Nov. 35, 1886.j 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S45 



When I got near the camp it was 6 o'clock and a very 

 gray and loAveiing evening. Not a hundred yards from 

 the tent there ^vas a patch of 40 or 50 acres of bog, marsh, 

 pond holes Avith lilies, patches of black muck and tall 

 reeds, inclosed between the mouth of the river and the 

 main land, a bay, in fact, that looked a likely place for 

 ducks to fly into, and since it was so near the tent, I 

 pushed the canoe into it, startling three woodduck as I 

 did so, which went away without being shot at. After 

 waiting until half past six witbout any ducks coming in, 

 I was in tbe act of raising the paddle to leave when I saw 

 a woodduck coming toward me. It came vdthin shot and 

 I knocked it down, and had hardly put a fresh cartridge 

 into the gun a\ hen two more came in, and from then till 

 seven, by which time, the evening being so dark that it 

 was impossilile to see to shoot, I am sure not less than 

 one hundred ducks flew into the place. I had inadvert- 

 ently stumbled into their evening roosting place, and in 

 tlie 'greater part of an hour's sliootin^- 1 knocked down 

 seven, five of which I got next morning, as it was too 

 dai'k to fiud them then. If it liad been a line, clear eve- 

 ning, giving a good bright backgrouiid of sky to shoot 

 against, I am sure I could easily have killed "fifteen or 

 twenty, as they flew all round me, paying no attention to 

 me standing up in the canoe, and many times plumping 

 down in the reeds within a few yards; but when they got 

 between me and the background of woods which lined 

 the marsh, in the bad Hght, it was impossible to see them 

 with sufficient distinctness to cover them with tlie gun. 



TMs was one of the happy chances that sometimes 

 come to the duck shooter. Many years ago, when on a 

 shooting trip with Tom Wallace, the now celebrated 

 paddler, om- trip extendmg from Rice Lake down to the 

 drowned lands below Canipbellford, on the Trent River; 

 in the heart of those drowned lands one Sunday after- 

 noon he foimd a place wliich, from tlie signs, he thought 

 the woodducks would fly into in the evening to roost, 

 and we determuied to try it, on the chance of his being 

 correct in his supposition. It was about t wo miles from 

 our tent, through ch'owned land all the way, and to reach 

 it by daylight (to be later than that would have been use- 

 less) we had to leave the tent about 2 o'clock A. M. Any 

 one Avho has ever tiied it will Imow how difficult it is to 

 make one's way through drowned land, in a canoe, in the 

 dark, and how lie ever managed to find his way to the 

 ^jlace I never could understand, but we did get there 

 just as dajdight l>egan to show, and in time for the shoot- 

 ing. We had hardly taken our places at some little 

 distance apart, when Tom's suspicion was verified by 

 duck after duck pitchmg down and fiying round our 

 heads in all directions, and I never had as good shooting 

 as I had on that occasion for a couple of hom's. I forget 

 now (it was about 25 years ago) how many ducks we killed, 

 but it was a goodly number. It was in the old muzzle- 

 loading days and though we each had two guns, if we 

 had had breechloaders I dare say we would have doubled 

 it. My little evening's shoot on' Cameron's Lake brought 

 the occasion back forcibly to my recollection. The ducks 

 must have all left the place before daylight, for I was in 

 it next morning some time before that but did not see a 

 single duck. 



It was now Friday, and as I had promised to meet my 

 friend the next day at Sturgeon Point, about twelve 

 miles away, with Fenelon Falls to pass at the foot of the 

 lake, dividing Camerom from Stm-geon Lake, I had to 

 sti-ike camp and proceed. I was sorry to do so, as by re- 

 maining I would have had some good shooting and fish- 

 ing, but I was anxious to keep my appointment. I had a 

 reach of four miles across Cameron's Lake to cross after 

 leaving the shelter of the west shore of the lake to get to 

 the faUs, and as it was blowing freshly from the N. W., 

 and my canoe was heavily loaded, I hesitated a little at 

 leaving the weather shore. I went out about quarter of a 

 mile, but found the sea too heavy for me and turned 

 back. In half an hour, however, I fancied that the wind 

 was lulling and the sky to windward looked less windy, 

 so I again made a start. When about half way across the 

 wind freshened up a little, which also fi'eshened up the 

 old sea, and I was almost sorry I had made the ventm'e, 

 but by dint of hard paddling, I reached the landing at 

 the falls, with only a little water ni the canoe. 



