April 14, ism.] 



FOREST AND STREAM* 



S49 



ing camp in the full sense of the term. It is not merely 

 a troutiog camp, but a gunning camp. The deer lick 

 near by gives the new name. Tbis is the "lick" of the 

 surrounding country, and is also the "run" for deer. It 

 is the desire of the new management to bring this camp 

 into prominence as an all year round sporting camp, and 

 hope that the name will suggest thi3. There are no bet- 

 ter fishing grounds anywhere than on the Dead Diamond, 

 last season one man taking three trout in a very few 

 minutes that w T <?iojti6(l 1 1 ^Ibs. from ono liolo. This c&n bs 

 duplicated. Then the gunningis not to be decried, The deer 

 that hare been killed here makes it a sporting paradise. 

 The wish of the new proprietor i3 to have it understood 

 by sportsmen that this U fine grounds for gunning as 

 well as the rod. With all due respect to Ward, and a just 

 appreciation of what he has done for the lover of either 

 rod or rifle, the new management still think the change 

 in name desirable, and that it is a far better one than the 

 former. And they exp ct to show to former patrons, 

 with new ones, an appreciation of their patronage. 



Halfoupe. 



Deer Lick Camp, New Hampshire. 



N 



IN THE GRANITE STATE. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



Concerning the hunting of deer, which is largely in- 

 dulged in during the fall, one of the principal guides of 

 this section remarked recently that they were more plenty 

 this year than they had been for a long time. As a 

 general thing both the people of northern Hew Hamp- 

 shire and those coming from other States are for some 

 reason led to believe "that there are few, if any, deer 

 among the hills of the Old Granite State. This belief has 

 prevailed for so long that, with the protection from the 

 game laws, deer have multiplied until now there are 

 enough to furnish almost unlimited sport. 



During the winter months fox hunting and fishing 

 through the ice constitute the principal feature of enter- 

 tainment for the sportsman. Littleton can boast of almost 

 as good a gathering of sportsmen as is generally found in 

 a town of its size. Many of them own valuable hound- 

 and every winter and spring trips are made into the 

 northern part of the State. Among those mentioned to 

 the writer who are most prominent in the sport are: 

 Frederick Cheney, Ceo. S. Whittaker, George Bilious, 

 Henry Nurse, L. T. Hyde, Geo. Wilmot, A. J, Barrett 

 Chas. H. McCarthy, E. F. Bowker, "Zip" Twombley and 

 F. M, Richardson. L. E. Collins, of Woodsville, who has 

 two fine hounds, is generally found among the numbei 

 present, while on their hunting trips. The Gale Rivei 

 valley affords the best hunting grounds in this vicinity. 



This section abounds in several well stocked ponds and 

 lakes, and often on winter and spring mornings parties 

 may be seen starting out with ice chisels and lines" for a 

 day's sport, It is seldom that they appear empty handed 



There are two veteran sportsmen in this town who havp 

 followed the trail of bear and deer for years. Your cor- 

 respondent will ere long give a brief sketch of their lives, 

 for it cannot fail to be of interest to sportsmen in this 

 section. W. Stanhope Huston, 



Littleton, N. JL 



A STRANGE GUN DISORDER. 



JOT long ago I was sitting in a blind on an island of 

 ^ the Father of Waters, when a mallard flew over me 

 in such a way that I had to lean back until my shoulders 

 almost seemed to touch the ground and shoot back of my 

 head. Well, I killed the duck and wondered. A little 

 while after a pair of mallards came driving up to my de- 

 coys and just as they saw me, began to back up* and 

 climb. I billed one of them, and as the other climbed up- 

 ward, almost presenting a stationary mark, I carefully 

 sighted— and never touched it. I am certain that I aimed 

 correctly, and that the distance was less than 40yds. I 

 then remembered that I had not been "on" that first over- 

 head mallard. I had aimed off at one and killed it and 

 aimed .on at the other and missed it. Lastly, I was 

 sober. 



The reader may doubt these statements of fact, but I 

 did not, for I went ashore, and for the first time in a good, 

 long while, I began targeting my gun, which shows that 

 I am sincere in my belief that somehow my gun did not 

 shoot straight. I shot at trees, repeatedly, in each case 

 at a paced distance of :28yds., off-hand and with a rest, 

 and the right barrel shot off to the right, the edge of the 

 load cutting the side of the tree, usually a tree of about 

 2ft. in diameter, and the left barrel to the left. The di- 

 vergence was so great that I thought that at 40yds. the 

 gun might be screwed in a vise and shot with both bar- 

 rels at onca and the gun might be aimed at Mr. L. J. 

