Nov. 8, 1895.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



870 



most hunters use is a Rort of miniature trumpet of wood or 

 bone, and the imitation is done by sucking the breath 

 through it while both hands are held over the open end, 

 to vary the note. 



• The performance of this gentleman shows how much 

 we can accompli3h under adverse circumstances if we 

 really try. 



There are many other wonderful things he can do, and 

 is by no means as helpless as one would suppose. 



The wild turkey is our finest game bird and a native of 

 North America. It is still to be found in considerable 

 nurnbprs in many parts of the Southern States, especially 

 where thinly settled. They are usually hunted in the fall 

 and winter with pointer or setter dogs trained for the 

 purpose. 



The dog hunts through the woods and bottoms a little 

 ahead of the sportsman, and if he strikes a fresh scent he 

 shows it by his eager and excited manner. The hunter 

 now tries to keep as near the dog as possible, so as to get 

 a shot at the "flush." As soon as the dog catches sight of 

 the game he rushes into the flock, barking vociferously, 

 and chases them as long as one remains on the ground. 

 This is Called flushing them, and the turkeys are usually 

 so much frightened that they fly in every direction, 

 usually going from a quarter to half a mile before 

 alighting. 



Within an hour or two the birds will have partly recov- 

 ered from their fright, and then are anxious to come to- 

 gether again. It is this instinct that the hunter makes 

 use of to decoy them within gunshot by Calling them to 

 his "blind." The blind is simply a rude structure of 

 brush and sticks, barely large enough to conceal him and 

 his dog, while he imitates the cry of the turkey with his 

 yelper. 



Under favorable circumstances one or more birds may 

 be called up and shot, but a novice would not likely be 

 able to deceive an old bird, for they are remarkably shy 

 and cunning. The yelp must be a perfect imitation, and 

 not too frequent or prolonged, or the game will become 

 suspicious. They will then stalk around and so get to- 

 gether again without coming too near the concealed 

 hunter. 



Another method is called baiting. Some corn, oats or 

 other food is scattered in places wht-re the turkeys will be 

 most likely to find it. When once found and eaten they 

 will remember the place and are sure to return. 



They may be induced to visit the place daily by keeping 

 up the supply of food, usually coming at once to the bait 

 as soon as they leave the roost at daybreak. 



In the meantime the hunter has constructed a rude 

 blind, in the most inconspicuous manner, within easy 

 gunshot of the foodj and in it he conceals himself to await 

 their coming. 



He usually sows the corn on the ground in a straight 

 line with his blind, so that the flock, in picking it up, may 

 be in a favorable position for a raking shot down the line. 

 In this way it is not uncommon to kill from two to four 

 at a single shot. The writer remembers an incident when 

 a member of his family killed at one shot five gobblers 

 whose aggregate weight was lOOlbs. 



This magnificent game bird is so similar in appearance 

 to the domestic turkey that one not familiar with them 

 would scarcely perceive the points of difference. The 

 flavor of the wild bird is recognized everywhere as 

 superior to the domestic, but their weight will not average 

 so great. Twenty-four pounds is considered an extra- 

 ordinary weight for a wild turkey, while some of the im- 

 proved breeds of the domestic bird often go beyond that. 



They are cunning and wary to a remarkable degree, 

 and extremely regular in their habits on the range if not 

 molested. To bunt them successfully requires an accu- 

 rate knowledge of their habits, and a large supply of 

 patience and leisure time. Ardent lovers of the sport 

 have been known to sit in a blind from daybreak till sun- 

 down to secure a shot, and not always get one then. 



Thomas C. Harris. 



Raleigh, N. C. 



WITH A .22 IN THE ROCKIES. 



"If a fellar 'u'd ever shoot me with a thing like that, an' 

 I found it out, I'd knock the stuffiDg out of him." 



I had stopped at a ranch in the Greenhorn Mountains, 

 Colorado, to inquire the way to Gardner Brothers' ranch, 

 and one of the men glanced at the muzzle of my rifle and 

 made the time-worn remark. I carelessly shoved the 

 lever down, and as the long, bottle-necked shell of the ,22- 

 15 Winchester slid out on the breech block, he stared at it 

 a moment, then took the shell and examined it, and 

 handed it to one of his companions. 



"What do you think of the thing now?" I asked. 



"Well, like Lem Wilson's bear, 'Blanked if 'tain't big- 

 ger than I thought it was.' You see, old Lem started to 

 lay out a bear with a club, and after the boys had killed 

 the bear and patched old Lem up and give him a good big 

 drink of medicine, he looked at the bear a minute, and 

 says, 'Blanked if he ain't bigger 'en I thought he wuz.' 

