FOREST AND STREAM. 
307 
take the eating of this wolfin theseryice of nor for the expan- 
sion of human knowledge. It was forced upon me as a 
necessity. Iwas then with a squad of Texas rangers, who, 
in their cager pursuit of a gang of murderous Indians, had 
yentured into a vast salt and alkali desert where there was 
no game. Our provisions having long since given out, we 
were reduced to wretched extremities, We were in this con- 
dition when the wolf was found and killed. We had him 
Skinned and roasted in a very short time, but there was not 
a man of us who could stomach more than the first taste of 
him, and I presume there were some as tough stomachs in 
that crowd as ever the Almighty created, ‘ The next game 
that was killed were a couple of very large, beautiful swans. 
We succeeded in eating them, but they were not a great deal 
better than the wolf. N. A. T 
PALESTINE, Texas, Nov. 3, 1884. 
IN DAKOTA SLOUGHS. 
Ss hundred miles is a good way to go for ducks and 
; geese, buf then when one Gan go but once a year, dis- 
tance is but of little account when the object is not so much 
the amount of game to be bagged as a complete change of 
scene and air, and consequent rest and recuperation. A 
Catholic friend of mine, a noted Chicago physician, who was 
obliged to make a trip to Southern Dakota in the dead of 
Winter and became snowbound in Iowa, told me upon his 
return that Dakota ‘‘was heaven, but you had to go through 
purgatory to get there.”” But a trip through Wisconsin and 
Minnesota in October is quite another matter. The weird 
Devil’s Lake and the “‘dalles” of the Wisconsin River are 
some of the objects of interest en route, but they have often 
been described by abler penss than mine, and no doubt are 
familiar to most of the readers of this journal. 
This year I had with me my young friend Frank G., who 
enjoyed the scenery along the route as much as I did myself 
the first time I went over the road. We left Chicago at 9 
A. M., Oct. 28, by C. & N, W. Railway, in a Wagner sleeper, 
which we had more or less to ourselves during the day, as 
the travel over this route is yery light at this season, the new 
suttlers nearly all going West in the spring. Arrived at. 
Winona after dark, where we heard the geese passing over 
the city and apparently somewhat disturbed in their minds 
by the electric lights, 
At Tracy where we breakfasted and dropped the sleeper, 
we encountered the first hunting party we had met, and 
while in the Territory we became impressed with the fact 
that its reputation asa ‘“sportsman’s paradise” had been 
pretty extensively advertised, for we met or heard of hunt- 
ing parties almost every day. ‘‘The woods were. full of 
them”—only there are no woods—and some were gentlemen 
and true sportsmen, and some were otherwise, 
One man hailing from I]linois boasted that he had killed 
over 700 prairie chickens since July. As he was nota 
market hunter, and the law forbids the shipment of any } 
species of grouse out of the Territory, such slaughter would 
seem to be without excuse. No doubt market and pot-hunt- 
ers are entitled to a share of the blame for the rapid thinning 
out of game; but here was a manof 55 years of age, evidently 
brought up to the use of firearms, with two dogs that knew 
their business, and a first-class equipment throughout, who 
foes to a new country where the chickens have ouly been in 
four years, and boasts that he has killed over 700. While I 
don’t want to exonerate any one, yet it is tosuch gentry that 
we are indebted for the rapid extinction of grouse in Dlinois, 
Wisconsin and lowa, much more than to the market and 
pot-hunters. Idon’t say that I am blameless myself, but 
that was way back in 65 and L was then but a boy, and not 
a gray-haired man like the example I have cited. Wearrived 
at Preston on time, and found one of our friends at the depot 
awaiting our arrival, Loading our traps into the wagon, in 
about an hour we were at our destination, a farmhouse five 
miles from the village and about one from Lake Henry, and 
perhaps two from Lake Thompson. That afternoon we 
could do little more than put things in trim for the morrow’s 
- campaign, visit our friends, look over the farm and note the 
improyements made since my visit of two years ago. 
Great changes take place in a new country in two years 
and Dakota is no exception. Good houses and barns have 
given place to frame structures, and the erection of graneries 
show that the farmers are getting out of debt and are not 
forced to market their grain as fast as threshed in order to 
pay their bills, but can hold back a portion for better prices 
later on in the season. ‘Ihe increased amount of stubble, 
however, we found to work to onr disadvantage in goose 
shooting, the birds being more scattered than two years ago. 
