)an. 10, 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
28 
way. In quite an experience with teanis^ I have never 
seen a wagon climb a hill like that one elsewhere. When 
mule flesh could do no more, Ihe men took it, and little 
by little finally placed it on the summit — about a week's 
work, as I now recall it, I have now gotten to the 
bears. This mountain seemed to be fairly alive with 
them. Until I reached its foot I had never seen bruin 
in his wild state. While the men were unloading the 
wagon preparatory to making the ascent with the big 
instrument, I wandered a short distance away in search 
of a spring of water, as the day was warm and all were 
thirsty. At this part of the mountain the country was 
fairly well timbered, and one could see but a short dis- 
tance ahead. I walked quietly along observing the 
ground for some evidence of a small seep spring, until 
I saw immediately before me a large black bear. I 
stopped short in my tracks and gaxed in wonder and ad- 
miration at my first bear. I had come upon him par- 
tially from the rear, so he had not seen me; the soft 
carpet of moss and damp leaves had prevented his hear- 
ing me; though not above 25 yards distant, I presume 
he was not aware of my presence. After satisfying my 
curiosity and enjoying this unusual spectacle, I slipped 
quietly back to the wagons for a carbine and belt and 
hastened back to my previous position as carefullj^ as 
possible, but my game was gone. The wagons were not 
far away, and I suppose he had heard the noise incident 
to the transfer of the load, and concluded that discretion 
was the better part of valor. My duties from then on 
kept me closely with the instrument, and I saw no more 
bears on this mountain, but the men who were at liberty 
to roam about saw them, or, at least, reported having 
seen them daily. One day Major L. himself saw five 
pass within sight of the m^n's camp, about half way down 
the mountain, and scarce a day went by but some one 
told about seeing one. 
After I had gotten the instrument established on the 
top of the rocky summit and my own tent and that of 
two assistants just below tbis rock, I was delayed for 
quite a number of days by a long, cold rain storm, which 
made it exceedingly disagreeal)le. We had but few sup- 
plies with us at the summit, having expected to rely upon 
the daily A'isits of a small detachment with a pack mule 
or two to keep us supplied with r/hat we needed as well 
as informed of what went on below. When the storm 
came on these detachments stayed snugly in their camp 
and abandoned us to our fate. The principal duty had 
been to pack water up for our use; and, realizing now 
that we needed none during the storm, and that it was 
dangerous for them to attempt the ascent for fear of 
getting lost in the mist, they had stayed faithfully away. 
Texas itself may ordinarily be a hot country, but the 
tops of its mountains are very much like the tops of all 
other mountains, especially in a storm. Our tents blew 
down in spite of all we could do ; we ate up all our 
food; were wet through constantly; we could scarcely 
keep a fire going, and we were generally uncomfortable. 
We ordinarily had made such short stays on the moun- 
tain tops that it had never occurred to us to provide our- 
selves for eight or ten days, and we were fairly caught 
napping. At last it cleared away, the sun shone again, 
and what seemed surprising to us, though, of course, a 
mere natural phenomenon, as we were on the most ele- 
vated point in the vicinitj'-, it cleared away first right 
where we were on the rocky summit. The sun shone 
nice and bright there, while all around and below us was 
a sea of black clouds, a.nd so continued to be, as I re- 
call it, for an hour or so. Gradually, however, one peak 
after another worked its way up through the clouds and 
mist till at last the whole scene burst into view below us 
— a welcome and joyous sight. Our packers shortly 
after reappeared with supplies, and we hastened to com- 
plete our work in the clear, bright air that followed. 
One of our assistants was handy with stone cutters' tools, 
and on the highest point of the rock he cut a U. S., with 
the date of our visit in letters suliSciently deep to last 
out the current geological epoch. The eagles may occa- 
sionally cast a glance at those inscriptions, but I much 
doubt if they have been beheld by human eyes since our 
departure. 
Getting down the mountain was a much simpler and 
shorter operation than getting up. As soon as we 
reached the wagon I took oft' all but the two wheel mules, 
securely fastened each of the four wheels, so that none 
could turn, placed the big instrument in the wagon, and 
started the team without a driver down the trail. The 
wheelers being old hands at it, settled back on their 
haunches and slid, steadying the wagon as well as the}^ 
could. The speed obtained bore some approximation to 
that of a toboggan. The dust and sparks rolled out from 
underneath the wheels as the wagon bounded along and 
tore through rock and earth, but finally all brought up 
safely at the foot of the trail, and with light hearts we 
proceeded on our way. 
