June 30, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



493 



camping ground instead of half a mile further southwest, 

 as I had begun to think I was. B. had got at least one 

 turkey and had gathered up our things and taken the 

 horses, and was hunting for me. I fired a shot but there 

 was no response, and I began to think that I should have 

 to walk back. Then I shot again and with better success. 

 This time I heard B. answer, and on my going over there 

 he told me that he had started to hunt for me, for he 

 thought I had got lost, as the woods were so much alike 

 here. But he does not know to this day that his fears 

 were not entirely groundless. He had killed the turkey 

 that I left him calling early in the morning, and had shot 

 another very large one, but it ran a few steps and pitched 

 down over a bluff; he ran up to the edge as soon as he 

 could, but saw nothing more of it. I mounted my horse 

 and we rode back to the bluff to await the return of the 

 boat. Alpha. 



POWDER AND SHOT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your last issue I read a very interesting article 

 headed "Gunpowder Tests;" please convey to Mr. T. C. B. 

 my hearty thanks for the same. 



In this connection I wish a word or two on shot. When 

 I desire a number of pellets to the ounce I don't know 

 what number to ask for. Makers seem to have no com- 

 mon standard. I think a sure way would be to ask for 

 shot a certain number of pellets of which would cover, 

 say an inch. I take a piece of paper and crease it; into 

 this I run the shot and apply a rule, which, according to 

 sizes, shows how many go to tho inch, and I order accord- 

 ingly. "Why should not the makers adopt this plan and 

 mark on the bags "13 to the inch,'' as the case may be? 



Measures do not agree as to contents or weight. Of 

 course none can represent the weight unless each referred 

 to a particular size of grain or number of pellets. We all 

 know the larger weighs less in the measure than the 

 smaller. I therefore suggest that in speaking of quanti- 

 ties the weight and not the measure shall be referred to. 

 It ie an easy matter, after ascertaining the weight desired, 

 to make a measure to suit; a shell cut to the desired size 

 will answer the purpose. 



I once shot a friendly pigeon match and won. The 

 stipulations were l^oz. shot. My friend charged me with 

 overloading in shot. I stoutly denied this After going 

 home I consulted my measure and found it on the figure 

 1^. Not satisfied with this I weighed it and found the 

 charge I was shooting weighed l^oz. The shot was No. 

 8. I did not try what No. 1 out of the same measure 

 would weigh. Hence I say make weight the criterion 

 and then there can be no doubt as to what you mean when 

 you say one ounce, no matter what the size of your shot. 



Picton, Ontario. R. P. L 



["E. P. I." can get the information asked for by address- 

 ing "T. C. B.," care this office.] 



ANOTHER TOBY GUZZLE BEAR. 



ON the 10th of this month, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Seelye 

 and two section men of the New Brunswick Rail- 

 way in Canada were coming up the fine of that road in a 

 handcar. When they had reached a point about two 

 miles north of Toby Guzzle they noticed a bear wallow- 

 ing in the ditch at the side of the railway. The men who 

 were propelling the car moved along so quietly that she 

 did not notice the party until they all jumped off the car 

 at her with a sudden yell. Terrified at the unexpected 

 appearance of so many enemies at one time, the bear fled 

 up the hillside, while her cub close by climbed an old 

 yellow birch stub which stood near, to the height of about 

 20ft. At this juncture Mr. Stewart went to where the 

 cub was, while the mother, chased by the rest of the 

 party and traveling in a sort of a semi-circle, came to at 

 the foot of the stub; then the fight commenced in earnest. 



Mr. S. began tho battle with a limb torn from a fallen 

 tree, aided also by a dog which was with the party, which 

 bit at the heels of the bear in a savage manner. The dog, 

 however, was soon put hor^s de combat by a blow of the 

 beast's paw in the ribs, which sent him off howling, and 

 although no wounds could be seen, his death supervened 

 the morning after the fight. 



