jAl^. 23, 1904.3 
AND STREAM. 
fact that I have seen as many of 50,000 buffaloes in one 
herd and as many as 3,500 antelope. As time went on, 
I had shot every kind of game in the country and found 
that I had quite a reputation as a hunter. But I had never 
3'et got a grizzly. I felt that I wanted that to earn my 
degree, thit I was not a real professional until I had 
got my grizzly, and you know that when a man wants to 
get his degree he expects to pay for it and he does not 
mind a few dollars. 
The year that the Northern Pacific extension was 
opened into the country about Yellowstone Park, a party 
of us went out in a special car. We left the track at the 
station nearest to the region where big game was most 
, likely to be plenty. Quite a large party of us went into 
the woods with guides, horses, and a full camp outfit. 
We hunted there for two weeks. We got a silver-tip bear 
and moose, elk, and other big game, but we did not see 
a sign of a grizzly anywhere. It came time to return to 
the station and to our party there. 
Atfer we had gone two days' march and had about 
fifty miles more to go, after we camped for the night, I 
;lay thinking it over and could not sleep. I said to my- 
self that I should never be any nearer the grizzly country 
than T was then, that I should never be any younger, 
and that if I was ever to get my degree, then was the 
time. So I made up my mind to let the rest of the 
- company go on and tell my family what I was going to 
do. My wife and daughter were in the party at the 
station, and I did not want to have them, or anybody else, 
try to turn me back. Then I rolled over and was asleep 
in a minute. 
In the morning, when the others struck their tents, 
mine was left standing, for I had arranged with my guide 
, to come back and return to the grizzly country. IVly 
companions of the party asked me if I was not going to 
strike my tent, too. I told them no, and that I should 
stay in it. They tried to persuade me not to do so, but 
; I was determined, and the outfit departed for our camp. 
] So, in due time, my guides returned with horses and pre- 
visions, and we went back our two days' journey. 
I hunted around for a week, but did not find a sight of 
a grizzly. The weather had changed. Snow came on and 
it was evident that the bears had gone. You know that 
they are great travelers. One of their peculiarities is that, 
under such circumstances, they are likely to go to the 
north slope of the mountains, where the snow is more 
probably blown away. So I said to my guide that we 
v. ould Slay- and try to find a grizzly if it took all winter, 
for I did not mind the cost of $15 a day which the guides 
charged me for their services, horses, and provisions. 
After a while as I was going around the side of an ele- 
vation which had a growtli of pines, I found tracks in the 
snow. They looked perfectly fresh and from their sl/.'c 
I felt sure they were made by a grizzly. Now the guide 
and T had whistles to call each other by if we were 
separated and wanted to find the other. I blew my whis- 
tle for him and he was on the spot pretty soon. He said 
that there was no doubt that the tracks were made by an 
old "Ephraim," and that they were fresh. We -followed 
' sharp along the trail and could see where the grizzly had 
Slopped to feed. Finally we came to a place which is 
called a coulee; this is a piece of low ground where 
'standing water has killed the trees and then it has grown 
up to rushes, cattails, tall grass, and the like. 
When we got in sight of the rushes we could tell from 
the motions that our game was there. He evidently heard 
us, for he stood up on his hind legs a''d looked at us. He 
was a gentu"ne Ephraim. As we measured him afterwards 
we found that he stood eleven feet high, and he was as 
tall as a Jersey cow when he was on all fours. As he 
stood facing us, I said to the guide that I was going to 
do the shooting, and I didn't want him to do anything 
until it was necessary, for I believed that I could stand 
the bear off myself without any help. But I know movt 
now than I did then. I aimed my rifle — and I had a good 
one— straight at his breast, expecting, if I did not put a 
bullet through his heart, to break his backbone and disable 
him in that way. So I let drive. 
He dropped into the tall grass. We used black powder 
^in those days, and I stepped one side to see what had 
happened. Now, when a grizzly is hurt and not disabled, 
he means business, and he means business right off. As 
soon as I could see by the smoke, I could see that he 
was coming straight at me. All his hairs were standing 
up and his mouth was open and he looked just like the 
pictures of bears that are made to scare people. "Good 
heavens! He is coming!" shouted the guide. 