We had made but a few miles when right before us a 
big black bear crossed the road. All else was immediately 
dropped and our energies devoted to bear hunting. We 
took after bruin at once, most of us on foot ; every one 
who had a weapon fired at him as rapidly as he could 
reload, and we followed belter skelter upon his course. 
He gained on us rapidly. About the time we would 
reach the top of one ascent we would see him about dis- 
appearing over the top of the next one, and he was soon 
lost to view. I had no rifle with me, but wore at my belt 
a revolver mainly for the purpose of making or answer- 
ing signals under Major L.'s code. I had continued to 
fire at the bear with this pistol as opportunity offered 
until I had entirely emptied it — probably without great 
harm to bruin, as I don't suppose he was nearer than 
about a hundred yards to me at any time, and he soon 
greatly increased that distance. I followed on, though, 
for some little distance to see w hat would be the outcome 
of the chase. The party had gotten pretty well scattered 
by this time, but I observed a big negro named' Black 
jogging along quite near me, and I concluded to have a 
little amusement at his expense. Black had no weapon 
whatever, having just jumped from his team to join in the 
chase as a spectator, pure and simple. I suddenly turned 
to him and said: "Black, what should we do if we should 
come up with the bear now ?" He replied, "Why, de lieu- 
tenant (referring to me) would shoot him with his six 
shooter." I said, "I couldn't; my pistol is empty now and 
ray ammunition is in my saddle pocket down at the trail." 
This put bear hunting in a new aspect to Black. He 
stopped, turned round, and, though Fvfc no doubt by that 
time the bear was at least a half mile away, he made 
about as good Speed in rallying on the wagons as he bad 
in his forward pursuit of the bear. I followed slowly 
after him, enjoying his masterly retreat, and supposing 
that I had seen the last of the bear. It seems, however, 
that the two Seminoles, as Ave called them, knfew a little 
more about bear hunting than the rest of us, and while 
we had foolishly taken after the bear on foot, they had 
put their ponies to their best speed and had managed to 
gain a point in advance of the bear, and had there am- 
bushed him. Shortly after my return to the wagons one 
of these men came back and informed me that they had 
killed the bear and wanted me to let him take a wagon 
by a roundabout way and bring in his carcass. The 
Seminoles claimed the hide, but distributed the fle.sh. 
The hide was a fine. one, and had five bullet holes in it, 
so 1 suppose some of owr numerous and hasty shots must 
have taken effect. 
On reaching camp that night we prepared to gratify 
again our curiosity by tasting bear's meat. I told the 
ccok to broil me a steak with great care, which he 
scrupulously attended to. It looked fine and gave out a 
savory odor, but oh how tough ! He must: have been 
an old sinner. The cook next tried boiling it, and inci- 
dentally produced some excellent broth, but, as I now 
recall it, he never by any artifice succeeded in getting the 
flesh cooked so it could be eaten. Later on, in a conver- 
sation with a resident of that part of the world, I was 
told that the apparent abundance of bears in the moun- 
tains was due to the fact that at that season they are 
all astir in search of some suitable place for hibernation, 
and that at other times but few were seen. 
Wm. F, Flynn. 
jTKrERSoN Barracks, Mo. 
The newspaper dispatch to which reference is made is 
as follows : 
.VusTiiV, Tex., Dec. 27. — Honorable J. J. Terrell, Com- 
missioner of the General Land Ofiice of Texas, has for- 
warded to President Roosevelt an urgent invitation to 
visit Texas next fall and join him in a genuine bear 
hunt in the Davis Mountains in the extreme western 
part of the State. 
This personal invitation on the part of Mr. Terrell 
is to be supplemented by a visit to the President by Gov- 
ernor-elect Lanham and members of the Texas congres- 
sional delegation, all of whom will set forth in the most 
alluring language the splendid hunting that exists in the 
region where it is proposed the President and his party 
shall visit. 
Tt_js believed that the President will accept the invita- 
tion "when the matter is laid before him. The hunting 
ground is within forty miles of Toyah, Tex., the nearest 
railroad point, and a more desirable place for an enjoy- 
able outing is not to be found in the whole country. Mr. 
Terrell has just returned from a hunting trip in these 
niountains. Although he spent but a few days there, he 
killed six bears. Four of these were black bears, and 
the other two were of the "silver tip"' species. He says 
that had he arrived there two weeks earlier and before 
the cold weather set in in the mountains, he could have 
killed a score or more bears. 
