368 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Nov. 10, 1900. 
of this, out of a brush pile, the dog started a cottontail 
rabbit, and Jack had the first shot of the day and scored 
a beautiful miss, only succeeding in taking a little fur 
off the liindquarters and making bunny go past Billy 
hke a cyclone, but not available for a shot. JSIext 
Billy put up the woodcock whose acquaintance we had 
made short]}' before, but I don't think he liked our looks, 
for he would not let us get a good look at him. Perhaps 
he was shy. A little later a partridge gave Jack a special 
invitation to knock his head off by jumping on to a log 
a few yards away. The invitation was accepted, but Mr. 
P. would not wait for the answer, but slipped out be- 
hind a clump of willows and kept them between hinaself 
and Jack for 50 yards or more, so that the second barrel 
could not be used. This piece of bush was thoroughly 
hunted, but although both the woodcock and partridge 
were twice flushed, we failed to scoi-e. 
So far we had been hunting (to us) new ground, so Billy 
decided to go to some parts that he knew. A drive of a 
mile or two brought us to the place, being a fringe of 
poplars, willows, alders and cedars along the banks of a. 
small creek, with here and there small patches or 
veritable islands of same out in the fields. In the first 
patch two woodcock were flushed, the first very wild, 
and after being disturbed twice and having two barrels 
put after him at long range could not be located. The 
other jumped up behind Jack and was brought down by 
Billy. The next bush was a hardwood of a few acres 
extent, and separated from the main hush by about 50 
yards of open meadow land. Jack was stationed in this 
opening, and Bill}^ and Charlie worked down toward him. 
Presently Charlie got a snap shot at a partridge, but 
failed to connect, but a minute or tw^o later, by following 
up its line of flight, Billy got a broadside shot and 
succeeded in winging his bird with the second barrel. 
And then followed a race. Did you ever try to catch a 
winged partridge? Well, don't, unless you are in train- 
ing for a steeple chase. However, the bird was caught, 
and finding that only the outer tip of the wing was in- 
jured it was decided to take it home alive, as it was a 
young bird, and keep it with some pheasants already 
owned by Billy. We now entered the fringe of bush 
along the creek, and had only gone a few yards, when 
Billy bagged another woodcock, and a minute or two 
later still another. Then it was Charlie's turn, he get- 
ting a fine bird, the first he had ever shot. Billy downed 
two or three more in fine style, and Jack missed a beau- 
tiful_ chance of getting a fine partridge b}' being tangled 
up in a brush heap just at the supreme moment when 
the bird got, out almost from under his feet. This was 
too much for Billy, and he threatened to chastise Jack 
if he missed another bird, 
Now, Billy weighs about 220 pounds, and is all muscle. 
The threat had the desired effect, for the next bird, a 
woodcock, was flushed and brought down by Jack. 
We now began to work over in the direction of our 
horse and rig, taking in a strip, of poplars on the way. 
Jack had been working on the outside o[ the bush the 
greater part of the morning, because Billy always gives 
others what he thinks the best stand, and usually the 
birds will make for the edge and thus give a good, clear 
shot to the one stationed there, but so far not a single 
bird had reached the edge; several of them may have 
started for it, but they were generallj'- stopped by Billy. 
It was decided now that Charlie and Jack should 
take the inside and Billy the edge. Jack was evidently 
intended for a dog, for he had no sooner entered the 
bush than out jumped a woodcock just behind him, and 
as it rose above the poplars Billy brought it down. A 
few yards further on another was started, and about 75 
yards further two more were put up. one of which Jack 
wounded, but was unable to find it. The other was 
bagged by Billy a few minutes later. 
Ram had been threatening all morning, and it now 
began to fall in earnest, and Charlie said he would go 
for the rig and meet the others at a specified point. The 
rain was now falling very lieavily, and as there was no 
shelter there was nothing left to do but to "grin and 
bear it." It was out of the question to work among the 
dripping trees, even the dogs kept to the outside, and 
thus a good part of the best ground was missed. At 
last Tive came to a small patch of bush in the open fields 
not more than 50 yards long, in which Billy said he was 
sure "we should find a pair of woodcock. At first it 
seemed that we should be disappointed, for men and 
dogs failed to raise a feather in going from one end to 
the other. We turned, Billy taking the outside and 
Jack again playing dog. Again this was successful, for 
bang! goes Billy's gun. ' 
"Did you get him?" 
