126 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 10, 1886. 



clause which empowers the Lieut. -G-overnor to give pemis- 

 sion to this end. There is auother clause and an important 

 one too, la a sparseJy settled district lilte this, which protects 

 the hungry traveler. This clause permits him to kill game 

 and hypothecate eggs enough for his own use. The provis- 

 ions of the ordinance applies to Indians as well as whites, 

 hut the country twenty miles north of the main Saskatche- 

 wan River and the north branch thereof is exempt from the 

 operations of the ordinance. 



The advent of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the dis- 

 appearance of the buffalo from the benches and valleys of 

 this region are coeval. "With the exception of the whitened 

 skulls and bones scattered over the prairies, and the seamed 

 trails, there is nothing left to remind the traveler that along 

 these benches and through these valleys the shaggy monster 

 "roamed and roared." A few tame ones in tlie penitentiary 

 grounds of Manitoba are all that remains of the great herds 

 that a few years ago roamed over the prairie waste of British 

 North America. But this is not new or news. There are no 

 moose in Southern Alberta, but in the northern portion of the 

 disti'ict north of the north branch of the Saskatchewan these 

 animals are numerous. Their home is the great forest which 

 begins in the latitude of Edmonton. 54^ 30^ and stretches far 

 beyond the height of land whicli forms the divide of the 

 Arctic water slope. In this sub- Arctic district the moose 

 wanders without much interference even from the Indians. 



Antelope, red deer, biaclc and cinnamon bears, and the 

 mountain sheep are the large game of this immediate dis- 

 trict. The first-named are frequently seen in the Cyyress 

 Hills country, a district wooded with the cypress, whence it 

 takes its name, and so cut up with ravines and hills that it 

 was feared during the recent rebellion that tlw hostile 

 Indians would tiee to these hunting grounds, and if they 

 h:d done so they could have stood oil ' ten thousand troops. 

 What the lava beds were to the Modocs, so would have been 

 the Cypress Hills to the Crees or Blackfeet against the com- 

 mon enemy, the whites. It was not to be wondered at, then, 

 that Major Stewart with a body of one hunth-ed and fifty 

 cowboys held the approaches to' this excellent cover. The 

 Cypress Hills country is a portion of the great Milk River 

 district, which stretches from Fort Assiniboine north, and just 

 the country for antelope and the deer variety. It Is. therefore, 

 not often that local sportsman can get a pot at these animals, 

 but he is more likely to succeed in the Cypress Hills than in 

 any other part of the Northwest that I know of. 



The black bear— and tlie cinnamon occasionally— is often 

 met with in the foothills of the Rockies, but the capture of 

 M grizzly or even the sight of one in these pai-ts is a rare 

 thing. 



Tlie Rocky Mountains to the reader is inseparably con- 

 nected with grizzlies and the American tiger, but in this 

 latitude there appear to be very few of these savages. 

 Whether they have been driven off, or whether they have 

 more favorite haunts than in the valley of the Bow, I am 

 unable to say, but 1 am inclined to think the latter is most 

 likely. One of the latest grizzly captures in this vicinity 

 was that made a couple of years ago by the Rev. John 

 McDougall, the well known missionary who has spent many 

 years in this country. I have seen the claws of Rev. Mr. 

 McDougall's quarry, and any one who doubts the dreadful 

 feats which ihey'can accomplish with their claws should 

 just take a peep at these iron-plated rakers. JSlo sausage mill 

 can do its work more effectively than can these leviathan 

 paws. They crush, lacerate and growl at the same time. 



The fox is seldom seen in these foothills, but the wolf and 

 coyote are dwellers under the shadows of the great icy caves 

 which tower thousands of feet above. Both are patiently 

 waiting the advent of the thousands of sheep which the 

 enterprising stock raiser is introducing into the country, and 

 which in a few years will cover the fields, for the adaptabil- 

 ity of this country for sheep-raising is now no longer a 

 matter to be questioned. 



