894 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 16, 1896. 
appointment passed high overhead and away to stubbles 
miles beyond. After waiting for half an hour without 
getting a shot, we got careless and were stamping about 
to get our feet warm, when some flocks appeared in the 
distance working up against the wind, and instantly every 
one vanished from view. Presently a flock of five Canada 
geese flew past. Hitchcock called them and they turned 
and flew straight for their decoys. From my distant hide 
I could see the geese lazily flapping up against the wind 
not 6ft. above the stubble. Nearer they came and nearer. 
Surely now they must be right over the decoys! Why 
didn't some one shoot? Suddenly, as it seemed to me, 
four of them sat down simultaneously, while the other 
flew away. It turned out that our friend, the contractor, 
who had never done very much shooting, and had cer- 
tainly never fired at a goose before in his life, had killed 
all four with one shot and was so astonished that he never 
thought to let off his other barrel at the remaining bird. 
(I may say here, however, that his subsequent perform- 
ance scarcely equaled this early promise, as these were 
the only birds I saw him kill during the trip.) But this 
flock was followed by others. The superintendent, who 
was using a 10-bore Greener, did some admirable shoot- 
ing, and as I got a few down at my end of the field we 
had after all a bag of twenty geese when we returned to 
the car for breakfast. 
Subsequently we drove down to the lake to catch the 
flight coming back to water, and the wind being very 
high we had excellent sport, as many of the flocks came 
fairly low. 
The following morning I killed eighteen from my bide 
and the others had also good sport, so that on the whole our 
bag totaled over 100 geeBe. But Hitchcck still maintains 
that we would have killed twice as many had we come 
up the date we had first laid out and we have faithfully 
promised that neither presidents nor principalities shall 
be allowed to interfere with our trip next fall. 
The Senator. 
A GREENHORN HUNTING PARTY. 
Feed Mather's account of the greenhorns' outing in 
"An Adirondack Night" so reminds me of my first camp- 
ing trip that I jot it down for the amusement of the 
readers of Forest and Stream. 
Having from early boyhood waged slaughter on wood- 
chucks, coons, Equirrels, etc. , on the west bank of Cayuga 
Lake in western New York, my boyhood's home, I longed 
for larger game. 
While visiting a cousin in northern Pennsylvania I be- 
came acquainted with two timber owls (tie cutters and 
bark peelers) by the name of Tim C. and Alvin B., who 
claimed such prowess as hunters that they made my 
cousin and me believe they could have given pointers to 
Nimrod, Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett. They were 
willing to furnish a team and conduct a hunting party to 
the big timber on the headwaters of Pine Creek if we 
would pay the expenses of the trip. A letter to my 
younger brother at Ithaca called him to Pennsylvania 
with his rifle and my 8-gauge muzzle-loading shotgun, 
and we started on our hunt in the early part of November. 
As Tim and AMn stopped their team at every hotel and 
at our expense took two or three drinks apiece to the suc- 
cess of our trip on our two or three days' drive, their valor 
increased as we neared the woods, and they impressed the 
cousin, my brother and myself, who was the eldest of the 
three, just 17, with the idea that when we got to the 
woods Tim and Alvin would kill all the deer and bears 
in the woods, while we would be lucky if we even caught 
sight of any live game, and that their slaughter would be 
so great, day by day, that we would be kept busy with the 
team hauling their victims to camp. So we planned a 
rebellion, determined that we would hunt one day in the 
woods if some of the deer they killed had to hang out all 
night. 
As we neared the big woods surrounding the head- 
waters of the creek we were met by a team hauling out 
two dead bears and four deer. Tim and Alvin had a jug 
n the wagon under their front seat, from which they had 
frequently imbibed for our success, and now the sight of 
the game going out so increased their prowess, as they told 
how they too would kill the deer and bears, that cousin C. 
asked how we would get home if they loaded the wagon 
down with bear and dper meat. To this the cheering 
eply was made, "You boys can walk home." 
On our arrival at the last house on the creek we left our 
team in the stable, made up our packs, and early next 
morning tramped into the woods for ten miles, carrying 
cooked provisions and the camp paraphernalia of bedding, 
cooking utensils and our guns and ammunition, where 
we soon had a lean-to of hemlock boughs facing a large 
log, against which our fire was kindled, and our camp 
was completed. Then, tired out, we enjoyed the fragrant 
beds of hemlock boughs, to be awakened toward morning 
by water dripping in our faces, and to find that a storm 
had come on during the night. Our hemlcck-bough roof 
would not shed water, but as there was one rubber 
blanket in the party, it was spread upon the slanting roof; 
the other bedding was rolled under it, the fire was piled 
with fresh wood, and there we huddled until morning. 
