Feb. 14, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



47 



bard and deadly hitter. Its simple mechanism is always in 

 order and they are as readily loaded as any rifle not a 

 magazine-made, nor will I except (lie magazine variety if the 

 user must needs take it from his shoulder to cast and replace 

 the empty shell, for in that case a practiced hand will, with 

 a, Sharps 'fully hold his own. The latter, moreover, is ex- 

 ceedingly short and light, a matter of no small consideration, 

 where constant use is "required. The short, light barrel will, 

 I know.be pooh-poohed by target ring hunters, but to the 

 man that can hold them down they are lrfngs. 



Some time during the early part of the seventies I, with 

 several others, was prospecting for placer ground on the 

 headwaters of the Santa Domingo River, in Sonora. At that 

 lime Ihe Apache Indians left the San Carlos Reservation, in 

 Arizona, and raided as far south as TJics. The main body 

 of them passed us on the west, as we afterward learned, but 

 a party of probablv a dozen happen ed our way, and the 

 trouble began by the Indians ambushing myself and a com- 

 panion as we were riding through one of the most beautiful 

 oak parks it has ever been my good fortune to see. At the 

 first fire they put us both on foot, but fori una tely without 

 bodily injury to 0UtseJV.es. My animal, a full-blooded bronco 

 mare, was also uninjured, but the surprise was so sudden to 

 both that sue had me off in a jiffy. Although somewhat 

 dazed, we up and treed instanter, and then the fun com- 

 menced. My mare, for a minute or so, galloped wildly 

 about her struggling companion, and then made a bee line 

 baclc the way we bad come. The Indians in the meantime 

 yelling their best, but not till we broke cover did they dare 

 attempt to close in, and only then by individual spurts from 

 tree to tree, as we made like moves, each one covering the 

 other's retreat in turn. Finally, by a hard run we reached 

 a deep arroya that cut across the bottom at right angles and 

 made us masters of the. situation, and gave us comparatively 

 smooth sailing into camp, which wc found thoroughly 

 alarmed by the mare which had preceded us, and prepared 

 for the worst. 



We weie at this time five strong— three Americans and 

 two Mexicans (an old man and a boy). Our arms consisted 

 of one "Winchester rifle, two Sharp's carbines and two old 

 army muskets, with the barrels sawed short. The old man 

 gave good counsel, and under his directions we hastily pre- 

 pared for the attack that we knew was sure to come. Al- 

 though the site of our camp was well chosen and watch con- 

 stantly kept, those off guard slept but little that night. 



Shortly after sun-up next morning, when we were con- 

 gratulating ourselves on our security, a rifle cracked as a 

 bullet piuged across our camp and broke around a short dis- 

 tance beyond. To our surprise it came from a direction un- 

 expected, but hugging the ground closely we rolled our 

 blankets into temporary breastworks, aud with ready rifles 

 waited the issue, which we purposed should not be one- 

 sided. Not knowing trom which way the next shot would 

 come we faced m the most probable direction. Presently a 

 second shot, followed closely by a third from the same direc- 

 tion as the first, told us that our foe was reaching for us 

 from one side only. We therefore gave it our united atten- 

 tion. A wreath of smoke hanging to the top of the grass 

 localized our man. The only Winchester in camp w r as fired 

 at him repeatedly without effect, other than to bring back 

 answering bullets, one of which took the side out of a can- 

 teen that was standing by a stone previously used as a seat. 

 With us bullets were bullets, as none could be bought 

 nearer than Tucson, distant nearly three hundred miles, and 

 as each cartridge fired by the Winchester was one more 

 wasted, it was decided to try him with a Sharps,, and the duty 

 assigued to the w r riter of this, who, hastily rising to a half 

 kneeling position, fired two shots in rapid succession. A 

 convulsive jump told us that something had gone wrong in 

 the Apache camp. Fearing a ruse, we awaited further 

 developments, but as none came, we investigated, and found 

 the gentleman doubled up with a bullet hole through him 

 from his left shoulder inside of right hip. 



