FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jar. 20, 1900. 
Scarcely a week passes without a report of pheasants 
being seen. On one estate, within two miles of the aviary, 
the owner reports that not less than seven or eight broods 
have been seen this season, and surely not less than fifty 
birds reared. 
Rifles and Moose. 
Brooklyn, Jan. 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: Re- 
ferring to Frank H. R.'s (Riverside, Cal.) letter in 
last week's Fokest and Stream ancnt ''Mr. Foster's 
Big Moose," his adverse criticisms of the small caliber 
rifle and praise of the obsolete express (so-called) rifle: 
Frank H. R. evidently has only a superficial knowl- 
edge of the hitting power and shock produced by 
ihe impact of a "soft-nosed" .30cal. bullet on big game. 
While the orifice made by the bullet on entering the hide 
is but little if any larger than the bullet itself, that made 
on leaving the body is much larger than could possibly 
be made by any express or other large caliber rifle. 
I once shot a young buck deer through the heart 
with a .45-90-375 Winchester, but it did not stop him 
short of 150 yards. On examination I found the heart 
and lungs completely disrupted. That same season I 
shot and killed almost in his tracks another young buck 
with a .22cal. (long cartridge) rifle. 
Fbur years ago the State of New York advertised 
for small caliber rifles with which to arm its 15,000 
National Guardsmen, I watched with the keenest inter- 
est the dif¥erent stages of that memorable contest, and 
when the award was finally made without a dissenting 
voice to the Savage Arms Companv, of Utica, N. Y., I 
made up my mind that the Savage was good enough for 
me, and I purchased one of their rifles through Messrs. 
Schoverling, Daly & Gales, of New York, paying $47.50 
for it. 
The first deer I shot with my .303 was a young- 
buck. The ball entered the side of the head within an 
inch of the eye. The result was startling. Both eyes 
XriU 883-POUNP MOOSE. 
were bulged out and lay on the cheeks. The skull was 
shattered into a thousand pieces, and every particle of 
brain was blown out as completely as if it had been care- 
fully removed for dissection. The jagged hole made by 
the bullet on leaving the deer's head was large enough 
to put my fist in, and the head as it lay where the deer 
fell had the appearance of having been skinned for 
mountmg, so flat did it appear. The next deer shot 
with the arm was a large buck, distance about 80 
yards. He stood on the bank of a creek looking 
straight at me- When the bullet hit him he fell as if 
struck by lightning. The bullet passed between the ribs 
on entenng and leaving the body, but the impact on the 
tissue caused . the soft-pointed bullet to mushroom to at 
least five times its caliber; and the shock produced by 
the sudden stoppage of a bullet traveling over 2.000 feet 
per second is indescribable, and almost inconceivable. 
It has been my good fortune to get shots at four bull 
moose with the .303, and I have photographs of every 
one of them. The first one t shot across a lake at an 
estimated distance of 350 yards. He did not move out 
of his tracks, but to make assurance doubly sure I kept 
on pumping lead until he fell. The second came to a 
•call" iust at nightfall. lie stood exactly thirteen steps 
from me when I fired. This time the bullet did not 
stop him, but on the contrary seemed to accelerate his 
speed. I kept firing until T had emptied the magazine 
and two more cartridges hurriedly crammed in. At the 
seventh and last shot, and as the moose was entering 
the woods, 150 yards away, my guide noticed that he 
stumbled and almost fell. Next morning we found him 
an immense bull, with a bullet in his breast and thref 
m his left hip, which was badly shattered. The third 
bull ! shot one morning at about half an hour after 
sunrise. He also came in answer to a call and stood 
i6S measured steps from the rifle when I fired! I emptied 
the magazine into him— everv shot taking effect This 
moose did not move-20 yards from where he stood w\en 
the first shot hit him. 
The fourth and last moose, like the second and third 
came to a call just at dusk. I waited until he came withiii 
fifteen steps of me, and he fell within 10 feet of wher 
the first shot hit him with three .303 soft-nose bullets i 
his neck. 
