FOREST AND STREAM 
213 
t ■ — - ■ — 
For Forett and Stream. 
ELK HUNTING IN THE NORTHWEST. 
W HILE waiting for n steamer on tlis Upper Missiouri 
River lost Pall I enjoyed many advantages for 
hunting the larger kind of game so abundant in that re- 
gion. 'The banlis of the great river arc covered with a 
tliick growth of cottonwood, elm, and ash, with a dense 
underbrush of willow and billberry bushes, which, ex- 
tending for several miles, afford excellent cover for elk, 
deer and bear. Two young men were living at the wood- 
yard where I was staying, ard we were the only white men 
within a radius of sixty miles. They were too busy chop- 
ping wood for the steamers to find time to hunt, and 
with the exception of an occasional visit from a wander- 
ing band of Gros Ventre Indiaus, the game was undis- 
turbed. 
One bright still day late in September I left the log 
cabin, resolved to find elk, if they were in the woods. One 
hundred yards travel and I was buried in the underbrush, 
which rose above my head to the height of fifteen feet, 
presenting a wall impenetrable to sight for a greater dis- 
tance than ten yards. It was impossible to move with cau- 
tion outside of the game trails which formed a perfect 
labyrinthian way, enabling one to liuut in any desired di- 
rection. Selecting a well traveled trail which seemed to 
lead parallel with the river, I determined to follow it, 
knowing that if the animals were in that neighborhood 
their cross trails going to water could soon be found. The 
elk tracks all appeared to be quite old, but there was 
plenty of fresh deer signs, and the broken branches of 
billberry bushes gave evidence of the presence of that king 
of beasts, the grizzly. The trail often widened and led 
through beautiful little glades and cottonwood groves, dot- 
ted with patches of artemisin, affording a clear view for a 
hundred yards around, with everything combined to make 
it the most delightful ground for deer s nlking ever seen 
outside of the covers ot Frauk Forester’s books. Here I 
heard the peculiar snort of the white-tailed deer, and just 
caught a glimpse of his flag waving ine a graceful adieu 
as he bounded out of sight. I was not sorry to see him go 
off unharmed; for although I should not have beeu able to 
resist the temptation to shoot him, if he had stood for me, 
yet having started out for elk, I hoped that no other game 
would entice me to fire, and so destroy all hopes for that 
day. Elk, unlike deer, are easily alarmed by firing, and 
will not remain in the vicinity where it is heard. The deer 
were so plentiful that it was au easy matter to get one 
whenever desired. It was therefore with feelings of relief 
that I saw this one get away, and of satisfaction that no 
more were seen that clay. 
It was now noon, and still there was nothing to indicate 
the presence of the animals sought for; but I did not des- 
pair of ultimately finding them, knowing that elk often 
feed and move around a great deal in the middle of the 
day where they are not much hunted. A cottonwood sap- 
ling at some distance attracted my attention, and on going 
to it the discovery was made of the first fresh sign. Here 
it was, sure enough; the bark was freshly stripped off in 
shreds by some monarch of the glen, who had been sharp- 
ening and polishing his antlers for the combats to occur 
the next month in verification of the Darwinian theory of 
natural selection; or the less scientific, though more poeti- 
cal apothegm, that none but the brave deserve the fair. His 
track, as large as that of a cow, was plainty visible, with 
others which indicated that there was a herd of fifteen or 
twenty at hand. Now commenced the work in good earn- 
est. Still keeping the main tt ail, I exerted myself to find 
them out before they could descry me— the great desidera- 
tum in stalking any kind of game. For an hour I moved 
cautiously, pushing back the bushes to avoid contact, step- 
ping carefully without breaking a twig, and crawling on 
hands and knees where the brush overhung the trail. I 
had reached a place in the dense willows where the sign 
became scattered, when my heart was gladdened by that 
sound so exciting to the hunter — the sharp clear crack of 
