May 16, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
398 
Btretching his head and neck to their full length, gazed 
unflinchingly into our faces. It was a moment that I 
shall never forget. 'What would you give for his picture,' 
said Van. For the moment I felt a touch of remorse at 
my cruel work, and I answered: 'If I could mend his 
back I would gladly let him go.' A shot through the 
heart ended his troubles and we took up the line of march 
to camp." 
Sept. 30— The weather has been so delightfully clear 
and warm that it seems like Indian summer. We are 
located here right in one of the finest game countries in 
the world. Pop and Van have gone in search of elk. In 
the morning Doc and I took the back trail in search of 
blue grouse. Our guns consisted of a ,22cal. Stevens rifle 
and a pocket full of rocks. Found five grouse scattered 
in trees and got three of them; one was the toughest 
thing to kill I ever saw. He was shot three times, each 
bullet hitting him fairly, before he even flinched, the 
third killing him. We did not know the other balls 
struck him at all until he was deprived of his feathers, 
when we found one had cut his craw open, one through 
his wing and shoulder, and the other back of his 
shoulders. Doc had guyed me unmercifully about my 
shooting at this particular bird, and said something about 
getting me a scatter gun. After the amount of shooting 
it required we concluded they would perhaps be better 
eating should we stew them, which the Kid did, and then 
they were tough. 
Pop and Van came in about 5 o'clock, after a lively 
chase after elk. They had got into a bunch of perhaps 
seventy, but in order to reach them had to cross a fright- 
ful windfall. Van could go through this like a squirrel, 
running along from tree to tree, but Pop had to jump, 
climb and fall over them to such an extent that when he 
got within shooting distance he couldn't shoot. He says, 
"I couldn't do anything. Had no wind, no strength, no 
nothing. Just stood like a blamed old fool, shaking all 
over, and it took me ten minutes to get my tongue back 
in the right place, and all the time Van Dyke was-yelling 
'Shoot, Pop! What have you got that gun for?' 'Shoot 
yourself!' says I, 'all I want is breath.' Finally I did get 
the gun up, but it took me so long to get a bead on them 
that they were in the next county before I could pull the 
trigger." Van says next time he'll take a bellows along 
with him and supply him with wind. 
Oct. 1. — A change has come, and I believe we are in for 
stormy weather. A few clouds are scudding across the 
sky, and now and then an occasional drop of rain falls. 
Pop and Van went off again for elk. The hunters re- 
turned about 4 o'clock, Pop as bright and fresh as a daisy. 
Reason, he had killed a fine bull about three miles from 
camp, and his experience is best told by himself: "Say, 
captain, I've had the greatest time ever you saw. Van 
and I just went around the Canaan and struck fresh trail. 
We followed them up, and soon Van saw them in a piece 
of woods (Van says timber), and then he showed them 
to me. We got around to windward, and sneaked on to 
them until we got within 75yds. There were about 100 
in the herd. Soon one big old bull trotted out into a little 
open field (Van says park) and bellowed and scratched the 
ground so that he almost buried Van and me as we were 
lying flat on our bellies watching the whole show. 
"Then he bellowed again (Van says whistled) and a 
young bull, a fresh-looking fellow, runs out to him with 
his hair all standing on end. He walks round and round, 
then they back off and come together. Wow ! how they 
squealed and fought! The little fellow was no match for 
that old monarch, so he ran away. Then the old one he 
Equealed again and pawed the ground some more, and 
another youngster trotted out to see what sort of an im- 
pression he could make. Say, Cap, I jest lay there and 
snickered and laughed, and the water ran from my nose; 
I couldn't blow it for fear of scaring them, so I had to 
just let her run. How I wished you were there with your 
camera to photograph that circus; I'd 'a' give $50 for a 
picture of that fight. Well, it took him just ten minutes 
to polish off that fellow and send him to his corner. He 
kept this up until he had walloped the stuffing out of five 
bulls, only requiring about 'two hours to do it. Then he 
stood there and squealed for more, but they were all 
afraid of him by this time. It was so funny that the 'un- 
cultivated cuss' began to get uneasy, and laughed too, so 
I had to sit on him. By this time the band began to get 
restless, and the cows and calves were almost walking 
over us. Then the old bull began to paw the dirt again, 
and I had either to shoot him or get buried, so I up and 
shot him three times, twice through the shoulders, and as 
he turned to run I shot him in the neck. Cap, that fight 
was worth coming 3,000 miles to see, and I'll never forget 
it. My, how I wish Georgie could have seen that." 