 Groin' to stop at Gardner's?" 



"YeB. I intend to work there some time." 



"Come over; 'tain't more 'n two miles, an' we'll go up 

 in the hills huntin'." 



The appointed day found me at the ranch, and to my 

 question the boss said, "Hain't been gone half an hour; 

 went up the hollar; get a lope on ye an' ye'll ketch 'em." 



I did "get a lope on me," but 1 had climbed nearly to 

 the top of the mountain before I found them, and then 

 only Joe, the leader. 



"Waited fur ye half an hour. Oh, that's all right. 

 Nope. ■ Three more scattered round som'er's. Only got 

 one grouse," were the answers I got. 



As soon as his companions came up, he told us to spread 

 out and we would go on up the hill. "If ye see a bear, jest 

 climb a tree and yell; we will come and get yer," he called 

 to me. 



Two reports from the right of me, and I saw the boys 

 pick up two grouse. I am going to get snowed under in 

 this gang, I thought. But what is that walking up the 

 hill not 20yds. away? At the crack of my rifle the grouse 

 turned completely over and again stalked away 1 . Hastily 

 slipping in another cartridge, I fired again, and it had the 

 ■effect of stopping it. "Fetch ye over a club if you want 

 me to," called Joe. I drew down fine on his head, when 

 it fell forward, and when I picked him up he was dead, 

 1 showed the boys two bullet holes in his body, and they 

 consolingly remarked, "Ye did well; ye'll get 'em, if they 

 only sit still long enough." 



We went some distance before I found any more, and 

 then, after trailing a bird over the light patches of snow 



about a hundred yards, as he stepped from behind a 

 rock I fired. A roar like a small cannon from behind, 

 and "I got 'em" from one of the gang, and he walked over 

 and got my bird. They had four grouse and a rabbit now, 

 and I but one grouse. I began to wish I hadn't come. 



We got separated and I heard several shots, and at 

 every one my feelings went lower. They scared up a 

 rabbit, which I cut the head off of, and when they came 

 up I found they had seen several grouse, but had missed 

 them all, and I felt relieved to think they could miss. 



One of them walked by a grouse that was sitting on a 

 rock not 10yds. from him, and when I cut him down my 

 stock rose to par. We were all walking along together, 

 when a large flock of grouse flushed and scattered in the 

 trees, and as they rose one at a time my thoughts traveled 

 to my little shotgun miles away. I drew down on a bird, 

 when that roar again; well, we both missed. I had 

 marked some down over in the timber further; and got 

 two and a rabbit, and found on joining the boys again 

 that they only had the original four. Stock above par. 



We separated again and I added another rabbit and a 

 black squirrel to my string. Now came one of the prettiest 

 shots I ever saw. One of the boys below me fired and 

 fully 100yds. down the valley a grouse dropped out of a 

 treetop, his neck cut nearly off. 



Hearing some shooting on ahead we hurried on and 

 found the rest walking about some spruce trees, in which 

 they said were two squirrels. One of them wanted to try 

 my rifle, so I traded for a .40-82. They could not find 

 the squirrels, so I showed them one of them and went on 

 a still-hunt for the other, which I soon found and tried 

 to bark, but only succeeded in cutting his stomach off. I 

 went around to where they were trying to shoot the other 

 one, took my rifle and dropped him, which brought the 

 remark, "Well, when you shoot something drops. 



' 'What do you think of the little popgun now?" 



They turned and started for home without a word. I 

 had four grouse, three rabbits and three squirrels without 

 a miss, and the three of them only had five grouse, one 

 rabbit and one squirrel. All the way to their ranch they 

 said not a word. As I left them at the ranch I thought 

 of the old saying, "He who laughB last laughs best." 



Still I was sorry that they had taken their defeat by 

 the "little popgun" so badly. 



Lew Gardner, when I Went in, said: "Well, Pennsyl- 

 vania and his popgun did get some game." 



"Len'ard, a gun is like a woman. It all depends" on 

 how you use 'em. If yeh don't use a woman wight yeh 

 don't get much out of 'em, and yeh might use a cannon, 

 and if yeh didn't use it wight yeh wouldn't get anything 

 with it," was the sage remark of Martin. 



One of the squirrels was gray, with small black rosettes 

 on his ears. I have never been able to ascertain its 

 species. Jim. 



P. S.— The miss I mention don't count, as the roar of 

 that old Sharps startled me so that I could not help miss- 

 ing.— J. 



