346 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
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s ‘[Noy. 27, ige4. 
if Pete had obeyed orders, he could have killed one of the 
largest buck in the point.” Jack was very angry, not getting 
into a good humor until later in the day, when he killed a 
very fine two-point buck, 
AsI had never shot my Greener gun with buckshot, I 
thought this was the best time for testing it. Seventy-five 
yards were stepped off from a blaze on a white oak, at which 
ft fired. The shell was loaded with eleven small 0 shot. 
Nine shot struck the tree, clustering in three shot, near each 
other, with one cluster inthe blaze. I was delighted, a bet- 
ter shot that distance I never saw made. Should a deer come 
within a hundred yards. I felt assured of being able to kill it. 
I was glad that Dick Durder had joined us, for Mr, Henry 
had spoken of him as not only the surest shot at deer in the 
neighborhood, but one of the best drivers he ever saw. He 
was a Jehu in riding, and could dash through the woods 
equal to a Texas cowboy on the prairie, 
The standers were directed to go to another drive, which 
Was 2 sure one, to get shots, and to start a great many deer. 
Dick told Harrison to put me at the stand where the big 
buck ran out on the Jast Saturday. All the freedmen were 
anxious for me to get a shot. We had not been at our 
stands but a short time before two heavy guns were heard 
on the extreme right, quickly followed by two more coming 
nearer tome. Then was heard the pack of dogs in full ery. 
They seemed to be coming direct to my stand. Iwas not in 
the least excited. With my back to a large pine I waited the 
coming of the dogs, without the least excitement, or the 
quivering of a nerve. I could see the birds flying from the 
deer and dogs. Just when I felt doubly sure of the shot, 
the leading dog turned on a parallel with me, about two 
hundred yards distant, bearing for the prairies. It was then 
I felt a little touch of the ‘‘buck ague,” which caused my bad 
luck. While in this state Harrison and Dick came by meat 
full speed, heading for the prairies. In twenty minutes 
came back the report of two guns in quick succession, fol- 
lewed by a ‘‘whooping up” to the dogs and an increase of 
ery on their part. 
Mounting my pony I rode to find them. When I joined 
them, I found they had a fat doe, that Harrison had wounded 
and which the dogs caught. 
Another drive was made as soon as all had assembled, I 
was sent to the best stand, but as my ill luck would have it, 
Thad barely tied my pony and taken my position, before a 
gun was fired on the extreme left, followed by three blasts 
of the horn. I knew the deer was killed. It was time to 
return home. Minden was distant fourteen miles, and the 
sun was not an hour high. ‘The drivers and standers came 
together, and I learned a fine buck was killed by Jack 
Thomas. The hunt was ended, the deer skinned, cut up 
and divided. 
As I returned home, I could not but reflect upon the eager 
desire of each freedman to have me get a shot; their repeated 
remarks, “‘that 1 had brought them the best luck they ever 
had on a drive,” and their kind and earnest invitation for me 
to join them again. ‘‘Only let us know when you can come 
out,” said Jones and Dick, ‘“‘and we will get up all the dogs 
and hunters, and give you the best sport in our power.” 
It was true I had not an opportunity to try my new 
little Greener, yet Thad enjoyed the hunt, by far the most 
successful of any I ever had in this part of the State, and I 
returned home resolved to go again to the same neighbor- 
hood in a week or two, with a hope of having better luck. 
Minpen, La, 
THAT QUESTION OF NUMBERS. 
Editor Forest and Stream; 
I like the letter of your correspondent, ‘‘C. M. 8.,”’ Dun- 
barton, N. H., because, to my mind, he talks common sense. 
Shooters throughout the country ought to be grateful to our 
friend in Western New York, because he has gone a step 
further than a host of others who have written upon the 
same subject, and has informed us of the number of grouse 
that ought to satisfy a true sportsman for a season’s shooting. 
