226 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



rOcT. 14, 1886 



A DAY ON KENTUCKY STUBBLES. 



FOR several months past my brotlier Ed, friend Seaf 

 and myself had been planning a quail hunt; and at 

 last -we aU decided to break from the treadmill of office 

 work, and a friend, who is the proprietor of a beautiful 

 Kentucky farm, was notified of oirr intended visit. We 

 filled cartridge cases and packed up breechloaders, each 

 of lis taking 200 cartridges which we thought would be 

 sufficient for two days' shooting, boarded the train and 

 had a very pleasant run do'v^m to Rowletts. We were 

 greatly amused by the conversation which was carried on 

 by a party of yotmg fello ,Vs who occupied a seat nearly 

 opposite ours. They were all clad in fancy hunting suits 

 and then- hands were encased in kid gloves; they were 

 discussing the merits of double-nosed pointers and ham- 

 merless breechloaders in a way which i^lainly showed that 

 their knowledge of the dog and gun had been acquired 

 from some c^ty gunsmith who had probably never shot a 

 quail and co Id not tell the difference between a setter 

 and a pointei At the station we found friend M. with 

 Ms team of pr ty sleek mules. 



The next m ning we donned our huntiag clothes — 

 blue flannel shk-. old pantaloons and stout shoes, a very 

 simple outfit but a very comfortable one. After a five 

 o'clock breakfast, being impatient to get among tlie birds, 

 we put our guns together and calling Chief, as fine a 

 specimen of dog flesh as I ever saw, quite large and 

 beautifully formed, we started out in quest of game. M. 

 told us there were birds in a field adjoining his yard, 

 where he had raised wheat. We started in that field and 

 were soon convinced that the game was near at hand, for 

 we had not proceeded 100yds. before Chief, who had been 

 quartering the ground about 403-ds. ahead of us, began to 

 steady down, and holding liis head breast liigh com- 

 menced to draw up on a little clvmip of weeds which 

 grew on the edge of a ditch; slower and slower he went 

 until, straightening out and becoming rigid he made a 

 beautiful point. Chief had done his part beautifully, and 

 now was the time for our part of the business, which Avas 

 not performed in so graceful a manner. Ed and myself 

 are both old hands at quaU shooting, but Seaf had never 

 before di-awn a bead at 'anything but clay-pigeons, at 

 which he is a good shot. We all walked up to where the 

 birds were and flushed the flock. They rose all together 

 and then separated, part fljang toward'^a bunch of beech 

 woods wlrich grew near by, and the other part went over 

 to a cornfield; I gave my first ban-el to a bird which 

 came my way and dropped him, but missed with my sec- 

 ond barrel. Ed bagged one bird and Seaf wounded one 

 badly, but it succeeded in getting away. After marking 

 them down we followed them uj), and succeeded in bag- 

 ging four more out of the same flock. After getting all 

 we could from this flock we hunted the rest of the field, 

 and found another flock, out of which we bagged six fine 

 bu'ds; and then crossed over to another field belonging to 

 a neighbor of M.'s, where we formd a very large flock of 

 birds, but only secured three, for we were informed by 

 the j)roprietor that Ms land was posted, and we were 

 obliged to withdraw, leavmg the birds well scattered in a 

 sedge field. Then we held a council of war and decided 

 to "knock off" for dinner. 



After dinner we again took the field and succeeded in 

 swelling the bag to thirty-three birds aU told. We shot 

 imtn it grew so dark that we could not see the birds, and 

 then turned our steps homeward. 



We retired that Mght expectmg to enjoy a fine day's 

 sport on the morrow; but we were doomed to bitter dis- 

 appointment, for the next day opened v/et and cold, with 

 a steady ram falling, and we were comi)elled to remain in 

 the house all day and passoff the time spinning yarns and 

 cleaning up the guns, imtil it was time for us to leave to 

 catch the night train for LouisviUe. M. drove us over to 

 the station and put us and oiu- traps on the ti-ain. The 

 last thing he said when we pai-ted from Mm was, "Boys, 

 whenever you want to tiy the birds again just let me 

 know you are coming in time to hitch up the team and 

 meet you at the train." We arrived in Louisville about 8 

 o'clock in the morning, aU pretty tired, but well satisfied 

 with our trip. D, G, R. 



