Jakt. 13, i0do.i! 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
our home camp two days before we were' planning an- 
other attempt. This time we decided upon a mountain to 
the north some six miles and a continuation of the ridge 
we had first climbed, the one upon which we had seen 
the goat hair. So far as known no one had ever scaled 
its precipitous walls. So there were two things in view: 
We wanted to reach the top of this mountain and we 
wanted a goat. There were four of us who decided to 
make the attempt, my wife and Teddy and Gager and 
myself. We thought we could make it by being out one 
night. We each took a blanket and the smallest pos- 
sible amount of provisions. I was the only one who 
carried a rifle. The first three miles was up a valley 
through such timber as can be found only in the North- 
west. At first we had a blazed trail to follow, but this 
played out at a little deer meadow, and from there on we 
had to pick our way. So thick was the timber that we 
could but seldom catch even a glimpse of the sur- 
rounding mountains. We at last reached the base of the 
mountain and commenced its ascent. There was noth- 
ing exciting about this. It was simply slavish work. So 
steep was it that we had a great part of the way to pull 
ourselves up by our hands. The lower slope was thickly 
covered with timber and the grass was so slippery that 
it was unsafe to trust your foot upon it. Our packs, 
though not heavy, seemed to weigh a ton. As evening 
came on, we commenced looking for water. We were 
by this time almost out of the timber. Indeed all that 
was left was a bunch now and then and scattering trees. 
We were not high enough for snow. We were pretty 
well tired out, and at last finding a sheltered spot for the 
night and plenty of wood at hand we dropped our packs 
and made camp. Gager and I went on to see if we could 
find water. We were on the edge of a plateau, and I felt 
sure water could be found at no great distance. Passing 
through a belt of timber, we came out upon a little park. 
Pausing a moment to reconnoiter, I saw some 200 yards 
away a buck looking at us. While trying to point him 
out to my companion, he trotted off. We also noticed 
fresh sign of bear. The ground was turned over almost 
as though hogs had been there. Water we found in 
abundance, and filling our cups we returned to the 
women. After supper we made up a huge fire, and 
shortly after our signal was returned by those at camp. 
We knew they were pitying us away up there on the side 
of the mountain, but not for one instant did we wish 
to change places with them. We slept, too, in spite of 
the cold, and our scanty breakfast tasted like more. We 
thought we could make the top and back at night. We 
had already given up getting back to camp and had de- 
cided to put in the whole day exploring the mountain. 
So we left our blankets and took a lunch lor dinner. 
Rid of our packs we climbed rapidly and with ease. 
Passing through the little park, two fine bucks gracefully 
'loped off a short distance, and then, with heads thrown 
back, eyed us with wonder. Soon our real climb com- 
menced. Up, up we went, until there was left 500 or 
600 feet. Our women thought they could make it, and 
of course if they could we could. We were climbing 
along the back bone, which ended in the top. We had 
left all timber far below us, and were ndw in the region 
of snow. Repeatedly we saw goat beds made in the 
loose shale, some of them looking as though the oc- 
cupant had fled upon our approach. But not a goat 
did we see. There Avere so many of us that I despaired 
of getting within shooting distance even if we saw them. 
Twelve o'clock found us not over aoo feet from the top, 
up to which was an unbroken snow field. Pausing, we 
discussed matters. We had no alpenstocks, we were 
worn out, and, to make a long story short, we decided 
that it was the better part of valor to give up reaching 
the top. 
So we descended to a little platteau overlooking a much 
larger one, which after several sudden descents ended 
in the ledge where we had camped the night before. We 
were §ome thousand feet above this, however, and a 
mile away. We were on short rations, and our lunch 
was soon disposed of. I then suggested that I circle off 
and see if I could not find a goat, while the three re- 
maining were to take a good rest and make a bee line 
for our camp. So shouldering my^ rifle, I was gone. 
