98 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Am. 5, 1893. 



0a^nfe md 0mj, 



Visitors to our Exhibit in the Angrlingr Pavilion at 

 the World's Fair should not fail to examine the 

 stock of "Forest and Stream" books which will 

 be shown by the attendant. 



GOLDEN DAYS IN NORTH DAKOTA. 



Chicago, 111. — On a golden autumn morning, with four 

 others, I found myself pulling out of Grand Rapids, 

 North Dakota, behind horse-flesh of well known quali- 

 ties, and all of us hopefully bound for tlie Missouri at a 

 point near Fort Yates. Our motto was "Missouri or 

 bust;" and as we never reached our destination, self-con- 

 victed, we must have certainly been in that interesting 

 state of "bust." We were a gay party as we started out 

 that auspicious morning for the long line of hills which 

 ever seemed just a. little way ahead, but over which in 

 reality we were traveling from the very start. 



This part of Dakota — western part of La Motire, Logan 

 and Emmons counties, in one continuous panorama of 

 rolling land and low hillB; the hills getting higher and 

 rougher as you go west, being more or less covered with 

 stones and bouldei-s. 



The first day was uneventful. We stopped at noon for 

 dinner and a game of cards under the wagon. Our water 

 was carried in a barrel in the wagon. We also carried a 

 supply ot wood and some oats for the horses. Our stove 

 was a very simple affair. It consisted of a small square 

 hole dug in the ground covered over with an iron grate. 

 On this you can set your kettles and pots, and have din- 

 ner in no time. This arrangement takes very little wood 

 — ^a^big item where it has to be carried — and does not roast 

 a person along with the victuals. After dinner we care- 

 fully replaced our utensils in the wagon, piled in our- 

 selves and resumed om- jolting, joyous journey; telling 

 stories, smoking and reading, for we had not yet reached 

 the game region. At night, however, we were beyond 

 all signs of civilization and from then on we traveled by 

 compass. Our tent was pitched at night on top a high 

 knoll. We cut some grass in the slough for the horses, 

 ate supper, put the horses in the tent (this was the idea 

 of the owners, who owned most of the outfit, and who 

 were anxious that the horses be saved from the carnivo- 

 rous mosquitoes), and went to bed in and under the 

 wagon, with a gentle breeze stirring the canvas and 

 countless stars nodding us good-night. A tremendous 

 crash awoke us all with a start; the stai's had gone to 

 bed and the cover which nature had drawn was belching 

 forth torrents of water, while jagged hghtning was play- 

 ing everywhere. But I was so weary that I went into 

 the tent and lay down on a pile of harness and was imme- 

 diately in the land of nod. 



The morning was bright and sunny, and the breeze 

 was inexpressibly fresh and invigorating. After break- 

 fast we threw our tent, wood, cooking utensils, ourselves, 

 etc. into the wagon, and away we went westward. We 

 shot some ducks and plover a* we journeyed. The water 

 for the horses had given out, and as we were desirous of 

 a small guzzle we stopped at an inviting slough; w^aded 

 in three abreast, with much noise, in order to drive the 

 wigglers to other shores, and strained out a barrel of nice, 

 yellow, warm water; and we could now look the horaes 

 in the face. Incidentally we drank a little ourselves. 



As we jom-neyed we noticed long, winding, deep, 

 parallel paths stretching far away across the hills. They 

 were melancholy reminders of happy days long passed, 

 made by countless buffalo, and all around lay bleached 

 skulls and bones. The tops of the hills hereabouts were 

 covered with small circles of stones. I was at a loss to 

 account for this, but afterward learned that they were 

 23laced there by the Indians to hold down the bottom of 

 their wigwams. 



