June 19. 1S84.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



403 



we engaged him to tote us out. and so, on a drizzly, uncom- 

 fortable August morning, with Pancake as guide, we set out 

 for the Twiu Lakes. 



I need not stop to tell what a rough time we had of it 

 after we had gone as far as the road was cut out. 1 have 

 been in my share of tight, places by "flood and by field" 

 rambling in the wilderness, but for twelve hours 1 am quite 

 sure 1 never exerted myself so continuously as I did on this 

 trip, chopping and bridging in order to get through a 

 swamp thai mterceptedmour progress. As the sun was going 

 down on the second day, we emerged from the swamp to 

 the plain, and were so exhausted with toil that we built a 

 fire and slept, with the starry sky as our tent. By noon of 

 the third day we reached our destination. 



The Twin Lake region is famous for the number of its lakes 

 and the beauty oi some. It is so named because of the two 

 largest, which lie very close to each other, and are called 

 the Twins. "There are a hundred lakes," said Ball, "in one 

 township up there," which is perhaps an exaggeration, but 

 there are a great many lakes, mostly landlocked, lyingon 

 the plateau between the headwaters of the Thunder Bay 

 River, which flows eastward into Thuuder Bay ou Lake 

 Huron, and Black River, flowing northward into the lake, 

 and Big Cn-ek, flowing westward into the north branch of 

 the Au Sable. The Twins and Wolf Lukes and l'e Lake are 

 of sufficient importance to give good sport. There may be 

 others, but it so i never found them. The ponds and smaller 

 lakes are too numerous to mention. 



The first lake we came to was Te Lake, so called because 

 some early trapper or land-looker fancied he saw in its shape 

 a resemblance to the Roman capital of that name, and could 

 not let the opportunity pass to show his learning. The lake 

 does bear a rough resemblance to a T, but it would make a 

 better boot than T. It is true that the heel would be a little 

 long for a normal Caucasian foot; but, if we cull it a boot, 

 when I tell you that the leg lies north and south, with the top 

 to the north, and. the foot east and west, with the long Ik el 

 pointing west toward the upper or eastern Twin Lake, which 

 is surrounded by a heavy forest and which if? about three- 

 fourths of a mile distant, and the toe pointed eastward toward 

 a cluster of small landlocked lakes lying in the open, brush- 

 covered plain, some of which are crescent-shaped and others 

 circular, and others still irregular in outline, and that our 

 camp was established in a grove of beautiful Norways that 

 fringed the sole from toe to heei, and that we were a third of 

 the distance from toe to heel, I think you can find our old 

 camping ground, should you ever vidt the lake, much more 

 readily than if 1 were to describe it by the letter it is supposed 

 to resemble. South of our camp spread the open plain, dry 

 and free from mosquitoes and no-see-ems, and north of us, 

 across the foot, was a brushy plain, also of dry land. We 

 were free from insects. Our team.-ter returned to the settle- 

 ment at once, and Pancake Jack, afier a vain effort to kill a 

 deer, soon followed after. 



By some mischance we failed to take with us an adequate 

 supply of flour— a mischance that oftener happens to a camp 

 than auy other, according to my experience. We did not make 

 the discovery, however, uutU both teamster and trapper were 

 gone, and a& the teamster would reurn to Roscommon, thirty 

 or forty miles distant, and remain there until his appointed 

 time to come after us, we saw that there was but one thing 

 to do and that was, eke out our floor so as to give us some 

 bread at every meal till his return. If he came at the time 

 appointed, we found by actual measurement that we had a 

 little less than three pints of flour per day for four mouths, 

 and whatever may be the fact at home, that ratio will not 

 begin to do in the woods. We had, however, a good supply 

 of tea, coffee and sugar, a little meal, some rice and a tew 

 potatoes, and the woods were full of huckleberries, while the 

 lake abounded in bass. Fortunately we had with us a boat, 

 and Te Lake produced bass ruuuiug from one and a half to 

 three pounds. Near the instep of our boot-shuped lake were 

 two islands. One of these, containing about an acre, rose 

 eight feet or more above the surface of the lake and was 

 covered by a forest of white pines and other soft woods, 

 which was the only piue forest I ever saw in the Lower 

 Peninsula, not showing any marks of fire. Not a charred 

 stick, stump, trunk or log was to be seen on that island. 

