376 



RECREATION 



having grown up for several generations with 

 no acquaintance with the world, except with- 

 in a radius of twenty or thirty miles near 

 where they were born, naturally, all their 

 notions, convictions, and ideas, are provincial. 

 But each of them seemed to me to possess a 

 charming individuality. There is less of 

 sham, duplicity, or pretense among them than 

 is common among men. Slightly reticent 

 with strangers, they soon warm up, and thaw 

 out, and are withal, very companionable. Liv- 

 ing easy lives, strongly tinctured with idle- 

 ness, they always have plenty of time to enjoy 

 life ; as their Northern brother, when at 

 home, has not, being too busy with money- 

 making. 



N. R. Piper, Kenton, O. 



GAME IN NEW MEXICO. 



Editor Recreation : 



I see in your December number of Recrea- 

 tion that you desire to communicate with 

 sportsmen in the West where wolves and 

 coyotes are plentiful. Being a professional 

 hunter and trapoer, I could give considerable 

 information in regard to these and other var- 

 mints in West Texas and New Mexico. 



I have been an interested reader of your 

 valuable magazine from the time I first saw 

 a copy of it, a little over a year ago, but I 

 have been knocked about so much as a 

 wolfer must, that I have only seen a few 

 copies of it, but I think I will locate for a 

 while before long, and just as quicklv as I 

 do you will get a subscription from me. 



Recreation contains so much that is true 

 to life and nature, and I guess I ought to 

 know, for I have been an ardent student of 

 nature all my life, and have mostly made my 

 living with my gun and steel traps, but I am 

 no pothunter — never was, and never wiil be, 

 neither am I much of a poor trapper. It 

 always looked too cruel to me to kill some 

 poor harmless "critter" off a trap for its 

 hide — it puts me in mind of killing a man for 

 his overcoat— but I hunt and trap lobo 

 wolves, coyotes, bear, mountain lion, etc., all 

 varmints that kill stock that there is a bounty 

 on. Here in Sierra County, New Mexico, 

 where I am thinking of locating for a while, 

 there are all kinds of game. Several kinds 

 of deer, antelope, turkey and other smaller 

 species of that class of game, and as for var- 

 mints, mountain lions are very plentiful. 

 There are also a good many bear, bob-cats, 

 lobo wolves and some coyotes down off the 

 mountains. I could find a reasonable amount 

 of game in a reasonable time for parties de- 

 sirous to hunt in the southwest. 



We have game laws here, but no protection 

 even in the forest reserves, where wardens 

 are supposed to look after such matters. 

 They do not do so. They usually send word 

 to any camp before visiting it on purpose, 

 for the campers to hide any venison they may 



have. I wish I could get a wardmans posi- 

 tion on this Gila forest reserve that is right 

 at me, and I bet I would make it hot for 

 some of them, but I have no pull, and do 

 not know even who to see about such a posi- 

 tion. I don't suppose you have a pull in that 

 direction. If "I could get such a position I 

 would certainly do all in my power towards 

 game protection, for in that particular you 

 have my full sympathy. I have sometimes 

 done something towards game protection, on 

 my own hook ; anyway, a few months ago 

 I whipped the "stuffer" out of a fellow for 

 claiming that he liked to get out and kill 

 these little white tail deer in the snow, just 

 to see them kick. 



I hope I am not using too much of your 

 valuable time with this long letter, but I am 

 so much in sympathy with you on some mat- 

 ters, and like your magazine so well that I 

 have been aiming to write to you for some 

 time. On several occasions I came near 

 doing so, when I saw questions asked or in- 

 formation desired in your magazine that I 

 could have answered, but as you see, I am 

 rather a poor writer ; but anything I did 

 write would be perfectly true to life and 

 nature. 



Well, good-bye, for the present, 



W. F. Mills, Hillsboro, N. M. 



GOOD WORK AT LIVE OAK RANCH. 



Editor Recreation : 



Dear Sir: I enclose copy of a letter just 

 received from Mr. Robert Real, manager of 

 the Live Oak Ranches, belonging to the well- 

 known banker, Charles Scheince, of Kerr- 

 ville. I will warrant any man who gets 

 leave to follow that pack as exciting a time 

 as he ever had in his life, if he can stay with 

 them. I shall be glad to give any informa- 

 tion on the subject to anybody enclosing 

 stamp. Yours sincerely, 



Edward K. Ball, Kerrville, Tex. 



Live Oak Ranch, Jan. 6, 1905. 



Mr. E. K. Carr, Kerrville, Texas. 



Dear Sir and Friend. —I have been asked to 

 write you how many wolves we had caught with 

 the hounds we bought. We bought these hounds 

 last September and have caught twenty, (20) wolves 

 up to date. 



Had a great deal of dry weather not suitable for 

 wolf catching with hounds. When the ground has 

 moisture enough for hounds to trail without much 

 trouble, and the dogs are in good shape, we catch 

 nearly every wolf we start. Sometimes we lose a 

 wolf after he is entirely run down, but not often. 



It takes the Stuart Scott hounds about 2^ 

 hours on an average to catch a wolf; have caught 

 some in one hour, and have run some as long as 

 4 hours before catching them. The right brand 

 of hounds, kept in first-class shape, will catch very 

 near every wolf that they jump. 



Dogs for wolf catching have to be fed just right 

 and have to be worked hard — the harder you work 

 the dogs, the more wolves you catch. 

 Yours very tridy, 



Rob"t Real. 



