jAM. S, I9OI.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
planation of our proceedings, this remarkable care, is 
found in the fact that the survivors of the Southern b ar 
feed during the fall montlis upon the acorns of the 1; ve 
oaks, continuing until the fruit is exhausted. The fav( r- 
ite time for the acrid meal is in the early morning >r 
late evening; the remainder of the day and night, sa.e 
when the latter is made bright by a good-sized moott, is 
spent by the animals in damp retirement in the marsh. 
To reach the acorns the beasts must clamber into the 
tops of the great oaks, and not a tree along the Leopard 
but what bore the destructive signs of the animal's fre- 
quent sorties. Wary as a fox and as cunning as Reynard, 
the marsh bear is an extremely difficult quarry, and suc- 
cess in his capture means untiring vigilance, skill and 
patience on the part of the hunter. They are as quick as 
a squirrel, and it is a sight well worth witnessmg to 
watch a big brute scent a possible enemy and scramble 
earthwards. So much for this. 
The Joan floated on. Slowly across the marsh grew 
the light of the advancing morn. From the pale spot 
in the east, like a pat of powder on the cheek' of an 
Egyptian damozel, there grew a rosy vacillating tint. 
Aurora was putting on the rouge. Then the sharp arrows 
began to spread, and nature to assume a tangible entity, 
adding to her charms as the moments flew. As I before 
remarked, it was a beautiful morning, and I gazed in 
silent admiration at the panorama which unfolded slowly. 
The tops of the feathery marsh canes grew yellow and 
golden, and the somber shadows of the woods changed 
their blacks to misty purples and deep chromes, while 
the more forward leaves took on a vivid contrast. The 
face of the stream gradually began to accurately mirror 
the heavy arches of the o'erhanging oak limbs. A specter 
like crane took flight from a Water soaked root near the 
bank and winged clumsily over the interminable waste. 
There was the^shrill clatter of a fisher bird and the sweet 
chirp of a redwing somewhere out of sight. Then silence 
and the light grew. A splash, as a bayou turtle fell into 
the stream from a bit: of broken tree trunk, half sub- 
inerged; then more silence, broken bv the soft dip of 
the oars. Even these stopped as the Nimrod wamingly 
held up his hand. I breathed with nature, deeply. _ I 
caught a faint clap, clap. It was rotund acorns dropping 
into" the face of the stream. 
"Don't move," whispered the Nimrod, as he nervously 
fingered his rifle; "there's a bear feeding somewhere." 
There was an ominous crack. A limb had broken and 
near at hand. Bruin was in evidence. The skiff grace- 
fully turned a bend of the bayou. A sudden crash, a 
few heavy plunges among the crisp palmettos, and we 
both knew of a surety that at least one bear was safe. 
"It's all right," whispered my comn^nion, never violat- 
ing the ethics of the hunt by risking d;n open note, "the 
old boys are out, and where there's me, why there are 
others. See? Keep the Joan mow ig and if I ^ don't 
bring down a three hundred pounder before ten o'clock 
why I'll shoot quail on the ground in he future." 
By this time the day had fully invad* fl the earth. The 
sun" shone graciously across the mi 'sh and curving 
wood, making the verdant jungle glisten like a series of 
jewels in nature's diadem. The air was noisy with the 
twitter of birds and the breeze from the west wrinkled 
the brown waters of the famed Leopard Bayou. 
On we went. Great tangled masses of broken and 
twisted twigs and limbs in the tops of the oaks marked 
the rapacity of the herbivorous bears. Circumstances 
had forced this condition, and Bruin gave_up meat eating 
because a vegetable diet needed no snaring. Therefore 
he took most kindly to the acorns and kindred provender. 
"The Joan had gradually narrowed the stream ^as she 
progressed, and my arms grew tired from pushing the 
light craft along, but save the evidences of recent occupa- 
tion, not a bear had tumbled into sight, and I was just 
about to murmur a timorous objection to further exer- 
tion,' when the Nimrod stealthily reached for his rifle, 
which he had permitted to slip against the thwart. 
