126 



RECREA T10N. 



W. L. Vance and Thomas A. Creighton 

 (Evanston Outing Club) had good shooting at Gull 

 lake, Michigan, bagging 173 ducks in two days. 



Jos. Cochran, of the Chicago Board of Trade, 

 reports ducks and geese plentiful at Bismark, 

 Dakota. — 



"Skip" Frazier of Evanston, killed a large 

 juicy black bear in northern Wisconsin, and has 

 been eating bear steak for breakfast ever since. 

 He says there's nothing like it for building up 

 muscular tissue. 



" Uncle Bill " Hubbard, an old and enthusias- 

 tic sportsman — likewise an Evanstonian — shot a 

 small buck, early in the season — also in the 

 shoulder — but failed to bag the buck as he was 

 after birds at the time and was not loaded for big 

 game. Number seven shot is all right for ruffed 

 grouse, but is not effective for large, dark, colored 

 animals, at any great distance. 



A Wyoming guide writes me that Messrs. 

 Sommerley, Barrett, Jenckes and Eaton " got a 

 head apiece," but does not say whether they got 

 them by good shooting or whether from using 

 too much bottled fish bait. 



A party of six Chicago sportsmen killed 

 several deer in the upper peninsula of Michigan, 

 placed them in their trunks, or in boxes, and 

 had them checked to Chicago, when a game 

 warden, a constable and a justice of the peace 

 interfered and objected to the venison's leaving 

 that state. The hunters were assessed fifty 

 dollars each, and costs, the aggregate amount- 

 ing to 



A friend in Bismark writes me that the 

 chicken shooting near Dawson, North Dakota, 

 was excellent at the opening of the season, but 

 as nine out of ten shooters who have gone from 

 Chicago during the season have headed for that 

 point, a report from there now would no doubt 

 be of an entirely different nature. 



I simply write these items to give the Chicago 

 correspondent of Forest and Stream an oppor- 

 tunity to say they were all cribbed from that 

 paper. 



CONNECTICUT NOTES. 



F. A. CLARK. 



Professor F. C. Fowler, one of the leading sports- 

 men of this section, while shooting on his duck 

 preserve, bagged a pair of mallards. These are a 

 rarity in Middlesex county. The wild rice 

 and celery sown in the marsh and pond by the 

 Professor is, no doubt, the bait which drew 

 them. 



Partridges and woodcocks are reported plenti- 

 ful in this state, 17 having been bagged in a 

 day by two guns. Quails are not so numerous, or 

 else manage to elude the guns by seeking shelter 

 on forbidden ground, which is to be found every- 

 where in Connecticut. 



Messrs. Roselle, Banning, Mosier, and twenty 

 other sportsmen, of Hadlyme, gave an old 

 fashioned hunting party and supper last year ; 

 the modus operandi is to choose sides and shoot 

 two days, each kind of game scoring a certain 

 number of points per head. At the end of the two 



days the game of each side is counted and the 

 party scoring the lowest number of points pays 

 the expense of the supper, the ladies, of course, 

 preparing the game for the table. The affair 

 met with so much success that it was repeated 

 this year. The shooting was done on October 23d 

 and 24th, and the supper given at Comstock's hall, 

 on the 25th, with such pronounced success that 

 it has been decided to make it an annual event.* 



*A decidedly unsportsmanlike practice, long 

 since abandoned by all progressive clubs, and it 

 is hoped these Connecticut gentlemen will never 

 again indulge in it. — Ed. 



J. P. Sueyd, with his brother Sam., of Phila- 

 delphia, and brother-in-law Spencer, shot three 

 coons from one tree, one day last month. The 

 men were on Mt. Parnassus, near Bashan pond, 

 and, coming to a chestnut tree which was well 

 supplied with nuts, decided to gather some. 

 Spencer climbed the tree for the purpose of 

 shaking it, and when part way up, saw the 

 tail of an animal hanging from a limb above. 

 Sam unhitched at the bunch above the tail with 

 fine shot, and it is an open question as to which 

 was the most surprised, the two sleeping coons 

 which composed the bunch, or the hunters. 

 However, the coons recovered their wits first, 

 and took a sneak up aloft, but were soon tumbled 

 by well directed charges of heavy shot. Elated 

 at their success the hunters proceeded to pick 

 up chestnuts. After awhile Spencer said he 

 wondered if there weren't more coons up there. 

 Sure enough, on investigation, a third one was 

 discovered in the top of the tree. Some more 

 target practice was then indulged in and a 

 lucky shot brought him down. 



SPOKANE AND THE FAR WEST. 



C. H. KINGSBURY. 



Messrs. Cockrelland Gordon had an enjoyable 

 day's shooting at Pleasant Valley, Montana, on 

 the Great Northern line. They bagged 63 

 ducks and a number of grouse. They report 

 blue grouse and ruffed grouse in large numbers, 

 and plenty of deer, bear and other big game in 

 the hills and mountains thereabouts. 



In the establishment of Withers Bros., taxi- 

 dermists, are to be seen two recently dressed 

 robes of musk oxen. The fortunate owner is 

 Mr. S. Malterner, who recently penetrated the 

 wilds of the northwest territory in search of the 

 musk ox. His point of departure from the 

 railway was Edmonton, reached by a branch of 

 the C. P. R. , north from Calgary. 



F. K. McBrown, Geo. Dodson and Dr. 

 Russell have just returned from their trip to 

 Crab creek, on the line of the Great Northern. 

 They bagged 285 ducks. 



Mr. John W. Withers, of the firm of Withers 

 Bros., taxidermists, Riverside avenue, Spokane, 

 Wash., is a practical sportsman and will be 

 glad to furnish any information or assistance in 

 his power to sportsmen visiting that place. I 

 can recommend them as entirely trustworthy 

 and honorable in their business dealings, and 

 any information they may give will, I feel sure, 

 be reliable and accurate. 



