►Sept. 2, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



105 



eager than their masters for the chase, we set out for the 

 haiuits of the game. 



There happened to be at this time visiting I)r. P. one 

 of the loveliest of the beautiful daughters of Bossier 

 Point. Lieut. M., a handsome and dashing yovuig oificer 

 of the Army, was also making his lionclquarters there, 

 and was one of the hunting party for the day. I was 

 young myself, then, and the beautiful vision of the fair 

 yoimg girl as she came out upon the balcony to bid us off 

 to the chase, holding aloft in her hand a prize for the 

 successful hunter, sent a thrill tlirough my veins that 

 made me resolve to be no laggard in the hunt, and to 

 make the gay lieutenant look well to his honors if he 

 won them tl) at day. 



A wonderful amount of skill can be acquired in deer 

 liunting; either in driving with dogs or in stalking in the 

 still-hunt. To acquire this skill one must study closely the 

 habits of the deer. In deer driving it is customary to 

 place the standers at certain stations known as stands, 

 where the deer, fleeing Ijefore the hormds, are suj^posed 

 to pass. The diiver goes tlirough the forest with tlie 

 hounds to start the deer, it is a little singular tliat all 

 the deer in a given forest have jjretty much the same 

 runs wliicli tliey follow when prcessed, and by observing 

 the rims an old hunter will in: a short tirne discover the 

 best stands. I speak of course of ojicn forests \^-]lere they 

 are not hemmed in by fences or other obstructions. An 

 experienced himter, "in a forest where he has never been 

 before, w-ill often detect the deer stands by a close observ- 

 ance of the topograpliy of the country and of the forest 

 growth. A caieful stu<fv of these will give a hunter a 

 very decided advantage in hunting deer. 



Arriving at our hunting grounds a few miles from the 

 town, where the unbroken forest stretched away for many 

 miles, the standers w-ere placed and the drive began. 

 Through courtesy, in the first drive, they gave to me 

 choice of stands, the others making the clioice for me as I 

 had never hunted there before. In the distance I could 

 occasionally hear the shout of the driver m-ging on his 

 dogs. Hark! the horn-like, musical note of a hound far 

 away in the forest. There, another iohis in the distant 

 cry. They have stiaick a cold trail, and patiently they 

 work it up. One after another, as the scent grows warmer 

 the other dogs join in the chonis. The blood begins to 

 tingle in my veins. I look at my gun to see that all is 

 right. Nearer and more distinct, and at shorter intervals, 

 come floating on the air distinct notes of the hounds. 

 Listen! there is a crash of sounds. Every dog's throat 

 gives ton.gue at once. The deer is up and on they come. 

 t Nearer and nearer, louder and louder. Carefully both 

 barrels of my gam are cocked, and with eager eyes I scan 

 the forest in the direction of the dogs. But, listen, they 

 have changed their course. Steadily tlie sounds grow 

 fainter until scarcely audible. Bang! bang! come the 

 reports of two shots from deep in the forest. The driver 

 has intercepted the deer and perhaps killed it. At any rate 

 my chances are gone. The smile of beauty will not 

 be for me on our' retiu-n. Hist! I hear the distant 

 notes of a hound retm-ning. Nearer and nearer he comes. 

 Now he is joined by another. I may yet get a chance. 

 Alas! they are turning to the right. Lieutenant M. occu- 

 pies that stand. On, on they "come. Now I listen, ex- 

 pecting every moment to hear the lieutenant's gmi sound 

 the death knell of the buck. There, they tm-n. Again 

 they bear off into the depths of the foresf and all is still, 

 save the occasional howling of a sti-aggling hound tliro^vn 

 j out of the chase. This time the buck has gone to the 

 I bayou and taken to the water, where he is safe. No, 

 they have turned again. I hear the distant notes of the 

 pack. There, another gun; but they do not stop. The 

 dogs are badly scattered now, and only two or tlu'ee are 

 in the chase, but on they come. They are half a mile 

 away, but tliis time coming straight for my stand. A 

 chilly sensation creeps over me, but the "buck ague" 