Saturday morning found us among the sloughs bagging 
ducks of any and all kinds, and in the afternoon behind the 
weeds on the edge of a stubble field pounding away at the 
mallards. It is wonderful how hard it is to find good cover 
on these prairies, althongh as a general thing they are not 
burnt over until spring and the grass is two to three feet 
high, yet any position but a prone one, either face down or 
up, seems to be an impossibility, and then the chances are 
that the flying ducks will discover the shooter before they 
come in range of his gun, Frank tried a sort of a com- 
promise between a sift down and a lie down, but it ended in 
skinned nose and a bumped head. ‘‘Great Scott,” he said, 
“how that gun does kick!” In the wild rice along the lakes 
and some of the sloughs the shooter can stand erect or kneel 
down, but this shooting from the buffalo grass gets the best 
of us. But then what did it matter if we did have to shoot 
about fiyé times to every duck, bagged ducks were plent 
and so were shells, for we brought out a good supply and 
meant to use them up before our return. 
The rain drove us in about 4 o'clock, and after a short 
rest we put on our rubber coats, hid in the grass on the mar- 
gin of a slough quite near the house, and had some splendid 
shooting, until 11 gotso dark we could see no longer either 
to shoot or recover our birds. Sunday was clear and cold, 
and the forenoon we spent about the stove, attending ser- 
vices in the schoolhouse near by both afternoon and evening. 
Monday morning, our host being busy, Frank and myself 
Went onan exploring expedition on out own hook. We 
found good shooting in a slough, and having about all we 
wanted to take, came iv to dinner, and spent a little time 
among the geese on the stubble in the afternoon, Tuesday 
was 4 repetition of Monday’s programme, except that we had 
our host with us, and that the afternoon was given over to 
the ducks. We found a piece of buckwheat that had been 
sown as 2 scavenger crop and left unharvyested, and this was 
bordered by a tree claim. The trees were willow, and about 
four to five feet high, affording a pretty fair blind, and no 
amount of pounding on our part was sufficicnt to keep the 
birds from coming in. We shot uotil we had enough for 
our own eating, some for the neighbors, and a goodly num- 
her to send home, and upon looking over our birds were sur. 
. : 
prised to find them all mallards, and a majority of them 
drakes, They made about as fine a show as one would care 
fo see. Wednesday our host drove us to Lake Thompson. 
This is a fine sheet of water some eight to ten miles in 
length, and perhaps three to four in width. All the trees 
for miles abcut are on the ridge between Jakes Henry and 
Thompson, and consist mostly of willow and cottonwood, 
with an undergrowth of wild plum and fox grape. Some 
four years ago there was one large cottonwood that served 
as a landmark, and that could be seen from fifteen to twenty 
miles around, but some one got short of fuel and the tree 
was cut down. This timber is not at all thick, but itis all 
there is about there, and consequently becomes the haunt of 
the wolves for miles about in the winter time and is not a 
very safe placeafter nightfall Wewere shown an Indian 
trail that had been used for many years, and although the 
Indians have been removed for a number of years, the trail 
is still plainly marked, There are many indications to show 
that this little strip of timber was a favorite camping ground 
of the red men, and from the number of buffalo bones seat- 
tered about would seem as though the skin hunters had had 
a big “surround” between these lakes at no very remote 
period, The water in both of them is perfectly clear and 
there seems to be no reason why they should not be full of 
fish, but none have been caught and none seen except min- 
nows, although lakes a few miles off are so full of pick- 
erel that the farmers catch and feed them to their hogs. 
The geese and brant flew into the lakes all day, but our 
guns soon drove them far beyond range and all the shooting 
we could get was at incoming birds as they pilched into the 
lake. We could have loaded up the buggy with ducks, but 
they were not the game we were after. Returning home we 
put in an hour or so at a point on the inlet to Lake Henry 
known as the Upper Sangamon River and bagged a num- 
ber of ducks, 
Thursday we also spent along this river, but the day was 
bright with a strong south wind, and the birds were not 
flying much. However we got enough to filla cheap trunk 
which we purchased and took home with us as baggage the 
next day, having enjoyed ourselves most hugely the whole 
week, Frank felt a little cut up to think the boys would 
not introduce him to the schoolmarm, but then young 
fellows are plenty and pretty girls scarce and in demand in 
Dakota. It is no country for ‘‘Nessmuk,” for there are no 
rattlesnakes, but a good place for the average sportsman, 
who can be content to sleep in-doors and forego the attractions 
of a browse bed and camp-fire. Nor is Kingsbury county 
the only place where game abounds, although there is a hotel 
at Preston and two at De Smet, the county seat, nine miles 
west, and Lake Preston is but a half mile from the station, 
and there are good sloughs less than a mile from De Smet; 
but we went there by invitation of old-time friends, once 
residents of the Highland Park. No better shooting can be 
had than on a slough east of Nordland, and the obliging con- 
ductor will stop and let one off although it is between sta- 
tions. Indeed there are many places, both on the North- 
western and St. Paul roads, where good shooting can be 
had. A party going out should take decoys and a portable 
boat as part of their outfit, as they are hard to obtain at fair 
prices in the Territory. Harry Hunter. 
