^06 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
ISept. 13, 190:2. 
little warm for him, and it was only after an anxi9us 
search that we at last found him near the depot, lookmg 
for the ticket agent and evidently wanting to get home 
on the first train out of that inhospitable #9untry. We 
Ininted up a doctor, put cocaine on Teddy's wounds and 
sewed him up with several stitches in several places. 
As for the meat dog, he bluffed both the Irish setters 
out of the game, and gave old Range, the black pointer, 
clearly to understand that he wanted no foolishness. He 
had a head about as big as a kettle. His eyes were yel- 
low and fish-like, exactly similar to those of a mus- 
callunge. He would weigh about as much as a yearling 
steer, had No. 12 feet, and a tail which curved upward 
in a way no pointer's tail ought to curve. Nobody liked 
this dog, and there was criticism openly expressed for 
Mr. Stephens' judgment. 
The Opening Day. 
We slept that first night in the hay mow, after a very 
excellent supper cooked by Mr. Fullerton, with Jimmie 
Jones as assistant. At 5 o'clock next morning we were 
up and breakfast was under way, and by the time the sun 
was coming across the stubble fields, we were out for the 
first sport of opening day. Jimmie Jones, Major Handy 
and myself w'ent together with a driver in one of the rigs ; 
Mr. Fullerton, Col. Hamlin, Mr. Stephens and Mr. 
ChappcU taking the other rig. 
As for our partv, we did not begin to do much business 
for the first hour 'or so. Then the dogs stopped just too 
late to prevent the flushing of a- bunch of old birds which 
were feeding at the end of a strip of stubble. As had the 
birds on the preceding day, these flew as though demons 
were after them. I never saw prairie chickens go so far 
on the ist of September. None the less we marked them 
down nearly a half-mile from their starting place, and 
spread out over a quarter of a mile of grass land. Here 
the dogs began to do business, and we picked up three 
birds in short order. Jimmie Jones I knew to be a good 
steadv shot, and I was pleased to see that Major Handy, 
with his new little i6-gauge, was also a self-possessed and 
accurate chicken shot. It was almost as much fun for me 
to see him shoot as it was to shoot on my own part, for 
he is an old newsnaper man and for six or eight years has 
not had a gun on his shoulder. I presume he enjoyed the 
trip more than any one of us who have had a more fre- 
quent taste of the outdoor air during late years. 
We did not find anv good coveys of birds that morning, 
but picked up some more chickens here and there, one or 
two at a time, until w^e had eight birds, if my memory is 
correct Ml the time our estimation of the white meat 
dog was enhancing very rapidly. In short, Ave knew that 
in him we had a very sood chicken dog. His fault was 
that of self-hunting. His range was anything from 100 
vards to half a miTc, as he saw fit, and he never looked 
for us • but when he pointed he stood .staunch, no matter 
how long we were in coming up. Mr. Fullerton thought 
our comment regarding the dog was made from polite- 
ness and expressed no desire to hunt over him, although 
his own party had only picked up four chickens m the 
morning. . , j 
In the afternoon we went out in the same order, i ne 
day was clear and a bit warm, so that we did not expect 
to do anj-thing until evening. Yet the old white dog kept 
on moving, setting a pace entirely too hoi for old Range, 
although the latter kept on going and never failed to 
back his running mate's points, or to point a single bird 
now and again when occasion came his way. We heard 
guns once or twice, from our other party as we supposed. 
Indeed, we counted nearly a dozen during the day. i ins 
would seem to break up the hunting considerable but it 
must be remembered that the country was very flat and 
one could see for a mile or two. There were not 
enough hunters to interfere with each other. 
We did not get very far away before the old white dog 
began to make game along the edge of the stubble, and 
presently came to a stand. We followed him up and he 
began to road along, with head high m the air, after true 
chfcken dog fashion, working out his scent _i)romptly and 
decisivelv, not puttering and yet not hurrying too much. 
Presently he stood firm and would go no further, and m 
an instant we were in the middle of our first good covey 
rise Then methinks the guns did indeed speak merrily, 
and" thd chickens began to fall like autumn leaves. We 
nicked up six out of this little round up. not a very ordi- 
nary thing when three guns are shooting at one covey 
rise We followed on across the hills and flats and now 
and then knocked down another single. Once more Ave 
caught a good covey point over the old white dog, and this 
time I believe we picked up five, with a single found a 
little later. Still again, as evening came on, the meat dog 
trailed a little way and pointed staunchly on the stubble. 
This covey we nearly wiped off the face of the earth 
only two birds going on after the fusilade was oyer, and 
one of these we picked up later over the white dog s point. 
