126 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 14, 1897. 
"get the bait. There was a whirl in the water, a whiz through 
the air overhead, and a crash in the palmettoes behind, 
where we found the fish stunned. After that there were no 
more bites. 
We found the trail of a bear and two cubs in the morning, 
several miles beyond the lake in a sand scrub of shoulder- 
high palmettoes and stunted oak trees. The white hound 
was soon leading upon the trail several hundred feet ahead. 
The Doctor, Ben and I were able to follow close behind the 
second dog by hard running. The hound? 8< emed to be 
frightened, and ran with every hair erect. The hard sand 
made good footing, and it was not difScult to make one's 
way through the palmettoes at full speed, The dog in front 
became silent; there was a.crash in the palmettoes ahead; the 
dog we were following turned a series of back handsprings 
and landed between the Doctor's legs snapping in all direc- 
tions; the Doctor fell down; Ben and I quickly cleared 
several rods of palmettoes; the cur squirmed from beneath 
the Doctor and ran off down the back trail yelping, then the 
white hound bounded into sight ahead, seemingly uncon- 
scious of the alarm he had caused. The dogs ran off upon 
the trail of a fox after that, so we returned to camp, where 
we shot enough quail in the palmettoes near the lake for 
dinner. 
After our meal was over we struck camp and recrossed the 
five miles of sandhills. Ben and I drove the teams back by 
the route we had come. We were directed to turn to the 
left when we arrived at the swamp beyond the hills, and to 
atop several miles below at a former camping place. When we 
were about a mile from the point at which we were to camp, 
we heard the dogs with the other two members of oiu- party, 
who had taken a more direct route. By the time Ihe horses 
were tied the dogs had started the deer several hundred yards 
from us in the swamp. The chase went up the swamp, and 
Ben disappeared around the first bend of the road behind at 
the top of his speed on his way to a stand we had passed a 
mile iiack, In a few minutes the dogs seemed to arrive at 
the edge of the timber there, from the increased clearness of 
their notes. Then Morgan came running up. We heard a 
gun shot, followed in a few moments by a second report. 
We found Ben up there standing over a doe. He bad shot 
her down as she ran into the open, and had shot her down a 
second time as she rose again. The deer was carried to the 
wagons and camp made a short distance beyond. Then, as it 
had been raining for the last hour, after stretching the tent 
we built a roaring fire by which to dry our clothing. We 
had juicy steaks of venison for supper. During the evening 
Ben shot a cat as large as the foxhound. 
In the morning, after the dogs had run off, three of us lost 
our way while following the tracks of a large buck that we 
had traced for five or six miles on the sandhills. One of the 
party thought that camp was directly to the lefi; of our 
course, another that it was to the right, while the third 
agreed impartially with the other two. We found camp by 
following our tracks back. 
After an early breakfast the next day three of us crossed 
an icy ford waist deep a short distance below camp. The 
country beyond the stream was open and interspersed with 
cypress ponds. The fourth member of the party hunted the 
foot of the sandhills on the camp side of the stream while 
we followed the other side. The creek between us was con- 
cealed by a dense growth of cypress trees and bay bushes. 
A mile below camp we heard the dogs across the way and a 
shot fired soon afterward ; then the chase turned up stream 
and two of us ran back around the firit bend in time for the 
leader to see a doe break from cover half a mile beyond. 
The chase crossed the open flat country, turned our way at 
one time, then passed out of hearing. The foxhound was 
restrained from running off and later he was urged upon the 
trail of a buck, but he lost the scent toward the middle of 
the day and we returned to camp. 
We hunted the foot of the hills for four miles below camp 
in the afternoon, and at one place a short distance after we 
had passed a number of deer beds, a large gray animal 
bounded from the palmettoes near us and rushed' off with its 
white tail fanning the air. We discovered that it was a steer 
in time to prevent us from firing. The two runaway dogs 
joined us as we were returning to camp through the flat 
country, and when the cypress ponds where the trail of the 
stag was lost were reached they were urged upon it. They 
followed it to the nearest pond, which we quickly sur- 
rounded. The hounds soon reappeared at the further end 
and rushed noisily to a second pond that was encircled by 
us as the previous one. At the third pond, I had placed 
myself halfway up the left side; Ben was 100yds. be- 
yond me, in tight, the Doctor an equal distance from 
him, and Morgan about a like distance from the Doctor across 
the pond from me. The dogs could be heard splashing 
about the wet ground near the head of the pond apparently 
at a loss in regard to the trail. The Doctor fired two shots 
in rapid succession, and the shot crashed through the trees in 
front of me; a large animal rushed through the shallow 
water at the upper end of the pond, coming my way. I saw 
Ben take deliberate aim at a gray streak, as it passed him in 
the edge of the timber, and fire; then as a large deer fell and 
rose again, fire a second time and bring it" down in the 
water. We found Ben up there kicking the dogs away from 
a buck with a^ fine antlers as we had ever seen. The deer 
was prepared for carrying by first removing the entrails, then 
skinning the legs to tlie knees and removing the lower joints, 
when the right hind and left fore knee, and the left hind and 
right fore knee, were tied together with the loose skin. By 
passing one arm between the forelegs and the other between 
the hindlegs, and letting the weight fall across the hips, a 
deer can be carried for a mile or so by a muscular person. 
