364 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 38, 1898. 



CLIMBING FOR BLACKTAILS. 



Southern California offers to the deer stalker or hunter 

 after large game in general, certain peculiarities that 

 would, perhaps, satisfy the most ardent or enthusiastic 

 member of the Alpine Club. I have wandered over the 

 "White, Green, Adirondack, Rocky and other mountains, 

 but the Sierra Madres for diflacult climbing exceed them 

 all, and what in other ranges is, perhaps, a pleasure, is 

 here, to the pioneer at least, or the one who breaks the 

 trail, labor of the most fatiguing kind. 



From a distance of five or six miles the range presents 

 the appeai-ance of a great wall, cut into innumerable 

 gulches that radiate one from another in an interminable 

 manner, showing plainly the work of the rush of waters 

 in the winter seasons. The waU of tlxe smaller canons is 

 a divide or "hog's back" which, to the eye, seems a gentle 

 rising slope, a natural pathway from the valley to the 

 summit of the range. Nothing could be more deceptive; 

 once upon the ground the slope is found to be covered 

 with a growth of greasewood, pcrub oak and other brush 

 about 4ft. in height, little less than impassable, while in 

 the underbrush you have the yucca, or Spanish bayonet, 

 with its lance-like leaves, to spur the horse and rider at 

 odd moments, a quiet reminder of Orotalus that lurks in 

 the rocks hard by. The divide which appeared so easy to 

 climb, is now seen to be in many places almost perpen- 

 dicular, and if followed for any length of time ending in 

 a blind lead, bringing the climber to a deep canon, to 

 enter and reascend which would occupy two or three 

 hours, and weary a strong man. In short, the Sierra 

 Madres are an almost endless maze of canons stretching 

 away in every direction, crossing and recrossing each 

 other and presenting a labyrinth unequalled, at least in 

 my experience. 



Water must be carried by the would-be hunter, as it is 

 found only in the caiions, so that besides the rifle a can- 

 teen is an absolute necessity. Thus accoutered and 

 mounted on a horse that was known as a "butter," a 

 term, it should be explained, wliich means that the ani- 

 mal will lower its head and butt through the bush, I en- 

 tered the narrow canon of the Verdugo Hills and com- 

 menced the ascent, for it is in the upper regions where 

 the manzanita flourishes that the blacktailed deer and 

 large game is found. Himts are organized here on a 

 principle that affords the animal the best opportunity for 

 the display of its powers. The Verdugo Canon is about 

 a mile long, and forms at its upper end a basin, around 

 which, sentinel-like, are several peaks. Each of these is 

 occupied by a hunter, while the dogs are sent into the 

 canons that branch in all directions to drive the game up. 



The sun was just creeping over the mountains from 

 Arizona, its rays starting the shadows in the caiaon, as we 

 reached the foot of the trail. It had been a cold morning 

 ride even in this perpetual summerland. My own mare 

 was a good climber, hu.t not quite heavy enough for the 

 work, so I exchanged her for a horse whose climbing 

 powers are not excelled by any goat living. The trail as- 

 signed me led directly through the caiion through a most 

 attractive bit of scenery, a sUvery thread of water wind- 

 ing its way upward, skirted by low trees and bushes, with 

 here and there a lofty sycamore. The path followed the 

 stream for a while, then bra-nching off skirted the moun- 

 tain rmtil I stood upon a little shelf over the canon. 

