Aug. 24, 18&5.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



161 



creates a kind of itching sensation at a certain stage and 

 when it is quite ripe. From this the animal seeks relief 

 by rubbing the horns against young trees. I have fre- 

 quently witnessed this spectacle, and many young trees 

 are injured in this way in this country by stags and roe- 

 bucks. The American deer, of course, make no exception 

 to this rule; they are governed by the same law of nature 

 or natural instinct. 



It is wrong to suppose that nature disposes of the velvet 

 the same as it does of the red hair in the fall, as Mr. Wil- 

 mot asserts in his communication in Forest and Stream 

 of July 27. Armin Tenner. 



mt[e §ng mid (§tm. 



TWO TYROS AFTER DEER. 



One afternoon in the early part of July found the 

 writer and his old shooting crony and bosom friend, Jim 

 M., holding a lengthy confab in the rear of the store of T. 

 Arms Co., which has come to be regarded as the head- 

 quarters of all the local nimrods. The engrossing subject 

 of our conversation was, as it usually is, guns and gunning 

 in general, and a contemplated shooting trip in the near 

 future in particular. Deer season was to open on the 

 15th, and Jim and. I had decided that we would try our 

 luck. Neither of us had ever killed a deer — nor have we 

 yet for the matter of tbat — although we had often 

 tramped the marshes and uplands together in quest of 

 feathered game with good suceess, and together we had 

 bagged our full quota of fat ducks each season on the 

 lakes and sloughs. 



But now our ambition impelled us to seek nobler game, 

 and so our trip was planned. We were to pass the night 

 of the 14th on my father's ranch, which lies at the head 

 of the San Fernando Valley, surrounded on all sides by 

 rugged, brush- clad mountains; on the north and east by 

 the Sierra Madre, on the south and west by the Los Feliz 

 and Santa Monica ranges. 



It was reported that deer were plentiful in the range 

 immediately north of the ranch, so we concluded that 

 this would be the scene of action. 



During- the few days remaining before the opening we 

 sought the advice of all the old deer hunters we knew, 

 who gave it freely; but just as we thought that we knew 

 all about it, we would meet some one who would knock 

 all our newly acquired theories sky-high and give us his 

 experience and ideas, until we finally concluded to follow 

 the easiest advice given, which was to select a ridge and 

 climb straight on to the summit, scanning every canon 

 and "draw" thoroughly, and stopping now and then to 

 look carefully about. 



Although devotees of the shotgun, neither of us pos- 

 sessed a rifle, but a loan from two of our friends was 

 easily negotiated. Jim got a .38-40-200 Marlin and I a 

 .44-40-200 Winchester, neither of them good deer guns, 

 so far as the proportions of powder and lead are con- 

 cerned. 



I met Jim at the ranch station on the evening of the 

 14th with his rifle slung over his shoulder and a look of 

 confidence in his face. He never doubted his ability to 

 down the first buck that jumped, he said. 



I expressed myself in less confident terms and sug- 

 gested "buck ague," but he scoffed at the idea. 



After dinner had been discussed, we went down to the 

 men's bunk house to have a little talk with Joe, who had 

 to our certain knowledge killed several deer in this very 

 range, and whom we questioned closely as to the most likely 

 places for jumping deer. This done, we went back to the 

 house and turned in, with instructions to the cook to have 

 breakfast for us at 3:30 A. M. 



I was awakened next morning at 3: 15 by the loud-voiced 

 alarm clock, and, after calling Jim, hurried into my 

 clothes. Breakfast over, Jim and I shouldered our rifles 

 and started. 



The fog was very dense on the level, but luckily for us 

 it had drifted away from the mountains. A walk of a 

 few minutes brought us to the mesa or table land at the 

 head of which" the ridge which we were to climb com- 

 menced. 



Up to this point we had carried on an animated conver- 

 sation, but now we proceeded in silence, Jim keeping a 

 Bharp lookout in the canon on the right, while I did the 

 same on the left. 



When we reached the first peak in the ridge which we 

 were on, the scene spread out before us was beautiful be- 

 yond description; the fog, up to a certain level, shut out 

 everything from view, and only the peaks of the opposite 

 mountains were visible as they rose from tbis misty, sea- 

 like island. It was well worth the climb to see this, if 

 nothing else, and Jim and I stopped often to drink in the 

 beauty of it. 



At the summit of every little peak on the ridge which 

 we were following we would stop and search every likely 

 spot for deer. It was while thus employed, and about 

 midway to the summit, that I heard a low whistle from 

 Jim, and turning I saw him beckoning frantically to me. 

 I judged by his actions that he saw a deer, so I hurried 

 over to him. His first words were, "See that deer?" deliv- 

 ered in a whisper which was hoarse from excitement. 



