260 
FOREST AND STREAM 
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that game was powerful scarce, but if they would stay a 
day or two that I thought I could help them out. I seed 
that they was as ornery a lot of pilgrims as ever herded 
into one bunch, and as it was getting dark I started for 
home. ; ■ . ■. . , . . ... 
"I got about half way when I hears something m the 
brush, and getting down close to the ground I seed the 
tips of the horns of two bull elk. They was moving 
enough so that I could make out which way they stood, 
and, being right close to them, I figured out about where 
to shoot, and bangs into one of them, and he dropped; 
t'other one jumped and stooped, and I gave it to him as 
he tumbled down. Them blame pilgrims heard me shoot- 
ing, and I could hear them buzzing like a nest of hornets. 
By this time it was powerful dark, and I wanted to take 
the inards out of them elk, so I scratched round and gets 
some bark and dry wood and soon had a big blaze lighting 
up the elk in great shape. I had got one fixed up when 
the whole band of pilgrims come, with lanterns and guns 
and the darned dude with his Winchester. 
"Cornel, you just ought to seen them darned fools act. 
The dude wanted the horns (he called them antlers) , Old 
Missouri' wanted the hides, and they all wanted meat. 1 
told them that I wanted that 'ere meat to jerk for winter ; 
that it war fine meat, and would last me till spring, and 
that game was so scarce that I sure couldn't get any more, 
and that I considered it was a dispensation of D^ine 
Providence in my behalf that I got the elk sorter like the 
ravens feeding Elijah. They wanted to take a hmdleg 
right off and pack it to camp and cook it, but I sorter 
thought that them old bull elk mightn't be quite as ten- 
der as a spring chicken, and told them I wouldnt cut 
them elk up till morning, but I gave them the livers and 
away they went. I had figured it out the liver was about 
so whether it was old bull or out of a calf. I was sorter 
suspicious of them 'ere pilgrims, and camped right there 
and kept up a fire all night. 'Long in the •morning they 
come ; they was full of liver and was feeling good ; they 
wanted both of them 'ere elk, and they wanted them bad. 
Finally, after enough dickering to have bought the Facinc 
Railroad, I swapped them 'ere elk for 200 pounds of flour 
200 Winchester cartridges, some baking powder and 
matches, and their two sacks of beans. There was a big 
row about the beans, and I thought that I would have to 
lower my hind sight, but L began sharpening my knife and 
getting ready to cut up the elk, and that fetched them. 
I made them take a horse and pack their plunder to camp 
and give me a bill of sale of it afore I would let them 
touch the elk. Thev then loaded their elk on to a wagon 
and was just going "to start along when up comes my pard 
leading our horse with the hindquarters of an elk and 
two saddles of venison loaded on the horse. I introduced 
my pard to the pilgrims, and we lights out for camp afore 
they had time to catch their breath. 
"You ought to seed my pard when I showed him that 
'ere grub and cartridges and truck. I told him the whole 
yarn, and he says, "You served the ornery cusses right. 
If they'd let us have a sack of flour, we'd give them the 
two elk." Well, in about an hour up comes the dude and 
Old Missouri. The Missouri man had a tale -of woe. 
First the meat was tough. I grinned and asked him if he 
calculated that old bull elk was going to be all tenderloin 
and stuffed with young turkey. Then he tried to get mad, 
and said that I had cheated them, and spoke of the load 
of meat that my pard had brought in. I told him that 
Providence was taking care of my pard, and again re- 
ferred to Elijah and the ravens. That made him so mad 
that he quit talking, and the dude commenced. He thought 
that I had cheated them, and I told him about the antlers 
and how fine they was to hang up in the halls of his 
ancestors in Boston. 1 hen he begged for beans, and said 
that they thought that they had some more, but was mis- 
taken, and that there wasn't a bean left in their camp, 
and he wanted us to give them back a sack. I called his 
attention to my first trip to their camp and their refusing 
to sell me a pound of flour or a bean. He begged and 
almost cried, and I told him if they would give us their 
Winchester and all the cartridges and 100 pounds of sugar 
that they could have a sack of beans, but that we was only 
doing it out the kindness of our hearts and on account of 
a kind Providence providing for us. Well, they swapped, 
and that is the end of my bean story." Hunter. 
The Expenses of an Outing. 