Crossing the wide reaches of these lakes in a loaded 

 canoe, _ if there is any wind or even appearance of 

 wind, is a thing to be always undertaken with great 

 caution. The lakes are generally shallow and it does not 

 take much wind to get up a nasty choppy sea, which will 

 soon find its way over the gunwale of a deeply loaded 

 canoe, with only about three inches of freeboard, and 

 being swamped even half a mile from the shore is neither 

 pleasant nor safe; but it is a dilemma very likely to occur 

 if one be caught in such a position. I was afterward told 

 that Cameron's Lake bears the reputation of being parlic- 

 ulaiiy treacherous. 



The falls at Fenelon are about 30ft. in height, and con- 

 stitute one of the finest water powers in Canada. A dam 

 is built across them, and the Government are building 

 fine granite locks. These when finished will prove an 

 important link in the proposed Trent Valley Canal, w^hich 

 if ever built is intended by means of these chauis of lakes 

 and rivers to connect the Georgian Bay with the lower 

 end of Lake Ontario, and thus avoid the dangers of the 

 navigation down Lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie, and 

 the upper part of Lake Ontario. But the railways seem 

 to be competing so successfully now with water carriage, 

 that it is unlikely, feasible as the plan seems, if it will 

 ever be carried out. 



The town of Fenelon Falls, of about 3,000 people, is 

 rettily situated on high ground round them, and is in 

 u-ect communication with Toronto by rail. I got a carter 

 to portage my canoe and traps to the river at the foot of 

 the falls (quite a short distance), and staxted at 4 o'clock 

 in the afternoon for Sturgeon Point, about seven miles. 

 When hah' way there, following the western shore of the 

 lake, wMch as the wind was still westerly was the weather 

 shore with smooth water, I found myself on an arm of 

 the lake, on the opposite side of which, unfortunately, 

 Sturgeon Point and its hotel lay, and of course it was 

 necessary to cross the lake to get to it. It was still blow- 

 ing pretty fresh, but as it was only about 1+ miles across, 

 I thought that there would not be fetch enough in that 

 distance to get up a sea that would be dangerous. I 

 would have camped on the side I was on that evening, as 

 I was a day ahead of time, and waited till next morning 

 to cross, but the whole western side of the lake 

 where I was, as far as I could see, was bordered by a deep 

 fringe of drowned land, through w^hich I did not think it 

 ■would be possible to get with a loaded canoe, so there was 



little choice left for me. By tbe time, however, that I 

 had got half way over, I found that I had miscalculated 

 the force of the wind, and its power of getting uj) a sea 

 even in that short distance, and the canoe commenced to 

 take in water fast. The arm of the lake whicli I was 

 crossing also opened out to the full sweep of the lake for 

 about 8 or 9 miles from the S. W. , and as I proceeded and 

 opened that out the wind seemed to draw more in tliat 

 direction and bring a larger sea with it. It was impossi- 

 ble to turn back, so nothing w^as left but to j)U8h for the 

 eastern shore as fast as possible, and I fortunately suc- 

 ceeded in reaching it before the canoe took in water 

 enough to sink her. I w^as so hard pressed, however, that 

 I had to beach her at the nearest land. I had no time to 

 look for a soft spot, so seeing a skiff hauled up on the 

 shore I pointed the canoe for it, with the notion when 

 the skiff was hauled out the canoe might also find a safe 

 landing place. I was lucky in doing so, and was glad to 

 find that instead of gTOvmding and striking heavily on a 

 bard bottom, of wliich I had been afraid, as with the 

 heavj^ load she had in she might have knocked a hole m 

 her. ' She slid easily w4th the way she had on. nearly half 

 her length out on a smooth piece of wood. It was a lucky 

 hit. I was glad to iind myself safely ashore, for it had 

 been beach her or swamp. There was no alternative, and 

 a few minutes more would have sent the craft down. 