Rabliits are a sure crop. Last year they overran every- 

 thing in the foothills, and were snared and shot by the thou- 

 sands. Their numbers are such as to make them a nuisance 

 even to the housewife. CJ-BO B. Elliott. 



Oalgart. Alto, August, 1885. 



BUSINESS AND PLEASURE. 



ABOUT the 10th of September, 1884, I boarded the 

 northern bound train on the Omaha, St. Paul, Mlnue- 

 apoiis and Chicago R. R. at Tekamah with my English 

 setter Heck, and my 10-bore gun. The rain poured down 

 incessantly without any promise of let up, until abmit 5 

 o'clock P, M. But I was going up into Cedar county, Neb., 

 after cattle instead of on a chicken hunt, so I was thinking 

 very little of any great amount of sport. We arrived at 

 Hartington, the terminus of the flartington branch of the 

 railroad, about 6 P. M. Having engaged a buggy and 

 driver, 6 o'clock next morning we started out northwest 

 from Hartington to see some cattle. About two miles from 

 town, in the Bow Valley, I let Heck out of the buggy as we 

 Beared a fine stubble field, and driving around the field on 

 the edge of the grass, we had only gone a few rods when 

 old Heck sniffed the air as if he scented some birds. We 

 drove up to him, I got my Baker in shape, and stepped out. 

 By this time the old dog was standing as if carved out of 

 marble. I pushed him along with my knee a few feet, when 

 up went two fine prairie chickens. A few seconds, grace was 

 given to let the chickens get a fair start, when there were 

 two quick, sharp reports from the gun, and directly two fine 

 chickens lay lifeless upon the sod. Heck very cautiously 

 proceeded to fetch in his birds. He picked up and started 

 in with it, but when about half way to me straightened out 

 on another fine point with the dead bird in his mouth. I 

 .stood for a second and up went another bird, whang went 

 the gun, and a third chicken fell to the earl:h with the thud 

 that delights the sportsman on the discharge of his field 

 piece. I stood almost in my tracks and shot eight fine birds 

 from this covey inside of ten minutes, and each bird was 

 brought to me by my faithful dog. What is there more 

 exhilarating? 



Our road left the fields and stretched out over the sand 

 knolls and ridges from this on from twelve to fourteen miles; 

 we found a few lone cock on the ridges and these I bagged. 

 About 10 o'clock we arrived at our place of business, which 

 was something quite of another character. I completed a bar- 

 gain with the man on the cattle and we sat down to a fine 

 dinner about 1 o'clock. The cattle were to be delivered at 

 Hartington the next day ready for me to load and start home 

 with the following morning. We hooked up and started for 

 Hartington about's o'clock in the .afternoon. I took the dog 

 in the buggy the first eight or ten miles, as the sun had been 

 shining hot all day and the sand ridges were dry and barren. 

 About 5 o'clock we came down into a fine valley, where 

 there was a delicious spring of water which our road passed 



close by. I let my dog out to get some water; he ran to the 

 spring, took a good drink and turned around to start for a 

 hunt, when he came to a dead stand not ten feet from the 

 spring and close to the roadside. I was not long in getting 

 to his side, when up went three fine chickens, two of which 

 turned _ their toes up in quick succession. I bagged in a 

 short time from this covey thirteen, only letting two escape. 

 I thought this would do for one day, so 1 put up the dog 

 and chickens, got in the buggy and drove lo town in time 

 for supper at the Hartington House, and the next morning 

 had chicken on toast. I was very busy for about forty min- 

 utes. In the forenoon I arranged for cars to ship the cattle. 

 My brother came in from the Southwest, where he had pur- 

 chased some feeding steers, and about 4 o'clock in the after- 

 noon we procured a livery aud started out to meet his bunch 

 of cattle that were being driven in. 



Southwest of Hartington about six miles on the South 

 Bow Creek we found fine chicken ground. I bagged forty- 

 two chickens in less than two hours, killing one full grown 

 chicken at eighty good full length paces. "We drove back 

 to town, found our cattle all in and in good stock yards, so 

 we partook of a prahie chicken supper at the hotel; the next 

 morning loaded our cattle, eleven car loads in all, and had a 

 good run down home, where we arrived about 5 o'clock P. M. 