How it did rain the next day ; and as the men said there 
was no use in trying to hunt deer in the rain we huddled 
under our roof all day, while they told of prior hunts in 
which the deer had been so thick that they had almost 
been driven from their camps by the numbers charging 
them. Finally they were tired of lying— as I now know 
—and then they played euchre at 5 cents a game "on 
tick;" and thus they passed the day, while we boys wished 
it would clear off or that we were at home, and for fear 
of bears and panthers hardly dared leave the camp. 
About 4 o'clock a change of weather came and it rapidly 
grew freezing cold, and when we awoke next morning 
we found the ground covered with about 4in. of snow. 
Jim and Alvin said it was just right for deer; but on 
moving out from camp we found that the thick covering 
of leaves had become saturated with water and then 
frozen before the snow fell, and the breaking of this ice 
under a person's feet could be heard for half a mile. 
From what I have since learned about hunting, I am 
now of the opinion that neither Jim nor Alvin knew any 
more about deer hunting or had had any more experience 
than the boys of the party, and that they had simply im- 
posed on our credulity to get ua to pay the expenses of a 
trip for them, which expenses included drinks for them 
whenever they could get them upon the road. 
After breakfast we were started out in a row about half 
a mile apart and marched out for the slaughter of deer. 
This line was maintained over hill and valley until about 
2 o'clock, when we came together, not one of us having 
seen a deer, and disconsolately marched back to camp to 
find the valley surrounding the camp covered with fresh 
deer tracks. Having been forbidden to shoot at anything 
but deer or bears, we had let many ohances to shoot grouse 
or partridges, squirrels and rabbits, go by, and when we 
came to overhaul our supply of provisions it was found 
that we were out of meat. While the stream was well 
stocked with trout, no hooks and lines had been brought 
along, and so we could not add to our supply from the 
stream. We made our supper upon cold potatoes, cooked 
at the house where we had left our team, and dry bread 
and butter. 
Our breakfast next morning consisted of half a slice of 
bread for each one, and Alvin ordered that the party 
should separate and hunt meat for the day, anything that 
we could eat, and no one must come into camp till he 
brought in some kind of game. After a long day's tramp 
I got into camp just at dark with one small red squirrel, 
where I found the rest of the party had preceded me, and 
that our total bag for the day was five red squirrels and a 
porcupine. Each one broiled a squirrel and ate it, and 
then Alvin skinned the porcupine and broiled a piece of 
it, but as he could not" eat it none of the rest of us 
tried it. 
The next morning we packed up and marched out of 
the woods, to find on our arrival at the house where our 
team was that its owner had brought in and hung up four 
deer while we had been in the woods. Two of these my 
brother and I bought, and then we started home, dis- 
gusted with hunting and worse with our two mighty 
hunters, who had to stop at every tavern to drink and 
brag about the way they had shot the deer which my 
brother and I had bought. As funds were running low 
we tried to shut off on the drinking, but at the hotel where 
we stopped the second night they secretly sold the largest 
deer and used the money for the expense of irrigation. 
When we reached a stage line leading down toElmira 
my brother and I took the remaining deer and boarded 
the stage for Elmira, where we were forced to sell it to 
get funds enough to get home to Ithaca. Thus ended our 
greenhorn hunting party and my first deer hunt and 
camping-out trip. Winchester, 
IN THE ROCKIES. 
(Continued from page 376.') 
Canoe Creek Camp, Wyo., Oct. 1, 1895.— My Dear 
Sammy: This is certainly God's country." The longer 
I remain here the more I am in love with it; the more I 
feel that I have just begun to live. Who could grow old 
and decrepit in this glorious climate, breathing the purest 
of air and drinking water that tastes like nectar? Sammy, 
make a resolve in the near future to break the links that 
"chain you to business" and come to this country of ever- 
lasting hills and health. 
"Better to hunt in hills for health unbought 
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught.'" 
We have had the most charming weather I ever remem- 
ber having seen. Every day alike, yet different. Pleas- 
ant enough to lie out under the evergreen trees and dream, 
and wish for friends to dream and live this life with us. 
