Jan. 9, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
23 
isleep, and to our surprise found also that he had been 
ritten by a rattlesnake, and while he was unharmed the 
make was lying by his side dead. What better evidence, 
lir, do you want than that of the value of an antidote on 
I fishing trip? ' 
My reply was a laugh, and he turned toward me with a 
nerry twinkle in his eye, but in a most dignified tone 
laid: "I suppose, sir, you don't believe it. When I get 
lome I will send you the rattles cut from the tail of that 
very snake, and perhaps then you will think I am telling 
ihe truth." 
I thanked him for his offer and in a few hours had for- 
gotten it, and you can imagine my surprise when two 
lays afterward, in opening a package that came to me 
/hrough the mail, I found the rattles as promised, with 
:he Doctor's compliments. This clinched the matter, and 
}Ver since then I have stuck to my flask of antiilote when 
m a fishing or hunting trip. C. M. White. 
Wabrenton, Va. 
[See comment elsewhere.] 
PODGERS' COMMENTARIES. 
San Francisco, Dec. 20— Editor Forest and Stream: 
For the past year I have been reading in the Forest 
iND Stream the game and fish stories and experiences, 
writhout one word of protest at the rotundity of some of 
;hem, hence it might be inferred that I have hoisted them 
ill in and stored tbem away in my memory as gospel, 
rat I hope not to be called upon to testify. It might re-- 
lult in trouble. Also have I read attentively the discus- 
lions pro and con on skunk bites, snakes, gila mon- 
iters, and whether deer feed on lilypads or do not, and 
jonfess I am not settled in my mind as to which side has 
;he best of the arguments or which is ahead. As a 
nethod of relief I have a suggestion to make, which is, 
"or the Forest and Stream to organize in its office a 
'Court of Reference," to consist of such loose element as 
nay be lying around the premises (not necessarily of 
oose habits), which shall sit in judgment on the sub- 
nitted discussions, and, after weighing the evidence, give 
udgmenfc, and thus relieve the doubting Thomases of the 
■eaders of the Forest and Stream from the struggle in 
iheir minds, and from lying awake nights trying to come 
iO a decision themselves, and so escape occasional night- 
nares of deer jumping over us with lilypads hanging 
rom their mouths, skunks sitting on our breasts discus- 
ing stolen chickens, and snakes curled up on our pillows 
vith glistening eyes in the act of striking (the result of 
iaving been out with the boys is indignantly denied). I 
lelieve there are numerous readers who will indorse the 
jroposition of this Court of Reference and feel a great 
lense of relief in having these knotty questions decided 
'or them. 
In selecting the members of the court it would be well 
io select those who have not been addicted to snakes, and 
lave not written about them, and know no more about 
latural history than many who write on the subject; in 
)ther words, who will be unbiased in their judgment and 
five their verdict according to the preponderance of the 
»stimony. 
Among other interesting questions of the day, interest- 
ng to sportsmen, I submit that of whether they have any 
rights that poachers are bound to respect. This is one 
«vhich is very much exercising our local shooting clubs at 
bhe present moment. 
Within a few miles of the city are extensive marshes 
that have been leased by the clubs from the owners of 
bhe land and water at a stiff rental, and shooting boxes 
jrected at considerable expense for the winter duck shobt- 
ng. All this has aroused the ire of that portion of the 
community of the socialistic ranks, who repudiate the idea 
ihat there should be any restriction of their right to shoot 
when and where it pleases their lordships, regardless of 
bhe fact that the clubs are paying the owners of the 
jroperty for that privilege; and they have the assurance, 
)orn of the views of the Mosts and Altgelds, that the newly 
mported citizen had more rights and privileges, that he 
ioes not pay a cent for, than the native who does. 
