120 



RECREATION. 



among the cattle owned by the Indians near 

 your agency. Will you kindly tell me 

 whether or not this statement is correct? 

 If so, I should be glad to have any par- 

 ticulars you may be able to give me. In 

 case the animal is there, do you deem it 

 possible to prevent the Indians and white 

 men from killing him? 



G. O. Shields. 



Department of the Interior, 



U. S. Indian Service, 

 Standing Rock Agency. 

 G. O. Shields, 



New York City. 

 Sir: It is a fact that a buffalo has ap- 

 peared among the Indian cattle on this 

 agency. After the buffalo had been 

 among the cattle some time, along Fire- 

 steel creek, in South Dakota, in the South- 

 ern part of this agency, it was learned 

 that the animal belonged to a herd of buf- 

 falo owned by Mr. Peter Dupris, of Chey- 

 enne River Agency, and had strayed away. 

 I accordingly gave orders that the animal 

 should not be killed, and sent word to Du- 

 pris to send someone after it. He did so. 

 The buffalo has gone back to Cheyenne 

 Agency, and \ understand is down there, 

 roaming on the Moreau river. 



Geo. H. Bingenheimer, 

 U. S. Ind. Agent. 



A GUIDE TO BE AVOIDED. 

 I have noticed that you devote a good 

 deal of space to the game hog trust. I 

 live in a good game country and use in 

 open season a Parker 10 gauge, a Win- 

 chester 10 gauge and a Winchester 45~QO. 

 I am considered a fair guide and have g 

 chicken and duck dogs, all good ones, so 

 I must be a thoroughbred razorback. 

 Most of the men I guide are what you call 

 sportsmen. They come here armed with 

 featherweight hammerless guns, eye 

 glasses, grass suits and cargoes of whiskey. 

 They are anxious to kill all the game on 

 any Western marsh in 20 minutes, if pos- 

 sible; but as a circus tent is a small mark 

 for them to shoot at they-have to be con- 

 tent with running down a crippled mud 

 hen, or something else of about the same 

 value. Then they go back East and write 

 you about the Western 1 unters, who un- 

 derstand the working and killing of game 

 and can and do kill good bags. Mister 

 Eye Glass Man calls us hogs. If we are 

 hogs, your gentleman sportsman would 

 not make a profitable sucking pig, would 

 he? So let us provide for them; procure 

 some Page wire, surround a city park, 

 where they can rubber at their gorgeous 

 grizzly bear costumes, fill the enclosure 

 with Belgian hares and pet coons, name a 

 day when the sun shines the brightest, in- 

 vite all their friends and tootsie-wootsies 



as audience, shoulder their guns, rush 

 madly in among the ferocious varmints 

 and show the world the Eastern shooters 

 are not hogs but mere pigs. 



E. Bowman, Goodell, Iowa. 



And this is the way you talk of your 

 customers, eh? I hope they may all be 

 fortunate enough to read your screed, in 

 order that they may find other and more 

 courteous guides in future. — Editor. 



DEFENDS MR. BLAGDEN. 



The article by Dr. G. A. Mack, en- 

 titled, "On the Dirt Floor at Saranac," in 

 your April issue contains a statement 

 which imputes evasion of the law against 

 hounding in the Adirondacks to one of 

 the staunchest upholders of it. When 

 speaking of the baying of the hounds and 

 an occasional shot in the direction of Blag- 

 den's camp, the writer should have a care 

 lest he implicate innocent persons. I 

 happen to know that Mr. Bladgen has 

 never had or permitted the use of hounds 

 since the law went into effect prohibiting 

 that mode of hunting deer. Furthermore, 

 he has been an habitue of the Adirondacks 

 for more than 25 years. His chief delight 

 is in that glorious region and the uphold- 

 ing of laws to preserve its game and 

 primitive attractiveness. Mr. Blagden goes 

 to the North Woods every year with his 

 family in search of health and rest, not, 

 as so many others do, for the sake of what 

 they can kill. 



Dr. Mack's confession of illegal fishing 

 near the State hatchery shows him in 

 rather an unenviable light, and it is to be 

 hoped that when he again visits the Ad- 

 irondacks he will more strictly regard its 

 laws and refrain from harmful statements 

 where they are as undeserved as they are 

 incorrect. Dr. Mack may recall me as the 

 one who, in 1899, witnessed his standing 

 shot at a deer within 20 steps of a trail 

 near the St. Regis pond. He scored a 

 clean miss, for which he blamed a 30 

 caliber rifle. Harrison H. Dodge, 



Mount Vernon, Vt. 



HOGS IN TEXAS. 

 Dr. J. M. Nash, R. S. Farmer and I 

 left here November 9th for Pecos, 

 where we ioined Hugh Robertson, W. H. 

 Johnson, R. L. Jernigan and J. A. Gil- 

 lett for a hunt. Before our return we 

 killed 17 antelope, 2 bears and thousands 

 of ducks and mountain quails. 



George Tucker, Brenham, Tex. 



I asked Doctor Nash for confirmation 

 of this report and here is his reply: 



Your card received. One member of 

 our party was a newspaper man, hence 

 the modest report of our hunt. You have 



