Feb, 21, 1887. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



88 



'ame j§#g nnd @mp 



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



DEER PACKING IN ALASKA. 



THOSE who go to southeast Alaska to hunt must adopt 

 one of two means of getting their game to the 

 water's edge; they must either carry it themselves or em- 

 ploy Indians to do it for them, for no pack animals can he 

 obtained there. One superannuated mule was a resident 

 of Sitka until last year, when rumor said he died. He 

 was a relic of the army which occupied the Territory after 

 its transfer, and when the country was evacuated lie was 

 too worthless to carry away, and he became, therefore, 

 the sole representative of the equine race in Alaska, and 

 consequently was an object of interest to sightseers. The 

 hunter might adopt the plan of killing all his deer on the 

 beach and thus avoid the trials of packing. Deer make 

 frequent visits to salt water for the purpose of eating the 

 sen weed. They come down for the salt in the early morn- 

 ing and in the evening, and he who hunts them* hi this 

 way must paddle cautiously along the shore, or anchor 

 his boat in a good spot and cover it with bushes. 



Few people, I fear, will appreciate the difticiilties of 

 hunting in Alaska until they have been there — the 

 amount of rainfall, except in very favorable seasons, the 

 rocky nature of the region, the' density of the under- 

 growth, the tangle of fallen timber, and the spongy Char- 

 acter of the soil they will be obliged, at times, to' tramp 

 over. 



The first time I went deer hunting in that country I 

 had an Indian with me who did the packing, and I then 

 studied his method, though I did not immediately put it 

 into practice; in fact it was not until I had nearly broken 

 my back carrying the game in the old way that I resorted 

 to the Indian mode, and now I would never attempt any 

 Other. The first deer I helped to pack out of the woods 

 I saw on the beach, as a comrade and I were paddling 

 along shore in a canoe; but before we could make a laud- 

 ing the deer had disappeared in the woods unalarmed. I 

 noted the direction in which it went, landed above it and 

 then entered the timber myself. With the aid of a deer 

 call in a little while he was brought near enough to me to 

 receive the fatal bullet. It was a two-year-old buck and 

 it looked~so pretty in its entirety that my companion, 

 who came to my assistance at the sound of the rifle, in- 

 sisted that we cany it down as it lay. It was but a few 

 hundred yards from the beach to where the deer fell, but 

 I can yet feel very vividly how hot the carry was and 

 how deeply the pole cut into my shoulder; every few 

 yaids one of us would cry a halt, and the distance was 

 more than doubled by zig-zagging to avoid the tangles of 

 underbrush and timber, but we got the deer into the boat 

 without mutilation. 



The next time I had such an experience we lay at 

 anchor in one of the long branches of Clarence Strait that 

 runs into Prince of Wales Island, named by us McLean's 

 Arm. It was virgin hunting ground for the white man, 

 and my comrade and I were the first to get ashore for the 

 purpose of hunting. The time was an afternoon in the 

 early part of September. We landed at the mouth of a 

 little stream, whose valleyat this point is not much wider 

 than the stream itself. The water tumbles over a ledge 

 of rock about six feet high, and beyond this the land 

 broadens out into a rounded valley of not very lgige 

 dimensions. Where the fresh water mingled with the 

 salt the salmon were jumping up in a lively manner, and 

 a few had succeeded m surmounting the falls and were 

 in the pools above. As we proceeded up this valley we 

 saw more bear signs than we had seen anywhere else in 

 southeastern Alaska. The ground looked as if it had been 

 plowed up by a drove of hogs; it was done, however, by 

 the bears after the root of a broad-leafed plant, known 

 up there as the "skunk cabbage." Along the sides of the 

 pools where the salmon were they had worn dusty paths 

 m then- efforts to get at the fish, and the trunks oi the 

 trees around about were clawed as high up as they could 

 reach. However, we did not see any, for the bear is a 

 wily animal, more cautious in his movements, I think, 

 than the deer. 



We soon left the valley and ascended one of the hills 

 sloping to the eastward, where the ground was open and 

 where the deer signs were thick and fresh. We seated 

 ourselves on the right edge of this space, a few feet dis- 

 tant from a small tree; but we were not under any cover 

 whatever. The ground, comparatively open, sloped away 

 from us to a little stream, and the further bank, about 

 one hundred yards distant, was covered with trees and 

 undergrowth. I began blowing the deer call, given me 

 by an Indian at Port Simpson, the ribbon of which was a 

 piece of the yellow silk used to hold the bundles of cigars 

 together. I had been blowing the call, I think, about teu 

 minutes when we heard a noise as of bushes crackling on 

 the opposite side of the little stream, and very soon two 

 deer emerged into the clearing, crossed the stream and 

 came to a standstill about seventy-five yards away from 

 us. As they were approaching us we were as immovable 

 as the tree trunk which was near us. Deer do not seem 

 to detect danger in stationary objects; they depend more 

 upon then* sense of smell and on moving objects to warn 

 them when to flee. As soon as they came to a stop I 

 opened fire. The first shot missed, because I had rested 

 my elbow on my knee, which was shaking, the foot not 

 being flat on the ground. The second shot took effect, 

 but the deer bounded off badly wounded. 



