388 
FOREST AND STREAM 
One thing I noticed, every one brought a supply of whis- 
key, but every one drank that of his neighbor— very inex- 
pensive and convenient . Ellsberg, a tine old fellow and a 
gentleman to boot, half dead with consumption, »nd with 
a cough that might bo heard a mile, entertained us with 
his reminiscences. 
~ “Do you overshoot many geese here?” inquired some 
one - ‘‘Oh, yes, but in the Spring; we never get many in 
the Fall, for they go below upon the big wheat stubbles 
ami cornfields, and for that matter the mallard are getting 
to do so more and more every year, forsaking the rice lakes. 
In the Spring of ’58 the warm weather come on all in a 
lump, but after a few days it turned around cold and froze 
up everything tight as a vice. A great many of the geese 
had gone North, but that drove them back. Over here, 
three or four miles, there are several Spring ponds which i 
knew would be partly open. The next dav I took that old 
gun you see there in the corner, about two pounds of No. 
4 shot, and no great stock of powder, and went up there 
thinking I might get a duck or two. I found the opcu 
places literally crammed full of geese. I hid in some low 
willows, and all day there wore immense masses of geese 
passing back and forth in all directions. 1 fired away my 
two pounds of shot — did not have to shoot much more than 
three rods — and towards the last did not use much more 
than half an ounce of shot. At three o’clock my ammu- 
nition was all gone, and I had sixty-two geese. I went 
home, got a horse and wagon, took the geese to St. Paul, 
and got a dollar and a half apiece for them all. Before 
twelve o’clock that night my yard here was jam full of 
horses and wagons and my house of men and dogs. The 
next morning they went after the geese. It had turned 
warm again, and altogether they killed just six! bo I 
made a good thing of it all round.” 
A black haired man by the name of Seymour then struck 
in: “Did I ever tell you about my big bag of mallard? 
Last Fall there were two fellows here from New York 
State. They had been on a trip around the lakes, came 
across from Duluth, and wanted some Minnesota ducks to 
take home. They spent two days here; hired a French- 
man to take them round to the mallard ponds, and I guess 
to shoot for them, too. Anyway they had some forty-two 
mallard, about the finest lot of ducks I ever saw together. 
I had come out that morning alone, getting here before 
daylight, and shot on the pass morning and evening, hav- 
ing pretty good luck, and had some eighteen or twenty- 
ducks, mostly bluebills, two or three teal, and one mallard 
ouly. The game was all hung up out in the shed, the 
batches separate, of course. The next morning before 
daylight they hitched up and were off to St. Paul to catch 
the first train East. I went down to the pass, killed six or 
eight bluebills, and at eight o’clock came back to breakfast. 
Taking my ducks out to hang with the others I found un- 
string gone, and looking around, there were those fortv-two 
mallard. A fair exchange was no robbery. After break- 
fast I packed in the ducks and drove home well content. I 
inquired at the hotels, but they had gone sure enough, and 
I never heard of them after.” 
The next morning, an hour or more before daylight the 
Professor and myself, sleeping in the chamber over the 
sitting room, were awakened by the other occupants of 
our dormitory getting up and dressing, with manifold 
growling ejaculations, the room dimly lighted by about an 
inch of candle placed upon the floor. 
“What is the matter?" inquired the Professor; “is the 
house on fire? Why such a row? I insisted that we must 
get up, get our coffee, and go down to the pass. “Why 
lt is as dark as pitch, and I don’t believe I’ll get up at this 
unchristian time of night.” “But you wmtfgetup- you 
came out here to shoot ducks, and you are going to shoot 
ducks, if the court knows herself, and I ‘think she do ' 
You are no*, going to waste your valuable time in bed ” So 
saying, I ripped off every individual one of his coverings 
except his shirt, and expeditiously getting down stairs 
left Li.m to decide the matter as he might think best In 
a very few moments-for the candle was spluttering its 
ast when I left — the Professor came stumbling along down 
humming to himself — 6 
“Oh! wake and call me early, 
Call me early, mother dear/’ 
“But what’s the use; a cat could’nl see to shoot ducks as 
dark as it is now. All were in the full tide of preparation. 
