Deo. 29, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



447 



signs. I preferred to lie around camp and dream and 

 read. I could lie under a big pine near our camp and 

 count fourteen distinct ranges of mountains. 



"Boys," said Brown to us one morning, "it is a week 

 to-day since you came here. Clark has killed so many 

 deer that I must pack them in to Ft. Davis, but I would 

 be glad to have you stay with me all winter if you can." 



I had despaired of getting a shot at a cougar, and 

 Clark said he was tired hunting, so we concluded to go 

 next day. I wanted to go back by way of the road, and 

 Brown readily consented. We made an early start, as 

 we intended to camp that night at an abandoned stage 

 station, about half way to Ft. Davis, on the El Paso road. 

 Clark stopped and looked back at our camp, just before 

 a turn in the road hid it from sight for the last time, and 

 spoke thus: "Will, we have had a week of perfect happi- 

 ness. I think that an annual camp and hunt in the 

 wilderness is just the thing that our overworked profes- 

 sional and business men need. Let them camp out three 

 or four weeks every year and forget business and every- 

 thing, even the days of the week. It is just the medicine 

 that they need." 



We rode up to the deserted stage station about five 

 o'clock in the evening and camped. Brown set to work 

 to cook supper, Clark went to sketching, and T took up a 

 camp kettle and started for a spring about twenty rods 

 away for some water, picking up my Winchester as I 

 passed where it lay. I had quite a steep little hill to 

 climb before I came in sight of the spring, which lay in 

 a little ravine directly in front of me when I reached the 

 top. I looked down at the spring, and there, lapping up 

 water, not more than 50yds. away, was a big cougar. 

 He looked to me to be about 20ft. long. My heart 

 jumped up in my throat and thumped like a trip hammer; 

 and I dropped' the camp kettle with a bang, which 

 attracted the attention of the cougar. When he saw me, 

 his ears went back and he gave a low growl, and crouched 

 closer to the ground just like a cat, but he showed no dis- 

 position to run, looking at me as much as to say, what 

 are you going to do about it? I had begun to get my 

 senses again, and brought up my gun to give him a shot, 

 but it was strange how that front sight would bob 

 around. First it would strike the ground' about Oft. this 

 side of the game, then it would give a bound and be 2ft. 

 over him. Finally I clenched my teeth, got a kind of a 

 sight on his shoulder, and let her go. I will always 

 be! ieve that I shut both eyes when I pulled the trigger. 

 The cougar jumped up in the air about 10ft. — it looked 

 as high as that to me anyhow— and commenced to claw 

 and Bite the ground when he came down. I thought I 

 had only wounded him, and shot twice more, but I must 

 have missed, for we only found one. bullet hole. Brown 

 and Clark both came running up to where I was. and 

 after his highness ceased to struggle, we went down to 

 where be lay. He was very poor, and was literally 

 covered with old scars; several of his teeth were missing, 

 and he must have been a veteran. We stretched him 

 out as he lay and measured turn. It was just 8ft. from 

 the tip of his nose to the end of his tail; his hah was 

 much lighter in color than that on the various pelts I had 

 seen. Brown said this was because he was very old. 

 ( lark stripped his skin off, and the nest day we rode into 

 Fort Davis well satisfied with our week's sport. 



Veritas. 



DUCK SHOOTING ON THE CHESAPEAKE 



rr»HE duck shooting was poor everywhere this fall, as 

 JL you probably know; but when an invitation came 

 from a friend in Delaware to come down and go with 

 him to his shooting shore on the Chesapeake, I could not 

 resist. The eve of Monday, Nov. 21, found me in the 

 town of N., some twelve miles below Wilmington. What 

 a pleasure there was in the preparations made that night. 

 My host's three daughters busily and carefully filled the 

 baskets and boxes with good things of then- own putting 

 up: and how the fire did roar as it cooked the meat suffi- 

 ciently to eat with a bare heating over down at the 

 shanty. Mr. W., his nephew A. and myself meanwhile 

 loaded shells, and plenty of them . It was really useless 

 work, but more anon. 



