Feb. 3, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



2S 



awaiting results, with our cartridge bags beside us, for 

 there might be some lively loading. 



In the meanwhile the drivers were beating the peat- 

 bogs at the foot of the mountains, shouting lustily and 

 scaring away the hares from their hot forms. Soon I 

 heard the guns popping near me, and presently I saw a 

 big white hare climbing up toward me, looking on the 

 snow like some weird, shadowy thing. Bang, and he 

 rolled over; another comes, and he lies kicking beside the 

 other. While I am loading a big fellow passes by me, 

 but I manage to turn just in the nick of time and bowl 

 him over. They keep on coming for a few minutes until 

 the drivers reach the top of the hill and begin to pick up 

 the dead and wounded. They are all stretched side by 

 side upon the snow, forty odd, while we all take a rest. 

 Then we take a long turn through the peat bogs and top- 

 ple over a good many more as they arise before us. Then 

 we turned toward home, wishing that some of our game 

 might miraculously and on the spot be turned into reek- 

 ing bowls of the savory soup, for we are very hungry and 

 cold, and there is but a scanty remnant left in the big- 

 bellied bottle. 



The way home seemed short enough, however, for 

 albeit Douglas Jerrold hath said that it requires a surgical 

 operation to get a joke into a Scotchman's head, I have 

 not found it so, and think that»-since his time either the 

 Scots have changed or else Douglas knew not whereof he 

 spoke, and right merrily we jested on our way home, and 

 spoke of iust such another hunt for the next week. 



G. V. S. 



ON THE TRAIL OF AN ELK. 



SINCE taking up my residence in the Centennial State, 

 I have made a practice of taking at least one month 

 of each year to gratify a natural liking for hunting, fish- 

 ing and a general good time among the beautiful scenery 

 with which nature has provided the peaks, passes, gorges, 

 plains and parks of the Rocky Mountains. Here we find 

 country fitted to the needs and habits of a great variety 

 of game. The rolling prairie is the natural home of the 

 antelope. Rough and" almost inaccessible mountain sides 

 and peaks furnish comparative safety for the sure-footed 

 mountain sheep, while the thickly wooded and more level 

 portions abound in deer, elk, etc. Bear, mountain lion, 

 wildcat, lynx, beaver and many other species of game 

 are met with in their natural haunts, while the innumer- 

 able streams afford trout fishing seldom equaled. He 

 would be a very exacting sportsman indeed who could 

 not find sufficient use for both rod and gun while passing 

 through the hunting and fishing grounds of western 

 Colorado. So much for an introduction, and now that I 

 eome to the story part, one hardly knows which hunting 

 yarn to tell first. 



The incident of which I write occurred during the 

 return journey of a month's hunting trip up in the 

 Rabbit Ear Mountains and North Park region. My two 

 companions and myself were on an old Indian trail cross- 

 ing the mountain toward home, with our saddle and pack 

 horses, traveling when we felt like it, fishing and hunt- 

 ing as inclination or our larder required, and having a 

 time that no sportsman who could endure our mode of 

 travel or maimer of living could help enjoying. 



We had left the Rabbit Ears early in the morning, and 

 after crossing the Grand River struck into the Arapahoe 

 Mountains heading toward the snowy range or Conti- 

 nental Divide. 



Six miles from the ridge of perpetual snow we came 

 suddenly upon one of the beautiful parks so often met 

 with in these mountains; it contained about 400 acres, 

 nearly as level as the prairie, and was inclosed on all 

 sides by dense woods and rough mountains. Through 

 the park ran a little stream that was literally swarming 

 with trout, and whom should we here encounter but a 

 party of Boulders' citizens with well-filled trout baskets, 

 having a most exciting time pulling the fish from the 

 clear waters of the stream. We were invited to take 

 dinner with our friends at their tent, and in the course 

 of an hour or so were enjoying ourselves as hungry hunt- 

 ers generally can when traveling through the mountains, 

 and in this clear, pure, appetizing air. Elk, antelope and 

 deer were furnished from our supplies, while trout in 

 abundance were furnished by our friends. Flapjacks were 

 our bread and coffee our drink. No -wagon could get where 

 we were and of course dishes were not in great abundance, 

 but hunters in the mountains soon accustom themselves 

 to knife, fork, spoon, tin cup and plate; cotton sacks 

 serve as pepper box, sugar bowl, for sacks wjll not break 

 and still more important, will pack. Some of the party 

 concluded to rest at camp, some to fish, while five others 

 with myself concluded to hunt in the adjacent hills for 

 deer and elk. Shouldering our rifles we struck out for 

 an afternoon's ramble for what we could find. I had 

 never hunted with any of the party, but before going- 

 very far it became apparent to me that if I got any game 

 I must go it alone. So leaving the noisy crew I took my 

 course along the side of the mountain until I came to 

 some soft ground, where a little spring of clear water 

 came bubbling from the side of the hill, forming by its 

 moisture a green spot below for several rods. Upon look- 

 ing carefully I saw elk tracks with muddy water in them. 