Night again found us at another encampment. We sat 

 late around the camp-fire that night, conjuring up the 

 past. We were in the heart of tlie past, as it were, and 

 om- gi-oup was no less silent than the spirits of those 

 who were once encamped on the very spot occupied now 

 by ourselves. I slept that night in the tent with the 

 horses and dog, and my lullaby was the swish, swish of 

 the horses' tails as they caressed the joyous mosquito 



After breakfast we put our guns in the wagon, carefully 

 covered them with the tent, wood and cooking utensils, 

 and jogged toward our destination. One of my colleagues 

 was reading aloud for the edification of the horses, when 

 our schooner came to a sudden halt. Right in front of us, 

 on the opposite side of the knoll, there stood looking at us 

 about twenty beautiful antelope. I carefuUj^ dug down 

 into the bottom of the wagon, upset the barrel of water 

 as gently as possible, sat down in the box of crackers, and 

 at last found my rifle. Strange to relate, the cuiious 

 creatures had not moved, but stood watching us with 

 great calmness. The horses would not stand still enough 

 for me to shoot from the wagon, and so I accommodated 

 them by jumping out. Standing on the ground I could 

 only see the heads of my poor victims. I selected a head 

 with a nice pair of horns, and shot just to see if I could 

 satisfy then- curiosity, and I found myself entirely suc- 

 cessful. Away they went. By this time my companions 

 got out their long range shotguns, and after waiting until 

 the antelope were far enough away to shoot without being 

 too badly mangled, began a Fort Sumter bombardment. 

 Meanwhile I was pumping the Winchester. I must have 

 overshot. Let me advise whoever goes after antelope not 

 to overshoot. It is also very bad not to shoot quick enough. 

 The dog became disgusted and took a hand." He made a 

 dive from the wagon, to which he was chained. Some- 

 thing gave way and away went the dog in hot pursuit. If 

 he hadn't been distanced he would have been running vet. 

 He was a Newfoundland, a fine dog on skunks, but a'ht- 

 tle rusty in this line. The same owner who owned the 

 korses, tent, wood, cooking utensils, etc., owned the dog. 



That night our camp was by a deep, wild-looking" 

 wooded ravine. A most romantic spot. After dai-k I 

 went a short distance from camp, and sat me down on a 

 boulder to view the effect made by the tent, wagon, 

 horses, camp-fire, moving figures and the dog. set off to 

 good effect by the gloomy ravine as a background. Tra- 

 ditions and stories of frontier tales began to flit across 

 my mind, and were made all the more real as I viewed 

 our own camp. 



In the morning I found an eagle's nest, and appropri- 

 at<-'d two young birds which I found i;^ it. I was verj^ 



proud of them. We carefully put the dog in the wagon, 

 threw in the tent, wood, eagles and cooking utensils, and 

 toddled along. All day, ever and anon, deer and ante- 

 lope were sighted on adjoining hiUs. We kiUed ducks, 

 plover and snipe on this day, as we did on every day of 

 our trip, but we did not exert ourselves sufficiently to kill 

 any larger game. We preferred to loll in the wagon and 

 shoot what got in our way, rather than undergo the 

 trouble of much walking. One member of our party, 

 who rode the only saddle horse in the party, rode down 

 into the bed of a slough prospecting for fresh water. As 

 he got among tiie long grass up jumped a big buck not 

 10ft. away. The deer removed to an adjacent knoU and 

 looked the situation in the face. Charlie, who was the 

 one looking for the water, did not have his gun with him. 

 Of course not. What does a person, who is looking for 

 water, want of a gun? O, no; his gun was in the wagon 

 under the various paraphernaha. We were not far off in 

 the wagon. I grabbed my rifle and the others their long- 

 distance shotguns, and the skunk dog grabbed his voice 

 and let out an imearthly howl. Forgetting that he was a 

 captive he shut his eyes and jumped. His chain tightened 

 and his hindlegs only touched the earth. He gave up 

 another wail at this juncture. The disease was infectious, 

 and the horses took a hand and stampeded, showing great 

 speed. The dog dangled 'twixt heaven and earth. I sent 

 up a fervent prayer that he would be strangled. Vain 

 request. The devil was with him; his collar broke, and 

 he was as free as Monte Cristo. In the meantime Charlie 

 had run the horses down, and we were in running order 

 agaiti. One of us, Biurt by name, a light, graceful youth, 

 jumped lightly into the wagon and sat himself doVn on 

 my young eagles. Their graves are near that spot. 



