ite 



kUCkBATlON. 



lively shindy for a spell, but it was soon 

 over. He was not skinned until the next 

 morning. 



On the 21st one of the guides led a Kan- 

 sas City man in another direction. They 

 were gone 2 days, and came in bringing the 

 pelts of a lion and a bobcat. This made 

 a record in 6 days of 3 lions, 2 lynxes and 

 one bobcat. 



On the 23d all visitors left but me, and 

 as I intended going with Goff to his bear 

 and lion camp, we moved the outfit to his 

 ranch, to allow the horses and dogs to rest 

 before starting for the lower country. We 

 were joined by some new sportsmen, and 

 November 4 we set out with 2 wagons load- 

 ed with duffle, and 6 tourists on horseback. 



By 2 p. m. of the 24th we reached Range- 

 ly, where we found a band of Utco, who 

 had been hunting but had been turned back 

 to their reservation by the warden. They 

 had stopped at Rangely for a few horse 

 races. We watched the races with interest. 

 The first was between a horse belonging 

 to Moc Face and another was the property 

 of a Mexican. 



Each horse wore a bridle and a rope tied 

 about his body back of the shoulders. The 

 Indian rider was the best I ever saw. The 

 course was over a long, straight road. The 

 jockeying done at starting would have 

 driven an Eastern jockey crazy. While try- 

 ing to get a start the Indians ran about 

 vociferating, "Bet 'em on Injun hoss, all 

 same." The riders finally got off, and the 

 way they rode was the sight of a lifetime. 

 The Indian came in first, hailed by the 

 shouts of his people. The Mexicans were 

 silent. Two other races followed, the In- 

 dian winning both. Then the tribe started 

 for the reservation, but persisted in wonder- 



ing why the white man could kill deer 6 

 weeks and the Injun only 6 days. 



The red men were curious to know what 

 we should do with the dogs. When told 

 that we should hunt bears and lions, a 

 pompous old fellow remarked, "Maybe 

 so you ketch 'em; maybe so you no ketch 

 'em." They are so superstitious about bears 

 that they will not hunt them, but, meeting 

 one, will try to kill it. The next morning we 

 left Rangely, and in the evening made camp 

 on West fork of Douglas creek, 30 miles 

 from Rangely. Everything was dry; dust 

 2 inches deep, which was discouraging to 

 hunters. The dogs became hungry for a 

 chase, and iby the second day's hunting all 

 but old Jim started off on a wolf's track. 

 Goff followed to call them off. A gray 

 wolf can do a whole lot of damage to a 

 pack of dogs. He runs on until the pack 

 strings out. Then he turns and finishes the 

 leader ; then runs on until he can serve 

 the second, and then the others the same 

 way. After 3 hours Goff got the dogs off 

 the trail. 



Another morning we found a lion track. 

 The dogs worked on that trail 6 x / 2 hours 

 to put the lion up. He had traveled over 

 bare rocks, and the scent a lion leaves in 

 such a place is so faint as to be nearly 

 untraceable. 



While we were on Douglas no rain fell, 

 yet we caught 6 lions and one bobcat. I 

 think we went down too late for bears. 

 We saw no fresh tracks while we were 

 there, but cattlemen say there are many 

 bears. 



The White river country is a paradise for 

 hunters. . Goff wanted me to go to the 

 ranch and hunt with him, but I credited 

 myself with enough sport for one year and 

 declined. 



A MINNESOTA MUSKALONGE. 



O. L. THOMAS 



It may interest some of our sportsmen 

 friends to know that there is still a place 

 where muskalonge, the great "Wolf of the 

 Waters," abound, and are still untutored 

 to the point where they avoid the lure. 



July 28, last, my brother Clark and I 

 left our home at State Line, Wisconsin, 

 with a determination to find some good 

 muskalonge fishing. On our arrival at 

 Deer River, Minn, we procured a birch-bark 

 canoe and camping outfit and at once be- 

 gan our tour of exploration up Deer river 

 toward the lake-dotted region of Itasca 

 c©unty. We scrutinized most of the 



head waters of the Mississippi river, 

 all of which have muskalonge in them, 

 and passed over the divide into the waters 

 of the Red river, through the Cass Lake 

 Indian Reservation, the Winnibigoshish 

 Reservation, the Chippewa and Leech Lake 

 Reservations. We found many beautiful 

 lakes, with water clear as crystal. Most 

 of them, the Red river waters as 

 well as the Mississippi, are alive with 

 pickerel and pike. In some of the lakes 

 we had the finest black bass fishing I ever 

 saw, the fish being all of the green variety. 

 In Turtle lake, a beautiful sheet of water, 