I have had no experience in shooting moose with anv 
other rifle than the .303 Savage, and do not pretend to 
say that an express rifle or .45-70 or .45-90 would not 
have done the work equally well; but I do maintain that 
no other weapon, whatever the caliber, could have done 
better. 
If any sportsman chooses to tramp through the woods 
with three or four pounds of unnecessary weight of rifle 
and ammunition^ that is his lookout. For my part I con- 
sider the new small-bore rifle, when using soft-^pointed 
bullets and nttroiis powder, as far superior to any express 
or other large caliber rifle as the latter are ahead of the 
muzzleloadmg flint locks of our grandfathers, and I speak 
as a sharpshooter in one of the regiments of the National 
Guard. ^ „ 
A great deal of discussion has been indulged in re- 
cently regarding the size of moose. One of your corre- 
spondents claims to have shot one "said to have 
weighed 1,800 pounds, while another claims that 700 
pounds is as large as they grow. I am in position to 
take issue with the latter assertion. The last moose 
I killed weighed when dressed — and by that I mean 
nothing but the four quarters, and even With the feet 
cut off--883 pounds. With entrails, blood, hide, antlers 
and feet the weight must have been one-third more, or 
close to 1,200 pounds in life. 
If Frank H. R. would care to see the photographs 
of the four bull moose, together with the dressed 
carcass of the one weighing 883 pounds, a letter ad- 
dressed to Forest and Stream will reach me, and it 
will give me a great deal of pleasure to send him copies, 
and thereby possibly convert- hiw to using the small 
caliber rifle. Peep Sigut. 
A Mixed Bag in Michigan. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My brother, Leon W., who has lived in Michigan for 
the last twenty years, sends me the following story of his 
hunt last fall, which I think will be interesting to many 
of the Forest and Stream readers : 
"You wanted to know about the hunt. Bear stories are 
sometimes fishy, but in this case I was an active member 
of the party. We drove ninety miles north, where I had 
been on two • dilYerent occasions before. The first day we 
were out I had seven deer running ahead of me at one 
time ; but a little out of range. I drove the swamp, and 
my clnim got a shot at the second and missed, but pumped 
up another cartridge and got him the second shot. There 
were plenty of deer there, but the neighbors would slip iti 
ahead of us and shoot the deer. This Was Hot vei-y eh- 
couraging. Think of me going to a futiway, and aftef 
a hard day's work getting tllere just iti tiille to see some 
one else shoot a fine buck With seven spikes on his 
horns, 
"We pulled up our tent and drove twenty miles further 
north, and got there Sunday night at dark. We pitched 
tent, scraped out the snow, cut several armfuls of hem- 
lock boughs for a bed, and were soon asleep, We were 
out bright and early Monday morning, and the four of 
us worked hard until 3 o'clock fixing a tent for the 
horses and getting camp into shipshape. At 3 o'clock 
we started out. One mile from camp Bruce, our bird 
dog, made a set and snuffed to the west. We were out 
for grouse, and were loaded with No. 6 shot. We sent 
him out and followed forty rods, and he came to a dead 
point. We watched with all eyes, but could see no bird. 
Bruce looked under a log. I told Gene to go around and 
s^e. He raised his T2-gauge with a tremble and sltdt, 
saying, first bear, and before he moved oUt of his tracks 
up jumped another. One shot settled hint, arid he sdid 
bear No. 2. They were both cubs, t got over just in 
time to see the okl one almost on top of me, and thought 
of my No. 6 shot. I had to act quickly, .so aimed for 
her eyes. She stopped right there. While we were load- 
ing, oiTt came the other old one and ran, and we after 
him. Gene got the first shot at him which brought him 
to his haunches, but I took eight shots to kill him, and hit 
him. three times on the head with a club, I went back 
for the wagon, and we got them back to camp just at 
dark. 
"We had good shooting, and when we broke camp we 
had four bears, nine deer, four coons, one lynx and fifty- 
six ruffed grouse lining up. I thought of .you, and 
wished you were here ; it wottld have put some color in 
your face." Fred O. Sheldon. 
In Colorado Mountains. 
