows, 

 And Uy tu dry their soaking clothes. 

 The me fizzles and will not own, 

 li m they squirm anil twist and turn. 

 Trying to dodge the smoke tie t flies 

 ■With blinding fury in their eyes. 



With hated breath at break of morn, 

 Iv o rata and a boy. with a horn, 

 Call for a moose, gallant and guy, 

 "Come t -j in.?, dai liiifr, rome, I pray." 

 For maiden moose, though shy and coy, 

 Always woo first, too-voy-ton-voy. 

 "Come and -.-o w hat a loving cow 

 tea iking this internal row." 

 With haggard mien and downcast eye, 

 Two men and a boy sadly fry 

 The salted pork ami batter raised 

 cy "Ttoyar powder, .-o much praised. 

 Slim fare have thpj for knife and fork, 

 Their cake Is dough, then venison, pork— 

 The bull a courting never came. 

 Suspecting no doubt "their little game." 

 ■With footsore tread and fallen crest, 

 Two men aud a I oy came from the west, 

 Their Hour is spent, their pork all fried, 

 To call a moose their best they tried; 

 With birchen horn they called too »',,//, 

 1 ' : Tiie, my dt ar, do come, my boy.' 1 

 "Not for Joseph," he said, and lied, 

 "Hot with that sort of cow 1 wed." 



GUNNING FOR GROUSE. 



HV PATTL T'ASTNOR. 



THE dayshaveoomewl.cn the modem Nirurod cannot 

 be kept in town. His eyes fall upon his gun in its 

 chamois ease, stretched royally between the antlers of its 

 tirst and noblest victim) and llie conviction bursts upon liirn 

 that he ought to go afield. Upon careful reflection and 

 balancing of pro* and rem*, he makes up ins mind that, as he 

 has but u few days to spore, he will go grouse shooting, He is 

 not in condition to undergo the hardships and fatigues of an- 

 other deer hunt, and il is getting too cold to camp in the 

 mountains. What he needs, and what he therefore desires. 

 is a, judicious admixture ol'eivilized comfort and invigorating 

 field sport, ft rouse shooting is just the thing. It may be 

 enjoyed within easy teach Of the amenities of life. It does 

 not demand undue exposure or overexertion. And, above 

 all, it is sport Hint tries the quality of a man's physical 

 energy. There is something fine about il . it is a gentleman's 

 sport, Almost anj coarse-grained sort bf a fellow can paddle 

 out to a deer Struggling in the water, with the dog clinging 

 to its haunches, and pour a couple of barrels of murderous 

 buckshot into the poor animal's head; but to stand alert, 

 alive, behind :l Staunch setter; and arrest the swift mottled 

 cock, as he springs like an arrow from his covert— this is 

 something which requires a liner organization. It is very 

 seldom that your deliberate deer-slayer is a good shot upon 

 the wing. He can snip oil' the head' of a "pa'lridge" with 

 his rifle at twenty rods, perhaps, but ho is willing to acknowl- 

 edge that the mysteries of aerial shooting pass ids ken. 



(Jrouse shooting is essentially an aristocratic sport. It 

 exists, in ii, idea] perfection, in England, but we have it in 

 its practical perfection her.- in America. There has grown 

 to be too much artificiality about the sport in England. The 

 grouse themselves arc fairly bred to the gun there. They 

 are too tame. They have lost the magnificent gaminess of 

 the natural bird. But here we combine the fair, manly, 

 almost ehivalric method of the English sportsman with the 

 best natural condition of the game. Consequently there can 

 be no finer sport in the world than gunning for' grouse, in 

 the fail of the year, on our highlands aud mountains. The 

 autumn season itself is delightful. To merely be afield with 

 one's dog and gun in so bracing an atmosphere, under so 

 superb a sky, in the midst of such glorious scenery as our 

 autumn hills and valleys afford, is enough to fill the heart of 

 the true Nimrod — who, by necessity, must be also a lover of 

 nature — with the purest enjoyment. Add to this the ro- 

 mance of the sport which he is pursuing, its almost intoxi- 

 cating exhilaration, the satisfaction which grows with a 

 growing hag, and ceases with a full one; the pleasure 

 of feeling the "insidious approaches" of a mighty 

 appetite; the sense of gaining muscular vigor mid activity 

 with each step— and who can wonder at the sportsman's 

 true love for gun and dog, and his delight when the keen 

 autumn air tells him that the. leaves arc tailing and that the 

 covers are in prime condition for his purpose? 



