JtJLY 30, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
87 
anp mid (§tm. 
Indian Mode of Hunting. 
|. '. 
I.— Beaver. 
Wa-sa-Kejic came over to the post early one 
October, and said his boy bad cut bis foot, and that 
he had no one to steer his canoe on a proposed beaver 
hunt. Now nice, fat beaver, just before the 'ice takes, is 
one of the tidbits that come to the trader's table, and 
having spare time just then I volunteered to accompany 
him, knowing I would get a share of the game. 
As we made our way over the several small portages 
between the large lake on which the post is built and 
the one in which he had located the beaver, he told me 
there were two lodges on the lake to which we were 
making our way. 
We pitched our tent on the last portage, so as not to 
make a fire near the beaycr. Beavers have very poor 
eyesight, but very acute hearing and smell, and once 
they are frightened the sport for that night at all events 
is finished. 
We had something to eat and then started for the 
lake, leaving our tent and things ready to return to 
after dark. Smoking and talking are forbidden when 
one is in a beaver lake; care also must be taken that 
the. paddle does not rasp the side of the canoe. 
The beavers had built an immense dam across the 
discharge of the lake, and left a small cut in the middle 
for the overflow to pass. Here Wa-sa-Kejic placed 
a No. 4 Newhouse trap in about 4in. of water. On a 
twig Qin. high and set back about a foot from the trap 
he placed a small piece of castorum. The smell of this 
attracts a beaver. Then he lengthened the trap chain 
with three strands of No. 9 twine, tying it to a stout 
pole, which he planted very, very securely in deep 
water, out from the dam. 
The beaver, when he finds himself caught, springs 
backward into the deep water and dives to the bottom; 
here he struggles to get away until shortness of breath 
compels him to rise to the surface, and this is re- 
peated until the weight of the trap is too much for his 
exhausted condition, and he dies at the bottom, from 
whence he is hauled up by the hunter when next visiting 
his traps. 
After placing the trap on the dam Wa-sa-Kejic opened 
another ready for setting, tied the poles, and had every- 
thing ready; then giving me implicit injunctions not 
to make the last noise, told me to steer the canoe quietly 
to the lodge, which was fixed in a smalt bay out in 
the lake. When we reached the beaver's house, he care- 
fully placed the trap in the same depth of water as he 
had done the previous one, with this difference, that he 
omitted the castorum, because, as he told me after- 
ward, the beavers went on top of the house every night, 
the young ones to slide down into the water, and the 
old ones to do any necessary plastering. 
Another trap was set at. the next house, and from 
there we paddled the canoe a considerable distance 
from the beaver works, and figuratively rested on our 
oars until sundown. 
We were now going to try still-shooting them. Be- 
fore night sets in about sundown each fine evening in the 
fall the beavers leave their lodge, first, to eat the 
young willows along the shore, and after satisfying their 
hunger to patch the dam, plaster their houses and cut 
young trees to store up for their next winter's food! 
They come to the surface on leaving the lodge, and 
unless something frightens them swim on the surface 
in and out along the borders of the lake until they 
see a favorable spot to go ashore; and here they set to 
nibbling the bark of young birch or poplar, and if 
the hunter is careful may be shot at close range. 
As I said before, talking while hunting beaver is 
forbidden; and the hunter conveys his wishes to the 
steersman by signs, thus: To draw his attention he 
oscillates the canoe slightly; to move the canoe ahead 
the motion of paddling made by throwing the open hand 
inboard; to alter the course of the canoe is done by 
signing with the hand either to the right or to the left, as 
desired; to stop the canoe's headway when getting too 
close to the game is done by gentle downward patting 
of the hand, etc. 
Being already versed in this dumb language, we shoved 
away and took up a position near the lodge, but to the 
leeward of it, and waited. The sun having already gone 
down behind the forest, on the other side of the lake, 
we had not long to wait until a beaver broke water and 
swam away in a direction from us. Wa-sa-Kejic shook 
his head, as much as to say, 'We will go after that fel- 
low later on." The first was followed quickly by a sec- 
ond, a third and a fourth! Then, after waiting for fully 
fifteen minutes and no other appearing, Wa-sa-Kejic 
made signs to go ahead; this we did slowly, without 
taking the sharp-bladed paddle from the water. 
