




Fars 

FOREST AND STREAM. 

Faas 
ZA 


True Stories of the Old Days. 
In early days in Michigan a stray dog came to 
my father’s house, and as he appeared to be in- 
telligent and a fine looking animal my father 
promptly took him in. ’Coon hunting being one 
of mv father’s favorite sports, which a young 
man named Bacon shared enthusiastically with 
him, a few evenings later they started out to try 
the new dog. 
A full moon shed a mild radiance over the 
forest and enabled them to note the. actions of 
the dog, and in a very short time he had an ant- 
mal of some kind up a big tree which stood alone 
in an opening in the woods, and as Bacon was a 
famous climber, up the tree he went and soon 
made ou the dark figure among the limbs above 
him, but as he approached the creature it climbed 
higher and higher until, at the very top, it turned 
and greeted its pursuer with a deep warning 
growl. Dan stopped climbing, and in a tone of 
voice which trembled in spite of himself, he 
called out: “It is a wildcat, Mr. Belknap.” 
“Well, cut a club and knock him off,’ replied 
my father. 
Cutting and trimming a limb of the tree to 
make a suitable weapon, Dan slowly crawled up 
toward the brute, which finally took refuge in 
the very topmost tuft of branches, and slowly and 
carefully raising the club above the limbs above 
his head, where he could have full sweep for the 
blow, he struck with all his might, and—never 
touched him. 
Right out into the air the cat sprang as it saw 
the club coming, and so powerful was its jump 
that the limbs of the tree were cleared entirely, 
and with a resounding thump it struck the 
ground at quite a distance from the foot of the 
tree, and to my father’s amazement sprang to its 
feet and ran like a blue streak for another tree. 
The dog happened to be at the other side of 
the tree, and the cat was enabled to get quite a 
start in its new race, but so swift was the dog’s 
pursuit that the cat was overtaken before the tree 
was reached, when, whirling suddenly, the brute 
sat up and with open paws outstretched waited 
the onset. Knowing nothing of the dog’s fight- 
ing qualities my father instantly concluded to let 
him entirely alone and note the result. Coming 
with a rush, and barking furiously, the dog 
dashed almost into the cat’s face, but stopping 
just short of the cat’s grasp, as its paws snapped 
together like the jaws of a steel trap, backed 
away a few steps and repeated the threatening 
maneuver. 
Again the cat’s paws snapped together just in 
front of the dog’s nose. Again and again was 
this repeated until the cat appeared to think that 
the dog was not really in earnest and omitted to 
slap it paws together. Again the dog backed 
away, and this time the jump was in earnest. 
Once inside the guard of the wildcat he seized it 
across the chest, and that cat was dead in ten 
seconds, and that dog could not then have been 
bought: for money. 
In Jong ago days, in western Iowa, my old 
friend Jim Files found a stray dog at his door 
one morning, and as he ‘was what Jim called 
“sech an ornery lookin’ brute.” Jim deliberated 
quite a while before finally accepting him. 
It was in the fall of the year, and as Jim went 
for his cows down in the bottom land below the 
house, the dog followed at his heels, and reach- 
ing the edge of what had been a shallow pond in 
the spring, a small rattlesnake coiled suddenly in 
front of them, in a dried-up pit where a cow had 
some time stepped in the mud, leaving a depres- 
sion five or six inches deep. Its coil was com- 
pletely hidden, leaving the head and a few inches 
of the neck raised threateningly above the sur- 
face, while it rattled a warning defiance against 
all comers. 
The dog sprang forward to attack, and though 

[FrEB. 17, 1906. 


