104 
FOREST -AND STREAM. 
[Feb. % iyOj, 
"Done," replied Judge Beebe, and without more 
ado he hitched himself in the shafts and off he started. 
Barret took another wagon and followed. Beebe won 
the bet, getting to the station just as the train was 
in sight. 
And with that story I will stop, not that I need to 
stop, for the list was a long one and the times we had 
were good. 
One dinner, perhaps, I shall tell about, however. A 
lady living at Madison, mother of one of the gentle- 
men whose name I have mentioned, ironically re- 
marked one evening when we were making great prepa- 
rations for the morrow's expedition, that she would 
have cooked all the woodcock we would shoot and 
give us all the champagne we could drink besides. We 
returned next evening with forty-two birds, and to 
this day I can see the lady's face when we produced 
them. She did not quite cook them all, and the din- 
ner was a little late, but we had all that even a young 
man with a hunter's ^ appetite could enjoy, and the 
champagne was frappeed to perfection. 
In conclusion let me say, in the words of another 
good sportsman, General Davies, "Remember no man 
ever caught a trout in a dirty place." 
Robert B. Roosevelt. 
— $ — 
Yellowstone Park Game. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Four more buflalo cows have been added to the 
herd in the Park, purchased from Howard Eaton. They 
are from the Allard herd. They are quite contented 
with their companions from the same herd. Hay is 
fed to them every day, but they go out in the pasture 
to pick up a little range grass. There is a number 
of mule deer and a few white tail deer in the same in- 
closure. I took a ride the 8th down Gardiner River, 
and on to MacMinn's Bench (a shoulder of Mt. Everts). 
From the time we left Ft. Yellowstone until we re- 
turned we (Major Pitcher and I) were not out of sight 
of game for a moment. In fact, deer were in sight 
when we mounted our horses. We saw on the Bench 
back from the cliffs at Eagle Nest, about 150 antelope 
(I counted that number). There were in one band over 
200 elk, and lower down, on Turkey Pen No. i, we saw 
a band of 32 mountain sheep. Elk, antelope and mule 
deer were all around the place, where the sheep were, 
and scattered all over the side of the mountain toward 
the town of Gardiner. Elk, antelope and deer were 
on top as far as we could see. With field glasses \ve 
could see heads and backs of animals, their bodies hid 
by the turn of the hill. Across Gardiner River (to 
the west), at the springs above Ice Lake, there was 
one band of 118 elk. At Ice Lake I could see elk lying 
down along the shore, elk in the quaking asp groves, 
elk feeding and one drinking at an open place in the 
ice on the lake. Elk and deer were lying down and 
feeding on the ridges above the lake (to the north). 
Game was in sight in every direction. We could see 
bands of antelope on the flats close to the town of 
Gardiner. Returning, we saw 19 mule deer in what is 
known as the Company Garden (soldiers' garden). 
While we were looking at them others came down the 
hill and joined them, first three, then two, then three; 
then others were coming from the aspen groves and 
willow patches. It was now almost sunset; we did not 
stop longer, but started home. Across Gardiner River 
(we were now on the west side) were three very large 
bull elk close to the river, several others were up the 
river on the lower slopes of Mt. Everts. Mule deer 
were all along the road home, and at no time were we 
out of sight of some of the larger game. 
Monday evening, or, rather, an hour before sun- 
down, Howard Eaton and Major Pitcher started for 
a walk and to call on Buffalo Jones and to see the 
buffalo. They had their cameras. I was too lazy to 
go along, but not too lazy to stand on the veranda 
and watch them photographing a bunch of deer in 
front of the quarters. The deer paid very little atten- 
tion to them or any one else. Three wood teams were 
on the road to the northwest; along the walks were 
several people, one lady with a baby carriage and a 
soldier scout horseback. The deer, nine of them, were 
surrounded on all sides by people. They were feedmg 
on upland hay Major Pitcher had placed there for 
them. At first they used to pay very little attention to 
the hay, now they come to it every afternoon, and at 
most a"ny time of the night some of them can be seen 
out there. r 1 ^ • r 
I had been curious to see the effect of the hrmg ot 
the sundown or evening gun on them. So when I 
heard the bugle sound I watched them. Two soldiers 
came from guard house to the flag staff, two others 
went to the gun. the deer were between the two parties. 
