4 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July n, 189i. 



THOSE GROUSE CHICKS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The announcement of the death of the grouse chicks 

 recently hatched under a hen (Forest and Stream, 

 ;july 9), though not wholly unexpected, is nevertheless a 

 matter of regret. It ia highly probablej however, that 

 all attemj)ts to rear the ruffed grouse under the domestic 

 hen will end in the same futile way. The two species 

 are so utterly unlike in all respects that they refuse to 

 aflaiiate, even when maternity on the one side and in- 

 fancy on the other, would seem to bring them most 

 nearly together. Some four or five years ago, when the 

 writer was more actively interested in this subject, 

 "Uncle Fuller' (Orin Belknap), of Washington, kindly 

 undertook to assist him. That gentleman procm-ed a 

 sitting of grouse eggs which he placed under a common 

 hen, and in due time they were hatched. But the "un- 

 natural foster mother," instead of caring, for the chicks as 

 a mother should, went savagely to work and murdered 

 the entire brood. 



I am also inclined to think that in the case recently 

 noted in the Foeest and Stream, the grouse chicks did 

 not have proper food. In the native state the young 

 birds are fed on insects, larvae, vegetable growths, etc. 

 Their immature gizzards are not tough enough to masti- 

 cate grains of any kind, and these with other unsuitable 

 foods no doubt laid the foundation for the chronic indi- 

 gestion which was the ijrobable cause of their taking off. 

 The ruffed grouse can be bred and reared in confinement, 

 but the chicks must come from eggs laid by partly do- 

 mesticated birds, who must look after their own young. 



TOLEDO, 0., July 18. Jay Beebb. 



That White Mtjskuat. — I find that none of the read- 

 ers of Forest and Stream have ever seen a white musk- 

 rat, or at least I infer that they have not since none of 

 them have replied to the request that I made a few 

 weeks since when noticing the capture of this animal. I 

 now think that it is a greater curiosity than ever, for 

 what some of the readers of Forest and Srream have 

 not seen in the way of animals must be most remark- 

 able. However, it might be interesting to them to know 

 that F. M. Noble, of Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, N. Y, , 

 a man that has handled hundreds of thousands of musk- 

 rat skins, and a friend of the writer, assures me that in 

 all his life he never saw nor heard of a white one. — A. 

 H. G. (Sing Sing). 



^dg md 0tttf. 



The ftxll texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Book of the 

 Game Laios. 



A HUNT IN IDAHO. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In September, 188-, having accepted a position with a 

 mining company in the West, I started out filled with 

 the idea that at last my opportunity had come for a craclr 

 at some of the big game of this country. I arrived safely 

 at my destination, which was a little mining camp in the 

 southeastern part, and not far from the Wood River 

 district, and immediately began to cast around for a suit- 

 able chum to go with me. I found one that had the hunt- 

 ing fever as badly a,s I had in the person of one Jim M., 

 the most ungainly specimen of the genus homo that it 

 has ever been my luck to come across. 



At the time I write of, Jim was about 18, stood 6ft. 2in,, 

 and weighed only about UOlbs, He was all bones, and 

 the bones were at all angles. He was a splendid shot with 

 either pistol or rifle, but had a supreme disgust for a shot- 

 gun. He was very wiry and could tramp all day over the 

 mountains,;eithei- on foot or on snowshoes, and come 

 into camp at night with a deer on his back as fresh as 

 though he had only just started out. Jim, by the way, 

 had a history. His father was one of Custei's most 

 noted and trusted scouts. He was with him at the battle 

 of the Little Big Horn , and, like many another brave 

 man, met his death that day. Jim inherited from his 

 father his Winchester rifle and an intense liatred of all 

 Indians. He passionately loved the hunt, so that it was 

 no trouble for me to induce him to start off for a week's 

 sport at whatever kind of game fortune might throw in 

 our way. 



Our outfit consisted of a saddle horae apiece, one pack 

 horse pretty well loaded down with our cooking utensils 

 and a few provisions; we took a little flour and salt pork, 

 a few potatoes and beans, salt and pepper and coffee and 

 sugar. Thus equipped we mounted our horses in front of 

 my cabin one splendid morning late in September, and 

 started off with a brisk lope down the trail, aiming due 

 north. The scenery was superb, we going through canons, 

 over ridges and divides, down into valleys and up other 

 canons. We started many rabbits of the "snowshoe" 

 variety, grouse and sage hens, but in our ride of forty 

 miles we saw no large game. About 4 in the afternoon 

 we started to make our camp at the entrance of a big 

 gulch, Jim saying that in the morniog we ought to be 

 able to get a deer. 



