March 25, 1899.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
227 
mii^ ^(ig nnd 0m. 
A Mowitch Hunt in Southeastern 
Alaska. 
All last summer, while occupied at Ketchikan, 
Alaska, we had promised for ourselves during the 
coming fall a series of hunting trips after deer, goat 
and bear; and one of these trips — an excursion to the 
Prince of Wales Island— after "mowwiche," as the In- 
dians or Siwashes call the deer of this section, is the 
foundation for this article. 
With the exception of Bill, a Montana man, the party 
consisted of Bostonians, six in all, and an especially 
congenial company it proved to be. None were tender- 
feetr a few were old rustlers, and the senior member, 
a campaigner of years standing, whom we all called 
the Major, proved the very life of the outfit. His dry 
wit and seemingly endless fund of stories, together with 
his sunny good nature under the most trying circum- 
stances, soon won for him the affections of the entire 
-push." 
Ketchikan was left late, in September, in the four-ton 
sloop yacht Skookum, Capt. Pete McKinnion, with two 
sealing boats in tow. These were to be used after reach- 
ing the island, as we had only hired the Skookum to 
insure the safe passage of Clarence Straits, a nasty 
bit of water some twelve miles " in width, facing the 
stormy Pacific, and which seems to really welcome 
the soiUherly gales that come piling in with such ferocity 
tliat one can well imagine them as coming all the way 
from China across the pond. 
Although only a distance of thirty-five miles to our 
destination, it had been agreed to make it in two runs, 
the first a leg of some fifteen miles, to the Dall Head 
copper properties, on the southern extremity of Gravina 
Island, where chef Hunt, whose cooking is noted from 
Wrangel to Portland, Oregon, kept open house in Hotel 
de Siwash, and where our former visits had always been 
hailed as occasions of feasting and song. The day in 
question was no exception, and we were welcomed roy- 
ally. Twenty-four hours were lost here on account of 
storm, bjjt much to our satisfaction, and on the third 
day, we took leave of our hospitable friend, promising 
to bring him a pair of mowwiche saddles on our return. 
It was a clear and aggravatingly calm morning, as, labor- 
ing with the long sweep oars, the sloop moved slowly out 
of the bay; but after rounding the head a fair wind 
sprang up, and for the rest of the three hours' sail we lay 
back and talked of our prospective hunt, or listened 
to the croonings of the Major, and Bill, both of whom 
had soon discovered that peculiar affinity existing be- 
tween men who have been in the same camps in the 
dift'erent mining sections of the West, and who have 
known the same men, but not each other. The day 
proved, delightful, and the blue, of the mountains grad- 
ually dissolved itself into harmonious grays and greens, 
as approaching the island, Point Adams could be seen, 
as well as Morris Bay, for which we were heading; 
but the breeze left us when well within the bay, and 
another wrestle with the sweeps was necessary to carry 
us up the long narrow reach of water forming North 
Arm, at the head of which was the Indian Nowiski's 
salmon chuck and shack, where we were to make our 
headquarters. 
A Siwash "salmon chuck" is the stream alloted him 
by his tribe, and on which he has the sole right to fish, 
with power to forcibly prevent trespassing. This latter 
right only applies to the Indians, white men going 
where they chose. It interested those of us who were 
ignorant on the subject, to learn, that, unlike our East- 
ern salmon, the fish here, after running up the streams 
and depositing their spawn, never return to the salt 
water, but their mission in life being fulfilled, die an 
ignominious death— the bodies lodged along the banks 
giving sustenance to hundreds of ravens and eagles, 
as well as many smaller birds. All the geese killed by 
the outfit were found to be full of salmon spawn, the 
meat proving too fishy to be at all palatable. 
Big Pete left for Ketchikan the morning following 
our arrival with instructions to return again in ten 
days, there being provisions sufficient merely for that 
tirne. The days passed only too rapidly, and,_ although 
most of us hunted continually and conscientiously, no 
deer were killed, and but three seen — one swimming 
so far out in Mineral Lake, at the head of the chuck, 
as to be out of range, while the other two, a buck and 
a doe, were fired upon by Dick, who scored a clean 
miss on two as pretty broadside shots as could be de- 
sired. He laid this to overconfidence. 