"Yes. Wait till I put in another shell." 
A moment later Jack takes a step or two forward, 
and whir-r-r-r, out goes another with that peculiar 
whistling noise, right straight toward Billy, but turns 
as it catches sight of him and scoots along the edge 
not more tlian 3 feet from the ground. Bang! bang! 
snaps Billy's Greener, and another and. as it proved, the 
last woodcock for that day was added to our string. 
A walk of fifteen minutes brought us to Charlie and 
the rig. Into the latter we climbed and started on a 
four-mile drive to some snipe grounds. On the way we 
had the pleasure, while passing through a swamp, of 
seeing a beautiful cock partridge standing on the road- 
side, but he disappeared before a shell could be put in a 
gun. Near the snipe marsh a country church shed 
afforded us shelter. Here the horse was fed and a small 
fire kindled, over which we were soon drying out 
drenched clothing, and eating our lunch at the same 
time. Half an hour later the rain had stopped, and we 
started out after snipe, but they were very scarce, the 
flight from the north not having arrived yet. Only one 
bird was secured. A short walk brought us to some 
more good woodcock and partridge ground, but although 
three or four birds were put up, none was brought to 
bag. Tracks were now made homeward, and after a 
seven-mile drive we arrived there, wet, tired, hungry, 
but happy with thirteen woodcock, one partridge and 
one Wilson snipe to our credit — not so bad, considering 
that the first-mentioned bird is comparatively rare around 
here. 
During the drive home the following question was 
asked: "Well, are we not three blankety-blank fools 
to drive about twenty miles, walk about twenty miles, 
get smking wet through, hungry an<i tired, and all fcrr 
the sake of a few birds?" The answer was unanimous: 
"Well, we may be, but we'd do it again to-morrow if 
we only had the chance." 
To those who love "nature in her wildest moods" o\ 
in any mood, the fullness of creel or size of bag is )t 
the measure of sport. Owing to the mild weather this 
fall leaves are staying on the trees A'ery late, and the 
ever varying colors of the landscape, with its lights and 
shades, with here and there the vivid green of the fall 
wheat, the golden brown of the stubbles, or the darker, 
richer brown where the plow has done its work, the 
whole surrounded or interspersed by the glorious hues 
of the autumnal woods, added much to the pleasure of 
our day with the woodcock. 
Later. — The partridge is doing well; secm.s to be 
quite reconciled to new home and companions. 
Jay Bejl 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Bobo and Some Bear Stories. 
To-day, Bobo, the bear hunter of JS'Iississippi, looked 
at my fingers, and was glad. He could count them, and 
he smiled. 
About three years ago some sort of a malignant growfth 
assailed Bobo's left eye, and in spite of such care as he 
could secure for it, the eye got no better, and occasioned 
both Bobo and his friends much uneasiness. This week 
Bobo was on the point of starting for a bear hunt in the 
bottoms, where there were some bears using at a point 
that he knew. His friends got about him, and urged 
him to go to Chicago instead of the Delta cane brakes. 
He arrived here Tuesday, and that afternoon submitted 
to an operation which removed the troublesome growth, 
which was found attached to the ball of the eye, and had 
attained considerable proportions. The next day Bobo 
was able 10 talk and sit up. and he declared that he had 
never felt anj' pain at all. either during or after the use 
of the anaesthetic and the knife. The second day he got 
up and dressed, and has never gone to bed since then, 
except at his regular hour at night. The doctor will 
not let him leave the room for a week, and unless Bobo 
frets himself to death from being caged up, we will send 
him back home m a few days better than when he came 
\xp here. 
The surgeon says he never saw a patient like Bobo, 
and considers his rapid recovery as most extraordinary. 
"Things never did seem to hurt me very much, any- 
way," Bobo said to me to-day. And then he told me 
some things I never heard of before. "One time I was 
out in a dugout, with a friend," said he, "hunting in the 
overflow, and I noticed he had his gun pointing right 
square toward me, and I told him to move it. 'Wait 
till I get around this cypress knee,' he said, "and I wil.' 
Well, he waited, and just as he passed the root the gun 
caught on it, and swung back in the boat, and bang! she 
went, and he shot me square in the hip with a load of 
16 buckshot, at a distance of about two or three inches," 
Bobo paused at this point, till at last I asked him what 
became of the buckshot. "Oh, I've got a good many of 
them scattered up and down my leg yet," he said, as 
though that didn't mtdce much difference. "There were 
two or three of them VA^ent out at the sole of my foot." 
