Oct. 10, 1895.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



389 



these animals killed as possible. I for one would like to 

 see them all go. 



Snow came very early this year. About Sept. 20 we 

 had 2, then 4in. of snow in Hayden Valley, with over 

 lft. on the higher mountains. It is snowing in the Park 

 now. 



The travel is over for this season, the last party of tour- 

 ists starting out Oct. 1. As fast as they go around, the 

 hotels will be closed; by the 6th inst. all will be out of the 

 Park. The troop of cavalry at the Lower Geyser Basin 

 staxts for the Mammoth Hot Springs by the 5th for their 

 winter quarters. Additional scouts have been hired, who 

 have started out on long trips scouting for hunters who 

 are supposed to be after the buffalo. 



Very few Eastern hunting parties were in the field 

 south of the Park this summer. The so-called Indian 

 war frightened some of them away. There was no war 

 at all; the killing was all on the part of the whites. 



The road work has been pushed very fast this summer. 

 It is now possible to drive from the Thumb or West Arm 

 of Yellowstone Lake to the southern boundary of the 

 Park and Snake River via Lewis Lake and the Lewis 

 Eiver, from there over a rough wagon trail to Jackson's 

 Lake. 



A road has been grubbed out through and a short dis- 

 tance over the pass at the head of Cornelian Creek, west 

 of Mt. Washburn, and a careful sxirvey made to Yan- 

 cey's. When this is completed it will be possible to make 

 the circuit of the Park, taking in the principal objects of 

 interest without repeating any part of the road. 



I looked fox and tried to find some of the rainbow trout 

 planted in the Gibbon River above the Virginia Cascades 

 by the IT. S. Fish Commission, two years after the plant 

 was made. I found rainbow trout above and below the 

 Cascades this year. The circumstances were not favor- 

 able, as it was a very cold, windy and cloudy day; I tried 

 the stream only with flies. It has been reported that no 

 fish have been taken for two years above the falls, and is 

 claimed that they have all gone below. If this is so, the 

 stream ought to be stocked with some kind of trout that 

 will not go down, as it is impossible for them to return. 



The usual number of bears were to be found around all 

 the hotels in the Park this summer. One black one at the 

 Grand Canon used to come to the very door of the 

 kitchen, and one of the employees used to lay down on his 

 back with a piece of sugar in his mouth, which he would 

 hold for the bear to come and take. I did not see this, 

 but have no doubt of it, as some men are foolish enough 

 to do such things. The last time he tried it something 

 disturbed the bear while he was taking the sugar, and he 

 gave the man quite a severe scratch in the face. 



Two large grizzlies that camped at the Lunch Station 

 at the Thumb were very troublesome, breaking into the 

 storeroom several times; they were not so tame as the 

 bear at the Canon; no one wanted to fool with them. 



Quite a collection of birds have been captured for the 

 Zoological Park this summer, and cared for at Fort Yellow- 

 stone. It is intended to secure a number of animals to 

 add to this collection before sending them on to Washing- 

 ton. H. 



BOSTON MEN WITH GUNS AND HOOKS. 



Boston, Oct. 14.— The distinction of being the final 

 victim for fresh-water fishermen at the end of each season 

 around Boston belongs to the pickprel. I don't know how 

 well he appreciates the honor, but if his bump of self- 

 conceit is at all developed, he must feel quite elevated, 

 mentally, on being lifted in by such distinguished men as 

 :seek his company at this time of year. None are too 

 jproud to do him honor. It is a long stride in every sense 

 irom angling for salmon in the Restigouche and else- 

 where to lifting out pickerel in the Sudbury and Charles 

 Tivers and the ponds about Boston; but when the fascina- 

 tion for fishing is once acquired it is hard to shake off, 

 and when the best is not obtainable, most anything that 

 wears a fin is made to do service. The Topsfield River is 

 at present giving the best results, but the fishing for pick- 

 erel is being carried on with fair success in many other 

 quarters. The ponds on the Cape are quite productive, 

 and some of good size have lately been taken there. The 

 Sudbury River has always been a favorite place, and being 

 only a few miles from the city and easily reached by train, 

 a great many go to that stream. I can only account for 

 its standing the strain of constant fishing so well year 

 after year from the fact that it is a hard stream to fish, 

 being full of holes and weeds. It takes plenty of patience 

 and hard work to secure results there; but those are quali- 

 ties that rightly belong to every good fisherman. 



