Sept, 7, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
187 
so I gave, it up and admitted that I did not know how to 
make a bass strike when he wouldn't. All the way up 
the river we were interested in the very peculiar condi- 
tions. The river, so called, with apparently no parlicul- 
5ar channel or banks, was a curiosity to us, and a puzzle 
as well, as there are innumerable shoots, canals or rims 
where a canoe can be pushed or paddled in any direc- 
ition, and many a hunter has been quite late to supper 
|on account of losing his way back to the club house. 
The clearness of tlie water is what fii'st strikes the ad- 
miration of the newcomer, also its varying depth, which 
may be now a comparatively sandy shallow with a silver 
ripple, and the next moment, not a stone's throw away, 
a pool from ten to fifteen feet in depth, with the bot- 
tom as easiljf seen as if there were no water in it; indeed, 
so plainly does every bunch of moss or aquatic plant, 
sunken log or sand patch, show in the depths, that 
one is reminded of a huge glass vessel filled with alcohol 
and fruit or plants as natural as life. The cypress trees 
have huge butts some six to eight feet in diameter 
at the water level, then taper suddenly upward to 
the trunk, where the tree rises majestically, a mast on a 
strong foundation. The channels and shallows are bor- 
dered with a profuse growth of flags, smartweed, yonka- 
pins and spatterdock— ideal feeding grounds for water- 
fowl. 
Having noted many flocks of traveling mallards, we 
decided late in the afternoon to take a stand and sec 
ii we could not get a few sliots, so we pulled into the 
flags and had just got settled when down the river came 
a flock of "sawbills," not very much prized among the 
duck family, but mighty good practice when they are 
'Oil their way to supper. They gave us a fair shot, and 
we folded two up nicely and a third set its wings and 
sailed off a quarter of a mile and fell — not a bad begin- 
ining for hunters sadly out of practice. At intervals 
ilarge flocks of mallards passed over, practically out of 
.'gun shot. We saluted them and were surprised when we 
'CUt out several at remarkably long ranges. Burt said 
;something about straining our guns, and I made him 
•own up that he was using shells we had loaded for tur- 
ikeys. After gathering up the birds we started back to 
the club house. On the way down I asked Burt if he 
had noticed any unusual blueness in the sky off to the 
south, and he said he had, and that Bob was laid out 
somewhere down there, which was a good and suf- 
ficient reason therefor. As we glided along, we specu- 
lated on the prospect for duck shooting, which was the 
"paramoiint issue" with us, and decided that only a 
spell of weather would insure a killing. Arrived at the 
club we again found no message from Bob, so decidedl 
to cat and increase our store of hope for his early ar- 
rival, which came with that satisfactory feeling produced 
by a good supper and after that a good smoke by the 
oBice fire. We had sounded the natives as to what to 
expect with the unfaA'orable weather prevailing, and 
finally decided to make a trip to Bagwell's Lake for 
wood ducks and bass (with minnows). After securing 
guides for the morrow's trip we turned in and slept iike 
logs. 
The guides were on hand next morning, and we soon 
had our tackle, guns, bait and lunch loaded on a hand-car. 
with which we pumped two miles up the track to the boat 
landing, where we reshipped for a cruise about Bagwell's 
Lake. After derailing the car and locking it, we started 
the boats. With the guide standing in the stern, he would, 
with a long paddle, make the boat fairly swish down the 
narrow channels among the cypress trees, missing them in 
a way that was remarkable. We wended our way down 
the lake perhaps three miles, flushing wood ducks and 
mallards from time to time, and bagged several, although 
we found this timber shooting was a game we were not 
fully up to, and we were much disappointed at the few 
birds and their wildness. My guide suggested that we fish 
awhile, and I agreed. Burt hated to give up the shooting, 
and decided he would go further down for awhile. I had 
my tackle ready just as he was leaving us, and dropped 
my minnow down beside a log. As the bobber followed 
the sinker out of sight, I pulled and landed a clean hook. 
