Oct. 18, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



246 



and the sheep, taking the trail to the shingle shed, ran 

 for its life with the bear in hot pursuit. F., who had just 

 a parting glimpse of the animals, followed on as fast as 

 his le#s could carry him. The old trapper was at work in 

 his shed and had just stooped over when the frightened 

 sheep came along, and plunging through the shed, 

 trampled over the old man and rushed madly through 

 and away. As the trapper gathered his long form up 

 from among the shingles he was confronted by the bear, 

 which snorted wildly and bolted into the timber. And 

 as the bear disappeared and the old man rose painfully to 

 his feet, rubbing his sore bones, he saw something else 

 coming through the dust which filled the air. Not know- 

 ing what to expect next, he braced himself to meet the 

 next comer, which turned out to be F. on the run. ''Oh, 

 it's you, is it?" gasped the old trapper, '"well, what the 

 old blankety blank blank is coram' next?" 



Edward Howe Forbush. 



ONE WAY IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



TN reading the columns of your highly interesting jour- 

 JL rial, I have often wondered why it is that bo many of 

 your sporting correspondents residing in the vicinity of 

 New York, who make annual visits to the Southern 

 States, the Rocky Mountains, and other distant places on 

 the continent of America, during the shooting season in 

 quest of large game, do not sometimes visit Newfound- 

 land. 



That this country is the very paradise of sportsmen ad- 

 mits of no doubt. Its countless lakes, rivers and ponds 

 swarm with trout and salmon of the finest description, 

 and are the abodes of the wild goose, the black duck, 

 shell and pie ducks, and other waterfowl. Finer salmon 

 streams than those of Newfoundland naturally are can- 

 not be found on this side of the Atlantic. The vast num- 

 ber of deer paths to be met with in the interior of the 

 country and also a few miles inland from the heads of 

 Notre Dame Bay and White Bay, go to prove that the 

 whole of the interior is amply stocked with caribou (or 

 deer, as they are usually called by most of the inhabi- 

 tants). Their migrations from north to south are as regu- 

 lar as the seasons. The winter months are passed in the 

 southern portion of the island, where browse is plentiful 

 and the snow is not so deep as to prevent them from reach- 

 ing the moss. In a thick wood around the south shore of 

 Red Indian Lake is a favorite wintering place. 



Captain Hardy in a special chapter of his book on New- 

 foundland says: "I know of no country so near Eng- 

 land, which offers the same amount of inducement to 

 the sportsman as Newfoundland. Some half dozen or so of 

 regular visitor's from the continent, one or two resident 

 sportsmen, and the same number from England comprise 

 the list of those who have encamped in its vast solitudes 

 in quest of its principal game— the caribou— which is 

 scattered over some 25,000 square miles of unbroken 

 wilderness." 



Lord Dunraven, an English gentleman of considerable 

 practical experience and a thorough sportsman, has 

 given an interesting account of a brief hunting excur- 

 sion in the island. He says: "Newfoundland is not 

 much visited by Englishmen, I know not why, for it is 

 the nearest of and most accessible of all their colonies 

 and it offers a good field for mineral exploration and for 

 sport, The inteiior of a great part of the island, all the 

 northern part of it in fact, is almost unknown ; the variety 

 of game is not great, there are no moose, nor small deer, 

 and boars are, strange to say, very scarce, but caribou are 

 plentiful and the Newfoundland stags are finer by far 

 than any to be found in any portion of North America." 



From* the loth of September until the 20th of Novem- 

 ber is the best time for deer shooting in Newfoundland. 

 There are favorite hunting grounds known only to the 

 Micmac Indians and lumbermen living around Hall's 

 Bay and Notre Dame Bay, where deer shooting may be 

 en joyed to perfection. One of the best of these is on 

 Hinds Plains, opposite the eastern end of Grand Lake. 

 The White Hills, thirty miles west from the head of 

 Hall's Bay, is another favorite hunting ground. 



