65 G 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May 25, 1912 
elaborate description, and indeed the simpler the 
type of gun carried, the better. For bears and 
moose a .33 or .35 bore is the best rifle, while 
for goat, sheep, deer and caribou almost any 
rifle will do. A good revolver should be carried 
for emergencies, especially when tracking bear. 
So far as feathered game is concerned, any good 
shotgun will suffice, for the birds are very tame. 
Caribou, deer, mountain goat and sheep afford 
plenty of exciting sport. They require careful 
stalking, for they frequent the rugged mountain 
slopes well up near timber line. Perhaps the 
greatest excitement is provided by bears, grizzly 
and silver tip. The country is piled up with a 
maze of dead burnt trees, uprooted and stacked 
criss-cross. These, combined with the dense un¬ 
dergrowth, render it an ideal haunt for big game. 
Often when climbing over the deadfall you may 
come unawares on a black or grizzly bear, and 
then it is that a heavy revolver comes in handy. 
The latter species is especially a tough customer 
to meet in an awkward corner, and though the 
dead timber is exceedingly difficult for a hunter 
to climb over, a bear makes light of it. Tackling 
a full grown grizzly, especially when he is 
wounded, calls for a certain amount of nerve, 
particularly at close range. To turn and run, 
as the experienced prospectors and guides say, is 
to court certain death, while a severe mauling is 
not unusual if the animal is not stopped by the 
first shot. Many guides will tell you that it is 
impossible to stop a wounded bear even wflh a 
soft-nosed jacketed bullet from a .30-40, and that 
if aimed at the head it will simply strike the 
frontal bone and glance off. This, however, is 
a fallacy, as was demonstrated to us. Our hunt¬ 
ing guide set up the head of a grizzly after cap¬ 
ture, posing it at the same angle as it would 
assume when the animal was charging, and then 
from forty paces he fired at it. The bullet struck 
the nose and passed right through the skull, 
smashing it. No bear could have survived such 
a blow. But a bear has remarkable vitality, and 
the only way to prevent a rush is to hit him in 
the spine either near the shoulder or in the 
middle of the back. Owing to the density of 
the tall brush it is seldom that one can fire at 
a bear except at short range, and one has then 
necessarily to shoot straight and quickly. 
So far as fishing is concerned, we had ample 
sport, the catch comprising for the most part 
rainbow and speckled trout, the Dolly Varden 
trout, pike, salmon trout and in the neighborhood 
of Tete Jaime cache, salmon, for these fish travel 
as far up the Fraser as this point to spawn on 
the sandbars. The country is freely intersected 
with creeks and mountain streams feeding the 
Athabaska, Miette, Moose and Fraser rivers. 
The Athabaska yielded fine pike from five to 
seven pounds. The best bait was an artificial 
minnow or gudgeon. A piece of bacon the fish 
took voraciously, especially if it was a bit “high.” 
The rainbow trout has a delicious flavor and 
is very abundant. At Trout Lake a couple of 
dozen ranging from seven to twenty ounces were 
caught with two rods in less than half an hour. 
This lake, in fact, teems with these fish, which 
rise readily to the fly. Dolly Varden refused the 
fly, but bit readily at fresh meat or bacon. The 
fresh bait comprised squirrel or chipmunk flesh, 
easily secured. The big eddies on the Fraser 
River yielded the primest Dolly Varden. 
The Fraser River offers fine sport when the 
salmon are on the run, and Tete Jaune cache is 
about the highest point on the river which they 
reach, since just above is a waterfall twenty feet 
in height, which is beyond their leaping powers. 
They likewise failed to rise to the fly, but fell 
ready victims when tempted with the eye of a 
consort as bait. 
Those contemplating hunting in this country 
should secure an experienced guide. There are 
many prospectors in the district who know the 
mountains intimately, and have acquired a good 
knowledge of the likeliest haunts of game. Those 
men are now, in view of the advance of the rail¬ 
way and an anticipated larger influx of sports¬ 
men, giving closer attention to fitting out and 
accompanying parties, and their services will be 
found of great use, more particularly in regard 
to crossing the many mountain torrents. It is 
expected that when the railway has threaded the 
district, a large center for the outfitting of hunt¬ 
ing parties will be established in the vicinity of 
Mount Robson. Certainly this would be a con¬ 
venient and desirable rendezvous, as the dense 
forests around the foot of this mountain hold 
plenty of bears and other game, while the close 
proximity of the Fraser River insures good fish¬ 
ing. Another similar establishment is projected 
for Tete Jaune cache, which will be central to 
the main range of the rockies, the Mica Moun¬ 
tain range, the Albreda Pass and the Thompson 
and Kamloops valleys. 