 Around its shore was the best bass fishing i thiuk 1 ever 

 saw. Two seasons, that one and the following, 1 fished off 

 the north and east shores of this island with amazing suc- 

 cess. And while I am at it 1 may just as well say that while 

 I never fished m either of the Twin lakes, nor in Wolf Lake, 

 which lies a half mile or more north of the east end of the 

 easternmost Twin Lake, yet both Ball and Jack told me the 

 following year and after "they had fished them that all these 

 gave capital Sport. Tin se lakes are accessible, from Gay lord and 

 Otsego on the Saginaw and Mackinaw Railroad, and the 

 sportsman who will take his boat with him an. I set up his 

 tent on the east shore of the easternmost or Upper Twin 

 Lake will be in one of the most delightful tenting grounds I 

 ever saw. He will lack but one thing, and that is a sprint 

 of good water. But the lake water is sweet and clear and 

 if he understands himself the water question wid never vex 

 him. The spring is at the west end, not far from the outlet. 

 Notwithstanding Pancake Jack, who never scaled but 

 skinned his bass, could fry one better than any woods-cook 

 I ever £ aw, and for that matter house-cook either, and im- 

 parted to us something of his skill before he left us, yet we 

 soon began to "lust after the flesh pots of Egypt." ALy ex- 

 perience deer hundng was quite limited, and contrary to 

 what 1 had expected, all the deer 1 came across were too 

 smart for me, and 1 came across a good many. To save me 

 f could not kill a venison. 



We bad nearly stayed our two weeks. The weather had 

 been delightful. Nearly every day the sun had sifted its 

 yellow rays down through the waving Norway foliage upon 

 our camp grounds. The Chaplain, as we termed the young 

 preacher, had fished s me, hunted a little, read his Greek 

 Testament more and slept most. The boys had picked huckle- 

 berries, kept camp and rioted in all the jov of spirits that 

 our vagabond life in the woods gave. As for me, I explored 

 woods and plains for lakes and ponds, and at the same time 

 thought 1 was hunting. Well, so I was, and 1 found some 

 deer, too, but not until they had first found me, and then 

 all they would show me was a flag of truce. It was peace 

 between us in spite of all I could do. At first I think my 

 companions had confi Jed in my skill as a hunter. They bad 

 seen me shoot one or two deer on the river. But as the 

 descending suns had continued to bring me back to camp 

 without the coveted venison, they ceased to talk about it as 

 a thing within the range of our possibilities, or even to ask 

 me the stereotyped "What luck?" The last Saturday had 

 come and gone, and I had cleaned my rifle and laid it aside. 

 Monday was the appointed day for Bob to return for us, and 



Monday morning, for go out to Ball's we would on that day, 

 Bob or no Bob. 



Sunday came bright and breezy. This was our day of 

 rest, and as for me~I was wearied enough with my much 

 tramping during the week just closed to thoroughly enjoy 

 it. Amid much merriment, with not a few jibes at my skill 

 as a hunter, we had eaten our dinner with its small supply 

 of bread, after which the Chaplain took his Greek Testa- 

 ment and retired to a shady spot to read, meditate and, per- 

 haps, sleep. The boys having rigged a blanket for a sail to 

 the boat had gone sailing on the lake. I was at our impro- 

 vised table writing in my camp journal. I think it must 

 have been about ^"o'clock when it occurred to me that 1 had 

 not heard any noise fiom the boys for some time. At once 

 I walked to the lake's margin and looking westward saw 

 the boat sailing homeward with but one sailor aboard. At 

 once it flashed across across my mind that George, the 

 "unlucky boy," had fallen overboard, and with that 1 des- 

 perately called for tidings, as if I could have made myself 

 heard the distance Charley was away. But ere 1 had time 

 to catch the answer I hoped for, I saw through the open 

 Norways the "unlucky boy" running toward me as if in a 

 race, and at the same time motioning for silence. Very soon 

 he came up puffing, and in an awful stage whisper be ex- 

 claimed, "Deer in the lake!" and at the same time poiuted 

 to the east. Quicker than 1 can write it I had "old Smiley" 

 out of the tent— and a large-bored, hard shooting rifle she 

 was — and with powder and ball rammed home set out for 

 my game, that was from a quarter to a half mile away. 