Chilled Shot. 



DEER IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



We take it for granted that all readers of the Forest and 

 Stream are interested in the working of the new deer law in 

 the Adirondacks. Questions like these will be asked : Is the 

 law popular? Is it observed and enforced? Will it work to 

 preserve deer? These queries were in our mind as we went 

 into the woods late in Juty, and we tried, by observation 

 and inquiry, to answer these questions, at least to our own 

 satisfaction. We give the result. 



First, is the new law popular? Yes and no. With all 

 true sportsmen who love only lawful legitimate sport, and 

 who desire the preseivation of game, the present law is 

 popular, and by tlies<" it is vigorously sustained. Beyond 

 this we have not seen any evidence of popularity. With lint 

 large class of tourists who go into the woods hoinng 1 bey 

 may kill a deer, .carmg little how, and caring less Avhether it 

 be by lawful or unlawful means, this, witli all other lestric 

 five laws, is not popular, and is observed only wnen fear of 

 getting caught exceeds their desire to kill. With the guides 

 the law prohibiting bounding is decidedly unpopular, and 

 this is the iuqiovtant class to be considered, for it lies almost 

 wholly with the guides whether the law shall be observed, 

 or whether game shall be preserved in the Adirondacks or 

 not. The cau.se of this unpopularity is easily found. In the 

 first place every guide owns one or more dogs. They are 

 valuable dogs, family favorites, and they have kept them a 

 whole yeai- for the autumn's hunting. The dogs are on their 

 hands aud they are out of pocket for their keeping. It is natural 

 that their feelings should be aroused against a law which 

 brings to them disappointment and pecuniary loss. In the 

 second place, for the present, the law, if enforced, lessens 

 the number of autumn hunters, and so takes monej^ out of 

 the pockets of the guides. For it is well-known that, from 

 the beginning of cold September nights until the leaves have 

 fallen ^nd have become wet by frosts and rain, it is very 

 difficult to get deer except witli the help of hounds. Here- 

 tofore large hunting parties have gone in who have engaged 

 a number of guides with their dogs for a hunt. Besides the 

 regular daily wages of the guide, his dog, if it brought in the 

 deer, usually won the hide and a handsome fee. The guides 

 fear, with reason, that they will lose this income. More- 

 over, a good many of them honestly think the law unwise, to 

 put it mildly, they maintaining that not one race in ten is 

 successful, that there is little killing compared with the 

 amount of hounding, and that the majority of deer killed 

 before dogs are bucks. All of which is partially true, and 

 yet from their inference we disagree entirely. Many races 

 are unsuccessful, yet a good deal of observation leads mc to 

 believe that the majority of the killing each year for five 

 years has been done before dogs. We know of one small 

 section where twenty-four (34) deer were killed last fall be- 

 fore dogs, and this year, in consequence, it was very diffi- 

 cult to find a deer there with a jack. We know also of a 

 party which has been known to go— twenty-four hunters and 

 twenty-five dogs— surround a lake, let loose the dogs, and 

 clean the country of its game. These are unusual instances, 

 we hope, yet they happened not ten miles apart. We be- 

 lieve that were the present law observed the deer would in- 

 crease very rapidly. 



But is it observed? To this second inquiry we answer 

 again yes and no. In one part of the woods the law is both 

 observed by the guides and enforced by the wardens. In 

 this section a sportsman owns his dog at peril. If the truth 

 was spoken to us, he won't do it the second time, if it is known. 

 In another large section dogs are being used, not as much as 

 last year, but as much as the guides dare to use them. In 

 this section it is hard w'ork to get deer without them. 

 Campers want venison, sportsmen want to kill deer, the 

 guides have dogs, aud not having any quick consciences, by 

 consent they use them. 