The walking was easy. The entire mountain had once 
been crossed by a glacier, and its track was as plain as 
that of a snake across a dusty road. The grooves and 
channels in the solid rock were as plain as though just 
made. I could see for a mile or so. So interested did I 
become in the scenery spread out before me that I cov- 
ered ground rapidly. I was sure that if there were goat 
or bear around I could easily see them. At one time a 
rock came bounding down from the heights a safe dis- 
tance away. I watched it come, jumping sometimes 100 
feet in the air. I looked from whence it came, but could 
see nothing. I came'upon a dust bath several feet in diam- 
eter, which was plainly used by some large animal. I sat 
down and looked it over. Clearly it was fresh, for an- 
other, some yards away, was old and had not been used 
since a rain had turned the dust to mud. I could see 
tracks all around. Each track was made up of two 
kidney-shaped depressions, the two being about 3 inches 
across. What could they be? I at last gave it up and 
went on. I stopped thinking of goat as I got lower 
down, and crossing the httle park where we had seen the 
deer reached a spring where we had put some dried 
apricots to soak on our way up. They were still there, 
and those whom I had left on the motmtain had not re- 
turned. So I lay down and went to sleep. I was 
aroused after half an hour by their return. They had a 
great story to tell. As soon as I had left them they lay 
down to take a rest. Three of them had already dropped 
asleep, and my wife was almost gone, when she heard a 
slight noise and opened her eyes, and there, not 30 feet 
away, was a great big goat calmly looking at her. She 
quietly called the others, and they all had a good look. 
The goat did not bud.ge. The watch showed that I had 
not been gone over ten minutes. After looking for five 
minutes my wife could stand it no longer; and got up. 
Thereupon the goat calmly walked over the ledge and 
disappeared. They soon caught sight of me, btit I was 
too jar away to hear, and tliey could not attract my at- 
tention. Going to the ledge and looking over, what was 
their surprise to see, not only the goat already seen, but 
two others, feeding. They did not seem at all alarmed, 
and indeed one of them soon lay down. After watching 
vhese three rare animals until tired, they had gone off 
and left them. They told me exactly where they had seen 
them, and back I started as fast as I could go. Reach- 
ing the spot they had indicated, and looking over, what 
was my disappointment to find the goats^ gone. I sat 
there a while, but not a sight of them did I catch. I 
finally circled off to the left, slowly scanning every foot. 
It surely seemed the irony of fate that I should miss 
them. While sauntering along I chanced to turn par- 
tially around. What was that yonder at the edge of that 
snow bank? Was it a rock or was it alive? I watched 
it closely. There was something about it which was 
strangely like a head and ears. At last I made up my 
mind that it was merely a rock. Just after starting, I 
turned again, and in time to see my rock walk over the 
ridge. I ran over the snow as fast as I could go. I 
made Httle noise, and soon stood where I had seen the 
goat, but where had he gone? He could not have got- 
ten far. I could see all around perfectly. It was a sec- 
ond mysterious disappearance. I was disgusted. 
It was getting late, and I said to myself, "I'll go back 
where they saw the goats and sit there until I have but 
tmie to get back before dark." So back I trudged in no 
very good humor. Arriving at the spot, I sat down. I 
inust have been there fifteen minutes meditating on 
thmgs m general and wondering why I should have 
worked so hard and had but caught a glimpse of a goat, 
while others had gone to sleep and had one almost walk 
over them. 1 had about made up my mind to give it up, 
when a slight noise attracted my attention. It was a 
slight sound, as of a sliding pebble. How I strained ray 
eyes and ears! Soon the same sound again, and there, 
just to the left of the little valley, walked forth a goat 
feeding along undisturbed. Instantly I took in the situ- 
ation. He was too far to risk a shot. I must make sure 
of this one. Running around a slight elevation, and 
m the direction the goat \vas feeding, I again peered over 
the ledge. j\'Iy heart stood still, but there he was. I 
could not get nearer. It was now or never. I doubted 
if I could make the shot. He was 100 feet below me 
and 200 yards away. It was getting dark, and I was all 
unstrung from ray hard day's work and hasty climb. But 
I must get him. Here was the chance I had been look- 
ing for and Avorking for. I raised my rifle, calculated 
for the last time the distance, and bringing all my re- 
serve nerve power into play, took aim and pulled the 
trigger, I was using smokeless powder, and at the crack 
of the rifle down went my goat. I could scarcely believe 
my eyes. How he did roll. I had shoved another shell 
in to take a running shot in case of necessity, but there 
was no call for it. 
How I got down that wall is more than I can tell. 