Let us, then, take the season at its height, and away to 

 some quite mountain hamlet in New England— wherever 

 you choose — provided it he not too plerilcously infested with 

 t-ue mighty local "111111101'" and his dog of anonymous origin. 

 Let us suppose that wo are safely domiciled, * with Nimrod 

 and his setter, at a neat village inn among the New Hamp- 

 shire hills. What an immense relief it is to sally out on the 

 porch — "vernndy" in the palvi* of mine host — without a 

 aire or a single demand upon one's time, aud tilt back against 

 the wall-, and smoke an after supper cigar with the best of 

 friends. What an invigorulion, to drink in the mountain 

 air, and sniff, on the da rip o.or-gathermg wings of the breeze 

 that comes after the stars, the bewitching savor of pine 

 coverts and bank-, of decay lug tern, lav, rite hiding places of 

 the wary grouse' Dreams too pleasant to be fixed in memory 

 visit the catch of the expectant sportsman, as he retires for 

 the night, and yet, when the trusty landlord comes at 5 

 o'clock to wake us up, Nimrod is loading shells, and that 



gentle personality which includes the reader, and shall be 

 designated irrespectively as "we" and "I" are engaged with 

 equal dili ence in oiling and putting into shape his" beloved 

 breech-loader. 



"Breakfast is ready, when you are!" cries mine host, a 

 jovial and familiar and withal a good fellow, with a heart 

 too big to run in the little fllagreed moulds of conventional 

 formality, All men are "hoys" to him. and lie dees not 

 resent being thought the most youthful of them all. We 

 follow him down to the pleasant little dining room; with its 

 well polished windows just brightened by the morning sun, 

 and enjoy a foretaste of the delights to come in the shape, of 

 some delicious bits of broiled grouse. While we arc eating, 

 our host gives us an account of the slaughterof the innocents 



"Yesterday" (quoth he) "Ham Ma'sh come up from the 

 lower road with that dark curly span'l of his'n (you'll prob- 

 ably want to bower it before you git done) and his old army 

 musket, all in a stew to git me to hitch up and go alone: with 

 him to Bryan's Holler, where he had horn there was a big- 

 flock of young pa'tridge. I wan't p'tic lu.lv driven yester- 

 day, so f hitched up and took my obi double-barreled muzzle 

 loader, and we (hove down to the Holler, it wan't live 

 minutes before that little span'l of his'n had the hull flock— 

 I should thirk there was as many as twenty of 'em— up in 

 a clump of pines on the side of "the ravine. Me and Ham 

 crep'up with our guns all ready to shoot, and pretty quick 

 we seen the pn'tridges in the ticcs, lookiu' down at file do; 

 aud turnin' their heads this wnv and that, you know, like' 

 tu.kcy lookin' for a grasshopper. Ham's old musket belched 

 out, and down tumbled one of 'em, an old cock, drumrnii 

 with his wings in the leaves so't you could ha' heard it ha 

 a mile off. 'Take the lower ones tirst.' says 11am, with tl 

 stopper of his powder horn in his mouth, ''andwe'U get 'ei 

 all.' 1 brought tlown two with my two barrels, and by 1hat 

 time Ham was ready to fire again", and he fetched another. 

 The dog kept abarkin'all the time, and the pa'tiidges on 

 the Upper limbs never stirred a peg, but just kept bobbin' their 

 beads aud peekin' around to see where the others had gone 

 to. In less than fit teen minutes we had twelve of 'em 

 scattered over the ground, and might have got more if we'd 

 be'n a mind to. But twelve was enough for once, so we left 

 the rest for another time, and come away. But if that 

 aiu't pretty tall shoe-tin' now' I'd like to know what is!" 



