Apml 20, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



227 



%jm\t §zg m\& 



Afl Sir Humphrey Davy awl I shot partridges together in the morn- 

 ng, I psreeived that a man might pursue, philosophy without aban- 

 doning field sports.— Sir Roderick I. MTurchison. 



EASY READING LESSONS-VIIl. 



The O-bti-ging; Sportsman, and the Prom-I-nent 



Citizen. 



A LESSON O PO-LITE-XBS3 FOR THE LITTLE READERS OF 

 FOREST AND STREAM. 



irrVTS Midnight's Solemn Hour. Hark! Was that a Knock 

 J- at the Door? I -will Arise from Bed and open it. Ah I 

 Good evening, Sir. You are, I think, the Gen-tle-man to 

 whom I was In-tro-duced at supper time. Excuse me, but 

 your Knock a-wa-kened me, and I did not, at the moment, re- 

 member you. You wish to Borrow my Gun, for a Pew Days. 

 Cer-tain-ly, my Dear Sir I Anything else, besides the Gun? 

 Boots? Shirts? Razors? Tooth-brush? Any Man, who is not 

 a Sel-fish Aris-to-crat, will Cheer-f ul-ly Lend his things to a 

 New Ac-quaint-ance ! All I have, is Ever at the service of an 

 In-tel-li-gent Public. Cartridges— did you say? Here are All 

 that I havo, but I will Get up Early, and Load some more Be- 

 fore. Break-fast. Well, Good Sport to You! Pray don't 

 trouble yourself to Clean the Gun; the Moist Air of the 

 Marshes will do it Good. Leave it at the Village Store, when 

 you are quite through with it, and I will Call for it. Good- 

 night—I mean Good-morning! 



GEESE AND DUCKS IN CALIFORNIA. 



SNIPE SHOOTING ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



THE shooting season closed in this Stats on the 15th of 

 March, and the ducks and quail are now having a re- 

 spite from the warfare that had been waged so relentlessly 

 against them for many months past — and they are enjoying 

 it, too. We have, had a very late winter, and to-niglit,"as I 

 write, I can hear the ceaseless patter of the rain upon the 

 roof, the soughing of the south wind, and an occasional 

 low muttering of distant thunder — something quite unusual 

 with us. indeed, it is one of our regular winter nights, or 

 rather a spring night with wintiy characteristics. Hence the 

 ducks are still with us in great numbers and very tame. Some 

 mallards, blue-winged teal and spoonbills have paired off 

 and will soon be making their nests in the clover fields, along 

 the margins of sloughs, and in the heart of the title swamps" 

 But the gnat mass of widgeons, sprigtails, green-winged teal, 

 etc., are still in flocks. Just before sundown this evening I 

 stood on my back porch (in the heart of the city) and saw 

 several great flocks of ducks crossing the outskirts of town 

 and evidently having a grand time of it in the rain. In a 

 few weeks more, however, they will all have disappeared 

 from sight, except the few that will remain here to breed, 

 and the cripples that can't get aw T ay. Your readers have 

 doifbtless heard and read some of the statements concerning 

 the extent of the damage done to the young grain in this 

 State by the wild ducks, and which may have seemed to 

 them to be greatly exaggerated. 



But I assure you the facts are, if anything, worse than the 

 reports would lead one to believe. Despite the incessant 

 shooting that had been going on since the middle of Septem- 

 ber, the number of ducks seemed to constantly increase; and 

 as soon as the young grain began to make its appearance the 

 fields were subjected to nocturnal invasions by myriads of 

 the fowls. So great was the damage done to some of the 

 grain fields that farmers were obliged to station men through- 

 out them at night, and keep up a constant banging with 

 guns in the hope of preventing the total destruction of their 

 crops. This might do on an ordinary New England "ranch," 