The wonder is that I did not break every bone in my 
body. Reaching the body, I had to roll it on down the 
mountain before I could get it on a place level enough 
to skin it. I made short work of this. The hide on the 
rump was without exaggeration 2 inches thick. He was 
fat as a butter ball. There were two or three things 
which surprised me. In the first place the size. He 
seemed to be as large as a Shetland pony, and must 
have weighed between 400 and 500 pounds. His legs 
were short and very stocky. His hoofs were over 2 
inches m diameter, and after looking at them it was plain 
that the prints I had seen at the dust bath were goat 
prints. His hair or woll was full of dust, showing that 
he had lately taken a bath. I suspect that I had dis- 
turbed him in the afternoon, and that he had circled and 
climbed to where the party was resting. What sur- 
prised me more than anything else was the general un- 
wieldy build of the animal— not at all what I had ex- 
pected of an animal inhabiting the almost inaccessible 
mountain heights. How they manage to get where they 
do is to me a mystery. By the time I got the skin off 
It was almost dark, and shouldering the load, which was 
all I could carry. I started for camp. When I got there 
tired but well satisfied, I could have easily eaten every- 
thing there was to eat in camp, but it must do for supper 
and breakfast for four. Next morning we were up early 
and simply ate everything that was left, and it did not 
take long either. The trip down was hard work. The 
women divided my pack between them, while I swung 
on to my rifle and precious skin. In the bottom we lost 
our trail, but came out all right, and finally reached 
camp between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, the hungriest 
set a cook ever tried to satisfv. L O V 
Hunting Near a Great City. 
Sport Within Fifty Miles of New York. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As a country-bred and unwilling inhabitant of a great 
city, the Forest and Stream is to me a connecting link 
that weekly brings to my memory hunting exploits that, 
though past, cannot be forgotten. Only one who is situ- 
ated as I am can conceive the eagerness with which every 
Thursday night .1 receive Forest and Stream. As an 
interested reader of the contributors' stories that oro- 
mote the comradeship among American sportsmen from 
Maine to California, I believe it is the duty of all to keep 
the ball a-rolling. So I take up my humble pen, and 
though roughly and rudely expressed, will endeavor to 
sliow my fellow sportsmen of the Maine woods and 
Rocky Mountain slopes that there is a little sport left 
withm fifty miles of Greater New York. 
On the editorial page of a recent issue of Forest AND 
Stream was an article which stated in as many words 
that deer hunting on Long Island was like hunting sheep, 
and that deer there are so tame that it is the custom to 
touch them with whip while driving through their range. 
Now I have seen a large number during the last five 
or six years, but none have stayed an instant in my vicin- 
ity after they became aware of my presence. 
To get back to what I started to tell, I rode up on my 
wheel to C. I. 51, Tuesday night, Nov. 22, 1898, in- 
tending to stay over Wednesday and Thanksgiving. To 
cut the story short, I had a chance on Wednesday, but 
failed to score. Thanksgiving, as many of my fellow- 
sportsmen will remember with sorrow, was that year a 
wild, dreary day, with sheets,: of cold rain from the east 
that changed to snow at nigh,t/ When I arose Friday a 
light snow covered the ground, making fine rabbit track- 
ing—too fine to leave. So I postponed my return Until 
Sunday and started for cotton taUs. I ad HO dog; but 
I've lived there for twenty years, except for the greater 
port of the last two or three years, so I knew every rab- 
bit the country round. I had a half-dozen rabbits at 
noon by snap-shooting at a gray streak (for they are well 
educated), besides those that I didn't get. Being tired 
and wanting company, I hunted up Joe S., my old gun- 
ning comrade, without whom gunning is incomplete. 
He is a sportsman, one who guns for the sake of gun- 
ning, be the score many or none. Well, we got a few 
more rabbits before darkness brought the fun to an end. 
On Saturday morning Joe brought his dog and we got 
several more before Joe left to make preparations for 
the storm he said was coming. I ran into a flock of quail 
(which are very few and far between in my section) just 
before dark, and speedily gave myself the idea that I 
couldn't hit a flock of barns, for I scored only one kill 
out of seven or eight shots, although I got a few feathers. 
It snowed all day and night, increasing in violence until 
by Sunday morning it was a full-fledged blizzard, with 
a terrific gale, that piled the snow in great drifts, hiding 
fences, and by filling railroad cuts stopped all trains 
thereby, making it impossible for me to return to town, 
■over which I failed to shed any tears. Monday I put 
in shoveling snow, but on Tuesday the fever was on top, 
so I took the gun and went out for a few hours. The 
snow had made the scrub and underbrush one level, the 
snow being 2 feet deep in the woods. I got three rabbits 
and quit. Near the house I saw eight quail in a bunch; 
they appeared too cold to fl}^, so I concludea they had 
troubles of their own, and passed them by. I met Joe 
m the evening and m^de arrangements for deer On the 
morrow. 