 Down into it again, across, and the main trail was reached 

 that led in a most extraordinary manner directly to the 

 summit. My companion, who preceded me on foot, an 

 old Vu'ginia hunter, had been up before, but the rains had 

 washed away all evidences of his visit, and it was indeed 

 a butting process, the horse lowering his head and taking 

 things literally as they came. One moment I was lying 

 flat to avoid a branch of manzanita, the next slipping off 

 quickly to hold the animal and prevent him from going 

 backward down the steep inchne. Progress on foot was 

 almost impossible except to the trained climber. The dry 

 soil rose in clouds at every step, and the trail finally be- 

 came so steep that I was about to give it up, when the 

 horse gave a rush— slipped, and I slid off just in time to 

 see him roll partly over. For a few seconds what I 

 deemed the wreck of horseflesh was hidden in an impene- 

 trable cloud, but in the parlance of the ring, the animal 

 came up smiling, and as the dust blew away stood two or 

 three yards down the mountain patiently waiting for its 

 rider. I now led the way myself, and soon was upon a 

 spur at an altitude of perhaps 2,000ft., and directly be- 

 tween two cafions. 



"Here," said my companion and guide, wiping the dust 

 and greasewood leaves and twigs from his face, "is one of 

 the best spots for shooting I know of in the hills. Just 

 look at it! You can fire into this canon, wheel and let go 

 into the other. I've done it before this. Now, I'll put 

 the dogs down in here, and you take the rise just above." 



The "rise" wafi a small hill above the one upon which 

 we were standing— a huge mound or rock jutting out into 

 the abyss. I had almost reached the top when I heard 

 the welcome, quick, oft-repeated bay of the dogs, such 

 music to the ears of the lover of sport. A final scramble 

 and we were on the mound. I had just turned toward the 

 canon when the sharp report of my companion's "Winches- 

 ter echoed down the gorge, and my own Colts was soon 

 sending back echoes as fast as the magazine would work. 

 In the East it would never have occurred to me to attempt 

 the shot, as the deer was so far away on the other side of 

 the canon that it appeared about as large as a foxhound, 

 and was dashing along the almost jjerpendicular side, 

 sending a perfect avalanche of stones and earth down to 

 the lower level, where the dogs were making music loud 

 and furious. 



Shooting at so small an object in rapid motion and at 

 such a distance was a matter of chance; but the deer went 

 down, and I could just see it lying beneath a yucca, occa- 

 sionally moving its head. "That new dog will eat it up if 

 I don't go down," shouted my companion. "Keeja it in 

 sight, and fire if it moves," and with that he dashed into 

 the bush and went falling, rolhng and leaping down the 

 almost perpendicular descent. 



To take my eye from the deer would have been to lose 

 the spot, so I sat with my rifle sight an inch above it, 

 expecting to keep it up, or until my companion had 

 reached tiie bottom; but the deer hearing the approach- 

 ing dogs was soon again dashing along the side of the 

 canon, seeming to my excited imagination to dodge the 

 bullets I was sending after it. I could hear every one hit 

 the rocks, but finally rounding a jutting corner the gamy 

 animal went down, this time out of sight, to be found 

 by the other hunter a short time after, and shot again in 

 a desperate effort to escape. It was a fawn weighing 

 under lOOlbs., and its beautiful skin was penetrated by I 



five or six shots of a ,44 Colt and Winchester, telling of 

 the animal's tenacity of life. That it had been hit so 

 many times at such a distance, off-hand, firing as fast as 

 the magazine could be emptied, was somewhat surprising 

 to me, and while my guide constantly insisted that it 

 was partly due to my Colt, I am ratlier skeptical, and 

 only claim a single shot made when the animal started a 

 second time. My guide and companion was one of 

 the finest shots in this way I have ever seen. There was 

 no time for careful aim in his work; it was intuitive, and 

 in firing at a deer so far away that it looked like a dog, 

 and at full speed, he could hit at nearly the first fire. 

 Rabbits at full run were taken by him with a rifle, quite 

 as difficult shooting as one can conceive. The game was 

 shouldered and taken to the lower canon, the news 

 shouted from peak to peak, and an hour later the dogs 

 were started over the west side of the range. But a broad 

 track on the trail soon explained the lack of game; a 

 grizzly had stampeded the herd. 



