FOREST AND STREAM. 
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YOUNG BLACK SKIMMERS IN PAMLICO SOUND. 
Photographed by H. H. Brimley. 
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; May 25, 1907.] 
J 
at as a billiard table, inclosed and shaded on 
jf|hree sides by steep banks and heavy timber 
I'dong the creek. The light was good, but no 
un to interfere, the high bank by which we had 
I ipproached being on the west. If the birds had 
topped where we believed they had, an ideal 
j md veritable hot corner was ready to begin boil- 
! ng. 
Starting in at the lower end of the tongue of 
and, we had a perfectly level, open stretch of 
[ ountry ahead, with nothing to interfere with 
hiur shooting except a house across the creek on 
>ur left, some distance away. Charlie opened 
he ball with a single which he walked up just 
(is Lady set a bird at my feet. At the crack of 
lis gun my bird flushed and was still falling 
vhen another flushed between us which he killed 
| vith the second barrel. 
Lady had dropped to shot and we both loaded. 
1 kt a word from me the little dog rose, took two 
•areful steps and came down again. A bird 
lushed right and left. Our guns sounded as one 
tnd we both scored. A single flushed to the 
I ight, j ust as I broke my gun to reload, which 
; >y a little quick work and long shooting I saved, 
Charlie getting a straightaway an instant later. 
"Let’s try not to be hogs,” he chuckled, as he 
rowded in fresh shells. 
We moved on twenty steps or more before 
hiding birds again, but we got busy quick on 
j he next flush. Four birds got up, two only of 
which I saw at the time. They followed so 
! *xactly in line that I only moved my trigger 
inger, holding the gun the same for both shots. 
heard my companion fire both barrels, and 
vhen he called to know 7 if I had seen "that?” I 
: mew he had performed a feat, for his modesty 
s proverbial. 
“I’ve got to brag a little on myself,” he said. 
Best shot I ever made.” And I thought his 
eputation for modesty well sustained when he 
aid no more about what certainly was a most 
emarkable double. The birds had flushed well 
nit to his left and flown straight toward the 
lark bluff across the creek and he had by a snap 
; hot dropped one on each bank of the creek, 
1 fair seventy-five yards off. 
We celebrated this event by the only miss we 
I nade, a bird that flew straight toward the house 
j nentioned. I think Charlie, one of the most 
‘ areful men I ever hunted with, pulled off when 
1 le saw the house in line, and it was a little far 
| vhen I fired. One more bird out on my side 
losed this most remarkable bit of sport, wdiich 
or ideal conditions and perfect enjoyment I have 
lever seen excelled. 
Take it altogether, blue day and all, it w r as a 
great outing. As Wimble says: “If you never 
r et a rock in your shoe you never know how 
;ood it don't feel.” 
When Charlie comes over for a game of bil- 
i iards in the evening we often let the balls lie 
j ’iitil we forget whose is the shot, while we swing 
bur cues about showing how shots were made— 
j nd missed—on our memorable outing, and 
j lways end by hoping to go again next year. 
Lewis Hopkins. 
! - 
A Deer Hunt. 
ilditor Forest and Stream: 
He was but a tanned and grizzled old stage 
Fiver, but he brought me pleasant news, 
j “I seen Jack and Dean as I come over the 
: tossback this morning, and they told me to tell 
j ou that they was at Brown’s camp, on Mc- 
; Ulister Ridge, deer hunting. They want you 
; 0 come down and spend a week or ten days 
J vith them.” 
I packed my stuff that night and boarded the 
j tage the next morning at daybreak. The roads 
! vere frozen and full of ruts. The old mail 
| vagon seemed ready to drop to pieces at any 
ainute, but the horse was fresh and we rattled 
' long at a merry clip. The cold wind blew full 
! 11 our faces, so we stopped every few miles at 
he country postoffices to get warm, incidentally 
10 change the mail. At noon we left the farm 
1 ouses and entered the woods. Spruces and 
I amaracks grew to the very edge of the stage 
1 oad and shut off the driving wind. The scenery 
i hanged little for miles and at a spot where a 
[ "ail branched from the highway I bade my jovial 
n 
friend adieu, and started for camp at a brisk 
walk. I was numb and cold from long riding, 
but the pace soon warmed me and I made short 
w 7 ork of the three miles to Brown’s camp. 
I found the party, four in number, at supper. 
I was heartily welcomed and well fed. During 
the progress of the "smoke talk” around the 
camp-fire I learned of the ill luck that had fol¬ 
lowed the expedition. A bad crust had prac¬ 
tically spoiled the still-hunting, and the moose 
that the boys had come after were yarded in an 
impenetrable swamp that covered hundreds of 
acres of low ground that was neither passable 
nor navigable. Timber thieves had worked their 
sweet will there several years before and the 
treetops lay everywhere. Two members of the 
party had invaded the jungle some days before 
and had returned late at night with enormous 
appetites, and few clothes. They found moose 
tracks in plenty and in one place found where 
seven of the big animals had slept over night. 
