464 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan, 5, 1886. 



wme §it(f and $nt[. 



Address all communications to the forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Caton. 

 Price $2.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Bifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gun in California. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $1.50. 

 Shore Birds. Price 15 cents. Woodcraf t. By "Ness- 

 muk." Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. The Still-Hun ter. By T. S. Van Dyke. PiHce$2. 



PELEG'S EXPERIENCES. 



n. — HE INTRODUCES JAB TO HIS WIFE. 



"/^OME, Peleg, let's have that dog story you didn't tell 



\J us last night," said Jap the morning of the second 

 day, "I've thought about it a dozen tunes to-day I know." 



"So hare I," chimed in Sang. "I thought your gun 

 story splendid, and I know the dog one will be better." 



Peleg • was putting the finishing touch to the broiler 

 with a piece of newspaper, after which he hung that in- 

 dispensable article upon a tree. Then he lighted his cigar 

 and sat down by the fire. Evidently he had not forgotten 

 the ungracious treatment accorded him by Sang the night 

 before, but it was not in him to bear ill will, and besides, 

 how could he, a bom story teller, forego an opportunity? 

 What story teller that ever lived, or who that ever 

 imagined himself to be one, could not be wheedled at any 

 time or place into a narrative, I would like to know. At 

 any rate, Peleg, after a whiff or two, began as follows: 



"Well, as I was a-saying last night, it had been a com- 

 paratively easy matter to get a gun into the family, but 

 I knew to work a dog in would be the very deuce, and so 

 I set my wits to working. Not that I couldn't have gone 

 and got one without the asking if I had wanted to." 



"P-h-i-e-w!" It was a long-drawn, incredulous whistle 

 that Sang gave, at the same time looking up into the tree- 

 tops as if in search of some mysterious object. But Peleg 

 having once begun his narrative was not to be balked in 

 that way, and so turning to his less demonstrative com- 

 panion Jap, he went on: 



"But I always wish for Nancy's approval in matters of 

 this kind. Perhaps you know how it is yourself," to 

 which Jap nodded an encouraging assent. "And so I set 

 about trying to procure it. Nancy is one of those high 

 spirited women who love to be consulted, and I very well 

 knew that it would be better for the dog for him to come 

 into the family with her free consent. 



"Having a gun I hunted some, of course, and occasion- 

 ally I borrowed a dog. and at those times I never failed 

 to take home something wild, if I had to buy it at the res- 

 taurant. When I went without a dog I was equally care- 

 ful never to take any game home, no matter what my 

 luck had been. By so doing, you can see that I was en- 

 abled to present the advantages of having a dog more 

 forcibly than in any other way. I could exhibit the 

 fruits, so to speak. 



"But my wife's antipathy to dogs was stronger than I 

 had surmised. She 'despised them,' she said. Indeed, it 

 seemed to be a sort of family affair with her to hate dogs. 

 There was a tradition in her family that away back in 

 the past a hundred years or so, some old steeple-crowned, 

 psalm-singing ancestor of hers had been bitten by a dog 

 and had died not long afterward, and from that circum- 

 stance the family had ever after been panicky over hydro- 

 phobia. I don't think that one of the name had ever 

 owned a dog since, and in two branches of the family 

 mad stones were held and treasured as heirlooms. I soon 

 found that it amounted to nothing to show the fruits in 

 our family, and had to try another tack. 



"Men, it's shameful the way I treated that woman. I 

 fairly cringe whenever I think of it, and I actually pre- 

 tended that my health was failing me. I grew listless, 

 complained a good deal, looked melancholy, pretended I 

 had lost my appetite and complained of an illness that I 

 declared myself unable to describe. It was a hard thing 

 to keep up, but I did it, till I saw that Nancy was getting 

 really uneasy, when I ventured to suggest'that unless I 

 had a turn for the better pretty soon I was going to make 

 my will; and I gave certain unimportant directions about 

 the management of my affairs in case of my death. Of 

 course Nancy was now all sympathy, not to say badly 

 alarmed. Women, you know, have a way of becoming 

 terribly alarmed whenever their men are sick." 



"Yes, the more worthless the men the greater the 

 alarm," interposed Sang. 



"I think that is so, too," answered Peleg. "But Nancy 

 said she didn't believe I was going to die, anyway, soon, 

 but said I ought to do something. I had before that sug- 

 gested to her that most likely my trouble arose from too 

 close application to business, and the truth is I had been 

 overworking myself and was in need of some good, whole- 

 some outdoor exercise. 'If,' said I to her one day after 

 we had been looking at the gloomy side a suitable length 

 of time, 'If I could only take plenty of outdoor exercise 

 I believe I would come out all right.' 