Starting for home once more, the old fellow pointed stitt, 
and I killed a single cock in very disgusting fashion, since 
it went directly toward Major Handy's side of the line 
■\ little further on the black dog made a good point at the 
corner of a stubble, and again I got an old chicken. A 
few minutes later the black dog pointed m the grass, and 
Jimmie Jones made a long, clean kill with his new 7/2- 
pound Smith gun, which he was shooting for the first time 
that day. . , ^ . ,, 
By this time Ave were all getting down to it in pietty 
good shape. In a covey rise we could not always tell as 
to our shooting, for in spite of all, shooters will occasion- 
ally double on the same bird, but on the whole we_ were 
satisfied with our execution. I Avas conscious of missing 
dean only two birds during the day. I do not think that 
Jimmie Jones ever missed a clean shot withm range, rior 
'did Major Handy. The work of the latter was ideal. He 
did not snap his birds, but simply waited for them to 
steady and the way he cut them down with the little 10 
was very much of a delight to us. I think we brought 
home twenty-one chickens in our wagon that evening, and 
I remember that the total score for the day of both 
wacxons was forty-four birds, the other party getting 
eleven birds in the afternoon. Nothing very big for so 
m.anv "^nns, and nothing very satisfactory to those of the 
other vphicle, but plenty of birds for those of our OAvn 
more fortimate party. The others reported that their 
dogs did not do so well as they ought to have done, that 
Teddy had gone foot sore, that one of the Irish beauties 
lacked judgment, and the other lacked nose. Still our 
friends were plucky and declared they were having a 
good time. I know we all had a good supper and a good 
sleep in the hay mow. 
The Second Day. 
On the following morning we had to start home, and 
all of us being a little less keen, we made a later begin- 
ning with the business of the day. Our wagon had not 
gone far before the white dog pointed at the edge of a 
grass patch and four birds went out. One came directly 
toward the wagon and Major Handy killed it from the 
seat Avhere be sat. We marked down the others and 
picked up a couple of them. Then we went on across the 
continuous expanse of stubble and grass lands, happy 
enough to be simply alive and out of doors. It was the 
old black pointer's ttirn this time, and presently he made 
a beautiful point on a high stubble knoll. The meat dog 
was off at one side, but backed nicely. Then old Range 
gave his younger rival a taste of what he could do in 
working out a co-vey scent. Promptly and with head 
high in air, he led us up to the birds. There was a con- 
fused whirring of wings, a rattling of shots and a little 
addition of four more birds to our stock in trade. We 
had bad luck Avith the singles out of this rise and so 
drove on. 
Presently old Range pointed once more in a grass- 
covered hollow, which I am satisfied was once a buffalo 
Avallow. A good bunch got out here and we picked 
up five birds. We had the singles marked Avell, and 
added three more to our bag, two falling to Major 
Handy's deadly sixteen, and the third to Jimmie's long- 
range artillery. 
It may be seen that the floor of our vehicle was pretty 
well covered with birds when we met the others at the 
appointed luncheon place on the banks of the Red River 
of the North. Our friends had bad luck, the hot weather 
pretty nearly knocking out their dogs, and they had only 
a couple of birds to show as the product of the morning's 
work. 
After lunch we made some changes. Major Handy 
going into the other rig and Mr. Fullerton and Col. 
Hamlin coming into ours, where the two pointers were to 
continue their^work. This time the luck remained with 
the pointers. Major Handy and his friends did nothing 
during the afternoon, not seeing a single bird. Upon the 
other hand, we had hardly parted company when we put 
up a bunch of chickens on a high stubble field. The 
wind Avas increasing very fast, and the birds were wild, 
and Ave got no work out of them, only stopping two out of 
the 'rise, both probably to Mr. Fullerton's gun. Later on 
the Avhite pointer made a beautiful crouching point, Avhich 
showed that there Avas a covey at hand. Once more the 
birds rose wild and we did not get a shot, nor did we 
get up any of the scattered birds. The grouse contimied 
to fly to unexpected distances, after a fashion I think 
never seen equaled at that time of the year, and which 
leads me to suppose that the habits of these birds must be 
changed, and that the birds themselves are becoming far 
more Avary and suspicious. 