Something unforeseen detained us a little next morning, 

 but we were off in good time, old Steve Jones, the darky, 

 having preceded us fully an hour with a wagon contain- 

 ing the guns and boards with winch to fix one of the 

 blinds. Down past Elkton on thePTW. & B. R. R.,past 

 Chesapeake City, across the canal, over the Bahamia, an 

 inlet from the Chesapeake; still on, until at 3 o'clock I 

 jumped out from under the buffalo robe, which was 

 tightly bundled about me, to open the gate of the lane 

 which leads up to the farmhouse in which lived the 

 tenant. We only stayed long enough at the house to get 

 some water and the blankets, keeping right on across a 

 large field winch separated us from the shanty. This is 

 a board structure 15x30ft. and 20ft. high. It contains a 

 large bunk, 4ft. from the floor, stretching the width of 

 the house, and 7ft. wide, a large stove, table, cupboard, 

 chairs, and really all the necessaries of a well-regulated 

 shooting box. A fine of trees stretches along the shore, 

 winch shelters the house at the back and sides, The icy 

 water ran some 50ft. from the door, in its cour-se to the 

 sea, for we were just at the mouth of Elk River as it 

 empties into the bay, and fifteen miles from Havre de 

 Grace in a straight line across the flats and over Turkey 

 Point. 



Having reached our goal and carried the necessary 

 articles, A. and I hustled, as the Westerners say, around 

 for driftwood, cf which there was an abundance on the 

 shore. A red hot fire was soon at work taking the chill 

 off the room, for it was very cold then, if you remember 

 that cold snap. Catching up whatever was most con- 

 venient we fell to with a hearty appetite gained by the 

 long ride. Darkness began to fall before we knew it. 

 So quickly loading the bier— I don't know what else to 

 call it— with decoys, we made three trips of 100yds. to an 

 adjacent point, where we deposited them. Then the boat 

 was shoved off, and with a lantern, for it was then dark, 

 the wooden enticers were so arranged as to look most 

 natural, the furthest being 40yds. from the blind. We 

 walked around in the marsh for a while after supper, 

 having the farmer's dog, but the coons were scarce, it 

 being, perhaps, too cold for them. Riding makes one 

 sleepy, so in preparation for next day I was early abunk. 

 Old Steve slept on a little place at the .end and tried to 

 keep me awake by repeating a lot of superstitious tales 

 such as fill most negroes' heads. He had been a slave and 

 worked for a while aboard ship during the war, so many 

 of his tales were really of interest. 



I awoke at 3 A. M. and jumped up as if I were shot, 

 turned up the light, lit the fire, meanwhile calling to the 

 rest to get itp for the daylight shooting. They, sensible 

 ones they were, lay still, telling me it would not be day- 

 light for hours. Nevertheless I made the coffee, cut 

 bread/got out the meat and had everything ready. Steve, 

 the kind old fellow, got up to keep me company. The 

 coffee boiled, I put it aside. The hre burned low, I re- 

 plenished it. I got tired talking, so did Mr. Jones. The 

 door grew weary with my incessant openings looking for 

 dawn, so at last in sheer despair I threw myself down on 

 the blankets and waited to see if it was going to be a day 

 of darkness. Presently some one said, "It's about time 

 you were thinking of getting up.'" I had fallen asleep. 

 It was nearly 7 o'clock and dawn was fast coming on. 

 New coffee had been prepared, the table reset, and noth- 

 ing prevented us from eating. This I did, but soon left 

 for the blind, to get rid of the question, "What time did 

 you say the sun got up?" 



