March 22, 1962.]' 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
227 
The next morning we left camp early to spend the day 
hunting sheep. Leak and I went into the north side of 
the mountains and hunted around the head of the Granite 
Creek and Crystal Creek, but although we worked harder 
than any day since I came out, yet we saw nothing, and 
saw but few fresh signSi Charley and Porch were in 
camp a couple of hours before us, having seen several 
bunches of sheep, and having had a number of good shots 
at them, but although Porch hit and wounded a young 
ram, yet he had gotten away. On their way into camp 
they saw another one looking over a point of rocks, which 
they were more successful with, and so they brought it into 
camp, adding to our already long list of meats, that of 
"mutton." 
The following morning we left our camp on the top 
of the mountain at 10 o'clock, traveling down the canon 
and along Shoal Creek to Hoback Basin, where we went 
into permanent camp on Dell Creek, about one-half mile 
from its mouth, where it empties into Fall River. We 
were then within a few miles of scattered ranches, and 
within just two days' travel from the ranch. During 
the day we passed a camp of four parties from Alabama, 
who had been out hunting for twelve days with fair 
success. 
The next day Charley and I started to hunt antelope. 
Wehunted hard all day and saw four bunches of them, and 
got a shot at three of them. Two of the three were long 
hard shots, and although I missed both, yet I did not 
feel badly over them, but the last one, about 5 o'clock in 
the evening, was at a fine big buck, and a pretty fair shot, 
although about 150 yards distant, and I felt very badly 
about missing it, as I ought to have gotten it, but we had 
to return to camp at dark empty handed. Porch and 
Leak were in ahead of us, also empty handed, so our first 
day hunting antelope was all in favor of the antelope. 
Porch's Little Buck, that he rode all last year and most 
of this year, got to bucking during the day and threw 
him over his head, but without injury save a pretty good 
shaking up. 
We all felt very much concerned over a report that we 
had heard from a ranchman, that the President was dead, 
and another party told us he was getting along all 
r'ght, so we did not know which to believe, so we had 
Charley 'ride over to the nearest ranch early the next 
morning, and got a paper — the New York Sun— of Sept. 
8, which gave us a full report of the assassination, which 
was read very eagerly. We both >felt glad our ,trip was 
about drawing to a close, as this had cast a feeling of 
gloom on our entire camp. In the afternoon Charley and 
I left our permanent camp with our pack horses, for the 
ridges, intending to go into temporary camp there for two 
days to hunt antelope, in the hope of being more success- 
ful in finding them. Leaving Porch and Leak to do 
their hunting from the permanent camp, as Porch did 
not care to spend many nights away from the permanent 
camp, while I enjoyed these side hunts very much, for 
the reason that we could always get out after game 
much earlier in the- morning, and could hunt until near 
dark and then go, into camp right where the game was. 
We each took our sleeping bags and extra blanket, canvas 
ground cloth, frying pan and coffee pot, along, and a 
supply of bread and meat, canned beans, tea, peaches, 
coffee, sugar, butter and salt. Late in the afternoon, when 
about ten miles from camp, we saw lots of antelope, and 
went into camp for the night among them. 
We were up early the next morning, and left camp on 
foot, and had not gone 200 yards before we saw ante- 
lope. We soon got near to some, and I commenced shoot- 
ing. I got all the conceit knocked out of me on shoot- 
ing, for I shot, and shot, and shot, and almost despaired 
of ever being able to hit any. but Charley said, "Keep at 
it and you will hit one sometime." By noon I had 
succeeded in gett : ng one, so my spirits rose. We found 
two nice winter-killed elk heads, which I "packed" into 
camp, a distance of about three miles, where we arrived 
about r o'clock, pretty tired after our six hours' walk. 
I think we ran and tramped at least ten miles. During 
the afternoon, after lunch, we got our horses and rode 
out. and cn the hills met two rangers (cattlemen look- 
ing after their cattle, lots of which were found all over 
the hills, and which we also found was about as wild as 
elk, run as soon as they saw us). One of the rangers 
had just come in. and we eagerly asked him about news 
from the President, when he informed us that he was 
dead, and had then been dead several days.^ and that 
President Roosevelt had been sworn in as President. He 
also told us if we would ride up over the Ridge Rim, 
about ten miles to a miner's cabin, we would find there a 
great many more antelope, and also told us he had killed 
an elk two days before that, and if we went up the trail 
we would find his head, which we could have, so we re- 
turned to our camp, packed up and started. We rode 
until near dark and arrived at the cabins. We saw lots 
of antelope. Passing the cabins about one-half mile, we 
went into camp just at the edge of a quaken ash thicket, 
and just when about to get into our sleeping bags for the 
night it commenced snowing. 