We exchanged horrified plances with Nimrod, but said 

 nothing. The broiled giouse, however, did not taste quite 

 to delicious after we knew how it was obtained. We ted 

 the cogs Sparingly, smoked our cigars on thepotcb, and 

 then went up stairs for our guns and trappings. How glad 

 Don and Hob were to see us accoutred for the field. How 

 they raced together up and down the road, neck and neck, 

 tlu-ir eyes glistening and every muscle a-thrill with life. 

 But a stern "To heel" brought them submissively in, for 

 they kuew, as well as we, that they must not waste their 

 strength in fool'sh play when a day's work was before them. 

 Through the keen, bracing air 'of the early morning we 

 tramped along the hillside with our dogs,' greeting the 

 habitant with a cheery "Good morning." and ins wife and 

 daughter with a gallanl doff of our double-visorcd caps. I 

 doubt not we — or our habiliments— made q 

 in that section. The people came out by ft 

 go by, and the awful admiration and defer, 

 our oeeasional calls for a drink of watc 

 would have satisfied the advance CC 



We bad gone about three miles vs 

 ing of the roads. The old guide pc 

 hesitation had Anally decided with 

 toward the west that it had fallen 

 face, ami there it lay in peaceful 

 rambler with his two arms spread a 



A native urchin was sitting undet 

 tree by the wayside, engaged in the 



lilies to s 

 ee with 1 



oft 



diich 

 sre received 

 tireus. 



•hen wc came to a cross- 

 ist, alter half a century's 

 such emphasis to lean 

 down the bank upon its 

 dumber like a drunken 

 bioari. 



r the shade of a big oak 

 viable and profitable 



employment of [ticking bramble prickles from his bare feet. 

 Him, in default of a guide-board, we consulted as to the 

 going of the ways. 



"Where does "this road lead to. bub?" 



"I tin 11110." (Mouth and eyes wide open— a clear case of 



"Well, can you tell us where this one goes!" 



"I dunuo." ' 



"Where do you live anyway?" 



"I dun — " 



His stupidity was past comprehension. We chose the 

 westward road, superstitiously following the crazy prefer- 

 ence of the fallen guide-hoard, and presently were led 10 

 thank our stars for so doing. The road led us into the 

 depth of a grand old wood. On cither hand branched out 

 the logging roads, which led far backup the mountains on 

 ' "icr side of the valley. These roads were fringed on 

 cr side with tangles of bush, aud brake, and fern, glori- 

 eoverts for the game of which we were in search. Nor 

 1 it long before out busy setters, Rob and Hon. began to 

 show signs of birds. 



