Ave. 6, 18&1.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



4S 



a pony to the ranch for provisions, a good meal of Mrs. 

 H.'s cooking, and a visit. Little Christie was a pet among 

 them all. One old gentlemanly placer miner would come 

 often, thoughtlessly set his gun cocked and ready to go 

 off in a corner, di-aw a chair to the stove and sit with 

 Christie. Taken all around these old miners are as open- 

 hearted hospitable sons of toil as live on earth, and are 

 always willing to entertain you with stories of gold and 

 bears, provided they think you an honorable man, but 

 woe be unto the mi^creant that falls among them. 



One bright morning Fred Hoff cnan, one of the hired 

 men, suggested that we go over the mountains hunting 

 and prospecting. Fred shouldered a pick and I a .45 75 

 Winchester, and we started toward a ridge plainly visi- 

 ble from the house, on a mountainside three miles away. 

 I had never seen a deer, and having so go .d a guide 

 greatly encouraged my hopes of success. The first mile 

 we saw nothing, but as we began to olimlitht? mountain 

 Fred called my attention to 

 a rock that had been turned 

 over, and said it was done by 

 a bear. This mountain was 

 quite well timbered, but last 

 year a fire swept over it, 

 leaving but here and there a 

 patch of green timber. In 

 the track of the fire every- 

 thing was burnt d. leaving 

 part of the shorn and black- 

 ened trunks of the trees 

 standing and others fallen 

 in all directions over the 

 mellow soii. The higher up 

 the mountain the fresher 

 was the remaining vegeta- 

 tion, and we expected to find 

 deer before we reached the 

 crest. We soon began to 

 find tracks, and things in 

 general became interesting. 

 What a sensation creeps over 

 a man as he begins to feel 

 that he is in the near vicinity 

 of noble game. We began 

 to pick our way carefully, 

 examining the track? as we 

 went; but what could this 

 be, a track like a deer's, 

 but very much largei? 



'"Oh," said Fred, "'there is 

 a band of elk up here some- 

 where." Certainly -as we 

 ascended the tracks indi- 

 cated it, for the ground began 

 to be ti-acked in all dirfc- 

 tions by both deer and elk. 

 Coming to the ridge we 

 found a well-beaten path 

 made by elk. But hark! 

 from over to leeward came 

 a peculiar musical whistling 

 neigh, -'Do you hear thai?" 

 whispered Fred; "that is the 

 old bull elk warning the 

 band; they smell us." We 

 made haste carefully toward 

 the sound. Neaiing a clump 

 of green timber, crash! went 

 something, and a pair of 

 hams were seen to disappear 

 in the bushes too quick to 

 shoot at with a lOlos. gun. 

