868 
Winchester and strolled out in the hope of finding 
something that would change the bill of fare a little, I 
had been out some time and had found nothing to 
shoot at, and was prowling home with my back to the 
setting sun, when I suddenly discovered an old doe 
standing in some low bush about 50yds. ahead of me. 
She was standing broadside to me and looking straight 
at me, trying to make out what I was, for deer can't see 
well against the light, and she had probably never seen 
a real live tenderfoot before. 
Now I had never before been face to face with a real 
live deer when I had happened to have a gun in my 
hand, and so a violent attack of buck fever came upon 
me instantly; however, I realized that there was no time 
to wait till the attack abated, so when I thought that the 
foresight of the rifle covered her shoulder I pulledthe 
trigger. The smoke hung for a moment before my face, 
and when it cleared off there was not a sign of a deer 
to be seen. I went forward, and to my great surprise 
and delight found her lying stretched out behind a low 
clump of shin oak. My delight was somewhat checked 
by a violent kick I received as I rushed forward and 
grabbed her by one of her hindlegs. This was her 
last move, however, and for some moments I stood joy- 
ously contemplating the first deer that had ever fallen 
to my rifle. It was only an old doe, and I am sorry to 
say out of season and by no means fat. but all the 
same it was undoubtedly a deer, and I had killed it all 
by myself. 
The next move was to look for the bullet hole, so as 
to be able to congratulate myself on my good shooting. 
I looked at her shoulder, where I fondly expected to find 
it, but there was no bullet hole there. I looked further 
back, there was not a scratch on her; I rolled her over, 
not a hair was out of place. At last, just as I was begin- 
ning to think that she had died of freight, I discovered 
that the bullet had broken her neck, high up, just where 
it joined the head. Not a very good shot, considering 
the distance was so short. It was with a sort of 
chastened humble joy that I went back to the ranch for 
help to get her home. We tied her legs together and 
ran a pole through them and brought her in in triumph, 
and for the next few days we feasted on venison, and we 
fried no bacon and boiled no beans at our little log 
cabin till that venison Avas no longer fit for human 
food. 
Older hunters than I was in those days sometimes, 
under exceptional circumstances, suffer from buck fever. 
Our friend and neighbor, "Long Joe." came by the 
ranch one day last summer, riding his old sorrel mare 
and followed by a mule colt and a couple of hound 
pups, and while resting his long legs and smoking the 
pipe of peace on the gallery after dinner, he told us the 
following tale of woe; 
He had about an acre planted in sweet potatoes in the 
far end of his field. Now deer are exceedingly fond of 
sweet potato vines, and if they once find a patch of 
them that is not too close to a house they will come into 
the field for them night after night, till they have de- 
stroyed the whole crop. 
Well, a small herd of deer discovered Joe's potatoes, 
as he found by their tracks in the field, and as, of course, 
they only came in after dark and left again before day- 
light, he determined to hide under the fence some night 
.and wait for them to come in. And so one evening, just 
as it was getting dark, having armed himself with an 
old double-barreled shotgun and half-filled each barrel 
with buckshot, he took up a position in a corner of the 
old snake fence, near where the deer were in the habit 
of jumping in. He next proceeded to arrange his long 
limbs in as comfortable a position as circumstances per- 
mitted, propped up the old gun in easy reach of his 
right hand, stuck about a cubic inch of tobacco into 
his mouth, and made up his mind that he would spend 
the night where he was, or get venison and revenge for 
his sweet potatoes. 
A young moon gave just enough light to enable him to 
see indistinctly anything that was in the immediate 
neighborhood; behind him a long, rocky and bush-cov- 
ered point came right down to the field fence, and before 
him his field lay spread out across the narrow valley to 
another steep and yushy hillside, surmounted by a gray 
limestone blurt anutlringed by the dark cedar brake that 
stretched away over the hills for miles to the westward. 
It was a nice warm night, with hardly any wind, but 
every now and then a little gust would sigh through the 
Spanish oak bush, and unfortunately it did not always 
come out of the same quarter. 
