312 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 6, 1890. 



NIGHTS WITH THE COONS. 



I HAVE read many of the accounts of different coon 

 hunts published in the columns of your paper. Most 

 of them tell of hunts in the East and are from the pen of 

 Eastern hunters. 



Let me here relate some points about Western coon 

 hunting. I notice one article in Forest and Stream for 

 Oct. 80 speaks of the hunter ascending the tree and then 

 shooting the coon. This may be all right in the East, 

 but in southern Missouri, where I hunted last spring, it 

 is considered as unsportsmanlike to shoot a coon as it 

 would be to shoot a pheasant on the ground. 



After the coon is treed the first thing to do is (if the 

 size of the tree permits) to climb the tree and get as near 

 to the beast as possible, but if one had to shake him out 

 he would find his hands pretty full. In fact unless the 

 tree was quite small it would be almost impossible to do 

 so. The thing to do then, after reaching the proper place 

 in the tree, is to break off a limb as long and as straight 

 as possible; on the end of this put your hunting cap and 

 thrust it out toward the coon. He is immediately par- 

 alyzed with fear, he does not wait to jump out, but liter- 

 ally falls backward off the limb to the ground. 



Often a large "boar" coon no sooner sees one coming 

 up into his section of the tree than with an angry growl 

 he starts down to meet the intruder; but once get your 

 cap on a stick, poke it at him, and all of his boldness is 

 gone and he usually goes with it to the ground. Most 

 hunters carry a stick up the tree with them, by putting it 

 down the leg of their boot. An old rifle ramrod makes a 

 good stick and is just about the right length. It is really 

 better to carry the stick up with you, for if the coon is an 

 old male he is liable to show fight, and it is a good thing 

 to have your stick ready. I remember well the last hunt 

 I took before leaving Missouri. It was during the latter 

 part of April and the sap was pretty well up in the trees. 

 The night was very dark and cloudy, one of those nights 

 when it seems as though it would like to rain but could 

 not. The hounds started a trail and had not run it ten 

 minutes when we heard the leader bark "treed." On 

 going to the spot we found the whole pack of nine beagles 

 and foxhounds whining and baying up a large water 

 oak. The night was so dark and the limbs of the 

 tree so thick that the coon could not be seen. I 

 started to climb the tree and had almost reached 

 the top when I heard an angry growl and saw a pair of 

 shining green eyes coming down toward me. I grasped 

 the first limb that I could find and tried to wrench it off. 

 but being green, was not at all inclined to come. The 

 coon was almost at my elbow. I saw I could not break 

 the limb, so I turned and struck him full in the face with 

 my fist. Down he went right in the middle of the howl- 

 ing pack. Well, he kept the dogs busy for almost an 

 hour, and I assure you they were a pretty looking sight 

 when the coon was done for. Old Ben, our jack rabbit 

 dog, had a piece of his ear torn off as big as a quarter, 

 and our leader, "The Old Man," had been bitten through 

 the lip and was almost covered with blood. The other 

 dogs had their share of wounds, too. I fancy I can see 

 them now by the dim light of the lantern in the depths of 

 the gloomy bottom forest, standing around the dead coon, 

 panting and wagging their tails as much as to say, "We 

 are the stuff." Well, after the excitement was all over 

 I found that I too had been injured in the scuffle. The 

 knuckles of my right hand carry a scar to-day where my 

 fist came in contact with the coon's teeth when I struck 

 him in the face. Lotor. 



On Saturday, Oct. 25, the fifth annual coon hunt of the 

 King's Lake Club took place in the bottoms adjacent to 

 the club house in Lincoln county , Missouri. Maj. Dane 

 Caruth, the club's president, is to* be complimented upon 

 the thorough manner in which the affair was arranged. 