He had gained his vantage point by climbing up the side 

 of an almost perpendicular box canyon, and then crawled 

 fully three hundred yards on his belly before firing a shot. 

 He was armed with a needle gun, old army pattern. They 

 undoubtedly shoot as hard and carry as far as a Sharps, but 

 because of their weight and length, are too cumbersome for 

 a prospector to carry. We had, previous to this little inci- 

 dent, an exalted opinion of the magazine rifle, but after that 

 we stood by the Sharps, and subsequent events justified our 

 faith. I could give many illustrations in point, and may, 

 perhaps, later on, if this is found worthy of publication. 

 Now, however, I give but one which came under my notice 

 when prospecting in the San Simon range with W. E. Cook 

 of, I believe, Rochester, New York. 



We w T ere following up a dry path leading our horses, when 

 we struck a bear trail that crossed the path we were in, to 

 the opposite bank. As near as we could determine it had 

 been made by not less than five animals. We mounted and 

 followed the trail till it broke up, aud was lost on the hard 

 mesa, but off in the distance we noticed what appeared to 

 be a cow and calf. Surprised that they should have strayed 

 so far from any settlement, we rode carelessly toward them 

 with a view of examining the "brand if "any they had. 

 Greater, however, was our astonishment, when up • with a 

 snort raised an enormous she* grizzly and a good sized cub. 

 We had with us a orop-eared Mexican cur dog that stood 

 probably about eighteen inches high at the shoulders. We 

 had always regarded him as a good watch dog and a keen 

 fighter, but at the sight of the bear he developed qualities 

 that made him dear to us afterward, for with a vicious 

 bound he sprang at bruin's throat, but being instantly 

 knocked down we thought hirn killed. The next moment, 

 however, he had her by the hams, and so quick was he that 

 she could neither bite nor strike him. Several times she 

 essayed a dash at us, who, on foot, were vainly endeavoring 

 to lead our terrified horses closer up, but each time she gave 

 us her attentions the dog gave her his. 



As oar horses refused to approach, it was decided that I 

 hold them while Cook advanced with his Winchester to 

 shoot her. He ai a distance of not more than twenty steps 

 tired at her four or five times. As each bullet struck her 

 she would lie down, roll over and cry, then jump up and 

 rush toward him, but as she did so the dog invariably bit 

 her on the hams, and that annoyed her worse than the Win- 

 chester. In Cook's haste to cast an empty shell it fouled in 

 the extractor, and he could neither get his lever up nor 

 down. Throwing downhis gun he ran to get my Sharps; 

 but as I had too long stood a quiet spectator to oiie of the 

 most exciting scenes 1 had ever witnessed, I left the horses 

 with him, ran up, shot her through the brains, and the 

 battle was over. She was thin b "flesh, but her hide was 

 equal in size to that of a large ox. The cub was very fat, 

 and when dressed weighed about thirty or forty pounds. 

 Before killing it we fought it with the dog, but as the latter 



was jaded in his fight with the old one, the cub on a square 

 tussle was more than his match; but every time it got loose 

 from the dog it would climb on the dead body of its mother 

 and cry piteously. 



The fouling of the shell, as stated, created with me a dis- 

 trust, in all magazine rifles of like make. Although I must 

 confess that 1 afterward sent to San Francisco for one, and, 

 through the. excellent judgment of a friend, secured a very 

 good one, but the caliber being too small for my use, 1 

 traded it off and fell back on my true, but time-worn car- 

 bine. Later on it was stolen from me by a Mexican, and as 

 he hied himself to the land of tortillas and beans, 1 never 

 saw it afterward. A friend, knowiug my admiration for the 

 gun, presented me with a new T one of the same make. It 

 shoots as wicked as its predecessor. 



In conclusion, I can safely assert that, if properly han- 

 dled, there is no animal in the Southwest that can stand 

 against them. I once shot a cinnamon bear that was walk- 

 ing on the side of a hill above aud from me. The bullet 

 struck and shattered the left ham bone, passed through the 

 ham and ran under the skin along the entire length of the 

 animal and effected a lodgment at the base of the upper jaw. 

