80 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 13, 1894. 



THE .22 SHORT. 



Columbus, Neb., Dec. 23.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I have heen reading the controversy in Forest and 

 Stream over the .23cal. rifle and see that in to-day's 

 aper there is another letter from "Diamond Walt" of this 

 bate, in which he insists that he killed a prairie dog at 

 303yds. 



Now I will give you my experience with the .22 short. 

 I shot a dog seven times in the head at a distance of not 

 more than 10ft. and did Dot kill him. Afterward I shot 

 at a mark on the side of a barn at a distance of 60ft., and 

 more than half of the bullets did not bury themselves in 

 the board. With thft .22 long, however, I have killed 

 antelope at perhaps 100yds. 



This, as you know, was several years ago. Is it possible 

 that the penetrating power of the .22 short bas improved 

 so much of late years? Plainsman. 



[The writer of this note has been intimately known to 

 us for over twenty years, and is perhaps the best rifle shot 

 at game that we have ever known. He crossed the Mis- 

 souri River in 1856 and from that time untd game was 

 exterminated from the plains and the Indian wars came 

 to an end, he was constantly engaged in Indian fighting 

 and in hunting.] 



HORNELLSVir.LE, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 thought we had heard the last of "Diamond Walt" and his 

 wonderful .23 short rim-fire cartridge. Some men die 

 hard, so I must tackle him again. I watch the rifle scores 

 very carefully, and it is not often I see eight bullseyes in 

 ten shots at 200yds. There is not much shooting done at 

 300yds., but only a short time a o two crack teams shot a 

 match, ten shots at each range, 200 and 300yds. ; at 300yds. 

 only two men on each team got two bullseyes. It is rea- 

 sonable to suppose that they used the best rifles that could 

 be bought, as the match was for $1,000. So I rise to re- 

 mark that the man who shoots alone is a great shot. You 

 can find him at every cross road. I have met him all 

 over America. I have seen him fire at a stone or a 

 stump half a mile away. The dust would fly and then he 

 would tell about what a wonderful gun he had, 



' <D ' w -" might shoot a .22 short rim-fire cartridge 

 32oyds., but all the same, a light wind would drift the ball 

 6ft. It makes no difference to me who supports "D. W.," 

 I still maintain that it is an impossibility for the .22 short 

 to do the work "D. W." says it will. The man don't live 

 and the man never will live, who can do the shooting "D. 

 W." says he can do with that cartridge. Men nowadays 

 do not hide their lights under a bushel or in Nebraska, 

 "D. W." can make a million in a year if he can shoot just 

 half as good as he says he can. There is not a village or 

 city east of St. Paul where he cannot get a hat to shoot at 

 for all the money he can raise; and then he can give ex- 

 hibitions, for no one ever saw such shooting east of 

 Nebraska. 



Abet is a poor argument, but "D. W." talks about 

 dollars, so I will talk business. Messrs. Margeson & 

 Owen, manufacturers of carousels or merry-go-rounds, 

 are well-known as business men all over the United 

 States. They will bet $1000 to $500 that "D. W." can't 

 hit an Sin. bullseye eight out of ten shots at 303yds., and 

 $1,000 to $800 that hecan't do it at 200yds. Our gun club 

 will form a syndicate and bet $5,000 on same basis. 



I have beeD in South Dakota and know all about 

 prairie dogs. "D. W." might have killed one at 303yds. 

 by firing into the town, but he did not tire at the particu- 

 lar dog he hit. I have shot them with a .45-90, but they 

 most always dropped into their holes. I have one stuffed 

 and "D. W." can't hit it if j.e fires at it all day (and I 

 will place it on the ground at 300yds.), unless he uses a 

 telescope. As I said before, a bet is a poor argument, 

 but some men must be hit in the pocket if you want to 

 touch their hearts. 



I did not shoot alone when I won my medals and 

 badges, but in fair open competition. I did not try to 

 see how big a lie I could tell, but did try to see how 

 steady I could hold. ' 'D. W." cannot teach me anything 

 about a rifle, I've handled one for forty years. I've 

 traveled nearly all over the world. I've killed everything 

 that can be killed in America, from a chipmunk to a 

 silver tip on land, and pickerel with a .22 short and 

 whale with a bomb lance m the water — from mule to men, 

 white, black, red and greasers. I was a sharpshooter on 

 the Potomac, a scout on the plains, a ranger in Texas; 

 and when I went from Galveston to Santa Fe and Pike's 

 Peak in 1857 I assure you that there was plenty to shoot 

 and plenty of chances for being shot, but I am not dead 

 yet, and think I can teach "D. W." something about 

 guns and how to shoot one. Rifle shooters have spent 

 millions of dollars to get the best gun for off-hand work 

 at 200yds. and 80$ of the guns used are not less than 

 .38-55. 