Presently we heard a noise as if a pig were supping 
up from a trough. This was one of the beavers crunch- 
ing up young twigs in the water. The canoe was edged 
slowly toward the land, with Wa-sa-Kejic on the alert, 
both dogheads full-cocked and ready for action. Pres- 
ently the downward motion of the hand was given, the 
gun brought deliberately up to the shoulder, and the 
next instant the explosion, followed almost as one shot 
by the second barrel ! A thick smoke hung between us 
and the shore, but we could hear kicking and splashing 
of the water; that told the shot was true. The beaver 
had ceased to struggle by the time we reached the 
shore. "But for what was the other shot?" I asked Wa- 
sa-Kejic. 
"For that," he answered, pointing to another beaver, 
stone dead on the bank; and then he laughed, for there 
was no necessity of keeping quiet any longer, for the 
shots had frightened any other beaver in the vicinity. 
"We may as well go to camp now," continued Wa- 
sa-Kejic, "and we will see our traps in the morning." 
From the fact of our having come ashore late, 
and perhaps more because of the hearty supper we 
made off of roast beaver, we did not awake- until the 
sun was high, Wq immediately partook ;- of- L a- hasty 
breakfast of tea Gallettc and pork and went to see the 
traps. 
"Fortunate?" Well, yes! We found one in each 
trap; and returned during the afternoon to the post. 
The Indian gave me the meat of two beavers for myself. 
He left his traps set to visit at some future time, 
because there were several animals yet in the lake. 
Describing the mode of killing beaver would not be 
complete unless wc explained that of "trenching." This 
method of killing them is largely practiced by the In- 
dians after the lakes and rivers are frozen over. I 
cannot do better than to describe a small lake that. Wa- 
sa-Kejic and I went to trench in December. This 
beaver lodge I had found the very last day of open water, 
for that night the wind turned round north and froze 
up everything! As it was close to the post, and I had 
found it, I simply made a bargain with Wa-sa-Kejic 
to do the trenching for a pound of tea. In those days 
tea was tea in the remote interior, and meant many 
a cheering cup to the Indian. 
Wa-sa-Kejic whistled his clogs after him when we 
left camp in the morning. The lake lay in the hollow 
of a mountain of considerable height, and could be 
compared to an inch of water in the bottom of a teacup. 
Before we were half down the. precipitous sides we saw 
the dogs nosing around the shore, scenting for the 
beavers in their "washes" or breathing holes. Wa-sa- 
Kejic, when he cast his eye around the small body of 
water, said, "This is an easy lake, and the beaver will 
soon all be dead." 
He now produced an ordinary socket chisel of ij^in, 
point, and in a few minutes had this handled with a 
young tamarack about 6ft. long. We each carried an 
axe, and the first order I got was to cut some dry sticks 
that stood at the discharge, each stick to be about 4ft. 
long. These, as fast as cut, the Indian drove across the 
creek after he had cut a trench in the thin ice from 
shore to shore. This was to prevent the beaver from 
going down the creek. 
The next thing was to break open the lodge from 
the top. This was done to scare the beavers out into 
the lake and make them resort to the washes. The 
beaver washes have their entrances under water, and 
go up sometimes a considerable distance from the shore, 
terminating generally under the roots of a tree. The 
beavers flee from wash to wash, as the hunter finds 
them out, and as each wash is discovered by the dogs 
(which scent the beavers through the frozen surface) 
the hunter stakes up the entrance to prevent them from 
returning. 
Beaver washes vary in number according to the 
formation of the lake, from two to three up to twenty. 
The practiced eye of the hunter tells him at once if the 
lake has few or many. And this is why Wa-sa-Kej.ic 
said we would soon kill the beaver. At last the three 
dogs remained pointing and listening about raft, from 
the shore under a spruce of considerable size. The 
Indian set to work to stake up the entrance, which he 
did as fast as I could furnish the sticks. 
