£6 



forest aMd Stream. 



[Aug. 1, 



A BEAR SCRIMMAGE. 



BETHEL, Me., July 17.— Last week as P. Conley was 

 coming home from Bethel t© Greenwood, just at 

 sundown, when near the home of J. G. Eich, he saw a 

 bear in a ravine making his way up into a patch of 

 woods near - the house of M. Deegan. 



He at once ran his horse to Deegan's house and alarmed 

 him- Mr. Deegan had an old muzzleloader double gun , 

 which was empty and rusty, hung in the slings, which he 

 was not long in loading with No. 6 shot, a handful of 

 powder and a small bullet to each barrel. Then calling 

 his (shepherd-and-cur) dog Rover, and Conley taking an 

 axe, they started out, striking the woods ahead of where 

 the bear was last seen, in the direction he was heading. 

 The dog took the lead, crossing the ravine and ascending 

 the hill in the woods some distance ahead of the two men, 

 thinking, no doubt, thoy were after the cows, as that was 

 where they were pastured. Soon after the dog entered 

 the woods beyond the ravine he commenced barking, 

 and the men separated, Deegan going directly toward the 

 sound of the dog, and Conley with his axe up ahead, so 

 as t© cut him off in case the dog was running him. 



Deegan, by his short cut, soon came to the place where 

 the dog was full of business, running around a hemlock 

 tree which was about one foot through, looking up and 

 singing out at the top of his voice. Deegan soon espied 

 old bruin up among the limbs, grinning, growling and 

 gnashing his teeth; so he called to Conley to come quick, 

 as they had the bear. 



At this moment the bear showed signs of jumping from 

 the tree, evidently not liking the appearance of the in- 

 truders, and as he sided round to leap Deegan "un- 

 hitched" and placed a charge of small lead and big 

 powder just back of his fore shoulder among his ribs 

 which had the effect to expedite his leap, and before 

 Deegan was aware what had happened, the bear was 

 nnder full headway up the hill closely followed by Rover. 

 Conly hearing the' tumult came tumbling over the logs 

 through the thick brush, almost out of breath, catching 

 up with Deegan in his race after the dog and bear. 



The scrimmage was now at its height,; the dog close to 

 the heels of the bear, who, in his anxiety to seize the dog, 

 would turn a somersault backward, growling fiercly; and 

 this together with the barking of the dog, the hallooing 

 of the men and the crashing of dry limbs under their 

 feet, made the woods echo with unearthly sounds. The 

 bear finding it too hot for him soon took to another tree, 

 going into the limbs in a twinkling. It was now nearly 

 dark, and it was hard catching a glirnpse of the black 

 beast in the tree. Underneath stood Conly with his axe 

 with blood in his eye. The teeth and howl of the dog 

 were fearful, and Deegan, to get a look at the bear, had 

 climbed the hill above him until he was breast high 

 with him. 



The bear was now mad, and his eyes were like two 

 balls of fire that shone through the darkness in a complete 

 blaze, showing his position to the men below, who both 

 discovered the bear in the act of leaping upon them from 

 his high perch. Conley sang out, "Shoot now or never." 

 Deegan drew up instantly and pulled, and not a moment 

 too soon, for as the charge crashed through the bear's 

 skull he had given a spring for the ground below and fell 

 dead at the feet of the three braves. He was a noble 

 beast with fine pelt and a big head full of savage-looking 

 teeth. It was altogether a hunt to be proud of. They 

 hauled the bear up to Rich's house on a wagon, for him 

 to skin and cure the pelt for them, and the meat was the 

 next day distributed among the game-loving people of 

 Bethel. 



It is no unusual thing for bears to make havoc among 

 the flocks of sheep in our vicinity, but to hunt and kill 

 one in forty-five minutes after he is discovered, and with- 

 in forty rods of a house, is an unusual thing, and makes 

 an item we think worthy of record. 



This is the seventy-fourth bear we have skinned, 

 seventy-three of which we ourselves have killed. 



J. G. R. 



Bethel, Me. 