There was a report going about among the hotels when we 

 came out that our chief executive, the one man who of all 

 others should respect and observe law, was hunting w"ith 

 dogs on the Saranac waters. We don't know that the report 

 was true, but true or false it was enough to kill every scruple 

 which disturbed the conscience of any guide. It was said 

 with reason, "If President Cleveland can break the law I 

 can, and when the wardens put him through and make him' 

 pay his fines, I'll walk up and pay mine." 



Will the new law preserve deer? Yes. The law is and 

 will be broken. Every game law is broken to some degree. 

 This one may be in some places almost a dead letter, but even 

 there it will work to preserve game. In other [daces it will 

 reduce the killing fifty per cent. In spite of the present 

 attitude of the guides and the seeming reason to some of their 

 objections to the law, the law exists and its penalty hangs 

 over the head of every transgressor, and he knows it. Any 

 man who breaks the law is liable to be caught. The law is 

 enacted. We want to see it faithf uUj^ tried. Aud we believe 

 its faithful observance will be to the interest of every guide. 

 He may lose a dog and a few dollars in fees this year. He 

 will more than make it up in the years to come if in regions 

 where a deer is now rarely seen, they again become plenty. 

 So much, the result of my observation, about the law for- 

 bidding the use of dogs. 



There is another law bearing upon the increase of deer to 

 which I want to direct the attention of the sportsmen and 

 law makers of New York, viz., this, the law which gives 

 as a State bounty $20 for the head of a panther. This bounty 

 ought to be increased to $50. As it is the bounty is so small 



that it is no object for the guides to hunt the panther, 

 and they are not hunted, and consequently they are 

 mcreasuig. Now it is estimated that a panther will 

 destroy about one deer a week the year through. Venison 

 is known to be their principal diet and they never fail to 

 kill a deer when they want one. A guide who has had 

 many years of experience in the woods told me ten cats 

 would kill more deer in a year than all the sportsmen who 

 come into the woods. If there are ten cats in the woods, if 

 they feed half the time on deer, we can see that they will 

 destroy an immense number. No one can possibly object to 

 raising the bounty on cats as suggested, and if it should lead 

 to the killing of one more panther a year than is now killed, 

 that would do more to save deer than the destruction of a 

 hundred hounds. Were the bounty raised, I have the assur 

 ance of guides that panther would be hunted. I suggest, Mr. 

 Editor, I urge, the raising of this bounty, and I am sure every 

 one interested in the Adirondack region will heartily support 

 the suggestion. H. H. K. 



West Winstbd, Conn , Sept. 1. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I know that jack-shooting is practiced to a great extent 

 from the 1st of May and even earlier until so late as the last 

 part of August each year in the Adirondacks, and 1 do not 

 see how it is to be stopped unless tlie guides and hotel 

 keepers unite and insist on it. This they are not likely to 

 do unless they become satisfied that the game is decreasing 

 and they will soon lose occupation on account of the scar- 

 city of game. p, 



Wellsville, N. Y. 



WESTERN NEW YORK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Conflicting reports are heai'd in this vicinity regarding the 

 supply of grouse in the woods of Western New York. To- 

 ward the close of August a railroad engineer who "runs" 

 south from this city painted for me a pleasing pen picture 

 of the numerous broods of grouse which he had seen a short 

 time before near the Penns^dvania line. 1 had also heard of 

 1-uge families of birds nearer home, and Avas prepared to see 

 tliem rising on all sides on favorable ground. The informa- 

 tion was all the more agreeable from the fact that woodcock 

 have been rather scarce Itiis season, and the grouse is almost 

 alone in the woods, quail being extremely scarce, and no 

 pigeons whatever appearing. A friend, who assured me 

 that he knew where there were some grouse and woodcock, 

 invited me to accompany him on the Ist ins!., and try to bag 

 a few. A railroad train and a vigorous walk took us to the 

 ground early in the day, and we were not long in the bush 

 before G.'s pointer made game, and a woodcock was shot 

 and retrieved. After about two hours' work we had five 

 woodcock and two grouse. None of the long-billed birds 

 which wc put up escaped, but we left three or four grouse 

 to be called for later in the season, when the leaves are off 

 the dense underbrush. 



