464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JtrLY 13, 1882. 



W. M s Lookk.— We leam by telegram of the death of 

 our old friend and correspondent, W. M. Locke, lats of 

 White county, El. Mr. Locke was well and favorably 

 kuown to many of our readers in Western New York, and 

 we have hunted and fished with him in that region. He was 

 the agent of the N. Y. 0. E. E, at Honeoye Falls for many 

 years, and lately held the same position at Marshall's Perry, 

 111. He was about fifty years of age. Our telegram merely 

 says: "Mort. Locke, leg crushed, locomotive, to-day (July 

 7), died tinder amputation." A more honest man and ardent 

 sportsman never lived, and a kinder heart never heat. 



Titcelow Weed's Pioeon.— At the meeting of the 

 Veterans of 1812, last week, Thurlow Weed, who is now in 

 Ms eighty-fifth year, was led into the hall to join his com- 

 rades in their Fourth of July celebration. Mr. Weed was 

 so blind that he could not recognize his friends ; and when 

 speaking to them of his infirmity he told of his pet pigeon, 

 which had been long accustomed to be greeted by him, and 

 now, not comprehending why it was no longer noticed, 

 was pining away with grief. 



Open" Seasons. — A comprehensive schedule of the open 

 seasons for each variety of game and fish in the several 

 States, Territories and Provinces will be published in our 

 next issue. 



Prop. Chas. Linden of the Buffalo' Academy of Sciences, 

 is now absent on a trip to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and 

 beyond. 



iMaj. Joseph Verity Says: Young man, don't adopt 

 literature. Better drive a canal mule than to bestride Pegasus. 



"Camps of the KrNGFisHEiis."— The sixth part of "Camps 

 of the Kingfishers" will be printed in our next issue. 



Prairie Chickens. — Will some of our Western readers 

 tell us of the prairie chicken prospects? 



llu ^ovtmt\tm gjsmtri$i 



RAMBLES THROUGH NEWFOUNDLAND. 



n. 



THE labors of my other letter, I believe, ended with our 

 cruel eviction of a family of four beaver, after which 

 we returned to our camp in "the dense evergreen "droke." 

 There are a good many readers of Forest and Stream to 

 whom it is not necessary that 1 should tell what the charms 

 of the companionship of a party of sportsmen in the silent 

 camp, in the silent forest, are after the day's delightful 

 labors; nor need I tell them how blissful is the slumber that 

 conies in from the mystic wood out of the stdlness of the 

 night and wooes the "senses into sweet f orgetf ulness. " 

 There is no harrowing nightmare in that sleep, no turmoil of 

 bewildering dreams; and the hunter awakes from his slum- 

 ber fresh and cheerful as the bird that goes with whirring 

 wings through the trees iu the early gray of the dawn. 

 Before, we composed ourselves to rest"upon our couches of 

 evergreens we cast lots to see who should rise first in the 

 morning and get the breakfast, and the lot fell upon me. I 

 arose in the gray light, replenished my fire, "picked" a pair 

 of our willow grouse, drew them, and put them, upon the 

 camp spit, upon which so many a delicious piece of venison 

 had doubtless been roasted. The birds wore plump and fat, 

 the ground on which they were shot being literally red with 

 berries, so that with very little basting with butter I was 

 enabled to produce a pair of roasts that would grace the 

 table of a king. No great skill is required in such a cooking 

 operation as this, the chief point being not to let your game 

 bum. 



While my companions lay snoring, and the music of my 

 cooking Went gloriously on, I stood for a moment outside 

 the camp door and heard upon every hand upon the plains 

 surrounding our forest-ciump the crowing of willow grouse 

 and rock ptarmigan. The number of voices could not be 

 less than several hundreds. At this horn- of the morning the 

 ptarmigan leave their coverts — whether the forest, the heath 

 or brushwood — and fly out upon the plains or knolls, the 

 cocks sotting up a most vigorous crowing as they alight. 

 They do not, till sunrise, stay half a minute at any point, 

 but continue to rise and perch again, and this is the reason 

 why the whole plains seemed to be talking in ptarmigan 

 language. 



When breakfast, was ended we stowed away our beaver 

 skins iu the c;imp and set out for Deer Valley. In this 

 region, Beer Valley, is the headquarters during the autumn 

 and greater part "of winter, of the deer. I have seldom 

 heard of a hunter going there and not finding one or more 

 herds. 



We were only just clear of the woods when one of our 

 party exclaimed, "Just iu time," and pointing to a "deer 

 lead" he showed us a number of fresh tracks leading towards 

 the valley. "Deer lead" is the local name given to the 

 numerous paths which are seen through so large a portion 

 of the Interior of Newfoundland. At nearly any point in 

 the peninsula of Avalon, within from three to eight miles 

 from the coast, the stranger is struck with the number of 

 paths lie finds here and Lucre; winding across lung stretches 

 of mei'shcs, crossing over a hill, or running down a valley 

 through the wild Bowers that grow upon the banks of u 

 Stream. 1 remember the first time I "went into the country." 