I will not weary you any longer. The grain which we 

 brought along for the horses finally gave out, and as the 

 grass was too meager and dry to 'sustain them we were 

 obliged to turn homeward. As it turned out one of the 

 horses gave out just as we reached home; and it was only 

 by an effort that he was saved. We only got about 

 half-way across Emmons county. From a hunting stand- 

 point so far as large game was concerned, the trip was a 

 failure; from a healthful, happy, romantice standpoint it 

 was a great success. The days were fresh and sunny; 

 golden gems as they come to my memory now. This was 

 five years ago. Game must be scarcer' there now. But 

 in those days that part of Dakota was a paradise. If we 

 had made the effort, undoubtedly with the assistance of 

 the dog, we would have killed much game. But as we 

 had a destination in view, and a limited time to make the 

 trip, I will leave those as my excuses. 



We arrived home brown, healthy and with a wonder- 

 fully developed faculty for sleep. Old Avalaijcsble. 



DUCK SHOOTING IN NEBRASKA. 



The spring of 1892 was an exceptionally rainy one for 

 Nebraska, causing numerous wet weather lakes in por- 

 tions of the State, thereby making splendid lays for 

 ducks and geese, more especially ducks. Purchasing a 

 team of ponies, wagon, etc., the writer, in company with 

 his brother Nate, loaded camping outfit and were off for 

 a trial at ducks. 



Having had very rainy weather for three weeks past 

 we naturally figured on a let up soon. The roads were 

 very heavy, nevertheless we pushed on en route for 

 Boone Lake. Needless to recount in detail our flounder in 

 a niire hole. Suffice it to state that we landed on the op- 

 posite side, mud and water being the principal part of om- 

 make-up. However, we were repaid shortly by running 

 right into some fine jacksnipe ehoctting, and mud and 

 water were soon forgotten. I scored some good shots 

 which had a tendency to rattle Nate, but he redeemed his 

 record on the outcome by returning to the wagon with a 

 goodly number of jacksnipe. 



Resuming our journey, a few miles further brought us 

 to Boone Lake. A good-sized patch of timber . standing 

 about 100yds. from the lake afforded an excellent location 

 to pitch camp, which we did in short order. Nate had 

 caught sight of 200 or 300 ducks collected in good-sized 

 flocks, quietly feeding here and there on the lake, but the 

 agreement was that camp should be made before any 

 hunting was allowed, as it was still early in the da.y, and 

 wehoped to obtain even better shooting by waiting till 

 toward evening and catch the ducks coming in for the 

 night. Nevertheless the sight of those ducks gave Nate 

 an iinpulse that I had never seen exhibited in him before 

 (barring a movement he once readily assumed on a bear 

 hunt with me), and the way things moved for a while 

 would have done credit to a much more pretentious person 

 than Nate. Tent up, a hasty meal, ponies hobbled and 

 tm-ned loose, a good supplj'^ of loaded shells, and om- 

 "wadei-s" on and away we went. 



Did the reader ever experience trying to hold an excited 

 sportsman within bounds as you were making a sneak 

 upon a bunch of ducks? If so, you can appreciate the 

 part I played in covering that 100yds. between timber and 

 lake. Withal we made a very good sneak, and succeeded 

 in emptying four shells of No. 4s at long range among a 

 flock of mallardB, six being secured. On the rise several 

 good shots were scored by both. 



The ducks began rising all around the lake, but kept 

 circhng, and seemed decided in staying for the night. 