Although the deer here are black-tailed, all right 
enough, there is a vast difference between them and 
the same kind of deer throughout our Western States. 
They are much smaller for one thing, smaller even 
than the white-tail, of Maine, though resembling the 
latter animal in color. I have never seen that beautiful 
squirrel-gray coat one finds on Montana and Colorado 
blacktail. The antlers too, only in occasional instances 
have a double prong, branching from the main beam, the 
majority of horns being formed precisely as a whitetail. 
We at first attributed our non-success to the limited 
knowledge of the habitat of these particular deer, but 
later it was found that there had been an unusually 
heav}' killing in this same neighborhood the winter be- 
fore by both Indians and wolves — a single Siwash hav- 
ing killed unaided and in a single day over i6o of 
these poor emaciated creatures, simply for their hides — ■ 
the market value being a little less than 12 cents. This 
may sound a trifle "fishy," and it did to me at first until 
I heard, how it was accomplished. 
To understand the situation, it is necessary to state 
that from about Christmas time until early in March 
the snows are very deep, varying from 4 to 6ft. This 
of course drives all deer on both mainland and islands 
to the seashore, where at night they bed down within 
50yds, of the water. During the daytime they may be 
seen in great numbers along the beaches feeding on 
"kelp," a kind of seaweed left unfrozen by the retreating 
tides. Three or four weeks on this diet will so weaken 
them that they fall a ready prey to both wolves and 
hide hunters. The former is a large timber wolf, black 
as a bear and standing nearly as high as a mastiff dog. 
They are crafty and savage, but cowardly when not 
banded together, and would have to be exceptionally 
hungry to attack a human being even then. 
A man named Gullet and I spent three weeks in 
November north of Ketchikan, in a country where 
they are plentiful, endeavorin.g to trap one of these 
black fellows, but we failed to even gCt sight of one. 
It was an easy mater therefore for this Indian to 
come to North Arm in January, where there had been 
no previous hunting, and leaving his Klootchmen 
(squaws) armed with skinning knives to follow on the 
shore, he in a canoe could paddle leisurely along, and 
if a good shot not lose a hoof while amnnnn'tion lasted. 
Up to the time of the sloop's expected arrivel the 
weather had been remarkably fiu^, sach days when 
clear as one finds only in Alaska. 
However, on Oct. 8 a series of westerly and southerly 
storms broke upon us in such fury- that it was under- 
stood we must give up all hopes of Big Pete's coming. 
This sort of weather continued for several days, and in 
the meantime the provisions were getting seriously low. 
Cream, sugar and butter were of the past, as well as 
numerous little things which we hacl brought along 
to give variety to our bill of fare. Flour we had in 
plenty, but coffee and potatoes were on the "reduced 
ration list." On the 15th Dick and tbe writer returned 
to camp, after having seen a large black bear without 
even the chance of a shot, and the climax of our disgust 
was reached to find the cigarette tobacco entirely gone 
and the pipe tobacco nearly so. 
Then it was decided that something must be done, and 
that immediately. During the discussion one of the 
fellows attempted an impossible cigarette with plug 
tobacco and soap wrapper, which was unanimously 
voted "out" by the rest of us. After talking it over, 
Bill and I declared our intention of taking one of the 
sealing boats, and on the first calm day of rowing over 
AN AlASK.\n dekr. 
to Hunt's, and, procuring the big schooner laying at 
anchor there, we could return for the rest, regardless of 
weather. 
Two days later found us pulling down the placid waters 
of North Arm. and when about four miles from camp 
a sail hove in sight, which proved to be the sloop Star, 
sent after us in place of Big Pete. As the day looked 
promising, instead of returning with them, we determined 
to keep right on and wait for the push at Dall Head. 