 L was bewildered at the number of these wide paths 1 reel. 

 as I knew that the cattle kept by the people on the coast 

 'never came in here. These are all paths made by herds of 

 i leer iu their marches from one locality to another, and it is 

 remarkable that when a herd of deer sets out upon its march 

 it will invariably go over this lead, which it will not leave 

 unless when iii the greatest confusion. Nor will, in the 

 hitter case, its aljsence"be long, as, so soon as the animals 

 collect theii scattered wits after a rout they return again to 

 their path. ..... 



The "lead" is usually about ten feet wide, and m districts 

 where the deer are most plentiful, it resembles a cow-path 



and is beaten down several inches below the surface. The 

 deer itself, it may be said, is the caribou (eereicv tarandu*), 

 and is a species of reindeer. It is very important when you 

 are attempting to "work in" upon a herd of deer, that you 

 should not go to windward of them, as their scent is so very 

 acute, that they will pick up their ears and be off. As the 

 wind blew in the direction of the Valley from our point of 

 travel, w r e therefore changed our course, taking a circuitous 

 route around the hills that we might reach out grounds from 

 the leeward. During that route 1 shall be under the mark if 

 I say we saw over a thousand grouse and rock ptarmigan. 

 Thev flew- in scores up in our faces out of the marshes and 

 brushwood, and several of the hilltops and ridges were 

 literally acrawl with them. 



It was impossible to resist the temptation of shooting some 

 of such tempting game, though every shot fired was at the 

 risk of reaching the ears of the wary game of which we were 

 immediately in quest. We killed about a dozen, however, 

 distributing them among the bags of our party. A long 

 stretch of small hills lying along a considerable laud elevation 

 overlooked the Valley, and one higher than the rest com- 

 manded a view of the grazing ground of the deer for several 

 miles east and west. From behind a hamak on this hill 

 we. reconnoitred with our glasses; and about a mile to the 

 cast at a bend of the stream, saw a herd of about thirty deer 

 grazing in the glorious morning, among the sweet grasses, 

 semingly mindless of danger, save that now and again one 

 of the leaders would toss his head into the air, sniffing for a 

 taint of the enemy. 



How T to "work in" upon the herd was the problem now; 

 and at length it was decided that one should crawl, up to- 

 wards the flock, while the other two should take their sta- 

 tions m the bushes near the lead. One of our parly knew 

 that there was a large lead near where the flock was grazing, 

 and that it ran along by a point around the hills about half 

 a mile distant from where we lay. Thither We resolved to 

 go, taking up our positions under suitable cover, while the 

 "driver" was enjoined to keep near the lead in the other 

 direction, so as not to permit the herd to go the opposite 

 way. 



We separated, he going off at a run on bis mission, we, 

 reveling in anticipations, betaking ourselves to our point. 

 We found as had been anticipated the lead winding around 

 the shoulder of the hills, and near it, growing several clumps 

 of bushes. A patch of alder standing about twenty paces 

 from the lead seemed the best suited for our purpose, and in 

 it we ensconced ourselves, to await the arrival of the herd. 

 After waiting about half an hour we heard a shot, and al- 

 most immediately another. Then 1 went out of covert a 

 short wav, and putting my ear to the ground heard a number 

 of dull thuds, which 1 knew to be the distant tramping of 

 the flock. I retired hastily, apprised my comrade, ana we 

 both with nervous hands put our pieces at full-cock. We 

 were in such a position as to command a view of the lead 

 over which the deer were to come, for about a hundred 

 yards. I kept watch, through an alder branch, for the ap- 

 proach of the herd. There was not a sound to be heard for 

 some minutes as we lay here, save, indeed, the excited 

 throbbing of our hearts, "and that we heard quite auribly. 

 Then a hurried, confused, tramping we heard, and almost 

 immediately I saw the deer. 



They were approaching where we lay at a rapid trot, 

 headed by a noble-looking stag bearing his proudly-antlered 

 head haughtily as a monarch. When the herd had reached 

 within thirty paces of our covert, we suddenly rose, each 

 giving a whistle at the same moment. Our sudden appear- 

 ance and the whistles seemed to paralyze the whole herd, 

 for there they stood stock still looking at us as if they were 

 rooted to the' ground. But they did not stand long in this 

 way, for on going out we immediately chopped on one knee. 

 I took the leader, mv companion the next, a tine fallow doe. 

 Our shots were simultaneous, and the effect of the one deadly. 