Well up toward the toe of the boot on the south shore was 

 a bit of rather low land— an acre perhaps— and it was covered 

 by a thick growth of tall, slender Norway saplings. Into 

 this clump of small trees I crept, and at about seventy-five 

 yards from the lake's margin I stopped to reconnoiter. All 

 George had said was, "deer in the lake." Where was it? 

 I could see the shore at the very end of the lake and clear 

 around on the further side, but no deer was there. Had it 

 scented me from afar and fled as all the others of weeks 

 before? Or, is that red fringe I see through the brush at the 

 edge of the water just in front of me it? No. I came very 

 near shooting at just such a fringe Saturday morning, and it 

 turned out to be a bunch of red blossoms. Hold ! It' moves, 

 I believe. Ah ! To be sure it moves— that's the deer. Heart, 

 be still! It is feeding on the lily pads, and I must wait till 

 it puts its nose to the pads again. There! I creep to a sapling, 

 for somehow I find I am not over steady of nerve just now, 

 and I must have a rest. It is a bushy place to shoot through, 

 but I fancy I can hit that red hue. "Drawing as fine a sight 

 as I can, 1 pull trigger, ami as the report dies away, I hear 

 a splash or two and then all is still. Did 1 kill it? Wichout 

 the knowledge experience brings, I did not understand the 

 significance of the splashing. Hastily re-loading, I ran 

 around to the end of the lake and the're I fancied I found 

 blood, but a second look told me it was a bit of red moss. 

 Examining the shore with some care, I could not find the 

 place where I could feel certain it had left the lake. So 

 many tracks weie there, I became confused and despondent. 

 After all, had I missed the thing clear? Dear me! The gun 

 must surely shoot wild. I parted the fringe of brush and 

 weeds at the margin and look over into the water. Strange 

 I had not thought of doing so before, lor there is the track 

 of muddy wakr leading right to the very place 1 am standing. 

 Here then, the dei r must have come out after all, and I step 

 back to look once more for the track, but failing to find it, i 

 return to the margin once more, and parting the fringe of 

 bushes and weeds, I examine carefully to see, if possible, the 

 animal's track. And as 1 do so, the clearing water discloses 

 my deer lyiug four feet beneath the surface, dead of course, 

 and at once I leap in and haul it ashore. 



"Whoo-ee!" It is a shout of victory. Three answering 

 shouts come back to me, and quicker than I had thought, 1 

 hear the cracking of brush and the scrapiuer over logs, and 

 above all, the heavy slump, slump, of the Chaplain's terrible 

 boots. The, good man had dropped his Greek Testament 

 and was bound to be iu at the death. No sooner did he get 

 sight of me than he asked: 

 "Did you Kill it?" 

 "Yes!" 



"Good for you!" 



And next George's bare head popped up over the crest of 

 a little hill. 



"Have you got it?" 

 "Yes!" 

 "Bully!" 



Our quarry proved to be a young and barren doe in fine 

 condition, and was at once taken to camp, where all hands 

 turned to and it was soon flayed. Then we began to talk 

 tor the first time of our hunger. Till then each had eaten 

 his share to the last crumb and said nothing. But now we 

 began to complain. The Chaplain said he was "awful hun- 

 gry—hungry enough to eat a piece of dead deer," and I told 

 them that we would cut the big bones out and crack them 

 and boil them as the primitive man was supposed to have 

 done. And we did. And besides the cracked bones we put 

 in the pot all the nice fid -bits, and then covered all with 

 water and clnpptd on the lid and set the mess to simmering- 

 and stewing over a slow fire. After an hour had passed^ 

 the Chaplain's bony became as sharp as his appetite, and he 

 proposed that we go home and leave the pot till next vear; 

 and so to appease him our last potatoes were sliced and put 

 in, and when these were cooked till done and some season- 

 ing had been put in, we slu-n d water into a fourth of a pint 

 of our precious flour till it was the consistency of thin cream. 

