656 



^ORiaSf AND StkfeAM. 



[Dec. 29, 189S. 



A LETTER FROM TENNESSEE. 



Last fall a friend and myself, in quest of sport and re- 

 creation,were situated in Humphrey's county, Tenn. We 

 were twenty miles [from any railroad, in a very wild 

 country, and among a people who eke out a most poverty 

 stricken existence from the results of their corn and pea- 

 nut crops. They live, as we did, on pork, molasses and 

 heavy biscuits. 



Our host, Capt. O.jWho had been a captain of the 

 original Ku Klux,', was considered quite a monoxjolist 

 down there, because be had a home with two rooms and 

 a hired man named "Jodie." My friend and I slept in 

 one of the rooms along with "Jodie" and four dogs.while 

 the captain and family (wife, mischievous boy of nine, 

 bright little girl of thirteen and baby) occupied the other, 

 which al^o served for dining-room— a rather cramped 

 salle d manger. 



The baby'had arrived a day before my friend and 1 did, 

 and naturally the captain insisted that his New York 

 guests should name it, and so we duly christened it Dor- 

 othy, a name quite unknown in that region, though ap- 

 parently appreciated. Of course, as we gave the child a 

 name we had to send it a dress when we got home, and 

 if our host had any thoughts of that at the time, I am 

 glad to think we did not disappoint him. And little Cora, 

 though only thirteen, after a few lessons became such an 

 adept at bird stuffing, that I sent her down as well a set 

 of implements, which doubtless she has put to good use. 



But I am not enough of a. writer to try to describe the 

 people and the country, nor do I intend to go into the de- 

 tails of our hunt, which was quite successful, I have 

 only written this to lead up to a letter recently received 

 from good old Capt. O,, of which I herewith tran- 

 scribe an exact copy. It gives a slight idea of the nature 

 of the people and of the present prospects for sport in this 

 part of Tennessee, and if it strikes everybody as being 

 half as funny as it did me, it may be worth the trouble 

 of reading : 



Dec the mix 1893 



Mf. S- and Mr. 0- of New York 

 Dear friends 



it is with pleasur that i seate my self to write you ail afew lines 

 to let you know that we hant for got you yet these lines leaves ue 

 all we'll and hope they will find you all well, well Mr. 8— i wish 

 you had ben with me the secone night of this instaut 1 went and 

 found a bunch of wild turkeys and i kild two that night and one 

 next mornine i had to let the ma jor Gr— have one and if i hadent 

 hen so buisy i would have sent you all one i was not dun getherin 

 corn then but i are don now and if i kill eny more i will send you 

 them thay are a good meny around here this fall i would be glad 

 if it is so you can cime down this winter and spend two or 3 

 weeks or anionth with me you and Mr. C— ort to see Miss Dorithe 

 now she can go any where the wonts to and can talk i will send 

 you some of her hair, thay hant very meny guail here some two or 

 three bunches right around here and the ducks is .iUiSt now 

 comence to como in here now i went up to the slough yesterday 

 evning and i saw some 10 or 12 but did not get non of them, Cora 

 skind the pretest hawk you ever saw and was going to send 

 it to you but the cats got holt of it and tore it ud we will 

 send you some this winter if we all keen well, we all received 

 your presents and was glad of them we wish we had something to 

 send you but you know how it ia and you must wate till i can send 

 you a turkey i think maibe 'i can send you one be fore long i have 

 got my crop in now and i think i will hunt some but I will huat 

 with you all if you all will come down here this winter if you 

 come down let me know whin you will get to W— and i will meat 

 you there, Jodie ses he wore his hog skin gloves to se his girl but 

 when he went to put his arm around hur wast he puld them off 

 so i will close for this time hoping to here from you ail soon i re- 

 main as ever yo»r friend 



The length and apparent strength of "Dorithe'ts" lock of 

 hair, which accompanied the letter, speak well for that 

 little one's health and for the country's being, in spite of 

 some disadvantages, a good place for babies, even if their 

 parents are somewhat behind the age. But if I have 

 seemed to laugh and make too much fun of a most 

 honest and heart-whole people, I take it all back, and 

 assure any one who might be tempted to take a trip to 

 this region, that he will receive a royal welcome, and at 

 very slight expense will have the best the country alTords. 

