286 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Not. 6, 1882, 



Only think, Dob. we have got fifteen miles to lug them 

 horns through the brush. 1 would not <lo it Tor them. lies 

 you may have ttiera if von will carrv them out." 



"All right, I'll take. them. Bill, w'e will take the innffle 

 or nose, and what steak we can carry and start." 



Wfl got to Conrad Milliner's at seven o'clock in the wett- 

 ing, and hired Bill Heushaw to take Ilia horse and haul us 

 live milts home to Bear River Bridge, and little Bill lies got 

 enough moo.se hunting to last hirt a whole vcar. .John lies 

 carried the horns about hall wav out and sold them to Mr. 

 Mack in a logging camp for a barrel of Hour, and that was 

 the last moose ever shot by , iliHAjr P. Mayo. 



SPORT ON THE "ARKANSAW" PRAIRIES. 



MY companion is n disabled Confederate soldier, but 

 curiously a staunch "black Kcpubliean," though not 

 a "Yank." lie went into the eonfederaro army when a 

 mere hoy of sixteen, fought bravely, was .shot through the 

 right arm near the shoulder, which has always been a little 

 tender but of good use In him. John has bagged many "ball"' 

 and I nick in the . Mississippi swamp*, but DOW his good right 

 arm is 'in a slum," hut. he makes a valuable companion for 

 a lazy man's hunt on the prairie. 



With my team and ambulance we started for the prairie 

 only a half a mile away. The weather for the past week 

 has been all that one could ask. perhaps a shade too warm in 

 Bl I i; I'lcruoon. bin clear and bright, with cool, brace 

 in_ nights, a filltj rain a Week ago. placed wnterin a few of 

 the more permanent little ponds on the prairie, and brought 

 down from the north a small flight of mallards, green w'iug 

 teal, wood SUCKS, bitbrus, pick snipe and golden plover. (John 

 is from Louisiana cud calls these last papabottes.) The 

 morning is bright, the air cool, and from horses up to setter 

 pup we all feel that this world was not made in vaic. 



Th, grass on lhc.se prairies this fall is a thick mat about 

 two Peel high, With tlie seed stems of the grasses five to six 

 feet high. Iu this grass a dog is nearly useless, for vou 

 can't see him from the wagon but a short distance, therefore 

 chickens and quails are ham to find, SO we keep our dog 

 neural hand. The surface of these prairies is very smooth" 

 and one can drive pleasantly anywhere. 



We wanted ducks; we were tired of chickens, squirrels 

 and quail, so we drove to the first little pond. When within 

 a hundred yards of it I told John to hold the dog and drive 

 the nam on one side of it. aud I would slip up to the other 

 side and try for a shot. I sneaked up through the grass, 

 rose up, and saw six line milliards on the further side of the 

 water, too far, 1 thought, for an effective shot, but 1 pulled 

 the triggefvery hard and banged away. They all ro.se, but 

 one soon weakened and tumbled in "the grass. We both 

 rnaik'.-d her down carefully, but. she had flown about twenty 

 rods, aud as one spot on the prairie is very like another, w'e 

 had a tedious time rinding her — my pup don't like ducks 

 unless ihey arc cooked. This was one of the heaviest mal- 

 lard hens 1 ever saw. and as fat us butter. We next flushed 

 a large covey of quail. They flew into the brush, where 1 

 missed four shots straight —after shooting aw bile in the open 

 I miss in the brush, aud eio: ■■u-xii. 



Wo drove to another little pond and pursued the same 

 tactics. The grass is so high about these ponds that, we 

 could not see if there was auv game in them When standing 

 on the wagon sea!,, if a few rods away, f walked right, in 

 until 1 could see the water, where I saw eight mallards 

 feeding as unconcernedly as if there was not a deadly pot 

 imiilcr within a mile of them. I waited until two drakes 

 came into line and fired, and then wilted another as they 

 arose. Then got into the wagon, drove into the water, and 

 picked them up. This is just too too awfully nice for duck 

 shooting. 



These little ponds all have linn bottoms and little or no 

 mud. One can drive his team through them as well as any- 

 where else, therefore shoot and retrieve his ducks from the 

 wagon all day without getting in mud or water. The three 

 last ducks were id) drakes (as Pat would say), two young 

 ones and an old one also very fat. These little prairie pond! 

 are all full to repletion with "tadpoles" or "polywogs" (the 

 young of toads), and young crayfish, with their margins 

 covered with weeds and grass loaded down with .seeds, a 

 perfect paradise for ducks, in which they fatten in two or 

 three days. 