Slowly the minutes passed for Joe crouched in the 
fence cover, his cramped limbs had to be carefully re- 
arranged at_ intervals, and a few energetic mosquitoes 
had found him out and were paying him a good deal of 
attention. The moon sank toward the black fringe of 
cedar on the opposite hill, and he was on the point of 
giving up and going home, when something moved a 
loose rock on the hill behind him. In an instant he 
was on the alert, and carefully reached out his hand for 
the old gun and listened again. This time he could 
plainly hear two or three animals moving about in 
the brush behind htm, and every instant he "expected to 
see the deer jump the fence into the field close to him. 
Presently they were just behind the brush, not more than 
ten steps from him, and he could hear them sniffing 
inquisitively, but, of course, he could not see through 
the thicket, and had still to wait patiently. About this 
time he began to feel a little uncomfortable, and he 
could hardly keep hi; teeth from chattering; the deer 
too were evidently not quite satisfied with their sur- 
roundings, for they began stamping with their fore- 
feet on the grouno. This was altogether too much for 
Joe's nerves, and he spent the next few minutes, which 
seemed like so many hours, in a state of most abject 
misery. At last he began to shake so violently that he 
.hit the fence with the barrel of his gun, and the deer, 
snorting ridicule and defiance at him, loped off up the 
point into darkness and security. He assured us that 
he felt so relieved when they had gone that he almost 
cried; he also told us that he had shivered so violently 
that on going to inspect the scene of his sufferings the 
next morning he found that he had shaken the top 
logs off the fence for five panels on each side of the 
corner where he had been hiding: but he exaggerates a 
little sometimes, and this last part of his story may not 
be quite true. Purbeck. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
A Hudson Bay Flintlock. 
"Sound the trumpet, beat the drums!" I've got it! 
It came to me. And, true to the adage, it was the un- 
expected. 
While on a business trip down the Colville Valley I 
called at a house located on one of the old-time ranches 
of the count: - n fi:i.ily of people of mixed white 
and Indian brood 1ml lived for more than twenty-five 
years, and who had left the place some years before the 
coming of its present tenant; and out in the chip yard, 
where the slops from the kitchen were thrown, I stum- 
bled upon one of the old Hudson Bay flintlock shot- 
guns. 
So bleached by exposure was the stock of the old 
fusee that it was necessary to remove the brass breech 
plate, held in place by five screws (so honest and thor- 
ough was the old-time handwork), to prove that it was 
really walnut. It was at first mistaken for curly maple. 
I called the rancher's attention to it, when he told 
me that among the old traps left by the former occu- 
pants of the place had been about a dozen antiquated 
guns of the percussion type. "Look here," he said, "I'll 
show you something I plowed up in the field a while 
ago." And he brought out a spur that might have been 
worn by the Conquistador himself. It was a massive 
iron affair, with a wheel a trifle over 3f£in. in diameter, 
and heavy enough to have been made of the saw of an 
old-time sawmill. 
He was easily induced to sell them; and after a hard 
day's work in overhauling and cleaning up the old gun, 
during which it took all the tools in the shop of the 
village blacksmith, including the big power drill with 
which to start the screw which went through the breech 
pin into the guard plate, the lock was found to be of 
splendid mechanism, able to defy successfully the tooth 
of time and a quarter-inch coating of solid rust. 
After all these years of neglect it was surprising to 
see it come out in such really fine order, and in perfect 
fettle for shooting to-day. I should judge the bore to 
be about .20 gauge. 
The first shot sent twenty pellets of its little charge of 
No. 6's through a page of Forest and Stream at 
32yds. 
The trouble which now confronts me is the lack of gun 
flints. 
I found a piece of volcanic rock, which does poor 
service in lieu of the regular flint, but I want the genuine 
article. Where on the planet, save in the Smithsonian 
Institution or the British Museum, can the old-time gun 
flint now be found, is the problem which perplexes. And 
where can I turn for help save to the members of our 
own family? 
Can't Schultze scratch up a handful from the old 
stamping ground of the Blackfeet? How many has 
Ransacker hidden away in the chinks of his cabin in the 
Sierras? And surety Kingfisher has used that old flint 
sinker for his fish line long enough, and should now 
"pony up" like a little man. 
There may be another Grand American Handicap some 
day, and I hereby give Mr. Fulford fair warning, that 
the old uncle is on his trail. Orin Belknap. 
Valley, Washington. 
Maryland Ducks. 