The sentry and others of the guard were in front of 
the house. The two men at the flag staff were less 
than 100 feet away. The bugle sounded, the gun was 
fired and the flag commenced to lower at the report 
of the -gun; the deer raised their heads, but did not 
stop eating. Thev paid more attention to the men 
with the flag. After all the men returned to the guard 
house parties of ladies and officers were still m front 
of the quarters calling to each other and making re- 
marks about the deer. , , rx 
Sometimes one or two will pretend to be wild. Une 
the other evening grabbed a mouthful of hay, and the 
loose hay hanging down to below its breast streamed 
back as it bounded aw.ay with the peculiar jumps and 
then trot I called to it, "Oh, you wild fat rascal, 
come back with that hay." Another deer started up, 
bounded off about 100 feet, turned, bounded back past 
the other deer, trotted around a bit as though it was 
warming itself by a little exercise The one with the 
bunch of hay in its mouth stood eating it 200 feet 
away suddenly it whirled and went bounding toward 
the others, moving its head with a backward and for- 
ward movement at every jump. I called it putting 
tf>n style" I talk "baby talk" to them, as our friend 
Col. Pickett calls it. Call them "villins," fat i'a.scals 
and wild things, and tell them they will starve to 
death if they don't keep away from that hay; but they 
pay no attention to my talk until I cry like a young 
deer or a coyote, then their heads are up, for a while 
they are all tittention, their cars out like small wings, 
but soon with a toss of their heads they are eating 
again, saying "it's nobody but that old, foolish Billy 
Hofer trying to make us think he can frighten us." 
They all seem to know that no one wants to hurt them. 
Back of the commissioner's house is a favorite place 
for about 20 deer; these may be seen most .any time. 
Along the road toward Golden Gate may be seen from 
20 to 50 deer any time; these are most all bucks. One 
has a peculiar growth from each horn, a brancli for- 
ward toward its nose, making it look a little bit like 
a caribou. I call him the caribou deer. Several shots 
have been taken at him with a camera. I hope some 
of the shots were true and that we will have his picture 
Monday evening. We were out that way, and the doc- 
tor shot both deer and elk with his faithful 4x5. One 
fine buck was about 50 feet from the road; a wood 
team had just passed; we stopped to let the doctor have 
a shot. I called, but the deer would pay no attention 
to us until I gave him the coyote cry, then he looked 
up for a second, long enough for a shot, but went to 
pawing snow and eating; his actions seemed to say, 
"I wonder what's the matter with that crowd? Won- 
der if they think I'm going to pay any attention to 
them!" Indifl[erence would be a good name for his pic- 
ture. 
Howard Eaton, of Medora, went out on McMinn's 
Bench with Major Pitcher, Lieut. Cullen and Scout 
McBride. Howard says he saw and counted 600 elk, 
400 antelope, 30 mountain sheep, and did not try to 
count the mule deer, but saw many, over 100. Mr. 
Eaton counted these animals not estimated. All this 
game was within less than three miles of the town of 
Gardiner, Montana, and at that only those animals 
on the east side of Gardiner River and in the Park. 
There are people who doubt these statements and who 
even say, "I don't believe it." They make me think 
of the gentleman whom I met at the Grand Caiion 
Hotel along toward '89. I was telling a friend of mine 
about the buffalo in the Park. This gentleman "chipped 
in" and said "he did not believe there was any buffalo 
in the Park." I looked at him a moment, and then 
said I was not worth much, but would put my outfit 
up against $500 that I would show him buffalo within 
less than ten miles of the lower Geyser Basin. But he 
would not go out, said he could not ride horseback. 
I wonder if he expected to see all the game in the Park 
along the wagon roads? Why! of all the game to be 
seen here now; around Gardiner, Ft. Yellowstone and 
other parts of the Park, animals by the hundreds and 
thousands, hardly one can be seen by the time the 
tourist season opens. People who make the tour of 
the Park along the usual traveled routes see very little 
of the game range of the country, while in the timber 
they can see but a few feet each side of the road, and 
usually see only one side at that. Even in the open 
country they see very little of it, and while there is 
game to be seen in the open country in sumrner, it is 
not usually where wagons travel. How very little of a 
country one does see closely enough to distinguish 
an animal if it were in sight, very few people realize, 
and yet they talk of seeing a greater part of the Park 
when they have traveled some of its wagon roads, and 
say there is no game in it because they did not see it. 