John had marked down the remnant of the last bunch of 

 ducks in a "puddle" or pond a half a mile away. We 

 started for'' them, and tried them the same as before, but 

 they flushed from the noise of the wagon, and again I was 

 forced to Strain my gun by an extra long shot, hut i drew 

 about four feet ahead of the leading drake and tangled him 

 all up, a.id down he came. 



I have the notion that 1 can kill a duck as far with my 

 old rickety, cheap, nine-pound Bouehill twelve-bore, as any 

 ten or twelve of decent weight, hut 1 am not one of those 

 hlarsted fools who say that they can kill a duck every time 

 75 to 86 yards. One may sometimes kill them as far as 

 that, but'it is really eruel'lo pepper away at ducks bevond 

 a reasonable limit; 40 yards with No. 6 shot in the fall of 

 the year, for river or "shoal water ducks" is, 1 think, the 

 limit Of a reasonable distance. One should shoot to kill, 

 and not to wound, and lose the meat. Luckily for the 

 duCks the tyro Shooting at passing ducks at long range aims 

 directly at the ducks or other birds, and the shot passes 

 harmlessly clean behind them, while the experienced 

 dueker would hit but probably only wound. I will illustrate. 

 The evening of this same day" as 1 and John were driving 

 in from the prairie we saw a bunch of five teal settle in a 

 pond; we wauted just one more duck for the Major, so we 

 started for them on t lie same plan described, thinking that 

 these might be mallards in the pond. There was but little 

 coyer on the side that John drove the team on, and they 

 flushed wild from the wagon, as they crossed in front of 

 (He i long long way off. I fired in the way of experiment. 

 1 held about eight feet, ahead ai d five feet, river the lcadinsr 

 duck and killed the hindmost and lower duck dead in the 

 air. Johu was astonished, so was 1, so were two passing 

 tcftmsters, John declares it was fully 100 .i ards, I would 

 know how far it was if I had measured il. 



The duck was hit with two shot, one through the head. 

 the other in the body, both fatal. If I had shot at those 

 dueks 1 would have missed them, and that reminds mc: All 

 the reporters of the field trials on ehiekeus this full, except 

 one, used this expression : ■'The bird was flushed and shot 

 nt by Jones, and missed." Now if Jones had shot id the 

 hird" he would surely have hit it, ('!) The exceptional man 

 wrote: "Jones tired'and missed." And 1 have been miss- 

 ing the line of my hunt. Well, we got ducks enough ex- 

 cept, the one for tin- Major, and such juicy, fat, young mai- 

 laidstwc gave all the tough old drakes 'to our neighbors). 

 During the day I "shot ftt but missed" several jack snipe 



(Wilson's snipe). They were the strong old cocks of the 

 first flight, with a line'of flight, very like a corkscrew. 



We had a heavy rain last night, which iravc us a heav\ 

 flight of ducks and more water. There is "protracted Merl- 

 in '" in town, the chickens are "all eat. up." fresh meal 

 must be had for the preachers, and John and I are detailed 

 to furnish it, so we must be off in the early morning. How 

 we make the ducks, chickens and snipe, suffer I wiii relate 

 in another chapter. Bvrne. 



(tnocKETT's Bi.cff, Ark., Oct. rfil. 



ONTARIO DEER SHOOTING. 



Kililor J/'urid iir.d SI mini : 



With interest and pleasure I read the protest of "It." in last, 

 number of Fokkst AJtft) BtKBAM. againsl " Nul meggers " 

 huutingin Ontario previous to October 1, interest Such as I ho 

 victinifakesinthehanginan'sadjustinentofl.hekiiogaiiilvvilli 

 pleasure that an Opportunity is offered to rise and explain,; 

 but in order to explain 1 must confess breaking the laws iu 

 another instance, which led our party astray this time. One 

 year ago 1 visited Ibis section in company 'with a party of 

 ladies and gentlemen. W'e were then una pleasure, and 

 not on a hunting tour, bill we gentlemen of the party con- 

 cluded In step off at Renfrew for a three day,-' Hunt, leav- 

 ing our wives at the hotel. This was about September S',i\ 

 Our landlord and our guide iioth informed us that > be law 

 was off September 15, Tbcy seemed to be very positive 

 about it, so we made no lurther inquiries. We had our 

 hunt and brought a deer back to the hotel and dressed him 

 off before a number of townspeople, Wc were unconscious 

 of having eommil.ed an unlawful act, and no one enlight- 

 ened us. This Is not because we had heard the. adage, ' 'where 

 iiniorance is bliss 'lis folly to be wise," for f believe in game- 

 laws a- Strongly as "H."" does. 