The clubs first tried invoking the aid of the constables 
bo arrest the poachers. This proved a farce, as the jus- 
tices, who owed their election to this element, discharged 
bhe culprits without trial as fast as they were brought be- 
fore them. Ooe of the gamekeepers of the clubs was 
shot and killed by one of the poachers, and although the 
crime was proved beyond question as a case of foul mur- 
der, the jury, composed of the same element, acquitted 
bhe murderer. Meantime the clubs carried the question 
of their rights to a Superior Court, before a judge of the 
locality; but this Dogberry sustained the poachers. The 
clubs then appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed 
bhe decision, and decided that the clubs stood in the light 
of owners, and had the right to exclude trespassers. This 
decision raised a howl from the shoot-where-you-please 
fraternity, who swear that all the courts in the world 
cannot prevent them from shooting over the clubs' 
grounds, and they will and do defy the law. As a result 
of their determination to do so, you are very likely to 
hear of a dispensation of Divine Providence, accompanied 
by a charge of buckshot, that will deprive the victim of 
any further interest in shooting, as the clubs' gamekeep- 
ers are now patrolling the marshes with guns that have a 
tendency to go off at fitting times and places, regardless 
of circumstances. All this row has spoiled in a measure 
the winter shooting and put the clubs at great expense. 
The time was not so many moons ago when I indulged 
in a floating shooting box on these same marshes, which 
'we moored close under the bank of one of the sloughs, 
and sitting on the forward deck shot all the teal, mal- 
lards and canvasbacks we wanted. Teal in those days 
were sold in the markets for 75 cents a dozen, mallards 
and canvasbacks at from 40 to 50 cents a pair. In 184.8 a 
deer or grizzly bear could be found on the spot where I 
am now writing, a street lit by electricity and paved with 
asphalt extending a mile or more, beyond. Davis relates 
in his "Sixty Years in California" that on Mare Island, 
where the Navy Yard now is, a drove of not less than 500 
elk could be counted any day, and that on one occasion, 
when sailing past in a small schooner, they encountered a 
drove of them swimming across from the island so numer- 
ous that they could make no progress through them. To 
get an elk now one must go back several hundred miles 
to the wilds of Oregon, as yet uninhabited. 
It has been a day dream of mine, when sitting in front 
of the fire d la Ike Marvel smoking my pipe, that the 
spirit of adventure led me to come to these shores in those 
days, or rather letting my imagination presume that I 
did come. Just think what a game preserve this country 
would have made had not gold been discovered. The lit- 
tle settlement of Yerba Buena, now this great city of San 
Francisco, vsnith its harbor then full of fur seals and 
salmon, the outskirts abounding in deer, grizzlies and 
elk, and ducks of all sorts in little ponds now covered 
with granite blocks, and nobody to take the trouble to 
shoot tbem. When Dana, the author of "Two Years Be- 
fore the Mast," visited these shores such was the state of 
things. What a paradise for the sportsman to go to when 
he "handed in his chips." The Indian's happy hunting 
ground would have been a fool to it, not in it. There is 
good sport yet, but one must go a distance for it. The 
market-hunter, with his swivel gun and No. 8 caliber, is 
doing the work of destruction. They locate a pond or 
small lake, attract the ducks by throwing grain into it, 
and when it is covered with them densely let loose the 
swivel gun, loaded with a pound of shot, and kill a bun* 
dred or two at a shot. It is simply murder, but although 
there is a law against it, what does the gentleman who 
has his "rights," as he calls them, care for law? It is the 
same old story with which you are so familiar^no con- 
viction to be obtained, he is among his friends, and laughs 
at game wardens. 
There is one consolation we have left— the salmon. 
They can't deprive us of that sport as yet. In the rivers 
emptying into the ocean up the coast they come and go 
as ever, and what sport it is to land a doien in an after- 
noon with rod and reel! It ia not always with the fly, as 
some seasons they will not rise to it, and some people still 
assert that the Pacific coast Salmon never rise to a fly, 
which is not true, as I have caught them galore with a 
fly; but as a general thing the feather spoon is used, and 
that they take ravenously, But, like all other luxuries, 
the cost of salmon in our markets has "gone up." The 
time was when you could buy a 10 or 15-pounder for 10 
or 15 cents; now they cost 20 cents a pound, but I imagine 
that price would not stagger you at the East. 
As I have said, what a country this would have been for 
a sportsman's preserve for half a dozen of your rich men. 
It could have been bought from the Mexican Government 
before we acquired it for $3,000,000, an area larger than 
two New York States, and what a speculation! The land 
covered by this city is worth fifty times that, to say 
nothing of the State's gold product of over a billion. But 
alasl as the wise old lady remarked, "If our fore sights 
were only as good as our hind sights," which experience 
has proved they are not. 
I laid down my pipe and the Forest and Stream, 
which I was reading to "make these few remarks," 
which I see have been as long drawn out as a "fifthly 
and sixthly" sermon of a hot Sunday afternoon; so I will 
resume my pipe and the Forest and Stream, and the 
discussions on lilypads, skunks and catamounts, reserving 
my conclusions for that "Court of Reference" that I have 
suggested, and which I hope you will organize forthwith. 
