B22 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Kqv. 19, 1885. 



season's, even though by a small margin, must be wiped out, 

 if possible; and we may confidently expect to see Irex, 

 Galatea or Marjorie over here next season. It is too late now 

 to say that English yachtsmen do not care for the Cup, that 

 more sport and better piizes can be had at home, and that 

 tbey cannot lose a season's racing for a few races here. The 

 late contests have shown that they will be accorded fair 

 play, and also that they will meet with antagonists fully 

 worthy of their steel. The supremacy still rests on the 

 western shore of the Atlantic, and their reputation as a 

 yachting nation depends on a continual effort to retake the 

 emblem lost in 1851. On the other hand, we are confronted 

 with three direct challenges from the British yacht fleet, two 

 from our own cups, taken from us with hardly an effort 

 even to defend them, and whose continued stay on the other 

 side must aggravate the reproach that rests on our fleet as a 

 body for its absence from the open races this fall. The 

 third challenge comes direct from a boat that differs greatly 

 from the prevailing type of British yachts, while at the 

 same time as different from our favorite type. The owner 

 of the Arrow throws down the glove in earnest ; let us see 

 who will be first to take it up and bring a real Queen's Cup 

 to America. Neither side can afford to rest on its laurels ; 

 each has much to gain before it can claim complete suprem- 

 acy. It looks now as though next season would witness 

 some hot battles afloat on both sides of the water; and the 

 results of which, whatever they may be, cannot fail to ad- 

 vance the growth of yachting. 



SAIL AREA AND CANOE BACim. 

 T^HE natural tendency of competitive sailing, unless re- 

 stricted by some rules or limits, is to encourage an 

 abnormal sail spread that can only be handled, and tben not 

 always safely, by experts. The greatest evils that migbt 

 result from this, in canoeing, are that the large rigs, with 

 their sails, spars and ballast, are unhandy to transport; and 

 as the tendency is to sacrifice cruising qualities to mere 

 speed, the cruisers and their boats are virtually barred from 

 racing in favor of a few expert gymnasts in racing machines. 

 The former evil has been felt in previous years, where a load 

 of one or two hundred pounds of shot and heavy center- 

 boards, with spars sixteen feet long, had to be transported 

 for a long distance; but practically the other evil, the pres- 

 ence of racing men and boats at tbe meet, has really 

 amounted to little. It has, however, been magnified by the 

 weak kneed sailors and paddlers into a good and sufficient 

 reason for holding back from the races. Each year new 

 men, with no reputation or special practice, ^-^^^^ comeMn 

 and taken fair prizes- vvitnets Mr. Gibson in 1883, and 

 Messrs. Stanton ami Nimick iu 1885, all of whom came in 

 as novices and yet did work tliat entitled them to have their 

 names added to the libt of invincibles next jear, against 

 whom no ordinary man should enter. 



That there is really little foundation for this complaint is 

 shown by the fact that the novice and junior races, held 

 since the second meet, often fail to fill well. Each j&rv the 

 restrictions on the development of racing machines have in- 

 creased, one of the most important bang the adoption of the 

 average system last year, with the "one man, one canoe'' 

 rule, until the racing macliine has been entirely eliminated. 



The best evidence of the h> allljy tendencies of the present 

 canoeing is found in the late agreement which the two lead- 

 ing racing men have entered into, to voluntarily limit their 

 sail area to eighty-five square feet, not incluning spinnakers, 

 which latter neither of them now use. Their example mu>-t 

 be followed by most of the other racers, in which ca^e the 

 last grounds lor such complaints as sometimes appear in our 

 columns, as well as the excuse so often given for not racing 

 must disappear together. 



Further than this, these two canoeists have also repudiated 

 the general abuse of fittings and gear that so many suffer 

 from and both of their boats are rigged and fitted solely for 

 use. If beginners and novices would copy such examples 

 as these, we should hear no more about the many short- 

 comings of the canoe, except from tbose wbose sole ground 

 for criticism is an utter ignorance of the subject. 