Conservation of American Wild Life. 
Rochester, N. Y., May 14. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: It may be an interesting news item for 
you to learn of the lecture which was given in 
the Rochester Mechanics’ Institute on the eve¬ 
ning of May 2, by T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary 
of the National Association of Audubon Socie¬ 
ties. Mr. Pearson came to Rochester under the 
auspices of the Irondequoit Fish and Game Pro¬ 
tective Association which has been very active in 
Monroe county for the past two years. i\Ir. 
Pearson lectured before a large and representa¬ 
tive audience on the subject of “The Conserva¬ 
tion of American Wild Life.” The lecture was 
illustrated by about one hundred beautifully 
colored slides and photographs taken in the field. 
At this time Mr. Pearson took great pains to 
point out to the great number of sportsmen pres¬ 
ent that the National Association of Audubon 
Societies was not opposed to the legitimate tak¬ 
ing of game birds. He stated that the Audubon 
Societies had a task before them in endeavoring 
to correct the impression which had somehow or 
other gained ground that the Audubon Society 
was opposed to the shooting of all birds under 
all conditions. This, as you may probably know, 
is not correct. However, the society is waging 
a relentless war against the millinery interests 
which are fast exterminating several of the most 
interesting and beautiful of the American birds, 
simply by reason of their commercial plumage 
value. 
A case in point is the white and snowy herons 
of the South, which are being slaughtered from 
their nests wherever found in order to secure 
the aigrettes. Of course the shooting of these 
birds is always opposed by the Audubon Socie¬ 
ties, unless the shooting of the specimen is re¬ 
quired for purely scientific purposes. The Audu¬ 
bon Societies are also endeavoring to protect the 
native song birds against the millinery shooters. 
J. W. Johnson. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
“Did you ever see a bass murder a pickerel? 
Well, I have,” said one of our inveterate fisher¬ 
men while anecdoting the other day. “I was cast¬ 
ing in a small Jersey lake one day when a big 
pickerel went past the boat close to the surface. 
It traveled like it had been sent for. My guide 
said: Watch and you’ll see a bass after that 
bird.’ Sure enough, a two-pound bass scudded 
by in the pickerel’s wake. Out toward the 
middle of the lake we saw a foamy splash and 
went out to it. On the surface floated a dead 
pickerel, ripped across the stomach and through 
the wind pipe. We picked it up and it weighed 
over three pounds. The guide explained the 
mystery. He said: ‘The pickerel was chased 
by the bass, and when overtaken the bass passed 
under the fresh-water shark, traveling in the 
same direction, and when ahead of him reversed 
his fins, extending his dorsals edge first so that 
when the pickerel passed over he just naturally 
ripped himself open on those sharp fins.’ ” Query; 
W’as it murder or suicide? 
:>« Jic >K 
One of the manufacturers of fishing tackle 
in the Middle West obtained a nice bit of ad¬ 
vertising in an unusual manner on a recent 
blustery day in New York city. Where they 
came from originally was only open to conjec¬ 
ture, but a certain street was literally carpeted 
for four or five blocks with circulars illustrating 
and describing the fishing lures made by a man 
whose name is familiar to all anglers because 
of the judicious advertising he places. Evidently 
some truckman bumped into another one and 
spilled a box of the circulars, which the wind 
took care of in its own peculiar way. And as 
sometimes happens, the literature fell on fertile 
soil, for the vicinity is one frequented by ang¬ 
lers. It is not likely, however, that the printer’s 
bill for circulars distributed in this way will ever 
be presented, though he would have fair grounds 
for believing that not every wind is a foul one 
for everybody. ■ 
* 1= * 
A FISHERMAN who lives in the country has 
often been heard to express the regret that, 
while there are several streams nearby in which 
he can fish, there are no pools near his home 
adapted to practice casting. By accident the 
situation has changed within a few weeks’ time. 
The brooks are bank full since the heavy storms, 
and fly-fishing is therefore not available at pres¬ 
ent, while as for practice casting, within a block 
there appeared a pond of goodly area and 
in every way adapted to the pastime. A culvert 
was filled with stones and gravel by the freshets, 
and the springs that flow into the natural basin 
left the new pool clear and fresh. This was the 
situation until a gang of men with long-handled 
shovels hove in sight on a recent morning. Cast¬ 
ing did not appeal to, them, and they quickly re¬ 
moved the pond from the local map. 