', I let fly with another bullet, but it had no effect on the 
.grizzly, not a bit. He was so tall and rangy that he was 
, coming pretty fast, and I aimed again at his head. He was 
not more than 50 yards off, but the bullet did not stop him 
at all. Somehow I was just as cool as I am now. I 
aimed again and that bullet struck him right in the corner 
of the eye and went through his brain. He curled his 
head around and partly under him, and he wasn't more 
than 25 yards off then. He fell over on his side, with his 
head curled under him. 
\ Though I had been so cool, when I looked around at 
my guide, the sweat was running down his face and off 
from his beard in streams, he was so excited. When the 
reaction came for myself, there was a minute when I felt 
my strength completely gone. I could not possibly have 
picked my rifle from the ground if my life had depended 
(upon it. Rut it was all over in a minute, and I was myself 
again. The guide did not notice how I felt. As we went 
toward the grizzlj', we were careful, but we saw that 
his breathing was coming slower and slower, and then 
it stopped, 
^ It was then four o'clock in the afternoon of a short 
day and we were fifteen miles from camp. I told my 
guide that we must get out of there that night anyway. 
H's pony was a good one, and it is a fact about the 
itrained ponies of that region that if you give them their 
beads in a dark, night., when you can't see the trail, they 
will bring you out all right. We had come through one 
leep mud hole, where I had been thrown off my pony into 
file mud, and we had come up one place which was so 
iteep that we could not ride, but had to be dragged up, 
aolding on to the tails of the ponies. We had to make 
hose, places in the dark. 
When we skinned our grizzly,' I found that my first 
lall had not gone straight through the "body. J supposed 
hat he was facing me squarely when he stood up in the 
vishes, bxtt he had been turned to om side. He had not 
changed the position of his feet when he stood, but 
twisted his body to look at us, so that my bullet went out 
about six inches from the backbone and did not disable 
him. I found that the second bullet which I fired when 
he was coming at me went in at the hump over his 
shoulders and passed along about four feet under the 
skin where I took it out. It did not hurt him, but only 
warmed him up. The third bullet struck the cheek bone 
at an angle and passed along under the skin, coming out 
back of the ear, and did not penetrate the skull at all. 
It was the last bullet which settled him. 
We loaded the skin on the pony and made our way 
back through the darkness, reaching our camp all right 
about nine o'clock. That is how I got my grizzly and 
earned my degree — i. e., having killed every species of 
game on the American continent. 
Adirondack Deer Houndrng. ^ 
Hurricane. N. Y., Jan. it. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Essex County Board of Supervisors, of which I am 
the Keene (net keen) member, seems to have started the 
ball of discussion rolling by passing a resolution in 
favor of deer hounding. 
In a recent issue of your journal I find a signed protest 
against cutting fifteen days from the end of the deer hunt- 
ing season, and also a copy of Mr. Flint's letter to the 
Flizabethtown (N. Y.) Post and Gazette, in effect asking 
for statements from the Essex County Supervisors. 
There seems to have grown up a sentiment that the 
people of this section were, and are, opposed to a hound- 
ing law. I am at a loss to account for the growth of 
such a sentiment, except that it is founded on the "hol- 
lering of the other fellow," and our feeling that it was 
needless as well as useless to deny such statements. The 
facts are so self-evident to us, they need no bolstering. 
They are so fresh in our minds by constant living wuli 
them, and we were so sure that anyone who came into 
this region, and took the trouble to inquire intelligently, 
could come to but one conclusion, it did not seem neces- 
sary to say anything. Another reason we have kept quiet, 
to speak perfectly frankly, is that by the attention which 
was not- paid to our protests by the Legislature at the 
time the present law was being pushed, we were given to 
understand quite distinctly that our wishes in the matter 
did not amount to anything. Yes, you say, but why this 
resolution then ? On Lincoln's principle of "peggin' away, 
pfcggin' away," and also because we do not mean to sit 
quiescent and have the impression go forth that we who 
live in the Adirondacks, and have our interests here, ad- 
mit we were wrong when we protested strongly against 
the passage of the present law. 
In any argument or discussion it is useless to ever hope 
to arrive anywhere without some fundamental point of 
agreement — some ground on which the contending parties 
can stand, or some common object for which both are 
striving. 
