FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



47i 



and their eggs are .destroyed by old Rey- 

 nard and the hawks. By close watching 

 we may see the old fox carrying, almost 

 daily, a chicken to her young. 



The hawk has a keen eye, and in his 

 tour over the fields he keeps close watch 

 for mice, small birds, and eggs of any 

 kind. I have seen hawks, after detecting 

 a chicken and her nest, drive her off, eat 

 the eggs and destroy the nest. No hunter 

 need feel guilty in shooting a fox or a 

 hawk, for by so doing he is increasing 

 the sport of prairie chicken hunting. 



James Frank, St. Paul, Minn. 



In November last I made up a party of 6 

 to go rabbit shooting. With a team, tent, 

 oil stove and grub we drove back 26 miles 

 into the country, reaching our destination 

 and making camp before dark. The first 

 morning our dogs picked up a track which 

 seemed to puzzle them. They followed it 

 to a thicket, and we stood around expect- 

 ing a rabbit to pop out. Instead, we were 

 surprised to see a catamount appear. He 

 saw us and turned at long range, and 

 though we fired 2 charges, the loads were 

 too light to stop him. We had better luck 

 with the rabbits; there seemed to be one 

 behind each log and in every bush. We 

 could have killed many more, but con- 

 tented ourselves with 8 apiece. 



W. H. Kaufman, Scranton, Pa. 



If C. H. N. will carry out carefully the 

 following directions, he will have no dif- 

 ficulty in curing his dog of being gun shy. 

 First tie the dog up and leave him a day 

 without food. On the following morning 

 take a muzzle loader with but an ordinary 

 cap on the nipple, and, with a small piece 

 of meat, bid Mr. Purp a cheerful good- 

 morning. Snap the cap and offer the meat. 

 If he takes it from the hand, well and 

 good. If not, try same treatment again 

 at noon, and so on until he does take it. 

 When he gets accustomed to the cap, try 

 small load of powder, increasing the charge 

 as the lessons progress. Hunger is great 

 sauce, and will work wonders with a gun 

 shy dog. 



R. C. W. Lett, Ottawa, Can. 



In the village cemetery at Bozeman, 

 Mont., rest the remains of Adam Comstock, 

 the discoverer of the great Comstock lode, 

 at Virginia City, Nev. He sleeps in a 

 suicide's grave, with only a cedar stake to 

 mark the spot. The grave is covered with 

 a rank growth of grass, and but for the 

 stake would be entirely obliterated. 



Comstock's discovery gave to the world 

 $400,000,000 in gold and silver ; gave em- 

 ployment to thousands of miners for many 



years. It also resulted in a goodly crop 

 of bonanza kings and millionaires, not one 

 of whom has lifted a finger toward the 

 building of an enduring monument to the 

 man who made their millions possible. 

 D. C. Lee, Janesville, Wis. 



Recreation is the most pleasing maga- 

 zine I have ever read. Last fall I went 

 deer hunting with father and Frank 

 Wheeler. We started in the morning. 

 We followed a lumber road, with father 

 on one side of me and Frank on the 

 other. After walking some distance I heard 

 a noise and saw a large buck coming. I 

 had the buck fever the day before, but I 

 was not going to let a buck like this pass 

 me. When he was within 50 yards I fired. 

 He started to run, but fell in a heap. I 

 used a Winchester 30-30, and the ball struck 

 him just behind the shoulder. The 30-30 

 is the gun for me. The 'buck weighed no 

 pounds. 



H. A. Troller, Buffalo, N. Y. 



You are doing a good work in your 

 ceaseless war on game hogs. They ought 

 to be exterminated. We used to have a 

 few of them, but here they have no abiding 

 city. Public land there is none on which 

 they can go, and the farmers will not al- 

 low any wholesale slaughter on their prem- 

 ises. This gives them no chance to per- 

 petrate their crimes. 



Game is not so plentiful as to make 

 large bags possible. This part of the coun- 

 try, unfortunately, is being rapidly denuded 

 of its woods.. However, there remains 

 enough game for the general sportsman. 



The season for rabbits and quails is 

 open too long. Success to you. 



Geo. F. Gunkel, Moorestown, Pa. 



We have a game law, but it does not 

 amount to anything. In and about our 

 town are a score of men who make a busi- 

 ness of killing and selling game. They sell 

 to the hotels and ship to Omaha and 

 Sioux City. On the tables of the big 

 hotels quails' are served as grass birds, 

 while chickens are served as squabs, wood- 

 hens and the like. It is a shame. The 

 birds are disappearing as rapidly as did 

 the buffalo and the deer. 



J. H. Bates, Chadron, Neb. 



Unless Nebraska passes a non-export 

 law this winter she will have no quails or 

 prairie chickens left in 2 years from now. — 

 Editor. 



Sportsmen visiting North Carolina and 

 Virginia, who are fond of bear shooting, 

 should by all means spend a few days at 

 Suffolk, Va., a beautiful little city near the 

 Dismal swamp. Lately bears have wan- 



