Aug. 36, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



85 



'mte §H(f mid 0m(. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Puh. Go. 



A CLIMB FOR SHEEP. 



MARQUETT'S RANCH, Wyoming, July 14.— We liave 

 been up in this ueighborliood five days, like it very 

 much, and expect to find game very plentiful tins fall. 

 Marquett's Rajicli is about sixty miles "east of tlie National 

 Park, on a beautiful little trout stream. This will be our 

 headquarter".'^ until we go to the Park, which will be in 

 about two weeks. Tlien the flies will not bother the 

 horses to amoimt to anything. After we come from the 

 Park we expect to move Tip the South Fork of the Stink- 

 ing Water River about twenty-five miles, to a beautiful 

 camping ground. We l iave been up there on horseback, 

 and saw plenty of bear, elk, deer, antelope and beaver 

 signs. Wlien I say plenty I don't mean that we can kill 

 any lunonnt of game, but with hard work Ave can get 

 what few I care for as specimens. The cattle liave driven 

 all the game out of the coimtry, or into the heart of the 

 mountains where one cannot find them. But in the 

 fall the heavy snows drive the game down into the 

 valleys b(?low, and they are said to winter in the valley 

 we are about to move into, so I think before long I will 

 wi'ite you we are being paid for our hard, long trii). 



The 'spot we have decided upon for our camping gTOund 

 on the banks of the Stinking Water is in a lovely gi"ove 

 of Cottonwood trees, with meadow over a mile long, the 

 grass knee high for oin- hoi'ses. 



There are plenty of large trout in all the streams. On 

 Rock Creek I caught seventeen fine fish in about one hour. 

 "We are trying to dry fish, the same as we would meat of 

 any kind; had some'dried trout tor breakfast: but I pre- 

 fer mine fresh from the creek. They are fine, and every 

 meal I eat of them I think how dearly I would love to be 

 able to send some to the folks at home and have them re- 

 main as fresh and nice as when first taken. 



T went out after supper last night to get some meat and 

 succeeded in killing another antelope. Mr. Frost killed 

 two deer and Jessie killed two nice antelope. During the 

 five days we have been here he has killed tlii-ee antelope 

 and I have got the same number, so consider rug how 

 little I have hunted that game, I think I have done well, 

 for they are the hardest game to get of any kind. 



I think I will take a trip up in the mountains to-mor- 

 row or next day and try my luck on moimtain sheep. A 

 nice sheep head wiU bother me more than anything else 

 to get, for the sheep are high up in the moimtains, among 

 rocks and cliffs, where it is very difficult to get at them. 



But it is now a quarter to 9 o'clock, and as I am bm-n- 

 ing another man's oil, I had better stop. 



July 15. — ^AVell, I have light now that costs me nothing, 

 save a blistered nose now and then. Jessie and Mr. Frost 

 have jnst come in from a hnnt and have brought three 

 antelope with them. We get plenty of meat. This noon 

 we had for dinner trout, pork, venison, potatoes, graham 

 gems, white bread, blackberries and cream, coft'ee, m ilk 

 and pure spring water. What do vou think of that for a 

 bni of fare out here in tlie wilds? And everything tastes 

 so good that I eat four times as much as I would at home. 



July 18.— On the 16th I started eai-ly up the mountains, 

 the tops of which are about twelve miles from our camp, 

 to see what signs of game I could find. I had six or seven 

 hours of hai-d work, for it is terrible toil climbing the 

 mountains; the au* is so light that it makes it very difii- 

 cult to breathe. After toiling a half day to the summit I 

 was rewarded for the exertion by seeing a baud of moun- 

 tain sheep, five in number. After scrambling about over 

 rocks I succeeded in getting a shot at them, but only broke 

 ahindlegof a very large ram; he disappeared aroimd a 

 sharp cm-ve in the mountains. I was about to get up from 

 behind the rock I had hidden behind, and was mourning 

 over my bad luck, when I saw the old fellow's head peak- 

 ing around the edge of the chli he had just disappeared 

 behind. My gun was ready in an instant and at the crack 

 of the gun the whole band came running out in full view 

 of me. I saw that one was hit in the leg, so I opened fii-e 

 on him and liit my mark twice, as he went scrambling 

 over the rocks, he soon had to give up and I knew he was 

 my meat; and what was more 1 was sure of a very fine 

 specimen to mount, for I could see that his horns were 

 very large. But when I got to him what was my disap- 

 pointment to find a large piece broken out of his left horn. 

