Dbo. 12, 1896.] 
/ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
46B 
a brush pile when I saw her on the end of my gun, and 
she fell to the ground withotit so maCih as a twitch, killed 
■de9d. 
Do you think a bird may be so shot that a keen-nosed 
'dog cannot catch any scent from it? A day or two pre- 
'viously Knapp was telling me about bemg out with a dog 
whose nose was of proven delicacy and keenness; that he 
had killed a bird and the dog failed to fetch, although 
he passed directly over the spot where the bird fell. Him- 
self going to the spot, found the bird visible to the naked 
eye, and the next instant tbe dog passed over the bird 
without detecting it. Nose off, you say? Not so. Now 
I stood within 30ft. of the victim of my last shot, and he 
lay there distinguishable, but not what would be termed 
'in plain sight. I sent Belze to fetch, and twice he passed 
directly oyer the bird without so much as an indication 
that the bird was there. Swinging back, he put one foot 
on the bird, but the instant he raised his foot he caught 
scent and then suddenly stopped and located the game 
and brought it in. Now it seems to me that a bird being 
instantly killed, not so much as a flutter left in him, 
the shock suspends for a short time the emission of the 
Tisual odor, so as to give no indication to the keenest 
nose. Have you had similar experience and tried to 
'diagnose— or dog nose — the case? 
We now made along an old wood road, and Tony at 
one side pinned a single, and Knapp did the rest. He 
also picked off another ruffle neck at the edge of a clear- 
ing, and we em'^rged to a narrow meadow, along a 
stream of about 20ft. in width. We blundered on to a 
■small bevy of quail, an outlying bird flushing and getting 
-avray unhurt, but setting to wing a half dozen more, 
which we marked down in the tall grass between us and 
%he water. "Now," said I, "my friend, we are in for a 
ipicnic with Master Bob and his brothers if we keep our 
eyes and fingers steady;", and so we were. The dogs 
picked their way around in the high grass, now and then 
drawing to a pomt or reading a running bird, till we had 
picked up four. Then we crossed the stream on a bridge 
lOOyds. down stream, and wore just starting up stream, 
when in a little clump of bushes both dogs drew to a 
stand. In a minute two grouse boiled out, and we both 
scored a miss, while a third that Belze roaded flushed and 
went away unshot at. I felt the need of having some 
one scoff at me then, but you not being around the air 
trembled with nothing but mutterings deep. On we 
went after two birds that had come across the stream 
when we started the last bevy, and soon both dogs had 
them in limbo. At the rise we got ono, and picked up 
another that had died after having flown across the 
stream. 
We now shouldered guns and made a forced march to 
a likely hillside bordering a big swamp directly on our 
route to Cedar Lake, so as to be near the supper table 
when the day's hunt was done. The bag began to be 
heavy, and for the first time my shoulder ached with the 
8 or lOlbs. in the bag. The sky had been darkening with 
clouds for an hour, and now and then a drop of water 
told us to make for cover. Going along the hillside, we 
picked up two more birds, and the rain now falling fast, 
we made the best time possible over the mile and a half 
that lay between us and supper. We got in at a quarter , 
to 5, wet and happy, after the first day of what could be 
•called s^ort since arriving on the ground. I had got down 
to shooting trim and was ready for some reasonably good 
records, but all the rest of the time the weather was raw, 
sour and rainy, and the birds were wiser than we and 
stayed at home, so we only picked up enough for the pot, 
or possibly a few to spare, as reported to you by card from 
day to day. And so passes mto history my trip of 96. It 
was far from what I had lanned it to be, owing to your 
flunk on coming west, but on the whole I'm glad, as be- 
fore intimated, that you did not come to share our disap- 
pointment in the weather; for it is trying to see the rain 
or snow fall day after day, or the wind howl great guns, 
all the time knowing that with sunny skies a good bag 
RWaited the tyro, and a back load the expert with a gun. 
You said something about Tick being as good a dog as 
Tony; read on. 
To Essex went a hunter bold, 
Who tramped the hills In heat and cold; 
Across his arm a fibooting stick, 
And at his heel a dog called Tick. 
A hunting dog I Jove save the name, 
For skunks and grouse were all the same 
To him. And then when all alone 
How stanchly he would point a bone 1 
When not enstaged in hunting fleas, 
His curly tail just fans the breeze 
That sweeps the field. He points his best 
With game due east, his snipe nose west. 