" 'Sh." he whispered with a wonderfully pianissimo ef- 
fect; "don't move; just look." 
I looked. Fully two hundred yards ahead, away up in 
the top of an immense time scarred oak which reared its 
hoarj^ crest near the bayou's edge; was a huge black 
body, looking for all the world like a gigantic tailless 
squirrel as the great paws reached upward for some 
temptinsr bunch of acorns blackening in the October sun- 
light. To me it was a most unusual sight. The idea of 
a bear foraging for breakfast where a diminutive coon 
would be comnelled to hang on with both' feet, even if 
expected, would prove exceedingly unusual and inter- 
esting, and the ponderous bulk swaying in the tall oak 
was a revelation. 
I did not move a hair. The sharp snap of cracking 
twigs and the plunk-plunk of dropping acorns came 
me sweet, over the stream as the Joan quietly reduC'^ 
the distance. I might have imagined that a big bear ill 
a tree would present an ungainly and grotesque appear-" 
ance, but the sight then set before my eyes evidenced 
the contrary. Dexterously and quickly the brute drew 
the acorns easily into his capacious crimson maw, tread- 
ing on timorous foothold of swaying branches with a 
confidence born of long experience as he did so. 
Siiddenly the bear's motion ceased. His muzzle pointed 
in our direction for an instant. We had been scented 
and seen. It was then ludicrous to witness the efforts 
of the beast to get out of sight. His magnificent bulk 
fairly shook with emotion as he essayed to clamber from 
a location he correctly surmised to be dangerous. Hig 
eyes sank back into his head in fear and a deep, hoarse 
growl issued from between the well worn ivories whiclj 
fringed the dripping tongue. It all happened in an in- 
stant. No sooner did the Nimrod realize that the gamo 
was in absolute retreat than the deep roar of the "forty- 
five" started the echoes of the Ancinity. 
The pale smoke drifted slowly away. The bear gav* 
a convulsive tremor, grasped a small limb for a mo- 
ment, then pitched limply downward, falling heavily into 
the crutch of an immense limb, where he hung, silent and 
without motion. 
Mv taste for blood was at once rampant. "He's ours." 
I shouted exultantly, as T gave the Joan a spasmodic 
jerk which sent her darting shoreward and toward the 
tree which contained the conquered Bruin. How my 
heart leaped.in anxiety as the skiff neared the bank, to 
;vitnp.ss f) ggt[)(^pf1^ of nitghty m«sc|p^ ''■'^e, li not 
dead," I thought, with a wild push at the oars. The 
nose of the boat touched the ooze of the bank. Thert 
was a despairing groan, and the next moment the black 
bulk in the crutch heaved forward, toppled, and in a 
twinkling had crashed among the palmettos and Jack 
vines in the jungle. 
The Nimrod lost his reserve. He grasped his rifle 
and was ainong the reeds and leaves of the Leopard 
underbrush. Tying the skiff I grasped a keen edged 
hunting hatchet and followed. We were hemmed in by 
an interlacing of barbed climbers, vines, palmettos and 
dense myrtle growth. 
The whirr of a rattlesnake sounded sharp. Possibly 
twenty feet away the great beast tore with dying energy 
at the dead leaves and broken debris on the damp earth. 
Mingled with this was the swish of the homy leaves and 
the crackle of the canes as the bear agonizingly sought 
to reach the seclusion of the morass beyond the ridge or 
strip of jungle, and to these sounds were added the fearful 
snorts of the brute. 
"Come on," cried the Nimrod. as he forced his lank 
proportions through the growth. "The old fellow may 
escape us after all and be into the marsh if we linger 
het^." 
