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FOREST AND STREAM. 



I May 5, lbyt. 



Lynx and Wolverine. 



Lake Barrows, Wyo.— In looking over one of the 

 March issues of Forest and Stream, I notice two short 

 articles in regard to the lynx. One was by "Kelpie" and 

 one by "B. S. B." I was surprised to hear that the Canada 

 lynx was such a dangerous animal. For the last eight 

 years I have captured from twelve to fifteen each year 

 and never had one attack me yet, unless cornered, and 

 there is very little fight even then. And you seldom ever 

 see them, although they may be all around you in the 

 timber. The wildcat (sometimes called bob cat in this 

 country) will show considerable fight if cornered or 

 wounded. They look very much like a lynx, excepting 

 the feet, which are shaped' like those of a domestic house 

 cat, while the lynx's foot iB large f. r the size of the ani- 

 mal. It is very well adapted for the deep, soft snow they 

 have to travel in winter and for ca tching the northern 

 hare, which is their principal food. 



And by the way, J. G. Bich, in giving in FOREST AND 

 Stream a short history of the hare (Lepits americanus) 

 claimed that there were none in the Western States. In 

 the Rocky Mountain States, where there is timber, they 

 are very plentiful. 



You all can tell about your fighting animals, but I will 

 put a wolverine against the best of them for his size, or 

 twice his size, when it comes down to business. I have 

 one now in confinement, and I had quite a time getting 

 him there. 



A year ago last January I was passing along on snow- 

 shoes near my camp when I noticed a lone elk lying down 

 in the snow. On my coming near, it attempted to get 

 up, but could not raise its forequarters. I thought I 

 would find out the trouble. The snow near the elk for 

 about an acre of ground was all tracked up by the elk, 

 with a lot of wolverine tracks mixed in. On examining 

 the creature I found a hole dug in the back over the back- 

 bone, where I could put my fist in. The cords or sinews 

 along the back were entirely severed. It was plain to see 

 that a wolverine had sprung upon her back, and while 

 tearing round through the snow had clung to her and 

 entirely crippled her, and I have no doubt that it would 

 have killed the elk in a short time but for my coming 

 along, as I saw his tracks where he ran away. It was a 

 full grown cow elk in good flesh. To think of an animal 

 not weighing over 251bs. to undertake such a job is won- 

 derful indeed. 



I killed the elk to put her out of misery and went and 

 got a steel trap and set it, and got the wolverine the next 

 time I went to the trap. MOUNTAINEER. 



[The hare referred to by our correspondent is, we pre- 

 sume, the snowshoe rabbit (L. americanus bairdi). The 

 prairie hare of the Western plains is a different species 

 (L. campestris). We believe that the crippling of the cow 

 elk by a wolverine is unexampled; certainly nothing like 

 it has ever been recorded.] 



Black-Tail Antlers. 



Spokane, Wash., April 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 We see in your issue of April 14 a letter from Geo. Soule 

 saying that he has the head of a black-tail buck with ant- 

 lers that spread 33in. , which he thinks a record-breaker. 

 We have mounted two heads with 33in. spread, and last 

 December we mounted one for Wm. Timberlake, Lewis- 

 ton, Idaho, that spread 36in. We have mounted some 

 hundreds, but never before saw its equal. 



He certainly beats us with the mountain sheep; the 

 largest we have handled was 16|in. We have heard 

 hunters say that they have killed them 24in., but we 

 doubt it. 



We also mounted a moose head some years ago which 

 spread 5ft. 10in., and had 20 points on one horn and 21 

 on the other. We should like to hear of better. 



Withers Bros. 



Who Belled the Eagle? 



Avoca, N. C, April 16.— There have been on this plan- 

 tation for a great number of years bald eagles that have 

 occupied identically the same haunts and lighting places 

 ever since I can remember. Within the past few weeks 

 there has appeared among them one wearing a small bell, 

 that we can hear ring very distinctly as the bird flies 

 about the fields. I suppose it has been released by some 

 one at some distant point. I would be glad to learn some 

 thing of him, and assuming this the best channel to reach 

 his former owner, I have dropped you these lines. 



The flock of wild turkeys in front of my house are nest- 

 ing in a field partially grown up in pine bushes and straw 

 not over three-quarters of a mile from the house. I saw 

 forty-three in one day in three flocks. W. E. C. 



" That reminds me." 

 Wooden Ducks. 



