\ 
196 | RECREATION. | sete 
camp-keeper, was taken into the plot and 
instructed where to find the string on the 
shore. Lizzie, his wife, was to rush to the 
hunters’ quarters and give the alarm. The 
Russian was to lead the charge, and en- 
deavor to get the Senator started. 
The hunters were cleaning their guns 
and getting ready for supper; Abe was not 
missed, and everything was favorable. 
Lizzie ran to the camp crying, “Deer in 
the lake! Deer in the lake!” The ex- 
pected charge followed; the Russian inthe © 
van, Harry, Vic, Phil, and the others after 
him, and in a moment all went into action. 
The Senator stood like a Major-General 
watching the wake of the deer, and the 
buckshot and rifle balls skipping over, 
under, ahead, and behind it. When the 
doe’s head was two-thirds across the lake 
Abe stopped pulling the string, and then 
there was a scramble for the dugout. Phi! 
got it, rowed madly after the deer, and 
when he found what he had caught had 
barely strength to lift it into the boat. 
A week later 4 railroad men, who are 
well known in Southern Michigan, paid us 
a visit and took dinner, and the poor deer 
head was trotted out and worked to the 
same successful finish. 
C. E. Murray, Traverse City, Mich. 

WANTS A BOUNTY ON VERMIN. 
I need not care personally whether game 
is preserved or not for I have burned my 
share of powder in my 65 years of life; yet 
I still love to be near nature and, in the 
evening of life, review my former experi- 
ence by flood and field. One thing I have 
learned is that noxious animals and birds 
destroy more game than pot hunters, for 
they are constantly at it. I was once 
sole occupant of an island of several hun- 
dred acres connected with the mainland by 
a narrow sand-bar. When I went there 
the island had only one bunch of quail, 
2tin number. I did not kill any and they 
did not mate and breed. The next season 
I shot among them and they raised 6 
broods. Rabbits were plentiful enough; 
sometimes I would kill 6 between sundown 
and dark. One day I saw in the woods a 
large owl’s nest and in it found 3 young 
owls and 3 dead rabbits. I did not molest 
the owls as there were rabbits enough for 
us all, but—I kept the foxes killed off. 
Then I went South and was gone 20 years. 
When I returned a few years ago there 
were no quail and but 3 rabbits, as my 
beagle repeatedly told me. My successor 
had forbidden shooting on the island, and 
owls andfoxes breed there yet. Now to show 
the rapacity of one small animal: I once 
tracked a weasel on the island and picked 
up 6 dead .rabbits from which he had 
sucked the blood in one night. A bounty 
of one dollar on each fox head and in 
proportion on all minor depredators such 
as owls, skunks, minks, weasels, crows, 
hawks, red squirrels and bluejays would 
encourage their destruction and redound 
to the-glory of the L. A. S. Inthe Middle 
and Eastern states the fox is king of wild 
beasts and chief destroyer as all observers 
know. 
L. Allen, New Bedford, Mass. 

LOON AND DUCK SHOOTING WITH A 
STEVENS. 
Loons are plentiful along the sound 
coast of -Long. Island.. They are shy. 
birds and not near-sighted. Several years 
ago. |-purchased a .25 caliber. 22) inch 
Stevens’ rifle with Lyman peep sights, etc. 
My son and I strolled toward the sound 
cliff, hoping to see something upon which 
to test the little plaything. There, on the 
quiet, shimmering water sat a large loon, 
300 yards’ away. He saw us instantly, but 
the distance was so great he showed no 
uneasiness. He simply watched us as if 
to say: ‘“‘What are you going to do?” 
I passed the rifle to my son, saying: 
“Try the fellow.” He took the rifle, 
dropped to one kn e, adjusted the sights, 
took a peep through them—lowered the 
rifle, adjusted again, took another peep 
and pulled the trigger. The loon’s head 
fell forward with the crack cf the rifle. 
Apparently he died without a quiver. Hav- 
ing secured a boat we picked up the bird 
and found that the bullet had passed 
through the neck oue thrd way from 
breast to head. 
A few days later I killed a coot quite 300 
yards away, near the same spot, after miss- 
ing him 4 shots. The fifth shot passed 
through his body. The coot instantly 
rolled on its back and stayed so till I 
picked it up. 
I.do not profess to be a judge of rifles, 
but I think the Stevens is fine. 
Later I may tell “what I know about 
grebes.” 
DT. Tuthill “Ortent, Points Nave 

THEY WASTED POWDER. 
In October ’69 I was living in Western 
Nebraska at a small station on the U. P. 
R. R. In those days small detachments 
of soldiers were quartered at all the West- 
ern stations to prevent incursions of hos- 
tile Indians. The detachment at our sta- 
tion consisted of a non-commissioned of- 
ficer and several privates of company A, 
oth U. S. Infantry. Among the privates 
were 2 new recruits, Hayes and Smith, 
who, having lately arrived from the East, 
were unacquainted with the big game of 
the frontier. 
They were anxious to kill a buffalo. On 
the second morning after their arrival they 
saw a lone, old bull that had béen 
run out of a herd by its -younger 

+ 
s 
3 
= 
e 
A) 
> 

