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A Little Alaska Shooting. 
It was along in May that we left Wrangell, 
Alaska, for Bradfield Slough. We supposed that 
by this time the bears had come out from winter 
quarters. 
The Boss had never killed a bear. He had 
been tied down to business for twenty years, 
and now he considered that he was entitled to 
a rest. He had hired a guide—a half-breed— 
and a big, stout young American as cook and 
helper. There being only the four of us, there 
was not much outside work to do. He 
chartered a large fishing boat to carry our 
dunnage, and a gasolene launch to tow 11s to 
the mouth of the Bradfield River. 
We got away quite early. The day was 
rather unpleasant, for the wind blew strongly 
from the east, and that meant a head wind for 
us. The distance was about fifty miles. 
It took us until about 2 p. m. to reach the 
mouth of the river, where the launch left us. 
The tide was well out. As soon as the launch 
left us, we began to carry our camp outfit up 
to a bench about 100 yards from our boat, and 
camped there for the night. 
I, being the oldest of the party, was not 
allowed to do any carrying, and busied myself 
getting the tents set up. The ground was bare 
where we pitched our tents, but back only a 
short distance the snow was quite deep. It was 
natural enough that our helpers should think 
they had a couple of tenderfeet with them, and 
they began to tell us stories about the ferocity 
of the bears and to say that it was not safe 
to venture very far from camp. We did not 
listen to their tales very long, but went early 
to our tent and to bed. 
I was the first one up next morning and 
started a fire in the cookstove. Then I got my 
binoculars and went out to a big cedar root and 
got up on that, so that I could have a good 
look over the delta, where I could see hun¬ 
dreds of big Canada geese and ducks of all 
kinds, and lots of eagles, besides many nests 
w r ith the eagles sitting on them. 
After looking until I got tired, I returned 
to the tent, and calling the Boss, told him what 
fine views I had. He turned out. I took my 
.32-40 rifle out and fired it a few times to see 
that the sights were right. I was shooting at 
about fifty yards. I fired four cartridges. They 
were about one inch high, but all had cut to¬ 
gether. 
After breakfast, the cook and guide took a 
look at the target. The guide, Indian-like, had 
no comments to make. The cook said he 
would cut out the bullets. He did so, and found 
them in one bunch. The Boss and I went out 
to take a look. He carried the binoculars, 
while I took my .22-caliber rifle, which was 
fitted with a telescope sight. There was a rock 
out in the bay, distant about 350 or 400 yards. 
I called the Boss’ attention to it and told him 
to watch. I fired and we saw the bullet splash 
about three feet to the right. I moved the 
sight and fired again, and hit abGut one foot 
from the rock, and the next shot I hit the rock. 
I was using .22 long rifle smokeless cartridges. 
We started to return to camp, and had gone 
but a short distance, when a pair of mallard 
ducks alighted down near the rock I had been 
shooting at. I ran back to the cedar root, took 
a rest and fired at the ducks. At the crack of 
the rifle the drake rose on the wing and flew a 
short distance. The duck not following, he 
alighted again. I fired at it and killed it. I 
told my dog to go get them. The tide was 
going out. The dog brought in the duck, then 
A LONG SHOT IN THE SNOW. 
Photograph by Ch. G. 
went back for the drake, and by the time he 
got the drake it must have been a half mile 
away, but finally he landed with his burden. 
The guide and cook had been watching our 
performance, and were greatly surprised. When 
we left Wrangell they had asked what I ex¬ 
pected to find in the mountains that I could 
kill with that pop-gun. I told them to wait 
and I would show them. When I brought in 
the ducks they said they had no idea I could 
scare the ducks, much less kill them. F’rst 
game for the .22, and roasted ducks for dinner. 
We had to wait for the tide, but the guide 
said we would leave camp about 2 p. m., and 
that it would take us nearly two hours to reach 
the place where we were to make permanent 
camp. As we had about five hours to wait, I 
proposed to the Boss that we take a trip up on 
to the delta, and he agreed. I thought that we 
should have four hours to travel. He took his 
.35 automatic rifle and I took my .32-40. We 
were not long in reaching a part of the delta 
covered with grass. Soon we were stalking 
some geese, but we soon found they were as 
wild as those we had killed in the wheat fields 
of Washington. He shot at some at 400 or 500 
yards and hit very close. A number of geese 
were sitting on a sandbar near where the river 
puts into the bay. I told him about how many 
points to raise his rear sight, and he fired and 
killed a very large old gander. I sent the dog 
to get it. He swam the river which here was 
about sixty yards wide. It was the first goose 
the dog had ever seen. He ran to it, but for 
some time could not get hold of it. Finally he 
brought it to the river, and there dropped it 
and started to come across without his bird. 
I told him to go back and get the goose. He 
would try to carry it, but seemed afraid he 
could not swim with such a big load. After 
several attempts he picked it up and came in 
successfully. He was as well pleased with 
his performance as the Boss. The goose was 
very fat and about as big a goose as I ever saw. 
We returned to camp. The boys were pleased 
with our success—or luck—they called it. While 
we were away the boys had taken most of our 
dunnage down to the boat, so after dinner we 
carried down the rest, and when the tide floated 
our boat, we were ready to start for our 
permanent camp. We were not long in getting 
into the river, the banks of which at that stage 
of the tide were about five feet high. While 
standing in the bow of the boat I saw a number 
of geese on the flat. The helper ran the boat 
to the bank and the Boss got out with the .22. 
He had a splendid rest leaning against the bank, 
and he fired three shots, but the geese did not 
fly, though some of them got up and walked 
away. When he missed the last shot, he gave 
me the rifle, and I fired and missed. I saw the 
bullet cut the dirt and knew I had over-shot; 
I had thought the Boss had been under-shoot¬ 
ing. I threw in another cartridge and drew 
down at the lower edge of a big goose. At the 
crack of the rifle the big goose began to 
stagger, and fell over, dead. I killed another 
one before the rest flew away. The helper and 
the guide, who went for the geese, estimated 
the distance as over 400 yards. 
We had gone about a mile when we came to 
where quite a big stream puts in to the river 
from the north. Here an eagle was sitting on 
its nest in the top of a big hemlock tree. 
Reaching our camp site in due time, we 
found it a fine place on high dry ground well 
sheltered from strong winds, and about forty 
yards from the river. From a point near our 
tents we had a grand view of a very high moun¬ 
tain on the opposite side of the river. It seemed 
to be as far above timber line as it was up to 
timber line. The guide and helper said they 