A. and I had made plans for our annual fall shooting 

 and were waiting to hear from old Sile, a veteran duck- 

 hunter. At last we got a letter saying that he would meet 

 us at a station not many miles from camp, with the canoes 

 to transport ourselves and paraphernalia. When we 

 arrived Sile was there and it did not take long to get the 

 things into the canoes and start for the place where we 

 were to camp for the next three weeks. After we had 

 paddled along for some time, Sile brought his canoe along- 

 side of ours and yelled, "What's in them bags you got 

 there?" "Decoys!" " vVhat's them?" "Wooden ducks!" 

 "Jee— -rusalem! What are they for?" 



I then had to go into a detailed explanation of the use 

 of decoys and after I had explained all about them to his 

 satisfaction, he said, "Let's see one!" I handed him one 

 and after a careful examination of it he said, "Do you 

 suppose that a duck wouldn't know what that was? Why 

 I'd know that thing myself, half a mile away." 

 _ By this time we had reached the shanty, and by the 

 time that we had got the canoes empty and everything 

 ship shape it was bed time, so that when we had made a 

 good fire and crawled into our blanket bags, it did not 

 take us long to get to sleep. 



A. could not have slept very well, for just at daybreak 

 he woke up Sile and me and told us that there were five or 

 six ducks just over the dike about 25yds. out. Sile jumped 

 up, grabbed his musket and started off, and I followed 

 with my Parker. When we reached the dike he asked 

 me if I didn't want the shot. I told him that I would 

 rather take them on the ruse and for him to fire now if he 



would rather have a whack at them sitting. We crawled 

 to the back of the dike, carefully parted the grass, and 

 looked out. There they were — six of them. I saw the 

 long barrel of Sile's musket move slowly forward and then 

 stop. Bang! and I jumped up to see if there were any 

 left. Those ducks had never moved; they were sitting 

 there just as complacently as if there wasn't a gun within 

 several miles. I turned and looked at Sile, and I never 

 saw a more bewildered looking face in my life. 



Then we heard A.'s voice from behind us: "Mortally 

 wounded the whole lot of them, didn't you, Sile? Say! I 

 thought you'd know those 'wooden ducks' half a mile 

 away?" The bewilderment cleared away from Sile's face; 

 he didn't say much, but he looked an awful lot and went 

 back to camp to get breakfast ready. 



When we got back he had regained his usual good tem- 

 per, which had been rather upset by A.'s trick. He didn't 

 talk much during breakfast, but after we were through 

 he " 'lowed that those 'coys of ours might be some good 

 after all." Professor Fundy. 



IN FLORIDA FLAT WOODS. 



We started in the early afternoon with our packs- 

 blankets, ammunition and grub — each man carrying his 

 own, besides gun, going out over the hickory ridge about 

 due west. 



Through the scrub it was hard traveling, and with our 

 loads pretty warm work. The dogs, Eowdy, a half- 

 breed pointer, and Fannie, the hound, were ranging free, 

 now and then jumping up a bunch of quail. Soon we 

 noticed Eowdy, just ahead, give one of those peculiar 

 high jumps with a sideways look of quick alarm, which 

 indicates a snake, and cautioning him back we approached 

 carefully a clump of saw palmetto and heard the lively 

 singing of a diamond rattler's warning. Peering in, we 

 saw him coiled up, and a charge of No. 7 shot from my 

 gun cut him in two. He was not large, about 5ft. long. 

 Keeping on, we crossed the east fork of the St. Sebastian 

 which was nearly dry, and soon after forded the south 

 fork at an old deserted otter camp, 



The view across country here was almost tropical. 

 Wide stretches of everglades, or so-called "wet prairie," 

 skirted and dotted here and there with pine and palmetto, 

 in the distance looking like far away oases. Near at 

 hand, in the tall grass bordering the water holes, herons 

 and other semi-tropical birds. A little beyond here we 

 observed many nests of fish-hawks or osprey in the forks 

 of scattered high trees, the parent bird often on the nest 

 and its mate flying about near by. In the deeper ham- 

 mock, as we forced our way thi-ough, we startled small 

 flocks of bright green paroquets which wheeled in a body 

 above the tops of the tallest trees screeching and calling 

 in concert. 



At one place, as we filed along, an unusually large 

 water moccasin 10 or 12in. in circumference barely drew 

 his lazy length to one side as we passed. 



Toward sundown, as we were trudging over a rather 

 wide grass prairie, we noticed just this side of the skirt 

 of timber, on the further edge, some dark objects walking 

 along by the slough grass, which the glass disclosed to be 

 wild turkeys— a flock of five. Dropping our packs and 

 holding the dogs back, Forster with his rifle crawled up 

 slowly while they were feeding, apparently unalarmed, 

 and obtained three shots at a long 100yds., knocking one 

 over, a large handsome hen turkey. Another that he 

 fired at flew, evidently wounded, and the rest ran off 

 through the high grass like race horses, disappearing in 

 the direction of a distant wooded knoll. 