The Messrs. Epting (father and son) passed through 

 Boston a few days ago en route to their home in Philadel- 

 phia. They have been spending the summer and fall up 

 to the present time at the King and Bartlett camps in 

 Maine, and seem well satisfied with both the fishing and 

 ■shooting which they have had. Between Eustis and Dead 

 River station they stayed for a few days at I. W. Greene's 

 farmhouse in the hopes of getting some shooting. It 

 rained quite hard during their stay at this place, and they 

 were unable to get much shooting, although they are con- 

 vinced that there ai-e many birds in that vicinity. Harry 

 Pierce, of the King and Bartlett camps, came out over the 

 buckboard road a few hours ahead of Mr. Epting, and saw 

 an immense cow moose just off the road at Spencer 

 Stream. He pinned up a paper notice to that effect on 

 the road, which our friends saw, but no trace of the 

 animal was visible to them. The next day two gentlemen 

 with their wives came out, and on reaching Spencer 

 Stream one of the ladies who happened to be a short 

 distance ahead was seriously frightened by coming 

 suddenly right on to the same big moose. It did not take 

 the animal long to get out of the way, and her exit was 

 accompanied by noises which indicated that she was 

 about as much scared as her observer. The place where 

 the moose was seen is a favorite place for large game, and 

 deer and other animals are frequently seen there by 

 sportsmen going to and from the camps. A large buck 

 de^r was killed at King and Bartlett about a week ago by 

 a Boston sportsman. The animal had a particularly fine 

 head and pair of horns, and the lucky shooter was 

 delighted with his good fortune. The shooting on the 

 preserve has been very good up to the present time, and 

 it is expected to improve a little later after a few more 

 killing frosts have dropped the leaves from the trees. 



The bass fishing at Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hamp- 

 shire is not yet finished for the season, The fact is proven 

 by the recent departure of a number of Boston people 

 (probably the last party of the year) who have recently 

 started for this interesting locality, The party consists of 



Arthur Taylor, J. L. Newton, Everett Townsend and wife 

 and two or three others. They have gone to Centre Har- 

 bor on the shore of the lake, where they have a comfort- 

 able house. The fishing will be done from the yacht Tri- 

 ton, and considerable attention will also be given to par- 

 tridge and woodcock shooting. Two weeks will be the 

 length of their stay and a royal good time is confidently 

 expected. 



Forty-two dozen smelt taken down at Hingham harbor 

 the other day by one party are not a very bad score by 

 any means. This kind of fishing is wonderfully good 

 every year at old Hingham by the sea; no better place 

 can be found near Boston. We have had some cold 

 nights recently and the smelt fishing is consequently 

 much improved. They are beginning to get a few down 

 at Quincy and also at Cohasset. A little more cold 

 weather and Boston harbor will begin to yield its annual 

 quota of smelt. When this condition is reached the sea- 

 son is fairly started, and everybody both catch and eat 

 this delicate little fish. j 



The coot Bhooting around Cohasset is now very good. 

 Reports say there are plenty of birds, but they are wild 

 and quite scattered. There are many shooters on hand 

 nearly every morning, and several of them have made 

 excellent scores. One young man (whose name I did not 

 learn) while out in his "boat alone was tipped over by a 

 huge wave and nearly lost his life. Two good guns and 

 all his ammunition went to the bottom of old ocean 

 promptly, and he has determined now to let coot shoot- 

 ing severely alone, at least until he has recovered from 

 his fright. At the Curtis stand, at Great Pond, near Co- 

 hasset, the duck shooters have been doing well, and hope 

 to have even better sport a little later. 



E. W. Davis, of New York city, a member of the Cas- 

 capedia Salmon Club, spent a day or two in Boston this 

 week while on his way to the river for the second time 

 this year. This time it is not salmon, but caribou, that 

 Mr. Davis is after. There is a high plateau down there 

 not far from the fishing grounds, and the guides have told 

 him that caribou shooting of the best kind can often be 

 found there in the fall. He has enjoyed moose shooting 

 in Nova Scotia and caribou shooting in Maine, and pre- 

 fers the latter to any other large game found in the East. 

 Another inducement to hunt this animal in Canada and 

 the far North is found in the extra beauty and develop- 

 ment of the head. In Newfoundland the horns grow to 

 immense size and frequently have so many blades that it 

 is a wonder how the animal can browse with any com- 

 fort. Mr. Davis is a thorough sportsman and greatly 

 enjoys both shooting and fishing. He is interested in 

 many salmon pools on the Cascapedia, and the club of 

 which he is a member owds some miles of the upper waters 

 of that stream. These are the waters which were for- 

 merly reserved for the Governor- General of Canada, and 

 are considered the very best in the Province; 391bs. was 

 the weight of his largest fish this season, but he has taken 

 them in the past up to 5Ubs. His son, only 13 years old, 

 captured one this season of 38lbs. and a number of others 

 of less weight. 



Not a few Boston sportsmen are trying the Adirondacks 

 this year and most of them seem well pleased with that 

 interesting region. One large party has just returned , and 

 one of the members, who has made many trips into Maine, 

 is so well pleased that he has even now decided to repeat 

 his visit next fall. The party mentioned is called the 

 Blue Mountain Club, and consisted of Dr. and Mrs. W. G. 