a twig trodden upon by some heavy animal. Standing 
perfectly still, the rattling of horns was heard as they 
moved among the underbrush leisurely browsing about, ft 
became evident from the sound that some of them were 
approaching. A light breeze had sprung up and was blow- 
ing in their direction. No time was to be lost, for I could 
not hope to long escape their keen scent, unless my station 
was speedily changed. There were no trails leading in the 
right direction; but there was no help for it, and I conse- 
quently plunged into the thicket in hopes of being able to 
get. to leeward before they became alarmed. I made a hor- 
rible noise and inwardly execrated myself a dozen times, 
ns I broke stick after stick and loudly rustled the brush 
with my clothing. I thrust a twig into my eye— the right 
one, of course — and had to stop until I could see out of it 
again. In my excited imagination it seemed that there 
was noise enough made to stampede a herd of Texas cattle; 
yet when I stopped to listen, ufter making a circuit, the 
welcome sounds were heard again, as they moved about all 
undisturbed. I had struck a trail which led in the right, 
direction, aud with everything in my favor I commenced 
stalking once more. The noise was growing louder; one 
of them was apparantly coming my way. Fervently hop- 
ing that it was a buck^ I dropped ou one knee iu the trail 
and waited with a beating heart its approach. It is many 
years since I have had the buck fever; nevertheless I am 
not one of those sportsmen who can serenely contemplate 
the proximity of large game. My heart was t humping 
loudly as the blood coursed rapidly through my veins, and 
I am not sure but that I trembled just a little. Yet it was 
with a steady hand that I set the hair trigger and a confi- 
dent air that I grasped “old faithful” aud awaited events. 
The tops of the willows moved not over ten yards from 
me, still nothing could’ be seen. A brief interval and I 
caught a glimpse of the glistening points of a magnificent 
pair of antlers, followed by a good view of the animal’s 
neck. He was not over fifteen feet off, and appeared to tower 
almost above me as I crouched close to the ground, hoping 
that he would expose his side and enable me to get iu a 
shot behind the shoulder. There was no time for delay, 
however, as he would undoubtedly see me the next step he 
made. Watching for a favorable viesv of his throat through 
the willows and hastily drawing a bead, I fired. He came 
down instantly with a tremendous crash, and I could have 
touched mm with my rifle as he fell toward me, if I had 
so desired. But I immediately turned aud run back about 
twenty yards to a cottonwood tree, behind which I got 
while reloading, convinced that the contiguity of a 
wounded elk in such dense underbrush would be of no 
benefit to my posterity. The herd was now tearing through 
the brush in nearly every direction; but noDe came in sight 
and they were soon out of hearing. My elk, however was 
still breaking the bushes in an alarming manuer’ and 
breathing with a loud, distressful sound. Slopping warily 
up to the spot I perceived that ho was uuuble to rise; but 
to terminate his sufferings a shot in t lie head was given as 
a coup de (/race. Then taking a seat upon his huge body I 
fell to gazing upon his fair proportions and indulging in 
the pleasant reveries which always reward a successful 
chase. Poor fellow ! thought 1, you have fallen a victim, 
not to man s inordinate spirit of destructiveness, but to the 
equally insatiate demands of science. I will gladly make 
all the atonement iu my power by placing your artificial 
self where thousands will view and admire you. 
His antlers were six-pronged, and had attained a vigor- 
ous and symmetrical growth, with points as sharp as a 
hunting knife. The animal would certaiuly weigh four- 
teen hundred pounds as It fell, requiring the labor of three 
men in cutting up aud packing out to the river bank, where 
it was loaded in a canoe and taken to the cabin to be 
smoked and dried for Winter use. The entire skeleton 
was properly prepared, and now adorns our National 
Museum. l. c. 
For FOreet and Stream. 
THE RUFFED GROUSE. 