 TOBOMTO, Canada. W. 

 [TO BE CONTINUED,] 



QUAIL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



SUMTER, S. C, Nov. 1.5.— As I stated in a former letter, 

 the open season for quaH began on Nov. 1. I have 

 utilized the beginning of the season by going out with dog 

 and gun six times, spending a few hours only in the field 

 each time. I bagged quail as follows: Nov. 1, sixteen 

 bu-ds; Nov. 3, nineteen; Nov. 4, nine; Nov. 6, five; Nov. 9, 

 twenty-eight; Nov. 10, twelve; makmg a total of eighty- 

 nine quail within ten days. I find a,bundance of game of 

 this kind; but the dry weather has made the work very 

 bard on the dogs. Sometimes I had to ride almost a mile 

 to water them at a well, all the branches and creeks bemg 

 dry. 



My experience on the 10th led me to believe that a 

 horse's skin is tougher than the skirts of a saddle. I had 

 hitched my pony on the border of a patch of high weeds, 

 the dogs being down on a covey of birds. On being 

 flushed one of the birds flew toward the horse, and I let 

 fly at him. The bird tumbled and the horse pranced con- 

 siderably. On examining into the condition of affairs, I 

 found that I had put eight or ten shot into the saddle 

 sldi-t, some of them going through, and about twenty shot 

 (No. 8) into the pony's skin. The distance was 50yds., and 

 though the saddle sknt was penetrated, only a few shot 

 went entirely through the horse's skin. With the point 

 of my knife, and by catching hold of the impacted hair, 

 I easily took out most of the pellets. The pony still pays 

 no attention to the report of a. gim, and does not seem to 

 Imow it was a gun that wounded her. C. C. Brovs^n. 



P. S.— Being attracted by some of the advertisements 

 in your columns, I have just ordered a complete hunting 

 outflt from two of your advertising patrons. B. 



FIRST LESSONS.-I. 



AT last, one Christmast day, I w-as the proud possessor 

 of one of the best g-uns in town. All the day was 

 spent in thrusting into every imaginable position, sighting 

 and following invisible, monstrous birds and game. 

 Naturally, before and after each heavy discharge the 

 breech had to be opened and closed. With the gam I 

 was also given a complete outfit, and so after my admir- 

 ation for the gun had settled but deepened, I examined 

 and experimented with every article, from the primers to 

 the jointed cleaning rod. I then devoted my time to all 

 the books on guns and hunting; I could get. After several 

 days thus spent I became fully convinced that I knew 

 everything worth knowing, from cleaning and keeping 

 the gun to shooting quail in full flight. 



A few days after I made arrangements with a firm 

 friend to go rabbit hunting for my first trip, as they were 

 "notlung at aU to shoot and as thick as hops, easy hunt- 

 ing, too, after this here snow." The books had said that 

 on a trip when you woidd be gone all day, you should 

 take a pocket alcohol stove, coffee, big piece of raw beef- 

 steak, eggs and a kettle or can to boil the coffee and eggs. 

 I was firmly convinced that this was the proper thing to 

 do, but on C.'s advice I restricted the provender to bread 

 and butter and cold meat. 



The morning was a fine wintry one, clear and cold, 

 with new fallen snow on the ground which crunched 

 and groaned as we stepped, and I thoroughly enjoyed 

 the long bracing walk in the beautiful outdoor air; never 

 before had I felt so strong and happy as I did then, I re- 

 solved to say nothing about my being a tenderfoot until I 

 saw how I succeeded. 



Climbing through a barb-wne fence we entered from the 

 road into a large extent of timber, of great trees of oak 

 and hickory. Here and there were bunches of hazel 

 brush and at short distances great trees had fallen to the 

 ground. C. said, "Wlien we come to the brush we'll each 

 take a side of it and make a good bit of noise walking, to 

 scare the cotton-tads up and give us a show; and mind 

 you, each httle heap of brush or dead branches you come 

 to, kick it, for they are apt to be in just such places." 



