— SC tC 
_ i 
Jan. 22, 1885,] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
507 
A half-breed who kills several jumpers every year, and 
‘who hunts them on horseback, states that one of these crea- 
‘tures will jump into a thicket and lie flat in the snow. He 
professes that he shoots most of his ‘jumpers’ while they 
are in this position, To come up with the jumpers is not 
most easy and satisfactory for the reason that they mix their 
tracks so much. The red deer of Michigan, Ontario and 
Quebec rarely mix their tracks unpursued until just before 
lying down. The elk, or wapiti, in my_experience, will 
walk directly up to the crest of a hill and in a thicket Tie 
with the body at tight angles with the trail, The moose’s 
plot is the most cunning, lying with head to track and to 
wind at the same time. A 
The jumpers are about a third larger than the ordinary red 
deer, Hearing them spoken of as the “‘ittle jumping deer, 
T have sized dozens or scores, and find that the does run 
from 120 to 160 pounds and the bucks from 190 to 240 
pounds, These are not the blacktail deer, which with us 
go up to 280: two of ours, bucks, weighing 567. A jumper 
is terrified by hounds beyond reconciliation, Moose and 
elk, when dogged by either hound or man, strike for the 
eae: a great distance from which they are not often 
‘ound, 
Thave not sought to teach anybody; but stated a few facts 
which I know, wishing that some one or many, either hy 
sway of friendly chat on the same line or by way of criticising 
what I havextated, may supplement from actual knowledge 
‘these few facts. The deer chat is what I most delight in 
in the Fexasr AnD StReAM. Let us have much more of it. 
At anétker time I shall give some of our camp narratives, 
in whisk. experience has preponderated over ae 
URON. 
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 
Editor Forest and Strean; 
- Here is a section with as grand mountain scenery as is 
found anywhere in the United States, with countless streams 
running wilh translucent, pure and cold mountain water, 
teeming with thousands of mountain trout. Save these 
delicious fishes none other inhabit those streams.! Small 
game, such as turkeys, pheasants, partridges aud squirrels, 
are plentiful, while the opossum, raccoon and groundhog are 
numerous. Bears are found in the laurel beds near White- 
sides and Balsam mountains, while in Horse Cove, east of 
Lovers’ Leap, and Mt. Satula, deer are quite plentiful. A 
few days since nine were seen in one drove. These killed 
are in the finest condition, as the chestnut mast was good 
there. No ordinary animals will ever be found, where of 
the six lespedezas found in this State, the best of them all, 
the stviwla, grows. It is the finest grazing plant known, 
while its fattening qualities excel those of any other plant or 
grass, either cultivated or wild. Hence it produces animals 
of superior size and quality to those of less favored localities. 
Tn the center of this fine sporting region is the nine-year old 
town of Highlands, with its 300 inhabitants, on the summit 
of the Blue Ridge, at an elevation of 3,700 feet above the 
level of the sea, and at a greater altitude than any other town 
east of the Rocky Mountains. It was built as a health resort 
for consumptives, aud its business men and inhabitants are, 
with a single exception, those who come here for their health, 
many of whom claim to have regained it, while others are so 
much benefited as to be induced to remain with the hopefof 
ultimate and permanent relief. The old residents, when 
attacked with pulmonary affections, used to get a stopping 
place as near Mount Satula as possible, and there breathe the 
invigorating atraosphere, drink the pure cold water anda tea 
made from the bark of a certain tree that grows here, and 
marvelous are the tales they tell of cures thus effected, 
i J. W. WALKER, 
’ AigHuanns, N. C. 
MASSACHUSETTS GAME NOTES. 
OME good scores of partridge and woodcock have been 
made within fifty miles of Boston during’ the season 
just closed, Black, wood and teal ducks and a few Canada 
geese haye been shot from some of the large ponds where 
they stop for rest and food on their long journey to the 
South. The partridge is the staple game bird with us, as 
they can stand the cold and deep snow of winter, and are 
much better able to take care of themselves than Gob White 
or the migratory woodcock. 
The flight of woodcock arrived about the 9th of October, 
or soon after a snowstorm in Canada, and as the weather 
was mild here, they seemed to be coming for some two 
weeks. Ifthe weather is very cold they make a very short 
stay with us, and I have noticed that a snowstorm or frozen 
ground will frighten and hurry them off quickly at this 
season of the year, Very few breed here now compared 
with former years, and our gunners depend mostly on the 
flight birds, and they are fortunate if they find out when 
they come and what cover they are in, as the ground they 
stop over a day or two in one season may be deserted by 
them the next, A few years ago l was out with a friend 
about tle last of October and had hunted over most all the 
ground and in the cover where we had found them in 
previous years; but had started very few birds, although we 
had a good setter, when just before dark we came to the 
south side of a hill near a large pond covered with a sparse 
growth of scrub oak, pine and sweet ferns, when the dog 
came 10 a point, and as we moved up to flush what we sup- 
posed to be a partridge, three or four woodcock started up, 
which so surprised us that there was some wild shooting at 
first, for at almost every step they started up from all around 
us and the cover seemed to be full of them. 
