FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



20 1 



ducks. Natives were on the bank watch- 

 ing me. Often I had to dip the gun in the 

 water to cool the barrel in order to handle 

 it. In an hour I was surprised myself, at 

 the number of ducks the hombre had piled 

 on the raft. I told him to push for the 

 shore. I had 64 ducks, all I wanted. On 

 the way down I could have killed as many 

 more but did not fire a shot. When I got 

 to Dagupan with my supply the band had 

 fresh meat the next day in spite of the 

 cholera regulations. 



Corp. John N. Bryan, Dagupan, P. I. 



MR. POWELL REPLIES. 



On my return from Alaska I was amused 

 to find, in reading my back numbers of 

 Recreation, that the boys had jumped on 

 me and made me out a liar. G. H. Tremp- 

 er misrepresented my statements. He says 

 I killed 3 grizzlies. The article referred 

 to did not say I killed 3. He says I killed 

 them at 200 yards, which is also a false- 

 hood. He says my statement that a wound- 

 ed grizzly gave chase at 145 yards is the 

 first case ever known. It might have been 

 to G. H. Tremper ; but I hope to prove the 

 contrary by affidavits of Copper river peo- 

 ple, when I return. 



The weight of the bear was a guess, and 

 included the skin ; but when Mr. Tremper 

 says there is no authentic record of a bear 

 weighing 1,200 pounds gross he is mis- 

 taken. A bear is seldom killed where it 

 can be weighed. Bears have often been 

 killed that have measured more than 11 

 feet, which I expect to prove by affidavits 

 of reliable men. Mr. Tremper says it is to 

 be regretted that I did not explain how I 

 kept the meat from spoiling during 3 weeks 

 of hot weather. The meat was delivered 

 to the miners of Slate Creek within 3 days 

 of the time it was killed, which I can prove 

 by men who ate of the meat and can testify 

 to the approximate weight of the bear. 



I did not suppose my statement would 

 cause so much unfair comment. To kill a 

 caribou in 3 shots, at 200 yards, when he 

 was in water and the range could be ascer- 

 tained, was not an unusual thing to do, but 

 I considered it a lucky shot. 



I intend to get affidavits of bears giving 

 chase, their size in some parts of Alaska, 

 and of 2 men who saw a caribou killed with 

 a pistol as far as I killed that one. I am 

 not in the habit of betting on my shooting, 

 as I do not consider myself an extra pistol 

 shot. Others, no doubt, can beat me at 

 that ; but as Mr. Tremper insinuates that I 

 can not hit a barrel with a shot gun, I will 

 again attempt to hit the size of a caribou 

 at a distance of 200 yards at 3 trials. 

 I should like to hear from Mr. Tremper at 

 Valdez if he is willing to cover $1,000 that 

 I can not hit a target 5 feet square with a 

 pistol at 200 yards. 



I expect to deposit the money in the Val- 

 dez bank for that purpose, and will also 

 notify Recreation when it is so placed. 

 Meantime I enclose sworn statement of 

 F. R. Launtz : 



State of Washington, 



County of King. — SS. 

 F. R. Launtz, being duly sworn, deposes 

 and says that he did see- A. M. Powell 

 shoot and kill a caribou with a pistol at a 

 distance, to the best of his belief, of more 

 than 200 yards ; that he did freely and vol- 

 untarily sign a duplicate letter to the edi- 

 tor of a magazine known as Recreation, 

 wherein he stated the said circumstance. 



H. Reinhart, 

 Notary Public. 

 Seattle, Wash., May 26, 1903. 



I have no more time to give this matter 

 at present. 



A. M. Powell, Santa Maria, Cal. 



FOREIGN SWINE. 



In connection with the coal strike, 

 one point was not brought out, which, al- 

 though of no great economic importance, 

 is of interest to sportsmen. I refer to the 

 wanton destruction of our insectivorous 

 birds, our game and our fishes. Sportsmen 

 who tramp the woods hereabout for the 

 pleasure of it, or with the camera during 

 the warmer months, never fail to see men, 

 mostly Slavs, Italians, or Poles, with guns, 

 hunting anything that flies, from the small- 

 est flycatcher to the flicker or robin, and 

 from the baby quail to the respectable 

 mother grouse who is hustling for her 

 family. It is a crafty grouse or quail which 

 can hide her nest so well that it can not 

 be found by one of the mongrel dogs which 

 accompany the hunter. If the eggs are too 

 near the hatching time to suit the taste of 

 the masters, the dogs are not so fastidious. 

 Several dogs, of yellow breed crossed with 

 hound or anything else, a stout stick or a 

 bag, and one or 2 ferrets complete the out- 

 fit. The rabbit seldom escapes, and there 

 is no gun report to attract attention. I am 

 sorry to say the use of ferrets is not wholly 

 confined to this class of hunters. 



The method of fishing is even more de- 

 structive. These men, accustomed to the 

 use of dynamite, know just how to handle 

 it to the greatest advantage in the pool of 

 a trout stream or a pond, and it is not sur- 

 prising that most of the streams within a 

 day's walk of the mines are depopulated. 



Another method, which is not so thor- 

 ough,, but which cleans out the smaller 

 fishes, is the use of a net built like a large 

 Y, with which everything under the edge 

 of an overhanging bank can be scooped 

 out. Pickerel or any other fishes which lie 

 along the bank in shallow water can be 