We unloaded our pack horse, spread out our blankets, 

 gathered wood for the raght, turned loose our saddle 

 horses, and fixed everything snugly, so that we could 

 turn in at dark, I then suggested to Jim that I wanted 

 grouse for su;pper, and taking my 10-bore Scott, which, 

 by the way, Jim had done his best to leave at home, we 

 started off following a little stream that came down 

 through the gulch. We had not gone far before .Jim 

 flushed five that were feeding close to the water. They 

 were very tame and simply arose from the ground and 

 lit in some pines elose by. Right here I saw the first ex- 

 pert pistol shooting I had ever witnessed, Jim approached 

 to within about 30ft. of three grouse and drew his six- 

 shooter, a Colt ,45. He shot one after another of the 

 three grouse, taking the lower ones first, and cutting the 

 head or neck of each one. At the last report the two 

 remaining birds flew, and in my hurry I scored a beauti- 

 ful miss with my first barrel, but retrieved myself with a 

 good clean kill at long range for the second. Having 

 picked up our birds, which were more than enough for 

 our present use, we started back to camp and Jim went 

 to work preparing supper. Our evening meal was quite 

 a good one in its way. After om" soup we had grouse, 

 biscuits, fried potatoes and coffee, and lighting our pipes 



we rolled up in our blankets and Jim proceeded to tell 

 hunting stories and his different experiences after big 

 game. I think his bear stories interested me more than 

 any others, and I went to sleep that night full of a feel- 

 ing of awe and admiration for the powerful brute that 

 Jim called the bald-faced grizzly, and wondered when 

 the time came that I first met one, I should do like the 

 Eastern tenderfoot that Jim had been telling me about, 

 who climbed the first tree at hand, and when he came to 

 the top kept right on climbing, and of course fell right 

 into Baldy's path. 



I had not quite settled just what I would do, when 

 sleep overtook me: and the next thing I remember was 

 Jim shaking me roughly by the shoulder and saying if we 

 wanted to get any deer, it was time we were out. The 

 stars were still shining and the air was cold, and every 

 thing was so still that it did not seem a living object 

 could possibly be within miles of us. We got om* horses 

 saddled up and made everything ready for a start, first 

 tethering our pack horse and fixing things snugly in camp 

 so that they would not be injured in any way during our 

 absence. By this time daylight was beginning to show 

 itself, and we staxted away, bound for a hot sulphur 

 spring which Jim knew of some three miles away. Going 

 within a mile of the place we dismounted and proceeded 

 cautiously on foot; here and there we found signs of the 

 near proximity of deer, and our advance become more 

 and more cautious. 



Just as we came to a little ridge on the other side of 

 which lay the springs, Jim whispered to me to get ready, 

 for if we were going to see any that day we would start 

 them up on the other side; and sure enough, the minute 

 our heads showed above the top, up started a ba,nd of 

 seven black-tailed deer with a magnificent buck in the 

 lead. They were about 75yds. away when they first 

 broke, and the way those deer put space between us was 

 a caution. I killed one, a young buck, using up all the 

 shells in my Marlin .45 70 caliber to do it. I will never be 

 able to tell if I had buck fever or not. I thought I was 

 cool enough, only I couldn't seem to be able to hit deer. 

 Jim only fired once, killing the old buck in the lead, the 

 rest of the time he spent laughing at me. 



We cleaned our game and hung them up and started 

 back for our horses. On reaching them Jim suggested 

 that we take a tour and come around from the springs on 

 the other side, thereby getting a view of the surrounding 

 country. On the way i had a shot at a silver gray fox, 

 and had the satisfaction of killing him at a distance of 

 about 100yds. We came across some very large bear 

 tracks, and I got of my horse and measured one of them. 

 I was wearing quite a large Mexican sombrero and it 

 would only just a litte more than cover one of the bear's 

 footprints. Jim said it was a grizzly and that we would 

 try to locate him the next day. I did not say much, but 

 I felt as though I had not lost any bear myself. I asked 

 Jim what he thought the bear making that size footprint 

 would weigh, and he said, "Oh, about fourteen to sixteen 

 hundred," in a careless sort of a way, as though it was an 

 every-day occurrence with him to bag two or three such 

 birds. We finally came to where we had hung up our 

 deer, packed them on aur horses and struck out for camp, 

 where upon arriving Jim proceeded to skin the deer and 

 cut them up ready for use. 



In the afternoon again we took the shotgun and started 

 out to have some fun with the grouse. I had splendid 

 sport with them for an hour and a half, killing over a 

 dozen, all single shots. Jim acted as reti'iever and picked 

 up the birds. So ended our second day. Bright and 

 early the next morning we started off on foot for bear, 

 and although we saw many tracks and fresh signs, still 

 we walked all day without seeing one; and came back to 

 camp pretty well tired out. 



