FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



WHAT YOU CAN GET IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY. 



Eureka, Cal. 



Editor Recreation: Humboldt County 

 is the Northernmost coast county except one 

 (Del Norte) in California, and for game both 

 large and small, it takes the belt. This coun- 

 ty may be divided into 3 sections. The Red- 

 wood belt, extending North and South a dis- 

 tance of 100 miles and having an average 

 width of 12 miles, is a good range for deer 

 and bear. In fact the woods are full of them. 

 but those not versed in woodcraft would 

 better stay out in the clearing. The under- 

 growth and innumerable gulches and ravines 

 running crosswise to an Easterly course, to- 

 gether with the peculiar shades of a red- 

 wood forest would work a novice clear off 

 his reckoning. The best way is to keep the 

 main dividing ridges through the woods. 

 Along them and on high ground you may 

 catch a buck a napping, when he lays out to 

 harden his horns. It is an event of a life 

 time, to get a true glimpse of the heart of a 

 Redwood forest. Those who are lovers of 

 nature's solitudes can here commune without 

 interference. Here the true monarch of the 

 forest raises his stately shaft 300 feet toward 

 the skies, and it is often 60 feet to the first 

 limb. Some of these trees have a diameter 

 of 8 to 12 feet. Sit yourself down and listen 

 to the winds playing about their hoary heads. 



The next section is what is known as the 

 Bald Hills, yet they are not so bald as the 

 name implies, for there are thickets of scrub 

 oak, white oak, madrone, and pepperwoods. 

 There is a diversity of landscape never weary- 

 ing to the eye, and here is where the hunter's 

 paradise begins. In the line of feathered 

 game there are mountain quails in abun- 

 dance, grouse, pigeons, doves and ducks, all 

 in their season. Chinese pheasants and wild 

 turkeys have lately been imported and a 

 close season of 3 years has been enacted for 

 them. 



You may hear a buck snorting as he flees 

 from a panther, the jack rabbits are kept 

 busy dodging the coyotes and thousands of 

 gray squirrels gather here their winter store 

 of acorns. 



Some of the rivers are so full of trout as 

 to afford grand sport. 



Section 3, reaches the Eastern limit of 

 Humboldt county and borders on the South- 

 western portion of Trinity county. 



About the headwaters of Mad river, Van 

 Duzen river and the South Fork of the 

 Trinity river, culminating in the peak known 

 as South Yallo-Bally lies a country rich in 

 fur-bearing animals and bears. Last Au- 

 gust I counted 68 deer as they turned a 

 cuive in the trail. This is my trapping 



ground of the past and the future. It lies 

 just West of the gold 5elt, although some- 

 times a lonely prospector ventures in there, 

 in the hope of striking it rich. 



The snow falls to a depth of 6 feet on a 

 level, on the higher benches of the moun- 

 tain, decreasing to 3 feet at its base. At its 

 Western declivity are 3 gems of lakes, the 

 source of the 3 forks of Mad river. Some 

 day I will write you a short story of my ad- 

 venture there, with Chief Chewilla, of the 

 Nez Perces, in the spring of 1870. 



There are no wagon roads for any dis- 

 tance into these mountains, but pack ani- 

 mals can be had on short notice. 



Humboldt Bay is noted for ducks in plen- 

 ty and variety. We have the canvasback, 

 mallard, teal, widgeon, sprig, redhead, bald- 

 pate, woodduck. gray and white geese and 

 brant. At the present writing good sport 

 can be had trolling for salmon. Valley 

 quail are numerous this season back of town, 

 and cotton tail rabbits arc a drug on the 

 market. 



The Eureka Gun Club has a membership 

 of 25. Its preserve is one of the best in the 

 state. The equipments consist of 5 blue 

 rock expert traps with electric falls. The 

 annual shooting of the club begins on Feb- 

 ruary 22d and closes September 15th. The 

 contest prize, for '99, will be a diamond 

 medal. The winner must win it at 3 regular 

 monthly official shoots before he can claim 

 it as his own. 



We have also the Humboldt Fish and 

 Game Club. Its object is to protect the 

 game and fish and to assist the game war- 

 den and officers of the law in enforcing the 

 game laws. It has a commodious club house 

 with a keeper, boats and all other parapher- 

 nalia necessary to good sport. 



The club controls 1,400 acres of marsh 

 land, intersected by tide water sloughs. It 

 has been in existence 4 years, and as its 

 members are limited as to number of birds 

 killed the results are beginning to show 

 since the birds have found there is one place 

 where they are not shot at continually. 

 Game hogs and fish hogs would do well to 

 steer clear of this neck of the woods. 



H. S. Peterson. 



AN ARKANSAS DEER. 



FRANK FARNER. 



I lived in St. Louis, and my work was 

 very distasteful to me, principally because 

 it was like pulling teeth to get the privilege, 

 once a year, of spending a month in the 

 woods with my gun and traps. So, when 

 my new father-in-law said that if I would go 



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