Tills accident I never heard him mention before, and it 
surely was a peculiar one. The full load of buckshot 
went into the fleshy part of the hip and thigh, and tra- 
versed the limb downward, some of the shot lodging and 
some breaking the skin four times, and really going out 
through the foot. He told me this accident occurred 
at the point where we forded the Sun,flower River on 
the first bear hunt I ever had with him, and they had 
to paddle up stream for nearly fifteen hours before he 
got help at the settlements, It would surely have killed 
anybody else, and it would have killed him, had not his 
friend, Boney Lovell, been in the boat also. The latter 
had been through the war and been shot up a good deal, 
and had learned something of surgery, and he saved Bobo 
a leg right there. 
"Another time," said Bobo, "I was out in the woods, 
where a man was chopping wood. He somehow let 
the axe fly out of his hand, and it came over to me and 
struck me right square in the thigh with the edge, the 
handle sticking up in my face. It stuck up straight in 
the bone of the thigh, and I don't see how it kept from 
ruining my leg, for I felt the axe-bit cluck! when I 
pulled it loose. I had to ride a good ways on horseback 
before I got home, and I could not get down off the 
horse alone. My boot was full of blood, and I fainted 
that time, and near bled to death." 
From all these things it might be inferred that Bobo 
is a pretty hardy sort of citizen. Indeed, he is one of 
the sort who lived fifty years ago, and he is a type- 
survival. 
Speaking of accidents in the hunting field, Bobo went 
on to tell how careful he always is in carrying a loaded 
gun through the heavy cane cover in which his hunting 
is done. "I was oixt one day with some of my men 
along on the hunt," said he, and T had a good chase after 
a bear, and we were getting ready to head off the chase 
at a little open slough. One of the boys, Sam, was 
carrying his gun, full cocked, over his shoulder, pointing 
backward. I spoke to him to call his attention to it, and 
just then whang! she went, and he shot Pete, another 
man who was just coming up behind, crossing the slough, 
square in the forehead, and killed him dead. 
"Another time I was out with a right oldish gentleman 
who was a bird hunter, and who had along with him a 
double-barreled shotsun loaded with bear charges. He 
carried both barrels full cocked, and I spoke to him of it. 
He said he had carried a gun that way all his life and 
thought he knew how to carry one as well as anybody. 
Just then I heard the bear coming, and just then this 
man went off into an epileptic fit, to which he was 
sometimes subject. His friends took care of him and 
I went on and killed the bear right then. I hadn't got 
more than a few yards away before, whang ! went his 
gun, and he shot a hole in the groimd. Then, whang! 
it_ went again, and he shot his horse's foot off. How 
did he do it? No one knows. No one ever knows how 
it hapoens, it but sometimes does happen." 
Bobo apcf I have talked bear a good deal together It\ 
the four days I have been in the room with him. "You 
know where you shot the bear out of the big tree?" he 
said. "Well, right at the foot of that very same tree we 
bayed up a big bear, one hunt since then, and I killed it 
There, and we cleaned it right w'here we did yours, 
"There are a good many bear at one place over in a 
ways from where we made our hunt, and the fact that 
there are some farms in there doesn't seem to make 
much difference. Over on the Black Bayou there was a 
fellow building a wire fence this fall one day, he and a 
boy. The boy was doing the work and the man was 
standing up near the house, and about then a big bear 
began to climb over the wire fence, trying to get through 
to where it was used to watering. When the boy saw 
the old fellow poke liis nose over the fence he dropped 
his tools and made a running jump for a tree there was 
near there. The man saw him go up the tree and 
asked what was the matter, and the boy told him a bear 
was after him. The man grabbed his gun and started 
around the corner of the house, and right then the bear 
jumped down inside the fence and started angling across 
the yard. The fellow drops his gun right there and makes 
a flying leap for that same tree, and he went plum to the 
top of it in about two seconds, and says he to the 
boy, who was above him up the tree, says he, 'Move up ! 
Move up !'• The boy told the story on him, and the fellow 
didn't like it any too well. 