It was very tempting to have a moose yard at 
one’s very door and I was anxious to have a 
try at it. Dean said that he would go with me 
and by daybreak we were off. The place was 
as bad as it had been described. Dead trees 
were piled everywhere and it was either a matter 
of climb over or crawl through, with little choice 
between the two methods. We found a bewilder¬ 
ing profusion of tracks in places and once we 
jumped a moose and heard him crashing through 
the brush. We afterward found his track and 
learned that at one time we were within one 
hundred yards of him. In that mass of brush 
and growing evergreens we could only see about 
twenty yards ahead, so we did not come very 
near getting him. He need not have run so 
fast; he was perfectly safe. Finally we got 
lost and spent the rest of the day finding camp. 
"No more moose hunting in mine,” growled 
Dean, and all agreed. After that it was to be 
deer hunting, crust or no crust. The hoodoo 
lingered and no game reached camp. We hooeG 
for either rain or snow, but none came. Dis¬ 
gust turned into despair and Dean and Sandy 
swore they would stay no longer. We depre¬ 
cated their staying qualities, and told them to 
send a team for us at the end of ten days. 
Four of those days were spent in camp waiting 
for a change of weather; then rain fell, the crust 
melted and the four inches of soft, wet snow 
made excellent still-hunting. Late in the after¬ 
noon of the fifth day Jack shouldered his rifle 
and said that he was going to try for a deer on 
the ridge back of the camp. I began to get 
supper. The tea had first begun to simmer when 
T heard a shot and half an hour later Jack came 
in dragging a small two-year-old buck. Supper 
tast p d better than usual that night. 
We were astir early the next morning in order 
to take advantage of the ideal hunting conditions. 
We decided to hunt separately and I was hardly 
out of the camp yard when I met a young buck 
face to face in an old lumber road. As I threw 
up my rifle he started and I got only a snap 
shot as he dashed out of sight into a dense fir 
thicket. His flag dropped, however, and I knew 
he was hit. After following the trail nearly a 
mile it led into a dense tamarack swamp. While 
climbing over some old treetops I tore the sole 
out of one of the lumberman’s rubbers I was 
wearing. I tried to patch it by tying my hand¬ 
kerchief around the rubber to keep the sole in 
place, but soon I lost that off and afterward had 
to go in my stockings. I bruised my foot several 
times, and finally returned to camp just as Jack 
was getting supper. He thought the whole 
matter a huge joke, but I failed to see the point 
and ate my food in silence. I had lost the first 
deer that I had seen during the trip and re¬ 
fused to be comforted. Jack promised to help 
me find my deer in the morning and with that 
assurance I crawled beneath the blankets. 
The next day, shod in an extra pair of moose- 
hide moccasins that Jack had with him, I led 
the way to the spot where I had wounded the 
buck and at the end of half an hour’s trailing 
we found the deer lying dead. We dressed him 
beside a little fire and then ate our lunch. Jack 
proposed a new route to camp and said that per¬ 
haps we could get a shot. 
We stopped at a little brook to get a drink. 
While prone upon the ground with my face half 
submerged in the cooling water I felt Jack’s 
hand upon my arm. Raising my head slowly I 
saw, less than fifty yards away, a big doe step¬ 
ping daintily along among some low firs. She 
was so beautiful, so natural, so unconscious of 
our presence that it seemed almost a sacrilege 
to mar the beauty of such a scene. But in the 
backwoods emotions are primitive, and it is 
well to have plenty of venison in the larder dur¬ 
ing the long winter. As she stopped to nibble 
a few buds from a low birch I broke her neck 
with a well placed shot. 
That night the weather changed again and 
another crust forbade our hunting, but we cared 
little for we had game enough and so spent the 
rest of our time in building a rude toboggan 
and hauling our deer to camp. The team came 
for us on the appointed day and we rode home¬ 
ward well content vith the success of our trip. 
A. E. Dunn. 
Legislative News. 
At the last session of the Legislature of New¬ 
foundland no changes were made in the inland 
fisheries and game laws save that the close sea 7 
son on beavers was extended until October, 1910. 
A. bill, which was passed by the Pennsylvania 
Legislature and signed by the Governor, permits 
gigging for carp, suckers, catfish and mullet in 
any waters in Pennsylvania in which trout and 
other game fish have not been planted by the 
State. Commissioner Meehan has expressed the 
opinion that as nearly every water in the State 
contains game fish of some kind, the new law 
will not be very serious. 
THE AMPERS FR ENT). 
Pure Milk is desirable wherever vou camp. 
Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk always 
opens up perfectly fresh, pure and satisfactory. 
It is the first item thought of by the veteran 
camper .—A dv. 