 Gaines, for instance, without doing any more harm than 

 to scare him, which I hoped it would. It was so strange 

 that I simply called myself a liar, and although I am a 

 medium sized man and easy to lick, found I didn't re- 

 sent it in the least. Indeed, I made the test all over again. 

 The result was the same. I now blamed that miss of the 

 climbing, poised mallard on.the gun. At about this time 

 I also became more candid with myself, and really be- 

 lieved I had never aimed at that overhead one. I also 

 began to remember a lot of unaccountable misses I had 

 made since I had shot with that gun. I have heard so 

 many imitation sportsmen blame things on their poor 

 guns that I long since got into the habit of blaming my 

 misses on a too pious nurture when I was young, and 

 letting the gun off; but in that luckless moment I fell 

 from grace, and, at one fell swoop, I blamed that gun 

 with all the misses I had made since I owned it, and 

 about seventy five that, I have since reflected, were 

 made before the gun was, The next day I wrote to the 

 above-mentioned gentleman describing the trouble with 

 my gun, which was one made at his factory, and inform- 

 ing him that any gun maker who would send a man a 

 straddle-legged gun ought to be made starld at one side 

 of it when it went off, instead of either directly in front 

 or directly in the rear, the only safe places. I also threw 

 out a few side remarks about "me and Mr. Budd," think- 

 ing it might influence him to lend me one of their old 

 style liammer guns with the rod sticking up between the 

 hammers all the time it was open (and invented by one of 

 the post-pliocene Parkers to show the shooter that it was 

 open, and if he didn't shut her up before he shot, it was 

 even bets he wouldn't hit anything), while he was fixing 

 mine up. He wrote me back a very polite letter, saying 

 they would fix it for spuds, a word I never use myself, 

 hut which I take this opportunity to insinuate he does 

 because he was so polite he left me in doubt just what 



word he did mean, and this! is probibly the one he had in 

 mind, He also delicately suggested that if I would 

 try the gun some time after having taken a heavy 

 and dreamless sleep and one drink I would find it 

 didn't shoot so cross-eyed as I tried to make out. I 

 thought this was a likely suggestion and waited 

 around two or three weeks trying to hit just the 

 right time to carry it out, but that one drink kind of 

 stuck in my craw and I had to give it up. I took it out 

 of the case day before yesterday, though, and examined 

 the brazing along the ribs, and just as I got through 

 finding nothing the matter with it, I found a little shred 

 of brass, looking like something that had come off an 

 imperfect shell head, adhering to the flat part of one of 

 the barrels where it rests on the breech or action. I 

 left it there and put the gun together and snapped it shut 

 and discovered it did not quite shut close up. The least 

 appreciable bit of the extension rib stood above the 

 breech. You could feel its edge with your finger and 

 catch on it with a knife blade. Then I took the sliver 

 out and the gun closed tightly and smoothly, and when 

 I proceeded to put it through a similar test to the one 

 which started the investigation, the gun, mirabile dictu 

 (which is the Latin for the kind of spuds he would have 

 got from me for fixing the gun) the gun and its delighted 

 owner shot straight again. 



If any of the readers of the Forest and Stream can 

 explain this without advancing any hypothesis liable to 

 be thrown out by the editor as being likely to hurt my 

 tender feelings, I would like for them to do it. If failing 

 to get a gun properly and completely closed makes it 

 shoot out of true it would surely interest us all to know 

 it. George Kennedy. 



St. Louis, Mo. 



MIKE 



Those who have followed the. delightful chapters entitled "Trout- 

 ing in the Cascades," by Judge S. H.Gieene, of Portland, Oregon, 

 will recall the frequent references to the setter Mike; and will be in- 

 terested in this portrait which Judge Greene has sent us, as that of 

 •'one who, though 'dumb,' has for more than eight years been my 

 constant, honest and happy companion among the gray mountains 

 and placid lakes of Oregon and Washington." 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, 111., April 8.— Duck shooting and duck sea- 

 / son apparently draw to a close together. The late 

 heavy storm has sent the birds on ahead of it, but they 

 are passing north, high and wild. Up to date, Hennepin 

 Club has, so far as known, had the best shooting of any 

 of our localities hereabout. Up to April 1, the members 

 of that club had bagged 1,631 ducks this spring. Top bag 

 was made at that club by Mr. C. D, Gammon, 115 in one 

 day. Mr. Gammon and Mr. McFarland had ten days of 

 very good shooting. 