laws to be the same, in fail our guide said 'they were. We 



now find that we transgressed in both i i,i . :,:. I. 

 people about that section seem to understand that the law is 

 off the 15th. 



< )f course law does not, recogni.'.e ignorance as a shield for 

 crime. (And I consider it a crime to.brcak a sporting law 

 as much as any oHiit.) " H." has rendered a jusr, verdict, 

 buL 1 have no dotifit he will generously send in a, recom- 

 mendation for mercy before sentence is pronounced, 



In this connection I will sa , thai in my judgment the 

 Northern Ontario laws deprive the sportsman tourist of a 

 great, deal of pleasure nndilo not prelect Ihe deer, merely 

 reserving them aU for the wholesale slaughter made by the 

 practical hunter when cold weather arrives. 



October 1 is too late iu the season for a party to enter the 

 Ontario woods for pleasure. The law should give pleasure- 

 parties therightto kill deer sulheient for camp U6C com- 

 mencing with September 15, and in the far north Scptemfc.tr 

 1 weld not he too early. The. only time when deer can be 

 auccessfully hunted is after the falling of the leaves and 

 through the cold weather, when none but the reauiar hunter 

 thinks of visiting the woods. The law as laid down to-day 

 practically says to all of us win: seek health and recreation 

 during the beautiful and unequal led Scptembi relays: "Gen- 

 tlemen, von seem out of health, and we welcome "you to the 

 pure, invigorating air of these mountains and forest's; breathe- 

 it without stint and enjoy it to your heart's content, but 

 you must bring \ our own provisions, We have plenty of 

 (leer, but they are all engaged, and we are pledged to reserve 

 them for our hunters. The slaughter will Commence with 

 the advent of cold weather, if you must have venison, we 

 advise you to go home and buy it later by the cat load at 

 five cents per pound. It will be infinitely cheaper for you 

 than to beat about the bush at this season of the year. 

 Were it not reserved you would find it like looking for a 

 needle in a hay-mow to discover a deer in this dense foliage." 



The law fixes no limit to the slaughter and shipment of 

 deer throughout the season when the poor deer are almost, 

 as much at ihe mercy of an experienceil hunter as sheep in 

 a slaughter pen. I know of hunters who kill their twenty- 

 five and thirty deer a. -week. It seems like sending a man to 

 jail for stealing one hat on Monday aud to Congress for 

 stealing 501) on'"Wedncsdav. B. Gr. A. 



ConhkotiqW, Nov. 6 1882. 



SHOOTING OVER COCKERS. 



A DAY WITH ANGLO-SAXON. 



J RECENTLY 1 was favored with a letter from a sports- 

 X man (?) riving in one of your Eastern cities, asking if 



I could supply him with a "pure bred or pure blood cocker 

 spaniel, trained to hunt ruffed grouse' or other game birds, 

 and by yelping causing them to light on trees, holding them 

 there "and thereby enabling them to be shot." 1 replied that 

 none of my dogs were so highly educated as that, and he 

 would have to look elsewhere- "than my kennel to fill that 

 order. 



A dear old friend of mine, John \'v. Kelly, of Wood- 

 stock, Out., undertook to train one or two young cockers 

 for me, and I have just returned from a visit to his cosy 

 home, having been invited to come and ,-ee what progress 

 the youngsters were making. He is an old Devonshire man. 

 and"! am doing him the scantesl, justice in saying that a 

 keener, more thorough-going and evperionced all-round 

 sportsmnnnever handled a 1 -Micro. 