On Friday, Oct. 15, 1887, I started from the mining 

 settlement of Little Bay, Notre Dame Bay, accompanied 

 by my two chums Pat and Sandy, for the White Hills. 

 Pat and myself were armed with .44-cal. Winchester 

 rifles, and Sandy carried a Peabody Martini- Henri. We 

 arrived at Hall's Bay about midnight thoroughly drenched 

 from head to foot, it having rained heavily all day. The 

 next morning it was still raining; however, we were 

 f ul ly determined to push on our journey, but after travel- 

 ing 'about four miles our packs became so heavy, and 

 fearing our provisions would be spoiled, we decided to 

 take shelter in a lumberman's camp at the foot of West 

 Lake. We remained in this camp the remainder of Satur- 

 day and the following Sunday. On Monday morning, 

 Wring one of the lumbermen to act as our guide, we were 

 soon on the road with the cheering prospects of reaching 

 the "promised land" at an early hour m the afternoon. 

 About 2 o'clock the guide informed us that we had arrived 

 at our destination. I must acknowledge that I felt some- 

 what disappointed. I expected to see hills, but here we 

 were on a broad, open marsh, or rather a series of 

 marshes, stretching away to the northwest as far as the 

 eye could reach and about a mile wide. 



Wo halted at the first camping ground and had lunch. 

 Here we decided to leave Pat— he being the best shot — 

 in the hope of his getting a deer before night; while 

 Sandy, the guide, and myself would travel a few miles 

 up the marsh to a place known as Hannah's Lookout, and 

 make this place our headquarters. Fortunately our plans 

 •were successful. We had scarcely proceeded on our 

 journey more than half a mile when the keen eye of 

 Sandy, on looking back, saw about twenty deer, headed 

 by an enormous stag, crossing the marsh in the direction 

 of the point where we had a few moments before sta- 

 tioned Pat. 



As we were in the middle of a broad open marsh, with- 

 out a bush of any kind to shade us from view of the herd, 

 or to assist us in crawling within range, our only plan 

 was to he still and watch their movements. Never shall 

 I forget this sight. A number of fawns were among the 

 herd, and hosv prettily they skipped and jumped over the 

 mud ponds in the marsh, perfectly unconscious of danger. 



As the herd approached nearer to Pat we listened 

 breathlessly for the sound of his rifle. In a few moments 

 we were relieved of our suspense. Crack! went the rifle; 

 down dropped the stag. The does and fawns fled terror- 

 stricken for a couple of hundred yards and then stopped 

 suddenly, evidently wondering what had happened to 



their lord and master. The stag was soon on his feet 

 again, limping off in the direction of his haunt. It was 

 plainly evident that he was badly wounded in the 

 shoulder. By this time Pat had left his hiding place in 

 bush and was now on the marsh, hat off, rifle in hand, 

 fully determined to wind up the earthly career of that 

 stag or perish in the attempt. Crack! went his rifle 

 again. The stag bounded a few yards and then turned 

 off in the direction of the woods. ' Pat was now within a 

 hundred yards of the stag. Raising his rifle he took a 

 steady aim and fired. The bullet passed through the stag's 

 side, the noble animal plunged wildly forward dead. 



Sandy and myself soon appeared on the scene. The 

 stag proved to be a very old one. He measured 7ft. Oin. 

 in length, and we estimated his weight to be not less than 

 5001bs. The antlers consisted of forty-two points, mag- 

 nificently proportioned, and measured 4ft. 9pn. across 

 the top. We brought a small portion of the meat to 

 camp with us, anticipating a good feed of venison steak 

 for supper, but our venisonian appetites soon vanished 

 when the meat commenced to fry, and we found it advis- 

 able to keep on the windward side of the frying-pan. 



The next day, Tuesday, we were all pretty fortunate. 

 I managed to bring down a fine stag at 150yds. off-hand; 

 Sandy succeeded in killing another, and Pat, by way 

 of altering the programme,' arrived at the camp a little 

 befoi-e dark with the head and antlers of a magnificent 

 stag, a brace of partridge and an Arctic hare. 