Now, if he would go through the list of game and fish, and 
give us the ‘‘proper number of the various kinds” that ought 
to satisfy for a season’s sport, also the number that would 
be permitted for a single day, then we should know just 
what we could do without forfeiting our right to the title of 
sportsman. Hitherto when one of the fraternity has for- 
warded to the FormsT AND STRHAM an account of a “big 
day’ with the rod or gun, he bas frequently been assailed 
by some one in the next number and branded as a ‘‘pot- 
hunter” or ‘‘trout hog.” These accounts of brother sporits- 
men from different sections are to me very instructive, and 
I only wish there were more of them, but if they are 
to be thus branded they can hardly be expected to tell us of 
their exploits. ‘‘C. M, 8.” is a gentleman whom any true 
sportsman would be glad to meet, 1 have only a slight ac- 
quaintance with him, but many of my personal friends 
know him intimately. I honor him for the kindnesy and 
generosity that have enabled many of his friends to enjoy the 
juxury of a game dinner, and congratulate him on his suc- 
cess. I only wish I had his opportunities and skill that I 
might do likewise. 
But what we want is more light on what constitutes a true 
sportsman. Must there of necessity be a property qualifica- 
tion? A few years ago lwas shooting with a friend on a 
delightful autumn day about a dozen miles from Boston. We 
had excellent success. J cannot now give the number, but 
it was a fine bag of birds. ‘There was another party in the 
same cover, and they did a great deal of shooting, About the 
middle of the afternoon we met and enjoyed a pleasant chat. 
They were gentlemen of wealth and culture, ciad in shooting 
suits of ‘‘white fustian,” with silver dog whistles attached to 
their coats with silver chains, and, in fact, their entire outfit 
was siinply superb, They were shooting over a finely bred, 
high-priced dog. More agreeable gentlemen I have never 
met, They seemed to enjoy shooting keenly, and seemed 
entirely satistied with their success, or rather lack of success. 
No doubt they had good appetites for a late dinner, and that 
was probably one thing they came out for; but they had not 
killed a bird. Thatthese gentlemen were xenuine sportsmen 
there is no question, and furthermore it is fair to presume 
that they might shoot the season through, and do their best, 
and not sét beyond the limit laid down by the Western New 
York correspondent. There is another class whose members 
may have as good a claim to the same title. Ihave an ac- 
quaintance who is very fond of shooting, a steady, industri- 
ous man, who is dependent upon his day’s work tor a liying. 
His occupation is not a healthful one, and a day in the open 
air is medicine to him, He owns fine setter and medium 
priced gun; the present season he has been out of employ- 
ment much of the time, and has improved his opportunity to 
shoot and has spent a good many days in the brush. Being 
a good shot he has killed nearly two hundred birds, mostly 
grouse. Now comes the test. He shoots for the sporti just 
as much as though he were a millionaire, but being a poor 
man he cannot afford to give these birds to his friends, and 
he has sold them, There never has been a whisper of 
suspicion that he ever killed a bird out of season. Now, the 
question is, has this man forfeited his claim to the title of 
sportsman? I say no, but I do not claim to be authority on 
the subject. There is an old saying that ‘It's a poor time to 
go home when the fish bite well,” and I am inclined to think 
it will hold good awhile longer. I have never had a shooting 
companiou—not even one of the “kid glove” kind—who sug- 
gested going home while the shells held out and we were 
starting plenty of birds. H, SpRAcue KNowLeEs. 
Worcester, Mass., Noy. 20, 1884, 
BEARS, MOOSE AND CARIBOU. 
TN Oe wee bears begin to den or hibernate, young bears 
going in a little earlier than the old ones, and much 
depends on the season for nuts and berries—even more than 
on the storms of snow, about the time of going into winter 
quarters. : 
To successfully hunt the bear at this season, one should 
have a good dog—not a bulldog, but a cur with a mixture of 
hound—such a dog will often discover a den while traveling 
Ae the woods, Yet snow is essential to a successful 
unt. 
When following a bear, he will lead you through the rag- 
gedest pucker brush and fallen timber possible, and will go 
for weeks without food, and never den while followed. 