A. soon followed me. and with his advent came a bunch 

 of blackhead ducks. The blind held two, I watching up 

 stream and he down. My "mark coming down" put him 

 on the lookout, and just as the ducks were about to make 

 a beautiful dart into the decoys, I having let them pass 

 me on purpose, A. blazed away, so filling the ah with 

 smoke that I could not see to" shoot. TVO fell, but We 

 only got one. The other having made a dive, came up 

 away out. As daylight came on A. gave place to Mr. W. , 

 who made a very pretty shot with a wire cartridge, 

 knocking two out of a bunch fully 80yds. off. 



Hivndreds passed over our heads on the way bo the 

 feeding grounds in the flats by Havre de Grace, where an 

 incessant boom was kept up by the market gunners from 

 their sink-boxes. From these they are only allowed to 

 shoot on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays upon paying 

 a license of forty dollars. The boxes are in the shape of 

 a coffin, perfectly flat in the water, and are kept from 

 sinking by projecting boards, these being held flat on the 

 water by iron decoys. Around the box are from fifty to 

 one hundred other decoys. I was told that in the early 

 season one of these boxes', which must be taken in half an 

 hour after sundown, and must not be put out before 3 

 A.M., was rented for $300. The hunters kill a hundred 

 or two hundred some days. 



To follow a right calculation the ducks should have 

 been driven out of the flats into the river, but the calcula- 

 tion was out of joint, as the Keely motor seems to be. We 

 were successful in killing one cripple after rowing about 

 a mile for him. 



Thanksgiving was rainy and a fog hung over us most 

 of tiie day. I went out into the other blind a mile down 

 shore, but it was chilly and most disagreeable. No game 

 coming. I started to whittle, a favorite amusement, but 

 was no sooner under way when along came a beautiful 

 shot, for which I was totally unprepared, I put aside 

 my knife and started again to watch. I had one fine 

 shot. It is sad, but true, I missed, I do not mean to in- 

 fer I had not established a precedent. Later, along came 

 Mr. W. We sat watching a bunch feeding just out of 

 gunshot for over an hour. Have you ever watched and 

 waited for ducks to swim in near enough to be shot at ? 

 No doubt you have, and perhaps I strike a chord of 

 sympathy when I say that. Waiting as I did for over an 

 horn-, cheered at times by then- coming in a little, and 

 scarcely daring to breathe or wink for fear of being seen 

 or heard, patience at last gave way. I ran down to the 

 edge of the water just as they all dove, and as they rose 

 I fired one barrel at them in the water, and the other 

 just as they got up. Water is very deceptive, and I must 

 wrongly have judged the killing distance of my gun, for 

 the shot struck all around, but stopped none in their swift 

 flight. Thoroughly disgusted I went back to the shanty, 

 warmed up, ate up what was lying around handy, and 

 receiving with the warmth new vim, I went back to the 

 blind. 



It is a wee bit lonesome sitting cramped up hour after 

 horn - as I did, from 12 until 4, the rain meanwhile coming 

 down slowly but surely. Luck of A. M. and P. M. ditto. 

 Friday would be shooting day on the flats and there would 

 be ducks in the river, so with this thought we consoled 

 ourselves, and without any narcotic we were soon dream- 

 ing. 



The day dawned, or rather just came, a trifle late, 

 having had great difficulty in finding its way through 

 the dense fog. Standing looking out into the grayish 

 mist, a sound like that of thunder came upon us. Guess 

 what it was. Nothing less than thousands, yes thousands, 

 of ducks disturbed by something as they were bedded in 

 the middle of the river. How I did wish for a shot into 

 the midst of them. I went back of the house for an 

 hour or so and shot a couple of gray squirrels, but seeing 

 the sun trying hard to get out I returned. As I came 

 down the shore I could see away out into the river, and 

 in places the water was just black with ducks. None 

 were flying, however, and so we hitched up and drove 

 back home with the intention of leaving on Tuesday 

 for the Gunpowder River, fifteen miles north of Balti- 

 more. 