 Again, I shot at a bear that stood quartering to me. 1 saw 

 the bullet strike the ground beyond him, and as he turned 

 and headed down the~canyon I believed that I had overshot 

 Mm. Suddenly he stopped as if considering what was lust 

 to do, then staggered forward and fell dead. The bullet 

 had gone entirely through him. In one winter alone, in the 

 Santa Ritas, I killed fifty-four deer, and with but one excep- 

 tion, 1 never found a bullet in any of their carcasses. 



Amos. 



TuoaoH, A. T., Jan. 2$. 



THE BIRDS IN WEST VIRGINIA. 



SITTING by a large open fire, with my two dogs on the 

 floor near me, for I have not as yet a better half, and 

 having just finished overlooking gun and fishing tackle, 1 

 have picked up several of your last issues, and the first thing 

 I see is your call to "feed the birds." Thinking you would 

 like to hear from this part of the country, I send you this. 



We had better partridge shooting in this county last fall 

 than we have had for years, though the best that was done 

 was thirty-eight to two guns. Our birds are wild, very 

 strong, and feed close to woods and thickets, into which 

 they go when first gotten up. We think thirty -eight good, 

 very good, the rough country and all things considered. 

 The gentleman shooting with me, Mr. S. W. M. P. , of Phil- 

 adelphia, is a much better shot than I am, and should this 

 meet the eye of any of his Philadelphia Gun Club friends 

 they will know what he killed and what fell to my share. 

 Take him all in all, I think him the best all-around field 

 shot I know. 



1 am taking care of and feeding at my own place about 

 fifty birds, and have induced some six or eight of my farmer 

 friends to feed any birds that may come about their barns 

 and outbuildings. I furnish the feed; they do the feeding, 

 and 1 have just returned from a "round trip." I find they 

 have upward of 200 partridges feeding, and hope to get 

 them safely over this hard, cold winter. I hear of others tak- 

 ing care of a covey or so, and knowing the country here as I 

 do, I leel assured many birds will take care of themselves. 

 The farmers last fall left much corn outstanding, and it has 

 proved of great advantage to our game. 



In the proper season, when our black bass fishing begirs, 

 I shall be glad to give any information I can to any of your 

 many readers who may wish it. I use the fly entirely and 

 know the Potomac and Cacapon rivers for miles as thor- 

 oughly as I do the road over which I drive to get to them. 



N. S. D. P, 



Berkeley Spbings,'W. Va., Feb. 1, 1884. 



ANOTHER CAT TALE. 



<» fc"0 EI GNOLDS'S" cat reminds me of a tough specimen 

 JA> that I had some experience with some thirty-five or 

 more years ago. I was boarding at a large farmhouse, where 

 they kept a fine flock of poultry. Late in the spring the egg- 

 gathering members of the family found fresh-laid shells 

 emptied of their contents. The mischief was charged upon 

 skunks, but one day a large semi-wild, yellow and white cat 

 of the Thomas persuasion was caught in the act. This cat 

 had recently taken up his abode at the large barns upon the 

 place and was remarked a fine specimen, but this egg-stick- 

 ing development caused an immediate proclamation of out- 

 lawry from the household department. At that time I 

 kept an excellent hunting rifle and practiced with it almost 

 daily. • 



One afternoon a little girl of the household who had been out 

 gathering eggs, came running in flushed with excitement.hold 

 ing a broken egg, saying she had, just driven the old yellow cat 

 from the nest and he was then out back of the further barn. 

 Hastily loading my rifle, I ran across the road where I 

 could look down back of the long line of barns. Just as I 

 reached the corner of the nearest barn, I met the cat, which 

 instantly beat a rapid retreat and the intervening fence pre- 

 vented a snap shot on the run. The cat passed the barns 

 and turned under the long shed beyond, stepping behind a 

 large, flat stone, uponwmich one of the shed posts rested, and 

 looked back. I could just see his left eye by the edge of the 

 post and over the stone. The distanee was about thirty-five 

 yards, and in those days I rarely missed the size of a dime 

 at that distance when firing at a rest, as I deliberately did in 

 this instance, of course drawing a fine bead upon the cat's eye. 