On the shore of this barricade he cleared away the 
ice and snow, making an opening about the size of a bar- 
rel head, and then he paused, and pointing to the water 
said, "See that! That's the beaver breathing!" This 
was shown by the water's surface gently rising and fall- 
ing- 
He now took off his coat, and baring bis right arm up 
to the shoulder he gave me the ice chisel and told me 
to pierce the ground where the dogs were pointing, I 
had hardly given a blow or two before I saw Wa-sa- 
Kejic stoop over the hole and plunge his naked arm 
into the water. Instantly it was withdrawn, and a big 
fat beaver, securely seized by the tail, was struggling 
in his grasp. A blow of his axe on the spine finished 
him in quick order, and this was repeated from time 
to time as I continued to enlarge the hole where the 
beavers were huddled together under the roots. 
We got six out of this wash, and two out of an- 
other, which constituted all that were in the lake. Two 
each made a very good load for us going home, and 
the next day I sent a man with a flat sled to bring home 
the remaining four. 
The three principal modes of killing beavers are by 
shooting, trapping, trenching. 
Martin Hunter. 
Saguenay County, Quebec. 
A Sketch of Sport in Scotland. 
Written for Forest and Stream ly W. R. Gilbert. 
Although the blase sportsman may sneer at small 
bags, and vow that a hard day's tramp is not to be com- 
pared with a "hot corner," where rocketing pheasants 
come galore, and hares stream out in ropes; or with two 
guns in a "butt" with grouse coming in countless num- 
bers; still I venture to say— after a long experience — 
that 'no shooting equals the delight of getting a mixed 
bag, fairly worked for and therefore fairly earned, in the 
last' months of the year. The charming uncertainty as 
to what game is going to get up next is delightful. Not 
that I wish to decry big shoots; given a jolly set of fel- 
lows, they are good fun, but they do not seem to linger 
in one's mind as does the day we got a little of every- 
thing. This is the sort of day I mean; enjoyed through 
the kindness of my old friend M. 
"Well, what would you like to do to-day?" queries my 
host, as I come down to an early breakfast served in the 
lodge on his Scotch shooting. "Shall we have a few 
grouse drives, try the lowlands for partridges, beat the 
coverts for woodcock and a few stray pheasants, or 
what?" 
I did not take long to make up my mind, even with 
such a menu put before me. "If you leave it to me, I 
vote for trying for a mixed bag; I am sure we ought to 
get a few snipe in the meadows, and there ought to be 
some woodcock in after this frost." 
"Very well," returned M., "so be it. I think I can give 
you a sight of most game even if you don't get a shot; 
but I am afraid the ducks may be gone, the frost sending 
them down to .the sea." 
We were soon on our way, accompanied by Mac, the 
keeper, three boys to beat, a retriever and a little cocker 
spaniel. The first ground tried was the kitchen garden 
and laurels round the lodge, as the gardener reported see- 
ing a "good few cock pheasan's there the morn." They 
were not to be found, however. We decided to have a 
couple of short grouse drives, so sending the beaters 
round, we went Jo take up our "butts" on the moor, 
about two miles distant. On our way we expected to Ret 
a shot at snipe, but all wc flushed was a large covey 
of partridges, which got up out of shot. Just before we 
reached the moor we came to a pond noted for holding 
ducks. True to its traditions, it did so now, for as we got 
within 25yds. up rose three mallards, of which we secur- 
ed two. Wc then crept to our positions, and had time for 
a whiff of the weed, when I saw three packs of grouse 
skimming over the heather toward where M. was sta- 
tioned, but unfortunately they turned down out of shot. 
Then "Ma-a-rk" came borne on the frosty air, and .five 
grouse flashed by me about 35yds. to my left, but my two 
barrels resulted in misses. "Ma-r-rk" a<rain. and I could 
sec two old cock grouse, sailing down wind straight at 
rue. When within 40yds. I show myself; tliey turn, show- 
ing up the white under their wings, and both succumb to 
the first barrel. More birds come, but scarcely within 
shot, and I only succeed in getting three more birds. 
Another short drive follows, and results in M. getting 
a brace and a half of grouse and an old gray hen, while 
I had to be content with firing a volley of regrets after 
several packs that would not face the guns. 