Messrs. F. C. Donald and C. S. Burton went up to 

 Mukwanago, and as predicted, found good sport. They 

 bagged 74 ducks in six hours. 



One party brought down from Fox Lake last week, 50 

 dozen ducks. 



At Cumberland Club Mr. Geo. T. Farmer got 29 ducks 

 one day last week after one o'clock in the afternoon. 

 That same afternoon Mr. John Gray and Mr. Geo. Maillet 

 also got 29 ducks. 



The most important bag, or the finest, of which I have 

 heard, was made by Charlie Willard and Ed Bingham on 

 their trip to Koshkonong Lake this week. They bagged 

 110 ducks, of which 39 were canvasbacks. The shooting- 

 was point shooting, easy and pleasant, on "Lazy Man's 

 Point," right in front of the Bingham home. A soft 

 cushion to sit upon, warm meals at all hours of the day, 

 combined with the heavy flight, made this occasion one 

 with which both gentlemen express themselves as per- 

 fectly contented. 



The great amount of water now all over the country 

 has scattered the snipe, but there are numbers of these 

 birds in now, all over the country. One bag of 105 jack- 

 snipe was made on a cornfield near Washington Heights, 

 a suburb twelve miles out, this week. The birds have 

 not yet gone to the marshes and wet meadows, which are 

 too cold. They have been found this week almost en- 

 tirely on the highest and warmest ground. Acting on a 

 quiet advice from Italian Joe, our famous snipe and 

 plover shooter, a small party yesterday investigated a 

 certain field near Summit, twelve miles south of town, 

 bagging thirty-two birds in all. 



Messrs. F. A. Place and R. A. Twitte are now at Sum- 

 mit after snipe. Many parties are now out in different 

 directions with the same intent. There will be good 

 shooting this week if the weather turns warmer. 



Italian Joe starts to-night for Wolcott, Ind., where he 

 will shoot plover for the market, with that notorious 

 market shooter and purchaser of game, George Beard. 

 The birds are there, or Italian Joe would not be there. 



Last winter Italian Joe made a very nice penny by 

 selling "reed birds" to the restaurants here. He trapped 

 his reed birds, which most folks would call sparrows, 

 right in the edge of Chicago. Nicely plucked, a snow 

 bunting makes a very good reed bird. Joe scorns the 

 imputation that he would use English sparrows as reed 

 birds. Indeed, he always carries in hts basket one Eng- 

 lish sparrow. "I ahow-a de diff," says Joe. 



Wm. Brown, keeper of the Gilham's Lake Club, of St. 

 Lottis, whose grounds are in Illinois, on April 1 arrested 

 the two Southard brothers, market shooters, for trespass 

 on the cluh grounds. The trial takes place to-morrow at 

 Mitchell, 111. 



April 10, — At Fox Lake day before yesterday, Mr. B. 

 Dicks bagged fifty-three ducks, high bag reported from 

 that locality. Tommy Miller, of Chicago, who was with 

 Mr. Dicks on the trip, had the rare good fortune to kill a 

 fine specimen of the trumpeter swan. This is the first 

 specimen killed hereabouts since Mr, Cleaver's, killed on 

 Grand Calumet two years ago. There has been a flock of 

 eighteen of these birds about Fox Lake for over two 

 weeks. Tommy snuk up on 'em. 



Messrs. Turtle and Place succeeded in accumulating 

 nine jacksnipe in their late hunt at Summit. The cold 

 wind had driven the birds out. E, Hough. 



IN THE SNOW. 



THE depth of snow in these northern mountains often 

 changes the winter sport of the hunter into arduous 

 t til, when success is purchased only by the most strenuous 

 endeavor, and when the staying "power of the hunter's 

 legs proves the prime factor in the problem of the success- 

 ful chase of the fleet and flitting deer. While the more 

 open ground of other snow covered mountains permits the 

 use of the Norwegian "ski," or long, narrow, board-like 

 snowshoe, the dense thickets of low evergreen cover com- 

 mon to ail our hills and ravines 



Where the deer lie under the pines, 

 necessitates the use of the web shoe, and for the service 

 of one hampered by the objectionable weight of forty 

 pounds of superflous avoirdupois (as in the case of a cer- 

 tain asthmatic old uncle) the shoe must be made extra 

 large; and if any one fancies that it is an easy job to fol- 

 ow the plunging flight of a deer through soft snow three 

 ft four feet deep he is sadly "off bis base." 