HIGHLAND Park, Ill., Nov. 6. 
THE QUESTION OF NUMBERS, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent from Western New York speaks 
ratuer strongly against one gun scoring 300 grouse in a single 
season, saying that five should satisfy any one who is not a 
pot-hunter. While not caring to reopen the question as to 
what constitutes a pot-hunter (the subject has been pretty 
well discussed already), I wish to say, that. for the past two 
years I have been one of the game wardens of this town, and 
I do not think that any one in this State observes the game 
laws in a stricter sense than I do. 
The number of grouse your correspondent mentions as 
being enough is certainly small, and a man cannot be much 
of a shot, or else shoots over a section of couniry where 
grouse are few and far between, not to be able to bag that 
number in one or two days’ shooting. While I do not claim 
to be one of those dead shots who say they can kill four out 
of five grouse, taking all chances, | think I can bag more 
birds out of a given number of shots than the average shooter, 
and also that the only means by which I obtain them are by 
the help of a pretty good setter and a 12-cauge Scott gun. 
It may not be considered strictly sportsmanlike to shoot 
ruffed grouse from the trees, but I occasionally do so, killing 
about one bird in ten out of those, I bag from thick pines 
or hemlocks, and think the majority of spartsmen will do 
likewise when the opportunity offers. 
It is also said that probably grouse are plenty in this re- 
gion. They are here in pretty fair numbers, and as far 
as exhausting the supply and seeing them grow scarcer 
each year, | wil! say that for the last ten years | have hunted 
over the same grounds, covering a section of perhaps four or 
five miles in the immediate vicinity of my home, and every 
season I get the best bags and the majority of my birds on 
these grounds. Occasionally I have made trips of three or 
four days to parts of the State which I know are not hunted, 
for instance to the town ot Stoddard, where you can drive 
eight or nine miles without passing an inhabited house, I 
hunted the above country as well as I knew how, and al- 
though there was plenty of the right sort of cover for grouse 
y | they were very scarce, and I could not find one bird where T 
can find five on my old ground, 
Regarding the number of days I spend in the cover, I 
think taking September, October and November, three days 
in each week will cover the time devoted to the birds. I 
could if I wished put in a greater number of days, and by 
owning acouple of dogs to work on alternate days, [could bag 
600 grouse, instead of from 250 to 300, asI usually do, A 
few years ago a friend of mine, one of New England's best 
shots, spent three days with me, and we killed on the same 
grounds I had hunted over for a number of years, fifty-three 
grouse and five woodcock. I suppose this will rouse up 
Western New York again. And my friend said that I did 
not half hunt this region, and that I ought to kill at least 
five hundred grouse-eyery season. 
Now, Mr. Editor, if I wished to shoot solely to see how 
much game I could bag, 1 should own two or three setters 
(instead of one old and nearly blind dog), and by following 
up the: birds five days in each week all through the season I 
could make a pretty large bag; but as it pow stands, l always 
stop on grouse as soon as the snow comes, whether we get. it by 
the middle of November or later. Time and time again, 
when hunting foxes on the snow, I have had grouse get up 
all around me, affording chances to bag a number, but have 
stood and let them go without a shot. The same with rab- 
bits; I see a great many each winter. And, furthermore, I 
never sell any of my birds, all which are not used at. home 
being given away tofriends, This season I haveso disposed 
of about seventy grouse, some of them going as far as your 
city. C. M.S. 
DunBarton, N. H., Nov. 10, 1884. 
LONG ISLAND SHOOTING. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There are at presenta great many wildfowl in our bay. 
They were a long time getting here this season, but it’s bet- 
ter late than neyer. The broadbill, sheldrake, coot, gray 
and black ducks, are most numerous, and occasionally mal- 
lards, redheads, and canvas-backs are killed; but very few 
of the latter, The geese and brant have also been backward. 
in coming along this season, although several geese were 
killed last month. There are good feeding grounds in this 
part of the Great South Bay for wildfowl, and when they 
once get here they are loth to leave. I have often known 
the geese, brant, gray and black ducks, if the weather is not 
foo severe, to stay in the bay over winter, rather than risk 
their chances elsewhere. If it were not for the sportsmen, 
it would be a, paradise for birds, buf as it is, itis a paradise 
for sportsmen. There are quite a number of guides here 
with boats and decoys, who thoroughly understand their 
business and are good shots. They occasionally bag over a 
hundred ducks a day, but asa general rule, from ten to 
twenty-five ducks is considered a good day’s sport. The 
continued warm weather this season had kept back the birds, 
but the last few days being cold, it brought them in the bay 
in great numbers, and the prospects are very favorable for 
the rest of the season. 
