May 26, 1892. j 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



497 



THE CORBIN GAME PARK. 



In the issue of March 12, 1891, we published a very 

 interesting account of Mr. Austin Corbin's game park in 

 New Hampshire, telling how Mr. Corbin was led into the 

 enterprise, and also giving an account of how tbe first 

 animals used in stocking the park were Becured. Forest 

 and Stream has obtained the following information of 

 the present state of affairs in the park, chiefly in relation 

 to the breeding of the animals in their new environment 

 — it can hardly be called captivity, when the animals are 

 at liberty to wander at their own sweet will over 88,000 

 acres of woodland, hill and valley. 



In this respect of breeding the park has proved a great 

 success. All the animals seem to take kindly to their 

 new surroundings, and already their numbers are being 

 materially increased by births. Of the twenty -two buffalo 

 which were put in about a year ago, eight of the cows 

 are now in calf, and two young have been added to the 

 herd. The elk, which bred to a limited extent on Mr. 

 Corbin's Long Island estate, have found their mountain- 

 ous New Hampshire home more to their liking, and have 

 already increased fifty per cent. Next to the elk the 

 most accurate count has been kept of the moose, who, 

 unlike their gregarious brethren , go in pairs during the 

 rutting season. It was at first feared that these unusually 

 retiring animals would not breed in the park, but it has 

 been ascertained that six of the cows are now with calf. 

 There are upward of sixty moose in the park, and they 

 make a much wider range in traveling than the elk, 

 which keep pretty well to one locality where there is 

 considerable brush and small growth, and no doubt 

 abundant feed. 



The agent who was instrumental in securing for Mr. 

 Corbin the first 

 denizens of the 

 park, has the head 

 of a particularly 

 fine moose in his 



pos8 e s s i o n. The 



unmounted head i ~ 



weighed 3001bs., 



and the horns, j 



which show eleven 



points, have a span 



of about 5ft. This 



head was bought of 



an Indian in Matta- 



wa, and is said to 



be the last green 



hpad taken out of f*'«jrv- 

 Ontario previous to 

 the patsing of the 

 law forbidding the 

 killing of moose. 



To come back to 

 figures, the wild 

 boars, imported 

 from Germany 

 September a year 

 ago, have been seen 

 a number of times 

 lately. They have 

 evidently gained 

 by natural in- 

 crease, and must 

 be quick travelers, 

 as three or four 

 herds have b^en 

 reported in differ- 

 ent localities at 

 nearly the same 



time by the game keepers. The old animals have grown 

 considerably, and are wonderfully fleet of foot, for, un- 

 like their cousin, the domestic hog, they do not fatten. 

 As far as can be ascertained, all the other animals, in- 

 c'uding the several varieties of deer, have multiplied 

 considerably, and their change of habitat and the fact 

 that the big fence occasionally checks their extended 

 wanderings, does not seem to cast any blight on the even 

 tenor of their lives. 



Included in the park are two ponds of twenty and 

 thirty acres respectively, and probably one hundred 

 miles of streams. The ponds were cleaned out last year 

 and many eels and other varieties of cannibalistic fish 

 destroyed, and now the ponds and streams are all stocked 

 with trout. 



While in London, two years since, Mr. Corbin pur- 

 chased twenty thousand hawthorn trees. Four thousand 

 of these have been planted this spring. They are for the 

 purpose of forming a hedge strong enough to prevent the 

 buffalo and other large animals from getting out. This 

 tree, of which there are two varieties, the white and 

 black, is used very extensively for inclosing the game 

 park6 of England and France. It grows from 8 to 10ft. 

 in height, and is the toughest and strongest tree that 

 can be found, making with its interlocking and elastic 

 branches a hedge that would resist a battering ram. The 

 trees are being planted inside the big fence of barbed and 

 woven wire, and will eventually take its place when the 

 latter becomes weakened through rust and exposure. 



There will be no hunting in the park at present, though 

 in future years when the animals have multiplied be- 

 yond the resources of their domain, it is possible that 

 Mr. Corbin may adopt this means of thinning them out. 

 It is sufficient to say that the park is not designed for 

 hunting. Similarly it is not primarily intended for 

 scientific research into the habits, breeding, etc., of the 

 various animals, though it is safe to say that it would 

 yield rich returns in this direction. 



The development of Mr. Corbin's game park enterprise 

 is being watched with decided interest by sportsmen and 

 naturalists. It happens that the present article has been 

 prepared just in time to supply additional information 

 on the subject sought by the directors of the new 

 ■National Zoological Garden in Washington. Success in 

 New Hampshire, when it shall have been demonstrated 

 beyond the peradventure of a doubt, will prompt similar 

 enterprises in other parts of the country. While much 

 interest is felt in the introduction of foreign species, 

 Americans are naturally most concerned with the suc- 

 cessful conservation of bands of American big game, the 

 elk and the antelope and the buffalo. Of the unfamiliar 

 picture these great animals present, grouped on a New 

 Hampshire hilltop, our cut, from a photograph; gives 

 excellent illustration. May these wild creatures yet 

 feed on a thousand hills of the New England and 



other Eastern States, and on the game preserves of the 

 West. 