 He Avould weigh about 2001bs., a veiy large sheep. After 

 I liad dressed and quartered Mm I happend to look over to 

 where I had shot at the one wliich had showed its head, 

 and I was dehghtfully surprised to see another sheep 

 lying dead with a bullet tlu-ough liis neck. After I had 

 di-essed this one too, I shouldered his head, which was a 

 very fine one, and started for camp. 



A tramp of twelve miles to make in a mountainous country 

 from sunset to dark was not a very pleasant thing to think 

 of; but I was in a happy state of mind, for I had done 

 good shooting and Idlled a sheep, and had the long-desired 

 trophy. I started down the mountain with the head 

 hanging over my shoulder, and every step stuck the sharp 

 points into my back about a foot, more or less. That 

 would not do. I wrapped the hide aromid my gun, tied 

 it there, and by slinging it over my slioulder found I 

 coidd carry the whole thing very easily. I had gone two 

 or thi-ee miles in that way, with no accident save the 

 u.sual falls a person gets in this country, and was going 

 along with my head bent down to help me incanyingmy 

 load, thmking of how proud I would be when I had the 

 head mounted and wondering what you would think to 

 see me as I Avas then, covered from head to foot Avith 

 blood and hair. Tims revolving in my mind nothing but 

 leasant things, as I came aroimd a little bunch of pines 

 looked to see Avhat direction to take for camp, for it Avas 

 fast growing dark and I Avanted to be sm-e and get my 

 bearing exactly. As I raised my eyes from the ground I 

 was a little startled to see a bear of formidable aspect 

 standing in my path not more than fifteen paces off. With 

 my gun tied up' in the liide, I AA-as in a nice fix for 

 him to tackle me, and he had a notion to do it, for he 

 rose on his hindlegs and stood Avaiting to see what I was 

 going to do. It took about one slash of my knife to cut 

 the string that bound the gun and hide togei:her; and then 

 recollecting I had emptied my gun at the sheep I tln-ew 

 more carti'idges into the magazine and was ready for 

 bruin; but he had concluded to move camp. Ju.st "as I 

 ot my Imife back in my belt and my gun cocked, he 

 isappeared in the tluck brush and I saw Mm no more. 

 The encounter had caused no little alarm; I had tlie fresli 



meat with me and he had perh.aps some intention of secur- 

 ing it. I don't know hoAv it would have ended; whether 

 I should have reti'eated and given up the meat, or moved 

 forward with another feather in my cap. It suited me 

 well enough just as it turned out; but if he had remained 

 a moment longer I should haA'e shot at him. I reached 

 camp long after dark and was about as tired as I ever 

 care to get again. 



Yesterday Mr. Frost and I worked all day long going 

 after the meat of the sheep. To-day I have worked as 

 liard trying to get rid of it. It tastes very much like 

 tame mutton, but is much better if anything. 



July Ml. — Mr. Frost killed two bears last Monday; and 

 yesterday I shot anotlier nice buck antelope. The head 

 I intend to saA-e for mounting. Elliott. 



MAINE DEER. 



THERE is rare sport for the stiU-hunter in the Maine 

 woods this fall. Deer are j)lenty, is heard in every 

 direction; but hoAv really plenty has not yet been fully told. 