So after begging some cigarette tobacco and papers 
we were ofi. Later, when reaching the straits, a breeze 
overtook us which allowed of our hoisting the sail and 
eating a cold lunch of bannock and bacon, the best our 
chef could oft'er us before starting. 
Meanwhile black, threatening clouds worked slowly 
up from the southward, while our little craft tipped sau- 
cil}' before the rapidly rising wind whistling over the 
starboard beam. Being fairly out in the middle, it 
would take full as long to return to the bay as to ad- 
vance, and in either case, if the storm increased, we 
would be obliged to turn and run before it. 
When therefore a sudden ugly squall blew the sail off 
into the water, carrying the sprit halyards away in so 
doing, we naturally thought "discretion the better part 
of valor," and as I threw the helm hard around, could 
not but feel thankful that the wind at- our backs was 
not the fierce Taku wind from the north, blowing us out 
into the Pacific. Instead, it was only a question of the 
distance up the straits we would be forced before making 
a landing. 
The problem was soon solved satisfactorily, for about 
three miles ahead and perhaps a mile off shore lay Wedge 
Island, which would make a capital place to camp, pro- 
vided the already strong wind did not carry us be- 
yond. The pull proved easier than at first supposed, and 
we were soon under the lee of the island and in quiet 
water. 
In making the approach there was time for a rough 
survej', and we found it to be a much smaller body of 
land than had appeared from a distance. It was not 
over 6ooyds. long by a third as many in width, heavily 
timbered, with high cliffs overlooking the sea at both 
ends, while the center was much the lower, making 
the island look for all the world like the hull of a Chinese 
junk. 
After beaching the boat and .depositing our scanty 
provisions above tide Hue, Bill and I pushed back 
through the undergrowth into the interior of the island 
in search of drinking water. What little We found was 
full of animal and vegetable life, and too vile and stag- 
nant to drink without boiling, although Bill, who had 
traveled much in Arizona, pronounced it capital. While 
making our way back to the boat, much to our aston- 
ishment we discovered comparatively fresh deer sign, and 
although my "pard" laughed at the idea, I at^once untied 
my rifle from the pack and set out along the shore for 
the headland, to hunt up wind, while Bill went with tiie 
axe in search of tent poles. 
It proved an easy place to still-hunt, having plenty 
of moss under foot to deaden the sound, and yet there 
seemed to be enough underbrush to give the game 
plenty of cover, should they be on the island. I was 
soon convinced that deer were there, for I found unmis^ 
takable signs of their recent drowsing on the skunk 
cabbage, which in this section grows with tropical lux- 
uriance, and the deer and bear both feed upon it. I 
have seen this plant as tall as a man. and with leavfciS 
as broad as the length of one's arm. This is due to the 
extremely moist climate, the annual rainfall of Alaska 
being 14ft. 
The first day's hunt, though successftt], was luiinter- 
esting. After working carefully in about 200yds., I rati 
sciuare itpon two blacktails — a spike-horn and a doe. 
Both of these I dropped, making a pretty "right and 
left," precisely as though bird shooting with a Scott 
instead of deer hunting with a Winchester. On dressing 
them both I shouldered the buck, and upon reaching 
camp found Bill had but two of the tent poles cut, shew- 
ing how short a time had elapsed since we separated, 
Although the provisions brought with Us consisted onlj' 
of flour, salt and tea, still with two fry-pans of tender- 
loin, we feasted royally. Soon after pitching the tent 
rain set in, and throughout the afternoon and night 
the storm continued with unabated fury, while I lay- 
awake for hours listening to the mighty pounding of the 
breakers on the headland, which seemed to shake the 
very ground beneath us. 
It was not necessary to look out upon the water next 
morning to know that for that day at least we were to 
be imprisoned on the island. Although the rain had 
ceased, both wind and sea continued with unfailing 
strength, to encompass our little citadel, while from 
the quiet waters of the cove came the clamoiing (jf 
hundreds of water fowl that sounded much like a caucus 
of ward heelers direct from New York. 