Seeing a dead log near him he walked to it and be- 

 stowed a kick thereon, at which I saw a bunch of some- 

 thing gray with a white tip come running toward me. 

 I stood perf ectly still, gun at my side and mouth open 

 looking at the wonderful bounds it seemed to make with 

 such a steady, even movement; at last, as it swerved to 

 one side at sight of me, I was aroused by hearing C, yell, 

 "Give it to him now; he's right by you," So I guessed it 

 was a rabbit and cocked my gun, threw it up to my 

 shoulder, pointed it somewhere toward the rabbit, shut 

 both eyes and pulled away, I then felt as if I had stepped 

 on my nose. Putting my hand up to it I found that I 

 had a peeled nose. Then I heard somebody laughing. 

 It was C. There he stood, holding liis sides and doubled 

 up. He said, "You are a brave one. I'll bet you never 

 shot a gun before. Not only missed the rabbit, but didn't 

 have sense enough to hold the gun tight to you." And 

 around he danced, while all I could do was hold my nose, 

 and my tongue too. But the dance ended and C. came 

 to me with the inquiry, "Honest, now, have you ever 

 shot a shotgun before? If you have not, just say so, I 

 won't make fim of you." So I told him I was at my first 



experience, and in reply he made the prettiest little 

 speech I have ever heard. "Well, I tell you, old fellow, 

 what it is; that strdces me just right, for we're in for 

 many a picnic; as I know you'd rather have me to jDut 

 you up to all the tricks than anybody else, even if I do 

 say it, and I'll teach you; so at it we go. The reason you 

 got yoiir nose skinned, then, was because you held the 

 gmi loose. You must always hold it as tightly as you 

 can against your shoulder. Keep both eyes open, and 

 the next cotton-tail you see shoot at him just as if you 

 were throwing at a chicken on the run, ahead, so as to 

 be dead sure of gettin' it. But mind, I am near you, bo 

 always look out and don't have any accidents aroimd." 



All this time 1 was sitting on the log, while C. was 

 standing in front of me? At the end of " his "speech" I 

 jumped up, knowing that, though he did not have polish, 

 he liad a true heart, and was a firmer friend than ever I 

 had had. That thought has never yet changed. Feeling 

 cheap at the delay I had caused, I started for the clump 

 of hazel brush near by and took one side, while he took 

 the other. Going slowly along like him, he looked closely 

 into the brush and at intervals kicked it. In a very short 

 time I saw one of the large-eyed, pretty things start 

 ahead of me and run to C.'s side. I shouted to him, and 

 then heard a click and the sharp sound of the gun on the 

 cold air. Of course I had to ask if he "got it," and hear- 

 ing that he had, I had to satisfy mv curiosity by running 

 through the brush and finding oiit all the details, after 

 which I returned to my side, having decided that I was 

 fully able to do the same as had just been done, I was 

 quickljr rewarded for my deterniination, for by some 

 strange good luck I chanced to see a rabbit a short dis- 

 tance from me at the foot of a clump of hazel brush, sit- 

 ting straight up, his ears erect and his large, mild eyes 

 open. 



As the smoke cleared away I wafl astounded to see the 

 creature I had just admired giving his last kicks in the 

 blood stained snow. How exultant I felt as I walked to 

 him, and how I trembled as I took a stout cord and tied 

 his hind legs and then thi-ew him over my shoulder — a 

 mode that C. said was better than any of "those there 

 plaig taig" game bags. I felt like rolling in the snow and 

 yelling and dancing, but collecting myself I went on 

 thinking of my great "haul," when right out from some 

 dead and fallen snow-covered branches against which I 

 had dreamingly walked, a great white-tipped fellow 

 bounced, whereupon my excited nerves and muscles in 

 some way worked and shot my gam (as it all flashed so 

 quickly I couldn't believe I did it). I had seen fur fly and 

 the old fellow keep on, but goiagto where the shot struck 

 in the snow I saw the inncli of brovm hau- lying near a 

 spot of blood. I looked closely and walked fast, seeing 

 here and there a drop of blood, and running down a deep 

 ravine, came to whore he had taken shelter in a little cave, 

 and there I pulled him out, "stone dead." Retracing my 

 steps w^ith two rabbits I seemed to walk on air. I was 

 raised still higher by hearing my companion say, as he 

 saw me, "That's it, old fellow, keep it up and you'U soon 

 be up to ail the dodges." 