Don’t think because he is ahead of you and a foot or more 
of snow on the ground that you are sure of him. The bear 
has the greatest staying qualities of any animal. 
At this season of the year moose feed principally on the 
tender buds of the maple, birch and moose wood, only occa- 
sionally gnawing the bark from the same trees. They can 
now be followed up to their winter yarding by their feeding 
signs, 
Only in June, when the bark will strip easily from the 
trees, do the moose eat bark in the summer; but in winter 
their chief diet is frozen bark of various kinds, which they 
gnaw high up the tree and nearly around it (seldom is a tree 
girdled entirely for then it would die), and by the side peeled 
you can tell the direction he is traveling, 
A moose is more sensitive to smell than to sound, so in 
stalking or still-hunting the hunter must endeavor to keep 
to leeward of them. The sound of a gun even may not 
frighten them, but one sniff of a man may send them ten 
mniles away. 
it is almost useless to traverse the woods for caribou in 
Maine before snow falls. But as soon asthe lakesand ponds 
are frozen over, they seem as anxious to try the ice as our 
boys do to skate. Go to some isolated pond in the deep 
forest, soon as it freezes, and you will no doubt haye some 
fun. If you see a herd on the ice go boldly on foward them 
and when fairly away from the shore, lie down and stick 
your gun up, and wave it back und forth until some curious 
one among them discovers it, then look out, they will come 
fast toward you, and you will think they mean to run you 
down, but when near enough rise up gently and get in your 
shot; now is your time, after which the herd will probably 
leave the pond, and you have only to follow their trail quietly 
to succeed in securing a set of handsome antlers. 
J. G. Rieu. 
BETHEL, Me., November, 1884. 
Here are some extractsfrom the note-book of the Oquossoe 
Club, Camp Kennebago, Rangeley, Maine: 
“While fishing at the Jam, in Kennebago River, Sept. 12, 
a deer came out of the woods, swam the river, and entering 
the woods ou the other side, left for the mountains. The 
great chub fisherman, J. E. Miller, who had a revolver, fired 
five shots at him, but the deer merely shook his head in token 
of adieu and leit. 
“P. §.—The deer stood still and heard the shooting with 
equanimity, but on Miller’s starting to make a speech fled in 
affright.” 
‘Aug, 28, 1884.—While on Cupsuptuc Bay, at 5 P. M., 
saw a deer on Phillip’s Island, which they drove off into the 
big lake and finally let go ashore at Pine Point.—H. Stadl- 
mair and Adam Smith, New York.” 
**A large herd of deer came up the Kennebago River one 
night this fall, while we were on the bank, with a Ballard 
rifle in our hands, listening to the howling of a wolf not far 
down river. The deer made a hard run and a tremendous 
splashing, making the hair to loosen the hat on our head, and 
for afew moments creating a doubt whether we ought to 
stand there or step into the camp and shut the door.” 
THE CHOICE OF WEAPONS. 
Vy HICH isthe best hunting gun? The answer to this 
conundrum is, as every old woodsman knows, that 
no such weapon as ‘‘the best hunting gun” has ever been or 
ever can be made. The best gun for chipmunks and red 
squirrels might be a light, .22-caliber rifle, or a .40-caliber 
light shotgua. Butif I had lost.a grizzly, and was looking 
for him, 1 would prefer a heavy steel-barreled rifle of .16 cal- 
iber, carrying along bullet weighing 24 ounces, and nearly 
cylindrical, say 4 of an inch narrower at peak than af the 
butt, and sharply dished at the peak. Such a bullet is sim- 
ply murderous. The rifle should be as heavy as I could hold 
oft-hand, and I would load as heavy with powder as I dared. 
But such a gun for the quiet camper-out and woodsman, 
would be ridiculous, As weil take out a 4-pounder cannon. 