The next night found us still on the top of the rim of 
the Hoback Basin, instead of back at our permanent 
camp, as we intended. We were in a manner snow 
bound. During the night it rained and then turned 
into snow. When daylight came I looked out from my 
sleeping bag and found I was covered with snow to a 
depth of about six inches, and that it was still snowing 
hard. Just before going to bed I had put my bed in the 
edge of some quaken asp bushes to be out of the wind, and 
when I awoke I found they were loaded down to the 
ground with wet snow, and I found I had a very un- 
pleasant place to dress. The wind was blowing hard, 
sending the snow in sheets so thick we could not see 
more than a couple of hundred yards. We with some diffi- 
culty finally got a fire started, and then made a lean-to 
out of the canvas pack cover and bushes, to try to keep 
some of the snow off us, and got breakfast, but by the 
time we had finished we were wet through by the melted 
snow. We built a big fire and dried out our clothes, then 
got our horses and rode out for a short hunt, and got a 
few shots at antelope, but missed them all, and soon we 
were both so cold and wet we were forced to rfeturn to 
camp. We decided to move our camp back about half a 
mile to the miner's cabin, which we had passed late the 
previous evening. 
While Charley packed up our stuff, I took the ax and 
rode back to the cabin, and soon had a big fire going in 
the open fireplace. It still kept snowing and blowing, and 
about 1 o'clock we decided that it would be better to 
remain where we were until morning, and then make an 
early start for camp, and reach it before night, rather than 
start out in the storm again and lay out all night in the 
snow, as the snow was then about ten inches deep and 
still snowing, and a night spent lying out in such weather 
is to say the least pretty rough. 
During the afternoon the wind went down, and we left 
camp about 2 o'clock to try to get some more game. 
After riding and walking for a couple of hours we saw a 
couple of antelope, and after firing about one dozen shots, 
succeeded in getting the biggest one. By this time I was 
thoroughly disgusted with my shooting, and after taking 
the head, we returned to our horses and started for camp, 
but had not gone more than three hundred yards when I 
saw a bunch of antelope run ahead of us. I quickly got 
off, and picking out the buck, shot as they ran, and he 
dropped. It was a good, quick, running shot made at 
about 100 yards, and I felt that at last I had redeemed 
myself to a certain extent, after the many misses I had 
scored. I found antelope to be the wildest of any of 
the animals we have hunted, and as they remain mostly 
in the open country, it is very hard to get a close shot. 
I now had three antelope, all we were allowed under 
the law. 
We were very comfortably fixed in the miner's cabin. 
It was built a few years ago by a couple of miners. They 
had a tunnel into the hill from . one of the three big 
rooms which made the cabin. One room seemed to be 
where they washed their ore, a fresh stream of running 
water is in one end ; one room is a woodshed, and the 
other their living room, all connected. The living room 
contains a big open fireplace and a hole in the side, which 
serves for a window. No doors on any of the rooms, 
pegs in the wall for hanging up clothes, boxes fastened up 
for their supplies, a bed frame of round logs^ in one 
corner, covered with spruce boughs, a wash basin made 
out of a slab of wood hollowed out in the middle to hold 
water, a table, and two round logs set on end for seats. 
The cabin is built after the style of all cabins in these 
mountains, of round logs filled in between with split 
pieces and mud. The roof is- made of round logs split in 
half and laid close, and these covered to a depth of abput 
six inches with ground. The ground inside serves As a 
floor. We found it in a good state of preservation, and 
we could have lived very comfortably if we had a supply 
of provisions, which we didn't have. For breakfast we 
ate up everything we had left except six water crackers 
and a little cheese. These we reserved for lunch. 
We had seen hundreds of antelope, and I had used about 
thirty cartridges to get three antelope. We had our 
horses picketed outside, and they had to dig into the 
snow for their grass, and at the same time spend the 
night out in the storm. Had we known what was be- 
fore us when we started to hunt antelope, I am afraid 
we would never have undertaken to get them, but on all 
of our previous trips away from our permanent camps we 
had suffered little inconvenience on ' account of the 
weather; but while a sleeping bag with heavy blankets 
added is not a bad place to sleep in, without any other 
covering in a snowstorm, yet there is little that 
is enjoyable in getting out in the morning to 
dress, then after cooking and eating breakfast with 
wet snow pouring down the back of your neck, 
riding out after game until nearly frozen, with the 
knowledge that, there is no camp-fire to which to return. 