Editor Forest and Stream-: 
Some inquiries have been made in regard to the ex- 
pense of a western hunting trip after big game, and what 
is necessary to make it a success. In regard to ex- 
pense a great deal depends upon how much or how little 
one can be satisfied with. The average man, used to the 
ordinary comforts of his civilized environments, should 
be careful to see that he does not neglect to supply him- 
self with as many of these as he can without too greatly 
increasing the expense and the bulk of what has to be 
The season of the year makes a difference also. Late 
in the fall or during the winter any one who is not ac- 
customed to camping out in cold weather will find a tent 
with a light portable sheet iron stove, which can easily 
be carried on a horse's back, very serviceable. 
The last hunting trip I took in the West was late in 
the fall, and I had everything complete. I will enumerate 
what I had and then state the cost : I had a guide and a 
cook; a tent for myself and another which served as 
quarters for the" two men with me, and also for a dining 
room; a sheet iron stove for each of the tents, which, 
with several lengths of pipe to get rid of the smoke, 
weighed very little; two folding tables and several chairs 
which packed into very little space; plenty of warm bed- 
ding and underwear; a liberal supply of canned stuff- 
soups, meats, vegetables, preserves, etc.— besides the 
usual standbys, flour, bacon, my rifle, ammunition, etc., 
and a few books to read when I was tired of hunting and 
wanted to loaf in camp. The cost was as follows: Guide, 
$5 per day; cook, $3 per day; eight packing horses, 50 
cents apiece per day ; six dogs, no charge. 
Provisions, consisting princioally of canned stuff from 
15 to 20 cents a can^ I purchased at St. Anthony, Idaho. 
I had about $60 worth of canned stuff, and had some 
left over after camping out thirty- days. In round figures 
it cost me about $14 a day while camping out. This ex- 
' p'ense can be cut down, if" one wishes to * economize, 
Great care* however should; X$ fekjn about attempting to, 
0t off tpo much* 
I have heard adverse criticism in regard to canned 
goods, but in my own experience I find them most 
serviceable. What are generally sold contain, as a rule, 
a large quantity of water, and this adds unnecessarily to 
the weight and bulk. A great deal of the stuff can come 
in condensed form, and before cooking water can be. 
added to it. 
The success of a hunting trip depends almost entirely 
upon the guide. Great care should be taken against 
securing the services of any one without first finding out 
something about him in advance. If you are fifty or one 
hundred miles out in the wilderness and your guide 
should prove unsatisfactory, you cannot conveniently dis- 
pense with his services. In that case you have nothing to 
do but to make the best of a bad bargain. 
With the disappearance of big game most everywhere, 
and the greater difficulty of securing it, more skill and 
special ■ knowledge are required now than formerly. 
There are a good many men who have been out and shot 
large game who would not make competent guides. The 
man whose time is limited must select as his guide some- 
one who has a good knowledge of woodcraft and under- 
stands the habits of wild animals. E. F. R. 
Massachusetts Fish and Game. 
Boston, Sept. 17. — Editor Forest and Stream: The ac- 
tion brought by Warden Bent against Charles Letendre, 
of Swansea, for having in possession three black ducks, 
resulted in the discharge of the defendant, which was fol- 
lowed by the arrest of Oscar Mailhot, the attendant in 
charge, who has been found guilty and a fine of $60 was 
imposed by Judge Lovett. An appeal was entered. The 
case is of considerable interest from the fact that hun- 
dreds of these birds are kept by sportsmen for use as 
decoys. 
For the taking of shellfish in that portion of New Bed- 
ford Harbor condemned as contaminated waters by the 
State Board of Health, and in which the taking of 
bivalves was prohibited by the Fish and Game Commis- 
sion, twenty-eight arrests have been made. It is not im- 
probable, in case fines are imposed, that appeals will be 
taken, as these are the first cases that have been brought 
under the law of 1901 which was enacted to safeguard 
the public health. 
For the last few days Chairman Collins has been exam- 
ining ponds which he commenced soon after his appoint- 
ment as chairman of the board by Governor Wolcutt in 
1899. These examinations, designed to determine the 
depth, character of the bottom, and especially the tem- 
perature at different depths, can best be prosecuted in the 
summer and early autumn, and are of great value in deter- 
mining the kinds of fish best adapted to propagate in 
them. 