GAME RAG AND GUN 
it was apparent that the snake had every advan- 
tage, Jim stocd quietly watching, as he afterward 
said, ‘jest to see what the little cuss would do.” 
Approaching within a few feet the dog stopped, 
and cocking his small head to one side for a mo- 
ment, studied the problem. Walking slowly 
around he now circled the snake, just beyond his 
rcach, but so close as to engage all the reptile’s 
attention, and as it strove to be in continuous 
readiness for the dog’s attack, and as round and 
round the dog continued to walk, in a short time 
the snake seemed to grow dizzy, and its head 
began to wobble from side to side, when, quick 
as a flash, the dog jumped in and inserting a 
paw into the hole flung the rattlesnake into the 
air, catching him in his mouth as he came down, 
shook him to death without receiving a scratch. 
At another time Jim was the owner of two 
dogs. One was of medium size, active and fero- 
cious, and a good hunter, and the other a great 
overgrown good-natured brute, could hardly be 
made to lay hold of anything. Whenever he 
could be induced to seize hold of another animal 
he always shut his eyes just as he took hold and 
kept them tightly shut until he let go. 
Jim was hunting along the bank of the river 
one day with both dogs along, when he saw an 
otter swimming in the river, and promptly put 
a rifle ball into him, aiming at the head. 
The otter was hard hit, and though it strug- 
gled and swam awkwardly around, it soon be- 
came apparent that it was trying to swim down 
around a bend of the stream, where a pile of 
drift wood offered a refuge. 
The smaller dog was easily sent in to attack 
the otter, but though badly wounded the otter 
could still prevent the dog from swimming with 
him to the bank, and it began to look as though 
he would eventually tire the dog out. After 
mitch persuasion the big dog was finally induced 
to swim in to his assistance. 
Swimming up to the fighting pair the big brute 
shut his eyes tightly and made a grab for the 
otter, when at that instant, the other dog’s head 
coming in the way, he seized him by the side of 
the head and turning his course started towing 
the whole outfit to shore like a steam propéller. 
Jim said it was now only a question of the 
small dog’s endurance of the pain. He still kept 
fast hold of his game, but before the bank was 
reached the pain became unendurable, when let- 
ting go of the otter he turned to fight the big dog 
loose, and in the confusion the otter made good 
his escape. 
When my father was a young man he lived in 
central Ohio, where a handful of settlers were, 
for a time, quite isolated in the big woods. The 
work of clearing the heavy forest was very great, 
and as the first small fields were -fenced and 
planted to corn the pioneers were very much an- 
noyed by the depredations of black bears, which 
clambered over the rail fences in the night time 
and went for the roasting ears in a style that 
was exasperating. 
Finally a hunt was planned and the half dozen 
settlers gathered at the cabin of the one whose 
field was harried the worst and where the bears 
entered the field, proceeded to set two guns, 
heavily loaded, and with strings attached to the 
triggers in such a manner as to have the thieves 
prove their own executioners. Getting every- 
thing arranged before nightfall all repaired to 
the cabin to watch in silence and darkness the 
result of their well-laid plan. 
The guns were set in different places, one on 
each side of the little field. One was but a small 
rifle while the other was a tremendous affair, one 
of the largest guns ever brought into that part 
of the country. Both were heavily loaded and 
two big bullets were rammed down the throat 
of the larger one. 
As darkness set in a fine mist began falling, 
and in a short time the report of the little gun 
was heard. The younger members of the group 
were for rushing right out into the night, and it 
required all the influence of the older hunters to 
check them, as it was explained to them that the 
falling mist had shrunken the line, and that the 
gun was fired in this manner. 
Quiet was finally restored and with a lighted 
lantern in readiness again they waited. Finally, 
near midnight, the roar of the big gun filled the 
silent woods. Rushing out into the night the 
larger party carrying the lantern ran into the 
cornfield, while two others ran down the cow 
path, which circled the little field on the outside. 
A tremendous commotion was heard among the 
cornstalks in front, and the little party of excited 
hunters ran down the corn rows in hope, by the 
oe of the lighted lantern, to get a shot at the 
ear. 
The mortally wounded animal, which afterward 
proved to be a monster in size, ran for the fence 
to climb over into the woods. Outside the fence 
the two men could see nothing distinctly, but 
hearing the riot of smashing cornstalks and ex- 
cited yells, the one in front sprang for the fence 
to climb over, at the very point where the tumult 
seemed culminating, and just as he was reaching 
for a hand hold of the top rail the bear sprang 
over the fence directly in front of him, and tumb- 
ling down from the top of the fence knocked the 
hunter flat upon his back and fell all over him, 
when the stricken brute crawled off a short dis- 
tance into the darkness and died. 
Yells of pain and anguish now rose from the 
prostrate hunter, so unexpectedly flattened by the 
fleeing bear. Climbing over the fence the pursu- 
ing party now brought the light of the lantern to 
bear on his prostrate form, and were horrified to 
see that the poor fellow was covered with blood 
and apparently mortally hurt. 
In a faint tone of voice he begged to be taken 
to the house, explaining that the ferocious brute 
had torn his entrails entirely out of him, and 
when the open bosom of his buckskin hunting 
shirt was opened more widely, to the horror of 
his friends out rolled a pile of bloody entrails. 
The fainting man was tenderly carried to the 
house, his clothes removed and body washed— 
and the skin wasn’t broken on him. 
The dying bear, dragging his entrails after him, 
had deposited part of his bloody burden in the 
open bosom of the hunter’s shirt, as the rails of 
the fence had torn them loose. The mortally 
wounded hunter recovered quickly from his hurt, 
but not for many a day from the jeering merri- 
ment of his friends. Orin BELKNAP. 

Vermont Notes. 
BuRLINGTON, Vt.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
The shooting season of 1905 was a red-letter one 
for the local hunter. Thanks to the protective 
measures on the statute books and the hard and 
painstaking work of the game commissioner, 
the game supply that but a few years ago seemed 
to be almost on the point of complete extermina- 
tion, is now steadily on the increase. 
Deer are plenty in most sections of the State, 
and the short open season, with the fact that the 
deer are protected at all times, gives them a 
chance to multiply. If wise legislation shall con- 
tinue to prevail, with swift and severe punish- 
ment io violators of the law, it may safely be 
predicted that in a few years’ time Vermont will 
furnish as good a field for the deer hunter as 
the Maine woods or the Adirondacks. Of course 
some deer are killed illegally, but I think the 
number is proportionally small and in many cases 
convictions have closely followed, and the heavy 
penalties that the offenders have been obliged to 
pay serve as good object lessons to others. 
Taking into consideration the number of hunt- 
ers that went out for deer during the open season 
it is a wonder that any bucks were left at all. 
