Feb. 4, im] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



26 



aitfe §ag at\& §nt\. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Oo. 



A CAMP HUNT IN MISSOURl.-I. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



With your approval I propose tod'ulfill a promise made to 

 some camping companions during a most delightful camp 

 hunt enjoyed by us this fall in the wilds of Southeastern 

 Missouri. The promise was to give to the lovers of field 

 sports and camp life, in a series of letters, a glimpse of the 

 real enjoyment and invigorating recreation enjoyed by a few 

 business men during a sojourn of ten days or two weeks in 

 the wilderness. 



Our party, eleven in number, with two servants, one a 

 good cook, \ quipped with every convenience and comfort 

 for a camp hunt in the wocds, left Nashville as soon as the 

 October frosts had tinged with brown the autumn leaves. 

 Our destination was James's Bayou, in the wilds of South- 

 eastern Missouri. The party was chaperoned by Mr. Isaac 

 T. Rhea, of the great grain house of B. S. Rhea & Son, and 

 his uutiriarr energy and intelligent forethought had left 

 nothing to be de-ired. ile was ably seconded in his efforts 

 to make the occasion a success by the cooperation of Mr. 

 Dan Bailey, the veteran sportsman, of the wholesale grocery 

 house of Bailey, Divis & Co., and by Mr. W. K. Phillips, 

 the hmdsome junior member of the wholesale grocery house 

 of PnilUps, Jackson & Co. Fully armed and equipped for 

 a deadly raid upon the wild ducks, wild geese and wild 

 turkeys, and a possible deer or black bear, we took our leave 

 of the loved ones at home and boarded a train of the Sc. 

 Louis Division of th* Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis 

 Rulroad, with hearts beating high in anticipation of the 

 sport that awaited us. We had heard favorable reports of 

 the abundance of game in our chosen hunting grounds, and 

 every man was eager to test for himself the verity of the 

 reports. 



You must allow me here to express our appreciation of 

 the courtesy and kindness of the N. C. & St L. R. R.. who 

 not only furnished free transportation over their line for the 

 whole party, but aided in every way to make our trip a 

 pleasant one. And our whole company will always feel 

 under obligations to Colonel Deal, of Charleston, Mo., who 

 gave us a permit and an invitation to hunt on his land, some 

 12 000 acres. He visited us in our camp and his genial pres- 

 ence made us feel at home on his vast domain in the wilder- 

 ness. The laws of Missouri forbid non-residents from camp 

 hunting in that State and the presence and protection of 

 Colonel Deal were greatly appreciated by us. Owing to 

 delays occasioned by a change in the grade of the railroad 

 we did not reach the great Mississippi River until near noon 

 of the next day after leaving Nashville, but thanks to the 

 foresight of Mr. Rhea, wagous and horses were in readiness, 

 and crossing the great father of waters on a ferry, we struck 

 out toward the setting sun, and at dark pitched war tents on 

 the banks of the bayou whose name and dark waters were 

 suggestive of robber bands and bloody deeds. 



ft was Saturday night, and doubt and despondency for a 

 time clouded our bright expectations for a successful hunt. 

 No one of the party had ever visited the locality before, and 

 the selection of a camp site convenient to water and to the 

 expected same, was a matter of the utmost importance. The 

 rapid approach of darkness compelled us to make a hasty 

 choice, governed rather by the proximity of water than by 

 any appearance of the happy hunting grounds we had come 

 so "far to And. There was absolutely nothing to indicate the 

 presence of game, and more than one of the party expressed 

 disappointment at the prospects before U3. and I think, if the 

 vote hud been taken, a majority would have expressed a 

 preference for the warm beds and comfortable, fire sides they 

 had left at home. To add to the general feeling of doubt 

 and despondency, members of the party had scouted the 

 woods, ponds and streams along the route in quest of game, 

 and had bagged but one squirrel and two summer ducks. 

 The writer, anxious to test the qualities of a new Colt's ham- 

 merless gun, had gone on in advance of the main party, and 

 in a walk of five miles was rewarded with only one shot. 

 But that one shot satisfied me that I had no mean weapon. 

 A summer duck, scared from a pond by another of the party, 

 fl jw overhead, and coming from the direction of the sun, 

 was not seen until immediately overhead. I turned, and as 

 the duck was rapidly disappearing over the trees, I sent a 

 charge of No. 7 bird shot after him that stopped his wild 

 career as suddenly and effectually as if a rifle ball had struck 

 him. But to the tent. After a hasty supper we prepared 

 our sleeping quarters and lay down to rest with a feelingthat 

 we had come a long way to sleep in the woods. 