 I Watched the water for a moment, and as it cleared so 

 rapidly I became convinced that my approach had fright- 

 ened the elk away, and that it had been drinking the 

 water from the spring or eating the grass from below it. 

 In either case I concluded that he was not so very far 

 away, and thought I -would follow his trail as far as I 

 could and try and get a shot if possible. To my joy I 

 found upon tracing him down to the canon below that he 

 had gone toward camp and against the wind, two circum- 

 stances greatly in my favor. 



After tracing him as far as the ground would permit I 

 concluded that he would not leave the gulch until reach- 

 ing an easier place to get out than the steep sides which 

 run along for some distance in advance of me. Thus 

 reasoning I cautiously followed the gulch, which was 

 from 10 to 40yds. in width. Keeping a sharp lookout on 

 all sides, peering around each bend and angle before ex- 

 posing myself to view. I went in this manner for some 

 distance, but no game gladdened my sight. The only 

 thing that kept my spirits up was that the sides of the 

 gulch had been so steep since I lost the trail on the hard 

 ground that I was reasonably certain that I was on the 

 right track. Keeping on a little way further I came to a 

 little draw taking out of the main gulch, and upon ex- 

 amination 1 found fresh tracks leading up toward the 

 ridge and in the direction where I thought the boys were. 

 This began to look bad for me for it placed me to wind- 



ward and traveling directly from camp, but determined 

 to try a little longer, I made my way up on top of the 

 ridge, and looking carefully around caught sight of a 

 splendid pair of antlers about 150yds. away and moving 

 slowly along, but the trees hid him too much to allow 

 anything like a sure shot; and not wishing to be long- 

 directly to "wind" from him, I concluded to go down 

 into the gulch again, retrace my steps a short distance, 

 come up in advance of the elk and wait for him to come 

 along. Just as I thought I was far enough down and 

 was making my way carefully up the steep sides of the 

 ravine, I was getting right down to some of the finest 

 Indian stealthiness ever practiced when bang! bang! bang! 

 bang! went four rifles, and rattle-te-bang they went again 

 as fast as two Winchesters, a Maynard and Sharps could be 

 fired, right ahead hi the immediate vicinity of my elk. I 

 thought surely I had driven the game right on to the 

 boys and they were having the greater part of the sport 

 while all my hard work and nicely laid plans were 

 knocked in the head, and determined to be in at the 

 death anyhow, so I went quickly up the hill about 

 200yds. where I found the rest of my party peppering 

 aAvay at a grouse up in the top of the tall spruce trees. 

 The bird was finally shot. Dr. E. told me that at the 

 time they began firing at the bird he imagined he 

 saw something stirring a little way up the ridge, 

 but thinking he was mistaken, he had turned Ms atten- 

 tion to bombarding the grouse with the rest of the boys. 

 I told him my impression was that he did see something 

 stirring up the ridge, and had lie waited a few moments 

 before firing at the bird he might have had something- 

 worth shooting at, an elk, for instance. He then asked 

 if I knew anything about an elk being there, to which I 

 replied that I had a faint inkling of the whereabouts of 

 some such an animal, as I had been chasing him for the 

 last three hours and had finally located him at about the 

 place he mentioned. I then went there and found evi- 

 dence that I was correct in thinking the doctor had seen 

 my elk, or rather that the elk had been there and had 

 turned squarely around in his trail and taken the back 

 track. About 'discouraged, yet concluding, as the trail 

 led nearly in the direction of camp, to" follow it on a little, 

 I again made a start and had reached a point about a 

 quarter of a mile directly south of camp when I lost all 

 trace of the game. The country was quite level, and so 

 hard that no tracks could be found. Tired by this time 

 I concluded to take a rest, then march into camp with the 

 same shell in my rifle that I left with. Seating myself 

 comfortably upon a fallen tree, I was thinking matters 

 over, when to my astonishment I saw my elk, or at least 

 an elk, walking slowly along 70yds. from me and almost 

 directly in front of me. It was probably the one that I 

 had been after all the afternoon and had in some way 

 passed, but now I knew he was mine. Bringing my May- 

 nard to bear on the right spot of the noble animal as he 

 passes nearly broadside to me, I touch the trigger and 

 have my reward for the four hours of tramping and trail- 

 ing. And now, as I think of that half day's trail, I am 

 certain it gives me more pleasure than it would had I 

 shot him at the spring where I first discovered him, for 

 then I would not have had the keen anticipation of com- 

 ing excitement and sport which sometimes give more 

 pleasure than the results themselves. Maynard. 