" 'Then, why don't you take it,' said the dear, sympa- 

 thetic littie woman. 



" 'How? when? where?' asked I, as if exercise was a 

 thing altogether out of the question. 



" 'Why, a thousand ways— now, all the time and every- 

 where.' 



"I shook my head as if I failed to comprehend her 

 meaning, when she went on: 



" 'Walk, ride, hoe in the garden, weed my flower beds.' 



"But I explained to her how worse than useless that 

 sort of exercise was to a man held as I was. That the 

 exercise necessary to my recovery must so claim my at- 

 tention that I would become completely absorbed in it, 

 so much so as to become oblivious for the time being of 

 any physical ailment whatever. Then I showed her that 

 when I rode or hoed or walked I was painfully conscious- 

 all the time of my ailments and that the exercise only 

 aggravated them. 



" 'Well, is there nothing else you could do?' she anx- 

 iously asked. 



" 'Well,' said I, 'I could travel, but I haven't the money 

 for that. There is one thing I have noticed,' I added, 

 'when I go hunting I forget my sickness in my zeal for 

 game. At least that was the case the one time I have 

 been out.' 



" 'Well, then hunt,' said she, brightening up, 

 '« 'Hunt? How can I? I've no dog !' 



" 'Oh 1' was all she said. A queer-looking expression 

 came over her, and I am sure I must have shown in my 

 face that I was a contemptible impostor. I think she 

 had a revelation. I know I had. We talked of other j 

 things after that. The will subject was never mentioned 

 between us again. She ceased making 'sick dishes for 

 me, and I tried to imagine myself a badly-used man. I 

 think I would have welcomed a pretty severe spell of 

 sickness about that time, but it didn't come. I was so 

 chagrined and put out at the failure of my scheme, that 

 whatever little ailment I might have had from overwork 

 disappeared, and I was sound as a, dollar. 



'•I do believe, men, if Nancy hadn't been the sensible 

 woman she is, we could have quarreled. I was mad; un- 

 reasonable as it was in me; but she never said a word, 

 went on in her old way, singing her old-time songs and 

 making home as pleasant as could be. 



"One evening the following spring Nancy had been 

 out on the street, and when she came home her face was 

 all flushed with excitement. She had been shopping a 

 little, and was in the gayest mood I had seen her for a 

 long time. I knew very well that something was up, but 

 waited for her to make it known. I had months before 

 given up all thought of a dog, and as the memory of my 

 unfortunate little scheme began to fade away, I ceased 

 to feel the hardship of being without one. I did not have 

 to wait long- to know what was in the mind on this occa- 

 sion. Little by little it leaked out. She had been at 

 Threadgill & Bolton's 'new store,' where they were 'sell- 

 ing below cost for thirty days,' and had seen the 'loveliest 

 silk dress' M — m ! It was so pretty, so fine, so cheap; and 

 in her enthusiasm she came and stood beside me and 

 combed my hair with her soft fingers, and said over all 

 the adjectives that could be said about the dress pattern, 

 and wound up by asking me for the §75 necessary to buy 

 it. And what do you suppose I said ?" Peleg asked his 

 hearers, giving them a look that said as plain as could 

 be. You'll never guess the smart thing I said as long as 

 you live." 



"You said you hadn't the money, I suppose," answered 

 Sang indifferently. 



"Or that she was suffering herself to be duped by a 

 rascally store- keeper," suggested Jap. * 



"Maybe you told her that a calico was good enough for 

 her," returned Sang. 



"Most likely you said 'extravagance is what is ruining 

 the country.' " 



"Perhaps it was — " 



"No, no. You would never guess it. All I said was 

 'Dog'!" 



And the story-teller's eyes glistened in the light from 

 the camp-fire, and he rubbed his hands over his knees 

 and his body swayed back and forth, all of which indi- 

 cated that he thought he had said a very smart thing 

 indeed. 



"Yes, gentlemen," he went on after a brief silence, 

 "all I said was 'Dog'." 



"And what did Nancy say?" queried both his friends. 



" 'It's a bargain!' That's it to a t-y-ty — the identical 

 words, and the next day I bought a pup and she a silk 

 dress. 



"But lawsy me, getting was nothing to raising — " 

 "H-u-a-u-gh!" 



Peleg was amazed to see that both his hearers had sud- 

 denly gone sound asleep. "Boys, let's go to bed," said 

 he, and to bed the three happy hunters went. 



D. D. Banta. 



ELK HUNTING IN MINNESOTA. 



