June 6, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



397 



I visited "Seep" in Washington one day last winter 

 and was told about her constant escapes. Familiar as I 

 have been for years with the agility of the mountain 

 sheep, I could not believe that this little creature had 

 actually made a clear bound over an 8ft. fence. On 

 going inside and examining the wire fence her mode of 

 procedure was made plain. On one of the four sides of 

 her paddock and close to the corner of the fence is a gate 

 leading into an adjoining paddock. The gate is of wire 

 netting, but its frame is of 2m. pine and projects so far out 

 from the wire in the sheep's pen. A cross bar about 4tt. 

 from the ground joins the two uprights of the frame. 

 Here was the ladder by means of which the sheep had 

 scaled the fence. She jumped up 4ft. to the crossbar- 

 Sin, wide mind you— and from there 4ft. f urther up on to 

 the top of the fence, which is Sin- wide, and from there 

 8ft. down to the ground. , 



Although so impatient of confinement, this lamb has 

 not the slightest desire to run away. She wants to be 

 free but not to escape. She likes to be petted, to have 

 her head rubbed and scratched, but what she likes best 

 of all is to play, and this she cannot do in her present 

 cramped quarters. 



I hope with all my heart that she may live and do well 

 for many years, and I believe that there is every pros- 

 pect that she may survive in captivity. The mountain 

 sheep is a hardy creature. "Strong lived more than any 

 animal except the buffalo." G. B. G. 



MONTANA GAME LAW. 



AN act for the better protection of game and fish. Be it en- 

 enacted by the Legislative Assemhly of the Territory of 

 Montana: Sec. 1. That any person who shall wilfully shoot or 

 otherwise kill, for the period of ten years from and after the pass- 

 age of this act, any bison, bnffalo or quail, or who shall wilfully 

 shoot or otherwise kill for the period of six years, from and after 

 the passage of tliis act, any moose, elk or beaver within this Ter- 

 ritory, shall be deemed guilty of a. misdemeanor, and be rtned not 

 less than t wo hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, 

 or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than two months nor 

 more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment for 

 each offense committed, in the discretion of the court, and the 

 possession of tlie skin or meat of any of the above mentioned 

 animals killed during said period shall be presumptive evidence 

 that the person having either in his possession, killed the same 

 in violation of this section. The provisions of this soction shall 

 not be deemed or held to apply to persons who raise or own 

 buff do. 



Sec. 2. That any person or persons who shall wilfully shoot or 

 otherwise kill or cause to be killed any white-tailed deer, black- 

 tailed deer, mule deer, mountain sheep, Rocky Mountain goat or 

 antelope, between the first day of -January and the fifteenth day 

 of September of the same year, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum 

 not less than twenty dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each 

 offense committed. 



Sec. 3. That a fishing tackle consisting of a rod or pole, line and 

 hook or spear shall be the only lawful way that fish can be taken 

 in any of the rivers, streams, lakes and ponds of this Territory. 

 That said hook shall not be baited with any poisonous drug or 

 substance, and that it shall be unlawful for any person or persons 

 to make any dams or use any fish traps, grab-hooks or similar 

 means for catching fish, or to use any drugs or poison or giant 

 powder or other explosive compound, intending to catch, kill or 

 destroy fish of any species; but nothing herein contained shall 

 prevent the use of any seine or ot her catch net used to catch fish 

 in any river or stream below 200 miles from the head of any such 

 river or stream, provided that such seine or catch net shall have 

 a mesh not less than one inch square. 



And any person or persons, company or corporations, offending 

 against this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 

 upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding 

 $250 or shall be imprisoned for a period not more than six months 

 and shall pay the costs of prosecution. 



Sec. 4. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this act be 

 and the same are hereby repealed. 



Sec. 5. This act shall take effect on and after its passage. 



Approved Feb. 28, 1*89. 



INCIDENTS IN MY HUNTING LIFE.-II. 



I WAS camping one night late in the fall of 1849, at 

 the head of Mollychunnkemunk Lake, near a stream 

 which runs from the ponds known as Richardson Ponds, 

 and within ten rods of the lake. It was a dark and 

 windy night, threatening a storm, so I put my night 

 wood inside my shed camp and reloaded my gun, stand- 

 ing it in a convenient place, built up a cheerful fire out- 

 side, ate a hearty supper of broiled trout and other fix- 

 ings and lay down for the night. How long I slept I 

 cannot tell, but when I awoke I was on my knees peering 

 out into the darkness, the rain was pouring and the fire 

 was just about gone. And just then a tremendous yell 

 or screech saluted me in the direction of the lake, not 

 over a gunshot away. My hair stood on end. The situa- 

 tion was alarming and my nerves crystallized. But I did 

 not lose my presence of mind. But holding on to my 

 gun I at once set about kindling a fire, and of the few 

 coals in sight I soon got a blaze with my kindling wood 

 and birch bark. I consider a fire in a dark night the best 

 protection against wild beasts. I heard several more of 

 these fearful screeches, but the animal evidently did not 

 like my fire, for he steered eastward toward the moun- 

 tain, giving me a stunner of a good-bye yell. 