"It is the most wonderful bear range there is in this 
country to-day ; at least, I know of no other locality that 
equals it. An old guide at Toyan told me that there are 
fully 5,000 bears in the Davis Mountains, and I am pre- 
pared to believe it," continued Mr. Terrell. "The moun- 
tains are easily accessible and the trip is not at all fatigu- 
ing. One evening while standing at my camp I chanced 
to look across a deep gorge and there I saw seven bears, 
all in a row, climbing up a mountain trail. They were 
big black fellows, and had evidently been down in the 
valley feeding. It was a sight that would arouse the 
enthusiasm of any sportsman. They were some distance 
off, and I did not chance a shot at them, preferring to 
follow them up next day. This I did and I had no diffi- 
culty in killing two bears. 
"The mountain sides are covered with a small bush, 
upon which a most delicious black berry grows in a pro- 
fusion of clusters. I do not know the name of these ber- 
ries, but they have a good taste, and the bears are fond 
of feeding on them. They ripen the latter part of Octo- 
ber, and from then on until the middle of November the 
bears come into the mountains by the hundreds and feed 
upon the ripe berries. The undergrowth and bushes 
where the berries grow are so tramped down by the 
bears that the feeding grounds had the appearance of a 
herd of cattle having stampeded there. 
"If President Roosevelt will go to the Davis Mountains 
next fall I will guarantee that he will see and have an 
opportunity of killing more bears than there are to be 
found in the whole State of Mississippi. There is not 
a residence within forty miles of the hunting ground, 
and no guard will have to be posted around his camp 
to keep a curious crowd from intruding. In addition to 
the bears, there are plenty of deer and antelope, and. 
all in all, it is a veritable sportsman's paradise." 
Shasta Mountain *Coons. 
Ordinarily a coon hunt implies a great deal of ex- 
ertion and aggravation. Boys sometimes find it fun, or 
think they do, which same indulgence of the imagination 
has a great deal to do, 1 believe, with field sports gen- 
erally. That there is "nothing either good or bad but 
thinking makes it so" is a piece of philosophy not to be 
hastily endorsed, but it is an axiom embodying truth 
enough to encourage much speculation. 
There are people who will preach you long sermons 
upon the cruelty of shooting, the disgrace of gambling, 
the depravity of intemperance, the viciousness of a thou- 
sand and one things to which, to the credit of human con- 
sistency it may be said they are not themselves addicted, 
alwaj'^s. Many heavy editorials have been launched in 
newspapers that reach hundreds of thousands of readers, 
about the iniquity of things that they are constantly 
receiving pay for promoting. The great difficulty with 
human philosophy seems to be that most virtuous things 
are purely theoretical. There is not enough pleasure 
or money in being virtuous to make it a fascinating oc- 
cupation; but it is a great theme for discussion. 
Another difficulty that obstructs the progress of hu- 
manity is in the inconstancy of our instincts and natural 
inclinations. As boys we may go fishing Sundays, steal 
watermelons, fighf, or play marbles foi' keeps, while latef 
m life Ave may desife to preach the gospel. Then, toQi 
the gospel we preach to begin with will be undergoing 
continual and constant change (perhaps improvement) 
until Ave are too old to learn. There are supposed to, be 
certain fundamental principles in all religion, but they 
-seem susceptible to revision, differing interpretation, arid 
interpolation. Perhaps thei'e i.s nothing absolute but 
Truth and the North Star, the one sometimes- Seeming as 
inaccessible as the other. 
Probably it is easier to discern truth in a ndtufal ^^iU 
derness than in artificial regions. It may be juSt to as- 
sume that hunters and fishers like out-of-the-way nooks 
for this reason— and others. But other things besides 
truth abound in and sometimes come out of the woods. 
I could, Avithout much pain, compile some tales truthful 
in the main, but which nevertheless might be read some- 
what cautiously. 
I believe raccoons abound throughout .North America. 
Webster says they are a carnivorous mammal about the 
size of a common dog. That there are two species in the 
United States, Procycm Idtor, found east of the Missis- 
sippi River, and P. hermandessi, or black-footed rac- 
coon, of Texas and California. Webster's definition is 
not brought entirely up to date. Firstly, because the 
mammal is not generally known as raccoon; secondly, 
because "the size of a common dog" is indefinite ; thirdly, 
because a riA^er is not likely to divide the species, and 
finally because he does not mention the third species, 
wbich is not a mammal rodent, but a biped and allied 
to the human race, obtaining upon both sides of the 
Mississippi. 