It was a picture to see him leaving the kennels in the moru- 

 iug, witli his team of lovely cockers frantic with joy at the 

 sight of the gun, and dressed in his old shooting togs that 

 had seen many a day's hard service. He might have stepped 

 out of one of the' plates in that rare old work "Daniel's 

 Rural Sports." How carefully he saw that the cockers 

 were comfortably deposited in the wagon behind us, and 

 how well they knew the treat in Store for them. 



We had a pleasant die. e of nine or ten miles behind a pair 

 of spanking ponies before we could arrive at any place worth 

 trying for game, but old Anglo-Saxon knew every foot of 

 country surrounding, having shot over it everj season for 

 twenty-five years. The great progress of farming and drain- 

 agC lias naturally thinned out the game. 



"We might gel, a pheasant or two here,"savs Kelly, point- 

 ing to a likely looking clump of bush near a side or conces- 

 sion road. "Tommy, yem hold on to Jet and Judy, and we 

 will take old Tip and see if we can't siart something. Tip 



II find it if there s anything 11./ re Now tlun. T:p Tip I 

 Come 10 heel, sir! Steady," for Tip is now iu a too eager 

 frame of mind for proper business. "He will have the wire 

 edge worn off before lunch. Vou hold along that ridge to 

 the fence by the pines and keep a sharp lookout." Presently 

 Tip'.-, musical voice begins to whimper, and iu a few 

 moments be bursts out into full tongue. AVhirrll "Mark!" 

 Bang! Bang! Tommy has his hands full trying to hold 



Jet aud Judy and look after his ponies, too. as the young 

 ones an- fairly mad to hear the fun going on and not have a 

 hand in. He who has not experienced the eleetrie.thrill 

 that speeds through his nerves as the noble grouse whirrs 

 through the October woods, while with flashing eves and 

 muscles braced he throws his breech-loader to his shoulder, 

 and rapid as thought follows their swiftly disappearing 

 wings for an instant ere he puffs the trigger, to be gladdened 

 bythesfghl oJ theflying feathers and the long, slanting 

 t .limbic of liis victim. Int.- yet to experience a sensation worth 

 all ihe nostrums and elixirs civilization has invented for re- 

 invigorating jaded humanity. But to shoot the regal grouse 

 out of a tree! Faugh! 



"How many did you get?" cried Tommy, as we returned 

 after an unsuccessful search for the two that got away 

 scatheless. "Only one, but he's a daisy." "1 wish you would 

 take Jet and Juciy. I can't keep them in the wagon, and 

 they wills! ra.nslc themselves Irving to get after you." "They'll 

 get, plenty to do by and by." 



We drove about a mile further along a beautiful country 

 road, through a landscape decidedly English in character, 

 with the additional beauties of the gorgeous coloring of the 

 hard wood foliage that is never seen in the old land, and 

 which Ihe band of Birket Foster could so well depict, to 

 some likely cover for woodcock. 



All the cockers were now tin own off. and 1 set myself to 

 watch with interest how Kelly had succeeded in training the 

 young ones, And it was marvelous to see how thoroughly 

 lie controlled them even in their exuberant eagerness, with 

 the "wire edge" on. They were never allowed to range out 

 of gunshot, and it was a pretty and sportsmanlike sight to 

 see- "them work to hand, the busiest, little creatures in the 

 world for the time being, their feathering tails earned low 

 and beating about 500 strokes a minute. ' They put up two 

 or three cock and wc had a lively time bagging them. On 

 the edge Of the wood we scattered a bevy of quail, and had 

 some delishft'u! sport till lunch time pickrhgthi m up singly. 

 A great regret of Kelly's is that, so far. Jet hunts perfectly 

 mule. "Man, if she'd only give tongue I wouldn't take 

 $200 for her." To me her silence was an additional attrac- 

 tion, for I can't hear a noisy babbling spaniel. A little 

 whimper to let, you know the scent is hot is all 1 want. 



By this time both dogs and men needed water badly, and 

 we struck for lunch, having divided which with the dear 

 1 ttle dogs, we, without delay, resumed our pleasant labor. 