 Kendall, Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Ricker, E. S. Merchant, Jas. 

 Nichols, John Walker and Percy Martin, all of Boston; 

 Dr. and Mrs. Homer Emerson and J. W. Brophy, of Mil- 

 ton; T. B. Coffin, of Gloucester, Mass., and Mrs. Barber, 

 of Hartford, Conn. The Blue Mountain House at Spring 

 Cove, N. Y., about twenty-five miles from Tupper Lake, 

 was made the club headquarters, and it was trom there 

 that the trips to the different runways for deer were taken. 

 The club has been visiting the same region for 13 years, 

 and it is a custom to give each season a championship 

 flag to the person who killed the largest buck. A lady, 

 Mrs. Ricker, won the trophy this time by killing a noble 

 animal in the rapids of the middle branch of the St. Regis 

 River. Eight deer were killed by the entire party. Dr. 

 Kendall made many fine photographs on the trip, which I 

 hope to have the pleasure of looking over. He also killed 

 two deer, and his only regret lies in the fact of his losing 

 a magnificent buck which was very oddly marked with a 

 white face. Well, there are other days coming, and that 

 buck may be there next year. Who knows? 



Hackle. 



RANGE OF GAME SHOOTING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I read Tiam's last letter with genuine pleasure* for it 

 was frank, manly and straightforward, and he stuck to 

 his text. There was, moreover, no attempt to depreciate 

 the value of the opposition by ridicule founded on mere 

 surmise. 



I can admire the convictions of. any man once I am 

 convinced that they are convictions, regardless of how 

 they agree or disagree with my own; for, notwithstand- 

 ing Tiam's surmise that I am juvenile in my ideas and 

 expressions, I have long since passed the age when I 

 believed the ideas or whims of any one man or two men 

 were laws to his or their fellows. We must appeal to the 

 broader lawmaker, general usage and general circum- 

 stance, for the true inspiration of a general rule of action. 

 Of course, the ethical laws of sportsmanship are the 

 unwritten laws; but the unwritten law, once it is an 

 accepted law, is often the more rigidly enforced and the 

 more severely punished, as may be seen when an individ- 

 ual breaks the unwritten laws of society. 



I will not go into any argument concerning the mat- 

 ter further than to say that I think the numerous cir- 

 cumstances cited by Tiam support my contention against 

 long-range shooting at large animals, for if it is so un- 

 certain at the short ranges, how much greater then 

 must it be at the longer ones? The nice point I will 

 not attempt to decide. Yet there must be a range be- 

 yond which the chances of a kill are so uncertain, though 

 the possibilities of a severe wound are so great, that it is 

 worthy of more consideration than is given to it. 



Tiam, I think, must himself appreciate the weakness 

 of the argument ad homimim which he advances; but, as 

 I said before, my purpose is not to argue. I think he wrote 

 a manly, frank letter and I wished to tell him so, 



Dick of C onnecticut. 



The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesda 

 Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at th 

 latest by Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 



THE GUNNISON COUNTRY IN '94. 



About Sept. 1 a couple of friends from Illinois came 

 out to join us in our annual hunting trip. The party 

 leaving Leadville was composed of six, one more joining 

 at De Beque, where we obtained our outfit. Dave, the 

 eldest and best natured, the Doctor, Jack, George, ColoroW 

 Jim, and "The Rocky Mountain Guide," composed the 

 party. We left De Beque in wagons and on horseback, 

 going up Plateau Creek to its head, down Surface Creek 

 to the Gunnison River. From there the next sixteen 

 miles lay over a barren, desolate mesa that could not pro- 

 duce as much life as a coyote; but all things have an end, 

 eve" a desert, and we finally reached the finest valley in 

 the Rocky Mountains, the Valley of the North Fork, One 

 can hardly express his surprise, after having passed over 

 the dreary waste without seeing a living creature save 

 our own caravan, to come suddenly into a country literally 

 "flowing with milk and honey." On every side were im- 

 mense orchards, vast fields and splendid farmhouses, 

 plainly indicating prosperity and happiness. 



We left the North Fork at its junction with Minnesota 

 Creek, going up that stream for seven miles, where, at the 

 last ranch we were to see for four weeks, we left our 

 wagon, and packed up the rugged sides of Mt. Lambert 

 to the head of Coal Creek. A more lovely spot to make 

 camp one could never find. In the midst of plenty of 

 feed for our horses, with a splendid spring rippling over 

 clear white pebbles and an abundance of wood for our 

 camp-fire, we pitched our tent. At every point of the 

 compass stood snow-capped peaks without number. To 

 the north of us were miles and miles of unbroken quaking 

 asp draws, well watered with springs and small streams, 

 the summer resort of deer and elk. To the south, extend- 

 ing away up into the snow-caps, ran an immense body of 

 spruce and pine, in the deep shadows of which game of 

 all kinds resort for rest. To the east, a vast rolling, 

 rugged series of hills and valleys, with beautiful glades 

 and parks ending in a long backbone-like ridge, whose 

 sharp peaks, round domes and turret-like points were de- 

 fined sharp and distinct against the ever cloudless blue of 

 the horizon. Who can describe the beauty of that ridge? 

