86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aug. 23, 1889. 



DEER HUNTING IN TEXAS. 



ON the 1st day of November last, the writer, in com- 

 pany with Messrs. Joel W., John and James Walker, 

 Geo. A. Witter, Geo. W. James, Jack Ray and J. L. 

 Greathouse, left Belton by overland for Walker county, 

 in quest of bear and deer.* It was decided that the Bedias 

 should be the point of destination. The Bedias is a small 

 running stream, which heads at the village of Bedias in 

 Grimes county, and winds its way through the heavy 

 pine forests until it empties into the Trinity at Calhoun's 

 Ferry. 



Our first day's travel brought us within about twenty 

 miles of Calvert, and the next day being occupied in 

 quail hunting along the route, we barely reached Calvert 

 by sundown. Sunrise the next morning found us on 

 our journey. We reached Franklin, Robertson county, 

 about 10 o'clock, and a few miles east we stopped for 

 diuner. Up to this time we had been living like lords, 

 having all the small game such as quail and squirrels 

 that we desired. The writer and Mr. Greathouse, alias 

 Sam Bass, were the only quail hunters in the party. 

 Mr. John Walker, however, would occasionally get what 

 he called a "pot shot" on the ground, thus demolishing 

 the entire covey. Bill, our cook of the mulatto persua- 

 sion, was kept busy all this time preparing the game for 

 the next regular meal. Night here finds us approaching 

 the famous ''two bits" bridge across the Navasota River. 

 Being met about a mile from the bridge by the keeper, 

 who was going to supper, we were informed that it was 

 a toll bridge, and that if we would pay him the dollar 

 for our four wagons it would save him two miles ride 

 going back. Sam Bass thought it best, however, for him 

 to go back, as he told the gen tlemen that we were not in 

 the habit of crossing a bridge until we came to it. After 

 crossing the bridge it was about good dark, and tired and 

 worn out as we were, we all went to work to assist the 

 cook, and soon afterward a good supper greeted us, for 

 our appetites were indeed sharp. 



This place on the Navasota is known as San Antonio 

 crossing, and is on tiie old Nacogdoches and San Antonio 

 road, which has been used for a great many years. We 

 left San Antonio crossing the next morning about day- 

 light for Madisonville, Madison county, a distance of 

 twenty-two miles. We traveled on without striking 

 much small game, except an occasional squirrel, which 

 is very readdy picked off the limb by Sam Bass with his 

 trusty Winchester. 



At about 11 o'clock, on the fifth day of our travel, we 

 reached the Bedias Bridge, and according to directions 

 from a physician in Madisonville, proceeded, down the 

 stream until we came to a sawmill. Upon inquiry we 

 were told that game was very plentiful in there. Said 

 the gentleman, "The mast this year is very heavy, and I 

 have never seen deer so plentiful as at the present time. 

 I saw eight or ten deer in one drove within 300yds. of 

 this mill yesterday, and it is no trouble at all to kill them. 

 But I want to say one thing to you in regard to running 

 your hounds in here. There are certain still-hunters who 

 reside through here, who have bluffed out every hunting 

 outfit that has ever been through here. I have known 

 them to go to the camp afier all of the hunters were 

 asleep and drag a green deer's hide through' the camp 

 and put out strychnine bait in this manner." Believing 

 that this was too high up on the creek, as it was our in- 

 tention from the first to get out of the settlements, we 

 thanked the gentleman for his information: and after 

 winding our way through the heavy pine for about four 

 miles, came to a little opening in the woods called Man- 

 ning Prairie. Upon inquiry from a '-gentleman of 

 color," we found that we were in the forks of the Bedias, 

 a,nd that it was splendid hunting ground. 



After getting everything arranged in camp, we con- 

 cluded to take a little round to get used to the woods and 

 see if we could not kill a deer for immediate use, as we 

 were beginning to get out of meat excepting bacon. Mr. 

 Joel W. Walker was detailed to do the driving for that 

 evening, and we all occupied such stands as we believed 

 to be good ones, not knowing at that time how the deer 

 would run. After being out for a couple of hours and 

 running several deer, we succeeded in getting one out by 

 Mr. Walker, who had quit the drive and turned the dogs 

 over to his son John and taken a stand himself. After 

 several shots were fired Mr. Walker finished the job. It 

 was decided that it was too early to go in to camp, so the 

 doctor and myself were detailed to carry the deer into 

 camp, a distance of about one and a half miles. After 

 an hour's run the rest of the boys returned empty 

 handed: finding more deer but failing to get a shot. On 

 the Bedias it is almost impossible to use a horse in hunt- 

 ing, as the thickets are so numerous. 