 never made me miss a deer. Again I cock my gun. Ah, 

 look — what a beautiful sight. He is a long way ahead of 

 the dogs and makes his leaps most gi-acefuUy. See how 

 he waves his plumed tail aloft. Now he stops, and with 

 head and ears erect, listens to the dogs. A few more 

 bounds and he is in range of my gun. My finger is on 

 the trigger. A puff of smoke, a ringing report, and the 

 buck plunges headlong to the ground. In a moment he 

 is up again and bounding away. Another report, and he 

 falls to rise no more. Three clear, distinct blasts from 

 my horn announce the death of the deer and summon 

 the other hunters to my aid. 



It is yet not past midday, and another drive is proposed 

 in a different direction. The proposition is eagerly sec- 

 onded. The sight of the buck has quickened the ambition 

 of the hunters. The dogs are rested for a while and fed 

 lightly on some of the offal of the deer, and are eager for 

 another chase. The doctor Imows another good drive a 

 mile away, and off we start through the woods to reach 

 the stand. A jolly crowd we were. Elated with the suc- 

 cess of the first drive, we urge our horses forward as fast 

 as the thick undergrowth will permit, each man egar to 

 get to his place. 



It had become a. habit Avith me to observe carefully 

 when in the woods the conformation of the ground and 

 the natui'e of the forest growth as indicating the runs of 

 deer, and I considered myself something of an adept in 

 locating the best deer .stands in woods where I had never 

 been before. After riding perhaps half or three-quarters 

 of a mile, we came to a place unnoticed by the others, at 

 which I called a halt. Making some inquiries as to the 

 distance to the stand to which we were going, and the 

 direction from which the drive was to be made, I asked 

 permission to be allowed to take my stand where we then 

 were. The doctor was disposed to ridicule me at first, 

 and said no deer ever came there. Another of the hunt- 

 ers spoke up, however, and told him he Avas mistaken 

 about that, though it had never been regarded as a stand, 

 I told him I would make it my stand and take my chances 

 at it, with their permission. Leaving me, the others went 

 on to their places. I had, at any rate, relieved them from 

 any obligations of com-tesy to give me the best stand the 

 second time. I hitched my horse out of sight in the 

 bushes and selected a position from which I could com- 

 mand the best view, and awaited developments. In half 

 an hour I could hear the dogs trailing in the distance. It 

 Was late in the day and the track was cold. By de2;rees 

 ;hey worked the trail along until they came 'to wdiere 

 iome of the hunters were standing, and I heard the signal 

 dven for the close of the hunt and the standers were en- 

 leavoring to stop the dogs. Just then, looking in that 

 lirection, I discovered the branching antlers of a cunning 

 jld buck, as he raised them above the bushes, coming 



dii-ectly toward me. Slipping out of the drive, in an in- 

 stant my gim was cocked and ready for action. The old 

 buck stealthily made his way through the thick brush, 

 noAV and then turning his liead to listen, until he emerged 

 into the open place 1 had selected for my stand, scjircely 

 fifty yards away. I raiscnl ray gun to Rro. The quick 

 eye of the wary^old fellow caught sight, of the motion and 

 he fell back on his haunches, preparatory for a bound into 

 the bushes. He was too hite. The ringing peal of my 

 gun startled the eclioos around, and as the smoke cleared 

 away the old buck lay Avhere he had fallen in his tracks. 



That evening, after tea, feeling somewhat elated over 

 my success, and somewhat disposed to triiunph over the 

 handsome young lieutenant, I concluded to pay my re- 

 spects to the beautiful belle of Bossier, who, standing 

 upon the balconj^ of the Doctor's residence that morning, 

 had bidden us contest for the honors of the liunt. 



Alas! I found my rival aliead of me, and on entering 

 the parlor where tlioy were seated in cosy chat, I soon 

 became conscious of such an all-pervading sense of un- 

 welcome interruption that I concluded the wrong man 

 had won tlie prize in the limit, and that the shorter my 

 visit the more it would bo appreciated just then. It was 

 evident that the young lieutenant had the inside track 

 and a dozen of lengths the lead in that race. 