In your letter, which I r^cPived in Cooke, you ask me 
why I haven't said much about the guide. Well, to tell 
you the truth, Sammy, you know how Doc and I were 
taken in by a fellow in Minnesota last year? I had 
concluded to wait until I should go out with him myself 
before saying much, though the boys all say "he is a 
marvel and no mistake." 
Oct. 2.— Still cloudy. Went out with Judge, Pop and 
the Kid to help get in the head and hide from Pop's elk. 
Van and Doc left us and went up the draw to the right 
after game, Finished our work and got into camp about 
noon, and just in the nick of time too, as it began to 
snow about 1 o'clock. It seemed to me the flakes were as 
large as a silver dollar. Doc and Van came in about 4 
o'clock, wet to the skin, and Doc exhausted. They had 
had a very hard tramp that day, but Doc had the satisfac- 
tion of killing his first elk, a nice five-point bull. 
You will perceive, Sammy, that all have now secured 
heads but myself, though I am not pleased with the one 
Doc got, as I want him to get a larger one, and I feel sure 
he will. I have waited until the last. I haven't even 
looked for elk, but my turn comes now. Wabash, 
[to be continued.! 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Live Western Wardens. 
Forest and Stream prints this week the portrait of 
Mr. Chase S. Osborn, the hustling game and fish warden 
of the State of Michigan, who is eminently qualified to 
rank high among the live Western wardens who are 
carrying on the fight against illegal shooting and fishing. 
Mr. Oaborn is a newspaper man and owns two news- 
papers, chief of which is the evening daily, the Sault Ste. 
Marie Neivs. He is thus a man of affairs, but one who 
brings to mind the business maxim that it is the busiest 
man who always has the most time to do something. His 
present ambition is the stamping out of illegal and over- 
destructive fishing and shooting in the great State of 
Michigan, and his success is something which, prior to 
this time, has not been generally known, to the public, but 
which is worthy of careful study in other localities. 
Mr. Osborn took the office of game and fish warden 
Feb. 1, 1895. During the eleven months of 1895 the de- 
partment prosecuted 501 cases. These cases grew out of 
the investigation of reported violations to the number of 
966. The total of fines and costs collected amounted to 
$6,420 67 for the time mentioned. The office sent out 
about 10,000 personally dictated letters. Of the 501 cases 
mentioned, 397 convictions were obtained. Acquittals to 
the number of fifty-five resulted. In three cases there 
were disagreements and in thirty-four cases discontinu- 
ances were entered. This leaves twelve cases pending. 
All of the previous records of this office show a total of 
604 cases prosecuted up to the time that Mr. Osborn took 
the office. This would indicate that during the eleven 
months of 1895 he was enabled to accomplish in the 
direction of actual apprehension and punishment appar- 
ently nearly as much as had been accomplished during 
the previous existence of the office of eight years and one 
month. 
The laws were so emphatically prosecuted and enforced 
that the State does not have at present one quarter the 
violations reported at this time last year. 
The sentiment for game and fish protection in Michi- 
gan is certainly growing, though, as in other States, the 
I § 
I FOREST AND STREAM OFFICE 1 
346 Broadway t 
NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING 
Present Entrance on Leonard Street 
wap den chase s. osbohn. 
warden is hampered for lack of funds. The salary of the 
State warden is but $1,200 a year and he is allowed but 
$2,000 additional for the payment of deputips. 