 I lost all consciousness of 

 everything but that elk, and 

 quickly followed him into 

 the bushcF, going very care- 

 fully. What a sight met my 

 anxious eyes! Standing not 

 ten rods away was a majestic 

 four- pronged elk lookmg in- 

 to the bushes where I was 

 standing, the most beautiful 

 jpicture a hunter ever set 

 ■eyes on. Tnose great lus- 

 trous eyes, showing fe-irand 

 curiosity, peering at my mo- 

 tionless form, short black 

 mane erect, nostrils distend- 

 ed and every feature on a qui 

 Vive of exjec ancy. Whaia 

 hai-rack those horns would 

 make! What a trophy that 

 head would be mounted 

 hanging in my r flSce! How 

 fine a steak could be cut from 

 those plump hams. I could 

 almost taste ihe ju cy tender- 

 loins. Oh, for a camera to 

 take that picture. I raised 

 the rifle to my shoulder; it 

 did not seem to weigh an 

 ounce, took a stpady and 



deliberate aim for that noble animal's heart and 

 stopped right there, for Montana don't allow a man 

 to shoot an elk under a penalty of $500 or one year in 

 Deer Lodge State prison. The vision of an iron bunk in 

 a narrow cell vs'ith nothing to eat but Chinese hash — 

 What would you do, brother sportsman, under the cir- 

 cumstanctb? That elk very aeliberately walked away, 

 and in a few minutes I saw him again and a younger one 

 with him, standmg broadside in full view, their beautiful 

 necks crossed, making a chance to kill them both at a 

 single shot. What a temptation! Thev looked at m^ a 

 while and trotted away (they had been disturbed so little 

 that they were tamer than the cows on the ranch), their 

 antlers rattling against the dead branches of the charred 

 pines, disappearing in a copse of bushes. Fred came up, 

 with an expression on his face showing plainly that he 

 thought I had the buck fever, and we started on. As we 

 neared the clump of bushes I saw the motion of a deer 

 raising her head and thoughtlessly said: ''Fred, there's a 

 deer." "Fred said, "Where?" but before this where was 

 out of his mouth I had sent a ball after hf r and she hob- 

 bled away. We soon found traces of blood, which we 

 easily followed and soon found her breathing her last 

 about 89 rods from where Bhe started. She was a large 

 fat whitetail do8. I was very much excited, as it was 



the first live wild live deer I ever saw, and went through 

 with about as many antics as a boy would in his first 

 new pants and made quite a show of my tenderfoot fool- 

 ishness, that Fred looked on as a circus, for it wasn't 

 much of a trick for him to kill a deer. We dressed her, 

 brought up Old Shave, fastened her to the saddle and 

 went home hungry and happy. Mr. H. gave up the idea 

 of killing the calf and we enjoyed venison steaks, stews 

 and mince pies immensely during the remainder of my 

 stay. 



I very much wanted a pair of antlers to take home as a 

 trophy, so the next morning I mounted Old Shave and 

 started again up the mountain. I had ridden about five 

 miles over a lonely track and came to a piece of timber 

 whei'e the ground was strewn with large granite boulders, 

 old logs, etc., making it look rather wild, 1 had ridden 

 some distance over this ground when Old Shave came to 

 a sudden halt, snorted and reared, nearly upsetting me, 



AT SIGHT OF SWALLOWS. 



Old-fashioned barns with doors swung wide; 

 The sound of cattle crunching in the stalls, 

 The sleepy glare of noonday, buzzing flies, 

 The clucking of a restless hen, 

 A twittering in the nests above the mow ! 

 All this I conjure from the past 

 At sight of swallows. 



W. TOWNSEND. 



turned and run for home. I stopped him after a while, 

 and rode back with my eyes peeled to see what he was 

 afraid of, but I saw nothing nor could I persuade him to 

 go any further, so I let him go home, thinking he knew 

 his business best. Mr, H. said he got too close to a grizzly 

 and knew I had no business with grizzlies. It seemed an 

 impossible thing to get a buck deer, try as often as I 

 would. 



The time came for my departure, I called for my board 

 bill and got a good-natured shaking. Mr. H. said I had 

 furnished more meat than the family could coni-ume and 

 had more than earned my board. I left the valley for 

 Marysville feeling as well as I did in the best days of my 

 boyhood. Tiiis world is large and there are a great many 

 good places to go, but the Little Blackfoot Valley will see 

 me again if I have life enough left to get there. 



On my return to Marysville some of my friends in- 

 formed me of the location of a herd of deer about 6 miles 

 away in the mountains. I shouldered my rifle and went 

 to Andy Neenan's comfortable cabin near the spot and 

 staid all night. The Neennn Bros, have a good paying 

 galena mine that they are developing and Andy batches 

 it in his cabin near the mine, which is increasing in rich- 

 ness all the time. What afaeolDadon there is in develop- 

 ing a mine. Many a man has been made a pauper and 



died happy in hope to the last, and a few have been made 

 millionaires out of what look to most of us like worthless 

 prospect holes. 



Morning came, I shouldered my gun and started for 

 the deer. I had no trouble in finding the place, tracks 

 were as plenty as though a flock of sheep had lived there. 

 I tramped over the mountain with both eyes strained for 

 a glimpse of a deer all the forenoon. In looking at the 

 tracks I noticed some pieces 'of good-looking float quartz, 

 traced it up the side of the mountain and made up my 

 mind where the lead was. Beiny; quite tired I sat down 

 and began to meditate on my find and to build air cas- 

 tles, etc. The prospects of gold galore having taken my 

 thoughts from the deer I concluded to go back to the 

 cabin and get a pick and shovel, and got up and started. 