"Now for the snipe," I say. We clamber over a wall 
and wend our way to a boggy tract of land below. We 
beat this well, but to no purpose, save killing a hare, un- 
til we come to the very edge, where up get two "long 
bills" — a long shot — going away unharmed, showing 
their satisfaction by giving vent to their peculiar note. 
Soon after I did better, getting seven birds out 
of ten shots. By this time we had come round to where 
our second drive had ended. "Now," said M., "yon get 
forward. There are sure to be some woodcock here, and 
they generally lie in those bushes and heather at the top 
of the glen." I climbed over a highish wall, and made 
my way on through heather knee deep. Hardly had I 
gone 50yds. when an old cock grouse sprang up under 
my feet, giving a defiant crow; being taken unawares f 
carefully missed him with the first barrel, but got him 
with the second. We never saw a thing till getting to the 
end of the beat, . when some black game came sailing 
over, too high to shoot. 
Then was heard the welcome "Ma-a-rk cock"; and 
the bird came sailing down the glen — an easy shot; but 
woe is me, for I missed both barrels, over anxiety 
to bag him accounting for the disaster. More than one 
sportsman can "shake" with me. when they remember 
having missed just such an easy shot at cock. We found 
two more birds before finishing the beat, each of us get- 
ting one. Then to lunch. - ■ ^ , 
We were soon on the tramp again, our way leading 
over sedgv, swampy pastures. Hardly had we entered 
when a rabbit fell to M.'s gun. After 1 had killed a big 
hare, and missed a long shot at a grouse, and M. had 
bagged a snipe, we went on to another bit of snipe 
ground, which resulted in our bagging three snipe and 
two jack snipe. 
Having now a fairly mixed bag. we thought we would 
try and add one more variety by getting a partridge. 
We tried several stubbles and also a couple of turnip 
fields, but saw nothing but some plover, which rose out 
of shot. We walked till we were tired to get a shot at 
those partridges, but luck was against us; first the birds 
that we did see were very wild, and then when poor M. 
did have a beautiful right and left he never touched a 
feather. We had now come to a very small covert, which 
generally yielded a woodcock, hut on this occasion the 
game was absent, but we managed to get an old cock 
pheasant and a wood pigeon. 
M. and myself were now both rather uneasy in our 
minds as to the chances of getting a partridge, when on 
the opposite side of the hedge we heard the well-known 
call. We peeped over, and instantly up rose two large 
coveys, a very long distance, but we were so anxious to 
get a bird that — "tell it not in Gath, mention it not in 
Ascalon" — I fear we pulled into the "brown." One 
bird was the result. That poor unfortunate bird did us 
a lot of good, we had secured a specimen of nearly every 
game bird inhabiting this wild district, save the duck. 
Consul Gilbert sends to the State Department from 
Liege this table, showing the number and description 
of firearms tested at the proving station in Liege for the 
years named: 
Description. 1894. 1895. 1896. i.Soy, 
Guns : 
Double barrel . . . 198,780 227,432 224,071 208,301 
Single barrel ... . 266,713 330,776 300,264 3I5J44 
Flintlocks ' 27.052 18,460 18.680 13,146 
Military rifles ...... 130,696 74,^55 80,410 50.628 
Revolvers 388,450 407,612 416,681 436,166 
Pistols: 
Pocket, by pairs. . 2,515 600 1,031 761 
Cavalry, by pairs.. 25,559 28,581 22,711 13,341 
Total 1,039,765 1,082,716 1,063,848 1,037.487 
The official, value of firearms exported from Liege to 
foreign countries during the year 1896 was $3,160,713; 
during 1895, $2,960,000; in 1894, $2,500,000; which shows 
an increase of more than 25 per cent, in two years. The 
importations of firearms into Belgium from all coun- 
tries in 1896 were to the value of $312,000, and consisted 
almost entirely of old military rifles. 
Gun barrels are subjected to three proofs for black 
powder, and four for smokeless powder. 
North Carolina Quail. 
Hasltn, N. C, July 4.— -Birds are nesting and hatching 
well with us and we should haye excellent; s^oo^n"" as 
Usual next fall. F. P. L, 
A Miscellaneous Bag, 
Liege Firearms. 