Two of us brought this one a mile and a half into camp, 
TPith scarcely any assistance from the others, 
Morgan and I hunted the foot of the hills in the morning, 
the others crossed the stream. We found where a large 
buck had come out of the low ground a mile below camp, 
and after walking a short distance along the foot of the hill, 
had turned into the flat woods, where the stream ran away 
from the higher ground and left a broad flat open. The 
hound followed the trail at a lively rate on the flat ground. 
Several hundred yards from the hills the trail turned toward 
a small cypress pond to the right of our course. Morgan 
fodowed the hound, while I hastened to get beyond the pond. 
Then the trail ran straight from the hills. The scent was 
strong, but the hound would wait for us to catch up when- 
ever we fell too far behind. Under such circumstances, 
Tom would exhibit a degree of intelligence seldom equaled 
by a dog of his breed. We looked for the deer 
to jump from each cluster of palmettoes we raced by. As 
the hammers of my gun were lowered in obedience to a 
prejudice of Morgan's, I was uncertain whether it would be 
possible for me to shoot quickly if we started game. The 
dog overran the trail half a mile from the hUls, came back 
100ft., then turned off to the left at a righ angle to our 
course. We were now heading for a bunch of palmettoes 
shoulder high and several rods in diameter. Morgan was 
running close behind the dog, and I about 10yds, to his right. 
The hound had approached within 30ft. of the palmettoes, 
when the deer rose with a bound scarcely 3yds. ahead of 
him, and with two leaps was in the midst of them. We 
caught a glimpse of his full outline as he sprang from the 
ground, then of his head, above the palmetto leaves. My 
gun cracked at the head, and it disappeared. We ran 
through the palmettoes and found the deer stretched at full 
length upon the other side. He had turned a complete som- 
ersault. It proved to be a buck of unusual size and possessed 
of a hide with a handsome silvery luster, but it did not have 
such large antlers as the deer shot the day before. The kill- 
ing shot had entered behind the ear, another shot had creased 
the back, and a third had pierced the body. Morgan had 
not fired, as the dog was between him and the deer. 
After examining its wounds a short while, Morgan suddenly 
caught the deer by its hind leg and called upon me to take 
hold. But before 1 could respond, Morgan was being buried 
about by the deer, which rose to its feet to be thrown again, 
the dog rushed in and fell beyond the confusion, howling 
pitifully, and there was a whirling mass before me bristling 
with keen-edged feet and sharp horns. A hold on this was 
not what 1 wanted; I should even have preferred to climb a 
tree and wait for a more favorable time to make my selec- 
tion, but I grabbed at random and caught a horn, when we 
all fell in a struggling heap. After awhile the deer allowed 
us a brief rest; then we had round upon round with short 
intervals between. We lost our hats in the first engagement. 
The perspiration poured down our faces. At every oppor- 
tunity we urged the hound to gnaw the throat of the brute, 
but his teeth proved ineffectual. What could we do! The 
beast was enraged by this time, and neither of us dared to 
drop his hold and rush for a gun. The other boys had not 
come. Our cries for help had brought only their black dog. 
That cur sat off at a safe distance and serenely watched our 
struggles. We dubbed him the umpire, and that oflice was 
never filled with less partiality. The deer's frantic efforts 
to break from us, so benumbed our arms after awhile that 
the pain of our wrenched joints was the only evidence of 
sensation left in them. The eyes of the deer had changed to 
the baleful green seen in those of a dog with rabies. We 
felt assured if the animal now broke away from us, that one 
and perhaps both of us might lose our lives. There was not 
a tree within several hundred feet that we could climb. After 
struggling for half an hour the deer showed signs of exhaus- 
tion. Morgan found that he could sit upon its hind quarters 
and still hold the leg. During one of our rests he secured 
his knife, and the next opened it and slashed the throat of 
the deer. The relief we felt to thus end a struggle with so 
doubtful an issue cannot be expressed. I will confess to a 
feeling of compunction whenever I have killed a deer. The 
joy of being in the woods, and the excitment of the chase I 
can appreciate, but our chief regret now was that the buck- 
shot had not killed this stag at once. One of my bauds had 
been scratched in the encounter, the .side of the dog had 
been scraped, and Morgan had escaped even that much 
punishment. We had leveled the grass upon a place lOft. in 
diameter, and had worked the soft ground beneath it into 
mortar. These facts were noted while we were resting. 