When woodcocks spring or quails take wing, 
What is that cock-eared, piebald thing 
That scampers after? By Old Nick 1 
It is Jack's pride, the famous Tick. 
When jumps the rabbit from the ground, 
With leg of deer and bay of hound, 
Tick speeds away; and bound to roam 
Till every lowing cow comes home. 
Oh, what a dog I Compared t5 Tony 
He's like a wolf, long, gaunt and bony. 
While Tony beats a field with sense. 
Tick goes to sleep beside the fence. 
Wouldst thou a brace of bird dogs see? 
Tony and Belze are dogs for thee I 
Of royai blood, swift, stanch and true, 
As fine a brace as ever drew 
A field for quail, a wood tor grouse. 
Or guarded well their master's house. 
Yours as ever. 
L. A. S 
Hardship in New Jersey. 
The New Jersey game wardens continue to make hard- 
ships for the law-breakers in that State. The arrests for 
November averaged more than one a day, and on old and 
new cases $358.66 was collected and deposited to the 
^lu® * ?^J^^^- Commissioners. Fish and Game Protector 
Chas A. Sbnner and his deputies are setting an examnle 
^Jersey justice" which might well be SatJdX 
TRACKING MOOSE ON BARE GROUND. 
''Well, Rqlph. let's be going," I said as I wearily 
shouldered my rifle and rose from the old "blow-down" 
on which I had been resting. 
We were about five miles from our camp on the South 
Branch of the Machias, engaged in the difficult task of 
tracking moose on bare ground, For two days we had 
followed the tracks of three moose, a bull, cow and calf, 
as far as we could judge, which fortunately had continued 
to travel slowly and in circles, enabling us to return to 
camp at night, having carefully blazed our last stop on 
the trail, and continue the pursuit the following morn- 
ing. 
Ri,lph, my guide, now took the lead, directing me to 
keep close behind him; I could not help but admire his 
wonderful skill in following the almost imperceptible 
trail. Nothing escaped his lynx-Uke gaze. Here he would 
point to a bit of moss scraped from a log as one of the 
great creatures thundered over it — there, to a slender 
branch of "moose wood" from which the bark had been 
peeled by our game. Ralph would generally stop before 
one of these moose bites, as he called them, and taking 
out his old clasp knife scrape some bark from a place that 
had not been touched by the moose. By comparing the 
color of this freshly peeled wood with that of the moose 
bites, he could estimate their apparent age and get some 
idea of the distance between us and our game. 
We soon came to a dense clump of alders bordering a 
swamp, and here Ralph stopped, seemingly puzzled. "I've 
lost the trail," he finally remarked; "you sit down a few 
minutes and I'll look the ground over a bit." Cheerfully 
assenting, as I was beginning to feel rather tired, I threw 
myself down on an old pine top and for fully fifteen min- 
utes Ralph thrashed around among the dry alders, now 
and again kneeling to study the age of a track. At last 
he returned with a discouraged look on his usually merry 
countenance. 
"It'B no use," he said, "there are so many tracks in 
there I can't tell which are the right ones. One thing is 
certain, the three moose we're after crossed this swamp 
somewhere, and the only thing we can do is to circle it 
and hunt for their tracks on the other side. If I only 
had a little snow to go by I'd show you some fine moose 
hunting." 
Determining not to give up if I had to circle all the 
swampg in Maine, I told him to go ahead, and in less 
time than either of us had anticipated we rounded the 
marsh grass and alders, and saw to our mutual satisfac- 
tion a fine hardwood ridge not far ahead. Once more 
my guide searched for the lost trail, and soon was re- 
warded by the discovery of fresher tracks than we had 
yet seen where the three moose came out from the 
swamp. Thus stimulated, I gripped my rifle, and with a 
quicker pace we set out over the ridge. A snow squall 
had sprung up, but as the tracking on the ridge was a 
great deal easier we did not mind the snow much. What 
I did minr), however, was a violent wind which followed 
the snow flurry, creating great havoc among the forest 
monarchs. Crash after crash resounded through the 
woods, as the tops of stately pines were torn away by 
fierce blasts and hurled down sometimes not 8yds. 
from us. 
"If you hear one breaking above you dodge it," re- 
marked Ralph, who had stopped to look at his compass. 