As the bear made charge after charge, one of the most 

 excited of the party called out, "Boys, stand your ground 

 like men," and when she turned her back the cry of 

 "Charge now" was followed by a volley of stones and 

 sticks, until finally she was driven off to the distance of 

 upward of 100ft. from the tree. At this point one of the 

 party climbed the stub after the cub; the mother seeing 

 this turned upon the party which was standing around 

 the stub, driving them off. and then ascending this stub 

 herself after the man who was in pursuit of her young, 

 had got about 6ft. from the ground, when Mr. Stewart, 

 seizing her by the leg, hauled her off the tree. So soon 

 as she struck the ground she ran after the party, which 

 fled to the railway; then there was a succession of charges, 

 they drove and were in turn driven, the fight waxing 

 hotter and hotter all the time. The scene of the combat 

 was in old burnt land, and for yards around the base of 

 the tree limbs were torn off and stones were uprooted, 

 until the whole surface of the ground presented the ap- 

 pearance of a veritable "bear garden." 



As it was now becoming late Mr. Stewart saw that, with- 

 out the aid of firearms the bears must escape, and deter- 

 mined that he would resort to this last resource, accord- 

 ingly calling to three of his companions in clubs he 

 promised them the reward of $5 if they would keep the 

 cub up the stub until he went two miles to McAdam 

 Station and back again with the handcar for the gun. 

 Besides darkness was beginning to set in and the bear 

 was getting the better in the contest. When he got back 

 with the gun he found the mother at the foot of the stub 

 and shot h3r there while the young one was secured by 

 one of the men climbing the tree. The battle began at 6 

 o'clock P. M. and ended about 10 P. M. The old bear was 

 about four years of age and weighed from 250 to 3001bs. 



Mr. Stewart says that the Toby Guzzle bear whose fate 

 was described in a late number of Forest and Stream 

 was seen by him twice, once at a distance of 20ft. , when 

 it sat down on its hind legs, eyed Mr. S. for a moment and 

 quietly walked away; at another time he saw it swim out 

 in the Digdequash River, not far from Toby Guzzle, 

 ascend one of the granite boulders which are scattered 

 over that desolate country and quietly seat itself on top 

 of it, not moving until Mr. Stewart and the man who was 

 with him, who were both unarmed, had got within 20ft. 

 of it, when it quietly slid down, swam ashore and disap- 

 peared in the woods. Edward Jack. 

 Fredbricton, Canada, June 31. 



LAKE WINNIPEG DUCKING GROUNDS. 



\7"ERY little is known in the East of the Lake Winnipeg 

 region in Manitoba, north of Dakota Territory. The 

 Red River of the North, which flows m a direct northerly 

 course, empties into this great inland sea. The trip from 

 Winnipeg to the mouth of the river, distance about forty 

 miles by land and forty-five by river, is much more en- 

 joyable by the latter route, traveling in birch bark canoes. 

 Each successive bend of the river unfolds to view the 

 continuation of farmhouses, fields and hayricks, with 

 snake-like fences reaching down to the water's edge, and 

 where the farmer has his scow or boat, for ferrying, tied 

 to a stake. 



Past the stone fort, a massive fortification of masonry, 

 where the Hudson's Bay Company do a large business, 

 frowns over the river bank; from this place the settle- 

 ment begins to thin out until the Indian reservation of 

 St. Peter's is reached, and from that point down we begin 

 to enter a wilderness of reeds. The current grows less 

 perceptible until we are fairly in the back waters from 

 he lake. The banks from here on are not over a few 

 feet above the water level, but the surrounding country 

 is hidden from view by the tall growth of reeds that line 

 the shore. The river here forms a delta, and any one of 

 the three channels can be taken with equal chance of 

 success in the pursuit of ducks. We are now fairly in 

 the marshy tract that extends for a distance of about ten 

 miles on either side of the river, east and west, and runs 

 back from the lake shore to about eight miles inland. 

 The lake is about 300 miles long, north and south, and 

 averages thirty miles in width, the consequence being 

 that when the wind is from the north there is a rise of 

 the waters, which flood this vast tract of marsh, and on 

 the subsiding of the wind there is a strong ebb, the action 

 of which during lapse of time has worn the marsh into a 

 network of channels, through which the water flows in 

 conflicting currents until it has reached the normal level. 

 It is necessary to have an expert Indian guide to pilot 

 one through those intricate channels that run into one 

 another at all the angles known to a geometrician; from 

 the canoe nothing can be seen but the walls of tall reeds 

 about 12ft. high on either hand, and the diminutive per- 

 spective of curving channel ahead. 