We were creeping stealthily along one of these tangled 

 woodways, side by side, with our guns cocked ami fingers 

 m the trigger. Suddenly Don's tail, which had been vi- 

 uai ing eagerly from side to side, stiffened, and he came to 

 1 dead halt by the side of the road, his body curved into the 

 shape of a half moon, with head and forcquarters turned 

 toward the coverts. "Birds!" said Nimrod in a tremnlous 

 whisper. Bob, wdio bad been ranging wide, just then came 

 in sight, quartering for the covert, but lie too stopped before 

 lie reached it, and fell into the same statuesque attitude 011 

 the opposite side. It was a pretty picture indeed, to see tin- 

 two noble dogs frozen into attitudes of the most intense 

 ixeitement and warning, their fore paws slightly raised, 

 their tails stiffened out in a line with their backs, their eyes 

 glistening and fixed, their jaws slightly wrinkled and drip- 

 ping with saliva. And wc, in our russet trappings, each 

 with our left foot advanced and gun hanging balanced and 

 slightly raised, crouching forward, ready to let loose the 

 batteries of flame and death at the first signal, must have 

 made no uun'ttiug accompaniment to the picture. Every 

 moment we expected to hear the wild whir of wings an- 

 nouncing the flight of the hidden buds; but. having been 

 so long unmolested, they were inclined to keep their covert, 

 even under ti.e very noses of the dogs, till a sharp, "Hie 

 on!" from Nimrod sent Don creeping into the brakes, and 

 then, with a bewildering rush and thunder of wings the 

 covey rose, not simultaneously, but rapidly one after another, 

 so that there was a continuous beating and drumming of 

 wings, startling our nerves and bewildering our aim. As 

 the first birds rose, our guns came quickly to out' shoulders, 

 and we fired almost simultaneously. Nimrod's bird turned 

 over and over in the air, aud came down With a dull thud 

 on the edge of the heath; mine swerved quickly, and let fall 

 a little puJI of feathers, that told it was hit, but not severely. 

 Just then the third grouse rose, and with a quick snap shot, 



almost before it had reached the level of my aim, I mowed 

 it down, and it fell among the ferns, beating a wild reveille 

 in its death struggles. Startled and confused, the birds now 

 rose from every part of the covert, Nimrod's second barrel 

 was as destructive as his first, but, in the nervous baste of 

 reloading, 1 lost self-possession for the moment, and rtty two 

 next shots were wild. All this while the dons were 'lying 

 on "charge." just where they had stood when the birds rose" 

 Their staunchness was a silent reproof to my own exette- 

 ment. and a glance at my faithful setter restored mv com- 

 mand of nerve, so ihat the next bird, and the last that rose, 

 fell to my gun. 



It was not a bad beginning of the day's sport, and as Don 

 and Rob retrieved our birds we loaded"them and ourselves 

 with congratulations and compliments. As wc proceeded 

 the road kept getting narrower and narrower, and the bushes 

 encroached upon it more and more, until we found it incon- 

 venient to walk abreast. Nimrod accordim.lv proposed 

 that we should separate, each taking a dog, and' meet .-main 

 at the expiration of two hours in the main road. 1 accord- 

 ingly took Don, and making my way back to the road, chose 

 another of the wood-ways to be my 'own line of onerations. 

 while Nimrod aud Rob continued 'to follow the one we had 

 first entered. I had not gone far before I heard the sharp 

 crack of Nimrod's gun out to the left, followed by a faint 

 halloo to "look out," which I obeyed none too sooii, throw- 

 ing myself into the position of ready just as a swift gray 

 form came whizzing down one of the glades on my left, 

 and rose up sharply as it saw me to pass over the tops of the 

 trees and avoid my aim. But the maneuver was executed 

 a little too late. I was on the qui rire, and the instant the 

 bird mounted I covered it with the muzzle of my gun and 

 tired. It is well known to sportsmen that an "oncoming" 

 shot is the most difficult of all; judge, then, of my surprise 

 and gratification when the swift-moving giouse "towered" 

 for an instant with a spasmodic quiver of Us wings, and 

 then fall like a lump of lead almost into the jaws of be- 

 wildered Hon, who had never "had any experience in that 

 line of shooting before;" as the whimsical surptise in his 

 brown eye informed me as distinctly as though he had been 

 able to speak. "I've got it," I yelled with stento, i in excite- 

 ment to Nimrod. He might have heard me though he were 

 a mile away. "All right," came the distant reply, and then 

 the silence of the woods closed in about us aei'iin like the 

 waters of a lake displaced for a moment by the thrust of a 

 child's finger. What a solemn and impressive thinu is the 

 silence of the woods! There is the silence of the broad 

 fields, of the lonely mountain peak, of the pathless waters. 

 rted bouse, but then: is a spell in the silence of the 

 forest that is grander and deeper and more heart-searching 

 than them all. Where the vision is hemmed in and the 

 sense of isolation and self-presence predominates, a man's 

 personality stands out before his inward eve with a large- 

 ness and vividness that is startling. The little human rela- 

 tionships which, like atoms of ether, go to make an atmos- 

 phere between the soul and God. are all dissipated, aud the 

 being, the selfhood, stands exposed to the direct influences 

 which come toitfrom the higher life, from the very presence 



Of GrOd in. and around, and above the soul. 