Again I say, the man who shoots alone is a great shot, 

 but if "D. W." can do half as good as he claims he can, 

 then he should come East and do the trick. Makers of 

 .23cal. rifles will give him more a month than he can 

 make in .Nebraska in a year, and riflemen in the East 

 want to see such a shooter. If "Diamond Walt" comes 

 here 1 will bet him $25 even up that he can't put eight 

 shots out of ten in an 8in. bullseye with a .22 short at 

 303ft. off-hand. J. Otis Fellows. 



Salem, Neb.— Editor Forest and Stream: In - your 

 issue of Dec. 23, "Diamond Walt" appears to be anxious 

 to prove the wonderful power and accuracy of the .22 

 shott and proposes to do it "next fall." Now he need not 

 wait till next fall nor go so far as New York State, for if 

 he will come down into this corner of his own State, I 

 will endeavor to accommodate him with a shooting 

 match. I can shoot a little bit myself and if "Diamond 

 Walt" can do what he thinks he can with the .22 short he 

 can win all of my money and then my gun. 



I don't believe that there is a man (or woman either) 

 in America or anywhere else who can "put eight out of 

 ten shots in an 8in. bullseye at 303yds. with a .22 short 

 off-hand," and if "Diamond Walt" thinks that he can da 

 it and will come down here and try it, I think that I can 

 raise enough money for a "starter," and when he is 

 through trying it I will lend him enough money to get 

 back to Exeter on , 



1 have owned and used some .23 rifles myself and found 

 them very good for killing English sparrows, but when it 

 comes to killing game I prefer something a little larger. 

 I have shot squirrels with a .22 and knocked them out of 

 the tree, but when I went to pick them up they were not 

 here, but had crawled off in the weeds to die. When I 



hit them in the head I usually got them, but when hit "a 

 little too far back" they got away. 



A prairie chicken will sometimes fly a mile with a .22 

 bullet hole through it. 



I shot a hog a few weeks ago with a .22 short out of a 

 Winchester single shot, and it did not even squeal or 

 shake its head; but when I shot it again it went down and 

 I found the two bullet holes less than an inch apart in its 

 forehead. 



I should like to see "Diamond Walt" try his .22 short 

 on a blacktail deer. If he wasn't nearer than 303yds., he 

 would go a long time hungry for venison I'm thinking. 



J. F. Layson. 



ADIRONDACK NOTES. 



North wood, N. Y., Jan. 1.— Many deer were killed 

 up the West Canada Creek this fall— thirty-five on one 

 runway, a guide told me. As usual deer were killed in 

 numbers appalling to a sportsman in and about Moose 

 River. Moose River deer are said to be as plentiful as 

 ever, but it cannot be true. Men will tell of seeing ten, 

 twelve or even twenty deer at one time on Canochagola 

 Stillwater in times past, while now two or three deer seen 

 at once there is an unusual incident. 



About Northwood this fall the deer were more numer- 

 ous than in the five years just gone. Some say because 

 the big woods are overflowing with them, some say that 

 they were driven out by dogs, some that the lumbermen 

 frightened them from their usual haunts. That they 

 were here is evident, and the woodsmen act accordingly 

 with their dogs and rifles. A deer dead in the present 

 is more to them than the narrow possibilities of ten dead 

 in the future. 



It was much the same with trout last summer. They 

 were more numerous than in the five years past. Were 

 they driven down stream by logs and hign water? or 

 did they bite better than usual? or were they actually in- 

 creased by fewer fingerlings being kept m the past? At 

 any rate the trout rosi- readily to the fly or took bits of 

 shiners and earth worms with avidity to the delight of 

 the woodsman, his sons and his summer boarders. 



But while deer and bear and trout seem to be increas- 

 ing the partridges are nearly gone. All summer long they 

 were in every patch of woods, some woods second growth, 

 even among the briers, but they have disappeared. Per- 

 haps foxes and chick hunters got them? Maybe they went 

 to the beech ridges to feast on the nuts. 



Bears were numerous during the summer and fall. Few 

 were killed, and they were trapped for the bounty and 

 hides. I know of only four being caught within five 

 miles of Northwood, which, considering the numbers that 

 roamed around the clearings, was small. It is well there 

 were no more killed by traps or otherwise. Our south- 

 ern Adirondack bears are harmless till cornered, then 

 what animal will not fight? They may in some places 

 knock down calves and sheep, and run away with pigs, 

 but here they eat beech nuts and berries and black cher- 

 ries, perhaps a little carrion now and again, and such 

 other lawful food that they may find in the woods or in 

 the edges of the clearings. 