I looked in the direction of his pointing finger, which 

 was trembling visibly, but could not see it, and so I told 

 him. 



Then followed a whispered conversation, Jim endeav- 

 oring to show me the deer, and I striving just as hard to 

 see it; but in vain. Finally I said, "Jim, I can't see it, so 

 you shoot it alone, and then if you don't kill it with the 

 first shot I will help you bring him down on the jump." 

 Just at this critical point, however, I saw the deer. Yes, 

 there he was (and a fine buck, too, I thought), lying just 

 under a mesquite bush. His whole outline could be seen 

 with remarkable clearness, with his side toward us, head 

 elevated and to the left, thus offering the easiest kind of a 

 shot. 



We reckoned the distance at about 200yds., and set tbe 

 sights accordingly. 



Then for the first time I noticed that I was somewhat 

 excited; my rifle was visibly agitated and I seemed to 

 have lost partial control of my hands. We were both 

 kneeling, and our rifles were at our shoulders. I said to 

 Jim in a strained whisper: "Count three and at the third 

 count we'll both fire." He answered with difficulty, it's 

 true, for his cheek was tightly pressed against the stock 

 of his rifle: "I c-c-c-can't c-c-c-count." "Then I will," 

 and I muttered "one, two, threel" and both the rifles 

 cracked. 



At the same instant we each worked a new cartridge 

 into the chamber. But there was no need to hurry, for 

 our "buck" was still there in the same position, and was 

 apparently the coolest of the three. 



I looked at Jim, and he at me, with an expression of 

 the utmost amazement written all over his countenance. 

 "What's the matter?" said he. "Matter enough," said I, 

 "thaf s no deer, and we have spoiled our chances for this 

 morning by those two shots." 



Of course we were much chagrined by our miserable 

 blunder, but there was some comfort in the fact that we 

 had botb been deceived, and had both been equally 

 foolish. 



We walked on over to our supposed "buck" and saw 

 that a chance combination of a rock, some dead bunch 

 grass and the excited imagination of two thoroughly 

 green hunters had caused the deception. 



We continued our hunt up the mountain, although all 

 our ardor was gone. We were joined at the summit by 

 another deer hunter, who had two fox-hounds with him. 



He cast the hounds loose, and we all sat down on the 

 ledge of rock which forms the summit, to enjoy the view, 

 which was truly magnificent, and to discuss the events of 

 the morning. 



Our newly found friend had seen a fine buck two hours 

 before in another part of the range, but in moving down 

 the mountain to secure a better shot at it he had dropped 

 his rifle and broken the hammer, rendering it useless. 



After a long rest on the summit, during which time the 

 two hounds frequently gave tongue far below us, we 

 started on the descent, which was accomplished without 

 further mishap and without sighting another "buck." 



Culpepper. 



BAY BIRDS AT CURRITUCK. 



If you have noticed the late quiet feeling in both the 

 tea and dry goods trade and have wondered at the why 

 and wherefore, this short letter, telling you of our trip to 

 Currituck, will explain the reason. We cannot shoot bay 

 birds and sell teas and dry goods at the same time. 



We left New York on the afternoon of July 31 and 

 reached Currituck Friday evening. From the start F. R. 

 and the writer were looking for "good things" and 

 "soft." I believe F. R. discovered something like this, or 

 at least he said it was, and I really did not know enough 

 about the matter to contradict him. But they were 

 really four nice young fellows from Washington return- 

 ing from a vacation and we did have enough left to get 

 us through our trip. It seems to me that if we could 

 only load our shells on the same principle that the Wash- 

 ingtonians employed when they would draw "two and 

 sometimes three" and come out with a "flush or straight" 

 (I believe these are correct names F. R. gave to them. I 

 could not see any difference between the two), we would 

 never miss a bird. 



Our friend Leon White met us at the landing with his 

 sloop and took us across the sound to his cottage. This 

 sloop of his by the way is quite a curiosity; it was built 

 over 100 years ago at Roanoke Island. It is about 35 ft. 

 long, 8ft. beam, dug out from one solid log. Leon uses it 

 to transport his calves to the steamer and brought it over 

 to meet us because, according to his instructions, we had 

 brought down from Norfolk a ton of ice to freeze our 

 birds so that if we had a little luck we could bring a few 

 back with us to the friends at home. Saturday A. M. we 

 were all early on the ground each in a separate blind 

 with decoys out and ready for the birds. We did not 

 have to wait long, as they were very plenty. Our bag the 

 first day was nearly all of grass plover with a few 

 kreekers sprinkled in. We were a little to the westward 

 of the flight line of the other birds and saw only a few go 

 down. 