Mr. Emerson Carney, of West Virginia, sends us the 
following letter, received by him from a correspondent 
who was formerly his neighbor in the Rockies, and who, 
he tells us, enjoys the distinction of being the most suc- 
cessful hunter and guide in that region. The letter is 
written from Pearl, Colo., and runs: 
I will try, as per request, to give you a short sketch of 
the fall hunt. The first I acted as guide for were Robert 
Homer and wife, of Laramie, Wyo., and Milward Adams 
and wife, of Chicago. Ill, I tell j'ou it was a rare treat 
for me.' They have all traveled a great deal and are good 
talkers, and I enjoyed immensely our evening conversa- 
tion around a bonfire of pitch stumps. I had a very easy 
time with them, as they were out more for a good time 
than for blood, except bear. We succeeded in getting 
one, a very fine brown. Berries were so plentiful this 
j'ear that it was liard to get the bears to come to a 
bait. We used a "locoed" horse for bait. I took them 
up on the range for a view of the country, and they cer- 
tainly had it. We were in the west of Mount Zircle, near 
the source of the Elk Head, where North Park is spread 
out like a panorama with the Medicine Bow and Black 
Hills ranges on the east, the Flap Tops to the southwest, 
and Hahn's Peak and the mountains west of there melt- 
ing away into a dim blue line; and the Platte Valley and 
the mountains around Fort Steele and Rawlins to the north 
—a country larger than some of the States. Mr. Adams 
declared that for scenic beauty the Swiss Alps could not 
compare with this. It always "did seem strange to me that 
y Americans would ru.sh off to Europe in search of scenery 
when the glorious old Rockies are full of the grandest 
/scenery, purest air and finest water on earth. 
I suppose some of your Eastern friends would think you 
had been taking lessons from Eli Perkins if you should 
tell them that within four hours' ride on horseback from 
my house you could take them to where they could get a 
view that covered 40,000 square miles of territory, yet 
it is a fact. 
The second party I had was W. B. Cook and wife, of 
Denver.- They were with me only three days; he got a 
nice buck; it was his first deer, and he was about as 
well pleased over it as a man could be. Mrs. Cook is a 
fine rifle shot, and wished very much to get a deer; she 
had several chances to shoot at does and fawns, but like a 
true sportswoman she wanted a buck or nothing; and as 
their time was so limited she liad to go home without 
It. She killed quite a number of grouse. 
The third party was a couple of Denver men. Thev 
were out four days. One of them got the finest buck of 
the season. My fourth and last party Avere two Denver 
men and a New Jersey tenderfoot. We went up into the 
Owl Mountain country. Deer Were plentiful, but vei'.y 
wild ; and the We&ther was stormy all the time We Were 
up there. The Dellvefites got tiotliihg but grouse AM 
snowshoe rabbits. While the tetidetfoot got two ilice yoiin| 
bucks. The two bucks that I got were very fine ones. 1 
had been following one and had given it up and started 
home, taking the opposite side of the ridge coming back; 
had traveled a mile when I saw them. The largest one 
was just going behind a little pine; the smaller one was 
in the lead. He saw me as I dropped on my knee, but 
could not make out what it was. He presented a splendid 
mark, but I would not shoot at him, wishing to have a try 
at the big fellow behind the bush. I had to wait until my 
hand was almost frozen before he inade up his mind that 
it was nothing and moved on, when the big fellow stepped 
into view. The little .303-30 Savage spoke twice in quick 
succession, and they were both mine. 
Hoping that this letter may interest you for a little 
while, without giving you the mountain fever too badly, I 
remain as ever your friend, Cooke Rhea. 
The Pintail's Flight. 
An interesting observation on the speed of flight of the 
pintail duck {DaMa acuta) has just been reported by Mr. 
Geo. Bird, whose wide experience and interest in all 
matters pertaining to shooting are well known. 
No question is more commonly asked than how fast 
the wild duck flies; and so far as we know in no case have 
any facts on this subject been recorded Which give definite 
results. On the othef hand, gUesses and estimates with- 
out number have appeared in the newspapers and in the 
books, and these guesses run all the way from fifty miles 
an hour to 120 miles an hour. Many years ago Mr. D. W. 