 Seeing a deer i.s an item, and the Maine newspapers get 

 hold of such items. From not very careful scamiing of 

 such ijapers 1 have picked up a record of nearly 100 deer, 

 already seen since the spring opened. This is probably 

 not one half the number tJiat has actually been seen, and 

 when it comes to be considered that but a few of the deer 

 in the forests are ever seen at all, it begins to appear how 

 numerous these animals have actually become m the 

 Pine Tree State. A gentleman recently' retm-ned from a 

 fishing trip to the Diamonds, in the Magalloway section, 

 says that one of the first and most agreeable sights AvMch 

 greeted his ej^es was that of a deer feeding in the edge 

 of the lake in broad dayliglit. After that they were seen 

 almost every day. It was the ride to point out the deer 

 feeding to every new comer. The Industrial Journal, 

 pubhshed at Bangor, Me., says that reports from differ- 

 ent sections agree that deer are more plenty in that State 

 than for many years past. Tliis is true in the recollection 

 of all the residents of that State who have given the sub- 

 ject any attention. Twenty years aigo the seeing of a 

 deer in Maine was a rare occurrence; to-day hundreds are 

 seen in a single season. Wliat has caused the change? 

 That question has been ansAvered many times in the 

 Forest and Stream; it does not need repetition just here. 

 The deer are seen nearer the settlements than ever before, 

 and what is the reason? The dreaded enemy, the hound^ 

 is no longer allowed to pursue him to destruction or drive 

 him into the depths of the forest. Is tMs an argument 

 in faA^or of hounding? 



But Avhile the deer are thus notably plenty near the set- 

 tlements, they are also just as abimdant hi tlie deep for- 

 ests. Then- signs Avere never so numerous before. So 

 say those who have been there on fisliing trips and other- 

 wise. Another Maine paper speaks of a most noted deer 

 range in the \dcinity of Nicatous Lake. It says that re- 

 cently James West and wife, while canoeing from Nica- 

 tous Lake into Gasabeus stream and up the sti-cam, saAv 

 twelve deer in one forenoon. The celebrated J. Darling, 

 of Lowell, in that State, is reported to have seen eighteen 

 deer on a trip to Gasabeus stream. 'Again, a Mr, Merrick, 

 a someAA-hat noted bear hunter, is said to have seen seven 

 deer at one time in Nicatous Lake. From the region of 

 Tim and Seven ponds come reports of deer just as plenty. 

 Now the full size of all these reports may be too strong, 

 but at least deer are Avonderfully plenty iii Maine. Even 

 the vacation scribblers have m"ade this subject a part of 

 their theme, and if they had stopped with the simple an- 

 nouncement that the deer were plentj^, they would have 

 done no harm. But when they recommenci the changing 

 of the game laws of that State so that the deer may a,gaiia 

 be destroyed, then it is time to protest. 



But would that the simple statement that there is an 

 abundance of deer in Maine were all there is to be told. 

 Would that the law, the strong ai-m of which is the very 

 bone and sineAv that has laid a wall around the deer dur- 

 ing the breeding season till they have begun to be plenty, 

 was respected as it should be! Positive evidence is not at 

 hand that the sons of the rich, spending A^acations in the 

 Maine woods, have broken the law and been guilty of 

 jack-shooting in June and July this year. Were such evi- 

 dence in the possession of the writer, the guilty parties, if 

 this reach their eyes, may rest assured it would be used 

 for all it is worth. But the fresh blood on the stones lin- 

 ing the shores of a pond and the hairs of a deer on the log 

 over which it was draAvn tell a good deal of a story. A 

 party of young men in a camp not far aAvay were about 

 the only persons who could have reached that pond at the 

 time. Were they paddled up to a deer and did they shoot 

 it? The guide who was Avith them knows, but he Avill not 

 divulge. But there was one tongue, innocent as nature 

 made it, that money could not stop. And I wonder those 

 young men don't hear its pitiful tones even to-day. The 

 little faAvn bleating at mght— each night fainter and 

 fainter — told that the mother doe had fallen and that the 

 fount from Avliich it had di-ank since its birth was forever 

 stopped. Stopped for what? Stopped because the sons 

 of some rich men desired to kill a deer. A noble deed 

 surely! They have come back to the city and bragged of 

 it. A ferocious buck, with branching horns! And the 

 little fools — smaller in true manliness and kindliness than 

 in bodily stature— did not know that the bucks have no 

 horns in the summer time. 