Tuesday came around in the usual rotation of days, and 

 boarding a train on the B. & O. we got off at B., where 

 Miss D. met us. How warm the fire did feel in the parlor 

 of the old Southern home, and what a welcome sound 

 was the tinkle of the supper bell when we were 

 thoroughly warmed. My father in youth had gone to 

 school with Mr. D., and although I had never seen them, 

 I really felt right at home as soon as I crossed his 

 threshold. The knowledge of true hospitality and the 

 art of making one at home seems to be breathed in the 

 Southern air. 



The evening slipped away in telhng the whereabouts of 

 old friends and in examining the old flint-locks used by 

 an ancestor, or in trying to get a toot out of the bugle 

 which would call the hounds together. Why my eyelids 

 grew heavy in the warm room, and a feeling of sleepiness 

 c ame over me I can hardly tell. 



We arose with the dawn, but waited quite a while, 

 even knowing we had a five-mile drive down to the duck- 

 ing point on the river. We were none too late in the 

 clay, but a little too late in the season, for upon reaching 

 the river found it was partly frozen over. Let me ex- 

 plain the ground. A point one-quarter of a mile long juts 

 out into the water, and at high tide it is almost submerged 

 in the middle, while at the end old oak trees are growing. 

 Where the water overflows is built a sort of stone causeway 

 of numerous stepping stones thrown there by the wagon 

 load, On the shore side are three blinds, 100ft. apart, and 



on the further side three, one being at the end of the 

 point. The blinds are 5ft. high and hold two men. There 

 is a shelf for each gun, a place to put cartridges so as to 

 be handy, a seat, and the whole wooden box being cov- 

 ered on the outside with marsh grass rising two or three 

 inches above the top. To hide the blinds from ducks 

 coming up the river a fence of brush stretches along, 

 which can also be utilized as a toling blind. Toling for 

 ducks is done this way: A bunch may be feeding a 

 couple of hundred yards out from shore; and having a 

 bright little dog, you make him play up and down before 

 the blind, throwing sticks and stones for him to run after, 

 or if he be well trained he will play by himself. Ducks 

 are very curious, and with heads erect will come in to see 

 what is going on. When near enough, let them have both 

 barrels, and if in a big bunch you don't knock over a 

 dozen, your sight, gun or load is defective. I think I 

 understood Mr, D. to say he had killed thirty in a shot 

 that way. He got eleven at a shot the day' before we 

 arrived. 



The big Chesapeake Bay dogs were glad to see ua. 

 After getting well warmed through, and changing my 

 black coat and hat for light colored ones, we went down 

 to see if we could get a few shots. Some ducks came at 

 intervals, coming quite low, but when nearing the bar 

 they would rise and go over us like a flash. Shooting had 

 to lie done when they were just overhead, it being then 

 the nearest shot and then about 150ft. high. Passing us 

 they would sail down into the cove, made by the bar, 

 which covers twenty-five acres. The building of the P. 

 W. & B. bridge, which is only a mile below, started the 

 filling up of the cove which used to be 10ft. deep and is 

 now only five. Canvasbacks and redheads were then as 

 plentiful as the mallards and teal of to-day. I had some 

 good sport. I rode back to Green Oaks on horseback that 

 night while the others rode in the carriage. Next day 

 when we reached the Mount, as the shore is called, the 

 river was frozen over tight, which of course prevented 

 any shooting. We started a bunch of quail on the point 

 and gave them a barrel of No. 2 and BB, with no effect. 

 Still persevering I tried it Friday from 11:30 A. M. until 

 2 P. M., but the ice still staid. Tliat day after much coax- 

 ing I got Camp, the old dog, to come part way with me 

 to the blind, but when he discovered the direction I was 

 taking, he turned tail and went back. Those at the house 

 saw him and teased me a good deal aboiit it. Saturday I 

 sat in the blind from 8:30 A. M. until 3:30 P. M., waiting 

 for the ice to break, with only Camp for company. I 

 knocked one duck out of a bunch all the way to the water, 

 when he again took flight. Camp seeing him drop 

 cleared the side of the blind in a bound, and was down by 

 the side of the ice when the duck went on. 