The upland shooting is quite good, and quail more numer- 
ous than they have been for three years past. One party 
bagged thirteen quailin the forenoon yesterday. Rabbits 
are plenty, and there are miles of good hunting grounds in 
the vicinity where they can be found, and guides to be had, 
with dogs to hunt them. Rabbit shooting will be better after 
we have a heavy frost to take the leayes from the trees and 
shrubbery, that the sportsman can get a better sight at them 
as they skip before the hounds through the underbrush. 
Sportsmen can find good accommodations near the South 
Oyster Bay depot convenient for the bay and upland shoot- 
ing. O. OC. 
SourH Oyster Bay, Long Island, Nov. 6. 
THE BEAR THAT | DID NOT GET. 
OME years ago, when Texas was not as well supplied 
with railroads as she is now; there was a mail line run- 
ning from Jacksboro south, through Fort Belknap, Griffin, 
and Phantom Hill to Fort Concho. It was carried on buck- 
boards drawn by mules, and about every thirty miles there 
was arelay station where the mules were changed. These 
stations were generally occupied by only one man, who had 
very little to do except look after two or three mules, and 
keep a lookout for Indians. They used to call on him once 
in a while and sometimes relieved him of hig mules, and his 
scalp also, if he did not succeed in standing them off. I was 
stopping at one of these stutions in July and August 1869. It 
was at the lower end of Mountain Pass, half way between 
Phantom Hill and old Fort Chadbourne; I had nothing to 
do and put in most of my time hunting. While traveling 
around through the mountains, | came across bear tracks 
more than once, but had not yet seen the bear. The station- 
keeper’s name was Gillis, he was a Kentuckian, and 
claimed to be an old bear hunter, He was a pretty 
good shot. JI told him about finding these bear 
signs, and he made me promise to hunt for the bear 
until I found him, and then let him know and he would kill 
him for me. With a mental reservation to try and do the 
killing myself, I kept looking for him for several days but 
without success, Finally one evening about an hour before 
sunset [saw him. He was up at the head of a steep ravine 
about two miles away from the station. I called Gillis and 
we both siarted for him. Hach of us had a Spencer carbine. 
The rayine was about half a mile long and very steep, and 
the bear was up at the head of it pretty well up the hill. He 
remained in one spot all the time. When we got to within 
about 200 yards of him Gillis called a halt. ‘‘Now,” said 
he, ‘‘that bear is going to give us trouble.” ‘Do you think 
he will fight?” Lasked him. ‘‘Fight!” says he; “Just wait 
until one of us hits him and you will get all the fight you 
want.” The bear was all this time busy turning over loose 
stones in search of bugs or something. He had his back to 
us and had not yet seen us. Finally I proposed that I should 
take the right hand side of the ravine and Gillis the left, and 
get as close on him as possible. I told Gillis to take 
the first shot and we started. Mv side of the ravine 
was covered with small dead cedars, and I was some 
time getting up opposite the bear. When got 
to witbin fifty yards of him he heard me and turned his 
head. Idropped and kept still. Just then Gillis fired and 
missed him; the ball flew over my head so close 1 could hear 
it sing. The bear heard it also and started down the hill. 
and lafter him. I fired two shots at him, and after I had 
fired the second time he dropped and turned around. Now 
comes the fight, I thought. I dropped on one knee and fired 
again, taking aim at his head; he shook it and started to run 
again. I could not keep up with him anylonger. Just then 
Gillis came up, His gun was disabled. In springing the 
lever after the first shot a cartridge had got fast, and so his 
gun was of no use at present. Meanwhile the bear was 
making good time down the ravine, At the foot of it he 
commenced to climb the ridge, and we did the same higher 
up. I wanted to head him off. Iwas pretty well satistied 
that he did not belong to a fighting family of bears, and I 
hoped to get in front of him again and give him another shot 
or two; but it was of no use, he kept out of our reach, and 
after running over two more ridges he ran into a little cave 
on the side of the mountain. 
It was now getting dark, we could do no more that night. 
I wanted to stay there and watch for him but Gillis said he 
would not come out again that night. Next morning I was 
up at his cave before sunrise. I climbed up on the mountain 
side above it and sat down to wait for him; in about half an 
hour he crawled out and started off down hill, I sprung the 
lever of my gun to load it and in my hurry did not half cock 
it first, so, as a matter of course, the loud came out of the 
muzzle and the report notified the bear that I was after him 
again, My feet slipped at the same time and I commenced 
to slide down the mountain, I began to wonder what would 
happen when I overtook that bear if I could not stop myself 
before then. I got myself stopped, however, and got one 
shot at him just as he reached the foot. He ran into a little 
thicket of plum bushes and I stopped at the edge of it to try 
