FOREST 
AND STREAM 
205 
THE ANSWER TO “HOW TO GET THERE” 
A MOTORCYCLE WILL GO ANYWHERE A HORSE CAN, FIVE 
TIMES AS FAST, AND DOESN’T SUFFER FROM SORE BACK 
P ERHAPS the greatest bar to indul¬ 
gence in the sports of fishing and 
hunting is lack of time. Naturally, 
hunting grounds recede farther from the 
centers of human activity every year; 
each season the busy city man finds it nec¬ 
essary to go farther in the search for 
sport, or accept less reward for his efforts 
on the fields of preceding years. 
To such men, rapid transit is a sine qua 
non; if they must consume half of the day 
getting out and the other half coming 
home, how much fishing can they do? We 
are speaking of that rapidly growing class 
of men who appreciate the superiority of 
a half-day or two each week, over the old 
custom of two weeks off in the fall and 
four walls for the other eleven and a half 
months. Train or trolley service is not 
always practicable; in fact, the best spots 
are rarely near railways, and when they 
are perhaps you cannot adjust your leisure 
to the time-table. Horses are compara¬ 
tively slow, and require too much care. 
An automobile is good in many ways, but 
there are too many places it cannot go. 
Most practical of all is the motorcycle, 
the sportsman’s dependable friend when it 
comes to getting any place. 
It virtually brings the trout-pool of the 
mountains to your door-step. The man 
who has but half-a-day can “pop off” at 
noon and be fishing twenty miles from 
home at one o’clock, fish four hours, and 
be back at six. And this without rush¬ 
ing; the motorcycle is a space glutton, 
it will carry you just as fast as you want 
to go—“and then some,” sometimes. And 
you don’t have to leave your machine at 
the edge of the woods and risk its being 
there when you return, as you frequently 
do an auto. If there is room for anything 
else, you can ride through; the merest 
cow-path is not inaccessible to the motor¬ 
cycle, and the friendly searchlight will 
light you through the forest better than 
any lantern. In short, the motorcycle will 
stick to you like a burr to a setter—like 
a real pal of the wilds. 
M ASTERY of the machine is easy. 
Learning to ride and manage it is 
not the formidable task the unin¬ 
itiated imagine. You do not have to be a 
mechanical engineer to get thoroughly ac¬ 
quainted with the magneto, muffler and 
spark-plug. And what little study is re¬ 
quired will repay you a hundred-fold. 
No one can deny these advantages of 
the motorcycle. The value of a convey¬ 
ance that will enable the busy, indoor 
worker to speed out to the lake, bag a 
brace of ducks and be back in time for 
breakfast, is beyond question. For who 
can estimate the benefit of such exercise to 
sedentaries? Some offer as an objection 
that you can not carry much. The fellow 
who thinks this will be greatly surprised 
when he tries it. The amount and variety 
By L. E. EUBANKS 
of stuff that a motorcycle will carry are 
almost incredible. Its strength and bal¬ 
ance are such that most any kind of “stor¬ 
age house” can be built on the rear. I 
once saw a man taking along hig canoe. It 
is not at all difficult to pack a machine 
with camp-traps after you have had a bit 
of experience, and you don’t have to worry 
about your pack-horse getting a sore back. 
As for carrying game, I guess anything 
short of an elephant may be gotten out on 
a motorcycle. It certainly is an easy mat¬ 
ter to sling on a deer. 
How about the hunting dog? More than 
one sportsman-motorcyclist has solved this 
problem by building a crate behind the 
seat. This enables you to land your dog 
on the field fresh, and he soon learns to 
like the “pop wagon” as well as does his 
master. 
Company? Well, there are any number 
of motorcycles among sportsmen now, but 
if your partner has none, and you are will¬ 
ing to cut down the equipment, your horse 
will carry double most willingly. Always 
remember, however, if you give up the 
dog’s place to some person, that speeding 
will exhaust the animal, even a greyhound, 
so ride at a pace that will not wind him. 
This caution is necessary because of the 
ease with which one all but flies on the 
motorcycle. The xfider becomes so accus¬ 
tomed to going like the wind that he is 
likely to forget himself. 
Unlike autos, motorcycles do not require 
many repairs, if the rider is reasonably 
careful. Most of such work he will be 
able to do for himself—at least, after he 
has watched the shop man a time or two, 
and asked some questions. 
All in all, the expense is little more than 
a matter of gasoline, and this, even at top 
prices, is no big item. You can load up 
your machine for a trip of 80 or ioo miles 
at less cost than most other forms of 
recreation entail, and be infinitely better 
off for the outing. Again I say that it 
needs but a trial to show that as a sports¬ 
man’s steed, the motorcycle has no equal. 