Burt suggested that that was a bite, and I agreed with 
him. My guide asked Burt how long he would be gone, 
and upon receiving the reply, "Not over an hour," he 
made a statement that I did not believe he could sub- 
stantiate, "We will have six or more bass when you 
return. Burt smiled and paddled away, and as they passed 
around the bend we tossed our lines over the log — but 
never a strike. "We have made too much commotion 
around here; we will leave this log until later and try a 
drift further up," said the guide. He paddled up to this 
drift without disturbing the brush, secured the boat, and 
we tossed in our bait again, the guide coaching me that as 
the shiners we were using were a large mouthful, the fish 
must be given time to get a good hold, and while he was 
talking away went his bobber, just as mine had. He let it 
go until the fish had taken up the slack, then he deliber- 
ately walked the bass right out from under the log and 
soon had him flopping in the boat. Well, that looks more 
like it, I thought. After he had strung the bass and 
dropped the same minnow back into the same hole, awa,y 
went the bobber again, and I remarked that we must be in 
a nest of them, and out came another one. As he prepared 
liis hook, he suggested that I was a trifle too deep, so I 
drew in and lowered my bobber. We both cast at the 
same place, and almost at the same instant down went 
both bobbers, and in a few seconds more the guide had 
landed one and I was fighting with a 4-pounder that was 
loath to be landed without an argument, and he ripped 
'and tore, first imder the log, then under the boat, and fin- 
!y made a break for deep water, and the reel began 
I ' sing. I was getting anxious to see this plunger, so I 
tightened up on him, and finally got him up to the edge of 
lie boat, when the guide had him over , the side in a 
i ffy, the finest bass — of my own catching — I had ever 
xn. "How do i'ou like it?" asked the guide. "Great!" 
-;iid I, as he finished baiting up, and I wiped the perspira- 
lion from under' my hat band. 
We cast again and again, and when we left that log we 
IkuI nine fine specimens. The guide had landed six of 
ilicm. but I had the biggest in the string, and was happy. 
\t this rate we could doiible the estimate made Burt when 
lie left. In drifting up to another log the grn"de told me to 
'hop my Hne just over the further edge of it, and doing 
'X I immediately had another fight on hand. This time the 
vnter was deep and deaf of snags, aiSi<ie from the Is^r^e 
sunken log under which the bass had lain, so I started the 
tussle with more confidence than previously, but he did 
some running and darting, water-cutting, twisting and 
thrashing that fairly stopped my breath, I was so afraid 
he would break loose. The guide had shifted the boat so 
that the bass could not run back under the log, and was , 
much interested in the landing of tlie prize of the day. 
He advised me if my rod could stand it to get his nose 
out of water. I finally succeeded in doing this, the rod 
bending nearly double, and then worked him over to the 
end of the boat, where the guide could get hold of the 
line, when he soon had him in the boat. This one was 
afterward found to weigh 4 pounds 7 ounces. I shed my 
coat and began doubling up a stringer, for one was already 
overloaded, and the prize of the day could not be trusted 
except on an extra strong stringer. We then decided to eat 
our lunch and wait for Burt. We hkd just got -a 
good start when my line, which lay in the water, began 
running out rapidly, and I grabbed my rod just in time to 
keep it from being pulled overboard, and in a few minutes 
had another — a 2-poundcr — up tO' the boat for the guide to 
land. Before he got it on the string his bobber disap- 
peared and directly he had landed one of the largest crap- 
pies I had ever .seen. We had baited up and were pro- 
ceeding vjith the lunch, when Burt and his guide came 
up looking disgusted, not having had a shot. 
Upon seeing our string, Burt ejaculated, "Holy smoke! 
give us some minnows and a bite of that lunch." As we 
divided the bait we explained that we had moved hardly a 
hundred yards in landing tlie bunch. Off they went, and 
in a very few minutes we could hear the familiar and un- 
mistakable sounds that indicated that the string was grow- 
ing. We worked other logs and caught more bass, and 
once I hooked what the guide called a pike, weighing 
about 2 pounds, which made up in fight what he lacked in 
weight, and 1 had some fun getting him in. We fished 
along with good sitcccss. until the minnows began to run 
small, and consequently the "goggle eyes" commenced to 
bother us. About 4:30 we quit and started back for the 
landing, overtaking- Burt, who we found had a fine string 
and a hard luck story of a fish "twice the size of his 
largest" pounds) he had failed to land. In proof of 
its size, he displayed a No. 78 snell hook bent out until it 
looked like a darning needle, with a barb on it. 
We paddled up to the landing, comparing notes, and as 
thoroughly contented as a party of returning fishermen 
ever are, but the big one always seems to get awa}% and 
leaves a "bad taste in the mouth," so to speak. We re- 
placed the car on the track, pumped back to the club house 
and there found Bob had arrived during our absence, and 
had gone out after ducks on his own account and had just 
returned with quite a respectable bag. After greetings and 
Bob's tale of woe of how he had to be in Memphis twenty- 
four hours, having missed his connection by a few min- 
utes, we counted our fish into the ice box and found we 
had eighty-six bass, one pike and one crappie. 