It was well enough to say "come on," but the prospect 
of doing so speedily was dubious. Jungle at every step 
and a big bear lying in wait for us._ Not so pleasant, but 
screwing , my courage to the sticking point, I cut away 
with the hatchet and slowly hewed a path through the 
sappy obstacles. To the accompaniment of the bear's 
despairing sighs, which filled the echoes with a murder- 
ous sogginess, we made way, until after about twenty 
minutes' work we reached a clearing in the chiH woods. 
Thi.^ clearincr was in the edge of the strio and surrounded 
by the everlasting- palmettos and yellow marsh canes. 
In the clearinsf. black and bulkv. and at full Icnoth, was 
the game. With all his great strength he could go no 
further, and the wide head, grayinsr in spots, rested 
wearily among the rotted leaves. His sides filled and 
shrunk as he breathed heavily. 
Hearing us at his very feet. Ursus reared his muzzle 
and attempted to resist the invaders. It was his last 
effort. His eves glowed dimly, and the red tongue was 
incrusted with mould. The Winchester roared in the 
air with an ugly twang, and the head sank inert to the 
leaves. The great form convulsively stiffened as the 
muscles contracted for the finality. A misrhty shudder 
ran through the bulk, and the beast was dead. 
"Three hundred and fifty pounds, if he weighs an 
ounce," victoriously remarked the Nimrod, as he care- 
lessly seated himself upon the prostrate monarch of 
Leopard Baj^ou.. Truly, gazing at the bear, he looked 
as large as an ox, and his pelt was as curly as "nigeer 
wool." Maybe we didn't gloat, but we did. and had there 
been an observer in the wild surroundings save our two 
selves, he would have been regaled with a series of anec- 
dotes told by the Nimrod as to "how he had done it 
before." 
Our gloating ended and it became a question of getting- 
the prize into the Joan, a weird nrooosition it seemed 
at first suggestion, but two hours' hard work and a smaM 
nullev solved the difficulty, and "Br'er Bear" was p^tven 
the olace of honor in the skiff. This done, the hollows 
of the forest soon echoed with the raoid dip of oars, as 
the Jo.^n swiftiv forged campward. Success ensrendered 
annetif-e, and when the tent hove in sight we heaved a 
sigh of almost absolute content, A fire soon crackled 
and hissed beneath the camp oak, and the mellow sing- 
ing the coffee pot made our hearts glad with its prom- 
ise. The hour was at noon wh^n camp was broken and 
the stuff cozily stowed awav in the stern of the Joan. 
The mosses amid the chrome foliage of the oak trees 
prew erray, and then slowlv merared into the purnle of 
the distance as the craft plunp-ed her green nose into the 
bosom of the b.ayou. and then ^■n^n the gulf warmed 
waves of the Lake of Belle Isle. The ros^aus ■<'-pn--v.»re(3 
and vellowed and gave w?v to the wax mvrtle and willow, 
and then th"^ rvpress. S<-p^di1v we rnwed and rnwed. 
thrnncfh the fading dav and into the cri'sn nio-V't. sfonninfY 
at whiles to have a wee bite of meat and b'-pad and a nio 
of the stuff which bnth inebriates and cheers. Arms 
ached and muscles "^tifferied with the pv-pt-trori. and the 
wav seemed long- and never endinEr. but the 'iT-enfiye waV, 
wi^b lie. arid we rnwed on and on iin<i1 midn^'o-ht. 
The loan Pas=ed under the r'an''-?"5r ?ron= of t^A sl"'**- 
Sonthern Pacific bridp-e a"d Morcan Ci+v l(-inmf»(* 
friendiv at our verv nosec. Y^Tp wpr^ at home and the 
e^-'-i'-ing jaunt into the wilds of the Leopard was at an 
end. 
Stripped of his hi'dp. "pir'^r Bear" Hpped the beam at 
exactly three hundred anH fiftv pounds. 
Johnnie's First Moose* 
r-^mM Two Surr(>s^s^ui Otrtfnp^. 