HALLOCK, Minn., Dec. 27.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The season on big game has been remark- 

 able this fall in this section. By the State law close time 

 is restricted to the single month of November, but the 

 citizens of Kittson county generally take a somewhat 

 broader view, and extend the season both ways into Octo- 

 ber and December, some ten days each way. Neverthe- 

 less the spirit of the community is conservative and the 

 destruction by no means wanton; and although the quan- 

 tity of moose, elk, caribou and deer killed — especially of 

 elk — is noteworty, in view of the growing scarcity of 

 game the land over, still it may not be regarded as 

 excessive, and not greater than can be annually supplied 

 by reproduction in the ordinary course of nature. Should 

 hunters so ravage the country at any future time as to 

 threaten extermination, I believe the popular sentiment 

 would improvise a check, irrespective of any mechanical 

 attempt to enforce the written law. The exercise of 

 common sense and obedience to its behests is the best 

 safeguard; bad law can never be reconciled with it. If 

 laws are arbitrary or absurd, they cannot be enforced. 

 Unfortunately the game laws of the country are, as a 

 rule, defective or inconsistent, and, therefore, they become 

 inoperative. With the spread of population and the 

 diminution of wild lands, legal restrictions increase; and, 

 in view of the unremitting tinkering of legislative busy- 

 bodies, I often feel as if I coidd be reconciled to an absence 

 of all statutes, depending rather upon the instinct of self- 

 preservation to protect the interests of a community as 

 well as the game. Wherever the lawless element, which 

 is conspicuous on frontier lines, becomes eliminated , con- 

 servatism prevails. Settlers are too busy with their pur- 

 suits to shoot for sport, and pot-hunters find neither 

 encouragement nor a market. There is cessation from 

 all' shooting by common consent, with a universal tacit 

 acquiescence in the propriety of close seasons. An idler 

 with a gun in seed time or harvest is regarded as an in- 

 terloper and suspicious character. Ne vertheless, a hungry 

 man will not hesitate to kill at all seasons, and popular 

 opinion will justify him in keeping starvation from his 

 house, or even in qualifying his interminable fare of sow 

 belly and potatoes. There is no condemnation for him 

 by a jury of his neighbors; close seasons are dies non. 



One thing is certain, all the shooting which has been 

 done in Kittson county during the eight years of its set- 

 tlement has not sufficed to prevent our hunters from 

 easily rolling up a score of some seventy elk alone during 

 the six open weeks of the past autumn. Two hunters 

 shot nineteen elk and two deer within six days, netting 

 about $600 for the scant week's work. I doubt if this 

 record can be duplicated anywhere in the Eockies now, 

 and I dare say, from derived information, that this un- 

 usual levy will prove no drain upon the resources of the 

 breeding paddocks. As far as the most reliable testi- 

 mony goes we can spare a hundred elk each season and 

 keep up the stock from year to year, if no other method 

 than stalking is pursued, which is the only mode of hunt- 

 ing employed now by Indians or whites. * Tenderfeet are 



1 not likely to take a hand in the sport. They had rather 

 play euchre around a stove. Hunting big game is no 

 child's play, with the mercury 30° below zero, especially 

 ! if one's team strays off from camp, as has happened, and 

 home is a hundred miles' tramp away. Skin-hunters 

 would not be tolerated and the rigid enforcement of 

 transportation laws interferes materially with their 

 profitable employment. Hardship and inaccessibility are 

 the chief conservators of the big game of Kittson county. 

 The meat that is killed there is all utilized, every pound 

 of it, the Indians curing the bulk of theirs, and the pro- 

 fessional hunters disposing of what they shoot to the 

 hotels and restaurants and local butchers. Sometimes 

 an old-time Red River cart, drawn by au Indian pony, 

 drags into town a load of meat, and anon a dog train 

 with its quaint team tandem comes trotting into the 

 suburbs with its quantum of full 6001bs. 



Very arctic are some of the features of northern 

 Minnesota in midwinter. Toboggans and showshoes, 

 tuques and capotes, gouty leggings and mantling 

 furs which defy the frost constitute the prevailing 

 and essential costumes while the days are short. The 

 air is for the most part' still, and the sky without 

 a cloud. The stars shine with a white intensity in 

 the frosty nights, and the wavering auroral light scin- 

 tillates and flashes all around the horizon, and up to 

 the zenith. Sometimes, in the gray of the morning, the 

 sharp click of hoofs is heard on the' crisp rims, and when 

 the sim is up we can trace the track, only a fair gunshot 

 off from the camp, where a big bull elk or moose has 

 passed. The game is not shy, and it will be only a matter 

 of perseverance and simple strategy to follow him to his 

 death before the sun is on the meridian. Sometimes a 

 whole family of elk, sire, dam and calf, are found 

 together in the shelter of a tamarack thicket, and hunters 

 have been known to bag the lot right in their tracks. 