 That we poured into the pot, which was boiled briskly as 

 long as we could abide it, when the dish was pronounced 

 done, and a more palatable, savory, satisfactory dish not 

 one of us ever tasted, I am sure. 



The next day Bob Greaves came after us and in due time 

 we were back upon the swiftly flowing Au Sable catching 

 grayling. 

 March, 1884. 



Snipe.— The jacksnipe is a migratory bird, and, having 

 attained on the southern marshes that succulent obesity 

 which is so highly prized by the epicure* he takes his way 

 north to relieve the aristocratic canvasback and the couserv 

 ative redhead of their involuntary martyrdom in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay. The snipe is known' as the gray back, English 

 or jacksnipe. He goes to marshy or boggy ground. His 

 food is obtained from the mud, into which his lung bill is 

 thrust. He is a real game bird, with an erratic flight and an 

 accommodating tameness. He does not become alarmed and 

 fly up at fifty yards' range, but he prods around iu the soft 

 ground with perfect unconcern until the sportsman or his 

 dog is quite near him; then he darts up with sudden alarm, 

 flipping his wings with a queer motion that carries him in a 

 zig-zag course, right and left, giving utterance at the same 

 time to an oft-repeated note like "Scalpel" "scalpel" It 

 takes a good, steady shot to kill snipe. A man who gels 

 flustered and bangs away too quickly nearly always misses. 

 The higher the snipe gets from the ground "the more steady 

 does his flight become, and it is only necessary to keep a 

 steady footing and wait until his snipeship gets thirty yards 

 off, then crack away in his dirctiou with an ounce of No. 8 

 shot, which at this distance scatters a yard square. Wuh a 

 good aim he is apt to come to terms. Jacksuipe live in Flor- 

 ida, Texas and Louisiana in the winter, where the great flat 

 prairie marshes afford them satisfactory accommodation. At 

 this season of the year they go Noith with the ducks and 

 swans, and raise a family in some swampy region. The 

 Southern snipe is the best, because they are killed in the 

 eany spring. During the fall their family cares make them 

 thin, and tney are no such choice subjects for a generous 

 palate nor such gamy birds to kill iu the field. In uuuling 

 them a dog is not usually essential. They can be more 

 readily kicked up than the partridge or the woodcock. 

 Snipe should be cooked like the woodcock, with all of his 

 intestines left except the gall and crop. His head should be 

 picked clean and his bill thrust iuio his breast, If a little 

 high in flavor he is more appreciated. —Baltimore Sun. 



June Woodcock.— Philadelphia, June 14.— Again I have 

 to report this year the illegal shooting of woodcock, or I 

 should say the intention on the part of those who should 

 know better, to go out before the law allows the birds to be 

 shot. Only to-day, while at a promineut guu store in 

 Philadelphia, 1 asked the question of a gentleman whom I 

 thought posted on the subject, if woodcock had bred iu any 

 numbers in a locality he frequently visited. In reply I 

 reci ived the answer that many nad been seen and that next 

 week he. intended getting into his boat with his fishing 

 tackle as a "blind', and slip up a creek running into the 

 Delaware River, and kill a few birds. "If I do not do this," 

 he added, "1 will get none in July, as they will all be cleaned 

 out." This is one coniession of intentious of two that have 

 been made to me. i would add that the ground proposed to 

 be visited is in xN'ew Jersey, where of all places around us 

 the law is supposed to be tue most strictly enforced .—Homo. 



Wants a Moose.- Philadelphia, June 6.— I wish this 

 coming Septemoer to make a trip after income. Can vou 

 teil me where to go with auy cfianc of success, or put "ine 

 in communication with any one who can give me the re- 

 quired information, Tuis will great! v oolige one of your 

 earliest subscribers.— W. D. W. | Write to Ned Not ton, 

 Uolebrook, New Hampshire. Col. Cecil Clay, who wrote 

 "Among the Moose" iu our last volume, cou.d put you on 

 the light track, if he would ] 



The Thappebs.— Hornellsville, N. Y.— I hardly think that 

 you will hear much from the trappers. They are not likely 

 to write much about their art, for those who excel in it do 

 not care to tell what they know. Their secrets are jealously 

 guarded. But on other points you might occasionally draw 

 them out, on the improvement in traps, for instance. I 

 should like to know where foxes are plentv, so that I can 

 trap them.— S. D. [Foxes are plenty in Accomack county, 

 Virginia.] 



