22£ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
March 23, 1895. 
■he igpartmtfmt gonrini. 
GLIMPSES OF CAMP LIFE. 
TN THREE PARTS— PART II. 
One of the most charming camps I ever made, every- 
thing considered, was on ' the headwaters of the right 
hand fori of Willow Creek, a tributary of the South 
Boise River, in Elmore county. Idaho. The location is 
well up in a spur of the Saw Tooth range of mountains 
and in a country only visited by hunters and prospectors. 
Our camp was pitched in an ideal spot, and the accom- 
panying illustration fails to give more than a poor idea of 
what a charming place it was. 
The little valley, or more properly speaking, the open 
depression between the high mountains, through which 
flowed the dashing, tumbling little streams opened out 
around us, not into a level plain, but into a series of 
grass and tree-covered terraces, which led with gentle 
slopes up to the base of the higher hills. The stream 
which came racing down from the springs above was 
filled with salmon trout, and its clear waters were ice 
cold. 
All about us were mountain grouse, and a goodly 
number were hanging up in camp. A fine fat buck was 
suspended from the great fir alongside the tent, while 
every pail and pan in the outfit was full of trout. 
The days were warm and bright; nights were cold, and 
under our warm blankets we slept the sleep of the 
healthy, tired mountaineer. Up above our camp, a good 
four hours' climb, was the summit of the range, and here 
in an open park-like country summered I he bis; mule deer 
bucks. It was not strictly above timber line, but the few 
trees that grew in smali clumps, or clusters, were gnarled 
and stunted. In under these trees were the beds of the 
bucks, and we would rout them out in pairs and trios, 
and off they would go, head and tail up, a grand sight. 
Their velvet-covered antlers looked like small trees as 
they tossed their heads, in evident disdain of the poor 
mortal toiling so slowly where they leaped so freely. 
Our outfit was prospecting more than hunting, and 
therefore the bucks did not suffer much. It was a little 
too early for the "fall kill," so we only secured the mea 
we wanted for present use. 
As I have said, we were in the country where the bi 
bucks summered. To the initiated, this does not need a 
explanation, but many who have not visited the West d 
not know the usual movements of wild game. It may 
not be out of place to give a short account of how the 
deer move from location to location. We will start with 
them in the early spring when they migrate from the low- 
lands, sage brush plains, or some low warm valley where 
but little snow falls. Here they have spent the winter 
and the bucks have their antlers. As the warm sun and 
Chinook winds melt off the deep snow from the high 
peaks, the deer travel back into the mountains and the 
does linger in the higher valleys and canons, where the 
dense thickets afford them a safe and secluded retreat to 
bring forth their little families. The bucks contiuue to 
climb up, up, until they reach the highest peaks, where 
it is cool and where they are comparatively free from 
the torments of flies. Here they spend the summer, their 
new antlers growing solid as the warm season wanes, 
and becoming ready for the love tournaments in the fall. 
When the antlers are hard and ready for use the velvet 
covering which protected the spongy mass of growing 
horn is rubbed off against the trees and brush. The buck 
is now in fine condition, fat and strong. September 
passes, and the cold, frosl y nights start the ducks down 
to seek their future mates. As autumn grows apace, the 
bucks "round up" the does, and one often sees small 
bands under the leadership of some stately stag, who is 
monarch of all he surveys. As winter approaches, the 
deer wander lower, hut linger in the border of the snowy 
land until some extra heavy fall of snow sends them in 
a rush to the lowlands. 
September is the month to shoot bucks if one wants fine 
meat; later the flesh becomes strong, though the antlers 
are then in good condition. The fiDe buck on which we 
feasted and which hangs on the great fire shown in the 
illustration, fell the first day we spent in our camp, and 
Long Tom Eeiley told us how it happened as we lay on 
our blankets that night before the gleaming camp-fire, 
which cracked and sputtered, throwing great flames high 
in the air, as some particularly rich piece of pitch pine 
caught fire and cast great shadows out over the grassy 
knoll as it smouldered away. The splashing and gurgling 
sound of the rushing rivulet, and the sighing of the even- 
ing breeze in the branches of the great fir above, were the 
only sounds breaking the stillness of the quiet evening 
air, excepting ever and anon from away up the canon, 
came the tinkling of the bell on Kitty, our riding mare as 
she moved lazily, cropping here and there a juicy mouth- 
ful of bunch grass. We all lay looking dreamily into the 
sparkling fire, or watching the dense smoke of the pitch 
logs shoot upward toward the blue dome of the un- 
clouded sky, ablaze with myriads of stars. One who has 
not seen the splendor of a cloudless night in a high alti- 
tude, cannot imagine the glory of the star-lighted 
heavens. The bright heavenly bodies blaze and scintil- 
late with a gorgeousness and magnificence unknown to 
the dweller in the cloudy and smoky atmosphere of the 
East. 