 but here, on one of our California garden-patches of five or 

 ten thousand acres, it is no small undertaking. Take, for 

 instance, the grain fields of such men as Finnell and Glenn, 

 of Colusa and Tehama counties, who have each from 40,000 

 to 60,000 acres planted in Wheat; It would take a pretty 

 good army to hold one of these places against the winged 

 midnight foe. I suppose that such persons have to trust to 

 luck. This has indeed been an exceptional season in respect 

 to the number of wild fowl that has visited us. From the 

 upper end of the Sacramento Valley to the Gulf of Califor- 

 nia the clucks and geese have fairly swarmed upon the 

 country this winter. The latter have not done quite as 

 much damage as the other, because they do not attack the 

 fields in the night, and during the day can be kept off by 

 horsemen and dogs. It is really a queer sight to see men 

 and dogs hurrying hither and thither over the grain fields to 

 scare off the clouds of geese that come up from the marsnes 

 every morning and evening for their food. To all who de- 

 light in duck and goose shooting I must say that I don't be- 

 lieve they could do better than to make a trip to California 

 about January or February. 



Just now, we are in the midst of the spring flight of snipe. 

 The season has been a very good one for them, also, and the 

 birds are plentiful in all their usual haunts. I believe that 

 the best snipe-shooting is to be had in the extreme southern 

 counties, where the birds winter, but as I have never been in 

 that section, I can uot say positively as to that. But I do 

 know that it would lie difficult to find better snipe-shooting 

 than is afforded on the great marshes I hat border the San 

 Joaquin River, the lower Sacramento and the shores of 

 Suisun and San Pablo bays, and on the Alviso flats, which 

 stretch away for miles 'back of Oakland and Alameda, on 

 the eastern side of San Francisco Bay. In snmeofthe.se 

 places ii is not accounted a great thing for an expert shot to 

 bag from 100 to 150 in a day's shooting. In this vicinity — 

 that is. within an hour's buggy-ride of 'Sacramento — one can 

 sometimes do pretty fairly, although there are no snipe 

 meadows of great extent. The birds are found in fair num- 

 bers, however, along the margin of thesloughsand in plowed 

 fields where there is a lev inches of water, 



A week ago your humble servant and three comrades went 

 to a favorite locality about six miles from town, and it being 

 a holiday, we Look particular pains to start, early, so as to 

 get ahead of any crowd that might head in the same direc- 

 tion. We reached a tavern in the vicinity of the snipe 

 ground before 8 o'clock, put up our team and sallied forth, 

 confldent, that for once we would have the cream of the 

 shooting. With a couple of good dogs we began beating 

 the fields, and after tramping through ruud and mire for a 

 couple of hours without finding more than three or four 

 birds, we got together and compared notes as to the cause of 

 the dearth of game. 



The ground was in prime coudition for snipe, and we 



could not understand why it was that the birds were so 

 scarce. One contended that the day was too windy and 

 cold, but this argument didn't rind much favor, because it 

 was not shown that snipe were afraid of a little wind. It 

 might not be a good day to shoot them, as they would not 

 probably lie very close, but then, where were they? 



Another, who* was once an army officer in Texas, declared 

 that he didn't believe there ever were a dozen snipe seen in 

 any part of the country outside of that State; and all were 

 expressing their disgust at the situation, when a tall young 

 granger hove in sight, followed by a, shaggy retriever, and — 

 probably attracted by the scent, of a black flask in the pocket 

 of one of the party — bore down upon us. 



He said he lived near by and had been through most of 

 the fields that morning" in quest of the long-billed fellows 

 and had found a few, and we all noticed that the ample 

 pockets of his coat were pretty well swelled out with some- 

 thing, but restrained our curiosity and asked the youth to 

 pilot us to some field where he thought we- might, possibly 

 corner a snipe. He expressed his willingness to do so, and 

 we scrambled through one of those abominable nuisances, a 

 wire fence, and scattered out over a fifty -acre meadow. 



After beating it for an hour or so and getting up but half 

 a dozen birds, which rose at an average, distance of seventy- 

 five yards from us, the youthful granger, with a wicked 

 twinkle in Ids eye, dragged from his pockets a beautiful 

 bunch of plump, brown beauties, and after exhibiting them 

 to us, said: "I reckon I've got about all of 'em that I want; 

 you fellers kin hev all the rest." With that he strode off 

 homeward and left us to our fate. We afterward met 

 another young gentleman, who informed us that the afore- 

 said y. g". had been out since daylight and had worked every 

 hole and corner of the fields in that vicinity, and that what 

 birdsjhe hadn't shot he had frightened off. 