I now turned my attention to the second deer, which 

 had not moved away, but stood as if stupified, though 

 my companion had been popping at it all the while with 

 his little Colt's revolving rifle. At my first shot he 

 tumbled in his tracks, shot through the neck. This deer 

 I believed to have been only creased, for the bullet passed 

 through the upper and fleshy pa,rt of the neck near the 

 base of the skull, but the vertebra was not touched. 

 However, we did not give him time to recover from the 

 shock but settled his "hash" right then with the knife. 

 We then began the search for the first deer, which was 

 very shortly found tiuubied into a hole about 00yds. away. 

 All the deer which I have killed, excepting the one just 

 mentioned, have run a greater or less distance after being 

 hit. This has been a surprise to me, for with my rifle" 

 which is of large caliber for such game— .45— I had ex- 

 pected to see them fall to the shock, at least. I have 

 therefore, concluded that one does not often knock a, 

 deer down by a shot throusrh the cavities of the body. I 



have likewise noticed that when mortally wounded, as 

 all of mine have been, they have always succumbed to 

 some obstruction in their path, such as a hole or a slight 

 elevation of the ground; had the latter been level they 

 would, no doubt, have continued running much further. 

 Our next proceeding was to disembowel the deer and cut 

 away all useless parts, for we had to get them down to 

 the water a mile or so away, and did not wish to be bur- 

 dened by needless weight. We carried them in the old 

 way, slung a. pole between us, and the same amount of 

 fatigue and pain were undergone; finally we were so ex- 

 hausted that one of the deer had to be left by the way, 

 which necessitated a second trip over our tracks. 



The Indian proceeds in the following manner: He 

 makes ropes by twisting the slender branches of the yel- 

 low cedar until they are pliable, and with these he sews 

 up the abdominal cut and binds together the legs of each 

 side, a fore and hind leg, after cutting them off at the 

 first joint. He thrusts his arms up to the shoulders 

 through the legs thus tied, and binds the two sides 

 toge J her across his chest by an end of one of the withes 

 Left for that purpose. The weight is evenly distributed 

 and firmly bound to the body, his arms and hands are 

 free, and he carries the deer pick-a-pack, neck upward, 

 the head, of course, being cut off. This method of pack- 

 ing deer, when the luuiter has to get them out of the 

 woods himself, is so superior to all others that I am ac- 

 quainted with, I believe it might be adopted with advan- 

 tage anywhere. 



The next time it devolved upon me to pack my own 

 game down to the waters edge, we were at anchor in 

 Steamer Bay, at the upper end of Etolin Island. One 

 morning, as I sat below reading and smoking my after- 

 breakfast cigar, I heard a voice on deck siug "out "bear," 

 and quickly seizing my rifle and cartridge belt I hurried 

 up. On the beach, abreast the vessel, about 500yds. away, 

 a big black boar was nosing in the tall grass totally una- 

 ware of our presence. We were debating the chances of 

 approaching it in a boat, when one of the men forward, 

 hi his excitement, fired a rifle at it and the bear scam- 

 pered off into the woods. Two of us got into the canoe 

 and paddled ashore to see if we could head oft the brute. 



We saw we easily could have approached the boar un- 

 observed. The tid'e was low and a ledge of rock jutted 

 out from the shore, behind which we could have gotten 

 within good rifle distance. We concluded he had" gone 

 up a ravine to the right and we therefore bore oft to the 

 left to get the wind and to head him off. If allowed a 

 little time to get over his fright he would probably soon 

 stop and begin rooting up the skunk cabbage, if he had 

 not finished Iris breakfast. 



When we reached the higher ground the deer signs 

 looked so fresh and promising that we concluded to halt 

 now and then and call for them. At the third stop I had 

 scarcely begun blowing the call when my companion 

 whispered, "Hold on, there's one;" but as he 'did not shoot 

 and as I did not see it. I gave another low call, when it 

 leaped into an opening in full view of both of us. It evi- 

 dently saw me, for I was standing up in plain sight of it. 