Once I was taking a party through before the days of 
wagon roads; we had seen considerable game, and were 
traveling along the shore of YelloAvstone Lake. One 
of the gentlemen of the party said he did not believe 
there were any trout in the lake because he could not 
see them. A gale was blowing at the time; the lake 
was rough and the season was late October. I told 
him I would try to catch some trout that night, but 
it commenced to snow and snowed all night and all 
next day. I did not attempt to take trout and he did 
not see any. I told him I could not help what he be- 
lieved, but the trout were there just the same. So it 
is with the game. I don't care much what people be- 
lieve or disbelieve. The game is here just the same. 
I would like to have some of my friends come out here 
and see it, not that I think they doubt my word, but 
because it. is such a glorious sight — four and five thou- 
sand elk and other animals, to say nothing of ducks 
and other water fowl. I have been from Florida to 
Alaska, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; I have been 
on the plains in the buffalo days when they could be 
seen by the thousands; I have seen antelope by the 
thousands and other animals in great number, but never . 
was where I could see so many different animals and 
in such number at one time and all so tame, as can 
now be seen in the Yellowstone National Park. As 
I write I can see from the window eight does and one 
large buck mule deer feeding on the hay in front of 
the quarters. This in the bright sunshine at 3:10 P. M. 
Jan. 12 Howard Eaton went with a party from the 
post to Specimen Divide. Between Ft. Y'ellowstone 
and Yancey's he counted 749 elk, 21 mule deer and i 
coyote along the trail. Just before reaching Yancey s 
they ran into a large band of elk. It was getting late, 
and as the elk were in timber as well as the open coun- 
try, they could not get a careful count, but made out 
the band to consist of not less than 400. On the 13th, 
from Yancey's to half-way to Soda Butte, they counted 
1,120 elk, 2 mule deer, i white tail, 5 coyotes; this along 
the road; 800 elk were estimated in small bands on hills 
in sight, but too far to count. Now this trip was made 
in fine weather; the elk were back from the road on 
the higher feeding grounds. By leaving the road they 
could have seen a great many more or had the snow 
been deeper. Howard is satisfied there are a few elk 
left. 
The wild mallard ducks are getting tame, too; they 
feed in large flocks on refuse close to Ft. Yellowstone, 
and can be seen in the road picking up oats scattered 
from the loads freighted from the railroad. There duck 
are the only ones that can be called tame; several 
other kinds are wild yet, and they will fly when teams 
pass closely. ... , , j 
C, J, Jones got a fine hon m his trap the other day, 
making two killed this wiiUc'r, In date 1'his Is Hot 
killing them fa.st enough. 
A party of eastern people have at last seen some of 
the game. They came up here Monday, the igth, and 
returned next day to Livingston; they were en route 
to the Pacific coast. They were well satisfied with 
what they saw during their short visit. 
We are very much disappointed because Mr. Grin- 
nell did not come out. All the Boone and Crockett 
Club should visit the Park once in winter. H. 
Animal Tracks and Trailing. 
I RKMKMEER as if it wcrc but yesterday, the first trip 
that I took into the real wilderness. It was in the 
overflow lands of eastern Arkansas, a region of cane- 
brakes, C3^press sloughs, tupelo brakes and vast stretches 
of flat-woods in which sassafras grew four feet thick 
and persimmons rose slim and straight as masts to a 
height of ninety feet or more. It was indeed a new 
country to me, a Northern man by birth and breeding, 
and everything puzzled me. I remember how surprised 
I was to find that fish poles, on their native soil, have 
leaves. And I remember, when we first saw a cypress 
swamp, with the great "knees" protruding, how one of 
my companions from the North exclaimed: "Well, 
some fellow must have had a dickens of a lot to d j 
to come here and sharpen, all those stumps!" But 
the tracks of animals puzzled me most of all. The 
guide would say, "Here went a doe, here a big buck 
followed her, here he jumped over this log," and so 
on; and he always wound up with a "Can't you see?" 