 The doe fell without scarce a movement, while the buck ran 

 out upon a small marsh, reared twice several feet in t,:e air, 

 and then fell. The two shots immediately brought the flock- 

 to their senses, and they ran madly out from the lead and on 

 around the hills, but d'icl not get away till we had emptied 

 our tw r o remaining barrels into them. One deer fell. I 

 averred then, and 1 repeat the assertion now, tnat from my 

 shot he fell, then got up and made off at simply marvelous 

 speed, considering that one of his hind legs was broken. 

 We then ran up to the deer that had fallen. My noble buck 

 lav in his humolel pride upon the marsh, but as 1 touched 

 him, to my astonishment, he jumped upon his feet and made 

 off across the marsh. But I by no means intended that he 

 should escape me thus; so I got my arms around Ins neck, 

 and while he carried me along I drew my sheath-kmfe and 

 tried to cut his throat. My hacking was of the most bar- 

 barous and unscientific kind, and the only important cut I 

 succeeded in making was in the middle finger ot my left 

 hand the top of which finger 1 nigh cut off, and the cica 

 trice of which I can see so plainly now as I write. \\ hile 

 in this ridiculous predicament my comrade came, up, caught, 

 the buck by one antler, drew back his head and plunged ius 

 knife in the throat down to the haft. The.top. touched the 

 heart and the noble leader fell prone upon tnc moss. \\ e 

 opened the carcasses, taking the entrails, doing the same 

 with the fallow doe. whose inside was lined with a deep 

 coating of fat; and having obtained a haunch irom each, we 

 made a circle of powder around both carcasses, to keep 

 away the foxes and wolves, 



I have never known a fox to cross a powder line, his cun- 

 ning teaching him that powder is a destructive agent. _ lh"e 

 same remark is generally true of the wolf, though in un- 

 usually severe winters, when several icet ot snpw have 

 covered the entire island, the vol! hae been particularly 

 ravenous, and has devoured gome, though arhpJ 

 rings had been put around it, We had onJ;, :m . .; "- l.- 

 iug the carcasses when the third member of the pa I me 



up lie congratulated us on our luck, and then 

 account of himself. Hehad had to crawl, he said, nearly a nine 

 to work in upon the herd, which he found luxuriating among 

 the abundant food of the valley. By the shelter oi a bunch 

 of whort bushes he crawled within seventy paces and took 

 down a fine doe, which got up after the shot, ran about 

 twenty yards, and then dropped dead, He had shot her 

 through in the region of the heart. Then he put himselt 

 Upon the lead, fired at the flying herd, but missed. Alter 

 liriuo- looking; down the valfevhe saw another herd of about 

 fifteen which we had not seen with our glasses, and taking 

 the alarm they scampered off, eventually getting on the same 



je which we had seen the fresh tracks on the morning 



after coming out of the wood. He had likewise a haunch 

 from Ins doe, which, like ours, he had disemboweled, sur- 

 rounding the carcass with the usual powder ring. Then he 

 Showed us the result of his long crawl, his knees peering 

 through his stout tweed breeches. We were hungry now, 



and decided not to follow up either herd for the present. 

 We could judge pretty accurately the direction in which 

 they had run. The one we believed would be found about 

 five miles distant, in a valley near the headwaters of a river 

 of considerable size, which ran out into the bay some miles 

 southwest of Placentia, 



The other flock, it was probable, bad gone to a point a 

 couple of miles south of where we had found the stream 

 dammed up by the beaver. Then the member of our party 

 who had worked in on the deer remembered having heard 

 that there was a snug little tilt in one of the "drokes" on the 

 falling ground towards the valley where we had seen the 

 herd grazing. We decided to try and find it, as the trams 

 back to our previous rendezvous was not desirable till we had 

 appeased our hunger. We had only crossed over the nearest 

 hill, and when descending the little valley, when we saw a 

 flock of about fifteen wild geese stalking through the hum- 

 mocks, feeding vigorously. Taking advantage of a clump 

 of firs— called "var" by the inhabitants — we got within 

 range, but before we cou'ld get a ground shot the wary birds 

 were off. One fell, however, from my right barrel as the 

 flock wound around the hill, and though all the rest of our" 

 muz?les blazed at them, this was the only one we secured. 



We were not long before we struck a faint path on the 

 edge of what seemed the most likely "drokc" for a "tilt," 

 and following it through the dense fir and spruce wood for 

 about a hundred paces, we came upon the cosiest little camp 

 that could well be seen. Evidently it had been a long time 

 since any hunter had put up there before, as long, wild 

 grasses grew up about the rude door. There were the usual 

 accompaniments of the Newfoundland camp ; at a glance 

 we could sec glimmering through the trees whitings endugH 

 to do a party for a month's burning. Inside the tilt w T e 

 found a sharp axe, a spade and a "grub," the two latter being 

 intended for the eviction of beaver. We found all the neces- 

 saries of cooking utensils, and in half an hour a glorious 

 piece of our fallow deer was spluttering before the bright 

 blaze of the whiting fire. The senior member prepared the 

 dinner, and we stretched upon some fresh broken fir boughs, 

 I reveling in Wordsworth's "Wanderer," my companion 

 reading in stentorian tones, rolling the lines fairly and re- 

 peating them again and again. 