Commissioner H. O. Stanley, who has made a magnifi- 
cent record in practical' fishculture in Maine, told me he 
had no doubt many of the ponds in this State are adapted 
to landlocked salmon. 
Your readers who have fished in the lakes of the Pine 
Tree State for the past twenty years have had substantial 
proof from their own observations of the results of judi- 
cious stocking. Years ago trout and salmon fry were 
planted, but Mr. Stanley tells me they are now planting 
fingerlings only. Some of us have been urging this 
method for Massachusetts the past six years, and at the 
persent time our commissioners would be glad to adopt it 
if the hatcheries furnished adequate facilities for the rear- 
ing of fingerlings. Just here is where our State is defi- 
cient, and it behooves the fishermen and Commissioners 
to set to work at once and in earnest to remedy this 
defect. 
Gunners who have been out for shore birds along the 
south shore, report getting a few plover, peeps, and 
yellowlegs, but birds are not very plentiful. The severe 
storm of this week has driven in many sea fowl, and 
many coot have been killed. At Nantasket the summer 
visitors are being succeeded by devotees of the rod and 
gun. Some of the winter hotels have already put "coot 
stew" on their bills of fare. 
Many big catches of smelts have been reported of late 
from the Weir River and the waters about Nantasket 
Point. Gunning stands are being put in order for shoot- 
ing ducks and geese. Mr. George Gorham Peters and 
party left Scituate a few days ago with Captain Robert 
Webster in charge of his launch, for a second trip to 
Nantucket after birds. Mr. Peters' anchorage is in the 
North River, a short distance from his summer home. 
The people along the lower portion of the river have been 
anxiously and vainly looking for results of the shad- 
planting of several years ago. They charge the failure 
to the rubber factory up river. I anticipate they will be 
heard from under the "Gilded Dome" next winter. 
A gentleman who has a farm a few miles from this city, 
has adopted a plan for saving the quail about his place 
for several years during the winter. He keeps them well 
supplied with grain, and they look for it every day just 
as much as his domestic fowls do. 
Several gentlemen who contributed last spring toward 
the purchase of quail, urge that steps be taken to persuade 
the hunters to refrain from killing quail this fall. I doubt 
not many bird hunters would be influenced by remon- 
strances from friends. Some — those who read such papers 
as the Forest and Stream — may be able to restrain their 
inclination to secure large bags and content themselves 
Avith three or four or even a couple of birds. The man 
who hunts for the market never gets enough. If he can, 
he will get ten or twelve from a bevy of fifteen in the 
afternoon, and go out 'next morning for the rest. It would 
be well for every one to remember this fall that, according 
to the best judgment of many sportsmen, there is not one 
quail now in our State where there were twenty one year 
ago. Moderation in shooting and large expenditures in 
restocking for one or two years more can alone avail to 
bring back the numbers of 1903. 
Mr. S. A. Tucker, well known as the Parker gun man, 
tells me that in a section of Rhode Island where he, with 
three others, has the shooting privileges over several hun- 
dred acres, from investigation recently made, there are 
enough birds if they are not killed off this fall to re- 
plenish the stock in a few years. 
Most of our shore hotels that do not cater to sportsmen 
in the autumn are now closed, but_ many of our city resi- 
dents are lingering in the mountains and have been get- 
ting good strings of trout in the branches of the Pernio 
gewassett and, in Baker's Biver, %%«fm\$wt & W, 
Wiggin, of the State Association, who has a summer 
home in Sandwich, N. H., tells me that President Cleve- 
land recently got a fine lot of black bass in Asquam Lake. 
Dr. W. C. Woodward, of Middleboro, enjoyed his trip 
to Newfoundland very much. Lack of rain early in 
August made the fishing poor, but on the 1 6th he killed 
five good ones, the largest 21 pounds. 
Many of our sportsmen are already preparing for trips 
in pursuit of big game next month. " Central. 
Abyssinian Game. 
United States Commissioner Skinner writes from 
Marseilles, France, concerning the Abyssinian sportsman 
and his game: 
The Abyssinian is a great lover of firearms of every 
description, and the best revolvers and carbines find ready 
sale in the country. The Abyssinian army is equipped 
with the Gras, the Weterli, and the Remington rifles. 
The chiefs and under chiefs are armed with modern rifles 
of small caliber and rapid fire. The importation of arms 
has been regulated and interdicted, except under 
authorization regularly accorded by the Government. 