Baltimore, Md., Oct. 29. — Several captains of gun- 
ning craft, who charter to sportsmen for cluck shooting 
on the Susquehanna flats, have visited Baltimore the 
past week. They say there are now numbers of ducks 
feeding in these waters; also good reports come from 
Back, Middle, Gunpowder and Bush rivers. Another 
week will open the season, and the prospects are of the 
very best. Havre de Grace residents say there arc many 
bald pate ducks there. These ducks do not make good 
box shooting, but flocks of red-headed ducks, which 
make the best of shooting, are on hand, as well as some 
black-heads, which have prevailed in late years. Captain 
Holly, one of the best-known of the experts, was in 
Baltimore the past week. He said he had observed more 
coots lately than he had seen for several previous years 
at this time, and on this assertion the gunners are pre- 
dicting great sport. A few years ago few sportsmen 
paid attention to coots,, and they flew within range with- 
out being shot at. They are delicious little ducks, but 
the shooters wanted bigger ones. In the last few years 
they have been very scarce. The gunners and epicures 
then sbow-ed their appreciation of them, and wondered 
why they had not done so when they were plentiful. The 
coot is as choice in his feeding as a red-head or even a 
canvasback. His late scarcity has been so marked that 
the gunners now claim that his reappearance in numbers 
means that plenty of good food is in the river. Hence, 
they predict that there will be more ducks in general 
this year than for several seasons, and they do not use 
the regular annual reason of "more grass since the 
Johnstown flood." 
There was to have been a sale of game, confiscated 
under the new law of 1898 from a prominent commis- 
sion merchant, at the office of the Baltimore City Cold 
Storage Company, one day last week, but it failed to 
materialize. The game confiscated consisted of sixty- 
three red-head ducks, which had been placed in storage 
by the said commission man, labeled "poultry," and 
which were found after a search by a deputy game 
warden. The ducks were in such condition, however, 
that no one made a bid, 
Representatives of the cold storage company and the 
commission merchant were before the ' magistrate, 
charged with having the game in their possession. It 
was shown that the ducks were shipped from South 
Dakota, and were not killed in Maryland, hence, it was 
contended, it was not a violation of the law of Maryland 
to have the ducks in possession, as the law was plainly 
intended to protect Maryland game, and not the game 
of South Dakota. The magistrate held, however, that 
the law was violated in this case, and after valuing them 
at $20 ordered the confiscation of the ducks and their 
sale under the law, the proceeds to go into the school 
fund, after deducting payment for cold storage. 
The chief game warden was present, but did not seem 
to think tlie commission man possession of the game 
[Nov. s, 1898. 
came under the State law. If the law can be so con- ' 
strued, it is claimed, then Maryland is practically mak- I 
ing laws for other States, and seriously interfering with* 
interstate commerce, as game killed in season in an- J 
other State could not be sold or owned out of season in I 
Maryland. Both parties' representatives talked of ap- II 
pealing from the decision of the magistrate to make a 11 
test case, but after consultation it was agreed that Jl 
the amount at stake would not justify such action. The 
law of 1898, regulating the killing of game in Mary- j 
land, is much more general than that of 1896, which it is 
intended to strengthen. It provides a fine of from one I 
to ten dollars for each of several species of game out of I 
season found in possession of any person. The season I 
openings vary from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24. As applied to U 
ducks, the season opens on Nov. 1. Heretofore certain 
species of ducks called in a general sense the "summer I 
duck" have been openly exhibited and sold during the 
early fall or late summer, but the new law brings these II 
ducks under the ban. A peculiarity of the new law is the [j 
provision that, although it is a violation of the law II 
to have game in one's possesion out of season, game i| 
confiscated by the warden or his deputies may be sold I 
at public auction, the proceeds to go to the school fund, I 
Possession of game bought under such circumstances H 
does not render the owner liable for violating the game 
law. 