 It stood head on, and as I wished a side or quartering shot 

 I blew again to make it move. It advanced, but without 

 changing its relative position to me. I therefore took 

 aim at its forehead and pressed the trigger, and as it 

 swung around to make off my comrade fired. We saw 

 it fall a short distance away from us. My ball had gone 

 through the base of the right ear, and as I stood upon 

 higher ground it entered the body again on the same side, 

 just in front of the hip bone, plowed along the rectum and 

 ( merged at the base of the tail. The other ball struck on 

 the same side, about three inches in front of mine, where 

 it entered the body the second time, passed through and 

 to the rear, shattering the left thigh and lodging in the 

 skin of that side. Either shot would have been fatal, but 

 the deer was awarded to me. We soon had it prepared for 

 carrying out, and I mounted it on my back in the most 

 approved Indian fashion, and was surprised to find how 

 easily and comfortable it coidd he borne. I carried it a 

 distance equal to any of my previous packings, wdiich I 

 found so laborious, and the ground was as much broken 

 and as thickly wooded: I did this not only without 

 fatigue, but without once stopping to rest myself, and at 

 the same time carrying a 91b. rifle in my hands. Of 

 course the pursuit of the bear was discontinued, and as 

 we were returning to the beach in as straight a line as we 

 could go, we crossed a branch of the larger ravine, up 

 which we imagined the bear had retreated. What was 

 our surprise to find that the bear had gone up this small 

 ravine and was rooting up cabbages a few hundred yajxls 

 from us at the time we" shot the deer. 



We got on board just as the others were sitting down 

 to their noonday meal. T. H. S. 



Mare Island, Cal. 



GROWING WILD CELERY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am invited by you to give a plain and detailed state- 

 ment just how to put out wild celery seed. You ask me 

 to give you just the information I myself was seeking 

 when first I wrote you upon the subject. 



I have been instrumental in sowing wild celery seed 

 and planting bulbs in Big Sandy Pond, Jefferson countv, 

 contiguous to Lake Ontario. It would be useless for me 

 to advise my friends what to do in case of a desire on 

 their part to raise wild celery. I will simply say to all 

 what I would do myself, did I desire to again reproduce 

 this most valuable plant. 



First and above all, this plant calls for wet ground- 

 very wet ground— a pond of water, a real, genuine, old- 

 fashioned slough, plenty of wet muck and loam with an 

 abundance of water. If the water sets over all from one 

 to ten feet all the better. You all know what kind of a 

 pond or marsh is needed to make a first-class feeding 

 ground for ducks. I should make my order for seed or 

 bulbs for a couple of barrels or more. I would place 

 some of the seed at most or all the good places in ©r about 

 the marsh. I am satisfied this seed will grow in almost 

 any fresh water marsh. What it would do in a salt 

 water marsh I do not know. Whenever I come upon a 

 desirable spot, I would sow a fair sprinkling of seed upon 

 it broadcast, as farmers sow wheat. I would now and 

 then plant a little of the seed, and occasionally a bulb. 

 I would do this at all the desirable places found until my 

 seed was exhausted. Everybody knows how to sow seed 

 broadcast. No instructions are in order as to the matter 

 of sowing. Do it in the usual way. 



As to planting. Have made a tin tube, the length de- 

 pending upon the depth of water it is to work in. Have 



a plunger made to work upon the inside of the tube. 

 Form a wad of earth, and in the wad inclose a few pods 

 containing celery seed. Place it in the bottom of the 

 tube, inserting if, fairly tight. Run the tube down to the 

 bottom of the water, force it into the soil a trifle, and with 

 the plunger force the wad, seed and all, into the mud or 

 soil below. Then let the seed take care of itself. In this 

 way I would continue my endeavors over all the likely 

 places about the pond. I would plant the bulbs on the 

 marshy ground where the water would stand, say about 

 1 or 2ft. deep. I Avould plant them the same way as 

 seeds. Were I now to try again, having seen what I 

 have, and knowing what I do about the raising of this 

 plant, the above programme would be very close upon 

 what I should try to do. For seed I would" address Mr. 

 D. W. Cross, of Cleveland, Ohio. This plant growls there- 

 abouts in great profusion. Mr. Cross is a gentleman, and 

 withal a sportsman, and I think he knows as much about 

 wild celery as any man in the circle of my acquaintance. 

 He can give as good advice and directions, and furnish 

 the. seed or bulbs, or both, at as reasonable cost as any 

 man within my knowledge. I think he wrote me dming 

 our correspondence he would charge for seeds and bull s 

 only the actual cost of harvesting, preparing to ship, and 

 incidental expenses. I think that the seeds and bulbs 

 can only be obtained in the fall, when the water is at its 

 lowest. I know of no other man to order celery seed 

 from. S. E. Kingslby. 



HUNTING RIFLES. 