Game in Market.— The New York Graphic of June 13, 

 ays: "If our correspondent will take the trouble to go 



G*meln Sullivan County — Monticello, N. Y., June 

 7.— "VV. C. M." or otner parlies wanting good bass fishiu»- 

 and partridge and woodeocK shooting in August and Sep- 

 tember, win find it at this place. Trains leaving New 

 York city in the morning via Erie Railway, arrive k P. M. 

 same day. To parties lncfo-iug stamps i will give any 

 desired information. — Frank Kent, 



give any 



Game Resorts.— We shall be pleased to receive for pub- 

 lication information about desirable game resorts. Sports- 

 men are invited to send us notes of their experience. 



'COONS AND 'COON-HUNTING. 



[Read before the New Hampshire Fish and Game League by Mr 

 John Foster.] 



through the markets he will not find it a very difficult 



u matter to obtain a brace of wild ducks or some choice cuts 



f^hS^f 8 ^^^^^^! 8 ^!^?**^ for Sun- I of venison . e ™ u '4 « i*_tbe close season. Of course, the 



day s breakfast, dinner and supper, and bake the last bread I game laws are evaded. Everybody knows that." 



THE naturalist has given the 'coon but little attention. 

 Usually he has been accorded a classification, a half page 

 of imperfect description and oblivion as to his real merits. 

 The hunter has not generally adopted the 'coon us his favorite 

 game, and he is less hunted than most of our game animals. 

 His habits alf have a tendency to conceal him trom the sight 

 and knowledge of men, and it is not an vmusuai thing to nnd 

 in a good 'coon country those who, though riving among them 

 for years, have never seen one, and whose ideas of their hab- 

 its are vague and indistinct; nevertheless, those who do choose 

 to hunt them become the most enthusiastic of sportsmen and 

 place the pleasures of the 'coon hunt foremost of ail. To all 

 who are interested in animal lite, either as scientists, sports- 

 men, or lovers of nature, we extend the assurance that a visit 

 to the haunts of the 'coon, an interview with luni in nis own 

 forest domain, an examination of his habits, his food, and the 

 ways and means of his capture, will prove a very pleasant ad- 

 venture. An animal of marked and peculiar habits, a good 

 liver, choosing a wholesome diet, possessed of the cunning of 

 the fox, most affectionate to her uttie family, defending tnem 

 at times with great bravery and a shrewdness which amounts 

 to strategy, such is the 'coon in its native condition. 



The raccoon, Procyon of the scientist, but in farniiiar phrase 

 the 'coon, is positively an American. His family is represented 

 on both the American continents, and in no other lands. Our 

 own North American 'coon is fouud from Canada to the Flor- 

 ida Keys, and westwaxd to the Paciuc coast. In different 

 sections he undoubtedly has different habits; in the coid 

 Northern States he reaches a greater development, and is a iar 

 more gamy animal than in the South. His average weight 

 in our state when his full growth is attained is a little less 

 than twenty pounds, 'lhe females do not often weigh over 

 seventeen or eighteen pounds, and the males seldom over twen- 

 ty-two or twenty -three. "W e rarely catch one as heavy as 

 twenty-five pounds. The largest one we ever caught tipped 

 thirty pounds. We have heard of 'coons being captured 

 weigliing as high as forty pounds, and we consider the parties 

 who have given us this information in most cases reliable. 

 We seldom catch the heaviest 'coons, for the reason that when 

 they have reached their greatest weight they range but very 

 little, and therefore the cnances of the dog scrikuig theu-tiack 

 are greatly lessened. Their flesh is by some prized very highly 

 it is wholesome, and if properly cooked is eertainlv very nno 

 food. One decided peculiarity of the 'coon is the coiuness of 

 his scent, as hunters term it; that is the small amount of ani- 

 mal scent which he leaves in his track, thus render ing it ex- 

 tremely diflicmt for dogs to follow him. The characteristic 

 is stronger at some times than others. Through the summer 

 months, when the young are under the mothers care, and are 