Podgers. 
Charley Reynolds. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some time in the winter of 1873 or early spring of 1873 
there came to me on the Missouri River above the Yel- 
lowstone a young man on purpose to make my acquaint- 
ance. 
His name was Charley Reynolds, and his reputation 
had preceded him. 
From time to time the Rees and Mandans had spread 
rumors of a strange white man on the lower river who 
had shown great skill as a hunter of deer, elk and other 
game. It was said that the Indians had offered him sev- 
eral ponies for the medicine or talisman by which, as 
they supposed, he had accomplished these feats. 
I found him a clear-eyed, quiet and gentlemanly fel- 
low, whose tastes led to dangerous exploits and adven- 
tures. His modest equipment of rifle, pony and lightly 
laden sledge would hardly satisfy the demands of a 
sportsman of to-day. He was then on his way with a 
companion up the river in search of new hunting 
grounds. 
I met him but once or twice again before that fatal day 
on the Little Big Horn, where he lost his life, with many 
others, in battle with the allied Sioux and Cheyennes. 
I suppose that when Major Reno retired with his com- 
mand to the dubious security of a bluff in the rear, Char- 
ley, as well as Bloody Knife, whom I also knew well, 
was attending strictly to business in resisting the charge 
of the hostiles. 
I regard Charley Reynolds as the most skillful and suc- 
cessful hunter of game that came into the upper Missouri 
River country in my day. The Indians first welcomed 
him, then, their fears and envy being aroused, they 
brought complaints to the agent that he was killing too 
much game. 
There were mighty hunters in that region, dating from 
the days of Lewis and Clark and Captain Bonneville. 
As a guide, Charley had the hunter's instinct to trav- 
erse successfully unknown regions, and if he was ever 
surprised it was in the last fight, when he found himself 
alone against vast odds. J. S. K. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I read with great interest the article on Charley Rey- 
nolds which appeared in your issue of Dec. 19, because I 
used to know that good man and am familiar with many 
of the occurrences which took place on the Black Hills 
expedition of 1874. At that time I was an enlisted man 
in the 7th Cavalry, a member of Capt. French's company, 
and I often used to see Charley Reynolds both on the 
march and in camp at night. I remember one trifling 
incident, not mentioned in the article which you pub- 
lished, which showed the constant alertness and the keen 
sight possessed by him. 
While we were in the Hills we had a little scrap with a 
small camp of Indians, all of whom except one at length 
broke away from us. The camp of the wild Indians had 
been found and surrounded by a number of our Santee 
Sioux scouts, and one aged man, called, if I recollect 
right, the One Who Sbabs, was captured and brought into 
camp. Another man was urged to go to see Gen. Custer 
and started to do so with one of these boys as a guard. 
Having these two men as hostages, the Indian camp was 
left un watched, whereupon the women promptly packed 
up their stuff and disappeared. The man who was going 
to see Gen. Custer with the Santee boy got frightened 
before he reached the camp and bolted. The Santee shot 
at him, but did not stop him, and the Indian disappeared 
in the timber, 
The next day, soon after starting, Reynolds, who was 
with the headquarters outfit, pointed out a whitish object 
standing in the timber on top of a distant hill. Those of 
us who saw it took it for a white rock, but Charley told 
the General that it was a horse, and being ordered 
to go and see what was there he rode on, and later in the 
day brought in the saddled horse of the Indian who had 
the day before broken away, its aides all smeared with 
blood. 
It is most interesting to me to have the incidents of 
these long past days brought before me once more, and I 
am truly grateful for this brief biography of Charley 
Reynolds. Enlisted Man. 
THE GRAY WOLF. 
WflY is the "gray wolf of Russia reputed to be so miich 
more ferocious than that of America? This question has 
doubtless occurred to many hunters and sportsmen of 
America, and I do not recollect ever hearing an answet. 
Can it be that the American beasts of prey are deficient 
in courage? 
One is scarcely willing to concede this when the gris- 
Ely, the jaguar, the cougar, or even the diminutive pec-' 
cary are remembered. 
Now I have a theory, and an anecdote in illustlratioil 
thereof, and I propose to offer it as the groundwork of 
my own opinion in the matter. 