The Propagation of Shad — To all who are interested 

 in fishculture we cannot too highly recommend a perusal of 

 Ool, McDonald's remarks on the culture of shad, in another 

 column. If there are still any who have doubts about the 

 benefits of shad culture, we advise them to read it. Col. 

 McDonald is too well known as a practical man in fishcul- 

 ture to need any introduction here. The statistics which 

 the Colonel brings are better than pages of theory, and carry 

 conviction with them. In the front rank of the world's 

 flshculturists, he has not been content with hatching fish 

 and planting them, but has spent much time in observing 

 the habits of fish, even to tracing the effect of ocean tem- 

 peratures and currents upon their migration. The present 

 paper is a squel to the valuable ones read by him before the 

 Fishcultural Association on the movements of shad at sea, 

 which attracted great attention both at home and abroad. 



PoiNTEBS AND Settees. — Kovember is the month of field 

 trials. The list this year is larger than ever before. This is 

 an excellent indication that the bench show is not likely to 

 outweigh the field tiial in its influt nee upon the sporting 

 dogs of the day. One notable characteristic of this year's 

 trials is the large number of pointers run and the interest 

 taken in their performances. 



[From a Special Correspondent.] 

 WESTERN GAME AND HUNTING. 

 TN the old days, say ten or fifteen years ago, large game 

 could be found pretty much everywhere in the Kocky 

 Mountains. Of course, the hunter to be successful had to 

 know something about the habits of the animals he was in 

 search of, was obhged to look for them intelligently, and 

 sometimes to undergo some risk from hostile Indians, but, if 

 he were persevering, he was almost sure to meet with fair 

 success. JSow, hunting is quite a different matter . After 

 they fairly got among them, the skin-hunters killed off the 

 buffalo in a very short time, and in most regions they have 

 also destroyed the elk and the mule deer. 



Up to the time when the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed 

 the Little Missouri, the valley of that stream was a great 

 country for game. It was one of the best antelope countries 

 that I have ever been in ; the breaks along the river were the 

 favorite resort of the mule deer; elk were plenty, and there 

 were sheep in the Bad Lands and buffalo on the prairie. Up 

 to this time it had been a favorite hunting ground for the 

 Sioux, one of whose reservations is on the Missouri River 

 not far away, as well as for the Berthold Indians, and a man 

 who was going to spend any time there had need to keep his 

 eyes well open, and his horses close to camp at all times. So 

 the game was preserved. As soon as the railroad came, a 

 concerted attack was made on all the large game. Now there 

 was a market for meat and hides. As a result of this attack 

 the larger game animals are now pretty nearly all gone. Mr. 

 Theodore Roosevelt's charming book, entitled, "Hunting 

 Trips of a Ranchman," tells the story of the game that is at 

 present to be found on this stream, and those who were 

 familiar with the region before the railroad made it access- 

 ible, will be surprised at the almost entire absence of the 

 larger /era nat-ura. A few deer and still fewer antelope seem 

 to be all that there is left in the country. Birds — sharptail 

 grouse and waterfowl — still abound, and will continue to be 

 plenty as long as the farmers and small settlers keep out of the 

 country, but the big game has disappeared, never to return. 



The same story can be told of many a region in the W est, 

 and year by year the question as to where we can go for big 

 game becomes more and more difficult to ans*wer. 