"A bear is a curious sort of thing, anyhow," continued 
Bobo, a little later. "I don't believe they care for folks 
very much if they find the feed good. One time a man 
come told us to come and make a hunt' for a bear that 
was aroimd his place. He had a trap set, and as luck 
W'ould have it my old dog, Alcorn — you remember him? 
the one that had his jaw shot up so bad — stepped right 
into this bear trap. There was a little block of wood 
kept the jaws apart just enough so it didn't hurt his 
leg very bad. I held him fast so he couldn't break his 
leg, and two of the boys opened the trap, and as soon as 
we turned him loose, off he went with the rest of the 
pack, full cry. We rim that bear right around to the 
field where we started, and right up to the watering 
trough at the corner of the hoitse. He hadn't known 
it, but that bear had been watering there at that man's 
house for several nights. He said his dogs used to come 
into the house, and his horses always snorted when he led 
them up to water there, but he hadn't guessed the bear 
was right in his house, almost. 
"One time, at another place," said Bobo. "I was out 
running -a bear pretty near by myself, and I met a party 
of gentlemen, and the}' fell in behind me just as I was 
going to kill the bear, I ran in a way from my horse 
and killed the bear, which was just beginning to come 
down out of a tree where it was treed. I told -them I 
was sorry they had not told me sooner who they were 
(it was Senator Poindexter Dunn, member of Congress 
from Arkansas, and some friends), for then T would have 
waited for them to come up. (But I don't see how I 
could, for the bear was coming down mighty fast.) They 
asked me if I knew R, E. Bobo, and I said I did, and then 
I told them who I was. They said they were looking 
for me, and to make it short we .made a hunt together. 
Their dogs would not run a trail worth a cent, but Avould 
quit, but I had a fine pack then, and we never failed to 
get a bear if they jumped him. Well, we found one little 
field of hard corn — it was right late in the fall by then— 
the first field of hard corn T ever knew the bears to 
bother, for they like the corn when it is soft. I reckon 
they couldn't get anything else to eat, and so took to 
this field. We hunted in there four days with my pack, 
and we killed 2 100 pounds of meat out of that one field 
for a starting ground. 
"Senator Dunn was so pleased with the sport we had 
that he w^anted to buy my pack of fourteen dogs. He 
offered me a section of land for the dogs, but I told him 
the}' could not he bought. Jim Dunn, a friend of mine, 
owned six of the dogs we sometimes hunted together, and 
he sold his six to Senator Dunn for a half-section of 
the land. He not lotig after that sold the land for 
$3500, which goes to prove that a good bear pack is 
worth some money," 
The Park and Its Benefits. 
It is commonly supposed that the proposed Minnesota 
park would mean locking up from the State of Minnesota 
the great heritage of pine. Such is not the case, as the 
following statement from Prof. S. B. Green, of the 
Forestry Department of the State University, points out 
in a clear and logical way in a plan which he suggests. 
"The immediate effect of putting the reservation into a 
park on this plan will be very apparent. Two-thirds of 
the standing timber, to the value of $1,666,400, will be 
cut at once. This will mean the employment of a large 
number of men, and will start a period of great activity 
in the country near by. But when this has been done 
the source of wealth will not have ended, as in the 
ordinary cutting of timber. There will still be employ- 
ment in the park for probably one hundred or more men 
continuously, in the harvesting of $74,000 worth of annual 
increase, the building of roads, the making of fire lanes 
and other employment; and should the United States 
Government decide to locate a company of cavalry here 
for fire protection, there will be in addition the supplies 
for this force. This will, with the families dependent 
upon the employees, etc., probably mean the location at 
once, and permanently, of 500 persons on or near the 
reservation, many of whom would be in families, and this 
would make a large and permanent market for the farm 
products of the country near by. In addition to this, the 
natural attractions of the section are such that many 
tourists would come in. each of whom would leave some 
money behind, and this would assist in making a per- 
manent demand for supplies by the hotels located here. 
It is probable that one or more sanitariums would be 
established here for the cure of pulmonary d^seases. which 
would be open the year round. School houses would be 
opened in the park, and the better agricultural land be 
used for agricultural purposes. 
"If the above figures are correct the pronosed park, 
merely as a financial venture, will take care of itself, and 
as an example in good forestry and a place for recreation 
for our people it ought to be worth very much. Besides, 
from the purely economical standnoint, the establishment 
of this park would have the effect on the surrounding, 
country that the establishment of any great, permanent 
