542 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Dec. 28. 



EXPERIENCES WITH DEER AND MOOSE. 



This is for the Beason of 1893 in northern New Hamp- 

 shire. Jacking, still-hunting and hounding are all prac- 

 ticed and sanctioned by law. 



Mr. Bumford, proprietor of the Connecticut Lake 

 houses, came in to Second Lake with guests for a day's 

 hunt. Going up the long dead-water of East Inlet in 

 mid-day they paddled slowly, silently, back toward the 

 dam for a twilight shot. They had made nearly the whole 

 distance, and having neither seen nor heard any game, 

 began to tire of the monotony. The ubiquitous kingfisher 

 was seated on the stub of a tree, and our friend, to test 

 his skill, fired and missed. At the instant they rounded 

 the last bend, three deer, a large buck and 'two does, 

 startled by the report, as they stood quietly feeding in the 

 stream, were springing up the bank, and sooner than it 

 takes to tell it were lost to view behind the thick woods. 

 They were saluted in their retreat by a couple of shots, 

 but no damage was inflicted. It was a sad ending for 

 that twilight shooting. 



But the day, or rather the night, was not yet done. 

 Wending their sorrowful way to the sliore of the lake, the 

 coming darkness made necessary a cliange of programme. 

 "Wrapped in overcoats and blankets, and seated under a 

 brUUant head light, the guide sent the frail, but steady 

 Indian Rock boat noiselessly along the east shore toward the 

 foot of the waters. Shotgun had replaced rifle, as a close 

 encounter was to be courted. The jack was closed, the 

 ears were strained to catch the faintest sound. Several 

 boats, in fact, were at this moment hovering about the 

 shores in the darkness bent upon the same errand. A 

 few ducks went scurrying through the gloom, a nocturnal 

 water rat disturbed the surface and caused a sudden ting- 

 ling of the nerves in expectation of something bigger. 

 Boats narrowly escaped colliding in the blackness, still 

 our redoubtable host held to his work. Finally, about 

 midnight, after careful maneuvering in the neighbor- 

 hood of a suspicious splashing and stamping, the cap of 

 the headlight was suddenly, but noiselessly removed, and 

 there, not eight rods away, the body and antlers of a noble 

 buck were outlined against the sombre woods. A quick, 

 sure aim, a loud report, a crashing in the underbrush as 

 the quarry plunged away for a few rods, and all was still. 



Yes, it was noble game — the meat alone weighing 

 265lbs. It was photographed, and visitors another sea- 

 son will see the picture if they peep into the showcase in 

 the oiiice, and I\Ir. Bumford will lell you the rest, and 

 assist you to find as manj^ more of the same sort, if you 

 have the patience and the steady nerves to match. 



Occasionally a moose is found roaming in tliese parts, 

 and hardly a year passes but one or more are killed. 

 One day in September Mrs. Farnsworth, whose house is 

 situated on the shores of First Lake, while about her 

 household duties, had her attention attracted to what she 

 at first supposed to be a tree with roots attached floating 

 upon the surface of the water, but on closer inspection 

 she discovered that a bull moose was. making for the east 

 shore. Her hu^band, Josh, as he is familiarly called, and 

 the most redoubtable hunter in these parts, had j ust gone 

 from the premises, but the hired man was at once in- 

 formed of the presence of moose. Seizing Josh's Marliii 

 magazine rifle, which was always supposed to be loaded 

 to the full, and the boat being at hand, he lost no lime in 

 overhauling the great animal. A moose is a swift and 

 powerful swimmer, but he is no match for a man in a boat 

 that is supplied with good oars. The surface of the lake 

 was not a little rufiled by a high wind blowing at the time, 

 but coming alongside the beast and within a few rods, he 

 dropped the oars and taking the rifle commenced a lively 

 fusilade. One missile lifted a tuft of hair from the back 

 of the animal's neck, and had it gone an inch lower 

 would have proved fatal. Another struck one of the 

 huge antlers, which so stunned the moose that for a 

 moment he sank well out of sight, and Mrs. F., who was 

 an interested spectator, supposed the game was killed; 

