374 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Sept. 3, 1910. 
he really intends to stick to the business, the 
trapper gives him the precious secret for “'killin’ 
the iron smell.” 
The bounties paid by Western States for wolf 
and coyote pelts vary greatly. Sometimes, when 
the influence of the stockmen is strong in a State 
Legislature, large bounties are offered. This re¬ 
sults in such activity in the slaughter of the ani¬ 
mals that the range is pretty well rid of the pests. 
This leads to a lowering of the bounty, and the 
trapper, being wise in his generation, no longer 
works so strenuously. The wolf litters are not 
stamped out as in the days of big bounties, and 
the families increase. Soon the range is filled 
with half-grown wolves that play havoc with the 
flocks of the sheepmen and the herds of the cattle 
owners; the bounty goes up again, and the wolfer 
enters upon another fat year. 
The cattle and sheepmen are firm friends of 
the wolfer. In most localities they add generous 
amounts to the bounties paid by the State. It is 
no unusual thing for them to take up a subscrip¬ 
tion and buy the wolf hunter an entire new out¬ 
fit—wagon, horses, traps and all. He is always 
welcome at the roundup camps and sheep camps, 
and if he runs out of supplies, some cattle or 
sheepman is glad to furnish him with enough 
“chuck” to run him a month. 
These trappers, traveling as they do in the 
lonely places, and observing the habits of all the 
kindred of the wild, become versed in the lore 
of the naturalist. They are not book-learned, 
and probably would look at you in blank amaze¬ 
ment if you spoke of John Burroughs, or Ernest 
Thompson Seton. Their information is all 
gleaned at first hand, and their observations are 
to be relied upon from the fact that they are al¬ 
ways based on personal experience. 
It is estimated that one full-grown wolf, if left 
to his own devices, will destroy anywhere from 
$500 to $1,000 worth of livestock in a year, so 
the importance of the wolfer in the eyes of the 
stockman can be readily understood. Sheep men 
suffer not less than cattle men, and wolves grow 
very clever at killing a sheep that has strayed too 
far from the bunch, almost under the eyes of the 
herder and his dog. Coyotes cause the loss of 
thousands of calves and sheep every year. 
The wolfer picks up an occasional badger pelt 
or an otter, but his income is chiefly derived from 
wolves and coyotes, on whose heads bounties are 
placed. In most Western States beavers are pro¬ 
tected, though in late years in Colorado these 
animals have become so numerous on many 
mountain streams that they have caused con¬ 
siderable loss among ranchmen, owing to flood¬ 
ing by their dams. Beavers are increasing so 
rapidly that it is thought that in a few years a 
limited amount of trapping will be allowed, which 
will mean more prosperity for the modern trap¬ 
per in the West. • Arthur Chapman. 
Moose in Wyoming. 
Ishawoo, Wyo., Aug. 20 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The moose in these mountains have 
increased so during the past three years of close 
season that when the embargo is lifted, in 1915. 
New Brunswick and the Province of Quebec 
will be left far behind as a moose hunting 
ground, and if they increase during the next five 
years as they have done recently the elk will be 
hard put to it to equal them in numbers. 
John Law Dallam. 
Coon Hunting in Western New York. 
When I was a boy forty years ago there were 
large timber tracts near Livonia, N. Y., which 
were well stocked with ’coons. Every autumn 
in the green corn season we would have excit¬ 
ing experiences hunting this wary game. 
One Saturday night three of us with two large 
’coon dogs and one small mongrel cur started 
out in the early evening for ’coons. We had not 
proceeded far before the dogs chased a ’coon up 
a big maple tree. Jim Slade climbed the tree and 
shook off the ’coon which struck the top rail 
of a fence in its fall and gave the dog much 
trouble in killing him after that stunning blow. 
Then Jim Slade, weary with climbing, stretch¬ 
ed himself upon the ground with his head upon 
the body of his dog. He lay in this position 
some time, when suddenly his dog pounced up 
and darted to the opposite side of the cornfield. 
In a few moments we knew that he had found 
another ’coon. When we arrived at the spot we 
found the dog with his jaws closed about the 
throat of the ’coon. It seems as though this dog 
was aware of the presence of the ’coon by the 
way he acted in leaping up from the ground 
where he was lying and going directly to the 
spot where this ’coon was feeding. 
Then we started off around the borders of 
the wood along the edge of the big cornfield. 
Soon the dogs had chased a ’coon up a tree, the 
top of which was dead. In the moonlight we 
could see the big ’coon crawling up the dead top 
of this big tree. Jim Slade climbed the tree, and 
as he approached the place where the ’coon was 
located, the ’coon dashed down directly over 
him, descended to the ground and started off 
for the big timber, but the dogs got him before 
he had covered much distance. 