 The truly fine sport then opened. Wading out into the 

 water, where I was partly concealed by the tall weeds 

 and rushes, I had excellent shooting, which lasted about 

 an hour; and for the gather I was obliged to make several 

 trips into the lake, coming out loaded, while Nate put in 

 a goodly portion of his time inventing excuses as to his 

 jxjsition, action of his gun, etc. 



Gathering our shoot, we retm-ned to camp, had supper, 

 enjoyed a smoke, built up a good fixe in the tent stove, 

 and lay around commenting on each other's shots of the 

 evening's sport. Confidentially between the reader and 

 myself, Nate is a better wing-shot than I myself; but it 

 takes a dandy to beat me around the camp-fire. After 

 making a programme for the morning's hunt, a game or 

 two at cards to decide who would be elected to build fires 

 and prepare breakfast, which as usual resulted in Nate's 

 election, we turned in. 



Five o'clock A. M, Rain, rain; will it never stop? 

 Nevertheless as soon as breakfast is over, dishes washed 

 (an unusual action in the average camp), we put off for 

 the lake. Shooting similar to that of evening previous, 

 except that Nate put the writei- to shame by more than 

 doubling his record. The score now stood two to one in 

 Nate's favor. Something must be done on the morrow. 

 How I worised md did olQ§e sh^otang, taking twut few 



chance shots. But the result of the previous day repeated 

 itself. Before starting to gather what ducks I had shot 

 I was carefid to get the exact location of Nate, so as to 

 aUow him time to gather and start for camp and not come 

 into contact with him, as I did not wish him to see what 

 I had killed. Upon reaching camp with our game, we 

 usually tied the ducks on a heavy cord and himg them on 

 a tree near by. In relating this special i)art of the hunt, 

 I am obliged to divulge a secret thus far kept to myself, 

 which, should this come before the notice of Nate, will 

 explain something which heretofore has been a mystery 

 and a source of joking at his expense. As before stated, 

 I had allowed time for Nate to gather hie ducks and re- 

 turn to camp, then gathering what few belonged to nay 

 credit, I started for camp also. As expected, Nate was 

 in the tent starting a fire in the tent stove. tJpoli com" 

 ing up to the tree where hung the trophies of previous 

 shooting, I quickly severed a string containing twenty of 

 more ducks, and as it was raining and blowing, and Nate 

 was busy at the fire, my movement was not noticed by 

 him, and I had no difficulty in adding my morning's 

 shoot to this string; and walking into the tent I indiffer- 

 ently remarked that we had had pretty good shooting. 

 Nate said, "You must have had it then, because I did 

 poor enough. " About that time he caught sight of the 

 string I had carelessly tossed on the floor. It was a stand 

 off between his mouth and eyes as to which opened wid- 

 est. A hasty coimt, a long breath, and then "You are 

 the luckiest man that ever puUod ti-igger. Every duck 

 that raised off of that lake kept circhng until some stray 

 shot from yom- gun accidentaBy hit him." 



I took in the cot, and attempted no answer. That 

 string of dead ducks filled the pxurpose. "Never mind, 

 my boy," continued he, "I'll rub you on this evening's 

 shooting." And I could readily 'see a. determination, 

 which would call for closer shooting on my part than I 

 had done that morning. Often since have I hstened 

 (with secret dehght) to 'Nate recounting this same duck 

 hunt, with the result of the score (about ten in my favor), 

 and have felt that he ought to be rightly informed. But 

 fearing to spoil a good story have remained quiet until 

 now. Should this come before hiin, as I expect it wiU, 

 as he is a close reader of Forest and Ste.ea-M, I have a 

 brother's ti-ust that he will pardon me, even though he 

 did come from Chicago to outshoot a Nebraskan. The 

 following day we broke camp, being obliged to secure a 

 large team of horses to pull us out of the mud; for the 

 continuous rain had made extremely bad roads, which 

 necessitated our giving up further hunting, although our 

 intention was to travel northwest to be absent three weeks 

 or more, as ducks and geese were vei-y plentiful. I shall 

 some time give an account of one or two of Nate's and 

 mj experiences in the Rockies of Colorado on a recent 

 deer and bear hunt. If there is any one place where 

 Nate does loom up it is on a bear hunt. J- S. O. 