THE FIRES IN THE PARK. 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Sept. 29.— Edi- 

 tor Forest and Stream: The fires which have been 

 raging in the Park for the past six weeks received a check 

 from light snows which fell on the 23d and 25th inst. 

 The storms were heaviest on Slough Creek, putting out 

 the fires there, and those on Blacktail Deer Creek. The 

 fires are still burning on Tower Creek. Those on the Mad- 

 ison are destroying immense quantities of timber. Unless 

 the fire on the south fork of the Madison is soon checked 

 it will reach Norris Basin, when the hotel at that point 

 will be in danger. Bannock Indians set some of the fires; 

 carlessness on the part of hunters and tourists caused 

 most of the others. 1 cannot believe any white man 

 would intentionally set fire to tlie timber in the Park. A 

 lighted cigar, cigarette or match with only a live coal 

 dropped among pine trees will often cause a fii-e; and tlie 

 person may be many miles -away before it amounts to 

 enough to attract attention. I have put out fires along 

 the trails wMch, I tliink, were caused in that way. At 

 least one-twentieth of the timbered area of the Park hafi 

 been burned over since the spring of 1882. 



Some game is being killed in the Park, as parties run on 

 to the remains of elk and deer from which most of the 

 meat has been taken. A party of tM-ee hunters and trap- 

 pers from Eagle Rock, Idaho, were discovered on the 

 head of the Gibbon, southwest of Dunraven Peak; but 

 before they could be arrested they packed up and left for 

 Montana. " Owing to the nature of the country in wMch 

 the game is foimd, it is almost impossible for any one not 

 experienced in the business to find hunters or ti;a,ppors 

 who wish to avoid arrest. Captain Harris, acting super- 

 intendent, has men out scouting for hunters and careless 

 campers. ' Jack Baronette, with some of the troop 

 stationed here, brought in a prisoner, who was supposed 

 to have started one of the fires on the Madison; but as 

 nothing could be proved against him he was discharged. 



On the 25th a party of tourists saw five buffalo on 

 Alum Creek, the first that have been seen tMs smnmer. 

 Twenty-four antelope were seen on Indian Creek near 

 Swan Lake. Elk are very plenty in the Park; at least 

 300 are in the timber on the head waters of the Gibbon 

 River near the Mount Washington Range. Bands of 

 from 10 to 20 are often seen on Indian Creek, and within 

 four miles of the Mammoth Hot Springs. 

 Barracks, stables, store houses and other necessary 



buildmgs are being built at the Mammoth Hot Springs 

 for the accommodation of tlie troop stationed there. The 

 site selected for the buildings is to the right of the King- 

 man road to Norris, between the road and the Hot Spring 

 terraces. 



There are very few visitors in the Park now, although 

 tMs is the best time of the year to travel in the mountains. 



X. 



ABOLISH SPRING SHOOTING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Summer is over, bay snipe shooting is ended, and I have 

 had a rattling good time. Never have I had such fine 

 shooting as I have had tMs summer on the meadows over 

 decoys. 



Last spring the birds commenced to an-ive on May 2, 

 and they came and went until May 28. Not a gun was 

 fired at them (thanks to the spring law' and they came 

 back with their young in droves, makin splendid shoot- 

 ing. Among some of the good days thai can remember 



I bagged 27, 32,42,56 and 61. The da I bagged 42, I 

 went on the meadow with fif tv shells 8 A. M. and at 



II A. M. I had forty-two good^ birds, tL j fifty shells aU 

 used, and I left with fi\^e yellowlegs coming to decoys to 

 be killed, but I was satisfied and happy to let those birds 

 go on their journey to the meadows to the west, where 

 my friend Mr. W. L. Breeze was waiting for them. His 

 bag, I have since learned, for that day was fifty-two. I have 

 been looking anxiously for the English snipe to come 

 along, but have not seen any until to-day I bagged two, 

 all that I flushed, and one yelper and one meadow plover. 