Every day, every hour brings something new to admire 
and wonder at 
Wednesday Van and I tramped over the surrounding 
mountains and saw plenty of elk signs, but most of them 
two or three days old. I forgot to tell you that Pop 
brought in the first meat, having killed his first deer yes- 
terday coming down the divide, and I assure you he was 
a very proud man. It was most welcome too, as bacon 
had begun to pall on me. After dinner Pop and Van 
took up the hunt and followed down the canon; sighted 
several elk, but didn't get within shooting distance. 
Thursday dawned bright and clear. It felt more like 
last of May than September. Doc and Van went after 
elk, but with the same result. This camp is a noted bear 
camp, and we are anxious to get one or two fine elk heads 
here, so that we can use the carcass for bear bait. The 
bears come and go here, and once you get bait out you are 
pretty sure of your bear coming to it. In the afternoon 
Van and I started on a twelve-mile ride to Cooke City for 
provisions and the mail. It was a charming ride, with 
enough excitement and a spice of danger to make it en- 
joyable. We had scarcely gotten 300yds. from camp when 
Van, having spied three black-tail deer ahead, quickly 
dismounted and drawing his carbine prepared to kill; but, 
alas! "the best laid plans of mice and men." The "uncul- 
tivated son of a gun" Schuyler saw them at the same time, 
and made a crack for them, causing Van not only to lose 
a shot, but his temper as well. All his yelling to the dog 
wouldn't bring him back until he had run them Into the 
next county. This was the only failing poor Schuyler 
had. But then the reception he got on his return was 
something painful to witness. His master broke off a 
small tree and wore it down to splinters on him. Truly 
the way of the transgressor is hard, and I fear he found it 
so, as he ran on two, sometimes three feet, for some time 
after. After this little circus we proceeded on our way, 
all apparently happy but the poor dog. I often felt sorry 
for him, as he was a good-natured cuss. He attended 
faithfully to the sores on the horses' feet and legs, often 
licking them for many minutes, in fact, when we stopped 
to rest. He seemed to take a special delight in teasing one 
sorrel colt, for he would sneak quietly behind him and 
nip him on the ankle or leg, and as quickly spring aside 
or lie flat as the horse's heels flew like a streak of greased 
lightning over his head. Had they ever struck him 
Schuyler would in all probability be traveling yet. Many 
a good laugh have I had while watching them. 
Our ride and climb up the Republic Divide was work, 
but the summit once gained the view amply repaid for 
all the energy spent in getting there. While I stood 
taking in the surrounding scenery, oblivious to all that 
was passing around me, Van quietly made his way on 
down the divide, knowing that when I mounted old Roany 
(I was riding the old pack horse) he would make a rush to 
catch up, and he did. If ever my hair had any inclina- 
tion to rise, it certainly must have been then, as Roany 
started on a run down this mountain. He was the most 
determined as well as the roughest horse I ever sat on. 
L made up my mind that there was no use in trying to 
stop him, so I simply gave him his head and held on. 
How we ever got down without breaking our necks is a 
mystery to me. To the right of the trail we went down 
there is a glacier that has perhaps been there for cen- 
turies. Van says, "I had a horse slip in crossing it 
one day, and he went down a mile, gathering speed as 
he went, finally landing in a snowdrift, and buried him- 
self. When he started to slide he was packed with fresh 
meat, but the saddles of elk got such a gait on them they 
never stopped until they struck in front of Jack Allen's 
hotel, in Cooke, and when I got in town Jack had the 
meat served for supper." 
It was a breakneck pace until we reached Cooke, a 
it was getting late and the trail a rough one after darks 
We arrived about 6:30. . . 
Like all mining camps in that region, in the fall and 
winter Cooke was almost deserted. It is the largest 
mining camp in the Clark's Fork district, about sixty-five 
miles southeast from Cinnabar, and about five miles from 
Yellowstone Park. It is destined to become a rich mining 
camp should they ever get railroad facilities there. One 
old miner told me he had been waiting now for twenty- 
five years for the railroad to come in, and he thought 
within the next two years it would be a realization, The 
Daisy Gold Mine sold the day I left for $33,000. There Is 
a cyanide mill there now in operation, and I believe it 
is paying well. The surrounding country is rich in 
minerals. 
Friday, the 27th, still clear and warm. Recrossed the 
divide, this time over the glacier. Van says, "Keep your 
feet out of the stirrups, and if your horse falls, slide off 
and let him go." I think Van did these little things to 
see how much sand the "dudes" possessed. These horses 
climb like goats. We kept going up and up until I 
thought we would never reach the top. It was dark 
when we reached camp, and much to my surprise we 
found discontent there. Ben had become frightened and 
swore he had to go into Cooke the next morning, as he 
had to get home in time to attend court, was disgusted 
with the game outlook, and in a bad temper generally. 
