Jrxra 39, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



429 



administer their offices. I have fought this usurpation of 

 power for the past year, and have done my utmost to cause 

 public opinion to shame these parties into doing their duty, 

 but so long as they are upheld by a gang of shooters at home 

 who are constantly athirst for pore, they will probably per- 

 sist in their course until brought up by the Legislature with 

 a round turn. 



You may wonder how it is that, under the circumstances, 

 we have any game left in California. I can hardly explain; 

 it must be all owing to "our glorious climate" which has 

 thus far produced faster than the slayer could bill. But the 

 latter have the upper hand at last, and all kinds of wild game 

 (ducks and gee6e excepted) is yearly diminishing in num- 

 bers. Quails are killed at all seasons, especially by a certain 

 class of dove shooters; snipe are pursued as late in the spring 

 as a bird can be found and shot over their nests, while no 

 attempt is made to disguise the fact that deer of both sexes 

 are killed every month in the year, notwithstanding there 

 has been for the last six years a prohibitory law iu regard to 

 does and fawns, regardless of seasons. Of course a rapid 

 decrease in the supply of these species of game is going on 

 all the time, and it ts'already a rare thing for a person to be 

 able to secure a fair hag of either in a day's hunt. Indeed, 

 in a tew years from now deer wiU be rarely seen in the 

 Coast Range or the foothills of the Sierras, and the parties 

 who have been slaughtering them by the thousands on 

 thousands yearly for their hides alone will be driven to saw- 

 ing wood or some other respectable method of making 

 livings for themselves. 



A large number of mallards and blue-winged teal are 

 breeding in the tide marshes of the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin valleys this summer, and by the middle of August 

 many of the youn^ will be able to take wing. About that 

 time the tides' will be full of sneaking fellows, gun in hand, 

 bent on scooping in whole broods of the toothsome "Hop- 

 pers." Of course they must be delicious eating, these young, 

 juicy fowls, but it is positively shameful that men cannot 

 keep their hands off them until they get their growth and 

 can afford good sport for the gunner. A decent respect for 

 the game laws, born of an honest desire to have game pro- 

 tected during the breeding season, has denied me the luxury, 

 during a residence iu California of twenty-eight; years, of 

 having once tasted the flesh of a young "flopper," and 1 

 never expect to. Many others, like myself, who believe in 

 keeping the laws inviolate, lose the cream of the shooting 

 , year, because for a mouth or more before the close 

 season expires parties pursue the ducks and quails in their 

 favorite haunts, and by the time shooting should commence 

 the birds are wild as hawks. " 'Tis true" 'tis pity; and pity 

 'tis 'tis true," but there seems to be no immediate rented)- for 

 the evil. 



It was my intention, before concluding this letter, to have- 

 given you an i< ea of how dove-shootine (in season) is carried 

 on m this State, bat it is already too long, and I will defer 

 the subject until another time. In two weeks from now the 

 season will open, and if the birds are not all killed off in the 

 meantime, I will tell you where I find them, under wLat 

 conditions, in what numbers, etc. N. E. White. 



Sacramento, California, June 14, 1882. 



HINTS ON CAMPING OUT, 



IN your May 11 issue you speak of the number of campers 

 out as growing less, and add, ' 'The tourist who has tried 

 camping out once is much inclined to go to a hotel after- 

 ward, if be can find one to go to." 



We think that is quite true of the average tourist, for he 

 is a very common sort of fellow, and likes a good bed and a 

 good table, and a good crowd around to talk and tell big 

 stories, or to be gulled by bigger ones told by the professional 

 hotel guide, who has helped lo distrust him by his villainous 

 cooking aud slovenly way of taking care of his passenger 

 while camping out. " Then, again, if the hotel is iu the 

 vicinity of game or fish, it is quite as cheap, if the tourist 

 trusts to his own luck and does not employ a guide, who 

 frequently is in the employ of another man — i. e., he is sub 

 sidized not to "give away the best holes," but reserve them 

 for his regular customer. 



As we have said, many are disgusted by falling into bad 

 hands on their first trip, and again we think many might be 

 made "sick" by following the varied advice given in the 

 papers, and by men who claim to know all about it. 



In your paper alone we have read some very strange ad- 

 vice. * One man recommends spruce logs i or a camp fire. To 

 l;e sure they burn tolerably well, but they will cover the 

 unlucky camper all night long with snaps aud burn holes 

 through every bit of cotton cloth within pistol shot of the 

 fire. White birch is absolutely reliable for camp wood. It 

 won't snap; we have used a tent in front of a fire for six 

 weeks and not a spark has injured it. YeUow birch or 

 maple are good, but white birch is "par excellence." 