 Ten years ago I could bag one hundred English smpe 

 here in the season, but now they are very scarce, owing 

 to shooting in the spring. I hope yet to see a law against 

 shooting English snipe in the spring. 



Alfred A. Eraser. 



OakdaivB, l, I., Oct. 8. 



Two days snipe shooting at Atlanticville, Long Island, 

 scored as follows: Saturday, Oct. 2 — 10 yelpers, 1 plover, 



1 brant bird, 4 English snipe, 3 dowitchers, 57 creekers, 

 20 leadbacks, 12 ox-eyes. Oct. 4 — 12 yelpers, 10 English 

 snipe, 21 creekers, 6 leadbacks, 69 ox-eyes. Friday, Oct. 

 1 — The old gunner shot 21 large snipe, 15 were yelpers or 

 large yeUowlegs, 4 plover (blackbreast), 1 golden plover, 



2 yellowlegs, 1 robin snipe, 36 creekers, 1 English snipe, 

 69 ox-eyes.— F. J. J. DE R. 



The Skin-Hunters. — ^A gentleman who has just re- 

 turned from a hunting excursion to Southern Oregon, says 

 the business of kiUing deer for their skins is still carried 

 on there as extensively as ever. In every direction in 

 Coos, Curry and Jackson counties the camps of these 

 skin-hunters are found, and around thern are the carcasses 

 of deer rotting on the ground. Two hiuiters will start out 

 each with a packhorse loaded with provisions for two 

 weeks, and at the end of that time return with their 

 horses laden with a hundred to a hundred and fifty deer 

 skins. For these they get about fifty cents each. One of 

 the worst features of this business is that, as the skins are 

 thinner and better adapted for fine bucksldn in the sum- 

 mer time than after the \^dnter coat of hair has come out 

 and the hide thickened, htmdreds of does are shot before 

 their fawns are sufficiently grown to take care of them- 

 selves. — Portland Oregonian. 



Western Large Game. — Fi-emont, Elkhora & Missouri 

 Valley R. R., Douglas, Wyo., Oct. 5. — Should any of yoirr 

 readers contemplate a hunt this fall for large game, such 

 as elk, bear, deer, antelope, etc., I can furmsli information 

 as to the locality of said game that will be reliable. I am 

 in no way connected with the above named road, and 

 have no "axe to grind" other than that I would like to 

 join a party of Siiy four or five for a two weeks' hunt. 

 The locahty hinted at is easily accessible from this point, 

 and it may be confidently relied on that the game 

 mentioned (besides grouse, sage hens, etc.), can be found 

 in quantities. Anj^ parties contemplating shooting for 

 "heads and Mdes" or a wholesale slaughter need not apply. 

 — Abner. 



Mississippi. — Aberdeen, Oct. 5. — The open season for 

 quail began last Friday. Business prevented my going 

 out, but a friend of mine, who makes a point of shooting 

 on the opening day of every season, was out for an hoiu" 

 or two in the afternoon. He reported four bevies foimd 

 and twelve birds bagged. The bevies were large and the 

 bhds well grown. Unfavorable ground prevented Ms 

 maMng a larger bag. Reports as to the number of birds 

 this season are conflicting: but, in my opinion, there will 

 he fewer than usual. June was an imusually wet month, 

 and this usually begets a short bird crop.— Will. 



"Alf" Taylor, who, with Ms brother "Bob," is run- 

 ning for the GovernorsMp of Tennessee, is a good shot 

 and a sMUful himter. "Bob" is quoted by a New York 

 Times correspondent as saying: "Alf was always fond 

 of hunting. When a mere lad he would go out on the 

 mountain with an old man Avho lived near us and camp 

 out for weeks at a time. I believe he liad rather hunt 

 now than do anything else." 