By this time the ’coons we had slain had be¬ 
come a burden to us, therefore we stopped and 
began to skin the animals. We had scarcely 
finished this job when w r e were called upon to 
follow up the dogs, and found that one of them 
had attacked a skunk. We were just in time to 
be in at the death artd the smell. Did you ever 
hear of a ’coon party catching muskrats? As 
we passed near a pond fed by a spring brook the 
dogs found three muskrats and killed two. 
Following on the outskirts of the woods at 
the end of half an hour our dogs had treed an¬ 
other ’coon. As before, Jim Slade climbed the 
tree to shake down the ’coon. I was asked to 
hold the biggest dog at a proper distance from 
the base of the tree so as to be ready for the 
’coon when he came down. I stood there half 
bent over, with my arms around the neck of the 
dog, facing the tree, and looking up into the 
tree in an effort to watch the ’coon in his de¬ 
scent. In the twinkling of an eye the ’coon came 
dashing down and fell upon my head, scratch¬ 
ing my face and tearing my clothes. It is a 
wonder that the ’coon did me no serious injury. 
After a short chase and tussle the dog dis¬ 
patched this big mother ’coon. The female 
’coons are the greatest fighters of all, especially 
if they have young in the neighborhood. 
It was getting well on toward morning when 
the dogs chased a ’coon into a tulip tree, the top 
of which was hollow. It is not a common tree 
in Western New York. We knew of no way to 
get the ’coon out of this hollow tree than to 
chop the tree down, which feat we accomplished 
after having spent some time in hunting for an 
axe among the neighboring farmers, some of 
whom would not get out of bed to accommodate 
us. In falling, the tree struck other large trees 
and hung thus suspended at an angle of about 
45 degrees, but the ’coon remained in hiding and 
could not be forced to leave his retreat. Jim 
Slade crawled up the trunk of the tree and chop¬ 
ped a hole in the hollow part where the ’coon 
was hiding. With a stroke of the axe he killed 
the ’coon, after which he was pulled out and 
skinned, and we all started for home. 
We noticed that one of the dogs was reluctant 
to leave the tree, but we forced him to do so, 
and had proceeded about a quarter of a mile 
when this dog broke away from us and ran 
hastily back to the tree where he had caught the 
last ’coon. Jim Slade felt like swearing at the 
dog, but I told him that I believed the dog knew 
there was another ’coon in that tree, so we all 
went back, and before we left had taken three 
more ’coons from that old tulip tree. 
The result of our hunting was eight ’coons, 
two muskrats and one skunk. This experience 
will give the reader an idea of the abundance 
of game in Western New York forty or fifty 
years ago, but it is not likely that ’coons \frere 
as plentiful jn other parts of the State as they 
were about Livonia. 
At that time black squirrels were plentiful. It 
was rarely that we saw a gray squirrel in those 
early days. Now we find only gray squirrels, 
and very few of them, the black ones having al¬ 
most entirely disappeared. I account for the 
disappearance of the black squirrels to their con¬ 
spicuous color, which made them an easy mark 
for the hunter, whereas the gray squirrel was 
more in harmony with the bark of the trees and 
more often escaped. Pigeons and partridges 
were plentiful in those old days. I cannot re¬ 
member many woodcock. I am sure there were 
not nearly so many rabbits in those days as there 
are at present. The streams and lakes fairly 
swarmed with muskrats at that date. Foxes were 
no more plentiful then than now. 
George D. Ramsdell. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Aug. 24 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Hunters in the nearby counties have 
been meeting with splendid success in securing 
bucks, and several have already killed the limit. 
One of the features that is especially noticeable 
this season is the large size of the deer killed as 
compared with those of previous seasons. Where 
formerly deer weighing from 125 to 130 pounds 
were considered good-sized ones, the average is 
now this much, and some have been killed weigh¬ 
ing over 200 pounds. This is explained by the 
fact that some years ago the authorities at Golden 
Gate Park decided that the deer herd was in¬ 
creasing at too rapid a rate and sent several to 
nearby preserves. These have become crossed 
with the native deer, resulting in the larger size. 
Farmers in some places have been bothered by 
the deer, which have been running with their 
cattle, and one rancher not far from the city killed 
a big buck with a pitchfork. In Humboldt county 
deer hunting is good. In some localities in the 
lower sierras forest fires have driven the deer 
down. 
The Ocean Shore Railroad has put on a special 
hunters’ train, which allows San Francisco sports¬ 
men to get in a full day at their favorite pastime 
in San Mateo county. A. P. B. 