After dressing the deer and hiding it in the palmettoes, we 
hunted up the other members of the party. We overtook 
them two miles further on. The dogs started another doe 
and went out of hearing toward home; so we retraced our 
way and carried the stag to the camp. After dinner the 
wagons were loaded, and the teams started in the direction 
of home. At the first bend of the road we all turned in our 
seats for a last look at the site of our lucky camp. A thread 
of smoke rising from the ashes of the camp fire marked the 
place. At one point on the way home a bear trail followed 
the road for five miles. We arrived at Auburndale about 4 
o'clock the next afternoon with two bucks, and. what we 
had not eaten of the doe, to show for our hunt. The head 
of the buck we fought hangs in our hall; the gash in the 
throat mars it as a specimen, but with the eight sharp spikes 
of the graceful antlers it adds to the trophy a suggestive 
interest. H. R. Steiger. 
HOW THE MOOSE ESCAPED. 
Reed's Camps, Ashland, Me , Aug. 1, — I should like to 
give, and have published in your paper, some of the reasons 
why so few moose were killed in this section last season. It 
was common talk the whole length of the B, & A R R. — 
from Bangor to Ashland — that there were no moose about 
Ashland; and if a party started for this place thfy were 
switched off below, Now, thirty moose were seen on the 
Machias waters before one was killed, and yet there was any 
amount of moose seen by different sportsmen. 
The first man who missed getting his moose, started with 
his guide (and a good one, too, and in a good moose region), 
where he would expect to meet a moose at any minute. He 
must have been a little careless, I think. As he was going 
along he saw a big bull moose step into the road ahead of 
him. He brought rifle to shoulder and snapped three times 
without any report; when come to look, he had no cartridge 
in his gun. It is needless to say that he never got another 
chance at a moose that season. 
The next man on the list started out with his guide one 
day, the guide not taking any rifle. They went up the side 
of a ridge and sat down, and the guide began to call for 
moose, and soon one answered them close by, and then an- 
other and another, so there were three moose and only one 
gun. It is reported that they both climbed up a tree and 
waited for the moose to go away. 
The next man to lose his opportunity to secure a good set 
of antlers was one of my parties. He had as good a guide 
as any man could wish for, but he told his guide not to 
shoot; that if he could not kill his game he did not want to 
get anything. One day as they were following an old road 
a big bull came out into the road a few rods ahead of them. 
The moose stood there some three minutes, his head on one 
side of the road and his tail in the bushes on the other side. 
There was time enough to have shot him full of lead, but 
the man did not. He simply waited until the moose started 
and then fired one shot at him and let him go. 
A |ew nights or days after this happened his guide was 
making a canoe trip with the same man. They had paddled 
up stream until they came to the head of the dead-water, 
and turned their canoe about and were going back to camp, 
when in rounding a point they ran into two moose, a bull 
and cow. It surprised them all. The guide did not have 
time to think of his gun, as he had all that he could do to 
take care of his canoe, and the man never offered to shoot 
until the moose had started for the shore. He then fired two 
shots, but did not kill hie moose. 
I had another party from ISTew York at the same time, but 
they did not get their moose, although they saw a number of 
them. They saw one big bull on the further side of a pond, 
but he was too far away to shoot. This same party had one, 
a bull, too, go by their camp when they were eating supper. 
They heard him in the water, and all rushed out to see what 
it was, but he had taken to the woods, so they missed him. 
I had two other parties who saw moose, and did not get 
them. 
This is a new country up here, being the fourth year since 
sportsmen began to come for big game, but the game is here. 
All the country lying south and west of Ashland, Masardis 
and Oxbow is one vast wilderness. This country is larger 
than the State of Massachusetts, and it is mostly wilderness 
with its immense water system of over four hundred lakes 
and ponds that constitute the best feeding ground for moose 
and deer in the summer, while its mountains and hills make 
a desirable shelter in the winter. I do not know where a 
man can go and count eleven moose and sixty five deer in 
one day as Mr. Pitman, or twelve moose and fifty-two deer 
in a half day as Mr. Bowne did here. 0. G. Reed. 
THE SPORTSMAN— TWO IN ONE. 
Number One. 