I look forward to a time in the not very distant future 

 when those of us who wish to hunt will have to do it with- 

 out our rifles. If the good intentions of the Government 

 with regard to the Yellowstone Park are carried out, we 

 shall be able to go there and start out on om- hunting expe- 

 '^'t'OQri. We will look as carefully as on former days fc 

 otu- game, ana w ill cllmiu una creep aa laboriously as when 

 we were bent on slaughter. Then when we have found our 

 game, and have approached as near to it as possible, we will 

 lie and watch it until our curiosity is satisfied, and then, 

 showing ourstlves and clapping our hands or throwing rocks 

 at it, will see the graceful creatures trot or gallop briskly off, 

 just as tbey used to do in the olden days when we carried 

 our true rifles. But in these coming days there will be left, 

 after the band has passed out of sight, no brown carcase 

 lying on the hillside, half hidden by the gray sage brush; no 

 more will we have the labor of butcheiing, the fight with 

 the pony to make him carry the dripping load, and the long 

 walk to camp, leading the well-packed beast. No; we will 

 watch the game out of sight, sigh regretfully, and tell each 

 other how iu old times we could have killed that elk, or 

 deer, or sheep, or buffalo; just where we would have hit 

 him, and what similar shot^ we had made iu those happier 

 days before the game had all disappeared from the free hunt- 

 ing grounds. 



It is not yet quite so bad as that, however. There are 

 still a number of places now easily accessible by me ans of 

 the railroad, where there is still some game. No buffalo are 

 left. But there are still a few regions where elk, deer and 

 antelope are fairly plenty, and somewhere there are a few 

 mountain sheep. I confess, however, that when my friends 

 ask me where they can go to get good hunting, I am some- 

 what at a loss to direct them. The Bighorn and Powder 

 River Mountains used to be a great game country, but since 

 so many cattle have been brought into them, the wild creat- 

 ures that once fed there have to a great extent been killed or 

 driven off from the valleys and the more open country. The 

 cattle have had almost as much to do with this disappear- 

 ance as has man. The little parks and the hillsides, where 

 the grass grows sweet and tender, have been invaded by the 

 herds, and the game has been crowded out. You may ride 

 along carefully through what appears a fine hunting country, 

 seeing neither game nor cattle, though the sign of the lat- 

 ter will be abundant, and as you pass near some ravine, 

 green with the trembling fohage of the aspen, you will hear 

 a -sudden rush and snapping of sticks that will start your 

 blood to moving more rapidly and make you fancy for a 

 moment that a band of elk is afoot. Then from out the 

 brush will dash half a dozen cows, steers and calves with 

 heads and tails in the air, and you feel in your disappoint- 

 ment like taking a shot or two at them. So it is in the 

 cattle country. The domestic animals have usurped not 

 only the feeding grounds of the game, but their resting and 

 hiding places as well. The spots to which cattle resort are 

 truly remarkable to one who knows only the apparently dull 

 and placid animal of the Eastern farmyard. Often a little 

 bunch of range cattle will be found in places where, were 

 the country not occupied by man, one would look only for 

 mountain sheep. In fact the cattle adapt themselves to their 

 surroundings and live much as the buffalo used to, and in a 



mountain country they show some disposition to assume the 

 habits of the mountain buffalo. 



A country which is now said to contain a good deal of 

 game is the Crazy Woman's Mountains. These lie north of 

 the railroad, and may easily»be reached from either Livings, 

 ton or Bozeman, The latter, as being the larger town of the 

 two, is perhaps the better to fit out from. I have been in- 

 formed within a few months that deer, elk, and bear of two 

 species are abundant in these mountains. The country is 

 beautiful and admirably adapted for camping. 



Another locality from which good hunting grounds are 

 said to be easily accessible is Ft. Logan. This town is on 

 the site of old Camp Baker. It is surrounded by lofty 

 mountains, and from personal experience I can say that 

 years ago it was a grand hunting ground. Splendid fishing 

 may be had near to it in Deep Creek or Smith's River, both 

 for trout and grayling. I should not like to say how large 

 the latter grow for fear you might accuse me of exaggerating, 

 but I can say that 1 have seldom seen trout anywhere as 

 large as some of the grayling I have taken near this spot. A 

 daily stage leaves Townsend for Ft. Logan, which is only 

 twenty miles from the road. 



