468 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



(June 2, 1894. 



THE SKIN 



1 DID NOT GET. 



New Yore, March 19. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 L^st autumn ray friend Jack, who lives on the west slopp 

 of the Rocky Mountains, told me that he expected to kill 

 •a mountain lion or two during the winter, and intimated 

 that he would send me a skin. A recent letter from him 

 gives an account of the killing of the lion whose hide 

 should be mine, and explains why I did not get it. When 

 the beast was dead, all the fur had had been knocked off 

 the skin. O. M. 



1 killed the other day a very fine lion which measures 

 7 £ft. from tip to tip. 



I was out for marten when I came across the track of a 

 mountain lion. It was snowing, and I followed it for some 

 distance before the dog would notice it, but after a while 

 the tracks freshened and the dog commenced to slow 

 trail. At length I saw that we had jumped the game 

 and told him to go on, while I f ollowed along leisurely on 

 the tracks of both. 



In about fifteen minutes I heard the dog yip as though 

 running something, and then heard what seemed a sharp 

 growling as though they were fighting. Then the dog 

 commenced to bay, and I knew that lion was my meat. 



I ran through the deep snow for about half a mile and 

 then slackened up, so as to get my wind before reaching 

 the dog. When I got to within about forty paces of 

 where he was dancmg about in the snow, I looked up 

 and saw the lion above him in a leaning tamarack tree. 

 He was about 30ft; from the ground and seemed to be 

 amused at the gall of so small a dog. He was looking 

 down, having one foreleg over a small limb. His tail 

 was swaying gently from side to side, and altogother he 

 seemed to be at home. 



The lion watching the dog, saw him look on the back 

 trail for me, and following his look saw me. This seemed 

 to greatly astonish him, and he ran up the tree thirty 

 or forty feet to a fork, poked his head out as far as he 

 could and looked me squarely in the eye. 



I had been running hard, my eyes were full of sweat 

 and the gun sights clogged with snow, but I cut loose at 

 the beast with my .40-82. There was scrambling among 

 the dry limbs and the lion fell part way down, but caught 

 around the tree and knocked off a lot of small dry 

 branches. I kept pumping the lever and soon knocked 

 him off the tree. As soon as he struck the ground the 

 •dog jumped him. There was a scramble, the lion 

 squalled and spit, and I heard the dog howl. Then the 

 hon came out of the scramble and went for another tree 

 about twenty steps off, with the dog in hot pursuit. The 

 lion ran up the tree about twenty feet and the dog stopped 

 at the bottom, and I, running, sweating and yelling "sic," 

 brought up the rear. I commenced to work the lever of 

 the old gun again, and after about three wild shots I 

 again knocked the lion out of the tree. 



The dog seemed to get desperate, perhaps on account of 

 such fine shooting, and when I got to him he had the lion 

 by the . hind quarters and the cat was making passes at 

 him with the left paw! The right one I had shot off. I 

 blazed away a couple of times more and let the dog shake 

 until he was tired, but still there was a little life and fight 

 in that lion. I now called off the dog and adjourned to a 

 fallen tree, and let Father Time do the rest. For this I 

 had very good reason, as I had used up all mv ammunition 

 and my fighting was over. The poor animal soon died, 

 but he was game te the last. He died glaring at me and 

 snapping his teeth. His skin measured litt. long, but I 

 had knocked about all the fur and hair off of it. 



I had shot him in the leg and shot him in the paw and 

 had also cut off a slice of tail. Then there was one shot 

 in the belly and another in the hams and some fur had 

 been knocked off his under jaw. Still he had never 

 squealed nor showed the white feather. He was certainly 

 all wool and a yard wide. Jack, 



KANSAS GAME INTERESTS. 



From a declaration, " Where we Stand," printed in the programme 

 °f £ ? ans T as St * te Sportsmen's Association Tournament, bo be held 



Tj™ Kansas State Sportsmen's Association stands 

 pledged, first of all, to the protection and preservation of 

 game, and while it must be confessed that heretofore its 

 efforts in that direction have>ot been conspicuous, has at 

 last awakened to a sense of its duty in the matter and 

 will m future use its best energies and influence for the en- 

 actment of a proper game law and for . its enforcement 

 afterward, to. the end that what remains of our once 

 bountiful game supply may be preserved from entire ex- 

 tinction.. The Association neither expects nor desires 

 special or exclusive privileges for any class; on the con- 

 trary, it insists that every citizen should be allowed to 

 restrictions 6 R ° f game ' 8ub j ect always to proper legal 



The game laws of this State, as they stand upon the 

 statute books to-day, are both unjust and ineffective, and 

 its framers m their effort to produce an act which would 

 restrict all killing of game to persons who were owners of 

 land have extended to this privileged class such extensive 

 rights that the game is left without any protection what- 

 ever, and ism much greater danger of extermination than 

 it ever, was under any previous laws, which have always 

 been confessedly insufficient, even when enforced, as was 

 rarely attempted. 