Imagine the transition from despondency to feelings of 

 thrilling expectation as the Sabbath dawned upon us bright 

 and beautiful, and our ears caught the sound of a music that 

 sends the warm blood leaping in the veins of a sportsman. 

 The morning air was vocal with the honk, honk of the wild 

 geese and the quack, quack, quack of the flocks of wild ducks 

 di-porting themselves upon the waters of the neighboring 

 ponds. We had, as if guided by an invisible hand, pitched 

 our tents midway between lakts or ponds that formed the 

 favorite haunts of the wildfowl, and at a point that formed, 

 as experience afterward proved, the best possible location for 

 our camp. Some of the younger and more ardent members 

 of the company, Sunday as "it was, could not resist the 

 temptation, and* under pretext of prospecting, slipped their 

 guns out of camp, and directly the noisy picnic of the ducks 

 and geese was disturbed by unwonted sounds, and in dismay 

 and dire confusion the frightened fowls filled the air with 

 their discordaut notes and with the noise of flapping wings 

 as they circled arouud and over the camp in their efforts to 

 escape their unexpected enemies. We had game for supper. 

 That night how different the feelings with which we went 

 to sleep from those of the night before. Every man closed 

 his eyes feeling as if he wanted the night express to make 

 no slops at way stations and to bring us through to the 

 morning at the rate of a mile a minute. 



On Monday morning we were up before the dawn, and 

 after a hasty 'breakfast were off to the haunts of the game. 

 Most of the party, attracted by the known presence of the 

 ducks and geese, donned their ruboer boots and hied them 

 away to the ponds. As daylight dawned the sport com- 

 menced, and for a couple of hours the frequent shots sounded 

 like a skirmish line at active work in battle. 



Mr. .Lis. Coger, of Waverly, a famous wild turkey hunter, 

 and myself, concluded we would try our luck in the pursuit 

 of our favorite game, the wild turkey. The wild turkey 

 ranks, in this country, all other game fowls with the sports- 

 man, and such is its character for wariness, and the difficulty 



of its capture, that one wild turkey is counted equal to ten 

 wild ducks or three wild geese. Any sportsmau who knows 

 how to shoot can easily approach a flock of feeding ducks 

 in a pond or stream by taking advantage of the banks and 

 other obstructions, or he may stand in some fovored spot 

 where ducks and geese are passing on their way to and from 

 their feeding grounds and shoot them as they pass; but the 

 man who makes a success of hunting wild turkeys has to 

 study their habits and use all the skill at his command. 



At the opening of the hunt some of the party seemed to 

 think that your correspondent was laboring under a slight 

 disadvantage because he had lost his right arm near the 

 shoulder. • The work of the first day, however, convinced 

 them that this was a mistake. Mr. Coger and myself, after 

 a hard half day's hunt, returned to camp for dinner with 

 two turkeys. Both had fallen before my hammerless. The 

 duck hunters came in with a load of ducks and geese. We 

 were now assured that our hunt would be a success. We 

 had game already enough to last us several days. 



After dinner we set out for explorations in new and 

 different directions. Some three or four of us started out to 

 investigate. a forest back of our tents and away from the 

 bayou and ponds. We had scarcely entered the woods 

 before oue of the party exclaimed, "'Look at those deer!" as 

 two fine deer bounded away from us and in a moment had 

 disappeared in the thick underbrush. Had we been aware 

 of their presence, or even expecting to see them, they might 

 readily have been shot. 



We saw them no more. We then separated and breasted 

 through the woods, hoping in this way to discover any 

 game that might be concealed in the thick and tangled 

 brush. 



Ahead of us ran my magnificent setter dog Io. I heard a 

 squirrel barking off to the left, and removing the cartridge 

 of turkey shot from one barrel and substituting a charge of 

 No. 7, I was preparing to shoot the squirrel, when just 

 ahead of the ad vancingline I heard the notes of consternation 

 uttered by a flock of wild turkeys as my dog dashed into the 

 midst of them, without warning, and scattered them in 

 every direction. In au instant I was on the alert, A 

 moment later and a splendid young gobbler, fat, black and 

 glossy, came flying past. Shooting too hastily, I missed 

 him with the first barrel, but dropped him beautifully with 

 the second, nearly fifty yards away, with the No. 7 shot. 