"A fellow down my way was crushed to death by an old 
top last year." And with this pleasing assurance he re- 
sumed the march. 
The snow had ceased to fall, and the sun was striving 
to break through a mass of clouds, when Ralph again 
halted with an exclamation of satisfaction. I read the 
favorable signs as soon as he did ; there in a patch of 
marsh grass was a place where some large animal had 
lain down. 
"Don't move!" exclaimed the guide, "you might spoil 
sooae important signs," and with a catlike tread he made 
his way among the multitude of tracks plainly visible on 
the wet ground, 
"Now you may come," Ralph remarked, after he had 
surveyed the ground and surroundings to his satisfaction. 
"See what you can make of it." 
I studied the situation some time before venturing an 
opinion. "The bull must have lain there," I at length 
commented, "and over here are two more depressions 
where the ciw and calf probably rested, as they are much 
smaller. When the three moose arose they walked over 
to this moose wood and fed a while, then they continued 
along here on a slow walk, and finally went off in that 
direction." So saying, I indicated a course at right angles 
to the one we had been following. 
Ralph gave a hearty laugh. "That's just where you are 
dead wrong. These tracks you are now looking at are 
old ones, probably made two months ago. I must confess 
they fooled me until I saw that," and coming to where I 
stood he pointed to a peeled twig which would have es- 
caped the eyes of most men. 
"Well, what of that?" I said, somewhat chagrined. 
"Why, don't you see by the color of the wood that it is 
an old bite? When the moose were done feeding they 
doubled on their tracks and went off in this direction. I 
have found some bites not over an hour old." 
Parting the bushes, I saw he was indeed right. There, 
in a direction exactly opposite to the one I had indicated, 
were fresh footprints of three moose. With new ardor we 
applied ourselves to the chase, crossing two small ridges 
and finally ascending a rather steep acclivity. The ap- 
pe*(|j.fnce of the country now very noticeably changed, 
thick undergrowth giving place to a carpet of soft green 
grass, wiiile the trees grew larger and much further 
apart. Suddenly Ralph stopped. Peering from behind 
his rather ponderous form, I noticed that we were ap- 
proaching a sort of vista or natural clearing in the forest 
overgrown with stunted timber and moose wood. The 
guide's eyes were fixed on some tracks just in front of 
him, tracks which meant no more to me than the many 
others we had been following all day. But this crafty 
woodsman had noticed that while all the footprints pre- 
viously seen were slightly coated with snow, those just in 
front of him had not a flake upon them. 
"Be on your guard now," he whispered, "the moose 
are not far off." 
Just then some unknown influence caused me to look 
up, and my eye lighted on a fine specimen of the bull 
moose standing between two pines about laSyds. distant 
Ralph saw him as soon as I did, and our rifles rang out 
a) nultaneously. The great animal reeled, almost fell 
and then crashed off through the bushes. 
I was for giving chase at once, but Ralph would by no 
means permit this. 
"We must wait at least ten minutes," he said, sitting 
down on a log and taking out his mammoth time-piece; 
"more game is lost by following it as soon as it is 
wounded than any other way. That moose is hit hard, 
and he will not go 40yds. if left alone; but if he hears ua 
following him there is no knowing how far he may be 
able to travel." 
We waited accordingly, the minutes seemina: very long 
to me. At length the guide put up his watch, and stealth- 
ily we made our way to the point where we had last seeii 
the bull. There, sure enough, we found a fresh trail lead- 
ing in the direction we judged our game had taken, it^lph 
soon pointing out a great root whi6h had been literally 
torn from the ground, 
"That looks like the work of a woiinded moose,'' he re- 
marked, and we quickened our sj^eed. The giiidOj how- 
ever, bore a puz^ed expression on his countenance, aild 
before we had gone lOOyds. he stopped abruptly. 
"We have made a big blunder," he said after a moment 
of silence, 
"What do you mean?'' I asked in surprise. 
"We fired at the bull moose," he continued, "4nd w6 
are now following the tracks of the cow." 
"What makes you think that?" 
Ralph removed his cap and scratched his head. "That 
bull was hit hard, he could never have come as far aa 
this; besides this track is too small to be the bull's," 
"But the root torn up, you said it was the work of a 
wounded moose?" 
"A moose badly scared will often tear around some. 
