SEA TOTIER HUNTING: 
J. F. WILLIAMS. 
In the fall of ’96 my partner and I went 
to our winter hunting grounds, on Hinch- 
ingbrook Island, where my partner had 
spent the 2 previous winters with profit. 
He is an expert trapper and all round 
woodsman. 
Brown bears, silver-gray foxes, land ot- 
ters and minks were to be found on the 
island, and the fall is the time to catch them. 
After the snow falls they have no trails, 
and will not go near a trap. 
Arriving at the houses we had plenty of 
hard work putting out our gear; 7 set- 
guns, 5 bear traps and about 4o smaller 
ones, and to take a 9 ton schoooner out of 
the water. It was necessary, also, to build 
a small hunting house 7 miles farther up 
coast; catch and salt salmon for winter use, 
to be stored in caches near by; and, finally, 
to gather wood for winter. This had to be 
brought 2 miles across the bay. Each al- 
ternate day, too, the traps had to be visited, 
each taking % the job. This work occu- 
pied us from before daylight till 3 or 4 
picloek p.m. We had too many irons in the 
re. 
Sea otter were plentiful all along the 
coast, and in stormy weather came into a 
small bay 7 miles from the house, and there 
we had built the small cabin mentioned 
above. 
December 24th a Southeast gale brought 
the desired opportunity, and with rifles, 50 
rounds apiece, and grub for 2 days, we set 
out on our snow-shoes for the little cabin, 
arriving at 1 p.m. We lingered only long 
enough to eat a cold lunch and then hur- 
ried down to our blind on a timbered bluff 
200 feet high. 
We had no sooner placed ourselves, with 
our .45’s in readiness, than we discov- 
ered 2 large otters, 125 yards away. 

These we did not disturb, hoping for 
a more favorable shot. Thirteen otters 
were in sight, 6 in a bunch. Presently we 
saw 2 Swimming toward us, which we imade 
out to be a mother and her young. By 
turns, while waiting for them, we slipped 
back out of sight to thrash our hands to 
warm them, the other watching while this 
process went on. 
After what seemed a week they got with- 
in 130 yards of us, where they lay still for 
about 20 minutes. As they were in better 
range for me than for Bill, the shot fell to 
me. Taking careful aim, I pulled on the 
mother, but overshot. They dived, coming 
up again 120 yards from us, where both 
could shoot. 
Each scored a hit on the mother, which 
was instantly killed, and began drifting 
backward. For a time the young lost its 
mother, but soon found her body, and tried 
to work it off-shore. 
We could easily have killed the young ot- 
ter, but in doing so might have perforated 
the mother’s body so as to sink it. When, 
at last, the kitten became separated from its 
companion, we both bombarded it. I fir- 
ing 13 shots, Bill 15. I turned it over twice, 
and Bill’s 15th shot killed it. 
Both bodies floated toward the breakers, 
and feeling sure they would come ashore we 
went back to the cabin to warm and eat. 
After supper we walked the beach all night 
in hope of finding our victims, resuming 
again next morning. For 2 days we kept 
up the search, but never found them. We 
might have killed others, but never hunted 
again. It was idle to destroy what we 
could not get. 
There are many ways of spending Christ- 
mas, but the foregoing tells how Bill and 
I put in Christmas, 1896. 
A SOUTHERN: TLEINOIS, COONAN Ga 
H. H. VERTREES. 
The sky was clear one November even- 
ing as the moon rose behind a clump of tall 
brushy trees which surmounted the huge 
bluff rising abruptly from the low bottom 
land on which our cosy camp had been made 
several days before. 
434 
The call of an owl rang out through the 
evening air, then, all was silent. 
We had finished our supper, and were 
waiting for the fourth member of the hunt- 
ing party who had promised to bring his 
pack of hounds. 

