Oct. 6, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM 



205 



A SEPTEMBER BROOD OF QUAIL. 



BEING anxious to know how the quail have increased 

 on my preserve this season, I took my old dog 

 Quail, and* for the first time since last winter gave him 

 a run over the most likely ground. He came to a point 

 on a field grown up with weeds. I saw that his nose was 

 very close to the game, and I walked up to within six 

 feet of him, where I plainly saw three quail sitting close 

 together, all facing one way, side by side: there were two 

 males and one female, They did not move, and I thought 

 that very strange, as they appeared to be looking right at 

 me with then: bright little black eyes. After enjoying 

 seeing the old dog point, and being satisfied with looking 

 at the pretty little fellows, I stepped up to them so close 

 that they flushed, and to my surprise there must have 

 been two bevies of little fellows (underneath these three 

 quail), that were not over twenty-four hours old. They 

 scattered, all over the ground as quick as thought, so that 

 I could not tell how many there were, but I should say 

 there must have been at least thirty. I called the old 

 dog in and backed out carefully, so as not to tread on them, 

 while the female flew around me apparently very un- 

 happy. What is singular is that two males and only one 

 female should be covering these birds. This was on the 

 14th of September. 



I heard of two bevies on Mr. W. Bayard Cutting's place 

 at Llip, that were hatched last week. 



To those who sow feed for the birds, I would recom- 

 mend buckwheat. I have sown this year buckwheat, 

 spring wheat, spring rye and millet, side by side, but I 

 find that the quail stick to the buckwheat all the time. 

 Hereafter I shall not plant anything but buckwheat. 



ALFRED A. FRASER. 

 The Cedars, Oakdalc, Long Island, Sept. 30. 



A Rattlesnake at Sea.— Engineer William Dart, of the 

 steam tug U. Dart, reports seeing a rattlesnake yesterday 

 "coming in from sea." The steamer was near the light- 

 house when his snakeship was discovered coming in with 

 the tide, head erect, but with rattles trailing in the water. 

 The rattlesnake usually swims with both head and tail 

 erect, the latter waving from side to side like that of a 

 dog. This one must have been swimming a long time, 

 and was no doubt exhausted, hence allowed his rattles to 

 trail in the water. Now, whence came this land monster ? 

 Had he come across from England, or had he undertaken 

 to swim across from one island to the other on the ebb 

 tide, been carried to sea, and was retmning with the 

 tide? — Brunswick (Ga.) Advertiser. 



'mm §ag mid (§nt\+ 



Address all communications to (lie Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



IN THE . SAWTOOTH RANGE.— II. 



THE second day after this Bill and I went to Rocky 

 Bar, we took a trail across the mountains, partly 

 along the Feather River, known to old prospectors as a 

 very" rich placer gold region, now climbing up narrow 

 winding rocks, then along an old deserted water ditch, 

 passing dangerous places, where one misstep of our horses 

 would hurl us down to sure destruction, reaching at last, 

 by walking down a terrrible steep decline, the stage road, 

 on which we soon made the town. Here I met all my 

 old friends, who were very glad to see me once more, also 

 some New York and Eastern men all interested in mining 

 schemes. The old camp was all bustle, for several mines 

 were booming, principally the Ellmore, which was just 

 getting a new 50-stamp mill. The next few days I spent 

 idling around, visiting the Hopkins boys and putting in 

 some rifle practice. At this I met with a serious accident, 

 which, however, happened to turn out very fortunately. 



Shooting, on;? morning, near the new mill, until all my 

 ammunition was exhausted, except a few cartridges, 

 which, having been reloaded several times, were a trifle 

 expanded and would not enter freely in tiie chamber, and 

 thinking to force one with the closing lever, I wedged it 

 only tighter, so tight that I tried in vain to push it back 

 with my cleaning rod. Here was a fix, the shell was 

 almost in, and if I could only close the lever I could shoot 

 it out. I resolved to use a little force with sufficient pre- 

 caution; so cutting a piece of wood and hollowing it so 

 that the primer might not come in contact with the wood, 

 I gave the obstinate shell several knocks. At the last 

 knock, either from the forced contraction, or more prob- 

 able, contact with the primer, the shell exploded, tearing 

 out the base, the powder burning my face and thumb 

 considerably. The sudden discharge threw the rifle out 

 of my hands, the hammer cutting my chest and bruising 

 it not a little. Seeing the torn shirt and blood I was 

 terribly frightened, but tearing it off and washing the 

 wound at the near creek, I thanked God it was only an 

 abrasion of the flesh made by the hammer. The bullet 

 entered the log on which I was standing, close to my 

 foot. Billy and his wife were as much frightened as my- 

 self when I returned and told them what a close call I 

 had. They cleansed and washed my wounds, applying 

 salt pork to draw the inflammation and the deeply burned 

 powder grains out of my face and thumb; Bill succeeded 

 in picking them out almost entirely. 