The next morning at 5:15 found us up, and after 
breakfast we packed up and started on our return. The 
sun came out brightly, and the snow commenced melting 
fast. On our w r ay down the ridge we found the elk head 
that the ranchman had left a couple of days before, and I 
packed up its horns, which we found to be a little five- 
point. We rode hard, and at 1 130 P. M. arrived at our 
camp, where we had left the outfit three days before, but 
found they had packed up and started for the ranch. So 
we followed their trail, and at 5:30 P. M., just as they 
were go : ng into camp for the night in Fall River Canon 
we caught up to them, having ridden about forty miles. 
Porch had shot three antelope in the two days' hunting 
from the main camp. After my long ride I slept "the 
sleep of the just," and was sorry when morning came. 
After breakfast at 8 we proceeded to roll up our. beds 
for the last time, and did it with a great deal of pleasure. 
Packs were put on and we started on our last twenty-mile 
ride to the ranch, with our supply of provisions just about 
exhausted. While we had enough of everything, yet we 
had none tc*spare, and so well did we gauge our supply 
with our appetites that we did not have enough left over 
to make a decent present to Cook Ward. 
After a ride of about eight miles we came out of the 
mouth of the canon into Jackson's Hole, and at 4 o'clock 
we arrived back at the ranch, and were all glad to get 
back into civilization. 
We remained at the ranch over night, and then bid fare- 
well to Recreation Lodge, and started in Leak's wagon 
with the balance of our baggage for Ward's, where we 
arrived at 12 o'clock, and found him with everything in 
readiness for our start for the railroad. We had four 
horses and a covered wagon, and drove thirty miles to 
Victor, where we arrived at 7 o'clock that evening, and 
there put up for the night at Jones' House. Leaving 
Victor the next A. M. at 9. we arrived at Canon Creek 
in the afternoon and put up for the night at the road 
house at that place. 
Early the next morning found us again on our way, and 
by 10 o'clock we were again in the City Hotel at St. An- 
thony, Idaho, in possession of our letters and papers. Five 
days later we were again back at our homes, following our 
usual vocations, after having been absent just -six weeks 
and two days in all, during which time we traveled 5.146 
miles by rail and about 850 miles by stage and saddle, 
making in all about 6,000 miles. . 
In our travels from the ranch in Jackson's Hole by 
pack and saddle, we left the ranch journeying directly 
north for about forty miles, then east for about forty 
miles, then south and east for about one hundred miles, 
then west and north to place we started from, describing 
a circle of from 250 to 300 miles, and during that time 
we were at all times from seventy to eighty-five miles 
distant from starting point. We saw and traveled over 
a number of well-known points, as shown on the map, 
among them the Gros Ventre River, Shoshone Mountains, 
Two Ocean Pass, Continental Divide, Two-go-tee Pass, 
Gros Ventre Mountains, Hoback .Basin, Yellowstone 
Lake, Yellowstone River, Snake River, Yellowstone Park, 
into which we could see from the tops of the moun- 
tains, only some three miles distant. 
We secured more than 100 kodak and camera pictures 
of mountain scenery, camp life and wild game, which we 
prize very highly. 
We were in the mountains just thirty-four days ; hunted 
twenty days, spending fourteen days traveling by saddle 
and pack horses between camps. 
We used on the entire trip about 200 cartridges, and in 
all secured the following big game, as well as numerous 
small game, 'such as grouse, ducks, hawks, trout, eta 
2 black bear. 
1 brown bear. 
1 grizzly bear, 
4 elk, the largest head measuring- 48',fc inches, and 48 inches beam. 
6 antelope, with nice horna. 
1 mountain sheep, . «h 
1 coyote. 
4 winter-killed elk horns, picked up. 
All of our trophic we have since had mounted, and 
as they adorn the walls of our dens, they serve to keep 
in mind the most successful and delightful hunt it has 
been our privilege to make. Words fail me in my at- 
tempts to describe the pleasure derived from camp life 
in that delightful country, breathing the pure mountain 
air of that high altitude, drinking the clear mountain 
water, and viewing the grand scenery witnessed hourly 
on our travels through the mountains. It is enough to 
say that of the pleasures^ of our hunt, these latter were 
by no means the least enjoyable. 