Now mind, this track may be all right, but I have a sort 
of feeling that it isn't. I propose we blaze that old 
stump there so we can find this place again in case my 
theory proves wrong. We can easily retrace our foot- 
steps to the spot where we fired at the bull, and if I am 
not greatly mistaken we will find another moose track 
there which will prove the right one." 
So back we went, easily finding our starting point, 
where a fresh difficulty arose. The moose had been 
feeding and tramping around before we disturbed them 
and a perfect network of tracks confronted Ralph. Trail 
after trail we followed with no result. I was about to 
give up in despair and even Ralph was weakening when 
suddenly he uttered a cr^ of delight, at the same time 
holding out a leaf he had just picked from the tracks we 
happened to be following. I took it from him and could 
hardly help giving three cheers, for on that leaf was a 
tiny speck of blood. 
AH was now easy; every few yards we would find 
fresh marks of crimson on ground or bushes, and often 
torn and trampled shrubbery. 
At length Ralph paused in the act of climbing over a 
windfall, looking back at me with a broad grin on his 
face. Hastening up, I peered through the bushes and 
there lay the bull moose, which had not run more than 
30yds., having been hit squarely in the breast. As near 
as the guide and I could estimate, the animal weighed 
about l,000lbs., and while his head was large, the antlers, 
though well formed and evenly pronged, were a bit 
under size. 
"Well," aaid Ralph, "you've got him, but it was a 
tough job. If we had only had a little snow I could haTe 
shown you what we fellows up here call real moose 
tracking." Leonidas Westervelt. 
YELLOWSTONE PARK GAME. 
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park 
Nov. SO— Editor Forest and Stream: In a few days I 
shall ship to Washington most of the animals we have 
here. I shall send six antelope, one cow elk, four beavef 
and two black bears. I will leave five elk (bulls). I'm hav* 
ing crates made for them in Gardiner. They are to go 
by express. November has been a very stormy month; 
hardly a day without a storm of either rain . snow or 
wind. Friday night last was our coldest— 37° at the 
Hospital, Fort Yellowstone. There is much more snow 
here now than usually at this time of the year. About 
two weeks ago we had the ground well covered, then 
came a chinook wind, with a little rain; the snow melted 
off in many places, low down, but in others only enough 
to form ice over a considerable extent of country; then 
came more snow and the cold snap. There is good sleigh- 
ing from the Springs to Cinnabar, but the snow is very 
badly drifted. 
The antelope were on the flat on the east side of the 
Gardiner River and slopes of Mt. Everts in large bands, 
but the coyotes were giving them fits— were killing at 
least five and six a day. The coyotes are very numerous, 
with now and then a few wolves. Tbe poor antelope were 
obliged to get away, so they crossed Gardiner River, trav- 
eling down along the Yellowstone in sight of the town of 
Gardiner. Two miles below there is a line of fence across 
except at the road. The first band of about 150 soon got 
out of the Park into Montana, when the people of Gardi- 
ner and Cmnabar started in on them. In one day over 
twenty were killed. Not a day passes but some are killed. 
One got past Cinnabar and in Reese's field, where it was 
shot by Reese. If they get past Cinnabar they have Horr 
to pass, with its hundreds of miners, all wantmg to get a 
shot. It's possible that a few may get below Fridley, where 
there is a bit of unfenced, open country. Monday the last 
band left the east side of Gardiner. There was a bunch of 
eight, with six coyotes after them. By morning I don't 
suppose there will be one alive on that side of Gardi- 
ner. This morning I saw over 200 within a quarter of a 
mile of Gardiner on their way below. 
I fear there will not be many antelope left in the spring 
—not enough for seed. I hope I am mistaken. I hope 
that a few will manage to live and return to the Park m 
the spring, but even their efforts to do so will be a useless 
struggle unless the coyotes are killed off. I'm sorry to 
see the antelope killed by the people around here, but 
they say that they may as well have them as the coyotes; 
they would be killed anyway. Day before yesterday 
three antelope were killed in sight of town. 
The severe weather has made the elk come down very 
early. About 200 were in the Government p^ture, some 
eatmg at the "dump pile," Saturday. Mount Everts and 
the Blacktail county are alive with them. I saw twenty- 
one mountain sheep in the Gardiner Canon the other day; 
several fine rams among them. 
Tom Miner tells of a band of mountain sheep in the first 
canon of the Yellowstone above Bear Creek, and that he 
saw the tragfes of a family of six momMa. lions, They 