Beside the great New Hampshire park, Mr. Corbin has 

 two other game preserves. On his Long Island estate he 

 now has twenty-two elk and about eighteen deer, and 

 at Manhattan Beach he has twenty-five elk. At the 

 latter place he has ten acres inclosed with an open wire 

 fence. There will soon be dug here a large pond, which 

 will be filled with salt water from the tides of Sheeps- 

 head Bay. In this pond are to be a dozen seals and ten 

 sea lions. The former are now on their way from St. 

 Johns, N. F., and the latter are making their long 

 journey from the Pacific coast, Later in the summer a 

 number of other animals will be added to the inclosure. 



May, 1892. B. 



BUT 1 GOT HIM. 



It was hunger and not sport that made me turn out 

 on Aug. 3, 1890, at half-past two A. M. and saddle my 

 pony and start for the licks on the Columbia River, four 

 miles below my mining claim. I rode along at a brisk 

 trot, as it was already daylight, and I knew the earlier 

 I got there the better chance I would have for meat for 

 the next ten days. 



I crossed a very brushy spring branch about fourteen 

 miles above the strongest lick, and then I tied my pony 

 and went up to the bank very carefully and peeped out. 

 Not more than 40ft. from me stood a fine blacktail doe. 

 She was eating dirt. I looked the licks over, but could 

 not see any bucks. I drew back, for I did not want 

 meat badly enough to shoot a doe at this time of the 

 year. 



My dog Frank was watching something down the river 



BUFFALO IN THE CO V BIN GAME PABK. 



very steadily ; and in about one minute I saw a very large 

 buck start bouncing for the mountain. He had about 

 100yds. to run to get to the foot of the mountain, and 

 then at least 600yds. up very steep before he would be 

 out of sight. I ran down to get a better view, and began 

 turning up my rear sight as I ran along. Pretty soon he 

 stopped. I looked at my sight, it stood at 12 points, 

 which would be right for 350 to 400yds. I knuckled 

 down, took a knee rest, and banged away, but I saw dust 

 raise just a little too low. The deer never moved, so I 

 made an allowance for the next shot, and at the report 

 away bounced the deer. He ran for a few jumps and 

 then trotted off, humped up, and I knew I had shot him, 

 though too far back. He crossed the point and. went out 

 of sight. 



I went up to where he was standing when I shot, and 

 told my dog to go on slow, which he did. I found a big 

 drop of blood where he had crossed a small log, and on 

 examining it closely I sa w it was from the paunch. I fol- 

 lowed on until the deer had gone into the thicket on the 

 spring branch above where my horse was tied. I told the 

 dog to go ofter him, which he was glad to do. He soon 

 jumped the buck, but as it was only a short way to the 

 river, he could not catch him before he took the water. 

 I hurried on after them, but I met the dog near the horse, 

 coming back. I followed on to where the deer had taken 

 to the river, but I could not see him come out any- 

 where. 



I went back to my cabin, got my breakfast, took my 

 boy, gun and dog, got into my boat, and started to see if 

 I could find my wounded deer. When we got opposite to 

 where the deer had taken to the river, I landed and told 

 the dog to go ashore, knowing that when he came to 

 where the deer came out of the water he would follow it. 

 We went down about one-half mile, when the dog started 

 to leave the river, trailing tbe deer. I whistled to him 

 and he waited until we landed, tied our boat and went up 

 to him. He followed the track out on the bottom to the 

 miner's ditch, then the deer got in the ditch and kept in 

 it for at least one-half mile, and when he left it he jumped 

 out over a log, the dog lost the track, and would go back 

 to where the deer had taken to the ditch. I called him 

 and made a circle and pretty soon he struck the track 

 again. We followed it up into some pine hills about one- 

 half mile distant, when I saw the buck lying by some 

 brush, not more than 1 00yds. off, and I shot it through 

 the head, I went back down the river a phort distance to 

 where four men were raftiDg and told them they could 

 have half the deer if they would come and get it, which 

 they gladly did. I had shot the deer just before four 

 o'clock, and it was half past ten when I killed it. The 

 ground that he traveled over was very dry and sandy, 

 and the dog never missed the track except while the deer 

 was in the ditch. This I considered was a nice piece of 

 work. Lew Wilmot. 