I N MAY the ruffed grouse begins pairing and finishes its 
nest by the middle of June. For incubation the most 
retired situations are chosen, such as an old stump, beneath 
an old log, or amongst small bushes and very frequently in 
the angle of the worm fence between the stakes. The hen 
lays from ten to fifteen eggs of a dark yellowish color, and 
they are about the size of a bantam’s egg. The nest is oft- 
entimes robbed by the fox and crow, and other enemies 
that are always on the alert for a Spring meal. If the eggs 
are destroyed the hen seeks the company of the cock ; they 
build a new nest and the hen lays about the same number 
of eggs. If the eggs of the first nest are hatched, she does 
not lay again until the following Spring. The young birds 
leave their nest as a general tiling the third day, and will 
keep with the hen during the day seeking food; if startled 
at any time they hide under the leaves, or iu the grass like 
the young quail. The mother bird, duriug this time, is re- 
sorting to strategein to draw the intruder away from her 
brood. Always upon being disturbed she will either cover 
them, or carry them one by one iu her bill to a long dis- 
tance among the hemlocks until she cares for the whole 
brood. When the brood is ten days old they have suffi- 
cient strength to fly from twenty to thirty yards, and as 
soon as they drop hide instantly amongst the dead leaves 
and grass. The lieu is never assisted by the cock in caring 
for her young. The cocks club together until the latter 
part of August, when they all again join the hen and brood. 
I have frequently flushed both old birds and eight to fif- 
teen young ones. In the latter part of March and all 
through April and May, in the gullies where the hemlocks 
and pines are the most dense, the cock grouse can be found 
standiug upon an old moss grown log, drumming. With 
this peculiar music he draws the female to his side, Sin- 
gular as this may appear this is the only manner that he 
has of courting or wooing the hen from her nest whilst she 
is setting. While drumming, his form is erect, and his 
feathers appear to stand upon end, grander and more deli- 
cate than the turkey cock. His head is posed over the butt 
of his wings, within four inches of his tail. The tail is 
spread like an open fan, making a halt circle, showing the 
many beautiful tints. His ruff, which is on each side of 
his neck, is raised, showing the beautiful jet it contains. 
The delicate curve of the wing lies close to the feet, almost 
hiding them. See him now, as he whirls right and left and 
struts upon his favorite log. In ten or fifteen minutes he 
closes the whole of his feathers, and of a sudden he 
stretches himself, beats his wing in the air close to his side, 
nearly the same as the dunghill cock, but more clearly and 
with lightning rapidity; these rapid strokes produce a sound 
resembling the rumbling of thunder in the distance. I 
have heard it often six hundred yards, and in clear weatiicr 
with wind favorable it can be beard at a much longer dis- 
tance. The cock, if not disturbed, will every morning 
drum upon the same log during the breeding season; the 
proof is the excrement and fine leathers that can be found 
at the spot. In the mating season they frequently have 
fierce battles. The cock has generally from two to six 
liens under his protection. In Ashtabula, Ohio, and Sulli- 
van county. Pa., Metz, in Indiana, and in the eastern part 
of Dakota is the best ruffed grouse shooting in the Stutes; 
but this bird is iu almost every section of our country. Iu 
many places near the banks of the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers the shooting is very fair, and on the Colum- 
bia River also. In Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia 
ruffed grouse were at one time very abundant. The ruffed 
grouse derives it name from the jetty plumage upon its 
neck, ou either side a space being left destitute of feath- 
ers, but covered over by an erectile ruff of elongated 
feathers, of which the upper arc silky, shining, and curved 
forward at the end, which is very broad and rounded. His 
local appellations in the different States are— in the West- 
ern, pheasant; Eastern, partridge; Middle, pheasant; and 
Southern, ruffed grouse. In many States no one would 
know of what you were speaking, aud iu fact I liuve met 
many sportsmen that did not recognize the ruffed grouse 
by name. The ruffed grouse flies with great ease, aud 
never hesitates crossing a river or valley when migrating, 
like nearly all of the gallinaceous order when flushed, fly- 
ing with a whirring noise, generally in a direct course, 
from one to three hundred yards. I have seen them many 
times flying without making any noise; the rapid motion 
of the wings makes the noise. I liuve seen a covey of 
quail fly oft' of the feeding ground without making any 
more noise than the lark or robin. Being u solitary bird 
naturally, lie is very seldom found in packs, but generally 
in paiis. The forest that is the most secluded uud dense 
is his home. I have seen them at a very early hour— say 
at eight o’clock— busying themselves scratching and dust- 
ing in the same manner as the barn yard fowls. They ure 
very fond of buckwheat, corn, beans, grapes, strawberries 
and blackberries, and I have often known them to wauder 
half a mile from the hemlocks for these delacacics. In 
the Winter and Spring they feed upon the buds of apple 
trees. I have flushed them mauy a time and made my 
double shot, bagging the male and female. I killed two 
cocks in Ahstubuhi, Ohio, that weighed two and half 
pounds apiece. In the severe Winters they are driven to 
great extremes for food; they will eat chestnuts and ucorns 
and sometime laurel. In the low spruce by the side of a 
log or stump he generally roosts, lie invariably makes u 
Icing flight and then a short one, previous to settling for the 
night When the snow lies upon the ground lie settles 
in the lower limbs, or else in the top, where it Is so thick 
mo hunter caunot see him, and if seen the tree would he 
so tall that No. 8 would not disturb him. Many of the 
hawks destroy the young, especially the red tail. 