We shot as long as we could see, which was not long, and 
bagged quite a number of fine birds, but were compelled to 
leaye a great many till morning, when we hoped for some 
fine sport; but the weather was growing colder, and when 
we returned to the cover in the morning, not a bird could we 
find. They had departed for their winter homes in the 
South, Ihave found it very difficult in some seasons to get 
More than one or two days, on account of the short stop, 
eaused by cold weather or a snowstorm coming on. 
My score has been small this year compared with other sea- 
sons; but [ have enjoyed the woods and the hunting as much 
as when I spent more time and found game more plenty, and 
made larger bags in former seasons, 
One singular fact in regard to the woodcock is that the 
female is larger than the male. If Lam not mistaken, it is 
the reyerse with all other birds except birds of prey. The 
heaviest woodcock I ever shot weighed eleven ounces, As 
the nverage weight of the woodcock is betweensix and seven 
ounces, if must haye been a large female. I think if corres- 
pondents would send in the weight of large game birds shot, 
it would interest many readers of the Forest ye eles 
. de By 
CatcHIne A Fox AsimEp.—Several years ago, while out 
still-hunting one November day for deer, I crept to the top 
of a sharp ridge. Looking over the ridge beyond, and some 
sixty yards below me, there on top of asmall knoll curled 
up like a ball, partially imbedded in the snow, lay a red fox 
fast asleep. Clapping my rifle to the side of a tree and hold- 
ing full low for the center I killed him. I have shot and 
trapped many before and since, but never caught any more 
napping. In answer to several inquiries regarding the attrac- 
tive qualities or charm supposed to attach by the use of 
asafcetida in trapping the fox, let me say that it is as much 
superior to gunpowder as the latter isto sawdust, one trial 
of either being sufficient to salisfy the most skeptical.—Cap 
Lock (Frewsburg, Jan. 12, 1885), 
Your correspondent, ‘‘N. D.,”’ of Swanton, Vt., wishes 
to know if any one’else ever caught a fox asleep. A gentle- 
man in this town was out fora stroll and came to a bowl- 
like formation several rods across, at the bottom of which 
was a fine red fox curled up and fast asleep. The man re- 
turned home, a distance of nearly half a mile, for his gun, and 
again returning shot and killed the fox.—C. (West Sterling, 
ass., Jan, 12). 
Foxus in Trees.—Franklin Falls, N. H., Jan. 12.—"C, 
L. 8.” tells of a fox being shot from the top of a tall cedar, 
The fox toclimb a tree must be a different species from 
what we find in New Hampshire, Two Franklin men had 
been into a neighboring town and were teeling pretty well 
on their return. When within about a mile of the village 
they espied an animal which they took forafox. Spring- 
ing from the buggy, one of them threw a stone, when rey- 
nard skipped up a tree. Without taking into account the 
fact that this was an unusual thing for a fox of the Granite 
State to do, they began to pelt it with stones and clubs, In 
a short time, however, a female yoice was heard asking 
them to ‘‘Let my cat alone.” As quickly as they had left 
their team they returned to it, and were mum about the 
matter. But “murder will out,” and if you wish to wake 
them up you have only to ask if they ‘‘ever knew a fox to 
climb a tree?”—O. A, T 
To Ba Pur THrovugH.—State Game Protector Leonard, 
of Ogdensburg, is in the city, and entered a complaint to the 
district-attorney against the parties who killed the deer near 
Chaumont last month, and will make an effort to have them 
indicted before the next grand jury.— Watertown Times. We 
hope the newspapers all over Northern New York will pub- 
lish the above item, and add this statement that there is at 
least one State game protector who has the courage to dis- 
charge his duty and enforce the laws of the State. Also, that 
he has the backing of the St. Lawrence Game Club, whose 
officers are wealthy, independent men, and are determined 
that all animals, fish and birds which come under the enum- 
eration of game shall have the season of rest which the law 
allows them. If the Franklin county people who complained 
of offenses down that way will furnish the evidence, there 
will be fewer violations, hereafter, in that direction.—Ogd. 
Journal. 
