200 



RECREATION. 



is not in my line of business and I do not 

 care to be hurried. I picked as my hunting 

 companion that morning the small boy 

 " Bold Joe," for I knew I could out run 

 him if it became necessary, and I also knew 

 there were a few grizzlies in that country. 

 Soon after leaving camp we found the 

 tracks of 3 white-tail deer. We followed 

 them all day but did not get a glimpse of 

 the deer. The mountains were thickly cov- 

 ered with small fir, and in most places we 

 could not see more than 15 steps ahead of 

 us. 



Our next day was spent in skinning and 

 packing the elk which was killed the previ- 

 ous day. To get it in we had to quarter it 

 and each man carried a quarter to camp, 

 i l / 2 miles away. 



The third day Clyde was successful in 

 killing a bull calf. " Bold Joe " and I 

 also brought down a bull which weighed, 

 after being dressed, about 600 pounds. 

 When we stumbled on to this big fellow, 

 we both fired. One bullet went through the 

 lungs, the other through the lower part of 

 the heart. The elk ran about 150 yards be- 

 fore falling. The following day we dressed 

 and packed them into camp, and this was 

 the hardest day's work of all. The next 

 morning our driver, Bill Asa, arrived with 

 team and wagon. Noon found us on our 

 way home, feeling happy, as we had about 

 1,300 pounds of dressed elk meat to hang 

 up in the meat house at home. 



E. K. M. 



THE WOODCHUCK AS A GAME ANIMAL. 



ANGUS BALLARD. 



Among the smaller animals of the North- 

 ern and Eastern States and the lower Cana- 

 dian provinces is one whose gamy quali- 

 ties are often overlooked by those who en- 

 joy hunting. This animal is known in New 

 England and New York as the woodchuck, 

 in Pennsylvania and the middle West as 

 the groundhog, and our scientific friends 

 call him Arctomys monax. 



Unlike most American wild animals, 

 woodchucks are increasing instead of be- 

 1 ing exterminated. This is because they 

 have few natural enemies; are of no com- 

 mercial value or utility; and as cultivated 

 fields have taken the place of woodland 

 their opportunities for subsistence have 

 been greatly increased. 



The woodchuck's most congenial hab- 

 itat is a hillside meadow sloping to the East 

 or South. They are, however, apparently 

 more influenced in choice of location by 

 the kind of food immediately available and 

 the matter of cover " for their burrows, 

 than by configuration of ground. They 

 are never found on wet, swampy ground, 

 rarely on land subject even to occasional 

 overflow, and they are seldom seen in tim- 

 ber except sometimes at the extreme edge 

 of a forest. Their favorite burrowing 



places are under old pine stumps or logs in 

 meadows or rich pastures, along rail fences 

 or under stone piles. If a clump of briers 

 surrounds the burrow so much the better. 

 The woodchuck is a retiring individual and 

 from his youth up prefers to see without 

 being seen. The stump or fence under 

 which he makes his burrow is useful to 

 him by affording a place from which to as- 

 certain whether the coast is clear before 

 venturing out for refreshments. 



In cleared fields, in clover meadows, and 

 where no artificial cover can be had for the 

 burrow, the woodchuck shows his native 

 resourcefulness. In such a place there is 

 nothing to conceal the big pile of earth 

 thrown out in the excavation of the bur- 

 row. This pile soon becomes conspicuous, 

 and is an unsafe place from which to make 

 observations. So, from below, a hole or 2 

 is dug to the surface, all the dirt removed 

 being taken to the main opening, and from 

 this " blind," 15 or 20 feet from where the 

 burrow appears to be, the occupant, with 

 only his eyes above the surface, will quietly 

 note what is going on outside. It is not 

 common for these blind openings to be 

 used in going. into the burrow, and they 

 are so inconspicuous as to be easily over- 

 looked by a man at a distance of 10 yards. 



In feeding, Arctomys monax rarely goes 

 100 feet from his " hole," more commonly 

 not 50 feet away, and at short intervals 

 raises his head to see that everything is 

 quiet. At longer intervals he rises on his 

 hind feet and makes more extended ob- 

 servations. Any unfamiliar sound or mo- 

 tion will cause him to stop feeding and 

 look around, and its repetition will send 

 him skurrying underground in a moment. 



It is seldom a man can get within 75 to 

 100 yards of an old woodchuck except by 

 taking advantage of the cover afforded by 

 stumps, trees, rocks, etc., and by being as 

 still as a cat in his movements. ( 



Dogs are the woodchuck's natural enemy, 

 but only a wise dog has any business with 

 a full-grown groundhog. I have many 

 times seen a dog whipped to a standstill by 

 an old woodchuck of not 34 the canine's 

 weight. On the other hand, I have seen 

 dogs so small as not to be able to lift a 

 large woodchuck from the ground, yet who, 

 from knowledge of the habits of the animal 

 could ( catch and kill a big fellow right on 

 open ground. 



Woodchucks are essentially rifle game, 

 and to hunt them successfully, even where 

 they are numerous, requires careful ob- 

 servation, patience and first-class practical 

 marksmanship. The difficulty of killing 

 them is materially increased by the con- 

 stantly varying conditions under which one 

 shoots. At one time the hunter will come 

 unexpectedly on his game, within 20 or 30 

 yards, or it will pop up its head from a 

 blind opening, and a shot (if made at all) 

 will have to be at a target the size of an 



