FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



463 



hits, I do not think you or anyone else 

 can justly call them game hogs. 



Ray L. Robinson, Dundee, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



I insist that no true sportsman would 

 use a ferret in hunting rabbits, and I am 

 not alone in this. If you have been read- 

 ing Recreation, you have noticed that 

 many of my contributors have denounced 

 these ferret carriers as strongly as I have. 

 It would be just as reasonable, and just 

 as sportsmanlike, to dynamite brook trout 

 as- it is to hunt rabbits with a ferret, for 

 the trout would stand just as good a show 

 in a hole where a stick of dynamite is 

 exploded as the rabbit would stand when 

 a ferret is chucked into his burrow. — Ed- 

 itor. 



A CALIFORNIA CAMP. 



In July we made our camp in a beautiful 

 little valley, 5 miles long and a half mile 

 wide, in the heart of the Sierra Nevada 

 mountains, Plumas county, California. 



Our camp was on the Eastern side of 

 the valley, consequently the sun did not 

 strike our tent until 6.30 p. m., but it was 

 warm notwithstanding the altitude of 4,400 

 feet. The stove was made of logs about 2 

 feet long and 4 to 6 inches thick; mud 

 over thick to keep the logs from burning; 

 then flat rocks piled on that with mud be- 

 tween to hold them together, and a piece 

 of sheet iron over that to cook on. 



Wood and water were plentiful. The lat- 

 ter we procured from a small brook, 150 

 feet from the camp. 



In the daytime squirrels, chipmunks, and 

 countless numbers of birds came about, 

 and at night coyotes and owls. 



We were in a gold region, and could go 

 up to the mine and pan out nuggets, some- 

 times 2 or 3 times the size of a pinhead. 



Wild bees were plentiful, but we did not 

 succeed in finding any trees, though we 

 got 5 courses. 



We had many delightful days there, and 

 in September we came home to school, 

 happy and healthy. 



Garrison Costar, Chico, Cal. 



THE BEAR AND THE .30. 

 Some time ago I bought a .30-30 Win- 

 chester repeater. I had no opportunity 

 to try it until Ben Earp invited me to 

 X ranch for a hunt. Ben, a Mr. Tid- 

 well, and I mounted ponies and started 

 up the mountain over a trail so rough noth- 

 ing but a cow pony could travel it. We 

 reached the top, and were following the 

 summit ridge when Ben said, "Yonder 

 goes a bear." And, sure enough, down in 

 a draw below us, about 250 yards off, was 

 a large bear. "Stay here," said Ben; "I 

 will go around with the dogs and get in 

 below him." With cocked rifles we sat 



and waited for Bruin to come out of the 

 thicket. "There he is!" cried Tidwell; and 

 bang! went his old Sharps buffalo gun, 

 knocking up dust 20 feet to the left 

 of the bear. "Say, Doc, I can't get this in- 

 fernal shell out; you'll have to kill him." 

 I fired as the bear stepped into an open 

 spot. "You've hit him, Doc!" Bang! 

 bang! And down he went for good, with 2 

 holes through neck, one through foreleg, 

 and one just back of shoulder. He weighed 

 500 pounds, and his hide measures 6 feet 

 3 inches from nose to tail. The .30 cal- 

 iber did it, and the .30 caliber will kill any- 

 thing that walks. 



I. J. Bush, M.D., Pecos, Tex. 



ANOTHER CASE OF DISTORTED VISION. 

 Early in November, '92, Lou, Ed. and I 

 started for the American river, 20 miles 

 East of Superior, Wis. We chose a de- 

 serted logging camp for our roosting place. 

 After getting camp in shape and a plentiful 

 supply of wood, Lou and Ed went to look 

 for signs. This locality had been the feed- 

 ing ground for several seasons of an im- 

 mense white tail buck. Many hunters had 

 seen him, but all faileu to bring him down. 

 Ed was returning about dusk when he 

 discovered this monarch of Aminicon on 

 the road near camp. A broadside shot 

 from a .45-90 did not prevent the animal 

 from wheeling back in the brush. Ed ad- 

 vanced and saw he had scored a hit. He 

 followed the crimson trail a short distance, 

 until it became dark. Then, in making a 

 circuit for the road, he jumped the deer 

 from its bed, showing it had been hit hard. 

 Ed did not disturb him further and re- 

 turned to camp to tell us he had slain the 

 great buck with horns bigger than an elk's. 

 After a sleepless night Ed arose early an4 

 got breakfast. Then we all took the trail 

 and found, not an immense buck with big 

 antlers, but a 130 pound spike horn. Ed 

 well nigh lost his voice trying to explain 

 the matter to our satisfaction. 



J. O. B., Minneapolis, Minn. 



THINKS THE GAME HOG IS AN EASTERN 

 PRODUCT. 



Most of the game law violators seem to 

 live in the East. So I think you have 

 commenced at the right place. When our 

 open season is on our trouble begins. 

 Eastern people come here and shoot 

 everything that wears hair or feathers. 

 They seem to think that because they go 

 to some expense in getting to the game 

 fields, it is their duty to murder. Fawns 

 were mounted at Glenwood Springs last 

 autumn; elk were killed before the open 

 season; doves were shot on sight. There 

 was a continued violation of law, large- 

 ly by visiting hunters. Our game wardens 

 are not the right kind. One told me he 