At supper Steve took us into his confidence and advised 
us to take a trip to Gum Island, where he afiirmed that a 
bunch of deer and a flock of wild turkeys had lately been 
seen. We concluded to act on his suggestion, and notified 
the guides to be on hand for an early start the next 
morning, and then after a most agreeable evening with 
our pipes and listening to tales of great fishing, tui'key 
shooting, and of 'ducks having been so thick as to "hide 
the sun" — a condition that was not on at present — we 
went to bed to dream of black bass, deer and wild turkeys 
disporting themselves in ways most remarkable. Next 
morning we were up with the sun. and away up the river, 
and although skeptical about killing anything larger than 
a squirrel on the island, went supplied with shot, from 
buckshot down to sixes. The weather was anything but 
favorable for ducks, it being warm -and bright, but we 
thought there might be a chance to pick up a few mal- 
lards, .so when about a half mile up the river, the proces- 
sion of canoes scattered, one boat taking the river chan- 
nel, one Seneca Slough, and the other through Gin Chute 
and up by Eagle's Nest, all meeting at the appointed hour 
at Gum Island Landing. In this way we covered nearly 
all the duck grounds between the club house and the 
island, about five' miles distant, and bagged several mal- 
lards. We arrived in good order and on time at the 
landing and were soon ready for the start. 
Dividing the party, we started across the island, so as to 
cover it as thoroughly as possible, it being but about a 
half-mile wide by two and a half long. Personally, I 
considered the chances slim for a .shot at a deer or a 
turkey, as up to that time I had never seen a wild, live 
specimen of either, and rather considered myself a hoodoo 
when it came to big game. In fact, I had no idea what 
deer or turkey signs were, which the guides had had much 
to say about, but did not care to display too much ignor- 
ance by asking many questions. After we had gone sev- 
eral hundred yards, I found some tracks which I con- 
cluded were those of a deer, and called the guide, .but 
after a glance at them he pronounced them hog signs. I 
had seen no hogs and asked him how he accounted for 
hogs on an uninhabited island, and he explained that .some 
years ago hogs had been kept there and some that were 
as wild as deer still remained, and with that he showed 
me where they had rooted around a large oak tree for 
acorns. A little further on he stopped suddenly and 
showed me tracks that there was no mistaking for any- 
thing but deer, and fresh ones at that, which caused us 
to be somewhat more alert. We went on, winding our 
way through the woods and underbrush, but jumped no 
deer; finally the guide called my attention to the fallen 
leaves which had been lately disturbed about a tree, and 
said that turkeys had been scratching there, and to keep a 
sharp lookout, which I most certainly did. We presently 
came to a very inviting log. and as I had been stumbling 
through the brush and blackberry bushes until I was sure 
that all the game must have left that locality, I suggested 
that we sit down and rest awhile. While we rested there, 
watching the gray and fox squirrels, which were about as 
thick as sparrows on a city street, we heard the boom of a 
gun to our left and rear, at a long distance, and in a 
moment another, then five more in rapid succession, which 
was doubtless the guide with Burt, as he was using a 
pump guit with black powder, the report of which could 
not be mistaken. We began to speculate as to what the 
shooting was about, and I suggested that Burt and guide 
had treed a coon and were making a sieve of him. We 
hel^l, ottr gups in readiness, hoxYey^r, for anything that 
might possibly come our way, watching and listen- 
ing intently and starting at every rustic in the dry leaves, 
which always turned out to be a squirrel .scampering 
about. We refrained from shooting, them, however, as 
there might be larger game in some near-by, undisturbed 
thicket. 
After our rest we stafted by a circuitous route back to 
the landing, where wc arrived in due time, not having 
seen anything larger than a squirrel, which was not alto- 
gether disappointing to me, for I had come to the conclu- 
sion years before that my luck at even seeing a deer 
was "on the bum." At the landing a large owl flew off 
into the timber and lit somewhere near a hundred yards 
away, and to make sure our turkey loads were all right, I 
took a shot at him, and was satisfied when he dropped off 
the limb like a stone. As I started over to where the 
bird lay, I heard some of the others of the party coming 
through the brush, but did not .see them until I returned 
with the bird. 
When I reached the boats I found Burt and his guide, 
who had just come in and seemed very warm and weary, 
but with broad smiles. They said nothing about the beau- 
tiful owl I was holding up, and I began to wonder what 
was up, and casting my eye about, soon discovered it — a 
fine, yearling buck, with its legs tied together and the 
sapling which they had lirought him in on. What a beauty 
he was, and how T turned him over and admired him ! 
