686 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Nov. 30, 1912 
scored by the star-like conformation that we 
have so often marveled at. Thicker and thicker 
they appear, but what need to fear this calm on¬ 
slaught since there is wood at hand, and eve¬ 
ning and its shadows are yet two hours off. 
These are happy hours fruitful of boyhood 
memories when likewise the trail led to the 
rural woods on like sojourns. And then there 
is the homeward walk. How pleasing it is; the 
blood stirring in the veins, and with a song on 
the lips there is everything to make the hour a 
cheer. 
The charm of winter is strikingly felt by 
the true lover of nature. He recognizes in this 
season not so much the direful calamity that 
has befallen the land, but rather the fearful 
beauty that it affords. In yonder pastures, once 
so green and fresh with the herbage of June, 
are now tucked down to sleep under the shelter¬ 
ing snow. One experiences a sense of wonder¬ 
ment at it all, and the realization that summer 
has been and will come again meets with sweet¬ 
ly fleeting thought. In six months’ time I will 
stand here on the same spot, and where once 
was snow, there will be plots of fresh outlaid 
emerald—the dingle, dongle, dangle of the cow 
bells will sound mellow once more on the cross 
country breezes, and warmth will be in the air. 
But now the grass is asleep and the flowers are 
dreaming, and the birds are far away in the 
balmy land of the South, waiting the turn in 
the season’s wheel to call them to their nesting 
grounds in the North. To the man with a pen¬ 
chant for studying nature or rambling around 
in the fields and woods with a gun perhaps, is 
there ample store to draw from. The tattered 
corn shocks that some negligent farmer aban¬ 
doned to the clutch of the winter, form an in¬ 
teresting place for the tab-footed kindred—they 
of the powder puff tails and the piratical ten¬ 
dencies to congregate at. Here on moonlit 
nights they assemble, and judging from the col¬ 
lection of tracks in the field witnessed in the 
morning, what enjoyment they must have re¬ 
alized. We will watch the two men approaching 
from the outskirts of yonder wood. Both are 
clad in the paraphernalia of the hunter and 
carry double barrel shotguns. There is felt that 
sense of anticipation when the destination is 
reached, for what will those corn shocks yield? 
One hunter walks through the center of the 
field, and having reached a likely spot pauses, 
with gun ready and eyes on the alert. There is 
a certain degree of sureness about him. One 
knows at a glance that he is an old-timer with 
the use of a gun. His companion approaches 
a shock, and circling to the further side com¬ 
mences a series of jabbing and stamping into 
the body of the fodder destined to drive out 
the rabbit or everything else. But there is no 
result. Another shock and still no result. But 
the third shock by a lucky stroke harbors that 
little thief who thinks himself resting securely 
away from the harms of the world. But this 
thought is quickly dispelled when that intruding 
human foot comes in contact with his quivering 
body. A rustle and stir and he is out. 
The man with the gun catches the warn¬ 
ing shout of his companion and the shotgun is 
swung into position. The startled rabbit speeds 
down the row, but still the man with the gun 
is mute and one wonders not a little if the little 
fellow gets out of range. The rabbit turns sud¬ 
denly in a zig-zag to the right and in a twink¬ 
ling there is a report and the depredator turns 
end over end and lies very still and unseen in 
the snow behind a ridge. Got him! A clean 
hit! Sneer at this ye who have trod the depths 
of the unbroken wilderness in the haunt of 
moose and bear; who have roamed where the 
wild kindred stir in every lair, and yet there is 
the same intense delight in either case. One 
being mild and the other rigid and fruitful of 
mightier sensations, but the satisfaction at the 
end of the chase is relatively the same. 
What a beautiful spot is the ice-bound win¬ 
try brook! After a night of snowfall, pleasing 
it is to look upon this merry old beggar wreathed 
all over with ermine, here and there the black 
waters showing through the frosty mantle with 
a sinister glance at the day yet a ripple and 
wash that seems to be the laughter of a thou¬ 
sand nymphs. Was the brook ever warm with 
‘‘THE DEPTH OF THE WINTER WOOD.” 
the goodness of the summer? Were its shores 
ever lined with the drooping flowers that have 
so tremblingly kissed the waves? W.hat though 
the grip of the winter be sordid, the purl of 
the waters against the jagged ice were never 
sweeter. Come with me to this nook, led by a 
sound that the ear is quick to catch and classify. 