Seated in the bow, with the Indian in the stem pad- 

 dling noiselessly, yet swiftly, around the curves and 

 bends, flock after flock of ducks arise as the canoe appears, 

 and at each report of the shotgun a veritable cloud of 

 ducks arises from the surrounding but invisible channels, 

 and fly hither and thither with a continued quacking for 

 a while, until they gradually settle down in their haunts 

 only to be again disturbed by the gun. 



In half a day's sport we had a canoe so loaded down 

 with ducks that we had to be very careful in our move- 

 ments to prevent her from filling. 



The Indians make a business of loading their canoes 

 with ducks and selling them at the town of Selkirk for a 

 mere song. 



The only fishing in that region is catfish, goldeyes and 

 whitefish. A species of large sturgeon is also caught, but 

 they are very scarce, and when caught requires the efforts 

 of four or five men to pull one of them on shore. The 

 half-breeds catch them in big nets stretched across the 

 river, but sunk beneath the surface near the bottom of the 

 river. 



But for duck shooting, I have traveled the Labrador 

 coast, the Canadas, on the Atlantic coast and through the 

 Southwestern States, and have never seen the equal of the 

 Red River of the North as a resort for ducks. J. P. S. 



A COUGAR. 



A FLOOD of August's golden light just tipped the top 

 of King's Peak and surrounding mountains, bath- 

 ing them in a soft halo of golden light, as old Sol rolled 

 from beneath the distant horizon, proclaiming "Sluggard, 

 up and awayl" 



Springing from my bed of boughs I grasped my trusty 

 rifle with the determination to bring in a fat buck before 

 the sun should reach his meridian; for the country 

 abounds in some fine specimens of this kind of game, and 

 deer become exceedingly fat at this season of the year. 

 My course lay along an open ridge for perhaps a hah* mile, 

 then enters short brush and rose gradually to some lofty 

 peaks about two miles to south of camp. The ridge hav- 

 ing been burned over about two years previous made it 

 very difficult to ascend on account of the dead mancin- 

 neto brush at all heights from 1 to 4 or 5ft. , catching and 

 hooking to one's clothing in a very disagreeable manner. 

 The young sprouts from the brush affording fine food for 

 deer at this season of the year, they leave the open coun- 

 try about July and feed upon browse the remainder of 

 the season until it comes fall. As I proceed I see plenty 

 of small deer and occasionally an old buck as he is alarmed 

 and bounds down the side of the mountain and makes 

 cover in some green patch of brush that the fire has failed 

 to burn in its course. I reach the summit of a sharp back 

 bone, running back from the crest and terminating ab- 

 ruptly at the coast, where beneath rolls the mighty Pa- 

 cific with its billows glistening in the morning sun. Turn 

 and gaze inland and you will see the ridge as it turns and 

 sweeps to the south as far as the eye oan reach the dark 

 frowning peaks growing dim and blue in the distance. 

 Turning back from the coast I keep my course in pursuit 

 of the buck which I am anxious to obtain. 



Scrambling along the side of the mountain, turning a 

 sharp point of rocks, I come face to face with a cougar, 

 sometimes called panther or California lion. He also 

 seems to be in quest of game, and stands with his head 

 dropped very near the ground looking straight at me. I 

 raise my rifle and fire. At the crack of the rifle he 

 bounds in the air and turns short and rushes down the 

 mountain with his tail standing straight up, smashing 

 and cracking the dry brush in a fearful manner. After 

 reaching a small bench he made cover in a thicket of 

 green bushes. Here he made an awful tearing around 

 for a few seconds, then all was still. Taking the trail I 

 proceeded slowly along. Seeing plenty of blood on the 

 trail I concluded he must be dead, and had approached 

 within about six feet before I was aware that I was so 

 near. Seeing two large fiery eyes glaring at me I con- 

 cluded I was as near as I cared to be, and having no time 

 to lose I raised my rifle and fired between his eyes. At 

 the crack of the rifle he bounded into the air and dropped 

 dead in his tracks. My first shot had taken effect in the 

 head, but too low to kill immediately. The ball had 

 entered his cheek and broken his jaw and passed along 

 the back of his neck to the top of his shoulder blades and 



lodged against the skin. When dressing him I found him 

 very fat. The next day I returned with Mr. Frebeg and 

 Judge Faxon, my two camp companions. We skinned 

 him. On telling the Judge that hunters eat them often, 

 and that I had also eaten them many times, he cut a few 

 pounds from the ham and took it to camp. We cooked it 

 and made a square meal of it and pronounced it good. 