Bagging the game and resuming our packs, we made 

 for the nearest timber — a strip of pine and cabbage pal- 

 metto with plenty of down timber (lightwood) at hand, 

 and slough water near— and made camp for the night. A 

 hearty supper of fried wild turkey, a pipe around the 

 blazing camp fire, then Ferguson and I took the bullseye 

 lantern and started out for a couple of hours' fire hunting; 

 did not succeed in "shining" any eyes however. 



Eeturning to camp we all rolled in our blankets, and 

 with a bundle of dry palmetto fans for a pillow, and the 

 beautiful canopy of a subtropical, starry sky overhead, 

 soon fell asleep, lulled by the hoots of answering owls 

 and the song of an occasional mosquito. 



It was pretty cool in the night, but by getting ud and 

 utting on quantities of lightwood, we kept up a crackling 

 re and comfortable warmth. 



Next morning, after a hearty breakfast of turkey breast 

 and coffee with [Ferguson, I started westward toward 

 Buck Branch, to see the country and hunt for deer. We 

 were soon in the flat woods and pressed on for several 

 miles, part of the way through a country as level and clean 

 of undergrowth as a city park. 



I got a couple of quail with right and left barrel, and 

 blew the head off a horrible cotton-mouth rnoccasin snake. 

 We saw no more turkeys. There were plenty of fresh 

 deer signs, but came upon no deer until our return in the 

 afternoon, when suddenly a large buck and half grown 

 fawn jumped up from their lair in the saw-palm ettoes 

 and went sailing away through the woods and over the 

 tops of the scrub, the buck showing his flag in fine style. 



Ferguson tried two shots with his rifle, but evidently 

 missed, and after following the trail a short distance and 

 seeing no blood we soon gave them up and continued on 

 our way toward camp. 



Many strange tropical birds, egrets and other plumed 

 birds were seen, but we did not attempt to bag any. 



Coming to the Fort Drum wagon road, the old-time 

 military trail of the Seminole war, we were a little in 

 doubt whether our proper crossing was further north or 

 south from the point at which we struck it; but as Fer- 

 guson seemed confident we ought to have crossed to 

 the northward, we turned up the trail in that direction 

 —soon, however finding by the unfamiliar appearance 

 of the country about us, we were lost. Toward night we 

 descried a cabin off to one side, and going to it found we 

 were near the east ' fork of the Sebastian at a home- 

 stead claim, which we afterward learned had been some 

 years before taken up by a cracker named Futch, and 

 that we had been going in the wrong direction. No one 

 was living there, but fortunately in the old barn we 

 found a sack containing a little shelled corn. Filling 

 our pockets with the corn, with which to keep our 

 stomachs from getting faint and perhaps serve as our 

 only article for supper, and getting a much needed rest I 



and refreshing drink from a spring near by, we retraced 

 our steps, and after nightfall and a long weary tramp 

 reached camp at last, where we found Forster somewhat 

 anxious about us, keeping up a big fire and smoke to 

 guide us back. 



That night in camp it rained and we were quite wet, 

 and as a consequence rather uncomfortable. But toward 

 morning a generous fire soon made us all right. 



In the morning Forster was anxious to go to the ground 

 where we had seen the numerous deer tracks the day 

 before, and so we broke camp, and all shouldering our 

 packs, started out, Ferguson and I having pretty well re- 

 covered from the excessive fatigue of our tramp the day 

 before. 



After a long hot walk we again reached Buck Branch, 

 near our stamping ground of the previous day, and in 

 close view of what we had called the cypress mound 4 



As we were about to pick a spot for noon camp suddenly 

 Eowdy jumped up a deer, and as he went bounding off 

 we all dropped our packs and fired. But he kept right 

 on with his mad career, apparently untouched. 

 I The dogs and the other two men gave chase, but I 

 stayed back, as my shotgun would stand no chance, and 

 made camp, gathered together the scattered things which 

 had been hastily dropped on sighting the quarry, built a 

 fire for cooking dinner as quietfy as I could, and then lay 

 down to await their return with venison. Being very 

 tired and warm, I stretched myself out on the needles 

 under a big pine, and quickly dropped off into a nap. 

 Meantime my companions had followed our deer a mile 

 or so, and seeing no blood, were returning, and had ap- 

 proached me, just near enough, as they afterward said, to 

 discern that my eyes were closed, when Eowdy, from the 

 same spot where he started the other deer, jumped up a 

 second, which had all this time quietly lain there in 

 hiding. 