The sale of arms to the uncivilized and conquered tribes 
is forbidden, and is only permitted at present among the 
Christian Abyssinians. 
The elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus are still 
numerous in various parts of the empire. Lions' of 
moderate size are found in the wooded mountains and 
of a very much larger size in the warm plains. Leopards 
of enormous proportions are found in the neighborhood 
of Boulga and Ankoban The gueparde, lynx, hyena, 
wolf, wild dog, and jackal may be encountered very 
generally. The droves of buffalo, almost destroyed by 
the bovine pest in 1897, are now multiplying rapidly. In 
the western part of the country giraffes are occasionally 
encountered. The ostrich, of a very fine variety, is com- 
mon. The zebra is met with on the plains of moderate 
altitude, and the wild ass in the rocky mountains to the 
north. Antelopes and gazelles of every conceivable 
variety and in great numbers are found everywhere.' In 
the region of the Hawash River we frequently saW as 
many as 50 and 100 antelope moving together. Among 
the more notable varieties are the bubalus, koudou, orix, 
and gnu. Many species of chamois are also found more 
or less generally, among which is a diminutive species, 
known locally as the "dig-dig," the weight of which 
rarely exceeds ten pounds. Included in a long list of 
other animals more or less frequently encountered are 
the boar, wild hog, badger, marten, hedgehog, and many 
others which have not been studied. 
Among the birds are included the bustard (giant, 
medium and small), guinea fowl, the red partridge, heath 
cock, partridge, grouse, pigeons and doves, ducks, teal, 
curlew, and woodcock. Among the birds of which the 
plumage is sought are the marabout, crane, heron, black- 
bird, parrot, jay, and hummingbirds of extraordinary 
brilliancy. Birds of prey include varieties of the eagle 
family and the vulture. The thousands of varieties of 
insects and butterflies would delight the scientific student. 
Guns and Gun Feats. 
Northwood, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
once shot a squirrel I couldn't see, and killed him without 
hitting him. With my father, I was walking up an old 
woods trail near Little Black Creek above Northwood. 
We saw a red squirrel run into a hole in a beech stub. I 
fired at the hole, and the squirrel came tumbling out and 
to the ground, where he flopped around. Examination 
disclosed no open wound, but the . skull was fractured 
into small pieces. The rifle was a .32 caliber rim-fire long. 
I am not an accurate shot usually, but I have killed ruffed 
grouse on the wing with a rifle— one a cross shot. George 
Pardy here habitually shoots running rabbits with a rifle. 
Shotguns have had entirely too. much prominence of late 
years, and 1 am glad to see rifle wisdom and rifle lore 
getting due share of attention. The reason modern rifle 
users don't get the old-time effect from their projectiles, 
seems to be due to the speed of modern, bullets. A ham- 
mer will disable quicker than a razor. A BB cap will 
kill quicker at close range than a .22 long rifle cartridge 
when used on small game. Game shot in the vitals travels 
further these days because the shock of modern bullets 
is that of a knife blade, and not of a hammer. 
R. S. Spears. 
flnotfter ico Sportsmen's finds. 
Some of the Queer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
102 
While still-fishing from Niagara River at Forf Erie, 
Ontario, Canada, opposite Buffalo, Dr. Cohen, of Buffalo, 
caught on his hook a small brass cannon 4% inches in 
length. Without doubt this miniature cannon was made 
by a British soldier while stationed at "Old Fort Erie" 
nearly a century ago, and was lost in the river. It is 
probably a fac-simile of a cannon in use at the fort at 
that time. Between the trunnions on the upper and under 
side there is a cross-patonce, with a "broad arrow" run- 
1 
0 
=J — 
ning from each trunnion to between the two arms of the 
patonce. This "broad arrow" mark shows that' the minia- 
ture piece was copied from a British cannOn, as this mark 
is used on all British ordnance. The bore of this minia- 
ture piece just admits a .22 cartridge. 
Dr. Cohen presented the find to me some five or six 
years ago, soon after he "caught it." My opinion has al- 
ways been that he should have presented ''it : to "the Buffalo 
Historical Society. But the Doctor- knew that I had a 
'propensity for acquiring any such old thlrig, and I never 
thought of proposing to him to donate it to the Historical 
gp$ety. Ultimately it may get there, 1 L, pAvisof, 1 
