170 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1920 
SPORT IN THE SAWTOOTH RANGE 
EXCELLENT COVER FOR GAME AND CLEAR, COLD STREAMS FOR TROUT 
MAKE THIS REGION A PARADISE OF KNOWN DELIGHT FOR THE SPORTSMAN 
By HENRY H. GRAHAM 
T HE Sawtooth mountains are located 
far from the crowds of cities. They 
are not visited by too many sports- 
men. There are close seasons on much 
of the big game and very short open 
seasons on others, this fact tending to 
increase the number of big game. There 
are but few hunters who slaughter the 
game just for the amusement of it. 
Those who do have forced the Legisla- 
ture to enact laws prohibiting the shoot- 
ing of certain kinds of big game. If they 
had read the outdoor magazines as much 
as they should have they would not be 
the game slaughterers that they are at 
present. Such men are undesirable citi- 
zens. They usually have all the hunting- 
togs that money can buy. They do not 
know how to use them effectively, but 
merely buy them for show. They do not 
care much about hunting as a rule ex- 
cept to return triumphant to their city 
friends with a trophy. The true sports- 
man does not put his hunt before every- 
thing else, even the comfort of his com- 
panions. He goes hunting for the fun 
of it. Then if he gets a trophy, he 
exhibits it to his admiring friends, but 
not in a boastful way. He is, lastly, 
not a game hog and he obeys the laws. 
In the foothills where the sage hens 
are thick, several men have hunted them 
only to slaughter their game by the hun- 
dreds and leave them to rot upon the 
sandy plains. When the sheriff discov- 
ered the birds it was too late to learn 
who the guilty persons were, but the 
State Legislature did one thing — it 
passed a law forbidding the shooting of 
these birds at any time. They are get- 
ting very thick in places again, now that 
there is no open season. It is the game 
hog who has forced the state to enact 
laws prohibiting the shooting of certain 
kinds of big game. The innocent sports- 
man has had to 
suffer for the greed 
of others. 
G rouse hunt- 
ing is one of 
the favorite, 
but most exhaust- 
ing pastimes of the 
Sawtooths. The 
writer has hunted 
grouse for several 
years and it is cer- 
tainly the hardest 
of all wing shoot- 
ing. Allow me to 
explain why this is 
so. First, you start 
from camp and 
walk numberless 
miles through dark 
spruces and pines, 
over fallen logs, 
across creeks and 
wooded gullies. 
much, but then you are footsore any- 
way and perhaps haven’t any game. 
Even if you could find the locality to 
which you were certain the birds had 
gone you would likely be unable to find 
them, for they usually take refuge in 
some dead pine which harmonizes with 
their own color. If the hunter can see 
them before they see him and get in 
range there is an excellent chance to get 
some birds. The odds are a thousand to 
one however in favor of the birds. 
Yes, grouse shooting is fun, but it is 
an arduous pastime; one not suited in 
any way to the lazy hunter. The limit 
of grouse is scarcely ever realized. The 
game “hog” would lose his pep and ambi- 
tion, become cranky to his companions 
and, worst of all, frightfully hungry. 
He would also be vexed over his inability 
to secure the coveted number of grouse 
which he would like to take home and ex- 
hibit to admiring friends. 
I would like to see some of the eastern 
bird shooters, who are growling over the 
lack of exercise in game bird shooting, 
come out to the Sawtooths. They would 
doubtless enjoy it, for the walking alone, 
among immense trees, past trout brooks 
and springs of crystalline clearness is 
very interesting. But I am also certairi 
that after a tramp above the timber line 
in search of grouse they would never 
complain of the lack of exercise in grouse 
shooting, and upon their return to camp 
they would be ready to take a well- 
earned rest and meal. 
Every year the grouse are found in 
different places. One year the old-timers 
will tell you that they are hiding in the 
tree tops. Another year in the high hill 
tops where the springs are located. 
There they can be found about noon 
every day. They go there to drink and 
to feed on the grouse berries and grass. 
f 
ISHING is and 
always will be 
one of the 
greatest sports- 
man’s recreations. 
There is something 
thrilling and fas- 
cinating in feeling 
a three-pound trout 
or bass on your 
line. Until you can 
see your prize you 
are all excited 
about his size. How 
a fish dwindles in 
size from the mo- 
ment you see his 
real size from his 
numerous leaps un- 
til you land him! 
The Sawtooths 
are certainlya 
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PAGE 212) 
A Sawtooth stream 
Valleys half a mile in width must be tra- 
versed and the trees in them scanned 
carefully if the hunter wishes to come 
back with any game. When at length you 
are about two miles above your camp, 
weary and footsore, you perhaps hear a 
flutter of silken wings and catch a fleeting 
glimpse of something fluttering through 
the tree tops. The thought suddenly 
comes to you that they are grouse. You 
rarely get a shot at them. After a time 
you see them soaring over the gully far 
in the distance. To go after them means 
a walk of half an hour, or in some cases 
several hours. If the traveling was 
moderately easy you would not mind it 
There are many scenes like this tucked away in the Sawtooth Range 