Cross, in his very interesting little book, "Fifty Years 
with Rod and Gun," published some estimates of the 
speed of the duck's flight and gave the method on which 
these estimates were based. The observations were car- 
ried on on the grounds of the Winous Point Club and 
consisted in timing ducks of dift'erent species as they tiew 
up or down stream between stakes the distance between 
which was known. The method was exceedingly rough 
and the results not of great value, though probably better 
than anything that had been secured up to that time. 
The observation reported by Mr. Bird, while it does 
not give the speed at which the particular species reported 
on flies, does show that it easily flies at a speed of over 
sixty miles an hour. 
In March, 1899, Mr. Bird was traveling through the 
Southwest on a special train over the M., K. & T. R. R. 
From a slotlgh in the ptaifie at the side of the track sev- 
eral pintail ducks sprang into the air and fleW along pat- 
allei with the train. Mr. Bird watched them for a moment 
or two, and then, seeing that they were flying at about 
the same rate with the train, it occurred to him to look 
at the speed .gauge, which he had been constilting but a 
iiiomeiit btlnre. The train was running al the rate of 
fifty-two miles per hour, and the birds were swinging 
along beside it -md not more than 40 yards distant. 
A moment or two later they seemed disposed to leave 
the train, and ^wung out over the prairie to a distance of 
perhaps 1,000 y-irds from, the train, and then turning 
again toward \.hc: track swung m and resum.ed their old 
position. /Vfter a few m-oments, however, they seemed 
again to become uneasj', and began to increase their 
speed, still keeping parallel with the train, but drawing 
.slowly ahead, reminding the observer as he looked at 
them somewhat of the way in M'hich the faster of two 
steamboats of nearly equal speed draws away from the 
slower. This continued until the ducks reached a point 
where the smoke of the engine was met with, when they 
suddenly flared up into the air, greatly increased their 
speed and in a very few moments were quite out of sight 
ahead of the train. 
The opportunity was one which might never occur 
again, and the observation olie of very considerable in- 
terest. The pintail duck is not a very swift flj'er if we 
compare it with such birds as the butterball. broadbill. 
redhead or canvasback. At the same time, it is probably 
as swift a bird as the mallard or black duck and perhaps 
somewhat swifter. 
In Ohio Quail Fields. 
Edgerton, O. — It was on a brisk December day that 
found me in the buggy with Jack, my Irish setter, by my 
side, and the gun and old canvas coat packed behind. I 
was bound for the home of L., my uncle, and a true 
sportsman, who lived in the heart of a good quail country. 
Upon my arrival I was given a hearty welcome, and 
after having a talk about the birds and dogs and other 
topics that please the hunter, we went to the house, which 
I found surely to be the home of a hunter, for in one 
corner were two guns and on the wall hung cartridge belt, 
canvas coat and other supplies. After supper we planned 
our next daj^'s sport, told a few yarns while sitting around 
the stove, and went to bed with happy dreams of a 
glorious da}'. 
The next morning we were astir early, and we were 
soon at the table filling up on flapjacks, for L.'s wife was a 
good cook, and an expert flapjack baker. After break- 
fast we donned the old coats and started Aown the road, 
Jack racing ahead in delight. As it was a cold morning 
our fingers soon began to get cold, but upon reaching 
the creek and giving Jack the order to heel, we started up 
stream, and had not gone far when Jack froze in his tracks 
as though he had grown there. Then we forgot all about 
cold fingers, for the day's sport was about to begin. The 
order came to flush, and the birds rose rather wild; still 
we each succeeded in scoring one, although each emptied 
both barrels. I marked the birds, or at least the place 
where I thought they went, but we could only find one, 
which fell to L.'s gun. We left the rest for seed, and went 
further up the creek to a field about a quarter of a mde 
long, grown up with brush and small Avillows, through 
which the creek flowed. It was a good place for quail 
and soon Jack made a point. The order came to flush! 
then out from under the bank came a large flock of 
eighteen or twenty. Crack, crack goes the guns, till both 
barels are empty, and old Jack gathered in five birds. 