The next morning -we broke camp and started up the 

 gulch, bound for a pass in the mountains that would let 

 us down in the foothills and gulches at the other side of 

 the range. It was a long tedious ride and very slow, the 

 horses having to pick their way over fallen trees, broken 

 from last year's snowslides, and the country was very 

 rough generally. As we went through the path, which 

 as it neared the top narrowed down, Jim tolcf me of how 

 a party of them had not long before driven a band of an- 

 telope through there, out of which they killed over a 

 hundred before they broke away. I am thankful to be 

 able to say that the meat was all used, nevertheless it 

 must have been slaughter. Jim told me there must have 

 been a thousand in the band, and that they crowded and 

 jumped over one another in their efforts to get away. 

 On the north side of the range we made a cache, bury- 

 ing all our game in a huge snow bank. We made camp 

 about two miles down a magnificent caiion at the edge of 

 quite a brook, had supper, rolled up in our blankets and 

 went to sleeji. 



In the morning early we mounted our horses and struck 

 out, leaving all our traps except guns and ammunition in 

 camp, and rode down the gulch, Jim taking one side of 

 the brook and I the other. We had gone about a mile 

 when Jim, whom I could not see on account of the trees 

 and bushes, suddenly commenced to whoop and yell and 

 I beard his horse tearing down the gulch. I at once put 

 spurs to my pony and managed to keep abreast of the 

 noise, although every second I expected to get a nasty fall, 

 the ground was so rough. It seemed about five minutes, 

 it probably was not one, before we came to a clear space 

 where I could see what was the matter, and then I saw 

 Jim, rifle in one band and sombrero in the other, chasing 

 an old black bear and her cub. Jim was whooping hke 

 a Comanche Indian at every jump his pony took, and 

 quicker than it takes to tell it Jim's whoops had the de- 

 sired effect, the cub got rattled and went up a tree, and 

 the old one crossed the brook right iu front of me. My 

 pony stopped short with a snort of fear, and I jumped off 

 and commenced what I thought was going to be a fight, 

 but it wasn't, for the bear kept right on running. I struck 

 her three times, and although every time I hit her she 

 would roll over and over, yet she would get up and keep 

 on going and she disappeared over a little ridge. I then 

 crossed the brook to Jim who had already killed the cub, 

 which weighed about 1401b3., helped him hang it up, and 

 then we took the trail of the old bear which we followed 

 easily by the blood, which showed that she had been hard 

 hit. We had not gone over 300yds. when we suddenly 

 came upon her: she was Ij'ing on the first branches of a 

 fir tree, about iSft. from the ground, busily engaged in 

 licking her wounds. Quick as thought we both shot, and 

 down she came and never moved after striking. We 

 quickly skinned her, and then hunted up my horse and 

 went after the cub. Jim had tied his horse, but mine ran 



about half a mile away; we, however, caught him vdth- 

 out any trouble. When we came to put the cub on Jim's 

 horse we had a circus, such bucking and jumping I never 

 saw; it took us over half an hour, but we accomplished 

 it, and went back to camp. 



That night in talking over our plans we decided to 

 make pack horses of all our animals and strike out for 

 home, walking up the ridge by the pass where we had 

 made our cache and come by a roundabout way to my 

 cabin. This necessitated our going over Mt. G., where 

 Jim promised me some shots at the Rocky Mountain 

 goat. In the morning early we started an < plodded on 

 steadily without anything eventful happening until late 

 in the afternoon, when we suddenly caught sight of a 

 grizzly bear feeding on berries. He was back to us about 

 SOOyds. away, and did not see or hear ue, We quietly 

 drew out of sight and securely tied our horses and held "a 

 hurried consultation in which we agreed to stick to- 

 gether, for Jim said "grizzly" would undoubtedly come 

 straight for us the minute he was hit and found out where 

 we were; then we started and came to wiihin 200yds. of 

 his bearship. Both fired together at the word, and both 

 bullets went home, knocking the brute over; he was up 

 in an instant, and turning snapped at his flank, where 

 one of the bullets had struck, and growled savagely. He 

 could not see us, but Jim firing again, the smoke from 

 our rifles showed where we were, and lowering his head 

 he started for us. To me he looked like a huae pig, and 

 I don't know what I was thinking about — probably of 

 home and mother— when the crack of Jim's rifle and his 

 hurried "Why the devil don't you shoot," roused me, and 

 throwing my gun to my shoulder I commenced to pump 

 lead at him. I remember that once we stepped to one 

 side to get away from the smoke of our guns. I also 

 imagined myself in a real battle. The crack, crack, 

 crack, of otir rifles seemingly was multiplied a hundred 

 times. I was cool through it all, but it was a mechanical 

 kind of coolness. Every time a bullet struck over would 

 roll the bear, but he would get right up again and keep 

 a-coming; every second that bear seemed to grow larger, 

 until he looked to me as big as a house. 