They say "all comes to him who waits," but I have 

 lost faith in that saying, for I truly think I did a deal of 

 waiting. I only got one duck Saturday, and that I 

 bought, although I did not tell them all down there that. 

 I could not go up to the house again without anything 

 to show, so I bought the duck from a fellow going by. 

 At 4 P. M. I had dinner and drove to meet Mr. D. at the 

 station, he having gone to Baltimore in the morning. 

 He took the team, and saying good-by I jumped on the 

 train he had come out on, bound north. I did not go 

 empty-handed, for two pah of ducks having been given 

 me. 



Earlier in the season there is no better spot for shoot- 

 ing, as one can place decoys just inside the cove, and 

 instead of rising to go overhead they dart from away 

 outside, giving one a magnificent shot as they pass the 

 opening. Memberships in a club across the river cost 

 $25. The last time my friend Mr. W. was down there it 

 was earlier in the season and in two days they killed 

 forty-two pair. Mr. D. himself has killed as many as 

 seventy-five pah- in a day. That is shooting and one has 

 to be quick as a flash. 



Sunday morning I was again in the town of N., but 

 only until 9:30, when having put some provisions in the 

 carriage we were off again for Elk River, reaching there 

 about 3 P. M. 



I disliked to return to New York with no big story to 

 tell, so thought I would give the fates a chance to cut off 

 the lives of some dozen pair of ducks, and place the deed 

 to my credit. In the evening we put out the decoys, and 

 after eating a light supper of beefsteak, several slices of 

 bread, half a dozen rolls, some sweet pickle, pumpkin 

 pie, cranberry jelly and cups of tea, I retired. About 

 1 o'clock I opened the door and looked out. All was 

 dark, and the rain was trickling down off the roof on to 

 my neck, which sent a cold chill over me. I climbed 

 back to bed and tried to sleep, but the falling rain wor- 

 ried me until the saying "Rain before seven clear before 

 eleven" came into my head; and then being comforted, I 

 slept. The calendar says the sun should rise at 7:09 the 

 8th of December, but it must have had a previous engage- 

 ment, for it did not appear. However, I did, and after 

 some vain and patient waiting a breeze came and it 

 cleared up. Guns boomed incessantly over the flats until 

 the breeze came, and then it suddenly ceased, the hunters 

 being driven out of the sinkboxes by the high waves. I 

 moved up to Lady Finger Point, and there waited under 

 blind cover for some redheads to swim closer. I tried 

 experiments to bring them nearer, such as flying a white 

 handkerchief and other innocent amusements, but (I use 

 the word but a good deal) the wind won the day for the 

 ducks by driving out the market gunner and thus allow- 

 ing them to feed in the flats. To speak plainly I was 

 provoked at my bad luck, so we returned that day, and I 

 to New York the following. The 150 odd miles I drove 

 were of themselves a pleasure, besides the experience. If 

 you want to have a good time, know the Ws. as I do and 

 visit them. G. F. B. 



Oregon Chinese Pheasants.— About six years ago 

 the experiment of stocking Oregon with Chinese pheas- 

 ants was tried. A number of these beautiful birds were 

 imported from China, and they were turned out in Lane 

 county. At the same time a law was passed protecting 

 foreign game for a term of ten years. The success of the 

 venture now appears to be unprecedented. The hen birds 

 raise two big broods every year and never lose a chick. 

 The result has been that the birds have increased to mar- 

 velous numbers. It is said that there are thousands of 

 them in Willamette valley, and that they destroy so much 

 wheat that the farmers" will attempt to have the pro- 

 tective law repealed this winter. The farmers say that 

 one pheasant will destroy more wheat than four lively 

 wild geese. — Virginia City (Net).) Chronicle^ 



