260 



RECREA TION. 



Starting out about 9.30 with my beloved 

 .40-82, I followed an old wood road tha.t 

 ascended to the top of a ridge, which it fol- 

 lowed, passing through many clearings that 

 seemed the ideal place for deer, and it was 

 not long before I sighted game. 



Leaving the road I skirted the lower edge 

 of a little meadow, and discovered 3 deer, 

 a doe and 2 fawns feeding along the edge 

 of the brush about 150 yards away. A sus- 

 picious movement in the cover, made me 

 suspect a buck, and I attempted conceal- 

 ment behind some young redwoods; but 

 they sighted me, so I concluded that the 

 chance of a shot at the buck was gone, and 

 sitting down on the bank lit my pipe and 

 watched them for some time. They made 

 a pretty picture, but as the buck refused to 

 leave the cover I gave it up, and leaving 

 the deer quietly feeding I went on. 



Though I hunted all the morning and 

 part of the afternoon, and succeeded in 

 jumping 8 other deer, I got nothing, the 

 brush being so thick that I could not see 

 my game after jumping it. Three o'clock 

 found me many miles from camp, tired and 

 hungry, when I came upon a cabin in a 

 clearing, enclosed by a rough picket fence 

 over which grew some splendid blackber- 

 ries, dead ripe. The cabin was apparently 

 deserted, and I was making a feast on the 

 berries, when I heard some one approach- 

 ing and discovered a Chinaman coming 

 through the clearing, and who proved to 

 be the owner of the claim. He greeted me 

 cheerfully: 



" Hello bossy you likee bellies? Got 

 plenty. You likee dlink? " 



He picked me some more berries, got 

 some water from a spring, and seemed very 

 glad to see me; examined my rifle care- 

 fully and said: 



" You likee catchem bear? My sabe heap 

 big bear. He come catchem my pig. Me 

 have 2 piecee pig, all gone. Bear catchem." 



I assured him I should be delighted to 

 kill the bear and received instructions as to 

 the haunts of the bear, which had carried 

 away his 2 pigs much to his disgust, and 

 had been the cause of a great piece of ex- 

 travagance on his part, that caused him 

 much regret, the purchase of a shot gun 

 that he proudly displayed. It was an old 

 muzzle loader in very bad condition, and 

 for which he had paid $4. He requested 

 me to fire it, but after sounding the bar- 

 rels with a ramrod, I declined with thanks. 

 He assured me that it was quite safe. 

 The man he bought it of had loaded it 

 for him. I drew the loads however, and 

 found some 5 drams of powder in each bar- 

 rel. I cleaned it up a bit and reloaded it, 

 firing off one barrel myself, persuading him 

 to fire the other at a mark. His relief when 

 he found his head was still on was amus- 

 ing. 



I should not have liked to bet on the 

 result had he discharged the gun before. 



After reloading he shouldered his gun 

 and volunteered to show me the bear if he 

 could be found, and he did show me some 

 sign though quite old. A careful search 

 failed to disclose any fresher, but the 

 Chinaman declared he would go farther up 

 the ridge to some huckleberry patches he 

 knew of, and would report to me at my 

 camp that night if he discovered any fresh 

 sign. It was growing late and I was a long 

 way from camp and wished to return the 

 way I had come in the morning, so I left 

 him and started. 



I walked briskly along the back trail, 

 keeping a sharp lookout for a buck, and 

 when about 3 miles from camp, in the 

 same meadow where I had seen the deer in 

 the morning, discovered 2 deer feeding 

 close to the timber, one, a small spike buck 

 giving me a good shot at 100 yards, and I 

 shot him. It was growing dark rapidly, and 

 by the time I had finished dressing my game 

 it was pitch dark under the timber, a young 

 moon giving a faint light in the open. 

 Slinging him on my back I started for 

 camp. The timber was very dense on both 

 sides of the road, which itself was scarcely 

 visible. 



I had traveled some distance when a 

 movement in the brush some 20 yards to my 

 right made me pause and listen, it ceased in 

 a moment and I started on, but in a few 

 minutes heard the same sound; some ani- 

 mal forcing its way through the thick 

 brush. This happened several times, and I 

 became convinced that I was being followed 

 by a panther which probably scented the 

 fresh blood of the deer. 



The road led me through another 

 meadow, and I walked rapidly on, halting 

 in the timber on the farther side, hoping 

 that the brute might leave cover and give 

 me a shot in the faint moonlight; but he 

 was too cautious to do so, and in a short 

 time I heard him again. 



Though I did not fear attack, it made me 

 decidedly nervous, and I hurried on reach- 

 ing the open river bottom but a short dis- 

 tance from camp, but before I had tra- 

 versed a third of the distance, I heard from 

 the ridge behind me the scream of the dis- 

 appointed panther. I have always found 

 these animals abundant in the deer country 

 throughout the wilder portions of the State, 

 but hard to get unless one hunts with good 

 hounds. More than once I have found deer 

 that had been killed and partially eaten by 

 panthers, and many fawns must be annually 

 destroyed by them. 



When some distance from camp, I no- 

 ticed that the fire was burning brightly, and 

 found my friend the Chinaman seated be- 

 side it. He arose as I approached and I 

 noticed he carried his gun, and a bunch of 

 birds, that upon further examination proved 

 to be quail. " Hello, Jim," I said, " what 

 have you got? " 



" Oh me catchem plenty bird," answered 