HOLLOW BULLETS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In the Forest and Stream of July 18 there is an article 

 on hollow bullets, the writer saying* he drills a hole in 

 the .44-200 Winchester bullet and uses 45grs. of powder. 

 He says these bullets with this charge tear a muskrat to 

 strips and in soft pine or earth they expand and resemble 

 a mushroom. I think when he tries the above bullets 

 with the load of powder he names on game as large as 

 deer he will be disappointed, as I think there will be no 

 shattering nor smashing over that produced by a solid 

 bullet of same size. 



A charge of 45grs. powder behind 200 of lead would 

 hardly give velocity enough to cause the bullet to expand 

 on large game. To be sure, boring out the point of the 

 bullet would decrease its weight and increase the 

 velocity. 



I have found that a bullet which will turn almost in- 

 side out in a bag of sand and expand in soft pine so as to 

 resemble a mushroom and which will also badly shatter 

 an animal the size of a woodchuck, will simply go 

 through a deer, leaving no signs of shattering in its 

 course, and making a hole where it comes out no larger 

 than a solid bullet of same caliber and. weight. 



My experience with hollow express bullets has not 

 been very extensive, yet last summer I shot about 300 

 of the Winchester 300-grain 45 hollow pointed bullets, 

 using a Winchester .45 rifle with slow twist. I load my 

 cartridges and used 100 grains American Rifle Cartridge 

 Powder No. 2. The penetration with this load was very 

 good, at 40yds. it? would drive a bullet through 12in. of 

 clear pine, at 150yds. through 5in. of well-seasoned 

 chestnut and flatten the bullet against a wall. I shot 

 eleven woodchucks with this load and there was consid- 

 erable smashing; in most cases it would make a hole on 

 coming out as large as my fist, and often when through 

 the middle of the body, one side would be completely 

 torn off. 



I expected great results from these hullets on large 

 game, but was disappointed. The first deer I shot at was 

 standing on a bog in some water bushes, and I could just 

 see the outline of its back. The bullet struck the shoulder 

 a trifle back and high, cutting off the lower end of spine. 

 The deer dropped in its tracks and never kicked. I ex- 

 pected to find a hole where the bullet came out from 3in. 

 to 6in. in diameter, but found it but a trifle larger than 

 the size of the bullet. The next two deer were shot, one ' 



square through the shoulders and one standing quarter- 

 ing, just back of shoulder, bullet coming out near hip. 

 Later I shot a four-year-old steer and a heifer which had 

 been running wild all winter in the woods. I hit them 

 about the same as the deer, and when cutting up both 

 deer and cattle I was very careful to follow the course of 

 the bullets, and in no case was there any shattering; a 

 solid bullet would have done the same work. 



I expect this summer to experiment with the Winches- 

 ter .45-300 grain solid^bullet, and by boring holes of dif- 

 ferent depths and dimensions, to get a bullet that will 

 expand in a deer's body and also have sufficient penetra- 

 tion. The difficulty is to get something to test them on. 

 Pine, sawdust, sand, etc., are unsatisfactory, and I think 

 I will try the carcass of a horse or cow. A bullet which 

 would expand in such a target ought to do the same on a 

 deer. c. M. Stark. 



North Dunbarton, N. H., July 22. 



BULLET FROM SHOTGUN. 



IN the report of the Colt gun sent in for trial by Dr. 

 Merrill, given in the Forest and Stream of last 

 week, it was stated that the gun was choked in the man- 

 ner indicated in order that it might do good work when 

 loaded with ball cartridge. In sending on the weapon 

 Dr. Merrill kindly inclosed the ball mould, and this en- 

 abled a test to be made of the quality of the weapon as 

 a single bullet carrier. Three sets of cartridges were pre- 

 pared. In each was placed a charge of 85grs. of Dead 

 Shot powder, and over it two B. E. wads and a card. The 

 variation in the cartridge was in the bullets. These were 

 cast of an alloy made up of fifteen parts of lead to one 

 of tin, again of pure lead, and again of the harder and 

 lighter alloy used in type metal and in tfte making of 

 stereotype plates. Fifteen selected balls of each casting 

 were taken and loaded, five of each sort were fired from 

 each barrel of the Merrill Colt gun and five were taken 

 to the Forest and Stream laboratory for analysis. The 

 bullets were well crimped down over the wads, and when 

 three of each sort were weighed up showed as follows in 

 grains. 



