Aug. 14, 1909] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
lid he received the money with tears in his 
^es. I had the clock sent up to my home by 
ipress, which cost me twice as much as I 
aid for the clock. As I found the clock would 
fat go, I sent it to every clock repairer in 
>wn, and none of them could make it go. I 
rially sent it to an old fellow who repaired 
ooden clocks—the works of this clock were 
1 wood—and he succeeded in getting it into 
inning order. I placed the clock in my own 
ning hall, and admired to see it go. Finally 
mouse got under the case and gnawed the 
ring that held the weight, and when it fell 
smashed the works all to pieces. 
Fox Hunter. 
Bear Prospects. 
Linville Falls, N. C., Aug. 2 .—Editor Forest 
id StreatH: All the mountaineers are predict- 
g plenty of bears this fall and you could not 
woods when he was set upon by a drove of these 
wild hogs. “I had no gun, little or big,” he 
said, “so I just managed to cut a good stout 
hickory sapling to defend myself. There was 
a big old boar and two sows and some younger 
ones. The old boar was the ugliest, of course, 
and he encouraged all the others to fight, but 
he kept out of the way till the last. I got 
against a great big chestnut and beat about me 
the best I could. An ordinary whack just made 
them all the more full of fight and I saw that 
they would either eat me up or I would have to 
knock them out. You see, it was in the spring 
and they were mighty hungry—not much left 
for them to eat. So I just went at it to get rid 
of those brutes, and I done it! As fast as I 
got a good chance I just fetched every pig a 
lick across the head as hard as ever I could 
lay on, and one by one they stiffened out, most 
of ’em dead. Finally they were all quiet but 
the old boar, and he was a bad one. His big 
a dog, not a bit. The old one would ’a’ cuffed 
the cubs right hard till she made ’em go up a 
tree, and then she would run off, for she thinks 
they’re safe when they’re up a tree. A black 
bear will run from a man every time. We’ll 
have lots of ’em this fall.” 
On every side of this place I have heard of 
bears being seen recently. The huckleberries 
and blackberries interest them. 
The quail shooting, too, is bound to be good, 
for there are more than ever about the moun¬ 
tain fields and woods. F. W. Bicknell. 
California Dove Shooting. 
Los Angeles, Cal., Aug. 2. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Doves are popular with all classes of 
sportsmen here. They afford one of the few in¬ 
stances where the poor man can enjoy himself 
almost on a parity with his more favored 
brother of the high-priced gun, but the latter’s 
THE PACK TRAIN WITH THE “WHITE ELEPHANT” LEADING. 
firt one of them from his bear hounds for 
rich less than a year’s supply of meat, so sure 
s - they of the sport in store for them in No- 
vnber or even earlier. The reason for all this 
ecitement is seen in the chestnut and oak tree- 
t)s which promise a rich mast this fall. It 
h been several years since the chestnuts and 
3 )rns were so plentiful, and unless some blight 
5 ikes them, there will be food for many bears 
ai nuts for all the people, too. Besides, the 
s,ck law of this year, now very well enforced, 
' keeping all the pigs shut up, so there will be 
nthing but bears and men to eat the chestnuts 
a! acorns. Ever since this mountain region 
ps settled the people have been able to fatten 
ir hogs on the nuts; in fact, they have usually 
sed their hogs wild, letting them forage for 
imselves the whole year around, and then go- 
1 out to take toll when they wanted a fat pig 
1 the fall or early winter. Sometimes it had 
'be done with a shotgun or rifle, the animals 
■'re so wild. 
^ veteran surveyor told me a tale the other 
b that was surely one of sporting adventure. 
" said that a few years ago he was on one 
> the mountains running a line through the 
tusks looked mighty unpleasant and the sapling 
didn’t seem to quiet him. I backed off to where 
I had dropped the ax when I cut the sapling 
and hit the old fellow as hard as I could with 
the pole, then dropped it and grabbed the ax. 
It didn’t take long for him to come back. I 
let him come till he was almost on me, then I 
jumped to one side and as he went past I 
brought the sharp edge of the ax down on his 
tough old head. That finished him. I’ve had 
some fights before, but I sure had to sit down 
and rest after that. Three or four of the young 
pigs got up and slowly made off, but as soon as 
I got my wind I pulled out of there.” 
The huckleberry pickers tell me they have 
seen unmistakable signs of big bears on some 
of the far mountains, Linville and Humpback. 
In one place an old fellow told me he had seen 
where an old she bear had lain down to give 
nourishment to her three cubs. “I could see 
just as plain,” he excitedly told me, “where the 
little fellows had dug their claws into the ground 
while worrying the old one. I wish I’d been 
there. I bet I’d ’a’ put one of ’em up a tree 
and got him in a sack. Afraid of the old one? 
Why no, I ain’t no more afraid of a bear than 
automobile will give him the best of it from 
now on. 
Hunters report venison in excellent condition, 
food on the hills being plentiful, and the ocean 
fogs keep the vegetation green longer than 
usual. The supply of deer seems fully up to 
the average in most sections that have been 
heard from, although some, notably those in 
which fires destroyed much of the brush last 
year, have different tales to tell. 
The most popular hunting ground within reach 
of the city is the Santa Monica Mountains, from 
twenty to forty miles west of this city, easily 
reached by boat from Santa Monica or automo¬ 
bile through the San Fernando Valley. With¬ 
out the automobile, Southern California hunters 
would be handicapped, indeed. It has placed 
the entire country within 200 miles tributary to 
the guns and rifles of the city sportsmen. 
There has been a rather remarkable growth 
in popularity manifested by the small-bore guns 
for this class of shooting, sixteens and twenties 
being the rule, and some are talking of the pos¬ 
sibilities of the twenty-eight bore as a small 
game gun. Has anyone used it much? 
Edwin L. Hedderly. 
