Nov. 20, 1890. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



349 



trees in the timber. Of course this does not always hap- 

 yen; in fact, I have known them to take to a tree so small 

 that the dogs could almost reach them by jumping. 



I have also noticed that an old coon 'seldom or never 

 takes to the ''den tree," unless he is very bard pressed and 

 has no choice as to his retreat. More than once have I 

 tracked them to their den in the morning over the snow, 

 but I remember but one instance where I have treed in 

 the deen tree, and that was just before dawn. 



When a coon is "jumped" from a tree and comes down 

 into the middle of a howling pack, he usually fights for 

 dear life. 



The female keeps up an incessant growling and snarling, 

 while the ''boar" seldom makes any noise whatever after 

 the dogs have fastened on to him* I think the hardest 

 fight I ever saw was made by a.n old female. It was just 

 after weaning time, and she was lean and poor. The way 

 she held out against the dogs was astonishing, and the 

 way she made them yelp was something awful. This 

 coon weighed in the neighborhood of SOlbs., which, I 

 think, is quite large for a female. 



The males as a general rule are fat, and although they 

 fight with great zeal, yet they don't compare with the 

 smaller females. 



If your hounds tree in a hollow tree, the coon seldom 

 jumps out when the tree is cut, but stays in the hollow 

 until he is punched out with a stick. Of course you don't 

 know when you fell the tree how many coons are on the 

 inside, and one point very essential is after getting one 

 coon out, pay no attention to him, the hounds will at- 

 tend to his welfare, but watch the opening in the tree, for 

 if there are any more coons inside, just as soon as the 

 fight with the first coon begins they will make a break 

 for the woods. They seem to know that the dogs are oc- 

 cupied and take this method as an only means of escape. 

 I ttiink it is without fail that as soon as the dogs have 

 tackled the first coon, out pops the other occupant of the 

 tree and he is off. 



Note the place where he ran, drag a hound off, put his 

 nose to the place where the fugitive disappeared, and, let 

 me assure you, it will not be long before he is waiting for 

 you in some tree top hard by with your hound at the foot 

 of the tree. Lotor. 



NEW ENGLAND FOX HUNTING. 



THE fox hunters are having considerable sport in this 

 section of country, and some of the boys tell pretty 

 good stories of the haps and mishaps of the chase. As a 

 member of long standing in the "ancient and honorable 

 guild," I think it my duty to give a bit of personal exper- 

 ience. My last run with the hounds was on a beautiful 

 day in February. There was about eight inches of freshly 

 fallen snow on the ground. The sky was clear, and a 

 gentle breeze from the south gave us hopes of a glorious 

 run. Starting from our goodly city cf Springfield before 

 the sun was fairly up, with Ed and John and our good 

 dogs Ben and Kitty in the cutter, we were soon well on 

 our way. Before we were out of the city limits we found 

 a fresh trail that crossed the road to the left; and before 

 our team had fairly come to a standstill the dogs were 

 away in full cry. The probabilities were that the fox 

 when started would turn to the east and cross in fi-ont of 

 us, and Ed and John went on up the main road, while I, 

 to make sure, turned down a cross road and followed in 

 the direction the dogs had taken. 



"When I had gone about a half mile I saw an old lady 

 coming whose dejected looks and halting steps betokened 

 that she had had about enough of the heavy walking. 

 As 1 approached her gallantry and humanity had a tussle 

 with my fox hunting inclinations, but as has ever been 

 the case in such matters humanity carried the day, and 

 turning the team around I assisted the old lady to a seat 

 and carried her back to a house near the main road. 