It was decided the next day that it would not do to re- 

 main longer in the forks of the creek. We knew that 

 there were plenty of deer in here, but just how to kill 

 them was a mystery. In walking around some of the 

 boys met Mr. Ira E. Woods, who lived about three miles 

 from where we were camped. He informed us that we 

 had camped at the wrong place for killing deer. He 

 said we could find plenty of them, but there was no such 

 a thing as killing them — a fact we had already learned. 

 Before leaving the Bedias we all concluded to take a 

 round at ducks, and in less time than an hour we had 

 killed more than we could do anything with. Mr. Woods 

 had advised Mr. James, whom we all seemed to look 

 upon as our foreman, to camp at a spring about 100yds. 

 from his residence, assuring us that if we would we 

 could there kill all the deer we wanted. The settlements 

 through here are very thin, and deer have thousands of 

 acres of mast to feed upon, so it is no wonder they are so 

 plentiful. We at once set to work to get things ready, 

 and in three hours time were located at a beautiful spring 

 at the eastern corner of Mr. Woods's yard fence; and 

 after being told that deer would come up and drink 

 water out of this spring house, it was admitted by all 

 that this was the place we had been hunting. The woods 

 were open here, and in some drives a horse could be 

 used very readily. Mr. Woods seemed very anxious to 

 hunt with us, and the next morning, Monday, we all 

 started out in good earnest, each one anxious to kill a 

 deer, Mr. Woods placed us on the stands, and then with 

 James Walker made a short drive. It was not long be- 

 fore they started five deer, and James Walker killed one 

 of them in the drive; and I succeeded in killing a fine 

 little yearling buck, which happened to run my stand. 



For several days we stayed here, never failing to kill 

 one, two and sometimes three deer every time we would 

 go out. It was here that we met old Bill Murray, a 

 negro, who is an old hunter, and has been living on the 



same farm most of his fife. He lived on this place during 

 the war, and belonged to Richard Murray, of Huntsville, 

 Tex. Bill at once advised us that he would "miss a crap 

 any time to hunt," and that we could not stay too long 

 to suit him. We found Bill to be very useful to us as he 

 was acquainted with every hog-path in the woods and 

 could tell us more about the country in one day than we 

 could learn in a week if let alone. 



After staying at Mr. Woods's three or four days we 

 were advised by Bill to move about three miles toward 

 Huntsville and camp on Past Oak Creek, at the edge 

 of Brushy Prairie. This we did, and the result was 

 almost marvellous. Mr. James being very fond of fire- 

 hunting he and Bill concluded to take a round one night; 

 and while out Bill shot two down and wounded a third. 



Mr. Woods and the Doctor concluded to go one night; 

 and after a ten-mile round on horseback they returned 

 without seeing an eye. "It is strange," said Mr. Woods, 

 "that some nights I can go out, and in less time than we 

 were gone last night I can shoot down half dozen deer; 

 and again I go out with the same result as that of last 

 night. There is no certainty in killing deer by fire-hunt- 

 ing, though I believe the best time to go is the first night 

 after a rain." 



We stayed here until about the 12th, and never failed 

 to kill deer. Mr. Joel W. Walker killed, not more than 

 300yds. from camp, one of the largest bucks that the 

 writer has ever seen; and Bill said that if they grew any 

 larger in these woods he had not seen them. Previous to 

 the killing of this large buck by Mr. Walker, while we 

 were camped at Woods's spring, Mr. James had killed 

 one that we thought was large, but it was small compared 

 to the one killed by Mr. Walker. 



On the morning of the 13th it began to look like rain, 

 and the dogs being about run down, we concluded to 

 start for home. Bidding farewell to Bdl and Mr. Woods, 

 we turned our faces homeward. We, however, had not 

 gone more than a quarter of a mile from camp before we 

 saw five deer cross the road ahead of us. Mr. Walker's 

 dogs being the only ones tied, Sam Bass spent about an 

 hour in getting his own back. After taking a horse from 

 the wagon and riding about two miles he succeeded in 

 blowing them off. 



Everything passed off pleasantly from this time until, 

 as we approached the Navasota, all of the dogs being 

 loose, they trailed some deer that had just crossed the 

 road, and Mr. Walker had the misfortune to lose two of 

 his best hounds. 



We arrived home on the 16th, and all agreed that we 

 had one of the best times possible, and all that was 

 needed to complete the entire outfit was Wess. Danly 

 -with his " deer and bear " dogs and Col. Tad Powers with 

 his little dirk knife. W. E. C. 



Belton, Texas. 