Still again we put up a bunch of birds wild, the dogs 
pointing fully thirty yards back of them, and we failed to 
get a shot within range. This time, however, we marked 
some of them doAvn, and the old black dog pointed 
staunchly at the edge of a thicket which grew along a 
ditch. Along this we moA^cd, and presently I heard two 
shots to the left, which it proved meant a bird each for 
Col. Hamlin and Mr. Fullerton. On my side of the 
thicket there came out a big chicken, flying like a sky- 
rocket, and I had all I could do to stop him inside of 
fifty yards. Yet another bird we marked down and put 
up wild, Avasting tAvo shots each on him. Later this 
bird, after flying a long way, apparently dropped dead 
OA-er in a pasture. He Avas not dead by a large ma- 
jority. Col. Hamlin walked him up and fired at him fully 
fifty or sixty yards away. The bird kept on flying for 
twenty or thirty yards further, and as it was then only 
about sixty yards from me, I put up my gun intending 
to try a long shot. Following along about a dozen feet 
ahead of the bird, I was surprised, before I had time to 
fire, to see it drop with a broken wing and apparently 
dead. Col. Hamlin wanted to ImoAV if I had shot at it, 
and I fooled him for quite a Avhile. The truth is it Avas 
his own gun that killed the bird, the wing bone ap- 
parentlv breaking after it had floAvn some ways. 
A little further on Ave got into another covey, and Mr. 
Fullerton stopped one bird from his seat in the wagon, 
putting in a cartridge after they began to rise. He killed 
another in the thicket we had just left. The wild weather 
was now apparently making the birds stir around, and 
Ave got some running and roading on the part of the 
dogs though Avithout much more success on the part of 
the birds. The weather, which had been very warm 
earlier, now began to change and a very cold wind came 
up. Presently we concluded to drop the hunting and ride 
on into Fergus Falls. 
Rather Not Have Missed It. 
In the afternoon most of the glory belonged to Mr. Ful- 
lerton. In the first bevy rise Ave had, it is quite likely 
he killed both birds, for I know I missed Avith my second 
barrel. A little later on happened one of the funniest 
things of the entire trip. One or two birds sprang from 
the 'stubble as Ave rode along, and thinking that there 
might be others, I jumped from the Avagon and slipped a 
couple of shells into my gun. Just as I did so, a fine fat 
chicken sprang up a fcAV yards ahead of me and circled off 
to the left, offering about the prettiest and easiest shot 
any one ever did see in all his life. It never occurred to 
me that I would miss this bird, but after I had done so a 
couple of times, I realized that I had no more barrels to 
my "-un I Avould have given $50 then for one more shot. 
'Ihe way Mr. Fullerton and Col. • Hamlin did roast me 
after that was something to render me unhappy for many 
moons. „ . , , , _ , 
"They have been telling me." said Mr. Fullerton, aU 
about your shooting chickens, but I see now how it Avas. 
You are a good shot in a croAvd, but when you get a 
chicken out Avith no one to shoot at it but yourself, you 
don't seem to do business." 
This was one of the shots one Avould rather not have 
missed. Really the prairie chicken is not a hard bird to 
kill unless he is the prairie chicken of the solitary six- 
year-old sort, that starts at fifty yards and flies a mile. 
I presume we should be said to have had pretty good 
luck in handling our birds, for we met quite a proportion 
of old and scattered birds. When we got into a young 
covey, we nearly always accounted for ourselves hand- 
somely. Mr. Fullerton was much disappointed that we 
did not have better shooting, but when we came to* take 
the birds out of the wagons at Fergus Falls on the even- 
ing of the second day, we found Ave had seventy-four in 
all. I hardly know where they all came from. We 
picked them up here, there and everywhere, and our 
bag was perhaps as many as we ought to have cared for. 
Had we run into a great many cOA^eys, it would not have 
taken us long to kill the limit for each gun. Allowing 
that Ave had five guns to our party, Ave might then have 
brought in 250 chickens instead of seventy-four. For my 
own part, I was Avell content. I broiled a half-dozen 
chickens on coals in my own fireplace on Lake Minne- 
tonka, had some Minnesota wild rice to go therewith, and 
was happy as a lord. Moreover, was I not out with good 
gentlemen and good shots? 
Sequel of the Meat Dog. 
- Moreover, did I not see one more chicken dog, a meat 
dog of the olden time? I do not know why it is, but I 
am A'ery lucky on all my chicken hunts, for there is sure 
to be somewhere around at least one simple-minded, 
direct, matter-of-fact, old-fashioned meat dog such as I 
used to know years ago. I rather envy Sam Fullerton. 
He has a chicken dog with as good a nose as any he will 
ever find. MoreoArer, he has without doubt the homeliest 
dog in the whole Northwest. Hitherto Sam Fullerton 
has been having great trouble with people who steal his 
dogs. He need give himself no further concern. This 
dog is so homely that no one will ever think of stealing 
him. 
