Dec. 23, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
901 
A Girl and 
By ROSE 
O N Nov. 25 I started out to hunt, accom¬ 
panied by a guide from Knife River. I 
had been hunting since the 17th, at about 
Mile Post 45 on the Alger-Smith line, and so 
far had secured no game. I had one good 
chance at a buck, firing four shots and missing 
him. Other game, which we had seen, was too 
far away to shoot at. 
On this morning we had left Mile Post 47, 
and had been out about three hours, when we 
jumped a doe. We tracked it up hill and down, 
through burnings and swamps, and at last gave 
up the chase. We took what we considered a 
short cut home, and after an 
hour’s walking found ourselves 
in unfamiliar country. After 
weary wandering I proposed 
climbing the highest hill—and 
there are some high ones. We 
did so, but still saw nothing 
but woods. Sitting down to 
rest, I heard a faint chopping. 
Following the sound, we came 
upon two men. They put us 
on the right trail, and in t'me 
we reached home. Too late, 
however, for me to take the 
train for Knife River as I had 
intended. 
During the afternoon the 
guide with whom I had been 
hunting on previous days made 
arrangements for us to go 
moose hunting at a camp about 
ten miles above on a logging 
branch of the Alger-Smith 
line. We left Saturday at 
11:15 1° the caboose of a log¬ 
ging train. We rode the last 
mile and a half from the foot¬ 
board of the engine, rifle in 
one hand and holding fast 
with the other. We also had 
our pack sacks with us. About 2 130 we arrived 
at the camp and were welcomed by the fore¬ 
man and his wife. 
Sunday I did not hunt, but remained in camp 
and wrote letters. Starting out Monday, the con¬ 
ditions were good, as there had been a fall of 
snow, and the air was heavy, thus giving the 
game no scent. We made not the slightest 
sound as we walked. About 10:30 we left Stony 
River trail, and started through the woods. Sud¬ 
denly something moved in the bushes ahead, and 
on looking closely, I saw a huge moose feeding, 
his head away up in the air. My head pounded 
until it sounded like a railway train in my ears. 
Raising my rifle, I began firing. I fired five 
shots, hitting him three times, once in the left 
shoulder, another in the left hind leg, and an¬ 
other grazed his neck. Almost simultaneously 
my guide shot the one he saw. The animal I 
shot ran in a ring, and I thought he would get 
away, but the guide saw he was hit, and called 
to me: “He’s got his.” They ran only about 
sixty or seventy feet. The moose I hit went 
down on his front shoulders. The guide’s moose 
ran about fifty feet further and dropped on his 
Her Moose 
ZIEGLER 
side. When I looked at the two I think I did 
a little dance. Lighting a fire near, we began 
dressing them. 
I confess I was frightened and nervous, and 
unnecessarily so, as my guide is a wonderful 
man in the woods, and a sure shot, quiet, some¬ 
times walking an hour or so without speaking, 
merely motioning with his hands. 
Well, Tuesday, the woods foreman’s brother- 
in-law left camp at 7 a. m., taking five men with 
him to cut a trail. The foreman with two men, 
a team and a dray, left a few minutes later. 
The distance is five miles around. About 3 
o’clock the first contingent returned. At 4 
o'clock the two moose were landed at a camp 
on the railroad about a mile and a half below 
us, both being brought out in one trip. At 7 
o'clock that evening they were loaded on a log¬ 
ging train and brought up to camp. We re¬ 
turned to the main line Wednesday evening. 
The superintendent of the line at Knife River 
gave me permission to have the moose sent right 
through to Knife River Thursday night. Going 
to Knife River that afternoon I remained there 
and the moose came in during the night. I left 
Knife River at 11 A. m. Friday and arrived in 
Duluth at 12 o’clock, making my trip just two 
weeks and half a day. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
Someone who is mixed on the anatomy of fly¬ 
ing squirrels and those that do not fly has 
grouped them in a pretty story in which he makes 
it appear that an ordinary gray squirrel can jump 
from a treetop, spread his legs and tail and float 
gently to the ground. 
Judging from what I have often seen, I would 
say that, if a cat and a gray squirrel were tossed 
into the air from a height of only twenty-five 
feet, the cat would alight on all fours without 
much damage, but the squirrel, while it woidd 
land right side up, with feet spread as far apart 
as possible, won d strike on its belly with a 
“thump” sufficient, I believe, to kill a less hardy 
animal, though the squirrel would run away in 
a j,iffy; certainly the sound of its impact with 
the ground would not impress one with any idea 
of a lighter-than-air body. I have often seen 
squirrels miss a limb in an attempt to jump 
from tree to tree, and fall to the ground, but 
there was nothing graceful or easy in their land¬ 
ing. The ordinary gray squirrel falls heavily. 
A workman falling from a high building might 
as well spread the skirt of his jumper, hoping 
to sail off through space to a soft landing, as 
for a squirrel to attempt to 
break his fall by means of his 
thick legs and useless tail. 
* * * 
It is curious how often we 
read of the wonderful “dis¬ 
covery” of something or other 
by someone, who hastens into 
print with a full description of 
his find. A Western angler, 
with a heart overflowing with 
love for fellow anglers, tells 
them that, through the kind¬ 
ness of a backwoods angler, 
he has found that silkworm 
gut leaders can be straightened 
mere’y by rubbing them with 
what he calls “pure black rub¬ 
ber.” No need to soak ’em, 
he says; just rub the kinks 
out of the dry leaders and be¬ 
gin fishing. And the proba¬ 
bilities are that he will never 
get beyond the beginning, so 
far as taking fish with dry 
leaders goes. This is a very 
ancient wrinkle, but if you 
employ it, apply the rubber to 
soaked, not dry leaders, if 
results are sought. Of course fine gut leaders, 
such as are used in trout fishing, require only a 
few minutes’ soaking, but the heavy leaders em¬ 
ployed by salmon fishermen and tournament fly- 
casters need at least a half hour of soaking be¬ 
fore use, and rubbing them with a rubber band 
helps to remove the kinks that are frequently 
found in imperfect strands of very heavy gut. 
An excellent plan to follow in repairing lead¬ 
ers, or in making new ones, is to suspend each 
leader from a nail, with a weight at the bottom, 
until dry, then coil very loosely until they are 
to be used. This will obviate all kinks. 
* * * 
An enterprising Briton has put on the market 
what he calls a combined folding stool and line 
dryer. This does not appeal to me, for, when 
fully equipped for a day’s fishing I am pretty 
well ballasted as it is without taking on more 
weight in the shape of hammocks, chairs or 
folding beds. But when we over here want to 
tease a friend, sometimes we call him a rocking- 
chair fisherman; that is, if he is a small person. 
Perhaps the combination may appeal to him. 
Grizzly King. 
MISS ROSE ZIEGLER, OF DULUTH, AND THE MOOSE SHE KILLED. 
Courtesy Duluth News-Tribune. 