The doctor had taught tlic \vro)ig nran how to kill deer. 



H. E. Jones. 



THE QUAILS OF CALIFORNIA. 



QACRAMENTO, CaL, Aug. 21.— Editor Forest and 

 kJ Stream: Your correspondent, "A.," vtuiting under 

 date of July 6, discoui'ses quite intelligently upon the 

 California quail — more so than most writers that have 

 essayed to pictiu-e the merits and demerits of our chief 

 game bird. And yet there arc some points in his article 

 that do not quite tally with the experience of those who 

 have had much to do with these birds of late years. The 

 locality in which "A." spealts of having hunted (El Dor- 

 ado county) adjoins this county of Sacramento, and much 

 of the liunting that we of this place en joy is among the 

 foothills of El Dorado. "A." says: "The best sport I 

 could get was to find a locality where the chapparal was 

 not more than breast high, and it was generally so thick 

 as to preclude seeing the dog or ground ten feet away, 

 and by working the dog carefully within short range, 

 shoot the birds raised within shooting distance; and they 

 generally got up 25 or 30yds. away. * * * The dog 

 was indispensable as a retriever, so thick was the cover," 

 etc. 



Now, while "A." may have enjoyed much experience 

 among California quail in the days of wliich he writes, it 

 seems to me that he failed to "catch on" to the true 

 method of hunting these birds. For my part, I never 

 knew anybody to enter a chapparal thicket in pursuit of 

 quail, except as a last resort in order to get meat. The 

 proper thing to do is to avoid these thickets altogether, 

 and seek, the birds in more open places. It is true that 

 cm- quail have a great lildng for the brush, but it is also 

 true that they are to be foimd in comparatively open 

 ground, seldom in cornfields or stubblefields, but on 

 sparsely wooded slopes and low ridges where there may 

 be sufficient grass and rocks to afford cover for hiding. 

 And as to their rising 25 to 30yds. away, my experience 

 has been that this occurs rarely after the birds have once 

 been flushed and scattered. Usually they flush rather 

 wild at first, but after a few shots are fired they lie very 

 close. As to hunting these birds (or any other quail) with- 

 out a dog to find and point them, I am'^at a loss to under- 

 stand how anybody can find much sport in it. True, I 

 used to do it myself, long years ago, when I was only too 

 glad to get off the ranch with a shotgun in my hands, and 

 had no idea how much of the true inwardness of sports- 

 manship depended upon the companionship and assist- 

 ance of a good setter or pointer. Many and many a mile 

 I might have been saved in a day's hunting had I 

 known the value of a good dog and been able to get 

 hold of one. But, "where ignorance is bliss," etc., and 

 so I went along in those callow days just as a good many 

 others are going along to-day, having my own kind of 

 fim, and learning in a simple manner from year to year 

 something of the arts that so elevate field sports as to 

 enchain the passions of men, even unto the time that 

 life's journey nears its end. We used to have an old ranch 

 dog, wdiose chief duty was to catch and hold pigs 

 occasionally. There was a little bull in him, but the rest 

 was, I think, just dog, and a very common article at that. 

 He liked the fun of chasing hares, and hence was always 

 ready to follow anybody going out with a gun. Having 

 seen men from town accompanied by dogs while hunting, 

 I soon began to think it the proper thing, for some unex- 

 plained reason. So I got to taking our old dog out into 

 the hills with me, and felt as big as the biggest toad in 

 the puddle, albeit neither the dog nor myself, nor any- 

 body else that saw us, ever discovered the utihty of tlie 

 combination. And so, even to to-day, we find men going 

 out in search of game accompanied by dogs of all kinds 

 and conditions, and lots of them have no more idea than 

 their four-footed companions where to look for quail nor 

 how to hunt them if they should find them. I do not mean 

 that "A." is of this class, for in the country he refers to 

 there is much of this chapparal ground, and'he may liave 

 been compelled to do most of his hunting on it. But, 

 while none of us contend that our quails furnish as 

 agreeable sport as do their Eastern cousins, they often 

 come very neaj- it, and a good dog can be used to excellent 

 advantage in himting them. 