In the meantime I could hear the other sportsmen talking 

 as they advanced, and could see the turkeys that had taken 

 to the trees, flying from tree to tree ahead of them. One 

 hen turkey, scared by them, flew to the top of a monster tree 

 almost in front of me. By great care I succeeded in creep- 

 ing near to the tree and by a well directed shot brought the 

 turkey to the ground. By this time the other hunters were 

 out of hearing. I quietly selected a position and after wait- 

 ing long enough for the suspicion of danger to pass, gave a 

 yelp or two on my call. Very soon I was rewarded with an 

 answer, and in a few minutes a fine young gobbler came, 

 and jumping upon a log about fifty yards distant, straight- 

 ened his tall black body and neck for a survey of the situa- 

 tion. A puff of smoke from the muzzle of my gun hid him 

 temporarily from my view, and when the smoke was gone 

 so also was the turkey. 



Without moving from my place I gave a few more calls 

 and had the satisfaction of shooting down another at long 

 rauge. Going then to the log upon which the young gobbler 

 stood when I shot I found him lying dead behind the log. 

 I now found myself alone, in strange woods, a mile from 

 camp, with four turkeys, and night approaching. I con- 

 cluded I did not want any more turkeys just then. Hang- 

 ing one up in a bush I shouldered thrue and my gun and 

 started for the camp. Great was the astonishment when I 

 staggered into camp under the weight of my game. None 

 were more astonished than those who had started with me. 

 They had seen no turkeys, "sa w some big birds flying out of 

 the trees ahead of them, but thought they were big owls." 



So passed the days of the hunt, every day adding largely to 

 our supply of game, and around the camp-fires at night were 

 recounted the incidents of the day. One day Mr. Coger and 

 myself brought in eight turkeys, all killed at one place, and 

 as we supposed out of one flock. Hunting cautiously through 

 the woods where we saw fresh evidence of the presence of 

 turkeys, we stopped for a few moments and making a few 

 calls we presently got an answer, and looking ahead of us 

 saw a sight that rarely ever falls to the good luck of a hunter 

 in these days. A flock of about twenty black, slick, blue- 

 headed fellows were feeding directly toward us. We allowed 

 them to come up in close range and each of us got two. \Ve 

 afterward called up and killed four more, Mr. Coger getting 

 five and I three. On another day Mr. Bailey, Mr. Coger and 

 myself killed and brought in six. Of this number I was for- 

 tunate in killing five, having called and killed three at one 

 shot, Mr. Biiley killing the other. In the mean time the 

 duck hunters were having all the sport they wanted, as the 

 immense strings of ducks and geese brought in testified. 

 Rich jokes were told on each other around the camp-fires at 

 night and a right jolly set were we. H. E. Jones. 



Nashville, Tenn. 



. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 



THE DEAD DIAMOND COUNTRY. 



WE left Colebrook one cold morning for Dead Diamond, 

 our destination being Amasa Ward's camp at Hell's 

 Gate, on the Dead Diamond River. Our route took us 

 through Devil .Notch, oue of the great watersheds of New 

 Hampshire, to Errol Dam, and then up the Magalloway 

 River to Uncle Peter Benuett's, at the forks of the Diamond. 

 After a night's rest here we started for Ward's camp by the 

 old toll road to Lamb Valley, which is five and a half miles, 

 where we arrived about 10 in the forenoon. After making 

 a raft of some logs we crossed the stream, which is very deep 

 and sluggish, and struck up Lamb Valley. (There is good 

 boating up this stream in the summer for twenty-three miles, 

 but as it was now late in the fall we went by land. Ward 

 furnishes at short notice, for large and small parlies, boats 

 of his own make). We took an old logging road and fol- 

 lowed to the pond, which is two miles from the river, then 

 took the carry for Amasa's camp, where we arrived about 1 

 o'clock in the afternoon, Amasa Ward is one of the best 

 guides and hunters in New Hampshire, and at his camp one 

 is sure of a hearty welcome and a good place to rest. His 

 camp is situated in the center of the game region, eighteen 

 milts by water and ten miles by land from any settlement. 

 Here the deer and moose roam at their will. One cannot go 

 in any direction without seeing signs of them. 



After a good night's rest we were ready for a hunt, but 

 having very little snow it was poor business, and we gave up 

 until Amasa came home from his traps. He came tne next 

 day with a load of fur. He had otter, sable and mink skins 



in every quarter of his camp, and on the side was a beaver 

 skin, and a very large one it was, Amasa told us. Amasa's 

 welcome was, "Well, boys, this is about as good a thing as 

 I have se^n lately. I will allow that I was thinking about 

 going out of this; but after I run my talking machine a little 

 while I guess can stand it till the 1st of December." 



It began to rain and snow a little, and the next day we 

 found about three inches of snow, which froze up hard the 

 next night and put an end to still-hunting, and we only got 

 one shot, and even then scored a clean miss. The Diamond 

 is one of the best streams for trout in Northern New Hamp- 

 shire, with plenty of game, and it promises to be one of the 

 centers of sporting. One wishing to make a trip can find 

 guides at Colebrook or at Magalloway. 