On the same day, W. J. B., ex-treasurer of the State 

 Sportsmen's Association, and his son shot five grou.se. 

 Other men who beat considerable ground, report the birds 

 very scarce. 



Robert Taugnewy, in company with some friends, is 

 building a steamboat to be used for sporting purposes in 

 Florida this winter. She is forty-five feet keel, and eight 

 beam, aud as the veteran boatbuilder, Sam Hiugston, is con- 

 structing her hull, she is sure to be a fine craft. 



The gray plover are .said to have appeared on our wheat 

 fields within a few days, but none have yet been shot by 

 any one of my acquaintance, nor are they in the market, a 

 place where tkey are usually found soon after their advent. 



E. R. 



EocHESTER, Sept. 6, 



ON MINNESOTA PRAIRIES. 



1"^HE village of Graceville is situated in Big Stone county, 

 - Minnesota. It is a small hamlet; a dozen stores, thrice 

 the number of houses, a church, school house and raib-oad 

 depot comprise about all the buildings in the place The in- 

 habitants of the village and of the surrouiicliug country are 

 mostly Irish, and are sportsmen from instinct. They enjoy 

 a foot race or horse race, a dog fight, a boxing match, or in 

 fact almost anything which involves a contest or will lest 

 the physical powers or courage of mau or beast. In this 

 village reside my friends B. and Major OT., the former 

 until recently a bachelor, with a warm place in his heart for 

 a horse, a dog and a gun, and never quite happy unless 

 entertaining a friend in his comfortable bachelor qiinrters, 

 the latter a graduate from the British army, in wiiicLi he has 

 passed tlie greatest part of his life, and an enthusiast in every 

 thing which can be even tortured into a semblance of sport; 

 both withal are gentlemen, genial of speech, graceful in 

 hospitality, and delightful companions in the field. 



Such are my companions, when before the dawning of an 

 autumn day, I put my gun and cartridges into the wagon 

 and am carried outside the village to hunt — the indefinite. 

 Our cartridges are loaded for geese, ducks, chickens, cranes 

 and jack rabbits; our dogs will, of course, stand and re- 

 trieve, and our inclinations are toward the first animate 

 thing which will rise before the dogs, be it fur or feather. 

 What a charm there is in a day like this! It is the ecstacy 

 of loafing. A boundless prairie stretches out before us, dot- 

 ted with little lakes and ponds, and broken here and there 

 with stretches of wheat fields and breaking. We feel the 

 freedom of the sailor upon the sea; we follow no beaten 

 track, but drift about from pond to pond, from field to field, 

 with no restraint upon the manner of our going, guided only 

 by the rudder of our own sweet will. W e watch our dogs 

 as, like birds of prey, they sweep the expanse of prairie, and 

 when they find, and'stiffeu with excess of rapture, an answer- 

 ing thrill flashes over us, sending new fife into veins whose 

 sluggard course old Time with ruthless scythe has clogged 

 with wrecks of joys grown stale and profitless. 



.By break of day we were stationed on a strip of land be- 

 tween two good-sized lakes, and soon the boom of a gun told 

 of another" feathei'ed prize, or more likely still, of a badly- 

 friiititened family of early-rising ducks, unscathed this time, 

 but as surelv going to pot as that in a multitude of hunters 

 one will be found who sometimes gathers Irom the air even 

 the swiftly-flying denizens of ow: 1 ilws and ponds. Our 

 sport grew moderate as the sun climbed toward llie zenith, 

 so we changed our cartridges and moved slowly over the 

 prairie, our dogs ranging away from the wagon, sometimes 

 as far as half a mile. Several grouse feU to our guns before 

 we stopped for lunch at high noon. 



We had now lazily drifted away from Graceville westward 

 about ten miles, and" were in the vicinity of Lake Traverse, 

 on the western boundary of Minnesota, and among fields 



