Jan. 7, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
17 
cracked and he stood on his head just like a 
small rabbit killed with a shotgun. 
As this buck went down, another big one 
jumped right over him and dodged to the left 
out of sight under the cedars, and I could get 
no other glimpse of him. Both had been lying 
down and were the only two there. I followed 
the tracks of the second buck on my way back 
to the ranch for a horse, old Red Bird, and 
found where several other deer had joined him 
inside of a hundred yards. My buck never 
knew what hurt him, for the bullet caught him 
in the back of the neck as he leaped for cover, 
smashed the bone into little splinters, cut the 
jugular vein and came out in a half dozen pieces 
all along the side of his jaw and under his 
throat. 
This deer weighed nearly 300 pounds, but that 
bullet had the same effect on his great bulk as 
striking a kitten with a club. This rifle was 
made to order and is a very handsomely finished 
gun. It has terrific striking force and I do not 
think there is any animal living that could stand 
up in front of it for five shots. I had it fitted 
with a gold bead front sight and a peep, and 
open sights also for the rear. This gives any 
kind of sight a hunter could wish for for the 
rear, and as for the front sight the gold bead 
cannot be beaten. Personally I always use the 
peep in combination with the regulation open 
rear sight, and have never been bothered about 
“finding” a running deer or even a rabbit 
through them. I have used this rifle on every¬ 
thing I have killed here—deer, rabbits, ducks, 
hawks, big owls and coyotes—and it kills them 
all with never a kick or struggle on their part. 
I have used nothing but special bullets and it 
is simply wonderful the way those bullets tear 
up an animal. They are, or appear to be, just 
the ordinary soft nose bullet except that in the 
nose there is a small steel shot, and it is this 
that causes them to mushroom so well. 
This is my first experience in hunting black- 
tail deer, and I believe the whitetail are far and 
away more difficult to get to. Then the chances 
for a good shot are much better here. These 
deer are not hunted and I have had no trouble 
in getting my limit of big heads. Usually in 
hunting the whitetail deer his big, white tail is 
about the first thing you see of him, while these 
big fellows are as easily seen as a cow if you 
know how to look for them. They usually stand 
for a moment and look at a man on foot, then 
dodge into the cedars. These cedar brakes cover 
the ridges, and the valleys between are perfectly 
smooth and generally free from breaks or draws 
and also from rocks, yet there are some very 
deep, rocky canons whose sides are so steep that 
nothing but a goat can go up or down them. 
Water is the great and crying need of this 
country. There are no running streams or 
springs except in widely separated places. The 
cattle men have to build immense dirt tanks 
which catch the winter snows and rains. They 
build them big enough to hold water for all the 
cattle of the range for a year without rain. Of 
course the deer and all wild animals come at 
night to these big tanks for water and never go 
more than a few miles away from them in the 
day time. But let heavy rains fall and put water 
in the canons and draws back in the rough 
country, and in two days one cannot find a cow 
or deer in a five-mile ride of the ranch where 
there were thousands before. They have gone 
where the range is good in the country where 
it is impossible for them to stay except in the 
rainy season. 
Ranch life was always very interesting to me 
and the cowboys are about the finest fellows on 
earth if they like you, but they can make life 
very miserable for a fellow they do not like. 
Of course I saw the Grand Canon of the 
Colorado River, and of course I am not going 
to attempt to describe it. If you have not seen 
it, too, why, do not die until you do see it, for 
you will die much happier. I could sit on the 
rim and gaze into it for six months without 
leaving if someone would just bring my meals 
to me. As one walks up to it, it seems as if 
the whole half of the earth has fallen off there 
in front of you. There were several young 
women from Philadelphia chaperoned by an 
elderly woman and her husband, and these young 
women were in a party that went for a drive 
several miles to a point from which a splendid 
view of the canon is to be had. The guide and 
I were the only men in the party, and one of 
the girls fainted while returning up the trail 
down which we had been for a better view under 
the rim. Well, of course the guide and I 
promptly took the little thing in our arms, car¬ 
ried her to the top and gave her some whiskey 
which revived her. This guide told me women 
often fainted. It is just a bit hair-raising to 
look off where you could drop at one step for 
several thousand feet straight down. 