IN THE UPPER PENINSULA. 



O 'TRAIN, Mich.— Editor Forest and Stream: Think- 

 ing an item from this great game and fish resort, 

 the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, would interest your 

 readers, I offer you the following, my experience with a 

 lucky Ohio editor, niy part in the incident being that of 

 "guide and companion:" My lucky man was Mr. J. H. 

 Newton, editor of the Newark, OMo, Daily Advocate. 

 He came to this locality, to fish and hunt, in the latter 

 part of August last. After engaging my assistance we 

 made proper arrangements, providing ourselves with the 

 necessar y supplies, and started down the south shore - of 

 Lake Superior, in a small boat in a little inland lake called 

 Beaver Lake, which is some twenty-five miles eastward 

 of this place. On our way down we stopped at what is 

 known as the old Bay Furnance dock, to catch trout and 

 camp for the night. Around this old dock are occasion- 

 ally to be found as large and fine specimens of speckled 

 trout as swim in Lake Superior. The water, however, 

 being still and deep, Mr, Newton was not very successful 

 in catching them with flies or any of his artificial devices. 

 Angle worms were not to be found here, and minnows 

 were exceedingly scarce. After hard work I succeeded 

 in capturing three small minnows, and with these Mr. N. 

 was not more than fifteen minutes in landing three fine 

 trout, averaging 2|lbs. each. That evening and the next 

 morning he took in all nine of these handsome trout, all 

 weighing from 2 to 31bs. — seven being taken with live 

 minnows and two with artificial devices. We then went 

 on to Beaver Lake, which is situated close to the shore of 

 Lake Superior, where we went into camp. Here we found 

 excellent opportunity for fishing and hunting. The little 

 lake was full of small-mouthed black bass and the brook 

 that carried its waters into Lake Superior, with its many 

 little cataracts and cascades, was full of small trout. We 

 found it an easy matter to take more bass and trout than 

 we knew what to do with. Mr. N. one day took two fine 

 small-mouthed bass (one with a fly and the other trolling 

 with a phantom minnow) that weighed over 71bs each. 

 These were the finest specimens I had ever seen, even in 

 this region. On the night of the 26th of August I took 

 Mr. N. out on the little lake to hunt deer. He had never 

 hunted deer before in his life, and it was plain that he 

 was a novice. But the result showed that what he lacked 

 in skill and experience he made up in pure luck. I had a 

 Winchester rifle which I instructed him how to use, and 

 after giving him such other instructions as he needed, I 

 placed him behind the head-light at the front of the boat, 

 and we started around a small bay or arm of the lake. 

 We had scarcely proceeded half-way around the little bay, 

 when the reflection of our lamp came in contact with a 

 deer's eye. It resembled a ball of fire gliding on top of 

 the water. In an instant another "ball of fire" was 

 espied about ten feet behind the first one. Two deer had 

 attempted to swim across the little bay, and were then 

 directly in front of our boat. Our light confused them, 

 and I rapidly pushed the boat toward them. Seeing they 

 could not pass in front of us they turned about and started 

 to swim from us. I pushed the boat forward as quietly 

 as possible and gained upon them at every stroke. The 

 deer again changed course and started to return to the 

 shore they had come from. I followed close behind and 



continued to gain upon them until their heads and necks 

 were in plain view, and Mr. N. had a splendid shot. In 

 a- whisper I told him to shoot. He raised the gun and 

 commenced taking aim, but he seemed so slow about it 

 that I began to get nervous, " STioot," said I again , in a 

 louder whisper. _ He continued to take aim, but to my 

 utter disgust failed to pull the trigger. The two deer 

 were swimming close beside each other and were fast 

 approaching the shore, but at tliis instant one of them 

 passed in front of the other, so that both were directly in 

 lino with the barrel of the Winchester, and Mr. N. was 

 still taking aim at them as if he was determined to either 

 make a sure thing of it or allow the deer to getaway 

 without a shot. Again I said "Shoot," and he finally 

 blazed away. I instantly saw that ho had killed them 

 both, for they immediately dropped over in the water; 

 but not knowing what he had done, Mr. N. threw out the 

 old shell and again raised the. rifle. "Hold on, they are 

 both dead," said I. "The deuce they are," said he, look- 

 ing forward in the utmost astonishment, whereupon he 

 proceeded to give utterance to a series of ejaculations and 

 exclamations, expressive of his surprise and astounding 

 amazement, which he continued for about five minutes. 

 In the meantime I pushed the boat forward to where the 

 deer were bleeding and straggling in the water. One of 

 them was a fine large doe and the other a yearling buck. 