 The meat was as white as the breast of a chicken and re- 

 minds one of veal. The Judge took the skin home with 

 him. Humboldt. 



Petholia, California. 



Cheap Gun and Sure Aim.— Once with my old muz- 

 zleloader, cost $2.25, I was duck hunting on Findley's 

 Lake, N. Y. It was late in November, a cold, wet day. 

 But few ducks were to be seen. There were three of us in 

 the party. Finally getting sick of looking for mallard we 

 decided to pepper anything that came within reach of our 

 arms. My companions both had Parker's best. I was 

 armed with my old government fusee which wore a cap 

 as large as a cartridge shell. I was ashamed to do much 

 shooting myself and thought I'd tend the oars and let my 

 chums bring down the game. They had banged away at 

 a diver, estimated distance 25 rods, ten times apiece with- 

 out effect, when I suggested to them that I try my hand. 

 I dropped the paddles in the water, and raising the old 

 musket to my shoulder fired at the little speck in the dis- 

 tance. The diver dropped on his back and we rowed up 

 and pulled in the game. So much for cheap guns and a 

 sure aim— E. W. H. (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) 



Bears and Caribou.— .James Nadeau, who lives four 

 miles above Bean Lake, on the St. Francis, New Bruns- 

 wick, was recently crossing the portage to Cabineau Lake 

 and saw five bears devouring a caribou which they had 



J'ust killed. They resented the intrusion ferociously. 

 Tadeau went home for a gun and trap, and, not seeing 

 the bears on returning, set the trap, and I have just 

 learned he had taken one bear and expects to have them 

 all. The killing of caribou by bears is something new to 

 me. Doubtless the bears were lying in ambush, as the 

 portage is a runway for caribou, and their fleetness pre- 

 cludes the idea of capture by chase.— Warfteld. 



RIFLES AND BULLETS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with great interest the discussions upon the relative 

 merits of muzzle and breechloaders, large and small calibers, and 

 heavy and light charges, which have appeared in the columns of 

 your excellent paper, and my belief that the interest and desire 

 for light in these matters is general among riflemen, is my excuse 

 for adding to the much that has already been written. 



I used to believe in the great superiorly of the muzzleloader for 

 accuracy, and when I was a lad I used a good manymuzzleloaders 

 that, for medium range, were beautifully correct shooters, but 

 though that was not many years ago, the breechloader had not 

 then reached the degree of perfection that it has since attained; 

 and after having shot eff the neads of grouse with tho Sharps and 

 Winchester for half a doeen years with but an occasional miss, 

 my opinion upon the question of comparative accuracy has under- 

 gone a great change. 



The muzzleloader is all right in its way, but in a game country 



1 should feel almost unarmed with such a weapon. I believe it Is 

 Major Merrill who talks about "shaving a squirrel's head" along 

 the whole range of 150yds. If he wants to pack a 151h, gun that it 

 takes ten minutes to load for the purpose of "shaving squirrels' 

 heads," let him. That's the only use it is fit for. 



The best shot, especially if a little out of wind, will sometimes 

 miss or only wound a deer, even at short range, and if it takes 

 him ten minutes with a monkeywrench and Jackserew to get a 

 buckshot into his muzzleloader, he is not likely to get another 

 shot that might retrieve the misfortune of the first. 