Rolling over to get into an easy position, Long Tom 
took his pipe from his mouth, and using his finger for a 
stopper, pushed the tobacco down into the bowl, blowing 
at the same time a huge volume of smoke over the finely 
stained meerschaum pipe. "Wall, boys," said he, "I did 
not get left this time." Tom had shot at several deer the 
day before, and very much to his own disgust and ours, 
for we waated meat, had missed. "I made up my 
mind," he continued, between puffs, "that if I ran on to 
a deer to-day, he was my meat, or the 44 would not shoot 
straight. After I left you fellows, I climbed down the 
mountain a smart piece without seeing anything but a 
pine squirrel and a grouse. Didn't dare shoot the grouse, 
for fear I'd scare something else. I was feeling pretty 
tired an sat down on a rock to rest a bit. I hadn't set there 
long, when I chanced to look off to the right where 
there was an opening in the timber, and I saw a gray- 
looking object in some brush. It looked kind of blue- 
gray, you know, and I saw in a minute that it was a 
buck in the blue. The deer was slowly wending his way 
down the mountain in the cool shade, and I could see 
that he was bound for the valley below, Avhere he could 
get a nice drink and fill up on juicy meadow grass. Poor 
chap, he didn't think he was going to be someone else's 
supper, as he slowly came toward me, stopping here and 
there to nibble the bunch grass, or to raise his head sus- 
piciously as he breathed the cool evening air under the 
pines. He was only a hundred yards away, and I began 
to finger the trigger nervously, wondering where I had 
better take him, when up went his head, and with a snort, 
he stood and gazed about. I sat like a stone man, 
crouched behind the big rock. Silence reigned, broken 
only by the rustle of the pine needles, stirred by the wind 
which blew up the canon, and the quick chatter of a pine 
squirrel, as he scampered over the rocks and grass after 
his evening meal. Nothing in these noises to worry the 
buck, he knew them all; but something else seemed to 
him, but Mr, K, presently called their attention to fifteen 
quail sitting in a compact bunch, and asked the hunters 
to "kill the last one of 'em at one shot," but thoy told 
Mr. K. they did not do it in that way, and then flushed 
them, killing one, as they went away for some pine 
woods at the other side of the field. By the time the. 
singles were hunted up, and a few killed, Mr. K. said it 
was dinnertime , and took the boys to the house, but din- 
ner was not ready for two hours, just because Mrs. K. 
thought a big lot of extras must be got for the strangers. 
Such a dinner as she prepared was worth waiting /-for. 
The table was loaded with substantials. Except that there 
was no milk nor butter, it lacked nothing, but H. and 
Jones confined themselves mostly to country sausage, . and 
for desert ate a large block of pear cobbler. 
After dinner they went after quail for a couple of 
hours, but it was too cold for comfort, so they came to 
the house. The host built a fire in their room. It con- 
GLIMPSES , OF CAMP LIEE 
Camp on Willow Creek. Photo t>y F. F. Frisbie. 
be in the air. Would he bolt, and should I shoot? No ; 
down goes his head again, and slowly he picked his way 
toward me. He was in no hurry, and I was afraid that 
he would linger under the dark shades of the pines so 
long that I could not see the sights. It seemed a long 
time, but I don't suppose it was, before that buck got 
close enough to suit me. I didn't propose to miss him, 
and waited until he was within seventy -five yards. I knew 
that if the old gun would shoot at all I could down him 
then. Mighty carefully I poked the rifle over the rock, 
drew a fine bead on the neck and let her flicker. The 
echo of the shot came booming back from across the val 
ley, and as the smoke cleared away, I saw the buck in 
the dry pine needles. If I'd missed that buck I'd given 
up shooting, that's all." Frank F. Frisbie. 
FLORIDA FUN.— IV. 
While H. still lingered at Pensacola, there came Mr. P. 
Jones, of Paris, Ey., a civil engineer by profession, and 
a sportsman by nature. A'number of years ago he was 
employed in surveying the wild lands of Florida, and it 
is interesting to hear him discourse concerning the insect 
life that makes existence a burden in those regions. He 
can give complete accountts of much of the fauna and 
flora, too; so that H. found him a most agreeable com- 
panion. Jone? was wanting to shoot some quail, and H. 
is always wanting to shoot them; the Forbes boys said 
there were any quantity of quail at Greenwood, twelve 
miles north of Marianna, and gave Jones and II. a'le'ter 
to one of the farmers up there, and the L. & N. R. R. sold 
them round trip sportsman's tickets for $4 (the regular 
rate is §10.60, so they went. 