T . , .. 12 3 Aver. 



Lead and tin 553 549 550 551 



Pure lead 5(53 565 565 564 



Type metal 525 525 523 524 



The afternoon taken for the trial was a very good one. 

 There was a cross wind from the right and to make the 

 test a severe one of the arm, distance of 100yds. was 

 taken from the target face, while to avoid any irregu- 

 larity from bad aiming on the part of Range Supt. Moss, 

 who fired the weapon, the shooting was done over a bag 

 rest. One of the Forest and Stream shotgun targets 

 was put up for the right and another for the left barrel 

 results, and out of 30 shots fired 19 were located on the 

 targets, 12 from the right and 7 from the left barrel. All 

 the shots fired were located within a 4ft. square, but the 

 paper sheet with its 30in. circle was but 36in. square and 

 did not catch all the bullets. 



In the target diagrams printed the shots are numbered in 

 the order fired, A being the lead and tin shots, B the pure 

 lead, and C the type metal bullets. How they stand in 

 string measurement the following will show: 



Lead and tin 



Pure lead 



Type metal 



BIGHT BARRET... 

 1 2 



..13 in. V6)4m. 

 ..18 in. 14 in. 

 ..13^in. 15^in. 



3 



12in. 



4 in. 

 14 in. 

 10 in. 



In having the gun choked as he did, it was not the in- 

 tention of Dr. Merrill to secure a gun with which he 

 could do exact work at extra long distances. He spends 

 much time as a collector, and frequently when not after 

 the smaller species of birds, finds chance for a near-by 

 shot at something heavy; and if he could secure a weapon 

 at all good for this double demand he would be content 

 How the gun acts under the double test is shown fully tt 

 the trial to which it was subjected by FOREST and 

 Stream, and which is set forth in exact tabulated form 

 both for shot and ball. 



LEFT BARREL. 



1 a 



Lead and tin 16^in. 7 in. 



Pure lead , .... 



Type metal 9 in 



3 



19in. 



4in. 

 |in. 



NOTES FROM WORCESTER. 



WORCESTER, Mass. , July 24.— Tuesday was the Wor- 

 cester Sportsmen's Club's annual field day at Rut- 

 land, which is always looked forward to by members of 

 the club (and particularly by their families) as the red- 

 letter day of the trap-shooting season. 



It is the club's "ladies' and children's" day, and a royal 

 good time is always had. Rutland is very prettily situ- 

 ated on high ground, about twelve miles north of the 

 city, and is quite a resort for New Yorkers who wish to 

 escape the heat and dust of the city. 



The Prospect House was thrown open to the ladies and 

 children, who at once made themselves at home and pro- 

 ceeded to engage in the various diversions by which they 

 could get the most enjoyment out of the day's outing. A 

 large tent had been erected near the shooters' stand for 

 the convenience of those who wished to witness the shoot- 

 ing. The range was laid out in a field, just in the rear 

 of the hotel. 



The principal event was the fifth contest in the series of 

 sixteen for the For cross trophy. The conditions of each 

 shoot are 30 clay birds from 5 open traps, distance handi- 

 cap. The previous winners were: M. D. Gilman, E. F. 

 Smith (2), Chas. Howe and C. B. Holden. The contest 

 to-day was close and exciting and resulted in a victory 

 for Geo. Sampson, of South Lancaster, he breaking 27 

 birds. The birds were hard thrown and the heavy wind 

 made them anything but easy shooting. Many guests 

 from the hotels were interested spectators of the shoot. 

 Everything passed off remarkably smooth considering 

 the difficulties under which the shoot was run, and" every- 

 body had a jolly time, the only drawbacks being the 

 heavy shower about noon, and the execrable dinner 

 served at the Prospect House. The former soon cleared 

 away, leaving the air deliciously cool and fragrant, but 

 the dinner will linger unpleasantly in the minds of many 

 for some time yet. At the close of the shooting the 

 youngsters were gathered in and the start for home 

 made. 