We got our eyes scrubbed out and our coffee. “Hallo! 
how is this? do these rubber boots hold water!” inquired 
he. V\ by of course they do.” “I supposed they were 
intended to keep the water out, and here they are wet in- 
side from foot to top of their three-story legs How did 
the water get in, is what I would liketo'know; for to mv 
certain knowledge I did'nt go in yesterday over the anklo * 
I suggested perhaps the perspiration had something to do 
with it. I did perspire some, that’s a fact.” “Particular- 
ly about the time you were prowling around after those 
pheasants. If that is the case the next time I come I 
will leave ray perspiratory apparatus at home, or else I’ll 
leave ihe boots, or. best of all, I’ll leave myself; the three 
are plain y incompatible. Here’s a square inch of skin 
torn off from each of my poor heels; new sensations are 
multiplying faster than I am prepared for them ” I bathed 
the heels in whiskey- “ouch! and there's another !"-and 
then patched them with sticking plaster-feared his toes 
might get loose if the wear was not stopped. At last we were 
ready and off, the Professor quonk, quonking ahead 
with every step, try.ng to get away as last aslc could 
from the lender spots. v l,uum 
It was very dark indeed, and when we reached the pass 
and groped round to our stations we could hear the ducks 
singing overhead and upon all sides, but could not distin- 
guish them, boon the banging commenced. It grew 
lighter, and we began to feel tlml it was not such a bad 
thing after all to be upon a duck pass at daybreak A 
flock of brant came by, giving the Professor! chance at 
foriy rods which he was not slow to avail himself of giv- 
ing them both barrels. I tried to stop him, bnt having no 
idea that he would fire at them at such a distance the re 
ports of his gun were about the first symptons that I com- 
prehended. What on earth are you about?” I ejaculated. 
Why I in shooting geese, to be sure; they were’nt black- 
Hu, 1 ! L 'u W J" te - aad be * id< * the/ ‘lid’nt sing like 
blackbirds. But so far off-"What! were’nt they far 
iS h l tky wcrc ” The Professor was mcor* 
1 Vn , . 1 , V‘n ducka wero Lot ver y plerny and flew high— 
by the lime the sun rose, scarcely any. The ProfosRnrSnid 
two teal and a bluebill; I had three leal and ? ? d 
I took Polly and walked up along the" np o w°.Sm? he 
upper lake. There was an open spot npon the aborl bare 
black mud, perhaps euty feet wide and thirty rods long! 
Upon this I started ten or a dozen snipe, but could do 
nothing with them. Every time, when flushed, they would 
fly- out straight over the mud, where nor man nor dog could 
retrieve them. I killed one, which I dropped before he 
had flown three feet, and after driving the rest, backwards 
and forwards two or three times, gave it up. Returning 
from the pass at seven o'clock I hunted through the brush, 
killing one pheasant, and as I came out by a cornfield 
which lay iu front of the house, just at the edge of the 
bushes, up from under my foot started tw-o large birds, 
wbicb looked to me like prairie chickens. They were 
overhead and out of sight among the trees as quick ns a 
flash. I took arupid snap shot. The bird was out of sight 
before the shot reached him; a few feathers came floating 
back; I looked for a dead bird but found none. At break- 
fast i told Ellsberg about it, expressing my surprise that 
prairie chickens should lie so close to the thickets. Said 
he, “they must have been sharp-tailed grouse;" we have 
them around here about half and half prairie chickens and 
grouse. The chickens keep in the open, the grouse near 
the brush. Last Summer, the 1st of August, Morrison, of 
St, Paul, was out here shooting with me. We bagged 
thirty-two chickens and twenty-four grouse the first day. 
He had a breech loader and killed eight grouse as he stood 
iu one spot while I was loading my gun. This time of 
the year you will find them scattered here and there and all 
over. I do not think they are inclined to pack as much as 
the chickens. The grouse is larger than the chicken, tho 
breast lighter colored, the tail pointed and the meat 
while— a far belter bird to eat than either the pheasant or 
the chicken. I expressed a wish to shoot some of these. 