Reaching Marianna at midnight, they slept soundly till 
six, swallowed part of an indifferent breakfast, got a good 
team and a very small negro boy for driver and started, 
with high hopes of good sport. At the end of two hours' 
drive, over fairly good smooth roads, they found their 
man, or rather his house, the man himself being some- 
where on the plantation, so th^y got out the guns and 
started to hunt him. As they walked out through the 
fields H. saw they would not be disappointed this time, 
for it was too good a place for quail, not? to have lots of 
them. On every hand there stretched away long reaches 
of level land; cotton fields, corn fields, sedge fields, and 
squares of grassy pine woods, an ideal country for quail 
to live in and an ideal place to hunt and shoot them in. 
They soon found Mr. K., to whom the letter was ad- 
dressed, and gave it to him. He tried for a while to read 
it upside down, but made no progress. Presently H. 
remarked that it was very difficult to read Mr. Forbes' 
writing unless one was familiar with it, and suggested 
that as he was use 1 to it he might be able to make it out, 
and taking it from Mr. K's hand, read it to him, thus 
ending a situation that was embarassing to both parties. 
When Mr. K. understood that he was requested to take 
care of H. and Jones, and do what he could to show 
them birds, he gave them a welcome, and hoped they 
would enjoy themselves. 
For several minutes old Jack, a setter that Mr. Forbes 
had left with Mr. K. had been on a point within four 
rods of the party, but as the cover seemed hardly thick 
enough to hide a mouse, they paid little attention to 
sisted of four or five small sticks of wood in an old-fash- 
ioned fire-place; the doors were all left open, and the dogs 
got their places next to the fire. H. stood this for ju°t 
fifteen minutes. Then he went to the wood pile, picked 
up the axe, and cutdng three "fat" pine logs as big as he 
could carry, put them on that little fire, and filled in be- 
neath, among and on top with the splinters split from 
another length of the same log. In five minutes there 
was a conflagration that would have astonished a New 
England fire-place of ye olden time. The dogs retreated; 
the circle of humanity widened, and gran'ther K. got his 
knee burned before he knew it, while Mr, K. said it was 
the best fire he'd ever seen, and his tw r o little boys ran 
out to see if it was "blazin' outjof the chimbly top?' 
A hearty supper, an elegant bed, and a good hot break- 
fast put the hunters in good trim for another shoot, but 
the weather was bitterly cold, tne ground was frozen and 
the wind blowing a gale. The negro farm hands were 
shivering round a fire in the barn yard, and two negro 
boys were bundled in old shawls and leaning against the 
lee side of the barn. The cattle looked pinched and 
drawn up, while the chickens were so chilled they were 
stupid. It was not likely that quail would be stirring, but 
Jones must go back that evening, so it was resolved to 
pay no attention to the cold, and they put in five hours. 
It is too long a story to be told in detail. They hunted ten 
hours in all and bagged forty-eight quail. There were 
just lots of quail there, and two good shots could have 
bagged 100 birds in a hard day's work in good weather. 
There are a hundred thousand acres of probably just as 
good ground all around the spot. For a day's shooting or 
for a whole season's shooting, H. has never seen a more 
promising region. How long will they last? About two 
more seasons. Last year two parties came here to shoot; 
this year, probably two dozen, and next year fifty. Then ; 
birds will get scarce, and "no hunting" signs go up all 
over the plantations. 
In the afternoon Mr. K. drove them hack to the station, 
where they arrived thoroughly chilled, and did not get 
warm until they got into the thoroughly heated cars. 
Jones went to Pensacola, but H. stopped at De Funiak 
Springs to have some more shooting with Lee Cawthon, 
and was pained to hear that Lee's dog had been poisoned 
the day before. It will be well for owners of good dogs to 
remember that wherever there are sheep in tins part of 
Florida there is likely to be poisone J meat lying around, 
put there to poison dogs and wild cats. Not wanting to 
lose Joe, H. concluded to take no chances, and went on to 
Pensacola the next day. Jones was surprised to see him 
back so soon, but said "Its all right, I haven"t told any 
lies about our trip yet." 
It way seem striDge that so little reference has been 
made in these articles to that greatest of Southern curi- 
osities, the negro. They are not so numerous in this part 
of the South as in most places, but a few incidents came 
under the writer's observation that are worth relating. H. 
was standing on a wharf watching a boat full of negroes 
fishing. The stern of the boat was tied to the wharf, and 
in the end sat a boy nine or ten years old. He hooked a 
good-sized shark, which at once rushed for deep water, 
dragging the boy the length of the boat, upsetting 
negroes, bait cans, and pretty much everything that was 
loose. An old white-wooled patriarch in the bow of the 
boat said, "Tak' car', niggah! tak' car', niggah! yo' done 