 It was made up of every hue of the rainbow, and was de- 

 fined so distinctly that one could not guess anywhere near 

 the distance it was from here until first having gone over 

 the ground. One would think surely that he could see 

 every living animal on its rugged sides. Yet it was the 

 home of hundreds of Colorado's greatest game 

 animal, the mountain sheep, and not one could be 

 made out, even with the aid of a powerful field 

 glass. Did you ever try to follow the mighty big 

 horn? If you are not nervous, try it just once. 

 I say just once, but it is not necessary, for it is two to 

 one that the first will include all the trips of that kind 

 you will ever take. When you get back in the evening, 

 tired beyond expression, and gaze on the architecture of 

 wonderful nature, the grandest panorama man ever be- 

 held, you will exclaim, "It is most wonderful to behold, 

 but it is different when you get there." The chances one 

 will take to get his majesty are enough to appall the 

 most daring; and when after it is all over one sits three 

 miles away and gazes on the spot that looks not more 

 than half a mile distant at most, one will tremble at 

 what he has gone through. The great mass of snow and 

 ice, the perpendicular cliffs, the narrow shelf- like ledge 

 one must pass over, are all blended into a picture before 

 him that artists would give worlds to reproduce. 



Our party was quite successful in getting specimens of 

 all the different animals in that part of the State, and so 

 well did we enjoy our trip that life during the month of 

 September in future will be a burden if from any cause 

 we are unable to spend it among the snow-caps. 



The incidents of the trip wex*e so numerous and so 

 thoroughly enjoyed by all that they will long be remem- 

 bered—the number of trout that came to Jack by his skill 

 with rod and fly, the great twenty-eight point buck that 

 fell victim to Colorow's old reliable at half a mile dis- 

 tance; the success of the Doctor and Jack as jackers 

 might be questioned by some, but I am sure that George 

 and Jim will back me in saying that it was more interest- 

 ing even than Buffalo's ghost dance. But were I to men- 

 tion even all that happened on that trip, it would take all 

 the space that Forest and Stream has for other purposes; 

 so I will only note two that may be of interest to others. 



It was our custom to leave the main camp in the after- 

 noon and go some miles into the country we wished to hunt 

 the next day, so as to be near to the game at daybreak. 

 On one of these trips the Doctor and Colorow were 

 aroused during the night by the low grunts of a bull elk. 

 So close did he seem to be that they felt sure he must 

 show himself soon. So with rifles ready they scarcely 

 breathed, straining their eyes with all their might; but it 

 was impossible to get sight of him. Apparently he was 

 near where the horses were feeding; but it was no use, 

 they could not see him. You may imagine with what 

 impatience they waited for day to break. It never oc- 

 curred to them to make a torch of the abundance of 

 material at hand, with which they could have blinded the 

 old fellow and had him as badly "rattled" as they were. 

 But as soon as it was light enough they were on his trail, 

 but only got sight of him once, about a mile off, that only 

 increased their ire. 



Another incident that happened to Jim was of unusual 

 occurrence, and may be of interest to some. While out 

 after elk one morning he jumped a fine young bull in a 

 heavy patch of scrub oak brush, with here and there a 

 bunch of three or four tall, slender quaking asp trees. 

 The bull was a splendid young fellow, about 3 years 

 old, with a neat head of horns. Jim was quite anxious 

 to get him, but so thick was the brush that it was quite 

 difficult to get sight on him. After some twisting and 

 pulling he finally got what he supposed was dead aim, 

 and let drive 375grs. of lead at him, and over he went; 

 but no sooner down than up, and away down the hill. 

 Jim thought of course he was a dead bull, and as soon as 

 he could find the trail started after. He soon made up 

 his mind that something was wrong, as there was not suf- 

 ficient blood on the trail for a badly wounded animal, 

 though he continued to follow for some distance before 

 giving it up, as he finally did, and returned to camp. 

 But the more he thought the matter over, the more he 

 was convinced that he should have hit the elk a hard 

 blow, so he concluded to return the next day and examine 

 more closely. On finding the spot where the bull had 

 stood, the first thing that met his eyes was the ball lying 

 on the ground in front of him. On picking it up it was 

 seen to be covered with elk hair, the edgeB of the ball 