If the reward for good deeds were always as sure and 

 speedy as in this case, I venture to say that many of onr 

 non-fox-hunting friends would be better men. Just as I 

 had resumed my seat and was about turning back there 

 came a burst of melody from the dogs that set my nerves 

 tingling again. Listening a moment, I found that the 

 chase had turned to the east, and that the aforesaid 

 humanity had saved me more than a mile of very rough 

 road. Without going to thank the old lady for the good 

 turn, I made for the main road at the best speed that 

 whip and voice could extort from my not very gallant 

 steedess — to tell the truth the old mare was decidedly lazy, 

 and the amount of energy we expended in getting her 

 along that day would, I fully believe, have carried us on 

 foot over more ground than we covered. As I tore along 

 up the road I met a jolly-looking farmer, who encourag- 

 ingly shouted as we passed, "Hurry up! they are close 



arter him. Stop at my house ," the remainder was 



lost in the distance; but I well knew that the last word 

 was "cider:" and with renewed vigor I pushed on. Over- 

 taking Ed and John, we listened a moment to the dogs, 

 and found that they were making for "Stony Hill," some 

 five miles distant; and getting under way we made a 

 break for that famous runway. When we arrived at the 

 base of the hill, we heard the dogs some three or four 

 miles to the east, well up on the Wilbraham Mountains, 

 driving the fox at a racing gait toward the south. 



Again getting up steam we drove through the little 

 village of Wilbraham, and a mile below we turned up a 

 road that led over the mountain. At the foot of the last 

 rise we found the trail which crossed the road, and John 

 got out and followed it to the edge of the woods to cut off 

 the. fox in case he should come back that way, while Ed 

 and I kept on to the top of the mountain, where Ei took 

 his stand at the well-known runway by the big rock; and 

 I, leaving the team just below, went down the road and 

 took my stand at another crossing place, where many a 

 glorious run had finished. Sitting there on the well- 

 known stone in the bright sunlight I calmly awaited 

 events. At the end of about an hour and a half I saw 

 John step into the road a half mile below and come to- 

 ward me. Just then Ed showed himself and beckoned 

 for me, and as I came up to him he informed me that the 

 dogs that had crossed below were not our dogs at all, but 

 a brace that were owned by a man who had just crossed 

 below in search of them, and that our dogs were after 

 their fox on the plains to the west of us. 



John then came along and said that there was a fresh 

 track that crossed the road just below, and we all went 

 down to investigate; and it caused a cold chill to run up 

 my back when we discovered that just after I had vaca- 

 ted my stand the fox had crossed within ten feet of the 

 very stone upon which I had been so long sitting. Any 



man has an undoubted right to his opinion regarding such 

 an occurrence. I did not express mine, but Ed and John 

 made a disgusting exhibition of themselves by dancing in 

 the road and making a row that fairly drowned the roar 

 of the dogs that shortly put in an appearance. 



Cheering them on their way, we listened to the music 

 until it grew faint in the distance, when we again manned 

 the cutter and steered for the plains to find our dogs, I 

 piloted the craft to the best of my ability down the 

 mountain, but owing to the slow rate of speed' I succeeded 

 in landing Ed and John on their beam ends only twice. 

 Of course I went out with them, but as they were two to 

 my one, I had just twice the fun that they had out of it. 

 _ When we arrived on the plains we met a man who 

 lived on Stony Hill, and he informed us that while we 

 were crossing the hill our dogs were there hunting up 

 the trail, which they had overrun; and not ten minutes 

 after we left they found it and went at a racing gait 

 straight south; and just then a man from Hazard ville, 

 Conn., came along and said that he saw the dogs with 

 heads well up going at speed across a hill just south of 

 Shaker Village, and that they had turned to the west. 

 As this course would take them to the river, where they 

 would probably turn back toward the city, we jogged on 

 in that direction. Shortly after passing the village of 

 Sixteen Acres, we heard the dogs coming from the south- 

 west; and we soon saw the fox a half mile away, making 

 for the crossing where we had laid on the dogs in the 

 morni ng. Now commenced a race for fife or death. Ed 

 punched the old mare with his gun, John twisted her 

 tail, while I plied the whip, and we soon were going at 

 quite a fair rate of speed: indeed the pace was so hot that 

 tne old mare broke, and her lengthened stride brought 

 her heels in contact with the crossbar and she laid back 

 her ears and actually ran away; but as we were gaining 

 on the fox we let her run; and each one grabbed for 

 cartridges and loaded up to be in readiness when the 

 climax came. 