New Jersey. — Smithbm-g, Oct. 7. — Quail are more 

 plentiful than they have been for a number of years, and 

 I have several fine coveys spotted for next month's shoot- 

 mg. Pheasants are quite numerous in the pines south of 

 tMs place, but it is pretty rough hunting; the cover is 

 very tMck, with plenty of briers.— W. L. B. 



Dakota, Bismarck, Oct. 6.— Geese are plentiful and v-'e 

 are ha^dng fine sport. There are gentlemen here from 

 aU parts of the countiy in answer to my letters in your 

 paper. Dr. McKoun of Albany, N. Y., has been here, and 

 Mr. S. F. Rathbmi, of Auburn, is here with other friends. 

 — W. H, Williamson. 



DOG TRAINING AND DOG POINTS.— Tke first two chapters of 

 Hammond's "Training vs. Breaking," and all the "Stenehenge" 

 standards, vnth. standards adopted by specialty cluhs. In paper 

 r overs, price 25 cents, postpaid, by Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



"That reminds me." 

 191. 



I HAVE been so often and pleasantly mentioned in 

 your columns \>j yom- piscatorial friend and corres- 

 pondent, the Hon. James M. Scovil, that I feel I have an 

 introduction to yom- readers, and can vary matters a bit 

 by teMng a few things I know about Mr. Scovil himself. 

 Few good and reliable things can be said of a fisherman. 

 Men will go then bail if they get in trouble; sometimes a 

 person can be found who will testify to their veracity; 

 under a great pressure a bit of evidence may be put upon 

 record that one was once known to tell the^ruth. What 

 I especially want to say of him has no connection what- 

 ever with Ms imagmed episodes. There is a reahtv about 

 him, a camaraderie, that makes an impress up^on the 

 record of the world's doings. While I call him the myth- 

 ical symbolism of an imaginary quantity. I have good 

 reason to know and tell of a materialization over 6ft. in 

 length, proportioned and substantiated, set a-going and 

 with wondrous head works. Now to my story : 



One day after one of those dinners he Ukes so much he 

 said: "Did you ever catch a salmon oft' of the glacier 

 streams of Norway?" Being a constitutional fisherman and 

 consequent liar I said: "Yes." "Well," said he, "then you 

 have enjoyed the same pleasirre that I have. Were you 

 towed far out?" That rather got me. I did not know 

 what to say. However, I mustered and said, "I toed as 

 far as I could." That mystified him. He looked at me 

 and seemed disappointed about sometMng. I noticed a 

 revivifying thrill go tMough him, them came his consti- 

 tutional clutch of Ms glass as he asked: "John, did you 

 ever have a struggle with a shrimp?" 



That beat me ail to pieces. I responded "No." "Well," 

 said he, "you are lucky. There are few men, as far as I 

 can learn, who have sm-vived struggles with one. Ter- 

 rible, they are. It takes a man of my physique to get 

 tMougli one alive. Some day I wiU. show you the woimds 

 I got. It was away back in the war times, '62. I was 

 fighting scouts, Florida Indians. Had been Hving for 

 over a month on sand fleas and tropical mosquitoes, 

 caught maraudmg ui^on my person, when one day I went 

 to the beach for an ocean bath, and with the trae mstinct 

 of a fisherman took a hook and Ime with me. Wlien I 

 reached the tipping waves of the Atlantic, I evolved and 

 established the first natatorium on the Florida coast. 