The drive home in the cool of early evening was de- 

 lightful and a fitting close to a most enjoyable day's outing. 

 How the little ones had enjoyed it, and their mothers 

 too, and what a pity we can't have such days more fre- 

 quently. Little do the majority of our wives know of 

 the pleasures of the field, but they prove apt scholars, 

 and who will say that they have no need for the health 

 renewing power of the woods. Fortunately for us, we 

 have not to look so far forward to our next field day as 

 they, for many a time during the day, had I heard the 

 boys remark, one to another, with much significance, 

 and in tones of eager anticipation, "Only six weeks 

 more." 



The prospects for a good season's shooting are decidedly 

 bright. A good number of broods axe reported, and the 

 season so far has been very favorable to their growth. 



While trouting last week I put up two broods of part- 

 ridges and the chicks were able to fly well and apparently 

 could take care of themselves now if left alone, but, as 

 in every section where there is no concerted action to 

 compel observance of the game laws, there is but little 

 hope that they will escape being shot into before Sept. 1. 

 The "bird hog" is already at work on woodcock, in fact 

 the only brood I have found this season during my tramps 

 along the trout streams was cleaned up by one of thai 

 class last week. 



Still we are not without a fish or game warden. 



He got his appointment, leased and posted a little brook:, 

 and warned, through the daily papers, all violators of the 

 fish and game laws, that be would spare no man. 



That was in the early spring. Hal. 



The Snipe Flight.— The Cedars, Oakdale, L. I., 

 July 20.— The first flight of snipe made their appearance 

 here this morning, the flight commencing about 10 

 o'clock and lasting till 2, when the wind changed from 

 the southwest to northwest, the birds dropping off to the 

 leeward, thus ending the flight and the shooting. 

 What little time it lasted I made a small bag of yelpers, 

 yellowlegs and meadow plover. The birds were in 

 splendid condition, and had the wind continued in the 

 southwest the prospect was big for good shooting. — 

 Alfred A. Eraser. 



"CRUISING IN THE CASCADES." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A very valuable addition to the literature of subjects congenial 

 to the sportsman and lovers of nature in all its forms, has just 

 been issued under the above title. Its author, "Coquina" (G. O. 

 Shields), is well known to sportsmen as the author of several 

 books, and many sketches on kindred subjects. 



To those who derive, no pleasures but such as are to be found 

 amid the busy haunts of men, this volume will have but few at- 

 tractions. But the true lover of nature who delights to occasion- 

 ally escape from the petty annoyances and petty worriments 

 inseparable from civilized (so called) life, and to wander amid 

 scenes that tell only of the infinite power, the beneficence and 

 the grandeur of the Great Ruler; who delights to worship in the 

 grandest of all of His temples (not made with hands), the moun- 

 tains; who realizes and feels His presence on every mountain 

 peak, in the dark canon, in the rushing wind, in the gentle zephyr, 

 and amid such scenes, above all, realizes his own infinite little- 

 ness, he it is who will take pleasure in following the author amid 

 some of the grandest and most beautiful scenery of this continent. 

 If added to this he should be imbued with some of the tastes and 

 sympathies of the sportsman, additional zest will be given in the 

 pleasant and graphic and truthful description of fishing and hunt- 

 ing incidents. The young sportsman who is desirous of hunting 

 large game will find many indispensable hints as to their habits 

 and the best method of pursuing them. The general reader will 

 get much valuable information as to the prospects and resources 

 of the country bordering on Puget Sound. This book will meet 

 with much favor. p. 



Fohbst and Stream, Box 2,832, N. Y. city, has descriptive illus- 

 trated circulars of W. B. Leffln^well's book, " Wild Fowl Shoot- 

 ing," which will be mailed free on request. The book is pro- 

 nounced by "Nanit," "Gloan," "Dick Swiveller," "Sybillene" and 

 other competent authorities to be the best treatise on the subject 

 extant. 



i 