Just as we reached a level stretch of ground the fox 

 suddenly broke cover to our left, and came straight for 

 the road, with the evident intention of crossing our bow; 

 but he miscalculated the speed at which we were going 

 and he and the old mare reached the crossing at the same 

 instant, and the fox crouched in che ditch within four 

 feet of us to let us pass. Meantime Ed and John had 

 begun to get out and shoot; one guu was fired straight in 

 the air, for I have a distinct recollection of hearing 

 the patter of the falling lead. Where the other three 

 charges went I had no means of learning, as the first gun 

 had swerved the old mare out of the road into the lot, 

 and as the fox, evidently scared half out of his wits, took 

 the back track, the old "mare tore on after him with in- 

 creased speed, I had had no time until now to get in my 

 work: but as there was a bit of daylight between the 

 horse and fox I cut loose at him with such success that 

 the old mare dodged to one side so suddenly that her feet 

 came out from under her and down she went all in a 

 heap, and so badly was she demoralized that she never 

 stirred. I crawled out of the wreck, and, the ruling 

 passion still strong, raised my gun to put in the other 

 barrel; but too much time had been lost; and when I got 

 sight of the fox he was some 200yds, away sitting on his 

 haunches and looking at us with the most astonished look 

 on his countenance that I ever saw on a dumb animal. 

 Silently we limbered up and silently we went home. 



Shadow. 



WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS FOX HUNT 



TX7ESTFIELD, Mass., Nov. 12.— The 100 or more mem- 

 V v bers and guests of the Western Massachusetts Fox 

 Club who gathered Tuesday night in readiness for the 

 first day's hunt, had just such weather for their sport as 

 fox hunters delight in. Tuesday's rain removed old scents 

 on the fox runs, and the wily reynards prowling about 

 that night had lively times yesterday keeping out of the 

 reach of dogs and guns. 



Before daylight this morning the streets resounded with 

 the baying of hounds, and the "ta-ra ta-ra ta-ra" of the 

 melodious hunter's horn. Coaches rumbled about, adorned 

 with flaming torches, of which an occasional one was 

 left blazing in front of the house of some especially sound 

 sleeper who failed to quickly respond to the bugle call for 

 rising or the cornetist s musical "Johnny get your gun." 

 Few people in the town failed to know that the hunters 

 were about, and none of the nimrods were missing when , 

 before 6 o'clock, after a hurried breakfast, the signal was 

 given to start. Half a dozen 'buses and more private con- 

 veyances carried the enthusiasts to the hunting ground, 

 distant four or five miles from Park Square. A few re- 

 turned within three hours with faces, hands, fingers and 

 toes half frozen, and their enthusiasm and interest in fox 

 hunting considerably diminished ; but the majority kept 

 up the chase all day. 



The hunters were divided into three squads, and the 

 line extended from Western avenue southward along the 

 base of the Russell, Granville and Southwick hdls nearly 

 to Sodom Mountain. For almost the whole five miles, 

 highways ran parallel with the hunting grounds, allow- 

 ing the active participants to easily reach and return 

 from their assigned places. Scores of on-lookers, desirous 

 of watching the chase and hearing the deep-mouthed 

 baying of the bounds, drove from town during the 

 morning and afternoon. Nearly all day the woods re- 

 echoed with the music dear to the hunter's heart, cracks 

 of guns, the horn's "new halloo," the hounds' deep- 

 mouthed cry, and occasionally the hunters and spectators 

 would catch a meteor-like glimpse of a fleeing fox, as for 

 a moment he appeared in the open field or leaped a fence 

 to escape hi3 rapid pursuers. Muc h of the ground covered 

 by the hunters would have permitted of following the 

 dogs on horseback, but none attempted it, possibly for 

 the reason that such a condition was unexpected, in view 

 of previous meetings on the Chester Mountains, up which 

 hardly a goat can scramble. Another reason, perhaps, 

 was the liklihood that a rider closely following the dogs 

 might get a charge of shot into his horse and himself 

 from some excited nimrod hidden behind a rock or tree, 

 who would in his eagerness shoot any live thing coming 

 within range of his gun. 