We also rind a man who advices in cold blood persons to 

 trust themselves in a shanty covered with fur boughs in the 

 form of a thatch- If simply to keep off the dew, such a 

 camp would be sufficient, but the man doesn't live who can 

 make a camp of any kind of boughs growing iu the State of 

 Maine, t hut will shed the water of" a shower even half an 

 hour long. We have tried it taithfully, and have seen it 

 tried where it was of great importance to secure a dry spot 

 for goods, and never yet saw it succeed. The party that 

 trust themselves in a "bough camp" will board at a ho'tel on 

 the next trip. 



We notice a man recommends :i rope for a tent pole. One 

 of the- first thiugs to do is to secure a level spot for the tent 

 tioor, and to had such a place between two trees is not easj 

 in our forests, and again, the ropa will slacken in dry 

 weather and the tent "hog" in the middle, and no man can 

 make a straight Hue of a rope. The ridge of a lent ought to 

 be one. 



We have holes two inches in diameter made, in the ends 



of our tents, and pass the ridge pole through there, letting it 



i.iii :i foot or two at each end. If on a canoe trip, the 



setting pole of the birch answers well; but any smooth pole 



good. Then we cut four crotches or forks as long as 



ide of the tent. Two of these at each end, set opposite 



each other with the forks under the ridge pole, and the body 



of the pole on the same angle with the tent, holds the ridge 



pole firmly in place, as they act like guys or braces. The 



poles at each angle of the tent also protects it, and afford a 



place to bftng articles iu dry weather. In this way, one 



need not "tote" cumbersome poles along. A good spot can 



lie Selected, No danger of injuring the tent (if the ridge pole 



is smooth), for the supports are outside of it, and no wind 



i ,i down, for* each pole acts as a brace. Beside 



you get rid of the upright pole iu the middle of the door of 

 lite tent. 



Ous word in regard to clothing. The "dead grass" 



colored suits of canvas, now sold by the ton, are 'well 

 enough iu many places; but for still hunting in our woods 

 one may as well take a red flag and a band of music as to 

 attempt to get along unobserved and still. The color can be 

 seen as far as almost any other among the gray trees, and 

 every twig and bush that touches you will scratch and make 

 as much noise as the crack of a whip across a clown's back. 

 As least it will seem so to one trying to creep up to a herd of 

 caribou. Soft gray woolen is the only dress suitable for 

 our shooting, and we wouldn't give a dollar a ton for can- 

 vas among the trees, especially after the snowfalls, when 

 hunting is at its very best. 



For the feet, one should not neglect taking good grained 

 leather boots or high shoes; yet a pair of common coarse 

 rubber shoes will many days be the very best covering. 

 Have them large enough to wear two pair of good Canada 

 woolen stockings, and the corrugated bottom will stick to 

 smooth surfaces, rocks, logs, etc., and give sure footing 

 many times better than any other foot rig. C. 



Waiebville, Maine. 



THE YELOWSTONE CLUB. 



Editor Fonst and Straim : 



In your issue of May 11 I find a very pleasant notice of 

 the "Yellowstone Valley Hunting Club.'' I wish, as one of 

 the officers of the club, to tender you an invitation to hunt 

 with us a week or so this fall. We will endeavor lo corrall 

 some deer, antelope and buffalo, and have an experienced 

 hand hold your shooting-iron, and you can pump away to 

 your heart's content. Unless you are a better shot than the 

 average "tenderfoot," there wid be some game left after you 

 get through. Eastern hunters have no idea of the extent of 

 this Territory or of the amount of game there is in the North- 

 west ; and we give you the laugh when you talk of extermi- 

 nating the game in this country. We have two herds of 

 buffalo near here. The Yellowstone herd, sixty miles south 

 of Glendive, contains over 300,000; the Missouri herd has 

 about 400,000, and is from thirty to 300 miles away. These 

 herds are scattered over a tract of country several hundred 

 miles square, over hills and valleys, bad lands and timber. 

 Arnong the buffalo are droves of antelope, frequently 500 in 

 a flock. The whitetail deer are in bottom lands, in the 

 brush, along a thousand streams; but few, comparatively, 

 ever heard the whiz of a bullet. The blacktail deer are on 

 high, rolling prairie, and at the head of ravines and among 

 the bad lands. The mountain sheep or big horns are among 

 the roughest bad lands or bluffs. All of these animals are 

 shy and hard to get. 



There has been so much disappointment among the "ten- 

 derfeet" in finding game, and so much said about exorbitant 

 charges by guides, that a few old-timers organized the ' 'Yel- 

 lowstone Valley Hunting Club," for the express purpose of 

 furnishing the means at a stated price; for instance, the club 

 does not allow charges made by its members only at a cer- 

 tain ri te. A pony and equipment complete cost $3 per day ; 

 guide, with tent and camp utensils, $5 per day. For a large 

 party, heavy team, tents, cook, and supplies and help, all 

 included, at $2 each person per day as a boarding outfit. 