 While I was staking or rather swimming out my claim, 

 a shrimp went on shore and took hold of the hook upon 

 my line. I saw him, and Tobe, I never was so mad. It 

 was so unfah. I nearly cut my throat with my toes 

 swimming ashore, I swam with so much energy. Just at 

 the edge of the water I encountered the sM'imp. I was 

 much exhausted from my lavation and swim; but I fully 

 realized the situation when the shrimp, Mghwayman- 

 like and piratically, took hold of me. It was a question 

 to be instantly decided, wMch shoidd survive, myself or 

 the sMimp. Naturally I felt inclined to be the survivor, 

 and put in my best endeavors to attain such a result. We 

 fought and fought. I had the advantage of hands and 

 arms; but the shrimp was far ahead of me in legs. After 

 I killed him I counted them. He had twenty-two and a 

 lot of yoimg ones coming. How big was he? Well, 

 not over two inches, but he was armed, legged and forti- 

 fied all about. Tobe, if a shrimp ever tries to carry away 

 yom" belongmgs, let it take them. Don't you fight with 

 "em. I teU you such a struggle is terrific." 



I you s 



This is Scovil's last yarn. " 



Tobe Hodge, 



Mrs. Chablotte Lisle, Chicago, ascribes the cure^f a danger- 



suffocate me * ♦ * * but tfiis remedy 1 

 Toothache Drops cure in one minute.— ^fff. 



NESSMUK'S POEMS. 



^OME time ago there came to the Forest and Stream a manu- 

 ^ script volume of verse, written in the characteristic hand of 

 "Nessmuk," and bound in limp bucksMn from a deer that fell to 

 his own little muzzleloading rifle. The manuscript gave evidence 

 of having been much read by the author's friends; and it has been 

 read and in parts re-read, here in the ofHce, and frequently brought 

 out for the entertainment of visitors when "Nessmuk's" name 

 happened to come up. Those who are familiar with "Nessmuk's'i 

 contributions to the Forest and Stream need not be told that 

 many of his poems relate to tlio woods and the camp; but their 

 range is more comprehensive than this. If some of his verses are 

 attuned to the soughing of the night wind through the hemlocks, 

 and some are musical with the gurgle of tlie mountain stream, in 

 others is the rhythm of life and labor— the ring of an\41 and lap- 

 stone, the buzz of loom and whirr of factory whcLls, the city's 

 rumble, the roll of drum and cannon's roar. And because between 

 these buckskin covers we have found so much true poetry- 

 humor, pathos, shrewd philosophy, and that which has to it the 

 ring of manliness, we propose to put the poems Into the permanent 

 form tliey deserve, and give them wider circulation than ever a 

 manusciipt c^n have. 



The poems, with a biographical sketch of "Nessmuk," will make 

 a volume of something more than 130 pages. The book will be 

 printed from type; the size of the edition -nill depend upon the 

 number of subscriptions received, and the type will then be dis- 

 tributed. The price for copies subscribed for before publication 

 will be $1. For remaining copies after publication the' publishers 

 reserve the right to advance the price. Sxibscriptions should be 

 sent in on the blank form on page 238. Duplicate blanks will be 

 sent upon application. 



NESSMTJK'a poems. 



John o' the Smithy. A Christmas Entry. 



Gleaners after the Fire. Two Lives. 

 Genius Loci of Wall Street. Anna Fay— on Skates. 

 My Neighbor over the Way. Polka Jacket. 



Sunrise in the Forest. At the Hop. 



Siu-ly Joe's Christmas. A Summer Camp. 



The Mameluco Dance. Johnny Jones. 



Disheartened. Paraphrase on Brahma. 

 Answer to "Flight of the God- Hannah.Lee. 



dess." 'Sixty-Five and John Bull. 



In the Tropics. The Retired Preacher. 



Our little Prince. The Scalp-Hunter Interviewed. 



Mickle Run Falls. Breaking Camp. 



Typee. A Fragment. 



It Does Not Pay. Elaine. 



Ida May. Waiting for her Prince. 



My Forest Camp. Crags and Pines. 



Hunter's Lament. King Cotton. 



My Hound. Our Camping Ground. 



Non Respondat. New Year's Ode, 1866. 



lone. Pauper Plaint. 



A Little Grave. The Ship Gloucester. 



Rosos of Imceo. A Dream of the Tropics. 