Sunday we took Leon's sea skiff through the surf for a 

 try at the bluefish, which are generally very numerous 

 along this coast. We had a circus both coming and going. 

 A sea coming aboard on the way out picked F. R. up and 

 sat him down again in no gentle manner. I thought his 

 spinal column was gone, but he "pulled" through. He 

 is really too thin to sit in the bow and act as a breakwater, 

 for the fellow who sits next gets wet. We only fished a 

 few minutes, as it was getting very rough, and came in 

 flying. On our way back to the house we saw immense 

 flocks of yellow-legs coming down and dropping in to 

 feed, so we felt highly elated over our prospects for the 

 next day. 



Monday we were out before daylight and located more 

 to the westward, and before it was really light enough to 

 see, the guns were speaking. I have seldom seen the birds 

 so thick, not flock shooting, but constantly coming along 

 in small bunches of two, three or four. It made the 

 prettiest kind of shooting, as the birds flew well and 

 strong. There was a good breeze and you had to hit hard 

 to count. The birds were in splendid condition. I should 

 really be ashamed to tell you how many F. R. ate or how 

 many shells we used, but we came out better than 75 per 

 cent. We shot Tuesday and Wednesday, and on each day 

 there seemed to be more birds than the day before. 



Leon was, as I have always found him, ready to do any- 

 thing in his power to make our trip a pleasant one. He 

 would drive us out in his wagon, send the boy out on 

 horseback about 7 o'clock with a hot breakfast and some 

 ice for our water pail, drive out about 1 or 2 with our 

 dinner, and then again at 4 or 5 to take us home. There 

 is only one fault with Leon; he and his good wife give one 

 more to eat than four men should have. Shortly before 

 we went down he had caught in his net a sawfish 10 or 

 lift, long, including the saw, and had stuffed it and 

 mounted it on the fence which incloses his barnyard. It 

 was certainly an ugly-looking customer. Leon said it tore 

 his net all to pieces and let loose a fine lot of bluefish. A 

 tarpon was taken in a pound not far from us, and they 

 were taking a fine lot of Spanish mackerel. Leon was 

 training a live swan for decoy purposes, and tells me that 

 he will have three or four more by fall, also a fine outfit 

 of live geese and other decoys. I shall make up a party 

 and go down for the ducks late in November or Decem- 

 ber. We shot willet, winter and summer yellow-leg, 

 robin, snipe, black-breasted plover, turnstone grass plover 

 and kreekers. We only saw two curlew and one golden 

 plover. Idaho. 



Game Laws in Brief. 



Tee Game Laws in Brief, current edition, sold everywhere, has 

 new game and fish lawa for more than thirty of the States. It covers 

 the entire country, is carefully prepared, and gives all that shooters 

 and anglers require. See advertisement. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



Wars of the Wardens. 



The deputy fish wardens on Lake Winnebago, Wis., on 

 Aug. 9 seized a lot of illegal nets, worth in all $400, and 

 captured also a fishing boat. There was a severe fight 

 with a dozen fishermen, one of the latter being roughly 

 handled. The warden has destroyed $1,000 worth of nets. 

 The fishermen retaliate by suing for damages, and on 

 Aug. 12 Deputy Fish Wardens C. W. Johnson, Max 

 Mucks and Max Johnsdn were arrested charged with 

 assault and battery during the fight. The case was set 

 ahead and both parties are getting ready to make it a test 

 case. Illegal netting has long been open and shameless 

 in Lake Winnebago. 



On Aug. 15 the vigorous State warden for Ohio, L. It. 

 Buntain, seized eighty illegal nets on Lake Erie, out of 

 Cleveland. A fight followed, and the fishermen got back 

 part of the nets, but Buntain put most of them where the 

 woodbine will weave its tendrils through them. He ar- 

 rested several fishermen, and a hot battle in the oourts is 

 on hand there now. The cause of reason in fish and game 

 protection advances in prominence every year. 



Ohio Pheasants. 



Mr. E, H. Shorb, State Fish and Game Commissioner, 

 of Van Wert, O., passed through Chicago this week on 

 his way to Utah and Montana, where he will travel about 

 for some weeks. Mr. Shorb says the experiment of rais- 

 ing the Mongolian pheasant is no longer an experiment 

 but a certainty in Ohio, and the State feels that it has 

 added a prolific and hardy bird to its fauna. The pheas- 

 ants stand any sort of cold weather and seem perfectly 

 adapted to all the conditions of these parallels of latitude. 

 In the State pheasantry at Celina, O. , there are now 500 

 young pheasants confined in a wired inclosure 100 X 160ft. 

 in size. These are the product of forty-one hens. The 

 young birds are in perfect health. 