MAINE HUNTING CONDITIONS, 



Nearly every mail brings Forest and Stream such 

 letters as the following: 



"Will you kindly inform me through the columns of 

 your paper where or in what part of Maine is the best 

 hunting to be found, and what it will cost for three men 

 to spend two weeks in having a real good shoot. We 

 contemplate starting out soon, so if you will please 

 answer in your next issue, if possible, you will confer a 

 great favor to one who reads your paper. We want to 

 know where to go, what it will cost and how to get there, 

 and whatever other information you may care to give 

 us. GHas. BenseL." 



As a rule such inquiries are answered by mail, and the 

 names of the best localities and guides are given in order 

 that the sportsman may have a selection and also that he 

 may find some one who is not already engaged. This is 

 sufficient of course for sportsmen who have a good under- 

 standing of the conditions of Maine hunting, but there 

 are many others, such as the writer of the letter which is 

 quoted, who require more extended information, and it is 

 lor these that the following notes are writen. 



First as to locality. The location where "the best 

 hunting is to be found" is something like that of Fonce de 

 Leon's fountain of youth. It never has been found and 

 never will be. Each section is the best for the men who 

 hunt there, and there are as many best places as there are 

 differences of opinion among hunters and guides. 



Roughly speaking there are two great sections in Maine 

 that are regularly visited by sportsmen. The nearest for 

 the majority is that embracing the Rangeley, Megantic and 

 Dead River regions, near the northwestern part of the 

 State. This section is reached by several routes from 

 Portland, Maine, of which any railroad guide will give the 

 necessary particulars. 



The other is the northern section of the State — the 

 Moosehead Lake country and Aroostook county. This is 

 approached either by way of Moosehead Lake or by the 

 new Bangor & Aroostook Railroad further east. Bangor 

 bears practically the same relation as a starting point to 

 this section as Portland does to the other. 



The railroad points nearest the hunting sections may all 

 be reached inside a of day from Boston. Naturally, how- 

 ever, the best hunting is not as a rule to be found near 

 the railroads. To reach it wagons or canoes and more or 

 less tramping are generally necessary, so that two days at 

 least must be allowed for the journey. Frequently much 

 longer periods are taken up in traveling, as when pene- 

 trating the lake region of the northern part of the State. 

 Deer are very abundant in either of these sections, and 

 one can hardly go amiss in choosing a locality if no other 

 game is wanted. 



Moose and caribou are much more difficult to find and 

 are more abundant in the Moosehead and Aroostook 

 sections. 



Partridges, which ai*e the principal small game to be 

 counted upon, are distributed all through the State, but 

 are found in greatest numbers as a rule in second growth 

 and around the settlements. 



It is not possible of course in such an article as this to 

 give anything more than the most general directions as to 

 locality. The names of guides and places are to be found 

 from time to time in accounts of Maine outings published 

 in Forest ajnd Stream and other journals, and such 

 accounts are as a rule reliable. 



If you happen to have no acquaintances who hunt in 

 Maine, or no convenient way of finding out about any 

 particular locality, it is a good plan to correspond witn 

 some of these guides whose names are mentioned. As a 



class they are honest and reliable, and the best known 

 have well earned reputations to sustain, and they are very 

 careful to give exact facts. Frequently they are more' apt 

 to understate than overstate the advantages of a locality. 



Camps and Guides. 

 In Maine most of the country is open to sportsmen. 

 Aside from the Megantic Club there are no large domains 

 controlled by associations for the purpose of conserving 

 the fish and game, and under the existing laws we are 

 not likely to see the Adirondack system ever come much 

 into vogue. Frequently, however, the hunting privileged 

 of large tracts of land are leased by guides and others for 

 the benefit of visiting sportsmen, and on such tracts 

 hunting Camps are located. Sometimes there is a main 

 Camp accessible by road, and to which supplies may easily 

 be carried, which is a sort of headquarters, with small 

 temporary camps scattered around in the neighborhood 

 of the best hunting grounds. At other times, especially 

 early in the season, the guides cut loose from all fixed 

 habitatiota and camp wherever inclination suggests, and 

 at such times tents are generally used for shelter. Most 

 guides have their special hunting territory where they 

 take sportsmen if not otherwise stipulated, but a good 

 guide is capable of going anywhere within the power of 

 human bone and sinew. For instance, a guide living at 

 Greenville, near Moosehead Lake, will take you through 

 the wild woods to New Brunswick or the Aroostook or 

 down the West Branch of the Penobscot; or an Indian 

 from Oldtown near Bangor, or any guide worth having 

 living at Medway or any of the other places about the 

 outskirts of this wilderness, will do the same thing. Some 

 guides are local in their habits, but the best as a rule are 

 familiar with the wild portions of a large part of the 

 State. 