Mr. Saddler, a light-haired man, with a heavy double gun 
and a very slim pointer dog, said “if we would take our 
team that lie would pilot us where we could find them, and 
that his dog would liuut them up and stand them.” This 
suited us. Nelson brought around the horses and off we 
went, leaving Polly chained in the barn giving loud ex- 
pression to her woe. A perfect Indian summer day — per- 
fect, except that there was a good deal too much Summer 
in it. Through the oaks and over the sandy roads we drove 
for many a mile, hunting many likely spots, but the grouse 
had evidently gone to fourih of July, or somewhere; cer- 
tainly they were not where they sho'uld have been. The 
dog drew at one place. I got out and followed him, and 
some kind of a lurge, gray, bob-tailed bird started at 
tweuty rods, and whether grouse or chicken I could not 
toll. I fired at him, but twenty rods is too far, unless your 
gun stretches, or you cau lie a little. We, or rather tho 
Professor and Saddler, started two pheasants where it was 
quite open. They took a bee li..e for mo, ten rods distant, 
Hying like bullets. I felt that my friends could hit me at 
that distance, though neither of them could touch a pheas- 
ant flying, unle-ss lie fired at something else, besides I knew 
the Professor would be perfectly happy to have peppered 
me wholly by accident. These facts' rendered me ner- 
vous. The birds dashed by like lightning, and I missed 
them both, not touching a feather. We visited mauy mallard 
ponds, which had been, hut were not— all dried up, and saw a 
few stray snipe. A long round under the hot sun we had 
taken, und about two o’clock were within forty rods of 
Ellsbcrg's house upon our return. In a clump of bushes 
not three rods from the road I noticed the dog drawing. I 
jumped out in a hurry and up flapped a grouse. I cut him 
down at thirty feet and ran back to the wagon with mv 
prize, aDd a magnificent bird lie was, the breast not so 
white as I expected, hut the tail was certainly somewhat 
pointed, as Mr. Saddler, who had killed many of them 
showed us; the back covered with gold rings upou a duik 
ground. When we took him into the house, where were 
quite a number of new faces, at odcc there arose a great 
dispute about half declaring it was a prairie chicken, the 
others that it was a sharp-tailed grouse, both parties en- 
forcing their arguments by ocular proofs; each had a sure 
thing of it. fn fact it was a prairie chicken und nothim- 
more a beautiful full plumaged bird, to be sure. To this 
conclusion I did not arrive until afterward, when I got 
hold of a veritable sharp-tail. The difference between the 
two birds is very marked, aud there is no excuse for mis- 
[' oV n /« ODe , for , lbe ol !*^ r - At the evening pass shooting we 
killed five ducks, and I got a pheasant, who had dropped 
in near the edge of the lake for a drink. There were at 
least twenty-five shooters upon the pass. A large flock 
of wild geese came our way, very high indeed. It was 
interesting to hear the cannonade at them, they keeping 
their course not disturbed in the least. ° 
.1 J L p .nf Xt raora , in ?' wb ™ tb « rumpus commenced 
the Professor calmly rolled himself up in all ihe bed 
clothes, at the same time remarking that he should'nt go 
to the pass. The ducks might miss him, but he did not 
care to spend two hours of a cold frosty morning missing 
them. 1 agreed with him, begged a portion of the covering 
Urn move ™ 1 1 ° “ ^ pllyius our fr ‘c» d * who were upoif 
After breakfast we stowed in our game and ourselves 
aDd through the bright Autumn weather and the light 
sandy sod we rolled away down to the “narrow stroked 
fwfntv n fi tlra H f ® r dlDDCr — Just forty-eight hotirsubscnl— 
twenty -five ducks, seven pheasants, one prairie chicken 
ahnut't? 8mP i e ' Tbe , Profcssor ^rded where there were 
about three dozen others, so he took the game and invited 
me to dinner the nc v t <• ■ r, : , s _. 1 luvneu 
AN ADIRONDACK 
for Foreat atul Slrt a „. 
DEER HUNT. 