 "You get round to that corner by the fence. They'll fly 

 Jike bullets for the big- wood. Looksharp." 1 was invariably 

 stationed just at. the right corner for sport, audKelly and the 

 dogs drove all the game my way. Not having much prac- 

 tice, 1 missed many birds that I ought to have bagged, and 

 wanted to change places with him sometimes, but as long- 

 as be was round the dogs would not work for me. Ere sun- 

 do', a of a most, charming day, the cockers had done an honest 

 day's work, and I fell proud of their achievements. "With 

 a little more experience, and I'll give them every chance 

 for (be next, month, you can take your dogs anywhere, and 

 shoot anv kind of game over them," 



"Halloo, Jet ! ware chase!" Jet, was making legs after a. 

 hare as we plodded hack in the gray dusk She obediently, 

 though just, a. little reluctantly, came to heel and I petted 

 my favorite all the way home, combing the lieasf.lv cockle 

 burrs out of her beautiful silky ears. 



"She's guiel as she's bonnie.'" SnrCOK. 



Toronto, Canada, Oct. 2U. 



DEER HUNT ON THE YELLOW MEDICINE 



THE Yellow Medicine is a creek that runs into the Mis- 

 souri just above what is called the great bend of the 

 Missouri. We started on Monday, the 26th of January, a 

 party of five, with a. sled and pair of horses with three led 

 horses in low. a box of hard bread, a side of bacon, coffee 

 and sugar, a large pan of baked beans, the necessary blank- 

 ets and buffalo robes, and an Indian tepee for shelter First 

 and foremost of the party was Mr. D. W. Rpaulding, clerk 

 of the district 'and county courts of Lyman county,!). T., 

 tin- most expert deer hunter of the Territory! then came 

 Mr. Herbert, host of the hotel at. Brule City;' Mr. William 

 R. Ervin, the f-uuious rifle shot, of the Missouri; David 

 Forbes, a man who can forge a piece of iron equal to the 

 next, and lastly your humble servant. 



We started early in the morning, with the thermometer at 

 15 deg. below zero, which might, seem rather cold weather 

 for a sportsman to start out in for a sporting tour and a 

 drive of lifty-five miles on the Missouri Paver." We drove u, 

 few miles on the ice and found the sleighing a perfect fail- 

 ure, as the snow was covered with sand, blown off the in- 

 numerable sand bars. After dragging the sled over five or 

 six miles of sand, we at last found sleierhing that we could 

 ride, and we pushed along at a aood gait; but when wc 

 a, rived at Beaver Creek, about eight miles from the Yellow 

 Medicine, where we were to leave the ice and go over the 

 bluffs, we concluded to camp for the night at a wood-chop- 

 pers' camp, as our horses were very tired. We got privi- 

 lege to cook our rations and make our coffee in the log 

 hou-e We took our tepee aud spread it across some poles 

 resting em the edge of the hay-stock, spread our blankets 

 and buffalo iobes on some, hay and so made our crimp. 



The next morning we rose at daybreak, got a breakfast of 

 fried bacon, hard bread aud coffee, and started for the bluffs. 

 A bitter cold morning it was, the wind blowing in one's 

 teeth a young blizzard. I suppose the people of the coast 

 would have little idea what it is to get up a gumbo bluff of 

 the Missouri River; Iinagiue climbing up the roof of Trinity 

 church with a pair of horses and sleigh, aud have that, roo'f 

 from tOO to 800 feet in height, and you might form some 

 idea of it. After getting on top. We had a ride of about six 

 miles to the plateau. 



I will tell you something of our manner of dressing to 

 Stand the -xti-eme cold of this country. 1 have a sealskin 

 cap with car-pads, then 1 haui a. buffalo coat with a huge 

 heaver collar and cuffs; on my nether extremities f have 

 , I -ins, finished up with beaver moccasins, aud out- 



side oi them I wear Arctic overshoes, Willi that rig I have 

 ridden twenty-five miles with the thermometer thirty-five 

 degrees below zero. W'e descended the cliffs into the' Yel- 

 low Medicine bottom, and found an icehouse or root cellar 

 in the old military c-mip at ihe old Bed Cloud agency. The 

 building was dug into the side of a lull, and was made of 

 hewn logs, and covered. It was quite large enough to take 

 in our horses and ourselves, and made a fine camp for a 

 party of I timers in the. winter. 



We did not start out to hunt that day as it was too cold, 

 but next morning we started on hoiscliack for a day's hunt. 

 After riding about four miles up the creek, we- separated 

 company and I rode my horse into the timber, and hitched 

 him, anil took a left hand fork of the creek for my ground. 



