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Forest and Stream Letters 
An Airdale With Piscatorial 
Instincts 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
AM enclosing a couple of rather un- 
usual pictures of an Airdale owned 
in town which may be of interest to 
you, aS you may not have seen any- 
thing of the kind, and these pictures, 
no doubt, will explain themselves. 

Awaiting his chance 
I might add that these were taken 
a short distance from town in a creek, 
and I believe the fish being caught are 
suckers, which come up this creek in 
quite large numbers in the spring of 
the year. Dr. WALDO H. Murray, 
Camrose, Alberta. 
Another Tale of the Last Flight 
of Pigeons 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
Wa much interest and pleasure I 
have just read Mr. S. B. Dow’s 
letter in FOREST AND STREAM of date 
May, 1924. 
Mr. Dow is indeed a remarkable man 
and I wish him years of life; may he 
enjoy his shooting and outdoors many, 
Many seasons. 
I was particularly impressed with 
his remarks pertaining to the wild 
pigeons. 
When I was a boy in 1878—I was 
nine then—I had been using a gun for 
about one year. At that time I lived in 
Haywood County, Tennessee. A boy 
friend named Lewis Hart and I wit- 
nessed a sight I had never seen before 
nor since. We were out hunting rabbits 
and other small game. We entered a 
wood that really was a creek bottom, 
several thousand acres in extent. While 
resting, we heard a terrible roar and 
presently there came over us a dark- 
ness that obscured the sun and really 
frightened us, boys that we were. 
Looking up we saw what seemed mil- 
lions of pigeons. We began to shoot 
up into them. I cannot remember how 
long the flight was on; it seemed a 
long time before the sun began to shine 
in those parts. Well, here is where our 
veracity has been questioned, not at the 
time, but in after years. We picked up 
pigeons we had shot and piled them on 
one hill. I do not remember how many 
there were, but I know we had to go 
home and procure a one horse spring 
wagon with side boards and we filled 
it to the top. 
The negroes and others on the fence 
picked pigeons until they were ex- 
hausted. We salted them down and 
we had pigeon served in every imagi- 
nable way. I have not seen a drove of 
wild pigeons since and I suppose this 
one was a part of the one Mr. Dow 
speaks of, last seen in 1878. 
I enjoy FoREST AND STREAM; those 
sportsmen who frequent my office get 
the copy and it really helps them. 
Dr. Pratt H. ANDERSON, 
Memphis, Tenn. 
Elk Conditions in Montana 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HE old mountains certainly look 
good to me after a winter in New 
York. There is more snow in the hills 
than there usually is at this time of 
the year, and there are great numbers 
of elk on the open hillsides near the 
river every morning and evening. The 
deer and mountain sheep are also down 
on the lower levels, getting the first 
green feed that is shooting up this nice 
warm day. 
The winter here has not been espe- 
cially hard, but a number of late storms 
have prolonged it, making the dawn 
much later than usual, and as a result 
we have lost some elk. 
Sa 

The prize captured 
One of the forest rangers who have 
been on game patrol in this district 
told me that he had found about forty 
elk, mostly calves, that did not come 
through the winter, and he estimates 
the loss at about 100 head. As the gal- 
latin herd of elk numbers over 3,000 
head, this would be about 3% winter 
loss, which is not serious, yet it is 
greater than we have had from this 
cause for several years. 
The days are warm and sunny now, 
and at the rate the snow is leaving it 
will not be long until the whole range 
is green again. 
ERNEST MILLER, 
Salesville, Mont. 
Page 410 