 When the party left the club house it was a few minutes 

 past 9 o'clock. The sky was cloudless and the moon 

 shone bright. Before he had gone a half mile the wel- 

 come baying of the hounds was heard, giving warning 

 that they had one of the vermints treed. The four chop- 

 pers were set to work, and as darkey Sol remarked, they 

 flung that tree in mighty short order. When the tree 

 fell the dogs rushed in and made short work of him. 

 Nine more were added in quick succession. A light 

 drizzling rain began falling near the bewitching hour of 

 night, but as the sport was of the cvclone order the hun- 

 ters paid no attention to it. At 2 o'clock in the morning 

 Maj. Caruth gave orders to lead for the club house. 



Several of the party indulged in fishing and hunting 

 but as a rule they met with poor success. Ducks were 

 scarce and the fish would not bite. Unser Fritz 



CALIFORNIA LION STORIES. 



AVERY interesting animal is Felis concolor, and in 

 these days one hears of more adventures with him 

 than with the grizzly. The latter, however, gets into 

 illustration in a thousand forms and will be carved in 

 granite for all time to come as the representative Califor- 

 nia beast. The great cat of the United States— the sinewy 

 slouching cougar— seldom interests artists. Bar ye put 

 him m bronze, but how few others have studied the ani- 

 mal. 



The California sheep-herder can tell more lion stories 

 than any one else. In the foothills the lion is the most 

 dangerous enemy of the flock— far worse than bears or 

 coyotes. He leaps into the midst of the sheep and slays 

 them right and left for the mere pleasure of killing The 

 short, stubby shotgun, loaded with slugs and buckshot, 

 that a. sheep-herder carries in the thick brush is meant to 

 wreak disaster upon the lithe dun-colored sheep killer 

 which is liable to spring down from the boughs of an oak 

 and cut a swath of destruction across the frightened 

 flock. ° 



"When I was a boy of fourteen," said an old farmer to 

 me, 'I visited some friends in Santa Cruz county Their 

 farm was on top of the hill in the edge of the Redwood 

 country. I went to the post-office, four miles away, one 

 afternoon and came back after nightfall. As I went along 

 the path through the broken woods I heard something 

 moving on a line parallel to the path and about 50ft. dis* 

 tant I thought it was ahorse or cow and paid no attention 

 to it. Presently it drew closer and kept exact pace with 

 me. 1 stopped faced the mystery and advanced a few 

 paces toward it, when it slowly retreated. In this way 

 the creature accompanied me to the very edge of the 



£^l eD on T ! he ^ da ^ be traoks showed that it was an 

 Uflijsuaily large lion, He stayed in the region ]ivjng on 



calves, sheep and pigs, until he was tracked by a pair of 

 good hounds, treed in a pine and killed. 



It was only a few days ago that a boy of sixteen, 

 Conrad Alles, of Three Rivers, a wild mountain district in 

 the Tulare region, went out deer hunting, when he dis- 

 covered a lion in an oak tree, crouching on a branch and 

 ready to spring. He shot it and it fell in a ravine, but 

 immediately recovered sufficiently to spring at the lad, 

 who gave the coup cle grace with a second rifle ball. The 

 lion measured 6£ft. from tip to tip. 



George W. Melone, of San Joaquin, a noted old hunter, 

 tells many sporting stories. One of his lion yarns is about 

 a trip made many years ago to the Mount Shasta region. 

 One day Mr. Melone saw that the top of a small tree near 

 the camp was being shaken as if in a whirl-pool. He 

 went to examine into the matter, and found that a mule 

 had been tied there, and was frightened nearly to death 

 by some dreadful apparation. Melone saw a moving mass 

 on the ground creeping up toward the mule, and, after 

 a glance, took it for a wildcat. He ran for his rifle, 

 rushed back to the spot, and seeing the head of the 

 creature lifted, as it advanced with eyes fixed on the poor 

 mule, he drew a bead between the eyes and fired. A 

 wild cry was heard, and a huge body rose in the air and 

 fell backward down a ravine. It was an immense Cali- 

 fornia lion , engaged in the laudable business of securing 

 his meal. Nine feet from tip to tip was the size of 

 Melone's "wildcat." Charles Howard Shinn. 