Mf.w Yovk. Dee. — E^f^'f'^'y Pnrrrt mid Sfvnin: L^st 
(-mnmpr at ^ nw^ r^eommpn'-'al-ion. wen<- to Mr. D'--"^'^s' 
T onf r.-<bin T-T^^tel Np'vfnnnd'and. T fof twe-'tv to ib'rti' 
calmon the larsre-^t 20 nonnd's. T.ater in the casnn T 
fv^t at t1ip came niace fhrpo ^-^ribon nnd tb*' r,ri)v rom- 
nlainf T ha*"^ to rnnke apa'n"*- "^li" clio'itino- was th^t it was 
♦ oi-i pacv. T I'oed a .■jo-'jo and i*- +oo1<- five shots apiece in 
th'^ bodi' tA rTrnfi firtii- +wo rarihon 
T am ?Tist-noW -^etiirned from an ontlnf in Neiv Brnns- 
■"C^rlr. with Mr. Braithewaite. of Fro^^ericton. for fnvr\p,. 
T hit one moose and three rai-ibou wi'^h a .AK-^r, nnr! oriTv 
sot one --ariboii. Tbpp T tried mv .''o-'?o and lo-^t two 
moose, both hit in the bodv. T then borrowe^^ a donVe 
express. .■fc;-TTo. and with the fii-st shot brono-ht down a 
"erv handsome moo'^e. 9^ thnt the trin ended ac <:y\rri'ct- 
fullv as it bad ^^om the firs)- been enjovable. The mv^fvv 
to which jVTr. Braitheivaite took nip lips about the head 
"faf-ers of tbe L'-n-le Soiithivp=t T^^>'"-?niichi. and be■^■•"'°en 
them and the head water= of th^ To^inne. rnoocp. caribou 
and partrid.ge were very plenty, but de*.r we^-p cr^^rpp. 
David E. Wheelet?. 
From the Montr^ .1 Christmas Gazette. 
"De cloud is hide de moon, but dere's plaintee light above- 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down lo-w; 
Move de paddle leetle quicker, an' de ole canoe we'll shove 
T'roo de water nice an' quiet, 
For de place we're goin' try it 
Is beyon' de silver birch dere, 
You can see it lak' a church dere, 
Wen we're passin' on de ieprner w're de lily flower grow. 
Wasn't dat correc' w'at I'm tolin' you jus' now? 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low; 
Never min', I'll watch behin' me— an' you can wateh de how, 
An' you'll see a lectle clearer. 
Wen canoe is comia' nearer — 
Dere she is — now easy, easy, , 
For de win' is gettin' breezy, 
An' we don't want not'ing smell as till de horn begin to blow 
I remember long ago, w'en ma fader tak" nie e>ut-^ 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low; 
Jus' de way I'm takin' you, sir— hello! was dat a shout? 
Seems to me I t'ink I'm bearin' 
Somet'in' stirrin' on de clearin' 
Were it stan' de lumber shaintee; 
If it's true, den you'll have plaintee 
Work to do in half a minute, if de moose don't start to goi 
An' now we're on de shore, let us hide de old canoe — 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low? 
An' He among de rushes, dat's bes' t'ing we can do, 
For de old boy may be closer 
Dan anybody know, sir; 
An' look out you don't be shakin' 
Or de bad shot you'll be makin' — 
But I'm feelin' sam' way, too, me, w'en I was young also. 
You ready for de call? Here goes for number wan — 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low; 
Did you hear how nice I do it, an' how it travel on 
Till it reach across de reever? 
Dat'll geev* some moose de fever! 
Wait, now, Johnnie; don't you worry. 
No use bein' on de hurry, 
But lissen for de answerj it'll come before you know. 
For w'y you jomp lak' dat? Wat's matter wit' your ear? 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down lowj 
Tak' your finger off de trigger; dat was only bird you hear; 
Cant' you tell de pine tree crickin', 
Or de boule frog w'en he's spikin'? 