I staid around the house the next few days, busying 

 myself with my deer's head and antlers, which I 'pre- 

 served, intending to take home with me. Tuesday I 

 was well enough again to pay a visit to Mr. Bailey, who 

 is in charge of the stage station on Wood Creek, remain- 

 ing with him till Friday, hunting grouse and pheasants, 

 and watching for a thieving bear who had inspected Mr. 

 B iley's primitive ice box in the creek. The bear had 

 cleaned out the meat, butter, etc., indiscriminately, but 

 he was too sly to be caught napping. We never could see 

 him, except once when Bailey went to get some water 

 he caught a glimpse of him just disappearing in the thick 

 brush. 



Friday I went over toWillard's, where I saw BobPatti- 

 son, who proposed a trip up Grouse Creek for a few days' 

 hunt. Promising to be on hand, I started for Bonaparte, 

 to get a few blankets and camp outfit. Taking an early 

 start next morning from the mine, I reached Willard's in 

 good time, found Bob and Willard's oldest boy George 

 waiting, and we were soon climbing up the hills back of 

 their ranch. We pitched camp in a beautiful mountain 

 meadow, near the creek. Unpacking our horses, I missed 



my hatchet, rubber and woolen blanket, and also a lash 

 rope; the last one must have been loosened by the rapid 

 gait* I was going in the morning, allowing the other things 

 to slip out, and in spite of the diamond hitch. Jim 

 Nicholson, who followed me in the morning with his 

 team, found the things, and left them at Willard's. We 

 succeeded in killing two nice deer, only bunting morn- 

 ings and evenings, the rest of the day we laid off or 

 fished; the creek was full of speckled' beauties. Still- 

 hunting successfully this season of the year has many 

 di advantages, the deer feeding principally in the eve- 

 ning, during the night, or early morning, lying off dur- 

 ing the day in some shady nook in the thick brush and 

 heavy timber, through which you cannot go without 

 making some noise, and they arc ever on the alert, and 

 will be off before you are aware of them. 



Close to our camp was also camped an old trapper and 

 squaw-man, having chosen a full-blooded Sioux belle as 

 companion in his roaming and adventurous pursuits; their 

 union had been blessed by four children, the youngest 

 only a six months old pappoose. The man was intelligent 

 and well informed, telling me his life's eventful history, 

 how, as a child, he would accompany Ms father from St. 

 Louis on his semi-annual fur trading expeditions until he 

 became enchanted with the free and easy border life, 

 heightened by the excitements and dangers connected 

 with it. An old French voyageur and trapper taking a 

 particular liking to him, filled his young mind with won- 

 derful pictures, and persuaded him to run away from his 

 father and go with the old Frenchman on Ids first trap- 

 ping tour. In his life among the noble red men, whose 

 customs he adopted, he became partly one of them. Ly- 

 ing around the bright camp-fire in the evening, I listened 

 with deep interest to the relation of his nomadic wander- 

 ings, and heard him revive historical events and 

 incidents, from the sad Custer catastrophe on the Little 

 Big Horn to the rebellion of the half breeds under Louis 

 Riel in the far northwest. 



An amusing incident, over which we laughed a good 

 deal, happened in this camp. In our outfit was a jackass, 

 or donkey. The Indian woman and oldest boy, who 

 had never seen one, were looking with wonder and as- 

 tonishment on this freak of nature. Jack, who was of a 

 rather thieving disposition around camp, was picketed, 

 and being unable to follow the horses straying off, he 

 began to bray. This sudden outburst of jack's unmusical 

 voice, was too much for these children of the forest; 

 frightened almost to death, they ran into then- lodge, 

 hiding themselves under the blankets, trembling a.nd 

 imagining no doubt this wonderful ass was nothing less 

 than the angered bad spirit. 



Wednesday we left our camp, and got down to Wil- 

 lard's by noon. Leaving one deer with them I started, 

 stopping for supper at the cabm of the Hopkins boys, 

 intending to leave some venison, but BOly who had a day 

 before killed a monstrous buck, had all the meat they 

 wanted. At sundown I got back to the old mine. The 

 next few days nothing happened of any importance, I 

 spent most my time in monkeying around the mine, pre- 

 paring a handsome pah of deer antlers, and shooting 

 grouse, or in rifle practice. 