 And he will return to town with better health and spirits 

 too in spite of the pork and molasses and heavy biscuits. 



Fad. 



NEW ENGLAND GAME FIELDS. 



Boston, Dec, 2(5.— With the present week the season 

 on big game in Maine closes. Then the moose, deer and 

 caribou should be at rest for eight months, with a chance 

 to increase and multiply. It would seem that everybody 

 in Maine, and out of that State, should be willing to give 

 the big game a chance, since it is now so absolutely cer- 

 tain that letting the game alone for a reasonable portion 

 of the year is so prolific of good results. Such a season 

 for big gamehas never been experienced in New Eagland 

 as that which Maine has just passed through. The num- 

 ber of deer taken in the open season has been something 

 wonderful, and concerning which a good deal has already 

 been written. The number of moose taken is a surprise 

 to those who had begun to regard this noble game as 

 nearly extinct in New England. There are reports of 

 two more big moose killed by Franklin county sports- 

 men within a week. As for caribou, they have failed to 

 put in an appearance this season, 



Probably the last Boston party after big game this 

 season left town on Thursday for the game preserves of 

 the Megantic Club. They will also visit the Moose E lver 

 Valley of Maine, The company consists of Messrs. Wal- 

 dronB. Hastings, Harry W^. Sanborn, Stephen S. John- 

 son, all of Boston, and N. C. Nash of Cambridge, Presi- 

 dent of the Massachusetts Eifle Association. The party 

 is convoyed by Dr. Heber Bishop, President of the Me- 

 gantic Club, and they accompany him on his annual 

 Christmas hunt. The party expected to arrive at the 

 club camps about noon Friday, where they had arranged 

 to go into the woods at once for moose, caribou and deer. 

 But the weather suddenly came off the coldest of the 

 season and held so until Sunday. This may have caused 

 some delay to the hunters, though, doubtless, the bravest 

 of them will spend the most of the daytime in the woods. 

 Their time is short, since the close time of the game they 

 wish to hunt begins on Jan. 1. Indeed, they propose to 

 be back in Boston Jan, 2. 



Mr. Walter S. Hill, son-in-law of John B, Squire, the 

 celebrated Boston pork packer, is to take a short rest from 

 business with shotgun in hand. Mr. W^oodward, of Nor- 

 folk, president of the Eigged Island Shooting Club, of 

 Currituck Sound, has for a long time been inviting him to 

 come down and enjoy the shooting. He has lately writ- 

 ten Mr. Hill, and will not take no for an answer. So Mr, 

 Hill was to start on Tuesday of this week. To say that 

 his expectations are great would only express what ia 

 fully more than true. President Harrison has shot at 

 fhese campii, I believe, Mr, Woodward writes that the 



shooting should be excellent. This club is one that has 

 good rules, and is reported to live up to them. Mr. Hill 

 says that one of these rules is— he is quite certain — that 

 shooting is allowed for two days, and then a halt is called 

 for two days, in order that the game may have a chance. 

 It is also believed that as many birds are obtained, and 

 obtained easier, than would be the case were shooting al- 

 lowed every day. The bu-ds are not all frightened away, 

 as they would be by constant shooting, 



Mr. Harry Dutton, of Houghton & Dutton, a well known 

 Boston dry goods house, intends to soon go on a quail 

 shooting expedition to Tennessee. Reports mention ex- 

 cellent sport there. Mr, Dutton has one of the best dogs 

 in the world, and those who have followed the Fokest 

 AND Stream field trials carefully will remember the ex- 

 ploits of Duke of Kent. 