It is a credit to kill a bear or deer by still-hunting, and 

 it speaks well of a man's nerves and marksmanship if he 

 kills a deer on the jump before the dogs, but to some trap- 

 ing bears is revolting, and shooting swimming deer is de- 

 testable — a hammer, a boat and a guide to paddle would 

 serve as well — while the bounty on dead bears is a shame 

 and inducing to pot-hunting. There are times and places 

 in the Adirondacks where dogs are necessary for killing 

 deer, but the runways usually, if not always, cross woods, 

 roads or inwood clearings where a sportsman could kill 

 his deer man, fashion. 



Shameful waste is sometimes seen in the Adirondacks. 

 A man sat, a few years ago, ond shot four deer as they 

 were crossing. The poor things crept to the bushes and 

 there died and rotted. Partridge and rabbits go to the 

 dogs and bait traps in the fall when crows and bluejays 

 could as easily be procured, but it is more honorable to 

 kill a rabbit or partridge than a simple crow or hawk, 

 even if it is only to bait a trap. 



There is a growing sentiment among the woodsmen 

 which makes the killing of male game more honorable 

 than the killing of the female. Now that only two deer 

 can be killed in a season, bucks alone are sought and very 

 few does are killed. The slayer of a male bear is praised 

 while the killing of a cock partridge is mentioned; I have 

 even heard a woodsman say that he would not shoot a 

 female partridge if he could help it. But if males alone 

 were killed too much would die even then. It is a sad 

 thing for mankind that he cannot eat his cake and have 

 it still. Yet unless he ceases to be human he will eat and 

 kill till all is gone, then he will mourn his greed as a child 

 a dismembered toy. 



Woodsmen wonder at the examples they are asked to 

 follow. "Because sportsmen kill not for food or clothes! 

 Kill only in the fall! Shoot partridges only when they 

 fly!" Yet even as the sportsmen ask they tell of a score 

 of partridges or fifty ducks killed during a single day. I 

 know of no woodsman here who has killed five partridges 

 in a day. Raymond S. Spears. 



How do you Cook your Quail? 



Mr. Hough in his recent essay on Emerson and other 

 things tells with considerable enthusiasm how to clean a 

 dozen quail in six minutes. His racy description reminds 

 one of the stories of the great stock killing yards which 

 Chicago modestly allows hold the world's record for dis- 

 patch in converting the raw article into beef, mutton and 

 pork. 



No doubt the skinning and otherwise preparing a dozen 

 quail in six minutes is a world's record also, but to one 

 [ who has been accustomed to regard quail as a luxury it 

 seems a sinful waste of good material. What does it 

 profit a man to dress twelve quail in six minutes if after 

 he gets them dressed they are not fit to eat? Mr. Hough 

 may not be an epicure and it may suit him just as well to 

 have his quail boiled with corned beef and cabbage, but 

 I'd like to know what other way he would suggest to 

 cook a quail that was skinned? 



A quail, as every one knows, is naturally one of the 

 dry est of birds, and it is always a question with cooks how 

 best to preserve its juices. To take off the skin is to 

 take away the greatest part of the juices, and such a 

 quail broiled or roasted would be little better eating than 

 cottonwood chips. In North Carolina' they cook a quail 

 in the middle of a big potatoe. This little receipt is worth 

 a column on skinning quail, J, B. B. 



ANOTHER "ARABIAN SPIKE BUCK." 



Hunter. N. D.— Editor Forest and Stream: In a late 

 issue of Forest and Stream I noticed an article con- 

 tributed by "W. H. J." in which was a partial description 

 of an ' Arabian spike buck." This reminds me of a buck 

 I killed in the fall of 1887. This was also in the Upper 

 Peninsula of Michigan, at the head of the Whitefish 

 River. I killed two nice bucks that morning in less than 

 an hour, and both were "five prongs" and of about the 

 same weight, but very different in build. One appeared 

 to be more than usually chunky, with very heavy neck 

 and horns; but this may have been partly due to the com- 

 pany he was in, as the other buck was by far the most 

 rangy animal I ever saw of the deer kind. His neck, and 

 for that matter his entire body, was very noticeably slen- 

 der, and on his head was a wonderfully symmetrical pair 

 of horns of toy size. I have no record to refer to, but 

 they were of only about one-half the ordinary thickness, 

 while the other pair mentioned were probably of more 

 than average size. We had the horns together in camp 

 for several weeks, and the contrast made them quite a 

 curiosity. 



Another fact I noticed was that the tracks made by the 

 slim buck were about double the size of those left by his 

 more portly conqueror. 