A FTER a good dinner nt Cox’s the guides left the bom 
and luggage m the wagons, and wu are soon on , 
way across tho three-mile “carry” to Big Clear Pond Ti 
wind sways the branches of tho old forest trees, lnoanii 
and sighing a requiem thrilling and mournful. The skv 'F 
becoming a dark gray, and we trudge hurriedly along ,!! 
we know a storm is brewing. We at last roach the briihr 
that spans tho outlet of Big Clear, und thou find the rest if 
tho parly awaiting us. We soon are launched upon the 
pond with our boat nearly gunwale deep. The sky ha 
become a leaden gray, which Is steadily sweeping up u„, 
west, the distant mountains are shut out with a misty g r » v 
sheet. “It is coming thick and fast." Tho wind-tossed 
waves are moving in long, serried ranks; fur ahead are the 
other boats, W. in one with his favorite umbrella ready 
“There it conies,” as across tho pond the water is splashed 
with the rain. Now it is on anil around us iu great drops 
which strike the pond like shot, causing white spots annum 
the already foaming waters, which sweep combing pas! 
within an inch of the gunwale. I wrap my rubber blanket 
around me, und with paddle in bund 'keep the bom 
trimmed, llow bleak aud desolate, aud “oh, how wel'" 
it is to ho out in a hike in the midst of a howling stom, 
H«w cheerful shelter and a fire seem us you think of them 
Wu run across as fast as we can in this heavy bcu, mid 
though the pond is three miles long, we are at last safely 
landed on the shore near our camping ground. Rtinnim- 
tho boat out of the heavy rollers up tho beach we wind on! 
way, wet and mournful, toward where wo hear the sound 
of an axe, catch u view of u faint curl of smoke, and find 
our comrades have a sickly fire started. Gathering what dry 
hark we can among the pelting rain the fire mouiits higher 
and is soon crackling right royally. The guides have Un- 
tent up, and we have a sholter at last, and bid the elements 
“rage on’’— we are all right. Boon the supper is prepared 
thanks to the glowing fire, aud under a hark shanty we 
dispatch our meal, and then as darknoss draws in, to bed 
Next morning, as tho rain still drizzles. I propose to Ilank 
as our best dog is disabled with a lame foot, that we take 
a tramp up to Wardner’s, at Rainbow Pond, and see if w c 
can get a dog to run to-morrow ; lie assents, and amid tin- 
expressions of our party, who said “they didn’t care about 
taking such a walk," we started on our twenty-eight mil.- 
tramp. Swiftly we speed along, us wo both can make good 
time, over the road, brushing the bushes laden with ruin 
drops, which gives us a drebching as we push them aside 
edging around a pool of water here, jumping a mud hole 
there, we are at last in tho main road, i'he mist shuts 
down all around, a dark, gray veil. The cows we meet 
have each one a bell attached to their necks. “Pla-iiy hml 
for deer," says Hank. “Why?” asked I. “Cos the deer 
slues clear of them; if near tho pond and just coinin’ iu 
and hear that bell, they turn mity quick and run off an 
other way,” says Hank. "It’s goll durn mean that folks put 
hells on their cattle; spiles liutuiu’.” Passing through tlu- 
settlement we are on the road now where it winds aloim -, 
valley, which present a beautiful vista of forest cleann 
and mountain side. Far off, its spires glistening in tm 
now bright sun, which streams at intervals through tin- 
cloud rills, lies the hamlet of Verinonlvillo, twelve” mil. 
distant. We pass the farm houses scattered along the set- 
tlement. and at last reaching a spring, drink of some of tin- 
coldest water possible for a spring to have. We turn om 
of our way to the cabin of a hunter who has four hound- 
We find that lie is not at home— “out with a party.” \V, 
pass by the guide post at last, which says “two mid a I. bi 
miles to Wardner’s,’’ aud very glad to find w« are so n.-.-u 
for we feel pretty hungry, we Hedge on, and ul last enter 
the gate at Seth Wardner’s; he meets us, and cordially in- 
vites us in, and soon we uro sealed at a real old-fashioned 
dinner around his table. He tells us of hunting both hear 
me to dinner the next day to assist in eating it. I was on 
hand and in due time the game came in, a right royal lot 
of it, roasted beautifully, but with a slightly suspicious 
ooorousness. The I rofessor took u portion of the sharn- 
ta.l grouse-we bud'nt decided at this time that it wa^a 
chicken. A few mouthfuls— “Look here! what makes 
this meat so bitter?” 1 replied that perhaps the bird had 
been fecd.ng upon birch buds. “Don’t believe I like the 
flavor anyway; will try one of the snipe.” a few mo- 
menta spent in experimenting— “Why how'* tldaV l.«w 
the same old biller Do snipS feed l^ponl Zell buL Z, 
I am inclined to think the buds killed this one a week he 
fore vou shot him.” Alas!. and alack! the game had been 
carefu ly picked and drawn the evening before it hid then 
been thoroughly washed, and furthermore left lor Um night 
in the water to soak out the blood, or for so,™ E 
equally defensible reason. The weather was not cold thl 
warmth mid the moisture were too much for ii- ,t . , ’ 1 10 
Bitmn had commenced in eaJnS “sbide/ ^ cSZT 
UUd Carb0liC “ Cid ’ W “* were’nt you°on 
b 3 Ariquis. 