RECOIL IN BREECHLOADERS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



About thirteen years ago I wrote you an article on re- 

 cod. I thought the difficulty of getting the contracted 

 powder chamber into the shell required more powder to 

 give same penetration as the patent breech of the muzzle- 

 loader. I had used an old J. Manton for some years tor 

 bird and deer hunting; little wonder I was prejudiced 

 against the breechloader. My boys got two made to 

 order, pretty to look at, and I thought handy, and with 

 plenty of powder might throw shot far enough to kill a 

 bird. About five years ago five or six of us went to At- 

 lantic county, N. J., for a deer hunt, but found the woods, 

 so dry the dogs could not do anything, sj we concluded to 

 go home and wait for a rainstorm. Before separating 

 we tried our guns at the form of a deer chalked on a door 

 and placed at 80yds., all breechloaders but the old Man- 

 ton. Only one placed a buckshot in the deer that would 

 have killed; the Manton put in three and through the 

 door. The breechloaders did not stick their shot. I just 

 hugged the old black gun. We went into the house to 

 get ready to go home, the guns standing around in the 

 corners. A hunter jumped up saying, "What is this? a 

 gun bulged an inch from the muzzle." "There," said 

 another hunter, "I always load my buckshot loose, so as 

 to pass the choke without bulging." All this confirmed 

 instead of abating my prejudice. 



We went home to await the rain, and being in the gun 

 store in the city, I told the circumstance to the gunsmith. 

 He laughed saying, "You have got a Parker." I said, 

 "Yes, two of them." He took a No. 12 brass shell, 

 selected shot that would chamber very tight four. He 

 said: "Load your brass shells with 5drs, best powder, 12 

 shot, try your breechloader on a deer. I will guarantee 

 your gun won't bulge." 



The rain came; three of us went to look around the 

 woods for sign of a buck that had fooled us more than 

 once. At 7 A. M. two took t wo clogs, going due east. I 

 started alone, due south. I had got about three and one 

 half mdes, and was looking around the water stand on 

 the side of an old pine field, a big tree here and there, 

 no underbrush but cand and moss; could see half a mile 

 m any direction; the wind was light and from northeast. 

 I heard the notes of a dog on a warm trail, and although 

 line a mosquito at first, and swaying to north and south, 

 always drawing nearer, until I took my stand leaning 

 against a big tree, my left arm resting on a snag, the lit- 

 tle gun across, my finger on the trigger. Suddenly a 

 squirrel in an adjoining tree barked and made so much 

 noise I looked around to see why. There was my buck; 

 it had made a circuit around the field so as to come up in 

 the wind to that water stand. He winded me at 30yds. 

 and went off due north on the jump. I inwardly groaned. 

 Oh! for the old gun. The little one was after him witb a 

 snap. He came down as if shot with a cannon. The left 

 hindleg broken in three places, once below and twice 

 above the knee, with one shot behind that raked him, and 

 one in the ntck behind the ear. A four-snagged swamp 

 buck, with a beautiful set of horns, he weighed 2281bs. 

 dres>ed. The men came in answer to my summons. I 

 stood where the buck changed his course. The driver 

 looked at the track, saying, "Fooled again." I took them 

 to the tree I shot from, and stepped 104 steps to where the 

 deer lay. They looked and admired, I had no eyes or 

 admiration for anything but the little gun that stood by 

 a tree close by. I confirmed that shot by many others 

 afterward. In a broadside at a buck seven shots bi oke 

 the ribs, through heart and lungs, and through the other 

 side. Little wonder my prejudice is changed to pure 

 love. My impression is that many a good gun is con- 

 demned because not properly loaded, and I think that 

 means tightly loaded, so that the powder has to force the 



charge all the way through the barrel, and not be brought 

 up at the muzzle by an abrupt choke, as in many guns, 

 nearly a sixteenth of an inch smaller than the bore. It 

 may he prejudice, but I cannot see but the more a gun is 

 muzzle-choked the more penetration is impaired and 

 recoil caused. 



On this principle, I conceived the idea of boring my 

 No. 12 chambers to take No. 10 shells, with the chamber 

 shoulder taken down to thickness of brass shell. This 

 gives the choke in the breech instead of the muzzle. The 

 charge goes into the barrel tight, and if the wad is solid 

 is tight all through the barrel. This, I think, will give 

 better penetration. I have shot thirty to forty shells 

 three or four times. The report sounds more like a rifle 

 than a shotgun, and feels more like it at the shoulder; 

 so much so that I would rather shoot 100 shots now than 

 ten before. Prejudice. 



Camden, N. J. 



MAINE GAME. 



THE prospects for partridge shooting in Maine this 

 fall are somewhat a matter of doubt, and I am very 

 much afraid that they are not good. Thus far I have 

 failed to learn of any number of flocks seen, though tak- 

 ing a good deal of pains to question fishermen and guides 

 who have been into the woods. The theory would be 

 that owing to the absence of snow, and hence crust, 

 last winter, the birds should have wintered well, and 

 again that the very early spring should have been favor- 

 able. But almost ever since the early spring the weather 

 has been very wet, with remarkably heavy rains, espe- 

 cially during June and July ; the very time when the 

 chicks would be the least able to stand the cold and wet. 

