FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



117 



cause you are so strenuously championing. 



Ernest Seton-Thompson, 144 5th Ave., 

 New York. 



I thoroughly appreciate Mr. Thompson's 

 good advice, and have accordingly changed 

 the headings and toned down my com- 

 ments on the actions of these men as he 

 suggests. I trust Chaplain Hadley, Mr. 

 Murphy, Ivy Hadley and Mr. J. C. Thomp- 

 son will thank Mr. E. S. Thompson for 

 saving them from the severe criticism they 

 would otherwise have been subjected to. 

 I «lso trust they may now understand the 

 seriousness of their offense against good 

 morals, and may never again be guilty of 

 such destructive and unsportsmanlike con- 

 duct. — Editor. 



FISHING FOR A GRIZZLY. 



Some years ago a party of friends and 

 I were out about 2 weeks on a hunting 

 trip in the mountains of Mendocino coun- 

 ty, Cal. Game was abundant, including the 

 old-fashioned grizzly, who put in an ap- 

 pearance more frequently than we thought 

 necessary or convenient. Our camp was 

 usually located in some open glade where 

 pasture for our horses was good and water 

 convenient. These conditions seemed to 

 accord with the ideas of the bears, and we 

 found them frequent visitors. They would 

 walk along the ridge until they found a 

 wild-oat point. Sitting down, they would 

 toboggan down the slope into the valley, 

 to the utter demoralization of our horses, 

 who invariably gave us notice of the bears' 

 approach by a general stampede. As these 

 visitations were always at night, the bears 

 escaped the fatal results at our hands that 

 would have attended their temerity had it 

 been light enough for us to see to shoot. 

 At least that was our idea. 



One morning 2 others of the party and 

 I took our fishing rods and started over to 

 a stream, at the bottom of a deep canyon, 

 which promised a string of trout for din- 

 ner. The results fully verified the promise. 

 We were just about to return to camp 

 when, lured by a deep pool beneath a large 

 boulder, I thought to try a few more casts 

 before giving up the sport for the day. 

 Stepping'out cautiously into the stream, I 

 threw around the boulder, but to my aston- 

 ishment I got no rise. I stepped a little 

 farther and tried it again, with no better 

 result. I was rather nonplussed at that, as 

 I felt sure the pool must have some trout 



I in it. Suddenly a slight splash sounded 

 in my ear and some floating debris passed 

 me. Wading out farther, I glanced around 

 the boulder, and there sat an old grizzly, 

 taking his morning bath and washing his 

 face, just like folks. As he did not see me 

 I retired gracefully, not wishing to dis- 

 turb him. Having started out after trout 

 I was not fishing for bear, and had no de- 

 sire to change my original programme! 



Just as I climbed out of the canyon I 

 met my 2 friends coming to try the same 

 pool, so I enjoined caution as to their man- 

 ner of approach, lest the fish should see 

 them, and told them I had seen a monster 

 down there. I advised them to throw 

 their lines around the boulder up stream. 

 When they reached the pool they saw the 

 water was disturbed and looked into the 

 cause. Then they dropped their rods and 

 fled. I was obliged to crawl down, recover 

 the rods, and take them to camp, where I 

 met at the hands of my friends a warm re- 

 ception for generously giving up my 

 chances at the pool for their benefit. 



Alfred V. La Motte, Ukiah, Cal. 



CONDEMNS DECOYS. 



I have read your roasts of men who hunt 

 with ferrets. I hunted with them 20 years 

 ago, but have not since that time. I can- 

 not see but that it is sport. The cotton- 

 tail will hole after the sun is up, and the 

 only way I could ever see one was to track 

 it to the hole and then put in a ferret to 

 drive the rabbit out. It was good sport to 

 drop him at 40 or 50 yards. 



I have hunted from Lake Ontario to the 

 Pacific coast, and this fall was the first 

 time I ever shot a duck over decoys. I 

 said, "This is more like murder than like 

 sport." I think the cottontail has a chance 

 even with a ferret, and so have ducks. There 

 are 10 or 12 of them, may be 20, and some 

 of them get away. The sport a man can 

 have hunting rats with ferrets should give 

 him a place over the man who uses de- 

 coys. I know you cannot get many ducks 

 without hard work unless you use them, 

 but you can get one now and then. You 

 may call me a game hog if you want to. 

 I hope I am not one, but I think decoys 

 do more harm than ferrets do. Rabbits 

 can be caught with a snare, but I like to 

 get them on the run. 



I have not seen a ferret for 20 years, but 

 I like to remember the sport of my boy- 

 hood days. 



St. Joe, Adirondacks. 



ANSWER. 



No, I should not call you a game hog. 

 by any means. The fact that you used 

 ferrets 20 years ago is not to your dis- 

 credit, for game was plentiful then, and 

 scarcely any one thought of the necessity 

 of preserving it. Consequently no one was 

 then opposed to the use of ferrets, and 

 thousands of men used them who would 

 not do so to-day under any circumstances. 

 The use of ferrets is condemned to-day, 

 not by me alone, but by all decent sports- 

 men. 



I wish the use of decoy ducks might also 

 be discontinued everywhere, and that all 

 sportsmen might look on that subject as 

 you do. This will come about in time, but 