The squad under captaincy of Joel Fox had the extreme 

 north of the line from Western avenue to West Parish 

 and early in the morning H. F. Cowing bowled over a 

 handsome silver-gray with a fine shot, after a pursuit of 

 nearly two hours. The fox finally took refuge in a 

 clump of woods, and was driven out by a farmer's dog 

 and shot while crossing the road. Charles E. Owen, of 

 East Granby„ had charge of the squad located in the mid- 



dle section and his party had the good luck before noon 

 to bag a handsome pelt. The Sodom Mountain division 

 met with equal success, although it came later in the 

 day. A fine reynard was the trophy they proudly dis- 

 played on their return, shot by Charles Leyon, of South- 

 ampton. Besides these five others were shot during the 

 day. the names of the successful hunters being : Joseph 

 La Fleur, of Huntington, A. Burbank, of Pittsfield, P. P. 

 Clapp, of Southampton, and Charles H. Merritt and P. B. 

 Rumrill, of this town. 



Charles Hatfield, Chicopee's well-known boniface, 

 brought in high feather to the Park Square Hotel head- 

 quarters a monstrous coon, which he said he had treed 

 and shot in the high-bridge ravine, but he looked very 

 meek and asked everybody to "take something" when 

 expert coon hunters, after sniffing the animal, suggested 

 that it was lucky "Charlie" killed it as soon as he did, 

 for the coon needed killing badly. 



This evening the club banquet was held at the Gem 

 Opera House, and proved the biggest and most successful 

 in the history of the club. Fully 300 were present, and 

 two-thirds were from out of town. The Westfield brass 

 band did escort duty from the Park Square Hotel to the 

 opera house, and afterward furnished music. The ban- 

 quet was served by R, Tyler & Son, caterers, and was 

 generally voted the best thing; of the kind ever given in 

 town. R. H. Kniel of this town was toast master at the 

 after-dinner speaking, and among those who spoke were 

 District Attorney Hibbard of" Pittsfield, G. W. Roraback 

 of Chester, president of the club, F. H. Gillett and Eph- 

 rairn Perkins of your city, Ledyard Bill of Worcester, 

 E. W. Dickerman of this place and John B. Bottum of 

 Northampton. At the annual meeting of the club the 

 old officers were re-elected. 



Among the members or guests present besides those 

 mentioned these may be mentioned: Bernard Alder- 

 man, of Suffield, Conn.; E. H. Allen, of Huntington; C. 

 E. Brace, of Tyringham; Gurdon Bill, of Springfield; S. 



C. Burton, of Pittsfield; O. W. Beach, of Chester; F. O. 

 Beach, of Worthington; R. E. Burbank, of Pittsfield; B. 



E. Campbell, of Chicopee: J. Cooper and C. E. Clark, of 

 Chester; H. F. Cowing, of Northampton; Edward De- 

 rnond, of Suffield, Conn.; L. M. Frost, of Leominster; C. 



F. Flagg, of Webster; Willis Guilford, of Williamsburgh; 



D. E. Goodloo, of Huntington; Geo. H. Hatch, of Pitts- 

 field; N. A. Harwood, of Chester; Dr. O. J. Shepardson. 

 of Chester; H. G. Hill, of Williainsburgh; Jas. Keefe, of 

 Chester; Waldo Knox, Wallace Knox and Jas. Leonard, 

 of Suffield, Conn.; J. R. Maguire, of Huntington: H. L. 

 Niles, of Springfield; W. B. Orcutt, of Northampton; W. 

