
FROM THE 'GAME FIELDS. 
BEAR HUNTING IN B. C. 
Mr. Vannier tells a thrilling story of an 
encounter he once had with 4 bears. He 
carried a .44 caliber Winchester and had. 
only 5 cartridges. With 2 of these he 
dropped 2 of the bears where they stood. 
Then the other 2 bears, both large and 
ferocious, attacked Mr. Vannier, who re- 
mained calm and confident. 
The comrade at his side, unarmed and 
excited, felt doubtful as to how the matter 
would end and advised that the 3 remain- 
ing cartridges be fired at once. To this Mr. 
Vannier replied, that if he could hit the 
bears at a distance, he would be certain to 
hit them when they got within a few feet 
of him. He placed one bullet in the head 
of one bear and followed it by a similar dose 
to the other, leaving both dead almost at 
his feet. 
Last season my catch was 2 martens and 
8 panthers. I get about 34 of my panthers 
in traps; the rest with a heavy revolver that 
I carry for that purpose. It is more con- 
venient than a rifle to carry while trapping, 
and usually quite as effective, except for 
bears. 
These panthers are worth the trouble to 
get them, the bounty being $7.50 each and 
the skin of a large one will bring $4 to $5. 
They are sold to private parties sometimes 
for large sums, though I never got more 
than $8 for one skin. 
This district is no good for fur animals. 
I follow traps for 100 miles sometimes to 
get one marten. Deer seem to be more 
plentiful than they were Io years ago. An 
Indian at that time shot 167 deer in 6 weeks 
for the skins, and attended to his traps at 
the same time. The deer were all’ laree, 
judging from the skins. 
There appears to be about an equal pro- 
portion of swine among whites and Ind- 
ians. The only remedy that I know of is 
to educate them through RECREATION. 
That will show them what they really are 
and will cure a great many. When you lis- 
ten to a hog boasting about the number 
of deer shot while mired in deep snow, you 
cannot avoid noticing that the one charac- 
teristic most prominent in him is igno- 
rance. 
This is my last winter trapping and hunt- 
ing in this part of the country. I will 
change off to gold hunting for a few years, 
on the Yukon. Should I meet with some 
adventure or make some new observations 
of things interesting to sportsmen, you will 
II2 
hear of it. I hope I may have the pleasure 
of meeting some friends of RECREATION in 
Alaska. Charles A. Baylor. 

IN DEFENSE OF THE FOX. 
Never return a verdict of guilty until the 
defendant has spoken, or until some one 
has spoken in his behalf. 
In June RECREATION there appeared an 
article under the heading of “ Mr. Fox, 
Game Hog,” in which the author recom- 
mended placing a bounty on Reynard, thus 
condemning him to extermination. 
I cannot agree with such heartless war- 
fare on an animal which is certainly of 
great benefit to the people of the North- 
west and undoubtedly useful to the coun- 
try in general. 
Perhaps where the country lad has for- 
gotten or never knew the use of the rifle, 
and where the fox has practically wiped out 
the rodents and is forced to subsist on 
other creatures, it may be necessary to re- 
duce his numbers, but even there not to ex- 
terminate him. . 
In Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wiscon- 
sin fully 90 per cent. of the fox’s food is of 
animals generally recognized as injurious, 
namely: Gophers, field mice, rabbits, 
weasels, woodchucks, etc. 
Olid Reynard is not an angel by any: 
means, but the game birds and barnyard 
fowls are so seldom found on his bill of fare 
that we should be reasonably lenient when 
he does appease his hunger on some choice 
morsei of poultry or game. 
Moreover, the fox is generally held ac-. 
countable for the depredations of every 
weasel, mink and skunk in the neighbor- 
hood. 
Let us look at another phase of the fox 
question. 
As game we find him a worthy quarry for 
the most enthusiastic sportsman. During 
the winter months few things offer sport so 
fine as fox hunting, provided you can han- 
dle the rifle dexterously. Winter hunting 
alone is sufficient to prevent foxes from be- 
coming too numerous, so there is no neces- 
sity of a bounty. 
Instead of placing a bounty on Vulpes 
vulgaris we should, rather, discourage the 
practice, so prevalent, of digging out their 
dens in the spring and killing all the young. 
If people would stop this practice they 
would save their counties thousands of dol- 
lars that are paid out in gopher bounties. 