But while I am pointing a moral, Hon is pointing a bird. 

 Quick as a flash the spiritual side of eature goes under, and 

 the animal side comes up. There is but one intent and 

 purpose in my mind at the present moment, and thai is to 

 bag the cowering game. "Hie on. Don!" Tin' bird flushes, 

 flies straight for a few puces tut pist at the ,:am; inslgrl 

 that my linger presses the trigger, swerves sharply aside, 

 and escapes the leaden hail. 1 watch the swift "'ray form, 

 as it skims with outstretched wings down the "glade, and 

 suddenly, lo my delight, see it sink gracefully down into a 

 bit of thick covert, just on the limit of vision. "Aha!" said 

 I to Don, "we shall have a chance to try prince groi; ,._■ , 

 at his little game." Hastily slipiug in a fresh shell, and 

 warning Hon 10 work "steady." 1 made mv way as swillly 

 and silently as possible in the direction of 'the cbyert. As I 

 drew near the edge of il. and grasped mv gun more firmly, 

 and strung up my nerves to the highest teu-iou of readiness, 

 I heard a tantalizing "cluck! cluck!" and the path-ring of 

 quick little steps in the dead leaves. Don, who had conic 

 duly to a point at the first intimation of game, now crawled 

 uneasily forward, with his belly trailing the ground, as if 

 anxious to keep within scent of the bird." I knew that such 

 a maneuver would unsteady him, and so hastened forward 

 myself, 1 etermined if the bird wotdd not flush, to shoot it 

 as it ran. I got a glimpse of it through the twigs and foli- 

 age as il scurried away, and, depending rather upon sense 

 than sight, fired at the place where I conjectured it was, 

 and was well pleased to hear it beating the ground with its 

 wings, sure sign that it had received a mortal wound. Dou 

 plunged into the covert aud brought it forth in triumph. 

 It was a heavy cock, aud added materially to trie weight of 

 my era me hair, as 1 consigned it to the already plethoric net. 

 Suddenly I noticed that the gloom of the lores! had deep- 

 ened; that there was a strange hush and intense brooding 

 stillness in the air; and as I stood still to listen aud marvel 

 at the change, I heard, of a sudden, a distant muttering 

 sound, which satisfied my curiosity in an instant, aud set 

 me to retracing my steps toward the main toad at a lively 

 pace. I had scarcely reached it when Niruiod came striding 

 into sight further down. When he saw me he came swing- 

 ing up the road, bowed forward with the weight of his game 

 baL r liki a man carrying a pack. 



"We have got to "leg it!" he remarked, laconically, as he 

 wept into line with me, caught mv stride, and led the home- 

 yard way by half a length in advance, I stall never forget 

 that sturdy race with the storm. There was not a house in 

 Jhl anywhere, or shelter of any kind, and we had the usual 

 antipathy of the well-equipped" sportsman to getting our- 

 selves and our guns wet. Wc were determined to reach the 

 first house if it was a possible thing. Back of us, as we 

 •raned around our necks occasionally to look, wc saw the 

 great: lazily moving banks of inky clouds, with their fleecy 

 edges and vans, mounting up the sky. Awav to the south- 



' ,t was a veil of parallel strands, like a great spider's web, 

 Stretched from Heaven lo earth; and we knew that it was 

 the swaying enrtain of the rain. Out of it came a fresh, 

 damp breeze, that freshened every moment, and warned us 

 that the couriers of the shower were close at hand. We 

 could hear them tramping away off over the valley, and Iho 

 sound urged us to even greater speed. Presently the dusky 

 landscape began to flash inlo vivid pictures here' and there, 

 as the forked index of the lightning point, d hither and 

 thither. A few large drops were falling. "Well, we might 

 as well get under a free. 1 suppose," said Nimrod, in a lone 

 of dolorous resignation. But just then we rounded ti bend 

 in the road, and saw, on our left, a rude log barn in a clear- 

 ing. It was well nigh overgrown with a tsngic of *"'.' 

 and wild grass, and had easily escaped our notice when 