The new deer law, making the season the same in both 
peninsulas, restricting the number of deer killed to five 
and requiring a license, was enforced to the letter and 
resulted in greatly reducing the number of deer killed. 
The law prohibiting the shipment of game and fish out of 
the State was rigorously enforced. Much attention was 
given to the enforcement of the new law prohibiting the 
sale of woodcock, partridge and quail, and hotels and 
restaurants were prevented from serving them at ban- 
quets whenever possible. 
Mr. 03born has taken the ground that all game and 
fish laws are constitutional and in force until declared 
otherwise by the supreme court. 
The State game and fish warden of Michigan is not only 
expected to enforce the laws relative to the protection of 
game fish and game animals, but has under his jurisdic- 
tion the protection of the food fish supply. He is made 
the inspector of fish shutes, and his duties are multiplied 
by each session of the Legislature. The one thing glar- 
ingly needful in Michigan seems to be a law regulating 
the length and weight of fish caught in pound nets, gill 
nets, seines, fyke nets, etc. The warden has made 
special efforts to have the commercial fishing laws re- 
spected. 
Non-resident deer hunting licenses to the number of 
twenty-three were issued during the season of 1895, and 
resident licenses to the number of 15,877. Mr. Osborn 
will advocate a change in the license law at the next 
session of the Legislature, requiring every pei-son who has 
a gun in his possession during the open season to have a 
license. 
Moose In Minnesota. 
There is a popular impression that the moose law is off in 
Minnesota this fall, though I do not find it so recorded in 
the game laws. The close season law, or some other 
cause, has been followed by an increase in the moose sup- 
ply not far short of phenomenal, though the killing has 
bsen very extensive in the Rainy Lake region, and indeed 
pretty much all through upper Minnesota the prospectors 
have penetrated beyond the reach of the wardens. The 
dispatches from Duluth, of May 6, state that a herd of 
moose on that morning appeared in the main street of 
that city, they having swum across the bay from the Wis- 
consin side. They were driven over into the woods on a 
point of land near by, and at last accounts had not left 
that locality, being very tired with their swim. 
Along Deer River and in the Itasca region moose are 
very abundant, and have been for two years. Last year, 
according to a newspaper cutting which is handed me by 
a Minnesota resident, a band of five moose ate up the cab- 
bage patch of a Deer Lake settler, and so irritated him that 
he went after them with a shotgun and did all he could 
to exterminate the lot. They are there again this year, 
however, and he says he can't afford to raise cabbage for 
all the wild moose in Minnesota, for he intends to lay in 
that cabbage for next winter in the form of kraut for him- 
self and family. 
Poisoned Deer. 
In northern Minnesota several deer are reported to have 
been poisoned last season by eating the tops of potato and 
other plants which had been treated with Paris green for 
the purpose of destroying bugs. The wild deer when not 
pursued become very bold, coming into the gardens of the 
farmers and helping themselves to what they like, and 
being of a very inquisitive turn of mind, though their in- 
vestigations have not yet taught them that the good part 
of a potato is not the part which grows above the ground. 
Deer In Chicago, 
Mr. William Deering, of Evanston suburb, has a pet 
deer which has this week been having a lot of fun with 
the people of that village. It has broken away from con- 
finement twice, once going out into Lake Michigan for a 
swim and nearly drowning itself, and then at a later day 
making its escape and running for soma time loose in the 
cemetery, where it was with difficulty secured by the 
attendants and taken back home in a wagon under 
an escort of four policemen, who thus had their initial 
hunt for big game. 
Wild Pigeons. 
There is ground for the belief that the wild pigeon is 
by no means to be considered an extinct bird. This 
spring a report from Minnesota states that a few have 
been seen there, and now I have more definite word to 
prove that at least a few more of these beautiful birds 
remain in the land of the living. Mr. H. L Stanton, 
who resides at Beverly Hills suburb, eleven miles to the 
south of the city, on the Rock Island road, tells me th at 
one morning two weeks ago he saw a flock of birds flyi ng 
toward his home which had a peculiar look and which he 
almost at once identified as wild pigeons; for though he 
had seen none for years he was raised in the pigeon 
country of Wisconsin and is familiar with the bird. 