* * * "Me tabula sacer 

 Vottva paries indicat uvidn 

 Suspendisse potentl 

 Vestimenta maris dao," 



And contending that Milton's rendering of the phrase 

 "simplex munditiis" in the words "plain in thy neatness" 

 in the ode was poor; 'in point of fact, absolutely trash," 

 he said. I told him that Pope wrote the line. 



"A little learning is a dangerous thing," advisedly, after 

 which he collapsed. 



Now, from where we lay in our gorgeous little sylvan 

 camp, we could hear coming up through the trees the music 

 of a large running brook, and the mere thought of fried 

 speckled trout crossing my mind determined me to beaj 

 once engaged in cutting a small and slender fir sapling, upon 

 which I tied a plain flylcss hook, several having been dis- 

 covered in the camp. My companion whom I had choked 

 with the line from Pope was beside me in a moment, and 

 together we started off in the direction from which we 

 heard the sound of the running water come. We came 

 down to a sparkling brook, that had all along its course 

 quiet little pools, overhung with alder boughs or young 

 birches, and covered with the foam created where the brook 

 brawled over the rocks. We baited our hooks with some of 

 the doe's kidney, and cast out, with corks on, in school-bos 

 fashion. The hooks were no sooner out than the corks went 

 under water, and we landed a pair of speckled beauties, each 

 about nine inches long. We stayed about twenty minutes, 

 during which we took about four dozen fish, the only delay 

 being in baiting', casting and unhooking. The brook was 

 literally alive with trout, and they jumped at the hue and' 

 the cork and clear out of the water. 



Returning to camp we found the venison haunch roasted, 

 and the pan for the trout hot and ready. Aftef we had 

 ended that most delightful meal we decided to go iu search 

 of the wounded deer which had made such speed— progress on 

 three legs. We soon found the trail, marked here and there 

 by drops of blood which under the bright sun on the green 

 grasses and weeds were seen very easily. After following 

 the regular lead for about a mile, we found that the wounded 

 deer Turned in the direction of the large forest "droke" in 

 which we had put up the first two nights; turned thither, 

 poor animal, to die. 1 have rarely heard of a wounded deer 

 dying upon the exposed plain. It will always, if it has 

 Vitality enough, get into a covert, lie down and die. We 

 found this to be the case in the present instance. We fol- 

 lowed the single track and the blood stains up to the wood, 

 and within the wood. Here it became difficult to keep the 

 trail, for from being bright and serene the sky had almost 

 suddenly became black, and dark clouds lowered down and 

 shut out the situ. In the dense wood it became nearly as 

 dark as night; a weird sad wind began to sigh among the 

 trees and raindrops began to patter at our feet. Such is the 

 uncertainly of the temper of Newfoundland weather, especi- 

 ally in the autumn. During the forenoon you bask in the 

 most delicious of sunlights; of a sudden the sky becomes 

 black lightnings leap "and thunders roar, while the storm 

 lushes the ocean and deals destruction to overtaken craft. 



So we struck out for our first night's tilt, and before we 

 readied it the rain came down heavily, the trees groaned and 

 creaked, and thunder roared' across the sky, whLe vivid 

 liffhtniu'* shot through, enlivening for the moment the 

 ',,[., , , ... : ' , : That night the <h crt ulness of our of-tug 

 ... sat reciting stories we had had from the npso| 

 veterai hunters, of pertain wild spirits that were heard in 

 this very wood whenever the storm came on, was enhanced 

 by the howling of the tempest outside. 



* In the morning we resumed our search for the wounded 

 deer and not three hundred paces from our camp su.v 

 through the trees not alone the deer, bm a huge black bear 

 taking his breakfast off the carcass. He let us get within 

 thirty paces then we leveled our pieces, putting three bullets 

 simultaneously into him. He rolled over without a struggle. 

 On refurnim'- 'to camp we found two game earners whom it 

 was decided before leaving should come lor the. game. These 

 men took the venison and some of our ptarmigan and grouse 

 to the nearest point of the St, John's road, about six miles 

 distant and thence had it hauled into Placentia on a 'dray. Au 

 mv paper has now reached considerable bulk I can only stay 

 to" Lei 1 the fruit of the next two clays' work. We 

 more deer, making six in all, six geese, making seven m all, 

 about sixty grouse and ptarmigan, and nine beaver. 



J s J. E. Collins. 



Toronto, Canada, 