 I had gone about a rod when crash, smash, thud, thud, 

 thud, and four beautiful deer were passing not fifteen 

 rods away. I saw them run at least 30 rods, their white 

 tails over their backs, bound- 

 ing zig-zag over the fallen 

 timber, in no very great 

 hurrv to get away. 



When I recovered my 

 senses enough to know what 

 I _ was about, the deer had 

 disappeared, and I stood gun 

 in hand, a grin of admira- 

 tion overspreading my coim- 

 tenance, my mouth open, 

 and what must have been 

 buck fever shaking my 

 whole system. Perhaps I 

 wasn't mad. I swore I 

 would shoot the first deer 

 I saw move, and went 

 stealthily on. Approaching 

 a clump of bushes I heard 

 a thud, thud, and knew they 

 had gone again. I rambled 

 around for at least an hour, 

 hearing that thud, thud, 

 often enough to know that 

 they had me all sized up 

 and knew that they could 

 peak throtigh the bushes and 

 smile at my greenness and 

 then run away in safety, 

 leaving me exasperated. It 

 was growing late. If I got 

 home before dark I had to 

 start. I started up a wooded 

 ravine toward home, and 

 had not gone far before two 

 mule deer does started up, 

 and I sent a ball after them 

 and followed on. They soon 

 showed themselves again 

 and I sent another ball at 

 the disappearing form of the 

 leader, and one stopped and 

 the other went out of hear- 

 ing, the one I could often 

 hear bounding away, but 

 could not see, I followed 

 her till dark and abandoned 

 her tUl morning. 



In the morning I brought 

 an old, experienced prospec- 

 tor and we located the quartz 

 lode, but could not find a 

 trace of the wotmded doe; 

 but I had a gold mine out of 

 the iiunt provided it amounts 

 to anything. How valuable 

 it is can only be ascertained 

 by developing the lead, and 

 that we may know in the 

 future to our joy or sorrow. 

 The lime for my return 

 home was at hand. The 

 last evening of my stay in 

 Montana was spent with a 

 number of old huntera 

 around the restaurant fire 

 telling stories of grizzly and 

 cinnamon that would make 

 a man's hair stand on end< 

 On my return home the 

 sight of md lions of geese 

 around Devil's Lake was 

 one I shall never forget, 

 and I just ached to get off 

 and make them tcatter. I 

 arrived home safely Oct. 14. 

 My wife and boy were over- 

 joyed, and the pleasure of 

 being at home again with 

 them was even greater than 

 the elk hunt. My old setter 

 Bonapttrte expressed his 

 gh dness in all kinds of dog 

 language, trying no doubt 

 to tell me of the sport I had lo^t with grouse and 

 woodcock along the old Cattaraugus. The neighbors 

 came in to hear my yarns and see my trophies, and all I 

 had to show was some quartz rock and tne hindleg of a 

 doe; but that hindleg tells me a long story if it don't 

 show off much, and makes me long for a mountain home 

 among the Rockies. John Y. Colb. 



GOWANDA, N. Y. 



Washington Feathered Game.— Shoal Water Bay, 

 Wash., July 20. — On July 5 the first gulls of the season 

 arrived on the bay from the north with their young — 

 there was a flock of about eighty. On the 7th small 

 flocks of sandpipers or peep snipe put in an appearance. 

 On the 9th I heard two flocks of yellow-legs go over 

 toward the south, and on the 16th saw a bunch of sprigs 

 going south; and heard of two large flocks of sprigs and 

 one of gray ducks seen on the tide fl^ts in this bay. I 

 guess that these are the first of this season's crop. On 

 Aug. 20 I expect to make one of a party who go to a 

 fresh water lake on the beach between Shoal Water Bay 

 and Gray's Harbor for a week at the south-bound sprigs, 

 gray ducks and mallaxds, and shall write an account of 

 the trip.— .Jim Maok, 