"I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for him," said Mr. 
Fullerton to me. "That one half-day "in which I saw 
him work shoAved me that he is a bird dog all right- 
Besides, a neighbor of mine has two mean dogs which 
ha\'e been in the habit of whipping every dog I take out 
to my house. I don't suppose I'll do a thing to those 
dogs now, will I? Why, Avhen this old fellow of mine 
runs against- those treasures of my neighbor's, he'll just 
eat 'em up ! I'm anxious to get him home, so's to see the 
fun begin." 
The last I saw of Mr. Fullerton, he was in a cab, hold- 
ing one of his Irish setters down on one side and just 
reaching for the collar of the white dog, which I was 
handing in on the other side. I don't know whether Mr. 
Fullerton ever got home alive or not, but hardly think he 
did, for it is not likely that the old white pointer would 
ever let an opportunity like that go by. There was prob- 
ably a beautiful dog fight on before the cab had gone two 
blocks. I never did see a dog more able to take care 
of himself than this meat dog. As I led him up to the 
cab door on the chain, I happened to step on one of his 
feet. In an instant he had me by the leg, just to show 
me that it was not well to take any liberties with his 
feet, even if they were large. He'll do for the battles 
of this life. He is one of the sort which can whip every 
dog on the place, eat all the grub you can throw to him, 
and then go out and hunt chickens by the week, footsore 
or not footsore, and not care a cent whether he is ever 
near the wagon or not. 
The Chicken Crop in the Northwest. 
As to the chicken crop in the Northwest this year, it is 
safe to say that for once in a Avay it is up to the an- 
nouncements and prophecies regarding it. There are 
chickens all over the State of Minnesota north of St. 
Paul. This is in spite of a very wet spring, wliich prob- 
ably drowned out a good many birds over flat regions 
such as that in which our party did their htmting. Elbow 
Lake, Windom, Ulen, Twin Valley, Crookston, Thief 
River Falls — these and dozens of other points had birds, 
as I learned from sportsmen whom I met on the trains. 
Going out of St. Paul I counted thirty-eight dogs in one 
baggage car, and nearly as many guns in one sleeper. 
These people began to come in about the middle of the 
v.'cek, and I saAV the bags of many of them, 30, 40, 50, or 
more birds in each party. Up at Fargo, N. D., the sport 
Avas said to be very fine, and a man just back from Fargo 
said that nearly every one up there had plenty of birds, 
one man bringing in over 100. Pembina, N. D., was a 
point much patronized this year, and apparently profitably 
so. The country from Crookston to Winnipeg Junction 
Avas much shot over and was prolific. The Breckenridge 
division of the Northern Pacific had birds nearly all along 
the line. In South Dakota, Avhere the Marvin Hughitt 
party, with Theodore RooscA^elt, Jr., hunted, there were- 
plenty of birds. Dispatches say that this party killed 15.3 
chickens in one day, more than 100 another day, etc. Of 
this party, besides the younger members, were Messrs. 
Cantillon, Sanborn, Johnson and Gardner, of the C. & 
N. W. Ry. Co. These gentlemen met good weather and 
good sport, ahhough they got into a country which was 
much posted. They worked from Arlington to Pletland 
and other points along the railroad. 
It is almost certain that respect for the ganie laws and 
appreciation of the game birds are on the increase in the 
Northwest. The Minnesota Avardens enforced the non- 
resident license act and tliey took in a great deal of money 
from non-resident shooters. The better class of these 
non-residents do not object to paying the license. - In- 
deed they ought not to do so ; neither ought they object 
to the limit of twenty-five birds a day, difficult as it is to 
attain in these times. There are birds, plenty of birds, 
more birds now in Minnesota and the Dakotas than there 
were ten years ago, but there are not birds enough to last 
forever. The chicken is too easy and defenseless, and 
if you turn the w'hole public loose on him without reser- 
vation, it is not going to endure, and you can bet on it. 
Minnesota Shooters. 
Mayor Smith, of St. Paul, was the guest of D. C 
Shepard, the latter taking out his private car. They went 
to North Dakota, and not, it may be stated in passing, to 
TAvin Valley. 
. Messrs. Paul Gotzian, Geo. Mdntyre, James Myron, A. 
C Deverell and F. R. Yerxa, were among those who 
shot at Herman, on the Great Northern. Donnelly, on 
the same road, attracted A. C. Shotwell and Harry 
Roberts. A party headed by Rudolph Schiffman, Jr., went 
