208 



RECREATION. 



ew, Earl M. Brooks, out in the country to 

 see a certain farmer and get him to help 

 catch some fellows who were shooting 

 chickens and quails on the snow. He 

 caught the farmer himself and a neighbor 

 with 4 quails they had potted. It cost them 

 $10 and trimmings, and should have cost 

 them more. Now I am surrounded by a 

 ring of squealing game hogs, who think it 

 "too bad to prosecute innocent farmers, 

 when others are breaking the law." I will 

 get some more of them yet, and shall con- 

 sider it cheap at $10 a shot. 



A. L. Brooks, M.D., Audubon, la. 



I have just returned from Newfound- 

 land, where I enjoyed caribou shooting 

 beyond anything I expected, and I attribute 

 my success largely to the good advice given 

 me by you. George Nichols was our guide, 

 and he was all one could ask for in that ca- 

 pacity. The trip was a success in every 

 respect, and it will be remembered in years 

 to come with pleasure greater than any 

 other I have taken. I secured 2 fine stags 

 almost on the same spot where you shot 

 yours. The largest number of caribou 

 sighted in one day was 64 and the smallest 

 7. We were in camp 8 days. Left home 

 October 12th, and returned November 4th. 

 C. W. Winspeor, of Newark, N. Y., accom- 

 panied me. 



G. J. Van Vachten, Oneonta, N. Y. 



Have just received my first copy of Rec- 

 reation. It seems to me a magazine of the 

 right sort for sportsmen. I wish we had a 

 similar publication in Canada. Our game 

 is being rapidly exterminated by Indians, 

 who kill all they can, and by so-called 

 sportsmen, who can not distinguish a doe 

 from a buck. This being an unorganized 

 district the law can not punish anybody 

 killing game out of season, as was proved 

 last year when a constable ran in some men 

 and was hauled over the coals by the author- 

 ities for so doing. Owing to that a petition 

 has been sent to Victoria, and I hope we 

 shall obtain protection. If not, we shall 

 have to go far away for our sport in the 

 future. 



J. F. Campbell, Pentichin, B. C. 



As Mr. Geo. Severance was returning 

 home one day last winter he discovered a 

 dead grouse by the roadside. He got out 

 of his sleigh and picked up the bird. Its 

 head had been severed from the body as 

 neatly as if by a knife, and the body 

 was still warm. Mr. Severance at once 

 began an invest'gation. Nearly 20 rods 

 from where the Mrd lay he saw, clinging to 

 a telephone wir a little tuft of feathers, 

 and directly bei ath lay the head of the 

 grouse. The bird had evidently been cross- 



ing the road in swift flight, possibly to 

 escape from a hawk, and striking the wire 

 had decapitated itself, while the body 

 passed on by its own momentum. 



E. G. Moulton, Derby, Vt. 



I am sorry to see the public persistently 

 misinformed by the Tacoma Ledger re- 

 garding elk in the Olympic mountains. On 

 the Western slope of that range elk are 

 steadily increasing. The rangers have kept 

 Indians out of the forest reserve, and game 

 hogs find the hunting there too hard to 

 suit them. I saw a band of elk last fall 

 and counted 44 head, and there were more 

 in the brush. A band of over 100 were 

 seen on Queets river last spring. Deer are 

 abundant in spite of numerous wildcats 

 and cougars that prey on them. Grouse 

 are not plentiful ; cats and hawks keep 

 them thinned out. 



Geo. Y. Hibberd, Queets, Wash. 



I have a fine silver tip bear hide, Indian 

 tanned and nicely stretched. I wish to 

 make a rug of it, and wish you would 

 tell me how to prepare the head and soften 

 the hide. A .R., Louisiana, Mo. 



ANSWER. 



That is a job for a taxidermist or a fur 

 dresser, and I would not advise you to 

 undertake it yourself. It would take any 

 man a year or more to learn to do such 

 work in a creditable way. I therefore ad- 

 vise you to send it to any taxidermist who 

 advertises in Recreation. You would then 

 get a good job. — Editor. 



I spent 3 months last fall in camp at 

 Kickapoo Springs, Texas, about 40 miles 

 from Brackettville. Though I hunted every 

 day, and saw plenty of deer, turkeys, quails 

 and ducks, I killed only enough game to 

 supply the camp with meat. Al Wallis, a 

 hunter and trapper living in Edwards 

 county, killed 116 deer last season and sold 

 the hides to Roach & Peterson, of Brackett- 

 ville. In killing those deer he probably 

 wounded half as many more. He has prac- 

 tically exterminated the game of a region 

 which a few years ago abounded with deer 

 and turkeys. 



L. Lehman, Fort Douglas, Utah. 



One day last winter a doe ran through 

 the streets of this city, finally dashing 

 through a door into a shop. There she 

 fell either from exhaustion or fright. Some 

 men secured her, put her in a wagon, car- 

 ried her 2 miles from town to a spot where 

 deer had been seen, and there let her go. 

 E. M. R., Concord, N. H. 



Those men should be voted a pension of 

 $25 a month for the remainder of their 

 lives. There are few such men living. The 