J. M.. MURDQCK. 
Johnstown,; Pa., Feb. 20. 
At the New York Sportmen's Show 
Cougar Coontt y. 
Dr. W. E. Hughes, of Philadelphia, hunted last fall in. 
Northern Chihuhua, in a section which is virgin territory 
as far as visiting sportsmen are concerned. Cougar, bear 
and whitetaii deer are very abundant, and the country 13 
open and easily hunted. It l : es at an elevation of 7.000 
feet or more, and there is little brush country, except in the 
canons, and one can ride anywhere. Dr. Hughes and a 
friend during a seventeen days" trip killed six lions, and 
would have secured many more if good dogs had been 
obtainable. They also bagged one brown bear but got 
no silver-tips, though their guide, Cluff, killed three 
shortly after they left. The whitetaii deer were every- 
where and very tame. 
Nearer civilization in the foothills antelope, blacktafl 
deer and sheep are found. Guides are secured from the 
Mormon colonies of Colonia Juarez and Colonia Garcia, 
and supplies and outfit at Cases Grandes. where the rail- 
road is left. Cases Grandes is on the Mexican Ra'lroad 
south of El Paso, Texas. The guides are paid in Mexican 
money, and the expenses. of the trip are nominal after the 
railroad is left behind. In September, when Dr. Hughes 
visited the country, the deer horns were still in the 
velvet, and probably October or November would be the 
best hunting season. 
Dr. Hughes is on the track of a Mexican who has a 
pack of jaguar hounds in Sonora, and plans a hunt there 
the coming fall. 
Another New Country. 
George Crawford, one of the very best of the Canadian 
hunters and guides, whose name has often figured in 
Forest and Stream, since his moose hunt with Mr. Ivory 
ten years ago, in the then unexploited country north o£ 
Mattawa, visited a new moose country last fall in north- 
ern Manitoba, near the Saskatchewan line. His party, 
which included an Italian marquis, a French count and a 
German baron, secured five good moose heads, the larg- 
est of which had a spread of 54 inches. _ 
Few, if any other, sportsmen have visited this section 
aside from the local hunters. Winnipeg sportsmen find 
their game nearer home. The trio is easily made. The 
C. P. R. Is left at Winnepegos : s Station, and one of the 
whitefish fishermen's little steamers chartered for the trip 
up Lake Winnepegosis. The best moose country is con- ' 
tiguous to the northern part of the lake. It is a second 
growth, flat country, abounding in muskegs. The moose 
horns as a rule do not attain very great spread, however, 
owing to the thick forest growth. Game beside moose 
is plentiful, including elk, black bear, whitetaii deer and 
wildfowl. 
In a Bear's Den. 
George Crawford fills in his time profitably in the 
spring trapping bears. Last spring he got seven at no 
great distance from his home in Mattawa. While hunting 
deer last fall he came across a bear's track in the snow. r 
The bear George thinks was disturbed by lumbermen, as ' 
all other bears had by that time denned up. 
George followed the track two days, and finally located 
the bear under a great square rock that had fallen from 
a ledge above. The entrance to the den on the lower 
side of the rock was just large enough to admit the 
bear's body, and there was no other opening to the den. 
George went aiwund the rock to see if it would be possible 
to dig into the den from the back, but there was too 
much* rock there, and he gave up the attempt. Then he 
tried to make the bear come out by poking it with a long 
pole. This expedient failing also. George built a fire in 
the mouth of the den. but the draft was not good, and 
his efforts to smoke the bear out were equally futile. 
George, like all good hunters, is persistent, and as he 
could not get the bear any other way, as a last resort he 
determined to enter the den and shoot the bear in his 
stronghold. He wormed his way in on his stomach far 
enough to see the glitter of the bear's eyes, but he was so 
"crushed" down, as he expressed it. by the^ rocky top of 
the opening, that he could not get his rifle in position to. 
aim. He pointed it in the general direction of the bear 
and fired, and then backed out as quickly as he could, 
just in time to escape the rush of the bear, which was 
fortunately hampered by the same narrow passage. George 
was on his feet in an instant, and finished the bear by a 
well-directed shot just as it emerged into the outer air. 
His first shot had given it an ugly wound in the lower 
part of the body- 