Sunday Mr. and Mrs. McK. and myself were bright and 

 early on our way to Willard's, bent on an excursion to 

 the Trinity Lakes. We found this gentleman, with his 

 grown daughter, Emma, and three of the smaller Willards, 

 all waiting on then horses. Leaving our wagon here, in 

 which we came from the mine, saddling and packing 

 our horses with camping utensils, everything was set, Joe 

 Willard as captain and scout taking the lead: and looking 

 at the rather mixed crowd, he could not help pronouncing 

 it a rather promiscuous outfit, a word he was very fond 

 of, using it most indiscriminately. The best known trail 

 to the lakes is by way of Rocky Bar, but Willard had 

 cleared some kind of a" rough trail through gulches and 

 canons, right opposite his ranch, by which we reached 

 the lakes after four hours' hard and continuous climbing. 

 They are located in a wild, magnificent mountain basin, 

 3,000ft. above the river. We pitched camp at the base of 

 a very high peak, where snow on the north side lay still 

 undisturbed, and near a cluster of small lakes abounding 

 with trout, Mrs. McK. and Emma Willard superintend- 

 ing the grouse supper, while we tended to the horses, 

 some cutting fir boughs for our beds, while I set the tent 

 which the ladies and youngsters were to occupy. 



Monday morning Willard and McK. went to explore 

 the surrounding regions, and locate the large lake, Avhile 

 I took the rest of the outfit fishing to the lake near. Cut- 

 ting poles on our way down, and fastening lines and flies 

 I improvised fishing rods which they were as proud of as 

 if owning the finest split bamboo. Soon I was wanted on 

 all sides. Mrs. McK. needed a longer switch to string 

 her fish on, while Emma Willard called for help (ventur- 

 ing out too far on a slippery log, she got stuck in the soft 

 mud), the smaller fry calling to help them unloosen then- 

 lines, or applying for new flies. After two hours fishing 

 Ave counted 108 victims, all good size trout, from 8 to 12in. 

 in length. As this was more than needed we stop}: eh 

 and cleaning our fish in a cold creek near camp, had 

 them ready for supper. A while after our two scouts 

 came back, loaded with the hides of two mountain goats 

 which they had killed on their exploring tour, bringing 

 also the news that the large lake was about four miles on 

 the other side of the dividing ridge. Then we sat down 

 to a delicious grouse and trout supper which all hands 

 enjoyed. 



The next morning we decided to take a trip to the large 

 lake, McK. to take the menagerie, as he called the woman 

 folks and children, while Willard and I would try to get 

 a shot at the goats and meet them later at the large lake. 

 We saw no game of any account. I could have killed a 

 nice buck but we were not after deer and might frighten 

 the wary goats. Climbing as noiselessly as possible the 

 rough, bare and slate-rock proclivities, we came to a 

 mountain basin, where they had killed the two goats the 

 day before. It was a natural yard, the goats must have 

 used this basin for many years, to judge from the deep 

 trodden paths and leavings. Here undisturbed they fed 

 on the rich and juicy moss and lichens, or drank out cf 

 the numerous ice-cold springs. We saw no goats in the 

 basin; and after passing the basin we separated, I to fol- 

 low a small mountain creek, while Willard would make 

 a circuit, promising to meet me above. 



Lying down to take a drink out of the creek, I heard 

 above me a noise of falling loose stones, and looking 

 sharp around, noticed, 200lt. above, on a shelf-like pro- 

 truding rock, a goat motionless, looking down at me. 

 Fearing to alarm the game, I only changed my prone 



position to reach my rifle, so securing an excellent rest. 

 At the report of the rifle the goat made one leap in the 

 air, and came tumbling down. It was a kid in search of 

 its mother, which Willard had killed the previous day. 

 I soon had it skinned; the hair was short, but white and 

 soft, like fleece. When I got to my partner I found he 

 had not heard my shot, nor seen any game, but had found 

 the trail where they had been down for their morning 

 nip and returned to the lofty mountains. We followed 

 the fresh signs some distance, but seeing them turn in 

 the opposite direction from our way to the lake, we had 

 to give them up. 



Having noticed so many mythical accounts of this 

 rare spec men, Aplocerus montanus, and the hunting of 

 it. especially that by Mr. Baillie-Grohman, in the Decem- 

 ber, 1884, number of the Century magazine, I advise any 

 ambitious or would-be goat slayer to visit this region, and 

 satisfy his heart's desires. 



When we reached the lake we were pretty tired and 

 were glad to get on our horses McK. had taken along for 

 us; and it was near sundown when Ave all got back to our 

 old camp. Next day Willard and I hunted down Trinity 

 Creek. We saw several deer, also fresh bear sign, but in 

 spite of all efforts we scored a blank. The folloAving day 

 w£s our last in camp, while Willard and McK. saddled 

 and packed the horses, the rest of the outfit Avent for the 

 last time to our trout pond to catch a mess of fish to take 

 home. By noon we had all we Wanted and bade adieu to 

 our lovely camp. McK., as well as his wife, killed a 

 number of grouse on our way back, and by 5 P. M. we 

 were once more at Willard's ranch. 