With the recent cold weather the p onds in New E ngland 

 have all been frozen thoroughly, and now the pickerel 

 iishermen are at hand. iMready some good strings are 

 reported from the ponds in Plymouth, and at Lake Wel- 

 don. In Maine the pickerel fishermen have been at it 

 for some weeks, the pjnds in the northern and middle 

 portions of that State having frozen over early. Better 

 resul ts are mentioned than last year. Specia l. 



DEER RIFLES AND SPLIT BULLETS. 



Editor Forest and Stremti: 



Two items in Foeest and Stream of Nov. 17, "Rifles 

 for Djer," and "Losing Wounded Dder," attracted my 

 attention. My observation and experience cause me to 

 agree with the writers of those items. My sporting 

 friends, men of large experience, in hunting deer, concur 

 with me on those points, as I know by frequent conversa- 

 tion with them. 



We all have used rifles of different calibers, but those 

 friends now use caliber ,45. I would not want a rifle for 

 deer hunting of a caliber less than that, unless I could 

 make it as effective as a caliber .45 at least. For the last 

 fifteen years or more I have used a caliber ,40, but for a 

 few years past I have made it as effective I believe as a 

 calibtr ,50 or more, solid bullet. I use 75grs. powder, 

 .320gr8. bullet, bullet Hin. in length, split. 



In molding my bullets I insert between the jaws of 

 the molds a thin piece of pa.per, extending from the tip 

 of the bullet about one- half its length. When the bullet 

 is taken from the molds, the casual obsei'ver would not 

 notice the charred paper in the bullet. W^hen such a bul- 

 let strikes a bone or tough muscle, the two points will 

 spread, and roll over toward the butt end of the bullet 

 making a wound larger than a .50cal. solid bullet, larger 

 I believe than a .SOoal. express. 



Three years ago I killed a large buck, shot it through 

 the body with such a bullet. The wound apparently was 

 large enough readily to admit the end of a broom handle. 

 I killed with such a bullet a spike buck, by shooting it in 

 the neck from tlae front, the bullet passing through the 

 shoulder and cutting in two five ribs and lodging in the 

 hip. 



The wounds in deer killed with such bullets were so 

 great, and noticeable, that my companions would jocosely 

 remark to me, they would rule me out of the hunt on ac- 

 count of using sxtch things. My obseration is that many 

 more deer shot with buckshot are lost than with the rifle 

 of the caliber now generally used. I believe the difference 

 is occasioned by the bullet being larger in diameter than 

 the buckshot, for one thing. A deer wounded with a bul- 

 let of large diameter will bleed much more rapidly than 

 when shot with a small bullet, and the deer will become 

 exhausted quicker, besides that the large bullet seems to 

 shock, paralyze the animal to a greater extent than a 

 small bullet. 



When a lad I shot equirrels in tall trees with shotgun. 

 No 6. shot, filling the animal with shot, perhaps breaking a 

 leg, and still the equirrel would hang to the tree top, 

 sometimes requiring a second shot. When I came to use 

 the rifle for the same game, I found that when only a 

 leg was broken he would fall. I then but a lad believed 

 as now, that the bullet shocked, paralyzed the game. 

 There is another reason why a rifle of large caliber is pre- 

 ferable to a small one. A heavy btillet will crush bones 

 that a light one will not aflfect. The hunter using buck- 

 shot frequently finds shot lodged against the bones of the 

 limbs without breaking them, so with small bullets. Of 

 course bullets now used, fixed ammunition, as a rule are 

 much heavier than the spherical bullet of the same cal- 

 iber; the same may be said of the larger calibers, 



I believe not one-half the deer shot by good hunters, 

 men skilled in the use of the rifle, are secured. I have 

 hunted deer for over thirty- flve years, and in different 

 places, and but few times have I found the game accom- 

 modating enough to give me a standing shot; the most 

 they would concede would be a snap shot. If the hunter 

 waits for an opportunity to select a point so as to make a 

 dead sure shot, he will in all probabilities leave the tim- 

 ber without meat. 