 We warrant plenty of game in sight, and perfect safety from 

 Indians or road agents. If you are chased by a buffalo bull, 

 that is your own affair; at the same time we wiU be on hand 

 to help you out. Yours for the hunt. H. S. Back. 



Glendive, Montana Territory, Jane 15, 1882. 



MAINE'S "VISITING SPORTSMEN." 



WE read Mr. Hubbard's paper with much interest, and 

 can endorse his view of the value of game to the State. 

 We believe with him that the real profit to our people is in 

 selling the game and fish "running," or as cattle dealers say, 

 "on the hoof." 



If our visiting sportsmen could get over that mania for 

 big bags and stop catching trout when they had all they 

 could eat, and not waste them, and would pay more atten- 

 tion to our game laws, there would be nothing to complain 

 of. 



Most of our visitors are active professional or business 

 men who take only one vacation, and they want that filled 

 up. They are in the habit of getting their money's worth 

 in all other bargains, and whenever they visit Maine they 

 want all there is to be had. 



No matter at what season of the year they visit us, they 

 are apt to want to catch trout and shoot deer, caribou 

 and moose. If they could just remember that trout and 

 deer are not raised on the same patch of ground, and ripen 

 at different seasons, it would aid our guides and frontiers- 

 men very much in keeping the laws faithfully, and would in 

 a few years change, the whole matter. 



It is* a very common thing for a man to say to his guide 

 in August "I want to shoot a deer," or perhaps a moose. 

 The guide will reply, "It is against the law." "Oh, well, 

 if there is any trouble I will pay the fine. I'd sooner pay 

 a fine than not kill a deer." Of course that is demoralizing 

 to t tie guides, and is a source of trouble to game consta- 

 bles. You cannot very well upbraid a man for killingmoose 

 in the deep snow of February and March, if you show the 

 utmost disregard for all laws in July and August. You say 

 "i only want a little venison for my table." He replies, "I 

 only want a few moose skins and some meat for my family." 

 If spoilsmen would divide their trips, make one in its season 

 for trout and another for game, and regard our just and 

 proper laws and teach others to do so, it would end the 

 whole trouble, but restrictive laws of all kinds are excellent 

 for our neighbors, we don't need them ourselves. 0. 



Waterville, Maine. 



Louisiana.— New Orleans, June 20. — It is with great 

 pleasure I am able to say that our season so far has been ex- 

 cellent for quail, and the prospect for a good supply of this 

 grand game bird was n . ver better. While traveling through 

 the country their clear notes can be heard on all sides. Wild 

 turkeys are also breeding, aud good sport can he depended 

 on this fall. — E. Odell. 



Pennsylvania Woodcock. —Philadelphia, June 34. — We 

 look for but little woodcock shooting around us this July. 

 The birds are literally all drowned out. Should any have 

 escaped, the grounds are so uniformly wet that those that 

 remain will be scattered over an immense tract of country, 

 all of it at this time such good feeding ground. The sports- 

 man will find but few in a day's tramp. — Homo. 



Pennsylvania Quail. — A Bradford county, Pa., corres- 

 pondent says that the Tonawanda Valley quail shooting will 

 be unusually tine the coming season. He is in the vicinity of 

 the town of Canton and knows what he is talking about 



MAJOR JOSEPH VERITY. 



BOME^OF^HISj SPOHTDTO ADVENTURES, AS MODESTLY MT 

 FORTH BY HIS OWN HAND. * ■ 



THE density of its vapors is a peculiarity of Adironda. 

 Once, while I was crossing on one of the larger lakes, I 

 was caught in a fog which was so thick that I could not see 

 my hand at half-arm's length before me, and was soorrcom- 

 pl'etely lost and without the slightest idea in what direction 

 our camp lay. After groping about vainly for an hour or 

 more, I thought I would fire my rifle and Bee if I could not 

 get a response from my companions, but there was no more 

 report than if I had discharged it under water. I had held 

 the gun nearly upright, and happening to look upward, I saw 

 that the ball had cut a hole through the fog bank to the blue 

 sky. Taking a hint from this, I fired in different directions 

 toward the sky, hoping to get a glewn of the sun through a 

 bullet hole, and having so found its position in the firma- 

 ment, be able to sh-pe my course. But I soon found that I 

 was wasting my ammunition to no purpose in such hap- 

 hazard experiments. I then fired a point-blank shot from 

 my shoulder, and as I expected, saw a blank hole where my 

 ball had penetrated the fog in front of me. Into this I set 

 my nose, and so kept it while I pushed the boat steadily for- 

 ward for perhaps one hundred yards, when the end of my 

 nose struck the ball, fast lodged in the dense vapor. Then 

 I carefully fired again in the same direction, with the same 

 result, and after half a dozen such nosings out of my bullets, 

 had the satisfaction of feeling the boat's bottom grate upon 

 the pebbly shore, and directly landed, by unaccountable good 

 fortune, within ten rods of our camp, where I heard the 

 muffled voices of iny comrades and made my way to them, 

 almost exhausted wi£h hunger and the fatigue of "such con- 

 tinuous pushing against Ihe almost solid fog. Looking back 

 on my course, my track showed itself as a long, narrow 

 cavern. 