It will hardly be claimed by those who secured the 

 passage of the present law that they were animated solely 

 Thp a i?tT # ^° rd ' acr ? ased protection to our game. 

 The law itself gives a flat denial to such an assertion^ the 



KE?n m S6 ? tl0n • ° f ^ e acfc ' that " No Prions of ' ™ 

 act shall apply or interfere with persons who may have 

 in their possession or raise for sale any birds as nets or 

 may at any time catch, kill or entrap any of the birS 

 mentioned m this section on his. or her own premises 

 controlled by such person for his or her own use," con- 

 tains the animus of the entire act. Only owners of land 



at proper seasons, provided he can obtain permission to 

 enter upon private grounds to do so. as is necessary under 

 section 2440, Revised Statutes 1889. ' 



The one commendable feature of the existing law is the 

 section which prevents the sale and shipment of game, 

 and it is the duty of every friend of game protectioh'to do 

 his share toward preventing the repeal of this provision if 

 it is ever attempted. Killing game for the market means 

 the total wiping out of every species of edible game} be- 

 cause it enormously multiplies the number who kill, and 

 invites the most destructive methods. It is impossible 

 that the supply should increase while game has a com- 

 mercial value, and thousands of persons who otherwise 

 would never go afield at all, are permitted to kill for profit 

 only. This class will not shoot if there is no market for 

 what they kill, and when shooting is restricted to those 

 who hunt for sport and hot for the market, and who con- 

 fine their killing to proper seasons, the question of game 

 preservation will have been solved. The non-sale and 

 non-shipment portion of the law is by far the most import- 

 ant feature in it, and should by all means be preserved. 



A bill will be submitted to the Association at its annual 

 meeting, at which time a full discussion will be invited, 

 It would perhaps then be advisable to have a committee 

 appointed to act upon the recommendations of the Asso- 

 ciation, and prepare and have printed a bill which should 

 be widely circulated throughout the State — copies being 

 placed in the hands of sportsmen in each county, and by 

 them distributed among the people. Then at the next 

 meeting of the Legislature the committee should use every 

 means to haVe the bill become a law. 



All members of the Association are requested to give 

 the matter consideration, and be prepared at the annual 

 meeting to intelligently discuss the entire question in 

 order that any action taken may be well advised and for 

 the best interests of the cause. 



may take game, but the} "may do" so aTinTE o year 

 and by whatever means they choose to employ. The man 



the rn^wh ^ may -.f 0t sh00t ' even °* invitation o^ 

 the man who does, without violating; the law for this 

 unique specimen of "class legislation" 1-™?-?* 



i does not e 

 l 0 n w l land owner to permit others to shoot upon his 

 property, or rather it prevents a man from availing him- 

 self of such a permission. The law is a dead letter as ir 



°"* h ^ he ^ r - e ° ard ' be8ides bei 4 void beSe un 

 tl0n& l' but lts ! ffects . pernicious, whether 



wSrt 01 / 0 ] 1 demand tbat * be re Placefl by an 

 act which will afford protection to the game and at the 

 same time extend to every citizen the right to take game 



A few reasons why every shooter and every shooting 

 organization in the State of Kansas should become mem- 

 bers of the Kansas State Sportsmen's Association. 



First— Proper legislation for the protection of game can 

 only be secured by thorough organization, and it is only 

 through the combined efforts of the friends of game pro- 

 tection in Kansas, working as a unit through a strong as- 

 sociation, that the enactment of efficient game laws can 

 be brought about. 



Second=»The enforcement of the law is of ho iess im- 

 portance than the law itself > and once having secured the 

 right kind of a game law, it bepbmes the duty of every 

 game protectionist to assist in bringing to punishment 

 every person Who wilfully violates it. Our Association 

 can^ if its energies are properly directed, make the viola- 

 tion of the game law as odious a crime as hog stealing, 

 and so mould public sentiment that "bootlegger" will be 

 looked upon as a gentleman in comparison with the man 

 who kills game out of season. 



Thirds — To be effective the Association must be strong, 

 and in numbers there is strength. There are enough 

 friends of game protection in the State to make an or- 

 ganization powerful enough to carry out whatever plans 

 it might adopt looking to the protection of game^ but they 

 must get together; the next section tells you how it may 

 be done. 