The Sale op Came. — Mr. Frank M. Gilbert, who is 

 known as an earnest advocate of game protection and as 

 a practical hard worker in the cause, has this to say in 

 his paper the Evansville,Ind., Evening Argus, about the 

 sale of quail: "The farmers are taking steps to preserve 

 the quail, and this is perfectly right, but they are not 

 moving in the right direction. There is just one way to 

 preserve game, and that is to stop its sale. It is not the 

 true sportsman who exterminates game, but the market 

 hunter, who kills game for the money he can get for it. 

 He follows it at all times and in all kinds of weather, 

 and kills it in any way, shape or form he can. If he can 

 catch a covey of quail huddled together, it suits him just 

 that much better, for then he gets more money for the 

 load of ammunition he has expended. The various States 

 are all waking up, and are protecting their game. In 

 Illinois it is against the law to sell quail at all, and this 

 has put a stop to the piles of tens of thousands of quail 

 (nearly all netted, too) that used to be allowed to spoil by 

 sudden changes of weather in all the little town 3 in 

 southern Illinois. The writer once saw in Galatia, 111., 

 enough quail to fill a coal cart, heaped up, that spoiled 

 because the roads were too bad to haul them, and they 

 were thrown away. This law has put a stop to the hordes 

 of market hunters who used to swarm over Illinois, kill- 

 ing quail for Chicago. Even in Arkansas, the greatest 

 game State in the Union, the law which prevents shipping 

 game out of the State has been enforced, and has driven 

 out the market hunters who shipped thousands of deer, 

 untold numbers of mallard ducks, turkeys and quail 

 to St. Louis and Chicago. At the sunk lands of 

 the St. Francis River, the writer saw nineteen barrels 

 and five sacks of mallards marked to Chicago, lying at 

 the water tank station, and learned from a railread man 

 that the Cotton Belt road averaged ten barrels each even- 

 ing from these fellows all through the season of the 

 duck flight. How did they kill them? By slipping down 

 to their 'beds' at night and firing huge swivel guns into 

 their midst as they sat on the water. Was there any 

 sport about this? It was simply a brutal lust for blood 

 money that wiped out untold numbers of ducks, and left 

 thousands of poor cripples to go off into the reeds and die, 

 for, of course, these fellows would not waste time on 

 cripples. Where did the vast herds of buffalo go? Were 

 they killed by sportsmen? Were they killed by hunters 

 to eat? No, they were killed by market skin hunters, 

 who left their carcasses to rot on the prairie while they 

 sold their hides for mviey. To return to the quail ques- 

 tion. If the farmers will start a movement to stop the 

 sale of quail altogether, they will find ready and willing 

 help at the hands of all true sportsmen in the State. 

 Your true sportsman never sells quail. His pleasure in 

 making a neat shot is only equalled by the pleasure of 

 sending a mess of quail to some sick friend, or to some 

 friend who can't get away from business, or perhaps who 

 'can't hit 'em' if he does get away. It has been said 

 that the quail is a noble bird. He is. He is a game little 

 fellow who, when found by the keen nose of the dog, 

 whirrs up and takes his chances against the skill of the 

 hunter. He is too noble a bird to be peddled out like 

 beefsteak or sausage meat. If the farmers will take 

 steps to prohibit his sale altogether there will be plenty 

 of quail in Indiana a hundred years from now, and our 

 grandchildren will have some sport once in awhile— for 

 the love of field sports goes by inheritance." 