 but the hired man knew better, for he distinctly heard 

 the hum of the lead as it went on its deflected course 

 across the lake. The moose was not long in recovering 

 from the concussion, and was soon up and at it, more de- 

 termined than ever to make the bank, which he soon did 

 with hLs pursuer not far behind him. When once his huge 

 hoofs felt the solid ground beneath him he seemed in no 

 haste to retreat further, but actually faced about, and with 

 his ugly, fiery eye bent on his enemy stood stamping, as 

 much as to say, "Come on if you dare." Surely his 

 majestic form offered a sulficient target, but unfortunately 

 the hammer fell with only a dull thud, w-hen the further 

 attempt to shoot was made, and no spare cartridges had 

 been taken along. It was a bitter disappointment, but 

 had to be borne, and the great woods of the Dead Dia- 

 mond region into which he plunged still continue to be 

 pastures new and inviting, where no doubt he has found 

 congenial companionship, and with truth can tell of at 

 least one "hair-breadth" escape! 



Messrs. Dudley, Eustice and Shurtleff (Fish and Game 

 Commissioners for New Hampshire) while on their annual 

 camping expedition up the Magalloway River earlier in 

 the season, counted fifty-seven deer during their three 

 weeks' sojourn. 



Diamond Ponds, justly celebrated for its fine trout, 

 where a hotel is kept by our genial friend "Mort" Noyes, 

 is also the home of the deer. The excellent marksman 

 and veteran hunter, the Clerk of the Court, had a little 

 vexatious exjjerience here this season. The dogs had been 

 put out as usual, and our friend had stationed himself on 

 his favorite runway, standing well back in the shadow of 

 a friendly tree, and at the time resting his rifle in the 

 crotch of the same. Great good fortune seemed to favor 

 him, for a great buck broke cover and stood irresolute for 

 a moment on the shore of the pond. The opportunity was 

 not lost; tlie deer, at the repait, confused as to the w"here- 

 abouts of his enemy, plunged in and swam directly to- 

 ward the Clerk of the Com-t. Again and again the rifle 

 spoke, while the game, after much tacking, finally gained 

 the shore near where the hunter stood, only to be shot at 

 again. When the magazine was emptied and the buck 

 was gone, it was discovered tliat the sights had been 

 raised by a fiend who had borrowed the piece to use at a 

 long distance target and had forgotten to lower them, and 

 Mr. Clerk, not having given a close inspection before 

 going into action, made a sad botch of the whole business. 

 Moral: Be sure your sights are right and then go ahead. 



Speaking of moose reminds me of the experience of 

 two hunters who got lost while on an outing, but this 

 was further down in the country; and much nearer the 

 White Mountains. After wandering about aimlessly for 



a time, they came to the shores of an unknown pond, evi- 

 dently seldom frequented. On the further shore they 

 descried the balky form of a moose, well down in the 

 water, nibbling at his favorite moss growing on the bot- 

 tom. Being hungry, and tired of the monotony of long- 

 continued tramping, they cautiously skirted the shore, 

 hoping to intercept him. When they reached a position 

 sufficiently near as they supposed to secure a good shot, 

 cautiously they crept out to take a look, but found that 

 the animal had spirited himself away. For a time they 

 were greatly mystified, and began to think tliat their long 

 walk and fasting had deranged their vision, but they 

 could not account for the fact that both had seen, 

 or supposed they had seen the moose. While 

 they were engaged in these unpleasant reveries, 

 their ears were saluted by a loud snort that seemed to 

 come from above them. Hastily glancing up, sure enough, 

 there stood the moose on the brink of a high bluff not 

 forty rods distant. Our lost friends did not dare risk a 

 shot; indeed, it is doubtful if they could have hit it even 

 if they had fired. Quietly they betook themselves to the 

 woods again, not knowing just what ought to be done 

 next. Not a long time had elapsed when one of the 

 hunters, happening to look oft' on the water, saw the 

 moose again feeding in almost the identical spot where it 

 had first been observed. It was great good luck, for a 

 careful shot or two brought the moose to bag. The gen- 

 tlemen were not only fortunate in killing the big game, 

 but in bringing it into the village of Lancaster. It is not 

 always that men getting lost are so fortunate in hunting 

 and killing big game. 