That night in camp our guide informed us that about 

 five miles further up the country from where we were 

 camped there was a large open barren and a good feeding 

 place for deer. So we unanimously agreed to visit the 

 place next day. At 5 o'clock next morning we started on 

 our journey and walked about two miles when a thick 

 fog set in. Our guide strongly advised us to abandon the 

 idea of proceeding further, stating that his knowledge of 

 the various landmarks to guide us was very limited, and 

 if the fog continued we were very likely to get astray. 

 I had scarcely time to worry over the disappointment 

 caused by the fog when the sudden cry of "Lie still, over 

 there. Four deer coming this way," caused me to settle 

 myself down in a pool of the coldest water imaginable. 

 In a few moments the deer were passing in front of us 

 within range of our rifles. Sandy was ordered to fire at 

 the leader, I was ordered to take the next, and Pat was to 

 take the stag bringing up the rear. 



In the excitement caused by the sudden announcement 

 of the deer passing in front of me and the North Pole so 

 close behind me, I forgot the commanding order of Pat, 

 and, rising from my uncomfortable position, fired at the 

 doe opposite me. She ran a few yards off and dropped 

 dead. I glanced in the direction of Sandy. His neck 

 was stretched across the stock of his rifle, his mouth wide 

 open, his features terribly distorted, trying to "draw a 

 bead" on the leader of the herd — as he afterward informed 

 me— with the wrong eye shut. Pat and myself fired 

 simultaneously at the leader, dropping her in her tracks, 

 the bullets from both rifles having passed through her 

 body. The stag ran out on the marsh about 200yds. and 

 stood looking back. We immediately sent a shower of 

 bullets after him, some of them apparently taking effect, 

 when at last Pat sent a bullet through his head and he 

 dropped instantly. 



The fog having by this time cleared off we proceeded 

 on our cruise up the country, and arrived at Marks Plains 

 about 11 o'clock. The highest summit of this plain, I 

 understand, is situated 1,700ft. above the level of the 

 sea, although so uniform is the ascent from the sea coast 

 to where we were now standing that the rise is almost 

 imperceptible. We sat down to enjoy the beauty of the 

 scene, which in many respects could hardly be surpassed. 

 Let those who fancy Newfoundland a howling wilderness 

 only stand where we now stood, and their delusions about 

 the island being a big rock to dry codfish on will soon be 

 dissipated. North, south, east and west, as far as the eye 

 could discern, was one continued plain, save here and 

 there a few stunted trees, four or five feet in height, 

 thickly covered at the base with a soft velvety moss. 

 Five magnificent lakes, from two to three rnfles in length, 

 lent an additional beauty to the scene. 



The number of deer that cross over this barren on their 

 journey to their wintering places in the southern portion 

 of the island must be something enormous. We were 

 seated there two hours, and during that short space of 

 time we counted twenty-nine deer all slowly wending 

 their way southward. 



It is the united opinion of the Micmac Indians and the 

 lumbermen of Hall's Bay that there are two distinct 

 species of deer in Newfoundland. A dark brown species 

 chiefly to be found on the lofty barrens of the interior, 

 and a light grey species of a smaller size frequenting in 

 summer the peninsulas and low lands of the sea coast. 

 Whether such be the case or not my experience as a 

 hunter is too limited to venture an opinion, but certain it 

 is that all the deer that crossed over this barren during 

 the time we were seated there were of a dark brown 

 color. 



The stags fight tenable battles during the rutting sea- 

 son, and it is often a great disappointment to the hunter 

 after killing a stag to find a large and well proportioned 

 set of antlers rendered useless by being split about the 

 brow points. 