 The Winchester ball had crashed through the neck of the 

 doe, breaking the spine, and through the head of the little 

 buck. A more effectual shot could not have been made 

 by the most skillful marksman and hunter, but my editor 

 insisted it was only chance luck. The next day we carved 

 an account of our exploit on the trunk of a tree close to 

 our tent. We remained in camp some eight days and 

 feasted on venison, trout, bass and huckleberries, which 

 my editorial companion seemed to enjoy immensely. We 

 could have killed more deer as we saw them every day, 

 but Mr. N. seemed to think it would he cruel slaughter to 

 kill more than we could use, and I cordially coincided 

 with him in his humane views in this regard. 



Gus DOUCETTE. 



BEAR DOGS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Bruin," in issue of Jan. 20, says 

 he has spent several hundred dollars for dogs, trying to 

 get the right kind for hunting bears. 



I have killed 73 bears, and the best dog I ever saw to 

 follow and stop a bear was a little short-legged yellow 

 cur. He would nip the bear's hind parts, and as the bear 

 whirled to catch him, or threw himself backward for a 

 grab, the little dog, always on the alert, would skip back 

 just out of reach of his enemy's paws, and as soon as the 

 game started to go, he would "chaw his bacon" again, 

 and in this way so annoyed the bear that he soon came to 

 bay, 



A dog of great courage that will make a strong grab 

 generally pays for his tenacity with broken limbs or his 

 fife. Still it requires courage in a dog to attack so large 

 a beast as a bear, and the dog must possess a strong capa- 

 city for scenting, as the bear leaves a very small quantity 

 of odor, especially after the track is twenty-four hours 

 old. 



A bear broke the chain of the trap in which he was 

 caught last September, in the town of Phillips, Me., and 

 the boy who went to tend the trap, took his little cur dog 

 with him, and with the dog followed the bear two miles. 

 When the boy came up the cur and bear sat a few feet 

 apart eyeing each other, the dog barking just enough to 

 let his master know he had him. 



It is not common for a bear to tree when followed by 

 dogs, preferring to stand a chance of embracing his 

 enemy, and woe to the poor brute that gets into his 

 clutches. 



I know your correspondent's brother, the bear hunter 

 of Roxbury, Me., and a successful one he is, too. Two 

 years ago he killed nine bears in one oak grove. J, G. R. 



Bethel, Me. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Correspondent "Bruin" speaks with pride of his dog 

 jumping on a bear's back after the bear had struck him 

 with his paw. That will do to tell to marines. A hunter 

 knows better — unless it was a cub that struck— -rile dogT 

 When an old bear gets in a blow on a dog, the latter "has 

 had his day." A few years ago a bear got disturbed in 

 his den, and all the dogs in several towns had a try at 

 him with their owners, for fourteen days, and no dog 

 brought the bear to a stand, but several got their backs 

 broken. This was in Franklin county, Me, Ursus. 



BIG-GUNS IN VIRGINIA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



There is the best authority for stating that parties in 

 Alexandria, Va., have conspired to introduce into the 

 State Legislature (which will soon convene) a bill author- 

 izing State, district or county officers to sell licenses for 

 use of large guns (now illegal) in shooting ducks, etc., 

 and that they have secured the services of an able and 

 well-known lawyer of that city to manage the affairs by 

 lobbying and otherwise. 



If such a bill should pass, and the license fee be set 

 high, then a comparatively few pot-hunters and wealthy 

 men may monopolize duck shooting in the State, and if 

 the fee be moderate or low, then so many might avail 

 themselves of the privilege as to keep the big-guns boom- 

 ing everywhere ducks venture to alight. In either event, 

 the result would be nearly the same, for those fowl that 

 escape death would seek safer and quieter regions. 



The Forest and Stream reaches a good number of 

 those legislators who must vote on the proposed bill, and 

 in that way and otherwise it may prove a defender of 

 the interests of the great army of gunners who do not 

 desire to kill for the sake of filling the market, and have 

 neither inclination nor leisure to indulge themselves in 

 licenses for wholesale destruction of water fowl of any 

 kind. Give us your aid to frustrate the plan of the self- 

 ish few in the interest of the better many. H, 



Kent Scientific Institute.— At a meeting held re- 

 cently in Grand Rapids, Mich., an election of officers of 

 the Kent Scientific Institute of that city resulted as fol- 

 lows: President, E. S. Holmes: Vice-President, W. A. 

 Greeson; Secretary, C. A. Whittemore; Treasurer, Samuel 

 L. Fuller; Corresponding Secretary, E. S. Holmes; 

 Director of Museum, W. A. Greeson; Curator, E. L. Mose- 

 ley; Librarian, E. L. Moseley. 