For the professional ‘‘duck-butcher,” a tar-killing Greener 
may be the “best gun.” And for the skin-butchers (the 
back of my hand, the sole of my foot, and an old woods- 
man’s bitterest curse, rest on the heads of the entire wolfish 
tribe) a business Sharps, or a heavy Winchester, or a Hotch- 
kiss, will be found ‘“‘the best.” For a decent white man, a 
lover of nature, aud a fair sportsman, the “mongrel gun,” 
rifle and shot, will be quite satisfactory; the gun described 
in Formst AND STREAM, Sept. 25. Jam led up to these re- 
marks by an article from the pen of “J. J. M.,” in Formsr 
AND Stream for Nov. 13, 1884. 
The article ig candid, sensible, and is evidently written by 
one who has no occasion to come to me for knowledge on 
woodcraft. It would be arrogance on my part to assumic any 
superiority over the woodsman who has passed many seasons 
in the jungles of India, and has also had large experience in 
the woods and waters of North America. , 
“J. J. M.” may depend on it, that what I have written 
about light canoes is sound tothe core. A canoe twenty-two 
to twenty-four pounds weight is all sufficient for an ordinary 
canoeist. Has he ever read the cruise of the Sairy Gamp? 
She was a cedar canoe weighing just ten and a half pounds, 
when new. I cruised her Pom side to side of the Adiron- 
dack wilderness, cruised her back, brought her home in a 
baggage car without protection, sent her back to her maker 
(Rushton), 300 miles, he sent her down to Formst AND 
STREAM office, where she was on exhibition for months, and 
now she has gone down to the New Orleans Exposition, to 
come back to Washington, and hang up permanently in the 
Department of Agriculture. When Rushton sent me the 
canoe he said, ‘I expect she will drown you. But, if you 
pull through, don’t ask me to make anything lighter.” 
All the same, | have ordered something lighter, 7. ¢., he is 
to build'me, this winter, a cedar canoe 9 feet in length, 6 
inches rise at center, 22 inches beam, and to weigh, as nearly 
as may be, 9 pounds. I can cruise her across Lake Ontario. 
My finest canoe, the Bucktail, is large enough for any 
ordinary canoeist under 180 pounds, I advise nothing smaller, 
_ The remarks of ‘J. J. M.” concerning clothing, are sound. 
T have nothing to add. But, I will recommend, as I have 
always said, the finest, softest woolen clothes you can buy, 
for outing, and the lightest possible rig all around. Com- 
fort, instead of discomfort. Rest versus fatigue. 
“J. J. M.” thinks eighty round balls to the pound rather 
too light, and gives reason therefor. Let me explain. 
Say the conical bulletis 40 to the pound. Let the top of the 
bullet be 4 of an inch narrower than the butt. Now, hol- 
low out the tip and bore into it with a bradawi, making it 
what is now called a “spatter ball.” That is what I did, 
though I had never then heard of spatter or express balls, It 
was very effective, and threw blood freely from the start. I 
hunted in Eaton county, Mich., that fall. My pard was 
Adney Smith, the crack hunter of that region, a muscular 
Christian, who could carry me and my load. He handled 
a two-pound steel barrel, carrying forty round balls to the 
pound. On the day before Christmas I decided to quit. [had 
contracted that fiend of the West, ague. I had killed sixteen 
deer, he had killed fifteen, He begged of me to stay one 
more day in camp, and give him a chance to “‘get eyen,” 
I did it. Hecame in just at dark dragging a doe and a fawn 
on the same beech hook and yelling likea Comanche. He 
seized me by the hair, gnawed me, bit me, turned me topsy 
turvey a dozen times, and nearly cured me-of the ague. 
What a glorious, muscular, humorous fellow he was, full 
of rough backwoods fun. He went with me all the way to 
Detroit to see me off. The next summer I got this in a letter: 
“Your old pard, Ad Smith, died yesterday. Spotted fever.” 
* * * And sitting here, in my little attic, I ponder and 
muse. What business have | to be alive anyhow? 
Forty odd years ago last summer, Dr. Mott, of New York, 
then the leading physician and surgeon of these United 
States, said tome: ‘‘Your physician is not an earthly one. 
Go home as you came, Your last chance is, diet and an out- 
door life.” * * * He would not take a cent for advice. 