Bend low. Now rises for a space the clear and 
definite notes tinkling up the scale with a merry 
abandon, and now sinking to a minor note at 
the lowering of the water. And so it keeps on 
all day long, rising and falling and laughing 
with never a thought of troubled worry; al¬ 
ways gay and light-spirited; always young and 
never fearing the break of day. 
Tracks in the snow. Printed on the clear 
expanse of royal are the tell-tale trails weav¬ 
ing in and out of the thickets. Here you will 
note a mink coming up the brook, stopped to 
investigate by the bank and found a dead chicken 
frozen in the ice. He had evidently spent the 
night killing frogs for sport, and his appetite 
was not of the best, since but a nip here and 
there demonstrated his indifferent hunger. One 
will notice at the edges of the ice along the 
open spots bodies of frogs in various stages of 
devastation ; here is one nipped through the head 
still crawling weakly along the snow, particularly 
inert. Here are others chewed up beyond shape. 
Black Mink had best guard his evil doings, for 
that lone man trail winding up the brook looks 
mighty suspicious. Note how it leads up to 
that bank. Already perhaps that little life is 
plotted against, and the coming night at some 
wayward den an unsuspecting foot may touch 
the pan of a wicked trap, and the end of life’s 
trail will have been reached for Black Mink. 
What a realm of magnificent beauty meets 
our eyes after an all night fall of snow! The 
woods will then seem like a scene taken from 
fairyland, for surely it cannot all be true—all 
this splendor and lavish display. The branches 
of the trees that seemed so barren yesterday 
are now ridged over with a wealth of fluffy 
whiteness that seems uncertainly poised in posi¬ 
tion. A breeze wafts by and though the tree 
arms stir the clinging snow refuses to let go 
its hold, still flirting a wink at the overcast sky. 
And all is so wonderfully silent. It is a drowsy 
silence replete with goodly thought; quite dif¬ 
ferent from that of the snappy days in the 
woods. A shrill-voiced jay suddenly startles the 
sense and darts down to a perch nearby, flicking 
away the downy snow at contact with the limb. 
On such days the nature lover fares him forth 
with a heart glad within him, and the lady of 
moods greets him with welcome arms. Top 
boots and the blood-stained hunting pants and 
that old shirt; what more could one ask to wear 
on such a day, neither too balmy nor too cold, 
but seasonable? Wood after wood is traversed 
and sensation is piled up and thought is stored 
away. Ah! it is good to live. To stand on a 
rise and fill the lungs deep with the breath of 
the west wind, and on the wings of fancy hover 
over all, absorbing as it were every beauty with¬ 
in sight. And then at night, after a good hearty 
meal, to sit down at the fireside and over the 
old brier live again the experiences of the day 
out in the snow-clad hills. 
Wyoming Game Conditions. 
Lander, Wyo., Nov. 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Your letter of Oct. 8 found awaiting 
me on my return to the office after several weeks’ 
absence, and it gives me great pleasure to give 
you the following information. 
The game in the State of Wyoming, which 
includes elk and deer and protected game which 
is moose and antelope and also mountain sheep, 
were never in better condition than they are 
now. The most abundant game animals of the 
State are the elk, which are lawfully killed in 
the western part of the State which includes 
Uinta, Fremont and that portion of Big Horn 
and Park counties west of the Big Horn River. 
An estimate of elk in the State is 30,000 head, 
all of which, with the exception of a few, are 
in the above described sections. The State of 
Wyoming has approximately 500 head of moose, 
which are protected until the open season on 
large game in 1915. Antelope are scarce with¬ 
in the State, but from all reports are gradually 
on the increase. They are protected until open 
season on moose as above. Deer are abundant 
in all the mountains of the State. In the Sun¬ 
dance country, which is the northeastern section 
of the State, there are two kinds—the black and 
whitetail deer. All other sections have black- 
tail deer. D. F. Hudson, 
State Game Warden. 