 The first thought was to set the rifle in the barn and get a 

 shovel to bury the cat, but these auimals perform ground 

 and lofty tumbling when shot through the head with a bul- 

 let, and as I could see no demonstrations of the kind, I omitted 

 the shovel. Repairing to the shed-post, I found no cat, but 

 did find a surprising quantity of yellow hair and some clots 

 of gore, showing that the bullet done some execution. Noth- 

 ing more was heurd from the cat and no more empty egg shells 

 were found. The family were certain they smelled the dead 

 cat under the barn. 



■ About the middle of the following January we had a fall 

 of some twelve or fifteen inches of snow in one night, which 

 had not yet drifted. The next morning was all that could 

 be desired for fox hunting, the locality being in the Green 

 Mountains. I had an excellent old foxhound, and started 

 early for a large pasture about a mile away, between two 

 large swamps, a famous crossway for foxes. ' As I was get- 

 ting well between the swamps the sagacious »ld hound was 

 ranging well ahead, when he suddenly turned from his course 

 and the wag of his tail showed that he was on a track which, 

 of course, must be fresh. It lead in the direction of the 

 nearest swamp, and a few yards further on the hound disap- 

 peared down in a gulley and commenced his peculiar stand- 

 ing bark, showing that he had game at bay. I knew there 



was no hiding place in the vicinity, and as the hound never 

 hesitated clinching any game found in that region, I was 

 puzzled and hastened forward. Coming suddenly upon the 

 hound not fifteen feet distant, I found him confronted by an 

 enormous yellow and white cat. I had never known him to 

 take the least notice of a cat before, and the peculiar alter- 

 nation of glances first to me and then to the cat, was cle<irly 

 an inquiry for orders. I gave the word, "Take him," and 

 in about three seconds the air for some feet around was filled 

 with a mixture of snow and hair, and the hound was utter 

 ing muffled yells of pain, which, however, soon ceased, to be 

 supplanted by a long-drawn "yaul" from the cat, who a few 

 seconds later lay limp and dead on the hair-carpeted snow. 

 As he lay with his left side up, I discovered that his left eye 

 was gone. An examination disclosed an unhealed wound 

 nearly in the center of the back of the head. If. was the old 

 egg-sucker that I had omitted to bury eight months before. 

 Moral: Always plant cats as soon as you shoot them. 



Right here 1 wish to add that, this particular style of cats 

 destroy more small game and insectivorous birds than all the 

 gunners in the land, including pot-hunters. M. P. P. 



MUCILAGE-EDGE WADS. 



Editor Forest mid Stream: 



It is to your columns that sportsmen must look for in- 

 formation concerning anything new which pertains to sport- 

 ing matters, and for that reason I beg a short space to herald 

 a new and, I think, important device for loading shells. All 

 the present methods of securing wads over the shot are un- 

 satisfactory. Crimping is not only a great nuisance, but 

 fails to meet the desired end. On a recent shooting trip 1 

 was shown something new in this line, the invention of Mr. 

 M. S. Alexander, of Moorefield, W. Va. The powder and 

 sh'«t are put in the shell in the ordinary way. After the shot 

 are put in, a loader, into which a narrow circle of sponge 

 projects from the outside, is set over the shell. A wad hav- 

 ing small strips of muslin, covered with mucilage, is now 

 dropped iuio the loader and pushed home in the usual way. 

 As it passes through the sponge the mucilage is moistened, 

 and the wad held securely in place by the strips sticking last 

 to the sides of the shell. Crimping is entirely done away 

 with, and the shells remain almost perfect after being fired. 

 Shells can be loaded more rapidly than by the ordinary 

 method. Tnese wads work splendidly in brass shells, and 

 are far ahead of the patent mucilage-edge wads. I have car- 

 ried shells loaded iu this way for days without the wads 

 starting. This new device, if ever brought on the market, 

 will prove a boon to upland sportsmen. Sycamoee. 