They were too much interested in bringing in their prize 
unmarred to draw him before they started, so the guides 
went to work to put him into shape to keep. Bob and his 
guide soon came up, and we went at the lunch basket with 
the usual vim. and listened to Burt's talc of how he got 
the buck. "Three deer," he said, "jumped from behind 
a fallen tree, where they evidently had been lying down; 
two of them disappeared in the thicket to the right with 
one jump, but tlie third made for the thicket a little more 
to the left, where it was not quite so near, and so gave 
me time to get my gun to my shoulder and a quick pull 
at the disappearing white (lag with a load of No. 4 bucks 
brought him down." He was shot through the back of the 
loins, and his right hind leg shattered, but was able to 
rear up on his front feet when we came up, and the 
guide, who was an excitable boy with a new Marlin pump 
gun, seemed to think it his duty to fill his hide with small 
shot, in spite of Burt's vehement protests. Our lunch 
having run out — not the story of how the deer was killed, 
for that isn't finished yet — we lifted the deer into a canoe, 
covered it with grass and shifted the boat to a sandy 
nook, took up our guns and were once more lost in the 
depths of this wonderful little island, where we knew 
that three deer, at least, still remained, one of the guides 
having seen a single buck below and further to the east at 
about the time Burt jumped his bunch, but out of gunshot. 
.Another trip to the extreme end of the island and nothing 
seen but squirrels, that seemed more numerous even than 
in the morning, and I became more than ever convinced 
that my hunting, for anything larger than ducks, was 
very coarse. We had been standing still, listening, when 
the gtiide said he thought he heard something walking in 
the dry leaves ahead lof us, but as we heard nothing 
further, he decided he was mistaken. We struck out 
again, but had gone scarcely fifty yards when the guide 
exclaimed, excitedly, "Look there! Look there!" I 
glanced at him to note the direction, and was straining 
my eyes for a glimpse, as I supposed, of a deer in the dis- 
tance, that I had so far failed to locate, when something 
dark darted from behind a bush not twenty yards from 
us, and bang went the guide's gun. At the same time 
there was a roar of heavy wings, and I began to realize 
that my first chance at a wild turkey would not last 
long, and hurriedly covered the bird and fired a load of 
bucks at him which I had hoped would kill a deer. What 
beastly managing! for I had a load of BB's in the left 
barrel, which, if I had used 'first, would surely have 
stopped the turkey, whereas, the buckshot with black pow- 
der nearly tore a leg off the gobbler, and smoked me out 
of a chance for a second shot until the bird was fully 
forty yards away in the timber. I gave him the other 
barrel, as soon as I could make him out through the 
smoke, but only made ragged feathers in his wings and 
others fly from his back, which I could see as he sailed 
away with his leg swinging like a trolley off the wire. As 
he disappeared through the top of a large oak. the air in 
my locality was blue from more causes than black pow- 
der smoke. The guide was considerably disappointed, for 
he had tried his best to show me the birds before they 
were startled, intt was taken so by surprise himself that 
he was practically speechless. This guide of mine was • 
certainly a fine one. He was thoroughly unselfish, and 
-was always anxious to give the "clubman"— as he dubbed 
any greenhom he might be piloting about — the best of it. 
Upon opening my gun, I found a shell stuck so that I 
could not get it out with an ordinary extractor, and had 
to cut a stick and pound it out, after which we tried to 
locate the wounded birds. We found plenty of feathers 
where the guide had shot his bird while it was running, 
but the turkey was not to be found- We then went to the 
tree, where I had last seen mine, but with the same result. 
T felt badly, not only at losing my bird, but at its having 
gotten away wounded. The guide stated that he had seen 
turkeys, literally shot through and through, fly nearly a 
mile and then fall dead, and that he knew nothing harder 
to kill, and his remarks were very forcibly brought to my 
mind a few days later. 
The afternoon was nearly gone, so we headed for the 
boats, finding the others already there, having bagged a 
fine specimen of a 'possum, several woodcock and enough 
squirrels to supply the club. Our boats loaded, the guides 
pushed out and we were off for the club house, five miles 
down the river. The luxury of the trip down this pic- 
turesqtte stream can only be compared to a gondola ride. 
The guide, standing in the stern, sends the canoe gliding 
through the water with long, steady strokes, and the pas- 
senger, comfortably placed a little back of the bow in a 
backed seat with his gun across his knees in readiness for 
a shot at ducks as they rise from the smartweed and flags 
along the channel, is in a position to enjoy it. On the trip 
down, however, the ducks were few, and our party soon 
gave itself up to the charm of the surroundings, and the 
broad marshes with their tall cypress and their inhabitants 
were treated to a serenade of the latest popular airs and 
ragtime coon songs, with now a few old-time melodies, my 
guide f iving a of \yild f cose caj^s, Ins part of the ' 