There was nothing to do but go back to the. tavern and 

 rest till afternoon, by which time perhaps some of the birds 

 might return. About two o'clock we sallied out again over 

 the same ground. I wandered off into a field which I had 

 tramped over a few hours before and found perfectly barren 

 of game, and — would you believe it? — soon a couple of snipe 

 got up wild, but settled down again within a couple of hun- 

 dred yards. I went after them and soon put up another at 

 closer range and brought him down handily. Then the birds 

 began to get up all around me. It was "scaipe!" here, there, 

 and everywhere. 



I halloed to my companions, who had gone in another 

 direction, but couldn't make them hear me, so I undertook 

 alone the task of bagging the whole lot. I quartered that 

 field carefully, and, though the birds were quite wild and 

 the wind was blowing stiffly from the north, I succeeded in 

 bringing down eighteen of them at an average of forty yards 

 each shot, losing but three of those shot at. I might have 

 got several more, but saw the rest of the party heading for 

 home, so gave up the pursuit. They had been less success- 

 ful, having found but few birds during their hard afternoon's 

 tramp. After this rain I intend to try the same place again, 

 for I think I can bag at least three dozen there under favor- 

 able circumstances. 



The Sacramento Bee last week published an article from 

 the Forest and Stream on "Loading for Game," which I 

 thought one of the most sensible articles on that much dis- 

 cussed subject that I had seen. In loading my cartridges 

 for the shoot above referred to, I was forced to" change my 

 usual method somewhat, and my success was so marked that 

 I cannot help attributing much of it thereto, I use a 

 12-gauge gun and paper shells, which I have generally loaded 

 with No. 11 Eley wads — two pink-edged over the powder, 

 and one black-edged over the shot. T have got much better 

 results in this way than when No. 12 wads were used. But 

 this time I found when I came to load my shells at night, 

 that I had no No. 11 wads for the powder, nothing but some 

 No. 10 white felt ones, each about as thick as two of the 

 pink ones. I felt a little dubious as to the policy of putting 

 them in No. 12 paper shells, but concluded to try the experi- 

 ment. I loaded with three drams of Hazard's Ducking, No. 

 3, (I use that brand for all kinds of shooting) and 1\ oz. of 

 Tatham's No. 9 shot, chilled. 



I never before had such good luck in a day's shooting. 

 Every bird but one that was hit fell stone dead, and I do not 

 exaggerate when I say that they must all have been from 

 forty to fifty yards off. I never "saw cleaner killing done in 

 my "life, and I could not help noticing also that when I was 

 through shooting there was not a stain of burnt powder on 

 the breech of the gun. Usually it is quite blackened by the 

 powder. My inference is that the large wads made the* cart- 

 ridges fill the chamber more perfectly and thus prevented 

 the escape of gas, adding proportionately to the strength of 

 the gun's shooting powers. Of course iu loading luge a 

 12-gauge tube for centering the wads, so that they are easily 

 forced into the shells. NrMiym " 



Sacramento, Cal,. April, 1882. 



Spring Shooting at the West. — Oskaloosa, Iowa, 

 April 11. — Editor Foivxi mid Stream: Score me as one of 

 those who think that if the sportsman would abstain from 

 shooting snipe and ducks in the spring, he would be amply 

 repaid by the increased numbers iu the fall. Whatever the 

 sportsmen of the East may think of this doctrine, we of the 

 West, who knew nothing (by experience) of "sink floats," 

 "night-reflectors," etc., are slower to accept it. Still, if a 

 universal law were made prohibiting spring shooting, we 

 would, 1 think, stand up for it as long as the next; but, if 

 such a law were passed in this State while our Northern 

 neighbors were left unrestricted, we would certainly feel our- 

 selves justifiable in "kicking." It is a small estimate to say 

 that for every pair of ducks which escape the gunner in the 

 spring, three times as many come back to him in the fall. 