The above is only a single case. I fe^- that there are 

 more than one of them. The circumstances are actual, 

 the deer was shot. It Avas a doe, for its remains were 

 found in the pond. The bleating of the fawn at night- 

 fall is also actual. Yet Mr. Leander Richardson, of New 

 York, in a letter to the Boston IleroM, advocates the 

 shooting of deer in the summer season, and asks that the 

 laAvs of Maine be so modified as to permit of tliat pra<;;tice. 

 Is he a reasonable man? Is he a sportsman of a true 

 heart ? Then he has made one grand mistake. But this 

 is not all that is going on in the Pine Tree State. The 

 shooting of deer in close season, when it is so clear that 

 the establishment of a close season has worked such won- 

 ders in their increase, is not the only peculiar featui-e re- 

 garding the enforcement of the admirable game laws of 

 that State. There is au attempt being made to create 

 sympathy for those noted "Shackers.'' Ti-ied and con- 

 victed, not only of killing deer out of season, but of arson 

 as AveU; the biuning of the buildings of one of the game 

 wardens. A most grajthic accomit was pubhshed in the 

 Forest and Stream, from the pen of Dr. S. B. Hunter, 

 last Avinter. The crime was confessed by one of the 

 criminals implicating the rest. But yet there is an influ- 

 ence wMch is anxious that these criminals go free. The 



Lewiston, Me., JbttrnaZ publishes a senseless article from 

 the pen of a correspondent, written evidently for the 

 purpose of making the notorious "Shackers" mai-tja-s. 



There is a reckless element in Mahie Avhich desires to 

 see lier game laws stripped from her statute books, and 

 tMs element has for its foster the Boston and New York 

 vacatiomst, and the blood-and-tlmiider-story-reading boy, 

 whose father happens to have money sufficient to indulge 

 his hopeful in a trip to the Maine A^roods. The Mame hotel 

 keeper is also in the scheme, at heart, though he is less 

 open in his avowal. Why, ouly the other day a couple of 

 mere boys got off the train at" WintM'op, Me. , armed to 

 the very teeth. They had rifles and pistols, and theu- 

 belts Avere stuck full of cartridges, and each ornamented 

 with a hunting kmf e. Tliey Avere going to himt in the 

 vicinity of the tOAvn, a town for many years settled and 

 aif ordhig about as good an opportimity' for hunting, sup- 

 posing it to have been in the open season for any sort of 

 game, as would the city of Saratoga. A couple of young 

 men left Orange, N. J., the other day for the Maine 

 woods, and I am told that they carried all the firearms 

 that a trip to the Rocky Mountains Avould require. They 

 also announced before they started that they mtended to 

 shoot every tiling they saAv, and "d— -n the game laws." 

 Well, some watch wfil be kept on those fellows. Tliey 

 may go to Maine in the open season, hereafter, that is if 

 they do not fear an ai-rest for what they have aheady 

 done. There is a good deal of brag and bluster, but a 

 single dose of game warden, AAdth a. chance of going to a 

 Maine jail till Dad arrives Avith the money to help them 

 out, generally bi'ings the greatest shootist to terms. 



X. Y. Z. 



A BUNDLE OF BEAR YARNS. 



I HAVE often heard old lumbermen Avho had been 

 brought up in the Avilds of New Brunswick, and had 

 not been free from the odor of pine gum six years of their 

 thi-ee score and ten, say that tliey never saw a live, free, 

 Avild bear in their lives. I have yet, before reaching half 

 that age, time to accomijlish much good or catI, and 1 am 

 as fanuliar with the form of bruin in his native woods as 

 I am with the appearance of the cows in my father's pas- 

 ture. Some men, appai-ently not endowed by nature Avith 

 any peculiar gifts, harvest ten-dollar bills at every turn- 

 ing, while others, none the more favored naturally, seem 

 to be blessed by frequent sights of bears. And yet liun- 

 dreds argue that there is no such a tiling as "luck." 



When about six years of age, I was on an old Avood 

 road a hundred yards from my father, and concealed 

 from Ms AdcAv by a turning in the road, Avhen a large 

 black animal crossed the road in front of me, simply 

 deigning to cast in my direction a sneaking sidelong 

 glance. I thought it was a big dog of bad repute OAAmed 

 by one of oiu- neighbors, and it was several years after be- 

 fore I kncAV that on that day I had seen my first hear. 