No Quzsrion of ConstriTuTIonALITY.—The Newark Cail 
reports that as the New Jersey game laws are now, ‘‘their 
constitutionality is frequently questioned, and few persons 
will attempt to push a case to conviction when they know 
that the yery ground-work of the law is weak, An in- 
stance of this exists in the law which forbids a man 
to catch fish or kill game on his own premises at any time 
he may incline todo so. The best tempered and ieast blood- 
thirsty farmer in the State will fight when he is told that he 
cannot have the birds and fish that are bred on his own land, 
and would go out and slay them needlessly rather than bow 
his head to a law which he deems unconstitutional and ag- 
gressive.” There is no better established principle than the 
State’s right to control the killing of game by individuals on 
their own lands; and it is full time that land owners in New 
Jersey and in every other State understood the principle. 
W tsconsry.—La Crosse.—Shooting has been good in this 
locality, still I have known parties to go out and hunt all 
day and not get afeather. One gun killed 205 mallards one 
afternoon; another man got 60 in a, short time, and said if he 
had been on the ground a couple of hours sooner he might 
have had some good shooting, Mallards have been brought 
in here by the wagon load and sold on the street for 15 
cents a head. My score is nil, as when it is the time to go 
for ducks my business is such I cannot get out. I did get 
out one day for partridges and killed three, and on Thanks- 
giving Day got three more.—H. E. W. 
‘Tae Micutean Assocration.—Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan., 
1885.—The tenth annual session of the Michigan Sports- 
men’s Association will be held af Lansing, commencing at 
7:30 P. M., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1885. Every club in the 
State is invited to send delegates, and every person interested 
in conserving the public property composed of the wild 
animals of the earth, air and waters, so as to continue to 
the present and future inhabitants this healthful supply of 
food and recreation, is earnestly solicited to be present.— 
Mark Norris, Secretary: 
SPRING WILDFOWL SHootine.—Haitor Forest and Stream: 
1 have done a great deal of duck shooting in the last twenty 
years, and I tind at present that our shooting grounds, where 
ducks were once so abundant, are now almost worthless, 
eae ina great measure to the incessant shooting carried 
on, think that unless spring shooting is abolished our 
shooting here will soon be a thing of the past. Our law, as 
it is, allows the killing of certain birds in the spring, which 
I consider is a loose way to protect.—§8. (Oshawa, Ont,), 
Wary Wiiprowr.—I have often noticed a peculiarity of 
the bluebill and redhead ducks, that is, their way of send- 
ing one of a large flock at rest out in the lake or open water 
to the feeding grounds or marshes and making a circuit, as 
if to see that no danger awaits them, and then return to the 
flock. If hunters are numerous they will repeat it wotil all 
is quiet.—8, (Oshawa, Ont.). 
STONEHAM SPORTSMEN’s CivuE.,—Stoneham, Mass., Jan. 
11,—At our annual meeting, Jan. 7, the following officers 
were elected: President, P. H, Home; First Vice-President, 
Elbridge Gerry: Second Vice-President, A. O. Emerson; 
Secretary and Treasurer, H. P. Brett; Trustees—F, M. 
Sweetser, A, O. Emerson, Frank Lamson.—H. P. Brett, 
Secretary. 
Nova 8corra.—New Glasgow, Dec. 27,—I killed a very 
fine moose early part of the month, largest killed for three 
years. Weighed 800 pounds; horns measured 4 feet 55 
inches, Sent head to my friend, L. B. Bell, of your city, 
L. B. B. and self leave here on the 3d prox. for a fortnight’s 
hunt.—GLoBeE Sient. ) 
A Turery-Two-Potnp ’Coon is reported from Ellenville, 
N. Y. Captured by Jack Deyo, 
Marine Woopcock.—In article on this subject in lastissue, 
for “Cortland,” read Portland. 
Sea and River Mishing. 
TROUTING ON THE BIGOSH. 
WE TRAMP, 
FTER a sound sleep in a good bed, in which, if the 
sheets did not smell of lavender like those where Wal- 
ton used to sleep, they were clean and wholesome, we arose 
and went below. The morning was bright and cool, and on 
the piazza, the only trace of Old “Si” and his comrades was 
the tobacco stains on the floor, Old John Naps of Greece, 
and Cicely Hacket were not as unreal to Christopher Sly on 
finding himself in the magnificent chamber of the nobleman, 
than was “Old Si” to us on that June morning; he was like 
a memory of long ago, and his eulogy on Ike Summers’s bay 
horse seemed like the faint exquisite music of a dream, if 
Fadladeen would allow the comparison. It was evident 
that Jack did not care to remember the conversation on the 
piazza and, as IT had annoyed him sufficiently the evening 
before by pretending to like it, there was no occasion to 
allude to it, After breakfast he asked what the programme 
would be, aud when he learned that I proposed to go over 
to the Bigosh he merely remarked; “Oh! 1 thought you 
would stay to find out if Old Si knew Simpkins’s mare,” 
The canned goods and camp equipage had arrived ahead 
of us, and we decided to take the rods and creels in order 
to fish before the Colonel and the Doctor came. As it was 
full fourteen miles to ‘‘Uncle Ben’s” through a winding 
path in the hills and at least twenty by the road, we nat- 
urally chose the shortest route. The landlord insisted 
that we could do the distance in four hours and arrive 
at Uncle Ben’s for dinner, and therefore there was no 
need of putting up a lunch. I insisted on a lunch, 
and a big one at that, for I knew that we both would 
find a hundred things to stop for, and that if we reached 
the house at sundown it would be about all we would do. 