It is surprising how far a severely wounded deer will 

 sometimes run. I have had more than an ordinary op- 

 portunity to vereify this idea. In most of my deer hunt- 

 ing, I have had with me my bird dogs, trained to slow 

 trail deer, and vdth their aid seldom lose a severely 

 wounded animal. 



On one occasion I was hunting with a companion in the 

 Rockies and a black-tailed deer ran past us. I fired the 

 rifle and missed, then let the buckshot go. The deer 

 gave no appearance of being hurt. I watched it running 

 for about a quarter of a mile, untill it passed over a bluff 

 into a creek bottom out of sight. 



From some reason, what I cannot eay, an impression 

 was on my mind I had killed the animal. I so stated to 

 my companion, and that I would follow it. He said it 

 was folly, that there was never a gun made that would 

 kill a deer with buckshot, the distance I had tired. I fol- 

 lowed the trail and found the deer at the foot of the bluft" 

 shot through the heart with a buckshot. On another 

 occasion i shot a large doe in the edge of the timber as 

 she ran past me. It ran out upon a freshly burnt prairie. 

 I could see no blood but with the aid of my dog trailed 

 her o^er two miles until she struck into an old deer trail, 

 and coming to the conclusion I had not hit the animal, 

 gave up the chase. A few days afterwards while follow- 

 ing that old deer trail, I found the doe dead. One of her 

 shoulders was badly broken by the bullet. I shot a buck 

 as it ran past me, shot it with the rifle, it fell, then sprang 

 up and was out of sight in the brush before I could get in 

 another shot. I followed it about half a day, there being 

 a ei^ow, before I could get a e^cond shot, The animal was 



shot through the breast, low down. The wound was 

 evidently mortal. When hunting where there are several 

 camps of hunters, within a few miles of each other, it is 

 not an uncommon occurrence to find dead deer evidently 

 killed by some of the hunters. I could multiply in- 

 stances to illustrate the points under consideration. It 

 is better for the sjiortsman and mercy to the deer to use as 

 deadly a weapon as possible, H. L. 



CHANGES IN NEBRASKA. 



Dawes Cottnty, Neb. — Northwest Nebraska is not 

 usually a very inviting field to the sportsman. Six or 

 seven years ago there was game here in abundance. Deer 

 and antelope in goodly numbers roamed the pine-clad 

 hills and pastured in the unbroken prairies, while now 

 and then a huge antlered elk could be seen browsing in 

 the valley or standing with head erect on the steep hill- 

 side. At that time, too, grouse, the pin-tailed variety^ 

 were here in countless numbers. I think I can say with- 

 out warping the truth that I have seen single flocks of 

 these savory birds that contained upwards of 1,000. They 

 were almost as tame as the common domestic fowl and 

 the settlers killed them by thousands. In fact this was 

 the chief source of subsistence to many a poor home- 

 steader during the winter of 1885 and '86. It was fried 

 grouse f OB-breakf ast, broiled grouse for dinner and grouse 

 cold for supper, day after day for months. To give some 

 idea of the tameness of the grouse here then it will only 

 be necessary to tell how a vast number were slaughtered. 

 The hunter, armed with a ,33 breechloading rifle, would 

 walk boldly up to within a few yards of the tree on 

 which a flock of these birds had settled and there stand 

 and shoot until a dozen or more had fallen dead to the 

 ground before their companions would take flight. I 

 have known fifteen to be killed in this way from a single 

 standpoint. 



It is usually too dry here for waterfowl, but the past 

 season was uncommonly wet, and in consequence large 

 ponds and lakes were formed in various places through- 

 out the country, which induced a good many cranes, 

 geese, ducks and snipe to sojourn a while with us on 

 their way South. 



For a few days after our heaviest rains great flocks of 

 curlew visited the stubble and pasture fields and feasted 

 on big plump grasshoppers. 