After supper Mr. and Mrs. McK. started back in their 

 wagon, while I rode ahead to stop at the boys' cabin, 

 leaving my tent and some camping truck with them. I 

 heard the glad news that they had leased their claim on 

 shares and were ready for our great hunting and trapping 

 trip, so Ave concluded to start Saturday. Completing the 

 necessary preparations for a rather long and extensive 

 trip in the SaAvtooth Mountain range, where we expected 

 to find bear, deer, elk and mountain sheep, and along the 

 Salmon River and its tributaries to do a little trapping, 

 we started well equipped Avith three saddle and three 

 pack horses. 



Out first camp was on Willow Creek, which the reader 

 will remember. Here we found an old acquaintance, our 

 squaw-man, trapping for beaver, and intending to strike 

 the same route we had mapped out for ourselves; but we 

 succeeded in talking him into turning back and going to 

 the Trinity Lakes, picturing that locality in glowing 

 colors, the lakes and creek untrappeel and full of different 

 fur. 



Sunday we kept on climbing our steep and rough trail 

 and made only ten miles, and camped near the summit, 

 remaining here two days, rearranging our packs and 

 hunting a little. Tuesday we started again, went over 

 the divide, descending through a canon-like gulch, until 

 we got down to the middle Boise, passing the almost 

 deserted placer mining camp Uba, where a few Chinamen 

 washed over the debris of former minings; and by noon 

 reached the old and well-known mining town of Atlanta. 

 The mines being no longer worked the town looked very 

 dead indeed. We traveled seven miles further and 

 camped near the river. In a drizzling rain we pulled 

 out the next day and began to climb the Sawtooth 

 Mountains; the trail is a very hard one for horses and in- 

 creased as we went higher, but the scenery on a clear 

 day must be grand and imposing. At the summit it was 

 icy cold, and the low-hanging mist and fog clouds en- 

 veloped everything in an impenetrable vail. 



These mountains are a noted resort of the goats. We 

 noticed lots of fresh signs and well-marked runways, 

 where they had been in the habit of coming down to 

 drink; but we did not pay any attention to them. Our 

 destination was the celebrated Redfish Lakes, and by 

 sundown we camp A close to the shore of the largest sheet 

 of water. These lakes were a great resort and pleasure 

 ground during the Sawtooth mining boom, but they are 

 visited uoaa^ only by the few surrounding mining camps, 

 and being directly on the Rocky Bar and Atlanta trail 

 are used as camping places for freighters and prospectors. 

 They are located picturesquely in an irregular basin, and 

 are surrounded by a range of mountains, whose lofty 

 peaks linked along one after another, appear at a distance 

 like huge colos al sawteeth. In these lakes we find the 

 rare and singular redfish, 9 large beautiful fish from 2-J to 

 lOlbs. in weight, a bright red in color with handsome 

 greenish head; and flesh which is excellent eating. They 

 will not be lured with any bait whatever, and are gener- 

 ally captured with a grabhook, speared, or shot on the 

 riffles. F B. 



BEAR TRAPPING AGAIN. 



SAGAMORE HILL, Sept. 28.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I think that all men fond of large game 

 shooting are under an obligation to Mr. Rogers for pro- 

 testing against the unsportsmanlike practice of shooting- 

 bears in traps. Of course, where bears or cougars destroy 

 stock it may be necessary to kill them by traps or spring 

 guns as vermin, precisely as I poison wolves on my ranch; 

 but as a form of legitimate hunting to shoot a bear in a 

 trap ranks with the old time Adirondack practice of kill- 

 ing a deer in a lake while the guide held its tail so that 

 it should not sink. It is especially to be regretted that 

 men who are otherwise singularly good and keen sports- 

 men should indulge in such a proceeding; they probably 

 do not realize that the inevitable effect is to convince all 

 outsiders who do not know them personally that they 

 get all of their bears, instead of some only, by trapping. 

 Of course there are occasions when a trapped bear may 

 be dangerous; exactly as I have known a buck in the 

 water to upset a canoe. But that this is not ordinarily the 

 case may be gathered from the fact that many profes- 

 sional trappers kill the bear with a revolver or axe instead 

 of a rifle. Two of my own men caught a large number 

 of black bears in steel traps, and invariably killed them 

 either Avith a hatchet or diminutive pocket pistol ; and a 

 similar feat was performed with grizzlies in the Cceur 

 d'Alenes, except that in this case the trapper used a heavy 

 revolver. 



Two or three of our New York and Brooklyn sports- 

 men have gained most unenviable reputations in the 

 West by their so-called "bear hunts," on which they 

 ( arry Avith them a number of huge, exceedingly heavy 

 steel gins — very proper gear for a professional fur trapper, 

 but entirely out of place as adjuncts to the rifle of a true 

 hunter. Theodore Roosevelt, 