I awoke about 3 o'clock next morning, and on putting 
my head out of the window found to my intense disgust 
that It was trying to repeat Sunday's blizzard. Sadly I 
returned to bed, taking a lookout about every hour. After 
breakfast the fever kept getting stronger, until by 10 
0 clock I made up my mind to go if it snowed blizzards, 
boon after starting it lightened up a bit. The snow ap- 
peared to be about 3 feet on the level. This brought the 
scrub oaks, oak sprouts and small pines to one level 
so progress was very slow; but after plowing around for a 
couple of hours or more, I struck a fresh deer track and 
instantly decided I was going the same way. After fol- 
lowing the tracks for a short distance, the deer took the 
alarm and of course went down wind, and although 
traveling was bad for the deer, it was still worse for me. 
After some distance of this work I took a long circle to 
break the wind business, and struck the trail some dis- 
tance ahead, near a swamp thicket, along a small brook. 
1 had gone but a few yards, when out from the thicket 
about so yards ahead, jumped the deer. Down it went at 
the first shot, but was up again. There were two more re- 
ports, and It was down to stay. I got there in a few 
lunips and found I had a large doe of about 180 pounds. 
After the first glow wore ofl^, I began to remember 
that it was more than two miles from home, and that 
the snow was anywhere from above my knees up to my 
neck, and also that I had to go it alone. Well, I started 
to drag her (those yarns of throwing a freshly killed 200- 
pound deer on your shoulder I don't believe) and 
progress was exceedingly slow. But, although it was 
harder work than you could hire me to do for love or 
money, my heart was in it, and along that deer had to 
come over swamp holes— snow on top, water underneath 
—through a thick tangle of swamp bushes and oak 
sprouts, with a short rest every few yards. Meantime the 
weather had cleared, and I knew that Joe would be hunt- 
ing me up. Well, I reached the road, and progress was 
a little easier, but I was about played out (the spirit 
willing, but the flesh weak); I managed to get about a 
mile, when Joe appeared in sight. A wild yell brought 
him as fast as he could come, and after the inevitable chaff 
was over, he wanted to know if any were left. So we 
buried the deer m the snow, and back we went. A fresh 
track was soon found, but it led us into a beautiful mess 
—snow up to the waist, with water underneath The 
sun set, and it was growing darkj so we quit and made the 
best oi our way back to where we had left the doe 
It was pitch dark by that time, and our troubles began. 
We had neither rope nor string, but ran a stick through 
her forelegs and took turns in pulling along. The road 
had dntts like a ten-acre lot, and we went to the bot- 
tom at every step. Joe had a pair of thigh-boots, at 
which i had cast envious and longing eyes the night 
before; but they soon played him out. Well, we at la.st 
reached the railroad, where the traveling (after what we 
had been through) was like sliding down hill We 
reached home about 7:30, thoroughly done; but after a 
hot supper, agreed that it was the best fun we had ever 
gone through. After supper we cleaned the deer in the 
well house. The shots had raked clean through her 
breaking her paunch and generally smashing things up' 
After wetting the deer down and recalling other hunts I 
made for bed, and the deer season was over on Lone 
JsJand. ° 
As far as I could learn, Joe and I were the only ones 
out the last day. This was my second deer this season, 
doth unfortunately does, while Joe secured a buck I 
returned to town the next day, having enjoyed as good 
sport as can be had' in this part of the country, and 
especially so near a large city. 
Long Island, with proper protection and no hounding 
(make note ot it, no hounding) will furnish deer hunting 
for many years to come. Long Island. 
Indian TtttitotY Game 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Quail this year are not so plentiful as heretofore doubt- 
less on account of the heavy rains during last spring 
Prairie chickens are not so plentiful as in former years' 
iriT^^^?" ^^^'^^^^ bunches of twenty-five or thirty each" 
Wild ducks are numerous, considering the small amount 
of feeding grounds; they consist mostly of green wing- 
and cinnamon teal and mallards, with a few redheads 
and wood ducks. There have been several ^vlld tuSs 
seen four or five miles north of here, and on Rush Creek 
about thirty miles north of here, I have heard there are 
quite a number of deer. The game in general, though 's 
rapidly becommg scarce on account of lax game laws 
which allow netting of quail, poisoning fish afd dogghig 
deer. In fact though, the letter of the laws will do well 
enough, but they are not enforced. VV, 