A Maine Side-Hunt.— Farmington, Me., Nov. 1.— One 

 of the events which is now looked forward to with much 

 interest by the lover of the gun in Farmington is the 

 hunting match. This year it came on the last day of 

 October. Two well-known hunters, W. Whitcomb and 

 Fred L. Kinsman, each chose twenty-nine men, who at 

 an early hour shouldered their guns and took to the 

 woods. The number included doctor, lawyer, merchant, 

 bank official and editor. The hunters with their game 

 were to reach Hotel Willows by 8 o'clock P. M., when 

 they were to count the score, the side having the least 

 number furnishing the supper. The first to come in was 

 a merchant with slow step and empty game bag. When 

 asked what success, he made answer, "I sbooded up 

 a dozen partridges, but not one of the blamed things 

 did I kill; but I have walked fifty miles." One lawyer 

 shot two partridges. The editor shot at one. The best 

 score was made by Capt. Whitcomb, although not on the 

 side that won; his count was 650 points. The next best 

 was 600, made by Herbert Moulton. The 69 hunters with 

 and without game reached the hotel by 8 o'clock, Fred 

 L. Kinsman's side being the victors wnth this count: 17 

 rabbits, 850 points; 29 partridges, 2,900; 3 weasels, 300; 

 2 woodcock, 200; 4 muskrats, 200; 1 fox, 500; total, 4,950 

 points. Capt. Whitcomb's side brought in as follows: 12 

 partridges, 1,200; 12 muskrats, 600; 7 rabbits, 350; total, 

 2,150 points. About 9 o'clock the hunters sat down to one 

 of Landlord McDonalds elegant suppers, which was 

 greatly enjoyed by the merry and hungry crowd, who 

 amid the cigar smoke that followed related the day's 

 sport. We learn that four of the best shots are to try a 

 match hunt for big game in December,-FT,YRNT. 



Kansas Game.— Ottawa, Franklin County, Kansas, 

 Oct. 26.— Eastern Kansas is known as a great quail 

 country. This season has been one of the best we have 

 had for several years for the birds, at least the weather 

 being warm and dry during the nesting season and the 

 food plentiful. Quail are unusually thick; they may be 

 found at almost any time and place, and if they were 

 protected as they should be they would always be thick 

 enough to satisfy any sportsman. Before a storm a great 

 many of them come into town, but even here they are 

 not safe from those who call themselves sportsmen, but 

 who kill game at all times during the close season, even 

 when it is nesting or rearing its young. Prairie chickens 

 are not very plenty at this place, but there are more of 

 them than usual. They are very plentiful at Colony this 

 year. There has been considerable rain lately, and it is 

 bringing in the ducks and geese. They are not very thick 

 as yet, but quite a number of small bags have been' made. 

 The sand-hill cranes were observed to be flying south 

 last Saturday in considerable numbers; they nearly all fly 

 at once and seldom stop here. Squirrels and cotton-tails 

 are numerous. There are also quite a number of jack- 

 rabbits, which are mostly hunted with greyhounds. The 

 old ones are only fit to eat during the coldest weather, 

 but the young ones are said to be very good eating. If a 

 society for the protection of game and fish were formed 

 in eastern Kansas it could accomplish great results. A 

 few prosecutions of the law-breaking hunters would 

 change matters perceptibly, and I would be glad to hear 

 of any movement looking to protection. — F. B. 



Care of Dead Game —Editor Forest and Stream: 

 There seems to be a diversity of opinion as to the best 

 method of taking care of game after being killed, conse- 

 quently I write a few lines on the matter, hoping to call 

 out something from those having experience that may be 

 of service to myself and possibly to others of your read- 

 ers. In my experience it seems to be the custom in the 

 West and South to draw all game and hang them heads 

 up, in some cases filling the cavity with hay or grass, 

 while in other instances nothing is used in the cavity. 

 Further east, more particularly in ducking portions of 

 Michigan, Ohio and Canada, the game is rarely if ever 

 drawn and is hung heads down, almost the only care 

 being to see that the birds are dry before packing for ship- 

 ment. I always like to take my game home when I am 

 fortunate enough to get any, consequently have to ask, 

 "What is the best method of taking care of game?"— Mc. 