No, I could not see. My eyes were sharp enough over 
the rifle sights, but they could see nothing to show 
what animals had passed, or what they were doing at 
the time. It took me a week to distinguish with confi- 
dence a deer's track from that left by a razor-back 
hog. 
I thought at that time that if some competent person 
should publish accurate illustrations of the feet and 
tracks of our principal wild animals, together with oth- 
ers, showing how they differed from tracks left by 
cattle, hogs, and dogs, it would go far toward initiating 
a novice into the mysteries of tracks and trailing. And 
it would. 
That such a thing is practicable has recently been 
proven in Germany. In the latter part of 1901 there 
was published by J. Neumann, in the little town of 
Neudamm, in Prussia, a book that does for European 
sportsmen what I wish somebody would do for Ameri- 
cans. It is entitled "Fahrten und Spurenkunde," which, 
freely translated, means The Art of Tracking and 
Trailing. The text is by Eugene Teuwsen and the 
illustrations by Carl Schulze. There are 163 capital 
wood cuts, mostly life-size, showing with more than 
photographic exactness the tracks left by European 
game. The drawings are from nature, and are so 
faithful that, by their aid and a little study of the text, 
a small boy should be able to tell, on moist earth or 
snow, what animal had made a given track, and at 
what pace it was traveling. The descriptive matter 
and illustrations fill 132 octavo pages. The book re- 
tails at 6 marks ($1.50). 
As an example of the author's method in teaching 
the art of trailing, we may cite his treatment of the 
red deer's tracks. He first gives descriptions and life- 
size drawings of the under side of the hind feet of the 
mature male red deer, fallow deer, wild boar and roe- 
buck. As the drawings stand side by side, on opposite 
pages, one can take in at a glance the essential differ- 
ences between the feet of these four beasts. Following 
are illustrations showing the slight difference between 
the track of an old and feeble red deer and that of a 
sturdy buck fallow deer; also the resemblance in size 
between the foot prints of a red deer fawn in July and 
that of a doe fallow deer. Drawings' are also given 
showing the marked difference between the feet of red 
deer stags and hinds. The author then discusses the 
length and breadth of tracks of stags, hinds and fawns; 
their length and width of pace; the extent to which they 
"toe-out" in walking; the impression of the dewclaws; 
the "balling" of tracks in snow or mud; the over- 
reaching of the hind foot in walking; the signs left on 
moist leaves, etc.; the marks made by the antlers on 
bushes and trees; the indications of different paces in 
walking, running and jumping; and many other nice 
points in reading a deer's movements. The chapter 
concludes with a dissertation on the droppings of deer 
of different ages and at different seasons. The various 
sub-headings are accompanied by 30 illustrations, con- 
scientiously drawn from nature by an artist thoroughly 
familiar with his subject. 
In like manner, though at less length, the book de- 
scribes and illustrates the tracks of the moose, fallow 
deer, roebuck, chamois, wild boar, hare, rabbit, squir- 
rel, bear, wolf, dog (for comparison), fox, wildcat, 
badger, otter, woods and stone martins, polecat, vari- 
ous weasels, and, among fowls, those of the caper- 
caillie, black-cock, hazel grouse, moor-hen, quail, pheas- 
ant, curlew, bustard, crane, stork, heron, swan, wild 
goose, wild duck and rook. 
The text is hard to read, owing to the multitude of 
words unfamiliar to an average reader: for the German 
language of sport is so technical as to require a glos- 
sary of its own. 
This book shows us what can be accomplished by 
type, and especially by well-executed drawings, toward 
preparing a novice for the practical study of this most 
difficult branch of wildcraft. A book alone cannot 
make a good trailer of anyone, but it can teach him 
what to look for, and can save him many a blunder. 
It shortens the curriculum. This is all that the best 
of manuals can do— but it is a great deal. 
Cannot some one give us a similar book on the 
tracks of American game animals? It would be inter- 
esting, not to hunters only, but to everyone who loves 
outdoor life. Horace Kephart. 
St. Loui.s 
AH communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., New 
York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