FARMERS AND TOWN SPORTSMEN. 



Wilmington, Delaware. — Harnng read your publication 

 from its inception, and as a subscriber after the first and 

 second year, and having had much pleasure from the 

 perusal, as weU as information, listening to the pros and 

 cons, I feel it onl}'- fair to A^entilate my views. 



Your columns have been loaded with the views of city 

 sportsmen and flj^-fishers to such an extent that it might 

 be inferred that it was a crime to live in the comatr}^, and 

 own land and farm the same. City sportsmen legislate 

 to pass certain laws prohibiting this, that and the other, 

 upon lands they have no right or title upon, then haul up 

 the son of a farmer and fine or imprison him for violation 

 of law for killing or trapping, while they themselves pro- 

 pose to go scot free for trespass on property of farmers, 

 regardless of breaking fences and other damage. To a 

 fair-minded man this seems a little one-sided. As a fair 

 man I see no reason why a farmer, owning or not owning 

 the land, is compelled or stayed by the law from killing, 

 taking or trapping any quail, pheasants, or rabbits (as 

 they may become a nuisance) upon his property , or having 

 such right, cannot delegate it to others. 



The law as enacted says (virtually) you may not kill or 

 destroy. Suppose quail become a plague, am I compelled 

 to keep them to the extent of being driven from my farm 

 (if I had one) for the benefit of others who have enacted 

 a law for their benefit, leaving me in the cold? 



Again, the law says that traps and snares are illegal. 

 Suppose I owned 500 acres of land which belongs to my- 

 self and children. Quail, rabbit, pheasants, etc. , are cost- 

 ing me in a year ten times their value. Am I debarred 

 from getting them out of the way? Well, I would risk it 

 with a game warden at my side and doubt whether he 

 would not better be out of the way than in it. SuppoBe 

 the faz-mer had children and was too poor to buy the boy 

 or boys a gun. Farmer, wife and family like quail, 

 pheasant, rabbit. Why should they who have fed the 

 game not have it? They have fed the game; the game 

 lived off of them. Supix>se the farmer and family axe not 

 wealthy, have no time to learn to shoot on the whig, no 

 $50 dog and no gun. Why sliould they not trap and 

 snare (as they like quail) upon their own premises? And if 

 thoy did, who would know it but a trespasser, who is 

 equally breaking the law by being upon premises he has 

 no right upon? 



Having upon the soil of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 New Y'ork, Delaware, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Ari- 

 zona, Kansas, Illinois, Oregon and Washington, and 

 many other States, kicked and torn down snares set by 

 the ownere and inheritors of the soil upon which tlie 

 snares were set for quail, pheasants, etc., I have often and 

 frequently wondered whether I did right in so doing. 

 Why, were I a farmer's boy, with no money to buy a 

 gun, no money for cartridges, no dog to show the game, 

 and no time to be an expert wing shot with a gun. yet 

 liking game as well as my city brothers, why should I not 

 have it? Surely the end justifies the meajis. 



How many of us would starve to death in a deer country 

 in a close season, close season or not? and where would 

 the man come from to prosecute us? 



I am aware that the above sentiment would, or will, 

 open the flood gates of controversy, but to me it seems 

 that the so-called city sportsman has laws passed too 

 entirely for his own benefit and does not sufficiently look 

 at the other end of the stick. Fairness and equity look 

 at both sides. How many city sportsmen (gunneis and 

 fishermen) obtain permission to trespass? I will plainly 

 say, with them I have broken (in climbing over) more 

 panels of fence in on,% day than a mechanic's wages for 

 @ week would rebuild^ Being modest ajad uaassuaung I 