The funny part of it to me was that the nearer he came 

 the better I shot. Through it all I kept slipping shells into 

 the magazine of my gun, and when finally grizzly dropped 

 for the last time, only 50ft. away, I had' seven shots left 

 in my rifle. We found him badly cut up, two legs broken 

 in three places, and completely riddled through the body. 

 A peculiar fact was that not a bullet had struck him in 

 the head. We cut him open and found that his heart was 

 out to pieces. We estimated his weight between eleven 

 and twelve hundred, and after taking his hide we went 

 back to our horses and camped for the night. I hardly 

 slept, for after it was all over I caught a bad case of 

 rattles and was completely unstrung. 



We reached home early next day, going over Mt. G. 

 We saw one small band of goats, but too far away to 

 shoot. Later that same fall we made a pilgrimage after 

 them, and perhaps at some future date I will tell you how 

 successful we were. Idaho. 



SOME REMINISCENCES OF WYOMING. 



WALKING home one autumn afternoon, not long ago , 

 tired and despondent, I foimd my thotights wan- 

 dering back to some of the pleasantest memories of my 

 life. Again I could smell the aroma from the pitch logs: 

 sputtering in the camp-fire about which three of us lay ir& 

 tixe dark Wyomiug wood^. Again I could hear the light,, 

 fitful ahs whispering in the treetops over our little tent.. 

 Now I was scanning in the bright sunlight a great sweep 

 of rolling plains country, from the back of my stux-dy 

 pony, hoping for a sight of a "bunch of antelopes," the 

 cool, strong wind blowing in my face and pulling at my 

 hat brim. 



"Hello!" shouts a feUow at my elbow, scattering my 

 thoughts very suddenly. At the sharp warning I dodged 

 just in time to save my head a blow from a timber two 

 men were carrying across the sidewalk in front of me. 

 In the street a small fire of boards and latbs was crack- 

 ling, and from it to me the wind blew a thin veil of smoke. 

 The sjjicy odor of this it was which sent my thoughts 

 back to the times I hunted and explored in and near the 

 Rockies. 



But a few years ago there was, perhaps, no region in 

 the world where sport with the rifle could be more health- 

 fully and pleasantly pursued than in the Rocky Mountain 

 region from southern Colorado to the British posses- 

 sions. Favored by a high altitude where the atmosphere 

 was dry. bracing and healthful, here the hunter could 

 follow his chosen sport or vocation in a country filled with 

 noble game, and in a region where each day brought a 

 new surprise or stranger experience. With weeks of fine, 

 clear weather; with youth, health and a clear conscience, 

 is it a wonder happy memories were left? It was my good 

 fortune in May, '81, to take a journey to Colorado, While 

 in Denver, where my cousin and I rested after some trips 

 to the mining towns, we received a letter from an old 

 friend of ours then living on a small ranch in Laramie 

 county, Wyoming. Her hiisband had moved there from 

 Colorado some six years before to take up a claim. We- 

 had not met in over ten years. Mr. and Mrs. H. both 

 made the invitation to visit them, urgent and hearty; and' 

 being very glad of the chance to see a bit of frontier life; 

 and to renew an old acquaintance, we decided to accept 

 and visit the H. ranch. We had never seen more wild 

 game than the few antelopes our train scared away before 

 it in crossing western Kansas; so the thought of seeing 

 plenty of wild life fascinated us. 



On June 1, a sunny, lonely afternoon, the Union Pacific 

 eastbound train set us down at Pine Bluff, Wyoming, a 

 little cattle-shipping station near the Nirbraska line. H. 

 had arranged to meet us with his ranch wagon. His ranch 

 lay across the plains some thirty miles northwest. As he 

 had not yet come, my cousin and I strolled to the end of 

 the little platform to look about us and watch the depart- 

 ing cars. As the train clattered slowly oft' and disap- 

 peared from sight, a great loneliness stole over me. I had 

 viewed the immensity of the plains from the car windows: 

 but being set down and left at a tinv, lonely way-station 

 offered a new experience. The agent and the man with 

 him were the only human beings in sight: though a thread 

 of smoke came from the section house across the track.. 

 The only sounds came from the far distant train and the' 

 ticker in the agent's office. Bei^ides the section house 

 across the way, there was the statii-n, water tank, and a 

 small log cabin with a rough-board addition tisedas store 

 and saloon, on our side of it. All this was "Pine Bluffs." 