Chinese Pheasants in Illinois.— Macomb, 111., Nov. 

 2.— Editor Forest and Stream: You will remember I 

 turned loose a pair of Chinese pheasants in this county 

 last spring. Last week several young pheasants three- 

 fourths grown were seen near where the old birds were 

 turned loose, I have no doubt now that these birds will 

 breed and do well all through the West and South, and 

 probably as far north as Pennsylvania and New York. 

 Should they breed as fast here as they do in Oregon, they 

 will soon spread over the State. Nine years ago eleven 

 of them were turned loose in Linn county, Oregon. The 

 secretary of the State Board of Agriculture says he would 

 be safe in saying there are a million in the State now. 

 These birds rnay revolutionize the whole sporting country 

 in the course of time. I shall import some more in the 

 spring to this county.— W. O. Blaisdell. 



Shooting Game for Money.— Towanda, Pa., Nov. 1.— 

 Many grouse have been killed by market-hunters in this 

 county. Men and boys by the dozen make it a business, 

 from the time the season opens until it closes, to shoot 

 for the money there is in it. Hundreds of acres that 

 were last season open to shooters are being posted for this 

 and other reasons. Spent a day after grouse and wood- 

 cock last week. Put up six bevies of quail. Was unable 

 to go after them opening day, Nov. 1, and have doubts 

 about finding them again, as the market-hunters will 

 probably have them bagged by this time. Of the shooters 

 who were out from this place opening dav report the fol- 

 lowing bags: Ladd 1 quail, Laplant 0, Montanye 0, 

 Snider 0, Cransky 1, Bo wen 2, Rittenbury 6 quail and 2 

 rabbits.— W. F. Dittrich. 



A Gloomy Report.— Central Lake, Mich., Oct. 25.— 

 Game is scarce in this county this fall. Deer tracks are 

 rarely seen, even in the most favored localities. Raffed 

 grouse (I might be misunderstood by some poet if I said 

 "partridges") are so few in numbers that I have not heard 

 of a respectable bag for two years. No mallards come 

 this way nowadays, and the other ducks are few, far be- 

 tween and half frightened to death. Some blame the 

 State Game Warden for this state of things. I don't; and 

 shall have more to say on this subject after a time.— 

 Kelpie. 



A Smokeless Powder Test.— Mr. Hugo A. Strong, of 

 No. 3 Hanover street, New York, as agent for Dr. Stephen 

 H. Emrnens, the inventor of the new high explosives, 

 "Emmensite." "Gelbite," etc., etc., invites attendance 

 at the Forest and Stream gun-testing range, at Clare- 

 mont, Jersey City, at 2:17 P. M., Nov. 7, for the purpose 

 of witnessing tests with gelbite, which is a smokeless 

 powder, or chemically treated paper, for use in shotguns. 

 To reach Claremont take the New Jersey Central, Liberty 

 street ferry. Trains leave this side at 2 P. M. 



New York Game Law.— State of New York, At- 

 torney General's Office. — Albany, Oct. 29. — Editor 

 Forest and Stream: The Commission to codify and re- 

 vise the game laws hold a meeting at Albany, Nov. 18, at 

 2:30 P. M., in the Assembly Parlor, for the purpose of 

 hearing arguments, suggestions, etc. Will you kindly 

 insert a notice in your paper to that effect. — Ed. G. 

 Whitaker, Commissioner. 



Rhode Island.— Providence, R. I., Nov. 2.— The trial 

 of Hoxie is postponed until the last of November. We 

 have more birds this fall than for years. Woodcock very 

 plenty, also quail; partridges more so than for years. I 

 think after protection the coming season it will begin to 

 seem like shooting of years gone by. — E. 



The Hudson River Fish and Game Protective Asso- 

 ciation held its annual reunion and fish and game dinner 

 at the Phcanix Hotel, Saugerties, laat night, 