The limited leave of absence at our disposal was now 

 drawing to a close. So we decided — rather reluctantly — 

 to bid farewell to the charming scene before us and return 

 to camp, to make preparations for our homeward jour- 

 ney on the following day. On our way to camp I shot a 

 fine stag, having rather a clumsy set of antlers; and 

 Sandy, who had gone down to zero in our estimation 

 since the incident of shutting the wrong eye, fully re- 

 deemed his character as a sportsman by "knocking over" 

 a full grown stag, on the dead run, off-hand, at a distance 

 of nearly 200yds. 



In summing up the grand result of our expedition in 

 camp that night, we found that in three days' shooting 

 we had killed ten caribou, three grouse and one Arctic 

 hare. We started for heme on the following morning 

 (Thursday) and arrived at Hall's Bay on Friday after- 

 noon at 3 o'clock, very well pleased with our trip to the 

 White Hills. 



There are three families of Micmac Indians living in 

 Hall's Bay. We decided to remain here that night and 

 pay our respects to the celebrated Indian chief Andrew 

 Joe. We found Andrew at home at his magnificent sum- 

 mer residence near the entrance of the famous Indian 

 Brook. We were treated with the greatest kindness by 

 hiinself and his good lady, and kindly invited to tea, an 



invitation which we gladly accepted. Andrew is a tall, 

 powerful, broad-shouldered Micmac, and perfect speci- 

 men of the noble red man. His knowledge of the country 

 is perfect, having hunted and trapped on the best hunt- 

 ing grounds of the interior from his boyhood. Hp speaks 

 English pretty well, and his superior knowledge of the 

 rivers and lakes, his daring exploits in hunting the wolf 

 and the bear in days gone by, are really interesting to 

 sportsmen. We remained here that night, comfortable 

 beds having been provided for us by our kind host and 

 hostess, and the following day we set sail for the mining 

 settlement at Little Bay, where we arrived at an early 

 hour in the afternoon. W. W. O. S. 



Little Bay Mine, Newfoundland. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, Oct. 5. — As was predicted the cold rain has 

 ) brought down a telling flight of the ducks. Jack- 

 snipe are plentiful now along the Indiana marshes. The 

 railroads l-unning to the north, into Wisconsin and Michi- 

 gan, report numbers of parties still going in for hunting 

 and fishing. I start West to-night. 



Newton, Iowa, Oct. G. — This is my old home. There 

 are a number of genuine sportsmen here. Jacksnipe 

 have not yet got down. They arrive here later than in 

 Illinois and Indiana. Ducks were formerly very plenti- 

 ful along the Skunk River, but of late low waters and 

 numerous shooters have closed tbem out. Great numbers 

 of squirrels have made their appearance in the old "Hen. 

 Phillips Woods," where I used to shoot rabbits and quail. 

 There were no squirrels there then, The quail crop in 

 Jasper county will probably always be killed off by that 

 tireless hunter Cy. Miller. Barring other sport, Mr. Mil- 

 ler is now catching bass in the old Skunk River, and 

 catclung plenty of them. This stream is a grand one in 

 some seasons. Ruffed grouse, a very rare bird here until 

 lately, are becoming fairly plentiful in the woods north- 

 west of the town. 



Colfax, Iowa, Oct. 6.— The Colfax Rod and Gun Club 

 are nearly all Forest and Stream men. A good sensible 

 club. 



Des MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 7.— This is Sunday. I cannot 

 see the boys. They tell me the bass fishing is good above 

 the dam on the Des Moines River, and that squirrels are 

 numerous along Walnut Creek. 



En route to Kansas City, Oct. 8. — On this train I find 

 Charlie Hinsdale, of Newton, Iowa, a notable trap-shot 

 and ardent shooter all around. He tells me that his 

 friend Mr. D. W. Warren, cashier of the Exchange Bank 

 of Buffalo, New York, will next week join them in a big 

 shooting trip to Okoboji, in northwestern Iowa. Ducks 

 and snipe are now there in great plentv. 



Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 8.— The bench show, just closed, 

 has been successful. Mr. Lowe and Dr. Roger, visiting 

 dog men of prominence, have star ted West to complete 

 the fitting of their dogs for the running of the coursing 

 meets in Kansas at the middle of the month. 