There was no more sleep for me that night and as soon 

 as day broke I went to the lake, and there deep in the 

 sandy shore were the foot prints of a large panther, 

 with toe nails or claws full Sin. long, and the creeping 

 tracks near to each other when he passed my camp 

 showed that he was wicked. When he came to the 

 stream he leaped across some 25ft., sinking his feet deep 

 into the sand, showing that he was a heavy animal. 



I have no doubt this was what hunters term the Indian 

 Devil, a creature with which a man in the woods alone 

 has no business. I have tracked a creature like this 

 since, but never heard his voice and never want to. 



After 1840 for nearly twenty years, moose were abun- 

 dant in Maine, and it was lawful to kill them with dogs 

 or at any time of the year; so almost everybody laid in 

 a supply of moose meat each winter for the* year, which 

 was saved by smoking, drying or salting. Those farmers 

 who did not care to hunt them, usually had enough given 

 them by their neighbors or bought it cheaply. 



At one time four of us were chasing a moose on the 

 side of a mountain west of Rangeley Lake, when, on 

 coming out into an open place in the woods, the moose 

 stopped and "sulked" as we termed it. In our party was 

 a 16-year-old boy who was a brave lad and liked to show 

 off pretty well, so when the old bull stopped, this fellow, 

 Dan, ran into the open place near the moose to get a 

 better look at him. But no sooner had Dan showed him- 

 self to the moose than the moose started for him. There 

 was about 4ft. of snow and we all had on snowshoes. 

 Only one of the party carried a gun, and he was a few 



paces back, just coming up. We all sung out, "Bring 

 the gun! Bring the gun, quick!" So the gun soon got 

 there, but not so quick as the moose, for four or five good 

 strides brought tlie moose and boy too near together. 

 The boy was not idle for he turned and made for a big 

 knole or hillock of snow a few yards away, and seeing 

 the moose upon him he dove into the snow bank, out of 

 sight, but not until the moose had trampled a beat where 

 the lad was last seen, and in less time than I can write it 

 had a standing place as hard as frozen ground, and under 

 his feet we could see one of the hoy's snowshoes. 



As soon as it was possible that moose was shot and fell 

 in his tracks, and we all ran to pull the dead body of the 

 boy out from under the moose, where we expected to 

 find him. We soon got the snowshoe, but the boy 's foot 

 was not in it; and while digging away tlie snow search- 

 ing for him we heard him cry out. We all looked in the 

 direction of the sound, and along the bank of snow about 

 100ft. the boy stuck up his head through the snow. The 

 bank of snow was formed by a tall tree, blown up by its 

 roots, the snow covering it out of sight, and under the 

 tree was an open space, as the tree lay up from the 

 ground, and imder this the boy dove, as the moose reared 

 to crush him down, just coming down on his snowshoe, 

 Which in the struggle broke loose from the boy's foot. 



That was a scared boy, but he was a wiser boy. Much 

 of his conceit had left him. J. G. Rich. 



Betftktj, Me. 



CROSS SHOOTING, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"Novice" appeals to the ancients to take up the parable 

 formulated by "Sinkbox" and expound it. "Sinkbox" 

 argued as a matter of demonstrated fact that a cross sliot 

 may be secured first by covering the bird, holding on to 

 it in its flight, and pulling trigger while holding on, or 

 secondly, by covering the bird, throwing the muzzle of 

 the gun round some few feet ahead of it, and pulling 

 trigger, so that the charge aimed ahead will traverse a 

 line which the bird's line of flight will intersect. His ex- 

 planation of the apparent irreconcilability of the two 

 assumed facts is that in the first the barrel being in motion 

 at the time the trigger is pulled, the shot does not leave 

 the muzzle in a straight line, but in a slight curve, the de- 

 flection being due to the sweep of the barrels, while the 

 charge is traversing them. 



This is an ingenious method of providing a theory to 



square with the assumed facts; the simplest and safest 

 way to meet it is to deny the facts. 