Don't you know de gray owl singin' 
From de beeg moose w'en he's ringin' 
Out hees challenge on de message your ole' gran'fader blow? 
You're lucky boy to-night, wit' hunter man 1ak' mel 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low; 
Can tole you all about it. H-s-s-h! dat's somet'ing now, I seel- 
Dere he's comin' t'roo de bushes, 
So get down among de rushes. 
Hear heem walk? I t'ink by t'onder 
He mus' go near fourteen honderl 
Dat's de feller I been watchin' all de evenin', I dunno. 
I'll geev' anoder call! — ^jus' a leetle wan or two — 
Steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low; 
W'en he see dere's no wan waitin', I wonner w'at he'll do! 
But look out, for he's comin' 
Sa-pris-ti! ma heart is drummin'l 
You can never get heem nearer, 
An' de moon is shinin' clearer — 
W'at a fine shot you'll be havin'! Now, Johnnie, let her got 
Bang! Bang! You got heem, .sure! an' he'll never run away. 
Nor feed among de lily on de shore of Wessonneau! 
So dat's your first moose, Johnnie! Wal, remember all I say, 
Doesn't matter w'at you're chasin'. 
Doesn't matter w'at you're facin, 
Only watch de t'ing you're doin' — 
If you don't ba gosh! you're ruin! 
An' steady, Johnnie, steady; kip your head down low. 
William Henrv- Dsithmond. 
Addrpps romrMunfcafions 
Sfream Publishing dompany. 
to the Forest and 
The Fp'R-pgT Aifn K.T^^»i(ir Js put to nn^ss epch week on Tuesda■^f, 
Cerrepponrteni-,' intended for pubHration should reach Hft Sf. .tbfl 
^'atest by Mondnv pnjj 3.5 pifjlj f.arlier ^l B^iigtlpglllg " "[ ' 
A Christmas Turkey* 
Editor Forest and Stream: ~ 
As the Christmas time draws near and my wife warns 
me to be on the lookout for a large young gobbler for 
use on that day. memory flies back to the one we liad on 
Christmas of 1890, and its uneqnaled flavor; and the 
longing that comes to break the chains of business and 
leave dull care behind becomes so strong that as a 
safety-valve I will tell you how I got my Christmas 
turkey that year; and how a friend and . companion 
through his inexperience lost his and claimed mine. We 
were a hunting party of six Kansans. camped near the 
confluence of the Salt Fork and the Arkansas River, 
within the Ponca reservation of the Indian Territory. 
Our party was armed with rifles and breech-loading 
shoteuns. and we were after large srame — deer and wild 
turkevs; and as we frenuentlv would see and start flocks 
of wild turkeys out of tbe hierh gr.ass. the rifles were left 
in camp the most of the time, and we depended almost 
entirely upon the shotrmns. One afternoon, as two pf 
the boys were upon a hiHside. thev came close' to a small 
patch of ha^el brush of about R-^^r? varrls and un started 
a fine buck and a doe. Lowie H. fired bis first barrel at 
the buck and dropnert him and then tired the second 
barrel at the doe without visible result: and then he 
walked no to tbe buck witbout relnarling his ffun. and up 
jnmped the buck and follo'vpd the doe out of sisrht over 
the hi'l m tTie ta'1 o"-ass. The most complete search could 
not find either acrain. 
As Lowip insisted that the buck was badiv wotmded 
and would be foimd deprl the nevt mornins". when morn- 
ine- camp we Avpnt tpo-pthpr tn the nlaep where the buck 
had fa^'eti ^p/\ qpojirsitpd to trv and find some trace of 
him. When T hfd ck'n-ibed a fonf slo^p and was i^istant 
from mv comnanjon nbont nnp a^rf ^ ht^1f. mfn'"!. T lioird 
two /Mu'ck renorts of h'S p-im, a-nr! lpo,|r?ng in b!.; direction 
saw him rnnping up a drawas fast as hg canld fun: and 