Topeka, Kansas, Oct. 9.— The Topeka Rifle Club are in 

 good shape and making good scores. They have three or 

 four shots who are fairly phenomenal, considering the 

 practice they take. These scores are practically clean, 

 over the mid-ranges. Mr. J. H. Leonard goes on a trip to 

 the Oklahoma country this fall. Dr. Dinsmore, a noted 

 rifle and pistol shot of Troy, Kansas, visits the Topeka 

 Club this week. The weather here is very bright and 

 warm. East of here the foliage seen from the car win- 

 dows is brilliant with the frosts of early autumn. 



Hutchinson, Kan., Oct. 9. — From the train numerous 

 flocks of wild geese can be heard going down the Arkan- 

 sas. At the station a friend tells me the shooting along 

 the river has been fair and is improving. 



Great Bend, Kan., Oct. 9.— Friends tell me the hares 

 are plentiful, and that the coursing meet of the 15th wfll 

 be a great aff air. 



Pueblo, Col., Oct. 10. — The wondrous purple-colored 

 and white-topped peaks of the Rocky range are all about 

 us. They set one wild with excitement only to look at 

 them. The Arkansas is now a narrow, noisy stream. No 

 trout here. A great many teal are flying up and down 

 the rivers and irrigating ditches. The air is wonderfully 

 pure and bracing, and the surroundings fascinating. 



Canon City, Colo., Oct. 10.— This is a most beautiful 

 little mountain city, and is inhabited by as grand a set 

 of sportsmen as any town ever boasted. The Arkansas 

 has now become a brawling, sprawling brook. A few 

 big trout are taken here. Twelve mdes back in the 

 mountains the fishing is grand. The mountains here are 

 beautiful and enticing, and it is all I can do to pull away 

 from them. A party of three, Messrs. L. E. Franc a, J. E. 

 Brown and Dal Deweese, have just got back from a trip 

 of 280 miles back into the range, about thirty miles north 

 of Dotsero, and near the grand Trapper's Lake coirntry. 

 They killed four elk, eight blacktail deer and two gen- 

 uine grizzly bears. On this last point they insist they 

 are correct, and they are old hunters and should know. 

 One set of elk antlers is said by Colorado Springs taxider- 

 mists to be the largest and finest ever killed in the range; 

 they are nine-pointers. This elk measured 9ft. about the 

 chest, and loft. 4in. from hoof to nose. These gentlemen 

 tell me they could have killed two carloads of game. 

 Trout fishing in Trapper's Lake is so easy as not to be 

 sport. Elk are numerous. Believing this to be a new 

 country and a grand one, arrangements were made for a 

 full account of this trip, and a description of Trapper's 

 Lake, which must be a wonderful bit of water. Mr. 

 Franck wdl also tell Forest and Stream some more 

 facts at different times about the fishing and hunting in 

 this fortunate locality, which lies, I understand, on the 

 headwaters of the Middle Fork of the White River, in he 

 heart of the Rockies. This should be something new and 

 of great interest. Mr. G. R. Schaeffer is perhaps as 

 enthusiastic a trout fisher as Canon City has. Mr. Philiip, 

 a few miles back from the city, has a fine troat breeding 

 pond, and also raises carp, though I'm sure I can't see 

 what anybody would want with carp:, in this country at 

 least. It is pretty hard to leave this place. The moun- 

 tains pull mighty hard on a fellow who used to live in 

 them. E. Hough. 



Ithaca, N. Y., Oct. 12.— Shore-bird shooters are not 

 wildly hilarious over the number of ducks that have thus 

 far appeared at this end of Cayuga Lake. The bags that 

 have been taken are small as yet. Wild geese have been 

 hovering about the marshes in considerable numbers. 

 Some good bags of yellowlegs have been shot. Rail birds 

 and English snipe abound, though in somewhat limited 

 numbers.— M. C, H, 