It is customary to have a guide for each member of a* 

 party, and in large hunting parties it is frequently ad- 

 visable to have an extra guide along to do the cooking 

 and look after camp, so tbat the others may have all their 

 time free for the demands of their individual sportsmen. 

 Of course parties frequently go into the woods with less 

 than this quota of guides, but they are either familiar 

 with the conditions and in a measure capable of being 

 their own guides, or else they have to be contented to go 

 slower and to be less independent than parties better pro- 

 vided. 



Expenses. 



Occasionally visiting sportsmen dispense with guides! 

 altogether, but, as a rule, such a course presupposes con- 

 siderable previous experience, both as to routes and 

 methods of traveling, or else such sportsmen put up at 

 one of the permanent camps before mentioned and hunt 

 in the immediate neighborhood. 



The cost of board at such camps varies from $L to $2 per 

 day for the sportsmen. For guides the charge for board 

 is generally about 50 cents. Frequently sportsmen put up 

 at these camps and are furnished with guides familiar 

 with the best localities in the immediate neighborhood. 

 The charge for the guide is the regular one of $3 per day, 

 which, as a rule, 1 believe, includes the guide's board. 

 Some camps advertise to supply board and guide to sports- 

 men at a fixed sum, 



When going back in the woods where there are no per- 

 manent camps the sportsman pays for the supplies con- 

 sumed by his guide as well as himself. This item of ex- 

 pense is generally very small, for, as a rule, only the 

 necessities of life are carried, recource being had to rifle 

 or rod for important parts of the menu. In this case the 

 guide furnishes canoe, tent and cooking utensils. Some- 

 times he provides the blankets also, but it is a good plan 

 to correspond with him and be sure upon this point in 

 good season. His charges are $3 per day. 



For the average sportsman an allowance of $4 per day 

 should be sufficient to cover all expenses while in the 

 woods, though, of course, it is possible to spend more if 

 the sportsman so desires. This is the average cost. As 

 pointed out, there is also a minimum expense of $1 per 

 day if the sportsman is content to put up at a permanent 

 camp and hunt without a guide. The railroad expenses 

 can easily be computed. The Bangor & Aroostook, 

 Maine Central and other roads will be glad to furnish 

 rates as well as data of interest regarding guides, camps, 

 ete. , on application. 



Methods of Hunting, etc. 



In Maine most of the hunting early in the season is 

 from the water. Partridges of course are shot in the 

 birch and small growth around the camp, but aside from 

 this very little tramping is done. For this reason, as well 

 as others, the first of the season is the easiest time to get 

 big game, i. e., the time when big game may be secured 

 with least exertion. 



Deer, moose and caribou are either killed from the 

 canoe or else very close to it. Your guide paddles you in 

 and out along the crooked shore of the lake or up the 

 still more crooked windings of the dead-water stream 

 that runs through the bog, and if you are in a good 

 country any bend may show you the game you seek. 



When the day grows old he will land at some place 

 where there is enough open ground for a fair shot and 

 call for moose. Under such conditions the sportsman 

 does not have much chance to complain of leg weariness. 

 When the snow flies, however, and when the lakes and 

 streams are ice-bound, the conditions change completely. 

 Then the sportsman hunts on land, and each day tests 

 his power of endurance. For such hunting he needs 

 heavy flannels, for he must dispense with overcoat, and 

 he needs good woolen footwear. In December two or 

 three pairs of woolen stockings on at once under a pair 

 of roomy moccasins is about right. 



Different sportsmen have their preferences as to the 

 time of being in the woods. Each season has its special 

 charms. Game is prime from October to January, three 

 months of open season, and there is plenty of it for any 

 reasonable sportsman. J. B. Bdrnham. 



Game and Fish to the Brim. 



Lilltwaut, Wash., Oct. 18.— Game here is sort of plen- 

 tiful; get grouse whenever I want it. Ducks galore. 

 Deer and bears within a half mile. Saw my first wild 

 bear the other day in the woods, and had a shotgun with 

 No. 6 shot in it, and the bear looked at me and said 

 good-by, and I said thanks. Trout in stream handy; 

 salmon on call. Killed my first a day or two since, 7f lbs. 

 on lOoz, steel rod. An hour and ten minutes doing it. He 

 was a fighter. Lots of salmon running now. Catch 

 them with a spoon any time. O. O. S, 