The inherent dread of man common to all the brute 
creation, foretold in Genesis ix., 2, seems, as a rule, not 
to be overcome save by hunger. This I believe to be the 
basic truth underlying the whole problem. 
All this wide difference in the apparent ferocity of the 
European and American gray wolf is easily accounted 
for by two considerations. 
In all countries where governmental despotism has de- 
prived the common people of the natural right to bear 
arms, where in most cases the peasant dweller on the 
border of the forest has but his axe or pitchfork with 
which to wage war upon predatory animals, it is easily 
understood that the wild creatures of the jungle will in- 
evitably become more venturesome; and, as in the case of 
the native population of India, still more so if the re- 
ligious teaching of the people has, ages since, led them to 
become vegetarians, and to wholly avoid taking animal 
life. 
Again, if any country having a severe winter climate 
becomes at any time, particularly in severely cold 
weather, deficient in ground game, the natural result of 
increased ferocity of animals of prey may safely be ex- 
pected. 
How abundantly the forests of Russia and France are 
supplied with small game which is accessible to the gray 
wolf in severe winter weather I do not know, but the 
very fact of the Russian gray wolf becoming a serious 
menace to human life among so many hamlets of the 
Russian peasantry argues a very serious deficiency in 
their natural food supply; while, on the other hand, a 
somewhat extended hunting experience over a large part 
of the northern United States has taught me that it is 
very probable that no continent or island of the wide 
earth was ever so well supplied with game, both large 
and small, as was North America when first the European 
trod its shores. 
The American Indian was a hunter of the highest type 
of courage, and — as in the case of an Indian who per- 
ished in a night attack of gray wolves in the forest on 
the headwaters of Black River, Wis., in the days of the 
first advent of the whites, when the mar^gled carcasses of 
seven big wolves were afterward found where lay his 
bloody tomahawk and knife among his own disjointed 
and scattered bones — had, ages since, taught the denizens 
of the American forests that here was some one whom it 
was perfectly safe to let alone. 
Why, then, did not the gray wolf of America harass 
the Indian villages and the border settlements of the 
white people, and live on the women and children of the 
inhabitants? • 
In the first place, owing to the phenomenal plenty of 
game, large and small — as the little boy on the street oc- 
casionally remarks— "he didn't have to." And secondly, 
he had long since learned that there were several under- 
takings in the hunting line more wholesome in their na- 
ture than a job of this kind. 
Now, on the other hand, what could the gray wolf of 
America dp when really cornered ?nd driven to the wall 
by hunger? I happen to know of one individual brute of 
this type who could have given points to any gray wolf 
that ever swore allegiance to the great White Czar ! 
It is not a "Mary-had a-little-lamb" sort of a narrative. 
If it were not a big story I would not tell it. And a dozen 
reliable men could yet be found to vei-ify every point 
which I ask the readers of Forest and Stream to believe. 
I think it was the winter of 1865-1866 that I lived in the 
furthest outlying settlement on that part of the then 
Minnesota frontier on the east bank of the Des Moines 
River. The winter was a long and cold one, and one day 
near the latter end of wintef a young man named H^nry 
Lyman reported that a monster dog, which he supposed 
to have been a Newfoundland, had followed him along 
the snowy road while returning from a visit to a neigh- 
bor's house the evening before, and that the night was 
light enough to enable him to see the brute distinctly as 
it trotted along behind, and that twice he stopped and 
whistled to it and tried to call it up to him, but without 
success; adding that afterward, happening to glance back- 
ward to see what had become of the creature, he was 
startled and alarmed to note that it was almost at his 
heels. Although it sprang quickly away again as he 
turned toward it, and did not afterward trouble him, he 
kept an eye on it, until, nearing his home, the animal 
dropped behind and disappeared. 
Considerable interest and some uneasiness was mani- 
fested in the little settleoaent regarding the young man's 
story, for his veracity was beyond question , and no New- 
foundland dog was known on all the frontier. (Let me 
add that never in the history of the settlement, or in the 
experience of the trappers who formed it, had a gray wolf 
been known in all that prairie country.) 
Two days after the young man's adventure, while my 
old trapping comrade, Jim Morehead, was busily engaged 
in work in the little yard around bis home, situated in 
the timber land on the west bank of the river, and hav- 
ing tiirned a shoat or small hog weighing some 50 or 