Pop says, "I found him a-settin' on a log a- cry in' to be 
taken home to Pennsylvania, and me and Doc had the 
devil's own time with him." This upset all our plans for 
killing bear— in fact spoilt it — and I assure you none of 
us felt jolly over it. To have Van go into Cooke the next 
day meant the loss of two more days really without any 
reason, as Ben bad said previously that he didn't care to 
get home before the 19th of October. Now, as captain of 
the outfit I didn't wish him to go home without a head, 
so asked Van to move us the next morning to the elk 
country, let him kill his game and then take him xo Cooke 
the following day, all of which he promised to do. 
Next morning we broke camp and moved south. In 
crossing the mountain out we saw fresh signs of elk that 
had just come into the valley we were leaving, but it was 
too late — we were on the move. Went into camp on 
Canoe Creek at 5 o'clock. Poor Doe gels blowed every 
time he does much climbing, and I attribute much of it 
to his excessive use of tobacco. 
The 29th was another beautiful day. After breakfast 
Van and Ben took to the hills in search of elk, which we 
were anxious he should get. They had scarcely gone a 
half hour when we heard firing, and this is the way Ben 
tells it to his friends: "We had not gone more than a mile 
and a half from camp when We suddenly came across our 
first game in the thick timber. Van, who was in the 
lead, suddenly stopped and pointed ahead to where stood 
three deer, scarcely distinguishable to an untrained eye in 
the dark Bhadows of the evergreens. In an instant I had 
covered and pulled on the little buck standing about 
80yds. away on my side. He went down with a broken 
. shoulder from a high shot, and after a moment's hesita- 
tion the other buck and doe bounded away, not, however, 
before. I had covered the second buck, but on Van's sug- 
gestion that we had meat enough with one, I dropped my 
rifle and let it go. As the dead buck was small we 
changed our minds, and separating, followed into the 
timber, where the guide shot the second buck within a 
few minutes' walk. We left the carcass thrown across a 
log and went back to where the first buck lay. 
"For several hours later we followed the almost innu- 
merable elk tracks that made the soft earth in some of 
the open places look more like a well-trodden barnyard 
than anything else, but without overtaking anything. 
After the middle of the day, while pursuing our vain 
search, I suddenly heard the distant whistle of a bull elk, 
coming apparently from down the mountain side In the 
cafion. After locating it as well as we could, we began a 
long and trying climb to get to windward of him. At 
last we crept cautiously out to the edge Of the cafion, only 
to find that the elk had in the meantime been passing up- 
ward on the opposite side, and were above us and already 
out of range. We could occasionally get a glimpse of 
their bodies between the trees, and felt they were fast 1 
getting away from us. Just then my bottled indignation 
at the dog boiled over, as he got between my legs again 
with the cord that I was leading him by. He had been 
breaking sticks, getting on the wrong side of trees, 
mangling the string and making life miserable for me for 
hours, and I said to Van, 'I would like to break his neck,' 
to which he promptJy replied, 'Knock the head off the 
uncultivated son of a gun.' 
"Without a thought of the consequences I whacked him 
over the head with my fist, when to my surprise and utter 
consternation a howl went up that waked the echoes of 
the mountain side, and which I felt must send every elk 
out of the country. Almost instantly there came back to 
us the whistle of the bull elk on the opposite side of the 
canon. He had evidently mistaken the dog's yell for a 
challenge. We looked at each othej and lauded, and a 
moment later, as we looked in the direction of the sound, 
the noble animal himself at the head of his band trotted 
out of the timber into an open space opposite and a little 
above us. With his head and spreading antlers lifted 
high in the air, he advanced directly toward us, looking- 
for his adversary. Seeing nothing, he turned broadside 
and stood fast within 100yds. of our hiding place. At 
the crack of my .45-90 Winchester he went down with a 
broken back at the first shot. Van then called my atten- 
tion to a spike bull that had gotten perhaps 20yds. above 
the big bull, and I put a shot into his ribs too far back to 
bring him down, a second shot to break his back was too 
high, and a shot from Van found the proper point, back of 
the shoulder, after which he rolled down the mountain 
side toward the place where the other lay. 
"We crossed the canon, taking with us the heretofore 
unappreciated dog, whom we now voted a hero as well aa 
a much cultivated purp indeed, for who had ever before 
heard of a dog successfully calling an elk? 
"When we approached the big bull, though paralyzed 
from his broken back, he raised on bis front feet, and. 