But time and your limited space would forbid the nar- 

 ration of the many experiences that night to be chroni- 

 cled. Suffice it to say, we were fortunate in our shoot- 

 ing. It was Sept. 1, a twilight shot. A deer had walked 

 up our run and fell shot through the head not 30ft. away. 



These moods of killing, jacking, still-htmting and 

 hounding, will be permissible, at least, another year. 

 Whether the supply will hold out against the modern 

 rifle, coupled with the keen-scented and swift-footed 

 hound, is a question our legislators will do well to 

 ponder. C. H. Gleason. 



NATIONAL PARK RAILROAD. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It has become quite the fashion with the advent of 

 winter and tlie near approach of the annual assembling of 

 Congress, for the people of Montana, and indeed the 

 whole United States, to be treated to lengthy ne%vspHptr 

 articles (purporting to be written by ]ier.sons of more or 

 less prominence, and representing the Cooke City peoph^) 

 advocating the segregation of the northwest corner of the 

 Yellowstone National Park for the purpose of building a 

 raUroad to that mining camp, and, in support of that pro- 

 ject, asserting that this is the only route by which a rail- 

 road can possibly be constructed to Cooke City. 



The present year, 1893, is no exception to the rule, and 

 already several articles have found their way into print 

 on the subject, one of them written by Col. Brackett, 

 sympathizing with the miners of Cooke and predicting 

 dire results to the Park unless Congress shall, this winter, 

 consent to the aforesaid segregation. I do not doubt Col. 

 Brackett's sincerity in the matter, but hope that he is as 

 much mistaken in his predictions as he is in his idea that 

 Cooke City is accessible only via Gardiner and the Yel- 

 lowstone route. I sympathize as fully as he does with the 

 miners and property owners of Cooke, but I think the 

 time has come when the people of Cooke, as well as all out- 

 siders who are in any way interested in the development of 

 the cami), should stop talking about it as a place accessible 

 only by balloon or by rail over a route that necessitates 

 passing a bill through Congress whicli has always, when 

 presented, called up the mast violent opposition of a large 

 part of the people of the United States. I do not pretend 

 to say whether or not the demand for segregation is just, 

 or whether or not the route is feasible. These points I do 

 not intend to discuss. But I do think that by constantly 

 insisting on this one proposition (i. e., the impossibiUty of 

 reaching the camp with a railroad, except by this one 

 route from Gardiner) the people who do so are (uninten- 

 tionally, perhaps) actually injuring the camp, by impress- 

 ing Eastern capitalists and raflroad men to some extent 

 with false ideas as to the inaccessibility of Cooke City 

 and the surrounding mineral country. As a matter of 

 fact Cooke is much more easy of access than several im- 

 portant mining camps in the United States to which rail- 

 roads have been built, at several times the cost of build- 

 ing to Cooke, and it seems to me that those interested 

 would do much better by reaching out a hand toward the 

 East and inviting some of the roads now pointing in this 

 direction into their camp by way of Clark's Fork, liian to 

 sit down and pin their faith to the one idea of segregation 

 (with all the trouble and uncertainty it entails) and by 

 loudly and repeatedly asserting that it is the only way a 

 railroad can possibly be built to Cooke, injure, perhaps, 

 to some extent their chances of obtaining a proper con- 

 sideration of other routes. 



