212 



RECREA TION. 



within 15 miles of a R. R. I am well ac- 

 quainted with all the sheep country in 

 Idaho and Montana, and a good part of 

 Wyoming. Also, with the elk range 

 around Jackson's Hole, the best place in 

 the West to get elk, except the Idaho 

 Clearwater, which is as good for elk, and 

 better for bear, moose, goats and deer. 



Have been out with 2 parties this fall, 

 that came to me through Recreation. 

 The first started for a 30 day trip, but gave 

 up at the end of 10 days. It stormed 6 days 

 of the 10, so we could not hunt; on the 

 remaining 4 days we got one elk, 2 goats 

 and 2 deer. One of the party had a shot at 

 a bear, which escaped with a broken fore- 

 leg. The guns used were 30-40 box-maga- 

 zine Winchesters. They are terrible weap- 

 ons. There is no use for so powerful a gun 

 in this country. 



M. P. Dunham. 



A TRAPPER'S STORY. 



Port Townsend, Wash. 



Editor Recreation: While camping last 

 summer, with Masters Harry Beecher and 

 Arthur Jones, on the Quilicene, an old 

 trapper told us the following story: " I 

 was employed to guide a gentleman and 

 his son, a lad of 15, up the river for a few 

 days' hunting and fishing. We made our 

 first camp well up the river, on a steep hill- 

 side, on which a level spot afforded us just 

 room enough to pitch our tent. The next 

 morning we spent in fishing. In the after- 

 noon the gentleman took his rifle and 

 went up the trail above the camp to look 

 for a bear, while the boy and I fished a 

 pool at the foot of the hill. 



Late in the afternoon the boy became 

 hungry and started for camp to get some- 

 thing to eat. Just before he reached the 

 tent, which was in plain sight from where 

 I stood, I heard a shot on the trail above 

 us. I looked up in time to see a large 

 cougar leap over the tent, and strike the 

 lad squarely on the breast. They both fell 

 on the loose shale, and together came roll- 

 ing over and over to the bluff, and plunged 

 into the pool where I was fishing. The lit- 

 tle fellow was more frightened than hurt, 

 and I soon had him out of the water. The 

 dead cougar lodged on a riffle near by. 

 Soon the gentleman came down the trail, 

 inquiring if we had seen a cougar he had 

 shot. When he saw the animal and heard 

 our story, he concluded he had had hunt- 

 ing enough for one day." O. E. S. 



TO TAN DEER SKINS. 



A reader asks how the Indians tan deer, 

 elk, and other skins for leather and for 

 rugs — with the hair on. An old hunter, 

 who has lived many years among the red 

 men, answers thus; 



The Indians immerse deer and other 

 skins in running water and leave them 

 there until the hair slips readily. Then they 

 scrape the hair all off, with a dull knife or 

 piece of board tapered to an edge. Then 

 they spread out the skin and apply to the 

 flesh skin a liberal quantity of brains (of the 

 deer or other animal) and rub it with the 

 palm of the hand until well rubbed in. 

 Then they fold the skin and draw it rapidly 

 back and forth across a pole, rigged in the 

 shape of a shave-horse. Then another ap- 

 plication of brains and another rubbing. 

 This is repeated until the skin is soft and 

 flexible, after which it is hung over a slow 

 fire and smoked. 



To tan skins with the hair on, the treat- 

 ment is similar except that the skins are 

 not immersed in water. 



A NAVAL OFFICER AS A GAME HOG. 



The most successful hunting party that has gone out from 

 the Hotel del Coronado this season was the one composed of 

 Admiral Kirkland, of Mare Island, and his son; John J, Law- 

 rence, of Pittsburgh ; Capt. Hinde, of the Spreckels Bros. 

 Company, and E. S. Babcock, of ihis city. The party drove 

 to the Otay dam, and bright and early Thursday morning the 

 slaughter, for such it proved to be, began. Admiral Kirk- 

 land was rowed out into the reservoir and placed in a 

 " blind," while the other members of the party stationed 

 themselves at convenient points. Then the ducks began to 

 swish past with lightning-like rapidity. Bang ! bang ! went 

 the admiral's gun. Then the reports from the other guns 

 began to stir the ducks up, and in less time than it takes to 

 tell it the air seemed to be alive with spoonbills, canvas 

 backs, red heads, sprigs, widgeons, ruddies, butterballs and 

 teals. The admiral's gun was set going, and as the engage- 

 ment became hotter and hotter, the ducks fairly rained down 

 around the blind until they realized the situation and 

 " raised " out of reach of his rapid-fire gun. Meantime the 

 other gunners had not been idle, each having done effective 

 work. The battle over and the smoke cleared away, the 

 hunters began to gather up their spoils, when it was found 

 they had bagged 246 ducks, of almost every variety, except 

 " mud hens." 



Admiral Kirkland now declares this engagement to have 

 been one of the most exciting in which he has ever partici- 

 pated during his experience in naval warfaie. Their wagon 

 load of ducks were exhibited to the guests of the hotel dur- 

 ing the evening. — Los Angeles (Cal.) Times. 



There should be a law to reduce a naval 

 officer to the ranks, for such an exhibition 

 of swinishness as this, and to compel him 

 to scrub decks for the next 5 years. — 

 Editor. 



OTHER GAME HOGS. 



I enclose you in this a report of 2 rare 

 specimens of " game hogs," clipped from 

 a local paper, and which I trust you will 

 give shelter and care in your pen. See that 

 they are properly branded. I would sug- 

 gest they be fed on slaughter house offal, 

 as swill might be too rich for them. 



E. H. Raffenshyer. 



Following is the report referred to: 



Jarret Wilson and Bryce Adams take first prize for kill- 

 ing blackbirds. Recently they sent to town a bunch of 900 

 of the songsters, the result of one day's hunting. The birds 

 entirely filled the body of a buggy.— Americus (Ga.) 

 Recorder. 



Yes, Wilson and Adams are unquestion- 

 ably game hogs, of the real Southern 