r it a ,iic - 
he has a quiet hotel with a few boarders. There* are wv - 
eral ponds within easy access to his house, all good hum 
mg places and also good fishing localities, as Wardner fells 
mo ho with o party in one day caught four trout, which to 
gether weighed sixty-two pounds, the heaviest twenty-four 
pounds; but ho says the largest trout ever caught ii/the-c 
woods was in Round Pond, a pond not mmiy b |uiles from 
his house, and which weighed fifty-two pounds. Ho can 
vouch for the truth of tins, and will bring parties as wit 
nesses /i ou will say reader, that they were “some" trout, 
mir\riinnf H t r.lr U i >38e f ' Le , ,mng Wardner’* we commence 
our tramp back to camp; the sun has dried tho roads am! 
it is very good walking now. We stop at the house of a 
fiehT^o 7’ ,lUd fln , d,n F 1,im busi| y engaged in the grain 
Jf f/i. d0 . Wn, . a,,d ’ af,OT 11 8bort chat, leave with two 
don’ h»Sk h °’ ' e "WiUmn lickoty split, hut In 
dun t hardly know us they will run a great while." Thank 
w n I. n,’ro« d ,i Pr ° m - 8 ng l "", 1 80me Vt ' n ison, we me on again. 
I d °S* our leash, and hard it is to inam.m 
nenHnrr S A k ?!'’ l ,aasl,, g the Settlement we are 
th« « plr?r S o C T' Rank shows me the runways where 
the deer cross and recross the road, mid just us the twi- 
hut t v, 8 ru lit | U ° ring 1,1 f W0 roath our camp, not so very tired, 
mites y b gry uflor our dliy ’ 8 tnunn «f twmit v . iL-m 
day’s tramp of twoufy-cight 
cS&gS ™,° rnin . g "7 ftre a " astir . ,ind I start for M. 
Lauley 1 ond, six miles distant, where 1 am to watch After 
<Vw7 re^l IT'I t,,rOUg r U 1,10 * raa * “» d S*h- Men with 
S’LifSS the house of a settler, and after a good drink 
l 1 , V 'CO of bread and butter, he pilots me to the 
Ct!,!! UI U l !. C8l,e !i to( water a mile long. The 
saw m r^ .i'n, ^ ,adCn W,tl l tbe ^gest blueberries I ever 
S’ M 0 UCr<!8 .’ a ,,( ‘ rfecl blue Odd. a wealth of lus 
could i ‘ "? nu 10 Eating as many as I 
over , b . erC,, ^ OVL ' 1 ! fees lying crossed 
over each other in tho burned slash. It was hard work 
siTfeKorntr 18 " C f W S rk l "« 8 - Now I would he u,. 
of ft l iT. Ifi , ground walking carefully along the trunk 
L wr »i™« It. .tipper, **• 
imni .m 8 T . • 1 reacn Uw nor ' h shore, when i 
lhe ,V l ? g !? d ,,niBlm ood for tho boat, where by 
mhrht a 0 i f Iw,k hatt dr «wu for mo of the lake J 
hftvi , {)°fn P n !t t0 flnd U * At ,tt ? 1 * co,no U P° U it. Soon I 
!r round on 1 ' 0 '. lnd r0W fll «t ^ I CtlQ tO my Wlllcll 
ground on an Island in the centre of the pond. It is 