 As I grew in years and stature, if not in wisdom, it be- 

 came a cherished ambition to kill one; and a story re- 

 cently published in this paper reminds me of my only ex- 

 perience in that Ime. I put an ounce spherical ball into 

 the liead of a trapped bear just below the inner corner of 

 the left eye, and it came out of the back of his neck on 

 one side of the spine. He dropped but came to his feet 

 Avitli the quickness of hghtning. 'Across his brow his 

 hand he dre«', from blood and mist to clear Ms sight," 

 aiid then he came for us literally "Avith blood in his eye." 

 His vigor Avas in no Avay diminished by the time we "had 

 reloaded our single muzzleloader, and had he been fr<ee 

 he could have chewed up the enthe audience. Robinson 

 Gardiner put a bullet in about an inch above tlie other 

 and he sank dead without a stTuggle. The second touched 

 the brain, the fu-st didn't. 



The imscientific ease Avith which some healthy speci- 

 mens haA^e lately been secured, has considerably dimin- 

 ished the longing to slaughter one free and untrammelled, , 

 on his native heath or huckleberry barren; and I have 

 concluded that the mere kiUing of a bear is no great feat 

 after all. 



In the summer of '83 the residents of the eastern side 

 of Salmon River, tiu-ned out en masse to giA'e a sort of 

 matinee "benefit" to an old sheep-pen depopulator. He 

 was in a block of A\'oods adjacent to the river, and as a 

 lumberman would say, "they qmoldy ran a boom around 

 Mm."' But bruin knew a trick Avorth two of that. Like 

 Horatius Codes, he saAv the foe blocking all the avenues 

 of escape beMnd, the river in front, and probable safety on 

 the other side. He had the advantage of the Roman liero, 

 in not being encumbered Avith any harness ; and he showed 

 shghtly better judgment, though perhaps less valour, in 

 not fooling aAvay any time in making speeches. So he 

 plunged in to SAvim over amid a shower of lead like 

 that among which the patriotic tirtist depicts Commo- 

 dore Perry during his progress towards another A^essel 

 after the sinking of his flagship in tiie celebrated Put-in- 

 Bay conflict. But there was one factor in the result 

 Avliich the bear hadn't considered. In midstream the 

 schooner Watchman, Cajit. HumpM-ies, bore down upon 

 him. In the boAA- chains stood tlie captam with determi- 

 nation plainly A'isible in his countenance and a pickaroon 

 in Ms hand. The vessel w as laid alongside, the shariJ 

 steel Avent deep into brmn's brain, a fall Avas run doAvn, 

 he Avas hoisted on board, taken to the warf at Chipmaii, 

 where G. G. King, M. P., took the deposition of the master; 

 the captam pocketed $3.00 bounty and shi^jped the carcass 

 home by steamer next morning. 



All the bears I ever saw, save one, seemed to be pos- 

 sessed of a modest, retiring disposition, as if they would 

 object to notoriety being suddenly thriisl; on them, and 

 had a. decided repugnance to forming aii}- close acquamt- 

 auce Avith a man, without some knoAvledge of his jiast 

 character and iiresent intentions; in short, they seemed 

 to have adopted the maxim, "Live and let live." So 

 ■sublime Avas the impudence of that exception, that per- 

 haps the story is worth repeating: One Sunday in Octo- 

 ber, 1871, Avith a comiianion, 1 left a house on Grand 

 Lake to go to a point on the Washadunoak, about eight 

 miles distant. Five miles of the road led tM-ough an 

 almost imbroken forest. Two miles from Grand Lake is 

 a little hollow, the di-amage of which is A^ery imperfect; 

 and as a consequence, the tiu'iipike portion of the road 

 (about 12ft. wide) ran through a pond, about Oft. wide on 

 either side of the road. The night, to use the words of 

 my companion, "was dark as the inside of a nigger's 

 pocket." We were walking briskly along near the mid- 

 dle of the road at the place described, talkmg and laugh- 

 mg, when a great black' mass arose withha three feet of 

 us, giA'ing vent to a snarl that chilled the blood to my 