Tremember him. Dr. Mott has long been gathered to his 
fathers, And looking back through the ‘‘corridors of Time,” 
Lask again, what business have I here? 
What of the score of strong, able-bodied men with whom 
I have camped and hunted? Why should I outstay them? 
Musing alone this dull Sunday afternoon I go over the list 
of all my old hunting chums who haye crossed the ‘‘Dark 
Divide,” Only to mention the strongest and best, there are 
these: Sime McCullough, Mirch Davis, Ene Burroughs, 
Gurd Steele, Hark Barlow, Jake Johnson, Etheridge Nye; 
and there are more. * * * And I weigh 105 pounds in 
paddling rig, and I have been drowned thoroughly twice. 
Has any reader of the Formst Anp StRHAM known of any 
man being drowned for the third time? All the same, if 
might be. I may stay longer than I care for. Iam liable 
to date from Southwestern Florida, and just as likely to date 
from the Gulf of California, Wherever I goI sheuld be 
pleased to take the hand of ‘“J. J. M.” 
P. $.—If another edition of ‘‘Woodcraft” should be called 
for, I will add a couple of chapters thereto on guns, etc. 
NEssMoK. 
LUCUS A NON LUCENDO. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have read with absorbingly thrilling interest the few 
articles on ‘‘Choice of Hunting Rifles,” which have from 
time to time, during the past century, appeared in the Formst 
AND StREAM, and although I have no use fora rifle, and 
perhaps never shall have, excepting to shoot rats, still, like 
the authors of many of the aforesaid articles, I can imagine 
what kind of a rifle 1 should want in the presence of a 
trumpeting elephant, charging grizzly, nimble deer, or zig- 
zagging snipe, and so as these articles appear to be ‘runnin’ 
to emptins,” before the polls close I should like to show you 
what kind of rifle 1 choose. Modesty and some ignorance 
haye prevented me from appearing before, but now I sup- 
press the former, and having the combined ideas of the said 
articles aforesaid, I can form some idea of my own as to 
what I want. 
The perfect hunting rifle has not yet been produced. We 
have had attempts on paper and at different armories and 
gun works, but good as some of the weapons have been, 
there has arisen some objector or other who shows convinc- 
ingly that the gun won’t do, and so all that labor is lost. We - 
don’t seem to get any nearer perfection, and it is just pos- 
sible as long as people differ, we never shall. Now, it would 
be supposed that a gun that will kill one deer will kill any 
other deer of the same kind if hit similarly, but we find it 
isnot so. It is a curious and inexplicable fact, as witness 
the total disagreement of Western deer hunters as fo the 
perfect deer gun. One wants a .45-125-360 double-detach- 
able—reversible pin-fire repeater, and the next one must have 
a .40-226-841 multiplex-extractor, combined safety bolt and 
linch-pin single fire—nothing else will do to kill a deer with, 
One man never went out with a repeater and got anything 
but tired out, and he has heard time and again how some 
other hunter in a critical moment, when an angry grizzly 
was rushing at him with open arms and mouth, had the 
carrier pin get foul of the breech-hammer, whereby the trajec- 
tory caught on the cannelure and stuck in the collar. Of 
course the man got left. Then the other fellow tells how he 
pumped lead into buffalo and Utes all day until the gun had 
to be cooled off in water, and it worked all along as smooth 
as a piston rod. Which of these guns will best kill a deer? 
Either will probably, at times, put a ball into leg or paunch 
instead of the eye, so that neither can be called a perfect 
weapon, Then another hunter comes to the fore witha gun ~ 
that might be styled indestructible. He was hunting on 
the side of a mountain in winter. Snow slide—hunter 
caught in a treetop—gun keeps on—found next spring— 
nothing left but the bore, but it slew that very day three 
deer and a grizzly. Next week a man came in from hunting 
and sat his repeater up in the corner. Servant came in to 
dust the room with feather duster—accidentally hit gun— 
| chamber thereof twisted so badly had to be sent to factory, 
eee 