My horse had taken me to the very summit of the range, 

 and as I had scored a point, I sat there and watched the 

 others fallow the hounds down the hog backs. The view 

 alone repaid me for the labor of the climb, as the whole of 

 southern California seemed at my feet. To the west and 

 south sparkled the waters of the Pacific, Santa Catalina 

 Island rising from it like a grim sea monster thirty miles 

 off shore, and sixty away as the crow flies. Beneath me 

 to the west was Los Angeles, the city of the angels, look- 

 ing like a scattered town rather than the large city that it 

 is. Turning to the east I looked down the fair valley of 

 San Gabriel, environed on one side by the Puente Hills, 

 and rising imperceptibly to meet the lofty Sierra Madres. 

 Pasadena, El Monte, Duarte and the ranches of many 

 town were spread before us like a map, the rich greens 

 and browns telling of orange grove and vineyard — a ver- 

 itable checker board in the flashing contrasts of color, 

 while above aU loomed, sentinel like, the lofty peaks of 

 Santa Ana, "Old Baldy," San Jacinto and San Bernardino. 



"I'll never forget," said my guide, who had again joined 

 me, "the last time I looked off the main range. I had 

 been over ten miles in following up the yarn of the lost 

 mine, and came out just above the tallest peak you see 

 over yonder. The black spot is a clump of trees that are 

 three feet or more in diameter, though it don't look it 

 from here. I was coming down, and had just got where 

 I had a view of the valley, when as fine a buck as I ever 

 clapped my eyes on came ti'otting out of the bush in front, 

 and before he knew what the trouble was I had him. 



"Well, I packed him to where I had left my burro. You 

 know they call them narrow-gauge mules over in Arizona, 

 but this old burro was rather the pride of my heart, the 

 light of my eye, so to put it, and the pet of the band. I 

 packed the buck on her and started down the trail, having 

 a long rope fastened to her neck wound about my waist. 

 I reckon we had gone a third of the way down when we 

 came to a place where the trail was cut in the solid rock, 

 a big piece hanging over and in the path. When the old 

 burro came to that she stopped short. I gave her a push; 

 then I took the stick and talked Spanish to her, but it wasn't 

 any use, and go she wouldn't. She evidently thought she 

 couldn't get around the place with the buck and con- 

 cluded not to try. It was a fall of perhaps a thousand 

 feet there, but I went ahead and began to pull, and the 

 more I pulled the madder I got, until finally I hauled her 

 on. She made a rush, and — well, it all came in a minute, 

 I saw the buck hit the rock, and over she went. How I 

 got the rope oft" my waist I don't know ; but as I chucked 

 it over the burro was out of sight and I fell back trembling 

 on the rock. I never even looked over, and never went 

 down, and I never drove a burro on a bad trail after that. 

 That was my last deer on the main range, and the coyotes 

 got that and the burro, and had a close call on me." 



The black-tailed deer {Gervus cohimbianus) is the one 

 most commonly found here, ranging the greasewood and 

 manzanita patches of the canon slopes, and its trails along 

 almost inaccessible regions show it to be a timid and re- 

 tiring animal. In size it resembles the Virginia deer. The 

 tail is ornamental, cylindrical and conspicuous, black 

 above and white beneath. The face is strikingly marked 

 with a horseshoe in front of the eyes, certain old hunters 

 considering it good luck to kill them on this account. 

 Some of the natural histories state that the meat is poor, 

 but the finest venison I have ever eaten was black-tailed 

 deer, the flavor being of extreme delicacy. 



The black-tailed deer ranges all over California and is 

 found in the Oregon Mountains. The Mexican or Sonora 

 deer (C. mexicanus) is sometimes, though rarely, found in 

 southern California, while the whitetail or mule deer are 

 others more or less frequent in the State. 



The black-tailed deer has few enemies in the Sierra 

 Madres except the mountain lion and the human hunter. 

 The former lies in wait, and often gives chase to the agile 

 animal, and at one of the falls in Millard Canon a friend 

 of mine found a fine buck in the stream. It had taken 

 the terrific leap of 40ft. over the fall, C. F. H, 



Pasadena, Oal. 



Rhode Island Ducks. 