A gun placed in a revolving machine and fired while 

 the machine is making a thousand revolutions a minute 

 would impart centrifugal force to the shot during its 

 passage through the barrels, but even assuming that a 

 gun in a man's hands is fired, while being swept round, 

 the deflection of the direction of the shot, if it can be 

 theoretically contended for, is so slight as to be inappre- 

 ciable. 



"Sinkbox's" mistake originated in the false assumption 

 that a bird crossing the sportsman at a given angle and 

 distance could be dropped both by throwing the muzzle 

 of the gun ahead of the object, holding it stationary and 

 firing, and by firing while holding on to the bird with the 

 gun in motion. 



We have to deal with facts, and the first fact for con- 

 sideration is that a bird flying sixty miles an hour, as 

 some ducks do, will go two yards while a charge of shot 

 of fair initial velocity is traversing forty yards. That 

 rate of speed on the part of the bird must be allowed for 

 in every cross shot, to bring the bird into the center of 

 the charge, but as the charge may cover a surface of two 

 feet diameter with occasional sfcray shots beyond, the 

 gunner has to that extent an allowance for error. 



Whether the gunner should hold much or little ahead 

 of a crossing bird depends both upon the angle at which 

 the bird is crossing liim and the distance. In illustra- 

 tion, the gunner standing at A in the diagram sees a bird 

 rise at C (40yds. distant) and fly toward B. It will not 

 be necessary to hold much ahead to drop the bird on its 

 way, for along that course the width of the charge will 

 almost equal the distance the bird can cover while the 

 shot is en route. At the nearest point, C, the gunner 

 fires at right angles to the bird's fine of flight, and is 

 more apt to shoot behind; but the distance is short, and 

 tlie bird must fly sixty miles an hour to get half a yard 

 ahead. Nevertheless, at any point of this line the gun- 

 ner should aim a little ahead. The same rule applies if 

 the bird's flight be from B to C, and in either direction 

 between D and E, bearing only in mind that right-shoul- 

 dered gunners are much more apt to fire behind a bird 

 crossing them from right to left than from left to right. 

 In this latter case, in trying to hold on to the bird in its 

 flight they hold ahead unconsciously when pulling the 

 trigger. 



But if a bird cross the gunner along the line F G at a 

 least distance of 30yds., it may traverse a yard and a half 

 or two yards while the shot is spanning the distance, and 

 would, of course, escape if the trigger were pulled while 

 the bird was in a direct line with the barrel. The gunner 

 who does not hold well ahead under these conditions will 

 get left, unless he have the luck to shoot at the drake and 

 kill the duck. 



The rule for cross shooting is consequently always to 

 hold ahead of your bird, letting the distance ahead be 

 regulated both by the distance of the bird and the angle 

 at which he is crossing you. The gunner who tells you 



that standing at A in the diagram he can bring down a 

 bird crossing from O to F, a distance of 30 to 40yds., with 

 the bird in line of fire while he pulls the trigger, asserts 

 what is practically impossible, although he may in that 

 way make fair bags with birds traversing the fines B C 

 and D E. Ancient. 



A WEAPON FOR THE VACATION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am. moved to submit a hint for the benefit of those 

 whose inexperience might lead them to procure a heavy 

 shotgun, or large calibered rifle or revolver. 



A young friend purchased an outfit recently, for a 

 three weeks trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. 

 I have hunted all over the district where he expects to 

 camp, and never killed anything larger than an inquisi- 

 tive skunk. Yet he had bought a lOlbs. lOoz. shotgun, 

 with 500 loaded shells, a .40-90 Winchester repeating 

 rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition, a Colt's army revol- 

 ver, and 100 rounds, and a 9in. sheath knife. He was 

 very proud of his armament, and allowed that he was 

 prepared for bear, deer or catamount. I mildly suggested 

 that he would find none of these, but he smiled inno- 

 cently and remarked: "But supposing I did see one of 

 the other where would I be then?" Now, that young 

 man will pack his mule load of ammunition into camp, 

 and if I were a betting man, I would wager high that 

 nine-tenths of it will be wasted on trees, or kindred in- 

 animate targets, in all probability he will not enjoy him- 

 self, and on his return will swear camp life is an unmiti- 

 gated bore. Had he but used a little common sense, and 

 ordered his equipment to suit his surroundings, or better 

 yet, sought advice from an experienced woodsman, he 

 would have saved money, time, exertion, and gone pre- 

 pared to properly enjoy his camp life. 