Fourth— For a club to join costs #S and for annual dues 

 $1. Every member of the club becomes a member of the 

 State Association.. For an individual, $2.50 to join and 

 annual dues fifty rents. Write for further information 

 to Ssc'y J. C. Clark, Topeka, Kan. 



AN ADIRONDACK BEAR CAPTURE. 



A party of three young men, well known in the busi- 

 ness circles of Gloversville, had come to Lake Pleasant in 

 the North Woods. An uninterrupted year of attention to 

 business had given to each one such an appetite for the 

 good things in store for them, that every opportunity was 

 taken advantage of, and from first to last every pleasure 

 was enjoyed with the keenest relish. 



We put up with David Sturges, and George and I were 

 spending the day at Elm Lake with Burr Sturges as guide. 

 The only exciting incident of our fishing for two hours 

 and a half was the taking of two fish at once by George 

 the largest of which was a 2 lbs. trout of exceptional 

 beauty. About 11 o'clock Burr said he wanted to visit a 

 bear trap he had set about a mile up the inlet, so, taking 

 in our lines we started. At the head of the still water he 

 left the boat, and very soon he called, "Come over here 

 and bring the gun." Taking the rifle, we started through 

 the thicket and soon came to the place where the trap had 

 been set. 



The trap was gone, and the bark knocked off a small 

 tamarack showed where the clog had met the first ob- 

 struction . Then we lost th e trail, but Boon found it again • 

 and here was the evidence of a terrible struggle— a little 

 hollow, with an old top across it and a rotten log or two 

 in the space, this hollow for a dozen feet each way liter- 

 ally torn up, the logs pulverized and the small trees 

 chewed to splinters. Sturgis said some big words and 

 guessed" he'd never see his trap again, for there lay all 

 that was left of the clog. This had been a stick of green 

 spruce about 34ft. long fastened at the end of the trao 

 cham, but about a foot of the stick had been eaten off and 

 the rest was covered with the prints of teeth and claws 

 A few rods further and the chain must have stopped the 

 bear again, for here a little tree was entirely gnawed off 

 about 3ft. from the ground and there stood the splintered 

 stub. Close by on the ground was the body of a dead cub 

 which had met its death in the frantic efforts of its mother 

 to escape. As we stopped and looked at the havoc the 

 beast had made, I thought of the bedlam of snarls and 

 growls and scratching claws and snapping teeth there 

 must have been when all that work was done We soon 

 lost the trail again, for with only the trap and chain to 

 carry brum could get on quite easily, the object of the clog 

 being to catch on to trees and logs, and so nr*™^ 

 rapid a retreat. 



logs, and so prevent too 



As soon as we lost the trail we separated, and first one 

 and then the other would find marks showint where the 

 animal had gone. So we kept on through brush and 



S£ T« traC V ed ° vei \ a kn ? U and a mmp 

 thick with alders where we lost it again, and Sturges 

 told us to wait while he crossed and found where the 

 creature had gone out. vvuere tne 



While we stood waiting in the thicket my companion 

 said, <-lhear something like the whine of I puppy ™? 

 listened but could not cateh a sound, except the beating 

 of my heart, which thumped away at 1 a great rate 

 probably because we had come so fast. Soon s'turges 



called and we went over. He had not found the trail; 

 but asked us if we had heard any noise. George repeated 

 what he had said to me, "Which way?" "That way." 

 "That's right," said Sturges, "come on." In less than 

 three mimites we found where she had come out of the 

 swamp. She had been started probably by our voices) 

 and here the track was plain, leading directly over a 

 little hill. Before we reached the summit We all heard 

 the rattle of the chain on the other side. Now the excite- 

 of the chase was intense; it was a new experience td 

 George and myself and we were all the more eager td be' 

 in at the death; 



As we came to the top of the hill there lay below us a 

 rather open slope of five or six rods, then a level spape o| 

 as much more. Just at the top George seized Sturges's 

 arm and whispered, "There she is; there she is." Sure 

 enough, at the bottom of the slope was a monstrous bear 

 and two cubs making for the swamp beyond. Down we 

 rushed, like boys after a cat, and as we came near the cubs 

 went up a tree. The besr was now in the edge of the 

 swamp, and as soon as she missed her offspring she faced 

 us and partly rose on her hind legs. Her eyes looked 

 wicked, and she gave a savage growl j as much a6 to Sayj 

 "If it wasn*t for this trap I'd scatter your party in short 

 order." But Sturges had the rifle at his shoulder; there 

 was a sharp crack, and bruin fell in her tracks. We went 

 over and were looking at her black coat, when suddenly 

 instead of a dead bear we had a live one, and the way 

 George and I got out of reach was very rapid but not sur- 

 prising under the circumstances. Sturges made some 

 lively motions in getting another cartridge in the gun, 

 and this time a ball under the ear gave her the quietus. 