1 hc*muik and weasel catch the old birds, while the fox, 
*}! u ™ccoon kill the young. The pinnated grouse 
llesh is light in the early season and dark after the frost, 
but the ruffed is always white and delicate. In point of 
C H U, ‘ 1 ' Of course, if the cook is not scien- 
tific the delicacy is lost, ^ou cau make it tough and dry, 
or juicy. If the nets and nooses, traps aud pot hunters 
were seen to in the early season, this bird would be very 
soon in every State. Now they are extremely wary and 
it is a good thing they are, for if they were not, they would 
only be found in private collections and museums. It re- 
quires a great deal of pei severance on the part of the 
sportsman to make a decent bag. I have often seen them 
lie close and squat as I passed by them and then spring 
and wlnrr at a great speed. In the thickest cripples anu 
deepest gullies and densest foliage, where it is impossible 
to get at them, remaining perfectly still until the danger is 
over, is the position they take frequently. When the 
birds are scarce one must be lively to bring them to bne 
When ruised on a hill they fly for its base, and then turn 
usually to the right or loft very shoit, and very few sports- 
men understand their flight. When the snow was deep I 
have found them perched among the pines and hemlocks. 
I have seen them dive into the snow banks and leave only 
their heads exposed, and I have seen quail do the same 
thing. Almost all of the grouse that are brought to New 
York markets from the east are caught in snares by boys 
and lazy men. 1 have two setters that are well broken for 
ruffed grouse. They seem to understand their habits, and 
although they are very fast— probably as fast as any in 
America— they seldom flush a bird. 1 made some good 
bags in 1874 in Western Pennsylvania. In the fur West 
they lie much better in the early part of September, but in 
this State they lie best iu December. Of course they are 
much better for the table when they are fattened upon ber- 
ries on«J wild fruit, especially the thorn upple. The hu- 
man voice will cause them to rise oftentimes to the dis- 
tance of one hundred yards. I have known a single word 
to flush a brood. On their feeding grounds they act very 
like the woodcock. When preparing for his (light he gen- 
erally walks from six to ten feet, very erect and stately, 
with his tail spread fan like, and in an instant he is off 
with a whirr one does not forget. Though generally dif- 
ficult to upproach they will sometimes lie very close, and 
then rise almost from under your feet. Their flight is from 
one hundred and fifty to two hundred arid fifty yards. 
One very singular fact is, that you seldom find the brood 
two days successively in the same neighborhood. It is the 
most difficult of all the game birds to kill, often dropping 
dead after au oxteuded flight, and when wounded they are 
difficult to find, hiding in holes and hollow tree trunks, and 
frequently baffle the. best retrievers and the patience of the 
most persevering sportsman. None but those who have a 
steady nerve, quick eye, and good judgment of distances 
will ever be able to make a largo bag. J. DeB. 
Glen IFtid Farm Iloute, DansviUe, March, 1876. 
DUCK SHOOTING IN WISCONSIN. 
Guano River, Wla., May. 1875. 
