224 



RECREATION 



the head and skin of a large brown bear 

 which, Bradley informed me, had been shot 

 in the mouth and killed with a shot gun. I 

 examined the skin and there were no shot 

 holes; and as the teeth were not broken I 

 was inclined to believe the story a fake and 

 that the bear had been poisoned. If the shot 

 gun story is true there should be positive 

 evidence of it in the bear's skull, which can 

 be verified or denied by an inquiry ad- 

 dressed to Mr. A. H. Bradley, taxerdermist, 

 Helena, Mont. It occurs to me that these 

 bears, coming from Alaska, killed in the 

 same manner, may be identical, in which 

 case Mr. Bradley's testimony would settle 

 a doubtful question. 



G. A. Tremper, Helena, Mont. 



DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE POCKET- 

 BOOK. 



In answer to Mr. Pugh, of Baltimore, 

 Md., whose question regarding the 32 cali- 

 ber Colt automatic pistol appeared in the 

 September issue of Recreation, I wish to 

 say thot int is a very effective weapon. Its 

 accuracy up to 100 yards is astonishing. 

 The recoil is light, and does not throw the 

 pistol out of the firing line, as in the case 

 of many of the stronger shooting ac- 

 tions. Though I fired nearly 2,000 rounds 

 from the same arm, the mechanism 

 worked admirably ; never got stuck, as a 

 Marlin 22 caliber rifle would under the 

 same circumstances. The Colt is an ideal 

 pocket arm, having an effective safety lock 

 which makes an accidental discharge im- 

 possible. Besides, it does not possess any 

 sharp points to tear the carrier's pocket. 

 The gun itself is not much heavier than a 

 well filled pocketbook, and feels much like 

 one. The last feature makes it especially 

 desirable. 



Geo. P. Shumaker, U. S. Arsenal, 

 Pittsburg, Pa. 



ANTI-RUST TREATMENT. 



I note in Recreation many requests for 

 information as to means by which guns 

 may be kept from rusting when not in use. 

 In the Philippine islands, where rusting 

 occurs more quickly than in any other 

 place I have I ever been in, I found the 

 following to be the only thoroughly satis- 

 factory method of preventing rust : 



Dissolve one part by weight of paraffin 

 in 10 parts by weight of kerosene oil. Dip 

 the gun barrels in this, or wipe them well 

 inside and out with a rag dripping with the 

 solution. Hang up the barrels by one end 

 until all excess of the solution has drained 

 off, and evaporation has taken away much 

 of the kerosene from the solution remain- 



ing in the barrels, leaving a thin film of 

 paraffin over the entire metal surface and 

 keeping the air away from it. Put a tight 

 fitting dry cork in each end of the barrel. 

 Dip a piece of paper in the same paraffin 

 solution and roll up the gun barrels in it. 

 The same method will also be effective 

 with any other metal work, and in hot 

 climates the gun locks can also be pro- 

 tected against rust in the same way with- 

 out the interference with their action 

 which would result from the stiffening of 

 the paraffin in a lower temperature. A gun 

 treated in this way will not soil the hands, 

 and it may be used all day in the rain 

 without showing any sign of rust. A gun 

 barrel, which has been paraffined, corked 

 and wrapped in paraffined paper may be 

 stored away indefinitely without the least 

 danger of injury from rust. 

 E. L. Munson, Captain, Assistant Surgeon, 

 U. S. A., Fort Bayard, N. M. 



STRIPPED THE SQUIRRELS' TAIL. 



In the village of Tracey, a suburb of Chi- 

 cago, a number of gray squirrels live in 

 the shade trees and get their food about 

 the houses. There is also a small dog in 

 the village that plays tag with the squir- 

 rels. In a game with one little gray the 

 dog became too previous and as the squir- 

 rel went up a tree the dog caught him 

 by the tail and stripped the skin off the 

 bone. The other squirrels promptly ostra- 

 cised their wounded comrade, and they 

 now attack and punish him at frequent in- 

 tervals. He can only escape their persecu- 

 tions by taking refuge in a knot hole and 

 standing them off as they try to follow 

 him. The boys call him the whipstock 

 squirrel. H. A. Beahler. Chicago, 111. 



GAME IN THE KLONDIKE. 



I have been collecting data on game killed 

 in this country in the last 4 months ; not al- 

 together from what hunters tell me, but I 

 have been out at some of their camps and 

 have seen the game piled in large stacks. 

 It is nearly all caribou, as few moose were 

 killed this year. 



At the head of the middle or main fork 

 of the Klondike river are 2 hunting camps 

 and just over the divide, near the head of 

 the McQuestion river, is another one, with 

 3 men in each camp. They killed nearly 

 500 caribou this year, each camp as follows : 

 Officers Brothers and Larson, 165 caribou 

 and 7 moose ; Strand, Hollenbeck and Mol- 

 lett, 182 caribou and 2 moose ; Woods, Solo- 

 man and Pine, 55 caribou and 51 moose, 

 making a total of 463 head killed by these 3 

 outfits. Strand told me that in the draw 