REBOUNDING LOCKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "Awahsoose" very justly com- 

 plains that rebounding locks are dangerous. I have 

 noticed the same defects of which he writes, but I think 

 the rebounding lock of itself is all right. 



The trouble is in the tumbler, which is too often care- 

 lessly made. There should be a half cock notch on a 

 rebounding lock, just as strong and secure as ever was 

 made on a muzzleloader, and the rebound should bring 

 the sear into this notch. Then no blow on the rear of 

 the hammer and no raising of the hammer part way up 

 and letting go can fire the gun without breaking the lock. 



If the half-cock catch will not hold the hammer up 

 away from the firing pin then the gun should be fixed— 

 or traded off to some one who breaks the game law — for 

 it is dangerous. You can easily test the matter. Put in 

 a cartridge, as "Awahsoose" says, then draw the ham- 

 mer back almost to full cock and let go. Only I would 

 advise a well loaded cartridge to be used, for then the 

 impression would be more lasting in case it went off. 



As your correspondent says, there are too many acci- 

 dents, and many high-priced guns are unsafe. For my- 

 self I have never used a hammerless gun and have one 

 objection to them. I may be an old fossil but I refer to 

 that gilt-edged word "safe" which is on all of them. No 

 gun is "safe" when there is a load in it, and the man 

 who thinks it can be is unsafe to hunt with. 



Others may think as they please and carry their guns 

 as they choose to, but I am afraid of the man who is con- 

 tinually pushing the slide from safe to unsafe or raising 

 and lowering the hammers of his gun. 

 Now you man with the high-priced gun, perhaps you 



don't believe me. 

 Let me relate an 

 incident that hap- 

 pened near here. 

 A man with a fine 



, hammerless gun 



came in the house 

 for a drink and left 

 his gun on the bed 

 with the cartridges 

 in— just for a min- 

 ute. No danger, it 

 was "safe." A few 

 seconds later a hole 

 was blown through 

 the partition and 

 the house was filled 

 with smoke. His 

 gg| little girl rushed to 



his arms, saying, 

 "Papa, I know how 

 to shoot the gun, 

 just push on that 

 little thing that 

 goes click and then 

 pull the other 

 thing." A good 

 lesson cheaply 

 learned. 



— ^ Now, let me tell 



my way of carry- 

 ing a gun while 

 hunting — always 

 at full cock; and 

 my gun never yet 

 went off unless I 

 intended it should. 

 I have hunted in 

 the thick brush, climbed fallen trees and stepped into con- 

 cealed bog holes and ditches, but my gun always behaved 

 itself. There are more careless hunters than there are un- 

 safe guns. "Oh, it was not my fault; it must have jarred 

 off," you will hear some one say as an excuse. If you 

 want to test the "jarred off" theory,, take a gun with a 

 light trigger-pull or even a set lock rifle and jar it off if 

 you can. You can jar the stock into kindling wood before 

 you can fire the gun by this means. 



Let us have good guns, but above all, let every one who 

 takes a gun in his hands realize that the business end of 

 it means death to everything within its range. 



Backwoodsman. 



Eatj Claire, Wis.. May 16. 



"That reminds me." 



Holt and Mann had been on the warpath all day, 

 and after a short-order supper lay down on the open 

 prairie on the lower side of an irrigating ditch. They 

 had but one blanket to spread over them and nothing 

 under them but mother earth. 



At the very witching hour of midnight, when church- 

 yards yawn and men who sleep outdoors want the blan- 

 kets tucked in snug to the windward, the lower story of 

 Mann's back got cold. He was so tired that he didn't 

 want to wake up sufficiently to pull the blankets over 

 him, and thought he could relapse into his usual sound 

 slumber: but the more he tried to sleep the more his spine 

 congealed. 



Finally he was forced to take measures for his protec- 

 tion. He put his hand behind him to yank the blanket, 

 but instead of going out into the chilly night it went into 

 six inches of chilly water. He realized the situation at 

 once. The ditch had broken above them and he and his 

 partner were both thoroughly irrigated on one side. Mann 

 and a long string of expletives got out at the same time, 

 taking the blanket with them. By this time Holt was 

 rubbing his eyes with one hand and wringing the water 

 from his half laundried business suit with the other. 



Both men escaped to the higher ground, rustled some 

 wood and, as the wee small hours dragged through the 

 darkness, turned themselves in front of the fire to dry 

 their clothes. Holt was over anxious to complete this 

 work and get to bed again. In an unguaidecl moment 

 he got too near the fire and burned the whole north side 

 off the south leg of his trousers. He was thirty miles 

 from home and had to wrap up the exposed member in a 

 gunny sack until he could return to the ranch and re- 

 plenish his wardrobe. Q, O. Shields. 



Ennv, New Mexico. 