Editor Korbut and Stream: — 
A narrow stream fringed with wild rice, an unpretentious river. Indeed, 
though "Graud,” for Its shooting, la this one. At three or four mile* 
from Its mouth the river runs from an alumni impuniutbln flat of mud 
some miles lu extent. Water aud laud seem to have a struggle for the 
supremacy, us the place In Impassable, either by boat or on foot. Wild 
rlcc abounds for vegetation and myriads of water fowl seek it as a natu- 
ral refuge from their enemy, the sportsman. The ducks fly to and from 
this slough morn and eve, and tho sportsman takes advantage) of UiIh to 
kill his game. Full oft hove I visited this resort, and the memory of 
delightful recreation comes to me us I wrllto. It was late October when 
El E. and I took a hunt at Graud River. No large hag of game recalls 
the time, but It was so pleusureahle that I remember It u« a day of more 
« bun ordinary sport. We row rapidly down Fox River to rcueb the Grand 
River by sunrise, (always a splendid time for water fowl shooting) and 
right heartily enter the stream, turning the skill's prow tip the narrow 
channel. I took the puddle und El the gun, and keeptug close to the 
rtc*:, prepared for action. Now, steady nerves, or the duck's swift 
spring und splash will disconcert the aim I Up starts a mallard, a lino 
drake, but Ids sonorous "quack I qnackl" was silenced hy the report of 
the double barret. Splash! wldrrl another rise* a few yards further, and 
lusty mullunl the second strives to leave tho fated spot, Downward it 
comes, wfug tipped, turning more gyrations than a professional gymnast ; 
but on striking the water off It swims for the reedy shore, However, u 
few pellets of No. 4 stops, and u shot from the second gun flutshes tile 
work and wo reload. Muzxlc loaders wo have, and trusty ones; but 
really His provoking, when reloading, to see a flno duck puss hy on 
"affrighted pinion," und we lose the shot hy tho time taken In loading. 
Onward uguinl "Hear those ducks off to the loft," whispers El, und si 
Icntly 1 turn the skiff toward them. A bruee of wood ducks Oils time, 
and one pays the penalty of rising within rango of n gun with his life. 
Stow ntm mvny under the bow arid murk the gorgeous plumage of the 
most beautiful of all floating game In Atnuricu. “Your turn now," says 
my companion, and forthwith oar positions ure changed. Aud I may 
venture to say that In tho person of my boon compautou E. , you will 
And a generous sportsman such u» It is a pleasure to shoot with. Always 
ready to give a companion the first shot, lie will nrge upon n friend the 
place at the bow, while lie seems to take as much pleasure In seeing olh 
ers as lucky in shootlngas himself. The channel becomes narrow, mid yet 
more narrow, until the stream Is barely wide enough to admit of our 
passage. • The ducks fly always up stream, and we feel certain that rare 
sport Is In store for u» If we penetrate tho rill still further. An occa* 
sloiial mallard or teal rises from the rlcc on either side, which extends 
hack from the channel some hundred yards. A duck, when killed, usual* 
ly falls into this, and then we must push the skiff through tne tangled 
rice for them. Invigorating exercise, coupled with plying the paddle, 
and os the dinner hour draws nigh wo nro ft^i to try onr lunch. Hero 
Is Hickory Point, and drawlug the skiff up at this we eat heartily, und 
then away down stream. The ufteruoon's sport was but a repetition of 
the morning's shootlDg. and at dusk we seek u spot for "comping out." 
An hour or so later beholds us in camp on the marsh . The quncklng of 
ducks conhl he heard atoll hours of tlie night, us they flew o'erhoad or 
gabbled to them-clves In some adjacent slough. Lulled toeleoi) by this 
music wo are oblivious. Vale. Fkbd. 
—The San Antonia (Texas) Herald gives the following 
notice to its subscribers: “Iloreafler wc shall publish the 
list of the names of those who go a fishing on the Lord's 
day and fail to send us a striug of trout. Perch and suck- 
era have too rniiuy bones in them to allow us to forget that 
the moral element of our population look to the press to 
eradicate this growing desecrutiou of the Sabbath.” 