With this in view I would state as a general proposition 
this, at which both the opponents and defendants of the 
present law are aiming — a deer hunting law which will 
give the greatest amount of sport to the largest number 
of people consistent with the protection of the deer. 
If any reader of this is aiming at the absolute protec- 
tion of the deer -with no hunting whatever, which seems 
to be the aim of our legislators, who last year cut off fif- 
teen days at the beginning of the hunting season, and 
now propose to cut off fifteen days from the end, he 
need read no further, for agreement between us is hope- 
less. This letter is addressed to those who agree with 
me as to the end to be attained, but disagree with me as 
to the method of arriving at it. 
That a hounding law will afford more sport to more 
people than any other form of hunting law is so patent 
it hardly needs suppQrt; still I shall put one prop 
under it. 
It is a matter of history that the people of this section 
through their representatives, by articles to newspapers, 
and otherwise, fought strongly against the passage of 
the present law. Is it not the fact that we were, in effect, 
accused of desiring the hounding law continued because 
we cared nothing about protecting the deer, caring only 
for the business which came to us because that law was 
on the statute books ? Was it not said that the hotels and 
guides accounted for all the opposition, and that they 
were "hollering so loud" because their business would be 
hurt so much? 
If you agree with me that the guides and hotels of the 
Adirondacks could see more business for them under a 
hounding law, then you must agree with me that a hound- 
ing law would attain the end of "the greatest amount of 
sport for the largest number of people," and also that 
the present law most emphatically does not attain that 
end. 
But would such a law fulfill the condition "consistent 
with the protection of the deer?" This needs careful at- 
tention, for unless the condition is fulfilled the first part 
of the proposition would soon cease to be effective— there 
would be no deer to hunt. 
It was assumed at the time of the passage of the present 
law that deer were, and had been, decreasing for some 
time, and that the hounding end of the law was responsi- 
ble for that decrease. 
Admit for a moment the deer were actually decreasing, 
what evidence was there to prove that hounding was 
responsible? One hard winter of deep snow and little 
food would account for more deer than two or three 
seasons of hounding, and it would take a long while for 
the deer to recover. Jacking and salt-licks, while illegal, 
were practiced, and accounted for a great many more. 
Now, on what is based the assumption that deer are in- 
creasing? The only evidence I have seen is in the re- 
ports of the. Forest, Fish, and Game Commission. Por- 
tions of these reports are given wide circulation in the 
newspapers. They are compiled from reports of ship- 
ments, and cannot be accurate, for a great many are 
killed that are not shipped, and the Commission can have 
no accurate knowledge as to those. Even allowing theni 
a certain value, and they have, they have no comparative 
value* because these statistics have only been collected for 
a few years, and nothing is known of the shipments when 
the hounding law was in force. The conclusions drawn in 
this year's report from the increased shipments, to my 
min4.. a^r^ erroneous. To me, the figures givfen prove t^c, 
things — more perfect methods of collecting data, and aR 
increased number of violations of the law. And a little 
hiquiry will lead you to the same conclusion. 
I believe that deer were decreasing at the time the 
present law was passed, and I also believe they have in- 
creased since the law was passed. Nevertheless, 1 do not 
believe that hounding was responsible for the decrease, 
and I am far from giving the present law credit for the 
increase. Most of the credit must be given to the large 
number of- private parks and reserves, which have been 
a safe refuge for the deer. 
Aside from any comparison with other laws, the present 
law is bad for a number of reasons. It is responsible for 
the deplorable shooting accidents which have occurred 
every season since it became effective. It makes it possi- 
ble to kill deer from a "blind" on the edge of a pond or 
marsh, when flies drive them to the water for relief when 
the weather is so warm that all the meat cannot be 
saved, and, worse than all, the majority of deer killed in 
this way are does. It is an axiom that an unjust and im- 
popular law is almost impossible of enforcement. Convic- 
tions before a jury for violations of the law are few and 
far between, not because of any lack of effort on the part 
of the protectors, but because of the universal sympathy 
with the violators, and the knowledge that the majority 
of men who come here to hunt deer cannot stand the 
fatigue incident to bonafide still-hunting, and it is a 
case of violate the law or not hunt. 