This Liliputian set of horns were intended for a friend 

 in Minneapolis, and I delivered them prepaid and properly 

 tagged to an express agent at Prentice, Wis., but being in 

 great haste I neglected to take a receipt. It is needless to 

 add that my friend received no horns, and they are prob- 

 ably in use to-day as an ornament in some express car or 

 local office, while the quarter I paid the agent is no doubt 

 in circulation somewhere and doing all the good it can. 



But what I started to write about was the peculiar col- 

 oring of my ornamental buck. His back and upper sides 

 were of the usual color; the belly and groundwork of legs 

 were pure white, the legs being thickly covered with 

 blotches of a reddish brown. I don't know the meaning 

 of those hard words in the item sent by "W. H, J.," but I 

 do not think my buck had anything so serious as that 

 affecting his mouth, and the eyes, if I remember rightly, 

 were of normal color. The slender proportions of this 

 animal and his delicate horns, together with the spotted 

 (this must be where the Arabian comes in) legs made him 

 an object of much curiosity to the few who saw him. I 

 wonder if I did kill an "Arabian spike buck" and never 

 knew it? Quien sdbe? C. D. F. 



Maine and Massachusetts. 



The open season on big game in Maine has closed. The 

 last week of the season was a remarkable one — remarkable 

 for deep snows and -snows covered with crust. In some 

 sections of the State the crust was strong enough to sup- 

 port a person, and in these sections the deer have suffered, 

 though the story will never be told. Several Maine deer 

 were seen in the Boston market the other day, almost the 

 first seen from that State this year. If crusting has been 

 badly followed of late, more deer will be likely to find 

 their way into this market. Boston deer hunters have 

 all been at home for nearly a couple of weeks, or since the 

 coming of the deep snows in Maine. Geo. H. Cutting, of 

 Andover, Me., guided a party on a deer hunt in the vicin- 

 ity of C Pond the week before Christmas. They got no 

 deer. The snow was over two feet deep and covered with 

 a crust that would not bear the hunters, and they could 

 not move over it, either with snowshoes or without, with- 

 out making such a crashing that it was impossible to 

 approach any deer. Special. 



Old Style Flint Locks. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In "Kelpie's" reminiscence of the Fair in your edition of 

 the 6th inst.. he speaks of the remarkable collection of 

 arms and armor shown in German village. Did "Kelpie" 

 or any other sportsman who chanced on this collection 

 notice the locks on some of the old pistols? Flint locks 

 they could hardly be called, as the flints were in the pans, 

 the steels in the locks. Another peculiarity was that the 

 lock was reversed and the throw or fall was toward butt 

 of pistol. This style of construction may have been com- 

 mon in some makes of old arms, but I had never chanced 

 on it before, and it struck me as being very peculiar. The 

 date of this arm I do not remember, but the workman- 

 ship was very fine. "Kelpie" is right in saying tha'tmany 

 of the specimens were unique, and the collection certainly 

 did not receive the attention it deserved. S. 



[The backward striking lock was a common form in 

 early arms.] 



Seventeen Thousand Dozen. 



It is estimated by conservative men that during the last 

 three days of mild weather seventeen thousand dozen 

 quail have been spoilt and thrown away, in the State of 

 Indiana "alone. We do not believe that this will cover the 

 number. When we think of the fact that every little 

 country store, at cross roads and in hamlets where there 

 are not half-a-dozen houses, handles quail and rabbits, it 

 will be seen that the above figure is not large enough. 

 These little stores hold the quail till they get "enough to 

 ship," and when they know that they are "souring" and 

 will not be received by the city merchants, they are too 

 timid (fearing to be charged with the freight) to even try 

 to send them. When the Almighty, in His wisdom, puts 

 in some law-makers at Indianapohs whose brains lie in 

 their heads and not in their bellies, we will have a law 

 against the sale of quail, just as they have in Illinois. — 

 Evansville {Ind.) Tribune, Dec. 2J h 1893. 



In the Guard House. 



Word was received in the city the past week that Henry 

 and Frank Rockinger are confined in the guard house at 

 Camp Yellowstone. The offense for which they were im- 

 prisoned was the killing of game in the Park, they having 

 been caught by a detachment of soldiers in the act of re- 

 moving the carcass of an elk that had been killed not 

 more than four or five miles from Mammoth Hot Springs. 

 It is stated that the men made no attempt to deny their 

 guilt, but simply plead the necessity of providing their 

 families with meat in extenuation of the offense. As the 

 killing of elk is prohibited in Montana as well as Yellow- 

 stone National Park, there is no excuse for this flagrant 

 violation of law, and the Messrs. Rockinger will receive 

 little sympathy from the public for the punishment meted 

 out to them it the facts are as related.— Livingston En- 

 terprise, 