My Dear "P."; 



The record of your bullet, as written up in the Jan- 

 uary and February Rifle, has given me "more light" upon 

 that cranky lump of inert matter that have all my prior 

 education and experience with that little understood pro- 

 jectile. Never before had I fully realized what was meant 

 by "shock" when that word waB applied to the effect of a 

 rifle ball striking an animal. True it must be that if a 

 rifle ball is so constructed that when it strikes an animal 

 it expends its force then and there upon that animal, it 

 must produce more nerve destruction and be more de- 

 structive to life than it would were its force but slightly 

 obstructed by passing through that animal, I thank ycu 

 for that before not fully realized truth. 



I shall not agree with you in your statement with refer- 

 ence to the comparisons you make of the 114-830 rifle and 

 the "usually designed American sporting rifles." If a 

 rifle ball has sufficient power to overcome the life of an 

 animal when it strikes it, then a million times more 

 power would be wholly useless; and with reference to the 

 tra jectory of such rifles, most of the wild animals that are 

 shot in this country (I mean deer, antelope, elk, bear, etc.) 

 are shot at a sange averaging about 100yds. Let your 

 Bullard .45-85 be sighted for a point blank' at that range, 

 and the fall of the ball at 200yds. will not exceed 6 or 8 in., 

 if that much. Your 114-830 ball will fall from 4 to 6in. 

 under like conditions, giving it an advantage of but 2 to 

 4iu. Now when you come to make a hasty shot at an 

 elk, deer, antelope'or bear, at 200yds. off-hand, or with a 

 catch rest when excited and in a hurry to shcot, is not 

 this a small margin to cavil about? Is there not too much 

 of the "tweedle dee and tweodle dum" Don Quixote wind- 

 mill about it? I may be wrong with reference to the 

 trajectory of the guns under the conditions named, but 1 

 do not think that I am wdth reference to the difference of 

 the trajectories of these two guns. This wave of low 

 trajectories may have struck you too hard, as has doubt- 

 less the theory of the inefficiency of the breechloading 

 rifle when compared with the niuzzleloader Major Mer- 

 rill. 



Do you realize that the rapid decimation of all kinds 

 of game in this country has occurred since the advent of 

 the breechloading rifle and shotgun? For a number of 

 years I have made an annual pilgrimage to the once noted 

 hunting grounds of Arkansas. When we first went thero 

 there was not a breechloading rifle or shotgun in that 

 part of the State. Every man had his rifle, but it was a 

 muzzleloader of the old Kentucky style. In rainy weather 

 it was too wet, the powder and caps would get damp and 

 woidd not explode nor the powder ignite, and it was too 

 much trouble to load it anyhow. In cold weather it was 

 too cold , the fingers would suffer in loading, and then 

 only one shot could be had at a drove of deer. In fact it 

 was necessity and not pleasure that induced its use. On 

 our first trip we introduced the breechloading rifle, and 

 from that time they have rapidly taken the place of tho 

 old muzzleloader, until now there is seldom found in all 

 that country a muzzleloading rifle, but almost every 

 man of eighteen years and upward has his Winches- 

 ter, Bullard or Kennedy repeating rifle, and it is in 

 use upon all wet, dry and cold days, it is easy to 

 manipulate and no amount of rain wets its ammuni- 

 tion or cold dampens the ardor of the hunter. Its de- 

 structive qualities with the real pleasure that it gives in 

 its use, causes it to be more often used than was the muz- 

 zleloader and by a greater number of persons. It is the 

 lazy man's gun, and the lazy man as well as the energetic 

 one, hunts if he does not have to exert himself too much 

 to do so. The result has been the extermination (or nearly 

 so) of the game in that at one time famous game country, 

 and this has been accomplished by the introduction and 

 use of this magazine rifle. 



It is useless to try to legislate the game back into its 

 old haunts by the enacting of game laws, leaving lengthy 

 open seasons to the death-dealing magazine rifle and the 

 breechloading shotgun. Make it a felony to own or be in 



Eossession of any breechloading firearm and you would 

 ave the best game protecting law that could bo placed 

 upon the statutes. None of us could now enjoy bruiting 

 to the extent that we do if we were driven back upon the 

 use of the old muzzleloader (always, of course, excepting 

 Major Merrill). Such a law would have saved the buffalo 

 and other about extinct game animals that before the 

 introduction of the breechloader roamed in countlees 

 millions over the plains and prairies, and in the forests of 

 our country. 



To illustrate, let it be a felony to have in possession, or 

 to in any way use a seine net or other device used for the 

 taking of fish other than with a hook or line, in other 

 words, abolish from the United States every device for the 

 taking of fish other than with hook and line, and in less 

 than ten years our lakes and streams would swarm with 

 fish; but such a law can never be enacted. We live in an 

 age of bustling, rushing progress. Years of time are forced 

 into months, and months into days. It is an age of "God 

 save the hindmost," for we have no time to fool away in 

 doing so. Mestiee. 