It is bootless to talk about the muzzleloader, but about the 

 caliber of hunting rifles I have, found some difference of opinion 

 among goo* hunters. While I have known expert game Killers 

 that put their trust in a .40-cal. and did excellent work with it, in 

 all cases they used a long ball and a heavy charge of powder— 

 never less than TOgrs. The great majority of hunters in the 

 mountains, however, use and prefer the .45-cal.; and my own ex- 

 perience — I have killed a good deal of big game — and my observa- 

 tions teach me that the .4(5, with about 9Ugrs. of powder, and not 

 more than 420grs. of lead, is the most satisfactory gun for our 

 mountain game. More powder will, of course, give flatter trajec- 

 tory and greater foroe, but it also gives greater recoil, and SOgra. 

 of powder will drive a ball over any range at which one will have 

 occasion to shoot with all necessary force and directness. 



Other things being equal, a flat trajectory is desirable, but it is 

 of less practical moment than is eommonly thought. The novice 

 will probably miss with any gun, but when the hunter understands 

 his gun, and knows how it shoots at different distances, he will 

 take care of the trajectory, and if his gun's point blank range is 

 lOOf ds. he will "hold high" on a deer at 150yds. and low at 50yds., 

 making preper allowance for what he has found to be the curve. 

 More rifles, however, loaded as I have stated, will shoot close 

 enough to the line of sight to require very little allowance in 

 shooting at a deer from 50 to 150yds. II the mark is a squirrel's 

 head, I shall get much closer than 150yds. 



A. small caliber ball, .40 for instance, with sufficient powder 

 behind it, will give a flat trajectory, high velocity, and great 

 penetration, but it makes too small a hole and does riot let blood 

 and smash up things enough to be the more effective missile for 

 big game, while on the other hand a .50 travels too slowly, unless 

 a very heavy charge of powder is used, in which case the recoil is 

 too great for a hunting gun of the proper weight to stand. What- 

 ever be the caliber, the powder sheuld not be scrimped. 



A few winters ago I ran across the camp of an interesting old 

 hunter while on a hunt near Mt. Gunnison, who had hunted 

 through the mountains of the Pacific coast for years, and had 

 found the .44-40 Winchester sufficiently destructive for the white- 

 tail deer of that country; but the blacktail of Colorado would run 

 off with a shot that would have stopped a less hardy animal. Hav- 

 ing lost deer enough to satisfy him of the trouble, he discarded his 

 little gun and adopted the .45 Sharps, as did also his son. who nad 

 had the same experience, after which he had no difficulty. Expe- 

 riences of this sort are common. 



What your correspondent "F. F. F." says in your issue of June 



2 about the Sharps will find a responsive echo in the heart of the 

 old frontiersmen, to whom the "Old Reliable" is fondly dear. 

 Hunters of the Rocky Mountains universally lament the retire- 

 ment of the Sharps, and those who have one well preserved cannot 

 be induced to part with it. No wonder, for there is not now upon 

 the market a gun that, for shooting qualities, strength, symmetry, 

 simplicity and general merits as a hunting rifle, bears any com- 

 parison to the "Old Reliable." Take it for all and all, I shall not 

 look upon its like again. 



Tho practical hunter cares little for the tangent and cosine dem- 

 onstration of the man who shoots a .38cal. gun with thermometer 

 and weather-gauge attachments, and all his abstruse reasonings 

 and calculations, however logical and scientific, will not deter 

 the said hunter when he goes after meat from taking about a 

 lOlbs. or lllbs. ,45cal. breechloader that shoots a good stiff grist of 

 powder and lead and which experience has convinced him is the 

 most effective gun for big game that he can carry. But with any 

 gun the hunter must "callhis shot," never get rattled and put his 

 lead whore it will do the most good. Don't use a squirrel charge 

 on elk. Humanity as well as self interest demands that we should 

 not cripple game, only that it may wander away to become the 

 food or coyotes, and a small ball will often do this, when a large 

 one would be almost instantly fatal. M. F. S. 



Crested Butte, Colorado. 



New York City, May 18, 1887. 

 Tlu U. S. Cartridge Co., Lowell-, Mass.: 



Gentlemen — I wish to thank you for tho very excellent shell 

 you are putting on the market. I refer to the "Climax." I swear 

 by U, not at it, as I l ave had to do with other makes. It has given 

 me unqualified satisfaction ever since I first began to use it, and 

 that is since its introduction. Don't allow it to deteriorate, and 

 sportsmen will call you "blessed." Very truly yours, 



— Adv. (Signed) C. W. Cushter, 