 What sportsman would think of taking his dog and gun and 

 going after quail in April? Yet he does not hesitate to go 

 for ducks. Wherein lies the difference? The quail mates in 

 April ; so does the wild duck. Is the latter more prolific than 

 the former? I opine not. I think our extreme Northern 

 States (where great numbers of the wild birds breed), should 

 take the initiatory in this matter, then their Southern neigh- 

 bors would no longer have cause to hold back, but might 

 profit by the good example. Our local sportsmen have not 

 been making "much havoc among the ducks this spring, be- 

 cause very few stopped here, and those, few seem now T to have 

 winged themselves away to the reedy banks and marshy 

 sloughs of the lakes of the far north. — Teree. 



Daniel Boone's Gcn. — The museum of the Polytechnic 

 Society of Louisville, Ky., has been enriched by the addition 

 of the first gun Daniel Boone brought into the State, with 

 his shot-pouch and horn and other relics prized by Ken luck i- 



CARIBOU HUNTING IN CANADA. 



THE pleasure of shooting a caribou I had often promised 

 myself, but never had a favorable opportunity of carry- 

 ing out my project until the last winter. 



Having received word from my old hunting chum, M. 

 Crean, train despatcher on the I. C. R. at River du Loup, that 

 he was prepared to spend three weeks in the woods, or that 

 he had made arrangements with a veteran trappist and 

 hunter, F. Lepage of Assmetquaghan, one who is well-known 

 to some of the salmon-fishing gentry of New York, or in 

 fact, to all those who look for that delightful sport, on the 

 M;ttapedia and Itestigouche rivers, and that we were also to 

 have J. C. Trottier, another of the same. I was not long in 

 making up my mind and outfit, and at 8:10 A. M. on the 

 4th of January, I was on the I. C. R. train bound for River 

 du Loup, and" with the genial John D. Kippen, Canadian 

 express conductor, and Hugh Jackson of the I. C. R. Company, 

 time and miles went by very rapidly, and my destination 

 soon turned up or rather brought me up. At River du Loup 

 the short stop was spent in getting on board sundry packages 

 such as tent, stove, provisions, rifles, and I did not exactly 

 know what, till the train was again under way. 



St. Luce Station was one of our places of interest, as we 

 were to pick up Trottier here. The train was hardly into 

 the station before he was in our car and shaking hands as 

 delighted as a schoolboy on a month's holiday. Assmetqua- 

 ghan was another place of interest ; here we were joined by 

 r'rs. Lepage and his fixings, so that now our party was com- 

 plete and a good time in view. 



Campbellton, situated on the Restigouche River and 314 

 miles from Quebec, a comfortable little town, one of the 

 principal points on the Intercolonial Railroad, was our last 

 stopping place by train conveyance, and we were soon seated 

 to supper in Dan O'Keefe's hospitable hotel, and next morn- 

 ing were to start by sleigh conveyance to Nouvelle on the Bay 

 de Chaleur, twenty-eight miles from Campbellton. 



The 5th of January saw our fixings all packed into the 

 sleighs of Alex. Belois and Ed. Arsenault, both from Nou- 

 velle, to meet us; and we were soon under way. The roads 

 in some places were very heavy on account of drifts, but our 

 progress was very fair. At 4 o'clock P. M., after resting 

 our horses on the road a couple of times, we crossed the 

 Barachois or discharge of the Nouvelle River into the Bay 

 de Chaleur, and put up for a couple of hours at Belois until 

 the tide would fall enough to allow us a good crossing on the 

 Bay, and at 7 :30 P. M. we were once more on our way, this time 

 crossing the Bay de Chaleur to Nouvelle, andfrom Nouvelle to 

 the mountains; and Christmas Day saw us in the mountains 

 preparing to move to camp, and as we were now at the last 

 stage where horse and vehicle were to be abandoned, we decided 

 to take a rest, as we had been traveling pretty constant from 

 our time of starting. We passed the night 'at Louden's, the 

 last house in Nouvelle, and high enough up in the mountains 

 to be last on earth. 