Uditor Forest and Stream: 
In the month of July, in the early 80s, it so happened that 
I was journeying by rail across the sparsely settled prairies 
of northern Nebraska in search of a small, isolated town in 
the midst of a good chicken country, where I could stay 
during the chicken season and engage in the training of a 
dozen dogs which, duly crated, I had with me ; and with trunks 
and shooting equipments they made a most formidable ag- 
gregation of baggage, no inconsiderable source of trouble 
with such train baggagemen as were either rapacious or dis- 
inclined to work. 
Arriving at a railroad junction where it was necessary to 
change cars to take a more westerly course, and where, owing 
to railroad squabbles, a wait of twenty-three hours was in 
order to make a connection, I resolved to take advantage of 
the opportunity by staying in the town three or four days to 
make inquiries concerning the available locations and inci- 
dentally to await a remittance, which might better insure a 
continuous journey to the desired place, if such were discov- 
ered. It came promptly; there are others. 
I rented a barn for the purposes of a kennel. The hours 
passed qiiickly by in long, gossippy talks with the local 
sportsmen — talks on the prospects of good shooting when 
the season should open ; on the colors and pedigree of the 
best dogs; on whether a pointer could work without any 
water; on how much better a blueblood could do his work 
than any other dog on earth; and on the common good 
resulting from a close season and a strict enforcement and 
observance of the game laws. There were close and open 
seasons then as now, with much the same problems to be 
solved, much the same arguments pro and con, and much the 
same forces contending — the one to preserve, the other to 
destroy. 
There were then many local game protective associations 
throughout the Northwest whose membership was mostly 
derived from the professional and business men of the towns, 
between whom and the farmers there was not always the 
best of feeling or unanimitj"^ of sentiment on matters of game 
protection. * 
The subject of game protection — practical, earnest and 
heartfelt — was much and many times talked over by us; in 
fact, when we had gone the full round of all the standard, 
topics— guns, dogs, pedigrees, loads, game violators, proper 
punishment, every-man-a-warden, etc. — we would begin 
anew from the beginning with a freshness of spirit and flaw- 
lessness of interest that I now look back upon with some 
wonder and with much envy. I was a game protector — 
rigid, uncompromising and merciless. Let them bring on 
reasons for game preservation — I could produce one or two 
more which were bigger and better. The man who shot out 
of season was a coward — a sneaky coward, for did he not 
skulk from the gaze of man and pilfer from the belongings 
of the people? Did he not lawlessly take the shares of meu 
who lost their shares because they were law abidingY It 
was thievery — cowardly thievery — was this shooting of game 
birds out of season; and the local association then would 
take a'new hitch in its trousers and resolve that it would go 
hard with the next man found guilty of stealing from the 
public game treasures. 
My conscience, or such thing as did service for it with 
dog trainers, was a little uneasy on this subject, for, out- 
wardly so bold and zealous, I inwardly had some misgivings 
as to whether it was necessary that I should be so intensely 
imbued with the local spirit, and so intent in outstripping 
the others in proclaiming it. But then those were my senti- 
ments as a citizen. As a dog trainer, I had others. 
The chief reason of my urgent quest for a small, sequesr 
tered town was to be out of the ken of the game associations, 
and their activity, the letter and purpose of the game laws 
of the State of Nebraska as they applied to chickens not being 
wholly consonant with my purposes. I intended to shoot 
some chickens, not as a citizen, but as a man in the pursuit of 
his profession, as it was necessary now and then to shoot some 
birds to get the dogs properly set in their training; at least, 
we trainers deemed it essential that we should" think so, 
and, also, while we shot professionally as trainers, we per- 
mitted ourselves to enjoy the sport as citizens. Many very 
good men in those days enjoyed the shooting out of season 
simply as citizens and for the sport of it alone. 
It may be said by way of extenuation, if anything can be 
said at all, that then there were vast regions uninhabited by 
man in the chicken country, and that away from the larger 
towns birds were in wasteful abundance. A.lso, while there 
was a game law, there was but little public opinion to sus- 
tain it, such as there was being confined to the towns, ■ 
wherein were little local groups whose selfish interests 
stimulated them to measures of active game protection. 
They did not care a fig for the law as a public benefaction, 
but they did keenly care for the chickens and the sport to be 
had in shooting them. 
It was at that time considered but a venial sin to shoot 
chickens out of season, unless a fellow happened to be 
caught, whereupon he would be heavily mulcted, much to 
his own gain in being set aright in what was lawful, and the 
gain of the public treasury, which was likely to be painfully 
low and therefore in need of contributions. It was the most 
trifling sort of an offense so long as the State did not or 
could not take cognizance of it, but let the violation once be 
within the legal attention of the State, with a yearning 