It occurs to me at this juncture that the coon has not 
received the recognition he deser\-es, particularly from 
sportsmen. In view of the wide scope of opinion as to 
what constitutes a true sportsman, I believe the coon 
.should be brought into the discussion as an element or 
factor, _ for reasons following, to wit : Sportsmen are 
born, like poets; not made, like pajamas. A sportsman 
in youth should have the natural symptoms of his kind. 
The American youth who has not been addicted to coon 
hunting, or who has not had the ungovernable desire, 
only being prevented by insurmountable impediment, will 
rarely_ develop sufficiently to rank as thoroughbred. The 
boys in this great country who have hunted coons, or 
wanted to very mucli, lack the real afflatus that inspired 
Jisau and Nimrod and Izaak. Boys that have no notion 
of coons or coon-hunting will likely hold bags patiently 
for midnight snipe, but that virtue is not necessarily an 
attribute to sportsmanship. Those boys who go througii 
seven miles" of woods and brambles of a cold night fol- 
loAving coon dogs are, without mistake, the real thing. 
The baying of a coon dog on a dark, cold night will oust 
a sportsboy from his bed with more precision than any- 
thing known, if it is in him. 
Whether the American Indians gave much time to 
ccon-hunting or not is not a matter of history. It is 
well to assume that if they had coon dogs they did. 
About 20 years ago I went after a coon with a California 
Indian. I furnished most of the ambition and had most 
of the fun, but Dick did the best he could to keep up. 
■But he finally fell down. We were at a ranch and way- 
side hotel, in a good region for coons. There were four 
dogs of assorted sizes and styles at the place, and about 
ten o'clock one dark, cold and drizzly night the dogs 
flushed something down the creek and after running' a 
short distance treed. No one about the place Avas likely 
to be interested but Dick, a rather corpulent Indian, about 
25 years of age. I found him preparing for bed, but 
without much persuasion he agreed to go with me and 
see what the dogs had. We got the big muzzle-loading 
shotgun, put in about "four-finger" loads in each barrel 
and, Avith a big tin barn lantern, set out. 
A mile from the house we found the dogs making a 
great fuss under a dense live-oak, thick hung with wild 
grape vines and plenty of briars. The tree Avas a large 
one, and the foliage and vines so thick upon it we could 
see nothing. We couldn't shine the eyes of anything. 
Whether I suggested it, or whether Dick volunteered to 
climb the tree, I have forgotten, but up the tree went he. 
He Avas a big fat Indian ,and it was slow Avork for him 
m the tangle of vines, taking the lantern with him. I 
stayed below with the gun, inspiring him with praise 
and encouragement. After much grunting and breaking 
01 branches and vines Dick said: "T see him! Do you 
see him? He's a coon, a big feller!" 
I looked but could see nothing but the lantern and 
Dick's fat, red face, about 30 feet from the ground. I 
said, "I can't see him." 
Dick climbed up a little higher, held the lantern over 
his head, and then I could see the coon about six feet 
above him, looking ready to run down the tree. 
"I see him," said I. "He is ^ bi'< one!" 
"Shoot 'um," said Dick. "Shoot pretty high, you see 
me, I'm here, shoot pretty high !" 
I could see the coon, but, as he held the lantern above 
his head, Dick Avas invisible. 1 was m v^ouot anouL 
shooting. The gun might scatter. 
"Better shoot 'um," shouted Dick, "he's coming down 
now !" 
Four dogs were making enough noise for forty. They 
bayed, hoAvled, tried to climb the tree, and snaried at 
each other as they became entangled in the vines. Die < 
was cussing in mixed lingo ri.s h br3""h partly broke 
under him. I was getting excited myself. 
"He's comin'," cried Dick again. "Shoot 'um I Shoot 
pretty hi—' 
_ I had decided to shoot, and Dick's voice was drowned 
111 the roar. It seemed like the blaze from the old gun 
reached up into the tree, and Avhat, in our calm moments 
we call the recoil of the gun, all came my way. There 
Avas an instant's pause, a dark silence— and then other 
things came. There Avas a bang from the tin lantern 
and then more things came out of the darkness overhead 
than I ever brought down at one shot before or since 
As near as I could judge everything loose in that tree 
dropped doAvn Avithout hesitation. Although there avxs 
a jingle of tin and glass, the snari of a coon and the 
crashing of branches, the main commotion seemed to be 
caused by the unpremeditated descent of Dick 
Anxious as the dogs were for something to come down 
the tree, they were completely bewildered when it did 