For these reasons, if for no others, this law should be 
changed, and if a hounding law should be passed I would 
favor cutting out the s.till'hunting, at least from the be- 
ginning of the season. 
While on this subject of game laws, I want to ask why 
this attempt to protect bears? No one in this section 
wants them protected. Essex county pays a bounty on 
them. They furnish no sport. No one hunts them. Those 
caught are trapped. 
I have seen it stated somewhere that bears do not kill 
sheep. Why, then, do trappers bait their traps witli 
sheep? A law to protect bears would be no more 
effective and no more observed than a law to protect 
panthers or wolves. Sheep raising is one of our most 
profitable industries, and no sentiment in favor of "poor, 
downtrodden Bruin" should be allowed enough influence 
to pass a law making it a crime for a farmer to kill him 
if he saw him chasing his sheep. There is a law now on 
the statute books which allows a man to kill any dog 
chasing sheep. Should bears be given a license to do it? 
In almost all bodies of men, measures proposed which 
affect a particular section are passed or not passed largely 
on the approval or non-approval of the men representing 
that section, they being given credit for knowing more in 
every way of the conditions and effect of the measures on 
those conditions than men can possibly know who are 
not actually in touch with the people of the section 
affected. 
Game laws in the Adirondacks are for the benefit of 
the people of the whole State, but you cannot get away 
from the fact that first and foremost they are the concern 
of the people of the Adirondacks, who know all the con- 
ditions, and know the direct effect of the laws. 
I would suggest that if a hounding law be not passed 
applying to the whole State, let one be passed covering 
Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Essex, Warren, Her- 
kimer and Hamilton counties. Let it be a law allowing 
hunting only from October i to November 15, hounding 
during the month of October and still-hunting the balance 
of the season. Robert W. Motisher, 
Supervisor of Town of Keene. 
Pennsylvania Game Interests. 
Joseph Kalbfus, secretary of the Pennsylvania State 
Game Commission and chief game protector, in his 
annual report says, "I have suggested, to the Forestry 
Commissioner the propriety of establishing a preserve, 
in which to propagate deer and elk for distribution 
throughtout the State, and my idea is to surround a 
certain piece of land, at such place and of such size, 
on the forestry lands of the State, as may be decided 
upon, with a fence of woven wire that will hold deer, 
etc., and outside this fence, at a distance of say half 
a mile, stretch another single wire, completely sur- 
rounding the preserve, and allow no hunting whatever 
within the single wire, I know that where a preserve 
is established for deer, the deer within the inclosure 
draw the wild deer from the outside, and a sure place 
to jump the deer is within a few hundred yards of said 
fence on the outside. 
"I have also recommended the setting apart of cer- 
tain tracts of land, one or m.ore on each reservation, 
of dimensions and location to be decided upon, as a 
harbor of refuge into which game and birds of all kinds 
can retreat, and be safe from harm at all times. These 
tracts should be surrounded with a single wire, simply 
as a notice to the hunters, the ground poisoned system- 
atically two or three times a year, and I am satisfied 
the increase of game, deer, and birds will be very 
noticeable. The Forestry Commission seem^ disposed 
to furnish the land for either purpose, leaving the ques- 
tion of wire and the erection of the fence to the Game 
Commission and the sportsmen of the State. 
"Many complaints come to us of various forms of 
violation of the game laws. The men who, up to a 
limited time, have been in the habit of using dogs in 
hunting deer, complain bitterly of the energy with 
which we pursue the dog that runs deer and punish 
the owner for permitting such running, and still permit 
the use of birds dogs in the deer country during the 
open season for deer, claiming, and justly, too, that the 
bird dog trained to stand a deer is far more dangerous 
than the running dog, and that nine-tenths of the bird 
dogs taken into the aforesaid country at that time are 
taken for the pjurpose of hunting deer, and nothing 
else. I myself saw ..everal men this fall hunting with 
dogs they called oird dogs. In two instances the 
dogs were led, a'/d the men carried Winchester rifles, 
every bird hunger, almost without exception, carrying 
cartridges loaded with buckshot. It does seem to me 
that there is much justice in the complaint of these 
men, and that tt would be only fair that all dogs be 
kept out of the deer country during the open sea;«on 
foT defer, I have refcbmmfended that this be done upo^, 