There were kittiwakes and herring gulls, difTerent 
kinds of divers, red and black Siwash ducks, beside but- 
terballs, teal and brant, while a dozen kinds unknown 
to us paddled aimlessly about among the drift timber. 
A sportive family of seals, doing the "Jack-in-the-box" 
act in the surf outside the point, drew a harmless fusil- 
lade from Bill's six-shooter, and reminded me of glass 
ball practice in a shooting gallery. 
To kill time that day every nook and corner of our 
little continent was explored, and we jumpcel three 
more deer in so doing — another spiked buck and two 
does. They were not molested, however, the rifle having 
been left behind, for already sufficient meat had been 
killed for ourselves; in fact, one of the mowwichcs was 
immediately reserved for our friend Hunt. 
We separated at the lower end of the. island, and on 
my reaching camp the sun was shining brightly. Bill, 
who had, as he called it, been "prospecting" on tlie 
beach, and to whom the creatures of the "briney" were 
ever objects of unmitigated curiosity, returned soon 
after, his pockets filled with Abalonia shells, hermit 
crabs, starfish and all sorts of cpieer things, and in one 
hand he waved an enormous red and green sea ane- 
mone, saying, "1 poked my finger inter this and the 
d— d thing closed up on me. What-der-j^er call him?" 
One of the hermit crabs he kept alive in the boat for 
days — "the little cuss was, too cute to throw away/' He 
made a collection of shells on this trip that were in- 
tended for his mother in Illinois, who had never seen 
the salt water. 
Being anxious to take advantage of the bright sun- 
light, I asked his immediate co-operation in a plan just 
formed to photograph one or all three of those deer. 
This sort of thing was just "nuts" for him, and he went 
on to tell how two winters before in Montana he had 
roped an elk while riding" itr the mountains' and suc- 
ceeded in fetching it into the town of Kalispell. 
So, armed with the camera, we headed foi: the vicinity 
of the island, where the deer had been last seen. We 
figured that could they be driven to the narrow strip of 
headland where there were but few trees and very little 
undergrowth, a good picture might be taken and at 
close range. 
In the low swampy section we jumped them again, 
but the buck dodged through us, much to the disgust 
of my partner, who wanted to "corral the whole cheese." 
The two does bounded along ahead, however, appar- 
ently not alarmed to aity extent, even stopping to look 
back occasionally. Fortune seemed to favor us, for 
without the least hesitation they trotted out upoti the 
narrow strip, which is not over 20yds. in the widest 
part. Along this we carefully approached, trying not 
to scare them. They were bewildered, and (lid not seem 
to realize their position until we were fairly close. Then 
they jumped frantically back and forth, and it was with 
the utmost difficulty that I prevented Bill from using 
his Colts. He thought they might become too.frightened 
and jump over the cliff's. 
I took a number of pictures from a distance be- 
fore obtaining the one that turned out to be the best 
and wdiich is inclosed with this article. At the time 
of this exposure they had become more reconciled to 
our presence, and carefully avoiding any sudden move- 
ment, I approached to within 40ft., I should say. Until 
pressing the buttom, I fully expected to cover them both, 
but the larger one, evidently the mother, made a dash 
by me, and a moment later was followed by her lamb — 
not, however, before I had glanced through the finder 
and made the exposure. Seeing this. Bill took his in- 
nings, and as he afterward said, "Just turned loose with 
both hands." There was some lively jumping, livelier 
shooting and a much-disgusted Bill. 
How he ever managed to miss them both is a mystery 
to me. He seldom has to off'er excuses. for his marks- 
manship, and all he could do was to stand and swear. 
To illustrate his shooting ability I have seen him by 
the light of a Siwash fire, while lying on our blankets 
in an Indian shack, kill four mountain rats that were 
packing off our grub before the last one could reach 
the door. It was unnecessary after that for him to tell 
rne he could shoot. 
During the following night the wind shifted into 
the northwest, which meant clear weather and a fair 
wind for us. The sea still ran too heavy for our little 
craft, however, and it was well along in the afternoon 
before we ventured out. This time the straits were 