 Indeed I hear the idea advanced that the young grouse 

 have suffered almost to utter extermination all along the 

 seacoast of Maine for a strip 100 mi es inland. North 

 and west of this strip there was not as much rain during 

 the latter part of May and early in June, and it is possible 

 that the young b : rds may have fared better. But on the 

 whole I do not expect very good partridge shooting in 

 Maine this fall, and I find that others, famili <r with the 

 hunting 1 localities of the State, think the same way. 



But the prospects for largo game in Maine are good. 

 Mr. John D tnforth writes a friend here, or at least that 

 friend tells me so, that three moo>e have lately been seen 

 by fishermen and guides at Parmachene, and that 

 several caribou have been seen and tracked. The gentle- 

 man receiving the letter will start for that lake early in 

 October or late in September. He says he shot his three 

 deer there last fall, and he intends to be there till after 

 the first snow this fall. But the worst feature of the 

 whole is that he does not go up there with a pioper feel- 

 ing as to the game laws of that State. He says that be 

 shot his three deer last fall, and would have shot more' 

 had the weather permitted. He also says that all the 

 deer would have been used on Mr. Danfortb's table — none 

 would have been suffered to waste. He says that Mr.. 

 Dani'orth encourages the shooting of deer by spoitsmen.. 

 even beyond the limit of the law, for he "can take care 

 of them. ' Now that is just what the gentleman says.. 

 I would not harm Mr. D tnforth, and I hope that the 

 btory is not the truth, bat he has no right to any more 

 than three deers at his ctrnp in anyone open season.. 

 The gentleman has no more right to shoot more than 

 three deers than he would have to rob my game bag of a 

 deer that I had shot, and if he will persist in taking 

 more than three deer in a season, he is really robbing 

 other sportsmen of the game that they might shoot were 

 they left by the man who has already had his share. 



Special.. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., Aug. 20 —The prairie chicken crop fa 

 Illinois promises to be an unusually good one, the 

 close season having had a remarkably good effect. There 

 are coveys now in considerable abundance along almost 

 all the valleys and wild land where the grass was high 

 enough for them to breed well. The Illinois valley ha& 

 plenty of chickens, and the Kankakee marshes have bred!, 

 their thousands. I know of three coveys of birds within 

 four miles of Morgan Park, a Chicago suburb, and have 

 heard of numbeis of young birds all through the northern 

 part of the State. It is fair to taj that this bird, formerly 

 thought to be practically extinct for sporting purpoi-es in 

 this State, will be abundant this year, and can be kept so 

 under intelligent treatment. Season opens Sept. 15. Our 

 legislators tried to open it Sept. 1, but a clerk by an en- 

 grossing error made it Sept. 15, very fortunately. There 

 have bt en chickens killed m this district already, and by 

 Sept. 1 a great many coveys will be broken up. No 

 arrests heard from. 



From what I know and hear from Kansas, I would 

 hardly advise any one to go from a distai.cli to that State 

 for prairie chicken shooting, except upon the definite 

 advice of a friend certain as to the shooting in some 

 given locality. There is some shooting in spots in Kan- 

 sas, but you have got to know the spots, as the chicken 

 supply in that country was badly cut down by severe 

 winters three years or more ago. Illegal shooting all 

 over this State. The gun clubs are about the worst. 

 They keep the chickens killed off, so that by opening day 

 there isn't much shooting left. 



Nebraska should be a better State to make for than 

 Kansas this year for prairie chickens, Dakota is, of 

 course, good as yet in some localities, where there has: 

 been wheat enough sown to gather the birds in. Per- 

 haps because I know more about that country personally , 

 I believe I should about as soon chance it for chickens in 

 northwestern Iowa as anywhere. The law is entirely 

 disregarded there, but it is naturally a great place for the 

 pinnated grouse. 



Really the best ground in the United States for pin- 

 nated grou-e shooting is in the Indian Territory. 1 

 should prefer the Osage or Creek Nations, below Coffey- 

 ville, Kansas. That is grass shooting, and is very good. 

 The weather is very warm down there, and bunting not 

 so pleasant as in the North. The law, United States and 

 military, must be broken to get in there, and there is 

 risk of getting into serious trouble, and of having a darky 

 soldier jab a bayonet into you. it would be well if 

 darky soldiers with ba onets guarded the grouse in the 

 localities first mentioned. 



Mr. H. M. Joralmon, long identified with sporting 

 journalism in Chicago, and an authority on guns and 

 shooting, has left his late field of work and gone into the 

 banking business in Denver, Col. It is to be hoped he 