Six years ago there was not a quail in northwestern 

 Nebraska, but some gentlemen at Long Pine, about 150 

 miles east of here, had a few shipped in and turned 

 loose: and they have increased and scattered abroad over 

 all this part of the State. Last fall I saw several coveye 

 of from 10 to 20 young birds. I think they will do well 

 here, for our winters are generally mild, and there is an 

 abundance of food and shelter. 



The place seemed more civilized and homelike when 

 these cheerful little rustlers appeared on the scene and 

 began to pipe in the bright June mornings those old 

 familiar words, "Bob White,"' I had loved to hear since 

 early boyhood. 



Song birds are a great deal more numerous here now 

 than a few years ago. During the- summer of 1885 I 

 think I saw but two robins and one thrush, although I 

 kept on the lookout for my feathered friends. But now 

 the fields and groves are endeared by the low sweet notes 

 of the robin and the mild joyous melody of the thrush 

 from April until October, 



Last year a good many robins and meadow larks win- 

 tered here; the former kept close to the timber and 

 brush, but the latter, during stormy weather, sought the 

 barn yard or straw pile for feed and shelter. 



There is a marked difference in the song of the meadow 

 lark here from that of the East; it is more shrill and 

 harsh and has several variations. Perhaps the climate 

 is responsible for thie change. T. S. Allison. 



COLORADO ASSOCIATION. 



The Rocky Mountain Sportsmen Association held their 

 adjourned meeting in Denver, Dec, 19. The name was 

 changed to the Colorado G ame and Fish Protective As- 

 sociation, and all reference to trap-shooting was stricken 

 from the constitution and by-laws. It is the intention of 

 the members to work for game protection and leave all 

 trap-shooting tournament to the shooting clubs. 



The game law committee reported, and their report 

 was adopted after some discussion. The following were 

 the most important changes recomraender': An open 

 season on sage hens from Aug. 1 to Nov. 15, on quail 

 from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1; to extend the season on wild fowl 

 to April 15. to raise the maximum penalty in all convic- 

 tion to $200 and the minimum to $50: to give power to 

 the game warden to seize and confiscate all game, etc., 

 unlawfully killed or in possession, and to search wagons, 

 tents and outfits; to exbend complete protection to bison, 

 mountain sheep and goats: to prevent the sale of hides, 

 and to make the open season on large game from July 1 

 to Nov. 1. They also recommended the repealing of the 

 bounty law in regard to bears and mountain lions, and 

 that the office of game warden should be separate from 

 that of Fish Commissioner. 



The following officers were elected: W. C. Bradbury, 

 President; F. A. Williams, Vice-President; M. Hewitt, 

 Secretary and Treasurer. 



A vote of thanks was extended to the outgoing officers. 



J. N. Barrett, Game Commissioner of Utah, has writ- 

 ten Game W^arden Land, informing him that M. A. 

 Perkins of Dixon, Wyo., had 5.000 pounds of doer and 

 elk meat in his possession and was preparing to ship it 

 West. Perkins made an affidavit that the game was 

 killed in Colorado. The market hunters are killing deer 

 by the hundreds in the White River country and the 

 meat is being shipped out by the wagon loads. Mr. 

 Land has gotten Governor Routt to appoint G-. A. Lech- 

 mere deputy warden for that country, and he will in- 

 vestigate this wholesale killuig at once and, if possible, 

 make some arrests. Teseeby. 



What a Store of Good Heading He Has Had! 



PiTTSEiELD, Mass., Nov. Editor Forest umd Stream: 

 Dear Sir ; The bit of history you put on back of your letter 

 in regard to the paper starting in 1873 reminds me that the 

 iirst sporting paper that 1 subscribed tor was the American 

 Sportsman. I was printed by Porker Brothers., West Mer- 

 idei), Conn. This was in 1868. The name was changed to 

 Bod and Gun and then to Forest anp Stream. 



I have been a subscriber off and on for many years, and 

 will eay that it improvesi with time. P. W. S. 