By this curious provision of the new law the pur-»j 
chaser of the confiscated ducks will incur no risk of I 
arrest or having the ducks seized, and may place the '! 
ducks right back in the cold storage warehouse and J 
use them as he pleases. This seems the only safe way to I 
secure ducks out of season, i. e., buy at auction such as . 
have been confiscated. The agents of the Maryland ( 
Game and Fish Protective Association have been work- I 
ing more effectively this fall than ever before, and while I 
the officers do not pretend that the Association ha? any- 
thing like succeeded in stopping the unlawful slaughter 
and sale of game, they say they are doing more in that I 
direction than ever before, and are making the traffic 
in game much less safe than formerly. Within the last 
week or so most of the leading hotels and restaurants 
have been visited in search of prohibited game, and 
some proprietors were caught in violations of the law } 
and have suffered accordingly. It cost one of the city's ' 
most prominent hotels more than $to, because two ducks 1 
were found there and seized, and a well-known restaurant r 
lost $20 in fines and costs, besides the four big wild tur | 
keys that .caused the trouble. 
John T, Higgins. 
Boston Hunters m Maine. 
Boston, Oct. 28. — Again the big game has been com- 
ing in at Bangor at a great rate. Late newspaper dis- 
patches say that all previous records of big game re- 
ceipts were broken on Monday, when 127 deer, 9 mouse 
and 2 bears were noted at the railway stations. The larg- 
est previous record was noted on Friday, Oct. 22, 1897. 
when 109 deer, 8 moose and 5 caribou were listed at 
Bangor. The total shipments over the Bangor & Aroos- 
took Railroad so far this season have been So i deer. 30 < 
moose, 14 caribou and 4 bears. 
Mr. Howard W. Wheeler, of Boston, has shot a big 
bull moose in the Dead River region, in Maine. In \ 
the party were also C. H. Fosgate, of Cambridge; M. H 
Gray and H. Hewitt, of Boston. On the team that t 
brought the hunters to the station at Dead River thev 
had, besides the moose, four buck deer, one doe and a 
big string of partridges. Mr. Wheeler is reported to 
have said that after the second shot the moose charged 
at him, but was stopped by -,ther shots left in the. maga- 
zine of his rifle. The party report partridges thick in the 
Dead River region, but they arc vjie only hunters that 
bring that report from Maine. It is claimed by the 
Boston marketmen, however, that they are getting an 
unusual number of partridges from New Hampshire. Mr. 
L. P. Young, of Faneuil Hall Market, brings out six deer 
from his Maine hunting trip; two (or himself, two for 
his wife and two for his wife's sister. The claim is 
made that the ladies shot the deer assigned to them. H. 
B. Hatch, of this city, has secured his two deer in the 
vicinity of Stacy Dam, Me. F. B. Parker, of Lynn, and 
W. H. Parker, of Boston, are out of the woods after 
hunting thirteen days in the section of Passagomoc 
Lake, Me., they bring out two deer apiece. G. W. Shat- 
tuck, of Boston, and J. H. Shattuck, of New York, have 
been hunting at Big Machias Lake, Me. They stopped 
at Reed's camps, getting all the deer they cared for, 
which was what they wanted to eat in camp, and one each 
to take home. They saw moose, but did not get a shot 
at. them. W. D. Wright, of this city, has been hunting' 
in the neighborhood of Sebois Lake. He brings out two 
buck deer. E. A. Newbegin and A. F. Stevens, of 
Haverhill, have been hunting in the same vicinity, each, 
taking a fine deer. 
Oct. 31. — The quail season is open in Massachusetts, 1 
and the local gunners are trying for them, with the gen-, 
eral verdict that the birds are rather scarce. A few have* 
been seen in the markets, but though the open season 
begun Oct. 15, the marketmen complain that they are 
not getting the usual quantity of quail — are getting about 
as many woodcock as quail of late. In Byfield the 
gunners have taken a small number, and in Reading 
there are reports of a few being secured. J. H. Jones, 
with Ed. Killam, a crack shot, went up to Topsfield 
the other day. They struck good weather, and had one 
of the best dogs in the country. Jones hired a gun, his 
own not being at hand, and entered the field with some 
doubts as to what he could do. On the first flush ofl 
quail, however, he satisfied himself that the gun fitted? 
him almost exactly, and be brought down his bird at' 
nearly every shot. They soon found the quail to be 
wild, and generally the coveys would take wing without 
giving them anything but snap shots, and scattering, so 
that the birds had to be hunted down singly afterward. 
Under these difficulties they got fourteen quail in their 
day's shoot, and naturally feel very proud of their 
success. 
The weather has been hard for the shore bird gunners, 
of late, and though coot and other ducks have been fly- 
ing plentifully, it has been so rough a good deal of 
the time that boating has been very difficult. The 