Do not, brother outers, burden yourselves with heavy 

 weapons of any kind, a shotgun when it is no trouble to 

 carry is useful; but unless certain to find large game 

 leave rifle and revolver of any larger caliber than .32 

 at home. Buy yourselves a Stevens pistol either for .22 

 short or .22 long rifle cartridge and be happy. You can 

 carry several thousand of these little cartridges in the 

 space of a few hundred of the longer caliber, their cost 

 is normal, their accuracy perfect, and they are deadly to 

 almost all small game you will be likely to find during 

 the close seasons. You will have choice of four models, 

 viz.: Lord, Conlin, Gould and Diamond. The first 

 named weighs 31bs., the two next 21bs. and a fraction 

 over, the last 12oz. The accuracy of these dainty 

 weapons is simply wonderful, and choice of model is 

 simply a matter of preference ; for my own liking the 

 Lord model, being the heaviest, is the king, with the 

 Gould a close second. The Diamond is a little gun, but it 

 "gets there just the same" if held straight. The writer 

 lives in the country, and has little time or inclination to 

 take a vacation beyond such incidental tramps as his 

 professional work allows, but during the season he rarely 

 leaves the house for an extended ramble without a 

 Stevens being with him. I have a broad leathern belt, 

 from which hangs on the right hip a specially made 

 holster containing the weapon, upon the other side, near 

 the buckle, hangs a pouch, such as were at one time 

 issued to the army to carry caps in, and this holds over 

 a hundred .22 shorts or about seventy-five of the long 

 rifle. In this way one's hands are free and the weight is 

 hardly noticed, yet a weapon is handy which is very 

 nearly as deadly up to 50yds. as a rifle. With the .22 long 

 rifle, fairly good target shooting can be done at 200yds., 

 using the Gould model pistol, but I take it, few of us 

 desire a longer range at small game than 50yds., espe- 

 cially if the pot is empty. With both Lord and Gould 

 models I have killed ground hogs, squn-rels, doves, 

 hawks, snakes, chickens (my own), rats, such living 

 objects as one naturally takes for targets in lack of some- 

 thing better. 



I remember several years ago being one of a crew of a 

 yacht which sailed down the Delaware River on a pleas- 

 ure trip, to be gone a week. Another member of that 

 jolly crew had with him a "Lord," which added as much 

 to our enjoyment as almost anything in our equipment. 

 When nothing else could be done, or everything else 

 palled upon our hands, the pistol was produced, matches 

 were shot, the principal stakes being cartridges. At one 

 place we tied up for supplies; one genius of the party 

 procured about two bushels of empty yeast powder bot- 

 tles. These he corked, and when becalmed or at anchor 

 one would be thrown over the side and shot at as it 

 slowly drifted with the tide; or, tied to a long string, a 

 bottle was thrown up in the air to be shot at, and retrieved 

 for another shot if missed. 



Try the. experiment, brothers, if you have not had the 

 experience I mention. Take a Stevens into your camp, 

 canoeing, bicycling, yachting or pedestrianizing; it costs 

 little for the vast amount of enjoyment you can get out 

 of it. You can, by expending a few thousand cartridges, 

 become a good shot, and will then, I trust, be one more 

 added to the ranks of the ever-increasing number of those 

 who enjoy the use of revolver or pistol at the target, a 

 sport second to none, with a weapon like the rifle to be 

 used by manly men. Picus. 



SIZES OF TRAP SHOT. 



TAKING the catalogues of a majority of the shot-mak- 

 ing companies of the country as authority, there 

 would seem to be a wide variation in the number of 

 pellets to the ounce of the various sizes of trap shot. Tlie 

 figures for the five sizes generally used at the trap stand 

 as follows: 



No. ti. No. 7. No. 8. No. 9. No. 10. 



Tatham, N. Y 218 388 472 688 1056 



Le Roy, N. Y 209 337 473 698 1053 



Col well, N. Y 218 291 399 568 848 



Sparks, Phila 245 305 426 615 950 



San Francisco Shot Co 215 303 420 592 874 



Pittsburgh Shot Co 222 301 408 575 854 



Chicago Shot Co - . . . 246 323 434 596 854 



Cincinnati Shot Co. 241 318 445 590 820 



According to this showing two shooters, each using the 

 American standard measure of ljoz. on No. 8 shot, might 

 have a difference of 93 pellets in their cartridges; while 

 on No. 10 shot the variation might rise to 295 pellets in a 

 1-Joz. charge. W. 



Newton, Ga., May 31. — Our bird hunting last season 

 was poor; very few birds; where we usually have thou- 

 sands only few; they were killed off by the Texas flea or 

 some disease.— B. F. H. 