Merrit Game Cases. 



I am indebted to a special dispatch to the Chicago 

 Tribune for the following unique information in regard 

 to the now famous Kewanee cold storage case. The 

 Tribune, let us suggest, is quite misinformed in regard to 

 the matter of fines. Merritt has never been fined at all, 

 nor was any attempt made to fine him in the first suit 

 brought by Warden Blow. Could it be possible that Col. 

 Blow was the sender of the Tribune specials? If so, Gen. 

 Blow was hardly candid. Why? At any rate, it seems 

 that the State's attorney has now taken a hand — which at 

 first he thought he would not do — and it may be that at 

 length we shall see proper, legal, statutory action 

 brought against Merritt, namely, a prosecution for an 

 offense against the law, which offense is punishable by 

 fine. The dispatch reads: 



"Kewanee, 111., Aug. 16.— [Special.]— The H. Clay 

 Merritt illegal game case was up before the County Court 

 to-day. After Justice Pyle decided against the State, the 

 defense took an appeal to the Circuit Court, which con- 

 venes in October. The prosecution then will be conducted 

 by Game Warden Blow and President Bortree, of the State 

 Game Protective Association, and the fines, which would 

 amount in the minimum to $136,155 and in the maximum 

 to $680,775, would have gone part to the Game Warden 

 and part to the school fund of the county. If the case 

 now brought before the County Court by State's Attorney 

 Graves goes against Merritt, the fines will all go to the 

 county. The defense is maintained by William Lawscn, 

 of Kewanee. The information filed by the State's Attornev- 

 is said to be one of the most peculiar documents ever 

 filed in an American court. It consists of 3,026 pages, 

 and is more bulky than a dictionary. It is bound at the 

 top with iron clamps and rods, and its cubic bulk is 1,071 

 inches. It contains 2,133 words to the page, a total of 

 6,454,458 words. At a speed of 100 words a minute, it 

 would require 107 days of ten hours each to read it. The 

 case will probably be decided to-morrow by Judge Mock." 



These be big figures, but out of Kewanee, whence come 

 reports of fines of $23,600, of $135,155, and of $680,775 

 (when there had been no fines at all), what shall we ex- 

 pect if it be not large figures? It would seem that States 

 Attorney Graves had gone after Merritt one bird at a time. 

 Let it be so. After a time the actual enormity of Mer- 

 ritt's sin against the people of this country will be appar- 

 ent. The time will come when the life of the game 

 dealer will not be a happy one. Thinking sportsmen 

 unite on the doctrine of "Stop the sale of game." 



An International Affair. 



This week two gentlemen came into the Forest and 

 Stream office in need of information. One was Capt. 

 Brand, of the German Army (his card reads, "Brand, Ritt- 

 meister und Escadron-Chef im 1. Bad. Leib-Dragoner- 

 Regiment No. 20, Karlsruhe"), and the other was Mr. 

 Weber, of Leipzig, Germany, owner of the Illustrirte Zei- 

 tung, one of the best known of German newspapers. Capt. 

 Brand was heralded by letter from Von Bayer, of the U. 

 S. Fish Commission", as a gentleman in need of a guide for 

 a big game hunt in the Rockies, Billy Hof er was to have 

 taken him, but had another party out, so had arranged 

 for another guide and outfit for him, which latter 

 was to meet him at Cinnabar. What Capt. Brand 

 and his friend wanted to know was where Cinna- 

 bar was, where Livingston was, what sort of stores 

 there were at Cinnabar, how many horses would 

 be needed, what sort of a man the guide would be, how 

 far the party would have to travel, how much game they 

 might expect, what sort of blankets should be taken, how 

 much of a cooking outfit would be needed, and so forth 

 and so forth. In English all this is easy, but Capt. Brand 

 and his friend knew only about as much English as I did 

 German, so we had plenty of fun together. They wanted 

 to go right out and buy a lot of things, but I held them 

 down to one sleeping bag, one sweater and one carryall 

 bag, the latter new and delightful to them both. Herr 

 Weber was not going on the hunt, contenting himself 

 with the tour of the Park, and he referred with contempt 

 to the sleeping bag, and said a bed was good enough for 

 him; at which the lean, brown, handsomely set up cavalry 

 officer smiled with amusement. Unless I err very much, 

 Capt. Brand is a thoroughbred, and a sportsman of the 

 sort that will do. The type of gentleman and of sports- 

 man is much the same for any nationality, and the 

 nationality makes no difference so long as you have the 

 type. I have rarely seen a man so boyishly eager to get 

 out on his hunt as Capt. Brand was. His eyes shone, and 

 he could hardly wait till the train started. He told me 

 that three months ago his colonel asked him if he did not 