We all took hold together and dragged her out to dry 

 ground and Sturges began the process of skinning, while 

 we lighted our pipes and talked how "Betsey and I killed 

 the bear." In the meantime the cubs were at the top of 

 a not very large hemlock, and I decided that I wanted one 

 of the skins for a relic; so taking the rifle 1 stepped back 

 a few rods, where I could see the head of one peeping 

 round the trunk. I biased away, but my nerve Was not 

 very steady and the ball did not even make the Cub dodge; 

 but the second shot was better and brought down the gam«j 

 fairly hit through thehead. This gave George the beat 

 fever, but hie wanted iiis cub alive; so after much urging 

 by Sturges and myself, he decided to climb the tree and 

 try to get his young bear out. Slowly he toiled up, show- 

 ing considerable agility as a climber, until he came near 

 the cub, when the young bear started for him, and he, not 

 caring for an encounter in the tree, came down much 

 faster than he went up. When he got below the branches 

 the cub came down tail first, and when nearly down 

 George grabbed and held him against the tree, calling to 

 Sturges to help him. By this time the old bear was 

 skinned, so the guide came and took the cub and we Boon 

 started back for the boat. Arriving there we found that 

 we cou'd not get the cub home unless one of Us held him 

 all the way, so we let him go. He seemed tame enough 

 then, and I stroked him on the bank before he disappeared 

 in the bushes. 



We floated down to Film Lake, landed arid soon Sturges 

 had a splendid trout dinner cooked. After dinner and A 

 smoke we started down the Com jemuc, Ashing by the way; 

 and reached the hotel safely aboilt sunset. 



The bear skin, beautifully mounted, now lies in (Jeorge's 

 parlor; while the cub's skin, mounted on a white goat, is 

 in my possession Glover. 



IM MODERATENESS. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



Tour desire to protect the game of this country from 

 total extermination is most praiseworthy, and I wish to 

 be one of the thousands to tender my aid and to wish you 

 God speed in your effort. Every true sportsman is with 

 you even though he may not approve of your means of 

 accomplishing the end. "Stop the sale of game" would 

 no doubt alleviate the distressing symptons, but it would 

 by no means cure the disease. 



The measure proposed is extreme and all extremes ai ! e 

 dangerous. Are you not afraid that the enactment of 

 such a law (if it could be done) would bring about such a 

 violent reaction as to sweep game and game laws alike 

 from the face of this country? A demand for game 

 exist3 and the people have a right to a reasonable supply > 

 The market-shooter is a very convenient niat on which to 

 wipe our muddy boots, but is he really responsible for the 

 gradual extermination of the game? Now Mr. Editor, 

 think a moment before you say yes. I do not wish to 

 defend the market-shooter > he kills game because that Is 

 the easiest way for him to support himself and family, 

 A Bmall percentage of the game shot by these men goes 

 to waste, but a market-shooter never shoots game when 

 he knows that he cannot make use of it. Now* can we 

 say as much for the fraternity collectively classed as 

 sportsmen? Is it not a fact that a goodly percentage of 

 this latter class shoot anything which dares rise in front 

 of them and continue to slaughter just as long as game 

 and ammunition hold out, regardless of what becomes of 

 the game so killed? It is against these pirates of land and 

 sea that war should be declared amd systematically pro- 

 secuted; their extermination would mean preservation of 

 game, yes, even more, it would rid the fraternity of 

 sportsmen of a decidedly objectionable class. During the 

 last nineteen years I have hunted in a good many places 

 including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and a majority of 

 the States this side of the Rockies, and have met with the 

 market-shooter and the game hog, and of the two please 

 give me the market-shooter. 



Let me mention just a few of the many instances of 

 wanton slaughter of game which have come to my notice. 

 Two years ago two New York sportsmen went to Long 

 Island and returned after one week's stay with enough 

 ducks (spoiled and in good condition), to supply the in- 

 habitants of their ward for a month. Another brother 

 went to the Adirondacks and shot six does, used a small 

 portion of the meat and the hides and left the rest to rot. 

 Fortunately , this hog was caught and paid the usual fine. 

 Spruce partridges are very plentiful in some parts of 

 Nova Scotia, and a certain person from New Glasgow 

 goes there nearly every year for a wagon load full— some 

 keep till he gets home, but more of them spoil. It is the 

 same way in fishing, and I could relate a good many 

 stories to the credit of so-called sportsmen. 



Restrict the sale of game to one month or two months ' 

 of the open season, run down and kill the game hog 

 wherever you find him, and weather permitting, the 

 game of our country will not grow less but will increase 

 from year to year. Q. 