The country in the Roseau region is the finest in the 

 land for stalking, being composed of alternate timber 

 and open plains, which sometimes stretch in a snow 

 white expanse as far as the eye can reach. Belts of 

 tamarack, groves of oak, thickets of alder and willow, 

 beds of watercourses, interminable swamps, these make 

 up the landscape. It would be desolate but for the excite- 

 ment of the chase, but the wild frontiersmen love it. and 

 the experiences are those which only hardihood can 

 indulge in and enjoy. Sraoanappi. 



A HUNT FOR BOB WHITE. 



T)EFORE I proceed to write anything of the hunt, 1 

 J_> feel it due to myself that I should protest against ■ 

 your making me say, at any time, in your headings of | 

 my communications', that I had been in quest of quail. I 

 I have said, over and over again, that we have no quail 

 in North Carolina — our bird far more resembling the par- ' 

 tridge of Europe than the quail, which breeds in Spain t 

 and migrates to England during the autumn. It is not the 

 partridge, I admit, "but is far more similar to that bird in I 

 appearance and habit than it is to the quail. There is no 

 good reason, therefore, why any one should apply a ridicu- ( 

 lously absurd misnomer, and then cling to it with nervous i 

 tenacity. Please avoid making me apply that word to >, 

 our little Bob White. I repudiate it. 



Last week I took my son— who, having been to college i 

 and played the role of a gentleman loafer for about a I 

 year, thinks himself fully grown and an expert in most -. 

 branches of knowledge— and my little bobtailed, unpedi-^ 

 greed Argo, to Pittsboro, in the county of Chatham, to j 

 join my friend G. T. L. on a visit to the estate of Edmund 

 Atwater, E-q., where we expected to find an abundance I 

 of sport. My companion of many "a canty day" in the I 

 field, whom I have immortalized under the soubriquet i 

 Mud, was also along with that famous 16-bore Scott J 

 Premier, which he did not swap for a "cheap John" tiling , 

 called a gun. When the train reached the station our 

 friend was ready to meet us=, having ai rived the preceding 

 night from New York. He carried us to his father's 

 house, where we were greeted with a sincere welcome. : 

 After traveling over a very muddy road for about eight i 

 miles we came in sight of our destination. We stopped 

 on the bank of a small stream which runs through the 

 plantation, took out our guns and some shells, and sent! 

 the college matriculate with the luggage to the dwelling 

 to announce our arrival. 



Owing to the very heavy rains which had fallen the pre- 

 ceding week the ground was very wet and in some places 

 miry. The birds were not moving about and hence we 

 found but few. At night our entire bag •' as eighteen 

 buds, and of them a young attorney who had visited Mr. ' 



A. , killed four. We had plenty for a substantial bird 

 breakfast. We found the family glad to see us. The 

 following morning, after an early* and substantial break- 

 fast, we set off on our tramp, expecting to have far better 

 success than we did the preceding day. G . T. L. and j 

 Mud with the bitch Corinne and a youngling called Guess 

 went down the south side of the stream, while Mr. A. 

 and I took the base of the hills on the north side. Ally ( 



B. , the young attorney, and George, the recent student 

 at the University, went between our line and the creek. 

 They had an untrained black setter, called Fowle, who 

 only needs a master, much practice) and frequent casti- 

 gat'ions (breaking) to make a very respectable field dog. 

 During the morning but few guns were heard , for but 

 few birds were found. The plantation had them in, 

 abundance, but there was so much food and so much 

 rank vegetation, which afforded shelter as well as food, 

 that they did not run about much. A.t noon, when we 

 met to take a bountiful lunch which had been sent from 

 the dwelling, the entire party had but twenty-four buds. 

 Just at this time the Rev. B. R. H. joined us, and while 

 he and Mud were discussing ecclesiastical matters the 

 others were spreading the repast upon two valuable! 

 tables, worth $45 each, which we found ready for us on' 

 the grounds selected for the midday meal. The tables j 

 were made of a well-known textile, much used for cloth- , 

 ing, weighed over 4001bs. and is generally called a cotton 

 bale. 



At half past two we set out again, going homeward. 

 The clergyman was placed under the guidance of G. T. 

 L. and Mud, Mr. A. and myself thinking that the tri- 

 umvirate would not be more than equal to us. The disci- 

 ple of Coke and the late student, being regarded as hardly 

 worth considering, were left to take their own course. 

 Very soon the guns indicated that game had been found, 

 but subsequent events showed that it was only an April | 

 shower. Just before night, and when but little time was 

 left, our party got up several coveys, and kept shooting 