No doubt there are still many places between the Powder 

 River Range on the east and the Bighorn River on the west, 

 where plenty of game may be found. It is a wide stretch of 

 country, much of it mountain and timber-covered. Proba- 

 bly through these mountains and in this timber the elk and 

 deer still hold their own, if the skin-hunters have not pene- 

 trated there. From Miles City or Billing's, stages run into 

 the hills, but a hunting party would have to fit out at one of 

 these points and go with their own wagon and saddle horses 

 into the mountains. 



West of the range, in Idaho and eastern Washington, there 

 is said to be some game, but the country is for the most part 

 heavily timbered and not so easy to hunt in as where it is 

 more open. The Sawtooth Range is reported to still contain 

 some few white goats and mountain sheep as well as black- 

 tail deer, and perhaps elk. 



I have spoken hitherto principally of large game, because 

 rnost of my hunting is done with a rifle. With the shotgun 

 one can of course have plenty of sport, and it is delightful 

 to watch a good dog work, but after all when I can get a 

 chance to hunt big game I let the scatter-gun rest in its case. 

 The country west of St. Paul still presents every attraction 

 in the way of game birds. , In Minnesota there are three 

 species of grouse, the pinnated, sharptailed and ruffed, and 

 we are all tamiiiar with the accounts of the multitudes of 

 ducks and geese that in .spring and auLrrviu stop to feed on 

 its wild rice ponds, its wheat fields and lakelets. Further 

 west, in Dakota, grouse and waterfowl are very abundant, 

 and when you reach the sage plains you find the largest of 

 all American grouse. Sage chicKens, as they are commonly 

 but incorrectly called, are easily killed early in the season, 

 for they make a tremendously large mark, and are usually 

 very tame, but they mast be well hit, for they will carry 

 away a great deal of lead. Later in the season, when the 

 weather has become cold, the birds collect in great packs, 

 and are then wild and very difficult of approacn. On reach- 

 ing the mountains we find ourselves in the home of the 

 dusky erouse. This species, variously called dusky, moun- 

 tain, blue or pine grouse, is exceeded in size only by the 

 sage grouse, and attains a weight often of four pounds. To 

 my mind it is, except the wild turkey, the noblest game bird 

 of Ameiica. In many of its habits it resembles the ruffed 

 grouse, but it is not so exclusively an inhabitant of the 

 timber as is that species, the young broods often frequenting 

 open valleys, parks and prairies during the late summer. 

 The flesh of the blue grouse is delicious in quality and flavor, 

 and the bird is quick on the wing, and in its flight and 

 methods— in fact in almost all respects except size and plum- 

 age—resembles the ruffed grouse. In thick timber or under- 

 brush it is quite as difficult to kill as that species. In the 

 country frequented by the blue grouse the ruffed is also usu- 

 ally found, though the latter appears to be much more local in 

 its habits than that species, and will thus perhaps be con- 

 fined to one er a number of limited areas, while its larger 

 relative is more or less abundant everywhere throughout the 

 region. Tbe dusky, ruffed and sharptail grouse are splendid 

 birds, and wherever they are found in any abundance, fur- 

 nish excellent sport. 



The best time to visit the Western country is in August 

 and September. The crops are then falling before the reaper, 

 the cattle are fat, and one has at this time a good opportu- 

 nity to form some idea of the agricultural wealth of the 

 region. These two months are also the best in which to 

 visit the National Park, though perhaps August is the better 

 of the two for this trip. In September it is often very cold 

 in the Park, and occasionally there are one or two snow- 

 storms during that month, but the snow does not remain 

 long on the ground. In August the days are very warm and 

 delightful, and yet the nights so cool that one requires two or 

 three blankets over him; the roads are then good and hard, and 

 the flies are no longer very troublesome. The weather is usually 

 fine and little interference with travel is had from storms. 



No one should ever cross the Missouri River at this time 

 of the year without making a visit to the Park. 



I have no intention of attempting a description of the 

 wonders of this region. Excellent accounts of it have been 

 published and are accessible to every one who desires to in- 

 form himself on the subject. It is universally acknowledged 

 that nowhere in the world is there such a cowbi nation of 