I used to have (ten years ago) a native Irish-Gordon dog 

 that did excellent work on quail. I once had shooting 

 over more than thirty square points on single birds be- 

 longing to two coveys within the space of an horn- and a 

 half. And it is my recollection that not a bird was flushed 

 dming that time by the report of the gun. They lay so 

 close that the dog frequently pointed buds while return- 

 ing with one in his mouth. Notwithstanding his obscure 

 lineage that dog had more real merit than some of the 

 finest blooded ones of to-day. Had he been trained not 

 to break shot (which was about his only weakness) I be- 

 lieve he could not have been beaten by any of our field 

 trial winners of tlie present time, I have experimented 

 ^v^th. many others since then; indeed I have spent all my 

 spare time in trying to develop something in the dog line, 

 but with poor success. The last one had a pedigree; also 

 a blue belton body and stylish tail (I believe it is called 

 "stern" nowadays). I got along with him so nicely in the 

 yard for eleven months that I was sure he would just para- 

 lyze the whole of that year's dog crop. He was honored 

 by having his name printed in the list of field trial entries 



He was to be the Derby winner, sure. "While exercising 

 bun in the park, and when he would be ranning like a 

 race horse, I would whistle; he would look and as soon as 

 I raised my arm down, he would go like a shot, flat uj)on 

 the ground. Prouienaders would stop and admire him, 

 then compliment his hapj iy liandler. 



Well, the anxious opening day of the season came. A 

 friend and myself hired a vehicle and team for three days 

 and went to the neigliboring foothills. J shot a quail and 

 my canine hopeful came near stepping on it, but shied off 

 so as not to injure it. I picked the bird u]), called in the 

 Derby winner^ and placed the bird to his nose. He held 

 his breath and tm-ned his head aside. I placed it against 

 Iris nose again, and he turned his head mournfully to the 

 other side. I became sick and AATinted to go home at 

 once, but my companion was having too much pleasure 

 wn'th his excellent pointer, a]id I tbought I'd give the 

 dog another chance. The same tiniig was repeated again 

 and again, and the next day I made a present of the igno- 

 ininious failure to a ranchman. I told him I was wealthy, 

 that I had a large kennel of sporting dogs, and seldtjm 

 shot over the same one twice. He accepted the prize 

 with thanks, and I went into his vineyard and alo thirty 

 cents worth of grapes (I was just twenty-nine cents and 

 nine mills aliead on the transaction). That Avas nearly a 

 year ago. A few months since the l)cautiful blue belton 

 came to toAvn and made Ids headquarters at a brewery. 

 The proprietor of the brewery has (I am told) been kind 

 to him, and proudly exhibits to his friends his thorough- 

 bred "LoAv Allen" bird dog. Well, that dog's successor is 

 now a year old, and in six Aveeks I shall knoAv whether or 

 not this year's labors have also been spent in A'ain, I have 

 no fear, hoAvever. I tiied the pup one day on quail— the 

 last of February— when he was six months old, and he 

 pointed, ranged and retrieved like a veteran. I have 

 strong hopes that the blood of old Sancho and Boav will 

 not have been united in vain. 



But I have wandered far away from the thread of mj- 

 subject. "A." spoke of the difficulty of bagging the Cal- ' 

 ifornia quail, and questions the value of a good dog in 

 hunting them. As to the latter, I notice— by again refer- 

 ring to his letter— that he admits having occasionally had 

 brief spells of pleasant shooting, in tolerably open ground, 

 over an old English pointer. He, however, seems to. 

 regard with some incredulity reports of persons bagging 

 as high as fifty quail per day. I have knowm scores of 

 men to bag that many birds in a day's shooting, and I 

 have the record of a part of two months' shooting (Novem- 

 ber and December) done by three young men of this 

 county a few seasons ago. They are brothers, and hunt . 

 together a great deal. Their favorite ground has been 

 along the Cosumnes River, they going to and from the 

 ground (eight miles) each day. 



