184 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



A SOUTHERN OREGON MOUNTAIN TRIP. 



By Warden L. C. Applegate. 



Departing from the city of Rogue River, a beautiful little city sit- 

 uated on the banks of the famous river of that name, on the 14th day 

 of August, I traveled for some distance along the valley of Evans 

 Creek, thence along Pleasant Creek from its mouth to its source, then 

 at length over partly blazed trails filled with logs, rocks and brush, 

 and by perseverence finally reached the timbered mountain tops and 

 grassy ridges at the hour of 9:15 a. m. on the 15th. From this eleva- 

 tion I heard numerous shots from the deadly 30-30 Winchesters and 

 with haste sped in the direction of the battle ground. In the mean- 

 time shot after shot was heard, and finally when I reached the lucky 

 nunting party they had before them one eight-point, two five-point, one 

 four-point and one three-point buck deer. The hunters were residents 



of Rogue River and Medford, Oregon, and were greatly pleased over 

 their reward for a three hours hunt. Soon they had their booty piled 

 in an auto, together with rifles, ammunition, water bags and a French 

 harp, and getting aboard glided off and in a few seconds all that re- 

 mained to mark the path of the delighted hunters was a cloud of dust. 



I continued my course through the mountains until I reached the 

 north fork of Evans Creek, which I ascended until I reached the famous 

 Willow Flat hunting camp. Here I came in contact with two amateur 

 hunters from Gold Hill. The boys had good luck, having bagged 

 between them four fine bucks. The Evans Creek country is a very 

 good hunting ground, due to the numerous small streams that join the 

 creek in this section, thus cutting up the mountains and providing 

 many canyons and small breaks that are so much used by the intelli- 

 gent buck deer. 



This section can be reached by pack horse from Willow Flat Camp 

 on Evans Creek. Other important hunting camps that can be reached 

 from Evans Creek are Battle Mountain, Round Top Mount, Spikenard 

 Butte, Skeleton Mountain, Red Mountain, Cedar Mountain, Salt Creek, 

 Raspberry Creek, Boulder Creek, Battle Creek, Sand Creek, Pea Vine, 

 Gulliway Top, Cow Creek, Buck Camp, and numerous other smaller 

 camps. 



My advice to hunters would be to wait until after a good rain 

 before trying for the limit, because of the fact that the dry leaves and 

 breaking twigs under foot attract the attention of the deer and put 

 them to flight before the hunter can get a shot. 



GOOD NEWS ABOUT SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 



Mr. E. F. Averill, of Pendleton, Oregon, reports that in 1912 there 

 was a small band of Columbian sharp-tailed grouse or prairie chickens 

 on the farm belonging to J. M. Tabor, Hermiston, Oregon. These birds 

 have been carefully protected by Mr. Tabor, and last winter Mr. Averill 

 counted over 150 birds in the flock. He thinks it has increased to at 

 least 200. This bird has been very rapidly disappearing in Oregon, 

 and this seems to be one of the few places where they are not only 

 holding their own, but increasing. 