I knew a marten trapper who, while following his 

 ' 'blazed" line of traps, was caught in one of these fogs, 

 wliich, congealing by cold weather suddenly coming on, he 

 was obliged to chop his way through to his camp. If it had 

 not been for the marked trees to guide hinv he must cer- 

 tainly have perished. Smoke has sometimes the same solid- 

 ity in certain conditions of the atmosphere. I have seen 

 great branches of trees carried away by the volume of smoke 

 from a camp fire, and once, when surrounded by a forest 

 fire, I climbed a tall tree and walked off on the top df the 

 smoke clouds to a place of safety. I do not remember hav- 

 ing seen any mention of this phenomenon by any tourist in 

 Adironda, not even by the Rev. W. M. M. Hurry, who is 

 usually as observing as he is always truthful. 



1 once camped with a hunting party on the shore of a 

 little lake in that region, and we soon noticed that about 

 dark every night, after a strange rushing sound and a pro- 

 digious splashing, the water would rise, by accurate meas- 

 urement, two feet and eleven inches, and so remain till 

 daylight, when it would subside to its usual level. We 

 wondered greatly, for we could not believe that a small 

 inland lake could be subject to the tidal influences which 

 control the ocean, and were quite at a loss to account for this 

 periodical rise and fall. But at last we discovered that it 

 was caused by the immense number of wild ducks which 

 settled in the lake every night and left it at the earliest dawn 

 On the occasion of our solving the mystery, these water 

 fowl had become so wedged in that they had no room to 

 take flight, and were quite unable to do so till we had 

 drawn out by their necks a great many, which we killed, 

 and had enough to supply our camp with roast duck for a 

 week, though there were ten of us, all blessed with good 

 appetites, and we ate only the breasts. 



[After the above was in type we received the following 

 note from Maj. Verity. Editor Fvred and Stream — Since 

 mailing Chap. VI. I have been looking over my notes and 

 am extremely sorry to find that I have made a false, or at 

 least an inaccurate, statement concerning the height to which 

 the water rose in the lake. I should have written "two feet 

 seven inches" instead of "two feet eleven inches. " Please 

 make the correction if possible, for I do not wish to be set 

 down in the list of those, sportsmen who exaggerate their 

 stories hy even 60 much as an inch or an ounce. Yours 

 truthfuUy— J. VJ 



§nmp Sty Sterns. 



"That reminds me." 



WE have all heard of the maiden lady who, when pray- 

 ing for a husband, answered the owls, "Who! who!" 

 with the words, "Anybody, oh Lord, anybody!" One 

 would hardly expect a cool-headed man of mature years to 

 be so rattled at the idea of being lost as to so answer the 

 broad-faced bird, but such is a fact. Mr. B. was bewildered 

 in a plough where he and a friend had been duck shooting. 

 As it began to grow dark an old owl sang out, "Who! whol 

 w-h-o! who!" 



"It's us, and we are lost," yelled B. 



He knew before the words had fairly escaped him that he 

 had made a mistake that w otdd cost him many a ' 'set 'em 

 up." He has not been disappointed. No Name. 



Among the cherished recollections- of my early days are 

 the many choice and wonderful talcs that I used to hear 

 while sitting by the old box stove in the country store. 

 What a mirth-loving crowd gathered each evening around 

 the generous fire, and what incredible stories they used to 

 tell. Old Henry Caldwell, or "Cud" as everyone called 

 him, was by far the best raconteur that resorted there. His 

 fame had extended far and wide, and although other villages 

 had sent their best men to vanquish him with "well told 

 tales," he was never defeated. There was a freshness and 

 piquancy in his manner of relating a story that carried all 

 before it. No one could relate au incident, no matter how 

 startling its character, but he. was reminded of something 

 si-uilar, even more wonderful in detail, which, related in his 



ni litable manner, never failed to overwhelm his adversary 

 wit l crushing defeat. Well do I remember an incident that 

 ilia trates the power that this ruling passion had over him. 



,v e were as usual enjoying a social time at the store when a 

 boy came in flushed with pride in the capture of his first 

 rabbit, and after an animated description of the chase and 

 final capture of his victim by digging him out, he wound up 

 with, "You oughter have heard him squeal when T got hold 

 of him." True to his instincts "Cud" remarked: "That 

 reminds me that when I jerked the hook into that big 

 pickerel the other day he squealed just like a rabbit." 



