448 



RECREATION. 



afternoon we tramped over mountains and 

 through valleys. Then a buck and a doe 

 were sighted. The buck was shot, but his 

 mate was allowed to escape. He. had mag- 

 nificent antlers, so the head was cut off. 

 Fitz strapped this to his back, while I 

 shouldered the hindquarters of the deer. 



It was then sunset, and camp 5 miles 

 away. Taking a straight course, as nearly 

 as possible, we set out. We traveled, until 

 dark through scrub, and at times had to use 

 our knives to cut a passage. Then it was 

 across gullies, up to our knees in snow. 

 At midnight we acknowledged ourselves 

 lost, but after resting half an hour we took 

 up the loads and started again. It was 

 then too dark in the woods to see more 

 than a few feet ahead. 



Finally on reaching the top of a hill, we 

 were gladdened by hearing a rifle shot in 

 the valley. We fired an answering shot, 

 which our friends did not hear, for we 

 were so much above them.. However, we 

 soon reached the bottom of the hill, where 

 we stumbled into a beaten road that led 

 to the house. Our trials were over, and 

 so ended my week's hunt. 



S. H. Currie. 



MORE VANDALISM. 



Nearly all the beautiful California quails 

 and Oriental quails and pheasants that 

 Frank Ailing has spent years in coloniz- 

 ing on Fox island have disappeared, and 

 it is alleged they have been hunted and 

 trapped during the past few months by 2 

 worthless fellows who have been watching 

 their opportunity t^ make a raid on the 

 birds. 



"It is a long story," said Mr. Ailing, "but 



1 am mad through and through, and I 

 purpose doing all in my power to sift this 

 thing to the bottom.- Three or 4 years ago 



2 worthless fellows arrived from Oregon 

 and lived in a shack near the old tile 

 works. They made a living chiefly by 

 hunting and fishing. 



'While I was visiting the island a few 

 days ago several responsible people told 

 me that these 2 men had enticed into their 

 chicken coops the California quails I had 

 liberated and there they deliberately 

 slaughtered every one of them. 



"Later I placed 16 Oriental quails, at 

 great expense, on the island, and in all 

 probability they went the way of the 

 others. So I was informed by residents 

 of the locality. 



"These fellows left the island soon 

 after this exploit, but they returned about 

 16 months ago and the residents tell me 

 they could frequently be seen prowling 

 over the island with guns and game bags, 

 but the people had no idea they were 

 slaughtering any of the pheasants that 



were plentiful around the tile works at 

 that time." 



A few days ago Ailing took a party 

 of young people over to the island and 

 liberated another coop of full grown 

 pheasants, from the Orient.. While on the 

 island' he talked with several of the straw- 

 berry growers, inquiring how the pheasants 

 were showing up this spring. 



"To my surprise," said Mr. Ailing, "they 

 told me not a bird could be found on that 

 side of the island in the vicinity of the tile 

 works. A man living near the tile works 

 who had been made deputy sheriff to protect 

 these birds, and had done some fine work 

 in that line before these 2 men arrived, 

 came to my place in Tacoma last fall and 

 reported to me there were over 200 birds 

 about his place back of the tile works. 

 To-day not a bird is to be found. Every 

 one has disappeared and these 2 brutes 

 have again skipped." 



Good substantial men, residents of Fox 

 island, feel deeply indignant over the out- 

 rage and want active measures set on foot 

 by the county authorities to bring the 

 guilty parties to justice. 



"I would not have had it happen for 

 $5,000," said Mr. Ailing, bitterly. "For 

 6 years I have been at work colonizing the 

 island with these birds. They used to 

 come into Captain Mearn's yard and feed 

 with the chickens, they were so tame. All 

 at once they disappeared. A party is under 

 suspicion who has been known to threaten 

 to kill any pheasants that might come into 

 his enclosure. The birds are a positive 

 benefit to an orchard, as they destroy aphis, 

 beetles, bugs, caterpillers and a variety of 

 insects." — Tacoma, Wash., Ledger. 



TWO COONS IN ONE NIGHT. 



THE SENTINEL. 



Fifty weeks of the year I tramp the 

 streets of a city within pistol shot of Bos- 

 ton. When my 2 weeks' vacation comes 

 the Boston & Maine R. R. can not get me 

 to Vermont quickly enough. Last fall I 

 went home in October. Father having 

 written me he had the best coon dog in the 

 State, I looked for sport and was not dis- 

 appointed. 



One night I shall not soon forget. About 

 2 p.m. the whole family, father, mother, 

 2 brothers and their wives, visited an 

 uncle, and after a most enjoyable afternoon 

 the girls took the team home while father 

 and brothers stopped and played 7-up 

 until about 9, when we lighted the lantern 

 and started for home. 



About half way home a neighbor had a 

 cornfield near his sugar orchard, which 

 was tracked all over by coons, and we were 

 sure of fun there. 



We had barely got there when the old dog 



