RANDOM SHOTS FROM A HUNTER'S CAMP. 



Harvey M. Harper. 



" Our happiest days have been spent out of doors, in the woods and fields, where we have " found 

 in every woodland way, the sun-light tint and fairy gold." — Beauties of Nature. 



Except that in the breasts of we mod- 

 erns there yet lurk a few flittering 

 sparks of the hunter instincts of 

 the early savage, there really appears to be 

 scant reason why one should, nowadays, 

 go a hunting. Yet, as a rule, we cannot 

 remember the time when out-of-door 

 sports have not been some of our most 

 cherished memories. Our first essays 

 are only "make believe" child's play, 

 but later they develop into genuine ex- 

 cursions, with older companions, to some 

 strip of woods, where flows a quiet and 

 demure rivulet, tenantless save for the 

 omnipresent shiner or the spiney backed 

 cat-fish. 



Here, in the golden autumn days of 

 yore, we oft have hunted for impossible 

 "signs" of the long vanished game, 

 played Indian, using the guiltless family 

 hatchet as a tomahawk, and when noon- 

 time came, we have cooked a frugal 

 meal over the glowing embers of a 

 friendly camp-fire after the manner re- 

 lated of such things in the yellow backed 

 story books then so highly prized and in 

 which, in the main, our scanty riches 

 were invested. 



After a while these little excursions 

 grew into regular hunting trips, with 

 real guns ; and more or less real game 

 rewarded our haphazard and ill-directed 

 efforts. Naturally a taste for the like, 

 so early acquired, ripens in time into a 

 desire for a larger game and a wider ex- 

 perience. I well remember the number- 

 less preparatory talks and meetings 

 which were indulged in, with such ex- 

 huberant fancy by all the prospective 

 members of the first camping party I 

 was privileged to join. Books were 

 read and letters written to discover the 

 most likely camping ground ; lists of 

 provisions were prepared and frequently 

 gone over, to make sure that the com- 

 missariat was provided with this or that 

 particular dainty, besides everything 

 needful for personal use. 



The result was something fearful to 

 contemplate. To be sure the party was 

 to be large and each of the twenty 



odd members was burdened with a 

 great variety of real or imaginary 

 necessities to be arranged for. Among 

 the stores were two ranges, to be set up 

 in the cook shanty, for that purpose 

 made and provided, for, be it known, we 

 were to be served by two Pullman cooks, 

 who could hardly be expected to be 

 versed in the management of forked 

 sticks, Dutch ovens and such other crude 

 equipment of the true camper out. Then 

 there were barrels of flour, corn meal, 

 and sugar; heaps of coffee, tea and 

 chocolate; hams and good old bacon a 

 plenty ; jelly, jam, pickles and olives in 

 great quantities — for the girls. The 

 outfit when assembled together, looked 

 like the quartermaster's stores of a mi- 

 litia regiment on riot duty ; and it was 

 indeed well that we were to go by steam- 

 boat. Notwithstanding so huge a supply 

 of provisions, yet owing to the extraordi- 

 nary appetites to which a camping party 

 must always plead guilty, half a dozen 

 times a day, little was left at the end of 

 the month's stay ; and we all cherish 

 recollections of a thoroughly delightful 

 vacation, accomplished at the tririing ex- 

 pense of $30 each. 



About the game ? Well, that's another 

 story, as Mulvaney would say ; but 

 nearly a score of guns managed to se- 

 cure half a dozen grouse, and one deer, 

 during the interval. 



Bye-and-bye, after making a number 

 of other trips, more or less successful, a 

 better understanding of the proper way 

 to go a-hunting after big game has 

 been acquired. The novice is likely to 

 err on the side of overburdening him- 

 self with too extensive an outfit. In the 

 absence of personal experience, let him 

 read carefully some of the many excel- 

 lent books, which may, perhaps, in lieu 

 of a better term, be properly called 

 Text Books of the Chase. Among these 

 I may mention " Camping and Camp 

 Outfits " by the Editor of RECREATION. 

 The tenderfoot should also take coun- 

 sel, as to his needs, with some veteran 

 sportsman, and in this manner smooth 



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