In November the young men hunted on twenty-one 

 days. The highest daily scores, respectively, 97, 67 and 

 62; the lowest, 31, 31 and 28; averages, 55, 49 and 46; total 

 number of birds bagged, 2,965. In December a fourth 

 brother took a hand, and they hunted sixteen days. The 

 highes individual scores were 81, 66, 64 and 49; the lowest 

 Avere 35, 22, 15 and 12; averages, 66|, 49, 40 and 25; total 

 bag of four men in sixteen days, 2,480, or 5,445 bhds 

 killed in thirty-seven days. 



It is my imiiression that some of the shooters used dogs, 

 and I am pretty certain that muzzleloaders prevailed. 

 Happening to have these figures, I give them here to show 

 Avhat can be done among our birds by good shots. Such 

 wholesale slaughter is, hoAvever, to 'be deprecated, and I 

 trust that neither the same parties nor any others will 

 hereafter strive to attain notoriety of this kind. 



I don'tthink— as "A." facetiously remarks may be the 

 case— that our quails have been instructed in the art of 

 behaving more decently when gentlemen are afield, nor 

 that they are at aU better inclined than they ever were; 

 but I do think that men are getting to better understand 

 their peculiarities, and above all are looking more and 

 more to the intelhgence and training of well-bred dogs as 

 a necessary adjunct of successful quail shooting, here m 

 Avell as elsAvhere. 



We expect to hold our field trials this year among the 

 clover-fields of Fresno county, Avhere it is said bhds are 

 plentifid and he well to the dog. If "A." ever returns to 

 these parts, I beheve he will find that— if the bhds have 

 not become better educated— the spoii^smen have, in some 

 respects at least. N. E. W. 



Albino Buffalo.— A press yarn from Chicago re- 

 ports: From Lander, Wyoming Territory, to-day comes 

 a story which is of ciuious interest to the sporting com- 

 munity. It is to the effect that John Gaylor, a well-knoAvn 

 hunter and trapper of the Wind Mountains, has slain a 

 white buffalo buU or one so gray that it can very easily be 

 called white. Jack secured his game about two Aveeks 

 ago Avhile on an elk hunt in the recesses of the Wind 

 Mountains. By the merest accident he stumbled upon a 

 small but deep basin, one of the most hidden of haunts. 

 In this he found the gray or wiiite buffalo. AVhen the 

 hunter came to examine his prize he found that it bore 

 all the marks of very old age. The horns Avere worn down 

 to the skull and presented the appearance of bald, smooth 

 spots on the head rather than the natural projection. The 

 teeth were few and fragmentary, and were' almost even 

 Avith the jaAvbones. Though living in the midst of the 

 richest and most succulent gTasses and herbs, the patri- 

 arch hoar and gray was very , poor in flesh. The appear- 

 ance of the basin indicated beyond doubt that the bull 

 had in that one spot seen many a summer's sun and many 

 a Avinter's storm. In the course of nature his race Avas 

 about ran, and the snoAv of the coming Avinter would have 

 covered his age-worn carcass. Many hunters think that 

 the trusty rifle of "Hunter Jack" has slain the famous 

 white buff'alo of Shoshone and Arapahoe Indian tradition, 

 and that the tradition has thus been proA'^ed a fact. 



Camping Queries and Suggestions.— Pittsburgh, Pa. 

 —Editor Forest and Stream: In "Woodcraft," "Ness- 

 muk" advises an open fire in front of tlie shanty tent, 

 HoAv does he manage to keep the fire from being drowned 

 in the frequent rains that occur? How can one cook on 

 such fires in the wet? Why does not stmie one put on the 

 rnarket a small silk tent and hammock of compact and 

 hght texture? It would not be such an incumberance as 

 those now in use. I have slept on a hammock made of 

 barrel staves and covered with aAvning cloth, by securing 

 between trees. Such a hammock is quite comfortable and 

 effectually safe from reptiles; but the bulkiness is against 

 its use. My outfit Avith gun, blanket and week's ration 

 weighs 501bs., allowing 201bs. for gnn, food and ammmu- 

 tion.— D, B. R. ' 