Baltimore. 



THE PERFORMANCE OF SHOTGUNS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I see many things from the fertile imaginations of sports- 

 men on practical matters that are not governed by human 

 agency. Marvelously long shots, clean kills at unreasonable 

 distances, and wonderful scores, in one instance forty-eight 

 out of fifty grouse (perhaps it was only thirty-eight out of 

 forty). Now, the natural and uncontrollable inclination of 

 shot is to scatter. This deflection commences the moment 

 the charge leaves the gun. At a certain distance the spaces 

 between "pellets are larger than the object aimed at. This 

 marks the killing range of any gun. Forty yards is taken 

 as a standard limit, and most guns are targeted at this dis- 

 tance. Where one gun shows a killing circle at this range, 

 twenty wiJl fail to make a pattern that would be sure to 

 stop the bird if held "straight on." Sometimes a very long 

 hit is made, as occasionally the foolish bird, instead of keep- 

 ing straight for the woods, tries some fancy flying and comes 

 to grief . Often I have made what I thought a splendid long 

 shot, fifty yards at least. 



"I say, Bill, where did you stand?" 



"Right there by that patch of briers." 



"Where did the bird f all T 



"O, way down the fence, fifty or sixty yards." 



"1 don't see it nor any feathers near here." 



' 'Well, he fell right about where you stand. Look a little 

 further down." 



"Can't find him. 



"Well, come this way a little. 1 know I killed him 

 dead." 



"How are you 'fifty yards!' Here's the bird, not over 

 twenty-five." 



"Well, I killed him anyhow, and he looked as if he were 

 a hundred yards." 



This little scene is quite familiar to us all. I am in favor 

 of some margin. But when we get out of bounds, it don't 

 count. "Dead out of bounds," you see. 



Marion, Ind. THIRTY-EIGHT LONG, 



A New Style op 'Turkey Shoot. "— Marcellus, N. Y., 

 Jan. 80. — Editor Forest and Stream: In your last issue you 

 refer to the decadence of the old-fashioned "turkey shoot." 

 We have had several matches in this vicinity this winter, 

 conducted on principles in harmony with those of the 8. F. 

 P. C. A. Ten or twelve shooters paid for a turkey and de- 

 cided who should have it by shooting at a small paper tar- 

 get, the shooter winning who drove a pellet nearest the cen- 

 ter. While there w T as much chance in the game, yet a good 

 shooting gun would win in the majority of cases. The dis- 

 tance was 35 yards, li ounce, No. 8; target, 5^x6 inches. One 

 gun was fired five times, with an average of fifteen pellets in 

 the paper. Three other guns fired four shots in all and made 

 an average of seventeen. At another match, same condi- 

 tions, distance 35 yards, target 5+x6 inches, four guns 

 were fired twenty-four times with an average of 30| pellets 

 in the target, One gun an equal number of times, averaged 

 267V. All conditions were as favorable as could be made; 

 rest* cleaning between shots. — Marcellus. 



Southwest Florida.— My a Uka River, Fla., Jan. 25.— 

 Thinking that some of the readers of your valuable journal 

 would like to know of some locality on the southwest coast 

 of Florida where good hunting could be found, I can safely 

 say this is the best game country I have seen along this coast 

 as yet. The country I speak of is along the banks of this 

 river, which extends from Charlotte Harbor into the main- 

 land about thirty or forty miles. Along this river deer are 

 very abundant, also turkeys aud wild hogs. Although I 

 have seen but one covey of quail, I think they are more 

 plentiful up the river. Wildcats and panthers are qujte 

 common around here, and if one has dogs a bear can be 

 found in a short time. One party of eight men, that went 

 up the river a short time ago, killed in a day and a half 

 eight deer and seven turkeys, using dogs. This river could 

 be reached by taking passage on a schooner at Cedar Keys 

 that runs to Hickory Bluff. At the last-named place a sail- 