Pointing to a large treetop near by, which had tumbled 

 to the ground, he said, "There are a lot of them in there, 

 for I saw the tracks. We'U each take a side and pop 

 away at the first one that shows himself outside," Walk- 

 ing aroimd du-ectly opposite each other and kicking the 

 brush, we would scare first one and then another out, 

 and I thought there never would be an end to the shoot- 

 ing. Getting started a little Avay I would shoot at them, 

 but out of fom* shots missed everyone. This lowered my 

 self -estimation most woefuUy. At one time I saw two 

 come out one right after the other; being nearer C. he 

 cocked both hammers and killed both ui what seemed to 

 be be almost one shot. Both rabbits turned completely 

 over and never moved. How I wished that I was able to 

 do such a thing. 



By a small sti'eam near by I gathered twigs and 

 branches while C, sfarted a fire; scraping the snow from 

 a big rock in front of it, we toasted our bread and warmed 

 our meat, and how good that meal did taste! while by 

 b' eaking the ice over the creek we got a most delicious 

 drink, and then sat in front of the fire getting rested and 

 warmed. Looking at my companion's string I saw that 

 without a bit of commotion he had secm-ed six during 

 the morning, while I, with all my big thoughts and 

 estimations, had but two. After thoroughly enjoying 

 ourselves by the fii-e we again started on our trip. Plod- 

 ding along without seeing an3i;hing to shoot we were 

 highly pleased upon coming to an old field that the sum- 

 mer before had raised nothing but an abundant crop of 

 weeds. On seeing the place C. exclaimed. "I'll go' over 

 there into the hollow, while you walk through and drive 

 them toward me. You can see them sitting still and so 

 shoot one out of a hrmdred, while the ones you miss will 

 come doAvn by me." 



The weeds stood straight and stiff, reaching above my 

 knees, while on the ground a thick growth of grass formed 

 a warm home for the game. I had gone but a few steps 

 when in a hollow of the grass I saw two long ears erect. 

 Banging aw^ay I was put a little out of humor to see the 

 long ears jump out and put toward the deadly hollow. 

 Walkmg in a zig-zag path through the field many and 

 many were the chances I was offered, all of which I ti-ied 

 though the biggest half I lost. But when I had finished 

 the field I had added six to my load of two, while my in- 

 structor had thirteen. He had stood back from the bank 

 a httle w-ay, where the vale was narrow and deep, and 

 lomning along at the bottom the game had given him 

 excellent chances. Reaching a road we gladly accepted 

 the oft'er of a ride on a "bob sled," given us by a jolly old 

 farmer. We handed over to him five of our trophies, upon 

 which he remarked, "There's sumthing out on my place 

 that beats them, all hollow; and that's pheasants. I'll be 

 in town a week to-day, and just you fellows meet me at 

 toAvn, come out, stay all night and next day go hunting 

 and we'll go halves on the crop you raise." As C. seemed 

 to think it was a piece or rare good Inck I consented 

 to go. 



Planning a surprise for the folks, I smuggled the rab- 

 bits into the back door and there drove a bargain with 

 cook, I to clean the game and she to make "the best stew 

 out. " Then I took gun and game bag and slowly dragged 

 myself into the sitting-room, whereat I was besieged on 

 all sides to know where the game was, how many I got, 

 how many did I leave and' didn't I get even one: and 

 mother said, "Well, never mind, you couldn't expect 

 anytliing the first time." How near I did come to bub- 

 bhng over with glee. 



Supper called and all at om- seats; father remarked: 