On the 7th of January our packs were all ready, and a trip 

 of eleven miles before us to camp. We started, Lepage leading 

 and carrying a pack of sixty pounds weight as well as Rem- 

 ington rifle, Trottier next with his pack and breech-loader, 

 M. Crean with pack and Snider Enfield carbine, and self 

 bringing up the rear with the smallest pack, but the heaviest 

 rifle, a Winchester express. Such a tramp I never had or 

 ever wish to have again — over windfalls, up mountain, going 

 almost on all fours; and the next minute on the broad of 

 your back. It took us from nine o'clock in the morning 

 until three o'clock in the afternoon, with the exception of 

 half an hour's rest, to go those eleven miles, every step would 

 take eight inches of snow over our shoes, I pitied those that 

 were breaking the road. However, we reached camp and 

 got things in order, started a fire and had our tea, fixed our 

 rifles for the morning and went to bed pretty well tired out. 



J. C. Trottier, who built this camp some six years ago 

 when he was trapping here, had an eye for the beautiful ; the 

 camp is built on the edge of Silent Lake, commanding a view 

 of the whole lake and nestled among as high mountains as 

 one would wish to climb ; in summer there are abundance of 

 fine trout, but in winter not one can be. caught. January 8, 

 Sunday, we decided to take a whole day's rest. Wind west 

 and the weather very fine. Trottier made the time pass 

 quickly by recounting his adventures among those hills in 

 days gone by, and promises to show us his trail through the 

 bush, and as he w r as a very profane man in his way he made 

 use of that strong language, "By Jim Crow!" — nothing 

 stronger than that, but that very often. Yes, he had blazed 

 trails to every lake in the neighborhood of thirty miles and 

 showed us some of his old "trunk" and wild cat traps still 

 standing and occasionally an old bear trap now fallen to 

 decay. 



Monday morning the wind was westerly and fine clear 

 weather. Breakfast over, we got our snow shoes, rifle and 

 ax, and with a biscuit in our pocket we were ready for game. 

 Lepage and Crean went, off together in a northwest direction, 

 and Irottier and myself took an easterly course from "SUent 

 Lake," kept our course for about three "miles and then went 

 northeast and crossed Lake "Perdu" and Lake "Bien Venu. " 

 Not a sign of game so far. We had a most tiresome tramp 

 over windfalls of most extraordinay confusion, in one gulch, 

 where the wind had a sweep of about nine miles. The trees 

 were leveled for a distance of three-quarters of a mile, not 

 one left standing, some of them sound birch sixteen to 

 eighteen inches in diameter snapping off like pipe stems. 

 We returned to camp at 4:30 P. M. and found the others 

 there before us. We both had the same luck, not a sign, but 

 hoped for better on the morrow. 



The morrow brought a continuance of the same and the 

 following day the same, so we decided to return and packed 

 our things and started back to Loudens and from thence pro- 

 ceeded to Cedar Had on the Matapedia, where Lepage said 

 we would find deer every day, as this was where he had 

 hunted for the last twenty-five years. 



Well, we reached Cedar Hall Station on the 12th of Janu- 

 ary and proceeded twelve miles into the. bush to the logging 

 camp of Alex. Grant, and where we were very hospitably 

 received by A. Grant, Jr. and W Grant, who were in charge 

 of the camp, having some eighteen men to work getting out 

 spruce and pine saw logs for their mill at Amqui." 



We started out in the morning and had notgone half a 

 mile from camp when we struck a fresh trail. We divided 

 into two parties, and Lepage and 1 followed this trail until four 

 o'clock in the afternoon without sighting the beasts, the 

 limber in some places being so thick that you could not see 

 fifty yards ahead of you. At times we were within 100 yards 

 of the deer and could not see them, and by and by would 

 come to that part of their trail where we would see a suc- 

 cession of holes in the snow about eighteen to twenty feet 

 apart, where they had gone off on the jump. We returned 

 to camp tired, but in good spirits ; the ' others had the same 