 H. Plummer, of Huntington; H. P. Pomeroy, of Chester; 

 M. J. Riley, of Chicopee; C. A. Rockwell, of Pittsfield; J. 

 B. Ripley, of Granville: E. T. Slocum. of Pittsfield; C. D. 

 Smith and J. W. Thomas, of Chester; H. N. Wilson, of 

 Pittsfield; J. B. Wells, of Wellsviile: R. M. Fairfield, of 

 Fairfield; Chas. W. Butler, of Holyoke; W. C. Corbett 

 and R. C. McQuillen, of Boston; S. H. Crittenden, of 

 New Haven; A. Grouf , of Windsor: M. J. King, of Spring- 

 field; C. R. Kent, of New Haven; F. Lenoir, H. Lukes 

 and A. A. Loomis, of Springfield and John H. Maxwell, 

 of South Deerfield. 



Nov. 13. — Between thirty and forty hunters scoured the 

 mountains north of the Westfield River to the Holyoke 

 and Southampton boundary lines yesterday with" the 

 result of bowling over four good-sized foxes. " A fifth was 

 closely pursued and the eager nimrods felt sure of their 

 prey when they heard the report of a gun and the hounds' 

 baying soon after ceased. Following the sound of the 

 gun they found the clogs huddled together and sniffing 

 the ground. Upon investigation traces of blood appeared 

 on the dead leaves, but there was no fox in the neighbor- 

 hood, and the probably correct conclusion of the disap- 

 pointed hunters was that some one not of their party, and 

 quite likely a horny-handed granger, had lain in wait 

 along the runway and with a well-aimed shot toppled 

 reynard over and hurried off with the carcass before the 

 dogs or their owners arrived. Of the foxes shown as the 

 result of the day's hunt, Landlord Hagar, of the Park 

 Square Hotel, and Edward Williams killed one each on 

 East Mountain, and M. J. Stevens, of this city, and E. E. 

 McCann, of West Springfield, one each on Bear Hole 

 Mountain . The meeting in interest, attendance and foxes 

 secured was the most successful of any held, and the 

 membership of the club was doubled, being now over 200. 

 Last night the last of the visiting hunters went home pro- 

 fuse in praise of the pleasures enjoyed and hospitality 

 extended,— Springfield Republican, 



CARE OF DEAD GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In answer to query by "Mc" I have learned, after long 

 experience in Kansas, Indian Territory and Colorado, 

 and both in hot and cold weather, especially hot weather, 

 never to draw birds, squirrels or rabbits. If you desire 

 sweet meat, bleed them well at once when shot, and dry 

 the feathers and skin. I have very successfully kept 

 game in hot weather by placing single birds in a paper 

 sack and' tie with a string, then hang up in as cool a 

 place as possible. Always hang head up, as this manner 

 takes the entrails away from the breast. Do not hang in 

 "groups" at any season if expected to keep four or five 

 days; hang singly in the shade. The only birds that it is 

 desirable to draw at once are sage hens, found in the 

 mountains west of the plains. 



Kill fish at once by cutting the throat deep and let them 

 bleed. Then wrap in a wet cloth and place in a basket. 

 Don't wet them any more. Grass is good if sweet and 

 clean. In packing game of any kind or fish don't let the 

 ice touch or melt on it. Where necessary to use ice wrap 

 it in papers and rubber in solid cakes; pack the game be- 

 tween the cakes. Trout and fine-flavored birds can be 

 carried a thousand miles, and a week to go it in, if 

 packed in this way. Tile. 



Kansas City, Miss ouri. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Mc" asks for information as to the 

 best manner of keeping dead game. From long experi- 

 ence I have adopted the following: Withdraw the en- 

 trails as soon as killed; place a stick in the orifice to keep 

 it open to admit the air so it will dry. Do not put any- 

 thing inside, as it will Tetain the moisture. Hang, head 

 up, for twelve hours or so, after which it will keep better 

 hanging head down, as the moisture escapes sooner. In 

 this manner game will keep much longer than that which 

 is undrawn. This applies to deer, Mcsset, 



Adirondacks. 



