40 



RECREA TION. 



legalizes the shooting of pigeons from 

 traps. The law, which bears the title " fish, 

 forestry and game," was intended to regu- 

 late the shooting of game in the state, and 

 surely one cannot say that pigeons shot 

 from traps are game. 



Further, the constitution of Colorado 

 states expressly that in order to become a 

 law an act must have but a simple title; or, 

 if more than one, they must be of subjects 

 clearly related to each bther. Hence, in the 

 title of our law, there is an apparent defect, 

 for the argument is advanced that " for- 

 estry " is a subject foreign to "fish" and 

 " game." If the title be defective the law 

 itself must certainly be null and void. 

 Again, as stated above, a law to be effec- 

 tive must refer to but one subject or class 

 of subjects. The court failed to see tne re- 

 lation between pigeon shooting from tr~^s 

 and the si 1 Ejects contained in the title ui 

 the act; hence the decision. What the out- 

 come will be no one can say. In the mean- 

 time, however, Mr. Swan will continue to 

 attempt to enforce the " law." In case it 

 be declared unconstitutional by the Su- 

 preme Court, unless prompt measures are 

 taken, the game will undoubtedly suffer. 



L. D. Gilmore. 



A TOUGH BUCK. 



W. J. B. 



It had been snowing about 2 hours when 

 Fred came in and suggested that ve go 

 deer hunting. We shouldered our rifles 

 and a walk of 4 miles brought us to our 

 hunting ground. After a careful examina- 

 tion of the surroundings, we decided to go 

 to a balsam bog, 2^ miles farther on. Ar- 

 rived at the bog we saw numerous signs of 

 deer. We hunted the bog thoroughly, but 

 notwithstanding tne abundance of sign, not 

 a deer could we find. This was discour- 

 aging, and as it was nearly sundown we 

 struck an old road and made for home. 

 Suddenly we came around a sharp bend 

 and before we had time to say a word the 

 report of a rifle, quickly followed by an- 

 other, broke up our conversation. " Wasn't 

 he a big one? " We hastened to the spot 

 and found drops of blood, which increased 

 in number as we followed the trail. Into a 

 swamp it led, and we followed. We came 

 to a place where the deer had bled freely 

 while resting. 



We went on with renewed hopes and 

 presently came to where he had lain down. 

 We had paid little or no attention to our 

 course through the swamp, and now found 

 it too dark to follow the trail. A council of 

 war was held and we decided there was but 

 one thing to do — stop there for the night 

 and in the morning find our buck. A 

 swamp, everything soaking wet, no blank- 

 ets, and little grub is a pretty tough prop- 

 osition to sleep on. We started a fire and 

 made things look as agreeable as circum- 



stances would permit. That fire was a 

 daisy; a little smoke but no heat. About 

 midnight we cut some balsam boughs and 

 decided to turn in. I slept about y 2 hour, 

 then found I could get more comfort from 

 my pipe. Presently we heard the patter of 

 rain and sough* the shelter of a big pine. 

 Dawn finally came. We made a pot of tea 

 over a birch bark fire and then looked for 

 the buck. We found him about 60 rods 

 from camp; not dead, but unable to rise. 



" What a monster! What a set of horns! 

 You hold my rifle. I will get behind him, 

 catch his horns and cut his throat," said 

 Fred. He started in and in less time than 

 it takes to tell it, was 6 feet away, on his 

 back. The buck made a lunge for him but 

 in his dazed condition struck his head 

 against a small tree. Fred caught his horns 

 again and the buck on one side of the tree 

 and Fred on the other, pulled for dear life. 

 I decided to take the knife and do the stick- 

 ing act while Fred held on. The buck pre- 

 ferred to meet death fighting, and so shook 

 off Fred's hold again and made a lunge at 

 him. This was too close for fooling, so I 

 picked up the 45-90 and ended the buck's 

 career. 



One hind leg had been broken at the 

 knee joint and a ball had gone through the 

 intestines. Flow he ever put up such a fight 

 amazed us. But this was explained when 

 we tried a steak from him. Tough? Well 

 I guess yes. I came to the conclusion his 

 hide would make a bullet proof shirt, and 

 had it tanned. The head was one of the 

 finest I ever saw. I would have had it 

 mounted were it not for the fact that this 

 was all a dream. 



A FOX HUNT IN FEBRUARY. 



One evening in February, I received an 

 invitation from Mr. O. Baucus, who has 2 

 of the finest hounds in this part of the coun- 

 try, to go fox hunting with him on the first 

 fall of snow. As luck would have it, there 

 fell about 4 inches of snow the same night. 

 The following morning we started for a few 

 hours' sport with the dogs. Mr. B., being 

 of slight proportions (tipping the scales at 

 not less than 200 pounds) stationed himself 

 at the nearest run; while I took the dogs 

 and went about 1 mile North. As I started 

 down a ravine the dogs gave tongue and 

 we soon had a fox up. They ran in Mr. 

 B.'s direction, and as I heard the report of 

 his gun I knew he had captured the fox. I 

 hurried back and congratulated him on his 

 good luck. As it was still early in the day, 

 we- concluded to continue our sport. So I 

 took the dogs again, and within an hour 

 had another fox started. This one led the 

 hounds a 6 mile run; taking in Wolfs-hol- 

 low, Thief-hollow, and a portion of Rice's 

 mountain. Seeing the course they had 

 taken, I hurried to Mr. B. and told him I 

 would station myself at Ryan's run. There, 