Some years since, when the snow had fallen to a greater 

 lepth than usual, I ran down a large buck, which, after 

 i most determined struggle, lasting for nearly half a mile 

 through the deep snow, fell a victim to our love of veni- 

 son; and, during the past winter, when again the snow 

 fell to a depth rather greater than common, forgetful of 

 ,he lessening vigor of my "decreasing leg," I essayed to 

 play the old game again. 



After a long and tiresome search two deer were jumped , 

 md for a mile or more of desperate effort I endeavored to 

 ire out the graceful creatures, but though they grew ex- 

 ceedingly weary and at last could jump only about four 

 feet at a plunge, the discouraging fact now confronted 

 me that the old uncle had by this time become so ex- 

 nausted that he could not jump one, and the frightened 

 beauties made good their escape, while a completely 

 . "tuckered out" old monomaniac, who, it appears, can 

 never hope to outgrow his folly, laid down under a fir 

 tree and pondered upon the proveib which asserts that 

 "there is no fool like an old fool." 



When, "after many days," the old enthusiast had en- 

 tirely recovered from the fatigues of the exhausting- 

 chase, and found himself not yet completely discouraged, 

 a hunt was planned for a famous hunting ground some 

 twenty miles distant, where the snow was not so deep. 

 Two of my sons, Byron and Bruce, went with me, and 

 we were accompanied by a tenderfoot acquaintance, 

 eager to distinguish himself by the slaughter of game 

 larger than the familiar Bob White of his Eastern home. 

 Although but moderate success rewarded our efforts, we 

 had a glorious time, save for the cold of the nights when 

 we slept out of doors in the forest, and tried to keep from 

 freezing around fires much too large for comfort. My 

 eldest son and I each killed a fine deer, while the other 

 boy killed the only specimen of the genuine cottontail 

 rabbit I ever heard of being killed in the State of Wash- 

 ington. He reported seeing another which he failed to 

 get. The tenderfoot got nothing. 



On our way to the hunting ground the tenderfoot had 

 repeatedly insisted upon his ability to clip the heads of 

 grouse with bullets from his rifle, and proposed to show 

 us some fine work on deer; yet when, during the hunt, 

 a big mule deer trotted boldly up and stood broadside to 

 at 65yds. distance from him, and poor Johnny, resting his 

 gun against a tree to make "assurance doubly sure," shut 

 both eyes, pulled— and missed him clean, his heart was 

 broken; and on his return to camp could account for his 

 failure only on the plea of an attack of what he called 

 'idiocy!" His full statement I hesitate to write out, 

 but moBt old hunters have doubtless heard similar ones. 

 My own humiliation was yet to come. 



On the last day of our stay, on returning to camp first * 

 after the morning hunt, discouraged with my ill success, 

 and being thirsty, I laid the faithful Sharps aside and 

 taking an ax and water bucket set out to get a bucket of 

 water from the ice-covered creek, 150yds. below the 

 camp. Coming back from the creek, just as I cleared the 

 bushes along its banks I met four beautiful and unsus- 

 pecting deer face to face, and, oh, aggravation unspeak- 

 able! squarely between me and my rifle. 



The leer upon their faces as they carelessly passed me 

 by was heartbreaking, and I could only laugh according 

 to an old-time threat of my righteously' indignant father, 

 "out of the other corner of my mouth." There are some 

 griefs which can never be told in words. 



Once again the old Sharps hangs on the hooks in the 

 cabin in waiting for the coming time when the deer will 

 again be "ripe." My little son, while driving up the cows 

 last evening, met two big deer less than half a mile from 

 the house. The beautiful motto of our young State is 

 embodied in the Indian word Alki ("By and by"). 



Orin Belknap. 

 Vallev, Was hington. ' 



Three young men living on the Middle Fork of the Payette 

 in Idaho went out on horseback recentlv and lassoed a iarge 

 six-point elk, weighing abeut 7001bs. They got him into a 

 corral, where they are now feeding him.— Evening Post. 