I was aroused from my nap by Ferguson's shout in his 

 West Virginia dialect, "Look yere! Thar's another one!" 

 and sprang on to my feet, gun in hand, just in time to see 

 the deer come out of the scrub bordering the creek. At 

 the same instant Ferguson fired, and dropped him with a 

 bullet through his neck. It was a fine young buck. 



Then followed such a dinner as we enjoyed of venison, 

 fried liver served hot, and sandhill crane's breast. 



After noon it commenced to rain. Nevertheless, the 

 other two started out for more deer in the direction 

 they had fruitlessly gone at first. 



Soon a very heavy shower, or succession of them, came 

 up, and I. was forced to build a shelter, a sort of shanty, 

 using my rubber blanket about a frame of poles and pal- 

 metto leaves. Nevertheless that evening and night we 

 were all well soaked. Next morning we started for In- 

 dian Eiver, with the additional weight of deer meat to 

 pack and the inconvenience of wading most all the way 

 (about ten miles) through water from two inches to knee 

 deep — the night's rainfall having flooded the flat woods, a 

 characteristic feature of this section of Florida. 



F. A. A. 



Was it Mr. Luther's Long Bow? 



Victoria, Texas, April 23.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Mr. Willard L. Simpson, Secretary of San Antonio Gun 

 Club, jumps on to Mr. O. C. Guessaz, the San Antonio 

 representative of Forest and Stream, with both feet for 

 alleged unsportsmanlike slaughter of ducks. Well, on 

 the face of it 802 does look like a lot of ducks, and if the 

 party killed that number it was too many, but there are 

 several things that should be considered before passing 

 judgment on the party. In the first place, there is the 

 probability of inaccuracy in the published account of the 

 trip. In all likelihood the reporter for the Corpus Christi 

 Caller got his information from Max Luther, who was a 

 member of the party, and anyone who knows Max's skill 

 and ability with the long bow would be very likely to 

 give the party credit for a good big discount off the 

 published figures. But suppose they had killed all the 

 802 ducks as stated, it is but 100 per day to the gun, and 

 there are few good shots who have hunted to any extent 

 in the Texas Coast country, but have at some time 

 equalled or surpassed that score. The writer will not 

 attempt to enter any plea in extenuation for Mr. 

 Guessaz, believing him to be amply able to take care of 

 himself in the premises, but there is another phase of the 

 subject on which I wish to touch. Several years ago 

 there was a State shoot at Antonio, under the auspices of 

 the San Antonio Gun Club. Mr. Guessaz was a member 

 of this club and if I mistake not Mr, Willard L. Simpson 

 was then, as now, its secretary. Some shady work was 

 attempted by some of the officers of the club in the dis- 

 position of a large cash prize that had been donated by a 

 business firm. Mr. Guessaz discovered this attempt and 

 denounced it in open and unmeasured terms, with the re- 

 sult that the San Antonio Gun Club was held up to the 

 scorn and contumely of the sportsmen of the State, who 

 manifested their appreciation of Mr. Guessaz's action by 

 electing him president of the State Sportsmen's Associa- 

 tion. Since that time Mr. Guessaz and the S A. Gun 

 Club have not slept in the same bed. The club withdrew 

 from the State association, and Mr. Guessaz left the club. 

 No doubt the reader has ere this discovered the "nigger 

 in the wood pile" of Mr. Simpson's article. Mr. Guessaz 

 has done more for the benefit of sport, sportsmen and 

 preservation in this State, than Mr. Simpson and the 

 entire "large body of sportsmen" of which he claims to be 

 a member. In fact, if the latter have ever done anything 

 at all in that direction the sportsmen of other portions of 

 the State have yet to hear of it. The columns of Forest 

 and Stream are the proper place for showing up alleged 

 sportsmen for violations of the unwritten laws of the 

 fraternity, but communications should be made with 

 only that end in view, and not for the gratification of 

 personal feelings which the writers have toward the 

 subjects thereof. • Guadalupe. 



A Large Flight of Geese. 



Orient Point, L. I., April 21.— On Sunday, the 15th, 

 there was the heaviest flight of geese I ever saw. Quite a 

 number of them -lit in the bay and a few in the sound. As 

 there are very few Sunday shooters in this section, they 

 were not molested; and Monday morning found them 

 again on their way toward the land of ice and snow. The 

 entire week previous the wind had blown strongly from 

 the northeast, which accounts for the massing together of 

 the flight on the first calm day. 



Black ducks have been scarce, but in very fine condition 

 the past winter. The last one I dressed had a number of 

 eggs in her, so I swore off until next fall. The law should 

 protect them sooner than the 1st of May, W, L. T, ' 