Providence, R. I., Oct. 16. — Ducks are coming in, and 

 the boys anticipate some good sport in this line. Game 

 in general, especially the httle Bob White, is pretty quiet. 

 A party went down near Westerly a short time ago, but 

 returned nearly empty-handed. Our new preserve club 

 is well started, and we anticipate some good from it. The 

 boys are all taking hold well, and as the majority of them 

 are already members of the Rhode Island Game Protec- 

 tive Association, we have no doubt bxit that it will be a 

 great success. The Journal reports: "During the past 

 week sportsmen of this vicinity have been afforded am- 

 ple oppoi'tunity of enjoying sjjort in the lower bay. It 

 is reported that below Rocky Point, especially in the 

 vicinity of the islands, there are large flocks of coots, 

 canvasbacks and black ducks, numbering several thous- 

 ands, which as yet have not been rendered shy by in- 

 numerable sportsmen, although the past week has wit- 

 nessed the visitation of large numbers of marksmen in 

 row boats, yachts, launches and small steamers, and 

 many lai'ge bags have been obtained. The ducks have 

 arrived in local waters nearly a fortnight earlier than 

 last season and in considerably larger numbers, and the 

 sportsmen are highly elated at the possible indication of 

 the revival of a sport which for several years has been 

 possible in only a limited degree in this vicinity. Last 

 fall a very large flock made their favorite feeding 

 grounds just above Fuller's Rock Lighthouse, near Field's 

 Point, favoring the east shore at the mouth of Bower's 

 Cove." TODE. 



A POT-SHOOTING POT-POURRI. 



While there was an unlimited supply of mutton at the 

 ranch table, it was accursed in our sight from this very 

 fact. Too much of a good thing makes it proverbially a 

 bitter pill ere long. Hence, to come at the gist of the 

 matter on the instant, we decided for a change; and domi- 

 ciled in the wilds as we were, of course pot-shooting of 

 the more indiscriminate order became our readiest resource 

 for the securing of this end. 



If, according to the super-sensitive way of looking at it, 

 this proceeding was declared to be somewhat irregular 

 and wanton, let it be duly affirmed that we were not 

 disciples of this particular school of reasoning. Accord- 

 ing to the natural run of things, the scrimped inner man 

 and a tender conscience pull apart without any great re 

 gard being paid to formalities. It was not for us to dis- 

 pute the propriety of this. We dealt with the case with 

 unreserved frankness. 



The site of the ranch is on the shore of Big Klamath 

 Lake, in southern Oregon; and consistently with the gen- 

 eral topographical make-up of the district at large, wooded 

 mountain slope, arable plow land, intervale and marsh are 

 all included within its area. Marked amplitude is a dis- 

 tinguishing feature of the property of couree, as otherwise 

 its titular appellation of a ranch would never have been 

 its boast. In fact, its spaciousness is such that om* field of 

 operations covered but an insignificant fraction of it; a 

 feature of the situation that took the mete and bovmd- 

 harried Easterner immensely, and which he enthvised over 

 with unsparing breath. 



Almost every afternoon while the period of our stress 

 lasted saw us abroad, guns in hand. By "us" a trio is 

 signified, consisting in addition to the writer of two 

 urchins, one Walt, his associate shooter, and the other 

 Cholly, on whom devolved the work of retrieving, carry- 

 ing the bag and whatsoever other plunder more legiti- 

 mately proper to the occasion the child could be persuaded 

 to lumber himself with. 



Summer was well advanced, and in due order the wheat 

 harvest was over, leaving us free to range the stubble, a 

 broad expanse of which adjoined the ranch dooryard. 

 Here we could count on a never-faiUng tussle with the 

 blackbirds and turtle doves, as well as an occasional bout 

 with the quail. 