My stay is about over and I will leave with 
keen regret. On the ranch here are some of 
the finest young fellows to be found in the 
world. Genial, warm-hearted, good-natured and 
afraid of nothing, they take chances every day 
that would appall an Easterner and seem sur¬ 
prised if one mentions it. I was raised on a 
Texas cattle ranch and know the game, but it 
has a fascination for me that is irresistible. 
Leroy E. Nabers. 
Sportsmen’s Clubs. 
The Sportsmen’s Association of Rensselaer 
county has been organized in Troy, N. Y. 
Among its objects are the protection of game, 
the prevention of snaring, and the enactment of 
safe and sane game laws. Dr. T. A. Connolly 
was elected President; J. J. Farrell, Secretary, 
and W. C. Feathers, Treasurer. 
The officers elected at the annual meeting of 
the Norristown (Pa.) Fish and Game Protective 
Association are as follows: Alfred Craft, Presi¬ 
dent; H. G. Unger, First Vice-President; George 
H. Steinmetz, Second Vice-President; David 
Allabough, Third Vice-President; Louis B. 
Boyer, Corresponding Secretary; John P. Reiff, 
Recording Secretary; Norristown Trust Co., 
Treasurer; Norris D. Wright, Assistant Treas¬ 
urer. 
The Blue Mountain Fish and Game Associa¬ 
tion has been incorporated in Berks county, 
Pennsylvania. Its intention is to maintain a fish 
and game preserve at Hamburg. The directors 
are from Reading, Hamburg and Allentown. 
The Niangua Fish and Game Association has 
been* incorporated by sportsmen of St. Louis, 
Jefferson City and Kansas City, Mo. A preserve 
will be established in Camden county, that State, 
and stocked with game and fish. 
Shall Hunting Dogs Go? 
The following editorial from the Watertown 
(S. D.) Opinion gives a hint as to one of the 
radical changes that may be advocated if present 
protective laws are not made more effective: 
As the time for the next Legislature to get 
busy approaches, the suggestion that the game 
law be so changed that chicken shooting be per¬ 
mitted, but without the use of dogs, is coming 
to the front. This proposition has been con¬ 
sidered for some time past, and while at first 
glance it seems almost an absurdity, it becomes 
more reasonable with more study. 
Sportsmen who have fought long and hard 
for the laws that are preserving the game in 
this State will think more of the proposed change 
if they give it the attention it deserves. Of 
course hunting chickens without a dog sounds 
very similar to no sport at all. It is conceded 
that much of the best sport of chicken hunt¬ 
ing is derived from the pleasure afforded in 
watching the dog work. Yet the first considera¬ 
tion in all legislation of this kind is the preser¬ 
vation of the game, and the object is to afford 
some hunting now and some in the years to 
come. 
If the chicken season is opened again next 
fall, say for fifteen days, and it will scarcely be 
for fewer days than that, and dogs are per¬ 
mitted, what will be the result? For weeks be¬ 
fore the first day every gunner in the country 
will be priming himself and his outfit to get 
the most out of the time the law allows. The 
summer will be planned so that the ardent 
sportsman can take his vacation in those fifteen 
days. As a result the fields will be searched 
and researched in that time. The game fields 
will be raked with a fine tooth comb, and be¬ 
cause there are now chickens in fair numbers 
there will be good kills. The result then will 
be that what chickens are here now will be 
killed off faster than ever before, because of 
the increased number of hunters and the desire 
to get all there is out of the limited time. 
Arguing along this line still further, one sea¬ 
son will cause the disappearance of all the sur¬ 
plus of birds that has been reared during the 
past two years’ of protection, and the second 
^ear would reduce the number to fewer birds 
than there were when the protective law was 
enacted two years ago. 
But without dogs the hunters can make no 
such slaughter. Without dogs they will make 
no such elaborate preparations for the chicken 
season. But they can do this: On their hunt¬ 
ing, excursions for other birds they can sand 
wich in some time looking for chickens. When 
they discover a bunch here or a bunch there by 
accident or otherwise they can enjoy the pleasure 
of getting a few for the frying pan’s sake. They 
can take a crack at those that fly over night 
and morning when on the slough or the pass 
without a pang of conscience. In short, they 
can have a chicken now and then, which is about 
all the future sportsmen of South Dakota can 
hope for. 
Yes, hunting without dogs seems reasonable 
after all when the proposition is considered from 
an unselfish standpoint and with an eye to the 
best welfare of the State in the future, and the 
fun of the next generation, which considerations 
are the chief aims behind any game protective 
law. 