Had Jack’s father, the Colonel, been there he would have 
covered the fourteen miles in less than four hours, for he 
would be walking to reach a trout stream and to wet his 
line af the earliest moment. The Doctor would haye taken 
more time, because he would stop to botanize and gather 
geological specimens, and then push on. We would travel 
slowly and enjoy seats on logs, by springs, excursions up 
hillsides to investigate whatever took our fancies, birds’ 
nests, and the many little things of interest. 
Time was made for slaves, we would take no note of ib 
save when certain symptoms should cause a suspicion that it 
was lunch time, therefore our creels were filled with pilot 
bread, sardines in mustard, canned baked beans, and bologna 
sausage. We merely took our rods and creels, leaving all 
the other impedimenta to be brought down by team. We 
stepped off lively for the first four miles, which brought us 
past the cleared fields and fences and to the foot of the 
mountain to the north of which lay the foot path which 
cut off several miles from the distance required if we fol- 
lowed the road to the south of the mountain, while nearly 
due west lay the Bigosh, with the mountain between us. 
Jack proposed that we take a straight line and cross the 
mountain, to go as the crow flies. as he said, ‘‘for,” argued 
he, ‘it can’t be over ten miles that way, possibly not five if 
there was a direct tunnel through the mountain.” 
‘Jack, my boy, have you ever climbed 4 mountain in an 
American wilderness where no axe has ever struck, and 
where there is no trail?” 
“No; but I’ve done a little Alpine climbing,” 
“A yery different affair. In the Alps it is mainly bare 
rock, and if you don’t break your neck you get through all 
right. Here there is no chance to break your neck, and no 
way io make over four miles a day with the hardest kind of 
work, climbing logs. The mountain itself is a small affair 
compared with the logs that lie on its sides, and it is nearly 
as hard to go down one side as it is to go up on the other.” 
“Well,” said he, ‘‘this ravine is not the smoothest traci 
in the world; it is crooked, and the trails lead up side ravines 
in such a way that one gets losteasily. Besides, we have to 
go around instead of in a straight line, as we could go by 
the compass.” 
I cut a long and slender twig, and holding one end in 
each hand, bowed the middle up. ‘Jack,” said 1, ‘how 
far is it from one hand to the other, following this twig?” 
‘*A bout three feet.” 
Then keeping the hands at the same distance I let the bow 
drop to a horizontal, and said; ‘‘Itis just as far now from 
one hand to another around the twig, and it is just as far to 
go over this mountain asto go around it; in one instance 
the curve is vertical and in the other horizontal, and we can 
go around it with comfort on this trail in four hours easy, 
and can take all day to do it and enjoy the trip, Ii we go 
over it we will work hard, and it will take two or three days, 
and if there is any fun in it I don’t see it. I will not trust 
you to go alone, but if you are hent on going oyer I will go 
along, but you start in and try it half an hour by the watch. 
while I sit on this stump, and if at the end of that time J 
hear you whoop for me I will follow. Never fear about 
side trails leading from this; I know them, and you were 
over them twice last year and should remember which is the 
right one.” 
“All right,” said Jack, and we branched off into the trail 
which was well beaten at the start, but later on was not so 
plain by reason of the numerous branches leading to streams, 
settler’s cabins and logging camps. 
It was very warm now that the timber shut out the air, 
and the sun was crawling higher, and the first spring of 
cool water tempted us to lie down near it and enjoy the 
eooloess. A great blundering bumble bee somehow took a 
fancy to climb up my shoulder and became entangled in the 
grass by my neck. Jack wanted to kill it but T told him 
that if he tried it 1 would probably be stung, while if he 
let if alone it would go away, It buzzed and droned for a 
moment and was gone, and to Jack’s astonishment it did not 
se its sting, they neyer do if unprovoked. We gat in silence 