I do not propose to discuss in this article the merits of 

 the Clark's Fork route as compared with any other, but 

 having some years ago made a survey of it from Billings, 

 I can say that it presents a route by which Cooke City 

 can be reached by rail, which is devoid of any serious 

 difficulties in construction, and can be built at a reason- 

 able cost. From Billings to Cooke it is 123 miles and my 

 estimate on its construction from a careful survey was 

 $.i,000,000, and now that the Rocky Fork Railroad is buUt, 

 this distance from the mouth of Rock Creek is reduced to 

 less than 100 mfles that would be necessary to build, 

 which would bring the cost of uniting Billings and Cooke 

 by rail down to about one and three-quarter millions, and 

 when constructed, the road would never be troubled by 

 snow, would have no heavier grades than any other 

 mountain road, and outside of about ten miles in the 

 Clark's Fork caiion, no grades to speak of at all. This is 

 by, no means a bad proposition to present to any railroad 

 company for their consideration, and the people of Cooke 

 would do well not to lose sight of it in their zest for segre- 

 gation, for even if successful, what assurance have the 

 Cooke City people that the road would be built and who 

 is going to baild it? The Northern Pacific, who now con- 

 trol the Yellowstone route as far as Cinnabar? Certainly 

 not. Let any one who thinks so look up tlie testimony 

 of President Oakes on this sutiject before a Congressional 

 committee last winter. Who, then, is going to put two 

 or three millions of dollars into this road? Let the people 

 of Cooke consider the query, .remembering that tlie day 

 of private railroad enterprise is past and that nowadays I 



only big railroad companies build railroads. Let them 

 consider also the present financial condition of the North- 

 ern Pacific, remembering that they are the only people 

 likely to want to build over this route, and they must see 

 that in aU human probability it would be a long time be- 

 fore the line would be constructed, even if they obtained 

 the desired segregation. 



Why then not stop talking of Cooke City as being 

 accessible only by way of Gardiner, and instead of devot- 

 ing their energies entirely toward obtaining segregation 

 assist us in publishing the fact that the Clark's Fork 

 River offers an excellent route for a railroad and in get- 

 ting some of the big railroad companies now building 

 westward to investigate it. Both the Northwestern and 

 B. & M. systems are within easy reach of Cooke now, 

 and to the writer's personal knowledge both have con- 

 siderable knowledge of the large resources of the region 

 in which Cooke is situated, as well as of the country to 

 the east, and are already much interested. Let the people 

 of Cooke, therefore, co-operate with those of Billings and 

 eastern Montana in endeavoring by a just representation 

 of the Clark's Fork route to get some of these new roads 

 to make a thorough examination of the route. They are 

 building after business and Cooke people ought to show 

 them that by building a branch to their camp by way of 

 Clark's Fork business can be obtained. In my humble 

 opinion the Cooke City people have very much more to 

 hope for from these new roads, ready, eager and prepared 

 to build whenever a good route and plenty of business 

 present themselves, than they have from the Northern 

 Pacific, burdened as it now is and probably will be for 

 years with a ruinously heavy debt. 



We invite the co-operation of our neighbors across the 

 range. Many of our peo]ile have interests in and aroimd 

 Cooke, and all have confidence in her hidden resources 

 and desire to see them developed, and to that end will 

 endeavor to direct the attention of the incoming roads 

 toward the camp via Clark's Fork River. There is every- 

 thing necessary along this line to make a good showing. 

 The fertile and extensive valley of the Clark's Fork, with 

 abundance of water and the best and most extensive coal 

 fields in the Northwest (at Bear Creek), the vast empire 

 known as the Big Horn Basin country, now entirely desti- 

 tute of railroads, and the fine mineral showing in and 

 around Cooke, is sufficient inducement to any railroad to 

 caU for a most careful investigation. Then let the people 

 of Cooke promptly repudiate each and every insinuation 

 that they can only be reached from Gardiner (no matter 

 from whom it comes), and co-operate with us in bringing 

 the Clark's Fork route into prominence. Work for segre- 

 gation if you like, and if you obtain favorable action on 

 your bill well and good. Eastern Montana has never in 

 any way opposed it, but we object to the assertion so re- 

 peatedly made that Cooke can only be reached from Gar- 

 diner. It is not true, and the effect is bad and handicaps 

 us in our endeavors to unite Billings and Cooke, without 

 really aiding the segregation project in the least. 