The turtle doves, I need not say, were the same identi- 

 cal creatures going by this name in the East. They were 

 somewhat chary as to the selection of their associates, 

 rarely being seen in aggregations numbering over four 

 or five individuals, It seldom paid us to attempt to get 

 within range of them by stalking, as they were too sharp 

 to be approached in this way. "We tackled them to the 

 best advantage as they flew by us or over us as seeking 

 fresh resting places subsequent to being put up, and which 

 was wont to result from a drive being made at them by 

 Cholly, who was liable, among the multifarious offices he 

 was called upon to fill, to be made to perform this 

 function. 



Under these circumstances the birds were now and 

 again so reckless in their reading of the points of the 

 compass as to come within striking distance of us and so 

 drew our fire. It would be a delightfully gratifying thing 

 to be able to say that we dropped every bird tliat we shot 

 at. But super-swift as this particular style of shooting 

 is we could not brag of so doing. "Super-swift? Bosh!" 

 one hears the boss shooter of the gun club exclaim. 

 Unanswerably true nevertheless. Turn to Wilson and 

 see wha,t he says of the wHd pigeon as a speeder and then 

 recall the fact that the dove is nearby related to the wild 

 pigeon. If the winner of money at competitive shoots — 

 tossed-up coop pigeons and clay chunks being the targets 

 be it remembered — has never had actual experience in 

 this department of marksmanship, the discovery of its 

 deeply exacting character will astonish him not a little, 

 and his clod-hopping rural brother who is master of it is 

 his master also, incredible as it may seem to him. 



Being as we were shooters of a quite unpretending 

 grade our success in this line of endeavor was but 

 moderate. If we brought down three or four birds during 

 one outing we counted ourselves quite lucky. As for the 

 eating furnished by the creatures it was genuinely of the 

 strain of the race a little dry, but aside from this fault 

 very good. 



The blackbird world here went in for amity and good 

 win in a way that another bipedal kingdom believing 

 itself to be iJlimitably its superior in the disposition to 

 honor the finer dictates of the spirit might creditably pat- 

 tern after. Intertribal differences bad no place in it 

 whatever, and aUits members met on the common ground 

 of an easy-going and familiar comradeship. If one could 

 trust his powers of identification there were some five or 

 six sorts of the creatures thus lovingly mingled, the chief 

 and most conspicuous kinds being the red- winged, the 

 red and white-shouldered, and the yellow-headed. 



The family, as all know, has a strong predilection for 

 meadow lands and low swampy coverts, and in keeping 

 with this innate proclivity, the birds in whose pursuit .we 

 were enlisted, located their quarters in a patcli of cat-tails 

 adjoining the wheat stubble, where they lodged, loafed, 

 gossiped, and in short fulfilled every function of their 

 lives save that of replenishing themselves inwardly. For 

 this purpose they turned, of course, to the most conveni- 

 ent som-ce, and just now the wheat gleanings met their 

 need in this direction to a charm. Several times a day 

 they fortified themselves with the dehcacy in question, 

 and when the multitude was fitly represented at the ban- 

 quet it was a multitude in very fact. 



As with the doves we did for the creatures to the best 

 purpose and effectiveness when they were on the wing, 

 and hence whenever we came upon them, whether on 

 the stubble or in their cat-tail retreat, our preliminary 

 step at the juncture was to flush them. The first move 

 made by them as thus i-outed, was to withdraw to a 

 willow thicket some 200 or 300yds. distant, where they 

 passed a good Httle interval in vilifying and berating us 

 in a polyglot chorus and aU they knew how. While this 

 was going on we took the precaution to hide ourselves at 

 convenient points awaiting the next proceeding in their 

 programme. This, with more or less meandering and 

 uncertain tacking hither and thither on their part, was to 

 return to the cat-tails, and at the last stage of which 

 maneuver we rarely failed to be given the chance to 

 pepper them soundly. 



As the birds were of different lineage so they were 

 found to be of diverse flavor. The yellow-headed variety 

 was the least taking in this particular of the entire lot. 

 The red- winged and the red and white shouldered were 

 far more savory. StiU, when all is said, the pie in which 