These pigeons crossed the ridge of high land at Beverly 
Hills and disappeared in the direction of a wood back of 
that point, where Mr. Stanton thinks they may have 
alighted for a time. Mr. Stanton's neighbor, Mr. Fuss, 
when spoken to about this event, mentioned that he had 
on the same morning seen another flock of about the 
same number, thirty or forty, which crossed at nearly 
the same place. Mr. Fuss was brought up at or near this 
same spot, and he remarks that in the past, when there 
was a regular flight of pigeons, this used to be their 
regular crossing place, they seeming to come in from the 
direction of south Chicago, as though in their flight they 
had come around the head of Lake Michigan or crossed 
it near the head (or perhaps I should more nautically call 
this the "foot" of the lake, meaning at least the southern 
end of it). It would be pleasant indeed if we might once 
more see even occasionally a flock of these birds, once so 
extraordinarily abundant. 
News from the Yellowstone Park. 
A band of twenty -six mountain sheep was seen in the 
"strip" north of the Yellowstone River in the National 
Park two weeks ago. Deer are more abundant in the 
Park this spring than ever before. One bunch of forty- 
seven blacktails came down within a mile of the officers' 
quarters one day last week, and there are a number of 
whitetails hanging around the post pastures. Every 
range in the Park has dozens and hundreds of elk, and 
these animals surely more than hold their own. Two ar- 
rests have been made of poachers for killing elk in the 
Park, E. She ffield and A. G. Vance, of Livingston. These 
men are charged with killing the elk in the Montana 
strip of the Park. They are to be tried before Commis- 
sioner Meldrum at Fort Yellowstone to- day, May 9. 
After Big Game. 
A French count with eleven dachshunde of the bluest 
sort of blOod is in Chicago this week, bound for the 
National Park and other Western points. He is after big 
game. He takes his serpentine pack with him when he 
travels, because he loves them so. E. HotraH. 
1206 Botce Building, Chicago. 
The Lonely Anti-Decoy Partners. 
I believe that it was E. E., of Seattle, who a few 
weeks since moved to stash the decoy interest. I think 
that I was the only one who supported his motion, and I 
did this for the same reason thafb he made it, namely, 
that neither of us is in the habit of using decoys. 
I felt that at any rate my flint-lock, muzzleloading 
amendment would be too much for him. Even Mr. 
Mitchell, who is the only one in the Forest and Stream 
crowd having, according to the Seattle gentleman, a spark 
of humanity or unselfishness in his soul, seems to have 
"gone back on him.." " 'Twas ever thus." 
If decoys are really to be abolished by law I should 
like to have a loophole in the statute, so that when I 
chance to find myself among upland plover, I may feel a 
liberty to hold up my foot, or wave a handkerchief on a 
stick, or to use some similar device for bamboozling thes 
exceeding wary birds. I can imitate their call (which 
believe few can do), and used to have many a pleasan 
and successful day among them. I have not seen one fo 
many years. Kelpie. 
Aroostook County, Maine. 
Littleton, Me,, May 4. — The robins and blackbirds pu 
in an appearance together this season, April 11; the firs 
frogs were heard April 22 and the first swallows seen on 
April 25, The season is somewhat backward, but indica- 
tions are good for lots of sport with trout this summer. 
They are already betraying a considerable interest in the 
contents of my fly book and I shall shortly have a good 
score to report. I note that woodcocks and partridges are 
unusually plenty in the woods this spring, the former 
being quite tame. That the fall Bhooting will be excep- 
tionally good there can be no doubt. A number of deer 
have been seen in the open fields, and your corresponden 
quite recently ran across a herd of five caribou within 
two miles of the railroad. The new Ashland branch o 
the Bangor & Aroostook road has made easy access to 
some of the finest fishing and hunting grounds to be 
found in the State. Miss Isquoi. 