Philip M, Gallahek, C.E. 



BiLUNQS, Mont., Dec. 5. 



BOSTON AND MAINE. 



Boston, Dec. 10.— The weather has disappointed two or 

 three Boston hunting parties, the members of which have 

 Ijeen planning for trips into the woods of Maine for big 

 game. December has proved to be a rough one thus far. 

 The latest reports mention snow l^^ft. and even 8ft. deep 

 in the woods in the best deer sections. Then the mercury 

 has been indicating 30" below zero in some of the towns 

 in that State, to say nothing of the woods. Such reports 

 have made the would-be hunters shiver, and they have 

 quietly been "backing out." Dr. S. W. Green, with a 

 couple of friends, was to have started for Maine on the 

 14th, but that morning the mercury in Boston was down 

 among the zeroes, with reports of 14ft. of snow. The 

 trip has been abandoned. Mr. W. T. Farley, of Farley, 

 Harvey & Co., with a friend, has been planning for 

 months a hunting trip for deer. Andover, Me., and the 

 woods beyond was to have been the hunting section, 

 with George H. Cutting as guide. But the winter 

 lias shown too bold a face, and the hunt has been aban- 

 doned. AU along the line there are reports of late hunts 

 abandoned. Well, it is a great thing for the game. So 

 much the more will be left to breed. The annual close 

 season on moose, deer and caribou in Maine being on 

 Jan. 1, and the "reign of terror" — to the game — is about 

 over. Said one of the hunters above mentioned the other 

 day: "On the whole I am not sorry. Hunting is butchery 

 after all. Perhaps the deer we should have killed will 

 bring forth a number more for next year. Then we w ill 

 go earUer. I hardly think that I should like to be either 

 Nick Boylston, of Boston, or one of his friends. I see by 

 the papers that they have lately returned from the Maine 

 woods with twelve deer, three deer apiece, aU that the 

 law allows, I have not yet found out where they are 

 going to sell their venison. They should go into the meat 

 business. It does seem as though a deer to a hunter ought 

 to be enough." 



At the meeting of the Massachusetts Fish and Game 

 Protective Association the other evening Mr. Wm. Minot, 

 Jr. , made the suggestion that the Association petition the 

 Legislature for a close time on quail during all of the 

 year 1894. He suggest that the quail, having suffered 

 almost extermination by the terrible winter of 1892-3, 

 should be given at least one year to recuperate. Gentle- 

 men who have hunted sections of the State repeatedly 

 this fall, where quail were fairly plenty a year ago, have 

 not seen a bird this season. Mr. Minot's proposition was 

 received with favor, and, doubtless, will be acted upon. 

 It is a feature worth noting that remarkably few native 

 quail have found their way into the Boston markets this 

 season. There is a complaint, however, that large num- 

 bers of snared ruffed grouse are coming into the market. 



The Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Associa- 

 tion has grown steadily until it nUQibers nearly 500 mem- 

 bers, and has a fund of nearly §3,000 in the treasury. The 

 sister organization recently formed at Lewiston for the 

 protection and propagation of game in Maine, has started 

 off with a good deal of vigor. 



The report of the directors of the Inglewood Club, just 

 issued, snows the affairs of that organization to be in ex- 

 cellent condition. Cash receipts for the year liave been. 

 |;4,373.10; disbursements $3,992.18; cash on hand $380.y2. 

 During tlie year a valuable fishway, 27(3ft. long, has been 

 oonstructt>d at Knight's Mill. An addition has been made 

 to the club house, furnishing dining and sleeping accom- 

 modations for the help. Other improvements have been 

 made in the club house, and a good deal has been done in 