Albert 0. Wallace. 

 Colebrook, N. H. 



"FOREST AND STREAM'S" GRIZZLIES. 



I HAVE just received a communication from Mr. J. P. 

 Squibob, who writes me while in camp at Polikoschnitz- 

 kewrskaia, and after a long conference with General 

 Gourko, Mr. Squibob and the Gmeral are firm in the 

 opinion that the future destination and mission of the 

 Forest anp Stream's grizzly bears should be of a national 

 character, and have requested me to lay before the President 

 and Cabinet their views upon the subject. As these officials 

 all take, or should take, the Forest and Stream, your 

 publication of the scheme will save me a journey to Wash- 

 ington. I will only remark that if any portion of the plan 

 proposed seems inapplicable to the methods of our Republic, 

 it is because a lengthened sojourn in the dominions of the 

 Czar has produced its natural effect upon the mind of Mr. 

 Squibob. 



il) A park or corral, containing several — or more — acres 

 and fenced in with a stone wall fifty-six feet high, provided 

 with peep-holes and one gate of entrance only, shall be 

 established near the White House. Over the gate a legend 

 shall read, ' Office-Seekers' Repose." 



(2) The hears shall be placed therein and provided with 

 rocks, brushwood and other lurking places. 



(3) All office-seekers shall be compelled by law to pass 

 through the gate of this park when on their way to the 

 powers they seek, or shall receive not less than 500 strokes of 

 the knout. 



(4) All laws conflicting in any manner with the above 

 scheme shall be at once repealed. 



Observe the beauties of this plan for a truly economical 

 and labor saving institution. The expense of constructing 

 two park gates is lessened one-half — a second would be use- 

 less. The Goverment will not have to feed the bears. No 

 surgeon would be required, and the President and Cabinet 

 would have time to attend to the affairs of the nation. 



Five dollars a peep could be charged at the peep-holes, and 

 judging from the way people throng at a public execution, 

 or to see a jockey's neck broken at the short turns on a 

 race-course, the wall would be paid for in less than six 

 months. 



The Smithsonian would be in raptures. 



1 may add that the receipt of Mr. Squibob's letter relieved 

 my mind of much anxiety concerning his fate, and upon this 

 head I may write vou agnin. G. Whillikens. 



P. S. — If any one should suppose that no one could be 

 found willing to dare the dangers of the park, I can only say 

 that he doesn't know the qualities of the average American 

 office seeker. G. W. 



j Scarcely a week goes by without the addition of a new at- 

 traction to Superintendent Conklin's collection of rare ani- 

 mals. That is why thousands of hard-working men use up 

 most of their Saturday half holidays and Sundays at Central 

 Park with their wives and children. Some of the people 

 who live in the big brown stone houses near by say that the 

 menagerie is a nuisance and that strong odors from the 

 arsenal are wafted to their sensitive noses. Neither the boss 

 artist, the military looking man nor the mild young man 

 could find any trace of the odors yesterday, and when they 

 asked Superintendent Conklin about it he laughed and said it 

 was all moonshine. 



But during all this time the two grizzlies have been grin- 

 ning away in their brand-new iron cage, waiting to hear 

 what the gentle reader thinks of them. They came by ex- 

 press from the wild west a few weeks ago, as a little token 

 of esteem to a big newspaper man in Park Row. After they 

 had eaten three of his editorials one afternoon and then 

 laughed at him, the big man sent them up to Mr. Conklin at 

 the Park, and there they have gladdened the hearts of sev- 

 eral thousand children and their white-capped nurses. 

 The email boy who is slowly wading through this narrative 



"two little grizzly bears are we." 



has no doubt discovered that the bear on the right is sing- 

 ing, while the black-looking fellow beside him is indulging in 

 a heart-broken sob. The sobber's name is B and the singer's 

 name is A. This is what he was singing: 



See how the fates their gifts allot. 

 B eats chestnuts; I do not. 



Now you see the reason for B's glumness. But it never 

 lasts more than fifteen seconds at a time. As a rule the griz- 

 zlies cut more queer capers in a minute than a man could re- 

 member iu a day. They spend much valuable time turning 

 somersaults over each other and wrestling and training for 

 all sorts of athletic feats. When they are not dusting the 

 rocky floor of their cage with each other's gray-brown coats 

 they sit up and make eyes at the pretty French girls who 

 stand outside in charge of little boys and girls. This is a 

 trick the gray-coated park policemen taught the grizzlies, 

 and although a sharp-featured old lady lectured them about 

 it for an hour yesterday they haven't reformed a bit.— 

 New York World. 



